BS is nice because of Parry adding to your defenses.
Fire and Elec are nice for the reasons you described as well. Between those two I think Fire would be on top for damage.
Quote:
The "best" primary to go with shields is Dark Melee. Dark covers all of shields weaknesses and shields fills in on the one area that Dark melee lacks.|
Originally Posted by TigerKnight
What works best with shields? I was looking to make a /shield toon but I am having trouble deciding between Elec, Fire, or even BS. Was looking to build towards softcapped defenses while giving out a great deal of damage down the line. While Fire and BS are probably over elec for damage, but elec has that nice tier 9 that combos nicely with shield charge. BS I think is still tops in damage but it's lethal. Shield charge into a fire sword circle has benefits as well......
Ugh... Opinions anyone? I've played elec and fire on brutes but how would they fair on a scrapper? |
I personally despise the combination because I think it looks ridiculous when you use Shadow Maul (or sands) with a shield but it is without doubt the best of both worlds.
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
Dark Melee/Shield Defense
Depends,
What type of player are you?
Do you want to go with SOs or will you be IOing out your toon?
Are you more concerned with what your character can do at level 50? or what he's like to play on the road to 50? Are you looking for an AV specialist or pushing the envelope of what a scrapper can do to its absolute limit?
DM/Shield is capable of INSANE things.
But try thinking of it another way, what will be a dealbreaker for you.
What would be the thing that would disappoint you enough to make you wish you were playing something else?
If in your secret heart of hearts it's really important that you are playing what can be the Uberest combo, currently it seems that DM/Shield is it, so if you will be feeling sub par if you are not playing the combo with the most awesome sauce that might be something to consider.
If you are teaming (I know, I know, but I've heard it can happen to the unwary scrapper) and someone else's character is putting out more damage, or has better end management or can out tank a tank is that the kind of thing that makes you shelve the character because yours wasn't keeping up?
Ultimately ALL scrappers are capable of doing INSANE things. Some do AOE better, some do single target better some have a blend of both.
So really, Scrappers free you up to do what you want to do.
All of them can be built to do just about anything the game has to offer.
PersonallyI go for Looks, and concept, I want a character to beat the snot outta badguys and hes gotta look Bada$$ed doing it.
My advice is figure out what you like the looks of and go with it. If you are having trouble, or your character isnt feeling quite as awesome as you were hoping, post your build here on the Scrapper forum and you will have 3 or more build maestro's giving you advise on what you can improve and how!
So go forth chose a primary and secondary secure in the knowledge that it WILL be AWESOME!
BTW you might want to take a look at the falling out of love thread to see what people are currently in love with.
Feel The Burn
Best is relative to what you want out of it. Considering all scrapper primaries do good damage you can't go wrong with anyone of them.
I made a Dark/Shield and he is wonderful, just recently updated him with Fire Ball and he want from ludacrisly over powered to plaid.
Virtue: @Santorican
Dark/Shield Build Thread
My new main is a level 45 BS/SD scrapper and I love him. I've been able to drop Parry out of my build as I hit the softcap without it. Superb ST damage and very respectable AOE damage with Slice, Whirling Sword and Shield Charge. Plus BS has great mitigation with all of it's KD's which really helps with the new difficulty slider and facing lots and lots of baddies. I open with build up and shield charge, throw in a Whirling Sword then basically one shot everyone who is still standing.
I also have a FM scrapper at 50, and he was a beast. Fire Sword Cirlce seems to be the best AoE power of the AT and when combined with a Shield Charge, I can only image carnage. Greater Fire Sword is no slouch and most of it's attacks are mostly fire so it shouldn't be resisted as much as the S/L of the other sets including BS. Fire has no mitigation though, but makes up for it with DoT's and IMO more damage = more win.
Well, I really enjoyed playing my Broad Sword/Shield Defense, but it looks like he's now shelved at 50 because there's almost nothing he can do that my other toons can't do just as well. Dark Melee/Shield Defense is a single-target DPS and survivability beast. Fire Melee/Shield Defense is just a beast.
