About to Reach the Metamorphosis Level...

...for my Arachnos Spider. Yeah I know, everyone has been there, done that. However, not me! lol

My dilemma is I am not sure which way I want to take this guy.

I like the look of the Crab as well as the abilities they have available. Likewise, I do like what the Bane Spider has to offer, including the one ability I would use to my advantage, Cloaking Device. However, it comes down to their different specialties.

I know there are advantages and disadvantages for both; however, what I'm looking for between the two, which is better at soloing and works equally as well with a team without having to add whatever number of IO sets to get them to a soft cap immediately. This is something I when I reach 47.

Conversely, if I take this Crab/Bane Spider to Hero side and ultimately become a Vigilante, will I still be able to do the patron arch for the Patron Power Pools? Additionally, will I have to stay a rogue, stay in Rogue Isle to end up speaking with Arbiter Daos to choose my patron then?

I welcome your opinions on this before making my choice. Thanks.

If you pick crab, you can't ever get rid of the backpack. This bothers some people when they pick crab, and respec into a different non crab build and still have the extra legs.

If that doesn't bother you, I strongly suggest dual builds. You get to level two very good characters for the price of one.

Changing between them for utility or whim is very handy. Team needs stealth/melee switch to bane, need ranged AoE, go to crab.

Both will do more than well enough with Standard IOs (or SOs) and the def powers to let you see if you want to spend to IO one or both sides out at 47+

FWIW: The mace mastery pool lets you pick a few bane like mace powers on a crab (shatter and web grenade but no sweet sweet crowd control). If its mainly the stealth in cloaking device you want, its possible to gain similar stealth ability (but not crit chance) by using two of the following: Stealth IO (2 A merits or 100-200 mil inf), super speed, and tealth from the power pool.

You need to be a villain or rogue to do the patron missions to unlock the pools. You don't get the hero side epic pools ever.

The trouble (?) with Soldiers is that they can be so varied... One Crab Spider might be a very tank-like melee fighter, and another a cone-based hover-blaster type, while a third Crab might be defined by his horde of pets. Likewise, there are Banes that behave like Stalkers, and Banes that act more like Blasters, and all sorts of combinations in-between. All these setups can be fun and effective, so it really comes down to what play style you enjoy.

I have played my Crab a lot and I've settled into a melee-oriented play style with no pets. My Bane is still in his 40s and I'm still not totally sure what he is... but I agree that Crowd Control is awesome.

Both of my Soldiers are very team-oriented with lots of Leadership pool powers, and both of them solo very well. It would be pretty hard to make a Soldier that can't solo well.

Cloaking Device is great, though it does have some caveats. I was stealthing a mission for my team and I had to run past one of those Longbow guys with Spines, got caught by the untargetted AoE, being attacked caused Cloaking Device to suppress, and I was attacked by the whole bunch of them.

In terms of Patron Powers, you can start your patron arc at 35th as a rogue and it doesn't really take that long to get your pool unlocked. After that, you can change to whatever alignment you favor.

How important soft cap is depends on your play style. If you want a Crab that just hangs back and shoots cone attacks from a distance, you can get your ranged defense capped very easily, AoE with a bit more effort, and ignore melee. Melee builds are a little more complicated but there are "cheap" sets that can cap you out either way.

I would say that if you really like melee combat best, Banes can make a more effective melee attack chain, and Executioner's Strike allows you to take out your intended target with satisfying efficiency. It can take my Crab quite a while to defeat bosses, even with every available Crab melee attack, and Shatter Armor thrown in for good measure.
If you feel like you're not living unless you can solo at x8, and you love blasting everything in the room simultaneously and watching an endless sea of red numbers wash over the scene, Crabs have that covered.

FWIW, a 'Huntsman' build can also be quite effective, again depending on what play style you're looking for.

So, really, you have 3 main options with a ton of sub-options in each to try to decide between.

Thanks ya'll, much appreciated. I like the idea of using the multiple builds options, though I've never used it. The one thing I read on Paragonwiki about it, the bane will have the crab legs in both builds. Is this the case? Anyway, I think I'll go ahead with my crab build then follow up with a Bane, and ultimately try to do the 'Huntsman.'

If any of your builds have Crab powers, then all of your costumes have the "backpack".
I think the rationale for this is that Crab Spiders are cyborgs and the "backpack" is connected to their nervous system. It's not something you can just take off if you decide to use your mace or SMG that day.

I have two completely separate Soldiers characters with different backgrounds, not one guy who switches back and forth depending on how he's feeling that day.