How to make things die fast: A guide to the Dark Melee/Fire Armor/Soul scrapper

So you wanna go fast? Do you want to kill enemies and move along before your team can catch up--infuriating any kinetic buffers on your team of their inability to get off any buffs? No, seriously. I've had that complaint, it's quite amusing.



1. Overview
2. Dark Melee
3. Fire Armor
4. Soul Mastery
5. Etc




Anyway. Um. So, you've arrived at my guide to awesomeness. For scrappers. Brutes? Go away, we don't want you here. Tanks? No tanks. (Ha, get it? No tanks? Annnnyway...) I'll give a brief summary of why it's awesome, and then go into detail on each power, and my recommended choices. Oh, and before I get any farther, I'd like to dedicate this guide to Bright Shadow, who gave me the inspiration and helped me refine my build.

The primary reason this guide is here is to bring to light a rather unusual and rare power combination that is quite effective. The DM/Fire/Soul powers synergize very well, and together it is quite a strong killing machine for both mobs and hard targets.


1. Why it's awesome and you'd be silly not to make one:


Ok, so check it out. Fire armor is a squishy armor for scrappers. You know it, I know it, I'm pretty sure the people in third world countries know it. Where it fails defensively, it exceeds in offense. Which is great. If you don't mind dying a lot. This is where Dark Melee comes into play. First off, every hit debuffs the enemies accuracy. Then, of course, you have Siphon life, which while not a strong heal in and of itself, is surprisingly helpful in addition to Healing Flames in keeping you alive. Last, but not least, your epic pools. The secret to being a demi-god is Soul Mastery. Why? Don't ask me why! Just accept that I know this.

....

Ok, fine. The secret is Shadow Meld. Are you happy? No, I know what you're saying. "But Shadow Meld is only up for 15 seconds, and has a down time of 90! Are you high?!" No, my friend. I am not high. If I was, I certainly wouldn't be here, typing this out on the computer.

The secret is recharge. You want to build for ungodly scrapper recharge, as well as some defenses. If you get enough recharge, you can have a 50% heal every ten seconds. You have a superior damaging attack (Siphon Life) that recharges instantly. You have BURN! every 6 seconds (or so). Soul Drain, your PBAoE moderate attack and self damage buffer is perma (or close enough). Am I missing something? Oh, right. Shadow Meld. It'll be up half the time. Which means you'll be softcapped for EVERY mob you run into. All this together makes for Fun Times™.

2. Dark Melee:



Shadow Punch: A minor damaging single target attack. Fast recharge.

I reccomend against taking it, if only because you'll never get a chance to use it since you'll have so much recharge that you could have a chain of Midnight Grasp-Smite-Siphon Life-Midnight Grasp-Smite-Siphon Life* for all your single target needs. It can be a decent leveling attack, should you not have veteran powers and/or are soloing to 50.

*Burn and Soul Drain go inside this attack chain, somewhere!

Smite: Moderate damage, single target attack.

Go ahead, take it. No, really. You kind of need to. Slot it with kinetic combat.

Shadow Maul: High damage, cone melee attack.

Ugh. This is a 3 second activation attack, in a build that has powers activate and recharge in under 3 seconds. Still, take it. You can always slot an oblit set into it, and it is sometimes useful if you're adept at positioning yourself without wasting time for maximum efficiency.

Touch of Fear: Single target melee Mag 3 fear attack. Carries a decent -tohit debuff.

Ha! No thanks. It doesn't do damage, and it's wasted time of animation when that enemy could be dead already.

Siphon Life: Superior damage attack and minor heal.

It does awesome damage, and it happens to heal you. That's just awesome. Please note--do not slot this for heal only. Make no mistake, this attack is a superior damaging attack, and it's base heal is only 10%--an afterthought, really.

I've had several people comment on Siphon Life, so I should probably state my reasoning behind the above statement. I've seen too many people slot -only- for heal, because they notice that it heals the user. Do not be that person. Read this thread, courtesy of BrokenPrey and the contributers to that thread, for information on ways to slot Siphon Life.

Confront: Single target taunt.

Not needed. Those enemies will be dead before the words "Yo momma" ever reach their ears. No, I know. That sounds like a taunt. But regardless, it's sure to start off a confrontation. One that's easier to start by jumping into the group and saying "Hi" with Soul Drain and Burn.

Dark Consumption: PBAoE +endurance power. Deals moderate damage.

Take it. You won't have many end issues, but I would recommend this over Consume for this reason: It deals moderate damage while it recovers you. No, I know. That sounds kind of bad. But it's not. When you only use three attacks (Burn, Midnight Grasp, Siphon Life), you don't really get many endurance issues.

Alternatively, you can take Consume for a similar effect. You can pick this power sooner, however.

Soul Drain: PBAoE moderate damage attack. Also grants +Damage/+Accuracy for every enemy successfully hit. Long recharge.

8 ounces of pure awesome. Why 8? That's the serving size, porker. Slot it with an oblit set, or Armageddon if you can afford it, and use liberally. This is your first game changing power, and can be made permanent with enough investment.

Midnight Grasp: Superior damage, single target melee attack.

The tier 9 heavy hitter. Take it. Slot it with Crushing Impact or Mako's, or whatever works for you.

3. Fire Armor:



Fire Shield: Grants the user Smashing/Lethal/Fire/Cold, and some mezz protection.

You can’t not take it. And there’s really no reason why you shouldn’t. Are YOU high?

Blazing Aura: Low damage AoE toggle.

It’s great. Take it. However, even with inherent stamina, it can be a bit of a beast to actually use in combat until you start getting real enhancements. So keep it on the back burner until then. (Ha, back burner. I’m here all week, folks!)

