DC Universe Online Mental Controller Guide

DC Universe Online Mental Controller Guide by TFaithner

Welcome to Astrid’s Mental Controller Guide where I will explain what a controller is and how to configure your mental character correctly to aid your team to victory.
My guide’s now been added to DCwiki.us, the format is a lot easier on the eyes and you can jump from section to secton wiki style but it will be delayed when being updated. Here is where you will see the newest changes. Go to www.dcwiki.us then to the Controller page in the Roles section.

Contents;
0- Mentor News
1- What the Hell is a Controller, anyway?
2- Mental 101: Introduction and Stats
3- Weapons, Bonuses and Combo Mechanics
4- Powers and Skills
5- Your Role in Alerts
6- Your Role in Duos
7- Controller Builds (User Submit)

If your playing a Gadgets Controller please check out Tinygod’s fantastic Guide here DC Universe Online Gadgets Controller Guide

Illusion’s tree contains a lot of crowd controlling effects which immobilise targets, or ‘terrorise’ and one energy booster while Telekinesis can helplessly juggle enemies in the air while returning a lot of energy. There are different types of controllers which focus on different things so both of these trees can be utilised to do that and we’ll go into more detail about the different builds later.

To calculate your dps added by increasing your critical attack chance, subtract your current critical attack chance from your intended critical attack chance and multiply by your critical attack damage and to calculate your dps added by increasing your critical attack damage, subtract your current critical attack damage from your intended critical attack damage and multiply by your critical attack chance (thanks frzn).

Being in Controller Mode you automatically gain 350 Vit and 65% Dominance, because the Vit you gain is a static upgrade it automatically makes it the more important stat to focus on. As Dom increases by percentage you will get a lot more out of less. As a controller being an energy battery is more important than CC, therefore it is reccommended to focus on Vit rather than Dom. A lot of Dom is on controller gear ANYWAY so you’ll find it will get really high without you even having to try.

Every weapon gives different stat bonuses, this is from doctorcomics’ guide but I’ve highlighted favoured controller stats. High priority stats are bolded, second priority stats are in italics.

Brawling: +18 Dominance; +3 Restoration; +70 Health; +1% Critical Attack Chance; +12% Critical Attack Damage; +3% Critical Healing Chance; +2% Critical Healing Effect

Dual Pistol: +70 Might; +45 Restoration; +15 Vitalization; +14% Critical Attack Damage; +1% Critical Healing Chance

Hand Blaster: +18 Dominance; +70 Health; +60 Might; +3 Restoration; +2% Critical Attack Damage; +1% Critical Healing Chance; +12% Critical Healing Effect

One-Handed: +45 Health; +70 Might; +3 Restoration; +15 Vitalization; +2% Critical Attack Chance; +14% Critical Healing Effect

Rifle: +70 Health; +10 Might; +19 Vitalization; +3% Critical Attack Chance; +3% Critical Healing Chance; +2% Critical Healing Effect

Staff: +30 Defense & Toughness; +18 Dominance; +25 Health; +10 Might; +4 Vitalization; +3% Critical Attack Chance; +14% Critical Healing Effect

Two-Handed: +70 Health; +15 Vitalization; +3% Critical Attack Chance; +2% Critical Attack Damage; +4% Critical Healing Chance; +2% Critical Healing Effect

Domination weapons look like a good choice and Controllers tend to favour the stat at first but after you hit 350 (which is the reccomendation for raiding) then it does not do much for you. This is where it is more important to focus on Vitlization of weapons and gear.

Dual Pistols
1-9      10
10-24  12
25-49  15
50+     20
Bow
1-9      10
10-24  12
25-49  20
50+     15

Sub-Contents
– Choosing Your Skills
– Powers
– Telekenisis
– Illusion
– Iconic Powers
– Movement Skills
  – Flight
– Acrobatics
– Superspeed
– Weapons Skills
– Mechanics
– Fun Facts

[CR] Control Role
[DR] Damage Role
[PI] Power Interactions
[Debuff] Particular Debuff

Here I will list out a Controllers vital and recommended powers and skills. Don’t treat it as a bible but information to help theorycraft builds. In the future other mental users will submit their favourite controller builds and how they use it, that is where you can copy skills power for power.
For every Mental power and fantastic explanations and extra information check out frzn’s guide here DC Universe Online Mental Powerset Information Guide

Different powers do different things but I find there are some key power types that need to be added to have the best variety and take advantage of the different skills. Remember this is not a bible, simply a suggestion if you’re having trouble theorycrafting your own builds.

