Want a template A.S.A.P? Start off with a Power Over Time ability. Then place in an Instant Power Heal. Include a Power Heal Supercharge. Finally, carry a Defense Debuff. The last 2 slots are Wildcards. You can choose a self shield, another Debuff that applies to a specific NPC, a pet, an 8 target control effect ability etc. You can post but the thread text itself is not completed! However, you can watch the video version of The Controller Role 101 Part 1, 2, & 3 below! Controller Guide 102 is also up! Learn how to Double Tick! Including Triple & Quadruple Tick! Learn about Power Strategist Elite Affinity!
Contents Controller Basics for New PlayersPower Over TimePersonal Power RegenerationWeapon Combo TiersInstant Power HealVitalization ChartPower Healing SuperchargesDebuffsDominanceControl EffectsWill PowerImmunityCountering ImmunityDealing with a TankControlling, Aggro & TauntsControlling Tools (non supercharge)8 Target StunsShieldsPullsAdvanced ControllingLearn How to Double & Triple TickTrinket Cycling
Controller Basics for New Players POWER OVER TIME As a Controller the most important phrase you must learn is Power Over Time. PoT is the acronym. One single cast of PoT last 25 seconds. You will give a total of 6 ticks of PoT every 5 seconds. This includes the initial tick which you receive the very first time you throw PoT. The green lightning bolt underneath your name tag must always be up. A good way to determine if all your teammates have PoT is to either ask them, check the combat log (if your power out tab is turned on), or watch their blue bars as the blue PoT numbers appear. While tricky to tell at times, everyone's power bar should increase at the same time.If a player's power bar is static, or depleting even as you use the Instant Power Heal, cast PoT the next time you see the blue PoT numbers to keep the ticks synced with everyone else. If you do not keep the PoT ticks synced, you will delay the ticks another 5 seconds and postpone power to the entire group. If someone was just revived, cast PoT the next time you see the blue PoT numbers. If it's a healer and they need power, cast PoT right away.This is what your blue PoT tick number looks like. Do note that your PoT tick number varies depending on your Vitalization.Spotting 2 Blue PoT tick numbers means you, or someone else, has taken advantage of the Double Tick Mechanic. It is an intended tool for Controllers to restore more power in a quick brief moment every 20 seconds. It will be explained in the Advanced Section.Every Controller Powerset has 2 PoT powers. But you only need to carry one unless you need to use a specific control effect from these powers (like a pull). PoT Powers GadgetsTaser Pull & Sticky BombMentalTelekinesis & Terror TendrilsLightBoxing Glove, Light Claws & Impact QuantumTachyon Burst & Gravitonic FieldMunitionsLaser Net Launcher & Chain Grenade Launcher If you run with 2 Controllers, it's always a good idea for the non PoT Controller to carry PoT in their loadout, or have an armory with PoT ready, just incase the PoT Controller gets eliminated. PoT scales with your Vitalization. The formula for PoT ticks is 70*[1+(Vit/1000)]Power Strategist Elite Mod Bonus If you struggle with Double Ticking, just keeping PoT up, or want more versatility in your Controller loadout, there is an elite mod that will allow you to not carry your PoT power at all. With this mod active, any power in your tray will start Power Over Time, and when the 20th second (5th blue PoT number appears) it will automatically Double Tick for you as long as you cast any power. All you need to do to meet the requirements is to have any and all 8 pieces of elite Controller gear, and get 25 Marks of Vicotry to purchase the Power Strategist mod. You can attain the mod from your base R&D vendor or from the console vendor in the Tech Wing near the big window. The console is infront of Doctor Desanto. Below is a video of how the mod works.There have been issues where some, not all, members who are revived are not able to receive PoT from any of your powers. They just have to wait until the 19 second PoT cycle refreshes. This does not occur often but can. To overcome this, have power supercharges, supply drops, or Vit trinket buffed Instant Power heals ready. Especially for healers.
