Need help with picking the second powerset.
By
Avalanche_EU,
Posted on: 2006-09-05 13:34 in Defenders
Over time the blast sets deal comparable damage if slotted equally.
ah ok cool but what about the last powers ?
atomic blast and nova what one of them is better do you think?
For me the big two would be archery for the "light nuke" every 30 seconds that doesn't ruin your appetite and drop your toggles.... or sonics, which is slightly overpowered imo with the 20% resistance debuff per blast that makes for silly damage for you *and* your teammates. It also has some great utility powers that are particularly good for those solo moments.
If you go for energy then you will be hated. They may not say to your face but you will make people grit their teeth and want to smash your face against the wall every time you use energy torrent. I know this because I detest, with a passion, squids, energy blasters and.... worse than any of these, the empaths that only pick two blasts and yet still manage to have an unslotted energy torrent to annoy me with.
My 30 TA/Sonic is my biggest offender but my 36 FF/Sonic can still solo at a rapid pace because of the defender resist debuff bonus. I know both of these toons shove team damage up, especially against bosses where you are getting a long single target attack chain off and ending up with anything up to 80-100% resist debuffage just from your secondary. I also have a 23 TA/A and 13 Dark/A and have been enjoying archery so far (well, blazing arrow anyway), although I think the real kicker is going to be the rain of arrows being up so regularly and only costing about 25% power.
For me I would pick either elec or Sonic on a defender. Elec gices you some nice nd drain which with rad/ allows you to play in almost total safety. Sonic just gives a stupid amount of -res per attack which boosts your damage. Sonic may also have the most damaging defender nuke when including the -res. A kin/sonic might be fun for over powered defender damage.
If you pick sonic, be prepared to be a bit of a leper as around a quarter of the playerbase are extraordinarily averse to the SFX.
Kin/Sonic is wonderful, our little ragtag crew of 1 kin/sonic, 1 fire/ss tank, one spines/regen scrapper and my bs/regen scrapper hit 50 in 21 days (iirc) just doing regular missions. Couldn't have done it anywhere like that speed without the kin/son.
DON'T eat muffins while I'm developing you.
Pants! Turkey Magnates! A man in a box! Rogue AI! Come one, come all, to arc ID 10107 - It's [i]'Not as long as some other arcs'[/i]!
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If you pick sonic, be prepared to be a bit of a leper as around a quarter of the playerbase are extraordinarily averse to the SFX.
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It's only on the Sonic Resonance powerset though isn't it? Certainly I have problems with that headache-inducing-powerset but Sonic Blast is fine...
Rad / NRG is going to be really annoying due to the anchors & knockback. I wouldn't go near it.
Elec is good for End Draining but End drain is a very difficult control, if they have a smidgeon of End they can attack. I'd only rely on it coupled with other powers that End drain (Kinetics really).
Sonic sounds like a good partner for Rad with Enverating Field, or especially for TA. Ta / Sonic is a damage resist debuffing monster.
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Rad / NRG is going to be really annoying due to the anchors & knockback. I wouldn't go near it.
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I played that combo in the US beta to level 38. It was a better combo back then due to Lingering Radiation being perma out of the box.
Knockback + AoE -Speed/Recharge = Mobs never getting into melee and at most getting 2 attacks off before their defeat
I just wouldn't use the combo today with the current recharge of LR, RI is far more useful for defense.
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or especially for TA. Ta / Sonic is a damage resist debuffing monster.
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would be a nice combo.
I wonder if the animation time on some of the sonic attacks coupled with the draw time for the bow makes it annoying set to play? Anyone tried it?
(Rad/Sonic is a good set tho, have one of those at lvl 28, and it feels quite powerful once the toggles are up and running)
I don't find the redraw annoying. Mainly because I use my TA stuff first and then once that's fired off it's just sonic blasts until the mobs are dead, with the odd acid arrow.
I like it a lot because TA itself gives 40% aoe resist debuff and howl spam adds another 20% on top. I figured at the end of the day I'm there to boost team killing speed so I may as well go for sonics blast.
