Best Overall Controller Pet for Solo Play?

[Gamegod]

I have every type of controller/dom with all sorts of secondaries. Each one is a powerhouse. Massive damage and survivability with or w/o my pet summoned.

[rksr9997]

I like paying Ice/Empathy. Jack frost seems to be defense based rather than relying on resistance. You throw Fortitude on him and a Grant Invis and then TP him into any mob. His defense is crazy high now, plus you can grab Power Boost to make both of those buffs even stronger. You don't need any of the +res procs from pet sets in him then. You can just slot him for all damage and accuracy and the buildup proc from the purple set.

 

He will absorb the alpha from anything and can tank the mob for very extended periods of time. You've got empathy heals to patch him up and you need plus all your ice powers to lock down the mobs. The key is being able to throw him at the mobs with TP. Because he is so strong I don't even really bother putting super high defense on my controller or res. I don't think I even have an epic shield. It isn't needed.

[rksr9997]

 

So he ends up having about 68% smashing and lethal defense and 78% fire and cold. Your lowest values are with toxic and ranged which are in the 43% area so even that is pretty good. Even the Psionic Defense is very good. Maybe you can get way higher numbers on a stone pet I'm not really sure because I just can't play Earth, I don't know why I feel like it sucks.

[Captain Fabulous]

Illusion for sure. Between Phantom Army and Phantasm you do a ton of damage. Pair with a secondary with -defense, -resistance, and player buffs/shields and you're good. Stuff in as much +recharge as you can to have PA up as much as possible. My Illusion/Time Controller is a beast with just common IOs.

[Crowcus Pocus]

Just take Earth and be uber on your own. Add in Mr Poo just because you can.

[Scarlet Shocker]

On 12/25/2022 at 7:12 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!

 

 

Earth/Thermal is an outstanding support set. I seriously mean it's up there with the best in terms of survivability - but there are a couple of caveats to consider: You'll take a little time to set up for specific solo battles, so your progress will be slow. You also don't do a huge amount of native damage - Rocky is one of your most damaging powers so he needs to be nurtured.

 

That said you have some amazing debuffs which you can keep up if you sequence them right so many of your opponents literally crumble before you - but AV fights can be tough.

 

If you want to kill AVs, then Earth/Poison is a good call - you can stiff buff Rocky but not nearly so well. If however you want total chaos, you can go the disco route - Earth, Wind and Fire - Control, Knockback, Debuffs and Damage. It's a tonne of fun

[smnolimits43]

you dont get your pets early on, might i suggest a MM instead ??

[VengeSunsoar]

No one has mentioned electric. My electric time controller has had their gremlins for a few levels now. This is my first controller so I don't havea comparison but dang. Getting those gremlins out, things melt and fall over a lot. I'm guessing they have a knockdown because everything just falls down, gets up, falls down then dies. 

Hard to control when taking mobs from different height levels but I'm impressed so far. 

[TygerDarkstorm]

8 minutes ago, VengeSunsoar said:

No one has mentioned electric. My electric time controller has had their gremlins for a few levels now. This is my first controller so I don't havea comparison but dang. Getting those gremlins out, things melt and fall over a lot. I'm guessing they have a knockdown because everything just falls down, gets up, falls down then dies. 

Hard to control when taking mobs from different height levels but I'm impressed so far. 

Gremlins are actually pretty bad for controller pets. Especially once you start trying other controller sets out. Mine are constantly dying on my Elec/Elec controller. And chances are, the KD you're seeing is from you using Jolting Chain, not the pets.

 

Granted, this thread has been necro'd some, but Electric is not a set I'd recommend when looking at the pets.

[Scarlet Shocker]

On 12/25/2022 at 7:12 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!

 

you'll have loads of fun 😄 Good call

Edited March 23, 2023 by Scarlet Shocker
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[Doomguide2005]

On 3/18/2023 at 3:49 PM, TygerDarkstorm said:

Gremlins are actually pretty bad for controller pets. Especially once you start trying other controller sets out. Mine are constantly dying on my Elec/Elec controller. And chances are, the KD you're seeing is from you using Jolting Chain, not the pets.

