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AOE's are a must have in this powerset, no doubt. But I can't agree with taking only Irradiate, and skipping Neutron Bomb. With perma-hasten, perma-AM, your recharge time on Irradiate is almost EXACTLY 10 seconds. The slightest hesitation or lag and the second Irradiate doesn't make the AIM sequence. More importantly, with Neutron in the mix the mobs are dead in 3 seconds, not 10. It's damage mitigation, and faster levelling. Also stacking the two will let you take out higher level mobs, quicker, even if you're fine against even cons with just Irradiate.
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I should clarify that I meant Irradiate, Neutron Bomb, Irradiate again - all within the space of 1 aim. That is a LOT of damage. (NB is an annoying abbreviation, I'll just call it "Bomb")
RI + EF + Aim + Irradiate + Bomb + Irradiate = radiation death peddler. If you care to, back up and finish with a good Electron Haze if the three attacks weren't enough damage for you.
And try chaining NB + Brawl. I'm not kidding. Brawl's animation is fast enough to fit into NB's recharge time. Go ahead. Try it. :-) Brawl does crap damage because nobody slots it, but... it's 14 extra damage nonetheless. ;-)
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AOE's are a must have in this powerset, no doubt. But I can't agree with taking only Irradiate, and skipping Neutron Bomb. With perma-hasten, perma-AM, your recharge time on Irradiate is almost EXACTLY 10 seconds. The slightest hesitation or lag and the second Irradiate doesn't make the AIM sequence. More importantly, with Neutron in the mix the mobs are dead in 3 seconds, not 10. It's damage mitigation, and faster levelling. Also stacking the two will let you take out higher level mobs, quicker, even if you're fine against even cons with just Irradiate.
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I should clarify that I meant Irradiate, Neutron Bomb, Irradiate again - all within the space of 1 aim. That is a LOT of damage. (NB is an annoying abbreviation, I'll just call it "Bomb")
RI + EF + Aim + Irradiate + Bomb + Irradiate = radiation death peddler. If you care to, back up and finish with a good Electron Haze if the three attacks weren't enough damage for you.
And try chaining NB + Brawl. I'm not kidding. Brawl's animation is fast enough to fit into NB's recharge time. Go ahead. Try it. :-) Brawl does crap damage because nobody slots it, but... it's 14 extra damage nonetheless. ;-)
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Ah, I see. Well, that's the exact alpha strike sequence that I think works best. Uh, not the one with brawl, but the AOE one...
- felicity
Great post. I'm level 37, and have taken the same pools you have, after much testing of respec on the test server.
Only problems I forsee is epic pools. If Soul Drain is as good as it could be, then that totally messes up my builds. I took Grant Invis at 30 in prep for eventually taking phase shift, since EF and RI still work while phased. I may swap that for superleap on my next respec because I find myself getting knocked down all the time, and I want acrobatics.
I can't see ever taking the leadership pool as a rad/rad for 2 reasons. First is there's no way I could afford running another toggle, especially anything as expensive as stuff in the leadership pool. Second is I couldn't spare the pool. Even if I had a 5th pool, I'd take Fighting, as getting splatted post-40 is going to be a problem, I'm guessing.
Great post R'ae.
I like Rad/Rad for a lot of the same reasons. At level 40, I went a slightly different route with my build, going leadership for my accuracy, and putting all tohit debuffs in RI. My main attacks are Electron Haze and Neutron Bomb, with CB+NB for bosses. I'm might eventually respeccing to concealment for added utility, since I'll doing some more trials in the 40s. So I might look a little bit more like you soon!
WRT the discussion here, I have to point out something about Neutrino Bolt. I've seen a lot of calcs for this power based on the assumption that it starts recharging when the activation starts, which is not true. Go and look--especially felicity; I see you posting about NB quite a bit; you should really go and check this out.
NB works the same way as all the other powers in this game: It activates, a little swirly thing goes around the icon, and then when the power is done, the icon shrinks, and begins recharging. You won't notice this if you leave NB on auto, but if you keep tapping NB over and over, you'll see it activate, and then queue for activation while its recharging. Granted, the recharge time is shorter with Hasten + AM, but it still starts recharging -after- the activation is done. Please, go and try this out. If you still don't believe me, try six-slotting NB with recharge and see how many more you can get off in a minute. I think you'll find that with more and more recharge, you get diminishing returns towards the number many people accept as given.
