What kind of toon is your buddy making?
Enervating Field is a really nice power to have for long/tough fights, especially if you're light on damage. Which it sounds you might be. It is an endurance beast, tho, so three End Reds are a must to make it tolerable.
Fire/Rad is a very very fun build. I find it can be very uber, but if I get careless or do things out of order, I'll eat floor in a heartbeat.
This is my usual Method of Operation
1. Smoke- very minor Acc debuff, but it lets me get close enough to drop Rad Inf before they aggro
2. Radiation Infection- the acc debuff is key to surviving the alpha. The -def also helps steps 3 and 4 hit.
3. AoE Hold or AoE Stun- whatever is ready
4. AoE Immob
5. Lingering Radiation- esp on low DPS teams
6. Fireball
Heal as needed.
By now, Hot Feet and Choking Cloud have pulsed a few times and cooked up/locked down any stragglers. I usually check for any other nearby mobs we may be in danger of aggroing, and Smoke them. Or bust out some AM. If things get nasty, I bust out the EMP.
Last night on a team of 8, our tank had to bail, so I stepped in as Tank for Team Squishy. I kept the majority of the aggro, but without Taunt, my teammates did catch hell once in a while. Otherwise, it was slow but steady progress against purps. The best is telling everyone to come and gather for AM when you're standing neck-deep in purple.
Stay Gold, Paragon. Stay Gold.
Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.
My buddy is also making a Fire/Rad.........
I guess I should have been more clear. Since my buddy's Fire/Rad is going to be ranged and focused on the debuffs, he is taking all three debuffs. So my question on which to skip is based around the question of which debuffs are the best to stand on their own and which shine the most with a double application.
I have lately been running my Fire/Rad with the other Fire/Rads of my buddies, so I have some experience with this.
First, the idea of one being melee while the other stays ranged is a mistake. What makes FRads amazingly powerful in groups is stacking the effect of Choking Cloud + Hot Feet. You need both of you to have that combo on all the time. You can stack Flashfire + Fire Cages (to stun bosses), then both of you run in with CC+HF, and the imps trailing behind. Stand there while everything dies.
The nature of Choking Cloud makes it much, much more powerful when stacked. Then stack the damage from Hot Feet and have six crazy Imps running around killing statues.
I have the Rad debuffs, but only use them occasionally on bosses -- nothing else lasts long enough.
EF is worth taking, even if you don't use it often -- it casts quickly and helps you take down the foes fast. To handle the endurance issues, make sure you max slot Choking Cloud and Hot Feet with EndRdx, plus go for Recovery bonuses. But once you have it slotted up well, Endurance isn't much of an issue since you have double AM also.
Choking Cloud needs to be max slotted with Hold as well -- don't skimp, as it really affects the effectiveness of the power. Eventually, I strongly recommend the Lockdown +2 Mag proc -- especially with 2 or more people, it makes a noticable difference because of the unique way that Choking Cloud works.
Hot Feet needs max EndRdx, then as much Damage and some accuracy as you can -- standard SO slotting is 3 EndRdx, 1 Acc, 2 Dam. At 50, I have a little slow in there as well, as the slow keeps the foes in the CC+HF area longer.
At level 50, I strongly recommend the Gravitational Anchor Chance for Hold proc in Fire Cages. In our group, we often don't bother with Flashfire -- since everyone has that proc, we use Fire Cages as the opener and most of the foes are held with that proc when stacked. Then we run in, and green clouds (Choking Cloud) and tesla cages (Lockdown proc) pop up all over the place. Hot Feet eats away at their health while the fire imps bite off big chunks of health.
I skipped Fallout and Mutation from Rad (Mutation is nice, but I wanted both Fly and Super Speed). I skipped Ring of Fire and Smoke from Fire. With Super Speed + a Stealth IO, I find I don't need Smoke. (Or, just one of you could take it.) Super Speed lets me run around in missions to get in the best position to use CC+HF, and then run away if I need to.
If you had four or more Fire/Rads, you could skip Stamina and get by on stacking AM, but two doesn't give you enough recharge. Assault is a possiblility to boost your damage, but I don't have it. (Had it before, respec'ed out.)
On the debuffs -- take all three even if you don't use them all the time. I mostly use RI on AVs, EBs and really tough bosses, as the cast time is so long that everything else is dead. EF casts fairly quickly, as does LR. LR will keep the foes from running away very fast, and EF helpes take them down faster. They all stack nicely, so I say that you should both have all the debuffs. On AVs, remember that they have huge resistances to debuffs, so Ling Rad, while it makes a difference, isn't so effective that you would want to skip it on one of your characters. If you both have it, you don't need to worry about slotting it for slow. (My current slotting is 1 Acc, 2 Rech, Acc/Slow and Slow/EndRdx/Rech from Tempered Readiness. -- good accuracy, max recharge and a little added slow, plus a small Recovery bonus.)
Bonfire is situational, and you could easily get by with only one of you having it. I like it in various strategic situations, and I usually throw it on top of AVs with knockback protection to add some damage. I use it a lot on the ITF and STF.