Personal Power Regeneration Aside from having Power Over Time up as a way to restore power to your teammates and yourself, using your weapon to build up your Hit Combo Meter is a second important source of power to feed yourself. Never strictly play off PoT alone. If you only rely on the other Controller's PoT ticks or Instant Power Heals for your power in raids, that means you are being carried. In raids, alerts, duos, solos, that WILL limit how much power you restore to yourself and/or your team. During apocalyptic battles in game, this is one of the major reasons Controller players will fail to supply the team. Build up your Hit Combo Meter so that you can activate a second Mini Power Over Time to yourself. This is your second power income. It also builds up your supercharge. Your supercharge can be used to access a power heal supercharge ability that will restore more power to yourself and the team. There are 4 tiers in the Hit Combo Meter. Pay attention to the combo meter located underneath your enemy target’s name tag. That indicates the tier you are in when you are regenerating power. Tier 1 (white)At base value, restores 10 power & 2 supercharge.Tier 2 (blue)At base value, restores 12 - 13 power & 3 supercharge.Tier 3 (orange)At base value, restores 15 power & 3 - 4 supercharge.Tier 4 (yellow)At base value, restores 20 power & 4 supercharge. There are 9 ticks total for each tier (1 - 4). When you first start the combo meter, you trigger 9 ticks of power regen. When you enter a new tier, the 9 ticks refresh. They’ll give you 9 new ticks scaling with the new tier you just entered. However, the amount of personal regen ticks you get in each tier changes depending on how fast or how slow you reach blue, orange, or yellow. Stop at tier 1, you'll get 9 ticks of tier 1. Stop at tier 2, you'll get 9 ticks of tier 2 plus some, not all, of tier 1 ticks. Stop at tier 3, and you get all 9 ticks of tier 3 but you'll also get a few of tier 1's ticks and a some of tier 2's ticks. This depends on the weapon you use to reach the different tiers. Slower hit combo builder weapons (all except Handblasters, 2 Hand & Brawling) will grant you more ticks in the lower tiers while faster hit combo builder weapons (Handblasters, 2 Hand & Brawling) will grant you less ticks in the lower tiers but you'll get a higher amount of power from each tick from reaching the higher hit combo tiers like tier 3 or 4. For example, with Brawling Weapon Mastery unlocked, and you'll regenerate 2 ticks at tier 1, 3 ticks at tier 2, and 9 ticks at tier 3 if you stop your hit combo meter when you reach tier 3 (orange). Still confused? Ask all you want about it in this thread. This is what you will see in your log if your "Power Out" tab is turned on from the Chat Options>Chat Tab menu. After you hit Tier 4 (Superhuman) and the 9 ticks from Tier 4 (Superhuman) end, each hit after that while you are still hitting a target in Tier 4 (Superhuman) will register 1 regen tick (and supercharge) until you stop the Superhuman comboing. One of the major stats you focus on as a Controller is Vitalization. Vitalization increases power healing effects. This applies to PoT, Instant Power heals, Power heal supercharges, and your personal hit combo regeneration. 10 Vitalization = 1% power generation increase. With higher Vitalization, you will restore more power to yourself through hit combo meter building! Ingame tip: If you're going to end the combo meter building for any reason, make sure you do not stop on the 1st number of the new tier. Stop at the 2nd number, or 3+, in the new tier. Stopping at the first number when you enter a new tier does not grant you 9 refreshed ticks at the tier you had to stop in. Also, you do not have to reach the second or third tier everytime you do your hit combo building. Because you've activated a mini power over time already just by going to tier 2, 3 or even 4, you can return to spamming your Instant Power Heal, pick up a teammate, activate a switch, debuff, etc. You can reach the higher tiers of 2, 3 or 4 every other weapon combo or every 3 times after you've entered the higher tiers. Lets say you reached tier 3 on the hit combo meter. Your regen ticks are ticking now. Now you can spam Recharge/Defib/etc or go to weapon use (like Brawling to Martial Arts' Shuriken Storm) into your Power Dump. You can use Brawling to Martial Arts Weapon Mastery 2 or 3 times before you need to restart your mini Power Over Time from Hit combo building.
Weapon Combo Tiers Not all Weapons have the same capacity to regenerate power quickly. Some weapons reach the tiers faster than others with no Weapon Mastery. Pulse Beam with Handblaster's is the fastest hit combo builder with no Weapon Mastery unlocked. You can reach tier 2 in 2.6 seconds, tier 3 in 6.3 seconds, & tier 4 in 11.8 seconds. Rifle's Surprise Volley (hold square/ melee) is also fast but very mobile. Just using it will get you to tier 2 in 2.4 seconds, tier 3 in 5.3 seconds, & tier 4 in 10.3 seconds. In an instance, you would more than likely be mixing this in with Flip Burst to move you backwards which can add 1 to 2 seconds to the above numbers.Dual Pistols' Jump Shot can get you to T2 in 3.2 seconds, T3 in 6.8 seconds, & T4 in 13.3 seconds. Same thing here. Due to it's mobility, you'll mix in Slip Shot to move you back which adds a 1 to 2 seconds. Some weapons with Weapon Mastery unlocked, also reach the tiers faster. Much faster than just Pulse Beam with HandBlasters. The current winner for fastest regen is Brawling with Weapon Mastery Unlocked into Shuriken Storm. You can reach tier 2 in 1.5 seconds, tier 3 in 3 seconds, & tier 4 in 6 seconds.2 Hand is much slower bust has a short counter. It can reach tier 2 in 3.6 seconds, tier 3 in 7.3 seconds, & tier 4 in 13 seconds. When you go into raids with PUGs, friends, leaguemates, be prepared for groups with high power consumption. Although there are power back mechanics, some players continue to use alot of power. Tanks & Healers (with the exception of Nature's Bug Form with Hive Mind) do not have power back mechanics, and may consume alot of power.In which case, it would beneficial to you to have an armory ready with a faster hit combo builder weapon. This way, aside from other power out tools, you're keeping yourself powered to be able to give that power to the team. When you switch to your fast hit combo builder armory in these high power usage groups, set tier 2 (blue) or tier 3 (orange) as your minimum. Do not just tap your weapon once and remain in tier 1 the entire fight/raid. You do not regenerate power effectively that way and will fail when put under stress. A fast combo builder lets you reach the higher tiers while letting you get back to hitting the Instant Power Heal (which feeds 3 group members power) as fast as possible. You also benefit from power reduction costs if you use Weapon Mastery combos. If everyone is above 50% except yourself, you can even reach tier 4 superhuman and continue building until someone falls below 25% or 30% percent. Power bars are not Health bars. They will never be or stay full during combat. Do not expect them too. Equipping the Replenishing Adapter Weapon Mod from the Base Item Dispenser from the Home Turf Episode would be a good idea. You'll have a chance to trigger a burst power heal to yourself via weapon use. If you're in groups where power consumption is low, you can use the other weapons and focus more on damage. Damage is dealt by all roles and more specifically by Controllers by default due to how the Controller role operates. 2 Hand is a popular offensive Controller weapon due to it's Weapon Mastery Damage with Arrow Storm & because of its low Weapon Combo hits. DW is also good as well as HandBlasters. For weapons with longer than 4 second set ups for damage, do not forget to hit the Instant Power Heal as soon as the WM combo is over. What ever weapon you have equipped, that is the what determines the hit combo meter your character will scale by regardless if you have other weapons unlocked in your Weapon Mastery.