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ok atm i have bin playing a rad/rad def but i know i am not ment to do alot of dmg but would energy blast be abit more dmging then radiation blast just so i can hold my own more and heal at the same time 
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First thing, as a rad defender you are a rubbish healer. The heal is just for icing. The real power of a rad is to stop incoming damage by debuffing and increase team damage by buffing and debuffing.
Generally I wouldn't pick Energy blast to be damaging. The main advantage of Energy Blast is that it has knockback, so that can be used as a form of defensive. However if you are Rad this completely ruins your debuffery. So I would not advise picking energy with rad.
For a debuffing build like rad, you should probably pick a set that work well for AoEs and doesn't interfere with your primary.
Archery:
Good: Best tier 9 power, it is isn't a Nuke but you can use it every fight and it almost does as much damage. Reasonable single damage chain, Accurate so with your defence debuffs you can skip slotting accuracy.
Bad: The 2nd AoE does knockback on half the people. So it works badly with your debuffs. Attacks are Lethal so they are commonly resisted. Animation times are fairly long. Has a bow redraw everytime you use the rad heal ( and a few other powers ).
Dark Blast:
Good: Great Secondary effect, -ACC, with make you and team safer. Tenebrous Tentacles is an AoE immob, which is good for keeping enemies in the debuff zone. Has 2 decent damaging AoEs and one knockback one, although they are cones.
Bad: No Aim. AoEs are quite late ( level 16 and 20 ).
Elec Blast:
Good: 2 early AoEs, both are usable in point blank range. The secondary is end drain which can be good as you can drain enemies to nothing in 2-3 AoE hits. Good nuke as it is ranged. Also has a hold. Pure energy damage.
Bad: Animation times are fairly slow. Damage is not great.
Energy Blast:
Good: With rad nothing really. It is an average set.
Bad: Knockback, Knockback and Knockback.
Psychic Blast:
Good: Apart from the first blast the single target attack chain is very quick and damaging. 2 AoEs, one is a cone.
Bad: There are a couple of knockback powers, including the 2nd AoE.
Radiation Blast:
Good: 3 AoEs, 1 is PbAoE, 1 is a cone. The secondary effect is not great most of the time, but irradiate has a massive defence debuff which works well with Choking Cloud from your primary.
Bad: Early single target attacks are a bit lacklustre, they have short animation trimes though.
Sonic Attack:
Good: Great secondary effect -20% res is wonderful for increasing your damage and the damage of your team. Awesome against AVs. The only decent damage AoE is the cone Howl, which you can use as a -res debuff. Note that -res stacks with Enervating Field to reduce resistance and the damage of enemies.
Bad: Longish animation times. Shockwave is a useless power ( knockback ). No Snipe, but I never rate snipes anyway.
So overall I would say not Energy. The best are probably Rad, Dark and Sonic.
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also is atomic blast better then nova or the other way round?
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Apart from Archery, the only differences between the nukes is the secondary effect. Most of these mean that while you are out of action, the enemies are too. The worst is probably Energy as it flings enemies everywhere, which is fine if they die, but means that the rest of the team takes longer clearing up. However there is very little in it and unless you go for archery I would not consider it when choosing.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
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Psychic Blast:
Good: Apart from the first blast the single target attack chain is very quick and damaging. 2 AoEs, one is a cone.
Bad: There are a couple of knockback powers, including the 2nd AoE.
[/ QUOTE ]AFAIK, the only knockback is TK blast, and the 2nd AoE is knockup.
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Radiation Blast:
Good: 3 AoEs, 1 is PbAoE, 1 is a cone. The secondary effect is not great most of the time, but irradiate has a massive defence debuff which works well with Choking Cloud from your primary.
Bad: Early single target attacks are a bit lacklustre, they have short animation trimes though.
[/ QUOTE ]There is NOTHING lacklustre about cosmic burst.
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Psychic Blast:
Good: Apart from the first blast the single target attack chain is very quick and damaging. 2 AoEs, one is a cone.
Bad: There are a couple of knockback powers, including the 2nd AoE.
[/ QUOTE ]AFAIK, the only knockback is TK blast, and the 2nd AoE is knockup.
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Cheers for clarifying.
