Oedipus_Tex
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Posts
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Joined
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Since switching to Energy/Mind, things have gotten a lot better. The character is only lvl 19 but the addition of an extra AoE blast has made this character a lot more fun for me.
My aim is getting better too. I've played other KB sets before (Storm and FF mostly, but also some Archery and Assault Rifle) but the feel of Energy Blast is very different. I'm still calling off shots I wouldn't have hesitated to take with a different blast set (e.g. situations where the mobs are positioned such that any attempt to manuever will aggro other groups), but I'm writing that off as just one of the downsides of being able to solo so smoothly. We'll see how it goes.
Thanks again for the replies. -
Quote:I see your point but don't completely agree with it. When things die faster what actually happens most of the time in this game is the team seeks out new things to attack. It's true that eliminating enemies quickly can reduce incoming damage from that group but it doesn't help if the next enemy encounter begins soon after the previous ends.
Well yes, and as soon as Cold Shields (or FF) start buffing the targets To Hit and Damage the maybe we can call it a wash. Part of the safety factor is your buff target is going to kill whatever is in his face faster (or he's in the face of) as well as the +defense. -
Thanks for sharing your build. Here are some scattered comments:
- I agree with the consensus to scrap Defense and plan for Recharge. The great thing about doing this is that you will begin to feel the effects as soon as you start IOing. With Defense builds you don't see much benefit until the build is nearly complete.
- I agree that Spectral Terror and Phantom Army need to be top priority. Pick them the moment they become available.
- Obligatory comment about Fly: Unless you're taking it for concept purposes, I'd nix it and use a jet pack instead. You can even opt to skip a travel power altogether and use Ninja Run from the Ninja pack. I do this on at least half my characters these days. AM is going to be increasing your run speed anyway.
- Deceive needs to be taken early. This power is tied with Mind Control's Confuse for the longest duration single-target mezz in the game, AND you can use it without drawing aggro. Use it, love it, laugh at the Controllers who don't have it.
- You are probably going to want a single target blast and AoE blast of some kind. Fire is a particularly good choice because the heavy damage it does lets you kill things before they can heal back the illusionary damage you deal.
- You want Hasten. Some people hate this power. I used to. Then I set it on auto. It makes an absurd difference in the performance of Controllers (and everyone else), to the point of being overpowered. Might as well leverage it.
- There actually IS a good reason to take Recall Friend early: if you will be doing lots of exemping for Task Forces. You've got invisibility, so you'll end up being the team stealther. But don't take it over Phantom Army.
Hope that's helpful.
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One more point. While Fortitude is a great power, I feel it gets way, way, way, way too much credit for keeping teams safe. Here are the actual numbers for the power, slotted with 2 lvl 50 Defense IOs and ToHitIOs:
CONTROLLER
Defense: +16.5%
ToHit: +22.5%
Damage: +25%
DEFENDER
Defense: +22%
ToHit: +28%
Damage: +31.1%
Bad? No. But the Defense is exactly the same you'd get from a shield-lite set like Cold Domination. -
One unusual use for Healing Aura is to test range. If you're not sure you can hit most of the team with RA, fire Healing Aura first. Did most of the team get hit? Then RA will hit everyone too, because it's the same size. Radiation can do the same thing with its heal to test the boundaries of AM.
Bonus points go to Ice Control for Arctic Air. The graphic has a nearly exact 25ft radius and will demonstrately visually the limits of RA or AM. -
Quote:It actually feels significantly different. With the breath cones, I don't hestitate to fire them as often. If it hits one or two enemies its at least not wasted.
It's no different than a fire blaster or ice blaster lining up for their breath cones. Even with the rains, they have to set up the drop zone. So really, energy blasters are not all that different when it comes down to it.
With Energy Blast I often feel like I'm angling for a shot that never appears. But again only on teams. I think this character solos really well. -
Thanks guys.
I mostly play Controllers, so I'm very familiar with the various -KB powers. Unfortunately, I'm also familiar with the havoc of poorly played knockback can cause.
After trying Energy/Energy to level 28, I gave up and swapped the character for Energy/Mind. I know some people really like Energy/Energy but I was struggling to enjoy it. I'm hoping the the AoE in Mind plus Repulsion Bomb from the Energy APP will leave me some AoE options for teaming.
