Doomguide2005

Well I've now seen two /Beam and a /Fire do an ITF at +4/×8 solo. Both /Beam were Master of, no inspirations used runs. I believe all Empathy/** could do it. Beam, Sonic, Dark, Rad, Energy and Water probably are the strongest for solo work. I had an older Emp/Sonic/Power build that could fight lvl 54 3 boss mobs of Rikti in "the RWZ challenge" to a draw (no pets, no breaking aggro, and at least 3 bosses in mob). They couldn't kill her, she couldn't defeat them. They'd invariably mez her and regen too much health before she'd start attacking again. But that was also an i13 pre Incarnate project I never got around to upgrading. I've no doubt if I added incarnate abilities (and otherwise upgraded the build) she'd take them down these days. Today she'd have Incarnate abilities boosting damage and a nuke that wouldn't crash her end plus an Incarnate nuke. My own Empath badasses were /Dark, /Rad, 3 /Sonic, /Assault Rifle and /Fire. All were "GM" builds except the alt #2 build on the one /Sonic mentioned above. And technically the Emp/AR was a redside character and 2 of them were on Pinnacle and not in Green Machine but the builds were GM compliant.

@The Mighty Paladin As I said yes you could develop an "Acid Blast" set. The catch is there's a whole realm of things that could see development but we have a small volunteer team doing all the lifting (heavy or other otherwise). For now to scratch that itch I'd use the versatile costume creator to recolor the animations and look to see if a modder has or could make a sound file or 9 to replace the current ones with the sizzle and popping you are looking for. My response isn't meant as a no but more as it's probably not right around the corner response. And maybe as well work out what the 9 powers are you'd like to see in the set.

Well yes it could, but sounds a lot more like costume color options plus redone sound fx rather than a new power set. Rename, recolor, and change sounds and water blast is now acid blast.

Yeah while it would be sweet to make them mobile I've no desire to lose the benefits of stacking them. Triage Beacon in particular really benefits from doing so. And while names of a power certainly don't always mesh well with actual function, traps are statically placed objects which makes a mobile AM (or the other traps in the set) kind of counter to the core idea of the set.

Yes indeed, if I die on a support character while teamed including on one of my Empaths it's almost always in the cramped quarters of mission two. Often it's while caught between the spawns of an ambush and a cyst on a fast moving team that's mostly focused on the cysts (i.e. and not worrying about mobs left behind). The cramped quarters make running away or evading aggro all but impossible.

Very well done and excellent time. Believe @Lex Talion's time was around 3 hrs 28 min on his Master, no inspirations, +4/×8, run. (See: "The Emp with a Boomstick - Solo MoITF 54/8, No Insp" post, currently on page 9 this thread). What was your secondary?

Like @Omega Forcesaid overall, but thinking an SR Tanker would do well. Being a Tanker means those capped defenses come online sooner and can be effectively slotted for all 3 positions by 20th. You can't debuff what you can't hit.

I'm not sure there really is a best secondary for an Empath. Really depends on what you intend for your Empath to be doing and at what level they will be doing it. For a team running at the upper levels and endgame content many will point towards /Sonic as Empathy has no debuffs and Sonic can put out serious amounts of resistance debuffs which benefit everyone attacking the target. Fire is well Fire, lots of damage with a side of damage. Dark and Rad can get nasty with procs. Energy and Water can use FF +rchg procs and soft control thru kb/kd and Empaths love recharge. So fairly strong case can be made for quite a few of the blast sets. Do you have any preferences or thoughts on which you might prefer?

Oh that's easy @Bill Z Bubba. Just solo the LGTF, trigger an invasion, rinse repeat until you get the needed badges OR Send large gift to the appropriate GMs to get them to trigger a few 😜

His ability to Hold Rommy helps but is trivial compared to several other factors. For one it's part-time owing to the PToD (Purple Triangles of Death). When those triangles are up his Hold isn't overcoming his protection. Even with perma Dom that's stacking 9+ Holds before considering the effects of mez duration and resistance as Rommy has at least 53 pts of Protection while they're up. You need to keep him at range. Hover and/or Immobilization. He uses Hover and brings in Imperious to tank as well as add dps. Then adds more dps and regen debuff with his Lore pet.

