With all the new items, player DPS is going to go way up, but survivability probably not so much. It seems you can't push GRifts really high unless you've got 1 guy locking down the elites so they can't do their stuff. What are some good crowd control builds that also give good buffs to the players that are actually killing things?
As of 2.1.2, the only class that can reliably, permanently crowd control elite packs (which is required to avoid that Demon Hunters get one-shot by all the elite affixes) are Witch Doctors. Check out this excellent guide by CLX, for example.
Due to the diminishing returns on crowd control effects, no other class can maintain this. For example, the Crusader has a 11 second blind and 8 second fear and I tried to lock down packs with a combination of those but no success. The reason why the WD can do this is because the Tiklandian Visage turns Horrify into an aura rather than a spell that is cast every few seconds.
Crusaders and monks add great damage bonuses and pull abilities to groups (with Crusaders being far superior and thus being used in every 3p/4p group), but they can only perma-blind white mobs for some time. To completely neutralize packs you need a WD, which is why a WD is a given in every 2p, 3p, 4p group on 50+ at this point (there is one exception, which is INVIS's+Malekith's incredible GR56 clear - but INVIS is a different type of animal and does not stand for the average monk :-)).
Note that support characters have three roles:
1) Neutralize elite packs and other mobs (stun, blind, and so on)
2) Offer DPS support (group DPS buffs)
3) Spawn health globes (using skills that spawn health globes or items, like Solanium)
With all the new items, player DPS is going to go way up, but survivability probably not so much. It seems you can't push GRifts really high unless you've got 1 guy locking down the elites so they can't do their stuff. What are some good crowd control builds that also give good buffs to the players that are actually killing things?
zDPS crusader gives great buffs and is probably the best at grouping
zDPS SMK/Tiklandian WD is best at neutralizing affixes
As of 2.1.2, the only class that can reliably, permanently crowd control elite packs (which is required to avoid that Demon Hunters get one-shot by all the elite affixes) are Witch Doctors. Check out this excellent guide by CLX, for example.
Due to the diminishing returns on crowd control effects, no other class can maintain this. For example, the Crusader has a 11 second blind and 8 second fear and I tried to lock down packs with a combination of those but no success. The reason why the WD can do this is because the Tiklandian Visage turns Horrify into an aura rather than a spell that is cast every few seconds.
Crusaders and monks add great damage bonuses and pull abilities to groups (with Crusaders being far superior and thus being used in every 3p/4p group), but they can only perma-blind white mobs for some time. To completely neutralize packs you need a WD, which is why a WD is a given in every 2p, 3p, 4p group on 50+ at this point (there is one exception, which is INVIS's+Malekith's incredible GR56 clear - but INVIS is a different type of animal and does not stand for the average monk :-)).
Note that support characters have three roles:
1) Neutralize elite packs and other mobs (stun, blind, and so on)
2) Offer DPS support (group DPS buffs)
3) Spawn health globes (using skills that spawn health globes or items, like Solanium)
Thanks Bagstone for adding actual detail to my overly brief answer without calling out my laziness =)