General advice for solo play

[Pyriold]

So you are considering playing a controller. Everybody will tell you that controllers only really work in groups, but that is quite wrong. They excel in groups, but can function in solo mode quite well.

 

This little guide will not be exhaustive, just some tipps from somebody who loves the archetype.

 

1) Containment.

From the paragon wiki : "Controllers do extra damage to any target that is already Held, Immobilized, Slept, or Disoriented"

And that is not just "some" extra damage, in fact it's just *double* damage. Most controllers get a root and a hold in the first few powers. Those 2 powers usually do moderate damage each (often as a dot). So what you do is you slot those 2 powers for damage, accurracy and maybe recharge. With those you already have a nice attack chain with very decent damage. It's often nice to start a fight with an area effect root and then kill single mobs one at a time.

 

2) Confuse.

A lot of controllers get confuse powers. Some really early, some later. Confused mobs often attack their allies. When a confused mob takes half of the HPs of a target and you do the other half, you still get about 75% of the xp for that mob. So usually it's worth it to confuse some mobs and then do your damage on top.

 

3) Pets.

For most controllers, pets are a late game thing (with the exception of illusionists where the first pets come at level 18). Some pets are absolutely game changing with their damage output (fire comes to mind), but all controller pets are really good damage sources. So for those controllers struggling to solo at first, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

 

4) Resistance debuffs.

Those can come from your secondary power set. Tar patch (dark), enervating field (radiation) or freezing rain (storm) come to mind. Often people don't know that those powers are pretty nice damage boosts! This also applies to team play of course.

 

5) Direct damage.

Some controllers have high damage attacks in their primary set. Gravity has the best one with propel, but some others have decent attacks as well. If you want to kill single targets fast and like the style, try those. Always combine those attacks with containment for double damage.

 

Conclusion:

Controller solo isn't the fastest thing. But it's usually pretty safe. Most controllers kill mobs one at a time, AE damage powers are usually very weak (with some exceptions that do somewhat nice AE damage). If played well you will never die though.

[Greenbone]

Good tips. I had 53 alts and had the very most fun (probably 80% solo) leveling my controllers to 50. To me, this archetype makes you feel the most "super."

 

[Erydanus]

I really enjoy playing controllers, solo and in groups and I was very excited to see this brought up. I will however spare everyone from the essay on controller soloing I wrote during lunch and focus on adding some additional tips.

 

Regarding containment, it applies to primary, secondary, power pool, and ancillary/patron powers but not temporary or prestige powers. I don't think it even works on brawl. But since it includes power pool attacks it's worth considering them for a soloing controller. I was looking at the numbers on them but I had Mids open and it's not current.  In the past though Air Superiority was a good filler attack for controllers. It does about the same damage as most controllers' single target hold, has good endurance cost, casting time, recharge, and animation, and has a nice -fly effect which may come in handy. If you were running Illusion Control I would look at the fighting pool's boxing because it's got a decent chance of a weak stun, though it's lower damage. I'm actually going to test out the pool attacks and see how they're working.

 

When picking powers as a soloer just remember any power that buffs a teammate only is dead weight until you have a pet, so probably pass on those powers until you have a pet, or respec at that time.  Of course this also means a buff-heavy or heal-heavy powerset may not be your best choice though again once you have your pet then you can make them even stronger.

 

I'd also like to point out that this game does support dual builds, though you have to slot them separately and until we're all running around with 50s to bankroll our lower level characters that may be tricky. But it's an option.

 

Finally if you're trying to figure out which controller power set has the most native single target damage, hands down it's Gravity Control. With Lift and Propel it has 2 direct attacks that far outclass any single target attacks other controllers get. Though Fire has some nice aoe damage, it really only blows up big if you're playing a Kin, but then it really blows up.

[Pyriold]

Since you are discussing power sets here, ill throw in my 2 cents:

 

Primaries:

As you mentioned, gravity is king of single target damage. Wind Mind and illusion have direct attacks as well, but illusion lacks any roots... still illusion is a good damaging primary due to its pets which actually also do AE damage.

AE damage is pretty weak in all primaries, i think plant actually has the strongest AE root. Plant generally is a good damaging set since it has the usual level 32 pet, but also level 26 carrion creepers that do quite a lot of damage. Mind control has the most damaging AE (Terrify), but it lacks a pet and Terrify has a long recharge. For AEs i need to mention fire control of course, but it's best AE (Bonfire) is a dot that repels mobs and makes them avoid it. You can work around that. And fire has a really nice combination with Trick Arrow secondary. An ignited oil slick is the best AE that you can get with any controller and even blasters would struggle to match that. That's late game though, oil slick arrow is level 35.

 

The 2 controllers that i play at the moment are electric/time and grav/dark. Electric i play out of curiosity (never saw gremlins) and the grav controller is pretty nice at soloing of course. Tar patch from dark is a great addition and you get it early.

[Chuckers]

May favorite character to play was Kellie.. a little girl who was an ILL/KIN controller (the pets were her imaginary friends) Yes, soloing with her was hard until I first got pets.. but then she became AWESOME. I think she was the fastest to 50 and I am a solo player. However, she was AWESOME on a team.

 

She was the first character I recreated on the new servers. so I can enjoy playing her power sets again.

