oldskool

MIDS is going to mislead you on endurance management with Sentinel Dark Armor. If you socket proc IOs in Obscure Sustenance, then you will see your endurance recovery with the maximum benefit that power provides. Just know that this benefit only lasts 10 seconds. Obscure Sustenance has 3 tiers for both the health regeneration and recovery it provides. The health regeneration aspect runs for 1 minute (it starts off high and then degrades to a weaker benefit). The stamina part of the power only lasts 30 seconds with the highest benefit only lasting for 10 seconds. You definitely have enough recharge to refresh Obscure Sustenance for most of the high benefits (tier 2 recovery lasts 20 seconds), but having Darkest Night active will be a noticeable drain with constant attacking. You also don't have enough endurance reduction in your attacks to keep up with the potential drain. Also, also, enemies that are higher level than you will resist your to-hit debuffs. Darkest Night + Blackstar is a lot of negative to-hit. The constant application of the lesser versions from your attacks is also not an insignificant thing. However... just know that whatever numbers you see in MIDS are going to be *considerably* less the higher you move the needle on level of your enemies. Defenders can get away with stacking stuff like this because their base numbers are absolutely massive. On paper it may sound like a Defender doing the same thing is pushing to-hit down by 45% with a single power. However, it is going to be a lot less. Still, a third off a power like on a Defender is still considerable. On Sentinels... it is not nearly as impressive. Still, hats off. This is a very hard combination to tinker with. I wouldn't expect much out of it, but it can be fun to play.

Not really. Reactive is good. I prefer the higher chance to trigger damage because the side effect is resistance debuffing. Resistance debuffing can be resisted (lowering its actual effect) and matters a lot less on weaker targets. Also, it isn't like the T4 ignores the debuff. It includes it, but at a reduced chance to trigger. A lot of enemies will be defeated before I reach max stacks anyway. The enemies that won't die that fast are better off with a different Interface if max effect is what I am going for (and I don't do that in all cases). If I spent more time specifically chasing big game hunting (like AVs), then I would likely use Degenerative because its side effect is very powerful. However, I don't think that is necessary for casual enjoyment of the game. I can also switch as needed and so in some respects the argument is a moot point for me. However, for someone just building up your Incarnate materials pick the ones that you think you will have the most fun with. The Incarnate options like Interface, Destiny, Judgment, etc... are not useless. There may be niche options, but it is really difficult to make universal recommendations that impact things in the same manner for all situations. That just doesn't exist as your choices have tradeoffs.

That's it! If you scroll through some of the text there is a line... "I made a spreadsheet". I've used that.

I tend to prefer the higher chance to damage vs side effect on Interface, and I tend to prefer the proc-like effect of the Hybrid Assault. There was a spreadsheet, its likely buried somewhere around here, that would show you the general output of the two Assault Hybrids. The stacking damage buff can be better than the proc effect, but for my characters the difference was so slight it didn't matter to me. How are you liking it so far? Seems like you're having a good time. Also, you can build any number of Incarnates for each type. You can only equip one, but you can have several stored. So, if you build one Interface vs the other and then find out one is better later... you can *always* switch it once you build it again. There are also ways to gain a lot of Incarnate materials by farming the Dark Astoria missions. One of those missions can be completed in 15 minutes or less.

1) You're unlikely to gain significant resists with this *and* maintain proc slotting. The reality is the range sets just don't offer the same kind of mitigation bonuses that the melee counterparts do. This can make things more difficult on the Sentinel where a Scrapper/Stalker/Brute may be able to get higher numbers. 2) Opportunity as a mechanic isn't that great in the first place. Skipping out on Lightning Bolt vs Charged Bolts is a generalized DPS decision vs core Sentinel inherent one. Charged Bolts has a faster animation time and recharge which can work out better when weaving attacks. This is really a distinction that makes more sense when you look at high recharge building or try to optimize attack routines for really durable targets. The entire question of "should I take offensive or defensive opportunity" is often a footnote. 3) Blinding Powder is fun and it feels somewhat function due to the full purple set and proc. It is not a game changing power in any sense, but I highly recommend that people play with it for a bit to make their own choice. 4) I ran Seishinteki Kyoyo with a full Performance Shifter set and that proc does work in that power. However, if I am using that power, then I am not using a damage option. The more time you spend working in end management, the less time you are hitting things. This may lead you to take Ageless Destiny which then kinda begs a question of why bother with this power in the first place and then why bother with Nin at all? That said, Ageless does have an option that includes more Defense Debuff Resistance which Nin lacks. So... maybe a moot point.

