DM/SR, The Untouchable Executioner for I10
Very nice guide! I have loved my DM/SR scrapper build for ever and ever (incarnations of him have been around since, well, the beginning). IOs can do SO much for you now, too. The +3% defense from the Steadfast IO in Tough is a small wonder. I love that thing. I got one for 10k!! Hah!
I'm one of the weird ones that skips Maul. I did it back before it was even remotely considered doable. SP-Smite-SP-DB is my sweet chain of single target destruction.
One note: You have an End cost (0.26 eps) in Agile. A minor typo and you are probably past edit time. Oh well.
Anyway, a very decent guide/resource for those with questions. Good work!
10K, nice! You must have been one of the early purchasers. The way that the Steadfast Protection IO shows up at the auction house doesn't highlight what the thing does, at least not to me. I skipped right by it first time I was looking for it.
Skipping Maul is certainly an option. I still consider it. I took out Shadow Punch on a respec and I miss it. I want it back, but I'm not sure what else to take out. Boxing is decent, but doesn't have the damage, or near the damage/activation of Shadow Punch. And the sound effect is so lame compared to SP.
Once I have Tenebrous Tentacles for AoE I might put Shadow Punch back in, but I'll have to find another source of AoE defense since I can't 5-slot Tentacles. Edit-- maybe if I move something like Lucky to level 49 on a respec, and move slots around, and watch what I Flashback to before level 35, hmmmm
Incidentally, I'm modifying my slotting for Siphon Life. I'm switching out to one accuracy IO, and 5 slots of Miracle (all but the +recovery).
I was hesitant to do this early since I really don't want that power to miss, even if my accuracy has been debuffed, but a level 50 IO combined with 41% set bonuses gives me 137.6% accuracy, which should be enough against anything I should be fighting.
The effect of this is to give me 45.5% melee defense, 45.1% ranged defense, and 44% AoE defense, full-time. Purples are only needed against things with def debuffs or tohit buffs.
Curse you, Phos!!!
I had never considered a DM/SR before. Now I feel a strong urge to build one when I get home from work tonight. This sounds like such an awesome combo. My favorite 20 alts will bemoan the fact that I'm playing them even less if the DM/SR takes hold of my like it looks like it will.
Curse you!!!
RagManX
"if the market were religion Fulmens would be Moses and you'd be L. Ron Hubbard. " --Nethergoat to eryq2
The economy is not broken. The players are
I chose flight for travel on my DM/SR. I prefer to take hover, as swift and quickness will enhance it's speed to a very pleasant rate in missons, or when chasing aerial "runners".
Hadn't considered the fighting pool, as I went the hasten route.
I would be cautious in tossing around that 45% "soft cap". Any defense debuffing makes that cap no longer valid, and certain foes can cut through it as if it weren't there at all, unless stacked with Elude.
My build was pretty simple though. I took all of DM but 1 power(can't remember which, think it was shad punch or smite....), and ALL of the /SR powers. The /SR stuff came in as soon as available, including slotting. Stamina came in around lvl 40, along with hasten. I got my travel at an early level, however: between 30 and 35.
Not a single minute of power leveling, either. Sadly, all of that sacrifice still resulted in a build that didn't really see potency untill after 30.
I like the clean and tidy graphics, and the synergy and utility of the sets a lot. Made it pretty fun.
Good point on the aerial runners. Those are a pain on a build that has no range, and limited vertical. If you did your build before IOs, I'd say it was probably the best way to go. /SR wasn't that great outside of Elude, so you wanted it up as often as possible. Inventions changed things a bit, IMO. /SR can be dramatically better now, even early.
The only foes I've found that can really cut through 45% defense with any consistency are DE following a quartz drop, Nemesis with stacked Vengeance, and a very few foes like Anti-Matter's minions. The DE can cut through defense+Elude just as easily, in my experience, so I found that for 95% of PVE, 45% defense is as good for not getting hit as Elude. For the rest, I use the Luck inspirations that otherwise I have no use for.
I ran with Elude for a while, and I have nothing bad to say about the power except the crash. But I have was having loads of trouble with Master Illusionists in Madeleine Casey's arc. If I wasn't running Elude, I had just problems with those things. After a respec, they were no longer very hard, at any point.
Being in Elude is better than 45% defense. Not only are you resistant to 2-3 stacks of Nemesis Vengeance, you get great speed and end recovery. But without insane amounts of inf invested in recharge reduction, Elude is up 1/4 to 1/3 of the time. I haven't found, for PVE, the ability to resist the odd def debuff to be better than having defense at what is the soft cap 95% of the game.
My DM/SR is lvl 45, and I created it for all the reasons you describe in the guide. Great fit of powers -- punches that debuff accuracy plus defensive ... uh, defense, self-heal in the primary, cool self-buffs, and the best Tier 9 of all the Scrapper secondaries.
Differences in my build:
I took Air Superiority at level 12 so I'd have three attacks: Shadow Punch, Smite, and Air Sup, and I took Flight for travel. Shadow Punch, Smite, and Air Superiority, in that order, recharge fast enough that they make a gapless chain. I pop off Shadow Maul when a few foes are lined up, or when I need to type a long sentence in chat.
And I took the Ghost Slaying Axe as my vet reward, to help with the negative-resistant dead things. It's fun to pop Soul Drain, bust out the Axe, and CHOP A GHOST RIGHT IN HALF!!!
I put off the passives until pretty late, figuring that the scaling resistance wouldn't make much difference until I had plenty of hit points to resist with.
I also discovered Soul Drain does as much damage as Air Superiority, and that mixing and matching IOs I could maximize its damage AND recharge, with good accuracy! Nothing is more fun than when it recharges in the middle of a big fight, popping it off, and seeing 3 or 4 random foes drop. Well, I suppose a nice slice of pie comes pretty close, but that's another thread.
And I skipped Evasion. Maybe I'll pick it up later if I see more AoE, but for now, I just pop Elude when the flamethrowers spew fiery death my direction.
And I discovered I really like Confront, because it not only stops runners, but gets them to turn around and come back!!! Man, I got so sick of chasing those chicken Earth Thorn Casters!
