Firstly, welcome to the City/Isles/Praetoria! Thanks for playing too.
Secondly, let me just compliment you on picking a MANLY FRONT LINES Scrapper instead of a GO KILL THEM FOR ME Mastermind. (Wink wink nudge nudge.)
Alright, so soloing an Archvillain isn't impossible with a Scrapper...just pretty damn tough, no matter what your build is. Archvillains and Giant Monsters are generally designed to be fought by multiple people at once, but I like your enthusiasm. Scrappers are the solo machine though, you've got that right.
Level quickly with minimal investment? Wat. Everyone levels up the same way, you do missions, you kill some guys, wam bam! You talk to a trainer and now you can shoot three fireballs instead of one. Enhancements, DO, SO, IO etc. are a different story. But at first, you won't have too much to worry about in that department.
An arcane knight seems more suited to Broadsword/Shield defense if you ask me though, but it's your call there. SD and WP are both amazing sets, and you can't go wrong with either one. WP is a bit more well rounded while SD offers some team defense, but again, up to you. And even if SD got nerfed it'd still be pretty great!
Tanks are for tanking, Scrappers are for kicking *** without dying a terrible, terrible death, (I'm looking at you Blaster) if you want to be an "Secondary" tank, then WP/SD are pretty good for that. No need to take Confront either! Who needs to taunt when you can hit someone with a Broadsword? As for DPS, you hit the nail on the head, Scrappers are great at killing quickly (Or moderately fast in some cases). Firey Melee doesn't fit the Arcane Knight all that well, given that Firey Sword only comes into play in a few powers.
Overall, you seem to know what you're doing quite honestly. You did some research, read around a bit, and asked for a bit of advice. My main is a Broadsword/Regen and I have to say he's great.
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Welcome to the Best Game! |
Originally Posted by Xinn
Just joined the game with Going Rogue,
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| Currently trying the BS/WP route. I like the hefty dose of Regen coupled with Resists/Def, but how viable is it for high-end soloing later on? |
BS is a good damager, has the excellent addition of parry, and is also a mild debuffer with every hit, which makes you much more team friendly.
WP is a solid set to keep you alive except versus heavy alpha's. Parry will get you past those as required. It is mostly damage agnostic, which is darn nice, and keeps you in the fight.
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| I've heard Katana is, strictly speaking, better due to faster animations (I think Werner briefly touched on it). |
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| With all of that in mind, any advice? From a crunchy, stat standpoint, what's my best bet? From a thematic standpoint, what fits? FM has the fiery sword, but I'd have to look at the animations once I'm back at my computer to see if I can make them fit. |
FM/SD is....massive damage, quite a bit squishier until you can get serious sets in it, than it's God Mode. I would not recommend for a first toon. Stick with the BS/wp, you will like it.
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I'm after a happy marriage between the my optimization and thematic goals, but I still appreciate purely optimized number-crunchy feedback, too. 
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You're fine, play what you like.
You're already perfect. Broad Sword/Willpower is exactly what you need. It's easy to play, easy to build, easy to level, hard to mess up. It also gives up nothing in top end power, where it can get shockingly good, and least in the survivability department. It's a bit lacking in AoE, so you may find your team contributions lagging a little, but there's nothing wrong with taking the boss killer role. Be sure you take and use Parry.
Yes, Katana is technically better. A little. Not enough to worry about.
Broad Sword/Shield Defense was my favorite build I've ever leveled, and it will out damage Broad Sword/Willpower. But it's harder to get Shield Defense right, and it's slower to bloom even when you get it right. If you're willing to put in some effort to learning exactly how to build it, you could give it a shot. But generally speaking, I'd recommend Willpower instead since you're a new player.
You CAN make an all sword attack build with Fiery Melee. It's non-optimal, and isn't happening without huge recharge. I'm probably going to make one just for the fun of it, but it's going to cost me billions, and won't perform as well as a whole lot of builds that people are running around with. I just think it would be fun.
"That's because Werner can't do maths." - BunnyAnomaly
"Four hours in, and I was no longer making mistakes, no longer detoggling. I was a machine." - Werner
Videos of Other Stupid Scrapper Tricks
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Originally Posted by Xinn
I've heard Katana is, strictly speaking, better due to faster animations.
