Radiation Emissions love hate

[Spectre7878]

So I have a love hate relationship with this set. It has so really cool debuffs. The only problem is that they are very situational. I normal teams the toggles are pretty pointless. They are great on AV and GMs. Some of the other power are skipable I feel. At least for me that is. Just wondering if anyone else feels this way with the set. Should the set be re worked so it moves with teams quicker. I wish the two toggles were faster to recharge and to initiate. Fallout should be a friend or foe. AM needs a lower recharge. It’s way too long. Again these are just my opinions. Just wanted to see how others felt about this set. 

[Arbegla]

Its entirely possible to perma AM (and perma Hasten with AM) so the recharge on that shouldn't be reduced, but if fallout worked on friends or foes i'd greatly appreciate it.

 

The toggles work best on a group that is struggling, as you can toggle on a boss, and they stay active until the boss 'body' fades away. If you're on a steamrolling team already, then the debuffs aren't going to be as beneficial. 

[knightowl - Pinnacle serve]

For the most part, I enjoy using Radiation Emission, Choking Cloud, Radiation Infection as the go-to powers, with Lingering Radiation, and Radiant Aura for the heal - it lets me casually attack the mobs even though it takes me longer to clear them all if I'm solo, using mostly Neutrino Bolt and X-Ray Beam.

For Pool Powers, I have Hasten, Medicine, and Energy Mastery to help with Recharge, Self-heal/heal buff, and another build-up & attack respectively.  

 

It's very different from playing a Scrapper, but it is fun-different, especially when NPCs team with you for a mission and you exchange buffs with them.

[Frozen Burn]

Rad Emission is a solid set - everything is useful.  

• Heal - useful for topping off and helping between the debuffs
• The "toggles" (RI an EF) - yes, I too wish the animations/casting times were faster.  But these are very useful, even mob-to-mob on a steamrolling team - just alternate them as needed.
• AM - easy to perma, so no need to reduce the recharge on it
• Lingering Rad - a great Regen debuf - do not skip!
• Fallout - that would be cool to use on a foe, but maybe OP.  So, perhaps at a lesser damage value for foe vs ally?  
• Mutation - Rezzes are always handy - especially after using Fallout!
• Choking Cloud - with the Lockdown +2 mag proc in it, it's amazing - that's 1 mob you don't have to worry about.
• EM Pulse - your heavy hitting -Regen power - do not skip!  This and Lingering Rad together really destroys AVs and GMs.  

...it's such a great set.  🙂  

 

As in real life, Radiation is a silent killer.  You do stuff, and you do not see the direct effect of your actions, other than things die faster than normal.  There is no real animation or sound or such when foes have their To Hit, Resistance, and Regen floored - they still roam around swinging arms/fists and shooting.  It's hard to notice the little swirling debuff icons around them and you think you're not doing anything at all.

 

You only really notice that what you're doing is working when you're not getting hit as much and foes drop so much faster than when you're not casting your powers.  ....you just have to "know" that what you're doing is affecting them and is REALLY helping your team.

 

So, yeah... Radiation Emission is really a silent killer.  😄  

 

 

 

Edited 12 hours ago by Frozen Burn

[MonteCarla]

I know what you mean.
My first character on Homecoming was a Rad/Energy Blast Defender, and I've played it on a number of characters, including a Rad/Elec and a Rad/Dark Defender.
It's the Swiss Army knife of the original support sets that doesn't do any one thing really well, but does a lot of thing quite well.

When it comes down to it, support sets do three things:

 

1. Our health bars aren't going down!

Rad Infection stops you getting hit much - once the long animation's done and your toggle anchor doesn't run off. Choking Cloud provides more intermittent protection and you can mop up with the heal. EMP is a good panic button. It's all good layered protection, but no Force Fields.

 

2. Our blue bars aren't moving!

Accelerate Metabolism does an OK job of this, with some OK +Recharge on top.

 

3. The enemy sure are falling over quickly!

Accelerate Metabolism provides an OK damage boost and Enervating Field provides some OK -Res. (If your toggle anchor doesn't run etc). Force Fields applies more -Res to a GM or AV these days.

 

When a Rad user joins my task force I go... "mmm. cool, I guess.". Not quite like the excitement of a Force Fielder or Kineticist who provide one big obvious advantage.

 

Over time, Rad's suffered a few blows:

- It has two powers that require a dead teammate. With Return to Battle from the START vendor, you have to be quick to Fallout and Mutation them before they get up anyway. Trying to teleport them first? Good luck with that without excellent team communication! I tried that often on my Rad/Dark pixie and couldn't do it most times. In addition, anyone can rez now with the SMART vendor temp, further devaluing Mutation.

- There was a time on Live when Lingering Radiation was a must-have for taking on giant monsters. Their regen has been toned down, and most teams handle them through sheer damage, -res debuffs and proc damage these days.

- Newer sets like Electric, Nature, Time and Marine are also Swiss army knives, but maybe a bit better, or at least easier to use, because enemy toggles are kind of annoying. 

 

It's gained the new toggle behaviour, where your toggle keeps running on the body until it fades.

 

It's not a bad set at all, just somehow a bit hard to get excited about?