Some suggestions...
Most Dmg Output
My vote is for fire/kin: pets which do the most damage + Fulcrum. Ill/kin is also good. Go for Fire Epic. Mind has strong (and not very resisted) damage but no pet.
Best Control
Earth as a primary for "hard" control, followed by Ice (?). Gravity is a bit light at first on AoE control, but has the best pet for control (Singularity). TA adds even more control but is not the strongest secondary. Ice/storm is a good combo. Taking Primal helps a lot if you want to boost control.
Lowest Endurance
Anything which has end recovery, so empathy (not my favourite for controllers), rad because of AM, or kin after Transference.
Most Balanced
I would say anything /rad since it allows you to solo safely and brings a lot to a team. FF and Sonic are really mainly team-oriented.
Remember that controllers are a bit slow at first (especially if you solo), become strong in the 20s, quite powerful after 32, and the strongest after 41 
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CoX 50s: <ill/rad> <ice/ice> <fire/kin> <grav/sonic> <ice/storm> <earth/kin> <kin/elec> <cold/psy> <thugs/dark> <fire/dark> <dark/elec> <night widow> <EM/ninj> <mind/icy>
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Best Control
Earth as a primary for "hard" control, followed by Ice (?). Gravity is a bit light at first on AoE control, but has the best pet for control (Singularity). TA adds even more control but is not the strongest secondary. Ice/storm is a good combo. Taking Primal helps a lot if you want to boost control.
[/ QUOTE ]Mind has most control, after that earth, then ice.
EDIT: Also, mind has the best AoE damage, while grav has best single target damage.
StatBoy is right on the money here.
/kin is the best secondary for dmgoutput + endurance (after lvl 35 when you get transferance)
/rad is probably the best allround secondary
/storm is the best secondary if you want to be in total control (but you can wave goodbye to your endurance)
Best combos imo would be
Earth/Rad or /Storm for control
Fire/Kin for damage (and pretty good control)
All controller primaries can be recommended and are all great fun but it takes patience and don't expect that you're all you can be by lvl 12...as all other ATs you first really begin to shine after you get SOs at lvl 22
If you're the impatient type I would probably recommend either illusion or mind as theyre the ones with the most lowlvl dmg.
SingStar:
"Extremists LOVE to fish to get us annoyed so we break the forum rules."
CRACK68:
"The origin of life wasn't planned either, should all life be declared a bug and wiped out?"
Lionsbane:
"You know me.Ever the realist"
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/kin is the best secondary for dmgoutput + endurance (after lvl 35 when you get transferance)
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Well imo best for endurance is empath, but dont really recommend it. If u plan to pvp a lot, go for storm. If it's intended to pve, depending on the primary (Fire looks cool with kins or ff, whereas Illu suits nicely with storm and rad, for instance).
I'd never pick ice unless as a concept build... Its holds are horrible, and pet sux incredibly
I think the most important thing it to find two powersets with synergy, so that the powers help each other. Will give a better all round controller than picking the most powerful primary and the most powerful secondry
"Well, they found my diary today.
They were appropriately appalled
at the discovery of the eight victims
They're now putting it all together.
Women wrapped in silk
with one leg missing
Eight legs, one body, silk,
spider, brilliant!"
Kin is better for end than empath, they get contant boost while empath only has stamina when RA is off, which is a big amount of time.
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I'd never pick ice unless as a concept build... Its holds are horrible, and pet sux incredibly
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Shame on you Dark!! 
Ice is a very nice set...standard (good) single target hold..nice AoE hold (which seems to have a faster recharge than other AoE holds (but thats maybe just me being silly?) and iceslick is just too damn nice. oh...no to mention that is has the nice secondary slow effect.
The pet isnt that good but overall fine. Has a hold, really nice melee dmg but pretty slow....much better than pooman from the earthset at least.
I haven't played mind to its full extent yet but from my experiences earth, fire and ice are by far the best control sets.
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Kin is better for end than empath, they get contant boost while empath only has stamina when RA is off, which is a big amount of time.
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/e agree
SingStar:
"Extremists LOVE to fish to get us annoyed so we break the forum rules."
CRACK68:
"The origin of life wasn't planned either, should all life be declared a bug and wiped out?"
Lionsbane:
"You know me.Ever the realist"
I'm actually pretty surprised nobody has suggested Grav as the best control, as after 32 you've got the pet doing holds, immobs etc, along with your own, so there's a lot of control. I would also think Mind is good, but its the lack of a pet that puts me off. Secondary I'm definately leaning towards Rad, Kin or Storm. Ice as a primary is just a definate no, I plain don't like the set.