BTW I do Hover and shoot from above, but I have found even doing that that enemies still get flung further than I want. It works out well enough solo. Luckily I'm familiar enough with Storm Summoning that holding back isn't a huge issue.
Quick question for you all though. Considering we're basically saying in most team situations Energy should not use its AoEs, does this mean the set is a considerably less desirable team member to have? I know the main issue with Mind Blast is the lack of AoEs thing. -
Empathy is not a bad set. It's just not the cat's pajamas.
Empathy and Thermal come out about even in the end. Empathy loses a point for Absorb Pain, but Thermal loses a point for a Rez power on 300 second recharge that costs half your endurance bar and draws aggro. Empathy has no debuffs and Thermal has no Endurance boosts.
My main issue with Empathy is that some teams think an Empathy Defender somehow has the ability to keep a full team alive by themselves. And frequently, it's the Empaths themselves who think this, because they don't understand the concept of mitigation. I can see how that could happen; I think it's very hard for people who don't play Controllers to understand the reasons teams live or die in hard fights. I think a lot of them just attribute survival to some kind of divine mojo, where some teams are blessed and others not. They seem genuinely perplexed when the Controller quits and people start dying. "But we were just mopping the floor with these guys."
The other problem with Empathy is few Empaths grasp the importance of tossing out Fortitude the moment it is available. Nor do they realize when they announce things like "Gather for RA!" they are actually working against their main draw, which is keeping the team rolling quickly. -
On a team it's not just about how often attacks land. It's about how often Benumb and Heat Exhaustion and Fulcrum Shift and Twilight Grasp and Controller AoE holds hit. While it may not be as obviously great as Resistance debuffing, it's certainly not wasted.
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Energy Blast is beautiful. I love the sound effects, the graphics, and the overall feel.
But I'm getting frustrated, because I can't figure out how to use this powerset on a team without making a huge mess. The issue, of course, is the knockback. I spend more time positioning myself than actually shooting at stuff, and no matter where I'm standing things still go flying everywhere. I feel like I'm a huge hinderance to the team, even when I try to knock things down or into walls.
So what are the secrets of dealing with this set? Or are there any? I've teamed with Energy Blasters before and noted things didn't go flying all over, but was it just because they decided not to shoot as much? -
Here's my harsh version, stated this way for dramatic effect in the hopes I can get into a debate with someone.
For the purposes of team survivability, Empathy on a Defender is trash compared to a Controller. A lone Empathy Defender cannot ever compete with the safety a Controller brings, and it's folly to even try. I die a little inside everytime a team thinks inviting an Empathy Defender will turn the tide of death. (Force Field Defenders are a different story, however).
What an Empathy Defender is is a hybrid buffer/DPS. It actually IS a valuable character, but not for the reasons most people create or play them. -
Here are some more. Some might be repeats. All are a little long winded.
- All of the powers in Mind Control, and some of the powers in Illusion Control, are tagged only as "Psionic Attacks." Unlike other control powers, they do not list a positional component, like "Ranged Attack" or "AoE Attack." This means positional (Melee/Ranged/AoE) defense does not offer any protection from them, and they will completely bypass added protection from Force Field and Cold Domination shields (but not Manuevers, Hover, or Stealth).
- Except for Earth Control, all of the Controller AoE holds are almost exactly the same power with a different graphic. The main variations are as follows:
- tagging (fire attack, cold attack, etc.)
- Ice/Glacier does -Recharge
- Illusion/Flash has a slightly shorter duration
- Some powers are PBAoE w/25ft radius, others targetable with 20 ft radius
Despite the similarities, it's still common to hear players complain about one AoE hold while praising another.
- Arctic Air, Snow Storm, Radiation Infection, and Enervating Field all auto-interupt interuptible powers even though they do no damage.
- Illusion's single target hold, Blind, has a small radius AoE sleep attached to it.
- If you confuse a Mastermind NPC (mostly encountered in the AE) he will use his pets to attack each other and himself, even if they are not independantly confused.
- If you think you might be lagging, but aren't sure, tap a power. A good one to try is Sprint, since there is no recharge time. If you are unable to activate or deactivate the power, it means lag is blocking you out. (You can also use the /sync command, but this doesn't tell you much if lag is indeed happening.)
- Use the /stuck command when you get embedded in geometry or trapped in an awkward position.
