Kazz
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Posts
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Joined
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With my WP toons I usually focus on E/N defense first, and then look at softcapping S/L.
On a typical willpower you'll resist a bit over 50% of S/L damage, while only resisting 10-20% E/N damage. And since lots of Praetorian Clockwork's energy attacks have a -regen debuff, that can be no bueno for a Willpower if stacked too high. -
I've had a Dm/Shield scrapper that I've gotten to the teens about a year ago and never touched since, mostly because I rolled other /Shield scrappers that I found more enjoyable. So this, combined with my desire to make a /Dark Armor character for once, made me think of giving the whole Dark/Dark/Soul trifecta a try.
I don't have a build made yet (and I'm not really begging for one, I think I can do it on my own), but I did have a few questions about the combo in general. I won't be main-tanking, just soloing or teaming.
- I don't want to be softcapped, as the costs to do that would probably make me and my limited budget cry, but I was going to shoot for 32.5% S/L/E/N defense. Is that "decent" enough?
- I cannot STAND the visuals of Hasten, so unless it would be a Really Bad Idea to not take it, I'd rather not use it. Does this make me stupid? I know recharge is nice, but... eeyugh the effects.
- with Death Shroud having a taunt component on Brutes, do I NEED to take one of the mez auras? I don't care much for the -HP component of OG (even if it is negligible) and CoF seems really slot-intensive to make it 'good'.
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Quote:Last I heard, I think the consensus is, if you can spare the slots to slot it up well, CoF is the 'better' choice, your build and playstyle depending. If you can't spare many slots, I might stick with OG.Originally Posted by OneFrigidWitch
Yeah, it seems kinda wonky in general. I am oping that with 30 melee 35+ ranged and resilience core (+barrier) I should be able to stand up. Content below 40 I do pretty reasonably against at low difficulties. I think I might respec out of OG, because it just isn't making me "feel" it. The stun is nice, sure. But I dont think it will work well at all at Incarnate levels. Anyone have any input on OG at Incarnate/40-50 levels? Is cloak of fear way better if I can run it? -
Quote:Just have to point out, when you make the power you get 30 charges, not 5. Several of my characters have used this to do AV's (or EBs if they're very squishy and I just can't get backup.Originally Posted by Saltyhero13
Another option is the craftable temp power Envenomed Dagger. This provides five doses of -Regen needed for AVs, I doubt it can dent a GMs Regen. You'll need the ability to craft a new one during the fight if you exceed 5 uses. -
Quote:I nearly exclusively solo on my melee toons, or play with 2-3 friends in small teams, the only exceptions being iTrials and the like. Therefore, it is intolerable to me to run missions on a scrapper with no taunt aura and have to take twice as long to finish said mission because I was chasing enemies all over the map.Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle
I'm trying to remember when it became totally intolerable to about 50% of posters (or at least those who produce 50% of posts) to play any meleer that doesn't have a taunt aura.
It's not a question of "easy mode" versus anything else, for me. It's a question of convenience versus utter frustration. I have mild OCD, so the sight of seeing all those enemies running from annoying AI makes me spaz out a little bit.
I even moved one of my main scrappers off-server and rerolled him (Elec/SR to Elec/EA) even though he was level 49 at the time. Elec Melee has so much AoE that, without a taunt aura, a couple attacks in and everything was running to the damn hills.
Ultimately, it's a preference thing. I know several people that are very team-oriented on their scrappers, and the no-taunt aura works in their favor since it lets the tanker/brute keep the hate. But for me soloing, I greatly prefer a taunt aura. -
Quote:The self-rez is desireable because it has a mag thirty stun on it for bad situations.Originally Posted by Granite Agent
Ah ok on Musc. Makes sense.
Whirling Smash has the +5 boosted Oblit Quad which makes its endo useage better than it looks.
People said if you softcap DA to S/L you didn't really need the OG stun aura or COF ... and hey a self rez is only good if you're dying, which I'm trying to avoid.
To be fair, I ran my soft-cap S/L/E/N FM/INV brute on some +3 carnies and again the MI bosses are a problem especially groups of 2. Same for my DM/SD scrap, though he fares better with the +to hit from Soul Drain and the heal in SL. Arachnos also.
Mag THIRTY.
It's awesome. -
Quote:But what if they use the Energy elemental shield? Would they at least be STRONG and pretty, if not PRETTY?Originally Posted by Errant
You are only STRONG and Strong with that combo.
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For me, I took /WP as my secondary purely for theme reasons. My favorite secondaries in the game right now are /Energy and /Elec, but the character in question is already dead and supposed to heal off wounds, have crazy stamina (being dead, she doesn't produce lactic acid so she almost never gets tired) and even stand back up when "killed" again.