I am almost to this build, and am having a grand old time.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.21
http://www.honourableunited.org.uk/mhd.php
Amasu: Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Dark Melee
Secondary Power Set: Super Reflexes
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Darkness Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Shadow Punch -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(3), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(7), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(21), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), T'Death-Dam%(48)
Level 1: Focused Fighting -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def(15), GftotA-Def/EndRdx(27), GftotA-Def(27)
Level 2: Smite -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(7), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(21), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), Mako-Dam%(48)
Level 4: Shadow Maul -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(5), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(5), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(31), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 6: Touch of Fear -- Abys-Acc/Rchg(A), Abys-EndRdx/Fear(31), Abys-Acc/EndRdx(43), Abys-Acc/Fear/Rchg(43), Abys-Dam%(48)
Level 8: Siphon Life -- Acc-I(A), Mrcl-Heal/EndRdx(9), Mrcl-EndRdx/Rchg(9), Mrcl-Heal/Rchg(11), Mrcl-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Mrcl-Heal(17)
Level 10: Practiced Brawler -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(11)
Level 12: Air Superiority -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(13), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(13), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(15), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), T'Death-Dam%(43)
Level 14: Fly -- HO:Micro(A), HO:Micro(46), Frbd-Stlth(46)
Level 16: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 18: Dark Consumption -- Acc-I(A), RechRdx-I(19), RechRdx-I(19), RechRdx-I(40), EndMod-I(40), EndMod-I(45)
Level 20: Health -- Heal-I(A), RgnTis-Regen+(36)
Level 22: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(23), EndMod-I(23)
Level 24: Focused Senses -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def(25), GftotA-Def(25), GftotA-Def/EndRdx(37)
Level 26: Quickness -- Run-I(A)
Level 28: Soul Drain -- Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(A), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg(29), C'ngBlow-Dmg/Rchg(29), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(40), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg(42), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg(42)
Level 30: Lucky -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(37), DefBuff-I(37)
Level 32: Midnight Grasp -- Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(A), Mako-Acc/Dmg(33), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(33), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(34), Mako-Dam%(39)
Level 35: Confront -- Acc-I(A), Taunt-I(36)
Level 38: Elude -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(39), RechRdx-I(39)
Level 41: Dodge -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(42)
Level 44: Agile -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(45), DefBuff-I(45)
Level 47: Torrent -- Acc-I(A), KBDist-I(50)
Level 49: Combat Jumping -- GftotA-Def(A), GftotA-Def/EndRdx(50), ULeap-EndRdx(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
------------
[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]<ul type="square">[*]+11% DamageBuff[*]+6.25% Defense(Melee)[*]+7.5% Defense(Ranged)[*]+5% Defense(AoE)[*]+18% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]+5% Enhancement(Heal)[*]+6.25% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]+2.75% Enhancement(Terrorized)[*]+117.5 (9.75%) HitPoints[*]+MezResist(Held) (Mag 12.1%)[*]+MezResist(Immobilize) (Mag 12.1%)[*]+MezResist(Sleep) (Mag 1.65%)[*]+9.5% Recovery[*]+40% Regeneration[*]+3.13% Resistance(Negative)[/list]
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My DM/SR hit 50 recently after a Lady Grey task force. It was a fun ride, all the way to level 50 with only one debt badge (picked that up during a bad PUG doing Numina....) and no power leveling. Why would I power level if I'm having fun?
I wanted to present an alternate build. This build gives up some defense for pure offense. This is the "Buzz Saw" build that I discussed above, or at least close to it. It sacrifices a little defense for insane single target damage.
Defense is 45.7% for melee, 44.6% for ranged, 41.6% for AoE.
Hasten is nearly permanent (120 seconds up, 8 seconds down) and Soul Drain is nearly permanent, 30 seconds up, 4 seconds down. This allows an attack chain of Shadow Punch - Smite - Shadow Punch - Dark Blast, repeat. I don't know of anything hero-side that can match this single target damage, especially with Soul Drain running nearly full-time.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.21
http://www.honourableunited.org.uk/mhd.php
Scrapbook Helen-BuzzSaw: Level 50 Technology Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Dark Melee
Secondary Power Set: Super Reflexes
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Darkness Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Smite -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg:33(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx:33(3), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg:33(3), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:33(5), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:33(17), T'Death-Dam%:33(31)
Level 1: Focused Fighting -- LkGmblr-Def:35(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:35(7), LkGmblr-Rchg+:35(19), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg:35(25)
Level 2: Focused Senses -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx:35(A), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg:35(9), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:40(25), RedFtn-Def/Rchg:35(34), RedFtn-Def:35(36), RedFtn-EndRdx:35(40)
Level 4: Shadow Maul -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg:45(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx:45(5), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg:45(7), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg:40(11), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:45(13), Sciroc-Dam%:40(31)
Level 6: Touch of Fear -- Abys-Acc/Fear/Rchg:20(A), Abys-Fear/Rng:45(21), Abys-Acc/EndRdx:33(31), Abys-Acc/Rchg:25(39), Abys-EndRdx/Fear:35(39)
Level 8: Siphon Life -- Acc-I:40(A), Dct'dW-Heal:40(9), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg:30(15), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx:30(17), Dct'dW-Rchg:30(37), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg:40(39)
Level 10: Boxing -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:35(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(11), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:35(13), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:35(23), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:35(29)
Level 12: Hurdle -- Jump-I:50(A), Jump-I:50(15)
Level 14: Practiced Brawler -- RechRdx-I:45(A)
Level 16: Dodge -- DefBuff-I:50(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+:40(19), DefBuff-I:50(40)
Level 18: Dark Consumption -- Sciroc-Acc/Rchg:40(A), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg:40(36)
Level 20: Health -- Heal-I:50(A)
Level 22: Stamina -- EndMod-I:50(A), EndMod-I:50(23)
Level 24: Quickness -- Run-I:50(A)
Level 26: Soul Drain -- Acc-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(27), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg:35(27), RechRdx-I:50(29)
Level 28: Lucky -- DefBuff-I:50(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(43)
Level 30: Agile -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A)
Level 32: Shadow Punch -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg:37(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx:37(33), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg:37(33), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:37(33), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:37(34), T'Death-Dam%:37(34)
Level 35: Evasion -- RedFtn-Def:35(A), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx:35(36), RedFtn-Def/Rchg:35(37), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg:40(37), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:40(40), RedFtn-EndRdx:50(42)
Level 38: Tough -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(A), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(42), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx:50(43), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx:50(45)
Level 41: Weave -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx:45(A), RedFtn-Def:40(42), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg:40(43), RedFtn-Def/Rchg:40(45), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:40(45), RedFtn-EndRdx:40(46)
Level 44: Petrifying Gaze -- G'Wdw-Acc/Hold/Rchg:50(A), EoCur-Acc/Hold/Rchg:50(46)
Level 47: Dark Blast -- Decim-Acc/Dmg:40(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx:40(48), Decim-Dmg/Rchg:40(48), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:40(48), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:40(50)
Level 49: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(50), RechRdx-I:50(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I:50(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
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That's an interesting ST build. Rapid fire! I notice that you appear to be two slots short in this build. If Hasten is indeed only down for eight seconds (I have only given this a cursory examination), I would consider swapping the position of Hasten and another power, Quickness, for example, and use a missing slot to put a fourth recharge enhancement in Hasten.
