Wimbochismo

Nice, thanks for the info. Most of my experience with Radiation is as an Illusion/Rad, where I never really bothered with CC. I'll have to revisit it on some of my Controller's with lighter control.

Your build is mostly hitting the strong points of this combo (perma hasten etc), but there's a number of things I would change. Controller's are very end heavy with all of their big abilities costing so much. Accelerate Metabolism doesn't just need recharge, it can also use some end mod since it's your main source of end management. Preemptive Optimization set is nice here. Choking Cloud is a hefty endurance cost for little return. The chance and magnitude of the hold isn't good enough when you're already an earth controller. Stalagmites and Earthquake up every fight is most of what you need for control, with Volcanic Gasses as an emergency. I'd also drop EM Pulse (big crash), Mutation (big crash for the rezz'd), and Quicksand (its just -spd -def, all your other abilities do -def). Accuracy against +4 is only around 75% or less across the board. It doesn't matter as much when you have -def, I just don't like landing hits just to land subsequent hits. Tactic's can help here. Could take Ice Storm for more aoe dmg. Stalagmites and Fossilize are the best proccable abilities in earth. Stalagmites just need's more accuracy than normal, and a little recharge so it's harder to proc. Stalagmites is also more of an "opener" when solo to disorient targets and avoid an alpha. Earthquake is more of a one slot +rech wonder, the FF proc is kinda overkill on a perma hasten build. The Overpowering Presence ATO is kinda meh. There is also no Panacea proc. Overall I'd lean more on ranged defense with the combo (avoiding Choking Cloud), and something like a resist epic pool instead. Here's an adapted build I made of one of mine, to show you what I mean. It may not be totally optimized:

Yup! Reverberant is an odd ball. I believe there is a dev post - maybe in the Force Feedback for Symphony, which explains how the pet que's for abilities etc. works. From what I remember, the faster the recharge the sooner he'll use the ability (don't quote me on that). Since he can use every power we can, he has a single target hold, aoe hold, dmging confuse, cone fear, cone stun (ones I value the most). He's perfect as a set mule, since he can take so many sets. You could also go with sets and procs combo's which increase his control-ability and debuffs. Slotting for dmg doesn't do too much because all of his abilities are Controller abilities. In either case, he becomes a pet that layers controls, which allows you to be a more controlly-controller. I was killing my way through a group of mobs for a few minutes when I looked behind me once, only to see him have 2 minions and lt on lockdown but doing almost no dmg. For dmg procs, he can take: Hold: 3 or 4 Confuse: 2 Fear: 1 The fear proc isn't too useful for aoe dmg with only the one. However, the fast recharging hold and confuse, if a part of your rotation will go off fairly frequently. The hold procs will also proc off the aoe hold. In this case he can become a single target dmging pet that layers controls. I'd 100% go with something like acc/mez and your choice of hold/confuse procs if someone wanted to go that way. I've seen him get low on end in long fights, though. All in all Reverberant can be a bit of a hit or miss with how he aims his cone aoe's. But in terms of slotting and versatility I think he can be adapted for many builds, or even discarded as a one slot wonder controller slave in the corner.

Sadly the recharge in /Dark is very valuable in groups, it's definitely worth pushing. Something like Fade doesn't need to be perma perma though, unless you're doing something like 4 star ITF. But until you get to that point, you can always use the step down set from the purples - Decimation for Apocalypse etc. I made some changes to your build - I consider this one more group friendly. I managed to get your original concept down to .5 secs off perma hasten (don't forget to +5 your rech red's and others). The -tohit you can put out mostly makes up for slightly less def. Depending on the number of toggles you run, you may have some endurance issues. Gotta stay on top of Soul Absorption. Personally I would drop some of the recharge slightly so that you can have more solo power. Something like 2 or 3 secs off Fade isn't usually crippling, and you're a controller. Then drop Sorcery entirely and take Fire epic for damage instead. Your single target dmg goes way up with this one.

