Different people have different preferances. Personally, Illusion is my favorite powerset in the game. Gravity and Electric aren't even close. Both Grav and Elec have some interesting powers that require some interesting strategy, but they aren't nearly as powerful or flexible as Illusion.
Illusion is one of the best controllers to solo. Illusion is fantastic on teams, too. It works well with any secondary, but especially well with Rad, then Storm, Trick Arrow and Cold. Ill/Cold is particularly effective as an AV Killer, but it takes a much more expensive build to make it great.
Illusion/Rad is well known as one of the best builds in the game. Take a look at my guide, linked in my sig. It will give you more information on Illusion and Radiation than you ever wanted to know. It also has recommeded leveling-up builds and end-game builds.
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
Sounds good I plan on an elec/time latr for concept resions. But ill/rad could be fun. Thow ill/ cold I donno alot about cold. but sounds intresting
IMO, ill/Rad works a bit better in theory than practice. Not that it's a bad combo, and Rad has some great powers, but illusion tends to spread mobs out a bit, and kill unpredictably, which makes Rad anchor debuffs difficult to use. Rad is great to have for AVs, but I think storm is a perfect fit. Both sets use a lot of autonomous pets, and storm gives you a lot of defenses that make up for illusion's softer control. I also think storm is much better at handling surprises. Rad is probably more group friendly, but illusion is already more solo oriented than other controller sets.
Augur - lvl 50 Illusion/storm controller
Arctalus - lvl 50 Ice/Energy blaster
Crey Avenger - lvl 48 Fire/Rad controller
Augur Prime - lvl 41 Peacebringer
Spiky Whatsit - lvl 39 claws/regen scrapper
I haven't played Elec/ yet. It just doesn't seem that interesting to me. I'm sure some folks love it though - it's a matter of taste.
Gravity is fun. I used to have a Grav/Storm that only got deleted due to lack of slots. It was pre-IOs, so I ended up regretting it badly. Actually I've been considering rolling another one - the only thing holding me back is my already extensive list of L50 stormies.
Ill/Rad is one of those classics that never go out of fashion. It's easy to level up, it's fantastic both solo and team wise; and it's a beast once properly slotted. I deleted mine over an Ill/Storm, because I have issues. I like chaos. It did turn out to be a good choice, since Ill/Storm is now one of my fave toons.
TLDR; If you want an easy but fun ride to L50, Ill/rad is your bud. Also, it's so good with SOs that makes you thing "if I IO this boy out, I'll break the game". I like Grav, but I'll admit it could use some Dev loving (it does go well with pretty much any secondary, but shines with /Rad or /Storm). As for Elec, I'd pick a secondary that'd allow me to do well in melee range (probably /Rad or /Kin).
@False Fiction - Virtue / Defiant
Current projects - [Glaciologist - Ill/Cold Troller] [Cloudshaper - Storm/Dark Def] [Harald Wartooth - Elec/Psi Domi]
Illusion/radiation is, by a wide margin, my single favorite combo of powers in the game. It's true that the anchored debuffs are impractical in many fights, but they do great things to bosses, most particularly elite bosses and arch-villains and such, so I just think of them as "extra oomph when needed" powers - much like I feel about a good rezzing power, a welcome thing to have even though I seldom use it very much. Also, as a matter that's partly moral and partly aesthetic, I'm happiest with heroes whose powers clearly aren't killing the bad guys.
/Storm is also an awesome secondary, and everyone should try it out. I did and ended up not liking it for a reason I doubt will be an issue for most people - I just dislike the visual clutter, with too much of my screen feeling obscured and hard to make out. (I have this problem with warshades, too, which is a shame because I think they're just awesome, too.)
Gravity/ is very cool but a bit underperforming, which is a shame, as the kid in me who grew up reading comics in the '70s loves the concept to bits.
I only recently dabbled in Electric/. It was fun! Watching the endurance drains kick in, and opponents flailing around for lack of endurance is almost as much fun as opponents deceived or knocked down. I'm too hooked on invisibility to just give up on Illusion/, but Electric/ seems a really worthy companion affection for me.
I don't consider Electric extremely powerful, but I do consider it interesting and fun. The main downside of Electric, IMO, is the chance to critically miss a Synaptic Overload and have the whole thing fail to work. Damage is initially poor but decent at higher levels.
Depending on how you look at the game, any of those sets are do-able though. IMO this game lets you have so many characters that if even one of them can kind of farm, you are completely set, and you will never, in my experience, be called on to solo an AV. Even a Gravity Controller can probably make enough cash to support itself. I know my Ice Control characters can.
You might as well just play all three. 
