Sweetmeat

OK Earth/TA is really painful to solo early on even if you have Veteran attack powers available. Without them, I would look at picking up Flurry( since you already have the speed pool, and Air Superiority) and slot them both for damage(franken-slot 4 x Accuracy/Damage IOs). That would work, but you would end up being VERY scraptrollerish- which I like, but it's not for everyone. Also you can speed your damage output by putting procs into several powers. Quicksand will take one(impeded swiftness), Earthquake takes two(Lady Grey and Knockback set proc), Acid Arrow takes two( Lady Grey and Positron ), Volcanic Gasses takes up to three, but I tend to slot it with 4 x accuracy Hold Recharge + 2 hold set procs. Stone Cages can take two (Positrons and Trap of the Hunter). If you slot up some pool attacks, and slot up the other liste powers with procs, you can actually solo after lvl 28. By 33 you can solo easily. After 42 you solo well. The only problem you get with going this route is that it is slot hungry, so your control will suffer a bit till later when you can fill things in.

I soloed my Earth/TA quite a bit and even with two veteran attacks and all the procs, she was slow going till after Volcanic Gasses was fully slotted up. Earth takes a lot of effort to solo because it is a very low damage set. TA doesn't help with damage at all till Acid Arrow( lvl 20 ), and later Disruption Arrow. It can be done, but you will have to really work at it.

That said, Earth/TA is great on teams, and later on even fine for solo. I enjoy mine a lot.

@Lewis I've notice that Earth isn't what it used to be too. It's surprising to me how much the recharge nerf to pseudo pets gutted the awesomeness of a procced Volcanic Gasses. That's really the only major change I can think of but it really lowered her overall power from Godlike to just very, very good.

When I tried /Emp, my first attempt was a Fire/Emp who just didn't do it for me. Then I made Brittany Fears my Ill/Emp and I fell in love with Illusion all over again. The combination of Blind + focused single target damage to eliminate threats quickly + deceive to fill in the gaps + an occasional heal to take care of spill through made her a real pleasure to play as early as 4th level, and she just kept getting better.

I don't play her often, mostly when some friends have a character at her level that they're working on but I am always pleasantly surprised whenever I dust her off at the the elegant flow of her progress through encounters,and the availability of something wonderful to do as every new threat arises. I have to admit, the RP aspect is a lot of fun too... I made her before the RL crash and burn so I tend to think of her in that mode of super-stardom before the fall and she delivers on it.

Anyway Ill/Emp gets my vote.

@Mental I agree, the end of the third paragraph pretty much sums that up if you can get through the rant in front of it

I'm finding it hard to imagine room for Tough and it's precursor in an Earth/Thermal build, although if you don't have veteran attacks it is handy to have at least one slotted pool attack to help kill things. Earth Quake has an accuracy debuff that is slottable, so you can get some global defense for you team out of that. Hasten + VG + 4 x Accuracy/Hold/Recharge + 2 damage procs = win. Earth Quake and Quicksand slotted with damage procs can also help to throw out a fair amount of aoe damage when fighting more than 3 or so mobs. Add in a proc or two to Stone Cages, and you will have quite a few operating while you single target focus on the Bosses and Lts, the minions just sort of melt.

I tend to concentrate on Ranged Defense set bonuses and then make sure I never get within melee distance of a mob that's not held first. That lets me not have to take the Stone APP armor ( freeing up another power slot ) and still have pretty good defense numbers when stacked with Earthquakes slotted accuracy debuff. Granted Thermal isn't probably what I'd use to farm with, but Earth slotted right can be an ok farmer in the mid to late 40s with APP damage powers to help its great control. My Earth/TA can sort of Farm, she takes on large spawns with ease, as does my Earth/Storm. I'm pretty sure if you work it right you can get the Thermal to work for you as well - I would focus more on control and damage and debuffs than Tough and Armors.

OK there are quite a few things to respond to here:

The the guy wondering about Ice/Cold Controller I think it would work very well. You are going to be stacking slows on mobs and will also have some great debuffs available, two early on and several more later. You are going to have to learn how to cast Ice Slick from around corners/behind cover if you want to open with it (and you absolutely want to open with it against anything but Nemesis robots) because any other opener is going to get you more agro than you will be able to survive easily. That said, Ice Slick is one of the better controller openers in the game practice with it and it will work in most situations. Once you open, you let the rest of the team (shielded of course) run in and start grabbing agro before you start stacking more slows.

