Local_Man

Moderate Expense IO Build

Here is an IO build that should be reasonably priced. No purple sets, no expensive LotG Recharge IOs. The sets will buff some Regen, some Recovery, some Recharge without really giving up the functionality of the powers.

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Ill-Rad Mod IO Sample 50: Level 50 Mutation Controller
Primary Power Set: Illusion Control
Secondary Power Set: Radiation Emission
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Fire Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Blind -- Lock-Acc/Hold(A), Lock-Acc/Rchg(3), Lock-Rchg/Hold(11), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg(17), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg(31), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(50)
Level 1: Radiant Aura -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(9), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(17), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(34), Dct'dW-Heal(50)
Level 2: Spectral Wounds -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(5), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31), Dev'n-Hold%(43)
Level 4: Deceive -- Mlais-Acc/Rchg(A), Mlais-EndRdx/Conf(11), Mlais-Acc/EndRdx(15), Mlais-Conf/Rng(31), Mlais-Acc/Conf/Rchg(37)
Level 6: Accelerate Metabolism -- Efficacy-EndMod(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(7), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(7), Efficacy-Acc/Rchg(34), Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx(37), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 8: Superior Invisibility -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(9), Krma-ResKB(37)
Level 10: Radiation Infection -- DarkWD-ToHitDeb(A), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(13), DarkWD-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(15)
Level 12: Air Superiority -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(29)
Level 14: Fly -- Frbd-EndRdx(A), Frbd-Fly(27)
Level 16: Swift -- Flight-I(A)
Level 18: Phantom Army -- ExRmnt-Acc/Rchg(A), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg(19), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(19), ExRmnt-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(21), C'Arms-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21), C'Arms-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(23)
Level 20: Health -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(34)
Level 22: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(23), EndMod-I(25)
Level 24: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(25), RechRdx-I(27)
Level 26: Spectral Terror -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 28: Enervating Field -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(29)
Level 30: Lingering Radiation -- Acc-I(A), RechRdx-I(40), RechRdx-I(40), TmpRdns-Acc/Slow(40), TmpRdns-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow(43)
Level 32: Phantasm -- BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg(A), BldM'dt-Dmg(33), BriL'shp-Acc/Dmg(33), BriL'shp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33)
Level 35: Flash -- G'Wdw-Acc/Hold/Rchg(A), EoCur-Acc/Hold/Rchg(36), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(36), NrncSD-Acc/Hold/Rchg(36)
Level 38: EM Pulse -- G'Wdw-Acc/Hold/Rchg(A), EoCur-Acc/Hold/Rchg(39), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(39), NrncSD-Acc/Hold/Rchg(39)
Level 41: Fire Blast -- Dev'n-Acc/Dmg(A), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg(42), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), Dev'n-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Dev'n-Hold%(43)
Level 44: Fire Ball -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(45), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(45), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45), Posi-Dam%(46), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 47: Consume -- Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(A), Efficacy-Acc/Rchg(48), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(48), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(48), Efficacy-EndMod(50)
Level 49: Mutation -- RechRdx-I(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Containment



There are plenty of other ways to use IO sets. You could make a build that tried to focus on Ranged Defense. Or maximizes Regen or Recovery. But the one that most people want to talk about is the build that maximizes Recharge.

Now comes the final SO level build. (Of course most folks will switch to IO sets long before level 50. I usually slot a combination of some common IOs, some sets starting at 30 and 35.):


Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
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[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Ill-Rad Sample 50: Level 50 Mutation Controller
Primary Power Set: Illusion Control
Secondary Power Set: Radiation Emission
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Fire Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Blind -- Acc(A), RechRdx(3), Hold(11), RechRdx(17), Acc(31), Hold(50)
Level 1: Radiant Aura -- Heal(A), Heal(9), RechRdx(34), Heal(50)
Level 2: Spectral Wounds -- Acc(A), Dmg(3), Dmg(5), Dmg(5), RechRdx(31), RechRdx(43)
Level 4: Deceive -- Acc(A), Conf(11), RechRdx(15), RechRdx(31), Acc(37)
Level 6: Accelerate Metabolism -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(7), RechRdx(7), EndMod(34), EndMod(46)
Level 8: Superior Invisibility -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(9)
Level 10: Radiation Infection -- ToHitDeb(A), EndRdx(13), ToHitDeb(15), ToHitDeb(17), DefDeb(34), DefDeb(50)
Level 12: Air Superiority -- Acc(A), Acc(13), Dmg(29)
Level 14: Fly -- Flight(A), Flight(27)
Level 16: Swift -- Run(A)
Level 18: Phantom Army -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(19), RechRdx(19), Acc(21), Dmg(21), Dmg(23)
Level 20: Health -- Heal(A)
Level 22: Stamina -- EndMod(A), EndMod(23), EndMod(25)
Level 24: Hasten -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(25), RechRdx(27)
Level 26: Spectral Terror -- RechRdx(A)
Level 28: Enervating Field -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(29)
Level 30: Lingering Radiation -- Acc(A), RechRdx(40), RechRdx(40), RechRdx(40), Acc(43)
Level 32: Phantasm -- Acc(A), Dmg(33), Dmg(33), Dmg(33)
Level 35: Flash -- Acc(A), Acc(36), Hold(36), RechRdx(36), Hold(37), RechRdx(37)
Level 38: EM Pulse -- Acc(A), Acc(39), RechRdx(39), Hold(39)
Level 41: Fire Blast -- Acc(A), Dmg(42), Dmg(42), Dmg(42), RechRdx(43)
Level 44: Fire Ball -- Acc(A), Dmg(45), Dmg(45), Dmg(45), RechRdx(46), RechRdx(46)
Level 47: Consume -- Acc(A), EndMod(48), RechRdx(48), RechRdx(48)
Level 49: Mutation -- RechRdx(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- EndRdx(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx(A)
Level 1: Containment


Illusion/Radiation is a tight build, but you can make a few strategic changes - the almost mandatory power choices at level are Stamina by 22, Spectral Terror at 26, and Phantasm at 32. Hasten, EF and LR should be taken, but can be moved to any of the open power choices. I recommend taking Hasten as soon as you can fit it in after Stamina, mainly to help PA recharge faster. I hate to delay Enervating Field as late as 28, but I just couldn't fit it in any earlier. Of course, if you choose Hasten/Super Speed for travel, then you can fit in EF at 24, LR at 28 and either Mutation or Flash at 30.

I like having the combination of Flash and EM Pulse on my Ill/Rad, but both are optional. I use Flash far more often to avoid the 15 Second -Recovery from EM Pulse, but EM Pulse is actually better. (Notice that I slotted less in EM Pulse because I use it less. If you prefer to use EMP, then you can put more slots there.) I feel comfortable using Flash since I usually have EM Pulse in reserve. Flash is often used when Phantom Army is recharging - just go invisible, run into the middle of the crowd and hit Flash. Once you get Phantasm, it becomes a little trickier - Phanty likes to knock away any foes near you with his Torrent attack, so you need to move fast. If you need to hold bosses, you can always use Flash + EM Pulse. EM Pulse is such a good power that I recommend it. Mutation is optional - you certainly could take something else, like Super Speed or Combat Jumping or Hover.

I am not a big fan of Leadership on an Ill/Rad, as the build is already tight. With RI buffing your chance to hit, EF and AM buffing your damage, I just don't feel it is needed. I also feel that other powers will benefit my team more than the Leadership toggles. If you really want to take leadership, the powers to drop might include Flash and some of the APP powers, or maybe LR. Vengence is certainly a nice buff, but I don't see how to fit it in. None of the other Power Pools; Fighting, Concealment, Medicine or Presence, have anything that you need.

Choosing an APP set: Each APP set has one or two powers that really define the set. Choosing which you want depends on what you want out of the set. Fire is focused on damage, but adds an endurance recovery power. Psi's best power is Indomitable Will, which provides part-time protection from mez. Primal's jewel is Power Boost, to enhance control and buff powers, and has Conserve Power to reduce use of Endurance. Earth has a great heal with a hit point buff, and recently added a great melee single target attack with a hold built-in. Ice has Hibernate, a "time-out" power to let you regenerate both health and endurance. Ice and Earth have defense-based shields, while the shields for Fire, Primal and Psi are resistance-based. All the sets now have AoE damage powers: Ice actually has both a cone and a "rain" type AoE; Primal's only AoE is a cone; Earth's AoE is very short range but recharges quickly and adds a chance for stun; Psi's AoE does its damage over time and has knock-up, and Fire has a strong initial blast with some additional damage over time.

There are a few factors I consider to be important for choosing an APP set for an Ill/Rad. <ul type="square">[*](1) Adding a single target blast to Blind-Spectral Wounds will allow you to have a nice attack chain and take down single foes more quickly. Only Fire, Ice, Primal and Psi have single target blasts that recharge quickly enough. Earth's Hurl Boulder is too slow.[*](2) Illusion does Psi damage, which is highly resisted by certain foe types like Robots. Thus, having a different type of damage can provide a benefit. The Psi set, obviously, does Psi damage.[*](3) Illusion lacks any AoE damage, so getting some AoE damage would be nice.[*](4) Illusion has very few AoE controls and no Immobilize, to keep foes in the area of a "rain" power. Spectral Terror won't work for that purpose since the rain will break the fear.[*](5) Because of the "spectral" or "illusory" damage in Spectral Wounds and Phantom Army, you want to be able to kill things fast to take advantage of that damage before it heals back.[*](6) Rad has a self heal, so a heal power is not essential. Rad also has a Recovery buff, so a Recovery power is not essential - but the Rad toggles can gobble up endurance pretty quickly.[/list]
Other guides have detailed discussions on the Epic powers, so I will not go into them here. I think that Psi is, the best overall of the APP sets due to the mez protection in Indomitable Will, Psi protection in the armor and a decent AoE attack. Many people recommend the Psi set for an Ill/Rad. However, the need for a different damage type is important to me, and because of the "distraction" from PA and Phantasm's Decoy, my Ill/Rad didn't get mezzed all that often. I chose the Fire Ancillary Power Pool (APP) set for my Ill/Rad because it has a fast single target blast that is not Psi damage, a fast AoE damage power that comes early, and a handy endurance recovery power for when AM is not up. I think that Ice Blast, Frostbreath and Hibernate is also a good choice, and Ice Armor gives you another good place for a Luck of the Gambler Recharge.

After the Strategies section, I have included some information about builds with IO sets, including a "Perma PA" build. There are huge numbers of possible combinations for IO set builds, depending upon what you want to focus upon. I don't claim to be an expert on max building with IO sets. So, we'll take a look at a build and others can contribute as they see fit.

Suggested Build (in Three Acts)

The objective of this build is to develop area control for a team-oriented build that will solo well. We'll discuss the power choices and a few strategies. First, we'll start with the first 11 levels, before Dual Origin Enhancements become available. Our main goal is a build that will get you through these lower levels quickly and safely, especially if you have to solo.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Ill-Rad Sample 12: Level 13 Mutation Controller
Primary Power Set: Illusion Control
Secondary Power Set: Radiation Emission
Power Pool: Flight

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Blind -- Acc(A), RechRdx(3), Hold(11)
Level 1: Radiant Aura -- Heal(A), Heal(9)
Level 2: Spectral Wounds -- Acc(A), Dmg(3), Dmg(5), Dmg(5)
Level 4: Deceive -- Acc(A), Conf(11)
Level 6: Accelerate Metabolism -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(7), RechRdx(7)
Level 8: Superior Invisibility -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(9)
Level 10: Radiation Infection -- ToHitDeb(A), EndRdx(13)
Level 12: Air Superiority -- Acc(A), Acc(13)
Level 14: [Empty]
Level 16: [Empty]
Level 18: [Empty]
Level 20: [Empty]
Level 22: [Empty]
Level 24: [Empty]
Level 26: [Empty]
Level 28: [Empty]
Level 30: [Empty]
Level 32: [Empty]
Level 35: [Empty]
Level 38: [Empty]
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- EndRdx(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx(A)
Level 1: Containment


It doesn't really matter whether you take Blind or SW first. I had Blind come first because it does both damage and control. Assuming you have some veteran attack powers, or even just Brawl, you can take as long as you need to take a foe down if he is just standing there blinded. Level 2 gives you Spectral Wounds, setting up your 1-2 punch combo using Containment that you will continue to use up to 50. I like Deceive at 4, as it makes going solo amazingly easy - just stand back, Deceive all but one foe, and take that one out with Blind-SW, refreshing Deceive as needed. At 6, Accelerate Metabolism helps you get past the endurance crunch, while helping you run a little faster, do a little more damage, etc. Superior Invis at 8 if you mainly solo early, but you may want to swap that with Radiation Infection if you are teaming through the low levels. If you decide to take Group Invis instead of Superior, you can take RI at 8, your travel pre-requisite at 10, and then GI at 12 - or wait on GI until the 20's and take Swift or Hurdle from the fitness pool.

In the low levels, it feels like you are more of a blaster than anything else. You don't have any AoE controls, so you focus on single target control and damage. Take advantage of the non-aggro aspect of Deceive, by taking out threats from range before they have a chance to become threats. Bosses will take two or more applications, but since you are not drawing aggro, it just takes a few seconds longer.

In your first twelve levels, you have to choose your travel power pre-requisite if you plan to take a travel power by level 14. (Of course, with the temp travel powers that from the Atlas and King's Row Safeguard missions, it is possible to skip travel until later.) Let's take a quick look at the travel powers, as each has its advantages and disadvantages. Each travel power also has secondary factors that you can consider when choosing one. This is one area where different play styles really becomes important.
<ul type="square">[*]Fly: I chose Air Superiority/Fly for this Ill/Rad sample build. Air Sup is the best attack of the pool powers, in that it not only does decent damage but also knocks down your opponent most of the time. Once you have a target controlled, Blind-SW-Air Sup can make a decent attack chain, especially if you expect to solo. Some people prefer Hover as a way to fight while staying out of melee. Fly is the best, most flexible travel power, but it is slow. Also, Fly provides knockback protection when you really, really need it. I like fly for its versatility - it can get you anywhere, and can often be used as an effective escape. Fly can get you across zones with lots of hazards. Fly is great for those open-air “Search for XXX” missions. I mainly recommend Air Superiority/Fly for this build, but other travel powers are a viable choice. However, once you get an APP blast, you won't need Air Sup for an attack chain. In that case, Hover can be used as another place to put a Luck of the Gambler Recharge IO.
[*]Speed: Hasten is strongly recommended for this build eventually, so by going with Hasten/Super Speed, you can save one power choice and a power pool. (You could choose Flurry instead of Hasten, as your pool power attack, but I would strongly recommend Hasten.) Super Speed has one large disadvantage, which is not too difficult to overcome, and some really nice advantages. The clear complaint about Super Speed is the lack of vertical movement - but getting the Jump Pack from the “Good vs. Evil Edition,” combined with the Raptor Pack and the Zero-G pack from the early Safeguard missions, will allow you to get that little vertical boost when you need it. If you always use the Jump Jet first, and are really stingy with those temp powers, they can easily last you to level 50. Super Speed gives you stealth and the best way to move around in missions, other than those annoying Orenbega-type caves with lots of levels and walkways where Fly is better. If you can get one of the Stealth IO's and you combine it with Super Speed to give you full invisibility, you could drop Superior Invis or Group Invis if you really want to . . . it would not be as good as SI, but it would get you by for most of the PvE game. (If you choose Super Speed, take Hurdle over Swift to help you jump over things.)
[*]Teleport: Recall Friend is one of the handiest, team-friendly pre-requisite powers out there. Recall Friend lets stealth missions and bring the team through to the goal - a huge benefit for an Illusion controller. My first Ill/Rad used Recall Friend/Teleport for travel mainly because I started him out often teamed with my wife, who often got lost. I needed Recall Friend to 'port her around for Domestic Tranquility. I became accustomed to Teleport as a travel power. When I later added Hover at level 49, Teleport became quite easy to use to get anywhere, and Hover's recent speed increase really helps. I don't recommend it, but I suppose Teleport Foe also could have some nice strategic uses especially solo, like grabbing one guy, defeating him and then going on to the next, but if you aggro the entire group, you may have a bit of a problem. Teleport allows you to move into position without moving through the intervening space, which can give some strategic advantages. (Teleport allows you to get past blocked hallways and doorways, and go through narrow slits that other characters cannot go through!) It is the only travel power that lets you move even when Immobilized or slowed, which can be very, very handy to get out of Caltrops or escape while trapped in tenticles. Teleport is the most difficult travel power to use, and unless you take Hover, it is difficult to use for those “Search for” missions. If you take Teleport, use “the bind” to make it easier to use:
/bind lshift+lbutton powexecname Teleport
This will let you teleport by holding down the left Shift key and left-clicking where you want to go (in 100 yard jumps).
[*]Jump: Combat Jumping gives you protection against Immobilization, some combat maneuverability while jumping and a small amount of defense. If you plan to maximize your recharge for a Perma PA build, Combat Jumping also gives you another place for one of those Luck of the Gambler 7.5% Recharge IOs. Super Jump is a fun travel power, but does not give you any secondary benefits. However, it also doesn't have much of a downside either, and SJ gives you access to Acrobatics if you are concerned about knockback. Personally, I felt that knockback was rarely a significant problem since Ill/Rad controls from range, and the control usually took over before the bad guys could shoot knockback powers at me. The rare knockback problem was solved by using Hover, or later obtaining one of those nice -knockback IO's. Jumping is my least favorite travel power for an Ill/Rad, but some folks love it.[/list]
OK, now you have reached Level 12, and can start using DO level enhancements (or IO's). Here is where I suggest you go from Levels 12-22:

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Ill-Rad Sample 22: Level 23 Mutation Controller
Primary Power Set: Illusion Control
Secondary Power Set: Radiation Emission
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Blind -- Acc(A), RechRdx(3), Hold(11), RechRdx(17)
Level 1: Radiant Aura -- Heal(A), Heal(9)
Level 2: Spectral Wounds -- Acc(A), Dmg(3), Dmg(5), Dmg(5)
Level 4: Deceive -- Acc(A), Conf(11), RechRdx(15)
Level 6: Accelerate Metabolism -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(7), RechRdx(7)
Level 8: Superior Invisibility -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(9)
Level 10: Radiation Infection -- ToHitDeb(A), EndRdx(13), ToHitDeb(15), ToHitDeb(17)
Level 12: Air Superiority -- Acc(A), Acc(13)
Level 14: Fly -- Flight(A)
Level 16: Swift -- Run(A)
Level 18: Phantom Army -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(19), RechRdx(19), Acc(21), Dmg(21), Dmg(23)
Level 20: Health -- Heal(A)
Level 22: Stamina -- EndMod(A), EndMod(23)
Level 24: [Empty] -- Empty(A)
Level 26: [Empty]
Level 28: [Empty]
Level 30: [Empty]
Level 32: [Empty]
Level 35: [Empty]
Level 38: [Empty]
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- EndRdx(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx(A)
Level 1: Containment


You get your travel power at 14, Fitness Pool starter at 16 and then the most important power in the Illusion set, Phantom Army (PA) at 18. For Fitness, I generally take Hurdle unless my travel power is Fly - Hurdle is better for Super Speed and Super Jump, and Hurdle can let you maneuver better, jumping over bad guys to lead the PA into battle. Since you have a self heal, you could skip Health and take both Swift and Hurdle - but if you hope to get one of those nice +Regen or Recovery unique IO's, you need Health. If you really, really want Stamina by 20 rather than waiting for 22, you could postpone invisibility until the 20's, but with AM, you can wait on Stamina until 22 much more easily than most other builds. Notice that Phantom Army gets fully slotted as soon as possible, even if it means skimping out on a slot for Stamina. Yeah, PA is that important.

Level 28: Choking Cloud - PB AoE Toggle Hold
While active, you generate toxic radioactive gas around yourself. Any nearby foes may be overcome by the gas, leaving them choking and helpless.
Accuracy: 50% (cannot be enhanced) for Mag 2 hold, 80% for Mag 1 hold.
Range: 15 ft.
Endurance: 4.16 per 5 sec. (0.832 per sec.)
Recharge: 90 sec.
Cast time: 2.03 Sec., Activates in 5 Sec.
Radius: 15 ft. from Anchor
Max Targets: 16
Duration: 7.45 sec Hold, Mag 2, every 5 seconds (at Level 50)
Effect: ToHit Check, then 80% chance of Mag 1, 50% chance of Mag 2.

Choking Cloud (CC) is one of two toggle AoE holds in the game. (The other is Mind Control's Telekinisis.) CC is one of the two Rad powers that requires you to be in melee range. It can be very effective and it works automatically. However, I recommend against taking Choking Cloud on an Illusion/Rad. Why?

CC is a PB AoE hold power with pulses every 5 seconds. How it works is that your character runs/jumps into the middle of a gang of bad guys. After anywhere from 0 to 5 seconds, the power makes a ToHit check for each foe. If the god of averages is with you and the power hits, then it makes a second check. 80% of the foes will be hit with a Mag 1 hold, which does nothing, and 50% of the foes will be hit with Mag 2, which holds minions. These two types of hold stack, resulting in a combined percentage chance of:
10% chance of no hold at all,
40% chance of only Mag 1 that will not hold anything (other than maybe Rikti monkeys),
10% chance of Mag 2 that will hold minions only, and
40% chance of Mag 3 that will hold Lieutenants or Minions.
Any foe actually held will have a green puff of gas show up at their face, showing that they are choking and held. Any foes not held have another 5 seconds to attack you or do whatever before another pulse. All foes in the area will make the check again, where some new ones will get caught by the hold, and others previously held will then not be re-held in the next tick, so when the hold runs out, they will be free. It draws aggro, which can result in a faceplant. It uses a HUGE amount of endurance, substantially reducing other things you can do. You won't have the endurance to chain single target attacks to take down bad guys for very long while running CC. This means that even if you can hold them, you can't take them down - and Phantasm is very likely to knock foes out of the Cloud, making it useless. At a minimum, you have to slot it with 5 slots. (With some IO slotting at level 50, you may be able to cut that to 4.)

CC provides minimal benefit for lots of risk for an Ill/Rad. I tried it once and absolutely hated it. On the other hand, I LOVE CC for a Fire/Rad. With Imps, Hotfeet and Choking Cloud, a Fire/Rad is an AoE damage machine. Ice Control has Arctic Air, which can combine with CC to keep the baddies slowed and confused until CC can take hold. Since Illusion does not have any power to back up Choking Cloud, it is very skippable. However, some people like it, so if a toggle melee hold appeals to you, try it out. You will probably not want Phantasm around because he WILL knock the foes out of the cloud. On the other hand, if it hits, CC then has a 90% chance of hitting foes with a Mag 1 hold. This does nothing by itself, but will stack with Blind, Flash or EM Pulse to be able to hold bosses.

If you take Choking Cloud, it is important to fully slot it for hold. At level 50, the hold lasts for 7.45 seconds, and the pulses happen every 5 seconds. That means that if a foe is held in one pulse, you only have the second pulse to try to continue the hold while the first hold is in effect, with only a 40% or 50% chance of continuing the hold. That first pulse will run out before the third pulse. But if you fully slot for hold duration (95%), it almost doubles the duration of the hold to just short of 15 seconds. That means that you get the second, third, and fourth pulse to try to continue the hold. This increases your likelihood of continuing the hold to somewhere over 80%. Therefore, I do NOT recommend giving up Hold Duration for damage procs -- slot up that Hold Duration first.

Slotting: 3 EndRdx, 3 Hold. At the level you get this, you can easily start with some IOs.

IO Sets: Hold Sets. Because of the high endurance demand of CC, a full Hold set will not be that helpful. You want to "frankenslot," mix and match sets to maximize Hold duration and EndRdx. Leveling up, my cheap slotting for my Fire/Rad was 2 EndRdx IO's, 2 Hold IO's, 1 Ghost Widow End/Hold IO, and the Ghost Widow damage proc, "Chance for Psi Damage" to add some damage. Even better than the chance for damage procs is the Lockdown "Chance for +2 Mag Hold" proc, which is wonderful for this power since CC has a 90% chance of getting a mag 1 hold -- when that +2 mag hold hits, it will hold bosses. There is also some discussion that although the power does not take accuracy enhancements, the accuracy can be enhanced by use of Hold set enhancements with Accuracy, so you could go with EndRdx/Hold from Ghost Widow, Neuronic Shutdown and Essence of Curae, Acc/Hold/EndRdx/Rech from Lockdown and Basilisk's Gaze, plus a damage or hold proc. At level 50, one nice slotting is Unbreakable Constraint End/Hold and Chance for Smashing Damage, Lockdown Acc/End/Hold/Rech and Chance for +2 Mag Hold, Ghost Widow End/Hold and Essence of Curare End/Hold.

Recharge: Four Basilisk's Gaze gives 7.5% Recharge.


Level 35: Fallout - Dead Teammate Corpse Bomb Thingy
After an ally falls in battle, you can activate this power to extract the energy from their body to deal a massive amount of Energy damage to any nearby foes. All affected foes are extremely weakened by the Fallout, and their Accuracy, Defense, Damage and Damage resistance is severely reduced.
Accuracy: Autohit to ally's corpse, 2.0 to foes.
Range: 60 ft.
Endurance: 20.8
Recharge: 300 sec.
Cast time: 3.2 Sec.
Radius: 30 ft. from Anchor
Max Targets: 16
Damage: 222.44 (at level 50)
Effects: -30% ToHit, -30% Defense, -30% Damage, -50% Resistance (before enhancement)
Duration: 30 sec. for debuff to foes.

Fallout is viewed as being the most skippable power in the Radiation set. A few deeply disturbed people love the idea of exploding dead teammates, and think the power is great. Fallout is very effective as both a damage power and a debuff. I have it on my Earth/Rad, and have kept it in his build as a bit of a novelty. The problem is that I rarely get to use it. It is, in my view, the single most "situational" power in the game. Why?

1. You have to have a teammate die.
2. You have to live (i.e. no team wipe).
3. You have to have your teammate willing to sit there and do nothing while you abuse his dead body. (Most good players I team with want to actually play the game, and not lay there dead.) Any surviving teammates need to know not to use their rez so that you can play with dead things. If you are quick and notice your teammate's death immediately, this may not be very long.
4. Fallout has a decent-sized radius but your teammate must have died fairly near the bad guys, or you have to have Recall Friend to 'port his decaying remains around . . . but the drop range on Recall friend is really short, so you either have to risk yourself to drop the body where it can do some good, or also have Hover or Fly to drop the body . . . all of which take time that your buddy is still not playing the game.
5. You should take Mutation so you can Rez your teammate after you use his corpse as a bomb. Not resurrecting your buddy after abusing his corpse would be impolite - unless you plan on teleporting his remains around with you to repeatedly use as a bomb.

Fallout does good damage and massive debuffs on any foes close enough to be affected. For those who take it, Fallout is a kind of nuke power. I view Fallout as a kind of "novelty" power. It is fun to have a power that makes a powerful bomb out of your dead teammates, and if you can make Fallout viable by building around it and getting the entire team to buy into using it as a regular strategy. Maybe even bring along a designated corpse (kind of like a designated driver) - someone who volunteers to die a lot to act as your bomb. Recall Friend, Hover, Fly or invisibility and Mutation, and even Vengence from the Leadership pool are helpful to use it effectively. My Earth/Rad was on a team where one teammate volunteered to run in to a group and die whenever Fallout was up . . . and I have to admit it was a lot of fun and very effective. But in general play, my Earth/Rad almost never gets to use Fallout.

I find Ill/Rad to be a tight build, and I don't feel it is worth sacrificing other abilities for this situational power. There are good reasons to like Fallout, however. If you do take it, unless you are teaming with the same folks on a regular basis, I suggest you set up binds to explain the power to your teammates, begging them to wait on using a rez or an Awaken until you have the chance to explode their corpse. (It doesn't seem very "heroic" to use your teammate's decaying remains as a bomb. What comic book hero would do this to a friend? On the other hand, it seems to fit pretty well with the theme on the villains side.)

Slotting: 0-1 Acc, 3 Dam, and then several options of recharge or debuffs. The inherent accuracy is so good, you probably don't need accuracy. You could put some recharge if you expect to use it a lot.

IO Sets: Ranged AoE, Defense Debuff and ToHit Debuff, Accurate Defense Debuff and Accurate ToHit Debuff Sets. Slot it for damage first, as that is the most important aspect -- it has very high accuracy. Then slot for Recharge. The debuffs are already pretty large, but you can slot for those, too.

Recharge: The purple Ragnarok Targetted AoE Damage set has 10% Recharge for five. Five Positron's Blast gives 6.25% Recharge. Four Dark Watcher's Dispair gives 5% Recharge.


Level 38: EM Pulse - PB AoE Hold with Minor Damage to Robots
You can unleash a massive pulse of electromagnetic energy. The EMP can affect machines, and is even powerful enough to affect synaptic brain patterns. It will drain the Endurance and HP Regeneration of all affected targets and leave them incapacitated and Held for a long while. Additionally, most machines and robots will take moderately high damage. However, this power uses a lot of Endurance and leaves you unable to recover Endurance for a while.
Accuracy: 1.0
Range: Area around caster.
Endurance: 20.8.
Recharge: 300 sec.
Cast time: 2.93 Sec.
Radius: 60 ft.
Max Targets: 16
Duration: 27.938 Sec. before enhancement.
Effects: -40% Endurance, -1000% Regeneration to foes, -1000% Regeneration to self for 15 Sec.
Damage: 50.16 to Electronic foes (at level 50).

EM Pulse (EMP) is one of the two "best holds in the game," along with Earth's Volcanic Gasses. This one is fast activating and centered on you, so it works perfectly as a "panic button" power. Compared to other PB AoE holds including Flash, EMP is superior. The radius and hold time is twice the others. Keep in mind that EMP causes you to not regenerate endurance for 15 seconds - a lot of people read the description and think this means that EMP drains your endurance like a Blaster/Defender nuke, which is not true. It means only that your recovery of endurance will stop for 15 seconds, which is not that big a thing considering that it is likely that every bad guy near you will be held for a long time. Just keep in mind that if you are doing anything that uses a lot of endurance, like running EF or SI, you may want to stop or you might run out of endurance.

I recommend EM Pulse for your Ill/Rad. Some feel that once you have EM Pulse, that Flash is useless - that might be true if EM Pulse had a much faster recharge. But because of the long recharge for both Flash and EM Pulse, having both is the best way to get good AoE control that sets up Containment. I often use one or the other while Phantom Army is recharging. I personally use Flash far more than EM Pulse because Flash doesn't have the -Recovery -- If Flash is good enough for the job at hand, then I can save EM Pulse for when I REALLY need it. However, because I usually have EM Pulse as a "panic button" power, I can feel free to use Flash whenever it is up. I mainly use EMP in those few situations where its unique characteristics will help - damage to Robots, -Regen against AVs, or if I want to hold bosses. For example, during the Imperious TF, when that huge bunch of Robots come to life while everyone is beating on the generator, hitting EM Pulse is great. I will often use EM Pulse when we run into an AV surrounded by a bunch of other foes, as it will make it easier to focus on the AV or take down the riff-raff without worry.

