Illusion/Cold and Illusion/Storm Builds

[Extor Prime]

Here are a couple builds I've been tweaking over the past few days, and am now pretty happy with. They are all quite sturdy (capped or near-capped S/L and ranged defense, good resists across the board except psionic), and have all the right things near-perma before incarnates. Said things could be made perma before incarnates by shifting some slots here and there, but my OCD about defenses won't let me give up any more to squeeze out a drop of extra recharge. Posting just data chunks to keep things compact so fire up Pine's.

 

First up is Illusion/Cold, and to be perfectly honest I vastly prefer it because it's just so damn chill to play. As long as you keep up with the single target rotation, remember to apply Benumb and Heat Loss (and remember to move into PBAoE range for the latter) and liberally sprinkle in Confuse, you always feel in control and never in any particular danger. Your defenses and Benumb keep you nearly perfectly safe: with Benumb applied, you can facetank a Rikti Pillar's volley and barely feel it, provided it even hits. (Without Benumb you can STILL facetank it and survive, but it'll hurt quite a bit more). You have two choices for Epics: Mace Mastery and Ice Mastery. Mace provides a better shield, an extra pet that tosses in debuffs, and an extra single target attack for more debuff stacking. The drawback here is that you are stuck with the mace, which causes redraw and may not be thematic. Ice provides an extra AoE (Ice Storm), a quicker single-target attack and a slightly inferior shield. (It is also more thematic). I honestly can't say which one I prefer, though I suspect in pure performance terms Mace edges out Ice, at least vs. harder targets, because of the extra debuff stacks.

 

Important thing to note is that this build will be a drag to level before you get Heat Loss. Either PL it, or grab Recovery Serum from P2W.

 

Incarnate must-haves are: Agility Core Paragon Alpha (recharge and recovery), Degenerative Core Flawless Interface (-max HP and a small DoT) and Assault Core Embodiment (buffs PA spawned when it is active). Destiny is up to you: you can take Ageless for even more recharge and recovery (which may save your bacon if you somehow whiff a Heat Loss), or Clarion for mez protection (because you have exactly bugger all in that department), or Rebirth for a big heal.

 

Lore pets are up to you; I've had good success with Polar Lights Radial.

 

Ill/Cold/Mace build:

 

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Ill/Cold/Ice build:

 

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Second is Illusion/Storm. If you like chaos on the battlefield, you're going to love this, because once you get going, there will be a LOT of things happening. Lightning storms blasting things, tornadoes chasing and knocking enemies down, Phantasm knocking people around, PA of course, rain, and whatever PBAoE you decide to fire. Your +Recharge translates directly into more DPS (though you won't ever stack more than 3 Lightning Storms). For an Illusion controller, you will be doing a lot of DPS, but this comes with a cost. Compared to Ill/Cold, you do not have a way to refill Endurance (no Heat Loss); you don't have a way to neuter a hard target's damage output (no Benumb), and your defenses overall will be slightly inferior (moreso if you go Ill/Storm/Cold). A third option is to go with Mu Mastery and pick up Power Sink, Charged Armor and Ball Lightning (or Summon Guardian if you want an extra pet). This robs you of a big chunk of defense (since Charged Armor is Resistance) and some Recharge, but on the upside you can refill your endurance every 33 seconds by draining enemies. It's not QUITE a substitute for Heat Loss because it provides no additional Recovery in between applications. Eh, just stick with Mace or Ice and take Ageless Destiny instead, and use Recovery Serum when exemplaring or leveling.

 

Tornadoes cause panic, and panic causes enemies to run like scared little girls. This includes EBs and AVs. This build would benefit greatly from a reliable immob, but there's really nowhere to get it. Tornadoes will also chase after everything, potentially causing overaggro. You can get Spectral Interface Incarnate for a 25% immobilization chance, but your mileage may vary here (I didn't have much success with it, but it IS a dice roll). Embrace chaos and all that...

 

Incarnate must-haves are: Agility Core Paragon Alpha (if you also take Ageless Destiny) or Cardiac Core Paragon Alpha (if taking something else); Degenerative Core Flawless Interface (-max HP and a small DoT) and Assault Core Embodiment (buffs PA, storms and tornadoes spawned when it is active). Ageless Core Epiphany is an easy choice if you just want to forget about Endurance issues once and for all. Another choice would be Clarion for mez protection or Barrier for overall defenses.

 

Ill/Storm/Mace build:

 

| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
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Ill/Storm/Ice build:

 

| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
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Ill/Storm/Electric build:

 

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