Local_Man

I made the exact same point in my Ill/Rad guide. Nobody "loses" XP. At most, you lose the opportunity to earn some potential XP that you haven't earned yet. The net effect is that you kill stuff faster and in more safety, so the effect of Confuse power on XP is only positive.

What do you need endurance for if you can just walk in and everything is controlled . . . let the team do the killing while you are lazy.

I like to slot most of my single target holds (which do damage) with 1 Nucl (Acc/Dam), 2 Perox (Dam/Mez), 1 Acc/Mez, and two common Recharge IOs. No set bonuses, but I get good accuracy, capped Hold AND Damage, and great Recharge. There are some places where HOs fill the gap better than IOs.

Hmm, let's see. So far I have Ill/Storm and Ice/Storm at 50, working on Earth/Storm, Mind/Storm and Grav/Storm all at about 38 or 39, and I have a Plant/Storm in the mid 20's. And I have a couple of baby Fire/Storms, too.

Storm is a very fun and flashy set with any Primary. It adds more direct damage than any other secondary. Plant, Fire, Earth and Ice all have AoE Immobilize powers with 12 seconds of -knockback that will allow Tornado to be an awesome damage machine if you spam the Immobilize. Grav has an AoE Immob that allows knockdown, turning Freezing Rain into a better control power. Fire, Earth and Grav all have AoE Stuns that can stack with Thunderclap. Ill/Storm is viewed as the "King of Chaos" since it has so little lockdown but is still very powerful. I would say that Mind has the least synergy with Storm.

Earth/Storm has something that most other Earth combos lack . . . damage in the late powers and the possibility of being able to solo an Earth Controller at a reasonable pace. Several of Earth's and Storm's powers stack and complement each other. Plus, it a very showy combo -- lots of big graphics and big noises.

I feel that Earth/Rad is a more flexible build, but Earth/Storm is very, very good. Its biggest weakness is a lack of a self heal.

It is 12 (Twelve) seconds according to City of Data, and as shown in my Earth/Rad guide where I give all the info on the powers.

In a team setting, I like to use Ice Slick as my opener under the melee guys, then run in with AA running. Adding World of Confusion should make the combo pretty sick. Ice Slick is great mitigation of most of the initial strike, as long as you don't have another controller on the team spamming AoE Immobilize.

Frostbite alone will get you shot at. Tornado and Lightning Storm will do damage, and Tornado will pass out an occasional stun, but you will still get shot at. Of course Frostbite will stop the knockdown in Freezing Rain for 12 seconds, so that won't help either. I prefer to use Ice Slick first, run in to establish control with AA or let the tank draw aggro, then use my damage powers after the foes are distracted/controled.

I left out Flashfreeze, Shiver and Thunderclap on my Ill/Storm. I wouldn't leave out Ice Slick. The Slick is an effective form of AoE control. I also keep Hurricane, even though I don't use it all that often. It is a situational power, effective for positioning, acting as a barrier and "panic button" moments. I love Hurricane for cul de sacs, to push all the foes into the back, then unleash Freezing Rain, Tornado and Lightning Storm without fear of knockback.

Fully agree. Earth/Storm is very powerful, flashy and fun, but Earth/Rad is a better team support character, with an AoE heal, AoE team buff, a Rez and debuffs on an anchor and toggle rather than a targetted location.

As Thorm said, Stone Cages has -knockback only for 12 seconds, even though the Immobilize works longer. If you want to keep foes in place for Tornado, you need to keep re-applying Stone Cages in less than 12 seconds.

Knowing that the -knockback only lasts 12 sec can be useful. You can throw down Stone Cages, wait your 12 seconds and then use Freezing Rain and/or Earthquake for the knockdown effect while the foes are still immobilized. This can be effective for chaining AoE controls . . . Stalagmites + Stone Cages to start, then follow up with Earthquake when the stun runs out even if the immobilize hasn't.

Oh . . .

I hadn't actually looked at the build until now . . . and it needs some major help. I don't have time right now to comment on everything, but here are a few points:

(1) The OP has the Defense and Resistance procs for pets in Phantom Army . . . and they are invulnerable. Those procs are a complete waste. The key with Phantom Army is to maximize Recharge First, then Damage and get some decent accuracy. A good slotting is 4 of the Expediant Reinforcement, leaving out Dam/End and the Resistance Proc, and then fill the other two slots with the two triples from Call to Arms.

(2) I agree that Leadership is not a great choice for this build, especially since Ill/Storm has too many powers that will provide a greater benefit.

(3) Freezing Rain, arguably the best power in Storm, needs to be slotted for Recharge first. You want it available for every group. Slotting for Defense Debuff is far less important.

(4) Spectral Wounds is horribly underslotted, while Maneuvers and SI get 6 slots?

(5) Indomidible Will needs max Recharge -- Defense is just an afterthought on this power.

There are a lot of other problems, but those jumped out at me.

From your post, it appears that you have a very effective character by leveraging all that Illusion and Kinetics can do. And a good, experienced player can develop great tactics to maximize the benefits of the powerset. You did a great job at explaining how you overcome some of the conflicts in the set.

But my original post was suggesting to the OP what the best secondary might be for a player new to Controllers in general and Illusion in particular. No question that Kinetics is a great set -- very busy and can be frantic, and it takes some skill to play well and overcome the inherent conflicts with Illusion. For someone without quite that level of experience, I still suggest that Ill/Rad is the best choice. It is easy to play moderately well while you develop the skills for the more difficult and complex stuff. It gets many of its best powers early, so it doesn't mature so late in the build that a new player might lose interest. The Rad debuffs give a defensive benefit that can help survival that Kinetics doesn't have. Ill/Rad is a more flexible build, easily adjusted to more playstyles. And it isn't just "easy controling for beginners," as an Ill/Rad later becomes one of the most powerful builds in the game. While Kinetics may allow for a faster kill speed with its damage buffs, Radiation allows for a wider range of abilities and safety.

Whether to take the AoE Hold on a controller has prompted lots of debate on these boards. Back before the "Great Controller Nerf" of Issue 6 or 7, taking the AoE Hold was a no-brainer -- it was a key power in the set. The 20% Accuracy penalty has always been there, but the duration was cut nearly in half, and the recharge was doubled in the "GCN," making the power optional. Still, once the AoE hold is slotted up with 2 Acc, 2 Hold, 2 Recharge, it is still a very functional power even if it isn't up with every group.

Cinders has the same accuracy, duration, recharge and range as Ice's Glacier and Illusion's Flash. Because they are "Point-Blank" instead of Ranged, the diameter of the hold is larger than the other AoE Holds. Cinders animates faster than the other two. Fire is more of a melee set, so I find Cinders to be a key power to have. I like to run in, fire off Cinders to hold the foes while they roast in Hot Feet. However, with a Fire/TA you can choose to give up Hot Feet for the benefits of staying at range, making Cinders needed less. Still, it is worth considering as a nice "panic button" power and back-up control that sets up Containment.

Well, I admit that I was looking at the entire journey of leveling up a controller, rather than the limited view of how a fully built-out controller would be at level 50 doing solo missions. I'm not sure I would agree that "is a very blinkered view." I like to look at the entire journey and see how a controller plays while leveling up, solo and on large and small teams. If I don't like my controller at level 25, I'm never going to get to 50.

What you have described would apply to most */Kinetics controllers -- Fulcrum Shift + APP AoE damage. It is a controller entirely focused on damage. What you suggest takes the single best power in the illusion set, Phantom Army, and makes it mostly irrelevant, but only applies in the end game.

Ill/Kin is a late developing build, and has no AoE damage until the APP powers, so you only have a single target attack to take advantage of Siphon Power until you get Phantasm. But in order to take advantage of Transfusion, Transference and Fulcrum Shift, you need to be in melee . . . but Phantasm acts as a body guard with his knockback and tries to knock foes near you away. With Phantasm out, your target for your siphon powers will often get knocked out of range. The only solutions are to not use Phantasm or to go so fast that Phanty can't catch up -- in which case he has no chance of getting the buff from Fulcrum Shift.

Of course, neither of those damage buffs or other buffs help Phantom Army. The core of an Illusion controller is is distraction -- Illusion has weak controlls because it can distract so well -- and PA do it best. Kinetics is an "in your face" offensive set with team buffs and almost no defense. Sure, an Illusion/Kinetics controller can be very effective, because both sets are great sets. But if you want to experience Illusion in particular, like the OP seems to want to do, then Kinetics is not the best set to enhance Illusion.

Earth's Embrace: The Doctored Wounds set -- 5 gives you a recharge bonus.

Rock Armor: There are several Defense sets that are good. 4 Gift of the Ancients for Endurance. 5 Red Fortune for Recharge. Luck of the Gambler has great Regen, but some of them tend to be expensive.

OK, sorry. It was not clear from your original post that you were talking about the stun in Fissue.

One of the biggest problems with Ill/Storm is the lack of an AoE Immobilize. To some degree, Mind has the same problem, and Gravity has it to a lesser degree. Without an AoE Immobilize with -knockback, Tornado is a pet of pure chaos instead of a great source of damage to anything that can be knocked back. Add to that problem the lack of a self-heal, and the extra skill it takes to play Ill/Storm well, and that's why I rank it below Radiation.

