Screwloose

Quick search for threads with the word Patron in the subject didn’t turn up anything.

There is a good info source for Patron powers at City of Data (link in my sig), look under Epic powers.

regards, Screwloose.
"I am not young enough to know everything."

Well if you can remember what to do with ED then Denmans I3 DM SR guide still looks pretty good to me.

And the last post has a link to an I7 SR guide which will be up to date and any I6 or later DM guide will give you that half of the combo.

A little thought should allow you to take the info for each powerset and combine them effectively.

regards, Screwloose.
"I am not young enough to know everything."

Shadow Poisons I7 guide will be up to date as far as I8. Just drop Hasten and SuperSpeed and take two powers from the Leaping Pool.

regards, Screwloose.
"I am not young enough to know everything."

Gratz on 50, mine was somewhat similar, soloing a mission in the Shadow Shard.

For interested readers would you like to post your final build?

regards, Screwloose.
"I am not young enough to know everything."

City of Data now includes numbers for all Ancillary and Patron power pools.

regards, Screwloose.
"I am not young enough to know everything."

Have you looked in the Corruptor guides and faqs thread at the top of the Corruptor forum? It has several Sonic and Cold related guides that should give you a good idea what to pick out of each set.

If you had detailed questions I would suggest posting them in the Corruptor forum. Often roughing out a build and posting it for comment is a good way to get some tips.

regards, Screwloose.
"I am not young enough to know everything."

Build Up is another possibility. Increasing the damage that your Spine Burst and Death Shroud do will shorten the time the Critters you are fighting live and lessen the amount of damage you take.

Regards, Screwloose.
“I am not young enough to know everything.”

Nice guide.

Probably worth mentioning that almost all players find DA unplayable without Knockback/down resistance from either Acrobatics or Hover.

I would put in a good word for Throw Spines though. It does more Damage than Spines Burst and has larger Debuffs. It covers an area large enough to get all the Critters in a Spawn in the positions you find them standing in and it recharges fast.

The way I try to maximise my AE damage on a normal pack of Critters in their initial standing position is by carefully choosing my line of approach and by queuing my attacks.

Try to pick a Critter on the far side of the Spawn with equal number on either side of the line between you and the targeted Critter. Close in to a comfortable distance just outside aggro range. Hit Build Up, Follow and queue Throw Spines. You will fire Throw Spines at the maximum range and if you have the furthest Critter targeted you should cover most of the pack of Critters. As soon as you see the Throw Spines fire off hit Spine Burst. This should get Spine Burst to go off just before you get to the target Critter, again getting a good proportion of the pack in the AE.

If you have Death Shroud and Quills running at the same time then hopefully that will leave you with either a pack of KO’ed Critters or give you just a little clean up to do.

Cloak of Darkness is a fairly situational power, if you can avoid the situations it would be useful for then you can not take it with little downside.

Cloak of Fears 5% To Hit debuff is actually pretty good for an AE power on a melee character, but as a total package I find CoF a little under powered. If it hit a little more often or Cowered Minions and LTs like the Brute version then I would be more excited about it.

Oppressive Glooms Stun is Mag two so unless you have additional Stun Mag from somewhere it will only Stun Minions. On the other hand Minions will be 50%+ of the Damage in any Spawn so that is still very useful. Also two DA Scrappers with Oppressive Gloom will make a Mag 4 Stun which will Stun Bosses, mmm gravy train.

Regards, Screwloose.
“I am not young enough to know everything.”

Updated my Dark Armor Overview to cover up to Issue 8.

Linky.

regards, Screwloose.
"I am not young enough to know everything."

Spines DA builds from Pre I3 to I8.

I hadn’t wanted to really concentrate on builds in my ramble, but I get PM’s every so often asking me what powers I took, so here is some more about that.

Screwloose – the pre I3 build that I took to level 50.

Archetype: Scrapper
Primary Powers - Melee : Spines
Secondary Powers - Defense : Dark Armor
Slot[01] Level 1 (Starting Primary) : Lunge /Acc, End, 4xDam
Slot[02] Level 1 (Starting Secondary) : Dark Embrace /End, 5xRes
Slot[03] Level 2 : Death Shroud /Acc, End, 4xDam
Slot[04] Level 4 : Spine Burst /Acc, 5xDam
Slot[05] Level 6 : Hasten /6xRecharge
Slot[06] Level 8 : Build Up /2xRecharge
Slot[07] Level 10 : Impale /Acc, Range, End, 3xDam
Slot[08] Level 12 : Obsidian Shield /End, 5xRes
Slot[09] Level 14 : Super Speed /Run
Slot[10] Level 16 : Hurdle /Leap
Slot[11] Level 18 : Health /Heal
Slot[12] Level 20 : Stamina /6xEnd Recovery
Slot[13] Level 22 : Quills /Acc, End, 3xDam
Slot[14] Level 24 : Dark Regeneration /Acc, 2xEnd
Slot[15] Level 26 : Cloak Of Darkness /End, 4xDef Buff
Slot[16] Level 28 : Ripper /Acc, End, 4xDam
Slot[17] Level 30 : Cloak Of Fear /Acc, End, 3xTo Hit Debuff
Slot[18] Level 32 : Throw Spines /Acc, 5xDam
Slot[19] Level 35 : Oppressive Gloom /Acc, Disorient
Slot[20] Level 38 : Whirlwind /End
Slot[21] Level 41 : Recall Friend /Empty
Slot[22] Level 44 : Teleport /End
Slot[23] Level 47 : Swift /Run
Slot[24] Level 49 : Teleport Foe /Empty
Slot[25] Level 1 : Brawl /Dam
Slot[26] Level 1 : Sprint-Prestige /Leap
Slot[27] Level 2 : Rest /Recharge


My goal after I had chosen Spines and Dark Armor was to see how well they worked with a minimum of Power Pool reinforcement.

I liked the look of all the Spines powers, except Taunt (now Confront) as I didn’t want to be that sort of Scrapper, and I decided that I could probably do without one of Barb Swipe or Lunge.

All the Dark Armour powers looked pretty useful too. Except that I decided changing between 3 non stacking shields would probably be a pain, so I would drop Murky Cloud and just live with the pain of that decision. Soul Transfer also was never in my plan as I dislike self rez powers.

I had a pretty tough time of it from levels 20 to 30. After level 20 I found it not worth while to turn off ObShield as there was so often some minion that would have a chance to Stun me taking down all my toggles. Shortly after taking Cloak of Fear I noticed someone posting about the strength of it’s To Hit debuff and gave it a go, after one mission it had become the foundation of my tactics vs Bosses.

Once I got OpGloom I hardly ever turned it off and it made my life much easier, nullifying a huge proportion of the minions that I faced after that.

My power selection after 35 was pretty much just filler powers. By that time we had some indication that the APP were coming so I didn’t want to take anything that I would like so much it would be hard to drop, and I still wanted to see how well Dark Armour could protect me without something like the Fighting pool.

It also probably helped me because I didn’t put any slots into those powers so my earlier powers became very heavily slotted, something I wouldn’t be able to do once I was taking APP powers at 41+.

As it was I enjoyed TPort and Swift so much that I decided to drop Superspeed and Hurdle and change to TPort as my movement power.


Screwloose – post I3 respec, with Stacking Shields and Darkness Mastery APP.