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Originally Posted by mauk2
That is the consensus, with which I heartily disagree.
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That being said, I have a BS/WP and it was indeed a very fun toon. BS has a CRUNCH! factor that is lacking in Katana. Katana is more flowing and aesthetic looking, plus it has better numbers. When I made my BS/WP, I didn't know the numbers. Now that I do, if I had to do it over again I would definitely make a Kat/WP instead.
Also, the one thing BS has going for it, burst damage, is usually wasted as you're doing more damage than a target has HP, wasting the big damage number. The exception would be hard targets, but in that case Katana does better DPS, so it's still the better option.
For a first Scrapper, many forumites usually recommend Kat/WP, and for good reason. It's a solid combo that offers early high survivability with Divine Avalanche(DA) stacking with WP's regen and resists. WP has the ability, with Inventions and certain power choices, to get enough Defense to not need DA, which then raises how much DPS you can do quite a lot. WP also has Quick Recovery at 20, allowing you to put off the Fitness pool until much later in the build, if at all. Kat/WP will allow you to level quickly and safely without needing to invest anything beyond what you would get from leveling anyway.
BS/Shield would be good as well, though /Shield is a late bloomer, much like /SR, since it is a Defense-based secondary. It does have the ability to become absolutely amazing in the endgame with a significant investment and, built correctly, you can attain excellent survivability while leveling, though this usually relies on using purple inspirations for tough battles.
All-in-all, if you're deciding between BS and Kat, go with what feels fun. Both perform well and neither will be terrible. The only thing I can say that might sway you is that if you're going for an AV killer, I'd have to give the nod to Katana if you're not going with /Shield because Kat/WP can do higher DPS than BS/WP. BS/WP can still do the job, but Kat/WP will do it faster.
I'll throw my $0.02 in here.
Broadsword is really hard to beat for heavy hitting attacks; I've leveled two of them to 50, one BS/Regen back long before IO's entered the game and a BS/Shield that hit 50 last year. Of the two unquestionably the BS/Shield is the tougher character... by a pretty healthy amount actually.
BS/WP will work fine for a scrapper... the only serious drawback is that you'll have problems trying to play tanker with it due to a very poor aggro aura. On the other hand many scrapper secondaries completely lack an aggro aura so you're better than, say, Regen in that role. Shield is an oddball in that it has a full Tanker strength aggro aura; it's capable of holding aggro nearly as well as most tankers.
You'll probably find WP to be a bit smoother to level, particularly in the low levels than a Shield. It won't reach the same level of damage output though... Shield's aura is a fantastic damage buff and it comes with a mini-nuke called Shield Charge that hits a WIDE AOE for more damage than Headsplitter every 30 seconds or so (with full recharge slotting).
Shield is a defense based set however, those tend to struggle early as defense starts out very weak and gets progressively more and more effective as you approach the 45% soft cap; until you climb above 20% you'll sometimes wonder if you even have your shields toggled on and it won't start feeling really good until you get above 30%. At the 45% soft cap though you're a force of nature and can move through the battlefield ignoring the puny enemies who are trying to hurt you with their feeble attacks. Expect a Shield to struggle until the mid-20's and to start getting good in the 30's. By the time you get Shield Charge at 35 you should be becoming a very solid damage dealer.
I'd say it's a tossup right now; I can say I wasn't all that thrilled with my Fire/WP brute though. It was ok and decently survivable; it just didn't have any real zing to me. I took it to 50 and enjoyed the ride but I always felt that WP was lacking. Durability was ok, it's endurance was fine it just didn't really click with me.
My BS/Shield wasn't very cheap to outfit; I have roughly 300 million in the build as of now and I could rely on Parry to softcap melee defense and only had to worry about ranged & AOE. Come to think of it Parry makes up for a LOT in early game durability as it'll come fairly close to soft capping you for Melee with two stacks and it recharges fast enough to double stack out of the box.
One thing to be aware of is that BS is moderately end heavy; this is an area where WP will work to your advantage. A BS/Shield can be built to have zero endurance issues though, it just takes choosing the right sets. Gift of the Ancients is nice for this.
