Power Scrapping: DM vs Broadsword + Shield

Hey guys,

Just making a new thread for this thought.... I am realizing in my Claw/WP thread that there may be nothing really wrong with my Claws/WP build...at least not 'terribly' wrong.

The problem, if you want to call it that, is the Dark Melee/Shield scrapper is just, IMHO, vastly superior. Once he gets real recharge, he makes up the difference in defence, with a great heal power that is also a great attack.

With Soul Drain combined with Against All Odds, his attacks are staggeringly strong..... the AoE, once recharge is pumped up, is actually respectable. Soul Drain, Shield Charge, and the other power... forgot the name (Energy drain one...) All of these contribute, and I'm a strong believer in the punching cone that no one takes. (I can usually hit 2-3 people at once.)

So I came to thinking, what could possibly be better? Or am I spoiled rotten by this character?

Then I realized that I do have a Broadsword/WP guy that is just sort of lacking.... we all know Broadsword has punch, but what if you paired it with shield?

I'm wondering if anyone has both a DM/Shield, and a BS/Shield and can do a comparison... does the DM still win on account of the Soul Drain combo?

Just curious.....

The DM/Shield will do more damage in higher levels, but the Broadsword/Shield will level smoother in the early levels, and it has more build flexibility due to the presence of Parry. (you don't have to devote slotting to melee defense if you don't want to)

BS/shield only has synergy during leveling when you are not soft-capped yet. Once you soft-cap shield on it's own you can throw parry away and you have not gained any survivability over any other primary (yes you still have the small control effects of BS, but nearly all primaries have some control or debuff, DM has -to hit). DM on the other hand supplements shield no matter how well slotted it is. A BS/WP which you seem to think is lacking, has a far better synergy.

I'll still take my Broadsword/Dark Armor over all of them.

I am not sure you understood me right. What I said is that DM/SD actually has synergy, while BS/SD does not, once you're IO'd out. Also, BS/WP has a far better synergy than BS/SD.

Your question was whether BS/SD compares to DM/SD and while BS/SD certainly is fun it does not compare since there is no great synergy like there is in DM/SD. I added the part about BS/WP because you discarded it as lacking in favor of a BS/SD.

And yes, I do have a DM/SD, as well as a Kat/WP.

Another thing worth noting.

You should compare sets from 1-50, not just how they perform once they are AT 50.

There are a number of sets that trade top end performance for a smooth leveling process, and vice-versa. For example, I found that shield defense was way too squishy for my taste in the early levels, so the only one I have is BS/SD. Well, that and I don't like the way the rest of the sets look with Shield.

The only advantage I see for BS/SD is on a stf because if they are soft capped they can tank Lord recluse easier because parry can be stacked to keep you soft capped or 1 parry and a small purple

The other advantage of parry (if you are already soft capped) is if the debuffs get real bad it can fill in a gap to help

It also makes leveling a little easier until you get soft capped but overall I take dm/sd over bs/sd

I'd say you're spoiled rotten

My Broad Sword/Shield Defense was the most fun I've had leveling 1-50 on ANY character.

But once I got to 50, there wasn't anything he could do that my other characters couldn't do, so he got shelved. I'd also say that Dark Melee/Shield Defense is simply better when IO'd out - better survivability, better damage output. Now, if high to-hit starts becoming the norm rather than the exception, that might give Broad Sword/Shield Defense an edge, because it will be easy to get ridiculously high lethal and melee defense, letting you focus on buffing ranged and AoE as required. Not sure if that will ever happen, though.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned, is that BS can give -resistance to a team, whereas DM cannot.

Dark can give -to hit and -life

Total waste of time, but I got curious about the exact buff. Figure a top end DPS build, so maximum recharge. You'd be running Head Splitter -> Hack -> Disembowel -> Hack with a little bit of gap. Let's assume you manage to hit +305% recharge to remove the gap with a team buff since we're assuming a big team. And let's assume you splurged on a Fury of the Gladiator proc for Head Splitter, but you stuck a Mako's set in Disembowel as I suspect is typical.

(1+(1-0.81^(2*10.25/7.656))*0.2)*(1+(1-0.81^(1*10.25/7.656))*0.2)-1 = 14.0%

(1+(1-0.81^(3*10.25/7.656))*0.2)*(1+(1-0.81^(1*10.25/7.656))*0.2)-1 = 16.9%

Some builds may outclass others, but an awesome character concept can outweigh a whole lot of that. Role-player or not, having a character that has a bit more to them than their powersets and archetype can be very rewarding, even if it's only in your own head.

Even just a great look could do it. I have an Elec/DA Brute, and mechanically the two sets just don't mesh well together for me. However, thanks to Cloak of Darkness he's an evil black cloud that spews red lightning. OmgHolyCrap he's awesome to play.

It even works on a smaller level too, with specific powers. One of my favorite things to do on my AR/Energy Blaster is to Power Thrust some minion straight into a wall six feet away and fire off Sniper Rifle at point-blank range as they're getting up. Efficient? No. Bad-***? Yes. Satisfying? Immensely.