Cognito

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From my experience with Cathode.

1. Radiant Aura is NOT essential.
Cathode never took it and I never really missed it. If people think the only reason to defend is to heal they have some serious problems

2. Thunderous Blast is not great
I am of the "defenders shouldn't take nova" school. Use this and you will knockout all of your toggles using this (RI, EF and Choking Cloud) so I wouldn't recomend this.

3. Total Sapping = Electric Mastery
If you want to be a total sapper then get Power Sink from the electric blast. EMP, Shortcircuit, Powersink...goodbye all endurance

4. Thunderstrike has a bad rep.
Thunderstike effects are TOTALLY inapropriate for the set (I think that the NRG mellee one and the elec mele one got muddled up)but theres one key advantage to Thunderstrike - It's unbelievably fun. Whilst I like the electrical blast set it feels utilitarian rather than powerful. Thunderstrike is the power that makes me actually feel powerful. The other option (electric fence) is a power elctrical blasters get at level 1 - thats how boring it is.

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Any my experience of cyberskin, the other level 50 rad/elec (that I know of) would agree with all of the above.

I tried thunderstike and respecced out of it almost instantly. Knockback... grrrr.... dead cyberskin.

I went with psychic mastery:

Extra hold (stack with telsa cage and you can lock down almost anything) in dominate.

Mass hypnosis I didnt take, but this is an effective open if you havent got a tank and need to debuff.

Telekenesis and an anchor... wow! depending on luck and skill you can end up with a tightly clustered bunch of helpless debuffed fools in the corner, or complete madness of a split up group. either way, its fun!.

As a rad fender DO NOT TAKE NOVA... EVER. Its only possible use is using it after an EMP. But it really isnt worth it. Rad lives and dies by its debuff toggles. Loose them with a nova and its game over man.

Personally, Im a fan of fallout at levels 40+ for those AV but thats another story.

You will do much better with stamina. Mind you, I had two leadership toggles running

Rad/Elec was a very potent combination for locking down and sterlizing enemies. I never saw the point of the Rad/Rad combination - Rad primary was enough to debuff defence so everyone was hitting almost constantly (remember most players slot enough accuracy for them to be reasonably effective without def debuffers)... never saw the point of extra def debuff from rad secondary but hey ho.

Absolutely agree with all of these posts here... each tank plays differently. Good tank players are always better than bad tank players.

I would still maintain the unarguable... the maths of the sets mean different things. Its all very well granite tanks saying they are super tough. They are not the best tanks (no tank is the best, they all have strengths and weaknesses)... they are severely hampered by picking up whoopsie-dasies. Its all very well fire tanks moaning they are the most squishy - they contribute most to AoE damage... You can only compensate so much.

It also depends on how you play your tank and your standards.

Personally, when I play with my ice/ice tank I play for perfection. I play so that no one else in the teams HP bar moves. Ever. No excuses. The only time I will allow myself that luxury is with scrappers/blappers and enemy has AoE attacks (which i cant do anything about), and when there is a split team. Otherwise, if someone takes 1 point of damage, I have failed. If somebody else on the team dies before me, I am ashamed.

Now thats just me. And I couldnt do that without being an Ice/Ice tank with CE, Icicles, Ice Slick, and taunt, all slotted with taunt enhancers. Even then, I find it hard to squeeze myself above 95% of entire teams aggo. Now bear in mind i do this despite ANY circumstances - fliers, runners, idiot blasters, whatever.

Thats just how I play my tank. And people like it - they stop worrying about aggro knowing that the only HP bar they need to worry about is mine, not theirs.

But I appreciate not every tank plays with that goal in mind and gets different sorts of kicks. Personally, I love the security it gives people.

This is not boasting by the way - Im not particularly skilled... but I have a tank with only two attacks (and icicles) and have built him to be an aggro magnet. And I can only do it with Ice. I tired the other sets, and they all didnt give me that aggro magnet feeling that CE did. To me, aggro magnetism is how I judge a tank, and myself, so I cant really go back.

