Dracomicon
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Posts
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Joined
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additive, nice. no wonder it only seems like a regular hold when in domination. Dominators are quite the tightrope act to play well.
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Wow, thank you for that information. The in game detailed information on this power is way wrong. It says 48 seconds for the mag 3 hold. But City of Data shows 8 sec and 12 when domination is active ... which is what I experience in game.
This changes my slotting, since I know that I need to max out hold to make this remotely useful, and then work on the recharge.
Granted, I am looking at this from a solo perspective since the -ToHit is a great tool for teams. -
Longtime tanker, first time dominator wondering if Shadow Field from the Darkness control set is broken or if I am using it incorrectly. Every time I use it, I notice that it does not hold any mobs unless I am in domination mode. I will give them a black midsection and make them wiggle a bit for 5 seconds and then they all turn and attack me.
Tried it on different mobs and for freakshow, Fir Blogs, Council, Family they all behave the same. I only have one Accuracy SO slotted (I'm lvl 26), but the same critters get held from my Dark Grasp which should have the same hold magnitude.
Has anyone else noticed this? -
SETUP
Assume a continuous stream of damage. Then assume the initial chance to hit is 50% (should be true at low levels in most cases). I am only looking at low levels so no enhancements, just the raw powers and you get:
RPD + TI + UY = 45% S/L resist, 10% F/C/E/N resist, 25% Def Debuff Def
so all S/L damage is reduced by 45%, all F/C/E/N damage is reduced by 10%
and TH + TI + UY = 35% S/F resist, 10% F/C/E/N resist, 5% S/L/F/C/E/N defense, 25% Def Debuff Def
so all S/L damage is reduced by 41.5%, all F/C/E/N damage is reduced by 19%, and potential status effects are reduced by 5%
SUMMARY
RPD + TI + UY gives a slight advantage in S/L damage and a disadvantage in F/C/E/N damage compared to TH + TI + UY. The 5% reduction in status effects in low level will not be noticeable.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
I my case running a Inv/Fire Tanker the low levels were about more damage to survive not more armor. Then I tried to max out my S/L resist and didn't have problems till the 30s. For this I used Unstoppable when F/C/E/N was thrown my way. TH was nice to have when since it stacked well with INV and Combat Jumping, and I took it before RPD. But I would never have taken either before level 24 since travel powers, stamina, and a decent set of attacks took preference.
This seems like more of an issue for Brutes or Scrappers of which I have no personal experience how well the switch of RPD for TH would be. My guess would be that this would be beneficial for defense capping with IO sets, but in the initial levels not so much since damage is king and both ATs have plenty of it.
Overall, this change does not seem needed. Invulnerability overall is fine once you understand its limitations and how to address those with IO sets.
My main issue is with End Management even with End Red in all attacks and toggles and IO end boosting bonuses it seems to become an issue. Low level before stamina it is still unpleasant, but that is another topic. -
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]
Pip Cheerio: Level 40 Natural Controller
Primary Power Set: Fire Control
Secondary Power Set: Kinetics
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Char <ul type="square">[*] (A) Damage Increase IO: Level 25[*] (3) Damage Increase IO: Level 25[*] (3) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 25[*] (11) Accuracy IO: Level 25[*] (11) Hold Duration IO: Level 25[*] (31) Accuracy IO: Level 25[/list]Level 1: Transfusion <ul type="square">[*] (A) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 30[*] (17) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Endurance/Heal/HitPoints/Regeneration: Level 30[*] (34) Theft of Essence - Accuracy/Endurance/Healing: Level 25[*] (40) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Healing: Level 30[/list]Level 2: Fire Cages <ul type="square">[*] (A) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 25[*] (5) Positron's Blast - Accuracy/Damage: Level 25[*] (5) Positron's Blast - Damage/Endurance: Level 25[*] (15) Positron's Blast - Damage/Recharge: Level 25[*] (19) Positron's Blast - Damage/Range: Level 25[*] (37) Positron's Blast - Chance of Damage(Energy): Level 25[/list]Level 4: Ring of Fire <ul type="square">[*] (A) Entropic Chaos - Accuracy/Damage: Level 25[*] (7) Entropic Chaos - Chance of Heal Self: Level 25[*] (7) Entropic Chaos - Damage/Endurance: Level 25[*] (15) Entropic Chaos - Damage/Recharge: Level 25[*] (25) Entropic Chaos - Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 25[*] (31) Accuracy IO: Level 25[/list]Level 6: Siphon Power <ul type="square">[*] (A) Accuracy IO: Level 25[*] (27) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 25[*] (29) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 25[/list]Level 8: Hot Feet <ul type="square">[*] (A) Scirocco's Dervish - Chance of Damage(Lethal): Level 25[*] (9) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage: Level 25[*] (9) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 25[*] (17) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Endurance: Level 25[*] (40) Cleaving Blow - Accuracy/Damage: Level 25[*] (40) Cleaving Blow - Damage/Endurance: Level 25[/list]Level 10: Siphon Speed <ul type="square">[*] (A) Accuracy IO: Level 25[/list]Level 12: Flashfire <ul type="square">[*] (A) Stupefy - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge: Level 25[*] (13) Stupefy - Endurance/Stun: Level 25[*] (13) Stupefy - Accuracy/Endurance: Level 25[*] (19) Stupefy - Stun/Range: Level 25[*] (31) Stupefy - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 25[*] (37) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 25[/list]Level 14: Hurdle <ul type="square">[*] (A) Jumping IO: Level 25[/list]Level 16: Health <ul type="square">[*] (A) Healing IO: Level 25[/list]Level 18: Cinders <ul type="square">[*] (A) Ghost Widow's Embrace - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge: Level 25[*] (23) Essence of Curare - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge: Level 25[*] (23) Neuronic Shutdown - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge: Level 25[*] (25) Paralytic - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge: Level 25[*] (34) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 25[*] (37) Hold Duration IO: Level 25[/list]Level 20: Stamina <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Modification IO: Level 25[*] (21) Endurance Modification IO: Level 25[*] (21) Endurance Modification IO: Level 25[/list]Level 22: Speed Boost <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 25[/list]Level 24: Increase Density <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 25[/list]Level 26: Hasten <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 25[*] (27) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 25[*] (29) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 25[/list]Level 28: Combat Jumping <ul type="square">[*] (A) Karma - Knockback Protection: Level 25[/list]Level 30: Super Jump <ul type="square">[*] (A) Jumping IO: Level 25[/list]Level 32: Fire Imps <ul type="square">[*] (A) Brilliant Leadership - Accuracy/Damage: Level 25[*] (33) Brilliant Leadership - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 25[*] (33) Brilliant Leadership - Damage: Level 25[*] (33) Commanding Presence - Accuracy/Damage: Level 25[*] (34) Commanding Presence - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance: Level 25[/list]Level 35: Transference <ul type="square">[*] (A) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Accuracy: Level 25[*] (36) Efficacy Adaptor - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 25[*] (36) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Accuracy/Recharge: Level 25[*] (36) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Recharge: Level 25[/list]Level 38: Fulcrum Shift <ul type="square">[*] (A) Accuracy IO: Level 25[*] (39) Accuracy IO: Level 25[*] (39) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 25[*] (39) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 25[/list]Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
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Level 1: Brawl <ul type="square">[*] (A) Accuracy IO: Level 25[/list]Level 1: Sprint <ul type="square">[*] (A) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 25[/list]Level 2: Rest <ul type="square">[*] (A) Recharge Reduction IO: Level 25[/list]Level 1: Containment
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[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]<ul type="square">[*]2.25% Max End[*]1% Enhancement(Confused)[*]27% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]18.8% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]3% Enhancement(Stun)[*]49.6 HP (4.88%) HitPoints[*]Knockback (Mag -4)[*]Knockup (Mag -4)[*]MezResist(Confused) 2.75%[*]9% (0.15 End/sec) Recovery[*]34% (1.44 HP/sec) Regeneration[*]1.58% Resistance(Fire)[*]1.58% Resistance(Cold)[*]3.13% Resistance(Negative)[*]3.13% Resistance(Toxic)[/list] -
I have leveled my Fire/Kin up to level 41. I am looking for some advice about the Epic pool powers. I have read the guides and have a reasonable idea about each. What I am looking for is personal experiences of what other Fire/Kins find works best.
My tendancy as a player is to get up in the mobs grill and this has shown me two big problems ... Status effects of any kind spell doom for me unless I have a BF ready and bosses are really dangerous since I need to double stack my holds and often die before that happens. (This is for large groups .. I find that normal mission groups minus EB/AV are not usually a problem)
I am leaning towards Psionic for the staus protection, but would earth be better for the extra AoE disorient?
Can I really become tough without spending insane amount of influence. My characters are all poor, and so I buy and build as I need and as I can afford. Below is my build any suggestions about this build that take into account my play style and money limits .. (currently have 15mil in hard cash and 50+mil in investments).
Also at my level other than RWZ and Chimora, what other areas are good for hunting (for fun)?
Thank you for your suggestions. -
[ QUOTE ]
This means that resistance sets can use aid self just fine, as long as there isn't massive DoT or autohit debuffs. Actually I'm pretty sure you can use aid self through an autohit debuff if you can get it off inbetween the ticks. However most of the tick every 0.5 seconds, so you can imagine how gigantically lucky you'd have to be to get it off. This hypothesis is formed in pocket d which has a tp suppressor. I found I could get aid self off inbetween -tp ticks if I timed it right.
