So What about /Rad

[tjknight]

On the surface the Radiation Emission set has some powerful abilities: 

 

Buffs that benefit the team: 

Radiant Aura

Accelerate Metabolism

Mutation

 

Debuffs that make hard targets easier to handle

Radiation Infection

Enervating Field

Lingering Radiation

 

I realize that pets don't get the attack speed bonus from AM. But they do get the endurance, run speed, damage and status resistance benefits. Also, the debuffs on hard targets  would seem to be good for a MM when fighting EB's and AV's.  There is the drawback that Mutation and Fallout aren't beneficial to a MM while solo.  Also, a lack of shields to help pets deal with incoming damage could be a concern. 

 

So how do /Rad MM's do in general? Are there certain MM primaries that would really well with /Rad? For example, I could see Mercs (with the achilles heel proc slotted) might actually have their dps improved by quite a bit. 

 

Thoughts? Builds? Suggestions?

 

Edited July 29, 2019 by tjknight

[oldskool]

Funny, I actually have a Mercs/Rad that I really love conceptually.  It's not 50 yet, and I haven't spun it up on Justin to test. 

I'm also very aware that the powers you listed don't work on the pets.  Doesn't matter to me.  I love me some Accelerate Metabolism, even if it is only for me solo, and I LOVE me some Fallout on teams! 

I have a /Rad Controller, a Rad/ Defender, and now a /Rad MM.  It is one of those fun sets in teams where if people die, you can just shrug and not worry about being yelled at.  You can nuke the site from orbit, as it is the only way to be sure, press that shiney Vengeance button, AND then revive their mutant behind from death. 

So I can do all that AND get a lot of dakka-dakka-dakka action with the Mercs?! .....Oh yes.. Oh yes please!

[Artillerie4]

I had wondered this as well. My son made a Demons/Rad and is enjoying it so far. I just don't know enough about MMs to help him as much with slotting and build and what works with pets and what does not, etc. I can piece together demon slotting from posts, but have not slotted a /rad character in a decade.

[SmalltalkJava]

Rad is pretty strong,  I think some people just stay away from it because of the toggles.  I find /rad to be a relaxing playstyle.   

[Crashen]

I really like my merc/rad/fighting scrappertankermind. I have skipped the merc attacks (though I might pick up burst just to have a fast ranged attack at some point).

 

I took the full fighting pool, and it works pretty well with rad. I debuff the shit out of an enemy, then close in and start punching the shit out of people while giving everyone radiation poisoning. Fighting is pretty decent damage (for a Mastermind) and is fast and satisfying. And with all the debuffs from radiation, it works pretty well.

[Voldine]

I made a necro/rad the other day. Dressed her up as Zoey from Left4Dead and named her "Green Flu."

[Mercurias]

Anything/Rad is going to be appreciated on teams. Accelerated Metabolism takes a lot of the sting out off running so many toggles. It’s been one of the strongest AV killing sets for forever, and it pairs well with almost anythIng.

 

if I had to hazard a guess on especially strong pairings for /Radiation, my top three would probably be Bots, Demons, and Thugs. Bots are already tanky and often will manage themselves fairly well while you focus on leveraging your abilities to their fullest, and their force fields will have synergy with your Radiation Infection right from the start. Demons are much more aggressive than bots, which will make Enervating field much more useful and might POSSIBLY allow it to kill AVs up to a point. Thugs/Rad would take your personal high school dropout firing squad and make them a good 50% or so more effective, and while doing so make Gang War a much more viable attack (and reduce the recharge time on Gang War).

[sadflows]

12 hours ago, Mercurias said:

Demons are much more aggressive than bots, which will make Enervating field much more useful and might POSSIBLY allow it to kill AVs up to a point.

I really like my demon/rad.  With all the MM uniques they are a good mix of 'hybrid' tankiness between def and resist and Rad which debuffs to-hit and damage.

 

Rad also maybe answers the question of "how can I make the whip attacks not suck?" because of stacking -resist.

[Voldine]

4 hours ago, sadflows said:

I really like my demon/rad.  With all the MM uniques they are a good mix of 'hybrid' tankiness between def and resist and Rad which debuffs to-hit and damage.

 

Rad also maybe answers the question of "how can I make the whip attacks not suck?" because of stacking -resist.

Oh please. Other than Gloom in Necromancy, the whip powers in Demon Summoning are widely acknowledged as the only decent primary powerset attacks for masterminds.

[kelly Rocket]

18 hours ago, Voldine said:

Oh please. Other than Gloom in Necromancy, the whip powers in Demon Summoning are widely acknowledged as the only decent primary powerset attacks for masterminds.

Also the Beasts attacks all have good bonus effects, and give you stacks of Pack Mentality, so it's acknowledged that it's worth taking one or two.