Instant Power Heal This is your direct Instant Burst Power Heal, aka Power Transfer, aka Burst Heal, aka Blue, aka mana, aka Burst Blue, aka Power Dump Yes, those names are used.This ability transfers a portion of your power to the 3 lowest powered group members only. It does not include yourself. It's not based on appearance of power bar or percentage but rather the numerical placement of your teammates power in their power bar. It does not go to the closest members either. This ability has very far range and its power healing effects can only be prevented by line of sight issues. Line Of Sight issues would be something like an object or wall blocking your character from another character who needs power. The Instant Power Heal scales with your Vitalization. The formula is [(Vit*0.3)+300] / 3 players = one Instant Power Heal. All the IPH's have a cooldown of about 1.8 to 2 seconds. They all work the same. They are identical. The Instant Power Heals All the Controller powersets have 1 of this type of ability. It is located only in 1 Tree. GadgetsDefibrillator (in Tactics tree)MentalPsychic Empowerment (in Telekinesis tree)LightRecharge (in Support tree)QuantumTemporal Extortion (in Time tree)MunitionsReload (in Glory tree) The IPH also gives you a personal buff of 77 Might and 62 Precision for 6 seconds in either Controller or Damage role each time you cast it. This buff does not stack.You can also give power in Damage role but not to the same extent you can with Controller gear (high Vit). IPH's can clip animations because they are supportive & self buffs. Escalating Replenishing PROCs neck mod from your base item dispenser from the Home Turf episode is another useful tool to take advantage of when seeking a Battery build (Blue Bar Healer). This effects stacks up to 3 times giving you a 9% power crit chance within 6 seconds (waiting to see if this is still the case). The Boost version gives you increased Vit %. IPH Usage For Controllers in groups with high power usage, this is ability, along with PoT, will aid you in providing power to your team. Use it to clip all your weapon combos, PoT powers, Debuffs, trinkets, etc so that you can keep up with a fast pace group. Clipping with this power allows you to power the team while dealing extra damage, control effects, debuffs and personal regen without delaying power by long periods of time.However, spamming this power, even with something like Brawling Weapon Mastery into Martial Arts Shuriken Storm, will deplete your power bar faster than your own teammates power consumption rate. To prevent that, take advantage of the power reduction bonus by timing your IPH with the WM combo. Also, build up your hit combo meter to tier 3 if you use Brawling. With slow weapons, reach tier 2. You must not remain in tier 1 while spamming Instant Power Heals.You can also pop soders and use Vit Trinkets if you can't reach anything past Tier 1 with your group and/or specced weapon. These tools are useful for a very brief amount of time though.Popping Supply Drops, Sidekicks, & Supercharges will delay you from going empty, but they come at the cost of you popping these tools when the group will need it most. Regen, so you can save these tools for when the entire group, or just healers/tanks, need power. The Instant Power Heal is not a must in all content. But, it is ideal that you have it when you run with groups. Especially with players that consume more power than your PoT tick can restore.
Vitalization Chart Your PoT Tick increases by 1 tick every 14 to 15 points in Vitalization. Liam Solo's Chart (Given to the Gadgets Guide) Round UP for the chart below.
