Onlyasandwich

Both are great. Beyond some of the good points already made, Controllers have another advantage. Symphony wants to be spamming as much of the primary as possible for echos from reverberant. On a controller, you could do this all day without much opportunity cost. Choose a low maintenance secondary like cold and you're good to go. On a dom, this playstyle wouldn't afford much time to use your secondary. On the other hand, domination enhanced symphony controls are great! You can't go wrong with either.

For pure DPS, some classic all-stars would be: Fire/electric blaster. Fire/fire is great too, but /electric offers some better DPA melee attacks and utility in the secondary. Plant/fire Dominator. Not too far behind the blaster when properly built, and much more survivable with permadom. One of my all time favorite characters period. EM/stone stalker or scrapper. Bogglingly good single target, with more aoe than you'd think. For "tanking with some dps" any tank will do. If by "tank" you just mean survival, and not aggro control, my answer might include some others. However, tanks are so solid these days that almost any combo will do. Some stand-outs include: Axe or WM/Rad armor. Good ST, outstanding aoe, with even more aoe from Rad. Endless endurance to fuel the machine, and very hard to kill. Axe is skewed more ST, WM more aoe. EM/Bio or really anything Bio is good for optimal damage builds. I find bio just a bit fiddly, and have to be in the right mood for it personally. Stone/Super strength is really great! Go no granite and you can be super survivable and still benefit from brimstone procs. Rage gives you more slotting freedom to proc up your secondary for more damage. As a bonus, here is my personal Plant/fire dom. 🙂 No need for softcap shenanigans. Just resist with Rune when needed, and aggressive controls that do great damage on top of your blasts. Carrier Creepers can melt whole spawns mostly on its own, and you have a load of backup options when needed. Even so, all you typically need for safety is a good application of Seeds. Even seeds is applying a decent alpha shot with procs! Dominator - Plant Control - Fiery Assault mk2.mbd

Plant/storm is one of the best controller combos out there, though incredibly thirsty. Earth/storm is more visually overwhelming than about any character you can make. Storm does a great job bringing damage to an otherwise slow soloer as well. They don't work against each other at all. Kd enhancements do the trick, and the AOE immob on any controller is enough by itself if you can find the end to spam it. Once mobs are immobilized, the repel in hurricane lets you bunch them up nicely as well.

Here is my full build: Blaster (Psychic Blast - Ninja Training).mbd Slotting for Scramble is: Superior Frozen Blast: Damage/Endurance/Accuracy/RechargeTime Superior Frozen Blast: Recharge/Chance for Immobilize Ragnarok: Damage/Recharge/Accuracy (+5 boosted) @twozerofoxtrot is using a 5 slot of the Ragnarok set.

Here's the most recent version for my fire/fire. Blaster (Fire Blast - Fire Manipulation).mbd This one has some advantages for ease of use: Evasive+Hover is very smooth and easy to control. No cones. You just shoot into combat and pop off your rotation. Once you have all your defenses online and Bonfire going, you can do this pretty well without actually dying. Phoenix is there to erase any mistakes if you do. 😄 That leaves you with just finding the best ways to bind your aoes (for the location targeted ones, use powexeclocation Target powername) and aim/buildup. Otherwise, just pop your single target powers on 1-4 and go to town. Note that this isn't a softcap build. I have ranged defense built to a meaningful base - only a purple away from softcap if needed. This is supplemented by strong resists. The big enabler is Bonfire of course. You're also basically immune to slows! It is a rather expensive build, but at least doesn't rely on any pricey HOs. You will need to toggle on hotfeet when on the ground, but it stays on while flying. Most mobs are slowly running away while you do your aoe combo, so any potshots go through ranged defense. By the time you've finished your rotation, the stragglers are taken out quickly by your outstanding single target tools.

Basically a dark/dark corruptor will already be flooring enemy hit chances, so the extra values from defender are less useful. The tar patch advantage to defender is meaningful, but I don't think bridges the damage gap solo. Both are great! To me it's as coin flip.

