theheat

I would think claws would be a good pick to be able to fit in an extra pool. You can have a solid chain and not have to take a lot of the attacks. And if you are skipping travel and taking presense instead, you have the power picks there also. SR you have to take at least 8 of the powers if you skip elude. Not knowing the poem, but assuming the cat doesn't fly, teleport, or superspeed, you could use ninja run as your travel, and even still take combat jumping for the bonus. SR is fairly easy to softcap

During my brief time on champions I made my cat and had quite a good time playing the toon. Although if i did the same on coh id probably give it sj cause the lil thing can jump, sorry to ramble but its my first lil kitten.

I have a claws/regen, and I just respec'd, dropped one attack, and still have more than enough to always have something up, and thats with just reg IOs and a few SOs, haven't got sets rolling yet. You could easliy get a lot of recharge bonuses and get down to probably 3-4 attacks as all thats needed from the primary to have a solid chain.

I've always wanted to try the fear power from presense, especially on my dm/inv "vampire" concept, but couldn't get past having to give up the power selections to take it.

As to your last post, I find it essential to have a good concept to be able to play a toon, no matter how good it ends up being, if I can't get into playing it its just not as fun.

my kat/fire is fun as hell. Survivable also through DA and melee set bonuses. 5 obliteration sets, which have bad end reduction, but don't have to worry about with consume goin. It definatly took some more survivablity for me to stick with /fire. I rolled a fire/fire when it first came out, and somewhere in the upper 30s, it was apparent that it just wasn't for me.

...and I'd probably roll another /regen one day, but im kinda waitin for super strenght to get ported over.

My first scrap and main is ma/sr, and second 50 was claws/regen. I often wish I could just switch them, having ma/regen and claws/sr primarly so I wouldn't have to worry about redraw. Redraw is what kills me with claws/regen, although its just fun with it as well.

SR was a lot more difficult low level than regen was, but I rarely ever solo. Back in the day, there were probably 10 times as many regens running around than sr's, but then IOs came out.

Both can do crazy things with IOs, think sr is just cheaper and easier. Easier in that it is tog up and forget it. Regen with the same amount of IO investment is probably better, but a lot more difficult to play. Timing is everything. Like said above. Its about knowing when you can get by without using dull pain so u have it when you REALLY need it. Lot of gambling involved.

MA is still my fav powerset for scrappers. the kb in crane can save you a lot. Dragon's tail is like sweep combo for db but without the chain requirements. Its often said MA lacks aoe, which it does, but I think its got about the best AOE attack for scrappers (obviously its counterparts, not Lighting rod or shield charge). That aoe knock up can do a lot of mitigation by itself. Cobra strike, which ive found worthless pretty much on teams, is a totally different story solo'n. stun one lt while you kill the other, or stun the lt and kill the boss, or cobra strike and thunder kick the boss and kill the lt. Add in eagle's claw is a lot more reliable, but its aways away. Eagle's claw also has the coolest animation for me of scrapper attacks period.

I'd say stick it out till lvl 22 at least. Get you some SOs, integration, you should already have a pretty solid chain with TK, SK, CK (available at lvl 8 or something). Tough helps a lot on my claws/regen, which i would get through respec later on cause i hate takin kick or punch and having to wait for another pick.

Yeah the carnie was tough. Did fine until the damn vanguard ambush. Very challenging. I don't know about fun, but its challenging

I got half way through page and just knew what I was gonna post, but someone beat me to it.

There can be only one.......my newest scrapper concept, went BS/WP tho, fit more to me.

I think solo'n AVs with claws/ or MA/ and /SR would be different due to claws having so much kb/kd, not aid self's presense. For RWZ even more so. Having kb in one attack is a lot different than a ranged attack and a ranged aoe attack..............

MA may be the "worst" set, but its still my favorite and the most fun for me. And I think it fits the scrapper concept more so than most of the other sets just because, to me, it feels more like a comic scrapper. I know there are plenty of examples of swords and what not in comics, but most scrapper-comic people use the trusty punches and kicks.

I read half the post then had to post the above reply on MA.

To the OP. I've always just played what I wanted that fit a concept I had in mind. If its the FotM, then so be it. If it ends up suckin, so be it.

I have a 50 dm/inv that was made when both were laughed at as being below par, especially /inv. But that was the concept I came up with for a vampire toon. Now they are running around quite a bit, but who cares really.

My main, MA/SR, and first toon, 4-5 years ago was probably the absolute worst combination you could probably pick back then. Then IOs came out and I was runnin around tanking and getting complement after complement about how BA he is. Now SR is pretty common, MA still not so much, but either way still doesn't bother me. He is fun as hell to play and I enjoy it, which is to me the main thing.

And sometimes I will just pick a primary and a secondary that I either havent tried or don't currently have one of. My lastest scrapper is BS/WP. I've had a couple wp toons and one BS toon, but none made it to 50, and none still exist. I'll elude to my concept.....in the end, there can be only one (self rez power was the kicker for me).

