Gravity/TA has tons of control and the sets work really well together. I have one at about 27 right now and locking down everything in sight is a non-issue. He already feels extremely powerful, and I'm sure it only gets better with Singy.
If control is your only concern, and you absolutely need the most, Earth/TA has that title locked up, as dave_p said.
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Earth/TA. Lock thread. 
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Earth/Trick Arrow probably gets you the closest. I assume by lockdown you mean "stunned, held, confused or feared." Sleep is another factor in lockdown and can vary in usefulness tremendously.
If I had to rank the primaries purely on lockdown:
1) Earth
2) Mind (but relies on sleep, has no AoE immobilize)
3) Plant
4) Ice (but hard to rate, because -Recharge provides controls of its own, Arctic Air stops a lot of incoming damage, and the pet is a Controller himself instead of a Tanker like Earth has, making him somewhat more useful on teams)
5) Fire
6) Gravity (would score higher but for the fact that one of its mezzes, Dimension Shift, makes foes unkillable while they are mezzed)
7) Illusion
And the secondaries:
1) Trick Arrow
2) Storm, mostly via Freezing Rain and Thunder Clap. Lots and lots of knockback that is often useful solo but not so much on a team.
3) Radiation (becomes a more viable lockdown set when mixed with certain primaries, especially Ice or Fire)
4) Sonic (has a knockdown zone power, but the single target mezz suffers from same problem as Dimension Shift)
5) Force Field (arguable, lockdown is via knockback/knockdown)
None of the other secondaries provide lockdown to speak of.
Earth/TA!
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Earth? Really? ... Really?
And is grav that low? I just thought that singy was an extra controller. Doesn't that make a difference?
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don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
Mind/TA > Earth/TA
Every single power in Mind prevents incoming damage, if just for a few seconds (levitate)
Earth can't compete with that, 3 of it's 9 powers still let you get attacked.
No
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo
I think you underestimate our fools, sir.
Why /duel is a bad idea
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".
I prefer Earth to Mind, but Mind does have better lockdowns.
Telekinesis is uber, Total Domination trumps VG a bit, Terrify trumps earthquake, Mass Confusion is probably better than stoney to eliminate aggro to set up more controls. IMHO single target control > aoe immobs, and mind has 1 more ST control (confuse).
Earth has very nice stacking debuffs and is a bit more fun to play.
If I were going for a non concept total lockdown controller, I'd have to pick a mind storm set.
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson
Mind has 2 sleeps and a fear cone that allow enemies to fire back when attacked, IIRC. Mind is the one set I don't play, though.
Unless you don't plan on attacking the enemies while they are locked down?
Edit: I'm not saying one is better than the other. Earth and Mind each have plenty of control and both pair well with TA, since they each play well from range. I'm just tired of the argument that Sleep controls are "lockdown"
I'd say the four contenders you are looking at are Mind/TA Earth/TA Mind/Rad and Earth/Rad.
Storm does very well in the soft control department. But both TA and Rad mix in hard and soft controls, plus Emp/Emp arrow offer another huge AoE hold that helps you control from spawn to spawn. I'd lean more towards Rad because more +recharge means a more regular use of your long recharge AoE Powers.
I'd say Earth/TA. Mind/TA is close second. I have a Mind/TA myself, and find the lack of a fast Recharge hard mez AoE a bit of an issue at times. Terrify is great, but I think Stalagmites is better. Overall, it's think it has to be decided by play style. If you have the knack for TK and a team that knows when to let sleeping dogs lie, then Mind is probably better.
One bonus of Earth/TA is that Volcanic Gases can light Oil Slick.
Kosmos
Global: @Calorie
MA Arcs in 4-star purgatory: Four in a Row (#2198) - Hostile Takeover (#69714) - Red Harvest (#268305)
Safety, shmafety. If you want zero return fire, play Ill. 
Or... QS, EQ & VG can all be cast around corners/over walls (as can Glue, Disruption & OS Arrows). There's your zero return fire.
OSA & VG around a corner, add on EQ & QS for the hell of it, eat a sandwich. Take Arctic Mastery and drop Ice Storm also around the corner. If you only have half a sandwich, drop Disruption (same corner) to end the fight faster.
