An Unstable Guide to Atomic

An Unstable Guide to Atomic

Introduction

First and foremost this guide will not be a "You must use this or you can't use that" type of guide. I'd rather it turn out to be an informational hub for all Atomic players that want to know more about the power-set. Any information I post isn't a must use either. Any information deemed valuable may be added to the guide with credit given where due.

I'm fairly new to the power-set but I've a strong understanding of the power-set. There are probably things I don't know about Atomic but that's what this guide is for. Therefore I won't promote my own play-style neither will I discourage another players play-style.

Atomic's Description

Utilize the power of nuclear energy, rearranging the atomic structure of yourself, your allies, and your enemies at will. Split Atoms, cause Thermochemical Explosions, and burn under the intense Nuclear Pressure causing unreal destruction. Transmute into fortified metal and reorganize your atomic structure to protect you and your allies in your Tank role, or harness the power of the building blocks of all matter to lay waste to your enemies in the Damage role.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Power Descriptions

Radiation Tree

Nuclear Tree

Useful Iconics

Power Interactions

Damage Role

Atomic Advanced Mechanics

Spec'n For Damage

Tank Role

Atomic Tank Mechanics

Spec'n For Tank

Battle Tanking

Atomic Tank Scenario

Loadouts

PvP

Credits

Radiation

Radioactive powers focus on dealing damage to your enemies and healing yourself. Specializing in this tree grants you +1% Critical Attack Chance and +25 Health.

Irradiate

Blast your target with harmful radiation, stunning and damaging it over time.

Damage Role : Increases all damage by 35% until the hit counter resets.

Electron Flare

Create a localized explosion of free electrons, damaging and knocking down nearby enemies. Your body continues to radiate energy for a short time, damaging nearby enemies.

Damage Role : Increases all damage by 35% until the hit counter resets.

Beta Surge

Blast your enemies with a wave of radioactive energy, damaging and possibly knocking them down.

Damage Role : Causes additional damage while your Quark-Gluon Aura is active. Increases all damage by 35% until the hit counter resets.

Tank Role : Molecular Charges reconstitute a portion of your tissue when applied, healing you an amount equal to 48% of your max Dominance. The second Beta Flood will refresh your Quark-Gluon Aura if it is already active.

Proton Remedy

Regenerate your damaged tissue by focusing on your own subatomic structure,healing yourself over time.

Usable While Controlled

Damage Role : Increases all damage by 35% until the hit counter resets.

Radiation Burn

Shoot your target with concentrated gamma-rays to create a chain reaction of explosions at nearby enemies, dealing damage over time and knocking them down.

50% Supercharge Cost

Neutron Bomb

Launch an explosive energy bomb at your enemies, damaging and knocking them down.

Damage Role : Causes additional damage while your Quark-Gluon Aura is active. Increases all damage by 40% until the hit counter resets.

Tank Role : Molecular Charges reconstitute a portion of your tissue when applied, healing you an amount equal to 48% of your max Dominance.

The second Neutron Explosion will refresh your Quark-Gluon Aura if it is already active.

Energize

Push your Nuclear Pressure and Molecular Charges to the limit, immediately healing yourself.

Usable While Controlled : 25% Supercharge Cost

Radiation Shower

Create a wave of radiation to blanket your target and nearby enemies, damaging and possibly stunning them.

Damage Role : Increases all damage by 45% until the hit counter resets.

Atom-Powered Assault

Empower your attacks to deal additional explosive damage.

Attack Buff

Damage Role : Restores power when Nuclear Pressure stacks are applied or when using Geiger Beam and Geiger Blast. Increases all damage by 45% until the hit counter resets.

Ionizing Eruption

Create a luminous atomic burst with a powerful shock wave, damaging andstunning your target. Enemies near your target may be knocked down.

Damage Role : Increases all damage by 50% until the hit counter resets.

Geiger Beam

Blast your target with a concentrated energy beam, damaging and stunning it.

If the target is below 35% health, the attack deals extra damage.

Vulnerable to Interrupt : Weapon Mastery Crit Excluded

Damage Role : Increases all damage by 50% until the hit counter resets.

Unleash Antimatter

Burst with a positronic force to heal yourself and gain immunity against control effects for a short time.

Usable While Controlled : Group Breakout

Damage Role : Increases all damage by 50% until the hit counter resets.

Nuclear

Nuclear powers center on manipulating the subatomic structure of enemies and shielding you and your allies. Specializing in this tree grants +5% Critical Attack Damage and +35 Health.

Fracture

Force your atoms to move at near light speed, allowing you to pass through people and objects while lunging and uppercutting your target and nearby enemies, damaging and knocking them down.

