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As far as I can tell throughout this entire post is more of a repeat of a long ago abilities. A lot of the information is good. However, its misleading and is not reflecting the true results of I5.
Now grated you have to applaud anyone taking the time to report and try to help others, and overall the report is clear, but I hardly think its precise. Moreover this above is just a repeat of older patch notes and results, and not what is really going on.
Dark Scrappers have always been an Offensive Template and originally that was due to the fact that you didnt get any real defensive properties on your character until level 20- Cloak of Darkness. At this point you desperately needed it as you have basically reached the limit of your Offensive potential.
My Quick Review of Powers under I5-
Dark Embrace
-Resist Smash, Lethal (Very Low), Resist Negative Energy, Toxic (Low).
No matter how much you slot this, or what enhancements you use, it is not [or ever will be] equivalent to any other scrapper damage resistances or skill. Supposedly Dark Embrace was getting an Endurance cost decrease, however results so far have indicated that Damage Resistance has been decreased and in fact Endurance cost has increased slightly over pervious.
This skill currently should be more appropriately named Dark Embarrassment in fact. Its better than a Poke in the Eye, but as far as the post above stating to slot it heavily shows that they are not currently running this type of character.
1. You should never have more than 3 to 4 slots on this before level 20 as the results or desired results from the slots are negligible and you will not notice any difference. Plus you need to save these slots for stuff that actually works and functions. Offense.
Death Shroud
-Negative Energy Damage (Minor PBAoE DoT).
Currently if you take this early it will just end up getting you kill faster that if you didnt have it at all. For one, you cannot do any real damage with it, and secondly it ends up attracting more villains than you can handle. This was true even under I4.
Its a nice skill to have, but because you really have no defense anymore [because one or more of the developers had no clue about Dark and what it did or does] you are repeatedly pounded into submission anyway and cannot take on a large mob anyhow [even with Dark Embrace 6 slotted]. Plus the fact that the endurance cost is very high. You can always take this later, but even then your going to get pounded.
Murky Cloud - Resist Fire, Cold (High), Resist Negative Energy, Energy (Moderate), Resist Endurance Drain.
-Actually this is a very handy skill, but you can run without it for a time. Most times you have too anyway, due to the endurance cost of your other armors and your end result of the melee cost of your attacks. However, its actually very effective. You can minimally slot this and still be impressed [compared to your Dark Embrace] as to its effectiveness. Slot no more than 2 or 3 before level 20, and you need to save these slots for stuff that actually works and functions.
Obsidian Shield - Resist Psionics (Moderate), Resist Stun, Sleep, Hold, Fear (Moderate).
-This will become your secondary Armor skill and most likely will run with it on more than any other skill from here on out. Mostly due to the ability to resist STUN and HOLD. It is costly Endurance wise, but not anything like Murky Cloud the true Endurance Hog of this set. Slot no more than 2-3 before level 20 and you need to save these slots for stuff that actually works and functions.
Dark Regeneration - Negative Energy Damage (Minor), Heal (Moderate)-
Firstly you need to bypass this when it becomes available for two very important reasons.
1. You do not have enough endurance to use it in 90% of the situations anway and the overall effect is negligible. Simply put, by the time you have used it, you have already been pounded down to where you started and lost endurance in the process.
2. You need the slots that would go here somewhere else that is actually effective.
Take this at level 26 or later.
Cloak of Darkness - Stealth (Moderate), Melee Defense (Low), Ranged Defense (Low), Resist Immobilizes, Increased Perception.
-Firstly let me say that this was the whole concept behind Dark Armor and why Dark Melee has the worst TOHIT rate of any other character or class within the game. You swing at them and miss, they swing at you and miss. Currently, I have to consider this the worst case scenario out of I5 and the best example of the developers Tomfoolery, and lack of ability to understand the game. Even Tanks were not hit as hard as this. This power was such in demand for and needed for your character even before I5 you had to take this skill over such things like; Stamina. Basically this was a HaveTo skill even under I4 at level 20 as your offensive properties are basically peaked and your defenses are peaked and your still getting pounded.
Now if you have managed to get this far with your character here is the point under I5 where you are going to throw in the towel and quit and come and curse the developers. You will probably go a few more levels, but in the end this skill is not functioning PERIOD. Which actually means your character does not function. You have basically topped out and are still doing so poorly that you wont want to continue. You have already taken a bad beating on the way up and not it just going to continue. Everyone else is getting better and your basically stagnate at level 20 for 30 more levels.
The only other solution is have someone Power Level you from 20 to 28 and try again, but the results are basically the same as Cloak of Fear can only effect basically 50% and you are still restricted to small Mobs 3-4 villains of equal level, as you have no defenses and still have a long way to go.
The only real suggestion at this point I can give to anyone is base your character on NOT taking this skill Cloak of Darkness, and take some type of Stealth skill off one of the Power Pools as its at least 10 times more effective. However, if your going to do that anyway pick something else besides DA that actually works and save yourself the trouble. In other words; the developers have taken a Level 20 skill and made it less effective than a skill available at level 6 and 14 level.
The above post indication that this provides 0.65% defense. This could be correct as its below 1% effectiveness and currently its so ineffective I cannot calculate it. Current characters slotted SOs 1, 3 and 5 show no results defensively from this skill PERIOD. With Cloak of Darkness On or Off no results can be indicated as your hit just as often. Test results have indicated an UNSLOTTED Hover skill has more defensive properties than Cloak of Darkness does.
No real point in going on with the rest of the skills as this class has been destroyed like so many others. The only REAL defensive skill on the Dark Armor tree has been removed and edited not to function. Dark Armor has no real defensives and coupled with the fact that Dark Melee has the worst TOHIT rate in the game just means you are going to die repeatedly on missions as your hit repeatedly and are missing them repeatedly.
Personally, I have found no solution to this yet on all THREE characters, and basically that is because there is no solution. The only real solution is NOT to click DA, Scrapper, and just pay my 15bucks and click a Blaster and [censored], or quit. Maybe I should get a discount and only have to pay 0.65% of that 15 bucks? 98cents, or something like that.
The current satiation with DA and in particular Cloak of Darkness is so horrendous it has to be a mistake, as if someone misplaced a <insert colorful remark here> decimal point. There is no way this type of character will work anymore with its MAIN defensive skill set at 0.65%. Not when it has to stand Toe to Toe with everything as it is a MELEE CLASS.
Now some of you might be saying it cant be this bad. Well, please try it yourself and good luck. : P Most people gave up before level 28 before I5 anyhow. Now????? I wouldnt even suggest anyone actually even attempt DA/DM. Your better off as a Tank actually. : P
I would actually have to classify DA/DM as the worst class within the game currently with no solution in sight other than a major edit.
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um... someone doesnt like /da
well i happen to.. even with the changes.. mainly because the only chage that annoyed me was teh CoF nerf.. and that one hurt more then anything else..
so far as the armors go, I use dark embrace and ob cloud mostly. murky is reserved for carnies and sappers mainly.
as far as shroud goes... i have it slotted as screw mentioned, and on an EVEN lvl minion i average 50 a tic.. lts average 30 and an even lvl boss i average 15-20.. not (preI5) fire tank type damage, but it helps!
and no my defenses (aside from psi) arent top of the line (even after all the others took a hit, BUT.. if you play right, you can survive so long as you're willing to accept a little (sometimes a lot of debt)
mind you i still dont bother with the 9th power.. i tried it on test, and i'll still pass!
