best to worst damage types ?

dunno if this has been asked but i'm curious whats the best to worst types of damage
i've been playing mainly classes that use lethal damage and i read its highly resistant later on to most mobs and i'm wonder if i should look at other types of damage.
looking for suggestions on melee/ranged classes along with this :-)

main hero is a lvl 28 dp/dev blaster
villians
grav/psi dom lvl 25
db/nin stalker lvl 22
demon/pain mm lvl 20

Well Fire Does alot of Damage out of all Range Toons and for Close Combat go with Energy, has some Stun Affect and cause alot of Damage, So make a Fire/Energy.

ok so what could i look for in high damage aoe types ?

oh ok thanks for clearing that up

IIRC negative is the least resisted, followed by fire. That said, there aren't many encounters where a particular damage type is severely reduced to the point of being ineffectual.

If you enjoy a toon that happens to do lethal damage then play it. In no way will it be unable to play the content effectively.

In this order:

Fire
Fire
Fire
Fire
Fire
Others


Ok Frosticus is probably right about the negative thing, but Fire does SO MUCH damage (like the base numbers on the powers) it kills anything really fast.

I think my 24% defense lvl 31 fm/sd scrapper can solo at +2/x3 just because she kills things absurdly fast. My claws/sr can do that too (solo at this setting), but she has 33% def at level 30 so with 1 small purp she's softcapped to melee/ranged, meaning she's MUCH less squishy.

And lethal doesn't make so much difference. The only time I recall my damage type was really sucky, like, ridiculous, was when I was on a rad/psy defender (who soloes very well) and I had to kill an animated stone. I basically did crap damage to the thing even with the rad toggles and I was getting upset using only tk blast which did a little more damage than my pure psionic attacks. Then I used EM Pulse and for some reason it killed the creature lol, it's only supposed to damage robots afaik.

My DB/Elec and claws/sr do just fine in the damage department (I don't think I have any other lethal toons - oh I have a spines/dark I don't play much so I can't comment because I play her little due to my rage on spines' ST damage), even when it's resisted. But oh the damage my fire melee/fire blast toons put out.... it's beautiful lol.

i'm enjoying most of my toons i make so many one hit kills on my stalker its funny as hell when i take a lt or some bosses down although only at 22 but still its funny
the damage on my dp blaster is abit disappointing at times but its abit trickier
and my dominator can handle afew mobs at a time takes abit more of a strat though lol

Toxic is also the least resisted of all damage types, but there aren't any powersets based solely around it. Spines has a toxic AoE on most of its attacks and DP can use chemical ammo, but that's pretty much it.

As has been stated negative energy is the least resisted (iirc) with fire near the top as well, and lethal is the most resisted damage type in the game. However, remember it is not only about how much damage being resisted that makes enemies die fast. Fire or energy attacks may have longer animation times than lethal attacks, debuffing an enemies defense goes a long way in how quickly it will die, debuffing an enemies to hit will greatly increase your survivability. My Katana scrapper only does lethal damage but enemies drop like flies around him because he gets a huge Defense buff from divine avalanche and the attacks are quick and he can lay down a long chain of attacks faster than the enemy can dish it out.

That chart is sweet. Pretty much how I played my Fire/Energy blaster to 50.

Best damage - fire/* blaster or broadsword/ninjitsu stalker, although demon summoning is very overpowered right now
Worst damage - usually some kind of defender, controller or a */ice tank

@2Sly4U
Very not on the topic... but I've heard that name before and now I really want to hear Dr. Horribles Sing along blog again

On topic: Fire is your best bet. Most damage. Yup. (Nods sagely) If your also not afraid of going into melee mode (aka the lovely art of Blapping) then the secondary fire also have some nice added aoe damage.
Myself... Blaze is sort of cast on an armlength distance to an enemy.

And a very nice chart you posted Postagulous. But one thing i'd like to add to the final "Yes" (is everything on fire). "Run to the next group of enemy (what are you waiting for)"