Why is Plant/Nature the best support build?

[Ashakira]

Why is Plant/Nature the best support build... Is there anything better at contributing to team success on high end content?

[Psyonico]

Disclaimer: I don't run hard mode content very often.

 

That being said, /cold Corruptors are usually more in demand on hard mode content than nature is.

 

Now, on to plant/nature.

1. It's thematic - always good

2. It provides good resistance, absorb, and to hit to your team

3. Seeds and Carrion Creepers are fantastic powers that bring a lot to the table.

 

Really, that's what makes the combo good in my opinion.

 

If you're specifically only looking at controllers, I think you can still do better though.

 

Dark and Earth are 2 very strong contender for best primary.  Both have a lot of really good control and also being with them nice secondary effects, which plant lacks.

 

For secondary, the aforementioned cold is to tier.  Traps and poison can bring a single hard enemy to their knees, though they don't do as much team buffage.  Traps is better at AoE debuff than poison.

 

Hmm, now I'm thinking I need either a Dark or Earth paired with poison.

[Carnifax]

For end game content usually debuff is king (because a lot of the bottlenecks are AVs and the like). 

 

Psys summary is pretty bang on for my money, although I'll also give a nod to Dark Affinity (AoE resist & defense "shield" with DDR added in plus -resist and -regen debuffage), Rad and Trick Arrow (although TAs -regen is fairly time-limited as it's in EMP Arrow, but it does come with a single target immob also with -resist which is great for stopping AVs wandering around the place). One minus for Poison, it doesn't have much -regen compared to Cold, Traps or Rad (Darks & Trick Arrows are also better but not up 100% of the time). 

 

That said Nature is fine on end game content, my Fire / Nature corruptor is my character of choice for TinPlex because the combo of team wide buffs which don't need to be in close to enemies (because of the annoying Death Patches) and there is some debuffage : Nature has a single target -resist and -regen (issue is the Regen is 85% resisted by AVs so Natures 150 gets heavily resisted). The Tier 9 being "Mini-Buildup for all for the next 60 seconds" is lovely on fast moving teams (no squabbling with Blasters who nuke your Fulcrum Shifts, which happens sometimes on my Kin). 

 

Cold can throw out a LOT of -resist and a decent amount of -regen. Traps can basically floor Regen and in prolonged fights can have 2-3 Acid Mortars out. Trick Arrow and Dark can have good -resist. Mace Epic helps too, Poisonous Ray is yet more -resist.

 

So I'd agree with Psy, Dark or Earth are good primaries because they've a lot of tricks (Illusion too, PAs are "free" damage in terms of animation times). Cold, Traps, Dark, Rad and Poison are good "Let's give the AV a bad day".

 

I unwittingly soloed some RWZ Mission AVs in Gaussians arc on Carni yesterday (Illusion / Dark / Mace controller). One was level 50 and one was level 53 (allowing for the fact I was level 50+1). Wasn't expecting them but once the adds were dealt with I could fairly handily wear them down. 

[Scarlet Shocker]

On 2/2/2024 at 12:43 AM, Psyonico said:

Hmm, now I'm thinking I need either a Dark or Earth paired with poison.

Both are outstanding though I think Dark/Poison is the dog's bollocks as I've mentioned elsewhere

[gaouP]

Plant/Nat is good for making everyone tanky and holding down enemies. Their only problem is that their real debuff is ST. It is a great thematic power to start with if you want to party a lot however, so there's that.

[Maxzero]

 

The key thing with Plant/ is that its the only Controller Primary that does good AoE damage. Seeds and Creepers are so far ahead in AoE clearspeed its not funny.

[Story Archer]

On 2/7/2024 at 6:22 AM, Maxzero said:

 

The key thing with Plant/ is that its the only Controller Primary that does good AoE damage. Seeds and Creepers are so far ahead in AoE clearspeed its not funny.

 

I've never really bought into the love affair with Creepers, but Seeds really is ridiculously effective, ESPECIALLY considering how early you get it. You just slot it with 2x ACC, 2x Rech and 2x Range to get it to broken status, and then at L50 Coercive Persuasion is just icing on the cake. That Contagious Confusion proc is gonzo on big maps.

Edited February 8 by Story Archer

[Hitback]

Nature is a bit weird for teamplay. Too many powers require standing in a specific area or have small radius and require stacking. Its debuffs are also not as impressive as other sets. I love me a /nature MM, though. 

 

Cold and Sonic have a great balance of buffs and debuffs. Then TA, Traps, Poison are debuffing kings.

[Psiphon]

On 2/6/2024 at 4:39 PM, gaouP said:

Plant/Nat is good for making everyone tanky and holding down enemies. Their only problem is that their real debuff is ST. It is a great thematic power to start with if you want to party a lot however, so there's that.

Spore cloud is actually AoE and can affect up to 16 targets, the problem is the radius of the debuff is quite small at 15 feet. If they're packed close though.... 

[ExeErdna]

Plant/Nature is my favorite setup, it's a good support because you can do a bit of everything fairly well. I often took mine into fire farms to help those groups out, if you wanna see a lot of creeper vines that's how you play imo. Yet you're amazing in trial type events due to you can throw down the Spirit Tree and Spore patch. While Carrion can deal with any adds