View the link in my sig for my thoughts on Dark Armor.
I have @50 both a DM/DA and a BS/DA. I can't compaire them equally as the DM/DA is slotted as per the final post in that link (with what must be closing in on 1bil inf worth of stuff) Where as the BS/DA hasn't had a lvl 50 respec yet, so is still full of IOs from lvl 25+.
I would say that the BS/DA can easily out dmg the DM/DA when it comes to a pure 1 or 2 shot combo. How ever the DM/DA can put out a much more consistant stream of dmg and has some useful control type powers.
What I would say on the getting to 20 side is that this is the harest it for the /DA scrapper. I try to run as few of the toggles as possible and never run death shroud until the mid-20s at the earliest. I normally slot them with endredux only until you hit SOEs or 1/2 decent IOs.
If your on Onion server I'm happy to chat in game about this.
@Dagar or @Larac
Roll a DM/SR and love it forever 
For Dark concept, I'd go any of the following:
DM/SR
DM/DA
FM/DA
I am working on a DM/SR only to lvl 23 atm. It's good, but I've found it quite easy to get in way over your head and not have dark regen to bail you out.
I have managed to get my BS/DA to level 43 in 3 months without to much problem. That is with having 5 other alts to! 
He is ok at soloing but does work very well in a team as long as I am not having problems with lag.
I have a a spines/regen at 50, and a katana/regen at 50, and currently lvling a BS/Fire which is 19 atm.
I love regen, its easy-ish (have to keep your healing button finger at the ready), spines/regen is CoH on easy mode imo. And the same could be said for Spine/WP or Spines/Fire.
You want a challenge then DA or SR is a very good choice, mind you DA laughs at Carnies and anything else thats Psi, and SR laughs at everything with Elude on 
As for secondary I've pretty much tried them all, and I have enjoyed them all, so its down to you to decide depending on player preference, though i will say spines covers melee, AoE and Range so its a very good allrounder with the extra added slows. Katana/SR is a good combo (almost unhittable with parry in melee) and DM/SR with the stacked -Acc is also very good, and DM also provides a small heal too.
Entirely up to you though, good luck and have fun whatever you decide 
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Roll a DM/SR and love it forever
For Dark concept, I'd go any of the following:
DM/SR
DM/DA
FM/DA
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I'd also suggest:
Dark/WP
Dark/Inv
Spines/Dark
All rather tasty
@Jay Leon Hart
Kerensky: this has nothing to do with underwear
Zwillinger: I put on my robe and wizard hat...
Synapse: I had to resist starting my last post off with "Yo dawg!"
Hmmm for some reason I see DM/WP more like a Brute set rather than scrapper, but that's me.
DM/Invuln can be a god combo too, although I still prefer DM/DA over it, better heal, +perception and many useful tools to play with, harder on endurance of course.
Spines/DA is probably the hardest scrapper combo to handle (closely ranked with BS/DA imho), wouldn't recommend it to someone who wants an easy going set, Spines/WP or Claws/WP would be far better, great scrappers and not difficult to manage.
Had planned an uber mega set build for my Spines/WP but found out he's doing fine with just IO's so left him as it is, with lvl 35-40 regular IO's and so far so good
I have to admit as a set im not a fan of WP. I may give it a go however as so many are suggesting it. On the other hand im not gonna go for an invun for the reason that i have an invun tank and i want to try something completly different . I never thought about using spines really before but now that its been suggested im keen to give it a shot!
Open to more suggestions though so keep it up guys! And thanks to all those who have posted before.
I'm finding spines/regen extremely fun. at level 32 with it at the moment working with just SO's, it's SO's because I'd made the character years before Inventions were released. Still works suprisingly well.
I've looked at the Will Power set briefly, seems to be taking of bits from regen and invuln IMO. Seems alot more worthwhile for pvp though having the knockback and repel resistance.
Ok so I am, like so many others, trying to get characters to 50, but i have yet to ever get a scrapper past level 20 or so. So i want to make a scrapper thats a bit of a challenge but not an awful build. Being a bit of a noob when it comes to scrappers i could use a bit of help.
I was thinking one of the following builds but im flexible:
Dark/dark
Dark/katana
Dark/broadsword
Note- I have chosen dark for story purposes but im happy to change to another set (not invunrability). I would also consider one or two other attack sets.
Cheers for the imput guys