Well, I seem to have navigated a full circle here and come back to the start; either BS/WP or BS/Shield will be capable. One will peak considerably higher and the other will cost less. Heck, go ahead and try both; all the cool kids have a bunch of characters
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
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Originally Posted by Gaidin
The problem is that unless you're going for burst damage, or want to use a Shield, Katana does always beat Broadsword.
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Except that broadsword CAN pair with shield defense, and given how gently SD was handled in it's 'rebalance' we can probably assume no further harm will befall it.
BS/sd is a remarkably good combo. No kat/ toon can approach it.
I'm sorry, but this is the simple truth.
The synergies are numerous.
Parry, knockup, and knockdown add to shields survivability starting even at very low levels. Shield is not exactly delicate all by it's lonesome, you add in a ton of extra mitigation and it is solid as iron.
Whirling sword can significantly debuff ten surrounding foes for shield charge to flatten.
Shield does not use enormous amounts of endurance, helping BS stay in the fight. It also adds additional AOE and single target damage, meaning there is no reason to avoid the joys of physical perfection, focused accuracy, and conserve power in the ancillary pools.
BS is no slouch in the damage department, and all the survivability synergies above allow it to readily saturate the crowning jewel in the /sd set, namely, Against All Odds.
With AAO, BS handily outdamages kat. By a mile. Even if kat takes and uses aggressively /dark, which is the only combo which can come close to a BS/sd. And /dark is not nearly as tough as /sd, sorry. In fairness, /dark does have better tools.
I stand by my statement: The consensus is that kat/ is better than bs/, and the consensus is wrong. Yes, this stance is based upon one specific combo. But that combo is very, very nice indeed.
But ehn, what do I know?
Firstly, thanks for all the feedback!
I wasted my free dual-spec early on so I was prepping to re-roll anyhow. I'm going to give /SD a shot.
I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and the higher potential (plus the increased viability for soloing AVs) is a draw. I do like the spread of regen, defenses, and resists in /WP, but I can live with a bumpier road early on in order to get a more powerful endgame build.
Now, of course, I have to re-educate myself since I've been doing a lot of BS/WP tinkering. Are there any obvious "don't take this power" and any must-haves when building BS/SD? Is Aid Self required due to lacking regens? I'm assuming Fitness and Body Mastery become even more desirable due to lacking Quick Recovery and Fast Healing.
For the BS/WP build, I was skipping Confront and Whirling Sword on the BS side (also seems like an easy choice with /SD since that has its own, more powerful AoE from Shield Charge). I was also going for Tough, Weave, and Combat Jumping. How does SD change up what I'm going to need for Soft Capping my defenses?
I clearly have reading to do, but any tips for getting started with BS/SD would be appreciated.
Tentative build idea below. With Scrappers able to take a PPP, Shadow Meld looks like it could work really well to push Defense to new heights. Viable?
True Grit and Active Defense aren't in there because I'm not sure when they become worth slotting vs the other choices (and not even sure True Grit is worth it), so there's still shuffling to do.
Ridiculous Defense totals with Shadow Meld and toggles up, 40.4 for everything, 61.7 for Melee/Ranged/AoE. How many of those toggles are sustainable if properly slotted out for Endurance Regen and -Endurance Cost? How much of that effort should be redirected towards Resists and Damage?
