100% Solo only controller options please

[FenrisWolf44]

I will be playing solo all the time, only doing door/story missions. Just the old school slow levelling process. I am looking to play a controller, and I have read there are some strong solo options that would suit me. Something powerful, but also fun, as I like to create a story for the character and will help me stick with it 🙂

 

I have heard some things about Plant/Storm, which would suit a druid theme. Can anyone suggest any other strong solo builds they had success with?

 

Ideally I'm not looking for builds that 'only get good' late levels and IO'd to death. Looking for something strong enough and consistent enough from level 1 onwards on a minimal budget.

 

Many thanks.

[fitzsimmons]

You can make anything work.  Most trollers are going to be a slow grind due to lack of damage.  Ill/rad or Ill/ta is fun.  Fire/poison is fun as well.

 

Since you'll be doing mostly solo, I have a lot of fun on my grav/traps and you may too.  Step 1, setup traps.  Step 2, wormhole the enemies onto the traps.  Step 3, profit.

 

For extra damage, add procs to attacks.  I have a procced out plant/poison.  Probably my most damaging troller but you can proc out other trollers as well.

 

I don't think you can go wrong so play something you want, ,it'll work.

 

Enjoy!

[Gulbasaur]

Mind, Dark and Gravity spring to mind if you want good sets that pick up quickly.

 

Mind is practically a blast set and because it has an early AoE sleep arguably works better solo.

 

Dark has a very useful debuff and is basically Mind: Now With Pets.

 

Gravity is similarly blasty and has some very powerful panic button powers.

 

Illusion is a classic strong soloer, but is very reliant on high recharge.

 

Time, rad, dark and (later) storm are very strong solo secondary. Time and radiation are both good all-rounders. Dark is a very strong defensive set and gives you a second pet with some powerful debuffs. Storm takes a while to get going but when it's up and running, it is a very good offensive set, but suffers from the same focus on high recharge. Poison is pretty strong.

 

If you can afford one fairly expensive IO, Contagious Confusion turns the confuse toggle in the epic power pool into something very, very defensive. It's very inconsistent, but when it goes off it's a thing of beauty.

Edited October 7, 2020 by Gulbasaur

[Coyote]

With procs you can set up all Controllers to do at least decent single-target damage. AoE will be a problem, so it depends on what you want to do with your difficulty level: if you want to raise the level but not the numbers much, you're fine. If you want to raise the spawn sizes, then you'll need some with good AoE.

 

AoE Controller options:

Primary: Plant, Fire are good... Electric, Dark are okay.

Secondary: Poison, TA, Storm, Traps

 

Single Target Controller: all are okay, the good ones are Illusion, Gravity, Fire, Dark and maybe Mind.

Secondary: Poison, TA, Storm, Traps, maybe Cold and Time

 

Also, are you willing to wait until epic pools for AoE? Ice and Earth APPs can shore up AoE damage a lot, and open AoE damage to a lot of combinations.

 

Some top ideas are: Plant/Poison, Illusion/Traps, Gravity/Storm.

Edited October 7, 2020 by Coyote

[Sovera]

Something with a self heal would do you a world of good. Plant is the first option thanks to the immensely powerful Seeds of Confusion. It recharges so fast it is up for every single spawn allowing you to up the difficulty at will since not only are the enemies CCed but they are even fighting themselves which does a lot to help a Controller's low damage. It also starts at level 8.

 

Some might say Illusion but as someone who has leveled a few of those in the past I'm going to disagree. It's true PA is a great power and comes early at 18, but it shines when it can be near permanent which does not happen 'early'. It also suffers from not being controllable so they are out but we can't send them to hit the next pack and instead need to walk closer so that they will agro.

 

Gravity has some nice ST powers to make big booms which is always nice for a solo Controller and some people will swear by it. I felt the big boom fades quickly.

 

Fire is a staple and though Bonfire is not super early in being obtained it does perform more than adequately in terms of CCing once KB>KD is applied.

 

Overall I'm still going to say Plant.

 

 

Storm is a good choice, but no self heal which is a bit grim. Lots of damage but terrible endurance hungry which isn't very fun.

 

Time is a good staple too. Self heal, buffs, minor -regen, most of not particularly useful for a solo Controller since things are CCed and not bothering you.

 

Radiation isn't bad, but, not great either. 90% of the game is slapping normal enemies and the other 10% are AVs and EBs which is where Radiation shines. It does have a nice heal and nice self-buffs.

 

Kinetics shines as usual. Though it takes reaching 38 Fulcrum Shift mostly fixes a Controller's low output. It has a heal, it has an endurance recovery clickie, if you do team players will love you to bits.

 

 

Though I parrot myself I'm going to say Plant/Kin.

[FenrisWolf44]

So many great replies. Thanks very much 🙂

[Doomguide2005]

I think Plant/Storm would be an excellent choice.  As would Earth/Storm.

 

Traps is also a great secondary especially for solo.  Force Field Generator provides defense and perhaps more important while leveling mez protection.

