aarithon

Currently reworking my db/wp build, trying to get semi-decent defense levels without spending crazy sums, and wondering whether manuevers is needed for the + defense, or is it really just a LOTG +recharge mule? dropping manuevers I can 4 slot kick or brawl for another kinetic combat set bonus and get the same +def for S/L that manuevers provides anyway.

What's the general consensus (if there is one)?

I usually play scrappers but I wanted to try out something with a bit of range, so looking at making a weapons based (personal preference for this character) blaster, so either AR or DP. I wanted to stay away from blapper type build so I was thinking of devices as a secondary, given it's more defensive focus and lack of melee attacks although it does lack build-up. Is build-up very important for a blaster? Certainly open to suggestions of alternate secondaries, although this character concept fits better with a more technological/device based set.

How do these sets perform, I kind of like the swap ammo concept of DP, gives a bit more flexibility against a variety of foes, but the powers in AR seem to destroy DP damage wise. I don't really want to be putting out weaksauce damage.

The other option is to go Dp or AR with /traps corruptor. How would that option stack up?

Thoughts?

I was thinking perhaps sniper attack from soul mastery for taking out pesky things like sappers, and shadow meld may be useful as a sort of brief defense boost. Is there much value in shadow meld for that? If not I can just grab powers elsewhere and save unlocking the patron pool.

thanks, that answers my question quite definitively.

Just wondering what people think about combat jumping vs Cloak of darkness as immob protection. I'd stick a -kb io in whichever for the kb protection. Cod is a lot more end cost, but it does have higher def bonus. Is it worthwhile or is the extra def just not worth the end cost and could be better gained through io set bonuses?

Trying to nail some stuff on the upper end of my db/will scrapper. The 2 powers I'm unsure of are the last 2 in the set, the rez, and tier 9. SoW seems kinda weak for a tier 9, but from what i can read, there's no health crash, just an end crash. Does this drop your toggles?

Also debating the value of a self rez, I do die now and then, but seems like a bit of a waste of power selection, the thing is, I'm not sure what else i might take. I have tough/weave and combat jumping, will probably add manuevers, unsure of whether there's anything else in pools that's worth a look. Medicine for an on demand heal?

Epic pools don't seem that great. Best one i could see was soul mastery patron pool for a blast and shadowmeld perhaps.

Interested in recommendations,

thanks.

With both, when leveling i find it best to focus on a specific form rather than trying to slot everything. I tend to use mostly nova early on, so slot up your attacks, 1acc 3xdmg for nova form should be enough, and you can leave slotting dwarf attacks until a bit later in the piece. Tri-form works better with WS than PB for me, as WS has various human form abilities like mire and stygian circle that you want to drop to human for and then return to dwarf or nova.

thanks, I'll go down the DB route then. Just thinking a little further about builds, does invuln benefit much from aid self? There's dull pain, but my understanding is to try and perma that for the extra HP.

Fighting pool seems like an obvious choice, and perhaps combat jumping for some extra defense?

Thinking of making an invuln scrapper. My 2 favourites as primary are claws and dual blades. I'm not aware of either primary adding anything particularly to invuln as a secondary. Wondering whether anyone has any advice which is better? Also not sure which provides a better single target and AE damage. From what I've read, the general thoughts are that claws are stronger theoretical damage, but that often seems to not be factoring in the attack vitals combo dmg, and the knockback scattering of shockwave. With invuln and invincibility, i'm guessing shockwave might be a no-no? I'm wondering if DB actually puts out similar numbers in most real world situations?

Thoughts?

Both of these combos look rather interesting to me for mass AE slaughter with their damage aura and decent PBAE attacks. Wondering which would have the edge in terms of survivability?
I'm not massively wealthy, so wouldn't be purpling them out immediately. Looking at the base resist numbers, electric armour seems to have slightly better resists, and paired with katana, would be easily soft capped vs melee. Elec also has a toxic hole which could be an issue? On the other hand, dark armour has a superior heal, CoF or OG would provide almost the same benefit as a softcapped melee as they essentially mitigate the majority of melee attacks, but has much worse endurance issues to deal with, KB hole is not an issue with the appropriate enh.

So which of these 2 would be a better AE machine? both have the damage aura, my understanding is that Spin is better damage, shorter recharge over The Lotus Drops, and is enhanced by Followup even further. Flashing Steel has a very wide cone, but it's damage is rather inferior to Eviscerate. Not too interested in either of the knockback cones.

thanks!

I'm working on my first warshade, and after looking over some guides etc, it appears as though Nebulous Form is fairly useless as a panic button due to it's 3s activation. So instead of that, I was thinking about picking up Stealth, Grant Invis and Phase shift.

Is Stealth + Shadow Cloak = total invis? I was thinking of using it to tele into mobs and eclipse or mire them before they spot me, then go nova to nuke. Or would I be better served just taking super speed, since I already have hasten. Also, is Phase shift a useful panic button, and I suppose more importantly, does a warshade have any use for a panic button, or is that just a waste of power picks?

