Does Rad melee get better?

[Koehvain]

the wonkey melee cone is whacky and hard to use, and the contaminate proc doesnt have much reach on it (and doesnt seem to work half of the time) im only level 14 or something so im hoping that futures skills help, im just looking for some insight or help

 

[subbacultchas]

Dunno about Rad Melee, I don't like the look of it too much to be honest, especially compared to other Rad sets.

 

But I absolutely love Rad Armor, it's growing to be one of my favorite sets.

[Koehvain]

Dunno about Rad Melee, I don't like the look of it too much to be honest, especially compared to other Rad sets.

 

But I absolutely love Rad Armor, it's growing to be one of my favorite sets.

i love the rad armor but the melee seems to not worka  lot of the time

 

[Rylas]

I've leveled a Rad/Bio brute to 50, and I've found Rad Melee to really be a great performer. Contamination in the later levels will really start to add to the damage in large groups. You've got some great single target attacks, and once you pick up Irradiated Ground, you're gonna see those numbers ticking away quite a bit. Add Atom Smasher to IG (especially after popping fusion) and whole groups of mobs will melt away.

 

My only word of warning would be not to rely on Radiation Siphon as an emergency heal. It requires the target to be Contaminated for the heal to pop off, so when you're in the middle of a large crowd and having a hard time seeing which target is Contaminated, you're kind of left up to dumb luck. It functions way better as a ST attack for great damage, making it worth grabbing.

[Generator]

My only gripe with it so far (my Rad^2 is 33) is that the cone attack uses the same animation as Ice Melee's Frost power, but it seems to be using a much narrower arc.  I keep expecting it's gonna tag more guys than it does.

[Koehvain]

My only gripe with it so far (my Rad^2 is 33) is that the cone attack uses the same animation as Ice Melee's Frost power, but it seems to be using a much narrower arc.  I keep expecting it's gonna tag more guys than it does.

yeah the cone for it seems way off and barely hits anything, if even anything. kinda sucks cuz i love the ability

[Koehvain]

I've leveled a Rad/Bio brute to 50, and I've found Rad Melee to really be a great performer. Contamination in the later levels will really start to add to the damage in large groups. You've got some great single target attacks, and once you pick up Irradiated Ground, you're gonna see those numbers ticking away quite a bit. Add Atom Smasher to IG (especially after popping fusion) and whole groups of mobs will melt away.

 

My only word of warning would be not to rely on Radiation Siphon as an emergency heal. It requires the target to be Contaminated for the heal to pop off, so when you're in the middle of a large crowd and having a hard time seeing which target is Contaminated, you're kind of left up to dumb luck. It functions way better as a ST attack for great damage, making it worth grabbing.

I feel like Fusion is required to make a lot of the abilities smoother, also does fusion work with irradiated ground?

[daygl0]

Rad stalker here; I only use Contaminated Strike, Radioactive Smash, Assassin's Corruption (duh), and Atom Smasher. All them other attacks are junk. Devastating Blow is a good way to stand there and watch yourself die during a wind-up. Radiation Siphon was pretty unhelpful. Proton Sweep is so meh I used it twice and took it off my tray while leveling. AC->RS->CS->(RS->)AS rinse repeat on single, aoe is cycling between Atom Smasher and Cross Punch (with Ion Judgement sprinkled in). I use the Guile proc on AC to go back into Hidden for RS crits, and most of my AS are special crits.

 

It helps I have permahasten though because Rad is miserably slow otherwise.

[Rylas]

I feel like Fusion is required to make a lot of the abilities smoother, also does fusion work with irradiated ground?

 

I think if you're hoping to make whole groups melt, then yeah, Fusion is required. Leading with Fusion and Atom Smasher is a great way to get the ball rolling. But the -def debuff doesn't require Fusion to bring a lot to the table.

 

Good question on Fusion and IG. I don't think I've paid a lot of attention to it to know.

[Rylas]

Rad stalker here; I only use Contaminated Strike, Radioactive Smash, Assassin's Corruption (duh), and Atom Smasher. All them other attacks are junk. Devastating Blow is a good way to stand there and watch yourself die during a wind-up. Radiation Siphon was pretty unhelpful. Proton Sweep is so meh I used it twice and took it off my tray while leveling. AC->RS->CS->(RS->)AS rinse repeat on single, aoe is cycling between Atom Smasher and Cross Punch (with Ion Judgement sprinkled in). I use the Guile proc on AC to go back into Hidden for RS crits, and most of my AS are special crits.

 

It helps I have permahasten though because Rad is miserably slow otherwise.

 

I can understand how on a Stalker some of those powers could be considered "junk," but... you know... Stalkers. For other ATs, it's a pretty well rounded set. The only power I think is a bit limited is Proton Sweep. But I consider a lot of cones for Melee to be that way. Too many are long and narrow instead of being short and wide.

[Lyrium]

I've leveled a Rad/Bio brute to 50, and I've found Rad Melee to really be a great performer.

Do you think proton sweep is worth? The cone/range looks small and hard to make it work

[Rylas]

I've leveled a Rad/Bio brute to 50, and I've found Rad Melee to really be a great performer.

Do you think proton sweep is worth? The cone/range looks small and hard to make it work

 

It's useful, when I can land it on 3 mobs, but in melee range and with how mobs like to cluster around the player, that's not terribly easy to do in the heat of battle. Worth it? Maybe not. But my current build has room for it, so I use it. If you're looking for increasing AoE damage, you can probably find that more easily in a pool power than taking PS. Irradiated Ground and Atom Smasher and contamination do way more in that area.

[Lyrium]

I've leveled a Rad/Bio brute to 50, and I've found Rad Melee to really be a great performer.

Do you think proton sweep is worth? The cone/range looks small and hard to make it work

 

It's useful, when I can land it on 3 mobs, but in melee range and with how mobs like to cluster around the player, that's not terribly easy to do in the heat of battle. Worth it? Maybe not. But my current build has room for it, so I use it. If you're looking for increasing AoE damage, you can probably find that more easily in a pool power than taking PS. Irradiated Ground and Atom Smasher and contamination do way more in that area.

 

I am planning on a Bio/RadM tank so probably not needed. Thanks for the feedback!