Defiance vs Scourge +Damage comparison?

I'm trying to decide between a DP/? Blaster and a DP/? Corr. I'm generally a teamer, but I prefer my toons to be usable while soloing.

I understand Defiance works all the time, but I can't find any hard and fast numbers for how much damage it adds. I know it varies from power to power with ST powers adding more damage than AoE's but how much extra damage are we talking about, generally? Playing around in game, it seems difficult to get it much past 30-35% extra damage. (Outdoor spawns, the extra damage percentage tended to drop down to the teens while running to next spawn. Only level 10, so lower tier attacks. Is it easier to get past 30% with higher tier attacks and larger spawns?)

Scourge is easy, I understand it does no extra damage until the target reaches 50% HP, then gradually increases up to 100% extra damage when the target reaches 20% HP. Which means, if you're soloing, you will eventually get to 100% extra damage on every single person you fight.

Obviously, the core powers without benefit of Defiance or Scourge do far more damage with a Blaster than a Corruptor. But will Scourge's damage boost make up the difference?

While I don't have any hard numbers for you... I can tell you this: It stands to reason that... the faster the set can attack, the more effective defiance becomes. Where as Scourge stays static no matter what. That being said, defiance also suffers from sets which have time-costing variables.... like redraw and activation time. Considering all these factors... (without the numbers mind you) It seems to me the Corr version of DP would have the greater benefit of extra damage.

Again, that's an estimation. I could be very wrong.

Slight clarification first: The damage bonus from Scourge does not increase up to double damage as target HP declines (which is what it sounds like you're saying), it only has a higher chance of occurring as target HP declines. It always does the same amount of damage, there's just a better chance of said damage happening the lower the targets HP is.

As for Defiance, the detailed info for the power states how much of a damage bonus it provides. In personal experience, I would say that at 50, you can probably count on being around 40-60% damage bonus most of the time, though. Sadly, I don't have any hard numbers as to which would provide more overall damage. I don't do math. lol

ANother factor to consider is the debuff values on the defender versions of DP special ammo are better.

Dual Pistol has weapon draw. Do you plan on using dual pistol attacks most of the time?

If so, go with Blaster.

Blaster's base damage + defiance has way higher damage than Corruptor. People think Corr's blast is only "a bit behind" Blaster. Blaster's raw damage is miles ahead of Corr's.

Corr's damage potential comes from your secondary. So if you plan on shooting pistols most of the time, I would suggest Blaster.

And I think Defiance adds more damage than Scourge because Defiance's damage boost is usually not wasted. Scourge, on the other hand, has a lot of overkill.

You may want to look at this guide created by Starsman in which he tries to quantify Scourge. If you go by his numbers, you will see that in practice Scourge does not provide as much bonus as you might expect. If damage is your main goal, Blaster is the way to go IMO.

as it makes me sad here, if your going for only damage, go blaster

Corrupters in general do have higher survivability, and have a lot more tricks than blasters do.

I will mention that Defiance benefits the most in sets with quick recharges, and low animation.

Scourge is best leveraged in the Rain powers

Also dont forget that you can solo, and NEVER see scourge. If your attacking something, and get it to say..70% hp with your first attack..second attack getting it down to 45%,...then use a big hitter, that KILLS the target...that 3rd attack can apply with no Scourging at all.

The real benefit of Scourge is against a hard target whereas the benefit of Defiance applies across all types of foes.

Trials definitely favor Corruptors, both for Scourge and for buffs / debuffs (which tend to be needed in greater numbers on trials). Really, any difficult content tends to favor Defenders and Corruptors simply because any decent mix of 8 Defenders and / or Corruptors tends to absolutely steamroll anything in the game. On the other hand, Blasters can be quite handy on non-trial TFs and some of them can whip up a sea of orange numbers no Corruptor can match (the Corruptor may be responsible for more total damage due to buffs, but the Blaster will make more stuff fall over with one press of a button).

That said, if you definitely want to go Dual Pistols then go Corruptor. That set's primary mechanic (ammo switching) is almost totally worthless to Blasters because their secondary effects are so weak that they tend to run Incendiary ammo most of the time and occasionally use Standard for knockback when they really need extra survivability. Corruptors get a bit more slow or -damage out of Cryo and Chem rounds so those are marginally useful to them (Defenders are the best for using all ammo types). It's not a bad set for Blasters if you just shoot flaming bullets all the time, but if you're going to get four ammo types why not play an AT that can get some use out of them?