Mind/Storm: The fastest +4x8 clearing time Mind controller? A Chronology (hopefully)

[Argentae]

Argentae: Mind/Kin was my original main on Live.
I also like proving that under appreciated powers can sometimes be dang impressive. 

The original Argentae (Arg) is a build I played for many years. 
Most complex click intensive build, almost everything is fast fast fast... But when you're in the zone it's a rush of speed and capability. 

Mind/Kin may be able to do some BLEEP with TK and FS. I'll have to respec Arg and play with it at some point. The dynamic is different than with /Storm, but I think the synergy may be there, and Repel might even be useful for bouncing mobs into the TK hover ball of doom. 

Mind/TA is a tactical powerhouse. Enough AOE proc damage to do well, and a bag of tricks like nobody's business. Nothing gets to do much of anything (if you know how to play Mind and TA and ARE playing well!) that you don't want. Can handle at least three spawns, two of them fighting and one sleeping, and have a spare AOE hold to pull out if things go sour. And ST control to beat anyone. And some of the best debuffs to soften the spawn first chosen for "arresting". Great ST damage too.

But then TK (a power I spent a lot of time investigating with my wife during her long ago attempt to play MMO's 🙂 ) got changed.

 

I withheld judgement on the new version on beta, I could see the potential. The end cost in the beta was still the absurdly high cost of the original power, which I'm hugely glad they did change. 

 

They did something remarkable in the new TK. I think they meaningfully DID address some of the problems that Mind legitimately had in terms of leveraging containment. 

 

They also gave Mind/ one of the best. Dang. Positional control tools in the game.

It may not be apparent to a lot of players, but the new TK is surprisingly powerful, not just for what it does itself, but for what it does for other powers.

The devs introduced something new. A power that easily, quickly concentrates mobs VERY tightly together (like having a tank for clumping up mobs to make AOE powers work better), and keeps doing it for long enough to run a LONG AOE attack chain, AND adds a kick ass AOE attack at the end of the chain combined with knocking all mobs standing on their ass.

 

There are powers in the game that do excellent AOE dmg in small areas of effect. Two of the best are Tornado and Lightning Storm. Tornado also excels at KB-KD keeping mobs bouncing. 

As does Gale. 

The New TK was BORN to make Tornado's 7' and Lightning Storm's 5' hit 5 targets just about every time when in Freezing Rain. I've played with moving Tornado and LS around in the chain to see how much effect they are having over time and they make a MAJOR difference if you bring them in early.

Terrify has a -Res proc in it, and it's fast, so I might move it up front. It also does a boatload of damage. I have a slot in terrify waiting for the Immob proc when I remember to go buy it, which would be best at the end right before Levitate ends the TK.

I'm still playing around with it, but my current attack chain is:
 

Toggles: Steamy Mist, Combat Jumping, Hover, Evasive Maneuvers, Hurricane, if facing S/L attacks I'll also run Ice Armor.

 

If I'm not facing much that's immune to sleep then Mass Hyp -> Snow Storm (SS). Can use this to trigger a delayed corner pull if I need to split spawns apart. Choose your anchor carefully (keep closer to you than the effect of SS, the idea is to ONLY apply SS to mobs that are slept) and you will trigger a slow speed run to your corner that piles them and makes many fall. Lead off with a strong AOE control and you are fine. Gale works great to buy you a breathing space for control if needed.
In late game levels I don't need to do a corner pull as frequently. 

 

So...

 

I may throw SS in early on to deprive the bosses that might be standing at the end of their biggest attacks, and reduce spread after TK drops.

 

Domination (Dom) is 6 slotted with 5 dmg procs (including Unbreakable Restraint) and a Hold/End Ghost widow IO.

Confuse is 6 slotted with Coercive Persuasion  

 

If Mass Confuse (6-pack of WotC) is up, which it generally is, I first use single target Confuse on each boss in the spawn. Then target a mob near the geo center of the spawn and hit MC and watch the puppets JUMP into action when you hit most of them with a hefty psionic proc and they beat the ever living snot out of each other. And occasionally buff or heal you. 

 

Shift target to a Boss, and hit TK. Timer starts ticking...

 

Use Hurricane to shove mobs NOT sucked into TK INTO TK while working through the main AOE attack chain.

 

Freezing Rain (FR) a bit past the spawn. You are likely to move them back slightly when you do a few things, so best to have more of FR behind the spawn so you shove them back into it.

Tornado in center of spawn. Tornado will likely attack at least the boss you targeted. 

 

LS over your head. I love LS. One of the best combat pets in the game when you use it right. Great help in SS Corner pulls into FR patch with LS standing by to knock mobs down.

 

Ice Storm (IS) (6 pack of Artillery for the Ranged Def and Acc boost, should probably change) on center of spawn, it will get almost all. Don't let FR lapse while Ice Storm is running if you can avoid it.

 

Frost Breath. Does about 217 * 2 (containment) dmg * 1.5 (-Res debuff from FR with Achilles -Res ) with 5 pack of Ragnarok, plus the -Res Debuff of FR with the Achilles Heel added most of the time.