Willpower fits both of those criteria perfectly (even if i'll be a n00b for taking Resurgence for theme), so it was the main choice. I thought about Energy, but I'm not sure all the flashy, glowy effects would have worked with the theme.
As it stands, she just hit 32, so I'm debating dropping the +Def attack (name escapes me at the moment) once I get more slots in the final AoE since I'll have gobs of AoE KD for defense. No real problems leveling so far, and her first and only death was at 28 on Positron part 2, but that was only because we were running it with 7 melee ATs and a warshade. -
Quote:For the most part, I agree with this. For me, it depends on two things:Originally Posted by TheBruteSquad
I actually enjoy that Brutes and Scrappers have one signature armor set each. Shield is for Scrappers - it plays to their advantages over brutes (higher base multiplier, critical hits). Fire Aura is for Brutes - it plays to their advantages over scrappers (higher health, higher resistance cap, taunt effect on attacks).
Over all, though, I agree with _Pine_ - if gimmick-less straight up damage is what you want in an AT Scrapper beats Brute. The extra toughness of brute is never really a factor if you're not tanking, even on sets like Elec Armor. 75% isn't as cool as 90% but the Mu you just crit into oblivion in less than 10 seconds to open the fight would be hard pressed to tell the difference.
A) Which suits the character concept better? Are they a berserker that never stops hitting, or a scrappy fighter that won't quit? If the former, go Brute, if the latter, Scrapper.
B) Does the secondary in question have a taunt aura as a scrapper? The thing in the game I can't stand most on a melee character is enemies running to the hills because you can't keep them on you. As such, for sets with damage auras I tend to roll brutes, for the added yummy damage and lack of Yakety Sax shenanigans. -
Quote:I have to ask, what's your opinion about Agility on a /WP instead of an /Invuln? Since my planned build for my TW/WP will have Stamina, QR and PP, plus every scrap of defense I can get would help push me closer to the softcap.Originally Posted by Deus_Otiosus
I think you're right, only two powers to really leverage the extra end mod won't be a huge difference.
I'm pretty sure for an Invuln that Cardiac will provide a better overall reduction in endurance consumption than Agility will provide in added recovery - and a boost to your resistances is always nice.
Still, with enough recharge you could get CP to about 50% uptime and agility will boost rech. -
Quote:I don't know, I'm far from an expert on class mechanics. I just got Entropic Aura on my new scrapper, so I'll see how things glue to him once I start firing off AoE's.Originally Posted by Erratic
Brutes operate differently in regards to Scrappers as goes damage taunting mobs, don't they?
One final question: I've heard people say Musculature (Masculation?) would be the alpha of choice. But I'm not sure if I should go that or Spiritual. Spiritual would increase the availability of both Energy Drain and Energize, which would both increase my sustainability and survivability. Any thoughts from people who know the game a lot better than I do?
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Quote:From what I remember of my small amount of stalker playtime, Hide's defense bonus does suppress once discovered, but I could be (and probably am) vastly wrong.Originally Posted by Bosstone
I don't think stealth powers in primary or secondary powersets DO suppress. I'm checking all the ones I can think of in RedTomax and none of them say they do, whereas Concealment!Stealth does have a suppressable aspect to its defense.
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Quote:For what it's worth, my Stone/EA brute never really has runners either.Originally Posted by mauk2
Really!
Hmmmm.
May I ask your primary and main attacks? Because if EA can reliably stop fleeing, I may have some alts to roll....
To the thread as a whole: thank you! I decided to go with Elec/EA scrapper, and I just (re)rolled him up. Should be a blast! -
Quote:That's what I thought. I actually did some reading up and learned about the whole pseudopet business, so that's one reason I want to keep him a scrapper. The main reason being his character is, well... scrappy, lol.Originally Posted by Deus_Otiosus
You forgot about the part where Scrapper Lightning Rod does something like 40 or 50% more damage than the Brute version.
It's similar to Shield Charge, except Lightning Rod is an even more powerful attack.
It's not even remotely close. Those two Scrapper attacks are in another league compared to the Brute versions.
I did notice all the Elec/SD toons a while ago and figured it was just the FotM. Is it a decent toon all-around, and not just in AoE competitions, though? I know Elec has... subpar ST damage, to be kind.Quote:This is your best option out of what you listed.
EA is a very solid set now, with good utility and nearly unlimited endurance.
You can go musculature alpha for sure, and this will give a nice boost to LR as well as a massive damage increase on Judgement's Damage.
If you can work Shield Defense (maybe using the electric or energy elemental shield costume parts) into the concept, Elm/SD is an exceptional AoE burst powerhouse.
