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If you haven't already, take a look at my Ill/Rad guide, linked in my sig. Even if you choose Ill/Time, the guide is worth looking at for the information on Illusion and the strategy tips.|
Originally Posted by ThePath
I've been debating between these two and reading various forum posts. They both seem pretty good. I'm mostly going to be running in small groups, although I like to plan or end game.
Anyone with thoughts on advantages/disadvantages? |
Time is a new set, so only a few die-hard types have gotten it to 50 already. I'm a bit slower, so my Ill/Time is only in the 20's.
One huge difference is that Ill/Rad gets many of the better powers early. The +Recharge power (Accelerate Metabolism) is available at level 4, while Time's Chrono Shift is level 38. This means that while leveling up, an Ill/Rad will be able to get Phantom Army out more often. The important AoE Debuffs in Rad are available earlier. Rad's level 28 power (Choking Cloud) and level 35 power (Fallout) are fully skippable for an Ill/Rad, which allows you to take your single target blast from the APP set at 35 instead of waiting until 41. See my guide about why this is important -- the attack chain of Blind-SW-Blast-SW will have a big impact on the amout of damage you can do.
There are a lot of debates about whether the PB AoE Aura from Time is all that useful for an Ill/Time -- it seems to vary with playstyle. Time is new enough that the "common wisdom" is still being worked out. Some folks are concerned that some of the powers are so good that they may get nerfed. I personally really like Distortion Field, which I view as a Quicksand-type power but with -Recharge instead of -Defense. It has a lot of strategic uses and adds some control needed by Illusion. Rad has Ling Rad for Slow and -Recharge, which is pretty good, too, but Distortion Field is a persistant location targetted AoE, which I like better.
Time has a number of single-target powers, while Rad has more AoEs. Time is more clicky than Rad. Rad has a very good Rez instead of a very good single-target ally buff -- that buff will not affect Phantom Army but can be used on Phantasm. Time may be better against single tough targets, but I haven't gotten there yet to try it out myself.
As end-game builds, we know that Ill/Rad is pretty awesome, but it looks like Ill/Time will be pretty awesome, too.
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
Hehe. I've read the guide. I can't say I understand it all just yet, but it is excellent.
So excellent, that I had rolled illusion/time and was rethinking it in part because of your guide, but it is close in my mind.
When I say rolled, I just mean a few sewer runs. No big deal if I want to rethink.
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Assuming you have enough slots, why not roll both and see which one you like better as you level them up? The different secondaries will mean that the characters will play quite differently even with the same primary. |
Originally Posted by ThePath
Hehe. I've read the guide. I can't say I understand it all just yet, but it is excellent.
So excellent, that I had rolled illusion/time and was rethinking it in part because of your guide, but it is close in my mind. When I say rolled, I just mean a few sewer runs. No big deal if I want to rethink. |
(I have Ill/Rad, Ill/Storm, Ill/TA and Ill/Cold all at 50, and I'm working on Ill/Kin, a second Ill/Rad and my new Ill/Time.)
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
Excellent, detailed, thoughtful response!!!
Thank you very much!
My first post was written before you had completed your full first post, so it may seem less responsive than one would think.
This is exactly the type of informed view I was hoping for. 
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Not surprising . . . most of the time I will post something quick, and then go back to edit it and add a lot of detail. So if you see that I have posted something in the last few minutes, there's a good chance that I'll change it in a few more minutes. (I also go back to fix typos.)|
Originally Posted by ThePath
Excellent, detailed, thoughtful response!!!
Thank you very much! My first post was written before you had completed your full first post, so it may seem less responsive than one would think. This is exactly the type of informed view I was hoping for. |
There has been a lot of excitement surrounding the Time Manip set. It looks like one of the better secondaries for Controllers as it adds some decent control in addition to the buffs/debuffs. Until Time, Rad was the only secondary that had Def and Resistance debuffs AND a Recharge buff. Now Time offers that, too. I won't personally be able to fully evaluate the set until I get and fully slot up the level 38 power, and I'm not moving very fast at leveling mine up so it may be a while.
It certainly looks as though Time is a good set for Illusion, but I expect it to be very clicky -- and more time spent clicking buffs and debuffs means less time to attack.
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
The thing I'm finding with my Ill/Time (curr level 35) is that it doesn't quite blossom as quickly as does Rad. With Rad you've got most of your big debuffs and AM by 32. With /Time, you really need to wait until 38-40 to feel as fully fleshed out as you would with an Ill/Rad. The other thing is that your -ToHit debuff is PbAoE (Juncture) whereas on a /Rad its a ranged -ToHit debuff. So where Ill/Rad can be played almost entirely from range, Ill/Time benefits more if you are willing to enter melee.
You just need to change your playstyle a little bit if you are used to /Rad.
I have both and while I love time and have it on several toons, if I were limited to just one I would go Ill/Rad. Ill/Time is nice but blossoms later as stated.
The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
Thanks again for the good advice, everyone! It sounds like both are great (we think), but little things here and there, might give rad a bit of an edge for my first controller toon. If not, I love alts, so Time will have its time.
