Question About /Rad

[WuTang]

I'm working on a EM/Rad build and got a couple questions.

 

- I noticed from most builds that I could find, that no one maxes out any resistances. That a thing?

- Can Particle Shield double stack?

- Is it best just to 6-proc Ground Zero or put a set in it to up its accuracy?

- Does /Rad rely on -Def for improved hit%? If not how can I get my %tohit up?

- Meltdown looks pretty stout but the best I could do with its recharge is 121 seconds, is that worth chasing or would the slots be better utilized in other areas like Beta Decay to up the -Def%? Meltdown seems like a great OS button...

- I went with Paralytic Core for the -Def but don't know if I'm being too anal about the lack of hit % or if I'd be better off with a more DPS oriented Interface.

- I didn't really pick much to help with endurance, Particle Shield seems to shore that up pretty well, so I went with Ageless Radial to help with debuff resist. That sound about right?

 

I'll attach my build. It's all hodgepodged because I'm on like the 6th rev, so I've swapped lot of stuff in/out/around.

 

Thanks!

 

Brute (Energy Melee - Radiation Armor)-6.mbd

Edited April 4 by WuTang

[Zect]

3 hours ago, WuTang said:

- I noticed from most builds that I could find, that no one maxes out any resistances. That a thing?

 

Terrible builds are everywhere. I once saw a build that tried to mids-warrior by padding Regen%. Gamma boost gives more regen the lower your HP is, so this build set HP to 0%.

 

But the answer is no. However, brute rads will not easily cap resists without a resistance alpha (i.e. resilient).

 

3 hours ago, WuTang said:

Can Particle Shield double stack?

 

Yes. I mean no. I mean yes, April Fool's is over. But actually, no.

 

I'm trying to make a point. How do you know what anyone says here is true? For that matter, how do you know anything in this post is trustworthy? A lot of people in this world are misinformed, and that includes the ones who fancy themselves experts.

 

But the answer is no, and you should verify that in-game. You should still pursue a high particle shield uptime because it is a powerful sustain that does not require tohit checks and is effective even when not surrounded by hordes of critters, compensating for rad therapy's shortcomings.

 

3 hours ago, WuTang said:

Is it best just to 6-proc Ground Zero or put a set in it to up its accuracy?

 

Define best. But, it is a 1.2x acc power. If you can train yourself to hit BU every time you use it and/or have a good amount of global acc or other tohit bonuses, you probably do not need acc. If you cannot, or are fighting high-def enemies (hello Roman legions), you may need acc.

 

3 hours ago, WuTang said:

Does /Rad rely on -Def for improved hit%? If not how can I get my %tohit up?

 

No, because debuffs are heavily penalized by the purple patch and AV debuff resist.

 

BU, tactics, accuracy set bonuses (heca/geddon/rag are all 15% a set), focused acc, slotting acc in your attacks.

 

3 hours ago, WuTang said:

Meltdown looks pretty stout but the best I could do with its recharge is 121 seconds, is that worth chasing or would the slots be better utilized in other areas like Beta Decay to up the -Def%? Meltdown seems like a great OS button...

 

Meltdown is not an OS button in most builds. It tends to be more used for the damage buff. Most rads will build for high res without meltdown, because you generally do not want big swings in the effectiveness of your primary mit layer for ease of play (but if you want to go ahead and make a viable build that relies on meltdown to cap res then more power to you).

 

3 hours ago, WuTang said:

I went with Paralytic Core for the -Def but don't know if I'm being too anal about the lack of hit % or if I'd be better off with a more DPS oriented Interface.

 

Unless you know what you're doing, take one of the interfaces with a damage proc.

 

3 hours ago, WuTang said:

I didn't really pick much to help with endurance, Particle Shield seems to shore that up pretty well, so I went with Ageless Radial to help with debuff resist. That sound about right?

 

Rad therapy should have a touch of essence proc in it. It will completely refill your blue bar when used in a crowd of trash, at least until Homecoming team gets around to nerfing it (hurry up devs!)

 

You can go ageless, but it is a significant amount of wasted stats on a rad because rad usually does not need the endurance, so the debuff res is all you get from it. The other strong choice is barrier which is both the actual OS button and 5% res to all for 2 min on a 2min cd. 5% res to all is not a small amount. Most IO sets typically only offer 1.25%-1.5% res of 1 type per slot added (i.e. not counting the base slot of the power).

 

3 hours ago, WuTang said:

I'll attach my build. It's all hodgepodged because I'm on like the 6th rev, so I've swapped lot of stuff in/out/around.

 

The build is bad - however in your defense you are inexperienced and you admit issues with it. The bonuses you pursue do not synergize with rad's strengths nor cover its weaknesses and are pursued in a haphazard and slot-inefficient manner.