Power Healing Supercharges These supercharges transfer burst power heals to your teammates through a series of ticks. They are similar, some are the same, to the amount your instant power heals transfer. The blue heals will occur in a short amount of time (5 to 6 seconds). A majority of them cost 50% supercharge. Gadgets' Battle Drone is the one that cost 35% supercharge because it is a Power Over Time type power while the others are short duration strict burst blue heals.During an emergency where your healers, tanks, and/or entire group is low on power, this is the perfect Supercharge to cast so that you can help the group recover power quickly.Some Powersets have a supercharge that also grants an 8 man shield for teammates while it gives power. These include Mental, Quantum, Munitions, and Light. There is one supercharge in each Powerset's tree. Power Healing Supercharges GadgetsBattle Drone (in Tactics tree)This is a 35% supercharge that last 30 seconds. It does not stack with other Drones. This is a Power Over Time type supercharge with a burst blue heal occurring on the 30th second or when the Drone dies. The Drone PoT ticks scale with your Vitalization.Every 70 to 73 points in Vit increase the Drone tick by 1 point.At 0 Vit your Drone tick is 14.In Controller stance, your base Drone PoT is 18.Members not in group receive Drone Ticks but not the burst blue heal at the end. The equation to find your big blue heal is ((YOUR VIT * 0.3) + 300). MentalBastion (in Telekinesis tree) 50% supercharge Shields yourself & 7 team members Shield strength is based on 100% Dominance + 100% Restoration + 10 Deflects some damage back to enemies Gives 6 ticks of 83 power at base Vitalization (0) LightGroup Shielding (in Support tree) 50% supercharge Shields yourself & 7 team members Shield strength is based on 100% Dominance + 100% Restoration + 10 Gives 5 ticks of 100 power at base Vitalization QuantumEvent Horizon (in Space tree) 50% supercharge Shields yourself & 7 team members Shield strength is based on 100% Dominance + 100% Restoration + 10 Deflects some damage back to enemies Gives 5 ticks of 100 power at base Vitalization MunitionsActive Protection System (in Glory tree) 50% supercharge Shields yourself & 7 team members Shield strength is based on 100% Dominance + 100% Restoration + 10 Deflects some damage back to enemies Gives 6 ticks of 83 power at base Vitalization Other PowersetsNatureRegeneration 4 ticks of 100 power at base Vit ElectricityInvigorate 4 ticks of 100 power at base Vit SorceryTranscendence 5 ticks of 26 to 32 power at base Vit CelestialSacrifice 5 ticks of 103 Other power healing supercharges exist outside of the powersets. Word of Power is found in the Iconics tree. You can purchase with a Power Point. Burst blue heals occur 3 seconds after cast (you can clip the animation with Defib). It sets up an electric PI & stuns targets around you while giving small heals to the team. It gives 5 ticks of power and at 0 Vit, WoP gives 100 power back. It hits all 8 members. Rather than use a Power Point, you can use a Skill Point and purchase this type of burst power heal supercharge in your Movement Tree. All 3 of the following give 6 ticks of power & a base Vit of 83 per tick. They reach all 8 members. Click the links below to view the animations.Speed Drain is found in the Speedster tree.Vacuum Bubble is in the Flight Tree & Gale is in the Skimming tree.BackFlip in the Acrobats tree.
The Debuffs Debuffing the stats of your enemies is another duty the Controller role has. Each Debuff lasts 10 seconds per cast.Defense Debuff (Red Shield) This is your most commonly requested debuff and should be put on a boss, or high health/defense enemies, at all times. Cast this debuff on NPC's that your team is focus firing. It will lower an NPC's defense by 33%. At the same time it lowers their damage prevention from the standard 15% to 10% while the debuff is active. Basically, throw a defense debuff, you reduce the NPC's defense by 33% which also reduces their damage mitigation from 15% to 10%.15% being the standard damage mitigation of most NPCs. Once debuffed, a majority of NPCs will mitigate only 10% damage for the duration of the debuff. That is, as long as the debuff is up, which is 10 seconds, they will prevent 10% damage (instead of 15%). We essentially pierce 5% of their armor without Penetrating Strikes. If players wear Penetrating Strikes, that 10% becomes 6.67%. This is still weaker than preGU47. Core Strength is still slightly superior.With 8 players focus firing damage to the debuffed target, this adds up to a much lesser geared 9th member in the raid. From that point of view, consider this a group buff. In PvP, it will remove 3797 Toughness on human players. Defense Debuffs:GadgetsGauss Grenade & Stasis FieldMentalPhantom Flames & Thought BubbleLightLight Blast & Whip TrashQuantumTime Shift & SingularityMunitionsSmoke Grenade Launcher & Five Barrel Minigun Damage Debuff (Red Cross Hair) It will decrease an NPC's total damage output by 7%. When NPCs gain a damage buff, their damage is only slightly increased. However, most one shots by a boss will always be a one shot. A reduction of 7% won't save you or your teammates from a 10,000 hit depending on their health and Combat Rating. A Controller, Healer, or Damager won't see a significant difference in damage reduction by enemies from this debuff in PVE. But a tank might just barely make it through an attack that is not a one shot. If the tank requests it, apply for them if you want to. Healer shields and other personal shields through powers or consumables provide greater protection from powerful damage. Use those shields with this debuff to help reduce damage taken.Recently NPCs have been programmed to have their significant damage buff removed completely while also receiving the 7% damage reduction when applying the damage debuff. James in Desecrated Cathedral & Dr Light in Prison Break Elite are examples. When their green crosshairs are up under their nametag, throw a damage debuff and their buff is removed. They'll aslo have smokey aura's around their hands showing the buff is up. In PvP, this