Best solo combo with a self heal?

[Ultrazen]

Hi all!  

 

I've been really enjoying being back in CoH, even though I have forgotten most of what I ever knew....  I've rolled a ton of controllers, and tried out quite a few combos.  I have a pretty serious alt-itis problem, so I'm trying to narrow down what people think great combos for solo play are.  I play at odd times, and often have to AFK, so having a few characters that can solo effectively is pretty handy.

 

I played a lot of EQ, where I mained a chanter, so the idea of having a control character that can also heal itself well is very appealing to me.

 

Out of all the combos I've played, I think I really like Ill/ the best, but there are still some that I haven't put much/any time into.  Interested to hear your thoughts!

Cheers!

[Coyote]

Fire/Dark, Ill/Dark

Fire/Time, Ill/Time

 

I would go with Fire/Dark personally, Illusion works best with Traps, Storm, and Cold.

[quixoteprog]

The classic Illusion/Rad will probably be the easiest to get perma PA with Accelerated Metabolizm. You also have some REALLY strong debuffs which work well with PA because you cannot buff them so debuffing the enemy is a way to get around that. The damage potential is so strong it was usually not even worth doing a debuff unless I was facing a boss.

 

 

[Camel]

I second Fire/Dark. I have a decent amount of 50’s with a full IO/Incarnate/Accolade build and I find myself always coming back to it. 

[Ultrazen]

I have an ill/time and an ill/rad character already going which I like quite a bit, but don't have a fire/dark or a fire time.  Thank you for contributing to my ever growing army of alts lol!

[Camel]

I would actually reccomend anything /Dark Affinity. The set is a powerhouse and is incredibly offensive as it is defensive. Fire works well because Bonfire + Tar Patch is nutty. Throw a -res proc in Bonfire and the KB/KD IO and you have essentially another Tar Patch that offers tons of damage mitigation.

 

Hot Feet and Soul Absorption are like cookies and milk. Both require you to be in melee and Soul Absorption solves all of your end issues. Fire/Dark is probably the fastest playstyle, it took me awhile to adapt to how to efficiently play it as you basically need to be the quickest member in your team to maximize you and your teams damage/survival. But as long as you are dropping Bonfire and Tar Patch on mobs before your team smacks them around, you’ll be a huge asset to the team. 
 

Dark Control is also pretty nutty when paired with /Dark Affinity. Plant is also phenomenal.

[oedipus_tex]

For solo play with a self heal, I would go with Gravity/Dark. You'll get decent attacks right away, as well as a debuff patch with -Resist. 

 

Other Control sets will do well later on, but often take a while to get decent, while Gravity leaves the gate able to solo due to high damage in Lift and Propel.

 

If you're flexible on the heal requirement, Gravity/Storm is another amazing solo option.

[Erydanus]

Grav/Rad. For suresies. Radiation Infection neuters low level foes to make the low level soloing experience quite easy; the attack chain combo of Gravity Distortion + Lift + Propel will give you frequent and actually hard-hitting attacks from an early level. You even get a secondary containment damage in Impact.

 

Radiation also has a self heal (pbaoe) as requested, and a self endurance buff, all of which are very low level. In fact I'd recommend: Lift + Radiant Aura to start, then 2) Gravity Distortion 4) Accelerate Metabolism 6) Propel 8 ) Radiation Infection. At that point you can either pick up the area effect immobilize or enervating field or start dipping into travel powers pretty easily. But you will be able to chew through content like a steamroller solo or of course you could just run death from below with an xp buff and you'd be there in 10 minutes. But that's a great core for soloing.

[Jolly Ogre]

Fire/Rad

 

Hot feet and choking cloud. They choke and burn. 

 

open with flashfire and stun them then imbo them with fire cages and then just hop in the middle and wait for them to burn. @ lvl 32 with the imps it just gets silly easy. 

[MTeague]

I also main'd an Enchanter back in the EQ days, and my main character was specifically chosen to emulate that.

