Oedipus_Tex

Interesting. I also just looked at Psychic Scream on a Defender. That power is -62.5% Recharge, appears to self stack, with a base Recharge of 12 seconds. But, only a debuff period of 10 seconds, and you're wasting DPS hitting an AV with a cone.

Also am I reading the Blaster version of Shiver correctly? It looks like it might self stack. base duration 18 seconds, base Recharge 12 seconds, -62.5% Recharge per application. This has always been weird given Ice Control's Shiver Recharge time. Of course then you're a Blaster skipping blasts to debuff Recharge, but WOW at those numbers from a DPS AT.

I've never played this combo but I imagine the way I'd approach it on large teams is to Speed Boost the team, throw a few support powers around, and then run toward the next enemy group when about 80% of the mob was down and the team had things under control. Then I'd sleep the next group from afar and start confusing the hard targets from safety. When the team came speeding toward the mob, I'd Fulcrum Shift, Terrorize, and basically repeat the whole process.

I call this overall technique "pre-tanking." I think I am the only person who uses the term. But I think it's something Mind Control does better than any set... and actually only two sets in the game can really do it at all, (the other being Illusion, which has pets that tend to interfere with the strategy.)

One thing that will make this strategy especially useful is if you can find a way to become invisible. Super Speed + a Stealth proc in a travel power (I use Sprint) will do that. You may also consider using the actual "Stealth" power + the proc in Sprint, since your Siphon Speed will eliminate some of the downsides of Stealth--it depends on how fast you want to be able to move.

If you do decide to use my pre-tanking strategy, one thing that's crucial is for you to learn which mobs in the group need to be confused. Malta Sappers, for example should always be your first priority, then (for me) the giant robot looking bosses with the burn patches (HUGE damage to enemies). For Carnies, it's the Master Illusionists followed by the Illusionists themselves (because when they get confused their first action is to use Flash, an AoE hold.) For Circle of Thorns, you want to hit anything that can summon AoE's particularly the ones who have Earth Control (I think they are "Ruin Mages"?) Tsoo Sorcerors are another prime target.

To really get this strategy going, slot Confusion with the Contagious Confusion proc when you hit level 50.

The buff I wanted on Defenders was wider AoEs and/or lower recharge time on primary powers (not a "bonus," just straight up lowered times). The "new" Vigilance won't get me playing Defenders. Slightly better buff numbers simply don't make up for other ATs being able to use key powers as often or in as wide an area.

Really not meaning to nitpick or complain, but how many possible variations on Fire/Kin builds are there? It seems like a new topic on this gets started every few days and like a lot of trouble would be saved if we just started linking to those posts.

Frostwork confuses me. I'm terrible at math but basically it looks like at level 50 it would put most characters at their HP caps. If you put the power on another Controller, she'd go from around 1017 HP to around 1606 HP, which is a change of 589 HP. That's basically the same as providing around +35% Resistance, if the character heals that damage. Or so. My math skills are total fail. If i'm right it's better than a Thermal or Sonic shield. But only on a few party members at a time and you have to buff-bot it every 2 minutes. IMO still totally skippable unless you mostly work on small teams. Though I guess you could use it on a pet.

It's a personal decision but I always favor Hasten over Swift at low levels. In fact it's extremely rare that I take Swift at all, since so many of my characters use Ninja Run and Hurdle is much faster paired with that.

The reason to take Hasten so low is it provides a MUCH bigger boost to your recharge rate than you will ever get with slotting at that level. With 3 Training Origins slotted it is up about 40% of the time (about 300 seconds end to end recharge with 120 seconds of that Hastened). Looked at as an average, that's about like a global boost of 28% to all powers, or like slotting every single power you have with 3 recharge TO slots. Now, in practice Hasten doesn't actually work like that--you get bursts of very fast Recharge mixed with slower moments. However any long recharging powers--specifically, AoE mezzes--are likely to Recharge faster, and the effect is extremely significant. It's like getting free enhancement slots when you need them the most. The powers Ice/Storm is most in need of re-popping at early-ish levels are Ice Slick and Freezing Rain.

