Good team oriented controller?

Hi folks,

I've never built a controller before and was hoping folks could direct me to a good build for a team oriented character.

My main priorities are team buffing and of course, good controls that reduce incoming damage to the team.

I'm really flying blind on this one. I'm thinking perhaps stone/kin? Whats really makes me scratch my head is what I should be slotting for with a controller.

Any advice or even links to advice is appreciated!

Earth/Rad is a great all around, swiss army knife kind of build.

There are so many good team-oriented Controllers that it's hard to recommend any one kind. Earth/Anything is going to be very team oriented in general.

What I'd basically recommend for your first ever support Controller is picking any primary except Ice or Gravity Control. Ice Control is not bad; I just consider it a harder set to adjust to than the other primaries for a first time, team oriented build. Gravity Control on the other hand I am not a fan of at all and find extremely lacking as a set.

Of the remaining sets, Plant Control is probably the easiest to play for a newbie because of its combo of AoE mezz/damage. Illusion Control is also pretty easy, but plays more like a Mastermind than a "Controller" in a lot of ways. Mind Control is an odd set, that, while extremely effective, relies on good timing and sometimes complicated interplay between powers/stealth. Fire Control is a damage set with one really good AoE mezz; lower on mitigation in general, and sometimes high in risk. Electric Control is a hard to describe set that tends, in my experience, to be hit or miss, but is not quite as difficult to leverage as Ice Control.

For secondaries, they are all fairly team-oriented. Storm Summoning may be the least so, however, because on teams you'll probably avoid using several of the powers.

As MM said, Earth/Rad is a great team-oriented first controller. You can stay at range (unlike Kinetics), and debuff while providing outstanding AoE control.

Take a look at my Earth/Rad guide. I still need to update it with IO slotting, but the basics and concepts are still valid.

My Plant/Emp is possibly my favourite Team Support character. She was the main character I played during City of Dual Pistols and stormed through levels. I've never even got grief for not having the heavy heal or the rez.

Plant is nice because, like Illusion, it can be pretty hands free and works best from range. Earth is obviously the same (my Earth/Fire domi is also brilliant on teams). With all 3 you can lay down a control or two and then spend your time working your secondary.

Ice and Fire I'd tend to avoid simply because they have powers which encourage melee play which mightn't be ideal for a first time controller focusing on team support.

Grav and Mind I'd also consider skipping as both tend to have a lot of single target clicky powers and less AOE hard control.

Rad is obviously very good, and also works incredibly well if you're solo. Emp can make your teammates godly but solo it can be a bit annoying as your strongest buff is mostly wasted on a pet. Cold and Thermal are very good options too for a Team focused build.

I'd recommend Earth/FF as long as you don't mind buffing.
Good control and the -Def in Earth makes hard targets easy to hit, at the same time your team mates defence will be close to the cap.
People have recommended Earth/Rad and although it's a very effective combo it does pull a lot of aggro due to all the AoE.