SPINE/WP? SPINE/REGEN? or SPINE/???

hi! im about try the scrapper for the first time, and i chose SPINE as my primary because of its Cones and some single target skills, and as i read some of the threads that the nice secondary for SPINES are WILLPOWER and REGEN, but as i review the details of skills of both, they're almost the same! the question is, which one is the best for SPINES? WILLPOWER or REGEN? some other players said if i dont like clicking all the time for buff skills (and i really dont like clicking skills for buff all the time), WILLPOWER is the right one for me.... but i need some more info about this.

by the way, if u have another advice or opinion about the other secondary is quitely appreciate! (actually im thinking about SPINE/Electric, i dunno)

If you want aoe death machines, spines/ fire, dark, or elec. Extra points for fire.

If you want spines with less end issues, willpower or regen. Seems like you have the differences figured out.

If you want a little extra survivability, invulnerable.

Rick, you really just need to play. Alts are not evil.

However, on topic, a rundown (all comparison are based on SO's, IO's can DRASTICALLY alter the performance of a secondary):

Dark Armor - Murky AoE Death, the old school lawnmower. Pros: Damage Aura, Mezz Aura's, Psi and Toxic Resistances, Best Heal in Game, Self-rez. Cons: No endurance management, no KB Protection.

Electric Armor - Sparkly AoE Death, arguably the most survivable of the 3 lawnmowers. Pros: Damage Aura, Multiple Endurance Management tools, bonus Recharge, Psi Resistance. Cons: KB and Immob Protection can be erratic, pure Resistance set with no Toxic Resists, Tier 9 hampered by Scrapper Resist cap.

Energy Aura - Sneaky AoE Death, a new combo, but theory-crafting it seems very strong. Pros: Best Toggle Mezz Protection (Spectrum, not Magnitude), Scaling bonus Recharge, Taunt Aura, Unsuppressed Stealth, Multiple Endurance Management tools, disgustingly awesome Tier 9. Cons: No Psi Defenses. (really, that's all the cons I can think of? frak... may need to roll one of these)

Fiery Aura - Burnination AoE Death, the fastest of the 3 lawnmowers, for both the mobs and your death. Pros: Damage Aura, almost Best Heal in Game, Endurance Management tool, Bonus Damage, Burn, Self-Rez. Cons: Mezz Pro split awkwardly among armors, No KB Protections, Immob Protection comes late, relies on the "Kill before Killed" method of gameplay the most.

Invulnerability - Shiny AoE Death. Pros: Taunt Aura, multiple Layers of Protection (Def, Res, Heal), strong Tier 9. Cons: No Endurance Management tools, relies on mobs for survivability... so possible to kill yourself by killing them, Tier 9 hampered by Scrapper Resist cap.

Self-Empathy (Regeneration) - Clicky AoE Death. Pros: Endurance Management Tool, unique and fantastic Tier 9. Cons: Reactive Secondary-not "Fire and Forget", main mitigation is self-healing...not regeneration, has a learning curve, Self-Rez.

Shield Defense - Impossible AoE Death. Pros: Taunt Aura, +Dmg Aura, hybrid Def/Res/HP mitigation, Telenuke. Cons: Doesn't exist. Apparently you can't hold a Shield while sprouting Spines.

Super Reflexes - Lucky AoE Death. Pros: Fire and Forget, bonus Recharge. Cons: Mainly Defense mitigation, no Endurance Management tools, no self heal, RNG haetz players.

Willpower - Tough AoE Death. Pros: Taunt Aura, Layered Protection (Def, Res, HP, Regen), Fire and Forget, Endurance Management tool. Cons: No self heal.

@Errant: hehe sounds like ur really pissed, arent u^^

lol at " for both the mobs and your death" on fiery armor description cuz i experienced it^^

btw its really informative, now im enlightened, myb i should go to WILLPOWER (for defense) or ENERGY (simply cuz it has less Cons^^)

I'd go with Energy Aura.

Easy to softcap, gets some resistances and a heal, bonus recharge will let you fire AoEs more often, relatively new combo so you'll be among the first wave of people playing it.

No Psi defense is a common hole in defense sets, so it's not like you'll have a problem not shared by other sets. They seem to do just fine.

hmmm... myb i should try the SPINE/ENERGY too... im just wondering how's the survivability of SPINE/ENERGY compare to SPINE/WILLPOWER...

i think it'll be awesome if BRUTES get SPINES... but ur going to do alot of backward movement for Cones^^

Spines on brutes will be a little broken unless they adjust it.

Quills would build fury, and that might be overpowered. Using the logic that Quills is the only damage aura that will crit, it is reasonable to assume that ported as-is it will build Fury as well. That would need adjusted.

Personally, I'd rather see tanks get Spines. The agro holding of the combo of Ice/Spines would be insane.

I have personally played a regen Scrapper for a long time. There are some toggles to keep up and dull pain can be made almost permanent with hasten. I also took tough among other powers which adds a toggle. However I must say, that survivability is excellent. I solo +3 groups without too much trouble. It does have a learning curve and I had to respec once. But I have lots of confidence in mobs and occasionally with bosses. Ultimately you can't go wrong with whatever you choose, but regent is a good set.

The main thing to note is that if you go spines with /dark /fire or /elec you won't have a taunt aura. If you want a good taunt aura you need to go /wp or /invul (and unfortunately shield isnt an option)

I made my Spines/Willpower solely as a farming character back when Willpower first came out and I love her to pieces. As has been pointed out previously, IOs can alter the performance of the character a lot and the Willpower secondary offers a completely different playstyle than the sets that give you a damage aura, etc. I would recommend Willpower over Regeneration for various reasons, but Regeneration does have its pluses.

While I'm not in favor of give Scrappers a taunt aura in all their defense sets as others are, that doesn't mean I don't see the awesomeness that can be had for having one.

For instance after getting my FM/ELA Scrapper to 50, I do sort of wish I had an aggro aura and I know the combo would of been better on a Brute, but eh, I just don't care for the Fury mechanic.

(Note: I still think aggro aura in the mez protection is a terrible idea for a set with a stealth toggle as part of it's list of abiltiies)

My suggestion...Spines/EA.

The aggro aura will help keep the enemies around you so Quills helps take them all out