Symph/Dark is a very careful balancing act in terms of slotting and IO's. /Dark is a very support and utility based set, but if you want the most out of it you have to get near to perma Hasten to also get the def bonus of Fade perma, Soul Absorption, Howling Twilight, and multiple Tar Patch's. On the other hand Symph/ can be very damage oriented, but it requires many dmg procs to get there. Fully procced Hymn. Impassioned Serenade has 8 secs recharge and can take 4 damage procs, it's great as a single target attack for a chain. Dreadful and Confounding with procs for aoe damage. If you care about getting a defense to 45 it can be a bit of a struggle. If you don't then you have a bit more wiggle room for recharge and procs. If you want to up your solo game, proc out Hymn, and Impassioned. Take a single target attack from an app to benefit from containment for a 3 attack chain. Proc Dreadful, and Confounding with what you can. Maybe take an app aoe attack again to benefit from containment and more dmg. In terms of pets, Dark Servant is amazing. Definitely needs accuracy, Cloud Senses with the proc can up his dmg slightly but he's mainly support. Reverb is meh, procs are nice if you can fit em. But I either set mule him or slap a 1 slot accuracy and he's just there to extend the duration of any CC. But both pets are layering CC so they're pretty solid.

I recently made one and she's about 35 right now. I've been churning out a bunch of controller builds lately. I'd say FF is A tier if not higher for 'trollers. Mainly this is due to minimal slotting requirements, power picks if you choose, and Dispersion Bubble. DB fully slotted gives around 12 def all. Thats 12 less def you personally don't have to allocate to hit 45 of your defense type if you wanted to. This opens you up to chase after recharge and procs. In addition to DB, the targeted bubbles do 11 defense out of the gate. With 1 LoTG thats 13, if you also take Maneuvers thats around 4. Most people have the last 16 defense by accident to hit 45. Personal FF, Deflection, Insulation 1 slot LoTG. If Repulsion Bolt was 8 secs recharge like it was before I'd say to proc it like a hold. It would've been great as a procced out part of an attack chain. It doesn't need any accuracy. As it is, 1 or 2 slot wonder with KB/KD and FF recharge. I only use it on hard targets for the -res. Damping Bubble is fun to have. Force Bomb is great with dmg procs and FF recharge. It can essentially become another procced out aoe nuke to start an aoe chain. Mind gives you a Procced Dominate+Levitate+Mes single target attack chain out of the box if you choose. Confuse is Confuse. I skip Mass Hypnosis and Telekinesis. Terrify can be procced and is great for an aoe attack. Mass Confuse is great. Total Dom take it or leave it. Take an epic pool for moar single target dps/aoe dps etc. Sadly Mind doesn't have a good way to set up aoe containment. Force Bomb's low chance to disorient is about it, or Total Dom. But at least you get the -res! Overall it's been crazy fun. Get DB slotted with endreds and def as soon as you get it. Slot your attacks with accuracy + procs like crazy around level 20. You turn into a dice rolling blaster that escorts your unkillable group through TF's. TLDR: Force Field elevates Mind to a wicked good time. Here's what I run:

So, I haven't made a Symph yet but I've been exploring builds for it lately. Controllers are kind of a pain to go after good defense, recharge, CC, and procs without sacrificing something. I'm also not sure how procs do in Impassioned Serenade, and Confounding Chant considering they are dots. Having said that, I was curious so I decided to whip up a build. If this is a teaming build you can get away with being under 45% positional defense. Radiation infection also does hefty -tohit, but you have to remember to keep it up if solo. I've been viewing Impassioned Serenade as a damage attack that just happens to confuse, it also has the same base recharge as single target holds and can be procced. If I could I would've shoved confuse dmg procs/hold dmg procs in Reverb. This build gives you a single target attack chain of Hymn, Serenade, Ice Blast. AoE chain of Confounding, Discord, Frost Breath. Perma hasten, perma buffs, perma debuffs. Takes musculature for more dmg. But you can tweak what you want, ymmv.