Damage Role : Increases all damage by 35% until the hit counter resets.

Atomic Reorganization

Change the atomic composition of enemies in front of you, damaging, stunning, and instantly bringing them to you.

Damage Role : Increases all damage by 35% until the hit counter resets.

Thermochemical Explosion

Create a localized nuclear explosion, damaging and knocking down nearby enemies.

Tank Role : Molecular Charges reconstitute a portion of your tissue when applied, healing you an amount equal to 48% of your max Dominance. The second Thermochemical Detonation will refresh your Quark-Gluon Aura if it is already active.

Damage Role : Causes additional damage while your Quark-Gluon Aura is active.

Increases all damage by 35% until the hit counter resets.

Particle Beam

Shoot your target with a heavy beam of energized particles, damaging and stunning it.

Tank Role : Taunts a single target to attack you instead of others. The effect is more powerful and will not be broken by a standard Tank Role taunt.

Damage Role : Increases all damage by 35% until the hit counter resets.

Subatomic Substitution

Imbue your powers of molecular reconstruction to the group member with the lowest health percentage, shielding a portion of their incoming damage and transferring another portion to you.

Usable While Controlled

Tank Role : If the group member is not in Tank Role, enemies attacking it are detaunted and compelled to seek other targets.

Damage Role : Increases all damage by 40% until the hit counter resets.

Atomic Blast

Create a concussive blast of nuclear energy in front of you, dealing heavy damage, stunning and knocking down enemies.

25% Supercharge Cost

Mass Density

Force yours and up to 7 group members' bodies to transmute into heavy metal, causing incoming damage to be absorbed.

Usable While Controlled : 50% Supercharge Cost

Tank Role : Enemies attacking group members not in Tank Role are detaunted and compelled to seek other targets. You and up to 7 group members gain +10% Control Resistance.

Neutrino Blast

Create many small but dangerous explosions to gain immunity against control effects for a short time.

Usable While Controlled : Group Breakout

Tank Role : Provides immunity to control effects and removes control debuffs for you and up to 7 group members.

Damage Role : Increases all damage by 40% until the hit counter resets.

Nuclear Burst

Blast your target with an explosive ball of energy, damaging and stunning it. Enemies near your target are damaged and may be knocked down.

Tank Role : Molecular Charges reconstitute a portion of your tissue when applied, healing you an amount equal to 48% of your max Dominance. The second Nuclear Blast will refresh your Quark-Gluon Aura if it is already active.

Damage Role : Causes additional damage while your Quark-Gluon Aura is active. Increases all damage by 45% until the hit counter resets.

Geiger Blast

Create a small exothermic reaction that will damage and knockdown nearby enemies.

Weapon Mastery Crit Excluded

Damage Role : Increases all damage by 50% until the hit counter resets.

Atom Splitter

Create a localized nuclear implosion that changes the atomic composition of nearby enemies, damaging them and bringing them to you.

Tank Role : Molecular Charges reconstitute a portion of your tissue when applied, healing you an amount equal to 48% of your max Dominance. The second Atomic Fragmentation will refresh your Quark-Gluon Aura if it is already active.

Damage Role : Causes additional damage while your Quark-Gluon Aura is active.

Increases all damage by 50% until the hit counter resets.

Density

Increase your molecular density and transmute your body into extremely fortified metal for a short time, allowing you to absorb incoming damage.

Usable While Controlled

Tank Role : +10% Control Resistance.

Damage Role : Increases all damage by 50% until the hit counter resets.

Useful Iconics

Tank

Intimidating Gaze : Increase the potency of certain defensive and healing abilities, and the duration of super powers with control effects. Additionally, higher Dominance allows control effects to affect higher level enemies. Permanently Gain: +40 Dominance

Powerful Resistance : Raise your Health amount, increasing the damage necessary to knock you out. Permanently Gain: +200 Health

Damage

Robot Sidekick : Deploys a hovering security drone to assist in battle. Hold the Robot Sidekick button for three seconds to banish it.

