Earth/Rad goodness!

Recently I became interested again in one of my Controllers, and unlimbered my parked level 34 Earth/Rad Controller. Rather than worry about set bonuses overmuch, I indulged in some cheap frankenslotting. How cheap? Would you believe some level 37 acc/hold/recharge IO recipes can be had for 25 influence? :P

Took her out for a spin last night and joined up with a global friend who was on a baby Scrapper. I guess I knew this already, but it really hit home how much Earth/Rad can do for a young sidekick! My movement power of choice on ythis character is Teleport, too, so I even had Recall handy.

With Accelerate Metabolism adding to his under-enhanced damage, recharge, and end recovery, and tons of powers debuffing enemy defense, and Enervating Field lowering enemy resistance, the Scrapper really was able to contribute; and with Radiant Aura to patch him up the few times anything shook off my numerous hard controls, and Stony to tank the scary stuff (and EF lowering enemy damage to take the edge off big hits), I didn't have to worry about him getting killed by enemies that were yellow and red to me (and one level higher to my sidekick, of course). And at 35 I plan to take Mutation, at which point he can go ahead and die with confidence!

I know I'm preaching to the choir about /Rad, but I've somehow avoided playing it until now despite my years of experience in the game, so it's new (and eye-opening) to me. It's not that Rad is super-duper -- in fact, it has distinct limitations. I miss /Storm's ability to reposition foes I've got controlled; I find it a bit trickier to coordinate with the team than, say , a bubble-and-go secondary. But /Rad sure does have its hand raised whenever the teacher asks "What would you do in this situation, class?"

I like big area holds; one of my other characters is a frequent user of Ice Control's Glacier. So I'm doubly excited to be able to get EMP Pulse soon, slot the heck out of it, and start alternating it with Volcanic Gasses. I'm assuming that with heavy use of Hasten and AM, and eventually some set bonus slotting for global +recharge, I will be able to abuse having two AoE holds pretty frequently. Is that assumption close to the mark, or not?

As far as ancillary pools go, I have room to take one on this build. I am leaning toward Primal Forces Mastery; maybe the Energy Blast and E-Torrent attacks and Power Boost (to further my abuse of the big AoE holds!), although I might also want Conserve Power for when I drop EMP Pulse (which apparently shuts off recovery for 15 seconds).

Any further thoughts on ancillaries to go with this combo?

The biggest problem I foresee with this build at this point is that I have had fewer SG members online recently, and this build really cries out for a team.

I looked at Local Man's Earth/Rad guide today and my build is substantially similar to his template (substituting TP for Flight, and with a few cases of taking one power just a bit earlier or later).

Nice to see another one joining the fold! I wanted to comment on a few of your statements.

EM Pulse -- a wonderful hold, but I really don't use it much. That is mainly because my Earth/Rad tries to stay out of melee most of the time. Earth/Rad has three effective AoE control powers, plus a fourth quasi perma-hold in Stone Cages + Radiation Infection slotted up with ToHitDebuffs. I find that I don't need EM Pulse for standard team play. I save it as my "panic button" power, or for use in those situations where its special properties will provide a special benefit. (Example: During the ITF, I save EM Pulse for when that big group of Robots around the Computer Console wake up. If two of us have it, EVERYTHING is held for a long time and it does a good amount of AoE damage to those Robots.) I do pull out EM Pulse if I'm up against foes who are resistant to one of my other controls.

As you know, Earth/Rad is very low on damage. Your only damage from your secondary is a power that most people skip, Fall Out. I wanted some AoE damage out of my APP power set, so I went with Ice and its two AoE damage powers. With the AoE controls to keep them in place, Ice Storm does a huge amount of damage (with the boost from EF). Frost Breath is decent, too. And the slow in them reduces retaliation attacks. Hibernate, Ice Armor and Ice Blast have their advantages, too.

There is some appeal to the Earth set. The stun in Fissure can be stacked with Stalagmites. But it is very short range, and I prefer to stay at range. Seismic Smash and Hurl Boulder give you good single target damage. And, of course, it goes along thematically, too. If I had more of a melee playstyle or wanted to solo more, I would seriously consider Earth.

Fire, of course, does good damage. Consume can handle those times that your Endurance gets drained. I have it on my Ill/Rad and Ill/TA (the TA needs the Fire APP as another way to light the Oil Slick). I love the Psi set on my Fire/Rad, who has trouble from getting mezzed. My Earth/Rad, however, does not get mezzed much.

I had Primal on my Ill/Rad and switched out. I have it now on my Plant/Rad (who just hit 50 last night -- Woot!). I thought that Power Boost would be nice to buff Seeds of Confusion. I find that I don't use Power Boost that much, though. The only AoE damage is a fairly narrow cone, Torrent.

Your choice of the APP sets can vary widely with your playstyle. Try one out, then try another if you have enough Respecs. But as I said, I like Ice on mine for the AoE damage and Hibernate as a panic button power.

Torrent seems to be pretty narrow. I really don't see it being 45 degrees. I don't doubt Frost Breath may be 30 but Torrent is NOT 45. I think it may actually be narrower than Frost Breath.

One of the reasons I dropped Primal before on my Ill/Rad and went back to Fire was a lack of AoE. When the changes were made to the APP sets, I decided to try Primal again. I thought that since Seeds is a cone, and Torrent is a cone, they would go together quite well. Still not that impressed, as Torrent seems too narrow.

But you can always try it out on Test, and then use a Respec on Live.