Dracomicon

StormBringer – BS/DA Scrapper Guide 1.0 [I6]

This guide is in response to not finding all the information on this scrapper primary and secondary in one spot with the needed i6 updates. I got my information from personal experience playing many different versions of this character and from EvilGeko, HeroBuilder, Screwloose, and numerous posts asking questions in the forums.

BackGround
This is the tortured anti-hero of the game, for who else would wield the powers of darkness with a massive blade of death. Given powers of destruction and death, the hero that chooses this path is given many options to be multifaceted to take on different roles in a team but not be an expert in any. The black sword of death brings quick demise to the hero’s enemies, while the powers of death give combat advantages at the cost of an enemy’s life and even the hero’s own life force.

Starting out with a massive attack and reasonable defenses, the hero must quickly decide weather to become a defensive juggernaut, a quick assassin, a destroyer of cannon fodder, or a master of fear and control. The options afforded to this hero give access to many roles at the cost of specialization in any one.

This hero can become a decent tanker, AoE machine, a melee fear controller, or a single target scrapper. It all depends on how you choose your powers, and almost all powers are worth getting making it a tough decision. This guide will describe the power choices and the options laid out before this hero.

*Fear is a tricky status effect, it seems to build up in strength to the point where it is even more effective than Taunt. (Ever try taunting a feared mob that is running away) It doesn't seem to generate agro so much as remove the feared mob's ability to generate agro, so that you have to wait out the fear's duration. This only applies to those mobs that are feared into running away, not those that stay shaking in their boots (those that stay seem to retain their agro ability, but have how often they can attack reduced).

**Gauntlet is a taunt in that for a small (very small, almost unnoticeable) amount of time the agro generated is fixed on the person using Gauntlet. However, this time is soo small that for most practical purposes this is not noticed and overcome by any level 2 power (2 Taunt SOs produce some slight effects). Gauntlets main advantage is that it increases the perceived damage taken from the tanker's attack (only tanker secondary attacks have gauntlet). This means that while the attack only did X damage, for purposes of agro generated it did X+Gauntlet (Gauntlet increases in proportion to the level of the tanker).

***Debuffs seem to have a set perceived damage rating that is based on the strength of the debuff. The stronger the debuff, the more damaging the attack must be to take away the agro.

****It appears that most auras are based on the amount of damage they deal with a few exceptions. Tanker auras generate more perceived damage than non-tanker auras, and debuff auras generate less perceived damage thank damaging ones. (That is why Invincibility is one of the weakest taunt auras, tests show that chilling embrace takes agro away from Invincibility more often than not but this could just be the mobs ping-ponging from one aura to the other as they fire.)

My Agro chart:
Agro occurs the instant the player does one of the following actions listed below. The higher the rank of the action (1 being the highest), the stronger the agro it generates. Only an action of equal or higher rank can pull agro from another. However remember that agro lessens over time, so that a rank 1 action will eventually degenerate into a rank 4 (lowest rank). This means that you must actively keep the agro at a higher rank, or else anyone else will be able to take it from you. Also remember that adding Taunt enhancements does not increase the rank of that action, only the time before it begins to degenerate.

Level 1 Actions (All actions in this level seem to have the same strength, so they go by what happens last. This means that whoever used a level 1 action last has the agro):
Taunt
Confront
Challenge
Provoke
Any Fear based Power*

Level 2 Actions (In this level, perceived damage is king. The more the perceived damage of the action, the stronger the action is in this level. So to take away agro from another level 2 action, your level 2 action must have a higher perceived damage. In most cases perceived damage is actual damage.):
Gauntlet**
Damaging Attacks
Debuffs***
Taunt/Damaging Auras****

Level 3 Actions (strength is based on the strength of the missed attack):
Missed Attacks

Level 4 Actions (This level represents the fact that if a mob can perceive you, they will attack:
Line of Sight
Enemy Perception

A Guide to the Actions that Generate Agro 1.0 [I6]

This was written in response to some tanker questions that arose in the forums. I have tried to compile the methods used to maintain agro, and the relative strengths of each. This is to give others ideas of the best way to handle and maintain the agro in team settings. (Note that while this has been tested a much as possible, there may still be errors in the exact nature of how aggression is treated in CoH.)

The overall summary of this guide is: Taunt is still the best way to maintain and get agro (even with the 5 limit).

What I have done is try to classify the actions that a player can take to gain and maintain aggression from the enemy.

Slotting of Aid Self:
The best recommendation for slotting Aid Self is to six slot it with 3 Heals, 2 Interrupt reducers, and 1 Recharge reducer. If you notice that you are having problems with it getting interrupted, the try 3 Heal and 3 Interrupt reducers.

Summary:
Aid Self is a great power to increase the survivability of your character. It works best in conjunction with other defenses. It will not be very effective for characters that get hit constantly, so Resist only melee characters will not want to get this power. Also note that using this does involve a disruption in the running of your attack chain that will lower your overall damage potential unless used with some skill.

Aid Self Cons:
1) It is a pool power that requires you to take another power first. This means that you must spent 2 powers in order to get this.

2) It has a long animation time of 3.33 second in which you must be still. This means no using this while jumping or moving around the combat field. This also mean that your attack chain will be interrupted causing a loss in Damage Per Second (DPS). This loss in DPS is between:

13% to 23% depending on the length of you attack chain.

3) It can be interrupted during combat. Some have claimed that they are able to use this power even during DoT damage, which would make the interrupt time less than 1 second. However, currently there is no hard evidence as to the exact length of the interrupt. At best we can say is that it must be less than the animation time, which is 3.33 seconds. This means that the longest the interrupt is:

With 0 Interrupt SOs: 3.33 seconds max
With 1 Interrupt SOs: 2.37 seconds max
With 2 Interrupt SOs: 1.85 seconds max
With 3 Interrupt SOs: 1.55 seconds max

This means that you will have trouble using this if you get hit a lot in battle, so melee characters with out any Defense will not want to take this. Experiences differ on how easy it is to get interrupted, but most agree that unless you are in the middle of a herd you will not get interrupted with Aid Self slotted with 2 Interrupt SOs.

4) The endurance cost for using this can be high. Assuming you are getting damaged enough that you are needing to use Aid Self every time it is available, your end cost is:

0.866 end per second.

This means that you may want to consider adding in an End reducer enhancement.

5) You cannot set this power on auto. Not sure why this is the case, but something to think about. Some speculation on this subject is that most interruptible powers cannot be set on auto.

6) This will not help you survive an alpha strike. Which means that if you take enough damage to be defeated fast enough, you will not have time to use Aid Self to survive.

7) It uses a hand-held device to heal yourself, and this may not fit conceptually with your characters origin and/or background.

Now onto the pros and cons for deciding if you want to choose this power:

Aid Self Pros:
1) This is by far one of the best potential heals in the game. It gives a 20% heal every 20 seconds. This translates into a 240% boost to your regeneration rate or the equivalent of having 10%* resistance to all damage types. This is better than almost every other defensive power in the game. If you slot it with 3 Heal SOs and 1 Recharge SO, this becomes:

622.9% regeneration boost or 26% damage resistance to everything!

In comparison all the passives from the Invulnerability tanker primary (RDP+Rel+Ren+TH) only give an effective 22.1% resistance to all damages except Tox and Psy.

* This number is calculated by assuming a constant rate of incoming damage to reduce your hit point to zero in 10 seconds.

2) Aid Self fully slotted is better than getting Tough, since Tough only covers S/L damage types. Also Tough at most grants a resist of 23%, while Aid Self can grant up to 26% over all damage types.

3) Aid Self only will get better with added defenses. As your character adds more defensive powers, Aid Self increases in its effectiveness. This is because the less overall damage you take, the less often you need to use Aid Self, and the more likely that Aid Self will replenish your Hit Points to 100%

4) Aid Self like any regeneration power is not capped at it’s effectiveness (hence why regen scrappers are always getting balanced). You are capped at the maximum amount of Resistance and Defense that you can obtain, however nothing stops your Aid Self from working if you have too many other regeneration powers.

5) As a heal, it will work against any damage type.

6) This great power is not as likely to get a reduction in its effectiveness. _Castle_ has posted that the developers are happy with it as it is. Now that doesn’t mean that it won’t be changed, just that it is not as likely.

7) Get Aid Other as your power on the way to get Aid Self, and you can start working on those Healing badges.

A Guide to the Pool Power: Aid Self 1.0 [I6]

One of the best healing powers in the game is available to any character in the medicine pool. This is the Aid Self power. While one of the best heals, it does have enough drawbacks that you need to review if it is best for your character. That is the purpose of this guide, to help you decide if this is a power that you should choose.

Why this Guide:
Being a Tanker at heart and a mathematician by day, I have always looked at the best options available to increase my defensive capabilities. What surprised me is that by taking Aid self, I was getting more effective defense than taking all of my passive powers from the Invincibility Tanker primary. Yes, Aid Self offers more protection than RPD+Rel+Ren+TH!

Basic Information:
Aid Self is in the medicine pool as the power available at level 14, once you have chosen one of the first two powers: Aid Other or Stimulant. The basis stats for the medicine pool powers are:

Aid Other
End Cost: 6.5
Activation: 2.9 sec
Recharge time: 10 sec
Range: 15
- This power will heal the target hero for 20%. This power is interruptible. (It has been suggested that this percentage changes on the AT of the user being higher for defenders/Controllers and lower for Tanks, but that the percentage healed is based off of the users own Hit Points. This has yet to be confirmed.)

Stimulant
End Cost: 13
Activation: 2.9 sec
Recharge: 10 sec
Range: 15
- This power will free a target hero from the effect of Sleep, Hold, Immob., Disorient, and provide resistance from these effect for a limited time. This power is interruptible.

Aid Self
End Cost: 13
Activation: 3.33 sec
Recharge: 20 sec
- This will heal yourself for 20% of your HP, plus provide minor resistance to Disorient. This power is interruptible. This power is available at lvl 14, once one other medicine power has been chosen.

Resuscitate
End Cost: 32
Activation: 3.33 sec
Recharge: 180 sec
Range: 15
- This power revives a fallen hero. The hero is left with full hit point but no endurance. This power is interruptible. This power is available at lvl 20, once two other medicine powers have been chosen.

Great Guide! It was your guide that initially led me to use the Scorch + Fire Sword attack chain at early levels. It is the best attack chain available and you can get it at lvl 2. It made the early levels very enjoyable.