Argentae

Stunned it was recognized! 🙂 My other literary ref character, Lavan Fire/Storm, never got identified that I remember. 😛 Still playing Killashandra, it’s a really enjoyable build. Got her to mid incarnate level so far. Only one purple set atm, and she needs some more +Def and +Acc. Great fun mowing down x8 +4 Council spawns. Still die if I screw up (not like my Dark/Fire tank, she’s just OP) but can clear the map at a reasonable pace, and is just plain fun. Symph/Dark has good synergy from beginning to end. I’ll post a current build after work tomorrow. I threw a lot of procs in the fear cone, sleep cone (with a -res proc in each) st hold and Arcane Bolt. Cone immob and cone awesome have PosiBlast 5 packs, confuse is 6 slotted with Malaise Illusion for the +def etc. No fighting pool, couldn’t bear to part with enough power slots to get to Weave. LOVE Howling Twilight slotted with Damage procs like a mini-nuke. Went with Soul Mastery, so the opening sequence is: Darkest night on central mob with Tar pit queued up a bit to my side of the spawn. They aggro with heavy -to hit and get grouped together as they each run into the slow patch.Cone sleep to zzzzz them for a Hover+Evasive maneuvers fast hover in for a The Soul brothers (Dark’s +End/Regen and Soul Mastery’s +Dmg/Acc) followed by Howling T the mini nuke Auto hit AOE massive -regen oh by the way it’s a team rez power. Then fly up and back to open up the cone size and cut loose with Cone Awesome, Cone Stay Put, and Cone Tremble Before Me. Whatever is left is either a tough Lt or a boss. Shift to singe target work, and Echo (Reverb pet) shifts with me while Fluffy (Dark Servant), and Soul’s Fortunata help me pound whatever is left. Great fun. The pets largely keep the war wolves off my back while I work. Echo and Fluffy are great partners.

I use Darkest Night to pull spawns around corner/obstruction and into Tar pit which forms them into a line. Not sure if I can set the anchor and then hit Evasive maneuvers with Fade etc to dodge the alpha. If Darkest Night pulses break Evasive Maneuvers, then that won’t work. If that’s the case, not sure I have the power picks to get to weave, might go Combat jumping for the fifth lotg. Hrm…

I’ve been enjoying a Symphony/Dark (Killashandra Ree) quite a bit. Just dinged 26 this evening, so I’ve got some time to go before hitting a final build. Given the cone stacking glory, I’m thinking Range might be worth some focus, but raw damage (looking at Musculature?) and general def seem like they stack well with the build. The long recharge cones lend themselves to proc damage well, so thinking Posi blast for the major damage stun cone and Aria immob cone and stack dmg procs for the sleep cone and fear cone. Lotgs in Shadowfall, Fade, Hover, Evasive Maneuvers and Ice armor. Another PosiBlast for Frost Breath and Purple set in Ice Storm? On my phone, will put together a build to post this weekend. Just wanted to see what focuses have worked for others in a final build for Symph/Dark? 🙂

I’m leveling up a Symph/Dark (Killashandra Ree) myself, and while I haven’t gotten into end game slotting stages (17 atm), I had a few things that jumped out at me. 1. WotC on Aria, the /immob cone? This is a damage power. Rech is too fast for procs to work well, but straight damage is worth it. 2. Ice blast instead of Frost Breath cone? This is a cone heavy set, and while it’s not wide, Frost Breath should mesh well. Very much enjoying this combo. I chose it because I know /Dark very well so that primary should be the focus, plus I think they pair quite well. Looking forward to seeing the Symph pet in action and pairing with Fluffy to see how well they synergize. May go with leviathan instead of Ice as the epic, like lce a lot though, and having another + Def power is nice with /Dark. Hibernate is a great panic button when you need one too…