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
If you're running two man teams, Fallout wouldn't be very helpful. If one of you goes down, the other won't be far behind. On big teams, LOVE busting a Fallout off a dead blaster, especially when they grumble about me "defiling their corpse."
Stacked CC + Hot Feet is pretty Epic. Not to mention stacked toggles. I agree with LM- you both should be right in there in the Suck. Get your timing right, and you guys will be unstoppable.
Smoke is also handy for keeping Fire Imps from aggroing other mobs. They LOVE to chase down runners.
Stay Gold, Paragon. Stay Gold.
Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.
Here's a build I would suggest you consider. This is an SO build, that would obviously be different with IO sets. If you want, one of you could replace Bonfire with Smoke, or Assault, or whatever. You could choose to not take Super Speed. But I suggest that you both take all three of the Rad debuffs.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]
Fred the FRad: Level 50 Magic Controller
Primary Power Set: Fire Control
Secondary Power Set: Radiation Emission
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Psionic Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Char -- Acc-I(A), Hold-I(3), RechRdx-I(15), RechRdx-I(27), Acc-I(36), Dmg-I(43)
Level 1: Radiant Aura -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(43), RechRdx-I(43)
Level 2: Fire Cages -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(3), EndRdx-I(11), EndRdx-I(31)
Level 4: Accelerate Metabolism -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(5), RechRdx-I(5), EndMod-I(36), EndMod-I(40), EndMod-I(46)
Level 6: Radiation Infection -- ToHitDeb-I(A), ToHitDeb-I(7), EndRdx-I(7), ToHitDeb-I(27), DefDeb-I(46)
Level 8: Hot Feet -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(9), Dmg-I(9), Acc-I(19), EndRdx-I(19), Dmg-I(23)
Level 10: Air Superiority -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(11), Dmg-I(46)
Level 12: Flashfire -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(13), Dsrnt-I(13), RechRdx-I(15), RechRdx-I(17), Dsrnt-I(17)
Level 14: Fly -- Flight-I(A)
Level 16: Swift -- Flight-I(A)
Level 18: Health -- Heal-I(A)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(21), EndMod-I(21)
Level 22: Enervating Field -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(23)
Level 24: Cinders -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(25), Hold-I(25), RechRdx-I(40)
Level 26: Lingering Radiation -- Acc-I(A), RechRdx-I(37), RechRdx-I(37), RechRdx-I(37), Acc-I(40)
Level 28: Choking Cloud -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(29), EndRdx-I(29), Hold-I(34), Hold-I(34), Hold-I(36)
Level 30: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(31), RechRdx-I(31)
Level 32: Fire Imps -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(33), Dmg-I(33), Dmg-I(33), Acc-I(34), RechRdx-I(42)
Level 35: Bonfire -- Dmg-I(A), RechRdx-I(50)
Level 38: EM Pulse -- Acc-I(A), RechRdx-I(39), Hold-I(39), Acc-I(39)
Level 41: Indomitable Will -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(42), RechRdx-I(42)
Level 44: Mind Over Body -- ResDam-I(A), ResDam-I(45), ResDam-I(45), EndRdx-I(45)
Level 47: Psionic Tornado -- Acc-I(A), Dmg-I(48), Dmg-I(48), Dmg-I(48), Acc-I(50), RechRdx-I(50)
Level 49: Super Speed -- EndRdx-I(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Containment
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
If you're stacking Fire/Rads, definitely also take the Leadership powers--all of them, in fact. 2X Maneuvers, Assault & Tactics becomes very powerful. Vengence on one or the other when things get through. Stack AM to get them perma quickly (you'll both need some decent recharge bonuses, but not nearly as much as solo). Stack Hotfeet, get containment, cast EF, things will die quickly. Both running Choking Cloud, w/RI & your AoE stun/holds alternating means you shouldn't get touched much either (and again, Maneuvers is up). Really hard to mess up.
An Offensive Guide to Ice Melee
Thanks for the thoughts everyone. The plan for my buddy to stay ranged is his crazy idea. I've been telling him for days that he needs to scrap that idea and join me in melee. My Fire/Kin lives in melee and it's an incredible blast.
Local_Man, my current build plan is eerily similar to the build you posted, except I'll be using Set IO's and I'm trying to balance Set Bonuses against maxing the values of the power. Hot Feet, for instance, will be frankenslotted for Damage and Endurance and some Accuracy. My Fire/Kin has Obliteration in Hot Feet because I love the set bonuses and I really don't care about damage or endurance bonuses on my Kin. But it will obviously be much more important on this toon.
And I'm right there with you on the Lockdown Hold proc. I have that in Char and Cinders on my Fire/Kin and plan having it in all four holds on this toon. I luv those Tesla Cages.
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If you're stacking Fire/Rads, definitely also take the Leadership powers--all of them, in fact. 2X Maneuvers, Assault & Tactics becomes very powerful. Vengence on one or the other when things get through. Stack AM to get them perma quickly (you'll both need some decent recharge bonuses, but not nearly as much as solo). Stack Hotfeet, get containment, cast EF, things will die quickly. Both running Choking Cloud, w/RI & your AoE stun/holds alternating means you shouldn't get touched much either (and again, Maneuvers is up). Really hard to mess up.