Weapons Expert : Better your odds of critical attacks that cause more damage. Permanently Gain: +3% Critical Attack Chance

Tactical Genius : Increase the damage amount of critical attacks. Permanently Gain: +10% Critical Attack Damage

Power Interactions

Dazes

Irradiate, Radiation Burn, Radiation Shower

Additional damage to Dazed enemies

Electron Flare, Fracture, Ionizing Eruption, Particle Beam

Adds a NP stack

Atom Splitter, Beta Surge, Neutron Bomb, Nuclear Burst, Thermochemical Explosion

Grants a *MC

Atomic Combos : Atomic Fragmentation, Beta Flood, Neutron Explosion, Nuclear Blast, Thermochemical Detonation

Additional damage after 3 *NP stacks

Geiger Beam, Geiger Blast

Regenerates Power while *APA is active

Atom Splitter, Beta Surge, Neutron Bomb, Nuclear Burst, Thermochemical Explosion, Geiger Beam, Geiger Blast

Activates *QG Aura after 3 *NP stacks and 6 *MCs

Atom Splitter, Beta Surge, Neutron Bomb, Nuclear Burst, Thermochemical Explosion

Activates *QG Aura after 1 *NP stack and 2 *MCs

Atom-Powered Assault, Neutrino Blast, Proton Remedy

*NP = Nuclear Pressure
*MCs = Molecular Charges
*QG = Quark-Gluon Aura
*APA = Atom-Powered Assault

Atomic Advanced Mechanics

I'm pretty sure that everyone knows what an Advanced Mechanic or AM is but, I have their meanings below thanks to Superskull85. The information can be found Here.

An Advanced Mechanic is essentially a set of traits that are intended to match or slightly exceed use of Weapon Mastery. There are 5 main types of Advanced Mechanics:

Damage over Time - Nature, Electricity

Advanced Interactions - Gadgets, Mental, Quantum, Atomic

Mobile Focused Attack - Fire, Ice, Munitions

Advanced Pets - Earth, Sorcery

Combos - Light, Celestial, Rage, Atomic

Atomic have two types Advanced Mechanics available for both roles. The two are Advanced Interactions and Combos. I have their meanings below thanks to Superskull85. The information can be found Here.

Advanced Interactions get added damage when they are followed by 3 unique Power Interactions or selective traits in the power-set. Advanced Interactions and Mobile Focused Attack are similar to combos but all of their damage is Might based and only certain traits benefit. The setup traits leading up to the benefactor traits can benefit from the criticals. However the benefactor traits cannot. Traits outside of the Advanced Mechanic also get the bonus.

Combos are pretty simple: you activate your trait and press or hold either melee or range 1-3 times. Generally combos get increased damage from Power Interactions, cost no additional Power and do white damage (increased by Precision and weapon DPS). They are meant to be used without weapons similar to Advanced Interactions and Mobile Focused Attack.

Advanced Interactions AM

The Advanced Interactions or 1234 AM for Atomic requires that you use 3 Powers that grant you consecutively that grant you Nuclear Pressure Stacks. Once you have all 3 Nuclear Pressure Stacks you can you a finishing power that will consume all 3 stacks of Nuclear Pressure for greatly enhanced damage. The finisher you'd use all depends on if you wanted to deal damage from Melee to Mid-Range or Long Range.

• Atom-Powered Assault activates the power regeneration mechanic
• Thermochemical Explosion adds a Nuclear Pressure stack and regenerates power
• Atom Splitter adds a Nuclear Pressure stack and regenerates power
• Beta Surge adds a Nuclear Pressure stack and regenerates power
• Neutron Bomb adds a Nuclear Pressure stack and regenerates power
• Nuclear Burst adds a Nuclear Pressure stack and regenerates power
• Geiger Blast causes additional damage due to 3 Nuclear Pressure stacks, regenerates power and removes all Nuclear Pressure stacks
• Geiger Beam causes additional damage due to 3 Nuclear Pressure stacks, regenerates power and removes all Nuclear Pressure stacks

For Example: Nuclear Burst/Atom-Powered Assault > Beta Surge > Neutron Bomb > Geiger Blast or Geiger Beam

/ = Clip
> = Next Power

Combo AM

The Combo Mechanic requires you to hit a series of Tap Melee or Tap Range after casting the initial power. Although Atomic's Combo AM is similar to Light, Celestial, and Rage it differs heavily from it combos's being entirely Might based. The Combos alone won't net you the enhanced damage unfortunately.

To achieve max damage with combos you must activate the Quark-Gluon Aura and try to keep it active. While the QG Aura is active, all combos do enhanced damage. Activating your Quark-Gluon Aura damages nearby enemies and grants you +7 Critical Strike Chance, +10 Critical Strike Damage and +15% Might while active. In Damage Role, your Quark-Gluon Aura causes a portion of power spent on Atomic Combos to return over time. Below are shortcuts that only require 1 Nuclear Pressure stack and 2 Molecular Charges.

Quark-Gluon Aura Short Cuts

Using any of these powers immediatly after you have 1 Nuclear Stack and 2 Molecular Charges (One full combo) with active the Quark-Gluon Aura.

