Toxic_Torch

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Thanks Torch, you're giving me a big, big hand here. I'll try to sort out the slots the way you suggested
Just one question. Do you find the need for ENDRED slots to be so prominent even with 3-slotted stamina? I'm asking since at level 26 this doesn't seem the case (I basically never run out of endurance), but from your suggestions I suspect that things can change at higher levels, is this the case?

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You've yet to grab Cosmic Burst or Neutron Bomb, more powers to cycle means more endurance spent unless you deliberately slow yourself down/use big hitters sparingly.

Of course, my own Rad/Rad is a Super Speeder and Hasten does increase the endurance consumption noticably. Not only through the end crash but also due to more costly powers being more readily available. I can easily play so that I have absolutely zero endurance problems and still be defeating opponents, it's just a matter of mood and desire.

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Advice on slots is REALLY appreciated, if you have more comments, well... Bring it on

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If you really want to 6 slot Radiant Aura I'd suggest 2 Heal/2 Recharge/2 EndRed, the 3rd Heal and Recharge will not give as much of an efficiency boost as 2 EndRed. We're talking about 1 second or so recharge and at most 45 Health (2 Rech/Heal vs 3 Rech/Heal) off vs a ~5 Endurance discount (~40%).

ToHit Buffs in PBU are likely a waste outside PvP against +Def characters, you're already doing nasty things to your opponents Def with just RI slotted the way you have. The 3 slots could then be spent on adding an EndRed to Enervating Field, Neutrino Bolt and Irradiate.

Neutron Bomb shouldn't accept Hold enhancements (Atomic Blast should), so I guess that's a bug in the planner. Use a Dam instead and swap the DisDur in Cosmic Burst for a Dam too.

Note, 3 Dam slotting depends on Kinetics availability or lack thereof and your desire to deal decent damage. If you always have 1-2 Kins on your team after Fulcrum Shift is available you'll need less damage slotting. The makeup of your SG/usual team and the size of your SG is of course the important factors here. I'm almost always arguing from a generalist perspective and prefer to make a character that can function in most teams.

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16) --> Mutation==> Rechg(16)
18) --> Swift==> Run(18)
20) --> Health==> Heal(20)
22) --> Proton Volley==> Dmg(22) Acc(23) Dmg(27) Dmg(29) Rechg(37) Acc(43)
24) --> Stamina==> EndMod(24) EndMod(25) EndMod(25)

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I'd personally do those levels (if I were taking Mut & Volley) as:

16 Swift
18 Health
20 Stamina
22 Proton Volley
24 Mutation

Stamina will make more of a difference than PV or Mutation. Being able to use RI & EF along with other powers without running out of Endurance is very useful. Awakens can easily be used until 24 and PV takes a long time to execute where you can't react to anything that may happen (unless you interrupt it and waste the spent End).

And using a Flight in swift instead of a Run may let you drop a Flight from Fly and it will also improve Hover.

I'd also swap one DefDebuff in Irradiate for a Dam and the other for an EndRed. Base Irradiate debuff + RI debuff is more than enough against almost anything.

I suggest both of you try Irradiate with equal slotting and compare it to Electron Haze (respec on the Training Room).

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but with Electron Haze its not random kb as its a cone attack.

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It's random in the way that not everything is knocked back, only about 40% of the targets. Makes it possible to push your anchor away from the rest of your targets, or the other way around. It's only really useful (to Rad/Rad) as part of an AoE combo. Do not think it will work half as well as Buckshot.

Neutrino Bolt is too good to pass up, especially when compared to Electron Haze. It doesn't take long to activate, it recharges failry fast, it's light on endurance (when used alone) and it deals good damage over time. You actually don't even need any other /Rad powers for your single target purposes, Cosmic Burst is a good additional punch though (and it does offer a Disorient). Not slotting NB is like leaving RI with only the initial slot, useful but not as good as it could be. Not using it is like not using EF, you'll deal noticably less damage.

EM Pulse is more of an Oh [censored] power than it is a regular workhorse. You'll rarely need it outside unwanted aggro situations, in such a situation you risk taking longer than 20 seconds to defeat your opponents.