@Carnifax pointed out in my thread on the Scrapper forums that I should consider making my Staff/Stone a Stalker, and I agree! It's hard to pass up on: Better single target with assassin's staff. Built-in staff form without a power pick. A little extra defense from hide. Actual build up power. While losing only: A little edge on proccable aoe with no innocuous strikes. Mudpots. Aww, I like mudpots. My priorities here are the same: Stack slow resist. Hit close enough to softcap in S/L/E/N/P, and pump F/C as high as I can without sacrificing too many procs. Layer as much extra S/L resist on the side as I can. Max hit chance against +3's. Not rely on epic attacks. The theme of the day is Staff, baby! Making bulleted lists. Some questions in mind: Do you think the Fury -Res proc is worth it in Guarded versus a damage proc in situations outside of Pylon testing? What rotation do you like to use with Staff? Where do you spend your perfection most of the time - Eye or Sky Splitter? Am I even thinking about this correctly? Perhaps it builds so quickly the answer is "both." Does enhancing Heal in Geode increase its HP before breaking? I've heard some folks say it hardly holds up long enough to be worth even taking in +4 content. How useful do you find this power? I'm pretty happy with the sets/totals overall. However, if you see any easy shifts that serve my stated goals, or if you feel any of these goals are misguided, I'd love the input! The slots in Placate especially could easily be shifted elsewhere if needed, though the set bonuses are excellent for this build. In the past, I've avoided Placate on my stalkers, but really want to give the buffs to it a solid shot this time around. Note that I have two FFback procs toggled on here, so detoggle to see more realistic recharge totals. Stalker (Staff Fighting - Stone Armor).mbd

Thanks, @Carnifax! Stalker does seem pretty appealing here. Innocuous has pretty great DPA procced out, but Assassin's Staff is a big deal for sure. I would miss Mud Pots as well, but the extra little defense and mule slot from Hide helps softcap and provides a bit of freedom. Hmm. I can see where the smooth crack crack of Mercurial > Precise to build perfection would feel good and be a strong chain opener. On a stalker, I'd sort of want to try the (not so newly buffed) Placate though, so would need a bit of power room. I've disregarded Placate in previous stalkers, and @Frosticus's advocacy has inspired me to give it a fair shake! Mocking Beratement is also a pretty amazing set for this combo. With high recharge totals, Precise > Serpent's should be a good opener, though not available at the lowest levels. The DPA is about the same across the board, but Serpent's may not feel as nice given the higher activation. I threw together a build and yeah - Stalker it is! The package is just more cohesive. Guarded Spin is not a 1:1 sub for Innocuous, but it'll do, and I might get some occasional benefit from the Lethal pad. It looks like it basically comes with Form of Body baked in without taking a power pick - even better! No flexibility to pop into Soul or Mind, but I can build around that.

Staff looks neat, but it gets a pretty bad rap for its long animation times and overall mediocre DPA attacks. I've been continually searching for a concept that fit, and think I've found just the mark! @Carnifax's ice/stone Stalker got me caught on running up a stone armor character that gets to use Geode. I've only run it on a tanker so far. Do you think Staff deserves its reputation? It trades a build up power for some pretty neat effects, and I don't have to waste animation time on build up. Not too bad, really! The next step is making a character that I don't mind watching while it twirls in one place for five minutes 😄 Have I committed any cardinal staff sins here? I'd love to know if my power selection especially misses any obvious gems, and would as always appreciate any slotting insight you have to offer. What I have in mind: Stack slow resist. Hit close enough to softcap in S/L/E/N/P, and pump F/C as high as I can without sacrificing too many procs. Layer as much extra S/L resist on the side as I can. Max hit chance against +3's. Not rely on epic attacks. The theme of the day is Staff, baby! I like to squeeze in FFback to my ST and aoe attack cycles where possible, and Staff has some pretty great opportunities for this. Even though I'm leaning on Focused Accuracy to enable my proc strategy to a degree, end management should be decent enough even at lower levels with Geode and Staff Mastery to help if needed in a pinch. At higher levels, Conserve Power and all the FFback firing should keep me rolling in the blue well enough. I'm a little concerned about ST punchiness. Sky Splitter is decent, and actually really nice when empowered by a Form, but otherwise I'm filling with ~200ish DPA attacks between Precise Strike and Serpent's Reach. Serpent's Reach probably isn't really necessary for a smooth chain given that innocuous is actually similar DPA, but it presents a good IO set for the build, and having range is convenient. Speaking of Geode - does enhancing Heal here increase the HP on the geode before breaking? Do you get much use out of the power itself? Build: Note that I have my two FFbacks toggled on here, and all forms disabled. Scrapper (Staff Fighting - Stone Armor).mbd

Here's an alternate version that hits softcaps more cleanly if that is a priority. Sacrifices proc potential in Zapp, but comes out ahead on some more bonuses in Frozen Aura. Stalker (Ice Melee - Stone Armor).mbd

