So is Rad any good as a primary?

[mrdeeds7]

I can see from the Defender threads that rad is not a great secondary, wondering what the community has to say for it as a blaster primary currently? It's got some of my favorite animations and sound effects... so fingers crossed. Any feedback appreciated! 

[Bill Z Bubba]

22 minutes ago, mrdeeds7 said:

I can see from the Defender threads that rad is not a great secondary, wondering what the community has to say for it as a blaster primary currently? It's got some of my favorite animations and sound effects... so fingers crossed. Any feedback appreciated! 

 

Maybe good for blapping? I have a rad/regen sent that I enjoy playing and he's always in the thick of it.

[DreadShinobi]

Rad blast efficiency comes from how many procs you ram into each attack which lends itself more towards being great for defenders over blasters which get more mileage from just capitalizing on good base damage and low animation times. Defenders also have better access to oppressive gloom because they get soul drain in the same ancillary whereas blasters rarely choose OG because that's all you get from that ancillary choice. I consider OG to be very important in making rad blast feel strong because it allows your cosmic burst to 1 shot stun bosses.

[arcane]

Radiation Blast is great on any AT. Your information regarding Defenders was simply wrong.

[SeraphimKensai]

Rad blast as Arcane said it pretty damn good. Personally the only power that seems sluggish to me is Neutron Bomb. That said X-ray Eyes should have a higher base tohit, we don't want to have crossed eyes super heroes shooting beams of energy at the wrong target, or do we?

 

I have a rad/fire blaster that lays down some -def/-res debuffs with the rad and burns everything in its path.

Edited February 14, 2022 by SeraphimKensai

[Six-Six]

I prefer blapping rather than hover blasting. So I tend to skip a few powers from Rad/ to be able to take more melee powers from the secondaries. Rad is really good for def debuff to soften most buggers. While I don't necessarily find the animation any different/better than most primaries, I still enjoy them. One of my favourite toons is Rad/En blapper (I have 2 of them). Currently levelling up a Rad/Martial and a Rad/Temporal. I'm not one to pay attention to stats so much, instead I judge it by how a power set feels. That said, it "feels" like they rank just below my elec/ blasters and blappers. I always take T1, T2 and the snipe. Irradiate and the nuke are extremely useful to me as a blapper. Haze, cosmic and Newtron bomb is a little too slow for my taste. But Eye beams is awesome.

[DreadShinobi]

Neutron Bomb is a 1.67 animation pre-arcanatime. 1.84 arcanatime I believe but that is just off the top of my head. For an aoe that animation time is actually quite good. It can *feel* slow but there is no pause/lag after you toss the ball which I think is why it is continually incorrectly quoted as being a slow animation when it isn't. 

[Onlyasandwich]

8 minutes ago, DreadShinobi said:

Neutron Bomb is a 1.67 animation pre-arcanatime. 1.84 arcanatime I believe but that is just off the top of my head. For an aoe that animation time is actually quite good. It can *feel* slow but there is no pause/lag after you toss the ball which I think is why it is continually incorrectly quoted as being a slow animation when it isn't. 

 

Also it looks really cool in my opinion! Glowy smashy orbicular thing. It's like I'm tossing a radioactive soccer ball.

 

In any event, I find it hard to skip any targeted aoes that aren't cones and have uncomplicated affects (no fear, no need to mitigate knockback). They hit a bunch of targets and are super easy to use.

[arcane]

I always put 5-6 procs in Neutron Bomb. It’s good.

 

Has a projectile time too so you can zoom in and simultaneously smack them with Irradiate in the same instance too.

Edited February 15, 2022 by arcane

[nebber]

I agree with Six-Six it's a great set for a blapper playstyle.  My Rad/Nrg is in my top 3 favourite toons, and I play it full on blapper.  Two good AOEs you can fire off standing in the middle of the fray. 

 

A well-slotted irradiate is a beautiful opener.  I have slotted:

Armageddon - Damage (boosted +5)

Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage (boosted +5)
Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage
Defiant Barrage - RechargeTime/+Status
Fury of the Gladiator - Chance for Res Debuff
Achilles' Heel - Chance for Res Debuff

 

This gives me status protection and res debuffs the mobs most the time, so my blaps hit even harder.  Follow this up with the nuke or neutron bomb (mine has 4 dmg procs), then I keep punching whatever left is standing (energy punch, bonesmasher, cross punch, total focus, and power thrust with KB2KD - glorious).  To me, this blapper build is so gratifying and a fun take on a blaster. 

