Reyne_Maker

[ QUOTE ]
I was running Incin - Scorch - Crem - Scorch on my Fire/SR but it seemed to cause a *ton* of AV / Boss running behavior. Wonder if that's been toned down since. This was right after AE launched.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yup, they still run, a lot. But that's sort of a good thing, because I'm pretty sure it's tied to the damage they're taking, which only says good things about FMs damage.

Mmm, sweet burney goodness

PS- Nice build Swift, I'm so stealing bits of that

yeah, Santorican is right,

if it's a straight up choice between getting to the HP Cap or extra regen, then the HP cap should come first (as long as you're not going overboard to do it), then the regen bonuses.

But honestly I'd put both of those as second to Recharge and Defense. those are the bonuses you should focus on first.

And Especially if you're Regen, the extra defense is vital.

Well, Dark Regen is the games single best self-heal, but I honestly found myself falling down a lot more at the defense level you have there, whereas at 30% def I rarely have to use the heal at all.

but then that's speaking from experience, so your playstyle might make it different, so take it with a grain of salt

It's important to ask what your primary/secondary is.

Because I would answer that more HP is more important, But - .

it's not quite that simple for two reasons.
- Some powersets will let you hit the HP cap with only a few IO bonuses (but it is impossible to hit the regen cap without external buffs)
- Regen bonuses are easier (and often larger) to come by with than HP bonuses.

Because higher HP means you can be hit more, take bigger alphas, and regen more raw HP each second.

But then more HP, (or even more regen) is only a small part of more survivability, so like I said, it comes down to your powersets, because it should be about striking a balance between it.

And PS, the 3 HP accolades are beautiful things and worth way more than IO bonuses can get you anyway.

I'm not a big numbers guy, but I do have a high level FM/SR, and its worth mentioning that GFS is a REAL End hog.
I got to 33, was all "hey cool, I can run GFS-In-FS-Crem" and then quickly realised that just because I 'could' really meant that I really shoulldn't have, and should have put some more End-Reduction in in first.
Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful chain, and I love my FM/SR (and am about to do the praetorian AV run with her) all I'm saying is that making sure there is enough Blue to go the distance is a bigger factor for this than any other set.

It was my experience anyway, and if i serve no other purpose in life, let it be to be a warning to others.

lemme guess Phalanx Fighting? and how it automatically assumes one ally in range?

good point on Slice as a Cone, yeah, if I had to pick between that and Parry, I probably would go the cone.
but hey BS/SD offers a surprisingly high amount of AoEs and cones,which is very handy.

And Speaking of ITFs though, lets be honest, any time on an ITF above 40minutes just isn't all that good, and any decent Scrapper should be able to solo it, especially with a billion inf added. My BS/SD used to be my favourite ITF toon (but is now surpassed by my DM/Inv who picked up Confront for it) and has also carried more than one truly incompetent PUG.
Heck, if could figure a way to take down Rommy and his Nictus without a team, I'd never need real players along at all. (especially with the new I16 features on the way)
But then, I also suspect I haven't figured it out because I haven't tried, and even that may be easier than it looks.
hmm . . .

Love my DM/Inv. Absolutely love it.
Only Scrapper I have ever taken Confront on, and now regularly use it for lead tanking on an ITF.
Shes also succesfully soloed more than a few AVs, (no temps, no insps, & all)
So yeah, love it, there maybe better sets for sheer damage output (the pylon solo time is abysmal) but for survivability, it's unmatched.

