Some comments from my own experiences as a level 50 Kin/Rad
Repel - Endurance reducers in this power do not affect the endurance "hit" that you take for each enemy the repel hurls back. Thus I've found it more useful to slot Recharge enhancers, so that I can use the Repel field as a pulse rather than a toggle. Click it, turn it off, enemies go flying, wait for it to recharge for when/if I need it again. Typically the only time I just leave it on is when I've cornered a single boss, and in this situation Endurance is no problem because I can just repeatedly use Transference on him.
Siphon Speed - I respecced out of this power a while back but used it for a good long time. A trick I learned to get around the animation (that may not still work but anyway here it is). If someone still has Hover and Siphon they could confirm/deny whether this still works:
If you Hover while using Siphon Speed, and disengage the Hover immediately after you click Siphon, the animation will continue while running at full speed. This saved me a number of times when Siphoning from mobs I really shouldn't have been messing with.
A recharge may be unnecessary for this power, considering in I4 a successful Siphon Speed will grant you some enhanced recharge (not enough to make the power worthwhile compared to Hasten, imo, but there we are).
Increase Density - I six slotted this with Resist Enhancers in the 40s and never regretted it. Sleep is its only weakness but it's a BIG one since sleep drops toggles. My squishie teammates often found the resists kept them going long enough to bring their toggles back up even when the status resists did not save them.
Inertial Reduction: For defenders without Stealth, this power can be rather deadly in Hazard zones without a supplemental travel power such as Hover to save you from a bad jump. A trick I learned in Crey's Folly that also worked in other Hazards is to stick near the War Walls and jump along on top of them when possible. With the exception of the Rikti Crash Site, enemies tend not to spawn close to the War Walls.
Neutrino Bolt - While I've often seen it said that this is the best damage power in the game, this is only true out of context of other powers. Every powerset typically cycles through several powers and eventually has little or no down time between them, eventually leaving Neutrino Bolt far behind. The true value of Neutrino (and it's companion, X-Ray) is the Defense debuff. X-Ray beam has an innate accuracy bonus, and I've found slotted for accuracy it very rarely misses. Against tough to hit enemies (higher level, force fields, Rikti Drones) I like to consider X-Ray/Neutrino my "jackknife" to wedge under enemy defenses so that the heavy hitters on the team can overwhelm them. More than once my team has been up against a tough enemy that quickly crumbled after I hit them with a few of these and then the scraps/blasters started connecting more reliably. The best thing about being Kin/Rad is that with Siphon Power and Fulcrum Shift, Damage enhancers are not as necessary, leaving you free to slot for additional Defense Debuff on these two starter attacks if you desire (from my own experience this worked very well). Note that Neutrino does NOT have X-Ray's inherent accuracy, but it is very fast, meaning you can stack one or two neutrinos on right after an X-Ray hits, basically shredding their defense. This is why I advocate having both.
Irradiate - I am not a big fan of this power. It seems to attract aggro to a far greater degree than the damage it does would suggest, and because it is a PBAoE DoT, you will always be there to soak up their hate. With a good tanker or controller, this isn't as much of a concern, so this is a matter of taste. I skipped it.
Electron Haze - I skipped this as well. Knockback typically doesn't bother me - UNRELIABLE knockback does. If this power knocked the enemy back 100% of the time it'd be a great mob positioning tool. As it does not always do so, and is virtually guaranteed to either knock them back when you don't want it to or not knock them when you need it to, I went with more reliable tools instead.
Proton Volley - An excellent power that doesn't mesh well with a kinetic primary. Typically you want to be in close before the enemy notices you, thus in my opinion a sniper attack doesn't fit well with that. This being said, it has one of the most awesome affects in the game and is an excellent choice for other primaries.
Aim - Skipped this as well. With your damage buffs you can afford to slot additional accuracy, with your defense debuffs you should rarely miss (see neutrino/x-ray strategy above) and the relatively small damage buff this provides (compared to the Blaster version and to Fulcrum Shift) is not worth a power investment for a Kin/Rad. Much like Proton Volley, this is a better power choice for other defender Primaries who cannot buff their own damage (such as perhaps Empathy or Force Field). Also, Aim cannot be made perma, though it can come close. Note that after three Recharge enhancers, this power begins to face seriously diminishing returns.
Cosmic Burst - Awesomely synergetic with Kinetics. You are typically close to the enemy anyway, so range is not a problem. With all of your damage buffs you can afford to slot this as a control power rather than a damage power (I currently have 2 accuracy, 2 disorient duration, 2 recharge) and still do excellent damage while keeping several enemies stunned simultaneously, or chain stunning a boss that I've just knocked over with a teleport/repel ambush.
Neutron Bomb - I agree with your observations on this power, however I feel it's a safer AoE to use than Irradiate, its damage is frontloaded (and roughly equal to irradiate), and the animation is awesome. I think it's the animation that keeps me from respeccing out of it, honestly.
Atomic Blast - I find the hold duration on this lasts just long enough to get a tick of endurance, Transference off a survivor (if there are any), and then Neutron Bomb the rest into oblivion. Extremely synergetic with Kinetics. I slotted it with one accuracy just to make sure it wouldn't miss against higher end opponents (it has an innate accuracy bonus) and five recharge.
