Mercator

I like it. A semi-melee heavy secondary in similar styling to some of the others.

I'd especially like another natural/tech styling to mix with Archery and Assault blasters. And the mix of knives feels like commando to me.

I was thinking more of a technical comparison, but your post in that thread did provide some excellent insight.

Do we have a strong side-by-side comparison of the secondaries for Scrapper?

I'm mostly curious on the current issue breakdown between Dark Armor, Invulnerability and Super Reflexes. But I was considering how most the guides at the top are all from just after ED (shakes fist at Cryptic).

Understandably, Shield Defense is the new favored what with some of it's amazing options. But i'd think we could get some experienced veterans of the battlefield in here to sketch out their feelings and maybe some of the numbers or suggested slotting on the other great secondaries available.

Does the single line bind work for multiple costume changes. Like changing from 1 to 2 to 3, etc, all in the same line?

Or will I need to use the .txt file loading option described on paragonwiki?

Thanks for your help.

I was looking at some build suggestions on /SD and I struck upon an idea. What if I choose Teleport over Super Speed on my BS/SR scrapper?

And that got me thinking further, what do other people pick.

Largely I assume Travel is a subject of personal preference, theme and style:

What did you pick and why?

SR stacks its' chips on the idea that you'll never get hit. When you do get hit, it hurts. As for Power Pools, you could probably get solid mileage out of Tough and Weave over Combat Jumping. You'd lose the air control, but gain +res which SR doesn't have any of.

I've seen people with Elude and those without. I think ultimately it's about how you want to play. But you can go both directions and get solid results.

Personally, i like the idea of being Awesome all the time, not just two minutes out of 10. So i'm avoiding Elude in my BS/SR build.

Air Superiority is a fantastic choice for any blaster. It's good if you're working from the ground, better if you work from my preferred office, 10ft up.

I've survivied ambushes with a well placed AS 200ft off the ground, only to have the mob fall to it's death.

Slot for your strengths. The IO sets are generally really good, but they don't cater to the individual power's assets. The -slow for frost, kb in energy, etc.

If you keep to just basic IO's, you can cater your powers to your liking.
I could see slotting your two basic blasts 2 Acc, 3 Dam and 1 End Drain.

Add firey blades to the list of things that should show up in Broadsword's customization options.


Or perhaps an elemental damage enhancement?

Hmm..

To be fully honest, I play a scrapper now because I got f*ing tired of getting kicked around and being afraid of some Carnies and their big mallets.

I play a scrapper because i want to see the foe fail to stop me before my blade cuts them in twain.

I play a scrapper because I wanted to see what it was like at +4 and +8.

I play a scrapper to Win. Quickly. Decisively.

Well, firstly. You picked the wrong AT. You'll want to go back to character creation, make sure you saved your awesome costume and delete the toon. Now. You want to pick Scrapper. It'll have some nonsense about being good at melee.

Scrappers are -gods- in melee.

Now, you'll pick Electrical Melee and whatever secondary you wish. This will save you some unpleasant power choices and make you nigh-unstoppable in hand-to-hand.

And yes. I said 'nigh'. There are times you will be stopped. Fewer, now that you're not some softie blaster, but they'll happen.

Have fun, enjoy. Rememeber to wear a jacket!

Alright, deeper consideration of my long-term strategy and design structure.
This build with tough/weave and approaching soft cap. Slots allocated for future IO Inventions as they occur/drop.
<edited to redact Elude-build>
Thoughts? Am I missing something?

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.621
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Midnight Mask Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Broad Sword
Secondary Power Set: Super Reflexes
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Hack -- (A)(3)(3)(5)(5)(7)
Level 1: Focused Fighting -- (A)(7)(9)(9)(11)(11)
Level 2: Slice -- (A)(13)(13)(17)(17)(29)
Level 4: Focused Senses -- (A)(29)(31)(31)(31)(33)
Level 6: Agile -- (A)(33)(33)
Level 8: Hurdle -- (A)
Level 10: Practiced Brawler -- (A)
Level 12: Hasten -- (A)
Level 14: Super Speed -- (A)(15)(15)
Level 16: Dodge -- (A)(40)(40)
Level 18: Health -- (A)(19)(19)(21)(21)(23)
Level 20: Stamina -- (A)(23)(25)(25)(27)(27)
Level 22: Quickness -- (A)
Level 24: Build Up -- (A)(37)(37)(39)(39)(39)
Level 26: Disembowel -- (A)(34)(36)(36)(36)(37)
Level 28: Lucky -- (A)(34)(34)
Level 30: Kick -- (A)
Level 32: Head Splitter -- (A)(40)(42)(42)(42)(43)
Level 35: Evasion -- (A)(43)(43)(45)(45)(45)
Level 38: Tough -- (A)(48)(50)(50)(50)
Level 41: Weave -- (A)(46)(46)(46)(48)(48)
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- (A)
Level 1: Sprint -- (A)
Level 2: Rest -- (A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 2: Ninja Run

So, someone I spoke to long ago enlightened me on the idea of the Elude-less SR build. I've been away for a while and things have changed. Is there still a strong reason to go without it, or is it a viable option in the late-game SR designs?

