Werner

OK, I sucked it up and hit the Rikti War Zone.

1:40 on my Fire/Shield, Turiel

For some reason the sound didn't record and my fire sword doesn't show up. Perils of recording from a demorecord. I'll have a new computer very shortly, and maybe will finally be able to take decent movies with the full user interface and all that. I'll probably try to repeat at that point and dump the current lame video. But hey, at least I have video documentation.

Now, Turiel is a concept build - all sword attacks in melee, and flight. And I needed the endurance alpha to power the flight. I suspect a Fire/Shield more optimized for damage with either the damage or recharge alpha can beat Iggy's Brute's time. Electric/Shield maybe? Whatever it takes.

Go Scrappers go!!!

I didn't expect to survive mine either - I have no heal, and merely passable regeneration. So I didn't even record it. And it's why I'm kind of dreading how many tries this is likely to take. So I'm just grinding shards and pretending I don't have a task to do.

Well, let's say you end up with perma Hasten. ED isn't hitting you with only a single recharge IO, so you have 42.4%+33%+172.5%+100% = 347.9% total recharge. 1000/347.9% = 287 seconds. 287-180 = 107 seconds down time.

Now let's say you put two more recharges in Elude. With the spiritual, you have 127.2% + 22% = +149.2% recharge in Elude. After ED cap you have 95%+(15%*(149.2%-100%)) = +102.38%. Another 11% from the alpha, 172.5% global, and 100% base brings you to 385.88% recharge. Elude then recharges in 1000/385.88% = 259 seconds, for 79 seconds of down time.

For fun, with the very rare and only two recharges, 84.8%+15% = 99.8%. 88+(70%*(99.8%-90%))=95%+(15%*(142.2%-100%))=94.86%. 94.86%+30%+172.5%+100%=397.36%. 1000/397.36%=252. 252-180 = 72 seconds of down time.

I haven't yet, but I believe I can do it in two minutes on my Fire/Shield. I was ALMOST done with the one run I did when One with the Shield crashed. Took a little while to toggle back up and finish the job, so it probably ended up closer to 2:30. My plan was to go back at some point and get a run under 2:00 with persistence and post it. But you beat me to the RWZ Challenge Speed Run punch, and there's no way I'll get down to 1:30 anyway. So good job.

(Edit: Oh, and my Fire/Shield is a concept build. So I'm sure other Scrappers can do it faster and more reliably than I can. I was just hoping to get a RWZ Challenge Speed Run meme going and see just how fast people could go. Guess we think alike.)

I don't have a build, so you just get some general advice.

On IOs, you're shooting for recharge, recharge, more recharge and then defense. If you have a big budget, that means purple sets - very rare and very expensive sets that tend to have a +10% recharge bonus in them. You're also looking to get five Luck of the Gambler +7.5% recharges. I hear lots of people buy the Luck of the Gamblers with alignment merits instead of buying them on the market, which may make them easier to get for some. Then you'll want some sets with +5% recharge bonuses, like Doctored Wounds (a very nice set for several Regen powers), Crushing Impacts... I'm not remembering what else, but there are several. And of course you want Hasten for a very nice recharge bonus.

On the defensive front, you want to load up on power pool defenses. You definitely want Tough and Weave slotted and in use. I tend to add the Leadership pool (which has Maneuvers) and the Leaping pool (which has Combat Jumping). For IOs, you want a Steadfast Protection +3% defense unique. You should also find room in the build for a full Gaussian's Synchronized Fire Control set. Best bet is to stick it in Tactics or Focused Accuracy. Look for other sets with defense bonuses.

Consider making yourself a Villain long enough to pick up Shadow Meld. I hear good things, though the animation time is long, so probably best used for emergencies rather than being the first thing you click lest you eat excessively into your damage output. You have plenty of other things to click.

From your primary, your must have attacks are Smite, Midnight Grasp and Siphon Life. High recharge builds make an attack chain of just those three attacks, Smite -> Midnight Grasp -> Smite -> Siphon Life, and hopefully you'll eventually be running such a high recharge build. Until you get there, Shadow Punch makes a very nice filler, sticking either one or two of those into the chain depending on your recharge. I'm a fan of Shadow Maul, but it isn't universally loved. You've probably experimented with it. If you like it, keep it. If not, you can do without it, or you might use it simply because it can take some IO set you want. Soul Drain is a must have. You probably won't need Dark Consumption with the easy availability of other endurance recovery powers. I'm not a fan of Touch of Fear but some like it. Don't take Confront. If you want aggro, suck the soul out of something. That tends to upset them.

You'll very likely want to use the Spiritual (?) alpha slot for the extra recharge and healing.

I believe it would be very difficult to put together a viable soft-capped Sword/Dark that doesn't rely on Parry/DA. Mine only requires one in the chain, but my DPS still isn't that great. You don't have to soft cap, of course, but it's a ticket to extreme survivability on a Dark.

I'm not a set balance expert by any means, so I don't know how much we want to keep the devs away from Dark Armor. But it's hard for me to imagine them nerfing what I think is probably one of the less popular sets, no matter what we can do with it with enough influence and the alpha slot. You can do equally crazy things with some other sets. Also, the lack of defense debuff resistance to me is a substantial weakness, but perhaps others and perhaps the devs consider it less so.

Six slot your attacks unless you have a good reason not to. For everything else, it's a huge "it depends".

How much endurance recovery you need depends very heavily on your build.

The main advantages of Aid Self are for playing with no inspirations, or if you want to push the envelope far enough that you'd burn through greens faster than they drop. I wouldn't bother on a normal build for normal play, so it depends on what you're after.

You also want Soul Drain to have good accuracy. There is no accuracy enhancement in the Gaussian set. Having Soul Drain hit reliably will do a lot more for your damage than the proc.