Crowcus Pocus

It should be a fine combo. Ice/ only has 1 *key* clickie (Energy Absorption), meaning you could keep smashing things almost non stop. Plus, TW has some KB/KD which will not only help you mitigate some damage but also make good use of FF+recharge. The other two clickies in the set are Hoarfrost (2+ minutes cooldown) and Hibernate which is only used as a panic button. And, as you said, Chilling Embrace is good enough to keep aggro under most situations.

Why would tankers replace brutes? Does the hit cap change things THAT much?

Earth/Stormies ftw! I'm also leveling a Earth/TA. It's good fun! As for the electric, I was thinking of playing it as a Dominator instead. We'll see.

I don't think there is a solution to permanently AFK farm within the AE. At least not as far as I'm aware of. What you could do is AFK in Cimerora, on top of the walls where all those Romans are lined up. Just make sure you are in a TF (start a L50 arc in AE or even talk to Imperius) so you don't get disconnected for being AFK.

I've put this together for your friend. Tried to keep it budget friendly - no purple sets or crazy expensive IOs were used except for the Gladiator IO (leave your friend's global handle in this thread and I'll make sure to e-mail him that IO). Other than that, it's a solid build. He'll get enough recharge to make both Hasten and Accelerate Metabolism permanent (make sure he uses Electron Haze every now and then to proc the +recharge boost) and then added in enough defenses so he can dodge some nasty hits. Let me know if you have any questions. Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.0.7 https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Magic Defender Primary Power Set: Radiation Emission Secondary Power Set: Radiation Blast Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Radiant Aura -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(3), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(9), Prv-Heal/Rchg(9), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(11), Prv-Absorb%(25) Level 1: Neutrino Bolt -- Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(11), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(13), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(15), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15) Level 2: Radiation Infection -- TchofLadG-DefDeb/EndRdx(A), TchofLadG-DefDeb/Rchg/EndRdx(3) Level 4: Accelerate Metabolism -- EffAdp-EndMod/Rchg(A), EffAdp-EndMod(5), EffAdp-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(5), EffAdp-Acc/Rchg(7), EffAdp-EndMod/EndRdx(7), EffAdp-EndMod/Acc(50) Level 6: Irradiate -- Erd-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), Erd-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Erd-%Dam(19), ScrDrv-Acc/Dmg(19), Obl-%Dam(21), AchHee-ResDeb%(21) Level 8: Super Speed -- BlsoftheZ-Travel/EndRdx(A), BlsoftheZ-ResKB(50) Level 10: Enervating Field -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(23) Level 12: Electron Haze -- PstBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(A), Ann-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(27), TchofLadG-%Dam(27), PstBls-Dam%(29), SuddAcc--KB/+KD(29), FrcFdb-Rechg%(31) Level 14: Lingering Radiation -- PcnoftheT-Acc/EndRdx(A), TmpRdn-Acc/EndRdx(23), RechRdx-I(25) Level 16: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(17) Level 18: Mutation -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 20: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 22: Kick -- Empty(A) Level 24: Tough -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), GldArm-3defTpProc(31) Level 26: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(31), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(33), RedFrt-EndRdx/Rchg(33), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(33), RedFrt-EndRdx(34) Level 28: Cosmic Burst -- Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(40), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(40), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42) Level 30: Aim -- RechRdx-I(A), GssSynFr--Build%(34) Level 32: EM Pulse -- BslGaz-Acc/Hold(A), BslGaz-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(34), BslGaz-Acc/Rchg(36), BslGaz-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(36) Level 35: Neutron Bomb -- PstBls-Acc/Dmg(A), PstBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(36), PstBls-Dmg/EndRdx(37), PstBls-Dmg/Rchg(37), PstBls-Dam%(37), TchofLadG-%Dam(48) Level 38: Atomic Blast -- Obl-Dmg(A), Obl-Acc/Rchg(39), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(39), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), AchHee-ResDeb%(50) Level 41: Scorpion Shield -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(43), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(43), RedFrt-EndRdx/Rchg(43), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(45), RedFrt-Def(45) Level 44: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(45), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(46), RedFrt-EndRdx/Rchg(46), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(46), RedFrt-Def(48) Level 47: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A) Level 49: Vengeance -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A) Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Quick Form Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A) Level 1: Vigilance Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A) Level 2: Health -- Mrc-Rcvry+(A) Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A) Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(48) ------------ | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1466;678;1356;HEX;| |78DA6594CB4F136114C5BF69A722A5A53CCAFB592A140A1450F7263C34513004FF8| |06642A765126C9BB628A88971E1CEE71FE073C746176A74EBD6E8C288A2C19D31F1| |01E8DE47BDD373A84D6642FB9B9EFB9DDB3BF7DE32B73AED7B70ECD211A5D54E2D1| |BF97C7CDA4C9AE98499F3CC19296B51D95795BC7AF7F4F8E44A32195B30129651B0| |32E9F8CC692B9F979B9EF28105239D321315472625714179E73399E5D8A9AC69267| |CA5DB59D3C85AE994BFF4E1A8955A2AC8A7C05E4832E597AC6CC74CD65A8C4D6572| |B9956C21938BCF198BA6BCE50B666EAD55EA1A90D75997E255F4A82F6EA52674E5F| |A0AEEFF467E07BDDB60EB0EF8BAD27B4BE1CC6DD07787BC0BD6DE23EF83ABE2D5E0| |D5B4972E7CEF0B704DE0D690D77D159A7E85BC06EEBB4EDE04276E806F041ED6E4D| |9960F5DBAAADB011B76C933A821A8F01CC1E7A237EA2A5C8579D935556D31EF47F0| |9CA09AB1EA10FCCDE486C46A586FCD5368ED9F91BBFD15FC9DCFA0777ED24BECBE0| |CFD82C08FBC2EFF430D79D7C1D66178FAA4A800F26B016A75E479F1D7C3AFEAA935| |CBF9469C578D4DC8E512AD89E79A8A7229B7282DCCDA62DF4867BA0FA26A5D626D7| |CA23666E8F682BD35A48FF483A100B829157570021DDC8A08B722C2AD18E2560C71| |2B86B815EFEC01B1CB5D7C9AD03A3A7551D08398BB6703930CBD07C36FC94DD096F| |B5843DF23E4097332071E934F484E66CC9E5450571F04FDF4F6FFC2770FFC26FF90| |7FC148915BC20DCA4AFB06D9B741F62DCABE45D9B728FB36C2BE8DD482F5D2F3617| |A87E91DA17794DE517A47E91DA3B741BC314E3CC6AD0C8A36CE898F335FA75EFEC5| |CA9FBD0527A265A5187544C71DCA844339E4500E3B94598772D2565071715E2FFF2| |F505A295A5DA7ECDF6629BAE395A85619FD51A91C979B88AE761DA77EFE5734AD97| |3326FF01D9BAF4DC| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