Archetype: Scrapper
Primary Powers - Melee : Spines
Secondary Powers - Defense : Dark Armor
Slot[01] Level 1 (Starting Primary) : Lunge /Acc, End, 2xDam
Slot[02] Level 1 (Starting Secondary) : Dark Embrace /End, 5xRes
Slot[03] Level 2 : Spine Burst /Acc, 5xDam
Slot[04] Level 4 : Death Shroud /Acc, End, 4xDam
Slot[05] Level 6 : Build Up /Recharge
Slot[06] Level 8 : Hasten /6xRecharge
Slot[07] Level 10 : Impale /Acc, 3xDam
Slot[08] Level 12 : Recall Friend /Recharge
Slot[09] Level 14 : Teleport /End
Slot[10] Level 16 : Obsidian Shield /End, 4xRes
Slot[11] Level 18 : Swift /Run
Slot[12] Level 20 : Quills /Acc, End, 2xDam
Slot[13] Level 22 : Health /Heal
Slot[14] Level 24 : Dark Regeneration /Acc, 2xEnd
Slot[15] Level 26 : Stamina /6xEnd Recovery
Slot[16] Level 28 : Ripper /Acc, 4xDam
Slot[17] Level 30 : Cloak Of Darkness /End, 3xDef Buff
Slot[18] Level 32 : Throw Spines /Acc, 5xDam
Slot[19] Level 35 : Cloak Of Fear /Acc, End, 3xTo Hit Debuff
Slot[20] Level 38 : Oppressive Gloom /Acc, Disorient
Slot[21] Level 41 : Murky Cloud /End, 4xRes
Slot[22] Level 44 : Petrifying Gaze /Acc, 2xHold
Slot[23] Level 47 : Dark Blast /Acc, End, 2x Dam
Slot[24] Level 49 : Tenebrous Tentacles /Acc, Cone Range
Slot[25] Level 1 : Brawl /Dam
Slot[26] Level 1 : Sprint-Prestige /Leap
Slot[27] Level 2 : Rest /Recharge

This is a Respec build from 50 so order of the powers is less important, until I am Exemplaring.

Trying to get Hasten, a movement power and Stamina all in early does push back powers that I would like to take as soon as they are available. I would like to be able to do without Stamina, as I have on some other characters, but even I found the drag of End too annoying to deal with as a Spines Dark Armour.


Screwloose – the Post I6 Respec Build (adapting to ED). Still currently in use.

Name; Screwloose
Archetype: Scrapper
Primary Powers - Melee : Spines
Secondary Powers - Defense : Dark Armor
Slot[01] Level 1 (Starting Primary) : Lunge /Acc, 3 x Damage, End Red
Slot[02] Level 1 (Starting Secondary) : Dark Embrace /End Red, 3 x Res
Slot[03] Level 2 : Spine Burst /Acc, 3 x Damage, End Red, Recharge Red
Slot[04] Level 4 : Death Shroud /Acc, 3 x Damage, End Red
Slot[05] Level 6 : Build Up /3 x Recharge Red
Slot[06] Level 8 : Impale /Acc, 3 x Damage
Slot[07] Level 10 : Obsidian Shield /End, 3 x Res
Slot[08] Level 12 : Recall Friend /Interrupt Red
Slot[09] Level 14 : Teleport /End Red
Slot[10] Level 16 : Dark Regeneration /Acc, 2 x End Red, Heal
Slot[11] Level 18 : Quills /Acc, 3 x Damage, End Red
Slot[12] Level 20 : Cloak Of Darkness /End Red, Def Buff
Slot[13] Level 22 : Swift /Run
Slot[14] Level 24 : Health /Heal
Slot[15] Level 26 : Ripper /Acc, 3 x Damage, End Red, Recharge Red
Slot[16] Level 28 : Cloak Of Fear /2 x Acc, End Red, Fear, 2 x To Hit Debuff
Slot[17] Level 30 : Stamina /3 x End Mod
Slot[18] Level 32 : Throw Spines /Acc, 3 x Damage, End Red, Recharge
Slot[19] Level 35 : Oppressive Gloom /Acc, 3 x Stun
Slot[20] Level 38 : Murky Cloud /End Red, 3 x Res
Slot[21] Level 41 : Petrifying Gaze /Acc, Recharge Red, 2 x Hold
Slot[22] Level 44 : Dark Blast /Acc, 3 x Damage, End Red
Slot[23] Level 47 : Tenebrous Tentacles /Acc, 3 x Damage
Slot[24] Level 49 : Hover /3 x Fly
Slot[25] Level 1 : Brawl /Acc
Slot[26] Level 1 : Sprint /Run
Slot[27] Level 2 : Rest /Recharge Red.


Okay this is my current power selections and slottings. I have to say I was slightly surprised when I looked at them because I have done a few things that I would normally advise people against, but not so much that I have bothered to use my I7 Freespec to change anything.

This build is tailored towards efficient fast repeating waves of AE damage while keeping solid performance vs single targets.

Stamina. I usually say Stamina is not required for any character, but that if it makes the character less un-fun for you then take it and that is pretty much what happened here. As Screwloose was my first strongly levelled character I followed the main stream wisdom and wedged Stamina into his build, it also helped that I could identify 3 relatively early powers that I knew I didn’t want to take.

I have tested without Stamina and it is possible, but it requires a lot more toggling on and off and frankly that just gets to be a pain in the posterior. Since Murky Cloud has become such a useful power I lost one of my 3 early droppable powers and so Stamina comes in to this build later, but still in time for Sirens Call.

Murky Cloud I gave a lower priority not because it is a lesser power but just because you have to stick something at the bottom of the list. It is well worth while to get in before level 40 as it’s End Drain resist is almost as valuable as Obsidian Shields Psi resist vs level 40+ mobs, maybe even more.

I took Darkness Mastery because I am a tactical tool junkie and it gave me a lot more interesting tactical tools to play with. Petrifying Gaze reduces the number of mobs I am facing and lets me help shut down Bosses quicker with other Hold throwing Team members. Dark Blast replaced Brawl on my hotbar (Yes, I was Brawling until level 44), gave me another Ranged attack and an attack that wasn’t Lethal damage. Tenebrous Tentacles just looks Cool and is an additional wave of AE damage to add to my opening AE volley.

I took Hover at level 49 because there wasn’t much else I really wanted and I thought it might be handy in the “soon” to be released top level PvP zone.

Note this build has no KnockBack/Down Protection for most of it’s levelling career If you want that then you are going to have to try to get Hover in earlier or change to the Leaping pool and squeeze Acrobatics in as well.

What Powers should you take.

Well I think all the Dark Armor powers do what they do reasonably well. I have personal reasons for not being excited about a couple, but overall none of them are total duds.

IMHO you will want at least all of the Resistance shields and either Cloak of Fear or Oppressive Gloom to construct enough threat mitigation to be a viable Scrapper.

Death Shroud adds End effective DPS to any Scrapper.

Dark Regen is a great oops power for when you get hit hard early in a fight.

Cloak of Darkness is a good Stealth power, which if you chose Dark Armor for concept or theme reasons is something you would probably want, it stops you getting Immobilised as easily and it gives you a small amount of Defense as a bonus.

And Soul Transfer is a quirky Self Rez that if you want one will probably do the job for you.


Slotting.

Powers generally need to be slotted well to function well and most of the Dark Armor powers follow this rule.

I would suggest that you -

Slot anything that needs to roll to hit with enough Accuracy Enh to be close to the Hit Chance Cap vs whatever you usually fight. That is one Single Origin Acc on most powers if you fight mostly level+0 and level+1 Critters and two Single Origin Accs if you fight mostly level+3 and higher Critters or PvP. Cloak of Fear needs one more Acc due to its horrible base Accuracy.
Slot all Resistance powers with 3 Resistance Enh.
Slot powers that primarily do damage with as 3 Damage Enh.
Slot any toggle (except Op Gloom ) with an End Reducer.

Death Shroud I would slot like any attack, I prefer 1 Acc, 1 End and 3 Damage.

I would recommend at least 2 End reducers in Dark Regen, you might want to put 3, and an Accuracy.

Cloak of Darkness leave with an End reducer in the base slot, don’t slot unless you have nothing else to slot.