Also, I didn't know Musculature would increase the judgement's damage. Nifty! -
Quote:I'm... not really sure /Inv is an option. I don't have the funds for the glad 3% Unique right now, or five sets of Kinetic Combat with which to softcap it. I may try and poke around in Mids, but the character isn't supposed to be invulnerable/unbreakable (Yes, I'm that much of a stickler for theme).Originally Posted by mauk2
Option 3 is a bad idea. Every second spent actively stopping runners is a second NOT spent arresting.
Option1.... Ehn. it would certainly work, and is thematic.
Option 2 is MUCH better. It's simply true, brutes are better.
However, I would suggest option 4: Re-roll as an elec/inv. Set your invuln graphics off. You are extremely tough (tougher than either SR or EA once you get a build on it) and get all the electrical crash and boom you could ever want, and invincibility GLUES them to you.
Try it, you'll like it. Elec/inv is a very good combo on a scrap, one of the few which is near-equal to a brute. (Pet damage FTW!) -
Spines/WP solos quite well, so don't worry about that. WP's taunt aura helps with the AI freaking out from all your AOE damage. I don't have Mids' at my disposal just now, but I'll try to get on later tonight and take a look, if nobody else has beaten me to the punch by then.
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Quote:I guess that's true about Fury. On my main brute (SS/Elec) he builds it very easily thanks to Lightning Field, so I wasn't sure how bad it would be without a damage aura.Originally Posted by Emberly
Speaking from my own experience, /SR on brutes is so much better than /SR on scrappers that it is actually a little bit depressing. The much improved reordering of powers alone sold it for me, and the taunt aura is the icing on the cake. Easy softcap means lots of room to play with other options, like +recharge and +HP. Chasing Fury isn't as bad as it seems; generally speaking after five seconds of being beaten on by a spawn, I am at or near the max fury I am likely to generate anyway. A great choice!
My own /EA is actually a brute (Stone/EA) and it's amazingly fun. Oddly enough, the order that Brutes and Scrappers get Energize and Energy Drain is swapped, brutes get Energy Drain at 28 and Energize at 35. That greatly helped my brute stop sucking wind even earlier.Quote:Like you, I am in love with the new EA. I haven't tried it on a brute yet, but on a scrapper it's been an awesome ride. Having a nice heal and basically bottomless blue bar (after 35) is amazing. Having Entropic Aura grant such a hefty recharge bonus just plain feels good, and you can devote some more attention to capping all that typed defense. You do run into a bit of a psi hole, but even then it's not that bad at all. Another great choice!
That's kind of what I'm leaning toward. It's still (relatively) easy to softcap, and I wouldn't have to dip into Medicine or carry around enough blue skittles to choke a horse.Quote:If I had to choose between Elec/SR brute and Elec/EA scrapper, I would probably go with the Elec/EA scrapper, because I like all the utility it has without having to dip into pools. -
Hello Scrapper forums! I'm in a bit of a quandary.
I have an Elec/SR scrapper whose character and back story I'm extremely proud of, and I love him to death. On paper, he's a monster, softcapped, Aid Self, etc etc.
However, I cannot bring myself to play him for more than one mission as it stands currently, because without a taunt aura (why is Scrapper /SR the only one without one?) mobs are running all yakety-sax over the map due to all the AoE's I'm flinging around.
Thereby comes my quandary: what do to do fix this? I've come up with a few solutions that would fit with his character, but I cannot decide which would be the 'best' option. I've listed them in order of my preference (as of this moment, it keeps changing...).
1) Reroll him as an Elec/Energy scrapper. I've got one toon fairly high with the new /EA, and I'm loving it. It would work with his existing powers without too much explanation, and I'm entirely willing to reroll my scrapper with this combo (the time investment isn't a big deterrent for me, as I love mindlessly plowing through missions on nights off of work).
2) Reroll him as an Elec/SR Brute. I'm not sure about this, as I can't always keep up the "Go! Go! Go!" needed for Fury. It would, however, be nearly exact with his current build, with the addition of actually having a taunt aura in Evasion to keep mobs from running to the hills.
3) Keep him as-is, but pick up Provoke, Caltrops or Web Grenade to "fix" the running. This is my least-favorite option. While taunting foes is definitely in-character for him, he's not supposed to have any "tools" or "gadgets" he relies on (I'm currently having to pretend his aid-self device... thingy is a taser he uses on himself to heal up). I suppose both of these would work, but again, I have the disposable time that I'd prefer rerolling unless it's just plain a Very Bad Idea, in which case I don't want to make that mistake.
I think I can manage a build on my own (or at least cobble one together for further review!), so I don't need one unless you're exceptionally bored. Any input at all would be appreciated, and sorry for the wall of text. Thank you! -
I'm far from an expert, but possibly some kind of taunt aura or a click power.
