Best solo pve / pvp primary?

I know this must be asked a lot, but I didn't see any immediate threads, and I spent a decent while searching around and comparing the various guides and stats that were available, but it is pretty difficult to determine when all the information is in terms of severity (minor/moderate/heavy, etc) and not in terms of DPS.

It seems like, looking at the stats, that Mercs would be the best, at least at dishing out damage while still having some CC abilities ... even with a potentially gimpy medic (is it?).

Ranged seems like a good thing, as it should keep them near me and so under my supremacy buff and in range for Twilight Grasp heals moreso than the more melee-focused primaries (necro, ninja)...

Bots seem potentially gimped with their tier 2 pet being a healer? How do they compete with damage?

Anyway ... what are your thoughts on the best? I'll likely mostly solo PvE to level as I can only play at odd times, but love PvP as well.

Suggestions on a secondary would be useful as well, though I think I'm pretty sold on Dark.

Thoughts?

Thanks

Every Mastermind that has their pets and upgrade powers can solo missions while you are at the grocery store or running other errands. In PvE, it doesn't matter what you pick. You are going to kick major booty.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=139481
That thread has some discussion of PvP and Masterminds that you will find interesting.

I have found that as pets go the thugs are the best for DPS as every pet is geared to dishing out the hurt, this is even more true since you can slot the tier 2 pet to proc drop resists on target, perfect for PVP. Slotting them with the new pet recharge sets is great too, since you can whip them out for PVP damage very very quickly and cheaply.

I also find that the big debuff sets as secondary are great for pvp, dark, poison and storm come to mind. Add amazing damage at range to full to hit and defence/rsists debuff makes for a great PVP.

Interestingly enough, in this game at least, using the good PVP builds makes for excellent PVE as well.

I would go with thugs/dark or thugs/storm as the most versatile both ways. Having played both I can say with confidence that thugs/storm is my favourite.

Thanks for all the input. So, it definitely seems, as PvE shouldn't be an issue, I'm focusing on PvP effectiveness.

For primary, the consensus seems to be Thugs or Necro are the better ones, but Bots and Ninja are decent too.

For secondary, while Poison or Storm seem definitely interesting, I'm hesitant to give up the PBAoE heal, especially since it heals me as well (Poison and Storm heals are single-target and ally-only).

I guess I'm leaning towards Thugs/Dark then, at the moment...until I read another post that changes my mind

Took me a long while to decide on primary for my pvp MM but have learnt a bit from it I think.

1. If your secondary doesnt have a self heal then necro may be a good choice for life drain.

2. Melee minions seem to need more micro managing to get them to do the best damage as some always tend to stay at range. If you are going to add damage by using melee attacks from patron powers melee minions are good as you will keep body guard up more easily.

3. Im happy with my choice of bots as they can annoy with stuns, have range so less micro managing and the regen debuff prevent interruptable powers being used for 30s. So many people have complained how annoying this to fight against (ninja poison dart may have the same effect).

4. Thermal secondary is coming out and will probably be the best 1v1 secondary (purely subjective though, just my opinion).

5. Anyone who says any MM is easy to kill must be fighting MMs who use aggressive 24/7.

Just what Ive found so far, hope it helps. MMs imo are probably the best 1v1 AT but they do suffer from mobility, especially in zones.

My Bots/FF MM is incredibly tough. Once you get Assault Bot (l26 I think) and then again with the final upgrade (l32?) they become very potent. FF is all about controlling the battlefield. I can take on swarms of enemies without problems. Well, minus the terrible AI forcing my robots outside the protective bubbles. Seriously, fix the AI! I want a stay here and fire command that works!

EDIT: Oh, my major weakness is AoE DoTs like fire slicks and such. The robots run out of it in every direction and usually outside my dispersion field/force bubble.

Another nice thing about the level 32 upgrade for necro: ALL of your pets get Life Steal (or whatever it's called), so they're all a bit more self-sufficient at that stage. With Dark Servant at 38, you can plunk that next to the Lich (who generally stays at range), walk into melee range yourself with everyone else, and watch as the two of you spam the snot out of Twilight Grasp.

I've PvP'd mine (necro/dark/soul), generally about 50/50 against tanks, eat most /regen stalkers and scrappers (with -regen on TG and HT). Psi is necro's big weakness.

Necro/dark is also the only pairing with 8 pets (not counting Gang War ), 6 permanent and 2 temps.