I'd appreciate some thoughts/critiques on this Rad/SS Tanker...

[Story Archer]

My mindset when building Tankers has always been to approach it as 'how can I build THE most survivable character possible', working from the old-school concept of what a Tanker should be. With this build I'm breaking away from that and figuring that in large groups I'm always getting ancillary buffs from my allies that tend to mitigate a lot of my min./maxing minutia meaningless anyway. So I decided to see how deadly a Tanker I could make, and to see if it could give Scrappers and Brutes a run for their money while still being as durable, if not moreso. Playing to the Tanker's strengths, I wanted to make AoE damage the top priority, with single-target damage and survivability 2a & 2b. I thought the potential for mini-nukes in Rad/ was very strong and realized that leaning heavily into procs would be a great way to mitigate the only downside of /SS, mainly Rage crash. I took Soul Mastery because I felt that Darkest Night could help out with survivability when needed, and because it gave me two more AoE's to play around with. Obviously I want to get my recharge up for pretty much everything (AoE attacks, Rage, Hasten, Meltdown, etc.), and the only way I could think of doing that without unravelling the entire concept were the FF procs.

 

These builds are intended for all aspects of play, solo and group, but hasn't factored in Incarnates yet. Thus far it seems to be working out really well (low 40's atm) - I play her like an AoE Scrapper and she's going through mobs like a hot knife through butter - but I can't help but wonder if there are as yet unforeseen issues for builds like this in post-50 play? I just want to make sure I'm getting the most out of my concept and that I'm not missing anything that should be glaringly obvious (or maybe not so glaringly). I know that I'm heavily exploiting procs with this one, but it's my first time, so I'm kind of like a kid in a candy store. Let me know if its too much for my purposes.

 

Tanker (Rad-SS) pre-50.mbd

 

 

 

Tanker (Rad-SS) 50.mbd

 

 

Thanks in advance 🙂

 

P.S. If anybody has Incarnate suggestions, I'm all ears. I think I'm finally ready to dip my toe into that aspect of the game.

Edited May 10 by Story Archer

[Spaghetti Betty]

Hullo! I am just taking a peek from mobile.

 

I do think you have a good start here. Rad/SS is the poster child for unstoppable proc monsters so you're on the right track!

 

One thing to note about SS is that it's ST performance can be a bit subpar. Haymaker and KO Blow are your only solid attacks, so you should look into filling out your attack chain! Cross Punch is a fantastic addition for this. It can pack some serious hurt for a pool power and adds a lot of utility to your offense. The same could be said for grabbing an Epic hold. You can dump a lot of funny things into a hold power!

 

Also, consider replacing some of your acc/dam slotting with Winter O's. They will add Slow RES, and you will need it to combat -Rech!

 

I posted a (dated) build here, but I can whip up something much cleaner after work!

 

 

EDIT: For Incarnates, you can grab Musculature Radial and Ageless Core if you want to put your damage into turbo mode. I run Vigor Core and Barrier Core since I do a lot of high-end teaming!

Edited May 10 by Spaghetti Betty

[Story Archer]

50 minutes ago, Spaghetti Betty said:

Hullo! I am just taking a peek from mobile.

 

I do think you have a good start here. Rad/SS is the poster child for unstoppable proc monsters so you're on the right track!

 

One thing to note about SS is that it's ST performance can be a bit subpar. Haymaker and KO Blow are your only solid attacks, so you should look into filling out your attack chain! Cross Punch is a fantastic addition for this. It can pack some serious hurt for a pool power and adds a lot of utility to your offense. The same could be said for grabbing an Epic hold. You can dump a lot of funny things into a hold power!

 

Also, consider replacing some of your acc/dam slotting with Winter O's. They will add Slow RES, and you will need it to combat -Rech!

 

EDIT: For Incarnates, you can grab Musculature Radial and Ageless Core if you want to put your damage into turbo mode. I run Vigor Core and Barrier Core since I do a lot of high-end teaming!

 

Thank you very much for the response - I wish I was that proficient with my phone!

 

Cross Punch and Kick was originally part of the build (technically still is, in the actual character I'm playing with) in part to give me another solid, fast-recharging attack that I could also drop a FF proc in. I've dropped those two for the higher-damaging-but-slower-recharging AoE Soul Tentacles and Dark Obliteration because I figured, between the those attacks and everything else I'd have a smooth attack chain - that, and because it's more exotic damage it'd be a little less resisted than the Smashing from Cross Punch. Right now the idea is to basically auto-fire Punch and intersperse all of my other attacks in between each time it goes off, something like:

 

Dark Obliteration -> Punch -> KO Blow -> Punch -> Foot Stomp -> Punch -> Soul Tentacles -> Punch ->

 

...and, of course, Ground Zero and Radiation Therapy when they come up. That's about a 12-second attack chain, which should be plenty of time for everything to come back up, especially if even one of the FF procs fire. Every one of those attacks deals more than Cross Punch, or so it seems - is that a bad plan?

