First time using Illusions and Time. Essential picks? Skippable powers?

[Ouroboratika]

Hi all,

 

I made an Ill/Time Controller and have been having a lot of fun with the combo. This is my first time using either powerset, though, and I was wondering if anyone knew of any good guides for either. Basically, I'm curious about which powers in them are considered must-picks, and which are skippable.

 

With Illusions, I'm curious how important Spectral Wounds is in the late game. If I respec out of it, will my pets be able to do enough damage for me to solo?

 

Is Time's Juncture worth it if I'm going to be standing back most of the time?

 

Same concern for Flash; anything that's PBAoE makes me a little concerned.

 

Any advice would be appreciated!

[Coyote]

Spectral Wounds is useful, but can be respecced out at higher levels. Depends what else you're doing and how busy you feel that you are. Certainly the pets will do most of the damage, but on the other hand more damage doesn't hurt, and you certainly won't be busy healing Phantom Army, heh.

 

Time's Juncture is very useful when leveling and when exemplaring. Not so useful at high levels, as you are likely to be standing back. But it's a useful power, and I'd probably keep it.

 

Flash is skippable, I wouldn't take it except if you feel the need for a power to run a good +Recharge set (Purple, ATO, or Basilisk's Gaze).

[Ouroboratika]

Thanks for the responses, guys! I feel more comfortable continuing to skip Flash and TJ, and I think I'll see how my soloing looks at high levels when I get there, and I may spec out of SW as well if it seems feasible.

 

I agree with 5099 so far about Temporal Selection and Time Stop in that they feel useful and nice to keep around.

[Redlynne]

Spectral Wounds is the only power in your Primary that will be doing direct damage when you cast it.  I would recommend the following combinations for best potential:

 

Level 1:    Spectral Wounds    

1. Entropic Chaos - Accuracy/Damage
2. Entropic Chaos - Damage/Endurance
3. Entropic Chaos - Damage/Recharge
4. Entropic Chaos - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
5. Entropic Chaos - Chance of Heal Self

Level 1:    Time Crawl    

1. Accuracy IO
2. Impeded Swiftness - Chance of Damage(Smashing)

Level 20:    Time Stop    

1. Accuracy IO
2. Gladiator's Net - Chance of Damage(Lethal)
3. Neuronic Shutdown - Chance of Damage(Psionic)
4. Ghost Widow's Embrace - Chance of Damage(Psionic)
5. Will of the Controller - Recharge/Chance for Psionic Damage
6. Unbreakable Constraint - Chance for Smashing Damage

Entropic Chaos
(Spectral Wounds)

•   10% (0.42 HP/sec) Regeneration
•   2.25% Resistance(Fire,Cold), MezResist(Immobilized) 3.75%, MezResist(Held) 3.75%, MezResist(Stunned) 3.75%, MezResist(Sleep) 3.75%, MezResist(Terrorized) 3.75%, MezResist(Confused) 3.75%
•   2.25% Max End
•   6.25% Enhancement(RechargeTime)

 

 

 

With enough global recharge from Hasten and Chrono Shift you can turn this into your single target attack chain.

• Time Crawl > Time Stop > Spectral Wounds ... repeat

You want to sequence your attack chain in that order with this slotting because ALL OF THE DAMAGE PROCS in Time Crawl and Time Stop will have a 90% chance to proc when using the slotting I'm giving you above.  That means ... on average ...

• 90% chance for 71.75 Smashing damage
• 90% chance for 71.75 Lethal damage
• 90% chance for 71.75 Psionic damage
• 90% chance for 71.75 Psionic damage
• 90% chance for 71.75 Psionic damage
• 90% chance for 107.1 Smashing damage
• 70.23 Psionic damage from Spectral Wounds (not including any global damage buffs or incarnate slotting)

Average all of that up and you get ... (5*0.9*71.75)+(1*0.9*107.1)+70.23 = 489.45 total damage done in 4.84 seconds of animation = 101.13 damage per animation second on average.

 

If you upgrade the Will of the Controller proc to a Superior, you'll add a little damage from that specific proc (107.1 vs 71.75) but the increase in recharge will cause the proc chances to fall below the 90% cap down to 88.42% and yields the following:

• 90% chance for 71.75 Smashing damage
• 88.42% chance for 71.75 Lethal damage
• 88.42% chance for 71.75 Psionic damage
• 88.42% chance for 71.75 Psionic damage
• 90% chance for 107.1 Psionic damage
• 90% chance for 107.1 Smashing damage
• 70.23 Psionic damage from Spectral Wounds (not including any global damage buffs or incarnate slotting

Average all of that up and you get ... (1*0.9*71.75)+(3*0.8842*71.75)+(2*0.9*107.1)+70.23 = 517.91 total damage done in 4.84 seconds of animation = 107.01 damage per animation second on average.

 

 

 

I'm thinking that ought to make for a pretty decent "yield factor" for a 3 power single target attack rotation.  😎

After that, it's just a matter of loading up on Hasten, Chrono Shift and global recharge set bonuses to be able to unload the Time Crawl > Time Stop > Spectral Wounds attack rotation, in which you defeat $Targets faster than 10 seconds so they don't have time to "heal back" the damage taken from Spectral Wounds (meaning that the damage that Spectral Wounds does is "real enough" for defeating your foes).

 

 

 

Also, something to think about with Time's Juncture.  The Slow effect of Time's Juncture is an excellent way to prevent Runners (plural) from getting very far.  Combine Time's Juncture with Spectral Terror to deny them a means of escape while you Time Crawl > Time Stop > Spectral Wounds your foes into the Faceplant Position™.

Edited March 29, 2020 by Redlynne

[Coyote]

Illusion can use Deceive for control on necessary mobs, so it has the freedom to slot Blind for damage. It can get about 300 damage out of that, and have a much better attack rotation by using it instead of Time Crawl.