Looking for general powerset advice!

[Tobris]

I didn't find out about the CoH servers until a couple months ago and I've been struggling to find the right combination of Archtype and Power Sets for me. I've gotten a couple dozen characters to 15 and always find something that feels like it might be annoying to team up with or they just don't do or feel how I thought they would.

 

That said I'm looking to play a specific style and I know there are people here who can help me find it. I'm looking for something that has strong debilitating debuffs, whether that comes in the form of hold, immobilize, slow, or other kind of debuffs, I want to help my team survive by making it so they don't get hit or take less damage when they do.

 

The other side of the coin is I don't find myself a very good healer, so it's better to pair that with buffs to my party (or more control/debuffs!) than healing. I'm also fairly bad at micromanaging buffs to allies, so things like bubbles are probably not for me.

 

I started out soloing on melee but really felt the draw to play a support role in teams and I have tried a few Dominator, Controller and Blaster combos, but I'm just not sure what might fit the bill. And the last time I played live was a bit after the F2P update, so a lot of the newer and/or proliferated sets escape me.

 

Thank you for any suggestions!

[drbuzzard]

Radiation emission, or darkness affinity are likely what you want. They both do a bang up job of debuffing the heck out of enemies. You don't have to do any targeted buffs or heals either. They both have heals, but they are AOE heals. 

 

Now it seems like you don't want to do direct damage, hence you're best off as a controller IMO. Since you want a strong control set which is fairly simple, I'd say Earth or Ice. Both of these have good area knockdown powers which can just leave a spawn flopping around like fish. 

Edited May 27, 2021 by drbuzzard

[Apparition]

Debuffs, minimal or no healing, and no micromanagement.  You are looking for a Dark Miasma/Dark Affinity or Trick Arrow Corruptor, Defender, or Controller.  Personally, I favor Corruptor because damage is king and the stronger support modifier on Defender is overkill.

[TemporalVileTerror]

Dark Miasma on Masterminds, Corruptors, and Defenders (or Darkness Affinity for Controls) is probably worth your time to check out.

Twilight Grasp is one of the most powerful AoE Heals in the game, but requires an enemy target and a To-Hit check.  But, extra bonus, right now it has some odd behaviour where it can actually revive you if you die in the middle of the animation.  Not sure if that's a bug, or an (un)intentional feature, but it's fun!

Tar Patch is great for giving your teammates a little indirect Damage boost by decreasing your enemies' Resistance, while also slowing them down.  And it doesn't need any slotting to be good late-game either.

Howling Twilight is an AoE Stun against enemies plus AoE Revive for allies!  Pump up your Global Recharge, and use this power offensively for some fantastic Control.
Shadow Fall is a PBAoE Toggle which grants stealth to you and nearby allies, as well as Defense and Resistance to some Damage types.
Dark Servant is a pet that lasts a few minutes and spams To-Hit Debuffs on enemies, as well as casts its own version of Twilight Grasp.  Very handy!
Miasma has:  Fearsome Stare and Petrifying Gaze.  The former is a Cone Fear, and pretty strong for what it does.  It also tears in to enemies' To-Hit, making them less likely to harm you or your allies.  Petrifying Gaze is a single-target Hold with no Damage, BUT it is a great mule for Basilisk's Gaze IO Set or other Hold-Power Sets you may want.

Affinity has:  Fade and Soul Absorption.  I've not personally paid too much attention to Fade, but it's an PBAoE buff for Defense and Resistance.  Seems like Shadow Fall, but you have to recast it every couple minutes.  Meanwhile, Soul Absorption takes care of Dark Miasma's biggest weakness with +Recovery.  For you and the whole team!  Based on the number of live AND defeated enemies!  It's sweet, sweet glorious relief!

 

And then there's Black Hole.   It's . . . well . . . it's probably not even worth taking about.  Enjoy the free Power Pick Slot!

[ZemX]

You guys are fast.  I was going to say Dark Miasma Corruptor or Defender too but... interesting reading.  I've never given Darkness Affinity much thought but suddenly I want to try a Mind/Dark controller myself.

[Apparition]

3 minutes ago, ZemX said:

You guys are fast.  I was going to say Dark Miasma Corruptor or Defender too but... interesting reading.  I've never given Darkness Affinity much thought but suddenly I want to try a Mind/Dark controller myself.

 

Darkness Affinity is great now that Fade is fixed.  I really want to make a Gravity/Dark Controller.  But I also know that I am a troll and the urge to take and regularly use Dimension Shift, Wormhole, and Black Hole on teams would be strong.

Edited May 26, 2021 by Apparition

[arcane]

I would prefer trick arrow or storm summoning here. More debilitating and more offense, with the big tradeoff being dark or rad will give you a self heal. But if you use inspirations that’s not an issue. Rad is totally fine but my gripe with dark is being slow on the offensive end. A couple weeks back my Ill/Dark solo’d a level 54 AV, but it took forever 😞

[Riverdusk]

My first thought with those criteria was trick arrow, but dark is definitely amazing, especially on controllers.  Fade isn't as annoying now graphically so I rolled up a plant/dark controller and it can pretty much do it all.  Damage, controls, buffs, debuffs, healing, but none of it is really micro management type as it is all aoe. It is one of my favorite characters.