removes the damage modifier buff from the DPS and reduces damage out by 7%. Damage Debuffs:GadgetsVortex Cannon & Paralyzing DartMentalCryokinesis & TerrorizeLightGrasping Hand & Light WeightQuantumWarp Barrage & Albicubierre WaveMunitionsFlak Cannon & Mini-Nuke Healing Debuff (Red Heart) This debuff reduces an NPC's ability to receive heals by 25%. There are few instances in which this debuff may be helpful. You can use this in Inner Sanctum on the second boss. He receives heals from OMAC Nano Repair Units. You can apply it on Brainiac in PBG to reduce Brainiac's healing received from the healer drones. You can also use it in Paradox Wave against the Ravager who gets heals from fountains. Keep the debuff up on these bosses at all times to get the most benefit. Ultimately, if you're running a raid with strong Damagers/DPS you don't need this debuff because the NPC's will take more damage than their heals can recover. This debuff does not effect heals coming out of a target. In PvP, the healing debuff reduces heals coming INTO your opponent by 25%. Healing Debuffs:GadgetsCryoFoam & Napalm GrenadeMentalPyrokinesis & Horrific VisageLightSnap Trap & EntrapQuantumAnomaly & Gravity BombMunitionsMulti-Net Launcher & Rocket Launcher
Dominance The Dominance stat was placed in our armor by the developers because we are suppose to physically control NPCs to prevent them from damaging our teammates. This includes Tanks. They are not able to stun targets for long durations with their control effects.We also benefit from having our Dominance doubled in Controller role. The content, and your team members, will determine how much controlling & focus will be needed. It's important you understand that a combination of Controllers and Tanks controlling benefits the team overall instead of relying the duty to any one player. When you have NPCs with no Breakout Profiles, the rules change, and Controllers now become the superior role to handle these enemies.From Tunso (SOE Developer):"Dominance does two things. It affects how much damage is required to break a control effect and it also determines whether you can control a target at all in higher tiered areas. It doesn't have any affect on threat though.The reason Dominance is useful for tanks is because enemies who are knocked down, stunned or being juggled can't attack back. Tanks with high enough Dominance [today it's because of shield strength and ability to heal] can take a lot less damage versus weaker "trash" (non-boss) type enemies by keeping them on their backs or otherwise helpless." [Controllers can naturally do this for tanks as well.] Dominance is now useful for 4 things. 1. It is half of the formula that determines the strength of our shields. *The formula is 100% Dominance and 100% Restoration.*2. It's the other half of the equation that determines the amount we can heal ourselves using specific healing abilities. *The formula is 100% Dominance and 100% Restoration.*3. It determines whether your powers and weapon attacks will apply a control effect on a target provided you meet the suggested amount of Dom for the instance. The suggested amount of Dom is basically near or at the Will Power of most of the NPCs in that instance. Will Power is an unseen stat NPCs have. Enemies with low Will Power will be controlled by any role regardless of Dom.4. Every 500 points of Dom will increase the power type control effect duration of a stun, root, levitation, or encasement by 1 second or 2 millisecond every 1 point of Dom. ONLY those power type control effects are affected. Not all control effects. The base duration of stuns is 15 seconds.Game Update 31 "Dominance now increases the maximum possible duration of stuns, roots, levitations and encasements deployed from super powers at a rate of +1 second for every 500 Dominance (2 milliseconds per 1 point of Dominance)."Game Update 24 made Dominance a factor in the healing equation: Powers·GeneraloWhen healing is calculated, Dominance is now added directly to your Restoration and the two stats combined to determine the final value. Prior to this, heal abilities available to Tank and Controller power types scaled independently with both stats. Depending on how you are geared you may see either a small increase in amount healed or no change. This directly affects the following abilities: Envelop, Absorb Heat, Backdraft, Burning Determination, Burnout, Consume Objects, Fiery Weapon, Overheat, Stoke Flames, Eternal Flame, Reignition, Anesthetic, Hibernation, Ice Elemental, Word of Power, Restore, Triage, and Convalesce.oThe following abilities are also affected when the Regenerative Shielding Mod is in use: Gemstone Shield, Flux, Energy Shield, Reflection, Hard Light Shield, Light Barrier, Telekinetic Shield, Swarm Shield, and Boon of Souls. Dominance does NOT increase the length of time for ALL control effects. It does NOT increase the amount of time your debuff will last. It has NOTHING to do with attracting aggro or taunting. Also, it NO longer affects how much damage is required to break a control effect. This was changed in game update 17. Keep in mind that regardless of how much Dominance you have some NPC’s (non-person/playable character) CANNOT be controlled. Some are programmed to resist control effects (BC2 Wing Armors & Bosses) completely. Others are programmed to be vulnerable to specific control effects (FOS2 bridge crystal part. The sentries can only be pulled).If an enemy is flashing white or blue, and you can’t pull them or apply a CC effect, it is because they have temporary control immunity & they will Resist.Unless you are looking to strengthen your shields or extend specific control effects for solo/duo/alert/operation content, you do not need high dominance. In raids, most NPC's breakout & become immune early which would render your high Dom approach in there useless. If you are not looking to waste a mod or invest skill points and just want a simple number to aim for, the magic number is to reach the Suggested Amount of Dominance given on each piece of content on the On Duty menu in game. Suggested Dom amount will always increase as we get new content.
