Rad/Dark Blaster - help

[alphamax]

I think I'm spoiled from my fire/em blapper with 1740 HP, both melee and ranged attack chains that never end, with perma high regen/endurance, and can 2 shot purple bosses in melee.

 

Instead my rad/dark is just... unimpressive. 

• Good regen/endurance, but needs a target and a tohit check, which takes away from dealing dmg instead
• Lots of powers i've ignored since they are are minor pbaoe or attacks that just do dots (on a blaster... why?)
• -Def attacks, when my tohit is already high since blasters self-buff to-hit anyway
• -to hit attacks, when on other blasters things are too busy being dead for that to matter.

 

It feel like rad/dark is trying too much to be a debuffing controller. Is that the point?

Here's my current build. And yes I stopped taking blaster powers at L30 because sadly there was nothing else that seemed worth getting.

 

[SeraphimKensai]

Why no irradiate and neutron bomb?

 

The best thing I can suggest regarding the -defense is that it is going to help your whole team hit the targets as well.

 

The -tohit helps both your and your teams ability to avoid being hit, so it can be useful in that regard.

 

This combo seems to me that it works better as a team based blaster.

[Snarky]

45 minutes ago, alphamax said:

I think I'm spoiled from my fire/em blapper with 1740 HP, both melee and ranged attack chains that never end, with perma high regen/endurance, and can 2 shot purple bosses in melee.

 

Instead my rad/dark is just... unimpressive. 

• Good regen/endurance, but needs a target and a tohit check, which takes away from dealing dmg instead
• Lots of powers i've ignored since they are are minor pbaoe or attacks that just do dots (on a blaster... why?)
• -Def attacks, when my tohit is already high since blasters self-buff to-hit anyway
• -to hit attacks, when on other blasters things are too busy being dead for that to matter.

 

It feel like rad/dark is trying too much to be a debuffing controller. Is that the point?

Here's my current build. And yes I stopped taking blaster powers at L30 because sadly there was nothing else that seemed worth getting.

 

If you want more debuff and control… head on over to the Corruptor forum and check out my Dark^3. Can drop two Mag2 aoe stuns, massive to hit debuffs, fear, and generally annoying.  Then, starts slamming into folks with massive PBAoE and hard hitting ST.  Oh…and has the mez/debuff chops to sit on my peoples crowded porch and burn them down.  Which is nice becuase stunning the shit out of a crowd then dropping a PBAoE build up based on those around you and a PBAoE nuke that screws the to hit of anyone that survives is just fun.

[Spaghetti Betty]

2 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

This combo seems to me that it works better as a team based blaster.

I agree with this sentiment!

 

/Dark is definitely in a bit of an odd situation. With your sustain being tied to a ST attack, you will have to remember to hit it every now and then in combat. It has a 2 minute duration, so you wouldn't need to hit it any more often than a Fiery Aura toon would need to use Consume!

 

As for a build, you can definitely turn this thing into an AV damage specialist, thanks to the debuff power Rad/ brings and the hard-hitting ST attacks from /Dark. Here's how I would do it!

 

Blaster (Radiation Blast - Darkness Manipulation).mbd

 

Right off the bat I'll say that this would be an absolute nightmare to try and solo with. You do have some tricks for mitigation, but you would have to select how you engage pretty carefully. With team buffs however, you turn into a guided missile that will make light work of any boss!

 

Hope this helps!

[tidge]

Just a couple of quick comments on the level of personal preference for the build above:

 

I think the above build has too many %proc in Irradiate. Irradiate does have a sweet inherent recharge time, and a better-than-usual base accuracy, and the build is running with Kismet... yet I feel that all %proc powers ought to have some accuracy slotting. I'd pick at least one slot with a preferred combo of Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Debuff that could be boosted (or attuned to give some useful set bonus). See also Char slotting.

 

About Char... it feels weird to me to take Char (single-target hold) at level 41, 5-slot it for %damage, go hard into %damage on all the attacks, and skip the cone Electron Haze. Ranged Cone attacks are IMO the most reliable powers for %damage. Using a pair of HO/DSyncs (Accuracy/Range and Damage/Range) would still leave 3 slots for %damage (or %-Resist)... and the power would be available for much lower-level content. The Flame Mastery choices would need to be reconsidered, but the lack of Accuracy and/or Recharge in Melt Armor bothers me. I don't consider Melt Armor to be a valuable %proc power as it has a base 200 second recharge time that requires a ToHit check).

 

Generally: I feel like the build leans a little too heavy into %proc for my taste... I'm more sympathetic here because of the Damage-over-Time aspects of the sets... but it feels to me like some of the good 5-piece set bonuses are being "left on the table" just for the sake of adding %damage. In particular: I think the %Build Up piece from Decimation in the Snipe (Proton Volley) is poorly motivated. If not going with 5-pieces of Apocalypse, then I'd suggest using a boosted 50+5 Experienced Marksman Range/Fast Snipe instead (if the Kismet +ToHit piece is always in play). Build Up/+ToHit effects work best for a Fast Snipe, and the %proc of the Decimation is pretty poor (1 PPM for 10secs IIRC) compared to how fast it will be possible to spam the Fast Snipe.

