VV

Ah, y'all, this is so cool! Thank you so much for doing that.

Well, this is all awesome. Couple of questions. So, if Hover+Fly=maneuverability+speed, what does Hover+Fly+EM get you? Or are Hover and EM exclusive? Also, does Hover interact similarly with Sorcery Flight? Lastly, does it combine with any of the rocket packs?

Holy cow. Listen, I don't mean to be mean, but you really caused all the problems yourself by not listening to your friend. He clearly stated his answer. My advice is, next time, respect that and your life will be much better. I mean... Also, if you know your friend is a d!ck, do not invite him to mingle with your nice friends. I have plenty of d!ck friends, nothing wrong with that, but I don't bring them into anything with nice friends unless they are also friends with them. Ah, I see you have already addressed the above, but I still stand by my assessment. As far as my story of bad nights, I say the above from experience. There have been many and most of my bad gaming nights involved a similar story to yours. I was foolish enough to mix incompatible friends. Or, sometimes I have been the incompatible friend who joined something I did not really want to do. But, now I am old. I installed my "do not mix" policy many years ago, and my gaming experience has been much better since then. Yours is also a good cautionary tale for people to carefully advertise their runs. I have noticed that more and more people are getting better it this in game, which is cool. Speed runs, casual, steamroll, RP, etc, etc. Honestly, it has been so long since I had a bad gaming night, I can't even remember a good story. Probably on CO doing that ridiculous final boss run (can't even remember the name) with too many people who did not bring enough DPS. I mean, I don't mind helping to carry a few people, but when half the league is underbuilt and under-equipped, it gets to be less fun. Everybody knows it is a run only for your A-List builds, but yet people kept bringing underwhelming builds. OMG I love SG-joining processes. 1) It generally means the SG is organized and active, and 2) it really saves on later problems. Being in a great SG really is the best! Ugh! I remember that bug! Caused many a group much consternation.

Hey, cool, you quoted my build! Thanks so much for the kind words. It is a really fun build. Definitely post this question in the Controller sub forum. There are a TON of Grav/Storm players there (including me) that would be only too happy to help.

Hey, all this sounds great! One quick thought on the below. Can we get the air control from Combat Jumping with Super Jump, like we get it from Hover and Fly?

I've tried to use RoP sometimes, but I always end up speccing out of it. I don't really play Def or Corrs, so I'm not sure about that. The likelihood of any of my Controllers getting mezzed has thus far been exceedingly low, even against things like Carnies. AVs are a problem there, but they are rare, and you can store up a few breakies. I even tried it on my Blasters and specced out of it, eventually. It just always seems like there is better stuff to take, especially with the one useless prerequisite you have to take.

Welllll...... let's see. I'm just gonna go through them in order. Gale - 1 slot, Acc/KB. Use it to move stuff around as you need it. Chain Fences - 1 slot, Acc/Immob Jolting Chain - 2-3 Slots, EndMod/Acc/RechX2, I'm not sure how well FF+Rech will proc in that, but if it is decent, put one of those. JC already does KB, so no need to burn a converter on it. Conductive Aura - 2 slots, EndMod/AccX2 Static Field, 5-6 slots, Fortunata Hypnosis set Freezing Rain, proc this baby up with as many damage procs as you can, one of your best powers. Paralyzing Blast, I am not really a fan of these AOE holds. their recharge is just too long. But if you are going to use it, might as well do it up. 5-6 slots, Unbreakable Constraint set. Synaptic Overload, replace Will set with Coercive Persuasion Assault could go with just 1 slot Gremlins, drop the KB-KD converter and grab the bonus aura IO from Expedient. Tornado, one of the best powers in the game and sorely underrated, I recommend 4xExpedient Reinforcement, KB-KD IO, Drop a damage proc in the 6th slot, or leave the Font in it. Or just leave it like you have it. Lightning Storm, I recommend 5-slotting with Apocalypse, then the last slot a damage proc or the KB-KD converter. Tactics, usually people just put the 1-slot Gaussian's proc in this one. I know I dumped a few of your procced-out powers in favor of sets, but your global recharge bonus was painfully low. Remember that global recharge bonus does not lower proc chance. Then again, I'm a recharge-addict from long ago. I tried to make sure that the power generally did as much or more damage, so you wouldn't lose that. Anyway, just my recommendations.

I mean, this is true of any power, though. Why not just make all powers auto and we can just go make a sandwich while the computers fight it out? Like with Blasters, I cannot stand having to pop two BUs before and during each fight. On most good, fast-moving teams, by the time I pop them, the mob is mostly gone. I could go in without them, of course, but then I am not doing Blaster level damage, so what's the point? All the ATs have these little annoyances, that is part of the game. Which annoyances do you tolerate for which benefits?

