Erydanus

Well if you've colored your powerset at the top level it propagates to all your new choices as applicable. New pool powers however wouldn't pick up colors from your primary/secondary though again if you color the pool at the top level it should pick up future choices within the pool. The big catch with the apply colors across all is that some powers use a different palette.

Thanks for the thoughts, this has been pretty helpful so far. Alpha - I think both of you though kind of reflexively answered on Alpha. My character's slotted to about 95% damage on his attacks already, and sure Musculature can go over that but only a % of it. Alternately, Vigor is going to add 33% Accuracy to all my attacks, raising them from 65ish to 92ish, 33% endurance reduction to all my powers which mostly just have 33% end reduction now, 33% healing to all of my passive regen powers (health, fast healing, physical perfection) which are going to be 2 slotted with level 50 heal IOs, so 85->95ish (though right now it's more like 66->95) and it'll also boost Reconstruction and even boost my hit points because I have High Pain tolerance and again, not capped with the heal enhancements in there. And then finally I don't have Boggle capped for Confuse, actually I think I only have 1/2 an IO worth of duration so jamming another SO worth of confuse duration on that is actually helpful. Honestly my character is still in his leveling build with a lot of level 30ish IOs, and the effect of essentially jamming in 2-3 SOs of extra non-cap buffs has been RIDICULOUS. Judgment - very helpful thoughts here. Mercurias I think you forgot I'm a stalker so I'm never going to want to use this at range, it would break hide. Rather I run into a big group and either assassinate the guy in the middle and follow up with my pbaoe nukes or maybe even open with Mass Levitate. I think the reason I was inclined to the version that had a damage debuff to the targets was I was imagining running into a group of say, Fake Nem bosses and hitting them point blank with mass levitate and void, and thinking that they would be severely hurt but still able to all shoot my not-at-the-defense-cap self. But, using the tier 1 version in missions I'm thinking, no, I might actually kill them all... Reactive - so you rec radial for the 75% damage proc chance? Sounds legit! Lore - CARNIES! Destiny - Incandescence does still sound appealing. Barrier might be worth considering because I'm not at the defense cap and it's higher in incarnate content anyway. (My build I'm planning does have me at the smash/lethal resist cap for stalkers though but a lot less for energy/negative). It seems like if I'm going to be playing as noted in Judgment, maybe it would be nice to drop a def buff on myself first. Hybrid - OK the double hit's just a mediocre fixed rate proc. Well that's disappointing. Core it is then.

I uh, would also like the personal teleport power to resolve a little faster. Like when you've goofed up and started to fall from 20 stories up and you click teleport and you finish falling to the ground and THEN it resolves is kind of annoying. I'd like to see the activation time cut in half, the animation could just be sped up to match maybe? Simply as a QoL convenience. You could lengthen the cooldown on the other side to prevent it from being chained any faster, but I'd like to start it faster. Oh and Siderous: You can make regular teleport into a targeted thing already using a macro. It has to be on a level with you to work but it's very much possible to target a foe and teleport onto them.

The reality is that the original devs made the decision to advance the game's meta-narrative. They did not do so with perfect smoothness. You can be doing the Faultine story arcs with Penny Yin before heroism and then turn around and visit her in IP and "years have passed" while if you do (iirc) the Lady Grey TF she's still a trainee. It used to be zone / level progression indicated time, but that just isn't the way it is anymore. As soon as Who Will Die went in things were advanced. It's unfortunate that they didn't have the scripting technology to have the game world update as you do this content, so that for instance Darrin Wade is standing around to give you his story and then vanishes once you do Who Will Die? But of course the complication there is that it's possible to start WWD at a very low level and then do Darrin's original arc and then do the higher level parts of WWD. Basically the OG devs kind of screwed this all up and it's just not going to get untangled now. I don't think there's much use gnashing teeth over it. Remember when you're reading comics, the characters you know and love will often show up in other titles miswritten, mischaracterized, have conflicting continuity, etc. There's also the fun of say, a limited series going on that is supposed to be a big shared universe event and then it stalls out and in the meantime your favorite title gets rebooted. So basically this game is doing a REALLY good job of emulating a comic book universe... unfortunately.

With the changes to Galaxy City it's easy to forget that the original CoV tutorial has you as a villain escaping the Zig!!

Maybe it would be helpful to tell us what about poison attracted you to the set. Maybe we can offer a better suggestion.

