Dark/Dark Feedback

Narninian · June 1, 2019

When I first started playing with Homecoming I made a Dark/Cold Controller -- this seemed like a natural pairing, as Cold provides a passive (well buff based so you can do it ahead of time) defense, while Dark pair that with -to hit meaning your teammates will usually have a low chance of getting hit. Cold also has some good debuffs (unlike the older 'Force fields' set who gimmick besides giving defense is knock-back which is can be fun, but not as useful as lower resistance, regen, defense and damage of the enemy. I find myself (pre-io) less durable than my teamates though due to bosses not being controlled with my aoe controls, and me not getting the defense buffs since the big ones were ally only.

Looking at the controller specific /Dark it looks like it can pretty much serve the same role but I think it works better in a lot of ways.

Fade -- provides a pretty big defense buff (2% less than then shields provide from cold) but it works on yourself! Its a long cooldown of course, but that is what recharge is for, and with enough recharge it can be cast before the buff expires.

Both Cold and Dark can slow the enemy and lower their resistance and damage.

Cold Divides in into an offensive aoe debuff (-def/res) and an aoe slow (which personally I'd skip since powers are hard to find room for), and a Single target defensive debuff -def/-damage (so no aoe version)

Dark Divides into into the bread and butter -res/slow (bonus its available at low levels and useful on every pull ) and a purely defensive one (-damage,-to hit)---but its aoe and can be saved for tough pulls after controls are put out.

With similar debuffs with have to look at other trade-offs. Dark gets a CC pet, cold gets an *extra* -damage single target debuff(which is where it gets its -regen and probably only useful for AVs), whereas dark has extra -to hit, and relies on a targeted heal for -regeneration. They both have ways to give endruance to the party. All in all I think Dark is a stronger package specifically for a controller due to fade/soul absorption and the possibility of enough recharge to have them up consistently.

I'm attaching my first attempt to build. I've mainly looked at other people's suggestions for other builds and here is my first real build.

A) Once there is enough recharge you can reach the "soft cap" for defense of 45% for both types and position defense by casting Fade (which is available before it expires)with the exception of Psychic melee attacks (this is fixed with any group member's maneuvers or Incarnate buffs ---- but also by the fact that you'll immediately be putting ~ -10%+ to hit on all the mobs.) ~20% of this defense ALSO goes to your teammates, so if Darkest Night or a couple of your stacking -to hit from controls are up your teammates will be soft capped as well ignoring their builds. It even has uses for geared out characters, as it provides defense debuff resists, and cascading failures can hurt a defense based character. The character will also have decent (But not amazing) resists to mitgate some of the damage that does get through

B) It end ups with a total of 5 Pets (not counting lore) ---Most of which provides additional CC and -to hit. It also squeezes in defense aura/resistance aura and chance for build up for them. The pets with 'long recharges' only have a few seconds of downtime.

--- that being said it has some flaws and could use feedback.

1) I'm worried about Damage. the 5 pets are CC focused which is great for the main role, but they main not make up for the damage that is lacking. I 2 Single target attacks enhanced for damage (The hold and the poisonous ray), the Cone Immobilize enhanced for damage -- and of course the enemies will usually be debuffed with -RES from both the attack and tar patch.

2) No travel power. This is a minor consideration but inconvenient.

3) There are some *good* powers that I under slotted to make room for the set bonuses to get to my goals (perma hasten/fade /high uptime pets /softcapped defenses, some damage).

Including Howling Twilight, My heal/-regen and tar patch. Tar patch I think is fine, since you can only put slows in there, but the other 2 I wish I had more room for. Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962

http://www.cohplanner.com/

EDIT: Version 2 of this build makes some changes.

1) Got more slots into some of the important powers (the heal, darkest night)

2) slightly less overall defense, but Way over cap for S/L/E and once any control or Darkest night or pets hit, they'll be back under defense cap.