I was in the middle of writing a reply before Plainguy chimed in to add more context and I had to drop it. So, my apologies because without more information you can get misled. Incinerator should have a 3.03 recharge time, down from its base 12 seconds, in order to mash the sequence of Incinerator -> Slug -> Burst against hard targets. If all you care about is minion mowing, then stack your damage into your AoE instead, but you may struggle a bit more on LT's and up. "Struggle" as in feeling as if you are chipping health when Incinerator is not available because Burst is effectively tickle damage and Slug isn't that efficient without some procs. So, at 190+ % global recharge *and* 95+ % enhanced recharge, Incinerator can be available after the animation cycle of Burst + Slug. Burst and Slug do not require any recharge enhancement because their window of availability is going to be bound by the other powers in the attack sequence. So first cycle, you're putting Incinerator on cooldown, then Slug, and finally Burst. After Burst finishes its animation, you'd want to have Incinerator active. Burst has a 1.188 animation + Incinerator's 2.244 = 3.432. If you can have Slug available in 3.432 seconds or less without any recharge enhancement in the power, then I highly recommend frankenslotting it with damage procs instead. This will improve Slug's damage beyond the ED damage cap. Here is a way that I go about enhancing a power like Slug. Thunderstrike's 3pc bonus still grants you some range defense. The Acc/Dmg, Acc/Dmg/End, and Dmg/End enhancements will get you the 3 pc bonus and will not enhance recharge in the power. This allows you to socket Explosive Strikes, and Gladiator's Javelin which are two procs that do 71~ dmg when they go off. They aren't guaranteed but you're still looking at about 20-30 average damage per slot (likely higher in play but never 71 *on average* in each) which is pretty good. Remember, Sentinel *base* damage is what is enhanced by damage %. Any kind of damage increase is only raising that number. Slug's base is less than 100 damage. So with a 3% global damage buff in set bonuses you're not even getting +3 damage to that power (you would to Incinerator, Flamethrower and Full Auto though). You can run similar slotting in Burst too. 3pc Thunderstrike and then 3 open spots for procs like Achilles' Heel, Touch of Lady Grey, Shield Breaker, or Gladiator's Javelin. I may be a little off, but I think the proc chance in Burst is about 30% for each of those individually. An alternative method of using Burst, and trying to fish for procs, is to go Incinerator -> Burst -> Slug -> Burst. You'd need enough recharge reduction, ideally globally, to ensure Burst is available only after Slug's 1.848 animation (server clock speed; this is known as "arcanatime" from old old testing in the live game). Incinerator can then recharge in 4.224 seconds. This is a DPS loss, but so is playing AR in the first place (I kid... kinda). [Edit note: When I say "dps" loss the context of that is important too. Average damage could drop by less than 5% using Incinerator, Slug, and Burst x 2 (on paper you're really looking at 2-3% less assuming Musculature Core Alpha to help raise Burst/Slug). It is a *loss* but it may not be a largely noticeable one. Go for the selection of powers and effects you care about as the top priority because the min-max ceiling here isn't that large. So, the shortest possible cooldown on your strongest possible powers *is* the best DPS. However, alternative slotting and gameplay practices may create slight drops in performance. If a loss of a few DPS points, which are also only measurable on targets with HP capable of sustaining long durations of focus targeting with Opportunity, are OK to you, then do what is most fun. A lot of DPS arguments get into the weeds of absurdity and I have to be real careful to not present my thoughts through some elitest kind of mindset (I don't play that way; at all).] You may be asking "Why this?" and "Why is Burst talked about so specifically in last place?". Sentinels, as in players seeking advice; not the bleeding edge players that min-max to the gills, can struggle with dealing with more spongey targets. This is especially true when people start thinking their build *has to perform* at +4/x8 (it doesn't). However, even on +2/x6 or 8 enemies like Bosses on solo maps can feel like a slog. A set like AR is going to feel even worse. Anyway... Using any of the Sentinel T1 or T2 powers *last* can often guarantee a triggering of the Opportunity mechanic without a lot of conscious thought by the player. Its just muscle memory at that point. Why though? OK, so the carrier power for opportunity, like Burst, *can not* be the one that both meets the condition (90% meter) and also be the trigger at the same time. Therefore, you want your attack powers to go in an order that builds you 90-100% meter *before* you use a power like Burst. Adding it last makes it a lot more mindless and removes decision making in the heat of the moment. It is also, almost always, a significant way to increase your damage on single targets. [Edit 2: OK, So I know I harp a lot about single target, but "ugh I can't kill bosses" or "ugh, I do Defender damage*" is a common complaint in Sentinel-land. Its where my head is at when trying to present ways to fix it. The AoE is often overstated as a problem given that most teams at a high level are all leap frogging Judgment powers in the first place. *I can make some reasonably powerful Defenders so this comment of doing Defender damage is almost always a "lawlz, have you see what some Defenders are capable of" in my head. However, I understand the sentiment of beating enemies to death with a wet rag versus the perception of using a sledgehammer.] Now, AOE tips. Meter building for Opportunity is going to be entirely different with AoE powers and especially so due to Flamethrower cheese. For absolute overkill on meter generation, slot the full 6pc Opportunity Strikes set into Flamethrower. Open with this power against multiple targets. You will likely fill your bar to 100% (you actually can gain WAY more than 100pts of opportunity with this which is wasted) immediately. Opportunity lasts 15 seconds. Flamethrower can easily be available every 5 seconds meaning you can potentially be near 100% uptime when you have a target rich environment. The Opportunity damage buff, from Burst, is going to be better than the defensive one for Regen, imo. So again, use Burst. Another fun benefit of really high recharge is having Full Auto available ever 22~ seconds. If you put the Superior Ward set into FA, then you 95% enhanced recharge in that power (helps get you that sub 24-25second time with global recharge). You will also proc that absorb every time you use FA, but the ward proc is pretty crappy. [Edit 3: The above on FA availability also dovetails into Aim availability. Sentinels get access to Aim. Other versions of AR do not. This can allow for minimal slotting effort in Aim. Like, 1 Gaussian chance for buildup plus 1 common lvl 50 recharge IO. This can allow for a nice Aim -> FA -> AOE Spam rotation nearly every spawn which can be easy to overlook and ignore as a benefit. You combine that with the bug in Flamethrower, and you can have some decent (though not great) AoE potential on Sentinel AR. You're not going to impress the hardcore Blaster fans (ever!), but you're going to contribute far more than some may think.] So, in Buckshot and M30 Grenade you could go with some minor set bonuses, again, to explore procs. You may want one Knockback to Knockdown conversion, but you could also add Positron's Blast, Bombardment, Explosive Strikes, Force Feedback, Annihilation, and so on. What about defense? Obviously pushing damage slotting like this isn't going to stack much defense. You could still get to 16-22% positional defenses and likely much higher on Energy/Negative by using Weave, Maneuvers, and Stealth/Hover/Combat Jumping. [Edit 4: There is a strength in keeping range on Sentinel Regen. One of the big hazards of playing Regen is being in melee range where enemies can pound on your low defenses and resistance. The base regen rate can't keep up (Boost rates with Instant Healing and Destiny Healing can be significant though). This is less of a problem if you can maintain range for longer. Enemies like the Cimo's have 1 range attack but multiple broadsword attacks. It is better to risk their javelin toss vs being in range of taking Hack, Disembowl, or Headsplitter. Therefore, you don't need to max stack defense/resistance on a Sentinel like you may on a melee and this too is why Regen feels so much better on the AT. A passive regenerating absorb barrier is also nice to have.] This is like managing a scale. On one end you have damage. On the other hand you have defense. You could make this pretty tanky but do pitiful damage. You could build for more damage and be more fragile. You don't really get both with this pairing. Still, this long article on how to squeeze the most damage out of Sentinel AR *may* be helpful. Maybe not. 🙂

