Rad/Sonic or Traps/Dark

So I've never managed to take a defender past 20...(shame on me I know), but after seeing some great ones in action I really wanna join in on the fun!

So I'm mainly deciding between Rad/Sonic and Traps/Dark. I tend to favor more active play styles and prefer never having a dull moment. As a defender, I just want to completely debuff my enemies into the ground. Like, fetal position while my team kicks them over and over. Radiation seems like it might not have enough active powers for me, but the traps powerset doesn't look that impressive overall, least not on paper, but the forums seem to really like these two combos, so I'd be more than happy to hear reasons about why I'm wrong ^_^

Thanks!

When you say slower are you just talking about set up time?

Force Field Generator definitely seems really cool and is one of the things that is drawing me toward traps.

But if the set up time is long, how does that work in teams generally?/How easy is it to find teams at higher levels as a traps fender?

Considering I have to start 90 some perfect of the teams I get on outside of trials, I don't think getting on teams is the issue. Traps, if it has an issue, is that it benefits from more set up time and a large number of teams aren't willing to do that these days. It will be difficult to max out Traps on a speed team. RI from Rad has this issue as well due to it's animation time.

I play both rad and traps and honestly I find myself contributing more to the team as a trapper. The setup time is not as long as you may think (it takes a bit more than 6 seconds), although you do have to adjust your playstyle to the needs of the set. The trick is to run first to the next mob seconds before the team defeats the previous one, hit it with Seeker Drones (by far my favourite trap both solo and in teams) and immediately run and toe-bomb them with Poison Trap and Acid Mortar (SS+Stealth proc are good to have as a trapper) as your Drones absorb the alpha. Your work is then done and you can enjoy some blasting behind your soft-capped defenses and mez protection. At the very least, even if you play on a steamrolling team or you're too bored to debuff for some reason and would like to blast some foes, your FFG is still contributing to your teams defense.

Rad is arguably a bad set for a PUG (for me at least), since after I spent 6 or so seconds throwing anchor toggles and debuffs, the rest of the team kills the boss first (especially at lower levels when aoe's are scarce) and I have to start all over again. Also, you feel like you're doing nothing on a steamrolling team (except perhaps heal some light wounds or throw a rez or something).

I say try both, they're both excellent sets, solo friendly (although I would go with traps for a solo toon), and the top two sets for me.

Why Traps/Dark instead of Traps/Sonic?

As great as traps is, I can't get into it. I love teaming with them, however.

When it comes to a Rad/Sonic, though, I'm on familiar ground. This combo will simply decimate enemy resistance. It's also a highly effective solo character, and one of the best things you can have on your team when AV hunting. I use RI a lot more solo than I do on teams, simply because things don't live long enough to hurt anything when there are others around to do damage.