This is really good information.. I have a question, I have a 33rd lvl Ill/Time, and it feels like I have him totally messed up. Can one of you post a mids on how would be best to build and slot him? I feel lost when trying to do this. I have a few hundred million, so I probably cannot do the all out IO's but would like to know what would be good mid range IO's that will do very well for him.
Thanks!
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Your primary goal is Recharge, then Recovery. First, take a look at my Illusion/Rad guide for your Illusion powers. (link in my sig.) In terms of the Time set, think Recharge bonuses first.|
Originally Posted by Heroes_NA
This is really good information.. I have a question, I have a 33rd lvl Ill/Time, and it feels like I have him totally messed up. Can one of you post a mids on how would be best to build and slot him? I feel lost when trying to do this. I have a few hundred million, so I probably cannot do the all out IO's but would like to know what would be good mid range IO's that will do very well for him.
Thanks! |
There are variations on builds depending upon playstyle. The best thing would be to try to make a build and then post it for comments.
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
Personally, I love Rad and think everyone should roll at least one character with Rad. However, I already have a 50 Rad/Dark defender, 40 Fire/Rad corrupter, and 35 Fire/Rad controller, so I'm not about to roll any more Rad characters.
My Ill/Time controller is 47 now, and will hopefully be 50 this week. I'm loving the combo so far, and I anticipate it will do well in endgame content. Time is an appealing set for veteran Rad players because it's another set that has a variety of buffs and debuffs, good survivability, and of course nice recharge buff which is much loved by Illusion controllers. My Ill/Time really does feel like a "jack of all trades, master of many" type character. He is a star on small teams, and strong player on large teams. He can shift rather fluidly between control/distraction, buffing/support, and debuffing a hard target, not to mention that he does decent damage. The only downside I can see is that there are *a lot* of click powers to keep track of, so it may not be the greatest combo for folks who get into a scrapper-lock sort of mentaility.
I guess the other downside is that IOing will not be cheap. I haven't even delved into purples at all, but with 5 LoTGs, Miracle/Numina uniques, and a bunch of Basilisk's Gaze, this build is already approacing "really expensive" (for me at least).
Ill Time is a hoot. My toon is lvl 41 and I'm loving it. Like others have said it's a slow ride but once you get to lvl 38 it turns into a different animal. Stay with it!
Ill/Time reminds me of my Archery/Energy Blaster...you feel like you're somewhat contributing in dmg on a team but you still feel like a waste of space but once you get Rain of Arrows you ended up doing this...O_O
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Mine will probably turn 41 tonight and I'm loving it as well. /Time works so well with Illusion, both in making what's already good better and filling in holes where it's lacking. I'm really really enjoying this combo.
|
Originally Posted by Negate
Ill Time is a hoot. My toon is lvl 41 and I'm loving it. Like others have said it's a slow ride but once you get to lvl 38 it turns into a different animal. Stay with it!
Ill/Time reminds me of my Archery/Energy Blaster...you feel like you're somewhat contributing in dmg on a team but you still feel like a waste of space but once you get Rain of Arrows you ended up doing this...O_O |
@Mental Maden @Maden Mental
"....you are now tackle free for life."-ShoNuff
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That so reminds me of Ana when she first started playing. She was also on her Arch/EM blaster and got Rain of Arrows. |
Originally Posted by Negate
Ill Time is a hoot. My toon is lvl 41 and I'm loving it. Like others have said it's a slow ride but once you get to lvl 38 it turns into a different animal. Stay with it!
Ill/Time reminds me of my Archery/Energy Blaster...you feel like you're somewhat contributing in dmg on a team but you still feel like a waste of space but once you get Rain of Arrows you ended up doing this...O_O |
We were duoing a mish, I went in "crazy mad scrapper" and she hit Rain.
From across the room she starts screaming "Oh my god!!! Did you just see what I just did?? Did you? I did that didn't I? It wasn't you, was it??!!?? Tell me it was me!!!"
Of course, now she's all cocky with it, but that first time she used it was hilarious!
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I agree, I haven't been this in love with a controller in quite some time...and I admit I was sitting on the sidelines waiting for a good match with Illusion. Now since /Cold and /Time are out I have my work cut out for me.|
Originally Posted by MentalMaden
Mine will probably turn 41 tonight and I'm loving it as well. /Time works so well with Illusion, both in making what's already good better and filling in holes where it's lacking. I'm really really enjoying this combo.
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Originally Posted by GibsonMcCoy
That so reminds me of Ana when she first started playing. She was also on her Arch/EM blaster and got Rain of Arrows.
We were duoing a mish, I went in "crazy mad scrapper" and she hit Rain. From across the room she starts screaming "Oh my god!!! Did you just see what I just did?? Did you? I did that didn't I? It wasn't you, was it??!!?? Tell me it was me!!!" Of course, now she's all cocky with it, but that first time she used it was hilarious! |
I've been debating between these two and reading various forum posts. They both seem pretty good. I'm mostly going to be running in small groups, although I like to plan or end game.
Anyone with thoughts on advantages/disadvantages?