/2inf -
Quote:Thaaaaaaaat's what I get for posting when I haven't slept for... 49 hours.Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
Get the Theft or Essence +Endurance before the Miracle and Numina's.
Your biggest offender on endurance consumption is Dark Regeneration. Since the ToE proce checks for each target hit, it will occasionally GAIN you endurance, and will nullify the end cost more often than not. If you have it slotted for end reduction and the ToE procs on 2 enemies (actually fairly likely in a crowd), you will lose about 22 endurance and gain 20 back, for a net loss of 2 end for the best heal in the game. If it procs on 3, you will actually come out ahead.
Yeah, that IO really is that good.
Claws is right, that proc is possibly my favorite proc in-game, tied with the Force Feedback +Rech one. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Progressman
So I finally found a good concept I like for a scrapper and I picked these power sets. Any tips I could get?
For that combo? Carry a ton of blues, and get the Miracle/Numina procs ASAP. It will probably be quite fun, but murder on your blue bar. -
Weird, it loads for me. Maybe if you try it from a link?
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=275115 -
Quote:Yeah, I know I'm a hair over. The frustrating thing is, I can't remove any of my tiny bonuses without putting me back under the softcap, so I'm at a loss as to how to make it more efficient.Originally Posted by macskull
I'm seeing just north of 46% defense on that build, which is already above softcap. Not sure where else you could steal slots to squeeze a bit more, though.
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So I have an SS/Elec brute at 49, and in preparation of his upcoming final level, I thought I should put a build together.
What I'd like is to softcap S/L defense (not worrying so much about the Energy softcap since he's hardcapped to Energy resist). I can afford Hami-O's (and I used some in the build), but unless someone gives me the Gladiator 3% Def proc, I'm not gonna be able to afford that.
If there's anything I could do to tighten this build up, I'd appreciate the feedback. Mids is being weird, so all I can give is the data chunk.
Code:Thanks in advance!| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1467;671;1342;HEX;| |78DA75944973124114C7BB99C66CC484104216081221109220947AB6D424960A118| |DE51591B4301621383389E1E8C19B5A891EF5E6AE555EDC3E95CB37C0C7BC7F9692| |720AEA37F3FAF5BFDF3653D859F27DBEF4F09C900317EB65DB2E5DB0B61CED2D94A| |B664574AE1EFA4FBAC65241D7B5CEAC6D35B5555A732CDDA83AB5302F2DE9BBBA61| |EBCC725D571CCBAC94CE5B1B9B96F0153737EB99BC2E37CD4675D07D5831AB35879| |E86F697D6B565D7CCA6DF7DBEDCD8366DF38E59379D5670B9695632387AAB5428DB| |8EB65AE314CF2CFD6352E06A2B5124CC2871EC3A73F80673760D5C27E69478D5717| |7F7B50D314D3749257AA3CCFE1838C3EC40425F42DFF31FFD24F45F130CD657C636| |DBD4037083397A9F99DEF3B83C49FE5E9CE3FD278FE338278973D2382721B92F9D3| |D3D795EEB2D307DABD87B8D398A3D6F097D1C9BEC4B718E637190C406B036302A5D| |7F5F9019A2B5413E4B0C4E19AEED1D3D0DB1BF180AD14D846224F8DD8AB5A5FF05E| |5165062E425F33D5903F00F2C723C6F0841F422885E4CA31749F46201BD90144388| |633042A8D1386A348E1AC56E320DF29D80EE047427A13B09DD30743F90D714EA387| |595F30DE7990B05E6E22A3357642AD28FB0BE277296A06894F6899ACD11A2ACEB8D| |620E4EB4C01DB0C18CC5C0473C0F1F3B69701DD5CC63CCC813F029B8CB8C638666C| |93D81FA246A6C9B33C17BCCF406F336B53005DFD42EE2DD43AECFC0E74C3FE53A8F| |5CE791E3029843AE65D2CBA086992F9CCBA9AFE037F03B33F783F98990C54C65E7D| |9165607EFB3B1FF3E8FA1C771F4388E1EA70F7DE94797C87659725D96D35D96335D| |961575F08568E78FAE626A7FF6D3322659C2F6FBD026E52DAECAC8159EB05F47FD5| |3ECFFE7A83F3AEC41478BEAE0AB23242AD3374C5F15B6B5570364427C7F019452C7| |DD| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|
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Quote:Just going to point out something about Overload that a lot of people miss. Unlike a lot of other "godmodes", Overload only crashes your Endurance, not your Health. One small blue, or wait just a second, and you can Power Drain yourself back up, retoggle and keep going.Originally Posted by EvilGeko
The on top of all that you have Overload, if you really need a good buffer in a hurry. Being able to cap HP, even with a crash, is very nice.