Looking like some nice improvements, Carnifax! I put together how I would approach it with the same power choices. Some broad differences: Modest improvement in slow resist. Leveraging procs in a few more powers for a good increase in damage. I did end up keeping frost with the ATO set. It's a solid enough vanilla attack even for ST filler, and it's otherwise sort of awkward to leverage the buildup proc in ice. .34 end/sec more. Your new build has improved here, but it's still pretty tight. Fighting pool is always a bit of a tax! A modest edge in resists, while maintaining very similar defense totals. Ultimately they are very close in general approach. I like that your second build doubles down more on S/L resist than the first. I've found stone a bit squishy without paying attention to some good baseline totals here. Note that I have toggled on Quick form, toggled off Build up and its accompanying proc. Stalker (Ice Melee - Stone Armor).mbd Build:

Welcome back, Carnifax! I get the same errors, but have taken to going to Build sharing > open share menu > copy/paste the text in the window rather than hitting export. My errors pop up when I try to export, but I can otherwise access the data here. Power choices are on point! I wouldn't pick any differently myself. I'm of a mind that softcapping the types that hit high resist on stone isn't a top priority, so I'm with you there as well. You have a good defensive spread. Some first impressions: Full Gaussian in Build Up doesn't seem to be doing much for you. I'd drop it and go proc/one recharge. Can +5 IOs in weave with no exemping penalty as they are PVP set. The full red fortune in Minerals is pretty marginal. Can go lotg global +def/end and def red fortune. Consider keeping the ATO buildup proc all by itself somewhere and ditching the rest of the set. You could instead proc out frost for much higher damage. 3 Slot Frozen blast + some procs would be nice. If you find yourself short on acc with any of the above changes, a kismet can easily make up the difference. Endurance is very tight at only 1.41 positive with Super Jump disabled! Performance shifter in Crystal armor, miracle in health, 1-2 endmods in stamina would go a long way. Any slots you free with the above, consider: Full PM in Earth's Embrace. It's well-enhanced now, but the set bonuses here would be meaningful for the build. Consider Aegis 4 slot in tough (psi unique included). This doubles down on S/L resist, helps psi, and gets you closer to softcap on F/C. With this, I'd consider dropping the avalanche set from Frozen Aura for Armageddon. It's a shame not to use the purple proc somewhere. KD proc for the fifth bonus in Ball lightning. The mitigation is pretty decent from this too. 4th slot in brimstone for more S/L

It's one of the strongest and smoothest mastermind combos available to this day.

The most flexible proc-bomber is going to be a SR Tanker, for several reasons: You need very few slots, and no real IO support to reach maximum defensive potential. You have built-in recharge, as well as lots of lotg opportunities so you can push recharge without affecting proc chance. That's it - what more do you want? Any proctastic secondary will do. The only problem you will need to solve for to some degree is end management, which shouldn't be a great challenge with all the extra slots SR gives you to play with. Second place would be a Time Defender with power build-up epic power. You have: Same slot efficient defense solution (PBU+Farsight). Farsight gives you more leeway for hit chance on your proccable powers so you rely less on tactics and global acc bonuses, leaving you more flexible in jamming procs. Yet again - built-in +recharge. You get all the fun utility and debuffs of Time on top. This isn't proc related - it's just good. : ) Absolutely there are plenty of other viable options, but these stand out. Fortunatas are also a good contender here.

It's worth noting that, due to the nature of the psuedopets that creeper summons and what powers they use, slow procs do very little. Targeted aoe procs do immensely more damage in the power - load up on those first. Immob procs are a distant second, but still worth a slot if you have one to spare. I highly recommend slotting up Creepers with 3 Targeted aoe procs, and re-evaluating your preference on the power thereafter. It will melt entire spawns on its own very quickly. The denser the spawn, the more overlap between pseudopet powers and proc effectiveness. I slot it: Artillery acc/dam/rech Bombardment acc/dam/rech Bombard, posi, javelin proc Hunter proc

