Grav/FF - The Ultimate Mob Clumper

[dukedukes]

Greetings controller enjoyers. I've been having a blast with my grav/ff controller for a while now, I haven't seen people play in a similar style with all these powers, so I'm making this post to get it on more people's radar in case they could have some fun with it.

The focus here is on packing enemies tightly together so your teammates can AOE them easier. You accomplish this with powers that manipulate the positions of enemies. The play-style is similar to a herding tanker but with a very different kit. Note the character doesn't really come online until you get Singularity at level 26, but people will appreciate your shields until that point I'm sure.

I've added a spoiler section to select powers to include all the information I can think of about the power, you can skip these sections if you're just getting started. These sections address challenges you will face and to give you ideas on how to build your strategy.

Warning: This is not a simple build to play when using the full kit, there is nuance involved in using each power. You can cause your teammates grief when you mess up or are too disruptive. Proceed with care.

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for those who misuse these powers to disrupt your gameplay (unless it's me).

Power overview

I'll skip explaining the overall power sets of grav and ff and assume you're familiar, this topic will focus purely on moving enemies around.

Gravity Control

Lift
Lifts enemies over ledges. This is useful here and there. You need Repulsion Field or Singularity to do the actual pushing as lift just raises the enemy. Enemies in the air are pushed harder by repel.

 

Crushing Field

Don't bother using Repulsion Field or even Singularity TP without it. It stops mobs from moving around while you try and group them up. I'm not a fan of immobilize outside of soloing but this is an incredible use of it.

Wormhole

Teleport outlier mobs to the main group of mobs. You can wormhole entire packs of distant enemies but it's likely you will not pull them all. The target mobs should be tightly packed or I wouldn't bother using this power, you can group them up yourself if you want! Have a remediation strategy for dealing with the remaining mobs. I will either provoke them, bump them with Repulsion Field so they agro and kite them over, or Crushing Field and Repulsion Field to push them toward the main clump of mobs. The choice depends on the number of remaining enemies, how far away they are, their relative level, and the obstacles in the way. Be sure to convert knockback to knockdown with an IO.

Extra Info:

Spoiler

A big question about this power is should you actually use it. If you engage one pack of mobs and your team has high damage I would argue Wormholing the next pack from a decent distance away may not be the right decision. If you end up having to leash the remaining mobs over will they reach the main pack before everything is dead? If not I would question using this power. Having your team clean up the remaining mobs you failed to TP is likely still faster than fighting two full packs separately but I don't find this ideal, and it's even a bit disruptive. You don't want your teammates feeling like janitors cleaning up after you.

The ideal time to use this power is as early as possible, even before you group up the first pack of mobs if your team has good damage. You can TP past the first pack and Wormhole the next pack roughly at the same time your team engages the first, aggro the remainders, then group up all the mobs with Singularity + Repulsion Field back at the first pack.

Mobs do not react to getting Wormhole'd. This means you can preemptively move mobs on top of each other without actually engaging with them and dealing with their aggro. This can be nice to get the power on cooldown mid-fight so it's up more. It's also nice to get the mobs grouped ASAP so the initial AOE's have more targets available.

If you want you can add a damage proc to Wormhole and all the mobs will aggro to you up to your aggro limit. If there is more than 16 mobs some will not get pulled. A damage proc is nice because even if the teleport misses they will come running. I prefer using a damage proc as it seems faster to get the remnants who were not teleported over to the main pack of mobs.

Singularity

The reason to use Gravity Control as a primary. You've likely seen grav controllers teleport their pet in the middle of a group of enemies. Singularity attracts enemies toward itself with a large radius. This is the primary way to group mobs together and you often don't need any other powers other than Crushing Field. Be sure to convert knockback to knockdown with an IO.

Extra Info:

Spoiler

You interact with this pet by teleporting it around and the biggest nuisance in handling it is its pathfinding continues when teleported, that means when you teleport the pet it will move in some direction (toward their last nav point). It will stop movement once the AI kicks in and selects a target to attack. Sometimes this movement is small, other times it is huge. Here's what I do based on how far the pet moves from where i want it:

small distance: no adjustment needed
medium distance: repulsion field the further away mobs toward the pet (as you would anyway). TP again if needed. You don't need to push the entire pack, Singularity's pull and your push will collapse the mobs enough to be aoe'd even without the mobs surrounding Singularity.
large distance: at this distance it may not even be attracting any mobs, just TP it again when TP cooldown comes back. While you wait for the teleport CD you can Repulsion Field the mobs together if the environment allows for it, or Wormhole another pack, etc.