- Use /unloadgfx or /reloadgfx if your graphics glitch out. This sometimes fixes the issue without restarting the game.
- You can see your combat stats in-game by clicking Powers > Combat Attributes. (It took me a year to figure this out).
- Any character, not just Masterminds, can open the Pet window, although you will not be able to command your pets. The trick is that you have to first go into the options panel and turn the Pet window option on, then go to the Team window and click the "Pets" label to open the window (this, too, took me a year to find out about).
- Intangibility and Knockback enhancements increase magnitude, not duration. Force Bolt with 3 level 50 Knockback IOs is mag 51.1.
- Control powers that do -Knockback only provide this benefit for the base duration of the power. If you extend the duration of the hold/immobilize, the -KB duration is not extended. This can be used to your advantage. For example, an Ice Controller can use Frostbite to establish Containment, and as long as she doesn't refresh the duration, enemies will begin to fall on Ice Slick starting 12 seconds after the power is applied.
- Your toggle powers are suppressed when you are mezzed. This used to be obvious, and isn't now.
- Although the Arctic Air, Arctic Fog, Steamy Mist, and Shadow Fall graphic implies these powers affect a flat circular area, in fact they affect a sphere. At 25ft, Arctic Air is about as big as Dispersion Bubble. The rest are all 40ft powers; considerably bigger than the graphic implies. -
I like the improvements in your most recent build. It looks pretty strong overall. Here are a few things I noticed that might help you improve it further:
- Circular Logic benefits greatly from the Coercive Persuasion: Contagious Confusion proc. Taking CL is almost not worth it without it, because most enemies will break through the circle too quickly. The CC proc extends the chaos beyond the normal reach of your logic, keeping enemies dazed a little longer. You're more likely to win if your opponents are fighting each other instead of you.
- Consider replacing Flight with Super Speed. You can combine it with Netspeak for invisibility, important for stealthing past fights you can't win. You can also use it to launch sneak attacks with Outright Lie.
- Hyperbole needs to be slotted for Fear duration. It's almost not worth taking with your current slotting.
- No Rage or Footstomp?
OP: We're just messing with you. But I think you should reconsider how you direct your frustration. I don't know how anyone can answer a question like "how fun is XYZ build" without making at least some reference to the powers. Maybe you are power-agnostic, but its just weird to ask a question about a build and not expect a response about, you know, the build. -
Quote:I don't know the background about this but this just doesn't sound right. There is a cap on -Recharge of -75%. At least one Control power, Shiver, will already floor the recharge of a +0 or +1 enemy instantly.
TA had awesome recharge debuffing...until they noticed that was way too much for a Controller if they had TA as a secondary....*nerf*
On the single target side, there is more -Recharge in the Controller version of Cold Domination's Infridigate than the total of all -Recharge available in Trick Arrow. That one power has a base of -87.5% Recharge. This is a level 1 power by the way, and it also does -30% Damage and -25% Defense. This one power can almost beat out 4 powers from Trick Arrow combined. Once we throw Benumb on top of that, with it's -50% Damage, -93.125% mezz training, Trick Arrow might as well not even show up to the AV fight.
On the AoE side, Snow Storm has -62.5% Recharge and Sleet/Freezing Rain each have -40%, again enough to floor typical enemies. Trick Arrow gets -20%. That's not even enough to increase the recharge of a 10 second recharge power by 3 seconds. For the sets that can floor recharge, the same power recharges in 40 seconds. -
It's been a few days since I said something that made the boards crackle. So I might as well go for it.
Trick Arrow sucks. There, I said it.
Basically the only reason Trick Arrow passes muster is we don' have Traps or Dark yet, and the full capacity of Cold has yet to sink in. Trick Arrow is fine as long as you don't look closely at the debuff values of other sets. But once you compare it to what else is out there it becomes evident that the set's sacrifice of buffs didn't buy it any extra utility; in fact it's debuff values are weaker than other sets in every measurable category. To quote myself from another thread, TA users "have no way to restore HP, no good single target debuffs, no recharge boosters, no mezz defense or protection, no reliable knockback for soloing, no team buffs of any kind, some of the lowest debuff values of any set, holds and slows weaker than an Ice Blaster, and mezzes weaker than a Controller that take an average of 30-50% longer to recharge."