 

A good rad build needs three things. It needs 1) res, 2) rech and 3) slow res.

 

Res is necessary to reduce incoming damage to levels your sustain can cope with.

 

Rech is necessary to increase both the uptime of your sustain powers and your dps.

 

Slow resistance (-rech res) is necessary to maintain rech and both offensive and defensive power. Because you are not a defense build, you will eat a lot more debuffs (slows) and those slows will both prevent you from healing and also from killing the slowing enemies. There is very little counterplay to -rech, and because it tends to come bundled with -movespeed you cannot easily disengage. It's not like e.g. -tohit where you just eat a yellow or hit BU, or -res where you just eat an orange or click barrier. The exact amount is debatable but competently made builds will usually have between 85%-100% (ageless radial can be considered perma 10% -rech resistance).

 

Your build pursues a mixture of typed and positional defense (hence wasting slots). Rad has no native debuff resist, ageless is not sufficient to cover this hole on its own, so you'll quickly lose this defense. You are likely to achieve greater survivability and damage by focusing on the 3 priorities I mentioned above.

[WuTang]

1 hour ago, Zect said:

 

Terrible builds are everywhere. I once saw a build that tried to mids-warrior by padding Regen%. Gamma boost gives more regen the lower your HP is, so this build set HP to 0%.

 

But the answer is no. However, brute rads will not easily cap resists without a resistance alpha (i.e. resilient).

 

 

Yes. I mean no. I mean yes, April Fool's is over. But actually, no.

 

I'm trying to make a point. How do you know what anyone says here is true? For that matter, how do you know anything in this post is trustworthy? A lot of people in this world are misinformed, and that includes the ones who fancy themselves experts.

 

But the answer is no, and you should verify that in-game. You should still pursue a high particle shield uptime because it is a powerful sustain that does not require tohit checks and is effective even when not surrounded by hordes of critters, compensating for rad therapy's shortcomings.

 

 

Define best. But, it is a 1.2x acc power. If you can train yourself to hit BU every time you use it and/or have a good amount of global acc or other tohit bonuses, you probably do not need acc. If you cannot, or are fighting high-def enemies (hello Roman legions), you may need acc.

 

 

No, because debuffs are heavily penalized by the purple patch and AV debuff resist.

 

BU, tactics, accuracy set bonuses (heca/geddon/rag are all 15% a set), focused acc, slotting acc in your attacks.

 

 

Meltdown is not an OS button in most builds. It tends to be more used for the damage buff. Most rads will build for high res without meltdown, because you generally do not want big swings in the effectiveness of your primary mit layer for ease of play (but if you want to go ahead and make a viable build that relies on meltdown to cap res then more power to you).

 

 

Unless you know what you're doing, take one of the interfaces with a damage proc.

 

 

Rad therapy should have a touch of essence proc in it. It will completely refill your blue bar when used in a crowd of trash, at least until Homecoming team gets around to nerfing it (hurry up devs!)

 

You can go ageless, but it is a significant amount of wasted stats on a rad because rad usually does not need the endurance, so the debuff res is all you get from it. The other strong choice is barrier which is both the actual OS button and 5% res to all for 2 min on a 2min cd. 5% res to all is not a small amount. Most IO sets typically only offer 1.25%-1.5% res of 1 type per slot added (i.e. not counting the base slot of the power).

 

 

The build is bad - however in your defense you are inexperienced and you admit issues with it. The bonuses you pursue do not synergize with rad's strengths nor cover its weaknesses and are pursued in a haphazard and slot-inefficient manner.

 

A good rad build needs three things. It needs 1) res, 2) rech and 3) slow res.

 

Res is necessary to reduce incoming damage to levels your sustain can cope with.

 

Rech is necessary to increase both the uptime of your sustain powers and your dps.

 

Slow resistance (-rech res) is necessary to maintain rech and both offensive and defensive power. Because you are not a defense build, you will eat a lot more debuffs (slows) and those slows will both prevent you from healing and also from killing the slowing enemies. There is very little counterplay to -rech, and because it tends to come bundled with -movespeed you cannot easily disengage. It's not like e.g. -tohit where you just eat a yellow or hit BU, or -res where you just eat an orange or click barrier. The exact amount is debatable but competently made builds will usually have between 85%-100% (ageless radial can be considered perma 10% -rech resistance).

 

Your build pursues a mixture of typed and positional defense (hence wasting slots). Rad has no native debuff resist, ageless is not sufficient to cover this hole on its own, so you'll quickly lose this defense. You are likely to achieve greater survivability and damage by focusing on the 3 priorities I mentioned above.

Thanks for the long-winded life lesson.... Some people on the internet....haha dude grow up.

 

OK My slow Res is now 86% without Ageless, thanks for that advice. 

