catastr0phic

I too am currently working on a DM/SR and I've been working with a build I'd like to share and see how it holds up.

A couple of goals i had with this scrapper:
I've set aside quite a bit of currency for this scrapper so i wasn't too concerned, however i stayed away from some sets.
I wanted to build this scrapper with enough recharge to avoid hasten and still have a comfortable chain
I wanted to fit in a couple extra tools from the Epic Pool, namely an Aoe and a ranged attack. I love the bonuses from Apocalypse and I figured that along with Ragnarok would provide a couple good recovery and recharge bonuses.
Combined with all of the above, I wanted to be able to solo an AV or give the Pylon test a good go. I'm not really looking to break any DPS records, or else obviously my build, and secondary probably, would be different. (cough, shields). Instead i went with a familiar secondary, and added in a bit of personal flavor here and there, like the gift of the ancients run speeds.

good guide

Just a couple little tidbit text errors i found....

When you described Tremor, you said it has damage comparable to Stone Mallet, when really it compares more to Stone Fist. *mumbles* I wish it compared to Stone Mallet...

Also, Siesmic Smash is one of the very few powers with any kind of status effect above a magnitude of 3. It has a mag-4 hold attached to the power, meaning it can hold a boss in one application, and does not need to be coupled with an EPP hold. It can be hard to pick up sometimes since usually after you Siesmic Smash a Boss, you are following it with Mallets or Faults or Tremors or what have you, and then they start floppin around a bunch and you cant see the swirlies on his head, but they are there. It is almost exactly like Total Focus from Energy melee, which can also hold a boss in one application. The only difference is Total Focus is a Disorient.

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Are you serious Kali?? You must have turned blind if you think tankers do ok in PvP.

Remember that devs balance for teams. Just exactly what do a tank contribute with in a PvP team that no other AT can do better?

Damage, no. Buffs, no. Protecting team members, no. Debuffs, no...

So perhaps a tank can take a bit more beating due to more HP but since a tank is not really that big of a threath WHO CARES!

Master Minds and Dominators at least have tools that make a difference in PvP. Tanks just hang around.

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Say that after a tank comes and slams his energy transfering palm into your eye and follows it up with a double fisted total focus off the top rope.

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And someone immediately whips out the one attack set that is good in PvP. Congratulations for rolling a FoTM. Yes, a EM does quite alright in Warburg. Go try that combination in Sirens and see how you do.

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Rolled my EM tank after the first halloween event, well before the phrase 'fotm' was used to describe EM, but nice try.

And my tank does good in sirens, maybe yours doesnt. Theres more to a tank than just high HP, maybe learn how to play one?

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Are you serious Kali?? You must have turned blind if you think tankers do ok in PvP.

Remember that devs balance for teams. Just exactly what do a tank contribute with in a PvP team that no other AT can do better?

Damage, no. Buffs, no. Protecting team members, no. Debuffs, no...

So perhaps a tank can take a bit more beating due to more HP but since a tank is not really that big of a threath WHO CARES!

Master Minds and Dominators at least have tools that make a difference in PvP. Tanks just hang around.

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Say that after a tank comes and slams his energy transfering palm into your eye and follows it up with a double fisted total focus off the top rope.

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PA drops are inaccurate. I've been on the ground, with PA centered under Hamidon, and watched the mess. We typically have the taunter pull Hamidon blasts, and centered PA to draw surroundung aggro. With the PA actively attacking, we don't have aggro issue hardly ever within the Illusion team. Once the PA are in and centered, with controllers very near to Hamidon, the taunter can draw Hamidon blasts if desired. I have found the taunter unneeded this early in, but if you have a griefer with taunt, they can easily pull Hamidon aggro onto the illusions. This seldom leads to a wipe of the illusions, but can prvoe irritating.

Also, air dropped PA was used to grief Illusions a couple of times in the past. Once the fire is redirected from the centered PAs, the agitated mitos are reminded that there are soft lil squishy guys right nearby. Once the air-PA despawn, the Illusions start taking damage/getting held to death etc. Air drops are imprecise, and less aggro efficient. They are a quick and dirty solution made by people I suspect just wanted safety for themselves. Virtue's Illusions are insanely devoted to efficiency and aggro control. We are first in after phase shifters get some bubble entry aggro for us. We are least likely to ever go AFK during a raid. We wear our debt as a badge to flaunt before the gods of efficiency.

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Drop them from the air first at a high enough distance and they will not get killed, once the PAs have a steady mito aggro the tank can get hami's aggro, then the drop team can come down and center there PAs. The droppers on freedom server are usually dead on center to begin with so they dont need to pull any Rambo stunts like the above mentioned.

A nice guide though. I think all servers do things a little different here and there, but overall the same thing.

Come to freedom sometime. they have it down to a science.

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PvP isn't much different from PvE in my example. If a tank goes in all buffed up and starts to force people to attack him, the rest of the team will be better off.

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Except in PvP, with this new change to taunt, if I were to jump in and try to get a group of players attention, half of them will ignore me. Who do you think people go for to get there rep points, The tank who has to be detoggled, then worked through all of his HP, and with a team backing him up...Or the squishie whos backing him up and can be kill in less than half of the time..Thats why we are ignored...

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I don't understand what it is that tanks want for PvP. Are you guys actually wanting to hold agro solo for another team of 8?

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It doesnt matter if im teamed or soloing, I want taunt to work. My tank can actually inflict some damage in PvP being energy melee, but what good does it do if i cant get peoples attention, and they just pass me by and go for the easier rep points. When taunt actually does land for me in PvP the target i taunted usually will come and try to take me, then its on, may the best AT win. Whats the point now? If i can actually get taunt to land, he/she'll just go break line of sight and be done with it. Punchvoking IMPO doesnt belong in PvP unless they made it single target (which they might). What if i pick a fight with someone who is close to another bunch thats fighting, we start dueling, but because i am punchvoking, the people who are ner us will start hittin me to. Unless they make it single target punchvoking, it and the way taunt is going to work now is just stupid.

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It is pretty obvious to anyone who has played this type of game that the "team based PVP" talk is just a cover-up from a refusal to take the time to balance things.

For those of you who "team vs team", how often have you been involved with PVP that had teams that were evenly matched in terms of numbers and make-up of ATs? [In the pvp zones, not the arena] And compare those times to the number of times when the teams were not even in terms of numbers/AT-types.

Which event occurs more often in a pvp zone? "team vs team" or team vs 2-3 guys? Or 1 on 1?

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qft

my first ever character was an Inv/EM. I will agree with the original poster that at higher levels, when barrage is just used as a filler, the damage is not as great as some of the other tier 1 fillers, like stone fist, or even gash.

But, even with you using the BI, recharge and end cost numbers as a back up to your arguement, you did not take into account that it deals smashing and energy damage, rather than just smashing or just lethal, it has a disorient secondary effect, and is nice to have when you run into mobs that debuff your recharge. barrage, and Jab are the quickest recharging tier 1 tanker powers, and when you are trying to hold aggro, having those powers to use for punchvoking when you are slowed is invaluable.

And to the people who said whirling hands is the worst tanker AOE attack power, ....you cant be serious. Once again, smashing AND energy damage, the disorient effect, It has the same BI number as almost all of the other tanker AOE attacks save maybe Foot Stomp and Fire Sword Circle, and those two AOEs carry a much higher end cost to its higher damage. And whirling hands has the fastest activation time of all the Tanker AOEs. Tell me again that whirling hands is the worst AOE tanker power.