– Telekinesis/Psychic Blades (Low energy use, energy return, moderate damage, both have CC)
– Telekinesis/Psychic Blades (One’s a single-target CC, one’s a group stun- why not take both) OR Low Energy CC (Preferably something that chains directly with Tk/PB for a debuff)
– Moderate Energy CC OR Low/Moderate Damage Skill
– Psychic Empowerment
– Supercharge Power
– Aggro Drop OR Shield OR Mass CC

Try and be as versatile as possible, if you take Bastion as your Supercharge move, don’t take Psychic Shield as well. Never be afraid to try things, if you screw up then at least you know why and how you can improve. The best thing about this game is that you can change your loadout AT ANY TIME, even in Alerts and Duos and anything! If you want, keep changing your loadout to suit particular mob groups or bosses.

Specialising in this tree grants +1% critical attack chance, and +35 Power. In [CR] you gain 350 Vitalization while your Dominance is increased by 65% and the strength of all controller effects is significantly magnified.

Telekinesis: 200 energy, single target. [CR] Restores Power to group members over time. [Debuff] Helpless 10secs and negative 500 defence
-This skill holds enemies helpless in the air and therefore combos with Psychic Resonance, Telekinetic Push, Telekinetic Bolt, Pyrokinesis . It is a fantastic skill to open with.

Psychic Resonance: 300 energy, wide cone. [PI] Helpless enemies take additional damage; enemies in Ice, Nature, Mental or Gadgets encasements will explode and damage other enemies.
-Release a coned pulse at enemies, use after Telekinesis or if are affected by any other controls for extra damage.
Pyrokinesis: 300 energy, single target. [PI]Inflicts Burning to cause damage over time; Helpless enemies take additional damage; enemies Encased by Ice, Nature, Mental or Gadgets will explode and damage nearby enemies. [Debuff] Burning 5secs, DoT 434 dmg over 13 seconds and negative 25% healing to enemy.
– This attack is fantastic if you run with a Fire Tank a lot- especially in Duos, extra burning for them is extra love for you!

Cryokinesis: 475 energy, 2 target AoE. [CR] Reduces the targets damage output. [PI] Inflicts Frostbite to make enemies vulnerable to freezing effects; may encase Frostbitten enemies. [Debuff] Encases 2 enemies for 15secs.
– Use on rogue mobs or if your soloing against one, this will make them weaker and may stop them from attacking altogether.

Telekinetic Push: 200 energy, narrow cone. [PI] Helpless enemies take additional damage. [Debuff] Knockback
-A low power move to follow up Telekinesis for extra damage. Good for single or a few targets.

Telekinetic Bolt: 425 energy, wide cone. [PI] Helpless enemies take additional damage; enemies in Ice, Nature, Mental or Gadgets encasements will explode and damage other enemies. [Debuff] Knockback.
-Like Telekinetic Push but uses more energy to hit a wider range. Good for several targets.

Mass Levitation: 400 energy, medium AoE. Levitates nearby enemies helplessly into the air. [Debuff] Helpless.
-High energy move which hits several targets, it is better used as a high damage skill rather than a CC because it doesn’t hold the enemies in the air for long at all. Follow up with Telekinetic Bolt for an awesome combo.

Psychic Empowerment: 300 energy. Restores Power to the three most fatigued group members.
-Mental Controllers most defining moves.

Thought Bubble: 300 energy, single target. Encases an enemy in a force field. [CR] Reduces enemy defenses. [Debuff] Helpless and negative 500 defence.
-Good for picking off a single, possibly troubling, to render them useless. You can also pick up them up and smash them into other targets for a laugh.

Telekinetic Shield: 350 energy, self-target. Surrounds you with telekinetic force, preventing damage.
-Absorbs 600 damage.

Bastion: 50% supercharge. Protects all teammates from damage with ethereal telekinetic bubbles.
-Absorbs 900 damage per group member.

Specialising in this tree grants +5% critical attack damage, and +1 Stealth. In [CR], you gain 350 Vitalization, your Dominance is increased by 65% and the strength of all controller effects is significantly magnified.

Psychic Blades: 200 energy, medium cone. [CR] Restores Power to group members over time. [Debuff] Stun 2secs.
-Your low energy-cost skill similar to Telekenisis. Possible hit single target with all blades.

Menace: 200 energy, self-target. [CR] Increases the stun duration on Terrified enemies. [Debuff] 20% chance to stun 3 secs p/attack while active.
-Adds stun ability to all your attacks, if your target is Terrified then the stun is increased. Great crowd control skill when used right.

