EinValentine

I can't directly compare the two since my Incarnate level controllers with the relevant sets are Plant/Storm and Fire/Dark. Still, I have extensive experience with both Plant and Storm, and about as much experience with Dark as one could expect considering how new it is.

Plant is just brutally powerful all by itself, so what secondary you attach to it is really going to be a matter of taste. However, Plant's real strength comes with the fact that its power level scales up with the number of opponents you face. The more there are, the stronger it gets. More Creepers spawning, more foes confused and hurting each other, more targets for Roots damage to affect. Plant all by itself can demolish large spawns of minions and lieutenants with no assistance. Against a single hard target, however, Plant brings very little special to the table.

Storm as a secondary to Plant is all about ramping up the damage output of Plant's multitarget capacities with Freezing Rain and then taking over when you only have a single tough target. Assuming permahaste and some form of endurance management Storm can put out a LOT of damage if you get its effects all aimed at one target. 2 to 3 Lightning Storms, and a couple Tornadoes chewing away at something debuffed by Freezing Rain, and locked in place (if needed) by Entangle is nothing to sneeze at.

Hurricane is both a useful positional tool (great for concentrating spawns for your Lightning Storms to zap) and an incredible defense, but defensively Storm doesn't hold a candle to Dark Affinity.

Dark Affinity is an incredible defensive/support set. With the right setup you can create a quasi-tank. (My Fire/Dark for instance is softcapped to all positionals and has nearly capped smash/lethal resists on top of that) Let alone the ability to heal like a champ, debuff the snot out of the enemy, and to have a pet that ALSO heals like a champ and debuffs the snot out of an enemy. Oh, and lots of -regen to boot. And did I mention that it also buffs the whole teams defenses, resistances, regeneration, and recovery? So yeah, what's not to like here? Pair it with Plant and you'll be a team buffing, big spawn slaughtering, aoe healing monster.

But . . . Dark does not address Plant's performance issues against single hard targets. Yes it has -regen, but other than that it's not going to help much. It also has zero positional control, which Storm (properly handled) excels at, but this is a lesser concern.

So it's going to be a matter of taste and playstyle. If you plan on playing exclusively in teams I'd say Plant/Dark is the clear winner. If you plan on playing mostly solo I'd give the nod to Plant/Storm. If a mix, well then it's a matter of taste.

I love love love my Plant/Storm though. Yes, I have stronger characters, but WOOO! is he fun. But then I just love Storm.

Plant can get two Spirit Trees at once, though it requires substantial global recharge.

Unfortunately, this is not true, at least not when I tested it. I tested this with a friend and had him check his defense numbers in the Combat Attributes window. It looks like it is true if you are tracking the numbers given by the buff icons, but going by the numbers in the Attributes window each application of a shield completely overwrites the last. I believe the buff icons simply are not refreshing properly.

Edit: It is possible that there is some difference between Power Boost and Power Buildup here, or the Troller vs. Defender Shields, since I was testing with Power Boost, but I doubt it changes the result.