Finally, you can't compare heals to resistance, it's apples and oranges. Heals don't scale with incoming damage, resistance does. However, aid self provides more mitigation in most scenarios. And in the ones it doesn't, you'd die with aid self or tough anyways.
[/ QUOTE ]
I find that as a Inv Tanker that Aid Self really has no problem since I can focus on the timing. With my fire Blaster if I loose concentration for a second I am dead, so getting Aid Self off between damage is more difficult but still doable with 1 interrupt IO, and with 2 IOs I am fine.
Technically you are correct that heals and resistance (and defense for that matter) can't be directly compared. But as a Tanker where I usually am not in danger of concentrated burst damage, a general comparison of effectiveness against constant damage is sufficient to show the advantage of having Aid Self over other powers.
And wow talk about necro posting, but this guide still is very useful.
As an update for IOs: Since the heal sets do not have interrupt, I usually drop two Numinas or Miracle (depending on how rich the character is) for the first bonus of bonus regen or bonus end recovery. Then I use regular IOs to up the Interrupt and recharge. Just make sure not to get more than 5 of the same bonus from other sets. And yes with unlimited resources you could slot better, but I have yet to get to that point. -
[ QUOTE ]
So I was re-reading my guide, and I realized I forgot to mention this in the details of Chilling Embrace. It has a -DMG aspect to the foes affected, so you do take less damage from those in melee range. Keep that puppy up! It equals 14% reduction in damage. Not a lot, but it helps.
[/ QUOTE ]
It cannot be understated how great Chilling Embrace is, with the slow recharge and damage reduction you get essentially a 38% resistance to all damage from foes in it's AoE. That is not only for you but all others they may target. The only downfall to this power is grabbing too much attention in your early levels and faceplanting, since they really hate to be hit by chilling embrace. -
Just some self promotion for the I9 update info for my guide found on the second page, plus an attempt at a PVP Guide for BS/DA.
Stormbringer-BS/DA Scrapper Guide (Now updated to I9) -
Final Note
PVP is not for the faint of heart, since even if you have the best character powersets and a perfect IO slotting you can and many times will be defeated a lot. It can be the best or most frustrating part of the game. BS/DA is not the best character powerset combo for PVP, so you have to adjust to shine in PVP where you can. -
Here is another sample build that is more of a hybrid for PVE and PVP.
In PvP, I use PG on the squishies foolish enough to not have someway to stop holds and then quickly kill them. Dark Blast recharges nice and fast with decent damage so I can pot shot runners. I do fly and don't have acro which are two huge marks against it and why anyone with -fly can pretty much screw me but this was for concept reason and like I said PvP is not my main goal even though I do PvP. I do make extensive use of CoD+Stealth IO to basically have invisibility to sneak up on people and hopefully kill them fast enough before they run away. I do have tactics to help land my powers as combined with Kismet's tohit IO I have 16% which is a sizeable amount and that isn't counting using build up, and I also have it for the two sources of perception. Also just a note, assault + tactics is actually cheaper to run both then it is to run FA, and I actually prefer the leadership route due to all the benefits it gives and it is team based not player based. (quoted Ryko_Nailo from the scrapper forum).
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.21
http://www.honourableunited.org.uk/mhd.php
Ryko Nailo: Level 50 Natural Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Broad Sword
Secondary Power Set: Dark Armor
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Darkness Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Hack -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Mako-Dam%(15), T'Death-Acc/Dmg(34), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42), T'Death-Dam%(48)
Level 1: Dark Embrace -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg(5), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(15), ImpArm-ResDam(37), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(43), S'fstPrt-ResKB(50)
Level 2: Death Shroud -- M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(A), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(3), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(13), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(25), Sciroc-Dam%(43)
Level 4: Slice -- C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx(A), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg(5), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(13), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(31), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(39), Sciroc-Dam%(46)
Level 6: Hover -- Flight-I(A), Frbd-EndRdx(7), Frbd-Fly(7), Frbd-Stlth(21)
Level 8: Parry -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(9), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(9), LkGmblr-Rchg+(34), HO:Nucle(42)
Level 10: Obsidian Shield -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg(11), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(11), ImpArm-ResDam(37), Aegis-Psi/Status(43), S'fstPrt-ResKB(46)
Level 12: Swift -- HO:Micro(A)
Level 14: Fly -- HO:Micro(A)
Level 16: Dark Regeneration -- Mrcl-EndRdx/Rchg(A), Mrcl-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Numna-EndRdx/Rchg(17), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(25), Numna-Heal(36), HO:Nucle(37)
Level 18: Whirling Sword -- C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx(A), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg(19), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(19), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(34), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), Sciroc-Dam%(46)
Level 20: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(21)
Level 22: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(23), EndMod-I(23)
Level 24: Murky Cloud -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg(29), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(31), ImpArm-ResDam(31)
Level 26: Disembowel -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(27), Mako-Dam%(27), T'Death-Acc/Dmg(36), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), T'Death-Dam%(42)
Level 28: Build Up -- HO:Membr(A), HO:Membr(29), HO:Membr(39)
Level 30: Cloak of Darkness -- Ksmt-ToHit+(A)
Level 32: Head Splitter -- C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx(A), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg(33), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(33), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(33), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), Sciroc-Dam%(50)
Level 35: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(36)
Level 38: Tactics -- HO:Cyto(A), HO:Cyto(39)
Level 41: Oppressive Gloom -- HO:Endo(A)
Level 44: Petrifying Gaze -- G'Wdw-Acc/Rchg(A), G'Wdw-EndRdx/Hold(45), G'Wdw-Acc/EndRdx(45), G'Wdw-Hold/Rng(45)
Level 47: Dark Blast -- Dev'n-Acc/Dmg(A), Dev'n-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg(48), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
Level 49: Soul Transfer -- HO:Perox(A)
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Level 1: Brawl -- HO:Nucle(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- HO:Micro(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Heal-I(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
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[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]<ul type="square">[*]+3% DamageBuff[*]+3% Defense(All)[*]+5.63% Defense(Psionic)[*]+9% Max Endurance[*]+45% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]+7.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]+176.2 (14.6%) HitPoints[*]+Knockback (Mag -8)[*]+MezResist(Confused) (Mag 20%)[*]+MezResist(Held) (Mag 20%)[*]+MezResist(Immobilize) (Mag 32.1%)[*]+MezResist(Sleep) (Mag 20%)[*]+MezResist(Stun) (Mag 20%)[*]+MezResist(Terrorized) (Mag 20%)[*]+14.5% Recovery[*]+82% Regeneration[*]+12.5% Resistance(Negative)[*]+3% Resistance(Psionic)[*]+5% RunSpeed[/list]
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>| Copy & Paste this data chunk into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
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</pre><hr /> -
Sample Builds
Here is one sample build for taking advantage of the fear aspect of CoF for PVP. This build was designed to have fear available for Warburg PVP, and two fear powers for Recluses Victory. As you will see some sacrifices were made to accomplish this. This is more of a solo build, so no tactics and energy epic pool was chosen more to assist in solo play. Hasten was squeezed in so that your heavy hitters and fear powers cycle more often. You can slot more for accuracy since converve power allows lots of latitude.
In play, you would hit first with intimidate followed by invoke panic (for Recluse Victory) then build up, HeadSplitter, Disembowl, Hack (I sometimes go HS, Hack, Disembowl since that long animation bugs me on Disembowl), HeadSplitter, Disembowl. At this point the fear will start to wear off since you get at most 20 seconds.
Note: This build maximizes many IO set bonuses that normally are neigh unattainable due to cost and/or rarity. However, you almost must use IO sets just to make PVP doable since you can skip acrobatics (20 knockback protection), get an extra heal power, get a good boost to end recovery, huge stealth bonus, and the equivalent of running Focused Accuracy through set bonuses. This gives you more room to play with pool powers to fix the Primary and Secondary shortcomings for PVP.
