To start with this is my opinion and anything said here is opinion. I am not a number cruncher or a
power gamer, I play to have fun and that is reflected in my build and the way it's set up. My
background with this character is that he was my first I started about 14 months ago when I first
got the game and I've played him for around 850 hrs and through multiple free and earned respec
and numerous build tweaks. What works for me though may not work for others.
My numbers are rounded around from various sources and are most likely off by a few points. They are unenhanced numbers unless noted. This guide is for PvE and should be taken with a PvE
viewpoint, I do not enjoy PvP that much and this isn't the best combination for PvP on a Defender
anyways. You'll have to go somewhere else for that.
Why Dark Miasma/Radiation Blast? No particular reason actually, it sounded interesting to me
and has been a fun if at times frustrating road with all my altitis. This is a build that you see very
few of, I have seen two others past 40 and both were 50 on Guardian, I think one has quit and the
other is retired. I also see very few lowbies with this combination; guess they don't match well for
some people.
To start with, I would build to help a team early on, I know its fun to shine with attacks blazing and
you saving the day but Dark Miasma is an amazing support set and later on, an amazing soloer,
but I found that team support made the earlier levels far easier for me. Your choice though, play
how you will enjoy.
This is a Defender guide but the information is still good for Corruptors, just some different debuff values and levels that you receive powers.
Primary: Dark Miasma
Here is where you want to make your first choice, being Dark Miasma means you will be
overlooked at times and some of your animations aren't as noticeable as other teammates. Do
you want to work with this and know, maybe even if it is to yourself that you kept your team alive,
even though they didn't know it? Wasn't a problem for me and probably isn't for you since you're
looking here. I'll list the powers and the levels they become available to you and then my thoughts
on each and more on their uses will be put in my "Tactics" section.
Level 1: Twilight Grasp or Tar Patch
Level 2: Darkest Night
Level 6: Howling Twilight
Level 8: Shadow Fall
Level 12: Fearsome Stare
Level 18: Petrifying Gaze
Level 26: Black Hole
Level 32: Dark Servant
To start with you'll need to decide if you want to grab Twilight Grasp, which is around a 22% heal
at base, drops damage by around 12% on your target, lowers their regen for around 20 sec and requires a To Hit check because of it needing a target or Tar Patch which is a ~35-38% Resist debuff, enemy slow,
and -Jump/-Fly at level one. Both are amazing powers and you will definitely want them both in
your final build. I chose Twilight Grasp myself because it is a handy heal when it hits and since
your blasts have an inherent -Def, you are better off than others with it.
Recommended Slotting: Twilight Grasp: 2 Accuracy, 3 Heal and possibily 1 End Reduction if you have the slot for it.
Tar Patch: 3 Recharge as you can, but you'll want three in this.
Darkest Night is a truly interesting power, it's taken a smack to the bum with To Hit being put on a
different schedule but you can still get around -29-30% To Hit when slotted with SOs by itself and
stacked with Fearsome Stare's To Hit Debuff and later on Dark Servant's various Debuffs, not
much will hit you. It also has a very nice -38% damage debuff which stacks oh so well with
Chilling Embrace from Ice Tankers and your own Twilight Grasp. Even with all that, you can still
skip it till after Stamina if you want. I love the power and wouldn't give it up for an extra arm but it
can be held off because it is a hefty drain early on with around a .5-.6 end drain which is almost
two times some toggle armors.
Recommended Slotting: 1 Endurance Reduction, 3 To Hit Debuff and preferably 2 Endurance, 3
To Hit Debuff down the road if you use it as often as I do.
Howling Twilight, an often misunderstood power but an amazing gem in the rough. It is a mass
Rez, with no limit that I know of to rez and is based around you, the drawback? It takes an enemy
to use same as Twilight Grasp. It also has some good drawbacks for the enemies it hits. It's an
autohit -regen, -speed, -recharge for around 60% to anything it hits for about 18 seconds. It also
is a autohit disorient for all minions it hits, which is very handy to help someone in over their head
spread off some alpha and stacks well with other disorients, including yours from Cosmic Burst.
