Radical Team Comp

[JediDave]

Hello forumites, 

 

Some quick relevant background info, me and 2 friends got coh back in '05/'06 and played until shut down, then immediately got on HC servers in 2019 and have been playing relatively consistently since. We tend to make trios of characters to level up together, and usually stop at 50 but occasionally going well into incarnates and end game content. We each have other characters we build on our own and level, which is where a lot of my end game experience comes from, but our trios are usually played exclusively when all 3 of us can get online at the same time and stick within a bar of experience away from each other. We've done all MM, all arachnos for super leadership, the classic (de)buff/dps/tank, and a few where we just show up with 3 characters and make it work. Currently wrapping up a run with EA/Elec tank (me), dark/rad stalker, and pyro/sonic controller. 

 

With the approach of i28p3, particularly the part about difficulty being amped up to +7 on incarnate content and MM set bonus love, we were talking about a new group of characters to make. The update made us think about how SKs in DA missions could be fighting against +8 enemies, and the potential of rare groups of +9 enemies with how difficulty spawning works (not sure if the +7 will cap at 57 or have the occasional 58s). This snowballed into the idea of a trio that can successfully (definitions of that may vary) run at +4x8 right from the get go at level 1. Our idea was that if we all make characters who can grab radiation infection at level 1, that would be the easiest route. Obviously early game we would kill a single boss and likely level up, what we call the Frostfire effect. This means until the mid 20s, we'd likely be starting at +4 and by the end of the mission be likely fighting +2s at most. 

 

What I'm asking here is, does the community think this is a realistic idea going all in at +4x8 immediately, and if so, does anyone think another combination would do better? AT and set suggestions are welcome, as right now we just have "pick radiation" planned out. No idea if we'll lean into one AT or a variety, as my one friend really wants to see MM tweaks, and I think scourge will shine on this concept, but I also feel like some consistent hard CC will help. We tend to not grab temp powers from START vendor outside of double xp. Enhancement funds usually come from alts, though one friend slots things...later than the other 2 would like. 

 

 

 

TL;DR, what trio of characters would you make with irl friends (ideally with radiation emission) to take on +4x8 from 1-50?

[Psyonico]

Well, Radiation makes sense since you'll likely be dying a lot,  giving ample opportunity for Fallout.

[kittowam]

There's synergy to stacking the same debuffs on enemies. Three players should be able to run +4/x8 from start. Without knowing what powersets have already been played, I would want to go for a more diverse group that could cover anyone's weaknesses, especially from early levels. I would probably look to go Fire/Rad Corruptor, Demon/Cold Mastermind and Illusion/Nature Controller. This gives you more than enough debuffs, defense and damage resistance and should allow your friend to explore the Mastermind changes while providing scourge. Also, Illusion Control gives you a tank to help draw aggro. If you've already played those sets, then Marine/Time/Sonic/Kin are all good choices too.

[MonteCarla]

I think Corruptors would be optimal here, since Scourge has a chance to kick in against the +4 enemies.

Radiation Emission is perfect and blossoms really early. 3x Rad Infection against +4s gives you close to capped -To Hit, as long as your toggle anchors don't run off.

Electric Blast gets some really good early AoE with Ball Lightning and Short Circuit by level 6 for the x8 hordes. I don't know if full sapping will happen in a timely manner, but you'll be able to leverage the Shocked bonus damage pretty well. Draining enemies does make them run away though, which can be bad for toggle targets running into another group.

 

Dark Blast provides an immobilise in Tenebrous Tentacles which would help against runners, plus it would softcap your -To Hit.

[JediDave]

5 hours ago, MonteCarla said:

I think Corruptors would be optimal here, since Scourge has a chance to kick in against the +4 enemies.

Radiation Emission is perfect and blossoms really early. 3x Rad Infection against +4s gives you close to capped -To Hit, as long as your toggle anchors don't run off.

Electric Blast gets some really good early AoE with Ball Lightning and Short Circuit by level 6 for the x8 hordes. I don't know if full sapping will happen in a timely manner, but you'll be able to leverage the Shocked bonus damage pretty well. Draining enemies does make them run away though, which can be bad for toggle targets running into another group.