This was constructed with accuracy in mind since you do not want to miss with an attack, however you can choose other epic pools for ranged attacks and/or holds. Energy mastery is fairly vanilla for PVP so I have included it here. You could also skip the presence pool altogether for the leadership pool.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.21
http://www.honourableunited.org.uk/mhd.php
Level 50 Science Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Broad Sword
Secondary Power Set: Dark Armor
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Presence
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Hack -- B'ngBlow-Acc/Dmg(A), B'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx(13), B'ngBlow-Dmg/Rchg(13), P'ngS'Fest-Acc/Dmg(15), P'ngS'Fest-Dmg/EndRdx(15)
Level 1: Dark Embrace -- S'fstPrt-ResKB(A), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(3), S'fstPrt-ResDam/EndRdx(3), HO:Ribo(5)
Level 2: Death Shroud -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(9), HO:Nucle(46), HO:Nucle(50)
Level 4: Murky Cloud -- S'fstPrt-ResKB(A), ImpArm-ResDam(5), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(7), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg(7)
Level 6: Combat Jumping -- ULeap-Stlth(A), Krma-ResKB(43), DefBuff-I(43)
Level 8: Parry -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+(9), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(11), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(11), P'ngS'Fest-Acc/Dmg(46), B'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx(48)
Level 10: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 12: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(36), RechRdx-I(37)
Level 14: Super Jump -- HO:Micro(A)
Level 16: Dark Regeneration -- Numna-Heal/EndRdx(A), Numna-Heal(17), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(17), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(19), HO:Nucle(36), RechRdx-I(36)
Level 18: Obsidian Shield -- S'fstPrt-ResKB(A), ImpArm-ResDam(19), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(29), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg(31)
Level 20: Cloak of Darkness -- Krma-ResKB(A), GftotA-Def(21), GftotA-Run+(21), LkGmblr-Def(23), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(23)
Level 22: Health -- RgnTis-Regen+(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(25), Mrcl-Heal(25), Mrcl-Heal/EndRdx(27), Numna-Heal(27), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(29)
Level 24: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(37), EndMod-I(37)
Level 26: Disembowel -- B'ngBlow-Acc/Dmg(A), B'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx(31), B'ngBlow-Dmg/Rchg(31), P'ngS'Fest-Acc/Dmg(34), P'ngS'Fest-Dmg/EndRdx(34)
Level 28: Cloak of Fear -- Abys-Dam%(A), Abys-EndRdx/Fear(39), Abys-Acc/EndRdx(39), Abys-Fear/Rng(39), HO:Endo(42), HO:Lyso(43)
Level 30: Build Up -- HO:Membr(A), HO:Membr(40), HO:Membr(40)
Level 32: Head Splitter -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(33), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(33), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg(34), C'ngBlow-Acc/Dmg(46)
Level 35: Provoke -- Acc-I(A)
Level 38: Intimidate -- Abys-Fear/Rng(A), Abys-Acc/Fear/Rchg(40), Abys-EndRdx/Fear(42), Abys-Acc/Rchg(42)
Level 41: Super Speed -- Clrty-Stlth(A)
Level 44: Invoke Panic -- Abys-Acc/Fear/Rchg(A), Abys-Acc/Rchg(45), Abys-EndRdx/Fear(45), Abys-Fear/Rng(45)
Level 47: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(48), RechRdx-I(48)
Level 49: Focused Accuracy -- HO:Cyto(A), HO:Cyto(50), HO:Cyto(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- HO:Nucle(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- HO:Micro(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
------------
[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]<ul type="square">[*]+3% Defense(All)[*]+3.75% Defense(Psionic)[*]+45% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]+7.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]+8.25% Enhancement(Terrorized)[*]+140.1 (11.6%) HitPoints[*]+Knockback (Mag -20)[*]+14% Recovery[*]+90% Regeneration[*]+3.13% Resistance(Negative)[*]+7.5% RunSpeed[/list]
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</pre><hr /> -
Broad Sword / Dark Armor Powers and PVP
This is a difficult character to play in PVP, since your main attacks are commonly well resisted and all your shields are toggles that can be dropped which makes you an easy target. Plus, your resistance against the number one damage type (energy) is your lowest resist and your final Tier 9 power is not even close to other characters Tier 9s. However, you do get a stealth power with a +perception in your Secondary powerset that is really nice and Cloak of Fear can be helpful as well. Also your heavy hitting attacks really pack a punch that is good for single target PVP. I have a preference to play more of a stalker game, where I lay in wait stealthed until I see an easy target or somebody low on health and then wham I get them. All said, this is not the best powers for PVP at best well slotting you will be around the bottom of the middle of the pack. Here is a run down of the powers with respect to PVP.
Broad Sword
Hack: A must have. This is a good dmg attack that should be in your attack cycle.
Slash: It is either this or Death Shroud for level 2, which is a tough choice since this is an ok filler attack versus an PbAoE attack that reduces your cloak of fear effect in PVE. Off the cuff I say get Death Shroud since it is negative dmg while small is not resisted by most. Also for stalkers it is an early warning sign since you will see miss text when a stalker gets near.
Slice: I have never likes this attack, the arc is ok but in PVP you will be usually fight one and that makes this attack not a good choice.
Build Up: A must have for burst damage potential.
Parry: I like the defensive bonus this gives and will use this as filler for my attack cycle, if you can get this double stacked before a melee your golden.
Confront: Up to you, but I generally skip this since I do not like the attention.
Whirling Sword: I great attack PbAoE, but skippable for PVP.
Disembowel: A must have, love it for the knock up and damage.
HeadSplitter: Get this! Best damage and has a good critical chance and knockdown.
Dark Armor
Dark Embrace: You have to get this and its good resistance.
Death Shroud: See my discussion for Slash, I generally get this.
Murky Cloud: Your shields, get it.
Obsidian Shield: Your shields, get it.
Dark Regeneration: Ahh this is a tough one. The heal is fantastic but the recharge is terrible for PVP. This becomes more of an emergency button that helps you only once. If you can fit it into your build do so.
Cloak of Darkness: Definitely should get this just for the +perception alone.
Cloak of Fear: This is good even if you do not slot the fear portion since the tohit will help you against your opponent more than Oppressive Gloom. Also since your character becomes a ball of black smoke, if you made a very small character people will sometimes miss seeing you even if your stealth is perceived.
Oppressive Gloom: Not a good choice for PVP unless you constantly team with members who also do disorient, since this will be resisted by most if not all you fight.
Soul Transfer: This one is up to you, but I usually skip it. -
PVP Basics
PVP is about speed, you must kill or be killed and time is not your friend. If you cannot defeat somebody in 45 seconds max then move on. In 45 seconds you should be able to get off 2-3 full attack chains bare minimum, and if that isnt enough damage then you better have the other person held. Sure it is fun occasionally if you are a tanker-like character to get into a slugfest for minutes, but somebody like me will be stealthed and in the area to kill steal anyone who gets too low in health. You want high burst damage and mobility to be successful. But first the basic ideas:
1) Finding the enemy
2) Getting to the enemy
3) Hitting the enemy
4) Saving yourself
Each of these steps can be accomplished by using a pool power or using a renewable temp power (Note: I am not talking about limited temp powers, since these will eventually run out and not be accessable). However, if your primary or secondary powersets contain an equivalent power use that since it will be at least equal if not better. But first lets understand what is available to everyone.
Finding the enemy: Many players will employ some type of stealth to hide themselves from you. In order to find them, you need some sort of +perception power. Perception works on distance, the more perception you have the farther away you will see them. This gives you time to prepare if you can see them, and also a way to hunt them down. Ways to gain this are:
- Acc Inspirations: These give a boost to perception, but since you will usually carry Break Frees this is not the best solution.
- IR Googles: If your side is winning in Sirens Call you can purchase these to use for 30 minutes. This is a good option for a tight build.
- Leadership (Tactics) : This is another good option by choosing Tactics, you get a perception bonus and everyone in your team near you gets it as well. A team where everyone has tactics is a powerful thing.
Getting to the enemy: You have now spotted the other player and need to get closer to use your powers. This is accomplished by having a travel power and stealth to help you get close. Remember that travel powers are suppressed when fighting so having an unsurpressed travel is optimal. The choices are:
- Stamina (swift, hurdle), Jumping (Combat Jumping) : Having these three powers ( three slotted) gives an amazing travel power that is unsurpressed. The downside is you have to spend two pools, 3 powers, and 6 slots to get it.
- Speed (SuperSpeed), Jumping (Super Jump) : Need to get away in a hurry this is the way to do it and SuperSpeed adds to your stealth. Many will take this and go for the swift, hurdle, combat jumping method as well since all you are adding is two powers and one more pool for this.
- Fly: This is ok for travel and it does give you access to Air Superiority, but there are many fly powers that will drop you to the ground. Plus you can get a fly temp power from Sirens Call.
- Teleportation: This is great for escape if you know how to use it, but trying to follow somebody with this is difficult. Plus, there are temp powers for this.
- Teleport Foe: If you have enough +Acc and +Perception, then this is a great power since you dont follow them, but bring them to you.
- Flight (Air Superiority) : This is used for flying enemies since its fly comes in handy in bringing them down to earth.
- Presense Pool (Intimidate, Invoke Panic) : Fear powers are not resisted and work great on all enemies. This will not bring them to you or bring you to them, but will stop them from doing anything at all. The downside is the recharge on these is long and there is a short duration after being feared that they are protected from it again. I personally like these powers, but fitting them into a build can be hard. Also note that tactics has fear resistance, and one breakfree will negate your fear.
(Note: Fear has a flight period that kicks in after you're attacked. You can either run away for 10-15 seconds or so, or you can counter attack. This happens everytime you get hit. Unfortunately, auras count as an attack so you need to turn them off Tic_Toc).
Stealth is another complex matter, since while you are following your target you do not want to be hunted or seen until it is too late. Two valid options are:
- Stealth IOs: You can slot these to have stealth, however they do take up slots and are not cheap. Plus this can be suppressed and is tied to the power that has it in its slots.
(Inventions Note: IOs stop giving benefit once you exemplar down past their level. If you want to be good in PvP at a lower level area make sure your IOs are at the level you will exemplar down to.)
- Concealment Pool: This gives you a stealth power and sets you up to get phase shift for emergencies. The down side is that you use up a pool pick for this.
Hitting the enemy: You see the enemy and are in range to use your powers, but keep missing. What you need is a buff to your accuracy or tohit, with tohit buffs being better for the overall hit equation. You can do this by:
- Slotting for Acc: Two or three slot powers for accuracy, and thanks to IOs this can be accomplished with less slots. You want to setup your attack powers to give you at least 50% bonus, since in PVP to hit another player you have only 50% chance. Some people slot less due to +tohit bonuses from other powers, but that depends on the primary and secondary powers.
