Most Damaging Controller Combo

[VV]

I think Controllers are probably my favorite AT. I have a Grav/Storm that just monsters through everything. It sometimes surprises me how quickly she takes down mobs.  

 

So it got me to thinking, what is the highest kill-rate controller combo? All things considered, buffs, debuffs, attacks, controls, what are the two that synergize to take things down the fastest? Doesn't necessarily need to be highest DPS, I am looking for fastest kill rate. So, we can include aspects like -Regen, -Def, -Res to enemies, that will speed things up. Or +Recharge, +DMG, +ToHit to self. Anyway, I'm curious what you guys think!

[Frosticus]

ST - raw damage: ill/storm

ST - where -regen matters (gms) or you can't prevent fleeing: ill/cold

Aoe minion muncher: plant/poison

 

dark control can maybe do more st damage, but you have to keep things alive. 

Edited December 15, 2019 by Frosticus

[oedipus_tex]

The answer is going to be different for AoE versus a hard single target.

 

For AoE either Fire or Plant paired with Kinetics is king, depending on how you measure "damage." Plant is technically lower damage but gains some free damage from its Confuse power. The amount this contributes varies depending on the combat values of the enemies being confused, so a direct comparison is hard.

 

Anything paired with /Storm is also likely to have high damage. Maybe not "top," but respectable, about comparable to the average Dominator.

 

For single target Arch Villain, Illusion paired with Cold Domination or Traps.

 

For single target in practical every day scenarios against non-AV bosses, Gravity Control paired with any secondary will do well, depending on the scenario. For a single isolated boss with no minions nearby (for Fulcrum Shift), Grav/Storm is probably most efficient given the huge damage contribution of Tornado and Lightning Storm slotted with kb to kd.

 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2019 by oedipus_tex

[Aysel]

Fire/rad or Fire/kin, the AoE dots just melt mobs, especially on the /kin

[Call Me Awesome]

4 hours ago, Aysel said:

Fire/rad or Fire/kin, the AoE dots just melt mobs, especially on the /kin

And we all know what works best with a Fire/Rad... another one of course 😀

 

Building an ultimate team I've wondered if maybe 6 Fire/Rad, 1 Fire/Kin and 1 Fire/FF would be optimal... Kin buffs and mez protection coupled with crack monkeys and massive debuffs.

[Doomguide2005]

5 minutes ago, Call Me Awesome said:

And we all know what works best with a Fire/Rad... another one of course 😀

 

Building an ultimate team I've wondered if maybe 6 Fire/Rad, 1 Fire/Kin and 1 Fire/FF would be optimal... Kin buffs and mez protection coupled with crack monkeys and massive debuffs.

Or maybe a Fire/Sonic (Clarity for mez protection and the resistance debuffs)

[Parabola]

13 hours ago, oedipus_tex said:

For AoE either Fire or Plant paired with Kinetics is king, depending on how you measure "damage." Plant is technically lower damage but gains some free damage from its Confuse power. The amount this contributes varies depending on the combat values of the enemies being confused, so a direct comparison is hard.

For sheer mob clearing speed it's hard to beat plant as long as what you are fighting doesn't resist confuse. Plant/storm and plant/kin both work very nicely. I also find plant considerably safer than fire.

 

One thing about plant/storm is that the combo has actually been very slightly nerfed on homecoming by the change that allows immobilized mobs to still be knocked down. Typically you will confuse the mob, drop freezing rain on them and spam roots. In the old days they would be held in place attacking each other with effectively boosted to hit and damage and so wipe themselves out quicker. Now their attack rate is slowed as they are also bouncing around. They still kick lumps out of each other but I'm pretty sure it's a slightly slower process.

[Coyote]

20 hours ago, Frosticus said:

ST - raw damage: ill/storm

ST - where -regen matters (gms) or you can't prevent fleeing: ill/cold

Aoe minion muncher: plant/poison

 

I generally agree with this, with one clarification and one change:  the "where -regen matters" does apply to GMs, but not to most AVs other than maybe Madam of Mystery, because the damage Storm puts out is effectively more than -Regen except when you face ridiculous Resist values like MoM has. But for most AVs, more damage from Storm > more -regen from Cold.

