Reyne_Maker

for the OP,

you'll be fine with /Inv, more than fine, it's recently got a little love and is incredibly survivable, my /Inv is honestly the first scrapper I've had where I've gone "hmm, maybe I should pick-up Taunt?" - it's that good.

sneak peak dedication of the first of these that will appear in the scoop

Thors Assassin Smackdown

And yeah, not happy with the colours, but, its up, and its out there, whats a poor hero to do?

Not so much a guide, but more the build I've been using,
As good as capped for smash/lethal def/res, can seamlessly run MG-Sm-SL-Sm, never has any Ebd worries, and has just generally been hella awesome.

Ok, so could use more AoEs, but is the first Scrapper I've ever genuinely thought about picking up Taunt on, and thought about dropping Conserve power to get it (which should say something about how good the survivability and End management has been)

Anywya, the build I've been using -->

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
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

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: Conserve Power -- (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

a special public thankyou to all those that responded,
i have something cute for Thor's Assassin coming in the first week of July, and then some other special treats,

-thankyou

So, as some of you may be aware, I do the Hecktic Life Carttons for the City Scoop.
Which means coming up with an original joke each week, so, heres the offer,

I will do fanart of your characters, if you send me
a- Reference images of your character
b- an accompanying joke.

Now remember, the Hecktic Life is a gag-strip, so the jokes the important part, so it needs to be something that works visually (and is preferably CoH related)

And in exchange, you get some dedicated fanart of your character,

So please, PM me with your character reference and a joke, and you could see yourself showcased in the Scoop.

And Thanks,

Phalanx Fighting shows up kind of funny in Mids (automatically assumes one ally in range) Theres a way to fix it, but it always sounds so complicated, so, click Phalanx Fighting off, and just add 3.75% to your AoE, Melee, and Ranged Defenses.

End result, yes, you're short on Melee Defense, but with the Recharge you've got, Parry will be part of your attack chain, which will keep you well above the softcap, and very much out of harms way.

PS - And yes, you really do want to drop FA for Conserve Power

I probably should have elaborated more, I know where the difference in the two builds is,
With DM I've slotted the 'Theft of Essence' Unique into Siphon Life, so the attack chain Sm-SL-Sm-MG actually sees me often gaining endurance.
(Then theres added benefits such as Dark Consumption)
It was pretty cheap to pick up the proc to,

Meanwhile, with my Fire/SR, I haven't had an End Hog that bad since my last Broadsword toon, and sure Hasten and Conserve Power are beautiful things, but it will get REAL cosy with the bottom of your blue bar while you wait for CP to recharge.

Not trying to throw a cat among the pigeons, just saying that DM might be a better choice for a budget build, as it will negate most Endurance worries, and includes the heal of Siphon Life.

A word of warning - Fire/SR is deadly on your Endurance,
(and it will take a little spending to get around that)

Still not as expensive as a tricked out /shields though.

One suggestion I would make, that keeps within a low budget, is -
DM/Inv.
(I've had far less endurance problems with this than my Fire/SR, and the total build (sans purples) was under 400million. )

As someone with a Fire SR, the End cost is Ridiculous,
(and I'm pretty sure it's not SRs fault )

So I'd prolly suggest /WP so you can add in QR

Though on the defense side of things, you're right, it is based on luck, there will always be a few hits that do get through, if they're a few hits all at once it can be very painful, but throw in Aid Self, and its VERY nice.

I'd put the Hecatombs in Smite, the proc fires twice as often that way

Werners pretty much hit it on the head, but he also makes the basic assumption that its so that you can go solo and hunt AVs.

But what I'd suggest is taking a bit of time early on, perhaps even before rolling the character to think about where you want the character to shine.
large mobs of minions? Spines/Dark (or fire)
AV killer? DM/SD
ITF? go /Inv
Hami raids? get the Flight pool.
and so on, and so on.

It's important to say that there are no bad scrapper sets, but they can go together a lot of different ways, and some compliment better than others.
Likewise some sets are obvious about where they should go, others not so much (ie Shields should aim for the positional softcap, but what about DA?)

And at the end of the day it comes down to a mix of just playing the sets, getting a feel for them, and tailoring not only to the strengths of the sets, but with a strong view for where you'll be using them most.

