Rad/SS proc build current state

[Nemu]

A while ago I veered off the conventional path of gloom + dark oblit for my rad/ss and went with leviathan for a fully procced arctic breath. The game has changed, and now with the introduction of psionic mastery, there's no contest that this pool has the most synergy with a fully procced Rad/SS tank or brute.

 

Nuka Panda - Hero Tanker
Build plan made with Mids' Reborn v3.7.4 rev. 9
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• Primary powerset: Radiation Armor
• Secondary powerset: Super Strength
• Pool powerset (#1): Leaping
• Pool powerset (#2): Speed
• Pool powerset (#3): Concealment
• Pool powerset (#4): Leadership
• Epic powerset: Psionic Mastery
  

──────────────────────────────

Powers taken:

Level 1: Alpha Barrier

• A: Gladiator's Armor: End/Resist
• 42: Gladiator's Armor: TP Protection +3% Def (All)
• 48: Gladiator's Armor: Resistance
  

Level 1: Punch

• A: Hecatomb: Damage
• 11: Hecatomb: Damage/Recharge
• 11: Hecatomb: Damage/Recharge/Accuracy
• 13: Hecatomb: Recharge/Accuracy
• 15: Hecatomb: Damage/Endurance
  

Level 2: Proton Armor

• A: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance
• 15: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance/Endurance
• 17: Unbreakable Guard: +Max HP
  

Level 4: Haymaker

• A: Superior Might of the Tanker: Accuracy/Damage
• 7: Superior Might of the Tanker: Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• 7: Superior Might of the Tanker: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• 9: Superior Might of the Tanker: Recharge/Chance for +Res(All)
  

Level 6: Combat Jumping

• A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• 17: Kismet: Accuracy +6%
• 29: Shield Wall: +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All)
• 33: Reactive Defenses: Scaling Resist Damage
  

Level 8: Radiation Therapy

• A: Superior Gauntleted Fist: RechargeTime/+Absorb
• 34: Obliteration: Chance for Smashing Damage
• 34: Eradication: Chance for Energy Damage
• 34: Perfect Zinger: Chance for Psi Damage
• 37: Touch of the Nictus: Chance for Negative Energy Damage
• 40: Theft of Essence: Chance for +Endurance
  

Level 10: Fallout Shelter

• A: Steadfast Protection: Resistance/+Def 3%
  

Level 12: Hasten

• A: Invention: Recharge Reduction
• 13: Invention: Recharge Reduction
  

Level 14: Infiltration

• A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• 29: Winter's Gift: Slow Resistance (20%)
  

Level 16: Hand Clap

• A: Explosive Strike: Chance for Smashing Damage
• 40: Perfect Zinger: Chance for Psi Damage
• 43: Sudden Acceleration: Knockback to Knockdown
• 45: Force Feedback: Chance for +Recharge
  

Level 18: Particle Shielding

• A: Preventive Medicine: Heal
• 19: Preventive Medicine: Heal/Endurance
• 19: Preventive Medicine: Endurance/RechargeTime
• 25: Preventive Medicine: Heal/RechargeTime
• 27: Preventive Medicine: Heal/RechargeTime/Endurance
• 27: Preventive Medicine: Chance for +Absorb
  

Level 20: Knockout Blow

• A: Ghost Widow's Embrace: Chance of Damage(Psionic)
• 21: Touch of Death: Chance of Damage(Negative)
• 21: Perfect Zinger: Chance for Psi Damage
• 23: Hecatomb: Chance of Damage(Negative)
• 23: Mako's Bite: Chance of Damage(Lethal)
• 25: Force Feedback: Chance for +Recharge
  

Level 22: Ground Zero

• A: Superior Avalanche: Recharge/Chance for Knockdown
• 45: Perfect Zinger: Chance for Psi Damage
• 45: Touch of Lady Grey: Chance for Negative Damage
• 46: Eradication: Chance for Energy Damage
• 46: Scirocco's Dervish: Chance of Damage(Lethal)
• 46: Obliteration: Chance for Smashing Damage
  

Level 24: Rage

• A: Adjusted Targeting: To Hit Buff
• 39: Adjusted Targeting: To Hit Buff/Recharge
• 42: Adjusted Targeting: To Hit Buff/Endurance/Recharge
• 42: Adjusted Targeting: Endurance/Recharge
• 43: Adjusted Targeting: Recharge
  

