Local_Man

I would suggest that you try making a build and post it with some information on your playstyle, available influence (or anticipated), goals and available veteran rewards.

Illusion/TA is a fun combo, but it has no team buff powers. You have the right ideas that Hasten is pretty much required, and Recall Friend is a nice power to have. Another important consideration is the ability to light your Oil Slick -- taking either the Fire or Energy APP allows you to light that slick. Personally, I love the Fire APP on my Ill/TA . . . there is something satisfying about hitting foes who are standing on the Slick with Fireball. Whoosh! Instant BBQ. On the other hand, Power Boost from the Energy set would provide some nice buffs to many of the TA debuffs.

I took the Medicine Pool on my Ill/TA. I don't take it very often, but it seems to add some to this character and Aid Other is certainly team friendly (and lets you heal your Phantasm).

My original goal for my Ill/TA was to try out the TA set, so I took everything except Flash Arrow leveling up. With my I-19 Respec, I was able to add in Flash Arrow, too. But it is skippable if you have Invisibility. Poison Gas Arrow is probably the next most skippable power.

As for Travel powers, with the veteran reward I had a lot of options. I had Super Speed leveling up, but changed to Fly.

If you have a lot of Influence, then the ultimate goal is to get as much Recharge as possible to try to get a Perma-PA build. That will also allow Oil Slick Arrow and your other long-recharge powers to recharge much faster. But it will require several purple sets to get there.

Hmm, you see most of the time I bring a controller on a team, there is a tank or at least a softcapped scrapper who takes the front aggro -- that's what they were made for. The best use of my abilities is to support the rest of the team by reducing attacks from the foes.

This build has some of the usual things that a "Max build" being posted has. Not necessarily wrong, but choices that I would choose to do differently.

For example: Block of Ice has the Lockdown proc in it. That proc adds 2 mag 20% of the time. BoI already holds minions and Lts all the time (if it hits), and has a 20% chance to add an extra mag for Bosses -- the proc adds no value to those. So, this proc only has value 20% of the time against 80% of the bosses. Compare that to putting in an Acc/Dam Hami-O, which boost the accuracy and adds damage to every foe hit.

Arctic Air uses a ton of endurance, and I have it slotted for capped EndRdx on my Ice Controller. Sure, the Coercive Persuasion set has nice bonuses, but it is low on EndRdx. This build is not high on Recovery, so it is likely that any kind of activity will drain down on your endurance assuming you use Arctic Air (I run it almost all the time). Yes, Transference can refill that bar, but only if a foe is near and only if it hit . . . and it does miss often enough to be a problem. At a bare minimum, this power needs a 6th slot for EndRdx. And you will probably be forced into the Cardiac Boost for Incarnate.

Personally, I think an Ice Controller should have both Arctic Air and a Ranged AoE Slow power. Taking Both AA and Shiver makes sense. Ice/Storm and Ice/Cold have a ranged AoE slow in their secondary, so they can skip Shiver more easily. An Ice controller's best tools are the massive slows combined with the knockdown of Ice Slick. This allows you to control by casting Ice Slick where the melee teammates are, then run in with AA to slow/confuse/afraid them. Anyone out of the AoE of AA should be slowed with the ranged slow power. This can substantially reduce the damage taken by your team.

This build has two expensive Zephyr -Knockback procs. However, I generally put a single Steadfast -Knockback in ID or a Karma in CJ, at a fraction of the cost of those two Zephyrs. That second -Knockback is preventing knockback maybe 2-3% of the time . . . not worth the cost to me.

I view Fissure and Seismic Smash as significant sources of damage, but this build slots them for IO set bonuses rather than the optimal use of the power.

The build has liberal uses of Microfillaments: The speed increase in those powers is minimal at the cost of a very expensive Hami-O . . . I just sold one for 440 Mil.

Other examples I could pull out but I'm out of time.

Frankly, it depends on your build and your needs. How much Recovery do you have? How much Recharge? Do you need more?

The Spiritual boost allows more flexibility for someone who wants a Perma-PA build. You can skimp a little bit and still reach that goal of 203% Recharge. Or you can go quite a bit over so you don't have to cut it so close. Since my Ill/Rad doesn't have any stun powers, the obvious choice is the Spiritual Radial Boost to buff healing.

