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Werner

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  1. Werner

    Katana/DA

    POST-ACTION

    Well, it probably needs a lot of polishing, and I think I'm going to wait for I23 before comitting to anything, but below is the sort of build I'd consider for I22.

    Comments:
    • Other than removing Enzymes and adding the Scrapper ATO, the big change was to trade defense for recharge. For incarnate content, the "soft cap" isn't, and improving recharge on Dark Regeneration seems important - once I use it, I typically want it again pretty quickly. It's also the right move for on-paper survivability calculations.
    • While I'm playing pretty much nothing but incarnate content right now, I'd still like to get my ranged defense up to 40% so I'm at the normal soft cap with the tail end of Barrier.
    • I kept heal enhancement on Dark Regeneration for those times I want to heal but only one enemy is in range.
    • Endurance should be more than sustainable in actual use, but I've not carefully calculated to account for the changes from my current build.
    • I'm switching to a lower DPS no knockup/down attack chain here. Most people won't like that, but I've used that chain before and liked it.
    • Easy to switch Hover/Fly for Combat Jumping/Super Jump if desired.
    • 4% more smashing/lethal resistance, now 64% - woot!
    • 14 points knockback protection. It's not critical, but I'm not satisfied with my current 11 points. 12 would be fine, but 14 is what happened.
    • Soul Transfer. I've never, ever taken a rez, but what the heck. It fit. If all else fails, I might as well make them regret killing me.

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    For reference, my live build dating back to I19. I'm playing incarnate content just fine with this, but it could definitely be better. I'm used to better.

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  2. Werner

    Katana/DA

    POST-ACTION

    I've been playing my Katana/Dark Scrapper and leveling a Super Strength/Fire Brute. But I haven't been much on the forum, haven't crunched numbers or fiddled with builds in months (didn't even play for about three months), and don't even have the current Mids'. I'm personally below 40% defense after the Enzyme fix. I'm sure I'll work something out some day, but right now, I'm just enjoying the newer soloable content and not worrying about being uber. So yeah, sorry, I won't be much help at the moment.

    Eh, just in case it's still somehow helpful, the latest build I fiddled with was for a Katana/Dark Brute. But it's leaning heavily on Enzymes, so it needs some major tweaking. Also, it looks like I was going for the Divine Avalanche -> Gambler's Cut -> Sting of the Wasp -> Gambler's Cut chain. I kind of like that chain, and I assume I did that to fit some things in, but you'll do more damage with a more standard chain, and most people want their knock ups/downs.

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  3. Werner
    I don't recommend Moment of Glory before a spawn, even if I consider it an alpha eater. I recommend jumping in, getting badly hurt, THEN hitting Moment of Glory. If you're going to be able to survive the spawn at all, and you have good regeneration, chances are good that during those 15 seconds, you're going to heal back to full. Meanwhile, the guy that hit it before jumping in has already had it drop and is eating damage again.

    It's pretty much the same point as can be made with Dull Pain. Get hurt first, then click the uber power that takes you back to full.

    Timing is an issue, of course, but then, that's the whole Regen secondary.
  4. Werner
    I haven't actually studied what's possible with Titan Weapons, so I can't comment intelligently there.

    But you could softcap a Katana/Regen to all positions, and incarnate softcap most of the time by juggling Moment of Glory, Shadow Meld and Barrier. They can also serve as your "defense debuff resistance" by interrupting cascading defense failure. That said, I believe that something more like 35% ranged/AoE with Rebirth and more recharge is even better, but you *could* go the defensive route.

    Wait, I can't stop talking about min/max even when I shouldn't be. Sorry! Off topic!
  5. Werner
    More regeneration is, of course, better than less regeneration. But almost anything else is going to contribute more to your overall survivability. Think of it as diminishing returns, if you wish. Or consider that survivability is, very roughly, your damage mitigation * regeneration. You're already swimming in regeneration, but you have very little mitigation. Adding more mitigation will have a much greater payoff. As for recharge, that's both healing AND mitigation since you'll have click powers that do both. And of course recharge is also important for your DPS. So you get huge benefit out of recharge.
  6. Werner
    Katana/Regen. What Regen wants is mitigation. Katana provides. But yes, you have to be able to stomach redraw. It doesn't bother me personally.

