Erratic1
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Posts posted by Erratic1
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I e been reading that energy armor and radiation armor are as useful to a scrapper as willpower, and rad melee is comparable to dark melee but havent tested them myself.
Radiation melee is slow, but heavy hitting. It also has a mechanic which spreads damage around from its single-target attacks if you attack the right target. I liked it enough to have two character with it (Rad/Shield Scrapper and Rad/Fire Brute).
Radiation Armor is wonderful but I get the impression most people do not realize all the things it brings to the table Solid protections, a heal, great endurance supply (basically you get a second Stamina power), a continuously up absorption shield (if slotted for it), a recharge bonus, and it debuffs enemies defenses.
Hmm. . .despite having a DM/Elec Brute that is pretty awesome, I am now thinking about the potential behind a DM/Rad.
Edit: Should add, Rad Melee does not bring the variety of tools to the table that Dark Melee does. It does not regain endurance, its life regain attack requires a precondition on top of needing to hit, and it has nothing like Soul Drain.
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Radiation Armor was also a thought to pair with it possibly.
With Radiation Armor you get great recovery, a heal, recharge bonus (while in the thick of things), an absorption shield, and your enemies are easier to hit.
Electrical covers a lot of the same ground.
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If TT is only ever going to be on Excelsior then as sad as I will be not to enjoy them, that will have to be the way it is.
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Any build with Sonic Blast should be a Defender - the debuffs are much larger. However, I wouldn't pair Sonic with Kinetic. Kinetic is just too 'busy' a set and you're not going to have enough time to both focus on a Blast rotation and use Kinetics properly. With a standard Corruptor/Defender build, this just means you're not using your low quality nukes as much - you're losing something, but it's the worst part of your rotation. With Sonic, there are no 'low quality nukes' because all of them are stacking short-term resistance debuffs.
So if you're going to build a Sonic Blast Defender, you should pair it with a set that doesn't require much activity during a fight. Leave Kinetics for people like Controllers who have nothing better to do with their time.
Howl's debuff lasts 8s. No, you're not likely in a team going to be doing full blast rotations, but you don't need to. Your purpose on a team is buffing the team's damage by providing damage bonus and debuffing resistance. With the Recharge boost from Siphon Speed you can Howl every 8s to maintain the resistance debuff on everything you hit. And tossing out Howl every 8s isn't exactly demanding.
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City of Data claims it is a 74 degree cone, but I could never tell it hit anything. I dumped it.
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Ah. Thanks for that information. I didn't realize just how different they were.
I went back on the beta server to do this and did exactly what the OP was referencing. You do get the benefit of the proc on Contaminated foes.
Thank you for testing it. Guess I will have to shell out for the IO now.
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It seems to me that repel would be pretty useful especially with the endurance drain that you can siphon back whenever you use it
Unsure what you're talking about here, wanna provide more info?
Every foe you repel drains some of your endurance. Endurance is not a worry for Kinetics due to Transference. It should however be noted that trying to get close enough to a target to gain endurance from using Transference while running Repel is like chasing after a $100 bill suspended from a string attached to a stick holding it just out of reach which is attached to a hat you are wearing. You'll never get it.
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Easy rule of thumb with Kinetics ... TAKE ALL THE POWERS.
Some of them will be One Slot Wonders, like the Increase Density and Inertial Reduction powers. Some will only need minimal slotting. Some will need Frankenslotting to get the most of out them.
And then you'll start getting into Set Bonuses, and it's all going to go haywire on you.
Kinetics really is something of a mixed bag of powers, as far as investing in them goes ... but all of them have their uses ... except maybe Repel. Repel is the most "skippable" power in Kinetics, although with a lot of work, cunning and clever use of game mechanics, you can make Repel "work" for you, under the right conditions.
Even Repel has its uses.
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I may never understand the disdain so many have for Repel. Apparently nobody can think of anything it can be used for than wrecking the ability to apply area damage to groups of enemies.
Position yourself between the melees and the ranged characters of your group. If any ranged groupware draws aggro the angry foes cant get past (or to) you. If your party bites off more than it can handle and there are no characters with controls, knocking down everything you see by charging to enemies provides control (because enemies on their butts aren't attacking).