Its a new year, and while this could have been a new post (some nice necromancy here), I could go into some lessons learned. Lesson 1... Your "squeezing out the max" is an *incredibly* low bar with this build. Seriously, the optimization ceiling is not super high with this because of how both AR and Regen work. Lesson 2... Lesson 1 is a sad but very real truth. Lesson 3... AR does its best damage with absurd levels of recharge. Talking 190%+ with Hasten and may really want Ageless if you're not getting it in set bonuses. Lesson 4... Flamethrower ticks multiple times for the opportunity meter. It shouldn't, but it does. None of the other powers in this kit do that, but Flamethrower can nearly fill your bar against full targets. Lesson 5... Regen also does well with really high levels of recharge. Lesson 6... Stacking regen in bonuses for the sake of getting more health return is a waste of effort. You want actual hit points, defense benefits, recharge, to-hit, accuracy, damage, and then somewhere later down the road... regeneration percentage. And that's it. Assault Rifle has a lot of powers and they can all have some merit depending on how you slot them. You could dump a few from the build and it really depends on preference/goals. Regen has very little it should skip, like Second Wind is a possibility and maybe Moment of Glory, but it too can be really tight on powers. Don't expect the world from either of these power sets, because right now that's delusional. However, Regeneration is the best version of the set on Sentinels in many ways, and Sentinel AR can be real fun. And fun is all that should matter.