[Doomguide2005]

     I'll add to the chorus of anything Dark.  Strong to hit debuffs combined many crowd control powers even when not on a controller version.  It's a classic set that works well for both a more classic style of play or running with the newer "proc monster" offensive style.  No teammate buffs to worry about.  Cold is another strong debuff set that also offers team shields (bubbles) which with the changes making them AoE's don't require micromanaging for use in team settings.

[TemporalVileTerror]

Oh!  I've been reminded:
Twilight Grasp?

Use it liberally on Archvillains.  Even if your whole team is at full health.
Why?
To-Hit Debuff AND Regen Debuff

[Tobris]

Thank you for the replies, this confirms that I was way off in where I was looking.  I was looking at Grav and Kin or Time Controller or Grav and Energy Dominator. I will definitely look into Dark, Trick Arrow and Storm.

[JnEricsonx]

SInce no one else has said it, I think:  Welcome Back.   Did you avail yourself of the free box of Kleenex offered when you logged in for the first time and realized everything was getting blurry?   Cause I sure did.

[Grouchybeast]

I'm going to throw in another vote for Cold (Defender or Corruptor).  Keeping the shields up is NBD these days, since they're AOE.  The debuffs are delicious -- no mobs are shooting that your team mates because they're busy doing the landed fish flip-flop on the floor -- and no one is expecting heals from Cold.  (I guess they can expect them if they like, but I recommend just shrugging and telling them that you're not that kind of Defender.)  If you really want to lean heavy on the debuffs, you can pair it up with a blast set like Sonic. Rad or Dark.

[Heraclea]

I couldn't get into defenders until I rolled a Poison/Dark.  What I like about the combo is that I'm not a healer, and almost every power is aimed at enemies rather than allies.  Radiation is also a good choice for what you describe, but to some extent,  it requires conning mobs to identify bosses beforehand, and the game has moved beyond that quite a ways.  

[MTeague]

8 minutes ago, Heraclea said:

I couldn't get into defenders until I rolled a Poison/Dark.  What I like about the combo is that I'm not a healer, and almost every power is aimed at enemies rather than allies.  Radiation is also a good choice for what you describe, but to some extent,  it requires conning mobs to identify bosses beforehand, and the game has moved beyond that quite a ways.  

I mean, to some degree so does poison?

you're definitely going to want the primary debuffs to land on bosses first (though catching them with splash effects for additional debuffing never hurts...)

 

The "I want to be able to solo everything and all my characters will be maxed IO builds across the board" tendancies on the forums (and I'm no exception here), has produced a definite slant to favoring Debuff heavy sets, with Buffing sets being viewed as "better for Masterminds" because even solo, an MM has pets to buff.  I'm not sure how much the actual average player (vs the average forumite) goes nuts with IO's but that divide has become my rule of thumb. 

 

I would put in a good word for Controllers using the Sorcery pool though.  Containment + Helpless Mobs + Enflame is kinda fun, and Spirit Ward is a nice thing to toss onto your buddies or pets.  It would give you some options to do your own thing if you happen to be on some night your friends aren't, etc.

[Snarky]

Not quite what you asked for, but I will throw out Ice/Cold Corruptor.  I have run every ranged version of Ice and Cold, and currently run a Ice/Ice/Cold Blaster that I am badging.  But the Ice/Cold Corruptor is in a class by itself.  The Cold Domination set has two incredibly powerful debuffs that will allow your teams to destroy the enemies fast.  No healing powers (which i like, eat a green you slubs) and the DoT area Rains love Corruptor Scourge.

[Tobris]

On 5/27/2021 at 7:28 PM, Snarky said:

Not quite what you asked for, but I will throw out Ice/Cold Corruptor.  I have run every ranged version of Ice and Cold, and currently run a Ice/Ice/Cold Blaster that I am badging.  But the Ice/Cold Corruptor is in a class by itself.  The Cold Domination set has two incredibly powerful debuffs that will allow your teams to destroy the enemies fast.  No healing powers (which i like, eat a green you slubs) and the DoT area Rains love Corruptor Scourge.

 

I was actually trying an Ice/Ice Blaster before I made this post but the cooldowns seemed so long, and things like Ice Slick required me to hop in the pack as a Blaster. Like I said I'm not a min/maxer by any means, but I felt like I wasn't doing much (given, only 22) and I've been playing an Archery/TA Blaster that feels pretty fun. Maybe I'll give the Ice/Ice another go in some form after reading through some powers in Mids and seeing which AT supports the feel I'm looking for the best.

[Snarky]

5 minutes ago, Tobris said:

 

I was actually trying an Ice/Ice Blaster before I made this post but the cooldowns seemed so long, and things like Ice Slick required me to hop in the pack as a Blaster. Like I said I'm not a min/maxer by any means, but I felt like I wasn't doing much (given, only 22) and I've been playing an Archery/TA Blaster that feels pretty fun. Maybe I'll give the Ice/Ice another go in some form after reading through some powers in Mids and seeing which AT supports the feel I'm looking for the best.

i have an ice/ice blaster at 50.  not the most damage on a blaster, but the absolute smoothest you will see at mid range.  ice slick is only used tactically.  drop it if overrun or if they rush you, or you are planning on pulling them through it.  keep them at 30-60 range and use rains and cones to make them hate life

[Xenosone]

Do you slot kb into every power?

Do you put aoe immob or gale on autocasr?

If you said no to both then you cant really annoy the team.

 

That being said i am starting a kb toon but its named knockback nightmare and will be doing all kb sf/tfs. If you join that and get mad at the all kb tf because there is kb i have no sympathy.