It's a situational power, sure. It is not however a waste.
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But Regen/Recovery specifically is a 2m effect and it not stacking makes sense (though extending its duration would make sense).
Chance for +Endurance is an immediate payoff. But do you only get it for the thing you target or for everything you make a Hit check against?
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In granite, while you are nigh-indestructible, you can't step up on a sidewalk, you need tp. I also believe your damage is diminished. /WP or even /Inv can be built to be nearly as tough, without the drawbacks.
According to City of Data it's a 30% reduction.
You could offset that with the right primary, but you would still be behind where you otherwise would have been with another secondary set.
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Does anyone know if Radiation Siphon slotted with Theft of Essence: Chance for +Endurance procs off every enemy hit when attacking a Contaminated target?
The combat log shows a Hit check is performed against multiple targets. If you can get Endurance off each hit enemy this would be a fantastic plus for Radiation Melee.
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Radiation Melee attacks are slow animating but hard hitting. What it brings to the table is rebuffing enemy defense and the Contaminated mechanic whereby making a single-target attack on a Contaminated target causes an attack on all nearby targets for roughly 30% of the damage of the original hit.
If you see Contaminated appear over an enemy's head it is worth it to immediately change targets to attack that enemy. This makes getting the best use of Radiation Melee a bit of a game of Whack-a-mole.
Two must take powers in Radiation Melee are Fusion and Irradiated Ground.
Fusion is the set's Build Up equivalent, but it also guarantees applying Contaminated to what you hit for 10s. Irradiated Ground both debuffs nearby enemy's defense, making it more likely you will hit (which you want with slow attacks) but also can apply Contaminated. It also deals minor damage.
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It is easy enough to test the impact of +Damage on DoTs by using the different stances In Bio Armor. Having a Savage/Bio Scrapper I did so. The headachy part was finding repeated instance of opponents of the same type and level to test on. Long and short, the different stances, which apply no damage bonus (Efficient), apply a damage bonus (Offensive), and apply a negative bonus (Defensive) changed the value of the DoTs I saw just now in testing. Moreover, popping a Focused Rage also changed the value of the DoT.
The DoT in question was the one applied by Rending Flurry as used at five stacks of Blood Frenzy, noted as "Rending Flurry Large" in the combat log.
I will also note that if you monitor your Damage Bonus you will see that as you build stacks of Blood Frenzy there is no change in the value of the Damage Bonus. The description at Paragonwiki and in Pine that, "Each stack of this buff grants a small damage buff and endurance cost discount," does not seem to hold true. Instead you get benefit on your spenders and only if you use them when at max stacks (the difference between "Rending Flurry Normal" and "Rending Flurry Large" in the log).
Another option for testing the impact of +Damge would be to use a Savage/Shield build making use of Against All Odds, which would have the benefit that the +Damage would fluctuate according to how many opponents you had standing at any given time. Over the course one would expect the value to decline with the damage bonus as opponents are defeated. I am not particularly inclined to start another character for such purposes, but a few DFBs and DiBs should get someone to the point of having Against All Odds by which to do some testing.
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Though I've barely started mine, I've seen many recent posts in various places saying Rad/Fire is the most effective AOE farming build of them all. YMMV, etc., have no personal experience to confirm it.
I have a 36 Rad/Fire Brute. He drinks endurance like nobody's business.
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Radiation Melee attacks are slow, ponderous things. Accordingly they hit for more damage than attacks from sets with faster delivery.
The heal is as reliable as you manage to contaminate things--something Irradiated Ground should be helping you with.
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Pre-shutdown I started levelling an Ice/EM Tanker...that is what prompted me to make my far more successful and enjoyable Ice/Stone Tanker.
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Having played a DM/Elec Brute who was stunningly survivable pre-shutdown (and am in the process of remaking), I can assure you an Elec/DM tank will not disappoint. You quite literally cannot run out of endurance so long as three foes are about and having both an quickly recycling healing attack as well as a backup heal that does not have to hit is a major plus.
