I13 Guide to the Broad Sword/Shield Scrapper

Milady's Knight's I13 Guide to the Broad Sword/Shields Scrapper

If you want a Scrapper set that is visually stunning with very cool animations, this is the one for you.

If you want a Scrapper with High Survivability that is very good at solo play or if you are a Scrapper player that likes to herd, operate at a distance from the team, or roam the battle field, then I would reccomend that you select a different mitigation set.

If you are the type of player that enjoys a challenge, likes to build characters using lots of set bonuses, or tends to operate near the rest of the team, then this set may be for you.

This combination of Primary/Secondary is one of the best, if not the best, for Shield Defense Scrappers.

The Pros - are some very nice hard hitting attacks, a PBAoE and 2 cone attacks (one is quite narrow), 2 hard hitting single target attacks, Build up and Against All Odds used together lets you put out extreme amounts of damage in the middle to late game, and the gem of the set, Parry which allows you to stack some extra melee defense early on when you really need it. Nice amounts of defense in the secondary.

The Cons - this combination pairs 2 very endurance hungry sets. The fitness pool is all but "required" since neither the primary or secondary have any extra recovery or regeneration built into them. The Miracle and Numina Uniques will also be quite helpful as will any other set bonuses/accolades that give +max endurance or extra recovery. There is very little secondary mitigation in this combination meaning that you will rely heavily on your defense and debuffs are the bane of this combination.

I will give slotting reccomendations for using SOs/common IOs and leave set bonuses up to the individual, though I will make some reccomendations on sets/set bonuses and pool powers that will be useful.

Broad Sword

Hack - a nice, hard hitting, single target attack. You will use this attack your entire journey to level 50.

Slotting reccomendation - (1) Accuracy, (1-2) Damage, (1-2) Recharge Reduction, (2) Endurance Reduction
Utility 10 out of 10

Slash - a low to moderate damage single target attack. This is the least useful attack power in the primary and even at that it is still a decent attack. It recharges fairly quickly though it is fairly expensive on endurance for the use that you will get out of it. This attack is one that you may want to take early in the game before you have nice fluid attack chain and then respec out of some time around level 35.

Slotting reccomendation - (1) Accuracy, (2) Damage, (1) Recharge Reduction, (2) Endurance Reduction

Utility 7 out of 10

Slice - a very nice cone attack. It has a nice arc and does decent damage. To get the most out of this attack allow the enemy mobs to bunch up a bit, target a mob in the center of the group, take a step backwards, hesitate just a bit, and then trigger this attack. You will be able to get the largest number of enemies in the damage arc this way.

Slotting reccomendation - (1) Accuracy, (1-2) Damage, (1-2) Recharge Reduction, (2) Endurance Reduction
Utility 9 out of 10

Build Up - what's not to like about a 100% boost to damage for 10 seconds? This power, Against All Odds, the build up proc from the Gaussian's set and a critial hit from the inherent is a thing of beauty that will even make Fire/ Blasters jealous of your big orange numbers.

Slotting reccomendation - (3) Recharge Reduction
Utility 10 out of 10

Parry - the jewel of the set. This power does a little damage and gives you a nice boost to melee and lethal defense at a modest endurance cost. With a small amount of recharge you can stack the melee defense this power provides with the defense from Deflection and have soft capped defenses (95% of, normal accuracy, enemy attacks will miss you) even in the early game. If you are having endurance woes prior to getting Stamina you "can" turn off Deflection and rely on this power to provide all of your melee defense. In the late game if you have focused on using invention sets to soft cap your defenses you will use this power only in rare situations when you want to halt a defense cascade failure. Even in this case the power is an excellent place to keep a Luck of the Gambler global recharge IO.

Slotting reccomendation - (1-2) Accuracy, (1) Recharge Reduction, (1) Endurance Reduction
Utility 10 out of 10

Confront - The least useful power in the set. The only feature that might potentially be useful is the -range component that was added to the power in I13 but in the late game opponents have greatly increased ranges and this nullifies what little advantage this power gives. In practice, it is just too situational to justify a power pick. Against All Odds has a decent taunt component in it and makes this power pretty much redundant and I would reccomend that you rely on it instead.

