Sweetmeat

On my Ice/Storm I didn't pick up the AoE immobilize till 30. For solo I would Freezing Rain + Ice Slick, then hold and kill them one at a time. If you intend to solo an Ice controller a lot, you may look into the sleep power. It's not handy on teams, but not bad for solo. You will want Chillblain slotted for damage and/or a pool attack in addition to the veteran attacks until you get Jack. Once you have Tornado, solo gets pretty fast, and in the 40s it's very fast. I went with Shiver over Arctic Air, because Storm is an end hog and I prefer to play very aggressively. Arctic Air is very endurance intensive so you need to plan around it.

Jack isn't very tough, but he hits pretty hard. I'm considering going with the fast recharging pet set for him for the 10% resist IO in it. He can stand up to a boss, or a couple Lts, or a few minions, but not a big crowd.

Ahhhhhh I was away from the game for about 8 months and missed the loss of KB protection from Hover. I've noticed it's not working the way it used to, but I didn't realize it no longer helps at all. Looks like I'll be shopping for KB protection IOs

Mashuguna I found the same thing with my Mind controller. I finally just deleted her out of frustration. That's the only controller I've ever had difficulty with.

Fissure gets 2 x Positrons Blast + 2 x Stupify + 2 x Ropadope, looking to max Accuracy, Stuna nd recharge with decent damage and maybe a little end reduction.

If your friend wants to stay at range, have him consider Illusion/Storm, you'll get much more synergy out of that combo than from gimping a Fire/Rad by playing him at range.

xXxeno,

Your build looks pretty good. I would go with 5 Positrons and the Trap of the Hunter proc in Roots, it actually does enough damage to make enhancing it worthwhile. One thing you're going to come up against solo is you will be very slow in dropping the last mob standing. You've got no single target damage. Veteran attacks will help, but until you get your pet killing the last mob will really slow you down. You might look at getting a pool attack or taking entangle early on and specing out after you get your pet.

I frankenslotted Seeds to get maximum accuracy and recharge out of it. With your slotting it will probably feel a little slow in coming back up - on a big team that can be a problem as your teammates will get used to wading in without any fear. When they do that while seeds are still recharging, you'll often have very little to mitigate the damage they're going to take. Freezing Rain + Snowstorm can help, but then you don't get to use your roots.

Enjoy the ride though, my Plant/Storm is 35 and she's been an absolute monster since lvl 9.

I would go with Stone or Ice. I really love Seismic Smash and Fissure, so unless you are using Hover for KB protection I would go Stone. If you are using Hover, I'd probably go Ice for the slow in Frost Breath and the great panic button in Hibernate. Ice Blast is nice too because it's got two damage types you don't normally do with Illusion.

If you think you need the armor, Fire Shield and the invulnerability one look much better than the Stone or Ice.

Actually Gravity has great synergy with Storm because the AoE immobilize doesn't stop knockdown, mobs in your Freezing Rain can be immobilized there and still be falling down. Hit them with Snowstorm before the Freezing Rain lets up and they are stuck there and slowed to a crawl on their attacks. Tornado is very situation with a Grav/Storm, but there are a couple good uses for it. The single target hold does stop knockback so you can kill bosses with the tornado after the minions are dead. Or you can use the Hurricane corner/culdesac trick to keep them pinned while Tornado does it work. I found that with Propel, I don't really miss Tornado soloing, and on teams, even with my Ice and Earth Storm controllers I rarely pull out tornado because you WILL miss a guy, and Tornado WILL throw him down the hall towards the next mob, and it will UNFAILINGLY chase the guy it tossed rather than stay and kill the trapped guys. So Tornado on teams = unwanted agro = wipe often enough that I don't use it much on teams at all.

Ice/Storm is very effective. Ice Slick + Freezing Rain = Win against everything but Nemesis Robots and Rularu, and those two groups are just as tough on everyone but Illusion. You don't have to use frostbite on top of your slick. If some other controller is immobilizing over it, he's probably got another control going that lets him get away with that. If no one is dieing, it's not a big deal.

