Best Overall Controller Pet for Solo Play?

[Mr Pierce]

Title says it all. Which pet is the best for solo content?

 

The idea is to make a controller that takes all of it's buffs and puts them on a pet and makes them uber. So I need something that can take aggro, deal decent damage, and has some level of survivability. Last I checked, Imps do the most damage, but there are three of them AND they are super squishy. Stone and Ice seem to have really great starting points. Is the wolf from Dark better than them? Singularity is great for survivability, but does mostly holds and things. Same with the Symphonic pet.

 

Is this even viable in the first place? Does anyone have the numbers on DPS for the pets? That would help.

Edited December 24, 2022 by Mr Pierce
Added clarity

[SeraphimKensai]

Illusion Control has 3 pets that are immune to all damage aside of the crystal titan and Hamidon, hold agro, and deal some damage. You also get another pet that does damage and makes a copy of itself. Among other powers.

[biostem]

32 minutes ago, SeraphimKensai said:

Illusion Control has 3 pets

Build for recharge so you can keep your phantom army out at all times, and you're set.  Just keep in mind you can't buff those particular pets, so you may want to pair it with a secondary that instead debuffs the enemy's damage resistance.

[Sir Myshkin]

In no particular order, and consolidated due to typing this on mobile:

• Illusion: Phantom Army is indestructible set of three tanks, stuck the BU pet proc and OF KD proc in them and they’ll do insane things, but you can’t target or huff them beyond this. You also get Phantasm who also clones himself with an unkillable decoy. All around this set can do powerful things, but it can be very busy and PA demands a lot of recharge. Also, for whatever reason Phantasm seems to be one of the stupider AI pets and has a hard time staying out of melee.
• Dark Control: This set kind of gives your three pet choices. Umbra, Shades, and the fact you can “possess” another enemy to attack for you. Shades don't take much to keep up, and the Umbra can be given a couple of good procs to add to its damage. In conjunction with fears and a great stun, this set can really rival Illusion overall.
• Fire Control: Imps we’re once the standard for damage, fire overall has huge numbers and was a king until Dark came along.
• Earth: Stoney is effectively a pocket tank, reasonable damage, naturally defensive and sturdy, takes buffs well and has built in KD for good added soft control. This set also procs out really well, so pairing with a good debuff set will give you great mileage.
• Ice: There was an attempt to give this a boost in some areas but it is still the worst/weakest of options from a player side if things, but Jack is pretty tanky.
• Grav: Singularity is more about control than damage. Probably not the direction you’ll want.
• Plant: Fly Trap isn’t bad, but Plant’s power really comes from Seeds and Carrion Creepers, so if you’re looking for a pet-focus, this is doable, but may feel underwhelming for just the pet.

Overall if you’re wanting to still be a Controller and have a buffable ally, I’d suggest Dark overall. It has excellent damage, a great toolbox, and a mixture of pet options. It will also pair well with a lot of sets. Personally I have a Dark/Sonic and Res cap Umbra and toss the -Res toggle on him and can get away with some impressive stuff.

 

Some other good options that can get you a good buff ally from experience:

• Fire/Time: With imps being able to protect them in one shot is great, and Time will help speed you up to get Temporal on each imp so they become little murder balls. I did a lot of Invarnate content on old Live with this combo. You could to Electric/Time too, it’d operate the same way.
• Earth/Cold: A few shields and an HP booster will extend your tank into the stratosphere, plus cold has some strong debuffs that will let Stony open up and hit harder.
• Illusion/Storm: This isn’t exactly a “buff my ally” build, but a high recharge theme that really let’s PACK and Phantasm go nuts and deals a berserk amount of damage.
• Illusion/Cold: A less ADHD version of the previous with the ability to buff Phantasm and help keep it alive.

[Doomguide2005]

     I'd agree the top two are the pets from Illusion and Earth.  Illusion has both PA and Phantasm.  PA is immune to almost all damage as noted by @SeraphimKensai.  Phantasm can be buffed and damaged.  It does not Taunt.  The Decoy Phantasm created by Phantasm cannot be damaged and also Taunts.  So it works best solo when used with a strong debuffing set.

