Elec vs Rad Armor?

[Solarverse]

The Resists on Elec is impressive. With a quick build I was able to get 90 resist to all but Negative and Toxic, with Negative being at 70 and toxic being at 44%.

 

I was able to get my Melee defense up to 41%, Regen at 450% with max HP at 2635 with a 922 Absorb.

 

So Elec vs Rad....which one has higher survival with end game content?

[kito]

I think rad. Ik it has a shield (extra bar of hp) they tend to be broken. I have been told thing like rad d is the best way to tank in "hard mode" content as well. I think rad even has a usable t9 power unlike ele. But I'm not sure on most this I don't play alot of tanks or brutes.

[Solarverse]

44 minutes ago, kito said:

I think rad. Ik it has a shield (extra bar of hp) they tend to be broken. I have been told thing like rad d is the best way to tank in "hard mode" content as well. I think rad even has a usable t9 power unlike ele. But I'm not sure on most this I don't play alot of tanks or brutes.

 

My thinking is this): Their resistances/Defenses are close to the same. However, one build depends on mobs being near them, the other does not. Since I don't plan to take Teleport (or any of those powers) in to my build, I have no way to gather back mobs outside of Taunt if my team scatters the mobs with a Knock Back. Because of this, I am thinking I would rather have a build that is self sufficient and does not require mobs being near me for any other reason than maintaining aggro. What I am trying to figure out is this...is there a viable reason to take Radiation Armor over Elec Armor for end game content? Have Elec Tanks proven themselves to be viable adversaries against end game content? Is it worth it to take Radiation Armor over Electric Armor?

[kito]

Not 100% sure myself I don't see alot of ele tanks in "hard mode" stuff but I also never do alot of hard mode stuff think I have done maybe 2-3 dr aons 1-4 stars and 1 itf 1-4 stars as long as your not doing any 4 star TFS you can use more or less any power set and solo with the right build. In a 4* you need a bit more teamwork so really depends what you plan to do.

[Spaghetti Betty]

Both are fantastic for end game content! I've run both in 4* content multiple times.

 

Rad Armor is definitely going to be more of a "one size fits all" kind of tank. It has high resists, and nearly unmatched self-sustain. This allows it to complement a larger variety of team comps. Where Rad Armor starts to fall short is in the very upper echelon of challenge difficulty. Mostly self-imposed stuff. I wouldn't be reaching for my Rad Armor Tank for, say, a short man 4*, simply because once it hits the fan, Rad Armor does not have a way to stop cascade failure.

 

Elec Armor on the other hand shines at giving your team support a very strong foundation to build on. As you found out, Elec Armor can cap resists in its sleep. The more daring player can also attempt to juggle Power Surge to reach unbeatable levels of mitigation, but you always have the looming threat of the massive crash getting you killed. Elec Armor's biggest flaw is it's sustainability. While it does take a lot to get through the wall of RES, you only have Energize to fall back on when stuff does, and it takes foreverrrrr to recharge. Thankfully, team buffs multiply it's sustainability very quickly. A single Empathy or Nature Defender can turn you into an unkillable god, no matter what content you're faced with. I would wholeheartedly recommend playing with Burnout as a power choice if you decide on Elec Armor!

 

I would say go with whichever one suits your fancy!

Edited August 21, 2023 by Spaghetti Betty

[Solarverse]

2 minutes ago, Spaghetti Betty said:

Both are fantastic for end game content! I've run both in 4* content multiple times.

 

Rad Armor is definitely going to be more of a "one size fits all" kind of tank. It has high resists, and nearly unmatched self-sustain. This allows it to complement a larger variety of team comps. Where Rad Armor starts to fall short is in the very upper echelon of challenge difficulty. Mostly self-imposed stuff. I wouldn't be reaching for my Rad Armor Tank for, say, a short man 4*, simply because once it hits the fan, Rad Armor does not have a way to stop cascade failure.