What sets is your Mastermind? EDIT: And are you allowing yourself to select pet summons powers (and just not summon your pets) or not even selecting those powers. The first would allow you to use the powers to mule IOs for set bonuses, the second does not.

One method I've used is start my second build placing the real expensive sets and IOs in the second build while placing the rest plus whatever is substituting for the pricey IOs in the first build. I'll slot the expensive stuff over time as my inf and hopefully a few lucky drops happen along the way while playing and using the first build. Eventually the second build has all the expensive needs slotted, unslot (or even repurchase) the inexpensive IOs and move them into the second and now primary build. Then you can use what's left as the basis for an alt build or move them to either storage or another new character. Rinse repeat.

Don't know if you've ever tried the Theft of Essence + end proc? I haven't and very little idea how it would work with the current mechanics honestly. Might fire too infrequently but ... it is the same return when it triggers as the Performance Shifter proc, i.e. 10% back.

Yep, I want to say there are visual effects for various mez conditions ... at least for some of them. But I've been unable to log in long enough that I'm unsure at this point. Ditto for an icon showing up in your buff/debuff icon ... I think. Damn I need to get back online! Something large(r) and obvious would be a great addition.

Good to know about Infiltration. I've heard similar but owing to dead computer no experience with it so didn't mention it. As for Rocky *smack* yes though the oversight was more to do with thinking about Psi defense rather than resistance though obviously defense isn't relevant since he won't generally care if he's hit because of that immunity. Should have trusted my memories more since that's what my 'feelings' told me.

Indeed I had a Dark/Rad and Dark/Fire defender I recall for sure at 50 then a Dark/Sonic that was in his 40's as I recall, as well as a Ice/Dark corruptor at 50. Probably others I'm forgetting or recalling a Mids build vs in game etc.. Nastiest was a 5 man static group with friends. All were something involving Dark and including 2 Dark Miasma (it ended up as 1 scrapper, 4 defenders). Mine wasn't a Dark Miasma but a Sonic/Dark. Kind of bored ourselves to death and playing as a group petered out in the 20's (crushing Arachnos on +4/×8 in Faultline) though mine saw 50.

Yes I've also run several Dark Miasma to 50 back on Live including a Dark/ Rad defender. Though sadly he hit 50 back in the dark ages of i5 or i6 and I got around to an IO build rather late and he had lots of ... competition for my attention at that point.

First destroy his regen -> HT and TG ✅, next hit him with resistance debuffs -> Tar Patch and resist debuff procs in Rad Blast ✅, next survive -> Hover out of reach with defenses, Heal as needed (TG), debuff his To Hit (lol, playing Dark), debuff his damage (TG and DN) ✅, limit mobility -> Tar Patch, HT ✅ Reap rewards! That should about sum it up. 😁

? Unless i misunderstand (probably am) what you're referencing (the TF vs the game in general), you can exemp far lower than 16th. I've been as low as 3rd on my Main scrapper joining a friend shortly after he left Outbreak. As for the TF it's a range of 11th to 16th, so yeah 16th is probably as low as you can go without other "tricks" being used.

The difference is HT is not going to be anywhere near perma on a AV typically (at the recharge cap it'll be 6 seconds off perma). Even at high levels of recharge there are going to be substantial gaps in the regen debuff. HT has a base recharge of 180 seconds, the regen debuff lasts 30 seconds. Now Twilight's Grasp regen debuff lasts 20 seconds, its recharge is a base 8 seconds and the regen debuff (50%) stacks with itself. The only real drawback, especially fighting an AV solo is rather clearly if you're spamming TG to debuff regen you also are not doing damage to said AV. That said HT is going to massacre the AVs regeneration while the debuff is in effect resulting in a significant overall boost to effective dps ... and TG will hamper regen during HTs cooldown the rest of the time.