Control Effects We are the generals of the battlefield. We protect the healers, revive fallen players and save our Tanks & teammates from beat downs by throwing control effects on enemies. Control effects for us are labeled as stunned, rooted, knocked back, knocked down, pulled, trapped, panic etc. above your target in game. They're also listed in your combat log. These effects are dealt via our powers and weapons by default once you have reached the minimum amount of Dom for an instance. The effects also apply to NPCs with low Will Power. Will Power Will Power is an invisible stat NPCs have. In order for you to dominate your NPC enemies, you must surpass the Suggested Amount of Dominance (found in the On Duty Menu) and you will break a NPC's Will Power which will allow you to control them. NPCs with low Will Power can be controlled by any role with low or no Dom levels. Human players do not have Will Power and can be controlled in PvP Arenas and open world if they are not immune to control effects. You cannot turn this effect off because it is what you are designed to do. Every offensive thing you do controls naturally.Immunity There are 3 types of immunities NPC's can get from your actions. Immunity duration varies per NPC type. Weapon immunity is due to NPCs who gain control immunity to control effects from weapons. These NPCs will flash white.Power immunities is due to NPCs who gain control immunity to control effects from powers. These NPCs will flash white.Combat immunity is due to NPCs who gain immunity to control effects and combat counters due to combat countering a player. This only applies to Bosses, Matches & SubBosses who are programmed to combat counter you & be combat countered. These NPCs, and human players, flash blue. Not all NPC's will gain immunity to control effects if you combat counter them.The time you have available to control a NPC depends on their Breakout Profile. NPCs that have no Breakout Profile can be controlled for 15+ seconds & they do not breakout & gain immunity. These are often found in solos, duos, alerts, and some raids. Every instance has various types of NPCs.Some NPCs with Breakout Profiles (B.P.) can be controlled for 2 to 8 seconds once you've landed the first control effect. It doesn't matter who applied the first control effect. It could be a healer or DPS with a broken CC ability like Nature's Harvest or Quantums Time Bomb. The moment the NPC registers the control effect, the count down to immunity on that NPC starts. Again, when the NPC gains immunity depends on how long they are programed to be controlled. That will always vary per NPC. For example, Totem Masters in Throne of Dead can be controlled for 8 seconds before becoming immune. NPCs in that raid like Bow Masters can be controlled for 3 to 4 seconds. Throwing in weapon control effects can prolong the suppression (your overall controlling of them) on some NPCs. Ultimately, NPCs with Breakout Profiles will develop immunity. When this happens they begin to flash white & in most cases will display "RESIST" or "IMMUNE" above the targets head. While flashing, your powers will not control them again until they stop flashing and/or "RESIST" or "IMMUNE" no longer shows. This varies per NPC type.Some immunities last 2 or 3 seconds. Some are 8 seconds if the NPC regularly breakouts on it's own (ex. Kandaq). The flashing means they are immune to all control effects. The same applies with weapon control effects.Countering Immunity VERY few NPCs can be countered and controlled even while immune. *PAST MECHANIC*NO LONGER ACTIVE* When a NPC has a power immunity, you may be able to control some with weapon control effects. If the target has weapon control immunity, you can control them with power control effects. Few NPC's will let you control them immediately with the counter of power or weapon CC.Some NPCs completely ignore specifc control effects but they are vulnerable to others. In FOS3, the Gold and Red sentries ignore control effects that apply STUN. But anything that deals a knock down or knock back, will control them. That applies to both powers and weapons. Cast a power control effect like Vortex Cannon or Stick Bomb to knock them down.A majority of enemies in the game will develop immunity to both types (weapon and power CC) regardless when they are flashing.** Control Effects (stuns, roots, levitation, & encasement) have a base time of 15 seconds. The rest is increased by 1 second every 500 points Dom. NPCs with Breakout Profiles will always break out & develop immunity before the 15 second base duration. It is only NPCs that do not breakout that will be able to be controlled for 15+ seconds. This applies to ALL the powersets. Including Quantum, which many players confuse as having superior CC compared to the other Controller powersets. In reality, their stun duration is the same. Weapon Control Effects do not benefit from added duration to their CC. Dominance only extends the time on power control effects.