Nice guide, btw...I meant to post something a while back--in response to your shameless solicitation for feedback.
stealth adds 3.75% to ALL. Any reason not to take this? its a toggle, run speed is lowered -35%, and uses .32end/sec. and there is no prerequisite, it is available at level 6 and you could slot it with defense.
[ QUOTE ]
stealth adds 3.75% to ALL. Any reason not to take this? its a toggle, run speed is lowered -35%, and uses .32end/sec. and there is no prerequisite, it is available at level 6 and you could slot it with defense.
[/ QUOTE ]
Of course, half of the Defense provided by Stealth is suppressed in combat, so you are paying .32eps for +1.875 Defense, in practical terms.
ohh. i did not know that. how bout combat jump?? the endurace cost is only 0.06/sec, and 1.88% def to all and i chose SS as my travel power so it will not toggle off if i chose and toggled SJ. what do you think about 3 slotting this power? to get it to around 3.7% def all.
Taking combat jumping yes, it's a very good thing. It works well with any SS or SJ, since I wouldn't expect you running SJ in battle due to the unnecessary endurance cost.
Slotting CJ for defense I don't recommend. With an SO in the base slot you get 2.25% defense (with a level 50 IO, 2.35%). Nothing you can do with 3 slots gets you to even 3% defense (defense enhancements aren't on the same schedule as most), so for the cost of 2 slots you've purchased between 0.65 and 0.75% defense. Not worth the expense in my opinion.
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Taking combat jumping yes, it's a very good thing. It works well with any SS or SJ, since I wouldn't expect you running SJ in battle due to the unnecessary endurance cost.
Slotting CJ for defense I don't recommend. With an SO in the base slot you get 2.25% defense (with a level 50 IO, 2.35%). Nothing you can do with 3 slots gets you to even 3% defense (defense enhancements aren't on the same schedule as most), so for the cost of 2 slots you've purchased between 0.65 and 0.75% defense. Not worth the expense in my opinion.
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the passive def powers in super reflexes such as agile, dodge, and lucky are 5.64% for either only melee, range, or aoe. combat jumping is 1.88% but for all 3, so if you add it up for the defense it provides in melee, range, and aoe, it is 1.88+1.88+1.88 = 5.64% which is the same for the passives. so if you 3 slot the passive defense, should u not as well 3 slot CJ since its adds up to be the same percentage as the passives?? or do you not 3 slot the passives??
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the passive def powers in super reflexes such as agile, dodge, and lucky are 5.64% for either only melee, range, or aoe. combat jumping is 1.88% but for all 3, so if you add it up for the defense it provides in melee, range, and aoe, it is 1.88+1.88+1.88 = 5.64% which is the same for the passives. so if you 3 slot the passive defense, should u not as well 3 slot CJ since its adds up to be the same percentage as the passives?? or do you not 3 slot the passives??
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I just don't see enough incremental return on the 2nd and 3d slot in CJ to be worth it, unless I needed that 0.7% defense somewhere to get up to 45%. Then I could easily see adding a 2nd slot to CJ, but not a third, since 2 def IOs so close to as good as 3 SOs as to be equivalent (0.1% less defense)
If I had unlimited slots, then sure I'd love to 3-slot combat jumping. But I don't and in every case I can find some better use for those additional slots. As to the passives, I don't 3-slot them either at this point, 2 slots is so nearly as good as 3 and it frees those slots up for other purposes.
Agile is, for example, 6.75% ranged defense with the base slot. 7.88% defense with the 2nd slot. CJ is 2.25% defense with the base slot, 2.63% with the 2nd slot. Adding a slot to CJ has given me 0.38 defense in all 3 types, total of 1.14 defense. Adding a slot to Agile has given me 1.13 ranged defense, so it's about a wash as to which is "better", depends on whether you need more ranged defense or more overall.
But in today's world 6 slotting a toggle with Red Fortune instead of 4-slotting it as pre-I10 would have it gives me 2.5% Ranged defense, plus a bonus of 5% enhancement to recharge time. Each slot has gotten me 1.25% ranged defense and the bonus of the recharge enhancement. I know where I'd rather spend my slotting.
My DM / SR / Body is the reigning king of all my toons. There's nothing that relieves tension and frustration from work and life like loading this toon up and just putting the beat down on some mobs. Closest in fun for me is my Dark / Dark / Dark defender. (hmm, lots of dark... now if they'd just let me play a dark blaster I'd be set. please don't tell me I can play on in CoV. I'd rather slit my wrist than play CoV even though I have several high level toons there that will probably never get played again.
I don't have my DM / SR in mids, but the jist is that I took Air Superiority and it is my lead off attack. My chain goes something along the lines of AS / SP / Smite / with SM and MG thrown in on longer fights for extra damage and debuff.
To me nothing beats AS for its knockdown ability. If it's on it rear its not hitting you, and when it does get up, its debuffed and you have SR protection until you face plant it again.
This looks very nice. I've copied a few into Mids to look at what the pieces do, and look forward to merging some of the info here with what I already have and see how it goes.
Again, great post for an awsome character build.
Suma
50 Claws / Invul / Body
50 Peacebringer please just kill me
50 Dark Melee / Super Reflex / Body #1 toon
50 Fire / Rad / Psi
50 Dark / Dark / Dark
50 Fire / Kinetic / Fire
50 Dual Blades / Will Power
50 Spines / Fire
50 Ill / Rad / Psi
43 Ice / Ice / Cold
I also have a 50 DM/SR and I love the build to death. She can just wade into a sea of +2's and +3's with almost no worries. In fact, based on my experience, I planned on writing a simple guide for reaching the soft cap with most any /SR build. I see no need to now, after your wonderful guide, but I'll throw in my 2 cents anyway.
For each position (melee, ranged, AoE):
/SR Toggle (3 slotted for defense) = 21%
/SR Passive (2 slotted for defense) = 8%
Combat Jumping (1 slotted for defense) = 2%
Weave (3 slotted for defense) = 5%
Tough (slotted with the Steadfast IO) = 3%
Total before set bonuses = 39%
Here's the simplest way I've found to close the gap to 45%:
Two melee attacks 6-slotted with Touch of Death = 6%+
Two melee attacks 6-slotted with Mako's Bite = 6%+
Two PBAoE attacks 5-slotted with Scirocco's Dervish = 6%+
The only tricky bit is the two PBAoE attacks, but I believe only MA/ would really have a problem with this (I stipulate that I've never played Spines/ or Claws/ so can't really back up my opinion concering them).
In my opinion, just a simpler (but probably more expensive) way of thinking about how to reach the defense soft cap.