Hey Plants! Been a while. What's on the agenda for Tuesday? I respecced Verve again and I think we really have a winner here!

Looking at his powers - https://archive.paragonwiki.com/wiki/Circle_of_Thorns#Archus I think I need to swap to the Psi Epic, since it is a level 40 SF and you get no Clarion. Or at least carry some BFs.

So, starting with the knowledge that Earth/ is a fairly low damage set, we can look at the options. Controllers Earth/Kin - One of the big selling points of /Kin is Fulcrum Shift, which is a damage multiplier. Multiplying low base damage results in mediocre damage. Not the best synergy with Earth/. But, /Kin is always appreciated by the team, so there's that. Earth/Rad - Well, /Rad is no longer the tippy toppy of the best of the secondaries, anymore. It is still good, but has fallen pretty far. With Earth/, it overlaps a lot of superfluous DEF Debuff. Earth/Dark - Incredibly safe, but incredibly slow. Twilight Grasp is the second best heal in the game (after O2 Boost) and do not let anyone else tell you different. Howling Twilight is the best Rez in the game, period. Get Fade and Soul Absorption to permanent and you turn your team into basically an unstoppable juggernaut. But, again, your participation in the actual killage will be minimal. Other Secondaries - If you are looking for great Debuffing, look at /Cold or /Sonic. They both are god at stripping away Resistance, which is great for softening up those hard targets. They also both have some nice Buffs. - /Thermal has great buffs and good debuffs. It also has a fun Rez power that can blast the snockers out of the opponents. You want to clear some breathing room for your downed comrade? Power of the Phoenix is your buddy. Dominators Honestly, I think this is where you will fare the best. Earth/Fire - As you mentioned, the /Fire secondary is good for making up the damage deficiency of Earth/. Unlike many Dom secondaries, /Fire has good ranged attacks, which synergizes well with Earth/ since it is also mostly ranged (you can skip Salt Crystals). Earth/Earth - Also of note, in terms of damage secondary, is /Earth. It is more melee and single target focused, but those stone hammers hit HARD. Lock 'em and clock 'em with this one. Anyway, hope that helps! Have fun!

Isn't this F12 by default? Oh wow, this is a useful command!

Then why are you commenting? Lots has changed since sunset. Also, you two are saying the same thing. And Instead of wasting a lot of space and time confusing the readers with both your ramblings, how about you both post your builds, and anyone interested can head on over to the Test server to see which one is better? Jeez.

So, last night, I decided to solo Ice Mistral's SF on my (supposedly) tricked out Grav/Storm/Ice. SF max level was 40, so no Incarnates or Epics. I was being lazy/half-asleep, so doing it on a lame-o setting like +1x3 or something. Steamrolling through it, of course. Forgot I had AVs still turned on. Got to the last mission to beat up Mage Archus. Ran into a bit of trouble with him. So, my first question is, Can a Grav/Storm beat an AV at all? Not sure if she has the debuffs/damage to do it, even properly tricked out? If so, what are the proper tricks? Money is no issue, so whatever she needs, let me know. Build in the spoiler.

So, on my Ill/Traps that both solos and teams like a monster, the only things I skipped were Spectral Wounds and Time Bomb. I *really* wanted to like Time Bomb because BIG BOOM, and I tried. I slotted it 7 different ways from Sunday and I tried all sorts of different tactics to get it to be useful. Just could not do it. That NINE second cast time just seems like an hour during combat. So, I dumped it. Regarding this, you can totally solo a controller at 6th. Your worst problem is going to be END, but that's true of most any 6th level too. Yet, still smarter than MM pets!

Yeah, I was a pretty common arguer in the old forums. I can't remember my forum name, might have been coach. My global was @VV. I played mostly on Protractor. My main Controller was Violeta V. Grav/Storm back when everyone hated both Gravity and Storm. I specifically took those for that reason. Turned out to be an incredibly strong combo, and I convinced many a PuGger that it could be done. Many arguments were had in the forums about the effective use of Wormhole, Tornado, Hurricane, Lightning Storm, and such. This was back before KB>KD IOs, so positioning was incredibly important. I was also one of the few on the side of heavily slotting a Controller for damage, instead of control duration. Oooohhh the flame wars were epic in those Controller forums. A few of us would make outrageous claims and everyone else would wail in pain. One of my favorite wars ever was when the ITF dropped and whether or not Controllers could manage those Romans. OMG the wails of agony when I claimed that Violeta prospered in old Rome. The cries of, "My controller doesn't work in Cimerora! WAAAAHHHHHH" Then I pointed out that Vio could solo clear the walls with little trouble. The fun we had. Of course, nowadays everyone plays a Grav/Storm, damage-slots their Controllers, and runs controller-only ITFs on max difficulty. Just as well, I guess, I'm too old and tired for those kinds of massive internet arguments these days. Ah, but the reminiscing is fun. Of course, I brought back the power pixie, Violeta. These days, you can usually find her massacring Romans on Everlasting. @V.V global because they no longer allow 2 letter names.

