Patrons or no?

My Crab is now at level 39 which give me 2 levels to decide. I know, unlike the HEATs, I am able to run a Patron Arc and add those unique powers to my attacks but at 39 there are still powers available I would love to add. So the question is.. Has anyone else ever created a SoA and just didn't bother with Patron powers at all? Hey with my Warshae I didn't have a choice but frankly I am leaning toward doing in VOLUNTARILY with my Crab. I have dual builds, one for solo and the other for teaming, so I suppose I could try one each way and I have so many Vet reward respec if i decide I hate it I can always change my mind (repeatedly).

So Brother and Sister SoAs I am looking for feedback. Have any of you skipped dealing with Ghost Widow, Black Scorpion, Scirroco, Mako or Lord Recluse and just kept taking powers from you primary and Secondary all the way to 5o? :-D By the way my Nightwidow is at level 25 so while I have a while on her yet I am thinking along the same lines with her... just keep adding powers I already have access instead of adding Patrons. With both I'll probably still pick a Patron just for the added story arcs but just never bother selectiong any of the powers I gain access to.

For my (night)widow, I'm not planning on taking any patron powers, or a travel power. I have hasten, but don't see myself getting SS anytime soon. There are too many good powers.

never took any patron powers on my crab or widow, to many powers available in primary and secondaries

My Spider is 31, but I don't see myself taking the Patron Powers.

My reasons range from the practical-- I want to try as many of these nifty powers out as possible-- to the thematic.

My Soldier wants to prove himself BEYOND the standard path. Why would I serve ANY patron?!

Shatter armor from black scorpion = best patron power ever !

my bane took scorp pool for shatter armor, an extra mass web nade, and the pet

Going GW on a Fort or NW is a great idea for theme and Gloom/Dark Obliteration are fantastic attacks. Gloom is better for a Fort than a NW though, because of redraw and NWs are generally melee anyway.

For Soldiers, Black Scorpion is a fantastic choice. For Crabs, another pet so you can be a full Arachnos MM. For Banes, Shatter Armor = 100% liquid metal sex death.

I originally had the Mako pool on my Crab, primarily for the Venom Grenade + Bile Spray synergy. I've since respecced and dropped all patron powers in favour of the fighting pool. I kinda miss the extra AoE output, but I'm still pumping out a respectable amount (it's not like Crabs are short on AoE from their primary) and I'm a bunch more survivable - it's letting me solo higher spawn sizes a lot more comfortably.

My Bane took the Scorpion pool because, well, it's hard to pass up Shatter Armour (and the ranged AoE blast isn't quite as anaemic as the native Bane ones).

My Fortunata went Ghost Widow to add Gloom to form a stronger single target chain (plus the visual suits her theme), and Dark Obliteration for the extra AoE. She pumps out quite a lot of damage in either situation.

My Night Widow is skipping patron powers in favour of more team buffs (TT:Assault, Leadership:Assault, Vengeance). Also as they're low-slot powers, that's freed up slots for building set bonuses elsewhere, removing Mind Link as necessary for soft capped defenses among other things.


So yeah, I've tried with and without patrons across the VEAT subclasses, and both ways on the Crab. Either can work out nicely, it's just a question of what you're aiming for in your build (and theme, if that applies).

The more things I can have Darkest Night on, the better. I'm such a Ghost Widow fan girl at this point.

Hey thanks all :-D A lot of good advice and since I am dual build I may just go with build that uses a couple Patrons (I do like the addition of another pet to my attack chain) and the other without. Sounds like I am not the only person that loves the powersets already on hand so I'll be happy with both.

I took a patron pool on my Crab Spider just for the 6th pet.

nobody took mako for arctic breath?

a ranged cone that deals some damage, apply -spd -rech -res -def and do KD seems to be a nice debuff no?

Going with Mu Mastery on my crab, ball lighting adds nicely to my aoe attack chain, mu lighting gives me another very nice single target attack, I'm on the fence for the Electrifying Fences (I know it could add more to my AoE goodness) and the Striker (not sure I really want one of those creeps following me around :P)

I have a question about shatter armor. Does it cause redraw on banes or do banes just get to use their mace without having draw another mace?? If it doesnt causes Redraw...that is one sweet power.

On my Fortunata I picked Soul Mastery for the Darkest Night, Soul Tentacles and Summon Widow. I tried to focus on a team build and picked more control powers and cones. I did this to make a pseudo controller for the villain side with controls/debuffs/ powers. It works really well with the play style I was looking for.

On my Bane I picked Mace Mastery just because Shatter Armor is the best attack and it works well with the other mace attacks.

I'm definitely taking a patron pool for my Crab but I still can't decide which. I mostly want the 6th pet but I don't really have experience with any of those pets so I don't know which pool I'm gonna try first.