LynxNordique

Gravity has very strong single target attacks, so the issue is /Time. Time is great in teams, but the debuffs are not as strong as other sets. However, I'm sure it is more than enough to defeat the CWK King as an EB. You probably need just a few inspirations, like couple of purples, blues and reds and he should be done for. My Gravity/Dark against the Cwk King as an AV was a very fun fight. The Cwk King hits like a truck, but so does some Gravity attacks.

For an Illusion controller, all is needed is perma pa, a good - regen power and a - resistance power. With that you can solo most lvl54 av (except robots and some others) and GM. All the rest, including proc, Lore, Judgement and interface is just gravy. You can solo, with such a minimal setup, with some additional spectral wounds attacks and some sacrificial Phantasms, Jack and Eochai at the same time. The only thing that is really useful is getting the end usage and the recharge down. So, a chance for build up in PA, a kb to kd in Phantasm (for qol against regular mobs) , as much Lotg +rech and +recover in health is all the proc that are needed. All the other proc are for your fun and to bring the defeat time down.

The problem is you invest on Damage proc, instead on investing on +recharge set bonuses,. For example, with 5 Unbreakable Constraint in Blind, you have +10% recharge. Even with my Illusion/rad with perma Hasten and perma AM, it was not easy to achieve perma Phantom Army. I achieved Perma PA only the moment I reached Tier 2 Agility and I did invest in 4 LoTG and as many +recharge set bonuses that I could get. You willl then have to rely heavily on Recharge reduction Tier 4 alphas and Ageless. Perma PA is the Key to make a GM/AV hunter Illusion controler. A 3 second gap in PA is more than enough for some AV and GM to crush down a controller.

My Dark/Dark and Earth/Dark can solo Eochai and Jack at the same time. Since my Dark Dark controller can output more damages with the Umbra Beast and perma Haunts combo and can stack up even more -tohit at once, she can solo most level 54 AV except very powerful exceptions like Ghost Widow and Lanaru the Mad. /Dark controllers are not fast killers, due to the Fact that Howling Twilight has a long recharge, but they are probably the safest AV/GM killers, with the strong mix of -tohit, Defense and damage resistance. It can even make a weaker primary, like Ice control, becoming an AV and GM killer. A lot of secondaries have stronger debuffs, but they are not as safe as /dark. That being said, Illusion with perma PA is unstoppable especially combined with those secondaries with stronger debuffs (like /Traps, /Rad and /Cold). One could argue that Illusion/dark is safer, which would be true, but it does not really matter as Perma PA is the definition of safe... So with an Illusion controller with Perma PA, the secondary is just a matter of preference and concept.

For Twilight Grasp, I agree that one accuracy is better and to go with 5 from a healing set since their bonuses are way better than accurate healing. I do have one of my level /dark controller that I haven't slotted for accuracy at all, in order to have all the set bonuses of a set. Instead, I rely on +Accuracy set bonuses. It seems to work fine as her Twilight grasp doesn't miss much. IMO there are 2 things that are important for a Fire/dark controller: 1) To make sure you have good end reductions in powers, maximum +recovery of set bonuses, best end modification as possible. I would suggest to go with Agility Alpha once 50. The reason is that Hot feet is super end heavy. 2) Try to fit -Tohit in as much powers as you can (Including smoke) and some defense and Damage resist in Shadow fall and Fade. It will help greatly the Imps survivability even against thougher foes, like AVs and GMs.

Yeah, I second Dark/Dark. It also very powerfull. It's very Tankish (great combo of -tohit, defense and damage resistance), lots of control, decent damages (for a controller set) if you make the haunts perma. It does make a great Sith.

Yeah, I suspected that, considering my Illusion/dark gave me one of my worst King defeat time at level 41 (despite providing a super safe fight). However, only my Illusion controllers were able to defeat Marauder as an AV at level 41 or 42 in the third to last Macintyre Arc, without kissing the ground. They can damage him pretty good, even when he hits unstoppable. At least, the Phantasm does compensate a bit against the CWK.

I didn't use Ice slick during the fight because of end management. I went back via the Ouro to try both Ice Slick and Artic Air. Ice slick has not effect on the King, other than the run speed. I tried also Artic Air. The CWK was never confused. I suspect that this power needs to be well slotted with confuse (like between 66% and 100%) to be able to confuse an AV. It is probably worth trying with a level 50 Ice controller fully IOed out.

