Local_Man

While it seems like an interesting idea, I doubt it would be implemented. The powersets are balanced with the particular pet that each one has. Trading out pets would be a problem -- changing Phantasm into three "illusory imps" would probably be a problem. Giving Fire Controllers a high-resistance Tank Pet?

Overall, it looks like a solid build with only a few variations from my suggestions. The one thing I would suggest is to slot Recharge in Phantom Army first, then Acc and Dam.

Is this going to be a mostly solo build, team build or mixed/all purpose?

One of the best things about the changes in the forums is the ability to go back to old posts and edit them. With the new forums, I cleaned up this guide, added some color and fixed the links. I fixed the one error in Quicksand, and changed Rocky to show that he now uses Seismic Smash instead of Stone Mallet. There are still some other changes I want to make because of changes in the game since it was posted. I still want to add some info on IO sets, if it doesn't go over the post limit (which it might). Hmmm, maybe I'll just add it as a later post . . .

I always used to post how I felt Gravity was the poorest power set because it only has three interesting powers, two of which have substantial problems. (Propel and its slow animation, Wormhole and its situational usefulness). But I promised myself that I would work on a Grav controller to get high enough to give it a fair evaluation.

So I finally, over 2XP weekend, got my Grav/Storm up to level 39, and I have to say that he is actually a lot of fun, mostly as a solo character. Crushing Field + Freezing Rain provides a part-time knockdown field. Hurricane lets me focus on one foe at a time while the others get blown around. Tornado adds damage and chaos, and Lightning Storm adds even more. (Added to this is that the character amuses me -- he is a French Mime, with all the sillyness that suggests.)

That being said, I don't think I would want to level up another Grav character. Wormhole and Singy are pretty cool, but the rest of the set I still find lacking. Storm makes it quite interesting, but I'm not sure other secondaries would be interesting at all.

I have no problem at all with someone who wants to "try things out" as long as you know what you are getting into. I have a Mind/FF who mainly solos, even though most folks say FF is terrible solo.

If you want to try something rarely played, but with a little more synergy, try Illusion/Sonic. Sonic is probably even rarer than FF, and has many more interesting tools.

On the Storm side, Earth/Storm, Plant/Storm, Fire/Storm and Ice/Storm all have that nice AoE Immobilize with -knockback. I have an Ice/Storm at 50, and expect to be getting there soon with an Earth/Storm. Fire's main problem is huge endurance problems, but the people I know who have played one say it is one of their most fun characters. (Mine is only a baby.)

Take a look at my Illusion/Radiation Guide for tons of information on the Radiation Secondary including some strategy tips about choosing your Anchors.

I would take Crush earlier. It is an important damage power. I delayed GDF until after Stamina, and find that I don't use it very often. Radiation Infection + Crushing Field acts as an almost AoE hold, since they can't move and they don't hit you very often.

I'm not a big fan of Choking Cloud on your build. Unless you have another power that puts you in melee (Fire's Hot Feet, Ice's Arctic Air), I don't find it that useful. My guide explains why. If you want to play up Fallout and Mutation, consider taking Recall Friend to teleport around dead bodies.

Torrent seems to be pretty narrow. I really don't see it being 45 degrees. I don't doubt Frost Breath may be 30 but Torrent is NOT 45. I think it may actually be narrower than Frost Breath.

One of the reasons I dropped Primal before on my Ill/Rad and went back to Fire was a lack of AoE. When the changes were made to the APP sets, I decided to try Primal again. I thought that since Seeds is a cone, and Torrent is a cone, they would go together quite well. Still not that impressed, as Torrent seems too narrow.

But you can always try it out on Test, and then use a Respec on Live.

OK, since we now can edit our old posts, I went through the guide, fixed the broken links, added some color and a little formatting here and there. I still have a little more to do, but I think it is better now.

Overall, a pretty nice build that avoids a bunch of Luck of the Gambler Recharges and other expensive IOs. Like TopDoc, I would take several powers in a different order . . . I always take my travel power at 14.

Nothing wrong with Superior Invis, but it is a major End Hog . . . but SI is better than Super Speed and a Stealth IO for when you run into foes with +perception. My Ill/Rad occasionally does the Lady Grey TF, with all those bothersome Rikti Drones, I apprecate having SI to get me able to get a little closer without being detected. He uses Teleport for travel, allowing him to stealth when others can't by teleporting past groups of Drones in the halls. However, I went with Super Speed + Steamy Mist on my Ill/Storm to free up a space for another Storm power. It depends on your playstyle.

I like having an Acc in Ling Rad, as one of its most important uses is against AVs, who strongly resist the -Defense Debuff from RI. Since the AVs are often high level, the Accuracy increases Ling Rad's chance to hit.

I would strongly agree with TopDoc that Flash needs more Accuracy. Flash has a 20% accuracy penalty, and needs at least 60-70% accuracy. Do you use it so often that you really need maxed Recharge? Especially since you have EM Pulse, too?

Nice to see another one joining the fold! I wanted to comment on a few of your statements.