 

Mind/Kin Controller

• Mezzes (sleeps), Charms (Confuse), Stuns (Holds)
• Slows + Hastens  (Siphon Speed, Speed Boost)
• Enemy Debuffs (Siphon Power, Fulcrum Shift)
• Team Buffs (Siphon Power, Fulcrum Shift, Increase Density)
• Mana Replenishment (Transference)

Never regretted it once. It is true, Mind does not get permanent pets like Fire, Dark, and most other (all other?) control sets. 

But c'mon if you Charm Solo'd at all in EQ, you can totally do this in CoH.   And you'll probably have quite a bit of fun, though it might be a little iffy getting off the ground at first. 

 

Full disclosure, Confuses are among my most favorite powers in the game.  I am entirely biased on this matter.

[EmperorSteele]

2nding Mind/Kin, but with some caveats.

Mind is VERY Solo friendly, but admittedly is kind of easy mode. All the other Controller sets have an AoE immob power which, sure, does a little damage and sets up containment, but lets the bad guys still shoot you. Mass Hypnosis shuts. Down. EVERYTHING! And yeah, they'll wake up when attacked, but that's why you take your time cycling through Dominate, Levitate, then Mesmerize to put them BACK to sleep after. Then, when everyone's weak and weary, blast them all with Terrorize so they all die screaming!

Kin just makes this all go faster, with Siphon Speed, Siphon power and Fulcrum Shift. And you need it to go faster, because admittedly, while this is the safest way to play, it's also the slowest. You won't be doing +4/x8 missions on your own without some serious IO/incarnate help, and a soloing AVs might be out of your reach unless you build right (in contrast to a lot of other controller builds which can solo AVs or even GMs with just SO's)

Edited January 25, 2020 by EmperorSteele
spelling

[Ultrazen]

46 minutes ago, MTeague said:

Full disclosure, Confuses are among my most favorite powers in the game.

I have to agree, maybe it's the old EQ background.  I was a charm chanter, I actually 2 boxed a druid/chanter for ages, so much fun.

 

Mind/Kin I think I would do in a heartbeat if I was going to team with this character, because it does seem right up my alley for grouping.  My schedule for the next 5 months at least is very chaotic, and I won't be able to really get into the team game for quite a while, which is what prompted all of this.  I haven't actually taken mind very high, so I will certainly add this to the list of alts to try out, thanks a ton!

[Redlynne]

Mind/Nature/Primal ... Mind Over Vegetable(s)

 

I'm playing this build on Redside on Ms Givings (her $battlecry is "Trust your Ms Givings!").

Good times ... 😎

[Bastille Boy]

I've been enjoying my new Mind/Pain toon (currently level 39). It's a completely different playstyle from every other toon I've built. When soloing, Confuse and Mass Confusion are the most important powers. Creating as much chaos as possible is the goal. Locking everything down is safe but inefficient.

 

The self-buff from the Pain set is more useful than the self-heal.

 

I skipped Levitate, Telekinesis, and Share Pain. Maybe I should have taken Share Pain in place of Soothe; I figured Soothe would be a better fit for a low-damage primary.

[MTeague]

Levitate can be nice because it's Smashing damage for those pesky robots and Banished Pantheon zombies that take verrrry little damage from Psi. 

Also the flip up and knockdown is a few seconds where you can put a loose mob under control without it beating upon you.

 

Totally agree on going wild with Confuse.  having an AE to go with it to tag mobs is also nice, but evne if a few here and there are 100% killed by other confused mobs, even if it costs a few xp per kill, you get a lot more xp per time.  and it's just plain FUN 🙂

[oedipus_tex]

By the way, an oddball character that can do some of the things you're looking for would be any of the armored classes that can take Psionic Melee paired with a self healing armor. Psi Melee gives you Boggle, a power identical to Deceive/Confuse/Possess. The Range and Duration are shorter, but the effect is the same.