3) More focus on Single target damage now (from the hold, and poisonous ray) as the AOE immobilize was a poor source of damage -- in a group its not gonna be a big contributer no matter what, soloing ST attack chain (hold/ray) and pets will do the job.

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Controller

Primary Power Set: Darkness Control

Secondary Power Set: Darkness Affinity

Power Pool: Speed

Power Pool: Leadership

Power Pool: Fighting

Power Pool: Leaping

Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery

Hero Profile:

Level 1: Dark Grasp -- SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg(A), SprWntBit-Dmg/Rchg(17), SprWntBit-Rchg/SlowProc(17), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), SprWntBit-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(43)

Level 1: Twilight Grasp -- CldSns-%Dam(A), CldSns-Acc/Rchg(11), CldSns-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(13), CldSns-Acc/ToHitDeb(13)

Level 2: Tar Patch -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(48)

Level 4: Living Shadows -- CldSns-Acc/ToHitDeb(A), CldSns-ToHitDeb(5), CldSns-%Dam(7), CldSns-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(7)

Level 6: Possess -- CrcPrs-Conf%(A), CrcPrs-Conf/Rchg(15), CrcPrs-Acc/Rchg(43), CrcPrs-Conf/EndRdx(43), CrcPrs-Acc/Conf/Rchg(45)

Level 8: Fearsome Stare -- SphIns-%ToHit(A), SphIns-Acc/Rchg(9), SphIns-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(9), SphIns-Acc/ToHitDeb(11), SphIns-ToHitDeb(40), SphIns-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(40)

Level 10: Darkest Night -- DarWtcDsp-ToHitDeb/Rchg(A), DarWtcDsp-Slow%(34), DarWtcDsp-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(36)

Level 12: Howling Twilight -- RechRdx-I(A)

Level 14: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(15)

Level 16: Shadow Fall -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(29), LucoftheG-Def(34)

Level 18: Haunt -- ExpRnf-+Res(Pets)(A), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg(19), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(19), ExpRnf-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(25)

Level 20: Fade -- Rct-Def/Rchg(A), Rct-ResDam%(21), Rct-EndRdx/Rchg(21), Rct-Def/EndRdx(23), Rct-Def(23), Rct-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(25)

Level 22: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(27), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(27)

Level 24: Kick -- Empty(A)

Level 26: Shadow Field -- SprWiloft-Rchg/Dmg%(A), SprWiloft-EndRdx/Rchg(29), SprWiloft-Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/Rchg(31), SprWiloft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear(31), SprWiloft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx/Rchg(34)

Level 28: Soul Absorption -- NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(A), NmnCnv-Heal(36), NmnCnv-EndRdx/Rchg(36), NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx(37), NmnCnv-Heal/Rchg(37), NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(37)

Level 30: Tough -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(31)

Level 32: Umbra Beast -- SlbAll-Build%(A), SlbAll-Dmg(33), SlbAll-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), SlbAll-Dmg/EndRdx(33)

Level 35: Weave -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(45), LucoftheG-Def(46)

Level 38: Dark Servant -- UnbCns-Acc/Rchg(A), UnbCns-Acc/Hold/Rchg(39), UnbCns-Dam%(39), UnbCns-Hold(39), UnbCns-Hold/Rchg(45)

Level 41: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), Ksm-ToHit+(42), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(42)

Level 44: Poisonous Ray -- Apc-Dam%(A), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), Apc-Dmg/Rchg(46), Apc-Dmg(48), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx(48)

Level 47: Scorpion Shield -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A)

Level 49: Summon Tarantula -- CaltoArm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), CaltoArm-+Def(Pets)(50), CaltoArm-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(50), CaltoArm-Acc/Rchg(50)

Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Containment

Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)

Level 4: Ninja Run

Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), Mrc-Rcvry+(5)

Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(3), PrfShf-EndMod/Acc(3)

Level 50: Agility Core Paragon

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Erydanus · June 1, 2019

I get the feeling you play defenders a lot because the way you've prioritized your powers it feels like you thought to yourself that you took enough controls to check off the minimum and then you were allowed to go to town on the buffs. I said this in another post a few weeks ago and it got a lot of traction so I'll repeat it here:

"As a controller, you should not need to worry so much about your personal defenses. You should be using your primary to prevent the mobs from acting and your secondary to mitigate what you can't prevent with your primary."