[WillParkinson2]

On 10/7/2020 at 4:09 PM, Sovera said:

Something with a self heal would do you a world of good. Plant is the first option thanks to the immensely powerful Seeds of Confusion. It recharges so fast it is up for every single spawn allowing you to up the difficulty at will since not only are the enemies CCed but they are even fighting themselves which does a lot to help a Controller's low damage. It also starts at level 8.

 

Some might say Illusion but as someone who has leveled a few of those in the past I'm going to disagree. It's true PA is a great power and comes early at 18, but it shines when it can be near permanent which does not happen 'early'. It also suffers from not being controllable so they are out but we can't send them to hit the next pack and instead need to walk closer so that they will agro.

 

Gravity has some nice ST powers to make big booms which is always nice for a solo Controller and some people will swear by it. I felt the big boom fades quickly.

 

Fire is a staple and though Bonfire is not super early in being obtained it does perform more than adequately in terms of CCing once KB>KD is applied.

 

Overall I'm still going to say Plant.

 

 

Storm is a good choice, but no self heal which is a bit grim. Lots of damage but terrible endurance hungry which isn't very fun.

 

Time is a good staple too. Self heal, buffs, minor -regen, most of not particularly useful for a solo Controller since things are CCed and not bothering you.

 

Radiation isn't bad, but, not great either. 90% of the game is slapping normal enemies and the other 10% are AVs and EBs which is where Radiation shines. It does have a nice heal and nice self-buffs.

 

Kinetics shines as usual. Though it takes reaching 38 Fulcrum Shift mostly fixes a Controller's low output. It has a heal, it has an endurance recovery clickie, if you do team players will love you to bits.

 

 

Though I parrot myself I'm going to say Plant/Kin.

Oddly I never considered plant/kinetics, and now my mind is reeling!

[VV]

Grav/Storm, of course. Both grav and storm bring decent damage early on. By 16 you have Lift, Crush, Propel, Crushing Field, Gale, and Freezing Rain as decent damage.

 

Plant/Dark is good, as well. Dark is defensive, with a good heal. Plant has Seeds of Confusion at level 8.

 

Fire, of course, is one everyone recommends for good damage. I am not fond of the playstyle, but it is good at damage.

 

Remember that playing solo, it is better to consider Debuffs than Buffs for your secondary. -ToHit & -Damage helps you survive, -Def, -Res helps you speed up your kill rate.

[krj12]

Plant/Storm is good soloing.

Fire/Anything is good in the DPS department, once you get your pets.

 

I wouldn't judge any combination until the mid 30s, which is where most controller sets start to shine.

 

 

[mezzosoprano]

I'm a strong advocate for Plant/Storm.  🙂  Seeds of Confusion is an amazing power, especially when used as an opener from stealth.  Against larger spawns of even-level bad guys, you can confuse them, drop freezing rain, then spam roots until they drop.  Endurance can be a big problem -- I'd recommend slotting more end reduction than you might otherwise and to pick up any of the +recovery IOs that your budget allows ASAP.

[Bill Z Bubba]

Got my dark/pain troller into the 40s now. Being able to keep the dog buffed with World of Pain and Painbringer, WoP for the Haunts as well, has made this character my goto for a soloing controller. And no, I don't even use possess. It may stay in the build to mule a purple set but it's not going to see much if any use beyond that.

 

My fire/dark troller also rocks solo.

[Corythia]

My solo/farm Controller is Plant/Storm.  Other Controllers that solo well/quickly are Fire/Dark and Fire/Rad.  Plant anything is strong, but kill speed without a resist debuff can make soloing controllers slow, so again Storm, Dark, and Rad can help with that.  For epic power pools, the cold set has the most dps, though the earth one isn't bad either.  I am currently working on a Fire/Storm char that is pretty good solo, but very end intensive, and pretty squishy.

 

Someone mentioned Earth/Storm,  I find the control very strong there, but kill speed to be slow and endurance intensive.

 

So things I've played that solo well: Plant/Storm, Plant/Time, Plant/Nature, Plant/Rad, Fire/Dark, Fire/Rad, Earth/Storm, Cold/Rad(lots of procs to get this to go).  Only Plant/Storm, Fire/Dark, and Fire/Rad solo quickly and well.

 

By solo well I mean soloing 5-6 player by level 26, and 8 player by level 40.  Plant/Storm can solo 8 player at 32.

[Doomguide2005]

Not sure if I was the first to specifically say Earth/Storm or not but yes slower going until later when /Storm gets rolling.  That and my forced hiatus I've not delved into how well Earth can be turned into "proc monster".  Plant would be potent nearly out of the starter blocks precisely because of Seeds which helps both with safety as well as clear speed until Storm really gets rolling.  

[Coyote]

I would say Plant/Storm over Earth/Storm. Earth helps teams more, and is less vulnerable to "OMG, Rularuu eyeballs resist Confuse and hit me like they can't miss!!!" problems. But for soloing most of the game, Plant gets damage earlier, gets more damage, and is pretty safe also. Earth is only safer/better at soloing AVs since Stoney can tank them.