Hitback

I tired of turning my ranged toons into hover blasters, I want to make a sentinel that stays in the middle of the mob and shoots bad guys in the face. I would like some help picking powersets. I was thinking maybe SR secondary (and popping an orange here and then) or Rad (if I'm in the middle of the mob, I might as well throw in a second nuke), but really I'm open to suggestions. Just something that let's me stay alive in melee range. But my real issue is the primaries. It's pure personal preference, but I don't like the feeling of flinging fireballs in melee range. The only primaries that feel good for that reason are the weapon-based ones, and Ele (somehow beams feel better than projectiles). I avoided weapon-based ranged sets before the redraw changes, so I have no experience with them, but I've heard that DP and AR got buffs. So between DP/AR/BR and Ele, could you tell me what to expect?