- Leadership Pool (tactics) : Tactics will give you a tohit bonus based on your character that coupled with stacking and the +perception makes this a good choice.
- Energy Epic Pool (Focused Accuracy) : {For those it is available for} This is an expensive toggle, but will give a good +tohit in return.
Saving Yourself: When things go south, how to get away or change your fate. These are emergency powers to help out when things get too difficult.
- Medicine (Aid Self) : A great heal, that really can help with the right slotting. The downside is the cost of a power pool and two powers, plus 5 slots.
- Teleportation: This is great for escapes, but does have a decent end cost and isnt the easiest power to use. You can either go the power pool, or you can get teleportation as a temp power from Sirens Call.
- Concealment (Phase Shift) : A great panic button, but at the cost of a power pool and 3 powers, however if you go with the concealment pool a good choice to have. However, you can get a phase shift temp power in Warburg as another option.
- Keep moving: If you stand still you will make an easier target for melee attacks that do more damage.
- Run non-essential toggles: Detoggling happens all the time, if you depend on a few critical toggles then run several non-essential toggles so the chance of losing a critical one is less. I used to run just my shields to save on end, and when I was detoggled I was defeated. End is not so important, all you need is enough to last for a maximum of 45 seconds (usually less). -
Inventions and BS/Dark
What does I9 mean for me? Well there are a few IOs that really make life nice, the main ones that are still doable (not 50 million inf) are the knockback protection IO that you can slot in your shields and Stealth you slot in travel powers:
Steadfast Protection: The knockback protection recipe in this set will allow you to skip hover or acrobatics. Now granted the protection isnt complete you only get Mag 4 versus acrobatics which is mag 100. But most agree that with one slotted your knockback is rare for the beginning to middle levels and if you have 3 slotted then only rarely do you get knocked back.
Karma: This is a defensive set that can be slotted in your cloak of darkness to give knockback protection.
Unbounded Leap: The stealth IO in this set is good to slot in combat jumping or sprint. This is a unique IO which means only one per character.
Celerity: The stealth IO in this set is good to slot in sprint or superspeed. This is a unique IO which means only one per character.
There are many good melee sets that improve regeneration rate, health, recharge rate but you have to decide what you are looking for and seek those sets. I would advice that if a set at the level you want is too expensive try looking a bit lower than that level cause many times the price drops off hugely. You can get perma hasten through the recharge set bonuses but the cost is usually not doable. Play around and enjoy, there are many possible combos and as long as you increase the bonuses from the original slotting you cant go wrong. -
I9: Update
Issue 9 brought about invention enhancements. These enhancements are used in place of normal enhancements to diversify and strengthen your hero. Since this guide is written more for the casual player who will not have access to millions and millions of influence, there is not much to say but the basics since most really good IOs are very very expensive to obtain.
Basics Inventions
There are two Wentworths in Paragon city, one in Steel Canyon and one in Talos Island. At Wentworth you can enter into an auction like system to sell or purchase just about anything available in CoH (most temp powers are excluded). This auction works by selling to the highest bidder from the lowest priced item. This means you sell at too high of a price and it may never sell, and if you bid too low you may never buy. However, if you sell too low and somebody bids low then you do not get your moneys worth. As a buyer just start bidding low and slowly raise your bid till you get the item or exceed your budget (always have a budget). As a seller look up your item if it is salvage in the City Scoop on the forums, since the last 5 sales history can and be manipulated to make you sell low. Lastley, be patient since eventually your items will be sold and bought.
There are two universities in Paragon city, one in Steel Canyon and one in Croatoa. Here you can take a small set of missions to learn about inventions and at the end receive one normal (non-set) IO. The Universities also have free workbenches that you can use to purchase normal IO recipes and build them once you have the salvage and money.
To build an IO you need three things: 1) A recipe to make an IO, 2) Salvage needed to make the IO (be careful since many lvl 40 and up recipes require very expensive salvage (look at the recipe at Wentworths to see before you obtain one), and lastly 3) Money to purchase the items you do not have and money to build the IO. Many get the recipe and the salvage and forget that there is another fee to build it.
My last piece of advice is to remember that if you exemplar down below the level of your IOs then they do not function, so if you get knockback protection get the lowest level since they all give the same amount of protection and the lowest level will work with the lowest level of exemplaring. -
[ QUOTE ]
This is a nice guide, my only thing is you say Obsidian Shield can wait till early to mid thirties, due to that being when psi damage really comes into play. I wouldn't want to wait that long for the status resists. The psi damage sure, but I can't stand being mezed.
[/ QUOTE ]
Just getting back to this, working on PVP for this guide.
In answer to your question, The wait until your thirties is for adding extra slots to obsidian shield. Obviously, I would not want to wait for status protection until then. Usually I get this power in my teens soon after it becomes available.
As an update, I do now add 1 slot into it immediately so that I can add an end reducer and 1 Steadfast Protection IO (Knockback reduction lvl 10) so that I have some knockback protection. -
In response to Micro: I have found that Fire/Inv makes a good scranker, but not a good conker since fire's secondary isn't a control ability so to grab controls from power pools is a huge loss in power picks. Below is my personal Scranker build I use:
Semi-Scranker Build
Here is an Inv/Fire build built with a huge slant towards more offensive power. I drop out taunt, since you should be attacking at all times not using a power that causes no damage. I built this around the idea that to maximize your damage potential you should still have a relative good defense so that you can get as many around you as possible to use your AoEs to maximum potential. You must have Hasten to speed up your use of your AoEs and it adds a nice defensive boost by speeding up your usage of Dull Pain, Unstoppable.
Your single attacks are not bad since scorch has really nice DPS add that with incinerate and GFS you should be golden. (Note: I have noticed that Fire Sword will help a bit on high regeneration targets like AVs and Elite Bosses, but you should have a team for that. The other option is to stock up on damage boost inspirations before the fight and hope that you win quickly). But your AoEs are fantastic. Running Hasten and Build Up whenever they are available and cycling your Fire Sword Circle with Combustion and GFS you quickly decimate the minions (not so great to keep up the Invincible bonus, but hey less incoming damage). If you can maximize your recharge rate through Invention set bonuses, you won't even have to cycle in one of your single target attacks but just hit FSC and Combutsion for a full attack cycle. Notice that I left out Fire Breath, I have a fire blaster who loves Fire Breath but the cone is too short and the damage lackluster for a tanker to consider this over the other choices in powers. Even building a Scranker, I couldn't justify taking this power.
I left out the last four power choices since that will depend on your playing style. If you really want to continue the scranker route you must get the Fire epic pools for the extra attacks and fireball for true AoE goodness. Otherwise you can get taunt and more of your primaries to shore up your tanker abilities.
One option is to leave out Tough hide and get Fire Sword instead, get SuperSpeed and drop the flight pool to free up another power choice. I happen to like Air Sup. and Flight so this is my build.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.21
http://www.honourableunited.org.uk/mhd.php
------------
Level 1: Temp Invulnerability EndRdx(A), ResDam(9), ResDam(11), ResDam(11)
Level 1: Scorch Acc(A), Dmg(3), Dmg(3), Dmg(13), EndRdx(13), RechRdx(15)
Level 2: Dull Pain Heal(A), Heal(15), Heal(17), RechRdx(34), RechRdx(34), RechRdx(37)
Level 4: Combustion Acc(A), Dmg(5), Dmg(5), Dmg(7), EndRdx(7), RechRdx(9)
Level 6: Hasten RechRdx(A), RechRdx(19), RechRdx(23)
Level 8: Unyielding EndRdx(A), ResDam(17), ResDam(27), ResDam(33)
Level 10: Air Superiority Acc(A)
Level 12: Swift Flight(A)
Level 14: Fly Flight(A)
Level 16: Health Heal(A)
Level 18: Invincibility EndRdx(A), DefBuff(19), DefBuff(23), DefBuff(27)
Level 20: Stamina EndMod(A), EndMod(21), EndMod(21)
Level 22: Boxing Acc(A)
Level 24: Tough EndRdx(A), ResDam(25), ResDam(25), ResDam(34)
Level 26: Build Up RechRdx(A), RechRdx(33), RechRdx(33)
Level 28: Fire Sword Circle Acc(A), Dmg(29), Dmg(29), Dmg(31), EndRdx(31), RechRdx(31)
Level 30: Tough Hide DefBuff(A), DefBuff(40)
Level 32: Unstoppable RechRdx(A)
Level 35: Incinerate Acc(A), Dmg(36), Dmg(36), Dmg(36), EndRdx(37), RechRdx(37)
Level 38: Greater Fire Sword Acc(A), Dmg(39), Dmg(39), Dmg(39), EndRdx(40), RechRdx(40)
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl Acc(A)
Level 1: Sprint EndRdx(A)
Level 2: Rest RechRdx(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet -
Just a heads up, that a full explaination of how taunt works has been written by Circeus that basically validates many of the points presented here. This thread is a good summary, of the specifics that are listed there:
So you want to know about taunt? .. (Circeus I7) -
As for stalking stalkers, go the hasten superspeed route + cloak of darkness to get the jump on them. I believe you are correct it is around 10 feet, but you can see that by the misses from your death shroud if you have it running.
To see a stalker try getting a group and having stacked tactics, or get some infrared goggles ( haven't used them in awhile and not sure if they were reduced in effectiveness?)
