Telperion

Traps is a fun set, and effective solo or teamed. I'm not a fan of slow playstyles, and though most traps are stationary once set (besides seeker drones and FFG), you can easily follow a fast team on a trapper, and even set a fast safe pace using seeker drones to absorb an alpha strike.

I like traps for it's fire-and-forget, tactical nature; spend a few seconds laying traps, and blast away.

---The FFG with always-on defense and mez protection, creates the possibility of softcapping one's own defense with pool powers and IOs. It is a little slow to move sometimes, which can create awkward moments;
---Seekers (as mentioned above) can soak alphas by summoning them into the middle of the mob, decent -to-hit and -dmg besides;
---Acid Mortars draw aggro and can take a hit, in addition to being an excellent debuff, and easily having 2 out for longer fights;
---Caltrops and Poison Trap are good mitigation tools;
---Webnade is a fantastic single-target debuff;
---Tripmine for lawls and effective added damage if you want to take some time to set up.
---Triage Beacon is a decent regen buff...it won't wow anybody, but there's worse power choices.
---Time Bomb, why bother. Unique, but there's a reason it's not really replicated across any other set, and that is that it is difficult to use consistantly due to it's interruptable nature and timed detonation.


I am a huge fan of including stealth in some way on my trappers (either through Concealment or Speed pools and stealth IOs), as that helps me get in range for toebombing, and gives the FFG some time to catch up to me before I'm noticed. I am also a HUGE fan of planning a build so that my def is 45% or higher. It is a gamechanger for a trapper, as it is for any build.

There's my take; have fun

Though WP does need enemies in range to saturate RttC for regen, it does not need to regen health it does not lose because a foe is on it's hindquarters. This gets more true the harder the foe hits; if a WP's regen cannot meet or exceed the incoming damage, then eventually it will fall. Usually it's only the single hard targets that can do that to a WP, and Focus is incredible ST perma-kd, so i can see Shockwave being a toss-up there.

That being said, WP would have its cake and eat it too when knocking a group of foes in a way that keeps them clumped for regen. This is why i love crowd control on my mace/wp brute, it was such a game-changer. While SR could bat foes around willy-nilly solo and have little decrease in (defensive) performance, WP will lose a lot of regen that way. Tactical Shockwave use (into corners) would be a nice tool in the toolbox for a WP user.

Omg, Sandolphon's MM numpad binds:

USE THEM

they make the MM experience so much better. I ran a thugs/poison MM till the mid-40s, and i could send in the bruiser, tell my enforcers to attack, leave the thugs in bodyguard, and cast neurotoxic breath and single-target debuffs without breaking a sweat.

there is really good advice from all the posters here. I will plug Mid's Hero Designer like someone did before (http://www.cohplanner.com/). It's a really nice way to look ahead at powersets, what powers you might take when, and whenever you decide to get into it, make builds using the IO database it has.

Welcome, and enjoy!

Personally, i'd rather skip elements rather than energies, and find a spot for a winter's gift IO. End drain protection is so nice to have.

You could also skip unstoppable, as there's ways to build up your defense that makes a crash power kind of counterproductive. Though, as a brute, you can actually benefit from the massive resistance boost of unstoppable (rather than a scrapper).

Procs in Shield Charge proc on the mobs, not on oneself. I have one in my fire/sd/blaze scrapper, and i've seen them go off lots of times. I assume it works the same way on lightning rod.

Re: Hakkenden:

Higher s/l defense will make you *extremely* survivable against smash/lethal, which is often valuable. Also, a significant percentage of defense debuffs are linked to s/l attacks. With invuln's limited def debuff resistance, it's pretty important to keep the def you have.

A few things come to mind in response to your post...

1. The teams you got booted from for wanting a 'healer' probably aren't the teams you want to be on anyways.

2. On any of my buffers/debuffers, i've also found that I am an Educator. Check the powersets of the folks you're with, and let the team know how you can best serve them and they can best serve you. An example; I was on a team with my lowbie traps/sonic, a A/TA def with just glue arrow in the secondary, and a blaster with a mix of melee. The team lead was unable to find a 'healer' to their distress, and i suggested staying under the bubble, and letting mobs dance on the caltrops both the blaster and I had. We moved through missions at good speed.

3. I was going to say something here about how valuable heals are in the pre-SO game, and how they pale in comparison to buffs/debuffs post-SOs. Then I began to think even that is an overgeneralization. So much depends on team composition, how the team works together, and if the team lead is effectively tailoring the challenge their posting to the actual team they are working with.

so that leads me to...