You took maneuvers, kick, tough, weave, combat jumping, and you talked about making fade basically perma. If you were taking several jumping powers to get to Acrobatics or sorcery powers to get to Rune of Protection I would respect that because self-mez protection is important. But I think you're just focused on self damage protection because you expect to need it? With all the hard and soft controls and -hit in the sets you have? What I don't see here is a focus on actual control, I see you blowing off things that would increase team damage (and doing more damage, whether solo or teamed, is also control because dead foes don't act) and expedite killing. I think you sort of intuited you made this misstep because in your point 3, you admit you kinda blew off Tar Patch and Howling Twilight but this is a much bigger issue than you realize. I'm not going to worry about your exact set slotting, just which powers you picked and how much love you gave them. But I will say I never think it's worth being lured by set bonuses into skimping on essentials. And that includes screwing a cornerstone power in order to get perma hasten. You do NOT NEED perma hasten. Yes it's buff cascades back into your build to make other powers come up more, but if you've fundamentally undermined your powerset to get there there's no point. It's like having unlimited pizza but CRAPPY pizza. Non-perma hasten will still do a lot. I get you're really proud that you can softcap defense with this but so what you're a controller not a defender, get it? If this is really what you want to do that's fine but acknowledge that you're playing a "Def-troller" not a "Controller." I'm not saying this isn't a valid playstyle choice but be open about it to yourself and others.

1. Twilight Grasp. It's true healing is not an essential for a controller but that power has -50% regen debuff and -10% damage debuff, plus that small heal might turn the tables for you. Worth more than 1 slot though!

2. Tar Patch. You dismissed this because it can only be slotted with slow (sets?). This is a huge -30% resist power as well as anti-fly and movement slow, and your focus should be just getting it up more. 2 generic level 50 recharge IOs is the minimum in my book. Consider also there is a -recharge in Pacing of the Turtle and a smashing damage proc available in Impeded swiftness. (Why does nobody ever crow about getting Tar Patch perma? Maybe your permahasten was doing that, if so fine good call there.)

3. Howling Twilight. This is not an A-rank power. This is not an S-rank power. This is an SS+ rank power. This is an area effect control power that auto hits. AUTO HITS. Would you like to stun a large collection of minions and lieutenants? This power will do that. Automatically. Regardless of their defense. It auto hits. Congratulations you have a power that can always trigger containment on anything below boss without specific mez protection. It cannot crit so you can't do this with bosses but it also is a mag 3 fear so you got them anyway usually. It is also a -500% regen power for 30 seconds, just like lingering radiation. It is an AV killer. The downtime is longer than rad but that's ok because you're a controller and you're going to make it so your team can kill the AV in 30 seconds. (Plus it does have that side effect of full-rezzing your entire team to max health and stamina but you won't be needing THAT aspect, right?) Additionally if that mag 2 stun isn't enough you could just stack it with:

4. Heart of Darkness. Wait, what? You skipped your AoE stun? You skipped a primary set AoE stun when you have another AoE stun in your secondary that you could stack with it to generate extra mag in case the mag 3 stun of HoD doesn't crit for mag 4 and nail the boss? QUESTIONABLE. Now I, personally, put this power off to quite late because I wanted sorcery powers for thematic reasons but I had enough recharge in HT that it was up when I needed it to carry me through. I might take it at 35 instead of Black Hole but skipping it? Nope.