 

Elec Armor on the other hand shines at giving your team support a very strong foundation to build on. As you found out, Elec Armor can cap resists in its sleep. The more daring player can also attempt to juggle Power Surge to reach unbeatable levels of mitigation, but you always have the looming threat of the massive crash getting you killed. Elec Armor's biggest flaw is it's sustainability. While it does take a lot to get through the wall of RES, you only have Energize to fall back on when stuff does, and it takes foreverrrrr to recharge. Thankfully, team buffs multiply it's sustainability very quickly. A single Empathy or Nature Defender can turn you into an unkillable god, no matter what content you're faced with. I would wholeheartedly playing with Burnout as a power choice if you decide on Elec Armor!

 

I would say go with whichever one suits your fancy!

 

That is great to know, thank you very much.  🙂

[Thraxen]

Rad is better imo. Electric is all resist and one self heal. The t9 isn’t great. Rad is resist plus a huge heal and an absorb shield that is huge. It’s t9 you just use on cooldown unless you know you need it soon. And rad has the cool aoe that heals your teammates which is just fun. Elec doesn’t get end drained though  super handy on Lord Recluse but not too much other stuff that adds up too much. 
 

Just my two cents but but rad is way more fun if nothing else. 

[Zect]

Rad has more survivability. Rad has 2 heals to elec's one and indirectly gets +maxhp (due to absorb) while elec does not. Rad's resist holes are extremely mild compared to elec's literal 0% tox resist - in a world where invulns easily get perma 90% psi res, elec is the last remaining armor set with an actual miti hole (which is only really closed by the T9).

 

Elec can be built as a turtle-tank, but its true potential is as a high offense, high durability Main Battle Tank. Many people look at the high base resists and mistake elec for a miti tank, forgetting that IO builds of other resist tanks already hardcap most/all resist anyway. The real use of the high base resists lies in allowing you to divert slots to offense instead while capitalizing on elec's endredux and +rech powers to enable procbombing.

 

My elec/SS has perma 90% res to all including negative except tox (24%), 100% slow res, +205% perma global rech for perma-double rage, and all but 1 attack stuffed with procs. Let's just say that if this tank had been shipped to the Ukrainians, they would be on the far side of Crimea by now.

 

3 hours ago, Solarverse said:

However, one build depends on mobs being near them, the other does not.

 

Neither elec nor rad "depend" on mobs being near them in the way that, say, Invuln does (if invuln has nothing in melee with it, it instantly loses like 17% def which means when you take a big hit from an AV, kiting while you recuperate is a trickier proposition), though they both derive mild benefits from having critters in melee with them.

 

3 hours ago, Solarverse said:

Since I don't plan to take Teleport (or any of those powers) in to my build, I have no way to gather back mobs outside of Taunt if my team scatters the mobs with a Knock Back.

 

My favored tactic is to pull like the next 5 rooms. When everyone is above the aggro cap, it really doesn't matter if a blaster scatters everything with a nova because there will still be 16 targets aggroed on you.

 

3 hours ago, Solarverse said:

What I am trying to figure out is this...is there a viable reason to take Radiation Armor over Elec Armor for end game content?

 

Yes, because they are both very good armor sets - though their strengths, as mentioned, lie in different areas (rad slightly more defensive, elec slightly more offensive).

 

3 hours ago, Solarverse said:

Have Elec Tanks proven themselves to be viable adversaries against end game content?

 

All armor sets are broadly viable in endgame. There are even ways around elec's tox issues if you want.

 

I do find rad better for tanking 4* HM (except for 4* Hero1, his sword slashes are one of very few hard hitting cold attacks in the game) simply because it has more sustain and healing is one of the iffiest things to outsource to the team - most coh players are just not good healers. However, you really should not base your decision off the hardmode meta. Most people who fret about hardmode never even play the content and it is a very minor part of endgame so it should not be a major factor in your calculations unless you are wanting to make a toon specifically for it.

[Syant]

Both are powerhouse but my main tank is Elec/DM and he is a power house. He is able to do any thing at ease.

Edited August 21, 2023 by Syant

[StriderIV]

3 hours ago, Syant said:

Both are powerhouse but my main tank is Elec/DM and he is a power house. He is able to do any thing at ease.

Elec/DM is such a synergistic combo. Looks sweet together as well.

[Fire Chief]

Wayyyy cool on the DM I got a project right now it's a Rad/DM tank.