I highly recommend you read into this thread for some ideas on the pros and cons of what you're doing. More importantly, consider the difficultly being talked about here and the level of innate fragility of the AT. If you're still set on this, then by all means go for it. However, you're likely going to be the trailblazer here because "unconventional" builds are that for a good reason. They are hyper niche and there for your own fun and experimentation. They aren't wildly adopted because of that niche place (aka, often times they just aren't good beyond one specific thing; if they are good at all).

Fun is subjective though (still not disagreeing with the broader point you're making). The thing about Sentinel /Dark is you really need to be willing to play into what it offers. Yes, you can skip the last three powers, but if you do then you are kneecapping what makes the set unique. That difference is maybe a bit more pronounced on Sentinels because of all of the other flaws that exist (not to mention the high competition from other re-imagined sets like Invulnerability or Super Reflexes). If anyone's idea of playing an edgelord pew-pew character is to include /DA, then they need to strongly consider being in closer range vs trying to hover blast 24/7. Otherwise, what is the point of picking it? Honestly, I'd argue the same thing for Stalkers whom give up on Deathshroud. What is the point of taking DA there if you're going to ignore the CC toggles? It makes the set really really niche on both ATs. At least with Brutes, Tankers, Scrappers you get a damage aura plus Dark Regen (where Stalkers would just be left with DR). It becomes an alternative to Fiery Aura or other mitigation secondaries with a similar schtick. I don't remember when it was, but I think I tossed around some suggestions like dumping the cloaks for the ranged control variants. Like Fearsome Stare and Dark Pit. Some of the Sentinel secondaries need some significant reworks to make them more interesting than they currently are. 😞

It is really worth restating, in my opinion, this point here. Blackstar's debuff is massive which is truly a saving grace of the Dark Blast for any thing it pairs with. I've used this same strategy with Regen too and it can work. However, debuffs like this lose value the higher the difficulty runs BUT +2x8 is 100% reasonable for most (if not all) Sentinel pairings. There are other Sentinel combos that can deal with harder content and keep pace on damage better, but modest difficulty is absolutely doable.

Geyser does! Also, I ran Psy Mastery for Link Minds to pad defense and Psy Shockwave as the other Disorient source. Other than that not much synergy. (I totally forgot about Shockwave in that build) The knockdowns also work too to help control crowds. It was a quirky thing to play and a labor of love.

I had a Water/Dark that I was playing a good bit before I retired her. I agree with @underfyre. The Sent version of DA is the worst possible version of the set across all ATs. There are a few things that make DA really strong on the melee ATs. Those things are: 1) Dark Regen. 2) The IO system is heavily skewed towards melee primaries. 2 is probably the most important consideration to make. Melee ATs are spoiled for choice with multiple set opportunities to leverage PBAoE (which carries melee defenses) and melee attacks (also heavily favoring S/L/M with even some range). Furthermore, the IO system in general can essentially close all the endurance gaps of DA on melee. Dark Regen skyrockets as an absurd healing tool under these conditions. Effectively, if a pack of enemies cannot kill you in the time it takes for DR to recharge, then they likely can't kill you at all baring sapping your endurance. Sentinels have *neither* of these advantages, at all. Ranged attack sets are largely skewed towards range defense and TAoEs have range and AoE defense. Yet, DA still keeps two melee toggles and a short range sustain power. OS is a neat power with interesting mechanics, but is the polar opposite of Dark Regen. OS is not an "oh shit" heal. It is a multi-tiered regeneration and recovery buff that loses half its effectiveness over the course of 30 seconds (really at the 20 second mark) and runs for a full minute with the remaining health regen. Anyway, I ran Water/Dark with about 32% defense to everything, 68% S/L resist, enough recharge, and procs. I had to leverage stuns from the primary and Oppressive Gloom to reduce incoming threat from minions (whom can be dangerous in high numbers). It actually worked, but it wasn't the strongest thing I have ever played from an offensive front (even for Sentinels). She was fun, but I grew bored of it and took the enhancements for spare parts. Can you make Dark/Dark/Dark work? Yes. Will it exceed anything else you can do on this AT? Not really, it can have its moments, but its not a good pairing here (unfortunately).

