Quote:
Well Parry/DA won't help you too much with energy damage apart from the energy melee enemies(which smashing def covers as well). And if you build for S/L, there are energy defense bonuses that go along with it in the reactive armor set. It's possible to softcap yourself to energy, though that would likely sacrifice too much on your build. 32.5% energy defense is very achievable.|
Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
That's why I specified I was talking about positional.
S/L defense leaves you with a HUGE hole to Energy Damage, which Dark Armor barely resists. And there is a significant amount of pure energy damage in the game (especially if you find yourself fighting a lot of Arachnos) For Sword/Dark, if you want softcapped defense that won't get you slaughtered by Mu and Freakshow, positional is the way to go. If your primary is NOT one of the sword sets, typed will probably serve you better then. |
I made a build that shows how to get energy defense on a BS/DA. Note it's not a build I would recommend as it is really, really gimped on the offensive end.
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.90
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Code:
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Mains (Freedom) @Auroxis
Auroxis - Emp/Rad/Power Defender Pylon Video Soloing an AV
Pelvic Thunder - SS/Elec/Mu Brute
Sorajin - Elec/Nin Stalker
Neuropain - Sonic/Mental/Elec Blaster
Quote:
Yes, but what we're doing is soft capping ranged and AoE with pools and bonuses, and then relying on Parry or Divine Avalanche to soft cap Melee. We don't have an energy defense hole. We do have a non-positional psionic hole, but I can still beat Malaise just fine. Damage output is a compromise, but that seems to be a compromise with typed defense builds too, as I don't think you'd be able to get very much and ALSO have the recharge for the top DPS chain.
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Originally Posted by Auroxis
Well Parry/DA won't help you too much with energy damage apart from the energy melee enemies(which smashing def covers as well).
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"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
Videos of Other Stupid Scrapper Tricks
Quote:
Yeah I guess you're right, and if you can softcap Ranged, AoE and Melee(1 Parry/DA) on a DA scrapper then I'm impressed. That should take a lot of slots. Is CoF part of the equation?|
Originally Posted by Werner
Yes, but what we're doing is soft capping ranged and AoE with pools and bonuses, and then relying on Parry or Divine Avalanche to soft cap Melee. We don't have an energy defense hole. We do have a non-positional psionic hole, but I can still beat Malaise just fine. Damage output is a compromise, but that seems to be a compromise with typed defense builds too, as I don't think you'd be able to get very much and ALSO have the recharge for the top DPS chain.
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One of the reasons I don't like DA is that you often have to choose between offense and defense with your build. I like Elec Armor as you don't need to worry too much about endurance, recharge, and energy defense.
Mains (Freedom) @Auroxis
Auroxis - Emp/Rad/Power Defender Pylon Video Soloing an AV
Pelvic Thunder - SS/Elec/Mu Brute
Sorajin - Elec/Nin Stalker
Neuropain - Sonic/Mental/Elec Blaster
Quote:
Yeah, I have and use Cloak of Fear, but it IS underslotted (L53 Endoplasm + L50 Nightmare acc/end). I threw massive amounts of influence at the build though to be able to pull it all together. It's much harder to put together on a budget, but people still do it. There are just more compromises.
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Originally Posted by Auroxis
Yeah I guess you're right, and if you can softcap Ranged, AoE and Melee(1 Parry/DA) on a DA scrapper then I'm impressed. That should take a lot of slots. Is CoF part of the equation?
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"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
Videos of Other Stupid Scrapper Tricks
Quote:
Our non-positional Psionic hole is not nearly as bad as an Invuln's, because we resist the hell out of it, even if we don't have the defense for it.
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Originally Posted by Werner
Yes, but what we're doing is soft capping ranged and AoE with pools and bonuses, and then relying on Parry or Divine Avalanche to soft cap Melee. We don't have an energy defense hole. We do have a non-positional psionic hole, but I can still beat Malaise just fine. Damage output is a compromise, but that seems to be a compromise with typed defense builds too, as I don't think you'd be able to get very much and ALSO have the recharge for the top DPS chain.
