Leveling Fortunata Build Thoughts

I finally limped to 24 with my Widow and while I wanted to flip him into a Fortunado build I figured that since I'm soloing mostly this time (whereas on the old servers I was in a big supergroup team) I would probably need to go Night Widow(er). It's easier, it's basically what I've been doing but with a few perks added like Mind Link and some psi damage instead of one of my dart attacks, and I can take Mask Presence.  Still there were times what I wanted was to lockdown the mobs and wail on them (Wyvern especially). So I decided I'm going to just open up my wallet and maintain dual builds (with generic level 25 IOs) while leveling and just use whichever seems better for the particular foes I'm facing. Plus I can focus a little more on a team build with the Fortunado and load up on the AoE attacks.

That said I still need to come up with my initial level 24 build for Fortunado. I decided the best thing I could do would be to pretend the character is actually a Mind Controller and other than not planning on Containment being a factor, pick powers like I was soloing that way. (Which is why I have scramble thoughts at all...if I could swap it with confuse I would immediately)

This is what I've got for starters - and it's all Fortunata powers:

Villain Profile:

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Level 1: Mental Blast

Level 1: Combat Training: Defensive

Level 2: Subdue

Level 4: Tactical Training: Maneuvers

Level 6: Aim

Level 8: Psychic Scream

Level 10: Indomitable Will

Level 12: Dominate

Level 14: Psionic Tornado

Level 16: Tactical Training: Assault

Level 18: Scramble Thoughts

Level 20: Tactical Training: Leadership

Level 22: Foresight

Level 24: Mind Link

My plan is to pick up Total Dom at 26, Confuse at 28, Mask Presence at 30, and Psychic Wail at 32. The rest of my choices can be pool or patron; I'm undecided if I'll take Aura of Confusion. (Slotting is going to be a mess while leveling I'm just going to have to think about that quite a lot.)

Do you think that I should pick up a couple melee or dart attacks as backup? I think on the old servers I actually kept like, Follow-up, one of the dart attacks, and Lunge or something like that.  However since I'm planning to also maintain a robust Night Widow build, I think that's less urgent. I also seem to recall mixing melee with Psychic powers causes redraw issues for Fortunatas so I just went all in on mental powers.

I recently stalled out on a Fort build around the late 20's.  I just was dying too often.  Tried Aid self, but was not quite enough.  (Running at +1/2...and yes I could turn down, but expect an AT to run well at that level.)

Long story short, I invested in the +3% Def IO, 5 +7.5 recharge IOs and switched to NightWidow.  It was going so smooth with Nightwidow (besides running a bit short on End) that a few levels later I swapped back to Fort, but with a different mindset. 

The only things I am gong to take from Fortuna are Dominate, Total Domination, Psychic Wail, Aim, Aura of Confusion, Mindlink and Mask Presence.  All my damage will come from claws, and only AoE is dart Burst.  Dart burst does a surprising amount of damage for it's activation time, and with only 8 seconds base recharge, it is up quite often.

The other change is I took out Aid self and replaced with the fighting pool and Weave.  (I may take out once I accomplish Perma Mindlink with some overlap.  Only running weave due to End issues)  The damage is a bit lower now then the Nightwidow, but the Nuke and Mass confuse will give some good AoE control. 

End is still a bit of an issue, but once I get the slots for end redux and/or start slotting sets, that should even out.  As for defense, with Weave, I don't actually even need Mindlink that often.  Defense is sitting low/mid 30's on AoE and ranged, and 40ish on Melee, and since I tend to stay in melee now, I rarely take hits. 

This went from a character that was boring and slow (when I focused on controls) and a bit squishy to a great solo toon with even better stuff in the future (Just hit 32, so getting Nuke and looking forward to AoE Confuse)

Anyway, just wanted to share my experience of hitting a wall and how I got over it.

Helpful thoughts, thanks.

I haven't really been on this character recently but I did end up going with a real practical night widow build on slot 1 and on slot 2 I'm messing with the Fortunata. I usually just play on 0/0 since I'm not in any rush and I like to be able to do a lot of story arcs before I level.