Dark/??? Controller

[ccrob00]

Hey everyone!

 

Been wanting to try to make a dark controller for a long time. I've heard that it's pretty good and I am looking for something to pair it with. The three sets that I have gotten down to are /Dark, /Rad and /Electric Affinity.

 

All three of which would work with the concept that I am going for. Thanks ahead of time for the advice!

[seresibyl3]

Dark is thematic, rad is out done, electric is good but it requires a lot of its own individual attention... 

 

I'd go with dark if I wanted to really enjoy the primary.

[Mercurias]

As a personal choice, I would go with Dark/Dark. I'm not feeling Rad Affinity these days, and Electrical Affinity is really awesome in concept, but not really my playstyle in practice. The Dark Controller secondary is absolutely fantastic, though, and one of my favorites.

 

As an alternative just for the heck of it, you might also like the /Time secondary. It plays nicely with Dark Control.

 

As far as Epic/Patron pools, I'm personally a fan of Fire (for added attacks) and Primal (for Power Boost). YMMV. 

 

Hope any of this helps, and that you enjoy the character!

[Nightmarer 2]

Personally I'd go Dark/Dark. Had a Dark/Time but I ended up deleting it because it was way too clicky for my taste, wish we could have an auto-power per tray but apparently, according to a bunch of idiots, that'd make an army of bots flock to the game plus people would afk farm (as if they didn't do so now) and we'd be doomed  forever so we all need to give up on qol improvements for the peace of mind of a few.

Edited June 19, 2020 by Nightmarer
Typos, typos everywhere

[Doc Ranger]

I just stripped a Dark/Time at 45 I was leveling. Not nearly as powerful (to me) as Dark/Dark. Still to this day my favorite toon is my Dark/Dark. 

[Golden Azrael]

On 6/17/2020 at 10:29 PM, ccrob00 said:

Hey everyone!

 

Been wanting to try to make a dark controller for a long time. I've heard that it's pretty good and I am looking for something to pair it with. The three sets that I have gotten down to are /Dark, /Rad and /Electric Affinity.

 

All three of which would work with the concept that I am going for. Thanks ahead of time for the advice!

I have Storm with mine.

 

Azrael.

[Hjarki]

My thoughts on each set:

• Dark Affinity. While this is a strong set and thematically appropriate, there's almost no synergy. Dark Affinity is an in-your-face set while Darkness Control is most definitely a stand-at-range set. Stacking -hit on top of -hit isn't really all that useful given that your Fearsome Stare will normally floor hit chances (with standard global defenses) anyway.
• Radiation. While this has a decent array of abilities, I tend to view it as a bit 'archaic' from the standpoint of doing much the same things as other sets (just not as well). However, it's a basically solid set, albeit one that isn't going to help keep your Umbra Beast alive all that effectively (Umbra Beast is the bulk of Darkness Control's damage).
• Electric Affinity. This is a decent set for pet-based builds, but it's also a low offense set. Pairing a low offense secondary with the weak offense of Darkness Control will probably be a bit frustrating. The bubble also isn't all that useful for Darkness Control since the Umbra Beast already has status protection and the extra resist could be gottten more effectively elsewhere.

 

[Doomguide2005]

@HjarkiWhat's your thought on pairing with /Cold.  No experience with Darkness Control and most of my Cold, at high level anyway, is as a defender but I've been intrigued by Dark/Cold.

[Hjarki]

27 minutes ago, Doomguide2005 said:

@HjarkiWhat's your thought on pairing with /Cold.  No experience with Darkness Control and most of my Cold, at high level anyway, is as a defender but I've been intrigued by Dark/Cold.

I tend to think "why play /Cold when you could play /Storm?". The two power sets are very similar in many ways, but Storm brings a lot more damage. However, Cold does complement Dark relatively well. The shields will keep the Umbra Beast active while the debuffing will add a bit of damage.

[Xandyr]

On 6/20/2020 at 1:31 PM, Hjarki said:

My thoughts on each set:

 

• Radiation. While this has a decent array of abilities, I tend to view it as a bit 'archaic' from the standpoint of doing much the same things as other sets (just not as well). However, it's a basically solid set, albeit one that isn't going to help keep your Umbra Beast alive all that effectively (Umbra Beast is the bulk of Darkness Control's damage).

 

Curious as to why you say /Rad is decent and does the same as other sets but not as well?

 You can get an absurd amount of -to hit debuff (more than Darkest Night gives), plus you also get -resist/defense and -regen.  Granted, the heal isn't as good as Twilight Grasp, but you also get AM, and in emergencies you can unleash EM Pulse.

  Has the values for Radiation been lowered from Live? My fire/rad troller, on Live, solo'd every GM in the game. Haven't really played much of Rad on Homecoming to see if it's still as potent as it was then.

