Rad/Rad/Power

Taliseian · May 31, 2019

Greetings!

I'm working on my Defender and I'd like some build advice, please.

I'd like him to be good in groups but also able to solo effectively.

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Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962

http://www.cohplanner.com/

Level 50 Mutation Defender

Primary Power Set: Radiation Emission

Secondary Power Set: Radiation Blast

Power Pool: Leadership

Power Pool: Flight

Power Pool: Fighting

Power Pool: Teleportation

Ancillary Pool: Power Mastery

Hero Profile:

------------

Level 1: Radiation Infection

(A) Recharge Reduction

(9) Defense Debuff

(36) To Hit Debuff

Level 1: Neutrino Bolt

(A) Accuracy

(3) Damage Increase

(11) Damage Increase

(31) Defense Debuff

(48) Recharge Reduction

Level 2: Radiant Aura

(A) Healing

(5) Healing

(15) Healing

(21) Recharge Reduction

(37) Recharge Reduction

(40) Recharge Reduction

Level 4: Assault

(A) Endurance Reduction

(5) Endurance Reduction

(13) Endurance Reduction

(39) Recharge Reduction

Level 6: Accelerate Metabolism

(A) Recharge Reduction

(7) Recharge Reduction

(25) Endurance Modification

(37) Endurance Modification

(40) Endurance Modification

Level 8: Enervating Field

(A) Recharge Reduction

(9) Recharge Reduction

(21) Recharge Reduction

Level 10: Mutation

(A) Recharge Reduction

(33) Recharge Reduction

Level 12: X-Ray Beam

(A) Accuracy

(13) Damage Increase

(15) Damage Increase

(31) Defense Debuff

(50) Recharge Reduction

Level 14: Fly

(A) Flight Speed

Level 16: Proton Volley

(A) Accuracy

(17) Damage Increase

(37) Defense Debuff

(50) Recharge Reduction

Level 18: Lingering Radiation

(A) Accuracy

(19) Slow

(19) Range

(34) Recharge Reduction

Level 20: Boxing

(A) Accuracy

(23) Damage Increase

(48) Damage Increase

Level 22: Tough

(A) Resist Damage

(23) Resist Damage

(42) Resist Damage

Level 24: Weave

(A) Defense Buff

(25) Defense Buff

(33) Defense Buff

(43) Endurance Reduction

Level 26: Aim

(A) To Hit Buff

(27) To Hit Buff

(27) Recharge Reduction

Level 28: Cosmic Burst

(A) Accuracy

(29) Damage Increase

(29) Defense Debuff

(34) Recharge Reduction

Level 30: Recall Friend

(A) Range

(31) Range

(48) Recharge Reduction

Level 32: Tactics

(A) To Hit Buff

(33) To Hit Buff

(34) Endurance Reduction

(43) Endurance Reduction

Level 35: Conserve Power

(A) Endurance Reduction

(36) Endurance Reduction

Level 38: Neutron Bomb

(A) Accuracy

(39) Damage Increase

(40) Range

(46) Recharge Reduction

Level 41: EM Pulse

(A) Accuracy

(42) Hold Duration

(43) Recharge Reduction

(46) Recharge Reduction

Level 44: Atomic Blast

(A) Accuracy

(45) Damage Increase

(45) Defense Debuff

(46) Recharge Reduction

Level 47: Hover

(A) Flight Speed

Level 49: Group Fly

(A) Flight Speed

(50) Flight Speed

Level 1: Brawl

(A) Damage Increase

Level 1: Prestige Power Dash

(A) Empty

Level 1: Prestige Power Slide

(A) Run Speed

Level 1: Prestige Power Quick

(A) Empty

Level 1: Prestige Power Rush

(A) Empty

Level 1: Prestige Power Surge

(A) Empty

Level 1: Sprint

(A) Run Speed

Level 1: Vigilance

Level 2: Rest

(A) Recharge Reduction

Level 4: Ninja Run

Level 2: Swift

(A) Run Speed

Level 2: Health

(A) Healing

Level 2: Hurdle

(A) Jumping

Level 2: Stamina

(A) Endurance Modification

(3) Endurance Modification

(11) Endurance Modification

------------

Haven't gotten to sets and such, so I just slotted TO to get a general direction as to slot choices.