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I'm actually pretty surprised nobody has suggested Grav as the best control
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The grav pet is very nice but otherwise the set really only has the basic controls - immob, hold, AOE immob, AOE hold. Now I love grav, I took a grav/ff to 50, but I can see where people are coming from. All the other sets have more control (or debuff) options available. In compensation we do get two dedicated single target attacks so damage output is pretty high (my hats off to anyone who can solo ice/*, two damaging powers until you get your pet, ouch).
"If there's anything worse than being sacrificed, it's being sacrificed incompetantly."
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Best Control
Earth as a primary for "hard" control, followed by Ice (?). Gravity is a bit light at first on AoE control, but has the best pet for control (Singularity). TA adds even more control but is not the strongest secondary. Ice/storm is a good combo. Taking Primal helps a lot if you want to boost control.
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Actually earths strong points are particularly soft control. And as Max has pointed out too Mind is defo the best in "hard" control.
Im on the same line as Archy and say earth/rad or earth/storm is best in terms of controlling and fire/kin in terms of raw damage, although fire/rad comes close in damage and is a lot safer combo to manage.
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Actually earths strong points are particularly soft control.
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With 2 holds, 2 immobs, a disorient, a knockback and a sleep, I stll think of Earth as 'hard' (think containment). For me, 'soft' is more what illusion does with deceive, decoys, invisibility, etc.
CoX 50s: <ill/rad> <ice/ice> <fire/kin> <grav/sonic> <ice/storm> <earth/kin> <kin/elec> <cold/psy> <thugs/dark> <fire/dark> <dark/elec> <night widow> <EM/ninj> <mind/icy>
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I'd never pick ice unless as a concept build... Its holds are horrible, and pet sux incredibly
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Shame on you Dark!!
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Hehe, I agree about ice pitch. It's a very useful power... as earthquake is on earth, bonfire on fire.... Slow secondary is nice but I think it doesnt cope with such a crappy hold. Main single hold, with 3 acc SOs, wont hold a boss -5 at first try, unless the boss is previously debuffed with another ice power (severl ice trollers tried to, and none could 
even with yellow inps), and that's something that i had never come across before with any other troller
hey - i am an ice/rad - and like the Mickey D's adveert says - i'm loving it!!
Jackie is ok - when used right.
Slick is amzing power. And holds are not bad. MOst Teams I hav played with hav really appreciated me. Must say that ice/rad is prob best played in team though, were slows and slicks keep mobs off balance. Damage output is relatively low; and hav found soloing difficult
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I'd never pick ice unless as a concept build... Its holds are horrible, and pet sux incredibly
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Shame on you Dark!!
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Hehe, I agree about ice pitch. It's a very useful power... as earthquake is on earth, bonfire on fire.... Slow secondary is nice but I think it doesnt cope with such a crappy hold. Main single hold, with 3 acc SOs, wont hold a boss -5 at first try, unless the boss is previously debuffed with another ice power (severl ice trollers tried to, and none could even with yellow inps), and that's something that i had never come across before with any other troller
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The single hold is just the same in every troller set but with different secondary effects. You shouldn't be able to hold a boss in one try...'cept if it crits which doesn't happen very often. Why should accuracy have anything to do with this?
PS: I'm not totally sure about this but it's seems to me that ice slick has a better chance of knockdown than earthquake. Maybe it's the same, but ice slick simply feels better
SingStar:
"Extremists LOVE to fish to get us annoyed so we break the forum rules."
CRACK68:
"The origin of life wasn't planned either, should all life be declared a bug and wiped out?"
Lionsbane:
"You know me.Ever the realist"
From my experiences playing a Mind controller, you definately appreciate hard controls when you can get them but knockdown is often more effective as it seems to hit more often (something like Ice Patch or that odd volcano thing Earth controllers get).
Other than that, decide early on whether you're a solo or support charcter build. I've built my controller as a support build, so I've got a lot of team buffs and my AoE controls are primary. A soloist would focus more on their self-enhacing powers and damaging attacks,
another tip for most controllers is; Accuracy, Hold Duration, Recharge and End Reduction
personally i'd forget damage until you get to a higher lvl. after all a controller is, for the most part, a support AT. Lockdown any aggro that the tank has missed or once the tank has grabbed the agro (i'm sure they will appreciate not getting hit), help out the Empath with the heals, buff your team mates with SB and Bubbles etc etc. oh yeah and dont forget to throw a few holds and lockdowns into the mix as well 
If play properly a controller can be the diffrence between a good team and a VERY good team.
