Argentae

So my first projects when I discovered Homecoming were: Lavan: Fire/Storm 36. My favorite project I never quite finished on live servers because of altitis. Shadowfallen: Dark/Dark 47 The main distraction towards the end as I'd been yearning for a Dark Control for years. Also recreated my original main (Argentae: Mind/Kin 26 still a tactical control grandmaster class) and a few selected other projects like Veridicane: Plant/Storm 20 <- I know what she grows into, late blooming * cough* with Carion Creepers and Tornado/LS. Super fun. Gaea's Revenge: Beast Master/Kin 39 MM <- lot of fun but can't handle really large spawns nearly as well as Shadowfallen. Styxian: Dark/Psi Dominator, oddly my only Dom so far. Pyropsius Fire/Psi was my Villain main, one of the early advocates of PSW back before it was (justifiably) rebalanced. My only Permadom IIRC. Anyway, today's topic: Dark/Dark Controllers and the *POWER* of soft control. Seriously, I'm not sure if anything can stack as much -Tohit as Shadowfallen and her brethren? I've never played a Control primary character where the synergy between primary and secondary so rendered the Status effect control so optional. My first time through with the original Shadowfallen, I took her all the way to 50, did DA content (which was hugely thematically appropriate), and generally played her like a normal control primary, AOE stuns were her mainstay in the late game with ST controls as appropriate and the army of pets (went Leviathan then too because Waterspout is just under appreciated by most people that haven't played much /Storm, love the knock UP and the -Def is lovely). For Shadowfallen TNG, I took a step back and really LEANED into the -ToHit. Egads. Not sure when I last used an AOE Stun despite the fact that I have two (and Howling Twilight is a DANG good Swiss army knife of an AOE control). I've slowly come to the realization that I was ignoring the real power of the build, which is amazing given how effective it was before. Fade is a hugely powerful AOE +Def(all) that stacks so well with -ToHit it seems OP. Almost everything in a full large spawn attack chain stacks -ToHit and so do all the pets. Fearsome Stare slotted with just two -Tohit SO applies about -21 ToHit debut and becomes an alpha eliminating nigh perfect opener, Living Shadows drops another -7.5 -Tohit right off the bat, so you have -28.5 which stacks with the +9.4ish Def from (unslotted) Fade and +3.75 Def from Shadow Fall for a combined -42ish to the chance for mobs to hit you AND the entire spawn is trembling instead of fighting, giving you plenty of time to set up Darkest Night on the Boss (now at -57 or more) or centrally located Lt to add ANOTHER -15 ToHit (unslotted). All that is before Umbral Beast (Ms O'Leary) and Dark Servant (Fluffy) stack in their AOE -ToHit and Haunts 1 and 2 start stacking their ST version on your chosen target (they that must die first). The long cones of FS and LS work better than a circular AOE with the geometry of a majority of spawns while still working well for clumped up circulation spawns as long as you hit from the edge of your range. The real kicker came when I looked at Shadow Field and realized that it's more useful as a (surprisingly powerful) -ToHit AOE than as a hold. IIRC, it's another -15 (unslotted) over a large AOE and lasts for like a minute? That puts that trembling Boss (and most of the mobs) at -72 (without counting the -ToHit from Fluffy and Ms O'Leary) to hit me, and that's with nothing but FS slotted for -ToHit, and ZERO IO sets and global bonuses. Anything that DOES get though is already mitigated by the -Dmg of Tar Patch, and a good hit with Soul Absorption (which works off of mobs AND DEAD BODIES) can make you a pocket /Regen as well and making End a non-issue. If another spawn aggros, or a surprise Boss shows up, you still have *plenty* of reserve mitigation left in the bag, and Pets everywhere to pull the aggro in another direction, while you get the situation back under control. Shadow Fall works so well with Fluffy and Ms O'Leary to let you set everything up geometry wise that it feels like cheating. So, now that I've evangelized sooooo much about how Dark/Dark just oooooozes soft control mitigation, I'm starting to get serious about late game build options. This is obviously a build that will be able to handle +4/8 spawns once it gets FULLY mature (the second Boss at +8 is too irritating on just SO enh and no incarnate). I'm thinking LS may be well suited to slotting up with procs, I think I can get one from a immob set, one from a ranged AOE set, one from a -ToHit set? Any others? Bile Spray is a major AOE damage source so will probably take a full set (maybe Ragnorok? Picked up one of the Rag recipes last night, which is what started me think I'm about ready to start collecting Sets. FS is probably a -ToHit set with one or two Procs tossed in? Maybe Dark Watcher and Frakenslot? Any thoughts on the plethora of pets etc? Maybe the +Def pet global? Fade (other than LotG +Def)? Shadow Fall (other than LotG +def)? I don't know that I need to build much for Def given all the above, some would be nice, but I think the primary goal is +rech and maybe dmg from procs in AOE attacks to increase her ability to mow down large spawns solo. Thank you for your time and attention, and I hope I've encourage someone to give Dark/Dark a second look, it won't disappoint! 🙂

