Illusion, Plant or Mind with just about any secondary = very easy and strong soloing controller. Just remember at the early levels to slot your single target hold (blind, strangler, dominate) with damage and to take deceive/confuse/seeds when it becomes available.
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Take a look at my Illusion/Radiation Guide, linked in my sig. Ill/Rad makes a great solo character which then teams easily. It is also a great "first controller" which is easy to understand the basics, but can be complex as you go up. Another great solo choice is Illusion/Storm, but Storm takes some practice to use well.|
Originally Posted by AllStar
I have come back after a long vacation and Im trying to find a character that I really enjoy playing. My experience with CoX has always been with tankers. This time back I have started to look at the other AT and I think I want to try a controller next. What would be a good solo controller? I will be teaming sometimes but with a family my play time is erratic at best. Im sorry if this has been asked before but I cant find anything on it that isnt kinda old. All the guides I could find are from really old issues. Thank you for all your help.
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I would say the best solo controllers in low levels are Illusion, Plant, Grav and Mind. Fire is great solo in upper levels, but it is a bit of work getting there. Mind is a great solo build in lower levels, but the damage does not ratchet up in upper levels like other controllers. Grav has good single target damage, but lacks AoE control. Plant has good AoE control, but lacks single target damage. Illusion starts with good single target damage, and then gets more damage with its pets.
Earth and Ice are low damage sets, great for teaming but very slow to solo.
For secondaries, Radiation, Storm and Kinetics are best for a solo player. Rad is is my favorite as it is very flexible. Storm is visually fun, has great tools and adds damage in the later levels. Kinetics mostly forces you into melee, and doesn't develop until later levels -- but Transfusion (heal), Siphon Power and Siphon Speed really help in those low levels.
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
Looking at Mids I would assume that Gravity would be the best primary for solo (I actually thought you were going to tell me that) am I wrong in thinking this? Thank you for the help 
I guess I was posting the above when you posted LM. Thank you for your input. I may have to make more than one to see what I like the best .
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I always encourage making lots of alts, as different people have different preferences.|
Originally Posted by AllStar
Looking at Mids I would assume that Gravity would be the best primary for solo (I actually thought you were going to tell me that) am I wrong in thinking this? Thank you for the help
I guess I was posting the above when you posted LM. Thank you for your input. I may have to make more than one to see what I like the best . |
Gravity is a set that I tried many times, but I couldn't get into it until I fairly recently got my Grav/Storm up to higher levels. While it has several hard-hitting powers (Propel in particular), it really isn't that fast because the powers are slow to animate. More importantly, it lacks in AoE control to keep you safe while you pound away on single targets. This is why I feel it goes well with Storm, which has several AoE protective powers like Snow Storm and Hurricane.
Illusion is a great solo set because it has several ways to protect yourself while you are taking down foes. In low levels, Deceive is wonderful. You can Deceive two or more foes, and then take the third down with your attacks of Blind-Spectral Wounds. Also, Illusion does a lot more damage than it appears in Mids -- Spectral Wounds has a chunk of "spectral damage" which heals back after a few seconds. However, if you can defeat the foe before the "heal back," you get to keep that damage. Read my guide for the details. Once you get to level 18, Phantom Army makes a HUGE difference in the effectiveness of your character.
Plant starts to shine at level 8, when you get Seeds of Confusion. Seeds+Roots allow you to take down a large group with damage over time. Roots does twice the damage of other AoE immobilize powers. But single tougher foes are a problem.
Mind has Confuse (same thing as Deceive), a really nice early attack chain of Dominate-Mesmirize-Levitate, and some AoE control in Mass Hypnosis, a sleep. Sleeps work well solo, but are far less useful on teams. So, Mind is a great set solo in low levels.
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
To me, the strongest solo Controller that still "feels" like a Controller is Plant. Something like Plant/Radiation in particular.
Illusion is a great set but is almost like a different AT. That's part of why I love Controllers; they are a mixed bag of possibilities. You said you like Tankers, and there definitely is a lot of tanky-ness in Illusion, although its your pets who take the hits instead of you.
Mind Control is a great solo set you might like if the reason you like Tankers is that you you want to be the first person in the fight. Mind/Storm, in particular, can play a tanker-ish role in the sense that you can snipe mezzes at people before the group charges in, and herdicane them when you're solo.
Fire Control has a lot of overlap with Tankers too, in the sense that its always in the middle of things. The flip side is that you are also frequently dead if you're not careful. 
I would recommend Gravity - my first solo Controller and fiorst 50 was a Grav/Emp. Even with a relatively bad soloing secondary I did well thanks to the great single target attack chain.
For the first 20 levels Propel is a godsend - it has better damage-pre-endurance than any other Controller attack and also benefits your end recovery by having a long animation time.
From there, its a short hop to 26 when you finally get a good AoE control, so I'd say Gravity's problem time is really 20-27 compared to other controllers.