Ummm, rayaguas1, you only took 19 powers in your build...
7 power pools, 7 primaries, and 5 secondaries. What are the last 5 powers you plan to take? I'm just curious because this guide is kind of incomplete as it stands.
Thanks for the praise, Eve -- means a lot.
I understand what you're saying about Neutrino... but for me, the gap is small enough such that I consider it negligible (at lest to the extent that I will not replace a damage enhancement for a recharge). In line with the gap between NBs...
I did try out what you recommended Dodger: about sneaking a Brawl in between NBs. And it works! For a brief moment, I was even tempted to add slots to it...
But perhaps I am too lazy to regularly include Brawl in my single target attack chain. At least not for the extra damage the Brawl would give. Granted, it does add up (especially against an AV for example), but over-all, in my opinion, not worth the END or the effort. Truly great idea though, and I recommend it for someone desiring greater efficiency and willing to do the extra clicks.
So when do we stack our AMs again, Eve?
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Ummm, rayaguas1, you only took 19 powers in your build...
7 power pools, 7 primaries, and 5 secondaries. What are the last 5 powers you plan to take? I'm just curious because this guide is kind of incomplete as it stands.
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I'm getting slightly different numbers from what you have, but perhaps those parts of the post weren't too clear...
First, though, I'd like to clarify my intentions:
1) I definitely do not think there is one ultimate build for rad/rad, or any other character for that matter. And even if there were one, I would not be so bold as to claim that my build is it. I believe it is a good build: well-thought out, and suitable for my purposes, playstyle, and typical game situations.
2) As I said at the end of my original post, beyond the specific powers I had mentioned as being nearly if not entirely unanimously accepted as practical no-brainers (EMP, RI, EF, CB, etc.), there is a lot of leeway for people to customize their builds as fits their needs/style/preferences. My goal was to help people who are currently rad/rad or are thinking of making a rad/rad make an intelligent, well-informed choice as regards powers and slotting.
To illustrate: One could pick Fly, cast RI on a bad guy, then fly around herding huge packs in an instanced, outdoor mission all the while being too far from serious damage. Then you can cast EMP or AB or whatever. Monstrous XP, and I wish I could do it.
My build, however, does not use Fly. But I do not want to recommend against it, which I believe might unduly influence someone and hamper their creativity. There are some things though which I believe any serious rad/rad defender must have -- things like EF, etc. This guide tells people that, and I belive more importantly, why. And there are some things which I believe are not too useful in a good rad/rad build. I have seen strenuously defended guides practically mandating taking the medicine pool -- and not just for stimulant (which I can understand perhaps) but for the Heal and the Res! As rad/rad, we have a sure-hit uninterruptible AoE heal, and our Res is significantly better. And while there may be times (1 in 3426 maybe) when I would really, desperately want a second res, I would not give up LR for this remote eventuality, which was actually the suggestion I had seen previously on these boards.
So that is bascially the reason why I did not list all the powers in my build... I firmly believe that I can help people make a good rad/rad build without my NEEDing to do so. (Or maybe I just did not want to run into another me on the streets of paragon?) 
But since you asked...
Of the 9 primaries, I have 6. I do not have Mutation, CC, or Fallout. If I could get a free power from these, I would get Mutation. You might want to take it, actually -- it can be very useful in things like the Sewer Trial for example.
Of the 9 secondaries, I have 6: my single target attack chain (NB and CB), my AoE chain (Irradiate and N Bomb), and the nuke AB plus Aim. I did not take EH, PV, or X-ray -- all of which are useful, by the way, and could very easily be KEY parts of a good rad/rad build.
That leaves, believe it or not, 11! power pool choices (almost literally half my powers).
Fitness: Swift, Hurdle, Stamina
Leaping: CJ, SJ, Acrobatics
Speed: Hasten, Super Speed
Concealment: Stealth, Grant Invis, Phase Shift.
I am as yet undecided on the last remaining power -- I will probably get Mutation. Of course, by that time, epic power pools might be live...
In which case, Grant Invis and Phase Shift get the boot, and Mutation does not get taken. That would give me three epic pool powers to play around with, and from the powers listed thus far, Soul Drain sounds like a really good fit (certainly one of my favorite powers on my DM/DA scrapper).
If I have to/really want to get 4 epic pool powers... I have no idea what to give up from the rest. This may sound heretical to some, but it might be LR...
