Local_Man

"Frankenslotting" is a kind of joke term used to describe taking parts from several sets to slot up your power. For example, Volcanic Gasses needs Recharge and Hold, but other enhancements don't provide as much benefit. You can get enhancements from several sets that have Hold/Rech or Acc/Hold/Rech. It is important to understand that two Hold/Rech provide MORE enhancement than a common Hold and a common Rech.

At level 25, the common IOs actually are less enhancement than SOs. But replacing an Acc and Dam with two Acc/Dam will give you more enhancement in the same two slots. Three Acc/Dam/Rech are a lot better than one of each. That same principle continues as you level up. Sometimes, full sets are a good choice but you can save slots by Frankenslotting. Sometimes, the full set may not have enough of certain attributes for the particular power, or the full set may include attributes that are worthless (Accuracy and Damage are included in the Slow sets, but those attributes are worthless in Quicksand). Frankenslotting can allow you to enhance those attributes that are needed. And sometimes, you can pick and choose which bonuses you want with Frankenslotting.

For example, I generally slot Lightning Storm with Dam/Rech and Dam/End/Rech from Thunderstrike and Entropic Chaos, and then Dam/Rech and Chance for Hold from Devastation. That caps Damage and Recharge, gives a little EndRdx and the Chance for Hold proc is great in that power. It already has high Accuracy, so I don't really need to slot for Accuracy. Range is wasted. And I get a lot of Regen and a little Recovery as set bonuses.

Make sure to get Mid's Hero & Villain Designer so you can play around with your builds and see what works. It is a free download from www.cohtitan.com.

No, absolutely not. I have never purchased the AE Edition. I purchased the Magic booster before the AE edition was available, and I'm not interested in the other. If you want one of those boosters, then it is a good deal. Otherwise, skip it. I do recommend getting the Martial Arts booster, though.

Earth and Ice are the two lowest damage controller primaries. Earth slightly beats out Ice . . . depending on the effectiveness of Arctic Air's confusion. Earth's Animate Stone a/k/a Rocky a/k/a Stoney a/k/a Poo Man does better damage and is more durable than Jack Frost, while Jack has some control powers (slow, hold). Rocky has been much improved by the addition of Seismic Smash, which includes a hold with its good damage.

Can you solo an Earth Controller? Sure, but don't expect it to be very fast. Take Stone Prison and slot it as a damage power (I skip this on a team build). Slot Fossilize for damage. Slot as many damage procs in Stone Cages as you can, and even add damage procs to Volcanic Gasses and Quicksand. It will feel as though you are carving an Ice Scupture with a pocket knife, but you will eventually get there. Rocky helps A LOT. Adding damage from your secondary (Storm or TA) also helps a lot -- a high level Earth/Storm or Earth/TA can solo at an almost bearable speed. And the APP sets also make a big difference.

As previously stated, you can use either the Magic or Tech origins to light the Slick, and then Energy or Fire attacks from your APP set will light it. I have the Fire APP, so Oil Slick Arrow + Fireball makes for a great foe bar-be-que. With Resistance Debuffs, that combo can defeat Minions, as long as you can keep them in the area, and do a lot of damage on all others.

I have an Illusion/TA at 50, but two aspects of Fire/TA cause me to avoid that combo. First, I consider TA to be a ranged set. Sure, you can fire off you arrows melee, but while you are shooting, you are a sitting duck. One of the main damage powers in Fire is Hot Feet, which means you either have to go into melee and stay there, or run in and out of melee. The ToHit Debuff in TA is not very strong even combined with Smoke, so you will get hit a lot when you are in melee. With no heal, that could be a problem. Second, the lit Oil Slick Arrow causes the Fire Imps to run away. Actually, it causes all controller pets to run away, but since Fire Imps only have melee attacks, it is a bigger problem for Fire/TA. On my Ill/TA, Phantasm and Phantom Army all have ranged attacks.

If I was going to do another TA character, I would go with Grav/TA. Better damage than Ice; TA fills some of the AoE control holes from Grav; Singularity is a great tank to draw aggro, allowing you to stay at range and shoot your arrows, and Singy has ranged attacks; and you could Wormhole foes onto Oil Slick and the other location-targetted AoEs from TA.

Keep in mind that Mind, Ice and Grav have nothing to light the Oil Slick -- however, you don't get Oil Slick until level 35, and then you can get Fireblast or Fireball (or the Primal Blast) at 41, so you will only have 6 levels of having to rely upon the Tech or Magic Origin powers.

Mind/Cold might be interesting, too. Cold could fill some of the holes in the Mind set, but I don't have experience with the Cold set yet. It seems to me that some of the best powers in Cold are copies of Storm powers.

Different playstyles. I assume you are not including Volcanic Gasses with the other AoE holds, by the way.

