Wrathmire_Cat

Thanks for the replies.

I've settled on my old staple /storm for a number of reasons. First, like Local stated, /Storm (imo) has more skip-able powers in it than Trick Arrow. I personally rarely take thunderclap (although with terrify I may make an exception) and 02 boost is pretty optional (I always take it on my defenders) as a controller. As for Tornado, I can't imagine *not* taking it. In fact, I've never played a character that had a single target immobilize that also had Tornado so its something I'm used to. Just takes exercising a bit of caution, or the willingness to clean up the mess of angry mobs you've just created.

My only /Storm controller is illusion and I find the chaos control aspect is entertaining, I just have to hold back a little bit on teams, depending on the situation.

To comment on what Local said, I kind of wish I'd made my illusion have the Trick Arrow secondary, for the filling of control gaps. Having Phanty around to ignite the oilpatch sounds pretty spiffy too. Perhaps I'll reroll my illusion into a /trickarrow to test it out after this guy is done, as it is a set worth looking into.

Thanks for the advice!

Hello! Long time lurker, infrequent poster here, seeking mind controller secondary advice.

I'm torn between /Storm and /Trick Arrow at the moment as I prefer debuffing to buffing sets (no /rad thanks, already have one of those) and would like to find pros and cons between both secondaries.

I have some concerns about Mind as well. Its one of the only Controller/Dom primaries I haven't used to some extent and seems fairly straight forward and all, just a brief question about damage. (having issues looking up numbers atm) My tolerance for low damage output is pretty good (I find */dark defenders solo well enough to keep me interested.) and I'm certainly not looking for a fire/kin, just something that can passably solo if teams are scarce. Will Mind do the trick without spending a fortune?

A little background on the secondaries. I have 5 different Stormies and know the set pretty much inside out (Hurricane is still tricky after not playing one for a while). I'm particularily attracted to the idea of the minion level disorient, Thunderclap, to leverage Containment and dropping a tornado on a Telekinetically pinned down Boss. I've read that Mind/ damage is rather poor considering resists later on, is it so poor that /Storm would be a good idea, using the pseudopets and confused mobs to deal my damage for me?

On to Trick Arrow. Never played the set. Not once. I'm rather intrigued by the powers and the fluid animations (Love me my archery blaster). Is the extra containment setup options in Trick Arrow worth considering, besides the stacking of really neat effects?

You've got opinions, and I've love to hear 'em, thanks!

This is far more information than I expected, thanks to all!

I really like the idea of sapping in theory, but unlike /rad or /darks secondary effects, /elecs don't "work" untill they are completely empty. Its something I'd sincerely like to try, but I may wait untill I get a few levels of Kin/ under my belt to get the hang of things before I try anything like Sapping.

Do Defenders get better -end values than other classes that use electric attacks? If not, its something I feel the Devs should look at to make the draining feature more attractive. It seems more incidental than the other secondary effects (like -tohit, -def) and its something that the player has to really build towards to be effective. Not that its hard to build for, with just a few power picks, but if one doesn't choose those powers, the secondary effect is much weaker than its /rad /dark counterparts. Obviously, take my opinion with a grain of salt, as I haven't actually seen it in action.

Ultimately, I've decided to play two kins, one /rad and one /dark to decide what I like the best. Strato said it best when he said that /elec damage is fine for him because he has a decent low damage tolerance. Its what works for him. I couldn't agree more. This thread has really helped me decide powersets not only for this defender but for plenty of others down the road.

I figure I'll play both of them to around Fulcrum Shift level before I make my decision. Who knows, I might just cap both.

Excellent source of information, thank you all.

A couple of nitpicks/inquiries.

I've used dark blast paired with dark/ before and found although the cones were super fun, although the damage was pretty low. I'm afraid having to wait for the cones to complete their damage cycle will feel pretty strange with the frentic zipping about that comes with siphon speed. Dark Pit sounds like it'll be pretty good with Kin, but isn't it just a minion level stun?

Not to sound like a doubter, since you all have more /elec experience than I do, but is the damage really that bad? I figured Kins' +damage buffs would more than compensate.

Rad seems tempting, for the aim + cosmic burst control.

So damage aside, does elec's -endurance measure up against dark's -tohit?

Once again, your info is superb, thanks!

Long time lurker, infrequent poster here.

I've been trying to break myself of my controller habit and have found a few Defender combinations quite fun. I've pretty much settled on Kinetics being my Toon-Du Jour and am looking for some advice on a secondary.

Secondaries I'm not keen on using: AR/Archery/Ice/Sonic as I've done them to death.

The remainder are largely unexplored (with the exception of dark blast) so if anyone out there can give me some pros/cons of pairing Kin with Elec/Psy/Energy or Dark it would be largely appreciated.

What I'm looking for is some nice teaming powers/attacks that I can throw out between Kin powers. The option to solo would be nice as well, taking into consider the vast quantity of mez being tossed around late game. I realize soloing with a kin won't be as efficient as some other primaries, just something to do untill I can find/make a team, depending on the hour.

Opinions? Advice? Lets hear 'em