Unusual but fun?

Now, I came to the realization just recently that I have been much too focused on 'Good builds' and 'DPS' of late, and have been neglecting to take joy in the powers I have for their own sake. I am not sure if this is the place for this - though I can't think of a better place - but as someone who enjoys Solo play, I have decided that I want to choose an unusual powerset combination (Archetype hardly matters to me anymore, though I'd rather it wasn't melee) and try to make it fun for myself in solo play.

What I ask you, forum, is simple:

What unusual powerset combinations for any AT would you suggest to me that are capable enough in solo play and can be fun despite being typically 'unusual' or 'undesired' even?

For instance, I usually would not even consider playing with Storm Summoning, but have actually considered it as an option for this due to how much mindless fun may be derived solo just throwing things around. Basically, I want something that can be enjoyed for its own sake. Potentially effective? Just the icing on the cake.

Many thanks!

For general all around chaos an illusion/storm or plant/storm controller would be a blast. I have a plant/storm and he's both effective solo and in a group - you just have to tone the chaos back a bit to suit the groups mood (or not if the group loves chaos). An illusion storm would be even more chaotic but I haven't tried one yet.

A */traps corruptor or trap/* defender is going to play fairly differently from most corruptors/defenders - a lot of running in and placing stuff but you have so many good powers its a lot of fun. Its also effective both solo and in a group, funny how that works out :-). You can go with archery, assault rifle or dual pistols if you want a classic 'natural' character or you can mix in something exotic - fire/traps for heavy AE damage, ice or dark blast for a lot of extra control/debuff, energy blast for chaos (although the KB in energy blast will knock things out of your traps - its would definitely qualify as an unusual combo).

If you want to get really chaotic go with an energy blast/storm corruptor/defender - probably not going to be as welcome in a group but the solo experience will be interesting - fun if you like KB.

If you're not against Masterminds, I've had some tremendous fun with my Ninja/Storm MM. Despite the fact the Ninja's are considered one of the worst primaries, I performed well on teams and solo. I'll tell you, shoving that Elite Boss into a corner with Hurricane, then throwing Tornado, Snow Storm, Lightning Storm, and freezing rain on him feels so awesome. The you just let your ninja's go to town and murder the EB.

It's not so much an uncommon powerset combination, but it does seem to be an uncommon build, so I'll recommend the melee-Fortunata. Forget about all those ranged attacks that "normal" Forts take and instead go for the claw attacks from the night widow set. Add in the armours, buffs and controls to taste, and you've got a pretty unusual character that's probably the most enjoyable one I've ever played.

my one actual suggestion got shot down, but what I do when I'm in the mood for something different is pick an AT I don't have much experience with and then pick the primary and secondary powersets more or less randomly, skipping over anything I've played before (which is how I ended up with grav/TA, actually).

With inherent stamina the early levels shouldn't be too much of a slog whatever you choose.

Plant/Storm Controllers are a ton of fun to play. They solo very well and also group well, since you have so much -KB in Plant that it's easy to prevent scatter when you choose. You can knock things all over the place if you want, or have multiple Tornadoes and Lightning Storms out and have nothing move an inch. And of course Seeds of Confusion is pretty much the best every-spawn control power in the game, as well as the most fun.

Another somewhat rare combination I've had a lot of fun with is a DB/SR Brute. He's an evil swashbuckler... fast, graceful, and pretty much the complete opposite of the standard Brute. He's also quite effective... maybe not SS/Shield level but plenty good enough.

I have become enamored lately with dominators again. I haven't tried it, but buzzing around in my altitis inflicted brain was an EC/earth assault. It just seems... different. On my list of sets to try.

Mind/Rad controller, very capable soloer.

Well, of course Storm Summoning is the obvious choice for fun chaos. I've got a Storm/Energy Defender that was crazy fun all the way to 50, and even though it was slower to solo, there all the loud, flashy powers and crazy knockback gave me a sense of power that other sets just couldn't do.

And then also, my Assault Rifle/Mental Blaster. So much fun. Even though a lot of people are like, "Ew gross AR nasty ugh," I think that it, combined with Mental, is incredibly potent and awesome and super fun. You don't know fun until you've felt the echoing pings of Full Auto come from your own character after you jumped away from firing off Drain Psyche and Psychic Shockwave.

