Looking for some ideas on what to partner with /DA

So it's that time again, Pinky, time to delve into yet another melee AT and make it the most devastating thing this side of Rhode Island.

I love DA, it's so dynamic. OH NO! SCRAPPER ABOUT TO DIE.. full health - the battle is always keeping you on your toes. It's such a complete set (though it does lack in energy resistance ).

Anyway... Once upon a time, I think in i9, I made a spines/DA and it was hella fun. I've been thinking of what to again pair with DA and I can't make up my mind Katana is nice but lethal damage + robots sort of turns me off. FM seems powerful on paper, but the attacks are somewhat slow and lack a scrappery slice'em dice'em skewer'em feel. ELM doesn't have enough ST damage for my tastes and Thunder Strike is god-awful slow.

How's MA? I don't recall ever leveling an MA; the AoE looks comparable to other sets'.

How's Katana versus Dual Blade?

I think I'm on the fence amongst Katana, DB, Claws, MA, and just re-rolling another spines (despite lacking ST).

MA for epic stuns

My first scrapper ever is a MA/SR. he's actually just 48 but very close to 49 so very soon he'll be my first 50 ever.

I love MA to death. as soon as i got eagle's claw at 32 i 6 slotted it as quickly as possible and never looked back. eagle's claw is probably the fastest recharging lvl 32 power in the game. not only does it deal massive damage but has a decent chance to stun as well.

the MA is a single target damage dealing set so be ready for that. the only AoE attack it has is Dragon's Tail and the range is pretty short since it's just a trip in a circle all around you but it has a really high chance to knockdown which helped me tremendously against large mobs.

also:

Quote:

Originally Posted by kinaki Anyway... Once upon a time, I think in i9, I made a spines/DA and it was hella fun.

lol you must be from north california.

I'd vote MA as well, especially since you haven't played it before.

And i think, altough might be wrong, that EC is 100% chance to stun now, although only a mag 2 i believe. That with the stun aura means mag 3 stuns. Through in some randon thunder kick stuns, and cobra stike if you go that route, and you can be, as stated above, hella stunning.

I've also considered a /da toon once I get my current dm/sd up there. my main is MA so I probably won't go that route.

Kat or BS would be nice just for the def bonuses

Katana for some serious defense to pair with your serious resistance and serious self heal.

Any of the others if you just wanna have fun, and aren't worried about just how far up you can crank the difficulty level. I do like the epic stun idea.

The first toon I rolled to lv 50 was a DM/DA Scrapper named Mormegil. It was made in Issue 1, deleted, remade in Issue 3, and climbed all the way up to level 50. It survived the Soul Drain Debuff and numerous other game changes before it settled into its current build in Issue 15, which I feel is even more fun than back when you could make Soul Drain perma. It's got IO bonuses for high recharge and recovery, so Soul Drain comes up fast, and Dark Consumption and Dark Regeneration are almost always ready when needed. Cloak of Fear and Touch of Fear, along with Oppressive Gloom, keep enemies at bay while ST attacks pound enemies into mulch.

With my current build, I can Fear EBs while punching their lights out, recovering Health and Endurance faster than I lose it as long as I avoid killing Minions in melee who are stunned or feared. It's a lot of fun, and the only thing that stops me from rolling a DM/DA brute is the lack of Epic Pools that offer Conserve Power or Physical Perfection.

DM/DA is definitely an endurance hog, but it's a lot of fun if you play it right. In a VERY personal, non-mathematics-related opinion that I'm sure I'll be called an idiot for in less than five posts of this thread, I can't picture myself pairing anything with Dark Armor other than Dark Melee. I just like the combination.

I've only got one /DA scrapper and he's Dual Blades. He's a whirling death machine. Two cones and a PBAoE, plus combos, I love it! Downsides I notice: Lethal damage makes me cry when I fight CoT. Robots I have not noticed as much but the ghosts seem to laugh off both Death Shroud and my attacks Also sometimes combos can frustrate, with positioning and misses. However now with proper slotting I am generally at the hit cap, and I find myself positioning and re-targeting much more smoothly now that I have some hours under my belt.

Katana, as mentioned, would be great because of Divine Avalanche. It's also pretty stylin'. Dark Melee is great because it has both a fear to stack with Cloak of Fear (although I personally went with Opressive Gloom, needs less slots to be awesome) and it also has a nice endurance tool in Dark Consumption. Claws, I am not sure, but it might be cool, plenty of AoE and an inherent end discount. Martial Arts, I can't address at all, it's the one set that I absolutely cannot stand to play. That doesn't mean it's not good, just that I am not informed about it at all.

I am LOVING my bs/da!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I prefer bs over kat for some reason..I didn't used to, cause it's slower, but now... boy am I lovin' it. =D sooo much fun. p.s. I'm 25 right now and quickly climbing. =D

I didn't read what anyone else wrote and hardly what the OP did. Cause I just gotta say

KATANA FTW!!!!11!1111one

DA = best, most needed to be nerfed attack in game.
[Well, maybe apprentice charm, but hey, get both and spend an hour with an AV. Alone, the two of you.]

Im gonna throw out either Claw/ or Kat/. Both are fast and have very nice mitigation in their attack chain (Claw=Focus, imo best ST scrapper attack, Kat=Divine Avalanche) My Claw/DA is lvl 34 and nigh unkillable without IO bonuses on +2, and my Kat/DA is still a baby but is fun at that lvl.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Sure, the devs are supposed to listen to their customers, mister business 101 out there. And if I decide to start suggesting that the devs change the game from being about superheroes and supervillains to being about clowns that is my right as well, and technically Paragon Studios is supposed to pay attention to me. But I hope strongly that they assume a meth-head somehow managed to hack into my forum account and make paper airplanes out of my posts, because I hope they recognize stupid when they see it. I assume they will recognize futile just as accurately.

My /DA is Electric Melee. Fun and unique. Lots of AoE and mitigation.

BS and Kat would both work great with dark armor. Divine/Parry+high res+dark regeneration=Sturdy toon.

"With great moustache comes great responsibility" - Zee Captain

Gonna Echo one previous poster and Say Martial Arts / Dark Armor would be very fun in the end game with stacking stuns from Oppressive Gloom + Cobra Strike.

But if you were looking for more AoE potential earlier in the game, then Katana/Broadsword would be good synergy as well. Dark has very good resists and healing, but lacks on the defense side. DA/Parry would help considerably.

One other combination works surprisingly well too, Claws/DA. With the high endurance cost of Dark Armor, the lower cost of Claws fits nicely. Consider Death Shroud + Follow Up and you can see this combination would have some steady DPS, both ST and AoE.

Thanks for all the input, guys. I'm now leaning towards Katana (or claws,.. well, probably katana).

One thing, does Energy Torrent cause redraw?

Make a Mace/DA BRUTE!

BLLLLAAAAARG!

Ehem, anyhow, if you want to go with a Scrapper, id say Claws.

Just thought I would throw another vote behind Kat/DA. It is how I started CoH and I still play that toon a lot. Ok, primarily use that toon because she is just so awesome.

wait.....WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!????????????? ????????????????? :O wwwwwwwwwwiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnn