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I consider Hurricane to be a situational power with both defensive and offensive benefits. I'll often go long periods without using it, and then use it quite a bit. I almost never run it for long periods of time. I have Hurricane set up with a bind to activate and deactivate with a quick push of a button on my mouse.

Hurricane has a huge ToHitDebuff (-30% base and enhanceable) and a substantial Range debuff (-60%) as well as the Repel effect and a 5% chance for a Mag 8 knockback. Defensively, it can be used to protect you from ambushes and groups you may have aggroed. I love to turn on Hurricane and go around a corner -- as the foes come after me, they get hit by both debuffs while I can pick them off at range. Offensively, Hurricane can be used to trap foes in a room or a corner where your attacks and pets can wipe them out. Hurricane can also be used to "herdicane" with some practice -- circle around the outside of a group to push the stragglers into the group where they can be more easily hit by AoE powers. (I like Superspeed for doing this.)

Hurricane is one of those situational powers that has a lot of uses, but you kind of have to look for them and buy into it. But anyone who runs Hurricane all the time generally does not know what they are doing.

If you are going for a Perma-PA build, Flash is a great place for the Unbreakable Contraint set. 4 Bas Gaze + some extra Acc and Dam for Blind. Thunderclap takes the Absolute Amazement or Stupify sets. Each of the Invisibility powers and Steamy Mist will take a LotG Recharge and 5 Red Fortune (if you have that many slots).

Writing a guide is a lot of work, and I felt I needed a lot of experience in the powersets before I was competant to write my guides. It took me several months of cross-checking information to try to get it accurate, and then figuring out my format, then writing it all up, and then edits, and then putting it out for a preliminary review on the Controller forums . . . and even then I got some things wrong.

Not everyone is comfortable at writing something of the scope of a guide, either. All that annoying grammar and spelling stuff, and you need to (try to) be entertaining, too. I tried to be fairly comprehensive, while others go more for the entertainment value.

If you want the guide to continue to be relevant, you have to make a commitment to continually update it as new things are added to the game. As things have changed, I have tried to update my guide as well . . . but should have reserved a few extra posts for updates. I haven't really added stuff about the 4 Incarnate slots past Alpha because I haven't experienced all the options yet -- I can't say yet whether the ones I chose are better than the other options until I try the others.

And the rewards? Not exactly overwhelming. I get some nice comments and every now and then someone will recognize my Global name in game (all of which are nice). I wrote my guide because I like helping folks to enjoy my favorite powersets. But it is a heck of a lot easier to answer a quick question on the forums than write up a guide.

For the funniest TV sitcom ever, I'd have to say Fawlty Towers. But that one is a Brit show and the topic here is American TV.

Does this one qualify? It is not a sit-com, but every episode had me laughing, often quite enthusiasticly. The British version is great, but I actually liked the American version better as Drew Carey and Wayne Brady added a lot. "Whose Line is it Anyway?" Great Improv skits. The episodes with Richard Simmons as a guest were the absolute best. There's a new similar show with many of the same cast members returning in a slightly different format on the Game Show Network called "Improvaganza." It is good, but not quite as good.

I have to agree with "Get Smart." Have you ever taken a look at the writers for that show? An amazing Who's Who of comedy -- and a few classic shows like "Dick VanDyke" and "I Love Lucy"

There are a lot of options to build an Ill/Storm. You don't "have" to have perma-PA or capped defenses or anything like that . . . it is a fun character even without all the maxed attributes.

Leveling mine (which was mostly before IO sets), I chose to skip both Invisibility powers and go with Super Speed + Steamy Mist for Invis. Of course, that was long before Inherent Fitness when builds were tighter. Now-a-days, those powers can be useful to hold IOs that you want.

I agree with Lewis on what he considers the essentials, mostly. For Illusion:

Blind, Spectral Wounds, Deceive, Phantom Army, Spectral Terror and Phantasm.

Flash is nice to have but not essential. I leveled my Ill/Storm up without Flash and then added it in with Inherent Stamina. Sup Invis or Group Invis are entirely optional, but you should have at least one of the three options of Invis.

