Hard light controllers.

Hello everyone.

Currently I'm a mental troller and its fun and great for pvp. But I kind of wanted a change for my character. I've been a mental troll and I was not a fan at all (except for planting mines at low level police stations lol). Quantum, while very nice visually, I wasn't crazy about it. So, I'm leaning to hard light.

How does hard light compare to mental for trolling (I rarely, if ever, go dps)? How viable is hard light trolling for the t5 raids, and also, what powers do you use as a hard light troller?


Thanks in advance.

HL trolling is a viable comparison in terms of equivalency but in T5's... You need to have your business down to a T and have experience with HL trolling in T5, otherwise you might have a bad time.

Rthamathamadeusmus had a guide a while back, I don't know if it's still there, that would be a great place to look. Obviously the recommendation from me is to stay back as much as possible.

Downsides:
power over time moves are lunges (not a big deal IMO)
defense debuffs are midrange (it's awkward at first)
no ghosts
easy to get distracted from troller duties by construct combos (might just be my problem)
crappier animations if you're a villain

Upsides:
Group shield is not a similar color to damaging auras
Light blast is amazing for cc when used well, probably probably the best cc move in the game.
Construct combos can be used to quickly cc a lot of things with no added power cost while getting your combo meter up faster than some weapons (not always helpful, has its own downsides)
Two powerset pulls that are useful sometimes (fan, grasping hand)
10 extra vit if you spec into support tree

Thanks for the response LV~.

I know how to troll the t5 raids in terms of strategies and debuffs and the like. Ill see if I can find that guide you mentioned. I was looking at Batterys guide to no weapon trolling but I don't feel too comfortable with that.

I tend to stay back as it is. Just close enough that debuffs land and my HB can reach with pulse beam. Speaking of range, is HLs defense debuff still require you to be up in the boss' face?

I've been HL for a long time now, it used to be considered terrible because you had to get in such close proximity to everything, but it really has come a long way with the addition of defense debuff to entrap (midrange, but better than having to be on top of them with whipthrash) and the group shield now restores everyone in the groups power.

Mental has better range, but HL has combos, which when used properly can fill your bar pretty quick. You may also want to consider your dps gear, assuming you dps some, HL is precision based, while other powers are might based.

Thanks for your response metal mario!

The downsides don't seem too bad. Sure the lunge is annoying, but easily resolved. The defense debuff range is what has me most worried. I don't wanna jump in for a debuff and have someone like ninja batman kick my face off :/ not having ghosts is okay lol. As awesome as they are, I dont use them much since I use telekenisis, TB, cryo, bastion, PE and grandeur.

Those upsides though. .. really making me lean towards a change.

I would not recommend it for you to switch to HL trolling immediately fi you have no HL experience at all. You need to DPs with it first to learn the combos and clips. THEN start trolling with it and figure out your distances and how to manage your combos with PoT and power dumps. THEN go into T5 and work. There are so many thing different between mental and HL trolls it is ridiculous and all it takes is one wrong lunge or running combos too long at the wrong time instead of giving power and it causes a wipe and you go from good troll to fail troll.

Trust me. Practice A LOT first if you don't know HL at all. If you still have to think about your combos because they aren't automatic for your fingers yet then theres no way you can do that while watching power bars and focusing on whats going on in a Nexus/Paradox boss fight. Something will give.

I mean on mental I've got it all down to muscle.memory. mostly because I try and always have my powers in the same spots regardless of powerset. So I always know where everything is. Now it would just be learning HL combos and clipping. To clip them, should you jump cancel or just hit another power on your bar?

Oh crap I forgot another downside . No grandeur. Light barrier doesn't drop aggro but it will pick you up like grandeur and heals you if you have the ht mod for it. Also, I think you can only get to 3 different constructs before you're back to one that lunges to your target, so if you're fighting a boss where that will kill you it's important to be careful there.

Another upside: The train is almost as funny as the ghosts (admittedly much less useful though)

HL controlling is easy, what you have to get use to is construct combo's which make the powerset my favorite BY FAR. You can use Batteries guide, but if you are use to HB you'll do just fine. TBH though if you practice and get the hang of it with just constructs you can generate power so fast it's amazing.

Entrap is slightly farther than mid-range (whips were midrange) Grasping hand, snaptrap and lightweight are all long range debuffs. To give you an idea of entraps range when facing 2nd Boss in Nexus (blue wall) you will be no closer or farther than most of the party.

My loadout for most raids is: Light claws (PoT) Ram, Grasping Hand (Dmg Debuff) Entrap (Def debuff) easily the most fun move in the game to turn things into baseballs and smash them with giant light bat, Recharge & Group Shielding SC.

You don't understand. You run a HL combo to BUILD power. Jump canceling and activating something else is unproductive as that would then just use power. As HL it's faster use constructs to build power instead of your weapon like any other troll power. But those combos require timing and memorization. You don't call up the next move by activating a power. You cycle through the combo with button combinations. Like I said, practice DPS first to learn the power. It's not like ANYTHING else in the game.

The problem is THIS particular person knows nothing of the combos and how to use them. At all.

What? I can combo off LC, or Grasping or Ram...wth are you talking about? This is my loadout for NOT using brawling (as the OP stated he likes HB) I've trolled successfully every raid, alert and Op in this game with this EXACT loadout. Explain to me what I'm doing wrong here.

Thank you all for your feedback. Its really helping me decide what to do and show me what needs to be learned.

Corrupted: yeah I know the combos build back power themselves because they use white numbers which count as weapon attacks. What I'm saying is, you mentioned clipping. I know some people clip by using powers and other will jump cancel. I was just curious as to how to clip with HL?

Delta: yeah I love HB for power regen but if the constructs are better, then ill def. Lean towards those when I learn them. I'm assuming the ones in batterys guide are the ones you currently use?

Yup, didn't think so...Troll somewhere else

Delta, with that loadout you run, what combo chains do you use to regen power and cc?

Ram > Snaptrap > whipthrash
Lightclaw > minigun
Ram > Snap > Lightblast
Grasping hand > lightblast

You could also remove ram and replace with snaptrap in loadout and use these

Snaptrap > Fan > Lightclaws

The only reason I don't go back to HL, even though I love it for DPS and PvP, is trolling as HL, because of these:

I believe HL should not be wasted for Trolling. HL offers combos which link every which way to destroy you foes. In my opinion HL are the best DPS

FYI: Rthamathamadeusmus = Battery

My first "real" toon was HL - I switched her to mental (lasted about a week before going back to HL), then jumped on the quantum band-wagon - but am back to HL again. God I missed HL.

Anyway, as far as claws or boxing (the two POT moves) lunging - you can easily get around that by clipping immediately with recharge.

It may take some time to figure out the distancing, but as soon as you get a handle on it you'll be getting in close, applying the debuff (or whatever it is you doing), and then getting out of range again. Carry some dampeners or other consumable shields and you're good to go.

Plus there's light blast - although you really need the empowered channeling mod, it is possibly the best multi-target stun around.