Xanerith

Originally Posted by Local_Man

I strongly recommend that you take a look at my Illusion/Radiation guide, linked in my sig. Take a look at it to help you decide between the three you are considering, even if you decide to go with Fire/Rad or Plant/Rad as the information and strategy tips on the Radiation Emission section will be a big help.

Illusion/Radiation is my favorite build in the game. It is the most flexible build in the game, able to do a little of everything except be a scrapper. Both Blind and Spectral Wounds act as single-target attacks, plus the benefits of Deceive. My guide explains the illusory damage aspect of Spectral Wounds and how to take advantage of it to increase your net damage. By the time you hit level 41 and the APP powers, you can have a great attack chain of Blind-SW-Blast-SW that will allow you to take down AVs solo.

One of my favorite things about Ill/Rad is that it is both a simple and complex controller. It is easy to play an Ill/Rad to a basic skill level and be very effective, but the details of the powers are complex enough that you can, with the right strategy and build, turn an Ill/Rad into one of the most powerful characters in the game. Again, my guide explains all this.

I also have Fire/Rad and Plant/Rad at 50, and they are great controllers. The playstyle for each is significantly different. Fire/Rad is a melee controller, using Hot Feet and Choking Cloud to do AoE damage with control. (I like Fire/Rad so much that I'm working on a second one on a second server for a Fire/Rad team -- I didn't want to move my first one for concept reasons.) A team of Fire/Rads is probably the most powerful team in the game; While Fire/Rad is good solo, it is not as powerful as a solo Ill/Rad because of the invulnerability of Phantom Army. A Fire/Rad does not kill as fast as a Fire/Kin, but is more surivable and more flexible - I like my Fire/Rad more than my Fire/Kin.

Plant/Rad is more a kind of short-range controller and a bit of a one-trick pony -- the cone of Seeds of Confusion and the AoE damage from Roots really defines the character. Everything else for a Plant controller depends on Seeds+Roots. He is good at AoE damage over time, but somewhat weak on single target damage.

Originally Posted by Fire_Minded

Im tempted to make a SD/Mace Tanker simply because everyone says its better, and I have yet to ever see one.Mace does have better specs then Axe does, but The Ritki Axe that iv still not obtained yet is what pushes me to stay on this route.

Originally Posted by Heraclea

Either of those will do nicely for damage, but Shield has tools that are handy for quickly intercepting and gaining aggro from the next spawn over when that's needed.

Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight

I wouldn't reccomend Ill/Rad unless you like that particular play style. (I don't really care for it)

For soloing my prefered primary is Fire or Plant. Fire if you are patient and can wait, Plant if you are impatient.

For secondaries for soloing, Storm, Rad, or Kinetics.

Anything that can solo will also be fine on a team.

Edit - Also if you need a team mate on protector you can just give me a shout. I'm on most evenings US Central Time. I've got a level 34 Ice/Fire Blaster on Protector. Global is @Grandpa Squeak. I'm usually playing on Justice but I can switch over no problem.

Originally Posted by JD_Gumby

Then you want Illusion/Radiation. The Radiation Emission debuffs are very team-friendly and the Illusion Control is by far the best primary for soloing as a Controller.