Looking for something with the same feel as Dark/Time controller in CoH

arri

Hi everyone, so as the (somewhat) longwinded title says, my main character in CoH was a Darkness Manipulation/Time controller. I enjoyed the feeling of being able to support the team by making sure enemies couldn't attack, or missed constantly. I also invested a bit in IOs, so Fearsome Stare (a cone fear power) also dealt damage, on top of all the incarnate abilities I had. So while I was a character focused on crowd control and support in the form of debuffing, I was also pretty well off when it came to damage.

Unfortunately, there is no accuracy debuffing and that stuff in CO, and the effectiveness of crowd control is questionable at best. I know I won't be able to make a character that's the same as the one I had in CoH, but I was hoping I could find something that had a similar feel to it.

I am terrible at building characters, and every attempt at doing so leads me to spending all my monies on retcons, so I'm coming to you all for help.

I would also kind of like to stay in theme. I know many builds are all about "teh best!" so they all have power armor powers and all that, but if there's one thing I really can't stand, it's having a power that I cannot come up with an explanation for. This character's theme is she is a witch, so any type of magic powers, while focusing on darkness themed magic. The Darkness and sorcery frameworks are probably some of the best fit for this character, but I've found that lots of other powers tinted purple also fit into this category, mainly telekinetics/telekinesis and force.

I would really like something that I could level with, as this character is currently level 28, but it's not a requirement.

If there are any builds currently out there that match this/can match this with tweaking, feel free to let me know as well!

Thank for all for your time.

agentnx5

Manipulator, which is the toggle form designed specifically to make hold/control builds strong enough to be viable, is utter crap. It's way too weak, even with 8 stacks and 400 PRE.

As a result, and I hate to say it, but a darkness based hold build, or any hold build, at this time, won't work. It will barely work in PvE, mostly on 1-bar henchmen and 2-bar villains, and it won't work worth a damn in PvP.

So don't bother with the holds. Trust me on this. The problem with the holds started with Binding of Aratron being stupidly OP in PvP, and Ego Storm having an advantage that made it stupidly OP in PvP or PvE. The "fix" was to make holds scaled down, but as with many such knee-jerk changes this made things into a mess for Mind Archetype players and anybody else who wants to being a "controller" debuff build. For better or worse, this is how things are in this game. And it's unlikely to change.

I do use Grasping Shadows on one character, but it's mostly for theme and to apply fear to the targets. And because I had an extra power point to spend when all done with the important stuff.

ajanus

Normally I wouldn't suggest someone else's build, but I do think what you are looking for would be something similar to Falchoin's Kali build. That is probably the most solid support build with decent offense that you can make right now. It is somewhere on the forums, you can do a search for it, or Falchoin might see this and link it for you anyways :biggrin:

titotito333999

Here's my take on the build. I went with stuns and a huge debuff(damage, movement), with some decent DPS for a support toon.


PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Name: Stun/Debuff Support Build

Archetype: Freeform

Super Stats: LV40 test toon stats: 135DEX 518PRE 75REC
Level 6: Dexterity (Primary) For more DPS from crits and mastery
Level 10: Presence (Secondary) For more healing and stun duration
Level 15: Recovery (Secondary) To attack from rest and energy unlock scaling

Talents:
Level 1: Absolute Zero
Level 6: Agile
Level 9: Intimidating
Level 12: Tireless
Level 15: Finesse
Level 18: Impresario
Level 21: Lasting Impression

Powers:
Level 1: Radiance Healing energy builder
Level 1: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3) Main self heal, use after you heal ally with iniquity
Level 6: Compassion Healing toggle form, scales with PRE
Level 8: Aura of Radiant Protection (Rank 2, Rank 3, Runic Glow) With the above stats and in support role it gives out +111% damage resistance to team and +59% to self
Level 11: Supernatural Power Energy unlock, scales with REC
Level 14: Venomous Breath (Rank 2, Paralytic Bile, Infectious Bile, Locust Breath) Great looking power with the locus adv. for a dark witch imo, 20% chance to stun for 4.5sec with stats and specs
Level 17: Devour Essence (Rank 2, Rank 3) Great ST boss attack, it heals you as you attack
Level 20: Sigils of Ebon Weakness (Rank 2, Rank 3) Damage and movement debuff,with 518PRE it debuffs movement by 80% and damage by 60% per sigil
Level 23: Iniquity (Rank 2, Justice) Friendly target heal, it uses your HP instead of energy
Level 26: Evasive Maneuvers (Sleight of Mind) +dodge chance and stealth/agro wipe
Level 29: Bountiful Chi Resurgence (Resurgent Reiki) Self heal, great combo with dodge
Level 32: Telekinetic Maelstrom (Rank 2, Rank 3) AoE 5.4sec stun/attack in this build
Level 35: Masterful Dodge Active Defense +dodge chance/avoidance
Level 38: Redemption Filler, rez

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Teleportation (Rank 2)
Level 35: Acrobatics (Rank 2, Rank 3)

Specializations:
Dexterity: Gear Utilization (1/3)
Dexterity: Brush It Off (2/2)
Dexterity: Power Swell (2/2)
Dexterity: Deadly Aim (3/3)
Dexterity: Expose Weakness (2/2)
Sentinel: Torment (2/2)
Sentinel: Sentinel Aura (3/3)
Sentinel: Moment of Need (3/3)
Sentinel: Wither (2/2)
Warden: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Warden: Ruthless (2/2)
Warden: Elusive (2/2)
Warden: The Best Defense (3/3)
Mastery: Dexterity Mastery (1/1)

Stuns are the best holds in my opinion, because their duration can't be reduced by damage. Open up with Evasive Maneuvers and go invisible, then full charge Telekinetic Maelstrom for stun. While enemies are stunned, pop your sigils for huge debuff. Alternate between Telekinetic Maelstrom and Venomous Breath when fighting regular mobs, while healing team and self. Switch to Devour Essence with bosses. I think that Devour Essence can be justified in the theme because you are sucking the life force of the bad guys and giving it out to your team with Iniquity. It's not Time magic or the other thing but it will have a similar effect hehe.

arri

Speaking of using other people's builds, I have been looking at the build for the character Hexed (http://co-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=119101&highlight=hexed) and was thinking about adjustments I could make to it. It is a pet character, but I figured I could take 2-3 of the 6-7 powers in that build that use pets and swap the others out for other support abilities.

Void Horror, Summon Shadows and Command Animals should be good enough pet wise, which leaves about 3 other pet powers I can swap around for other abilities.

Anyone have experience with that build? I know that some of the stuff it relies on were nerfed, so I wonder how it handles now.

theravenforce

agentnx5 wrote: »

The "fix" was to make holds scaled down, but as with many such knee-jerk changes this made things into a mess for Mind Archetype players and anybody else who wants to being a "controller" debuff build.

Scaled down? I think the more accurate and appropriate phrase is: The "fix" was to obliterate the entire holds system.

I am extremely sore over loosing Crowd Control because of PvP. :mad:

I cannot WAIT for it to make a return