 

Right now, my L50 build (which has been tweaked a tiny bit vs. what I originally posted - see below) has 80% Slow resistance and 85% Endurance Drain resistance - do you think the need for more than that is great enough to start unravelling other things?

 

Tanker (Rad-SS) 50-2.mbd

 

 

Edited May 10 by Story Archer

[Spaghetti Betty]

8 minutes ago, Story Archer said:

Punch -> KO Blow -> Punch -> Foot Stomp -> Punch -> Soul Tentacles -> Punch -> Dark Obliteration

Punch is pretty bad! Cross Punch is better than it in every way.

 

Also, proc'd Foot Stomp on it's own will obliterate mobs, and Dark Obliteration will finish the job. Proc'd Ground Zero and Rad Therapy just ensure you'll be clearing mobs as quickly as a Blaster!

 

To that extent, I don't see a use for Soul Tentacles. That slot would be better served for something like Gloom. Then, you could do something like

 

Haymaker -> Cross Punch -> KO Blow -> Haymaker -> Cross Punch -> Gloom

 

And then pepper in your AoEs to take care of trash.

 

As far as Slow RES goes, I always go for cap. There's nothing more liberating than being completely unbothered by the most common and annoying debuff in the game!

[Story Archer]

45 minutes ago, Spaghetti Betty said:

Punch is pretty bad! Cross Punch is better than it in every way.

 

Also, proc'd Foot Stomp on it's own will obliterate mobs, and Dark Obliteration will finish the job. Proc'd Ground Zero and Rad Therapy just ensure you'll be clearing mobs as quickly as a Blaster!

 

To that extent, I don't see a use for Soul Tentacles. That slot would be better served for something like Gloom. Then, you could do something like

 

Haymaker -> Cross Punch -> KO Blow -> Haymaker -> Cross Punch -> Gloom

 

And then pepper in your AoEs to take care of trash.

 

As far as Slow RES goes, I always go for cap. There's nothing more liberating than being completely unbothered by the most common and annoying debuff in the game!

 

Again, thank-you so much for the response - this is very helpful.

 

I agree that Cross Punch is better, but I HAVE to take Punch, and I have to slot it/use it because Cross-Punch won't take Tanker IO's. I'd rather not have to kick anything out for Haymaker and I don't think I have the slots for it anyway. 😞

 

I currently have Gloom in the actual character, and looking at it, Soul Tentacles is certainly overkill on the AoE, I just figured averaging 315 dmg per attack was fine even if you're only attacking one target. Having said that, I can reasonably get Gloom up to 377 dmg, it casts faster and recharges faster, so I'll definitely swap that back in. Gloom has nice set bonuses as well. 🙂

 

She's getting a little expensive 😜 but I'm liking the attack chain - it's super smooth, it just repeats itself, alternating between KO blow and Foot Stomp, and seems pretty seamless, even without the FF proc going off (remember, Punch is where I've got both the MotT and the FF proc, I want that attack going off as often as possible).

 

KO Blow -> Punch -> Gloom -> Punch

Foot Stomp -> Punch -> Gloom -> Punch

 

EDIT: Here's where I'm at right now.

 

Tanker (Rad-SS) 50-2.mbd

 

 

Edited May 10 by Story Archer

[Spaghetti Betty]

Yes, Punch is an ATO mule, but doesn't serve well as an attack.

 

I will have to do actual build critiquing after work!

[Spaghetti Betty]

11 hours ago, Story Archer said:

EDIT: Here's where I'm at right now.

Ok! I've made some tweaks. Well, "some tweaks" is an understatement. Just take a look!

 

raargh i'm big smashy.mbd

 

You might need to update your Mids to open this!

First off, I'd like to talk about your DEF, which I handily tanked. You don't need it! Rage will slap you with a -20% DEF every 60 seconds, and anything under softcap on a set with no DDR is generally not useful. To that extent, I reused those slots to really ramp up your damage output!

 

As I was saying above, Punch is no longer a part of your rotation. We are using it for set bonuses and that's it. Don't worry about losing the Absorb proc. Rad caps your absorb by clicking Particle Shielding, and that's up every 30ish seconds!

 

If you choose to use this build, your rotation would be

Haymaker -> Cross Punch -> KO Blow -> Haymaker -> Cross Punch -> Gloom

Only Gloom doesn't have an FF proc!

 

For AoE, just click Foot Stomp, Dark Oblit, Ground Zero, and Rad Therapy in whatever order you want and everything will die!

 

For Incarnates, Musculature Radial is the way to go for general play. 99% of everything you will fight is going to struggle to kill you before you kill them, so let's keep pumping damage! Ageless Core is also chosen for this reason. Keep your recharge stupid high! Keep punching stuff!

