Claws/SR looking for incarnate tips/input.

Tulare · 10-26-2011 09:46 PM

I have a 50 Traps/AR that is +3, I have seen a lot of BAF, Lamba and some Keyes, no UG yet. I have worked and thought about this stuff a good deal on my Defender, and even though Traps is rather melee-ish, I have been missing some good old Scrapper Lock.

At this time Wrecka is a fresh 43, with just over 46% defense to ranged and melee, and just over 45% defense to AoE. I am working on the Medicine pool to get Aid Self to help, but I don't think I'm picking that up until 47, should have it by 50 though. At this point I feel no need for it, but I assume it will be nice to have.

These are my questions:

Given that everything is 54, how is SR doing in iTFs?

If it is rough, how big is the change once you start getting level shifts?

Since even little bits of defense make such a difference for us is that the direction I need to think about with my Alpha?

I went Cim for my Lore pets with my Defender due to my debuffing and their single target damage, and wow was that a good choice. Is there a Lore branch that just has SR written all over it?

Thanks for any answers and time you give to this.

Protector: Tulare 50 Inv/SS/EM-ph1x3r 47 Bots/Traps
VIP: VIC-29(Traps/AR) - Corinth(Grav/FF) -Wrecka(Claws/SR)

Gospel_NA · 10-27-2011 05:37 AM

Actually you're probably over thinking it.

SR performs pretty well, especially when you support it with a self heal such as aid self.

As long as you are at the softcap for regular game play (45%) you'll be fine. In itrials you'll have so many buffs you spend most of the time over the softcap for itrails anyhow (59%). You could build to get as close to the softcap for itrails if you wanted, but then most of the time the buffs you have are not as useful during the itrails.

It's not that bad when you begin itrails and of course, becomes much much easier when you begin accumulating your level shifts. The alpha question is always pretty simple. It just boils down to what you need. Do you need more endurance, accuracy, recharge, or damage? I think the typical answer for scrappers tends to be recharge followed by endurance and trailing with damage.

As for lore, there's no particular pet that really makes that much difference in relation to SR. You'll still want to go a high damage pet route like cimoreans or warworks.

Best thing you could do, and you're already doing that, is getting aid self. You survivability increases by a large amount after you get that.

Doomguide · 10-27-2011 10:49 AM

Mine loves them.

The level shifts do help particularly with hitting and damage. But alone I'd say the basic Alpha shift makes the largest impression. Dropping +4's to +3's is a much more significant change than from say +2 to +1's.

Once you hit 45% I'd put my efforts much more strongly into increasing +max health and +regen. I'm currently running Musculature and Rebirth (for the +regen) typically, thou the badge hunting side of me was enjoying Barriers rez ability to finally start making a dent in my Healing Badges as until recently I never had or used Medicine for Aid Self/Aid Another. And honestly the Medicine pool is as much a set mule for a couple sets of Numina's (for the health and regen set bonuses) as anything. For Incarnate defense I find either Lucks or teammates enough 99+% of the time (And the rest of the time I do have Barrier to swap to, Eye of Magus and Aid Self)

My Claws/SR currently uses Warworks, but I don't think any particular Lore pet says "Use Me!" more than any other for /SR specifically.

EDIT: The 9CU's in the BAF probably involved the most adaptation to deal with. Level shifts+ Shockwave KD and making sure Rebirth is fresh before tackling a large mob of them (where there aggro would likely all end up on me) plus using purple and orange inspires are key for me.

Tulare · 10-27-2011 09:48 PM

Thanks for the input. I jumped on Wrecka tonight, took down Ghost Widow set to +0/+3, and then did the first Sig arc with the same setting. Few rough spots in the arc, but never even thought about lowering the difficulty until I stepped in the first mission. I think he might be ready for +0/+5, but that can wait for tomorrow.

Grabbing what looks to be a bubble a mission, solo even, he'll be heading to incarnate stuff soon. I'm feeling some Scrapper Lock coming on.

Protector: Tulare 50 Inv/SS/EM-ph1x3r 47 Bots/Traps
VIP: VIC-29(Traps/AR) - Corinth(Grav/FF) -Wrecka(Claws/SR)

Resolve · 10-28-2011 06:46 AM

I've had pretty much nothing but fun on my Claws/SR in trials. Yes, I get the occasional RNG hate, getting timefreezed just as Antimatter decides to be a d*ck, that sort of thing. But generally it's just good clean fun.