Continuing Earthquake - I put 6 slots in here on paper. It is a Power where I would look to pull a slot if I discovered I needed or wanted one elsewhere. Not because it's not an important power (it's anything but), but it can do the job with as few as 4. You've loads of defense debuffs as well as to hit buffs so slotting for defdebuffs is not where I would go. I'd likely use 4 Dark Watcher's Despair as a minimum (5% recharge bonus). Then add a Force Feedback proc plus either move the 6th slot elsewhere or use an Achilles -resist proc. And this where I'll note my practical experience with procs under the current ppm mechanics lacks. My computer died as my first HC characters were hitting 50 and ready to get into their IO builds. I can say pseudopets make it even messier, enhancing the recharge aspect of a power potentially reduces the likelyhood of the proc triggering and the Alpha Slot if it effects recharge is treated as if it enhances the recharge aspect ... and Spiritual definitely does that. So I would be prepared to ask others on these forums how badly this screws with procs in your Earthquake. Force Feedback is likely worth it as it's a huge if short boost to global recharge even if the chance to proc is low, same for adding an Achilles -resist proc as the debuff will benefit anyone hitting the target. Fortitude - 3 slots. This is the minimum slots I'd use. There are simply a ton of very effective variations on the number of slots and what IOs can be used anywhere up to a full 6 slots. This one maximizes slot efficiency at the cost of set bonuses other options provide. I use 2 HO Membranes and 1 LotG def/increased global rchg. Tactics - 2 slots. Gaussian's To Hit and To Hit/Endred. Normally I'd get a bit more endurance reduction slotted but again unless you're at 22nd lvl or lower you should have no endurance issues owing to Recovery Aura and even then I'd expect minimal problems between +recovery procs and set bonuses from PvP and Purple IOs. If you find yourself going below 22nd with frequency then I'd frankkenslot 2×To Hit Buff/Endred IOs and boost to +5 if you do need to cut end usage. (And be sure to grab the +endurance Accolades as well) Super Speed - 2 slots. 1 BotZ -4 kb and a Winter's Gift rchg resist special. Usually I slot a stealth IO in a Sprint so I can control which and how much stealth I have. Volcanic Gases - A bit like EQ, in VG I placed 6 slots. Use 5 Purple Superioir or Will of the Conroller or 4 Basilisk to get the global recharge, then finish off with Lockdown +2 mag proc and Lockdown IO as desired. This patch is your AoE hold and pretty much anything already in the patch short of AVs with PToD active or GMs will be held after you drop Fossilize into the mix (that's a potential 6 to 9 mag) Recovery Aura - 2 slots, a massive boost to recovery. I used to do 3 and it might prove useful for exemplar. For 2 slots straight up 2 × 50+5 recharge IOs. With 3 slots I used 2 × Endmod/recharge + 1× 50+5 recharge IO. The throwing silly amounts of inf at em option is boost them all. Vengeance - 1 slot, LotG def/increased global rchg Animate Stone - Rocky or Pooman, is your pet and I think he's one of the best. He's one of only 2 controller sets whose pet has an actual taunt built into their attacks. You have Fortitude so when slotting him focus on the resist special IOs (Sovereign Right and Expedient Reinforcement) plus the Soulbound Allegiance proc and 3 more from Expedient Reinforcement (global recharge at 4 of them). I'd generally not Fort him on a team setting (too busy buffing allies) but that really depends on the team. He can draw a lot of heat owing to that taunt in his attacks and can really pack a punch with Seismic Smash. Keeping him upright and tanking could be just the thing a small team needs. He can tank an AV and unlike many armor sets he's immune to Psionic attacks so if the AV is a Psi user giving your Invulnerability Tanker fits have at them with Rocky. Regeneration Aura and Adrenaline Boost 5 slot both and use Panacea. Regeneration Aura is a big boost to survival especially pre Incarnate. This plus Adrenaline Boost on someone is like them running IH. Indomitable Will - okay this is one place all that global recharge can come in very useful on a personal level. Perma IW means hordes of Malta and DE etc. are unlikely to mez you. This is so valuable on a "squishy" I'd consider swapping this with RegenAura (so IW at 35th, exemplar to 30th with RegenAura moving to 41, exemplar to 36th). 4 slots at least one devoted to a LotG def/increased global rchg. Mind over Body - 4 slots and lots of hard choices. I went with Steadfast resist/3% def special, 3 Gladiator's Armor -> resist, resist/endred, 3%def proc. Boost the Steadfast to +5. Psionic Tornado - 5 slots, "nuts" I want 6 let the tweaks begin. With 5 I'm going with Ragnarok. Skip the straight damage and use the proc. As a note that is pretty much always the case when 5 slotting a Purple (skip the single aspect IO and use the proc) without a very build specific reason to not do so. That 6th slot would be for a Force Feedback proc. Maneuvers - a single slot, it's basically a mule for the 5th LotG def/increased global rchg IO. But boost to +5 and run the toggle it's a useful mule 😋 and you should have the endurance to spare Have fun with it. It's definitely not your typical pairing but it's likely an extremely good exemplar support build. Heh, I know it is. My first and only Contoller Empath was Earth/Empath back on Live and was one of my first handful of 50's. Edit: Oops, thanks to @Riverduskfor pointing out that gaff. Corrected.

