Corythia

I feel like earth benefits from choking cloud more than other sets, because choking cloud actually rolls to hit (unlike entangling vines in nature which hits automatically without rolling) Choking cloud has poor accuracy, so it benefits a LOT from earth's -defense powers (essentially every earth power messes with defense, but quicksand and earthquake do it in big patches). I can see not wanting to play in melee, but choking cloud is a power that lets you do so with a great deal more safety than you might otherwise have. Finally choking cloud can turn Volcanic Gasses from a patch that holds masses of LTs and minions reliably to a patch that holds EVERYTHING reliably(you'll need to stack quicksand so it hits, but you're doing that on your volcanic gasses anyway). I can't imagine not taking it, but in the end it comes down to a play style choice.

As others have said, it depends on what you want out of the char. If you are looking to solo, there is a very different set of powerset combos than if you are looking to lock everything down but not so worried about DPSing on your own. Most controllers can be made to solo, but some really shine at it - while others make life for their team a breeze no matter the difficulty. For solo, Plant/Storm, Fire/Dark, and Fire/Storm have great dps as well as plenty of control. To pwn on a team, Plant/Nature, Earth/Nature, Earth/TA, Earth/Storm, Earth/Time, Earth/Traps, Fire/Rad, Ice/Rad, anything/Storm, most things/Time will all do the trick. (I really like /Storm for controller - it's very versatile in my hands). Illusion is a very different beast from most controllers, but is also very effective in mitigating damage and can do great single target damage. It's a bit more hectic to try and dps groups of bad guys. Things I would avoid till later are /Cold Dom, /Thermal, /Empathy, /FF, /Sonic. All of those can be made to work, but are going to take some nuance with control, that would be easier to learn on different powersets first.

For me, the only skip-able power in /Nature would be the rez. I take it anyway, but I could see skipping it, you won't need it often. Life giving spores I am ambivalent about, but as Carnifax points out, there are some instances where it is really useful. It can also keep you from having to spam heals during a tough solo fight, letting you mash other buttons instead. Wild Growth is AMAZING. Wild Bastion is a great emergency heal button, giving you time to get a sour situation under control. A lot of people tend to use it up front for mitigation, but to me that just wastes the powerful healing component. I wouldn't want to lose either one. I think Entangling Aura is the best power in the set, hands down.

I have an Earth/Traps/Earth controller that I'm close to getting perma Volcanic gasses on, between Poison Gas Trap, and all of Earth's goodness, plus Fissure and Seismic Smash, she locks down or disrupts pretty much everything in a large area around her. Earth/Nature and Plant/Nature are also really good at shutting down pretty much unlimited bad guys.

Given your list, I would look at Grav/Storm, Earth/Storm, or Ice/Rad. All of them are strong and can eventually solo reasonably well. Both Earth and Ice will be control monsters, but slow to solo pre-32ish. Grav is a bit of a late bloomer on the control end, but has plenty of dps to make it solo more easily at lower levels.

People go for high ranged defense, because eventually you will get agro, and high defense is just one more layer of damage mitigation to let you survive it. Both Illusion, and especially Kin have some powers that can cause enough agro to taunt mobs off of your PA. If you play aggressively you will really want the extra protection. I don't tend to cap defense because I am both cheap and lazy in my slotting, but I do try to work in set bonuses for it whenever it's an option. It can make a big difference if that purple boss is only hitting you 40% of the time rather than 70% of the time, and it's not that hard to get 25-30% ranged defense on a budget.