To me Ice/Storm and Grav/Storm were effortless and very effective. Fire/Storm I had difficulties with because the endurance usage is so High I was always out of end before the mobs were dead.

Ice Arrow is one of the things that will keep you from needing a heal. If you don't take it, you will most likely feel like TA is a poor secondary. Being able to keep multiple bosses and LTs all permanently held is a huge mitigation effect.

For Pools you want Hasten. If you intend to solo at all you will want either Entangle slotted for damage, or a pool attack ( Air Superiority, Flurry, or Jump Kick ), or both if you solo often. That should pretty well fill your build till you get APP powers in the 40s.

If you're really wanting to do Gravity, I would suggest Grav/Storm or Grav/Rad. My Grav/Storm soloed well out of the box, and after Freezing Rain was able to group really well too.

For Grav/Storm you open with Freezing Rain, then the aoe immobilize( which doesn't stop knockback so they keep flopping in the rain ), then Snowstorm to lower their return fire to nothing after freezing rain wears off. During the whole process, you single target hold and Propel them to death one by one. It's quick and effective both for solo and teams.

It really helps to have a couple procs in the aoe immobilize and in freezing Rain, and one in snow storm to whittle down crowds quickly. With the 5 procs in those three powers things are half dead by the time you get around to finishing them off. I didn't take lift. I found that the single target hold, Propel, and a veteran attack are enough of an attack chain to drop even bosses pretty fast.

The only one I skip is Salt Crystals. I tend to solo a fair bit, and without Stone Prison that's much harder. Also Stone Prison lets you pick and choose who to set containment on while the mobs are flopping on your earthquake, where Stone Cages often won't be what you wanted.

On my Ill/Kin I frankenslotted 2 x Stupify 2x Ropadope and 2x Positrons blast for high accuracy, stun, and recharge + good damage. This lets you stack stuns with it alone because it's up so often( siphon speed + hasten + max recharge = up VERY often ). With Flashfires it will be just that much better. I think slotting for more damage will often be wasted because Fulcrum shift is going to cap you often enough anyway.

I went with 3 Undermined defenses, 2 Lady Grey ( including proc ) and Positrons proc. You can Max recharge, get good endurance reduction, and add a little defense debuff plus two procs, and good set bonuses.

Earth/TA is it. Earth/Storm/Stone is pretty close.

Grav has quite possibly the least control around. Singy doesn't actually do all that much controlling that I've noticed on my Grav/Storm. Of course I didn't slot him for control so that's probably why he seems underpowered in his controls. Jack and Stony are more noticeably helpful with their holds, but that could be because their holds are more visually apparent.

I really, really dislike Mind so the comments on Mind being better get filed under "agree to disagree and move on".

The thing with Snow Storm is that you can't open with it. If you use it as an opener, then yes, they will all beat on you till you are dead. Give the fight a few seconds for others to generate some agro, and then it becomes a very good mitigation tool. It's probably not needed later on, so you can respec out of it, but I would take it initially and just be careful in learning when and how to use it.

The only thing I might add to Local's first build is I'd try to fit in Air Superiority. Without Veteran Reward attacks, it really helps to speed things along till you get your app powers in the 40s. I'd take it early at 6,hold off on hasten a bit, and move Hurricane back to 28 in place of Thunderclap. With PA, Freezing Rain, and Deceive, I find I don't need the Thunderclap at all ( Stupefy does have great bonuses though ).

Ice will probably be fine - Frost Breath adds a really nice slow that can help mitigation, and Hibernate is a pretty good panic Button, though when you come out the things that were killing you will still be out there.

My Fire/Rad took Stone and I LOVE it. Stacking stuns with Fissure, and Holds with Seismic Smash really adds to your mitigation. If I didn't have Stone, I'd probably go with Psi for the hold protection but it wouldn't be nearly as fun.