Well. Surprise! Ice Control can Solo Archvillains (if paired with the right secondary). And its better than I expected. I soloed a bit with it at first, to see how it was doing. The damage was not great. It gave me the impression that earth is better, and it is far behind Darkness, Illusion and Gravity. But one thing I noticed: Jack Frost is more resilient than I anticipated. He is one of the few Controller pets I have seen survive the whole 30 minutes of a Rikti Mothership raid, (sidekick at level 49). Here’s the fight Summary: Ice/Dark This is, again, a mostly SO build, with 2 LotG proc and 1 miracle proc. Since lots of Ice control powers are not great, the toon was able to have 3 recharges in Howling twilight, Soul absorption (this power was 6 slotted) and fade (along with a defense SO). She has 3 recharges in Hasten and 3 end mod in Stamina. She defeated the King on the first try in 11 minutes 55 seconds. It’s, again, faster than I anticipated. She ate one purple at the start of the fight, for the opening, and 11 blues. The end was not better nor worst than other combos. The fight was super safe. Jack only took one hit that brought him down to half of his health bar and the Dark servant nearly died once. Jack was keeping the AV’s attention the whole fight. I was able to keep the AV’s immobilize half the fight, to set up containment. Funny fact: on the Ice control side, I only used 3 powers the whole fight. Jack Frost, Block of Ice and Frostbite. That’s it. The rest were Darkness affinity debuffs and buffs.

Interesting. Following that post, I tried again with my Dark/Dark/Psi that is now 50 and all IOed out (some purple sets too). In her case, I focused on Recovery, +recharge and various damage resistance (but doesn't have tough and weave). She is maxed out on Psi damage resistance, around 55% on S/L resistance and has at least 25% on the rest of the damage types (except Toxic, which is 15%). She does have some damage Proc, but not that many. Exemp to 45 and all Incarnate deactivated, the fight lasted 4 minutes 20 sec. She also used only one blue because Soul absorption missed once. I don't think any of the pet took any significant damages. So basically the same time as @Dungeoness, plus or less 10 seconds. These Dark/Dark are really great.

Yes, Tar Patch is -res, Howling Twilight is a strong -regen, and Twilight Grasp cast by the controller and the Dark Servant has some -regen as well.

Well, it does make a big difference. For example, my Earth/Rad managed to beat the King in 13 minutes at level 41, as previously mentioned and was mostly SOs. But, if she exempt down now (being all IOed out and with HOs) to 45 via Ouro and disable all Incarnate powers and buffs, she can take down the King in about 4 or 5 minutes. It would be interesting to see if mind control could beat the King once tricked out, especially considering that some players do usually put better enhancement (than SOs) in their build around level 35.

Yes, she did use Frostwork on the Umbra beast and it was reapplied everytime the Haunts were cast (if available at that time), along with the 2 ally shields (Glacial and Ice). Didn't make much difference, as the Umbra beast was going down in about 2 or 3 minutes everytime and the toon was following less than 30 seconds later if another Umbra Beast wasn't ready.. I guess Frostwork and the shields did work, because the Umbra Beast was lasting 2 or 3 minutes, considering that the King does have some pretty strong attacks. The workaround to make /Cold work was group inspirations (super expensive), in this case.

We have a New second place! Gravity/Dark This build is all Single origin, except for a +recharge LotG and a +recovery Miracle. Leveling it, I noticed that it was really good at single target damages (compared to other controller primaries) and it was obvious against this Archvillain. This controller ate about 8 blues and 2 oranges and 3 purple and defeated the King in 6 minutes 20 seconds. Less than a minute more than the current leader (the Dark/Rad) ant almost a minute and a half before the Dark/Cold. The fight was safe; the controller and her pets health bars never went below ¾ (not even the Dark servant), thanks to the Darkness affinity -tohits, defenses and damage resistance. The Singularity stayed at range the whole fight, so the controller was getting all the attention. Propel and lift do really good damages. She didn’t even try to set up containment, but the Dark servant and the singularity were able to keep the CWK immobilize most of the fight. It was one of the most straight forward fight yet. The Boomtown map was filled with even more litter after the fight. Since I did not enjoy that much Dark/Cold but came up with a great toon concept, the next one I will try will be Ice Control/Dark Affinity (so I can keep the same concept with a potentially more enjoyable build). I had a level 50 Ice controller on live. I remember that it was not the greatest, but it was still fun. I’m curious to see how it will perform in that AV soloing context.