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I have to say that I disagree with this pretty strongly. I've played Ill/Rad, Ill/Storm, Ill/TA and Ill/Cold to 50, a second Ill/Rad to 45, plus Ill/Kin and Ill/Emp pretty high. No question that Ill/Storm is a great combo, and yes, Storm provides some defensive powers. But Rad is the ONLY secondary with Defense AND Resistance Debuffs AND a recharge buff. The Recharge buff in AM means that PA are up much more frequently and Ill/Rad is easier to make into a Perma PA build because of it. Many of the best Rad powers come early in the set, making it easier to level up. The ToHit Debuff acts as a defensive power, and it is not limited to a PB AoE repel power. Foes tend to bunch around PA (especially with Deceive to help), so it is easy to pick an anchor for your debuffs. EM Pulse adds a huge hard control since it is one of the best, largest area AoE holds in the game (and can easily stack with Flash to hold bosses). You get a self-heal, which is something that Storm severely lacks. The Heal, team buff and the nature of the debuffs make Ill/Rad a great team player as well as a great solo player. Careful use of invisibility and Deceive should take care of most of your defensive needs on a team where teammates should be taking most of the aggro.|
Originally Posted by The_Augur
IMO, ill/Rad works a bit better in theory than practice. Not that it's a bad combo, and Rad has some great powers, but illusion tends to spread mobs out a bit, and kill unpredictably, which makes Rad anchor debuffs difficult to use. Rad is great to have for AVs, but I think storm is a perfect fit. Both sets use a lot of autonomous pets, and storm gives you a lot of defenses that make up for illusion's softer control. I also think storm is much better at handling surprises. Rad is probably more group friendly, but illusion is already more solo oriented than other controller sets.
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Ill/Storm, on the other hand, is the King of Chaos. Some controllers have an AoE Immob to limit the knockback, but Illusion has no -knockback at all. Solo, you blow foes all over the place. On teams, you have to limit your use of several powers or you will end up throwing foes every-which-way and frustrating your teammates -- you are mostly limited to using Freezing Rain on fast-moving teams. Storm adds some nice (but chaotic) damage powers late in the set, but I found it works best solo or on small teams (2-4) than on large teams. Don't misunderstand . . . I love Storm and have a bunch of them (Ice/Storm, Ill/Storm, Grav/Storm, Earth/Storm all at 50 with several in the 40's). But to say that Ill/Storm is better on teams than Ill/Rad is just wrong.
As for Ill/Cold, it really is a great combo, but more team-dependant in low levels and best powers come late in the set. It steals some of Storms best powers -- Sleet (Freezing Rain), Arctic Mist (Steamy Mist) and Snow Storm, adds two very desireable team buffs (the Ice Shields) and one skippable one (Frostworks), two single target debuffs good for bosses and tough targets and the Fulcrum Shift of endurance, Heat Loss. It has large Resistance debuffs to make it really good for taking down tougher targets, but lacks a self heal or any self-buff or AoE control. It also lacks Rad's Recharge buff, making it much more expensive to reach Perma-PA.
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
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Enervating Field casts quickly enough that it should be a "use it every fight" power. The damage and Resistance debuff will help with every battle. My general practice is to throw out PA and immediately follow with EF before I start attacks. I only use RI when foes are going to last long enough to make the cast time worth while. I used RI a lot in lower levels, but EF alone is good enough in high levels.|
Originally Posted by MriBruce
Illusion/radiation is, by a wide margin, my single favorite combo of powers in the game. It's true that the anchored debuffs are impractical in many fights, but they do great things to bosses, most particularly elite bosses and arch-villains and such, so I just think of them as "extra oomph when needed" powers - much like I feel about a good rezzing power, a welcome thing to have even though I seldom use it very much. Also, as a matter that's partly moral and partly aesthetic, I'm happiest with heroes whose powers clearly aren't killing the bad guys.
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| /Storm is also an awesome secondary, and everyone should try it out. I did and ended up not liking it for a reason I doubt will be an issue for most people - I just dislike the visual clutter, with too much of my screen feeling obscured and hard to make out. (I have this problem with warshades, too, which is a shame because I think they're just awesome, too.) |
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| Gravity/ is very cool but a bit underperforming, which is a shame, as the kid in me who grew up reading comics in the '70s loves the concept to bits. |
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| I only recently dabbled in Electric/. It was fun! Watching the endurance drains kick in, and opponents flailing around for lack of endurance is almost as much fun as opponents deceived or knocked down. I'm too hooked on invisibility to just give up on Illusion/, but Electric/ seems a really worthy companion affection for me. |
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
FYI my ideal for pairing Gravity would now be Time Manipulation. Specifically (unless it has changed since I last looked a week ago) Gravity/Time/Primal. Take Power Boost for insane defense from Farsight, use Conserve Power to reduce end costs (long recharge on Con Power is cut down a lot by Time's huge recharge buffs), use Energy Torrent + AoE immobilize slotted with Chance for Hold and Chance for Knockdown + Time's long duration slow patch slotted with a hold proc to hide Gravity's relative control problem.