As for what to actually put in enhancement slots, the answer for most powers early on is simply Endurance Reduction. You really don't need the accuracy yet (since you've got a bonus and probably fight enemies your level besides), damage and mezz duration barely effect the bottom line. Recharge enhancers go in a few critical powers but everything else benefits most from Endurace Reduction.

Arctic Air, BTW, works fabulously at low levels if you six slot and fill it purely with endurance reduction. You will still struggle for endurance a little, but if you can resist the urge to click constantly you are hands down the most powerful team Controller possible until level 15 or so. Very, very few enemies can withstand this power at that level due to their very few attacks and the fact that it is always available, while other Controllers are struggling with Recharge. In fact, at very low levels (e.g. on sewer runs or early missions) an Ice Troller is probably a better tank than most actual Tankers or Scrappers.

I have a Mind/Cold/Primal that I love. It is actually my favorite character. He is my only heavily IO'ed character (built for Recharge). It's been great.

Cold has a lot of the features of Storm but none of the knockback. You can combine Super Speed with Arctic Fog for invisibility, which works great with your non-notify powers. Heat Loss ensures you have the endurance to stay perpetually invisible. The freedom to run into hordes of enemies and confuse/sleep them is really awesome--you actually beat Illusion trollers at the stealth-mezz game, and with no pets to worry about, you can go entire fights without enemies knowing you're there if you need to. Cold also has an amazing single-target debuff in Benumb, for use on bosses. And Sleet, of course, which is a slightly weaker version of Freezing Rain.

At low levels it's a single-target build. That changes in your 30s and you become a great AoE Controller.

It's not a combo for everyone--no farming, probably no AV soloing--but as someone who plays on teams and does lots of Task Forces I have found it a perfect fit.

Mind Control is about the safest possible soloer you can build for everyday missions. It's certainly not the fastest, but to get killed you have to really, really work at it. The only, uh, "weakness" is it can't solo AVs, not because it's a bad set but because--dangerous sidebar rant alert--AV fighting is a cheeseball gimmick dominated by completely arbitrary rules (AVs have high regen and don't resist -Resistance like they should due to game limitations, basically).

Mind/Kin is so clicky I'd probably break the keyboard in frustration. Mind/Rad, Mind/Cold, and Mind/Storm I find much more palatable. And good old Mind/Force Field can be IOed into a kind of rolling tank.

I personally think Psi Blast is kind of not so hot on a Blaster, for a long list of reasons. The Defender/Corruptor version's not as bad. But I'd still generally have Mind Control over any of the Psi Blast sets. The damage difference between them isn't that big and the mezzes in Mind Control are MUCH better than the blast sets... actually one of the top mezz sets in the game. Plus unlike the Blasts, Mind Control ignores positional defense (so force fields, for example, provide no extra protection).

Welcome to the forums.

I have a Fire/Cold at 16 and a Mind/Cold at 50.

Your plans should work well. Fire/Cold should make for a great team player and should be pretty good at farming, although not like a Kin most likely.

The set has one major weakness: no AoE heal for the imps. This may make keeping them alive more difficult. Or you may not notice it much.

Rather than the Ice app though I'd be thinking Stone. It's probably not as thematic but you'll be in melee anyway, and could really make use of the heal and extra HP. Barring that, Psi is a good choice for Indomitable Will. It's also hard to go wrong with Primal, thanks to Power Boost, which works great with Cold (despite not boosting the shields) and really helps Fire's limited AoE mezz abilities.

Anything works. I avoid Gravity on principal but any primary benefits from endless endurance, strong boss debuffs, and ( with super speed ) invisibilty.

You really don't need to cap recovery with Heat Loss. If you hit even one enemy it will have so much effect that running out of endurance is close to impossible. The only people who should still be able to do it are nukers and maybe people with EMP Pulse.

I'd put it in Empty Clips. It recharges slower than Pistols but it hits more targets. The odds of the proc firing go up the more enemies you're hitting.

Couldn't a PVPer just speed run/jump out of the range of the Rad toggles and run right back at you? Their range is really not that big (70ft). No out-ranging Infrigidate/Benumb/Heat Loss though.