Dealing with a Tank Ideally, let the tank physically pull NPCs into his/her tank zone first. If you cast a power to control first, the NPC (depending on its Breakout Profile) will have a limited amount of time for the Tank to organize them. Fast acting Tanks can physically pull & organize NPCs even if you land a control effect first. Slower Tanks will not catch the NPC while it is still vulnerable to control effects. This is why it's preferred to wait for the Tank. Obviously, fast pace groups moving faster than the Tank means you should adapt to the majority of the group.When a NPC does become immune, you, the other Controller, and Tank cannot control them until they stop flashing/resisting. If you see them spamming power in an attempt to control the enemy, make them aware. Especially if they shift the blame to you for not having power. You must tell them they cannot control targets who are labeled to be Resisting & flashing white.If you do grant them power immunity, any power a player casts in Tank role will taunt. Just because the Tank cannot physically pull NPC's doesn't mean the NPC's are not targeted on the tank. He/She has the NPC's attention from close or far range.If a NPC is in the radius of the Tank's taunt, after the target finishes their very short melee or range attack combo, the NPC will simply move towards, or range fire, the Tank. It may take more work but he/she has their aggro. A Tank's taunt is at the top of the hate table than any other roles' aggro.When you set up Power Interactions for other players, your powers will control and may result in NPC immunity. You may apply PI's if your goal is to help players with heal or damage or tank survivability. But remember your powers, weapon attack, and consumables that control targets (which register as power control effects) will start the count down to NPC immunity.Once the Tank has the NPC's in his/her zone, you did your part. Your powers do multiple things at once. It's free for all for you. Tanks have the smallest power bar out of all the classes, a majority of their powers do not stun, and there is a reason why Tanks mainly block when they take in too much damage. Their capacity is limited in controlling NPCs to stop them from getting beat down. Apply your PI's for the team and 8 man stuns to help the tank out. Some Tanks use ChronoEmitters & Dazing Devices to control the NPCs so they don't beat the Tank silly. Use your control effects to help them. If the NPC gains immunity & the Tank complains, they're just unaware that the NPC will be given immunity regardless due to the Tanks own actions. It's a pointless argument.Some Tanks will have an obsession with having NPCs grouped while touching the Tank's body at all times. They'll achieve this by constant pulling the targets. These are Tanks who do this because they believe that the damage from the team will not hit every target if they are not cheek to cheek with the Tank. Weapon Mastery attack combos, with the exception of single target attacks, and a majority of powers from all the powersets that do 360 AoE burst & DoT attacks have a radius 6 meters and some even go further than that. Up to 8 meters and up. NPCs do not have to be contained extremely tight unless there is a very narrow cone ability being used by a Damager. Knowing this, as long as your control ability do not knock the NPCs 10 meters away from the Tank's position, you're fine to control.Powers like Sticky Bomb from Gadgets and Light's Mini-Guns have a habit of pushing targets but they will only knock targets far back & away from the 6 to 8 meter Tanking zone if there is a knock back or other control effect added onto these abilities. Usually a Weapon CC knocked back or even a Tank's own knock back will result in a farther push. While not a serious issue considering the fast pace gameplay, aside from the fact the NPC will come back into the Tank's zone, some player will nag about this. This is just a heads up.If you'd like to test the AoE range on your powers, the League Hall sparring targets is one location.Controlling, Aggro & Taunts A Controller granting NPC's immunity does NOT reset aggro/taunt. This is something you might hear in PUG groups. Ignore the fact the video below is about disproving Dom affecting aggro. Watch how the tank's power (which isn't a physical pull) taunts the NPC. The Controller applies the control effect of Panic. After the effect is over, their is no aggro reset on the NPC. Watch how the NPC targets the Tank and moves towards him. This is how a majority of melee NPCs act. Tank taunt lasts 12 seconds but can be refreshed after the 8th second.Some NPCs don't move towards the Tank. They just attack them at far range but can still be taunted. This means you can attack a NPC in the back that is attacking a team member. Tell the Tank to taunt them, & the NPC will focus the Tank. Range Tanking is a strategy used in the game especially for some bosses. It can be used on NPCs too while they make their way towards the Tank or until the Tank is able to physically pull them over. If the Tank is the only player CCing, it is because the Controllers have no desire/need/realize how to control. Controllers by design results in "crowd" controlling simply by casting PoT, a debuff, or regenerating power through weapon use. Controller powers (debuffs/PoT/PIs) and weapon regen combos can control multiple targets (up to 8), we can regenerate power at a great capacity than any other role, we have bigger power pools, we have shields to protect ourselves, and we can set up Power Interactions to help the teams performance. Our CC is not a hindrance if players understand how it works.
