Returning Ill/Rad - Build Critiques and Updates

[v a p o r w a v e]

Hey, everyone!

 

I'm returning after a 4 year hiatus and I'm interested in picking my ill/rad controller back up. But before I re-learn to play him, I'm wondering if any major changes are needed for the build.

 

I initially made this build to be able to solo AVs and to be useful as support in groups, and I'd still like to be able to do those things. Aside from that I'm unable to defend any decisions made in the build because I don't remember why I made them. I know that perma-PA is a big part of ill/rad and my build has that. Perma-AM and perma-hasten were a side effect of that.

 

Is it possible to have a generalist build that can do everything from soloing door missions to teaming up to do incarnates and raids? I'm also wondering if the fact that I made no effort to be more defensive is a no go for higher end content.

 

Money's no object.

 

Can't get mids to export text in a readable way so here's the build:

v a p or w a v e - Controller (Illusion Control - Radiation Emission).mbd

Edited February 20 by v a p o r w a v e
trying to get a more readable version of the build in

[Riverdusk]

Well, a few quick things:

 

I notice you have superior invisibility, group invisibility, and stealth.  Having all three is not really doing much good.  I'd suggest drop stealth for combat jumping instead.  It gives you the same defense bonus, gives you immobilize protection, and is a lot more endurance friendly.  It also still allows you to slot the LoTG so the slotting is the same.  You even have a celerity stealth IO in sprint too, so in a way you have 4 stealths!  The celerity also probably isn't needed (if I remember right superior invis alone takes you to the controller stealth cap).

 

Other thing (but I know some disagree with me) is I'd drop flash (or EM pulse) for choking cloud.  I find flash terrible and choking cloud pretty amazing.  Both powers require you to run into the middle of a group.  Both end up often taking about the same time to accomplish their goal (choking cloud tics every 2 seconds, flash takes 3 seconds to animate).  Choking cloud though is always on, instead of something that you can only use once every minute at best.  You can then unleash fireballs and have full containment damage almost constantly and without the wasted animation time.  Once again you can use the same slotting, so it would be an easy swap. 

 

If nothing else I'd suggest giving choking cloud a try and seeing for yourself if it works for you and your playstyle.  Personally I didn't take flash OR em pulse, choking cloud is all I need for AoE holds and imo it outperforms both of them.   Even if you never want to get close to mobs, I'd still find it useful as an automatic "melee defensive toggle" in a way for when things run/fly  at you or in tight maps when hover can't always keep you safe.

 

Also noticed it looks like you only 1 slotted hasten with recharge.  Typical is to 2 slot it with two +5 recharges.  I'd be impressed if you manage to get perma hasten and perma PA with only 1 slotted hasten.  Even if you did, it'd probably be more slot efficient to 2 slot hasten and not need to chase recharge bonuses as much.

 

Also hint: Instead of using export just drag the actual save file of the build here to insert it.  People can then download and open it themselves.  It is a bit hard to read the way you have it.

 

[v a p o r w a v e]

Thanks for the notes!

 

I made a new build that includes your suggestions. I also spent some more time looking into enhancement choices and it really seems like I only chose most of them for even more recharge reduction. All of the stealth powers were mules for LotG global recharge. I've made some tweaks to slotting and enhancements.

 

However, when I was done with both of our tweaks I had 5 empty power slots that I had nothing important to put in.

 

I considered keeping boxing/tough/weave to try to pad out my def/res some more but it really seemed like more endurance and more power slots than it was worth. So instead I've selected Fallout, EM Pulse, Rise of the Phoenix, and Super Speed for no other reason than getting enhancement bonuses or situational utility out of them. And I took Tactics as an arbitrary buff to keep on because I had nothing else to select from primary/secondary/pools, and some extra chance to not miss sounded better than anything.

 

If there are any other powers I could benefit from taking instead of those 5, I'm all for it.

 

I tested this on brainstorm and my Accelerate Metabolism and Phantom Army are just barely perma. I tried to move away from Agility Core Paragon and Ageless Core Epiphany, but removing even just one of those makes my recharge drop so much that I can't obtain perma hasten/AM/PA no matter how many recharge boosts I try to stack.

WIP v a p or w a v e - Controller (Illusion Control - Radiation Emission).mbd

[v a p o r w a v e]

For anyone stumbling onto this thread looking for an ill/rad build:

 

I ended up going with a build by Jagxyz that's pinned in the Controller channel of the homecoming discord. I boosted the purples and replaced Positron's Blast with Ragnarok. And replaced Thunderstrike with Superior Winter's Bite. Otherwise it's identical.

 

Modified Ill_Rad_Troller.mbd