Tips for Child of the Atom

[Sweno]

ok, DS asked for my input on CotA, and I felt obliged to help.
He also mentioned that CotA should be more geared towards blast-fender, than a tank-fender, so this is more of a suggested list, rather than hard won knowledge from hundreds of hours of playtime

First, the current Build (snagged from the info window)
Radiation Emission: Radiant Aura, Accelerate Metabolism, Mutation, Enervating Field
Radiation Blast: Neutrino Bolt, X-Ray Beam, Irradiate
Teleportation: Recall Friend, Teleport
Fitness: Swift, Health, Stamina

Given the fact that she is already level 21, and you have Stamina, the most frustrating parts are now behind you.
There are some choices I would definitely have made different. But I'll try and go over every power in Radiation Emission and Radiation Blast with an eye to building a blast-fender.

Radiation Emission
Radiant Aura: A good aoe heal, not the best by any means. But enough to keep things going. And late game when you can spare the slots it becomes respectable. Take it and toss three slots in it's direction for now. 2 heal and a Recharge or a End Reduction, depending on how often you need it

Radiation Infection: The first power of the Rad Trifecta. This keeps the enemy from landing a hit on you as well as making them easier to hit. Take it, slot it, love it. Early game I would toss 4 slots it's way. 3 to-hit debuffs, and an endurance reduction. Later on as you can spare more, get more end-red. You don't need to worry about the -Def portion of this power, as every power in you secondary set will be eating away at their defense. This is the first power you should drop on a group, and if you are running out of end, it should be last toggle you turn off. It keeps you from getting hit. This power on Gamma and Decay will keep 90% of the alpha strike from hitting me.

Accelerate Metabolism: Another power to take and love. I'm sure I don't need to espouse it's virtues here. Get it, slot it for recharge and end-mod.

Enervating Field: The second of the Rad Trifecta. This makes the shots that do hit you hurt less, and you hurt them more. Take it, slot it, love it. This is the second toggle I drop on a group, right after Radiation Infection. Put 2 End-Red IOs in it and call it done.

Mutation: A very nice combat Rez. A single Recharge IO should take care of it.

Lingering Radiation: The Third of the Rad Trifecta. This slows down the enemy speed and puts a big hurt on their regeneration. Take it, slot it, love it. I drop this clickie on a group if I think they aren't going to stay clumped together or if there is a threat I don't want recovering from the damage I'm dishing out.

Choking Cloud: Personally I love this power, but it sucks end like no tomorrow. If you take it, 6 slot it with holds and end-reductions. This is definitely one of the powers to pick up post Stamina. Doubling the hold duration will mean that minions are perma-held, and lieutenants spend 80-90% of their time choking on fumes. Leaving the bosses as the only real threats in a group.

Fallout: A massively damaging power, better than some nukes but without the end crash. The drawback is that you need a dead blaster (or any other ally) to fire it off. I haven't picket this one up on either Gamma or Decay. Mainly because dead teammates mean I'm doing something wrong (or they have RotP and no sense of self preservation).

EM Pulse: The second best aoe hold in the game (EMP Arrow is slightly better because it can be targeted). This is your panic button, or late in the game it's your Fuck-you button. With 6 slots it will shut up just about any mob and leave anyone not stunned without enough endurance to bother you. Worth 45 seconds of peace at first, but can be easily slotted to 90 seconds. More than enough time to either haul ass out of there or (if you have the blues to chew) lay the smackdown on whomever was bothering you.

Radiation Blast
Neutrino Bolt:: Gotta take it, but it's not that bad. A very fast low power blast, worth using as a filler to any attack chain. I ended up slotting this for defense debuff rather than damage. And if I run across anyone who I am having a hard time hitting, I will spam them with this for a few seconds before bringing out the big guns again.

X-Ray Beam: I have never picked this power up blueside, but it works well enough on my redside corruptor. If you are shooting for a blast-fender I can easily see this as being part of your bread and butter.

Irradiate: A nicely damaging Aoe (does x-ray beam damage over a few seconds), a little heavy on the endurance cost, but it can be worthwhile if you find yourself often surrounded.

Electron Haze: The first of your meat and potato attacks. It works in a cone and has knockback, so with a little positioning you can lay the hurt in to a decent chunk of your foes. This power is what I end up using to deal a third of the damage I dish out to a mob.

Proton Volley: It's a snipe with a very cool sound effect (Fire Photon Torpedoes!). Take it or leave it depending on your playstyle. It is useful to pull guys out of mobs with, but you don't need to pick it up at level 16.

Aim: A nice bonus to damage and accuracy, take it and slot it with 2 recharge reduction IOs and call it done.