I've played all sets enough to get the pet. I'd rank them as follows: Earth Ice Plant Imps,Phantasm,Singularity Umbral Gremlins Stoney hits like a truck and he can tank, he taunts, and he's tough. Jack Hits like a truck and also taunts with his aura, he's a little harder to keep alive. Plant's pet hit's pretty hard, and is tough, he is pretty easy to keep alive. Imps... as an aggregate they hit hard, individually they aren't that impressive. They have a huge agro radius, and will skip on to the next group even if you didn't think that was possible. They bring back lots of friends, and are hard to keep track of and hard to keep alive. That said, the three of them together do add up if you can get them focused. Phantasm is a glass cannon with a ranged AOE, think of having a very weak blaster for a pet. It dies constantly and doesn't really do all that much damage(maybe because he's dead so often). Singularity ( I haven't played it since the recent changes) just doesn't seem to do much, and doesn't really hit very hard. I am not impressed. Umbral Wolf makes a LOT of noise, constantly. If it were your own dog you'd have to put it down, or the neighbors would burn you out. It's so annoying/distracting that it negates anything good you might have to say about it. That said, it doesn't hit hard either. I am NOT a fan. Finally Gremlins. Yikes. They have the least DPS, combined with a hyperactivity that makes your imps seem tame. They bring back friends from pretty much the entire mission map, and they can't kill anything. They do get the chain knock down which they sometimes use, but it's really questionable whether it's worth it. I haven't actually looked at DPS figures, so this is all just anecdotal based on how often I can look around for that last boss and realize my pet has already killed it. If my pet is likely to solo a boss for me without me having to scramble to keep it up, it goes to the top of my list. Other effects, like knockdowns, fears, immobilizes, etc are less important to me than whether I spend all my time trying to save the thing. I can take care of the control, the pet needs to be able to have my back.

I would think Ice/Time should work pretty well. You will have end issues with running multiple toggles early on, but you can always turn Arctic Air on and off at need while you get slotted up. The extra hold/holds in time should help with Ice's lack of an AOE hard control. I don't know that I would take it as a first controller, but I can definitely see good synergy. I wouldn't get too focused on DPS unless you intend to solo. You can help enough with just P2W attacks in a group. You will want your Ice Slick up every fight, it will be your major control in addition to Time's debuff aura and slow/hold aoe. AA can also help, though it will draw a LOT of agro. I tend to hold my AOE hold for emergencies, because if you've already used it, you really have nothing available to deal with adds. Good luck, and enjoy 🙂

I can't imagine skipping Ice Arrow. One of the great strengths of TA is the second hold, so you can hold one boss immediately, then a second boss a few seconds later, and keep them both held. All while throwing some debuffs and other controls. Your AOE controls and debuffs can take care of the chaff while you neuter the real dangerous mobs.

Arctic Air's confuse duration is pretty short, you actually need to slot it for duration and stand in the middle of a mob to keep them confused, but that actually works pretty well if you can keep them from running away. There are a couple ways to manage that just with Ice though so it's only a problem if you aren't on the ball.

Ack, just read your post. Wind control isn't in the game, so maybe that is something that is coming, or something that someone was hoping for, but it isn't a thing right now. Seeds of Confusion is a cone, but it's a really long wide one, so aim at the mob in the middle and you get everyone. Elecrics isn't a cone but see above for how it ends up working. Arctic Air is a fairly wide PBAoE so you move among the bad guys and it affects mobs around you. They don't like the cold, so they will try to run pretty much immediately, causing scatter if you're not spamming the aoe immobilize. I don't remember what minds confuse targeting is.

I would say go plant. You get it really early, it's up every fight, and it hits a really broad swathe of bad guys. Electrics' also comes somewhat early, but it hits one guy, then starts jumping to neighboring mobs. To get even half the mob confused takes quite a while, so unless you throw another aoe control out on top of it (like the sleep, which is very good), you end up waiting a long time. By the time the last mob is infected, the first mob is over it. Arctic Air in Ice is very good, but generates a LOT of agro actively over time so when they become unconfused, they are looking to kill you; not the tank, not anyone else, just you. So it's good, but it needs a secondary that can mitigate the attention you will be getting. Also Arctic Air tends to be a little smaller area in practice so there are almost always going to be mobs you can't get, where Seeds from plant can usually get pretty much all of them every time if you line up your shot right. Mind doesn't get a pet. I've made several mind controllers, and I haven't liked any of them. Ever. Some people like it, so maybe try it, but honestly if you're just wanting to confuse a lot of guys, Plant is the easiest to get that going and also has other great powers that make it a breeze to play. If you want to confuse ALL the guys, you'll have to wait to 50 and slot Coercive Persuasion, the infectious control proc there will even confuse bosses more often than not - not for long, but long enough to get them locked down with a hold.