I don't hate Trick Arrow. It can work out, in the same way that Gravity Control or Energy Melee can flow despite their widely recognized issues. But I can say that if we ever get out hands on Traps, TA will seem a whole lot less appetizing.
Meanwhile, I have my fingers crossed that TA will get some buffs in Going Rogue. -
Quote:Actually, I think that the -ToHit in Flash Arrow might be unresistable. I'm not certain, but I thought it was something that had come up before. Also, technically, -ToHit is a little different than +Defense in that +Defense always has a type associated with it, and -ToHit covers any and all attacks. For example, Ice Shields won't protect from Mental attacks but -ToHit will (I think). I'm not singing a love song for Flash Arrow, believe me. But I think it is slightly better than what the numbers first seem like.
You cite Flash as being "like Weave" and being able to offer about 6-9% -ToHit, and Poison Gas for -31. To be specific, Flash can slot up to just under -10% (-9.9%) and Poison Gas is -31.25%.
Now first off, those are debuffs and are going to be resisted by enemy level, rank, and inherent resistances. So as soon as you start fighting +1 enemies or non-minions, that -9.9% is going to fall. Even before the resistances, that's a really low amount. UNSLOTTED Ice Shield gives +15% DEF which isn't going to be "resisted" until you fight +6 enemies, or rare enemies with ToHit (which works against -ToHit too).
I would like the power to come with a short, massive -Range component though, say 5 seconds of -90% range. And it should light Oil Slicks. And a lot of other things before I'd consider TA as good as the other Defender sets. -
I forgot to mention that my build leaves off a travel power. It might be very beneficial to you to drop TP Other and take Super Speed, which you then slot with Celerity. You'll then be invisible for most PVE encounters, which will allow you to take extra advantage of the non-aggro in your confuses and AoE sleep.
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I don't have Mind/Rad but here's how I might approach it if I did. The build isn't perfect but might be a jumping off point. AM and Hasten should be perma.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Mind Rad Suggestion: Level 50 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Mind Control
Secondary Power Set: Radiation Emission
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Teleportation
Ancillary Pool: Primal Forces Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Mesmerize -- CSndmn-Acc/Rchg:50(A), CSndmn-Acc/Sleep/Rchg:50(3), CSndmn-Acc/EndRdx:50(17), CSndmn-Heal%:50(37), CSndmn-EndRdx/Sleep:50(43)
Level 1: Radiant Aura -- Numna-Heal:50(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx:50(3), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+:50(11), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg:50(37)
Level 2: Levitate -- KinCrsh-Dmg/KB:50(A), KinCrsh-Acc/KB:50(11), KinCrsh-Rchg/KB:50(15), KinCrsh-Rechg/EndRdx:50(23), KinCrsh-Acc/Dmg/KB:50(40), KinCrsh-Dmg/EndRdx/KB:50(46)
Level 4: Dominate -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold:30(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg:30(5), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:30(5), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold:30(37), Lock-%Hold:50(46), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:50(48)
Level 6: Confuse -- CoPers-Conf:50(A), CoPers-Conf/Rchg:50(7), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg:50(7), CoPers-Acc/Rchg:50(17), CoPers-Conf/EndRdx:50(36), CoPers-Conf%:50(39)
Level 8: Accelerate Metabolism -- Efficacy-EndMod:50(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg:50(9), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg:50(9), RechRdx-I:50(48)
Level 10: Enervating Field -- EndRdx-I:50(A), EndRdx-I:50(15)
Level 12: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(13), RechRdx-I:50(13)
Level 14: Hurdle -- Jump-I:50(A)
Level 16: Health -- Heal-I:50(A)
Level 18: Total Domination -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold:30(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg:30(19), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:30(19), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold:30(23), Lock-%Hold:50(34), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:50(36)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%:50(A), P'Shift-EndMod:50(21), EndMod-I:50(21)
Level 22: Radiation Infection -- DarkWD-ToHitDeb:50(A), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/EndRdx:50(25), DarkWD-Slow%:50(50), DarkWD-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx:50(50)
Level 24: Lingering Radiation -- P'ngTtl-Acc/Slow:50(A), P'ngTtl-EndRdx/Rchg/Slow:50(25), P'ngTtl-Acc/EndRdx:50(36)
Level 26: Terrify -- Posi-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx:50(27), Posi-Dmg/Rchg:50(27), Posi-Dmg/Rng:50(29), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(29), Abys-Acc/Fear/Rchg:50(31)
