Local_Man

My personal list of best pairings with Illusion are:

Ill/Rad -- just the best all-purpose character around. Not necessarily the best at everything, but it can do almost anything and fill several roles in a team or solo. It gets all of its important powers early, making the low levels easier. It has a self-AoE heal, Recharge and Recovery buff, and good toggle AoE debuffs that are important to make PA better. It is fairly easy to make a Perma-PA build (Just see my guide).

Ill/Cold is more single-target focused, but is actually better at some things than Ill/Rad. Probably better at debuffing AVs and tough targets. The problems with Ill/Cold are (a) no self-heal, (b) no self-recharge buff, so it is a lot more expensive to make a perma-PA build, and (c) two of the best powers come at 35 and 38.

Ill/Storm is the king of Chaos if you really let loose. It is a great build solo or on a small team, but you need to limit the Chaos on larger teams. Storm adds great debuffs and controls, and adds good damage too. Playstyle can be quite different than other Illusion controllers, as Hurricane and other knockback powers add positioning and protection. Probably the best solo build, but it has the same three problems as Ill/Cold.

Ill/TA has a very different playstyle -- very ranged, and it relies upon PA more than other builds. TA adds a lot of control that Illusion is missing. Same three problems. Personally, I think Illusion makes the best primary for TA, even if TA isn't the best secondary for Illusion.

I have all of those at 50, and each has some part of going Incarnate. I have an Ill/Time I'm working on, and I suspect it will be pretty darn good when I'm finished, probably #2 or #3. Time has a self heal, a Recharge buff but two of the best powers come late including the Recharge buff.

Next I would list:

Ill/Therm (resistance debuffs and a self heal)
Ill/Kin (Some synergy problems but Kin is a great set.
Ill/Emp (Illusion may be the best primary to make Emp better. With Invisibility to allow battlefield healing, PA and Deceive to distract foes, Spectral terror to fear groups, so that healing, buffing and rezzing can be done in safety. However, Emp has no Debuffs or Recharge to make PA better.)
Ill/Sonic (Resistance debuffs only and mez protection)
Ill/FF (FF offers almost no benefit to most of Illusion other than mez protection and a good panic button power.)

And in many cases, I don't really come up with a final build until I'm at or near 50. And in many cases, the lower level IOs I want aren't available, while others may be plentiful.

And in many cases, I spend my time playing the character instead of crafting. As I'm leveling up a character, I usually only load up that character if there is a TF or something that I want to do. I fill up with SOs because it is quick, then do the TF and immediately put the character away until the next time.

When characters reach level 50 (0r nearly there), I will then take a look at the character and decide if this is one that I want to invest the time and influence on coming up with a mid level good build, or an expensive Final build. With 30-something level 50 character, many of them don't have end-game builds.

There are some characters that I will IO out as soon as I can, but not many. I tend to skip around on characters a lot.

There is a cap to the amount of Slow . . . I believe it is 90% Runspeed, 75% Recharge. If you go past that, you are wasting your efforts. That is for even-con foes, so more Slow will affect higher level foes but only to the cap. I do feel that Slow is an under-rated control power . . . it really can be quite effective when used right.

Ice is arguably the LOWEST damage controller primary. If you want to do damage, you need to slot up your single target hold (Block of Ice) for Damage, and then if you ever want to solo you will want to have Chilblain (the single-target immob) slotted for damage, and then you will want to add one or more Pool powers for damage. And even with all that, your damage will be pretty poor. The Pet, Jack Frost, can contribute some damage, but Jack is notorious for being pretty dumb and getting himself killed off. (I've heard of Jack being described as having, "the heart of a Lion, the brains of a duck.") You will have to wait until the APP powers become available to do any kind of decent damage.

There really is nothing that I would skip in Time. You could skip the single-target ally buff, but it is a pretty nice buff. You could skip the single-target Hold, but it is nice to have two single-target holds to stack on bosses.

There are a few powers in Ice Control that can be skipped depending upon your playstyle. I presume you are planning on being in melee with Arctic Air and Time's Junction. That makes Shiver skippable, but not bad to have, either. Some folks like to play Ice controllers from range, so they skip AA and take Shiver. Chilblain is skippable only if you don't care about having a damage power -- which considering that Ice Control is low damage and probably should be teamed all the time, it is likely you don't need a damage power. Flash Freeze is a ranged AoE Sleep . . . nice to have solo or maybe duo, but pretty worthless on a team where your teammates will probably wake them up quickly -- it could be useful to stop an ambush, but only if your teammates don't ruin it. So those three powers may be skippable, depending upon your playstyle.