• Proton Remedy
• Energize
• Atom-Powered Assault
• Neutrino Blast

Cast Atom-Powered Assault to activate the power regeneration mechanic

• Quark-Gluon Aura activates due to 1 Nuclear Pressure stack and 2 Molecular Charges
• The Quark-Gluon Aura increases Critical Chance, Critical Damage and Might

Cast Beta Surge followed by Tap Range twice to combo into Beta Flood

• Beta Surge adds a Nuclear Pressure stack and regenerates power
• Each Beta Flood combo adds a Molecular Charge

Cast Neutron Bomb followed by Tap Range twice to combo into Neutron Explosion

• Neutron Bomb adds a Nuclear Pressure stack and regenerates power
• Each Neutron Explosion combo adds a Molecular Charge

Cast Nuclear Burst followed by Tap Range twice to combo into Nuclear Blast

• Nuclear Burst adds a Nuclear Pressure stack and regenerates power
• Each Nuclear Blast combo adds a Molecular Charge

Cast Atom Splitter followed by Tap Melee twice to combo into Atom Fragmentation

• Atom Splitter adds a Nuclear Pressure stack
• Each Atom Fragmentation combo adds a Molecular Charge

Cast Thermochemical Explosion followed by Tap Range twice to combo into Thermochemical Detonation

• Thermochemical Explosion adds a Nuclear Pressure stack
• Each Thermochemical Detonation combo adds a Molecular Charge

For Example: TCE/NB/APA >TcE > AS

TcE = Thermochemical Explosion
NB = Nuclear Blast
APA = Atom-Powered Assault
AS = Atom Splitter

Spec'n For Damage

Important Stats

Might: Affects power damage (yellow numbers). 4 might = 1.8% increase in base damage at level 30 (.45 %/ point).

Precision: Affects weapon damage (white numbers). 10 Precision = 1 point increase to your weapon's base DPS.

Critical Attack Chance: Each point you put into this stat gives you a +1% chance to score a critical hit, this is important because critical hits do significantly more damage than normal hits, so the higher your percentage the more likely you are to score a critical hit.

Critical Attack Damage: Each point you put into this stat increases the damage of your critical hits by 4% this is important because it allows you do to more damage in shorter periods of time.

Skill Points

Order : Crit Chance > Crit Magnitude > Might > Anything

Mods

Red Sockets : Might

Yellow Sockets : Might & Power

Blue Sockets : Might & Health

Home Turf Mods

Weapon : Blast Adapter

Neck : Escalating Might

Back : Violent Breakout

Feet : Explosive Block or Personal Preference

Hands : Max Damage

Chest : Core Strength

Elite Mods

Type A : Might v7

Type B : Might v7

Type C : Aggressive Protection

Type D : Auto Breakout

My Stats

Might : 12401

Might w/ Aura : 14207

Precision : 4334

CR : 148

Tanking

Atomic Tanks main mechanics consists of High Defense, Damage Absorption and Self-Healing. Atomic is the only tank that benefits from never blocking (counters aside). Atomic can also access a damage buff without having a damage buff on a loadout, which makes it a very good choice for anyone interested in battle tanking. Finally, we're the only tank that can reach 80% effective damage mitigation without equipping the Fortified Blocking mod.

In the Tank role, your Dominance is increased by 100%. Using super powers increases your Defense and Toughness by 90% and will attract the attention of enemies causing them to attack you, rather than allies. Also, you gain +3 Perception, improving your chances of detecting Stealth using enemies.

Activating your Quark-Gluon Aura provides immunity to control effects for a short time for you and up to 7 group members, damages nearby enemies and grants you +7 Critical Strike Chance, +10 Critical Strike Damage and +15% Might while active. While it is active, you gain +15% Control Resistance, +20% Damage Absorption while not Blocking and your attacks heal you for an amount equal to 2% of your max Health. The second Tap Melee or Tap Range from any combo will refresh your Quark-Gluon Aura if it is already active.


Quark-Gluon Aura Short Cuts

Using any of these powers immediatly after you have 1 Nuclear Stack and 2 Molecular Charges (One full combo) with active the Quark-Gluon Aura.

• Proton Remedy
• Energize
• Atom-Powered Assault
• Neutrino Blast

Self-Healing

Atomic's self healing come from a few powers and the Molecular Charges produces by combos. Molecular Charges reconstitute a portion of your tissue when applied, healing you for an amount equal to 48% of your max Dominance. Below is a short list of abilities that heal in Tank stance.