[ZemX]

On 8/20/2023 at 1:07 AM, Spaghetti Betty said:

Rad Armor does not have a way to stop cascade failure.

 

You've got me curious with this one.  What sort of "cascade failure" do you mean here?  Only one I know about is cascade defense failure and neither Rad nor Elec have any tools to stop that.  It's why I tend to ignore defense building as wasted, since it can't be relied on in really the only situation where you need it... against withering -defense debuffs.

[Spaghetti Betty]

29 minutes ago, ZemX said:

 

You've got me curious with this one.  What sort of "cascade failure" do you mean here?  Only one I know about is cascade defense failure and neither Rad nor Elec have any tools to stop that.  It's why I tend to ignore defense building as wasted, since it can't be relied on in really the only situation where you need it... against withering -defense debuffs.

Generally sour moments that would require legacy T9 levels of protection. They are almost never prevalent in anything but the most edge cases nowadays, but the OP mentioned endgame content. It's completely possible to build an Elec (and an Invuln for that matter) that hardcaps all RES and have impressive DEF without sacrificing DPS, but requires T9 juggling and precise management of crashes. That is something Rad Armor can't do.

 

Those pesky .0001% moments of gameplay, I tell you!

[Solarverse]

3 hours ago, Spaghetti Betty said:

Generally sour moments that would require legacy T9 levels of protection. They are almost never prevalent in anything but the most edge cases nowadays, but the OP mentioned endgame content. It's completely possible to build an Elec (and an Invuln for that matter) that hardcaps all RES and have impressive DEF without sacrificing DPS, but requires T9 juggling and precise management of crashes. That is something Rad Armor can't do.

 

Those pesky .0001% moments of gameplay, I tell you!

 

Honestly, I don't have any plans at all to take the T9. Melee Core Embodiment and a couple of oranges can fill those shoes just fine and it doesn't come with a crash. On paper, this build with proper inspiration juggling (when debuffs are applied) should be capable of handling just about anything...with some skill of course. Now that part....I can't promise, lol.

 

[Thraxen]

Rad’s T9 is great. And should be used as soon as it’s up.  It’s a damage buff and the rest is gravy. Use it all the time. And the aoe that heals teammates is great. Elec is good but it’s one heal is up too slow. Both should be built for some amount of defense. Although they have no ddr, not everything does dd anyway. I do a lot of ITFs myself, so like to have it. But it isn’t required. 

[Spaghetti Betty]

4 hours ago, Solarverse said:

 

Honestly, I don't have any plans at all to take the T9. Melee Core Embodiment and a couple of oranges can fill those shoes just fine and it doesn't come with a crash. On paper, this build with proper inspiration juggling (when debuffs are applied) should be capable of handling just about anything...with some skill of course. Now that part....I can't promise, lol.

 

 

Here's how I would go about it!

 

starburst - Tanker (Electric Armor - Energy Melee).mbd

 

Personally, I'm always going to try to punch up damage as much as possible without sacrificing too much in other areas. IMO, I can live with low DEF, as it's easy to come by in a team scenario. I hope some of these ideas work out for you!

[SwitchFade]

On 8/19/2023 at 6:24 PM, Solarverse said:

The Resists on Elec is impressive. With a quick build I was able to get 90 resist to all but Negative and Toxic, with Negative being at 70 and toxic being at 44%.

 

I was able to get my Melee defense up to 41%, Regen at 450% with max HP at 2635 with a 922 Absorb.

 

So Elec vs Rad....which one has higher survival with end game content?

Radiation will be superior end game to all content. Elec will be situationally stronger.

 

Rad requires you pay more attention but will be more survivable at the extremes.

 

But there's no way to turn off the horrendous graphics.

[Without_Pause]

I find coloring Rad tends to make it more tolerable.

[ZemX]

15 hours ago, Without_Pause said:

I find coloring Rad tends to make it more tolerable.

 

This.  Darkest left-column of the "Bright Radiation" palette.  I find the reds are least visible but that might just be me.  You'll still be able to see the whirling ping-pong balls but the taunt aura will appear more like low smoke on the ground than a serious glow.