Toxic_Torch

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Any opinions on an epic to go with?

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I'd say that is something you'll be able to pick a lot better yourself when you've hit level 32-35. By then you should know what you feel you need and what would/wouldn't work with your playstyle. PBAoE and melee powers would likely not be all that useful to you if use Hurricane and the other knockbacks a lot.

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Well done to the one of you spotted the "+5's" part of this.

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And
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It's *probable* my team will be a typical, unbalanced, p.u.g.

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If you're the sole Defender and the PuG wants to fight +5s then you quit the team unless there's a Controller there too. Otherwise you'll just be wasting your time and potentially be the recipient of various nasty remarks.

A PuG of 8 with only 1 Controller/Defender will most likely not have a good time against much more than +3s (to the team average level). A team of 8 people where most know the playstyles of the rest can deal with +4/5s using only one Controller/Defender.

Against +5s you'll not want the DeBuff centric sets (mainly Rad, Storm and Dark) as their efficiency drops fairly noticably around that point. This is because DeBuffs lose more and more efficiency the more you go above your level and because +1s and above recieve bonuses to To-Hit, Damage etc.

DeBuffs are not useless against +5s, but Buffs will not lose their strength when fighting +5s. Buffs will only have to compete against the natural level bonuses.

Edit:
Note that a level 26 AV may con purple to a level 26 hero, but that AV is still a +0 enemy when considering level bonuses and DeBuff efficiency compared to the hero.

Con colour is only a rough guide to the power of that particular enemy compared to you.

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I can't think of any possible use for recall friend after level 14 - Everyone's got a travel power!

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You've never been to the Shadow Shard, have you?

Besides, not everyone is equally good at navigating the normal zones. People may need to sell enhancements, they may be caught by an ambush after everyone else has zoomed off, you may be teaming with a SK'ed sub-14 or a number of other things. RF is still useful post level 14.

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not got enough pets as it is?

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There are NEVAH enough pets

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D2 Zoomancer, eh?

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Sonic/TA

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You do know that you can't select two Buff/DeBuff sets, right?

But Sonic/Archery might be a rare combo.

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Kinetics slow? I love kinetics cos it makes the team power through missions with the added damage possible, the speed boosts etc, but if you don't like Kinetics, then perhaps Forcefield might be to your choice? It's really the opposite to Kinetics, the ultimate buff and forget powerset.

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I read that as Kin being slow for solo play at lower levels (ie. before Transference & Fulcrum Shift).

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Can someone give some slotting advice on:

Radiation Infection
Enervating Field
Lingering Radiation

I'm having trouble deciding on the optimum slots, especially for RI. I was toying with 2* end red, 2*def debuff and 2* acc debuff.

Do i need 3 end in each, assuming i pick up stamina at 20

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RI - 1 EndRed/3 To-Hit DeBuff
EF - 2-3 EndRed
LR - 1 Acc/2-3 Rech/2-3 Slow (Slow is for PvP only)

RI is fairly cheap and the Defense DeBuff is good enough on its own, unless you expect to go up against +4s or high Def mobs frequently. The To-Hit DeBuff portion is more important as it is what helps keep you alive against heavy hitters.

EF can work with a single EndRed, but you'll not want to run it as much as you could then.

With LR you need to hit, but if you apply RI first (to reduce the Alpha strike) then a single Acc is more than enough in most cases. 3 Rech makes it far more frequent but Hasten is still needed to make it perma iirc.

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I remember you talking about it, I'm toying with the idea myself at the moment as I currently have all three of those powers, but I also have 3 effective level 53 end mods in short circuit which I'm extremely loath to trash given how rare they drop, so that'll probably not happen till the next respec.

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You could of course turn on Targeting Drone and run SC as 3 Dam/3 EndMod...

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mine can do things without anyone rather well actually

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We already know that it's technically possible to solo from level 1 to 50 using nothing but Brawl.

Empahty the best... Bwahahahahahahahahaha.

The "I can't do anything without others, plz team."-powerset is hardly the best at anything. It can be an ok backup for something useful like Radiation Emission or Kinetics though.

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With regard to drain, both short circuit and power sinc, when 3 slotted with endurance drain enhancements, will drain even level.

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Short Circuit will not drain an even level minion completely with 3 +3 SO EndMod on a Blaster. A Defender should be able to do that with their improved secondary effects, however.

thePhilosopher:
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End drain gives you a kind of AoE mez as opposed to ST from the holds and stuns.

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And it's one of the few things that can consistently shut down a downgraded AV.

What distribution of ATs was used?

Nosferatu can be very annoying if you have a primarily melee based team, much like the other AVs with Dark Regeneration.

My initial suggestion would be to not plan for level 41+ just yet, unless you're expecting to hit 35 this week. You will learn more about your character in the comming levels and there are some changes in opponents that can alter your perception of useful powers.