Current leveling build, just hit lvl 45. This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.1.2.5 https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 49 Magic Tanker Primary Power Set: Fiery Aura Secondary Power Set: Dark Melee Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Concealment Power Pool: Flight Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Blazing Aura -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(3), Dmg-I(3), Dmg-I(9), EndRdx-I(45) Level 1: Shadow Punch -- Acc-I(A) Level 2: Fire Shield -- ResDam-I(A), ResDam-I(5), ResDam-I(5) Level 4: Healing Flames -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(11), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(13), Prv-Heal/Rchg(33), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(34), Prv-Absorb%(40) Level 6: Shadow Maul -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(7), Dmg-I(7), Dmg-I(9), EndRdx-I(36), RechRdx-I(36) Level 8: Boxing -- Acc-I(A) Level 10: Consume -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(11) Level 12: Plasma Shield -- ResDam-I(A), ResDam-I(13), ResDam-I(15) Level 14: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(15), RechRdx-I(33) Level 16: Siphon Life -- Acc(A), Dmg(17), Dmg(17), Dmg(19), EndRdx-I(43) Level 18: Burn -- Acc(A), Dmg-I(19), Dmg-I(21), Dmg-I(31), RechRdx-I(33), RechRdx-I(34) Level 20: Touch of Fear -- Acc(A), Dmg-I(21), Dmg-I(23), Dmg-I(23), EndRdx(31), RechRdx-I(34) Level 22: Tough -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), GldArm-3defTpProc(25) Level 24: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-ResDam%(37), Ksm-ToHit+(40) Level 26: Fiery Embrace -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(27), RechRdx-I(29) Level 28: Soul Drain -- Acc-I(A), RechRdx-I(29), RechRdx-I(31), RechRdx-I(36) Level 30: Stealth -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 32: Hover -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Flight-I(37) Level 35: Focused Accuracy -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 38: Dark Consumption -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(39), Dmg-I(39), Dmg-I(39), RechRdx-I(40) Level 41: Midnight Grasp -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(42), Dmg-I(42), Dmg-I(42), EndRdx-I(43), RechRdx-I(43) Level 44: Physical Perfection -- EndMod-I(A) Level 47: [Empty] Level 49: [Empty] Level 1: Gauntlet Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 1: Swift -- Empty(A) Level 1: Hurdle -- Empty(A), Empty(37) Level 1: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), Mrc-Rcvry+(25), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(27) Level 1: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A) ------------

If you make sure the SD buff is still going I don't think you need the Acc! I run Focused Accuracy at 43, so I don't have any acc slotted in Consume. I've been eyeing the proc options, DG has more with the -ToHit tossed in. Have you tried the Fury of the Galdiator -Res? 3.5 PPM, but doesn't indicate duration of the -20 damres debuff...

Long time player, firs... err... second time tanker. I have always preferred the tactical nature of the Control primary playstyle. Played most every Primary/Secondary powerset in multiple combinations in Controller/Dominator. Dabbled in all the other ATs into the 30s or 40s, but never took a melee type all the way through. Last weekend i decided to consciously give Tankers a go, so I rolled a Fire/Fire as a common, been good forever combo. Ok. So the tanker balancing pass in 2020? Don't want to dive down that rabbit hole, but I'm really enjoying it. 🙂 After I got Magma Carta to 38, I took a dive in Mids to look at options and decided Fire/Dark would be interesting and probably fun. I read a lot about /Dark being good at single target, but not good for AOE. Also stumbled across tristanLV's post about this build. Which seemed to support my general thoughts. So I created Tigratra, a dark flame themed Fire/Dark tank. I'd love to get any feedback/thoughts on the below? I'll post a build later, still playing around with some options. 🙂 General impressions: Wow. Fun. I may be out of line with traditional thought on these sets, but I find it has more than sufficient of AOE along with quite good single target (though single target doesn't really come into it's own until Midnight Grasp is part of the chain). What's amazing to me is the synergy between the two sets. Two self heals, one in each set. One heavy heal, Healing Flames, on a 20 sec(ish) timer and a maintenance heal on a 4 sec(ish) timer, Siphon Life. Siphon life is decent part of the single target attack chain, so it's really easy to work in, and Preventative Medicine (my only full IO set at lvl 43), combined with the Reactive Defense: Scaling Resist in Weave make sure I have ample time to hit HF. Two AOE Endurance recovery powers that also do a bit of damage, both on identical 180 base rech, so figure about 60 sec when the build is fully mature. Consume provides good end sapping resistance for those pesky electrical attacks (and PITA Malta sappers), while Dark Consumption... I mean... Have you really looked at it as an attack? As a finishing blow for the mass mobs in a large spawn? Dark Consumption: End game it should be up in less than 60 seconds. It fires off in 1.03 seconds! It can be used with almost no end bar (.52 end cost)! With a full Soul Drain hit (which isn't too hard to arrange when you a soloing maps at +x/8), Fiery Embrace, and slotted for damage it hits for about 250 damage in an 8ft radius. Given the long recharge and small radius it would probably trigger procs very well. I have used it for a finishing blow in several spawns and it's glorious. Run through AOEs until my blue bar gets low but the at least the Lts are still standing, even better if the minions are still up. BOOM. They drop en mass, and my blue bar is instantly full. Finish off Boss with MG if needed, take out LTs with ToF, SM, Burn as appropriate and run to the next spawn... :: best Chris Evans voice :: I can do this all day. 😛 AOE is way better than I've seen discussed elsewhere. Blazing Aura: Good damage aura. Burn: Enough said. Shadow Maul: hits like half the melee spawn even firing it off blind, full FE and SD hit -> 352 Dmg Touch of Fear: Hits most of a spawn with a -10 toHit debuff for 20 sec as well as fear, so if I pause, most of the mobs do too. Does 210 Dmg to most of spawn with FE and full SD as above. Would do more loaded with procs. Dark Consumption: amazing stats on a slow timer. alternating with Consume provides end protection and every spawn end top up when paired with DC. I COULD add more AOE with Mu PPP or Soul Mastery, but I'm not sure I need any more? Initially I went Nrg Mastery for FA and Phys Perf, and I'm pretty happy with that so far. Pyre would get me Melt Armor! and Fire Ball. Any PPP would get me a summon, which would be useful and give me a place for the +Res and +Def procs. Anyway, enjoying my Fire/Dark quite a bit. Being able to solo 0 to+1/x8 very early (pretty much from the Hollows era on) on was pretty amazing. Outcast missions (Hollows/Steel Canyon) were my first friend, followed by Warriors (Talos) and Council (Founders Falls). Doing Council now in PI running at +3/x8 from lvl 41 to 43 so far. Popping insp in the top two rolls as they come in makes rolling through the entire map easy. Can't imagine what it will be like with a full IO build, most SOs with key +End/Regen IOs, +Def IOs, 3 LotG +rech etc. Pairing the + def with the -ToHit from /Dark gives me a meaningful def based mitigation that makes the Res based Fire/ even more effective. Good times... 🙂

