I've got a Theme I'd like to bring to fruition. Earth/Poison. Any experience with these?

[Nintova]

 As the title suggests, I have a theme going. I just made him and ran a quick DFB. I liked it but having no experience I'm not sure where to take it. My idea is to be a group oriented build rather than solo, however I inevitably tend to solo more due to my hours.

 

 Can you help Captain Toxic Planet be all he can be?

 

Please? 🙂

[Wimbochismo]

One of my first builds I needed help with here on the forums was an Earth/Poison. I revisited and rebuilt it recently with a more experienced mindset.

 

Some things you may want to take into account:

• Getting at or near perma Hasten. Controller's have a lot of longer cooldowns.
• If you want to do dmg, you'll have to proc and pick up powers outside of Earth/Poison. May have to make some sacrifices to get there.
• Your choice of no defense, ranged defense, and/or s/l defense. This combo has lots of tools and if you're careful, you don't need much defense.
• If you go s/l defense I would heavily consider something like Rune of Protection for cc.

In Earth you can skip Stone Prison, Quicksand, and Salt Crystals. Quicksand could provide some utility bc the -def is autohit. General slotting advice:

• Fossilize - One Accuracy/Damage and 5 procs. This then becomes your main dmg dealer.
• Pick up a good dpa single target attack like Arcane Bolt, maybe Toxic Dart etc. Another from an Epic pool if you want a full attack chain.
• Stone Cages - Set mule it with whatever. Usually a dmg set.
• Stalagmites - Can set mule it or proc it for aoe dmg. Just beware if you proc it, it needs lots of accuracy.
• Earthquake - 1 or 2 slot KB-KD maybe an FF proc. Can slot for -tohit for fun.
• Volcanic Gasses - Even with the long cooldown, super great persistent aoe hold. Set mule it.
• Animate Stone - He's a real nice tank and can take fun enhancements like Expedient. 

In Poison you can skip Neurotoxic Breath, Elixir of Life (rez has a crash), Antidote, Paralytic Poison - especially if solo. Advice:

• Alkaloid - 1 slot with Prev Med absorb proc.
• Envenom - Everything else you do has -def in it, so boosting -def is overkill. 1 Accuracy slot.
• Weaken - 4 or 6 slot Cloud Senses.
• Poison Trap - What every Controller wants their long cooldown aoe hold to be. It's up very often and has a 1s cast time. I like 2 Accuracy/dmg/rech and 4 procs.
• Venomous Gas - Can frankenslot to enhance the -def and -tohit and reduce the endurance cost.

 

My general strategy is to build lots of recharge and build ranged defense. I really like Stealth with this combo. At higher levels what I like to do is Stealth into a pack of mobs (Venomous will alert mobs, may have to turn it off, I don't all the time), then I drop Poison Trap on a mob to set up containment. Hit Stalagmites, Epic aoe, Stone Cages. Then do single target dmg rotation. If cc starts dropping you can rotate in EQ or Volcanic. In teams I like to strafe the edges of large mobs for Venomous and play keep away with enemies.

 

Single target hard targets is usually the only time I use Envenom/Weaken.

 

I will say that unless you have the funds to proc as early as possible, dmg will be a serious struggle.

[Nintova]

It's funny you mentioned a separate damage dealer because I did pick up Arcane Bolt and am loving it. The auto-ready function is a nice add on. I slotted it with the P2W knockdown and love that aspect too. I took quicksand when I was on the DFB. It seemed useful in that closed environment. I still have the "build 2" that I can opt out if I want.

 

Thanks so much for the advice it's greatly appreciated.

 

[Wimbochismo]

1 hour ago, Nintova said:

It's funny you mentioned a separate damage dealer because I did pick up Arcane Bolt and am loving it. The auto-ready function is a nice add on. I slotted it with the P2W knockdown and love that aspect too. I took quicksand when I was on the DFB. It seemed useful in that closed environment. I still have the "build 2" that I can opt out if I want.

 

Thanks so much for the advice it's greatly appreciated.

 

 

I would definitely do different things before ~20, feel free to play around. Use the P2W dmg procs in attacks or load up 1 aoe - like Stalagmites. You can even take Stone Prison if you're strapped for dmg. Take Envenom but you could probably ignore Weaken for a bit. 

 

I'll attach the old Earth/Poison build I was using. It's the s/l defense, perma Hasten version. Should give you some idea's.

 

Controller (Earth Control - Poison).mbd

Edited February 7 by Wimbochismo

[biostem]

I have an earth control/pain domination controller that is excellent on teams.  I've dabbled with poison a bit, but just didn't find it to my liking.  Still, it'll work with the theme/concept you brought up in the OP.

[Scarlet Shocker]

Earth/Poison is a strong combo but of course it has borked synergies. Earth has a lot of AoE to hit multiple targets and Poison is largely an ST Impresario.

 

Proccing  is good, but don't forget that you can also use your P2W attacks, get other Temp attacks fairly readily too, so you can mitigate that way.

 

I find myself disagreeing a bit with @Wimbochismo - I am not saying he's wrong but we clearly have a difference of opinion here so you are the lucky one who gets to decide what works for you

 

I'm a big fan of Quicksand - I would not lose that, but I don't know your play style. I always take Envenom, Weaken and Neurotoxic Breath and I will usually take Paralytic Poison - it's a non-damaging power but does add extra hold value.

 

I do often skip Alkaloiod and Elixir of Life - useless when solo and not much help on an 8 man team. If you're in a duo with a buddy, then maybe. I will also skip Salt Crystals and Stalagmites - but that's my play style.

 

Sorcery is ok, I'm not a huge fan of the attack powers, I prefer Force of Will but Sorcery does give one of the best travel powers in game. Pay your inf, take your pick.

 

If you're somebody who likes to stand back and keep at distance, you probably won't get too much value from Venomous Gas - but it is good when mobs get up close and personal. Again; balance vs play style is your watchword here.

 

You might also want to consider Concealment pool. Stealth falls off in combat, but it does allow you to get close to mobs (especially if you slot a stealth proc in on of your run powers) to catch them off guard with Earthquake etc. It also allows you to slot a LotG 7.5% recharge for not many slots. You'll want a lot of recharge. Hasten is almost mandatory here.

 

When you get to your APP/PPP powers - Ice or Mace works nicely. Thematically I guess Stone works too but I've got little experience of that so I can't give you an opinion.

 

Whichever way you go, have fun. It's a great combo and really comes into its own at higher levels.