It's mostly what I've done, and I've made a fair few mistakes along the way, but then I'm not a huge numbers guy, and mids just won't tell you how things will play out in the game (some things, like Oppressive Glooms effect on survivability, just aren't easily quantified) So it really is best just to get out there and try stuff.
you won't always get it right, but then thats the best chance to learn (and why there are so many Respecs available)

But yeah, overall, it all starts long before you begin the slotting, and is more about understanding the sets underlying strengths, and doing the best to build up the strengths they have, while covering any glaring holes.

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I think it's rather interesting that even the "easiest" AVs are stoppers for us without IOs (thus far). I'm certain other ATs can solo AVs with only SOs

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If by 'interesting' you mean sad and thematically wrong, then yeah. If other at's can solo av's without IO's, you would think the at that was supposed to be the best soloing at should be able to do it.

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Can other ATs really solo an AV with only SOs and no temps/insps??

But yeah, given that very soon, we'll see the prolification of Brutes Hero side, I'm thinking its time scrappers got a little love in the damage department.

I've got a 50 DM/Inv, which is the reason I suggested Kinetic Combats, it's what she uses.
over 40% smash/Lethal Defense, over 70 S/L Resist, so comparing it to a granite tank is pretty close. and yeah, that's what I'd focus on, it's the sets strength after all.

F/C is never a problem (I guess cos its paired with S/L mostly, but havent looked to hard at the combat log, just know she shrugs it off with ease)
And E/N is something to be wary of, but only rarely, and again is mostly shrugged off,

Of course the Psi-hole will still be big enough to drive a truck through.

It comes down to what enemies your facing most,

On an LGTF, expect chain Dying, on an ITF, expect to outlast everything else, including any non stone or inv tank.

Which is all a roundabout way of saying, focus on getting as much Smash/Lethal res/def as possible, don't worry about the rest.

Kinetic Combat IOs are your friend.
Only 4 will get you a massive Smash/Lethal bonus (so still 2 extra slots for added awesome on any power)
A few of those and you'll be up there with Granite Tanks for any smash/Lethal foe in the game (ie most of them)

When all is said and done it's probably cheaper and easier than chasing positional defense and using Makos

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I have a fully io'd DM/SD and i rarely have it run out of end now mind you i am fighting in crowds of 54 ae bosses its too bad i cant solo the mobs alone.

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Spend Two Billion on it, then you will

A few things,
-Your AoE defense is low, fill out your 2 Blessing of The Zephyr sets to raise it
-This would then make Acrobatics a waste, so you can drop it and
-Take Oppressive Gloom (by swapping out Acro or Soul Transfer)
-Spines Burst will benefit WAAAYYY more from the Armageddon's than Quills, you'll get more from the proc, and be able to control when it fires.
-Cloak of Fear has hideously low Accuracy, so you may want to beef that up by putting in the Kismet unique somewhere (CJ?)
-And finally you WILL be constantly looking for Endurance, so 4 slot Stamina, and include the Performance Shifter Proc

On a side note, the benefits you get from Purples on Spines Dark aren't as big as many other builds, (especially if you get the Obliterations first) so if cost is an issue, I'd make the Ragnaroks the first to go (Positrons Blast is comparable anyway)

Anyway, just my 2 inf,

On Survivability.

There is no such thing as a bad Scrapper Secondary.
I've played every secondary to at least the mid 30s and i've done most of that without using mids, and by mostly guessing as I went along.
And I made mistakes. A lot of them. So I've managed to end up with some pretty gimped scrappers, it had nothing to do with the sets themselves, but more about how I'd slotted them, point is -
All scrapper secondaries can be very weak

But, the game has respecs available, and generally, after trying a set "Raw" and learning those lessons the hard way, I'll open up Mids, or look around here on the forums at other builds and respec my poor scrapper, and more often than not put the focus on survivability and what i'v found is -
All scrapper secondaries can outperform Tanks.

I can't count the number of times my scrappers have saved stoopid tanks, And Dark Armor is no exception.

So Dark Survivability numbers - -
* With tough added, he has over 50% Smash/lethal res.
* With a few IO bonuses he has over 30% positional defenses.
* Dark Regeneration is the games single most powerful heal.
* And it has mez auras in the form of CoF & OG,

Which is an awful lot of suvivability, tons of it.