Controlling Tools After the Tank has rounded up NPCs, or you're in a situation where you need to stun NPCs to keep a large number of them in one spot or you want to prevent damage, using 8 target stuns will become useful. Often you'll see Tanks, or other roles, use PI consumables like Chronoemitters and Dazing Devices to stun targets. The reason for it is because these consumables cause a stun with no required Dom needed. Stunning NPCs means they cannot hit you. You take no damage for the duration of the PI consumable. A majority of them stun for 2 seconds with the Chronoemitters stunning only for 3 seconds. The level VI and below stun 4 targets. The level VII stuns 8 targets. Controller stuns, roots, levitations, and encasements last for 15 seconds at base plus your Dominance and a few of them can stun 8 targets. NPCs that do not breakout will be subdued the whole duration. While those consumables cost no power, they cost resources to make. As a Controller, you regenerate power at a greater capacity and can use your power 8 man control effects to help the tank take less damage. Especially when running content where the Tank is overwhelmed by NPCs. 8 Target Stuns (supercharges excluded) Gadgets Sticky Bomb - Stun, Knockdown, Stun - Devices Tree Holographic Decoy - Stun, Taunt - Devices Fear Gas - Panic - Tactics Tree Paralyzing Dart - Stun (Primary Target cannot be pulled due to programming) - Tactics Mental Terror Tendrils - Stun - Illusions Tree Mass Terror - Stun and Panic - Illusions Horrific Visage - Polymorphs into ghosts - Illusions Mass Levitation - Levitates - Telekinesis Tree Pyrokinesis - Stun - Telekinesis TK Bolt - Knockback - Telekinesis Light Impact - Knockdown, Stun - Support Tree Light Blast - Stun - Support Ram - Knockdown, Stun- Assault Tree Minigun - Stun, Push - Assault Chompers - Panic - Assault Quantum Distortion Wave - Stun (Targets cannot be pulled due to programming) - Time Tree Time Bomb - Slows, Knockback, Stun - Time Singularity - Pulls, Roots (8), Knockback (4) - Space Tree Gravity Well - Stun - Space Munitions Smoke Grenade - Stun - Glory Tree Chain Grenade Launcher - Stun, Knockdown, Stun - Guts Tree Rocket Retreat - Knockdown, Stun - Guts Shrapnel Grenade Launcher - Knockdown - 5 to 6+ targets - Guts Shields Aside from the 8 man supercharge shields, you have access to personal shields as well. These personal shields can be used to pick up teammates and prevent incoming damage on your character. You can also use them to activate switches.Controller shields strength is determined by 100% Dominance + 100% Restoration + 10 = shield strength. The following are non supercharge type shields. Gadgets Neural Neutralizer - 3 seconds, stuns - Tactics Distract - 5 seconds of shield & control immunity, detaunts (drops aggro) - Devices Mental Telekinetic Shield - Telekinesis Grandeur - 5 seconds of shield & control immunity, detaunts (drops aggro) - Illusions Reflect Pain - Transfers 100% of incoming damage to target for 5 seconds capped at 15% of maximum Health - Illusions Light Light Barrier - 12 seconds, deflects damage back to attacks - Support Quantum Quantum Tunneling - 3 seconds of control immunity & shield, teleports, detaunts (drops aggro) - Time Time Bubble - 8 seconds - Time Munitions Survival - 5 seconds of shielding & immunity, detaunts - Glory Some shields in the Controller powersets benefit from the Home Turf hand mod that allows you to gain a some health back via a burst heal. Only 3 powersets benefit from an indestructible shield. If timed right, you can prevent one shots. Gadgets, Mental, & Munitions are qualified if the following mod is applied to your hands. The shield duration is 2.5 seconds.
Pulls When necessary, there will be objectives or situations where you need to pull NPCs away from the group or into a location so the group can stay safe and/or advance in the instance. The following are your pull abilities.Mental has no pull ability within its powerset.GadgetsTaser Pull - Single Target - Pull, Stun - TacticsLightGrasping Hand - SupportFan - AssaultQuantumEinstein's Ray - SpaceMunitionsMulti Net Launcher - GloryIconicsMesmerizing LassoMovement TreesAcrobatGrapple PullSpeedsterTornado PullFlight/SkimmingVacuum BubbleWhen needing to cover a large distance between the enemy & the team or object to protect, you can use the jump pull trick to double the distance of your pull. Simply jump in the air first then cast your Pull power. Some powers can pull it off easier than others can depending on whether you have to combo into a pull.
Learn how to perform the Double Tick Included in the video below is the solo triple & partnered quadruple ticks that I discovered. Credit me if you use my information.
TRINKET CYCLING Watch this video to learn about the 3 types of trinkets! Major edit! I did not include another ability with the Central City Trinket. What you can do is activate the Central City Trinket and tap melee on PC or square on PS. If you miss the first time, cast the CC trinket again. Then quickly tap melee for PC or square for PS. You can do this a third time. Pop the CC trinket and quickly tap melee or square. What will happen is you will immediately get burst power back to yourself only from the Central City Trinket without having to use the Hold Triangle/Range power regen CC trinket ability. On the second or third time (depending on how many successfully you pulled off) you'll get stunned and can no longer use that ability until the CC trinket cool down is over. I am currently testing to see if the power restored is based off CR, % of power pool or Vitalization. When executing this bonus, you need to make a decision as to whether you want a 40 to 60+ second vit buff on the team or rather choose to restore immediate power to yourself. You could also spread out this burst power restore so you benefit from both its power heal and Vit buff. I'll post a video of it in action when I have time. Watch this video so you can learn how to apply them in combat!