How do you feel about Radiation Melee

[Mantidae]

Topic. Since I wasn't playing when the set was being tested and was never released I only know what's on the wiki. It looks like a strong set to me since it keeps to the Rad tradition of heavy debuffs. Also the sort-of aoe in Contamination seems promising. What are your experiences so far?

[Gigajoule]

I am up to 41 on my Elec Armor/Rad Melee Tanker and I like it a lot.

 

I haven't been able to find a log-parser for CoH that actually works, so I can't say how much extra damage Contamination contributes in practice. I will say I like the combo-y nature of consuming Contaminations with Radiation Siphon for a heal though-- that is a fun mechanic to play with for me (though some people may find it fiddly/frustrating). RS is (at least according to Pine's) a more Endurance-efficient heal than the similar Siphon Life from Dark Melee. And note that if you start the animation and the enemy dies before you hit, you do still get the heal, assuming you don't miss, which is nice.

 

A neat trick to use with Rad Melee at low- to mid-levels when you don't have enough attacks to fill out a respectable attack chain is to lean on Sands of Mu from the P2W vendor. For most people SoM is not good to use past the first few levels because it can't be slotted so it misses constantly. But slap a few Defense debuffs on the bad guy and suddenly Sands is perfectly serviceable.

 

Overall I'd say it's totally rad!

 

_{...Sorry, I'll show myself out now.}

[Rylas]

I haven't been able to find a log-parser for CoH that actually works, so I can't say how much extra damage Contamination contributes in practice. I will say I like the combo-y nature of consuming Contaminations with Radiation Siphon for a heal though-- that is a fun mechanic to play with for me (though some people may find it fiddly/frustrating). RS is (at least according to Pine's) a more Endurance-efficient heal than the similar Siphon Life from Dark Melee. And note that if you start the animation and the enemy dies before you hit, you do still get the heal, assuming you don't miss, which is nice.

 

I've been enjoying Rad Melee on a brute. The debuffs and the Contamination mechanic really ramp up the damage. Overall, I think the set does well for going through groups quickly thanks to Contamination, Irradiated Ground and Atom Smasher (I just haven't seen Proton Sweep really shine for me). Pair it with something like Bio Armor for the -Res aura, and you're doing a lot to bring down mobs quickly. Definitely a great set.

 

My only complaint would be that Radiation Siphon as a heal kind of gets a set back due to how random Contamination is. If you need HP replenished, you have to hit someone who's contaminated. But when you're in the middle of a crowd, it's a bit difficult to keep track of who's been contaminated. And if it wasn't your current target, you have to stop and click on a foe who is, or hope you can tab over to them quickly enough without slowing down your work. Then of course, its still a heal that relies on hitting the target. There's a lot of prerequisites for a heal that isn't all that powerful.

 

That said, RS still works really well for single target damage. I slotted for damage and just consider the seldom chance for healing a nice thing when it happens. Paired with Devastating Blow, it can really bring down a foe quickly.

 

[Erratic1]

According to City of Data, while under the effects of Fusion anything you hit gets Contaminated. So you could pop Fusion, hit with any other Radiation melee attack then use Radiation Siphon.

 

I do not have Fusion on my Rad/Fire Brute yet, so cannot confirm this actually works.

[Rylas]

According to City of Data, while under the effects of Fusion anything you hit gets Contaminated. So you could pop Fusion, hit with any other Radiation melee attack then use Radiation Siphon.

 

I do not have Fusion on my Rad/Fire Brute yet, so cannot confirm this actually works.

 

Even so, you'd still be at the mercy of Fusion being up when you need to use RS.

 

Again, it's still a great power, but one shouldn't use it as a reliable heal. Not like you would with DM's Siphon Life.

[Erratic1]

According to City of Data, while under the effects of Fusion anything you hit gets Contaminated. So you could pop Fusion, hit with any other Radiation melee attack then use Radiation Siphon.

 

I do not have Fusion on my Rad/Fire Brute yet, so cannot confirm this actually works.

 

Even so, you'd still be at the mercy of Fusion being up when you need to use RS.

 

Again, it's still a great power, but one shouldn't use it as a reliable heal. Not like you would with DM's Siphon Life.

 

I am not sure how much mercy is required given you choose when to activate Fusion. Fusion lasts long enough that you should always have a chance to use Radiation Siphon. So on top of random contamination occurring you have at least one chance every 45s (assuming you slot Fusion for max recharge) for Radiation Sipon to be targeted on a contaminated target.

 

I agree, it is a bit random and seriously doubt the worth of trying to force situations where it will go off beyond popping Fusion every time it is up and Radiation Siphon each time it is up.

 

Edit: Devastating Blow has a 60% chance of applying Contaminated. Slotted with 2 Recharge SOs you can toss it every 12s. So using Radiation Siphon immediately following Devastating Blow means a 60% chance of healing every 12s. I will try this routine out and report back on how it works.

