Radiation

[floppy]

 

 Hello all I hope you can help me. My Rad/Rad Corruptor just dinged 50, and I have no idea where I'm going with this guy. Please consider reviewing my thoughts on this powerset combo and join me in a discussion, if you are so inclined. 😁

 

My life story: I played multiple Rad/Rad defenders in the past. I recently returned from a long break back to Homecoming, and decided to start fresh on a new server. When I made this guy I thought maybe a corruptor would be a fun twist on my old rads. I pretty much freeballed it to 50 and had a great time, but now it's time to get the build actually sorted out. After reviewing some of my old rad def builds, I can confidently say that I have no idea what I'm doing. I have a bunch of questions on enhancements and builds in general, along with specific thoughts about Corruptors, and I am hoping some of you who know a lot more than me can chime in and answer some of these. Also, for reference- I don't mind being called out if I ask a stupid question, I'm just trying to make a good character that others will find fun to play with.

 

General concept / "how I play"

I was hoping to play this toon similarly to my rad Defs, but I find myself focusing way more on blasting fools than healing. I still methodically apply most of the debuffs, and I am always hitting as many teammates as possible with AM off cooldown. I guess you could say I'm trying to have a good "all0arounder" that can do PUG TFs, exemplar, AVs (in groups, not solo) and challenging endgame content. That being said, for a build on this toon, my main concerns will be

1. survivability (am I a fool to hope for softcapped defenses or somewhere close?)
2. recharge (I want to click the good powers as much as possible)

3. recovery (should be self explanatory)

 

in that order.

 

After spending about 30 minutes in Mids Reborn I realized I am not ready for that, I need to first decide which powers I'm taking. I will explain my feelings on the main AT powerset abilities, and you can correct me if I have made a false assumption.

 

Radiation Blast:

Neutrino Bolt - was planning on skipping this in favor of xray eyes. i figured they both are pretty basic / rotation fillers
X-Ray Beam - i basically click this every time my other abilities are on cd or if the camera is at a weird angle and i have a chance to see my guy shoot laser beams toward the camera. That being said, should I be thinking about high-slotting this with def debuffs? or just one-slotting?
Irradiate - love this move as it's got good AoE and looks cool as hell. This is one of the reasons i wanted to softcap my guy because you have to be in the middle of a group to get the best shot off of this. plus damage debuff
Electron Haze - not my favorite move but i do find myself clicking it frequently. is this something that i should be using more often?
Proton Volley (snipe) - i like having this move but it's not something i click as part of my move cycle / rotation. is this something that other people skip? i think it's pretty cool situationally and i like being able to use it to pull sometimes, but, i'm not married to it. People usually take the snipe power, right?
Aim - i skipped this while leveling but I realize it's probably considered a must have. Actually I don't really know. Is it that good? I think if my global cooldowns were faster I would be able to make better use of it.
Cosmic Burst - this is a great one becasuse it feels like it hits pretty hard. not too much to say about it but Im keeping it (or at least i plan to)
Neutron Bomb - love this one because it's AoE but i can do it from farther away than irradiate. DEADLY
Atomic Bomb - Yes.

 

Radiation Emission:
Radiant Aura - love heals, even if they aren't as good as on the defenders. No way would I skip this, I exemplar too much.
Radiation Infection - I apply this pretty methodically and it seems super useful in TFs etc. I didnt plan on skipping it unless someone can explain why.
Accelerate Metabolism - Yes.
Enervating Field - another debuff that I usually apply at the same time as rad infection, but sometimes to a different enemy. was planning on taking.
Mutation - i think this is too useful to skip. seems like one of the better rezzes. 
Lingering Radiation - same bucket as other debuffs IMO, longer recharge but i still use it pretty much as much as the others.
Choking Cloud - not sure where people are on this one. I love it. I was planning on high-slotting it and adding in procs, possibly. 
Fallout - this is one that I am wondering about. it doesnt actually rez but it seems good. I love having it and using it. I play in enough PUG TFs that I find myself using it every day. Seems good, but open to discussion on it.
EM Pulse - people might trip out when i say this, but I'm not obsessed with it. I considered skipping it. I know the crash isn't that bad, but honestly dealing with the set up and the crash usually makes me feel like maybe i'd be better off just blasting fools. Feel free to chastise me for such heretical language, if you are so inclined.

