Spines/Dark advice

So, lately, I've become obsessed with Spines. Moreso with the ability to customize the spines. I've got a Spines/SR that I'm loving the concept of, and I decided to get into the world of Spines/Dark, since I've found a concept that I'll actually enjoy playing.

Tentatively, I'm considering building for S/L defense, but I'm not going to go all crazy trying to reach the soft cap with it. For one, Kinetic Combats are *incredibly* overpriced, and my alt-itis and ADD keeps me from building too many merits on one toon :P. Not that I'm against getting a few, just that I'd rather not spend all my time chasing them.

Would it be more sound to shoot for melee defense, instead? I mean, it's quite a bit easier to shoot for melee defense (at least from what I've encountered).

What should I be building towards? Besides obvious +end powers, since I'll be sucking wind like a vacuum .

Does anyone have a decent build that's not *too* expensive?

Priority #1: Theft of Essence chance for +endurance in dark regeneration. Put out a reasonable bid today and by the time you need it you'll have it.

Melee defense is all right, yes. An advantage of s/l for something like dark is that it keeps protecting you if, for example, you need to excuse yourself briefly after taking an alpha, healing, and discovering that there was more alpha where the first one came from. Melee defense won't filter out as many incoming bullets, boulders and blasts. If nothing else, you can use smashing haymakers instead of kinetic combats. Half the bonus, a lot less than half the price. On the other hand, kinetic combats aren't that expensive if you're willing to lose just one or two percentage points of enhancement value and buy em in the high twenties rather than thirty to thirty-fives. Losing any enhancing piece in favor of the proc also slashes the cost but of course has an impact on efficiency.

I wouldn't make a anything/dark armor without putting the miracle and numina's procs into health, but then I take those on basically everyone anymore. Numina's procs are fairly affordable now but the miracle proc is one you'll probably want to obtain via alignment merits, rolled or bought.

If you have the time for lowball bids, get them in for the K combats as soon as you can.

I like 3 erads and 3 cleaving blows for the e/ne defense, and you can slot a lot of these rather cheaply - even if you are going for the good erads (the triple and the quad).

CoF with 5 pcs of Siphon Insight is another nice source of +def. Since it is the same bonus value of a kinetic combat (and being spines, you're available places to put KCs without resorting to muleing boxing and brawl are limited). s/l e/ne at 32.5% is a worthy goal. I've been trying to softcap s/l while keeping e/ne high, but I might back off that as it means loosing other things to get it most likely.

More experienced folks than I tend to take OG, but on my scrapper I skipped it. On a brute or tank I'd probably have it for conditional use.

Lunge won't see much use, just use it to hold a KC. Impale, TS, Ripper, and SBurst are your go to toys. I run /blaze with mine so I traded Impale for fire burst and throw fireballs as often as possible. AoE attack chains are fun.

Don't be afraid to use Curtail Speed in Quills. You can ED cap the dmg pretty easily with the two left over slots, you get a significant boost to your slows, and some more cheap defense. Great for leveling as well.

Also, don't be afraid to piecemeal sets together as you level. Getting them all at their max level is awesome and all, but getting the bonuses at 35 instead of waiting to 50 makes the lvling more fun imo.

Also, those tend to be less expensive and sometimes the enhancement differences end up being fractional for any practical purposes.

Fun trick to amaze your friends: B/U, Hop into Giant Spawn, Spine Burst, DR to heal the alpha strike, target baddie in the middle of the spawn, jump, throw spines (downward cone == circle). Ripper Boss. Repeat.

Cardiac is the smart person's choice for Alpha. End management and more resistance? Brilliant.

Last Tip:

Don't solo tip missions with PPD Squids at x8. Between the def debuffs, the nrg dmg, and whatever the hell else they are packing (slows and pukeing from the Enforcer bots) it's just about the only thing that really drink my scrapper's milkshake. It can be done, but it's a PITA.

Just decided to throw my hat in the ring, so I fiddled around in Mid's to see what I could do. I was pleasantly surprised. What do yall think (Especially Dechs, the DA master, no offense Desmodos (sp?))

