Discussion: The Intrepid Informer: Issue #18

Darkness Control
by Phil "Synapse" Zeleski

It's time for a spooky edition of the Intrepid Informer! No, the City of Heroes Halloween event hasn't come early. We're going to be talking about Darkness Control! Darkness Control is a new primary power set choice for Dominators and Controllers and is available for free to VIP subscribers, premium players can purchase this new power set from the Paragon Market. This new control set allows the player to harness to power of shadows and darkness to render their foes helpless. First we'll talk about how this set plays in fairly great detail and then we'll talk about some tips and tricks to get you started.

General Overview

Darkness Control excels in both area of effect crowd control (like most control sets), but also debuffing its targets' chance to hit. This means that enemies that are resistant to such control effects will still have their accuracy reduced. Another unique aspect of this power set is the two pet powers: Haunt and Umbra Beast. These pets give you an additional level of passive control and damage, meaning once your pets are out there you don't have to do anything, as they'll continue to damage and control your foes. Shades summoned by Haunt will harass their target dealing damage and inflicting Terrorize while your Umbra Beast tears its targets to shreds.

One thing you'll notice right off the bat is that gone are the old tentacles and "skulls erupting from the player's face" as Tunnel Rat would say. Instead you'll see flowing shadows and inky effects that make Dark Control stand out from the other control power sets as something truly unique and special both mechanically and visually.

Powers

In the section below you'll find a list of powers within the Darkness Control power set along with their short description, long description and some of my comments regarding each power.

Darkness Control

You can control darkness and shadow to disable your foes with negative energy. Enemies that are affected by many of your attacks will have their chance to hit reduced.


Shadowy Binds
Ranged, Moderate DoT(Negative), Foe Immobilize, -To Hit, -Fly

You take control of your victim's shadow causing it to entangle and bind its owner thus leaving them immobilized and suffering from negative energy damage over time and reducing their chance to hit. Immobilized foes cannot move but can still attack.
Damage: Moderate, Recharge: Fast

Designer's Comments: This power is great for dealing some additional damage over time and preventing powerful melee oriented foes from reaching you or your more vulnerable allies. It also knocks fliers out of the air and reduces the target's chance to hit.


Dark Grasp
Ranged, Moderate DMG(Negative), Foe Hold, -To Hit


You cause your target's shadow to wholly envelop them, leaving them held and rendered helpless while suffering from moderate negative energy damage. Even if the target is powerful enough to resist the power's hold effect they will have their chance to hit reduced.
Damage: Moderate, Recharge: Moderate

Designer's Comments: Dark Grasp is a pretty standard hold. It deals a moderate amount of upfront damage and can lock down most targets for a short time. Bosses and tougher enemies who might resist the effect will still have their chance to hit reduced.


Living Shadows
Ranged (Cone), Minor DoT(Negative), Foe Immobilize, -To Hit, -Fly


You extend and animate your own shadow causing it to entangle all foes within a long cone pattern in front of you, rendering all affected foes immobilized.
Damage: Minor(DoT), Recharge: Moderate

Designer's Comments: Those of you who are familiar with previous Dark powers might expect this power to be a visual clone of Tenebrous Tentacles. We really wanted to move away from that old visual theme for this power set. Instead shadowy hands grasp at your targets and hold them in place.


Possess
Ranged, Target Confuse

You cause your targeted foe to be possessed by a dark entity from the Netherworld causing them to be confused for a short period of time. While confused they will be unable to tell the difference between friend or foe and will attack nearby allies.
Recharge: Moderate

Designer's Comments: Confuse powers can be great fun and can seriously ramp up a Controller or Dominator's survivability. Possess has the added bonus of also looking pretty darn cool. The target becomes darkened and they gain spooky glowing eyes. Above I mentioned Darkness Control gets some pets. They can also make most of their enemies their pets with this pivotal power.


Fearsome Stare
Ranged (Cone), Foe Fear, -To Hit


Instills tremendous Fear within a cone area in front of you, causing all affected targets to tremble in Terror uncontrollably.
Recharge: Slow

Designer's Comments: Fearsome Stare is originally from Dark Miasma, but for Controllers we ported it over to Darkness Control as it seemed to be a better fit. For those of you not familiar with Fearsome Stare, it's an incredible control power that terrorizes your foes and causes them to tremble in place unable to attack you unless you attack them. It's large radius also makes it great for shutting down big groups of enemies.


