What are controlers supposed to be?

So, me and a friend have had debates on what controllers are supposed to be, she thinks they are a psudo tank for some reason and I used to believe that they were power healers. What do they even do now? I think an adjustment to make controller powers have a unique identity and purpose would help improve the game overall.

I don't troll but I love a buff troll in most content. The good ones take my 35k range attacks up to 90k crits when I'm juiced up. They need to be debuffing and often grabbing adds and stunning in larger maps till the tank can grab. Power out is still important but not like it used to be so full on power trolls aren't as popular but not terrible as long as they're debuffing. Pick ups, mechanics, that sort of stuff should still be their responsibility 1st imo. Tanks tank, healers heal, dps damage so trolls can do whatever to let those players keep doing their job. When the troll is busy doing something and multiple pick ups or mechanics are happening, the weakest dps helps out. Or if there's a 2nd healer, the closest one jumps in.

I realize that trolls are feeling unloved but that's just poor players opinions on them because they don't understand what they can do. A speed feat is not happening without a great buff troll. A clean run isn't happening without a knowledgeable one. Even an alert can be 3 dps'd with a troll involved. Healers and tanks may not want to admit that but they're just as capable as the other roles. Obviously alerts can be 4 dps'd also but the damage debuff makes it not really worth it.

I've been playing this game for more than five years and I still can't quite wrap my head around what people want out of controllers. Every group seems to want something different.

I think Hellstroke's description is about as good as you are going to get, and I'll second his opinion that an alert goes easier with a troll and 3 DPS than with 4 DPS.

They need to be the Gorilla Specialists' bestest friend in the whooooooole wiiiiiide world!

They're group batteries with crowd control and with the proper artifacts a group stat buff.

In my case, adorable, and fun to have at a party.

Lol well our troll last night was trying his hardest to get transformed and the specialist just wouldn't do it. If he's on his healer tho, every single time. I was with you last night, Azraihell. Good run but man o mannnn it was rough haha. Me n the original tank ran it the night before and she had 0 issues keeping the bosses seperate. Just wasn't happening last night. Crazy but fun either way.

This is exactly what I think of when I see a 'Trolls are uselss' post.

^^ this 1000% Trolls have soo many responsibilities and yet we're relegated to the stigma of just being power healers.


Okay... quick 2 cent rant on 'What can trolls do?'

1. We Power Heal
2. We Debuff
3. We Buff
4. We Crowd Control

Through these four responsiblities, I've created/tested different builds for different scenarios and range between:
1. Battery Troll (power heal/debuff for raids)
2. Buff Troll (buff/debuff for alerts/raids)
3. Battle Troll (damage/debuff for alerts)

Power healing is not needed for alerts but is still very useful in raids especially if there's a healer(s). However, we are NOT just power healers. Let's get that notion out the brain now. Buff Trolling is growing in popularity however, I rarely use it because I feel it's ego stroker and the groups I'm paired up with are usually strong enough to carry their own weight. If a boss fight turns out to be harder than expected or we need more burn, then out comes the Buff Troll. As HellStroke said, I'd also bring out the Buff in a speed run but outside of that, I fare just well keeping enemies debuffed. Lastly, Battle Troll is like a DPS in the guise of a troll. You can make a pretty strong Battle Troll while still debuffing (or buffing if that's your choice). Crowd Control is embedded in all builds in some form or fashion.

There are plenty of options to play with your troll in. Get creative! Can a troll be a pseudo tank? Yes but you better rely on your shields. I've done it before jus to showoff a bit lol.

When I first started playing I had this question too. Tank, healer, and dps are all known clear aspects of most mmos but a controller seemed different. I think the name implies crowd control role with debuffing and buffing abilities, but the role has definitely gone through changes through the years. The scoreboard stats rank top 4 players and typically it’s most, damage, most power, most damage taken, and most healing. Implying those are the three different aspects of the roles, which means pushing power is the primary aspect of the controller. I think maybe even the devs struggle to completely answer this question, which is why they keep changing how they work. Makes it hard to keep your controller good if you’re always having to change their artifacts to keep up with the changes. I really want to go heavy dom and focus on crowd control and debuff, but I’m worried other players will cry because I’m in a controller role and not pushing much power. I think this is what pushed the play style to power troll for so many years.

1 thing I forgot to say, and this is 2nd hand knowledge from some of the best I've seen in game. If you aren't in the 450+ sp range, stick to power build and just make sure you're debuffing. The meta buff build requires a lot of (maxed) health, a decent amount of vit, and some dom. You'd be wanting dom head augs also vs vit but can run mixed bag of lower augs depending on what stats you needed to raise to get comfortable.

But moral of that is, if you're new to trolling or low sp toon, just build the normal power troll and concentrate on vit for awhile. Less useful in alerts but still have their place in raids. Battle builds, it's basically just dps build anyway so no real problem for any one that dual roles

Allow me to respectfully disagree with you on this one Hellstroke. As I write this, I'm 2 points from 300 sp and I'm one of the top trolls on xbox based on vitalization and #1 among vills (look it up). http://census.dcuobloguide.com/ranking/characters And I'm not even part of a 'real' league giving out proficiency boosts.

My Battle Troll build sometimes beats 340cr DPS (based on most damage leaderboard missions) with much higher SP than me. And if not 1st, I'm usually 2nd in alerts.

I do agree that if you're new focus on the basics and fundamentals until you find your style however while, yes SP may play a factor, don't let that stop you from building a highly effective troll. I've been crushing the troll role since 250sp (guesstimated). Don't get me wrong, I will one day get to that 450sp but don't let SP hinder you from creating a versatile troll. Because I sure didn't let it stop me.

