DrObviousSos Miniguide to AV fighting with a Rad/
By
DrObvious,
Posted on: 2006-01-01 21:26 in Player Guides
These are good tips, but this is all pretty much common sense, isn't it? I mean, as you said, an AV is pretty much a mob with a lot of HP and damage, and the steps you outline are usually my standard steps in any fight (maybe switching the places of damage and secondary effects).
That said, outlining an order of priorities may be very helpful to those new to support archetypes.
"OOOOPPPSSSS." -Statesman
[ QUOTE ]
These are good tips, but this is all pretty much common sense, isn't it?
[/ QUOTE ]
Well, his name is "Dr. Obvious," isn't it?
Actually, often in larger teams, the killing is so fast that a Rad defender or controller will not have time enough to put down the RI/EF debuffs before the potential anchor is killed.
If you have a Mind or Illusion controller on the team, one of the best tricks is to Confuse/Deceive the AV (it may take several attempts), and let the AV take out all of his minions before you deal directly with the AV. For example, my Ill/Rad will cast Deceive on the AV (draws no aggro!) and then cast RI and EF on the AV. This will have him take out his minions while debuffing them.
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
[ QUOTE ]
These are good tips, but this is all pretty much common sense, isn't it? I mean, as you said, an AV is pretty much a mob with a lot of HP and damage, and the steps you outline are usually my standard steps in any fight (maybe switching the places of damage and secondary effects).
That said, outlining an order of priorities may be very helpful to those new to support archetypes.
[/ QUOTE ]
As I said at the top, I'm writing this specificly for a SG mate who was having trouble figuring out what to do. It may be common sense to us, but he opened the fight with Atomic Blast. If I went ahead and wrote it up anyway, I may as well share with the community.
[ QUOTE ]
Actually, often in larger teams, the killing is so fast that a Rad defender or controller will not have time enough to put down the RI/EF debuffs before the potential anchor is killed.
[/ QUOTE ]
I've never been in a team that killed an AV faster than I can cast RI and EF on them. What AV and team makeup have you done that did this?
Think it's worth mentioning the massive -regen from EM pulse can bottom out an AV's regeneration whenever LR is not in effect.
"Fascinating. I'm not bored at all, I swear." -Kikuchiyo
This is a miniguide that Im writing up at the behest of my SG mate. Its a summary of the tactics that Ive found useful and successful.
First off, let me just say that Id almost never* go after an AV without the Mitigater/Tanker/Damager trio that is usually not needed in this game. AV hunting is just about the only time there are any team requirements for me, but its usually not a big deal, because I usually expect itll take about 5 toons to take down any AV in the higher levels.
Mitigater arent healers per say, their job is damage mitigation. Defenders and Controllers usually fall in this category. As a Rad defender, this is what you are. Ill go more into your role later.
Tankers are the people who grab and hold the agro of the AV, keeping it away from the Damagers who will fold like paper if an AV looks their way. This is usually a Tanker, but on occasion could be a scrapper, or maybe, maybe a Dark/ defender. No one else has the tools to take the hammering an AV can dish out. Post ED, a single tanker can almost never take damage output from an AV, and they require the help of a Healer type to keep them on their feet. If you have a couple of tankers, and not enough healing, they can trade off the Agro to each other, but if you are on their team, they shouldnt have to.
The Damagers sit in the safe zone of being able to unload with their damage while the AV flails around on the Tanker. If the tanker doesnt die, and is able to hold the agro, this is a fairly safe job. If not, expect the hurt to come pretty quick. Since they are doing the damage, they will grab the AVs attention before the Healers do if a tanker dies.
So how does a Rad/ defender fulfill his roll as a Mitigator? We have a number of tools that do this, and in almost all cases, you have the same priority queue. A priority queue is just a list you keep working down, and as soon as you get to an action you can take, you take it. My queue goes in this order:
Prime) Rez the tanker! If the tanker goes down, mutate him right away. Dont think, just do it. If you have vengeance, go ahead and use it first.
1) Rad Infection and Enervating Fields: These are your two bread and butter toggles, so you should really expect them to be up here. Of note though is EFs rarely talked about effect, damage debuff. AVs hit hard, and are one of the only times that damage debuff plays a large part of keeping people alive in PvE.
2)Lingering Radiation: This power does three very, very important things against an AV. First, it reduces the AVs hp regeneration. Anyone whos battled a lot of AV has probably gotten into the situation where the AV cant kill you, but you cant kill it because you cant over come its HP regen. This power helps out with that a lot. Its second job is slowing movements of the couple of AV that love to run away from you to heal up. The third job is usually the most important. Many AVs have one very damaging attacks and one or two lesser attacks. Your tanker isnt really going to care about the lesser attacks, but the big attacks can really affect them. Slowing down that big attack gives you a lot more time to keep the tanker on his feet.
3) Heal the Tanker : Youll never be able to mitigate all the damage from an AV. Youll have to heal. The tanker is the highest priority, because if he falls, everything else unravels.
4) Heal everyone else: Tankers rate above everyone else, but theres no reason to let that blaster die.
I guess.
5) Secondary effects of blast/ control : A defender is just not going to be doing a whole bunch of damage, but AV fights last long enough to give you good returns on stacking other effects. Mecha is a /dark with Tentacles 2 slotted for imob duration, so he can usually immobilize an AV by about the half way point in the fight. This keeps them from running, and allows the squishies to retreat around the corner if they need to. Many other secondaries offer other good options. /Rads Irradiate offers a great def, for example.
6) Damage: Well, if you cant do any of the above, you may as well blast. AVs are just mobs with a lot of hp after all.
Well, thats how I help out in an AV fight. As far as Ive seen, Rad/ helps out quite a bit in an AV fight, but its really all about making the small adjustments based on whats on your team. This should give you a good place to startl
*Ive had a lot of success with all Defender/Controller combos, even taking Rulidak with only 4 toons, but that was only with very, very skilled players with optimized builds