^_^ It has a hefty recharge though at 180 seconds which can be made a little better with Hasten
and Recharge SOs. Unfortunately, I only had one slot to devote to a Recharge SO but I do have
Hasten. I usually use my own personal Shadow Fall aura to judge who will get hit by the rez affect
when it is needed, and it hasn't failed me yet.
Recommended Slotting: 1 Recharge, 2 more if you have some extra slots
Shadow Fall, oh how I love thee. An amazing toggle and one I wouldn't recommend skipping.
After all you can give around 35-40% resist to Energy, Negative Energy, and Psionic damage with 3 Damage Resistance SOs.
Notice I said Psionic? This is amazing but it doesn't stop there. It also gives stealth, resist to Fear!
which is quite helpful in the late game and now against Arachnos now in the Police Bands. It's
also got about a 40 ft range so it can get your teammates in it even if they are always off, it is a
little expensive though but two Endurance Reduction SOs will go along way to helping it. It's well
worth the cost for such an amazing armor.
Recommended Slotting: At Minimum 1 End Reduction, 3 Resistance but you can just get away
with 2 End Reduction till you have time to 5 slot it in the late game with 2 Endurance, 3
Resistance. ,
Fearsome Stare, where do I start? Probably tied with Dark Servant for the single most set
defining power in Dark Miasma for me. This is a brutal 45 degree cone with a 70 ft range that will bring Minions and Lieutenants to their knees cowering in your presence. A piece of advice though, Fear doesn't work on most Nemesis, they will just take the still nice -18% To Hit debuff but won't be affected by the fear. Not sure on the stacking, I didn't do much Nemesis on my road to 50 for some odd reason. This power takes some getting used to to set up the cone but use it the same as any other long cone, target a mob in the back and stand maybe a couple character lengths in front of the front mob then fear the one you target in the back, you can get most enemies in the group this way.
Recommended Slotting: At Minimum 2 Acc, 1 Fear and and 1 Recharge, that makes it almost
perma out of Hasten and makes sure it hits, and yes that's even with Aim in my build. You can
also slot To Hit Debuff to taste if you want but they aren't absolutely needed. I have it five slotted
in my final build with the extra slots in the 40s. This is your workhorse, show it some love. ,
Petrifying Gaze is a pretty standard non-controller hold, although if I remember correctly it is close
to perma without any recharge or durations but doesn't have the accuracy bonus of controller
holds. You can actually put off this power till the mid to the late 20s if you are feeling the crunch
on power slots. It is undeniably handy though and even more so if you go Psychic Mastery like
me for your Epic. I know I wouldn't mind seeing a little say around 7% To Hit debuff tacked on this
but don't think that's going to happen.
Recommended Slotting: 2 Accuracy to start with and a Hold and Recharge as you have the slots,
I have this and Dominate six slotted in my final build since I had extra slots in the 40s.
Black Hole, hmm, where to start? This power is both a passable power in a rare situation you
would need it and a horrible waste of space all the other times. I used it for awhile but I eventually
respecced out of it when I realized I only used it when I actually felt bad for it sitting in my tray.
Intangability powers are flaky at best even with teams that know how to handle them but they are
downright dangerous on teams that don't know how to handle them when they drop. You will get
the aggro that was on others when you intange the enemies and without quick thinking, face plant
city. Plus it suffers from one of Dark Miasma's drawbacks, hard to see graphics; it's a friggin pain
to tell what is under this power. There is actually no inherent -Acc that I know of though tacked
onto this power.
Recommended Slotting: If you take it, I'd go 2 Accuracy; you don't want it missing when you use
it.