Well as an Illusion controller he might be running Superior Invisibility anyway ~ total fade out just like a stalker. Illusion/Dark out of the box is probably going to have a more "magical" vibe for a magician, both in terms of powers and appearance; however, or course, you can customize both sets to ramp up the magician vibe in whatever way that means to you. But for me, the biggest issue with a controller secondary is how much of it can directly benefit you. If you're a controller with a standard pet, and you are in this case when you get Phantasm at 32, then any power that is a direct ally heal or buff can at least be used eventually. But in Thermal Radiation the only power you can benefit from until level 32 when you get your pets is Warmth. You can heal yourself with the AoE, and that is entirely it. You cannot affect yourself with thermal shield, plasma shield, cauterize, or thaw, and Power of the Phoenix is ally-only as well. At levels 35 and 38 you get Heat Exhaustion and Melt Armor, incredibly powerful debuffs you will use on your foes. But that's 30 levels of your secondary doing not a damn thing for you until you get a pet - unless you team, of course. And nothing in that part of your set helps you be a controller. I'm not saying no controller should ever take these choices and for the record I took not one but TWO Illusion/Empathy controllers to 50 one of them solo and the other with a fixed team, so I think I have a good perspective on this. Now, in comparison, Darkness Affinity is pure love for yourself or your team. Every single power is something that will directly benefit you. You can heal yourself with twilight grasp, and debuff the enemy's tohit and regen (autofire it on elite bosses and AVs). Tar Patch weakens your foes. Darkest Night nerfs your foes' tohit and damage output. (I soloed skull elite boss Veles at level 10 on a Dark/Dark controller because he basically couldn't hit me thanks to that.) Does Howling Twilight help you? Well you can't rez yourself but how useful is an autohit stun that also applies slow, and 500% regen debuff? Especially since Illusion doesn't get an AoE stun this is a nice control supplement. Shadow Fall gives you and your team stealth (which you have covered in Superior Invisibility and Grant Invisibility) but it also has significant defense (to all, including psi, and about twice the value of Grant invisibility) as well as damage resistances to psi, dark, energy, and fear. Fade is a second helping of defense buff but this time as a click power and even more powerful. Soul Absorption is a massive regen/recovery buff that affects you, Black Hole is … well it's a panic button and honestly an Illusion controller is so lacking in soft holds you might actually want to take it. Finally Dark Servant lets you fulfil your dreams of RPing as a Carny Mistress while it spams a few controls including an immobilize and extra twilight graps good both for some supplemental heals and the -tohit and -regen debuffs. Anyway if you are teaming all the time you will be very engaged with either choice, but even if you are teaming I rather think that Illusion/Dark will benefit it more while leveling than Illusion/Thermal but I think both are great choices.