Most of the /Dark Controllers can end up being efficient Tanktrollers, because of the -Tohit stacking, the stacking defenses and the good damage resistance (Shadow fall and Fade). Combined with the right epic shield, you can be close to the cap of Smashing and lethal and another type of damage. With Weave, the S/L resistance can be capped (I never took it on a /dark controller as I find it was not required). With Set bonuses and epic shields, these can be built to have a damage resistance between 30% to 75% on most damages type and incredibly high defenses, thanks to the -tohit debuffs. If one goes the Psi Epic Pool route, they can even have status effect protection nearly perma with Indomitable Will. Dark/Dark is hard to touch. Both Earth/Dark and Illusion/Dark both have pets that have taunting attacks and are very resilient or invincible. Plus they are all good at their controller job.

Thanks for the tip. I didn't know that. That's OK, I think it's better for me to have a good idea on how it performs in the field, discover the best attack chain, see what is worth it and what is not, what is worth slotting, or not. So, when I run the test., I can expect what has to be part of the attack chain and what I can drop, what is the best strategy for that particular combo, etc... Plus it's fun to have a collection of AV and GM killers. 🙂

Dark/Cold take 3 Third try with that build (mostly Single origin with 2 attuned sets (in the single target hold and the haunts). They say third time is a charm. I guess it must be true. She defeated the King in 7 minutes 45 seconds. It’s the second best time yet, right between Dark/Rad (the current leader) and Fire/Dark. But it was an expensive win, as I had to take 5 group purples, and 5 group greens. The end was not so bad, especially after heat exhaustion hit. I ended up taking 7 blues. The debuffs are really good (Benumb, Sleet, and heat exhastion) and the Umbra Beast and Haunts combo is nice. But again, the damage mitigation is not so great, even with the -tohit of Dark Control. Probably with the right slotting, set bonuses and alpha, Dark/Cold it could be a good combo (especially since it’s great conceptually), but I feel that Dark/rad is a better fit. Next will be Gravity/Dark. I’m starting to have lots of controller alts in the low 40s….

Ok. I’m not totally done with the tests. But here is what I have so far: Illusion/Dark This build is mostly Single Origin, but I put more Attuned sets (than the previous builds) in it. I put 4 in total, in key powers, like Blind, Phantom Army, Twilight Grasp and Soul Absorption. I also put a miracle proc in health. The idea was to help with the endurance, since sets usually provides optimal numbers for recharge, accuracy and the characteristic to be enhanced as well as providing end reduction. It helped a lot, since I could minimize the blue inspirations usage. And it was really required, as the fight lasted 18 minutes 10 seconds… The fight was generally safe. I almost died once between PA respawn, because I failed to notice Darkest night was dropped mid fight. The King never damaged the Phantasm significantly. So the hit points went down steadily, but very slowly. Vvvveeeerrrrryyyyy ssslllloooowwwllllyyy… I use a couple of purples, and oranges, a green, 6 or 7 blues. Overall, I could use more powers, like I could hit with spectral wounds (whatever damage it does, I’ll take it) and I had to make sure Spectral terror was up all the time, as it was slotted for -tohit. In the end, the fight was almost twice as long as the Illusion/Rad and the worst win time so far, probably due 1) to the King psi resistance, 2) the fact that Howling twilight was slotted with only one recharge reduction and 3) I used Twilight Grasp a lot less than usual in that kind of fight (with Earth/Dark and Dark/Dark, I use it constantly). I can see that this build can become very powerful, once fully slotted, as it already provides safety, but optimisation of slotting and techniques may be required to obtain faster results. Dark/Cold take 1 and 2 This build it also mostly Single origin with 2 attuned sets (in the single target hold and the haunts), Fearsome stare is slotted with -tohit instead of fear and an end reduction. I made 2 attempts that last 3 minutes. The debuffs are super powerful, benumb, sleet and Heat exhaustion are doing a wonderful job. The end usage was also better than the other builds, surprisingly. In three minutes, the King is a half of his health. The Umbra beast can last around 3 minutes without heal because of the Shields. But there is so much the shields can do without an AOE heal or ally heal. I might try again with some group inspirations. After 3 or 4 minutes, the King manages to murder my toon, even it she chews green and purples like Skittles. Weak shield and no heal is pretty much death. I can see why Illusion/Cold is a specific build that works so well, once PA is perma. PA doesn’t need heal or shield as it is invincible and the debuffs are amongst the strongest. But I suspect that it is a lot harder to pair up with other Controller primaries (even Earth). I will retry again with Dark/Cold and keep you posted. In the meantime, if you have suggestions, I’m all ears.