4. Just stick with it. There will never be a 'healer' AT. Be patient, and accrue a list of global friends who have their heads screwed on straight, and then you won't have to play with folks who don't understand how the game works.

My fire/sheild's def is build on the backs of...

blessing of the zepher
a couple of eradications
touch of death
mako's bite

eradication is better over obliteration, IMO, due to it's melee def and recharge bonus. aoe and ranged def you can get from zephers.

the rest of your uniques have great homes in a fire/shield. have fun

Here's a claw/inv build i've been mucking around with. My suggestion is to try to include the body epic for survival, or, if you don't mind redraw and want more aoe dmg, use blaze.

In the body epic, physical perfection was added, which is additional regen and recovery. In this build, i put the miracle +end proc there, and slotted end mod, to give the proc some boost as well.

Edit: i know you're looking at spines/inv, but maybe this will help you out. The trick with spines is the lack of single-target attacks in which to slot kinetic combats. I've seen some builds 4slot brawl for that purpose.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Technology Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Claws
Secondary Power Set: Invulnerability
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Strike

• (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage
• (3) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance
• (3) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge
• (5) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (5) Pounding Slugfest - Accuracy/Damage
• (7) Pounding Slugfest - Damage/Recharge

Level 1: Resist Physical Damage

• (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%

Level 2: Slash

• (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage
• (7) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance
• (9) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge
• (9) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (11) Focused Smite - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (11) Achilles' Heel - Chance for Res Debuff

Level 4: Temp Invulnerability

• (A) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance
• (13) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge
• (13) Reactive Armor - Resistance
• (15) Reactive Armor - Endurance

Level 6: Spin

• (A) Eradication - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (15) Eradication - Accuracy/Recharge
• (17) Eradication - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (17) Eradication - Chance for Energy Damage
• (19) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Recharge
• (19) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance

Level 8: Follow Up

• (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage
• (21) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance
• (21) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge
• (23) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (23) Pounding Slugfest - Accuracy/Damage
• (25) Pounding Slugfest - Damage/Recharge

Level 10: Combat Jumping

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
• (25) Kismet - Accuracy +6%

Level 12: Hurdle

• (A) Jumping IO

Level 14: Super Jump

• (A) Winter's Gift - Slow Resistance (20%)

Level 16: Unyielding

• (A) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance
• (27) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge
• (27) Reactive Armor - Resistance
• (29) Reactive Armor - Endurance

Level 18: Health

• (A) Miracle - Heal/Endurance
• (29) Regenerative Tissue - +Regeneration
• (31) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery
• (31) Numina's Convalescence - Heal
• (31) Miracle - Heal

Level 20: Stamina

• (A) Performance Shifter - EndMod
• (33) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Recharge
• (33) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Accuracy
• (33) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End

Level 22: Dull Pain

• (A) Numina's Convalescence - Endurance/Recharge
• (34) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Recharge
• (34) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
• (34) Miracle - Heal/Recharge
• (36) Miracle - Heal/Endurance/Recharge

Level 24: Focus

• (A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (36) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (36) Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (37) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (37) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge

Level 26: Eviscerate

• (A) Eradication - Accuracy/Recharge
• (37) Eradication - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (39) Eradication - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (39) Eradication - Chance for Energy Damage
• (39) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (40) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Recharge

Level 28: Invincibility

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
• (40) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance

Level 30: Boxing

• (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage
• (40) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance
• (42) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge
• (42) Kinetic Combat - Knockdown Bonus

Level 32: Tough

• (A) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance
• (48) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge
• (48) Reactive Armor - Resistance
• (50) Reactive Armor - Endurance

Level 35: Tough Hide

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
• (42) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
• (43) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
• (43) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Recharge

Level 38: Weave

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
• (43) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
• (45) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
• (45) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed

Level 41: Conserve Power

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO

Level 44: Physical Perfection

• (A) Miracle - +Recovery
• (45) Miracle - Heal
• (46) Miracle - Heal/Endurance
• (46) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End
• (46) Endurance Modification IO
• (48) Endurance Modification IO

Level 47: Resist Energies

• (A) Resist Damage IO

Level 49: Hasten

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO
• (50) Recharge Reduction IO
• (50) Recharge Reduction IO

------------
Level 1: Brawl

• (A) Empty

Level 1: Sprint

• (A) Empty

Level 2: Rest

• (A) Empty

Level 1: Critical Hit
------------
Set Bonus Totals:

• 21.8% Defense(Smashing)
• 21.8% Defense(Lethal)
• 3% Defense(Fire)
• 3% Defense(Cold)
• 15.5% Defense(Energy)
• 15.5% Defense(Negative)
• 3% Defense(Psionic)
• 12.4% Defense(Melee)
• 9.25% Defense(Ranged)
• 3% Defense(AoE)
• 3.6% Max End
• 30% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
• 18% Enhancement(Accuracy)
• 5% FlySpeed
• 246 HP (18.4%) HitPoints
• 5% JumpHeight
• 5% JumpSpeed
• MezResist(Immobilize) 14.3%
• 12% (0.2 End/sec) Recovery
• 102% (5.7 HP/sec) Regeneration
• 20% ResEffect(FlySpeed)
• 20% ResEffect(RechargeTime)
• 20% ResEffect(RunSpeed)
• 5% RunSpeed

what are your build goals?

