Spines with /fire, /dark, or /elect for a AOE King

Long time player but recently returning to the forums so this question may be a no-brainer for you guys. Looking for a AOE king, thus wondering what damage aura/secondary I should go with. With inherent fitness coming out, damage auras don't scare my blue bar as much.

I have a lvl 50 spines/SR that puts out respectable damage, that is why I was focusing on spines. If I am missing something there on my primary, I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on that matter as well. (Perhaps electric?)

Note: On the brute boards, the majority over there feel SS/Fire is the build for AOE greatness.

Playstyle: This is going to be for PvE with a lot of teaming if that helps with your answer at all.

Thanks in advance for your input.

Fire is the King... period...

Fiery Embrace AND Build up for increased damage boost

Fiery Aura and Burn for damage.

i have a spine/elec scrapper right now, and i like him because hes fairly surviveable and has no end issues even when running 7 toggles, hes also nigh immune to end drains too, which fire has minimal resistance to

I'd go Electric/Shield, though that wasn't an option. It's not likely to beat a Spines/Fire for AoE damage output, but it'll be very good, plus much more survivable. For me personally, my Fire/Shield feels like enough AoE with near perma Hasten, Fire Sword Circle, Fire Ball and Shield Charge. Generally the bosses are the last things alive, so for me it feels like more AoE wouldn't do much. If you play with bosses off, well, then yeah, probably more AoE than my Fire/Shield puts out would be nice.

My Electric/Fire has felt like insane AoE while leveling, but it's because I'm playing with a herding tank, and he takes just about as much time to round up a group of the size that he wants as it takes for my two build ups and all my AoEs to recharge. Then it's pretty much nuke them with everything and then poke briefly at the bosses. It's fun, but you'd probably want near perma Hasten to move at a reasonable pace, and the survivability probably won't be there.

Of what you mentioned, I'd go Spines/Dark for the slightly better survivability. But if you don't care about that, Spines/Fire.

My main, spines/DA, tears through just about anything. I love the guy and wouldn't have it any other way. Plus Dark Regeneration is just...wowzers. A properly made costume looks scary as **** too lol.

Everything is subjective, including the "What is the AOE King of Scrappers?"

Spines/ is about the only non-subjective part. Some folks would say Fire/, but Spines has it outclassed a bit when it comes to the AOE attack chain flow, power recharge times, range and cone parameters, etc. Spines is definitely going to be it.

AOE King when it comes to damage? Spines/Fire no question- but get ready to die a lot, and know that you are severely limited in terms of the +2-4 level mob groups you can even attempt to take out.

Spines/Electric is good, nice recharge bonuses and resistances as well as a damage aura, but kind of 'middle of the road' AOE and survivability potential.


Now...if you'd like to be considered one of the best AOE kings but still be tougher than nails to take out? I think Spines/Dark is a clear choice thats ahead of the others when it comes to survivability and making sure you keep attacking non-stop when other secondaries would be faceplanting against +2's or +4 mob groups.


I run around 42% Melee Defense with 47% Resistances across the board except for Energy and Toxic (those are 23%), with Cloak of Fear running, with Dark Regeneration recycling every 10 seconds with a 60% Heal on a single minion hit. Think about that for a moment....

I've either got to be drunk or high to faceplant, and even then it's a challenge. ; P


So couple those high survivability features with the AOE attack chain of Spines, the toggles of Quills + Death Shroud, the extra AOE/soft control of Torrent, and 123 endurance, and you have yourself quite the survivable AOE monster.