Hi. I've posted a quick build on this other thread: It can be improved, but it'll perform nicely as is.

Hi! I threw this together quickly for you. It can be improved, but it's the best I could do with the little time I had available. I might look at it again eventually, but for now I think you won't be disappointed. | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1462;691;1382;HEX;| |78DA6594596F12611486BF6186D6EEB4D0BD4081EE0B425B13E39AB4552FDA9AA6F| |E003281299DA401046AF4D20B6FBD302E376A347169D578E152BDF51768638D4BBC| |F3DAE50F183CCCFB169B30617898F77BCFF9CE3933CCD2C5F9C6E7672E9F545AF3D| |CBA592824E6AD552B93B2F2EE25336D2755F9A895B3634F4FCC6EACAE4617EC8C55| |B4938560455E3133692B155D3153B659B4B399C4ACA42BAAFAE56C763D7A2E6759A| |926E7E7693BBD56B433E946E76AD1327372D1B27721990A6B76AEF754CE4E46E7B2| |F9FC46AE98CD2796CCA4255F85A295BFD425D50CC99975956BD3E42C29D523881B6| |AC7D1CA47C9A56286A335CE80CD7130E3429478DC5A9FEE68AE7ED20F1A013208D6| |30FF4789D519ABDF46BE0377C93B60FD7DF21EF77F27415E439D17B855B9C092E66| |6BEE67130528B2997D76ABFB91CCDF31DDC15D471CFBA6DE4F4BC455C5B18F5B571| |0FDF0F59F709AF20B6206840AC6AE8474C5EB426687A534026316CA88E301901BB4| |2E027F1B670EF9669ECDD3505F61C22DF236FDF0772170C4B43AD1A7A6A659F0152| |93352FEBF27216BA68EDF0BBDA4F080C5D053A45F04BDC14EF87783AE1313ACB66D| |1FA3DA48FF482A105C46C480FDDECB7FB3AE612BA41DE042357C1CF825E788DDE4D| |F437B9453E219F82F1676087D4E4679F7ED614F9AB9CBA2F48BE209E513DC83E23E| |40067311002BF8837CC59875FA0F68197E0F02B70EC35B94DBE01BF4AEC2063070F| |A397A163E411F228387C9CE43393931423A85F1F61FDA39CE928673ACA99B64AAFE| |3F48ED33B41EF04BD13F47AC51B85D71D7D803D0F3E241F918FC1F826B905FA2436| |C6E723C67DFA8CCA7F5B3E72A885B18A521AAB5A8D5529F12A65BA4A99A95216AB9| |4B3065F3C72B96C54DE264A7356EB3C957744E967BDAC6A5C9DC47DFEBD5F0BE1FE| |FDDAAF8DC0F7E7BFA669B730979A6BE03F903FDA91| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