As for making Dark Melee/Shield Defense work from a costume standpoint, the dark shield looks as much like a weapon as it does a shield, and fits in visually with the powers of the set. I personally went with the energy shield in the darkest red, and I think it looks fine visually with my costume, even when I'm spamming Shadow Maul and Sands of Mu.
"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
Cant remember,
is Plaid better than ludicrously overpowered?
Feel The Burn
Quote:
I've always been a fan of Katana/Shield, myself.
|
Originally Posted by Morbid Star
Dark Melee/Shield Defense
|
Katana cant be used with shields because.....Waitaminute, You wouldnt be poking fun at Werner would you Funstuff?
Feel The Burn
Quote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk7VWcuVOf0 |
Originally Posted by TerraScorcher
Cant remember,
is Plaid better than ludicrously overpowered? |
I went the Talisorian Shield for my character and it looks awesome. I love that shield.
Virtue: @Santorican
Dark/Shield Build Thread
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by TerraScorcher
Katana cant be used with shields because.....Waitaminute, You wouldnt be poking fun at Werner would you Funstuff?
|
"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'll be IO'ing him out at level 50 and that's what I want to be excited about. What he can do at level 50. Everything else that becomes before is just paying dues to get that "Awesome sauce" I've gotten an SR scrapper to 50 and a fire armor one to 50 and I sometimes have difficulty with the fire armor one as the "Armor" part of it feels non-existent. (BTW, Castle, if you ever read this: YES, Fire armor needs a buff.)|
Originally Posted by TerraScorcher
Depends,
What type of player are you? Do you want to go with SOs or will you be IOing out your toon? Are you more concerned with what your character can do at level 50? or what he's like to play on the road to 50? Are you looking for an AV specialist or pushing the envelope of what a scrapper can do to its absolute limit? |
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by TerraScorcher
DM/Shield is capable of INSANE things.
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by TerraScorcher
But try thinking of it another way, what will be a dealbreaker for you.
What would be the thing that would disappoint you enough to make you wish you were playing something else? If in your secret heart of hearts it's really important that you are playing what can be the Uberest combo, currently it seems that DM/Shield is it, so if you will be feeling sub par if you are not playing the combo with the most awesome sauce that might be something to consider. |
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by TerraScorcher
If you are teaming (I know, I know, but I've heard it can happen to the unwary scrapper) and someone else's character is putting out more damage, or has better end management or can out tank a tank is that the kind of thing that makes you shelve the character because yours wasn't keeping up?
Ultimately ALL scrappers are capable of doing INSANE things. Some do AOE better, some do single target better some have a blend of both. So really, Scrappers free you up to do what you want to do. All of them can be built to do just about anything the game has to offer. PersonallyI go for Looks, and concept, I want a character to beat the snot outta badguys and hes gotta look Bada$$ed doing it. |
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by TerraScorcher
My advice is figure out what you like the looks of and go with it. If you are having trouble, or your character isnt feeling quite as awesome as you were hoping, post your build here on the Scrapper forum and you will have 3 or more build maestro's giving you advise on what you can improve and how!
So go forth chose a primary and secondary secure in the knowledge that it WILL be AWESOME! BTW you might want to take a look at the falling out of love thread to see what people are currently in love with. |
The petition link to Save CoH:
http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
Quote:
That's defintely not the best combo with shields. Especially if he's talking about IOing it for soft capped defenses, you won't be needing any of dark melee's mitigation it provides, and will just be left with a weak primary that has hardly any aoe damage to use with AAO which is the real strength to a shield user.
|
Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
The "best" primary to go with shields is Dark Melee. Dark covers all of shields weaknesses and shields fills in on the one area that Dark melee lacks.