For Storm, Freezing Rain (and you are forced to take Gale, sadly) is the only "essential" power, but others are highly recommended: Lightning Storm, Hurricane, Snow Storm. I consider Steamy Mist to not be essential if you have one of the two Invisibility powers, but since it does so many other things, I recommend it highly anyway. I like to have O2 Boost -- solo, you can heal up your Phanty, and it provides a weak heal, stun protection and endurance drain protection on teams. Tornado I also like, but don't use it much on teams, as the chaos is a bit much. Thunderclap looks cool, but is skippable as a lowly Mag 2 PBAoE Stun -- I have other powers that will handle Minions. (On characters who already have an AoE stun, I like Thunderclap.)

I didn't take Hover . . . I like to stay on the ground for my */Stormies for Herdicaning. I don't recommend Leadership on */Stormies, as */Stormies already have endurance issues and Leadership is a drain on endurance.

As for slotting, there are lots of options, but the most obvious one is to slot for Recharge. It will take some expensive purple sets to get a Perma-PA build as you have to make up for the 30% provided by AM with other sets.

On the choice of the APP -- I have Ice on mine. Hibernate is a great Panic button power that lets you recover both health and endurance. Ice Blast is a nice, fast attack to let you get that all-important Blind-SW-Blast-SW attack chain. Also, Ice is not Psi (makes Psi-resistant foes easier) and is rarely resisted. You get a choice of two AoE attacks or can include a nice S/L Defense shield (and it will take another LotG Recharge).

I suggest you take a look at my Illusion/Radiation guide, linked in my sig. Most of the advice I would give you is in the guide.

I don't have access to Mids at the moment . . . but it's not that tough.

For Plant, you want Strangler, Roots (AoE Immob, slotted for Accuracy and DAMAGE) and Seeds of Confusion as soon as they are available. Later on, Carrion Creepers and Fly Trap are also high priority powers. Since you expect to solo, you probably want to pick up Entangle (single target Immob, also slot for accuracy and damage). Other powers are optional and have differing opinions. Vines (AoE Hold) is a good idea. Spore Burst (targetted AoE Sleep, can be back-up control when solo) and Spirit Tree (Immobile Regeneration booster) can be useful, but many folks find them skippable.

On Storm, I would suggest Freezing Rain and Lightning Storm are essential. Steamy Mist, Hurricane and Tornado are highly recommended. Gale is forced on you, unfortunately. O2 Boost, Snow Storm and Thunderclap are all optional -- I skipped Thunderclap because it is a Mag 2 stun (minions only). If I had another stun to stack with it, then I would take it. Snow Storm is a toggle AoE Slow with -Recharge and -Fly, which I think is an underappreciated power. O2 Boost is a weakish ally only heal with -Stun and Endurance Drain protection. Nice to heal your pet, but not essential -- can easily be delayed or skipped.

I like Super Speed with */Storm because the stealth in Super Speed stacks with Steamy Mist for full invisibility. This helps you get in position for the best use of Seeds of Confusion, the most important power you have. You can accomplish the same thing with a Stealth IO, however, if you don't like Super Speed.

I don't have access to Mids, and expect to be busy for the next day or so where I may not have a chance to look at the build. But overall it looks like a very good build with the goals you had in mind.

The link on your post is broken, so we can't pull up your build. Not that it would matter since I don't have Mids right now, but I was going to pull up the build last night and I couldn't. The links break when you edit a post, so I have been trying to post the datachunk in addition to the listing.

Overall, looks very good. Since I can't access the build, I can't see what your actual numbers are for Recharge and Defense for a build that goes for Defense within the context of a Perma-PA build. Your posted defense numbers aren't very high, but I presume that's because some of the toggles aren't on. You gave up some of the little utility powers that I like (Recall Friend, Mutation, travel power) to take Fighting and Maneuvers. You chose to use the Earth APP. Personally, If I were going for a defense build, I would take the Ice APP because it still has the fast Ice Blast. Ice Blast allows for the same Blind-SW-Blast-SW attack chain that I like so much for the reasons I explained in my guide. Even with the choice you made, there might be a few little things you can do here and there.

AM looks underslotted. I assume even underslotted that it is perma? To fully slot it with the Efficacy Adapter set, you'd have to find 4 more slots, which will be hard. I don't know that I would change that if you are satisfied with what you have.