Great guide for a great combo of powers. Good to see it was finally written and done so well. Mine is up around 30 atm and I love the set so much. Defenitely NOT a build/combo I'd reccommend for a newish player as it is super tight and fairly complicated.
The two things I really love about this guide are:
You don't bash the lvl 1 attack. In my experience with a DM/DA, DM/SR and a DM/Reg, this is the best lvl 1 power out of the box. Extremely underrated. It does lovely damage with a fast recharge. Agreed, core of single target chain which is a lot of what DM is all about. In general, I think people bash the lvl 1 power of too many sets/AT's in general and I believe there is a lot of utility in there and that they ARE worth slotting. I don't always do that, but I have probably more often than not. Of course, that is merely a matter of opinion. I read somwhere in the defender forums a while back about a fast recharge power fully slotted doing ultimately more Dam with less End cost or somesuch thing. It makes sense, at least to some degree and/or in certain situations.
Second thing I love: No travel. The two things I've gotten over in my 30 months playing are debt and travel. I don't really care too much about either. Debt is a fact of life in here, and the 2slot Sprint, CJ, Hurdle, Swift combo gets you around the city nicely. The GvE jump pack with all that is great if you need a bit more help. I love that you axed travel. I have so many Natural characters that I do this with or I just don't want to waste powers on travel or worry about setting up for travel at 14. I used to when i first started playing but now I don't. And of course the temp travels. I've been able to milk a few into the late 30s. Doin' that with my WP Tank atm. So no, it isn't neccesary. I watch everyone going to missions sometimes as I'm running over there. I usually get there same time as everyone else or just after. So it's not too slow.
Actual Location: Inside the system itself.
"When the most exciting thing about Mace is AceMace's avatar, then it's time to get realistic."
Shield Guide
The only thing anyone in this game is "supposed to be doing" is having fun. Everything else is negotiable. -Jet Boy
I'd love you hear your thoughts on a DM/SR build built around the concept of the Flash or Jolt from the Thunderbolts.
"I'd love you hear your thoughts on a DM/SR build built around the concept of the Flash or Jolt from the Thunderbolts."
Haha this is the concept i've gone for on my dm/sr
DM/SR, the untouchable executioner
If you want to solo quickly and easily on invincible, rarely even close to death and even more rarely experiencing debt, Dark Melee/Super Reflexes may be for you. Dark Melee turns Super Reflexes from a good secondary into a great one, even early in the build.
Every attack in DM reduces the accuracy of the critter it hits, which stacks nicely with the defense in SR, especially before the point in the build when you get your defense up to the soft cap at 45%. Super Reflexes also has the challenge of being the only scrapper secondary with no self heal. Dark Melee has a reasonable heal in Siphon Life, which may not heal for a lot, but you wont need a lot of healing!
Once you have all your defenses in place, very few enemies can touch you. Only a few things with enhanced ToHit can hit you often enough to hurt you more than you can heal yourself, and most of the enemies that others fear the most (sappers, psionic damage) are fairly easy kills for you. Most of your damage is negative damage, which is rarely resisted compared to smashing and lethal, so armored enemies that most scrappers struggle with will go down easily to Midnight Grasp.
But there is a price for your greatness. DM/SR is as tight as any build in the game. Any /SR build is tight, since you really want all nine options in the secondary. DM only makes is even tighter, since you may want to have eight of the nine powers from your primary. Add those seventeen to the fitness pool, and thats every power you get until level 38. So its not a build for you if you want flexibility
Its also not the build for you if you want AoE damage. You have as little area damage as any scrapper in the game, with only one attack capable of hitting multiple targets. Your single target damage, though, is excellent. You dont have high burst damage, but you will steadily melt away the enemies with high damage per second attacks.
The build being as tight as it is, you will have to make a compromise if you want to make it work. With the powers in DM and SR and fitness using all the powers you get until 38, there isnt any room for frills in the build. There are three ways to make the build work:
1) No travel power. You have Quickness to enhance run speed, and 3-slotting quickness, swift, and sprint gets you to a reasonable speed, as much as 70 feet per second. With base superspeed at 119 fps and flight starting at 59 fps, thats not too bad. But thats 6 slots invested to try to patch your travel liability. Hurdle is surprisingly fast: 3-slotted Hurdle is 72 fps, with enough jump height for most situations. Getting the 2 temp travel powers and using them for just a few seconds at a time in the other situations can make them last until 50 and beyond. Hurdle is faster than sprint + swift + quickness, at a cost of fewer slots, and with some vertical movement. Seems like an easy choice to me between the two.
2) No stamina. This works for most situations, especially if you slot inventions for a good amount of +recovery and slot up Dark Consumption heavily. Basically youre refilling your endurance every 85 seconds. Carry some blue inspirations for protracted fights against a single target, though.
3) Push out powers you want until past 38. You can replace one of your 3 core attacks, like Shadow Punch, with Air Superiority, and take Fly instead of Dark Consumption with DC pushed out until 41. If you have Stamina you wont need DC badly until you start fighting Malta and Carnies, though youll miss it if you have an Elude crash in battle!
My solution was to forego a travel power. Slotted Hurdle gets me to the mission in plenty of time, faster than many given a good supergroup with all the teleporter pads. And it allows me to get all the powers I want; Im still able to take the Fighting pool and cap out my defenseand I have enough endurance to run the Fighting Pool!.
The Powers
Dark Melee: Dark Melee is definitely different from the other scrapper primaries. It has fewer attacks, and more utility powers, and its attacks do primarily negative damage making it the only scrapper primary that isnt composed mostly of the heavily resisted smashing and lethal damage types. Your attack chain will be fairly small for a long time, as you only get three pure damage powers until level 32, but your build up, self heal, and even endurance recovery power also do some modest damage.
Shadow Punch
Available at level 1
52.6 total damage, 21.3 smashing and 31.3 negative
End Cost: 4.37
Recharge: 3 seconds
Cast Time: 0.57 seconds
ToHit Debuff: -5.63% for 6 seconds
Shadow Punch is your lightest damage attack, and often skipped, or removed later in the build in a respec. I find it underrated, though, because it does reasonable damage, and it has a very low recharge and cast time. The damage per activation time is ridiculous if you are working on a high single-target Damage Per Second attack chain. For a DPS build, this is a core power. For any build, it fits nicely into any gap in the attack chain you might have.
SO slotting: 1-2 acc, 3 damage
Smite
Available at level 1
82.6 total damage, 20 smashing and 62.6 negative
End cost: 6.86
Recharge: 6 seconds
Cast Time: 0.97 seconds
ToHit Debuff: -5.63% for 10 seconds
I have seen DM builds that skip every other power for one reason or another. But I have yet to see a build that skips Smite. Smite is just amazing for a power available at level 1. The damage is great, the recharge time is more than reasonable, and the cast time is lightning fast. Whats not to like? Take it by level 2 at the latest; it will be a backbone of your attack chain throughout the game.
SO slotting: 1-2 acc, 3 damage, 0-1 recharge reduction
Shadow Maul
Available at level 2
135.1 total damage, 67.6 smashing, 67.6 negative
End cost: 8.53
Recharge: 8 seconds
Cast Time: 3.07 seconds
ToHit Debuff: 0.563% for 10 seconds
This is probably the most controversial attack in Dark Melee. It has some very good points--damage that nobody else gets until level 26 at the earliest; its a cone attack that can, with practice, consistently hit 2 targets (and occasionally get 3-5, especially underling-class critters) and it has low end cost and recharge time for such a power. But oh, that 3.07 second cast time. Three seconds of animation, and it feels even longer than that when you miss. 1 ½ times the damage of Smite, but 3 times the animation time! Dark Melee has an undeserved reputation for being low accuracy, largely due to how much you notice when this thing misses. Being rooted for 3 seconds gently cooling the target with your whiffs is frustrating. Its still a good attack, and your one and only source of AoE damage. The cast time makes it only a good power when you hit a single target, but learn the cone...almost a line and its a great power when it hits multiple targets, something you can do with regularity.
SO slotting: 2 acc, 3 damage, 0-1 recharge reduction
Touch of Fear
Available at level 6
0 damage
End cost: 8.53
Recharge: 8 seconds
Cast time: 1.17 seconds
ToHit Debuff: -11.25% for 20 seconds
Fear: Magnitude 3 Terrorized for 22.35 seconds
Sometimes called Touch of I Win, this is the only pure damage mitigation power you get but its a good one. Even with just a single accuracy in the base slot its highly effective, since it has excellent base accuracy and duration. One touch and minions and lieutenants are effectively out of the fight, cowering most of the time and only attacking once every 5 seconds. And when they DO attack, its with an enormous ToHit Debuff that makes it unlikely that their attack will touch an /SR scrapper. Its so tasty that its easy to overuse it early in the game, and the end cost is a bit high to be spamming it.
SO slotting: 1 acc, 1 end reduction
Siphon Life
Available at level 8
62.6 total damage, all negative
End cost: 12
Recharge: 15 seconds
Cast time: 1.93 seconds
ToHit Debuff: 0.563% for 10 seconds
This is one of the key reasons to pair Dark Melee with Super Reflexes, a heal for those times when the critters get lucky and hit you. But the power will frustrate you until you get it slotted properly the heal is only 10% unslotted, and the end cost is high enough that at time pre-Stamina you have to balance having a bit more green against losing a lot of blue. Even slotted, this is not a power that will save your life. If youre in the red, it will only help so much. But used as a regular part of your attack chain whenever you are down a bit it will keep your green bar topped off. It also does a bit of damage, which is certainly a bonus, and its a terribly cool way to finish an opponent, sucking away the last of his life to add to your health.
SO slotting: 1-2 acc, 2-3 heal, 1 recharge reduction, 0-1 end reduction
Confront
Available at level 12
0 damage
End cost: 0
Recharge: 3 seconds
The standard scrapper taunt. Useful in specific teams or concept builds, the build is tight enough that I havent found a spot for it.
Dark Consumption
Available at level 18
50.1 damage, all negative
Recharge: 180 seconds
Cast time: 1.03 seconds
Radius: 8 PBAoE
Endurance Recovery: 25% per target hit
The power in Dark Melee I use least, but at the times you need it, its a godsend. So a Sapper finally hit you, or Elude crashed? Pop a blue, Dark Consumption and youre back in the game. Carnie or Cabal end drain will bother you less than most, but it will effect you as your blue bar slowly slips away. Dark Consumption and its all back. The first 5 powers in DM should be taken soon after they become available, but this power can be pushed back. When you take this power depends heavily on how you address the tightness of the build.
SO slotting: 1-2 acc, 1-2 recharge reduction, 0-1 endurance modification
Soul Drain
Available at level 26
62.6 damage, all negative
End cost: 15.6
Recharge 120 seconds
Cast time: 2.37 seconds
Radius: 10
Self buff: 5% ToHit and 15.6% damage buff per target hit, lasting for 30 seconds, with a maximum of 7 targets hit
Build Up, finally at level 26, but its a quirky form of build up. Standard Build Up is a 20% ToHit and 100% damage buff, lasting for 10 seconds, on a 90 second recharge timer. The bad: Soul Drain requires a ToHit check, has a longer recharge, does less self-buffing unless you get the max targets hit, and has twice as long a cast time. The good: It last 3 times as long, and it does a bit of damage. Its a bit of a frustrating power when soloing and you may not be facing enough targets to make the buff from SD very useful, and on steamrolling teams when after youve run to the middle of the spawn, hit Soul Drain and about 2 attacks everything is dead already. But in battles with a moderate number of targets that actually go on for a decent period of time, Soul Drain is fantastic.
SO slotting: 1-2 acc, 3 recharge reduction
Midnight Grasp
Available at level 32
148.9 damage, all negative, with 80.1 up front followed by 10 ticks of 6.88 damage
End Cost: 12
Recharge: 15 seconds
Cast Time: 2.07 seconds
ToHit Debuff: 0.563% for 20 seconds
Immobilize: Puts a mag 3 immobilize for 17.9 seconds on the critter
Certainly not the best tier 9 power out there, its a single target attack that does solid damage (with some of the damage spread over 10 seconds), with no enhanced chance to critical hit like some scrapper tier 9 powers. It also does an immobilize effect, looking like a single target Tenebrous Tentacles, and does 20 full seconds of ToHit debuff. It may not be an uber power, but its a good power, and after 31 levels of only 3 attacks in the attack chain, its definitely worth taking. The immobilize can even be very useful at times, especially for critters that like to run away or run to range, and for pinning on critter so you can line up a good Shadow Maul.
SO slotting: 1-2 acc, 3 damage, 1 recharge reduction
Super Reflexes: Super Reflexes basically boosts your defense enough that you dont get hit often. Its the only scrapper secondary without a self-heal, which makes Siphon Life very nice (Siphon Life can heal you as much over a minutes time as Reconstruction). Once you get your defenses all the way up the ToHit debuff in Dark Melee will be less critical, but this wont happen until the 40s and until then the synergy will keep you alive when everybody else drops.
Focused Fighting
Available at level 1
End cost: 0.26 end per second
Defense: 13.9% defense to melee attacks
Your tier 1 power, and an excellent choice. Early foes do mostly melee damage, and its not hard to draw them into melee. You will rarely turn this toggle off, unless you are critically low on blue.
