I'd skip Shadow Punch altogether or move shadow maul after stamina. Something like this:
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1,401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]
Level 48 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Dark Melee
Secondary Power Set: Shield Defense
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Smite -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Deflection -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Shadow Maul -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Battle Agility -- Empty(A)
Level 6: True Grit -- Empty(A)
Level 8: Siphon Life -- Empty(A)
Level 10: Active Defense -- Empty(A)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- Empty(A)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Empty(A)
Level 16: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 18: Health -- Empty(A)
Level 20: Stamina -- Empty(A)
Level 22: Against All Odds -- Empty(A)
Level 24: Dark Consumption -- Empty(A)
Level 26: Soul Drain -- Empty(A)
Level 28: Phalanx Fighting -- Empty(A)
Level 30: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 32: Midnight Grasp -- Empty(A)
Level 35: Shield Charge -- Empty(A)
Level 38: Tough -- Empty(A)
Level 41: Weave -- Empty(A)
Level 44: Hasten -- Empty(A)
Level 47: Conserve Power -- Empty(A)
Level 49: Grant Cover -- Empty(A)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
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[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]
What I did was skip Shadow Punch in favor of Air Superiority, it opens up Fly at 14 and is a decent attack, plus it provides a lot of damage mitigation. AAO is great, once you can survive the large numbers required to max it, so that can be pushed back. If you have the resources a level 20 Miracle can be slotted at level 17 an that can help out some. In the end I limped along with the temp travel powers as long as i could.
Poisonous Ice 50 Ice/Rad
Icy Jax 50 Ice/SS
Jaxon Penn 50 Shield/Mace
Cpt Clax 50 Thugs/Dark
Lady BlackIce 50 Dark/Cold
Lady Black Ice 50 Dark/Ice
Bella Jax 50 Storm/Sonic
Operative Jax 50 SoA
Level 50 Trick Arrow Alts
TA/A-Plant/TA-Bots/TA
Level 50 Claws Scrappers
SR-Regen-DA-Invul-WP-FA
Actually Air Sup is a great idea, that's what I did with my DM/DA scrapper. I put combat jumping thinking about your defenses but it's a very nice mitigation tool (which you'll need as a lowbie shielder) and does a bit more damage than Shadow Punch.
Also delay taking your damage aura until around 22-24 when you hit SO's you early build will struggle with all the extra agro in a group
Just a suggestion
Pinnacle
Langar Thurs-Katana/SR 50; Hejtmane-DM/DA 50
Rogue Spear-Spines/DA 50; Hypnosis-Ill/Rad 50
Sir Thomas Theroux-DM/SR 50; Melted Copper-Fire/Shield 50
Byzantine Warrior-DB/ELA 50;Blade Tempo-50 DB/EA
What travel power are you wanting?
On my DM/SR, I took Smite, AS at lvl 6, SL at 8, and skipped Shadow Punch and Shadow Maul entirely.
Never took Touch of Fear either.
I did fine lvling up till lvl 32 for Midnight Grasp.
BrandX Future Staff Fighter
The BrandX Collection
Have you done the L5-9 and L10-14 bank protection missions? The temp travel powers you get in those missions go a long way to letting you skip a travel power at 14, especially the zero-g pack (essentially free super jump). If you have the jump jet temp power from the GvE pack you can use that with the jet pack to get capped flight speed for 30 seconds - great for travelling between mission doors.
I much prefer relying on the temp powers for travel, especially on secondaries with tight builds like shield defense and SR. They are good for 2 hours of USE each and as long as you don't leave them on while you are shopping or standing around they can easily last you into the mid 20's, although I usually squeeze in a real travel power by L22/24.
Globals: @Midnight Mystique/@Magik13
Yeah, I've got a level 39 Claws/WP Scrapper with the raptor pack for travel, and I find it just feels less capable than my characters with travel powers. Probably a psychological thing. It's like driving a beat-up rental when the other kids have shiny new Porsches.
Probably looking at Jumping -- character is moon-based (heh) and big leaps could simulate a human in lunar gravity.
I'm thinking of doing the travel powers and NOT taking prerequisites for Stamina -- then at 20 switching to the alt build and taking Stamina and prereqs and spending the next few levels building back toward what I had previously taken. The initial build (slotted with low IOs) would be mothballed and brought out for low-level task forces.
If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
----------------------------------------------------------
The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog
My DM/SD is on my second account without vet respecs piled up, so I used the dual build option at 22 to respec into Stamina and SOs. I had planned to use the second build as a leveling build and IO out the main build, but I have since changed my mind about powers.
I'm making my second build work for me and when I get close to 50 I'll respec into something that will exemp better. I did get a Freakspec in this wekeend so I'm all ready to respec.
I'm not sure if time has fogged my memory about leveling my SR or if my expectations are higher for alts now, but my DM/SD feels like I'm very tight on power picks. Either that or I'm talking prereqs that are only opening other powers and I have more "useless" powers than I care to have. I am really enjoying the alt since the mid 30s and level 50 is inevitable.