Phantom Flames: 300 energy, small AoE. [CR] Reduces enemy defenses. [PI] Inflicts Burning to cause damage over time; Terrified enemies take additional damage. [Debuff] Burning for 7secs and negative 500 defence for 15secs.
-Long duration control which can stun if your dominance is high enough. Also helps your team-mates kill them faster.

Horrific Visage: 300 power, single-target. [CR] Reduces the targets ability to heal. [Debuff] Transformed and stunned for 8 secs, transformation is contagious to other enemies.
-Confuses enemies by diguising one as a monster. Perfect when things are starting to get hectic.

Mass Hysteria: 100% supercharge, aggro-drop. [PI] Inflicts Terror to stun and render enemies vulnerable to illusions.
-Creates 3 illusions which the enemy will focus on.
There’s a possible bug which prevents Tk and PB from returning power after using this.

Terrorize: 250 energy, single-target. [CR] Reduces the targets damage output. [PI] Inflicts Terror to make enemies vulnerable to illusions. [Debuff] -25% damage output.
-This is a good skill to use if there’s a mob running around and creating problems for your healer or yourself. It can also be used to weaken the blows on the tank.

Mass Terror: 400 power, large AoE. [PI] Inflicts Terror to make enemies more vulnerable to illusions.
-Another great AOE attack if you’ve specced into Illusion, these kinds of skills have high energy consumption so make sure you’re using it in the right situations.

Psychic Shield: 100% supercharge, targets group. Protects you and your groupmates from damage with a mental projection.
-Absorbs 1050 damage. Bastion is still reccommended because it absorbs 900 damage and only costs 50% supercharge.

Grandeur: 200 energy, self-target. Fills neaby enemies with awe compelling them to attack other targets, frees you from control effects and prevents damage for a short time.
-Back up skill to use when your dominance is attracting enemies to you, be sure your team-mates are aware when you use it so the healer or dps doesn’t get a surprise.

Psychic Shock: 250 energy, small AoE. [CR] Reduces enemy defenses. [PI] Electrifies enemies, making them vulnerable to Electrified Power Interactions; Enemies afflicted with Terror have their maximum health reduced.
-A good skill to use against AOE groups after using an AOE terror.

Reflect Pain: 350 energy, self-target. Deflects damage back at your attacker when you are not blocking.
-Absorbs 250 over 5 secs and returns damage to 4 enemies over 5 secs.

The first three tiers of Iconic Powers are useless for Controllers, most of them are purely for Damage Roles. There are some skills like sheilds and reflectors but you already have similar skills as a Mental class so I wouldn’t bother. If theres a skill in there that you really really want, by all means, but there could be something better on your bars.

Innate Priorities

Intimidating Gaze: Permanently Gain: +25 Dominance

Wisdom of Solomon: Permanently Gain: +25 Vitalization +100 Power

Weapons Expert: Permanently Gain: +3% Critical Attack Chance

Tactical Genius: Permanently Gain: +10% Critical Attack Damage
or
Nanoweave Armor: [Innate] Permanently Gain: +50 Defence +100 Toughness

These skills are low priority, so get them if you can afford the skill points but making sure your getting your Innate stat bonus’ first. You should also already have your Numlock skill to use when moving from place to place.

Stun Recovery: [Innate] Allows you to recover 75 power over 10 seconds when you use Breakout on a stunning effect; only one movement recovery effect may be active at a time.
-Flip yeah.

Restraint Recovery: [Innate] Allows you to recover 75 power over 10 seconds when you use Breakout on a root or encasement effect; only one movement recovery effect may be active at a time.
-Double flip yeah.

Downdraft Attack: A vengeful wind that knocks nearby enemies to the ground, inhibit movement modes, and cause damage over time.
-Not a bad knockback attack but you have better things to use.

Air Burst: Violently detonates a low pressure region to blast enemies into the air and free you from control effects. [PI] Using the Air Burst while restrained or knocked into the air will gain you 200 power over 10 seconds.
-Crowd controlling and breaking free from control effects is awesome in instances with high enemy CC. Oh and free power, what up.

Oustoff: Shoots you into the air, spreading a shockwave that knocks down enemies while rendering you immune to most control effects and damage for a short time.
-Fantastic move when lots of enemies are trying to control you and are giving you a lot of pressure. Supercharge skill.

Vacuum Bubble: Releases a violent pressure wave to damage and stun enemies.
-Stunning and damage skill when you can’t afford to use energy.

Knockback Recovery: [Innate] Allows you to recover 75 power over 10 seconds when you use Breakout on a knockdown, juggle or push effect; is not effective when other movement recovery effects are active.
-Fantastic innate for free power.