[TNT]

From a pure damage perspective,  it may not look that great. But you can slot -res procs, along with many others, and the stun you get from some powers pairs really well with some secondaries. 

 

Yes some powers Feel slow, which is hard to get past, but they definitely can be played well and have their place.  

[MTeague]

On 2/14/2022 at 11:01 AM, mrdeeds7 said:

 It's got some of my favorite animations and sound effects...

 

That is literally all that matters. Roll one up. Even "Bad" blaster primaries like Assault Rifle still kill things plenty fast enough.  

This is not warcraft progression raiding where your entire raid team might fail if not everyone is perfectly optimized. This is CoH. 

 

Unless the exact number of seconds it takes you to clear certain rooms genuinely matters to you, just go for it, don't look back, don't question it.  Just enjoy.

[oedipus_tex]

I think sometimes people think Neutron Bomb is slow because it looks so similar to Repulsion Bomb. Somehow Neutron Bomb has a 1.67 anim time and Repulsion Bomb has 3.07. Always wished Repulsion Bomb could get upgraded to the faster cast time.

Edited February 17, 2022 by oedipus_tex

[brasilgringo]

Being fair, I would say Rad has definitely slower (or slower-feeling, which is about the same to me) animations and projectile times than Fire or Ice ... and *maybe* Electric (now post-changes to SC etc).  I would say it feels  about the same to me as Dark in terms of its single-target.  Irradiate animates fast but Neutron Bomb feels slower (and definitely is slower than Fireball).   Compared to Water, it's about the same maybe with slightly slower feeling single-target attacks.  I've tried to play it a bunch but outside of concept, I end up min/maxing on others.  Atomic secondary is great though.  You can proc-bomb the single-target hold Positron Cell into a devastating single-target attack, and if you combine it with say Negatron Slam you get a fun mini-game secondary affect (Gamma Ray) that applies -accuracy (I think) to the target (fun for EBs and AVs).  Just avoid the T9 melee (dpa / corpse-blasting). 

 

Here's one of my fun builds, Water/Atomic for Atomic secondary ideas.

Spoiler

This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.1.2.5
https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Natural Blaster
Primary Power Set: Water Blast
Secondary Power Set: Atomic Manipulation
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Teleportation
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Aqua Bolt -- SprDfnBrr-Rchg/+Status Protect(A), SprDfnBrr-Dmg/Rchg(3), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg(3), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7)
Level 1: Electron Shackles -- TraoftheH-Immob/Acc(A)
Level 2: Water Burst -- PstBls-Acc/Dmg(A), PstBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(9), PstBls-Dam%(9), Bmbdmt-Acc/Dam/Rech(11), Bmbdmt-+FireDmg(11), FrcFdb-Rechg%(13)
Level 4: Positron Cell -- GldJvl-Acc/Dmg(A), GldJvl-Dam%(13), Apc-Dam%(15), UnbCns-Dam%(15), GhsWdwEmb-Dam%(17), GldNet-Dam%(17)
Level 6: Whirlpool -- Bmbdmt-Dam(A), Bmbdmt-+FireDmg(19), JvlVll-Dam%(19), PstBls-Dam%(21), Ann-ResDeb%(21), AchHee-ResDeb%(23)
Level 8: Super Speed -- BlsoftheZ-Travel/EndRdx(A), BlsoftheZ-ResKB(23)
Level 10: Ionize -- GssSynFr--Build%(A), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg(25)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(25), Ksm-ToHit+(27)
Level 14: Dehydrate -- GldJvl-Acc/Dmg(A), GldJvl-Dam%(27), TchofLadG-%Dam(29), TchoftheN-%Dam(29), ShlBrk-%Dam(31), AchHee-ResDeb%(31)
Level 16: Tidal Forces -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 18: Water Jet -- SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsWrt-Dmg/Rchg(31), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), SprBlsWrt-Rchg/Dmg%(34)
Level 20: Metabolic Acceleration -- NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(A), NmnCnv-EndRdx/Rchg(34), NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx(34), NmnCnv-Heal(36), NmnCnv-Heal/Rchg(36), NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(36)
Level 22: Beta Decay -- AchHee-ResDeb%(A)
Level 24: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(37)
Level 26: Negatron Slam -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(39), SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(39), Hct-Dam%(39)
Level 28: Teleport Target -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB(A), BlsoftheZ-Travel(40)
Level 30: Combat Teleport -- BlsoftheZ-Travel/EndRdx(A), BlsoftheZ-ResKB(40)
Level 32: Geyser -- Rgn-Dmg(A), Rgn-Dmg/Rchg(40), Rgn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), Rgn-Acc/Rchg(42), Rgn-Dmg/EndRdx(42), FrcFdb-Rechg%(43)
Level 35: Fold Space -- Acc-I(A), RechRdx-I(43)
Level 38: Scorpion Shield -- Rct-Def(A), Rct-Def/EndRdx(43), Rct-EndRdx/Rchg(45), Rct-Def/Rchg(45), Rct-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(45), Rct-ResDam%(46)
Level 41: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 44: Radioactive Cloud -- Lck-%Hold(A), Lck-Acc/Hold(46), Lck-Acc/Rchg(46), Lck-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(48), Lck-Rchg/Hold(48), Lck-EndRdx/Rchg/Hold(48)
Level 47: Tough -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(50)
Level 49: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), Rct-Def(50), Rct-Def/EndRdx(50)
Level 1: Defiance 
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Clr-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 1: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 1: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A)
Level 1: Stamina -- PrfShf-EndMod(A), PrfShf-End%(7)
Level 1: Combo Level 1 
Level 1: Combo Level 2 
Level 1: Combo Level 3 
Level 14: Speed Phase 
------------