    The biggest hurdle with Regen is learning too play it. It's a school of hard knocks. It's also very, very rewarding when you get it right.

    And I agree with everything Xyzor said.
  7. Werner
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by BrandX View Post
    I'm curious as to how a Brute has more AOE than a Scrapper, when the sets are the same.

    Unless you mean because of such things like Fury increasing damage aura's damage.
    Not all sets are the same, and Fury can buff any AoE potential of the secondary (such as damage auras as you say). Combine those together, and you get Super Strength/Fire significantly outdoing Scrapper AoE. Perhaps that's what was meant about Brutes having more AoE, but I suspect it's an outlier. I've done no analysis, though.
  8. Werner
    I never take it.

    Edit: To be fair, I usually solo or duo, and almost never play on large teams. I still can't imagine a situation where I'd want it, though. If I want to taunt something, I stab it in the face.
  9. Werner
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MechaCrash View Post
    Also, Werner, I have a question: are you softcapped? Because I looked at my own build, and almost all of my powers that can take purples needed other sets to squeeze out every bit of defense. She's not purpled because I just didn't have the room.
    I WAS softcapped, but after the Enzyme fix, I'm not any more. Yes, I'm using the Gladiator's Armor. It looks like I only have four purple sets instead of five, and went with Basilisk's Gaze in Char for a touch of defense and a saved slot while losing 2.5% recharge. Huh. Interesting. I took Assault instead of Maneuvers. More damage and didn't need the defense, I guess.

    Anyway, the build needs fixing for the current issue, and was just a quick I19 respec of an older build, and keep in mind that it's a concept build (main restrictions: only sword attacks in melee, must have Hover/Fly), but here it is for what it's worth.

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  10. Werner
    I went with the cardiac alpha to manage endurance, but I suspect that with some tweaking, you could get it to work with musculature, and do a little more damage. Also, one problem with my toon is that it's a concept toon with ONLY sword melee attacks, and having perma Hasten with Fire Sword Circle in your "single target" chain is a good way to burn too much endurance. So yeah, I bet you could do musculature.

    Honestly, the ride to 50 doesn't stick out in my mind. I guess it was neither painful nor transcendent. I think it was fun? I wasn't shooting for the end game as I recall, just leveling for fun, so it at least met some minimum standards. But I really love how it plays all purpled out. I haven't fiddled with defense debuffers since they fixed Hamios though, so I might love it less now. I'm sure it won't be bad, though, as the point of the build was massive damage output with sufficient survivability, not massive survivability with sufficient damage output. I have no heal, for instance.

    Neither Willpower nor Invuln really need any help from the primary, even if like any secondary they benefit some. I suppose Invuln would love a heal, so it loves Dark Melee, but you can get the heal some other way, like Rebirth at the top end, and maybe Aid Self while leveling if you've feeling too squishy for the difficulty level you set. I think both would be fine with Fire.

    Sorry for being every other post. I feel like I'm stomping all over. I just really like my toon.
  11. Werner
    Everything's better when it's on fire.
  12. Werner
    I loves me some Dark Armor (my main is Katana/Dark), but it's a lot easier for a Tanker to soft cap one. On a Scrapper, you pretty much don't do that except with Katana or Broad Sword, and it's still a bit of an undertaking. For a Scrapper, it doesn't seem to me that Dark Armor brings a lot to Fire. Death Shroud is nice, but I doubt compares to Against All Odds and Shield Charge. And while you can't get 95% anymore, at least you get some defense debuff resistance with Shield. If you prefer resistance to defense, of course, you'll get a lot more of that out of Dark Armor. And if you simply like Dark Armor, as I do, what you like can trump what you believe is best on paper.

    I suppose I should mention Super Reflexes. Fire/Super Reflexes was the budget combination for AV soloing back when that was a popular pasttime. I also consider Super Reflexes a good choice for incarnate content since it's fairly easy to hit the incarnate soft cap. I've not played that combination, nor have I played Super Reflexes against incarnate content, so take that with a grain of salt. And damage will be lacking comparatively.

