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.
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!
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.
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!
Discuss Darkness Control with the community!