Poisonous Ice 50 Ice/Rad
Icy Jax 50 Ice/SS
Jaxon Penn 50 Shield/Mace
Cpt Clax 50 Thugs/Dark
Lady BlackIce 50 Dark/Cold
Lady Black Ice 50 Dark/Ice
Bella Jax 50 Storm/Sonic
Operative Jax 50 SoA
Level 50 Trick Arrow Alts
TA/A-Plant/TA-Bots/TA
Level 50 Claws Scrappers
SR-Regen-DA-Invul-WP-FA
I always just use the safeguard travel powers, usually until lvl 24 or so. They last that long almost every time. Yeah, they feel cheap, but a true travel power isn't really neccesary for your build (unless you're a real concept slave) until later, and there's so much cooler suff to grab in those early levels.
On Against all Odds- I took it at 16, but I was soloing a lot, so everything was focused on me anyway. There were times when I was teamed and it got me killed, repeatedly, due to drawn aggro, but them's the breaks. It will depend on the rest of the team.
I took shadow punch early on, becaue I don't like choppy attack chains, and vet attacks aren't very reliable, but I'm 39 now and still use it all the time. Except for smite, dm's other attacks aren't all that fast, so I wanted a quick one to finish off the ineveitable sliver-o-life-left minions and stuff. It will probably stay in the build, as I don't have really high recharge as a prioroty.
I was surprised at how easy the combo was on the blue bar, but still, stamina at 20 made everything so much easier. And I love the prereqs - swift or hurdle - and would probably damage my keyboard trying to move quickly unless I had them.
I have ONE flexible power pick in my build. I'd love touch of fear, but it will probably end up being hasten (boring and too glowy) or maneuvers (which is likely to screw up my recovery). Work in progress.
I'm breaking my rule of not posting builds. This is what I ran leveling up Shadow Monkey:
Attack chain is:
Air-Sup > Siphon life > Shadow Punch >
Air-Sup > Smite > Shadow Punch >
Repeat
Touch of fear is in there to hold 1 badguy down while you perma knockdown another.
note: there's some IOs in there... it doesn't matter which set they come from... I'm using them for the enhancement values only. The enhancements are focused on the chain, and the chain is focused on having perma-knockdown. Thus, I had to sacrifice damage... but it's very very survivable. (note, any DM can use this strategy as I'm not really gaining much from /Shield at this point anyway).
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]
Level 23 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Dark Melee
Secondary Power Set: Shield Defense
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Shadow Punch -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(3), EndRdx-I(3), Dmg-I(21), Dmg-I(21)
Level 1: Deflection -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 2: Smite -- Acc-I(A), Acc-I(5), EndRdx-I(5), Dmg-I(17), Dmg-I(17), Dmg-I(19)
Level 4: True Grit -- Heal-I(A)
Level 6: Air Superiority -- Acc-I(A), EndRdx-I(7), P'ngFist-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), S'ngH'mkr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), RechRdx-I(9), RechRdx-I(11)
Level 8: Siphon Life -- S'ngH'mkr-Acc/Dmg(A), EndRdx-I(11), S'ngH'mkr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), Cloud-Acc/Rchg(13), RechRdx-I(15), RechRdx-I(15)
Level 10: Active Defense -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(19)
Level 12: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 14: Fly -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 16: Touch of Fear -- Acc-I(A)
Level 18: Dark Consumption -- Acc-I(A)
Level 20: Health -- Heal-I(A)
Level 22: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(23), EndMod-I(23)
Level 24: [Empty]
Level 26: [Empty]
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]
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
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I gotta make pain. I gotta make things right. I gotta stop what's comin'. 'Least I gotta try.
If you solo a lot I'd suggest putting off stamina so you can get Against all odds.
Personally I kept shadow punch until I got Midnight grasp slotted up.
While running solo you can usually manage to just use one shield and not use the status protection unless needed.
Personally I didn't take stamina until a respec in the late 20s or early 30s and didn't mind one bit. I solo'd most of the time and never really felt like I was going extra slow or anything. In fact, I often felt like I was going too fast haha.
I'm having trouble deciding how to build my DM/SD Scrapper whiile leveling. I'm one of those folks who takes a while to level, so it would be nuce to be as effective as I can manage while leveling up.
Right now I have, at level 11, Shadow Punch, Smite, Shadow Maul, Siphon Life for attacks (plus some vet attacks) and Deflection, Battle Agility, and Active Defense for mitigation.
If I want a travel power at 14 (and so far I've had a hard time feeling love for characters who skip a travel power -- it's doable, but I find it slightly depressing) I have to take a prerequisite now at 12 and the travel itself at 14, and am then stuck in the Stamina grind until level 20, putting off Against All Odds and True Grit, which I would love to have.
I guess one solution is to take fewer atttacks early and supplement with the Vet attacks Or postpone Stamina til 24-ish...hrm.
Anyway, advice on what I can force myself to live without, or early-game builds, are welcomed! Please note I do not have Mid's, so post the text if you post a Mid's build, please.
Thanks!
If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
----------------------------------------------------------
The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog