New to controlling

[Lusiphur Malache]

I've always left controllers alone, seeing them as a step above masterminds which I hate with a passion of a couple teenagers living together.

 

SG leader challenged me to get a controller to level 20. I'm at 12 and I am enjoying the archetype so far. It has been a bit easier than other toons. Am I going to face much hardship before 20 or onto level cap?  I mostly only do pugs with people I know and giant monsters of opportunity.

 

BTW I'm playing an electric/kinetic if that matters.

Edited July 29, 2019 by Darkesyde
Mistake and clarification

[Mercurias]

Nice! I’m playing an Elec/Kin too!

 

Elec has a lot of really nice control options to keep things locked down, and Kin is one of the better team support sets. They both sap enemy endurance, which helps limit their actions when they get the occasional shot off. They both also have reasons to be in melee with Transference, Conductive Aura, and Transfusion. Its only real weak point is the damage thing, but you buff the damage of everyone you team with so THEY hit things FOR you.

 

At level 22, I’d start slotting in IOs with emphasis on Accuracy, End Redux, and Recharge. There’s nothing worse that missing a cast of Siphon Speed, Transference, or Fulcrum Shift. Likewise, some of your powers are really thirsty and can flatten your Endurance bar if you don’t slot in some End Reduction. Adding Recharge isn’t QUITE as important for a /Kin using Siphon speed, but it’s good to have for making sure you can Fulcrum Shift most pulls even on a steamroller team.

[Clave Dark 5]

The controllers I've run always felt super squishy and fairly useless at first but then often rolled into being super awesome the further along they got to, so if you're already having fun already, you're doing fine.

[Without_Pause]

Certain AVs can be annoying to drain end on. The build you will find comes together rather nicely in the end. Having an AoE sleep to set up for your /kin powers is super nice. Damage is low, but you can eventually get that be to decent.

[Mercurias]

7 hours ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

The controllers I've run always felt super squishy and fairly useless at first but then often rolled into being super awesome the further along they got to, so if you're already having fun already, you're doing fine.

There’s a lot of truth to this. At level 2 I was pretty worried I’d want to dump my Elec/Min due to the lack of damage. At 26 I find that I don’t care overmuch compared to how much I add to the teams I join. AoE Sleep, Knockdown, Immobilization, an AoE Hold, sapped enemies, buffed allies, healing, and bonus travel speeds to make your entire team zip around the map while running into walls.

 

By level 40 I’ll be able to solo a little better due to Gremlins and Fulcrum Shift. Transference will let me sap things even harder. I’ll also be on the road towards my Ancillary/Patron set to round out my damage and resistances. Good stuff.

[Lusiphur Malache]

8 hours ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

The controllers I've run always felt super squishy and fairly useless at first but then often rolled into being super awesome the further along they got to, so if you're already having fun already, you're doing fine.

Bluefox we know each other, I'm Mecha Gideon.  I'd like it better if I faced a bit of adversity, but if it hasn't happened good.  I usually have the feeling that I don't know what I'm doing when picking powers and slot, but thank god for respecs.  Thanks for the advice and praise.

[Clave Dark 5]

15 hours ago, Darkesyde said:

Bluefox we know each other, I'm Mecha Gideon.  I'd like it better if I faced a bit of adversity, but if it hasn't happened good.  I usually have the feeling that I don't know what I'm doing when picking powers and slot, but thank god for respecs.  Thanks for the advice and praise.

Hello!

 

I often feel that way about picking powers too, even after reading up on the power sets, so that's not just you.

[Zep]

On 7/30/2019 at 3:49 AM, Mercurias said:

There’s a lot of truth to this. At level 2 I was pretty worried I’d want to dump my Elec/Min due to the lack of damage. At 26 I find that I don’t care overmuch compared to how much I add to the teams I join. AoE Sleep, Knockdown, Immobilization, an AoE Hold, sapped enemies, buffed allies, healing, and bonus travel speeds to make your entire team zip around the map while running into walls.

 

By level 40 I’ll be able to solo a little better due to Gremlins and Fulcrum Shift. Transference will let me sap things even harder. I’ll also be on the road towards my Ancillary/Patron set to round out my damage and resistances. Good stuff.

 

Memories from my Elex/Elec Dominator on live:

 

Gremlins are both awesome and aggravating (then again so are fire imps) - they run around doing damage and knocking down groups - lots of soft control making mobs much slower at damage output but not locking them down. At times those same behaviors can get in the way. I do solo a fair amount and play style does affect things.

 

They really helped Nikoli Tesla (my old char) once he hit 32 though. With them plus my char spamming jolt we could lock down a lot of mobs. Just have to be careful not to do that on mobs lower level then you. 

 

My rebuilt Nikoli is only 12-13 so far. Any advise for me? I have a couple mains and rotate though a few alts so it will be some time till he hits 50.

 

Have a good costume?

[Mercurias]

4 hours ago, Zep said:

 

Memories from my Elex/Elec Dominator on live:

 

Gremlins are both awesome and aggravating (then again so are fire imps) - they run around doing damage and knocking down groups - lots of soft control making mobs much slower at damage output but not locking them down. At times those same behaviors can get in the way. I do solo a fair amount and play style does affect things.

  

They really helped Nikoli Tesla (my old char) once he hit 32 though. With them plus my char spamming jolt we could lock down a lot of mobs. Just have to be careful not to do that on mobs lower level then you. 

  

My rebuilt Nikoli is only 12-13 so far. Any advise for me? I have a couple mains and rotate though a few alts so it will be some time till he hits 50.

 

Have a good costume?

If you're talking about an Elec/Elec Dominator, I can think of a few things:

 

1) Your controls will be massive, and leaning into that by building your character for Permadom will help make the most of it in late game. Holding bosses on the first hit is a big advantage.

 

2) Elec/Elec CAN be played as a ranged character, but with the number of powerful melee attacks in Electrical Assault alongside Conductive Aura, Elec/Elec Dominators really do best when fighting in melee.

 

3) Don't be afraid to let completely loose in melee just because of your endurance bar. Conductive Aura goes a long way towards keeping your endurance full regardless of the number of Havoc Punches you're throwing.

 

4) Don't lead with your attacks, and don't lead with an AoE immobilize. Dominators are basically the opposite of Brutes. You want to eliminate all threats and then walk in with your taser gloves to make some hard-hitting arguments (with your fists). 

[Lusiphur Malache]

Got done with a pug today and had picked up a couple of levels and had to upgrade a lot of DO to SO. No sooner do I finish wasting 300k than I notice my salvage is full. Long story short, I moved some influence and started buying recipes and crafting. Now I'm fully IO'd at 15.

 

Plan to reach 20 this weekend and see what I look like cause the current costume sucks

[swordchucks]

I'll echo the feeling that controllers get a lot better as they level.  As fire/kin and plant/nature, I felt like I got a lot stronger into the 20s and 30s.  You stay fairly squishy, but that's to be expected.  You also don't deal a lot of personal damage, but your control and support mean that teams benefit a lot from having you along.

[Williwaw]

Controller is an interesting class to me in that it improves almost entirely "horizontally" rather than "vertically".

 

By that I mean that most classes have one powerset where higher-tier powers are generally just more raw damage (most Melee, Blast, Assault, and even MM Pet sets), but Controller Primaries and Secondaries instead both just give more options without generally increasing the damage those options deal (in fact, higher-tier controls usually do less damage).

 

By the time you hit 50, you'll be capable of lockdowns and knockdowns, but with a few exceptions (e.g., Gravity Control's Lift and Propel, Mind Control's Levitate, Dark Control's Umbra Beast pet - not a full list) you still won't be hitting all that hard.  My Ice/Time's hardest-hitting attack (aside from Judgement) is from the Sorcery Pool - 90 damage, fully-slotted.

[MajikMayhem81]

On 7/29/2019 at 8:26 PM, Clave Dark 5 said:

The controllers I've run always felt super squishy and fairly useless at first but then often rolled into being super awesome the further along they got to, so if you're already having fun already, you're doing fine.

That's one if the things I love most about the AT.  They start out slow and the ride can be a tad lackluster, but it always pays off.  Hit 50 on my fire/kin and it was a bit slow, but it just kept gaining steam. 

[HoundsTooth]

Do you want to play a more offensive controller to match a blaster playstyle? Fire is a good choice. You sacrifice some (but not all that much) control for an awesome PBAoE damage toggle. I will plug my own Fire/Dark build. You can get softcapped defenses and hardcapped S/L resists by investing into recharge.

 

You might also consider a "splattroller" which is a controller which trades hard control (holds and stuns) for general chaos. I think these are really fun to play. Plant/Storm is a powerful, easy to use combo.

 

I personally don't enjoy Earth, Ice, and Mind because they're high control, low damage. Instead I prefer higher damage, lower control like Fire, Plant, and Illusion. I think Dark and Gravity are in there too, but I've never played either. 

 

 

[Coyote]

One interesting trick to do with an Electric, that you should be able to start at reasonably low levels, is to slot up Jolting Chain with damage Procs. Each proc averages more damage than Jolting Chain does even if's fully slotted for damage and with Containment, while also draining Endurance... and there is the fun time of knocking down mobs regularly. You can end up with 3 damage Procs in it for about 150 damage. One is the Apocalypse, so that has to wait, but Explosive Strike and Gladiator's Javelin can be slotted early. I had also slotted a couple of the starting Veteran IOs with a chance to Proc damage until level 20, and they made it a great attack early on. Once you lose their damage effect at 21 it goes down to a 2-proc power, which is equivalent to about 100 damage at Level 50... for a multi-target attack with 8 second recharge, that's already pretty good, and great for a Controller.

[Zep]

Unless it was fixed at some point Jolt can only proc on the initial target. 

[Coyote]

Jolting Chain is doing proc damage to subsequent targets. I didn't notice whether Endurance Drain is limited to the first target or not.