Anyway, will offer up my build, but sure it can be improved upon -->

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Dark: Level 50 Natural Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Dark Melee
Secondary Power Set: Invulnerability
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Smite -- (A)(3)(7)(7)(9)(9)
Level 1: Resist Physical Damage -- (A)(3)
Level 2: Shadow Maul -- (A)(11)(11)(13)(13)(27)
Level 4: Temp Invulnerability -- (A)(5)(5)
Level 6: Dull Pain -- (A)(37)(37)(37)(39)
Level 8: Siphon Life -- (A)(31)(31)(34)(36)(36)
Level 10: Swift -- (A)
Level 12: Hasten -- (A)(15)(15)
Level 14: Resist Elements -- (A)(31)
Level 16: Unyielding -- (A)(17)(17)
Level 18: Health -- (A)(19)(19)(21)(39)
Level 20: Stamina -- (A)(21)(23)(23)
Level 22: Shadow Punch -- (A)(27)(43)(43)(46)
Level 24: Resist Energies -- (A)(25)(25)
Level 26: Soul Drain -- (A)(40)(40)(40)(42)(43)
Level 28: Invincibility -- (A)(29)(29)
Level 30: Boxing -- (A)
Level 32: Midnight Grasp -- (A)(33)(33)(33)(34)(34)
Level 35: Tough Hide -- (A)(36)(42)(42)
Level 38: Tough -- (A)(39)(48)
Level 41: Confront -- (A)(50)
Level 44: Dark Consumption -- (A)(45)(45)(45)(46)(46)
Level 47: Combat Jumping -- (A)(48)(48)
Level 49: Weave -- (A)(50)(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- (A)
Level 1: Sprint -- (A)
Level 2: Rest -- (A)
Level 1: Critical Hit

np,

and you're right about luinge, I really never use it,

But its worth noting the Enzymes have gone up in price, (a lot) recently, and my build ends up being very short on slots as it is. Very short. (I'd love the theft of essence for the heal for instance, but honestly don't use the heal much at all anyway), which means you might want to steal those slots from lunge for useelsewhere in the build

speaking about regen recovery, my BS/SD has just a smidge more in terms of regen, (so at that 20per sec mark) and what I've found is that in a prolonged fight, say against an AV, that it will easily cope with one or two lucky hits getting through, but the moment they get three lucky hits in a row through, I'm toast. And an AV fight goes long enough that they will ALWAYS get 3 lucky strikes in a row at some point.
So yeah you're going to want a tray full of greens for AV soloing.
Everywhere else though you're going to be fine, more than fine and be able to happily set the pace of the team, and able to laugh at the whiny tank that can't keep up.

And on the side of Attack Chains, Hack-HS-Hack-DS is what you want, no question. But if you can't have that I'd suggest throwing in a Parry instead (not Slice) yes, it does limit the DPS, but it also gives you the needed Def bonus, it's amazing how many enemies pack def debuffs in this game.
I'd go as far to set monitor your melee defense and spam Parry if it starts to drop, I know it might sound obsessive, but the moment you do your first ITF, you're going to understand why.

Speaking form experience with my Spines Dark (and I'll post my build below) the two things you need above all else is +Accuracy and extra defense.
The reality is you will be facing large mobs of minions, really, really quick, ie - lots of little hits coming at you constantly, and believe me they build up.
With the exception of a few enemy groups such as cimerorans, this will alos include a fair amount of ranged attacks, so even though you have beautiful Melee defense, they are going to whittle you down.
I'm also going to revisit what you mentioned about the balance between Recharge and Endurance, or to simplify

The things you should have happening/be thinking about are -
Accuracy AND Defense
Endurance OR Recharge

With all of this said, the things I'd recommend are bring Oprressive Gloom back in, drop Soul Transfer for it, after all, if you need Soul transfer, you've got the balance wrong. Now I used to hate soul Transfer, with a Passion, mainly because with only a single acc enhancement it never, ever hits, But, double or even triple that accuracy 9wiith global bonuses or extra enhancements) theres no reason it shouldn't stun a whole mob. A stunned mob can't hit you, the amount of defense you get from that is incredible.

the other thing is, don't chase extra recharge, you definitely don't need Hasten. the combined damage of Death shroud and Quills is already pretty impressive. And Spine Burst, Throw Spines & ripper will do far more mob damage if you take the time to line them up. And do take your time, because you'll have the damage auras and OG affecting all around you while you do. The end result is you do MORE damage, and move through enemies quicker than spamming them when they pop. It will also help your Endurance management in a big way (the build you have does not have nearly enough End recovery for the recharge you have available)
So yeah, drop Hasten, Web Grenades and Soul Tranfer
Get Oppressive Gloom, Conserve Power, and, idk, Assault?
because frankly, everything else you have going on, is very beautiful indeed.

