There's nothing wrong with DA. It's actually one of the toughest sets out there. However, I think it's mostly scrolled off the bottom of the "what's hot" list, as it's not as new and shiny as WP and Shield. It's not as enduranace frienldy or as fire and forget as WP (which also has an easier "soft capping" potential). SR, of course, is also popular on these boards these days for ease of soft-capped defense.
DA has rather incredible survival potential, but it takes good timing and strong endurance management. These days IOs make the latter quite accessable, but not everyone wants to deal with clicks (and Dark Regen has quite the animation time).
Expect neither nerfs nor buffs to this set any time soon, IMO.
Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA
I like DA. I'm growing a DA/Fire who's a beast, so far. There hasn't been any buffing or nerfing to DA, but buffs to other sets and new sets have made made DA look, well, less.
Slotted for endredux and with liberal use of the heal and its tools to supplement its armor, it's been great, so far. It's when I'm sapped or am slowed that it seems squishy to me (in other words, just relying on armor). That could be just me, though.
The Scrappers' Guide to Dark Melee | Kheldian Binds and Strategies
Ok, so you'll hear dissenting voices on this one, but I'm going to get on my pulpit anyway.
I find DA to be quite a strong, survivable set, it goes well with tough/weave (what doesn't?) and things such as the damage aura are a tasty bonus.
But, it does have it's downsides, there no Knockback protect, you'll need an IO to cover that hole.
It's also a little end heavy, again, not such a big problem (I'm looking at you Dark Regeneration)
On the plus side, it matures early, and it's well rounded, I like the stealth it offers, and, as mentioned, it's very survivable (especially if you plan to add set bonuses)
And that dissenting part? well, it's all about Oppressive Gloom, and Cloak of Fear, I hate em, other's love them, it's one of those things you'll need to try on to see if it fits.
The only thing that really draws me to the set is the animation for Cloak of Fear....that is so nice!
But, not sure if that would work with the damage aura and if that is also a massive end hog.
Night Goblin 35 lvl BS/Regen Scrapper
Slag Heap 38 lvl Fire/Axe Tanker
Energy Anomoly 23 lvl Energy/Energy Blaster
When something is feared, it defaults to two stances - the cowering stance and the aggroed-but-afraid stance. The former is the default until it's attacked, and then it goes into the second stance, where it can attack, but at a much slower rate. (not that it casts the slow effect on them, but they're literally only allowed the option to flee/attack every few seconds)
So even if you have both running, they will still slow the rate of incoming damage dramatically, even if they aren't hiding behind their arms.
The Scrappers' Guide to Dark Melee | Kheldian Binds and Strategies
Dark Armor is a really good secondary for scrappers imo. I have a Katana/Dark and he doesn't feel too squishy at all. In fact, I can actually pseudo tank with him with the combination of Divine Avalanche as well as the Dark Armor shields. For me, Dark Armor is one of my favorite secondaries and I have more fun with it than I do with Willpower or Regeneration. Of course, that's just me and everyone is different but just because Dark Armor isn't brought up a lot don't count it out.
DA is new and hot on the Tanker forums, so you can find a lot of yap about it over there. Here's the scrapper perspective on /DA:
1. It's good. You get the most powerful heal in the game, and if you use your tools correctly, minions are no threat to you ever, period. That means a lot versus, say, Sappers. It's also got some good psionic resistance and a damage aura, which are useful.
2. It pairs best, both thematically and mechanically, with Dark Melee. Dark Armor is a severely end-hungry secondary, and Dark Melee has a power that lets you refill your endurance bar completely; Dark Armor has a low-mag fear aura, and Dark Melee has a high-mag (stackable) single-target fear; Dark Armor has good resistance, and Dark Melee has powers that reduce your foe's to-hit, effectively giving you Defense; Dark Armor is good at holding a ton of helpless foes near you without killing them, and Dark Melee has the best damage-boosting power in the game if you have a ton of guys around you. They go together better than peanut butter and jelly.
3. Dark Armor is very much an active secondary - you have a big box of tools, and you have to use the right one at the right time, all the time, or you're screwed. It's similar to Regen in that it's a high-performing secondary if used properly and a low-performing secondary if used poorly.
4. Dark Armor is not a set about killing a bunch of guys really fast. That's /Fire and /Shield. /DA is about slapping status effects in a huge field around you and making the cowering, stumbling-around dudes surrounding you fuel your multi-target self-buff powers. Since most scrappers tend to prefer dead enemies to debuffed/controlled enemies, /DA tends to get passed over by most experienced scrappers - after all, a control-oriented secondary is usually better utilized on a control-oriented archetype. Say, tankers. A tanker that keeps an entire room full of enemies mezzed while healing himself for his entire lifebar every 30 seconds is some kind of unkillable god.
Hope this explains what you wanted to know.
If Cloak of Fear is the goal, be warned, it's accuracy is appalling, (It's why i hate it) it will swallow 6 slots easily
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4. Dark Armor is not a set about killing a bunch of guys really fast. That's /Fire and /Shield. /DA is about slapping status effects in a huge field around you and making the cowering, stumbling-around dudes surrounding you fuel your multi-target self-buff powers. Since most scrappers tend to prefer dead enemies to debuffed/controlled enemies, /DA tends to get passed over by most experienced scrappers - after all, a control-oriented secondary is usually better utilized on a control-oriented archetype. Say, tankers. A tanker that keeps an entire room full of enemies mezzed while healing himself for his entire lifebar every 30 seconds is some kind of unkillable god.
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I was with you up until here. Have you played Dark Armor as a scrapper? I've found the best endurance efficiency for Dark Armor by simply not attacking minions or LTs directly. Even with DM/DA a AoE light set, Soul Drain fueled Death Shroud devours minions. In AV/EB fights I have to turn Death Shroud off or it will wipe out my DR fuel before I can drop the EB. If you're refering to burst damage I would agree, but no secondary grants burst damage, you get that from your primary. [EDIT: OK OK SO I FORGOT about Shield Charge, 
, I've yet to play Shield to any significant level.