Slotting: 2 Acc, 2 Hold, 2 Recharge is the default slotting for an AoE hold. However EM Pulse is so good but will be rarely used, that you can vary this easily, and even skimp on a slot or two. Start with 1-2 Acc, and then add hold or recharge as you see fit. Do not bother slotting EM Pulse with EndMod.

IO Sets: Hold and EndMod Sets. On the cheap, use the Lockdown, Essence of Curae or Ghost Widow sets leveling up, or you can frankenslot with Acc/Hold/Recharge. Another option is 2 Acc/Mez HOs, 2 Recharge common IOs at Level 50.

Recharge Four Basilisk's Gaze gives 7.5% Recharge.

Now the Secondary set:

The Radiation Emission Powers

Level 1: Radiant Aura - PB AoE Heal
You can use Radiant Aura to heal some of your wounds, and the wounds of your group. This power has a small radius, so your allies need to be near you if they wish to be affected.
Endurance: 13.0
Recharge: 8 sec.
Cast time: 2.03 Sec.
Radius: 25 ft.
Heal: 117.799 (at level 50)

Radiant Aura (RA) is your heal, pure and simple. You have to take it at Level 1, which is a good thing, since you would want to take it anyway. Only */Rad, */Thermal and */Empathy have a self heal that does not require a ToHit, and the power is the same with different names. You provide a moderate heal to yourself and any other heroes or pets (or some NPC's) in range.

Radiant Aura is one of the reasons I feel that Radiation is the best overall secondary. Having a heal is valuable, and because it is both a self- and team-heal, it is effective both solo and on teams. However, the heal is moderate compared to Kinetic's Transfusion or the Empathy heals, not big enough to let you be the team healer. Since RA does not require a ToHit, unlike Transfusion, it can reduce down time between battles as well as heal during the fight. To have quick access to RA, I have it set up with a bind on button 4 of my 8 button mouse. If you don't have a mouse with extra buttons, you can easily bind it to the “+” key on the keypad, so you can fire off RA with a flick of your right thumb. Here are the two binds:
/bind button4 powexecname Radiant Aura
/bind add powexecname Radiant Aura

Slotting: 1-3 Heal, 1-3 Recharge. I like RA slotted 3 Heal, 1 Recharge.

IO Sets: Heal Sets. The Numina's and Miracle sets also have nice bonuses. Save those Numina, Miracle or Regenerative Tissue Uniques, however, for Health. Another option is Golgi Hami-Os, which provide enhancement to both Health and EndRdx.

Recharge: Five Doctored Wounds gives a 5% global recharge bonus.


Level 2: Radiation Infection - Foe-anchored AoE Accuracy and Defense Debuff
Infects a targeted foe with deadly radiation, severely reducing his Accuracy and Defense. All foes that come near the target will also become infected. The Radiation Infection will last until you deactivate it, or until the original target is defeated.
Accuracy: Autohit
Range: 70 ft.
Endurance: 0.52 per sec (0.26 per .5 sec. tick)
Recharge: 8 sec.
Cast time: 3.1 Sec., Activates in 0.5 Sec.
Radius: 15 ft. from Anchor
Max Targets: 16
Duration: Until Anchor is defeated, goes out of range, toggle is turned off, caster is defeated or caster runs out of endurance.
Effects: -25% ToHit, -25% Defense (before enhancement)

Radiation Infection (RI) is another key power in the Rad set, the first of Rad's “holy trinity” of debuffs. RI is a toggle, so it can be a “set it and forget it” power. When you cast RI on a chosen foe, the foes near your “anchor” are much less likely to hit you or your team very often, and any foes in the Area of Effect will be much more easily hit by you and your team. That target is the “anchor” for the ToHit and Defense debuff, and a green glow becomes centered on the “anchor.” Once you cast RI on a foe, the power continues until the “anchor” is defeated, until you run out of endurance, until you are mezzed, until you are defeated or until you turn it off. However, it will aggro every enemy affected by the power. (In fact, casting RI can be an effective pulling technique.) It is incredibly useful in low levels, before your team has been able to develop their defensive powers, and continues to be useful in every level. It is a double debuff that never misses. The endurance usage is moderate, about half that of Enervating Field.

The main complaints about RI are: (1) As a power anchored on a foe, teammates often (actually, usually) kill off the anchor, causing you to have to re-cast it or miss out on the debuff - it's frustrating to have the team keep killing your anchor. See the [u]“Choosing your Anchor”[u] section under Strategies. (2) RI has a long animation - on fast moving teams, it takes so long to cast RI that the baddies may be defeated before the animation finishes. This is one of the trade-offs for a great debuff power - but the benefits are usually worth it. Since RI is an accuracy debuff, it can be effective as an opening “attack.” RI will make it less likely for any first attack, the “Alpha Strike” - which is usually the strongest attacks - will hit you and your team. If you have a Tank on the team, it is usually better to let him or her take that duty, but it can be effective to cast RI just as the Tank enters battle. The agro effect of RI happens at the end of the animation, after the power takes effect.

Because RI is a debuff, it will increase the likelihood of hitting even for powers that cannot be enhanced for accuracy, like veteran attacks, temp powers and Illusion's Phantom Army. Therefore, it helps to cast RI before attacking with Sands of Mu or any of the many temp power attacks you can get in the game. It is also a good idea to try to cast RI before your team's blaster fires off his AoE Nuke to increase the chances that all foes are hit.

Slotting: 3 ToHit Debuff, 0 or 2-3 Defense Debuff, 0-1 EndRdx. Whether you include the EndRdx depends on whether you are having endurance problems. I suggest slotting the 3 ToHit Debuffs and an EndRdx right away, then the Defense Debuffs as slots become available in higher levels.

IO Sets: Defense Debuff, ToHit Debuff Sets. At levels 47-50, the ideal slotting for RI is 3 Enzyme Hami-O's. This is the perfect power for Enzymes (ToHitDebuff/DefenseDebuff/EndRdx), and no other power makes better use of Enzymes than RI. The other nice thing about using Enzyme HO's is that you can take 3 slots out of RI and put them in some other powers without any loss whatsoever (other than set bonuses). If you want set bonuses, both the Dark Watcher ToHit Debuff and the Lady Gray Defense Debuff sets have nice bonuses. Overall, ToHitDebuff is more important than Defense Debuff. You want to make sure you get as much EndRdx as you can, but Accuracy and Recharge do nothing in this power. If you are looking for Recovery, use three of each. For Regen, go with four from Lady Gray. Some folks like to put various procs in this power. They include the Lady Grey Chance for Negative Energy, Dark Watcher Chance for Recharge Debuff, Achilles Heel Chance for Resistance Debuff -- I haven't really tested how effective they are.

Recharge: Four Dark Watcher ToHit Debuff enhancments gives you 5% Recharge.


Level 4: Accelerate Metabolism - Self-centered AoE Team Buff
Activating this power emits radiation that increases the running speed, attack speed, Endurance recovery, and damage potential of all nearby allies. Affected allies' metabolisms are increased so much that they become resistant to effects such as Sleep, Hold, Disorient, Immobilization and Endurance Drain.
Endurance: 15.6
Recharge: 422 sec.
Cast time: 2.03 sec.
Radius: 25 ft.
Duration: 120 sec.
Buffs: 20% Damage
30% Recharge
30% Endurance Recovery (can be enhanced)
30% Increase to Run Speed and Fly Speed
173% Resistance to Hold, Stun, Sleep, Immobilize (Shortens duration)

Accelerate Metabolism (AM) is widely considered to be one of the best buff powers in the game, and for good reason. Instead of buffing one or two things a lot, it buffs a bunch of things a little. AM boosts Recharge, Endurance Recovery, Damage, Run and Flight Speed, and reduces the time needed to recover from Hold, Sleep, Stun and Immobilize. The main benefits are a substantial boost in Recharge and Endurance Recovery - not as much as Speed Boost from Kinetics, but this is an AoE buff that needs to only be applied once, and not to each team member. Thus, you don't feel like a “buff-bot,” which is a frequent complaint about Kinetics. And it boosts Damage, too. And if you have more than one character on the team with Rad, stacked AM is wonderful. Stacking AM is one of the main reasons that Rad superteams are so popular.

It is a good idea to create a bind or macro to tell your team when AM is available, suggesting that anyone who wants the buff should gather near you. You can set it up as either a Macro or a keybind. Something like:
/macro AM “group Gather here for AM in about 5 seconds!”

I then have a bind for when I fire off AM, so that I can use the 4th button on my 8 button mouse:
/bind lshift+Button4 “group Feel the Glowing Green Goodness of AM!$$powexecname Accelerate Metabolism”

Slotting: 3 Recharge, 3 EndMod. This is common wisdom as the best slotting for AM - anything else is less effective. Get the 3 Recharge slotted ASAP, then add in the 3 EndMod when you can. You want AM up as frequently as possible.

IO Sets: Endurance Modification, Run and Universal Travel Sets. I really like the Efficiency Adapter set - use all of it except replace the EndMod/Acc with a common Recharge IO to maximize both Recharge and EndMod with some nice bonuses. Some folks also put the Performance Shifter set here.

Recharge: If you have enough global recharge in your build to make AM perma or close to it, you can put that Efficiency Adapter EndMod/Acc back in for an extra 5% global Recharge.


Level 6: Enervating Field - Foe-anchored AoE Damage and Damage Resistance Debuff
While this power is active, you irradiate a targeted foe, and all foes nearby, with a deadly dose of radiation. This radiation weakens exposed targets, decreasing the damage of their attacks. It also significantly weakens their resistance, so they will take much more damage from other attacks.
Accuracy: Autohit
Range: 70 ft.
Endurance: 1.04 per sec (0.52 per .5 sec. tick)
Recharge: 8 sec.
Cast time: 1.5 Sec., Activates in 0.5 Sec.
Radius: 15 ft. from Anchor
Max Targets: 16
Duration: Until Anchor is defeated, goes out of range, toggle is turned off, caster is defeated or caster runs out of endurance.
Effects: -20% Damage from foes in area, -22.5% Damage Resistance (cannot be enhanced)

Enervating Field (EF) is the second of the “holy trinity” of Rad debuffs. Like RI, you pick a target to “anchor” the debuff, and the anchor carries the debuff with him, aggroing every bad guy in range. Instead of reducing Accuracy and Defense, EF reduces Damage done by the foes, and their resistance to your damage. Reducing Damage Resistance has the same effect as increasing your team's damage, but it is not limited by damage caps. And because it is a debuff, it has the effect of increasing the damage done by powers that cannot be enhanced for damage, like veteran attack powers, temp powers and Illusion's Phantom Army. EF uses a lot of endurance - if you are running low, EF can be the first thing you turn off.

Because EF activates fairly quickly, about half the time of RI, you can use this power in most fights even if the team is moving fairly quickly. Try to pick the foe who you expect to last longest as your anchor. See the [u]“Choosing your Anchor”[u] section under Strategies. I recommend holding off on EF until after Stamina since EF uses so much Endurance. But it is a great power.

Slotting: 2-3 Endurance Reduction. That's all, as the debuff cannot be enhanced. Slot two as soon as you can, as EF uses a lot of Endurance. A third EndRdx only saves .05 endurance per second, so slot that third one if you feel that makes a big enough difference.

IO Sets: None.


Level 16: Mutation - Ally Resurrection with Buff
Using a concentrated burst of radiation, you can revive a fallen ally and Mutate him into a killing machine. The Mutated target has increased damage, Accuracy, Endurance recovery, and attack speed and is protected from XP Debt for 90 seconds. The entire experience is very taxing on your ally, and he will soon be severely weakened. All effects of the Mutation will eventually wear off.
Accuracy: Autohit
Range: 15 ft.
Endurance: 26.
Recharge: 180 sec.
Cast time: 3.2 Sec..
Effects: Full heal to 100% for both Health and Endurance. Buffs to target for 90 Sec.: 200% Recovery, 100% Recharge, 40% Damage and 30% Accuracy. After 90 Sec., -40% Damage, -30% Accuracy for 45 sec.(cannot be enhanced) Debt Protection for 20 Sec. after Rez.

Mutation is one of the two best Rez powers in the game. (The other is Howling Twilight, which allows a Dark Defender to rez multiple teammates at once.) It is a great battlefield Rez, but you can only rez one teammate at a time and cannot use it on yourself. It not only provides a Rez, it also is a substantial buff for 90 seconds. Your teammate needs to understand that there is a kind of “crash” after 90 Seconds that lasts for 45 seconds. In effect, as soon as your teammate gets raised, he or she has 90 seconds to avenge his or her own death (“By Grapthar's Hammer, you shall be avenged!”) before the adrenaline wears off and he or she is weak for a short time. As good as Mutation is, it is an optional power. It is nice to have, but not essential (unless your team has a few suicidal blasters). Fit in Mutation if you can, but with the ability to combine Inspirations to get Awakens, rez powers are needed less. If you choose to take Fallout, it would be impolite not to have Mutation as well. Obviously, if you expect to mainly solo, Mutation will be of no benefit to you. (No, you can't use it on your Phantasm.)

Slotting: 1 Recharge. Up to 3 Recharge if you have spare slots or have teammates who die a lot, or like to hang out with Blasters.

IO Sets: Endurance Modification. Don't bother. Just slot it with common Recharge. You should be too tight on slots to put anything else here.


Level 20: Lingering Radiation - Foe-targetted AoE Slow, Attack Rate and Regeneration Debuff
You can emit Lingering Radiation that reduces the attack rate, movement speed, and Regeneration rate of the target, and all nearby foes.
Accuracy: 1.0
Range: 80 ft.
Endurance: 15.6
Recharge: 90 sec.
Cast time: 1.5 Sec..
Radius: 25 ft. from Anchor
Max Targets: 16
Duration: 30 Sec.
Effects: -75% Run Speed, -75% Recharge, -500% Regeneration.

Lingering Radiation (LR) is the third of the “holy trinity” of Rad debuffs. It is a nice slow power, with a debuff to Recharge and a huge debuff to the foe's Regeneration. LR is the only one of the three Rad debuffs that is not Autohit - it needs accuracy to hit. Also unlike RI and EF, LR is not a toggle; it is a one-shot slow with a duration of 30 seconds and a recharge of 90 seconds; with Recharge enhancements and Hasten, you can reduce that recharge time to about 40 seconds. With enough global recharge, it can be made perma. Also, LR only affects baddies in its range at the time it is cast - LR does not continue to “infect” other foes who later come into the area near the bad guy who was your target. On an Ill/Rad, LR is your only AoE slow, a nice addition. Do not skip LR, as it does some very nice things. LR adds an attack rate debuff, substantially reducing the rate at which foes can attack you and your team. Most important is the -Regeneration. LR reduces an AV's regeneration so that the AV can be defeated sooner. On some low-damage teams, LR can make the difference between defeating an AV or having to give up. Even though the effect of debuffs on AVs are substantially reduced, LR still seems to make a difference.

This power has -75% run speed. Slow enhancements only affect run speed, and have no effect on recharge or regen. Slotting just a little bit of slow in this power should get you up to the 90% slow cap, but as foes go higher in level compared to your level, they are affected by slow less and less. Also, some foes, like Council Wolves, are resistant to slows. Note that -75% recharge is the cap for even-con foes -- not that it matters since you can't enhance it anyways.