Dark affinity is extremely good, with fade being the rockstar of the set. You wouldn't regret it.

I would go with Fire/Storm/Earth. I don't see many around, but it's a true powerhouse. It will probably require you to go Cardiac, but it'll be worth it. Stacked stuns with Flashfire + Tornado + Fissure (+ Thunderclap if you want to go overboard) 2x Knockdown from FR and IO'd Bonfire (I wouldn't IO Fissure for KD, unless you have the spare slot) Awesome AoE damage from containment + FR + Hot Feet + Tornado + Fissure Imps + LS + Tornado + Seismic Smash = ST carnage Plenty of FF+Rech potential But since many players have already a Storm toon, I can understand you might want something different. If that's the case, I'll name Fire/Dark as plan B.

TF and ET both have long animations and will root you. Just making sure you took that into consideration.

Ugh, stop messing with my head. Why you do this, precious? Arrrr! Let's see... Earth Control's sitting in a tree with Trick Arrow We all know Earth is a control monster on its own. So... why not make it broken by adding even more control on top? You'll get: 2 ST holds, 2 AoE holds, 2 slows, 2 KDs, and a fun all round proc potential. Plus, it's a delight to use Volcanic Gasses to light up Oil Slick and watch things die helplessly in a big burning patch-o-doom. All of this at a distance, without ever needing to step into melee. Fire Control's sitting in a tree with Kinetics It has been one of the best farming combos for a long time and for a good reason. It simply works too well. Crazy damage output, +recharge brings Flashfire and Bonfire up quicker for control and mitigation, heals to keep imps (and self) alive and +end to fuel all that damage output non-stop. Ice Control's sitting in a tree with Time Manipulation Although it has become better with the changes made to AoE immobilizes (no longer neglecting KD, making Ice Slick a viable power), Ice is still not the most potent control set out there. However, when paired with Time it becomes a fun melee controller. Thanks to Farsight and Chronoshift, Ice/Time will have the endurance and defenses to simply drop Ice Slick, run into melee range with Arctic Air (and should you choose to pick it, Time's Juncture) and then click whatever buttons are up until things are dead. Jack will also appreciate the +dmg and +rech from Temporal Selection on top of everything else Time has to offer. Illusion Control's sitting in a tree with Radiation Emission These two were meant to go together: AM makes it easier to make PA permanent, while Rad's debuff help PA and Phantasm hit more and do more damage. Lingering Radiation will make sure mobs don't regen too fast, especially considering the percentage of health mobs get back from illusion's damage. And the heal is good enough to keep you alive in case PA doesn't hold the aggro or Spectral Terror fails to terrorize some mob. Plant Control's sitting in a tree with Nature Affinity I've never played either set, but I've teamed with players who seemed to have quite an impact on a team with this combo. And it makes sense thematically. Electric Control's sitting in a tree with Dark Affinity When I think of Electric Control I think of good ol' melee sapping. But in order to do that you need something to keep you alive. And what's safest than DA? Nothing. You will have the protection that you and your pets need in order to keep rolling indefinitely (because you will never run out of endurance as EC). Plus, Tar Patch will boost EC's damage (which is not impressive on its own) and you'll have Fluffy as your trustworthy sidekick. Gravity Control's sitting in a tree with Storm Summoning Does it need explaining? Then you need to give it a go. Not only the new Dimension Shift is fantastic for those panic moments, but you can use it to absorb the alpha strike while you set up the ultimate stormy death sentence. But that's not where the key synergy lies. Being able to wormhole mobs to where I want them to be as a Stormy is the true godsend. You can corner them and use hurricane and/or singularity to keep them nicely packed, you can bring more mobs on top of your 2-3 lightning storms, you can gather two packs together so your DPS buddies will deploy their nasty AoEs. Lastly, Storm brings to the table what Gravity lacks: AoE damage potential. Mind Control's sitting on a tree with Thermal Radiation As others have mentioned, Mind is much more effective in the hands of a Dominator. However, I think it's a great option for those wanting to play support and prioritize their secondary abilities while still having powerful controls to throw in when needed. It could've been Empathy aswell, but in the long run I think Thermal wins because of how versatile it can be. In a nutshell, Mind/Thermal can be quite potent: confuses, sleeps, holds, terrorizes, shields, heals, buffs and debuffs... all in one toon? I'd take it. Dark Control's sitting in a tree with Cold Domination Shivering darkness, aye? I look at this as a very solid combo. Dark offers great control, Cold makes everything better with its buffs and debuffs. The leftovers: Empathy, Force Field, Traps, Sonic, Pain

