Learn to accept that in the lower levels, whoever you choose as anchor will be killed first. 
Maybe go for a Lt rather than boss as people tend to target the boss first. Pick one that's lurking a bit further back or to the side as well. Never helped me much tho - even if I picked a minion miles away from the rest of the group they always seemed to know and drop him first. It was uncanny.
Whatever you anchor your debuffs on will be effected by those debuffs.
However if you lead off with RI on a Lietenant or Boss you're pretty likely to agro the entire mob anyway. In my opinion your better off covering a greater area with debuffs by splitting between 2 seperate monsters - Both RI and EF regenerate pretty quickly so you should be ably to keep both of them running throughout the fight.
Having a "$target is my anchor" bind is a good idea but don't expect ANYONE to pay attention it. Better to say at the start of any team "I will put my Debuff on LTs/Bosses when posible so please clear the minions first" but as I pointed out the attack Rate on RI/EF is not terrible so if somone kills your anchor just target a reasonably healthy critter and put it on him.
The full description for Mutate is as follows:
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"Using a concentrated burst of radiation, you can revive a fallen hero and Mutate him into a killing machine. The Mutated hero has increased damage, Accuracy, Endurance recovery, and attack speed and is protected from XP Debt fort 20 seconds. The entire experience is very taxing on the Mutated hero, and he will soon be severely weakened. All effects of the Mutation will eventually wear off. Recharge: Very Long"
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To Clarify: Mutate = Resurection plus temporary Buff! not temporary debuff. There is a "mutate crash" after Mutate wears off but it's not terrible and hopefully the buffed hero will have stomped everything flat whilst they were mutated. If the hero you mutate is running Heros stats they should see how long the Mutate Buff will last and plan around that.
RI and EF effect the anchor the same as the others in the AOE. Generally I would say that, unless you have a very well trained team you are better off spreading anchors among the enemies most likely to die last ( generally lts, but sometimes bosses ).
I have never noticed either the buff or the debuff of Mutation and I'm sure someone once said that they removed the weakened bit. I generally am not a fan of res powers as if you have to use them then your team is doing something wrong, so I'd rather get more protection for them ( either buff or debuff ). Most people disagree with me though.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
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About strategies for Radiation Infection and Enerverating Field - I see that both are AoE, but I'm assuming that the most impact of both RI and EF is seen on the anchor itself?
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This is not the case - it effects every enemy in the area equally, so you can just use whichever enemy is likely to stay around longest as your anchor. Your anchor will inevitably get killed quickly by teammates, though - learning to live with that is part of the 'Zen of Rad'.
First there is no anchor. Then there is an anchor. Then there's none.
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Finally, I skipped Mutation on the basis of the description in CoH Planner that the ally is left severely weakened afterwards. Is this actually worth taking - it sounds like a Rad version of Resurrect, but the severely weakened bit puts me off.
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The version of CoH Planner you're using is severely out of date. Mutation is indeed a Rez power. It provides a really substantial buff to the rezzed character, but there hasn't been any kind of penalty associated with it since the launch of I3. Quite a useful power, although there are plenty of other Rad powers I'd normally take ahead of it.
By my 50s shall ye know me:
Tundra, DVM, The Late, Neutrino Ghost, Sir Clanksalot, End Of Days, Prof. Migraine
Howler Monkey
I tried various anchoring strategies levelling up to 50. A few words of (i hope) wisdom
1. Lvls 1-20 agony, lvs 21-30 intemittent pain, lvls 31-40 nice, lvls 41-50 you are god (debuffing all those nasty AV)
2. Good team (especially good tank) is a good painkiller during all of the above levels.
3. Ask the team who they would like you to anchor.
4. Set up 5 Macro's in a non-used tray that you can pull up that explain the whole anchor thing to the team.
5. Bad team that dosent listen - politely quit
6. My 2 influence? anchor the boss. Firstly, everyone knows who the boss is. Secondly, boss is the most dangerous and thus the most important to debuff - anyone debuffed is pretty harmless. That choice consistently proved the most usefull bar a few exceptions when the boss really needed to be taken down first. Again, team preference but that would always be my suggestion
7. An anecdote. Around level 22 I was (I had SO anyway). In an anchor dropping team who was of the "R u h340r or what?" mentality, particularly after a death or two and lots of red health bars. 5 man team. I told them all to back off, and explained I had NO defences at all. I dropped of EV, RI, and LR onto a mob, put on choking cloud, and jumped (alone) in the middle of a debuffed group occassionally spamming a heal whilst the enemies flailed away limply at me. Rest of the team watched. Rest of the team proceeded to avoid the anchor till last.
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The version of CoH Planner you're using is severely out of date. Mutation is indeed a Rez power. It provides a really substantial buff to the rezzed character, but there hasn't been any kind of penalty associated with it since the launch of I3.
