I never see rad blast anymore....

so I will make one, maybe get that mech T-9 set, and make a cliche fem-bot ala Fei-yin (Virtual-On).

Any reason why it's such a rare blast set these days?

Which is better?

Blaster version or. Def/Corr version?

I would imagine it's not that popular due to it's lackluster ranged AoE and slow animating powers. It's also a bit theme specific. Which AT is better depends on what you want it to do. You won't be getting much out of scourge, so either blaster or defender, I'd say.

I have a mecha rad blaster myself.

Well, I think the biggest thing is that radiation blast is just an 'old' set. people, especially vets, just want to change things up and playing a set that's been around the better part of a decade isn't as intriguing.

The second thing is that its effect isn't as powerful in the grand scheme...it basically just gives you better accuracy against things you've already hit, not hit them harder or mess up the victims' ability to hit back as well.

It also is more rapid-fire, cumulative damage set than hard hitting, so you tend to attack a lot fast, making it feel lower damage just because you are pounding buttons more in the same time. (This for the corr/defender version especially with its fast neutrino bolt, but the fact that irradiate is DoT contributes too)

Besides all this, there are three attacks people may avoid in it: electron haze with its knockback, and then there's the snipe/nuke that folks find too situational.

It's still a great set, in my opinion. the -defense is handy not just on high defense foes, but on anything that debuffs accuracy. They may debuff your ability to hit, but once you tag them they are a much easier target. Special note: irradiate's defense debuffs is beastly. The nuke is also a hold, making it a better panic button than most, and it's all flat energy damage, which fewer thing resist. Cosmic burst is not just great damage, but a great stun too, and the fast damage attack style means less attacks wasted, and other than neutron bomb most animations are pretty quick, leaving less time locked in shooting. Personal opinion: proton volley is the coolest snipe in the game too. :P

Note that the blaster version had its neutrino bolt normalized with all other blaster tier one/two attacks, so it's slower but more damaging. Not a good/bad, just that it is different.

I have two rad Blast, a Rad/Kin (Old) and a Rad/Dev(New).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stone Daemon I have a mecha rad blaster myself.

How is Rad/Fire Blaster? was thinking of making one since im enjoying my new Rad/Dev Blaster.

Rad/Fire is an AMAZING combo but they die OH so fast...quicker than my doms...well my doms can take some punishment but my blaster cannot.

I plan to dust him off once the blaster secondary changes hit live.

My Rad/Fire...if accompanied by an Empath can kill just as fast or faster than my Plant/Fire Dom...and that my friend is impressive.

I still love my Rad/Rad defender, but he's a Taxibot, so there's not as much call for his services anymore.

One thing that might contribute a little to the "old and boring" factor for some (i.e., those who care about such) is that Neutrino Bolt is so fast-animating it pretty much is your attack chain. Set it on Auto, throw in the AoEs as they come off cooldown and have targets, and forget about it. It's like swinging your weapon in other MMOs - effective, but just kind of "there."

Had recently made a thread about Rad Blast in the Blaster forums. A few people responded but not many were feeling chatty I guess.

I felt the same way and, with the new shiny out, you'll be less likely to see a Rad Blast character lvling up.

I recently made a blaster myself and is now lvl 28. I've seen: DP, Water (of course), Sonic, Dark, Beam, Energy and Archery...funny, haven't seen Fire though (and Ice seems especially rare...I'm going to roll one of those next rather than Water since I'll have 3 rain powers as an Ice/Storm corr...much more thematic too).

As for mine, I rolled up a Rad/Dark. The synergy's nice: I'll have some stacking stuns and Soul Drain + Irradiate is hilariously fun. I love it and I like her theme too. She's another magic 'automaton' in the style of Tin Mage and her style is ORBS! ORBSORBSORBSORBSORBS!

Although Neutrino Bolt is kinda an orb, I'm probably going to skip it (I like Xray eyes for variety). So Proton Volley, Cosmic Burst and Neutron Bomb are her go-to powers and I plan on picking more orbs up in Force Mastery (Personal Force Field and Repulsion Bomb).