I cobbled together my own for comparison! Your build is actually pretty solid. Your broad base of defense layers nicely with RI, allowing you to floor hit chance for mobs in a variety of scenarios. However, your end consumption is a bit out of hand if you consider all the toggles you might feasibly use in battle, not to mention if you leave on Fly. Without Fly (assuming you use speed on demand to hover, or use Hover+evasive for its amazing maneuverability in-combat), you are only .99 end/s positive. That's really rough. My build does a few things different: Incorporates slow resist. This keeps you in sync for your AM+Hasten combo even when debuffed. Many slow debuffs are autohit. Procced out some more choice powers. You have a solid base on yours, but I took it a bit further. The snipe especially benefits from this (most apparent when quick form is enabled). Oppressive gloom is a fun fallback 35+, as it sorts out minion melee, and you can easily layer the stun from cosmic. The build by no means relies on epics prior to this. RI and enervating are a strong survival package by themselves. Defense focus is purely on ranged, and not hitting softcap out the gate. RI makes up the difference easily, and is nice and quick to cast these days. When you are doing higher level content, Soul Drain is an amazing boon, and the recharge here makes it just a couple seconds shy of perma. Resists are stronger across the board. End is much more manageable, hitting 1.85/sec positive even with everything toggled on, with plenty of room to drop certain toggles depending on the scenario. I did drop Mutation in favor of another lotg power. Note that I did not include Achilles in RI. It doesn't work super well in a pulsing power like this. If you were to squeeze an Achilles in, I would suggest subbing a proc from Irradiate. Corruptor (Radiation Blast - Radiation Emission).mbd Text: Chunk:

I like this concept! I had been struggling to find an Ice/ Dom that inspired me, and I think Thorny is the trick. Here's my own take on it: Dominator (Ice Control - Thorny Assault).mbd The idea with this build is: Perma dom of course. Slow immunity. Controls as primary defensive tool. Frozen Armor provides a useful amount of S/L all by itself without sacrificing other things in pursuit of softcap stacking. Rune is there to save you if you get caught without Dom up in a mez, or to prep for a tough spawn. Max hit chance against +3's. Could probably fudge this further if accounting for Sleet at high levels. A typical engage would be Glacier or Ice Slick, followed by Sleet > Cold Snap. The KD fields + Cold snap should provide enough layered mitigation that you have minimal risk from the return alpha. After your engage, diving in with attacks and Arctic air should thin things out enough to stabilize. This build is focused on proccy damage. Ripper, Thorn barrage, and Impale are really wonderful for this! I especially like that Impale offers a high DPA place to keep the Dom +dam ATO proc. I usually like a proccy hold, but the return is just pretty mediocre for most dom holds. I split the difference here and gave it the purple proc. Frostbite does some good work in incidental mitigation through locking the positions, the occasional hold proc, and the surprisingly strong contribution that aoe immobs can have with Fiery Orb proc. End support is a little borderline, but should be just fine with Dom refills. You could always switch to Musculature Alpha instead of Intuition as well. Note that I have the FFback powers toggled off to unskew recharge #'s. I have a FFback living in both the aoe and ST rotations. As others have mentioned, Ripper fits nicely into both, as its DPA is so high for a cone. This is by no means a bruiser dom. You can take a decent hit with Rune up, but are reliant on your controls and a little luck otherwise. Fortunately, you have some great tools to layer very reliably here. I played with proccing Flash Freeze, but ultimately valued the 5th purple set bonuses more. If things go south, you have both this and Hibernate to call a stop to the action whenever needed. If you're big on Thorntrops, which I see you are, you could consider dropping sorcery pool for another travel power +trops and Hoarfrost. If you do this, swap the PM proc into Hibernate, and slot Hoarfrost for heal in its single slot. Hoarfrost still contributes to survivability, but to a more modest degree than Rune in my experience. Perhaps the slow running away triggered by trops will make up for it. Bear in mind you'll be capping slow on mobs already without trops, so it's a bit redundant. The avoid effect is handy at times, but I'd rather have them locked in with Frostbite. Arctic air also has an avoid though, so even that is redundant. Text version: I also worked up an alternative that drops any pretense of resist stacking at all (not even the uniques!), and instead leans into defense with Unleash Potential. This is sort of interesting, as it gets you to S/L softcap more than 1/3 of the time, and is a more effective proactive tool for mitigation that Rune. It's strong enough to make a good difference in non S/L damage as well, not to mention the solid endurance buff. Heavy FFback cycling can get this up even more often (almost half the time!). I did have to eat the soulbound buildup proc, which isn't such a big deal. The extra lotg and acc bonus (set is boosted, so won't exemp though) let me go back to a proccy flash freeze. Slightly borderline on hit chance here and there, but good enough considering all the -def in many powers. However, Rune is more predictable. Sometimes you just need to be able to take a bigger hit. Either way, Unleash is something I don't think is considered often enough, and can be quite effective and fun! Dominator (Ice Control - Thorny Assault) unleash version.mbd

