Knight_Errant

Gotta agree with Idris, Acrobatics is a bit pointless as you already have Integration and that provides more than enough status protection.
Hasten probably won't be much use with all those recharge slots you've piled on to your attacks.

Personally I wouldn't bother with the medicine powers what with them being interruptable and the situation you'll be in when you really need them. You'd be better off trying to max your damage output by adding in Assault and possibly Tactics for the added accuracy and (if you intend pvp) for a chance to spot stalkers. Of course that will depend on how much End your current toggles are sapping away.

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Why would I want to convince you to play a Scrapper? There are loads of Scrappers. Play a Defender or a Tanker.

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Good point! Scrappers are naff, you really, really, don't want to play one. Try a defender, defenders are cool, everyone loves defenders!

Broadsword accuracy is pretty good, it's equal to martial arts and katana, making them the three most accurate scrapper primaries.
There's a thread somewhere about misperceptions regarding accuracy. Because of Broadsword's slow swing time and recharge you tend to notice it more when you miss, compared to say claws or katana. You actually hit more often than you think you do. Of course if, like me, you hate missing ever then just double slot for accuracy when the opportunity presents itself.

Scrappers and Blasters are two completely different animals. Scrappers are designed to get up close and have the hit points and defences to do just that and survive. If a blaster were to try that then she/he would deader than Elvis.

Level six is a bit early to get a good impression, in my experience most scrappers take until the mid teens to truly get into their stride.

Inherent powers are another point in favour of scrappers. Where the tank gets to hold attention (essential for groups I'll grant) and blaster/defender inherent powers are pessimistic in outlook and situation, Critical Hit is always a possibility and contributes directly to a foe's demise.
Headsplitter double damage ya gotta love it

Why a scrapper?
Hmm... try soloing with any other AT and compare the results. Sure tanks can rival on survivability but scrappers will just carve their way through a mob at speeds tanks can only dream of. Being offence is usually the best defence scrappers tend to have the edge.
Add to that the fact that scrappers are melee oriented (short/mid ranged for a spines scrapper) making them better adapted for holding their own when opponents get within arms reach which is often the bane of most squishies.

A scrapper's life is pretty frenetic, there's no standing back and raining damage from on high or wittling from behind a sturdy defence. You have to get right in the thick of things and dish out some hefty hurt. Scrappers are also fairly graceful in their own way, just watch a martial arts scrapper for a while and you'll see what I mean.

It is always wise to charge.

That was great fun! We prodded buttock.
Good work everyone.
Thanks to Matakoshi for arranging it.

lol Wamdue! Spot on!

How about "Pincushion"

Here's how Steampunkette's power selection has shaped up so far. I've left out the slotting as I can't remember how it all is at the moment.

Regen has been given a back seat on the idea that the best defence is a good offence and her attack style is based on keeping opponents off their feet to cut down on incomming damage. She's not intended for PvP but I did double slot for accuracy on her attacks as it can hurt when she misses.

Level 01:: Slash (taken as an experiment in speed over power)
Level 01:: Fast Healing
Level 02:: Slice
Level 04:: Reconstruction
Level 06:: Build Up
Level 08:: Parry
Level 10:: Quick Recovery
Level 12:: Air Superiority
Level 14:: Fly
Level 16:: Integration
Level 18:: Whirling Sword
Level 20:: Hasten
Level 22:: Hack (Well I couldn’t just leave it)
Level 24:: Dull Pain
Level 26:: Disembowel
Level 28:: Swift
Level 30:: Health
Level 32:: Head Splitter
Level 35:: Stamina

Instant Healing is next on the list, then I'll probably go for Focused accuracy or Assault depending on how things feel.

Looking at the OPs built I'd suggest replacing Combat Jumping and Super Jump with Air Superiority and Fly. If you're ignoring parry's defence bonus in favour of more attacks then the extra attack from Air Sup' will outweigh the defence bonus. I know Air Sup causes you to put away your weapon but the delay is hardly anything new for Broadsword scrapper . Just follow up straight away with Hack > Headsplitter (or Disembowel).
Fly, while slow, is far more versatile.

Shhh!!! Your not supposed to say the N word!
They'll turn all the regen powers into end hogging toggles and we'll be screwed like the rest of the secondaries.

Sunday is good for the next couple of weeks. Evenings are ok as long as it's not a Tuesday.