Anyway, I've babbled enough, below is the Spines/Dark farmer I use, it out paces the better slotted fire/kins I know, and is a whole lot of fun on the wall in cimerora, it was also cheap (theres a set of Armageddons planned to go in Spine Burst, mainly because of the proc, but the cost of everything else was less than 400mil)

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>| Copy &amp; Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1411;709;1418;HEX;|
|78DAA5935B4F134114C7677BB1405B4AADBD50285028D7968 53E797B304A31C1D00|
|44179529B5A06BAB26E9BDD6AEC9B1FC0274DF409B904509F BDC76FA27E13C57A2E|
|D386C44737EDFFB73BE77FCE9C9DD9293E290484787A4568B D0B66D9714A6B15BB5|
|CAF4BDB5B2C6F1995F8AA6C5A72F1B1612E983547368A356B 5B364B0B3E2144B46D|
|2D15A529A57EF391619ACE4067B42037A5E548BD50B6B74B5 7ED87353BBC6455A52|
|DAD86DEBE09ACD46AA67EDD6858D271F8615996EB86B51554 91AD6A039E42EDD086|
|B49DAA510F2FD68D8A7EADB6D12C15CB4E43DACD0474340DF F5D6C8DAE96576C022|
|6C54C95F18090DB66A408B369C234666994E51671B8498940 8C31A5A1219F21ECF9|
|940DAA6B2DB884EB947691F69CD219F0BB95DFDD720991179 E5F8CDF8433278C3F8|
|42E34E7C53E64795596F71D45FA8E194784B1378C43C2DC5B 4216B27CFC0E9A2F27|
|70A8374D388048B7AAD77DC0911DC2D03E638F30B2CB784DC 841969FEB093F2F931|
|786826A283846AE180C85D4CA85BE5323233F09E91F848913 81EBE8035F58F9C2EB|
|1A46CEDE66DCA0A58D2D11BAC01751BEC80BAA70EE25E3159 77D4E88832FCAEFE48|
|AF2BC319E37C1F31E8221CE85BC715EFA042F6F927720C93B 30C83B30C83B300B59|
|FDB4C52D4F7F82EC4311C26C941127CCC50847601F502B3BC 0938C71D90C4F92E1E|
|A199E798627D1212BC5ADB952BC45E921C204E3180CC3AAEC F0171A9AFCCCF8C478|
|4F98FEC8F840D0206B94B3C4287D7E6E1819579FC4387F121 33CDF1AF433A5966F2|
|ACB551879860752B3AAC7EC7980C72D728AF9286D5C182CBA AAAE53488839C57988|
|CDAB5EE6935471D0D33999F0C3F696FF1959F174CE97E0F33 5ECE99CCCFFBABE06D|
|A75BA577B406FA1AC8068EB787707E52ECA3D9432CA7D8C56 F0AEF52DD0EE347401|
|1BBA887209E532CA3334F9FC207E94004A10A5172584D2871 24189A1245176505A7|
|F0196F91F33|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre><hr />

And Good luck, and happy hunting!

[ QUOTE ]
Might want to consider a primary other than Spines if you don't want enemies running from you. Or skip Quills. It's very annoying.

[/ QUOTE ]

Again, speaking from experience, Quills and Death Shroud is an awesome experience, they do far, far more damage than you may think.
But the single best thing you can do for a Spines/Dark is Armaggeddon's in spine Burst, with the Chance for Fire Damage.
When faceing of against minions and Lts the combination of simply having the wot damage auras running, then going into the middle of the mob and hitting Spine Burst, then following up with Ripper will drop pretty much everything. I say pretty much, because occassionally there is someone still standing, and and you're right, they generally get so scared they run, but then that's why you've got Throw Spines and Lunge, Which are both ranged anyway.

