It took forever but... I'm finally liking a Tanker (Rad/BA)

[yorevyomama]

So... OK. I've played off and on since the early days of live. I've messed with Tankers but they just never held my interest. 

But I had a random idea a few weeks back and tried making a Radiation Armor/Battle Axe Tanker and after doing a bunch of story arcs, TFs and solo AEs I've hit 45... and I'm still into it, surprisingly. 

Mostly IO'd at this point - I've put a few procs in here and there, but I'm trying to hold off on really digging into set bonuses until 47. 

 

So while I'm working towards that part - any Rad/BA tanks have sample builds to show me? Still trying to decide where slots should go. 

I skipped Beheader and I'm tempted to pull all slots from Chop as I'm just not using it that often at this time... but my opinion isn't set in stone. Here's what I've currently got...

[yorevyomama]

I did Force Feedback procs in three attacks thus far, a Gladiator's Javelin -Res in Ground Zero. Theres a Perfect Zinger Psi Damage proc in GZ as well, but I might remove that later. Was thinking about putting the Panacea procs in Health and Gamma Boost. Achilles Heel in Beta Decay, but since that's a toggle I'm not sure that should really go there. 

[Anthraxus]

I have two fully kitted-out Rad/BA tankers, and they are VERY powerful; also have a BA/Rad Brute who cycles the Rad tier-9 and with Rune of Protection (Sorcery pool) to achieve tanker level resists.

 

One observation is that putting the +recharge proc into the two 360-deg attacks is more than enough if you want to save some slots for something else.

[Camel]

It just so happens that the next Tank I am going to roll will be Rad/BA! 

This build may not be to your liking, it's definitely leaning towards a more offensive approach, but it's no slouch in the defensive department either. The resistance values might seem low at first.. But the +res Tank proc doesn't show the benefits in Mids... so after one stack, you have 84% res to most damage type and 90% res after two stacks. It's pretty easy to maintain two stacks since the attack that the proc is slotted into has a higher base recharge than most normal single target melee attacks. 

You definitely want to leverage as many FF +recharge procs as you can, they are a huge boon to your defensive and offensive prowess. 

Battle Axe and Radiation Armor are two of my favorite sets in the game. These two combined, specifically, offer a total ST and crazy AoE damage package. This makes slotting and choosing your Epic/Patron pool a no-brainer and I would whole-heartedly recommend going Energy Mastery for Focused Accuracy and Physical Perfection.

Side note. The empty IO slots you see in the build are where I would be putting the Force Feedback chance for +recharge IOs. I don't slot them in my Mids builds because they skew the proc rates for powers and I'd also like to see what my general recharge would be without them. Battle Axe is phenomenal with these procs because you can practically have it up 100% of the time with proper timing and playstyle. 

You chose a killer combination, and I hope you continue to enjoy the madness that is Rad/BA!

Cheers! 🍺
 

Tanker (Radiation Armor - Battle Axe).mbd

Edited 14 hours ago by Camel

[WuTang]

Love me some Rad! Probably my favorite TBH.  Still learning to love BA though. I have a Brute BA/Bio, he's 50 but....

 

I can drop in my Rad/MA build, maybe you could use it for ideas on Rad?

Tanker (Radiation Armor - Martial Arts)Final.mbd