Because LR requires a “tohit,” you will have a better chance of LR hitting if you cast it after RI. However, LR casts quickly, and can also be effective to keep bad guys in the area while you are waiting for the slow animation of RI. So, part of the strategy of knowing how to use LR is knowing your likelihood of hitting. If you are up against higher level foes or foes with a lot of defense, cast RI first. Choosing an anchor is an important part of the strategy of using LR, but less important than with the other two debuffs, since you can cast it again in 40 seconds. See the [u]"Choosing your Anchor"[u] section under Strategies.

Slotting: 1-2 Acc, 3 Recharge, 0-2 Slow. I prefer 2 Acc, 3 Recharge. However, if you have enough global recharge and global accuracy, you may be able to get by with as little as an Accuracy in the default slot.

IO Sets: Slow Sets. Unfortunately, the Slow sets have very little recharge. Leveling up, I like to use just two of the Tempered Readiness set, Acc/Slow and End/Recharge/Slow. Add that to common 1 Acc, 2 Recharge and you get good Accuracy, capped Recharge, a little slow and a 1.5% Recovery bonus. If you have enough recharge in your overall build, you may be able to reduce the recharge and add more IO sets here. A Perma PA build can use just a single Accuracy in the default slot.

Level 18: Phantom Army - Creates Three Invulnerable Phantom Pets at Targeted Location.
You can fabricate 3 Phantom heroes around a targeted foe. These Phantoms are not real, and are indestructible. Their attacks are similar to Spectral Wounds. Though they deal damage, it is illusory and will heal if the victim survives long enough. Phantoms are short lived and cannot be buffed or healed. The Phantoms have a strong taunting effect on critters.
Accuracy: 1.0
Range: 80 ft.
Endurance: 26
Recharge: 240 sec.
Cast time: 3.1 Sec.
Duration: 60 sec.
Pet Powers:
Three Phantoms are summoned 1 second apart. They each have a “threat level” of five, so they have a taunt effect. Damage calculations for PA are complicated because:
(1) PA appear to do eight different kinds of attacks, but in reality, the three ranged attacks are the same and the five melee attacks are the same. The attacks appear to have several types of damage, but regardless of appearance, all attacks do Psi Damage.
(2) All attacks have a Spectral Damage component that heals back after 5 seconds. However, damage from enhancements is not subject to Spectral Damage, so all of that damage counts. This means that Damage enhancements are very important to the damage done.
(3) The Ranged attacks appear to do 75.63 damage at level 50, of which 31.14 (41%) is Spectral and will heal back. The Melee attacks do 130.13 damage at level 50, of which 56.72 (43%) will heal back as Spectral Damage. But with enhancements, that percentage of Spectral Damage is a lot lower. Plus, Enervating Field will further enhance the “real” damage by 22.5%.
(4) Ranged attacks recharge in 4 seconds, but Melee attacks recharge in 6 seconds. Damage calculations will vary widely with the types of foes and the types of attacks made by PA.

Phantom Army ("PA") is the single most important power in the Illusion powerset. When you get it at level 18, and you absolutely should, it will substantially change your playstyle and make your character much better. You get three invulnerable white "phantom" pets who randomly can be male, female or huge body types. They arrive one second apart, and begin attacking any foes in the immediate area for sixty seconds. They attack both at range and in melee, and appear to have a variety of damage types . . . but all the damage is actually Psi damage. If they run out of foes to attack, they will come back to you, waiting for you to lead them into battle. After sixty seconds, they disappear one at a time, a second part. The only thing in the game that can kill Phantom Army is Hamidon.

Phantom Army is key to Illusion's "distraction rather than hard controls" strategy. The PA have a high threat level, so they taunt the foes to keep them away from you and your team. In this way, PA act as an AoE control power by keeping you and your teammates from taking damage in the same way that a good tank will pull aggro to himself. It is important to remember, however, that you can still be hit by AoE attacks even while the PA absorb the single target attacks. This is one reason that I feel Illusion is better played at range.

Phantom Army is also Illusion's only AoE damage power, other than the torrent that can be used by Phantasm. (OK, it's not really an AoE power so much as up to three single target attacks at the same time.) While the primary purpose of PA is to provide distraction, the damage is also important. Some of the damage, like Spectral Wounds, is spectral damage so it will heal back. Therefore, it is useful to keep an eye on the targets that PA attacks so you can use Blind-SW to take down foes quickly before the spectral damage heals back. When you send in Phantom Army, you can focus on the easy-to-kill foes being attacked by PA to maximize your benefit from spectral damage.

As a trade off for PA's invulnerability, Phantom Army cannot be buffed by anything other than enhancements slotted in the power. Your Accelerate Metabolism, Kinetic's Fulcrum Shift or Siphon Power, the Empathy buffs and the full range of other buff powers will not work on PA. Therefore, the only way to boost Phantom Army is through debuffs of the foes. A Defense Debuff works like a boost to Accuracy. A Resistance debuff works like a boost to PA's damage. This is one of the main reasons why Illusion and Rad go together so well -- the Defense Debuff in Radiation Infection and the Resistance Debuff in Enervating Field will make PA substantially better. (Plus, the recharge boost in AM helps PA recharge faster.) Therefore, you will generally want to apply your debuffs as soon as you can after PA is cast.

NOTHING is better in the game for absorbing the initial or "alpha" strike of a group of foes or even an AV, GM or EB than Phantom Army. It is common that the foes use their "big hitter" attacks first, and all this damage will have no effect on PA. This will sometimes irritate Tanks, but good tanks will learn to adjust and actually appreciate PA's ability to take the hits, so no one else does. Normal strategy is to send PA in first, then cast your Rad debuffs, and then look at your other powers to see what is needed next. You have a total of 60 seconds to take down that group before PA go away and the bad guys aggro on you or your team, so you want to do as much damage as you can in that time. If you have a tank on the team who wants to take the "alpha" strike in order to herd up the bad guys, hold off on casting PA until the group is gathered -- in this situation, PA becomes more of a damage power than a distraction power -- but use it anyway in most cases.

For more information on strategy and some details on Phantom Army, please take a look at the "Phantom Army" part of the Strategy section.

Slotting: Two main options are (A) 3 Recharge, 1 Accuracy, 2 Damage for maximum recharge, or (b) 2 Recharge, 1 Accuracy, 3 Damage to maximize Damage. Slot it for Recharge first, and then add the Accuracy and Damage. The Recharge slotting with SOs will allow PA to recharge in about 123 seconds, not including Hasten and AM, and the Damage slotting will recharge in 144 seconds, not including Hasten and AM -- when those are active, the difference will be smaller. The question you need to ask yourself is whether the shorter recharge is worth less damage. I recommend the first, the Recharge slotting, unless you regularly team with a good tank or otherwise need the tanking less and the damage more. Then go with the Damage slotting.

IO Sets: Pet and Recharge Intensive Pet Sets. The Recharge Intensive Pet set has decent bonuses. Five of the Expediant Reinforcement set gives you good bonuses including 6.25% Recharge and 10% Regen. The sixth enhancement from that set gives 10% Resistance to pets, which is worthless on PA, so you need to put something else there. The question is what are you looking to get out of Phantom Army, and what bonuses are you looking for? My preference is to maximize Recharge first, then damage with decent accuracy. I would like to get some recharge as a bonus, and my second need is Recovery:
Level 18: Phantom Army -- ExRmnt-Acc/Rchg(A), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg(19), ExRmnt-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(19), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21), C'Arms-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21), C'Arms-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(23)
This gives the 6.25% recharge and Recovery of 2.5%. If you prefer 16% Regeneration over the recovery, you could go with:
Level 18: Phantom Army -- ExRmnt-Acc/Rchg(A), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg(19), ExRmnt-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(19), S'bndAl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21), ExRmnt-Dmg/EndRdx(21), S'bndAl-Dmg/Rchg(23)
This second option uses two purples, but gives you higher damage for slightly less accuracy. Of course, you can only use that slotting at level 50.
If you are not looking for a Perma PA build, then you have other options at level 50. For a long time, I thought the ultimate slotting for PA was 3 Acc/Dam HOs, 3 Recharge. However, Tal_N showed us that there is another choice fitting in the Chance for Build Up from the purple set, since the purple set has recharge for pets.
Level 18: Phantom Army -- S'bndAl-Acc/Rchg(A), S'bndAl-Build%(19), S'bndAl-Dmg/Rchg(19), BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg(21), BldM'dt-Dmg(21), RechRdx-I(23)
I haven't actually tested it, but others have stated that the chance for build up can be triggered on any of the three phantom army guys, and when triggered, it then affects all three.


Level 26: Spectral Terror - Location-targeted Non-mobile Pet which casts AoE Fear Aura
You can create an illusion of unspeakable Terror. The manifestation is so horrible that it caused most foes to tremble helplessly in terror. The Spectral Terror may also Terrify individual foes, causing them to run away in panic.
Accuracy: 1.0
Range: 60 ft.
Endurance: 16.64
Recharge: 45 sec.
Cast time: 3.2 Sec.
Radius: 20 ft.
Max Targets: 10 (plus)
Duration: 45 sec.
Effect: Mag 3 Cloak of Fear every 6 seconds for 7.45 seconds at level 50 (before enhancement), single target Mag 3 Terrorize for 22.35 sec (after 2 sec delay, at level 50) that may cause foe to run short distance away.

Spectral Terror ("ST" or “Spooky”) is arguably the second best power in Illusion after Phantom Army. It is a ranged AoE control power that is not only effective, but is available constantly - it lasts for 45 seconds and recharges in 45 seconds even before enhancement and recharge buffs. It is one of the few powers that is fully effective as soon as you get it without additional slots. Not only is it a very effective power, it even looks cool doing it.

Spooky is an immobile “pet” that appears a few feet off the ground. ST creates a strong fear aura in a decent area when it is cast, causing minion and lieutenant foes affected to cower in place. Also, Spooky fires off a single target terrorize which will catch any foes who come into the area after it has been cast, causing that foe to either cower in fear or run a short distance, and then cower in fear.

Fear is not as good as a hold, but is effective AoE control as long as the foe is not resistant to fear (like Nemesis). When first cast, a foe affected will get the chance to do one thing, which often includes an attack. Thus, if you use Spooky as your initial “alpha” attack, expect to get some damage. After the initial action, the foe will cower until he or she is attacked, when that foe will again get to do one thing before going back into the cower animation. Also, Fear does NOT set up Containment, so you do not get double damage from foes who are cowering in fear. Also, Spooky will not control bosses - some control powers have a 20% chance to add a one additional mag, but not Spectral Terror -- so you will have to deal with the bosses separately.

Except for fear-resistant foes and its lack of Containment, Spectral Terror far outshines Flash as AoE control mainly because it provides a way for continual control. Other control sets have some kind of AoE control power that can be re-cast before it expires like an AoE Immobilize - this is Illusion's “always available” control power. Spooky is also cast at range, allowing you to cast in relative safety. Also, Flash needs 6-slots to be effective, while Spectral Terror needs no additional slots to be effective. However, because the foes get one attack because of the nature of fear control, I prefer to use Spooky as a second attack rather than a first, especially if there are foes who can catch me with a mez power. For this reason, using Spectral Terror as a back-up form of control after Flash before Flash's hold runs out, or after Phantom Army just before they disappear, is an effective strategy. Then you have time to clean up the stragglers. ST can also be used to stop an incoming ambush or at a choke point.

Spooky is also one of my favorite looking powers. I remember one time I was playing my Ill/Rad, and I was teamed with a friend using Ventrilo for voice chat. At one point he started laughing and suddenly went AFK. When he came back, he explained that his 3-year-old daughter was watching him on the game. When I cast Spectral Terror, the ghostly image and the wail sound scared her so much that she went running from the room! He had to go assure her that everything was all right.

Slotting: Variable, as Spooky works great with no slotting at all. I start with 1 Recharge. Recharge lets you re-cast it sooner when you move. The initial Fear Aura seems to have little trouble hitting everything, and the subsequent single target terrorize has high inherent accuracy. Also, the fear pulses or the single target Terrorize may last a little longer with a Fear enhancement. Any of those three choices are appropriate. Or you can put an Acc/Fear/Recharge IO. In some illusion builds, I have put in 1 Acc, 1 Fear, 1 Recharge. They all do something, but you may have better places to put the slots.

IO Slotting: Fear sets. Some people put a five of Glympse of the Abyss in Spectral Terror for the 6.25% Recharge and 9% Accuracy. If you want to spend the slots, the GotA set has nice bonuses. If you are not going for a Perma PA build, it is easy to leave only the default slot or maybe a second slot. You could use a single Acc/Fear/Rech, or the Glympse of the Abyss damage proc, even if you don't use the rest of the set. Some people have expressed concerns that this proc will, if it hits, allow foes to take one shot at you. I haven't tested it.

Recharge: Five of the GotA set gives 6.25%, or five of the Unspeakable Terror set gives 5% Recharge (in case you already have 5 of the 6.25% Recharges).


Level 32: Phantasm - Pet
You can construct a powerful entity composed of pure light. Although made of light, the Phantasm is tangible and has powerful Energy attacks. The Phantasm can also fly and summon duplicates of itself. The duplicates are intangible, and cannot be harmed. The duplicates' attacks deal illusory damage similar to that dealt by Spectral Wounds. Only the original Phantasm can be healed and buffed. Type "/release_pets" in the chat window to release all your pets.

The real Phantasm is slightly resistant to Lethal and Energy damage, but vulnerable to Negative Energy damage. The duplicates have a strong taunting effect on critters.
Range: 60 ft.
Endurance: 26
Recharge: 240 sec.
Cast time: 2.03 Sec.
Duration: As long as you are in the same zone.
Pet Powers:
(1) Energy Torrent: 40 ft. 45° Cone attack, 1.07 cast time, Recharge 8 Sec., 17.35 Smashing, 44.49 Energy, for a total of 61.84 Damage at level 50, 60% chance of 6.231 knockback
(2) Power Bolt: 70 ft. Ranged single target attack, 2 sec. cast time, Recharge 4 Sec., 8.9 Smashing, 31.14 Energy for 40.04 Damage at 50, 30% chance for 1.454 Mag knockback.
(3) Resistance to Damage: 20% Resistance to Energy Damage, 10% Resistance to Lethal, but 40% weakness to Negative Energy Damage.
(4) Decoy: Casts a Decoy for 30 sec. Cast time is 2.03 Sec. and Range is 60 Ft. The Decoy has Energy Torrent and Power Blast like Phantasm, but does 58.72 Psi spectral damage that heals back after 5 sec. The Decoy's blasts also have a 13.5 sec. Mag 4 Taunt. The Decoy is invulnerable to attack, flies and has a +5 threat level.

All of the controller sets except Mind have a permanent Pet as the final power, and Illusion's is Phantasm. Phant is a flying energy blaster who follows you around, using a single target blast and a cone "torrent" against any foes who enter his aggression range. One of the best parts about Phant is that he can spawn a decoy who looks the same as him but is actually invulnerable like your Phantom Army.

One aspect of Phantasm is both a blessing and a curse. Phanty's Power Bolt and Torrent have a high chance of knockback. A lot of people complain about this, and you may get complaints from tanks or scrappers to not use Phantasm. That mostly becomes a problem if you tend to play a lot in melee, but if you stay back a bit, then Phantasm's knockback becomes less of a problem. The nice thing about the knockback is that Phanty often acts as your bodyguard, knocking back foes who decide to attack you directly. The knockback is also an aspect of control, since foes can't attack while they are getting up. Occasionally, Phantasm may knock foes out of your Rad debuff auras. I find that Phanty's knockback has more benefits than detriments, but not everyone agrees.