Cloak of Fear you will need about +100% Acc to hit anything reliably. You can slot 3 Single Origin Acc Enh or get Focused Accuracy. Or forget it.

I have found that Oppressive Gloom functions well for me with only 2 slots, Acc and Stun Duration.

Soul Transfers primary ability will work probably just as well without slotting. If you are getting KO’ed enough to be thinking a lot about how you are slotting your Self Rez power then I suggest you may have other problems you should be concerned about.


Endurance Costs.

Toggles cost End. But Attacks cost more.

The best source of End cost numbers I know is Red Tomax's City of Data Site. Note the End costs for Toggles are in End per tick so you have to divide by the Tick time to get End per second.

Putting an SO End reducer in any power will cut it’s End cost to 75% of base. The larger the End cost the larger the End saving.


Summary.

Dark Armor gives you a pretty varied and interesting set of tools to keep your Scrapper upright and kicking [Bleep]. It has powers that work by messing the Critters over before they can mess you over. It gives you the opportunity to take a Stealth power without using a power pool. Dark Armour has rare and interesting Resistances to Psi damage, Fear and End Drain.

What doesn’t it have? Dark Armor doesn’t have resistance to KnockDown/Back. This drives many players crazy. Personally I find KD/B to be more of an annoyance than an automatic death sentence, but if you are already pushing the bleeding edge then any disruption to your combat actions can result in a KO.

The two easiest ways to mitigate KD/B are Acrobatics from the Leaping Pool and Hover from the Fly Pool. Both are toggles with some End cost. Hover doesn’t stop you getting KnockedDown/Back, but it does eliminate the need for you to struggle back to your feet, which is about 95% of the disruption a KB/D hits you with.

Dark Armor has no passives. Everything is a Toggle or a Click. This means if you want an effect you are paying End for it. Working out which powers you need to get through a fight and just using those is a part of learning how to use Dark Armor effectively. As I said earlier my general rule of thumb is if I am finishing fights with high HP and low End then maybe I can consider turning off a toggle.


Primaries.

Finding synergies between your primary and secondary is something that can give you a lot more bang for your buck. In no particular order:

Spines – Offensive AE and Defensive AE, what could work together better. And the Spines Recharge Debuff will add to the control powers of DA to make you an even better oblique defender of your teams squishies.

Dark Melee – the funky powers primary and the funky powers secondary, sounds good. The Fear and To Hit debuff of Touch of Fear and Cloak of Fear stack, all good. Dark Consumption can help offset your sometimes out of control End costs.

Katana and Broadsword – Mathematically To Hit Debuffs and Defense work really well together, making Divine Avalanche/Parry and Cloak of Fear a synergising combo. Also I can sort of see a tactic using Cloak of Fear to pin a pack of Critters then Broadswords high single target damage to KO them one at a time while their friends look on horrified, could be slow and boring but might be safe.

Martial Arts – MA’s Stun will stack with Op Gloom to make you a Stunning machine.

Claws – can’t see anything particular good, although if you get Follow Up running permanently it should give a decent boost to Death Shroud as well.


Pool Powers.

Pretty much whatever Pools you liked for your other characters you will like for your DA Scrapper.

Hasten doesn’t add much to DA as most of the powers are toggles not clicks so Recharge isn’t really an issue.

If you find you like having Stamina on other characters then you will probably feel some need for it on your DA Scrapper. If you don’t like having to manage End then I would recommend that you keep Stamina in mind, if it doesn’t worry you that much then you may be able to do without.

Fighting. IMHO DA provides you will all the defensive options and capabilities you will need to survive most reasonable fights. If however you want to fight Critters greater than level+2 with some security or to solo spawns meant for teams of more than 4 players then some additional threat mitigation would probably be worthwhile and the Fighting Pool provides it.


Movement Powers.

Many DA’s end up in the Leaping Pool to get Acrobatics and fill Dark Armors lack of KnockDown/Back protection. If you really hate getting knocked down then this might be for you.

Super Speed is another popular choice. Since many Scrappers take Hasten it is easy to take another power from the same pool and the Aggro reduction from Cloak of Darkness stacks with the Aggro reduction from Super Speed to make you practically undetectable to normal Critters. Some Critters, like snipers and Rikti Drones will still see you, but you can bump right up to normal Critters and they won’t see you.

Fly and Teleport are probably less taken, but if you like them as movement powers there is nothing wrong with them and other than the IMHO minor things mentioned above there is little to recommend any particular movement power to a Scrapper so chose something you are comfortable with.


Auxiliary Power Pools.

See my Scrapper APP's; A brief overview.


Good Luck and have Fun.

Regards, Screwloose
“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Dark Armor Overview for Issue 8.

The following is an overview and commentary regarding the Dark Armor powerset. It is entirely my own misguided opinion. I must acknowledge the great debt I owe for anything of worth in this document to the many wonderful and insightful posters in the Scrapper forum and the many robust discussions fostered there.

This will be a largely qualitative rather than quantitative guide, if you want numbers and slotting suggestions for any Scrapper Secondary then you should have a look at BuffyASummers Scrapper Secondary Info in I7.

Dark Armor is a varied powerset providing a good base of Resistance powers and a number of other threat mitigation and utility powers with a bit of a controllerish edge.

Dark Amor has a reputation for being End intensive, which is not entirely untrue, but which has been somewhat reduced by a general cut in the End costs of powers following I5 and which can be further reduced by careful use of the right power at the right time. My basic rule is that if I am finishing fights with lots of HP and no End then I was probably running too many threat mitigation toggles.

I would recommend any serious student get as many views of a powerset as they can, (the Scrapper guides and faqs thread is a good place to start) and as long as you keep in mind the changes to the powerset as summarised below any Dark Armor related guide will be able to give you ideas.

As always I would advise people that the point of making a character is to have fun, my idea of fun is almost certainly not exactly the same as yours and you should be guided by your own sense of what will and won’t work for you at least as much as what some bizarrely named internet forum non-entity has to say.


Dark Armor Changes.

For those already familiar with Dark Armor I include this summary of the significant changes to Dark Armor over the last few Issues (3 to 8).

The only important changes to Dark Armor IMHO are to Cloak of Darkness and Cloak of Fear.

Cloak of Darkness becomes not a great return for slots since I5. The power is still not bad, but a Single Origin Defense Enhancement gets you 0.75% additional Def, so not a high priority for slots.

Cloak of Fear has been nerfed a couple of times. Currently it only Cowers Minions, it hits a level+0 Critter 50% of the time and the To Hit debuff was reduced (from 25% to 10% and currently seems to be 5%). IMHO it is line ball as to whether Cloak of Fear is worth the End cost to run and three Single Origin Acc Enh only give an 85% chance to Cower level+1 Minions, leaving you with three slots to Enhance the To Hit debuff or cut the sizeable End cost. If you are not prepared to 6 slot it then don't take it. If you are planning on running Oppressive Gloom, which will stun all the Minions anyway, then Cloak of Fear also becomes fairly lack lustre.

Changes which are interesting, but are unlikely to affect your choice of powers or slotting:

All toggles can be run simultaneously.
Dark Embrace gives Resistance to Toxic.
Murky Cloud protects from End Drain, this is actually quite nice. Fire and Cold Res reduced slightly. Energy Res reduced a bit more.
Obsidian Shield protects from Fear.
Cloak of Darkness gives Immobilise resist and increased Perception vs other Stealthed characters.
Soul Transfer got a couple of improvements, but not enough to change anyones mind who was or wasn't going to take a Self Rez power.


The Powers.