Cosmic Burst: Massive damage and a mag 3 stun, what's not to love. Take it, slot it, love it. You will make Bosses and EBs cry with this power. Slot for damage, stun, and recharge. Cause nothing says beatdown like perma-stunning the only enemy in the mob who a threat to you. This is the 2nd of my three main attack powers.

Neutron Bomb: The mushroom cloud of doom. A targeted aoe with decent damage. Properly slotted this will fill you attack chain with pain and death, I lean would lean towards damage and recharge with a little bit of accuracy. By the time you get this power, you should be putting a decent dent in your enemies defense. That in addition to the powers innate to-hit bonus, and you should only need 1 accuracy IO, if that.

Atomic Blast: This is your nuke, and like all nukes it dishes out some very nice damage. In addition to that it will hold, cut in half the defense of anything left standing. I haven't taken it on Gamma or Decay because I can't afford that endurance crash that comes with it. But if you are not toggle dependent like I am, it can be a very nice power.

Notes specific to your build:
I would drop mutation for now, and pick up Radiation Infection instead. This should greatly increase your solo survivability. Lay RI and EF down on a mob first, and you can heal any damage that does hit you with radiant aura.
Also, if you are gearing towards being more of a blaster than a tank, you may want to think about not taking Choking Cloud. Being surrounded by enemies is not where you want to be, and the endurance/slots used by this power can be put to much better use on filling your enemies with high energy particles.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Sofaspud]

I'm going to aim solely at the Radiation Blast portion of the powerset, both because everything Sweno said about the other set is dead-on, and because I
have a blastfender.

Emerald Blast uses Radiation Blast as her secondary, and while she can't compare to Gamma or Decay for tank-fender-ness, she can hold her own in a fight.

First off: Neutrino Bolt and X-Ray Beam. Slot them, and slot them well. By
mid-game they can be very potent non-stop attacks. With a bit of end reduction and recharge, you can fire these continuously and not affect your end at all.
I recommend slotting sets in here, and my personal pref is Devastation, but each to their own.

Irradiate: fun, but, eh. If you're going the tank-fender route and thus will be surrounded by enemies all the
time, it's worth it; otherwise, don't bother (or at least, don't bother slotting it); it doesn't do much damage even fully slotted and is only
useful if you're in melee range. Blastfenders stay out of melee range, so, yeah.

Electron Haze: awesome power. As Sweno says, take it, slot it, love it.

Proton Volley: you are a blastfender. GET THIS. A single -Interrupt IO will let you use this in close-quarters combat
as another attack, and I've found nothing better than a Defender with this power for the Zen of the Single Pull. Plus it's great for fleeing flying
enemies.

Aim: I'd slot a set in here for late-game juiciness, but other than that, Sweno covered it.

Cosmic Burst: this. This right here? THIS is what will make you cackle with glee as you fire it again and again and
again every chance you get at the poor schmuck on the recieving end. It can stun bosses, and if enough other debuffs are stacked, it can stun AVs. TAKE IT,
slot the hell out of it, and have fun.

Neutron Bomb: a decent targeted AoE, but my take on it is 'eh'. I use it, but usually only when I'm bored.
If you have the spare slots you can make it hurt, but if not don't worry too much about it and move on to...

Atomic Blast: This is an awesome nuke, easily the most powerful one a defender can get as far as I know. Slot it for
damage and recharge reduction; don't bother putting an end reduction in there because -- hey! -- it'll suck all your end no matter what. You'll
want to have blues handy to chew on after popping this, and always time it (if you can) so that Altered Metabolism (or Recovery Aura, or both) are affecting
you. Pop Aim while you're running into position, pop this, retreat while chewing blues and get your toggles back on-line as quick as you can.

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

[dark seraph]

*copys and pastes* thanks guys

[Acyl]

