Dont know to much about Rad attacks, although I understand that X-Ray Vision looks cool but isnt 
. I find the Irradiate power is a nice AoE attack if you like teaming a lot.
The Rad primary is where you should really focus your attention however.
Must Have Powers:
Radation Infection ( with 3 to hit debuffs)
Ennervating Field ( probably with 3 end reducers)
Lingering Radation ( looking at 3 recharge boosters, probably an accuracy aswell)
Why Must Have? Because you are, in essence, first and foremost, a debuffer. And a very good one. VERY good. By using these powers and keeping all the enemies tightly bunched around the "anchor" (the target of the powers), your foes will become wimpering and feeble. Teams will not realise how awesome you are until one day you show them by letting them taste whats its like when you have not debuffed (and every suddenly starts missing, hitting for less damage, getting hit, and getting hit HARD). (PS dont do this really! 
)
Good Powers to Get
Accelerate Metabolism:
Buffs nearly everything, but not by a lot. 3 slots with recharge so its up as much as possible. Maybe 1 or 2 end modifiers.
Worthwhile but average powers:
Radaiant Aura... you are NOT a healer. This is just to soak up the little damage that does get through your debuffs (which on a good team, keeping the enemies clustered around a tank, should not be much). 3 heals, maybe some recharge and end reductions depending on how you feel.
Choking Cloud
Either total pants or excellent. Only use when you are next to a GOOD tank. It adds a lot of holds to a lot of minions. In fact, I was able to tank myself by running this and having everyone around me debuffed (and using heal).
Mutate
Ideally no-one should die, but hey, it happens. At least when it does they bounce back super buffed and ready to pound. Its probably the best rez in the game after howling twilight. I just leave it with one recharge. You need it more? lower the difficulty or find a new team 
EMP Pulse
Final power, its a VERY long hold in a VERY wide area. Just make sure they are killed by the time they wake up or its aggro on you. I normally use this as a "Oh... bother" power, but its your call. Slot with accuracy, hold, and recharge to your taste.
Take it or Leave it Powers
Fallout.
Damage is unspectacular, debuff is spectacular. But, its hard to use as you need the corpse of a team-mate (excellent if it was the tank who fell and you have fast reflexes before they scatter) and its a smallish area of effect. Don't worry about the damage - it helps, but its the collosal debuff that helps more.
Generally thought of as the worst power in the Rad set, and I agree. However, its not all bad. I found it more usefull at the end of the game (lvl 40+) when you face a lot of very nasty AV's. Debuffing is the name of the game vs AVs (you will be the most popular defender at this time), but your comrades do often fall at the feet of an AV. Cast fallout then mutate, and you have several seconds of a very enfeebled AV to help turn the tide.
Hope this helps. The biggest thing to grasp is that you are NOT a healer, you are a debuffer.
Rad is an extremely powerful and effective set, PROVIDING the team appreciates your debuffs and knows how to use them. The trick is to bunch the enemies all nice and tight around the anchor and get them all debuffed.
You will come to love skilled tanks (particularly ice ones) who can do this
You will come to loathe knockback. Prepare to groan when you see energy blasters. Prepare to shriek when you see storm users spam gale.
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You will come to loathe knockback. Prepare to groan when you see energy blasters. Prepare to shriek when you see storm users spam gale.
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There is nothing to cheer my Ice/Rad controller up like the sight of an extremely irate purple boss being thrown off Ice Slick, out of her debuffs and landing right at her feet.
Human form Kheldians are much more exciting than energy blasters for knockback, everything just goes absolutely everywhere.
Thanks cog, much appreciated... I'll have a look tonight and see how things go, reckon i'll be coming back here quite a lot to read this thread. 
Defiant
Proud Member of the Liberty Legion
Venture - Emp/En Defender
Seph - Kat/SR Scrapper
Blizzard - Ice/Storm Controller
Legionelosis - Rad/Rad Defender
Useful Radiation Blast powers:
Neutrino Bolt is nearly an attack chain by itself. It's also the Defender attack with the highest dps. You can use it with just 1 Acc/3 Dam until you get spare slots.
Cosmic Burst high damage, quick activation and disorientation on top make this a good compliment to NB. 6 slots here would be my recommendation.
Irradiate and Neutron Bomb make for a decent AoE combo. 6 slots in both if you want AoE damage.
Aim is useful for the added damage. 1 slot for Recharge is my suggestion.
Less useful powers:
X-Ray Beam has slower activation and recharge, higher endurance cost and damage when compared to NB. Considering that a) you have to spend a power choice and b) it has a lower dps than NB, you'll probably find that you have to slot both NB and X-Ray to get good use of X-Ray. That's an additional cost in slots on top of the power choice, you will likely not have room for this.