You went with GI -- which is fine. I find it irritating to have to continually re-cast. But GI is a valid choice. I rely heavily on Invis instead of Defense. As a result, I use Deceive a lot, and try to let Phantom Army grab the aggro before I start attacking. As a result, I run SI almost all the time and have to have it well-slotted for EndRdx. I used the same slotting in SI that you appear to have used in Weave and Maneuvers.

In Blind, can you replace one of the Damage IOs with a Nucleous (Acc/Dam) Hami-O? You lose a very small amount of damage for a substantial increase in Accuracy, and Blind is a power that you really want to Hit.

If you are looking to free up a slot, the last slot could be pulled out of EM Pulse. EM Pulse does not have the Accuracy penalty of other PB AoE holds like Blind. Depending on how often you use EM Pulse and how much you use Phanty, you might want to consider moving that slot to Phantasm to add some more Acc and Dam to Phanty.

To free up a slot at the cost of a small amount of endurance, you could replace two slots in Rock Armor with the LotG Defense.

How much do you use Earth's Embrace? If rarely, would a travel power be used more often? Just something to think about. You could go with Fly; I often use Fly/Hover to stay out of melee range. You could add Super Speed with a Stealth IO for continual Invis. You could add Recall Friend or Mutation if you want.

I'm not an expert on Elec/Rad (mine is 44 at the moment, and I'm also playing an Elec/Earth Dom), but I have certainly thought about many of the same issues. I have been playing this character similar to an Ice/Rad . . . use Static Field from range, then run in with Choking Cloud and Conductive Aura running to hold and drain endurance while letting the Gremlins do some damage. Air Superiority is very good to use with this combo. I use Super Speed for travel (with a Stealth IO in Prestige Power Slide). I have the Raptor Pack when I need some vertical travel.

To me, there are two choices for the APP -- Psi for Indomidible Will (to stop mez from knocking off my Choking Cloud/Conductive Aura toggles) or the Earth APP. Fissure is a short-range fast-recharging AoE. Rock Armor is ugly, but provides a good S/L shield. Seismic Smash is great melee damage AND a hold. And Earth's Embrace for the HP buff and as a second heal. I'm using Psi as I level up, relying upon my own mez abilities to protect me from damage. That seems to work well solo, but teams, especially teams with Fire controllers, tend to mess up my control. So I may change to Earth if and when I gather enough IO sets with S/L Defense to stack with the Rock Armor.

Is Assault worth it? It depends on (a) what else you can take that may provide more total benefit; (b) whether you have the endurance to run it; and (c) is it a fun power for you to have?

If your Controller is focused on AoE control rather than buffing or damage, then Assault may be skippable. If your build is really tight, then Leadership is skippable. Defenders get a higher bonus than any other Blueside AT, so Defenders should seriously consider adding Leadership. However, I have Leadership on only a few of my controllers . . . they usually have some other power that I feel will provide more benefit in the context of the build. (Part of the reason I don't take Leadership often is the fact that I find Leadership to be kind of boring. Assault, Maneuvers and Tactics are toggles that turn on and then don't visually do anything . . . )

I find that */Storm controllers have so many Endurance issues that I can't run the Leadership toggles. Even with Cardiac in the Alpha slot, my */Storm controllers often have significant drops in the blue bar without Leadership. Freezing Rain has a large 30% Damage Resistance Debuff in addition to its other benefits, so having the endurance to cast Freezing Rain provides more benefit than Assault.

A friend of mine was discussing his Plant/Storm build with me. He was having constant endurance issues even AFTER he got the Cardiac Alpha slot. He eventually came to the same conclusion . . . Leadership was too demanding on endurance to run on a Plant/Storm, so he said he was going to respec it out.

Most of these questions can be answered by taking a look at the Illusion side of my Illusion/Rad guide. The link to the guide is in my sig.

Spectral Terror is the best AoE control for an Illusion Controller other than the distraction of Phantom Army. It is perma AS SOON AS YOU GET IT. 45 second duration, 45 second recharge. It absolutely should never, ever, ever be skipped.

I'm not sure how often Reactive works with Phantom Army . . . I haven't tested it. But the Chance for Build Up is clearly worth a slot, as the Build Up has a chance to happen with each attack. You'll see it happens a lot. The frequency of the attacks depends on whether the army guys are attacking from range or melee. They add up to a substantial amount of damage, and even more if you learn how to get the benefits of Illusory Damage.