Level 26: Beta Decay

• A: Achilles' Heel: Chance for Res Debuff
  

Level 28: Gamma Boost

• A: Synapse's Shock: EndMod
• 43: Synapse's Shock: EndMod/Recharge
• 49: Synapse's Shock: Damage/Rechage
• 50: Synapse's Shock: Damage/Accuracy/Endurance
• 50: Synapse's Shock: EndMod/Increased Run Speed
  

Level 30: Foot Stomp

• A: Scirocco's Dervish: Chance of Damage(Lethal)
• 31: Eradication: Chance for Energy Damage
• 31: Perfect Zinger: Chance for Psi Damage
• 31: Armageddon: Chance for Fire Damage
• 33: Fury of the Gladiator: Chance for Res Debuff
• 33: Force Feedback: Chance for +Recharge
  

Level 32: Taunt

• A: Perfect Zinger: Chance for Psi Damage
  

Level 35: Dominate

• A: Gladiator's Net: Chance of Damage(Lethal)
• 36: Ghost Widow's Embrace: Chance of Damage(Psionic)
• 36: Neuronic Shutdown: Chance of Damage(Psionic)
• 36: Unbreakable Constraint: Chance for Smashing Damage
• 37: Gladiator's Javelin: Chance of Damage(Toxic)
• 37: Apocalypse: Chance of Damage(Negative)
  

Level 38: Meltdown

• A: Synapse's Shock: EndMod
• 39: Synapse's Shock: Damage/Rechage
• 39: Synapse's Shock: EndMod/Recharge
• 40: Synapse's Shock: Damage/Recharge/Accuracy
• 47: Synapse's Shock: Damage/Accuracy/Endurance
  

Level 41: Harmonic Mind

• A: Power Transfer: Chance to Heal Self
  

Level 44: Psionic Tornado

• A: Explosive Strike: Chance for Smashing Damage
• 47: Bombardment: Chance for Fire Damage
• 48: Javelin Volley: Chance of Damage(Lethal)
• 48: Positron's Blast: Chance of Damage(Energy)
• 49: Annihilation: Chance for Res Debuff
• 50: Force Feedback: Chance for +Recharge
  

Level 47: Maneuvers

• A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
  

Level 49: Tactics

• A: Invention: Endurance Reduction
  

──────────────────────────────

Inherents:

Level 1: Gauntlet

Level 1: Brawl

• (Empty)
  

Level 1: Sprint

• A: Unbounded Leap: +Stealth
  

Level 2: Rest

• (Empty)
  

Level 1: Swift

• (Empty)
  

Level 1: Hurdle

• (Empty)
  

Level 1: Health

• A: Panacea: +Hit Points/Endurance
  

Level 1: Stamina

• A: Performance Shifter: Chance for +End
  

 

Psi mastery has all the synergy:

 

Another fully procced ST attack not subject to rage crash and can stack holds with KO blow, an endurance helper, and another wide area AoE that feeds FF proc and provides KU mitigation. It's also available for brutes, so this can work on either AT.

 

That's my PSA.

 

Nuka Panda i27 p5 - Tanker (Radiation Armor).mbd

[Onlyasandwich]

20 hours ago, Nemu said:

fully procced arctic breath.

 

Very satisfying build, Nemu! A great showcase in how to leverage procs with Rage. That being said, spewing frozen vomit on my enemies is something I can't quite give up 😄 

 

How do you find it handles heavy S/L content? I'm guessing between the KD's, stuns, absorbs, and heals, the lowish resist is manageable. I like the idea of using the ATO absorb proc in Rad therapy as well.

[Nemu]

It's a glass cannon. what kills me more than most is getting stuck in post damage animation lock for ground zero and unable to use a life saving click/inspiration.

 

Having said that I've taken it to fire farms and such, proactive inspiration management and usage helps overcome the squishiness, as always. Play like you would play a blaster and you'll be fine. When you get complacent and think you are a tank, that's when you get in trouble.