Slotting reccomendation - Skip this power
Utility 1 out of 10

Whirling Sword - a very nice PBAoE attack. Using Build up, Against All Odds, and chaining Slice and this power will allow you to eliminate all the even con minions in a group. Critical hits, the Gaussian's proc and damage bonuses from sets make this chain even better.

Slotting reccomendation - (1) Accuracy, (1-2) Damage, (1-2) Recharge Reduction, (2) Endurance Reduction
Utility 10 out of 10

Disembowel - This is the set's best single target attack. Not only does it do lots of damage but the Knock up component of the power provides decent mitigation.

Slotting reccomendation - (1) Accuracy, (1-2) Damage, (1-2) Recharge Reduction, (2) Endurance Reduction
Utility 10 out of 10

Head Splitter - This power is a hard hitting cone attack. It has a narrow (20 degrees) arc but it is possible with some practice to hit 2 or 3 targets with it. The Knock down component of this power provides additional mitigation.

Slotting reccomendation - (1) Accuracy, (1-2) Damage, (1-2) Recharge Reduction, (2) Endurance Reduction
Utility 10 out of 10

Shield Defense

Deflection
This is a toggle power that provides the majority of your defense to melee attacks and all of your resistance to smashing and lethal damage.

Pros - This power has a very nice amount of defense especially once you can slot SOs. Soft capping melee defenses in the late game using IO sets is fairly easy.

Cons - This power contains the majority of your melee defense and all of your resistance to smashing and lethal damage. This means that you must pick and choose what to enhance as there are 3 things this power provides that really need enhancing, defense, damage resistance, and endurance reduction

Defense provided - moderate
Resistance provided - low
Slotting reccomendation - (3) Defense Buff (2) Endurance Reduction (1) Damage Resistance
Utility 9 out of 10

Battle Agility
This is a toggle power that provides the majority of your defense to ranged and AoE attacks. It also provides the majority of your defense debuff resistance.

Defense provided - moderate
Defense Debuff Resistance provided - low/moderate
Slotting reccomendation - (3) Defense Buff (2) Endurance Reduction
Utility 10 out of 10

True Grit
This is a passive power that provides all of your reistance to Energy, Negative Energy, Fire, Cold, and Toxic damage. It also provides a low/moderate boost to total health.

Resistance provided - low/moderate
Health increase - low
Slotting reccomendation - (2-3) Damage Resistance (2-3) Heal
Utility 7 out of 10

Active Defense
This is a click power that provides your protection from status effects. It also provides more of your resistances to Defense Debuffs. Two +3 level SOs is enough to make this power "perma" with control+left mouse click. Sheild Defense provides very little resistance to recharge slows however, so I would not reccomend only 2 slots in this power. Extra recharge and hasten allow this power to be doubled stacked for a limited amount of time. While double stacked this power does provide double the amount of status protection and double the amount of defense debuff resistance (Double stacked active defense coupled with battle agility provides ~50% defense debuff resistance)

Status Protection provided - good
Defense Debuff Resistance provided - low
Slotting reccomendation - (3) Recharge Reduction
Utility 9 out of 10

Against All Odds
This is the best power in the set and the reason that all of the attacks are under slotted with damage enhancements, more damage would be redundant. This power is always useful, provides a tremendous return for endurance spent and everything in your design/build should attempt to highlight or focus this power. This is an offensive toggle power that can greatly enhance the damage that you deal to enemies that are within melee range as it buffs your damage for each enemy in range up to a maximum of 10 buffs. It also slightly debuffs the damage dealt by enemies within melee range. The power has a low/moderate taunt effect which helps to keep the enemies within range for both the personal damage buff and the enemy debuff. *I reccomend caution with this power especially against defense debuffing enemies* until you can increase your defenses through set bonuses and pool powers. This power can cause quite the devil's choice trade off of +damage with increased aggro. It is an oscillating, knife edge balance, type power. With proper and careful use this power will make you a damage dealing juggernaut. Improper use can cause fast trips to the hospital.