    Also, all combinations are good. I don't think it's possible to make a bad Scrapper. If something sounds like fun, just go for it.
  13. Werner
    I love my Fire/Shield. Moar damage!

    This isn't anything special, but here's me farming some +3x8 Council so you can see how it plays when purpled out. This is with the alpha level shift, so they're really +2, but no other incarnate powers.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rxDOQCsBH0
  14. Werner
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by UberGuy View Post
    I will mostly agree with Brutes, but not with Stalkers. Fury is not ignorable in my opinion, but it's easy to build, especially solo. I do not ignore my Assassin's Focus. I spend time paying attention to where it's at to gauge when best to AS. I don't have to do that, but I need to if I want optimum performance from AS, which I do want. I like that Scrappers are "stuck", just like a lot of people prefer powersets that are "toggle and go". Don't get me wrong, I like my Brutes and Stalkers, but how the Scrappers play is my favorite experience, because they just "are".
    I put most of my hard work into my builds. When I play, I usually want simple. Toggle up, hit my attack chain, and ignore my heal and my inspirations. Most Scrappers serve that need well. So do Brutes for the most part, but it bothers me more than it should that I lose noticeable damage output if I destroy a spawn, eat some sandwich, destroy a spawn, let the dogs out, destroy a spawn, eat some more sandwich, destroy a spawn, let the dogs in, destroy a spawn, check the forum, and so on. While I like go-go-go when there's nothing else going on, I also like being at full power for every spawn without needing to crank anything up. I don't like being "forced" to keep on rolling by the game mechanics.

    I'm not sure what everyone's suggestions have been for making Scrappers special, but I bet a lot of them leave things simple, so "keep it simple" may not be an argument in many cases. It is something I agree with, though. I like that Scrappers, at least with many or most combinations, are the easy button.

    (Edit: That even goes for my beloved but retired Katana/Regen. He had a high defense, high passive regeneration build. Against normal content, I almost never had to use any of my clickies. I only had to use them when I was in the mood for something challenging. And as much as I love challenging when I'm in the mood for it, I'm usually in the mood for hitting that easy button and rolling my face on the keyboard.)
  15. Werner
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Zyphoid View Post
    I can see why several of us are so dedicated to Scrappers having something that is uniquely theirs, what I can't see is why you are so dedicated against it.

    Like it or not, this has become such an issue in so many places the devs will have taken notice. Assuming they hadn't already.
    I'm not convinced one way or another, personally. I haven't done a ton of analysis, and the few examples I've fiddled with personally made me feel like Brutes and Scrappers are pretty well balanced in terms of the attack/survive trade offs. All I really want fixed is the AI so that I don't need a taunt aura. I shouldn't need a taunt aura when solo. I prefer Scrappers because I like the always ready to go nature of their damage output. I don't like waiting for it to crank up. I also tend to prefer build up sets to follow up sets for similar reasons. There IS some advantage to damage up front compared to damage later, but my enjoyment of it is probably out of proportion to the actual benefit, and enjoyment isn't subject to numerical analysis.

    While Scrappers don't need a buff in the "I can't get through my missions" sense or in the "nobody is playing them" sense, I won't complain at all if the devs decide Scrappers need a buff for inter-AT balance reasons. I also won't complain if the devs are satisfied with where Scrappers are at right now. I'm sure there are reasonable people and some evidence for each side of that particular debate.

    But whether the opinion expressed is right or wrong, something like the OP's post, which assumed the conclusion in the thread title and vastly oversimplified a complex picture, is asking to be mocked. Best if we don't stoop to mockery, but it was SOOOOOO tempting. So I gave in. And this seems to be an issue where I fall easily into mockery. A personal failing, I'll admit.
  16. Werner
    Hay, guys!!! I'm back after three months away from the game! What's going on around here these days?
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by wardragon View Post
    It seems that, currently scrappers are pointless to play.