To go into slightly more specific terminology (useful if looking through or for a wiki article, for instance) that @Ironbladeis talking about are called Schedules. They are Schedules A,B,C, and D. The first and largest group is Schedule A. The second group is Schedule B and so forth. For all of them it pretty much denotes where the drop off in the return on value of the enhancements occur do to ED. Schedules C and D currently consist of one type of enhancement each, Interrupt and Knockback respectively. The remaining 24 enhancement types (or Aspects) are either A or B. Schedule B enhancements are Range, Defense Buff, Resist Damage, To Hit Buff and To Hit Debuff. The remaining 19 are all Schedule A.

A few more thoughts and some details about the build: All 14 primary and secondary choices were taken as soon as available. Just happened to work out that way, something I find is not often the case when I put a build together. It likely is more important in this build to do simply because it makes the build as exemplar friendly as possible in terms of power availability while exemped particularly at low levels. Healing Aura - 6 slots for Preventative Medicine, and Fossilize - 6 slots probably 5 Unbreakable Constraint + damage proc in 6th. But this also where not being able to try things around in Mids rears its ugly head. It's much harder to see where AT sets and Winter sets might get used to benefit the build as I'm far less familiar with them. Ultimately we are looking for global recharge bonuses Stone Cages - 6 slots. Good spot for one of the special sets mentioned above that enhances Stone Cages damage and provides that desired global recharge at the same time. I'm less concerned about enhancing the mez component than other aspects. Normally I'd be more concerned about end use as this power sees lots of use but you've got RA on a very short cooldown from 23rd level and up as well as lots of global +recovery to help below 23rd. Heal Other - 5 slots for Panacea. Just going to note here that I'm assuming the budget is essentially unlimited. If not these would turn into Doctored Wounds as well as other options beside Purple sets above etc.. Quicksand - just the base slot. Largely doesn't matter what. I like to use a Range enhancement as I've noted that often on indoor maps it can make the difference between dropping QS from around the corner (and therefore immune to return fire owing to having total cover to the spawns LoS) or having to step just around the corner to place the patch (and therefore risking return fire as now they can see and potentially target me). Using my patches out of LoS is something Earth excels at doing. Combat Jumping - in my hypothetical paper build I used 2 slots here. Kismet +6% and a LotG def/increased global. Hasten - 2 slots both 50+5 recharge IOs. This is one of those powers where playing in Mids and/or the test server might result in shifting things around to place another slot for recharge to keep Hasten perma as long as possible while exemplaring increasingly lower. Stalagmites - This is your bread and butter alpha breaker or opener when you can't drop a patch from cover (do drop patches from out of LoS when possible). Edit: 6 slotted, prefer 5 Absolute Amazement, then if not otherwise used the Superior Overpowering Presence proc. Assault - 1 slot, 50 +5 endred. Clear Mind - 1 slot. Really doesn't matter what if anything is placed here. Almost all sets including armor sets have need of this power even at high/endgame levels. Below 16th some armor sets don't even have their mez protection and all of them have holes to certain attacks. Knowing what some of those holes are (Confuse and Terrorize come to mind) makes for a better Empathy player. A Confused end game Tanker or Terrorized Brute is a sad thing and you have the power to free them from the effect. Blindness is another debilitating effect you can counter with CM. Life demands attention back later.

