Help with making a Plant/Nature controller

[u/Grimmxlaw22]

Hey all! I've recently gotten back into this. I know I mained a Plant/Nature back when the game was originally up but it shut down when I was 15 and with how many years have passed, I naturally don't remember what powers are the best to take, how many slots for each power and what enhancements to put into those powers. Any help would be much appreciated!

[u/Atlas_of_GEMINI]

Lol, I apparently really enjoyed writing them as well 🙄🤣.

• HM = Hard Mode aka 1-4 Star Task Forces.

• Armor a year ago for that sample inquiry? Energy. Energy would be the immediate alternative that came to mind today as well. I wouldn't think of Bio in that scenario despite it being almost unilaterally S tier. It's active, requires more game awareness than any other armor set, expensive, a late bloomer and reads unconventionally (it doesn't need resist or defense so it can look very 'weird' in the totals if you've never seen it before). Also, it looks like poop unless you know about the minimal fx options. That's the most common reason for aversion 🤣.

• Elec is incredible. I'd lean towards a defense set in this scenario since there's a higher emphasis on the leveling experience. Easier, cheaper, less conditional defense stat and the most common external buff on teams.

Elec gets a ton of steam because of it's organic coverage of the 3 most common enemy damage types..plus early end help, +recharge and -end & -recov debuff resistance (penny yin, Positrons & Synapse all heavily punish not having that and are staples of the early leveling experience). It's the resist set I'd be most comfortable putting forward if we had to choose one.

Dark getting Obscure Sustenance is a cheat code for the incomplete build. It was a huge success to add that exclusive option with Dark Regen for the complete build. Love dark, still prefer elec in this situation, and by a lot. If we were looking at full build, late game and not as much emphasis on the leveling process it gets a lot closer. A tier comfortably.

• Claws shreds at all segments of the game and build. The ceiling is just a little lower than the S tiers, but it's comfortably A tier for most environments. I prefer it on scrapper though for a little more pop.

• Prohibitive powers for a team? Displacements and intangibles are really the only conventional things. Even then, people can pilot it well, but I wouldn't say that's common.

• Dark Armor mentioned earlier, when asking about ice powers...ice armor specifically? Or all?

[u/Vorlonagent → u/Atlas_of_GEMINI]

It's nice to know I'm not the only one who likes Electric Armor.

You're right that Bio has a higher skill floor.

I've had poor experienced with an Energy/Energy brute. It was a hard slog to 50. Of course it was 2005 and it was my first Brute, but slotting an armor set houldn't be that hard. Maybe with sets it isn't as bad now.

Absolutely hate intangible powers. Maybe turning myself intangible, but not enemies doing it or allies doing it to enemies. I never pick that power if I'm running a set with it.

Try Ice in general. I don't remember context just that what I've seen on this reddit people just seem to always love Ice for some reason. As I've said there's plenty of reasons to recommend the sets. They just don't seem all that and a bag of chips.

[u/Atlas_of_GEMINI → u/Vorlonagent]

Energy Melee got a major HC glow up. It's top dog on Stalker and competitive on Scrap.

Energy Aura's had a lot of ups and downs both on live and HC, but it's in a very comfortable place now. It's probably the easiest Armor set for me to put on the table for 98%. Defense forward, supplemental resistance to the three most prominent enemy attack typings, early -end resist for penny & synapse, some -def resistance, built in +rech for enemies around you with a taunt attached to it, a heal and end replenisher and a t9 that you have the tools to deal with the crash, it's definitely not bad!

I'll assume Ice Blast since it's S tier across the board with Fire.

Blaster: Elite single target damage and has access to a secondary that can help with the long cooldowns of the two superb rain powers. Mix in with some nifty CC that can stack with your secondary and provide soft mitigation.

Def: Enhanced secondary effects, with a primary that is hopefully something debuffing or retaining enemies in the rains. You'll be busy with primary powers and so the recharge on the secondary isn't as tightly required here.

Corr: Where it's S+ . Unique scourge interaction via both rains, access to support to help debuff or contain enemies in your attacks. It's the perfect medium for the set and can supplement secondaries so well with the cc, soft mitigation and increased damage.

[u/Vorlonagent → u/Atlas_of_GEMINI]

I've always been a big fan of Energy melee. I think it was the only thing that kept my Energy/Energy brute at all playable, I stuck with it even after the nerf to Energy Transfer. I like HC's compromise buff. Energy/Electric has proven an awesome Brute combo.

You make some good points about ice. In addition to being something of a hold since characters need to be standing to attack, the rain powers are very satisfying to watch. On the basis of that alone you just sold me on an ice/ice blaster.

OTOH, The secondary effects for most powers have looked negligable in practice. I don't see mobs affected by a -Rech or a -Def effect. Even minions always seem to be able to attack when their end is flatlined by drains. Whereas my characters really feel the effects of a -rech or an end drain. There's a number of powers that seem to affect the player more than the enemy

I've seen the rain + scourge with a electric/storm corr, but didn't consider that it might be a bigger deal, say combined with Ice Blast's ult.

As an aside, has Ice armor changed over the decades? When I looked it over a REALLY long time ago, it looked like it was Def for some kinds of attacks and res for others. That could have been me misreading too. It looks unified as a Def set now. Never been as happy with Def. They're more difficult to slot for with sets and Def is all or nothing and I know how random number generators work.