Deuce Spade

Just popping in to say I started an Ice/Ice brute and frost is ezmode leveling with fury bonuses. I didn't really mean to keep leveling this toon, but it's too fun to stop.

All good advice,. I see people skip Parasitic Aura on builds, so many feel the same as you. I think it's the strongest survivability tool /bio has. Slotted with five Panacea (my standard loadout) and fully saturated, it gives just under 1000% regen. That won't save you if you hit it once things have gone south, but it's an awesome opening move in a +4/8 spawn (and you've built for layered defenses, obviously). With decent +recharge, it's up more than half the time.

If you open Mids and go to View Totals, check out debuff resistance. That's why I don't like Nin anymore, at least for endgame. When you could run around like a ninja on crack it was almost worth it, but now I can't think of a reason to choose it over EA. SR will be better than either at debuff resist, and by quite a bit, but you won't have the heal or endurance management tools.

Just some general things that jump out - 50% crit proc in Atom Smasher is great when mobbing, less so on single hard targets. I usually like to put it in my longest recharge single target attack, Devastating Blow in this case, and use that before my AOE rotation. It works very well on my rad/bio, but others advocate exactly the approach you're taking here. Try it yourself and see - unslotters aren't that expensive. Your global recharge is fine when you first hit Ageless, but may prove to be a little anemic as the buff gradually wears off. Spiritual is giving you a lot here, and with Ageless you'll still be perma-hasten. If you find your rotations seem sluggish, you might try finding some more recharge bonuses. Build looks good though, you should wreck stuff pretty well with this.

@Outrider_01 Yeah, I took one to 50 in early 2020, back when hemorrhage was *awesome* on a stalker. It's still a decent toon, but not as good as before. I had hoped hemorrhage wasn't borked across ATs, and that brute might make it work, but apparently not.

I'm not sure even changing a major portion of the damage to be frontloaded would make a difference. It needs to hit harder. If the expenditure of blood frenzy was worth something substantial, it might be more attractive. That looks like where it could see some benefit in a redesign - whether you frontload the damage or keep the dot, make max BF worth spending. Crushing Uppercut seems to get about 25% boost of total damage after bonuses for combo level 3. Hemorrhage gets 14% bonus if you assume my example was flawed and give it the larger value for the last tick. Worse, the 14% is *entirely* applied at the end of the dot, so is likely to occur after mob death, even solo.

So after typing all that, I went and grabbed an old lvl 50 SM/Bio brute I'd scavenged the IOs out of and tested vs. Possessed Scientists in PI. All were level 50, and all my powers were unslotted. My first attack was hemorrhage, to see what it did without blood frenzy and rage. The initial hit was 35.17, with five ticks of 15.08 after, for a total of 110.57 unenhanced damage. Once I realized I should turn on a couple of defensive toggles to keep from being mezzed, I finished him off and built fury on another, then charged over and whacked a third with roughly 70% fury and no other enhancement. The initial hit was 91.92, with five ticks of 45.73 after, for a total of 320.57. I used Mids for comparison, since other powersets have the damage spelled out. Assuming those numbers are close to correct, we get: Greater Fire Sword, unenhanced 124.2, 298.1 at 70% fury. At this point I see I'm not comparing apples to apples, as hemorrhage has a lower start and higher finish. I only have vigor alpha and degenerative running on the brute, but there must be some other damage bonus I'm not seeing or a mistake in the Mids info. I decide to pull out another brute with no damage-related incarnates running and compare organically, so my StJ/Inv comes out of retirement for a little PI action. After convincing one helpful hero that I'm not actually dying, just trying to run a test, I manage to find a group of Possessed Scientist minions and start my experiment. Crushing Uppercut doesn't land before I generate fury from their attacks, so my baseline is off, but I can get the top number and come back. Getting to exactly 70% fury proves to be problematic, as I have to rely on their attacks for most of it so there will be minions to swing at when I'm finally ready, but I manage it with one left. Crushing Uppercut...misses. F*** this. Going back to SM/Bio, I get almost exactly the same numbers at 70% fury, 92.75, with ticks of 47.27. Next, I let blood frenzy max out, and try to time hemorrhage to hit at 70% fury. Exhausting, I get somewhat close, with an initial hit of 96.7 and six ticks, four of 52.37 and two of 48.71. Odd. Does that mean hemorrhage checks current damage bonus with each tick, or maybe with the bonus tick (though all previous were five identical, and previous 5 blood frenzy hemorrhage gave me six identical ticks). My crappy methodology notwithstanding, it seems like we can make a few assumptions about hemorrhage from these results. 1. Hemorrhage is fairly endurance efficient on a brute. The dot takes several seconds to play out, and you could fit in a number of attacks in that time that totaled more damage, but you'd spend a lot more endurance doing it. Also, one hemorrhage plus those other attacks equals more overall damage in the same timespan, as it seems to be the heaviest hitting single target attack in the set by a slim margin. 2. Spending five stacks of blood frenzy on hemorrhage is a big fat waste, assuming I haven't made a mistake. If the ticks happen faster with + recharge or something it could make a big difference, but based on this test being accurate, you get way more mileage out of rending flurry, or even just maintaining your +recharge in a single target situation. 3. Hemorrhage seems like it would make a difference on hard targets that take some time to bring down, but may not be worth the extra blood frenzy management.