Powers

Proton Remedy

Energize

Unleash Antimatter

First/Second Tap Melee/Range

Atomic Fragmentation (Atom Splitter)

Beta Flood (Beta Surge)

Neutron Explosion (Neutron Bomb)

Nuclear Blast (Nuclear Burst)

Thermochemical Detonation (Thermochemical Explosion)

Spec'n For Tank

Important Stats

Dominance : A certain Dominance level is recommended in the description list of all the raids, operations and alerts.. If you do not meet this recommended stat number you will be unable to control the enemies within the instance. For Atomic, Dominance is increases you self-heals from your combos.

Health : The more health you have the more hits it takes to knock you out.

Restoration : The higher your Restoration the more effective your self heals will be (4 restoration =1% increase in base healing).

Defense : The higher your Defense the less damage you take each time you are hit.

Skill Points

Order : Dominance > Health > Restoration > Anything

Mods

Red Sockets : Dominance & Might

Yellow Sockets : Dominance & Power

Blue Sockets : Dominance, Dominance & Health

Home Turf Mods

Weapon : Absorption Adapter

Neck : Escalating Might (Since we Atomic Tank hit the 80% Mitigation)

Back : Weakening Field

Feet : Deadly Block or Personal Preference

Hands : Max Damage, Regenerative Shielding

Chest : Quick Healing, Core Strength

Elite Mods

Type A : Dominance v7

Type B : Dominance v7

Type C : Rejuvenating Escape

Type D : Auto Breakout, Sure-Footed, Crippling Stance

My Stats

Health : 26351

Defense : 25700

Defense Buffed : 48830

Might : 6868

Might w/ Aura : 7859

Resto : 5934

Dom : 5282

CR : 148

Battle Tanking

Battle Tanking is one of three Support Roles that are able to deal high damage will still performing their role. As of late, a few Support Roles have been given access to the Damage Role Advanced Mechanics while in their Support Stance.

Battle Tanking goes hand-and-hand with Atomic. It's like Atomic was made for Battle Tank. Your able to use Atomic's Damage Role AM in Tank Stance. This makes Atomic the perfect candidate for creating a Battle build.

There are various ways to achieve this "Battle" status while performing your support role. A couple ways are:

• Stat Mods
• Tactical Mods
• Elite Mods
• Skill Points
• DPS Gear

Spec'n For Battle Tank

Important Stats

Might : Affects power damage (yellow numbers). 4 might = 1.8% increase in base damage at level 30 (.45 %/ point).

Critical Attack Chance : Each point you put into this stat gives you a +1% chance to score a critical hit, this is important because critical hits do significantly more damage than normal hits, so the higher your percentage the more likely you are to score a critical hit.

Critical Attack Damage : Each point you put into this stat increases the damage of your critical hits by 4% this is important because it allows you do to more damage in shorter periods of time.

Dominance : A certain Dominance level is recommended in the description list of all the raids, operations and alerts.. If you do not meet this recommended stat number you will be unable to control the enemies within the instance. For Atomic, Dominance is increases you self-heals from your combos.

Skill Points

Order : Crit Chance > Crit Damage > Might > Dominance > Anything

Equipment Mods

Red Sockets : Dominance & Might

Yellow Sockets : Dominance & Power

Blue Sockets : Dominance & Might

Tactical Mods

Weapon : Blast Adapter or Absorption Adapter

Neck : Escalating Might

Back : Weakening Field

Feet : Personal Preference

Hand : Max Damage

Chest : Core Strength

Elite Mods

Type A : Might v7

Type B : Might v7

Type C : Rejuvenating Escape

Type D : Auto Breakout, Sure-Footed, Crippling Stance

My Stats

Health : 22191

Defense : 22464

Buffed Defense : 42681

Base Might : 9899

Might w/ Aura : 11340

Resto : 5803

Dominance : 3128

CR : 148

Tank vs Battle Tank

Battle Tank: Stats, Loadout & Spec

Atomic Tank Scenario by L T

This information was originally found Here.

Survival Scenario

Baseline stats for a complete set of CR 92 gear (while in tank stance) are 18728 Def, 16469 Health, 4433 restoration, and 2586 Dominance. To simplify things, we'll assume a few skill points or mods and use the following stats:

• CR 105
• Defense 19000
• Health 17000
• Dominance 3000
• Restoration 4500

A NOTE ABOUT EFFECTIVE HEALTH

Since different tank power sets change their defense, I talk about things in terms of Effective Health. Most shields have a health of (Dominance+Restoration) or 7500 health in our example here. If we had 0 defense, our shield would break after 7500 damage. But since our defense is applied first, the shield will actually break after (shield health/% damage allowed past defense). If your defense mitigation is 50%, your shield won't break until 15000 damage. If your defense mitigation is 75%, your shield will actually absorb 30,000 damage. I use this to normalize things across the different power sets to get a fair comparison.

