Extra control for controllers

I'm playing an Ill/Rad controller at the moment and I love it, but I miss all the controls that Mind offers. Are there ways to get more without taking the Presence pool? I took Challenge and Intimidate and I can't wait to respec out of them - they miss too much and recharge too slow.

I heard someone on the Help channel say that there are better ways to get control than through Presence, but s/he didn't elaborate, so...

Presence isn't very useful to an Illusion Controller - you don't want the taunts because you're squishy, and Spectral Terror is more useful than the fears in the pool (at best, Intimidate might be slightly useful to stop runners who aren't already running from a fear effect).

Could try slotting Devastation: Chance for Hold in Spectral Wounds.

I think the issue here is that you are comparing a control heavy primary versus a rather lite one. Ill/rad still gets Blind, PA, Spectral Terror, Flash, and EM Pulse. This says nothing of the debuffs. You can rotate the AoE holds as need be. ST recharges fast enough to be perma. PA can with investment be made perma. I would say that's a decent amount of control considering the damage output Ill brings.

Illusion/Radiation controls through distraction and debuff. Not only by drawing aggro to Phantom Army, but also with Invisibility and Deceive . . . sneaking around the edges, confusing foes who would otherwise be a problem. Still, the combo has a lot of control that is usually referred to as "Soft." Spectral Terror is available for permanent control. Perma-PA is possible with enough Recharge. Getting good Recharge for Flash and EM Pulse will give you some "control."

Of the APP sets, Earth has a little bit of control -- Fissure has a mag 2 stun, and Seismic Smash has a mag 3 hold. Psi has knockup in Psi Tornado. All of the Ice powers come with some slow.

I thought Seismic Smash was a mag 4 hold?

Slot Spectral Wounds, and your ST blast from your APP with Chance to Hold. Put Contagious Confusion in Decieve if you haven't already. You can slot a chance to stun proc in Spectral Terror, I think (Unspeakable terror is the set name). Other than that, Mind and Illu are on completely opposite ends of the control scale. In fact, you could say that of Illu vs any other control set. You mitigate through distraction and misdirection. And it's great, especially paired with Rad. Just keep at it =)

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I'm learning to like it more after re-enhancing Flash and Spectral Terror, I think my issue was that I never used them in case I needed them in an emergency. I will definitely look into putting the chance for hold into Spectral Wounds, I was looking for something like that!

My main is an Ill/Rad. It's about a polar opposite to a Mind. Mind literally stops enemys from attacking. Ill does it mostly by having them attack PA, using ST, and doing other ways to distract and hold aggro or by simply debuffing. It's hard vs soft control. You'll get the hang of it.