Edited April 4 by WuTang

[Sovera]

15 hours ago, WuTang said:

Thanks for the long-winded life lesson.... Some people on the internet....haha dude grow up.

 

OK My slow Res is now 86% without Ageless, thanks for that advice. 

 

Brutes have a hard time putting up enough resistances to reach the caps. You're thinking of Tankers who can do that, without Tough, and still have enough slotting freedom to mess with defense. On a Scrapper (which has the same resistance values of a Brute) I squeaked by reaching 70% and then trusting Barrier for the last 5%, but Brute's reach 90% so even duplicating the slotting it would still be missing 15%.

 

As Rad you should be building towards resistances foremost and then faff around with defenses. I bring up the Scrapper again since it was my experiment with Rad Armor and it had 33% melee/Slash/Lethal so a small purple would push the rest to softcap when things went bad. ...then I went Katana and ignored defense since I was softcapped to melee and Lethal just with Divine Avalanche.

 

In regards to your build:

 

- You can proc Radiation Therapy in the spirit of Ground Zero to have another AoE. Add the Theft of Essence proc, add a heal slot, and it will heal you a bit (for each enemy in range), give endurance for each enemy in range as well (with extra backing from the Theft of Essence) and also hurt the enemies.

- Energy Transfer is a fantastic power to have four procs because it doesn't need recharge or endurance reduction, so I usually slot one acc/dmg Hami and one +5 damage Hectacomb, then the rest all procs.

- Switching from Unbreakable to Titanium coating will give more resistances overall.

- You can save a slot from Hasten by +5ing the other two recharges. Click as if to choose an IO and in that window press + five times before clicking on the IO to be placed.

- You can further add some resistance by frankenslotting both Power Crash and Whirling Hands. Something like three Scirroco, two Obliterations and the 6th to fix up whatever you're lacking or add another damage proc.

 

 

Since the values are the same you can check my current experiments with Radiation Armor over the Scrapper forums under the 'Different Axe builds, but which to choose?' that should at least give some slotting ideas. I have Fire Melee, Axe, Claws and Katana builds in there so something ought to fit.

 

As mentioned above you will not reach caps with a Brute though.

[ScarySai]

On 4/4/2024 at 9:39 AM, WuTang said:

I noticed from most builds that I could find, that no one maxes out any resistances. That a thing?

Not worth pursuing on a scrapper.

 

On 4/4/2024 at 9:39 AM, WuTang said:

Can Particle Shield double stack?

No.

 

On 4/4/2024 at 9:39 AM, WuTang said:

Is it best just to 6-proc Ground Zero or put a set in it to up its accuracy?

5 procs + overwhelming force. I'd make one an Achilles since it's a dot.

 

On 4/4/2024 at 9:39 AM, WuTang said:

- Does /Rad rely on -Def for improved hit%? If not how can I get my %tohit up?

Don't rely on it, but it helps. Tactics and build up.

 

On 4/4/2024 at 9:39 AM, WuTang said:

Meltdown looks pretty stout but the best I could do with its recharge is 121 seconds, is that worth chasing or would the slots be better utilized in other areas

 

Other areas, but you can still get very high meltdown uptime. It's a massive buff to your damage, too.

[WuTang]

28 minutes ago, Sovera said:

 

Brutes have a hard time putting up enough resistances to reach the caps. You're thinking of Tankers who can do that, without Tough, and still have enough slotting freedom to mess with defense. On a Scrapper (which has the same resistance values of a Brute) I squeaked by reaching 70% and then trusting Barrier for the last 5%, but Brute's reach 90% so even duplicating the slotting it would still be missing 15%.

 

As Rad you should be building towards resistances foremost and then faff around with defenses. I bring up the Scrapper again since it was my experiment with Rad Armor and it had 33% melee/Slash/Lethal so a small purple would push the rest to softcap when things went bad. ...then I went Katana and ignored defense since I was softcapped to melee and Lethal just with Divine Avalanche.

 

In regards to your build:

 

- You can proc Radiation Therapy in the spirit of Ground Zero to have another AoE. Add the Theft of Essence proc, add a heal slot, and it will heal you a bit (for each enemy in range), give endurance for each enemy in range as well (with extra backing from the Theft of Essence) and also hurt the enemies.

- Energy Transfer is a fantastic power to have four procs because it doesn't need recharge or endurance reduction, so I usually slot one acc/dmg Hami and one +5 damage Hectacomb, then the rest all procs.

- Switching from Unbreakable to Titanium coating will give more resistances overall.

- You can save a slot from Hasten by +5ing the other two recharges. Click as if to choose an IO and in that window press + five times before clicking on the IO to be placed.