The single best pleace for Spines/Dark though, is the Wall in Cimerora, you can use Throw spines to aggro, and then they will run INTO your damage auras, by the time the last of the mob gets close enough to be in range of spine burst the first few will have already dropped from nothing more than the combination of the initial Throw Spines, and that suprisingly high double damage Aura damage.

it's late here, and I'm probably not describing the glory of these moments well enough, and its times like this I wish I'd bothered to figure out demorecord, but trust me, its awesome, and if using lunge to hit the occasional runner is the price, then it's more than worth it.

fair call,
lots of global acc was the solution I used, but it definitely isn't the only solution
At the end of the day though, if you give it only one Accuracy enhancement, you're doing it a disservice, so give it 2 or 3 Acc SOs, bump your global acc, whatever, just make sure that it will hit as much as possible.

[ QUOTE ]
Ummm.... OG is standard accuracy. You only need the extra accuracy if you actually take Cloak of Fear, and really, that power is just so completely gimped when compared to OG that I'd only take it if I have Fears to stack with it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sure, OG does have standard accuracy, but speaking from ingame experience, I didn't notice it contributing heaps to my survivability till my global accuracy became huge as well, it definitely needs more than a single Accuracy Enhancement slotted.
That was my ingame experience anyway.

The important thing was that Spines/Dark is hella fun and an instant AoE god.

okay, I'm going to say straight up that my favourite for AoE damage is Spines/Dark, its truly insane against minions or anything white (or yellow)
With that out of the way,
Dark Armor is around the middle for survivability, relies on its heal heavily, and also needs extra accuracy to buff whichever mez aura you take. You'll also need to get a KB protect IO to fill the gap. It's not a bad set (theres no such thing for scrappers) but those are its issues.
Fire Armor? Well, I honestly haven't tried it, but have been meaning to roll an MA/Fire and call him "Super-Gimp" after all, they're the two least liked of the scrapper sets, so . . . .
Shields? They are AWESOME!! but they're not cheap, don't bother unless you're prepared to spend a billion inf on it (there are better sets for an all SO build) but yeah, the AoE potential of Shields is huge!
Anyway, I'm still voting Spines/Dark based on what you asked, but if you've been gone a year AND have some spare inf in the wallet, go Shields, it's the new black.

I've played it with both ATs,
As a set? Well, it's not Granite, heck it's not even Invunerability, but it does give you that delicous Damage Aura and Shield Charge. Which makes for a very high damaging Tank.
A Scrapper will always do more damage though, and the Tank will always be more survivable.
It's also easier to hit the softcap on a Tank, (and therefore cheaper)
So at the end of the day, do you want to take damage or deal it? then check your wallet and let that be the decider.

Congratulations!
even if Bobcat is one of the easier AVs, she is still very tough, and has that annoying MoG to worry about.
Remember Katana has Divine Avalanche, include that in the chain to stay at the melee soft cap.
Other than that, Aid Self is very useful for the defense based sets. (VERY useful)
And the biggest single tip I can give is Slot an Achilles Heel proc in at least one attack, it's way better than any damage proc when you're talking about AV fights.

As for Pain Level? Well it'll vary, Most of the Praetorians can be put down easily enough in under 10minutes (I say most because this depends entirely on your build, some will be nigh impossible and I've seen Vids posted of almost hour long fights against some of the even tougher AVs) the key here is patience, and an almost compulsive addiction to hitting the same attack string for the whole fight.
Truthfully, I'm to impatient to comtemplate an hour of mashing 1-2-3 repeat, (but I'm in awe of those that do) but I have done the Praetorian AVs on both my Dark/Inv and BS/SD, (and about to try again with a Fire/SR) and it's having done them with Defense based set that I'm strongly suggesting you take Aid Self (trust me the AVs will get lucky and when they do get 3 consecutive shots in, and well, that will be enough to drop you, which is annoying if you'd gotten them down to 20% health when they get lucky)
Anyway, hope my ramblings help a little,


Edit - Dang, phone rang while I was posting, thought I was going to be first reply, doh

Claws/Regen - sure it's cliched, but its a heck of a lot of fun, its very quick, with lots of damage, with a great balance of AoE and single target (my first 50 was claws/regen)

Regen is also well complimented by the Parry of Broadsword or Katana (and QR goes well with BS too)

Oh heck on second thoughts, they're all good, so just roll em all.