 

I know arctic breath is great but I really think Dominate + Psi nado + Harmonic mind puts Psi mastery over leviathan. You can't fully proc spirit shark like you can dominate and breath is a cone which can be awkward to use for some players. Harmonic mind is just icing on the cake, as the build guzzles endurance and rad therapy can't sustain that consumption indefinitely.

[Meknomancer]

3 hours ago, Nemu said:

It's a glass cannon. what kills me more than most is getting stuck in post damage animation lock for ground zero and unable to use a life saving click/inspiration.

 

Having said that I've taken it to fire farms and such, proactive inspiration management and usage helps overcome the squishiness, as always. Play like you would play a blaster and you'll be fine. When you get complacent and think you are a tank, that's when you get in trouble.

 

I know arctic breath is great but I really think Dominate + Psi nado + Harmonic mind puts Psi mastery over leviathan. You can't fully proc spirit shark like you can dominate and breath is a cone which can be awkward to use for some players. Harmonic mind is just icing on the cake, as the build guzzles endurance and rad therapy can't sustain that consumption indefinitely.

 

Teamed with you on a moonfire it looked great (some bad timing on my part nuking as you were stuck in GZ animations) I'm with you on the psi epic and started running it on a lot of my brutes/tanks, scraps its not the same that pet does epic kb and theres no psinado, although i've yet to give the new dark epic a runout i'm kind of curious to see how fast a tar patch can be made to recharge its hard to see it beating psi. Theres something about the ridiculous range on psinado i can't get enough of even when i'm running it on a melee. Dominate is just icing on the cake.

[Unclemarty]

I’m curious, for clear speed, is it better to put procs in aoe or recharge without procs? Aoes have long recharge so wouldn’t it be better to just proc out single target stuff so you can use aoe more often? Unless is the plan to clear a mob with only 1 round of aoes? 

[Nemu]

1 hour ago, Unclemarty said:

Unless is the plan to clear a mob with only 1 round of aoes

That's the plan.

 

The build is all about synergy. Recharge is important but there are 4 powers in my regular rotation that have force feedback procs, and the build itself focuses on global recharge at the cost of survival. AoEs like ground zero and rad therapy have long recharge time yes, but they are front loaded with damage to kill things the first time around, anything that survives gets mopped up by footstomp and psi nado. The lack of damage enhancements in these powers is made up by double stacking rage, which also addresses accuracy. Endurance management is addressed by 1: Particle shielding, 2 rad therapy, 3 endurance passives.

 

Without damage procs, you do almost no damage during rage crash. With procs you can still crank out triple digit damage numbers even if you are at -9999% dmg debuff.

 

Does that make sense?

Edited June 10 by Nemu

[tidge]

3 hours ago, Unclemarty said:

I’m curious, for clear speed, is it better to put procs in aoe or recharge without procs? Aoes have long recharge so wouldn’t it be better to just proc out single target stuff so you can use aoe more often? Unless is the plan to clear a mob with only 1 round of aoes? 

 

I try to avoid adding %procs to single target attacks; if they are part of a set I want for a bonus... that's fine, especially if the other choices of pieces in that set are up against the ED limits. Often the Purple sets fall into this category.

 

My rough guidelines for which powers to avoid trying to include %damage (or other %procs):

• Powers with a base recharge time less than 12 seconds.
• Auras (because the effective "base recharge time" for %proc calculations is typically 10 seconds or less)
• "pets" that don't leave behind a "corpse" (I simply mention this because there are a handful of powers that look like they take a lot of %damage, but it will never happen for them)
• Powers with low Accuracy and/or no slotted Accuracy (autohits don't mean a %proc will hit)
• Single target attacks (I'm more flexible here, but RNG feels crueler with single-target attacks.

Once a power has above 20 seconds base recharge, it can tolerate a little slotted recharge IMO, and ones with longer times can tolerate more slotted recharge. Right now, Global +Recharge does not affect %proc chances... so generally getting enough +Recharge in a build helps to smooth out attack chains (with or without leveraging %damage). The best sources of +Recharge comes from set bonuses, so even if someone wants a "proc monster" they probably should slot some powers for enhancement set bonuses instead of "all procs, every power".

 

I prefer to use %procs in AoE because the RNG will have its way with me, and I'd rather see some damage appear on a bunch of rando targets than occasionally not see any damage on a single target.