Be prepared to 6-slot Arctic Air. Start with EndRdx, then cap out Confuse. At level 50, plan to put a purple Contagious Confusion proc in there. Expensive, but easily worth it . . . the proc makes Arctic Air much more effective.

Hextor has a pretty good summary, but here's how I went with my Ill/Rad:

Alpha: I included my reasoning in the Ill/Rad guide on why I went with Spiritual even though I already had Perma-PA. More recharge never hurts, and the other benefits help. Oddly enough, I really like the added slow in Ling Rad. Cardiac is my second choice. I have plenty of Recovery, but still, when I get everything running, it can drop my blue bar some. (If you have a defensive build, I'd go with the new one that gives Recharge, Defense and EndMod. I have that one on my Ice Tank and it is great.)

Judgement: (That misspelling still bothers me . . . ) I went Pyronic because I already had Fireball and the Fire APP, and it just looks awesome and does a lot of good fire damage . . . but if I had it to do over again, I would go Ionic. Ionic is REALLY nice . . . pick any foe in the group and the chaining will hit all (or at least, most). No having to worry about targetting a guy in the middle (Pyronic) or targetting a guy lined up properly (The cone one) or jumping in the middle (the PB AoE one) or facing the right direction (the new Vorpal). And Ionic goes around corners, too! It looks awesome, does great damage (and Illusion needs more AoE damage). One of these days, I may try to grind out enough threads and salvage to change over to Ionic. I have it on a few other Incarnate toons.

Interface: Reactive just seems better than the others. Not much else to say.

Lore: Personal choice, based on concept, coolness or whatever. I went with Warworks because, at the time, they did the most damage. I hear the Cims do as much or more now.

Destiny: Several of these are appealing, but I went with Clarion for Mez protection. Why? Mez wasn't a huge problem with my Ill/Rad until some of the Incarnate stuff. There seems to be a lot of AoE mezzing going on in the Incarnate trials. Some of the more recent other content includes ambushes targetted on the player so that they ignore PA initially. Clarion solved the problem very well and I'm happy with the choice. Rebirth is tempting, and I have it on a few other characters -- mostly characters who don't have a self-heal or a slowly recharging one. I can see where Barrier would be tempting one someone who feels the need for Defense, but I don't really have much.

The biggest problems I have with Earth are (a) Hurl Boulder is too slow to use as a single target blast. Other sets have fairly fast single target blasts, so if you want a ranged blast, Earth isn't a good choice. (b) It is a melee-focused APP. Great for melee Controllers like a */Kin or Fire/* or Ice/*, but not as good for a ranged build. Fissure is very short range, but recharges quickly. Seismic Smash is great, but it is a melee attack and the recharge is too long for it to be in an attack chain. (c) The damage type is smashing, which is highly resisted. (d) The armor is very ugly.

I often choose Earth on my melee-oriented characters like my Ice/Storm and my Plant/Kin and Fire/Kin. But Plant/Storm doesn't have to be in melee . . . you can be, but I actually consider it to be a "short range" controller.

Because the Seeds Cone is so important to a Plant/Storm, the Frost Breath cone is worth considering. It recharges much faster than Ice Storm, and the damage is up front instead of DoT. (I must admit one reason I like it is because I often run Tip missions solo to earn Hero Merits. If I'm out of tips, Frost Breath is great for wiping out a group of low level foes to get tips.)

Wonderful slotting for Invincibility is 2 Enzymes. It hits the Defense, ToHit and EndRdx in only two slots. (However, it is taking advantage of an exploit.) When you are surrounded by foes, that Defense really adds up.

Ice is worth considering. Plant/Storm is a little bit weak on single target damage, so fast-recharging Ice Blast helps there. There are TWO AoE damage choices, Frost Breath and Ice Storm, a S/L Defense shield that is far less ugly than Earth, and Hibernate, a wonderful panic button/emergency Heal/emergency Recovery power. Hibernate has saved my tail a bunch of times. Also, Ice fits in thematically with the storm side of Plant/Storm. I have the Ice APP on several of my */Storm characters.