EM Pulse -- a wonderful hold, but I really don't use it much. That is mainly because my Earth/Rad tries to stay out of melee most of the time. Earth/Rad has three effective AoE control powers, plus a fourth quasi perma-hold in Stone Cages + Radiation Infection slotted up with ToHitDebuffs. I find that I don't need EM Pulse for standard team play. I save it as my "panic button" power, or for use in those situations where its special properties will provide a special benefit. (Example: During the ITF, I save EM Pulse for when that big group of Robots around the Computer Console wake up. If two of us have it, EVERYTHING is held for a long time and it does a good amount of AoE damage to those Robots.) I do pull out EM Pulse if I'm up against foes who are resistant to one of my other controls.

As you know, Earth/Rad is very low on damage. Your only damage from your secondary is a power that most people skip, Fall Out. I wanted some AoE damage out of my APP power set, so I went with Ice and its two AoE damage powers. With the AoE controls to keep them in place, Ice Storm does a huge amount of damage (with the boost from EF). Frost Breath is decent, too. And the slow in them reduces retaliation attacks. Hibernate, Ice Armor and Ice Blast have their advantages, too.

There is some appeal to the Earth set. The stun in Fissure can be stacked with Stalagmites. But it is very short range, and I prefer to stay at range. Seismic Smash and Hurl Boulder give you good single target damage. And, of course, it goes along thematically, too. If I had more of a melee playstyle or wanted to solo more, I would seriously consider Earth.

Fire, of course, does good damage. Consume can handle those times that your Endurance gets drained. I have it on my Ill/Rad and Ill/TA (the TA needs the Fire APP as another way to light the Oil Slick). I love the Psi set on my Fire/Rad, who has trouble from getting mezzed. My Earth/Rad, however, does not get mezzed much.

I had Primal on my Ill/Rad and switched out. I have it now on my Plant/Rad (who just hit 50 last night -- Woot!). I thought that Power Boost would be nice to buff Seeds of Confusion. I find that I don't use Power Boost that much, though. The only AoE damage is a fairly narrow cone, Torrent.

Your choice of the APP sets can vary widely with your playstyle. Try one out, then try another if you have enough Respecs. But as I said, I like Ice on mine for the AoE damage and Hibernate as a panic button power.

If you look at the end of the Guide to Guides thread, there is a post with fixed links. The front page still needs to be fixed, though.

Take a look at my sig for a very, very comprehensive guide on Illusion/Radiation. And the link is good. Illusion is my favorite primary. So far, I have gone up to 50 with Ill/Rad, Ill/Storm and Ill/TA. I have an Ill/Kin and second Ill/Rad I'm working on, and also an Ill/Therm.

Illusion/Radiation is the classic build for a good reason. Phantom Army is the key power in Illusion, and PA cannot be buffed directly -- the only way to make them hit harder or more often is to use debuffs on the enemy. So, you look for Resistance and Defense debuffs. Also, you want PA to be available as much as possible, so boosting your recharge is essential. Radiation is the ONLY secondary with a Recharge boost, a Resistance debuff and a Defense debuff.

Ill/Rad is a great all-purpose build -- I think it is the best all-purpose build in the game. It works great solo, on small teams or on big teams. An Ill/Rad is always welcome on a team, and can always contribute substantially. You might make small changes to the build for solo play, but geneally your playstyle will be the same no matter what the situation. Also, it is pretty easy to play well, yet gives you tools to use a lot of strategy. Also, Ill/Rad is not a late-developing build -- You don't have to wait for level 35 or 38 to get your best powers.

Ill/Storm comes in pretty close. Storm has so many fun and flashy powers, with nice added damage powers at the end. Storm's Freezing Rain provides a substantial AoE Resistance and Defense Debuff. Storm does NOT have a Recharge boost, and the two damage powers come late in the build. The big complaint about Ill/Storm is that it can be very chaotic -- especially on large teams, you either have to choose not to use several of your Storm powers, or you will probably get the team ticked off with you. Ill/Storm is great solo and small team, however.

Illusion/Trick Arrow would be my next recommendation, although Ill/Therm is also a pretty good. Both have good debuffs but no Recharge buff. My ill/TA had a fully ranged style -- send in PA, then stand back and shoot arrows. Worked well solo and teamed. A lack of a heal caused me to give up a couple of APP powers to fit in the Medicine pool.

Ill/Therm gets its debuffs late, and is more of a team support build. Heals and Resistance Shields help the team, but not Phantom Army.

Illusion/Kinetics seems like it should be good, as both Illusion and Kinetics are great powersets. But there are some synergy problems. One of the big ones is Phantasm's knockback has a tendency to knockback your target for siphon powers. Kinetics has a Recharge buff whenever you have a foe to siphon off of, but no debuff powers to make PA better (Fulcrum Shift does not affect PA). And, of course, Kinetics get two of its best powers at 35 and 38.

Ill/Sonic can provide a Resistance debuff, but no Defense debuff or Recharge. However, you can anchor one of the Resistance debuffs on Phantom Army, which is kind of cool. Ill/Emp has long been seen as a good battlefield healer, but has no debuffs or Recharge. Ill/FF has nothing for Phantom Army either. These are all team-oriented builds.

Illusion goes well with ANY secondary, even if some combos work better than others. Kind of like how Radiation goes with any primary. Of course, these are my opinions -- others love their combos and have good reasons for doing so.

Grav's unique lack of knockback in the AoE immobilize is an important factor in making Grav/Storm unique compared to other */Storm controllers. Freezing Rain+Crushing Field becomes an AoE knockdown where the foes can't run out of it. However, you give up the ability to turn Tornado into a damage machine without some extra circumstances. (I played an Ill/Storm before my Grav/Storm, so I learned to deal with it -- many of the same issues.)

I find that Grav/Storm is a good solo build. While I am pounding on a single target with GD-Crush-Propel, I can use Hurricane to keep the other foes away and debuff their ability to hit me. Singy pitches in quite well.

I have run on several "super teams" and many All controller teams. There are a few things that need to be kept in mind:

The absolute easiest "super team" is a team of Fire/Rads. Easy and amazingly fast. Next is a team of Ill/Rads.

On any controller super team, you will have plenty of control (other than maybe of a team of low level Grav controllers). What you really need is damage, especially AoE damage. And your biggest problem will be powers that conflict. Illusionists are the easiest, because they don't have many powers that conflict with others. Earth and Ice are the hardest because they have knockdown fields . . . which are made worthless by AoE Immobilize.

Your proposed team has 4 Illusionists. That is great, and the secondary doesn't matter that much as long as they learn to stagger their use of Phantom Army so that at least one set is always available. Rad and Kin both have Recharge buffs to make Perma-PA easier.

Two Earth Controllers. I (obviously) love Earth control, but two on the same team can be problems unless they coordinate. If the two are in constant communications, then they can coordinate use of Stalagmites to stun bosses, and avoid using Stone Cages at the same time that the other one is using Earthquake. But without that coordination, you either have to give up using Earthquake or Stone Cages -- two great powers. And Earth controllers add very little damage. Any Earth or Ice controller who has been on a PUG with another controller who spams his/her AoE immobilize knows exactly what I am talkin' about. Fire/Kins are infamous for spamming Fire Cages.

Earth Controllers are great as the only controller on a team of damage dealers, especially Blasters. But they are not ideal on a team of controllers. Same with Ice.

I would suggest the second person maybe try another Illusion, or Fire (if you can coordinate Flashfire and Fire Cages) for AoE damage or Plant (again, coordinate use of Roots -- but Roots does so much damage that you would probably want to put Earthquake on the shelf most of the time). Mind could work, too, since it does not have an AoE immobilize.

Consider having two or more PLANT controllers. Stacking Seeds of Confusion is awesome, and the AoE damage from Roots really adds up.

Well, Sonic and Thermal are certainly team support secondaries, so I suggest an Earth/Thermal. It has good thematic synergy as well as power synergy.

Earth controls are the best AoE controls in the game, handled from range. Therm works well with that, and has a number of similarities to Earth/Rad. In fact, I would suggest you take a look at my Earth/Rad guide, linked in my sig, for a lot of tips and details on Earth, and many of my strategies suggestions will work with Thermal.

Ice is a nice set, especially if you want to be in melee but not be a damage dealer. I have an Ice/Storm at 50 who is fun, but I overall like the Earth control set better. Grav is a good single target control and damage set, weak on AoE. My Grav/Storm has been fun to level up, but mostly plays solo.

I was on a bit PUG last yesterday on my Earth/Storm . . . and was thanked several times by the Tank and Blasters for the effectiveness of my controls. I let the tank take aggro, throw quicksand at his feet, then Stalagmites and Stone Cages to lock all the baddies down. Debuffs to keep them from being effective even after they recover from the Stun, or use Volcanic Gasses or Earthquake 12 seconds after the Stone Cages were laid down. And with all the -Defense in the Primary, those Blasters are sure to hit everything held in place.

And there is alway Cimmeroa, too.


So that makes:

1. Peregrine Island (Ferry from Talos)
2. Shadow Shard (Take portal from Portal Corps at far end of Peregrine Isle.)
3. Rikti War Zone (can be accessed from any Vangard Base)
4. Cimmeroa (Can be accessed after doing missions from contact in Steel Canyon, then from any University)

This is one of those "dead horse" topics. It comes up on a regular basis. The Devs have never given a specific reason why Lift has such a lower damage level than Levitate, but I suspect it is a balance issue. Grav does a lot of damage in Propel, and if the damage was increased to Lift, then the Grav set would probably do too much damage in their eyes.

The damage in Propel makes my Grav controller particularly good for solo. I use Crush instead of Lift in my Grav controllers current build. If Lift's damage were increased, I would find something else to drop to fit it in, but since Castle made the adjustment to Dominators and not Controllers, I would bet that this issue was looked at and left as is on purpose.