I'd say you could probably lose Entangling Aura - the hold is only a chance of mag 1, and you have to skirt the edges of the mob or hover. You also have plenty of CC to work with. Lifegiving Spores can be useful if you stay stationary, it's helpful but not amazing. I just took out LS, gave you Dark Consumption (more end and it does some dmg), shuffled some sets, and you have: 45.5 ranged defense and same recharge etc. I'd probably drop LS and EA entirely. Pick up arcane bolt, and a blast/aoe from fire/ice/earth etc. Then plan on taking agility to fill in some defense/recharge. Containment should make your personal dmg decent. Something like this:

Ranged defense softcapped, almost s/l resist capped, high recharge. Can change out entangling aura for vines. Maybe dark consumption for rebirth if you want it (its also a nice heal). Damage is crappy but support is good. Carrion creepers are procced out.

Here's the one I use. I managed to softcap ranged defense, s/l resistance isn't bad. It's also procced out so you have a semi decentish single target attack chain with Tesla Cage, Jolting Chain, Arcane Bolt. AOE dmg is still crappy but you can Chain Fences into Ball Lightning now and then.

Hi guys! My 2 other defenders haven't felt as impactful for HM ITF's - not bad, but I want to push it a little harder. I'm not the best at builds, but I put together combo's from power sets that I haven't had a chance to play much, that I think could work. I made an emphasis for range defense because it seems like the way to go. Also tried to max out debuffs as much as possible. Let me know which build would work better, or just general build critiques - I'll probably make both at some point. Rad/Beam: I'm leaning towards this build right now. The dmg for assisting against tough targets is stronger, and the debuffs are super strong. Team buffs/heals aren't as great. I'm debating between Fallout and EM Pulse. Fallout seems like it would be amazing with all the deaths that tend to occur. EM Pulse is a great debuff, and could potentially be good for the 2 bots; but the 15s of no endurance sounds deadly. Therm/Rad: This one has stronger buffs/heals. Less dmg/debuff. I think the HM ITF enemies are tough to hit, so the hefty -def may do some work. I also managed to shove in every -res proc.

I took your changes into consideration and came up with this: I'm liking how it looks. Thanks a ton for your suggestions!

Hi guys! My earth/poison is starting to get into the 40's and I whipped together a build. I'm currently in the refining stages before I start implementing it. Some considerations: I mainly team up on my characters. I don't have a farmer/don't usually play the market, so I try to limit myself to 1-2 purple sets to be as self sufficient with inf as possible. With this build I tried push the recharge/accuracy. I know that venomous gas is susceptible to de-toggling so I went rune of protection and clarion. I got recovery as high as I could to counteract the toggles, but a lot of these powers are very end heavy. Finally, I shoved a proc almost everywhere. *wipes sweat* So, questions: My S/L defense is at 39%, but I figured that with VG's -hit I should be solid in melee, is this feasible? I was thinking about dropping clarion destiny and picking up ageless to help with the end situation and smooth out recharge. Then pick up melee hybrid so I can alternate melee/rune for the status protection. Thoughts? Any other considerations for the slotting itself? I could take a Superior Will enhancement out of stone cages and move the slot elsewhere for more recharge or something, but I give up some ranged defense. Switch out Earthquake for Weaken? This is only my 3rd or so official build, so any feedback is welcome. The build:

This is the build that I'm currently using. It's my first level 50 and the first build I've ever made. I was also trying to keep it cheap (can only afford half of it so far). Others might be more optimal with their choices or know more about what they're doing. You generally want World of Pain to be perma, and Anguishing Cry to be close to perma. A few notes about the build: It is not a heavy heal build at all, it's a +resist -resist buff/debuff group oriented specialist. I've found that people mostly need a little top off or one big heal, which this provides. It also does really crappy damage, although you can push it a bit by running Assault, World of Pain, Amplify, and using Share Pain. Stealth should be providing a bit more than 3% defense once revealed, so its r/s/l/e softcapped. Perma hasten. Screech has a knockback proc but you're mainly using it on bosses/AV's so it shouldn't be that annoying. Painbringer is perma on one person. Siren's Song you can switch out for a rez or something if you want. Strategy: In between packs spread around Enforced Morale, or specifically target people who need mez resist/recovery. Keep up Painbringer on whoever is doing the most dmg or needs recovery. Basically that *one* blaster who does tons of dmg but keeps dying from agro and running out of end gets EM/Painb/Grant Invis. On packs I let tanks get agro, then hit Anguishing Cry/Dreadful Wail/back up and Howl.