Neither Freezing Rain nor Snow Storm provide a disorient (same thing as a stun). Are you talking about the Recharge debuff? Or the occasional knockdown in Freezing Rain?

Thunderclap provides a Mag 2 Stun (minions only), and Tornado has a stun while it throws foes all over the place. Thunderclap is nice to use to stack stuns with a teammates who have AoE stun powers. But alone, Ill/Storm doesn't have another stun to stack with T'clap to make it more effective. Fire, Earth and Grav are better for that.

Illusion -- my favorite primary in the game. So far, I have Ill/Rad, Ill/Storm and Ill/TA at 50, with a second Ill/Rad, Ill/Kin and Ill/Therm on the way. No matter which secondary you choose, I suggest you take a look at my Ill/Rad guide, linked in my sig. It has a ton of information about the game in general, controllers in general and useful info for anyone using either the Illusion primary or Radiation Secondary. Mostly, I compiled a lot of information that other great folks around here have put together.

No question that Radiation has the best synergy with Illusion. There are several reasons, but the easiest is to look at Illusion's best power, Phantom Army. PA are a set of three invulnerable pets that last for one minute and taunt the foes, drawing the damage to themselves. PA can't be buffed, so the only way to make them better is by using debuffs on the foes. Defense Debuffs are like an accuracy buff--the PA will hit more often. Resistance Debuffs are like a damage buff--the PA will do more damage when they hit. Finally, you most of all want Recharge, to get PA out there as much as possible. Radiation is the ONLY secondary that provides a Recharge buff to you and Defense and Resistance Debuffs to make PA better.

There are several other reasons that Rad works so well with Illusion -- Except for Flash, Illusion is a ranged set. And except for EM Pulse (a similar power to Flash) and Choking Cloud (which I suggest you skip), Rad is a ranged set. Rad allows you to set many of your key powers and then focus on other things. And Rad has a self-heal, a nice team buff and a rez, plus some control powers to make Illusion better.

I would put Ill/Storm just a little behind Ill/Rad -- probably slightly better for solo and small teams, but not as good for large teams or general purpose. It has great debuffs but no Recharge buff. Storm adds some nice damage in upper levels, and the chaos from Storm's knockback can increase your safety solo but frustrate teams unless you know how to play Storm well.

Illusion/Trick Arrow is a nice combo for solo or team play. I found the playstyle to be quite different, pretty much always from range. It even more relied upon the distraction of Phantom Army to allow shooting the Debuff and control arrows from range. No Recharge and No self-heal. Make sure you choose either the Magic or Tech origin to be able to light the Oil Slick Arrow.

Ill/Therm is a nice team support build, but lacks debuffs until the upper levels and has no Recharge buff. There isn't much in the Therm secondary to make Phantom Army better, but you get a self-heal.
Ill/Kin gives you a Recharge buff but no Defense or Resistance Debuffs, and the great team buff of Fulcrum Shift doesn't work on Phantom Army. Both Illusion and Kinetics are great powersets, but they have some synergy problems together.

Ill/Emp makes a great battlefield healer, but Empathy provides no Recharge buff or debuffs. Ill/Sonic has Resistance debuffs, but no Recharge buff or Defense Debuffs -- but you can put one of the Resistance debuffs anchored on Phantom Army. Ill/FF is a nice team character, but Force Fields offers nothing to make PA better and there is really no synergy between the powersets -- you can be an Illusionist and a Force Fielder, but the two don't really interact.

There is my summary of the secondaries for Illusion -- and others have different opinions. Illusion is a great set and really works well with any secondary -- but some have more synergy than others.

Either you can be a killing machine by yourself, or you can help the entire team kill things faster . . . SB acts as a team multiplier by buffing speed, Endurance Recovery and Recharge. Try it out . . . do a mission with a team without using SB, and then do the same mission using SB on your teammates. Unless your teammates are incompetant, the full team being buffed will get you though the mission a lot faster.

I was on a Quarterfield TF a while ago with a Fire/Kin who kept forgetting to buff the team (or just didn't want to -- he only did it once in a while). We had three Blasters, all of whom could have Nuked twice as often if the Fire/Kin had thought about the team instead of himself and kept using SB. Speed Boost would have not only allowed the Nuke to recharge faster, but would have helped the Blaster get back into the fight by helping his Endurance come back faster. We could have finished in a fraction of the time. Then he complained about it taking so long . . .

And I have a Fire/Kin . . . with the right keybinds, Speed Boosting everyone between battles takes very little time.