Rad/X or Bio/X

[Cpt. Caveat]

Both are new power sest to me as I stopped before going rogue came out.  I played an Ice/axe tank during CoH release but that’s my only tanking background. 
 

I want to do solo content and I’ve always run ranged high damage toons but the new power sets intrigue me and I’ve read a few things about bio and rad and I’m torn. 
 

I’m trying to have it all.

Good aggro for herding because if I ever run with another person their playstyle would make Leroy Jenkins look laid-back and reserved. 

 

Good aoe damage while solo. Again my biggest fear is going from my blaster nukeing style to what will be more of slower melting of enemies. 

 

The survivability for massive pulls. I know trying to go for a higher damage build inevitably means some sacrifices to survivability, or at least reaching caps.  But I’m not looking to build a scrapper. I want to be able to face tank stuff the quickest way that’s logical. 
 

While I don’t doubt that most power sets can tank just fine if built well.  So if Rad and Bio come close to a draw then my deciding factor would come to how fun and how pretty the powers look. Power color customization is all new to me and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna play a SS tank with no pretty colors to change on my attacks. 
 

Lastly Bio or Rad may lend themselves to one secondary or another I just kinda assume fire is the king of aoe (appently SS making a showing now too) but I know squat about the half dozen new melee power sets and no idea what I want there. 
 

Thanks in advance and it’s good to see there is still a thriving community. 

 

[BZRKR]

So, the standard Homecoming answer is "You get 1000 slots per server, build both!"

 

Both sets are very survivable in different ways. Both sets help with damage output. Both sets have damage/debuff auras that will make enemies stick to you even without Taunt (Up to the Aggro limit). Both sets can be carefully crafted in the costume editor to have STRIKING appearances. So far so good yeah?!

 

I have a Radiation/Axe, Radiation/ Super Strength, Radiation/ Radiation, Radiation/ Titan Weapon, Bio/ Ice, and a Bio/ War Mace Tanker. I have several other Bio Armor Brutes, a couple of Bio Scrappers, a Bio Stalker, and a Bio Sentinel.

 

In my experience, Rad is a bit tougher, a bit more face-tanky. Bio is all about seeing enemies getting ready to attack and slapping on an Absorption shield, or cranking up your Regen temporarily. However, Bio attacks while it defends, so you're damaging or debuffing enemies that get too close while you are bolstering your protection. Most Tanker Secondaries that have held weapons have a "no redraw" version in the costume creator, so switching between clicking Bio/ Powers and attacks is no problem.

 

As for secondaries, I recommend going into the character creator, picking the power set, then going to the "custom" tab and looking at the attacks. The (Freakin' Incredible) Homecoming team has done years of work to make any of the power set choices at least "good". Pick something that you can really get attached to. Once you have picked a power set combination (or two, or three!), then come back here and see what builds and commentary people have posted for that specific combo. Also, ask questions in the Help or General channels.

 

Good luck and welcome home!

 

[Sovera]

For what you say go with Rad. But as Bzz... Bzk.. As Berserker said both will do the trick. Rad is more defensive with a shield and endless endurance. Bio is more damage oriented with a permanent 25% to damage with Offensive Adaptation while also having a shield and good resistances.

 

To be honest both can be very survivable. They are Tankers, they are survivable out of the box. But Rad will be more survivable all around, IMO. It is the meta tank for a reason.

[Cpt. Caveat]

Ok sounds like Bio = can potentially give more damage at the cost of more clicky clicky and higher situation attention.  I’ve read that bio doesn’t really have skipable powers as well as lack of debuff resistance that has to be addressed elsewhere. 
 

So I guess the real question is how much is that damage from bio going to help?

 

If I decided to try to go dance with an AV solo am I going to have issues damaging over a regen rate that bio could potentially get me over?  Or is that even worth banging my head against as a tank?
 

I realize a primary would be a big factor in that scenario as well. 
 

But I doubt I’ll have that damage buff from offensive 100% of the time.  Unless that damage really speeds up the tempo of my solo time killing stuff, then it sounds like rad to me.

 

Also great to know that about not putting away weapons now, It drove me nuts before. 
*edit I did run axe melee before and unless something new blows me out of the water, I’ll most likely go down that path

Edited January 19 by Cpt. Caveat

[ZemX]

26 minutes ago, Cpt. Caveat said:

Also great to know that about not putting away weapons now, It drove me nuts before. 
*edit I did run axe melee before and unless something new blows me out of the water, I’ll most likely go down that path

 

Two things:

1. Weapon redraw has been reworked globally.  You no longer have to rely on power customization "no redraw" options.  You basically just draw the weapon the first time you use it, then it reappears in your hand instantly any subsequent time without redrawing the weapon again.  Up until a certain timeout where you haven't been using any weapon powers for a while.  

 

2. Axe Melee was reworked on Homecoming not long ago, so you probably want to give it another look. 

[Sovera]

2 hours ago, Cpt. Caveat said:

Ok sounds like Bio = can potentially give more damage at the cost of more clicky clicky and higher situation attention.  I’ve read that bio doesn’t really have skipable powers as well as lack of debuff resistance that has to be addressed elsewhere. 
 

So I guess the real question is how much is that damage from bio going to help?

 

If I decided to try to go dance with an AV solo am I going to have issues damaging over a regen rate that bio could potentially get me over?  Or is that even worth banging my head against as a tank?
 

I realize a primary would be a big factor in that scenario as well. 
 

But I doubt I’ll have that damage buff from offensive 100% of the time.  Unless that damage really speeds up the tempo of my solo time killing stuff, then it sounds like rad to me.

 

Also great to know that about not putting away weapons now, It drove me nuts before. 
*edit I did run axe melee before and unless something new blows me out of the water, I’ll most likely go down that path

 

You should have the 25% damage all the time since it's a toggle and has no downtime. It costs you 7% to all resistances though but Tankers are well equipped to deal with that.

 

I only soloed AVs with Fire Armor since it's my baby but it depends on your attack set rather than your armor set. Also depends on the enemy. I had a great leveling experience with Stone Melee up to fighting the last AV in Manticore and then its stupendous Smash resistance made it so I couldn't dent its regen.

 

If we look at single target damage then Bio is better than Fire, and both are better than Radiation Armor.

 

If we look at AoE then Radiation Armor can be first if you trick out Ground Zero with procs (and perhaps Radiation Therapy too), Fire Armor second, and Bio's 25% damage does not help as much when it comes to AoE since damage pales to having another AoE.

 

 

So you can have the best of both worlds by playing something like Rad Armor for more AoE and then couple with Energy Melee, the strongest ST set. I did this combo with Fire Armor and really had no complains with Fire helping Energy's mediocre AoE and Energy's ST pairing well with Fire's ST boost in the form of the second build-up (Fiery Embrace).

 

Something like Rad/Fire Melee is also a strong pairing since Fire has two PbAoEs and then you add Rad's while the ST is pretty snappy and probably close to EM.

[Cpt. Caveat]

Thank you all again for the advice. I’m going Rad and take a look at primary’s though leaning toward fire.