Assault

Hi guys,

Are there any scrappers out there that use assault to improve their total damage goodness or is the end cost of the power just not worth it?

I did with my bs/sr scrapper until just recently. I didn't run the damage boost often, didn't seem to make a big difference. I did run Maneuvers and Tactics though and those did help around the board.

I like Assault, although I team a lot which skew things a little - still, I do use it even when soloing.

It's not a particulary great damage boost for the amount of endurance it costs, but if you have a power pick and some endurance to spare, it's still a little bonus.

I run it on my fire/sd then again it is just adding to my already booster +damage I have 19% from IO and 10.5% from assault then the AAO buff so with one target I am hitting like 48% damage buff.

It is a solid 1 slot power and does help on teams and if other people have it on teams it stacks nicely. It a small buff solo.

When I19 went live, I remade my MA/Regen with a build that used the Leadership pool (Maneuvers and Assault) to replace what was then the Fitness pool. Being a /Regen, I did have some END to burn, so I got the two toggles as well as Conserve Power for those long fights.

It is a small buff for just being solo, but very small bit does add up. Provided you experience no endurance problems, then I don't see it as a bad choice for a power pick (though that doesn't mean there are other better choices for any particular build).

I have it on several Scrappers. As I recall, the endurance cost is high for the damage done solo, but if you can figure out how to afford it, every bit of damage helps.

I have it on three of my Scrappers, DB/Regen Kat/SR and DM/SD. I don't run it on my Kat/SR when solo because I really can't afford it but it is nice to know I have more damage if I need it.

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Assault is great provided you can afford the cost

Assault is a 10.5% damage bonus, but it doesn't add 10.5% damage. Instead, it adds that to your total damage bonus. A power normally does 100% of its damage. Most attacks are enhanced to about 90% bonus damage. Your 100 damage attack now does 190 damage. Now, you turn on Assault. Your 190 damage attack now does 200.5 damage, which is only about 5.5% more damage. Throw in a build up or Soul Drain, and Against All Odds, and Assault will barely make a dent in your total damage output. If you regularly team with a Kinetics who is good at using Fulcrum Shift, Assault will become worthless because you will likely be at the damage cap.

If you can fit it in your build and run it, great. Just be aware that there are far better options for increasing your damage.

If I have room and the endurance to run the thing, it would be included in all of them. As it is, only my Kat/Reg and Claws/SR have it and run it no matter the situation.

Pretty much all my alts have come into assault with the fitness change, but prior to that all 3 of my /wp scrappers had assault going (with just the base slot) with no real issue with 6-7 other toggles running. 4 Wp toggles, assault, tactics, Combat jumping and Super speed (if i forget to turn it off dashing from mob to mob).

With a bit of creative set work, you can build a fairly impressive global damage bonus for yourself (almost 40% on my MA/WP, and about 20-25% on my DB and katana versions), imo its totally worth the end cost giving how high a scrappers damage potential is.

Assault, like all the leadership pool powers, works best in teams.

Yes, the individual buff is small. But it adds up. If you get a PUG with a tanker, and four scrappers, all with the leadership pool, it's 50 percent damage, 15 defense vs all and 35 percent to hit.

For everybody.

By far the 'pick of the litter' is manuevers, followed by tactics and assault, with the crowning glory of vengeance.

It is hard to argue with armor-based toons taking vengeance. It's stopped many a team wipe right in it's tracks, that power has.

My SD/SS Tanker run Assault, mostly for the extra kick. She also uses Manuvers for extra defense to softcap. She's great solo, and helps stack Leadership bonuses in teams.

What more can you ask for?

I think there are 2 big draws for it (both of which stem from ease of use):

1. With inherent fitness, it's a power pick that doesnt need convoluted slotting just end.
2. It's a flat 10.5% bonus - easy to calculate, easy to observe, works with all builds.

There are better options to be considered to be sure, but they require careful considerations and often rebuilds (partial or complete) - it's icing, great icing, but icing.

I run with three other guys and when fitness went inherent all three of us took both maneuvers and assault, we rip ***** up.

I use it along with Tactics on my Claws/regen so I can stack them with the buff I get from using FU.

So since assault only provides around 10% dmg boost and hard on the endurance, would a better option be trying to squeeze in maybe a 9% dmg buff from IO sets or do they not really work the same way? I'm thinking that might be a better option and this way it also opens up a power choice slot