Stun Recover: [Innate] Allows you to recover 75 power over 10 seconds when you use Breakout on a stunning effect; only one movement recovery effect may be active at a time.
-See above.

Breakout Mastery: [Innate] Allows you to recover 75 power over 10 seconds when you use Breakout in addition to any other movement recovery effect.
-The fact that this is an innate makes this skill awesome.

Glide Line: Fires a grapple line to swiftly pull you to a nearby wall.
-Getaway skill if you’re near walls.

Backflip Attack: Kicks your target into the air as you flip away backwards; Helpless enemies take additional damage.
-Enemies grappling you? Never fear, the backflip attack is here!

Throwing Knives: Throws an arc of knives to knock enemies down.
-Easy knockdown skill, but I’d reccommend some of the Mental stuns over this.

Launching Roll: Releases you from control effects and launches a counter attack against nearby enemies. [PI] Using this power after being knocked into the air or stunned will allow you to recover 200 power over 10 seconds.
-Good if you’ve been pulled into the thick of it. Now with more energy regen!

Perfect Poise: Provides a swift escape and protection from crowd control and damage for a short time.
-One of the best escape skills, use for instances with high enemy CC.

Intertial Flywheel: [Innate] By holding Jump as you drop, converts falling energy to forward speed.
-Enables you to double jump and is fantastic when needing a quick getaway.

Knockback Recovery: [Innate] Allows you to recover 75 power over 10 seconds when you use Breakout on a knockdown, juggle or push effect; is not effective when other movement recovery effects are active.
-Free energy? Wham bam thank you mam. Just make sure your actually using the breakout skill!

Restraint Recovery: [Innate] Allows you to recover 75 power over 10 seconds when you use Breakout on a root or encasement effect; only one movement recovery effect may be active at a time.
-One word: yummy.

Speed Drain: Drains kinetic and metabolic energy from nearby enemies to cause damage over time and restore power to you and your allies.
-Supercharge skill which restores power to others.

Phase Dodge: Deflects even block-breaking attacks by vibrating your molecules at fantastic speed, forcing the attack to simply pass through.
-Could be useful, in theory, but there’s room for better skills.

Metabolic Boost: Accelerates your metabolism to heal damage, restore power, and rebuff control effects for a short time.
-Good in Duos if you don’t have a healer or when riding solo.

Whirling Dervish: Spins you like a maniacal gyroscope, tossing aside enemies as you turn; cancels most control effects and recovers 200 power over 10 seconds.
-Crowd controlling and energy restoring. Careful though, doing this may annoy the flip out of your team-mates.

See above for detailed explanations on what innate skills are in which trees. Usually the preference for a Controller would go:
Vitilization > Critical Attack Chance or Dominance > Health or Critical Attack Damage

This will be somewhat of a growing section, it’s going to be pretty small at the moment with just a few random things, but once it grows I’ll make it a section in itself. Hopefully this will help people understand the maths of a mental controller.
– Psychic Empowerment costs 300 and gives 300 x 1.(your vit) / (# of people in group who aren’t at 100% power)
eg, if you’re in an alert with 545 Vitilization then when you use PE you’ll give back 300 x 1.545 / 3
Thanks Mandrakia!

– If your energy is below 20% stop casting and start stacking combos. A couple of attacks later and your at 0 energy which makes you USELESS.
– Keep an eye on your energy and the team’s energy at all times, using Psychic Blades and Telekenisis between combos keeps energy constantly regenning, when things get rough use Psychic Empowerment.
– Spec into all available Vitalisation skills, when things start to get hectic you’ll thank yourself for it.

Groups of mobs is where you can come in handy if your specced for it, you have some great AOE skills like Mass Levitation, Mass Terror which can take the edge of as large groups can be difficult for the tank to get a complete hold of.
During boss fights you should only be attacking the boss if there is nothing else around, if there are other mobs running around, go and kill them. You can hold them in the air or terrify them as a controller and they’ll barely get a hit on you if your ranged. You’re more than just an energy battery in this case, you’re making sure the tank doesn’t have any extra pressure on them.

Controllers can be versitile and powerful partners with tanks, dps and healers alike, the dynamics change with certain classes. I will use the same layout as I have previously, again if anyone has trouble with it or if its too confusing please leave me a comment about it and what you’d prefer to see.

Your Energy
Luckily your energy will be a lot easier to manage now, skills like Psychic Empowerment spread through the three people, so if your only using it on one person you can give back massive amounts of energy back in one burst. You’ll be able to attack other targets that your tank may not have picked up in their AOE which will really help to your own energy regen.

