In the Age of IO's, is SR obsolete?

I think the subject speaks for itself but I suppose I'll explain a bit more. For my first GR toon I was planning on making a DB/SR scrapper (because it seemed ub3r cool ) and then I realized the following; why bother with SR since many secondaries can do what SR can, with the added bonus of other utilities and whatnot, by just IOing it up. I realize it would take a bit more work for other sets to soft cap than SR, however, I feel the point remains valid.

I'd suggest that Super Reflexes' niche is soft cap defense plus capped defense debuff resistance. I can assure you from playing a soft-capped Katana/Dark that having no DDR is a noticeable Achilles' heel.

But with enough influence spent and a probably-unintended Hamio trick, I would suggest that Shield Defense can be made everything Super Reflexes is, and more. So perhaps Super Reflexes is obsolete for multi-billionaire power gamers kitting out an end game toon. Other than that, nah, not really. Super Reflexes is still a good set.

I'd say yes, SR has had some of its territory encroached on by IOs. If cost isn't an issue and you dont mind having a visible shield, it has very little unique going for it, it even takes half your career to get any decent AoE defence and its a tight build.

Blaster /Devices is in a similar boat -anyone can get Stealth and the increased chance to hit of Targetting Drone through IOs.

Same with weapon sets that offer +Acc or sets that have -Def as a secondary, they're less valuable than they used to be.

Yeah until you can get DDR with IOs I'd say SR still has its niche. I do agree that SR could do with a small buff like +max health or prehaps even instead of +res having +def as health goes down.

The only thing /SR has over /SD for a high-end player is the ability to use all of the Scrapper primaries instead of only half of them. That said, going for the top Claws attack chain, for instance, will be much easier on SR than it is on WP, but survivability wise SR loses to both.

EDIT: I'd like to add, though, that /SR is a top choice for anyone without much influence, though. It's much easier to raise your survivability to soft cap on a /SR than it is on /SD or /WP if you have limited funds.

You might be right, but I am really happy that there are some sets left that work with minimal IO (or no) investment. SR is one of them, that plays just fine with standard IOs.

The problem is not with SR, but the lack of decent choices when going for IO set bonuses. Defense and Global Recharge are largely more powerful than any other set option available, and as such you are going to see many builds try to utilize these higher values on their own characters because going for anything else simply isn't as effective. Unless IO's are changed to favor the less popular set bonuses, such as resistance or what have you, SR is going to have its' toes stepped on when entering the world of Multi-Billion Builds.

Buffing SR because it isn't 'unique' at that sort of level is the wrong way to go. The problem is with IO's, not SR.

Also, Shield Defense is likely in line for some nerfage.

Stop with the /SD bashing, the only thing that needs to be changed on /sd is shield charge, and that's only because it's not working as intended. /sr is great without ios and is really good with them. I hate it when you guys go off the subject at hand.

Rant over

I still have my DB/SR fully tweaked out. Here's the things he does better then the tweaked out non /SR builds I have.

1. Exemplar! I can play that toon down to level 15 and still have 30 Def to melee and ranged. I have full attack chains down to that level as well. I seriously doubt there's a better positron runner then that toon and it's his normal everyday walking around build. And level 21 (once I get access sweeping strikes) there's a real sweet spot for high damage plus vastly superior defenses vs the badguys you face.

2. At level 50 I run with +33.5 global damage (running assault) while soft-capped. Shields may trump that due to AAO, but IMHO that's a shield issue, not an IO issue. And shields can't use katana, db, claws, or spines.

3. I've never had a travel power on that toon... now especially with ninja run, I see no reason to ever want one.

4. Extreme recharge damage chains... having quickness is like having 2 free purple sets. That's not a small thing. (it's a small thing compared to AAO, but it's still a niche power)

Now... that said, what I didn't list was "ultimate level 50 greatness"... if that's your number 1 goal, then, yeah... I think /sr has been obsolete since /shields was released. But /SR is not without it's benifits. I think personally, I like the flexability I have to soft cap easily and have left over room to fill up on other goodies (like +damage, + recharge, and lower level IOs for improved exemplaring).

I beg to differ. It is still the easiest secondary to soft cap defenses cheaply. My Claws/SR scrapper is also near perma-Hasten, with purples, you could conceivably be perma, if you wanted to. I don't need a travel power with Swift/Hurdle, Quickness, Ninja Run, and IO's. Can you do better with Shield Defense with it's added resistances and AAO? Sure no doubt. I merely pack a good amount of oranges and use Tough to offset the blig blows when I do get hit. I farm well enough with it as it is. Perhaps the only problem is when I exemplar down of course, but I can deal with it.

I do not think SR needs any improvement, nor any changes whatsoever. I'm already a whirling blender of death, what more do I need?

I may be going off subject but what are some good but not to expensive IOs i could slot in my MA/SD scrapper?

My most powerful character is a DB/SR scrapper, and she's quite happy with her SR. She has little use for the cowards who lurk behind shields rather than facing danger like a woman.

Increase the recharge buff of Quickness to 30% and the slow resists to 60%, add +10% max end, +10% recovery, and allow End mod sets to be slotted.

Add +10% max HP and +30% regen to Practiced Brawler and allow heal sets to be slotted.