 

[Spaghetti Betty]

7 hours ago, tidge said:

Just a couple of quick comments on the level of personal preference for the build above:

 

I think the above build has too many %proc in Irradiate. Irradiate does have a sweet inherent recharge time, and a better-than-usual base accuracy, and the build is running with Kismet... yet I feel that all %proc powers ought to have some accuracy slotting. I'd pick at least one slot with a preferred combo of Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Debuff that could be boosted (or attuned to give some useful set bonus). See also Char slotting.

 

About Char... it feels weird to me to take Char (single-target hold) at level 41, 5-slot it for %damage, go hard into %damage on all the attacks, and skip the cone Electron Haze. Ranged Cone attacks are IMO the most reliable powers for %damage. Using a pair of HO/DSyncs (Accuracy/Range and Damage/Range) would still leave 3 slots for %damage (or %-Resist)... and the power would be available for much lower-level content. The Flame Mastery choices would need to be reconsidered, but the lack of Accuracy and/or Recharge in Melt Armor bothers me. I don't consider Melt Armor to be a valuable %proc power as it has a base 200 second recharge time that requires a ToHit check).

 

Generally: I feel like the build leans a little too heavy into %proc for my taste... I'm more sympathetic here because of the Damage-over-Time aspects of the sets... but it feels to me like some of the good 5-piece set bonuses are being "left on the table" just for the sake of adding %damage. In particular: I think the %Build Up piece from Decimation in the Snipe (Proton Volley) is poorly motivated. If not going with 5-pieces of Apocalypse, then I'd suggest using a boosted 50+5 Experienced Marksman Range/Fast Snipe instead (if the Kismet +ToHit piece is always in play). Build Up/+ToHit effects work best for a Fast Snipe, and the %proc of the Decimation is pretty poor (1 PPM for 10secs IIRC) compared to how fast it will be possible to spam the Fast Snipe.

 

Anyone is welcome to take my builds and modify them how they see fit. My blaster builds are usually directed towards maximizing damage in a team setting while fitting in as much slow RES (personal preference) and sneaking some max HP in to hopefully live more than 1 hit. If you find something else that works for you, great!

[tidge]

3 hours ago, Spaghetti Betty said:

Anyone is welcome to take my builds and modify them how they see fit. My blaster builds are usually directed towards maximizing damage in a team setting while fitting in as much slow RES (personal preference) and sneaking some max HP in to hopefully live more than 1 hit. If you find something else that works for you, great!

 

If I'm making any comment, it is this: in order to do damage, or to get debuffs to stick... some Accuracy should probably be slotted if facing higher-level enemies. The build appears to also just miss getting 4-slot global Accuracy bonuses from several of the Very Rare sets.

 

A specific fer-instance:  Level 45+ teams will certainly do more damage if Melt Armor has higher Recharge, even if you don't want to slot it for Accuracy. The way it is slotted right now makes it look like a wasted power pick (lvl 49 could just be a Defense mule for more global Recharge) and move the second slot to either X-Ray Beam or Rune of Protection to get either a positional Ranged or Melee set bonus.

 

Radiation Blast is a slightly tricky beast for builds with %damage... the attacks have some -DEF, but those attacks have to hit, and while it isn't precisely necessary to spam Rad attacks to try to apply -DEF, AFAIK there may be some -DEF debuff resistance in play. Rad can be a (ToHit) multiplier against even-level minions, but I don't think it is good enough by itself to forgo Accuracy slotting.

 

If teaming is the key, move the Gaussian's %Build Up to Tactics.

[Spaghetti Betty]

3 minutes ago, tidge said:

 

If I'm making any comment, it is this: in order to do damage, or to get debuffs to stick... some Accuracy should probably be slotted if facing higher-level enemies. The build appears to also just miss getting 4-slot global Accuracy bonuses from several of the Very Rare sets.

 

A specific fer-instance:  Level 45+ teams will certainly do more damage if Melt Armor has higher Recharge, even if you don't want to slot it for Accuracy. The way it is slotted right now makes it look like a wasted power pick (lvl 49 could just be a Defense mule for more global Recharge) and move the second slot to either X-Ray Beam or Rune of Protection to get either a positional Ranged or Melee set bonus.

 

Radiation Blast is a slightly tricky beast for builds with %damage... the attacks have some -DEF, but those attacks have to hit, and while it isn't precisely necessary to spam Rad attacks to try to apply -DEF, AFAIK there may be some -DEF debuff resistance in play. Rad can be a (ToHit) multiplier against even-level minions, but I don't think it is good enough by itself to forgo Accuracy slotting.

 

If teaming is the key, move the Gaussian's %Build Up to Tactics.

Melt Armor is frankenslotted with 2 acc/rech IOs. This is a budget option vs slotting 2 lvl 53 D Sync Provocations (which is absolutely not budget friendly). It's there to add just a little bit more -RES on top of everything.

 

I will concede that for a team setting, Gaussian could be moved to Tactics, but I prefer having 2 Build Ups on demand for my Blasters (or even just having 1 in this case because Soul Drain) for burst windows. Once Rad blasts start hitting, it's not a big deal. But, if everyone is running Leadership, +tohit isn't a big deal anyway!

 

By the by, I get crazy good mileage out of the BU proc in snipe. Maybe I just have good luck.

 

I have a blaster that runs very similar to this, the only difference being /Earth propping up the recharge very well!

[tidge]

There is only marginal difference between a Shield Breaker's max value from Acc/Recharge and the max value of a Analyze Weakness Acc/End/Recharge, so forgive me for assuming that the Shield Breaker piece was a %Lethal.