Scrapper Powersets vs AVs/EBs

I'm looking at rolling up a scrapper, and continuing my AV-hunting focus, I'm curious what scrapper powersets are generally good against AVs in general. I've heard Spines has lackluster ST damage, but aside from that I haven't seriously played a scrapper in years.

So aside from DM (already have a DM/SD brute), what powersets and/or powerset combos are reasonably good vs AVs/EBs in general?

And no, Rad/Sonic is not an acceptable answer. Or Ill/Rad. Or Fire/Kin. Strangely, despite controllers having some of the highest DPS in the game, they are not scrappers.

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And no, Rad/Sonic is not an acceptable answer. Or Ill/Rad. Or Fire/Kin. Strangely, despite controllers having some of the highest DPS in the game, they are not scrappers.

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hehe your asking the scrapper forums no one is going to tell you these.

when people ask for soloing AV I have 3 that come to mind.

DM/SD-If you have the Inf like 2 bill that it is the best. It will have soft capped defense and a heal and does crazy damage. The damage is also not a common Resisted type so you can solo a lot of AVs.

DM/Sr while doesn't do as good as damage as a Dm/SD it can get to the soft capped a lot easyer. It doesn't cost as much as DM/SD but it is still not cheap. It as the same reason as DM/SD why it is good soft capped Defense with a heal, and a damage that is not common resisted so you can solo a lot of AVs.


Fire/SR- This is the cheap man AV solo. With Fire/SR you can get a great attack chain with little help. /SR is not hard to soft capped too. So that doesn't take a lot of inf to do. Again it is a damage that is not resisted a lot so you can solo more AVs.

those are 3 of the best IMO, there are other that can do it too. These ones just the one I like the most

My Characters Deviont Art page Currently-reading Me Skydiving

If using temps or inspirations, anything can do the job. Really, with the right build, anything can probably do the job without temps or inspirations, but there are definitely better and worse choices.

BrokenPrey beat me to it, but DM/SD is the flavor of the month AV soloer, and DM/SR is also very good. Those are out since you don't want DM. Fire/Super Reflexes is probably the best choice in a budget build.

But if you have the influence, the options kind of explode after that. I've had very good success with Katana/Regen. Katana/Willpower is equally capable. Dual Blades/Super Reflexes, Claws/Super Reflexes and Katana/Super Reflexes are all proven performers. Invulnerability can do some pretty incredible things these days. It goes on and on. Did you have anything you were thinking of? Or did you think this would be an easy question with only two or three combinations that were clearly the best for the job?

Werner and BrokenPrey have already mentioned some of the most popular combos, so I'll try to outline my feelings on the others.

Primaries fall into 3 categories in my mind.

Primaries that people solo AVs with fairly commonly: Dark Melee, Fiery Melee, Katana, Claws

Primaries that are less common, but still seem viable: Dual blades

Primaries that I've never heard of anyone using for AV soloing: Martial Arts, Spines, Broadsword

As far as secondaries go, we also have 3 categories, mostly dealing with how difficult they are to get to AV soloing territory.

Shield Defense and SR are the easiest to solo AVs with. Softcap them, make sure you have a little healing ability (aid self generally) and you're good to go.

Regen, Invulnerability, and Willpower fall just below. Most of these require some more money and IOs to be invested to hit the sweet spot where you can solo AVs with ease. Mitigation from your primary can also be a big help (katana and BS especially).

Dark armor and Fiery Aura are definitely the most difficult, with dark probably being slightly easier than fire. Both of these will require VERY significant investments of money and IOs to be able to pull it off at all.

with the whole troller comment, i'm guessing your not use to the scrapper forums, that and you actually listed EB in your title as'well. EB's are of no concern to scrappers as they are for squishies. they are just a tougher boss, and are simple even with a basic DO sloted scrapper, as long as you know the basics ... like not skipping your mez protection and such.

the challenge here is toward AV's , Object's (Pylon's), ect... and maybe even M's and GM's if your truely insane...

as the others have stated already, if your not going with DM, which is actually the best choice with all its utilities and and exotic damage. then you will want to get the medicine pool for a self heal. i'm assumeing you dont want to be reliant on haveing all the insp's you need all the time. if that'd be the case then any scrap would do (except spines, they're too AOE focused and can't do the ST dam you need for most AV'ish type challenge, but they are the best for farming).
also you'll want to focus toward the defensive aspects of protection, with an emphasis on positional (especially melee).
other than that, just need a good solid attack chain.