At least no one's arguing the /TA portion.
An Offensive Guide to Ice Melee
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At least no one's arguing the /TA portion.
[/ QUOTE ]
Pfft, you could eat that whole sandwich in the time it takes to animate 2-3 /TA clicks!
I don't argue /TA's lockdown capability, but for my inf the pacing and play of /storm and /rad is much better....
Earth/TA/Primal. Anyone that tells you something else is either doing so because they haven't played an Earth/TA or they have a particular bias or favortism of the other primary in question.
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
[ QUOTE ]
Earth/TA/Primal. Anyone that tells you something else is either doing so because they haven't played an Earth/TA or they have a particular bias or favortism of the other primary in question.
[/ QUOTE ]
It's the Primal part that makes me say Mind might compete. Every Mind power is boosted by PB.
Kosmos
Global: @Calorie
MA Arcs in 4-star purgatory: Four in a Row (#2198) - Hostile Takeover (#69714) - Red Harvest (#268305)
I'm new to blue side, but why isn't Plants in the conversation?
AoE Immob, Ranged AoE hold, Virtually Spammable AoE confuse, carrion creepers (EQ\Ices lick that follows u from spawn to spawn, tanks, and does damamge, oh and it grows in size to match the size of the spawn), and a bet that does -fly, -jump, and immobs.
Also, can Mind trollers kill alphas using sleep, or was that only a Dom thing?
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Also, can Mind trollers kill alphas using sleep, or was that only a Dom thing?
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Control Mass Hypnosis is Mag3 with a 50% chance for Mag4. So it will sleep Min/Lt all the time and Bosses half the time.
Kosmos
Global: @Calorie
MA Arcs in 4-star purgatory: Four in a Row (#2198) - Hostile Takeover (#69714) - Red Harvest (#268305)
[ QUOTE ]
Safety, shmafety. If you want zero return fire, play Ill.
Or... QS, EQ & VG can all be cast around corners/over walls (as can Glue, Disruption & OS Arrows).
[/ QUOTE ]
glue arrow requires LoS
No
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo
I think you underestimate our fools, sir.
Why /duel is a bad idea
Oh, I thought it was a targetted AoE. Haven't had it in my build for a while.
An Offensive Guide to Ice Melee
Was trying to decide between Plants/kin and plants/storm.
Settled on the plants/kin. I'm gonna be perma-grouped with a fire/fire blaster so I hope this works out for us. Can't help but feeling the /storm would be more fun overall, but the /kin seems more useful. Plus, I wanna shoot for perma carrion creepers, are they affected by fulcrum shift or siphon power?
not sure, but a little fun fact for the carrion creepers: if u have a defender on ur team, ur defender gets the end. discount for each carrion creeper, learned that in an ae arc one day 
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not sure, but a little fun fact for the carrion creepers: if u have a defender on ur team, ur defender gets the end. discount for each carrion creeper, learned that in an ae arc one day
[/ QUOTE ]
omg really? lol
no wonder the defenders are happy when i herd up 3 or 4 groups of romans on an ITF tower and lay down a creeper patch once they bunch up
I call it, the creeper forest
I think my plant/storm/stone is quite controlly, but probably not up there with earth/ta. fun combo though, definetly more damage
Combat Kangaroos, Justice Server. First 50's
Jirra Roo Plant/Storm/Stone/Musculature Controller
Combat Kangaroo Rifle/Energy/Mace/Spiritual Blaster
Kung Fu Kangaroo Martial Arts/Reflexes/Body/Spiritual Scrapper
Tribal Arc Shield/Elec/Mu/Spiritual Tanker
earth or ice do well at holding. TA for secondary for its add ons.
I'd like to make a controller that is as close to pure control as possible. What sets are best for this?
Assume that I don't care about damage, survivability, buffs/debuffs. I want to be able to lock down everything in sight. True this will really only work in a team, but that's what a controller is for.
I'm thinking Grav/TA because the grav pet is basically another 'troller and TA seems to have a few extra control powers to add.
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.