Hope this helps "complete" the guide for you. Good luck, and happy hunting.
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My main attacks are Electron Haze and Neutron Bomb, with CB+NB for bosses.
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(In total shock, but with tongue firmly in cheek)
But...but...but... I remember the very first discussion we ever had -- and it was about how under-rated Irradiate was (at the time, anyway). And now you've switched over to the Neutron Bomb camp?
I'm just teasing, of course, Eve.
Seriously, though, it's not in any attack chain of yours? Just curious as to why.
I've posted on a lot of rad/rad posts in the last month, so my build is out there and my opinions too. All in all I like this guide. Good info, and good rebuttles and everything. I will add some of my thoughts.
I personally like teleport as the first travel power. I know it eats huge end before stamina, but I got by. I just liked using Recall Friend, and still use it quite a bit. I just don't like Combat Jumping running as a toggle and I guess SJ doesn't fit my personal stereotype of a defender. I did take SS later and now have Stealth as well. But TP really helps when running around in the Shadow Shard.
I did do a respec in the late 20s, so I had 2 builds. The first I used NB and XB for attacks. Now I have NB, CB, and Irradiate. I don't use Irradiate that much because it uses quite a bit of end. I mainly RI and EF a group and then just start single target blasting until I kill off my anchor. never have tried the AOE side, but I am planning on getting Neutron Bomb after I get Phase Shift.
I don't know yet if I'm going to respec to get the epic power pools or not. Nothing in it is really just sticking out to me. Right now I am fine and have even helped duo AVs with a blaster friend.
If you want to see where my defender is at now, just click the link in my profile and you can see what powers she has and the slotting.
Ok, don't answer my question...
Sorry, I did already, and in a fairly detailed fashion.
(It is rather difficult detecting irony or whatever on written text... This is just to make sure you didn't miss it.)
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I've posted on a lot of rad/rad posts in the last month, so my build is out there and my opinions too. All in all I like this guide. Good info, and good rebuttles and everything. I will add some of my thoughts.
I personally like teleport as the first travel power. I know it eats huge end before stamina, but I got by. I just liked using Recall Friend, and still use it quite a bit. I just don't like Combat Jumping running as a toggle and I guess SJ doesn't fit my personal stereotype of a defender. I did take SS later and now have Stealth as well. But TP really helps when running around in the Shadow Shard.
I did do a respec in the late 20s, so I had 2 builds. The first I used NB and XB for attacks. Now I have NB, CB, and Irradiate. I don't use Irradiate that much because it uses quite a bit of end. I mainly RI and EF a group and then just start single target blasting until I kill off my anchor. never have tried the AOE side, but I am planning on getting Neutron Bomb after I get Phase Shift.
I don't know yet if I'm going to respec to get the epic power pools or not. Nothing in it is really just sticking out to me. Right now I am fine and have even helped duo AVs with a blaster friend.
If you want to see where my defender is at now, just click the link in my profile and you can see what powers she has and the slotting.
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Thanks for posting your build.
Do you feel the need to keep Acc enhancers in NB and CB when you've got 3 Def debuffs in RI? I also notice you don't have AIM, so maybe that's why the ACC enhancers.
Otherwise your build is great. I can definitely see the logic of going 6-slot hasten, with 3 rch/3 endrec in AM, rather than what seems to be standard, 5-slot hasten, with 4 rch/2 End in AM. You get more End rec. the way you built it.
- felicity
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My main attacks are Electron Haze and Neutron Bomb, with CB+NB for bosses.
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(In total shock, but with tongue firmly in cheek)
But...but...but... I remember the very first discussion we ever had -- and it was about how under-rated Irradiate was (at the time, anyway). And now you've switched over to the Neutron Bomb camp?
I'm just teasing, of course, Eve.
Seriously, though, it's not in any attack chain of yours? Just curious as to why.
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I don't think there are any bad powers in the rad blast set. The black sheep used to be irradiate, and I used to hear people say that EH wasn't worth the endurance. The latest black sheep is XB, and I'm thinking of making a thread about how exaggerated the power of NB is, and how XB is really just as good or better in some situations. But I probably won't actually put XB in my build either Just not enough room for it.
I think the AoEs in Rad are especially well-balanced. For reasons that you stated about economy in build, I only wanted two AoE attacks, so I just picked those EH and Bomb. They work well together -- same recharge time, and with one cone range in EH i can cast them both from range for a pretty big effect.