You can run around on top of enemies with Time's Juncture on too, but by no means have to.
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The one combo where I would consider making another Gravity controller would be Grav/Traps . . . the idea of using Wormhole to dump some unsuspecting bad guys on a field of trip mines is just too funny to pass up. Just imagine what would go through their minds . . . "What the F . . .where are we? and what are these things on the gr<BOOM>"
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Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
FYI my ideal for pairing Gravity would now be Time Manipulation. Specifically (unless it has changed since I last looked a week ago) Gravity/Time/Primal. Take Power Boost for insane defense from Farsight, use Conserve Power to reduce end costs (long recharge on Con Power is cut down a lot by Time's huge recharge buffs), use Energy Torrent + AoE immobilize slotted with Chance for Hold and Chance for Knockdown + Time's long duration slow patch slotted with a hold proc to hide Gravity's relative control problem.
You can run around on top of enemies with Time's Juncture on too, but by no means have to. |
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
Local Man: Yeah, it's true, some /rad debuffs are up very quickly, and those I do use a lot.
I know about changing power colors, but fine particulate haze in any color at all is bad for me - optic nerve damage from diabetes and an obscure immune problem, so I have special-needs kind of eyes. Good reminder, though!
Ok so I think i,need to revice. My picks. Ill is cool but after ,20lvls just not fealin it. I am open to any other ideas. Like ice or fire..
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TO be fair, you just got Phantom Army a couple of levels ago(assuming you picked it up at level 18), and it isn't even fully slotted yet. You also don't have you're primary AoE control ability(spectral terror), so illusion hasn't quite matured yet.|
Originally Posted by humulass
Ok so I think i,need to revice. My picks. Ill is cool but after ,20lvls just not fealin it. I am open to any other ideas. Like ice or fire..
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That said illusion isn't for everyone, it relies heavily on aggro management and soft control which doesn't fit with many peoples ideas of what a controller should be.
I personally like electric control a lot. Rather than have any individually strong powers it has a lot of different types of control powers that work really well together, however, as noted above, you're sleep and knockdown effects may be invalidated in certain teams. I personally think it's better for dominators, as comboing electric control with either electric or psi assault makes your end drain really nasty, adding another layer of control.
Some people like gravity control a lot, but I have trouble recommending it. It's fairly high damage with two high damage moves, but other control sets get good damage without sacrificing control. The only thing that separates gravity from the other sets is wormhole, which is cool and useful, but not enough to carry a set IMO, and a slighty better than average pet. That said, I'm kinda weird when selecting my sets, I don't usually play a set unless it has a confuse
.
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Controllers are hard to evaluate until the late levels when you get some of the best powers and after you get at least SO level enhancements. Illusion gets PA at 18, Spectral Terror at 26 and Phantasm at 32. Before SO level enhancements, you spend a lot of time standing around waiting for powers to recharge. Once you have Hasten slotted up and the various powers fully slotted, it gets much better.|
Originally Posted by humulass
Ok so I think i,need to revice. My picks. Ill is cool but after ,20lvls just not fealin it. I am open to any other ideas. Like ice or fire..
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Are you playing around with Deceive? I find it to be a really fun power. I especially love to deceive foes who have AoE powers that they can turn on their buddies. Flash should be skipped until later levels, even though it becomes available at 6. The reasons why are explained in my guide.
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
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It actually doesn't sound like you disagree, but might have misread my post. I didn't say that Ill/storm is better on teams. I said that Ill/Rad is better on teams, and that Ill/storm is better solo, so we're certainly on the same page there. I also agree that Ill/rad is better against AVs, and that storm's lack of a self-heal is problematic. And you're right about radiation being an early blooming set that's fantastic for leveling.|
Originally Posted by Local_Man
I have to say that I disagree with this pretty strongly.
.... But to say that Ill/Storm is better on teams than Ill/Rad is just wrong. |
However, most of that is due to Rad's abilities, independent of the illusion primary. Rad is good for all the things mentioned, whether it's a controller or defender, and regardless of what the primary is. Similarly, Phantom army is great for what it's used for, pretty much regardless of the secondary.
