DM/INV Guide: AKA "The dont you ever stop Brob? build"
I have greatly enjoyed my time playing my toon based on this build, during its lifespan I have used all the respecs at various times & never been completely unhappy after each one (a rarety for me as I tend to completely stuff them up). In fact if even I can make up a build that is so durable (for a post I4/5/6 Scrapper) it must almost be so easy that it precludes the need for a guide at all. Seeing there hasn't been one since I3 and Leprechauna's great offering which initially helped me out when I was at the crossroads of deleting him I thought even a small update might be apppropiate.
BE AWARE this truly is a slow build and takes a while to come to its full awesome might
,while the damage is acceptable it doesnt compare to most other Scrapper Primaries till "Soul Drain" at LVL 26 & its durabilty doesnt start scaling until LVL 28. For me this was no great problem as before playing this toon I was an alt freak & was well & truly over the early content & determined to finally hit 50.....little did I know how easy it was going to be.I wont be giving out detailed numbers just a quick power rundown and build sample. This build is great fun and even though INV is no longer the Powerset it once was, when combined with DM the result is so much greater than the two that you will find yourself just leaping into fights because you dont need all your team mates, and cant be bothered waiting for them to get end back......of course they tend to see your health drop before you start healing and the good ones run into save you and end up faceplanting at your feet, as you survey the defeated mobs.
This is a fully capable solo build on INVINCABLE from LVL 28 till the constant AV missions in the mid 40's (due to time zone differences I needed the ability to solo) and if you want a build where you never have to rest this is the build for you, its not the highest damage from the Scrapper sets but it is continuous........
DARK MELEE: your bread & butter
SHADOW PUNCH: I took it for a run after my first respec & was so under whelmed that it disapeared in my second, wasnt required for an attack routine as there was always something else ready to use.
SMITE: Take it, slot i, Love it! Its your main source of DPS
SHADOW MAUL: Fun power, used with terrain & intelligent pulling should always be hitting AT LEAST 2 mobs because its not only a waste to set off for less it can be your bane. I have lost count of the times I have lept into the middle of a group of mobs and been so full of thoughts of carnage that I hit this button straight up........& then had to watch them annihilate me with their ALPHA STRIKE as I wave my arms for the 3 odd second animation time. It has got a small cone yes but its still VERY worthwhile investing in learning how to pull to maximise its damage.
TOUCH OF FEAR: Don't know to tell the truth, first time I had the option to take it I didnt as a single target Lt & Minion hold seemed like a wasted slot when no LT lasts an attack cycle anyway.....if it had of worked on bosses maybe...
SIPHON LIFE: Another great power which is the first of the corner stones of your final durability, its a constant top up of hp's which when combined with Dull Pain is awesome...
CONFRONT: Didnt take it...if it had of been multiple targets maybe I would but this build is built around dealing with 4-5 mobs minimum at a time....getting ones attention is pointless....and as to pulling off a team mate well if they couldnt handle the mob why did the gets its attention...I aint no steenkeeng tank.
DARK CONSUMPTION: Great power again and slotted up this helps turn you into never stopping ball of flailing arms when combined with the other End management powers you gain access to.
SOUL DRAIN: HALELUJAH! at last you get your version of build up......a long time after every other scrapper AT does, but it has to be said I wouldnt even think of trading it for their puny cookie cutter versions. Collect the mobs, rip their souls from their bodies then proceed to rip them limb from limb...errrrr..... I mean defeat them of course.
MIDNIGHT GRASP: Its your final attack and guess what.......shock horror I think we should take it. Its total damage is the greatest of any in your arsenal but like ShadowMaul it takes time to deal it.
INVULNERABILTY: the jam on top
RESIST PHYSICAL DAMAGE: DONT TAKE IT!! what you mean you have to? oh well do so, ignore it & move on....
TEMPORY INVULNERABILITY: Good power versus the most common damage in the game but I didnt take it straight away as I found it drained my End to fast with training Enhancements versus the benefit of a quick dull pain heal
DULL PAIN: Great power take it & slot it...heals & increases your total HP's, when combined with the constant topping up as required by Siphon Life & its own easily improve quick recharge time it is quite literally as important as your resists & defences.
RESIST ELEMENTS: Well I wouldnt stress about it straight away, its a constant no end cost but the resist is under 10% its just not going to make much difference as your build isnt about being totally impervious damage, but reducing it to the level where you can heal the incoming damage.
UNYIELDING: Resists everything except Psychic has a small defence debuff but most importantly its all your lovely status protection rolled into one never to be turned off power......take it I suppose.
RESIST ENERGIES: See Resist Elements..............
INVINCIBILITY: I love this power it gives defence & increased accuracy scaling upwards with the amount on you though its NOT going to save you or even come close....the main thing I like about this power is that it lets a lazy man herd easily as it causes aggro, so I just run thru a couple of spawns and around a corner readying Shadow Maul to say hello to those that it aggroed on the way through....note to self "turn it off if trying to steath through a mission"
TOUGH HIDE: Well, why wouldnt you take it...an appreciable amount of defence at no cost, more than offsets the penalty of Unyielding.
UNSTOPPABLE: WOOT! Its finally here...truth to tell I was more excited about this one than I was about my final primary. Of course with the huge resists and your ability to top up with BOTH dull pain & dark regen its 3 minutes of GOD MODE.......gather the room....what the hell gather the whole mission & then proceed to destroy them. Of course then it wears off & you will probably die. For me that was the fun (after I stopped crying), I was tempted to get a watch so as to know when it was going to drop but its just so much fun trying to do the old Dark Consumption/Dull pain recovery.....a lot more fun after 50 where failure didnt hurt so much I will grant you though.
POWER POOL: cant do it without them
Fighting: Truth to tell, early on it might have been handy but I didnt have room for it in the build I wanted.....
Leadership: I ain't no leader, I is a LONER so guess what my opinion is...........
Leaping: Love this travel power but there is no need for combat jumping & air superiority just rules on combat jumping so............
Medicine: I thought the idea was to hurt peeps not heal em & if your friends are getting hurt, well kill the mobs hurting them none of this girly caring sharing stuff pls........
Presence: Was tempted by provoke but didnt really find my need that urgent..........
Teleportation: BAMPF! I like this travel power, tried TP Foe route but decided it was more fun running through the rooms cackling madly than pulling things to me......
Speed: Suprise, Suprise I took hasten. I know, I know a scrapper with hasten....how can my build possibly work with this off the wall choice...well damned if I know but it doesnt seem to hurt
Fitness: I know, yet another shocker of a choice taken....dont walk away yet though, I know it seems crazy but it somehow works....
Flight: I admit it I am a late convert to Flight, as its so slow that I never managed to persevere with it. That was untill I took Air Superiority & fully slotted it....I now think flight is quite good if you throw 3 slots in it
Stealth: My first versions main travel power was SS and I found that the stealth option was a lovely ace in the hole.....so I work it back in at the higher lvl's.
APP's: I came, I saw, I was moderately unimpressed.....
Body Mastery: Took conserve power so as to truly have a plethora of End options & fall backs, even with that the blue bar can still drop & cause the dreadfull sound of "TOGGLE DROP!" vs the wrong mobs. Accuracy was tempting but with Soul Drain & Invincibility your accuracy is already more than impressive...whats the point of hitting mobs you cant actuall damage? as to extra attacks? well why bother for you are already MIGHTY!
Darkness Mastery: Aoe nice but knock back not so next...single target Lt hold, why hes walking dead man already so next...nother attack and its even range? whoopee just run into em its more satisfying, so next....Tentacles might have been good but to many choices to get to it so next...theres no more? ok then lets move on....
Weapon Mastery: Single target immobilise all well & good but just kill em instead.....an area slow, might stop them running in terror I guess but eventually they come back & theres always the thrill of the chase....as to shurikens well subtlety aint my thang if you havent guessed, this is no budding Ninja we are making here
So there you are, my impressions and thoughts on the options & powers that we have to choose from, take it or leave it as its truly your choice......I was originally shaped by an I3 post but made him up when the I4 changes had made many Bleat about how nerfed INV was, if this is nerfed in its current state then by god it must of been obscene beforehand because its sure as hell fun now...I like having the resilience to choose whether to run or go down in a group wipe in true feral rage for revenge.
Now I have made no mention of how this build compares to Pvp builds out there as I have no real interest in participating in it. I imagine that it wouldnt be as good as most being designed to work with best with at least 4 mobs attacking him & also being less about "BURST DAMAGE" than a constant mid high output. I say again great for leveling & ruling mobs but probably lacking if you are into PvP.
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Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
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Name: Brobdingnagian
Level: 50
Archetype: Scrapper
Primary: Dark Melee
Secondary: Invulnerability
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01) --> Smite==> Acc(1)Dmg(3)Dmg(5)Dmg(9)Rechg(27)Rechg(48)
01) --> Resist Physical Damage==> DmgRes(1)
02) --> Shadow Maul==> Acc(2)Dmg(3)Dmg(5)Dmg(9)EndRdx(48)
04) --> Dull Pain==> Rechg(4)Heal(15)Rechg(21)Rechg(21)Heal(40)Heal(42)
06) --> Air Superiority==> Acc(6)Dmg(7)Dmg(7)Dmg(11)EndRdx(50)
08) --> Siphon Life==> Acc(8)Rechg(11)EndRdx(15)Heal(19)Heal(34)Heal(40)
10) --> Swift==> Run(10)
12) --> Temp Invulnerability==> DmgRes(12)DmgRes(13)DmgRes(13)EndRdx(19)
14) --> Fly==> Fly(14)Fly(39)Fly(40)
16) --> Unyielding==> DmgRes(16)DmgRes(17)DmgRes(17)EndRdx(27)
18) --> Dark Consumption==> Acc(18)Rechg(34)Rechg(34)Rechg(37)EndMod(37)Dmg(46)
20) --> Health==> Heal(20)Heal(46)Heal(46)
22) --> Stamina==> EndMod(22)EndMod(23)EndMod(23)
24) --> Hasten==> Rechg(24)Rechg(25)Rechg(25)
26) --> Soul Drain==> Acc(26)Rechg(31)Rechg(31)Rechg(31)EndRdx(36)Dmg(43)
28) --> Invincibility==> DefBuf(28)TH_Buf(29)TH_Buf(29)DefBuf(37)TH_Buf(45)EndRdx(45)
30) --> Stealth==> EndRdx(30)EndRdx(43)EndRdx(50)
32) --> Midnight Grasp==> Acc(32)Dmg(33)Dmg(33)Dmg(33)EndRdx(43)
35) --> Tough Hide==> DefBuf(35)DefBuf(36)DefBuf(36)
38) --> Unstoppable==> Rechg(38)Rechg(39)Rechg(39)DmgRes(48)
41) --> Conserve Power==> Rechg(41)Rechg(42)Rechg(42)
44) --> Super Speed==> Run(44)Run(45)
47) --> Resist Energies==> DmgRes(47)DmgRes(50)
49) --> Resist Elements==> DmgRes(49)
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01) --> Sprint==> Run(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Acc(1)
01) --> Critical Hit==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Rechg(2)
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