To the guy not taking Ice Slick. Ummm. Really if you ever have to play without a tank, you will be pretty much nerfed if you don't have this one available. Ice Slick >> Frostbite if you actually NEED mitigation. Also, I will sometimes Ice Slick, let the mobs start flopping, then Frostbite. If they are properly slowed, they will all get at most one shot off before they start flopping again. Spamming Frostbite isn't something you do in that situation, because one application is all you will need to keep them from scattering off the Slick where they will be stuck flopping till it expires, after the initial 10 second -kb effect wears off. Or if you have a tank, or someone else opened, you can Frostbite, followed a few seconds later by the Slick and get the same basic effect but a longer useful life on the Ice Slick. Regardless, really, do not skip it. It's too handy in a broad range of instances to not have in your tool kit.

To the guy who thinks it's ok to skip Earthquake. Ummm. Read Ice slick above. I know you are going to have Stalagmites and VG. So what? Earth Quake gets a substantial defense debuff and an ACCURACY DEBUFF. And for grins it knocks thing down. All three. In one power. That needs Minimal slotting. It also will accept two damage procs and several other procs, so if you ever solo, it does virtually EVERYTHING in one little completely awesome power. You got a purple boss or three mad at you? Earthquake gives you the time you need to take care of that agro in one key press. Unless you plan on never playing without a Fire/Kin on your team you will very much want it. It saves tanks who get in over their heads. It saves team wipes when you get ambushes or unexpected agro. It lets you control a Third full Spawn, which is something very few power sets can do for you, and all that with a power that needs minimal slotting or can be fully slotted for greater efficacy. Dear God, you don't need it, but you DESERVE it! Take Earth Quake, slot it, love it, it will never let you down; even when it's caged over it's still helping you out.

OK I had coffee this morning, what can I say? I get passionate when I have coffee.

I actually kind of like it because it lets you know when you can cast Spectral Wounds and get containment. If you don't pause a second between Blind and SW, you won't get containment on that SW unless the mob was already contained. You get this effect on some other powersets as well. It takes a second or so for the containing power to actually register the mob as contained for some reason on some powers, Blind being one.

I have run across this attitude before. Usually it's when I've been invited to a farm without being told it was a farm (I don't join farm teams because they are boring). Illusion on a farm can slow things down because the level of challenge is so low that any scatter at all lowers the effectiveness of all the aoe flying around.

To be honest that guy is a nutsack. He enjoys not being challenged, and having a team that doesn't want to be challenged. His missions will be boring in the extreme, and his expectations will be that you do nothing that will ever cause a mob to move away from the mass around the tank. He is your worst enemy, and you are truly his worst nightmare, because Illusion's mitigation lies in keeping the bad guys running around chasing ghosts, running from ghosts, and being knocked on their buts by ... well a ghost. In a difficult situation it's VERY effective. In a dynamiting fish in barrel situation, you actually will slow things down. Don't feel bad about it, you would have left the team after the second time they ran the same mission without completing it anyway - and you would have stayed for that mission out of some perverse conception of what it means to be polite even when the team leader is a nutsack.

Hope that helps

Skyline,

Earth/Storm and Plant/Storm play very differently. Plant/Storm can solo early and keep soloing easily all the way through - so if you don't team a whole lot, then I would probably try that route first. Earth/Storm is soloable if you go with lots of procs( quicksand, earthquake, freezing rain, stone cages, and volcanic gasses get 1-2 procs each ) and have at least one veteran attack power. Otherwise it isn't really soloable till after 35ish. Both are great on teams as long as you don't let your /Storm powers get out of control. With both Plant and Earth this isn't so much of a problem as they both have plenty of control that is team appropriate. Storm is my favorite secondary because it's got so many different tools you can always find something that will be perfect for whatever situation you encounter.

If you are using Tornado, it's best to reapply stone cages as often as it comes up. You will probably miss one mob on each application, so unless you want your Tornado haring off after mobs you missed, you need to keep throwing cages to guarantee overlap within the 10 ( or 12 ) second KB suppression. I tend to only pull out Tornado on small Teams, or solo, because on large teams, you will miss a mob, and Tornado will follow that guy into the next spawn. Every. Single. Time. Well pretty much every time

Other people report different experience of this, but mine has been as stated.

I went with 5 Expedient Reinforcement and one common Recharge. I forget what the 5th Expedient Reinforcement did, but for whatever reason I liked it.

