I love big controls and I cannot lie

[Aeroprism]

Hello beautiful people!

 

I never played a controller on live.  Decided to try it here and I'm completely engrossed.

 

Each of my controllers was created after discussing with people here.  My Ill/Traps is insane fun and my Elec/Time remains my main character, insane in teams.

 

Then I started looking at ice/   and  /elec.   A Ice/elec sounds nice on paper, focused on staying near the tank, heavy on debuffs.  But then I'm starting to wonder if my main shouldn't have been elec/elec instead.  Would it be redundant? She's level 29 now and I don't really want to restart her unless I'm certain it's the good decision.

 

Your thoughts, as always, are appreciated.

 

Edit: And suppose we all agree that elec/elec is the way to go, what complements Ice/ well?  Because never enough alts.

Edited September 23, 2020 by Aeroprism

[Coyote]

I have a different opinion about Ice.

I think it shines with a secondary that provides -ToHit.

The reason is that if you play Ice/Rad or Ice/Dark, after you drop all your powers on a spawn, the spawn is fully active and has no hard control upon it (other than Immobilize). However, it does have:
-Recharge: mobs attack less often.
Regular knockdowns: again, attack less often.

-ToHit: mobs hit less often when they do attack.

-Damage: mobs do less damage when they do hit.

Confuse: mobs occasionally attack each other, so they attack the team less often.

An AoE heal, which can easily keep up with damage done by a spawn that attacks less often, hits less often, and does less damage.

 

Basically, it's the idea of "go ahead and act... just ineffectively" that is usually not considered true control. So you end up with opponents nerfed by redirecting and weakening their attacks rather than by preventing them.

[Aeroprism]

I tend to agree with @Coyote 

 

My Elec/Time doesn't have much in terms of hard control, I almost never use my mass-hold.  Doesn't need to when everything is utterly drained of endurance, debuffed to the floor and crawling very slowly with tons of -recharge on them.

 

So far, ice/rad looks yummy, but this doesn't solve my first question:  Elec/Time or Elec/Elec?

[Coyote]

Elec/Elec

 

Time's movement debuffs matter less when Elec has some End recovery options that allow it to use its Immobilize more often. And when the Immob is part of the AoE draining that it depends on.

Time's recharge debuffs matter less when mobs generally will get drained relatively quickly, so it won't matter if their powers recharge faster... because it's their lack of Endurance that prevents actions (or being asleep).

Same for -ToHit... other than mitigating the alpha strike (which /Elec does with the Absorb and the +Resist buffs), -ToHit is less relevant when mobs are drained.

 

Time is strong defensively so it will help any primary defend, but /Elec will stack AoE drain and -Recovery on top of Elec/, use the Absorb/Resist to survive the alpha, and play by Immobilizing and draining enemies. /Time doesn't have any special synergy with Elec/ that makes it better with it, while /Elec does. Time is a stronger set overall than Electric, but I think for Elec primary specifically, the Elec secondary gains the most by being paired with it.

 

BTW, on the idea of pairing -ToHit with Ice, whereas Ice likes to play in melee range due to its PBAoE aura, and has a problem with alpha strikes, /Time is a good secondary for it since with Farsight and Time's Juncture, it really makes mobs miss. Then you add -Recharge to easily floor the recharge of anything. And it has a 2nd Hold to quickly stack Holds on Bosses, while Arctic Air stacks Confuse mag on LTs and lower.

 

So I would personally run Elec/Elec and Ice/Time, rather than the reverse matchups.

[oedipus_tex]

A constant hazard for both Ice and Electric Control is getting detoggled, which drops your PBAoE aura and allows enemies to resume attacking. Elec Affinity is one of the few secondaries that provides mezz protection, so its always going to pair well with either set.

 

That said, Ice/Time has a ton of synergy and shouldn't be overlooked for reasons Coyote listed. 

 

 

[Aeroprism]

I love you people so much!