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I'm looking at rolling up a scrapper, and continuing my AV-hunting focus, I'm curious what scrapper powersets are generally good against AVs in general.

[/ QUOTE ]

Pretty clear you haven't read the scrapper boards recently, there's a new "AV solo thread" every month it seems...

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And no, Rad/Sonic is not an acceptable answer. Or Ill/Rad. Or Fire/Kin. Strangely, despite controllers having some of the highest DPS in the game, they are not scrappers.

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Scrappers have been soloing AV/EB's for ages... coming to the scrapper boards for advice will get you lists of scrapper powersets, not controller.

I think it was listed out pretty well above, I have nothing to add, just moderate amusement that you came in thinking the scrappers care at all about controller solo power

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Primaries that I've never heard of anyone using for AV soloing: Martial Arts, Spines, Broadsword

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Broadsword is perfectly capable of soloing several AV's... I've soloed Dr. Vahz, Maestro (but those two don't really count), Bobcat, Anti-Matter and Synapse with a BS/Regen. I admit the Praetorians did require judicious use of inspirations and temps... most notably the Wedding Band. I haven't tried any yet with my BS/Shield (he's been almost exclusively part of a superteam) but it should actually be easier thanks to higher damage output; I've gotten something close to the recovery of the BS/Regen and soft capped def thanks to set bonuses.

Of course EB's shouldn't be a problem for any halfway decently built scrapper past level 20.

No BS at all? Damn, if even the pros haven't managed I see it's a lost cause. I'm enjoying my BS/SD crunch power but endurance is truly a pain so I don't see it lasting for 10-15 minutes without insps.

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Primaries that I've never heard of anyone using for AV soloing: <snip> Broadsword

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Now you have.

Granted, I haven't finished getting all my IOs, so she's the only one I've taken out. I do have the damage, just not the consistency I want yet.

I've never tried to solo an AV on my broadswords, but I don't think that the set would have any problems. It's just less popular for it. Same with MA.

Spines might be the only really troubled AV solo'r

Yeah, nothing wrong with Broad Sword for AVs. We probably don't see it much on the AV builds because Katana puts out better DPS for less effort, but Broad Sword isn't THAT far behind. It also combines well with Shields, which boosts the DPS.

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And no, Rad/Sonic is not an acceptable answer. Or Ill/Rad. Or Fire/Kin. Strangely, despite controllers having some of the highest DPS in the game, they are not scrappers.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm gonna have to ask you to narrow down your definition of DPS...

I wasn't trying to say you can't do it with MA or BS, just that I haven't seen people use them at all.

I didn't say you were saying they couldn't. Just decided to do that so you could move Broadsword to "primaries that are less common".

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And no, Rad/Sonic is not an acceptable answer. Or Ill/Rad. Or Fire/Kin. Strangely, despite controllers having some of the highest DPS in the game, they are not scrappers.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm gonna have to ask you to narrow down your definition of DPS...

[/ QUOTE ]

I got my fire/storm/psy troller to just over 300 dps right before the nerf to Lightning storm. It had potential to top 330 pretty easily. //psy for mez protection so no insp/temps/clicks was possible. With //fire app it could have broke 350dps, but with a lot of survivability lost. It was only sustainable for about 3.5 min, but you generally only needed 2min

I was looking at a fire/rad build the other day that breaks 300dps against AV's once you factor in the -regen.

IIRC the only scrapper build in the 300 club is dm/sheild?

As for the fire/traps corr I'm working on right now, I'll just steal a line from the original fast and the furious movie:

1000k, overnight parts from Japan if necessary and this build will decimate all.

edit: forgot to ask. I'm looking to make a clawlz/fire scrap. Is 30% melee def enough w/ fire armor to tag a bunch of them?

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IIRC the only scrapper build in the 300 club is dm/sheild?

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Yep, just barely, with a super secret build and under ideal circumstances. Lower 200s is much more typical of even the high DPS scrapper builds.

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edit: forgot to ask. I'm looking to make a clawlz/fire scrap. Is 30% melee def enough w/ fire armor to tag a bunch of them?

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I doubt it, but I haven't poked around much at Fire Armor.

Werner, could you post your katana/regen build? I'm really interested in what sets you went for and what bonuses are good.

