To Soft Cap or Not to Soft Cap

Hi all

My DM/DA Scrapper Mournstar is breaking through the 40's and now I have to decide how I want to build him. I find that I'm rather stuck as I'm not sure what bonuses to look for in IO sets.

I am thinking of taking Conserve Power and Physical perfection for Epics.

I am taking Boxing/Tough/Weave

I plan to take just about every Dark Power except the following:
Shadow Punch
Confront
Oppressive Gloom
Soul Transfer

That being said I have no idea if it's worth it to try and Soft Cap his S/L defense.

I do know that I want to get some recharge bonuses and probably increase his max end and recovery a bit but with both Stamina and Physical Perfection I don't have to go crazy.

So I ask the vaunted Scrapper community their advice on what bonuses to go for and if Soft capping S/L defense is a good idea or waste of time? Is it a good idea to go all out on recharge bonuses?

I also will NOT be looking to get purple sets. I can get some of the expensive stuff like LOTG GLobal Recharge and Numina and Miracle procs but I don't have the kind of funds needed to purple him out completley or even partially.

Thank You to everyone in advance for their help.

Well building up Defense is always good. If you can't get good numbers for Range, Melee, AoE and you can soft cap S/L I would go with the S/L. The bad thing about S/L is Kinetic Combat are not cheap

It is always good to go far Recharge but the +Defense will give you more survivability so if that is your goal then go for the +Defense first then the recharge.

My Characters Deviont Art page Currently-reading Me Skydiving

Thanks for the advice. Yes I usually play tanks so I know how expensive the KC set is.
However I have never tried to cap positional defense and never even thought about it.
How would one go about it? I mean for S/L the common sets to turn to are the KC or the Reactive Armor's and such. What sets are good for positional?

Some good sets are

Melee
Touch of Death
Obliteration

Range
Mako's Bite
Numina' Convalescence
Thunderstike

AoE
Scirocco's Dervish
Performance Shifler
Eradication
Aegis


And Gaussian't Synchronized is nice for all three.

My Characters Deviont Art page Currently-reading Me Skydiving

I'm generally more comfortable with positional defenses... I threw together a quick example of what I might do, keeping it fairly cheap, cheaper than going for KCs, which are insanely expensive while at the same time costing you DPS...

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.803
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Pitch: Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Dark Melee
Secondary Power Set: Dark Armor
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Smite -- Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Mako-Dam%(27), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(27), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(31), Mako-Acc/Dmg(33), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(33)
Level 1: Dark Embrace -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), Aegis-ResDam(3), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(3), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Aegis-EndRdx/Rchg(45), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(50)
Level 2: Shadow Maul -- Oblit-%Dam(A), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Oblit-Dmg(19), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(19), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(21), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21)
Level 4: Death Shroud -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(5), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(7), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(45), Oblit-%Dam(45)
Level 6: Touch of Fear -- Abys-Dam%(A)
Level 8: Siphon Life -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(9), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(15), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), Mako-Dam%(17)
Level 10: Murky Cloud -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam(11), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(11), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(46), Aegis-Psi/Status(48)
Level 12: Obsidian Shield -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(13), Aegis-ResDam(13)
Level 14: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 16: Dark Regeneration -- Oblit-%Dam(A), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), Oblit-Dmg(34), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(34), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(43), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43)
Level 18: Dark Consumption -- Oblit-%Dam(A), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), Oblit-Dmg(36), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(36), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37)
Level 20: Cloak of Darkness -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(46), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 22: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Numna-Heal(23), Mrcl-Rcvry+(23)
Level 24: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(25), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(25)
Level 26: Soul Drain -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(37), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(37), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Oblit-%Dam(40)
Level 28: Cloak of Fear -- Abys-Dam%(A), DarkWD-Slow%(29), Cloud-%Dam(29), Cloud-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(31), Cloud-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(31)
Level 30: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 32: Midnight Grasp -- Mako-Dam%(A), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Mako-Acc/Dmg(42), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(42), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(43)
Level 35: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 38: Tough -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Aegis-ResDam(39)
Level 41: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 44: Physical Perfection -- RgnTis-Regen+(A)
Level 47: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(48), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(48)
Level 49: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(50), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- HO:Micro(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 4: Ninja Run

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Keep in mind that with Cloak of Fear running you have backdoor soft-capped your Melee (okay, you need to hit them once plus use cloak of fear) and you are sitting pretty...

One more shift, in Dark Regen, drop the oblits, throw in sciroccos and a Theft of Essence

Not good for D, but essential given the end cost of dark regen in a end-hog build

Thanks for posting the build. However, the build doesn't seem to have any knockback protection.

Obliteration in Death Shroud? Ouch on the blue bar...

Multistrikes give a (lesser) melee defense bonus, and a lot more end reduction.

Sorry, I haven't run much Dark Armor, so I was unaware of that weakness in the set (KB prot).

So, I dropped two Aegis out of Dark Embrace, added a KB Prot proc there and one in Murky Cloud. I also took Smersh's advice on Death Shroud.

Just a note, this was not a definitive build, this is just something I threw together in five minutes to roughly give you an idea of what you might want to do, where you might want to head and why I felt that going for positional rather than damage defense was the way to go.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.803
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Pitch: Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Dark Melee
Secondary Power Set: Dark Armor
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Smite -- Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Mako-Dam%(27), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(27), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(31), Mako-Acc/Dmg(33), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(33)
Level 1: Dark Embrace -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), S'fstPrt-ResKB(3), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(3), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Aegis-ResDam(45)
Level 2: Shadow Maul -- Oblit-%Dam(A), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Oblit-Dmg(19), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(19), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(21), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21)
Level 4: Death Shroud -- M'Strk-Acc/Dmg(A), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(5), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg(7), M'Strk-Acc/EndRdx(7), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(45)
Level 6: Touch of Fear -- Abys-Dam%(A)
Level 8: Siphon Life -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(9), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(15), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), Mako-Dam%(17)
Level 10: Murky Cloud -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam(11), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(11), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(46), Aegis-Psi/Status(48), S'fstPrt-ResKB(50)
Level 12: Obsidian Shield -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(13), Aegis-ResDam(13)
Level 14: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 16: Dark Regeneration -- Sciroc-Dam%(A), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(34), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(34), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(43), Theft-+End%(43)
Level 18: Dark Consumption -- Oblit-%Dam(A), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), Oblit-Dmg(36), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(36), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37)
Level 20: Cloak of Darkness -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(46), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 22: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Numna-Heal(23), Mrcl-Rcvry+(23)
Level 24: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(25), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(25)
Level 26: Soul Drain -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(37), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(37), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Oblit-%Dam(40)
Level 28: Cloak of Fear -- Abys-Dam%(A), DarkWD-Slow%(29), Cloud-%Dam(29), Cloud-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(31), Cloud-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(31)
Level 30: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 32: Midnight Grasp -- Mako-Dam%(A), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Mako-Acc/Dmg(42), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(42), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(43)
Level 35: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 38: Tough -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Aegis-ResDam(39)
Level 41: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 44: Physical Perfection -- RgnTis-Regen+(A)
Level 47: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(48), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(48)
Level 49: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(50), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- HO:Micro(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 4: Ninja Run

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