Want to make an Illusion Controller

[therealtitanman]

11 hours ago, Uun said:

The pet auras only benefits Phantasm, who is pretty squishy either way. Plan to resummon him alot.

so no point slot the aura right?

[roleki]

7 hours ago, therealtitanman said:

so no point slot the aura right?

To be honest, I rarely deploy Phantasm on my Ill/Traps, and I end up dismissing it myself more than it ever gets itself killed in combat.  When you've teleported your invisible self behind a massive mob and prepared a line of trip mines for them to stumble onto when they react to the sudden appearance of your Phantom Army, nothing quite ruins the party like Phantasm finally showing up long enough to yell "HAY GUYS!?  WHAT YOU DOING!?  WHAT DO YOU THINK OF POWER BOLT FROM WAAAAY OVER HEEEERE?!" 

[Zepp]

A lot of people do not like Illusion because they see it as not a control set. The reality is that if you are good at managing aggro via your pets and positioning, you can control the battlefield better than most control primaries. A lot of players opt to play it as more of a damage set, but if you choose to learn how to use it as a control set it is really good.

[Force Redux]

2 hours ago, Zepp said:

A lot of people do not like Illusion because they see it as not a control set. The reality is that if you are good at managing aggro via your pets and positioning, you can control the battlefield better than most control primaries. A lot of players opt to play it as more of a damage set, but if you choose to learn how to use it as a control set it is really good.

It's definitely not a standard control set,  I have an Illusion/Rad I've grown to love. Spectral Terror is an amazing power: fear, -ToHit, proc able, quick recharge, solid duration. 

 

I know many don't care for Flash, but I find it's pretty useful in tandem with my hold aura in Rad. Locks down groups with bosses easily, and despite being pbaoe, Superior invisibility with it -threat helps make that feasible. 

[Zepp]

Group invisibility also stacks (which is important for an added little defense boost), but yah, it does have some more traditional skills.

The reason that many don't care for Flash is because it is one of the three outliers in AoE Hold cast duration (Shadow Field [2.904], Flash [3.168], Vines [3.3]) and the other two are patches, making them more effective. As such, it is probably the worst AoE Hold in any control set.

That being said, it is accessible from an early level which means that, if you team, it can be an exceptionally powerful early tool. Add Choking Cloud with Lockdown procs in both and you easily have solid AoE Lockdown at least once a minute (in a build that can reach 250+ global recharge without FFB procs). Flash, however, is a pre-emptive measure whereas AoE Holds are more often used as OS buttons. That being said, can we get that animation time chopped?

[Force Redux]

I support animation chopping! 👍🏻😁

[Normal Thomas]

What Epic/Patron Pools do y'all like for Illusion? I went for Ice and I'm loving it so far. I know a lot of people go for Primal Forces but I don't see the point of power boost on a set that activates all of its control thru pets.

[Coyote]

Ice for AoE damage, which Controllers are usually short on.

Or Earth for less AoE damage but an AoE that can slot Force Feedback, which is good for Illusion, and Seismic Smash.

 

For Controllers, I generally consider that their defenses are overly strong, and their offense is overly weak, and therefore try to get damage from the APPs. There are a few exceptions, usually Fire or Plant builds, but generally I want damage from APPs and that means Ice is best, and Earth is quite good.

[Zepp]

Just thought I'd throw this here. I'm playing an Ill/SS troller and for my 1st tray I have my attacks/summons and I used some keybinds to make things run more smoothly...

1. Blind (no bind)
2. Spectral Wounds (no bind)
3. Phantasm ( /bind 3 PowExecLocation Self Phantasm )
4. Summon Coralax ( /bind 4 PowExecLocation Self Summon Coralax )
5. Spectral Terror ( /bind 5 PowExecLocation Target Spectral Terror )
6. Freezing Rain ( /bind 6 PowExecLocation Target Freezing Rain )
7. Lightning Storm (no bind)
8. Water Spout ( /bind 8 PowExecLocation Target Water Spout )
9. Tornado ( /bind 9 PowExecLocation Target Tornado )
10. Phantom Army ( /bind 0 PowExecLocation Self Phantom Army )

This make the combo of Illusion and Storm Summoning feel a lot less clunky (especially with Leviathan Master, which is a glorious trifecta). Even if you only have to bind Phantasm and Phantom Army, this makes things a lot smoother (and if I want to target something I can just click on it manually).

[Normal Thomas]

Those macros are a huge help. It definitely makes setting up things like my ice storm and caltrops easier.

[VV]

On 10/27/2020 at 10:43 PM, JawGod said:

How do you even play an Illusion/Traps controller?

So, I've gotten my Ill/Traps to 49.5 and I can say, it plays WAY different than any other alt I have. In combat it is near totally hands off. I will often pretty much ignore what is going on around me and just wander around casting pets and traps. I do need to watch out for stepping in too many AOEs. But, basically, the bad guys mostly just ignore me while I go about my business.

 

So, this is very different than normal characters where the interaction is direct. Even the buffs and heals are indirect, as are the debuffs. I can see how this would be off-putting to people who have a strong preference for directness, but to me, it is nice to have something different to play.

[Zepp]

7 hours ago, Normal Thomas said:

Those macros are a huge help. It definitely makes setting up things like my ice storm and caltrops easier.

I actually do these as binds (it allows me to use the mouse to place if need be, but also, it allows me to see the cooldown).

[Coyote]

9 hours ago, Zepp said:

I actually do these as binds (it allows me to use the mouse to place if need be, but also, it allows me to see the cooldown).

 

Same... binds for all location drops including PA. With drops from Illusion, Storm, and Ice Epic, it's just too hard to keep clicking locations.

Although, I do have several binds set up so that Ctrl-click drops Freezing Rain, Ctrl-right click sets up PA (and left click then drops it), then the same for Alt-click and Alt-left click, so I have to move my fingers less to find different keys.

[VV]

Speaking of Binds/Macros, using the powexec_location command do you prefer to drop your pets/traps at your feet or at your target?