Mmm...belated reply here, I fear.
I won't repeat most of the stuff Sweno and Sofa said - I agree with a lot of their recommendations. What I'll add is stuff they didn't mention, or things that I disagree with.
Mind, I don't have a Rad/Rad defender. However, I do have a 50 Rad/Rad corruptor, and that's where I'm coming from. A corruptor, granted, has higher base damage than a defender. But IIRC it ain't THAT much higher, only something like 10-15% or so. But anyway...
Radiation Emission
Radiant Aura: Do realise that even with SOs this is pretty much the worst AoE heal in the game. You will never be a great healer. Suck it up and move on. =D
Radiation Infection: As Sweno said, the ToHit Debuff is what you should enhance here, not the Def debuff. However, as it is a Def debuff, you can slot an Achilles Heel chance for -resistance debuff in this power. You can also slot Achilles Heel procs in your Radiation blasts. Think about this - if you're looking to do damage, more -res is a good way to go.
Accelerate Metabolism: This is a great buff. If you take it, you may want to - as Sweno and I do - set up a bind or macro to warn people when you're ready to fire it, which is generally a good idea for AoE buffs.
Enervating Field: Take it, love it, but you already know this.
Mutation: Some rad players actually don't take this, especially if they solo often. Depends on how team-friendly you want to be.
Lingering Radiation: I think there's some wiggle room in how you wanna slot it. Personally, I think you want accuracy and recharge at the very least. It needs to hit, and you want it up as often as possible. But don't underestimate the utility of the slow element here.
Choking Cloud: Think about this one carefully. As Sweno demonstrates, it is a stunningly effective power when six-slotted. The problem is that it's only good when six slotted. Anything less kind of sucks. The endurance cost is immense. It's also less useful if you intend to stay at range...which is Sofa's suggestion for blast choices, though I disagree with that. Still, realise it only comes into its own when you're in the middle of the fray. But if you're in the fray, well, Radiation Infection and Enervating Field may be protection enough.
Fallout: Fallout does a great deal of damage, but using it effectively is difficult. If your ally's corpse isn't well-placed, the boom won't be that useful. Moreover, people may rez (or someone else might rez them) before you get the boom off. You can use Recall Friend to reposition the corpse, but by now you're drifting into very fiddly and silly territory.
EM Pulse: Not much to add here. Strongly recommended, regardless of whether you use it regularly or only as a panic button. Think about the utility of chaining this with your nuke, Atomic Blast.
Radiation Blast
(This is where I disagree a lot with Sofaspud. He's working on the premise that it's best to stay at range and blast from far away. His power choices reflect that. However, he's an Emp/Rad. You're not. You're a Rad/Rad. I think that makes a big difference.)
Neutrino Bolt: As Sweno indicated, it is possible to use this as a utility power rather than an attack proper. Consider even slotting this full of procs - chance for hold, chance for resistance debuff, and so on. The fact it can be spammed non-stop makes it a good choice to proc out.
X-Ray Beam: This is a decent single-target attack, but depending on your other attack choices and recharge, you may not need this. I don't regret not having it.
Irradiate: As you see, Sweno and Sofaspud disagree on this. Me? I'm with Sweno. This is an excellent power to take. Why? Look, it's an AoE. AoE damage is generally better than single target damage on teams. Yes, you need to fire it at point-blank range, but between Radiation Infection and Enervating Field, that's fine. Also, I believe it does a higher defense debuff than the other blasts in the Radiation set.
Electron Haze: This is a cone. It hits multiple enemies. As I've noted, this is a Good Thing. However, do note that Electron Haze is a very skinny cone, and the range isn't great. I do suggest slotting this for range as well as the usual accuracy/damage. Better yet, use set IOs or Hami-Os to enhance range in addition to everything else. While I like Electron Haze, do realise it has a long animation for not that much damage - this is enough to cause some folks to avoid it. Your milage may vary.
Proton Volley: I don't like this. Surprised? Well, think about it for a second. It does a lot of damage, and there's some utility in having a snipe power. However, it also takes a long time to use - regardless of whether you're interrupted or not, it roots you for a while and takes ages to animate. This may not be a very efficient use of time. Secondly, you're probably going to open fights with your toggle debuffs, not a snipe. Moreover, if you're using Irradiate, Electron Haze, and Cosmic Burst...their short ranges mean you want to be up close anyway... probably within your own debuff zone.
Some people say a snipe is worth it as a pulling power, but there are very few things in the game that really need a snipe to pull. Neutrino Bolt works well enough for me.
Aim: Due to all your defense debuffs, the primary bonus of this power - increased tohit - is actually not as useful. However it is a damage buff, and that's good. You can delay this till later in your build though.
Cosmic Burst: No debate HERE though. THIS is your BEST single target attack. However, I do suggest enhancing this (at least in part) for range, given that - like most high damage single target blasts - it requires you to be very close. Which is another reason why I don't think Proton Volley is worth it.
Neutron Bomb: It's a targeted damage AoE. Let's say this again. It's a targeted AoE. AoE is your friend.
Atomic Blast: It's a nuke. Nuke does big boom. Big boom is good.
However, as you know - nuke also drains your endurance. But here's the thing. Defenders can get Power Sink from the Elec Ancillary Power Pool. Power Sink is an autohit point-blank AoE end drain...that restores your end.
So what you can do is nuke, pop one small blue inspiration, fire Power Sink off any survivors, and be back to full. Two or three enemies should be enough to fill your bar back up, and as a Defender your nuke probably won't COMPLETELY wipe out the bad guys, especially if there's Bosses. This is a favourite tactic of mine. =D
Mind you, even without Power Sink... the end crash isn't really THAT big a deal. Just make sure you carry a bunch of blues, and combo other inspirations to make new ones as you progress through a mission.
-- Acyl

[Sweno]

ok, since Acyl brought up the topic of Ancillary power pools I figured I'd chime in with my choices.