Another person mentioned Traps... I have a Sonic/Traps Corruptor at 30 now that has most seriously become one of my favorite characters I've ever created. Traps is one of the most unusual sets I've played I'd say, and on both teams and solo he's great. In fact, just earlier today I had my missions set to x6 and didn't realize it until a few missions into soloing when I finally noticed that group sizes were a little large. But with all the debuffs... teams love him too. I haven't had a character yet that seemed so incredibly useful. You could probably pair it up with really anything, too. Fire/Traps, Ice/Traps, even Rad/Traps... I just really, really love Traps.

Wild Streak - Lv. 50(+3) Beast Mastery/Sonic Resonance Mastermind, Amnesty - Lv. 50 Staff Fighting/Dark Armor Stalker

I made a DP/TA Corr on test that is very capable of mowing down x6 spawns: a mixture of good AoE damage (empty clips + hail of bullets + ignited oil slick / immobilized by web envelope) and softcapped S/L defense (with scorpion shield) made it a rather fun toon to play

Hm a few suggestions, from my own play-

Dark/psy defender- lots of survival and soft control tools

Plant/earth dominator- toss seeds, summon your thrashing vines, and jump around popping stuff on the head in the chaos with a giant stone mallet

EM/dark brute- soft cotrols galore on a melee archetype

Kin/elec defender- crazy saping ability and some safety features that completely change how kinetics plays.

Sonic/sonic corruptor- /Sonic is very rare...the blast set has excellent debuffs and soft control, the debuffs stacking well with scourge. The secondary? It has two big jobs, and does them well. (+res/-res.) Works best on a team- solo, have a seperate build. You'll have a lot of flexibility as the secondary has 5 ally-targeted powers that you can ditch solo.

archery/EM blaster- arrows from the grassy knoll. Skip the melee, and shoot from range. Archery never need you that close.

Elec/WP brute- the limited AoE range on Electric melee works well with the wilpower regen huddle. You'll be crazy against tightly packed enemies.

There are tons more, but those are a few.

*randomly pulls out Mids*

You should roll... err... AR... and Dark.
Yeah, AR/Dark corrupter.

*looks a little harder*

...wow, that actually looks pretty good; I may have to try that out myself

Well, it doesn't exactly fit your criteria, but you might consider a tri-form warshade.

Warshades are chock full of awesome powers that are visually appealing (if you like purple, at least), really powerful, and that use unusual mechanics (all the corpse-powered ones). And those powers are distributed throughout the level spread, so every few levels you are getting a new power that totally changes the way the character plays.

Warshades - particularly triformers - function best when all the different utility powers are synergizing with each other. It is not a mindless, button-mashing AT. They are a ton of fun to play right on the edge of total defeat (as long as you aren't allergic to some debt here and there).

Dechs Kaison's terrific guide "The MFing Warshade" is a great handbook for making the most of a triform WS:

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=231629

Dark Melee and Fiery Aura. Mine's a Tank, but for solo play maybe a Scrapper or Brute would be better. Unique build-up type power, debuffing, two self heals, two end recovery powers, good single-target damage.Clicky and active but interesting to play.

Being having quite abit of fun on my Ele/Thorn domi, not super rare and not super "chaotic".. but incredibly satisfying.

Anything with lots of knockback is tons of fun to play solo. Energy/energy blaster would be good, energy/storm corruptor would be even better.

A set I consider to be a "gaming experience" rather than an "amazingly powerful" is Ice Control, particularly on a Controller. It combines the insanity of blapping with very low damage. It actually does do pretty good mitigation, especially during extended fights (which you'll have lots of due to low damage). Believe it or not tho by level 50 my Ice/Rad could solo at 0x8.. with no bosses of course.

An Ice/Radiation Controller specifically is a very strange player character completely anything else in this game, or any game I have ever played.

Electric Control I consider to be an entry level course to Ice Control, since it actually does have some pretty good ranged mezzes and somewhat better damage.

[Oops missed the part about "capable in solo play." My Ice Controllers have actually ended up in missions they couldn't complete because they couldn't defeat a door or meteor! But that was a long time ago.]

If you are set on playing Storm, I would suggest trying a Mind/Storm. I know you wanted to be proficient solo, and that isn't really Mind's strong suit, but man can you get away with some strange things for entertainment value. My favorite Mind trick is to Confuse a nasty Lt and Telekinesis him about the map, using Levitate to help throw him over small walls. At the very least, it could be interesting.