Local_Man

Never seen an explanation, but I can guess. Ice Slick's purpose is a knockdown field. If you could slot it for Knockback, then foes would get knocked OFF the field instead of knocked down. Rather than deal with those complaints, the Devs limited the usable enhancements to Recharge, Range and EndRdx. No need for additional slow since there are already plenty of Slow powers in the Ice set.

All that was done long before IO sets, and I doubt that they re-examined it just to allow procs. The only set I could see being added to Ice Slick might be Slow, but that would need some changes to the power. It is probably not worth the Dev time. Plus there are a good number of other powers in which procs can be placed.

Some of us older folks who are dealing with eyes in the process of doing their own adjustments find it hard to read the small stuff. I find it nearly impossible to read the small font.

I probably spend half my game time on a laptop, and it is very hard to see that small font. And I have mis-slotted a couple of times because of it.

I haven't tried to make such a build, but I'm not sure you can. Sometimes, you can't "have your cake and eat it, too." Or, in the immortal words of the Rolling Stones, "You can't always get what you want."

First, the whole idea behind a perma-PA build is to keep PA out there at all times as a way to draw the aggro away from you -- so you don't really need that much defense. Plus, you have Radiation Infection with a lot of ToHit Debuff. And Spectral Terror with its ToHit Debuff and AoE control. And you have a self-heal. If you stay out of melee and focus more on single target damage, then you shouldn't need much, if any, defense.

I just did an ITF yesterday with a PUG. 21 deaths during the ITF . . . and Zero for me. I got hit some, but I was able to handle it.

The only way possible to get what you want might be to put purple sets everywhere possible, so that you can free up a few other powers for Ranged Defense sets. You'll need all six of the Confuse set, which provides some decent ranged Defense. Unfortunate for you, the Ice and Earth Shields provide Smash/Lethal Defense, not Ranged.

I have a group of friends where we team together and use Ventrilo to chat. Sometimes we may invite one or more other folks to join us, but not always. However, if I want to say something snide or cynical to one of the other guys, I'll type it in a chat.

One of our guys is a great guy (I have even chatted with his kids), but every now and then he gets a little short-tempered. I didn't know it for a while, but he has some medical issues that can affect his mood. One time he was acting a little snippy in voice-chat. I intended to type a tell to one of the other guys, but it was mistakenly sent out in team chat . . .

"What what got XXX's panties in a bunch today?"

Then I had to try to smooth things over in voice chat . . .



Then there is the famous typo from the old Hami-raid days. In the old Hami Raid, a group of Illusion Controllers would fly over Hamidon, out of his aggro range, and drop Phantom Army to draw Hamidon's aggro. It was a fun social event . . . not very exciting, but we would float up in the sky chatting while we waited for PA to recharge and drop the next group. One of the frequent leaders was Neuttrino, who played a character named "Tiny Neut." We would all get in position, wait for instructions from the Raid leader, and then Neut would tell us to start dropping our Phants.

Only one time, she had a bit of a typo that became famous. When it came time, we all saw a team message from Neut that said (something like) . . .

"OK everybody, drop your pants."

That typo became a running joke for almost every Hami Raid from then on.

Storm is my second favorite secondary after Rad . . . and with some primaries, it is better. It is an amazing collection of powers with "Oooh - Wow!" visuals and sounds. It plays differently with each primary.

Storm has more damage than any other secondary. The last two powers, Tornado and Lightning Storm, can put out a fair amount of damage. This makes it quite good to be paired with low damage primaries.

Storm has a tendency to be chaotic. It has lots of knockback (Gale, Hurricane, Tornado and Lightning Storm). This means that a badly played Stormie can actually hurt a team by drawing aggro and throwing foes all over the place. In some ways, it works better solo and on small teams for this reason. On larger teams, I tend to pull back on several of the powers with lots of knockback. If you want to play a Stormie on teams, you had better spend some time practicing how to use the powers effectively without sending foes flying every which way.

Storm has a set of powers with strong debuffs, but they take some planning to use effectively. Freezing Rain is viewed by many to be the best power in the set, with its Defense and Resistance Debuffs, some slow and some knockdown. Freezing Rain+an AoE Immob without knockback protection like Gravity's Crushing Field can act like a knockdown field similar to Earthquake or Ice Slick (but not as good). It also has a "fear" component, so foes tend to try to run out from it. Hurricane has a substantial ToHit Debuff, but using it is a challenge. I love "herd-i-caning" but it take some practice. Good use of Hurricane can substantially reduce your need for Defense. Snow Storm has a large Slow with lots of -Recharge and it will knock down fliers.

Storm gives you some nice options. Steamy Mist has an AoE stealth, so a single Stealth IO or using Super Speed for travel gives you full invisibility. Super Speed is also good for "Herd-i-caning" and getting in position for several powers like Lightning Storm, Thunderclap and Gale.