 

I don't agree with Plant/Poison, because Poison Gas Trap stops mobs from killing each other, and that's a huge part of the damage that Plant puts out. I prefer Kin with it for damage, since that gives you extra damage (personally, and for the Fly Trap, and for the Creeper vines), and also allows mobs to keep hitting each other. As Parabola just stated, pairing Plant with any secondary that interrupts or slows (or debuffs) the self-damage that a spawn does to itself due to being Confused is likely to lose as much damage from the lost/weakened attacks, as it adds. Granted, Poison is a really good AoE secondary, so it may come out ahead in terms of damage that it deals vs confused damage that it prevents.. but Kinetics has no downside. Frankly, I might consider Plant/Traps, as being able to go up to a Confused blob and Trip Mine the bunch could also be very damaging. But overall I'm going with Plant/Kin as the AoE damage dealer.

[VV]

Hmmm... very cool, thanks for the thoughts. I have been trying to get into a Kin of some type. Tried a defender, a MM and something else, but now I may just go back to my favorite AT and do a Plant/Kin or Ill/Kin.

[quixoteprog]

While Ill/anything has respectable damage, although probably not the highest DPS in any combo, it will certainly be one of the safest. PA has some good damage as long as you kill things quickly, since its damage is phantom damage part of which heals back in 10 seconds. As long as you kill the stuff before that its damage is GREAT.

 

But where it really shines is in tanking/aggro management. Once you have it perma, or even nearly so, it will lock on aggro as long as it is out. And it is totally immune to all damage and control so will not get knocked down, confused or held. Unfortunately, or rather in payment for for that (since it would be OP otherwise) it is also immune to buffing, which is one reason most people pair Ill. with Rad. to take advantage of the debuffing of the targets defense and resistance.

[Frosticus]

2 hours ago, Coyote said:

 

I generally agree with this, with one clarification and one change:  the "where -regen matters" does apply to GMs, but not to most AVs other than maybe Madam of Mystery, because the damage Storm puts out is effectively more than -Regen except when you face ridiculous Resist values like MoM has. But for most AVs, more damage from Storm > more -regen from Cold.

 

I don't agree with Plant/Poison, because Poison Gas Trap stops mobs from killing each other, and that's a huge part of the damage that Plant puts out. I prefer Kin with it for damage, since that gives you extra damage (personally, and for the Fly Trap, and for the Creeper vines), and also allows mobs to keep hitting each other. As Parabola just stated, pairing Plant with any secondary that interrupts or slows (or debuffs) the self-damage that a spawn does to itself due to being Confused is likely to lose as much damage from the lost/weakened attacks, as it adds. Granted, Poison is a really good AoE secondary, so it may come out ahead in terms of damage that it deals vs confused damage that it prevents.. but Kinetics has no downside. Frankly, I might consider Plant/Traps, as being able to go up to a Confused blob and Trip Mine the bunch could also be very damaging. But overall I'm going with Plant/Kin as the AoE damage dealer.

 

That's what I said, GM's and some things that have a strong tendency to flee. You don't need -regen for most AV's. But some AV's will run all over the city to get away from your storm powers even with PA taunting. Those ones an ill/cold will be much faster.

 

Interestingly enough I have a plant/kin and a plant/poison. I've posted extensively on the plant/poison combo a couple months ago and it certainly delivers. Plant/traps is too slow. By the time you get acid mortar and a trip mine out both the plant/kin and plant/poison are moving on to the next spawn. One could potentially leverage it on a farm map where you don't have to move much, but even with softcap def and confused mobs you still get hit a lot. To the point where I don't see trip mine being reliable. But seeing is believing, so someone could probably make a go of it. 

 

That said, I can't imagine anyone walking away from a plant/kin being disappointed.  

[Extor Prime]

Aboot illusory damage. One thing to keep in mind is that the healback constitutes only a portion of the base damage value of the power. Any damage gained from enhancements, buffs or procs is permanent. So even though those green healback numbers are positively infuriating, phantom damage powers pack a respectable punch that sticks.

[Hyperstrike]

On 12/15/2019 at 10:30 PM, Call Me Awesome said:

And we all know what works best with a Fire/Rad... another one of course 😀

 

Building an ultimate team I've wondered if maybe 6 Fire/Rad, 1 Fire/Kin and 1 Fire/FF would be optimal... Kin buffs and mez protection coupled with crack monkeys and massive debuffs.

Fire/Rad Super-team!

Taskforce Death Roomba!

AV: Fools!  I shall...*COUGH*GAG*COUGH*WHEEZE*DEATHDEATHDEATHYDEATHYDEAD!*

 

Frad1: Look out for the...AV
Frad2-8: What AV?
Frad1: Never mind...

Edited December 18, 2019 by Hyperstrike