Dark Embrace - Resist Smash, Lethal (Very High), Resist Negative Energy, Toxic (High)

You get it at level 1 and it is not a bad level 1 power. Dark Embrace provides quite reasonable protection vs the most common Damage types in the game and some protection vs Neg Energy and Toxic. Three slots of Resistance and maybe one of End reduction should be your target, not ahead of slotting your attacks, but soon.

Death Shroud - Negative Energy Damage (Minor PBAoE DoT)

Available at level 2 this power does damage to all Critters in melee range to you.

While it has a reputation as a high End cost power for an AE Attack Death Shroud is not unreasonably End heavy for an offensive power. It does damage equal to the average Scrapper Primary PBAE attack over a period the same as the recharge of the PBAE and for less End.

Running Death Shroud early in a fight means that Critters you engage towards the end of the fight will take fewer single target attacks to KO and Critters that might have hung around on a sliver of HP attacking you and your team will KO possibly without you ever having to target them.

Death Shroud can be hard to run continuously at low levels, but will always give good value for End whenever you are in melee with 2 or more Critters. Like any power once you can slot Single Origin Enhancements it really comes alive. I would slot it pretty much like I do any attack, currently I am running with an Acc, an End and 3 Damage.

Death Shroud is a good addition to any Primary. It adds AE damage to powersets that are lacking in it, ie Martial Arts and Dark Melee, and adds Neg Energy damage to powersets that deal out the more often and more strongly resisted Lethal Damage, ie Spines, Claws and the Swords.

Murky Cloud - Resist Fire, Cold (Very High), Resist Negative Energy, Energy (High), Resist Endurance Drain.

Available at level 4 this provides good Resistance to a wide range of damage types and Resistance to Endurance Drain, which is very handy at higher levels.

This is a power that you should take and slot. I would recommend 3 Res Enh and maybe an End reducer, but you don’t have to hurry to get them in, late 20’s is fine. While the majority of damage in CoH is Smash or Lethal some factions of Critters do use high percentages of non S/L damage. And in the level 40+ range some use entirely non S/L damage.

You could even skip Murky Cloud, but I would recommend getting it before level 40 for protection vs the very annoying End drains of some Critters.

Obsidian Shield - Resist Psionics (Extreme), Resist Stun, Sleep, Hold, Fear (High)

The primary Status Effect resistance power for Dark Armor. It becomes available at level 10 and you will probably find that between level 16 and 18 the Tsoo will make you want to take it.

It gives you a good base Resistance to Psi damage, which is rare, but handy to have when you come across it. Worth slotting up eventually, but you can wait until the late 30’s to get them in.

Dark Regeneration - Negative Energy Damage (Minor), Heal (Very High)

Available at level 16, but hard to use effectively until you can get a few Single Origin Endurance reducers in it. Dark Regen costs 33.8 End per activation so is a bit of a pain to use without at least 2 End reducers in it. However once you can get the End cost down a bit it becomes a great power, especially for when that opening volley of damage drops your HP bar to Red.

Dark Regen returns about 30% of your HP for each Critter hit. This means that it is a good idea not to miss, that it works pretty well vs groups of Critters, and that unless you want to try to use it vs single Critters slotting Heals is probably not worth while.

IMHO the base recharge of 30 seconds is short enough for any reasonable fight, but if you are prepared to spend the End being able to use Dark Regeneration more often gives you some powerful threat mitigation.

Cloak of Darkness - Stealth (Moderate), Melee Defense, Ranged Defense , AE Defense, Smash Defense, Lethal Defense, Fire Defense, Cold Defense, Energy Defense, Negative Energy Defense, Psi Defense, Resist Immobilise, Increased Perception.

Available at level 20 if you want a Stealth power then take this one. It provides basic Stealth, resistance to Immobilise powers and an increase in the range at which you will see other Stealthed characters.

The Base Defense for Cloak of Darkness was lowered significantly in I5 and slotting a Single Origin Defense Enhancement now gives around 0.75% additional Defense, IMHO not a good return. Cloak of Darkness is still a good power for what it does, but I would slot other powers first if I was looking for threat mitigation.

Most of what Cloak of Darkness does can’t be enhanced and the things that can be enhanced don’t give great returns so you can probably delay slotting it until you’ve got nothing else interesting to slot.

Cloak of Fear - Mag 2 Fear PBAoE Aura, PBAoE Accuracy Debuff (5%)

Available at level 28 Cloak of Fear is one of the main unique powers that Dark Armor gets, and while not the game changer that it use to be can still be used effectively if well slotted.

Cloak of Fear pulses every 5 seconds with a base 50% chance to hit level+0 Critters in melee range. Each Critter hit gets a Mag 2 Fear effect for 7.45 seconds and a 5% To Hit debuff which lasts 5 seconds. If the Critter is a Minion the Fear will cause it to Cower stationary and if damaged the Minion will retaliate about once every 10 seconds. LT’s, Bosses and more powerful Critters will not Cower unless they are hit with another power that puts a Fear on them, but do have their Accuracy reduced.

I use to be a big fan of Cloak of Fear because it was so Dark Scrapperish and possibly because it was overpowered. I have several issues with the current version.

Firstly I like my Threat Mitigation powers to be reliable. When I turn on Focused Fighting it always gives me an increase to my Def, when I turn on Temporary Invulnerability it always gives me an increase in my Res. When I turn on Cloak of Fear I pay a pretty heavy End cost to get a chance that Critters near me will be less of a threat.

Secondly I feel there is a now too much overlap between this power and the next, Oppressive Gloom. Cloak of Fear use to affect LT’s, which Oppressive Gloom doesn’t, and it use to have a significant effect on Critters that it didn’t Cower and now it doesn’t. Basically if you are running Oppressive Gloom then the extra that you get for the quite high End cost of Cloak of Fear is IMHO not worthwhile.

On the other hand some people don’t like Oppressive Gloom because the Stunned Critters will wander sometimes moving away from melee range.

If you want to use Cloak of Fear and have it reliably hit Critters then you will want to find 3 Single Origins worth of Accuracy for it. If I was going to try to incorporate Cloak of Fear into my build as a major source of threat mitigation then I would probably slot it 3 Acc, 2 To Hit Debuffs and an End. At the moment I have CoF slotted 2 Acc, 1 End, 1 Fear and 2 To Hit Debuff and use it occasionally, generally in larger teams.

Oppressive Gloom - Mag 2 Disorient PBAoE Aura, Self –HP.

Available at level 35 Oppressive Gloom is Dark Armors other Critter control style threat mitigation power. Oppressive Gloom has a low End cost, a very minor HP cost and is effective without a lot of slots. A single Acc can make it perform strongly; I prefer an Acc and a Stun Duration.

Oppressive Gloom stuns Minions that come into melee range. I think this is great. Some people don’t like it because Stunned Critters can tend to wander away, but while they are wandering they aren’t attacking and I often find that if they do wander far enough to get out of the PBAE they will take one ranged shot at you then run back into the OpGloom field and get stunned again.

From level 35 onwards Oppressive Gloom will save you from a lot of Damage. Whether you are solo or in a team a large proportion of the incoming Damage from the average Spawn of Critters will come from the Minions and Oppressive Gloom will stop about 80% of that. And like all toggles in those situations where it isn’t helping you can turn it off.

OpGloom is particularly good for Martial Arts Scrappers as the Stun will stack with the Stuns from their other attacks.

Soul Transfer - Neg Energy Damage (Moderate), Heal (Very High), Endurance Bonus (High), PBAE Stun, Special Temporary Invulnerability and Special Temporary Debt protection.

Available at level 38 this is a Self Rez. Personally I am not thrilled by Self Rezes and this one is a bit quirky, as suits the Dark Armor powerset.

You can only use Soul transfer when there are Critters nearby. Sounds Bad. Using it throws a strong PBAE Stun and makes you temporarily immune to all damage. Sounds Good. That temporarily immune to damage thing, it doesn’t always work. Sounds Bad.

