Just feeling the need to vent.

[Ultimo]

So tonight, I took on a Tip mission on my L21 Dark Control/Dark Miasma Controller.  It was the mission where you go into a Longbow base and take control of "Crazed Wardens" to wipe out the base.  Pretty straightforward, and I've done it on many of my characters with little difficulty.

 

Until tonight.

 

I went in, and did what I usually do.  Confuse on one guy, let it recharge, confuse the other, then Hold the third, and clean up with Sorcery's Arcane Bolt and Enflame.  However, to my confusion, the enemy were immune to my controls.  Confuse did NOTHING.  Dark Grasp, Living Shadows... no effect.  Add to that, they were doing rather huge amounts of damage.  My character has a bit over 400 health, these MINIONS (Longbow Riflemen) were hitting me for 174 damage in one shot.  Two or three of them, and I'm just dead.  Every group, it was the same.  The first Warden (he was Super Strength and Invulnerability) was basically oneshotted by one of the groups with two Officers, after which they all came after me, despite my invisibility.  I tried Howling Twilight, to disorient them.  It has no ToHit, it hits automatically... but they all ignored it.  What attacks I made either missed or were deflected.  Literally ZERO hits for the whole fight.  Twilight Grasp to heal myself - Deflected.  Just no way to fight back.

 

BOY it was frustrating.  Controllers who aren't allowed to control their enemies are just POWERLESS.  No way to fight them.  All I could do was suck down a dozen purples and bulldoze through.  No fun at all.

 

Anyway, rant over.  Thanks for listening.

[Glacier Peak]

To any reader who might stumble on this thread, have you ever heard Ultimo's tale before? It might sound familiar if you have. And if not, I recommend taking a moment to use the search function.

[lemming]

The issue about the confuse is that Longbow Wardens have Confuse protection from leadership 3.5 and there are two of them giving a total of 7 to everyone near them.  And Possess only has a mag of 3.

 

So that explains that part pretty easily.   Tough mission for a controller.  I'm curious if we ever see Jane again.

 

And for anyone curious since it took a little hunting for me to find it:

 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Mission:Tip_-_Vial_of_Pulsating_Liquid

[MonteCarla]

I remember this from my first villain ever, a Mind/Psi Dominator. 
Confusing a Longbow boss never worked, because they'd still turn Tactics on and neutralise it. It was very frustrating and I had to find other ways around them.

 

See the thread about Vulnerabilities in Powers and Archetypes today - this was a great example of a naturally occurring one. 

Edited Sunday at 07:35 AM by MonteCarla

[Snarky]

I remember my first experiences in City of Villains.  I played a Brute, of course. Super Strength Invulnerability. I busted out if the Zig. Even at low level I was feeling it.  Then, my first Longbow mission.  Damn.  And when there are solid numbers of them?  Lulz. 
 

Now, of course, I got my moves.  I run a Dark Dark Corruptor mostly.  But I never underestimate Longbow. I either avoid them (i stealth as much as possible) or I let them have it with everything. I always open with a Fear cone against hard groups.  Tar patch and Blackstar if the grouping is right.  More debuffs if the group is closing. Picking targets and whittling off DPS as fast as possible 

[MTeague]

I've beaten that mission on my Mind/Kintroller.  Not sure if everything is as applicable on Dark Control, but at least for Mind, Confuse causes no aggro, and I don't have any damage procs slotted in it.  It's slotted with a confuse set, so good accuracy and duration considerably longer than it's recharge time. 

 

So I basically stacked 4-5 applications of Confuse on just ONE of the Wardens. Only one. Don't even try the other. Eventually it was enough to overcome the Confuse protection/resists. I had to completely sacrifice all XP for the other Warden, just keep maintaining Confuse on the first one, until he killed the second. When it was just the one Warden left, then I kept maintaining Confuse, and alternating Holds until I had him helpless, then normal damage rotation. Its an annoying mission, to be sure. I don't take it nearly as personally as I take Purple Triangles, but it's the nature of the game.

 

Also, once I get to lvl 15, I always grab a Shivan Shard, So when the mission in patently unfair, I can be every bit as unfair right back at them. Admittedly, getting the Shivan Shard at lvl 15 on a controller is.... not the most fun thing either. But it's not that that hard to simulanteously weaken-but-not-kill the firebase turrets, and then pop them all in rapid-enough-fire to use the firebase and grab the temp power. 

[gameboy1234]

While perhaps not in theme with this thread,  but it's a multiplayer game.  When I have problems like this I usually ask for help.  With one or two more folks on the team it's usually a breeze.

 

(But yes I'm trying to solo my through First Ward and Night Ward on my Dark/Dark dom and it's not a lot of fun either.  If the confuses don't land you can die quickly, regardless of your own damage output.)

 

[Jacke]

Everyone here has good advice.

 

" I went in, and did what I usually do. "

 

That's that root cause of your problems.  You assumed your standard method of steamrolling mobs would work everywhere.  Instead of being careful and reacting to what was happening at the moment and adjusting, at worse running away until you dropped off their aggro lists.  You were bound to eventually come up against a more difficult enemy and aggro'ed too many and they thumped you good.

 

It's good to have more options.  Like things that will shape the enemy's reaction like Caltrops or a hallway corner.  It's also good to have emergency Powers, whether in the build or Temp Powers from S.T.A.R.T. or other sources to handle these emergencies, like Shivans, Backup Radio, or Signature Summons for the worse cases.

 

You have to know how your tools work and what the counters are.  I love love love stealth.  I also know there are mobs with greater perception (Snipers, Turrets, GMs), Leadership Powers (a Boss with Tactics will see farther than their standard 54ft, as will their companions they buff), and some mobs with standard perceptions that ignore stealth (Rikti Drones, Rularuu Sentries (the floating eyes), and Knives of Artemis).  On Devices Blasters, I take Smoke Grenade at high Level because that allows me to blind some of problem mobs.  I also know a key factor of stealth is the reduction of a Toon's Threat.  I can often work with under-55ft stealth by moving fast and not being in vision of mobs for too long.  I also know that if I screw up, I'll pay.

 

I also know when stealth doesn't work due to aggro.  If my Toon or my Toon's Pet is on a mob's aggro list (or the Pet automatically passes the aggro to the Toon), also some ambushes, those mobs will find my Toon no matter how much stealth it's packing.

 

I also use Confuse Powers.  I know much of what @MTeague mentioned above.  I know if I get some damage on any given mob, my small fraction of the XP from that mob will be much greater than my fraction of damage, so whenever safe, I try to tag all the mobs with a bit of damage.  I know that damaging a mob will notify other mobs nearby.  I make sure my Confuse Powers have no source of damage, because that will aggro a Toon even if I'm stealthed; either immediately if the application of Confuse didn't confuse the mob, or after it wears off, they will attack me.  And I work at Confusing one mob and make sure it's confused and attacking other mobs.  Because some mob have extra Confuse Protection and Resistance, either inherently or from a nearby Lt or Boss, like the Leadership Powers or Cimeroran's Shout of Command.  Also, those Powers that protect against Mez can often be cast even if the mob is Mezzed.  If things aren't going wrong and there's enough Confuse duration in one application to do the job, I can try to Confuse more.  I try to eventually enhance the Confuse duration in the build to help here.

 

Know your tools.  Know the enemy and how they react to and how they can counter those tools.  If not absolutely sure, work slowly and carefully on the enemy, especially those not known or worse known to be tough.  Adjust your tactics.  Have emergency Powers for when things go wrong.

 

 

Edited 17 hours ago by Jacke