Sweetmeat

The problem with Bonfire is that you are guaranteed to miss one or two mobs with Fire Cages while it's up. Bonfire will throw those guys a long way away. They will sit out there and snipe you to death while you are dealing with the rest of the mob. To be honest, it takes a lot more time to deal with the stragglers that bonfire tosses out than using bonfire saves you in killing the majority of the mob. So Bonfire has a few uses, but damage isn't really one of them because it will actually slow your kill speed.

OK with /Rad, you will want Radiation Infection with some defense debuff in it, then Nemesis Staff them before you apply the hold. That will knock them to the ground. Then you can hold them and root them. If you hold them in the air, then you have no way to knock down; at that point you're screwed.

Or you can find something nearby who is on the ground ( thorncaster or something ) and roots them, the aoe will catch the spirit. If you have Hasten, AM, and RI the Nemesis Staff approach will be your best bet - giving you good recharge for the staff, and good defense debuff to hit with.

Eventually Carrion Creepers will be knocking them down for you so you won't have to worry much about it.

Earth/Storm/Stone = win. Earth/TA was very fun too. I don't think I would want to try and solo anything else till after mid 40s. Earth itself is pretty much jaw-dropping amazing so anything you decide to pair it with on teams will just make it better somehow or other.

I also have an Earth/FF at 39 and she's ok, but I definitely prefer both Storm and TA to FF.

LOL I don't like either the Ice or the Stone armor graphics, I tend to go for a lot of ranged defense in my IO set bonuses and skip the armors so my costume isn't messed up. Temp Invulnerability and Fire Shield both have pretty low visual impact on the most costumes, so if you really want the armor, I would look at those.

I can see your point on the timing, but on my TA controller, my favorite thing about her is the opening stacked hold on a boss. The thought of waiting till 24( more like 25) for that is pretty much unthinkable to me. I think with two holds and deceive to open with an AoE control power isn't as necessary I guess.

Mind control was the only set I couldn't get to work and finally gave up on so it is arguably a question of play style as to how well you can make each set perform. This is a very old, long running debate and it's very unlikely to be settled here.

As to the OPs original questions, both Mental and DrMike had good advice.

Actually 2x Fire/Kin would be >> than Fire/Kin + tank or scrapper. Fire and Kin both stack to make the second much stronger than one alone.

I would agree with going with a pair of Fire/Rads instead though - /Rad does bloom earlier.

I like Local's build. I would switch Ice Arrow and Glue Arrow in order, and probably take Flash Arrow over Poison Gas Arrow( I was thoroughly unimpressed with Poison Gas Arrow even after having slotted it up ). The thought of having PA without Hasten in Vojins build makes me shudder.

Ice also gives you a non lethal damage type to use on smashing/lethal resistant mobs.

I would probably go with the Stone APP because you are going to be in close as a /Kin anyway, and Stalagmites + Fissure + Hasten + Siphon Speed + Fulcrum Shift = perma-stunned dead mobs.

The rest of the build is very good, though I would probably take Earthquake at 18 and push Stamina to 22. Since you will have Fulcrum Shift, Hasten, and Siphon Speed, any of the APP AoE damage powers will be up often and laying out good damage so the flavor is just that - flavor.

UnicyclePeon is right about using Hover and the Stone AP. If you don't Hover, Stone is pretty much tailor made for /Kin both because you need to be in close to use it, and because of the added control it offers.

If you play at range or Hover, then Ice is going to be better.

The problem is that Fortunata and Huntsmen at least take more than mag 6 to hold, so the extra mag 2 for 10 seconds isn't going to do much even when it procs. Being able to pump out long lasting mag 3 holds is still going to be what he needs.

I have the Lockdown Proc slotted on a couple toons, and it's nice when it Holds a Boss in one shot, giving some breathing space to apply the second hold, but it's so short and so random, I think it's probably better just to realize there are some bosses that are going to take a luck inspiration and possibly an accuracy and damage inspiration as well to take down safely. Later on, most secondarys have things to help deal with things that are resistant to your other controls,with Rad you can take Radiation Infection at 4 to mitigate most of the bosses damage even unheld.

At the level he's talking about, Accuracy, Recharge, and Hold duration are going to be more useful than the 20% chance for the extra mag 2. If you can cast it fast enough and have it hold long enough to stack three deep you can hold the huntsman.

If you are playing /Rad, RI should keep him weak enough to survive till you get him shut down I would think.

As a defender, your holds will recharge pretty slowly so the Lockdown Proc can be handy. You will also want to franken slot for Accuracy, Hold, and Recharge. If you want to reliably hold a boss, you will usually need to stack it, which is going to require hitting it, holding it much longer then the recharge time, and getting it back up quickly for the stack. You might look at 2-3 from the Lockdown set, and then 3-4 x Acc/Hold/Recharge from other sets.

For the most part the posted build is ok. It's got one glaring problem - it can't do any damage. Part of Illusion controls ability to control an environment is that Spectral Wounds kills thing quickly. Leaving it out of a build makes you less useful on teams, and almost completely incapable of soloing.

If you were to switch out Superior Invisibility for Spectral Wounds, and take it earlier, and Switch out Flash for Air Superiority, again taking it earlier, you would have something close to how my Ill/Kin is built. I also went with the Stone AP because Fissure + Hasten + Siphon Speed + Fulcrum Shift = perma-stunned dead mobs. Add in Seismic Smash and you you've got a single target attack that will one-shot contained minions.

If you really want to solo, and to help speed things along on smaller teams, you will need some damage potential other than PA. PA wounds things, it's up to you to kill them before they heal back the illusory damage.