Also, have you seen a high level EM/SD in action? Its quite impressive. I made a elec/elec just to try out LR. After the new wore off I just didn't like the toon cause there was no real concept.

kat/fire. healin flames, divine avalanche, s/l resists for everything else.

Sword Sharpener
Sword Sheather
Solo Dueler

These only apply if I'm getting at the pun the OP suggested

On my main, ma/sr, im more worried about what attacks I will have more so that what my def will be. Posi sucks, cause your usually 3-4 ppl, but then again there isn't that big of mobs. Synapse and above is were i worry with travel powers and stamina soaking up a lot of power picks. But on most of those you have full teams, so a def/troller or two and a tank and you should be fine either way.

You could get an alternate build, get a lot of IOs and sets for them, but you probably wont need them and can just combine stuff into purples along the way and be fine in my experience.

I find the hardest thing to do on lowbie tfs on my main is running full steam like im still softcapped, and even then the passive resist pops in a lil and I usually dont die too much after the first couple.

Like said above, if you plan on only doing them once for the accolades, you'll be fine with some purples for posi, and a good team for the rest. Especially with the new powers above the max of the tf thing, you should be fine, after all, your still a scrapper.

Cool thats about what I figured on the heal procs. Guess its just more damage procs like I figured. Thanks for the answers and numbers.

Couple questions:

I've got two call of the sandman procs for chance for self heal in Charged Brawl and Havoc Punch. They are the attacks I use most often due to their low recharge. They seem to come in hand and help my squishiness (main is ma/sr). I plan on taking tough at some point, but I'm only 36 at the moment. Has anybody else tried these and what were your thoughts.

How good is Jacob's Ladder? I've had it since 6 or so, just seems difficult to get a hang of the cone or radius that it hits. Seems to be different than Shadow Maul or the vet power who's name escapes me right now. Seems like to have a long animation and slow recharge, although it is all energy damage and not part s/l and energy like some of the others.

Force Feedback proc for plus recharge in Lighting Rod. I looked around on Wiki but couldn't find where it was bugged, which I heard it was if you put it in LR. Wiki does say that damage procs are bugged if you put them in LR, doing damage to you instead of the enemy. I understand that its a good proc to put in an aoe power, although it doesn't stack with itself. I guess my second question is, if it does work in LR, seems like a good way of getting the proc to fire if used on a big group, does the bonus really help that much. It is 100% recharge bonus, but only lasts 5 seconds. My idea behind it is for it to fire after LR, to increase the downtime of LR, and of course other powers as well. But does it really help that much?

How are your experiences with the T9 for /elec? I've heard several say they skip it because the don't need it. I plan on at least trying it out for the visuals, and respecin later if I don't like it. Figured I'd ask you all about that while I'm at it.

All in all, my newest scrapper, elec/elec, is pretty darn fun to play. He is a lil squishy, but the self heal seems to help a ton, and I assume tough will as well. AOE is good with Thunderous Blow or whatever, and LR

I would vote for /sr. I think the added recharge bonus from /sr would benefit elm/ a lot since I've found (lvl 30 elec/elec) that most of the powers recharge pretty slowly, that and I want to get some good recharge going for when I get Lighting Rod. I have a 50 sr and inv, and i much prefer the sr.

An hour on Black Friday???


I have several scrappers, and one is kat/fire. I really enjoy this because, as Werner mentioned, DA really helps secondaries a lot, especially if they are resist based. My kat/fire is hella survivable thanks to a lot of melee set bonuses and DA. Granted aoe and ranged land alot if they aren't s/l, but that is what healing flames is for. Plus you get an end tool, a damage aura, and two build-ups. I've found it to be my favorite scrapper aside from my main, ma/sr. I think a lot of this comes from the vast number of swords, and the new color customization for fire. I would think kat/elec would probably play about the same, although imo they get a much better t9, although I haven't personally used it yet. The rez does come in handy with my horrible case of scrapperlock tho.

I could also see kat/wp as being very nice, with resists and a super heal. kat/regen would be good too, but I hate redraw whether it costs dps or not i'm not sure, still dont' like it on my claws/regen. regen is great cause you do'nt have to use rest all the time low lvl.

Anything /sr is gonna be awesome later on, and not so much earlier. Just be thankful its not as bad as it used to be though. If your a jumper you can get sj and the steadfast unique early on and help a ton.

I always either have a concept and pick powers accordingly, or pick the powers i want to use together and try and get a halfway decent backstory to make them make sense.

Welcome to the good side, once you go scrapper you very rarely go back.

I could never fit aid self for concept reasons mostly.

AV soloing/rikti challenge ect, you need aid self, pvp you need it or elude.

the other 99.9% of content you don't need aid self from my experience. I generally heal up inbetween lucky blows, and I haven't got in physical perfection yet either. On my main, ma/sr, i generally end up combining greens into reds.

