Radiation Melee/Energy Aura build.

[Sovera]

I am leveling this combo. The build is nothing new or original but if someone is interested in this combo they can come across it if they search the boards.

 

 

I have leveled Radiation Melee a few times based on two things: Irradiated Ground and Radiation Siphon. This time I was looking at the different AoEs available and 'remembered' how Rad Melee is one of the two sets which has two PbAoEs instead of a cone. The animations are pretty terrible looking and very slow, but I find this more acceptable on a Scrapper since the set is pretty crunchy and it feels good to use and take chunks off bosses.

 

Irradiated Ground also passively and appreciably increases ST damage. It was common to have endurance woes and just wait a few seconds for it to tick and kill mobs. Usually I would slot both -res into it but this time I decided to ignore that approach and go full on damage procs instead. This power is one of the main appeals of the set. We hit the boss and in the meanwhile things are dying around us at the same time. During leveling I added an Overwhelming Force instead of the purple damage proc. It ticks often and adds some breathing room.

 

The healing is RNG-ish but more so in the lower levels. Once we open Atom Smasher there is enough Contaminated to go around so the healing is a constant.

 

 

Energy Aura is the most well rounded thing available for Scrappers IMO. Easily softcapped defenses, reasonable resists, no damage aura but the +recharge aura is nice too, and it also boasts of reasonable DDR and some small endurance debuff resists as well. It sins for being pretty endurance heavy and relying on spaming Energy Drain every pack. Which would be more palatable if it was a quicker animation. Even as low as Posi 1 I had 35% defenses (with amplifiers) which made running it at x8 pretty easy with moderate inspiration use.

 

Despite slotting all three uniques into Health + adding the extra slot to Stamina in the very early levels this did very little to alleviate endurance problems. I even added a few frankenslotted IOs in my attacks to help but regardless I had to level spamming Recovery Serums. Even Energize was unable to truly help and it was only when Energy Drain helped that I could let the smoking Recovery Serums finally cool off.

 

 

It does feel good to have those rare one shots of a boss with BU + Gaussian although they only happened in the low levels up to Yin. But even fighting PPs the constant knockdowns and stacking stuns between Devastating and Atom has killed them before they could do much.

 

Overall the build felt strong. I did not feel squishy as I did leveling a Bio and Rad Armor scrapper in the past weeks, the healing keeps on happening and is noticeable even without healing slots. Jumping into a pack, BU, Devastating a boss and fishing for a crit proc, then immediately do Atom Smasher leads to lots of dead minions while Irradiated finishes them off as I take the boss(es) out.

 

I still don't like the animations, but the combo is good.

 

Spoiler

This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.0.4.7
https://github.com/Reborn-Team/MidsReborn

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Radiation Melee
Secondary Power Set: Energy Aura
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Radioactive Smash -- SprScrStr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), SprScrStr-Acc/Dmg(3), SprScrStr-Rchg/+Crit(3), SprScrStr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5), SprScrStr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), FrcFdb-Rechg%(7)
Level 1: Kinetic Shield -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-Def(7), Rct-Def/EndRdx(9)
Level 2: Dampening Field -- TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx(A), TtnCtn-ResDam/Rchg(9), TtnCtn-ResDam(11), TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(11)
Level 4: Power Shield -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-Def(15), Rct-Def/EndRdx(17)
Level 6: Hover -- ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(A)
Level 8: Radiation Siphon -- HO:Nucle(A), HO:Nucle(19), HO:Golgi(21), HO:Golgi(21), TchofDth-Dam%(23), TchofLadG-%Dam(23)
Level 10: Entropic Aura -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Fusion -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(17), GssSynFr--Build%(19)
Level 14: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(25)
Level 16: Energy Protection -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(25), TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx(27), TtnCtn-ResDam/Rchg(27), TtnCtn-ResDam(29), TtnCtn-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(29)
Level 18: Irradiated Ground -- ShlBrk-%Dam(A), TchofLadG-%Dam(31), Obl-%Dam(31), ScrDrv-Dam%(31), Arm-Dam%(33), Erd-%Dam(33)
Level 20: Energy Cloak -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-Def(33), Rct-Def/EndRdx(34)
Level 22: Fly -- WntGif-ResSlow(A)
Level 24: Afterburner -- Rct-ResDam%(A)
Level 26: Devastating Blow -- Hct-Dam%(A), Hct-Dmg/Rchg(34), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34), Hct-Acc/Rchg(36), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(36), SprCrtStr-Rchg/+50% Crit(36)
Level 28: Energize -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(37), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(37), Prv-Heal/Rchg(37), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(39), Prv-Absorb%(39)
Level 30: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-Def(39), Rct-Def/EndRdx(40)
Level 32: Atom Smasher -- Erd-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Erd-%Dam(40), Erd-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(42), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(42)
Level 35: Focused Accuracy -- AdjTrg-ToHit(A), AdjTrg-ToHit/Rchg(43), AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(43), AdjTrg-EndRdx/Rchg(43), AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx(45), AdjTrg-Rchg(45)
Level 38: Energy Drain -- SynSck-EndMod(A), SynSck-Dam/Rech(45), SynSck-EndMod/Rech(46), SynSck-Dam/Rech/Acc(46), SynSck-Dam/Acc/End(46), SynSck-EndMod/+RunSpeed(48)
Level 41: Physical Perfection -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(49)
Level 44: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 47: Tough -- RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctArm-ResDam(48), RctArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(48)
Level 49: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-Def(50), Rct-Def/EndRdx(50)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(13), Mrc-Rcvry+(13)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(15)
Level 50: Musculature Core Paragon
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[Erratic1]

I'd wondered if the +Recharge from EA would help out Rad Melee's slow recycle times.

[Sovera]

4 hours ago, Erratic1 said:

I'd wondered if the +Recharge from EA would help out Rad Melee's slow recycle times.

It does. Pretty much the second I got Devastating Blow I had a seamless attack chains of Devastating, Radioactive Smash, Siphon, Smash. Before that I had gaps and nothing to use other than P2W attacks. Later on Devastating, Smash, Siphon, repeat.