 

Now that I've laid bare all of my foolish thoughts on the main powerset, let's talk real quick about pools. Not hitting every single one, just mentioning a few here that might have significance:

Hasten - I'm all in. Seems like a no brainer for me but if I'm wrong, I'd gladly skip
Travel Power - I like the idea of flying but I'm assuming the more economical choice will be Super Jump so that I can also grab
Combat Jumping - thinking will be necessary for survivability
Fighting - am I going to need this pool, or is burning three power slots on the weave def boost not worth it?

Concealment - I've had people in game tell me I could just forget my defensive thought process and go with Stealth and that would be just as good. Never tried it yet, but I'm open.
Leadership - I'm open. I took Maneuvers as my last power. Also open to Vengeance as it goes great with Fallout. 

Epic Pool Powerset - I'm WIDE open to suggestions on this one. I don't have a problem choosing any, thematically speaking. I took Dark while leveling but that's just because that's what I did on the rad defender I built. I think some of the abilities are OK on dark but I just haven't seen anything that would make me turn down any other set. Someone told me Mace has a good defensive power. Any tips on this are appreciated.

That's basically every thought I've ever had on Rad/Rad. Any advice you can give would be helpful. I'm totally open to builds etc and if your way of playing / thinking about Radiation is different than mine I'd love to hear it. I will work on a good Mids build and post it if/when I figure something out.

 

Thanks in advance 🙂 
 

 

[MonteCarla]

Radiation Blast:
Neutrino Bolt is very skippable.

Slot your attacks for damage rather than -Def. Most of the time (not sure if this still applies in Hard Mode content) your team has a 95% chance to hit targets, so -Def is totally wasted. When you do have trouble hitting something, eg a Paragon Protector who popped its godmode, then having an attack that needs to hit to apply -Def isn't the best.

X-Ray Eyes is cool, but Proton Volley and Cosmic Burst are your heavier single target attacks, and with the recharge from Hasten and AM you'll rarely have both on cooldown, so treat X-Ray Eyes as a real filler attack.

Aim with the Gaussian +Build Up proc will almost always deliver +130% damage (50 from Aim, 80 from the proc) so take it. If nothing else, always Aim before letting off Atomic Bomb.
If you're looking for a second power to skip in this set, maybe Electron Haze? Its higher damage than the other AoEs but slow to activate.

And if you want to lean into damage procs, look at the guide in my signature - it's all about Radiation Blast! 🙂

 

Radiation Emission:

Radiation Infection keeps you safe (-To Hit), and has a slow activation time. It's also a more reliable source of -Def for those pesky Paragon Protectors, but slot for -To Hit.

Enervating Field makes you and your tam do more damage (-Res) and has a fast activation time. I always start with this one, and may skip applying Radiation Infection if the team are safe enough and not losing health (eg theres a Force Fielder present, or a awesome tank.)

Lingering Radiation, I tend to skip, but I know a lot of people love it.

Fallout's a dice roll with everyone using Return to Battle these days. You have to be super-quick to get it off.  The Vengeance-Fallout-Mutation cycle is very situational and fun when you can pull it off, or you can skip all three and take the START vendor res device and try to get by with that?
EM Pulse is an easy skip.

I love Choking Cloud. It's better with a Hold in your primary or epic to stack on bosses.

 

Build goals:

Recharge is always good, and brings up AM more quickly, as well as Aim and nuke.

Building for some Defence can work. Radiation Infection provides 25% -To Hit, o 40% when slotted, but that gets hit hard by the purple patch to maybe 20%, and very little vs AVs. And it takes 2+ seconds to kick in, and your anchor can run off etc.

So Tough with the two +Def uniques and Weave adds a solid 12% defence for 3 power picks, and you could build more defence via Cloud Senses in RI, Manticore's Sting in Proton Volley, and maybe a Thunderstrike or two?  Build for maybe 25% defence, so Radiation Infection puts you at the soft cap? Going all in for 45% would be a bit of a waste with that available.
 