 

For Hybrid, the easiest choice would be Assault Radial to keep inflating your damage!

Edited May 11 by Spaghetti Betty

[Nemu]

hAnDcLaP dOeS nO dAMaGe!

 

1 - it takes FF proc. Proc builds want all that recharge

2 - it helps with crowd control especially during rage crash.

3 - it even takes two damage procs

 

you need more recharge. Ditch the teleport pool and get the stealth pool for more lotg mules.

 

Armageddon proc replaces the ACC io in footstomp. Fit theft of essence +end instead if you want a wee bit of insurance for sustain against single target fights

 

KO blow needs ALL the procs, not a single slot should be a conventional IO. This way during rage crash you have at least 1 ST power that can still hurt stuff.

 

Take haymaker, mule it with 5 piece hecatomb without the proc for the recharge. Add the tanker +res ATO

 

Speaking of res, trying to hit 90% S/L res and slotting for melee defense only dilutes the build. Mine only runs around 70ish S/L resist even with tough.

 

If you really want to embrace the way of the proc, take leviathan pool for arctic breath, fill it with ALL the procs. You will need global acc bonuses in addition to rage to hit buff to make sure this hits. People sleep on this power for banes, they sleep on this power for proc monster tanks/brutes. As a bonus you get to throw sharkz with the ST prerequisite.

 

I don’t invest too much in a ST chain. If you invest more in rechage as a proc build demands, Footstomp and KO blow is enough and teammates can pick up the slack.

 

 

[Hyperstrike]

On 5/10/2024 at 3:04 PM, Spaghetti Betty said:

Punch is pretty bad! Cross Punch is better than it in every way.

Except it requires multiple power selections.

In a VERY tight build, that's problematic.

[Spaghetti Betty]

Just now, Hyperstrike said:

Except it requires multiple power selections.

In a VERY tight build, that's problematic.

Please don't be a contrarian! I only have 1 SS toon that doesn't have Cross Punch (SS/Regen, mostly because Regen requires a lot of work). It is not problematic at all! Taking both Boxing and Kick isn't even required since Rage makes the DMG bonus "loss" superficial.

[Hyperstrike]

22 minutes ago, Spaghetti Betty said:

Please don't be a contrarian! I only have 1 SS toon that doesn't have Cross Punch (SS/Regen, mostly because Regen requires a lot of work). It is not problematic at all! Taking both Boxing and Kick isn't even required since Rage makes the DMG bonus "loss" superficial.

My point is that simply burning multiple power selections just to get the one you want  is a poke at my sense of build efficiency.

My POV.
YMMV

[Nemu]

4 hours ago, Spaghetti Betty said:

Please don't be a contrarian! I only have 1 SS toon that doesn't have Cross Punch (SS/Regen, mostly because Regen requires a lot of work). It is not problematic at all! Taking both Boxing and Kick isn't even required since Rage makes the DMG bonus "loss" superficial.

Cross punch and gloom are cool and all but they have a 33 1/3 chance of beating throw sharks, and if you add arctic breath to the mix their chances drastic go down!

 

you should try arctic breath. It’ll wreck your end bar and the enemies’ HP bar. Mutually assured destruction is the best kind of struction.

 

I need you betty, on my side, to promote bad breath and the gospel of SPIN. Together we can make a difference!

[Spaghetti Betty]

5 hours ago, Nemu said:

Cross punch and gloom are cool and all but they have a 33 1/3 chance of beating throw sharks, and if you add arctic breath to the mix their chances drastic go down!

 

you should try arctic breath. It’ll wreck your end bar and the enemies’ HP bar. Mutually assured destruction is the best kind of struction.

 

I need you betty, on my side, to promote bad breath and the gospel of SPIN. Together we can make a difference!

I like Arctic breath on builds that are severely lacking AoE, not an SS that raises it's foot and invalidates entire power sets.

 

And I have a spinner! It's a Rad/Rad tank!

[Nemu]

My approach is that since the build is going to have a lot of recharge that also means there will be a lot more rage crashes. So I made a conscious decision to lean only on powers that can take all the procs and mule others. 
 

Real statistics and math can prove me wrong on how much conventionally slotted attacks like haymaker/cross punch (they would be hecatomb/armageddon mules in my build) contributes to my overall damage over time, but I get a real sadface seeing those pop up for 1 damage during rage crash when I can still pump out double and sometime even triple digit damage from my fully procced attacks. Between KO, stomp, hand clap, breath and particle shielding I have enough to do every 30 seconds to not worry about a seamless attack chain. Maybe I’ll use a haymaker here and there for the +res proc but a lot of times that’s just me going out of my way to do something I don’t really need.

 

i’ll have to check my build but I believe I got those aforementioned attack powers down to sub 10 second cooldowns to be able to reasonably string them without huge unbearable gaps.