Fire is nice damage and Fireball and Fire Blast are great. Rise of the Phoenix is the only self-rez available to Controllers. However, Fire Shield and Consume are somewhat mediocre.

I have to disagree with the "definitely go for defense" mindset. It is certainly an option, but not a necessity, and I think it is better to learn how to play the character without Defense first, and then see if you need it later. There are trade-offs. If I take the Fighting pool, that means I'm using power choices, slots and endurance that could be used to enhance control and buff/debuff or using a power choice that could be used for a situational power that might otherwise help the team. If I slot for Defense, it is likely that I have had to give up some Recharge or some other benefit that might help the overall killing speed or to complete missions faster. I don't accept the argument that you can get plenty of Defense AND be well slotted for Recharge. Where you have a Thunderstrike set, I can have Decimation. Where you have a full set of Lockdown, I can have 4 Baz Gaze.

On teams, your teammates should be taking the aggro . . . that's a Tank's JOB. If you are taking the aggro, then you are probably frustrating your teammates and not doing your job in the team. If you want to play like a crazy scrapper who can run into groups and just kill stuff, that's your choice but that's not what a team will expect from you.

Solo, you have the tools to avoid aggro. I can certainly see where a Defense-based build would be more appealing for a solo character, but it is still a challenge to see if you can handle missions with the tools built into the AT rather than a bunch of IO tricks.

Defense certainly is a viable choice, but to suggest that a non-defensive build is somehow less viable is wrong.

I agree with everything Oedipus Tex said, except this. While this is correct that Regen has less of a benefit, still some Regen can really help, especially if that Regen will help you get back to full health. This is mainly because of the "One-Shot Code" which prevents most foes from one-shotting you. If that Regen can keep you at full health, then if you get hit really hard, you won't instantly die -- which might give you a second to turn on PFF.

I have found that this helps quite a bit with several controllers I have with Hibernate . . . the One-shot code gives me that second I need to turn on Hibernate and prevent a faceplant.

I agree that it is probably not worth a lot of extra effort to slot for Regen, but if the opportunity is there, might as well take it. If you have a LotG Recharge in the ally shields, you might as well slot the LotG Defense and get that Regen bonus. Adding a Numina Heal to the Numina Proc adds a LOT of Regen.

Confuse is one of the best powers in the set, while World of Confusion fully stinks. I wrote a long section in my Ill/Rad guide on the reasons that Deceive (same as Confuse) is amazingly useful and that you shouldn't worry about the "loss of XP" silliness. You have a single target attack that DOESN'T DRAW AGGRO, allowing you to surgically remove problem foes from a group before the real fighting begins. If you could turn a foe who mezzes or slows you and your team to use those powers against other foes, don't you think that will increase your killing speed?

I would put the purple Confuse set in Confuse rather than Mass Confusion. Why? Mass Confusion has a long recharge. Confuse can be used over and over again, with each use having a chance to turn the single target confuse into a mini-Mass Confusion. I have that proc in all four of my level 50 Illusionists in Deceive, and it is wonderful.

Put a Malaise set in Mass Confusion and dump WoC. There is no good reason that a Mind/FF should be in melee range, since everything in your primary and secondary are ranged. You want to keep foes at range -- that's why you have Force Bubble. My Mind/FF often stays in the air just to stay out of melee.

Hami-Os can be earned two ways. You can participate in a Hami-Raid. Most servers have a few regular Raids per week -- it is a fairly complex process and usually one person becomes the Raid Leader, and directs the players to certain roles based upon their AT (and skill). It is not very hard, but until you know what you are doing, you will probably faceplant a few times. At the end of the Raid, you are given a choice of several rewards, one of which is a random Hamidon Origin Enhancement.

Centrioles (Dam/Range) are very common and don't sell for much. The next most common is Nucleous (Acc/Dam), which are very useful. Some of the Hami-Os are pretty valuable, like Enzymes (DefenseDebuff/ToHitDebuff/EndRdx). Because of certain exploits in the game, these can be used in a lot of different ways.