No, Phantom Army is not "best against single targets." The primary purpose of PA is to serve as 3 invulnerable tanks, and they work great in groups of foes, too. Cast PA in or near a group, let them draw the aggro, and then you can attack with little worry of being attacked yourself.

Accuracy on Benumb? 1 is fine especially if you use Infridgidate first . . . Infridg has a Defense Debuff.

Phanty in battle used to act as your bodyguard . . . . he would float just behind you and knock back foes who got near you. The current pet bug causes him to run into melee a little bit too often. Personally, since I generally stay at range, I don't find the knockback to be a problem the huge majority of time. The best way to avoid knockback problems is to mostly stay out of melee -- fight from range. If you need to run into melee (for Flash, for example), do it fast and run back out again.

I don't currently have access to Mids, so I can't see your totals. But based upon what I can see, let me make a few minor suggestions. Most of my suggestions are explained more thoroughly in my Ill/Rad guide, linked in my sig:

Ling Rad: The Tempered Readiness set really doesn't add all that much. Think about putting a single Acc in the default slot and using those slots in other places. A Perma-PA build should have enough global Recharge and global Accuracy that this power should be perma with decent accuracy. It is mainly needed for the -Recharge and -Regen, neither of which can be enhanced. That will free up some slots for other places.

Consider moving the Unbreakable Constraint set in Blind to Flash. Then move the 4 Baz Gaze to Blind. Use the last two slots for an Acc/Dam Hami-O and a common Damage. That will help your damage.

Superior Invis: Without some EndRdx in it, it is pretty hard to run. I have the LotG Recharge and 5 Red Fortunes it it. This allows me to run SI most of the time. And I get the extra 5% Recharge.

RI: Nothing wrong with your slotting, but I only have 3 slots (3 Enzymes) in RI. The cast time is so long that I don't use it every group . . . EF gets used far more often. On teams, most groups die before RI finishes animating. As a consequence, I don't have procs in a power that I don't use all that often.

Phantom Army: Consider replacing the common Recharge with a Soulbound Dam/Recharge (from the pet purple set) for more Damage from PA. (Admittedly, your Musc Alpha slot is probably making up for the damage.) They are not all that expensive. I also have the Chance for Build Up from that set here . . . the Build Up happens quite often with 3 pets. Plus you get a nice 16% Regen bonus.

Hasten: If you are at Perma-PA recharge (about 207%), you should be able to remove one of your Recharge slots from Hasten.

Kick? Really?? How about Combat Jumping for Immob protection and maneuverability and a place for a LotG Recharge or a -knockback? or Recall Friend? Or even Fallout one-slotted (still provides a massive debuff)? I guess you were trying to get to Tough, but you shouldn't need Tough with a Perma PA build.

I am a strong believer in the Fire or Ice APP. Mainly because the fast-recharging single target blast lets you have a great attack chain of Blind-SW-Blast-SW. That fast attack chain will let you take down Minions and Lieutenants much faster, thereby taking advantage of Illusory Damage. On my Ill/Rad, I like Fire Blast and Fireball because they do more damage than Ice. Fire Armor is OK. Rise of the Phoenix is the only self-rez available to Controllers, so that's worth considering. The Ice APP is just slightly less damage but lets you have access to Ice Blast, Frost Breath or Ice Storm (I prefer Frost Breath because it recharges faster), a Smash/Lethal Defense armor and Hibernate, a great panic button power. (My Ill/Storm and Ill/Cold both have the Ice APP.) My guide explains how the fast attack chain lets you get more benefit from Illusory Damage, which will add a lot to your overall damage.

There are no "stinker" powers. The single target Immob, Electric Fence, is skippable. Jolting Chain is useful early on, but becomes less useful as the character "fills out." Conductive Aura is key for draining endurance -- you cast Static Field, then run in and drain.

The knockback in the Energy secondary will be a problem. You don't want to be knocking foes out of your Static Field or out of range of your chain powers (Jolting Chain and Synaptic Overload). You also want to avoid secondaries with Damage over Time, as the DoT will wake up foes. I'm running an Elec/Earth right now, but planning on skipping Mud Pots.