Ill/Dark worth it?

When the next issue is released, will it be worth it over Ill/kin or Ill/rad?

I like the idea of another pet for controllers. I'm thinking Ill/dark/leviathan and I'll aim for 3 decoys, 1 spectral terror, 1 phantasm, 1 phantasm decoy, 1 water spout, 1 coralax, and 1 Dark Servant out at all times. I'm thinking he's called Lagromancer or Servercrashomancer.

I'm not real sure how synergistic Ill/Kin is aside from Siphon Speed giving you +recharge, but I'd imagine Ill/Dark will be just fine destroying any normal content and likely will be AV soloable with a good IOed build. I mean, I play an Ill/Sonic that has no troubles so I highly doubt you'll run into problems on and Ill/Dark.

Ill/Dark means not dying while your PA is down.

With the combination of Spectral Terror and Dark Servant's to-hit debuffs and DS's heal-spamming, I imagine Illusion/Dark will be quite survivable. Tar Patch and Howling Twilight will make AVs melt, while Darkest Night reduces their damage and debuffs their to-hit even further.

The truth is . . .

Illusion is so good that all secondaries work with Illusion. So an Ill/Dark will be good.

However, there are a few things that really help Illusion have synergy with its secondary:

1. Self-Recharge Buff to help PA and other powers come back faster. (Easier for Perma-PA.)
2. Resistance Debuff to help PA hit harder
3. Defense Debuff to help PA hit more often
4. -Regen to help take down AVs
5. ToHit Debuff to help you survive when PA aren't there (at least in lower levels), or some other mitigation.
6. A self-heal.
7. AoE Damage to make up for the lack of AoE Damage in Illusion.

Rad and Time have 1-6, which is why they are so good with Illusion. You could argue Rad has 7, too, with Fallout, but I don't really count that. Kinetics has 1, 6 and a weak 4. Cold has 2-5. Storm has 2, 3, 5 and 7. Trick Arrow has 2, 3, a weak 4 and a good 7. Therm has 2, 4 and 6. Sonic has 2 and that's about it. FF has 5 from PFF.

What about Dark? No Recharge buff, good 2, no 3, good 4, good 5, good 6, and no 7.

Actually Howling Twilight does have a mild AOE damage component. It's also a nice debuff and control power that is autohit.

Local, you forgot about Liquefy being in Sonic

Understandable, though since I constantly forget about it too.

HT is an interesting power in that it proves you can effectively nerf a power by making it more useful.

Illusion/Dark will be wicked. It's not like Illusion needed a third -ToHit debuff and Spectral Terror is basically the power that Dark is missing.

Dark Affinity is easily in competition with Cold and Rad as a "premier" min/max set for Illusion (or, well, anything). The two new powers are not very good but everything else still is, and its not like control is something most Controllers lack.

My first toon was a dark/dark/dark defender and I had a lot of fun playing him. I currently have a Dark/Dark/Soul blaster up to lvl 47. After I finish my blaster I cannot decide if Iwant to play a dark/dark controller or a dark/dark dom. They are both going to be made but, I just dont know which one to play first...lol

I might try a Dark/Dark troller once i22 comes out. My Dark/Dark/Soul Defender is my only non melee 50.

I've always used HT as a rez until an AV came along. At that point I use it as a debuff.

Dark/Dark also seems to be a pet friendly set too, soi far.

Hello,

I do have a lvl 50 Ill/Dark in the server test, with perma-PA. I ran an AE test mission filled with as much lvl 54 AV I can get... I have no trouble soloing them. Since /DA is not really supported by Mid's, I had to figure out my IO's bonuses, so my build still not perfect. What I can say is that it's look solid to me. Even with massive +rech you can't have Howling Twilight -regen debuff perma. But I can have 2 Tar patches at the same time most of the time (I'm soooo busy I sometime forget to click it ). The Dark Servant is a blessing, though I don't put any +acc in, and I think he miss way too much (in +4), even with +acc global bonuses.
The only drawbacks are the new powers, they don't fit well into the set because they don't give more -tohit, but some +regen and +recovery and a burst +def. Well, I thought about using Fade when PA are coming back, but I found out that DS or Phantasm decoy hold quite well the aggre in between. I might be a little bitter, but I really miss the -tohit in FS and I'm not too sad about the loss of PG :P.
The set is very different now, and I feel that we lost more than we gain, because of the 2 new situational powers. I really wished Soul Drain will add a -tohit, or -dmg or -regen component... Since devs just changed the recharge of theses power means that they're happy with them and don't want to look them. That's very sad.

Ill/ Dark and Dark/Dark controllers are sick. That is all.

I should add that whether Ill/Dark is worth it may turn out to be more a question of whether Illusion is worth it. Dark is... well I'll just say that if released as planned, my Mind Dominator character will be rerolled instantly and it will represent a huge buff to a character I already considered very effective. I'm not sure where Illusion stands yet.

That's mainly because I haven't yet wrapped my head around how much damage and survivability the new Dark Control pets have. If it turns out that in most content they survive as well as PA does for various reasons, IMO Dark will stomp Illusion Control. It has none of the downsides Illusion does and will have most of Illusion's (and Mind and Fire and even one of Dark Miasma's) best powers. AoE Containment is no issue. Stopping runners in BAF is no issue. Mobs fleeing due to Fear is no issue. Delivering proc damage from interface to a large crowd is no issue. Bosses you fail to mezz suffer massive -ToHit and are much less of an issue. Your AoE hold even works around corners like (only) Earth's does.

Again this all hinges on how good the pets turn out to be. But at this point Dark runs circles around Illusion's AoE capabilities, and appears to excel in the specific area of tanking that Illusion is known for. It gets a direct port of Confusion, the only not-really downside being having slightly shorter range. Instead of Flash as the lonely PBAoE it has a Flashfire clone that is actually bigger than that power and lasts longer.

Mind Control, meanwhile, is as of this writing officially dead, unless you just really want Mass Hypnosis. They could still resurrect it by changing one or both sets, but that's where we are right now.

I've notice certain folks like to make grand announcements about what other sets are going to be dead based on BETA testing new sets and their personal min/max attitude about powersets in general. Interesting....

People will always play sets no matter how awful they are by comparison. So illusion and mind will be fine.

Seriously tho, hyperbole aside, darkness control is a beast. I have never seen its like before.

Lewis

I think Ill/Dark will be a good pair. Dark Affinity will give you some powerful tricks that, I dare say, may make you nearly untouchable.

1. You get an additional pet to help.
2. You will essentially get a nice pair of +Stealth/Defense powers. I'm guessing the stealth may not stack but I would think the defense buff would. And, the one from DA provides some resistance as well.
3. A solid heal, REZ, and +regen/recovery buff.
4. You may lack a self +recharge buff. But, with Dark Affinity having 2 Defense powers, it should be fairly easy to fit in 5 LOTG +Recharge.
5. You pick up a small amount of AoE control that Illusion tends to lack.

Over all, I would think Dark Affinity would pair well with any of the controller primaries. I can imagine a -Resist patch, alone, would combo well with a primary set capable of keeping the mobs in place.