Level 28: Mass Hypnosis -- FtnHyp-Sleep/Rchg:50(A), FtnHyp-Acc/Sleep/Rchg:50(31), FtnHyp-Acc/Rchg:50(31), FtnHyp-Sleep/EndRdx:50(43), FtnHyp-Plct%:50(43)
Level 30: Mutation -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 32: Mass Confusion -- Mlais-Acc/Rchg:50(A), Mlais-EndRdx/Conf:50(33), Mlais-Acc/EndRdx:50(33), Mlais-Conf/Rng:50(33), Mlais-Acc/Conf/Rchg:50(34), RechRdx-I:50(34)
Level 35: Recall Friend -- Range-I:50(A)
Level 38: EM Pulse -- BasGaze-Acc/Hold:30(A), BasGaze-Acc/Rchg:30(39), Lock-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:30(39), BasGaze-Rchg/Hold:30(40), BasGaze-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:30(40)
Level 41: Power Blast -- Dev'n-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(42), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(42), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(42)
Level 44: Energy Torrent -- Posi-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Posi-Dmg/Rng:50(45), Posi-Dmg/Rchg:50(45), Posi-Dam%:50(45), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(46)
Level 47: Power Boost -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(48)
Level 49: Temp Invulnerability -- Aegis-ResDam:50(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx:50(50)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Containment -
I am not a fan of Gravity Control. The powers look cool but IMO the set struggles next to the incredibleness of the other Controller primaries. I'd give it a rating of "Passable." There isn't any Gravity/ combo for me that IMO wouldn't be outshined by a different primary.
Ice comes in next-to-last place for me in terms of power. It's good but changes made to the game since its inception have benefited Ice less than other primaries. Containment interferes with one of Ice's main controls, and the set already had low damage. I would still rate Ice as "Good," if not necessarily the "Great" I'd give to Fire, Mind, Plant, Earth or Illusion. If knockdown caused Containment and/or Jack Frost's defenses were increased to match the Earth pet, I would bump this set up to the level of the other primaries.
Both Gravity and Ice are still fun and playable if you know what you are getting into. You should also note that Ice Control on a Dominator gets around some of the issues a Controller might have, especially solo.
Pretty much any combination of Ice and Gravity with a secondary will work ok. The exception I'd caution away from is Ice/Sonic, which would eat so much endurance that you'd probably be frustrated. Ice/Force Field on the other hand works well as a team Controller. -
Comments on most recent build:
- Take Shiver or Snow Storm, but not both. Enemies have a cap of -70% Recharge. One application of Shiver will put a +0 or +1 enemy at the floor. Arctic Air + Shiver will floor a +4 enemy. Personally I prefer Shiver to Snow Storm but its your pick.
- I'm going to disagree with some previous advice about slotting Arctic Fog for defense. Slotting it will only get you about 1.5% more defense, and you are and your shields are so far from the cap that you will never notice that difference. Slot it for endurance first, resistance second.
- I'd slot Super Speed for endurance instead of run speed. You're going to be using to go invisible, and your issue will be your blue bar, not how fast you can run into walls.
- Glacier needs six slots, five as an absolute minimum. It needs recharge, accuracy, and hold duration, in that order. You do not need to wait for "emergency" moments to use it either. Just fire it off every 4 groups or so. Blasters will love you because the power just screams HAI GUYZ THE GROUP IZ DEFENSELEZZ GO NUTZ!
- Don't slot knockback IOs in Energy Torrent. This is a knockdown power normally, but under your slotting it does knockback.
- I highly recommend droppiing Conserve Power for a single target blast. Your endurance issues are going to largely go away once you get Heat Loss on a good cycle.
- You may want to consider a new APP. Power Boost is amazing with Benumb and Sleet, but not so great with Ice Control in general. I recommend looking into the Mind APP especially, because Indomitable Will grants mezz protection very helpful for preventing Arctic Air from detoggling. -
Quote:I don't really understand your POV on this.
I don't like Heat Loss. Oh, its OK I guess. But the recharge is hideous. I'm used to transference, so I dont have a lot of tolerance for the crazy long recharge Heat Loss has. Basically, if I can manage my endurance for long enough to fire it a second time, then I didnt need it in the first place. As for the team, same thing. If people are constantly needing it, they wont be constantly getting it, so its inadequate in terms of recharge. If they don't need it, except an occasional topping off, then why do you think its great?