I'm not sure if you were dead set on keeping Psi Mastery. Here's my take on it, going with Earth Mastery instead. You'll get the following perks and stats (no incarnates selected) Soft capped to ranged, S/L/E/N Hasten is 7 secs short of perma, which should be easy to obtain thanks to 3 FF+rech procs in the build With hasten perma, you'll also get perma Fade and Earth's Embrace I've also added in Wormhole and Dimension Shift because there is so much you can do with those powers: Wormhole + Fissure or Wormhole + Howling Twilight will stun everything short of EBs Wormhole more mobs to your Tar Patch Wormhole mobs to a corner and have Singularity repelling them constantly Wormhole mobs on top of Fluffy so they get instantly debuffed by its aura Dimension Shift is now a TOGGLE, making it much more convenient to use for those oh-shit moments. Plus, it looks awesome.

Sounds like a fun combo 🙂 I've never played a dominator, but this was one of the combos I'd give a try if I ever rolled one. I'll keep an eye on this thread! Have fun!

I'm at that point where I spend hours (days) thinking of what my next toon will be. I absolutely love controllers - it's probably my favorite AT on par with Tankers. So I was wondering if you could share your favorite combo so far and what do you love about it. Mine might be Earth/Storm and the classic Fire/Rad (especially miss the fun I had on superteams), both played on retail Now, entertain me.

I'll go first. "Damn."

You could claim Taser Dart prestige power and use it until you get your incarnates. Then pick either fire or electric judgement and you're good. I'm just not sure if TD has decent enough accuracy - but it's worth testing as it doesn't take any power slots.

Pardon, I missed that part of your post. Well then, Ice/ it is! You can go with just about any secondary and still have a blast.

My vote goes to either Dark/ or Ice/. Ice will always have a special place in my heart as it was the most fun tank I've ever played. Nothing else compares to it when it comes to raw aggro management. Dark, on the other hand, is an underplayed set but I really love playing it. The Energy resistance can be brought to a very respectable number while still capping Melee Defense. These are the numbers I can get on my DA/Rad (ATO proc active): I might roll a classic Fire/Fire, just because it feels nostalgic and can still be very solid.

Well, yes, this is Homecoming. But even without the said IOs, Energy has always been very solo friendly because of the added survivability. But I can understand the frustration of pairing it with /Fire. It's just not the worse combo I can think of (to me).