Thanks much.......

Justaris · June 1, 2019

This combination was one of my mains back on live, it's a lot of fun.

General Thoughts: I don't recommend slotting Defense Debuff in the single-target attacks. In my opinion it's great in Irradiate and Neutron Bomb but otherwise I don't slot for it in the Radiation Blast attacks. I feel you can get more debuff for your buck using your toggles and the AOE attacks, which all have the ability to debuff large groups of foes simultaneously. The only time you'll want to debuff single foes is tough bosses like AVs, who generally have resistance to debuffs such that the relatively weak values in the blast powers won't do much anyway. Leadership is a great choice for Defenders in general and Tactics in particular helps to land important powers like Lingering Radiation, but you are investing in Leadership a bit early in the build before your core toolkit is fully in place. You may want to push off Assault until later. Fighting isn't going to give you a lot of value on its own, but if you intend to invest in a Defense-based IO build then Weave is your friend. If you're planning on going more of a fast Recharge direction then I'd drop Fighting. The role of Recall Friend can usually be covered by prestige powers like Assemble the Team once you have the influence or badges to get it, so this might also be one to skip unless you plan on using it to stealth to objectives during missions and TFs - if so, you might consider picking up Stealth so you can combine that with a +Stealth IO for full invisibility.

Specific Powers Advice:

Radiation Infection: this is one of your three main debuff powers and I'd recommend slotting it a bit more. In particular, you're going to want Endurance in this toggle and probably a bit more debuff as well. You can probably pick up some Recharge incidentally when you eventually transition to slotting IO sets, but I don't think it's worth slotting for Recharge over the other options - as with most toggles, Endurance will be a bigger issue than Recharge and the base recharge here is only 8 seconds.

Neutrino Bolt: It's a low damage power, even for a Defender, and also has the lowest debuff values of any power in Radiation Blast. I'd stick to minimal slotting for now, probably just Accuracy and Damage. I like to slot IO procs into this power since it has low endurance cost and a fast recharge. If you slot a couple of damage procs into it, it can be a surprisingly strong attack, but in terms of SO/Generic IO slotting I don't think it merits this much.

Radiant Aura: More endurance reduction. You probably want mostly Endurance and Recharge here with a bit of heal, as you'll heal more over time with reduced endurance cost and fast recharge than by enhancing the heal itself. I'd go 2 recharge, 2 endurance and 1-2 heal.

Assault: See above about maybe moving this to later in the build. Also, as a toggle power I'd drop the recharge. 1-2 endurance should be good here.

Accelerate Metabolism: An excellent buff and one teams that know their buffs will love you for. You definitely want 2-3 recharges in this. The endurance mod is negotiable - it'll help, but you may have better places to use your slots. I'd say 2-3 recharge and 1-2 endmod. Try to hit the entire team when you use it.

Enervating Field - the second of the three main debuff powers. As I said with Rad Infection, this is a toggle and really doesn't need this much recharge. What it DOES need is endurance reduction, at least two of them possibly even 3.

Mutation: I'd stick with the base slot and go recharge. On a non-insane team, you really shouldn't be needing your rez up more often than that on a regular basis.

X-Ray Beam: I'm not a huge fan of taking both of the starting blast powers - I usually go with Neutrino Bolt or X-Ray Beam but not both, and since you have to take Neutrino I usually skip X-ray. They're very similar powers, with X-Ray doing more damage and Neutrino recharging faster. What I said earlier about procs in Neutrino applies here too, but I think Neutrino is a better fit due to its lower cost and faster recharge (and you have to take it). I'd swap out the defense debuff for endurance reduction but otherwise this slotting looks good if keeping the power.

Fly: Looks good

Proton Volley: Snipes are a love-or-hate kind of thing. Personally I like them, gives you a good damage power when solo and a way to pull mobs on a team. Your to-hit debuffs are strong enough with Rad Infection that you can often use this in combat solo even when enemies are up close trying to hit you so longe as they're in the toggle's debuff, which is nice too. Consider interrupt reduction for snipes and see my comments above about my opinions on defense debuff in single-target blast powers.