I’d echo Carnifax and Grim Bacon’s posts specifically about adding Panacea proc to Health (big difference) and the Performance Shifter in Stamina along with endmod in Stamina. there are also a couple of sets (Reactive Defenses is one) that provide global -end bonuses, that helps a lot too. The single best proc in the game (IMO) is the appropriately named Panacea one though. Decent repeated heal and +end every few seconds. My Fire/Storm would never be able to function at the level he does without it! /Storm is just always massively end hungry. 🙂

Fulcrum shift won’t buff Waterspout, but it will buff Cygnus X-1, so when I summon Waterspout I think it will have the damage buff in place? When you say synergy with Singularity and Sorcery pool, you mean Spirit Ward? Or Enflame? I played around with Enflame and Siphon Power to verify it’s affected, which means Fulcrum Shift should as well. Given the nigh total lack of AOE damage in Grav/, Enflame seems a decent option. I think Wormhole into Dimension Shift then Enflame should work out pretty well, once FS is available I imagine it should cook minions nicely. 🙂

Thanks to both of you! 🙂 Knowing what the other -Res proc is and that they stack with each other really supports how effective I think this will be. I've toyed with the idea of adding in Weaken Resolve, but unless Achilles on a different power can stack with itself, It's not worth it. I think my initial target will be Waterspout with Achilles and Annihilation -Res + a four pack of Expedient reinforcement. Cygnus X-1 Book III dinged 27 last night, so I've just started playing with Wormhole (playing with it again I should say, Astricane was my Grav/Storm on live and LOVED WH), and getting a feel for how it works in the new reality we play in. Won't really be able to test the idea in the title until 38 of course, but so far it looks like it will be brokenly OP. :: Rubbing hands :: Grav's single target attack chain is very different than Mind's Dom-Lev-Mes, which is one of the closest parallels in Control primariy sets for me. Mind is the premier single target control set, but with two KB powers in the attack chain able to take Force Feedback's +rech, I expect a Grav/Kin to be a recharge monster once I get more global +Rech in place. Only have two LotGs slotted at this point, no sets and FF +Rech only in Lift, but I'm already seeing it. WH recharges so fast at times it makes most AOE controls look broken by comparison. Does anyone know a source for Singy's stats? I remember the rough gist, but Mids doesn't have details that I need to figure out how to slot it for tank duties. I'm kind of thinking about whether this would be an interesting A/V fighting build. Dipping lighter than usual into the Epic/Patron pool leaves some flexibility in how I optimize the rest of the build. Again, thanks! I appreciate the feedback!