I'd shy away from Earth and Ice - they're low damage sets.
And picking a secondary with some -Def (eg Rad or Storm) will allow you to leverage Sand of Mu vet power, which does way more damage than any Controller attack.
Ill and Fire with /rad and /storm, or Plant with /storm and /ta. Others certainly work, but I would look at those first.
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Gravity is OK but not great.|
Originally Posted by AllStar
Looking at Mids I would assume that Gravity would be the best primary for solo (I actually thought you were going to tell me that) am I wrong in thinking this? Thank you for the help
I guess I was posting the above when you posted LM. Thank you for your input. I may have to make more than one to see what I like the best . |
Plant, Fire and Illusion are your best options.
Plant with Storm, Rad or Kin
Fire agian with Storm, Rad or Kin. I'd also include Forcefields although it takes off a little later with Dispersion Bubble and Imps. Fire does great damage already and FF makes the Imps very survivable, Dispersion bubble gives you Mezz protection and good defence that you can stack with the fighting pool.
Illusion with Rad, Storm or Kin
There are other good combos but these are the best IMO.
L50s: Tanks: Cryofission - Ice/EM - Dr Celsius - Fire/Ice - Saint George - SD/SS | Controllers: Psichosis - Ill/Kin - Major Chaos - Ill/Stm | Scrappers - Neutron Crusader - DM/SR
Currently Levelling: Angelic Blade - BS/WP Scrapper | Seeds of Destruction - Plant/Kin Controller
I found Illusion and Fire to be nice primaries for soloing.
The fastest soloing character I've ever had was a Fire/Storm. Its also an active sets that puts you right in tight with mobs with Hot Feet and Fire Imps melting them away. Of course, I'm partial to Storm. So, I'm a bit biased.
Having said that, combinations with Storm are quite powerful, but require a learning curve to get the most out of it. Still, I couldn't pass up the combo of defense/resist debuff with the damage output of Fire. I was able to solo my way through Terra Volta on street sweeps from lvl 25 through 30, and advanced quickly doing so.
Just my 2-cents.
Stormistress
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Originally Posted by AllStar
Looking at Mids I would assume that Gravity would be the best primary for solo (I actually thought you were going to tell me that) am I wrong in thinking this? Thank you for the help
I guess I was posting the above when you posted LM. Thank you for your input. I may have to make more than one to see what I like the best . |
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Originally Posted by Local_Man
I always encourage making lots of alts, as different people have different preferences.
Gravity is a set that I tried many times, but I couldn't get into it until I fairly recently got my Grav/Storm up to higher levels. While it has several hard-hitting powers (Propel in particular), it really isn't that fast because the powers are slow to animate. More importantly, it lacks in AoE control to keep you safe while you pound away on single targets. This is why I feel it goes well with Storm, which has several AoE protective powers like Snow Storm and Hurricane. .... Mind has Confuse (same thing as Deceive), a really nice early attack chain of Dominate-Mesmirize-Levitate, and some AoE control in Mass Hypnosis, a sleep. Sleeps work well solo, but are far less useful on teams. So, Mind is a great set solo in low levels. |
I would also agree with what Local_Man has says about Mind Control which has a nice mix of damage and control. I paired mine with Trick Arrow which provides some extra control along with a boost to damage from the -resistance powers and Oil Slick. My fav tactic while solo on my Mind/TA is to stealth sleep the mob which then allows me to use Disruption Arrow, Glue Arrow, Oil Slick and Fireball without being attacked.
Member of GGRRR, a SG on Defiant - check out our website - GGRRR
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
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For solo, I would look at:
Fire/Rad - earliest bloomer, this pair actually starts rocking at lvl 4 and never stops. I found it takes some practice to make it team well though.
Plant/Storm - another early bloomer, lots of fun, very safe, great synergy.
Illusion/Storm - most capable controller I have for any and every situation, this one has what you need to get the job done. Not slow to start, but really doesn't start to take your breath away till 21ish. After that it is jaw-dropping good.
Grav/Storm - I am not a big fan of Gravity for the most part because I feel it lacks in control compared to other primaries. Paired with /Storm however, the synergy is remarkably good. This one take off at lvl 6 and just keeps getting better.
I tend to solo a lot and /Storm gives both extra control and high damage potential, which is why I tend to be such a fan of the set. It works as well on teams as solo, and once you learn what NOT to do on teams has no real downsides.
I have come back after a long vacation and Im trying to find a character that I really enjoy playing. My experience with CoX has always been with tankers. This time back I have started to look at the other AT and I think I want to try a controller next. What would be a good solo controller? I will be teaming sometimes but with a family my play time is erratic at best. Im sorry if this has been asked before but I cant find anything on it that isnt kinda old. All the guides I could find are from really old issues. Thank you for all your help.