 

Granted, this thread has been necro'd some, but Electric is not a set I'd recommend when looking at the pets.

     Just FYI the pets use Jolting Chain as well.  So you might very well see quite a bit more flopping as the pets add their use of Chain to the scrum.

     That said in general Tyger is correct the general consensus is Gremlins are not terribly strong as Controller pets go.  Then again that's partly why there's two of them.  But if you're having fun that's what truly matters.

[Ghostpilot]

A bit late at this point, but I wanted to throw in some more support for Gravity's pet, Singularity.

 

• It has 3 of the higher damage ST controls available (Crush, Life, and Gravity Distortion), and is further aided by being able trigger the extra damage from Gravity's Impact! mechanic by itself (which adds 25% to the damage of Lift when it is used during the effects of Crush or Gravity Distortion).
• It has 50% resistance to Smash, Lethal, Fire, Cold, Energy, and Negative; with 90% resistance to Psychic and Toxic.
• It's immune to every status effect except for Fear and Confuse.
• It can Fly.
• It has the Repel effect from Kinetics on permanently along with a unique vacuum effect that draws enemies towards it.
• The above Repel effect can be converted from Knockback to Knockdown via the Sudden Acceleration set, turning the Singularity itself it a potent control effect itself.  Could summon it into a spawn to soak alphas, use it to cut off chokepoints, etc.
• Damage procs from Will of the Controller and Explosive Strike can be slotted in to further increase its already pretty good damage.

 

Sudden Acceleration's KB to KD is completely transformative to how Singularity can be used and I would highly recommend accounting for it when slotting the power.  And it has to be this one, as Overwhelming Force's will only convert the knockback to knockdown for something that deals damage.  As the Repel portion of Singularity doesn't deal damage, this conversion doesn't occur.

 

Speaking of the Overwhelming Force enhancement, it does add a chance for Knockdown in anything that deals damage; including Phantom Army.  May be asking why you'd want this in PA which has a built-in taunt: it adds an additional layer of control to the power, this preventing enemies from using buffs, AoE's, and other things that while PA may ignore, may otherwise be a factor.

 

Anyway, I digress.  I believe Singularity is and incredible pet (for my money, the best capstone Control pet), and wanted to give it its due credit.

Edited April 6, 2023 by Ghostpilot

[Sykar]

I love my Singularity and I am readily to admit that I am indeed totally biased in thinking it is the best pet.

[Doomguide2005]

1 hour ago, Sykar said:

I love my Singularity and I am readily to admit that I am indeed totally biased in thinking it is the best pet.

Singularity is a very strong pet.  I think the main advantage PA/Phantasm and Animate Stone have over Singularity is they both taunt while Singy does not.

[Sykar]

Sure but they offer no other CC while Singy lifts, roots and holds. In fact it spams Crush so much it can root some elite bosses at least. Have not tried with AVs so I would not know about that.

[Doomguide2005]

On 4/21/2023 at 11:52 AM, Sykar said:

Sure but they offer no other CC while Singy lifts, roots and holds. In fact it spams Crush so much it can root some elite bosses at least. Have not tried with AVs so I would not know about that.

While the PToD are up it is very unlikely you'll hold an AV.  Their protection is at +50 over the usual base 3 (6?) mag protection with the triangles (land about 8 more mag 3 holds before the first wears off).  When the triangles are down an AV is as readily held as a boss.  EB's are usually at mag 6.  Most Controllers should be able with some effort to hold an EB.  Rocky does have a mag 3 hold in Seismic Smash which hits very hard in addition to the hold.  The hold triggers roughly 2/3rds of the time.

 

Edit:  rereading the thread and I realize I made a rather large and obvious math error.  8 mag 3 holds is only 24.  That won't come anywhere near the 53 mag you need to get to and maintain to hold an AV through their PToD.  Even accounting for the 20% chance of +1 mag from Containment/Overpower, incarnate powers and accolade you'll still need to stack more to actually hold through the PToD.   And that's before accounting for the AV's mez resistance shortening all your hold durations.

Edited May 16, 2023 by Doomguide2005
Math is difficult (sometimes)