For primary I'd say Earth Control. It's got a very nice selection of hard and soft controls plus the defense debuffs it tosses out (especially in Quicksand) helps the rest of the team if they are having accuracy problems.
Secondary is a little trickier since it depends heavily on what the rest of the team has. Cold Domination is a nioce alrounder since it has defense buffs, resistance debuffs and -regen for those pesky AVs. Sonic is another nice choice, it provides resistance buffs which are more useful than defense buffs to some characters (primarily heavily IO'd ones) and in gneeral people with resistacne buffs (i.e. sonic and thermal) are rarer than those with defense buffs.
Short answer: there isn't one because every team has a different composition.
Long answer: it depends on what you want to do. With the exception of Gravity, every primary set is a contender for the top spot on the right team in the right circumstances.
My Mind/Cold character is the "best" team character, because he can get the drop on enemies with Mass Confusion before they even know the team is there.
My Illusion/Trick Arrow character is the "best" team character because he can tank and retains the full AoE control potential of a Controller.
My Ice/Radiation character is the "best" team character because he is a walking cloud of lockdown armed with an AoE heal and massive debuffs.
My Earth/Storm character is the "best" team character because he offers so many control powers.
My Ice/Thermal character is the "best" team character because his heals, buffs, slows, and knockdowns disregard mezz protection and to some extent defense.
My Earth/Thermal character is the "best" team character because the blend of fast recharging holds and stuns mixed with buffs and heals keep teammates alive forever.
My Elec/Force Field is the "best" team character because his shields keep the team alive and prevent him from being stunned or held while he uses his endurance drain abilities up close.
My Fire/Sonic is the "best" team character because... wait, no. This one sucks due to having no blue bar. One day maybe I'll both to take him over to villain side to get a faster recharging endurance recovery power. Til then, ugh, mothballed.
Anyway, the point is there is no "best" team character. There are, however, lots of "very good" ones.
My personal opinion, for a team oriented controller would be earth/rad. you get great controls and debuffs and you can find a great guide for it if you find Local_Man's Earth/rad guide. It is very useful early on and combining things like stone cages and radiation infection are low level wins for team support. Take hasten along with AM and work for recharge and you can get alot of those great AoE earth controls up even faster. 
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Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
Short answer: there isn't one because every team has a different composition.
Long answer: it depends on what you want to do. With the exception of Gravity, every primary set is a contender for the top spot on the right team in the right circumstances. My Mind/Cold character is the "best" team character, because he can get the drop on enemies with Mass Confusion before they even know the team is there. My Illusion/Trick Arrow character is the "best" team character because he can tank and retains the full AoE control potential of a Controller. My Ice/Radiation character is the "best" team character because he is a walking cloud of lockdown armed with an AoE heal and massive debuffs. My Earth/Storm character is the "best" team character because he offers so many control powers. My Ice/Thermal character is the "best" team character because his heals, buffs, slows, and knockdowns disregard mezz protection and to some extent defense. My Earth/Thermal character is the "best" team character because the blend of fast recharging holds and stuns mixed with buffs and heals keep teammates alive forever. My Elec/Force Field is the "best" team character because his shields keep the team alive and prevent him from being stunned or held while he uses his endurance drain abilities up close. My Fire/Sonic is the "best" team character because... wait, no. This one sucks due to having no blue bar. One day maybe I'll both to take him over to villain side to get a faster recharging endurance recovery power. Til then, ugh, mothballed. Anyway, the point is there is no "best" team character. There are, however, lots of "very good" ones. |
I didn't think of it that way....but what controller would u want to have on your team?
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Originally Posted by Cklock
I didn't think of it that way....but what controller would u want to have on your team?
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The real question is what do you want to play?
But either Plant or Earth would be a good starting base, as they are probably the easiest. Don't try to solo as low level Earther, tho.
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Thanks for the mention of the guide.|
Originally Posted by Griff Mender
My personal opinion, for a team oriented controller would be earth/rad. you get great controls and debuffs and you can find a great guide for it if you find Local_Man's Earth/rad guide. It is very useful early on and combining things like stone cages and radiation infection are low level wins for team support. Take hasten along with AM and work for recharge and you can get alot of those great AoE earth controls up even faster.
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To the OP: I agree with Tex that there is no "best," but an Earth/Rad is one of the most flexable team controller builds available. You have three primary ranged AoE controls -- Stalagmites+Stone Cages, Earthquake and Volcanic Gasses. At least one or two of them are up for every group, and it has the flexibility to handle foes of all types. While Earth/TA has more overall "control," it can't heal or buff the team the way that an Earth/Rad can.
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
The best build is the one you like to play.
I agree with Earth. The defense debuff in earth control powers make everything hit so much better. Radiation, Cold, and Kinetic are all great pairings with it. I guess for a beginner I might suggest Cold secondary because a lot of it is intuitive.
When you have a teammate that makes it easier to shoot stuff and harder for teammates to be hit, it is easily appreciated. Quicksand is probably an underrated power, but it does so much more than just slow foes down.
Triumphant Defenders Forever
Psylenz FF/Psi, ArticQuark Storm/Rad, Symon BarSisyphus Bots/psn, Max VanSydow Thugs/Dk, Cyclone Symon Bots/stm, Blue Loki Ice/Cd, Widow 46526
HelinCarnate:OMG it is so terrible. I have the option to take 3 more powers but no additional slots. Boo F'ing hoo.
