Earth/Rad is still my favorite "all around" controller. It was also the first of my controller 50s. Take a look at LocalMan's Earth/Rad guide here. It's pretty comprehensive and should be a good place to start.
And yes it would be a nice duo partner with a fire/fire blaster.
@Mental Maden @Maden Mental
"....you are now tackle free for life."-ShoNuff
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Hey there!
I was wondering if this is a good combination? I think I read EC has some of the the top control, and I know RE is pretty good. Do they synergize well together?
Also, how does the Animate Stone work? Is he like a tanking pet? (I think I saw that somewhere.)
My friend and I are rerolling for hopefully the last time for a while. He's making a fire/fire blaster. Will we have a pretty decent duoing system? (I set them up, he knocks them down is my thinking...)
Any not-to-miss powers here? Thanks for any replies!
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Mental Maden beat me to it. Take a look at my guide, linked in my sig. It not only has descriptions of the powers and a suggested build, but detailed strategy suggestions, too. It is a bit long, but every word is vital to your very existance . . . 
Earth/Rad synergize very, very well. Personally, I feel that Rad is the best secondary for Earth. The ToHit Debuff really makes a difference, since many of your AoE control draw aggro.
Animate Stone (a/k/a Rocky, Stoney, or Poo-man) has become an excellent pet, much better since the recent changes to his AI. My guide does not have these recent changes. Now, he throws a rock from range, then usually closes to melee to use Stone Fist and Seismic Smash (instead of Stone Mallet). Seismic Smash has a hold in it. He has high resistances, and you can make those resistances better by planning to put one or two of the +10% Resistance for Pets procs in. Your heal in Rad will easily take care of the little bit of damage he takes. He does very good damage and draws a lot of aggro.
You should plan to skip Stone Prison, Salt Crystals, Choking Cloud and Fallout. Stone Prison and Fallout actually can be useful. Mutation is skippable if you really want to fit in Leadership or something like that, but you really don't need it -- your -Defense makes Tactics unnecessary, and EF from Rad will give you a damage boost. (And Mutation is nice to have if you partner with a blaster -- they tend to be suicidal.)
Earth/Rad and a Fire/Fire Blaster are a great combo. Your control and -Defense will make his AoE damage powers much more effective. The main thing you lack is damage, which he will have plenthy of.
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
Hey there!
I was wondering if this is a good combination? I think I read EC has some of the the top control, and I know RE is pretty good. Do they synergize well together?
Also, how does the Animate Stone work? Is he like a tanking pet? (I think I saw that somewhere.)
My friend and I are rerolling for hopefully the last time for a while. He's making a fire/fire blaster. Will we have a pretty decent duoing system? (I set them up, he knocks them down is my thinking...)
Any not-to-miss powers here? Thanks for any replies!