Dark/Dark/Leviathan is worth a strong look too. Dark/Dark starts strong and just gets stronger and stronger. The synergies in the build are very effective, and a lot of fun. I’ve played a lot of Controller and Dominator builds, and Dark/Dark/Lev is just brokenly powerful because of all the stacking -Tohit. Your staple opening is Fade for you, team, Umbral (Ms O’Leary) and Dark Servant (Fluffy). Fearsome Stare (slot for -tohit and rech) which is easily permanent with just SOs. Drop Darkest Night on the boss, immob the whole spawn with Living shadows and let your 4-6 pets (Ms O’Leary, Fluffy, spook 1 and spook 2 + Waterspout and sometimes Coralax) tear things up while you spam LS and the leviathan cone attack, keep FS and Tar patch up and keep Lts confused. Single hard target you can put out impressive damage while crippling their regen with HT and TG. Stacking all pets and Arcane blast with your ST attacks adds up very fast. Soul absorption makes you a dynamo on large spawns, totally eliminates downtime and pairs very well with all the -tohit. I rarely need to use any AOE hold/stun, so that’s all reserve in case there are adds or pets trigger a nearby spawn. Since mid 30s I could run +2/6 spawns with nothing but SOs. when I’m playing well it feels like I almost can’t die, with both Fluffy (who also spams AOE heal) and Ms O’Leary putting out aoe -tohit with me and occasionally confusing straggler and problem mobs… so many tools. And as many pets as a MM when everything is out. Waterspout is a gem. Just starting to collect IO sets, and while my Fire/Storm (Lavan) puts out more AOE dmg, My Dark/Dark (Shadowfallen) can handle huge spawns much more reliably without any def set bonuses, and is just more versatile. 🙂

I appreciate your insights, spot (weak dog pun) on. 🙂 Can't wait for level 32 to see the second upgrade, but Now that I have DW, it's going to even more fun to get there. He's so cute and fluffy with the glowing blue eyes... Then a force of icy destruction when I get hit. 🙂 I ran through Family goons mission, and using DI before boss fights was really quite useful/effective. The conspicuous LACK of pets being kicked/punched out of the scrum was quite noticeable. I'm starting the fight in bodyguard with SP, Heal, SS to pull the boss's fangs a bit. Normally keep DI more or less up on SnowBank (Dire Wolf), BadKitty and BadKitty Too. I only DI the pack for boss fights where I expect KB. It really has a major impact on how smoothly the fight goes. The later I get in the build, the better I like the choice. I love builds that are highly effective with as much of the Psi/Sec powers as possible. Plus Hover and Hasten (AKA Bacon, which is thematically sooooo appropriate for Beast/ 🙂). I think I need to dig up a Mastermind bind guide (pretty sure I've seen a current-ish one around) and play with some /em commands. The idea of wolves with a laptop checking email etc. during downtime creates some funny images in my head. How do they work the laptop? Teach Siri to speak "howl"? Use ear and tail gesture recognition? 😛

Got Dire Wolf. Heh. Even unslotted and without Tame Beasts, what a change. Almost like getting Imps on Fire/ control. Woot! 🙂

That’s fair. 🙂 I actually had hasten selected by default when I stopped to think about how deep into a pool I might want/need to go. Does Burnout recharge pet summons? End crash would be largely mitigated by Transference. Welp, I suppose bacon it is! Something to snack on while I wait for Dire Wolf. 😛 Thanks!