If the pet moves a medium/large distance you can opt to re-summon your pet where you want it assuming the cooldown is back up, I try not to do this all the time, preferably you re-summon if the Singularity position is messing the fight up a substantial amount. Never engage a pack with a pet summon, there's a good chance your pet will just die, it needs our buffs to stay alive. Try proccing ffb with Lift for a faster teleport recharge. The key point is sometimes you have to follow the Singularity's lead and work with what the pet gives you.

There is a trick to have the pet (almost) never move when you TP it. If the pet is in combat it's not moving, so if you play aggressive and leave fights early before the last mob dies you can get a perfect TP. You and your pet need to be tanky as both of you will split the alpha damage. I only do this if I know my team will follow. Another way to ensure the pet doesn't move is if you wait for it to catch up to you, granted it could path toward you still. I wouldn't wait for the pet but there's moments where if you waited half a second the pet will stop moving giving you a perfect TP.

When you are going in an elevator make sure to TP your pet to the elevator so they enter with you. If you don't do this and the pet is on the previous floor when you TP the pet they will zoom through the wall toward the previous floor.

It's preferable to teleport your pet the maximum distance possible so you can keep Repulsion Field running without throwing the enemy mobs around while you TP the pet. It can be useful to Repulsion Field the mobs closer together just before the TP but it depends on the pack. I highly recommend using the teleport front macro for long distance teleports because point and click is buggy. If you click an enemy the TP will fail. I haven't tried TP pet on target but maybe it could work for some people.

In some maps, usually open, the pet might just decide to wander off randomly. This is fairly rare. If it happens you can tp it back or try grouping mobs just with repulsion field. If it's an open map there's plenty of room to do this.

While it's usually safe to move around without your pet leashing it does happen, luckily the pet generally moves far enough away from the pack of mobs to not disturb the ongoing fight. You'll likely need to TP your pet on the main pack again.

Force Field

Deflection/Insulation Shield

Keeps your pet alive longer. Singularity will take a beating so this is useful.

Repulsion Field

The reason to pick Force Field as a secondary. The basic idea is to push enemies toward your Singularity. Singularity makes Repulsion Field more forgiving and effective, the repel/attract effects work together. Be aware the knockback effect has a smaller radius than the repel effect, sometimes you won't want to trigger knockback as repel has no effect if the enemy is knocked on the ground (more relevant to lower level mobs)

Extra Info:

Spoiler

There is a lot to keep in mind using this power. You need high awareness of all the mobs around you as well as your team. Take learning this power slowly. The easiest environment to use this power is on outdoor maps where there is minimal obstacles, if you want a good testing ground.

The goal eventually is to keep this power active almost all the time so you're ready to adjust mob positions, even on simple packs you can still counter a teammates knockback and so on. Definitely turn it off if you use Fold Space or want to save on endurance.

If you knock mobs around in the wrong direction there's no need to panic, you happen to have all the tools to correct these situations. If a mob gets put in a corner you can knock them out of it by jumping on their head or moving Singularity nearby to pull them out (assuming main clump is close enough), you can Fold Space if things really get scattered, Wormhole if you want, or kill the mob yourself while your team takes out the main pack. Lots of options.

You'll need to figure out what mob types are feasible to push around at what distance toward the main clump. Against +4 mobs I tend to use Repulsion Field to tighten up a pack of mobs mostly, but I'm willing to push other mobs around if they're roughly 80 ft away or if they're immobilized already somehow I'll just push them over, it's kind of fun even if time consuming. If there's a lot of mobs to push prefer to Wormhole them over and either kite or push what's left over. Against +0 to +2 your repel is extremely strong so you can push things over longer distances.

If you have a decent amount of mobs to push it's ideal to strafe left and right quickly to average the direction of your Repel forward, otherwise mobs will spread out and be difficult to move them all at once.