On the other hand, many builds, especially builds with high Recharge, have endurance issues. The Cardiac Boost is a remedy for that problem. But if you have made your build to take the endurance issues into account, then you may not need Cardiac. If you have a Resistance-based Shield, the Cardiac Radial Boost will buff that Shield, too.

My current Ill/Rad build has 4.13/sec Recovery while running AM, which is plenty. I can run Sup Invis almost all the time with no endurance issues. For those long battles where I have to run the Rad debuffs and constantly attack, I can pop GI and turn SI off. However, I also have plenty of Recharge, since I added GI with a LotG Recharge to my already Perma-PA build. But, since more Recharge is always better, I went with the Spiritual Radial.

I may decide to drop GI (with its LotG Recharge) to add in Rise of the Phoenix. I don't really NEED it, but it might be nice to have if more of the upper level content is as tough as the Apex TF. I have only run Apex twice, and only once on my Ill/Rad. I may go ahead and get the Cardiac Boost just to see. Either Cardiac or Spiritual is a good option depending on your build, but I am inclined to think that Recharge is always needed.

I think a lot depends on your primary (which you did not disclose) and your build. If you have a lot of control powers that will be boosted by Power Boost (like Mind), then Primal is a great choice. If your primary is mostly melee (Fire, Ice, Elec), then Earth could work. If you work better staying at range while your friend draws the aggro, then Ice may be a better choice (Defense shield, ranged single target and two ranged AoEs.) And if you have a problem with mez (which you shouldn't with Dispersion bubble), then Psi is a good choice.

Frankly, it depends on your build and your playstyle, but the two obvious ones are Spiritual (Recharge) and Cardiac (Endurance). I have lots of Recovery in my build -- I have Health 4 slotted with 2 Numina and 2 Miracle (both procs), plus the Shifter proc in Stamina. I very rarely have endurance issues since AM is perma.

Therefore, I went with Spiritual to get more Recharge. However, I already have Perma-PA, so the Recharge doesn't provide a huge benefit . . . yet. The Rare and Ultra Rare boosts should have much more of an impact.

In any event, you may be able to adjust your build depending upon your boost.

It is interesting to see two folks describe their substantially different playstyles with the same type of character. I tend to lean more towards the Trickster style than the aggressive style. But once you can get softcapped defenses, the aggressive style becomes more viable.

The bottom line is that while it is a good idea to listen to the advice others have, you ultimately need to find your own playstyle.

My Illusion/Cold is a "Florida Snowman" . . . because a Snowman in Florida isn't real, so he must be an Illusion.

First: The Contagious Confusion proc works great. It does not affect pets.

Second: World of Confusion sucks. The radius is too small to be very useful.

Therefore: Definitely put the Contagious Confusion proc into Deceive. It turns the single target confuse power into an occasional Mass Confusion. I recommend leaving out the pure Confuse one since the others put you at or near the ED cap and Deceive already lasts for a very long time.

Take a look at my Illusion/Radiation guide that discusses the use of that proc in Deceive.

Set Mules are powers that generally are not used -- they are there to hold Invention Origin Sets to get certain bonuses that you may want, but the power isn't actually used -- unless you choose to use it only because you have it sitting there, doing nothing.

After the first few levels, I move Brawl off my power tray and almost never use it again. It does very little damage.

There is a sixth type of Enhancement -- commonly called Hami-Os for Hamidon Origin Enhancements. You don't need to worry about these until you hit higher levels, mostly level 47. There are actually four sub-categories of Hami-Os, but all four kinds are awarded randomly by completing one of six different Task or Strike Forces/Trials/Raids. Hami-Os and Synthetic Hami-Os are level 50 and can only be used for levels 47-50. Synthetics are identical to regular Hami-Os except for the name. Villains can earn Hami-Os by participating in a Hamidon Raid to completion. Villains can earn Synthetic Hami-Os by completing the Lord Recluse Strike Force. Heroes can earn Hami-Os at a Hamidon Raid, and earn Synthetic Hami-Os by completing the Statesman's Task Force. Heroes can also earn lower level Hami-Os by completing the Abandoned Sewer Trial or the Eden Trial in the late 30's and early 40's levels -- these are pretty rare but not all that useful since they expire three levels past their level. For example, a level 40 Hami-O from the Eden Trial will expire (turn red and provide no benefit) at level 43. They all have odd names and do a combination of several enhancements in one.