I find the AoE Holds to be quite worthwhile taking. Most of the time, they fill in the hole while other AoE control powers are recharging. On a pre-perma PA Ill/Rad, Flash and EM Pulse can control when PA is recharging and Spectral Terror isn't enough. On a Fire/Rad Controller, Cinders provides enough time, when Flashfire is recharging, for Choking Cloud to work its magic. On Plant Controllers, Seeds has to recharge and Vines can fill that hole when needed. On some characters, the AoE hold becomes more of a "panic button" power, but I still take it with almost all of my controllers. (I skipped Flash on my Illusion/TA since he stays at range and EM Pulse Arrow and Oil Slick Arrow fills the hole when PA is recharging.) At level 50, if I want to reduce the slots, I get by with 2 Acc/Mez Hami-Os, 2 Recharge.

Knockdown and Knockback are the same attribute. Protection from one is protection from the other. Knockdown happens when the number is less than 1. Knockback happens when the number exceeds 1. This is why you never want to enhance knockdown powers with Knockback enhancements, as it will turn the knockdown into knockback. This is also why Clockwork get knocked back when in a knockdown area -- they are weak to knock powers.

Take a look at City of Data. The AoE Immobilize in Earth, Ice, Plant and Fire all have 12 seconds of -Knockback. After 12 seconds the foes will be able to fall down while still in their cages. The single target Immob has 15 seconds -Knockback. Also, Ice and Earth control's single target holds, Block of Ice and Fossilize, have 12 sec of -knockback. Ice's AoE hold, Glacier, has 10 Sec. of -Knockback. The Entangle cast by Plant's Carrion Creepers and Fly Trap also has 15 Sec. of -knockback. The -Knockback is unresistable and the time cannot be enhanced.

Grav is unique, in that its Immob powers do not have -Knockback. Instead, its hold powers have -knockback -- 10 sec for Grav Distortion and 8 sec for Grav Dist. Field. (I wonder why they are shorter?) Tenebrous Tenticles and Midnight Grasp do not have -knockback. Illusion and Mind do not have any -knockback at all.

I admit that I'm a fan of Arctic Air -- and you really can't understand how awesome it is until you have it well slotted for EndRdx and Confuse. But it becomes far, far more awesome when you get that Contagious Confusion proc in it. Add a damage proc, and it all adds up.

Part of the problem used to be that we couldn't tell when AA was doing its thing, since the confusion did not show up as the little purple bubbles until very recently. Now we can see some of what it is doing, but it still doesn't show the effect of the Slow+Afraid from this power; these mitigate a lot of damage.

Some people, however, just don't want to be in melee. I play most of my controllers always at range, but my Ice/Storm was built to be in melee.

My view of it, for what that is worth . . .

Hold, Sleep and Immob all keep the foe from moving, and thus unable to avoid the subsequent attack so the foe suffers extra damage. Stun is a bit more of a stretch, but it also involves the foe being unable to avoid the subsequent attack. Knockdown and even moreso, knockback involves the foe moving -- quite quickly in the case of knockback -- and either the foe is harder to hit or he has some ability to avoid the part of the attack to avoid the extra damage. Confuse also does not prevent the foe from avoiding the attack, even if it prevents a response, as the foe is confused into thinking that the attack came from his buddy.

But, all in all, it is an excuse to give more damage to controllers.

The reason I like 2 Acc, 1 Recharge is for going against AVs and tough single targets where Fulcrum Shift has a lot lower benefit. Against AVs, 1 Acc may not be enough, and a miss is just wasted End. But with 1 Rech and Siphon Speed, Siphon Power will stack. Of course, 2 Recharge would be better.

I have also seen some people put some EndRdx in Siphon Power because it uses a lot of endurance.

Some people love controllers, others don't. Seven of my 14 level 50 characters are Controllers, so I would say that I'm in the "love" category. There are a lot of controllers that are very good in low levels, but most controllers really mature into really powerful characters in later levels because it is the combination of powers that makes them so effective.

I'm not a big fan of the Buffing sets. I can't get */Emp or */Sonic past 10. I haven't taken Therm or Cold very far, though I want to. I have a Mind/FF at 35, but that's mainly due to the power of Mind Control. But I can't agree with you about Kinetics, and I have played a number of Kinetics Defenders and Controllers. It changes the playstyle of the entire team to be faster and more melee-oriented. Yeah, it is a real pain to have to Speed Boost everyone every couple of minutes, but benefits far outweigh the inconvenience -- the added Recharge and Recovery can have a huge effect on the team, not to mention the large heal from transfusion, the endurance from Transferance, and the boost in damage from Siphon Power and Fulcrum Shift. Kinetics is a very "clicky" set, which should keep you busy, but I find that even one Kinetics on a team helps the team complete missions faster, and two makes it stupidly fast. (At one time, Call Me Awesome and I were on a perma-team consisting of a Rad/Rad Def, my Fire/Rad Contr, an Ill/Rad, two Kin/Sonic Def and one or two Fire Blasters. THAT was fast!) Fire, Ice and Plant Control clearly have a lot of synergy with the Kinetics set.

I have mostly solo'ed my Ill/Storm, Fire/Kin, Mind/FF and Grav/Storm, and use a lot of other controllers solo. My second Ill/Rad started out on a "superteam," but is mostly solo in the 40's. Other than the Fire/Kin, they are not fast but can be quite safe. I think my favorite is the Grav/Storm for solo play -- he can really let loose solo, while he has to limit the chaos on teams. He can use some really fun strategies solo.