By coincidence I'd just been playing with a Fire/Shield in Mids before coming here, anyway, Below is what I had.

It's not a cheap build, and will need the Gladiator unique to hit the softcap, but includes Aid Self and should be able to seemlessly chain GFS-Inc-Crem-FS.
(and as an added bonus, with AAO saturated, should approach 300DPS, which is insane)
Also has slightly more Endurance to work with, but is definitely going to rely on Conserve Power, anyway, offering it up for comparison, hopefully you'll be able to steal from it liberally,

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>| Copy &amp; Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1413;682;1364;HEX;|
|78DAA593CB6F12411CC767D9A5C81B44A0A5A5D84AE555683 9F94A34D16A5253122|
|2DA83B6C52D0CB04A800007BD7950131F274DF4E4CDE79F60 FC4FD4FF442BFD3D66|
|498D4737F0FDCCCEFC5EF39BD9CA830D9F108F2E092D70A56 B8E46F55A63680E067|
|2E8AC986DABE16D594359AF752CD96DBA8410097BB95E915D 294BD72C397CC8E3D4|
|746943B6646F244BEC66BF86377B1D3994BD71C91EF8AAFD7 E17428C7B7234E2972|
|D690EAC5EDBAF56DA9DF1F4AD229B56C3EAC9F0D581D5285D EE3721AF391A43FE59|
|282C07FFC758213D13A7A8033222B64798DD61EC12127718B 7091E3F40232F439C0|
|118BA70D88CC24259CCAC0AC4DA041EF1C4A5CC218B2669E1 64936132EE1296F619|
|0D8217B2E89CC5A1ABE8864DCEE20313279BE8CE3479CD308 E31CA5CC65328C0A50|
|A707D7290C11782E733E303C1F791F19EE087E86EF612EE02 057242142F2714DE22|
|4DB960CAAF9AE1BF0883A4086C5375815B84D0A6864D0B5D2 7C4C03CC841F5E077C|
|A73FC07E327217F2030C633B00BAB92C342A795DF64B0FA8B 71C0F843284E7857E0|
|15510D89BCA5A913AF186F08B1D784206C2DAA69B48F28F75 203D7B8DA6D9C8EED3|
|9CCCCA912E6EED366D3F7181DC2E936A3C5B0083A78CDAB12 E6E3D48F8518234D1D|
|58CC120CB04BAAE34D72098BEA746DBE0093942A2055A0C29 732845379469691731|
|C292E0C7B5B565ECBDC960CB72CC30DCC70E772DCB91C3737 005E2B9A87B6BFB244|
|8192903ECB818C2CDFA71C23CF28CE1F450ACC0BAA810536A 841E8124F394A7C83D|
|6FE421C7CD695C13A9F7F992F45992FC58231FD40E187A7B2 F5CF4CD5987E5E42A3|
|999431FD40FFEBF9EAB373B96F606B6EA25441B46D1CEDA0E CA2ECA198B8B08FD2A|
|03E7E9B7A07CF6241E750CEA35C407989462E2F8817C587E2 4709A0045142281194|
|184A02E51DCAE41026690256|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre><hr />

okay, for the OP, the build is good. But on the invunerability side of things, you really want to push the smash/lethal defense as high as you can, combine that with your 70% S/L res and you'll start wondering if you need a Tank at all, and asking if you can slot the Taunt into the character.

At least, that's been my experience of /Inv. And heck, if you can drop SJ for the Taunt, do it, and then Tank on ITFs, cos seriously, you're survivability will be in the stratosphere.