5. Finally if you want a travel power take one. Cut out the fighting pool. If you just have to slot something with a defense set for a bonus make it combat jumping. You shouldn't need personal shields below near-final levels. At that point you really might need one, but then you're into epic pools and they have one. With the room you make you can take scorpion shield earlier and slot it up a bit.

I'm not expecting you to love these comments, especially me saying perma hasten shouldn't be a priority. People get so fixated on perma. You don't need 100% uptime. You need a good amount of uptime. It's not going to end the world if you have a short period when powers like hasten and fade aren't up. It's just so much more important for you to have all the tools to control things.

Narninian5 · June 1, 2019

Hey first off all, thanks for taking a look and providing feedback! I'm gonna address a couple of some things because I'm not sure you get the right impression on my priorities and might have missed a couple things by not seeing the slotting. In crafting this response I actually made a small adjustment: I dropped 'Darkest Night' in favor of a travel power and using those slots on Twilight grasp as I realized I don't really have time to apply darkest night when controlling and their -to hit is already sufficiently tanked. This lets me get more recharge/accuracy on twilight grasp and still get a (better) recharge bonus/max endurance.

I get the feeling you play defenders a lot because the way you've prioritized your powers it feels like you thought to yourself that you took enough controls to check off the minimum and then you were allowed to go to town on the buffs. I said this in another post a few weeks ago and it got a lot of traction so I'll repeat it here:

"As a controller, you should not need to worry so much about your personal defenses. You should be using your primary to prevent the mobs from acting and your secondary to mitigate what you can't prevent with your primary."

I agree with this 100% --My goal is to have Fearsome Stare + Living shadows up for every pull. With the recharge I have, this is 11 seconds so every pull unless the group's damage is absurd. Combined with Dark Grasp there is a group penalty of -15% to hit, which combined with the 25% defense provided to the group acts as a secondary 'soft' control as they'll be only attacking when attacked back, and have a roughly 10% chance to hit to group members with zero defense beyond what I give them. Passively Haunt and Umbra beast will be fearing while Dark Servant Applies holds.

For more intense pulls, the Single Target Hold, the Confuse, the AOE hold, and the Rez/disorient are available. I wouldn't call this the bare minimum.. The only reason the take the single target immobilize would be to save some stamina as the AOE immobilize I took as a 2 second cooldown which the recharge that I have. The only other controls that I didn't take are Black Hole (intangible is just annoying) and Heart of Darkness. The reason I skip heart of darkness is from actually play on my dark/cold I found the recharge too long, the accuracy too low, and the positioning difficult for it to be a reliable control.

1. Twilight Grasp. It's true healing is not an essential for a controller but that power has -50% regen debuff and -10% damage debuff, plus that small heal might turn the tables for you. Worth more than 1 slot though!

I agree initial build I wish I had more slots, so I made an adjustment and I now it the 4 slotted --- the important bits of the power,imo (-regen, -damage) can't be enhanced, so I went with cloud senses to give it accuracy/recharge so its up on demand. This also closes the -to hit gap, essentially softcapping defense for everyone vs the targets I use the heal on if they were also hit with my other controls.

2. Tar Patch. You dismissed this because it can only be slotted with slow (sets?). This is a huge -30% resist power as well as anti-fly and movement slow, and your focus should be just getting it up more. 2 generic level 50 recharge IOs is the minimum in my book. Consider also there is a -recharge in Pacing of the Turtle and a smashing damage proc available in Impeded swiftness. (Why does nobody ever crow about getting Tar Patch perma? Maybe your permahasten was doing that, if so fine good call there.)

I 100% agree that tar patch is an important power and I prioritize it by getting the recharge down as low as possible (I think you may have missed that I put in 2 level 50 Recharge IOs in it - a 3rd one would provide a much lower return) -- again because the important bit (-res) can't be enhanced. The Perma-hasten you are against combines with this pretty well to get the cooldown down to 25 seconds. Technically this is 'perma' but its not like the mobs will follow us, so its gonna be up for every other pull or so. I thought about enhancing the slow but 90% is pretty good and the set bonuses were not great comparatively.

