I chose to go with Ice/* to pair with */Kin specifically because of Arctic Air (after I read about it). I figured */Kin would be a very busy set, and it is, so I needed something "armor-ish" to keep me alive while I was in melee. Arctic Air fit the bill.
Teams are the number one killer of soloists.
Ice and Earth are the lowest damage controller sets . . . soloing with either will take a very long time.
Ice, because AA puts you in melee, has a little more synergy with Kin than earth . . . but Earth control is overall a little better than Ice. Both are better on teams than solo. If you want to solo, though, Earth's -Defense helps those vet and temp powers hit more reliably.
Don't get me wrong, Ice is a fun set, and because AA makes it a melee set, it has some unique aspects. So, try an Ice/Kin, it should work well . . . to solo at all, make sure you take Chilblain and slot it up for damage, slot Block of Ice for damage and make use of any vet powers you have.
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Ice doesn't make huge blocks of stone all over the room, and it doesn't make constant rumbling sounds and shaking video. It is much easier on the senses, eyes and ears.
Ive solo'd both.
Earth allows Sands of Mu (and the Blackwand or Nemesis staff) to hit reliably.
Thats a huge boon for the solo Earth Controller, especially if you can also up the recharge on Sands of Mu with Siphon Speed..
I've got a lot of patience for solo-ing lower damage characters, but Ice/Kinetics really drove me nuts sometimes.
I would personally choose Earth/Kin, but that's because I really like Earth Control.
Both sets are pretty light in terms of damage, and both pets do best in melee, if I recall (I don't have any experience with Jack Frost). What I like best about the Earth/Kin combo is that you can heal and max out the damage on a pet that already has pretty impressive Resistance, making it strong, fast, and durable.
Also, Earth/Kin would only need to saunter into enemy melee range in order to buff its pet. With Ice, you need to get pretty close for Arctic Air to work.
I'll admit, though, that I see a lot more Ice/Kin controllers than Earth/Kin Controllers. There might be something to it that I'm missing.
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Earth gets my vote for numerous reasons the best being -def. Seriously, your heal needs to hit to work. With all that -def it stands a much better chance of working, with less accuracy over all.
It also helps Fulcrum Shift, Siphon Speed, Siphon Power, and transference.
Ice does get AA, but its semi-reliable ( I have it on an Ice dom and a troller) its not as functional as it appears on paper.
Earth gets a longer lasting hold (best there is in a primary). It also gets a stun which can take out most mobs.
Siphon Power is great for low damage sets too. It helps pick up the pace a bit.
Siphon power speeds up all those long recharges so you will always have a mob-nuetering power available.
Neither is greatly superior but I think the -def helps out Kinetics in ways no other set really does. However Ice does play in melee more, which is why I think you see it more. Most Earthers like to keep their distance.
I took and Earth/Kin to 50 last year.
It was a blast. Slot the single immob and the single hold for damage, and take air superiority if for some additional damage if you solo much. Air Sup works like a charm and does great containment damage with speedy recharge out of the box.
Soloing her wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It was slow, but steady, and the def debuff in the earth powers helps those vet attacks land great.
I took an Ice/Thermal to 41 and just really couldn't make myself like the Ice Primary. But that's a personal affinity more than a comment on the set. I found the stone pet much better than Jack by a mile.
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I just got an ice/kin to 50 last night. That's just about my favorite toon out of all of them. I have had earth controllers before, but never got one to 50 or IO'd it out or anything. So I'll just talk about ice and not so specifically about ice vs. earth.
For one, I will say that artic air really ain't all that. It's nice and helps, but it seems to take a little while to activate, so bad guys often get a shot of, and it just doesn't seem to work all the time. It helps, but it is meant to be used in conjunction with other controls to keep you safe. It's not complete lockdown melee armor like some would think. However, I actually took repel from the kin set, and run it with arctic air and rely on transferrence to help my blue bar. That truly does amount to melee armor.
Soloing pre-Jack was so bad I just didn't do it. We have the AE these days, and as a kin, you will always get a team.
Now earth does have the -def, and this will definitely help the use of vet powers, but the kin powers will hit often enough that the -def isn't going to seriously help in most circumstances. You'll just want to make some adjustments to your playstyle. Instead of targeting off the EB for your heals, maybe off the LT. But really, I play like a standard controller, locking fown the bosses first, and my heals generally hit. I really would not make the -def into the reason that you take earth. Ice's slows are far superior as a secondary effect, if you ask me. Earth does have some better controls with the longer-lasting hold and whatnot, but trust me, ice can lock down anything.
The chief problem with ice is that the immob powers of other controllers often nullify the effect of ice's cornerstone power, ice slick. I know dark actually doesn't, and perhaps other AoE immobs do not, but fire cages for sure prevents ice slick from working. I hate fire/kins with a passion. Those players are about the dumbest in the bunch, as a general rule. But in situations where other controllers are mucking things up, I pretty much just play kin and spam shiver. Shiver is completely awesome and can shut just about group down.
Someone really did hit on the fact that ice/kin is a close in and personal controller. You will want to move in close so that the melee teammates get the benefit of siphon power, and to get the double potency of fulcrum shift. So ice does synergize really well with kin. Don't buy into the hype about kin missing too much with ice. It doesn't happen.
But to the other part of your question, if you want to solo from the early levels, you have to go fire/kin.
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.
I'm looking for something that can solo, but will team well. I'm hoping to make it feel pretty rugged.
I'm leaning towards ice/kin because Artic Air should provide a good layer of mitigation that will allow the kin to be his clicky self in melee-ish range.
But what do you think? Is Fire/Kin that much better? I would still think Ice/Kin would be the hardiest, am I wrong?