I personally despise the combination because I think it looks ridiculous when you use Shadow Maul (or sands) with a shield but it is without doubt the best of both worlds. |
Plasmic's Guide to Sonic/Mental
Plasmic's Guide to Regeneration
Plasmic Fire - 50 Fire/Rad Victory Server
Between the 3, i'd definitely go with elec/shield.
Bs/shield is nice though, but if we're talking soft capping defense, part of the biggest boon of bs being parry will be pretty much wasted.
Between SCRAPPER fire melee and elec melee i'd say elec has better aoe IMO for sure.
For starters build up + LR + SC will pretty much clear everything but bosses, if not needing a t-strike as well to assist to get to that point.
Fire melee for scrappers still disappoints me, as it loses combustion, which is a big source of extra aoe damage on tankers.
Plus breath of fire, you will not have much any buff from AAO to boost it as you need to move out of the mob to hit most of them.
So it comes down to 1.5x FSC + 1.1x BoF, versus 1.5x tstrike, + 1.5x jacobs ladder + 1.5x chain induction + 1.5x LR. On a scrapper, i'd say elec melee more than pulls ahead in the aoe department. But like all balancing, fire melee easily wins out in the ST department.
But I wouldn't say elec can't still be worthwhile in that department, but what it outdoes in aoe makes it far more worth it. Not to mention elec provides some mitigation like the knockdown from t-strike that fire melee does not offer any of.
Elec/shield FTW!!!!!!
The end result will be probably one of the best post Issue 16 farmers out there as well.
However not to say i'm not also excited about my fire/SR i'll be doing :P Also planned out builds for elec/SR, elec/regen :P
If you want to take a look and how the overall defenses play out let me know.
My elec/shield build is about 39% to defense, while may not capped, he has good hp bonuses and heals a tic of hp every 3.5 seconds. Pair that with the fact that 96% of the mobs won't outlast the first 3.5ish seconds, With 3 knockdowns for the alpha volley as well, and its pretty darn tough.
My fire/sr build is capped defenses with 3.5s tic for regen as well which is also pretty spiffy.
Plasmic's Guide to Sonic/Mental
Plasmic's Guide to Regeneration
Plasmic Fire - 50 Fire/Rad Victory Server
Quote:
Soul Drain + AAO + Shield Charge is the only AoE a Dark/Shields needs.|
Originally Posted by Windenergy21
That's defintely not the best combo with shields. Especially if he's talking about IOing it for soft capped defenses, you won't be needing any of dark melee's mitigation it provides, and will just be left with a weak primary that has hardly any aoe damage to use with AAO which is the real strength to a shield user.
|
After that all you need is a couple single target attacks to finish off the bosses that are left over.
Siphon life frees 2 or 3 pool picks up depending on whether the non-Dark shielder decided on medicine or fighting (neither pool is needed with Dark/)
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
I would be interested in your Elec/SR build Wind as I have an Elec Brute I can compare it to. Also, thanks for the perspective on the different Powersets.
The petition link to Save CoH:
http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
I forgot about that scene!
I'm so watching that movie over again.
Feel The Burn
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
Soul Drain + AAO + Shield Charge is the only AoE a Dark/Shields needs.
After that all you need is a couple single target attacks to finish off the bosses that are left over. Siphon life frees 2 or 3 pool picks up depending on whether the non-Dark shielder decided on medicine or fighting (neither pool is needed with Dark/) |
My build doesnt have either medicine or the fighting pool and sits at a cool 39%ish defense. Not capped but after build up and LR + SC its more than enough to outlast.
You say its all the aoe you need as if mobs are always 100% perfectly placed around you, and are always full mobs and not sometimes half mobs, slow to get to you etc. I'd prefer to have much more, (and much more damaging) options.
With the new i16 difficulty sliders, if you're killing lietenants with just soul drain AAO and shield charge, then you're not fighting tough enough enemies :P.
But build up + AAO + Lightning rod + Shield Charge, well, cream in pants goodness!