     Animate Stone while not immune to most  damage, like Illusion's pets, is very tough at base, can be buffed (and enhanced by set bonuses) to the point where it essentially becomes immune.   It also Taunts.  He's very single-target compared to Illusion's pets.  So if you're looking for a pet to buff and works well for solo work the only real drawback is Rocky's single-target nature (which hits very hard).

 

Edit:  I'd add mention of Ill/Traps to @Sir Myshkin's excellent summation.  You can't really buff things but Traps will keep you busy using your traps at a speed and style unique in many ways to the set that often doesn't gel well with teams.  Using Superior Invisibility you can remain unseen while your traps make your foes squishy for your pets to squash.

Edited December 24, 2022 by Doomguide2005
Afterthought

[Mr Pierce]

7 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

Illusion Control has 3 pets that are immune to all damage aside of the crystal titan and Hamidon, hold agro, and deal some damage. You also get another pet that does damage and makes a copy of itself. Among other powers.

Illusion pets can't be buffed. Which doesn't serve my idea. That's why I didn't specifically mention them. Sorry for not making note of it. I want a single pet that I can just dump everything on and make a beast.

 

Edit: Well phantasm can, but he's on a timer and has a boatload of KB. I want a permanent pet that I don't have to waste slots on with KB to KD.

Edited December 25, 2022 by Mr Pierce

[SeraphimKensai]

1 hour ago, Mr Pierce said:

Illusion pets can't be buffed. Which doesn't serve my idea. That's why I didn't specifically mention them. Sorry for not making note of it. I want a single pet that I can just dump everything on and make a beast.

Try Dark Control. Umbra Beast can be pretty strong, you can pair it with something like Thermal, give it.shields and forge. Or any other buffing set you want.

[Area Man]

1 hour ago, Mr Pierce said:

Illusion pets can't be buffed. Which doesn't serve my idea. That's why I didn't specifically mention them. Sorry for not making note of it. I want a single pet that I can just dump everything on and make a beast.

 

Edit: Well phantasm can, but he's on a timer and has a boatload of KB. I want a permanent pet that I don't have to waste slots on with KB to KD.

Phantasm is NOT on a timer, only his Decoy and Phantom Army are.  Yes, Phanty has a lot of knockback, but for Phanty, that acts as a defense/damage reduction.  Personally, I would not use a KB-to-KD in Phanty.

The way you "buff" Phantom Amy is by debuffing the foes.  That's why Illusion/Radiation is so good.  Ill/Rad and Ill/Time are the two combos where the secondary has a Recharge buff (helping PA Recharge faster) AND debuffs for foes reducing their Defense and Resistance (which effectively buffs PA).

If you want to learn more about how effective Ill/Rad is, take a look at my old Ill/Rad guide on the old live forums:

https://web.archive.org/web/20120905042613/http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=141225


My view is that an effective pet needs to be able to survive for a while.  If you are looking for a buffable pet, I'd seriously look at Earth's Animate Stone (a/k/a Rocky).  If you slot BOTH Pet Resistance procs in Rocky, his Resistance is pretty high, making him an effective Tank. Rocky has both melee and ranged attacks.  If you went with Earh/Kin, Rocky's Damage could be buffed pretty high.

Gravity's Singularity ("Singy") is probably the best "tank" with buffed Resistance because it often Repels foes out of melee.  However, Singy can't be healed and doesn't do as much damage as Rocky.

[biostem]

2 hours ago, Mr Pierce said:

Illusion pets can't be buffed. Which doesn't serve my idea. That's why I didn't specifically mention them. Sorry for not making note of it. I want a single pet that I can just dump everything on and make a beast.

The animated stone from earth control is very tough and hits pretty hard.  The only issue I've had with it is that you kind of have to drag it into enemies, since it, (and most pets, really), tend to lag behind you.  If you paired a stealth IO with the stealth power, you can probably get it to initiate combat before the enemies see you.  I also find earth control to be both a versatile and powerful set in its own right.  I have an earth/pain controller that is very fun to play, and both world of pain and painbringer make for a potent combo on any target!