 

[ZorkNemesis]

8 hours ago, oedipus_tex said:

I think sometimes people think Neutron Bomb is slow because it looks so similar to Repulsion Bomb. Somehow Neutron Bomb has a 1.67 anim time and Repulsion Bomb has 3.07. Always wished Repulsion Bomb could get upgraded to the faster cast time.

 

It's not just that, Neutron Bomb animates slower than practically every other targeted AoE blast as well.  Compare it to attacks like Fireball, Explosive Blast, M30 Grenade, Water Burst, etc and you'll usually see Neutron Bomb firing later than everything.

 

Plus in my opinion, the damage doesn't match the animation.  When explosions make a mushroom I want to see the crater left behind.

[DreadShinobi]

3 hours ago, ZorkNemesis said:

 

It's not just that, Neutron Bomb animates slower than practically every other targeted AoE blast as well.  Compare it to attacks like Fireball, Explosive Blast, M30 Grenade, Water Burst, etc and you'll usually see Neutron Bomb firing later than everything.

 

Plus in my opinion, the damage doesn't match the animation.  When explosions make a mushroom I want to see the crater left behind.

 

Power -         Cast Time - Arcanatime

Fireball -              1.00s - 1.188s

Explosive Arrow - 1.00s - 1.188s

Ball Lightning -    1.07s - 1.32s

Explosive Blast -  1.67s - 1.848s

M30 Grenade -   1.67s - 1.848s

Neutron Bomb - 1.67s - 1.848s

Bullet Rain -       1.67s - 1.848s

Water Burst -      1.73s - 1.980s

Psi Tornado -     2.37s - 2.508s

 

There is no issue with Neutron Bomb's animation time. Projectile Speed is not animation time/cast time. Slow projectile speed can also be taken as an advantage to a power, as the critters are not notified of Neutron Bomb when the cast time completes, but when the projectile hits, (misses can alter this), and gives you some buffer to fire off your follow up attack before combat begins. 

 

 

 

[nebber]

I'm not bothered with neutron bomb being slightly slow because it's balanced by irradiate being fast.  Does any blaster gets two potent AOEs that are both quick activating?  Fire gets fireball which is great, but then it's other main AOE is firebreath, a slow-activating cone.

 

I did some quick calcs -- the combined DPA of fireball+firebreath is only slightly ahead of irradiate+neutron bomb.  But i prefer the latter because irradiate is a 20ft radius to fireball's 15ft and takes some great -res procs, and neutron bomb hits more targets than firebreath (15ft radius TAoE / 16 targets max vs a 30 degree cone / 10 targets max).  And no time spent lining up cones. 

 

In comparing my fire/nrg to my rad/nrg, my rad does better on aoe, but my fire does better single target.

[ScarySai]

Without proc spamming, it's kind of mediocre.

 

But since that's an option for now, it will definitely perform well if you choose to make one.

[Seed22]

Without procs? yeah no it’s terrible damage. But thanks to procs it won’t have to rely on /Fire to carry!

 

That being said, terrible damage or not, you can still do pretty decently with it! I just once again wouldn’t go in with the thought of being in top damage on a team

Edited February 18, 2022 by Seed22

[Chelsea Rorec]

I've never tried Rad so i made a Rad/Rad and i am seriously impressed.

I've been out damaging everyone on posi and syn so far.

Good fun 🙂

[Suspicious Activity]

On 2/19/2022 at 5:05 AM, Chelsea Rorec said:

I've never tried Rad so i made a Rad/Rad and i am seriously impressed.