- You can further add some resistance by frankenslotting both Power Crash and Whirling Hands. Something like three Scirroco, two Obliterations and the 6th to fix up whatever you're lacking or add another damage proc.

 

 

Since the values are the same you can check my current experiments with Radiation Armor over the Scrapper forums under the 'Different Axe builds, but which to choose?' that should at least give some slotting ideas. I have Fire Melee, Axe, Claws and Katana builds in there so something ought to fit.

 

As mentioned above you will not reach caps with a Brute though.

Working on it... 

 

It would seem though that it's not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison though. With one swing of DA you are untouchable in melee, that's not the case with my build. So I have to chase at least soft cap there which also inherently gets me close to soft cap with S/L. If I spec into Alpha Agility Core that'll help as will Destiny Barrier. I've got my S/L resists up to 83% but everything else is still lacking.

Is the whole "this is a Resist set" because there's no inherent -def resistance? Before I made adjustments, I had 54% melee def and 48% S/L def, now I'm in the low 40s and my resists have only gone up marginally, a few %. I do like what you did in Radiation Therapy.

How did you setup your incarnates?

[Sovera]

1 hour ago, WuTang said:

Working on it... 

 

It would seem though that it's not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison though. With one swing of DA you are untouchable in melee, that's not the case with my build. So I have to chase at least soft cap there which also inherently gets me close to soft cap with S/L. If I spec into Alpha Agility Core that'll help as will Destiny Barrier. I've got my S/L resists up to 83% but everything else is still lacking.

Is the whole "this is a Resist set" because there's no inherent -def resistance? Before I made adjustments, I had 54% melee def and 48% S/L def, now I'm in the low 40s and my resists have only gone up marginally, a few %. I do like what you did in Radiation Therapy.

How did you setup your incarnates?

 

Scrappers can stack DA three times where Brutes/Tankers only get one stack. It's always 15% at least. As a resist set you should bulk up your resists first. Even with capped Melee/S/L you're still going to get ripped ASAP by debuffers and rely on your resists. And some enemies just straight up ignore melee/S/L.

 

With all that said you can try it. I mean, the other poster above was on to something 😄 You can test and see that your original build (with some small improvements lifted from this thread) is doing just fine. Or find it needs a little something more and come back to this thread to fine tune it a bit more. 

 

 

That said there are some small improvements to be made in things like adding +5 dmg/recharge in Ground Zero so it is up more often, and in those use two Obliterations (one of them the damage proc) for another 2.5% SL. Ground Zero as you had it recharges in 39 seconds and does 514 damage. With an Obliteration and Armaggedon damage/recharge it goes to 29 seconds and 446 damage with a bonus 2.5% S/L. Now it's up to you to see if the trade-off is worth it.

 

Total Focus is grossly underslotted. You want it to give you Energy Focus so your Energy Transfer is fast which means it ought to be up as soon as possible. Even with the Kismet it only has 85% to hit +3 enemies.

 

Splitting Superior Brute's Fury is viable as well. You can place three in ET and three in TF and use the other three slots to round up raw stats or add more damage procs.

 

You also forgot the scaling resists from Reactive Defenses which would be another 3%.

 

 

For incarnates I'd say maybe look at Resilient Radial. Your original build ends with S/L at 84% and Negative at 65% with it.

 

Ageless is not particularly useful for you as well. You don't have enough defenses or baked in defense debuffs for it to help. Barrier would be another 5% defense and 5% resistances minimum and a panic button otherwise.

 

Paralytic is mostly useless. I suggest the tried and true-d Degenerative or the -res one.

 

 

Between the Obliteration, the Reactive Defenses unique, and Resilient Radial your S/L is now capped and Energy is at 81% while Negative is at 68%.

 

Now if we do a few other tweaks like removing the two Reactive Armor from Meltdown (where they aren't doing much) and move them to Fallout Shelter your Energy goes to 82% and negative to 69%, but your toxic gets a bump from 67% to 71% as well. But since S/L is overcapped if you do take Barrier these can be replaced for Titanium Coating and further improve Energy to 83% and Negative to just shy of 71%. With Barrier you have Energy already just about hardcapped as well. Negative is the hole in Rad Armor and always hard to completely fix it, but, still, getting there.

 

Your Build-up is also unslotted for example, and three Adjusted Targetting would give 3% to E/N (finishing to hardcap energy and even slightly overcapping since with Barrier it would be at 88%) while also making it recharge faster. Removing the slots from Boxing would lover your S/L defense to 44.4% and Melee to 52%. Now your BU is up every 29 seconds instead of 39 seconds and your Energy is at 86% and Negative at 73%.