You will need to cast Phantasm whenever you enter a zone or mission, but he will not need to be re-cast unless he dies. Because he uses his Decoy and he flies out of harm's way most of the time, Phantasm does not die very often. Those few times he takes damage, you can heal him. I would estimate that his survival is up with Grav's Singularity and Earth's Animate Stone, so he rarely needs to be re-cast unless you cast him in the middle of crowds of baddies or allow him to draw most of the aggro (more on that later).

Don't underestimate Phantasm's Decoy. It draws aggro to protect you and Phant. All the damage it does is Spectral Damage, so it will all heal back in 5 seconds, but if the foe is defeated before the heal-back, you get to "keep" that damage. Most important, when Phantom Army expires or is recharging, Phantasm's decoy can do the job of drawing the aggro of a foe or an AV, giving you time to get PA back.

Slotting: 1-2 Acc, 3 Dam. Start with 1 Acc, 3 Dam. Add a second Accuracy when you can. The other attributes are minor, and not worth enhancing. Recharge is a luxury since Phantasm rarely dies, but you could add a Recharge if you don't have anywhere else to put that slot. However, I never slot this power with common SOs or IOs since by the time you get Phantasm, you can easily slot IOs from sets.

IO Sets: Pet, Recharge Intensive Pet and Knockback Sets. When I first get Phantasm, I usually slot Acc/Dam and Damage from Blood Mandate, Acc/Dam and Acc/Dam/End from Brilliant Leadership as soon as I get the power. That gives you 1.5% Recovery, 4% Regeneration, with capped damage and decent accuracy in 4 slots. You can trade it out later as you maximize your build. Overall, the Pet IO sets are somewhat lacking. Sovereign Rights give some mez resistance, but that is minimal overall. The purple Soulbound Allegiance set has good Regen, Hit point and a damage buff for 4. One good option is Damage, Acc/Rech, Acc/Dam/Rech and Chance for Build up from Soulbound Allegiance, and Acc/Dam from any other set.

Recharge: 4 Expediant Reinforcement (all the ones with Damage) gives 6.25% Recharge, but you won't cap Damage -- add a Acc/Dam/End from a pet set to get to Damage cap.

For max slotting at 50 in only three slots, use 3 Nucleous (Acc/Dam) Hami-O's.

Level 6: Flash - Point-blank AoE Hold.
Generates a brilliant flash of light around you that blinds nearby foes. Flashed foes are rendered helpless and unable to defend themselves.
Accuracy: 0.8
Range: 80 ft.
Endurance: 15.6
Recharge: 240 sec.
Cast time: 3.0 Sec.
Radius: 30 ft.
Duration: 14.9 sec. Mag 3 Hold at level 50, 20% chance of an additional 1 Mag for 11.175 sec.

All controller sets have an Area of Effect hold. Fire, Ice and Illusion have PB AoE versions, while Mind, Grav, Plant and Earth all have ranged AoE holds. The PB AoE versions have a larger radius to make up for the fact that you have to go into melee to use them. Flash will hold a group of minions and lieutenants, with a 20% chance of catching a boss. Most of the time, you will need to use Blind on a boss to stack holds.

Many people make the mistake of taking Flash early. I recommend waiting on Flash until no sooner than level 28, and I suggest taking it at level 30 or 35. A lot of people suggest that Flash should be skipped entirely, but I feel it is useful on an Ill/Rad. Flash has one major problem, and another smaller one. The major problem is that Flash comes too early in the Illusion set - If you take it at level 6, you will think that Flash stinks. That is because (1) Controller AoE holds have a short duration and a long recharge. At level 6, the duration is only 10.6 seconds, and you can't enhance that very well with only Training Origin enhancements. (2) Like all Controller AoE holds, it has a 20% accuracy penalty. It is easy to fix that with two SO level Accuracy enhancements, but TOs are ¼ the strength of SOs, so it would take eight for the same level of enhancement - leaving nothing for Hold or Recharge. (3) Other sets have some kind of back-up control power for when the AoE hold runs out because other controller sets have some kind of AoE control other than the AoE hold - but not Illusion. All the other sets have an AoE Immobilize available fairly early, except Mind which has Mass Hypnosis, an AoE sleep, instead. Illusion has no AoE control powers after Flash until Spectral Terror at 26, so when that too-short hold runs out, you have nothing left with which to protect yourself. This means that at low levels when you use Flash, you will miss a lot of guys, the ones you hit will only be held for a short time, and all of them will be targeting YOU. And, you won't be able to use it again (as if you'd want to) for a long time. If you take it early, your experience will tell you that Flash absolutely stinks. However in later levels, slotted with SO-level enhancers for Accuracy, Hold and Recharge, Flash is a decent power for taking out minion and lieutenant foes reliably for a reasonable period of time.

The secondary problem is that Flash has a 3 second animation. It seems to take forever to go off, but the hold takes place at the beginning of the animation. The reason this is minor is that you can cast it while invisible. Any foes held will be held at the beginning of the animation. However, the bad part is that foes not held may aggro on you before you can complete the animation.

A lot of folks skip Flash, and I agree that it is probably the second most easily skipped power in the Illusion primary. However, I still think it is worth taking, especially for an Ill/Rad - it gives you a control power to use for those “panic button” moments or when Phantom Army is recharging. Some people say that since EM Pulse is a better PB AoE hold, that Flash should be skipped. I feel that having two such powers make both of them more usable - when you use one, you still have the other available for “panic button” moments. I find that I use Flash frequently, while I save EM Pulse for emergencies or those times when EM Pulse's unique properties will make it more effective. While EM Pulse is overall a better hold, I use Flash more often because Flash is usually adequate for what I need and there is no 10-second period where I stop generating endurance.

Slotting: 2 Accuracy, 2 Hold, 2 Recharge. Because of the 20% accuracy penalty, the Accuracy should be slotted first. If you get Flash, plan on 6-slotting it initially, but you might be able to get away with fewer slots in upper levels.

IO Sets: Hold. The Lockdown, Ghost Widow or Essence of Curae sets work well, depending what set bonuses you want, but generally Lockdown has the best bonuses including Defense. Sure, you can put a damage proc or two here, but you won't fire it off all that often. This is another power where "frankenslotting" Acc/Hold/Recharge can be a good idea. Lately, to save a couple of slots, I have been using 2 Acc/Mez HOs, 2 Recharge. That gives the functional equivalent to six slots in four.

Recharge: For IO sets, the Basilisk's Gaze set has 7.5% Recharge for 4 of them, but they are expensive. The Purple Hold set, Unbreakable Constraint, is more expensive, but it has wonderful bonuses - five of them will give you an all-important 10% Recharge bonus.


Level 8: Superior Invisibility - Toggle Self Invisibility with Defense.
You can bend light around yourself to become completely Invisible. While this power is active, you are all but impossible to detect, and have an extremely high Defense bonus to all attacks. Superior Invisibility is the only toggle invisibility power that allows you to attack while it is active, although you will lose some of your defense bonus if you do so. Superior Invisibility cannot be used with any other self affecting Concealment type power. Recharge: Slow.
Duration: Toggle
Range: Self only
Endurance: 1.04 per second (.52 per .5 second tick)
Recharge: 15 sec.
Stealth: +1000 Stealth, Suppressed when Attacked, for 6 seconds, Suppressed when HitByFoe, for 6 seconds, Suppressed when MissionObjectClick, for 10 seconds
Additional Effects: 4.5% Defense to all, but suppressed to 2.25% for 6 seconds when attacked or hit by foe, or for 10 seconds when click on object.

Superior Invisibility (SI) is one of the two invisibility powers available in Illusion. The other comes next, Group Invisibility (GI). For a standard build, you should choose one or the other, but not both. It is a pretty simple power - click on the toggle, and you become invisible until (a) you turn the power off, (b) you run out of endurance, (c) you become mezzed or dead. There are a few foes who have special perception, and can see you through invisibility, like Rikti Drones, any kind of Snipers, and the giant Eyeballs of the Rularuu (that one makes sense). But for any foes who do not have special perception, you can /e Dance in their faces and they will not see (or hear) you . . . until you do something that will draw their attention, like attack, apply a debuff or click on a glowie. However, summoning pets or casting Deceive will not make you visible.

I generally run SI all the time when in missions, unless I get into a fight where Endurance may be an issue. Then I turn it off to save endurance. You will also have to turn it off if you want to lead a hostage out of a mission.

In general, I prefer SI over GI. Both types give you full invisibility in the PvE game - There is a “stealth cap” of 600 in the PvE game, and both SI and GI exceed that level, so you will be fully invisible at all times to most foes unless you attack or click on a glowie. However, if a foe has a perception bonus, then it reduces that number - With GI, that foe can see you a fair distance away, but with SI, you have to be right in front of that foe for it to see you - which is why SI is “superior.” With GI, you have to keep casting it every so often before the Invisibility wears off, but SI is a toggle, so it is always on. Granted, the endurance cost is about 4 times that of GI, but it is easier to manage the endurance usage than to have to keep re-casting it every so often. SI is fully useful as soon as you get it at level 8, while GI needs 2-3 recharge SOs before the recharge is fast enough that you can re-cast it as soon as it expires (called becoming “perma”). If you plan mainly to solo or PvP, then SI is the clear choice. If you mainly plan to team, or especially plan to team with the same group, you may want to consider GI. For the most part, you should skip either SI or GI, but not both. I feel that one of the two invisibility powers is the most “skippable” power in Illusion, but if you really want to fit in other options, then both invisibility powers can be skipped. However, some folks take both powers, most often as a “mule” for another Luck of the Gambler +7.5 Recharge IO.

Because Illusion has Invisibility as part of its power set, Illusionists don't need those Stealth IOs or the stealth component of Super Speed. Both SI and GI are superior to anything in the Stealth pool.

Slotting: 2-3 Endurance Reduction, and Defense if you have slots to spare.

IO Sets: Defense. Several of the Defense sets give desirable bonuses. If you want Recovery, look at Gift of the Ancients. If you want Regen and Accuracy, look at 4 from Luck of the Gambler. It can also hold a Karma 4 Mag Knockback Protection. Remember that SI is an endurance hog, so you want to slot as much EndRdx as you can.

Recharge: SI can be used to hold one of the most desired and expensive IOs for your build: the Luck of the Gambler 7.5% Global Recharge. Five Red Fortunes will give 5% Recharge.


Level 12: Group Invisibility - Click PB AoE Invisibility for Team.
Makes you and all teammates around you Invisible. While Invisible, you and your teammates are almost impossible to detect. Even if discovered, Group Invisibility grants a bonus to your Defense to all attacks, although you will lose some of your defense bonus if you attack. Group Invisibility has no movement penalty.
Duration: 120 Sec.
Range: 25 ft.
Endurance: 10.4
Recharge: 240 sec.
Cast time: 2.03 Sec.
Stealth: +667 Stealth, Suppressed when Attacked, for 6 seconds, Suppressed when HitByFoe, for 6 seconds, Suppressed when MissionObjectClick, for 10 seconds.
Additional Effects: 1.875% Defense to all.

Group Invisibility (GI) is a good power choice instead of SI if you mainly expect to team. Its endurance cost, over time, is about 1/12 of Superior Invisibility. In the PvE game, both SI and GI put you over the “stealth cap” of 600, making you fully invisible to any foe unless that foe has some kind of perception power. Rikti Drones and Sharpshooter/Marksmen are the biggest problems in this area. As a click power, you cast it and then have to pay attention to when it is going to run out - which can be disastrous at the wrong time. This is the main reason that most Ill/Rads choose SI over GI - SI is easier to use, even with its higher endurance and the “selfish” nature. SI also has a higher stealth level, so even those +perception foes will not see you as soon - you have to get fairly close before they see you.

It takes some practice to get used to the timing for GI. When you re-cast, you become briefly visible, so you want to find a spot not too close to foes (or behind their backs). Keep an eye on that icon on the screen, so when it starts blinking, find a safe spot to re-cast. GI needs slotting with SO level enhancements before it can become permanent, so it may not be a bad idea to put off taking GI until the 20's. One benefit of GI is that since it is not a toggle, it is not subject to getting dropped. If you get hit by an AoE sleep or stun, you will still be invisible. It also does not run out if you run out of endurance.

As a team buff, GI is useful but not essential. There are two main benefits: (1) It lets the team get in position for the initial “alpha” strike on groups of baddies without fear of being seen and starting before everyone is ready. (2) The entire team can help with “glowie hunts” until GI runs out . . . at which time it might be dangerous. In general, I recommend SI over GI unless you are planning a mainly team build. But I have used both, and both are effective. In all but a few extreme cases, there is no reason to take both invisibility powers, so the most skippable power in the Illusion set is either SI or GI; generally take one or the other, but not both.

There is an odd quirk on how the game handles aggro - if you use both SI and GI together, you can attack a foe while invisible, and often not draw aggro from other foes around your target, as long as you only use single target attacks. Personally, I don't think that this quirk makes it worthwhile to take both invisibility powers, but some folks recommend it. I can see taking both if you are trying for a maximum recharge build and need another place to put a Luck of the Gambler +7.5% recharge.

Slotting: 2-3 Recharge, but I prefer 3. The defense is small, and I normally would not enhance it. However, it does grant that small amount of Defense to the team.

IO Sets: Defense. Several of the Defense sets give desirable bonuses. If you want Recovery, look at Gift of the Ancients. If you want Regen and Accuracy, look at 4 from Luck of the Gambler. It can also hold a Karma 4 Mag Knockback Protection. Remember that GI needs a lot of Recharge to be available as soon as it runs out.

Recharge: SI can be used to hold one of the most desired and expensive IOs for your build: the Luck of the Gambler 7.5% Global Recharge. Five Red Fortunes will give 5% Recharge. With enough global recharge, you don't need to worry much about slotting this power for recharge. This power is sometimes taken as a "mule" just to hold another LotG Recharge IO.

The Illusion Control Powers


Level 1: Blind - Single Target Hold with Damage and Small AoE Sleep.
Painfully Blinds a single targeted foe so severely that he is rendered helpless. Blind is so bright that additional foes may also be blinded, though they will not take any damage, and attacking them will free them from the effects.
Accuracy: 1.1
Range: 80 ft.
Endurance: 8.3
Recharge: 9 sec.
Cast time: 1.67 Sec.
Damage Scale: 1.0 Smashing Damage (2.77778 BI)
Damage: 30.59 (at level 50), doubled with Containment
Duration: 18.625(at level 50) at Mag 3 Hold, 20% chance for an additional 1 Mag for 12.423 sec.
Additional Effects: Summons a pet creating a 14.9 second (at level 50) sleep within a 2 ft radius of foe blinded.

Blind is an essential power, and I strongly recommend taking it at level 1 or no later than level 2. It is almost the same as other controller's single target holds, with a couple of small exceptions. Blind trades a slightly shorter duration for an odd and somewhat rare ability to sleep another foe standing very, very near your target. Both bad guys will look like they are held with Blind, but the second one will “wake up” with anything that would disturb a sleep power. The Sleep is not something you can count on, and happens only rarely. Don't bother enhancing for it and it is not worth taking extra steps to make use of the sleep. When it happens, just think of it as a nice, unexpected bonus. (From various discussions on the forums, my understanding is that Blind summons a momentary pseudo-pet that sleeps foes within a 2 foot radius of where it was summoned.)

Blind and Spectral Wounds are the two powers you will use the most from 1 to 50. Because Blind sets up containment, Blind is your lead-off single target attack as well as a control power. You should get used to using Blind-Spectral Wounds as your 1-2 attack. I like to put Blind in slot 3, for easy access, with Spectral Wounds in slot 2. Frankly, any controller who doesn't take Blind shouldn't be a controller.