Plasmic's Guide to Sonic/Mental
Plasmic's Guide to Regeneration
Plasmic Fire - 50 Fire/Rad Victory Server
Quote:
No problem:|
Originally Posted by TigerKnight
I would be interested in your Elec/SR build Wind as I have an Elec Brute I can compare it to. Also, thanks for the perspective on the different Powersets.
|
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.601
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Elec SR LClap: Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Electrical Melee
Secondary Power Set: Super Reflexes
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Charged Brawl -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(3), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(13), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), T'Death-Dam%(39)
Level 1: Focused Fighting -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def(5), DefBuff-I(7)
Level 2: Havoc Punch -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(3), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(11), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(19), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), T'Death-Dam%(39)
Level 4: Jacobs Ladder -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(5), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(7), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(19), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(36), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40)
Level 6: Agile -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+(13), DefBuff-I(15)
Level 8: Thunder Strike -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(9), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(15), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40)
Level 10: Practiced Brawler -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(11)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Jump-I(A)
Level 16: Dodge -- S'dpty-Def/EndRdx(A), S'dpty-Def(17), LkGmblr-Rchg+(17)
Level 18: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 20: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Numna-Heal(21), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(21), Heal-I(40), RgnTis-Regen+(46)
Level 22: Stamina -- Efficacy-EndMod(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(23), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(23), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc(34)
Level 24: Focused Senses -- S'dpty-Def/EndRdx(A), S'dpty-Def/Rchg(25), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(25), S'dpty-Def(50)
Level 26: Chain Induction -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(27), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(27), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(31), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Mako-Dam%(39)
Level 28: Lucky -- S'dpty-Def/EndRdx(A), S'dpty-Def(29), DefBuff-I(29)
Level 30: Build Up -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(31)
Level 32: Lightning Rod -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(33), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34)
Level 35: Evasion -- S'dpty-Def/EndRdx(A), S'dpty-Def/Rchg(36), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(36), S'dpty-Def(43)
Level 38: Quickness -- Run-I(A)
Level 41: Focused Accuracy -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(42), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(42), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(42), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(43), GSFC-Build%(43)
Level 44: Physical Perfection -- Numna-Heal(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(45), Numna-Heal/Rchg(45), P'Shift-EndMod(45), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(46), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(46)
Level 47: Lightning Clap -- Stpfy-Acc/Rchg(A), Stpfy-EndRdx/Stun(48), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx(48), Stpfy-Stun/Rng(48), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg(50), Stpfy-KB%(50)
Level 49: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Code:
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Plasmic's Guide to Sonic/Mental
Plasmic's Guide to Regeneration
Plasmic Fire - 50 Fire/Rad Victory Server
Quote:
Soft capped defenses allow me to perfectly position 2 or even 3 spawns each and every time. The taunt in AAO means they go where I go and get squashed in my time on my terms.|
Originally Posted by Windenergy21
My build doesnt have either medicine or the fighting pool and sits at a cool 39%ish defense. Not capped but after build up and LR + SC its more than enough to outlast.
You say its all the aoe you need as if mobs are always 100% perfectly placed around you, and are always full mobs and not sometimes half mobs, slow to get to you etc. I'd prefer to have much more, (and much more damaging) options. With the new i16 difficulty sliders, if you're killing lietenants with just soul drain AAO and shield charge, then you're not fighting tough enough enemies :P. But build up + AAO + Lightning rod + Shield Charge, well, cream in pants goodness! |
With Soul Drain you don't need Lightinging Rod to kill a spawn.
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
Quote:
You don't NEED anything but brawl to kill a spawn. But other powers CERTAINLY make it go faster.|
Originally Posted by Miladys_Knight
Soft capped defenses allow me to perfectly position 2 or even 3 spawns each and every time. The taunt in AAO means they go where I go and get squashed in my time on my terms.
With Soul Drain you don't need Lightinging Rod to kill a spawn. |
You also seem to be forgetting target caps. If were talking a full mob, it already has 16 enemies max in it which shield charge does.