Hi all, I'm on my first incarnate character, who is a Psi Melee / Willpower / Weapons Mastery stalker. It's taken me a while to wrap my head around the incarnate system and I'm still quite iffy on some of the power choices, particularly Interface and Destiny. But, if I've made an error in my logic I'd appreciate having it pointed out to me; this already happened to me with Alpha though I've got that sorted out I think. Alpha Current: Vigor Total Radial Revamp Final: Vigor Radial Paragon This is really the one that is making me question that I've planned good choices. I started by making a cardiac boost on the rationale that I could benefit from some endurance reduction. But, as I started looking at the higher tree I realized that the additional effects were not going to be helpful to me. Then I looked over the entire rest of the options and to my shock realized Vigor was what I wanted. That grants end reduction at almost every level on top of healing and then also adds in accuracy and eventually confuse/fear/immobilize. Shock, I have many powers that benefit from a global heal boost including a hit point booster, health, physical perfection, and my self heal. I also never had enough slots to get as much confuse in boggle as I wanted and I'm also not going to turn down a free accuracy in every power! So currently I have a Total Radial Revamp and will be shooting for Radial Paragon; this is the slot I think I have best figured out. Judgement Current: Void Radial Judgement Final: maybe Void Radial Final Judgement I was about to take Ion because it seems like the go-to when someone pointed out as a stalker I could benefit from the PBAOE Void tree. Yeah. So I like the idea of another PBAOE to stack on top of Mass Levitate and the idea of being able to neuter the damage output of the mobs I just aggroed seems like a no brainer. So right now I'm angling toward Radial Final Judgement. Interface Current: Reactive Interface. I think. Final: no clue This was a pretty hard one to choose. Thematically going with the confuse proc of Cognitive with a psi dot seemed like it would stay on-theme for my character. On the other hand diversifying from psi damage also seemed smart, so I went with reactive so that even if I'm fighting psi resistant foes I will weaken their damage resistance. I'm really not sure which path to go for if I stay with this: 75% chance of debuff and 25% of fire proc, or the reverse. Opinions here would be especially helpful. Lore Current: Carnival of Shadows Partial Core Improved Ally Final: probably Carnival of Shadows Core Superior Ally Good news everyone, after an entire separate thread angsting between Banished Pantheon and Tsoo I just went with Carnies and I'm fine with that. I just have to pick between a Dark Ringmistress and a flunky Strongman or the untouchable buff-bot Seneshal and a Ringmistress. Honestly both tier 4 choices seem good and worth having to swap between; I'm going to try out the tier 3 version with a regular seneschal and her thermal radiation buffs (forge and cauterize) and the regular ringmistress for a while as I'm not ready to make a tier 4 yet. Destiny Current: Incandescence Invocation Final: no clue I took the first Incandescence to help teleport trick or treat and Halloween giant monster teams. My character is a teleporter so this is actually on-theme for him, but I just don't understand how these powers are used in incarnate content enough to decide if I want to pursue that path or go with something else. Now that I've got Alpha sorted out none of the powers look like a must have to me Hybrid Current: Assault Genome Final: likely Assault Radial Embodiment Assault just seemed like the best choice. I also thought double hit would be better for me than stacking damage buffs ultimately because if I do an Assassin's Strike from hide, I'd rather hit twice than get a 5% damage buff from that, even if the double hit is just 75% of the base damage without the crit (or however it works out) in energy damage. That makes sense, right? Anyway thanks for all input!

Fire is a pretty solid set with a bit of extra damage potential but no major sacrifices. You can really pair it with about anything. I personally played a Fire/Storm for thematic reasons and really enjoyed being the master of elements, though when a buddy with /kin joined me is when it got really nutty. Other sets besides radiation that I think would work particularly well are: I've played a fire/kin as a duo and I'm working on one now. The extreme power at high level is offset by a long slow climb. Worth it but you do put in your dues. Because fire has 3 fragile damage dealing pets, any of the sets that include shields are going to pay off eventually. That means force field, sonic, thermal radiation, and cold domination are all legit choices, as is nature affinity. Cold domination and sonic have more that I think will go well on a controller but all of these are legit if not exciting choices. A new combo I've seen a fair bit on the current servers is fire/dark. Fire's good, dark's great, you get debuff, healing, buffs, and control in it and it works well for a lot of supernatural concepts. Howling Twilight, Tar Patch, and Hot Feet can be stacked, and that's pretty nasty. Time is popular, I haven't heard a single bad word said about the set (so I'll say one: I don't love the sound effects of some of the powers but it's a trivial complaint). I think it has slows so you could pin things down in your hot feet easily too.

All these points (that I don't agree with) and you didn't even toss out something like "no more than 1 street sweep mission" because honestly those are generally not fun, and they don't scale well. What's a trivial minute for a team could be 15+ minutes of pain to a soloer depending on the foes and the zone. For instance I'm currently soloing through Striga on a controller and while the indoor missions scale fine, having to defeat 20 council in a specific neighborhood where they're groups of 5-6 warwolves who are +1 to me did NOT go well. And there's multiple of that kind of mission.

The best pool power attacks for controllers to take are Sorcery/Arcane Bolt and Fly/Air Superiority. The new Force of Will's Project Will power is similar to Arcane bolt but slightly less damage and I didn't like the animation as much, but is certainly viable. Consider that an alternate, third choice. You cannot take 2 "origin" themed pools so if you want to add a ranged attack to your arsenal you will have to choose between them. Air Superiority has the highest damage of the pool melee attacks and the simplest, cleanest animation. It also applies -fly and causes knock(up)down (not a chance, it's automatic) which makes it a great choice as a supplemental attack as you will be putting the mob you had to deck out of commission for a few precious seconds. The various other melee attacks in fighting, speed, and jumping are clearly a notch down in performance and animation quality; I personally found Jump Kick to have the most hideous and stupid animation in the entire game. (You'd think maybe it would be like you jump up and kick someone in the head; actually, you perform a weird headstand and mule kick them in the jaw while upside down.) You are limited in pools so some of these preferences can be overridden by what you're taking anyway if you're running up against pool limits. Want to take Sorcer's self mez protection? Arcane Bolt is a clear choice. Going to take Haste? Flurry isn't bad. Going for Tough and Weave? Well you've got to take an attack to get there anyway. However I must stress that Air Superiority is so good that even if you take the Sorcery pool for Mystic Flight and Arcane Bolt, I would still pick it up if I needed another attack. Then again Hover is a great defense mule slot and receptacle for a Karma Knockback protection.