I don't have an Ice/Kin, but it seems to me that Fulcrum Shift + Fissure + Seismic Smash + Jack should do a LOT of damage. The only issue at that point is surviving it. I think a well slotted Arctic Air + Ice Slick + well slotted Transfusion and some good defense bonuses from sets would take care of the rest.

Look into Lockdown for you Block of Ice.
Thunderstrike in Chillblain.
Blood Mandate or the High level Recharge Intensive Pet set for Jack.
Trap of the Hunter in Frostbite.
With Fulcrum Shift you might even go for Lock Down in Seismic Smash( I wouldn't but it would give a great bonus ).

With your recharge bonuses, you'll be too busy spamming those powers and your debuffs to need or want a pool attack.

Full sets of each of the above will give you pretty good defense numbers without wearing a poo-suit( Stone APPs armor looks awful I have to agree, I've never taken it. ) Learn to cast Ice Slick from behind a corner and let them get to falling down some before coming out and beating them senseless - that alone is the best trick in the book for mitigating the alpha.

If you have a Siphon Speed, Hasten, and the recharge Intensive Pet set, you could probably get away with summoning Jack to suck the alpha pretty regularly for when there are no corners.

There are plenty of good ways to mitigate the alpha and after that the only things that are going to give you serious problems are Nemesis Robots. Maybe look at Shiver as well to slow things to the cap for mobs that are larger than your Arctic Air spread.

Don't let people turn you off of your Controller. Or if you really want one that will be more survivable, then look at Illusion/Storm, Plant/Storm, or Fire/Rad - they are very hard to kill and solo well out of the box. You'll have to take and slot a pool attack ( I would go Air Superiority ) to speed things along at the start but you can respec out of those later if you want.

I hope that helps address your original questions and welcome to the game

Am I the only one who likes the Stone AP for the loads of extra control you get out of Fissure and Seismic Smash? Honestly, unless you're getting your KB protection from Hover, then the synergy Stone adds to Fire control is too good to pass up. If you are using Hover for KB protection, then I would probably go with the Ice( Cold? ) AP for the slow in Frost Breath - it's another form of control that can augment your effectiveness against things that resist stun or immobilize.

Fire is probably the last AP I'd look at. Fire Shield is nice, but honestly with a controller in the 40s do you really need that? You have Imps, you have controls, if you take Stone, you have MORE controls, you have damage. There should be very few things hitting you. At that point, Fireball is a waste because all it does is damage, where as Stone and Ice both have control elements in their damage powers to help keep the mobs from getting to even swing at you.

My Fire/Therm will not be passing on Smoke, but then again Smoke is one of those powers you either swear by ( like me ) or you don't use ( probably most people but not a huge majority ).

I got a Steadfast Res/Def this weekend from a solo mission with two bosses in it on my lvl 19 Tank. I was thinking at the time that those only dropped in TF, but this explains it.

Hmmm I was relying on the Positron set bonuses to help the over all build, but you may be right. So 1 Acc, 2 damage, and 3 recharge in that case?

OK a few thing just from glancing - some of these are already covered.

1: Roots gets 5 Positrons Blast including the proc, and the Trap of the Hunter Proc. If you are short on money you can go 4 Trap of the Hunter ( including proc, and 2 Positrons ( Acc/Dam + proc ).

2: O2 boost gets 1 heal till your late 30s. You will hardly ever need it.

3: Seeds of Confusion 6 slotted = win. Take it at 8. Six slot it asap.

4: Creepers gets 4 Positrons blast ( no Proc ) and 2 Recharge. Creepers is going be what kills the bad guys from 27 to 35, so until you can get enough recharge in it to have it up all the time, you will be doing a lot less damage than you could.

5: Freezing Rain is going to be better frankenslotted with 2 undermined defences, 3 Lady Grey ( including Proc ) and the knockdown set damage proc. You want this power up as often as possible, but the end will KILL, so you frankenslot with an eye towards maxing recharge, with some good end reduction and a little bit of defense debuff.

