Illusion/Kinetic Controller - Build Help

[ravengale]

I've built this toon, but have no idea how to slot/enhance it.  Money is not an issue, so show me what'cha got.

[EmperorSteele]

How about you show us what you currently have? That will tell us a) what you've already done and b) your power choice preference. I don't want to make and post a build that uses the Flight pool and Fire Epic if you prefer to go SS and PSI respectively. Or anything else that too-far off your intended playstyle.  Give it a whirl, and you'll probably get a few responses 😃

 

[ravengale]

38 minutes ago, EmperorSteele said:

How about you show us what you currently have? That will tell us a) what you've already done and b) your power choice preference. I don't want to make and post a build that uses the Flight pool and Fire Epic if you prefer to go SS and PSI respectively. Or anything else that too-far off your intended playstyle.  Give it a whirl, and you'll probably get a few responses 😃

 

I haven't done anything, I don't even know what slots to put where.  She's just 50 at this point.

[Coyote]

46 minutes ago, ravengale said:

I haven't done anything, I don't even know what slots to put where.  She's just 50 at this point.

 

😮

[EmperorSteele]

So, what, did you PL her to 50 without even playing her at all? Like, did you literally door-sit the entire time?

...I'm not trying to be judgy, it's just that Illusion is a weird hybrid set that can be played in many different ways, such as a stealthy trickster, or a up-front combatant, an agent of chaos or a battlefield tactician. And there's a chance that I'd build for one of those things, and you'd hate it, because you may not enjoy that specific playstyle. In addition, it's just kind of a thing around here that we don't just give away builds to people who won't do the minimum leg work of discovering their build. Heck, you may find that you don't even LIKE playing Illu/Kin, so why should we make a build for you, have you buy all those IOs, just for you to say "...yuck"? You should really spend some time playing lowbie content with her, and get a feel for how to play her, and which powers you like using, and which one's you don't. There's no build advice anyone can give you that will be better than ACTUALLY playing the character and getting a feel for them.

Regardless, I'll be nice and give you some generic info/slotting suggestions, and maybe someone else will come along and offer corrections/additional tips:

Phantom Army is Illusion's key power, and any Illusion build worth its salt will work to minimize this power's downtime, and take advantage of the unique opportunities it offers. When cast, you get three invincible pets that draw agro and do a bit of damage. But they automatically despawn after about a minute. They cannot be buffed or healed, but they also cannot be debufed or damaged. The default recharge time on the power is pretty high (4 minutes), so it's hard to make this power "perma" (which is to say, you won't be able to recast this power before your PAs wear off without significant investment). You'll want 6 slots in this power. Fill those slots with 3 Damage IOs, and 3 Recharge Reduction IOs. If money is no object, make each of those +5 with Boosters.

You'll want Hasten (from the Speed pool) in your build. 3-slot this with Recharge Reduction IOs, and +5 them.

Make sure you have Siphon Speed from the Kinetics set. It doesn't need a lot to be effective. 1 Accuracy IO and 1 Recharge Reduction IO. +5 them. Just a note, this power will also make you run around super fast! If you're using Hover, it'll let you fly around at a good speed while maintaining control of your movement.

As long as Hasten is active and you can keep stacking Siphon Speeds, you'll be able to resummon PAs fairly quick after they die. However, Hasten will sometimes be on cooldown, and sometimes you'll miss your Siphon Speed, so your downtime may be closer to 30 seconds at points.

Flash is your AoE Hold. However, it only affects foes in melee range. Luckily, your best Kinetics power, Fulcrum Shift, ALSO works best in melee range (Transfusion and Transference, your HP and Endurance restoration powers, also work exclusively in melee)! So your strat here is to wander into the middle of a group of foes (either invisible with Superior Invisibility, or while your PAs are distracting them), cast Flash, then Fulcrum Shift, then unleash any AoE damage powers you may have picked up from your pool or Ancillary sets (Wall of Force, Spring attack, Fireball, etc)! For Flash, you'll want to 6-slot it: 2 Acc, 2 Hold, and 2 Recharge IOs, all +5'd. Fulcrum Shift doesn't require as much: 1 Acc and 1 Recharge is fine, but +5 on those. You may need to hit a baddie with Transference since both these powers consume a good deal of Endurance.

Transfusion and Transference: 2 Acc, 1 Recharge, and 2 Heal or Endurance Modification IOs, respectively. All +5'd.