 

Since S/L is overcapped by 3% and Energy is overcapped by 1.8% you can remove the Touch of Death altogether and have S/L at 84.3% and Energy at 85% where Barrier will cap them both, but it did kill S/L down to 42%. On the other hand you got 6 slots to now play with. You can put them in Total Focus with 5 Hectacombs and a damage proc (Total Focus loves procs) and place the four Kinetics in Energy Punch.

 

What of Meltdown? As a Brute the +damage is watered down and your resistances are now looking almost capped without it so it could be a source of three more slots to mess around with. What about only 33% defense so a small purple caps and it frees a lot of slotting? And if you're going to use Barrier and it adds 5% defense how about aiming for 40% defense instead of 45%?

 

 

It needs to be you deciding what you want to do and balance things out.

 

Brute (Energy Melee - Radiation Armor)-6.mbd

 

Edited April 5 by Sovera

[WuTang]

55 minutes ago, Sovera said:

 

Scrappers can stack DA three times where Brutes/Tankers only get one stack. It's always 15% at least. As a resist set you should bulk up your resists first. Even with capped Melee/S/L you're still going to get ripped ASAP by debuffers and rely on your resists. And some enemies just straight up ignore melee/S/L.

 

With all that said you can try it. I mean, the other poster above was on to something 😄 You can test and see that your original build (with some small improvements lifted from this thread) is doing just fine. Or find it needs a little something more and come back to this thread to fine tune it a bit more. 

 

 

That said there are some small improvements to be made in things like adding +5 dmg/recharge in Ground Zero so it is up more often, and in those use two Obliterations (one of them the damage proc) for another 2.5% SL. Ground Zero as you had it recharges in 39 seconds and does 514 damage. With an Obliteration and Armaggedon damage/recharge it goes to 29 seconds and 446 damage with a bonus 2.5% S/L. Now it's up to you to see if the trade-off is worth it.

 

Total Focus is grossly underslotted. You want it to give you Energy Focus so your Energy Transfer is fast which means it ought to be up as soon as possible. Even with the Kismet it only has 85% to hit +3 enemies.

 

Splitting Superior Brute's Fury is viable as well. You can place three in ET and three in TF and use the other three slots to round up raw stats or add more damage procs.

 

You also forgot the scaling resists from Reactive Defenses which would be another 3%.

 

 

For incarnates I'd say maybe look at Resilient Radial. Your original build ends with S/L at 84% and Negative at 65% with it.

 

Ageless is not particularly useful for you as well. You don't have enough defenses or baked in defense debuffs for it to help. Barrier would be another 5% defense and 5% resistances minimum and a panic button otherwise.

 

Paralytic is mostly useless. I suggest the tried and true-d Degenerative or the -res one.

 

 

Between the Obliteration, the Reactive Defenses unique, and Resilient Radial your S/L is now capped and Energy is at 81% while Negative is at 68%.

 

Now if we do a few other tweaks like removing the two Reactive Armor from Meltdown (where they aren't doing much) and move them to Fallout Shelter your Energy goes to 82% and negative to 69%, but your toxic gets a bump from 67% to 71% as well. But since S/L is overcapped if you do take Barrier these can be replaced for Titanium Coating and further improve Energy to 83% and Negative to just shy of 71%. With Barrier you have Energy already just about hardcapped as well. Negative is the hole in Rad Armor and always hard to completely fix it, but, still, getting there.

 

Your Build-up is also unslotted for example, and three Adjusted Targetting would give 3% to E/N (finishing to hardcap energy and even slightly overcapping since with Barrier it would be at 88%) while also making it recharge faster. Removing the slots from Boxing would lover your S/L defense to 44.4% and Melee to 52%. Now your BU is up every 29 seconds instead of 39 seconds and your Energy is at 86% and Negative at 73%.

 

Since S/L is overcapped by 3% and Energy is overcapped by 1.8% you can remove the Touch of Death altogether and have S/L at 84.3% and Energy at 85% where Barrier will cap them both, but it did kill S/L down to 42%. On the other hand you got 6 slots to now play with. You can put them in Total Focus with 5 Hectacombs and a damage proc (Total Focus loves procs) and place the four Kinetics in Energy Punch.

 

What of Meltdown? As a Brute the +damage is watered down and your resistances are now looking almost capped without it so it could be a source of three more slots to mess around with. What about only 33% defense so a small purple caps and it frees a lot of slotting? And if you're going to use Barrier and it adds 5% defense how about aiming for 40% defense instead of 45%?

 

 

It needs to be you deciding what you want to do and balance things out.

 

Brute (Energy Melee - Radiation Armor)-6.mbd 44.83 kB · 1 download

 

OMG WTH??!! HAHA Just got schooled! #humbled

 

Hey....your mic...yeah...that hit my foot!

Edited April 5 by WuTang

[Sovera]

8 minutes ago, WuTang said:

OMG WTH??!! HAHA Just got schooled! #humbled

 

Hey....your mic...yeah...that hit my foot!