Lingering Radiation: The third and final of the "big three" debuff powers. You'll want more recharge in this, it's key to taking down Archvillains and Giant Monsters by stunting their regeneration so the team can keep laying on damage without them healing back through it. I'd say 1-2 accuracy, 2-3 recharge. Add extra slow or range if you feel like it, but less important.

Boxing/Tough/Weave: See my comments above. Might put some endurance reduction in Tough but otherwise slotting looks okay if keeping Fighting.

Aim: Consider 2 recharge, otherwise looks good. 1-2 recharge, 1-2 tohit. It's worth noting that high enough to-hit values also make snipe powers like Proton Volley insta-cast, so that's something to keep in mind.

Cosmic Burst: A really really good single-target attack. See above comments about defense debuff, and this needs some endurance reduction as you'll be wanting to use it a lot. Also I'd recommend more damage. 1-2 accuracy, 2-3 damage, 1-2 endurance, 1-2 recharge, 0-1 defense debuff. This is one of the strongest defense debuff powers in Radiation Blast (tied with Irradiate, with only Atomic Blast having stronger numbers), but it's also one of your best attacks DPS-wise. There's a lot of good things about this power you can choose to improve and for the reasons I stated earlier I tend to lean into the damage side for this, but you do get a lot of value with defense debuff here as well.

Recall Friend: Overslotted really. Very, very, very rarely will you need this much range. I'd stick with one range in the default slot. It also recharges in 6 seconds and takes almost two seconds just for the animation to execute, so recharge slotting really isn't needed here.

Tactics: Looks good. Might end up six-slotting later for IO set reasons.

Conserve Power: Actually this is where you don't want endurance reduction - this a click power that makes everything else cost less, so you want to focus on recharge here. 2-3 recharge, 0-1 endurance.

Neutron Bomb: I like to put Defense Debuff here, as I explained above. Neutron Bomb has a base value of 25% debuff, which is similar to the most of the other powers in the blast set, but as a targeted AOE it hits multiple foes. This can debuff whole groups, though it's not as powerful for that purpose as the point-blank AOE blast power Irradiate, which has a 37.5% base debuff level. I'd swap out range for endurance reduction but otherwise this slotting looks good if you want to slot this primarily for damage though.

EM pulse: Looks good. Maybe one more recharge. 1-2 accuracy, 2 hold, 2-3 recharge.

Atomic Blast: I'd say more recharge on this one and because it's a nuke I'd push for more recharge and damage here rather than defense debuff, since it won't be something you'll want to be tossing out multiple times each fight. 1-2 accuracy, 2-3 damage, 1-2 recharge, 1-2 endurance, 0-1 defense debuff. Atomic Blast does have the strongest numbers for defense debuff in the entire set at a whopping 50%, but it's also not a power you can use all the time due to its nature as a nuke power. I usually prefer to use Neutron Bomb and/or Irriadate since I can maintain the debuff on groups for longer and use them on every group the team fights.

Hover: A good place to put defense IO sets and looks cool, but if you're not taking it for either of those reasons I'm not sure it's doing much for you. Slotting looks fine though. If you are planning on a defense-centric IO set build, however, keep this.

Group Fly: Do not keep this.

Health: Consider 2-3 slots, all Healing. Good place for IOs later.

Stamina: Looks good.

Closing Thoughts: Powers you didn't take from your primary and secondary sets were Choking Cloud, Fallout, Irradiate and Electron Haze. You also didn't take any of the Power Mastery powers beyond Conserve Power. I'd like to touch on each of those briefly. I think you should consider adding at least a few of these to your build.

Fallout is a niche choice and rarely sees a lot of use. It can be fun but it's skippable and you don't necessarily want to invest a lot of slotting in an attack that requires a teammate to die first. It's fun if you have room, but a good one to skip if you don't.

