Out of the Mothballs: Legacy Claws/Regen Rebuild Help Needed

Ok, this was my my first character also my first 50 and I have decided to bring him back and get him incarnated up. I need help rebuilding:

• I have some inf, but not enough for purples or pvp really.
  
• I want to keep him a superspeeder, for old times sakes really but everything is up for grabs in the build.
  
• I don't expect to make him a god, but I want him to be useful and survivable in Incarnate stuff.
  
• Happy to have ideas on attack chains and defense as well, it has been years since I played him.

• (A) Damage Increase IO
• (3) Damage Increase
• (3) Accuracy IO
• (5) Accuracy IO
• (5) Accuracy IO
• (7) Recharge Reduction IO

• (A) Healing
• (7) Healing
• (9) Healing

• (A) Damage Increase
• (9) Damage Increase
• (11) Accuracy
• (11) Accuracy
• (13) Accuracy
• (13) Recharge Reduction

• (A) Healing
• (15) Healing
• (15) Healing IO
• (17) Recharge Reduction
• (17) Doctored Wounds - Recharge
• (19) Empty

• (A) Recharge Reduction

• (A) Endurance Modification IO
• (19) Endurance Modification
• (21) Endurance Modification

• (A) Healing
• (21) Healing
• (23) Healing
• (23) Recharge Reduction
• (25) Endurance Reduction

• (A) Accuracy IO
• (25) Accuracy IO
• (27) Recharge Reduction
• (27) Recharge Reduction
• (29) Damage Increase IO
• (29) Damage Increase

• (A) Run Speed
• (31) Run Speed
• (31) Run Speed

• (A) Healing
• (31) Healing
• (33) Healing
• (33) Empty

• (A) Accuracy IO
• (33) Accuracy IO
• (34) Accuracy IO
• (34) Damage Increase IO
• (34) Damage Increase IO
• (36) Recharge Reduction IO

• (A) Run Speed

• (A) Jumping
• (36) Jumping
• (36) Jumping

• (A) Endurance Modification
• (37) Endurance Modification
• (37) Endurance Modification

• (A) Resist Damage IO
• (37) Resist Damage
• (39) Resist Damage

• (A) Multi Strike - Accuracy/Damage
• (39) Multi Strike - Damage/Recharge
• (39) Multi Strike - Damage/Endurance
• (40) Multi Strike - Accuracy/Endurance
• (40) Multi Strike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (40) Multi Strike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance

• (A) Healing
• (42) Healing
• (42) Healing
• (42) Recharge Reduction
• (43) Recharge Reduction

• (A) Accuracy
• (43) Accuracy IO
• (43) Accuracy IO
• (45) Recharge Reduction
• (45) Recharge Reduction
• (45) Damage Increase IO

• (A) Healing
• (46) Endurance Modification
• (46) Empty

• (A) Endurance Reduction
• (46) Endurance Reduction

• (A) Endurance Reduction
• (48) Recharge Reduction
• (48) Recharge Reduction
• (48) Recharge Reduction

• (A) Endurance Reduction IO
• (50) Endurance Reduction IO

• (A) Flight Speed IO
• (50) Flight Speed
• (50) Flight Speed

• (A) Range

• (A) Accuracy

• (A) Empty

• (A) Recharge Reduction

Alrighty *cracks knuckles*, I'll give you a quick and dirty rundown.

I've been playing a Claws/Regen scrapper consistently for over 6 years now, and I've put together some pretty good builds, so I'd like to think I have some idea what I'm talking about at this point. I'll probably end up breaking my advice down into several posts, as I'm posting during break times at work.

First off, you don't need to take the Fitness pool anymore. Everyone gets the whole pool for free at level 2. You didn't mention whether you were aware of that or not, so I'm just throwing it out there.

Your power layout looks fine, if you're happy with it it can stay as-is. With a couple caveats.