Illusion and Storm, meanwhile, have some astounding synergy. In particular, both tend to spread mobs out a lot, but neither tends to suffer for it, whereas some aspects of illusion and rad work against each other. Also, the game has a lot more ambushes than it used to, and storm is better, IMO, at dealing with surprise attacks. RI can't be counted on in an emergency, because it takes a very long time to cast and doesn't give you any immediate breathing room. Hurricane, conversely, can just be left on, and barreling through a group of enemies will knock them down, debuff their accuracy, and protect you from virtually all melee attacks.
The downside, of course, is the severe team-unfriendliness of the set, as well as a lack of debuffs that will stick to a moving AV. Obviously, both sets have situations where they shine in, and you can't go wrong with either.
Augur - lvl 50 Illusion/storm controller
Arctalus - lvl 50 Ice/Energy blaster
Crey Avenger - lvl 48 Fire/Rad controller
Augur Prime - lvl 41 Peacebringer
Spiky Whatsit - lvl 39 claws/regen scrapper
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Where I disagreed with you were your first two sentences and your last. Illusion does not have to spread out foes . . . with Deceive, you can get foes who have drifted a little bit away from the group to re-join them. Proper placement of PA can tighten a group. Yes, Phantasm will knock foes back, but with some management, that knockback can be productive. Plus, any foes who get separated from the group should usually be your first target to take down with the Blind-SW-Blast-SW attack chain.|
Originally Posted by The_Augur
It actually doesn't sound like you disagree, but might have misread my post. I didn't say that Ill/storm is better on teams. I said that Ill/Rad is better on teams, and that Ill/storm is better solo, so we're certainly on the same page there. I also agree that Ill/rad is better against AVs, and that storm's lack of a self-heal is problematic. And you're right about radiation being an early blooming set that's fantastic for leveling.
However, most of that is due to Rad's abilities, independent of the illusion primary. Rad is good for all the things mentioned, whether it's a controller or defender, and regardless of what the primary is. Similarly, Phantom army is great for what it's used for, pretty much regardless of the secondary. Illusion and Storm, meanwhile, have some astounding synergy. In particular, both tend to spread mobs out a lot, but neither tends to suffer for it, whereas some aspects of illusion and rad work against each other. Also, the game has a lot more ambushes than it used to, and storm is better, IMO, at dealing with surprise attacks. RI can't be counted on in an emergency, because it takes a very long time to cast and doesn't give you any immediate breathing room. Hurricane, conversely, can just be left on, and barreling through a group of enemies will knock them down, debuff their accuracy, and protect you from virtually all melee attacks. The downside, of course, is the severe team-unfriendliness of the set, as well as a lack of debuffs that will stick to a moving AV. Obviously, both sets have situations where they shine in, and you can't go wrong with either. |
Where Ill/Rad has special synergy is the mix of +Recharge, -Resistance and -Defense. The combination of two PB AoE Hold powers. I do agree that Storm has some really nice protective aspects in Hurricane and the chaos of Tornado, Lightning Storm and even Gale to keep foes at range.
And I do not agree that Illusion is more solo oriented. It is very flexible in that it can easily solo or team, and Illusion controllers have fewer conflicts with other controllers than other control sets. No AoE Immob means that the Ice Controller can use Ice Slick, the Earth Controller can use Earthquake and the Electric Controller can use Jolting Chain.
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
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Originally Posted by False_Fiction_EU
As for Elec, I'd pick a secondary that'd allow me to do well in melee range (probably /Rad or /Kin).
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Originally Posted by Local_Man
Unfortunately, my Elec/Rad solo relies heavily on the Gremlins for damage and it takes a while to drop foes. It is an interesting combo, but a little more damage would really help the set. If Jolting Chain just did more damage, it would be a pretty good set.
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I find that I don't use Jolting Chain often at all, but I absolutely SPAM Chain Fences (which seems to pick up everyone in sight).
It IS a visually busy combo though, so it may not be the best on bad comps.
Suggestions:
Super Packs Done Right
Influence Sink: IO Level Mod/Recrafting
Random Merit Rolls: Scale cost by Toon Level
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Jolting chain is more something that you use when things go wrong than when things go right. I can keep a boss down long enough so you can recharge and stack a hold on them.
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Originally Posted by gec72
I find that I don't use Jolting Chain often at all, but I absolutely SPAM Chain Fences (which seems to pick up everyone in sight).
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Hmm, never thought to use it for that (despite having it slotted with a KB set...leads to unpredictable spread, but I like the recharge bonus), but I can see it (having played popcorn popper on a Warwolf with my PB recently...yeah, I can see it). Unless completely taken by surprise though I'll have Liquify (KU/hold) and Paralyzing Blast available and Tesla Cage is on pretty quick recharge with bonuses and Hasten. I'll give that a shot on some harder to hold bosses like Forts or Zeus Titans though.|
Originally Posted by TheOOB
Jolting chain is more something that you use when things go wrong than when things go right. I can keep a boss down long enough so you can recharge and stack a hold on them.