 

Dark Armor in particular is known for its control auras and self heal.

 

It's quite a different experience than a true Controller but also extremely capable of soloing. Probably much more so than the average Controller to be honest. I'm always stunned by how easily Scrappers down mobs whenever I take a break to play them.

 

 

[Coyote]

Although Mind can play okay as a Controller, I would always strongly suggest playing it as a Dominator, for a simple reason:

 

Mind's plan, especially soloing, is to shut things down. Mobs don't attack you. So... a defensive secondary doesn't see as much use as it would on a primary that isn't as good at preventing incoming shots. However, an offensive secondary that does more damage, especially if it has a +ToHit boost or -Def, will both help you kill faster and also mez more accurately. It seems more useful to add more damage than more defensive abilities that often won't come into play because mobs don't shoot enough at you to make them worthwhile.

[Redlynne]

30 minutes ago, Coyote said:

Although Mind can play okay as a Controller, I would always strongly suggest playing it as a Dominator

In which case, Mind/Energy for Power Boost as a Dominator reaching for Perma-Domination becomes almost a given.

[Bastille Boy]

41 minutes ago, Coyote said:

Although Mind can play okay as a Controller, I would always strongly suggest playing it as a Dominator, for a simple reason:

 

Mind's plan, especially soloing, is to shut things down. Mobs don't attack you. So... a defensive secondary doesn't see as much use as it would on a primary that isn't as good at preventing incoming shots. However, an offensive secondary that does more damage, especially if it has a +ToHit boost or -Def, will both help you kill faster and also mez more accurately. It seems more useful to add more damage than more defensive abilities that often won't come into play because mobs don't shoot enough at you to make them worthwhile.

That's a good explanation of the weakness of Mind Control on controllers in PvE.

 

I built this toon mainly for the theme: all-mental, all-natural abilities. None of the dominator secondaries seemed to fit. (Psionic Assault feels supernatural to me.) I'm also considering bringing this guy to PVP kickballs, where controllers, defenders, and corruptors with either Empathy or Pain Domination are in demand (or so I understand) and Mind Control is considered a viable primary (or so I understand).

 

It solos decently with procs on Dominate, heavy use of confusion powers, and sparing use of the group holds/sleeps/fears.

 

 

[roleki]

Ill/Dark is a really solid solo performer 1-50; in fact, it may be a little TOO good.  After you've got PA and Dark Servant, you kind of become the 4th or 5th best character on screen, in terms of what you're doing affecting the outcome in front of you. 

 

That said, Ill/Dark is also useful on teams, which you can hop into whenever you get bored of watching your minions killing everything without significant assistance from you.

 

My own favorite solo controller is my Fire/FF, but since that doesn't have a self-heal I'll mention my second-favorte, Grav/Time.  As much as Grav is a slog 1-25, the game changes completely when you pick up Wormhole; now you can break mobs into manageable chunks, and with the buffs/debuffs and extra ST hold out of /Time you can really start delivering beatings.   With Singularity in the mix, you're effectively slinging out 2 or 2.5 controllers' worth of mezzes, moving pieces around the map and melting them in short order.  I highly recommend it!

 

[MTeague]

I have a real hard time choosing any Dominator secondary OTHER than Psi Assult.  

• Drain Psyche.  leaving out every other power.  giant -Regen debuff, huge personal +Recovery +Regen boost, for an AT with few normal self-healing options (though there's always Entropic Chaos procs...).  Being your own debuffer to rip down the EB's, AV's, GM's regen?  is vey vey nice.
• Psychic ShockWave is also huge though.  Admittedly, it's your T9, lvl 38 to get it.  But if you already have enough +Recharge for Perma Dom, this thing comes back FAST, and it's a strong PBAE that just wrecks most mobs, and also applies the -Recharge to them and also Stuns them, AND, the stun effect benefits from Domination.  It's a perfect followup to a cast of Seeds of Confusion. (admittedly, yes, there are other dominator primaries, but did I mention I really really  looooves me some confusion?)