Yes in Tequila if you click the Options button on the next screen it says Re-Validate on the bottom, or exit (options).

Well, it's an integrated card and I'm not personally familiar with it so I can only get you started. I'd try a couple things. 1. Check for an updated driver from your computer manufacturer, I'm guessing it's a laptop by the resolution you've picked. It's a 2015 driver, that's old. It might just need an update to play nice with everything, heck it might just need to be reinstalled. 2. If that doesn't help, drop your graphics quality a notch and see if it does. Then drop it another notch and see if it helps. Keep doing that until the graphics are floored - it's ugly I know but if that stops your problems with loading, then it tells you something. The only other thing I can think of is to check your hard drive. (Check to see if it's almost full, run a basic windows check to see if it has errors, etc.) I used to have slow loading problems that sometimes crashed me out of another game (especially loading into the biggest game hub) and the culprit was mostly that I had a big old slow conventional hard drive. When I upgraded to an SSD my load times dropped from 2 minutes to about 15 seconds - and the issue was just that my hard drive couldn't load the graphical elements and textures quickly enough. Since you're having problems zoning in that's another possibility. But you did verify the game files as already suggested, right?

I have feelings about many groups but I'll just hit a few top ones. I really like fighting the Tsoo because they have so many thematic varieties. They're kind of a pain with the ghostly ancestor spirit and the hurricane happy teleporting Tsorcerer, but I'm used to them. They also spawn in bigger groups, and the bosses are really cool generally. That mission arc in Steel Canyon where they attack a museum and you have to duel some of their leaders and the newest powersets show up on unique bosses there? Love it. Carnies are just wild. I feel like you just have to give it up for them even if they are some of the creepiest foes you will ever meet. The truth about Strongmen … pretty disturbing if you read the mission clues. Like the Tsoo they're interesting but also annoying (mostly the end drain), but never boring. For boring it's basically any group that doesn't have a lot of flavor: Luddites, Gold Brickers, Outcasts, Trolls, Sky Raiders (plus they get annoying fast if you don't lock down the Engineers). Circle of Thorns are really annoying to me. It's mostly their maps, which are hellish, combined with their ghostliness (plus their dark resistance is annoying). But mostly it's the maps.

Yes I understand that, my point is the dude FORGOT THIS WAS AN MMO. That would be fine for a single player RPG, but not for a community driven game. It's a design flaw in my opinion. The best times I had in CoV was when I was in a super group and we were hunkering down in our base - but I already knew everyone from CoH and forums I visited. I don't think I ever made new friends and acquaintances in CoV and I blame the unpleasant zone design to be part of that.

The most likely culprit for this type of crash is a problem with your video card, most likely the drivers. What video card are you using, what operating system is your computer, and which driver version (and date) are you using? Also tell us roughly what graphic settings you are using (like performance, moderate, recommended, Ultra, Ultra and you turned on custom settings and put everything at max). This game is old and mostly a pocket calculator can run it without problems but if you have a particularly weak videocard or obsolete drivers, that might explain the problem.

During the Halloween event I floored my computer's graphic settings to get great performance and I was utterly shocked to see that Stalker Psionic Melee - Telekinetic Blow suddenly had a graphical effect of a giant ghostly white fist and forearm! It was ugly as heck but it was unmistakable. Once the event was over and I turned everything back up to Ultra the ghost fist went away too. The character has an attack animation but there's basically no sfx with it. I have a GTX970, so not an unusual card that I would think would have a problem with the game's graphics. Update: I did notice a very faint fist graphic fires off with this power but I'm not always able to see it, and it's faint violet which matches my power customization. It's not clear to me if it only fires off sometimes, or if it's only visible from certain angles. I've only seen it so far when the camera is turned sideways because I pivoted to look while I was already fighting, I absolutely see nothing when facing a foe head on. It was really really faint too. I'm going to hop into the tailor and see what it shows me in there and will probably reset it to default on one costume slot - I'm wondering if switching to custom colors just made it hard to see or if the graphic really is so faint it's basically not there. I'll update as I figure out more. Second update: I've continued to pay attention and it seems like the graphic at high settings is just bizarrely faint and only lasts a split second. I mean, we're talking about basically seeing the outline of the knuckles on a fist at high quality settings at the moment of impact vs a giant solid white fist and arm that moves through the entire animation at low quality settings. I think it is firing off regularly it's just so faint that head-on, it's not visible. I have to have the camera angled to the side to see it. I guess it's working as intended, it's just darn odd.

