Some thoughts on /Time

I've been playing with /Time on the beta server (Paired with Dual Pistols. It's a favorite set of mine. My other Corr is a DP/Kin).

Here are some thoughts on the powers, functionality and the build I've been running.

Before getting into the breakdown of powers, I'll say this: I took every power. I didn't want to. I REALLY didn't want to, especially since I'm used to playing /Kin and having only a handful of the set. That being said, I find the set to be a bit hectic in play style. Hectic may not be a good word - but certainly busy. Moving on.

Time Crawl - What you would expect - Great for AVs or otherwise clearly big individual targets. While clearing trash in trials or even most big pulls, I don't see that I'll be using it often. It applies the "deceleration" mechanic, which improves the effectiveness of other /time debuffs on the target. Coupled with our hold, you'll find it easy to lock down even elite bosses. 4 slotted this with Curtail Speed.

Temporal Mending - The primary heal of the set. It does a flat amount immediatly and then continues to heal over time. 5 slotted with Doctored Wounds.

Time's Juncture - A toggle aura that slows down anyone who gets near you and reduces their chance to hit and damage. I like this power a lot. With Dual Pistols, I find myself in melee a lot anyway (Fast refreshing Hail of Bullets) so the synergy is nice. 4 slotted with Dark Watcher's Despair.

Temporal Selection - The "accelerate" buff. The damage buff itself is real nice. It also works on pets (Lore, Mastermind, Patron). I wanted to be selfish and skip this, but I found my build actually had room for it anyway. With a lot of recharge, you can keep this buff on about 2 to 3 people at any given time. When it's on a player, your Temporal Mending and Chrono Shift will benefit them more. Practically, this is going on Tankers, Brutes and Scrappers first. For now, I 3 slotted with Recharge IOs.

Distortion Field - Combined with Time's Juncture, I find myself standing in big groups of mobs and just not getting hit. The power creates a big bubble - everything inside will have slowed recharge and run speed. 4 slotted with Curtail Speed.

Time Stop - It's a hold but it's a really good hold. If it was just a hold I would have skipped it without a second thought. But even when it doesn't lock down the mob (Tricky bosses, AVs) it debuffs regen and healing. This is the second big AV killing tool, coupled with Time Crawl. Similar to Time Crawl, I don't see myself bothering to use this in big groups when there's other powers to worry about. 4 slotted with Basilisk's Gaze.

Farsight - I love this power. It's +9.38% defense (With my IOs, it's at +15%) for your whole party. And it's very easy to get to a perma level. Not much else to say. It's really awesome. 6 slotted, 5 Red Fortune 1 LoTG +Recharge.

Slowed Response - The last debuff for time. This is a targetted AOE that decreases defense and damage resist. Combined with the +ToHit of Farsight, you'll find yourself with awesome accuracy. And the damage resist is great. 3 slotted with Achile's Heel.

Chrono Shift - Feels very much like a T9. Slick animation and a lot of benefits. Some over time healing and +50% recharge to everyone. Chrono Shift stacks with other Chrono Shifts but not from the same player. That is to say, if I cast it twice, it doesn't apply 100%. But if I cast it and then YOU cast it too, we get +50% twice. Anyway, this is another one that you're going to want to shoot for making permanent. It's a bit harder to do than Farsight, but still not outside the realm of impossibility. For now I 3 slotted it with Recharge IOs.

With regard to the rest of my build: I have a lot of recharge, so as to make Chrono perma (And get as many Hail of Bullets off as I can). I'm running 6 Luck of the Gamblers, and tons of +5%/+6.5% set bonuses. With Scorpion Shield, Farsight and misc. +Def power pool toggles, it's really easy to exceed the defense S/L softcap without investing in IO bonuses too much. With so much IO based recharge, I didn't take Spiritual as my Alpha Incarnate power. I did at first but found that I had too much recharge and lots of endurance problems. Time consumes a ton of endurance. So I switched to cardiac and my endurance problems are gone. With Chrono Shift and Hasten, recharge is at 222%. Another 44% from Spiritual (That was really just for more Hail of Bullets) at the cost of my endurance wasn't worth it.

I've been running AE farms to get a handle on solo playing. What I find myself doing is buffing with Chrono and Farsight and making sure I stay buffed. Drop Distortion Field on the mob, then Slowed Response, then Judgement (Ion), then Hail of Bullets. Everything's pretty much dead now (+1 or 2 mobs right now). Temporal Mend as needed, make sure you're always inside your Distortion Field. Slow Response on all new mobs that come into the fight (When it's recharged). Basically, I break up management of my powers like this:

Buffs:
Temporal Mending
Farsight
Chrono Shift

Debuffs:
(Time's Juncture)
Distortion Field
Slowed Response

And for Dual Pistols,:
Bullet Rain
Hail of Bullets

Optimally, you want to make sure ALL of these buffs/debuffs are always happening. Which is why in big groups I find myself not worrying about Time Crawling or Time Stopping anything (Though occasionally I find myself dropping these on bosses in the mix).