  17. Werner
    Haven't played in a month. Got tired of waiting on solo incarnate content. Abandoned CoH for <other MMO>, though I expected it to be temporary.

    Haven't read the thread. I'd rather play <other MMO> than wade through it all.

    About the only reason left to slot HOs WAS the exploits. I have huge piles of uplevel ones. Spent tens of billions. Now half of them are useless. Yes, I knew I was "cheating", that they would some day be nerfed. I knew the risks. I took my chances. It served me well for years. I finally got burned. I know it's my fault. Doesn't make the news any more pleasant to me.

    It would have been better to rebalance HOs, make them competitive with purples and PvP IOs in some way, rather than nerf them into oblivion. But I didn't expect that. I expected the eventual nerf, and that's what we got.

    Yes, I know it's no big deal in the grand scheme of things. It doesn't really hurt me that bad. I spent those tens of billions to get small percentage point improvements in characters, so I'm only losing a few percentage points. I'll get those points back and MUCH more if I switch to purely +5 IOs and rebuild characters around the incarnate powers instead of just adding them on afterwards. As for my main shielder and DDR, his whole point is damage, and so the DDR loss won't be that big a deal to me, unlike to people playing shields for survivability.

    But it's a straw that threatens to break the camels back. I'm annoyed, and like everyone, I have alternatives. I don't HAVE to continue paying this company to annoy me.

    They'll keep getting my money for the moment, but I'm going to continue not playing for a while. Maybe I'll check back in in another month. I'll probably be resigned to my fate by then, and thinking more of what I can do instead of what I've lost. And hopefully the first thing I see when I check back in will be good news instead of bad. Like maybe the rumored solo incarnate content. Maybe it even won't suck the way (to me) the group incarnate content sucks.

    We'll see.

    Later.
  18. Werner
    You've already stated one big problem - no heal. You don't just casually go play +4x8 while neglecting one of the three pillars of survivability (defense, resistance/hit points, regen/healing). You don't even do it on a farm unless you have a specific strength against some damage type, which this build doesn't have. Pick up Rebirth would be my advice. Perhaps that will be enough.

    And as already stated, work on defense debuff resistance. You might not need it for farming, but it's great to have in the game as a whole, and one of the perks of the Shield Defense set.
  19. Werner
    The feeling of uber will be on whatever you build to be uber against, and you're going to have to make some choices, because most combinations are going to have weaknesses. It's easier to work around them on a Tanker, but that's probably not what you're after.

    For me, the attraction of Dark Armor is rather specific - an attraction to top end Katana/Dark. With that combination, you can soft cap defense to all positions, be well over incarnate soft cap on melee and lethal, and then you're sitting on some serious resistance backing up that defense, plus a full heal every ten seconds. Defense debuffs are still your kryptonite, but you can stack Divine Avalanche to the moon, take purples when base defense goes red, and you can back it up with tier 4 Barrier when things really go south. With the exception of Broad Sword, I don't think other primaries are as good with Dark Armor in a survivability sense. They can be very good, but I don't think AS good. I think some of it comes down to desired play style as well.

    I'd LIKE to get my tier 4 barrier, respec into an up to date build, maybe reroll as a Brute, and see if I'm right that +4x8 Cimerorans are then possible. I've done +4x8 Arachnos on an older build with no incarnate powers. It wasn't pretty - I think I died three times in a single mission - but it was possible. If I'd had the rez, even those three deaths wouldn't have been a problem. I'm planning to take the rez when I next rebuild.

    I do think that by skipping the mez auras and not slotting for psionic resistance, you're not really seeing what Dark Armor can do. That said, if you're not feeling it yet, I don't think a mez aura will change your mind. More like "OK, it's better, but it's not ENOUGH better." You'll still be weak to the things you're weak to, just a bit less so.

    But you shouldn't expect Dark Armor to be flat out better than Shield Defense or Super Reflexes, as the secondaries are all supposed to be well balanced. All sets have their pros and cons, and something like Super Reflexes has a very obvious and straightforward pro - with almost no investment, you just don't get hit. The scaling resistances can help more than I think most people give them credit for. Then you just need a heal, such as Aid Self, Siphon Life or Rebirth, and you've really got very good survivability. It's more susceptible to burst damage than Dark Armor, but Dark Armor has its own weaknesses, as you're well aware.