After you SD then SC, as i said if everything but bosses is killed at that point then you're not fighting tough enough enemies. While you're off "perfectly positioning" for max soul drain, then spending time lining up your shadow maul, i've already killed everything but bosses with a build up + AAO + LR + SC and maybe a thunder strike for some stragglers.
I know your, what is it i forget max but 30%? more damage that a full soul drain gives over build up isnt going to come near doing that, at least not for the level enemies i fight.
SC: 133.46
SD: 62.56
AAO: 12.5% for 1st 6.875 for each next 9
Assuming you have max targets within range for all powers and SD is slotted for max damage, and going by red tomax's values:
AAO: 6.875% x 9 + 12.5% = 74.375%
SD: 50% + 10 x 9 = 140%
SD = 122
+
SC = 546.35
= 668.35 Not bad at max, against even level foes.
Now the latter
AAO = 74.375%
Build up = 100%
SC = 133.46
LR = 133.46
SC = 492.97
+
LR = 492.97 = 985.94
Add t-strike: though a little wonky i believe only part of the damage hits the aoe so we'll go with the lower value:
40.04 * 3.69375 = 147.9 + 985.94 = 1133.84
Yes, dark melee gets dark consumption, but it is only useable in exactly half of these metrics. Washing that out, i'm also washing out chain induction which on a full positioned mob will hit a lot, and washing shadow maul for jacob's ladder.
So were looking at your dm/shield = 668.35 when you have full Soul Drain, which yes can be done if you're in control, but on teams is not always the case.
And the elec/shield = 1133.84 which can be the guaranteed amount with build up, and lightning rod hits 16 targets, where soul drain only hits 10, and with a larger radius.
Now i can't offhand recall the max HP of an even level lieutentant. But who's going to fight even levels on an IOd shield scrapper? Factor in fighting at least +2s and if someone could give me the exact values i'd appreciate it.
And though while creating CI as a wash for DC, its clearly much more aoe damage to boot even if it only splashes on 1 or two other enemies.
In the case of this being IOd out, where survival is really not much of an issue, i fail to see the benefit of dark melee over electrical melee, outside of the more single target damage.
Plasmic's Guide to Sonic/Mental
Plasmic's Guide to Regeneration
Plasmic Fire - 50 Fire/Rad Victory Server
Quote:
Yes, I know, which is the point I've been trying to make all along. As is usual with your posts you are focusing on a single element (in this case raw damage output) and a single very narrow play style.|
Originally Posted by Windenergy21
... i fail to see the benefit of dark melee over electrical melee...
|
You are looking at 3 or 4 powers total in the sets which are made up of 18 total powers. If raw damage output is all you need why are you playing a scrapper? Why not a blaster where you can get ALL of your powers doing damage?
The answer is because raw damage isn't enough. Mitigation is required especially if you want to attack mass spawns of +4s which is why people either use lots of mitgation set bonuses or play scrappers instead of blasters.
Since we are here in the scrapper boards we are talking about doing both. Getting mitigation from the scrapper secondary of our choice AND adding in mitigation from set bonuses.
Let's do a little quickie math and look at the other side of the coin that you are belaboring.
Lets go with the soloing 16 mobs you are talking about. Let's give it a typical break down and say that 9 of them are minions, 5 are lieutenants, and 2 are bosses.
Even con minions are going to do roughly 100 damage, lieutenants 250, and bosses 500.
Thats a damage total of about 3,150. With softcaped defenses 5% of that will be making it in on average and the base resists in Deflection and True Grit will reduce that another 11ish percent but we'll call it 10% to make the math easy.
That's 141 points of damage that will make it through. That doesn't sound bad at all since if we have True Grit slotted for max hit points and all the +max hit point accolades we are sitting at 1600ish hit points and our regeneration (including 3 slotted health which most soft capped builds don't have slotted up that far) will give us 12 hit points back per second.