I really like /Storm for a secondary. The only reason I haven't tried Electric/Storm so far is that, as mentioned above, electric fences won't mitigate the KB from your /Storm powers. Tornado and Lightning Storm, both will be knocking mobs all over the place. You could maybe stop this with KB to KD IOs, but that just seems like a waste of slots in a build that will already be slot hungry. I have an Ice/Storm which I really like and Storm does eventually make it work DPS wise. Ice Slick + Freezing rain means nothing ever gets to stand up around you. AA while causing a LOT of agro is also pretty good at mitigating it. Over all I would go with Ice/Storm first and if you feel like you have to make Electric/Storm later.

I agree Plant is probably best, but Fire would be doable if you can get your defense up. Force Field is not really solo friendly. I would recommend the backup radio power from P2W vendor to give you some extra dps when soloing a pre-32 controller.

I feel like you are going to be hurting for end. /Storm is an end hog, and Arctic Air ( a great power, though it gets you a LOT of agro) is a massive end drain. I franken slotted it with 4x end/confuse from various sets, and still have end trouble. Trying to run all those other toggles (maneuvers, assault) - I don't see how you will manage to keep running. I have Miracle and the end mod set proc slotted and still have to watch my end usage very carefully on Ice/Storm.

I have played several Plant controllers, but the one I keep coming back to and playing well over 200 Vet levels now is Plant/Storm/Ice. It is my farmer because it's really versatile and capable, but also because it's really fun. A pretty close second would be Plant/Nature - not as fast, but very, very survivable. Plant/Time gets honorable mention here. I've only ever played one /Poison char and I have to say I don't like the set at all. I kept waiting for it to get good, because so many people seem to rave over it, but it did not ever get good in my hands.

If you're going Earth/Storm, I highly recommend taking Thunderclap ( the Storm pbaoe stun). A lot of people skip this power on storm builds, but with earth you can use it in combination with Stalagmites to stack Stun on bosses and reliably control a whole mob. I would also take the single target immobilize on Storm, as it lets you control Lightning Storm and Tornado on single targets with out the huge end cost of the aoe immobilize.

I LOVE Earth control. I know some may not like Quicksand, but I think it has great synergy with other earth powers. I will keep baddies in your earthquake or volcanic gasses longer, and will increase the chances of volcanic gasses hitting and locking down purple mobs. It can also help team mates who may not be well enhanced actually contribute to a team. My preferred Earth pairings are: Earth/TA Earth/Storm Earth/Nature Earth/Rad All of them have soooo much control available that you feel godlike. With decent recharge, you can lock down an endless succession of adds in bad rooms. The only power I would probably not take is salt crystals. It has a long duration, so can lock down a set of adds, but the range is pretty short, making it a lot less useful than it might be. Also Sleeps (beside Electrics') will go away as soon as someone aoes near them, and someone ALWAYS aoes. I have skipped the single target immobilize on some builds, but it can come in handy and costs a lot less than the aoe immobilize for locking tough bosses or AVs in place. It lets you set up containment on a boss more quickly and for less end. The Stone pet is my second favorite (Jack Frost is my favorite). He can tank AVs pretty regularly. He hits like a truck. It's single target, but it does give you some offense. Soloing Earth can be really slow till you get the pet, regardless of your secondary or procs. It gets a little better when you get an epic pool attack, but still solo on earth is slow. On a team though, especially vs purple mobs, it is very strong support.

I've noticed the same thing, attacks that were started before you activate hibernate will still hit you. Basically, waiting too long to hibernate will just make you angry and dead. Best to hit it early then come back and punish.

You may want to pick up the sleep later on as an emergency stopgap. It will let you control adds that aren't in your debuff aura until your seeds of confusion recharges. Honestly I mostly use the AOE hold for this, but sometimes one more control can calm things down enough for you to turn a wipe into a win. I wouldn't put more than a couple slots into it unless you are looking for the set bonuses. When you get entangling aura you can often just jump into the middle of an uncontrolled set of adds and hold them with that, so really after 35, you will probably never use the sleep at all.