Healing Flames: Moderate self healing power, grants resistance to toxic.

It’s a great heal, and every once in a while you’ll actually need it. Definitely before your final build, anyhow. Take it, slot it, love it. I recommend Doctored Wounds, for the recharge bonus. You'll want a large heal for when things get through and hit you.

Temperature Protection: Resistance to fire/cold, and -recharge/slow.

It gives you unneeded resistance to fire/cold, however, it also gives you resistance to –recharge/slow, which is useful, should you find room for it in your build.

Consume: Low damage, PBAoE +endurance attack. Gives a slight boost to recovery. Also adds a %50 resistance to end drain.

I view this power as unneeded, as you get Dark Consumption earlier, and there is no real problem with endurance on the endgame build. If you plan on fighting Malta and/or Carnies a lot, this power is a great choice.

Plasma Shield: Fire/energy/negative resistance, as well as hold/sleep mezz protection.

Take it. Seriously.

Burn: High damage PBAoE attack. It has a limit of 5 targets at a time.

This power deals damage over time, but it also frontloads the damage output, so be sure to place it effectively. It is STRONG, and in most cases will kill most minions and lieutenants outright. Take it ASAP, it is your second game changer.

Fiery Embrace: Adds a fire damage bonus to your attacks for 20 seconds. 180 second downtime.

With perma soul drain, this is somewhat of an afterthought. I find myself using it only on AV fights, but it’s still quite useful if you can afford to pick it up.

Rise of the Phoenix: A self rez that damages and stuns any enemies around your corpse, and revives you.

Ah….well, there’s a reason I lovingly refer to my DM/FA as my suicidal scrapper. Not that I die a lot. I just tend to play this character...well, with no regard to personal safety. And it works for me. Although on certain enemies (Curse you, Carnies!), Bad Stuff Happens™. Take it.

4. Soul Mastery:


Here, you get a power selection that only stalkers and scrappers can get. Lucky you, you’re a scrapper!



Dark Blast: A moderate damage ranged attack. Deals negative energy typed damage.

For the purposes of this guide, take it. Anyways, it’s a decent ranged attack that I recommend slotting with Decimation for the recharge bonus.

Moonbeam: A snipe.

You know, generally, I frown upon snipes, and mock them behind their backs. (Don’t tell them, though. It’d get awkward.) I don’t actually use it that often, but it is handy for pulling troublesome AVs, or, should you happen to be on a LGTF, you can use it to assist with Blue Mitos. Sting of the Manticore is nice in this.

Soul Storm: A single target hold, deals negative energy damage.

If you've every fought against Ghost Widow, you know this hold. It looks rather neat. You can get a decent recharge from Basilisk Gaze, should you choose this route over moonbeam.

Shadow Meld: Gives a large amount of defense to everything, for 15 seconds.

Take it--this is what makes you untouchable. Slot it with Luck of the Gambler, build for defense/recharge.

Summon Widow: Summon a minion class pet for 4 minutes. Long recharge time.

No thanks. You’d have to take it at 49, and it would be a waste. Unless this fits your character concept. Then…you know. Whatever.

Here is my build. Please note--it is NOT the best possible build. There are plenty of ways to improve it, but this works for me. Experiment with it, and feel free to provide feedback!

Main goals when making a DM/Fire/Soul:

1. Recharge
2. Damage
3. Defense

I view recharge as the most important, as it's what you need to keep up not only your damage output, but your survivability via Shadow Meld. Damage and defense are both quite important as well, because you want to be able to dish out harder hits, and having better mitigation for if/when Shadow Meld runs out in the middle of a mob. Plus, building about 20% positional defenses will ensure that you are softcapped during Shadow Meld.

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It's worth noting that when Fiery Aura got updated a while back Consume was given endurance drain resistance. It grants 50% endurance drain resistance for 120 seconds (non-stacking) each time you use it, which means that with just slotting you can keep that endurance drain resistance up full-time. Whether you consider that valuable enough to pick up the power is up to you. It's certainly enough incentive for me to make room for it.

Is this really what passes for a guide these days? A listing of powers with only a few scant details listed about them, and some bad advice given on them in some cases, and then just dropping a build with no insight behind it?

Ok, I haven't played a Dark/Fire scrapper. I've played a Dark/Elec brute, which I imagine is similar enough. My comments on your power comments (aiming to provide some constructive feedback or at least a second set of opinions)

Shadow Maul- It's the only AoE you get that's on a decent recharge timer. Yes it's a smallish cone, yes the animation is super-long and it sucks when you miss. But it does good damage in an AoE, which you don't find anywhere else in the Dark Melee primary. So, it's worth consideration, IMO. /Fire armor may need this less than my /Elec did as you have burn, but still.

Siphon Life- I usually go for a combination of Acc/Rech/Heal/Dam/End Reduction. Frankenslot the heck of this power trying to get as much on all of those aspects as possible. Used consistently, the small heal can top you off and to me even a small increase in the amount it heals for can be helpful.

Touch of Fear- It carries a significant tohit debuff. I find that when 2 bosses are beating on my brute, her health can drop quickly. 1 application on a boss slows the damage considerably, and 2 applications (fearing the boss) buys me enough time to deal with other things first.

I find Dark Melee to have a lot of great tools. There's drawbacks to some of them, but there's also places where they come in handy. Again, this is coming at your comments from my experience as a Dark/Elec brute (with a similar focus on a fast attack chain).

Overall, it's a nice guide. A little more explanation of how / why you built the way you did or situations where certain powers were useful may help flesh it out a bit more. Thanks for putting it together!