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Quote:
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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. |
Quote:
Yep. To clarify for people who don't know Dark Armor and don't know AVs - this hole in my build is still at 27% defense and 57% resistance, and combined with frequent use of Dark Regeneration allows me to reliably solo without temporary powers or inspirations one of the nastier non-positional psionic AVs. The psionic resistance could also easily have been higher had I made it a priority as my Obsidian Shield has nothing but a Steadfast Protection unique in it. In other words, for Dark Armor, the non-positional psionic hole isn't a particularly big hole. It's probably one of the best secondaries for handling those attacks.|
Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
Our non-positional Psionic hole is not nearly as bad as an Invuln's, because we resist the hell out of it, even if we don't have the defense for it.
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And not to derail the topic even worse, but are there AVs with even nastier non-positional psionic damage output than Malaise?
"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
Videos of Other Stupid Scrapper Tricks
Quote:
This amuses me. Calling 27% defense and 57% resistance with a fast recharging, massive heal a build hole is just too funny. |
Originally Posted by Werner
this hole in my build is still at 27% defense and 57% resistance, and combined with frequent use of Dark Regeneration
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Why Blasters? Empathy Sucks.
So, you want to be Mental?
What the hell? Let's buff defenders.
Tactics are for those who do not have a big enough hammer. Wisdom is knowing how big your hammer is.
Quote:
I can only think of 3 that equal him, but none surpass him. |
Originally Posted by Werner
And not to derail the topic even worse, but are there AVs with even nastier non-positional psionic damage output than Malaise?
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1) Mother Mayhem
2) Clockwork King
3) Vanessa DeVore
All 3 of them, in my experience, will spam Mezmerize and Dominate pretty regularly.
Quote:
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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. |
Quote:
I think I had more trouble with Malaise than Mother Mayhem. I don't think I've done Vanessa Devore with my Katana/Dark, though I had the impression (maybe from my Dark Melee/Super Reflexes?) that have that she also doesn't do as much non-positional as as Malaise. The Clockwork King, though... hmmm. Not sure I've even tried to solo him before. Thanks for reminding me about him - I need to track him down for a friendly chat, Scrapper-style.|
Originally Posted by ClawsandEffect
I can only think of 3 that equal him, but none surpass him.
1) Mother Mayhem 2) Clockwork King 3) Vanessa DeVore All 3 of them, in my experience, will spam Mezmerize and Dominate pretty regularly. |
I do remember my introduction to him, though, oh so many years ago. Assault Rifle/Devices Blaster and Invulnerability/Super Strength Tanker. We ran in, he his his nuke, and we both died. That fast. It was great.
"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
Videos of Other Stupid Scrapper Tricks
Mother Mayhem prior to GR didn't do any non-positional, all she had was psy blast attacks. I don't know if this changed or not.
The psychic Clockwork King doesn't have any non-positional, it's all psy blast. Psy Babbage doesn't either, remember Will Dom looks like Domination.
Giovanna and Vanessa only have Domination (also Total Dom, but it doesn't do damage), so they do much less than Malaise.
I can't think of any AV doing as much (much less more) non-positional psi as praetorian Malaise...
Decided to make a Kat/Elec build based on positional defense rather than typed defense to see how it works out.
It turned out rather nicely as I met most my goals: Softcap to Lethal/Melee with 1 DA, softcap to Ranged/AoE with 1 purple, top Katana attack chain with the best procs available, and end stability. Made to go along with the musculature boost, so the DPS should get close to 300 with the very rare boost, if applying DA isn't needed(which should be often on teams).
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.90
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Katana
Secondary Power Set: Electric Armor
Code:
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Mains (Freedom) @Auroxis
Auroxis - Emp/Rad/Power Defender Pylon Video Soloing an AV
Pelvic Thunder - SS/Elec/Mu Brute
Sorajin - Elec/Nin Stalker
Neuropain - Sonic/Mental/Elec Blaster
S/L defense leaves you with a HUGE hole to Energy Damage, which Dark Armor barely resists. And there is a significant amount of pure energy damage in the game (especially if you find yourself fighting a lot of Arachnos)
For Sword/Dark, if you want softcapped defense that won't get you slaughtered by Mu and Freakshow, positional is the way to go.
If your primary is NOT one of the sword sets, typed will probably serve you better then.
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.