Talk me out of it? What am I not seeing? Doesn't look like you can perma it, but you can get decently close (I use /4 as a rule of thumb for 'can it be reasonably made permanent so 180 Rech/4 = 45 sec. 30 sec duration, so...) with it being up for EVERY spawn unless you're on a fast team, and twice for most. It looks on the surface like it should be a lumbermill sized buzz saw. Wormhole dropping everything in a tight pile should make FS on a x8 map push Waterspout through the roof dmg, over the lifetime of the spout. Great for large spawns and should be amazing on single target both. At the damage cap it seems like it will be absolute devastating. I understand there are two -Res procs available (Achilles Heel and what else? Don't know what the other one is off the top of my head) which could really just make it absurd. Slotting something like 2 -Res Procs - 4 Expedient Reinforcement for 6.25% Rech set bonus. I lose an LoTG mule dot having a +def in Leviathan, but I normally run 2-3 Siphon Speed stacks pretty comfortably, so losing 7.5 global isn't that big an issue. Normally I'd go /Ice for the two AOE attacks (Frost Breath and the glory that is Ice Storm), but I think I could JUST take Water Spout and Bile Spray, and have a bunch of extra power slots. I was even thinking of skipping the Coralax, though an additional source of damage is always good, so I'll probably keep Spikey. Currently planning: Speed (Hasten) Fighting (Boxing, Touch, Weave) <- I used to defiantly NOT take the fighting pool, just like I ran my Mind/Kin without the fitness pool, because I could. Flight (Hover. Fly, Evasive Maneuvers) Took Fly for Evasive LoTG mule and QOL movement. I'm generally fine with Ninja Run, Hover and Siphon Speed Last pool is up in the air., odd phrasing coming after the Flight though that is. Obvious pick is either Leadership: Maneuvers or Leaping: Combat Jump, leaning towards Leadership Been thinking of Will Power: Weaken resolve though. With an Achilles Heel -Res Proc it would stack well with Waterspout's -Res from Procs.

Sorry for the very delayed follow-up. Took me a bit to get my Mind/Kin leveled up to 50 so I can start tweaking build details. As I now have a new gaming laptop that can run Mids (MacBook Air M1 plays CoH amazingly well, but the Mids import/export and saving doesn't work), I sat down over the weekend and worked up a draft of Argentae 2.0, it's posted on Not sure if it will be much help to you at this point, but thought you might find the perspective interesting/useful... 🙂