A NOTE ABOUT DEFENSE

The amount of Defense needed to reduce incoming damage by 1% changes with CR as Shiny Mackerel describes in this excellent thread.TL;DR version:
1% mitigation = (CR x 3.5) +46
Full Tank Gear always yields about 45% damage mitigation. If you buy all the Defense available in the weapon trees you can increase your defense by 600. Since at CR 105 we need 413 defense for 1%, this winds up being about 1.5%. The 200 defense you can add with nanoweave armor is less than 1/2% at CR 105.

ATOMIC

UPDATED December 2, 2015
==============================================
+90% defense
Self-Healing

Buffed Defense: 36100
Defense Mitigation: 75%
Shield Strength: 7500
Proton Recovery Healing: 9200

Effective Health: 68000
Effective Health (with Shield): 98000*
Note that since Atomic's shield power breaks after a certain number of hits, it's unlikely to give the entire effective health.

Tank Supercharge: Energize, Mass Density

Special: Stacking 3 combos grants you Quark-Gluon Aura, which increases your damage out and lets each attack you make heal 2% of your health (processes only about once per second).

OPENING NOTES:

Atomic is a strange sort of hybrid of the high defense of Ice, the attacking style of Rage, the Aftershocks of Earth, and the self-heals of Fire. We'll see that it shares the strengths-- and weaknesses-- of all of these powers. Just like Ice, an Atomic Tank's Effective Health is 68000 without a shield (goes to 85000 while blocking) which means that without a shield an Atomic tank doesn't live very long. The first rule of Ice Tanking is always have a shield active. The bad news is that Atomic Tanks only have 1 shield power: Density. The worse news is that Density is a healer-type shield that breaks after a certain number of hits and doesn't necessarily protect you for your full (Dominance + Restoration) shield health.

So. Given that there's only one shield, and the shield is pretty sucky, Atomic is left trying to heal itself. You have 3 ways of self-healing:

• Proton Recovery - Gives a burst heal + 24 ticks of healing over time (about 2/second) for a total of about 7400 at CR 105. With Quark-Gluon Aura, the HOT component is only 12 ticks, but each tick heals twice as much.
• Power Combos - Performing a combo immediately after using a power heals you for 48% of your Dominance. At CR 105 this is 1440 per combo completed.
• Quark Gluon Aura - Performing any attack (including Power Combo attacks) heals an additional 2% of your max Health. Using Proton Recovery while this aura is active does not affect the burst but doubles the heal over time ticks. The heal from damage done is effectively 340 health/second at CR 105.
• Quark-Gluon Aura now conveys 20% damage absorption while not blocking. This makes your net damage in the same whether you block or not! We'll see how that affects things as we go on.

So is just spamming combo powers a viable strategy? Is Density really that bad? Is Proton Recovery any good? Should I try to get that magic aura thingy?


Like Rage, a lot will depend on how many powers you use and how many combos you hit. All the combos are vulnerable to either interrupt or block, so hitting a long string of them is not as easy as you might think. For our testing we'll assume 3 powers and 6 total combos. Which should take roughly 8-12 seconds to execute. For purpose of the aura's contribution we'll assume you generate 6 ticks of extra 340 heals.

Combo Healing = 6x1440 = 8640.
Combo Healing (w/aura) = 10640

Main AGRO moves: Particle Beam, Atomic Reorganization.
Atomic Reorganization is a great multi-target ranged pull that actually teleports your targets (how cool is that?). Particle Beam is Atomic's single-target super-taunt.

Main CC moves: Atom Splitter, Nuclear Burst, Thermochemical Explosion
Atom Splitter is a multi-target area pull/stun/teleport can can be combo-d twice with a burst heal for each combo. Nuclear Burst is an area juggle that can also be combo-d twice.

Break-Outs: Unleash Anti-matter, Neutrino Blast
Neither of these are juggles. Unleash Anti-Matter is a very small burst heal (roughly the same as Fire's Overheat-- which is so small nobody uses it). If used immediately after a double-combo, Neutrino Blast activates Quark-Gluon Aura.

Atomic Tank Scenario by L T cont.

Survival:

Yeah, your heals are just no good when you're dead. The healer is saying something about Rage being better, the Troll is saying "I thought Atomic didn't have to block?" and the DPS' are secretly cheering because a wipe means their final damage numbers will look bigger. This is Fire's weakness, and Atomic shares it. Unlike Fire, Atomic doesn't need to rely on Hard Light Shield-- they have their own equally crappy version right in the power set:

Just like Ice, you've lost more than half your health by trying to attack through a boss one-shot. Unlike Ice, Reflection isn't an option for you. If you're counting on shields to save you, you're in for a long raid, because you have only one shield, and it doesn't last long with adds around.