I slot it with 4 x end/hold from the 4 hold sets. You could also proc it if you have extra slots laying around. It's very powerful, letting you hold bosses on the first hold if you are close enough to have them in your aura, then you can stack the hold at your leisure. It seems more reliable than radiations' choking cloud. It's become one of my favourite powers in the game.

I remember having a Dark/Dark controller on live and really liking it, but when I tried recreating it here, I am not impressed. She's been stalled at 46 for about 12 months. The wolf looks cool, but the howl gets old really fast and it doesn't DPS like Stoney or Jack or even Fly Trap. I have a Fire/Dark that is amazing. The amount of to hit debuff you can stack, plus Bonfire, hot feet, and imps, you can stand there and burn stuff down with very little danger. The AOE recovery/regen buff keeps you from ever having end trouble after lvl 26ish. You do need to toggle pull tough mobs, as most of the to hit debuff is localized around you and around your toggle. If you can get the mobs in there together, none of them can hit. I made a Fire/Storm concept character that is using Gale as a control ... the idea being that nothing ever gets to stand up long enough to hit you. I slotted KB to KD in gale and bonfire, and with freezing rain thrown in, everything is ALWAYS on it's back. That has worked so well, I'm thinking of respecing some of my other /Storm chars with more slots in Gale - a power I have always resented having to take and have never put more than one slot in. Without the kb to kd, it is situational at best. Fire/Rad is also really strong.

Personally, I like to see a well played Empath on a team, but that said, with a well played Illusion controller, you should rarely need your heals. Between PA, Decieve, Holds, and the fear pet you are looking at a LOT of mitigation. By using some of the excellent advice on where and when to place your buffs in this thread, you could go whole fights or even missions without needing to use a heal. I think where people may have issue with the dedicated healer mindset is that with all the tools at your disposal, if you are looking to do a lot of healing, you essentially have to sandbag on the mitigation front to get the opportunity. People would rather you didn't go ahead and let them get beat all to hell just so you can heal them. As for the second rez, if you let someone die with an Illusion/EMP, something has gone VERY wrong. It happens sometimes - especially in caves or if the team splits, but again, if people are dieing on your team, you need to be looking at mitigating harder with your Illusion powers rather than healing harder and hoping to keep them alive. People will really resent it if you're intentionally letting them get heavily wounded.

As someone mentioned earlier, Ice doesn't have a great opener. Ice Slick is OK, but not great. You can fix this by pairing it with a good accuracy Debuff (RAD, Dark, Nature). Once that toggle is set, you can run in with Arctic Air and other pbaoe(choking cloud for Rad, entangling vines for Nature, or even the pbaoe Accuracy debuff/+regen +recovery debuff/buff in dark.) So Ice can work well with the right secondary and be very powerful. I have an Ice/Rad controller that pretty much just stops EVERYTHING once the toggle is set and she jumps in to the middle of a mob. Earth anything will be strong control wise. I have an Earth/TA and an Earth/Storm that are both amazing in groups. Both Earth and Ice will be slow to solo, but great on teams.

My solo/farm Controller is Plant/Storm. Other Controllers that solo well/quickly are Fire/Dark and Fire/Rad. Plant anything is strong, but kill speed without a resist debuff can make soloing controllers slow, so again Storm, Dark, and Rad can help with that. For epic power pools, the cold set has the most dps, though the earth one isn't bad either. I am currently working on a Fire/Storm char that is pretty good solo, but very end intensive, and pretty squishy. Someone mentioned Earth/Storm, I find the control very strong there, but kill speed to be slow and endurance intensive. So things I've played that solo well: Plant/Storm, Plant/Time, Plant/Nature, Plant/Rad, Fire/Dark, Fire/Rad, Earth/Storm, Cold/Rad(lots of procs to get this to go). Only Plant/Storm, Fire/Dark, and Fire/Rad solo quickly and well. By solo well I mean soloing 5-6 player by level 26, and 8 player by level 40. Plant/Storm can solo 8 player at 32.