/Inv scrapper

Im in the process of leveling a DM/Inv. In mids i have the snl resist at 69.5% and snl defense in the mid 30's. I know the caps are 75 and 45. With the numbers i currently have, will that be tough enough? For what, i don't know. lol. Just want a tuff butt scrapper.

Yes, for the vast majority of content, that is tough enough. Especially with Dark melee's heal.

Mind you, if you want to push yourself into the *unkillable* range, aim for 45% S/L defense with 3-4 people in Invincibility.

alternatively, you could build for heavy recharge to achieve the superior DM attack chain, and use shadow meld to fill your defensive needs. That way you have something to help against psionic attacks as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iggy_Kamakaze I hate to be the bringer of bad news... but Willpower sucks!!! you're better off rolling a regen

I play my main (Kat/Inv) with ~66% S/L Res and 38% S/L Def with one enemy in melee range. I also have 36% E/NE Def under the same conditions. I'm pretty much unkillable in most of the content the game has to offer, the only things I need to be careful with are multiple AVs and psi heavy foes.

It is possible to have 45% S/L/F/C/E/N Defense and 73% S/M Resist on a DM/Inv, with a ton of Recharge to boot. Just depends on how much Inf you want to spend. The closer you get to those stats, the better the powerset lives up to its name.

I never got around to IOing out my Invuln, but keep in mind a lot of the def debuffs out there come from s/l sources (swords, guns, Arachnos maces, etc). One benefit of having high s/l def is a) being less likely to be hit by them and b) a bigger buffer against them if they do hit.

Also, there are more attacks out there typed as s/l than the other damage types (ie: split damage types like Energy Melee attacks).


Is it better/worse than ignoring s/l def and aiming for exotic defense? I'll reserve my judgement for those who have more experience with such builds - just some food for thought.

S/L Defense is by far the most important. Many attacks with other elements are tagged with a Smash or Lethal component (Energy Blasts, Fire Swords, Ice Blasts, etc) so having high S/L Defense also helps against them. It is also worth noting that many of the highest hitting attacks enemies have access to are Smash or Lethal. This is why I'd recommend you to concentrate on getting S/L Defense to 35-40% (with a single enemy in Invinc) before concentrating on other types.

Having high S/L/E/NE Defense accounts for most of the damage in the whole game because you rarely face F/C damage, and you're safe from most of them because of S/L Def. This is why I'd leave F/C Defense completely for tangential set bonuses with concentration on S/L/E/NE. So far having played my Kat/Inv a lot, I haven't noticed F/C enemies being any harder than E/NE, and I haven't dedicated a single slot for F/C Defense exclusively. E/NE without S/L component on the other hand is quite common (Rad Blasts, Dark Blasts, etc) so having good E/NE Def is worth it.

As an addendum, I'd like to say I don't think it's needed to get to the soft cap on an /Invuln with a single enemy in melee range. 35-40% is well enough because most of the time as a Scrapper you're fighting hordes of enemies because 1) it's fun that way and 2) you get to beat more enemies that way. This also helps to fuel Invincibility. If you want to solo AVs, you could just herd a few minions to fuel Invincibility to get you to the soft cap. That's how I do it, anyway.