Issue 5 added a period of grace from Exp Debt to all Rez powers and inspirations to encourage people to try to get back into fights and not just lay on the floor until the fight was over then get up. I believe for Soul Transfer that period is 20 seconds.

Not a bad guide, a couple of comments.

I would recommend slotting attacks with multiple Acc at low levels. When you can slot Single Origin Enhancements one SO Acc will get you to the Hit Chance Cap vs level+0 Critters, but when you are slotting DO or Training Enh it will take more than one and being near the Hit Chance cap is the best thing you can do for an attack. Missing wastes End and gives Critters more time to defeat you. And if you want to fight level+3 and higher Critters or PvP a lot then 2 SOs worth of Acc is worthwhile.

Second I am not sure the second End reducer in the resistance toggles is worth while unless you have done everything else you can to save End. The DA Resistance toggles cost 0.2 End per second. A Second SO End reducer will save you 15% of that, or about 0.03 End per second. That means over a minute you would have an extra 1.8 End, not enough to make a single extra attack.

Regards, Screwloose.
“I am not young enough to know everything.”

APPs are like Power Pools that you can only take at level 41 and higher.

If you check the guide to guides thread in the Player Guide forum you will probably find a guide to APPs in general and there is a link to a short overview of Scrapper APPs by me in the Scrapper guides and faqs thead.

regards, Screwloose.
"I am not young enough to know everything."

Sounds like you are well on the way, I would recommend looking at Obsidian Shield as you are going to be seeing a lot more Stun, Sleep and Hold attacks as you get higher level.

Good Luck.

regards, Screwloose.
"I am not young enough to know everything."

Not a bad guide to playing with some safety, but I would refer to it more as corner pulling than Herding.

Typically in most MMO situations Herding suggests larger numbers than are found in a single spawn and in CoH/V once you have a medium or larger sized team there is very little point gathering more than 2 Spawns of Critters as your half your AEs won’t hit all the Critters and if you get more than 17 your Tanker won’t be able to hold the aggro on them.

Using LoS to concentrate Critters and allowing the Primary Tank to establish the Aggro is good tactics, but the limits placed on AEs and the hard Aggro cap of 17 Critters sort of makes Herding in CoH/V a little anemic.

Regards, Screwloose.
“I am not young enough to know everything.”

You can’t buy Enh of any kind over level 50. You have to get them as loot from Critters. Different Critters drop different Origins of Enh. Defeating an AV or Hero will get you a random SO Enh of your Character’s Origin three levels higher than the AV or Hero.

Regards, Screwloose.
“I am not young enough to know everything.”

Thoughts of a Level 50 Spines Scrapper I1 to I7.

regards, Screwloose.
"I am not young enough to know everything."

Spines DA builds from Pre I3 to I6

I hadn’t wanted to really concentrate on builds in my ramble, but I get PM’s every so often asking me what powers I took, so here is some more about that.

Screwloose – the pre I3 build that I took to level 50.

Archetype: Scrapper
Primary Powers - Melee : Spines
Secondary Powers - Defense : Dark Armor
Slot[01] Level 1 (Starting Primary) : Lunge /Acc, End, 4xDam
Slot[02] Level 1 (Starting Secondary) : Dark Embrace /End, 5xRes
Slot[03] Level 2 : Death Shroud /Acc, End, 4xDam
Slot[04] Level 4 : Spine Burst /Acc, 5xDam
Slot[05] Level 6 : Hasten /6xRecharge
Slot[06] Level 8 : Build Up /2xRecharge
Slot[07] Level 10 : Impale /Acc, Range, End, 3xDam
Slot[08] Level 12 : Obsidian Shield /End, 5xRes
Slot[09] Level 14 : Super Speed /Run
Slot[10] Level 16 : Hurdle /Leap
Slot[11] Level 18 : Health /Heal
Slot[12] Level 20 : Stamina /6xEnd Recovery
Slot[13] Level 22 : Quills /Acc, End, 3xDam
Slot[14] Level 24 : Dark Regeneration /Acc, 2xEnd
Slot[15] Level 26 : Cloak Of Darkness /End, 4xDef Buff
Slot[16] Level 28 : Ripper /Acc, End, 4xDam
Slot[17] Level 30 : Cloak Of Fear /Acc, End, 3xTo Hit Debuff
Slot[18] Level 32 : Throw Spines /Acc, 5xDam
Slot[19] Level 35 : Oppressive Gloom /Acc, Disorient
Slot[20] Level 38 : Whirlwind /End
Slot[21] Level 41 : Recall Friend /Empty
Slot[22] Level 44 : Teleport /End
Slot[23] Level 47 : Swift /Run
Slot[24] Level 49 : Teleport Foe /Empty
Slot[25] Level 1 : Brawl /Dam
Slot[26] Level 1 : Sprint-Prestige /Leap
Slot[27] Level 2 : Rest /Recharge


My goal after I had chosen Spines and Dark Armour was to see how well they worked with a minimum of Power Pool reinforcement.

I liked the look of all the Spines powers, except Taunt (now Confront) as I didn’t want to be that sort of Scrapper, and I decided that I could probably do without one of Barb Swipe or Lunge.

All the Dark Armour powers looked pretty useful too. Except that I decided changing between 3 non stacking shields would probably be a pain, so I would drop Murky Cloud and just live with the pain of that decision. Soul Transfer also was never in my plan as I dislike self rez powers.

I had a pretty tough time of it from levels 20 to 30. After level 20 I found it not worth while to turn off ObShield as there was so often some minion that would have a chance to Stun me taking down all my toggles. Shortly after taking Cloak of Fear I noticed someone posting about the strength of it’s To Hit debuff and gave it a go, after one mission it had become the foundation of my tactics vs Bosses.

Once I got OpGloom I hardly ever turned it off and it made my life much easier, nullifying a huge proportion of the minions that I faced after that.

My power selection after 35 was pretty much just filler powers. By that time we had some indication that the APP were coming so I didn’t want to take anything that I would like so much it would be hard to drop, and I still wanted to see how well Dark Armour could protect me without something like the Fighting pool.

It also probably helped me because I didn’t put any slots into those powers so my earlier powers became very heavily slotted, something I wouldn’t be able to do once I was taking APP powers at 41+.

As it was I enjoyed TPort and Swift so much that I decided to drop Superspeed and Hurdle and change to TPort as my movement power.


Screwloose – post I3 respec, with Stacking Shields and Darkness Mastery APP.

Archetype: Scrapper
Primary Powers - Melee : Spines
Secondary Powers - Defense : Dark Armor
Slot[01] Level 1 (Starting Primary) : Lunge /Acc, End, 2xDam
Slot[02] Level 1 (Starting Secondary) : Dark Embrace /End, 5xRes
Slot[03] Level 2 : Spine Burst /Acc, 5xDam
Slot[04] Level 4 : Death Shroud /Acc, End, 4xDam
Slot[05] Level 6 : Build Up /Recharge
Slot[06] Level 8 : Hasten /6xRecharge
Slot[07] Level 10 : Impale /Acc, 3xDam
Slot[08] Level 12 : Recall Friend /Recharge
Slot[09] Level 14 : Teleport /End
Slot[10] Level 16 : Obsidian Shield /End, 4xRes
Slot[11] Level 18 : Swift /Run
Slot[12] Level 20 : Quills /Acc, End, 2xDam
Slot[13] Level 22 : Health /Heal
Slot[14] Level 24 : Dark Regeneration /Acc, 2xEnd
Slot[15] Level 26 : Stamina /6xEnd Recovery
Slot[16] Level 28 : Ripper /Acc, 4xDam
Slot[17] Level 30 : Cloak Of Darkness /End, 3xDef Buff
Slot[18] Level 32 : Throw Spines /Acc, 5xDam
Slot[19] Level 35 : Cloak Of Fear /Acc, End, 3xTo Hit Debuff
Slot[20] Level 38 : Oppressive Gloom /Acc, Disorient
Slot[21] Level 41 : Murky Cloud /End, 4xRes
Slot[22] Level 44 : Petrifying Gaze /Acc, 2xHold
Slot[23] Level 47 : Dark Blast /Acc, End, 2x Dam
Slot[24] Level 49 : Tenebrous Tentacles /Acc, Cone Range
Slot[25] Level 1 : Brawl /Dam
Slot[26] Level 1 : Sprint-Prestige /Leap
Slot[27] Level 2 : Rest /Recharge

This is a Respec build from 50 so order of the powers is less important, until I am Exemplaring.

