Ruby Rocket

Yeah, Steamrolling teams are usually my "pick up groups"... I find that I just play support at that point. Dump the pets and just buff/debuff. I have that problem with any toon with pets, except the pets that need to be recast constantly; like Tornado, Lightning, Phantom Army, Spectoral Terror, Water Spout, or Haunt.

Ninjas and beasts should always be the fastest pets, and I wouldn't mind making Ninjas move like they're permanently-Speed Boosted. But yes... at least have the rest of the pets keep up with a single slotted sprint would be amazing.

So enflame is happening...

Yeah, Kin or Radiation... Accelerate Metabolism would go a long long way! Other than team teleport, are there any pools that might give them a little more giddy-up? I don't want to give up my Storm pets to get a secondary with speed boost.

No Macro or Keybinds, just have them on aggressive/follow or defensive/follow and they are slooooowwwww. Aggressive gets them to attack more reliably than Defensive. Defensive they'll often stand there if I'm already 80% done cleaning up the mob before their arrival.

Ninjas just give their "Zen Pose" when you train them. That's about the only tell next to looking at their status bars. Costume changes are cool, but I don't see how you can improve the look of a Ninja...

I'm having a ton of fun with Necro/Storm. However, I outrun my zombies after nearly every mob just using Sprint. I can literally get 5-6 attacks off before they catch up or even think about attacking. Given that I don't have access to a secondary to boost their movement speed like Accelerate Metabolism or Speed Boost, is there another way to kick them in the butt and get them moving? I was looking into perhaps teleport team, but I'm unsure how well it might work. Will it bring my pseudo pets as well? The other thought I had was to acquire "Fold Space." If I can't speed them up, then I might as well have their meals delivered. I'd love to hear some options for getting my Zombies to pick up the pace. On a side note, has anyone else noticed that Zombies will stand by and watch when enemies are slipping in the Hail Storm, or when the enemy is Held/Stunned... They will literally cease attacking until the target is free'd from status effects, or until you command them to attack that target. You have got to admire their chivalry...

But using Confuse to help kill mobs doesn't strike me as a "Scrappy Scrapper". Those seem more like "Dirty 'Troller tactics." Definitely seems that there isn't going to be enough hard punching or cowbell.

I actually liked the tough Black Whip. Challenging is always a good thing.

A couple of your power choices seem off. Taking Boggle over Concentration (your build-up) seems odd to me. I would probably swap them out so you can have your build-up power. But if you are to use Boggle, you could have stacked it with Blinding Powder. Mental Strike is another one that you may look into dropping for the far more useful Psi Blade Sweep. Scrappers tend to get swarmed only briefly when they're solo, and having a couple AoE attacks would be helpful to mitigate some of the minion pests before the mob scatters to the four winds. Looking at the defense, you look to have plenty of defense if you were to drop maneuvers and tactics for your buildup and Blinding powder... You'd still be in the 44%+ range without Kuji-In Retsu, which in my experience is plenty for even farming +4/8 content with a scrapper. You might want to look at your enhancement slotting too. Your Superior Critical strikes would probably be better served in a quick attack. The 50% to crit proc is a "set up" proc and the next attack in line will be the one that gets the Crit, not the one it's slotted into. The -Resistance debuff from Annihilation could be slotted into Caltrops without losing any real bonus' from your sets, if you were so inclined (heck, go for the gusto and toss in some damage procs... go wild). I have Annihilation -res on a couple of my Ninjas and it is fairly effective. Coercive Persuasion might be a better proc to toss into Boggle, the contagious confusion would make it a pseudo AoE for a little additional clearing power. Energy Manipulator "chance to stun" proc won't do anything in Stamina, since that's self affecting. Tough and Weave are a bit mule heavy to be of much use to you. You're going to run shy on endurance real quick as a scrapper if you are going to be running them in a fight as slotted. If you can squeeze in some endurance reduction, you'll be far happier with the way your Scrapper will play.