Long winded baloney this post, sorry!

My Scrapper Nerf wishlist: In this order:

Reduce damage (Or make blasters do more - cmon blasters are meant to be total damage and end up being on a par!)

Regen - swing that nerfbat as hard as it will go, states.

SR - Looking decidedly to good in issue 7. Ends up with more defence than an Ice tank? And Ice tanks are the most resiliant after GRANITE???. Needs some thought.

My scrapper buff list:

Dark Armour: Just a little less end drain, please?

Martial Arts: Does this really match up in terms of damage?

Taunt/Challenge: No-one takes it. Give it some loooove.

Inevitably, -70% recharge and "tohit" requirements will make a granite worse at gathering aggro. Taunt comes up far less, and hitting with mudots is not gaurunteed. Additionally, you do not have the option of a quick dash / punchvoke / back to main group.

Granite is the toughest / hardest tank there is - it comes with a downfall and that is its mobility, -recharge and also its severely hampered ability to gather up a whoopsie in terms of aggro. Thats just the way it is - if you are arguing that Granite is just as good as anything else, then something is clearly broken if you ask me.

It is only since issue 7 that ice tankers have really been seen (and even now it seems that their reputation still makes them relatively uncommon). But there is no way a Granite can match an icers "Pick up the mess" ability. It simply isnt possible. Icers are extremely mobile (they even have a slow resist), and the incredible effect of Chilling embraces Large AoE and slow means they can dash around to pick up spillage in a way that a Granite can only dream of.

Its horses for courses. Granite is hard, but nothing will ever top an icer for aggro spillage. Player skill counts of course. But a good icer will always outdo a good granite for aggro spillage. they simply have far better tools to do the job. Conversely, Granite has better tools to withstand massive assault, and particularly psionics.

Aggro grabbing is pretty easy 95% of the time. Run in, few seconds gathering in the aura, taunt any outliers. Any tank can do it with a modicum of skill. Admittedly, Ice tanks will always have an easier time of it, given CE's larger AoE and slow effect.

Its the other 5% that counts tho. Second group? Knockback? Flying enemies? All sorts of things can and will go pear shaped. I know many tankers say well, hey ho, thats the groups fault not mine. That idiot blaster, well he can just die. Thats not good enough for me when I tank. Thats when you need taunt, need to move around, reconsolidate, etc.

And thats precisely when you are up a certain creek without a certain barge pole in granite armour.

Bout time scrappers got the nerfbat!

Fire has the weakest survivability (although still tough), offset by the best offensive penalty.

Granite has the advanatges of being inherenetly the toughest and secondly at that level stuffed full of SO's. It is offset by being the worse offensively and probably technically the worst at aggro grabbing (dont flame me - the -70% recharge and need for hit on taunt aura do make it the worst although it can still be pretty good).

As a fire tank, you will certainly need acrobatics (or maybe hover), and probably the fighting pool.

Tanks generally start being supertough around level 22, and SO.

My advice is to 5 slot your Smash/Lethal shield. At level 12 slot this with 5 DO resists. This will make you pretty tough but you have significant end problems. At level 22 you can replace with 3 SO resists and 2 end reducers... making you slightly tougher and with no end worries. Its about the only way you can act super tank like at level 12.

Just my 2 influence. Dont miss Sirens Song. You have the only blaster set with AoE mez... even if it is sleep. It makes solo-ing easier than with any other blaster IMO.

AoE Sleep.

Kill Minion 1, whilst Minion 2+3 sleep

Kill Minion 2, whilst Minion 3 sleeps

Kill Minion 3

Wash and Repeat.


Basically means you have to kill one enemy at a time. Scary huh?

Shadow Maul is great for scrappers. But brutes build fury per hit, not per damage... Getting locked in that long animation aint so good...

I mucked around with a DM scrapper once (level 14 or so i think) and Shadow Maul was good - id def get it again (But to be honest i find scrappers pretty tedious). I wouldnt touch it with a barge pole on my DM/ELec brute.