SO slotting: 1 end reduction, 3 def buff
Focused Senses
Available at level 2
End cost: 0.26 end per second
Defense: 13.9% defense to ranged attacks
Available at level 2, but even if you take it you wont be able to run it full-time until you get Stamina. You want this power by the teens, but no hurry. This power also provides +perception, useful against things like Arachnos and Knives of Artemis. I took Focused Senses early, take one of this and Agile early but not necessarily both; take it early if youre willing to do active toggle management turning this off once the fight is engaged in earnest until you have Stamina.
SO slotting: 1 end reduction, 3 def buff
Agile
Available at level 4
End cost: 0.26 end per second
Defense: 5.6% defense to ranged attacks
Not nearly as helpful as Focused Senses, but as a passive defense it costs no endurance, so some take this as their only ranged defense early in the build. The SR passive defenses also give you scaling resistance. Once you drop below 60% health, each toggle gives you a bit of damage resistance to all but toxic and psi damage. The formula works like: (60 CurrentHealth) / 3 resistance, so at 25% health Agile gives you 11.7% damage resistance. The resistances stack, so if you have all 3 passives (and eventually you should) this would add up to 35% damage resistance, which is basically what Temporary Invulnerability from the /Inv set gives!
SO slotting: 3 def buff
Practiced Brawler
Available at level 10
End cost: 10.4
Your mez protection, it provides resistance to all common status effects, plus knockback protection. You need this, by level 14 at the latest, but it is a click protection and not a toggle like the other scrapper sets. Eventually you can just control-click the thing and your mez protection is on forevermore, but until you get to level 22 youll have gaps in your protection. Carry a breakfree or 2 for these situations.
Dodge
Available at level 16
Defense: 5.6% defense to melee attacks
Just like Agile, but for melee attacks.
SO slotting: 3 defense buffs
Quickness
Available at level 22
Some sets see Quickness as optional. Given Dark Melees tiny attack chain of 3 links, you arent one of them. Quickness provides 20% recharge reduction to all powers, a 35% boost to run speed (same as swift), and resistance to slows.
SO slotting: 1 run speed
Lucky
Available at level 28
Defense: 5.6% defense to Area of Effect attacks
At level 28, you finally get a bit of defense to AoE attacks. Otherwise, its the same defense and scaling resistance as Agile and Dodge.
SO Slotting: 3 defense buffs
Evasion
Available at level 35
End cost: 0.26 end per second
Defense: 13.9% defense to AoE attacks
33 levels after your other 2 toggles you get your AoE defensive toggle. AoEs are quite rare in the early game, but not so rare by the 30s, especially from bosses. And they hurt, since you have no protection at all until level 28 and not much defense until level 35.
SO slotting: 1 end reduction, 3 def buff
Elude
Available at level 38
End cost: 1.3
Recharge: 1000 seconds
Duration: 180 seconds
Defense: 45% defense for melee, ranged, and AoE
Elude is your tier 9 power, commonly considered the best scrapper tier 9 power prior to issue 10, and sometimes considered the power that made Super Reflexes competitive with sets like /regen. It boosts you to the soft cap on defense even if you dont have anything else running, gives you enhanced run and jump speed, and 100% endurance recovery. It also drains all your end after 3 minutes, with 20 seconds after that in which you cannot recover endurance. 45% is the soft cap for defense, since critters have a base 50% ToHit on you, and there is an accuracy floor of 5%, meaning accuracy can never be reduced lower than that. Defense above 45% is handy if youve had your defense debuffed but is otherwise of limited use. Since inventions have made it much easier to run 45% defense at all times, Elude may have little value if you have hit the defensive soft cap without it.
SO slotting: 3 recharge reduction
Pool Powers:
You dont get many of these. Just no room for them, sorry about that!
Fitness: A necessity for most of the builds in the game, most DM/SR builds will need it as well, though the stamina-free, Dark Consumption heavy build is feasible here. Take Swift if youre going with Fly as your travel power, Hurdle if youre going with Hurdle as your travel power, and Health for its modest regen that will often suffice for your healing needs.
Flight: An easy travel power to fit in, replacing one of your attacks with Air Superiority and then taking Fly with Dark Consumption dropping low in the build.
Leaping: If you go stamina-free, leaping is nice for Combat Jumping. The defense in combat jumping is normally so trivial as to be ignored, but for an /SR build stacking 2.3% more defense can make a noticeable difference
Fighting: Taken mostly for Weave, and the Steadfast Protection +defense you can slot in Tough, this can get you another 9% total defense. If youre trying to permanently get to the 45% soft cap on defense, you will want to fit Fighting in. Boxing can replace Shadow Punch (though it is an inferior substitute) and Elude becomes somewhat superfluous.
Concealment: Cant think how or why to fit this in, especially now that you can get Stealth IOs for the occasions you do want to ghost a mission.
Leadership: Maneuvers is sometimes taken in this build for the up to 3.6% defense, but I think there are better ways to get the defense.
Speed: Hasten is nice, or you could conceivably use Flurry as an attack to replace one of your core 3 DM attacks. Perhaps not the most effective attack chain, but for concept purposes Flurry + Shadow Maul + vet reward Sands of Mu would be something to watch. For over 9 seconds.
Medicine: Leave this to the other /SR scrappers, you have Siphon Life
Presence: Just go hit something instead.
Teleportation: Of all possible travel powers, this seems the least useful for a DM/SR.
Ancillary pools:
Scrappers dont get the best choices for epic/ancillary pools, but then scrappers are so good from their primary and secondary pools they dont need much help. There are three choices, the most popular of which is body master, followed by darkness mastery, and weapon mastery
Body Mastery gives you Conserve Power (for 90 seconds, everything you do uses half endurance, recharge timer starts at 600 seconds), Focused Accuracy (high endurance toggle that grants you a 20% ToHit buff, roughly equivalent to another SO of accuracy in all your powers), Laser Beam Eyes (decent ranged damage power with a def secondary effect) and Energy Torrent (decent AoE cone with chance of knockback/knockdown)
Darkness Master gives you Torrent (minor damage AoE cone with lots of knockback), Petrifying Gaze (single target ranged hold, recharges in 32 seconds), Dark Blast (decent ranged damage power with short cast time and ToHit secondary effect) and Tenebrous Tentacles (Cone damage/Immob with ToHit)
Weapon Mastery gives you Web Grenade (single target immobilize, also stops flying and jumping), Caltrops (tiny amount of damage, but serious slow and area denial power), Shuriken (fair ranged attack, less damage and range than other options, lightning fast recharge), and Exploding Shuriken (Targeted AoE, decent damage over good range, no secondary effect).