With the expansion of IO sets, you shouldn't have much problem getting into 42-46% defense range across the board. I would definitely bring back disruption arrow no matter your play style, it's useful. Mid's isn't being cooperative with export, but here's one that you can play around with. I like Assault Trollers... I fully expect to have my pets go buck wild and argo everything on the map to the point that I get overrun. With EMP Arrow you can add another 12% damage resistance to all and -kb that my Mid's doesn't reflect. You won't be "Capped" but you're gonna be a lot tougher to kill than with just range defense. You can probably get an extra 1% defense by snagging hover, but I don't like flying most of the time; so I opt'd for group invisibility. I took Leviathan because Water Spout... Always wanted to work it into a build, and can't you just see your Phantoms shooting mobs out of the air like skeet? I love Psi mastery for Indomitable Will but you left it out of your build, I would work that mez protection back in for the sheer awesomeness. I haven't used World of Confusion in a long time, have they fixed it so that it's more effective? The mobs used to just laugh at it's mag 2 confuse for 1 second. Phantasm still has 85% damage, and 85% recharge despite short changing him with slots. I have to see if tactics will proc from the rest of the pets other than Phantasm. If so, swap Assault with Tactics with a buildup proc if you like (or grab super jump)... but damage will come once you have stacked your -resist. I usually slot -to hit into spectral terror, he's pretty beastly for flooring accuracy. Saved my bacon more than once on "WILD" pickup teams. Phantom Army is still permanent without Ageless, and I left the buildup proc in there. On Poison Gas Arrow, I dropped the wisp proc into it to see if it might spawn extra pets that you can buff, but you can always kick that slot over to another power. Maybe you could put it into Stamina with the +heath proc for some self healing. defense cap Illusion trick arrow.mxd

I haven't tried one myself, but just tossing things together I came up with a pretty simple build that should make life interesting. I'll have to go back and look at my Shield tank and Scrapper to see what I am forgetting. I don't think you will break hide with Lightning Rod or Shield Charge currently, so those were a given, and high recharge to use them often. I tossed in Water Spout because it's awesome and if you like... it will take every proc in the book for stupid numbers (otherwise just roll with the stupid damage it'll kick out; no harm no foul). Since the Lightning rod and Shield Charge weren't breaking hide, I am curious if the Water Spout might follow suit... if so you'd wipe multiple mobs without being seen. Then Chain induction used to "summon pseudo pet" to do the damage (if I recall correctly), so I slotted it with Hecatomb to see how often that big proc will land as it should have a new roll every enemy. I have a terrible time with Mid's... I generally pay it through and see where I'm strong and lacking by feel. Then I just fine tune with Mid's once I know what issues come up in a fight. Stalkers are very play style based now that they got scrapper buffs. Some people brawl, some do tactical strikes. I like fast paced fights... Stalker - Electrical Melee - Shield Defense.mxd

That's a good question if I can share or not... I'll have to play with Mid's a bit and see why I'm getting export the error. Mac and Mid's aren't playing nice right now.Ruby Rocket.mxd Here is the basic setup for my "All Arounder" (DM/DA). The attack chain is basically Smite, then whatever you want.... Granted the Mobs are generally dead after you fire off your heal and soul drain. But the recharge is so high that you can have Midnight Grasp, Ball Lightning, or Shadow Maul every other attack. If you want to go for a more AoE approach, then drop Siphon Life and get 6 slot Touch of Fear. Move the Scrapper set from Smite to Touch of Fear and backfill Smite with a Mako's Bite or whatever (you won't be using smite anymore). Then your chain can be Touch of Fear, Shadow Maul, Touch of Fear, Ball Lightning, rinse and repeat. Dark Regen can almost "perma" the -resist to entire mobs. I'm sure if you wanted to play with it a little, you could proc the heck out of it for extra damage and the -resist... but things get tight when you want it all. Adrenaline Boost is rather gimmicky, but useful to maintain a damage cap while Assault Core is recharging (if you're so inclined). It's also nice for when you are fighting single opponents to up the damage when you can't fill soul drain. I mean, you can always pop rage and insight, but its a fun power. I'm probably going to drop it for poison vial since the damage cap was easier to reach and maintain than I anticipated. That way I can slot in a second -resist for higher damage numbers. I was also playing with the idea of swapping out Assault Core for Assault Radial since I ride so high on the damage curve... Double Hit, with Crits and capped Damage would make sweet sweet music.