Out healer then Kicks in her 2000 point heal:

Like Ice, you're actually being healed more efficiently than Fire (if you can call what this Healer is doing efficient). This case is an Atomic weakness- you absolutely need to know when to block and you absolutely cannot get countered.

What if we had our Quark-Gluon Aura going?

I'm stopping in the middle because 20% damage absorption that the aura gives is literally the difference between life and death. More interesting than that: the 14000 net damage in is the same damage we would have taken if we blocked. Once your Q-G Aura is up, there is no advantage to blocking, except to counter a lunging enemy.

How much can we heal back? With combo healing a lot depends on how many combos we think we can do before being interrupted. In this case we'll look at 4x and 6x:

Hey, now that's not bad for avoiding the block button entirely. We're doing better than any other non-blocking Tank except for Rage with a ton of adds. If you could actually get 6 combos in or use proton recovery then you're actually 6% better than a non-blocking Ice tank with Reflection.

How are things if we block?

Almost looking better. Our healer can take a nice easy drink if you had your aura on or if you hit Proton Recovery, and our Troll is yawning even though he just got one-shot.

If you can't get in any combo heals, blocking has lost you 71% of your health. If you buy the argument that you'll be able to just block through the 1-shot and then attack to help regenerate health, you're doing better, but still worse than any other tank power except Ice with a normal shield.

Let's take a look at how we do against the Adds.

So many options and so many of them are so bad! WE NEED HEALS HEALS HEALS!:

To be fair, if you managed to get your Quark Aura on and used Proton Recovery, you're actually doing as well as a Rage tank and better than an Ice Tank with Reflection. On the other hand, not shown here is the case where you're crowd controlled and only get 4x Combos in-- in that case you lose 97% of your health. If you can't hit at least 4, it's a wipe.

Without your Aura none of your options look great. If you used Density you're looking pretty squishy whether you have Aura or not.

But can't we just Turtle up and Block our way through this?

Wait-- what?? Blocking barely helps us at all! You'd better hope you can juggle them to avoid this kind of situation, because your shield becomes next to useless, and your Proton Recovery is going to be on cool down for the next 6 seconds. You'd better hope your Healer can keep you alive until then. You ask her really nicely and she throws out her 2000 point heal:

If you used Proton Recovery or Density, trying to block your way through the rough patches leaves you worse off than any other Tank Power. If you had neither of those options available to you (off cool down) then you are, in fact, DEAD. In this case Atomic is like the anti-Fire: Unless you have Density or Proton Recovery available, blocking is actually worse for you.

At this point the Troll is whining in your ear: "Dude my Ice Tank would have just hit Reflect. You should switch to Ice, dude. Ice is BOSS". The Healer is getting thirsty, and I think one of the DPSs actually moved out of melee range.

SUMMARY:

Atomic is different. If you can get your Aura active and keep it, you can be a very active and very survivable tank. If you lose your Aura, get countered a lot, or try to block, there's probably a power respec token in your future.

So what's the Punch Line?

Atomic looks great. And with its unique healing combos and Quark-Gluon Aura, Atomic is actually a formidable and survivable Tank. Until you start getting crowd controlled or have to block, when it becomes worthless and weak. You have the coolest-looking shield in the game, but it's not very effective in most cases. Like Fire Tanks, you will live or die by the Block/Block Break/Interrupt combat mechanics. Keep that Aura active, and combo-heal yourself constantly. Or get crowd controlled and die. Or, unlike all other Tanks, block and die. The choice is yours.

Here are all the powers by the numbers. Green Numbers below highlight where each Tank Power can perform well relative to the others. Red Numbers are where each Tank under-performs.

Loadouts

There loadouts are mostly purely sample loadouts. Of course I'll be posting my loadouts as well but I'm not promoting one over the other. It's up to you to find out what's best for you.

Damage

Geiger Bomb : Atom-Powered Assault, Beta Surge, Neutron Bomb, Nuclear Burst, Geiger Bomb, Radiation Burn

Rotation : Beta Surge/Atom-Power Assault > Neutron Bomb > Nuclear Burst > Geiger Bomb

Geiger Beam : Atom-Powered Assault, Beta Surge, Neutron Bomb, Nuclear Burst, Geiger Beam, Radiation Burn

Rotation : Beta Surge/Atom-Powered Assault > Neutron Bomb > Nuclear Burst > Geiger Beam

Notes : Whenever Atom-Powered Assault is off cooldown, clip the next availble power with it for extra DPS with no damage loss. I do it in the videos above. Radiation Burn is optional and can be swapped out for whatever you'd like.