[Mr Pierce]

Looks like Rocky is the winner. Might do Earth/Thermal or Earth/Sonic for the additional resistance buffs plus all the debuff. I had considered Earth/Ice for a crystal theme, but if Rocky is resistance based, then the ice shields might not do the job.

 

Thank you guys for the help!

[evetsleep]

32 minutes ago, Mr Pierce said:

Looks like Rocky is the winner. Might do Earth/Thermal or Earth/Sonic for the additional resistance buffs plus all the debuff. I had considered Earth/Ice for a crystal theme, but if Rocky is resistance based, then the ice shields might not do the job.

 

Thank you guys for the help!

 

Something to consider is the "layered" defense strategy.  This is part of why invulnerability armors are so strong.  They have both defense and resistance.  Also consider that, in addition to colds shields and +HP, you have all the debuffs that earth beings.  Not trying to say earth/cold is premo-perfection, but there probably is something there to consider.  In fact ... dangit.. I might make one...quickly approaching alt #500.

[Doomguide2005]

      I've run a lot of Earth to 50.  In particular on the buff side an Earth/Empathy who was one of my very early characters hitting 50 long before IOs (or even CoV).  Fortitude plus Adrenaline boost do silly good things to Rocky.  While I'd probably never do an Empath secondary again (outside Illusion) on a Controller I will say Rocky was the reason solo past 32 was not a total slog in the pre-invention, pre-incarnate era.  Without a stealth option (no Concealment pool) to drag Rocky into a mob I'd either 1) Teleport behind the mob or 2) the summon him (60ft range) into them.

    It would be a fairly unusual pairing but Earth/Force Field would be an interesting pairing post changes.  Force Field's shields can be Power Boosted and provide DDR giving Rocky both very strong resistances and defenses that are difficult to debuff.  Same thing with Empathy's Fortitude but no DDR included but a boost to defenses, to hit and damage for Rocky all backed by Empathy's healing strength for what little gets through.  Colds Shields can't be power boosted but Cold also has very strong debuffs to help take out hard targets like AVs whereas FF and Empathy it becomes largely a matter of straight damage output.

[oedipus_tex]

Personally if I were trying for this I'd look at a secondary set like Dark Affinity, for the -ToHit and -Damage layered with heals and some +defense and +resistance. IMO a lot of people sleep on Dark's (and also Storm's and Cold's) defensive stealth aura power. These powers are actually as good, possibly better in some ways, than the Sonic and Force Field big bubble powers, due to their huge radius, which the pet will under most circumstances never leave. Dark Affinity's toggle power also got a huge buff now that getting mezzed only temporarily suppresses it.

 

The pet will sometimes die, but as long as it doesn't go down in less than ~70 seconds you can just resummon it. Dark's buffs should keep it running more or less maintenance free unless you run into an AV, at which point except for the Illusion invulnerable pet most pets are no longer very useful anyway.

Edited December 26, 2022 by oedipus_tex

[Sir Myshkin]

2 hours ago, oedipus_tex said:

Personally if I were trying for this I'd look at a secondary set like Dark Affinity, for the -ToHit and -Damage layered with heals and some +defense and +resistance.

 

You're on the mark here, but I think the reason why (at least for me especially) no one mentioned sets like this one are because the OP was looking for things to occupy buffing the pet directly with, which Dark Affinity doesn't entirely do with just Fade.

 

9 hours ago, Mr Pierce said:

Looks like Rocky is the winner. Might do Earth/Thermal or Earth/Sonic for the additional resistance buffs plus all the debuff.

 

Electric Affinity may not be a bad thing to consider too if you do want to go Resistance. Many of the chaining abilities will be able to cycle back onto you after they bounce off the Animated Stone, and the Res Bubble gives a wide spectrum of mez protection that can help not just you, but the pet as well. You'd have at least four different powers to throw at the little guy that would all feed back on you in the secondary chain if you're in range, and then Amp Up which will give him an assortment of interesting boosts.