Feedback appreciated. Still learning the tools of the trade.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.803
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Tynien: Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Broad Sword
Secondary Power Set: Shield Defense
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Hack -- Empty(A), Empty(3), Empty(5), Empty(7), Empty(15), Empty(39)
Level 1: Deflection -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(13), DefBuff(23)
Level 2: Slice -- Empty(A), Empty(3), Empty(5), Empty(7), Empty(17), Empty(39)
Level 4: Battle Agility -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(13), DefBuff(23)
Level 6: Build Up -- Empty(A), Empty(11), Empty(17)
Level 8: Parry -- Empty(A), Empty(9), Empty(9), Empty(11), Empty(15), Empty(37)
Level 10: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(40), DefBuff(40)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Empty(A)
Level 16: Against All Odds -- Empty(A)
Level 18: Health -- Empty(A), Empty(19), Empty(19)
Level 20: Stamina -- Empty(A), Empty(21), Empty(21)
Level 22: Phalanx Fighting -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(25), DefBuff(25)
Level 24: Kick -- Empty(A)
Level 26: Disembowel -- Empty(A), Empty(27), Empty(27), Empty(31), Empty(34), Empty(39)
Level 28: Tough -- ResDam(A), ResDam(29), ResDam(29)
Level 30: Weave -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(31), DefBuff(31)
Level 32: Head Splitter -- Empty(A), Empty(33), Empty(33), Empty(33), Empty(34), Empty(34)
Level 35: Shield Charge -- Empty(A), Empty(36), Empty(36), Empty(36), Empty(37), Empty(37)
Level 38: One with the Shield -- Empty(A), Empty(40), Empty(42), Empty(42), Empty(42), Empty(43)
Level 41: Moonbeam -- Empty(A), Empty(43), Empty(43), Empty(46)
Level 44: Shadow Meld -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(45), RechRdx(45), DefBuff(45), DefBuff(46), DefBuff(46)
Level 47: Soul Storm -- Empty(A), Empty(48), Empty(48), Empty(48)
Level 49: Summon Widow -- Empty(A), Empty(50), Empty(50), Empty(50)
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Welcome to Cox. I can not contribute to the discussion but I am really impressed about how much you already know about the game when you just started out. Kudos to you and I wish we had more new players that are acutally interrested in basic game mechanics, let alone be as much informed as you are.
Originally Posted by Megajoule
We're being invaded. Again. This time, instead of aliens, zombies, or eyeballs with teeth, it's the marching band.
I don't know much about BS, but I think you should shoot to get defense capped (45% to all positions) without shadowmeld and then just skip it. Anything over 45% is redundant, unless you're trying to compensate for defense debuff. I think I would rather try to fit conserve power/physical perfection in over shadowmeld, I've heard BS sucks the old end bar.
True grit is not something you want to skip. +HP goes well with defense because the more HP you have, the more health you regen per second. So all that time you're dodging attacks, you'll be regenerating more health because of your higher HP. It will also help you to avoid being killed instantly if you get a bit unlucky.
Don't skip active defense either, it's your mez protection. The worst thing you can do in this game is stand there and do nothing while a big scary dude (or lots of big scary dudes) beat on you.
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Here, I just put this together. Not sure how good it is, like I said don't know much about BS. I'm not sure how much recharge you need for a great headsplitter-disembowel-hack chain, but you can just fill it the gaps with parry.
This build will get you capped defenses without having to use parry, and some decent global recharge. This is definitely a build you want to respec into when you have access to level 50 enhancements, it will really suck for leveling. Even then you could probably pick powers and slots in a better order than I did.
I took Whirling Sword in mine to help clear the big spawns faster, though you can switch it out for slice if you like that better; it uses the same enhancements.
No purples, though there are a few expensive procs and the obliteration sets can get up there.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.803
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Broad Sword
Secondary Power Set: Shield Defense
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Hack -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(3), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(3), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(5), Mako-Dam%(7)
Level 1: Deflection -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(7), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(9), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(9), RedFtn-Def(37), RedFtn-EndRdx(40)
Level 2: Battle Agility -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(11), RedFtn-EndRdx(11), RedFtn-Def(13), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(34), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(42)
Level 4: True Grit -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(19), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(19), Mrcl-Rcvry+(50)
Level 6: Build Up -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(13), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(15), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(15), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(17), GSFC-Build%(17)
Level 8: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 10: Active Defense -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Jump-I(A)
Level 16: Against All Odds -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 18: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(21), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(21), P'Shift-Acc/Rchg(23), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(23), P'Shift-End%(25)
Level 22: Boxing -- RzDz-Acc/Rchg(A), RzDz-EndRdx/Stun(31), RzDz-Immob%(42), RzDz-Acc/EndRdx(45), RzDz-Stun/Rng(46), RzDz-Acc/Stun/Rchg(50)
Level 24: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(25), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(31), RctvArm-EndRdx(45), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 26: Disembowel -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(27), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(27), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(29), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(29), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31)
Level 28: Parry -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(48), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(48), LkGmblr-Rchg+(50)
Level 30: Weave -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(42), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(43), RedFtn-Def(43), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(43), RedFtn-EndRdx(45)
Level 32: Head Splitter -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(33), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), Oblit-%Dam(34)
Level 35: Shield Charge -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(36), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Oblit-%Dam(37)
Level 38: Whirling Sword -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(39), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(39), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(39), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), Sciroc-Dam%(40)
Level 41: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 44: Physical Perfection -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-End%(46)
Level 47: Phalanx Fighting -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 49: Grant Cover -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 4: Ninja Run
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You WANT both of those powers. |
Originally Posted by Xinn
True Grit and Active Defense aren't in there because I'm not sure when they become worth slotting vs the other choices (and not even sure True Grit is worth it), so there's still shuffling to do.