Dark Servant, hands down the set defining power for Dark Miasma for me and the one that
changed my whole way of playing my character. This guy will make anyone jealous if they know
exactly what he can do. You know Chill of the Night from CoT Spectral demons, well he's got an
aura version of that and it sports a hefty -35% To Hit Debuff unenhanced! He also gets a single
target version of our very own Darkest Night and is pretty smart in using it. He has Twilight Grasp
that at level 50 heals around 250 points and he uses it often. Did I mention he has amazing
accuracy; he never seems to miss, even if I haven't used any of my radiation powers. He also
has Petrifying Gaze and is decently smart in using it. It doesn't stop there though, this gem also
has Tenebrous Tentacles to make you an AoE happy fiend, it's nice keeping things in your patch
for your attacks and control. I'll go more into strategies with this later. He is probably the single
most important skill you can grab in Dark Miasma, if you skip him, I will hunt you down and smack
you with a fish. XD. One thing to keep in mind though, he is resistant to Negative Energy and
you're Shadow Fall just offsets his weakness to energy attacks, so be careful if you use him as
alpha on energy heavy mobs
Recommended Slotting: 3 To Hit ASAP, 1 Accuracy is handy if you fight high level mobs even
with his good accuracy and then 2 Heals if you want, not really needed though
Well that's my views on Dark Miasma, take them for what you will and I don't mind answering any
questions on them and some of my tactics that I will put later on in the "Tactics" section. Now, on
to Radiation Blast.
Secondary: Radiation Blast
To start with, Radiation Blast isn't heavy damage, you are about average and you become decent
at level 28 when you get the wonder that is "The Green Creampuff of Doom" Cosmic Burst and
then for me Neutron Bomb. What you will be though is a good team support character and a
decent soloer since Radiation's two early blasts are fast recharge attacks. Tar Patch and later
Aim will help with some of the damage drawbacks though. You are a hybrid AoE, single target
blast set. What you will do though, is make it so all of your allies hit the enemies, because really,
who likes missing? You'll notice that I advocate alot of endurance reduction slotting in both
toggles from Dark Miasma and your Radiation attacks, you will need them, this is an endurance
heavy build, even if you turn off toggles at times. Demigodhood comes at a price.
Level 1: Neutrino Bolt
Level 2: X-Ray Beam
Level 4: Irradiate
Level 10: Electron Haze
Level 16: Proton Volley
Level 20: Aim
Level 28: Cosmic Burst
Level 35: Neutron Bomb
Level 38: Atomic Blast
Neutrino Bolt, this is a little machine gun. Low damage, fast activation and fast recharge, you can
spam this and X-Ray Beam to have an attack chain early on. Some people slowly take out the
damage they put into this early on and slot it with just two Accuracy to set up for other attacks
since it is quick and has a small -Def. Mine is still slotted for damage at 50 and I still use it often,
even if it is a little weak.
Recommended Slotting: 1 Accuracy, 3 Damage early on and if you like it as an attack and have
slots, you can put 1 Endurance Reduction as I did
X-Ray Beam, ok, really who wouldn't want to shoot friggin lasers from their eyes? This is a fun
attack and the basis for the one in the Scrapper and Tanker epics, same sound and all but with a
cool dayglow green color. It is a pretty fast attack to animate but seems slow next to Neutrino
Bolt, but with one recharge tacked onto Neutrino you can have an attack chain with just these
two. It's still not an amazingly strong attack as far as blasts go but it isn't bad either. I still use it as
much at 50 as I did at two, the same with Neutrino.
Recommended Slotting: 1 Accuracy, 3 Damage and an Endurance Reduction when you have
Slots,
Irradiate, ok, where do I start? This is a really nice attack, it does X-Ray Beam damage to all
enemies 20 ft around you but over a little bit of time, it is a fast ticking DoT with 10 tics, so you are
actually getting decent damage although it doesn't look so. One thing though, this guy will get you
aggro, it will be a smack to the face of mobs, calling their attention to you, all for a heavy
endurance cost. So why would you want it? It has an amazing -Def debuff, I think in the range of 30% and it is fast activating, you throw your arms to the side and in one second green radiation
is floating on your enemies. Plus, I use it as a vital part of my AoE attack chain later on.
Recommended Slotting: 1 Accuracy, 1 Endurance Reduction early on, then 3 Damage and a
Recharge, putting the Damage in earlier if you want to do more damage and less support early
on. ,
Electron Haze, this is a love it or hate it power, it is a fairly powerful attack, but it is also a cone
with some knockback factored into it and has the same long rooting animation as Twilight Grasp.