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IIRC the only scrapper build in the 300 club is dm/sheild?

[/ QUOTE ] Yep, just barely, with a super secret build and under ideal circumstances. Lower 200s is much more typical of even the high DPS scrapper builds.

[/ QUOTE ]

How fast did he solo ShadowHunter again?

My Characters Deviont Art page Currently-reading Me Skydiving

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I wasn't trying to say you can't do it with MA or BS, just that I haven't seen people use them at all.

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I think the reason you don't hear about Martial Arts soloing AV's, is because it's best DPS chain doesn't use it's coolest attack.

Every Martial Artist I make, I want them to have Eagle's Claw (hell, i wish they'd change Energy Transfere to Eagle's Claw's animation, with a glowy foot to the face).

Without that attack, why make a Martial Artist anyways

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Werner, could you post your katana/regen build? I'm really interested in what sets you went for and what bonuses are good.

[/ QUOTE ]
I'll post it, but it hasn't been updated since I12, so it's a little behind the times now. My basic plan would be to swap Focused Accuracy for Tactics and then trade all the extra endurance for a lot of extra defense. Might even pick up Hasten, if possible. Anyway, here's what I'm currently running around with, but please take every single thing in it with a grain of salt.

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

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

Werner: Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Katana
Secondary Power Set: Regeneration
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Gambler's Cut -- Hectmb-Dmg/Rchg(A), Hectmb-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), Hectmb-Acc/Rchg(15), Hectmb-Dmg/EndRdx(23), Hectmb-Dam%(25), Achilles-ResDeb%(27)
Level 1: Fast Healing -- Numna-Heal(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(3), RgnTis-Regen+(3), Numna-Heal/Rchg(5), Mrcl-Heal(40), Mrcl-Rcvry+(43)
Level 2: Reconstruction -- Numna-Heal/Rchg(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Numna-EndRdx/Rchg(7), RgnTis-Heal/Rchg(21), RgnTis-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(39), RgnTis-Heal/EndRdx(50)
Level 4: Quick Recovery -- Efficacy-EndMod(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(9), P'Shift-End%(40)
Level 6: Build Up -- HO:Membr(A), HO:Membr(7), HO:Membr(11)
Level 8: Divine Avalanche -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(11), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Mako-Dam%(19)
Level 10: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(13), Ksmt-ToHit+(50)
Level 14: Dull Pain -- Numna-Heal/Rchg(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(15), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(31), H'zdH-Heal/Rchg(33)
Level 16: Integration -- Numna-Heal(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(21), Numna-EndRdx/Rchg(23), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(27), Numna-Heal/Rchg(29), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(31)
Level 18: Health -- Numna-Heal(A), Numna-Heal/Rchg(19), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(25)
Level 20: Resilience -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/EndRdx(A), S'fstPrt-ResKB(31), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(34)
Level 22: Boxing -- Acc-I(A)
Level 24: Tough -- TtmC'tng-ResDam(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(29), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx(33)
Level 26: Soaring Dragon -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(33), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(34), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(34), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), Mako-Dam%(36)
Level 28: Instant Healing -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 30: Stamina -- Efficacy-EndMod(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(37), P'Shift-End%(37)
Level 32: Golden Dragonfly -- Armgdn-Dmg(A), Armgdn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), Armgdn-Acc/Rchg(42), Armgdn-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Armgdn-Dam%(42), EndRdx-I(43)
Level 35: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(36), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(39)
Level 38: Moment of Glory -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(39), LkGmblr-EndRdx/Rchg(40)
Level 41: Focused Accuracy -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(43), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(45), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(45), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(46), GSFC-Build%(46)
Level 44: Laser Beam Eyes -- Apoc-Dmg/Rchg(A), Apoc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), Apoc-Acc/Rchg(46), Apoc-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Apoc-Dam%(50)
Level 47: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(48), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(48)
Level 49: Assault -- EndRdx-I(A)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Clrty-Stlth(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit



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Here's a Kat/Regen build I put together for someone sometime ago, but more recently than Werner has put together his build. It does most of the things that Werner suggested except that I've never really thought much of the Leadership pool on Scrappers.