WMs build is fairly solid, but I would rearrange some powers and slots. One choice would be delaying Resurrect to get Recovery Aura at 18 for exemplaring purposes (a res is never as good as a power that keeps the team fighting/out of debt). Also, To-Hit buffs in PBU is a pure PvP choice, it's fairly pointless to do so for PvE purposes.

The first thing I think you should do is install the test client and copy your character to the Training Room (you can find instructions on how to do both in the Training Room forum) a couple of times and convince your wife to do the same. Then you play around with a few different respecs. You will need to copy your character as many times as you need respecs and you need to do it before you spend it on your live character. That way you get to check out how things work for you before you lock in your live character for ~10 levels.

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Flurry, your loosing it! Jump kick another no no, and i drain to much end if i run CE and another travel power, this requires more slots, which i dont have... sorry. I thought about all these powers

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I still think those powers are better choices when compared to Frozen Aura on an AoE Blaster.

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I found mine a joy to solo by lvl 22 I could solo invincible missions without insps. Despite slotted debuffs I found I had the slots to go 1 acc 3 dam on my 3 single target attacks and with aim I was flying through missions

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Maybe I have slotted badly then.

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Not all that unlikely.

Something like the following should have an easy time soloing at level 22 (including solo up until that point too) and still be good for teaming:
01 : Neutrino Bolt acc(01) dam(5) dam(5) dam(7)
01 : Radiation Infection endred(01) thtdbf(3) thtdbf(3) thtdbf(15)
02 : Radiant Aura recred(02) hel(15) hel(19)
04 : Accelerate Metabolism recred(04) recred(9) recred(11)
06 : Enervating Field endred(06) endred(7)
08 : Hasten recred(08) recred(9) recred(11)
10 : Hurdle jmp(10)
12 : Lingering Radiation acc(12) recred(13) recred(13) recred(19)
14 : Super Speed runspd(14)
16 : Irradiate acc(16) dam(17) dam(17)
18 : Health hel(18)
20 : Stamina endrec(20) endrec(21) endrec(21)
22 : Aim recred(22)

One thing that throws many off balance with Radiation Emission is that Radiant Aura is not all that important. Especially for an Offender build (which is what you need for solo). Heck, it might even be overslotted in the above build.

Useful Radiation Blast powers:

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.

Cosmic Burst high damage, quick activation and disorientation on top make this a good compliment to NB. 6 slots here would be my recommendation.

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

Aim is useful for the added damage. 1 slot for Recharge is my suggestion.

Less useful powers:
X-Ray Beam has slower activation and recharge, higher endurance cost and damage when compared to NB. Considering that a) you have to spend a power choice and b) it has a lower dps than NB, you'll probably find that you have to slot both NB and X-Ray to get good use of X-Ray. That's an additional cost in slots on top of the power choice, you will likely not have room for this.

If you want more AoE then add Electron Haze, but be aware that a) it's a fairly narrow cone as opposed to (PB)AoE and b) it has a random chance to knock back. If it was guaranteed or no knockback then Haze would be a much better power.

Proton Volley both sounds and looks great, but in the time you take in activating it you might as well have put down your debuffs and be a lot safer. You do have a chance of pulling it off mid-combat if your debuffs are up, but spamming NB (with Cosmic Burst when you have it) will yield greater overall damage.

Atomic Blast, it's a Defender nuke. 2x Irradiate + 2x Neutron Bomb will deal similar damage, be available more frequently and it will not kill your endurance (= debuffs). Of course, Irradiate->Neutron Bomb->Atomic Blast will deal massive damage if used against a bunch of debuffed opponents.

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There's not really a comparison between Devices and Traps

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Traps is better designed than Devices, but that shouldn't be much of a surprise with the experience the devs have gotten between the design of the two powersets.

As for your powerset assessment:
Web Grenade brings down fliers and helps against runners.
Caltrops is great if you don't want to engage in melee in PvE. In PvP it helps against Stalkers and runners.
Targeting Drone is lovely for the +Perception.
Cloaking Device doesn't have a -Speed component while Stealth (which is the correct comparison power) does. In this regard it is balanced with Cloak of Darkness (Dark Armor) and Shadow Cloak (WS secondary power)
Time Bomb could definately benefit from a shorter recharge and interrupt/activation time. Making it remotely detonated could be an interesting alternative for both Devices and Corruptor Traps.

Triage Beacon is only somewhat weak because it can't be moved, otherwise it is very powerful. Integration level AoE regen.
Force Field Generator is nice
Seeker Drones can be used to pull something into a trap field.