Both Jack and Stoney do great damage, but Jack has problems surviving it. Phantasm does ok damage, Singy and Flytrap do mediocre damage.

If you want the pet for damage, then go Earth control. You have to realize that earth does almost no other damage though so don't look for an Earth/Emp to be able to solo well till after 44. If you want to be able to solo an Empath, then Illusion/Emp is very strong.

I have a friend who made an Illusion/Storm named Multiple Santa, and since it was entirely a concept build, he skipped Blind, Flash,Spectral Terror, Freezing Rain, Hurricane, Lightning Storm, and Thunderclap. He could essentially do almost nothing. Unfortunately we we fighting nemesis so even his deceive was ineffective. His most effective tactic was to open with snowstorm and run away. That was the most effective We wiped on that team over and over.

My Grav/Storm is using Hover, so I will be going with Ice. If you are on the ground, no reason not to go with Stone. Fissure + Seismic Smash is really punishing both on the extra control front as well as the added damage front.

If you are insisting on /Kin, then Earth is the way to go. The -defense in most of Earths powers makes /Kin much more enjoyable and makes your veteran attacks reliable as well. Also Stalagmites + Earthquake > Ice Slick + Arctic Air in mitigating alphas. Volcanic Gasses with 2 procs + Hasten + stacked Siphon Speed >> Glacier.

I like Ice control, I just think Earth has much better synergy than Ice for /Kin.

A Madness Mage on a low level Grav/Kin is just a bad bet period. The Grav/Rad may be able to deal with it, but honestly till you get your pet, dealing with mezzing bosses is always going to be dangerous. If that was all you were worried about ( killing a mezzing boss solo at level 8 ) you may want to go with defense inspirations instead of break frees, to keep him from killing you till you can manage to stack the second hold on him.

To me Grav/Kin seems to have some of the lowest synergy I can think of. Grav has some serious holes in it's control, and sets like Storm, Rad, and Trick Arrow will probably work better against what you are struggling with.

The problem with /Kin is that it's major way of mitigating the damage mobs are dealing to you is to heal it back for the most part, which isn't going to work so hot against a Madness Mage because you are held. Siphon Speed and Siphon Power will help some, but really mezzing bosses are just dangerous opponents for controllers in general and especially dangerous for Grav/Kin.

My Grav/Storm is currently 36. I never felt the need for the fighting pool. Indeed Storm is pretty endurance intensive, I think the fighting pool would just be likely to run you out of end rather than actually make you more effective.

For solo, Freezing Rain( with 2 procs) + Crushing Field( with either full set of Trap of the hunter, or 4x Trap and 2x Positrons ( including both procs) + Snow Storm ( 1 proc ) = a lot of control/mitigation while softening things up in the process. Add to that the single target hold, the single immobilize, and Propel and you should be fine. I was really disappointed with Wormhole after I got it, but the above combo with the occasional use of Hurricane should see you through pretty much everything you'll come against. Note: ALWAYS drop Freezing Rain from around a corner if you can manage it, it will entirely mitigate the alpha - add Crushing Field and Snowstorm after they are flopping, and you will take very little damage, either on teams or solo. Health is enough to keep up with what you do take so you will be back to full health usually before the end of the fight.

I agree with the advice on slotting for ranged defense in sets - you will almost never have to get up next to someone in a Grav/Storm build.

I really enjoyed the build, and the synergy ( except for Tornado really which I reserve for bosses and AVs) is very strong.

I'd take Ring of Fire, and probably Air Superiority as well. You will be getting Hot Feet at 8, which will help you to kill a lot of things at one time, but for finishing off lieutenants/Bosses, a couple single target attacks are pretty well necessary. Some people slot Char for damage. I prefer to be able to hold bosses with mine, so I slot it for accuracy, hold, and recharge instead, and use other powers to deal damage.

I agree with Battlebabe, if you want a great support set along with the ability to solo, Plant/Thermal would be pretty good. If you are new to the game, you may want to look at picking up a pool attack ( Air Superiority ) to allow you to finish off the last guy standing after Seeds of Confusion/Roots has done it's job. Illusion/Empathy, or Illusion/Thermal would solo well as well - again if you are new to the game you'll still want a pool attack to solo.

For Freezing Rain, I went with 2 Undermined Defenses, 3 Lady Grey (including proc), and one other proc (either the KB set one or Positrons.) Look to max recharge, with high end reduction, and some defense debuff.

I agree with dave_p. To hit buff >> accuracy. If you actually play that character rather than just farm, you may run into stuff you have trouble hitting. On the other hand my Ill/Kin doesn't have tactics, and doesn't seem to need it regardless of what she's fighting so yea you may not need it.

Do not skip Propel. If you ever plan to solo even a little bit, you'll need that big hitter to kill things. Grav has relatively poor control, and /Kin isn't really the Ideal secondary for it. You're going to need to KILL things as a form of mitigation, which is why Propel is in the set.

If all you do is team, then take lift instead.

In Grav you can skip either Lift ( you solo some ) or Propel ( you only ever team ). Dimension shift you not only can skip, you should skip it. It just confuses and upsets your teammates. I've never been on a team where it was being used that it wasn't more of a problem for the team than an aid.

In /Kin you can skip Siphon Power, or better yet, take it early and respec out of it at 38. You can also skip Increase Density and unless you're waiting to 26 for a travel power, inertial reduction. Since you can no longer SB your pet I will probably skip Speed Boost in future builds. It depends on whether you really want to spend half your time buffing teammates, or if you would rather play the game. There are a couple really long threads from last month on that topic so you can look there for other opinions on Speed Boost.

Take Siphon Speed, and Hasten. You're going to need them to get your limited controls back up as fast as possible.