 

It's way too many hours messing with Mids. Once you spend a lot of time faffing around with it you'll pick all these tricks too 😄 In the future you'll be the one helping people out.

 

One of my first posted builds on Homecoming was using Rad Melee with Contaminated Strike (the T1) and Kick and I was really happy on how it worked so well. Embarrrrrrrrassing 😄

[WuTang]

17 hours ago, Sovera said:

 

It's way too many hours messing with Mids. Once you spend a lot of time faffing around with it you'll pick all these tricks too 😄 In the future you'll be the one helping people out.

 

One of my first posted builds on Homecoming was using Rad Melee with Contaminated Strike (the T1) and Kick and I was really happy on how it worked so well. Embarrrrrrrrassing 😄

OK taking everyone's suggestions in...hopefully this is a viable build now??

 

Edit: Sorry forgot so update Incarnates...

 

 

 

Brute (Energy Melee - Radiation Armor)-WIP.mbd

Edited April 6 by WuTang

[Thraxen]

I use meltdown as soon as it is recharged.  The damage boost is awesome.  Mine is a scrap though.  I don't even look at whatever else it does.  I love it. I think it looks cool too.  

 

Here is my scrap.  In game he has siphon insight 5 slotted into beta decay.  For some reason it isn't an option in mids.  No clue what is goin on there to be honest. Maybe it was changed?  If I respec I might not be able to do that again?  I have no clue.  

 

I like using ground zero a lot.  It is such a unique power in that it heals teammates.  Oblit set in it is also nice for bonuses.  

 

Radical Thrax - Scrapper (Claws).mxd

[Sovera]

41 minutes ago, WuTang said:

OK taking everyone's suggestions in...hopefully this is a viable build now??

 

 

Brute (Energy Melee - Radiation Armor)-WIP.mbd 46.08 kB · 0 downloads

 

It's definitely improved. You can still not worry much about Toxic/Psi since it's not that prevalent and your Ground Zero now has too few procs making it not as useful.

 

Energy Transfer doesn't, in theory, need so much recharge and since it costs zero endurance it also has zero need for endurance reduction. I say it doesn't need recharge because I loathe using it in its slow 2.9 second form. I prefer using it only after Total Focus so that it's fast. So TF is the linchpin. But ET is pretty powerful and worth using even slow but ugh, 2.9, UGH.

 

The two slots in Punch are not adding as much as you may think. It's 1.5% to psi/toxic/smash/lethal putting them at 80% S/L and 75% toxic. Putting those two slots in Fallout Shelter leaves S/L at 81% and T/P at 77% instead.

 

You have overdone the accuracy in many things. Place your relative enemies at +3 and then check the accuracy of each power. You'll want it at 95% where possible. With Focused Accuracy on you can dump the Kismet and recover one slot.

Spoiler

 

 

Taking a look at everything some compromises were made but your GZ, ET, TF, and RT boast better damage numbers now and you're still squeaking to 40% SL/M as well as almost 85% to S/L/E.

 

 

Brute (Energy Melee - Radiation Armor)-WIP.mbd

[Thraxen]

Just did Tin Mage and got Surgeon badge.  It is the second healing badge.  I have barrier too so it is all from ground zero.  He's only vet level 42 so not that high.  Just think it is such a neat power.  

[WuTang]

2 hours ago, Sovera said:

 

It's definitely improved. You can still not worry much about Toxic/Psi since it's not that prevalent and your Ground Zero now has too few procs making it not as useful.

 

Energy Transfer doesn't, in theory, need so much recharge and since it costs zero endurance it also has zero need for endurance reduction. I say it doesn't need recharge because I loathe using it in its slow 2.9 second form. I prefer using it only after Total Focus so that it's fast. So TF is the linchpin. But ET is pretty powerful and worth using even slow but ugh, 2.9, UGH.

 

The two slots in Punch are not adding as much as you may think. It's 1.5% to psi/toxic/smash/lethal putting them at 80% S/L and 75% toxic. Putting those two slots in Fallout Shelter leaves S/L at 81% and T/P at 77% instead.

 

You have overdone the accuracy in many things. Place your relative enemies at +3 and then check the accuracy of each power. You'll want it at 95% where possible. With Focused Accuracy on you can dump the Kismet and recover one slot.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Taking a look at everything some compromises were made but your GZ, ET, TF, and RT boast better damage numbers now and you're still squeaking to 40% SL/M as well as almost 85% to S/L/E.

 

 

Brute (Energy Melee - Radiation Armor)-WIP.mbd 45.94 kB · 1 download

I like it! Quick question, cause I don't know if I got the correct build loaded. I had switched my Hybrid from Assault to Melee, but the build you just posted has Assault. Is that what you suggest, or would Melee be better for the Res boost?