1) You REALLY want the Fighting pool. Don't slot Boxing unless you want to mule it (more on that later). Slot Tough with 4 Reactive Armor and a Steadfast Protection Res/Def.

2) I would not take Hover on this build. If you need vertical mobility you can get a jet pack in the Shadow Shard for 10,000 influence.

3) Swap Assault for Maneuvers.

4) YOU WANT MOMENT OF GLORY!!!!(!). Seriously, it's literally a moment of glory now. It only lasts 15 seconds, but it caps your resistance and shoots your defense higher than you will ever need for that 15 seconds. It's a good "Oh crap" button, and it gives Regen an ability it otherwise lacks: The ability to take an alpha strike. (the first mass attack of a group of enemies).

So, the first thing you should do is change those 4 things. The rest of the build is set up pretty good. Just some slotting considerations, which I will touch on when I take my next break, as I am running out of time on this one.

Okay, here's the bit on slotting. I'll explain why I would slot things a certain way if it doesn't seem to make sense.

Regen wants 2 things above all else: Recharge and additional defense. My slotting advice will help you acquire both. Your recharge goal is at least 55% in global recharge bonuses, with 3 slotted Hasten you will have perma-Dull Pain with that amount.

1)Strike: Slot 4 Kinetic Combat in here. It will give you 3.75% Smashing and Lethal defense. Take the 2 slots you've saved and put them somewhere else.

"But Claws, wouldn't it make more sense to slot for melee defense, since that's where I'll be most of the time?"

No. I'll explain why. Regen has exactly 0% defense debuff resistance. That means any defense debuffing attacks that hit you will debuff you for the full amount of the debuff. The single most common defense debuffing attack in the entire game is machine gun fire. And there is a LOT of it. If you slot for Melee defense instead of Smashing/Lethal, what will happen is you'll engage a group in melee, and their buddies that didn't close to melee will spray you with bullets, which will probably hit you since you don't have much in the way of ranged defense. End result: The machine guns will strip away all that melee defense you built up, and it will do it pretty much unopposed. If you slot for S/L defense instead, those machine guns will have a harder time hitting you. Your defense will still get debuffed, but it won't happen nearly as fast.

1)Fast Healing: Slotted okay as-is. 2 Numina's Convalescence will give you an additional 12% passive regen. I like building for passive regen, others disagree. Up to you whether you want to or not.

2)Slash: Pull one slot out of it and go 4x Kinetic Combat and an Achilles Heel Chance for -Res. 20% chance for a 20% resistance debuff every time you use the attack. nice addition of damage over time.

4)Reconstruction: Pull a slot and put 5x Doctored Wounds in there. It gives you a 5% recharge bonus.

6)Hasten: Take 2 of those 4 slots you saved and put them in Hasten. You want it 3 slotted, and preferably with 5xBoosted enhancements (more on that later).

8)Quick Recovery: Slotted okay as-is. I like using Performance Shifter in it. Including the Chance for +End.

10)Dull Pain: Number of slots is fine. Put 5x Doctored Wounds here as well.

I just noticed you skipped Spin. HUGE MISTAKE! Spin is one of the best PBAoE attacks available to ANY scrapper primary. Fit it in your build and you will not regret it.

12)Follow Up: 4x Kinetic Combat and 2x Rectified Reticle. Adds a bunch of S/L defense.

14)Super Speed: You don't need that many slots here. Now that you get Swift for free, you only need the default slot.

16)Integration: I like at least 2 Numina's Convalescence here. Regen bonus. If you don't care about regen bonuses it's slotted fine how it is. Put an End Reduction in teh last slot.

18)Focus: Pull a slot and put 5x Decimation in here for the 6.25% recharge bonus it gives you. This one can be upgraded to a purple set if you can afford it eventually.

20)Resilience: I'd slot 4x Reactive Armor in here. 1.25% S/L defense bonus is what you want it for.