Below is my own /Inv build, I'm not saying its better, it just illustrates the benefits of the Kinetic Combats, anywho --&gt;

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>| Copy &amp; Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1411;690;1380;HEX;|
|78DAA553DB521341109D4D362E978424DCEF0941082117A0C A2A2F2828A25528C14|
|89427151718219A0A71372879F3037CD22A7DF2432C3F4D31 76F799A4CAF2D12D38|
|672EA7674E77678AE79B61A53EAC2BABEF6ED5F5FDFDF2A1E 7D6EBDA7376DCC699E|
|756ED4DD77BE328A5C6DA3BFB455DD5BAC0EB18263B3B9BFA 95AEF9BAB0557B7756|
|AD69CF3DA8542B8D667CAB76A23D5D6B14DA8370E9F4B45AB 85F69D4B4EFF7C8A45|
|CD7FA2862D68F4F1A95DA3154DBDAADD3247EAF5E392C6C9C 1E35F78BAEDFD05E73|
|945C65E8DF637BF2B5422A1B506A4505E6852EA54119A1AE0 59026E5945AE5284BA|
|22C95531205F21DB341E7592D89E95141A19F320BFF025D08 8DFF16BA4951419C17|
|08E2207B8DC8561DBE4592102476E891C592CB255011B4233 4FF50E88CE48EF1E14|
|4836C7ABA1FF49816536A665768B60C2A098528A41B97A8EE BCF848D1522F0E0AF4|
|6665A9EF2F5A2341C4D42202EFD3A075DA899AACA2CB3448A BD8157117334939A48|
|89BA4E20F44D1BF05DA13E1E05324B566B1F52E920F401E1C F82A951BFC2434FC05|
|F459E82DE986E0D91E4266E3C87311592FA206F997E2F336C 9478CCF9111B969141|
|9183A27C198B4B5151A4353D3686A1A4D4DA3A9193475114D BD43511396440526AE|
|72C24135D9E621C9CB72F832D47BAA459F6AD24AC2F42D01E B49984DC27A1289CCB|
|C166733E8C10645A54C615217F2139DC50D991868502848BA 3993E91C729B37AD58|
|325CA6BC1660C05AC0E92BA0F7149C3555C8A20A39A49F43D E3954218FD2E451856|
|18A2A982B0B26FBA536C3A34D92652359365B2B6D8664D2EE 3C53FAE3426DFFB352|
|B23B4F4F59B292B03BCFF4BFBEEFE1F65DDDBB3D844F184A0 4D61E8F9E313CE7E90|
|B1EB93C3A6038E469EB47273A7A8D0D5D67B8C1B0CAF09145 0E3FB15E86304384A1|
|8F21CA1063186018661867F8C6D0FA037EB4F818|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre><hr />

P.S. - Werner is a clever guy, heed his advice, the man knows his numbers in a crazy mixed-up kind of love kind of way.

So I've got a Spines/DA,
And I LOVE my Spines/DA,
So I'm going to vote Spines/DA!

Why?
Well, theres only one reason to opt for spines, its for crazy AoE damage, and the issue with any Defense based set is that enemies still have a minimum 5% chance to hit you, so if you enter a mob of 20, which is not unlikely on a Spines, at least one from the mob will hit you, and you'd be surprised how quickly those "lucky" hits build up.
With Res, sure you get hit, but it's slightly more manageable.

Now, the Thing about DA as a set, and what makes it so good to compliment Spines, is that it offers a mix of Def &amp; Res, while offering a Mez aura, and Mezzed enemies cant hit you.

Now my personal experience with it as a set is that it offers less survivability than most other scrapper sets, and seems to rely heavily on its heal, but thats based on the SO slotted version of the set

But, if you've got some inf to pour into it, it opens a world of possibilities. Oppressive Gloom is a nice power IF you have a large accuracy bonus (but incredibly Meh at low acc). The Def can be pushed pretty high with a few set bonuses, and all that resist is nice to. And slot that heal right, (Theft of essence proc) and it will actually GAIN you endurance.

The other thing about spines, as a set, is that it really doesn't need a lot of +Rech, some sets demand it, but spines not really, because the auras do a lot of damage all by themselves and its very easy to chain a good attack chain.