Improving upon the sub-par powers may require a retooling of other sets to preserve inter-AT balance. Smoke Grenade buffed? Smoke and Flash Arrow should logically recieve a similar buff since they are in effect the same power and they are in sets that have a greater focus on Buffs/DeBuffs. And that may improve those sets too much which will warrant a downwards adjustment for other powers, or in other words screw up the builds of non-Devices players. Similar concerns for anything shared with either Traps set.

Taser and Targeting Drone could get some adjustments without affecting too much else. The remaining powers can be found in other sets, in some form.

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Rad/Rad is not so good on soloing imho, you don't do much damage, your debuffs on cost you way too much endurance to let you use many attacks and plus you have only one self heal, which is not that efficient.

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RI & EF are very much worth the endurance they cost to keep up and you only really need Neutrino Bolt as an attack until level 28 (Cosmic Burst). 1 Acc/3 Dam in NB and you're good to go, X-Ray Beam is not worth the power pick+slots compared to other options.

And no Buff/DeBuff set has more than one self heal anyway, so that can't be a negative side. Besides, with RI+EF+LR active at the same time you won't need as much healing as a Kin would.

I'd suggest Super Speed, Flurry, Jump Kick or Chilling Embrace instead of FA...

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Thanks a lot Torch.

Radiant Aura I need well slotted since I use this character basically only for team play, however which slot you think could wait till later?

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I'd drop 2 Recharge and maybe replace 1 Healing with an Endurance Reduction. You should not need 3 Recharge in RA and 2 Heal should be sufficient.

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If I don't take X-Ray beam anymore, what should I be getting instead in your opinion?

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Radiation Infection. RI is, along with Enervating Field and Lingering Radiation, one of the most important powers in Radiation Emission. Radiant Aura is (IMO) merely a patching tool for the times RI+EF+LR aren't enough (ie. you get mezzed or your anchor is killed).

While it takes a bit of time to activate it is very effective in cutting down incomming damage while it lasts. It is best used on whatever lasts the longest in a spawn, how you actually place it should be adjusted to the actual spawn and your team. 1 EndRed and 1-3 To-Hit DeBuffs (depending on how many slots you have left) will make it very useful, especially against EBs, AVs and GMs.

Radiant Aura is overslotted for your level IMO, you'll need some of those slots for Radiation Infection instead.

Neutrino Bolt could benefit from a 1 Acc/3 Dam slotting.

X-Ray Beam is not worth the power pick if you do that slotting for NB. Especially when you're neglecting to take Radiation Infection.

Mutation should not be needed and 2 recharges is very much overkill unless your team is hopeless. Of course, some people like having Mutation and it can help out, but it can easily be delayed to level 26 or later if you want it.

Electron Haze with just 1 slot isn't all that useful. And if you're going for Defense DeBuff then you'll want Irradiate instead.

Move Lingering Radiation up to level 12 (for exemplaring) and Hover to 8 or 10.

You'll probably want a Fly enhancement in Swift as it accepts those these days, either update the planner on your own or grab another planner.

Health needs no slots in it. You will not see much of a difference, especially with Radiant Aura in your build.

Well, if you're level 22 then there are only two levels to go until you can earn a respec (that does stack with other respecs) through the Terra Volta trial.

My post was merely meant as a word of caution to not frivolously spending your only respec and think that you had more in reserve.

In any case, you can always test a respec (if you have an unspent one) without committing to it by copying your character over to the test server and then use the respec there. Your live character will be unchanged and still have the respec available. In fact, you'll be able to test multiple different respecs if you copy multiple times.

You should be able to find more information on the above in the Training Room forum, including how to install the test client (fairly easy if you read a bit first) and how to copy characters there.

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I have about 3 free respecs and in the near future am planning on using one of them.

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One comment:

Free respecs (or freespecs) do not stack. You can only have one at a time on a single character, if a new freespec is given out before you use your old one then you will still have only one.

As Shannon suggests, moving a slot or two from Assault, Tactics and Cloaking Device to Ice Bolt, Ice Blast, Web Grenade, Smoke Grenade and Bonfire (depending on how much you use WG, SG and Bonfire) could improve your endurance situation.

Also converting one or two To-Hit Buffs in Aim to Endurance Reduction would likely help, especially if you keep it on auto.

Some suggestions:

Remove recharges from Equip and Upgrade, use EndRed instead. Endurance will be a bigger problem than recharge for mission start once you get all 6 bots and both upgrades.

Super Jump, lose the two extra Jump enhancements unless you absolutely have to hit the cap.

You could overall use one less Acc in all your hench unless you're going to PvP, especially with Acid Mortar.

Trip Mine, 1 Acc, 2 Rech & 3 Dam is my recommendation. 1 Acc is enough to reliably hit most things (non-PvP) and 2 Rech helps get them out faster when you need to stack.

TFoe (for tele-mining in PvP?) has a recharge similar to Trip Mine and doesn't really need any further help.

If you're building for PvP then Tactics is almost required for the +Perception.