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True Grit will increase your max HP, and more HP means more hits you can take before you drop (even with softcapped defenses you WILL take hits occasionally, sometimes several in a row). It also gives you a little bit of resistance to Energy/N. Energy/Fire/Cold damage. And, since it is an auto power that provides resistance, it is a perfect place for a Steadfast Protection Res/Def. (which gives you 3% to all your defenses for a single slot)
Active Defense is your mez protection. You NEED this power. Without it any mez that makes it past your defenses will completely incapacitate you. (this is especially concerning later in the game when you start running into Psionic mezzes that will bypass your defenses) It also gives you some defense debuff resistance, which is important because it keeps your defense from being stripped away by defense debuffs (that any enemy with a machine gun will apply to you with a hit). Defense debuffs are nasty because they tend to come in groups of enemies that all have them. The first hit makes it easier for the next hit, which makes it easier for the next and before you know it your defense is in the negative. Defense debuff resistance (called DDR for short) will prevent that from happening. It is also the power that will keep you from being knocked on your butt.
Take Active Defense as soon as it's available, slot it with 2 or 3 recharge reductions, and put it on autofire (which you can do by holding Ctrl and clicking on it, it will get a green circle around it and automatically fire every time it recharges)
You can take True Grit whenever you have a free pick, slot it with 3 heals and a Steadfast Res/Def.
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
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I stated:|
Originally Posted by mauk2
Except that broadsword CAN pair with shield defense, and given how gently SD was handled in it's 'rebalance' we can probably assume no further harm will befall it.
I stand by my statement: The consensus is that kat/ is better than bs/, and the consensus is wrong. Yes, this stance is based upon one specific combo. But that combo is very, very nice indeed. |
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Originally Posted by Gaidin
The problem is that unless you're going for burst damage, or want to use a Shield, Katana does always beat Broadsword. Katana has better EPS(endurance per second), DPS(damage per second), and DPA(damage per activation) than BS does.
The only thing I can say that might sway you is that if you're going for an AV killer, I'd have to give the nod to Katana if you're not going with /Shield because Kat/WP can do higher DPS than BS/WP. BS/WP can still do the job, but Kat/WP will do it faster. |
OP: Shadow Meld will be extraneous once you have invested some influence into the toon and get your defenses built up to 45%+. This is true of Parry as well.
True Grit is a great power and if you take it at low levels, it really helps survivability before your defense has matured. Active Defense is a must take ASAP - getting mezzed will be not only lead to deaths, but will become very frustrating.
As far as a build goes, I don't have a BS/Shielder, but here's my DM/Shield. It's a very expensive build, but it should at least give you some ideas of what can be done with /Shields. This is my actual live build and it's designed to exemplar down to level 27 without losing softcap, which is why most IOs are level 30 or lower.
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Thanks yet again!
I'll tinker with the build some more after I get home. Definitely taking Parry and Slice at first for leveling, though I can see where, with the /SD defense debuff resist, it might be possible to drop Parry later (unlike WP which has no such resist and benefits more from having that buffer).
How late in the game can I wait on things like Tough and Weave? Is Grant Cover a must-have since it doesn't self buff?
Is Body Mastery strictly necessary for the regens, or is it possible further down the road (with enough funding) to manage End without requiring Conserve Power and Physical Perfection?