[/ QUOTE ]It damn sure still has a damage debuff animation after the initial buff (1 minute timer?) wears off...
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learning to live with that is part of the 'Zen of Rad'.
First there is no anchor. Then there is an anchor. Then there's none.
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Hehe, I noticed that already, there seems to be usually about a 5 second gap between the 2nd and 3rd part of that 
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The version of CoH Planner you're using is severely out of date. Mutation is indeed a Rez power. It provides a really substantial buff to the rezzed character, but there hasn't been any kind of penalty associated with it since the launch of I3. Quite a useful power, although there are plenty of other Rad powers I'd normally take ahead of it.
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I might try it, maybe in the I7 freespec. BTW, rechecked my CoH Planner and it's the version that has the Villain ATs, so guess his description is just out of date.
Forgot to add earlier - Thanks all for your comments, itching to try some stuff out tonight 
RI first, then EF, same target, then you can think about what to do next, I usally hit Aim and LR, or EMP and then run in and let Choking Cloud hold while Aim's still up.
RI has a longer activation than EF that's the reasoning for that order, and same target because otherwise you'll lose one layer of debuff before the end of the fight. LR isn't the best opener because they all still have their big nasty powerful attack to fire off, I'd rather use it after that's happened, then they might not get that nasty back before the end of the fight.
I always try to have AM running when I EMP, so that end boost from it can run the toggles (and am prepared to not attack until that end freeze has finished)
Mutate I like to use as a combat rez, if there's another defender with a rez out of combat might as well let them because yours give an imediate buff with a nasty debuff that follows after.
"Well, they found my diary today.
They were appropriately appalled
at the discovery of the eight victims
They're now putting it all together.
Women wrapped in silk
with one leg missing
Eight legs, one body, silk,
spider, brilliant!"
Personally (if there is a tank) I RI, LI, EF. RI is def the best openener. I follow this up with LI as the slow aspect can modestly help on preventing scatter (which is the last thing you want).
And personally, I think mutate is the best combat rez there is - and would want this over and above an empaths rez. The reason being that if someone has died the tide is definately turning against the team, and for the corpse to come back super-buff will help turn the tide back again.
Well, i saved myself the effort of explaining Rad at early levels, and soloed. Made possible by the mob scaling and the fact that RI/EF even with TOs made me a viable tank. Tank status is all to often removed by the 'hollow blaster' whom just nuked the anchor and suddenly the irradiate I just dropped whilst standing in the middle of a group of 7 oranges didnt seem like a good idea.
In the later game, i teamed with 2 scrappers, a couple of khelds and some good tankers. Scrappers on the whole are reliable boss killers. Alpha strikes were downing bosses pretty pronto. Blasters and kheld nukes were dispatching minions far to fast for robust anchoring. So, that left Lts. Lts are indeed the best anchor points as they are ignored until bosses are down.
Your worst enemies as a rad are knockbackers. Khelds will upset you... a lot...
Mutation, as Tundra said, has no debuff, and hasnt had for the duration i have been using it, which is since issue 3... Moooootants are special, and the buff is very nice. Just a shame those pesky empaths are always trying to rez first... grr.
I normally use Ltn's too, mostly because bosses have the acc to deal with the debuffs better so you ideally want them dead first. Most scrappers head straight for the boss so that works out fine.
En blasters tend to be more trouble than Khelds I found, because they'd single target the anchor leaving everyone out of it. If its a cone knockback then at least the whole group goes in the same direction
"Well, they found my diary today.
They were appropriately appalled
at the discovery of the eight victims
They're now putting it all together.
Women wrapped in silk
with one leg missing
Eight legs, one body, silk,
spider, brilliant!"
Energy Blasters are indeed your worst enemy. Nothing worse than your anchor being sent flying (if you're a Fire/Rad controller its even worse if you're a Hotfeet user).
Get a Stormie friend though. Yesterday I spend most of a mission casting my anchor & freezing rain and then TPing to the other side of the group with hurricane on to counter the knockback of the multiple energy blasters we had, which worked pretty well.
Nah I need a grav controller friend, all their holds and imobs stop that vile knockback (even a TA friend would be handy)
"Well, they found my diary today.
They were appropriately appalled
at the discovery of the eight victims
They're now putting it all together.
Women wrapped in silk
with one leg missing
Eight legs, one body, silk,
spider, brilliant!"
Just to comment with the benefit of a couple of days practical experience, I forgot I still had the last freespec kicking around on Atom Splitter (as I'd created him ages ago) so specced in Mutation and got my level 50 friend to exemp down and graciously sacrifice himself for the benefit of science
He noticed a big difference post rez and I was watching him close by and attack rate etc was clearly up, lasted about 90 seconds or so and didn't appear to have any debuff at all, so was great. Recharge wasn't too scarey either. "Would work a treat in combat" was the quote, as per mentioned earlier in the thread...