[Chuckers]

Since you are discussing power sets here, ill throw in my 2 cents:

 

Primaries:

As you mentioned, gravity is king of single target damage. Wind Mind and illusion have direct attacks as well, but illusion lacks any roots... still illusion is a good damaging primary due to its pets which actually also do AE damage.

 

 

Isn't "blind" considered a root? Or do I not know what a root is?

 

[Erydanus]

No, Blind is Illusion's single target hold. It's super duper weird though because it also has a tiny AoE sleep layered on top of it. Basically if three Hellions try to come through a doorway at once and you target the one in the center, there's a good chance one of the other dudes will get slept too. (The description calls it a secondary hold that breaks easily but the mechanic uses is actually a sleep.)

 

Root refers to immobilize, they almost all also have some amount of -fly -knock that roots them to the ground.

[Jit_]

I guess I'll put this here: Is there any good reading I can do on how to optimize end-game builds? Things like what caps I should be aiming for, an explanation of how some of the damage/to-hit/enhancement algorithms work under the hood, etc. I'd like to try my hand at soloing some high-end content, but I was like 12 when I last played CoH, so the intricacies of the system are totally lost to me.

 

Right now I'm running an Ill/Time troller, and I really don't know if that's a good, synergistic combo or not.

[PrinceTycho]

For those really worried about personal damage output, especially if your primary doesn't have any pure attacks, there's always the Arcane Bolt/Blast from the new Sorcery Pool. It's on the low end of Moderate damage, but unlike the prestige attacks, it IS slotable.

[Kaliselia]

I created a Dark/Time Controller yesterday and even at level 2 she amazed me since she went after a group of Hellions with only her first two powers and Brawl.

 

What amazed me was that a 2nd group of Hellions respawned right behind her so a total of 9 Mobs and she put them all down.  Since then she has gotten her heal power along with a few others.

 

With a Controller it is all about how you slot your powers.  After that first big fight and I got the extra two slots I filled both of them with Recharge Enhancements since it is more important right now that these powers are available to use.

 

I know which Hero I will be playing when I get home tonight since I want to get her leveled up.

[Adeon Hawkwood]

1) Containment.

From the paragon wiki : "Controllers do extra damage to any target that is already Held, Immobilized, Slept, or Disoriented"

And that is not just "some" extra damage, in fact it's just *double* damage. Most controllers get a root and a hold in the first few powers. Those 2 powers usually do moderate damage each (often as a dot). So what you do is you slot those 2 powers for damage, accurracy and maybe recharge. With those you already have a nice attack chain with very decent damage. It's often nice to start a fight with an area effect root and then kill single mobs one at a time.

Regarding slotting those first two powers Frankenslotting can work wonderfully. If you mix dual and triple aspect IOs from a bunch of different sets you can easily get good all round stats for these powers. I normally do this with IOs around level 30 so I can do it early enough to be useful while leveling but late enough to be slightly higher stats on the IOs.

 

For example suppose you slotted your hold like this:

• (A) Essence of Curare - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge
  
• (3) Paralytic - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge
  
• (3) Maelstrom's Fury - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
  
• (5) Maelstrom's Fury - Damage/Endurance
  
• (5) Ruin - Damage/Endurance
  
• (7) Damage Increase IO

 

With all IOs at level 30 that gives you:

34.8% Accuracy

91.99% Damage

60.9% Endurance Reduction

52.2% Recharge Reduction

34.8% Hold duration

 

So basically you get a standard attack slotting of 3xDam, 1xAcc, 1xEnd, 1xRech plus a bonus of 1xHold, 1x End and 0.5xRech. You can tweak the selection and relative stats to suit your preferences, this is just a quick example.

[Garble]

2) Confuse.

A lot of controllers get confuse powers. Some really early, some later. Confused mobs often attack their allies. When a confused mob takes half of the HPs of a target and you do the other half, you still get about 75% of the xp for that mob. So usually it's worth it to confuse some mobs and then do your damage on top.

 

I think Confuse powers are under appreciated because of the potential xp cost. But in addition to the potential debt lost because fewer mobs are attacking you, there are other really cool things you can do.

 

Foes with Buff/DeBuff now work for you.

• Tsoo Sorcerer is now your BFF
  
• Malta Sapper? Don't mind if I do!
  
• Skyraider Engineer, a forcefield for my and my friends? That's so sweet of you!
  

 

And speaking of that last one, pets that are summoned by a confused foe are also confused.

• BA Death Shaman now makes zombies that attack him.
  
• Storm Shaman's and Witches can get zapped by their own thunderclouds
  
• Devouring Earth Herder's can make all the Tree of Lifes and Fungi they want, it won't do them any good.
  

[Erydanus]

One caveat with the Sky Raiders though, the instant the Engineer is dead the pet will de-confuse and stop cloaking you. So it's probably best to blow up the stupid forcefield generator as quickly as you can so it isn't protecting itself once the Eng dies. (Found that out the hard way Friday.)

[Sailboat]

Good tips. I had 53 alts and had the very most fun (probably 80% solo) leveling my controllers to 50. To me, this archetype makes you feel the most "super."

 

One of the few things the original devs got wrong was saying "nobody likes fighting statues."  I ADORE fighting evildoers rendered helpless by my awesome powers.  Take that, Malta Sapper!