3. Howling Twilight. This is not an A-rank power. This is not an S-rank power. This is an SS+ rank power. This is an area effect control power that auto hits. AUTO HITS. Would you like to stun a large collection of minions and lieutenants? This power will do that. Automatically. Regardless of their defense. It auto hits. Congratulations you have a power that can always trigger containment on anything below boss without specific mez protection. It cannot crit so you can't do this with bosses but it also is a mag 3 fear so you got them anyway usually. It is also a -500% regen power for 30 seconds, just like lingering radiation. It is an AV killer. The downtime is longer than rad but that's ok because you're a controller and you're going to make it so your team can kill the AV in 30 seconds. (Plus it does have that side effect of full-rezzing your entire team to max health and stamina but you won't be needing THAT aspect, right?) Additionally if that mag 2 stun isn't enough you could just stack it with:

I agree this looks great, I took the power, and put a recharge IO in. I have perma hasten so its up just under once a minute. What do you think it needs? More Recharge IOs?

Narninian5 · June 1, 2019

anyways here is my adjusted build:

Notable changes ---

1) dropped Darkest Night for Travel power --- I figure it competes with time you'd spend doing controls/tar patch, and the -to hit portion of this will often be redundant

2) Enhanced Twilight grasp for more uptime/-to hit and accuracy

3) Slightly more global recharge so hasten has more leeway to be made permanent.

Anyway here is my adjusted build:

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962

http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Controller

Primary Power Set: Darkness Control

Secondary Power Set: Darkness Affinity

Power Pool: Leaping

Power Pool: Speed

Power Pool: Leadership

Power Pool: Fighting

Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery

Hero Profile:

Level 1: Dark Grasp -- SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg(A), SprWntBit-Dmg/Rchg(17), SprWntBit-Rchg/SlowProc(17), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), SprWntBit-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(43)

Level 1: Twilight Grasp -- CldSns-%Dam(A), CldSns-Acc/Rchg(11), CldSns-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(13), CldSns-Acc/ToHitDeb(13)

Level 2: Tar Patch -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(48)

Level 4: Living Shadows -- Rgn-Dmg/Rchg(A), Rgn-Dmg(5), Rgn-Knock%(7), Rgn-Acc/Rchg(7), Rgn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15)

Level 6: Possess -- CrcPrs-Conf%(A), CrcPrs-Acc/Rchg(43), CrcPrs-Conf/EndRdx(43), CrcPrs-Acc/Conf/Rchg(45), CrcPrs-Conf/Rchg(45)

Level 8: Fearsome Stare -- SphIns-%ToHit(A), SphIns-Acc/Rchg(9), SphIns-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(9), SphIns-Acc/ToHitDeb(11), SphIns-ToHitDeb(40), SphIns-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(40)

Level 10: Super Jump -- Jump-I(A)

Level 12: Howling Twilight -- RechRdx-I(A)

Level 14: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(15)

Level 16: Shadow Fall -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(34), LucoftheG-Def(34), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(36)

Level 18: Haunt -- ExpRnf-+Res(Pets)(A), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg(19), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(19), ExpRnf-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(25)

Level 20: Fade -- Rct-Def/Rchg(A), Rct-ResDam%(21), Rct-EndRdx/Rchg(21), Rct-Def/EndRdx(23), Rct-Def(23), Rct-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(25)

Level 22: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(27), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(27), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(29)

Level 24: Kick -- Empty(A)

Level 26: Shadow Field -- SprWiloft-Rchg/Dmg%(A), SprWiloft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx(29), SprWiloft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear(31), SprWiloft-EndRdx/Rchg(31), SprWiloft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx/Rchg(34)

