Electric Armor?

I rarely see anyone mention Electric Armor on the Scrapper boards. The set can't be THAT bad. Just looking at the numbers in Mids it looks no worse off than /Fire in terms of survivability. It has a self heal (granted on a long-ish recharge), an End refill, no status hole, and no real hole in terms of mitigation (ok negative energy is a little low, but there is at least some resistance there).

So what gives? Why is it so unpopular?

Resistance sets in general are less popular because it is harder to achieve similar levels of mitigation as defensive or healing sets. Resistance sets rely heavily on the incoming damage type matching what you're strongest against, and even then, the 75% resistance cap is nowhere near as much mitigation as 45% defense. In fact, the resist-capped Scrapper would be taking 5 times as much damage as the soft-capped defense scrapper in most situations.

Electric Armor just doesn't have the buffs or utility powers to make it stand out. Shield Defense has a great damage buff and AoE attack. Fiery Aura has a pretty fast recharging heal and a great AoE attack. Super Reflexes is easy to soft-cap and includes a +recharge auto power, as well as 95% DDR. Regeneration and Willpower are easy to play at lower levels. That just leaves Electric and Dark as the sets that are kind of bleh without any unique buffs or powers that make them stand out as a set.

I'm not saying Electric Armor is bad. It just doesn't have anything amazing to make it stand out. If you want to use it, go for it.

Defense bonus IOs. Same as the other resistance sets. It's harder to softcap, and softcapping a defense set takes away a few of the things that makes electric armor special: energy drain resistance (dodged with a softcapped build) and decent resistances (dodging is better). It still has unlimited endurance going for it... but IOs take away from that as well since endurance is often not a problem once you slot a miracle and numinas (a week and a day of tip running even if you're broke).

Before IOs it was widely regarded to be the king of brute armors: tough, fast, unlimited endurance, no weaknesses to late game enemy groups. Those days have passed.

Electric armor paired with katana or broadsword is absolutely fantastic. With other primaries, I would agree that it's better on a tank or brute because of hp and resistance caps. No mez holes isn't exactly true though. It has no protection against fear and confuse, but you can get some by picking up tactics.

Unlimited endurance, resistance to everything in some form or another, a damage aura, one of the safest crashing-tier 9s, full mez protection with tactics, +rech, massive end drain and slow resistance, good heal and regen... yeah, it's nice. Add in softcapped melee/lethal defense from a sword set and some IO bonuses and you get a massively survivable, high-damage juggernaut. I will probably be writing a katana and ninja blade/electric guide sometime soon.

Thanks for the info guys. I've been meaning to give Electric Armor a try for a while now and when a friend suggested I make a scrapper to level pact with a character idea of his, I thought why not? We hit 12 tonight and so far I really like the set.

You've all given me some good pointers on it and things to look for while I work up a build. Much appreciated.

So I couldn't sleep and decided to give a go at a build for the character. I'm aware that I have some fairly expensive things in there, but I'm extremely patient (Alignment Merits are awesome for uber builds imho). However I admit I haven't played Scrappers very much, so I may have made a mistake or two (or three or four ). What do you guys think? I focused on Smashing/Lethal and Melee defense where possible, and if that wasn't feasible for a power I went for Max Health and Regeneration.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.90
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Master Zephyr: Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Kinetic Melee
Secondary Power Set: Electric Armor
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Quick Strike -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(45), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(45), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 1: Charged Armor -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(7), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(7), RctvArm-ResDam(9)
Level 2: Body Blow -- S'ngH'mkr-Acc/Dmg(A), S'ngH'mkr-Dmg/EndRdx(33), S'ngH'mkr-Dmg/Rchg(50), S'ngH'mkr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
Level 4: Smashing Blow -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(37), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(37), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), T'Death-Dam%(40)
Level 6: Lightning Field -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(9), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(11), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(11), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), Oblit-%Dam(13)
Level 8: Conductive Shield -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(15), RctvArm-ResDam(15), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(17)
Level 10: Static Shield -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(17), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(19), RctvArm-ResDam(19)
Level 12: Air Superiority -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(31), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(33), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33)
Level 14: Fly -- Flight-I(A)
Level 16: Grounded -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
Level 18: Burst -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(34), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(46), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), Oblit-%Dam(48)
Level 20: Energize -- Numna-Heal/EndRdx(A), Numna-EndRdx/Rchg(21), Numna-Heal/Rchg(21), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(27), Numna-Heal(27)
Level 22: Power Siphon -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(23), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(23), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(29), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(31), GSFC-Build%(31)
Level 24: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(25)
Level 26: Focused Burst -- Dev'n-Acc/Dmg(A), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(29), Dev'n-Dmg/EndRdx(43), Dev'n-Dmg/Rchg(43), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43)
Level 28: Lightning Reflexes -- Run-I(A)
Level 30: Boxing -- Acc-I(A)
Level 32: Concentrated Strike -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(34), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(34), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46), T'Death-Dam%(50)
Level 35: Power Sink -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(36), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(36), P'Shift-Acc/Rchg(36), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(37)
Level 38: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(39), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(39), RctvArm-ResDam(39)
Level 41: Weave -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(42), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(42), LkGmblr-Def(42)
Level 44: Focused Accuracy -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 47: Physical Perfection -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(48)
Level 49: Power Surge -- ResDam-I(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Heal-I(A), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(5), Mrcl-Rcvry+(5)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(3), P'Shift-End%(3)

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Can't really analyze the build too much here (at work) but a quick point is that Grounded doesn't work unless you are on the ground. So you'll probably want to change out hover and fly for something else. CJ and Superjump most likely.

I just made an elec/elec scrapper a few days ago, and I'm loving it so far. Level 29 right now.

It's definitely no tank, but it isn't any worse than any other scrapper I've played. It's definitely more fun to play than a defense set, imo. You actually have to do stuff to survive rather than just sit there and rely completely on a random number generator.

As far as elec not having anything special about it like other sets do, like someone mentioned earlier.....keep in mind that not everybody spends billions on their build to get high recovery rates. So to some people, completely unlimited endurance is a pretty big deal on a scrapper. That's one of the main reasons I made this guy, rather than anything else.

Something to remember, is Power Sink isn't just a END Recovery power. It's a survival power!

Power Sink was the only thing allowing my Elec/Elec Brute tank the rank and file of the ITF.

And even then, without the defense, it was risky, if I didn't drain them fast enough, I could just as easily be put into the ground if the team didn't have decent support.

It is a fun set though. Very active. Working on another /Elec Armor Brute (would of been a scrapper, but I wanted as much Energy Resist as possible, as I think it was needed with my concept).

I have an elec/elec/soul that I like quite a bit, but the build is expensive. an early version was posted in another thread.

He is a lot of fun to play and with shadow meld I am softcapped to defense for 15 seconds at a time, which I use as a sort of "tier 9 lite". He can farm the wall even against +2 as long as I stick to one group at a time, but too many cimerorans too fast will eat his lunch. Beyond that I pretty much do not fear many enemies, although toxic can hurt. Strangely, the real tier 9 provides a lot of toxic resistance when you really need to use it.

Thanks for the replies folks. My KM/Elec scrapper hit 18 last night. I'm loving him so far. My only real complaint is it's a little End heavy at low levels, but I know what's coming so no big deal. My first 50 hero was an Ice/Ice Tanker, so I'm all too familiar with the "drain and go" style of play.