 

Dark Blast provides an immobilise in Tenebrous Tentacles which would help against runners, plus it would softcap your -To Hit.

The blossoming early part is why we were thinking rad. 3 rad infections from the start is what made me think this is doable. I was thinking a corruptor to leverage scourge, a mm for some meat shields, and a controller to hopefully lock down bosses. I was leaning ice on the corruptor to get a bit more hold stacking going so bosses would be more consistently neutralized. Maybe pyro on a controller so we have a column opener to give us a few seconds to set up, and possibly mercs so our meat shields can get serum going. 

 

Elec is an option, since being +4 means the damage may be outpaced by the end drain on at least bosses. Early AoE is something I hadn't thought about, but now that I am thinking about it, it's probably going to be pretty important, especially if we only have one corruptor. Elec also has a hold to help lock down bosses, so it fills the role I was looking at ice for. It's all still just an idea, we are still playing other alts right now, so the AT spread is up in the air. IF we end up with no controller, dark blast is likely going to be in there for some immob, as runners will kill this team if they're anchors. 

 

 

 

13 hours ago, Psyonico said:

Well, Radiation makes sense since you'll likely be dying a lot,  giving ample opportunity for Fallout.

Where's your sense of adventure? Discord helps coordinate better than a random pug, and with what we've done in the past, I think this is doable. 

 

 

8 hours ago, kittowam said:

There's synergy to stacking the same debuffs on enemies. Three players should be able to run +4/x8 from start. Without knowing what powersets have already been played, I would want to go for a more diverse group that could cover anyone's weaknesses, especially from early levels. I would probably look to go Fire/Rad Corruptor, Demon/Cold Mastermind and Illusion/Nature Controller. This gives you more than enough debuffs, defense and damage resistance and should allow your friend to explore the Mastermind changes while providing scourge. Also, Illusion Control gives you a tank to help draw aggro. If you've already played those sets, then Marine/Time/Sonic/Kin are all good choices too.

I think all those combos would be fine if we had 1 or 2 other consistent players, but from level 1, groups with 2 bosses are going to kill us. 3 RI is -75% tohit on corruptor/controller numbers, and -68% with a single mm swapped in, unenhanced. And at level 1 vs +4s, that's the debuff numbers I'm looking for.

[Psyonico]

44 minutes ago, JediDave said:

Where's your sense of adventure

One of my favorite SGs is Repeat Offenders' Faithful Fans of Fallout... in my eyes,  a team of 3+ rad toons that that aren't leveraging fallout are song it wrong. 

 

46 minutes ago, JediDave said:

3 RI is -75% tohit on corruptor/controller numbers, and -68% with a single mm swapped in

Don't forget about purple patch... that 75% turns into 36% and the 68% into 32% against +4s.

 

Granted, once you get some -tohit enhancements slotted,  you should be fine, provided you coordinate to getting everything activated as close as possible. 

[JediDave]

27 minutes ago, Psyonico said:

One of my favorite SGs is Repeat Offenders' Faithful Fans of Fallout... in my eyes,  a team of 3+ rad toons that that aren't leveraging fallout are song it wrong. 

 

Don't forget about purple patch... that 75% turns into 36% and the 68% into 32% against +4s.

 

Granted, once you get some -tohit enhancements slotted,  you should be fine, provided you coordinate to getting everything activated as close as possible. 

 

Purple patch is why I wanted 3 of us. Ideally fallout won't get an opportunity to be used, but there aren't any builds made yet that we want to run with so it's a possibility. I've used rad toggles mid jump around line of sight blockers to pull before, and I assume we'll be doing quite a bit of that on this run. Coordinating 3 of them shouldn't be too difficult

[EnjoyTheJourney]

Arsenal control for the taunting, nigh unkillable pet that's permanently out (unlike phants) plus radiation should be a really solid combination. Take sorcery for that with rune of protection, enflame, arcane bolt, and spirit ward (a really solid power against higher level enemies, worth slotting) and you have the group's "tank" covered for combat against small numbers of strong foes. 