To be honest, the best way I found to hunt stalkers is to use my Tanker as bait and have my controller friends hidden waiting to grab them when they strike. -
[ QUOTE ]
I'd love to know your formulas used for determining how clicky heals equate to a regen rate boost and a regen rate boost equates to a res to all. How about you shoot me a PM?
[/ QUOTE ]
Clicky Heals equates to Regen Rate:
Numbers to know:
R = 240 seconds to full heal with normal regen rate
A = Clicky recharge rate. This will be modified by recharge enhancements, but will never be less than the activation time. This is 20 for Aid Self.
H = percent of health that is healed with the clicky. For Aid self this is 20%.
H * R / A = Regen rate for a clicky.
This takes the percent of heal multiplied by the normal heal reduced by it's recharge to calculate the regeneration rate if the clicky heal is used every time it is available. This is the best case senario assuming a constant source of damage with out defeat.
Regen Rate equates to Resistance:
RR = Regen rate of power.
R = 240 seconds to full heal with normal regen rate
D = Seconds till defeat. This is the tricky value to determine. I basically want the total time in seconds it will take to take you to get to zero health with no defenses operating in a typical battle. This gives me a value for how much damage per second you are taking, and will be modified for amount of HP since a tanker will take longer at the same damage per second than a scrapper. For a tanker I place this at 14 seconds, where I am assuming the amount of damage is equal to 3 minions attacking and the tanker has no HP boosts running. I actually have a spreadsheet in excel where I input the character type plus all HP modifiers like accolades and Dull Pain like powers and then calculate the modified time from a starting time of 7.1 seconds for a blaster to get defeated from 3 minions. How did I determine 7.1 seconds for a blaster, that was done from hours of playing a blaster with no defense and seeing how long it took to go from full health to zero health in an average fight with 3 same level minions.
RR * D / R = Regeneration Resistance value
NOTE: The Regeneration Resistance value adds directly to the total resistance value for a hero, so with a high regen resistance it is easy to get over 100% resistance to a damage type. This is the reason that scrapper regeners are always getting modified, because they can stack defenses to get and equivalent resistance greater than most others in the right circumstances. Defense and Resistance have caps on then that effectively stop the two from giving more than 99% effective resistance to a damage type, and they don't add directly but indirectly. -
The Builds
This section will build a few of the possible combinations of this character. These are just templates and the optimization comes from your personal playstyle, so if you want to repec into any of these then please test it out on the test server first to get a feel for where you will want to fiddle with the enhancements. In any build, remember that the initial levels till 20 are difficult if you build with no thought to ever respecing your powers. If you do want to respec your powers, aim for the mid twenties using a fast leveling build like this one for the initial push to twenty then follow the specific builds below:
01) --> Hack==> Acc(1) Acc(3) EndRdx(5) Acc(5) Dmg(7) Dmg(13)
01) --> Dark Embrace==> EndRdx(1) EndRdx(17) EndRdx(19) EndRdx(19)
02) --> Slice==> Acc(2) Acc(3) EndRdx(7) Acc(15) Dmg(15) Dmg(17)
04) --> Death Shroud==> EndRdx(4)
06) --> Travel Pool Power first pick
08) --> Parry==> Acc(8) Acc(9) Acc(9) Acc(11) DefBuf(11) DefBuf(13)
10) --> Murky Cloud==> EndRdx(10)
12) --> Obsidian Shield==> EndRdx(12)
14) --> Travel Pool Power
16) --> Hurdle==> Jump(16)
18) --> Health==> Heal(18)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20) EndMod(21) EndMod(21)
22) --> Whirling Sword==> Acc(22)
This is assuming sloting with training or Dual origins enhancements. This is not the optimal fast template as that will be determined by your desire to team versus solo play. However, this is a good starting build to do a little bit of both.
The AoE Build
With the available AoE attack powers, you can build a formidable scrapper against large groups. Now this is not the best scrapper AoE build, since spines really does a better job. However, your defenses and optional tools make this an interesting build with still some good single target attacks.
01) --> Hack==> Acc(1) Dmg(3) Dmg(3) Dmg(15)
01) --> Dark Embrace==> EndRdx(1) DmgRes(15) DmgRes(17) DmgRes(17)
02) --> Slice==> Acc(2)
04) --> Death Shroud==> EndRdx(4) EndRdx(5) Dmg(5) Dmg(7) Dmg(7) Acc(9)
06) --> Murky Cloud==> EndRdx(6) DmgRes(19) DmgRes(19)
08) --> Parry==> Acc(8) Acc(9) DefBuf(11) DefBuf(11) DefBuf(13) EndRdx(13)
10) --> Combat Jumping==> DefBuf(10)
12) --> Obsidian Shield==> EndRdx(12)
14) --> Super Jump==> Jump(14)
16) --> Swift==> Run(16)
18) --> Health==> Heal(18)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20) EndMod(21) EndMod(21)
22) --> Whirling Sword==> Acc(22) Dmg(23) Dmg(23) Dmg(25) Rechg(25) EndRdx(27)
24) --> Dark Regeneration==> EndRdx(24) EndRdx(27) Acc(29)
26) --> Acrobatics==> EndRdx(26)
28) --> Cloak Of Fear==> Acc(28) Acc(29) Fear(31) TH_DeBuf(31) TH_DeBuf(31)
30) --> Build Up==> Rechg(30) Rechg(34)
32) --> Head Splitter==> Acc(32) Dmg(33) Dmg(33) Dmg(33) EndRdx(34) Rechg(34)
From this point you are good at attacking groups, with your CoF and Parry you should have all the defense you need from large groups and you will use Death Shroud continuously along with Whirling sword and Head Splitter. This will make most groups fall in a matter of seconds, and your team will enjoy the added to hit debuff defense from your CoF. You could replace CoF with Opressive Gloom when you reach that level, it is all a matter of personal playstyle.
The Scrap-Tanker
This focuses on your great ability to negate damage with your armors plus parry, and the taunting ability of Death Shroud. You main job is to taunt, parry, and stand there looking preatty. But since you still have some great attacks, you can significantly contribute to the teams offensive as well. You still will not have the survivability of a tanker, due to your lack of hit points but with a good defender you should be able to handle almost all tanking jobs. (Granted being a tanker at heart, a tanker is still going to be better since with the Hit Points and gauntlet, the tanker will have to work less at managing a large teams spawn. But hey, that makes it fun.)
01) --> Hack==> Acc(1) Dmg(3) Dmg(3) Dmg(25)
01) --> Dark Embrace==> EndRdx(1) DmgRes(7) DmgRes(13) DmgRes(13)
02) --> Death Shroud==> EndRdx(2) Acc(5) Dmg(5) Dmg(7) Dmg(15) EndRdx(15)
04) --> Murky Cloud==> EndRdx(4) DmgRes(17) DmgRes(19) DmgRes(19)
06) --> Combat Jumping==> Jump(6)
08) --> Parry==> Acc(8) Acc(9) DefBuf(9) DefBuf(11) DefBuf(11) EndRdx(17)
10) --> Obsidian Shield==> EndRdx(10) DmgRes(34) DmgRes(37) DmgRes(37)
12) --> Provoke==> Acc(12)
14) --> Super Jump==> Jump(14)
16) --> Hurdle==> Jump(16)
18) --> Health==> Heal(18) Heal(37)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20) EndMod(21) EndMod(21)
22) --> Dark Regeneration==> EndRdx(22) EndRdx(23) Acc(23) Rechg(25)
24) --> Acrobatics==> EndRdx(24)
26) --> Whirling Sword==> Acc(26) Dmg(27) Dmg(27) Dmg(36) Rechg(36) EndRdx(36)
28) --> Cloak Of Fear==> Acc(28) Acc(29) Fear(29) TH_DeBuf(31) TH_DeBuf(31) TH_DeBuf(31)
30) --> Build Up==> Rechg(30)
32) --> Head Splitter==> Acc(32) Dmg(33) Dmg(33) Dmg(33) EndRdx(34) Rechg(34)
35) --> Hasten==> Rechg(35)
I added Hasten in, due to your lack of many attacks initially. You would want to get Hasten sooner than 35 for this reason, but it is a tight build in the beginning trying to get enough defenses that your shroud and provoke dont get you killed early on. With your resistance, and CoF plus parry, you will be able to take on large groups as long as your luck holds out (Defense is ever the fickle mistress). This build is one that I tried in the early teens and could tank reasonably well for teams of 4ish, but larger groups at that time just clobbered me.
CoF really makes you a capable replacement tanker, since even the ranged attacks near you get the to hit penalty. Some will argue that Oppressive Gloom is better, since it completely locks down the enemy minions and thus better for a potential tanker wannabe. It really is a matter of personal choice.
The Fearapper
This build takes advantage of the overlap in fear powers in the presense pool and CoF. To help you lock down mob groups with fear.