I have power mastery on Gamma, for two reasons:

Conserve Power: If I trigger this before EM Pulse, I don't notice the fact that I am no longer gaining endurance. I can have all my toggles running, hit EM Pulse, be cycling through my attack chain, and not drop past the half way mark for endurance. If I have to EM Pulse without hitting this first, my toggles get dropped, cause I would bottom out otherwise.

Power Build Up: This takes great things and makes them better. While the bonus to damage and accuracy are nice, the real reason I picked it up was because it enhances defense buffs, endurance drains, disorients, holds, immobilizes and probably a few other things I don't use. But this is what allows me to Stun AVs with Cosmic Burst, and it practically guarantees that EVERYONE in range of EM Pulse will be held (the only ones that aren't are your EBs/AVs, but then you apply cosmic burst to them, and no longer worry).

I also picked up Total Focus just to have one more hold to stack on pesky foes that wouldn't stay put, the damage is just gravy to me.

I can see the utility of Electrical Mastery, but Power Build up cinches it for me.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Sofaspud]

Re-chiming in here...

Obviously Acyl is delusional and has no idea what he's talking about. Except he's mostly right. Sorta.

It all comes down to playstyle, really. See, I do have a Rad primary defender, and I took that experience into account when making my suggestions. Everything
Sweno said about the primary rad set still holds, I think, except that I still recommend you avoid Choking Cloud.

See, thing is, someone mentioned blastfenders... and, well, Gamma is -not- one. She's a hardcore tankfender all the way. This -- as Sweno demonstrates --
means you get in close and hide behind your enemies' spasmodically twitching bodies to avoid damage. If they can't hit you, they can't hurt you.

That's one playstyle.

The one I favor, OTOH, is the ranged method. Rhea stays out of melee range, mostly; I'll close to fire off her nuke, but other than that she stays on the
sidelines, bouncing and cheering and healing and zotting as opportunity presents itself. When soloing, she -still- stays at range, using Cosmic Burst (with a
good Recharge IO -- or set bonus -- this cycles reasonably fast) to keep enemies stunned and picking them apart. She can take on full groups, and while it
takes longer than it would a true blaster, she gets the job done.

But they are completely different playstyles, and the power choices/recommendations reflect that.

All that aside, Acyl makes a good point, but in my opinion, what he's recommending would be yet another permutation -- a blapfender, perhaps.

As for ancillary pools -- Power Mastery is the best choice, I think. Conserve Power is as awesome as Sweno makes it sound, Power Build Up is equally cool. I
chose Temp Invulnerability for Rhea -- which, by the by, allows her to take a boulder to the face from Terr remarkably well -- but that's a personal choice
and I'm not sure I recommend it unless you've got mad End-recovery skillz. It's a toggle, y'see. Total Focus would be better if you're
after the Active Defense philosophy (Kill them first and they can't kill you).

(PS: I feel that I should note that all the AoE attacks I recommend not bothering with all that much? Rhea -has- them, and uses them... but I've found
that they're less useful to -my- blastfender playstyle than the ones I do recommend slotting out.)

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

[Wiregeek]

so, wait.. a person's playstyle can influence their build decisions?!?

GASP!

*cackles*
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Acyl]

Hey, sounds obvious, but it seems like something a lot of players...particularly folks I encounter on PuGs and the official forums...seem to forget. =D

Yeah. There are downsides to the way I play my own Rad/Rad corruptor. Ask Atlantea/Logan, Valles and Ankhani, and they can tell ya all about my accidents on the last SF we ran. I run a lot of risks with my BOOM IN YOUR FACE playstyle. But as I said earlier, I've chosen all the close-range powers, and on most teams the people who need what little help my heal power can provide...will be up in front anyway. So I might as well be there myself.

A word on Choking Cloud. It really does depend. It's worth it if you slot the hell out of it, but the cost is high - you need to slot the hell out of it, otherwise don't bother. I intend to do so for an Ill/Rad controller, because Illusion's AoE hold is point-blank around the controller anyway... and secondly, I've heard it's possible to slot damage procs in Choking Cloud. That sounds interesting.
-- Acyl