 

Another combo you might want to consider for bullying higher level foes is storm summoning paired with water blast. Lightning storm, tornado, geyser, and water burst all have knocks. These two sets synergize well with each other because of all the force feedback +recharge IOs they can accept, which really makes both sets shine more. Lightning storm has 100ft of range, as well, so even in spread out battles it will be knocking down foes in a five foot radius on the regular against most enemy groups. You can have multiple lighting storms and tornados out at once in larger battles, letting you scale damage (and how many foes are being knocked down) in accordance with the size of battles. Damage on this combo is very strong because of frequent nuke uptime and the damage storm brings to the table.

 

You'll probably be drawn, for incarnate choices, to nerve and vigor alphas so you can actually hit things. Vigor core works really well with storm summoning, making endurance costs much more manageable. Water blast also has a built-in heal and there are opportunities to put in -res procs in that combo. Also, end drain protection in storm summoning may seem a bit niche in its use in most current gameplay. But, against noticeably higher level foes, because of purple patch effects on steroids, end drain can change from a bit challenging to crippling (take that, Mister Super Stunner!). Storm summoning is a ton of fun to play, as well, which is another point in its favor. 

As a third member of the trio, having a fire blast kin along should help for lifting damage through the ceiling and to layer on more healing when its needed. 

[Psyonico]

46 minutes ago, EnjoyTheJourney said:

Arsenal control

Arsenal control is such a good set... now I kind of want to roll an Arse/Rad

[JediDave]

14 minutes ago, Psyonico said:

Arsenal control is such a good set... now I kind of want to roll an Arse/Rad

Part of me wants to pitch a guns and radiation theme. Mercs, Arsenal, AR all with rad secondary. We like themed powers and that would be easy to do. 

 

KB>KD on buckshot and M30 for corruptor is soft cc and aoe we'll need. M30 on MM and serum will add more KD and make our meat shields a lot tankier. Arse is just good and the drone as a makeshift tank is something we'll need at times for sure. 

[Psyonico]

You could also go Dual Pistols install of AR, then run Chemical Rounds for more -damage.

[Yomo Kimyata]

On 11/12/2025 at 2:44 PM, JediDave said:

 

What I'm asking here is, does the community think this is a realistic idea going all in at +4x8 immediately

I’ve gone down this path a few times solo, so a few thoughts:

 

1.  Don’t start 4/8 until level 2.  You’re gonna need Rest.  A lot.

 

2.  This is extremely tedious at low levels, but you will level many times per map, so what was +4 when you start the mission may be -1 when you finish.  Doesn’t matter if you train or not.

 

3.  +4 at sub 50 levels basically means +4 half the time, +5 half the time.  You will really notice that difference.  +6 and +7 which used to be accessible through a bug is ridiculous unless you build very very well.

 

4.  Learn to snipe and learn to run away.  Beating up 1-3 +5 enemies is doable but if you aggro an entire spawn or two you have zero chance.

 

5.  This can be done with just about any character but some will be much harder than others.  Check the wiki under “purple patch” to see what gets buffed for them and debuffed for you.

 

6.  Focus on accuracy first and foremost.  Defense is mostly useless, so spend your build energy on healing and resistance.

[EnjoyTheJourney]

Mechanically, all radiation emission secondaries seems likely to be limiting and potentially awkward. Rather than beginning fights with a coordinated placement of a mixture of controls and 2 to 4 toggles, you might choose a combination of secondaries that offer different playstyle choices and different ways of delivering controls, buffs and debuffs. Some sets are better than radiation emission at handling enemies that are highly mobile or more spread out, as well, and that could be quite impactful at times.

 

For example, traps may be quite helpful for caltrops to avoid being swarmed in melee range, triage beacon can help for longer fights, poison trap can help for hard targets, and force field generator can offer some mez protection. Electrical affinity could also be a really solid choice for the buffs and mez protection that it provides. Flash arrow in trick arrow can reduce over-aggro from multiple groups, which could be quite helpful. There are a variety of good choices available that probably synergize very well with a radiation emission character, a number of which can fit with a "mechanical" theme. 

Edited 9 hours ago by EnjoyTheJourney