Phantasm: Your main Pet. He's actually a bit janky. Unlike PA, he doesn't die automatically after a minute. However, he CAN die if he takes enough damage, and boy is he squishy! However, he'll benefit from your Siphon Power and Fulcrum Shift powers, and can be buffed by Speed Boost and Increase Density. 6-slot him for 3 Recharge Redux, 2 Damage, and 1 Accuracy (and again, +5 on all of them).

Siphon Power, IF you take it, should get 1 Acc IO. If you have an extra slot, add a Recharge into it. Speed Boost and Increase Density can both get away with the default slot. Put a Endurance Modification IO into SB, and a Resist Damage IO into ID (if you get it, it's semi-skippable). +5 on those definitely, though!

Health and Stamina: I've only been recommending basic IOs and not any set/named ones so far, because again, I'm not inclined to create a full build from scratch, buut in this case, I'd be doing you a disservice by not recommending Miracle: +Recovery for Health, and Performance Shifter: Chance for +End in Stamina. Put 1 more slot into Health and put a level 50+5 Healing IO into it, and put 2 more slots into Stamina, placing 2x 50+5 Endurance Modification IOs into that power. You don't have to "+5" the Miracle or Performance shifter procs, as their levels don't count towards the benefit they give you.

The rest of the powers available to you are up to preference, and there's far too many to go over, especially once you start getting into Pool powers and Epic powers. The amount of choices available are literally overwhelming, so, I get where you're coming from... but then again, you've apparently never even played this character, so that's kind of a trap you put yourself into!

Tell ya what: roll up a 2nd Illu/Kin, but this time, actually do content with the character. Do some sewer runs, learn the first ~5 levels worth of powers. See whether or not you like using a high damage power that heals the bad guy after a few seconds, or if you like turning a bad guy against his friends or if that's just a waste of your time. Use repel a few times before your teammates start yelling at you to stop knocking everyone all over the place! Get that character up to level 10, then do the Positron Task Force. Select powers you think sound fun, and just use them! if you find yourself NOT using them, or if you don't like what they do, then you know what not to include in your level 50 build, and maybe we can go from there!

 

[VV]

On 8/22/2020 at 4:27 PM, ravengale said:

I've built this toon, but have no idea how to slot/enhance it.  Money is not an issue, so show me what'cha got.

I've not built one of these, but it is quite a popular combo. You can probably find great builds all over the forums if you dig a little. Wish I could help more than that, but I know there are better builds out there than anything I could come up with. Do a bit of a search and see if you don't find some awesome stuff.

[ravengale]

On 8/23/2020 at 10:57 PM, EmperorSteele said:

So, what, did you PL her to 50 without even playing her at all? Like, did you literally door-sit the entire time?

...I'm not trying to be judgy, it's just that Illusion is a weird hybrid set that can be played in many different ways, such as a stealthy trickster, or a up-front combatant, an agent of chaos or a battlefield tactician. And there's a chance that I'd build for one of those things, and you'd hate it, because you may not enjoy that specific playstyle. In addition, it's just kind of a thing around here that we don't just give away builds to people who won't do the minimum leg work of discovering their build. Heck, you may find that you don't even LIKE playing Illu/Kin, so why should we make a build for you, have you buy all those IOs, just for you to say "...yuck"? You should really spend some time playing lowbie content with her, and get a feel for how to play her, and which powers you like using, and which one's you don't. There's no build advice anyone can give you that will be better than ACTUALLY playing the character and getting a feel for them.

Regardless, I'll be nice and give you some generic info/slotting suggestions, and maybe someone else will come along and offer corrections/additional tips:

Phantom Army is Illusion's key power, and any Illusion build worth its salt will work to minimize this power's downtime, and take advantage of the unique opportunities it offers. When cast, you get three invincible pets that draw agro and do a bit of damage. But they automatically despawn after about a minute. They cannot be buffed or healed, but they also cannot be debufed or damaged. The default recharge time on the power is pretty high (4 minutes), so it's hard to make this power "perma" (which is to say, you won't be able to recast this power before your PAs wear off without significant investment). You'll want 6 slots in this power. Fill those slots with 3 Damage IOs, and 3 Recharge Reduction IOs. If money is no object, make each of those +5 with Boosters.

You'll want Hasten (from the Speed pool) in your build. 3-slot this with Recharge Reduction IOs, and +5 them.

Make sure you have Siphon Speed from the Kinetics set. It doesn't need a lot to be effective. 1 Accuracy IO and 1 Recharge Reduction IO. +5 them. Just a note, this power will also make you run around super fast! If you're using Hover, it'll let you fly around at a good speed while maintaining control of your movement.