Level 28: Soul Absorption -- NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(A), NmnCnv-Heal(36), NmnCnv-EndRdx/Rchg(36), NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx(37), NmnCnv-Heal/Rchg(37), NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(37)

Level 30: Tough -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(31)

Level 32: Umbra Beast -- SlbAll-Build%(A), SlbAll-Dmg(33), SlbAll-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), SlbAll-Dmg/EndRdx(33)

Level 35: Weave -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(45), LucoftheG-Def(46)

Level 38: Dark Servant -- BslGaz-Acc/Rchg(A), BslGaz-Acc/Hold(39), BslGaz-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(39), BslGaz-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(39)

Level 41: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), Ksm-ToHit+(42), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(42)

Level 44: Poisonous Ray -- Apc-Dam%(A), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), Apc-Dmg/Rchg(46), Apc-Dmg(48), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx(48)

Level 47: Scorpion Shield -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A)

Level 49: Summon Tarantula -- CaltoArm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), CaltoArm-+Def(Pets)(50), CaltoArm-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(50), CaltoArm-Acc/Rchg(50)

Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Containment

Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)

Level 4: Ninja Run

Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), Mrc-Rcvry+(5)

Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(3), PrfShf-EndMod/Acc(3)

Level 50: Agility Core Paragon

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Sovera · June 1, 2019

Being able to do damage is indeed a consideration to.. er... consider. my Illu/Time does great at controlling packs of mobs, but it only took doing a couple of missions in a group with two defenders and I might as well not be there. No need to control anything when the defenders were spamming huge heals on the tank (actually a scrapper, who also had dark regeneration), and at the same time I had nothing really to do damage with other than my PA (Phantasm is such a disappointment in terms of damage).

At least /dark tosses -res patches on the ground so that we are indirectly helping with the kill speed even if the controlling is not necessary. Five pets might help as well.

It's one of the reasons why we might as well 'control' with a Corruptor. If nothing needs controlling we're doing pew pews.

Edit: After having wrote this I picked up my lowbie Fire/Time, and now with the experience of my Illusion/Time controller I have at 36 I can say that yes, in practical terms I feel like I have the same 'control' over a pack as I had on my controller. On my controller I would open with Spectral Terror, then add Distortion Field, and for all purposes the pack was controlled. They would cower in place and as the team would hit them they would attack once and then slowly try to run away (mobs really really hate to be inside Time Distortion which is CC all by itself since they are slooooowly running away and not attacking). Here and there I had some clutch moments throwing PA at the right time that I feel saved the team. But...

I play the Fire/Time corruptor. I throw Distortion Field, mobs go nuts slooowly trying to run away. Fireball, Rain of Fire. Suddenly mobs are dead at the second fireball. Did Positron. We have ambushes coming from behind. Distortion Field, Rain of Fire, Fireball. What ambush? Ambush from inside the City Hall. They fall inside Time Distortion and Rain of Fire and are more worried about fleeing than fighting. The packs of bosses at the end of the TF had people worried. We cleaned them in seconds since they were not *actually* CCed (which would not be easy to achieve on a controller without stacking mag) but just following the AI to run away from RoF and Distortion Field.

I made this long diatribe because of your mention of your worry regarding damage, so this is me adding my two cents regarding how superfluous I personally felt with more than one controller, or even a defender, in the team. Soloing the Midnighter arc to get access to Cimora and whittling mobs while my phantasm takes 30 seconds to kill a white level mob. Heck, even the endurance woes I had with the controller are mightily mitigated because I'm not spamming low damage skills or holds on tough mobs.

csr · June 2, 2019

As a completely different tack that might give you some ideas, here's my Dark/Dark build. I'll probably make many tweaks as I go, especially to avoid wasting the Incarnate Alpha enhancement. The idea was to get a lot of +Rech cheaply and rely on -ToHit heavily without delving into expensive sets. Damage is light, but the build is tough for a Controller, especially against S/L/N. In case anyone wonders... I put the 2nd Rech IO in HT because I use it as a -Regen power against GMs and AVs.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962

http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Darkscape: Level 50 Magic Controller

