A question for any Rad Melee fans out there

[Generator]

Hey there,

 

So I have a Rad^2 Brute on one server, and he's fun, and after a few months' time off,  I'm contemplating trying a Tanker with those sets on another server.

 

On the Brute, I had used Radiation Siphon, but was never crazy about it (mainly the fact that the animation was A: long, and B: kind of stupid-looking, in addition to C: my luck getting it to hit an proc on a Contaminated target when I needed it was touch and go).  I'm planning on ditching it this time.  Any particular reasons I should not?

 

Thanks for your time.

 

Later on,

Generator

Edited February 10, 2020 by Generator
Corrected to use the name of the right power

[Heraclea]

As a tanker, your first priority is survival.  I know that the heal in Rad Melee is not as consistent as the one in Dark Melee because of its reliance on the contamination mechanic, but still, a heal that's also an attack that does damage  is too good to pass up.  Slot up an accurate healing set.

[Sir Myshkin]

Based on my experience with Rad Melee on Scrappers, you definitely want to take Radiation Siphon, but you don't want to rely on it solely as your heal. That being said, it can actively serve as your buffer. My Scrapper is a Rad/DA, and despite having Dark Regen on tap, I rarely use it because of how often I can cycle through the Siphon and have it pop for a heal and keep me topped off. Since Radiation Armor will have its own tools to help support your green bar, I wouldn't be too stressed about the Siphon being a focused heal, but definitely take it because it is one of your stronger hitting attacks.

[Myrmidon]

If you’re making choices, slot up Radiation Siphon for damage (or even procs) and take that over Devastating Blow. This can make your attack chain far more efficient and add to your overall survivability at the same time.

[Generator]

On 2/15/2020 at 6:59 AM, Myrmidon said:

If you’re making choices, slot up Radiation Siphon for damage (or even procs) and take that over Devastating Blow. This can make your attack chain far more efficient and add to your overall survivability at the same time.

Tell you what, when Siphon gets an optional animation, I'll reconsider it.  Until then that power lands squarely in the "Annoys me too much to use it" pile. 🙂

[Rylas]

Radiation Siphon is still a very strong attack. My experience with it has been to NOT consider it a heal. It's an attack that every once and a while also give you a heal. But if you're doing Rad Armor on a tank, you probably won't have as much need for its heal anyway. 

[Generator]

32 minutes ago, Rylas said:

Radiation Siphon is still a very strong attack. My experience with it has been to NOT consider it a heal. It's an attack that every once and a while also give you a heal. But if you're doing Rad Armor on a tank, you probably won't have as much need for its heal anyway. 

While I will gladly concede that it's a strong attack, it's just become one of those things where I find the animation so annoying that I won't use it.  It was slow going but now that this guy is 40 he's doing better.

 

I haven't yet got an IO build for this guy that I'm happy with, but he's doing just fine with Common IOs and that grab bag of IOs that we all use anyway (y'know, Steadfast +Def, all the +Recov pieces for Health, and so on).  When I have an IO build Im sufficiently happy with to request some help tuning it, I'll post it.  🙂

 

Thanks for the feedback!

[Myrmidon]

11 hours ago, Generator said:

While I will gladly concede that it's a strong attack, it's just become one of those things where I find the animation so annoying that I won't use it.

Annoyance is a fine reason not to use something. Perhaps they will get around to alternate animations at some point and you can then pick it back up.

[Infinitum]

9 hours ago, Myrmidon said:

Annoyance is a fine reason not to use something. Perhaps they will get around to alternate animations at some point and you can then pick it back up.

I just pretend I'm Bob Hope and yuk it up.  lol

[Generator]

9 hours ago, Myrmidon said:

Annoyance is a fine reason not to use something. Perhaps they will get around to alternate animations at some point and you can then pick it back up.

And if they do that, groovy, Crimson's build will go back on the block and I'll work on it.  But yeah, for now, I think of it as, "If the bad guys put me down through both Radiation Therapy and Particle Shielding, they earned it."  🙂