I used it alot early on before I got Neutron Bomb to help with AoE damage but found it's little
higher damage wasn't worth the knockback and positioning compared to Neutron Bomb. This is
still a undeniably powerful attack doing two times the damage of Neutrino Bolt in a 40 foot cone
that also sports a -25% Def Debuff if I remember correctly. It's also decently fast on the recharge
but does cost a little as most cones do.
Recommended Slotting: 1 Accuracy, 3 Damage, 1 Endurance Reduction and 1 Recharge
Reduction if you like it enough
Proton Volley, well it's a snipe to start with but it's got a cool sound >.> you know the old classic
ray-gun sound? Well you get it, but with a 4.5 second activation time. Some people love snipes
and some avoid them like the plague. I avoid them but I can see the use of it and I have used it
before, it is still the heaviest hitting attack you can get besides you're nuke, although Cosmic
Burst isn't far behind it. It's got a decent defense debuff that last for around 10 seconds IIRC. All
in all, I don't think it is needed but it is a fun power and is pretty cool to see and hear. You could
get more use of it by slotting two Interrupt Reduction SOs into it and that would make it so after
about a second you could start moving and the animation would still go off. That's the good thing about his game, play how ya want.
Recommended Slotting: 1 Accuracy, 3 Damage, and if you are getting heavy use, 2 Interrupt
Reductions when you have the slots.
Aim, it's Aim, but there it makes itself amazingly useful for Dark Miasma plus it has a nifty little
damage boost that works well with Tar Patch and is why this is a good Hybrid AoE/Single target
powerset combo. IIRC Aim for Defenders is both a 50% boost to Accuracy and Damage for it's 10
sec duration and that is handy. The + Acc makes that Fearsome Stare for sure hit, your Twilight
Grasp very rarely miss when you need it, adds some nice numbers on top of your Tar Patched,
Irradiates and Neutron Bombs. This isn't something to skip but can be put off if you are tight for
power slots. It's handy but not game breaking to have. Plus, it got one of the cooler new
animations with the Aim/Build Up animations of i8.
Recommended Slotting: Definitely 3 Recharge if you can spare the slots, you won't regret it.
Cosmic Burst, whoa baby and this beautiful thing comes only four levels before your Dark
Servant? This is an amazing power and really helps Radiation Blast in the single target
department, plus its a disorient for any Minion or Lieutenant that it hits along with a hefty -35%
Def debuff IIRC. What's not to like? It is almost three times the damage of X-Ray Beam, and even more so slotted with 3 Damage SOs. DO NOT skip this power. It's a little slow on the activation
compared to say Neutrino but it's still only around two seconds. You hold your hand out and a ball
forms then pop, it nails some sod in the face. ^_^ I love this power and it really helped me enjoy
Radiation Blast far more than I thought I would, it makes you have surprisingly decent single
target damage for the amount of AoE you can do as well. I've taken off around 1/2 a Red Con
Minion's health with this, Aim and Tar Patch along with it slotted with 3 Damage SOs.
Recommended Slotting: 1 Accuracy, 3 Damage, ASAP and 1 Endurance Reduction and 1
Recharge are both nice to have as well.
Neutron Bomb, you remember those Luminous Eidolons in the sewer that threw their hands in the
air and lobbed a big ball of radiation at you? Well here is your chance to do so and that's the first
thing I did after getting this little guy. >.> Neutron Bomb is an enemy targeted AoE that has a 15 ft
AoE effect and does X-Ray Beam damage to all that it hits. It also has a hefty -Def debuff, but not
quite on par with Irradiate and it is pretty short. I replaced Electron Haze with this in my build,
although it is a little less damaging than Electron Haze, I found it easier to use for my playstyle
and has a slightly shorter animation than Electron Haze. Combining this with Tar Patch, Aim,
Irradiate, and my single targets has made it pretty easy to take on things I didn't think I would be
able to, of course Dark Servant is needed, which will be talked about in the "Tactics" section.
Recommended Slotting: 1 Accuracy, 3 Damage, 1 Endurance Reduction, 1 Recharge if you use this often, its pretty handy.