[siolfir]

11 hours ago, Redlynne said:

In which case, Mind/Energy for Power Boost as a Dominator reaching for Perma-Domination becomes almost a given.

Since the thread title specified a self-heal, Mind/Dark: Gather Shadows is only a little weaker at +special than Power Boost and also bumps your damage.

[Ultrazen]

Thanks so much for all the awesome replies, I've already started 3 new alts lol.

[Coyote]

3 hours ago, MTeague said:

It's a perfect followup to a cast of Seeds of Confusion.

 

To note... the perfect follow up to Seeds of Confusion is Unkindness. Or Fling Thorns. The reason is that you want the mobs attacking each other at full strength, and with debuffed Defense. And if you put Achilles Heel or Annihilation -Resist procs in those powers, then the mobs damage each other more. Those powers improve the offensive aspects of Seeds, while Shockwave prevents mobs from damaging each other at their full abilities.

 

Now, Shockwave is a good power, but it works better with primaries that have an AoE stun, or if you're somehow going to set up other sources of partial Stun abilities, and try to stack them. For example, Fire Control. Or Electric Control with the Chance to Stun proc and maybe the Font proc in Shockwave to try to get out the Fiery Orbs and have multiple chances to Stun. I think Electric/Mind would work great, using Drain Psyche to help keep mobs drained by shutting down their Recovery, and by stacking Stuns for the few that somehow have Endurance.

[oedipus_tex]

I see a lot of recommendations for Mind Control. I don't want to open up a battle, but as someone who used to main a Mind Controller for a long time, I'd like to add my contrary take.

 

Mind Control is a set that was designed for soloing back when the game was under a different meta. The game has changed radically since then, and in my opinion Mind Control has not kept up. This isn't to say I don't think its still playable. It just isn't a set I'd recommend to a player exploring the Controller archetype and wanting to play solo.

 

Some frustrating things about Mind Control are:

• Difficulty obtaining AoE Containment due to lack of an AoE Immobilize
• No pet 
• General lack of hard mezz
• Punitively long Recharge in key powers, particularly Mass Confusion (240 seconds)
• Powers with unclear purpose in the current meta (Telekinesis)

 

When Mind Control originated,, you could bring Mass Confusion and Total Domination to every fight. The game had no target cap, so Telekinesis could hit an infinite number of enemies for an infinite time, allowing you to herd maps and then Mass Confuse the whole lot. That made the lack of a pet more tolerable. I'm not saying that we need all that back. I am saying that relative to the other Control sets, barring Gravity (which has since been fixed) and Ice (could still use some attention) that also are in the lack-of-always-up-controls-boats, Mind Control is somewhat behind. It doesn't help that Mind Control has no appreciable debuffs at all to fall back on when control powers fail.

 

Pets don't add a ton of damage, but what they do add is the leverage not to be forced to click a button for every enemy kill. This turns out to be quite liberating on a low damage AT like a Controller, and has significant implications for endurance management, since pet attacks cost nothing. Mind meanwhile pays a direct endurance price for every enemy death.

 

The end takeaway from all of this is every time I play Mind Control, as I creep up the levels I have the slowing growing feeling I'd be happier playing something else. Dark Control, in particular, is very similar to Mind Control, but has no issues with Containment, a very effective debuff effect, and a strong pet. Electric Control has an AoE confuse that recharges in 60 seconds, and a very good Sleep. Either of those sets set the bar for me on where Mind Control should be.

 

My hope is the developers do a review of the Control sets and lower the recharge of Mass Confuse from 240 seconds to around 90-120 seconds, and somehow make Mass Hypnosis more effective. Reordering the powers so that Terrify comes much earlier would also be ideal. As well as figuring out how to deal with the Controller version's lack of Immobilize.

Edited January 25, 2020 by oedipus_tex