 

Sorry missed part of your post... 95% at level 3? I mean I trust you, but I don't understand that.

Edited April 6 by WuTang

[WuTang]

2 hours ago, Thraxen said:

Just did Tin Mage and got Surgeon badge.  It is the second healing badge.  I have barrier too so it is all from ground zero.  He's only vet level 42 so not that high.  Just think it is such a neat power.  

I'm beginning to wish I'd selected a different primary... Cool about the badge though. LOL Vet lvl 42 not high....yeah I mean I've seen much higher but 42 ain't nothing to sneeze at.

Can't wait to see how this guy turns out. He's so much different from my SS/Inv Brute. I've gotten so twisted around on his final build! If it weren't for @Soverahelp I'd probably shelfed him after spending inf on all the wrong stuff.

[WuTang]

3 hours ago, Thraxen said:

I use meltdown as soon as it is recharged.  The damage boost is awesome.  Mine is a scrap though.  I don't even look at whatever else it does.  I love it. I think it looks cool too.  

 

Here is my scrap.  In game he has siphon insight 5 slotted into beta decay.  For some reason it isn't an option in mids.  No clue what is goin on there to be honest. Maybe it was changed?  If I respec I might not be able to do that again?  I have no clue.  

 

I like using ground zero a lot.  It is such a unique power in that it heals teammates.  Oblit set in it is also nice for bonuses.  

 

Radical Thrax - Scrapper (Claws).mxd 4.75 kB · 0 downloads

That's a good build. Have you thought about putting a Gaussian-Build Up in Follow Up? It doesn't look like you need the 10% recharge bonus from that loaded set.

[Sovera]

17 minutes ago, WuTang said:

I like it! Quick question, cause I don't know if I got the correct build loaded. I had switched my Hybrid from Assault to Melee, but the build you just posted has Assault. Is that what you suggest, or would Melee be better for the Res boost?

 

Sorry missed part of your post... 95% at level 3? I mean I trust you, but I don't understand that.

 

 

Not level 3. Relative level. That's the +1, +2 enemies, as in you being 50 and them being 52.

 

Can't go higher than 95%, and after you slot your T3 Alpha all 45+ mobs become -1. So +4 enemies turn into +3. Under level 45 this does not happen but it's not common to fight +4 enemies while under level 44. If it does happen it does warrant having a Kismet slotted in.

[WuTang]

2 minutes ago, Sovera said:

 

 

Not level 3. Relative level. That's the +1, +2 enemies, as in you being 50 and them being 52.

 

Can't go higher than 95%, and after you slot your T3 Alpha all 45+ mobs become -1. So +4 enemies turn into +3. Under level 45 this does not happen but it's not common to fight +4 enemies while under level 44. If it does happen it does warrant having a Kismet slotted in.

Well that information changes alot! HAHA thanks!

 

And...yeah...I mean Relative level. I keep it set to that but always assumed +100% was needed to guarantee a hit.

[Sovera]

1 minute ago, WuTang said:

Well that information changes alot! HAHA thanks!

 

And...yeah...I mean Relative level. I keep it set to that but always assumed +100% was needed to guarantee a hit.

 

There is always the base 5% chance to miss just like us having 45% defense still means we get hit 5% of the time so more than 45% is not needed (with caveats such as debufs or AVs having higher chances to hit, etc).

[Thraxen]

59 minutes ago, WuTang said:

That's a good build. Have you thought about putting a Gaussian-Build Up in Follow Up? It doesn't look like you need the 10% recharge bonus from that loaded set.

 
seems like I tried that once and didn’t fire that often. It’s good in build up cause it’s 90% cause of long recharge. 

[Thraxen]

I do have Gaussian's in follow up on my claws/sr.  It has more procs and not a full set so probably why I didn't do it here.  

[WuTang]

On 4/6/2024 at 8:01 AM, Sovera said:

 

It's definitely improved. You can still not worry much about Toxic/Psi since it's not that prevalent and your Ground Zero now has too few procs making it not as useful.

 

Energy Transfer doesn't, in theory, need so much recharge and since it costs zero endurance it also has zero need for endurance reduction. I say it doesn't need recharge because I loathe using it in its slow 2.9 second form. I prefer using it only after Total Focus so that it's fast. So TF is the linchpin. But ET is pretty powerful and worth using even slow but ugh, 2.9, UGH.

 

The two slots in Punch are not adding as much as you may think. It's 1.5% to psi/toxic/smash/lethal putting them at 80% S/L and 75% toxic. Putting those two slots in Fallout Shelter leaves S/L at 81% and T/P at 77% instead.