Trying to get Hasten, a movement power and Stamina all in early does push back powers that I would like to take as soon as they are available. I would like to be able to do without Stamina, as I have on some other characters, but even I found the drag of End too annoying to deal with as a Spines Dark Armour.


Screwloose – the Post I6 Respec Build – adapting to ED.

Name; Screwloose
Archetype: Scrapper
Primary Powers - Melee : Spines
Secondary Powers - Defense : Dark Armor
Slot[01] Level 1 (Starting Primary) : Lunge /Acc, 3 x Damage, End Red
Slot[02] Level 1 (Starting Secondary) : Dark Embrace /End Red, 3 x Res
Slot[03] Level 2 : Spine Burst /Acc, 3 x Damage, End Red, Recharge Red
Slot[04] Level 4 : Death Shroud /Acc, 3 x Damage, End Red
Slot[05] Level 6 : Build Up /3 x Recharge Red
Slot[06] Level 8 : Impale /Acc, 3 x Damage
Slot[07] Level 10 : Obsidian Shield /End, 3 x Res
Slot[08] Level 12 : Recall Friend /Interrupt Red
Slot[09] Level 14 : Teleport /End Red
Slot[10] Level 16 : Dark Regeneration /Acc, 2 x End Red, Heal
Slot[11] Level 18 : Quills /Acc, 3 x Damage, End Red
Slot[12] Level 20 : Cloak Of Darkness /End Red, Def Buff
Slot[13] Level 22 : Swift /Run
Slot[14] Level 24 : Health /Heal
Slot[15] Level 26 : Ripper /Acc, 3 x Damage, End Red, Recharge Red
Slot[16] Level 28 : Cloak Of Fear /2 x Acc, End Red, Fear, 2 x To Hit Debuff
Slot[17] Level 30 : Stamina /3 x End Mod
Slot[18] Level 32 : Throw Spines /Acc, 3 x Damage, End Red, Recharge
Slot[19] Level 35 : Oppressive Gloom /Acc, 3 x Stun
Slot[20] Level 38 : Murky Cloud /End Red, 3 x Res
Slot[21] Level 41 : Petrifying Gaze /Acc, Recharge Red, 2 x Hold
Slot[22] Level 44 : Dark Blast /Acc, 3 x Damage, End Red
Slot[23] Level 47 : Tenebrous Tentacles /Acc, 3 x Damage
Slot[24] Level 49 : Hover /3 x Fly
Slot[25] Level 1 : Brawl /Acc
Slot[26] Level 1 : Sprint /Run
Slot[27] Level 2 : Rest /Recharge Red.


Okay this is my current power selections and slottings. I have to say I was slightly surprised when I looked at them because I have done a few things that I would normally advise people against, but not so much that I have bothered to use my I7 Freespec to change anything.

This build is tailored towards efficient fast repeating waves of AE damage while keeping solid performance vs single targets.

Stamina. I usually say Stamina is not required for any character, but that if it makes the character less un-fun for you then take it and that is pretty much what happened here. As Screwloose was my first strongly levelled character I followed the main stream wisdom and wedged Stamina into his build, it also helped that I could identify 3 relatively early powers that I knew I didn’t want to take.

I have tested without Stamina and it is possible, but it requires a lot more toggling on and off and frankly that just gets to be a pain in the posterior. Since Murky Cloud has become such a useful power I lost one of my 3 early droppable powers and so Stamina comes in to this build later, but still in time for Sirens Call.

Murky Cloud I gave a lower priority not because it is a lesser power but just because you have to stick something at the bottom of the list. It is well worth while to get in before level 40 as it’s End Drain resist is almost as valuable as Obsidian Shields Psi resist vs level 40+ mobs, maybe even more.

I took Darkness Mastery because I am a tactical tool junkie and it gave me a lot more interesting tactical tools to play with. Petrifying Gaze reduces the number of mobs I am facing and lets me help shut down Bosses quicker with other Hold throwing Team members. Dark Blast replaced Brawl on my hotbar (Yes, I was Brawling until level 44), gave me another Ranged attack and an attack that wasn’t Lethal damage. Tenebrous Tentacles just looks Cool and is an additional wave of AE damage to add to my opening AE volley.

I took Hover at level 49 because there wasn’t much else I really wanted and I thought it might be handy in the “soon” to be released top level PvP zone.

Note this build has no KnockBack/Down Protection for most of it’s levelling career If you want that then you are going to have to try to get Hover in earlier or change to the Leaping pool and squeeze Acrobatics in as well.

regards, Screwloose.
"Be the change you want to see in the world."

Pool Powers.

Nothing is necessary.

If you are pursuing an AE Alpha-Volley strategy you may gain something from Hasten. You want Build Up and your AE’s recharged fast so you can use them often. Hasten does give you the opportunity to up the rate of your AE damage output in tight situations. On the other hand there aren’t too many situations where you could have laid down two AE Volleys and there still be enough targets left for a third to be worth while.

Spines has no more need for Stamina than any other powerset. If you find you need Stamina for your other characters then you will probably want it for your Spines Scrapper.


APP’s

This is mostly based on pure conjecture. I have taken the Darkness Mastery and was very happy with it. Also written with a slight emphasis on Spines DA.

I think that levelling from 41 to 50 with APP’s is much more interesting and easier than it use to be as the APP’s give you a lot more interesting choices than the regular PP’s that we previously had to fill the 41 to 49 power slots.

-Body Mastery:
*Conserve Power: self, endurance discount
*Focused Accuracy: toggle: self +acc
**Laser Beam Eyes: ranged, moderate dmg (energy), foe -def
***Energy Torrent : ranged (cone), minor dmg (smash/energy), foe knockdown

-Darkness Mastery:
*Petrifying Gaze: ranged, foe hold
*Torrent: ranged (cone), minor dmg (negative), foe knockback, -acc
**Dark Blast: ranged, moderate dmg (negative), foe -acc
***Tenebrous Tentacles: ranged (cone), moderate dmg (smash/negative), foe immobilize, -acc

-Weapon Mastery:
*Web Grenade: ranged, foe immobilize, -fly, -recharge
*Caltrops: Melee (location AoE), minor DoT (lethal), foe -spd
**Shuriken: ranged, minor dmg (lethal)
***Exploding Shuriken: ranged (targeted AoE), moderate dmg (lethal)


I think each APP offers something to the Spines Scrapper.

Body Mastery’s best offers are IMHO Focus Accuracy and Energy Torrent
Focus Accuracy gives you about as much extra Hit Chance as an SO Acc Enh and more in PvP.
Energy Torrents Knock Down will be a useful set up for Throw Spines and Spine Burst or to disrupt a pack of Critters while you wait for your AE’s to recharge.

