What to couple with BS/??

Having not rolled a melee toon in a while i thought i'd jump back into the fray with a new scrapper!
I have decided on BS for the primary as ive always wanted Disembowel and HS for a toon...and ofcourse to see what all the fuss is about:P
I tried pairing it with /SD a while back but never got him past the late teens...maybe the concept wasnt all there...but pre lvl 26 was a chore so i canned him before then.
So now im looking for advice on what works well with BS/...
out of the available secondaries i'm looking at WP, Invul, Elec, Regen. I would also consider SD but as a last resort as ive played alot of SD...its awesome i know...i love it...but i dont think i can handle this toon having a shield also...cosmetically ofcourse.
I'am slightly leaning towards /Elec because it seems different and rare, at least to couple it with BS. i would love to hear of anyone that has one of these and what their take is on it

apart from that...throw ideas at me guys...anything. pros and cons of the listed secondaries and how they might or might not work well with BS/

regards
Fox

You can do some wonderful things with Willpower. For example I think it is perfectly within the realm of possibility to have Permahasten and capped defenses to all damage types except Smashing, Psi, and Toxic if you go with the recharge focused Alpha Slot.

Though that is a multibillion inf build.

Quote:

Originally Posted by reiella Until I see something that states to the contrary, going to assume VK is right .

Just so you know, Katana is basically the same set with slightly quicker animation times and slightly better dps. Not enough of a difference to really matter if what you want is BS, though.

BS/WP is super sturdy on just SO's and gets even tougher with some investment. Parry comes at lvl 8, and you'll be more solid than most of the tanks you team with until their builds mature a bit. Also, very easy to play if a bit boring (for me). If you want a set-it and forget-it armor set that lets you focus on your scrapperlock, this is a great choice.

BS/Regen is slightly less sturdy (imo), and more challenging to play well. My first foray into scrappers was one of these, it does very well. However, the redraw drives me a little batty and the long animation times of BS can be frustrating if you're the type of person who cues the next attack ahead of time. Many a time mine has gotten killed while waiting for animations to finish so I can hit my heal... However, get it right and it's tons of fun, satisfying.

Electric sounds like a fun choice to me, but be prepared to have some patience while you're levelling it. Life begins at energize, which you don't get until 28. Parry will help your survivability while you wait. Regardless of your choice of 2ndary, consider a respec at 32ish so you can take some extra (unnecessary) attacks in your early levels to have a more fluid attack chain.

I haven't played invuln very high, but plan on slotting end redux early if you go this route. Should also be very sturdy.

To make things harder for you, I'll add /fire and /dark to your list of choices . I've been considering a kat/fire myself. Parry to shore up the squishiness of /fire, /fire to add AoE (burn!), a dmg aura, and Fiery Embrace to boost dmg output. An excellent heal available early, and an end recovery power. I'll leave /dark tips to Werner, you'll struggle with end while levelling a bit but potentially one of the sturdiest things out there.

Hope that helps!

If you didn't like bs/sd (/boggle) then you really want bs/wp. Probably the second best synergy out there.

If, on the other hand, you want a LOT of damage, bs/fire is viable....barely. I find fiery aura on a scrapper to be very delicate, and even parry has trouble toughening you up. Plus, burn causes redraw.

But the joy here is fiery embrace. Combined with headsplitter? Oh, yes, please.

The Katana/electric guide in my sig might help considering BS will interact with electric similarly. Electric feels a little late-blooming to me, as the set really comes together with energize and power sink, so if you are having trouble getting into the early levels, this may not be the choice for you.

*checks out Micro's guide* some very sound advice in there, thank you for that! im no stranger to /elec though as i made a DM/Elec scrapper reach mid 30's...just lost touch with him so i stopped playing...but im definitely willing to go the whole nine yards with this toon regardless of how hard it might be in the early levels like Werner said...its about the destination rather than the journey...even though i wouldnt mind a decent journey too

thank you everybody with your input...its given me alot to think about...which is good...i need to hear these things. So in saying that and taking in what you guys have said...i'm going to narrow it down to Willpower, Electric Armour and Shield Defense.

Willpower for its wide variety of defense, resist, regen and recovery

Elec for its huge resists, end management and damage aura/end drainer

Shield Defense for well...its awesomeness? jk a combination of defense and resists with an added AoE which BS lacks, also a damage buff aura.

so...decisions decisions...you know i could narrow it down to 2, and roll one of each and see? honestly if i can find a good concept i'd definitely try /SD again...but i think /Elec has so much potential...high resists across the board plus if built right...you add in capped S/L defense or even AoE, Ranged and let Parry handle your Melee Defense...i dont know about you guys but that sounds pretty awesome to me...thoughts?