Heya all! :: waves :: I broke down and bought a new gaming laptop (MSI Stealth 15, love it) so I have full Mids functionality again! 🙂 So Arg was my original main on live. I did a lot of team play, but also a TON of soloing content slowly, but extremely safely. Pretty much the entire leveling process was pre-containment damage and (I think?) difficulty settings, so I have a LOT of memories of bouncing Council robots (fav enemy, because who doesn't like making Nazis hit each other? ) off ceilings with Levitate. Ah... Good times. Never did fully kit her out with full IO sets though, had other projects by then. The Mind/Kin build request a bit back made me think that maybe I was ready to recreate Arg with the current options. She dinged 50 Sunday! Alpha slot: Nerve tier 3 (Acc+33, Def +20, Hold +16.5, Conf +33). Ran a couple of quick spawns with Tactics off (late stage leveling build had Tactics vs. Siphon Power, swapped out to improve damage mitigation with A/V's and other really dangerous targets) and the Council mission set to +4x8. No problem with lvl 54 spawn at all. Didn't get to a spawn with lvl 55s, but I think I'll be fine with the lvl shift from the Alpha. I have a lot of the sets in the build below collected, though only Ragnorok (minus the proc) in Ice Storm is currently there of the purple sets. Running a 6 pack of Malaise in Mass Conf, Call of the Sandman in Mass Hyp, and only have the Proc from Will of the Controller in Mesmerize. Thinking of moving the Ragnarok to Terrify. Also considering the Unspeakable Terror Stun proc. One of the things that would be something other than TD to set durable containment for the AOE dmg. IIRC there is an incarnate (Hybrid:Control?) that would have a high chance of an immob if the target is already feared. Dominate and Levitate are not finalized, the generic IOs in those are really just placeholders. I don't think I need the Acc in either of them with the global +Acc from sets and Alpha slot (Nerve). Transfusion with capped at 95% vs lcl 54s with just a single Heal slotted in a test. I could three slot one of the procs for set bonuses, or two slot two of them? They make an excellent machine gun of DPS esp with no recharge slotted. I am doing a bit of collecting Mez resist stacking where reasonable, which has me thinking about completing the PosiBlast sets instead of the damage proc. Probably will keep the +Range in Frost Breath as it helps it match up better with Terrify, esp from above. Interesting note: Even in my current sub-optimal leveling build, Mass Confusion is perma, and with 2-3 Siphon Speeds normally stacked, pretty much all the AOE is up for every fight when soloing x8 spawns. Current build draft below, any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated! 🙂 This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.0.6.0 https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Magic Controller Primary Power Set: Mind Control Secondary Power Set: Kinetics Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Flight Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Ice Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Mesmerize -- WiloftheC-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear(A), WiloftheC-Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/Rchg(3), WiloftheC-Rchg/Dam%(36), WiloftheC-EndRdx/Rchg(37), WiloftheC-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx/Rchg(40), WiloftheC-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx(50) Level 1: Transfusion -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(9), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(34), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(36), Prv-Heal/Rchg(39), Prv-Absorb%(39) Level 2: Dominate -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(3), GldJvl-Dam%(5), GhsWdwEmb-Dam%(11), NrnSht-Dam%(15), GldNet-Dam%(15) Level 4: Levitate -- Acc-I(A), ExpStr-Dam%(5), FrcFdb-Rechg%(36), GldJvl-Dam%(37) Level 6: Confuse -- MlsIll-Acc/Rchg(A), MlsIll-EndRdx/Conf(7), MlsIll-Acc/EndRdx(7), MlsIll-Conf/Rng(11), MlsIll-Acc/Conf/Rchg(13), MlsIll-Dam%(17) Level 8: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(9) Level 10: Siphon Speed -- Acc-I(A) Level 12: Mass Hypnosis -- FrtHyp-Sleep(A), FrtHyp-Sleep/Rchg(13), FrtHyp-Acc/Sleep/Rchg(17), FrtHyp-Acc/Rchg(23), FrtHyp-Sleep/EndRdx(23), FrtHyp-Plct%(46) Level 14: Boxing -- Empty(A) Level 16: Hover -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), BlsoftheZ-ResKB(21), Ksm-ToHit+(43) Level 18: Total Domination -- BslGaz-Acc/Hold(A), BslGaz-Acc/Rchg(19), BslGaz-Rchg/Hold(19), BslGaz-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(21) Level 20: Speed Boost -- EndMod-I(A) Level 22: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 24: Tough -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(25), Ags-Psi/Status(40) Level 26: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(27), DefBuff-I(27) Level 28: Terrify -- PstBls-Acc/Dmg(A), PstBls-Dmg/EndRdx(29), PstBls-Dmg/Rchg(29), PstBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31), PstBls-Dam%(31), Bmbdmt-+FireDmg(31) Level 30: Siphon Power -- Acc-I(A) Level 32: Mass Confusion -- CrcPrs-Conf(A), CrcPrs-Conf/Rchg(33), CrcPrs-Acc/Conf/Rchg(33), CrcPrs-Acc/Rchg(33), CrcPrs-Conf/EndRdx(34), CrcPrs-Conf%(34) Level 35: Hibernate -- Heal-I(A) Level 38: Fulcrum Shift -- Acc-I(A) Level 41: Frost Breath -- PstBls-Acc/Dmg(A), PstBls-Dmg/EndRdx(42), PstBls-Dmg/Rng(42), PstBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42), PstBls-Dam%(43), Range-I(43) Level 44: Ice Storm -- Rgn-Dmg(A), Rgn-Dmg/Rchg(45), Rgn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), Rgn-Acc/Rchg(45), Rgn-Knock%(46), Rgn-Dmg/EndRdx(46) Level 47: Frozen Armor -- Rct-Def(A), Rct-Def/EndRdx(48), Rct-EndRdx/Rchg(48), Rct-Def/Rchg(48), Rct-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(50), Rct-ResDam%(50) Level 49: Transference -- Acc-I(A) Level 1: Containment Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Clr-Stlth(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 1: Swift -- Empty(A) Level 1: Hurdle -- Empty(A) Level 1: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(25), Mrc-Rcvry+(39) Level 1: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(37), EndMod-I(40) Level 50: Nerve Total Radial Revamp ------------ https://www.midsreborn.com/builds/download.php?uc=1348&c=646&a=1292&f=HEX&dc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

An other voice for Fire/Storm especially if you have played Storm/ You probably know all the benefits of the Storm set already, but will likely very much enjoy how it plays on a Fire/Storm. I highly recommend /Ice with Fire/Storm, hibernate is amazing when you do almost all your damage via pets and pseudo pets. Makes you into an invincible tank while you get to full heal/end, ultimate panic button power. Ice Storm is why you take the set, amazing AOE damage on a very reasonable timer that fits perfectly in with all your other targeted AOE powers. GET. THE. PROCS. IN. HEALTH. Consider making plans to get Atlas Accolade (do council missions for wolves/vamps, do Fortune Teller mission etc. End is your biggest issue, but slotting sets generally gets you decent -end, and if coupled with all the +rec procs available and slotted in health (Panacea, Numina, Miracle) and Perf shifter + endmod IOs to taste in Stamina effectively resolve it. I focused almost exclusively on AOE in the overall build of my Fire/Storm and it works great, esp once you have Bonfire and Tornado. Absolutely slot both of them with KB->KD proc (Sudden Acceleration is probably easiest). Lightning Storm I have found I Like the KB because it does well at watching my back while I tend my massive environmental fury patch of Dooooooommm. 🙂 Lavan FireStorm solos extremely well on +4/x8.