Body Mastery’s powers will require some slotting.
If you want to use Conserve Energy as a regular tactic then you will need to slot a lot of Recharge reducers in it.
Focus Accuracy uses a huge amount of End so 2 or 3 End reducers are usually recommended.
Laser Eye Beams like any attack to get decent performance requires slotting, I try to get at least 4 slots in any attack I want to use seriously. And if you aren’t serious about an attack why take it.
Energy Torrent. Well one reason is that you might be using the attack for it’s secondary effects. If you are using Energy Torrent mainly for the Knock Down I’d still go for an Acc and a Cone Range Enh.

Darkness Mastery is the only APP I have had the opportunity to take. Petrifying Gaze and Tenebrous Tentacles are good and Dark Blast is a solid dependable attack that fitted straight into my single target attack cycle.
Petrifying Gaze will let you Hold a single Minion or LT. This can remove a seriously annoying Critter like a Sapper from the fight.
Tenebrous Tentacles is a Moderate Damage Cone, with an Acc Debuff and Immobilise, all good. TT, Throw Spines and Spine Burst then stand around while the TT DoT, Quills and Death Shroud finishes the Immobilised OpGloomed non responding Critters off, sounds like a tactic to me and TT has a very cool graphic.
Torrent not quite as useful as Energy Torrent as it Knocks Back rather than Down, but you could use it to sweep Critters up against a wall for maximum AE carnage.

Darkness Mastery will require some slotting.
Petrifying Gaze has a much shorter duration and longer recharge than the Defender version. If you want to get any Hold on a Boss you will have to slot very heavily. IMHO it is probably worth 2 or 3, I will be going for an Acc and two Hold durations.
Torrent’s low damage makes it a poor choice for slotting Damage Enh. If you are going for the Knock Back effect an Acc and a Cone Range are probably worth while, that’s about it.
Dark Blast slot like any other attack you would take.
Tenebrous Tentacles I’d give at least an Acc and a Cone Range Enh. It’s Moderate Damage should give you a decent return for Damage Enh if you can spare the slots.

Weapon Mastery’s Exploding Shuriken is probably it’s pick for Spines, although Caltrops can be useful too.
Exploding Shuriken is a Moderate Damage AE. Another AE attack to add to your Alpha-Volley, excellent.
Caltrops, well there is a reason they are still used. Drop it on some Critters they will be slowed and will spend some time trying to get off the Caltrops. The damage is a bonus. Also a power likely to have a good synergy with Op Gloom.

Weapon Mastery’s attacks will require slotting.
Web Grenade is pretty good right out of the box. Slot an Acc in the slot it comes with, nothing else about it is really worth Enhancing.
Caltrops also are pretty good as is. I’d go for Slow over Damage as the Damage is small and if you Slow them more the Critters will stay in the AE longer.
Shuriken, low damage won’t give you a good return for slots, put an Acc in the slot it comes with and leave it.
Exploding Shuriken, if you have taken this then you should be pursuing an AE Alpha-Volley strategy, so slot it up for all it is worth. I’d go an Acc and 3 Damage.


Missions and Teaming

Spines is good for doing missions solo or in groups.

I missed out on levelling my Spines Scrapper with the Difficulty slider available, but I would probably have gone for only one difficulty increase. More minions are not an issue for Spines when you are going to AE them all.

Warning about the Difficulty slider. If you want to maximise the amount of plot content you see then you will need to not increase the difficulty of your missions. If you get a larger amount of exp for a smaller number of missions then you might outlevel some mission based plot content. If you don’t care about the mission based plot content then go crazy.

IMHO duoing missions can be very good for Scrappers and Spines in particular. You can work well with almost any well played other AT. The Buffs and Debuffs from a Defender or Controller can make an enormous difference. The Critter control of a Controller or Tanker can greatly reduce the threat of Critters letting you KO them with a lot less risk. For a Blaster you can play Tanker and let them do the hard work while you take the Alpha Strike that they have difficulty dealing with. And two Scrappers can be a hoot.

As well as benefiting from your partners powers an extra person usually bumps up the number of Critters without increasing their level giving the Spines Scrapper more AE Alpha-Volley fodder. Try hitting your Find Member button and picking up a loose player. If you do then do some of their missions too, it will make them remember you fondly and get you exp without using up your missions.

In bigger groups Spines Scrappers don’t suffer quite so much from the lack of a role that other Scrappers can. You have more stuff to AE, you just have to be careful about grabbing too much aggro.

If you are the only melee in the team then you can do a decent job of Tanking as your AE Alpha-Volley will grab at least the initial agro of most of the Critters. Again this can be good unless it is too much. And the Recharge Debuff provides some protection to all your team mates by slowing the return rate of attacks.


Being Uber, Not.

Most of my Spines levelling career I picked fights with level+0 and level+1 Critters and mostly in missions. Every couple of levels I would look for some packs of +3 and +4 Critters to see where my limits were and to try out new powers and I was always happy with my success rate.

I have no experience soloing monsters or AV’s.

When grouped without being sidekicked and facing a sea of red and purple I did often get KO’ed if I drew too much aggro, but I also often got comments about how much damage I was handing out to any horde of Critters that were silly enough to pack around the Tanker.

I have no experience herding large hordes of Critters on the streets or in missions. Occasionally my regular team would gather 2 or 3 packs of Critters inside a mission to clear it more efficiently, but our desire to keep everyone involved stopped us from sitting around waiting for the Tanker to herd up the whole floor before KOing it in a single AE volley. Solo I’d much rather try to get the perfect AE Volley “strike” on a naturally standing pack of Critters than herd them into a dumpster and KO them.

I did have fun with my Spines DA Scrapper all the way to 50, probably not enough to want to do it again.


Summary.

Spines is not the prettiest or fastest Scrapper Primary.

It does not do the biggest single target Damage.

It is not always the most End efficient.

However it is very effective and can cause great carnage. You will shine against medium sized packs of Critters and provide good solid output of damage in groups.

There are several guides and faqs regarding Spines and they are all good, definitely worth tracking down in the Scrapper Guides and FAQs thread at the top of the Scrapper Forum or the Guide to Guides in the Guides and FAQs forum.


Regards, Screwloose.
50 Spines DA Scrapper Justice.
“Be the change that you want to see in the world.”

Thoughts of a level 50 Spines Scrapper I1 to I7.

Spines can be a fun and effective powerset. It is slightly different to other Scrapper powersets in that the strength of its AE attacks make it more effective against larger numbers of Critters than powerful single targets, but not so much so that it is ineffective vs single targets.

Spines got me to level 50 in a reasonable time while soloing a fair bit, doing lots of missions, story arcs and task forces and contributing to any team I was in. Most importantly IMHO it was also fun.

The following is a bit of a ramble and all MHO, but might hopefully give some people some ideas as to how to give Spines a go.

Caveat.

This ramble is written from my experience of what worked for me. Just because it got me to level 50 doesn’t mean that what worked for me will work for you. And even if it does maybe it won’t be fun for you.

Your own experience is always a better indicator of what will work for you than what some bizarrely named non-entity on an internet forum writes.

Changes since Issue 1.

Spines has remained practically unchanged since Issue 1.

There have been a couple of changes to the text descriptions of the powers, a change which meant that the Toxic DoT effects were increased by Damage Enh slotted in the attack and the graphics were amended slightly to lessen pauses for redraws which makes the attacks flow a little better.

The introduction of Toxic Resist has also had an impact on Spines, but balanced against the extra damage mentioned above it is a net win for Spiners.

Primary Powers.

All the Spines powers are good. Okay a couple might not be quite so good, but generally you can’t go too wrong taking a lot of the Spines powers.

A quick word on the two less good Spines Powers.

Confront. The new Scrapper Taunt. I didn’t take it when it was the old Scrapper Taunt and I don’t intend to take it in any Respec build because I didn’t want to play that sort of Scrapper, but if you do then it works fine.