BS/Shield can indeed be reasonably tough -- I have one at 38 who has never been defeated (he's in a "hardcore" supergroup). He has a Steadfast 3% IO but no other defense bonuses from sets, so he runs a measly ~30% positional defense (before Parry) and that's been pretty solid with help from Broadsword (and teammates!). Broadsword is a great set, it just kills stuff, and it's awesome with Shields' damage boost. It's not super fast-animating, but that doesn't seem to matter -- the blade tolls like a bell, boom boom boom, at a measured pace, and your enemies are just...gone.
True Grit makes the protective effect of your defense even better, since the problem with defense sets is big hitters spiking you, but True Grit gives you a nice cushion of extra life for those embarrassing "hit a large green" moments.
edited to add: your first attempt way overslotted Phalanx Fighting. Slots in it give pretty limited return; they only add some defense when you are teamed and near one or two teammates. One slot in it until you've finished everything else to your satisfaction...you'll have plenty of other slot-hungry powers.
If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
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The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog
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You dont take parry for the deff debuff but for the def buff !|
Originally Posted by Xinn
Thanks yet again!
I'll tinker with the build some more after I get home. Definitely taking Parry and Slice at first for leveling, though I can see where, with the /SD defense debuff resist, it might be possible to drop Parry later (unlike WP which has no such resist and benefits more from having that buffer). How late in the game can I wait on things like Tough and Weave? Is Grant Cover a must-have since it doesn't self buff? Is Body Mastery strictly necessary for the regens, or is it possible further down the road (with enough funding) to manage End without requiring Conserve Power and Physical Perfection? |
You will be able to drop parry when you will be at 45% positionnal def in mele via invention set.
For the other question i would say, lvl your toon first then begin to think to an io'ed build.
the only invention set that you should look after during leveling are the unique that give +recovery (numina and miracle one's) and the steadfast +3% def
I know you don't take it for the def debuff resist. I meant that because /SD *has* one, it's not really important to be able to go over soft cap by using Parry. /WP doesn't have that option so I'd see Parry as more desirable even after hitting 45%, in case you get debuffed.
Plan on respeccing. If you try to build a top-end build from level 1 onward you'll be in for a hard time levelling unless you pretty much team all the time.
Take Whirling Sword and/or Slice unless you're specifically building to solo AVs. Shield Charge is awesome but it doesn't annihilate everything anymore if you're on a higher difficulty (which you'll be able to run on, with a solid build), and is pretty much only up once per spawn, and then only if you're running a top-end build. I only wish I had a second AoE to go with it.
I personally hate having my click mez protection on autofire. It always fires off when I don't want it to, and besides I have Hasten on autofire. If you choose to leave it off autofire it'll mean you'll have to pay attention to make sure to fire it off when necessary, but it's your only click, so it's not like you're a Regen or something.
Oh, and welcome to the game.
Eva Destruction AR/Fire/Munitions Blaster
Darkfire Avenger DM/SD/Body Scrapper
Arc ID#161629 Freaks, Geeks, and Men in Black
Arc ID#431270 Until the End of the World
o_O
Where do you get the assault rifle skin in your profile picture? That looks like it'd go great with an Arachnos Soldier concept I have.
I'm definitely planning on a respec. No way am I passing up Slice and Parry along the way. WW is still a toss up but I'll see how I feel about my AoE with Shield Charge + Slice.
Did some off the cuff slotting on the online planner, and man, it's tight finding the slots for everything.
6-slotted:
Hack/Slice/Disembowel/Head Splitter/Shield Charge/Parry (under the "6 slot all attacks" approach)
Build Up (for Gaussian)
Deflection (since it can take so many types)
5 slotted True Grit for always-on enhancements. Probably want to give it a 6th slot and take it out of something else, but I don't know what.
4 slotted Tough, Weave, Active Defense, Battle Agility for 3 def and an end
3 slotted Combat Jumping for Zephyr
3 slotted Health & Stamina, 6 slotted Phys Perfection (max benefit before diversity from regens, is this workable with 2/2/4 using Frankenslotting?)