Ranged vs Melee Weapons
Mobs in Duos aren’t as intimidating as they are in Alerts, in fact, you can even take a beating from several and still survive fine. Thanks to this, ranged weapons are not a must and if you prefer to use a melee weapon to lunge from target to target then that’s a completely valid choice. Sometimes boss’ close range AOE spells will hurt so make sure your able to breakout from any controls and get out of there in time to survive. I would still reccommend a ranged weapon while your learning the Duos but after you’ve learned the dungeon changes it’s fine to use any weapon you please.

Secures and Captures
There are few secures in Duos and therefore no way near as important as it is in Alerts. Share the workload out- usually a tank will be closer to the secures anyway. With captures, there are even less of them than secures in Duos.
There is one boss fight in OMAC Base, OMAC Sigma, where you need to secure bouders then pick them up, run them to a charging station then drop it off to destroy the boss’ barrier. While this happens there are balls of electricity floating around doing damage to you and interrupting you- you can either have one person secure them all and the other captures or you can both secure and capture working from the outside in.

Crowd Controlling
Communicate with your tank, get them to let you know which mobs are an issue for them, eg, in HIVE there are the Killer Bees and in OMAC there are the OMAC Nanosynths. This is where we can do our best work, learn to hold them helpless or terrify them and switch back to help your tank, or if the mob is has low health, damage it down yourself.
Sometimes mobs that need to be CC’ed are quite difficult to kill on a Controller with average gear- if this is the case keep it CC’ed and wait for your tank to move over to it. This is when skills like Thought Bubble are really useful.

Damaging and Energy Return
You are not only a Controller but also a dps in this case, giving energy back to your tank is of course priority, but this can be easially achieved by using a cheap cone skill, like Psychic Blades, and getting 5-10 combos during its cooldown. If you repeat this during trash (when theres it’s a blood fest and theres nothing to CC) you will keep your tank’s energy more than half constantly and you’ll find yourself barely running out of energy. If your tank decides to burst then just boot him back up with a Psychic Empowerment.
Tanks do a lot of AOE so if you trust your tank don’t put an AOE on your bars where it could be spared for another CC or aggro re-route. With will definately help in your own mana conservation and you can concentrate on giving them back enough to do their own AOEs.
There will be some cases when you are required to kill other mobs while your tank focuses on something else. This is where you can use a shield (if you want) and then use damaging skills like Telekinisis, Psychic Blades and another cheap damage skill to kill the targets solo. You will find that because of a controller’s high presicion (if you’ve geared correctly) that most of your damage will come from your weapon and not nessesarily your skills, ie saving energy for when you need it most.

Stats:
Power: 1340, Vit: 746, Prec: 93, Dom: 262

Loadout:
1: Psychic Blades
2: Telekinesis
3: Menace
4: Psychic Empowerment
5: Bastion
6: Grandeur
Trinket: Bracing Brew
Main Rotation: Menace (kept up at all times) then PB (if multiple enemies)/Tk (if single enemy) > Pulse Beam to 20-30 combo > PB/Tk > Pulse Beam to 20-30 etc.
Other Information: Psychic Empowerment when two or more group members are below 10-20% health. Bastion when self or another group member is about to die. Grandeur when aggroing multiple tough mobs or boss.

Build Overview: I chose this build because I try to be as energy efficient as possible. Now that the pistol glitch has been fixed people are using a lot more skills then they were. Some people also use skills TOO much (most classes should be able to somewhat control their energy consumption but they will always be players who disregard this) so not using much energy myself gives enough leeway for that.

I take bothe PB and Tk because whether its single or multiple target damage dealing I’m ALWAYS giving energy back at all times. Menace is used in conjunction so when I do my Pulse Beam combo the enemies have 20+ chances to be stunned. It’s a fabulous energy-returning, crowd-controlling rotation. If I use just this main rotation I will always be above 90% energy.

With my vit I’m able to get any team from under 10% to over 60% with my main rot, PE, rot, PE, rot. Bastion is key for a utility class, and is a good backup if your running with a Sorc healer. Grandeur can sometimes offload the aggro onto your healer so I usually use it and Bastion together.

Overall as the game works at the moment I can’t think of a more useful build to use in duos, alerts and raids, and even though I don’t have any true damage skills I can still end up 2nd on the damage dealed in hard alerts.

Power Switches: If I’m doing Duo’s it’s usually with a Fire Tank so I’ll take Pyrokinesis instead of Menace, if thats not the case then I’ll take Telekinetic Push.