Is Time Crawl important?

[Menelruin]

So reading the descriptions for powers in Time Manipulation, a lot of the debuffs have added effects and/or are more potent if the enemy is already under the "Delayed" status from Time Crawl.  This lead me to believe that it was a key component of making proper use of Time Manipulation as a set.  However, when I looked through a few builds for my Time/Beam defender, it seemed like most didn't bother adding more than maybe a single slot to it, max.  Is it not really that vital a power?  Or does it already just get whatever boosts it needs typically from Set bonuses in other powers?  Do the Time Defenders here use it much?

[Bopper]

I don't personally use it, but its mechanic only requires the 1 slot (accuracy or a proc, usually). Given all the slow debuffs in the set, you dont need to increase its slow effects, and it doesnt stack so increasing recharge is only useful for multiple enemy applications.

 

If you're leveling up, it's good to take as it's a free enhancement to many of your powers, but usually by level 50 you will find it hard to fit all the powers you want and it'll get the axe. But if you can fit it in your build, it's worth taking as it won't cost you any enhancement slots.

[siolfir]

My Time Manipulation character is a Corruptor, so I had to take Time Crawl, and I just slotted a single Accuracy IO in it. I mainly use it for -regen, which isn't enhanceable, and everything else that it does is either unenhanceable (-recharge) or not needed because of other powers in the set (-speed); combined with Time's Juncture it can floor mob speed at base levels and given that I went with Ice Blast I really didn't need more slows.

 

Since the -regen is resisted by AVs it's debatable whether it's worthwhile for Defenders, but I find that it's nice against GMs; since it doesn't need extra slots it's a nice little bonus if you're slot-starved.

[chadius]

Skipped it on my Time/Ice Defender, since Ice has enough slows already. Took Acrobatics instead for the Hold protection. Glad I could skip it, seemed superflous.

[Redlynne]

IF you take Time Crawl as a Defender, it's useful as a single target "neutralizer" power in its own right.

 

For slotting, I'd personally recommend adding 0, 1 or 2 slots.

• With 0 added slots, you just put a single Accuracy IO into the power and have done with it as a One Slot Wonder.
• If adding any additional slots (1 or 2) I would recommend adding ONLY the procs from Slow sets ... Impeded Swiftness which does Smashing damage and/or Pacing of the Turtle which adds recharge debuffing.  The key point here is that with no recharge slotted into Time Crawl (and none from Alpha slotting) these procs have a 90% chance to proc upon use of Time Crawl.  Just putting the Impeded Swiftness proc into Time Crawl makes it feel like using the power isn't a waste of animation time.  Of the two added procs, Impeded Swiftness is more useful against Minions through Bosses, while Pacing of the Turtle is more useful against Elite Bosses, Archvillains and Giant Monsters.  And while adding both might be "ideal" for the power, in many builds there just aren't the additional slots to spare for supporting Time Crawl above and beyond the Delayed synergy enumerated in the powers themselves.

[Seroster01]

As a preface, my TM experience comes completely from my Thugs/Time MM. With that being said, my personal experience is Time Crawl's biggest impact comes from adding the shorter Mag 1 hold to Time Stop's normal Mag 3. End result is that it's much easier & faster to perma-hold bosses. Depending on what mob group you're fighting this could be a big deal, or almost no deal. 

 

I'll throw in that Defender support numbers may make TC's bonus to Delayed Response more valuable. For MMs, the -res debuff (which is th important part) goes from 20->27-ish if the target it hits is Delayed. That's not bad, but not particularly great either. I don't know the exact numbers for Defenders but IIRC, Defender support #s are substantially larger than MMs, so both the base # & the increase might be larger for a defender. Given that -res seems to be one of the more useful Debuffs, having what could be a significantly larger # on that could be worth it vs beefier targets.