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For really tricky situations I'll also use Sonic Cage. Overlapping boss spawns in One Good Spider is a perfect situational use for it.
Suggestions:
Super Packs Done Right
Influence Sink: IO Level Mod/Recrafting
Random Merit Rolls: Scale cost by Toon Level
Ill/rad plays very differently solo and on a team, at least in my experience so far. Solo, I have to take a while confusing things before starting on a spawn, if I want to win fights without getting whacked. Unless PA's up, which at 18, it usually isn't.
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I would say that just about every controller plays differently solo than on a team. In the lower levels, all controllers are a bit of a challenge solo, because you don't have all your tools to control groups. Some of the sets get a decent AoE control power earlier, but you still have to wait for recharge. It takes a lot of Recharge before Flashfire, Ice Slick, Stalagmites or Seeds of Confusion are up for every group.|
Originally Posted by seebs
Ill/rad plays very differently solo and on a team, at least in my experience so far. Solo, I have to take a while confusing things before starting on a spawn, if I want to win fights without getting whacked. Unless PA's up, which at 18, it usually isn't.
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Illusion doesn't get any decent AoE control until PA is up quickly and until Spectral Terror at 26. (Flash doesn't really count until it can be fully slotted with SO level enhancements. At least Illusion has Deceive, which can, with enough time, fully control a group so that a solo Illusion (or Mind) can wipe out an entire group with no risk whatsoever.
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
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I played Illusion/Rad for awhile(currently running Ill/Time), and I'd agree, the team and solo playstyles are very different, but I always felt like I was doing my job on a team.
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Originally Posted by Local_Man
I would say that just about every controller plays differently solo than on a team. In the lower levels, all controllers are a bit of a challenge solo, because you don't have all your tools to control groups. Some of the sets get a decent AoE control power earlier, but you still have to wait for recharge. It takes a lot of Recharge before Flashfire, Ice Slick, Stalagmites or Seeds of Confusion are up for every group.
Illusion doesn't get any decent AoE control until PA is up quickly and until Spectral Terror at 26. (Flash doesn't really count until it can be fully slotted with SO level enhancements. At least Illusion has Deceive, which can, with enough time, fully control a group so that a solo Illusion (or Mind) can wipe out an entire group with no risk whatsoever. |
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LOL !!! I actually let out a very loud chuckle on this one...
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Originally Posted by Local_Man
The one combo where I would consider making another Gravity controller would be Grav/Traps . . . the idea of using Wormhole to dump some unsuspecting bad guys on a field of trip mines is just too funny to pass up. Just imagine what would go through their minds . . . "What the F . . .where are we? and what are these things on the gr<BOOM>"
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The hard things I can do--- The impossible just take a little bit longer.
If numbers are so much more important than a teammate who is fun to play with, forget about the game altogether and go play with a calculator instead. -Claws and Effect-
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Hmm this is what I was looking for thanks Tex. I'll take a look a the ice/fire dom reply you had in the other forum as well. Care to elaborate more on this combo? I just made a grav/time and got it to lvl 11. After 6 years it is my first controller and I am thinking of building it for pvpve depending on how viable all the -spd stacks up in a pvp setting with DR. In Pve it looks like you can proc a lot and have aoe lockdown in the form of holds and stuns through wormhole. Survivability shouldn't be a problem with time manip and good slotting.|
Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
FYI my ideal for pairing Gravity would now be Time Manipulation. Specifically (unless it has changed since I last looked a week ago) Gravity/Time/Primal. Take Power Boost for insane defense from Farsight, use Conserve Power to reduce end costs (long recharge on Con Power is cut down a lot by Time's huge recharge buffs), use Energy Torrent + AoE immobilize slotted with Chance for Hold and Chance for Knockdown + Time's long duration slow patch slotted with a hold proc to hide Gravity's relative control problem.
You can run around on top of enemies with Time's Juncture on too, but by no means have to. |
It's very thematic, functional, and a lot of fun so far so I'd like to hear some good things before I make the time commitment to take it to 50.
Arg. So yah havin problems pickin a mian. Down to above 3
Grav because way back when game came out my friend was a grav/storm watchin him,play got me into the game.
Ill seems intresting and could be fun.
Elec wasnt out when I played and fits well into a tech concept I have.
2ndary I have no idea of thow. I need one that works well solo on a bad comp. But usefull in teams when I get beter comp soon. Open to anything.