SR pros :
- While leveling, DA on top of your toggles softcaps your melee defense rather easily.
- On a high end build, getting to the softcap is trivial so you can focus on recharge. Between this and Quickness, you can build to use the best ST attack chain (GD - GC - SD - GC), or just use your AoEs more often.
EVERYTHING works well with Katana. 
Super Reflexes Divine Avalanche will turn a late-blooming secondary into an early-blooming combination, then can be dropped when you soft cap for maximum DPS. This is your choice if you believe that the best defense is a good offense, and the defense isn't bad either.
Invulnerability Very solid secondary made even more solid by soft capping melee and lethal defense. Probably the most capable of completely insane feats in the end game, at least when going up against lethal or melee smashing enemies.
Willpower The most common suggestion by the forums for anyone just looking for a good scrapper and without any specific needs. This combination is easy to build, easy to play, easy to level, and gives up nothing on top end power.
"That's because Werner can't do maths." - BunnyAnomaly
"Four hours in, and I was no longer making mistakes, no longer detoggling. I was a machine." - Werner
Videos of Other Stupid Scrapper Tricks
Quote:
I was about to say this after reading the OP, but Werner got here first. Darn you! :P|
Originally Posted by Werner
EVERYTHING works well with Katana.
Super Reflexes Divine Avalanche will turn a late-blooming secondary into an early-blooming combination, then can be dropped when you soft cap for maximum DPS. This is your choice if you believe that the best defense is a good offense, and the defense isn't bad either. Invulnerability Very solid secondary made even more solid by soft capping melee and lethal defense. Probably the most capable of completely insane feats in the end game, at least when going up against lethal or melee smashing enemies. Willpower The most common suggestion by the forums for anyone just looking for a good scrapper and without any specific needs. This combination is easy to build, easy to play, easy to level, and gives up nothing on top end power. |
While Kat/SR and Kat/WP especially are more beginner friendly, Kat/Inv can be built to be very sturdy. On mine I can solo the Cimerora wall without taking a dent in my HP bar. RWZ challenge was just as easy.
Last achievement sort of thing I did on the Kat/Inv was soloing 3 AVs at once. Nothing spectacular, but it's better than what my FM/SR can do. The thing I like about Invuln is that while it loves the RNG it isn't completely reliant on it like SR. WP is good, too, but it lacks Def Debuff resistance which annoys me.
Check my guide if you're interested in building a kat/inv
- @DSorrow - alts on Union and Freedom mostly -
Currently playing as Castigation on Freedom
My Katana/Inv Guide
Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either. -Einstein
katana/regen is good fun.
Divine Avalanche's +def on top of regen's...uh, regen....is synergy made in heaven.
whoops you already did that.....uh, then go SR!
Defense + Defense = Goodness!
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My main is a kat/invuln. She just plain feels strong. Strong on the dishing of hurt, strong on the abiltiy to take it. I can't speak to the other secondaries from personal experience, but I know that this combo rocks.
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See [URL="http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?p=2134817#post2134817"]Useful Tagging for the good of the Forum[/URL], my guide to tags.
My first 50 was a katana/super reflexes. I had a lot of fun playing him, just so busy checking out other power sets now.
I pretty evenly spent slots as one for attacks one for defense. I really don't even think Elude is necessary if you slot up your other defenses. Elude isn't that much of a better defense, and I hate end crashing.
Definitely, need Stamina if you go for Super Reflexes.
Katana is good for lowering enemy defenses, but your real problem will come when fighting someone with a high resistance and you have problems cutting through it. If you team up with a sonic, the enemy is going down fast. You lower the enemy def and they take care of the resistance. Then it's just chambara time.
Have fun, I know I did.
DSorrow has sold me, was thinking of Invuln as its something i've never tried on a scrapper and reading through your guide has just convinced me that its an awesome thing to try.
Cheers peeps.
Kat/Inv is awesome when it's properly built. I should give you a few pointers before you go on. When leveling up I wouldn't pick Weave. Instead you could pick Unstoppable for those moments when things just don't go as planned.
This reminds me I should probably attach a level-up guide in there, too...
- @DSorrow - alts on Union and Freedom mostly -
Currently playing as Castigation on Freedom
My Katana/Inv Guide
Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either. -Einstein
I may be crazy but have you thought about /Dark Armor for katana? I know Dark Armor is not a very popular set but it can be very effective.
Dark gives some good resists, has a great heal, and some nice mitigation tools. I only mention because I got to see one in action and they were impressive. It was not a high end (Read: Expensive) IO build either.
Just 2 inf for a different breed of toon.
Quote:
You're not crazy. Katana/Dark Armor is my current project, though I can't seem to set my altitis aside long enough to level very fast. The weakness to defense debuffs bothers me, but it'll otherwise be the most survivable scrapper I've ever built, assuming I ever get it built. |
Originally Posted by Sagamemnon
I may be crazy but have you thought about /Dark Armor for katana? I know Dark Armor is not a very popular set but it can be very effective.
Dark gives some good resists, has a great heal, and some nice mitigation tools. I only mention because I got to see one in action and they were impressive. It was not a high end (Read: Expensive) IO build either. Just 2 inf for a different breed of toon. |
I agree that Dark Armor doesn't seem very popular. I think it tends to be underrated, perhaps because it takes more understanding and effort to whip your build and play style into shape than most secondaries. For example, I'm having the stereotypical endurance problem at the moment. I know how I could have avoided it, and I know how to fix it, but fighting is more fun than build tweaking and putting in bids, so I probably won't get to it for a few more levels. I can see players stalling out if they run into problems like that and don't have a good understanding of what's going on and how to fix it. Then we have a damage aura, and I think damage auras are poorly understood by a lot of the player base. And you get a lot of mitigation from either Cloak of Fear or Oppressive Gloom, which aren't straightforward like defense and resistance. I suppose heals are well understood, but it's still not as straightforward as simply not getting hurt in the first place. Also, it comes with a huge endurance cost. Oh, and a biggie for me, your immobilization resistance and only defensive power means you never get to see your awesome costume. So yeah, lots of reasons for it to be unpopular, I suppose, but it's a very good secondary if you understand it and can put up with or enjoy its idiosyncrasies.
"That's because Werner can't do maths." - BunnyAnomaly
"Four hours in, and I was no longer making mistakes, no longer detoggling. I was a machine." - Werner
Videos of Other Stupid Scrapper Tricks
Quote:
I should know better than to read the scrapper boards. It always leaves me wanting to start a new toon when I'm in the middle of working on two or three others. Gah!!!!!!
|
Originally Posted by _Chin_
DSorrow has sold me, was thinking of Invuln as its something i've never tried on a scrapper and reading through your guide has just convinced me that its an awesome thing to try.
Cheers peeps. |
Been thinking of rolling another scrapper and decided to attempt a Katana build, this was the first character I tried nearly 4yrs ago...got it to lvl20 and never played it again, since has been deleted. The original was a Kat/Rgn...but would like to try something other than regen this time (already have a 50 regen).
Kind of limited myself to either, Willpower, Invuln or SR...I already have a high lvl Invuln Brute and a high lvl SR scrapper, so I know how those sets play...highest i've got for WP is a mid 20s brute. Just trying to get an idea on whats going to work well with Katana?
It's going to be purely PvE and solely built to play storyarcs...would like to try for as many merits as possible, as well as actually read the stories (something i'm still yet to do)...so in my mind I see it as a mainly solo toon, with occassional teaming for TFs.
So what are the pros/cons of either Invuln, WP or SR teamed with Katana?