SI Radio has many DJs and listeners whom hold City of Heroes close to their hearts. We will be supporting many efforts to keep CoH ALIVE!!
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but no secondary grants burst damage
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Shield Charge. 
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but no secondary grants burst damage
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Shield Charge.
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Sorry, I haven't played shields yet, I keep forgetting about that.
SI Radio has many DJs and listeners whom hold City of Heroes close to their hearts. We will be supporting many efforts to keep CoH ALIVE!!
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but no secondary grants burst damage, you get that from your primary
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Shield Charge? Fiery Embrace?
Be well, people of CoH.
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Fiery Embrace?
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Fiery Embrace is a buff, it really isn't what I woud call burst damage. With out a primary to drive it, it only adds damage to Fiery Aura. I'm not disputing that Fire Amor will up your damage output, just the notion that Dark Armor is about keeping minions lingering about stunned/feared.
SI Radio has many DJs and listeners whom hold City of Heroes close to their hearts. We will be supporting many efforts to keep CoH ALIVE!!
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I was with you up until here. Have you played Dark Armor as a scrapper? I've found the best endurance efficiency for Dark Armor by simply not attacking minions or LTs directly. Even with DM/DA a AoE light set, Soul Drain fueled Death Shroud devours minions. In AV/EB fights I have to turn Death Shroud off or it will wipe out my DR fuel before I can drop the EB. If you're refering to burst damage I would agree, but no secondary grants burst damage, you get that from your primary.
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I was with you up to here with you being with him up to there, but shields gives burst.
*dives back into his fort of sofa cushions*
<.<
>.>
You cant get me...
Edited: Due to lateness...
Miss Arc #147491: Rise of Bedlam
AKA Iron Smoke @Champion Server
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I never see posts on Dark Armor or any recommendations for DA.
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DA is a really powerful, well balanced set. It does has issues recently only because of changes recently made. Such as, Zombies in the Zombie invasion, Cimerorians and many harder Custom MArc Critters can not be stunned or feared very easily if at all. Making Cloak of Fear and Oppressive Gloom both near worthless.
The recently changes to defense, also make Defense based sets, Shield/WP/SR even more godly; SR especially with its OP'ed defense debuff resistance.
As a resist based set, DA and FA suffer painfully from a lack of defense debuff resistance. Their are a lot of minions that have defense debuffs. I generally have to take out specific minions first before anything else to avoid having my stacked Defense removed by that one stupid minion in the back pelting me.
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but no secondary grants burst damage
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Shield Charge.
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Sorry, I haven't played shields yet, I keep forgetting about that.
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If you get shield charge, you won't forget it, lol.
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but no secondary grants burst damage
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Shield Charge.
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Sorry, I haven't played shields yet, I keep forgetting about that.
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If you get shield charge, you won't forget it, lol.
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It's on my to do list... 
SI Radio has many DJs and listeners whom hold City of Heroes close to their hearts. We will be supporting many efforts to keep CoH ALIVE!!
Katana/DA or BS/DA have HUGE potential for survivability. I'm waiting for someone to step up and show us how good that combo is soon. (I'm too interested in my blapper right now to do it myself).
I gotta make pain. I gotta make things right. I gotta stop what's comin'. 'Least I gotta try.
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I'm waiting for someone to step up and show us how good that combo is soon.
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I'm nearly done with my DM/DA build and BS/DA is incidentally my next focus. I'm curious as to what you meant by this comment though.
SI Radio has many DJs and listeners whom hold City of Heroes close to their hearts. We will be supporting many efforts to keep CoH ALIVE!!
I realize it's probably out of date by now, but didn't Arcanaville's survivability tests show that DA had the highest baseline by a huge margin when there were four or more mobs around it?
Dark Armor sacrifices your blue bar on the altar of survivability. But it gives you the survivability.
Admittedly, I played Spine/Dark... I'd love to play Kat/Dark but I already have like 30 unfinished characters. (including a dark/energy tank around 36.)
Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.
So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.
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I realize it's probably out of date by now, but didn't Arcanaville's survivability tests show that DA had the highest baseline by a huge margin when there were four or more mobs around it?
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Without tier 9s active, yes. With tier-9s active, it was actually comparable.
Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA
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Dark Armor sacrifices your blue bar on the altar of survivability. But it gives you the survivability.
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This is my biggest problem with the set. The set has the potential to be a monster when coupled with Katana or BS, but I can't bring it to it's survival limits and have the endurance usage needed for long fights like AVs and such.
Moonlighter
50s include MA/SD, MA/SR, DP/Elec, Claw/Inv, Kat/Dark, Kat/Fire, Spine/Regen, Dark/SD
First Arc: Tequila Sunrise, #168563
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Dark Armor sacrifices your blue bar on the altar of survivability. But it gives you the survivability.
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This is my biggest problem with the set. The set has the potential to be a monster when coupled with Katana or BS, but I can't bring it to it's survival limits and have the endurance usage needed for long fights like AVs and such.
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I've got a kat/da that can solo av's and attack indefinitely, so it is absolutely possible. And this is a pre i-13 build, i'm pretty sure with the def changes since then with io's it can be even better now.
I never see posts on Dark Armor or any recommendations for DA. I really love the look of Cloak of Fear, even though it sucks now....so I hear.
Is there a buff incoming for DA or was there one, or just a nerf?
Night Goblin 35 lvl BS/Regen Scrapper
Slag Heap 38 lvl Fire/Axe Tanker
Energy Anomoly 23 lvl Energy/Energy Blaster