Rad Blast w/mez protection? Best option?

All,

I have played with Rad blast some and I really like the animations. I want a build that can soft cap defense, enjoy mez protection, and otherwise just stand next to bad guys while clicking Irradiate and Neutron Bomb with impunity.

So, I guess that means I am looking at Rad/Traps corruptor, Traps/Rad defender, or FF/Rad defender. I would make Rad/FF in a heartbeat if corruptors could, but as of today, they cant.

Of the options available to me, which would be the "best"?

I will play a trapper but using gadgets doesnt quite fit my concept. Man I wish I could do Rad/FF.

Anyway, anyone have recommendations about this?

Thanks,

Lewis

Rad/Sonic corruptor? (Ok, so softcapping might be an issue, but you can easily cap s/l resists and probably get good range defense)

I am not a fan of softcapping resistance. It doesnt suit my delicate nature.

Lewis

I'd go Rad/Traps Corruptor. Solely because Anything/Traps is awesome. Even, like, Wet Noodle Blast/Traps. Both Traps and Rad Blast also work pretty well up close and personal.

Can a sonic corruptor soft cap ranged, aoe, and s/l and still have 50% - 60% or more global recharge?

Even if they can, I cant stand the sound effects or appearance of sonic.

As for rad traps corruptors, I figured that would be best, but traps is a bit odd for my concept. But I could work it in I suppose.

Thanks,

Lewis

Mechanically speaking, you'd be insane to take FF over Traps in today's game. The Traps set is one of the best, and most versatile, while FF is one of the worst, and least versatile.

That said, if you just can't stand the idea of Traps for your concept, FF is still playable, it just suffers tremendously from being a one-trick-that-everyone-knows-pony and only has 3-6 good powers, depending on your feelings towards Force Bubble, PFF, and Repulsion Bomb (I personally feel the former too are far too situational in today's game and the latter is totally subpar as an attack and a soft control).

I24 Proc Chance = (Enhanced Recharge + Activation Time) * (Current PPM * 1.25) / 60*(1 + .75*(.15*Radius - 0.011*Radius*(360-Arc)/30))
Single Target Radius = 0. AoE Non-Cone Arc = 360.

Another vote for the Rad/Traps Corr here. If you're open to fiddling with concept a bit to be more traps-friendly, then maybe consider Bots/Traps MM?

Traps, while awesome on paper, is too slow for team use, imo. Most teams I've been on won't wait for you to set up things. So, if you plan on mostly soloing, yeah, Rad / Traps Corruptor is a good way to go. If you plan on teaming half the time or more... no.

The answer, imo, depends on your playstyle.

Do you plan to mostly play the 1 - 50 content, or do you plan on doing a lot of 50+ content?

If you plan on doing mostly level 1 - 50 content, Force Field / Rad Defender, imo.

If you plan on doing mostly level 50+ content, Rad Blast / Energy Blaster with the Clarion Core Destiny.

Well, I played a Fire/Sonic controller to 50, and an Illusion/Sonic to 46 and the Illusion/Sonic has been sitting there for a few years now, I guess. I just cant make myself get those last 4 levels. So no ...no sonic.

I guess I will play Rad/Traps. Well, unless I can find some totally different set to fit the name Atom Strike. If only we had Rad Assault on Doms. Doms are, numerically by number of characters, my second favorite AT. Corruptors are 9th.

Lewis

Just go with concept. FF/Rad defender.

Concept builds are dev-proof. You won't kick yourself down the line if FF, Sonic, and/or Traps get rebalanced. Well, okay, you might kick yourself if the devs make FF worse somehow, but I doubt that will happen.

Alternatively, PBU + perma-AM as a Rad/Rad comes close to mez protection, if you're willing to go that route. Your toggles will still get knocked off, but the mezzes will wear off really fast.

Finally, there's always the option of taking the Clarion destiny and picking any buff/debuff set you want.

Traps is a favorite set of mine. I play traps aggressively (i.e., I am nipping the heels of the lead melee, and solo x4-x8 as appropriate to the strength of the build), and there are 2 things that really help that playstyle: stacked def from pools and IOs, and stacked stealth any way you get it. I usually prefer SS + a stealth proc in sprint.

Hell, with Seekers, i am often the one leading teams on my trappers.

Maybe I'll make both. I can make a Rad/Traps on one account and FF/Rad on the other.

