General controller tips . . . that's a big topic because each controller plays differently. You have to adjust your playstyle to (a) your powersets - yes, both of them; (b) your team and your team's playstyle, and to a lesser degree (c) your foes. Some controllers provide great AoE control and low damage, like Earth and Electric. Some controllers provide pretty good AoE control and decent AoE damage like Plant and Fire. Gravity has decent single target damage, mostly weak AoE control and almost no AoE damage. It has a great pet and some unique powers that take some work to learn how to use effectively.
When you are playing a scrapper or a brute, you pretty much run in and start beating on things. If you do that with a controller, you will probably be tasting the carpet/dirt quite often. Instead, you need to learn what each of your powers will do, what those powers are best at, and how to use them without getting yourself clobbered. Some controllers have a great "alpha mitigation" power, while others don't. Examples of great "alpha mitigators" are Fire's Flashfire, Earth's Stalagmites, Plant's Seeds of Confusion, Electric's Static Field. Unfortunately Gravity really doesn't have one other than the somewhat situational Wormhole.
Gravity has some good single target damage, but is weak on AoE control. You don't get any "good" AoE control until later in the build -- Wormhole doesn't come until level 26. Using Crushing Field (the AoE Immob) as an initial attack will usually turn all of the aggro against you and the foes will use their ranged attacks on you. Instead of a great "alpha strike," Gravity can rely upon its pet, Singularity (a/k/a "Singy") to draw aggro. Unfortunately, you don't get Singy until level 32. Also, Singy's Repel field tends to be a bit chaotic and throw foes all over the place. In lower levels, it is nice if you can get a teammate to draw the aggro for you, letting you then use your single target attack chain to take down foes.
Time Manipulation is an interesting mix. It has an AoE heal, an AoE slow patch with a chance to hold, a PB AoE toHit debuff toggle, a single target odd foe power, a single target foe hold, a single target ally buff and then an AoE foe debuff, a nice AoE Defense buff and a nice AoE Regen and Recovery buff. I don't know that it has much synergy with Gravity other than thematically.
I would suggest that you consider taking Super Speed and getting a Celerity Stealth IO in it to provide full invisibility. That will allow you to lead your Singy around without being seen. It will also let you scout out the situation to figure out the best place to use Wormhole.
Your key attack chain will be Gravity Distortion ("GD")-Lift-Propel. You may or may not want to add Crush -- Crush used to be more important before the recent changes to Gravity that substantially improved it.
Do you understand "Containment?" Any foe who is Held, Stunned, Slept or Immobilized will take double damage from your attacks. All other forms of control do NOT set Containment. As a result, you always want to start with a Hold, Stun, Sleep or Immob . . . but any foe Slept will wake up as soon as you do an attack, and any foe Immobilized will be able to shoot back. GD is your single target Hold, so you generally want to start your single target attack chain with GD as it sets Containment.
An AoE Immob can both be a help and a problem. Used right, and you keep foes from running away. Used wrong, and you draw aggro from a large group of foes who will use their ranged attacks to kill you. AoE Immob + toHit Debuff means that foes can't run away and can't hit you, so that is a pretty good combo if you can make it work.
There's a start. There's lots more.
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
Playing controllers can be much more complex than the damage-oriented ATs. Each player can develop his or her own playstyle, and that playstyle may be just as effective as another. I mostly like to play my controllers at range . . . unless the powerset has a good reason for me to play in melee, such as Fire, Ice and Electric. Gravity works very well from range, but you also have your PB AoE -ToHit aura from your secondary which would put you in melee if you want to use it a lot. I have an Ill/Time who has that aura, but doesn't use it all that often as I prefer to stay at range most of the time.
The most important thing for a new controller to try things out. See what works for you. Read the guides and the power descriptions and look at City of Data to find out what the powers do, and then experiment to see what playstyle works best.
This is especially true when you get Wormhole. Wormhole is a unique power that can be used well or misused. I have been on teams where I was playing a melee character and some Grav controller kept using Wormhole to take away the foe I was beating on . . . Argh! On the other hand, you can use Wormhole to set up a "death zone" and bring foes into the zone. (This is one of my favorite things to do with my Grav/Storm -- set up Lightning Storm, Singy and Tornado in a corner, then Wormhole in a group and hit them with Freezing Rain and Crushing Field. While the stunned foes flop in place, my pets and I smash them to bits.) Sometimes you need to communicate with teammates to let them know what you are doing. Either type fast or learn to use macros.
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
Thank you very much Local_Man!
I will definetly take what you have so wonderfully told me and apply it to my playstyle and try and discover what works best through trial and error.
I've gotten to 12 and am having a blast with Prof. Spacetime and am looking forward to edging out and away from my brutish delights to see what else I've been missing!
Hi all!
As the topic states, this is my first controller, my first anything really outside of brutes for 3 years.
I'm looking for any kind of tips for low levels and hopefully 50 as well.
I've decided to go with gravity/time as my combo and am enjoying it so far. I imagine teaming will be a big part of my playstyle as I created him to run with my brother's energy/rad Corrupter.
But I am mostly used to SMASH! So if anyone has some tips or a easy leveling build it would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks all!