Odly enough, the Chimera from the Vitrano's Arc does have a self heal, but not the one in Maria Jenkins Arc. I don't know why. Probably he got buffed to justify being the big bad of an Incarnate Arc ending. The devs probably concluded that it would be anticlimatic to fight the exact same AV you beat up in the very first mission of the Jenkins arc. I don't know. Your guess is as good as mine. I didn't notice if the one from the Magistrarium has a heal or not. Probably not, because it would make getting the Triple Threat badge even harder.

This is where Darkness affinity shines. Chimera, even as an AV, is barely touching you or the pets, including the Lore. Even if he manages to land a hit on you or a pet, the chances of survival are good, because of the Damage resistance Shadow Fall and Fade provide and the damage reduction provided by Darkest Night. Both my Earth/Dark and my Dark/dark soloed him at level 52. Because of his heal, the fight lasted almost 5 minutes instead of a 2 or 3 minutes against a standard lvl 52 AV (with Lore pets).

In my opiniion, I like all of them and I cannot say one is better than the other. Earth does less damage but is offers better raw controls, very easy to setup. Illusion is probably the king, since it can be paired with almost every secondary and still be a GM and AV killer, the moment Phantom Army can be made perma. Darkness control is somewhere between Illusion and Earth with good controls and good damages if the Haunts are perma. But it works probaly best with a secondary that can help stacks some additional -tohit.

/Rad and /Dark Controllers, especially /Darkness affinity Controllers They are not the fastest, but they deliver and provide safety. Some of them can solo Jack of Iron and Eochai at the same time. For the Primaries, Illusion, Darkness or Earth Control will work (because of their pets). /Rad is faster for controller, but less safe. I totally agree that debuffs are King against monters and AV.

But, against some level 53 or 54 AVs, especially the ones with high resistance (like Dominatrix) or Self heal (like Ghost widow or Chimera from Vetrano's Arc), you will most probably need Lore Pets anyway; whatever primary you chose.

Darkness control is not lacking in the damage department, against a single target. The Umbra Beast and the Haunts combined are doing surprisingly good damages together. Shadow field can be a proc vehicle. Primaries other than Dark and Illusion? Earth/Dark is solid and very fun. You trade some damages for Raw control, which is great against regular mobs. Fire/Dark is a damage monster, once you solve the end drain issue of Hot Feet, at 50 with, lots of IO sets with end reduction, set bonuses and nearly perma Soul Absorption (requires perma hasten and + recharge set bonuses and LotG). Fire control + Tar patch can destroy the mobs decently fast. It's not as fast at Fire/rad of Fire/Kin, but it will be definitly safer to the point you might be able to tackle bigger AV solo that the later 2 cannot. Some people are praising Grav/Dark. I have no reason to doubt that and I will probably test it myself later on.

I haven't done the test yet (with the Dark/Cold), but the problem I forsee with the /Cold is the absence of self heal and the weak self protection (Arctic Fog). Having great -Regen and great - resist is only a part of the equation. The other part is being able to survive the encounter with the AV... With Cold domination, you can give good defense and damage resistance to the pets, but you dont have much to protect yourself. I can understand why Illusion/Cold is a strong combo and probably Earth/Cold could be something to consider, since the pets are getting all the Attention and are either resilient or invincible. But I wouldn't bet that /Cold can transform a lot of other controller primaries into efficient AV soloers. This is why, at this point, I'm lead to think that Darkness Affinity is probably the best secondary for AV hunting. It's definitly not the fastest, but it's the safest and it allows to fight bigger AVs (the strong ones at higher levels). Of course, Howling Twilight recharge is twice as long as Lingering Radiation. But you and the Dark servant are casting Twilight Grasp, that offers some -Regen that stacks. Furthermore, those are healing you and the pets. You have obviously a good -resist with Tar patch that can easily be made perma. But the most important part is that you have more than decent shields, with Shadow Fall and Fade, that provide good damage resistance and good defenses, that complement all the -tohit. As a /Dark controller, in a fight, you and your pets are rarely getting hit. Moreover, if you or your pets do get hit, they barely take significant damages and you will be able to heal yourself or them the next time Twilight Grasp is ready. At level 41, endurance is a problem. However, once fully slotted at level 50, you can make Soul Absorption nearly perma, so the issue is solved... Radiation emission offers only some very decent -tohit with Radiation infection, but that's about it. You then have to either go Darkness Control to have a lot more -tohit to stack with or build you toon like a tank with Power pool shields, Epic shields and lots of set bonuses. I went the later way with my Earth/Rad. She is a faster AV killer, but she gets murdered very fast by a level 53 Avatar of Hamidon. In comparaison my Earth/Dark has very little problem prevailing against that same AV. Anyway, I will test my Dark/Cold when she will be big enough and I will let you know the results.