Primary Power Set: Darkness Control

Secondary Power Set: Darkness Affinity

Power Pool: Speed

Power Pool: Flight

Power Pool: Teleportation

Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

Hero Profile:

Level 1: Dark Grasp -- BslGaz-Acc/Hold(A), BslGaz-Acc/Rchg(3), BslGaz-Rchg/Hold(3), BslGaz-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(5), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5)

Level 1: Twilight Grasp -- DctWnd-Heal/EndRdx(A), DctWnd-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(7), DctWnd-Heal(7), DctWnd-EndRdx/Rchg(9), DctWnd-Heal/Rchg(9)

Level 2: Living Shadows -- TraoftheH-Acc/EndRdx(A), TraoftheH-EndRdx/Immob(11), TraoftheH-Acc/Rchg(11), TraoftheH-Acc/Immob/Rchg(46)

Level 4: Darkest Night -- DarWtcDsp-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(A), DarWtcDsp-Rchg/EndRdx(15), DarWtcDsp-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(15), DarWtcDsp-ToHitDeb(17)

Level 6: Tar Patch -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(17)

Level 8: Fearsome Stare -- CldSns-Acc/ToHitDeb(A), CldSns-Acc/Rchg(13), CldSns-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(13), CldSns-ToHitDeb(19), SphIns-Acc/ToHitDeb(21)

Level 10: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(23)

Level 12: Heart of Darkness -- Stp-Acc/Rchg(A), Stp-EndRdx/Stun(19), Stp-Acc/EndRdx(21), Stp-Stun/Rng(25), Stp-Acc/Stun/Rchg(27)

Level 14: Fly -- Flight-I(A)

Level 16: Shadow Fall -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(29), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(31), LucoftheG-Def(31), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(31), ImpArm-ResDam(33)

Level 18: Haunt -- ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg(A), ExpRnf-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), ExpRnf-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(33), ExpRnf-Acc/Rchg(34), CaltoArm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34)

Level 20: Fade -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg(34), LucoftheG-EndRdx/Rchg(36), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(36), LucoftheG-Def(36), TtnCtn-ResDam/Rchg(37)

Level 22: Possess -- MlsIll-Acc/Rchg(A), MlsIll-Acc/EndRdx(46), MlsIll-Acc/Conf/Rchg(50), MlsIll-Dam%(50), MlsIll-EndRdx/Conf(50)

Level 24: Howling Twilight -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(43)

Level 26: Shadow Field -- BslGaz-Acc/Rchg(A), BslGaz-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(27), BslGaz-Acc/Hold(45), BslGaz-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(45), EssofCrr-Acc/Rchg(48)

Level 28: Soul Absorption -- PrfShf-EndMod/Rchg(A), PrfShf-EndMod(29), Trg-Heal/Rchg(45), DctWnd-Heal/Rchg(46), HrmHln-Heal/Rchg(48)

Level 30: Hover -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), Krm-ResKB(37), Flight-I(43)

Level 32: Umbra Beast -- EdcoftheM-Acc/Dmg(A), EdcoftheM-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37), EdcoftheM-Dmg/EndRdx(39), EdcoftheM-Dmg(39), EdcoftheM-Acc/EndRdx(39)

Level 35: Afterburner -- Flight-I(A)

Level 38: Dark Servant -- TchoftheN-Acc/Heal(A), TchoftheN-Heal(40), TchoftheN-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(40), SphIns-Acc/ToHitDeb(40), SphIns-ToHitDeb(42)

Level 41: Dark Embrace -- TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx(A), TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(42), TtnCtn-ResDam(42), TtnCtn-EndRdx(43)

Level 44: Recall Friend -- EndRdx-I(A)

Level 47: Dark Consumption -- EffAdp-Acc/Rchg(A), EffAdp-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(48)