I've been looking around through old threads, and I can't find a place where anyone has looked at hemorrhage's performance with fury-boosted bleeds. I've read @Frosticus's excellent (though now dated) stalker SM guide, and I wonder if anything similar has been done for brutes? Basically, I'd like to know if I can save testing time on this. I suspect some of the hemorrhage hate comes down to how unsatisfying bleed damage is vs. seeing the big hit, but when I've tried it in the past I experienced the same sad trombones. Anyone have solid info on this?

And you have the speed boost in the secondary to help chase down all the runners!

Looks like a fairly sturdy build. You might consider trading Ageless Core for Ageless Radial so you can hang on to some of that defense in endgame. I find it's great against major debuff mobs like Carnies and Arachnos. I usually build for more regen and recharge on a /bio scrapper. If you want to keep your unconventional slotting on DNA siphon (most people either make it a proc bomb or a regen workhorse), you might +5 the heal enhancement to give yourself a little extra boost. You could also switch to Spiritual alpha and gain some more regen at the cost of a couple % def. In general, I don't think this much investment into s/l defense on a /bio scrapper is efficient, but you've done a good job of it, and if it works for you that's all that matters.

Thanks, that wasn't on my radar.

I just made a new tank as referenced in the thread title, and the guy is a blast. I hadn't tried SR on a tank before, and it's really something how quickly the character comes together. You need so few slots for the primary you can really focus on offense, which is nice. Any tips from experienced SR/ tanks on slotting? I'm 34 atm, and already have most of the uniques in the build. What I'm looking for is specific unusual slotting choices that may not be readily obvious that might eek out a little more resist/hp max/regen.

@sovera I like your choice of Intuition in the alpha, very creative. I've used Synapse Shock in both DNA and Parasitic before, and I do love the +rchg and rchg resist. I don't think the +end is overkill, depending on whether you want to skip ageless. Barrier adds some much needed survivability on a /bio scrapper. Rotating dna/parasitic I can keep my end where it needs to be without slotting for it, but if you miss one or get distracted, Synapse Shock is a nice buffer. My ice/bio scrapper is only 42, as I gave up on him last year, but I geared him up and ran a couple missions with the ice patch as you suggested. On the scrapper it didn't make much difference for survivability for me, as I do slot DNA syphon and Parasitic Aura for regen. When slotting Synapse Shock, I usually go five slots then add a +5 heal IO in the 6th. The en/ne resist is good, but mine is so anemic on a /bio that I figure jacking up the regen is a better bet, Ice Patch worked well enough, though, that I'm dying to fit it in on my stalker. One more anti-runner tool would be welcome. Watching those wolves bounce around instead of going for a jog is very satisfying. I'm leveling on +2/8 with the ice/bio scrapper, and the damage feels a little light to me, as it did the first time around. Your suggestion to skip GIS worked out well enough, and maybe adding in the procs at 50 will turn it around.

Regarding the ice/bio combination, the minimum setting /bio effects actually look really good for a change if you color them white for a snow theme.

@Sovera gotcha. I never use breath or combustion, and while I said "across all melee ATs" I mainly use it on Scrappers, with some Brutes and even a Stalker, so Combustion is a tanker/blaster/dominator cross to bear. Fire Sword Circle feels like one of the best AOEs out there for scrappers, but I don't have anything other than anecdotal evidence. As for single target damage, scrapper FM also seems better rather than worse than most sets, EM clearly better and maybe Mace on a bio toon with the -res. Again, just my perception, and I'd guess someone has the numbers out there to prove me wrong. You've inspired me to have another look at my ice/bio scrapper tho. I always skipped ice patch, will give it a try.

I enjoyed my ice/bio, but I found that it works better, for me at least, on a stalker. I don't mind trading GIS for AS one bit :-). I don't understand the anti-fire sentiment though. I love the set. Probably my fav across all melee ATs.