I might switch around my AoEs again if I do another respec (leadership -> concealment). With Tactics gone, I'd want to make sure I was maxing out the duration of my defense debuffs. I may visit some lumi's soon and do some tests for that, but I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up getting Irradiate again some time.
Felicity- I did take Aim, I use it all the time now too. I was just hunting in PI on the docks and killing +3 mobs with EF+AM+Aim+Atomic Blast. Aim is in there between Irradiate and Cosmic Burst.
And to answer your question about accuracy in Neutrino Bolt and Cosmic Burst, yes I feel the need. I still miss even when I fire at an enemy in RI, but then I hardly ever fight even level cons. The main reason I see to put accuracies in is that I don't always fire at mobs that are in RI. I would rather pick off the ones outside of the aura and then work my way in. Also, you gotta hit runners somehow.
Here's my two cents.
My build is significantly different than the given one, but I'd like to think I can still chime in here, based on my calculations.
First off, I refer to my build as a 'hyperdefender'- I have almost no offensive capability whatsover, but I make everyone else on my team look great. By the time I hit level 14, I'd already maxed out Radiant Aura with Heal buffs and was getting quite close to six-slotting RI as well.
I picked up Assault at 24, Maneuvers at 26, and plan to grab Tactics at 30. Maneuvers and Tactics are going to both end up six-slotted- for a good reason. By my calculations, with RI set up 3/3 with half Defense and half To-Hit debuffs, and Maneuvers and Tactics both filled with buff increases, you drop the chance of even-con mobs hitting your teammates to the mimimum 5%, even bosses- and maximise your teams' to-hit chances to 95%. This remains the case as you move up- against reds only bosses stand a decent chance of hitting you, and by decent I mean about 50% chance or the same as an even-con minion. Considering that just about every other hero out there is going to have some means for boosting their defense and to-hit, you're going to be weighing the scales heavily in your favor. Or, to quote a Tank I teamed with once, "I'm pretty much invincible."
As for Assault, if you add the percentage it boosts damage to the amount Enervating Field and Accelerated Metabolism boost damage, you're looking at about 66.6% of base damage versus even cons- or the equivalent of two Damage SO's. For Blasters that might not mean much, as they'll already going to be hitting the cap most of the time, but for every other AT is going to appreciate that boost to all their attack powers. Obviously the bonus is going to lessen against tougher opponents- +4's drop that to about 20% or so, but still a nice boost when you've got four people doing a couple hundred points per attack.
And speaking of attacks, right now I have a total of two attack powers- Neutrino Bolt and Cosmic Burst. Before I hit 28, I was pretty well toast; my Neutrino Bolt had a total of two slots in it, both Damage. This meant that I basically could not solo missions- my only option was to team until my missions were filled with blues and greens, and then clean them out. Now I can handle missions without much trouble at all. My standard attack string is as follows:
1. Neutrino Bolt
2. Neutrino Bolt
3. Neutrino Bolt
4. Cosmic Burst
Right now I have perma-Hasten, perma-AM, and no recharge reducers in these two attack powers. As it stands every time I fire off that third Neutrino Bolt, Cosmic Burst is ready to fire- and it cycles fast enough to keep the target permanently dizzied. This might be decreasing my DPS, or it might not; honestly I don't care. My target remains dizzy so I don't get hit by them, while any friends he might have are under the effects of RI and I'm enjoying Maneuvers' boost to my defense so I rarely if ever take damage. With that in mind... what does it really matter if it takes me another two seconds to drop my target?
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don't think there are any bad powers in the rad blast set. The black sheep used to be irradiate, and I used to hear people say that EH wasn't worth the endurance. The latest black sheep is XB, and I'm thinking of making a thread about how exaggerated the power of NB is, and how XB is really just as good or better in some situations. But I probably won't actually put XB in my build either Just not enough room for it.
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Well, you sort of hit why to go with NB and not XB. You *have* to take, NB, there's no option not to. NB and XB are pretty similar when slotted, and after getting CB, there's no reason to have all 3. I went with NB, and XB before respec, but ditched XB after respec and getting CB.
So my argument would be CB and NB are good enough, spend the power choice on something else.
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First off, I refer to my build as a 'hyperdefender'- I have almost no offensive capability whatsover, but I make everyone else on my team look great. By the time I hit level 14, I'd already maxed out Radiant Aura with Heal buffs and was getting quite close to six-slotting RI as well.
I picked up Assault at 24, Maneuvers at 26, and plan to grab Tactics at 30. Maneuvers and Tactics are going to both end up six-slotted- for a good reason. By my calculations, with RI set up 3/3 with half Defense and half To-Hit debuffs, and Maneuvers and Tactics both filled with buff increases, you drop the chance of even-con mobs hitting your teammates to the mimimum 5%, even bosses- and maximise your teams' to-hit chances to 95%. This remains the case as you move up- against reds only bosses stand a decent chance of hitting you, and by decent I mean about 50% chance or the same as an even-con minion. Considering that just about every other hero out there is going to have some means for boosting their defense and to-hit, you're going to be weighing the scales heavily in your favor. Or, to quote a Tank I teamed with once, "I'm pretty much invincible."
As for Assault, if you add the percentage it boosts damage to the amount Enervating Field and Accelerated Metabolism boost damage, you're looking at about 66.6% of base damage versus even cons- or the equivalent of two Damage SO's. For Blasters that might not mean much, as they'll already going to be hitting the cap most of the time, but for every other AT is going to appreciate that boost to all their attack powers. Obviously the bonus is going to lessen against tougher opponents- +4's drop that to about 20% or so, but still a nice boost when you've got four people doing a couple hundred points per attack.
And speaking of attacks, right now I have a total of two attack powers- Neutrino Bolt and Cosmic Burst. Before I hit 28, I was pretty well toast; my Neutrino Bolt had a total of two slots in it, both Damage. This meant that I basically could not solo missions- my only option was to team until my missions were filled with blues and greens, and then clean them out. Now I can handle missions without much trouble at all.
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I see the logic of what you're saying, and I appreciate how you want to be a "hyperdefender." I wanted to deal very good damage on my own, and so our builds are necessarily different (which is not a bad thing). I do have some questions for you, though:
1) As you yourself said above, Assault probably does little if any for Blasters, since they probably slot for damage already (and are at, or near the cap). The same logic applies to the other leadership toggles as well. Most good players will build their heroes with the ability to hit targets even while solo (slotting ACC, for instance). I suspect Maneuvers does nothing for your Tank, or most Scrappers for that matter.
I contend that RI and EF do all these already, as you yourself say. And while Leadership provides even more, I personally don't think the cost (both in terms of END drain and opportunity cost) is justified by the marginal utility.
Perhaps an experiment is in order? Try going with your usual group and don't turn on the Leadership toggles. Use the etra END you now have for attacking or healing or casting LR (which you probably can't do so often with your current set-up) as the case warrants. If your group's effectiveness is the same or better, then that may argue against Leadership as a power pool for you. If you are so inclined, now try out other powers you may have skipped on the Test server (or do a Respec) and see how even more effective you are with these powers instead of Leadership.
After all of this, you may still find that you are most effective in your group using the Leadership pool. Which would be great -- and now, you would be even more convinced as to the appropriateness of these powers for your build, for you have tested other alternatives.
I suspect, though, that if you do test it out as I suggested, you will find that RI and EF (and the other rad powers) do a good enough job on their own. I believe you will find that you will be an even better defender with all the extra END you now have, and all the other new powers you now have at your disposal.
And, you can now solo better...going after reds and oranges, instead of greens and blues.
This may be unsolicited advice, but I hope you find it helpful (or at least thought-provoking).
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1) As you yourself said above, Assault probably does little if any for Blasters, since they probably slot for damage already (and are at, or near the cap). The same logic applies to the other leadership toggles as well. Most good players will build their heroes with the ability to hit targets even while solo (slotting ACC, for instance). I suspect Maneuvers does nothing for your Tank, or most Scrappers for that matter.
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You're correct; I'm positive that most Tanks will have hit the defense cap and most Blasters will have hit the damage cap. I don't know about Scrappers and Maneuvers: I just haven't seen the numbers there. However, I'm willing to bet the Tanks will greatly enjoy the Assault and Tactics boosts, and I'm sure the Blasters will enjoy the Maneuvers boost- and I already know from personal experience that Scrappers enjoy the Assault/AM/EF combination after being SK'd to a guy who was hunting Brickstown when I was still working on hitting 24. Every AT is good at one thing; by maximising Leadership and adding it to Radiation Emission's already potent powers, I can make the other AT's good at all the things they're supposed to be weak on, and possibly enhance the things they're already good at.