Damage buff provided - moderate to extreme
Enemy damage debuff provided - low
Slotting reccomendation - (2) Endurance Reduction
Utility 10 out of 10

Phallanx Fighting
This is one of the thematic powers in the Shield Defense set. It is a passive power that provides a low amount of defense to all positions and provides an additional amount of defense based on the number of nearby allies. The allies must be within 8' of the shield weilder and the power provides it's maximum benefit from being within range of 3 allies. This power is extremely situational. To get more than the base amount of defense you must be on a team and have allies that stay in melee range of you at all times. This power conflicts with Against All Odds since each ally that is near you providing you with a defense buff is also preventing an enemy or 2 from being effected by the damage debuff and you don't get the damage buff that having those enemies nearby provides. I wouldn't reccomend skipping this power as it is useful to soft cap your defenses but you can put this power off until late in your build. This is another excellent place to slot a Luck of the Gambler global recharge IO.

Defense provided - very low to low
Slotting reccomendation - (1) Defense Buff
Utility 3 out of 10

Grant Cover
This is one of the thematic powers in the Shield Defense set. This is another highly situational power. It is a toggle power that provides a very low amount of defense debuff resistance and recharge debuff resistance to the shield weilder and nearby allies. It also provides a moderate amount of defense to allies (but not the shield weilder) that are within 15'. For solo use the small amount of personal resistances provided are not worth the endurance cost. On teams, the small area of effect means that the teamates that can best benefit from it will be either too far away or exposed to an unsafe amount of colateral damage from enemy Area of Effect attacks. When slotting sets, a Winters Gift Unique IO will provide more resistance to recharge debuffs than this power, global recharge bonuses and hasten will allow double stacking of the defense debuff resistances in Active Defense and additional defense from set bonuses will greatly reduce the benefits of this power. Grant Cover is the most skippable power in this set.

Defense provided (self) - none
Defense provided (allies) - moderate
Slotting reccomendation - (2) Defense Buff (1) Endurance Reduction

Solo
Utility 2 out of 10
Teamed
Utility 4 out of 10

Shield Charge
This is one of the thematic powers in the Shield Defense set. It is a click attack power that provides very good levels of mitigation due to the very high chance of knock down that it causes to enemies. It is also one of the most fun powers in the set. Using the power can be problematic since it suffers from long recharge and using it to go father than melee range causes the shield weilder to lose the majority of the defense provided by Phalanx Fighting, lose the damage bonus from Against All Odds, and can cause allies to lose the defense provided by Grant Cover. The power can be difficult to target for players unused to teleport and is further hampered by the teleport reticle problem especially on uneven terrain. Sheild charge does not benefit from Against All Odds unless it is used in melee range (which esentially eliminates the coolness factor of the power). The Teleport travel power plus any other mid-high damage PBAoE is arguably a better choice since the combination is available more often and allows the selected PBAoE to benefit from Against All Odds. If you have a fluid attack chain and are not in need of another attack power you can easily skip this power.

Mitigation provided - High
Damage provided - Moderate
Slotting reccomendation - (1-2) Accuracy (1-3) Damage (1-3) Recharge Reduction (1) Endurance Reduction

Solo
Utility 5 out of 10
Teamed
Utility 3 out of 10

One With The Shield
This is a click power that increases resistances to all types of damage except psionic, increases total health, and increases endurance recovery. It is has a base recharge of 6 minutes, is unaffected by recharge buffs and has a duration of 2 minutes. It provides levels of mitigation similar to Will Power's Strength of Will but has a 60% endurance depletion that is less harsh than other tier 9 crashes. If you are using set bonuses to soft cap your defenses you will use this power much less frequently, though it will still be useful in heavy defense debuff situations.

Smashing/Lethal resistance - Moderate/High
Fire/Cold/Energy/Negative Energy/Toxic resistance - Low/Moderate
Psionic resistance - none
Health Increase - Moderate
Endurance Recovery - Extreme
Slotting reccomendation - (2-3) Damage Resistance (2-3) Heal (0-1) Endurance Modification

Utility 6 out of 10


Reccomended Pool Powers


Travel Pool

Teleport and Team Teleport

These are both very useful powers for the shield weilder. Taking teleport as a travel power allows the user to get "double use" as it were for travel and as a replacement for the Shield Charge power. Using Team teleport allows you to keep your allies within the area of affect of both the Phalanx Fighting and Grant Cover powers.

