City Of Heroes: Controller Archetype Walk-through!

From the Official site...

We've been excited about the Controller Archetype for some time now because of its ability to incorporate two of our favorite things: magic and myth. In today's walkthrough, we're mixing both of these elements to bring to life a hero well-suited to patrol the streets of Paragon City...

Francis McCormack grew up in a happy, Irish Catholic family outside of Boston, Massachusetts. His parents lavished all their children with love and attention. And though they were not rich, no child lacked for any necessity. In short, Francis believed that he had the perfect childhood. His father, however, had one very strict rule - "education comes first." Most of Francis' siblings spent just enough time on their schoolwork to stave off their father's attention, but Francis thrived in his studies. Each day, he spent hours in the library, combing through tomes of history, language and science. Despite his Christian upbringing, Francis was most intrigued by the ancient legends and fairy tales of various pagan people.

Eventually, the bookish Francis ended up pursuing an academic career as an Egyptologist. His studies were not focused on the esoteric past of Egypt, where our knowledge is more myth than history, but rather in the Greek and Roman periods. In particular, he was fascinated by the arcane writings dubbed the Hermetica after its supposed author Hermes Trismegistus. These strange tracts and recipes formed the core of what would become the Western magical tradition in the medieval and renaissance periods. Francis viewed them as simply quasi philosophical treatises, and nothing more.

Several colleagues joined Francis in a re-creation of a Hermetic ritual. It was done out of curiosity and a little bit of drunkenness - and no one thought anything would come of it. For the participants, it ended up being nothing more than fifteen minutes of chanting in a circle. Francis, however, experienced something quite different. Afterwards, he described being in a dream, but having complete control of his actions. For what seemed like hours, he floated down a huge river; the banks were covered in sand and ruins. Eventually, he came to a temple where a cloaked old man whispered strange words into his ear.

Mostly, his friends just thought Francis was pulling their collective legs. But later, in private, Francis pronounced those very nonsensical words aloud. And suddenly he was suffused with power beyond imagination. He had become a magician out of the legends he had studied as a boy. But it was not a time for wizards or sorcerers - the world needed heroes. Francis donned a costume and called himself "Caduceus," after the staff carried by the Greek god Hermes...

Now, unlike the previous character we presented (Blaster), this time we don't have any preconceived notions about Caduceus's powers. Basically, we want him to be a "typical" magician type of hero and that's about it.

Origin

Magic (that's obvious). And no doubt, with a Magic origin, Caduceus will be facing Paragon City's various arcane threats - with Circle of Thorns at the top of the list.

Archetype

Caduceus could easily fall into the Defender or Blaster Archetypes, but we want this character to possess more subtle abilities. Ancient myths always depict wizards as being sly and somewhat reticent to use their abilities. That seems to befit the Controller best.

Controllers are unique in that they're the only Archeype not to have any direct damage type powers. That isn't to say they don't do damage at all - it's just that the damage is a secondary effect of the power. On the plus side, Controllers are the only ones who have powers focused on affecting the behavior of enemies (such as putting them to sleep).

Primary Power

For a Primary Power set, Mental Powers looks enticing. Its first two power selections are potent indeed. Mesmerize holds an enemy helplessly in place for short time, while Levitate literally tosses an opponent into the air and lets him take some damage from the fall. But Caduceus isn't a psychic sort of mage; he's a classic 'read spells' sort of guy.

The elemental Control powers don't really fit Caduceus - but Illusions sound intriguing. The two initial choices are between Spectral Wounds, that deal temporary damage but can still render an opponent unconscious, and Deceive, that tricks enemies into attacking one another. Deceive sounds like a lot of fun and fits Caduceus' background perfectly.

Secondary Power

We could select Empathy for Caduceus, which is chock full of healing powers. But who can resist Storm Summoning? Controlling the weather is a classic staple of a wizard's arsenal, so it really fits. The first power I'll receive is O2 Boost - this bathes an ally in oxygen and heals them of minor wounds. We can't wait for the powers that will open up later in Caduceus' development; the tornado, for instance, creates a "living" tornado that bounces around and tosses foes up into the air.

Avatar Selection

Caduceus probably shouldn't be the paradigm of physical might; he's pretty much been a bookworm his whole life. So a short and slightly heavier stature works well.

Costume Creation

A costume that is modern looking, but has clear roots in Caduceus' magical origins is a must for this hero.

And here's Caduceus in action against some of Paragon City's notorious Hellion gang members.