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Radiation Blast:
Good: 3 AoEs, 1 is PbAoE, 1 is a cone. The secondary effect is not great most of the time, but irradiate has a massive defence debuff which works well with Choking Cloud from your primary.
Bad: Early single target attacks are a bit lacklustre, they have short animation trimes though.
[/ QUOTE ]There is NOTHING lacklustre about cosmic burst.
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There is NOTHING early about Cosmic Burst either. It's a tier 7 power.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
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Radiation Blast:
Good: 3 AoEs, 1 is PbAoE, 1 is a cone. The secondary effect is not great most of the time, but irradiate has a massive defence debuff which works well with Choking Cloud from your primary.
Bad: Early single target attacks are a bit lacklustre, they have short animation trimes though.
[/ QUOTE ]There is NOTHING lacklustre about cosmic burst.
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There is NOTHING early about Cosmic Burst either. It's a tier 7 power.
[/ QUOTE ]*re-reads*
Early ST attacks? My bad 
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Shockwave is a useless power ( knockback )
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Wash your mouth out sir! It's a small cone based force bolt with ridiculously short recharge timer. It's wonderful for putting things back in debuff patches when they break free, or keeping cornered mobs on their backside.
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Shockwave is a useless power ( knockback )
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Wash your mouth out sir! It's a small cone based force bolt with ridiculously short recharge timer. It's wonderful for putting things back in debuff patches when they break free, or keeping cornered mobs on their backside.
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I'm not convinced that a toggle debuff defender should waste a power on something that can wreck his or her debuffs when there is something better to pick.
Maybe it is situational rather than useless.
For a FF, Sonic or Stormie I see the purpose of it.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
What can be used to push foes away from debuff, can also be used to group them into the debuff 
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If you pick sonic, be prepared to be a bit of a leper as around a quarter of the playerbase are extraordinarily averse to the SFX.
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It's only on the Sonic Resonance powerset though isn't it? Certainly I have problems with that headache-inducing-powerset but Sonic Blast is fine...
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It's the noises from the blasts as much as anything. They get very old, very quickly, and when you team with a couple of people who regularly get sound looping type bug... well, prepare for an earful.
DON'T eat muffins while I'm developing you.
Pants! Turkey Magnates! A man in a box! Rogue AI! Come one, come all, to arc ID 10107 - It's [i]'Not as long as some other arcs'[/i]!
Personally, i look at the debuff effects (or secondary effects) of the blasts, which are considerable for defenders.
Rad/Rad is sub-par for me. It has some nifty attacks, like cosmic burst, but you really (in general) dont need extra -def debuffage when you play radiation primary - everytone should be hitting most of the time anyway. (The point about choking cloud/irradiate is true tho).
Sonic - excellent damage boosting by further -res.
Dark - further protection from damage by more -acc.
Elec - different effect altogether, a useful end drain (two short circuits will sap most things), and the small end recovery (bigger for defenders) allows you to blast without so much end worries (which can be buig for rad)
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If you pick sonic, be prepared to be a bit of a leper as around a quarter of the playerbase are extraordinarily averse to the SFX.
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It's only on the Sonic Resonance powerset though isn't it? Certainly I have problems with that headache-inducing-powerset but Sonic Blast is fine...
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It's the noises from the blasts as much as anything. They get very old, very quickly, and when you team with a couple of people who regularly get sound looping type bug... well, prepare for an earful.
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Actually wilf, when were were teaming a week or so ago, didn't someone say "teaming with you is like listening to the doctor who theme tune over and over again."?
I find that they grow on me and now I really like them. The meaty bang on "shout", the cyber-turkey warble of "scream" and the zany whiz on "screech" are really good sound effects.
In contrast the skoosh skoosh skoosh of the energy blasts made me delete a kin/nrg at lvl 6 because they were so earpiercingly loud and all very similar.
Hi all
ok atm i have bin playing a rad/rad def but i know i am not ment to do alot of dmg but would energy blast be abit more dmging then radiation blast just so i can hold my own more and heal at the same time
also is atomic blast better then nova or the other way round?
making this charater for PVE only
thanks