Might it be possible to add some sorting buttons to the character select screen? I'd like to be able to automatically reorder my characters ascending or descending by: - Current Level - Alphabetical - Archetype - Creation Date - Last Login Date and when none of these are selected let it go back to the default/customized order. Since the live servers let us only have about 8-12 characters per server so it wasn't really needed but I'm about to start page 3 on my main server and I don't think I'm alone in this. 🙂

Yes but this refers to a different aspect of the system. When you use a non-invention enhancement it has a base value when it matches your level but adjusts if you are from +3 to -3 to it. For example a typical damage single-origin enhancement's value can be the following going from when you buy it 3 levels ahead of you to 3 levels below it (rounded): 38%, 36%, 35%, 33% (even level), 30%, 26%, 23%, and at -4 levels the enhancement fails and is worth 0%. So that is what this refers to, the ACTUAL value of the enhancement. Exemplaring is a different system that overlays that. When you are lower than your current level, your effectiveness is scaled by a % to emulate a lower level character having fewer slots and possibly lower grade enhancements.

I haven't really gotten into using boosters myself, but on paper a good place to make something 50+5 is a place where you drop from 3 slots to 2 slots because level 50 IOs get you close to the enhancement diversification softcap. For example, Stamina. If you're just using 2 generic IOs there (and perhaps a proc) boosting them would yield some return. If my planner is telling me this correctly, +3 to each of them will get you from about 84% to about 93%. I think I would personally be fine with that but YMMV.

Right there you have 3 of the most connected zones in the game. Add in Atlas Park and Oroborus and that's all the big ones. As far as actual play in I basically agree, though I do actually do content in Faultline and Croatoa quite regularly. What I like about those zones is their story arcs are self-contained in the zone and don't require the hassle of zoning back and forth and also they're tightly integrated to the zone. You feel like you're doing A Story when you do that content. The Hollows technically is like that now too but usually I have other things to do than dip in there. If I can stay in Steel Canyon and not mess with Skyway City too much I'm fine with that as well; I really feel like Skyway could have stood a slight do-over to just gently remodel some of the most awkward areas. And Independence Port is just too big, I never want to do missions there it's a waste of my time going from one end to the other. Right now I'm doing some Striga Isle content and it's also nicely contained and enmeshed with the zone's feel. There's a few too many hunt missions and some annoying defeat alls which are a hassle as a soloer but perfect for a team. Overall it's good times punching Nazis. Did you realize one of the Striga missions teases Coralax?? You don't see it, it's in a glowy box, but the hint is there. I'm not really sure how I manage to go from Talos/Striga/Croatoa directly to Peregrine Island but it feels like I hardly ever set foot in Brickstown or Founder's Falls, and I'm not really sad about that. I just don't like those zones. Bricks is ugly and the Zig is a hassle to get around. Founder's Falls is gorgeous and has that Venice theme going on but somehow it feels like going to the high end part of the city wealthy people live in where the malls have a dress code and also huge demons that will kill you. To me, Kallisti Wharf has captured a lot of the feel of FF but in a better way. It's a shame because it is a pretty zone but it just doesn't work for me. Recently I've been doing First Ward/Night Ward a lot. The missions are challenging but still feel new, and from there it's a quick springboard to the Rikti War Zone. As far as Villain side goes I always hated Mercy and the adjustment where you start in the city instead of the trash heap around the fortress is a huge improvement. Port Oakes and Cap Au Diable are fine as far as zones go. I would have to say I like to hang out in Cap because that big stretch between the black market and the university is a pretty safe spot that's still atmospheric. Sharks is ok, St. Martial is Ok, Nerva UGH and I hate Grandville. I hate Grandville so much. It's like the zone designer hated the players. Vertical zone my ass. When I heard Grandville was going to be a vertical zone I was picturing a tower with levels instead we got the biggest most bloated fortress where none of the connections make any sense. Getting to the base portal on top of the main admin building? Well exit the building go around back and use some unmarked elevators. Even though the portal is like 15' behind the patrons you can't just open a door and go out there, nosiree. In comparison PI is a bit flat but it's not annoying. Seriously I think the CoV primary zone designer started with the wrong approach and I think most of the zones are intended to make you feel constantly under assault and stressed. And that's not a good choice for an MMO where you need to have breathing room to meet up with people, chat, mess with your inventory, hold a costume contest, etc. Even when there are buildings you can actually go inside of they're usually not put out there in a friendly way. For example, the unlabled Arachnos HQ in Marconeville in Port Oakes. UN LABELED. We shouldn't have to be saying on help "it's the giant building underneath the Marconeville map marker right by the hospital, just fight past the guys standing in front of the door and when you get inside you can register your super group." It should be labeled, it should be clear of enemies, there should be drones guarding the four corners of the plaza in front of it, and there should be more NPCs inside providing info and services.