If you want more AoE then add Electron Haze, but be aware that a) it's a fairly narrow cone as opposed to (PB)AoE and b) it has a random chance to knock back. If it was guaranteed or no knockback then Haze would be a much better power.
Proton Volley both sounds and looks great, but in the time you take in activating it you might as well have put down your debuffs and be a lot safer. You do have a chance of pulling it off mid-combat if your debuffs are up, but spamming NB (with Cosmic Burst when you have it) will yield greater overall damage.
Atomic Blast, it's a Defender nuke. 2x Irradiate + 2x Neutron Bomb will deal similar damage, be available more frequently and it will not kill your endurance (= debuffs). Of course, Irradiate->Neutron Bomb->Atomic Blast will deal massive damage if used against a bunch of debuffed opponents.
Nice Guide Cognito...will come in handy for me, as my rad/rad has just hit lvl 11. Have just taken Electron Haze at lvl 10, and like the dmg output, but as a power it's against the rad/rad debuff theory. Probably will respec this character later, as best way to learn what powers work and which don't is by personally testing them during game.
Will add this post to my favourites I think.
Main 50 & Badger Nine Claws Claws/Regen/Body
Other 50's Ph10x Brute Unjust Law Tanker Samantha Urai Scrapper Codename 1250 Scrapper
Cepheus Defender Nilus Scrapper Electro Field Blaster S.PONGE Tanker
Can someone give some slotting advice on:
Radiation Infection
Enervating Field
Lingering Radiation
I'm having trouble deciding on the optimum slots, especially for RI. I was toying with 2* end red, 2*def debuff and 2* acc debuff.
Do i need 3 end in each, assuming i pick up stamina at 20
Defiant
Proud Member of the Liberty Legion
Venture - Emp/En Defender
Seph - Kat/SR Scrapper
Blizzard - Ice/Storm Controller
Legionelosis - Rad/Rad Defender
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Can someone give some slotting advice on:
Radiation Infection
Enervating Field
Lingering Radiation
I'm having trouble deciding on the optimum slots, especially for RI. I was toying with 2* end red, 2*def debuff and 2* acc debuff.
Do i need 3 end in each, assuming i pick up stamina at 20
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RI - 1 EndRed/3 To-Hit DeBuff
EF - 2-3 EndRed
LR - 1 Acc/2-3 Rech/2-3 Slow (Slow is for PvP only)
RI is fairly cheap and the Defense DeBuff is good enough on its own, unless you expect to go up against +4s or high Def mobs frequently. The To-Hit DeBuff portion is more important as it is what helps keep you alive against heavy hitters.
EF can work with a single EndRed, but you'll not want to run it as much as you could then.
With LR you need to hit, but if you apply RI first (to reduce the Alpha strike) then a single Acc is more than enough in most cases. 3 Rech makes it far more frequent but Hasten is still needed to make it perma iirc.
Cheers, much appreciated. Next question: AM.
3*recharge, is it worth dropping anything else into it?
Defiant
Proud Member of the Liberty Legion
Venture - Emp/En Defender
Seph - Kat/SR Scrapper
Blizzard - Ice/Storm Controller
Legionelosis - Rad/Rad Defender
AM: 3 recharge, 3 end modification.
Nice thread, Venture and co. I rolled a rad/rad (my first defender) last night as a concept character for a themed SG, so this is exactly the kind of thread I was looking for.
I regularly group with rad/ defenders and can totally appreciate how much they improve the team's effectiveness but I can safely say I know nothing at all about the radiation blast set, save what I've read on nofuture and in-game descriptions. I was tempted to take another secondary, but wanted /rad for my concept. Is there good synergy with the rad/ set? Would I have been better off going for another defender secondary?
I'm still very low lvl, but the /rad components do seem a little cack so far. I've focused mainly on the primary, and wondering if I should perhaps be going for a max/min build on this. Would giving power choice and slot allocation priority always to the primary benefit it in any way, or is it effective enough when balanced with the secondary?
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Neutrino Bolt is nearly an attack chain by itself. It's also the Defender attack with the highest dps. You can use it with just 1 Acc/3 Dam until you get spare slots.
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At first I was disappointed by the low damage output but while teaming with a /psi defender I realised that I out-damaged her because I could get in three bolts by the time her blast had recharged. Not too bad then, but is this power really worth slotting much?
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I understand that X-Ray Vision looks cool but isnt
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Totally agree. In fact, I rerolled and missed it out the second time. Shame really, because it fit my concept really well.
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Irradiate and Neutron Bomb make for a decent AoE combo. 6 slots in both if you want AoE damage.