[Rylas]

am not sure how much mercy is required given you choose when to activate Fusion.

 

Yes, but one doesn't simply choose when they need the heal.

[Erratic1]

am not sure how much mercy is required given you choose when to activate Fusion.

 

Yes, but one doesn't simply choose when they need the heal.

 

By that criterion every heal in the game sucks. They all have cooldowns and are not necessarily up when you need them.

[Rylas]

By that criterion every heal in the game sucks. They all have cooldowns and are not necessarily up when you need them.

 

There's a lot of prerequisites for a heal that isn't all that powerful.

 

Let's keep it in the original context of what I was talking about. For a heal, the added condition makes it much less reliable. It's one thing to click on a power when you need a heal (some of which have an acc check). It's another to click on one power to a guarantee a condition is created by another power, click on that second power (and hope it makes the acc check), to then click on a third power for the heal (which you must also hope makes an acc check). By which point, a lot more time has passed. So no, by that criterion, I wouldn't say every heal in the game sucks.

[Erratic1]

I think the entire, "...click on one power to a guarantee a condition is created by another power, click on that second power (and hope it makes the acc check), to then click on a third power for the heal" is, in the larger context" oversold. As a radiation melee you will be attacking with powers which each have varying chances to Contaminate. I am put in mind of builds which function best somewhere between foes being too weak for the chain of powers they rely on to come together for the foes being dead already and foes pushing into the impossible for anyone to put down realm. Contaminate based healing does not do you a bit of good if in the act of contaminating the target you kill it, leaving nothing to get healing or splash damage from. Assuming a target is going to survive a few hits, what are the odds it is not contaminated when you use Radiation Siphon?

 

I wish I knew how long Contaminated last. But as I noted above, you can pretty much have Devastating Blow ready to go with very little wait every time Radiation Siphon is available, giving you a roughly 60% chance of having your target Contaminated if Devastating Blow lands.

 

Of course a lot depends on how likely you are to hit. Might do some math on that later.

[Rylas]

Uh, yeah. Ok.

 

So anyway, OP, hhe heal's gonna be unreliable, but it makes a great attack.

[Gigajoule]

I wish I knew how long Contaminated last. But as I noted above, you can pretty much have Devastating Blow ready to go with very little wait every time Radiation Siphon is available, giving you a roughly 60% chance of having your target Contaminated if Devastating Blow lands.

 

Of course a lot depends on how likely you are to hit. Might do some math on that later.

Contaminated lasts a pretty long time. It is possible to Contaminate a foe, get in quite a few non-Contaminating hits and still Radiation Siphon for the heal.

 

The other interesting thing about RS is that it is actually a quick heal over time. It does its thing over the course of three half-second ticks. So, if you pop Fusion, punch a guy, and start the Radiation Siphon as you are taking that initial burst of alpha strike damage, it is less likely to overheal quite as much.

 

That said, while I think RS is fun, it doesn't get much use in 8-man groups under normal circumstances. Stuff just dies far too quickly. In a long fight versus a tough AV though, it's pretty nice.

 

And it is very nice for soloing EBs and other challenging content, or for playing in duos or small groups.

[Mantidae]

Thanks for hour replies. I'm glad to see a positive reception for tbe set. I had a character in the official game who would have been Rad/Rad if the option was available.

 

Now I need to subdue my altitis long enough to play him….

[Rhinoxx]

I have a 50 Rad/Rad Brute and it's a full-on nuclear joy to play him - you actually feel like a true Brute, as you can wade through hordes of enemies and dish it out twice as hard as you receive it. With all the debuff and healing on mob sizes, you are really geared for larger groups of enemies.

Builds can of course vary, but past level 26 he became a real "boss killer" (and actually did quite ok before that too) and once Atom Smasher drops at 32, it becomes a whole different kind of AoE fighting.

[Generator]

I have a 50 Rad/Rad Brute and it's a full-on nuclear joy to play him - you actually feel like a true Brute, as you can wade through hordes of enemies and dish it out twice as hard as you receive it. With all the debuff and healing on mob sizes, you are really geared for larger groups of enemies.

Builds can of course vary, but past level 26 he became a real "boss killer" and once Atom Smasher drops at 32, it becomes a whole different kind of AoE fighting.

 

Mine stalled at 31, just because other alts took priority.  I'll have to take him out for a spin.  Thanks for the encouragement!

[Rhinoxx]

Mine stalled at 31, just because other alts took priority.  I'll have to take him out for a spin.  Thanks for the encouragement!

 

Glad to be of help - I can only say I have really enjoyed my atomic brute and he is also a good earner to take out for turning up the difficulty and moving down some big mobs if I need a bit of inf :D

I think the only advice I would stress, is consider looking into tweaking your power auras - you almost become super-duper-glow-in-the-dark if you have the full Rad/Rad set running and it can frankly be hard to see what is going on sometimes for bloom and particle effects