As for the individual powers:

Gale: The one power you have to take is the one we wish we could skip. I don't use it much after the first 16 levels, but once in a while it can work as a "Get out of my face!" power. It has poor accuracy, so if you plan to use it, slot at least 2 accuracy in it. However, I usually just make do with an accuracy in the default slot.

O2 Boost: A single-target ally only (somewhat weak) heal with some Endurance Drain protection and some limited mez protection. Another power that is skippable but it has its uses. Good to un-stun and weakly heal for teammates or your pets. Many people skip it.

Snow Storm: a foe-toggle AoE slow with a large amount of -Recharge and -Fly. Another situational power that can be very useful, and another one that some people skip. It is near the slow cap, so slotting Slow gives minimal benefits. 2 EndRdx is enough. (In my opinion, the slow sets have mediocre bonuses, so I'd rather use the slots somewhere else.)

Steamy Mist: One simple power that does a lot of things. PB AoE stealth, with a little bit of Defense and some decent Resist to Cold, Fire and Energy. This power can take either the Karma or Steadfast -Knockback IOs. I prefer to slot it for Endrdx and Resist, as the defense isn't much unless you are building for a high defense build.

Freezing Rain: The Key power. Ranged AoE with -Resistance, -Defense, knockdown and slow. The damage it does looks like a lot of orange "1"s, but actually each is something like a .3, so it is not worth slotting for damage. I slot it mostly for Recharge so I can use it for every group. You can use Defense Debuff sets but the Defense Debuff it does is already high so it really does not need to be enhanced unless you want set bonuses. A lot of people like the Achilles -Resistance proc and then some damage procs.

Hurricane: While some Defenders run this all the time, it is more situational for Controllers. Still, it is a great positioning tool, a great "panic button" power and if use right, can be an effective debuff. "Herd-i-caning" is running around the outside of groups to push them tighter while debuffing their ToHit. It takes some practice. It need EndRdx and ToHit Debuff -- 4 Dark Watchers is good here.

Thunderclap: Another skippable power, depending on your primary. It is a mag 2 (minions only) PB AoE stun with a nice animation. If you have another stun in your primary, Thunderclap is nice to stack stun on bosses. (Tornado also has a stun, too.) It recharges fairly fast, so it can be slotted to be perma. I like it on my Earth/Storm and Grav/Storm, both of whom can stack stuns. I have debated changing Thunderclap to Flash on my Ill/Storm, and skipped Thunderclap on my Ice/Storm. It uses Stun sets, so 5 Stupify is good slotting unless you can afford the purple set.

Tornado: It is a pet that throws foes everywhere . . . unless you have an Immob with -knockback. It has a stun and some damage over time. However, against a single foe, that DoT really adds up to a lot of damage. It has very high accuracy, such that it can usually hit Paragon Protectors after they have hit MoG. It needs Recharge and Damage and EndRdx, and can take a Recharge Intensive Pet set.

Lightning Storm: A flashy cloud over your head appears and lightning strikes fire out at foes in the area. Good damage from a flashy but immobile pet. With enough Recharge, you can get more than one out at a time. It has high accuracy, also, so mostly slot for damage, recharge and some Endrdx. It takes ranged damage sets -- I really like using the Devastation chance for hold here.

Take a look at my Illusion/Radiation guide, linked in my sig. If you haven't read it yet, I strongly suggest you do. The guide includes a discussion about the benefits of APP powersets with Illusion. It has a couple of Perma-PA builds, and down near the bottom of the thread, I posted my personal Perma-PA build, which is very, very effective without being outragiously expensive.

Spectral Terror is your best AoE control. If the only thing you were going to do is walk up to AVs standing there by themselves, with no other foes around, and fight the AV by him/herself, maybe you wouldn't need Spooky. But Spooky gives you perma AoE control plus a a nice ToHit Debuff. I would never leave out Spectral Terror. Besides, the power can take a set with a 6.25% recharge or a set with 5% Recharge.

As for Radiant Aura . . . why not slot it up with Doctored Wounds for the 5% Recharge? That heal is very nice to have. Even with a Perma PA build, you will occasionally get hit with AoE or might draw a little aggro when PA drop.

As for the Ice APP . . . it is my second favorite, but I like the Fire APP a little better on my Ill/Rad. A little more damage plus a fast AoE attack with up-front damage. The Ice APP's strength comes from 2 AoE damage powers and Hibernate, plus a defense based shield. The Blast is the second best blast among the APP sets, but Fire adds more damage. The -Speed and -Recharge in Ice will have almost no effect on an AV, since AVs have high resists to most debuffs. (Don't forget you already have some pretty good Slow and -Recharge in Ling Rad.)

EDIT: Wiccania snuck in while I was typing my response. Thanks for the referral.

