For AR, EM or MM?

I have seen a bunch of love for the synergy between AR and EM due to the whole boost range + cone goodness and also the ST stun factor.

I looked at some others talk of MM, but there's a lot less talk, it seems really good with subdual being almost as godly as a web nade for leveraging ignite (slightly slower animation, no minus fly and, not sure if this is entirely bad, no -kb) and handy tools like world of confusion.

Can someone go over all the pros and cons of the sets so I can do a lil side by side, if it's not too much trouble, of course.

In a word, "yes."

EM or MM will both be good with AR.

I personally haven't played AR/MM; I love my AR/EM, but MM has some good synergy, too, like Subdue > Ignite, and PScream for use with the AR cones. Having played Rad/MM also, I can tell you that the stun from PSW isn't as reliable for stacking with a ST stun (Cosmic Burst + PSW) as guaranteed stuns from EM are (Beanbag + Total Focus or Stun). And honestly I doubt that Drain Psyche and PSW and WoC give AR what it really wants the way Boost Range does--my Rad/MM is built for S/L defense and is a PBAoE blapper, with saturated Drain Psyche, Irradiate, PSW, Neutron Bomb and the ability to recover instantly from Atomic Blast with a big enough DP buff, so I just stay in melee range wrecking stuff with PBAoEs... AR would be happier at standoff range firing range-boosted cones IMO, preferably with softcapped ranged defense.

But like I say, either one will have strengths you can play to.

Energy Melee has Boost Range and stuns (with Power Boost to extend them), plus very good single target melee damage to complement AR's heavy AoE focus. It also has Conserve Power if you need it.

Mental Manipulation has more AoEs to stack with the ones you already have (including one with a stun), an immobilize to use with Ignite, a single target Fear, a PBAoE set mule... er, confuse, and a significant regen / recovery buff.

Both have a version of Build Up.

I'd suggest Mental if you want mitigation and even more AoE goodness, or Energy if you want to maximize your existing cones and need more single target damage for bosses. Energy can keep a single boss stunned pretty much forever (especially with Beanbag added in) while delivering high melee damage to him, while Mental deals well with large numbers of minions but doesn't have much single target damage. If you have a high recharge build I'd definitely suggest Mental since you can keep Drain Psyche up most of the time for some serious regen and frequent use of PSW.

Though if you want something really funny, get Boost Range and slot some Range/Damage Hami-Os in Full Auto... nothing like a 170+ foot range Full Auto.

It's not entirely relevant, but I was considering building an AR/EM PvP sniper (for teams of course)

Boost Range + Sniper Rifle (slotted with Dam/Range Hami-Os) +Stealth = a sniper that can fire from outside most people's visual range, with an attack that gives no indication where it came from (i.e. no telltale trail leading back to your position)

It won't be a PvP god or anything, but it'd be fun to mess with people with.

AR/EM has quite a bit of synergy if you don't mind redraw.

EM is better than MM simply because of Boost Range (oh, and because EM's melee attacks help AR's lack of single-target damage).

I just made an AR/Ice. SO far i like. I'm thinking IcePatch>Ignite>Flamethrower>Shiver>Full Auto. Not sure how it'll work. Im only 11 atm but Chillbain>Slug>Ice Sword seems nice for now.