Mind/Time build help request

[Phobyk]

Hello all...

 

I'm really enjoying my time back on CoH, but my build skills are pretty terrible.  I was hoping to reach out to the community for some help on a Mind/Time troller build.

Basically I need a leveling build, then if the mood strikes anyone, a high end, melt your face build where money isn't an issue (both for PvE).

 

Time Manipulation wasn't a set back when I played, so I'm kinda clueless how to slot it.

 

Anyway, here goes nothing. 

 

P.S. 

 

Thanks to anyone who chimes in on this.

 

Cheers.

[Phobyk]

Excellent, thank-you kindly.

[Redlynne]

9 minutes ago, 5099y_74c05 said:

@Redlynne is still active on the forums

Ah ... someone has been taking my name in vain (again) ...  🗯️

 

 

 

Comedy value aside, that Mind/Time build I posted almost a year ago has not aged particularly well, especially once I (and a few others) learned the Art of Proc Fu.  Among other things, I went on to adapt my Mind/Time build into a Mind/Nature/Primal (that I named "Mind Over Vegetables" for what ought to be obvious reasons...) build which I have found to be FAR more satisfying to play, even though there are a lot of points of commonality between Time and Nature for a Controller.

 

I'm currently in the middle of a MAJOR OVERHAUL of my Gravity/Time Controller build, so as to convert it into a Gravity/Time/Primal build by doing some wonderfully ... odd ... things to it (such as dropping Crushing Field from the build in favor of routine use of Dimension Shift!!) which I'm hoping to be able to proliferate out to my other Time builds (Dual Pistols Defender and Ninja Mastermind).  Right now, I've got the Gravity/Time/Primal build balanced around 36 slots for the primary, 4 slots for inherent powers, and the remaining 37 slots go to the secondary, for a pretty decent balance between primary and secondary that I figure ought to proliferate "tolerably" to other builds ... including a Mind/Time/Primal build if you're so inclined to crib notes from what I'm doing now, almost a year later from my (admittedly rusty at the time) efforts at being a Master Builder back in May of 2019.  Since then I've learned A LOT of new tricks that I'm eager to put to good use in my builds!  😉

[EmperorSteele]

I main both a Mind/Kin and an Illu/Time, so, take what I say with maybe a small grain of salt.

First, as of right now, procs, especially damage ones, are your Best Friends. Dominate, Total Domination, Time Stop and -to a lesser degree- Distortion field, can all be loaded with Damage procs to great effect. You'll melt darn near anything! Depending on what pool and epic powers you take, you can also get some mileage out of Force Feedback: Chance for + recharge procs (they go into Levitate, and any power with a knock component, of which there are plenty in the pool and epic choices). Note that Distortion field, even though it's in your secondary, still takes Hold and the Controller ATO sets, and if nothing else makes a good set mule, allowing you to slot Dominate and Time Stop for damage.

I recommend going Primal Forces for your epic, because Power Boost + Farsight = Broken self-capped defenses, especially when used with Time's Juncture, which debuffs any nearby foes' ToHit rating.

As you're leveling up, don't be afraid of using Confuse. In conjunction with the slows from Time, you're basically just keeping a dude off your back while you kill his friends, so that synergizes nicely. As a word of warning, if you put damage procs in the confuse powers, it will negate the "do not agro" flags on those powers, so you won't be able to be very stealthy while using those.

For pool powers, I recommend Hasten and Hover, then go for whatever else you want from there.

 

Time is one of those sets where you may want every power, though, so any build with it is going to be tight (If anything, Time's Juncture and Distortion Field are the only two I'd drop). As For Mind, well.... *sigh*, I love it and don't like recommend skipping any of its powers, but it's also not in a very good place right now. The way everything gets steamrolled on teams these days makes its sleeps, confuses, TK and fear pretty much useless (though if you slot Terrorize for damage, at least you can feel like you're contributing!). And if you're gonna skip those powers, well, then you may as well play another primary and get yourself an actual pet at level 32. If you're solo or on a very small team, though, it's toolbox will shine. I will say that you should totally keep Mesmerize, though, because it's the only power in the game that can one-shot shut down most AVs, which is VERY useful for multi AV fights (It's the only power I actively miss when playing my other controllers, go fig). Also, having it, Levitate, and Dominate (as well as Time Stop with procs) gives you a solid single-target attack chain that many Controllers lack, so you may as well go all in and play to Mind's one strength.

Hope this gives you something to chew on 😃

[Redlynne]

6 hours ago, 5099y_74c05 said:

Power Boost + 3% Def IOs X2 + Farsight + Hover + CJ can get you close to softcap. Without IOs you'll need Manuevers to get you to +45%.

9 Primary powers

9 Secondary powers

3 Epic pool powers to reach Temp Invulnerability (for +3% Defense IOs) + Power Boost

Hover

Combat Jumping

 

That's 23 out of 24 power picks right there.  You'd need to drop something if you want to take more than one Leadership toggle.  I would personally recommend dropping Combat Jumping for Maneuvers so as to be able to fit Tactics (as a One Slot Wonder™ power with Gaussian's Build Up) into the build.  That would result in this:

 

9 Primary powers

9 Secondary powers

Conserve Power + Temp Invulnerability + Power Boost

Hover

Maneuvers + Tactics

 

If you want to squeeze Hasten into the build, you'll have to drop 1 power from either your primary or your secondary.  For most people that power to drop would be Telekinesis, since you'll wind up using (and benefiting from) Hasten a LOT more than you'll use (and benefit from) Telekinesis.

 

 

 

However, an argument can be made ... why would a Mind Controller "need" to live at the Defense softcap?

Don't get me wrong, it would certainly be "nice" to live there, but on a Mind Controller, what is the NEED to live there?

 

When everything is locked down and/or confused ... what is all that Defense doing for you (when you're not being attacked)?

Not a whole lot.

It's good for dealing with $Targets that are resistant/protected from being mezzed, but other than that ... /em shrug

 

Having a Defense capped build will allow you to play more aggressively, since you won't need to lockdown $Targets quite AS hard as you would without Defenses that high ... but with Confuse (and Mass Comedy) the pressing NEED for softcapped Defenses dramatically diminish when using the toolkit that Mind Control (and Time Manipulation) provide you thoughtfully and skillfully.

 

Mind/Time/Primal is just one of those builds where softcapped Defenses are merely "nice" rather than absolutely NECESSARY for survival.

[Phobyk]

This Forum does not disappoint. I appreciate everyone taking the time to help me with this.

Lots of information for me to process. Mids and I are going to be close friends for awhile.