Cold/Dark or Illusion/Dark?

[Argentae]

I'm still having plenty of fun with my Fire/TA, and will likely continue on with it for quite some time, but I know my altitis will inevitably flare up again.

 

What do you all think of Illusion/Dark vs Cold/Dark for a next alt?

 

I'm probably going to do those primaries next, and I have good rough character conceptions for both. 

 

Both primaries are classic sets that I haven't played to any meaningful extent in decades. I heard Ice/ got buffed?  What changed? 

 

Anyway, just post audit week weekend wonderings. 🙂

[Heatstroke]

I have never played Cold/Dark. I have played Ice/ Controllers and /Dark controllers. Could be a good combo. Damage will be less that fire. Ice doent do a lot of damage. Epics really help Ice. Dark has good debuffs and the pairing of Jack Frost and Dark Servant definitely could make a good combo... hmmm I might try this myself.. BLACK ICE.. yeah.. that could work LOL..

 

I have made an Illusion/Dark.. I deleted it..  why??  It was kinda OP and Boring.. LOL

 

Here is my Phantom Army Pets.. Here is Spectral Terror.. Here play with this Phantasm AND his decoys.. oh and here is a Dark Servant too.. OH and by the way.. Im Uber invisible.. so I draw no aggro.. and let me use Deceive (which DOESNT aggro) with the Contagious confusion proc to make the mobs attack each other.. so now they are terrified.. and confused.. and being attacked... and debuffed.. and I havent even used any Dark Debuff yet..

 

Your basically a Master Illusionist and a Dark Ring Mistress rolled int one LOL..

 

If being an OP pain in the butt is your thing.. GO FOR IT.. LOL

 

 

[Renatos1023]

I just got my Illusion/Dark to 50 and am slowly slotting him out. I think it is a very fun character. You need to think of yourself less of a normal "Controller" and more of an aggro mitigator. You will never be the lockdown king/queen. What you will be is the Diversion Duke.

 

Really high recharge is what you want. Getting PA up and out as soon as possible is what Illusion was made for IMO. /Dark is my favorite set (mostly cause it is also my fave set on Defs but the Cont. version is better). I have a thread on Ill/Dark going, so please go ahead and find some other pointers there. But know that "fun" is subjective. I don't find Ice control fun because, IMO, it is just not good. You, or someone else, may love it. But if I was going for a very soft-control "Controller" I would choose Illusion. 

 

[Riverdusk]

7 hours ago, Heatstroke said:

I have never played Cold/Dark. I have played Ice/ Controllers and /Dark controllers. Could be a good combo. Damage will be less that fire. Ice doent do a lot of damage. Epics really help Ice. Dark has good debuffs and the pairing of Jack Frost and Dark Servant definitely could make a good combo... hmmm I might try this myself.. BLACK ICE.. yeah.. that could work LOL..

 

I have made an Illusion/Dark.. I deleted it..  why??  It was kinda OP and Boring.. LOL

 

Here is my Phantom Army Pets.. Here is Spectral Terror.. Here play with this Phantasm AND his decoys.. oh and here is a Dark Servant too.. OH and by the way.. Im Uber invisible.. so I draw no aggro.. and let me use Deceive (which DOESNT aggro) with the Contagious confusion proc to make the mobs attack each other.. so now they are terrified.. and confused.. and being attacked... and debuffed.. and I havent even used any Dark Debuff yet..

 

Your basically a Master Illusionist and a Dark Ring Mistress rolled int one LOL..

 

If being an OP pain in the butt is your thing.. GO FOR IT.. LOL

 

 

 

Yes, I found illusion/dark kind of overkill defensively honestly.  Not that it is bad and I had fun with it, but I realized I like other illusion combos better that are still plenty safe and have a wider array of buffs/debuffs.  Still think the classic illusion/rad is my favorite.

 

11 hours ago, Argentae said:

I'm still having plenty of fun with my Fire/TA, and will likely continue on with it for quite some time, but I know my altitis will inevitably flare up again.

 

What do you all think of Illusion/Dark vs Cold/Dark for a next alt?

 

I'm probably going to do those primaries next, and I have good rough character conceptions for both. 

 

Both primaries are classic sets that I haven't played to any meaningful extent in decades. I heard Ice/ got buffed?  What changed? 

 

Anyway, just post audit week weekend wonderings. 🙂

Despite what I said above, if you want to be a 'tank' as a controller, illusion/dark is probably the closest you can get.  Super safe along with decent damage (at least once you get phantom army and decent recharge bonuses).  

 

Ice/Dark should also be very safe, but damage might feel low, especially after fire/TA.  Of course that isn't so much an issue if you mostly team.  If you do solo I'd suggest picking up sorcery pool for arcane bolt and load up on some temp attacks, at least until you get your pet Jack. 

 

Of course I actually suggest that for any controller.  I never start any controller without at least blackwand, nemesis staff, and constant max charges of plasmatic taser from the P2W vendor.

[Argentae]

I do the same filling in the attack chain in the early levels, except without the Taser, never tried it, I suppose maybe I should. 🙂

I'm trying to branch out more, and playing Fire/TA/Stone has bit of a tanky feel, kind of a fast paced somewhat squishy resistance based Tank experience. Dark/Dark can feel a bit like a def based tanker set once you start getting sets in place.

I'm guessing at the experience based on playing sets with a lot of pseudo pets. I can completely see the durability overkill, now that you all mentioned it. I hadn't really thought about it that way though, so I greatly appreciate the perspective! I suppose it might be interesting just from a sort of exploring the spectrum kind of way. 

 

I imagine fights with Carnies can get visually complex with all the Illusion pets flying around. I'd probably be tempted towards Ill/Dark/Soul both for thematic purposes and AOE damage options. Plus I like Fortunata most of the patron pet options. I suppose I'd probably need to build Howling Twilight with a -regen focus as A/Vs seem like a potential end game occupation. Ill/Rad is still effective at that I imagine. 

I think my last Ice/ was a Dominator? It's been a REALLY long time. I'm sort of interested to see how well all the -Rech works as soft control.

 

[Argentae]

So I created both.

 

Ice/Dark:

Mab Air and Darkness <- couldn’t fit QUEEN  of Air and Datkness

 

And

 

Illusion/Dark: 

 

Carnival ReforMage

 

Got Mab to 10, generic controller feel. Arctic Air may make it feel unique once it matures.

 

Got CR to 19. 
absurdly OP doing +2/+3 x1 spawns. Superior invis NOT suppressing is insanely powerful with Deceive. I don’t think I have died even once.
5 LotGs will be stupidly easy with Superior Invis + Fade + Shadowfall + Hover + Evasive Maneuvers.
 

Not sure what the final build will look like, but don’t need that many powers to be OP. 
Great single target attack chain with Flash, Spectral Wounds, and Arcane Blast.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 15 by Argentae