Slotting: 2 Acc, 2 Hold, 2 Recharge is the “standard” slotting for control on a team-oriented build. This is the default slotting for all holds and most other mez powers. I suggest starting with 1 Acc in the default slot, then add 1 Hold, 1 Recharge within the first 5 levels, then try have Blind 5- or 6- slotted eventually. Under ED, the default slotting gives you the most “bang” for your slots. Some folks like using 3 Hold, while others prefer 3 Recharge. That third Recharge only gets you about .5 seconds faster recharge, so I suggest that you try the default slotting above, and then you can adjust according to your preference. Even though Blind has a 10% bonus to accuracy, I suggest eventually using 2 Accuracy because you want it to hit higher level foes.

Another good option is to slot Blind with Damage. That is a reasonable choice, especially if you mainly expect to solo. With the smaller number of foes you see when solo, use Blind as an attack and to set up Containment for Spectral Wounds, as hold duration rarely does you that much good. Slotting Blind for damage will help you take down foes faster. However, because Illusion has so few control powers, I prefer to slot Blind for control when I mainly expect to team, allowing the team to do more damage. If you want to slot for Damage, I suggest 1 Acc, 2 Dam, 1 Hold, 2 Rech unless you are going up against higher level foes - then make it 2 Acc, 2 Dam, 2 Recharge. If you are using Blind mainly as a damage and containment power, then hold duration is less important.

IO Sets: Hold, Ranged Damage, Sleep. There are a lot of options for slotting IO sets in this power, and even more options if you consider HOs. Some people slot Blind as a Hold power, while others slot Blind as a damage power. Most of the time, I'm using Blind as a lead-off attack to set up Containment and control the foe while I beat on him, and I'll probably be firing off Blind again as soon as it comes up again on the attack chain. Some folks like to slot up the Ghost Widow set or at least the GW Proc for Psi Damage. I'm not a fan of putting damage procs in a power that does so many things, including damage. Using those slots for damage enhancements will get you more benefit than a proc that only hits one out of every five times. The best options are, of course, very expensive. If you don't want to go for the mega-expensive route, then you generally want to slot for Accuracy, Recharge and Hold duration on a team-oriented build, and try to fit in some damage if you solo a lot. Of the Hold sets, the Lockdown set has good bonuses, including 3.75% Ranged Defense. Plus, the Lockdown +2 Mag proc can allow you to hold a boss in one shot if it hits. (The problem with this is that you never know when it might hit.) The other hold sets have mediocre bonuses. A good amount of recharge is the highest priority, followed by accuracy. If you solo a lot, Thunderstrike has 3.75% Ranged Defense total (1.25% for 3, 2.5% for 6), and also gives some Recovery and Accuracy. This power can benefit from "frankenslotting" Acc/Hold/Recharge from multiple sets if you are willing to give up set bonuses. To get a nice mix of capped Accuracy, Recharge, some Hold and good Damage, try Acc/Hold/Rech from Ghost Widow and Essence of Curae, Acc/Hold/End/Rech from Lockdown, Acc/Dam/Rech from Thunderstrike and Devastation and a common Damage IO.

In general, slotting for sleep is a mistake since you are giving up the primary purpose of the power. Some people like to slot the purple Sleep set in Blind, however, because the Sleep set is one of the cheapest purple sets.

Recharge: Of the Hold IO sets, 4 of the Basilisk's Gaze is good because you get 7.5% Recharge out of 4 of them. The PvP set, Gladiator's Net, gives 7.5% Recharge for 5 of them. The purple hold set, Unbreakable Contstraint, gives 10% Recharge for 5. If you solo a lot, you may want to use a damage set. 5 from the Decimation set has 6.5% recharge.

Another good option at levels 47-50 is using Hamidon Origin enhancements. I like 1 Acc/Dam HO, 1 Acc/Mez HO, 2 Dam/Mez HOs and 2 Recharge Common IOs. This is the slotting I currently use, since it gives good accuracy, capped damage AND hold, and very good recharge, but I give up IO bonuses. Personally, I think I get more out of the damage from my HO slotting that I would from most bonuses , , , unless I was trying to do a Perma PA build.



Level 1: Spectral Wounds - Single Target Ranged Damage with Heal-back.
Spectral Wounds convinces the target that he has taken severe damage. The illusion is so convincing that the victim can fall from the Spectral Wounds. However, the damage is not real, and if the victim survives long enough, the illusion will fade and some of the wounds will heal.
Accuracy: 1.1
Range: 80 ft.
Endurance: 6.86
Recharge: 6 sec.
Cast time: 1.07 Sec.
Damage Scale: 1.0 Psi Damage (2.77778 BI), not including spectral damage
Damage: 50.16 initial damage, less heal-back of 19.57 after 10 seconds (30.59 net damage), plus 30.59 Psi Damage for Containment (at level 50).
Additional Effects: 0% Run Speed for 10 Seconds

Spectral Wounds (“SW”) is both simple and complicated. SW is a single target “blast” power, with a minor secondary effect of stopping the target from running for 10 seconds. The initial damage from SW is pretty impressive for a level 1 power on a controller, and as long as you can finish off the foe in 10 seconds, you get to keep that damage. However, if the foe lasts longer than 10 seconds, then some of the damage heals back. The underlying concept of the “heal-back” is that SW deals “spectral” or "illusory” damage - you have fooled the foe into thinking that he has been hurt, and after 10 seconds, he realizes it was not real and heals back.

If you watch for such things, you will notice that (1) Blind and Spectral Wounds have the same base damage, but only after the heal-back, and (2) Containment with Spectral Wounds seems to be substantially less than it should be. Containment is supposed to be double damage. Containment with Spectral Wounds is based only on the base damage that does not heal back, or the non-spectral damage. This makes it seem that Spectral Wounds is getting short-changed, but the game only gives Containment on the “real” damage. However, the damage that comes from Damage enhancements is “real,” so it is important to slot up Spectral Wounds with Damage right away. (If you got Containment on the spectral damage too, as nice as that would be, it might be overpowered.)

The spectral damage component gives Spectral Wounds a lot of burst damage, and due to the heal-back, you generally want to take down your enemies as fast as possible so that you get to keep that spectral damage. This is why I suggest slotting recharge in SW in later levels, and why having a good attack chain can make you more effective. The best way to have a decent attack chain in lower levels is to add Air Superiority, but that forces you to go into melee. Eventually, when you get to the APP levels (Level 41 and up) you can add one of the APP blasts in place of Air Sup, and then you can stay at range to blast. If you expect to solo, you may want to plan on using Air Superiority. There is more about using SW in the strategy section.

Slotting:Spectral Wounds should be slotted with 1 Accuracy, 3 Damage immediately. The remaining slots are optional. The damage for enhancements is not subject to “heal-back,” so enhancing SW with 3 damage enhancements immediately provides a large benefit. The last two slots can either be 1 Acc, 1 Recharge or 2 Recharge. I like 2 Recharge, as it helps with a Blind-SW-other attack-SW attack chain. Since SW has a 10% Accuracy bonus, that second Accuracy isn't needed badly.

IO Sets: Ranged Damage. SW can be slotted with any ranged damage set, and several of them have good bonuses. The Thunderstrike set gives bonuses of Recovery, Accuracy and Ranged Defense. If you are willing to trade Ranged Defense for some Regen, you can replace two of the Thunderstrike set with two from Devistation, giving 12% Regen along with 2.5% Recovery and 9% accuracy from Thunderstrike.

Recharge: Decimation set gives 6.5% Recharge for 5. This is a good power to put the "Chance for Build Up" proc into since you will probably use SW a lot. You may want to 6-slot this to cap out the damage because it is only at 89% on its own. Slot the entire the Decimation set except Acc/End/Rech and replace it with Acc/Dam/Rech from Ruin, Thunderstrike or Devistation to cap your damage. Entropic Chaos also has 6.25% recharge, plus 10% Regen and a Chance for Self Heal proc -- but it will also need an Acc/Dam to cap damage, and even with the 10% extra accuracy in SW, the accuracy is a little low. For the rich folks, five of the purple Apocalypse set gives 10% Recharge.

Another option: you can get better accuracy and save one slot by using HOs but giving up set bonuses, by slotting 3 Acc/Dam, 2 Recharge.



Level 2: Deceive - Single Target Confuse.
You can Deceive an enemy into believing his friends are not who they appear to be. If successful, the enemy will ignore you and attack his own allies. If you Deceive someone before they have noticed you, your presence will continue to be masked. You will not receive any Experience Points for foes defeated by a Deceived enemy.
Accuracy: 1.2
Range: 80 ft.
Endurance: 8.528
Recharge: 8 sec.
Cast time: 1.67 Sec.
Duration: 37.25 at Mag 3 Confuse, 20% chance for additional 1 Mag for 27.936 sec.

Deceive is, in my opinion, one of the better powers in the illusion set. It is also subject to wide and varying opinions. Some folks just love it, while others just hate it. Deceive is functionally the same as Confuse for Mind Controllers, but the casting time is slightly shorter. One of the Developers, Back Alley Brawler, posted that the cast time will be increased to 2 seconds, probably in I-15.

Deceive is a single target control power that causes the Deceived Foe to use his powers against other foes. While the foe is deceived/confused, he will attack any other foes in the area, often switching targets. You may see a deceived/confused foe run off to attack a nearby baddie. (For the sake of convenience, let's refer to a Deceived/Confused Foe by “CF.”) If the CF has an AoE attack, he may use it on his buddies. If the CF has a hold, sleep, slow, other mez or debuff power, he may use those on his buddies, too. If CF has a buff power, he may use it on you or your teammates. If there are no other foes in the area, CF will just stand there, doing nothing even if you attack him. Deceive lasts longer than Blind, recharges slightly faster, and uses the same amount of endurance. Deceive has a 20% accuracy bonus, 10% higher than Blind, and has the same range as Blind. Some players get confused, and think that Decieve is better than Blind - while that is true to some degree, Blind is more essential than Deceive mainly because of its fast activation time and Containment.

Most importantly, [u]Deceive does not draw aggro[u]. If you attempt to Deceive a foe and miss, or cast it on a Boss-level foe (who usually needs to be hit twice to stack the mag), you will not cause the foe to attack you - as long as you stay out of his perception range or stay invisible, he won't even know you are there even if you miss. Because of this, you can cast Deceive over and over again without drawing attention to yourself. Given enough time, you can make all of the baddies in a group fight among themselves until only one badly wounded foe is left - all in complete safety. While you probably won't want to, as explained below, this is an option for wiping out a room full of foes who could otherwise wipe out your team - or a fun way to spend the time waiting for someone to make it to the mission. On occasion, I have entered into bets with my teammates about which foe will survive the longest.

So why do some people dislike Deceive? (1) It does not set up Containment to substantially increase your damage. (2) The overall animation is pretty slow, and the “haters” feel that using Deceive slows down a fast team. (3) Most importantly, however, is the fact that if your CF defeats another foe, then you and your team do not get XP for the defeated foe. If your CF does some of the damage and you, your pets or your team does the rest to defeat the foe, then you don't get full XP for the defeated foe. There is a odd formula to determine the amount of XP that gets allocated to you, but it is not a straight pro-rata share. The “haters” view this as “lost XP.” Well, it is not actually “lost” since you never earned it. You actually lose the opportunity to earn some XP, so a more accurate term would be, “lost potential XP.” (Semantics, semantics . . .) The truth is that when a CF does some of the damage, you get credit for some of the damage done by the CF, but not all of it.

To get full benefit from Deceive, it is very helpful if you know how the power works, and how to get most of the XP from Deceive. There are a few helpful people on the boards who have carefully calculated that using Deceive/Confuse actually helps you to get more XP over time, even though you may miss out on a small amount of XP from a few foes. In other words, you may get less XP per foe defeated, but you can defeat more foes in the same time using Deceive. See “What about Deceive?” in the strategy section for a lengthy discussion about the use of Deceive, strategies and how to get more XP over time.

I strongly recommend using Deceive and getting it early - I prefer to take it at level 4. Think of it as a long-lasting, fast-recharging single-target control that draws no aggo. I find that Deceive has saved me and my team from debt many times. It will be more useful solo and on smaller teams, than on large, fast moving teams, but Deceive is still a wonderful tool for your toolbox.

Slotting: Variable, depending on how you want to use it. Deceive is effective with only an Accuracy in the default slot, as it has an inherent 20% accuracy bonus, it lasts a long time and recharges pretty quickly. You can get by for a while with 1 Acc, 1 Rech, 1 Conf. Heavy users may want the standard balanced mez slotting of 2 Accuracy, 2 Confuse Duration, 2 Recharge.

IO Sets: Confuse. Five of the Malaise's Illusion set is great with 2.5% Recovery and 6.25% Recharge, but make sure to leave out the Damage Proc - that may mess up the aggro-free nature of the power which is one of Deceive's most valuable attributes. Unfortunately, it takes six of the set to get Ranged Defense. If you want Regeneration or Accuracy bonuses, look to the Perplex set.

Recharge: Five of the Purple set, Coercive Persuasion, includes a 10% recharge bonus and is one of the least expensive purple sets. The sixth from that set adds 5% ranged defense. I strongly recommend the Contagious Confusion proc from that set, even if you don't get any of the others, as it turns Deceive into an erratic Mass Confusion, allowing your single target confuse power to hit multiple targets. Once I got that proc, I find I constantly use Deceive with hope that it will hit a bunch of foes. Putting that proc in Deceive is one of my favorite procs in the game. Malaise's Illusions also has 6.25% recharge for 5.

Some Basics About Controllers

All other archetypes have at least one power set that is designed for damage. Controllers may have individual powers that do damage, but they do not have a power set focused on damage. Controllers are designed to limit the enemy's actions, thereby making it easier to do damage to the enemy. Some Controllers do a lot of damage as well, while others don't do much damage but do a greater amount of damage prevention and enhancement. Ill/Rad is considered to be one of the higher damage controllers. In general, Controller powers fall into two categories: Control Powers (in your primary mostly) and Buff Powers (mostly in your secondary). The secondary for controllers are copied from Defender's primaries, but the strength of the powers is often different - control powers are usually stronger while buff powers are usually weaker.