I'm interested. When would it be?
Steampunkette (lvl36 bs/regen)

Or perhaps he could try the multitude of guides that are available on both this and the US boards?

Like this one?
guides index

That's what they're there for.

Thanks guys, that's great help

Ok a follow-up questions.

Does Recovery Aura make Stamina unnecessary? Or is the recharge interval (assuming 3 recharge SOs) on RA too long?

Sweet! Thanks guys!

Defender noobie question:
Does Recovery Aura affect the Defender that casts it (like Healing Aura), or is it team mate only?
I've been trawling through guides and the offical forums and can't seem to find a definite answer.

It would be a good idea to get stamina considering the toggles you'll be running with SR. It should compensate nicely for their drain, leaving you to use your endurance for attacks, as nature intended.

Add to that you get two other fitness powers along the way, the regen effect of Health will help when something does manage to hit you.

To a certain extent it's a matter of picking strengths and weaknesses.

Is dark melee strong against bosses? Yes provided you have friends to keep any minions off your back.
Dark Melee has several advantages that make it good against single bosses and Lt's. It dishes out a nice accuracy debuff and the cower effect of Touch of Fear can tie up a boss while your team-mates mop up the minions. Another nice thing is the dark energy damage which few enemies have significant resistance too.
Dark Melee will have some difficulty against mobs, the shortage of area effect powers means that you mostly have to work through opponents one at a time (unless you get a decent cone grouping for the flurry attack).

Broadsword is simple vanilla damage in spades. With the knockdown effects of the last two attacks you can almost keep a boss bouncing and unable to attack. Broadsword will carve through most mobs with parry and Slice (a wide pointblank cone attack) doing most of the work early on.
Broadsword faces two problems. It's slow, you will not get in as many attacks as other scrappers, although your damage per hit tends to compensate for this. Damage type is the big pain which you'll notice. Broadsword deals out pure "lethal" damage. A fair number of opponents will have high lethal resists, most notable are Clockwork, Council robots and Crey powersuits. Against such foes Broadsword does significantly less damage, buildup will compensate for a few seconds but you will learn to respect mobs of Zenith Mechmen.

Overall you don't need to think much with Regen.

I guess the key difference between Regen and the other Scrapper sencondaries is that it doesn't try to prevent the inevitable (damage). It only has one toggle power and it allows you to heal quickly. There's no "do I keep doing or rest?".

The telling difference is when you're up against mobs heavy hitting minions (eg metal freaks) and AVs etc. You can quickly find you're spamming your stock of green pills to stay up.

Does the happy dance

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Broadsword and katana have control. Disembowl and Headsplitter (and the katana equivalents) do serious amounts of knock-up and knockback, respectively. It's quite possible to have a Boss unable to hit you for the simple reason that he's never on his feet long enough.

Now add in 60-70% DEF from Parry/DA... though you may not need that if the idiots can't stand up to try and hit you.

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With Broadsword there is a small window for opponents to get up (even with recharge enhancements, haste and air superiority added to your arsenal). Not that I'm complaining, I've rarely found an opponent (elite bosses, AVs and monsters aside) that hits hard enough to worry me about the odd blow landing

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My problem with Scrapper Primaries is that with the exception of MA they don't feel that "heroic"... dark energy, claws, swords, spines! All pretty lethal and nasty stuff. Personally, I can't wait for Shields

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Shields sound like a neat idea although I can see that being argued as more of a tanker theme. A conversion of the stalker energy powers might be nice.

Yeah it's a bit hard to arrest someone who's lying in bits. I guess to a certain extent Scrappers are a sort of nod to the anti-hero genre and doing good by evil means.

A scrapper must understand the core wisdom of the universe:

"It is always wise to charge. Charging is what we do best. "

Da_Man has a point, alot of this is down to personal preference.
Each primary has it's own niche there isn't really a "best" one.
If you like big orange numbers and want to mash your opponent in the shortest order then Broadsword may be for you.
If you'd rather have a your opponents seeing stars while you beat them down then Martial Arts is probably more your thing.

One of my guildmates swears by Dark Melee. For me there's nothing better than the resounding crunch of Headsplitter landing. Go with what's "best" for you.

They do?

I stand corrected!

Still four to five hits from a broadsword will destroy a zenith mechman lieutenant so I'm not complaining.