You could equally have kept it to yourself. It isn't like those of us that offer advice about the AT are trying to gaslight people into thinking it is something it isn't. There is really nothing more worth talking about with your post. You said it. Its done. It wasn't as clever or original as you may have thought. For everyone else, just drop it and move on if you can. Do we really need more threads spiraling out of control where we just end up being assholes to each other? I don't think so. Drop it.

Two of the most memorable names from playing live involved MMs. True heroes of inspiration. One MM was a Thugs/Storm character where the "hero" was a pornstar with a NSFW name. The thugs were her bodyguards to keep away fans. There was an entire backstory around the name, powers, and the thugs. It was just so... "chef's kiss'. The player was hilarious af to talk with.

Go for it. Feel free to use some other fillers, like corn, to pad out the backstory. Toss it at the wall, see what sticks.

Nerf Regen!

The servers are not ready for the might of the poo tossing poo golems. Earth Blast + Stone Armor? I can see the new characters now... A normal monkey was a part of a school field trip to a waste treatment plant. The monkey [substitute character name] was bitten by radioactive poo. They gained the ability to protect themselves with poo and fling it. Fling it with mighty strength! Add auras for gas or even use the nature ground effects (fertilizing everything as you run!). Its too powerful, Bill. Too powerful.

Thanks! I missed this while reading the notes on my phone and it was easy to gloss over the call outs to Sentinels. I've also seen on Reddit that Earth Blast had some time issues on conversion to Sentinels (true or not, I have no idea...).

Or maybe some of these changes are writing on the wall that the Sentinel overhaul is going to be pretty deep. Perhaps that is why Sentinels aren't getting any changes, not even the ones to Electrical Blast, or (Oops, I missed that Electric Blast does apply; fixed!) any of the new sets or proliferations. Why do that now when the AT itself may be overhauled later. Obviously, I'd more than just really like some communication here, but the sentiment that it is a dead class to be forgotten for evah is a bit extreme. If that were going to be the case, then just let us all know so we can strip our characters down before they delete the option to play Sentinels further. What is going to suck though is the power balance is going to shift once again towards *everything* else which is just going to further creep the divide of the Sentinel (which started somewhat behind and is now exacerbated further... FUN). I'm sure we can all look forward to a new future series of shitposts about how bad Sentinels are or how we're all mentally deficient for continuing to play it. Can't. Wait. /popcorn

I loved all of the rest of that comment, but this brought back some memories... haha Back in the dark times, MMO gameplay like EQ had Enchanters (a class in that game for the youngsters that don't know) that would be the crowd control class. However, they were necessary to stop too many enemies from swarming your group. Then you'd have a puller, a role given to some brave or stupid SOB, who would "pull" enemies often one-by-one. If they pulled too many, then the Enchanter may be able to lock down targets to buy you enough time... to run. The tank would be there to catch the pulled target while the real heroes would do the damage. Then, CoH came about in 2003-2004. It too had an enchanter style class (the Controller) but you could have the tank pull LOADs of enemies. Early on teams dropped, but CoH was one of those games that had power fantasy built in as a concept. Gone was this idea that tanks had to sponge damage from one singular entity while everyone else got to watch numbers. Tanks in CoH could take on all comers. The Controllers could even help lock down the overflow from what the tank took on. That is a simplification of gameplay, but by god I am glad that this wasn't like EQ. There was stuff I loved about that game but the late game stuff was absolute garbage, in my opinion.