Earth in my opinion is over used and overkill, the holds are insaine, personally I think you might be happier doing a little more damage then earth you will miss the damage already from fire, so something in the middle of the road there, plant something or ill/rad is nice for that.
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"over......kill"? ....I...I'm confused... if killing is good, wouldnt overkilling be overgood? (grammar ftw) Seriously tho, with the awesomeness that is earth control, once you get it down and things get easier, then comes a great opportunity to ramp up the difficulty. maybe not the level but the number of mobs so you can have in the mission, thats when a good aoe controller can really shine when you are flooded with mobs on the screen and its your job to lock em down. earth/ta on a /x8 team would be fun once you get used to it. just my opinion, we all like different things. |
Originally Posted by Angelofvalor
Earth in my opinion is over used and overkill, the holds are insaine, personally I think you might be happier doing a little more damage then earth you will miss the damage already from fire, so something in the middle of the road there, plant something or ill/rad is nice for that.
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"over used"??? I don't think so -- Earth is not nearly the popularity of Fire or Illusion, or probably Plant. "overkill"?? There is no such thing as too much control when you are the only controller on a team of 8 -- an Earth/Rad and 7 damage dealers. The team was able to handle +4 thanks to my Defense Debuffs and controls, some of which are auto-hit.
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Originally Posted by Angelofvalor
Earth in my opinion is over used and overkill, the holds are insaine, personally I think you might be happier doing a little more damage then earth you will miss the damage already from fire, so something in the middle of the road there, plant something or ill/rad is nice for that.
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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
When I first read this thread my initial reaction was earth/rad. I see I was not alone. Earth control offers excellent control with a side of defense and tohit debuffs, which I think people tend to overlook. In my experience, Earthquake is an excellent option for problematic mobs that resist controls. Radiation is also an excellent secondary of with an array of effects to cover different situations and layers its debuffs very well with those in the Earth primary.
While an earth/rad may never been the damage machine some other controllers are it offers a greater transformative effect on teams than some other combinations.
Grav/storm is awfully well rounded for team play.
you have consistent every spawn control with freezing rain and your aoe immobilize. With stackable aoe stuns available everyspawn at latter levels.
tornadoes damage equals the majority of AV's regen rates...
O2 is great mez protection
Not to mention hurricane and wormhole for mob placement...
Let's see, it has -slow,-recharge, -def, -res, +def, +res, ally mez protection,
About the only thing it can't do is heal.
Pretty well rounded in my experience.
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Originally Posted by Shadow Ravenwolf
My favorite combo is Faceplant/DebtCap with the TeamWipe Ancillary
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Originally Posted by Dispari
Yeah, I like Blasters too.
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The one that participates to the fullest and doesn't slack off.
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Originally Posted by Cklock
I didn't think of it that way....but what controller would u want to have on your team?
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Talen_Lee: Taking absorb pain is like branding 'H' on your forehead. Which stands for 'Failure'
Scarf_Girl: ever since I six slotted my Rp with cyber/emo Hami-O enhancements they haven't been able to touch me
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Originally Posted by Titaniuma
The best build is the one you like to play.
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Originally Posted by _Malk_
The one that participates to the fullest and doesn't slack off.
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Originally Posted by JamMasterJMS
Grav/storm is awfully well rounded for team play.
you have consistent every spawn control with freezing rain and your aoe immobilize. With stackable aoe stuns available everyspawn at latter levels. tornadoes damage equals the majority of AV's regen rates... O2 is great mez protection Not to mention hurricane and wormhole for mob placement... Let's see, it has -slow,-recharge, -def, -res, +def, +res, ally mez protection, About the only thing it can't do is heal. Pretty well rounded in my experience. |
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I disagree; they actually do. The OP asked what we thought the best all around controller was, and there's no technically correct answer other than the one that I've given. |
Originally Posted by ketch
No offense intended, but these canned responses don't really contribute to the discussion. The OP obviously wants to participate and enjoy based on a contribution to the team. It's valid to suggest things that we feel add to a team dynamic.
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I love controllers -- they're a phenomenal class and I enjoy having them on a team. I don't care which power sets they've chosen. I really don't. A person shouldn't be slumping their shoulders, stuffing their hands in their pockets while comically kicking a rock sadly and muttering, "Aww, nertz..." because the 'troller that joined their team "isn't the bestest(!)". It's simply silly. As Oedipus_Tex has pointed out already in this thread, there are multiple combinations that are great at different things. When the OP asked,
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| but what controller would u want to have on your team? |
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| The one that participates to the fullest and doesn't slack off. |
"The one that throws down with the rest of the team and gets their hands just as dirty as ours."
Talen_Lee: Taking absorb pain is like branding 'H' on your forehead. Which stands for 'Failure'
Scarf_Girl: ever since I six slotted my Rp with cyber/emo Hami-O enhancements they haven't been able to touch me
Earth/Rad is the swiss army knife of controlling.
@Mental Maden @Maden Mental
"....you are now tackle free for life."-ShoNuff
Hello, I got to thinking about the controller and wanted to know the best team player power set. I have rolled Fire/Kin farmer and he was a powerhouse but i did better soloing than i did with teams. So, to my question..What is the best all around controller....it doesn't have to be the "powerhouse" or the "doctor" oriented troller....i want the people of CoH to throw around some ideas about the all-around "best" Controller build.