Is AAO worth slotting? How far do you slot One With the Shield?
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Approach it in what regard? DPS? I haven't checked the numbers, but I'm guessing that a DPS-spec'd Katana/Electric would beat it. But it wouldn't approach the survivability of the BS/SD it was trying to compete with. But BS/SD doesn't approach the survivability of my Katana/Dark. But my Katana/Dark has horrible DPS since it's a pure survivability build. No combination is best. No combination is worst. Everything has pros and cons. Your "simple truth" isn't so simple.|
Originally Posted by mauk2
BS/sd is a remarkably good combo. No kat/ toon can approach it.
I'm sorry, but this is the simple truth. |
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Originally Posted by mauk2
I stand by my statement: The consensus is that kat/ is better than bs/, and the consensus is wrong. Yes, this stance is based upon one specific combo. But that combo is very, very nice indeed.
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If you mean "BS/SD is better than Katana", you could just stick with that, and probably very few people would argue with you. Unless you just like provoking arguments. I suppose it isn't strictly a bad thing to provoke this one, as it educates people at lot more than just a restated consensus.
"That's because Werner can't do maths." - BunnyAnomaly
"Four hours in, and I was no longer making mistakes, no longer detoggling. I was a machine." - Werner
Videos of Other Stupid Scrapper Tricks
Here's my basic plan for cheapo Shield Defense survivability:
- Slot Deflection and Battle Agility with three defense SOs
- Slot Weave with three defense SOs
- Slot Combat Jumping with one defense SO
- Slot Active Defense with three recharge SOs for a nice margin of error
- Slot a Steadfast Protection unique
- Take Phalanx Fighting
- Use a single small purple inspiration at a time as required
Those power choices and that slotting puts me at 32.4% defense. One small purple inspiration puts me at 44.9% defense, effectively soft-capped. I have my status protection. And we're done. That's all you need to be almost unkillable in normal content. You can now focus the rest of your build on destroying your enemies, at which it will excel. Now, I DO recommend taking True Grit and at least slotting heal SOs in it. You'll want to take and slot Tough (had to take it to get to Weave anyway). But making Shield Defense unkillable is just that easy.
For Broad Sword specifically, you're going to take Parry early, and use it. That will smooth out any survivability problems in the early game, and make it even less likely that you'll need a purple in the end game, since the majority of attacks you'll be facing are melee or lethal.
I'll have to address anything specific later. I'm WAY late to work.
"That's because Werner can't do maths." - BunnyAnomaly
"Four hours in, and I was no longer making mistakes, no longer detoggling. I was a machine." - Werner
Videos of Other Stupid Scrapper Tricks
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It's the Vanguard Rifle. You buy it with Vanguard merits which you earn by killing Rikti after you get the Member of Vanguard badge at level 35. I don't know if it's available to Arachnos Soldiers.|
Originally Posted by Xinn
o_O
Where do you get the assault rifle skin in your profile picture? That looks like it'd go great with an Arachnos Soldier concept I have. |
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6-slotted: Hack/Slice/Disembowel/Head Splitter/Shield Charge/Parry (under the "6 slot all attacks" approach) Build Up (for Gaussian) |
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| 4 slotted Tough, Weave, Active Defense, Battle Agility for 3 def and an end |
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| 3 slotted Health & Stamina, 6 slotted Phys Perfection (max benefit before diversity from regens, is this workable with 2/2/4 using Frankenslotting?) |
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| Is AAO worth slotting? How far do you slot One With the Shield? |
Eva Destruction AR/Fire/Munitions Blaster
Darkfire Avenger DM/SD/Body Scrapper
Arc ID#161629 Freaks, Geeks, and Men in Black
Arc ID#431270 Until the End of the World
Thanks both Werner and Eva for the slotting suggestions!
I hadn't even read up about Accolade powers. Saving a power pick sounds super useful, so thanks for that tip.
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Well I believe the fact of the matter is that you're going to need a 4th single target attack, otherwise you're going to be standing around for a few seconds when trying to eliminate tough single targets, like an AV. According to mids, parry has decent dps and also gives the great defense buff which may help keep you alive when you're debuffed. That's just on paper though, since I've never had a high level broadsword, I have no idea. You can also put a LotG +recharge proc in it.|
Originally Posted by Xinn
Thanks yet again!