Postagulous listed his "quicky advice," but there are a lot of other opinions on much of what he said:

For a farming Fire/Kin? Stone. Fissure recharges faster than other AoE attacks, and the stun stacks with Flashfire. You will already be in melee range, so the short range won't matter. Plus, there is a Defense-based armor and a hard-hitting melee single-target attack in Seismic Smash.

In many cases, slots are in short supply so you don't want to waste a sixth one when the bonus is not what you need. Hami-Os are often good to use to "fill out" the basic slotting needs of the power to make sure that the power is slotted for its key aspects.

If you look at my Ill/Rad guide, you will see in my builds that I mostly slot for Recharge bonuses and then stop. Slots are too precious.

Sometimes, the sixth slot is needed for the bonus you are looking for. This is especially true with Defense, where the last slot gives the bonus you want.

On the other hand, maybe some people just like the feeling of having a complete set.

Hami-O's are great for certain limited uses. Use 3 Enzymes in Radiation Infection and you have max slotted all three aspects of the power, ToHit Debuff-Defense Debuff-EndRdx, in just three slots. In effect, you are getting 9 SO's value out of three slots. Granted, you may give up a set bonus, but you may need the extra slots somewhere else more. In effect, you can get more enhancement in fewer slots. One example would be slotting a cone attack -- Acc/Dam, Acc/Dam, Dam/Range. In three slots you get very good accuracy, capped damage and some added Range. That Range will really help a cone, and Centrioles are pretty cheap. Three Membrane Hami-Os will cap both Damage Resistance and EndRdx in only three slots.

Hami-O's are great for filling in places where you would otherwise Frankenslot, and there may not be the right kinds of combos available.

Hami-Os can be used to to enhance abilities that it would otherwise be a waste to enhance. A Micro buffs all travel powers, so putting one in Swift buffs BOTH Fly and Run Speed. Putting an Acc/Mez or Dam/Mez in Illusion's Blind not only buffs Hold duration, but also buffs the rarely-seen sleep duration.

There is a bug that allows Hami-Os to be used for higher levels of enhancement. An Enzyme has Defense Debuff and EndRdx, but the way the game handles these enhancements, that Enzyme will also provide Defense buffing, and at a higher level than Defense buff enhancements. Some people are slotting Enzymes in Defense shields for this reason.

My Illusion/Radiation guide talks some about Hami-Os and their uses.

You get the same slightly higher price at any of the low level vendors in Atlas, Galaxy and Kings Row and the "store" in Skyway and Steel, IP and Talos. You also get the same max price from the vendor in the Vangard base, The Midnight Club and Cimerora, but those vendors buy everything at max price.

You get a slightly lower price (I think it is 30% lower, but I'm not sure at the moment) at any origin-based store in Steel, Skyway, Talos, IP, Faultline, Striga, Croatoa, Bricks, Founder's and PI. I'm not sure about the Shard.

My Mind/FF hasn't hit 50 yet. So other than looking ahead, I don't have any direct experience at level 50. But I have a lot of experience with controllers and the APP sets.

I plan on trying two builds on my Mind/FF: One with the Primal set, mostly because Power Boosted Mass Confusion and/or Terrify should be sick. Mind has more powers that will benefit from Power Boost than any other controller primary. The AoE on Primal is a little weak, however, so this would be more of a team build. Conserve Power will certainly be nice. The shield is resistance-based, so not as useful. Concept-wise, Primal is pretty neutral since there are no significant graphics to the powers.

On the other build, I'm deciding between Ice and Stone -- mainly because they have defense-based shields. With those sets, it should be easier to softcap to Smash/Lethal. Ice has great AoE damage with both Ice Storm and Frost Breath, and has a great "panic button" power in Hibernate. Earth has a great heal, but the attacks may be a problem -- Hurl Boulder is very slow, Fissure has a very short range and Seismic Smash hits hard but only in melee. I tend to play this character more at range so I will probably go with Ice, but If I liked more melee I'd probably go with Earth.

Psi would probably be my last choice. The best power in Psi is Indomidible Will, but since Dispersion Bubble gives you protection from Holds and Stuns, you don't need that mez protection as much as other builds. Also, Mind mainly does Psi damage, which is highly resisted by Robots and some other end-game foes, so getting a different damage type would be a good idea. The Shield is Resistance-based, so not as helpful. And World of Confusion is pretty much worthless.

Fire provides damage, but not much else for this character. Still, if you wanted to fit in the medicine pool, Fire might be a good choice by taking Fire Blast and Fireball, then the two medicine powers. The Shield is another Resistance-based one, the Rez is a luxury and Consume is situational.

I haven't done a full review, but did you look at your endurance? You don't have near enough EndRdx in this build, and it appears to me that you will be draining that blue bar most of the time.