Here's a rough outline of my power choice plan. I would stick stealth or super speed in at 16, grant invis at 24 and phase shift at 44 perhaps.

Was also considering taking aid other for some additional utility.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.703
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 40 Science Warshade
Primary Power Set: Umbral Blast
Secondary Power Set: Umbral Aura
Power Pool: Speed

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Shadow Bolt -- (A)
Level 1: Absorption -- (A)
Level 2: Gravimetric Snare -- (A)
Level 4: Gravity Shield -- (A)
Level 6: Dark Nova -- (A)
Level 8: Hasten -- (A)
Level 10: Starless Step -- (A)
Level 12: Sunless Mire -- (A)
Level 14: Shadow Cloak -- (A)
Level 16: [Empty]
Level 18: Gravity Well -- (A)
Level 20: Black Dwarf -- (A)
Level 22: Stygian Circle -- (A)
Level 24: [Empty] -- (A)
Level 26: Gravitic Emanation -- (A)
Level 28: Inky Aspect -- (A)
Level 30: Unchain Essence -- (A)
Level 32: Dark Extraction -- (A)
Level 35: Quasar -- (A)
Level 38: Eclipse -- (A)
Level 41: Stygian Return -- (A)
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- (A)
Level 1: Sprint -- (A)
Level 2: Rest -- (A)
Level 1: Dark Sustenance
Level 49: Ninja Run -- (A)
Level 10: Shadow Recall -- (A)
------------
Level 6: Dark Nova Bolt -- (A)
Level 6: Dark Nova Blast -- (A)
Level 6: Dark Nova Emanation -- (A)
Level 6: Dark Nova Detonation -- (A)
Level 20: Black Dwarf Strike -- (A)
Level 20: Black Dwarf Smite -- (A)
Level 20: Black Dwarf Mire -- (A)
Level 20: Black Dwarf Drain -- (A)
Level 20: Black Dwarf Step -- (A)
Level 20: Black Dwarf Antagonize -- (A)

Just wondering whether Aid self is a wasted selection on a db/wp build. I'm using ninja run for travel, so that frees a couple slots up, and i can fit in aid self as well as fighting pool and FA. I figure PP is not so needed with quick recovery.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.621
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 48 Natural Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Dual Blades
Secondary Power Set: Willpower
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Medicine
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Power Slice -- (A)
Level 1: High Pain Tolerance -- (A)
Level 2: Ablating Strike -- (A)
Level 4: Fast Healing -- (A)
Level 6: Combat Jumping -- (A)
Level 8: Blinding Feint -- (A)
Level 10: Indomitable Will -- (A)
Level 12: Mind Over Body -- (A)
Level 14: Swift -- (A)
Level 16: Rise to the Challenge -- (A)
Level 18: Vengeful Slice -- (A)
Level 20: Quick Recovery -- (A)
Level 22: Health -- (A)
Level 24: Stamina -- (A)
Level 26: Sweeping Strike -- (A)
Level 28: Heightened Senses -- (A)
Level 30: Typhoon's Edge -- (A)
Level 32: One Thousand Cuts -- (A)
Level 35: Aid Other -- (A)
Level 38: Aid Self -- (A)
Level 41: Kick -- (A)
Level 44: Tough -- (A)
Level 47: Weave -- (A)
Level 49: Focused Accuracy -- (A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- (A)
Level 1: Sprint -- (A)
Level 2: Rest -- (A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 4: Ninja Run

Just a question about the BIs for claws attacks you listed, where did you get the data? In looking at Mids Hero Designer, the BIs listed there are somewhat different to that which you listed. Below is the table i compiled from Mids, would be useful to know if these numbers are inaccurate, as i use Mids to view the BI on various attacks when working on builds.

Claws -- Cast -- Rch -- BI -- DPS (BI) = BI / cast + rech

Swipe / 1.5 / 1.7 / 2.19 / 0.68
Strike / 1.17 / 3.2 / 3.12 / 0.72
Slash / 1.33 / 4.8 / 4.12 / 0.67
Spin / 2.07 / 12.1 / 3.12 / 0.22
Follow Up / 1.63 / 12 / 2.5 / 0.18
Focus / 1.53 / 6.4 / 5.12 / 0.65
Eviscerate / 2.17 / 8.38 / 6.11 / 0.58
Shockwave / 1.53 / 12.1 / 3.12 / 0.23

Those numbers don't factor in any sort of recharge enhancement, however just looking at the numbers, it would seem that Eviscerate is actually a pretty damn good attack provided it strikes more than one enemy, giving it a BI DPS of 1.16 for quite a reasonable endurance cost and recharge time. Having said that, Strike is according to those numbers the best single DPS attack, of course that assumes you were simply spamming that single attack over and over, so i guess the numbers are somewhat misleading.