Heart of Darkness
PBAoE, Foe Disorient, -To Hit, Minor DoT(Negative)


In a burst of negative energy you overwhelm the minds of those around you causing them to be disoriented and suffer minor negative energy damage over a short time. Affected targets will also have their chance to hit reduced.
Damage: Minor (DoT), Recharge: Very Long

Designer's Comments: Should you find yourself surrounded by enemies Heart of Darkness is a great panic button. It will disorient nearby foes and cause a minor amount of damage over time.


Haunt
Foe Targeted, Summon Shades


You summon a pair of Shades from the Netherworld to harass your target foe. Shades deal moderate damage and they terrorize their victims.
Recharge: Very Long

Designer's Comments: Haunt summons two shades that harass your target. They will attack that target until it is defeated or they are defeated. They're persistent like that. They also deal a fair amount of damage with their Shadow Punch attacks and also repeatedly terrorize their victim leaving them trembling in place. Sending your Shades to attack an annoying hard target is a great way to lock that target down for a good while.


Shadow Field
Target (Location AoE), Foe Hold, -To Hit

You blanket a targeted area in darkness immediately holding foes within the field. Any foe who enters this area will have their chance to hit reduced and has a chance to be held for a short period of time.
Recharge: Very Slow

Designer's Comments: Shadow Field is a great location based hold/debuff that can really do a number on affected targets' chance to hit you. It immediately holds to all foes within the power's radius and then applies a location based to hit debuff. Not only that, but it also has a chance to hold foes that remain in the area. Combining it with -Speed powers (like Tar Patch) or Immobilization powers (like Living Shadows) will have the greatest effect.


Umbra Beast
Summon Umbra Beast


You conjure up one of the most fearsome creatures of the Netherworld, the Umbra Beast. This creature will fight beside its summoner using its brutal claw, bite and darkness attacks.
Recharge: Very Long

Designer's Comments: Umbra Beast is the first implementation of the canine rig usable by players within a power set. This pet loves to charge in and tear its enemies to shreds with its shadowy claw and bite attacks. It can also immobilize its victims to make sure they don't escape. Umbra Beasts also have the added benefit of looking unlike anything else in City of Heroes' game world! They're truly unique.


Tips and Tricks

Below you'll find a list of tactics that should get you started with Darkness Control. These tips aren't intended as the sole way or best way to play this power set, but they should help you find your own ideal way of playing.

• Possess is your friend!
  • This power can really turn the tide of battle. If you're facing a particular enemy that would cause you or your team a good amount of grief, why not turn them against their allies?
  • Are you hopelessly out numbered? Even the odds with Possess, it can really turn the tides of battle.
• Living Shadows + Shadow Field
  • These two powers work together very well. Lock your foes down with Living Shadows to render them immobile then lay a Shadow Field on top to lessen their chance to hit you. Affected enemies might also be held!
• Protect your pets!
  • Shades summoned by Haunt are fragile and can crumble fairly easily. Umbra Beasts are fairly tough, but not invincible by any means. You might consider healing or buffing them if you have a secondary that allows that. Alternatively you could debuff enemies attacking them to either make them less likely to defeat your pets.
• Emergency buttons galore!
  • Many of your powers not only act as offensive tools to cripple your enemies, but they are equally defensive. This means that if you should find yourself in a position where you're in danger, you likely have a tool to do with that situation:
    • If there's a large number of foes in front of you who are attacking you or your friends use Fearsome Stare. It will leave them trembling in fear!
    • If you or an ally are surrounded by enemies Heart of Darkness can give a long enough reprieve for you and your allies to recover.

Proliferation

It wouldn't be right to just launch Darkness Control on its own. No, it needs some thematic pairings. That's why we're also launching Darkness Affinity as a secondary power set option for Controllers and Dark Assault as a secondary power set option for Dominators. These two new power sets will be available for free for VIP players! I hope you're as excited as I am about issue 22, it's going to be a doozy!