And beyond this is the situation that's going to crop up more as I move up in level- or at least it will judging by some screenshots I've seen: debuffs from enemies. If you've structured your character to just hit the cap, and then you get hit by a half-dozen debuffs by some Knives of Artemis, you're in trouble. My hyperdefender can effectively render those debuffs moot, or at least mitigate them somewhat- which is always helpful.
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Perhaps an experiment is in order? Try going with your usual group and don't turn on the Leadership toggles. Use the etra END you now have for attacking or healing or casting LR (which you probably can't do so often with your current set-up) as the case warrants. If your group's effectiveness is the same or better, then that may argue against Leadership as a power pool for you. If you are so inclined, now try out other powers you may have skipped on the Test server (or do a Respec) and see how even more effective you are with these powers instead of Leadership.
After all of this, you may still find that you are most effective in your group using the Leadership pool. Which would be great -- and now, you would be even more convinced as to the appropriateness of these powers for your build, for you have tested other alternatives.
I suspect, though, that if you do test it out as I suggested, you will find that RI and EF (and the other rad powers) do a good enough job on their own. I believe you will find that you will be an even better defender with all the extra END you now have, and all the other new powers you now have at your disposal.
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I've involuntarily conducted this study many times while fighting Fungoids, Eidolons, and Lost with their array of toggle-dropping powers. 
I've come to the conclusion that the boost from Leadership powers is substantial, even if they're overshadowed by Emission- which is about as they should be, being only pool powers. More than once I've gone into a fight after dealing with some dizzying effect and wondered why my teammates health bars were dropping a bit faster than normal- and then realized Leadership was off. I reactivate those powers and things shift back to how they 'should' be. Given that at this point I've yet to six-slot Maneuvers and Tactics is still a few bars of XP away (and some debt... curse those who don't understand the words 'stay here'...) I'd say that's a pretty good argument for how they'll operate later.
With regards to endurance, this is something that I've been worried about myself. However, after doing some digging on these forums I was able to come up with the endurance costs of the various toggles and the boosts gained by AM, Stamina. After juggling the numbers a bit, I've come to the conclusion that with a few well-placed endurance reduction enhancements and heavily-slotted Stamina, AM, I can maintain an endurance recovery rate about equal to the standard 100 endurance/minute rate. My toggles aren't the problem for me here.
The big draws are Lingering Radiation, Radiant Aura, and Cosmic Burst- each costing around 20 or so endurance per click (I can't get exact numbers right now; for some reason Hero Planner's on the fritz). If I stick to my build theory and focus on using these powers when necessary, and not start blasting ineffectually with Neutrino Bolt (with 1 damage SO, EF, AM, and Assault, I do about 20 damage at 29th level), I don't have endurance worries. I can heal when my team needs it, Cosmic Blast any Sorcerers or Porters or other such things to dizzy them, and cast Lingering Radiation when we need a slight edge, the last casting has worn off, or we've got a runner. I'm considering ways of slotting these, with plans to experiment once I hit 30 and can stop begging people to buy me SO's in Brickstown Right now with 6 level 30 Heal SO's in Radiant Aura, I heal around 275 per casting- it might be worth it to replace one Heal with a End Reduction, and one with Recharge. Shall see.
In any case, our two build philosophies certainly prove how much Rad/Rad Defenders can customize their role and get the effect they want; I expect there's at least one build out there that maximises offensive capability at the expense of defense, such as by slotting RI with all Defense Debuffs. I expect if one was to combine all three builds together on a team, it might well be unmatched.
And just as an aside, I do plan on boosting my offensive capabilities in the near future. Once I have Tactics, I'll have picked up all of the powers I intend to get to fulfill my primary role. My power slots for 32, 35, and 38 are going to be EM Pulse, Atomic Blast, and one of the other Blasts- the two I'm strongly considering are Proton Volley and Neutron Bomb (the first for when my team needs a sniper shot to pull, the second for a solid AOE). Past that I'm leaving things grey- I want to see what our epic power pools offer before I start planning.
I tinkered around a bit on the test server and I suspect that I will go with Dark for my Epic Power Pools when I respec.
I will certainly go for Dark Consumption at 41 for the END recovery (zero to full with 3 minions hit) and Soul Drain at 47. I am as yet undecided on Oppressive Gloom or Dark Embrace at 44.
