I'm in a 'Defendery' mood today...

I'm feeling the urge to make a new hero today. Defenders are looking nice to me, as always. However, I'm in need of a little help, as I can't really figure out what kind of Defender to go with.

As to what I'm looking for, the most important thing to me is solo capability, as I'll mainly be playing with myself or one to two other players outside of the occasional TF. Damage, damage buffs, and resistance debuffs will definitely be necessary. Less important is a bit of a Controller-y feeling. For obvious reasons, I like being able to take enemies out of the battle and maul them at my leisure. The 'Oops! You're out of endurance!' sound bothers the living hell out of me, so it's preferable that endurance isn't an issue post-Stamina. I can, and have, worked around it before (My third 50 was an Ice/Storm Controller. Goodbye end bar), but I'd rather not have to. I don't mind if it doesn't really begin to shine until its twenties, but I will not wait until my tier nines to be effective.

I'd like to avoid /Sonic and /Elec, as I've already played them and have no interest in repeating secondaries. I am interested in /Ice and /Arch, especially combined with Kin/ and Storm/. TA/ also sounds fun, although I've heard it works better for Controllers. I'm pretty open to most combinations, though, so long as I can find a common theme in them.

Well, you don't want to give Sonic another whirl, but I found that my Son/Son gal was easily the most soloable of my defenders.

If end is a concern, you can't go wrong with Rad/ or Kin/.

I really enjoyed my Cold/Ice defender 1 through 50, but played primarily on teams. She's got those lovely ice holds, good debuffs, Heat Loss for end regen in the late levels, and solid damage aoe and single target.

I deleted my Kin/Rad version of Cobra Lily when Plant became available Blue Side, but she was a lot of fun to play back in the day.

I have an Archery Blaster, but I've heard that damage is a little light for defenders until you get to Rain of Arrows at level 38. My only experience with TA is on my Illusion/TA controller, so can't really shed any light on it for defenders. I can't help but think if you stick through to Oil Slick Arrow, you'd have some mighty tasty damage with that power.

My last Defender project was a Rad/Rad and I really love her. Tricked her out with IOs and three Hami Enzyme Exposures in Radiation Infection and she's a lil perma AM/perma Hasten monster. She's become my default TF go to gal with her recall/veng/fallout/mutation combo for tasty buffs, damage and debuffs. Her solo damage isn't bad either combined will all the utility and debuffs Rad/Rad has to offer.

My 40ish Dark/Dark gal has had a long progression towards 50. I love her costume, her concept and her name. She's fun on a team, but soloing with her can often be painful.

I still have my old FF/Psi defender from when the game went retail and she's languishing at lvl 40 right now. I pull her out every now and then, but she got set on the back burner once I caught the Controller bug.

I'd recommend trying out several combos and see which one 'rings your bell'. I've always gone with strong concept builds on my defenders but you could switch up primary and secondary combos and find one to your liking.

It sounds to me like a Dark/Ice might suit you. No damage buffs except for Aim, but solid resistance debuff, and very controllerish. I've been thinking about making one, but I'm already playing a Dark/Dark and a Storm/Ice, so it might be a bit much for now.

I teamed quite a bit with a Dark/Ice while leveling up my Cold/Ice. She seemed to be quite powerful and really enjoyed that combo.

Could be worth a whirl, eh?

You just answered your own question. I'd suggest Kin/Ice, it fits all your requirements...they are already sets your'e considering... you get solo ability (self heal and Repel are nice), good damage, damage buff (Siphon Power, Fulcrum shift), and debuffs... as virtually all of your powers TAKE power from your enemy and give power to you. It's a good pairing.

Hmm. Both Dark/Ice and Kin/Ice do seem like nice combinations, and I already have a character concept for both. Guess I'll flip on it.

I wouldn't mind more suggestions, though, as I'm a bit of a Defender junkie and I could always use a reason to make another alt. :P

The support classes are my favorite to play. I get a somewhat sadistic satisfaction in turing me and my team into a raging death machine while my enemies just kind of wimper in a corner.

I can see the synergy in Dark/Ice. Aside from it combining two heavily control-focused powersets together, Tar Patch and Petrifying Gaze works quite nicely with /Ice. Tar Patch further slows everything within Ice Storm + Blizzard, helping ensure that everything takes the full extent of the damage, while simultaneously debuffing their resistance, making the damage of the two togeather absolutley ridiculous. Petrifying Gaze gives you a second hold to stack with Freeze Ray at a much earlier level than Bitter Freeze Ray. It's also an overall better hold than Bitter Freeze Ray, allowing you to skip it. Plus, the combination of -ToHit and -Recharge really help to lessen the incoming damage.

Hmm. Depending on the +Recharge needed to make the build effective, I may consider TA/Dark. I tend to like cheaper builds since I usually just hop onto a new character when they reach 50, outside of doing stupid things like unleashing an HVAS an the Romans on the wall.

By the way, thanks for the suggestions, all.