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My current path for my Rad/Rad looks very offendary.
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01) --> Neutrino Bolt==> Range(1)


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Err... That's not anything remotely resembling an offender.

If you want to be just moderately offendery as a /Rad Defender you need a decently slotted Neutrino Bolt (1 Acc/3 Dam). It is to /Rad as RI & EF are to Rad/.

You should also seriously consider swapping Irradiate for Electron Haze, random knockback does not play nice with anchors.

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Hmm yes you are right, maybe i should pick hover, it is slow but at least give me some vertical movement. Hmm okay lets change the question. Combat Jump or Hover goes well with SS? I never used Leaping pool so i have no clue about combat jump and its vertical useability.

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Combat Jumping is a great companion to Super Speed, especially if you get Hurdle instead of Swift. Also, slotting Health & Swift (or Hurdle) isn't all that great when you have primary and secondary powers that aren't six slotted. Maybe if you have slots to spare in the later levels, but not until your attacks and stuff like Accelerate Metabolism is slotted.

And remember ED when slotting, neither the 4th Def in Maneuvers nor the 4th EndMod in Stamina are as useful there as they would be elsewhere.

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Isnt build up something like 100%?

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And active much less frequently, perma-Build Up was squashed in the US beta.

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OVW, i dont think you understand the concept of a defender if your not willing to help people

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Some people are beyond help.

Playing Defender doesn't mean you should bend over for anyone who asks.

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35) --> Voltaic Sentinel==> Acc(35) Acc(36) Dmg(36) Dmg(36) Dmg(39)

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A few notes on Sparky:

1) As noted above, he is completely immune to buffs and debuffs. He will of course take advantage of any debuffs on his target.
2) He has improved accuracy compared to you, 1 Acc should be enough unless up against mid-high +Def opponents.
3) He deals damage while you're buffing (if he's out). This can be a boon or a bane depending on the situation.
4) He doesn't take aggro at all, all damage he deals counts as if you did it yourself aggro wise.
5) Unless he's been fixed, the Defender version should deal as much damage as the Blaster version.

Sparky doesn't fit everyone, but you really shouldn't decide permanently until you've tested him with a few slots in.

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If 8 people layed down 5 trip mines each to kill an AV with 24,000 each one would need to do 600 dmg...

can they do that?

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Not quite, but you can easily put down 15 on your own. A third of their damage (if they don't crit) is Fire.

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You pay the money-you play the game like you want to.

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As long as you don't break the ToS/EULA.

Rush to 50, take it slow (1 level/month), pvp your heart out at level 15, or stand around chatting with others. It's all your own choice and all about how you enjoy playing.

Hope you had fun making a level 50 smurf.

Unslotted it will drain aproximately 1/3 of a mobs end.

One thing to keep in mind: It does almost as much damage as Ball Lightning if they are slotted the same way. Before SOs it may serve you better as an additional AoE and it is still useful against EBs as an endurance drain.

Stealth is useful for stealthing missions, cloak up and run to the "boos room" and wipe out anything there. Works best if you also have Super Speed to stack +Stealth with. Save it for the missions that say "Defeat <name> and his henchmen/guards/minions/whatever".

Can also be used to help grab glowies by getting to them without aggroing everything. Just remember that the Stealth part will suppress when you click one, so you will need to be out of mob detection range anyway.

It's also useful (if stacked with Super Speed) for getting in range for a nuke or heavy melee attack (to take out a troublesome enemy) without being fire upon early.

There are other uses, but Stealth is overall a playstyle choice for Blasters. If you like how it works with your character, keep it. Regardless of what other people say. The same should be said about any other power.

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Pages from the Prima CoX Guide.

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Which uses numbers provided by the devs (iow: About as accurate as you'll ever see).

[/ QUOTE ]Prima guide has far too many errors to be trusted as an accurate source for numbers.

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The devs claimed the numbers in the I7 update were accurate. In any case, I'd trust the devs over a site like nofuture.

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Um, no.

electron haze does most damage, then irradiate followed my neutron bomb.

And the animation time thing? takes an AGE for the projectile to form above your characters head. Where are you getting your info? Some hero planner?

