Tesseract's Guide to What Controllers Should be Doing

Note: This is a playstyle guide only. If you are new to controlling, see my Learning to Control thread first. If you are looking for more detailed info, see Battery's How to Play Controller.

It seems a day does not go by without someone posting a story about how they were being screamed at for not providing enough power in game. This kick starts the usual round of debates as to what exactly controllers should be doing.

Well, here’s how it is.

1. Providing power is the primary function of a controller.

In all but the rarest of circumstances, if your teammates have less power than you, give them power. Most people can see the sense in this for tanks and healers, and the debating point is the DPS. Ultimately, if the DPS are in any way competent at their role, they can do far more with 300 power than you can. Given that instant power goes to three people, not just one, it is likely that one cast of instant power will contribute at least three times as much to a raid than anything else you could do. That’s not even factoring in the difference in damage between a DPS and a controller, which should again be in the realms of three times. As a rough ballpark estimate, that gives us one instant cast contributing between three and nine times as much to a raid as anything else you could do, depending on how many DPS get hit with instant.

2. Debuffing is the secondary function of a controller.

Most groups like to see the defence debuff on anything that takes a while to die, but putting it on trash is probably pointless. Debuffing in general was more efficient before they nerfed the duration. It is similarly of reduced value in alerts or any content with fewer participants. However it is still generally more useful to have the defence debuff up.

There are two other kinds of debuffs which are rarely used in pve. The damage debuff can be useful in brand new tiers of content when the enemies hit hard and the healers have trouble keeping up, however it is usually abandoned when people start earning their gear. The healing debuff is only of potential value when there are healing mechanics in a fight. This is relatively rare, and the usefulness of the healing debuff is highly subjective.

3. Crowd control is the tertiary function of a controller.

Controllers are one of two classes in the game that have sufficient dominance to control mobs in higher content. This means that controllers have a responsibility to back up the (probably) solo tank. In alerts there is every chance there won’t even be a tank. You always need to be aware of your surroundings and your teammates so that you can be ready to step in if the need should arise. Back in point one when I said “in all but the rarest of circumstances, give power”, this is what I was talking about. For example, there are certain points in the game when re-positioning mobs is essential (Broodmother in FoS1, crystal carry in FoS2 etc). Make sure to put a pull on your bar in these situations, then if something slips past the tank you can be ready to pick up the slack. It doesn’t matter how many times you instant, it won’t make up for pulling a mob away as it was going to smash the crystal.

In more general cases, be ready to lock down mobs that are bothering your teammates. If an elite guardian in Batcave 3 has a healer in a ball, stun him and break them free. That is a far more effective use of power. If the team is pushing quickly through Themyscira and is breaking the three gates, be ready to stun the mobs that spawn if they target anyone but the tank.

These are the types of instances when it is of more benefit to the team for you to crowd control than give power. However, you should only be controlling the mobs when it is necessary. Be careful not to interfere with your tank. Mobs gain immunity to crowd control effects after a certain amount of time, so don’t throw stuns everywhere or the tank won’t be able to group things properly.

4. Modify your behaviour depending on your team.

If a boss is putting out too much damage for the healer(s) to keep up with, try using the damage debuff. If the tank can’t pull all the adds, put a pull on your bar. If the healers are constantly being hassled, focus on stunning the mobs attacking them. If there are shield armours, pull one away from the group. If it’s taking too long to kill eye drones, keep them juggled. If all the DPS are melee, kite the white sentries away from the group. If you find you are giving out more power than the team is using, stop giving so much power.

If you have no other things you need to do (power is good, debuffs are up, nothing needs to be controlled, buttons don’t need pressed, spears carried, or allies rallied), do some dps. Every single player has a responsibility to dps when all other functions of their role are completed. Controllers are blessed with 100% dps potential, unlike healers or tanks who take damage penalties. Tanks are more likely to have “spare” power to dps however, so depending on player skill and character skill point progression, you will end up with roughly similar damage to a tank.

Just be aware of what is going on in your group, and be ready to revert back to giving power, debuffing, or crowd control (if necessary).

FAQ

Why should I give power? I should control more!
The above is an outline for what is optimal for the group. If this isn’t your idea of fun, that’s okay. Don’t let me tell you what to do. But please try to find a group of people that share your views on the matter. This is a multi-player game and we have to bear in mind that our actions are influencing other people’s enjoyment as well. If you are pugging, chances are the group just wants to get through things as quickly as possible, and limiting your power out in order to do other things will impact on that. Just like it’s not fair to pug T4 content in pvp gear “for the challenge” (entertaining though it may be to you).

Otherwise if you really want to crowd control instead of giving power, you might want to respect to tank.

But the class is called controller! The developers intended us to crowd control, so I will!
Firstly, what the developers intend and what actually happens are quite often vastly different things. They still maintain their own idea of loot rules for instance, despite a long-running community idea that is contrary. Secondly, the class was called controller over two years ago and the game has changed a lot since then. Whilst in beta it might have actually been a crowd control class, it has always been a power regen class when the game has been live. Renaming the class just to clarify what the developers “intend” (again, little relevance to how the game is played) seems frankly ludicrous.

Why do DPS keep spamming their power? Don’t they know how to use weapon combos?
Skilled DPS ‘spam’ their power because this is how they generate the best numbers. Clipping classes like Light and Gadgets will do a brief three/four hit combo, and clip the last hit with a short-cooldown power. Other high DPS sets like Electricty will use their powers as soon as they are off cooldown (if you want to see what this is like, check out any of our videos from Anhur’s viewpoint). If the DPS is putting out enough damage, don’t complain that they are using too much power.