As someone mentioned before, it is important to bear in mind whether or not you want a solo build, a team-player, or the middle-ground.
My mind/empath controller was primarily a soloist, and could solo just about any non-AV mission on Invincible (he reached level 50 before the AV->EB change, so I have yet to test him against EBs, but my guess is that he'll need a team - more so since he's been respec'd more for team support now).
Bearing in mind the mob size in a solo mission set at Invincible, it was almost always possible to defeat a mob without taking much damage, if at all. I found I could usually 3-shot three minions/LTs before Mass Hypnosis wore off.
Generally speaking, accuracy is king. Then you need to balance out the hold duration. For teamwork, damage is not really important - there'll be scrappers and blasters for that, so beef up the holds.
DREAMSHADOW
dark melee/regen scrapper
ALPHA CORTEX, mind/empath controller, lvl 50
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The single hold is just the same in every troller set but with different secondary effects. You shouldn't be able to hold a boss in one try...'cept if it crits which doesn't happen very often. Why should accuracy have anything to do with this?
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Well I dont have any problem holding bosses +3 or +4 with my other trollers (actually that's what kept me alive often, tbh), and with my ice/emp I really can't hold -5s.
I thought the critics was just for scrappers, but if u say holds do crit, then I've learnt something new.
... And I'm not sure I understand the last sentence about accuracy not having anything to do with success in holding a boss at first try... I'm quite possitive that the higher ur acc is, the more chances to effectively hold
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The single hold is just the same in every troller set but with different secondary effects. You shouldn't be able to hold a boss in one try...'cept if it crits which doesn't happen very often. Why should accuracy have anything to do with this?
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Well I dont have any problem holding bosses +3 or +4 with my other trollers (actually that's what kept me alive often, tbh), and with my ice/emp I really can't hold -5s.
I thought the critics was just for scrappers, but if u say holds do crit, then I've learnt something new.
... And I'm not sure I understand the last sentence about accuracy not having anything to do with success in holding a boss at first try... I'm quite possitive that the higher ur acc is, the more chances to effectively hold
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This has to do with Magnitude - if you want to Hold a target you have to overcome their Mag resistance to Holds (or whatever mezz applies).
All single target controller Holds have a Mag of 3, Bosses have a Mag resistance of 3 - this means it usually takes two appplications of a Hold to successfully Hold bosses. Controllers have a small chance to critical their Hold which increases it to a Mag of 4 which allows you (rarely) to Hold a boss with one hit. In general Minions have a Mag strength of 1, Lts a Mag strength of 2. The Mag principle applies to other mezz effects such as Stuns, Immobs, Fear, Sleep and so on.
The Accuracy of a Hold attack just determines whether you hit the target or not, if you successfully hit then the Mag is calculated - if you miss it doesn't matter how strong the Hold power is, you've missed.
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I'm actually pretty surprised nobody has suggested Grav as the best control
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The grav pet is very nice but otherwise the set really only has the basic controls - immob, hold, AOE immob, AOE hold.
[/ QUOTE ]Say hello to wormhole, AoE stun AND a placement tool.
So it looks like I'm heading either Earth, Grav or Mind. Still can't decide on a secondary yet.
i'd say storm, storm is a great set if you can lock them down first, helloooooo AoE 
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Total Cat @Stagefright
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From my experiences playing a Mind controller, you definately appreciate hard controls when you can get them but knockdown is often more effective as it seems to hit more often (something like Ice Patch or that odd volcano thing Earth controllers get).
Other than that, decide early on whether you're a solo or support charcter build. I've built my controller as a support build, so I've got a lot of team buffs and my AoE controls are primary. A soloist would focus more on their self-enhacing powers and damaging attacks,
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AFAIK Knockdown is considered overpowered at the moment thanks to the introduction of Rag Doll physics. The devs were going to reduce the amount of time it takes to recover from knockdown a few patches ago but we whined too much Go democracy.
I'd imagine its not forgotten though. Knockdown is lethal at the moment and I'd guess I7 might reintroduce that fix.
Right, so I've been looking into making a controller for a long time, and I've made a couple, but they never seem to perform right, and I only ever get em to about lvl 12. I was wondering if anyone could gimme some hints on powerset combinations for the best under the following categories:
Most Dmg Output
Best Control
Lowest Endurance
Most Balanced
Any other hints or tips would be greatly appreciated.