Now that you mention it, I'm not sure why they bothered putting multiple brokers and detectives in every zone. I guess for flavor ... it would probably feel weird if every single villain all went to the same broker. When they expanded the method to hero side (which did come markedly later) they probably felt like they had to have 2 detectives to pair off. Grandville, which went in later, only has 1 broker, as I guess they probably felt the role and usage was reduced by that point. There is one thing that's a little bit of extra hassle - if you want to autocomplete missions for your team, the bank missions from different brokers/detectives don't count as being the same. If you had a static team of 8 you might have to run your mission twice.

Along with Taser Dart, I believe Apprentice Charm also works. If memory serves me correctly, energy damage is all you need so Arcane Bolt from Sorcery should suffice - just pop on the test server and try it out!

Start writing.

Darkness Control shipped with: Darkness Affinity. Darkness Affinity is superior to Dark Miasma. Even the Defenders agree. With some of the signature powers of Dark Miasma strengthened to Controller level and shifted into the primary the replacements are … so good if this game were live it would probably need a nerfing. Throw in a couple extra blasts from your epic and you’ll feel like you’re a Dark Defender and a Dark Controller simultaneously. Gravity Control shipped with: Radiation Emission Gravity has single target damage but little flexibility. Radiation has enough debuff for any two secondaries, buffs that the aggressive controller will enjoy and oh yeah 2 extra holds. People dance around this like it’s something they don’t want to admit but a Grav/Rad controller has FOUR holds and if Singularity is doing its job it’ll be spamming another one as well. It’s true choking cloud is more of an interrupt field but if you trick it out right it can contribute magnitude. And it’s unpleasant for controllers to say this but EM Pulse is actually the strongest AoE hold in the game, it also packs an extra 1000% regen debuff and deals damage to robots. It does zero out your own recovery so it comes at a price, but that price is using some inspirations, no big deal. With gravity’s ability to gather and reposition groups, lock them out with phase shift, root them in place with residual slows on top of all their immobilizes and holds, with radiations anchors positioned strategically, a Grav/Rad has the ability to absolutely dictate the battlefield like no other combination. Fire Control shipped with: Cold Domination. Second Choice: Nature Affinity. What is Fire all about? It’s about siccing 3 little monkeys made of fire at your foes, while you stand around in a portable barbecue field attempting to roast your enemies alive. What is Cold all about? It’s about making your teammates be immune to damage by putting shields and frost work on them, while making your enemies flop helplessly in a pile on the floor. To that end you also get the ability to walk around in a concealing fog, to slow things, and to leech the end right out of your foes. Combined, this means your much more resilient monkeys will come bursting out of your movable fog bank like demons from Hell to set themselves on your foes who will be flopping on the floor in the freezing sleet while you glide in and teach them how much damage your portable thermocline deals. Sure, Fire/Kin is the go to combo for max Controller damage but this is a great combo too. The massive debuffs from Cold coupled with the very useful buffs from it applied to your trio of minions will make this devastating, solo or group. Nature Affinity is a second choice because of the massive support to the minions (and yourself) it can give. Illusion Control shipped with: Traps. Second choice: Sonic Resonance Once upon a time I rolled an Illusion/Empathy controller to play with my friends who had already been playing this game. It was my very first character. My friends quit. I soloed that character to 50, mostly by casting fortitude on my Phantasm and standing around. Like a masochist, I did it again on another server albeit this time with a supergroup that stayed together. Having played two Illusion/Empathy controllers to 50 I feel confident in saying it’s the most boring combination ever and if I’m going to be playing a set that’s primarily about me standing around invisibly while my psychotic pets do whatever they want, I at least want to be able to do something fun while I’m invisible. And thus, TRAPS. If an invisible controller isn’t the