Erratic1

Devastating Blow has a cast arcanatime of 2.904, 144.5171 Energy/48.1724 Smashing damage according to City of Data Swoop is 1.452, 142.6402 Lethal damage Cleave is 2.508, 172.6697 Lethal damage So yes, Swoop + Cleave can be done in the time of a Devastating Blow, while delivering more than twice as much damage*. But then Battle Axe does not have a damage aura, or a mechanic to splash damage, or milk contamination for healing. I will say from a pure satisfaction standpoint I have enjoyed Battle Axe more than Radiation Melee. *Devastating Blow is applying a Mag 3 Disorient (60% chance), guaranteed Contamination to the target, and lowering the target's Defense for 15 seconds versus Knockup (70% chance) and Knockdown (80% chance) for Swoop and Cleave. Consumption of Contamination by Devastating Blow will deliver 18 damage to up to 5 nearby targets--not a lot, though functionally a free hit and up to 90 more damage being dealt out.

While I never, across any of my characters, have played matched primary/secondary sets, it is a repeated observation that the weakness of either primary or secondary are usually somewhat negated by its opposite. Rad Melee, in my estimation, would seriously benefit from +Recharge, which is something Rad Armor provides. You could likewise get +Recharge in various forms from Energy Armor, Electric Armor, Super Reflexes, or Stone Armor. It is somewhat of a shame Rad Melee does not come with more than one power which does Knockdown/Knockback, as that is another vector for +Recharge via Force Feedback. However, as Proton Sweep is a pretty miserable power, you could take Cross Punch to both give you more area damage capability and +Recharge. Hmmm...I may have to try building to that end.

Agreed. Rad Melee definitely has some...drawbacks, just hitting hard is not one of them. I have two or three Rad Melee characters, and they are okay, but none of them really push the envelope. I regret I did not do more with Stone Melee sooner, as it feels so much smoother while conveying a sense of pounding what you are fighting--though, if you are like me, you have to find a way to justify your power's appearance. While it also it not going to be an envelope pushing combination, I have had great fun working up a Stone Melee/SR scrapper. I wonder what I could do with Stone Melee paired with Ninjitsu or Shield.

?!?!? Open up Mids and go to Powerset Comparison. You will find Rad Melee is one of the hardest hitting offense sets in the game. For raw damage it outperforms Battle Axe, which is definitely a hard hitting set. Rad Melee also outperforms Battle Axe for raw DPS. War Mace compares better in terms of raw damage, being roughly comparable, but again falls behind in terms of DPS. The only set I can think of which produces similar raw hit values is Energy Melee and the only set which leaps to mind for better DPS is Claws. Yes, Rad Melee hits slower than most other sets--that is its balancing factor which keeps it from just blowing other offensive sets out of the water. That all said, how a set feels is often meaningful to how enjoyable it is. For a similar feels but faster attack rate, I would suggest Energy Melee or Stone Melee.

If Batman can drive the atomic-powered Batmobile all over Gotham with not a care for what what is come out the exhaust, I think radiation heroes are probably okay. But I have to admit, even as a kid I wondered about what would happen if a villain blew up the Batmobile.

There are certainly merits to Shield/StJ.

I am currently trying to work Fold Space into mine and unlike with most of my other Tanker, the Build Up power so its yank foes in, go to three combo points, dish out area damage from both offense and defensive sets.

I am currently levelling up a Rad/StJ Tanker. He's in his mid-late 30s. Won't call him the ultimate Tanker or anything, but he's enjoyable enough.

Did they hit anything, or were they confining themselves to even con opponents? Some sort of recollection on the need of the developers to nerf player overperformance demonstrated by showing a developer taking on a +5 foe and defeating it being followed up by people asking how the developer so reliably hit the +5 target and the need then by the developers to backtrack comes to mind as occurring before ED, as well as there being a movement amongst some of the players complaining about how everyone slots in the same manner. And while it is fuzzy, I am pretty sure my preferred slotting was more along the lines of 2 Accuracy + 4 Damage. But like I said, its been a long time.

Clones and Duplicates (Protean Arc) cheat and have powers you do not have at the levels where you encounter them. I have a screenshot somewhere of my duplicate on the Protean Arc hitting my character for over a 1000 damage when the character in question was in his low 20s. Edit: Found it...My double has Crushing Uppercut, which he used from stealth for the crit hit.

As you have some overlap between power effects between primary and secondary (endurance recovery/healing) you have flexibility in choice of which to take/use, leaving open slots for other powers. DM grants you a long lasting damage buff, EA grants you recharge--just have to be able to maintain the endurance expenditure and both sets have powers for that. You should lean into +Recharge as it makes everything smoother.

I say such things and people act like I've pooped in their coffee cups as they are having morning breakfast. I will note as well, Shield on a Scrapper has a taunt aura: Power 'Against All Odds' (Scrapper_Defense.Shield_Defense.Against_all_Odds)

Were I inclined to do a matched set, it would likely be an Energy/Energy Scrapper.

I have NEVER run matched Pri/Sec and been playing since Beta. I just cannot bring myself to do it. 😁

I have had a fair amount of fun on a DM/EA scrapper.