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1) I said about equal, not excactly equal. As in "comparable and not all that different". And I did say Defender AoE, not Radiation AoE. NBomb compares fairly nicely with the other Defender AoEs.

2) Activation time? Experience and developer provided numbers (Prima Guide for I7).

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Pages from the Prima CoX Guide.

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Which uses numbers provided by the devs (iow: About as accurate as you'll ever see).

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Neutron Bomb is pants, IMO. Long animation, pants damage, heavy end cost, long recharge. YUK. The effect is pretty cool tho

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NBomb is about equal to any other Defender AoE in all aspects, Cosmic Burst has a longer activation time.

And Defender AoE damage is not crappy if you slot for it.

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I regularly group with rad/ defenders and can totally appreciate how much they improve the team's effectiveness but I can safely say I know nothing at all about the radiation blast set, save what I've read on nofuture and in-game descriptions. I was tempted to take another secondary, but wanted /rad for my concept. Is there good synergy with the rad/ set? Would I have been better off going for another defender secondary?

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/Dark has two things that speak for it as synergistic with Rad/: A To-Hit debuff that stacks nicely with RI to decrease incomming damage and the Hentai Special (aka. Tenebrous Tentacles) which helps keep things inside RI &amp; EF (also helps set up the other damage cone).

/Sonic has more -Res to stack with EF, only one (non-nuke) AoE for that though.

/Archery has Rain of Arrows which should fit very nicely as a high damage combo with RI + EF, mainly because it doesn't drain all your endurance upon use (unlike the other Defender nukes). Not much else to fit specially with Rad/, Explosive Arrow is a normal AoE but it has knockback attached.

/Elec has Tesla Cage, which can be used to highlight an anchor, Ball Lightning (+Short Circuit if you slot it for damage), which fits nicely with the targeting of RI, EF &amp; LR while the endurance drain only really fits together with EM Pulse.

The -Def from /Rad is rarely needed if you have RI up and running, but Irradiate + NBomb combine well with RI + EF for AoE damage.

/Psi has Tornado as an AoE that fits RI + EF and an Immobilise that may help highlight an anchor.

/Energy has knockback all over the place. The only way that fits decently with Rad/ is by keeping LR up at all times and push things away from you, won't play well with Ri or EF though.

The time it takes to align for the cones (especially if you get swarmed) means that only Dark will have an easy time of using them, unless you have someone else who controls aggro.

I'd recommend /Dark, /Archery (if you want to wait until you can Rain spam), /Sonic or /Rad as the sets fitting most with Rad/. /Elec can be good too, if you slot Short Circuit for damage.

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I'm still very low lvl, but the /rad components do seem a little cack so far. I've focused mainly on the primary, and wondering if I should perhaps be going for a max/min build on this. Would giving power choice and slot allocation priority always to the primary benefit it in any way, or is it effective enough when balanced with the secondary?

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A balanced selection of primary and secondary powers (with a few pool powers added) will give you a more balanced character, one that can help out a team as more than just a debuff-bot. Adding your own damage on top of what the others in a team will help shorten encounters and keep the rest of the team higher in both the blue and green bars.

You'll also be able to solo decently, should that prove necessary. You'll never deal Blaster or Scrapper level damage, but you'll be able to take on almost any solo missions.

The biggest problem is that you lack the big hitter and half of your good AoE cycle. And both of them come fairly late (level 28 &amp; 35). SOs do help a lot, but until then things may feel a bit wimpy.

But remember that the primary is the set you're going to get the best numbers from, just don't neglect the secondary.

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Neutrino Bolt is nearly an attack chain by itself. It's also the Defender attack with the highest dps. You can use it with just 1 Acc/3 Dam until you get spare slots.

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At first I was disappointed by the low damage output but while teaming with a /psi defender I realised that I out-damaged her because I could get in three bolts by the time her blast had recharged. Not too bad then, but is this power really worth slotting much?

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If NBolt deals good damage now it will deal good damage at level 50, if you slot it as you would any other attack power. If you don't slot it then it will be [censored], then again that is how every damage power works.

The base damage of every attack scales, for the attack sets you get access to most of the generally useful powers at a low level.

NBolt is definately worth 6 slotting, once you get spare slots. Until then you can easly run with 1 Acc/3 Dam (1 Acc/2 Dam is doable if you're lacking slots).

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Irradiate and Neutron Bomb make for a decent AoE combo. 6 slots in both if you want AoE damage.

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Hmm. I didn't notice considerable damage from Irradiate, and tbh I took it because the in-game description claims that the defense debuff is 'severe'. Is the debuff capability of this power actually that good, and will it benefit from slotting to that extent? I assume it will stack with the -DEF on my rad/ powers, right?

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The first 10 or so levels (during early US beta) I used Irradiate it also seemed like it didn't do much damage to me either. What I didn't consider was the total damage dealt by the DoT and the fact that it's AoE.

The DefDebuffs on the various powers will stack.

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Finally, any views on the OPs question regarding Stamina?

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Stamina isn't "required", but it is very nice to have. At the cost of 3 power choices and 2 slots you get a considerable endurance benefit. You'd have to add one EndRed slot to all powers you regularily use to achieve the same effect.

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So if you have assault (+11% damage) and your 2 enforcers have stacked assault that means your thugs get 33% extra damage?

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The Leadership powers from Enforcers have different numbers than the player versions.

Enforcer Maneuvers is much better than the player version, but for Assault and Tactics it is the other way around.

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EDIT: Heehee, and I just realized you can use Detonator + Vengeance to stack another 25 def on it, even unslotted.

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Powers that require a defeated player will not work on pets or henchmen.

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From what I read in the blaster guides,many of which are very old, elec is mind bogglingly crappy.

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Electrical Blast was never crappy, people just rarely play to the strength (Endurance Drain) which is very binary.

Either an enemy has 0 End and can do nothing but look stupid or (s)he has more than 0 End and can hurt you. Power Sink + Short Circuit helps you get them to 0 and keep them there for a short while.

Elec does lack a big punch power and it could use a second pure Damage AoE. Short Circuit can be used as a damage power, but it is more useful as Endurance Drain. Voltaic Sentinel helps fill the lack of a big hitter (like Blaze, Power Burst and Shout), but it's not quite the same.

Electrical Blast is very useful against AVs that have been downgraded to EB status. They'll often live to have their endurance zeroed, which means you can take them out without any problems. Of course, (non-downgraded) AVs and GMs have so much endurance that you'll need a fair amount of assistance to pull off that trick.

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Any thoughts/comments?

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EndMod in the attacks will do very little because their basic drain is so small in the first place. You're better off with EndRed, Recharge and possibly Acc.

The exceptions are Tesla Cage, Zapp, Short Circuit and Thunderous Blast. Those four have decent endurance drain.

Voltaic Sentinel will need at least one Acc if you want to use it effectively against +Def users in PvP (read: Stalkers). The same should go for any attack you wish to use against them.

I take it that you mean EndMod and not EndRed in TB? The base cost is small, it's the drain per target that kills your endurance.

If you're running Tactics for the +Perception then you'll likely want to move an EndRed from Assault to Tactics.

Leadership is quite nice for Masterminds, but I wouldn't pick Maneuvers for anything but a Thug/x or x/FF due to the small buff provided. Assault is generally much more useful. With Tactics and SO Accs in your bots you start being able to hit stuff.

Stamina isn't required for Bot/Trap with Leadership, except in the most hectic situations. But you can always keep a CaB or two for those instead of wasting 3 power picks. Just drop the toggles while you summon your hench at the start of a mission.

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Biggest problem I have so far is everyone expects me to heal . Even when I put Sonic/Sonic in my search comment. I'm enjoying it as it like a blaster that helps out the team.

[/ QUOTE ]Many people sadly think of defenders as healers. However, this is luckily mostly limited to lower levels, and people will most likely appreciate you more as you get higher up.

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To elaborate, Sonic Resonance is a fairly rare set for various reasons, so new players tend not to know what it does and most (5/8) of the Defender primaries carry a heal of varying strength. The end result is new players thinking that Blue Shield and not FF or TA = HEAL!

Later on, Sonic Resonance starts showing its true power with the ability to reduce most damage fairly nicely and improving team damage (by reducing enemy resistance). And people no longer feel the need for healing as heavily as they did in the early levels.