I think conventional wisdom is that /rad is a good choice, since it has both debuffs and accelerate metabolism. For the primary, earth/ has control and fire/ has damage and imps.
/Storm is fun, but maybe doesnt have the level of support you're after, and it has a targeted heal, which you may hate as you may be expected by some to be a "mini-emp"
The shield sets /sonic /ff /thermal /cold have shields on 4 min rehcarges so its not that much of a pain (to me) to play them and focus on primary while I go. /thermal and /cold both have excelent debuff values in there, sonic too, but it lacks on -regen.
Kinetics is fun, but you run the risk of being a slave to Speed Boost, and in the end game Fulcrum shift is also expected to be you're first actionable choice.
Which brings us back to /rad as Void said.
It has a diverse and useful set of debuffs that can make some controllers level GMs.
It has a brilliant buff.
It has a little Healing Aura clone for you to rock, if you so choose.
It has some extra control
and it has a few quircky things
oh and a rez
As far as primary goes. Earth with turn the defences of anything you leverage it against into mush, and some of those debufferies are autohit.
It also carries one of the best holds in the game (and rad has the next best plus one more!)
Illusion provides mitigation via your phantom army (very almost i.e. theres one entity in the game that can kill them) unkillable pets that can be made perma, and is very much a top perfroming set.
other control sets re fun too, and have their own quircks and so on, but for what you seem to want, these two plus rad while let you have alot of fun.
(and now im going to lament over not making my Earth/Rad incarnate yet)
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Originally Posted by VoodooGirl
[*]Watching out for the Spinning Disco Portal of D00M!*
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Originally Posted by Mega_Jamie
/Storm is fun, but maybe doesnt have the level of support you're after, and it has a targeted heal, which you may hate as you may be expected by some to be a "mini-emp"
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Earth with /rad, /storm, /cold, /ta will work. If you don't like the buffing aspect, the sets with debuffs will likely fit you better.
EDIT: If not Earth, then Plant gets my vote. With an AoE blaster, confused mobs are dead all the faster.
Controllers . . . my favorite archtype. Each powerset combo plays differently. And each one has great things going for it.
Earth/Rad has been mentioned above. Great choice to team with a Blaster . . . Take a look at the guide in my sig. I really should update it some, but just haven't gotten around to adding some IO builds. Still, the information in the guide is mostly current. If you want more up to date stuff on the Rad side, my Ill/Rad guide is up to date.
Earth is the best AoE control set in the game, but low damage. Not the lowest, but pretty low. (Ice and Electric are a little bit lower.) Earth specializes in ranged AoE control . . . you will get to stand back and monitor the action while you use the best tools you have to provide the best benefit. Stun+Immob, Knockdown, AoE Hold, Slow, even Sleep (if you take it -- I didn't). Add in Rad and the layers of mitigation get even better, with the AoE Immob+a ToHit Debuff making it so that the foes can't move and they can't hit you and your team.
And nobody will ever question whether you are contributing . . . . Earth Control is not exactly subtle.
Another secondary to consider is Cold. The Defensive Shields are great on teams. It is strong on single target debuffs in the low levels, but at 35 and 38, you get great AoE debuffs. It is very late blooming, however, and has no heals. You will need to wait until late levels before you see how good it is.
I love */Storm, but it is not the best set for teams . . . too much chaos. Earth/Storm is a great combo, though, with the -knockback in Stone Cages preventing much of the knockback from Storm. (I was just playing my Earth/Storm last night on some Incarnate trials and a Rikti Raid.)
All Controller primaries are great . . . but if you are looking for AoE control, I would say that Earth is best, Plant and Elec are quite good ranged AoE controllers early. (I have Plant/Kin and Plant/Rad and Elec/Rad.) Mind has great AoE control late -- Mind is not my favorite set, but lots of folks love it -- might overall be better for a dominator. (I have a Mind/FF and a Mind/Storm Controllers, and I'm working on a Mind/Energy Dom.) I love Illusion but admit it is not the strongest on AoE Control -- still if you are interested, read my Ill/Rad guide. (I have Ill/Rad, Ill/TA, Ill/Storm and Ill/Cold, all great combos.)
Fire is more focused on Damage and puts you in the middle of the action. Fire/Rad and Fire/Kin are great combos and popular for good reason. Ice is another set that can put you in the middle of the action, but focuses more on "soft" control of slow and -Recharge -- My Ice/Storm usually follows behind the tank. Gravity is a quirky set . . . my Grav/Storm is mostly a solo character.
Of the secondaries, Rad's anchored toggle debuffs frustrate some people when teammates kill the anchors . . . but that means that foes are dropping. Kin is a very busy set -- provides a lot of team benefit, but constantly SB'ing everyone can be annoying. You know about Emp. Therm is an interesting set that lets you provide Resistance shields for the team, healing and some debuffs. Earth/Therm is a good combo, with the Resistance Shields making your Rocky pet very hard to kill. Trick Arrow is all Debuffs and controls with no buffs, but Earth/TA has more AoE control than any combo in the game. FF is ok . . . good shields, with mez protection in the big bubble and one of the best personal protection "panic button" powers in Personal Force Field -- the rest of the set is mostly knockbacks. Sonic -- I have never gotten very far with the set before I lost interest.
Let us know what you choose, and I can give you some suggestions on powers to take and skip.
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
/sonic works well in a team but not that much with a blaster only, because of Disruption Field. It's the line's AoE res debuff, and it must be anchored on an ally (preferably a melee guy who will gather many enemies around him, typically a tank, a brute, a scrapper... but not a blaster). However, if you have a pet that goes into melee (like Animate Stone from Earth Control), you can put it on him.
Thank you guys sooo much! I should have asked a lot sooner. I think I'm going to try Earth/Rad and see if I like it. If not then I'll take a look at some of the other ones you suggestion. I will take a look at the guide as well.
I took a 4+ year break from CoH. I came back and played my main toon, 45 emp def. She's great but I feel like I only watch everybody's buffs. I'm tired of hearing my husband say "You see that?" My answer is often "What, that somebody lost clear mind?"
So I've been looking into a controller and my head is spinning with all the options. Does anybody have a few suggestions to narrow down my options? I prefer to be a support character for teams. If I do damage, great, but it's not necessary. Oh and not sure if it matters but my husband tends to play characters that do AE dmg, primarily blasters. Will a certain controller work well in a team and with a blaster?