01) --> Hack==> Acc(1) Dmg(3) Dmg(3) Dmg(5) Rechg(5) EndRdx(7)
01) --> Dark Embrace==> EndRdx(1) DmgRes(7) DmgRes(13) DmgRes(15)
02) --> Slice==> Acc(2) Dmg(19) Dmg(19) Dmg(23) EndRdx(23) Rechg(37)
04) --> Murky Cloud==> EndRdx(4) DmgRes(15) DmgRes(17) DmgRes(17)
06) --> Combat Jumping==> Jump(6)
08) --> Parry==> Acc(8) Acc(9) DefBuf(9) DefBuf(11) DefBuf(11) EndRdx(13)
10) --> Obsidian Shield==> EndRdx(10) DmgRes(37)
12) --> Hurdle==> Jump(12)
14) --> Super Jump==> Jump(14)
16) --> Health==> Heal(16)
18) --> Provoke==> Acc(18)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20) EndMod(21) EndMod(21)
22) --> Acrobatics==> EndRdx(22)
24) --> Dark Regeneration==> EndRdx(24) EndRdx(25) Acc(25) Rechg(37)
26) --> Intimidate==> Acc(26) Fear(27) Rechg(27)
28) --> Cloak Of Fear==> Acc(28) Acc(29) Fear(29) Fear(31) TH_DeBuf(31) TH_DeBuf(31)
30) --> Invoke Panic==> Acc(30) Acc(34) Fear(36) Fear(36) Rechg(36)
32) --> Head Splitter==> Acc(32) Dmg(33) Dmg(33) Dmg(33) Rechg(34) EndRdx(34)
35) --> Cloak Of Darkness==> EndRdx(35)
The idea is to use CoD to sneak into the group letting your CoF work and throw out your Invoke Panick. Using Intimidate to target specific baddies, and provoke to round them up into your cloak. This template is a little weak on attacks early on, and you may want to try and squeeze in whirling sword somewhere in the early to mid twenties. This build is one of the longest to develop since CoF comes so late and needs to be six slotted, along with the needed stamina, Invoke Panic, and CoD.
The Swiss Army Scrapper
This is my favorite build, where you focus on nothing but having a cool collection of different powers with a good offense, defense, and utility. I enjoy this build with pick-up-groups (PUGs) since I can shore up any deficiencies that may exist in the team.
01) --> Hack==> Acc(1) Dmg(3) Dmg(3) Dmg(5) Rechg(5) EndRdx(7)
01) --> Dark Embrace==> EndRdx(1) DmgRes(17) DmgRes(17) DmgRes(27)
02) --> Death Shroud==> EndRdx(2) Acc(7) Dmg(13) Dmg(15) Dmg(15)
04) --> Murky Cloud==> EndRdx(4) DmgRes(29) DmgRes(29) DmgRes(31)
06) --> Combat Jumping==> DefBuf(6)
08) --> Parry==> Acc(8) Acc(9) DefBuf(9) DefBuf(11) DefBuf(11) EndRdx(13)
10) --> Obsidian Shield==> EndRdx(10) DmgRes(31) DmgRes(31) DmgRes(34)
12) --> Hurdle==> Jump(12)
14) --> Super Jump==> Jump(14)
16) --> Health==> Heal(16)
18) --> Whirling Sword==> Acc(18) Dmg(19) Dmg(19) Dmg(23) EndRdx(23) Rechg(27)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20) EndMod(21) EndMod(21)
22) --> Acrobatics==> EndRdx(22)
24) --> Dark Regeneration==> EndRdx(24) EndRdx(25) Acc(25)
26) --> Cloak Of Darkness==> EndRdx(26)
28) --> Build Up==> Rechg(28)
30) --> Provoke==> Acc(30)
32) --> Head Splitter==> Acc(32) Dmg(33) Dmg(33) Dmg(33) Rechg(34) EndRdx(34)
35) --> Oppressive Gloom==> EndRdx(35)
With this build by level 35 you are capable of working well with almost any team, and can solo quite nicely. This build is a little slow in the teens, but overall progresses well if you do not plan on repecing. -
Pool Powers
I am not going to spend a lot of time on the powers available from the pools, since there are plenty of good guides out there. Also with so many good powers to choose from in your primary and secondary sets, you will not want to get too many pool powers.
Concealment
You already have a better stealth power in your secondary set, and the other powers are more panic buttons than anything else so I would leave this pool alone.
Fighting
Boxing - This is better than kick in my opinion, but still makes you put your sword away. However if you are going to get tough, then might as well get this.
Kick Not as good as boxing, but meh up to you.
Tough This will add 11.25% Resistance to [S/L] which when fully slotted will give you a total of 52.7% resistance versus 35.1% which reduces incoming [S/L] damage by 27%. This is ok, but is it worth 2 powers and 3 slots? If you pick this slot it 3 Dam. Resist, 1 End Red. I personally dont recommend it, since you have so many other options.
Fitness
Swift - This is fine, but hurdle also increases speed when jumping if you like to jump everywhere.
Hurdle A nice small boost vertically that is good for superspeeders and it increases speed while jumping.
Health A 40% boost to regeneration rate, that eventually you should 3 slot for health, since that will offset the minor damage caused by Oppressive Gloom.
Stamina The must have power for a BS/DA since you are using end up like crazy. Put 3 End enhancers into this as quickly as possible, and get this no later than level 20.
Flight
Hover This will act as getto knockback resistance, since when knocked back you just summersault and then act normally avoiding the falling down standing back up animation. However there is still a slight lag for the summersault.
Air Superiority This is one of the best pool attacks since it often does knockdown, and stops fliers which is needed in PvP. However it does cause you to put away your sword.
Fly If this is your travel method of choice then fine and dandy, but it is the slowest one available. Slot this with 3 Fly enhancements to get the top speed, some will argue that 2 Fly enhancements is enough and the return on the third is not a good, but with how slow this power is I recommend 3.
Group Fly Silly and not really useful.
Leadership
Do you really need more toggles to be running? I mean honestly this will just make it ridiculous. OK, if you want to PvP then many will suggest getting Assault for an ok damage boost and Tactics for the perception bonus to see stalkers. However, Cloak of Darkness gives you a perception bonus and you only need the extra stacked perception to see hidden+stealthed stalkers so just pick up a pair of goggles. But I guess if you want to be a stalker killer, then Cloak of Darkness, Tactics, and Goggles will allow you to see most if not all stalkers in a PvP area. This might also be an option for a team only scrapper, but again do you want that many toggles?
Leaping
Jump kick Cool amination, but puts your sword away and combat jumping is much better for the height and immobilization protection.
Combat Jumping This is a great power and I always try to get this on my characters. It offers a slight boost to speed, but a really good boost to jumping height (8%) plus the ability to climb up slanted surfaces so you can travel along the war walls to anywhere in a zone and most buildings have window ledges that with this power you can get to the top with practice. It also offers 2.5% defense and immobilization resistance for the end cost of 0.074 EPS, so just keep it on at all times. Just slot this for 1 Def. and your good. For superspeeders using Hurdle+Combat Jumping+Sprint (sprint does give a slight boost to vertical height) gives the best ghetto vertical travel abilities, but there are still a few areas that pose some difficulties.
Super Jump A very fun travel power, that is fast enough for most purposes and still has a good vertical component. Will need 1 Jump SO in it to be able to get onto Atlass globe with some work. Just remember to turn this off and Combat Jumping back on when gearing up for combat, or make a macro to do it.
Acrobatics This offers resistance to knockback and holds, and with DAs lack of knockback protection you will want to get this right after Stamina and put 1 End Reducer in the free slot. 0.279 EPS toggle.
Medicine
Aid Other This is the only way that you are going to get those healing badges. It is an ok power, and if you are going to do this pool then this is the power to get.
Stimulant Mez Resistance for others that is interuptable. Not worth it.
Aid Self Oh, I can go on and on about this and I have in another guide just for this power. This is the jewel of this pool and a very useful power, and provides great defense for the cost of 2 powers and a serious hit to your attack potential. If you want more info check out my guide: Guide to Aid Self
Ressusitate Ressurect others for the price of 3 powers .. not worth it at all. Just carry an awaken.
Speed
Flurry A cool loking attack that makes you put away your sword, so not a good idea to get it.
Hasten This is the real reason that you are here. It gives you 2 minutes of 70% recharge reduction which is worth it for your slow attacks. However it is up for 2 minutes and then down for up to 4. Even with 3 recharges SOs it will have a downtime of ~60 seconds. Which gives you an average boost of 46%, which is ok if you can fit it in. Just be careful that you dont burn though your end too quickly.
SuperSpeed Fastest travel power, but no vertical so a few areas are difficult to navigate.
Whirlwind For a cost of 1.17 EPS, you knockback all those around you. Fun to play with, but a pain when attacking in melee.
Presense
Challenge A lesser version of a scrappers confront. If you want this, then get confront not this.
Provoke A lesser version of a tankers taunt. Get this power if you are going for the control/fear route. Just remember that it is a to-hit power so put an acc in it.
Intimidate A single target mag. 2 fear, that is a ranged attack. It is a must for the fear scrapper, and you should when possible slot this for recharge, fear duration, and possibly end. I would recommend: Acc, recharge, fear when you get the chance.
Invoke Panic This will cause those around you in a 20 radius to be hit with a mag 2. fear. This means that coupled with CoF, you can fear all near you. You will want to slot this: Acc, Recharge, Fear. Some will argue about this slotting, but this is a good start for slotting and then you have to play with how you like it.
Teleport
Recall Friend A great team power, but you really dont have a free enough build to get this pool unless you choose this as you travel power and skip acrobatics.
Teleport Foe A fun power to mess around in the PvP zones. No room for this in your build.
Teleport The fastest travel power as long as you have end to use it.
