Quote from: Redlynne on Jul 31, 2024, 09:32 AMFor one thing, Hybrid: T4 Control (either) is very nearly a complete waste of effort (compared to the alternatives) on my build.
Hybrid: T4 Control Core can basically buff Distortion Field(?) and Time Stop with the 33% chance +1 Mag (to Hold, for these 1-2 powers).
In order to make use of the bonus Psionic damage to controlled Foes, they either have to be Held (Distortion Field and/or Time Stop), Confused (Interface: Cognitive proc) or Immobilized (Interface: Spectral proc) or Sleeping (Jounin: Blinding Powder, yeah right!) ... and the bonus damage only accrues when my Mastermind attacks personally. My Ninjas don't "inherit" the buff effects of Hybrid (because it's a Click power, not an Auto power like Alpha, Interface and Genesis are). Still, when fighting around Controllers/Dominators, chances are "decent" that AoE controls are going to be in play, so there is at least some synergy to be had there ... and the added Mez Resistances are kind of nice.
Did a little testing in Imperial this morning, trying to get a feel for how Distortion Field interacts with Hybrid: T4 Control Core.
To my astonishment, according to the Combat Log CASTING Distortion Field did indeed occasionally invoke the 33% chance to proc +1 Mag effect. However, as with all pseudo-pet powers, any procs slotted on the caster are not "inherited" by the pseudo-pet. Therefore, when Distortion field is initially cast, it can gain the +1 Mag to Hold buff ... but any subsequent 2-3% chance procs for Hold do NOT get the bonus +1 Mag from Hybrid: T4 Control Core.
What was fun was that I've got a 5-slot Superior Winter Set with Cold proc (4.5PPM) slotted into Distortion Field ... so upon casting and every 10 seconds after that, I would see chances to proc Cold damage simply 1-shotting Minions and Lieutenants while testing against Syndicate groups on the streets around Studio 55, no Ninjas required. I've also got a Basilisk's Gaze proc (3.5PPM) slotted into Distortion Field as well, which would occasionally proc a Controlled in orange with the damage but the $Target would not be held, so I figure that was the Basilisk's Gaze doing its thing of adding -25% Recharge debuffing for 10 seconds on top of Distortion Field's "native" -50% Recharge debuffing ... so without the proc, recharge times are 2x as long, but with the Basilisk's Gaze proc become 4x as long, which I figure is "just as good as a +2 Mag Hold proc for 6 seconds" under most nominal circumstances, before Incarnate Slotting factors into things.
I promise, I'm going to be bringing this back around to where Interface comes into the picture again.
My current thinking is that if Hybrid: T4 Control Core adds Waylay Psionic damage to any personal attack that does damage to a Foe who is already Mezzed (confuse, fear, hold, immobilize, sleep or stun), then it may be advantageous to remove the Basilisk's Gaze proc from Distortion Field and replace it with Lockdown (for more Hold mag stacking). This would also mean that Interface: Cognitive and Spectral start rising in value for my build again, because of the Confuse and Immobilize procs on Interface respectively, increasing the opportunities for bonus Psionic damage while Hybrid: Control Core is active. Additionally, Judgement: T4 Cryonic Radial and Judgement: T4 Ionic Radial both have a 25% chance of a mag 4 Hold for 12 seconds, which can then be exploited by Hybrid: T4 Control Core (when active) for bonus Waylay Psionic damage happening in follow up attacks after using Judgement.
And THAT is just one example of how tweaking a single slot in a build can have a cascade of knock on effects that reverberate throughout a build to shift its optimization onto a new path that otherwise wouldn't have even been considered previously.
Show your math work for Proc chances in Distortion Field.