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

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

+def concept: Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Katana
Secondary Power Set: Regeneration
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Concealment

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Gambler's Cut -- Hectmb-Dmg/Rchg(A), Hectmb-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), Hectmb-Acc/Rchg(3), Hectmb-Dmg/EndRdx(5), Hectmb-Dam%(5), Achilles-ResDeb%(42)
Level 1: Fast Healing -- RgnTis-Regen+(A)
Level 2: Flashing Steel -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(7), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(9), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11), Oblit-%Dam(46)
Level 4: Reconstruction -- Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(A), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(11), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(13), Dct'dW-Heal(13), Dct'dW-Rchg(15)
Level 6: Quick Recovery -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(7), EndMod-I(48)
Level 8: Divine Avalanche -- Mako-Dam%(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(17), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(19), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(19), Mako-Acc/Dmg(21), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(21)
Level 10: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(43), Zephyr-Travel(50), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(50), Zephyr-ResKB(50)
Level 12: Dull Pain -- Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(A), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(23), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(23), Dct'dW-Heal(25), Dct'dW-Rchg(25)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-ResKB(15), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(27)
Level 16: Integration -- Numna-Heal/EndRdx(A), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(17), Numna-Heal(27)
Level 18: The Lotus Drops -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(31), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), Oblit-%Dam(34)
Level 20: Boxing -- Amaze-Stun(A), Amaze-Stun/Rchg(34), Amaze-Acc/Stun/Rchg(36), Amaze-Acc/Rchg(36), Amaze-EndRdx/Stun(36)
Level 22: Tough -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(37), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Aegis-ResDam(37), Aegis-Psi/Status(39)
Level 24: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(39)
Level 26: Soaring Dragon -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(40), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Mako-Dam%(42)
Level 28: Instant Healing -- Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(A), Dct'dW-Rchg(29), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(29), Dct'dW-Heal(31), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(42)
Level 30: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(31), RechRdx-I(34)
Level 32: Golden Dragonfly -- Armgdn-Dam%(A), Armgdn-Dmg/Rchg(45), Armgdn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), Armgdn-Acc/Rchg(46), Armgdn-Dmg/EndRdx(46)
Level 35: Stealth -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 38: Moment of Glory -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), RechRdx-I(43), RechRdx-I(48)
Level 41: Build Up -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(43)
Level 44: Super Speed -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(45), Zephyr-ResKB(48)
Level 47: Invisibility -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 49: Resilience -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit

[ QUOTE ]
Primaries that I've never heard of anyone using for AV soloing: Martial Arts, Spines, Broadsword

[/ QUOTE ]

Ditto on the "I've used Broadsword to take down AVs"
my Broadsword/Shield has pulled it off a few times,

But I've had far more consistent luck on my DM/Inv, who has yet to die against an AV (the BS/Shield has a few times) but has also ran into the occasional stalemate due to lower DPS (from what I hear it was just poor luck watching Shadowhunter self-heal so many times, and apparently everyone has trouble with Dominatrix)

At the end of the day though, it depends how dedicated to AV soloing you want the character to be, making a highly focused AV killer isn't overly hard, just expensive, and requires a lot of trade-offs for other kinds of play (ie skipping your AoEs &amp; travel power, compromising your low lvl attack chain)

So to it might be important to think about how much your wishing to spend and how finely focused you need the character to be.

FWIW, here is a list of AVs I've soloed on my Broadsword/Shield scrapper. I doubt very much it's a complete list, as there are probably a few I've encountered, soloed and forgotten. All were done without temp powers or inspirations:

Adamastor (AV/Monster class version, not GM)
Kronos Titan (again, AV class version, not GM)
Hro'Dtohz and Nemesis (simultaneously)
Positron and Manticore (simultaneously)
Capt. W.M. Dietrich
Dreck
Requiem
Countess Crey
Chimera
Shadowhunter
Bobcat
Neuron
Anti-Matter
Battle Maiden
Infernal
Marauder
Black Swan
Mother Mayhem
Ice Mistral
Giovanna Scaldi
Vanessa DeVore
and a whole host of custom AVs in AE missions.

Those are ones I remember soloing with no temps, inspirations, allies, etc. I've done a whole host of others with various inspirations and temps, including the rest of the Praetorians, Black Scorpion, several custom AE villains, and I can't remember if I did the Psy Clockwork King with or without inspirations.

And no, I didn't make videos or screenshots.

So anyway. Yeah, I've soloed AVs on my Broadsword scrapper, too.

Edit: just remembered a couple.