Team Teleport Never used it, it has very limited uses. -
Dark Armor
This is one of the quirky armor based sets for scrappers. Its defense comes through resistance and damage mitigation effects, and it is almost all toggles making it very expensive to run. However it is one of the best sets to start out with giving good defenses early on, and it continues to grow through the heros career. Because of the toggles and end costs, you must get Stamina at level 20 or your character will become extremely frustrating. Also, note that all armors are stackable with each other.
Dark Embrace
Your first toggle armor and a must get. This provides your only resistance to smashing and lethal damage which is the most common type in the game, so slot this one up quick.
22.5 Resistance [Smash/Lethal]
15 Resistance [Neg. Energy]
15 Resistance [Toxic]
End Cost: 0.19 End per second (EPS) toggle
Slotting: Slot this one quick with 3 Dam. Resist, and 1 End for a total resistance of 35.1 [S/L], 23.4 [NE], 23.4 [Tox].
Death Shroud
This is one of the best Aura attacks in the game and adds good DPS to your overall attack chain. It is end heavy and should be slotted for End. Red. first, and you should get into the habit of turning this on just before a battle, and off when you are down to 2 mobs. I use this to effectively replace Slice in my attacks since the DPS contribution is very similar.
PBAoE Range: 8
End Cost: 1.17 EPS toggle
DPS: 0.56
DPE: 0.479
Slotting: Slot this like an attack with low priority, 2 End, 3 Dam (some only slot for 1 End, depends on how often you use this and your end management skills)
Murky Cloud
This is your shield for elemental and energy attacks and you should get this before your teens, but some actually put it off till their 20s or even 30s when these types of attacks become much more common. I choose to get this as soon as it was available since it made hunting bone daddies so much easier.
22.5 Resistance [Fire/Cold]
15 Resistance [NE/Energy]
End Cost: 0.19 EPS toggle
Slotting: This one should eventually get 3 Dam. Resists and 1 End Red., but not a huge priority till your twenties or so. Fully slotted with SOs this gives: 35.1 [F/C], 23.4 [NE/E].
Obsidian Shield
This is your mez protection mostly, and psionic resistance. This shield offers something that most Tanks would die for, great psionic resistance. This shield actually give you better resistance to psionic than your negative energy resistance which is supposed to be your thing! The shield does not offer resistance to knockback and so you will want to get acrobatics from the jumping pool or hover (getto resistance to knockback) from the flight pool. Some people go with out it, but it really is a pain to keep getting knocked down.
Resistance to Sleep, Disorient, Hold, Fear
37.5 Resistance [Psionic]
End Cost: 0.19 EPS toggle
Slotting: This is one that can wait till your early to mid thirties, since psionic damage really doesnt become popular till then. 1 End Red., 3 Dam. Resist.
Dark Regeneration
This is one of the best self heals in the game, however you really have trouble using it until you get some SO End Red. in it since the cost is so high. This will give you a great heal dependant on the number of enemies nearby that get hit. Get this as soon as you can and slot it with End Red. immediately. Properly slotted, this is a huge addition to your overall survivability.
Heal: 30% per enemy hit.
Damage: 0.556
Activation: 1.17
Recharge: 30
Range: 20 PBAoE <- Plenty large for a scrapper
End Cost: 33.8
Slotting: The optimal slotting for this would be 2 End Red. 2 Acc, 2 Rec which brings this heal up every 18 seconds for 20 End. However this is one place you can skimp on slots to use for other things, since most use this for a panic button and not part of their active defense you can just slot 2 End, 1 Acc and be just fine.
Cloak of Darkness
This is a personal stealth power that includes extra melee/range defense, immobilization resistance, and increased perception which is great for PvP to see those pesky stalkers. The best part of this power is that your character becomes completely invisible so all you see is a dark puff ball when your armors are running. The immob. Resistance is not really needed if you have combat jumping, and the melee/range defense is too small (3.25) to care about. So take this if you plan on PvPing or want a great personal stealth.
End Cost: 0.238 EPS toggle
Slotting: 1 End. Red. is all you need.
Cloak of Fear
This will probably be debated forever in its current form as to how useful it really is. This power pulses very 10 seconds as a PBAoE of range 8 with a starting accuracy of 50%, and all hit get a mag. 2 fear placed on them. This means that only minions are feared only if they are hit. Plus with every pulse, all mobs affected (I believe AoE limits apply) have a 10% to hit debuff applied. The To Hit Debuff is autohit (still some debate about this, but seems to be the case) and effectively acts like extra defense.
Many dont like the fact that you arent guaranteed a feared minion, and that this has a high end cost. Others like the synergy between the defense of parry and the To Hit Debuff of Cloak of Fear. I personally dont use this since I love Death Shroud and the two dont go together well and I am patient enough to wait for Oppressive Gloom.
If you choose Cloak of Fear, then you will probably not want Death Shroud or Opressive Gloom since these powers conflict in what they do to the mobs. However, I am sure that there are scrappers out there that love the utility of having all these powers so it is up to you.
A note about fear:
Fear is an unusual effect in that mobs your level or higher when hit by this effect will cower in place not attacking, but mobs of lower level will flee. Also if a cowering mob is hit, then they will attack normally (latest patches seem to indicate this). This means that Death Shroud negates much of Cloak of Fears effects and the two shouldnt be used together.
End Cost: 0.6525 EPS toggle
Range: 8 PBAoE
Slotting: This is a little bit harder since you need at least 2 Acc to make this worthwhile and 1 End Red. is probably needed to offset the cost. After these 3 slots, there is quite some discussion as to what needs to go in the last 3 slots (all agree you should 6 slot this power if you intend to use it). Adding another End Reducer in my opionion is not very cost effective, so you come down to adding another Acc (brings it to 97%),1-3 To Hit Debuffs, 1-2 Fear enh. The three most popular slottings seem to be:
1) 2 Acc, 1 Fear, 3 To Hit Debuff (Dr. Rock Comparision tool)
2) 2 Acc, 1 End Red., 1 Fear, 2 To Hit Debuff (My slotting)
3) 3 Acc, 1 End Red. 2 To Hit Debuff (Screwloose)
Oppressive Gloom
A great damage mitigation power, in that all minions in its effect will be stunned (mag. 2) and you suffer a small bit of damage for each minion hit. The end cost is very reasonable and the stunning has a normal accuracy to hit so you can rely on this. The only downside is the stunned mobs wandering away from you, that can be a pain for your Death Shroud and Whirling Sword attacks. The damage caused per enemy near you is minor (many say that the fitness power health 3 slotted seems to counter this damage), but if you manage to gather10-14 with this on you will notice a significant drop in your hit points so care should be used.
A note on Stunned Mobs:
There was a bug that causes enemies that have super jump or fly that when stunned they jump or fly off at normal speed making them very hard to catch or even find sometimes. This has been fixed for the most part, but there are still a few that claim it happens to them on occasion.
End Cost: 0.26 EPS toggle
Range: 8 PBAoE
Slotting: Slot this for 1 Acc and possibly 1 Stun if you have a slot to spare.
Soul Transfer
This is a self resurrect that need at least one enemy nearby (range 25). It will stun most enemies in the area, resurrect you with most health and end, give you a few seconds of temporary immunity to damage, and protect you from debt for 90 seconds. There have been some complaints that the temporary immunity doesnt always happen. All in all, this is a really good self rez if that is what you are looking for. Many dont like this because it assumes that you will be defeated, and a simple inspiration can do the trick.
Recharge: 300
Range: 25 PBAoE
Slotting: No slotting needed though you could put Rec. enhancements into it, though I hope you are not getting defeated that often. -
BroadSword
Broadsword is a weapon drawn set. This means that any outside (power pool) attack will cause the animation to put the weapon away, and then to use another sword attack you must draw your weapon using a second animation. This means that your overall offense suffers if you use an attack that causes the wielding animation. In compensation for this, the set gets an overall 5% accuracy bonus. ([In Game Hint: When ever possible, keep your sword out just before you start a fight by clicking a sword attack before you get into range. This helps avoid jumping into a group and having to wait for the animation to draw and doing this will give you first strike.)
Broadsword is an end intensive set with each power having a moderate to large end cost, and a slow set having long recharge times. This is compensated by the larger upfront damage done by each attack. What this means is that you will want to slot for accuracy so you dont miss (since it will cost more for each miss), end, and recharge. Nothing terribly different in the end game with SOs, but in the beginning all your slots should have Acc trainers and split half Acc and half Dam DOs.
Broadsword attacks cause a defense debuff to the enemies of 5% for ~5-10 seconds. These do not seem to stack with the same attack, but may with different broadsword attacks. In practice this is not very noticeable and you should never slot for the defense debuff.
Lastly, Broadsword does smashing/lethal damage that in the late game and PvP many enemies have decent to ridiculous defenses against. So be warned that certain enemies will laugh at your damage, but thankfully if you get Death Shroud its negative energy damage is hardly ever resisted.
Scrapper Caps:
- Scrappers have a cap of 500% base normal damage on an attack.
- Scrappers have a cap of 75% resistance and 75% of the Tankers cap for defense, but since that cap is usually not reached the most defense that can be applied against an enemy is 45% or reducing his chance to hit down to 5%.
- While your hit point are not bad they are less than a tankers, so use some caution when receiving an alpha strike.