[Story Archer]

On 6/8/2024 at 3:23 PM, Nemu said:

A while ago I veered off the conventional path of gloom + dark oblit for my rad/ss and went with leviathan for a fully procced arctic breath. The game has changed, and now with the introduction of psionic mastery, there's no contest that this pool has the most synergy with a fully procced Rad/SS tank or brute.

 

Psi mastery has all the synergy:

 

Another fully procced ST attack not subject to rage crash and can stack holds with KO blow, an endurance helper, and another wide area AoE that feeds FF proc and provides KU mitigation. It's also available for brutes, so this can work on either AT.

 

That's my PSA.

 

Nuka Panda i27 p5 - Tanker (Radiation Armor).mbd 40.05 kB · 26 downloads

 

This is very interesting - and I haven't played this particular build so I cannot speak knowledgably about it, but I'd like to offer a couple of counterpoints, particularly with regards to diminishing returns. Please note that I haven't dipped my toes into Incarnates at all yet, so their potential benefits are not include din this analysis.

 

Not very long ago I took a break from my chronic alt-itis and embarked on my own RAD/SS Tank, focusing on a damage-heavy build rather than defaulting to 'ultimate survivability' for a change and the results have been absolutely spectacular. I have never enjoyed a build nor had more fun playing the game than I have with this character (named 'Gleaming Fury'), so in spirit I'm very much right there with you... but again, without having played what you recommend, merely going off of what I would surmise from your build as presented and from your own comments here, I think you're losing a good bit more than you're gaining with the pursuit of Psi Mastery.

 

I feel like I deal more damage with my build than I have with any non-Blaster character I've ever made, but I don't want to lose all the wonderful things that come with being a Tanker... and one of those things is being able to jump in, take an alpha and set the table for the rest of the team (when I'm not just wiping out the mobs before they can get to them). And preferably without an over-reliance on inspirations - I just struggle to admire a build that has to lean on something that has nothing to do with the build to keep it alive, particularly when it's a Tanker build. I've no doubt that you have come all to the same conclusions as I regarding this particular power set combination - that damage procs mitigate the offensive drawbacks of Rage crash while a high Res build mitigates its defensive drawbacks, that the Tanker's ability to affect a greater number of targets with their AoE lend themselves well to Rad's mini-nukes and Foot Stomp as part of a regular rotation, and that SS grants a number of wonderful opportunities to take advantage of the synergy of FF procs... but I still want to be survivable, and I want to be able to focus on destroying my enemies rather than spending my time juggling my inspirations trying to stay one step ahead of the reaper. 

 

With Meltdown up more than it's not, I'm basically hard-capped Resistance-wise to everything, and, to compliment that, I chose Soul Mastery, because I found that I simply didn't need any additional AoE. Two mini-nukes, Foot Stomp and well-placed Cross Punches keep me quite busy enough as they're up for every mob and usually by the time I cycle back around to the big guns, somebody else has finished that particular group off, or at least enough so that additional AoE's are just a waste. I think you'd find that a proc'ced out Cross Punch compares very favorably to a similarly enhanced Dominate dps-wise, and that's before taking into account that it can often hit two or three targets at a time. By taking Darkest Night in place of Psionic Tornado, it let me actually put some effort into my defenses, and between the two I'm at roughly 49% defense vs melee and 32% Ranged/AoE (before teammates chip in, of course). I don't always need it and it's certainly not the end-all, be-all, especially without having any notable DDR, but it does add a very strong extra layer of survivability, especially during those crucial first 5-8 seconds of combat, and let's me play like a TANK should play, without fear. Previous defense-heavy builds didn't bother with Darkest Night (again, diminishing returns), but its synergy with this particular combination seems ideal. I also don't take Taunt in this particular build, so DN can help give my allies a little more protection than they might normally have, including against AoE's directed at me but which might also catch them.

 

All of that's not to say that the way you've built things isn't without it's upside, and NO ONE should ever try to judge another on their personal preferences when it comes to play style - that is absolutely not what I'm trying to do here. My counterpoint is simply that I would much rather have a tiny bit less damage in exchange for a whole lot more survivability, and I'd rather not spend my time focused on juggling inspirations and trying to keep my 'glass canon' alive long enough to get off my next big boom, that's Blaster stuff. Sometimes there CAN be too much of a good thing, especially when you have to surrender so much to get it. As an additional benefit, by not having to load up Dominate and Psionic Tornado also leaves a lot more available enhancement slots to play around with.