I think I've settled on the final build, and have chosen Dark Mastery after all. The better damage type, along with superior proc powers clinches it. Even Smite comes out to superior DPA. Although Engulfing Darkness likely won't be rotating multiple times most fights like Psi wave, its DPA and sheer alpha power is much stronger, and one aoe rotation should leave me cleaning up single target in most cases anyhow. Darkest Night and all the stacked to-hit also provides a significantly stronger overall survival package. I tried reworking the Psi Mastery version, but the +tohit in Link Minds doesn't allow me to drop a global acc bonus and maintain max chance against +3's, so that's one less element in its favor. With all the FFback, I won't terribly miss the extra lotg either. In my final build, I settled on a few evolutions: Incorporated the Sent ATO absorb proc into a rotation power (executioner's shot) Edit - swapped this for Entomb proc in Suppressive. It's sort of disappointing how much better this is than the ATO! (100 more absorb, 3 PPM vs 2). A relatively small hit to potential damage, but a strong survival benefit. Squeezed Decimation proc into my rotation. With a ~19% proc rate, I think this will be an overall superior benefit to another damage proc, especially if I leverage it with an aoe. Layered extra Psi resist throughout the build, as this is otherwise a weakness for Regen. If you see a more efficient path than I have chosen here, or a better use for these 3 slots, I'd value the input! Given that I'm not stacking defense here, I didn't find it a big loss to lose a slot in weave, as it only cost me ~1% defense. Juiced some extra end support both for general padding and to allow more casual usage of Darkest Night. Mids keeps doing weird things with the damage #'s in Hail of bullets, so I'm not actually sure how much its doing right now. My several iterations of the build here have vastly different #'s, despite the same damage bonuses, procs, and chosen ammo type. If you see a way to squeeze more juice, I'd love to find the following without making a real sacrifice: More slow resist. More psi resist. Maybe some proccing for Pistols. F/C/E/N resist. There is definitely some low hanging fruit for all of the above, but at the expense of sacrificing something useful. Fresh eyes may catch something interesting! Sentinel (Dual Pistols - Regeneration).mbd Text version:

I've been playing this character and having a blast! However, the theme has evolved away from Ninja, so keeping that epic is no longer necessary. I definitely want to swap it for a different epic. I'm trying to decide between Psi and Dark. Both have some excellent advantages. Psi pros: Mind probe is a better ST proc bomb. Smite isn't far behind though! Link Minds is a little more flexible a defensive benefit than the -tohit from Dark, as it is a buff. The extra tohit also gives me a bit of extra proc slotting room on Suppressive fire. Psi resist is pretty appreciated on regen as well. With FFback procs, should be close enough to perma. One question - is this power properly enhanced for recharge by HO's, or do I need to use an IO with recharge elements to get it down? I know the version from Fortunatas is picky about this. Mass Hypnosis is probably better utility than tentacles. I don't see myself using tentacles in my normal rotation, though the immob is by no measure useless. Mass Hyp is good for shutting down adds and solo setup/approach. Cutting through mob Tier 9 defensives like Mog. Sentinel (Dual Pistols - Regeneration) psi version.mbd (note that procs are disabled in suppressive here to keep build up proc for skewing other #'s). Dark pros: Engulfing darkness is a better aoe proc bomb than Psychic shockwave. This is a bit more distinct than the ST advantage of Psi. The overall defensive benefit of stacked -tohit in the attacks and Darkest Night is more powerful than Link minds once setup. Darkest Night is still a pretty long cast, so may not be using it except when really dug in, or perhaps for corner pulls. NE damage is superior on average than Psi, though doesn't cut T9's. Psi damage is heavily resisted against one of Lethal's biggest foes as well - robots. NE is more universal. Tentacles can layer even more -tohit, and the KD proc can do some mitigation work as well. Immobs can be handy on sents, as you don't have taunts or hard controls keeping mobs in place. Sentinel (Dual Pistols - Regeneration).mbd In both cases, I decided to go with the melee attack over the hold. I've found myself using Cryo ammo more often than not recently, so bosses are held in 1 shot anyhow with suppressive. The range bonus on Cryo is amazing! In actual play, I may end up preferring the ease of pure ranged power, but mixing it up in melee is fun. Both of the epic aoes here are so much better than Lotus Drops it's not even funny. Note that I have procs disabled in both FFback powers to prevent # skewing. So far I'm in my early 30's, having just slotted up MoG. I'm really happy with the aoe power so far, and think it was the right choice to skip empty clips.