I hate to be that guy, but by solo-friendly do you mean ease of use, or the one that handles most content effectively, or does the most damage or other? Literally any scrapper can solo well, so I'd just choose the sets that interest you most. I just leveled a Kinetic Melee scrapper to 50, which many would consider the worst performing set, and he was a blast. For ease of use combined with effectively handling the most content, maybe something like FM/EA? Fire damage will be less resisted than S/L, and it's easy to cap typed defenses (other than psi), You get a great heal and great endurance management. If you just want the most damage, it will be something/bio. EM/Bio for the best single target and OK AOE, or Rad/Bio for almost the best of everything.

Nice build, though there are a few unconventional choices. In the end, if it works for you, it's great, and you've accomplished the majority of things you want in an endgame survivable build. I would suggest getting buildup much earlier, since it's key to stalker damage with the ATO proc and will be invaluable while exemping down. I'd put the hide ATO set in Assassin's Strike, since anywhere else it can make your AS fire slow and interrupt your attack chain. I prefer Shadow Maul to Touch of Fear, but that's just personal preference. You might look for some space for more key IOs in your build, like Kismet +acc, the Panacea hp/end proc and the two damage resist DEF procs. You could get one by replacing the Synapse's Shock set with Reactive Defenses. You don't need more endurance, but you could use some more DEF, and that gives you the scaling RES IO too. Also, you have two too many LotG 7.5% rchg, so getting rid of that one won't hurt you any. Check out Window>Sets & Bonuses in MIDs to see where you've gone over with set bonuses. To get pickier (take all with a grain of salt and do what you like, the build is good already), I think you could do better than the Crushing Impact. Even with Reactive Defenses and Energy Drain fully saturated, you're still a few points off incarnate content def soft cap, which may or may not be important to you. The HP increase bonus is also conflicting with your Aegis set, so is inactive in two of those. Have a look and see if you can lose 15% recharge for more survivability. Kinetic Combat and Superior Blistering Cold might be a good start, and your NE def could use some bumping too. Have fun! *edit* you can free up some slots by losing Shadow Punch (won't need it for your attack chain with this much recharge), and you can lose one slot in Hasten if you +5 the other two.

Six slot Irradiated Ground with procs (I used to go four damage/two -res, but things die so fast with Rad Melee that I switched to six damage - you might switch out a couple -res when facing hard targets). Put the Critical Strikes proc (I use the whole set there) in Devastating Blow so you can use it with AOE and single target. Use that, then follow up with Atom Smasher on AOE. You might consider working Radiation Siphon into your chain if you feel you need more healing than Hoarfrost and a couple of Chance to Heal Self procs, but I prefer a single target chain with only CS, RSm, and DB. Much more fluid, higher DPA single target than including Radiation Siphon, and I don't need the extra tiny AOE of Proton Sweep, but other chains will be similar DPS.

They'd both be fun and powerful. Probably the WM/DA. I just leveled a Fire/DA, and the lack of taunt aura is unbelievably frustrating on an armor set with a damage aura. You always have runners, and I find myself wanting to punch my monitor.

I didn't try the debuff ageless on my Bio toons until this week, and it does significantly improve them.

All the mentioned secondaries have a taunt aura except Regen, if that's the deciding factor. Taunt auras are a quality of life concern for scrappers, unless you like to chase down people running away from you, which does have some visceral appeal when new to the game. When you have a taunt aura, the bad guys stay and fight you instead of trying to flee, so you can see how that would be convenient. Claws has good area of effect damage, as does Savage Melee, so any secondary should be fine with them. Street Justice is a little anemic where area damage is concerned, so you might consider a secondary with some additional AOE if you go that direction. Radiation Armor has two AOE attacks in the secondary that become very powerful when slotted with damage procs, so that might be a good pairing. If you like the idea of damage procs in AOE powers, Savage/Rad would give you three devastating proc bombs. (check this link for more info on damage procs and how they work) Note that strong AOE isn't necessary to play the game, but min/maxxers tend to favor it for clear speed. Purely for style, Street Justice/Inv has my vote. Until scrappers get super strength, that's Luke Cage.

Or you could adjust the base damage of SS and turn Rage into a To Hit buff, or you could just give SS to scrappers with build up replacing Rage. There are probably plenty of ways you could come at this. I agree the crash sucks, and it has killed any interest in SS for me until it changes somehow. On a slightly different note, it seems a shame that there are so many iconic scrappers in the comics who do have super strength and we have to make due with STJ (though thank goodness that option is there).

Some people think it works exactly as it should for a scrapper, to be fair. I'm in the opposite camp. The poster means that no taunt aura means the mobs flee instead of staying next to you, so your damage aura and burn, especially, aren't the AOE powerhouses they are on other melee characters.

I like PA because it lets you skip Ageless incarnate. You open with PA, then drain the corpses with DNA siphon. Hit DNA siphon as the next mob dies, and then PA is ready again should you need it. The amount of regen it provides shouldn't be overlooked. It's a fairly decent "oh shit" button.