Dark/Dark playstyle

[Story Archer]

Blasters blast, Scrappers scrap, Tanks tank... Defenders are a little more active, usually focusing on whatever their primary does and then pew-pewing in between. Controllers though, with them it's a whole different ball game. With both a primary and a secondary that can be equally effective, each doing wildly different things and both of which need to be actively managed, there's a real learning curve when it comes to determining which of the many options available to you would be the best to use RIGHT NOW... all the moreso with larger, fast-moving groups. So how do you play your Controller? What abilities or actions do you prioritize? Obviously a lot of that is situational, but surely you have a 'go to' pattern or three that you tend to fall into.

 

For instance, I run two controllers - a Plant/Kinetics and a Dark/Dark. The first I've managed to get into a pretty easy flow - open with Seeds, then Fulcrum Shift, then Carrion Creepers when it's up. Alternate between Strangler and Transfusion during the rest of the fight, tossing in a Siphon Speed or a Transference as needed, and recharging Speed Boost and Increase Density for the group in between fights. 90+% of the time that is all I need to do to contribute and be (very) effective.

 

For Dark/Dark it's a little trickier. I'm sharing this in the hopes of getting insight from other experienced controllers and maybe offering a bit of it to newer players or those considering the power set. See below for the actual build I'm using - even maxxed out it's fairly inexpensive compared to most others. My favorite thing about this pairing is that, even if I'm the only Buffer / DeBuffer / Healer / Control on the team, I'm up to the task of filling all those roles at once. It's the only character I've ever felt that way about.

 

Mistress of Chains (stunner).mbd

 

A couple of slotting choices:

I've procced out Heart of Darkness to hit like a truck, and it's really my only direct attack. Heart of Darkness makes for an excellent mini-nuke when you proc it out but whenever I play with groups, they're often fast-moving and they are pretty much never looking to me for damage, so eventually I figured I'd get more use out of the Absolute Amazement set and its bonuses.

 

Slotting the way I have put me at the defensive soft cap for all positional defenses when I've got Fade up (which is perma with Hasten, also perma) and even without Fade I'm over the hard cap for Smashing/Lethal and Energy damage. I prefer to not be reliant on others for my well-being, regardless of AT I play.

 

So, playstyle... normally I open each mob with Fearsome Stare and then run in to drop Heart of Darkness. That usually serves to lock down anything that isn't Boss level or higher and slaps everybody with a -22.5% ToHit DeBuff as well. Once that's done, I target any lt's or bosses by alternating Dark Grasp and Possess, tossing in Twilight Grasp as needed should the group's health start to dip. Side Note: I find that Possess is an often over-looked or under-valued option, especially at higher level play. It's generally better than a hold and, properly slotted, you can spam it so often and it's duration lasts so long, you can literally Confuse anything that isn't completely immune to it.

 

Most of the time there really isn't time or need for Darkest Night or Tar Patch, though if I've got someone on the team throwing around area DoT effects, I'll usually try to compliment it with a Tar Patch for larger mobs. Darkest Night usually gets saved exclusively for EB's, AV's and GM's, who also tend to draw Howling Twilight, a Tar Patch and a steady diet of Twilight Grasp. DN, TP and HT can all provide tremendous value in those situations and only need a single enhancement to do so. I've seen builds where both HoD and HT are both proc'ed out as powerful mini-nukes and I think that can be a very effective option for solo play and smaller groups, but as I said before it's rare that groups are looking to their controller for damage and I prefer the benefits of the Absolute Amazement set, with other enhancement slots that would be needed for Howling Twilight better used elsewhere.

 

As for the buffs, I generally try to drop Soul Absorption right before the end of a fight and Fade right before one begins. Key binds telling people to gather can be effective, but since their duration's are relatively short and their recharge is so frequent it can get tedious - I've found that often it's just easier to try and catch as many people as you can each time you use them and not to worry too much about those you don't. Fade in particular has a nice 40' radius, so it's usually not a problem.

 

Umbra Beast and Dark Servant are resummoned between fights as needed, but once they're summoned I rarely pay them any mind, just letting them add to the battle as they will. Collectively I find them way too effective not to use, but much too random to try to anticipate or work around.

 

Perma-Hasten is on auto-fire and everything else runs on toggles, including Hover and Evasive Maneuvers, which, since I've discovered, my feet never touch the ground.

 

If you've read this much already, thanks for your patience. I'm interested in any alternate perspectives other Dark 'trollers might have and welcome any questions from those considering the set.

 

 

Edited March 1 by Story Archer

[Story Archer]

Also if anyone has any advice or suggestions regarding my build as it stands, I'd be interested to hear them - this is as far as I can take it but I have no experience whatsoever with Incarnates or post-50 play.

[Meknomancer]

On 3/2/2024 at 6:43 PM, Story Archer said:

Also if anyone has any advice or suggestions regarding my build as it stands, I'd be interested to hear them - this is as far as I can take it but I have no experience whatsoever with Incarnates or post-50 play.

 

 

Numbers look good. Not sure you need that 6th slot from AA in Heart of Darkness, or the 4th pieces of luck of the gambler in maouvres/weave.

 

If you 2 slot hasten with lvl 50 rech io's and boost them you'll get max recharge, the only reason to 3 slot it is for exempting purposes and then (i think) your better off with 3 lvl 30 boosted io's. Click slots/enhancements, set all relative levels, +5 levels.

 

I love Darkest Night, i'll use it to herd mobs nice and tightly packed dragging them to doorways/corners or into another mob but i run with living shadows and sometimes shadow field although thats mostly a solo experience. There's not much time for that on teams unless you hop over the first mob and drag the second mob back to the team with it. 

 

Curious how your endurance is even with soul absorb on it looks pretty heavy, i understand why players throw in the preventetive set for the bonuses and regen but i usually just 2-3 slot it with a couple end mod/rech and heal/rech pieces. Having twilight to top up hp it feels like the regen is unnecessary.