Biospark

I LIKE this idea Dr.Mike

But what would it replace, Sparky maybe. It would then have to do some serious Damage as well, but I would still like it.

I am sticking my tongue out at both of you ! Hehe

Perhaps the drain amounts for defenders should be higher than blasters, and the same for Corruptors. Something like 35% for Blaster SC, 42.5% for Corruptor and 50% for Defenders, based on the differences in their base damage.

Just a thought

I hear you Robin,

This is why I started playing controllers for awhile back in the beginning.
They were good at team support and Able to solo, albeit very slowly.
Then Containment came along and I thought I had found my niche.

I think IOs have really saved all bad builds and poor soloers, if you know what you are doing.
Of course, I am sure that IOs have turned the Good combos and Solo builds into absolute machines, but oh well.

I recently made and played around with colors on an Illusion Controller, and I also noticed that double sound effect. I cannot say for sure whether it did not happen on a kill shot, but it was pretty consistent. I assumed it was a new bug from I16.

Although I dont play Kin/Electric ( My sapper is Emp/Electric ), I can say that it works quite well. Considering all the tools that Kinetics has over Empathy, A Kin sapper would be awesome to behold.

There are three things I suggest with regards to sapping. The first is that you should consider waiting for Short Circuit until after Tesla Cage. If not then, at least until after SO level enhancements. Tesla Cage is a nice way to neutralize troublesome Lts at the start of a battle.

Second, the biggest thing that you have to get over is fear of melee range.
Sapping is a wild, in-your-face style, and you cannot be squeemish about getting close to hard hitting mobs. That being said, it will also help to add some personal defense to your character. Once again a reason to wait until after Tesla cage. Its very hard to have anything resembling defense on Empathy or Kinetics at level 10 when SC opens up.

Finally, I agree 100% with StratoNexus on his slotting reccommendations for SC.
I fire off Ball Lightning and Short Circuit every time they recharge, simply because I can and Tesla is only locking down 1-2 villains at a time. So every ounce of AoE that I can do on a group packed around me, means less single target attacks to finish em off.

You forgot --> Tesla --> Short Circuit --> Short Circuit

or if your trying to take a nasty Boss out of the action;

Tesla--> SC --> Tesla --> SC

Nothing like locking down the biggest threat and less than 15 seconds into the fight having all the nearby villains standing around trying to figure out why they cannot do anything.

doh !!!

What size was the team. Only one defender to keep an 8-man team standing would be challenging.

The lack of buffs would be conspicous. A good Empath doesnt just heal, but did you ask the person if they were using an odd build or help educate them. Perhaps they didnt have their build set up for Posi. Some careful choices need to go into a Posi build and if they did a higher level respec, may have been hitting themselves in the head for their power choice orders the whole time you were keeping track of their actions

Well, I see that you are unhappy about the event. But two things I would ask you to think about.
First, you said there were no team wipes. That is success in my book. I honestly dont analyse anyone's performance except my own on successful teams. Perhaps you are spending too much time looking at someone else's actions.
Second, If you were coming to be consoled on these forums, we feel your pain. Most people have been on bad teams. But if you really wanted to help the "state of affairs", politely offer some advice to this defender. Perhaps they need it, and would even be greatful to you for pointing out how they can do their job better.

Ok this is where you took your post too far. You CANNOT judge all defenders by the actions of one person. Especially when, in your own words You need to find this Empathy and offer friendly pointers, or.... let it go

I keep my Sig updated, So Balanced is correct, I am 39 at the moment.

I would expect to open my first epic power within the next few days. Job, family, means I only get a few hours tops each day.

As far as the damage buff, I promised not to form solid opinions until the end of the project.

I will say this though, I have been fighting Red Lts alot lately and they take a LONG time to bring down.
They are basically perma-held with Tesla, so I dont get hurt, but it reminds me of the old days for a pre-containment controller.

Yeah I think Electric Mastery is a very good example of how to supplement an attack chain.

Pre-Tesla, my single target chain was 4 attacks, Charged Bolts, Lightning Bolt, Air Superiority and Boxing. They were all slotted for dmg and accuaracy, and were very good at dealing damage for 27 levels. One thing people might not realize about boxing (and which made me a fan) is that when you get hit with slowing effects (freezer, scientists, spectrals, Marksman, etc,,,,) Boxing remains very useful. It has such a short recharge, that slows don't really slow it much.

After Tesla, I found that I had one too many attacks and was planning a respec into Hasten anyway, so I dropped Air Superiority (Tesla is WAYYY Better) and just slotted up Boxing as a third attack. But now that Hasten and my Blasts are fully slotted, and I can spam the endurance heavy Ball Lightning and Short circuit (under RA), I hardly use boxing.
The reason is simple, its damage is too low. It is more economical to wait for a blast to cycle (under Hasten, thats not a long wait), so I dont really need that 3rd attack unless I am slowed and/or Hasten is not running.

So... up steps Electric Mastery. My first 2 choices are a Single Target Immob which has a fast recharge and can be used as an attack, or.... Thunderstrike, slow, expensive and Huge AoE damage.

I will be taking Thunderstrike. Why... well I skipped Voltaic, I skipped Thunderous blast, so I seriously lack a big Hitter. I am unsure though whether this attack would add much to a team setting, since my job would be less about damage. So on my team Build, if I also take Electric Mastery, I could easily see the greater benefit to having an Immob power instead of another AoE.

These are just thoughts out loud. I will know more soon enough.

