Any advice for Dark Armor?

I've been watching Dark Armor since I've been playing, and the verdict (and my verdict as well) is that Dark Armor is heaping loads of awesome with good investment, but every time I try to to start one up, I can never get on the right foot, and that's trying MA, Spines, and Katana as primaries. Am I missing something? Am I doing something wrong?

DA is really based on stunning or fearing the emeny. So it doesnt get good until the higher lvls. Even with that u still a mass ammount of end/rech for your heal. I went DM/DA and they seem to work perfect with eachother, but thats my main char so ive spent tons of inf building her, but it works well for me.

Theft of Essence: Chance for +Endurance is also supposed to turn Dark Regeneration from an Endurance nightmare, to somewhat close to endurance neutral/an endurance boon.

We've been saving Paragon City for eight and a half years. It's time to do it one more time.

Dark Armor is a bit of a slow starter. While Cloak of Fear and Oppressive Gloom seem like defining powers for the set, sole reliance on them or any one aspect of Dark Armor will not yield the best performance.

Dark Armor really is a layered set. Individually, none of the powers start too well and none of them end up that spectacular (Obsidian Shield is an arguable exception, but Psi Damage simply isn't common enough to entertain the argument.) Some will state that Dark Regeneration the defining power, it's simply too endurance costly to be spectacular at low levels.

When all the Dark Armor toggles are combined, the set truly starts to shine. It's easy to over look one toggle was insignificant, but remove it and you quickly notice the difference.

• Setting the Foundation: Dark Armor basic three are Dark Embrace, Obsidian Shield, and Murky Cloud. Get these early and have them all 4 slotted by level 22. (you could cheat a few slots out of OS. Some do this in their final build, but this depends on your bonuses.) The resistance values achieved by Dark Embrace and Murky Cloud are simply not impressive. ~34% with basic enhancements. Everything builds on these small values, without them, the set quickly crumbles.
  
  Minion Muncher: Death Shroud seems rather lack luster initially for the amount endurance it costs. DO NOT BE MISLED. Death Shroud is your most endurance efficient toggle and is vital to managing endurance on any Dark Armor build. On full teams or soloing at x8, Death Shroud will consistently out damage any power in your arsenal (except Throw Spines.) Take this power immediately, and slot it up ASAP. Fill it with Endurance reductions initially, but at level 22 you should be treating the same as any attack.
  
  Pulled from the fire: Dark Regeneration is the most powerful self heal, but at a high cost. You need 2-3 targets to get full benefit and it uses up 1/3 of your end bar. Without IO sets, you want this to be your "OH $#!+ !!" Take this power immediately and slot it immediately. This power will give a much better sense of Dark Armor's potential, but only after you have the basic toggles in order. With the right IO build, it can be uses rather casually about every 10-15 seconds.
  
  Mez toggles: Outside of IO builds, Cloak of Fear and Oppressive Gloom basically serve the same purpose, so you generally don't need both. While I have always preferred Cloak of Fear, it costs a great deal of endurance and has terrible base accuracy. (who can I harass about this?) On non IO builds, Oppressive Gloom is preferable as it needs no slotting to function fully. I just never liked the wandering affect stunned mobs would get. On IO builds, the preference can shift drastically depending on bonuses sought and the secondary you chose, but things really start to favor Cloak of Fear. Once you have a mez toggle up and running, you really start to understand Dark Armor 's full potential.
  
  Meh powers...sort of: Cloak of Darkness is marginally useful on a basic build. It offers some defense ~5% fully slotted, but not enough to be significant. It does have stealth, which can be situationally useful, and it offers immobilization protection if you wanted to skip Combat Jumping. On an IO set build that emphasizes defense, CoD because a great spring board, making it a must have power.
  I'm simply not a fan of self rez powers. IMHO, they are situational at best, and easily replaced by an awaken. If you can't think of another power worth taking, it can make for an IO mule, but I never take the power. I can usually find something to take that will help keep me for face planting in the first place.

Ok, now I have one more question. I've restarted my Spines/DA scrap, but now something concerns me based on what you said.

Being a Spines scrap, I'll more than likely have Quills running at all times. Does this negate the need for Cloak of Darkness early on? Should I just take Cloak of Fear until I can invest in IOs?

My resistance without Cardiac:

54.8% SL
26.6% E
50.3% N
41.0% FC
28.2% T
50.0% P

With Cardiac:

60.1% SL
28.8% E
54.0% N
44.2% FC
30.4% T
57.5% P

Thanks for the insight!

I love my Kat/Da and I am super glad I chose that combo for my first ever toon. Taught me so much about endurance management and waiting for the late game to super shine. Then I found the forums and IO'd her out as much as I could (and have not changed her build since i17).

Anyway, I found that getting the Perf Shifter +End and I think it is the Numina proc that gives regen and recovery bonuses are easily obtained by doing a few TFs and also picking up the exploration badges in each part of PC as you level up (5 merits per collection). By the time you hit ~ level 41 you should be able to have a few uniques from the merits plus the TF accolade. If you run some of the story arcs those will yield even more merits. This is the route I am going with my Inv/DB (another endurance beast atm) and it has helped tremendously.

If you do not have time to complete story arcs take advantage of the autocomplete every 3 days.

On the subject of DA... What APP/PPP do people like for 'em? Soul for Shadow Meld looks sorta interesting, but on the other hand I wouldn't mind some more AoE.

We've been saving Paragon City for eight and a half years. It's time to do it one more time.