So yeah, the survivability the set offers sghould never be the issue, it's more abpout what else it offers, to put it in simple terms,
DA has Death shroud for extra damage. It will also be more expensive to 'trick' out (but it's worth it)
WP has Quick recovery and need never, ever worry about blue, and is actually LESS survivable at lower levels (though pulls ahead in the late game)

hope that helps

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But OG's Endurance drain is almost non-existent.

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Perhaps, but Spines/Dark overall
(theres more than a tray full of Toggles to choose from, and I can't help but choose to run them all)

Okay, I have a lvl50 Spines/Dark and the reality is, they're End Hogs, but they're also fantastic damage machines, and be made to be just as survivable as any WP scrapper
(Give Oppressive Gloom some +Acc love and its amazing, I previously dissed it in the past but OMG)

It's not an expensive build, but does have the miracle, numina & Performance shifter along with a few set bonuses for +End, along with Conserve Power.
He needs them.

In mids, it shows me as 2.2End usage a sec, and 3.3 Recovery p/sec,
The reality in general play though is it isn't that bad, most of the powers (Throw spines and spines burst) have long cast times anyway, and are usually enough to flatten 90% of a mob, after that you spend so much time running after stragglers or to the next mob, that your blue bar has plenty of recovery time.

And like i said, Dark can be hugely survivable, my guess, considering how quickly it chews mobs up, probably better than WP (as you'll forever run out of RttC bait)

I can post the build if you want,
But yeah, if you're leaning towards Spines /Dark, do it.
Oprrecsive Gloom and Cloak of Fear should be second nature to you, and you can rip through minions quicker than fire/kins.
don't worry about the End, but pack blues, and don't worry about survivability, you'll have a ton.

The only one she gives for PJ Accolade that Tina doesn't is Anti-matter.
And he's at the end of her arc as well, I'd suggest advertising in the global badge channels for anyone who might have it closer.
(I also tend to announce doing iot in advance for this same reason, hes a [censored] to get if you miss him the first time round)

In the past I'd been dismissive of Oppressive Gloom and Cloak of Fear.

But today, I used a Respec to give Oppressive Gloom another try.

It's a cheap build, but has the Kismet IO, and a little global acc bonus. The thing is though, to do this, I traded of some of my defense, and yet, with OG running, it is VASTLY more survivable.
So i'm guessing I just hadn't given it enough love with +Acc previously.
End result = I'm loving it.

So i take back any bad things I said about OG, it is AWESOME, and I'm loving it

(Now if I could only solve the end issues )

Thankyou for the Hecktic Life Love.
It's YOU that makes it all worthwhile.

Okay, so using my (rather Expenseive) /Shields for comparions, who has well slotted Health, and the 2 regen uniques, she gets a full heal in 81seconds.

Mids show it as about 285%, ingames numbers show about 1.5%

End result? shes very tough and survivable, able to solo through most things, BUT, she is also vunerable to that "lucky shot" phenomenon. As a defense set only 5% of hits will land, but that means sopme get through. Usally that's not a problem, but make that 2, 3 or 4 "lucky-hits" in a short time period, and she'll go down like a hungry hobo that dropped a donut.

AVs are still a little tough for her without having a geen or two 'just in case' so you'd still need Aid Self for that, but anything else, and you're going to be fine.

hope that helps

Thankyou, both of you, thats pretty much what I was afraid of.

(and sorry for confusinon with my post, I'm aware it rolls the 'tohit' individually, just wasn't sure how to phrase the whole question so it made sense)

Thanks again guys

A quick question on damage procs in damage auras.

I've heard people say that it has a "chance for" every 10 seconds, but is the "chance for" rolled every time an enemy comes within range (for that enemy specifically) or is it just every 10 seconds, regardless of the number of targets in range? (and then rolls for each target, at once, on that 10 second mark)

The resaon i ask is because I'm thinking of doing a big overhaul on a Spines/Dark, putting the 3 possible 'chance fors' in both of the damage auras (but saving the Armageddon proc for spines burst)
the thinking here is, run into a mob, and then at least one should fire straight away, (if not more) and I can follow up with Spine Burst and they should all fall down.

But if it's every 10 seconds, regardless of when targets come within range, then this might not be a good idea,
(it's no good if it automatically fires just before I engage the mob, and then a full 10 seconds later, when there's only stragglers left anyway)

Anyway, does anyone know how this works?