Not sure About A/V? Stacked Freezing Rains helps everything, and multiple Tornados and Lightning storms puts out a ton of damage. No substantial -Regen outside of Incarnate though. Carry venomed daggers from the P2W vendor. I feel a bit like Dark/Dark didn't really get a fair shake above. Dark/Dark starts well, and grows nicely in capability throughout the game. There are so many great powers in both sets, and the synergy is amazing. And the breath of the tools available lets you try out different play styles. It's just plain FUN. Dark/Dark is a fantastic teaming set as well as a soloer that gets to the x8 size spawns sooner than many control sets. Shadowfallen (my Dark/Dark) has so much -tohit that that IS my staple control. My AOE control powers are just a contingency set of abilities. Umbral Beast + Fluffy (Dark Servant) + Haunts is a great combo. Cones aren't a problem really if you just stay at range and tends to work well with the odd shapes of some spawns. That said, Lavan (Fire/Storm, and my most recent benchmark for /Storm, my Plant/Storm is still in the 20's) is a LOT faster. More risky, but faster. Total chainsaw of elemental destruction. As many have said, /Storm is a late blooming set, and leveraging Snow Storm for corner pulls pairs very well with KD pseudo pets (Bonfire with KB->KD IO, Freezing Rain, Tornado with KB -> KD IO), which isn't really quite the same for Dark/Storm. Either will probably be a blast, I might do Mind/Storm at some point to fill in the AOE damage gap. 🙂

Make Fear a status that triggers containment. This sort of happens with Ice Storm IIRC, Fear sets an additional tick of damage just like immobilize, held etc. Raise the target limit on TK or substantially lower the endurance cost, it's still the same as it was back in the beginning before target caps. TK's target cap is way too small, it used to be a power balanced by PLAYER skill and endurance. They gutted it's target cap without adjusting the end cost at all. If TK WAS changed to a "pull mobs to this point" (which I agree, is a lot more complex than it sounds), consider making that act a bit more like an immob, setting containment and keeping the mobs packed tight together, but able to hit back. I LIKE using it to take out bosses though, best solution for Paragon Protectors so they don't get MoG off. Great thematic style too... "STOP!" :: dramatic hand gesture :: 🙂 Mind/ is a very tactical powerset. It's a single target monster when soloing at x1 or x2, and a grandmaster at controlling Adds (additional spawns that aggro). It's the "Control" end of the AOE Damage <---> AOE Control spectrum. As a consequence, It lacks AOE damage, and having no every spawn durable AOE containment setting powers is a gap that is keenly felt in the late game, which tends to move strongly towards AOE. You need to really lean into confusion, and use Mass Hyp before Terrify if TD is still recharging.

:: waves :: Heya all... So, Lavan is officially an engine of elemental destruction been using a Council +4x8 mission as a benchmark. VERY happy with /Ice, Hibernate is a perfect panic button and almost immediately lets me pause and assess the situation. Seeing "Preventative Medicine" pop up is a great warning sign, *highly* recommend the Absorb unique. Ice Storm is a huge benefit, and added to the already outstanding damage of a mature /Storm build, it's both thematically perfect and an ideal complement to the raw damage. Incarnate: Alpha: After a LOT of pondering, number juggling, and testing I went with tier 3 Musculature Core for the Alpha slot. Vigor was a strong case, as was Agility, but with the endred built into almost all the IO sets, Health 6 slotted with Miracle, Numina, Panacea, Regenerative Tissue and some focus on sets that boost recovery, Atlas Accolade, and a six slotted Reactive Defenses set (3.75 global endred), I rarely run out of endurance running at +153 global recharge. I do very little single target work, char/hold the occasional runner (Council wolves are a PITA), mostly AOE. Running Hot feet, Assault, Maneuvers, Ice Armor, Hover, Combat Jumping. Being able to choose 5 of a set and leave out one one the damage focused enh lets me pick up more procs without sacrificing damage, the +22.5 pre ED half brings it back up to nearly +97ish and then I get the additional +22.5 on top of that. The core thing, as many have said with the Alpha slot, is picking the thing you slot the most. Lavan is all damage, all the time. Knockdown is his primary mitigation, with Flashfire stun and occasionally Cinders. The best mitigation of all is rapid defeat of mobs. 🙂 That leads to... Interface: I went with Diamagnetic for the -ToHit to stack with my defense (and the -5 ToHit from Smoke, which is great as a prep and aggro management tool). This made a big difference. Dropping Freezing Rain and Bonfire seems to put virtually the entire spawn at -20 ToHit almost immediately, so I think it's building the 4 -ToHit buffs each time the pseudo pets pulse damage, which is FAST. It also substantially improved the Imp's durability. Diamagnetic let me go from being able to get through my council map fairly decently at +3x8, to +4x8 at good speed with only VERY rarely dying. Mainly if I'm unlucky and playing badly to boot. Destiny: I spent some time looking at details on this one, and was amazed at just how good Clarion really is. The Radial is basically a mini Power Boost in addition to being excellent status protection. It boosts almost everything, including Range, Healing, Controls, Endmod, Movement... The other Destiny options are not competitive IMO. And it makes the need for the Sorcery pool pretty much go away. Lore: Have not picked anything yet. Longbow is tempting for the -Regen if I'm going to try to tackle AVs. Not sure how durable it will be though. Might need to resec into O2 boost? Judgement: Leaning towards Pyro as it's thematic and as a targeted AOE it would work perfectly with my other AOE powers. Hybrid: I'm so conflicted. I don't know that Control will really be as useful as it was on my Dark/Dark, I'm thinking either Assault (AOE damage is a focus for the build) or Melee(would mesh well with the focus on regeneration for extra mitigation)? Support would be good for the +Def, and double effect on pets would seriously help the Imps survive their aggro magnate tendencies. Like I said, conflicted. Any thoughts? I had the build in Mids, but I'm on a MacBook Air M1 (plays CoH like a dream), and mids is recalcitrant about running in a CrossOver bottle. There's a problem with creating files from Mids so I can't save, and exporting makes it crash. I should finish trying to troubleshoot the configuration, but... I'd rather play the game. It works for what I need. I'll attach a couple of screenshots from in-game. Still collecting IO sets. Ones with generic IOs are largely waiting for set enhancements.

