Can you solo as a controller?

[Billbailey96]

So way back in the day ('06 maybe?) 10 year old me tried to make a controller (illusion control and I forget the secondary). Well the problem is 10 year old me did not have friends who played CoH so I never got far. Fast-forward almost 20 years later and I still don't have friends who play CoH, but I now have more patience to play a controller (barely). Does anyone know of a good solo controller build? 

[Amp Up]

Pyro/dark, Ill/dark, fire/dark

[laudwic]

Pyro/Marine is very effective.  I've predominately soloed to 50 + a bunch of vet levels.  Even when I grouped it was pick-up groups.  On the weekends, DFB groups are pretty plentiful even on low population servers like my beloved torchbearer.

[Auroxis]

@BRADICAL did some solo testing on controller primaries on X/Marine and everything was found to be at least serviceable except Mind. Marine can carry almost any primary for soloing, though pairing it with Pyro or Elec gives the highest combined AoE+Single Target damage output.

 

 

 

Outside of Marine, Dark Affinity has some unique perks on Controller which really lend well to soloing in Fade and Soul Absorption. Another good option is Nature, which gives you a lot of tankiness and some damage buffs. Though due to a reliance on Overgrowth is a bit of a late bloomer (pun intended). Kinetics is a popular option for solo farming, but doesn't protect you well against certain mobs and doesn't scale its damage as much against single targets.

[Maelwys]

I had a decent time with Illusion/Time, even if it leant into procbombed /Time powers (like Distortion Field and Slowed Response) and Contagious Confusion to make up for the pitiful native AoE prior to Perma PA. To be fair, Illusion has benefitted from the i28p2 changes which let Spectral Terror's Fear and Blind's AoE Sleep both set up containment.

[Six-Six]

Definitely. I mostly play solo. So far, I've got the following up to incarnates:

Dark/Time, Dark/Dark and Dark/Poison because I like doggies
Illusion/Time and Illusion/Thermal because phantom army

Got a bunch more toons all dressed up just waiting to be played:
Elec/Elec, Ice/Cold, Earth/Thermal, Plant/Nature and Arse/Traps

Right now, I'm playing a Plant/Poison on Hardcore Permadeath challenge. He's currently at level 30.

 

[EnjoyTheJourney]

Illusion / TA / psi can solo a very large amount of content. I'd personally not want to solo 8-player spawns with ill/TA/psi because that could be a bit tedious. It could be done, though.

Phants take aggro and do good damage, when well slotted. Spectral terror is a workhorse as an AOE control that noticeably debuffs enemy to hit. Stack flash arrow together with spectral terror to make enemies much less likely to hit your controller or teammates. With strong global recharge oil slick arrow is up a lot, plus there are good proc opportunities with TA; be sure to heavily proc the single target hold in TA (ice arrow). As well, EMP arrow offers 500% -regen with decent uptime, with good global recharge, which helps for taking down GMs and AVs. The damage resistance and mez protection provided by EMP arrow are also really helpful for soloing, particularly for targets that mez and that hit hard.

 

Psi mastery provides a mez protection clickie as of level 35, which is a convenient and accessible way to deal with incoming mezzes (together with rune of protection from the sorcery pool, easily accessible as early as level 20). Finally, take enflame from the sorcery pool to enhance both single target and AOE damage. 

Edited 22 hours ago by EnjoyTheJourney

[Argentae]

100% yes.

I have a large stable of controllers, and with the repeated changes to the AT it's absolutely my favorite AT to play. 
Pay attention to what powers can use dmg Procs, and absolutely use MidsReborn to workshop different builds.

My favorite Primaries (no particular order): Plant/, Dark/, Pyro, Arsenal/, Illusion/(one of the best for AV fights because of Phant tanking them, but not as good at large spawns), Fire/ all have great soloing potential. All Primaries do actually, but those are particularly good at it.

My favorite secondaries are /Dark (very tanky), /Storm (great for damage in the late game), Trick Arrow (very tactical), Marine (great especially for a melee focused playstyle).

 

My current combo is Pyrotechnic/Dark and it's possible it's one of the best soloing Controller combo ever for +4/x8 not AV PVE, not sure yet as she's only 35, but the signs are there. 🙂

 

Edited 22 hours ago by Argentae