6: Stamina gets 3 regular end mods. My Plant/Storm ( my current alt at lvl 29 ) is having severe endurance issues. Mostly because I can't find the slots for end reduction yet. If you find your end working well, then slot with the set - till you find it working well, you will want everything you can get out of Stamina.

7: You will never have the endurance to run Assault. Same for Maneuvers. The good news is if you play it right you shouldn't need them.

8: Without Snowstorm and Hurricane you will run across sets of mobs( mostly Nemesis, but there are others ) that you will not be able to deal effectively with. Vines will work for them when it's up, but it's recharge is way too slow to be more than a backup for when things drop in the pot. Taking out Assault will get you one of those powers - finding room for the other is causing me some serious distress right about now

Other things - Gale gets one slot ever. Initially it's an accuracy, later it can be the chance for recharge proc. Health gets a second and or third slot much later in the build. Even if you have both Veteran Attacks, you will want either Entangle, or perhaps Air Superiority slotted for damage to help you kill Lieutenants and bosses, or getting rid of the last couple mobs will take FOREVER, slowing you down to a crawl.

I hope I don't come off too harsh, but you are missing out on some of the powers and synergies that make Plant/Storm a true butcher and going for a much slower/more tedious build that will probably just frustrate you. I'm really enjoying my Plant/Storm - I wish you good luck with yours as well

Earth/Storm is tied with Illusion/Storm for my favorite build. It is incredibly powerful, but honestly there's almost no chaos to it. The mobs are so tightly controlled through every situation at all times that they never get to fight back. Never ever. Some times it appears to be chaos, but if you want true chaos, opt for Illusion/Storm. Even then, Tornado is pretty situational or it actually slows your pace by causing scatter.

You are right though, Earth and Storm have a lot of possible synergies, which lets you pick and choose the best way to dismantle any give mob of bad guys.

One warning: even with both Veteran attacks, and a LOT of procs, Earth/Storm will solo very slowly till the late 20s and doesn't solo quickly till the late 30s. If you tend to team though you will be their best asset, adding to their damage potential in multiple ways while keeping the mobs helpless.

Your build isn't bad, it's just that Fire/Rad is a VERY end intensive pair. dave_p's advice for AM is good. I went with a full set of Trap of the Hunter in Fire Cages to stack ranged defense for alpha mitigation. I would seriously look into Smoke. If you time it right, you can get to where your Imps are in and among the mobs at the same time that your RI takes hold, splitting the alpha 4 ways. Look at slotting Ring of Fire for damage ( I like Thunderstrike for this, it has great set bonuses. ) That will let you load damage onto mobs that need it to have everything die at the same time. I found I wasn't able to run Chocking Cloud and still play as aggressively as I like so I respeced out of it.

Finally the Earth AP is unbelievably good with Fire/Rad. Fissure will often let you perma stun multiple Bosses when added to Flashfires, and recharges fast enough to keep it stacked even if it doesn't stun them every time. Seismic Smash lets you concentrate holds quickly on the guys you really want out of the fight.

Your trouble with your anchor dropping first is something we all run across. On teams where you find this happening, it is usually better to target RI on a LT in the back, as they will often be the last to drop when everyone is gunning for the bosses. That's if your team can keep it in their pants long enough to pick your targets. If they are moving too quickly, just keep targeting the boss, and stay out of Hot Feet range to lower your agro for when the anchor drops. You're not going to be able to be all things to all teams till you get yourself in the high 40s with more powers fully slotted up.

If you must be all things to all teams, then look at Illusion/Storm instead!

I have a few characters without travel powers. Like someone else said, if I'm heading to the mission as soon as it's posted it's very rare for me to be the last one there despite being the only one without a travel power. I never ask for TP though I'll take one if it's offered, but my characters with travel powers will too so I don't see that as a valid complaint against me either.