Dark/Dark is amazing for the stacked -ToHit, pets, and single target confuse. Fire/Storm blooms later, but is a buzzsaw once it gets going. Those are my current favorites. 🙂

How are you planning to play? Mostly teaming, mostly solo? I don't have a current build, but I played Mind/Kin for years, so happy to discuss? I feel a *Kin*ship with anyone playing Mind/Kin, it was my original main, and still a lot of fun to play. King of zero aggro control! It's one of the most tactical sets to play, you have a lot of tools at your disposal. You probably know all the below, but just in case you don't: Mind is uber effective as a *controller* though it lacks AOE damage and struggles with AOE containment setting. Soloing, you can run WAY above your level early on as long as you keep it to 1 (best) or 2 team size spawns. SUPER safe soloing. NOTHING moves except as you want. Lean on Confuse. standard spawn: Confuse a minion (to help you beat down the Lt.) hold the Lt. Dom -> Lev -> Mes is your standard chain, and I recommend taking Arcane Bolt from Sorcery. Same with a boss. Always choose the right mob to confuse to help you damage the worst threat. Remember to use your secondary, it's largely not needed soloing, but Siphon Speed is always good. In the late game Transference makes you an anti-sapper. TK is useful for fast hold of Paragon protectors (and other bosses) before they can get MoG triggered. Remember Mes can sleep a boss. Mez + Mass Hyp (in that order) used to be able to sleep an A/V IIRC. Terrify is your best out of the box AOE dmg, consider an Epic/Ancillary/Patron that has a cone attack. TD is your best durable containment setter for AOE, so consider slotting it mainly for recharge. Mass Hyp or Mass Confuse (can help them clump up better) -> Run in for Fulcrum Shift -> Back Out to line up cones -> Terrify -> TD -> Epic/Ancillary/ so you get most of the exp. Terrify keeps them largely cowering so you get plenty of damage in, each time you hit them, they hit each other. 🙂. If using TD to set containment, consider /Icy as your epic, Ice Storm does MASSIVE damage in 15 sec which can maximize your TD containment bonus. A FS boosted Ice Storm will probably obliterate a spawn pretty much by itself, my Fire/Storm/Ice does about 500 dmg in a big targeted AOE with Ice storm and I have no meaningful damage buffs. Of course he's an engine of elemental destruction for all the other reasons, /Storm's KD and pseudo pets pair very well with Fire. 🙂

YMMV widely, but Ice Storm does indeed do a ton of damage. I just picked it up on my Fire/Storm and it melts spawns noticeably faster, and it's not even slotted yet. I think it's up every 36 sec or so, covers a good AOE and does 1.5 (an extra tick of cold damage if target is controlled ). At level 47: 115.6 damage * 1.5 (extra cold damage tick for controlled target) = 173.4 * 1.3 (At least one Freezing Rain) = 225.4 UNSLOTTED. Slotted 173.4 * 1.95 (just to ballpark) = 338.13 * 1.3 (FR) = 439.6 call it 440. in 15 seconds up every 36 seconds in a targeted AOE. Adding any additional dmg boot will have major impact on numbers like that. 🙂 Have to go get him to 48 so I can try out the slotted version. 🙂

A proceed out Gale might pair well with Mind's Terrify? I was thinking about on my Fire/Storm/Ice, but I'm looking to get back to Mind/ again for nostalgia if nothing else. Mind/Storm might be a lot of fun... And add some helpful damage. Massive end hog though. Having fun collecting +Rec set bonuses on my Fire/Storm though, and it's very effective...