[Area Man]

On 12/25/2022 at 2:12 PM, Mr Pierce said:

Looks like Rocky is the winner. Might do Earth/Thermal or Earth/Sonic for the additional resistance buffs plus all the debuff. I had considered Earth/Ice for a crystal theme, but if Rocky is resistance based, then the ice shields might not do the job.

 

Thank you guys for the help!

My two favorite Earth builds are Earth/Rad and Earth/Storm.  I even wrote an Earth/Rad guide on the old live forums:

https://web.archive.org/web/20120904193426/http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=121712

Once you get a certain amount of Resistance on Rocky, do you really need much more?  Between a little healing and resummons, you may be able to find a secondary which provides more benefits.  Radiation is a very flexible secondary - it has a little bit of everything.  The heal, a multi-purpose buff which importantly includes RECHARGE and Endurance, three foe debuffs, one of which has -regen for AVs, one of the best AoE holds in the game (which also has -Regen). There is a great Rez (if you want it), and two unique skippable powers (Choking Cloud and Fallout) which give flexibility to your build.  Plus, it is a less-clicky secondary to play, which is nice when you are learning to play a new Primary.  Rad has great synergy with Earth - but it's great with all primaries.

Storm is just a lot of fun to play. A small heal for Rocky, a skippable slow, a stealth cloud, a Debuff plus knockdown field, a great situational repel/debuff, a stun to stack with Stalagmites, and a couple of temporary damage pets. There's great synergy with Earth Control.  Hurricane (and Gale) can be used to move foes onto, or keep them on your patches (Quicksand, Earthquake, Volcanic Gasses and Freezing Rain). Thunderclap stacks with Stalagmites so you can stun bosses. The added damage in late levels from Tornado and Lightning Storm helps both on teams and solo.

A key to using Rocky is to be able to lead him into battle, so stacking stealth is VERY useful.  I usually take Super Speed - with a stealth IO or stacked with Steamy Mist, you get full invisibility so Rocky can tank while you avoid aggro.  With Storm, Super Speed is great for "Herdicaning" or battle positioning.

[Lancek]

Animate Stone

AKA The Poo Man 

[evetsleep]

16 hours ago, Lancek said:

Animate Stone

AKA The Poo Man 

 

Can do some pretty creative things with him depending on the secondary.  With Sorcery you can drop Spirit Ward (+ABSORB) and Enflame (small DMG aura) on him and with a secondary that can back him up he is quite tanky (really almost all of them can do this).  Of course the trick is dragging his stinky bum into his threat attention span.  I've been mucking around with Earth\Trick Arrow & Earth\Cold and so long as I can drag him into aggro range he smashes things much to my liking.  Cold is interesting since it has Arctic Fog so I can hide from the baddies while dragging him around.

 

That all said I'd warn against building everything around poo man...he's all single target.  For OP, you'll want a secondary that at least let you do some damage yourself if you're solo'ing.

[roleki]

Jack Frost is no slouch, and Ice/ is a really fun set, if you like your tactics layered and appreciate soft control/mitigation.  

[biostem]

10 hours ago, evetsleep said:

With Sorcery you can drop Spirit Ward (+ABSORB) and Enflame (small DMG aura)

So shielded flaming poo man?

[evetsleep]

2 hours ago, roleki said:

Jack Frost is no slouch, and Ice/ is a really fun set, if you like your tactics layered and appreciate soft control/mitigation.  

My only real problem with Jack is he doesn't take Ice Mistrel damage proc.  I was super let down by that the first time I got him.  He's ok but it's really strange he can't take slow procs.

[roleki]

1 hour ago, evetsleep said:

My only real problem with Jack is he doesn't take Ice Mistrel damage proc.  I was super let down by that the first time I got him.  He's ok but it's really strange he can't take slow procs.

I've never seen it explained why Jack takes Slow SOs/IOs, but not Slow sets.; I've always assumed there was something related to balance behind the omission, but I've never seen what, specifically, would have been out of balance if Jack took procs.   Maybe the -Rech proc?