[Hjarki]

1 hour ago, Xandyr said:

Curious as to why you say /Rad is decent and does the same as other sets but not as well?

 You can get an absurd amount of -to hit debuff (more than Darkest Night gives), plus you also get -resist/defense and -regen.  Granted, the heal isn't as good as Twilight Grasp, but you also get AM, and in emergencies you can unleash EM Pulse.

  Has the values for Radiation been lowered from Live? My fire/rad troller, on Live, solo'd every GM in the game. Haven't really played much of Rad on Homecoming to see if it's still as potent as it was then.

Time tends to provide the same key features, only better. It provides defense rather than resists, it provides more recharge, and so forth.

[Coyote]

7 hours ago, Xandyr said:

Curious as to why you say /Rad is decent and does the same as other sets but not as well?

 

Well, if you want to debuff AVs for killing, /Cold does it better (almost as good at -Regen, a lot better -Resist).

If you want to defend the team well, /Time puts out good -ToHit and also +Defense that doesn't care about positioning.

If you want a combination of both, /Dark puts out WAY more -ToHit (Darkest Night, plus Chill of the Night from Dark Servant, plus Fearsome Stare on Defenders or a +Defense power on Controllers), WAY more -Damage (over -100% on a single target), and a stronger heal. With better -Resist on AVs and comparable -Regen.

 

Rad is a good combination, works on everything, but isn't as good as many other choices buff/debuff choices that also offer a defense/-ToHit boost, -Regen, and -Resist.

[Frosticus]

 

On 6/17/2020 at 2:29 PM, ccrob00 said:

Hey everyone!

 

Been wanting to try to make a dark controller for a long time. I've heard that it's pretty good and I am looking for something to pair it with. The three sets that I have gotten down to are /Dark, /Rad and /Electric Affinity.

 

All three of which would work with the concept that I am going for. Thanks ahead of time for the advice!

Of those 3? /rad

AM, EF, and LR

sure people say AM isn't as good as chronoshift? ok, but you get AM at lvl 4 and it does a lot of things that matter to most players like +dam, +speed, in addition to recovery and recharge. It is still one of the better powers in the game.

EF is just super reliable. Auto hit, recharges fast, big aoe and a quick cast time. There are better -res powers in some situations, but EF is still solid.

LR...I'm not sure who wouldn't want LR? Fast cast, not too difficult to perma and even stack a bit. Huge aoe slow/-rech. IMO the best -regen power you can get once you factor in the speed and range.

 

/dark is a great set, but it is soooooo slow. Everything casts at a snails pace.

/ela is super solid, but dark doesn't really need that much mitigation.

 

If it was my character I'd pair it with /cold, or if feeling adventurous - /poison.

/cold is a ridiculously powerful set that solo's well and teams extremely well. 

[Frosticus]

On 6/20/2020 at 2:51 PM, Hjarki said:

I tend to think "why play /Cold when you could play /Storm?". The two power sets are very similar in many ways, but Storm brings a lot more damage. However, Cold does complement Dark relatively well. The shields will keep the Umbra Beast active while the debuffing will add a bit of damage.

I'm the opposite. I find myself asking if I should give up the huge utility, strong  buffing and superior debuffing of /cold for tornado. While I think /storm is a lot of fun, but more often than not, I say - no.

[Hjarki]

2 hours ago, Frosticus said:

I'm the opposite. I find myself asking if I should give up the huge utility, strong  buffing and superior debuffing of /cold for tornado. While I think /storm is a lot of fun, but more often than not, I say - no.

It's often more an issue of the massive recharge from Tornado/Lightning Storm + Force Feedback. For Controllers, I think Storm tends to be better since it's a higher damage/more active set and you've got the ability to contain the spawns. For Corruptors, I think Cold tends to work better since it doesn't interfere with your attacks.

Edited July 26, 2020 by Hjarki

[Parabola]

5 hours ago, Frosticus said:

Of those 3? /rad

AM, EF, and LR

sure people say AM isn't as good as chronoshift? ok, but you get AM at lvl 4 and it does a lot of things that matter to most players like +dam, +speed, in addition to recovery and recharge. It is still one of the better powers in the game.

EF is just super reliable. Auto hit, recharges fast, big aoe and a quick cast time. There are better -res powers in some situations, but EF is still solid.

LR...I'm not sure who wouldn't want LR? Fast cast, not too difficult to perma and even stack a bit. Huge aoe slow/-rech. IMO the best -regen power you can get once you factor in the speed and range.

Yup, all of this. Rad only becomes a slow set to use if you regularly use radiation infection which has a horrible cast time. There is no point in using RI though unless the mobs are dangerous and the fights are going on for a while.

 

I'm a big fan of rad as a controller secondary in particular. It crams so much into a handful of powers leaving huge build flexibiliy. This is particularly useful for controllers because it leaves them free to pick up epic powers early and go deep into those pools.