Level 16: Distortion Field
(A) Basilisk's Gaze - Chance of -Recharge: Level 10
(34) Superior Winter Storm - Recharge/Chance for Cold Damage: Attuned
(36) Superior Winter Storm - Accuracy/Slow: Attuned
(37) Superior Winter Storm - Damage/Slow: Attuned
(42) Superior Winter Storm - Accuracy/Damage/Slow: Attuned
(42) Superior Winter Storm - Damage/Endurance/Slow: Attuned
Distortion Field: Lockdown (2.5 PPM), Basilisk's Gaze (3.5 PPM), Superior Winter Storm (4.5 PPM)
2.5 x 10 / (60 * (0.25 + 0.75 * (1 + 20 * (11 * 360 + 540) / 30,000))) = 12.82% per $Target
3.5 x 10 / (60 * (0.25 + 0.75 * (1 + 20 * (11 * 360 + 540) / 30,000))) = 17.95% per $Target
4.5 x 10 / (60 * (0.25 + 0.75 * (1 + 20 * (11 * 360 + 540) / 30,000))) = 23.08% per $Target
In other words, switching from Basilisk's Gaze to Lockdown means a -5.13% proc chance loss.
Basilisk's Gaze has a 10 second duration while Lockdown has a 6 second duration ... but Distortion Field (as a pseudo-pet) has a 45 second duration, meaning that there are a total of 5 opportunities to proc @ casting, +10, +20, +30 and +40 seconds of duration against @Targets within the 20 ft radius AoE of the psuedo-pet. However, that change from Basilisk's Gaze to Lockdown simultaneously raises the value of using Hybrid: T4 Control Core, particularly when adding Time Crawl and Time Stop into the mix for HOLD IT RIGHT THERE! spectacles of "you're not going anywhere" as part of my standard attack chain (Time Crawl, Time Stop, Fistful of Arrows, Aimed Shot, repeat) where being able to stack enough Hold mag "in a hurry" turns into an opportunity for bonus damage ON TOP OF what Interface procs can ALSO bring into the mix. Throw in Judgement: Cryonic Radial or Judgement: Ionic Radial for "bonus Hold mag procs" on top of everything else ... and this is starting to look somewhat promising.
I'm even starting to question the choice between Interface: Cognitive Core and Radial along with Interface: Spectral Core and Radial because of the influence of Hybrid: Control Core.
Why?
Because with Genesis: T4 Socket adding +10% proc chance to Interface slotting, you wind up with this:
Cognitive
Confuse (30% Core / 20% Radial), stacks up to 4 times collectively: 4.3 seecond magnitude 2 confuse
Psionic DoT (35% Core / 85% Radial), stacks up to 8 times collectively: 10.709 psionic damage per second for 4.3 seconds
Spectral
Immobilize (35% Core / 22.5% Radial), stacks up to 4 times collectively: 4.3 second magnitude 2 immobilize
Negative DoT (35% Core / 85% Radial), stacks up to 8 times collectively: 13.3863 negative damage per second for 4.3 seconds
In the broader scheme of things, the bonus Psionic damage from Hybrid: Control Core is going to exceed the bonus Psionic damage from Interface: Cognitive DoT procs ... IF ... Foes are controlled (confuse, fear, hold, immobilize, sleep or stun), and Confused Foes can do "additional damage" with their own attacks (assuming they haven't been recharge debuffed too heavily and have spammed away all of their attacks). A broadly similar case can be made for Interface: Spectral, although Immobilize offers far less in the way of mitigation than Confuse does. However, AV/GMs should not be highly protected against Immobilize, unlike all other Mez Protection that they're offered by their AV/GM rank, so if the desire is to have a Foe controlled to proc extra damage from Hybrid: Control Core then Spectral wins out for having the highest proc chance of stacking AND being the most likely to overcome AV/GM Mez Protection levels in order to allow Hybrid: Control Core to proc additional Psionic damage.
Conversely, the choice of Interface: Cognitive would offer "superior mitigation" via occasional Confuse stacks among lower ranking Minions, Lieutenants, Bosses and Elite Bosses ... so it's really a question of where to weight your INFluence on the battlefield during iTrials.
You see, it's all connected ...

Even in builds that are not "overflowing" with hard controls, it's still possible to "backdoor" your way into having some "respectable" level of control that you can exert to make everyone's life easier (including your own).
You just have to theorycraft you way to a solution and decide if it's "right" for you or not.