[floppy]

11 minutes ago, MonteCarla said:

Radiation Blast:
Neutrino Bolt is very skippable.

Slot your attacks for damage rather than -Def. Most of the time (not sure if this still applies in Hard Mode content) your team has a 95% chance to hit targets, so -Def is totally wasted. When you do have trouble hitting something, eg a Paragon Protector who popped its godmode, then having an attack that needs to hit to apply -Def isn't the best.

X-Ray Eyes is cool, but Proton Volley and Cosmic Burst are your heavier single target attacks, and with the recharge from Hasten and AM you'll rarely have both on cooldown, so treat X-Ray Eyes as a real filler attack.

Aim with the Gaussian +Build Up proc will almost always deliver +130% damage (50 from Aim, 80 from the proc) so take it. If nothing else, always Aim before letting off Atomic Bomb.
If you're looking for a second power to skip in this set, maybe Electron Haze? Its higher damage than the other AoEs but slow to activate.

And if you want to lean into damage procs, look at the guide in my signature - it's all about Radiation Blast! 🙂

 

Radiation Emission:

Radiation Infection keeps you safe (-To Hit), and has a slow activation time. It's also a more reliable source of -Def for those pesky Paragon Protectors, but slot for -To Hit.

Enervating Field makes you and your tam do more damage (-Res) and has a fast activation time. I always start with this one, and may skip applying Radiation Infection if the team are safe enough and not losing health (eg theres a Force Fielder present, or a awesome tank.)

Lingering Radiation, I tend to skip, but I know a lot of people love it.

Fallout's a dice roll with everyone using Return to Battle these days. You have to be super-quick to get it off.  The Vengeance-Fallout-Mutation cycle is very situational and fun when you can pull it off, or you can skip all three and take the START vendor res device and try to get by with that?
EM Pulse is an easy skip.

I love Choking Cloud. It's better with a Hold in your primary or epic to stack on bosses.

 

Build goals:

Recharge is always good, and brings up AM more quickly, as well as Aim and nuke.

Building for some Defence can work. Radiation Infection provides 25% -To Hit, o 40% when slotted, but that gets hit hard by the purple patch to maybe 20%, and very little vs AVs. And it takes 2+ seconds to kick in, and your anchor can run off etc.

So Tough with the two +Def uniques and Weave adds a solid 12% defence for 3 power picks, and you could build more defence via Cloud Senses in RI, Manticore's Sting in Proton Volley, and maybe a Thunderstrike or two?  Build for maybe 25% defence, so Radiation Infection puts you at the soft cap? Going all in for 45% would be a bit of a waste with that available.
 

Thank you! This is exactly the response I was hoping to see. Appreciate it and I will check out your guide :))

[Psyonico]

2 hours ago, MonteCarla said:

Neutrino Bolt is very skippable.

Except neutrino Bolt is better dpa than x-ray eyes by quite a bit.  It also makes for easy filler with its short recharge. 

 

 

[Uun]

15 hours ago, Psyonico said:

Except neutrino Bolt is better dpa than x-ray eyes by quite a bit.  It also makes for easy filler with its short recharge. 

Not sure how you figure that:

Neutrino Bolt: 25.0252 dmg / 1.188s cast Arcanatime = 21.06 DPA

X-Ray Beam: 41.7087 dmg / 1.848s cast Arcanatime = 22.57 DPA

[Jacke]

1 hour ago, Uun said:

Neutrino Bolt: 25.0252 dmg / 1.188s cast Arcanatime = 21.06 DPA

X-Ray Beam: 41.7087 dmg / 1.848s cast Arcanatime = 22.57 DPA

 

Close enough.  Neutrino Bolt has a higher DPS.  X-Ray Beam only cuts down the damage.  Only Proton Volley, Cosmic Burst, and the AoE attacks are worth using on top of Neutrino Bolt.

 

 

[floppy]

Ok here is an attempt at a build. Feel free to be as brutal as you like, because there is a lot I still don't understand and I'm sure this isn't going to be the best it could be. 