If I take all 4 EPPs, then I will go with DE at 44, and OG at 49 since OG will probably require the least amount of slotting.
This now tempts me to perhaps swapping the Fighting pool for the fitness pool... with AM and DC for END management, I may try to get really high RES with tough and DE. Thoughts on this last point, anyone?
Scrappers will definitely appreciate the +DEF from Maneuvers. The only exception would be lvl 40+ SR scrappers, or Inv scrappers that have slotted Tough Hide and Weave in addition to Invicibility. In short, almost everyone except Invuln tankers needs +DEF. Until the mobs are at 5%, every bit of +DEF is good. And 10% vs. 5% means you get hit twice as often.
Assault may not be useful to blasters, but it is to most other AT's, and you don't slot it.
Tactics is mainly good for +3 mobs or higher.
I didn't take Leadership with my Rad/Rad (now at lvl 29.) I will probably take it in the 30's though, and go with an Epic pool at lvl 41.
I do find that my ability to do damage adds substantially to my contribution to a group. A rad/rad with 3-4 6-slotted damage powers can do very respectable damage on its own or in groups, more so than other defender combos. How much I use the damage powers when in groups depends on the circumstances and group composition though. If there's already lots of damage dealers, I tend to just throw AM, RI, EF, LR and heal. If the group is support heavy, I do blast away though.
I've found that people are literally amazed at how much this toon adds to a group. I did the Bastion TF with her the other day, me at lvl 27 and 3 other toons (after 1 dropped out) at lvl 28. I had to break for dinner in the last mission, and they found they couldn't take out the AV without me there. With 1 blaster, 1 controller, and 1 other defender, they just couldn't damage him fast enough. Yet when I came back, we took it down easily. Quite a concept: a defender needed in a group for damage dealing!
- felicity
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I didn't take Leadership with my Rad/Rad (now at lvl 29.) I will probably take it in the 30's though, and go with an Epic pool at lvl 41.
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My best advice to you as a current level 43 Rad/Rad myself, is to not take the leadership skills. As a Rad/Rad you don't need them at all. I totally respeced them out because they were useless. Other defenders might find them useful but there is no place for them as a high level Rad/Rad.
I agree with the previous poster. Leadership is really useless once you have RI fully slotted. With RI and EF you are fully buffed and debuffed the mobs as well.
With Speed (Hasten, SS), Leaping (CJ, SJ), Stealth and Fitness (Hurdle, Health and Stamina)as 4 power pools I have yet to find a more efficient way of using my power pools.
Unfortunately that's not quite true. Lemme toss out the numbers, as best I can- it's been a while, so I'm going on memory (and what posts still exist) here.
First off, let's look at base villain accuaracy.
Minion - 50%
Lieutenant - 65%
Boss - 75%
Now, RI in and of itself reduces villain accuracy by 30%. So minions drop to 20%, lieutenants to 35%, and bosses to 45%. Not too shabby, right? Right. RI's an excellent power.
If we then assume 3 accuracy debuffs in RI, the accuracy reduction is doubled- i.e. minions and lieutenants both hit the 5% minimum and bosses are staring at a 15% accuracy. That's pretty substantial right there- but we can still drop boss accuracy.
So you activate Maneuvers. Maneuvers boosts your Defense, at base, by 6.25% (note one person says Defenders get a 7.8% boost out of Maneuvers- I'll lowball it to be conservative). For fighting minions and lieutenants, that doesn't mean much. For bosses, that 15% just became 8.75%. With 3 Defense buff SO's in Maneuvers, you can drop that boss's accuaracy to the baseline of 5%.
Because of of the way that effectiveness scales with level, this ability to reduce enemy accuracy through the floor degrades as you increase- but Maneuvers remains at its original effectiveness. So while Radiation Infection's 60% decrease will drop to 39% when facing +3's (i.e. red minions) Maneuvers will retain its full bonus. The aforementioned minion would have a 11% chance to hit- but with Maneuvers you drop that back down to 5% again- halving the damage taken by halving the amount of hits that will land. A +3 boss hit with RI has a 36% chance of hitting you- but with Maneuvers six-slotted with Defense buffs that 36% becomes 22.5%; not the baseline 5%, but that's still a significant drop from a little more than 1 in 3 attacks hitting to closer to 1 in 5. Add in a defense bonus from Hover, Hasten, or Combat Jumping and you're talking an accuracy of 16.25% or less.
