what are Nukes for?

Depends on the primary and secondary.

If it's /AR or /Archery, I'll take the nuke 100% of the time and ask for seconds.

If I have a +end or +recovery power, I'll take the nuke, smack things with it, pop a CaB, and be back on my feet in seconds.

If the nuke has stacking potential with other powers (EM Pulse + Atomic Blast = Stop! HAMMERTIME), I'll take it.

If I'm Traps/, I'll take it just because I have no toggles to worry about.

Otherwise, I usually skip them unless I can spare the power pick. Of my level 38+ Defenders, I only skipped it on one of them. I've found very few Defender builds to be so tight that I have much better to take by that point.

Nukes on a Defender are secondary just as their attacks are Secondary. A nuke shouldn't be in the Primary, because that's not what Defender Primaries do. OTOH, that doesn't mean Nukes are useless any more than attacks are useless. Unless you are in the "stupid defender, stop blasting and heal" crowd, you can find a use for any attack.

I have to admit I find them less useful and more situational, because with having to lay down debuffs and the inability to both Build Up/Aim, not to mention the lower damage of the Defender overall, it isn't a guaranteed kill. On the other hand, there have been many emergency situations where a well timed nuke, just as the bad guys were about to mount a comeback and rout the team, dropped half the foes and left the other half vulnerable. It fits better the Defender's role on the team, to protect the team. (And Nukes that have a stun effect, like Atomic Blast, Psychic Wail, Dreadful Wail, or even Blizzard's Slow or Blackstar's -ToHit, can be more useful for their mitigating effect than Full Auto or Rain Of Arrows)

Also note that Full Auto and Rain of Arrows do less damage than the "true" Nukes, as the cost for their lack of a crash. It's sort of like how Unstoppable gives much higher defense boosts than Strength of Will. You gets what you pays for.

Nukes go BOOM, end of story.

On my FF/Elec, I got a nuke... on my Emp/Energy and Dark/Rad. Nope, didn't take one due to not wanting my endurance in the toilet when I may need it for other more important things. You can't always count on having a blue ready, and as people say... Fender's nukes are better for cleaning-up after the battle has started then a opening move.

So really, if it fits in your play style.. get the nuke. It not, then don't. No one has ever yelled at me in a team for not having one.

Oh.. I should mention, I don't use my nuke that often on my Bubbler. She got Leadership, so when I do dump my endurance after a nuke, its a pain to re-toggle like 3 to 5 powers. So most times, I don't nuke to just avoid that hassle.

I like how people reply to the troll even though there's a warning label in his signature that it's a fake post lol

I find my power choices much better spent in other areas, rather than a nuke on my defenders.

As someone else said Defender Nukes are often Finishers.. I liked the term Omega Strike.. I am going to use that personally myself... I use my Defenders Nukes to end a fight after I see the mob is down to half or a little below half health and I can usually get the job done. Some toons do it better than other like my Ice/ice defender.

Defenders should also pay attention to stacking different effects and powers before Nuking which many blasters dont do..

My Sonic Psi will definitely Liquefy, Howl and THEN use the Psi Nuke.

My Rad/Rad will hit Aim. Power Build Up, EMP Pulse, Irradiate and THEN Atomic Blast.. Thats great because he stacs TWO holds on top of each other.

Ice.Ice defender.. Aim, PBU, HeatLoss, Sleet, Ice Storm, Blizzard. Usually everything is dead after that.

Rad Sonic will also EMP Pulse and then Sonic Nuke.

My FS'd Psy Nuke can fool people into thinking a blaster just poped off... And a CaB + transfusion means I haven't skipped a beat.

now granted, on my Rad/Sonic, I use fallout... Works better IMO, and I don't have to drop my toggles.

My FF/Archer took archery, and am thankful because having to retoggle ALL them toggles after each nuke would have been a pain in the...

So, IMO, it depends on the build and play style. I loving nuking most times. Sometimes it's more trouble then it's worth. But, i like having the option. More options > then less IMO.

On the level up, I hit 38 and grab the nuke just for the novelty value. The oooh, never did that much dmg on this toon before and it looks cool factor. By 40, the fully slotted nuke is popping off like crazy because it's still a new toy.

At 50, it's IO respec time. The novelty has worn off and it gets looked at with a more practical eye. If it doesn't have a crash I'll keep it, otherwise it's dropped. Unless it's doing blaster level dmg (broken?) like people are saying blizzard does, then I'd find room.

Traps/Ice, ice storm+Blizzard, who cares about endurance when all my gadgets are doing the work for me.

Nuking, mostly.