Why do DPS keep yelling at me for more power? Ah’m giving her all she’s got, cap’n!
Just like controllers need to modify their play style according to what they’re doing and who they’re with, DPS should also be modifying their play style depending on the amount of power they receive. If the DPS are burning their power bars and then yelling for more despite the fact that pot is up and your power bar is as empty as theirs, then that’s their problem, not yours. They can see the pot tick over their own head, and that should give them an idea of how much they can push things. If you’re doing all that you can, they are being idiots.

Reserved.

This is good read for the new players and experienced ones alike. Let me just add some more simple/basic yet useful information regarding Controllers.

1) YOU ARE NOT IN DAMAGE ROLE. You don't play like a DPS in "controller" role, leave this to the pros . Moving on!

2) There are two simple terms when it comes to power regeneration. POT or your Power Over Time and Power Dump aka Dump. Timing is crucial when it comes to POT'ing. Want to be a pro at POT'ing? Count your POT ticks (from the very first you cast it), if you've already counted the 5th tick, cast POT again. That way you "double" your team's power regen while maintaining that tiny lightning icon(POT) below your health bar.

3) Keep your power to at least 40% of total. To say it again, AVOID SPAMMING POWER. This way, in cases when your healers or DPSes or even Tanks are in power shut down, you can immediately cast two power dumps. No power = no healer power to heal = dead healer = dead raid group.

4) STAY AWAY FROM DANGER. You don't want to be attracting so much aggro just because you want to keep your Power Interactions going. That's not how it is. Dead 'troller = dead healer = dead raid group.

5) DEBUFF. DEBUFF. DEBUFF. I have to repeat this even if it was written on the guide. A defense debuff (indicated by a RED SHIELD on the boss' health bar) is actually sufficient enough to hasten the alert or raid.

There you have it. I hope this can help new players.



*Wowie Yap*
Gadgets DPS/'troll USPC*

All of this helpful information. This is meant more as a playstyle guide than a general guide, but it bears repeating all the same.

Last time I checked, I call that a playstyle advice.

Quality information from a quality source - players looking to evolve as a Controller would do well to heed these details (well, quality so long as you keep my power up)!

I've seen some of Odysseys videos, no way can people say they don't know what they are doing!

Also I'm glad you mentioned about how crowd control can effect the Tank because its something I never thought about. In solo I use crowd control but I never considered how in a group it can actually be detrimental. Specially when one of my abilities makes mobs run away in terror.

Last point is that no one seems to mention how important LINE OF SIGHT is. It took me ages to realise how close to the group I need to be and how important it is to keep everyone in sight when doing PoT.

Thanks for taking the time to try and help newer players.

any ninja who been playing dis game fo 2 years wit a group of OP ninjas can do what they post. lol. posting videos of steam rollin crud in batcave raids with t4? really? 5 manning pbg? vet leagues can do dat son. they just happen to have good editors and cameras on all da time to catch it. buncha us can do dat if we had dat shizznit. and learn to read ninja. i said it aint quality i aint say dis empowerment spamma dont know nothin. im saying he aint impressive since this main man right here can do what he do nah mean. reportin him fo duplicate threads.

I like this guy for the sole purpose I have no clue what he types. But I laugh at him all the same. Keep posting, u provide an interesting puzzle solver to kill a few minutes at work.

Awesome guide Tess.

Your command of the English language is rivaled only by your comprehensive grasp of in-game mechanics and MMO pejoratives. I tip my hat to you, if only for that.

As all guides, this one is only to be taken as the opinion of one player (well, in this case, a bunch of players). People are always free to find their own balance and their own playing style. Such guides are also adressed to people who do not know to control or who are looking to find additional knowledge to increase their prowess. If players already know (or disagree with) opinions formulated in this guide, there is no obligation to follow the advice. If it works for Tess (and me, and leaguemates) it can probably work for others as well. But it doesn't mean it has to work for you.

yo wazza dude wats da dillyo in this shizzybizz ya knuw? i miin ya all like whas this ant hes like no wayz ya know


Dude...learn english before you try to be awesome like me....ok? byebye now =)

I mean tess is just posting guides so it helps the other players, and they are not waiting for some wannabe lil wayne trying to ''typ'' gangsta on the forums, now i know you whont understand this cause your IQ aint higher then that of a brick, but hey....atleast i tried

This is a good guide so far to bad most of the people on here think they know it all and will just criticize your posts. every troll topic i see is full of how can i put it......idiots lol that give terrible advice. If they played as much as they talked they might learn their roles.

While I do appreciate odessy videos. It does appear they their own guides rather than contributing to others. Not saying that haven't brought in good information, but a lot of it is rehashed loadouts mentioned in other threads.

I think you'll find most Odyssey guides pre-exist most other threads here. They've been around for some time on the old PC boards. I'm pretty sure this is the first "new" guide posted, and it doesn't talk about loadouts at all. There's even a couple of threads that haven't been posted yet, like Sen's ice guide.

That said we do all contribute to other threads as well, it's just not quite the same as a thread of your own.

If you overwrite after the 5th tick you get two ticks of power over time instead of 1.

Debuffs don't enrage bosses. Taking too long to kill a boss is what enrages them.

I have no idea why but troll treads tend to bring out the worst of haters these days

Good advice here overall.

An awesome write up!

Yes, it counts as overwriting pot, but the reason overwriting is a bad thing is normally you don't get an initial tick. In this instance, you do. Check out either of the guides linked in the first post for more info.

As for enraging the boss, as someone else said this only happens on a timer. Unless you meant aggros? Debuffing does build aggro, but not huge amounts, so it probably wouldn't put you at the top of the table unless he's just dumped it.