 

Terrify does about 277 plus containment dmg (total something like 315) * 1.5 (FR -Res) with 4 dmg procs and one -Res slotted, I think I have an endred focused IO slotted that pairs with one of the dmg procs as a place holder for the Sup Froz Blast immob proc. Because Procs don't benefit from Containment

 

 Levitate. Watch it hit everything like a Mack truck for about 550 smashing dmg with a little Negative dmg from the Apoc proc (5 pack of Apoc + FF +rech) * 1.5 (FR) = ~837 in an AOE. It's glorious. 

 

Most everything is dead except the bosses. They may or may not be as depending on luck, type of Boss etc. They are probably still beating on each other. Keep one confused, and One held via Conf - Dom - Lev - Dom -Lev - Conf while throwing in another Tornado and LS as much as possible and keeping FR under their feet. 

If I've got enough storms going, and it's obvious the boss(s) are done for, I'll turtle up in Hibernate to refill everything.

 

Hurricane will generally defend me for a sec when I burst out of the ice, and Gale will knockdown whatever's in front of me.

 

IF MC isn't recharged:

 

Total Domination (TD) (5 pack of Unbreakable Restraint, dmg proc is in Dom for ST use) 

 

I could Dom one boss (2 holds, so he's out) and work on Confusing the other while keeping everything bouncing. This works pretty well if I have a bind for Boss targeting, and spamming Gale helps me recover a bit and keep everything recharging at warp speed (about +270% global recharge as Gale with a large spawn almost ALWAYS hits the FF +rech proc and at those speeds Gale is up fast enough to chain kd most of the time). But I've also found that the above attack chain tends keep them off me till the end. LS tossing in KB causing 5' AOE lightning strikes every 5 sec or so helps keep things chaotic for the bosses.

 

At the end of either chain, almost everything is dead except the Bosses, and... Well... Mind/Storm with all storms out and often stacked, and properly utilizing Conf - Dom -Lev with occasional AOEs can put out a LOT of dmg quick.

The new TK:
Huge win in my books. Especially when paired with /Storm which benefits so much from the ability to concentrate entire spawns into an ever tightening kill zone. Make sure to target a boss or durable anchor do NOT target a minion. Bosses by pref. Practice how long you can run the chain, optimize the chain to get the best advantage while giving yourself a smidge of cushion in case something goes weird. Hurricane and LS will help guard your back most of the time. 

 

Levitate as an AOE ROCKS. FF +rech seems to proc pretty well, but nothing else seems to proc enough to be worth it even with zero +rech slotted. Tried Build Up proc, doesn't proc nearly as well as FF =rech. I thought it would pop most of the time with a large spawn as I only need one hit like with FF +rech. Nope. Occasionally goes off, but not reliably enough to plan on. Slot it for set bonuses and raw dmg. 

 

Flying mobs with SS on them and a lot of KD are generally ok.

War Wolves are a pain. Keep War Wolf Bosses confused as a high priority. 
Circle of Thorns are a sweetspot. I eat Thornhead maps on +4X8 as a snack. I need to try Carnies, Arachnos, and Rularuu for comparison with other builds.

 

Overall impression:

Prep with Confuse - MC and the plan is: Attack. in the top 1-3 Controller builds I've tried in terms of +4X8 spawn dropping speed. 
The definition of glass cannon with Active Defenses. 

 

Incarnate choices:

Went with Intuition Radial Paragon, Reactive Total Radial Conversion (so far), and Clarion Radial Epiphany. Will probably go with Assault for Hybrid slot as more damage is never bad. Control might be helpful as it would immobilize well and then just stack stun and immob (everything is already afraid of Terrify and Tornado).   

 

Psinado Incarnate Controller (Mind Control - Storm Summoning).mbd

Edited July 29 by Argentae
Adding tank ref in terms of clumping up mobs to make AOEs work better

[EmperorSteele]

Agreed with everything here. As a Mind/Kin main myself, I've found that new TK makes soloing large numbers of baddies a lot more doable.

 

There's a thread in the main Archetypes forum for clear speed times; you should try out the AE map linked there and post your time (I've yet to do so, waiting until I can get a consistent sub-10 minute run going)

[Psyonico]

I've got to say, this thread, and my general love of storm, got me to roll a mind/storm the other day.  He's only 24 so far, but it seems promising.

 

My big riff is that Terrify has an accuracy penalty, but fearsome stare and the symphony fear do not.

[wesslen]

Excellent recommendation!

 

Mind Control was already one of my favorite sets conceptually, but obviously it was very lacking. This is my first go at the new version, and I'm loving both the TK + Levitate combo and TK's gathering ability to go with Storm Summoning. Lots of fun, and the two sets combine to something much better than the sum of the parts.

Edited August 6 by wesslen

[Jacke]

I've been looking for a good Mind/ Controller to plan for.  Mind/Storm does seem to be a good combo....

 

 

Edited August 6 by Jacke