As Ketch said, the Imperius TF is a tough measure for a Mind/FF. That damned "shout" protects them from most of your mez powers. The most effective control power on that TF are Slows (Mind/FF has none). Knockdowns have some effect. (My favorite controller on this TF is my Ice/Storm!) Debuffs can provide a lot of benefits (Rad, Storm, TA, Cold and even Sonic and Therm), as can team damage buffs (Kin). Other control powers can be effective only if you catch them before they start "shouting."

There are ways to contribute, but to use your confuse powers effectively, you will probably need to get to groups before the rest of the team aggroes them. The Confuse powers are probably your best control powers on the ITF. A Mind/FF's Defense bonus helps those who don't have capped defense. You can contribute some limited damage -- Mass Hynosis followed immediately by Terrify slotted for damage will provide some AoE damage doubled by Containment. Terrify will then somewhat reduce the amount of damage done by the foes. Then your single target damage can work on foes. Other than that, your contributions will be somewhat limited. Force Bubble could keep an ambush at a distance while you deal with other foes, but for the most part, the ITF is ideal for melee types who like to gather foes into groups.

Travel powers is, to a significant degree, a matter of personal taste. As soon as I get time, I plan to update the leveling-up build in the Guide. The problem with an Ill/Rad is that Rad provides so many good powers early.

If you want, you can certainly fit in a travel power at level 6. But with the other options now available, I don't feel a strong need to have that travel power that early. If you purchased the Martial Arts pack, Ninja Run is available at level 4, and with Inherent Fitness it can be as fast (but not as high) as Super Jump. You can earn a Raptor Pack at level 5 from Police Scanner missions, and with recent changes, that Raptor Pack is just as fast as Fly.

With Inherent Fitness, All those powers that I used to put off either because I didn't have the endurance to run them (like EF) or couldn't fit them in before Fitness (like Hasten) can now be taken earlier. (I don't have Mids available at the moment, so a manual listing will have to do.)
1 - Radiant Aura, Blind
2 - Spectral Wounds
4 - Deceive
6 - AM
8 - Superior Invis (or RI -- or if taking GI, then GI goes at 12 and everything else moves down)
10 - RI (or EF or could be a travel power, or Hasten)
12 - EF (or Hasten or travel power)
14 - Travel power or Hasten (If you don't have the 60 month Vet, then a pre-requisite must be taken before the Travel Power.)
16 - Hasten or Travel
18 - Phantom Army (I want to have Hasten before this so they can be up more often.)
20 - LR



As for choice of a travel power, I like to look for secondary benefits.

• Fly/Hover is my favorite for my Ill/Rad -- I like to keep him out of melee and keep a good view of the battle from the air. I stay in Hover to fight, and then change to Fly for movement using the Speed-on-Demand binds in Citybinder. Fly lets you search for open-air glowies in safety, and you can fly through caves faster than running.
  
• Super Speed has good, fast battlefield maneuverability and Stealth built in -- but with SI or GI, I don't need the stealth. A lot of folks don't like SS because they find it hard to control, but I don't have that problem. I like it on many of my melee characters and characters who need the Stealth aspect.
  
• Teleport actually has some nice benefits, like being able to TP away when slowed or immobilized, and TP lets you get past foes with +Perception (like a Rikti Drone in a hallway). It is the most difficult travel power to use and is often inconvenient.
• Super Jump -- has no secondary benefits. SJ is kind of fun, but all you get is a travel power for open areas -- it is worthless in tight places. Combat Jumping is nice as a place to put a LotG Recharge and for the Immob protection, but SJ itself has no secondary benefits.

I have recommended over and over that folks who are either (a) new to controllers or (b) had trouble leveling up a controller, try an Illusion/Radiation Controller. I know it wasn't one of your choices, but if you have had problems with controllers before and you are used to doing damage, Electric and Earth are going to seem extremely slow to you. Both are very low damage sets. I love Earth Control, but its focus is providing ranged AoE control for larger teams. Electric is more melee, but requires more finesse to keep from faceplanting frequently. Mind gets a good ranged attack chain early, but then slows down in the 30's just when other controllers are picking up their best damage from their pets, and it doesn't have great synergy with Kinetics.

Illusion/Rad is great solo, small teams and good teams. You don't have to wait until the late levels to get the good powers. You can do decent damage while staying safe. If you decide to try it, take a look at my Illusion/Radiation guide, linked in my sig.