22)Boxing: You can slot 4 Kinetic Combat here as a "set mule" if you like. if you don't have the slots to spare you should leave it blank and remove the power from your tray. You won't be using it.

24)Tough: 4 Reactive Armor here as well. You can put a Steadfast Protection Res/Def in here too, and I would.

26)Eviscerate: I'd slot either A) 6x Obliteration -or- 3x Scrapper's Strike and 3x Eradication.

28)Instant Healing: 5x Doctored Wounds.

30)Weave: 3 Luck of the Gambler. Including the 7.5% Recharge one.

That's all I have time for now. I'll finish up with the rest of the build later.

Okay, here's the rest of what I was going to say.

32)Shockwave: I don't currently have this on my build, but it is a good power for a regen to buy a few seconds of breathing room to heal. You only need 5 slots in it, and Posi's Blast is the cheaper option. This one is a candidate for eventual purple slotting as well.

35)Maneuvers: This power will give you a little more defense. The more defense you can acquire from powers, the less you have to rely on set bonuses. 3 Luck of the Gambler should go in here.

38)Moment of Glory: I explained why this is a good power a couple posts up. It gives you 15 seconds of virtual invincibility. The only thing that will kill you during that span is a Psionic attack that can one or two shot you faster than you can react with a heal. This should get a Luck of the Gambler +7.5% Recharge and 2 generic recharge IOs.

41)Combat Jumping: I would put this power in the build much sooner, but it can go here if you never plan on exemping down for things. I'd slot a LotG +Recharge, a Kismet +Acc, and a Winter's Gift Slow Resistance.

44)Focused Accuracy: Slot 2 Rectified Reticle in this. You should not be running this power full time, only\ when you actually need it to hit consistently.

47)Physical Perfection: Yeah, more regeneration and recovery seems like overkill on a Regen, but I like LOTS of passive regen. This power should mostly be used as a mule for things like Numina's Convalescence +Reg/+Rec and Regenerative Tissue +Regen. It will take another Performance Shifter +End as well.

49)Tactics: 2 Rectified Reticle in this one, and an end reduction if you plan on running it at all.

Health should get a slot or two, and should be slotted like other passive regen powers. You can slot Stamina exactly like you slotted Quick Recovery.

Incarnate-wise, only Alpha and Destiny have powers that are better for Regen.

Alpha should be Spiritual for the recharge and healing boost. (It works just like slotting an SO in a power, if the power will accept an SO of the things it boosts, it will boost that power).

You could also make a case for Vigor or Agility, but Spiritual has the best combination of effects for Regen.

Destiny is a toss-up. You could go with Ageless for the recharge, Rebirth for the heal and regeneration, or Barrier for the defense and resistance. I went with Rebirth, but any of the 3 will work.

The other 3 (Interface, Lore, and Judgement) don't really have any powers that are better or worse for Regen. Go with whatever sounds cool here. I like Reactive or Degenerative for Interface, but just about anything will work.

Hope that helps you wrap your head around what's changed for Claws/Regen scrappers!

I'm considering writing an actual guide for this combo pretty soon, since I've been giving the same advice to a lot of people lately. Having a guide I can point people to will save me some typing.

Thanks, that is a ton of excellent info and a very firm ground for a rebuild. I started with this guy, and loved him to fifty, but it was a long time ago and I was intimidated on bringing him back to incarnate, now I have to dive back in and get him humming again!

No problem at all man.

I love Claws/Regen as a combo, and I like helping people make theirs as good as they can be. It's very underrated in what it can pull off.

I'm going to attempt some scrapper craziness once I get my build finalized the way I want it. Keep an eye out for future posts.

I'm assuming it's just personal preference...but why is spin left out of the OP build and why is there no mention of it from CaE?

I ask because I just started out a Claws character and Spin is what sold me on the set.

No idea how it missed it originally, it was years ago. Claws and Effect does mention and I made a slot for it and have been using it. I am all respeced out, now just starting the process of getting all my sets done.