You may notice when mobs are knocked down from knockback or knockdown effects repel has no effect. This is more a problem for Singularity than Repulsion Field because Repulsion Field has a stronger repel effect. If your team is knockdown/knockback heavy Repulsion Field helps a ton to get the mobs clumped up.

I mention this in a few places in this post but it's worth repeating, Combat Teleport is very important to utilize.

Some mobs are immune to Repel but it's very rare. Carnie strongmen are for example. You can use the knockback portion of Repulsion Field (just get close and they'll be knocked back) to group them instead. AV's are immune, not much you can do to them.

Dispersion Bubble
On the defensive side of things Dispersion Bubble gives you access to a very welcome amount of defense (nearly 12%). Good defense is important as you will receive a lot of attention from mobs. You also get hold, immobilize, and stun protection. The mez that does affect you (from what I recall) is just terrorize, sleep, and confuse so the important stuff is covered with this power.

Power pool: Teleport

Combat Teleport

A very useful way to maximize Repulsion Field uptime and effect. Rather than moving to the position you would have the best repel you can teleport there. Can be used to get around mobs without disturbing them with Repulsion Field as well.

Extra Info:

Spoiler

Your mastery over this power makes a huge difference in how efficiently you can clump mobs together, it can take a while to get used to using it but it's worth the effort. Whenever you're moving a far distance to get an angle with Repulsion Field just remind yourself you should have teleported.

The power description mentions range enhancement doesn't affect it, but this is incorrect. Range increases do work and I find it useful to increase its range.

You may notice the power failing to teleport you, you'll see the teleport vfx activate but you move nowhere. This is because the position you selected to teleport to was too far away. If you want to max range combat teleport you can do so by teleporting with your cursor aiming at the air instead of the ground.

Teleport Target

Needed to teleport Singularity. See the Singularity Extra Info spoiler section for more info.

Teleport

For repositioning where Combat Teleport won't move you far enough.

Fold Space

Obviously a great way to move mobs, similar to Wormhole it often won't TP every mob you wanted it to. Ideal for situations where mobs are scattered around you in many directions and too far for Singularity to pull in. Gather the remaining mobs similar to Wormhole.

Extra Info:

Spoiler

People use this power all the time but there is still some things to mention I see people mess up a lot.

Fold space will teleport mobs to your location up to its target limit (16 iirc. Roughly 1 pack of mobs). If you use Fold Space intending to pull some stragglers in when a group of mobs is already packed you just wasted it, you'll TP the nearby mobs who were already gathered and the stragglers will mostly be untouched. Sometimes you will want to wait for the main packs minions and LT's to die, then Fold Space. Work with the target limit.

This power is not my first choice to group up mobs. Most pulls the mobs will be close enough for Singularity and Repulsion Field to handle it. Some rooms have enemies spread out like in the sewer layout and then Fold Space is the correct choice. If the fight is chaos and enemies are everywhere I'll Fold Space next to Singularity to start getting a clump going, then Wormhole, and finally turn on Repulsion Field and get the rest grouped up.

 

If there is, say, 3 packs of mobs within range and you Fold Space there's a chance you will aggro every pack on to your team. If your team is strong this might be a good thing but not so good if you wipe your team, the extra packs will run to your team and you can do your thing to try and group them all up.

Power pool: Presence

Provoke
If there's mobs far from the main clump you want to pull in a good old-fashioned taunt may just be the best tool available, you wouldn't want to Repulsion Field a bunch of mobs over long distances. Provoke can be nice to get the leftovers of a pack you partially Wormhole'd to the main pack. You don't get the range reduction on the target like tanks do, so you have to out-range or LOS to get them moving. Bumping the mob with Repulsion Field to get agro can fill the same role, nearly.

Extra Info:

Spoiler

Since you're a controller and not a tank archetype mobs are not interested in focusing only you. If you pull distant mobs with a regular attack they will change target as soon as a teammate is in range. This can be an advantage as your aggro limit is generally available, so you're free to pull distant mobs without worrying about the main pack being part of your aggro limit. As soon as those mobs choose a new target you're free to pull another group if the situation calls for it.