I've been out damaging everyone on posi and syn so far.

Good fun 🙂

 

I've had some trouble doing Rad/Rad. I went over to Rad/Psi, and it's working better for me. May I see your build?

 

 

Radiation-Mental-Blaster.mxd

Edited March 14, 2022 by Suspicious Activity
Uploaded the wrong build. This is the one I'm currently using.

[kelika2]

Only radi blast i got past level 20 with was Radi/Fire

 

Combustion is a slow ticking medium duration dot

Irradiate is a fast ticking low duration dot

And when you Hami up Blazing Aura with 3 acc/dmg hamis and 2 50+5 healing and 1 Recovery thats just another DoT

 

Higher levels is mostly fire sword circle and nuke spam tho

[Chelsea Rorec]

On 3/14/2022 at 3:42 AM, Suspicious Activity said:

 

I've had some trouble doing Rad/Rad. I went over to Rad/Psi, and it's working better for me. May I see your build?

sure

 

This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.1.2.5
https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Natural Blaster
Primary Power Set: Radiation Blast
Secondary Power Set: Atomic Manipulation
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Mu Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Neutrino Bolt -- Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(5), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(5), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(7), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9)
Level 1: Electron Shackles -- Acc-I(A)
Level 2: X-Ray Beam -- Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(11), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(11), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(13), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13)
Level 4: Negatron Slam -- Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg(A), Mk'Bit-Dmg/EndRdx(15), Mk'Bit-Dmg/Rchg(15), Mk'Bit-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Mk'Bit-Dam%(19)
Level 6: Electron Haze -- Artl-Acc/Dam(A), Artl-Dam/End(19), Artl-Dam/Rech(21), Artl-Acc/Dam/Rech(21), Artl-Acc/Rech/Rng(23), Artl-End/Rech/Rng(23)
Level 8: Fly -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 10: Aim -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Proton Volley -- ExcCnt-Acc/Dmg(A), ExcCnt-Dmg/EndRdx(25), ExcCnt-Dmg/ActRdx(25), ExcCnt-Dmg/Rng(27), ExcCnt-Dmg/Rchg(27), ExcCnt-Stun%(29)
Level 14: Ionize -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 16: Beta Decay -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 18: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(29)
Level 20: Cosmic Burst -- Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx(31), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(31), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33)
Level 22: Metabolic Acceleration -- NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(A), PwrTrns-+Heal(50)
Level 24: Combat Jumping -- Krm-ResKB(A)
Level 26: Neutron Bomb -- PstBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(A), Bmbdmt-Acc/Dam/Rech(33), Bmbdmt-+FireDmg(34), JvlVll-Dam%(34), ShlBrk-%Dam(34), PstBls-Dam%(36)
Level 28: Atom Smasher -- SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg(A), SprDfnBrr-Dmg/Rchg(36), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37), SprDfnBrr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), SprDfnBrr-Rchg/+Status Protect(37)
Level 30: Boxing -- Acc-I(A)
Level 32: Atomic Blast -- SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsWrt-Dmg/Rchg(39), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(39), SprBlsWrt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), SprBlsWrt-Rchg/Dmg%(40)
Level 35: Radioactive Cloud -- Acc-I(A)
Level 38: Positronic Fist -- Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg(A), Mk'Bit-Dmg/EndRdx(40), Mk'Bit-Dmg/Rchg(42), Mk'Bit-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Mk'Bit-Dam%(43)
Level 41: Tough -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), GldArm-3defTpProc(43), UnbGrd-ResDam(43), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(45), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(45), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(45)
Level 44: Weave -- Rct-Def(A), Rct-Def/EndRdx(46), Rct-EndRdx/Rchg(46), Rct-Def/Rchg(46), Rct-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(48), Rct-ResDam%(48)
Level 47: Charged Armor -- UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(A), UnbGrd-ResDam(48), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(50), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(50)
Level 49: Hover -- ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(A)
Level 1: Defiance
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A)
Level 1: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), PwrTrns-EndMod(3), PwrTrns-+Heal(3)
Level 49: Quick Form
Level 8: Afterburner
------------

 

 

[brasilgringo]

On 2/18/2022 at 1:14 PM, ScarySai said:

But since that's an option for now, it will definitely perform well if you choose to make one.

I just can't get past the animation and projectile delays, they drive me nuts.

[ScarySai]

Join the club. Worst of both worlds there.

 

Be nice if blast sets got a bit more of a general speed up, considering that's more or less the main reason ice and fire are so far ahead of everything.