Looking for fun group oriented AT

Looking to make a Scrapper AT thats useful in group situations so I can play with friends more often. One of my bros said DM/SD is really good, but neither of us have played it so its just based on what he has seen. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Shield scrappers actually are really good on teams. Although next to stalkers, scrappers are really the least team-oriented AT in the game, when you play a shield scrapper, you bring a lot to a team.

First, Shield Charge. It's a big, shop-wrecking AoE that knocks down all the bad guys. If there's a better opening move to mitigate an alpha and do tons of damage, I haven't seen it. Second, AAO is a fantastic taunt aura, so keeping aggro off your squishy teammates is pretty effortless. And then with Grant Cover and Phalanx Fighting, you can actually give and take some extra defense to and from your friends, although this latter really isn't much to write home about.

But anyway, if I were considering a Shield Scrapper for teaming hijinx, I'd probably not go with Dark Melee. While a great solo utility set, DM has poor AoE. On teams, AoE damage is generally more important than single-target damage. Therefore Fire/Shield or Elec/Shield might be good choices because of their outstanding AoE dps. Alternatively, Broadsword/Shield is a great choice if you're looking to "tank" for the teams you play with. Parry gives you valuable defense above what Shield brings, making the set very survivable on SOs while leveling. My BS/SD main tanked most of the TFs in the game while leveling up, and I never had any issues with survivability or aggro leak.

I'll totally agree with all Chaos_String had to say -- I've got a fledgling 42nd (?) DM/Shield scrapper, and while it's awesome to follow the tank and Soul Drain + Shield Charge and send things flying, after that goes off I often feel like a one trick pony. "Hold still, you Council scum! I've still got Shadow Maul for an AoE! And, uh, look! Sands of Mu!"

Since I was just extolling the virtues of DB/WP in another thread, that's another pair of scrapper sets that also combine a taunt aura (Rise to the Challenge) with a PBAoE attack and two cone attacks. It's a little tank-like for "keeping aggro off your squishy teammates", has some nice attacks that do decent damage, and I think it's fun to play.

Beware, though -- it gets a little infuriating setting up a Dual Blades combo on a boss just to watch him get blasted/knocked back out of range by a teammate. "One, two, THREE -- awww, crap!" Again. And again. And... "Will you STOP that?!"

Most of the time, I really have a blast with that scrapper, and I love it so much that I've got a DB/WP tank and a DB/WP brute as well, and I'm thinking now about a DB/WP stalker.

On the other hand, when three friends all decide to play their energy/energy blasters and/or MA scrappers at the same time, I just park my DB scrapper so I don't just spend the night denting my desk with my forehead.

Actually, I'm gonna have to go against fire/shield and elec/shield. You just do so much AoE damage that you often make your teammates feel useless. If you kill everything stupidly fast, what are your teammates gonna do?

Also, in case you couldn't tell, this is sarcasm.

Scrapper may appear as a not very group oriented AT, actually they are not in the early stages of the game. You cant really tank, you have "ok" AoE but nothing close to blasters, you often die because your taunt aura drains more than your weak defense can handle.

BUT, after IOing or/and level 40+ Scrappers become the ultimate damage dealer.
First of: This game is all about Fulcrum Shift. If you have this buff you WILL kick *****, if you dont you wont. Scrappers are the highest damage AT that can survive mele, tho benefit of fulcrum shift. Most baslters will just die on huge +4 packs because of AoE (Nemesis flame throwers) and aggro limit. Scrappers have the power to survive this and therefore often sit at +300% damage or more.

Second point is that AoE becomes less important when you are in a hight level team. At some point even tankers, defenders or trollers can melt down the minion/leut trash without any effort. Now it doesnt mean AoE is usless but your ability to do very high damage will be mostly revelant on bad *** AVs and such.

Now if you are looking for a very overall team-friendly AT maybe you should try a Tanker, a Corruptor or Controller. I m not saying neither blasters are bad, their ability to deal great damage at -range- makes them very handy in some missions or against some AV. Scrappers are "just" the ultimate damage.

Make a Brute instead. You're more or less like a Scrapper, but you get a Taunt as a primary power choice and are much better at holding aggro thanks to a watered down version of Gauntlet in your attacks which helps your teammates out. If you are playing a RES based secondary, you are better able to benefit from teammate buffs than an equivalent Scrapper.

I've found my Brutes to be better able to be team friendly than my Scrappers. Some of my Brutes can tank if the team needs it, and once they get Fury built up (which is easy to do with the recent change), they carry their weight on the damage front as well.

If you know you're going to be playing your characters together quite a bit, it would be fun to all take leadership toggles. 2-3 people with leadership is pretty insane. If you increase that to 4-8, it gets downright nasty.

Also, don't discount the single target focused scrappers as useless in team situations. I can guarantee that a team doing boss heavy missions would miss a scrapper if he went missing. You may not do as much total damage as a blaster, but taking down purple bosses without taking much damage yourself will make everyone happy.

Side Note: Personally, I still want to duo a pair of Arachnos Soldiers and get all the leadership toggles. The pair would practically be invincible by 20.

Outside of /shield, I like /dark for a team based scrapper due to it's damage aura and controls.

I can only speak from experience playing a team friendly BS/Regen, but don't neglect power pools. With fitness becoming an inherent in I19, dip into the Leadership pool and be sure to grab Vengeance for "Hold on, I want to try something.." moments on your team. Maneuvers will compliment your Grant Cover shield abilities. Stimulant from the Medicine Pool is great for helping mezzable ATs in the first half of fights, and if you have a self revive you should consider grabbing a Resuscitator temporary power from the auction house - Tier 9s mean even if we wipe, chances are good that we'll be back on our feet and able to regroup the team.