For a duo, what Archetype goes best with a Kinetics Defender or Kinetics Corrupter?

Coming back to the game after a few years with the new Freedom FTP coming soon (Just got the $1.99 deal). This time I would like to try running two accounts and am trying to find a good (though somewhat easy to manage) duo.

I am wanting to either go with a Kin/* Defender, or a */Kin Corrupter (I might also opt for empathy), but thats about all I have come up with so far. I am leaning toward a melee type to go with it (scrapper, tank, brute) but have not kept up with powers lately or know what would become extra powerful with a kin behind it. Would prefer something with good AOE powers.

Pretty much I plan to have the corrupter or defender just follow me around and buff/heal. Also, what would be the best travel power to take for allowing an easy time for the other character to follow me? And what archetype and powerset would you recommend melee-wise to go with the kin or empathy based defender or corrupter?

Normally I would say corr, but for what you are doing I would say Kin/sonic.

If you're dualboxing like you said, a kin will be tougher to pull off, but still doable. Fire/Kin Corrs are awesome, as for melee I'd go with either a Claws/Fire (better earlier) or a SS/Fire (better later) Brute. You'll have loads of damage, even if you decide to go empathy.

Something to consider: Kin plays really nicely with Scrappers and Blasters due to their high base damage values. Brute base damage is relatively low because Fury accounts for so much of their total damage, which means damage buffs from outside sources are somewhat... diluted in comparison on a Brute.

I24 Proc Chance = (Enhanced Recharge + Activation Time) * (Current PPM * 1.25) / 60*(1 + .75*(.15*Radius - 0.011*Radius*(360-Arc)/30))
Single Target Radius = 0. AoE Non-Cone Arc = 360.

I'd suggest a melee type with high AoE damage to go with a Kin. A SS Brute would be great after you get Foot Stomp but kind of lacking in AoE before that (plus Brutes get less from Fulcrum Shift due to their low base damage), so you might try a Spines/Fire Scrapper instead... but only if you're good at using both characters at once because you'll need to hit Transfusion a lot to keep the Scrapper alive.

If you aren't that great at using both characters at the same time you may want to try an Empath instead... or perhaps a Force Field Defender and a Fire/Fire Blaster. A FF Defender with the two shields, Maneuvers, and Dispersion Bubble can softcap a Blaster to everything but psionic attacks with no positional component (and those are usually mezzes that don't hit too hard) while providing mez protection... and you only have to switch to that character every four minutes. A Fire/Fire Blaster that can stay alive doesn't really need any +damage to absolutely melt spawns...

Is the priority to build a Kinetics user? I ask because I personally regard Kin as not a great choice for a second box. It's a busy set that requires a lot of attention of the player. There do exist people with the skills and/or 2-boxing tools to actively play 2 characters effectively. I am not one of them, so a 2nd box has to be pretty "fire and forget" for me.

Empathy, on the other hand, may well be "the best" 2nd box support set. It doesn't depend on enemy targets and won't draw aggro as a kin would and its buffs have a decent duration. Fortitude + Leadership (Defender values) would give Def to all of ~28%, a +dmg buff of 50%, ~30% to-hit. Then the staggering of AB with the 2 RAs would create an unkillable engine of destruction. Obviously anything would team well with this, but I'd go for a Fire/SD scrap.

For the record, I'm endorsing Empathy over Kin for this despite a strong preference for Kinetics, both for what I'd prefer to see on a team and what I prefer to play.

Edit to answer the travel question: I would want the threat level of the 2nd box to be as minimal as possible, so I'd go for super speed (and a stealth io). This toon should also take recall ally from the teleport pool so 1) you only need to have one character travel to a mission door 2) stealth to mission objectives if you so choose

I have two accounts and a kin defender on each account I used to use for semi-PL'ing lower level characters: following them in missions, SB'ing and healing them, etc. I preffered this to outright PL'ing in AE because I still played them, just didn't have to put up with low end prior to stamina at L20 (obviously, this was prior to the inherent stamina change).

I found I had the easiest time with melee types that had enough taunt to keep mobs off the defender or controllers that could lock down things and keep them from attacking either. Blasters and other defender types where not as easy to duo with the kin because they had no way to keep focus and its hard to play 2 very active toons while dual boxing.

So, if you go with a melee type make sure you can take an AoE taunt effect very early on. Brutes and tanks tend to get taunt auras very early, although shield and willpower scrappers also get one by L16. Shield scrappers are just about as good a taunter as brutes/tanks, just more passive than active.

Any controller that got a good AoE control fairly early would work (by good I mean something that prevents return fire - not just an AoE immoblize). Plant, fire, and earth are all good in this as they get a complete control by L8 for plant, L12 for the others. You can pick up a nice debuff set to go with it as well.

I would recommend that you play with the kin on the secondary account and use the other character in the duo as the primary. Its easy to set up binds/hotkeys for speed boost, siphon speed and the heal and use the kin as mostly a buff bot who may throw out an occasional attack - let the brute/scrapper maintain aggro and do the primary damage.

EDIT: While deacon has a point - a Kin is a little more click heavy than something like an empath, it isn't THAT much heavier. All its powers that require targets can be made to work by targetting through the other player and as a buff bot you only really need to fire off SB every now and then, siphon power when you are in the mood and the heal when you need it (and fulcrum shift later on). An empathy will be at least as busy healing. Mind you, fortitude is an awesome buff and the recovery boosting abilities of speed boost aren't as important these days with inherent stamina, but its not really all that hard.