[Panache]

On 12/24/2022 at 5:50 PM, Sir Myshkin said:

In no particular order, and consolidated due to typing this on mobile:

• Illusion: Phantom Army is indestructible set of three tanks, stuck the BU pet proc and OF KD proc in them and they’ll do insane things, but you can’t target or huff them beyond this. You also get Phantasm who also clones himself with an unkillable decoy. All around this set can do powerful things, but it can be very busy and PA demands a lot of recharge. Also, for whatever reason Phantasm seems to be one of the stupider AI pets and has a hard time staying out of melee.
• Dark Control: This set kind of gives your three pet choices. Umbra, Shades, and the fact you can “possess” another enemy to attack for you. Shades don't take much to keep up, and the Umbra can be given a couple of good procs to add to its damage. In conjunction with fears and a great stun, this set can really rival Illusion overall.
• Fire Control: Imps we’re once the standard for damage, fire overall has huge numbers and was a king until Dark came along.
• Earth: Stoney is effectively a pocket tank, reasonable damage, naturally defensive and sturdy, takes buffs well and has built in KD for good added soft control. This set also procs out really well, so pairing with a good debuff set will give you great mileage.
• Ice: There was an attempt to give this a boost in some areas but it is still the worst/weakest of options from a player side if things, but Jack is pretty tanky.
• Grav: Singularity is more about control than damage. Probably not the direction you’ll want.
• Plant: Fly Trap isn’t bad, but Plant’s power really comes from Seeds and Carrion Creepers, so if you’re looking for a pet-focus, this is doable, but may feel underwhelming for just the pet.

Overall if you’re wanting to still be a Controller and have a buffable ally, I’d suggest Dark overall. It has excellent damage, a great toolbox, and a mixture of pet options. It will also pair well with a lot of sets. Personally I have a Dark/Sonic and Res cap Umbra and toss the -Res toggle on him and can get away with some impressive stuff.

 

Some other good options that can get you a good buff ally from experience:

• Fire/Time: With imps being able to protect them in one shot is great, and Time will help speed you up to get Temporal on each imp so they become little murder balls. I did a lot of Invarnate content on old Live with this combo. You could to Electric/Time too, it’d operate the same way.
• Earth/Cold: A few shields and an HP booster will extend your tank into the stratosphere, plus cold has some strong debuffs that will let Stony open up and hit harder.
• Illusion/Storm: This isn’t exactly a “buff my ally” build, but a high recharge theme that really let’s PACK and Phantasm go nuts and deals a berserk amount of damage.
• Illusion/Cold: A less ADHD version of the previous with the ability to buff Phantasm and help keep it alive.

wait, the BU proc works on PA?

[Carnifax]

30 minutes ago, Panache said:

wait, the BU proc works on PA?

Yep. I've it 4 slotted with Expedients and then Soul Chance for BU & Soul Dam/Recharge to max out Dam and recharge on them. PAs are awesome. 

 

On 12/29/2022 at 6:02 AM, roleki said:

I've never seen it explained why Jack takes Slow SOs/IOs, but not Slow sets.; I've always assumed there was something related to balance behind the omission, but I've never seen what, specifically, would have been out of balance if Jack took procs.   Maybe the -Rech proc?

Could be an oversight, could be balance. Homecoming Devs seem to dislike procs in general (which is a shame because they give build variety in terms of Set bonuses or Procs). 

[Panache]

3 hours ago, Carnifax said:

Yep. I've it 4 slotted with Expedients and then Soul Chance for BU & Soul Dam/Recharge to max out Dam and recharge on them. PAs are awesome. 

 

Could be an oversight, could be balance. Homecoming Devs seem to dislike procs in general (which is a shame because they give build variety in terms of Set bonuses or Procs). 

oh nice, that’s absolutely worth losing the OF proc. Thanks!

 

EDIT: made the switch and saw an IMMEDIATE difference; tested against a 52 Nightstar and got her down in half the time (Ill/Poison). Thanks again!

Edited January 5, 2023 by Panache

[Gamegod]

You don't build for the pets to do the dmg they are merely a distraction. You build so your controller/dom does the dmg. After all these years that CoX has been around you guys don't understand it.

Edited January 11, 2023 by gamegodreturns
wording