Not taunting does raise an issue though. Once the enemies find a new target they will attack at range and not be clumped. Provoke is nice because you can line of sight or out-range and force them to run straight into the main clump. You do have other options though. Once the mobs choose a new target they should be close enough to Repulsion Field them into the main clump. Maybe your tank will throw a taunt to help out. You could Fold Space to get them in as well, just be aware of the Fold Space target limit. The total mobs should be less than 16 when you Fold Space in this case.

 

Macros

There's several macros that are useful, generally to make teleport powers less clunky.

Teleport to cursor:
/macro_image "Teleportation_Teleport" "tp" "powexec_location cursor teleport"

Combat Teleport to cursor:
/macro_image "Teleportation_Teleport" "ctpcursor" "powexec_location cursor combat teleport"

Combat Teleport up against your target. You'll appear on their closest side if they're not moving:
/macro_image "Teleportation_Teleport" "ctptarget" "powexec_location target combat teleport"

Target your pet with a keybind to then teleport it:
/macro pet petselectname YOUR_PET_NAME

Teleport Singularity the maximum distance possible in front of you:
/macro_image "Teleportation_TeleportFoe" "tppetfront" "powexec_location front:39 Teleport Target"
With boosted zephyr 3 set I get the value of 39 as my max distance but yours may be different. You could put the pet select in the same macro though it requires two button presses, not sure if there's a way around this:
/macro_image "Teleportation_TeleportFoe" "tppetfront" "petselectname YOUR_PET_NAME$$powexec_location front:39 Teleport Target"

Example Build

I've been leaning toward building damage heavy so you have more impact than just gathering the mobs. Make sure you have the target immobilized or held for containment damage.
ST rotation = gravity distortion -> lift -> propel -> repeat.
AOE = gather mobs (use crushing field doing so)-> force bomb -> umbral torrent. could go mu mastery for ball lightning if you want.
dukedukes damagev1.03 (Gravity Control - Force Field).mbd

Some things to shoot for:

• Good defenses. I aim for high ranged defense, good aoe defense, balanced resists.
• Force feedback recharge procs
• 95% to hit chance for fold space and wormhole
• Good range boost for teleport target, but all teleport powers (including wormhole) are better with range

Gameplay

Here's a +2 Yin TF. Keep in mind relative mob level affects how strong repel is via Purple Patch, +2 is pushed very hard compared to +4.

Thanks for your time. If you try these power sets out I hope you have fun! My global name is Ducks if you have questions and happen to catch me online, or ask here.

Edited May 27 by dukedukes
added note about kb->kd for wh and sing

[hoodedKitsune]

I started a Grav/FF not to long ago and this is VERY helpful. That said I have a question or two. 

 

1: Does Wormhole need a KB to KD? or am I wasting a slot for that that could be used for something else or a proc? (what are some good Procs If even a thing?)

2: Same for Singularity, am I wasting a slot or is this so needed before mobs start flying everywhere?

 

So far I am just level 25 and LOVING wormhole, kinda amazed at how fast it recharges so far without a lot of recharge.  After reading this I am so picking up Teleport Target.  I had simply played on Warmhole'ing groups into my pet, but learning I can do the reverse? YES PLEASE!  

[dukedukes]

16 minutes ago, hoodedKitsune said:

I started a Grav/FF not to long ago and this is VERY helpful. That said I have a question or two.

1: Does Wormhole need a KB to KD? or am I wasting a slot for that that could be used for something else or a proc? (what are some good Procs If even a thing?)

2: Same for Singularity, am I wasting a slot or is this so needed before mobs start flying everywhere?

I'm glad it's been helpful for you!

Yes you need kb->kd for Wormhole and Singularity, it will make things a lot less hectic.

Personally for Wormhole I get accuracy, range, and recharge but prioritizing accuracy, I check the combat window to see if I have 95% hit chance so its behaviour is as consistent as possible. There are some procs, the only viable damage proc is Explosive Strike. Check the last 2 paragraphs of the Wormhole "extra info" section about how this changes Wormholes behaviour. In terms of dishing out AOE damage I would rather proc up Force Bomb and an AOE from an epic pool. You could proc Crushing Field too potentially but I haven't tried this.