Really well! It sets up containment very nicely, which is otherwise sort of a challenge on Mind/. Unlike other immob procs, it's actually Mag 3 too.

I go back and forth on this! Levitate is definitely a much stronger blast. I was also considering picking up the epic blast, but levitate is probably a better package. Isn't it though? What an amazing bag of tricks! As you noted, you do have to keep on top of your debuffs to edge against chaos. The amount and diversity of power you have over mobs is truly heroic. That definitely makes sense. Plant may not have the control diversity, but it accomplishes all it needs for control in one power, and it has damage tools in spades. I've been pleasantly surprised at the clear speed of Mind/TA though. It may not top the charts, but properly procced it gets along at a nice pace. I'm glad you're enjoying yours!

Oh nice! I didn't notice that Cyro also bumps the hold to mag 4. That's really nice. I can definitely see myself using Cyro way more often than on non sentinels here.

@Two5boy shared a topic recently in the Scrapper forums looking for inspiration to create a Deadpool themed character, and someone suggested DP/Regen/Nin. While I'm not looking to duplicate the precise themes at play in that particular character, something about this particular combo spoke to me! I always enjoy re-exploring a ranged primary from the slightly skewed sentinel perspective, and have always been keen to experience the special flavor of Sent regen. I put together a build with a few areas of focus in mind: Slow resist (regen relies a lot on clickies). Leveraging Sentinel aoe as much as possible without cones. Here all three aoes are easy to pop, and have a 10 target cap. Proc optimization. Maximize S/L resist as much as possible without sacrificing the above. Max hit chance against +3's. I think there are more optimal primaries and epics, but theme here is important. Although I'd definitely love any broader feedback on the build or slotting optimizations, I'm especially interested in your view on a few specific powers: Second Wind. How good is this really, and do you take it yourself? Is it wrong to not to give it slot love? I'm a bit squeezed for space fitting in enough global acc and feeding the proc beast. I figure the base heal is solid, and recharge can be made up by global/hasten. Dismiss Pain. This seems pretty impactful, but some part of me is tempted to swap for a travel power, which would also save me a flex slot (Winter's Gift would mule here). Moment of Glory. A lynchpin power for sure. Both here and on my regen brute, it seems pretty pointless to bother slotting this for increased res/def. Do you agree, or do you find the excess pad to be useful if enhancing these aspects? Piercing Rounds. I skipped it. I don't much care for this on other DP characters I've rolled (Blaster, Defender). The -res is pretty weak on Sents, and the 3 target cap with a thin cone seems rather uninspiring. Is this misguided? Do you love it? Lotus Drops. This is my katana thematic power of choice. I'm a little put off by the small size of the aoe, but the proccability and healthy target cap are appealing. Do you use this power, and do you find it very difficult to leverage the tiny 8 ft radius? Kemuridama. I'm liking the idea of this power! It looks like a mag 4 effect, so should placate bosses. Is this correct in your experience, and how do you enjoy the power overall? It basically looks like Darkest Night on wheels with a bonus effect and lower uptime ratio, which is pretty strong. I've also left out the opportunity strikes proc, which I leverage on my other sents. Do you feel this is a big miss, or easy to ignore if sets don't align? Sentinel (Dual Pistols - Regeneration).mbd Text version:

There are good reasons to slot it in both. Each proc is a 20 ft radius power that goes off centered on (and including) a target you confused. Targets affected by this power have a 33% chance of being affected by a short mag 2 confuse. In Mass Confusion, it would have an okay chance of stacking mag to confuse bosses in one go spawn wide. I'm not exactly sure if it may be limited to one strike per aoe like sandman. In Confuse, I'll still have a good shot at confusing a targeted boss in one go, and add the additional utility of the aoe in what was previously single target only. In either case, it doesn't change the non notify nature of the powers. MC might be the safer bet for easy lockdowns, but putting it in Confuse gives me more use cases where it will be worth popping Confuse outside of exemped content and really niche mobs.

I agree. It's overall a decent set, but I'm not sure where the devs thought the power budget was being spent elsewhere to justify making melt armor slightly inferior to similar powers. Pain hits the same notes, but benefits from its own +res power.