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Hmm. I didn't notice considerable damage from Irradiate, and tbh I took it because the in-game description claims that the defense debuff is 'severe'. Is the debuff capability of this power actually that good, and will it benefit from slotting to that extent? I assume it will stack with the -DEF on my rad/ powers, right?
Finally, any views on the OPs question regarding Stamina?
Thanks
/Rad is by no means weak. It's the strongest AoE set avaiable to defenders (3 AoE's and the nuke). Also, CB is lovely, high damage attack and 100% stun in the same power.
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I regularly group with rad/ defenders and can totally appreciate how much they improve the team's effectiveness but I can safely say I know nothing at all about the radiation blast set, save what I've read on nofuture and in-game descriptions. I was tempted to take another secondary, but wanted /rad for my concept. Is there good synergy with the rad/ set? Would I have been better off going for another defender secondary?
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/Dark has two things that speak for it as synergistic with Rad/: A To-Hit debuff that stacks nicely with RI to decrease incomming damage and the Hentai Special (aka. Tenebrous Tentacles) which helps keep things inside RI & EF (also helps set up the other damage cone).
/Sonic has more -Res to stack with EF, only one (non-nuke) AoE for that though.
/Archery has Rain of Arrows which should fit very nicely as a high damage combo with RI + EF, mainly because it doesn't drain all your endurance upon use (unlike the other Defender nukes). Not much else to fit specially with Rad/, Explosive Arrow is a normal AoE but it has knockback attached.
/Elec has Tesla Cage, which can be used to highlight an anchor, Ball Lightning (+Short Circuit if you slot it for damage), which fits nicely with the targeting of RI, EF & LR while the endurance drain only really fits together with EM Pulse.
The -Def from /Rad is rarely needed if you have RI up and running, but Irradiate + NBomb combine well with RI + EF for AoE damage.
/Psi has Tornado as an AoE that fits RI + EF and an Immobilise that may help highlight an anchor.
/Energy has knockback all over the place. The only way that fits decently with Rad/ is by keeping LR up at all times and push things away from you, won't play well with Ri or EF though.
The time it takes to align for the cones (especially if you get swarmed) means that only Dark will have an easy time of using them, unless you have someone else who controls aggro.
I'd recommend /Dark, /Archery (if you want to wait until you can Rain spam), /Sonic or /Rad as the sets fitting most with Rad/. /Elec can be good too, if you slot Short Circuit for damage.
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I'm still very low lvl, but the /rad components do seem a little cack so far. I've focused mainly on the primary, and wondering if I should perhaps be going for a max/min build on this. Would giving power choice and slot allocation priority always to the primary benefit it in any way, or is it effective enough when balanced with the secondary?
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A balanced selection of primary and secondary powers (with a few pool powers added) will give you a more balanced character, one that can help out a team as more than just a debuff-bot. Adding your own damage on top of what the others in a team will help shorten encounters and keep the rest of the team higher in both the blue and green bars.
You'll also be able to solo decently, should that prove necessary. You'll never deal Blaster or Scrapper level damage, but you'll be able to take on almost any solo missions.
The biggest problem is that you lack the big hitter and half of your good AoE cycle. And both of them come fairly late (level 28 & 35). SOs do help a lot, but until then things may feel a bit wimpy.
But remember that the primary is the set you're going to get the best numbers from, just don't neglect the secondary.
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Neutrino Bolt is nearly an attack chain by itself. It's also the Defender attack with the highest dps. You can use it with just 1 Acc/3 Dam until you get spare slots.
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At first I was disappointed by the low damage output but while teaming with a /psi defender I realised that I out-damaged her because I could get in three bolts by the time her blast had recharged. Not too bad then, but is this power really worth slotting much?
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If NBolt deals good damage now it will deal good damage at level 50, if you slot it as you would any other attack power. If you don't slot it then it will be [censored], then again that is how every damage power works.
The base damage of every attack scales, for the attack sets you get access to most of the generally useful powers at a low level.
NBolt is definately worth 6 slotting, once you get spare slots. Until then you can easly run with 1 Acc/3 Dam (1 Acc/2 Dam is doable if you're lacking slots).
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Irradiate and Neutron Bomb make for a decent AoE combo. 6 slots in both if you want AoE damage.
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Hmm. I didn't notice considerable damage from Irradiate, and tbh I took it because the in-game description claims that the defense debuff is 'severe'. Is the debuff capability of this power actually that good, and will it benefit from slotting to that extent? I assume it will stack with the -DEF on my rad/ powers, right?