P.S. As far as Shocking Bolt, I fully intend on taking this power. In fact, Electric or Psychic mastery are really the only 2 that I will consider, and thats because they both have a hold-type power to complement Tesla cage.
Strategically, the epic holds last longer, so I would suspect that you would fire off Tesla followed by your epic hold for maximum holding power on a Boss.
I am sure the other sets would add to this combo just fine, but being able to hold a Boss is a critical ability I dont want to lack (Solo or Team). Its less important on a team, if you have other teammates with holds. You and they could co-ordinate a little and stack holds easily, but solo.... gotta have Dominate or Shocking Bolt. IMHO

My current level 50 Build(planned) has the following powers actually slotted for damage (among other things enhanced) ; Charged Bolts, Lightning Bolt, Ball Lightning, Short Circuit and Thunderstrike.

I will also have Shocking Bolt, but it will be slotted as a hold to compliment Tesla Cage, which is also slotted for hold (not damage). I am not taking Thunderous Blast or Voltaic, but I am planning on trying other builds eventually that might take advantage of Thunderous Blast and/or VS. For my Team Build, I would probably keep Lightning Bolt, even though I would probably have more use from SC and Ball Lightning. My Team stratgey is simple ; Have decent enough defenses to enable me to stand right in the middle of the action, use Heals, Holds and SC drains thru the fighting. If the team is less needy of my heals, then I could launch more attacks, but I am just not sure which attacks would be the best.

There is this fun vision of me standing in the thick of drained enemies and Launching Aim+Thunderous Blast +pop a blue followed by Powersink

I suspect, but do not yet know, that Solo work = Single Target > AoE, while Teamwork = AoE > Single Target

Any thoughts ?

I have always been a big believer in Fitness. Every character I have leveled uses it.
Hasten otoh is one I rarely take. Both have been very helpful additions to my build, so I will have a hard time actually trying a Stamina-less build. Very few powersets could probably consider going without Stamina. Empathy is one of them.

I will still have to think awhile on it. Hehe I have 11 more levels.

Hello again Perwira,

Its funny that you should mention a balanced build. I have started the gears moving on how to do my second team build as a more balanced build. It will not be about damage really, but I want to preserve the Draining strategy and some personal defense, at the same time as adding in all the team powers I will need.

I need to add at least Heal Other, Clear Mind, Fort, and AB
But should also consider the other 2 powers as well, since they are all good for teams.

So I only need to swap out 4-6 powers.

Currently my level 50 Solo Plan is;

Empathy (3 powers) Electric Blast (6 Powers) Electric Mastery (4 Powers)
Fighting (3) Leaping (3) Speed (2) Fitness (3)

I can easily get 3 by dropping the fighting pool. I could also get 3 more by dropping fitness, and trying for a stamina-less build. Or making other pool changes, including the Epic choices. But my main thought on a team build would be to add pseudo control thru draining along with my heals and buffs. Depending on team makeup I could adjust strategies to heal more-drain less, or drain more-heal less.

I tried Earth way back in the beginning and it was fun.
But I have to be honest. The new Lava coloring option for Earth has REALLY made me look at this Character concept again.
Its probably the main reason I have decided to try this.
But I also like the choking animation on the Fire side. Dont think either side is better visually, especially when Storm will be stealing both their thunder. (pun intended )

Hiya MM,

Which Epic earth powers did you take.
The reason I ask is that I dont want the Earth Armor graphic overshadowing my Costume, which means I would skip it.
This really is the ONLY sticking point for the Fire/Storm/Earth option.
Would I be seriously missing out by not taking the Armor ?

Earth/Cold/Fire would be a late blooming set with a really nice team oriented nature I think.
The fact that sleet doesnt show up until level 35 means that you would have a long road of no damage increasers, but after that I bet it would be fine.
The fact that Freezing Rain would come at level 16 makes me lean toward Storm instead of Cold. Add to that you could use Tornado + Lightning Storm on a group of Held Villains makes me just feel all tingly inside.

My first controller (iirc, its been 5 years) was Earth/Storm. But the endurance use was incredibly high. I moved on to Mind/Empathy rather fast because of it.

Thanks for your response

What I do with the Auras is a little different. You COULD hit Hasten+RA+Regen all at the same time, but I found that this leads to very different performance levels. Super strong when they are all running, and super weak when they are all recharging.

So what I do, is Hit Hasten, Fight a little, then before Hasten wears off, Hit Recovery aura.
This makes the Hasten crash less painful and then before RA wears off, I hit regen Aura, so that the huge 26 Endo cost of casting it gets recovered quickly before Recovery aura wears off.

So my combat goes like this. One Fight is fast and furious with Hasten, then I can pretty much spam Ball Lightning in with my regular attacks, SC too and Healing. Finally when Hasten and Recovery have worn off, I have already activated Regen Aura and can take a heavy beating when Hasten and RA are not refreshed. By the Time Regen Aura wears off, Hasten is back and RA soon after. Its a pretty reliable cycle. I dont have to slow down much.

Thanks for the support I am closing in on 40 with Biospark, and it keeps getting easier.

For everyone else, Very much appreciate the responses to this thread.
My next character project is going to be WildMage (a controller) and I want a very flashy and potent elementalist. Kinda leaning toward Fire-Storm-Earth, but not very fond of the earth Armor graphics. Earth-Storm-Fire would be a great teaming build with lots of end game potential AND Consume , mmmm yummmy

Hey I am not crazy !

Crazy is when you don't listen to the voices. They get mad when you do that.

Not Me, I let em all have their chance to speak

Sorry to hear it PK,

To be honest, starting at level 10 and continuing on till level 28, Playing my defender was not easy at all. When I have done timestreams that take away Tesla Cage, I feel like I am playing with one hand tied behind my back.

Hope you enjoy your character despite what you have seen.