I can't think of anything terrible. I find Energy to be quite solo friendly, especially now with the KB>KD IOs. How about Sonic/Fire? No snipe power No possibility of stacked stuns (except for DW+Screech) Sleep Cone won't be that effective because /Fire only has 2 ST powers (T1 and T2), which makes killing enemies one by one quite slow (and 6 out of 9 powers from /Fire are PbAoE which would break the sleep effect) No big ST hitters. Sure, the -res is there, but I don't see enough dmg to quickly take down a nasty Boss Sonic's sfx will deteriorate your brain, slowing your performance over time I'm sure it'd still be very playable, just not optimal. Which, I believe, is what you're looking for you masochist weirdo.

Hey, sorry for the late response. As Darkir said, go Mu Mastery and you'll get it as first choice. I was probably switching shields and forgot to update the epic pool. So, here's the real deal: | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1459;683;1366;HEX;| |78DA6594C94F136118C6BF592AB4B41428FBDEB297523A2C67A2A0264A0D91C46B3| |396A13462DBB425919B188D9EBD78723DB91F1497AB078FFE03AE510F9E4413CF06| |5FE67928269D74F29BEF79D779BF6F9ABCB0E07F7A7C6B4E69F5F3EB76A9945A705| |69DDC8A53F424ED4C36ADF6AE1AB93BF7F5D4918DD5D5F8723E974D8BEF59597457| |4CA7ED5CC659A1F170B96CA7CF29DF523EBF1E5F2E38CE4AD07D5C746CF12DAD650| |B01777D2C9B592B677319FFBEB5208B8EA3856C3A3E9F2F16370AE57C3195DC4825| |ED52D9296EB64B33C3726FE98AD7AEAE7A35A5464CA547C830F8FEC0C7A36E0A2C5| |3D5DE03C3B7C0C1DBE0C81D307A17BC24B19AE6C61A1AF39BCC6F327F7F9BB0C754| |1FC5D7601DE399E1C61F7A4E6E83B52F40DF4BD0FA015E94580F6295A713B52F8B5| |683DA5A4D185A03F9496C5ED6F26E9BC81941AEA6D7F069DA14A790A99AAFE8EEBA| |F93BFCF69675C8EBA99B448C3F415A60FD14390D36CC8003720A02A8AB053E206FE| |B7BF0B320089B19BC8F5AAD0FC1F647E463B0F309D828F91AD94B63BD069B0FECAE| |23FD606F800C8221890D713EA1598169A85E52135B0BE7D9C2791AA2B54133DAB89| |7FDDCCB7EEEE5D82C729BE2DBC1BE3AD84F98FDC4D8CF04FB9960DF13ECEBAACCA1| |8BB5BBC6513B22F97AD86B0FB530794DFCFB58ABEF0DF62CCA73117D87D9C66C9CB| |1D879D4B0DE627E5FC51CE1398824A00D4C93B3A4851C8331E41C7C057E137988B1| |43167C87A7C819720EBE238ADCD1DD3ECAB21C45CFFA286739C6598E7196CDF2CEE| |39CC3F81FC4B78A16E71CE27F959BCB3A09DB17499DA07FE2017AEE362BDFAEFCE4| |52D12A2551A55855CA74953253A52CFEAF7851FFD49E867E77974C3E8A5D7323BC0| |D952F7EF7A7AFF24F41EBAF0345D74E60269367C830DE79A72AEAF781A26937D0C5| |E475702E246037FF0001B5DC48| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

Here's a guide that was released in the first weeks after Homecoming launched: I have my own build, but I'm still tweaking it. @Harlequin565's build looks solid though.

Screenshot of contact in Port Oakes for the mayhem missions (Lord Schweinzer).

A couple more entries, to feed the thread! Hiroshima Maiden - Dark/Rad Tank Bohemian Rhapsody - Time/Sonic Defender

My suggestions would be either Fire/Rad or Fire/Dark. The debuffs + heals will make sure your ride pre-Imps goes smoothly. After L32, you'll simply destroy things. Both combos will also allow you to farm INF with relative ease (not as quick as a Fire/Kin or brutes, but still quick enough for you to get your IOs). While I have played over 1,000 hours on Storm characters, I don't think it's a particularly friendly set for players who have never played the game to 50 before. Especially considering they won't have the INF to back up the improved IO builds that turn squishy Stormies into beasts.