Shouldn't that be "arrest its enemies to shreds"?

"...arrest its enemies to decimations..."

last time they released an issue in Feb was in 2006.
last 3 years they have been releasing issues in April, my guess i22 has an April release too.
There are still a few kinks they need to work out.

Using an AoE Hold and the bonus is "enemies might be held!"...uh...isn't that the point of the power?

Me personally, I'd rather use the AoE hold and then all other powers...sorry immob'ing a group is fine but if you do that first (in a team setting) you get the alpha...and well, we all know Controllers (and Doms) are squishy to an extent...so not the best idea there.

I like the -tohit and all the powers but...I just don't like the main thing for the "aoe hold" power to have the primary function being -tohit instead of an AoE hold...


*shrugs*

Except they look like the Wolf we had in the Haunted House, the German Shepherd pet, and the Coyote travel form. Still not digging having a dog as the tier 9, and wouldn't mind having the option of, say, Fluffy or something in addition to the dog. Especially with Dog Mastery coming down the line, soon.

Rest of the write up looks solid, though.

I don't think that's so much company policy as it is coincidence. As long as there are no 'show stopping' bugs I imagine it could be released. Not saying it will be or anything though.

my thoughts exactly.

it looks IDENTICAL to all the other canine rigs. more so if you try to use light colors to customize it. because that's all it is. with a dark aura tacked on. this bothers me so much, and the phrasing in the Intrepid Informer just makes it more annoying. i don't see why, if the animate stone can be customized how it is, we couldn't have SIMPLE alt models for it... that aren't so IDENTICAL to the wolves. and so many people spoke up about it... not to remove the dog, but to make at least a not-so-obviously-a-wolf model. you can even still use the new rig. just make the dog part invisible and give us a four legged fluffy. or add an option with horns and a snake/organic armor tail.

ANYTHING ELSE really. i know y'all arent lazy but this really felt like it.

such a turn off to an otherwise impeccably awesome set.

They ALL float down here. When you're down here with us, you'll float too!

@Starflier

Exactly how I feel about it too.

The Umbra Beast will not look 'unlike anything else in the game'. Not in an issue where we've got Wolf Mastery and Uberluck Black Wolf adding to the German Shepherds in game. Of all the pets, why another damned dog?

Of all the ideas they could have used for the Tier 9, surely a Giant Spider with a murky aura on it would have been more thematic? Some shadowy arachnid crawling from the depths of our nightmares... it's not like they don't already have the rig or haven't used it for the revamp of Dark Astoria.

It's laziness like this that has really disappoints me and has taken my excitement for Dark Control from "HELL YEAH! WANT IT NOW!" to "Ah ok, when you're ready I guess".

/signed on a giant umbral spider. same attacks as the wolf-beast, but simply using the spider rig, or arachnoid rig. would be SO MUCH BETTER, especially if it's an option.

Actually, from the looks of the secondary set, Dark/Dark Controllers should be able to get Fluffy as well:

http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Darkness_Affinity

I'm likin' it.

well that's not what they and i mean. the MM set gives us 4 command-able wolves [which is still a little overkill] and they make great purposeful uses of the rigs beyond cosmetics. yay canine rig! also the travel power is pretty awesome except that you cant attack. i'd have been perfectly fine with glitchy looking attacks if it meant i could still use my powers. [my coralaxe costume change power for example, blasts from its foot :P but that's a different conversation]

buuuut the troller set pet is a WOLF in a DARKNESS set. kinda jarring and limiting for a lot of folks' planned themes. that wasnt neccessary :/ and if it was, it didnt have to be so obvious of a port as it is.

they have done a lot of amazing hard work that i, and many players reaaaallly appreciate. but that one... decision... is one of a handful lately that are bothersome.

Seconded.

If someone wants to play a Dark/Dark Controller and a Dark/Dark Dom, but aren't VIP, are they going to be burning 2400 points? Or Dark Control as one set and the Dark secondaries bundled at 1600? (IOW, Dark Primary - 800, both Dark secondaries together - 800.) Or is it a Big Dark Pack at 1000, say?

I don't think they've done a thematic pairing like this since Freedom launched, so I'm very interested in seeing what they have planned in this situation.