On TK, I think they should just raise the target cap again. The end cost is hideous, but it used to be balanced by the need for PLAYER skill for TK to be effective. In the great ED pass (IIRC) they nuked it's target cap without providing any other change. I used to be a huge proponent of TK, but not being able to room/hall sweep with it without losing control of the wrong mob all the time... :: shaking head :: TK was fine as it was. Specialist tool, and amazing in the right hands. Mind Control is the overkill control set, it's got built-in end issues from the lack of pets/pseudo pets you do it all yourself compared to the balance of EVERY other set. The lack of reasonable containment setting options in the primary also put it at a fundamental disadvantage in taking advantage of Containment. If you keep to small spawns when soloing, or spend a lot of time on teams, Mind/ is a control king. Dance puppets... Dance to my bidding. Dark is better in most ways, and pairs unbelievably well with /Dark. Mind is amazing on teams that want to prevent Adds and juggle masterclass AOE control. My perspective is based in my original Main (Argentae) is Mind/Kin. and I soloed a lot and loved teaming and soloing from I-2 on. My last big project character and current Main is ShadowFallen Dark/Dark. She can do most of what Arg can, and soloed large spawns from fairly early on. The -ToHit soft control scales amazingly for anything PvE except GM/AV. Eat's EB's for lunch, but I haven't tried an A/V yet as she's too much fun to take and fight Nazis with. 🙂 Boy I have missed this game. 🙂 Once I finish with my Fire/Storm/Ice (Ice epic doesn't get enough respect) I think I may need to pull Argentae TNG off the lvl 25 shelf and see how she plays as an incarnate. Using Terrify to set containment via (Interface?) would be fun. And adding proc damage to Mass Hyp maybe? Don't know, I think Dark's damage capabilities may have spoiled me. 😛

I'm still acclimating to the realities of endgame builds, and the realities of Proc mechanics was still pretty murky when I last got deep into set nuance. I dug through a fantastic guide I found on the forum, some of the gist I got was that enhanced +Rech (slotted + Alpha) is bad for proc chances, esp in AOE attacks. Cones do NOT get penalized for range enhancement despite the increased area effected. Soooo... Gale with just Acc/End (and maybe range?) slotted and Procs. Cheap, fast, big cone. Looks like it takes a lot of possible procs. I'm guessing it's been discussed before, but my search-fu was weak. Any thoughts?

This a fantastic thread! Many thanks. 🙂 I just hit 38 with my Fire/Storm Lavan, and have been having a ton of fun with the stacked KD of FR, Bonfire (with KB->KD) and Tornado (also KD). I find myself considering waffling between /Ice and /Stone. As all /Storm, the lack of a self heal/downtime reducer is keenly felt. Any thoughts? I’m slightly leaning towards going /ice and getting Hibernate at 38 and LS next, then armor, then Ice Storm which should be a great AOE damage option. I figure do Alpha strike, dropping all pseudo pets (FR, Bonfire, Tornado, LS) another then if I’m taking enough damage, turtle up and either come out with another full round of AOE control if needed, pseudo pets etc… Or bring up Hurricane before dropping Hibernate if I need to break off and regroup. Seems like a perfect panic button and heal/recovery in one? Hmmm… Earth vs Ice. Armors seem pretty even. Hibernate + Ice Storm vs Earth’s Embrace + Fissure or Seismic Smash. Ive focused more on AOE than single target in this build, and all the stacked Pseudo Pets and Imps have been doing quite well… Plays VERY differently from my -ToHit focused Dark/Dark! Part of what I love about Controllers. So many ways to build them.

Working on post 50 build for Shadowfallen as she dinged 50 this past weekend! 🙂 I've picked up 4 procs (Clouded Senses(Nrg), Trap of the Hunter(Lethal), Positron's Blast (Nrg), and the other Ranged AOE proc... (Fire) and slotted them in Living Shadows, which is working well for some decent additional AOE dmg. But next up is starting to collect the sets themselves. Anyone have a current mature Dark/Dark build I can use as a baseline reference? My focus is on Recharge first (Thinking Alpha Spiritual Core) some +Acc and additional AOE dmg as feasible with -ToHit the primary active mitigation rather than stun/hold based. Slotting for pets (Umbral, Dark Servant, Haunts, Waterspout, and Coralax) is something I'm really waffling on... Any thoughts appreciated! 🙂