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Dave, you and I agree on most things, but not so much here. I don't find a huge benefit to the Leadership powers at the expense of a constant drain of endurance. For Defenders, yes, but not so much for controllers. When the foes are held or otherwise controlled, taking an extra second or two to take them down doesn't matter much to me, and I would rather have those power slots for powers that I can get more utility out of.
Also, I admit to finding the Leadership powers boring. I would rather have a power that actually DOES something. You can see the effect of Choking Cloud, Hot Feet, and even the Rad debuffs. For Leadership, you get another damn toggle to have to turn on, that annoying animation and then . . . you do a little more damage and hit a little more often. In the rare instance where people die, you get a great buff.
On a larger regular team, the stacked leadership toggles are great. I have been on teams where everyone had them, and we simply tore through stuff. But there, we had so much End buffing that we were able to skip the Stamina pool and take Leadership instead. What three powers do you propose to skip to fit in Leadership?
In the end, it comes down to personal choice. I'm not that crazy about Leadership, but a lot of folks love it.
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
Maybe you can dig up or someone can link the video clip of the Fire/Rads doing their thing to the final four of the STF in the TimeForce II event (I believe) in which they take on all 4 at once basically and destroy them all in around 3 minutes 16 seconds or something like that. If that doesn't make him reconsider I'd say it's a lost cause.
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Thanks for the thoughts everyone. The plan for my buddy to stay ranged is his crazy idea. I've been telling him for days that he needs to scrap that idea and join me in melee. My Fire/Kin lives in melee and it's an incredible blast.
Local_Man, my current build plan is eerily similar to the build you posted, except I'll be using Set IO's and I'm trying to balance Set Bonuses against maxing the values of the power. Hot Feet, for instance, will be frankenslotted for Damage and Endurance and some Accuracy. My Fire/Kin has Obliteration in Hot Feet because I love the set bonuses and I really don't care about damage or endurance bonuses on my Kin. But it will obviously be much more important on this toon.
And I'm right there with you on the Lockdown Hold proc. I have that in Char and Cinders on my Fire/Kin and plan having it in all four holds on this toon. I luv those Tesla Cages.
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If your buddy wants to stay at range, suggest that he try a Plant/Rad instead. The cone in Seeds will complement your control, and the damage from Roots will complement your AoE damage. With your Hot Feet DoT and the DoT in Roots, you should be able to take the foes down pretty quickly. And Plant/Rad will allow him to play from the edges instead of in the middle of things.
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
Yeah, we've gone around this before. I've actually modified my stance somewhat that I no longer advocate Leadership for all builds, but for a duo of Rads, I still think it's worth it. Say you happen to be going for high def builds--it'd be far easier to achieve def-cap (or near it) on a pair of Fire/Rads w/both running Maneuvers, esp after they throw up RI. Then there's 2x Assault stacked w/2x AM w/containment & Hotfeet w/2 EFs running. Yum. Then there're 6 imps to think about who'll get the benefits of all that stacking described above.
Still, I'm no longer of the mindset that no Leadership = Fail so there's progess for ya. 
An Offensive Guide to Ice Melee
I'm confused. Why would you worry about hitting the defense cap if you are duo'ing rads?
RI by itself with 3 so's is -39% to hit debuff, isn't that the same thing as 39% defense?
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There's the first few seconds before RI is activated when you're vulnerable. Then theres when your anchor inevitably drops. Then there are AVs and other resistant mobs against whom RI does surprisingly little. A high base def covers almost all the very few holes a Fire/Rad has in the first place, and 2x Maneuvers is good for that. Really, I"m not saying it's a must have or anything, but it's good to have and I think there's room for it in most builds, esp considering you're benefitting at least 8 different entities w/a single toggle (2 Fire/Rads and their imps).
An Offensive Guide to Ice Melee
If your friend wants to stay at range, have him consider Illusion/Storm, you'll get much more synergy out of that combo than from gimping a Fire/Rad by playing him at range.
I'm planning to run a Fire/Rad Duo with a buddy of mine and am curious to get input on how to best synergize the builds.
For a little background on how informed we are on the sets, I have a 50 Fire/Kin and a 25 Ill/Rad. I'm still very green on the Rad set in general. And this will be my buddy's first controller.
As far as play styles, the plan is for my toon to be the melee controller running Hot Feet and Choking Cloud, and his to be mostly at ranged worrying about the debuffs (generally speaking).
My current plan is to skip Enervating Field because of major endurance issues, and possibly even one of the other debuffs. Is one Lingering Radiation enough to bottom out the regen of an AV or would both of us having it be beneficial?
As the melee toon and assumed aggro taker, should I be looking at the fighting pool and/or maneuvers? Should I try to cover it with set bonuses? Or are the debuffs enough to keep us alive generally speaking?
Any thoughts on the best way to build the two duo builds would be appreciated. Thanks.