Fitness

Health and Stamina

Shield Defense is a power set that has low/moderate mitigation and high endurance use. The added benefit of increased regeneration and recovery are not to be overlooked and are more important for Sheild Defense than most other power sets.

Fighting

Tough and Weave

These 2 powers from the fighting pool can help add survivability that this set lacks especially when solo. Endurance consumption becomes problematic when running these 2 higher end use toggles however.

Medicine

Aid Self

This power will allow the sheild weilder to get back in the battle faster and reduce down time, especially valuable when solo.

Reccomended Set Bonuses

The Shield Defense power set will benefit from the following global set bonuses listed in order of benefit

Extreme

Endurance Recovery
Positional Defenses
Regeneration
+Max Endurance

High
Resistances
+ Health
+ Recharge
+ To Hit
Accuracy


Moderate
Debt Protection

All I have to say about his post is....Wow! Very analytical and very useful. Thank you, Knight, I created a BS/Shield day one, but have been building my Shield/Energy themed tank first. Adding this little one page guide to my faves. Maybe it can get perma added to the i13 guides by a mod. All-in-all 10 out of 10 for helpfulness.

[ QUOTE ]
One With The Shield: It is has a base recharge of 6 minutes, is unaffected by recharge buffs and has a duration of 2 minutes

[/ QUOTE ]
Does "is unaffected by recharge buffs" mean that there is absolutely nothing the player can do to reduce the cycle time of the power below six minutes?

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
One With The Shield: It is has a base recharge of 6 minutes, is unaffected by recharge buffs and has a duration of 2 minutes

[/ QUOTE ]
Does "is unaffected by recharge buffs" mean that there is absolutely nothing the player can do to reduce the cycle time of the power below six minutes?

[/ QUOTE ]

That is exactly what it means, yes.

That's a horrible design precedent, then.

it is not a precedence. if i remember right the Tier 9 from Willpower is the exact same way.

by doing it that way they are able to not have as bad of a crash and a constant recharge without having to make it so through the roof to prevent people from getting it to a perma state.

[ QUOTE ]
it is not a precedence. if i remember right the Tier 9 from Willpower is the exact same way.

by doing it that way they are able to not have as bad of a crash and a constant recharge without having to make it so through the roof to prevent people from getting it to a perma state.

[/ QUOTE ]

You remember correctly. Strength of Will has a 5 minute recharge, a 2 minute duration and is also unaffected by recharge buffs.

Ok, that means it's a design trend, then.

look for more tier 9 "god modes" to have this design.

There is nothing that the player can do to make One with the Shield come back any faster, but there is nothing the player NEEDS to do to make it come back in a reasonable time frame. For reference, a 'traditional' Tier 9 like Unstoppable comes back in a bit over 6 minutes after threeslotting for recharge and pretending that Hasten is up permanently. Twinked out +recharge IO builds (or Shield users with a horde of Kinetics friends) will lose out under this model, but under 'regular' conditions, just consider it as pre-slotted and immune to recharge debuffs.

Nice guide, only disagree about the utility of Grant cover. I'd rate it an 8 or 9 teamed. although a 1 solo. With it you can help the tanker and nearby scrapper's survivability, help keep that squishy you run to save alive if your first swipe at the baddie doesn't kill it, or use in combo with other shield tanks and scrappers to make a formidible anchor in the middle of a grouped mob, each of you helping the defense of the others.

For me this was one of the major appeals of the set, a scrapper set that provided a very useful buff to other members of the team, something truly distinctive.

For Deflection, I'd found a good way to beat the dilemma of pick and choose is 1def/end, 2def(full) 1res/end, and 2res(full) this gets you near max performance, and the endurance reduction being at .14/.15 is not a huge difference from .12 with two SO/IO end reductions slotted.

Just some comments from a level 27 BS/Shield peanut gallery member:

I think dual builds is IDEAL for a BS/Shield scrapper. One build is for teaming, it takes phalanx and grant cover. The other is for solo work and skips both of those for other powers. Teaming you can probably also skip one with the shield -- this is the "I am not the tank" shield scrapper build. If you are the (virtual) tank, then you run your solo build, which is built for your survivability rather than your team's.