I wish Atomic Blast was an exploding orb outward from the character...but I can make due just imagining.

lol, I dont know why rad blast isnt right there with fire really. Some of its animation times are a tad long, but
You get to shoot lasers out of your eyes
the tier 3 is a mag 3 stun
the snipe > all other snipes, and half all other ST blasts put together
the nuke has a hold, so you dont get killz0rd when your endo gets drained


I made a rad/devices recently. I had one or two rad blast defenders back in the day, but defenders arent my thing as much so they arent around anymore. I have a rad/mental blaster that is good fun, and have a rad/ice blaster on my alt server, havent played him in a long time.

Rad/devices, as i see it, will be one of the most fun blasters in my large selection of them if/when fast snipes and crashless nukes come around eventually. The nuke as a crashless pbaoe with a hold? awsome, just follow it with irradiate/bomb. The snipe with fastsnipe mechanics? OMG, thats like ultimate robot pew pew ever. I am leveling mine slowly here and there as i wait for blaster changes to get finalized. At lvl 19 now, it has been all fun so far with little to no enemies resisting the nrg dmg and rediculous acc with target drone and def debuffs means dmg/rech slotting across the board so far. I can't wait for the changes to come about.

It's a good set. It doesn't get as much love perhaps due to two things:

1. -defense isn't helpful in the late game
2. Electron Haze is reaaally slow and has knockback on top of it

I have a level 50 rad/EM that I had tweaked for lvl 25+ content (i.e. all IOs were lvl 28 or below, so bonuses were intact for Sister Psyche TF) , especially vs. Freaks who take +50% extra from energy damage. It is truly unfair. While many dislike Electron Haze, with its long animation and inconsistent KB, it is still quite a heavy hitting AoE and if used as the last of the three AoEs, will leave few standing. While of my 5 lvl 50 blasters (others are Arch, AR, Fire, and DP, all with /ice secondary), the rad/EM is the least likely to get brought out for incarnate play, it finds itself much beloved in frequent exemping. It doesn't hurt that she has a great concept and battle-cry (char name is Minty, and the battle cry is "You can't handle the freshness! )

Hopefully you'll notice it more often with the snipe changes.

Maybe I notice more because I play them more (like taking my storm/rad on a Yin last night.) The "photon torpedoes" snipe still seems to amuse people.

See my Guides and Tutorials

I still break out my rad/mm blaster Psygeiger from time to time. he's only lvl 18 right not and i haven't been playing him regularly...but he's still pretty fun. I should probably think about moving him to a different server though. Think he's sitting on guardian...which is pretty low pop and teams are sometimes a little hard to come by.

I decided on the rad/mm because there's a LOT of aoe potential there. Electron haze, nuetron bomb, irradiate, psy scream, psy tornado, psi shockwave (holy crap...i just thought about water/mm for aoe....nice. but i'm sticking with my water/ice blaster Tsunami Ami Yumi)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smiling_Joe ::looks at RaikenX's signature:: Something funny.

The Blaster version is better in my opinion, because Neutrino Bolt and X-Ray Eyes are standard Tier 1 and 2 attacks instead of faster, lower damage ones that eat animation time.

Its not a bad set - 3 AoEs instad of two and a combined Tier 3/mez instead of two separate powers.

But as has been said above, the -Def secondary effect really isn't that great compared to -To Hit, -Res, or even Knockback.

My favorite new character is a Rad/Time Corr named Causeway. Fun dude!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oathbound Honestly, I don't view that as a plus. It's a comic book cliche, and not one that I ever cared for. I skip eye beams if at all possible on any Archetype or Powerset where it's feasible (Kheldians mostly), and just flat out don't play sets where it's not (Blaster Radiation), because I dislike them that much.

Of course you know that Rad Blast has an alternate animation where the beams come from your fists, not your eyes, right?

It certainly can look silly. With the right glove choice, I think it can look pretty nifty, though. And in case you haven't checked recently, the SFX are working properly now.

I Have A rad /fire blaster named " 0mnicide " and well .... i think the name speaks for itself