I went a different Route with my Ice/Storm. She plays completely at range, and so I took Shiver instead of AA. I play VERY aggressively so I wasn't able to use AA and still do everything else I wanted to with the character.

Ice Slick + Freezing Rain( double proced ) + Shiver + Frost Bite + Frost Breath + Snow Storm + Ice Storm = Neutered Dead Mobs no matter what you are playing against. Half the time they are all dead before you get to Ice Storm. I notice that this approach is quite a bit more survivable than with my Ice/Rad who is running AA + Choking Cloud and runs into the middle of the mobs.

It's just a thought for an alternate approach to Ice/Storm than most people take, and it leaves you with a lot of endurance for any mayhem your heart desires.

Hmmm. The proposed build is pretty good.

I think I would do two things differently.

I wouldn't take Increase Density, Inertial Reduction, or Sporeburst. I'd take combat Jumping, Super Jump, and Acrobatics instead. Also I would go Stone App. Fissure + Fulcrum Shift + Speed Boost + Hasten = Win. That doesn't even include Seismic Smash which = double win.

Other than that, I like 6 Lockdown in both holds. If you work it right, you will never be in melee with anything that isn't held, but can still be close enough to get your /Kin abilities and Fissure to work, so Ranged Defense is what I look for.

Just my 2 cents.

My Ill/Kin/Stone is 48, my Ill/Storm is 50. Honestly I find the Ill/Storm much more survivable in pretty much every situation one could throw at her, so I'm going to have to agree with Local - both for the whole ride to 50, and functioning in multiple environments, my Ill/Storm outperforms my Ill/Kin. It's also not nearly as busy ( not saying it's not busy, but Ill/Kin is like being on speed, crack, meth, and redbull all a the same time - it's exhausting ).

Illusion is a great set, anything would pair well with it. Illusion/Storm though is really the cat's meow of Illusion controllers.

OK I can't really see not taking Stalagmites( arguably your best every fight control ) just so you can Hover and Heal Other the people who are getting wasted because you didn't take Stalagmites. The power of Earth is that you can control two fulls spawns at once all the time with it, and control a third spawn whenever VG is up. Giving that up to take Stealth( What????) or so you can Hover ( again since they nerfed the KB protection, Hover gives a very minimal advantage ) is missing the point of Earth - that you OWN the mobs so completely that it doesn't matter whether you're hovering, stealthing, or doing a head stand; nothing will touch you if you play the Earth part well. I don't have time to put together anything today, or I would offer an alternative to the OP.

Freezing Rain is arguably my favorite power in the whole game. Like others have said you could play without it, but it's contribution, especially at early levels, and most especially on teams is something you probably couldn't overestimate.

I had a friend who made an Illusion/Storm character once that was a concept build, and he left out some of the most recommended powers. That character basically caused team wipe after team wipe because it couldn't do it's job properly. This from a combination that in my hands is stronger and more capable than anything else I've played. Leaving out Freezing Rain on a Fire/Storm probably won't be that bad, but you will be much less useful to your team than if you had taken it. You would need to take all three leadership toggles to sort of make up for what it does for you, except that Maneuvers, Assault, and Tactics all together won't actually do as much as FR does on it's own. It's that good.

I take it you aren't planning on taking Snowstorm either based on what you said in the original post. Honestly you could leave out one or the other, but /Storm without both really will pretty much completely gimp you. Your ability to mitigate damage will be severely impacted with out one or the other, and O2 boost was never meant to heal through the kind of damage you won't be mitigating.

Nintova,

Your second build looks pretty good. I would go with Hover over Hurdle at 30. My favorite thing to do with Lightning Storm is to hover over a Boss and keep him knocked down into the ground for the whole fight. That can be done with Hurdle, but not nearly as easily.

Also I would look at Snowstorm over Thunderclap.The reason for this? Nemesis robots. Basically Thunderclap isn't going to effect anything Seeds won't deal with already. So what you want is a control that will mitigate the damage from things that are immune to seeds. The most notable are Nemesis Robots and Rikti Mentalists. Both of those mobs are also immune to Thunderclap. They are not immune to Snowstorm. I would try to fit in Hurricane as well for exactly the same sets of mobs - Vines is great, but it's not up anything like every fight. You need controls that will shutdown things that are resistant to seeds, and Thunderclap isn't it.

You could just avoid Nemesis, but I prefer to be able to deal with anything that I may end up fighting against.

Just my thoughts from playing five different Storm controllers into the 40s.