Trying to decide on a lvl 24 power. Have all primary and secondary powers except Repel and only Hover from power pools. Three primary options I’m thinking of so far: 1. Sorcery for the mez protection. Offends my sense of efficiency, getting by pretty well with SB and Hover with swift and hover slotted for flight with one SO. Not sure I want to put three power slots into it. Blast is good on some control builds, but Beast/Kin is busy. 2. My son is a big fan of Unstsppable. a taunt could be useful if I need to pull some aggro off my youngest’s brute. Fear could be decent soft control? 3. Traditional Leadership pool. Does ANY +Rech affect pet summons cooldown? The top tier power could be useful, Tactics would be the classic reason for the + to hit. Any thoughts? Obviously Dire Wolf (can’t wait!) has the 26th slot, so it’ll take a bit to get deep into a pool anyway. Just got my second Lion, so happy about that. They are much faster than the wolves. 🙂

Good to know; the -KB seemed to be effective on all, but I might be conflating SB movement effects on some of them, and seeing just one that ignoring -kb and repel? I'll test again later. Even if I do need to cycle I'm fine with that. The impact is striking, I can keep a team of 6 buffed on a 2 minute timer if it makes that much difference. 😛 Even just the res buff going to the whole group, that's good right there... A buff run before tackling a boss spawn isn't bad, it's thematic even. The whimpering from the wolves when you hit them with SB echoes the gut punch animation a bit too well. The sound effect is a bit villainous leaning. 😛 It was like firing a furry smart missile that mirvs and tears sorcerers to bits. Will definitely be GREAT against robots later. I used to hate how they resisted psi dmg. I levitated a LOT of robots as a soloing Mind/Kin. 😂

Been playing with my first MM in a very long while. Mind/Kin was my main, so I gave it a try, hoping that my recollection of the impact on the force multiplier effect of kinetics of everyone being in melee was accurate. Yup. I did get bit by an old "meh" recollection of ID though, it was one of the few borderline powers in /Kin for me, usually took it later in the build in the early 20s when power slots became more prevalent. Then I hit Talos (my favorite zone) and I hit the Tsoo Sorcerers. They were always irritating, but on a control based character, no more than that. On a Beast/Kin they were a major PITA. Then I noticed that SB hits all pets at once, just like Train/Upgrade. And a decent part of the problem with Sorcerer is the Repel and KB. Hmm... I think I see a way out of this. ID to the rescue! Seriously, quite decent status protection, KB and repel protection and fairly hefty Smashing and Energy resist (Mids has it at 18.75 unenhanced, so with three SO DamRes slotted, Mids puts it at +56% so that would be what? About +30% Smash/Nrg resist 3 slotted? It's a hefty boost any way you look at it) all rolled into one for the cost of a single buff every 2 minutes. Now I have it lined up in the buff section of my 2nd power tray. SB, ID, Train. SB and ID are both on a 2 minute timer, and they make the Beast pets VASTLY better in the mid game, probably the late game too. They just tore through the Sorcerer's hurricane like rabid weasels on speed (you know, normal SB behavior) and ripped the Sorcerer apart. He teleported around the corner, and they were on him again in a flash to take him down and keep him from healing everyone else. People bad mouthing /Kin as a secondary for Beast pets... Play it. It's amazing. I think I have my preferred MM build! 🙂 Beast/Kin FTW!

Logged out and back in, and I'm apparently myself again? Odd...

Enan, CIrcuitBoi, MizB... having trouble dragging the names up after so many years. I had heard rumors that there was a private server system out there, but I’d heard it had been shut down. 😞 Imagine my joy when I found this tonight, got it installed and running at max settings on my MacBook Air M1! I used to play COH with my kids when they were very small enough to sit on my lap! Played from I2 to shutdown and loved every minute of it... Level 50 Controllers Argentae was my main: Mind/Kin Pyrokinthesis: Fire/Kin Veridicane: Plant/Storm ShadowFallen: Dark/Dark Had almost every Controller primary/secondary at some level and a fair set of Dominators. Beyond thrilled to hear the old music and see Atlas park again! Really looking forward to playing with my now legally adult kids! 🙂 Arg