Took longer to get back here than anticipated. First I'll say the obvious this pairing has team oriented written all over it. It will also be very strong as support when exemping to sub 30 levels. Second is a bit of a disclaimer I can't use Mids or post a build. My computer up and died leaving my internet access entirely from this phone. Upcoming changes (new notoriety settings) may and hopefully will breath new life into Controllers and support in general and Empathy in particular for endgame and Incarnate play. I'd focus on recharge first, last and foremost. Nearly every single power should be contributing to increasing global recharge. Your mitigation will come from, in no particular order or importance, inspirations, teammates, your Auras, your controls/mez, and epic shield. I'd definitely take Fossilize, Stone Cages, Quicksand, Stalagmites, Earthquake, Volcanic Gases and Animate Stone from Earth Control. And I'd take Healing Aura, Heal Other, Clear Mind, Fortitude, Recovery Aura, Regeneration Aura and Adrenaline Boost from Empathy. The remaing 4 powers (Stone Prison, Salt Crystals, Absorb Pain and Resurrect) are, to my thinking, situational, unneeded or both. For pools I'd be leaning towards Leaping (for Combat Jumping), Speed (for Hasten - all about the recharge). I also like Speed for Super Speed as several powers require you to be on the ground (Edit: looking through the CoD entries it appears only Stalagmites requires the caster be on/near the ground and only QS requires the target be on/near the ground) and gives you stealth and -threat in one. Then Leadership for Assault and Tactics (as well as Vengeance and Maneuvers). Epic is largely your choice. I looked at Psi Mastery which has Indomitable Will. IW is armor set quality mez protection power and a spot for another LotG def/increased rchg. And with very high levels of recharge can be perma (or so stinkin close that a single outside buff will likely make it so) and this build should have those very high levels of recharge (need just over 200% global recharge assuming another ~100% in the power as I recall). I tend to look at Spiritual Core for my Empaths. Which is another advantage to IW is it frees up the pressure to take Clarion for mez protection allowing you to make other choices with less sacrifice. Any questions or thoughts about Power choices etc.?

Pretty much any 4-man team especially IO builds can work but if building a small 'super team' ... I'd have 1 armor/melee/damage character and 3 support or 4 support characters. Next I'd want defense and resists shields/buffers so the team is capped for defense with strong if not capped resists. Healing and end recovery are nice extras particularly if doing challenging content with settings like no inspirations, Temps, or incarnates allowed. I'd tend to avoid Empathy unless you use 3 or more at which point they get nearly indestructible buffing each other and their team (gets silly powerful very quickly at that point) So I'd probably swap out either the Tanker or the Scrapper/Brute (if not both). Go all in with Dark Melee/Dark Armor or Dark Armor/Dark Melee. Two folks with Darkness Affinity would be a plus. Fade gives DDR and that means giggling at all those defdebuffers in the game. Anyway must sleep.