Level 49: Black Hole -- Acc-I(A)

Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Containment

Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)

Level 4: Ninja Run

Level 2: Swift -- Flight-I(A)

Level 2: Health -- Mrc-Rcvry+(A)

Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)

Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(23), PrfShf-EndMod/Acc(25)

Level 50: Spiritual Partial Radial Revamp

Level 50: Clarion Partial Core Invocation

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Erydanus · June 4, 2019

anyways here is my adjusted build:

I do not like that you dropped Darkest Night and its unresistable -30% damage debuff. My D/D controller was able to solo Chernobog solely because he kittenfied the EB by dropping Darkest Night on him. Just putting it out there to be on record I think skipping it is a Bad Choice. Obviously I already said I thought you should skip the fighting pool to make room for your travel power and you went with Darkest Night instead so I don't have any more comments to share.

Without_Pause · June 4, 2019

Being able to do damage is indeed a consideration to.. er... consider. my Illu/Time does great at controlling packs of mobs, but it only took doing a couple of missions in a group with two defenders and I might as well not be there. No need to control anything when the defenders were spamming huge heals on the tank (actually a scrapper, who also had dark regeneration), and at the same time I had nothing really to do damage with other than my PA (Phantasm is such a disappointment in terms of damage).

At least /dark tosses -res patches on the ground so that we are indirectly helping with the kill speed even if the controlling is not necessary. Five pets might help as well.

It's one of the reasons why we might as well 'control' with a Corruptor. If nothing needs controlling we're doing pew pews.

Edit: After having wrote this I picked up my lowbie Fire/Time, and now with the experience of my Illusion/Time controller I have at 36 I can say that yes, in practical terms I feel like I have the same 'control' over a pack as I had on my controller. On my controller I would open with Spectral Terror, then add Distortion Field, and for all purposes the pack was controlled. They would cower in place and as the team would hit them they would attack once and then slowly try to run away (mobs really really hate to be inside Time Distortion which is CC all by itself since they are slooooowly running away and not attacking). Here and there I had some clutch moments throwing PA at the right time that I feel saved the team. But...

I play the Fire/Time corruptor. I throw Distortion Field, mobs go nuts slooowly trying to run away. Fireball, Rain of Fire. Suddenly mobs are dead at the second fireball. Did Positron. We have ambushes coming from behind. Distortion Field, Rain of Fire, Fireball. What ambush? Ambush from inside the City Hall. They fall inside Time Distortion and Rain of Fire and are more worried about fleeing than fighting. The packs of bosses at the end of the TF had people worried. We cleaned them in seconds since they were not *actually* CCed (which would not be easy to achieve on a controller without stacking mag) but just following the AI to run away from RoF and Distortion Field.

I made this long diatribe because of your mention of your worry regarding damage, so this is me adding my two cents regarding how superfluous I personally felt with more than one controller, or even a defender, in the team. Soloing the Midnighter arc to get access to Cimora and whittling mobs while my phantasm takes 30 seconds to kill a white level mob. Heck, even the endurance woes I had with the controller are mightily mitigated because I'm not spamming low damage skills or holds on tough mobs.

On a team with multiple support characters each one's support is less needed. I've been on teams where the idea of a single corr being enough support or having enough control is rather laughable.

Narninian · June 5, 2019

Based on lot of feedback in the discord I made some more adjustments (editing first page as well)

Notable changes:

Added Darkest Night back (its a great buff, I just wasn't seeing the benefit of -to hit, but -30% damage is still great and it cant miss)

Removed Damage Enhancements from Aoe Immobilize (damage on that power is laughable anyway) in place of -tohit debuffs

Got Beefier Holds from the /Dark Pet.

Non-S/l/E defense (scorpion shield covers thosel) is just under softcap now, but any abilities usage (any of the controls, Darkest night, any pet attacks) will bring that back over defense cap.