Electron Haze does knockback, which is the main reason a lot of people don't take it, but that can be mitigated to knockdown with IOs. I'd consider picking this up or possibly replacing X-ray Beam with this power to allow you more AOE damage, since this a cone.

Irradiate is a point-blank AOE, meaning it centers around you, but its defense debuff is one of the powerful of any power in the blast set at a base value of 37.5%, the same as Cosmic Burst and only beaten by Atomic Blast. In a Rad/Rad build it has good synergy with Choking Cloud as well, so you might consider taking these two powers together (or alternatively continuing to skip them both). Irradiate's very strong defense debuff makes all the enemies around you much easier to hit, which raises the value of Choking Cloud since it becomes much more likely to mez all of those enemies (for reference, in my build I have it slotted primarily for defense debuff and it does a 60% defense debuff to every enemy around me). This promotes a very melee-centric playstyle which may not be for everyone, but personally I really like it. YMMV.

Power Build Up (in Power Mastery) improves secondary effects of your other powers. Using this immediately before EM Pulse will hold everything for a really long time. It also works with Vengeance from the Leadership pool to make a powerful buff ridiculously strong. It's worth a look.

Temp Invulnerability is like Tough, only better in every possible way. Especially if you decide to go with the melee playstyle I mentioned above, this is good to have.

Force of Nature is very strong and gives you tanker-level damage resistances for its duration, letting you survive an incredible amount of punishment. I love this power. It's amazing.

Total Focus is a strong melee attack and stun, albeit a single-target one. If you're looking for another hard-hitting single target attack this is a good one, though I don't personally run it on my build.

I hope this was helpful for you and I'd be happy to reply back further if you have any questions. Good luck!

Taliseian · June 2, 2019

Justaris, thanks your advice!

I've gone thru and redone the build using some of you recommendations and I'd like more opinions on it. I realized how out of practice I am with creating builds.....thanks for the help!

=====

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962

http://www.cohplanner.com/

Level 50 Mutation Defender

Primary Power Set: Radiation Emission

Secondary Power Set: Radiation Blast

Power Pool: Leadership

Power Pool: Flight

Power Pool: Fighting

Ancillary Pool: Power Mastery

Hero Profile:

------------

Level 1: Radiation Infection

(A) Endurance Reduction

(3) Endurance Reduction

(11) Defense Debuff

(25) Defense Debuff

(34) To Hit Debuff

Level 1: Neutrino Bolt

(A) Accuracy

Level 2: Radiant Aura

(A) Healing

(9) Endurance Reduction

(19) Endurance Reduction

(37) Recharge Reduction

Level 4: Accelerate Metabolism

(A) Recharge Reduction

(5) Recharge Reduction

(17) Endurance Modification

(34) Endurance Modification

(37) Endurance Modification

Level 6: Irradiate

(A) Endurance Reduction

(7) Defense Debuff

(11) Defense Debuff

Level 8: Enervating Field

(A) Endurance Reduction

(9) Endurance Reduction

(15) Endurance Reduction

(34) Range

(43) Range

Level 10: Assault

(A) Endurance Reduction

(15) Endurance Reduction

(23) Endurance Reduction

Level 12: Lingering Radiation

(A) Accuracy

(13) Recharge Reduction

(33) Endurance Reduction

(36) Slow

Level 14: Fly

(A) Flight Speed

Level 16: Proton Volley

(A) Interrupt Reduction

(17) Interrupt Reduction

(40) Damage Increase

(46) Recharge Reduction

Level 18: Choking Cloud

(A) Hold Duration

(19) Hold Duration

(21) Endurance Reduction

(39) Endurance Reduction

(42) Endurance Reduction

(48) Recharge Reduction

Level 20: Aim

(A) Recharge Reduction

(21) Recharge Reduction

(25) To Hit Buff

(46) To Hit Buff

Level 22: Tactics

(A) To Hit Buff

(23) Endurance Reduction

Level 24: Boxing

(A) Accuracy

Level 26: Tough

(A) Resist Damage

(27) Resist Damage

(31) Endurance Reduction

Level 28: Cosmic Burst

(A) Accuracy

(29) Damage Increase

(40) Recharge Reduction

(45) Defense Debuff

Level 30: Weave

(A) Defense Buff

(31) Endurance Reduction

(37) Endurance Reduction

Level 32: EM Pulse

(A) Accuracy

(33) Accuracy

(33) Hold Duration

(43) Hold Duration

(43) Recharge Reduction

Level 35: Neutron Bomb

(A) Defense Debuff

(36) Defense Debuff

(36) Accuracy

(40) Damage Increase

(45) Recharge Reduction

Level 38: Conserve Power

(A) Recharge Reduction

(39) Recharge Reduction

Level 41: Power Build Up

(A) Recharge Reduction

(42) Recharge Reduction

(42) To Hit Buff

Level 44: Force of Nature

(A) Resist Damage

(45) Recharge Reduction

(46) Recharge Reduction

Level 47: Atomic Blast

(A) Recharge Reduction

(48) Recharge Reduction

(48) Damage Increase

(50) Endurance Reduction

Level 49: Temp Invulnerability

(A) Resist Damage

(50) Resist Damage

(50) Endurance Reduction

Level 1: Brawl

(A) Empty

Level 1: Prestige Power Dash

(A) Empty

Level 1: Prestige Power Slide

(A) Empty

Level 1: Prestige Power Quick

(A) Empty

Level 1: Prestige Power Rush

(A) Empty

Level 1: Prestige Power Surge

(A) Empty

Level 1: Sprint

(A) Empty

Level 1: Vigilance

Level 2: Rest

(A) Empty

Level 4: Ninja Run

Level 2: Swift

(A) Run Speed

Level 2: Health

(A) Healing

(27) Healing

(31) Healing

Level 2: Hurdle

(A) Jumping

Level 2: Stamina

(A) Endurance Modification

(3) Endurance Modification

(7) Endurance Modification

------------

Justaris · June 2, 2019

Irradiate and Proton Volley both need some accuracy slotting and you don't really need the extra range in Enervating Field, but otherwise this looks pretty good overall. Where it'll really get complicated is when you start working on the IO Set version. Good luck!

drunken · June 3, 2019

I had a Rad/Rad on live that was my main. I'd go back and forth with Dark or Power. Wish I could remember his build or have my old mid files. I had about 4 hami O's on him at one time. I do remember that radiation infection and choking cloud were 6 slotted other than that I'm old and my memory isn't what it used to be

drunken · June 3, 2019

Also curious as to why you didn't taken hasten. Stacked with AM is a beautiful thing

Justaris · June 3, 2019

Hasten is a great power, I'll second that. Because of the faster recharge and thereby faster expenditure of endurance, it can make endurance problems worse if you're already on the brink though.

That said, when you do start working on an IO build there are two general popular ways to go. No matter what you choose, you'll want to look for synergy to stack the same type of bonus from many different sets across many powers to give a substantial overall bonus to your character. The most common paths people take are stacking up Defense or Recharge, though there are certainly people who choose to be hyper-accurate, have incredible health/regen or endurance/recovery - you can really take it in whatever direction you want.

Still, for gameplay purposes those two options tend to be the most impactful. If you choose the Recharge route, you will definitely want Hasten. Recharge builds focus on drastically reducing the downtime of hard-hitting powers that are otherwise balanced by their long cooldowns. The goal of a high-recharge Invention build is to try to minimize that downtime. For example, it's quite possible to reduce the downtime of AM to be less than its duration, so that you effectively have the buff available forever.

Alternatively, Defense allows you to layer survivability onto characters that otherwise don't have much, or layer an extra amount of survivability to characters that usually rely more on regeneration or resistance. I personally went for a recharge-centric IO build for my Rad/Rad/Power, and with everything slotted he can keep Lingering Rad on an AV forever and keep AM on the team permanently.

Taliseian · June 3, 2019

I could replace Assult with Hasten at 10 and move it down the fighter tree. As I was figuring out this build, around 24 or so it wasn't as intuitive as to what powers to take. I could move it down that far and pick up Hasten.

Justaris · June 3, 2019

That should work.

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