perfect person to run around in combat laying trip mines and time bombs, who is? Alternately if you don’t want to be a battlefield saboteur, sonic would provide nice debuff and buff, and you can hang your disruption field (aka “the tutu”) on the Phantasm. Notice I’m not suggesting Trick Arrow here and that’s because I think the feel of dropping a mine and shooting a trap-like arrow are actually pretty different. Mind Control shipped with: Psionic Assau…. Oh you want a … controller secondary. Oh … dear. Oh well then I am going to go with Time Manipulation Mind Control does have all the bare bones of a control set, it just has a propensity for sleep and confuse and can be tricky to use right. It’s soloable, but challenging to solo with; it’s teamable, but some of its powers really go to waste. So playing Mind control often feels like playing with one hand tied behind your back. On the other hand, Time is super popular right now and while I sadly have not had a chance to really play it, I can see it being a lot of fun on its own. On paper to me it looks like it would feel synergistic (whether it actually is, is another matter) because you’re going to be doing a lot of things with time that manipulate your foes ability to act that in the end you might think it’s all part of some telekinetic power you have. Also Time seems like a busy secondary so paired with a primary that is kind of fire and forget or only used for the big moves seems advantageous. Earth Control shipped with Kinetics. Second choice: Sonics You know I once had an Earth Controller. Hell if I can remember that character’s name, theme, or secondary. I just remember the set being so damn control heavy and kind of sleep inducing. Therefore I want to add an element of Danger! Glamour! and Excitement! and what does that better than Kinetics? At the end of the day what set can more easily incapacitate a group so you can wade in and bathe in point blank Transfusion? Well maybe not you so much but your team. You, when you get an epic blast though, you’ll be enjoying it too. Ice Control shipped with Thermal Radiation I almost missed this one and had to go back for filler and Thermal was the best of what was left. The 4 sets that have shield buffs (cold, thermal, sonic, force field) all share a pattern. Sonic and Cold are a bit more offensive and debuff oriented, and I prefer them, at least for controllers. When it came to picking between Thermal Radiation and Force Field my choice was made pretty much because I think, off the top of my head, that Jack Frost is a defense-based pet so layering damage resistance on top of that will be more effective, and I'd prefer the ability to directly heal and buff him over the force field advantages. Electric Control shipped with Storm Summing Well duh. This took me a minute to think of; I haven’t played Electric. But hey let’s just knock people down over and over while a storm cloud and gremlins dance on their heads. Seems like good times to me! Plant Control shipped with Nature Affinity OR Poison Feels like cheating right? Well, yeah, kinda. The overwhelming pressure of two direct plant graphics sets combined is hard to buck. Plant is known for doing a smidgen more damage than most other control sets but it is just a smidgen, not enough that I’d give one of the major damage boosting secondaries to it in this circumstance. But Poison would be good with it, both thematically and functionally. So Nature if you want to go more like beneficial plants and you can buff your flytrap up, or Poison if you want to teach the unwary to fear nature. The leftovers: Empathy Pain Domination Force Field Since you can heal your pets with Empathy and Pain Domination (which means a no to Mind which doesn’t get a pet and Gravity which has an unhealable pet) I think they have some value as controller secondaries, but overall I feel like they just not what I want to be doing as a controller. Rather, it’s the reverse: these are secondaries for Deftrollers. If you pick one of these sets and then decide to play a controller instead of a defender or corrupter because you want more support/crowd control instead of blasts, that would make more sense to me. In which case a set that either is loaded with pets to bodyguard you or confuses, or both. So the best choices are Illusion, Darkness, Mind, and Plant. In a similar note I don't feel like Force Field offers anything special to controllers aside from the Mez protection bubble and the ability to buff pets. The more pets your set has thus the more value I think these all have. Trick Arrow Just not my cup of tea.