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.94
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Spines
Secondary Power Set: Dark Armor
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Lunge -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(46), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(46), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
Level 1: Dark Embrace -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam(7), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(7), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(9), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(9), GA-3defTpProc(15)
Level 2: Spine Burst -- Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(39), Erad-Dmg(39), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39)
Level 4: Murky Cloud -- RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(40), RctvArm-ResDam(42), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(13)
Level 6: Build Up -- Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg(A), Rec'dRet-ToHit(13)
Level 8: Impale -- Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg(43), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(43)
Level 10: Obsidian Shield -- RctvArm-ResDam(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(11), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(11), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(15)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Zephyr-ResKB(A)
Level 16: Dark Regeneration -- Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(17), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(17), Erad-Acc/Rchg(19), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(19), Theft-+End%(23)
Level 18: Quills -- Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(40), Erad-Dmg(42), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42)
Level 20: Cloak of Darkness -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(21), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(21)
Level 22: Death Shroud -- Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(23), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(25), Erad-Dmg(25), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(27), M'Strk-Acc/EndRdx(27)
Level 24: Boxing -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(43), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(45), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 26: Ripper -- Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(29), Erad-Dmg(31), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34)
Level 28: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(36), RctvArm-ResDam(37), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(37)
Level 30: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(31), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(31)
Level 32: Throw Spines -- Ragnrk-Knock%(A), Ragnrk-Dmg/Rchg(33), Ragnrk-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Ragnrk-Acc/Rchg(33), Ragnrk-Dmg/EndRdx(34)
Level 35: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(36), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(36)
Level 38: Acrobatics -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 41: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 44: Physical Perfection -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(45), P'Shift-EndMod(45)
Level 47: Cloak of Fear -- SipInsght-ToHitDeb(A), SipInsght-Acc/ToHitDeb(48), SipInsght-Acc/Rchg(48), SipInsght-ToHitDeb/EndRdx/Rchg(48), SipInsght-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
Level 49: Soul Transfer -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 50: Cardiac Core Paragon
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(5), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(34), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(5)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(3), P'Shift-EndMod(3)

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:/ I didn't think the build was TOO expensive. I do however buy pretty much everything now-a-days with A-Merits though, so I really don't know prices well.

It's just a matter of time, similar to cancer

A set of ragnarok and a glad armor global? That looks more like a nine billion inf build if you were selling all of those things at their max level. In my opinion it's more fun to consider a build in terms of what you'd get for it than what you paid since that is more likely to make you feel like a clever coupon clipper.

The Ragnarok can be easily switched out for the Posi set.

I don't have mids available right now to take a good look (I'm at work), but I can tell you what jumps out at me.

The problem I see with both of those builds is that they have Cloak of Fear.

I like Cloak of Fear better than OG. Just a preferance, but it did get me a good chunk of Smashing Lethal Defense.

Great defense for a resistance-based Scrapper, _Pine_. But I guess philosophically I balk at a build plan for a Scrapper that underslots every single attack except (for some reason) Death Shroud. The single-target chain (such as it is on Spines) is particularly hard hit.

And no recharge in Build Up. I love defense, but your build seems to give up so much offense....

True. I figured if you are going to do a Spines/DA scrapper, you are focusing on AoE damage, so I tried to slot up AoEs more than ST. I agree, it's not a perfect build, but if you want softcapped defense, there it is.

You are correct, Dechs. Does not change my opinion however. I feel the -To Hit is more helpful than the mag 2 stun. The mag 2 stun does not effect bosses or LTs, the -To Hit does. Endurance Consumption be damned, in my opinion, Cloak of Fear does a better job at mitigation than OG.

If I wasn't going to slot OG, whats the point of getting it? It only effects minions unless you've got something else that can stack stuns.

This, of course, is all my opinion, and I don't fault any one for taking OG.

Edit:

This is encroaching on an often argued point. OG, CoF, or Both has been argued to death in the past. It just shows there are two sides of the picture, and people choose one over the other. It's good to have both positions out in the open however.

I apologize if I sounded condescending in any way; this was not my intent. You both have very valid reasons for choosing Cloak of Fear over Oppressive Gloom.

I was simply explaining my standpoint, as I had not done so in my initial quick comment.

And to your point, Des, I know for a fact that most times, that OG does more damage to my tank than it prevents. I like to think of him as an outlier though. My stalker loved oppressive gloom all the time. The tank uses it when the minions have nasty debuffs (I'm lookin' at you, Wrongbow).

Were we helpful at all OP? Or did we just hi-jack your thread?

Any more questions?

Maybe