I have it, and its fully slotted, and has all the recharge it can take, but every time I click it, I wonder why.
Lewis
Is having so much endurance recovery that you almost can't run out for 90 seconds at a time not worth something to you? Especially when combined with an AoE -30% resistance in set that already gets an AoE with an additional -30% resistance. I just find it surprising. -
Quote:What it sounds like is you just have a low opinion of support characters in general. I'm not going to try to change that opinion, but it sounds like you feel Scrappers carry a lot more weight than, IMO, they really do, especially in heavy Control teams where they are easily replaced with a Blaster.
I do have a rad defender, built for team utility, that I do tend to feel was mostly powerlevelled as well. On a good team, my anchors don't stay up long; if they contribute, the effect is subtle to say the least.
Ice/Cold will have several main functions:Quote:Made this character just before the winter event went live; the winter theme suggested what to roll. She's 27 now. I have actually been enjoying the character, just having a tough time figuring out her niche
1) Keep enemies occupied. This means trapping them in Arctic Air, using Ice Slick to keep them bouncing, hitting stray enemies with Block of Ice, and occasionally firing Glacier.
2) Debuffing movement and recharge. Once you've floored an enemy's recharge it takes four times as long before the enemy can use a power. Shiver by itself will floor the recharge of any like-level or +1 enemy you encounter; higher levels enemies require more -Recharge.
3) Keeping the team buffed. Your shields are just ok; nothing to write home about. Heat Loss on the other hand is disgustingly incredible. You are going to love this power both for the -resistance it provides on enemies and the huge endurance recovery boost you get.
4) Keeping AVs debuffed. Benumb is a sick power. You want it up as often as possible.
5) Debuffing enemies with Sleet.
6) Stealthing, if you want. Take Super Speed and combine it with Arctic fog and most enemies can't see you. -
No but they do resist Sleep.
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I too would have suggested Mind if the OP hadn't said he wasn't interested in it.
Mind is pretty much the safest Controller possible for everything outside AVs (which Illusion is better at due to the invincible pets). It gets a lot of hate because of the lack of a pet and because Plant Control gets its excellent but completely different AoE confuse early.
Mind does go through a weird power arc. For the first ten levels you are a monster Controller who can solo anything and provide the best Controls available at that level. Then you hit a plateau where everyone (except Gravity) is getting good AoE Controls that are up every fight and you are still having to single target everything. You turn a corner at 26 with Terrorize, but its really right when you hit around lvl 40 and have everything fully slotted that you become one of the best AoE Controller, with FOUR AoE mezzes at your disposal.
Highlights of the set:
- The best AoE sleep anywhere. You may be tempted to skip it but don't. It draws no aggro and once slotted up is up every 15-25 seconds. It also has a better Overpower chance than any other control (50% chance instead of 15%). This is your "throwaway" mezz that you can toss into any situation and if thing stay slept, great, if they don't, who cares.
- The single target Confuse, which once slotted lasts over a minute. You can snipe enemies with it prior to the fight to eliminate anything that might cause problems. This power makes Mind (and Illusion) the absolute kings of eliminating single target fire. No other Control set can touch it.
- Between Mass Confuse and Total Domination you will have an AoE up every fight. You can then throw Terrify on top of it. And if you're soloing and things go south you can sleep the group and try again; the sleep will be up two to three times per fight.
- Mind Control powers are tagged as "Psionic attacks," where most other Control sets are tagged as "AoE Attacks" or "Ranged Attacks." This means it will sneak around certain enemy defenses. For example, it will ignore extra defense provided by Force Fields. (This is also why Force Fielders hate Rikti Mentalists and their Sleep ability).
The main downside of Mind Control is there is no reliable AoE Containment. Mind is not a good choice for farming. -
Quote:Hmm. I know you said this was your personal opinion, but I think most Controllers would be better off with an AoE hold than a Scrapper's T1 punch. Air Superiority in a build? Not a problem. Air Superiority in place of an AoE mezz? Unusual indeed, and IMO hard to justify with so many other powers you could drop instead.
I would be tempted to get air superiority in place of glacier (the only aoe controller hold I rate is vocanic gasses)