 

Frustratingly, due to the recent issues with Mids, I'm not able to look at your build directly to make a fair statistical evaluation, but I'm going to go ahead and include mine, just so that interested parties can consider their relative strengths and weaknesses. I could be wrong, but it seems to me that your build would struggle with Accuracy and/or Endurance against higher-level mobs, unless that's something you plan on relying on Inspirations and teammates for as well.

 

Again, I want to reiterate that this is not intended as a disparagement in any way, just a counterpoint to what looks like a perfectly strong and interesting build. If you (or anyone else) has actually read this far, thanks for taking the time to endure my rants and please take them in the spirit with which they are intended. 🙂

 

(final) Tanker (RAD - SS).mbd 

 

EDIT: This build is a tiny bit out of date. In place of the +Rech you see in Radiation Therapy, I have Overwhelming Force Damage/Chance for KD proc and and in place of the +Acc you see in Ground Zero, I have the Shield Breaker proc for Lethal damage. I'm also seriously considering dropping down Meltdown to a single slot and maxing out Gloom to increase my single-target dps vs. those pesky AV's & GM's...

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 14 by Story Archer

[Nemu]

On 6/14/2024 at 8:28 AM, Story Archer said:

I think you're losing a good bit more than you're gaining with the pursuit of Psi Mastery.

You focus a lot on hard stats and I believe you underestimate the benefit of building for synergy.

 

Survival is a combination of hard stats (def res regen, etc...), active mitigation, build synergy, inspiration usage, play style (exploiting mob AI and game mechanics), and last but not least - kill speed. Most people on the forums/discord/in game only focus on hard stats across all ATs. And the idea that "you only need as much survival as you need to kill things quickly" apparently only applies to blasters while players aspire to be statues that compromise a lot of damage for more survival than they need with every other AT.

 

Here's an example:

I ran into a softcapped ice tank on a MJ AV mission with Resistance mobs and he said he can't tank those because they chew through his defenses. He only looked at his hard stats and when met with debuffs or elements that counter his hard stats, that's where his ability to survive stopped. I told him to herd those resistance mobs that are all happy to shoot at him from range and debuff his defense around a corner so he can break LOS and force those range happy resistance to fight on his terms (one of the few scenarios where herding is actually useful nowadays). Guess what? The whole team started not dying, he and the team started killing them faster with their AoEs.

 

FYI I have no qualms jumping into +5 mobs while exemped down with either my Rad/SS tank or my SS/Rad Brute (with even less hard stat numbers), between double stacked rage and killing stuff fast even during rage crash, rotating my arsenal of knockdowns (hand clap also stuns minions), force feedback feeding my recharge to keep rotating that suite of active mitigation, micro movements to keep mobs chasing me instead of standing still and giving them free hits, team support and the occasional inspiration usage(it's not as often as you think), I rarely have issues with accuracy or survival while fulfilling my role as a tank that takes the alpha for the team and hold mob attention. And if I'm 50 I have cheatyface Barrier whenever I am in trouble. I will admit that when I do go down it happens fast, but each time I go down I could have done something to prevent it, because I got complacent.

 

 

[Zect]

As a former Mako's apostate, I have also been converted from arctic breath into the cult of dominate/psinado. I now believe this is the best all-purpose rad although soul's DN has great value for turtling up and in the really sophisticated threat environments.

 

Your build is mildly glass cannony because you commit fully to procs. However, if you so desire, you can potentially make an extremely tanky but still high dps general-purpose rad/ss/psi with some tweaks. My build has several adjustments including the ATIO2 proc in footstomp, entomb proc in KOB and rad therapy slotted for heal as opposed to procs. While the dps is lower, with absorb procs going off all over the place and massive heals it can solo level 54x8 no insps no temps:

• Vanguard (harmonic mind actually comes in useful vs the SIGIL round)
• Rularuu (have to kill the minion eyeballs fast to avoid being held)
• Longbow
• Arachnos
• Malta
• PPD

And just about everything in the game, really. Something to consider for the player who wants a tank that drives anywhere and kills anything.