The Maniplator (Manipulation/Control archetpe)

[cohRock]

This is a counter-suggestion to @LightMaster's Manipulator suggestion from about a year ago.  It is also an update to my original Manipulator suggestion from about three years ago.  LightMaster had many good ideas, but mine is significantly different. An alternative name for his suggestion, more to its spirit, might be Soul Commander.

 

My manipulator fuses two power set types, similar to the way Sentinel fuses a blaster primary with a scrapper secondary.  Their primary would be the blaster secondary manipulator sets, and their secondary would be a controller's primary set.

 

Manipulation Sets

This would be mostly a full-power copy of the blaster namesake power sets.  Most damage is via melee attacks.  They all have significant stamina recovery powers and decent debuffs even outside their controller secondary powers.  Two sets that would probably excluded, or perhaps significantly modified, are Devices and Tactical Arrow.  Devices, because of the secondary nature of most of its damage as well as its self-buffing nature.  Tactical Arrow because its focus is more on debuffs than damage, making the character have a very low damage potential.

 

All the manipulation sets have an AoE debuff at tier 8.  Since they already have plenty of such powers in their secondary set, this would be replaced with a Defense auto-power called Miss Me. A common power for an entire archetype is already extent, in that all Stalkers have Hide.  Miss Me would have a base 10% defense, and slottable only with Defense enhancements.   In addition to Defense, it would offer mag 2 KB protection, 10% resistance to all debuffs (such as immobilize and hold), and 20% resistance to all power limiters (such as -Recharge, -toHit, and -Defense).  The Damage defense portion of the power would be added to the character's "Base Defense".  (As far as I remember, only the Force Field set's Personal Force Field offers Base Defense, and IMO this category should either be redefined as "Defense to All", as several other powers and procs offer, or utilized more often.)

 

Miss Me would be offered earlier to the character, perhaps at Tier 5.  He needs the capability to get in a lot of melee attacks, after all.

 

Controller Sets

The full gamut of controller sets would be available to manipulators.  However, as a secondary set (unlike for Controllers and Dominators) it would generally be weaker.  Magnitudes of all debuffs would be lowered by 1, and the duration of each debuff would be reduced by 20%.  However, debuffs would stack normally, both from the control set and primary set.  Damage from their attacks, (such as tier 1 and 2 hold and immobilize) would not be lowered.  The tier 9 pet would be just as strong as that of controllers and dominators, and any debuffs or buffs the pet offers would not be limited.

 

Inherent Power: Manipulation

This would have a 7-second recharge between applications.  If charged, it autofires on eligible attacks from the primary set.  The already extant Inherent timer could be used to track this. Any single-target damage attack on a foe under a debuff  from a manipulator-secondary power would have its magnitude raised by 2 and duration extended by a fixed 7 seconds.  Manipulation could not be stacked, although if somehow there were more than 7 seconds left in the debuff, it could be re-applied.  If the original debuff had affected multiple foes, Manipulation would only affect the foe receiving the single-target attack.  Also, secondary attacks from other manipulators could be buffed by any manipulator.

 

Dominators vs Manipulatos

Dominators primarily use ranged damage, whereas Manipulators primarily use melee damage.  The Dominator's inherent, Domination, is heavily reliant on recharge and while active provides excellent mez protection among its offensive benefits.  Manipulation, OTOH, has a fixed, 5-second availability and adds no direct protection of any type.  Their Miss Me power, OTOH, offers continuous, low-level protection against damage and debuffs.

 

Please post your opinions and ideas concerning this Manipulator archetype.

Edited Wednesday at 02:17 PM by cohRock
expanded title, and added detail to the Manipulation inherent

[cohRock]

I failed to mention what the ancillary/patron pools would be like.  I see them similar to the controller sets.  Basically they would offer an armor, no additional pets, and at least two direct damage attacks. These attacks would not activate the Manipulation inherent, however.  Similarly, damage attacks in other pools would not activate Manipulation either.  I have no fundamental objection to broadened Manipulation, but I'm guessing it would make the implementation harder.  That's the reason for limiting its scope.

Edited Wednesday at 02:18 PM by cohRock

[biostem]

The sustain abilities alone would greatly aid in, well, allowing this proposed AT to stay in the fight.

 

[Psyonico]

I feel like at least devices wouldn't work well for this AT, but it's an interesting concept. 

 

Oof, I just thought of Symphony Control paired with Boost Range. 

[LightMaster]

On 10/21/2025 at 10:57 AM, cohRock said:

Dominators primarily use ranged damage, whereas Manipulators primarily use melee damage.  The Dominator's inherent, Domination, is heavily reliant on recharge and while active provides excellent mez protection among its offensive benefits.  Manipulation, OTOH, has a fixed, 5-second availability and adds no direct protection of any type.  Their Miss Me power, OTOH, offers continuous, low-level protection against damage and debuffs.

While it is true that some Dominators primarily uses ranged damage, other Doms primarily uses melee (as those melee powers deal more damage) or even a good mix of both. I’m one that uses both since I feel like the Assault power set is intended to go for mixed, going in and out of melee range with enough powers to constantly attack a mez-resistant enemy, such as an Arch-Villain or a Giant Monster.

 

That said, Miss Me allows your version of Manipulator to have more survivability in comparison to any type of Dominator, so the Manip exchanges control prowess for better survivability.

 

If you want a suggestion on Devices, maybe have the Manipulator using faster version of Mine and Time Bomb to compensate having  to set up in the first place, while Tactical Arrow… maybe make that one exclusive to Blasters, as only Brutes and Tankers uses Super Strength among melee ATs to give an example. Perhaps a variant called “Tactical Claws / Combat” can be used instead for the Manipulator.

Edited Wednesday at 08:45 PM by LightMaster

[cohRock]

5 hours ago, Psyonico said:

I feel like at least devices wouldn't work well for this AT, but it's an interesting concept. 

My original post specifically excluded both Devices and Tactical Arrow.  Both differ in significant ways from the other Manipulation sets.