I chose Darkness Mastery for my build, even though its more negative energy damage and you already have a lot of that. This is not a good PvP build, so focused accuracy is really not needed, and conserve power is somewhat redundant with your endurance recovery power in Dark Consumption. The final 2 powers in Darkness are each marginally better than their equivalents in Body Mastery in my opinion. Weapon Mastery never seriously tempted me, though if I only had room for one power from any ancillary pool it would be web grenade.
Dark Blast is also popular with people going for a high DPS build. With enough recharge, Shadow Punch, Smite, and Dark Blast followed by whichever of Midnight Grasp or Boxing is recharge can form a fairly frightening buzz saw attack chain that does simply ridiculous single target damage to anything strong enough to withstand it for more than a brief period. Adding other attacks like Shadow Maul into your attack actually reduces your single target damage per second, since all the other attacks have extremely fast activation times. I did not pursue this build, but it is a viable option.
IO recommendations:
The focus in an SR build, I believe, should be increasing the defense. The SO slotting above gets you easily up to roughly 30% defense to melee, ranged, and AoE attacks. What this means is that and even level minion who normally has a 50% chance to hit you has instead a 20% chance to hit you. Adding another 5% defense makes his chance to hit you 15% instead, so by adding 5% more defense you have reduced incoming damage by 25% over what you had before.
All enemies in PVE have a capped minimum chance to hit you of 5%, so 45% defense is referred to as the soft cap. Any defense above this is only situationally useful, though it can help when you have had your defense debuffed or an attacker has a ToHit buff. My primary goal in this build was to get melee defense to 45% all the time, with ranged and AoE defense as close to that as possible as well.
Most of the damage you will take will be melee damage, and the best set for increasing your melee defense is Touch of Death. 6-slotted, it boosts your melee defense by 3.13%. You can slot this in all your single-target attacks, and you should slot it in 2-3 of these attacks. The other set you can access is Multi-Strike, which when 6-slotted gives you a 1.88% boost to melee defense. You can slot this in Shadow Maul.
You will also take a fair amount of ranged damage, and you have more options for this. The best option for ranged defense is Makos Bite, but you wont be able to slot it often since you have slotted Touch of Death instead. You could theoretically slot Trap of the Hunter in Midnight Grasp, but this would mean surrendering half of the damage in that power, and you have few enough attacks already. Red Fortune is a great choice for increasing ranged defense. 6-slotted, it increases ranged defense by 2.5%, its very reasonably priced, and as a bonus it reduces recharge time by 5% which helps out with your abbreviated attack chain.
You wont get any AoE defense for a long time, so choose your enemies wisely in the early 30s. Options for AoE defense include 5-slotted Sciroccos Dervish in Shadow Maul (3.125%), 5-slotted Multi-Strike which would also go in Shadow Maul (1.875), and 5-slotted Serendipity in one of your toggles (1.25%). AoE defense is the hardest to boost for this build; it just doesnt have enough of the powers that take the right sets. Fortunately having lower AoE defense will rarely kill you.
Given that you are slotting out Touch of Death 2-3 times, adding accuracy bonuses is also important. Touch of Death has one of the lowest accuracies of any set, from 39-43% depending on what level you slot. If youre soloing on Invincible, youre facing enemies that you have a base 56% chance to hit, meaning you have at best an 80% chance to hit with a Touch of Death set. Im not happy with hitting 4 times out of 5, so sets like Sciroccos Dervish, Luck of the Gambler, and Glimpse of the Abyss which add 9% accuracy each with 4 slots are very valuable. Crushing Impact adds 7% accuracy with 4 slots. To cap accuracy at 95% against +2s on a Touch of Death set takes 27% or more additional accuracy from set bonuses.
Dark Melee has a very small attack chain, so anything you can do to reduce recharge is a good thing. Sets you could slot include Crushing Impact, Red Fortune, and Unspeakable Terror, all of which return 5% reduction in recharge time for 5 slots. Glimpse of the Abyss gives a 6.25% reduction for 5 slots. Luck of the Gambler +Recharge IOs are obscenely expensive, but they can be worth the expense.
Playing the Build:
DM/SR solos fantastically once you have your defenses slotted up. On teams, your focus is of necessity a boss killer. Aim for the hardest target out there, especially targets that other scrappers will struggle with, things like Sappers, or highly smashing/lethal resistant bosses (think RedCap Fiends, or Crey/Freak Tanks).
As with any /SR scrapper build, its a bit slow starting. Unlike most, you get a self-heal at level 8, but until you slot it up well its almost more trouble than its worth between the high end cost and the low heal. Take it easy, and dont be ashamed to keep the dial set on heroic for quite a while. Once you have enough endurance you should bump up the level to Rugged, certainly by 22 at the latest. Your melee defense should be good early, but you may not have (or have the endurance to run) your ranged toggle. Early enemies close to melee fairly eagerly, so if at all possible pull enemies to you, then run around a corner or otherwise break line of sight. Use your origin starting power to pull, or buy a Revolver recipe at Wentworths.
Mezzing enemies will be easy 2/3 of the time, and frustrating the other 1/3 with Practiced Brawler down. Be aware of when its down! Be sure to get both temp travel powers, one from bank missions from 5-10 and the other from 10-15.
Make sure you do Stephanie Peebles missions to get the Wedding Band temporary power in the early 20s. This provides 30% resistance to everything including psionics. Its very handy against challenging foes with high accuracy (like Chimera in the late 40s!), of if taking an alpha strike youre not sure youll survive. Your melee defense should be very good by this point, and Siphon Life strong enough to help you without using so much endurance you dont dare use it.
In the early 30s your lack of AoE defense will potentially hurt. Choose your enemies carefully. Nemesis, for example, should be avoided.
Mid-late 30s, you finally have all your defenses and there will be very few things you need fear, even on Invincible. There arent many factions in the game that are negative resistant, and some of them are only around for moments. Skulls are tough, but many people dont notice them in the game if they started in Atlas. Banished Pantheon minions too, but they dont do much damage so theyre mostly annoying. Circle of Thorns spectrals will cause you the most grief in the game. They are quite negative resistant, and when they do hit you they leave a strong ToHit debuff that makes it less likely that Siphon Life will hit. Late 30s Circle missions with lots of Spectrals and Earth Thorn Casters (high defense to all your smashing attacks) will be tediously long.
Some tests have found that fighting on Unyielding leads to more xp over time than Invincible. I believe this to be true for any build or team that does at least decent area damage. You are not that build, so I recommend Invincible from the mid-20s on.
