Need help choosing!

First off hello all.

I'm recently returning after a long time away. I played from launch till about issue 4, then took off, coming back to try out villains around issue 11, then taking off again.

Now I'm back and looking to start another villain just having a hard time choosing. I know 100% I want to make a Fire/* corruptor.

My only problem is I can't decide between kin and dark as a secondary. I have 2 kins hero side and definitely know how amazing they can be in the hands of capable players for teams.

I have buff botting down to second nature for speed boost/fulcrum shift and am 100% ok with being that guy on the team. My concern however is that Kin might be a bit too busy to focus on damage dealing, which is what I really want to do.

Also concerned that while solo the kin secondary is not going to be able to provide enough mitagation even with the use of defensive powers such as tough/weave/ancillary epic/pool shields to keep tempo with what I am accustomed to. Dark has a lot of that survivability built into it, but at the loss of the added damage/endurance/speed benefits.

I haven't been able to find much about Fire/Kins so I am not sure if it is reasonable to approach it as a suitable build for mainly solo but teaming when I can find it (since I have been reading server pops have dwindled).

Fire/Dark however there is tons of info on, and it sounds great. I just know how much good kins are loved on teams and am a bit concerned dark wouldn't be as well received in comparison.

Any thoughts/info/help from people with level 50 Fire/Kin experience?

Both sets are small/large spawn solo friendly at 50.
Both Sets have a lot to offer teams.

For leveling Dark has more of an advantage.
For end game Kin's do more damage.

It's a coin flip really.

Unless it absolutely has to be one or the other, I'd make both

They're both incredibly powerful characters. Don't worry about the Fire/Kin doing lots of damage because of how busy Kin is, it just means you need to prioritize. For me on my Rad/Kin, that means I trim down my attacking to just my best attacks. On a Fire/Kin, this would be Blaze, Fireball and RoF.

It is true that Kin doesn't really provide much in the way of mitigation, but I disagree about the pools bit. With Scorpion Shield, Weave and moderate defense bonuses you can easily softcap the smashing/lethal defense of your character. This will give you absurd levels of survivability.

In terms of how loved they are on teams, everyone loves Kin. People know Dark is really good and a lot of people really like it, but it's just not as loved as Kin.

Honestly, I'd say it comes down to what you do more. If you team more, go /Kin. If you solo more, go /Dark.

Ideally, make both.

(shamless plug: I've got guides for /Kin and /Dark in my sig if you want to take a look)

i have a fire/dark at 25 and a fire/kin at 41. Like you said fire/kin is very busy. But you only need a few attacks, fireball, rof, and blaze to mop everythign up. My fire/dark is only 25 like i said but i love it. Only 2 debuffs to apply so you can get right to the killin'. Another secondary that you may want to try is /rad. I have a rad/rad at 34 that is alot of fun, only lacking fire power. Paired with fire it would be awesome, and everyone loves a /rad. Their debuffs are amazing and you get AM to help the team.