 

You have overdone the accuracy in many things. Place your relative enemies at +3 and then check the accuracy of each power. You'll want it at 95% where possible. With Focused Accuracy on you can dump the Kismet and recover one slot.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Taking a look at everything some compromises were made but your GZ, ET, TF, and RT boast better damage numbers now and you're still squeaking to 40% SL/M as well as almost 85% to S/L/E.

 

 

Brute (Energy Melee - Radiation Armor)-WIP.mbd 45.94 kB · 11 downloads

OK

 

Got the build completed and....I'm not digging the hover Bruting and there are some serious End issues. In game I'm using 2/3rds sitting idle with nothing but my toggles running. Radiation Therapy does helps but apparently there is only a chance for +End and it misfired a couple times in small mobs and that lead to some hasty inspiration clicking. Also, I don't think Performance Shifter is doing anything in Gamma Boost.

 

The damage, however, is good...real good. And I might have to agree, Ground Zero is slightly OP, but needed, I think. And you were 100% right about the procs!

 

I retooled the build a little. Switched to Super Speed and dove deeper into Energy Master to grab Physical Perfection and dipped into the Leadership pool for Maneuvers to replace the Def lost from no Hover. Overall, it's basically the same, little more Def, team buff gained from Maneuvers, little bit more End recovery, a bit slower global recharge. I switched the PS-+End out of Gamma Boost for a generic +5 End Mod and that did make the bar move in Mids. I'm pretty sure the Performance Shifter wasn't working.

 

So how important is recharge to this build, ya think? Because that's the biggest change/loss. I'll attach it but it's basically the same as it was.

 

Thanks!!

Brute (Energy Melee - Radiation Armor)-Sovera-Speed.mbd

[Sovera]

You want recharge for RT and GZ (and BU). Remember to always keep using Particle Shielding even when not needing the heal because with enough recharge the shield will be perma anyway, and Particle Shielding has a hefty 50% recovery. To put it in perspective unslotted Stamina has 25%.

 

Performance Shifters will be working, put it back in 😛

 

You should be sweating endurance and not be worried about it. Gamma boost adds almost 0.7, Particle Shield adds another 0.8 or something. It's true the slots usually going into Health and Stamina for endurance were removed but thhat's because Rad Armor has no problems with endurance.

 

Things you can do to help:

- Pick the accolades (they are in my newbie signature) for another 0.40-ish (currently at 4.18, and with accolades it goes to 4.59. Bonus: HP goes from 1752 to 2051).

- Turn off Focused Accuracy and only use when needed versus accuracy debuffing enemies (need to shuffle slotting to have enough accuracy).

- Particle Shielding all day. Not when down to one third of a bar or when in need of a heal. Just use it all the time. The duration of the recovery effect is 60 seconds and it recharges in 40.

 

Brute (Energy Melee - Radiation Armor)-Sovera-Speed.mbd

[WuTang]

32 minutes ago, Sovera said:

You want recharge for RT and GZ (and BU). Remember to always keep using Particle Shielding even when not needing the heal because with enough recharge the shield will be perma anyway, and Particle Shielding has a hefty 50% recovery. To put it in perspective unslotted Stamina has 25%.

 

Performance Shifters will be working, put it back in 😛

 

You should be sweating endurance and not be worried about it. Gamma boost adds almost 0.7, Particle Shield adds another 0.8 or something. It's true the slots usually going into Health and Stamina for endurance were removed but thhat's because Rad Armor has no problems with endurance.

 

Things you can do to help:

- Pick the accolades (they are in my newbie signature) for another 0.40-ish (currently at 4.18, and with accolades it goes to 4.59. Bonus: HP goes from 1752 to 2051).

- Turn off Focused Accuracy and only use when needed versus accuracy debuffing enemies (need to shuffle slotting to have enough accuracy).

- Particle Shielding all day. Not when down to one third of a bar or when in need of a heal. Just use it all the time. The duration of the recovery effect is 60 seconds and it recharges in 40.

 

Brute (Energy Melee - Radiation Armor)-Sovera-Speed.mbd 46.94 kB · 0 downloads

Oh heck! I forgot about the recovery in Particle Shield...I bet I wasn't keeping it up. *door opened*

 

Crap lol...gonna CTRL+ Left Click it and run again before I make any changes. I'm still swapping to Speed though. Hover+Fly feels odd and slow for some reason. Is the slowness in my head?? It has a cool look and keeping a travel power with a vertical is ideal, though it makes the Bone Smasher animation look funny. Since he can't go all the way to the ground it looks like he's playing leap frog. Does Hover retard Fly speed?

 

Oh did you notice I slid in a Winter's Gift to max out my RDR? Thought that was a better option than Knockback protection since apparently, I didn't realize he had 10000% knockback resist.

 

Any ways thanks for straightening me out....AGAIN lol