Build/powerset recommendations for returning player please

[DeeplyDippy]

First off, I know you're all probably sick to death of these requests but you guys seem to give great advice.

 

I have taken a look through (as best I can) posts, but there are so many, and none that I've seen are what I am after.

 

I used to play FF/empathy (IIRC) plus a controller, OG, loved to bubble and heal, playing support all the way, or CC when needed instead - I had a great guild that was active, and I have always played some support role or other (healer/buffer/CC) in so many MMOs.

 

However, since those days I have inherited a bone disease (some get money, some property, I'm just extra lucky!) which means I suck at things like melee, moving into melee range and then out of it again (I suck at using a controller, so it's mouse and keypad for me).

 

I created a MM - demons/nature (on Excelsior) and I am enjoying her. 

 

I was invited into an Ouro group and found myself forgetting I had pets and spent my time debuffing and healing (with my pathetic heal at lvl 6, ranked up to 40+ but still...) and LOVED IT.  It was hectic, it felt like everyone had pets -  so many it made me worry that I could never play a CC doing an event like that.

 

I am guildless, can never guarantee how long I'll be on (pain suck), but hope to join more groups when I get a bit higher so I can be of some use.

 

With a caveat that I know I can just make a new char if the current one isn't right, but pain and lack of time means I want to keep this to a minimum.  I am also one of those people who do every quest, take their time, but also like to follow builds/guides so I know I'm not fing up, this leads me to my questions:

Would it have been better to go with a ?/FF Mastermind to be of better use when grouping, and if so, which pet works best with FF?

OG, defenders and controllers struggled to solo if they wanted a build that would be useful later.  Is that still the case?

What powersets would you guys recommend, for both the Defender and Controller, knowing that melee and mixing melee and ranged will be difficult for me?

 

And last but not least, if you guys know of any builds for what you recommend, if you could link that would be amazing - I do have the Mids Planner.

 

Thanks so much in advance.

 

Deeply

 

[Maelwys]

Given your previous characters on live tended towards healing and bubbling rather than personal damage output, and you seem to enjoy pets... I'd suggest a Thermal Controller.

Earth, Illusion and Arsenal Control all get pets that remain useful and can be relevant on many teams (for drawing aggro and tanking) but Earth's Animated Stone probably benefits the most from Thermal buffs because the bubbles allow them to become resistance capped to every type of damage. Earth Control also gets a lot of Ranged CC abilities. Arsenal Control gets more AoE damage but lesser CC 

 

Compared to live, most allied bubble powers got reworked to be AOE so there's rarely a need these days to spend time running around buffing everyone individually.

 

Regarding a Defender... for Pure Ranged Mayhem I'd lean towards Ice Blast or Water Blast. Pairing Cold Domination with Water Blast would give a fairly survivable Ranged Bubbler.

 

If you're set on a FF Mastermind, any Primary can work because taking Power Boost (from the Mace Patron Pool) plus Clarion Radial Destiny incarnate will drastically increase the numbers of your allied bubbles and allow you to keep everything around you softcapped even if your Henchmen lack any inherent Defenses. Mercs and Demons would get my vote, with Mercs being far better behaved.

[DeeplyDippy]

4 minutes ago, Maelwys said:

If you're set on a FF Mastermind

Thanks for the feedback, will take a look at those powers and give them a try.

 

With regards MM, not stuck on FF at all, but it seems bubbling has changed alot since OG 🙂  If I play a MM, I would like to be useful in groups other than just providing extra dps with pets.  FF came to mind as it was really the only bubbler back in the day and it appears to be far from the case now, given your advice re controller builds.  So yes, I would really like a MM that can help keep the group alive/provide what is most needed by groups if that makes sense) but it doesnt have to be FF, it seems 🙂 

[Maelwys]

1 hour ago, DeeplyDippy said:

I would really like a MM that can help keep the group alive/provide what is most needed by groups if that makes sense) but it doesnt have to be FF, it seems 🙂 

 

Unfortunately none of the various MM primaries provide very much in the way of support/buffs that affect other player characters... the only standouts that spring to mind would be -Regen debuffs from Robotics and -Resistance debuffs from Demons. However the Henchmen that have better behaved "prefer ranged" AI (like Bots and Mercs) tend to be much less obstructive and/or annoying to other players, especially on smaller mission maps.

 

Your secondary will be where the bulk of any "teammate support" will come from. But it can be tricky for MMs to juggle supporting both their teammates and keeping their Henchmen alive. +Defense buffing sets have it easier than +Resistance buffing sets for this, and /FF is probably the least stressful of these because so many of its abilities are Passive. The trade-off is that FF doesn't bring much to the table aside from lots of +Defense and a smidge of -Res.