Lewis

Make a Rad/Energy blaster Uni... or a Rad/Elec blaster. You can get S/L defensive shields later and it can potentially hit soft cap. And blasters can use the T1 and T2 powers from the primary and the T1 from the secondary if they are under the effect of a Mez.

One of the things about /Rad on a defender that I found out when I made my Sonic/rad defender.. The damage is wicked bad until you get cosmic burst for single target damage. But the blaster doesn't have this problem at the T1 and T2 in the primary sets were standardized to the rest of the blaster sets.

Rad/Cold or Rad/Kin then unlock Destiny and get T3 Clarion.

I wouldnt mind doing a Rad/Time corruptor, but I saw some complaints on the Corruptor forum about how it sucked. Maybe because of no mez protection prior to the clarion T4.

Maybe I should just keep camping the name until Rad/FF is an option tho.

Oh well. No worries.

Lewis

It depends on what you're looking for out of your blast set of course but I'll echo the suggestion of a rad/ blaster. Does it have status protection? Not exactly... If you don't mind a little jury rigging with defense bonuses, defiance usage, or possibly even clarion, though, it outperforms defender and corruptor radiation blast by a huge margin. That isn't to say that the latter two won't be doing damage, but it's the difference between needing to cycle through a ranged chain a couple times to kill minions and lts to being able to simply hit NB, irradiate, and in my blaster's case psychic shockwave and leave most of the spawn dead right there. Absolutely an unsafe playstyle compared to the supporty types', and I'd be lying if I said I never got myself killed, but picturing the smiles of the faces of the little children who I imagine are watching the carnage play out via some sort of high tech, Running Man-style reality show produced by Paragon City's local Fox affiliate makes it all worthwhile.

Lewis,

I have the same experience with Traps. I've played it twice to the 40s (on an MM and a Corruptor), and while I recognize how powerful it is, I just don't enjoy the experience.

I'd recommend you actually look at some other support sets beyond FF and Traps. Dark Miasma, Cold Domination, and Storm Summoning all provide a PBAoE stealth power that provides defense to all (+5% for Defenders, +3.5% on Corruptors, IIRC), and some handy resists to some types. You can build on those numbers by layering in Tough (with the Steadfast +3% defense), Weave, Combat Jumping, Maneuvers, Scorpion Shield (which you can get at lvl 35 now!) and some set bonuses to get very good defenses to S/L/E and some resists against 5 types of damage.

But what about mezzes? you say. The nice thing about defenses is that if you're not hit by the attack, the mezz never gets you. In addition, Tactics, Shadow Fall, and Steamy Mist provide protection and/or resists against confuses and/or fears.

Finally, let me advocate a bit for Acrobatics. Acrobatics gets no love now, due to the knockback protection global enhancements, but Acrobatics provides protection against knockback, and magnitude 2 protection against holds. Many people assume mag 2 protection is worthless, as pretty much any player hold is mag 3 or better, but most of the holds you will encounter from critters will be mag 2 or less. So long as you prevent holds from stacking (use your own mezzes to prevent this!), Acrobatics can significantly cut down on the amount of time you spend held. Holds from boss or higher critters can still be a problem, of course.

I've leveled a specially-built Radiation/Kinetics corruptor who uses Air Superiority, Jump Kick, and Cosmic Burst as my ST attack chain, and Irradiate and Neutron Bomb as my PBAoE attacks. I fight only from melee range. With Acrobatics, Combat Jumping, Tough (+Steadfast), and Weave (and adding Scorpion Shield at 41), I have soloed 95% of the time to level 47. Holds were almost never a problem. The only common mezzes I worry about are stuns. I make sure to hit stunners with Cosmic Burst first thing to cut my risk. Stun them before they can stun you!

Kinetics has no defense to build on within the set, unlike Cold, Dark, and Storm. Also, Time and Poison offer PBAoE powers with -to hit which provide effective defense. If I can do this on a Kin, I'd think any of these sets are equally survivable.

(BTW: I owe the idea for a Rad/Kin melee Corruptor entirely to Luminara's guide to Kinetics Scrappers (sic), found in the Defender forum guides here http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=114451. It's a bit dated now, but awesome still! I have never enjoyed leveling a character so much. I heartily recommend it!)

have a lvl 50(+3) FF/rad. yeah beyond +def to the team and I FF isnt great but my build will give 44.xx def to anyone in the bubble with me and shielded, so near softcapped just with what I give, and I have a blast playing it.