The full Coercive Persuasion set is really quite good for Nin but the set itself can be really starved for slots. The contagious confusion proc does work in Blinding Powder. Its a fun power with its minor novelty gimmick. Don't expect it to be much of a game changer on your survivability. It may be in some cases but the overall potency of the power isn't that high as crowd control. The lower DDR will show itself if you face off with enemies that can debuff. If you're in content below 45 (where Ageless Radial won't help), then this is potentially dangerous. Its dangerous in melee, but some TFs will have some ranged enemies with Radiation powers that can eat your lunch. The healing and kiting strategy can work just fine if you solo. If you're in a group, then your teammates should be contributing something. 😉 As to Fighting or not, Nin has lower defense values than Super Reflexes does. You may find issues with trying to softcap all 3 positional types without Weave. If you just fight at range, then this is less a problem. Same goes if you team a lot. Far easier to close up the weaknesses when others may be lending buffs. Edit: Nin is a solid set. It just has its holes like any set does. If you can play within the limitations then you can still do a lot of stuff with it and even do it solo.

It is generally less, but there are degrees to the impact that may or may not matter to you. Blasters, Corruptors, and Defenders all have higher AoE potential than a Sentinel does. This isn't unique to Dual Pistols this is a broad AT vs AT topical issue. Again, the degree to which this creates a hinderance to your own personal enjoyment of the game is entirely subjective. Single-target damage can be a lot muddier because builds/context matter a lot with this. The reason why I bring this up is due to how Sentinel powers function with their deliberate single-target changes, prior to snipe changes, how those changes interact with build decisions and the implementation of the armor sets. Yes, that's a lot to say, but if anyone tries to tell something about these set comparisons in a vacuum take it for the total bullshit that it is.

^ This. There is a surprising amount of sustainability in having a multi-hundred point absorb shield, soft-cap (or Incarnate-cap) defenses, and then whatever regeneration rate you can squeeze out. I also mentioned the Rebirth Destiny path once you get access to the Incarnates. That's a really potent regeneration booster that can have some significant benefit with SR. Barrier is also a good choice since it can add +5% to both defense and resistance at its lowest point and that is effectively on all the time once you get the tier level high enough. Finally, green inspirations are good to have around too. There can be some situations where you're going to eat damage no matter what. There are no armor sets with zero weaknesses in this game and Super Reflexes is no different. Tankers, and some Brute builds, have an easier time shoring up those holes, but even they can have those weaknesses too. TL;DR: Personal healing powers with SR is overrated. 😉

Tankers are in pretty good shape right now. It may sound like a lazy answer to say "just about anything", but really that's my answer. My best answer is to maybe play around with a few variants of your concept and see which one grabs you. You can make 1000 characters or so on HC. No real reason not to mess with a few by joining a couple teams or tinkering in some AE missions to quickly level up to around 20. Edit; I guess it seems like I an dancing around around the whole "I wanna solo end stuff". A well built Tanker is nearly immortal and they were buffed for doing more respectable damage (sometimes even amazing damage if you know what you're doing). So, the ability to solo on a Tanker is really trivial once you get going.

What mezz is worrying you? Rad and Dark both have the same degree of protection against Hold, Sleep, Stun, and Immobilize. Rad has protection against knockback and Dark does not. Dark has protection against fear but Rad does not. That's really the difference there when it comes to status protection. Rad has some slow resistance where Dark does not. Dark has perception resistance where Rad does not. The two sets are both heavily biased towards resistance (Rad more so than Dark) and both have their share of additional perks. Dark Armor's side perks include soft control options, some weak stealth, and a potentially powerful (albeit very expensive) heal. Rad Armor includes perks like absorb shield, recharge boosts, regeneration, and a heal over time. Both sets can contribute to increased damage. Resistance gap wise, they are almost opposites. Rad Armor has higher protection to Energy and Toxic than Dark does. Dark has higher protection to Cold and Psi than Rad does. Of these damage types Energy is more common. Psi, from Carnies, is more lethal when you stand near them when they die. Their powers like Dominate aren't the real threat. Dark Armor can, potentially, have very high endurance costs if you try to run everything without a plan to deal with it. Rad Armor has Gamma Boost and it may help in certain situations. Total resist, both can become very solid. They both have their own quirks that you may or may not care for. Rad Armor benefits greatly from being released later as it has more quality of life benefits but Dark Armor is still very powerful on Tankers. So, on one hand Rad/TW may be easier to build while still offering a lot of benefit, and Dark Armor may be a bit more complicated to offset the drawbacks it comes with. Both can be very good choices in the grand scheme of things.