(A) It is important to understand the various powers that provide “control.” A Power that reduces or eliminates the enemy's ability to attack is usually a control power. Control powers, some of which are referred to as “Mez” powers, are Hold, Stun (also known as Disorient), Sleep, Confuse, Intangible (a/k/a Phase), Fear, Immobilize, Slow and Knocks. Each of these powers has a level of strength, or “mag” (magnitude) that determines how effective it is against types of foes. The Ill/Rad combination does not have Immobilize, Stun, or Intangible, but it has all the other kinds of Control powers.
<ul type="square">[*]A Hold will keep the foe in one place, unable to attack or defend or do anything. This is the “hardest” kind of control. Holds in Ill/Rad are Blind, Flash, Choking Cloud and EM Pulse.[*]A Stun or Disorient will also keep the foe from attacking or defending or do anything other than wander around, but some stunned foes can move pretty fast. A Stun added to an Immobilize has the same effect as a hold. Ill/Rad doesn't have a Stun/Disorient, but if it happens, you can still get Containment. While Illusion doesn't have either a Stun or an Immobilize, several other controllers do, and if they use it, you can take advantage of Containment for extra damage.[*]Confuse is a unique power. When a foe is Confused, he stops attacking you and your team, and instead attacks other foes in his range. If there are no foes around, he just stands there and ignores you and your team, even if you attack him. Deceive is a Confuse Power. Confuse powers do NOT set up Containment. There are lots of special aspects to Confuse powers, discussed below.[*]Fear or Terrorize powers allow a foe to do one thing before the foe begins to cower in fear. If anyone attacks that foe, the foe will again get to do one thing before going back into the cower animation. The "one thing" is often an attack, but may be something else. Sometimes foes who are terrorized will run away a short distance. Fear powers do NOT set up Containment. Spectral Terror is a fear power.[*]A Sleep will act just like a hold, until the foe receives any attack. Then he will “wake up” with no other effect. Sleeps usually last longer than Holds or Stuns, but are not very helpful if your teammates have lots of AoE powers that will wake them. Blind has a somewhat rare secondary effect that is a Sleep.[*] Immobilize will keep the foe in one place, but he can still attack, defend or take any action that does not involve moving. Ill/Rad doesn't have any Immobilize powers, but they cause Containment.[*]Slow powers will slow the movement rate of enemies. Some slow powers will also reduce the recharge rate, or speed at which the enemy can keep attacking you. Sometimes, enemies can run out of the effect of a slow. Slow enhancements only affect run speed, and not the other effects of the slow power. Also, slow powers do NOT set up Containment. At most, you can slow a foe to 10% of his standard movement speed - this is called the “slow cap.” Lingering Radiation is a Slow power.[*] Knock powers include Knockback, Knockdown and Knock-up. Knockback powers usually send the bad guy flying back. Knockdown is where the foe falls down where he is, and Knock-up is where the bad guy flies up into the air, and then falls down. During the fairly short time that the bad guy is getting up, he cannot attack. Some powers, like Earthquake, Ice Slick and Oil Slick Arrow, keep knocking the foes down over and over again, preventing the foes from doing anything. Knock powers do NOT set up Containment. Phantasm does a lot of knock-back with his attacks.[/list]
If you want to understand how the various forms of “mez” work in the game, and what “Mag” is, take a look at this old Guide on Magnitude. Each of the above powers has factor designating its strength, which are referred to as “Mag,” (for magnitude). The general rule is that Minion level foes require the effect of the power to reach Mag 2 to take effect, Lieutenant level foes require Mag 3, and Boss level foes require Mag 4. AV's are a special case - but there are other guides that discuss the “Purple Triangles of Doom” (PToD) and how to deal with AV's.

(B) It is also important to understand “Containment” and how it works. Containment is double damage (usually) done by a controller's attack if the target is held, stunned, slept or immobilized. Containment works for damage directly caused by any controller - no matter who may have caused the hold, stun, sleep or immobilize - so you can get containment bonus damage even if the foe has been held by a blaster or stunned by a tank. For the most part, powers that are considered “pets” do not get containment, so Phantom Army, Spectral Terror, Phantasm, and Fallout do not get Containment. The Containment buff for Spectral Wounds is handled in an odd way, making it appear as though it gets a lot less Containment bonus than other powers. That is explained with the power, below. If you want to find out more about a controller's “containment,” take a look at Enantiodromos's Controller Damage Overview.

(C) Controller “Buff” powers are the same sets as most of the Defender's primary power sets, but many of the powers have different values than when the powers are used by Defenders. Powers like Accelerate Metabolism will “buff” up you and your team, improving you and your team's attributes like accuracy or ToHit, damage, recharge, recovery of endurance, regeneration of health, etc. Radiation Aura is an AoE heal. Radiation has three core “debuff” powers that will decrease similar abilities of the enemy. In addition to what you will find below, there is a lot of information on these types of powers under the Defender Guides.

On slotting powers: I try to give the basic slotting first, so folks can see the most important aspects of a power to slot. I usually try to slot common IOs at level 30 or 35, but don't really look at adding IO sets until the late 30's or 40's with some exceptions. Some people are enamored with IO set bonuses, and are willing to sacrifice the effectiveness of the power for better set bonuses. Others prefer to slot the power for its most effective uses first, and then see if they can fit in a few set bonuses as, well, bonuses. Some folks are willing to spend a lot of time farming to put full sets of Purple enhancements in their Ill/Rad. (“Purple” means the unique level 50 Ultra-rare sets that are extremely expensive but give the best bonuses and strongest enhancement.) I don't have an "ultra-max" build - I may comment on Purple sets, but I actually have very few at this point. I do have a LOT of Hami-O's from back when I used to participate in frequent Hami Raids, and my first Ill/Rad originally had Hami-O's in just about every spot that could effectively take one. To most people, the most important bonus is recharge on an Ill/Rad because you want to shorten that recharge for Phantom Army.

The "Perma PA" Build: Phantom Army is the key power for an Illusion Controller. The goal of the Perma PA build is to make sure that you have enough recharge that PA is always available. To have Perma PA, you have to get enough global recharge to have Phantom Army recharge in 60 seconds or less. With Hasten and Accelerate Metabolism, an Ill/Rad can do this more easily than any other Illusion build other than Kinetics (which has to rely upon siphoning speed off of a foe). In the listings below, I will indicate IO sets that provide Recharge as a benefit. Because these enhancements are in high demand for all controllers, not just Ill/Rads, a Perma PA build is very expensive and takes a lot of work to make. An Illusion/Radiation controller can be very effective without having Perma PA, so if you don't want to put in the effort to get there, it will not make your character ineffective. I don't have a Perma PA build, because I haven't taken the time or influence to make one of these myself. (But I have played on occasion when I had enough external recharge to have Perma PA -- and it is very nice!) There are plenty of other effective IO set bonuses that will make your character better. These include Recovery, Regeneration and Defense.

OK, Let's start with the powersets, and then get to my recommended build. I will try to explain why I chose each power when I did, and you can decide if those factors matter to you. Each power will be described by its "in-game" description, and then its various attributes will be listed. All durations of Mez effects and damage amounts are for a level 50 character, as listed in City of Data. After those come my suggestions, strategy and suggested slotting.

OK, I have made some major revisions. In particular, I added discussion to every power about what IO sets will boost Recharge for those folks looking to make a Perma PA build. The final version will have the sections with links to the parts. By the way, there is a limit to how long posts can be, which is why I had to break this up so much. Here goes Version 2:

A Local Guide to the Illusion Control/Radiation Emission Controller

When I first rolled up Area Man, an Illusion/Radiation controller, he was supposed to be a sidekick to my main-character-at-the-time, Local Man, a Dark Miasma/Electric Defender. But Area Man was so much fun to play that he became my main character and my first to hit level 50. Ill/Rad continues to be my overall favorite character in the game and I have even rolled up additional Ill/Rad controllers on other servers. This is my second guide; my first was “A Local Guide to the Earth/Rad Controller.”

This guide has five sections:

1. Introduction to the Ill/Rad Controller
2. The Illusion Control Powers
3. The Radiation Emission Powers
4. Suggested Builds (in Five Acts)
5. Strategies and Discussions

As a bit of a warning - this guide is quite long. I have tried to include a lot of strategy suggestions and information I have picked up. Feel free to skip to whichever sections interest you.

Introduction to the Illusion/Radiation Controller?

An Illusion/Radiation controller is the Jack-of-All-Trades in CoH. He can do a little of everything, and there are a few things he can do better than anyone. With Phantom Army, he can be a tank. With Spectral Wounds, and later with the Ancillary Powers, he can be a blaster. With control powers of Blind, Flash, Spectral Terror, Lingering Radiation, Choking Cloud and EM Pulse, he can be a controller. And with the various Radiation debuff and buff powers, and even Group Invisibility, he can buff and debuff as a Defender. Add in a melee pool power or two, and he can be a Scrapper, too. Some folks might say that Khedians are the Jack-of-All-Trades in CoH, but they lack in the buffing/debuffing area, and really are better blaster-tank-scrappers. An Ill/Rad can be a Blaster-Controller-Defender-Tank.

Ill/Rad's flexibility makes it a great all-around character, both for solo and for small and large teams. Ill/Rad has long been considered one of the best builds in the game. Folks have posted on the Boards many times how they were able to overcome Arch-Villians (AVs) or even Giant Monsters (GMs) with just their single Ill/Rad controller. Even if you don't seek those lofty goals, there is no question that Ill/Rad is one of the most effective builds against the higher level content in the game, including AVs. It is pretty darn effective in the low levels, too. However, Ill/Rad's strength is mainly geared to attacking single targets - it has no area damage powers, unless you count Phantom Army, until the Ancillary Power Pool (APP) power sets. If you are looking for a build to do “farming,” Illusion is probably not the best choice.

Illusion has fewer “control” powers than other controllers, but makes up for it in other unique ways. Illusion mainly controls by distraction and other forms of “soft” control. This allows Illusion controllers to team well with other controllers or other Illusion controllers. Other controller sets may have powers that invalidate another's favorite power (for example, Earthquake or Ice Slick are made almost useless by applying Stone Cages, Frostbite or Fire Cages), but more illusion controllers usually add to the team without having any conflicts. Also, other controllers often have so many control powers that another controller's powers become unnecessary or become interfering. (What happens if a Earth Controller uses Volcanic Gasses just when a Gravity Controller uses Wormhole? One or the other has probably wasted his effort.) The single most important power in Illusion is Phantom Army. PA is unique in that it is three unbuffable and invulnerable pets that last for 60 seconds.

Radiation fills some of the control holes in Illusion with additional controls, and with debuffs that make Illusion's controls more effective. As explained below, Phantom Army ("PA") cannot be buffed, which is why Rad goes so well with Illusion - the Rad Defense and Resistance debuffs make Phantom Army much better and the Recharge in AM helps PA come back faster. Rad is the only secondary that offers all three benefits. The Defense Debuff in Radiation Infection helps PA hit with higher accuracy, and the Resistance Debuff in Enervating Field lets PA do more damage. Of the Controller Secondary sets, Thermal, Trick Arrow and Storm have substantial debuffs to make Phantom Army better, but have no recharge buff. Also, Trick Arrow doesn't have the versatility of Rad, Therm's debuffs come very late in the set and Storm's debuff, Freezing Rain, is a targeted AoE click power. Sonic has a Resistance debuff only. Kinetics has Siphon Speed to help with PA's recharge, but no debuffs to make PA better - Fulcrum Shift doesn't affect PA. Force Field and Empathy have other good powers, but nothing to make PA better.

This guide incorporates information from two wonderful sites, Red Tomax's, “City of Data,” and ParagonWiki, as well as information from other guides written before this one. I did not spend time testing and calculating, but just compiled the great work done by others. Two previous guides deserve special mention: Q_Arkhan did a solo-oriented Ill/Rad guide in I-6 that was very good, and Tal_N has an excellent Illusion/Storm Guide.

There are several general statements to start off:

(A) I like lists. I think lists make things easier to understand.

(B) This is guide will say very little about PvP - I don't particularly care for PvP and spend almost no time in those zones. What I know about PvP is from reading the boards, not from actual experience.

(C) This is a guide for an Ill/Rad who can both solo and team. Some power choices and slotting would be different for a solo-only controller. There is a pretty good guide out there, Tom Foolery's Solo Ill/Rad Guide, focusing on building a solo Ill/Rad, but it pre-dated inventions. This guide will mainly focus on a team build, but will include some discussion about solo as well.

(D) Various terms are used to describe the enemy - enemies, bad guys, baddies, foes. I don't use “mob” because it is confusing. Old MMO lingo uses “mob” to mean “Mobile Object,” representing one bad guy. To most people, a mob is a group of bad guys. It is confusing, so I don't use “mob.” I use “bunch,” “group,” “gang” or “a spawn” to describe a group of baddies. The developers appear to use the term, “critters,” but that sounds like animals to me, so I don't use it.

(E) Maximizing Invention Origin (“IO”) sets is complex and subject to personal taste. There are a lot of options, and I will not cover them all. I will discuss some sets or special IOs from time to time, but I will also discuss slotting in the context of Single Origin or standard single aspect common IOs, since I feel that is more useful to someone leveling up. When you are leveling up and building a character, you need the basic enhancement concepts. You can get fancy with IOs later. IO sets give you a lot of options depending upon your play style and the particular attributes you want to enhance. While different people have different philosophies on how they like to use IO sets, the most common attribute that an Ill/Rad controller will want to enhance is Recharge, mostly to get Phantom Army to recharge faster. Some folks are enamored by the Procs (special enhancements that will occasionally add damage or some other attribute), while others find it a challenge to maximize this attribute or that attribute. I don't claim to be an expert in the IO sets, so while I will discuss them to a degree, I will not be posting the “ultimate IO build.” By the time you are ready to start outfitting IO sets, you will probably know the character pretty well yourself and you can play around with Mid's builder yourself. However, if you have an IO build you particularly like, feel free to post it. A lot of folks want an IO build that will give Permanent PA - and I offer anyone to post those builds here to add to the discussion. I will discuss enhancements that improve recharge and the goal of an expensive "Perma PA" build. However, I haven't spent the time or influence to build one of those builds, so I don't have experience with it.

(F) There are a lot of standard terms and abbreviations are in this guide because I'm lazy. Here are some of the terms used:
<ul type="square">[*]“PB AoE” stands for “Point Blank Area of Effect,” meaning a power that has an affect in the area immediately around the caster. Flash, Group Invisibility, Radiant Aura, Accelerate Metabolism, EM Pulse and Choking Cloud are examples of PB AoE powers. Some affect teammates while others affect foes.[*] A “Location-targeted AoE” is a power is one where you pick a spot on the ground, and the power will have an Area of Effect around that location. When you activate it, white rings appear wherever it is proper to place the power. You then pick a spot on the ground in range, and click that spot on the ground. Using that spot as the center, the effect appears in a circle (more or less) centered on the spot you clicked. If you are using a pet power, the pet is summoned to that spot. These include Phantom Army, Spectral Terror and Phantasm.[*] "Toggle" powers are ones that you turn on, and they keep operating until you turn them off, or until some other event turns off the toggle. Your toggle can be turned off (a) if you are defeated, (b) if you run out of endurance, or (c) depending upon whether it is an offensive or defensive toggle, if you get mezzed (held, stunned or slept). Examples include Superior Invisibility and travel powers. [*]An “anchor” is a target upon whom a power is cast. The power will have an effect in the area surrounding the “anchor.” Usually anchors are foes, but there are a few powers, like Fallout, that use teammates as anchors. “Anchor” powers are important to Rad's Radiation Infection, Enervating Field and Lingering Radiation powers.[*] “Anchor Toggle” powers are ones that you cast on an anchor and they keep operating until you turn them off, or until some other event turns off the toggle. Your toggle can be turned off (a) if your anchor is defeated, (b) if you are defeated, (c) if you run out of endurance, (d) if your anchor goes out of range or (e) if you leave the zone. Examples include Radiation Infection and Enervating Field. [*]“Click” powers are powers which activate when you click on them or push a button, but they finish their animation and then recharge until ready again. Most of the powers in the game are click powers.[*]”AV” is Arch-Villain, and “EB” is Elite Boss, two high level enemies that usually require special tactics and powers. You may be able to handle an EB solo, but it takes something special to handle an AV solo. “GM” is Giant Monster, a huge beast who usually needs more than one team to fight.[*] “XP” is Experience Points, which is how the game keeps score of your progression. You get XP mostly for defeating foes, completing objectives and completing missions.[*] “AI” is Artificial Intelligence, or the programming of how a pet or foe is supposed to act.[*]Enhancements fit into 5 main types of categories:
(1) “TO” is Training Origin, and these are the weakest type of enhancements, available to you at level 1. The amount of enhancement varied depending upon what is being enhanced, but the most common amount is 8%.
(2) “DO” is Dual Origin, and these are limited to one of two types of origin. A “DO” is roughly twice the strength of a “TO.” If you are Magic origin, you can only use Magic/Mutant or Natural/Magic DOs.
(3) “SO” is Single Origin, and these will only work for characters of the same origin as the type of enhancement. If you are Science origin, you can only use Science SOs. An “SO” is again twice the strength of a “DO” and four times the strength of a “TO.” The most common amount of enhancement is about 33%.
(4) “IO” stands for “Invention Origin,” and fit into two sub-categories, “common IOs” and “set IOs” Common IOs work for any origin, like TOs, except they start at level 10, they never expire and they increase in strength as the level goes up. Level 25-30 common IOs are functionally the same as SOs. Common IOs level 35 and up are stronger than SOs. “Set IOs” usually, but not always, enhance more than one attribute, but the two or three attributes enhanced add up to enhancement for a little more than common IOs. When Set IOs of the same set are used to enhance the same power, the set IOs will give some additional attributes, called “set bonues.”
(5) Finally, there are a last, somewhat rare type that can only be earned by doing certain trials, like the Eden Trial, the Abandoned Sewers trial, the Hamidon raids and the Statesman's Task Force. Although these have a few different names, I'll just refer to them as Hami-O's or HOs. These are the equivalent of two or sometimes three SO enhancements. Although the Eden and Abandoned Sewers Trials give HO-like enhancements, those expire. Most of the HOs available are either Hamidon or Synthetic Hamidon enhancements at level 50, so they can't be slotted until level 47. HOs and Synthetic HOs are identical other than the name.[/list]

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to throw out one more combination here, how many of the ice/storm folks use AA and hurricane? I have a mid level ice/storm and am finding almost nothing for recent guides. lots of /storm and some ice/ but not the combination

and while most of the ice guides recommend AA and almost all /storm guides recommend hurricane, I question having both, especially in light of the other discussions here about snow storm and shiver.