I really like the set. It's fun and fast paced. It doesn't feel weak or lackluster in any area, even though it's sort of a jack of all trades setup.

Nice write up. For the most part I agree with you but there are a few things I'd comment on:

Having perma Chrono Shift will help with the endurance drain that spamming /time could cause. granted, with a lot of end reduction slotting, or the cardiac alpha boost, you can manage your endurance without relying on Chrono shift.

I just know on my ice/time corr, on just SOs, i was basically rotating between Conserve power and Chrono shift to keep my endurance above flat lining...

I like the recharge for Hail of Bullets, but I concur that Time doesn't benefit from a lot of recharge.

I think I'm going Cardiac when I roll on live. I haven't had a single end problem since I switched from Spiritual. Whereas before, it was a major problem.

Nice write up.

A couple of comments:

Power Boost works with Farsight. This probably benefits Controllers more than Corruptors/Defenders. Power Boost is more powerful for Controllers than it is for other classes. Power Boosted Farsight with 2 level 50 Defense SO grants a Controller somewhere around +24 defense to all for 2 minutes. Theoretically, it is possible to soft cap a Time Manipulation Defender on SOs using Power Boost and a few armors. The theoretical Controller build I made ended up at 42 defense to all, but would need Cardiacs to balance endurance. Adding a few IOs makes it extremely easy to soft cap. This is before considering the -ToHit toggle.

Power Boost also works on most of Time's other powers. For example, it enhances your heals.

Weaknesses are timing Power Boost and Farsight correctly. Although it really isn't very hard most of the time since you can cast it out of combat.

Distortion Field stacks on itself. Its actual hold is not that great. However, it should accept the Chance to Hold proc, and multiple DFs on top of each other multiply the hold chances.

I assume on your dp/time toon..using the time power causes weapon redraw? I wish the would make it possible to use powers with weapons out.

I'm use to redraw from playing DP/Kinetics. It really grows on you, I hardly notice it anymore.

One last thing before I go shopping: I've been running Crey Fire Farm's just to get a sense of functionality. It's probably not the best measure, since I have no fire defense/resist, but I'm partial to the map and I was too lazy to make my own.

I'm breezing through +1/6 (Bosses) in about 6 minutes per run. I can do +2 if I'm a lot more careful with breaking the ambushes. If it was all smashing/lethal damage and less ambushing it'd be easier/I could up difficult more confidently.

Fire/Time is complete murder on the endurance bar, but ConservePower fixes that right up. PowerBoost lets me softcap easily - boosted Farsight is granting my corruptor 22% defense. 46% to S/L and the -to hit from TJ places me over 45% for other defenses (Only 2 - 6% away from the others)
Time is easy mode. And I like it ;3

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wavicle CoH players are stupid and incompetent compared to WoW players.

Question using Power Boost...you said if used before Foresight, it boosts the +def for the full duration. Is the Chrono Shift a click, and does PB increase the healing for teh entire duration also?

Ahh...so its not like a constant heal over time for the duration? Cause that, power boosted..would be just crazy.

I'm mulling over going Soul or Power mastery. Soul has true Power Boost, but the gimped version of Soul Drain. Outside of that you get Dark Embrace, a bad pet, and a ST hold which could stack nicely with the holds in /Time.

Go power and you get Soul Drain and Power Boost rolled into 1 power, Power Build up, a similar resistance shield and a God mode power.

- The +effects portion of Power Build Up is the same as Power Boost, but you also get +68% damage, the same amount of +dam you'd get out of a fully saturated Soul Drain. Granted, it doesn't last as long, but it's guaranteed to always work, it doesn't have to hit 10 targets to get the full benefit, and you don't need to get in to melee to use it.

- You'd only need to have PBU recharging fast enough to be ready every time Farsight is up. They have the same 240s recharge so that's pretty much guaranteed as long as you use them simultaneously. The goal would be to make that perma. Something I believe with /Time would be possible since you get Chrono Shift and can take Hasten for +125 recharge and that's before any slots or set bonuses.

- Edit: nevermind. Force of Nature not effected by Burnout. Still, FoN would still be great when it's up :/

I may be the only one considering skipping Temporal Selection >_>

Chaos made a mistake here >.>