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Basic Melee Combo : Thermochemical Explosion, Atom-Powered Assault, Energize, Robot Sidekick, Atom Splitter, Filler

Rotation : Thermochemical Explosion (x1 Tap Melee) into Atom Splitter clipped with Atom-Powered Assault, Thermochemical Explosion (x2 Tap Melee), Atom Splitter (x2 Tap Melee)

Basic/Advanced Ranged Loadout : Atom-Powered Assault, Nuclear Burst, Energize, Robot Sidekick, Neutron Bomb, Beta Surge

Rotation I : Beta Surge (x1 Tap Range) into Nuclear Burst clipped with Atom-Powered Assault, Beta Surge (x2 Tap Range), Nuclear Burst (x2 Tap Range) > [OPTIONAL] Neutron Bomb (x2 Tap Range)

Rotation II : Beta Surge (x1 Tap Range) into Nuclear Burst clipped with Atom-Powered Assault, Beta Surge (x1 Tap Range), Nuclear Burst (x1 Tap Range), Neutron Bomb (x1 Tap Range)

Combo AM I : Atom-Powered Assault, Nuclear Blast, Energize, Robot Sidekick, Thermochemical Explosion, Beta Surge

Rotation : Thermochemical Explosion (x1 Tap Melee) into Nuclear Burst clipped with Atom-Powered Assault, Thermochemical Explosion (x1 Tap Melee), Beta Surge (x1 Tap Range), Nuclear Burst (x1 Tap Range)

Combo AM II : Atom-Powered Assault, Nuclear Blast, Energize, Robot Sidekick, Thermochemical Explosion, Beta Surge

Rotation : Beta Surge (x1 Tap Range) into Nuclear Burst clipped with Atom-Powered Assault, Beta Surge (2x Tap Range), Nuclear Burst (1x Tap Range)

Notes : These rotations deal the most damage from continuously rotating between all combos using only the corresponding tap (Melee or Range). Re-applying Atom-Powered Assault is a damage loss and should only be used to start or regain your Quark Gluon Aura. In hallways with adds keeping your Quark-Gluon Aura active is a must, which is why Energize is there. You can swap out Robot Sidekick for Geiger Blast/Beam to be able to have both AMs in a few of these loadouts. Energize and Robot Sidekick are interchangeable if you'd prefer something that suits you better.

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Community

Roomba's KaBoomba : Atom Splitter, Thermochemical Explosion, Beta Surge, Geiger Blast, Neutrino Blast, Atom-Powered Assault

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Tank

Traditional : Atomic Reorganization (Multi-target pull) or Particle Beam (Single target taunt), Neutrino Blast (Breakout), Unleash Antimatter (Breakout) or Density (Shield), Proton Remedy (Heal), Atom Splitter (CC Pull & Heal), Thermochemical Explosion (CC & Heal)

Notes : Tank loadouts are pretty cookie cutter as there is only one optimal way of tanking, which is to combo. Battle Tanks practically use the same loadout but I've used Atom-Powered Assault instead of a breakout for extra damage from time to time.

PvP

I'm not to fond of PvP in DCUO any more so this section will probably be bland until they update PvP.

The current loadout I use is Robot Sidekick, Beta Surge, Proton Remedy, Density, Energize, Filler. I use this for both Tank and DPS.

Credit

Big thanks to L T, Dogico, Roomba, Superskull85 and all other guide writers for their information/influence on my guide. This is my first guide and I'm glad to have had the pleasure to write it. I hope this guide goes for and becomes the main hub for Atomic players.

Not a bad start. However I'd suggest that Nanoweave Armor is not at all useful to a tank. In tank stance you're at the mitigation cap when you use a power whether you have the extra 200 defense or not.

I don't use it. I just thought it'd be useful to add to the guide in general.

On another note I'm glad you replied. Was wondering if I could use some of your Atomic Tank information in the guide.

Absolutely. Quote away!

I don't plan on updating the Atomic section of Tank vs Tank anytime soon (since I'm guessing the power will be stable for a while), but you might want to also provide a link in case things get updated in the future.

Nice job Snix, glad one one started this.

When I get some time later I'll add how I play the combo DPS, it's not an optimal min/max set up but I really enjoy it.

Thanks again for taking he time.

Thanks, It bothered me that there wasn't any where for Atomic players to discuss the powerset.

Later on when I get on I'll post my loadout for tank and dps (I'm terrible at remembering the names of powers) just to help get the ball rolling. Thanks for putting this together where atomic players have a place to discuss the powerset.

No problem. Been wanting to do this. Would love you opinion of Atomic and your loadouts.