I'll tinker with the build some more after I get home. Definitely taking Parry and Slice at first for leveling, though I can see where, with the /SD defense debuff resist, it might be possible to drop Parry later (unlike WP which has no such resist and benefits more from having that buffer). How late in the game can I wait on things like Tough and Weave? Is Grant Cover a must-have since it doesn't self buff? Is Body Mastery strictly necessary for the regens, or is it possible further down the road (with enough funding) to manage End without requiring Conserve Power and Physical Perfection? |
Also, while grant cover doesn't grant you defense, it still gives you def debuff resistance and recharge debuff resistance. It's a fairly cheap toggle to run, so I generally grab it if I can because getting debuffed is annoying.
About body mastery, you'll have to get a feel for it yourself. I love conserve power and physical perfection on my scrappers, though like you say, some don't need it. I rarely have to use conserve power on my elec/shield, unless I get sapped or something. I do think part of the reason I don't need to use it is because of physical perfection slotted with another performance shifter +end proc. The problem is that you need a power to unlock physical perfection, and focused accuracy is a bit redundant (in my opinion) with all the accuracy set bonuses flying around, to justify the endurance cost. With broadswords high end cost, and with a quick recharging build, I can see conserve power being a lot more useful in longer fights. Especially against AVs.
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http://www.badge-hunter.com has information on all the accolades, the badges required for them, and how to get them.|
Originally Posted by Xinn
I hadn't even read up about Accolade powers. Saving a power pick sounds super useful, so thanks for that tip.
|
If you go heroside, the easiest to get is the Atlas Medallion. It adds 5% to your max endurance and you can get it by yourself in the mid-20s. Other accolades you definitely want are Freedom Phalanx Reserve Member/High Pain Threshold (+10% max HP), Task Force Commander/Invader (+5% max HP) and Portal Jockey/Born in Battle (+5% HP, +5% End). And no, you can't stack the hero and villain versions, only one will be active at a time, depending on what side you're on.
Eva Destruction AR/Fire/Munitions Blaster
Darkfire Avenger DM/SD/Body Scrapper
Arc ID#161629 Freaks, Geeks, and Men in Black
Arc ID#431270 Until the End of the World
Just joined the game with Going Rogue, and after briefly dabbling with a Mastermind, I decided I wanted something hands-on and highly soloable, which led me to Scrappers.
I don't like squishing a character's potential, so I wanted to make sure whatever powerset I pick has the potential for high performance in the endgame. I've read a lot of good things about SD, but also that it's under review, so I'm unsure about it.
I'd like a character that can do the following:
- Solo pretty much anything, AVs included. I realize this isn't practical right off the bat, but I want the potential to be there. Of course, perspective on just how much inf/time it takes to get to this point would help too.
- Level quickly with minimal investment (due to being a first character), but with the potential to continue scaling in power after the endgame with continued investment. I'm willing to take some lumps leveling if it pays off later, though.
- Kill fairly quickly. Scrappers in general seem to fit this bill, though.
- Contribute solidly to a group, either as an emergency tank (though I don't particularly want to take Confront), or simply as a high DPS character.
- Look good! I'm trying to flavor the character as an arcane knight, so he's a Magic BS/WP currently. Could go /SD (transparent disc appearance), or pretty much any other secondary, but I've read the most good things about WP and SD. SR might work, but that blooms late.
Currently trying the BS/WP route. I like the hefty dose of Regen coupled with Resists/Def, but how viable is it for high-end soloing later on? I've heard Katana is, strictly speaking, better due to faster animations (I think Werner briefly touched on it). On the other hand, it seems like most of the best times in the Pylon thread are with /SD builds (which might get nerfed).With all of that in mind, any advice? From a crunchy, stat standpoint, what's my best bet? From a thematic standpoint, what fits? FM has the fiery sword, but I'd have to look at the animations once I'm back at my computer to see if I can make them fit.
I'm after a happy marriage between the my optimization and thematic goals, but I still appreciate purely optimized number-crunchy feedback, too.