A Note about Criticals:
All scrapper primaries have an innate power to critical for extra damage. So all Broadsword attacks have a 5% (some say this is only for minions and, 10% for lieutenants, 15% chance for bosses) of doing double damage and this extra damage is unresistable in PvP. This effectively could raise the cap for damage to 1000% on a critical hit.
A Note about Hit-and-Run versus Wait-for-Parry:
In the early levels since your attacks take so long to recharge there are two good methods that I find work for engaging the enemy. The first is Hit-and-Run where you attack like a blaster, queue up your heavy hitting Hack and run up hit the enemy and then duck behind a corner or run back as fast as possible. This involves whittling down the enemy while staying alive since you can do more damage to the enemy against his natural healing rate versus his damage to you against your natural healing rate. The upside is this is very safe with they amount of frontloaded damage you can do, the downside is that it can take a long time to defeat an enemy.
The second is as soon as you get parry, slot it with as many acc enhancements as you can, and queue it against a mob on the fringe of the group so that by the time the entire mob engages you, you have double stacked parry defense against melee attacks. The upside is that when it works, it is fun and fast, but if they get through your defense or use ranged attacks your dead.
A Note about Origin Specific Starting Powers
At the creation of a new character, you gain access for the first 10 levels to a origin specific attack. (I7 you will keep these powers) These attacks are all ranged and do minorish damage with a status effect for a good sized end cost. It is a great way to focus on just Hack and build up your armors, using this attack to fill in your attack routine. However, they do use enough end that you will need to be careful about end management even at the earliest of levels.
A note about Slotting:
- Any more than 3 of one kind of SO is practically worthless
- If you tend to fight +1s then 1 Acc is fine, but consider 2 Acc if you fight +2s or higher often or for PvPing.
- It is better to equip all your attacks in your attack chain with one end reducer first, before adding a second end reducer to an attack.
- Always put the end reducer in the highest end cost attack first.
The Numbers:
Damage: This is the Brawl index score for this attack. It is not calibrated to cross compare powers from other ATs or different levels, since the damage done by a power is adjusted by the AT and the level. What this means is that these numbers really only give an idea of how much damage they do compared to other attacks in the same set for scrappers, noting that the higher the level the more damage done.
End Cost: This is how much end is used to activate this power.
Activation: This is the total time in seconds to animate the power, when no other power is possible.
Recharge: This is how long in seconds a power takes to be usable again after the activation has occurred, so total time to cycle an attack is Recharge+Activation.
Range: This is how far away you can hit a target, if no range then only melee targets.
Duration: This is how long in seconds a power lasts, toggle means it is active until clicked again or detoggled by an outside action.
DPS: This is damage per second using Damage/(recharge+activation) (Damage/Activation), or how much damage you can deal consistently using only this power. The number in ()s is the best DPS you can get from this power if it was perfectly used in an attack chain. This of course doesnt take into account the effect of accuracies, but will be modified by Rec. and Dam. enhancements. This helps show an attacks potential gain from being part of an attack chain.
DPE: This is damage per end cost using Damage/End Cost, or how much damage you can deal per end spent. This gives an idea of how cost effective a power is, and how valuable an End. Red. would be.
Slotting: My recommends for how many slots to put into this power and what enhancements to use.
Hack
This is a great power that will become the staple of your attack chain. It has the 3rd highest single target damage of the set a decent recharge and end cost. Get this right from the start and use it your entire career. But beware, initially at lower levels the time between recharges gets frustrating.
Damage: 4.5
End Cost: 8.5
Activation: 1.83
Recharge: 8
DPS: 0.4578 (2.46)
DPE: 0.5294
Slotting: This deserves 6 slots, as it will be the main attack
1-11 slot with all training accuracies, since a miss is very noticeable
12-21 slot 2 Acc, and 4 Damage
21+ - Slot 1 Acc, 3 Dam, 1 Rec, 1 End
Slash
This is a rather ok attack that all sets seem to possess, a quick low damaging attack. However with almost all powers in your primary and secondary being worthwhile, this is the most obvious one to skip since all other attacks are better in some regard. Most who choose this power do so with the intent to respect out of it later, and now with the new inherent Origin attack available till level 10 this is not really needed to fill out an early level attack chain.
Damage: 2.8
End Cost: 5.2
Activation: 1.37
Recharge: 4
DPS: 0.5214 (2.04) <- Good as a starter, not so great in an attack chain.
DPE: 0.5385
Slotting: I am of the belief that if you pick an attack then six slot it, however this power can be 5 or 4 slotted if you omit Rec. and/or End. Red. If you do choose this power then at least slot 1 Acc, 3 Dam early on.
Slice
This is a cone attack that if done correctly can hit up to 3 mobs, but the cone is very small and practice is needed. I enjoy this attack when building for an AoE scrapper, since once you get a group of mobs surrounding you it is easy to hit at least 3 with this attack. However, it is another power that can be sacrificed for better/tighter builds if needed.
Damage: 3.4
End Cost: 8.5
Activation: 2.27
Recharge: 8
DPS: 0.331 (1.50) <- Lower than others since this has a cone effect which when it hits more than 1 enemy it is better than Hack. Also note that the starting DPS is actually lower than Death Shroud.
DPE: 0.4
Slotting: Slot this the same way you would slot Hack, with SOs of 1 Acc, 3 Dam, 1 End, 1 Rec.
Build Up
This is a great one-shot power that gives a 63% boost to Accuracy and 100% boost to base damage. This is one to pick up later in the game when you need the boost to overcome some difficult enemies or for PvP.
End Cost: 5.2
Activation: 1
Recharge: 90
Duration: 10
Slotting: Eventually you will want 3 Rec. if you can find the slots, but this is low priority at best.
Parry
Being a tanker at heart, this is the power that allows my scrapper to become a decent tanker when needed. This is a low damaging attack that when used will seriously lower your overall DPS of the attack chain (lowers DPS by ~20% for the most common chains), but it trades damage for defense in that you gain +15% defense to melee when it hits that lasts for about 6 sec. Plus you can double stack it to give 30% defense!!! That is the equivalent of 60 resistance (I7 rules) to everything melee!! Buffed with Def. SOs you reduce the enemies chance to hit to 5% and a tanking you go. This is the power that kept my scrapper alive in the difficult teens when building up my armors.
Many DOOM sayers have been arguing that this will be nerfed in I7 to provide less defense, but _Castle_ has stated that this is not the case since it already seriously hampers the overall DPS of the scrapper and is only effective if it hits and if the attacks are melee attacks. Also, this usually will not help take an alpha strike since by the time you hit the enemy and get the defense applied you have already been defeated by the alpha strike. These downsides balance out the great def bonus. Only time will tell for sure, but I think that there are other fish to fry for I7.
Damage: 2.3
End Cost: 4.4
Activation: 2
Recharge: 3
DPS: 0.46 (1.15) <- Really a killer to any attack chain
DPE: 0.523
Slotting: Six slot this as soon as possible.
1-11 put in as many Acc as you can afford so that when needed it will hit
12-21 slot half for Acc and Half for Defense
22+ - Slot 1-2 Acc, 3 Def. and either 1 Rec., 1 End, or 1 Dam depending on how you intend to use this (most go the 1 Dam route to keep the penalty to their attack chain to a minimum).
Confront
This is an autohit single target taunt. Honestly, this is only needed if you need a way to pull enemies. Get the pool power provoke if you want to tank. At higher levels you can use this to keep the main baddies away from the squishies on your team, but early on there are many better powers to choose from.
End Cost: Free
Activation: 2
Recharge: 3
Range: 80
Slotting: 1 Taunt
Whirling Sword
This is your PAoE attack that coupled with Death Shroud will make jumping into that group of mobs just plain fun. This has a range of 8 so it will really only hit melee mobs.
Damage: 3.6
End Cost: 13
Activation: 2.87
Recharge: 14
DPS: 0.2134 (1.25) <- Need to hit 3 mobs to make this cost effective.
DPE: 0.277
Slotting: End cost and recharge are high on this and to use this often you will want to slot for both and possibly consider getting Hasten.
18-21 2 Acc, 4 Dam
22+ - 1 Acc, 3 Dam, 1 Rec, 1 End
Disembowel
This is a bit of a controversy since it does do knock-up on a fairly regular basis, it can be used for damage mitigation, but as the DPS values indicate it has a slight lag in performace. I however strongly recommend it just for the knockup cool factor this attack has, but for bleeding edge performance in your attack chain this is one that you might skip.
Damage: 5.44
End Cost: 10.2
Activation: 2.87
Recharge: 10
DPS: 0.4227 (1.895)
DPE: 0.533
Slotting: To effectively use this in an attack chain slot 1 Acc, 3 Dam, 1 Rec, 1 End.
HeadSplitter
This is a GREAT attack and a must have! This attack not only has a decent chance of knockdown, but it also has an increased chance of an extra critical (10%), and is a cone attack of about 10 degrees (about twice the range of Slice)! There is talk of the extra critical in fact being a chance to do a double critical, but either way your damage potential on this is awesome. You must get this power to truly feel like a scrapper.
Damage: 7.22
End Cost: 13.5
Activation: 2.87
Recharge: 14
DPS: 0.428 (2.52) <- without extra critical figured in! Plus it is very easy to hit 3 at once with the cone range.
DPE: 0.535
Slotting: 1 Acc, 3 Dam, 1 Rec, 1 End, possibly get rid of the End. and add another Rec. if you are managing your end fine.