    A top end Shield Defense pretty much has all the advantages of Super Reflexes PLUS extra damage and Shield Charge, so that's preferred by many. But Super Reflexes is just SIMPLER to make uber, plus has a leg up against incarnate to hit.
  20. Werner
    BS/SD is the most fun I've had leveling 1-50.
  21. Werner
    You have no defense debuff resistance with Dark Armor. Your energy defense and resistance leave you open to energy attacks. Your psionic defense and (lack of) psionic resistance slotting leave you open to psionic attacks. And therefore, vast crowds of uplevel energy/psionic enemies with defense debuffs are tearing you apart. It's to be expected.

    Dark Armor uber happens against enemies you've soft capped to and outside of defense debuffs.

    Consider slotting Obsidian Shield.

    Monitor base defense and smashing/lethal defense. If base defense goes red, IMMEDIATELY pop whatever purples you need to get back to the soft cap, at least if facing vast crowds of uplevel enemies with smashing/lethal attacks.

    If you're having endurance trouble, I'd consider swapping Musculature for Cardiac. I would much rather give up musculature than give up Barrier or Rebirth for Ageless on a build like this.

    And yeah, consider picking up one of the mez auras. Cardiac would probably be enough to grab Cloak of Fear, but Oppressive Gloom might serve you as well or better. I'm not sure with this specific build.

    I've never taken any self rez and usually suggest skipping them, but honestly, it's like the best attack in your arsenal. I don't die much, but when I do, it would be very satisfying to MAKE THEM PAY. Not a necessity, though, just something that might be fun on occasion if you can work it in.
  22. Werner
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Thivus View Post
    Thanks for the answers

    So if it's just +to-hit they have, unless they resist tohit debuffs my Darkmelee could help me, right?
    A tiny bit. Against mostly one enemy. So not really.
  23. Werner
    Sweet.
  24. Werner

    DB vs. Kat for WP

    POST-ACTION

    If you're skipping Divine Avalanche, I'd probably go with Dual Blades. Top end DPS is comparable, which is to say that you'll do less DPS on Dual Blades by forsaking recharge (just as you would with Katana by forsaking recharge). Without rechecking the numbers, I'd probably give the AoE nod to Dual Blades, even if not by a large margin, but Sweep gives you some mitigation. Katana would do better burst damage, if that matters to you. But if you're running around with soft capped defenses on a Willpower, anything that challenges you (solo anyway) will probably last long enough for burst to not be a big deal.
  25. Werner

    BS/Regen Help!

    POST-ACTION

    I'll +1 everything Valuur said as far as your original questions.

    I also agree with Kenji that you don't want to just take a Katana/Regen build from that thread, switch primaries, and call it good. That said, these builds should be sporting enough recharge for the good defensive Broad Sword chains (1+ Parry every 10 seconds). So switch the primary, switch to Hack instead of Slash, and I'm guessing (haven't confirmed), that they'll be just fine like that. Be aware that some of the builds are INCREDIBLY expensive as shown. There are some less expensive builds, but I doubt that anything in that thread would ever be mistaken for a budget build. I haven't looked at the builds from that thread in a while, though. Oh, also, they were from before the Resilience buff, so really, they all need at least minor tweaks.

    You can solo to at least tier 3 on the alpha slot. It takes quite a while as the drop rate on incarnate shards is quite low. I don't remember how much time, but let's say that getting tier 3 alpha is like soloing from 40-50? I don't know. It's a lot more than gaining a level, anyway.

    I haven't heard of the Dark Astoria revamp, but I mostly don't pay attention to what's coming down the pike, so no surprise there. I'm desparate for some solo incarnate content. I love playing my 50s, but mostly soloing. I burned out quickly on the original iTrials, and haven't even tried the new iTrials, and may never. I really need a viable solo path for advancement (and a reason to advance). For now, I'm just spending a lot more time leveling alts.