It'd be very solid. /inv is late blooming, for scraps, because it's defense comes late in the build. With kat/, you'd have that from level 8. With an IO build, there wouldnt be much that you couldn't handle. It would look good, too

Motley Cruel, i'll chime in on a few of your questions.

--Overall, i'd suggest trying a Kat/wp. Katana feels much different than DM, in some ways feels even lighter and faster than Claws, and has a different style of proactive/reactive defense (DA and knockup/down rather than -tohit and a self-heal). It also has an easily attainable DPS chain of GD-GC-SD-GC, DA thrown in for flavor). I am nearly finished IOing and accolading mine, and it is a beast.

--DB and claws share some traits, but it doesn't feel as simple as fast/light vs. slow/heavy.

Claws feels more straightforward to me, with Focus able to perma-kd a single target, great single-target dmg in general, and your flavor of AOE nearly constantly available.

DB's progression feels more linear...i find myself playing with the 'baby combos' at lower levels, and waiting for the 'adult combos' (read: Attack Vitals) in the midlevels. It feels very 'nested', with what's nearly it's best single-target also it's best AOE.

---Consider, from a min/max perspective, Fire/Shield/Blaze. When i play mine, i feel like i'm holding the leash of a ravenous slavering beast that wants nothing more than to stuff more flesh into it's already overfull belly.

I wish you luck getting that Gladiator's 3% def, Hakkenden. They are one of the most expensive things on the market right now.

Mojo's slotting of Golden Dragonfly (4 oblits, 2 scirrroco's) might make up in some ways if you remove the gladiator's.

STRONG AND PRETTY DANCE-OFF!!!

Claw/SR

vs.

Mace/EA!!!!

GO!!!!!!

Glad to help!

Credit for this goes to Xandez, who posted it in one of the various elec/shield threads that have seeded the forums. Worked like a charm for me:

Open Mids' and do this:

Options --> Advanced --> Database editor
--> Main Database Editor
--> Select Scrapper_Defense (left side)
--> Select Shield_Defense (middle)
--> Double click on Phalanx_Fighting (right side)
--> Click on Effects tab (3rd from left)
--> Double click 3.75% Defense (Ranged)
--> From the Affects: dropdown menu, select [none]
--> OK
--> OK
--> Save & Close
--> Close

I have build up on my ice/fire tank; the damage boost is enough to let me take out minions, some lts (depending on procs), and chew into bosses in one AOE string. fire melee and ice melee are two different things, though. I've not much experience with ice melee.

I might suggest taking ice patch on your journey to 50, and respeccing out of it for your softcap build. Or not. at least then you can make your own call on if you like the power more than a build-up.

I'm planning a shield/ice tank as well; i'd be curious to hear more of your experience, KingSnake.

I will echo Star Seer's comment 100%. Only thing Huntsman does not provide is aoe defense debuffing. Does provide +tohit, though. Great aoe for the big spawns, great -res and respectable single-target dmg for the AVs.

In regards to the running anchor problem; an immob, ST or AOE, or lingering rad, handles that problem well. LR also stacks slows on another controller's ice patch, say, and doesnt mess with their knockdown. Then again, grav's immob doesnt prevent kd either, so you're good either way.

I often found that the holy trinity of /rad debuffs on my ill/rad were sufficient 'control' for most spawns, keeping my team safer while simultaneously making the mobs more vulnerable to attack and defeat. After laying down the debuffs, i would then engage in more surgical single target control. worked very very well.

Got my Traps/rad to 46 the first day of the Halloween event, and it's a hoot. I play very, very aggressively, and so i'm learning my limits. /Rad's aoe's also draw a fair amount of aggro, even just for the nature of Irradiate hitting everything in a spawn due to it's huge radius.

I agree, great for ToT'ing too

Good to hear, then, that end isn't really all that much of an issue. I hear you on the last few percents of defense making a huge difference, Santo; there must be a way without including that pvp 3% def IO, heh.