Regarding the Psychic Power Pool - I agree this is the best choice for a Kin Rad. Dominate is nice and the Mind Over Body Smashing/Lethal/Psychic resist is very handy. However, don't overlook Mass Hypnosis. Powers that do not do damage DO NOT BREAK SLEEPS. Additionally Mass Hypno does not aggro targets that it misses.
So you could, say, Mass Hypno a group that hasn't noticed you yet, Cos Burst or Dominate the stragglers you miss, run in the middle, Fulcrum Shift, Atom Bomb, Hooray.
(The only thing that prevented me from taking this power on the live version of my Defender was that I was already 50, so the quick XP available from this strategy wasn't particularly appealing. If they ever raise the level limit, you can rest assured I will most definitely respec into Mass Hypno to take advantage of this.)
And Telekinesis isn't too shabby either. I just wish I had room for it.
My own build, for comparison:
Exported from version 1.4J of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh
Archetype: Defender
Primary Powers - Ranged : Kinetics
Secondary Powers - Support : Radiation Blast
01 : Neutrino Bolt acc(01) acc(3) defdbf(13) defdbf(23)
01 : Siphon Power acc(01) acc(7) recred(11) recred(34)
02 : X-Ray Beam acc(02) defdbf(3) defdbf(13) defdbf(23)
04 : Tranfusion acc(04) acc(5) hel(5) hel(7) hel(9) hel(9)
06 : Hover fltspd(06) fltspd(11) fltspd(17) fltspd(19) fltspd(36) fltspd(39)
08 : Recall Friend rng(08)
10 : Repel recred(10)
12 : Speed Boost endrec(12) endrec(15) endrec(17) endrec(19) endrec(37) endrec(37)
14 : Teleport endred(14) endred(15) rng(50)
16 : Swift runspd(16)
18 : Hurdle jmp(18)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(21) endrec(21) endrec(25)
22 : Increase Density damres(22) damres(40) damres(43) damres(45) damres(46) damres(46)
24 : Aid Other hel(24) hel(25)
26 : Aid Self hel(26) hel(27) inttim(27)
28 : Cosmic Burst acc(28) acc(29) recred(29) recred(31) disdur(31) disdur(31)
30 : Teleport Foe rng(30)
32 : Fulcrum Shift acc(32) acc(33) recred(33) recred(33) recred(34) recred(34)
35 : Transference acc(35) acc(36) recred(36) recred(37) endrec(40) endrec(40)
38 : Neutron Bomb acc(38) recred(39) recred(39)
41 : Atomic Blast acc(41) recred(42) recred(42) recred(42) recred(43) recred(43)
44 : Dominate acc(44) acc(45) recred(45) recred(46)
47 : Mind over Body endred(47) damres(48) damres(48) damres(48) damres(50) damres(50)
49 : Inertial Reduction recred(49)
Some notes:
Not sure all the slotting in the above is really at the levels noted, but it's accurate to the best of my memory. This is a respec build. I originally took Inertial Reduction at 18 and took Teleport much later, but shuffled things around to fit Epics in. This build really could survive without IR at all, but it's the power that originally drew me to the set so I refuse to part with it. For a more efficient build, I'd put Mass Hypno where Dominate is now and take Dominate at 49.
Transference: Some folks will freak that I took this late, so take it earlier if you want. However, Radiation Blast is extremely endurance-friendly and with the teams I was on, their own endurance was not a problem Speed Boost couldn't handle at this level. The rare stray shot getting through after a transfusion or a transfusion missing/not healing enough were sufficient impetus for me to put off this power for a bit in favor of Medicine. Your mileage may vary.
Teleport: I took this pool more originally for fun, but it has been very useful. Recall is a great strategic tool and both Teleport Self and Teleport Foe were invaluable when soloing, especially when combined with repel to knock unsuspecting problem foes (Rikti bosses, Nemesis Snipers) into walls and stunning/holding/draining them before they could do much harm.
This build relies heavily on Siphon Power and Fulcrum Shift to supply damage instead of damage enhancers. Some prefer more consistent damage against smaller groups and slot accordingly. I find that smaller groups really aren't dangerous enough to sacrifice the flexibility other slotting provides and I can afford to be patient.
If I were to respec again, I might forego the Medicine Pool. It saved me a lot in earlier levels, both for reduced downtime and when a transfusion missed, but just isn't quite as handy now that I have some real damage resists of my own and the tankers/scrappers I team with at this level tend to be tough enough to survive with just transfusion. It'd be a tough call, though, I do like the security Medicine offers. I've lived without Hasten for 50 levels, but it is very tempting.
All in all, Kin Rad is a fun dynamic build that does well solo (though it's tough early on) and just generally makes the whole team better at what they do in a group. I've enjoyed it a lot and I hope any new players testing it out take a look at the original poster's advice as well as my own and use what works for them. The best part about this hero is that there are many, many, many ways you can go about the build and still be VERY effective.