We then tested a mish with his Warshade, which proceeded to knockback EVERYTHING going. He reckoned he's popular with tanks with that... I suggested that Rad defenders might get irritated too
Thanks again guys for valuable tips, much appreciated!
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First there is no anchor. Then there is an anchor. Then there's none.
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Hehe, very true. After about level 35ish in half-decent teams it gets even more Zen: there is no target. Rad debuffs are so slow to apply that by the time they've kicked in the spawn has already been wiped out.
With Nucleopatra I mainly use the debuffs against AVs (where they are very handy) and other strong boss types. The rest of the time I'm using Choking Cloud and Oppressive Gloom from the Dark Epic pool to lock mobs down and out of the fight.
By slotting attacks for -def and using Aim it's quite amazing (nerfably so I fear) how many you can hold and disorient, provided you can survive those first few seconds until the CC and OG ticks kick in of course. I usually run in with the Tanker and fire Aim (if it's up) and Irradiate (3x defdebuff, 2x acc) as soon as I reach the spawn just to make sure the first few ticks are as effective as possible. After that I use my attacks (defdebuff slotted) to make sure they remain as susceptible to the auras as possible. With a bit of practice and care you can lock down whole spawns of adds using this tactic, and if things start getting out of hand, well you've always got EMP
Of course anything that drops toggles is bad news so you have to be careful with mobs that have stuns, sleeps or holds. Oh and those Nemesis Jaeger contraptions are to be kept as far away as possible because they'll chop the [censored] out of you almost instantly.
I have no idea how well this would work in PvP though. Laughably poorly I imagine.
EMP doesn't drop toggles if you have AM running, as you still get a slither of end back
"Well, they found my diary today.
They were appropriately appalled
at the discovery of the eight victims
They're now putting it all together.
Women wrapped in silk
with one leg missing
Eight legs, one body, silk,
spider, brilliant!"
[ QUOTE ]
With Nucleopatra I mainly use the debuffs against AVs (where they are very handy) and other strong boss types. The rest of the time I'm using Choking Cloud and Oppressive Gloom from the Dark Epic pool to lock mobs down and out of the fight.
[/ QUOTE ]
I tend to do something pretty similar. EF still gets used as it's nice and quick to apply, but RI is now only used for AVs, soloing or in a duo. CC and OG are an excellent combination - especially with Tactics running as well. And thanks to no longer constantly running the debuffs - and picking up Dark Consumption - End isn't a big issue either.
By my 50s shall ye know me:
Tundra, DVM, The Late, Neutrino Ghost, Sir Clanksalot, End Of Days, Prof. Migraine
Howler Monkey
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EMP doesn't drop toggles if you have AM running, as you still get a slither of end back
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I didn't mean that it did, I was just warning about mobs that can toggle drop with stuns and sleeps etc. EMP is an awesome power and the end penalty isn't much of a problem even with AM down if you're careful. With most mobs pacified for a considerable distance it's pretty easy to conserve end on attacks.
I'm a pretty offensive lvl48 Rad/Psy Defender and find I still use RI/EF almost constantly on my target. Always have, its the bread and butter of Rad along with AM. AVs, bosses, lts, minions, whatever im targetting really; though do try for harder hitters first.
Chokey Clouds never been my thing; i find it too slow to work to be any real use
Mutation is excellent, always handy to have a rez power cos there will always be a death on the team if you're doing hard missions, no matter what happens; and one thats uninterruptable and buffs is always a bonus (combined with Haste, AM and some recharges, has quite a quick refresh too).
Fallout I've never tried, from what I can tell though the recharge is far far too long to make it effective. As much as I love the thought of TPing a corpse around a map and turning it into a nuke, its just not happening yet.
Fallout i found pretty useful against AV in the end game. Damage is medicre, but the debuff is much more impressive.
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I generally am not a fan of res powers as if you have to use them then your team is doing something wrong, so I'd rather get more protection for them ( either buff or debuff ). Most people disagree with me though.
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I compleatly agree Rez powers are only to be taken if u have nothing else u want . If the defender needs a rez power the team is no good
About strategies for Radiation Infection and Enerverating Field - I see that both are AoE, but I'm assuming that the most impact of both RI and EF is seen on the anchor itself? So if, as I was last night, I'm up against large troll mobs with a couple of red conning Gardvards at either side of the mob, will I be more effective for my team (in both direct and AoE terms) if I apply both RI and EF to a single Gardvard, or if I apply RI to one and EF to the other?
Also, is there a good way to keep other team members off the anchor in a firefight? I can see a bind like /team "My anchor is $target, kill him last!" being OK, but guess that's not great if there's more than one of the same target in the mob.
Finally, I skipped Mutation on the basis of the description in CoH Planner that the ally is left severely weakened afterwards. Is this actually worth taking - it sounds like a Rad version of Resurrect, but the severely weakened bit puts me off.
Quite enjoying Rad/Rad I must say, a nice change from a Controller