You can also earn "Synthetic Hamidon Origin Enhancements" by completing the Statesman's TF or the Lord Recluse SF. It is usually much easier to get a team of 8 together to run these than attending a Hami-Raid. The "Synthetic" Hami-Os are exactly the same as regular Hami-Os other than the extra word . . . but for some reason, the Synthetic ones are usually a bit cheaper on the market.

This is generally my favorite way to earn Hami-Os, as the Statesman TF is a lot of fun with a good team.

Try playing the character with no defense . . . focus on your controls. Foes who are controlled can't shoot at you -- it is like 100% defense.

Of my 16 controllers at level 50, not a single one of them has the fighting pool. A few have epic shields with defense, and have some slotting for defense, but my best (and favorite) controllers mostly have little or no defense.

With the Fighting Pool, you have to give up three power slots for a fairly small amount of defense. That's three power slots that could be used for more useful powers that can help the entire team rather than just you. Personally, when playing a new powerset, I like to try everything in the powerset for myself, at least for a while, to decide if a particular power is as bad as people say.

If you take everything in Time Manip and everything in Mind except Telekinesis, plus two slots for Hasten and Super Speed, you will only have one spare power choice before level 41. If you want a travel power other than Super Speed (but with a Stealth IO, Super Speed gives you full invisibility without having to waste a pick on the Stealth pool), then you will need that spare power pick if you want to keep Hasten (which you should). I'd even suggest trying out Telekinesis to see why most folks suggest skipping it, as some people really like the power.

If you play smart, cautious and use invisibility, you should be able to play effectively without building for Defense.

In many cases, sets are so cheap that you may do better using them. For example, in Radiation Infection, the Dark Watcher set is quite cheap and gives you good ToHit Debuff and EndRdx . . . and four of them gives you a small (5%) Recharge bonus.

Another great option is "Frankenslotting." This is where you can pick up some cheap dual or triple attribute IOs from different (and often cheap) sets and combine them for better enhancment. An Acc/Dam from two different sets at the same level is better than a common Accuracy and a common Damage . . . and they actually can be cheaper. Figure out what each power needs, and then make low bids for the enhancements from various sets that will provide what you need. For example, you could use four Acc/Hold/Rech in Flash -- in 4 slots you get almost 6 slots worth of enhancement if you used commons.

That's an impressive, and increadibly expensive, build. It relies upon the Alpha to hit perma-PA. Plus, I would be concerned about the endurance usage since both EF and SI are underslotted for EndRdx. I usually use both during battles. It is important to note that some of your recovery comes from the Numina proc which is in Radiant Aura, so to get that recovery, you will have to use Radiant Aura every 120 seconds. But still, softcapped to range, good resistance and all the key powers well slotted (except for EndRdx in EF and SI). Pretty nice.

Since I use the Speed-on-Demand binds, I never have to slot Hover for Flightspeed so I would take the Flightspeed out of Hover and add a slot for more EndRdx to either EF or SI -- probably EF. I would also swap the Soulbound Acc/Dam/Rech in PA for the Dam/Rech to cap the damage.

Mids hasn't been updated yet with the new Alpha slotting options, but I wonder if the new one that offers 33% Rech, 33% EndMod, 20% Defense might be a better choice. Less Recharge, but it would buff the Defense and Recovery.

To me, the obvious improvements would be to put a set of Apocalypse (ranged Damage) other than the pure damage one into Fire Blast (freeing up one slot). The remaining Damage IO from that set could be put in Blind to replace the common Damage IO. Because of the chance for Negative Damage proc from Apocalypse, this slotting would actually do more damage than the previous slotting for Fire Blast. This would also free up a 6.25% Recharge slot, so a set of Glympse of the Abyss could be put in Spectral Terror. And, of course, you would gain about 5% Recharge. And that left over slot could be moved to RI for a Achilles Heal Chance for Resistance Debuff proc.

You could put the Ragnarok set in Fireball. The bonuses are great, but it actually would do slightly less damage because of the Chance for Energy proc in Posi Blast. So that would be a judgment call on whether the bonuses are worth giving up a little bit of damage. One of those bonuses would be an additional 3.75% Recharge.

There are, of course, a lot of other changes that could be made to my build, and the thread after my guide has a lot of great ideas. Some folks want to focus on Defense, so there are some builds for that in the thread after the guide.