I almost always take build up powers. I also sometimes forget about them and probably don't get the full usage of the power. I generally use the while AV fightin, or before using my aoe attacks. On my ma/sr, i use it then dragon's tail, then EC the first LT I see. I generally take them late in the build when I've got a good number of attacks and defense powers, usually in high 20s early 30s, and some toons as the last power pick as it requires 3 slots at the most unless your puttin a set in it.

I'm just saying that weave is a good power and I fail to see how its such a bad pick that it makes you cringe to think of people taking it, especially when tough benefits /sr so much and its only one more power at that point. If you don't need it fine, I'm just saying it has a lot more benefit for flexibility in slotting, especially for claws with its high recharge so you should have room for it on a claws. I personally hate shockwave. The animation doesn't make sense for a claws toon, I despise the aoe knockback. And you definatly don't need all the claws attacks, but I guess if you like having multiple choices for ST attacks available all the time then go for it.

When you already have kick and tough, going for weave isn't that much of a committment. And with /sr and sets, your rech can get really high, so you don't really need as many attacks to have a totally solid chain. Its definatly possible to softcap without it, but having it gives you more flexibility in slotting. I am tossing around the idea of trying to get that new pvp proc with the def bonus and seeing if i can get by without weave with its bonus, but don't know if I can without taking cj (my ma/sr is a flyer, first toon concept stuff) so don't know how the numbers will work out. I can see arguing against weave, but not so much if you are gonna use two powers to get tough already....

I'm an avid MA buff, but only slightly /inv. I have a ma/sr which is my main, and a dm/inv alt, both at 50. So my /inv might not be as accurate.

MA. I think, especially including two APP attacks, that you have too many attacks. Youve got 5 MA single target and one APP attack. I can see the benefit of Energy torrent to add to MAs one source of AOE, but when you go to slot up 8 attacks, that doesn't leave a lot of powers or slots for defense. I've never taken crippling axe kick, but i like the new choice of a punch in it, and i know a min/max has it better than EC. I would say you could definatly get rid of thunder kick and either crane, cak, or ec. I love EC's animation regardless of numbers.

INV. I took all powers on my dm/inv, and also picked up tough and maybe weave, can't remember right off hand, but I know it benefits from the s/l resist from.

I generally only get as many attacks as I have to have for a good chain. With MA/SR, and I think with /inv also, that you need a most of the powers and fighting helps your survibility a great deal. My MA has thunder, storm, Crane, and EC with DT thrown in for AOE. One of these days I will probably try out storm, cak, crane, and ec for my 4 attacks. He does have pretty high recharge too tho so I may be able to get by with less attacks than you (without looking at your set bonuses, just looking at sr having +rech built in).

And if nrg torrent is ur goal, i don't think you need 4 powers from the pool either. With good sets and bonuses, you don't really need FA for most content. You could probably drop an attack or two and an APP power or two and easily fit in some more defensive powers.

My only suggestion I guess is that you have more attacks than you really need.

It is really pretty cheap to get soft capped. Grab tough/weave and CJ if your a jumper. Tough helps a lot more than people give it credit for as you have to have it anyway, and having s/l attacks do less when they hit adds a lot to your survivability. Steadfast +def IO is reasonably cheap. Fortune sets for your toggle defense powers are also very cheap and add one of the def components. Definatly follow bubs advice and get softcapped first, then worry about rech/dam/whatever your focuses are.

Trust me, when you hit 45% to all, that is when you will be able to almost totally ignore your green bar for most content. Warning, after playin a /sr scrapper for a long time, it does take some gettin used to when you play another character and all of a sudden have to start worrying about dying again.

Grab the passive accolades. They don't cost anything and give you merits to buy IOs with as well. The only thing that sucks is having to run the f'n almost unbearable posi tf. Other than that its pretty easy to get them. Run the 6 tfs and that takes care of a lot of the kill badges . They are expensive, but get numina and miracle +end procs. I would, at 36, have 4 slots in def toggs, 3 def and one end, save other slots for attacks and slot 1-2 end red. I'd be spammin parry until i got soft capped as well. Should be pie to be softcapped to melee, which should take care of most of your survivability problems.

I just made a elec/dev the other day and he is really fun so far. Only lvl 12 atm, but its pretty fun. Think the sentenil and gun drone flyin around at the same time will be fun, with the lil targeting drone as well.

You only need a self heal on a /sr that is softcapped for doing over the top av soloing and pylon challenges and stuff like that. My ma/sr's stats are probably similiar to billz's up there, although I haven't tried solo'n AVs cause I don't have aid self, and I heard it was needed for it. The power doesn't fit my toon is the reason I never got it, and I fly, have tough/weave, fitness, 9 sr powers, and a lot of the primary, so it would take a sacrifice to fit it in.

99% of the time that I play my ma/sr, i don't look at my health bar, and only look at blue during really, really long fights.

now that i think about it, after looking at rttc and a t9 that has a 3 minute down time outta the box, the heal is fine