And yeah, concerns about Endurance are valid, but its really not as bad as you may think. You are going to NEED Conserve power, but the gap while its down is pretty manageable (and its another reason you dont want to crazy on +Rech)

Anyway, below I'll post the build I've been using, it is a phenomenal machine of death and carnage, and a joy to farm the cimeroran wall with (pretty meh against EBs, AVs and such though) and i hope its some help anywho,

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>| Copy &amp; Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1400;700;1400;HEX;|
|78DAA5935B4F135110C7CFB65B2AB4A594D20BE526D7DE177 8125063543041A9A22|
|88989DAACE5402BB56D766B226F7E009F34D127E412407DF6 1EBF89FA4D14EB5C4E|
|9B181FDDB4FFDFEE9C9939736676738FE7BD423C3927B4CE8 B65D3B6F32B05CBACD|
|5A4E5CA991BA5425BEEDAD52B0BB7DD42885073259F936529 8DEB8F4AE5B2DDD7B2|
|CECB7559B1A5316F5A9BF9F3D6C3AA1558AC14A5252B75A37 9E35DAE56CBC6A552B|
|D226D9B1F96A4592B55367C6A65A35887277F73694D5A76B1 540B2CD44A05E34275|
|6D2B9F33EDBAB4B6A2505112FE3B581A5D0D97D8044C8BE10 784D175C2589191762|
|026538424466914E51411B819108E30630C10177A8290023F 8DFD5C9A7062A8DEA0|
|0C6D3F19BF08DE6342D76FC22E4439554DCEB3643A39C3986 5CC1186CF30D254611|
|AA25CBC97E61A26537F86B0072B6E95CFFD96624EBC611C10 3A0E19475CCC6BC23E|
|84B4ABA8F66D4A34B84398D825645E11B2FB8C3D820BA23C5 C85F064C9E406934F3|
|5CBB7AAA1A9F316E33275A96B9190053F3F75B5A1FB43D4AC B11EC24498108F30A2|
|8430B80754DAC0B1C0E6777FA3CABBBF13FA7FF019C12FA8F C822FC9D4F38CF1821|
|07E4E3800BF909A5588A713E6E944793A519E4E8C0718E371 66202AA2CE1BE1AE1F|
|82A95735AE976346394396D34E72DA69CE30CDF90C88EAE34 48EBE416EB702A7D5D|
|C7844DE69A001973802CB90DA68E83339C53F1292EF09A90F 8C778C4F0427448DA8|
|F764845F9051DE41879571B5327E0AA03BC584E20AD49AE0B D1C097EE1927F2102C|
|169E590E6CE67781C191E47001C0C75402344F39FA4E470A7 3699029729D5CCA918|
|BFC27AEBFB841F9E7AE91FCBB2AE3E46B0686419D25BDFE77 F5D5FBCCDBDDA6F748|
|0DE4459465945B9837217E51E8A89721FA580D2F8DA8AF6CF 6041B3287328A7519E|
|A293DB03E241F1A2F8503A51FC285D284194304A0C651BA5F 107618702E8|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre><hr />

Spines?
Well, my current favourite Scrapper is a Spines/DA, because it has truly outrageous mob owning potential, of course, its got about buckleys chance of taking out an AV solo, still it can clean the wall in cimerora like nobodys business.
So yeah, thats why Spine is prolly rarely mentioned here, it is the king for AoE, but it's ST dmg is lacking.

PS - Yeah, I wasn't dissing your build werner, just noting that it was heavily ST oriented, and would consider at least one AoE or cone a must for any group play

My first Billion plus build was a BS/SD, so yeah, I'm going to second it, ridiculous amounts of damage, can solo AVs easily enough (though you'll want to squeeze Aid Self in for that) and the level of AoE damage it can put out is suprisingly high.

Which is going to lead me to mentioning Werner's build misses both Slice and Whirling Sword, which are going to be a must if you head into AE for big boss mishes.