But I agree that an Ice/Ice blaster is a lot of fun, too. That was my first Blaster to hit 50. Three single target holds, massive slows and an Ice Patch, with good single-target and AoE blasting power.

I generally feel that damage powers should be fully slotted for damage most of the time. A few changes I would make --

Crush: Replace that Rech with a Damage.
Grav Dist: If you are going to solo at all, replace one Hold and one Rech with Damage.
Snow Storm: The Slow is not needed unless you have slots to spare. the enhancement only affects Run Speed. The -Recharge is far more important than Run Speed, but it cannot be enhanced. Remember that Grav powers have a Slow component.
Crushing Field: 2 Acc, 1 EndRdx, but no Recharge is needed, as the duration is already longer than its Recharge
Propel: Add a third Damage.
Singularity: Add a third Damage. The Hold is nice to have if you have spare slots, but is not needed.
Tornado: This power can put out huge amounts of damage over time, so I would slot it for max Recharge, max Damage and some EndRdx -- IOs are better for this.
Hurl Boulder: Personally, I would take Fissure first and skip Hurl. I'm not a big fan of Hurl Boulder on a Grav/Storm, as you already have another slow, big hitting ranged attack in Propel. The combo of GD-Crush-Propel is an attack chain most of the time. Earth's Embrace is a much better choice since Grav/Storm lacks a self-heal. If you take Hurl Boulder, it should be slotted 1 Acc, 3 Dam to start, then add other slots for another Accuracy or some Recharge if you have spare slots.
Fissure: 1 Acc, 3 Dam to start, then others if you have slots.

Yes, the Stealth proc stacks with Steamy Mist to give full invisibility. I have that combo on my Ice/Storm, who has Air Superiority/Fly for travel. I wanted to keep Air Superiority so that he could solo.

However, on most of my Stormies I use the Steamy Mist+Super Speed combo. (At this point, I think I have SS on my Ill/Storm, Earth/Storm and Grav/Storm, Mind/Storm, and my lowbie Plant/Storm and Fire/Storms.) I love Super Speed since it lets me get in position fast -- run in, cast Lightning Storm or Thunderclap, run out. It makes Gale actually useful by letting you get in just the right position -- granted, Hover might allow you to use Gale as a "knockdown" instead of a "knockback." SS is great for Herdicaning, by running around the outside of the group, using Hurricane to push foes back towards the center (while debuffing their ToHit) -- great for pushing foes back into Freezing Rain or catching runners.

Super Speed just takes some practice to get used to, and then you will stop overshooting your targets most of the time. Make a decision to stick with it, and you may like it once you get used to it. I use Fly or Super Speed for the majority of my characters -- most of my melee guys with Defense-based shields get Combat Jumping/Super Jump for the small amount of extra defense, and a few characters stay with Teleport. (Teleport is another travel power that you will hate a lot until you get used to it -- at which point you will only hate it a little.)

There's certainly nothing wrong with going with Hover/Fly -- just playstyle differences.

Plant/Rad is a nice build. I have one at 50, and mine can solo fairly easily but it is somewhat of a one-trick-pony. It relies heavily on getting in just the right position, hitting as many as possible with Seeds of Confusion and Roots, and then spamming roots (and letting Carrion Creepers loose) until the slow AoE kills off the group. Plant lacks strong single target damage, so it is great for larger low-level groups, but not very good for tough single targets.

In my opinion, Ill/Rad is probably your best choice as your first controller. it is great solo, on small teams or on large teams. It has single-target attacks, and uses distraction to keep the other foes from beating on you. Ill/Rad is easy to learn the basics, but can be used in many complex strategic ways. With Deceive, Phantom Army and the Rad Debuffs, it can be a very safe build. It has a lot of great powers early, but more great powers late -- some builds develop late (like Fire/Kin), while others have their best powers early (like Mind), but Ill/Rad has good powers all through the leveling up process.

Since you indicated that you expect to mostly solo, there are other good solo builds. Mind works great solo early, but seems to level off in later levels just as other controllers are hitting their best stuff. Gravity is a good solo primary, but the best powers are a bit tricky to use. Grav/Storm is a great combo for solo if you have a little more experience playing controllers. Fire works great solo, but is slow going until you get Fire Imps at 32.

I suggest that you take a look at my Illusion/Radiation Guide, linked in my sig. I tried to include a lot of information for someone playing their first controller. I included build suggestions and lots of strategy tips.

In general, Defense is better than Resistance, even though it is a little more risky. On controllers, however, often Recharge is better than either since Recharge allows you to have your controls up more often -- a foe who is held/stunned/knocked down/slept isn't shooting at you.

Transfusion -- 2 Acc, 2 Rech, 2 Heal is pretty standard. The Touch of the Nictus Set is good, but lacking in some Recharge. Some people use an Accuracy and 5 Doctored Wounds. (Edited after CMA pointed out my boo-boo)

Siphon Power -- 2 Acc, 1 Rech is enough.

Siphon Speed -- 2 Acc, 2-3 Rech.