Barb Swipe is odd and most people avoid it. I think that there is a place for Barb Swipe in a Spines build that relies almost totally on the AE powers to do damage. If you have Barb Swipe then any other single target attack makes a nearly complete attack cycle that you can use to fill in time while you wait for your AE’s to recharge. Since you are using a bare minimum of single target attacks you have more slots to throw into other things, but it seems a pretty marginal tactic to me.

After that your attacks fall into two camps. Your single target attack cycle and your AE Alpha-Volley.

You need a solid single target attack cycle. Your AE’s cost too much End to use vs single targets and take too long to recharge. Early on Brawl, Lunge and Impale will do a decent job. Add Ripper in later and you should be able to keep a reasonably constant cycle of attacks going. Don’t be concerned that your damage may seem low or slow because hopefully you will be attacking Critters that have already taken a large chunk of damage from …

Your AE Alpha-Volley. This is basically everything AE you have at maximum overload. Eventually it will be Throw Spines, Spine Burst and Quills with Build Up.

You can maximise your AE damage on a normal pack of Critters in their initial standing position by carefully choosing you line of approach and by queuing your attacks.

Try to pick a Critter on the far side of the pack with equal number on either side of the line between you and the targeted Critter. Close in to a comfortable distance just outside agro range. Hit Build Up, Follow and queue Throw Spines. You will fire Throw Spines at the maximum range and if you have the furthest Critter targeted you should cover most of the pack of Critters. As soon as you see the Throw Spines fire off hit Spine Burst. This should get Spine Burst to go off just before you get to the target Critter, again getting a good proportion of the pack in the AE. Hopefully that will leave you with either a pack of KO’ed Critters or give you just a little clean up to do. As they say in the classics, Practise well.

It costs the same End to AE one Critter as it does to AE ten Critters, so if you can survive the return fire getting more Critters into your AE’s is good, especially if you can find a faction and level of Critter that you can KO with just your Alpha-Volley. Wiping out a pack of Critters fast then moving on can be great exp even if the Critters are slightly lower level.

If a pack of Critters is too spread out to effectively AE then you can concentrate them by aggroing them then breaking line of sight by going around a corner or over a fence. They will move to re-establish a line of sight to you which should bunch them up nicely.

Quills is a power that some people don’t like, but I really do. Its damage isn’t world shaking, but it is constant and if you are getting more than 3 Critters in the AE IMHO worth while. I often find that the little hits of Quills damage are the things that KO a Critter that would otherwise have hung around with a sliver of HP continuing to attack me or my team mates. It is also important because of the Recharge Debuff.

The Spines Recharge Debuff is hard to notice when you solo a lot because you just get use to the speed that Critters attack, but vs anything that you don’t take out immediately it is effective in giving you more time between the Critters slow recharging big damage attacks.

By the time you are hitting Critters with two waves of Spines AE and running Quills over them you will be cutting their Recharge rate way down. This is a particular leveller for Spines Scrappers when fighting Bosses and other Critters that you can’t Alpha-Volley KO. It also slows down how often Critters can use powers like Self Heals, which is particularly of use vs AV’s


Slotting Spines

Generally for any attack I find that an Accuracy Enh is a good investment, then three Damage. If you are serious about an attack it should get at least 4 slots, and if you weren’t serious about an attack then why did you take it?

For your AE’s you want to hit hard and consistently, enough Acc to be near the Hit Chance cap then three Damage is my recommendation. If you want to add more then Recharge and End are both good, chose whichever is going to make the power more effective for the way you play.

If you consistently fight level+2 or higher Critters then you might want to think about two Single Origin Accuracy Enh in your attacks. IMHO minimising misses is more important than doing a little more damage so you need to slot enough Accuracy Enh to ensure you are always near the max 95% hit chance.

I found that at low levels the Range on Impale is exactly the same as many Critters agro range. So any Range Enh in Impale meant that I could get my wind up and throw off before the Critter started to react to me rather than having the Critter spot me and start to shoot back while I was still winding up. Once I was opening all solo fights with the Build Up and AE Alpha-Volley this became less important, but in early levels it gave me the option to get a solid hit on a Critter before they even knew the fight had started.

All attacks can benefit from an End reducer. Constantly cycling your attacks is the most End expensive thing that you can be doing, most attacks cost about 3 times what a self only defensive toggle costs and will save you three times the End for a single End reducer.

Quills has a high End cost for a toggle, but about half that of the rest of your attacks if you are using them as soon as they recharge. An End reducer is still good value and if you want to be lazy about turning it on and off then you could easily find a second being worth while too.

Slotting for secondary effect I generally find not effective enough to be worthwhile. If you have a few slots spare and space in an attack then you can throw in a Slow Enh (which only effects the Moment Debuff not the Recharge Debuff), but in general I find the return uninspiring.


Secondary Powersets.

IMHO most of the Primary and Secondary combos for Scrappers are workable, although some do have small synergies that can give extra tactical options.

Regen. It is often said that Spines is an End hog, if so then maybe teaming it with a powerset that has an End recovery power is good. Spines Recharge Debuff IMHO goes well with Regen. Being attacked less often, especially with a Critter’s slow recharging big damage attacks, has got to be good for Regen.

Super Reflexes. I can’t see any strong synergies between SR and Spines, but they both work as long as you take the powers and slot them reasonably so they should give you a solid combination. Again to a degree the Recharge Debuff will help SR as less swings means less chances for you to get snake eyes.

Invulnerability. There is a synergy between Spines and the Invuln power Invincibility. Invincibility makes you harder to hit and more accurate the more Critters are close to you and lots of Critters close to you is where you want to be to maximise your AE’s total damage. Other than that Invuln is a solid Secondary that will work as well for Spines as anything else.

Dark Armour. Well I got to 50 before the changes to DA as well and it is just looking better and better to me. Overall I would say that DA is still going to be a tricky powerset to use. If you like tricky then it might be for you. If you want simple and straight forward then maybe choose something else.

Many of DA’s AE effects can work well with Spines.
If you are going for an AE strategy then why not go the whole hog. Death Shroud can add significant damage particularly in the Alpha-Volley phase when Build Up is active and will double up with Quills to finish off Critters left with a sliver of HP.
Cloak of Darkness can get you closer to the Critters before they aggro on you, generally close enough that you will get Throw Spines off before they aggro on you.
Oppressive Gloom nullifies any minions within range and IMHO works particularly well with Spines as if Critters with any ranged attack (ie nearly all of them) are aggroed with Throw Spines they will start to use their ranged attack and then fall into the Op Gloom field, becoming stunned in a standing attacking pose rather than a walking pose, which seems to limit the annoying stunned wander effect.

Not really.

Spines hasn't changed hardly at all so any Spines guide will give you decent ideas on Spines. I'm currently polishing an I7 Spines overview, but I've not changed much from my I1 version.

The Gamemasters I7 DM DA guide will give you some decent up to date info on DA. I was going to redo my DA overview but I wouldn't be saying much different to what the Gammaster says.

And Red Tomaxs site will give you some good I7 numbers on powers.

regards, Screwloose.
"I'm not young enough to know everything."

Scrapper Slotting Basics by DistantDeath.

Well worth a read if you want some basic solid thoughts about the why of slotting powers in general and a basic answer on what you should slot the powers of any Scrapper primary or secondary.

regards, Screwloose.
"I am not young enough to know everything."

Woman in Black is a defeat badge for defeating Shivans, you can find them in some CoV missions and in Bloody Bay.

Beautiful was a mission badge associated with the 2006 Valentines event, if you didn't get it then you missed out.

regards, Screwloose.
"I am not young enough to know everything."

Nice update to a site that I refer people to often. When you are next updating you need to change Seaweed badge from Golden Roller to Lorenz Ansaldo.

regards, Screwloose.
"I am not young enough to know everything."