 

I got higher positional defenses than I originally wanted but my recovery and recharge are way lower than I wanted. Not sure how to best optimize that, or if I'm missing something obvious. Any tips are appreciated. 

 

 

Uranium-235 - Corruptor (Radiation Blast - Radiation Emission).mbd

[Warshades]

4 hours ago, floppy said:

I got higher positional defenses than I originally wanted but my recovery and recharge are way lower than I wanted. Not sure how to best optimize that, or if I'm missing something obvious. Any tips are appreciated. 

 

You have your debuff toggles slotted with recharge instead of endurance reduction. You'll have hasten + high global recharge with AM and the debuff toggles have a very low cooldown to begin with, slot them with endurance discount instead. You also have Sprint toggled on in your build which contributes a decent amount as well to your end drain/sec. Additionally on fast moving teams at end game, you likely wont even have time to apply both Radiation Infection and Enervating Field, whether you need to use them or not is going to be more situational and depend on team make up and how much damage everyone is doing so your end consumption won't really be that high most of the time. 

 

Maybe try something like this below. Others may have some better slotting ideas/options. I like to have the option to double up on Aim + BU so picked up ice mastery for it. Hoarfrost is not a bad power to have to increase your max HP as that will help with durability. I'm not a fan personally of single target rez powers like Mutation. There's free access to a self rez from the start Vendor so it's basically never needed unless someone didn't pick it up. The only ally rez power that I ever bother to pick up is Howling Twilight from Dark Miasma/Affinity which can rez multiple allies (and also applies -500% regen to enemies). Fallout is to situational as well imo. 

 

Corruptor (Radiation Blast - Radiation Emission).mbd

[Snarky]

On speed teams i find myself mostly blasting with my Dark^3 Corruptor.  
 

In tough fights i throw debuffs first, then blast.  This maximizes debuff time and DPS on a Corr is more effective with Scourge.  So, the rhythm is perfect. 
 

Sometimes i stop to heal or rez.  But generally i am working the debuff job or the DPS job.  That is Dark.  But all Corr switch between strong roles of DPS and (buff/debuff depending on sets).  

[Jacke]

I've run a Rad/Rad Defender since 2006 and a Rad/Rad Corruptor almost as long.  I've adjusted their builds several times.  I keep them very similar, adjusting for differences between the two ATs.

 

I don't take Hasten except if a build has very long recharge Powers that really need a lot of Global Recharge Reduction.  Accelerate Metabolism is almost that, but I don't want to have 1 of my only 4 Pool Picks be forced to the Speed Pool unless it's really necessary.  So I got used to running Rad/Rad without Hasten.  By the time the build is mature, it's got enough Global Recharge.  I want Pool Picks for Concealment (necessary as I go for good stealth on all Toons), Teleportation (mostly for Teleport Target, a great Team utility), Fighting (Tough and Weave almost always needed for a durable Toon build), and usually Sorcery (I really like Mystic Flight, Arcane Bolt on Controllers, and often Rune).

 

There's only 67 Extra Slots in a build and have to be careful where I put them.  I usually only put Extra Slots in Health and Stamina to increase net Recovery.  The Rad/Rad Defender and Corruptor have AM for that, so I leave them with the best-in-slot in each, respectively a Panacea and a Performance Shifter specials.  I normally avoid overloading with Procs, as I prefer to pursue IO set bonuses.

 

I take Neutrino Bolt over X-Ray Beam.  NB has the better DPS and works better to maintain the debuff from Achillis Heel special.

 

Aim is just the base Slot with the Gaussian special to buff Atomic Blast.

 

Long ago, I did a detail examination of Choking Cloud.  And figured from the length of the component Hold effects, was really only worth using on a Controller.

 

I'd take EM Pulse, but again it's better on a Controller and it tends to get squeezed out for other Powers of greater utility.

 

Here's my current Rad/Rad Corruptor build.

 

Corruptor RadB-RadE.20250822.MaceM [i28p2] @Jacke - Jacke Radical.mbd

 

 

Edited 13 hours ago by Jacke