Would you prefer a teammate with Rez or an AV-killing debuff?

(regarding people saying "I can make a wakie")


Wakies can be in-combat self-rezzes. I've done it many, many times. I will continue to do it many, many times.

Originally Posted by Dispari I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.

I concur with your assessments on Mutation, Fallout, and Choking Cloud. But I always take Radiant Aura. It lets you keep other inspirations in your tray, and is useful for healing the rest of the team, which makes it much more justifiable to avoid Mutation and Fallout. I usually slot Doctored Wounds in it as well, which is good for 5% recharge (more recharge is always welcome).

EM Pulse is a great hold: 28 seconds base duration. Ice's Glacier is 15 seconds. Glacier is also a PBAoE hold, which means you've got to run into melee range. Which is fine if you're an in-their-face kind of controller, but if you're a ranged controller Glacier is suboptimal. If this were Earth/Rad or Grav/Rad with a ranged targeted AoE hold I'd be more willing to give up EM Pulse. The Recovery debuff is definitely noticeable, especially when you're running the RI and EF. But it's manageable.

If you play on teams that kill off members all the time you might consider Fallout. But when I play with my SG, which I do most of the time, characters very rarely die. Wasting a power selection on something I'd use once every 20 playing sessions just isn't worth it. Which is the same reason I skip Mutation. All the other powers will see much more use.

Another thing to consider is the Day Job accolade power you get for the University and the Hospital. It lets you rez team mates. Just hang around those places for 21 days each, and you get the accolade. Hang around for more days to get charges on the rez (I've got 15 on one character, not sure what the max is). It is interruptible, so not quite as convenient as Mutation or Resurrection, and doesn't have any kind of buffing or debt protection, but it gets the job done and requires no power slots.

I have this accolade on my Ill/Emp and Fire/Rad controllers instead of the rezzes out of the secondaries. Most of the time I'd need to use it the players combine insps and rez themselves before I can get over there.

The Dark Miasma rez is a great offensive weapon. Its regen debuff is actually its most powerful feature. It's also a stun, a slow and a recharge debuff. It's invaluable for taking down AVs. The rez is actually its least useful feature, and it's a pretty good one because it rezzes multiple characters.

This argument is overused and never works.

Never.

Players die. You can be the best rad in the world. Everyone could have stacked defense. Sometimes, players just die. Lucky shots happen. Ambushes happen. No one goes through this game never having died.

Whether you decide a rez or rez-related power is worth it, is ultimately up to you, but never assume, even in the best of circumstances, that no one is going to die simply because you were there.

Can't quote this hard enough. And since Mutation also comes with a nice buff and LR's -regen isn't as useful as so many people think it is (this coming from someone with a Rad/Dark Defender with LR in the build), if forced to chose between the two, I would definitely go with Mutation.

This is my Rad/Dark's build (yes, it really is mostly SOs):
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Anscillect: Level 50 Mutation Defender
Primary Power Set: Radiation Emission
Secondary Power Set: Dark Blast
Power Pool: Teleportation
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Flight
Ancillary Pool: Power Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Radiation Infection -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(3), ToHitDeb(9), ToHitDeb(13), DefDeb(42), DefDeb(43)
Level 1: Dark Blast -- Acc(A), Dmg(46), Dmg(46), Dmg(46)
Level 2: Accelerate Metabolism -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(3), RechRdx(5), EndMod(7), EndMod(9), EndMod(11)
Level 4: Gloom -- Acc(A), Dmg(5), Dmg(11), Dmg(40)
Level 6: Enervating Field -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(7)
Level 8: Recall Friend -- Range(A)
Level 10: Mutation -- RechRdx(A)
Level 12: Lingering Radiation -- Acc(A), RechRdx(13), RechRdx(15), ImpSwft-Dam%(17)
Level 14: Teleport -- Jnt-EndRdx/Rng(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(15), Winter-RunSpd/Jump/Fly/Rng/EndRdx(19), Range-I(21)
Level 16: Tenebrous Tentacles -- Acc(A), Dmg(17), Dmg(23), Dmg(23), RechRdx(37), EndRdx(39)
Level 18: Assault -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(19)
Level 20: Tactics -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(21), ToHit(31), ToHit(33), ToHit(34)
Level 22: Hurdle -- Jump(A)
Level 24: Night Fall -- Acc(A), Dmg(25), Dmg(25), Dmg(27), RechRdx(29), EndRdx(37)
Level 26: Fallout -- Acc(A), Dmg(27), Dmg(29), Dmg(31), RechRdx(33), RechRdx(34)
Level 28: Health -- Heal(A)
Level 30: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), P'Shift-EndMod(31), P'Shift-End%(42)
Level 32: EM Pulse -- Acc(A), Hold(33), Hold(34), Hold(36), RechRdx(37), RechRdx(43)
Level 35: Moonbeam -- ExtrmM-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Mantic-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), ExecCtrt-Dmg/ActRdx(36), ExtrmM-Dmg/ActRdx/Rchg(39), Mantic-Dmg/ActRdx/Rchg(40)
Level 38: Vengeance -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(39), DefBuff(40)
Level 41: Power Build Up -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(42), RechRdx(43)
Level 44: Temp Invulnerability -- EndRdx(A), ResDam(45), ResDam(45), ResDam(45)
Level 47: Total Focus -- Acc(A), Dmg(48), Dmg(48), Dmg(48), EndRdx(50)
Level 49: Hover -- Flight(A), Flight(50), Flight(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Heal(A)
Level 1: Vigilance


* I skipped Radiant Aura because it's weak, and healing really isn't my job.
* I skipped Choking Cloud because I can't really stack it with anything but EM Pulse, it's expensive, and alone it doesn't do much
* I skipped Dark Pit because it's weak and alone, it doesn't do much (If I had Oppressive Gloom, I might have Dark Pit)
* I skipped Torrent because little damage plus knockback isn't particularly useful to this character
* I skipped Life Drain because I've already got an attack chain, and I don't really need the healing
* I skipped Blackstar because Fallout does more damage, and Blackstar drops Radiation Infection, Enervating Field, Assault, Tactics, Hover, and Temporary Invulnerability
* I went with Teleport, because Recall Friend makes Fallout/Vengeance even more useful. Also, Teleporting into the center of a spawn and queueing up EM Pulse while Teleport activates looks freaking amazing, and is really effective, in a "What's an alpha strike?" sort of way
* I picked up Power Mastery purely for Power Build Up. PBU + Vengeance + Fallout is incredible
* I skipped Conserve Power because I don't need more endurance management
* I skipped Force of Nature for some of the same reasons I skipped Blackstar (endurance crash). Temp Invulnerability increases my survival instead (and Vengeance...)
* Totaly Focus looks really cool while Hovering

There's a real difference between a rez that can bring you up fighting in the middle of a raging battle, and one applicable only at the fringe of a thinning fight. I don't die often, but I've sure been grateful more than once when Resurrected.

But folks here don't seem to mind wakies, and that's good to know.


As I said in my original post and above, both are nice, but I have room for one at 30 and the other not until 49 if at all.

Since I've been asked dozens of times for a rez, and never for -regen, I expected Mutation to be a hands-down team favorite. It didn't even occur to me that some might prefer LR until Local weighed the tradeoffs after his excellent ill/rad guide .

This week, I respec with a team-oriented build and thought I'd ask folks in the Forums which of these they prefer. I'm glad I did: my own preference (I'd rather have a teammate rez me than offer a situationally specific debuff) seems to have biased my expectations.