Ah yeah, good point. If I use them, I'll put a set in the AOE Hold.

Like the Dominator ATOs I was bagging on yesterday, I do not use the Controller ATOs. I'll slot the procs somewhere for fun, but other than that, nope. The Controller and Dominator ATOs are the only ones that do not have a damage component and it is not okay. Even defenders and tankers ATOs add damage. The set bonuses are not that exciting, so there is no reason to gimp your damage just to fit them in. I use Purples or Winter Sets instead.

Ugh, I do not use the Dominator ATO sets. That is one of the real problems with Doms is that their ATO sets are such garbage. The last thing a Dominator needs much of is extra mezz duration. I slot most all attacks with damage sets, except the really low base damage ones. Low damage powers I mostly don't slot. One or two slots for Acc/Rech is pretty much all they get. They might get some procs, if the math works out. The one common exception to this rule is the AOE hold, which generally gets a 5-slot of Unbreakable Constraint. That is mostly for the set bonuses. But, also because I save it for my "oh shxt" power. I only use it when things go south and we need a breather. So, it really needs to hit and hold for a while. I do slot the procs, usually. The energy font is actually a pretty good little helper and still smarter than a MM pet. The +damage is not much, but doesn't hurt if you can slide it in.

I have an Elec/Nrg that is set up just like this. Works really well. But now I want to try Elec/Psy, that sounds great!

Yeah, it's nice how Hibernate doesn't cancel pets or pseudo pets. Toss out Freezing Rain, Tornado, Ice Storm, Lightning Storm and then Hibernate to heal up from the alpha while the DoTs do their thing.

Wow! I never noticed how much damage Frost Breath does! Thanks for the tip

A few things to keep in mind when seeing this. First, though it might look like they are basically soloing it, they are probably still under the benefits from teammate buffs, even if they run off on their own. Second, many ATs can solo TFs. Depending on the difficulty setting, I would say any AT could solo a TF. Not any powerset combo, but most ATs will have some combos that can do it. Soloing groups is way different than soloing AVs. I built a Mind/Psy dom to solo AVs. It did alright, but running regular content is a pain. To solo AVs you need to load up on armor, Defense and Resistance, that means sacrificing offense. Also, for AVs you need a really good single target chain. But, when doing groups, that will slow you down. So, some people will make two builds, one for groups, and then the other for AVs.

Please take a gander at my Storm/Grav/Ice and see what you think. My main concern is proc placement. I am still not entirely clear on all the minutiae (said in Rocket's voice) of how to maximize those, especially with all the pseudo-pets. DoT's, too. And, I know she is seems kind of squishy. OPTIONAL JABBERING Talk about CRAZY, I was one of the few to make a Grav/Storm way back during the pre-IO days. Funny enough, I chose the combo back then because it seemed to be the two most hated sets in the Controller AT. As a rebellious "youth", I wanted to prove to everyone that they could both be played without ruining everything. Little did I, or most others, know at the time how powerful a combo they made. Even back in the days before KB->KD IOs, you could rule the mobs without wrecking team play. Of course, nowadays it seems like one of the most popular combos around. Anyway, many years later, here we are, and I am STILL tweaking this dang thing to get every erg of power out of it. First thing you might ask is, "why the HECK does a Grav/Storm/Ice need 196% global recharge bonus???" Well, you know how your grandparents or great grandparents went through the Great Depression and turned into hoarders? Well, I remember back when, even at max level we had to wait for powers to come back up. I remember when IO sets first came out and LotG +Recharges were like 2 billion Inf each. I remember spending hours and hours arbitraging to raise the funds to buy them. So, nowadays, it seems like I only know how to build for recharge, at the expense of most everything else. Also, I clearly focus on damage more than control or debuff. Also a controversial habit I picked up back on Live. To me, it seems like the base durations of controls are plenty long, and what controllers really need to do is shore up their damage. As far as debuffing goes, well, dead is the best debuff. But, in most good teams, the stacking of all the debuffs from teammates adds up fast and weakens the opponents plenty. These days that is even more true with all the high speed steamrolling. Even at +4x8, most stuff melts away just from damage, so debuffs are even less needed. My main issue is that she might be too squishy to deal with AVs. I am thinking about making up a second build just for AV killing, one with plenty of durability. If anyone has a Grav/Storm AV killin' build handy, I'd love to see it.

Quoted for emphasis. This is one of the best analysis of this that I have seen.