The critters you will want to be careful around are things with stupidly strong ToHit buffs. Devouring Earth Quartz are doubly bad since not only are they fairly negative resistant, DE spawns also drop Quartz eminators that boost their ToHit enough that your defense is effectively gone. Kill Quartz eminators on sight! Rularuu with Eyeballs in the spawn are if anything worse. Rularuu or Lanaruu Watchers should also be priority targets. Nemesis arent bad initially, but if youre on a team that habitually kills the lieutenants first the Vengeance they give off will start to stack and youll start to get hita lot. (Numinas task force, featuring both Nemesis AND Devouring Earth can be a challenge if not on a smart team!)
A few other villain groups are aggravating. Malta Gunslingers have an accuracy bonus that lets them hit you more often. Knives of Artemis drop all those caltrops, and the damage is auto-hit. Auto-hit damage is evil. And of course, things like Master Illusionists are just challenging for everybody, but once you have your defenses all the way up even MIs arent that bad. Youll just have to actually use inspirations for a change!
The Build:
My current build is below, but if you want to plan for a re-spec, it would be slightly easier to play this build through level 27 and then re-spec into something closer to what I have below. Agile is taken for the ranged defense and scaling resistance and Dark Consumption is skipped for now, since when it finally becomes available Stamina is right around the corner.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.21
http://www.honourableunited.org.uk/mhd.php
Level 27 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Dark Melee
Secondary Power Set: Super Reflexes
Power Pool: Fitness
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Smite -- Acc(A), Dmg(3), Dmg(5), Dmg(9), Acc(23)
Level 1: Focused Fighting -- EndRdx(A), DefBuff(3), DefBuff(11), DefBuff(17)
Level 2: Shadow Punch -- Acc(A), Dmg(7), Dmg(15), Dmg(15), Acc(23)
Level 4: Shadow Maul -- Acc(A), Dmg(5), Dmg(7), Dmg(9), Acc(25)
Level 6: Agile -- DefBuff(A)
Level 8: Touch of Fear -- Acc(A), EndRdx(19)
Level 10: Siphon Life -- Acc(A), EndRdx(11), Heal(13), Heal(17), Acc(25)
Level 12: Practiced Brawler -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(13)
Level 14: Hurdle -- Jump(A)
Level 16: Health -- Heal(A)
Level 18: Focused Senses -- EndRdx(A), DefBuff(19)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod(A), EndMod(21), EndMod(21)
Level 22: Quickness -- Run(A)
Level 24: Dodge -- DefBuff(A)
Level 26: Soul Drain -- Acc(A), RechRdx(27), RechRdx(27)
Level 28: [Empty]
Level 30: [Empty]
Level 32: [Empty]
Level 35: [Empty]
Level 38: [Empty]
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>| Copy & Paste this data chunk into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
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</pre><hr />
My DM/SRs current build. This is not the only way to run the build, as indicated you can easily go stamina-free, or go with Fly. This is the best way I can see to get all the powers I wanted, but cap out my melee and ranged defense. If you want to set and forget your toggles, dont take Focused Senses this early, taking Agile instead.
This build isnt terribly expensive, except for the Luck of the Gambler recharge that I got on the Moonfire task force. If you can get one, it helps the attack chain. Any of the Health uniques like the Numinas Convalescence unique IO are also highly recommended if you can get them, but they are beyond the reach of many while leveling, and really not necessary for this build. Endurance is not a serious problem between Stamina and Dark Consumption.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.21
http://www.honourableunited.org.uk/mhd.php
DM/SR: Level 50 Technology Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Dark Melee
Secondary Power Set: Super Reflexes
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Fitness
Ancillary Pool: Darkness Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Smite -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg:33(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx:33(3), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg:33(3), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:33(5), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:33(17), T'Death-Dam%:33(31)
Level 1: Focused Fighting -- LkGmblr-Def:35(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:35(7), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:35(15), LkGmblr-Rchg+:35(19), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg:35(25)
Level 2: Focused Senses -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx:35(A), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg:35(9), RedFtn-Def/Rchg:35(34), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:35(36), RedFtn-Def:35(36), RedFtn-EndRdx:35(40)
Level 4: Shadow Maul -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg:45(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx:45(5), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg:45(7), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg:40(11), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:45(13), Sciroc-Dam%:40(31)
Level 6: Touch of Fear -- Abys-Acc/Fear/Rchg:20(A), Abys-Fear/Rng:45(21), Abys-Acc/EndRdx:33(31), Abys-Acc/Rchg:25(39), Abys-EndRdx/Fear:35(39)
Level 8: Siphon Life -- Acc-I:40(A), Dct'dW-Heal:40(9), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg:30(15), RgnTis-Heal/Rchg:30(17), RgnTis-Heal/EndRdx:30(37), F'dSmite-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:40(39)
Level 10: Boxing -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:35(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(11), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:35(13), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:35(23), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:35(29)
Level 12: Hurdle -- Jump-I:50(A), Jump-I:50(25)
Level 14: Practiced Brawler -- RechRdx-I:45(A)
Level 16: Dodge -- DefBuff-I:50(A), DefBuff-I:50(40)
Level 18: Dark Consumption -- Sciroc-Acc/Rchg:40(A), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg:33(19)
Level 20: Health -- Heal-I:50(A), Heal-I:50(21)
Level 22: Stamina -- EndMod-I:50(A), EndMod-I:50(23)
Level 24: Quickness -- Run-I:50(A)
Level 26: Soul Drain -- Acc-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(27), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg:35(27), RechRdx-I:50(29)
Level 28: Lucky -- DefBuff-I:50(A), DefBuff-I:50(43)
Level 30: Agile -- DefBuff-I:50(A)
Level 32: Midnight Grasp -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg:37(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx:37(33), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg:37(33), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:37(33), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:37(34), T'Death-Dam%:37(34)
Level 35: Evasion -- RedFtn-Def:35(A), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx:35(36), RedFtn-Def/Rchg:35(37), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg:40(37), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:40(40), RedFtn-EndRdx:50(42)
Level 38: Tough -- ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(A), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(42), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx:50(43), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx:50(45)
Level 41: Weave -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx:45(A), RedFtn-Def:40(42), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg:40(43), RedFtn-Def/Rchg:40(45), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:40(45), RedFtn-EndRdx:40(46)
Level 44: Petrifying Gaze -- EoCur-Acc/Rchg:50(A), EoCur-Acc/Hold/Rchg:50(46), Hold-I:50(46)
Level 47: Dark Blast -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg:40(A), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg:40(48), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:40(48), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx:40(48), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:40(50)
Level 49: Tenebrous Tentacles -- AirB'st-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Det'tn-Acc/Dmg:50(50), Dmg-I:50(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I:50(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
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</pre><hr />
Edit-- modified leveling build somewhat.