Even for non-set-IO builds, for the love of god get a steadfast protection res/3% global defense IO. Yes, it'll set you back a bit, so either save your merits or get some cash and buy one.

For epic pools, Weapon Mastery may be fun for the abuse of shield charge -> caltrops. Most insulting appearance ever!

Shield Charge makes you a great opener for teams. SC in and knock 80% of the spawn down, then the tank taunts and controllers can safely fire controls without taking the alpha of any they missed. You're tough enough to soak the one or two guys you'll miss hitting you for a (short) while.

Leadership of Concealment are also worth considering for power pool picks for a teaming build. Think of yourself as a melee-based defender.

Good guide, but I don't agree with you at all on Shield Charge.

It will do more total damage than any other attack power you have with this combo, so I don't see how you can skip it.

I'm not sure why someone would take Shields if they skipped this power.

As a follow-up, there is nothing better than watching the tank go down, dropping shield charge on top of my location (with damage bonus; I was already in the pack of mobs), then hitting one with the shield. I can tank for long enough for the defenders to get the tank back up.

Also, duoing with a emp defender friend who put assault and fort on me, I was 1-hitting +1 spawns with shield charge. Love it!

In my planned not-insanely-expensive build, I'm looking at a 30 second cycle time on build up and shield charge -- that's not too bad. I don't know what I could get it down to if I wanted to spend the big bucks. Probably only about 20, 25 seconds.

[ QUOTE ]
Good guide, but I don't agree with you at all on Shield Charge.

It will do more total damage than any other attack power you have with this combo, so I don't see how you can skip it.

I'm not sure why someone would take Shields if they skipped this power.

[/ QUOTE ]

This.

I would find anyone who skipped an huge AoE high damage teleport self (that causes KnockDOWN) in their secondary...insane. There is no circumstance under which I would ever skip Shield charge from this set.

Otherwise well thought out guide.

I've noticed in all your other builds posted throughout the forums on BS/SD, you never select whirling sword, yet you rated it a 10of10 in the guide? What made you drop it?

Very insightful guide. Now, in regard to your extreme benefit set bonuses...

I rate positional defense bonuses at the top of the list simply because these keep you alive. Also and a more important note, I would put +max endurance next in line and push recovery completely off the table. The reason being +max end gives you more endurance to work with and since recovery rate is calculated off of you max endurance pool, you get +recovery from +max endurance as well. You can verify this through the advance totals in Mid's. Make sure to combine +max end bonuses with any +max end accolades for maximum effect. And yes, get those accolades!

Basically slot for +max end and only slot for +recovery if there is no +max end alternative. Great examples of this are the health uniques. These are a huge amount of recovery, as much as 4 times as a single bonus from a purple recovery bonus.


Edited for grammar.

[ QUOTE ]
High
Resistances
+ Health
+ Recharge
+ To Hit
Accuracy


[/ QUOTE ]

The resistance bonuses available in game are low and far between for specific types. You are much better going off for +max hp bonuses.

Basically for each amount of + hp, reacts exactly as that much in resistance, to ALL types. If you have 100% health, and you get 5% max hp bonuses, it is now going to take 5% more damage to defeat you, the same as it would work if you had 5% resistance to any type of damage. And with max HP bonuses, the best part is it is global hp, so it works against every single type of incoming damage. It is also much easier to achieve max hp bonuses than it is to stack resistance bonuses of any type.

Lots of 1.13% bonuses are easy via lotg in your defenses, and efficacy adaptors in stamina. Can pick up 1.88% with numinas in true grit and health. In the single target attacks with makos bite and touch of death which you would use to get their good positional defense bonuses as well, they come with 1.5% max hp bonuses, in hack, parry, and disembowel thats 3 of those already.

With the two toggles for defense, true grit, health, stamina, and your attacks that is already 11.65% max hp, or equivocally resistance to all. Picking up OWTS with some numinas takes that to 13.53%. Add in weave and its 14.66% max hp bonus!!! Gotta love it

FYI it takes 71% outside sources to cap hp on a scrapper. So 20% from accolades, 19% from true grit and 14.66% from bonuses takes you to 53.66%, still shy of the cap so every one of those max hp bonuses will be in effect.

Here is how i built my bs/shield. 39.4% defense to melee/aoe, 43.1% to ranged. In addition to 17.5% damage bonus, 45% acc bonus, 52.5% rech bonus, 2.5 end/sec, 14.66% max hp, and 121% regneration bonus, which equates to healing a tic of hp every 4 seconds :P. Makes for one BA scrapper .

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

BS Shield: Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Broad Sword
Secondary Power Set: Shield Defense
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Hack -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(11), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(15), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31), Mako-Dam%(42)
Level 1: Deflection -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(5), LkGmblr-Def(5), LkGmblr-Rchg+(17), ResDam-I(37), ResDam-I(39)
Level 2: Slice -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(3), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(11), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42)
Level 4: True Grit -- Numna-Heal/EndRdx(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(9), Numna-Heal(13), Heal-I(17), ResDam-I(37), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(39)
Level 6: Battle Agility -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(7), LkGmblr-Def(7), LkGmblr-Rchg+(39)
Level 8: Parry -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(13), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(21), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), Mako-Dam%(43)
Level 10: Active Defense -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Jump-I(A)
Level 16: Against All Odds -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 18: Whirling Sword -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(19), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(19), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40)
Level 20: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 22: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(23), Numna-Heal(23), Heal-I(50), RgnTis-Regen+(50)
Level 24: Stamina -- Efficacy-EndMod(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(25), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(25), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(29)
Level 26: Disembowel -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(27), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(27), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(29), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31), T'Death-Dam%(40)
Level 28: Phalanx Fighting -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 30: Build Up -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(43)
Level 32: Head Splitter -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(33), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(33), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(33), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40)
Level 35: Shield Charge -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(36), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42)
Level 38: One with the Shield -- Numna-Heal/EndRdx(A), Numna-Heal/Rchg(43), Numna-Heal(46), ResDam-I(46), ResDam-I(50)
Level 41: Kick -- Acc-I(A)
Level 44: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(45), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(45), RctvArm-ResDam(45), RctvArm-EndRdx(46)
Level 47: Weave -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(48), LkGmblr-Def(48), LkGmblr-Rchg+(48)
Level 49: Grant Cover -- EndRdx-I(A)
------------
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">[*]17.5% DamageBuff(Smashing)[*]17.5% DamageBuff(Lethal)[*]17.5% DamageBuff(Fire)[*]17.5% DamageBuff(Cold)[*]17.5% DamageBuff(Energy)[*]17.5% DamageBuff(Negative)[*]17.5% DamageBuff(Toxic)[*]17.5% DamageBuff(Psionic)[*]6.13% Defense(Smashing)[*]6.13% Defense(Lethal)[*]5.19% Defense(Fire)[*]5.19% Defense(Cold)[*]8% Defense(Energy)[*]8% Defense(Negative)[*]3% Defense(Psionic)[*]7.38% Defense(Melee)[*]11.1% Defense(Ranged)[*]7.38% Defense(AoE)[*]45% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]52.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]195.8 HP (14.6%) HitPoints[*]MezResist(Held) 9.35%[*]MezResist(Immobilize) 10.5%[*]MezResist(Stun) 6.6%[*]1.5% (0.03 End/sec) Recovery[*]86% (4.81 HP/sec) Regeneration[*]3.13% Resistance(Negative)[/list]


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Very useful guide. though I have one major issue with it. Why did you trash the Shield Charge? Its an incredibly useful way to start a fight. My Scrapper can pop Build up, and the shield charge into a mob. This actually drops or severely damages every minion (if it doesnt kill em, Whirling sword does every time), and brings lueys down enough for me to drop with one headsplitter or disembowel. So shield charge actually lets me drop a mob 2 -3 lvls higher than me in 2 or 3 attacks. its an awesome power.

Just wanted to say that if you are shield charging into a mob, you are very likely Doing It Wrong™. AAO buffs your damage, so run in, BU and shield charge right under your own feet. I open fights by running into a spawn, BU, SC, WS, then cleanup on whatever is left alive.