Below is my build (sort of, a respec is pending) but I've used it a few times for AE boss mishs and it is devastating,
Anyway, not perfect but here it is
(oh and you can prolly guess what goes in the empty slot on True Grit, which certainly catapults it into the 'very expensive ' range.)
--&gt;

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>| Copy &amp; Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|MxDz;1408;704;1408;HEX;|
|78DAA593496FD34014C7C759EA6671DC34DDB734DD9350B70 124BA08904A412A6AA|
|48A400FD0D6729369621A25511275E1C407E0C4014EDC583F 02E2C4D700BE098B79|
|CBA42071C44AFEBF9979CBBC791EE7CF36A3423CBD29B4D8A DAAD36AD98562D3693|
|464339877CA6E51DF75AAC7F6C9655D0831D231D9795995D2 DA68D69D925D38AD37|
|4BC90BD3A63C92B596B40A1557564B9D697CAB56914D596B5 B9D4174A75EAF5A77D|
|C764DB65A119E54DD72A56D28030CDD5AD9A4D9B6744AB2D9 AAB88DF8ED865BB436|
|EAA5733BEFB4DAB2793E0495A5E16F6389F4784191F509911 3BE39C602219061A40|
|95D9F0109113620405351610D2DE118C32444230C83D0D34F 884094C6517EED1A20|
|E0175D6CEAEE63F4101C28CAAF8AF27BB4F1002E00BED36CE 827E30761E417E110A|
|2822A2AF8812D6F0863EF19AF09136F19EF7C5CA2103A17E5 D30761302E963C7844|
|6E46A0BD08594374562F18B201F362E28090DA27CCEC11E61 E311E12821015E15A4|
|4649A128560C950A737BED2DEB12F8C6FBEBFBA644041A60A 35B314AA43689C4303|
|F15DF2EA7DC0B8ABE1767D5B8C1B547F37B827D44E8997947 BEE3961FE056392D24|
|AF0EB570DEBE7FECE73B7D3DCDF34F737CD4DCF709B4DA86F 905EA32706D58B8544|
|C39CC837CC67CAF009337CB4237018553B8D1ED3E6978E186 5C663C2E238836F994|
|FC7D37027C6D95286A5A44A94BC4EB9275718AB8C35426A9D 81FD4B8838943CA5A2|
|A69E50A2E973C619E3943073C2E0AEC7206A561D7436454B7 ED87E415D9685AB74F|
|6C565C2D21542001CB2CA21ABAEF892628E9BD50B2E16BB08 8BD316A0F7CB5C9FB6|
|CC9BE71863818BCF137E782DB7FF59D909A86F1156345A49F EF1F9AFE763B493277|
|42F0C7A1F650744DBC5D11ECA3E4E0F70E4E0E810A588E27D BA883657B0A0559435|
|9475946718A3E347124189A21828311413A50725813280328 2F20AC5FB0D449FFC1|
|7|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|</pre><hr />

Kat/Inv?
Sure, I see no reason that couldn't be up there in the realm of godliness.
The reason i suggest /Inv, is because with a few IOs (Kinetic Combats being a good pick) it can easily reach both the Smash/Lethal Defense AND Resist Caps, which is some ridiculous survivability right there.
And I'll let Werner extol the virtues of Katana.

[ QUOTE ]
Primaries that I've never heard of anyone using for AV soloing: Martial Arts, Spines, Broadsword

[/ QUOTE ]

Ditto on the "I've used Broadsword to take down AVs"
my Broadsword/Shield has pulled it off a few times,

But I've had far more consistent luck on my DM/Inv, who has yet to die against an AV (the BS/Shield has a few times) but has also ran into the occasional stalemate due to lower DPS (from what I hear it was just poor luck watching Shadowhunter self-heal so many times, and apparently everyone has trouble with Dominatrix)

At the end of the day though, it depends how dedicated to AV soloing you want the character to be, making a highly focused AV killer isn't overly hard, just expensive, and requires a lot of trade-offs for other kinds of play (ie skipping your AoEs &amp; travel power, compromising your low lvl attack chain)

So to it might be important to think about how much your wishing to spend and how finely focused you need the character to be.