Basically the Mrs. and Me have Barbeque Belly.

Ill see how it goes, but I may have to go for sudden AFK's if you know what I mean

Fire/Kins is teh suck. Its too easy.

Depends how you play I guess!

I was playing with /elec, and recharge boosted first two teirs. I could fire off those two attacks super fast, and build up fury / debuff very quickly. To lock myself in the Shadowmaul would just kill me.

I guess you are playing a more big hitter/slower fury style, which is perfectly valid.

Really just posted to point out that shadow maul has a downside and you certainly can play a different way.

I played a dark/elec brute to level 40 in the Training Room event.

Bear in mind I have a +recharge inherent from elec secondary, but I found shadow maul absolutely terrible. Now I know it does good out of the box damage, but its animation is hideously long. I did far far better doing ultra rapid cycling tier 1 and tier 2 attacks, slotted for accuracy, debuff, and recharge. This allowed me to hugely debuff accuracy and very rapidly build fury.

Using shadow maul just locked me in a long long cycle, and thus fury built up much more slowly.

If you do take it, Id only use it once fury has really really built up. But to be honest, Id stick with rapid cycling first two attacks (maybe filled out with air superiority or boxing), and then unleash the big hitters (like tier 9). Brutes work best by rapidly building and sustaining fury - shadow maul impaired this.

Horese for Courses, mind. It was just my observation and It was based on very rapid recharges (due to slotting and elec secondary). I just felt I needed to put in a word of caution about shadow maul for your consideration.

Advance warning: DUe to RL problems, my attendance my be erratic today.

If you want to do TF without me, no objections: Don't want to hold anyone back.

RL A bit wobbly for next few days - unavoidable!

But what you can do is sit in granite, build up fury (you do need taunt), then once its built up, turn it off and release AoE hell.

Looks pretty good Clex.

Personally Id get L.Bolt a little later and Stamina A little sooner, but thats just fine tuning.

My only word of caution is Thunderous Blast. If you fire a nova, you instantly loose your two main rad power toggles, which is often a disaster. As a 'fender you arent probably going to cause an enemy wipe, and you ened up with a load of aggro of the enemy who are no longer debuffed.

Your call but I found it a pretty pointless power myself. If you do use it (with Power Boost - and that wont be enough to cause enemy wipe usually), fire an EMP beforehand, so at least anything left standing is held. But personally, nova's for a rad defender are best left alone IMO.

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I think weekends or Friday night maybe the best time to do Task Forces.

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Depends on the Task Force. Some of the earlier ones can be done in 2-3 hours (often). Unfortunately we have no stealth/teleport character which could speed things up, but hey ho.

Perhaps we should organise a TF anyway outside Thursday 7:30. Would people be interested?

Agreed.

I thing we should do a Task Force or several.

Oh, and by the way, looking at my build, the most debatable order in it is the 22/24/26. Acrobatics, Short Circuit and Choking Cloud. Its a terrible pain choosing between all three of this excellent powers. My advice is just to choose according to your playstyle and your freinds!. Short Circuit is a defensive power mainly - its damage is pretty low. Best slot for 3 end modifiers, the rest recharge or accuracy (accuracy 1 at most - it has accuracy bonus and you will be hitting debuffed enemies mainly).

Off top of my head its: (And cant remember exact names of powers but you get gist)

1. Radiant Aura
1. Charged Bolts
2. Radation Infection
4. Accelerate Metabolism
6. Swift (Because I always get it at 6, might swap for EF tho)
8. Ennervating Field
10. Combat Jumping
12. Lingering Radiation
14. Super Jump
16. Health
18. Mutation
20. Stamina
22. Short Circuit
24. Acrobatics
26. Choking Cloud
28. Telsa Cage
30. Assault
32. EMP Pulse
35. Tactics
38. Voltaic Sentinel
41. Dominate (Psychic Epic)
44. Mind Over Body (Psychic Epic)
47. Telekenesis (Psychic Epic)
49. Fallout


Bear in mind this is a VERY team focussed build. If you are going for a more offendery type of build, skip assault / tactics, replace with lightning bolt and ball lightning.