Not sure what this

My Broadsword/Shield scrapper leveled up as part of a team of 4 scrappers -- 2 BS/Shield, 2 DM/Shield. With Grant Cover and Phalanx Fighting, we were softcapped as soon as we could fit in these powers. We alternated pairs of Shield Charges -- we would all run into the middle of groups, wait a second for AAO to saturate our damage bonus, then hit Build Up, Shield Charge and Whirling Sword, and everything was dead.

One of the best parts about a BS/Shield scrapper as an end game build is that it is pretty easy to soft-cap it thanks to Perry. You can focus on IO sets that give Ranged and AoE defense, and then one Perry at the start of the fight will soft-cap your melee defense. While an Elec Melee/Shield can do more AoE damage, BS/Shield is easier to softcap, provides very impressive AoE damage with Build Up, Shield Charge, Whirling Sword and Slice, and is better at single tough targets with Hack, Disembowel and Headsplitter. My BS/Shield, named "Bull Shield," is one of my favorite characters.

While I appreciate the attempt I think some of your design decisions are just horrible and your description of the BS/SD scrapper playstyle is just plain wrong.

"If you want a Scrapper with High Survivability that is very good at solo play...then I would reccomend that you select a different mitigation set."

In the 1st place any */SD scrapper is highly survivable if built correctly. Secondly a BS/SD scrapper is great for solo. As for herding, roaming, etc. I think you can build this power set combination to do any of those things quite easily.

A BS/SD scrapper with soft capped defense and "hard-hitting" attacks (which should include Shield Charge btw) should be able to handle large spawns as well as AV's. I think you severly underestimate what this combination can do.

"Parry - the jewel of the set..."

This power is completely unneeded on an */SD scrapper. */SD can soft cap positonal defense without it so it only serves to lower DPS. It may be useful at lower levels before you can properly enhance all your powers but it certainly isn't a "jewel".

"Against All Odds. This is the best power in the set and the reason that all of the attacks are under slotted with damage enhancements, more damage would be redundant..."

While your assesment of which power is the best of the set is debatable it's your reasoning for underslotting damage I find ill informed. Damage slotting being redundant is only true if you are just fighting even con mobs. Against higher level foes, foes with high resistance to smashing/lethal damage (which is most of them late game) or enhanced foes such as Bosses, EBs and AVs you will find you need all the extra damage you can get.

"Phallanx Fighting...This power is extremely situational..."

Although it provides a small amount of defense */SD is all about stacking defense bonuses. This power allows you (along with the other defense bonuses) to reach the soft cap. It is an "always-on" power so it is always used meaning it is anything but "situational".

"Grant Cover...This is another highly situational power..."

Your misunderstanding of the importance of this power is why you probably don't understand what this set is capable of doing. Grant Cover is a good ally buff but that is not it's greatest value to the */SD scrapper. GC provides a sizable defense debuff resistance that without which a*/SD scrapper will find cascading defense failures a common occurance in places like Cimerora. And no you can't rely on double stacking Active Defense all the time. Grant Cover is, in fact, an integral part of the */SD scrappers defense not a "highly situational" power.

"Shield Charge. This is one of the thematic powers in the Shield Defense set... The Teleport travel power plus any other mid-high damage PBAoE is arguably a better choice since the combination is available more often and allows the selected PBAoE to benefit from Against All Odds...you can easily skip this power."

Well this really says it all when it comes to your complete undervaluation of the */SD scrapper. SC is, by far, one of the best powers in the set. It is not just "thematic" it is a large spawn destroyer. This power allows you to wipe out multiple mobs easily and compliments your BS attacks and thier high burst damage very nicely. If you knew how to use this power correctly you might see why it just so powerful. Don't use it as a teleport, move into the spawn and then set it off. Think AAO + BU +SC! If you skip this power you are severely gimping your build.

"Teleport and Team Teleport. These are both very useful powers for the shield weilder..."

These are marginally useful at best and I would contend a waste of power choices.

Overall I have to give this guide a huge thumbs down.

Filcher was on point about everything. The fact that OWTS was rated more useful than shield charge reduced this guide to rubbish.


No offense, but please take this misleading guide down or revise it. =\