Atomic Blast, well here it is, your "Nuke" and final blast in Radiation. Surprisingly, this is an often
passed over gem. Defender nukes don't serve the same purpose as Blaster nukes; we don't use
them at the beginning of the fight. We finish with these puppies. 2/3 of this attack is pure Energy
damage which is quite nice, but what really makes this shine is the hold it puts off when you use
it. Minions and Lieutenants are left choking on the vapors from this thing along with everything
getting a hefty -Def that lasts a good while. I skipped this power for quite awhile because I felt I
didn't need it but it is definitely a handy ability to have in your arsenal. One bad thing though is
that it doesn't allow you to slot Hold SOs, so you can't increase the Hold duration from it's base
20 sec.
Recommended Slotting: 3 Damage and 3 Recharge
Well here is my quick overview of Radiation Blast as it has been for me. Take my words as just
that, mine and try stuff for yourself.
Pool Powers
For me I have Speed, Fitness and Leaping for my pool powers and couldn't be happier.(I wanted
Super Speed and Super Jump >.>
There are alot of guides on pool powers so I won't go into
details except for a few little combos that are quite nice.
Super Speed doesn't stack in the literal sense with Shadow Fall but it will make you invisible to all
but high perception enemies in the PvE game. Shadow Fall's stealth takes the first layer of
perception while Super Speeds slight attention lowering covers the rest.
Hasten is handy but it is part of the reason why I have so much endurance slotting in my attacks
and toggles, it's a nice addition to your arsenal but definitely not needed.
Teleport is also handy in that Recall Friend and Teleport Foe can make the rezzing with Howling
Twilight handier but I didn't find much use for that, you'll be keeping most of the team alive as is. I
tried both and respecced out of them when they didn't get much use.
Stamina is pretty much a must unfortunately, I don't like devoting three powers to it but it is handy
and allows me to be far more liberal in my use of powers, you don't have to get it but it is a hard
road and one I tried and didn't stay with. Your choice but I would definitely recommend it by 24 at
the latest.
Epics
Coming in a later edition of the guide, need to work a little more on their various uses.
Tactics
There isn't much to do early on besides stay alive. You can practice setting tar patches on
corners and pulling a group of mobs into it with Darkest Night if you grabbed both but that really
starts to shine when you get Dark Servant. Corner pulling becomes an amazing way to maximize
the potential of this combination when you get Dark Servant. What I do is set up a tar patch so
the upper edge is barely touching a corner (It'll take a little practice to get used to the affect area),
from there I toggle on Darkest Night onto a Lieutenant in the back of a group I am wanting to take
on so he aggros all the others on his way to me. I fall back behind the corner and make sure my
Dark Servant is just out of sight so he doesn't spam Ten. Tentacles till they round the corner, they
are now not going to hit much since they are in his aura and my Darkest Night. Hit Aim,
Fearsome Stare, drop Darkest Night so it isn't on, and run in hitting Irridate as you close in, then
Neutron Bomb, Aim is about done then and you have cleared most of the group of mobs health
and you can finish them off with liberal use of AoEs and Single Targets. Bosses aren't a problem
for me with this tactic either since I have both Dominate from the Psychic Epic and Petrifying
Gaze, held boss to work on as well.
There are so many other ways to combine these two powersets but I would go on all night, thats
just one of the ways you can play around. Have fun and experiment, that's the best way to get
used to any powerset. Death isnt a bad thing here; its easy to work off debt so dieing shouldnt
stop you from goofing off.
Prospective Builds will be put up with a later version, Ive got a couple that I have used and liked
so Ill put them all up when I have a chance.
Closing
Well this is it, I'll fill in a few places here and there when I have a chance but for now this is what
I'll put up. Any feedback is appreciated and any questions can be sent to me by PM or through
my MSN Messenger linked in my Profile, I usually have it on during the day. Might not answer
promptly but it's on. Have a good one everyone and I hope you decide to try this fun and
interesting combination.
EDIT: Changed a few glaring numbers issues but I'll leave those that are close to the reported values alone. There are sources that can give you the spot on numbers for debuffs and things if you need them
I think I want to make a AR/TA corr.... people say I will get sick of the redraw. but I think I want to give it a whirl.