As long as Hasten is active and you can keep stacking Siphon Speeds, you'll be able to resummon PAs fairly quick after they die. However, Hasten will sometimes be on cooldown, and sometimes you'll miss your Siphon Speed, so your downtime may be closer to 30 seconds at points.

Flash is your AoE Hold. However, it only affects foes in melee range. Luckily, your best Kinetics power, Fulcrum Shift, ALSO works best in melee range (Transfusion and Transference, your HP and Endurance restoration powers, also work exclusively in melee)! So your strat here is to wander into the middle of a group of foes (either invisible with Superior Invisibility, or while your PAs are distracting them), cast Flash, then Fulcrum Shift, then unleash any AoE damage powers you may have picked up from your pool or Ancillary sets (Wall of Force, Spring attack, Fireball, etc)! For Flash, you'll want to 6-slot it: 2 Acc, 2 Hold, and 2 Recharge IOs, all +5'd. Fulcrum Shift doesn't require as much: 1 Acc and 1 Recharge is fine, but +5 on those. You may need to hit a baddie with Transference since both these powers consume a good deal of Endurance.

Transfusion and Transference: 2 Acc, 1 Recharge, and 2 Heal or Endurance Modification IOs, respectively. All +5'd.

Phantasm: Your main Pet. He's actually a bit janky. Unlike PA, he doesn't die automatically after a minute. However, he CAN die if he takes enough damage, and boy is he squishy! However, he'll benefit from your Siphon Power and Fulcrum Shift powers, and can be buffed by Speed Boost and Increase Density. 6-slot him for 3 Recharge Redux, 2 Damage, and 1 Accuracy (and again, +5 on all of them).

Siphon Power, IF you take it, should get 1 Acc IO. If you have an extra slot, add a Recharge into it. Speed Boost and Increase Density can both get away with the default slot. Put a Endurance Modification IO into SB, and a Resist Damage IO into ID (if you get it, it's semi-skippable). +5 on those definitely, though!

Health and Stamina: I've only been recommending basic IOs and not any set/named ones so far, because again, I'm not inclined to create a full build from scratch, buut in this case, I'd be doing you a disservice by not recommending Miracle: +Recovery for Health, and Performance Shifter: Chance for +End in Stamina. Put 1 more slot into Health and put a level 50+5 Healing IO into it, and put 2 more slots into Stamina, placing 2x 50+5 Endurance Modification IOs into that power. You don't have to "+5" the Miracle or Performance shifter procs, as their levels don't count towards the benefit they give you.

The rest of the powers available to you are up to preference, and there's far too many to go over, especially once you start getting into Pool powers and Epic powers. The amount of choices available are literally overwhelming, so, I get where you're coming from... but then again, you've apparently never even played this character, so that's kind of a trap you put yourself into!

Tell ya what: roll up a 2nd Illu/Kin, but this time, actually do content with the character. Do some sewer runs, learn the first ~5 levels worth of powers. See whether or not you like using a high damage power that heals the bad guy after a few seconds, or if you like turning a bad guy against his friends or if that's just a waste of your time. Use repel a few times before your teammates start yelling at you to stop knocking everyone all over the place! Get that character up to level 10, then do the Positron Task Force. Select powers you think sound fun, and just use them! if you find yourself NOT using them, or if you don't like what they do, then you know what not to include in your level 50 build, and maybe we can go from there!

 

I'm a farmer, so I pl'ed my own toon to build later.  I've played kinetics a lot and illusion a lot, but I've never put the 2 together.  I wanted to try something new I guess.  I know what all the powers do and how they work, I just don't know where to start with slotting and enhancing.  I figured I could come here and ask for help on how to do this.  I looked and looked for a build to even get a start with, but couldn't find anything.  It seems it's not very popular.

[EmperorSteele]

Aah, forgive the presumption, then! It's just you didn't have any other posts, so I kinda figured you were new-ish. I've also never put the two together --I main a Mind/Kin and an Illu/Time--, so I was only going off my experience on those two combos.

I suppose in your case, if you have an idea what you're doing and know all about set bonuses and all, focus on the Illu side. Kin doesn't need much slotting when you have a boatload of extra accuracy and recharge, and Kin doesn't utilize many sets anyway, at least not in a way that makes sense (I wouldn't 5-slot Speed Boost just for a set bonus, for instance). But yeah, my main point stands: if you post a build, people will be more inclined to help out. Otherwise... well, you've seen the lack of helpful responses otherwise =/

[advo]

since this combination of powers was not allowed on live servers and was only enabled by the homecoming team you will not find a build guide for this. your guess is as good at everyone elses. i would suggest you look up a illusion controller build and a /kinetic corruptor build then combine the two.