Oh no worries, I have no issues being proven wrong at all. No resentment possible unless you dis my momma haha. I should have specified at the beginning I meant power vs buff. Battle troll, I know nothing about other than assumptions like "it's just dps build with maybe 1 troll arti and gear". I'm just reiterating a convo held between a long time buff troll and a near new troll that the "elder" was trying to help out. Since he knew that new troll still has to put out some power and only had 150ish sp, he advised against jumping into buff build (a lot had to do with new guy already picking grimbors/ harness/ bop) due to not being able to feed enough sp everywhere he would need to.

If I were to build a troll, I'd focus on buff then battle since I have the sp. If I was low sp, I'd def go battle then probably mostly ignore power. But once someone's spent real money on arts, i usually just say go for what makes you have fun.

Fully agree. I have 6 artifacts over 160 for trolling. I get pissed when someone asks for Grimbor Chain or wonders why I have zero dps arts. Every single group has an opinion. I am so excited tonight to be playing with my spam healer friend, this is going to be great. I am going to be sorry dps, I am going power hungry arts and if you dont like it, good bye.

At the very core a trolls job is to pick on other peop… oh wrong troll.

A trolls job is to keep people powered and enemy debuffed. That’s the very basics of a troll. However a troll can do more and a lot of it can depend on artifacts. You can dive deep into the power aspect if you want and be a power troll. Or you can take new responsibilities and become a buff troll. If someone tells you that you HAVE to be a power troll, or you HAVE to be a buff troll. Than ask them for the $600 to upgrade the artifacts they want you to level and level them. Otherwise do what you like as long as it doesn’t hurt the team. And for the record, not being a buff troll is not hurting the team. You aren’t taking anything away from them since it’s something they don’t naturally have.

As long as you can keep the majority of the people powered and you keep key targets debuffed everything else is extra.


As for a troll being a sudo tank? No. That’s a meme build but it is not what a troll is supposed to do. Most people have this idea that dom affects aggro. And because of this misinformation a lot of people think a troll can pull aggro from healers and some even think trolls pull aggro from tanks lol. That is not true and I don’t remember that ever being true.

Stick to the TRADITIONAL role of us Controllers and all should be ok.

Have a good level on your Rao amulet - this will increase the potency of our DEBUFFS. Debuffing is a KEY role of Controllers.

Know WHICH abilities in Each Controller Power are used for each debuff....know which ability gives you defense debuff, heal debuff, and damage debuff. Know when / where to USE these debuffs.

Achieve a decent level (120?) on the other Controller Arts. Be careful with the BoP art, though - the use of this one is situational at best....it uses a LOT of power AND decreases the length of time your debuffs are active (from 12 secs to 6, I believe)....

Learn the STUNNING abilities of each power - and STUN THOSE ADDS....help your tank. Be familiar with the abilities that can GRAB adds, as well - like Hardlight's Grasping Hands. Use this to grab and pull stray adds towards your tank. Grasping Hands also applies a damage debuff as well, IIRC.

Be ready to always accept criticism in learning the Controller Role. I personally found out that most tanks HATE Hardlight Controllers' use of the "Bubble" debuff....this power encases adds in a hardlight bubble, applies a Healing debuff, but ALSO scatters your adds all over the place....found out that tanks HATE that.

As you GAIN more experience, SPs and levels on your Arts be willing to modify / change your Role slightly....add a bit more damage...but ensure that if / when you do your PRIMARY role of giving POWER and debuffs and Stuns is NOT diminished...

ENERGY...PURE Energy. Make sure your party is getting this. If they are you can THEN modify the role a bit more.

Be familiar with each Controller Powers' Group Shields....know when / where to apply these. Be ready to add a PERSONAL shield to your ability tray as well.

Find good youtube videos to learn the role...I've personally watched Obsidian Chill's stuff....several other good and knowledgeable Controllers here in the Forums as well.

A good troll is the glue that holds the group together. I hate the changes to aggro they made with Legion because it ruined my image of the troll as the ninja/thief role but that’s another story.

The debuffs and buff from the dump and/or claw obviously means stuff dies faster. The faster stuff dies, the less time that stuff has to kill you. More power is helpful to that end too.

A well timed stun or group shield can easily perform clutch saves. For example, those exploding shades from the Queen Diana fight? Stunning them stops their countdown. I think they actually have to start the countdown over once they break out, so you can stop them exploding indefinitely.

At the heart of it, I feel the Controller is meant to be a bit of a Utility support role, primarily in providing power and debuffing. With artifacts now, they can buff the group now too.

I've voiced in other threads that I miss that the Controller helped provide Crowd Control. I believe that's why your friend referred to them as a pseudo-tank. It's my understanding though that there hasn't been a lot of content that encourages this and most groups would prefer the Tank(s) handle that anyway.

It is an answerless question.

Akkbonne and I were partly to blame for that. We were arguing in League chat (in a friendly albeit heated way) about the Supercharge Balance Pass (aka Total Power Balance Pass Phase 1) that never came to be so we were much more distracted and less focused than usual. We probably should have been in GC/IC and paying attention instead of distracting ourselves and F'in up, lol

In my opinion if you build a buff controller you still need to be able to switch to power out cause some time healers need a real controller for power especially if its a electric healer. If the healer doesn't have to spam heal then buff troller. Damage contoller? Everyone I've seen has been kicked cause bad damage and no power out and not using debuffs so they end up as dead weight. Buff troller or power troller the recharge is top priority.one hits recharge to keep buff up.one hits recharge to keep power out cause recharge sends more power out then pot