Dark Armor Survivability

I'm new to scrapperdom, having played defenders and blasters pretty much exclusively since launch. I'm trying to get an idea of the survivability I can expect out of Dark Armor (specifically when paired with Claws, if it matters).

Observations?

Well, it's definately not the toughest set. Most of the powers are resistence based, very little defense available. The good news is that you have a powerful heal available, but you'll need to hit a couple of targets to be effective.

I grabbed Death Shround early, and regretted it. It will need SO's and a handful of slots before it becomes worthwhile. The Endurance cost just isn't worth it otherwise. Once slotted, it becomes a nice extra attack but don't expect it to wipe out a mob.

I highly recommend getting Oppressive Gloom as soon as it's available. For me it was a game-changer as it stuns all the minions around you thereby mitigating a lot of damage.

Tons if you time dark regen properly.

I have DR down to like 14ish seconds recharge I believe. with 2 mobs in range I can go from 1 hit point to full every 14ish seconds.

I think dark armor has approx 35% resist to all damage types and 60ish to psi damage.
Add tough for another 10% to s/l. It can become quite sturdy.

It is a powerset that greatly benefits from IO's.
slot performance shifter +end proc, Knockback protection IO's, and if you can find it a theft of essence chance for +end proc (game changer).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadow Ravenwolf My favorite combo is Faceplant/DebtCap with the TeamWipe Ancillary

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dispari Yeah, I like Blasters too.

Though it is often skipped, I recommend taking cloak of fear post haste. Of course you must then slot it asap for accuracy/endurance. The combo of cloak of fear and oppressive gloom means that most things near you can't get their heads straight enough to attack you, and slows down incoming damage so that dark regeneration has time to refresh.

Some may build differently, but I've found the two make one into a mob fighting machine. Dark armor thrives on many targets, particularly soft ones. It's not as good vs. singular tough high damage/high burst damage enemies, though.

(Oh, and get used to slotting end reducers for /dark...it get's pretty juicy without.)

Having played and respec'd my Dark Armor several timews over 4 years, I can tell you that nearly every build I have made (to include pre-IO era) was very survivable. Claws is actually a good partner for Dark Armor, given Dark Armor's expensive endurance costs. Opressive Gloom is a good power to choose, low endurance cost, however make sure you pay attention to the HP bar, that power takes some getting used to becuase it does about 6ish points of damage per second per enemy in range. Dark Regen does NOT take multiple foes in range to be effective with proper slotting, with one foe in range on a cheaply slotted Dark Regen, I heal for 50% of my HP, which is keeping up with any other healing power out there. Dark Armor provides no big "God" mode so to speak. Instead, you get a steady amount of resistance to EVERYTHING, including Psi and Toxic, though the latter is only around 25% (still, its always on). Dark Armor also provides very good mez/effect protection, namely against Fears and Endurance drains.

Keep in mind, Cloak of Darkness provides +immob protection and +perception, but can be costly to run. I suggest combat jumping for everyday fighting and only using CoD for unique situations. As someone else pointed out, Using Cloak of Fear and Oppressive Gloom can be very handy, however, given the expensive nature of Dark Armor, it is not a bad move to skip one or the other, your choice.

Also, Acrobatics is a good choice for Dark Armor, but I would make the first invention I buy for that toon a Knockback protection, a karma preferrably to go into Combat Jumping (or Cloak of Darkness).

If you use inventions (and a lot of people do), slot for recharge, accuracy and endurance recovery. Performance shifters, theft of essence (as mentioned before) and crushing impacts are all good sets, crushing impacts being fairly inexpensive nowadays.

Dark Armor is actually pretty sturdy, but it's a little strange. Some of your survivability comes from you being invisible to the point of often only aggroing part of a group in melee. Some of it comes from locking down minions with stun and/or fear. A whole lot of it comes from a GIANT heal. It's got a tiny bit of defense and some decent resists. Oh, and you have a knockback hole that you need to fill.

As for Death Shroud, it's actually an endurance saving tool. You see, Death Shroud costs only as much endurance as a single-target attack, but it does AoE damage. If Death Shroud is causing you to run out of endurance, it's better to stop attacking than to turn off or skip Death Shroud. That said, I suppose I should admit that on my Katana/Dark, I prioritized getting my single-target attack chain working first, so this would be a "do as I say, not as I do" situation.

A lot of what people say is both true and false. Yes the resistance of DA is feeble compared to other sets, but with oppressive gloom/cloak of fear for mitigation and the best self heal in the game IMO, DA is quite powerful. It just isn't a 'sit back and watch enemies frantically fail to hurt you' set, its a very active secondary. Having said that, I haven't taken CoF because of it's huge end cost and pathetic accuracy, but OG is a lifesaver.

I recently got my Spines/DA to 50 and I decided to take Conserve Power and Physical Perfection for endurance management, and I never run out of end now. but when I respec into my IO build, I've managed to drop both CP and PP and still have higher recovery, and thats not taking into account my 2 chance for +end's. I'm just a lil short on inf atm but I can't wait to respec!

Dark Armor paired with one of the original sword sets (Katana or Broadsword) can be softcapped to all positions. You give up a little DPS and recharge to do it, but it can be done.

With Claws, the fact that Claws has a fairly cheap end cost on all it's powers is a boon, and Shockwave will help with mitigation after you pick it up. Not softcappable to all positions, but if you can get ranged and AoE to about 40% and S/L to a similar level you should be in good shape. Anything/DA is a beast with around 30% defense on top of the already respectable resists and the monster heal.

Thanks for the replies; hearing good stuff. But it nonetheless prompts some other questions; specifically...

Quote:

Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect With Claws, the fact that Claws has a fairly cheap end cost on all it's powers is a boon, and Shockwave will help with mitigation after you pick it up. Not softcappable to all positions, but if you can get ranged and AoE to about 40% and S/L to a similar level you should be in good shape. Anything/DA is a beast with around 30% defense on top of the already respectable resists and the monster heal.

So, looking things over, can you suggest a strategy for reaching that 30% or so defense without sacrificing too much hitting power? I've already got Combat Jumping worked into the build, so that should help somewhat; I could probably work in Weave, too, and throw some defense slots into Cloak of Darkness. What else should I be looking at, either power-wise or IO-wise?