I am thinking that if I use hurricane, I should skip AA and get either, or both, shiver and snow storm. those 2 operate at range and hurricane will keep them at range.

if I want to use AA, then leave out hurricane though I am leaning towards the camp that suggests getting shiver or snow storm to complement AA

thoughts? suggestions?

and if someone has a more recent guide that you could point me to for an ice/storm combo, I would love to see it

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AA is my "run it most of the time" power. Hurricane is my "run it only when you need it" power. I actually have a bind that turns off AA and turns on Hurricane at the same time, since running both at the same time is rarely useful (not never -- you can trap a foe in a corner and use both, but there's not much benefit to that).

Hurricane makes a great "panic button" power for when you and the team are being overrun. Hurricane is a nice positioning power. But my favorite use is in the cul-de-sacs on many maps, where I can use Gale to throw the foes into the back, turn on Hurricane to keep them trapped and unable to hit me much, then unleash Tornado and Lighting Storm, Freezing Rain and my APP AoE damage powers. Then I can pick off foes one by one with BoI, Chilblain and my APP blast.

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But it does say that it's supposed to take Recharge Intensive Pets, right?

[/ QUOTE ]I haven't checked on a Defender, but I'm fairly positive that Fluffy isn't supposed to accept RIP sets, and my Thugs/Dark's Fluffy doesn't get them.

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I quintuple-checked, and Chazz checked too. When you hover over the Dark Servant power in the management screen, it says in the description that it accepts IOs from several different sets, and Recharge Intensive Pets is listed.

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I discovered this a few days ago. What is frustrating is that Fluffy SHOULD accept the Accurate ToHitDebuff sets, and it won't.

Fluffy needs some serious looking at in terms of the sets it accepts.

BaBs posted on the boards that he was going to do it, however. it must have missed the Patch notes.

Personally, I went with Hasten/Super Speed for travel instead of Hover/Fly. Steamy Mist + Super Speed gives me full invisibility, plus the ability to maneuver in combat quite easily. I like to run right up to a few foes, then pop on Hurricane for the ToHit Debuff -- it makes it hard for them to hit me with the alpha. Freezing Rain + Crushing Field keeps them busy. Then I pick one to take down while the others flop or keep trying to attack me with very poor results.

I consider Freezing Rain+Crushing Field a key part of the synergy for Grav/Storm. I like to wormhole to a corner, crushing Field while they are stunned, Freezing Rain for the Resistance debuff and control, hold them in place with Hurricane. Then it is like shooting fish in a barrel . . . and this is before using Tornado and/or Lightning Storm.

One little thing to keep in mind: If you build to a concept, then you usually give up some utility to make the character comply with the concept. You shouldn't overall judge the effectiveness of controllers based on your experience making a concept-based character. Of course, if the character is fun to you, that is exactly what you should do.

I just wanted to point that out because you indicated that this was your first controller that you expect to level up. When I started this game, controller was the last of the five archtypes I tried, because it was the only one that didn't have a powerset dedicated to damage . . . and it turned out that it is by far my favorite. 60% of my level 50 characters are controllers, and more are nearly there. I like controllers because there is such a variety of strategies needed. Scrappers, Tanks and Blasters mostly involve getting in position and firing off the same cycle of attacks, but controllers have to adjust to the situation much more. I think there is also a much wider range of builds with controllers.

I admit that I don't make "concept" builds . . . I like to make characters very effective, and then fit the concept to the build. I just wanted to point out that if you find this character to be somewhat lacking, it may not be because the archtype is lacking. You may want to try another controller. I have found that each one is substantially different, often with the same primary. (I have Ill/Rad, Ill/TA and Ill/Storm all at 50, and they all play differently. I also have Fire/Rad and Earth/Rad at 50, and Plant/Rad almost there. Again, each is substantially different.)

My Grav/Storm solos very well without the fighting pool. Frankly, Hurricane is pretty much all you need. Once I had it at 22, I was able to pick one guy to clobber while Hurricane keeps the others from hitting me much.

I did not take Lift, but instead took Crushing Field earlier in the build. Because Crushing Field does not prevent knockdown, it combines very well with Freezing Rain as a kind of AoE control. Solo, Grav Dist, Crush (slotted for damage) and Propel do very good damage.

As MaHaBone23 said, controllers can be build many different ways. First, I suggest you take a look at some guides. For your Radiation secondary, I humbly suggest you take a look at my Draft Illusion/Radiation Guide.. I'm not sure what guide to recommend on the Gravity side.

But let me give you a few pointers on the build. Do you intend to mostly solo? Mostly team? Exclusively team? PUGs or a standard group of regulars? And if regulars, what characters will you be teaming with? All these factors can affect your build.

Especially in low levels, Grav is weak on AoE, but has decent single target damage and control. It is a good idea to try to get a little AoE protection. Radiation can provide that in Radiation Infection, with its -ToHit Debuff. So, you probably want to fit in RI and Accelerate Metabolism fairly early in your build. AM provides many benefits, with the main ones being Recharge and Endurance Recovery before Stamina.

On Grav: Grav has four single target powers early in the set. Always take the single target hold ASAP, and you did. How you slot it depends on whether you solo, team but focus on damage or team focused on control. Standard slotting for control of most control powers is 2 Accuracy, 2 Hold (or whatever it does) and 2 Recharge. For solo or damage oriented, you can replace the Holds with Damage. Now let's look at Crush, Lift and Propel.

Single target Immobilize powers are not that useful in and of themselves when you have a single target hold. There are two reasons to take the single target immobilize -- as an early damage power (slotted like a ranged damage power, 1-2 Acc, 3 damage) or late in the build to immobilize bosses and AVs. The one thing that is unique about Crush is that it does NOT have -knockback like other immobilize powers.

Lift is kind of underwhelming -- less potent than Mind's Levitate, it still has the benefit of taking a foe out of the fight for a short time. Propel, on the other hand, is a huge amount of damage with knockback . . . but an equally huge animation.
On teams, it is common for teammates to kill off your target before the animation finishes. So, for a team-oriented build, Lift is better. For a solo-oriented build, Propel is better. But you don't really need both when you could use that power choice for a Radiation power.

My suggestion to start is: Take Crush, but slot it for damage, not immobilize. Radiant Aura: eventually 3 heal, 1 Recharge, maybe an EndRdx depending on how much you use it. If you want a team build, take Lift. For a solo build, take Propel. Fit in AM and RI. Slot AM for 3 Recharge first, then EndMod in much higher levels. Slot RI for ToHitDebuff and some EndRdx first, then Defense Debuff later -- remember you want it more for defense.

Skip the invisibility pool. Want Stealth? Take Hasten/Super Speed and get a Stealth IO to get full invisilbility without using up power choices. Delay Gravity Distortion Field until after Stamina -- it has a long recharge, short duration, so it really doesn't get usefull until you can slot it up with SO-level enhancements -- and even then, it is mostly a "panic button" or filler power.

In your later build, you completely skipped the holy trinity of Rad debuffs. These powers are very, very useful. In addition to Radiation Infection, you need to take Enervating Field and Lingering Radiation. Skip Choking Cloud -- my guide gives you a lot of information on it, and you really can't get much benefit from it. I only recommend Choking Cloud for Fire/Rad and Ice/Rad -- maybe Plant/Rad, but it isn't really needed.

The Psi APP set is good, but IW needs to be slotted up with 3 Recharge to have it up as much as possible. Get rid of Team Teleport. Too many other good choices.

EDIT: You posted a new build while I was commenting on the old one.

Try this one:

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Earth-Storm: Level 50 Technology Controller
Primary Power Set: Earth Control
Secondary Power Set: Storm Summoning
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Ancillary Pool: Stone Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Fossilize -- HO:Endo(A), HO:Nucle(3), HO:Perox(5), HO:Perox(7), RechRdx-I(11), RechRdx-I(11)
Level 1: Gale -- Acc-I(A)
Level 2: Stone Cages -- TotHntr-Acc/Rchg(A), TotHntr-Acc/EndRdx(3), TotHntr-Acc/Immob/Rchg(5), TotHntr-Dam%(43), GravAnch-Hold%(50)
Level 4: O2 Boost -- Heal-I(A)
Level 6: Quicksand -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(7)
Level 8: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(9), RechRdx-I(9)
Level 10: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 12: Stalagmites -- Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(A), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(13), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(13), Stpfy-Stun/Rng(15), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(15), RechRdx-I(25)
Level 14: Super Speed -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 16: Freezing Rain -- LdyGrey-DefDeb/Rchg(A), LdyGrey-%Dam(17), LdyGrey-DefDeb/Rchg/EndRdx(17), LdyGrey-Rchg/EndRdx(23), Posi-Dam%(37), RechRdx-I(40)
Level 18: Health -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(19), Heal-I(19)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(21), EndMod-I(21)
Level 22: Earthquake -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(23), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/Rchg(46)
Level 24: Steamy Mist -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(25), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(34), S'fstPrt-ResKB(43)
Level 26: Volcanic Gasses -- Lock-Rchg/Hold(A), Lock-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(27), UbrkCons-Hold/Rchg(27), UbrkCons-Dam%(31), G'Wdw-Acc/Hold/Rchg(31), G'Wdw-Dam%(34)
Level 28: Thunder Clap -- Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(A), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(29), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(29), Stpfy-Stun/Rng(34), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(43)
Level 30: Hurricane -- DarkWD-ToHitDeb(A), DarkWD-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(31), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(46), DarkWD-Slow%(46)
Level 32: Animate Stone -- BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg(A), BldM'dt-Dmg(33), BriL'shp-Acc/Dmg(33), BriL'shp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), SvgnRt-PetResDam(48), ExRmnt-+Res(Pets)(48)
Level 35: Tornado -- ExRmnt-Acc/Rchg(A), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg(36), ExRmnt-Dmg/EndRdx(36), ExRmnt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), ExRmnt-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(37), C'Arms-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37)
Level 38: Lightning Storm -- Entrpc-Dmg/Rchg(A), Entrpc-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(39), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg(40), Dev'n-Hold%(40)
Level 41: Fissure -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(42), Posi-Dmg/Rng(42), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50)
Level 44: Seismic Smash -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx(45), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(45), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(48)
Level 47: Earth's Embrace -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(50)
Level 49: Snow Storm -- EndRdx-I(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Containment

One of the main weaknesses of the Storm secondary is no way to heal or recover endurance. Fire gives you endurance recovery, Primal has Conserve Power, Earth has a great heal. Only Ice's Hibernate lets you recover both health and endurance in an emergency. Plus you get to choose between the best single target blast of the APP blasts, a cone and an AoE, plus a defense based shield.

Add to that the fact that thematically, Ice fits in with Storm. The other APP sets are quite good, but I felt that Ice was the best choice.

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I knew there was the "buttonx" up to 5. was wondering if there was a 6 , 7 , 8 etc.

Going to look it up, bbl.

I wub you too Battlebabe

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On previous mice, I tried using "buttonx" for 6, 7 and 8, but what I found was that the mouse had pre-set functions for those extra buttons, usually for web surfing. To use them, I needed software to reassign the buttons to keystrokes.

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I love you man!

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What she said.

But alas, I do not have a Fancy Schmancey mouse. But Local Man does.

*Paging Local Man. Please pick up the White Courtesy Phone*

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My fancy-schmancy mouse (Logitech G-9) came with software to reassign the various buttons to keystrokes. The two standard mouse buttons are "lbutton" (or "button1") and "rbutton" (or "button2"). "button3" is when you press down the mousewheel. I have tilt-left assigned to "u" and tilt-right assigned to "o" using the software that came with the mouse. Then I have two other buttons reassigned to "h" and "i." Two buttons on the left side of the mouse work with binds as "button4" and "button5."

I have all my travel powers bound to the "h" key. I generally use Tilt-left, shift+tilt-left and ctrl+tilt-left for my primary powers that may need binds, and the other side for my secondary. Button4 is for heals and button5 is for whatever else I may need, often toggles that I want to be able to turn off and on quickly (Rooted on a Stone Tank, Hurricane on a Stormie, etc.)

So, check if your mouse manufacturer provides software to reassign those tiltwheel buttons.

Ice and Earth are the lowest damage controller sets . . . soloing with either will take a very long time.

Ice, because AA puts you in melee, has a little more synergy with Kin than earth . . . but Earth control is overall a little better than Ice. Both are better on teams than solo. If you want to solo, though, Earth's -Defense helps those vet and temp powers hit more reliably.

Don't get me wrong, Ice is a fun set, and because AA makes it a melee set, it has some unique aspects. So, try an Ice/Kin, it should work well . . . to solo at all, make sure you take Chilblain and slot it up for damage, slot Block of Ice for damage and make use of any vet powers you have.

Dave, let me mention a couple of times that I have been glad that I had Snow Storm:

Katie Hannon TF -- Snow Storm is an easy way to drop those witches and keeps them down while slowing down their attacks. I find it works better than either Shiver or AA. It is great for dropping flying Freaks, too. I find it far more reliable than spamming Frostbite, which tends to miss a few.

Imperious TF -- I love using Snow Storm on the EBs and AVs. Many controls aren't nearly as effective on the ITF, but Slows are very effective. Because you keep getting other foes added in to groups, the toggle nature of Snow Storm is great. It allows me to slow a much larger area than AA alone would, and once I set it on an EB, I don't have to worry about it.

Lots of other uses, too, but those two are easy to see.

My Ice Controller is an Ice/Storm, so instead of Shiver, I used Snow Storm for my ranged slow. I agree that having both a melee slow/confuse and a ranged slow makes an Ice Controller more effective. If I didn't have Snow Storm available, I would probably include Shiver in my build.

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Nice well written guide Local. In my admittedly somewhat hasty read thru one minor detail that jumped out at me was in your two sections on Deceive... in the power description area you refer to Deceived Foes (DF) and later you refer to them as Confused Foes (CF). A minor detail but about the only one I noticed on my quick read thru in my copious free time here during my so called lunch break

I didn't catch anything else in my glance.

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yep -- I caught that one and already fixed it in my off-line version. That's what happens when I mash stuff together that was written at different times on different computers.

Working on some substantial changes on how the guide discusses IO sets.