Dark with Rad/Nature/Pain/??? ?

[lightpunch]

I'm looking to reroll one of my characters from live, who was a dark magic-using dark/rad defender. I'm thinking controller, but other than Darkness Control, I'm undecided on the secondary. Obviously Dark/Rad was the original idea, but I've leveled Radiation Emission on controllers to 50 at least once (I think twice? Plant/Rad and Ill/Rad? So long ago now), so I'm trying to consider some other pairings for Dark/ that can feel dark magic-like.

So, Dark/Rad, Dark/Nature, Dark/Pain, Dark/Dark, or Dark/??? (including Dominators as an option here) -- what has good synergy? What's most fun? Anything I should keep in mind before starting a Dark troller? Solo potential (I know it's a controller, on a scale of fire/rad and ice/empath, what're its chances)?

 

Only other character I created since I've come back is a Fire/Cold troller, so if you have a build you'd recommend that plays differently than that boss-killer, that could be fun for variety's sake too.

 

Thanks in advance! Glad to be back!

[SeraphimKensai]

/Dark Affinity is amazingly strong.

[Psyonico]

I'll agree with Seraphim, Dark Affinity is a really good set, it adds to your to-hit debuffs, adds Defense and resistances, gives you Regen and Recovery, and FLUFFY!

[Camel]

Dark/Dark/Soul is quite good. /Dark Affinity has almost every tool you’d need and can be paired with every single Controller primary and be very good. You can soft-cap your defenses to all positions with Fade buffed by the Clarion incarnate that grants +special (which will also buff your controls, heals, and -tohit debuffs), Soul Absorption can be made perma and can get you and your team to incredible levels of +regeneration/+recovery, Howling Twilight is an auto-hit stun that also has a resurrection and -regeneration (500%) component, and you also get another pet in Dark Servant. All of that combined with your other tools make for a secondary that can complete any primary. Mind being the least synergistic of them but still great.

[lightpunch]

 

4 minutes ago, Camel said:

Dark/Dark/Soul is quite good. /Dark Affinity has almost every tool you’d need and can be paired with every single Controller primary and be very good. You can soft-cap your defenses to all positions with Fade buffed by the Clarion incarnate that grants +special (which will also buff your controls, heals, and -tohit debuffs), Soul Absorption can be made perma and can get you and your team to incredible levels of +regeneration/+recovery, Howling Twilight is an auto-hit stun that also has a resurrection and -regeneration (500%) component, and you also get another pet in Dark Servant. All of that combined with your other tools make for a secondary that can complete any primary. Mind being the least synergistic of them but still great.

Interesting. I knew /dark was good, not sure what I was expecting in terms of responses haha. I think there's a dumb part of me that is resistant to doing same-same builds like dark/dark, just for I don't know, creativity purposes. But I do remember how fun dark miasma was back in the day, so I'll give that some thought.

Any thoughts on Pain and Nature as pairings for dark/?

[noogens2]

The last major patch on March 31 nerfed fade so you can’t powerboost it anymore. The patch also slightly nerfed twilight grasp and tar patch.  The power set is still good nonetheless. 

 

 

[Doc Ranger]

If played with a team that generally stays together I don't think it's possible for a teammate to die with Nature 😉 You've got some serious green numbers and buffs all over the place. It's amazing.

 

But, when you want the ultimate in control...Dk/Dk can't be beat. You can stand in the middle of +4/+8 mobs and eat a sandwich if you want 😉 

[lightpunch]

Just a belated update to everyone who was kind enough to offer thoughts on this. I did end up rolling dark/dark, and she is a ton of fun, so I have no regrets hah. Thanks to everyone for offering feedback even when I wanted to resist the consensus idea that dark/dark is super potent.

 

 I even was able to create a sense of the diversity of power I wanted (re: my hesitation when doing same/same builds) by treating different powers as soul magic and others as shadow magic and coloring them appropriately. I'm excited to take her to 50 and see how self-sufficient and powerful I can make her in the end-game while still being true to the concept (so, that probably eliminates strong epic pools like ice and earth, for instance). I know the damage will never be particularly nuts but I'll be happy if I can

On 4/27/2020 at 2:17 PM, Doc Ranger said:

stand in the middle of +4/+8 mobs and eat a sandwich if you want

and have the mob melt at a decent clip haha.