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The first 10 or so levels (during early US beta) I used Irradiate it also seemed like it didn't do much damage to me either. What I didn't consider was the total damage dealt by the DoT and the fact that it's AoE.
The DefDebuffs on the various powers will stack.
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Finally, any views on the OPs question regarding Stamina?
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Stamina isn't "required", but it is very nice to have. At the cost of 3 power choices and 2 slots you get a considerable endurance benefit. You'd have to add one EndRed slot to all powers you regularily use to achieve the same effect.
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Choking Cloud
Either total pants or excellent. Only use when you are next to a GOOD tank. It adds a lot of holds to a lot of minions. In fact, I was able to tank myself by running this and having everyone around me debuffed (and using heal).
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I have a mate who has lvl 50 rad/rad defender and a upcoming lvl 30+ rad/rad corrupter, and he says choking cloud is absolutely essential. I guess its one of those powers that divide opinions.
Irradiate is good in teams because its massive -def debuff, more useful than its damage as such.
EM pulse possibly the best AOE hold in the game.
Wow, thanks for the detailed responses
Choking cloud is only really really good when you start laying down really heavy defence debuffs or have accuracy buffs (tactics). Apparently these help it hit mroe often and be way more effective. Also it needs a lots of slots - 3 endrdx 3hold - to be effective. Any less than that and it's pants. So basically, it's an all out thing; fully slot it and get powers that support it, like tactics, irradiate, neutron bomb and of course radiation infection (but you should have that anyway). If you're frequently on teams that steam through mobs without even blinking it won't help much.
Now, rad blast! If you want AoEs, be careful of electron haze and neutron bomb. Haze has a long animation (the same animation as dark miasma heal) and the cone is pretty thin so it's hard to hit many baddies; however damage is good! Neutron Bomb is pants, IMO. Long animation, pants damage, heavy end cost, long recharge. YUK. The effect is pretty cool tho
IN MEMORIUM OF GAYBABY
CRUELY TAKEN FROM THIS WORLD WHILE SO YOUNG
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Choking cloud is only really really good when you start laying down really heavy defence debuffs or have accuracy buffs (tactics). Apparently these help it hit mroe often and be way more effective. Also it needs a lots of slots - 3 endrdx 3hold - to be effective. Any less than that and it's pants. So basically, it's an all out thing; fully slot it and get powers that support it, like tactics, irradiate, neutron bomb and of course radiation infection (but you should have that anyway). If you're frequently on teams that steam through mobs without even blinking it won't help much.
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This might be the reason why my mate is so fussed about irradiate and def debuff in general.
Note: Irradiate is -37,5% defense UNSLOTTED.
Radiation infection is another -31,5% defense unslotted
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Neutron Bomb is pants, IMO. Long animation, pants damage, heavy end cost, long recharge. YUK. The effect is pretty cool tho
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NBomb is about equal to any other Defender AoE in all aspects, Cosmic Burst has a longer activation time.
And Defender AoE damage is not crappy if you slot for it.
Um, no.
electron haze does most damage, then irradiate followed my neutron bomb.
And the animation time thing? takes an AGE for the projectile to form above your characters head. Where are you getting your info? Some hero planner?
IN MEMORIUM OF GAYBABY
CRUELY TAKEN FROM THIS WORLD WHILE SO YOUNG
[ QUOTE ]
Um, no.
electron haze does most damage, then irradiate followed my neutron bomb.
And the animation time thing? takes an AGE for the projectile to form above your characters head. Where are you getting your info? Some hero planner?
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1) I said about equal, not excactly equal. As in "comparable and not all that different". And I did say Defender AoE, not Radiation AoE. NBomb compares fairly nicely with the other Defender AoEs.
2) Activation time? Experience and developer provided numbers (Prima Guide for I7).
Hi all, I just rolled a RAD/Rad Defender whose now reached the dizzying heights of Level 3 and was wondering which powers are considered "must have" which are optional and which shouldn't be touched with a broom handle.
Also how do people tend to slot them? Obviously i'll work it out through trial and error as per but I figured asking here would save me some unnecessery respecs later on.
Also is stamina needed and what travel power works best? I've been shunning ss, tp and fly for sj on most of my toons recently due to the slots i save (sj and its prerequisite can be left at their base value where as hasten, fly and tp all need slots added to get the best out of them).
I realise theres another Rad/Rad thread on this page but i'd like a general overview rather than an upto level 24 look. Also search keeps timing out so sorry if there are loads of posts on this already.
Cheers guys.
Defiant
Proud Member of the Liberty Legion
Venture - Emp/En Defender
Seph - Kat/SR Scrapper
Blizzard - Ice/Storm Controller
Legionelosis - Rad/Rad Defender