I went with Spiritual in a mad quest for seamless Followup/Focus/Slash but Musculature seems equally valid [1]; if you don't use Body Mastery Cardiac might be necessary.

Void is nice for alpha mitigation but basically all is good as long as there isn't mad knockback involved. I recommend going with the "best" [1] Lore pets that are consistent with theme. If you're on top of endurance Rebirth is the stuff, later with a side order of Clarion or whatever else you fancy as team buffs. As for attack procs, damage damage damage [1]. And when you have as much damage as you can, stick in a bit of -res if you can be bothered.

[1] You're a scrapper. Damage, damage, damage. If you get something else like +rech or +recov, it's in order to do more damage. Damage. Damage.

ChaosAngelGeno · 10-28-2011 01:05 PM

I generally don't have many problems with my SR scrapper in iTrials. I recommend Aid Self or Rebirth as means of healing. If you're build is a low budget build, I'd go with Aid Self. I also recommend Elude because in certain situations it proved useful, like the the part in the Lambda Trial where you collect Acids or Grenades or in the Underground trial the Avatar of Hamidon has massive -defense debuff that cuts defense by 1/3; and it stacks.

Tulare · 10-29-2011 06:53 AM

With the things you all have told me, and playing Wrecka a few times in the last couple of days, I'm actually pretty excited to get him to 50. Thanks for all the input.

Protector: Tulare 50 Inv/SS/EM-ph1x3r 47 Bots/Traps
VIP: VIC-29(Traps/AR) - Corinth(Grav/FF) -Wrecka(Claws/SR)

Madadh · 10-29-2011 07:00 PM

I agree with Doom and Resolve in a lot of what they said. I also agree with an earlier poster who pointed out you'll almost always have stupid amounts of extra +def buffs.

I'd build for enough recharge to get the seamless attack chain, then go more HP and Regen. Cardiac and alpha only if you really need them, but I can't picture this happening. Then go for more damage, and more regen, and rinse and repeat.

If you get yourself a respectable amount of +Hp and regen, Aid Self (and especially aid other) become wasted slots. Most of the time I'm desperate for a heal, I'm taking a damage over time effect on top of whatever the initial hurt was, and Aid Self will just interrupt. And, I usually carry a few greens. With a few greens, your rare, "Oh no! Need heals now," moments are taken care of. Just make sure to be in the habit to make a few more in the brief lulls in the action, and you should be fire.

I'd echo most everyone else, just get the lore pet ya like, it's all gravy anyhow. Void is a good choice for Judgement, but most are, except perhaps the cone, and even that could work. I went Musculature for my alpha, as my recharge was quite solid already, but but if you want more recharge, here is a good spot to get it. Interface, can't beat reactive, in my opinion. Most of the debuffs are too small and don't stack enough to make them worth more than more proccing damage.

All in all, the iTrials start out pretty easy for a Claws/SR, assuming you're over the normal softcap, so you really can't make a WRONG choice, as it's going to only get easier no matter what you pick.

Enjoy!

Tulare · 10-30-2011 07:01 AM

Last night, for my birthday, the SG let me choose whatever TF I wanted to do. I figured Synaspe since I like the Babbage ambush, we actually had enough people to run two teams and made a race out it.

I have really only soloed Wrecka for 43.4 levels, last night was pretty sweet. Being in something like a TF and just going off on boss after boss was awesome.

Before we started I did see the crazy amounts of defense though. From the group, mostly 50s before we started the TF with shields and manuevers I was at 83% to all 3 positions. Even down at that TF level I did feel pretty unhitable on a team. I'm definitely going to team more on this guy, never knew I would like it so much.

Thanks for all the advice. I really am getting the feeling now that everything is open, and when I get to 50 just see what I think will make Wrecka the strongest he can be.

Protector: Tulare 50 Inv/SS/EM-ph1x3r 47 Bots/Traps
VIP: VIC-29(Traps/AR) - Corinth(Grav/FF) -Wrecka(Claws/SR)