The mobs have attack animations between 1 and 3 seconds lets call it 2 for easy math again so that 141 damage will be hitting evey 2 seconds or so but we'll be getting back 24 health in that time. So we are losing about 60 health a second while in combat against 16 even cons.
That means that we have 26 seconds to deal with this spawn which is no problem. If we allow 6 - 10 seconds to herd up the spawn and another 4 - 6 seconds to fire off our powers we still have plenty of health left at the end of the fight and even enough to start on the next spawn. Which is exactly how many of us farm this kind of stuff but.....
Average isn't the way that defense works. Defense is all or nothing and the resists underneath are tiny. If just the 2 bosses roll well on their first and second attack you are all ready dead even at the soft cap.
Now take it up to +4s and double the damage. You are skirting death every 13 seconds and your regen hasn't increased to compensate. You can pull it off with inspirations but over time you will fail or run out of insps.
Now drop down to your 39% defense build you claim is fine. This doubles the damage that gets through again. Odds say that you don't live through one attack even with insp use and if you do you certainly don't have the health to start on the next spawn.
With Dark/ you do though. With decent recharge slotting you can replace 10% of your hit points every 7 seconds or so (more if you slot Siphon for healing). That's all it takes to keep you up and running continually (even with only 39% defense).
This is exactly what I mean when I say best combination (emphasized on purpose) and when I say that Dark/ covers Shields weaknesses and vice versa. Dark/ with any defense based mitigation set is nicely sustainable.
With all that said I have a couple last points to make.
First is that I know that you will be back in this thread trying to break apart what I've said, or put some kind of arcane spin on it so that you are trying to make what I've said some warped version and distort my meaning or what ever other "yeah but" you care to try to tack on but I trust that I've made my meaning clear.
I don't know why you have choosen to stalk my posts and try to contradict every thing I choose to say but I wish you would cease doing so.
Second is that (also as I said before) that I don't care to play dark with shields mainly for asthetic and conceptual reasons. My main shielder is a BS/Shields but shields was designed with such a constricted and constricting (and dare I say contradictory) theme that I don't see it as a go to set for any of my new scrappers. Which is a shame since I had several ideas for shield type characters that I would like to have made had sheilds been done with more flexibility.
Now with all that said, I won't be responding to you again in this thread and will most likely put you back on ignore.
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
Dark lends itself to filling the holes that shield has.
Elec lends itself to leveraging the strengths that shield has.
Both (and many other scrapper pairings) can be great/amazing if built for it, they just focus on doing things in a different way.
Basically, if I wanted to crush massive amounts of foes I'd strongly consider an elec/shield/blaze. The combo is the epitome of a walking nuke. A person can say all the aoe they need is sheildcharge, but come on... You lose out on some st damage, but fireblast is one of the higher dpa attacks scrappers can get (scrapper version of gloom for brutes basically).
If I wanted to be massively survivable, do huge st damage and the occassional big burst aoe I'd strongly consider a dark/shield. I'd add blaze, or dark app to improve on the sustained aoe output.
Elec/shield doesn't need to be as survivable as a dm/shield because it will clear spawns much much faster. If you were to say that DM can extend the survivability duration of shield then you'd say that elec reduces the duration that is necessary to accomplish the goal.
Anyway, different builds with a different purpose in mind. If someone asked me for a farming scrapper I'd never recommend dm/shield. If someone asked me for an AV killing scrapper I wouldn't recommend elec/shield. Though I wouldn't be surprised if either one could do the job to someones satisfaction.
What works best with shields? I was looking to make a /shield toon but I am having trouble deciding between Elec, Fire, or even BS. Was looking to build towards softcapped defenses while giving out a great deal of damage down the line. While Fire and BS are probably over elec for damage, but elec has that nice tier 9 that combos nicely with shield charge. BS I think is still tops in damage but it's lethal. Shield charge into a fire sword circle has benefits as well......
Ugh... Opinions anyone? I've played elec and fire on brutes but how would they fair on a scrapper?
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