If you were to do the same calculations for Accuracy, you'd find similar results- except that because Accuracy gives a larger bonus for Defenders (12.75% IIRC), then you'll see a 95% to-hit rate against even more powerful foes.
So yes, Radiation Infection is an extremely powerful weapon in the Radiation Emission set- but it does not in and of itself remove the utility of the Leadership set . If you had to pick one or the other, then yes, by all means go for Radiation Infection. And if you aren't up for being a hyperdefender, then other things will probably suit you better. I honestly would suggest people not try to be a hyperdefender from the start unless you're going to be with a team 90% or more of your time- it isn't fun being unable to solo until 28th level. If I was to try and do it all over again I'd definitely go for a more balanced setup and then switch to this at 28 with a respec.
Oh, and just for a quick response mentioning that without the Leadership pool taking up slots, I could probably take on reds- I decided to test that out the other day in Brickstown. I am indeed capable of taking on a group of reds and oranges with this build; I just never tried it before. Now whether that will change with different groups (I expect Freakshow tanks will be more of a problem than Nacht Ubermenschen) .. I guess I'll find out. But I've also just joined a new, active Supergroup, so I might not have to.
Cheers, and good hunting.
Kudos on a nice guide)
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Edit: I would further add, if you want to get into the fine nuances, that NB alone has overall better DPS than CB alone. The problem is that your calculation is DPS based on activation time alone. It assumes you can buff your recharge rate to where it is equal to or less than the activation time. That's true with NB, but not with CB. You can get 5 NB's in for every one CB, assuming perma-hasten plus perma-AM. Of course, cycling the two WILL produce better DPS than either alone. But I'm not sure I'm agreeing with NB even being second best of 4. It's actually first best of 4 in raw DPS.
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If you look at my post, I specifically mention adding the attacks to "an attack chain"
With Hasten and AM, it is easy to build an attack chain where you never have to wait for anything to recharge. The more you use NB in that chain the lower it will be.
And yes, I compare the single-targets to the AoE's. You know why? Because I have rarely if ever needed to kill just 1 guy. And if I did? I just sniped him, because I can EASILY 2-shot an orange minion with EF and a snipe followed by a CB.
As for single-target attacks, why would you possibly try to make a single-target damager out of the best AoE set a Defender gets? (we have 3 AoE attacks in Rad, 2 radial and a good damage cone) You want single-target damage, Rad/Psi is probably a better choice.
Again my numbers were Per seconds activation. I was presenting them as how much damage they bring to an attack chain, when you can post your attacks in an order that you always have one recharged to fire off. It's easily doable.
Over time (damage / rech + activation)
Irradiate's 27.8 / (1.1 + 10) = 2.50
NB's 25 / (1.7 + 8) = 2.57
With 1 recharge in Irradiate,
Irradiate's 27.8 / (1.1 + 8.5) = 2.89
I put 1 rech in Irradiate but not NeutBomb because I open the fight with RI + EF + Aim + Irradiate (to debuff defense for max accuracy), then NB, and with the recharger, I can Irradiate again before Aim wears off.
At this point, that group are dead anyway, and my DPS calculations are moot because I'm already heading toward the next fight. :-D
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Appreciate the clarification.
I don't advocate building a rad/rad as single target only. I did this initially with my toon because I wanted to compare him to my Ice Blaster for single target damage efficiency. At lvl 24, I respecced out of XB and took Irradiate.
For a pure single target attack chain, it appears that the optimum sequence is CB, NB, NB, NB CB, etc. Unless your activation numbers are correct for XB and the Warcry site's are wrong, then adding XB in, not NB, will reduce your DPS (slightly). Since you have to take NB, XB is truly pointless, especially after Hasten is involved.
AOE's are a must have in this powerset, no doubt. But I can't agree with taking only Irradiate, and skipping Neutron Bomb. With perma-hasten, perma-AM, your recharge time on Irradiate is almost EXACTLY 10 seconds. The slightest hesitation or lag and the second Irradiate doesn't make the AIM sequence. More importantly, with Neutron in the mix the mobs are dead in 3 seconds, not 10. It's damage mitigation, and faster levelling. Also stacking the two will let you take out higher level mobs, quicker, even if you're fine against even cons with just Irradiate.
As to rad/psi being better for single target, I don't know since I haven't done a strict numbers comparison. I do know that Psi is considered a very late blooming set though, so I presume that observation pertains to higher levels.
- felicity