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While this is a tank thread, if you really like tossing enemies in the air, I'm gonna suggest checking out grav trollers. Wormhole will toss them as high as the war wall ledge. ;)
I have a level 35 Grav/Energy Dominator. :D
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I had two tanks pre-shutdown, a Dark/Fire and an Ice/Stone. Rather than rebuild them I have been working up a Rad/Psi. She's solid and Mass Levitation...the endless joy of tossing nearby enemies into the air is difficult to put into words.
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Powers on the tray, then Combat Attributes on top of the window that appears (can see it in the image I posted).
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I will try to do some testing/logging tonight if no resolution is had before I head home.
Okay, home now and here is a portion of a chatlog demonstrating what I was talking about (I have removed them hitting me and Blazing Aura damage):
2019-06-03 17:56:15 You activated the Atom Smasher power.
2019-06-03 17:56:15 Readying Atom Smasher.
2019-06-03 17:56:17 HIT Conscript! Your Atom Smasher power had a 95.00% chance to hit, you rolled a 77.33.
2019-06-03 17:56:17 HIT Headman! Your Atom Smasher power had a 95.00% chance to hit, you rolled a 24.25.
2019-06-03 17:56:17 You contaminate Headman with your Atom Smasher for 25.73 points of Energy damage and reduce their defense!
2019-06-03 17:56:17 You irradiate Headman with your Atom Smasher for 77.2 points of Toxic damage!
2019-06-03 17:56:17 You contaminate Headman!
2019-06-03 17:56:17 You contaminate Conscript with your Atom Smasher for 25.73 points of Energy damage and reduce their defense!
2019-06-03 17:56:17 You irradiate Conscript with your Atom Smasher for 77.2 points of Toxic damage!
2019-06-03 17:56:18 Atom Smasher is still recharging.
2019-06-03 17:56:18 You activated the Radiation Siphon power.
2019-06-03 17:56:20 HIT Conscript! Your Radiation Siphon power had a 95.00% chance to hit, you rolled a 41.86.
2019-06-03 17:56:20 HIT Headman! Your Radiation Siphon power had a 95.00% chance to hit, you rolled a 71.87.
2019-06-03 17:56:20 You clobber Headman with your Radiation Siphon for 35.48 points of Smashing damage and reduce their defense!
2019-06-03 17:56:20 You contaminate Headman with your Radiation Siphon for 106.46 points of Energy damage!
2019-06-03 17:56:20 Your Radiation Siphon heals you for 82.74 points of health.
2019-06-03 17:56:20 You contaminate Headman with your Radiation Siphon for 28.38 points of Toxic damage!
2019-06-03 17:56:20 Your absorb the radioactive contamination from Headman!
2019-06-03 17:56:20 You contaminate Conscript with your Radiation Siphon for 28.38 points of Toxic damage!
Using Atom Smasher I contaminate both a Rikti Headman and a Rikti Conscript. I then follow that up by using Radiation Siphon on the Headman. But the log shows a HIT check on both.
On the squishiness front, what values are you seeing for your resistances?
This is what I have on my Tanker:
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I have both two characters with Radiation Melee (Rad/Fire Brute and Rad/ Shield Scrapper) and one with Radiation Armor (Rad/Psi Tanker). So my experience of Radiation as offense and defense will be different.
I noticed I do not always see the orange numbers over other enemies but I quite often do and seem to recall when looking at the combat display something which makes me think the application of splash damage makes a to-hit check. For the longest time I saw very few on the Brute. I had been running Endurance Reduction Enhancements in it but swapped to Defense Debuff and started seeing more hits, which leans to there being a To-Hit check. Based on that experience, when I made the scrapper last Friday I made sure to slot for Defense Debuff as soon as I could and regularly see the splash damage. According to your build, you only have one enhancement which is modifying the base debuff. You might try adding slots to that end. (Edit: See you have a chunk in Beta Decay, so not sure why you would be missing the splash damage.)
I have had no survivability problems on the Tanker. Admittedly Tankers start at higher resistance values. A quick comparison to other set's resistance values does not suggest Radiation Armor should be particularly squishy.
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This post from the Brute forum may interest you.
Best Ranged Sentinel
in Sentinel
Posted
Running Sonic/Bio and it is a wonderful combination.