I found Illusion/Storm to be the safest thing I've played, followed by Earth/Storm and maybe Plant/Storm. Ill/Kin ( she's at 47 ) actually plays a lot closer to the edge of survivability because she has to be right there in the middle of things without the hard controls to stand it easily. Maybe it's just that I've had a lot of practice with the Storm set, but it seems that even though it grabs a LOT of agro it manages to handle that agro better than anything else I've played. Freezing Rain + any other AoE control, followed by a Lightning Storm from above and maybe Hurricane or Snowstorm if things get hot pretty well neuters any mob out there.

For Illusion/Storm since you don't really have much in the way of other AoE( I find Spectral Terror makes things flee often enough to make me save it for special occasions ), I get a lot of millage out of Blind, spectral wounds, deceive something else, spectral wounds the blinded target, then blind again to restart the cycle. PA is pretty amazing, but isn't always up so you need to work at getting other effective control strategies for the times it's not.

I slot it with 4 x Acc/Hold/Recharge and 2 Hold set Procs. You get a couple nice set bonuses with that if the Acc/Hold/Recharge are also from the proc sets. A lot of people don't bother with accuracy or hold in VG, but I like mine to reliably hold bosses with very little support from me so that's the compromise I make - slightly lower recharge for much performance against tough foes. The Hasten nerf to pets and pseudo pets is VERY noticeable with VG, it's not nearly as nice as it was before, but it's still the best AoE hold in the game even with the nerf.

My Plant/Storm has been the only Controller/Defender unit on three different TFs in the last couple months, and she managed it very well. Knockback is only a problem for /Storm if you can't keep it in your pants. If you only use it when you want it, it's incredibly effective. Lightning Storm cast from Hover directly above a boss will keep him knocked down into the floor till you can get holds stacked. Throw up a Snowstorm and Freezing Rain, and no one is going to be hurting anyone on you team ( this is all after opening with Seeds on way in). If the TF is a little higher, Creepers is AMAZING. Of course I'm a huge /Storm fan so anything /Storm gets my vote for pretty much any situation.

I got an invite the other day from a team of six mid-30s controllers trying to kill Eochai in Croatoa. They'd been fighting it for several minutes when I got there and hadn't dented it yet. We killed him within a few minutes after, so /Storm has the sort of debuff/damage output needed to kill very tough single targets as well as what ever normal spawns you come across.

Actually I think Plant would be one of the better sets to play with Empathy. If I were making the character, then I would go with Plant/Storm. I also have a baby plant/Kin that's pretty fun but pre-stamina I am having serious endurance issues.

As for slotting your Plant powers for teams:

Seeds of Confusion: 6 slots immediately with accuracy, recharge, and confuse duration.
Strangle ( single target hold ) 5-6 slots for accuracy recharge, and hold.
Roots: 6 slots for accuarcy, recharge, damage and enduracne reduction.
Creepers: 6 slots 1 acc, 2 damage, 3 recharge.

IO frankenslotting and later slotting sets helps. If you play your plant part right, you shouldn't have a lot of need of your Empath heals, and can put your empathy slots into buffs instead.

I have to agree, I take O2 boost, because there are times when it is exactly what you want. Mostly though my Earth/Storm doesn't ever need it. Especially against Crey, they should have been emasculated with just Earthquake and Freezing Rain followed up with Stalagmites and some choice holds.

For Grav/Storm here is my build:

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Level 50 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Gravity Control
Secondary Power Set: Storm Summoning
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Ice Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Crush -- Empty(A), Empty(3), Empty(5), Empty(21), Empty(34), Empty(34)
Level 1: Gale -- Empty(A), Empty(43), Empty(43)
Level 2: Gravity Distortion -- Empty(A), Empty(3), Empty(5), Empty(11), Empty(15), Empty(23)
Level 4: O2 Boost -- Empty(A), Empty(40), Empty(46)
Level 6: Propel -- Empty(A), Empty(7), Empty(7), Empty(13), Empty(25), Empty(43)
Level 8: Crushing Field -- Empty(A), Empty(9), Empty(9), Empty(13), Empty(15), Empty(23)
Level 10: Snow Storm -- Empty(A), Empty(11), Empty(31)
Level 12: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 14: Health -- Empty(A), Empty(42)
Level 16: Freezing Rain -- Empty(A), Empty(17), Empty(17), Empty(19), Empty(31), Empty(37)
Level 18: Hover -- Empty(A), Empty(19)
Level 20: Stamina -- Empty(A), Empty(21), Empty(42)
Level 22: Fly -- Empty(A)
Level 24: Steamy Mist -- Empty(A), Empty(25), Empty(42)
Level 26: Wormhole -- Empty(A), Empty(27), Empty(27), Empty(29), Empty(31), Empty(37)
Level 28: Hasten -- Empty(A), Empty(29), Empty(34)
Level 30: Hurricane -- Empty(A)
Level 32: Singularity -- Empty(A), Empty(33), Empty(33), Empty(33), Empty(36), Empty(37)
Level 35: Tornado -- Empty(A), Empty(36), Empty(36)
Level 38: Lightning Storm -- Empty(A), Empty(39), Empty(39), Empty(39), Empty(40), Empty(40)
Level 41: Hibernate -- Empty(A)
Level 44: Frost Breath -- Empty(A), Empty(45), Empty(45), Empty(45), Empty(46), Empty(46)
Level 47: Ice Storm -- Empty(A), Empty(48), Empty(48), Empty(48)
Level 49: Gravity Distortion Field -- Empty(A), Empty(50), Empty(50), Empty(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Containment

Note: I didn't take Fly, and got by on Sprint and Steaming Mists + Hover to get over large obstacles. I took Grav Distortion Field instead, and Thunderclap at 49. I would recommend this, but a lot of people won't go without a real travel power.

Your major combo for pretty much your whole career( past 16 ) is going to be Freezing Rain ( you can cast this from around corners, so ALWAYS cast from cover if possible ) Follow up with Crushing Field, folled by Snow Storm. Hold a boss, Propel that boss, crushing Field, hold the boss again. Hold other good targets. Only use Propel on things that are already held, or you will knock them out of your Freezng Rain and Snow Storm.

Fore slotting, I Franken slot IOs, using Procs in Crushing Field, Freezing Rain, and Snow Storm. You will want good accuracy, recharge and end reduction on most of your powers, and some damage on your damage dealers ( Propel and Crush ).

If you play only on teams, then Lift is better than Propel. If you solo a fair amount, then Propel is the winner hands down. You may find your damage lacking if you don't have Veteran reward attacks. If so, try to slot out Crush and Propel a little earlier to up your damage.

I really enjoyed my Grav/Storm so good luck and enjoy

I tend to play all of my controllers this way, which is probably why I don't do well with Mind control.

Some things I would add.

1. One or two procs in the aoe immobilize go a long way to dropping large groups more quickly.
2. For Fire/Rad I would make honorable mention of Radiation Infection, as the mobs will often wake from your Flash Fires before they are dead, and RI is what will keep you breathing to finish them off.
3. In TA Acid Arrow should be in the outline. It doesn't have a large radius, but it will usually hit several mobs, and you can proc it, upping your aoe damage there.
4. I also add 2 to 3 procs into Freezing Rain.

The thing is, if you only add one proc to one power, you probably won't notice the damage much, but with 2 procs in the AoE immobilize, 2 or 3 in Freezing Rain, and 2 or 3 in Acid arrow, you really notice an increase in kill speed as the number of mobs in the group you attack increases.

Your guide is a very good start though, my comments are really just personal refinements to your basic build.

My post is from my experience soloing Dark Astoria with my Fire/Storm in the mid 20s. No self heal, endurance heavy Primary and Secondary. Yes I have char, but it was much easier killing all the mobs in a group before I got Bonfire than it was after. The ones Fire Cages misses ( it's going to miss 5% per cast, so you WILL lose at least two during the duration of the Bonfire, more likely 3 or 4 ) get thrown a long way off in multiple directions, so it's not easy to see them while you are in the middle of the ones you managed to root trying to drop them before Flashfires wears off. Before Bonfire I had to chase one or two down, after I got it, I had to chase 3-5 down. Yes, Five minions sniping at you for the time it takes to get to each of them and drop them individually will hurt you. After the initial kill of the main group, you are low on endurance, and trying to drop things. Applying Char to 4-5 different mobs while trying to kill one at a time is a losing proposition.

I had similar experience with my 48 Fire/Rad. She has much less scatter and much quicker kill speed when she doesn't use Bonfire so I'm going to stand by my contention that it slows kill speed, and is a very situational power rather than something you would use to increase you kill speed vs anything but AVs.

On teams it may not matter so much because the blaster or scrapper can track those guys down and drop them easily. For soloing large spawns, Bonfire hinders more often than not.