 

If you can cope with being a bit busier, then a Bots/Cold MM will have a far higher performance ceiling than a /FF MM. Cold Domination also gets Defense Bubbles (although they are NOT affected by Power Boost etc.) as well as a truckload of useful debuffs such as -Res and -Regen. Whilst /Cold doesn't get any +Def bubbles that buff the Mastermind themselves, Bots/ does and its Henchmen are also self sufficient regarding Healing.

 

Another very powerful option that has lots of allied buffs is /Time. However it really needs lots of Recharge as well as Power Boost and the Clarion Radial Destiny Incarnate to reach its true Defense-buffing potential.

 

The current "Meta" pick for MMs is /Marine; but that's geared more towards capping your henchmens' HP and providing lots of damage proc opportunities than it is Healing or Buffing other players. Anything that results in "Faster Clear Speed" does tend to be highly favoured by teams though, so it may be worth considering.

 

Edited Friday at 03:11 PM by Maelwys

[Without_Pause]

My initial thought was Thermal as well. A bit of a look at the current meta. People tend to cover their own Def as well as they can(whatever that might be). Res gets put to the side so offering Res shields can be deemed as more useful. While yes, healing is useful, teams steam roll more than ever so the odds of a team needing a heal is on the lower side. Add in shields from Thermal or where ever, and heals more of a nice to have then a requirement. Also, when a team doesn't feel like they need healing so much, those shields can make you still feel useful.

 

I know FF got reworked. I just can't be bothered to use it when Time and Cold exists.

 

The problem for you with Marine is there is a power which literally TPs you into melee, so you either have to skip it or likely deal with going in and out of melee which you said is an issue for you.

 

For a Defender, I like /sonic due to Defenders getting the most -Res out of it and it is all ranged. Shockwave with a KD IO can offer some nice additional mitigation, and the recharge is decent enough. I have a Thermal/sonic who got on a team with a Cold and health bars really didn't move. 

[Maelwys]

To caveat the above.. if /Marine Whitecap's teleporting you directly into Melee range is too much for the OP (given that no precision movement is required and you're free to immediately move or combat teleport away again afterwards) then I suspect the various Defender PBAoE nukes are also going to be too much.

 

I like Sonic and Dark Blast on Defenders, due to the very same higher Debuffs values that @Without_Pause mentions... but unfortunately both of their Nukes (Dreadful Wail and Blackstar) are PBAoE and really need you to either stay in melee range or joust in-and-out of the very middle of a large group of enemies.

 

Electric Blast may be an option if you feel you can skip Short Circuit... otherwise I suspect it's a choice between Ice, Water or Seismic (Ice being the favourite, obviously. Whilst Water Blast now has a passable Single Target chain due to no longer having a lockout time on instant Water Jet; Seismic is still mediocre at best - although IMO Meteor is as hilarious as it is slow)

 

The problem is that once you start playing a Cold/Ice Defender, after a certain point you're going to wish you'd rolled it as an Ice/Cold Corruptor... 

 

Edited Friday at 03:55 PM by Maelwys

[Without_Pause]

Nukes tend to be roughly every other mob type of things so I wouldn't consider them to be that problematic in terms of movement. 

[Maelwys]

Me neither, but the acceptable frequency of jousting (if any!) really depends on the OP.

 

To be fair, using the recently introduced Powexec_Location command in conjunction with Combat Teleport is brilliant at counteracting exactly these sort of headaches and getting someone in and out of melee range without any WASD hammering or Joystick fumbling.

I also have a few characters that take the Sorcery Pool and use Mystic Flight as their main travel power + who use similar "get me next to my currently targeted enemy" binds during combat with Translocation...

[Doc Spectre]

I think you should try a Trick Arrow defender and do great debuffing and some control from range, pair with electrical blast for ignighting oil slick arrow or maybe assault rifle or fire blast. A corrupter would also work.

You could pair trick arrow with archery but will need some fire and energy damage proc Invention origin enhancements to set your oil slicks on fire.

That way you can stay entirely at range, possibly in hover, laying down debuff, control and damage.

[Hjarki]

10 hours ago, Doc Spectre said:

I think you should try a Trick Arrow defender and do great debuffing and some control from range, pair with electrical blast for ignighting oil slick arrow or maybe assault rifle or fire blast. A corrupter would also work.

You could pair trick arrow with archery but will need some fire and energy damage proc Invention origin enhancements to set your oil slicks on fire.

That way you can stay entirely at range, possibly in hover, laying down debuff, control and damage.

Both Blazing Arrow and Explosive Arrow do Fire damage.

[Doc Spectre]

Cool, not sure when that change happened, that's great.

[Without_Pause]

If I made a TA again, I would do a Fire/ta Corr.

[Teklord]

I have a fire/ta that I made in Oct. It is quite fun.