Dark Melee + Invulnerability


bAss_ackwards

 

Posted

Hey, my first level20 is a Dark Melee + Invulnerability Scrapper and I'm really enjoying it. I've had a few problems slotting him and figuring out which skills to choose. I decided to check the forums for some builds but found myself at page 38 with not much help or information towards the skills and how I should slot them. I'm not sure where to go from here with him, the skills I have at the moment are;
Smite, Shadow Maul, Siphon Life, Resist Physical Damage, Dull Pain, Hover, Fly, Boxing, Swift Health, Stamina. I have all attacks slotted with 6 damage enhancements.
Thanks for any help y'all can provide.


 

Posted

Well, I'm only recently back to the game after a long hiatus... and have virtually no experience with Invulnerability... That said:

6 slotting for damage isn't a good idea. Once you hit SOs/level 25 generic IOs, you'll want no more than 3 damage slotted per power. (It's more complicated with Sets) More importantly though, you want accuracy. Accuracy is too important to pass up. If you have 6 slots... I suggest at least two dedicated to accuracy. (Though at level 20 I wouldn't suggest more than 5 slots in your attacks... you're ignoring your defenses too much.)

I'm not a fan of flight on melees. Combat Jumping's defense and combat mobility is just too nice. If flight truly is your thing, I suggest Air Superiority for it's knockdown crowd control. (And it's decent as an attack chain filler.)

Unless you're going down the path of the Fighting Pool for Tough and Weave, Boxing is strictly inferior to Shadow Punch. However, it's a fine choice so long as Tough and Weave are in your future. BUT you should have Temp Invulnerability LONG before you pick up Tough! I'm surprised you don't have it already.

You seem to be missing one power choice from your list. I really hope it's Unyielding. You really can't pass up your status resist power.

At this point, if you were looking to respec (which you may not... and that's fine) I'd suggest dropping Boxing to pick up Temp Invuln. Swap Hover with Air Sup. Make sure you have Unyielding (which you should... but you may have grabbed something else... if you did, drop it!) and dial back your attack slotting 5 to bolster your defenses a touch.

In DM you can skip Confront, and with either Boxing or Air Sup, Shadow Punch is skippable. (though I've never gone without it.) I know Invincibility is key to the Invulnerability set... but can't offer much advice past that.


 

Posted

Your big attacks are Smite, Siphon Life and Midnight Grasp. The best end-game attack chain uses nothing but these three attacks, though you won't be doing that any time soon. Shadow Punch is a decent filler. I like Shadow Maul, but some people do not. I'd personally skip Touch of Fear, but some people like it. Skip Confront. Dark Consumption is good. Soul Drain is a must.

From Invulnerability, the skippable powers are Resist Elements, Resist Energies and Unstoppable. Everything else is a must have. I'd personally want the two resists, but they aren't top priority. Some people love Unstoppable. I hate crashes.

Agree with not six-slotting damage. Enhancement Diversification means you don't get much benefit from more than three of any particular enhancement. A typical slotting might be accuracy, recharge, endurance, and three damage. But it really depends. Basically, I'd start there, then change based on actual experience in combat.

Agree with not taking flight on melee unless it's for concept reasons. Leaping won the travel power wars. You take Combat Jumping and you combine it with Hurdle. That's your in-mission, in-combat travel power. Take Super Jump only if you can't stand how slowly you move.

Definitely get into Tough and Weave, but powers from your secondary generally come first.

For your last power pool, I'd probably grab Hasten. It'll bring back Dull Pain and Siphon Life faster to improve your survivability, and your other attacks to improve your damage output.


"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
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Posted

You should download a hero planner. Two most commonly used can be found here

These will save a great deal of time and aggravation in designing your build. You can even post your designed build on the forums for other to critique. Player can copy your build and import it into their own planners and make adjustments to post back to you as a reply.

An explanation as to why six slotting for damage is generally ill advised can be found here. The short and simply rule is not to slot more than three of a specific attribute (3 accuracy, 3 damage, 3 heal...). This is not taking into account Invention sets, where things get rather complex very quickly.


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Posted

I absolutely love my DM/Inv Scrapper!

The others before me have hit the info-bits I would've posted as well, so I'll just stand over here and go "Rah rah rah!" with my pom poms.

Put enough effort into that character and they really will be Invulnerable!


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Posted

OK, I decided to switch to Build 2 at the trainer until I can get hold of a respec so my build is now;
Smite, Shadow Maul, Siphon Life, Resist Physical Damage, Dull Pain, Temp Invulnerability, Unyielding, Swift, Health, Stamina, Air Superiority, Fly.
I have the attacks slotted with 3 Damage, 2 Accuracy, 1 End Reduction.
I'm having a much better time soloing with this build. In levels to come I will add Boxing, Tough, Weave etc. Thanks I now have a rough idea of how I want to build my character.
I will download the hero planner when I get home from work.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by FaceBreaker View Post
OK, I decided to switch to Build 2 at the trainer until I can get hold of a respec so my build is now;
Smite, Shadow Maul, Siphon Life, Resist Physical Damage, Dull Pain, Temp Invulnerability, Unyielding, Swift, Health, Stamina, Air Superiority, Fly.
I have the attacks slotted with 3 Damage, 2 Accuracy, 1 End Reduction.
I'm having a much better time soloing with this build. In levels to come I will add Boxing, Tough, Weave etc. Thanks I now have a rough idea of how I want to build my character.
I will download the hero planner when I get home from work.
Sounds much better.

If there is nothing you especially want from your primary or secondary at the moment (looks like you have them pretty well covered right now) you can do what I usually do and pick up Boxing/Tough/Weave at 22, 24, and 30 respectively.

I specify those levels because you REALLY want Soul Drain (which opens at 26) and Invincibility (which opens at 28) as soon as they are available.

Then Midnight Grasp at 32, Tough Hide at 35, and whatever else you want at 38 (I suggest Hasten there) You can fit in the other passive powers if you like, of the two, Resist Energies is the more useful (it has End Drain resistance in it)

I like Body Mastery for Conserve Power and Physical Perfection, but you can pick whatever APP sounds cool to you, or not take one at all (you don't HAVE to take an APP)


Quote:
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.

 

Posted

Also. Get Mids and peruse the Guide to Guides. The info is starting to get a little out dated... Ok a lot out dated, but some things still apply and most will at least be helpful, if not completely correct anymore. Pay special attention to the Scrapper Guide section.



Your character does not have capped defense. Depending on your AT the cap is between 175% - 225%. Your defense is not teal in the combat window, it can go higher. STOP SAYING IT IS CAPPED! The correct term is Soft Cap.
I enjoy playing in Mids. I specialize in Melee Characters, other AT's usually bore me.