Also, the path to level 20/30 is strewn with Hollows agony of people who only love green numbers (empaths). The radiation defender is the path of pain until mid 20s. At level 40+, make sure you mock all empaths and let the team kick them for a solid debuffer (for those AVs) . Anmyway, this was the reason I got mutate fairly early on, so I could be a pretend empath.

Good luck

Id get stamina asap. Rad is end hungry with all those toggles, especially before SO end reducers.

Personally, Id say Voltiac Sentinel over lightning bolt. VS keeps going when you are stunned, is very end efficient, and allows you to focus on other things.

If you are going SJ. Get acrobatics at least before 30. Getting kb'd out of radiation and removing choking cloud is dangerous. Its small mez resistance is also handy. YOu get mezzed, radiation drops, you die.

Otherwise its pretty solid. I put in assault + tactics myself but tactics only really for perception (such a defence debuff and most of team hitting hard anyway).

Conserve Power pretty pointless to be honest. You havent got leadership toggles and as I said, I never had an end problem (with 3 SO stamina, 3 End SO reducers in Rad toggles and 2 leadership toggles). Id only go for it with hasten tbh (And I didnt find hasten helpful). If you need end for big fights you have Accel Metab anyway.

Good luck

Played my Rad/Elec, Cyberskin to 50. Will post guide if you want.

Elec, to my mind, is a better secondary than Rad, for Rad. Pretty good AoE... but the secondary effect is far more usefull than the def debuff of Rad secondary (because you have pretty much floored debuff with your Rad primary).

Advice:

Short Circuit needs 3 end mod. Its an absolute killer. Slot a recharge or two.

Because of this, I would get Choking Cloud. Rad/Elec is a tankfender build. You get into melee, surrounded by debuffed and held fools, and short circuit them. You simply cant get a better defence!

EMP, as said, is very good with short circuit. Having said that, I would save it for those "Oh Sh**" moments. Its recharge is long, it drains your end, and you end up with a stack load of aggro once it has worn off.

I found voltaic sentinel a useful power to fire off. Its damage is not great, but it frees you up to to proper defending.

Telsa Cage - get it. After short circuit, your first priority.




If you ever get up to epics. Do NOT get thunderstrike. It causes knockback (I dont care what the description says, I tried it and had to respec out straight away). Knockback for a rad defender = dead rad defender.

I went psionic. An extra hold (dominate) for stacked holding with Telsa Cage. Mass Hypnosis allows you to lay on those debuffs safely. Telekenesis can, with skill, allow you to create a corner full of held, debuffed, absolutely pathetic enemies in safety (mind that endurance tho - helps to fire off Accelerate Metabolism first!).


Incidently, I found the end bonus of elec secondary enough for me to spam off the first blast, Short Circuit, and Telsa Cage even when AM'd with no end problems (whilst running three Rad toggles, Spamming Lingering Rad, and two leadership toggles) provided all toggles where 3 end red slotted and stamina 3 slotted. Even with this, I only ran into problems with end when using the wibbly wobbly rubbish heal.

And fallout rocks vs AV!!!

Er... Other AT's apart from Defenders, Scrappers, Tankers, and Blasters..... hmmmm.....

If Im free Ill be there with my tank, Cryotherapy (lvl 25).

By the way, Id avoid phrases like Defenders (Healers)... many experienced players view phrases like "Do you heal" and "We need a healer" as an indication of upcoming debt! Only freindly advice - please dont flame!

And If I cant make it, good luck!

How about DR. Vazh tonight once we are rolling (meet 7, team away by 7:30?)

(PS Super-Powered now... Weeeee!)

Thanks Chaps...

Looks like Chillblain only useful vs AVs. Might still have to get it at level 35+, given how craptacular dominators appear to be vs AVs...