A shame. Can't do 8 Eastern. i'm not back home til 830.

I'll try to be there with my scrapper, Midnight Mask.

So there's something i've been meaning to confirm. Am I to understand, that when exemplaring you no longer keep the set bonuses from your IO's?

You at least keep the enhancement modifiers, right? Is this new?

I leveled to 50 on my ice blaster without ever having Ice Patch or using shiver.

I relied almost solely upon Freeze Ray and Bitter Freeze ray to nail down trouble mobs and particularly bad bosses (Gunslingers).

Any extra mitigation I wanted I got from the Ice Ancillary. And even then I didn't need it much.

Leadership is a pretty hefty end drain and the bonus from it is sorta mediocre when compared to what a defender can produce.

I went Ice/Ice/Ice - Fitness - Flight and the -only- place I encounter trouble is when there's multiple mobs who hold. Like dual Death Mages near Portal Corp.

I'd be careful with Energy/ . There's some anti-knockback sentiment that can cause you grief. However, it is required for 'Atlas Park Golf'.

(APG - Teleport a Hellion to the top of a building, Power Push and see how far they flew.)

But I'm semi biased. I've had a lot of success with Ice/ . The nuke is positional so you can drop and run, but it has a crash. So you need to run.

Lop in two holds in the primary set and you've got some competent mitigation.

After my experience with Ice/ I did some looking around and noted some details in other sets. One, AR is a great set. Lots of cones, some mixed element types. A crash-less nuke. Archery is also pretty solid with a crash-less nuke and a snipe.

I believe this is my projected respec.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.621
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 34 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Broad Sword
Secondary Power Set: Super Reflexes
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Hack -- (A)
Level 1: Focused Fighting -- (A)
Level 2: Slash -- (A)
Level 4: Agile -- (A)
Level 6: Hurdle -- (A)
Level 8: Parry -- (A)
Level 10: Practiced Brawler -- (A)
Level 12: Hasten -- (A)
Level 14: Super Speed -- (A)
Level 16: Dodge -- (A)
Level 18: Health -- (A)(19)
Level 20: Stamina -- (A)
Level 22: Quickness -- (A)
Level 24: Focused Senses -- (A)
Level 26: Disembowel -- (A)
Level 28: Lucky -- (A)
Level 30: Whirling Sword -- (A)
Level 32: Head Splitter -- (A)
Level 35: Evasion -- (A)
Level 38: [Empty]
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- (A)
Level 1: Sprint -- (A)
Level 2: Rest -- (A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 4: Ninja Run

Apparently I just don't know what I was thinking anymore.

So my current build gives me the following attacks:
Hack
Slice
Buildup
Whirling Sword
Disembowel
Headsplitter

With all the secondaries but Elude

And the power pools for:
Hurdle
Health
Stamina

Hasten
Superspeed

Somewhere in a respec I ditched Parry for more.. 'aoe' from Slice. Aside from that, i'm not sure what I was doing build-wise. I know I was trying to follow some considerations, like having a travel power at 14, in case I wind up doing a Posi, etc.

That being said, i'd happily take a suggestion or two. I think i'm going to try a respec back into Parry, ditch the minor aoe from slice. Whirling Sword should cover that area pretty well.

I can appreciate the devs responding to Scrapper bravado. There are times players need that slap in the face. If anything, it lets us tune the challenge now to replicate some of the harder missions in the game.

As for my build, well, it was a napkin process a while ago. Two moves later i don't have the sketch anymore. But I'll pull down Mids later today and see what I can hash together from memory and experience.

Tough and Weave weren't part of my original build strategy. But now that I think about it, they might have to be. Soft cap is where i'd like to be when I hit 50 and drop IO's. Sets come later, for sure.

But first. My thanks to the Scrapper community on Triumph and these forums.

I'd heard of Scrapper Antics, i'd witnessed them on occasion. It was when inspiration struck me for my Broadsword/SR scrapper that I decided to join you.

Now, my experience comes from firstly an empath defender and secondly an Ice blaster. Both characters focused on doing their job -as far from melee as possible-.

So I have a smell hurdle in mindset. Not too horrible. Broadsword was a given, I appreciated the sheer brutality of it's late level powers. Headsplitter ftw. Super Reflexes was a shoe-in for the secondary. Nothing says Super like standing toe-to-toe with some of the ugliest thugs in the game and never taking a scratch.

The first 20 levels went great. Hell, at 35 I feel fantastic. I decided to try the Elude-Free build philosophy. So far it's an awesome experience.

I had taken a year off, only to return this last weekend. So things have changed. Mission difficulty. Well, it can't be that bad, they give us more flexibility. Now, it's been a while and i'm uncertain how to play, +3 team size and Bosses = Yes should be realistic.

Five minutes in i'm reminded of the SR Curse. Some days you are untouchable. And once in a great while you're a meat paste.

"ooooooh right. SR curse... woops."

That being said, i love Scrapping. Pure scrapping teams are a hoot. Thank you all for your information, your assistance and your encouragement.