They use the 6 slot because it has a build-up proc, helps with your to-hit, cures 98% of the endurance issues of the power, and gives big defense bonus'. 99% of the time the people that use all 6 are hunting for soft cap defense. You'll find that a lot of people either 1 slot or 6 slot that power depending on where they are getting their defense bonuses from... 2.5% defense is pretty huge. I generally "1 slot" tactics due to having plenty of +To-Hit. My DM/DA has so much +to hit once I got soul drain "perma", that tactics is basically obsolete. A 5 stack of Soul Drain without a +to-hit enhancement will put you into "never miss" territory, a 10 stack un-slotted Soul Drain is over-kill. A good stack of soul drain will even make an un-slotted Cloak of Fear hit. In a large group, I build like 80% +to-hit between soul drain and Adrenaline boost... its silly.

I run a dark/dark scrapper with high recharge. I just dropped a heal/recharge and a -resistance proc from gladiator fury in dark regen. How is the damage slotting it out like that? I wonder if the damage aspect would outpace the -resistance. I spam the crap out of dark regen (mainly because I’m a Scrapper and +4/8 fire farms hurt), but have never really thought of it as an attack worth slotting. It is effective for driving shadow maul from 324 to 368 on a +4 comic con fire farm. I may need to revisit that power while I try to work touch of fear back into my build.

No I did not. All my Dark Armors have been saving citizens before that was an option. Totally missed that update.

Dark Armor toggles are broken down pretty well by damage types. It'd be a rare occasion to have to run them all. However, proper slotting of endurance reductions, a couple Performance Shifter +End proc, and you should have no issues with your endurance. If you're still running SOs you need 2 endurance reductions slotted in everything. If you're using IOs 1 endurance reduction is "OK" with everything but the "heavy users" in your build. Weave, Tough, Obsidian Shield, Dark Regen, and Maneuvers will all need 2. Running Maneuvers and Assault will most definitely crush any hopes of endurance preservation without set bonus' to offset their massive endurance consumption.

/Dark Armor laughs in the face of Sappers and Carnies... "ha ha ha... Your Sapper powers are weak compared to my natural endurance drain!"

I like that theft of essence trick. I might need to add a slot to mine for it. Could be a good way to dump Ageless for something more fun like Clarion Radial or Rebirth Core... 🙂

Maybe something like this? I'm not Dual Blades aficionado, but Dark Armor is a favorite of mine. Just remember Unbreakable Guard is your friend... slot it everywhere you can. The endurance discounts are great with Dark Armor. Got you 43.8% S/L 40% F/C and 50% Melee while bringing your resistances up 77% S/L, 75% F/C, 72% Neg, 70% Psionic. 12pts KB protection (although I don't see much gain after 8pts so you can add back in your flight speed if you want), 16.6% endurance discount, and 66% recharge with minimal changes. I did have to dump Taunt... but you didn't have much slotted to it, so I figured you wouldn't miss it. I tacked on Maneuvers so you can help your Striker out a bit, and got you 10% Pet defense bonus'. You should be pretty tough to kill. As for Dark Regen, I slotted it for recharge following your theme with all the LotG recharges, but it really only needs 2 touch of nictus and I usually toss in a Fury of the Gladiator -Res proc for good measure. If you're looking to canibalize slots, you can steal two or 3 from there to use elsewhere. And yes, you are correct.... there aren't too many people here that play around with Dark Armor, but the 3 that do are magicians (and better than me). You can get a bit more endurance breathing room by adding Vigor or Agility to your Alpha slot, or running Ageless pretty much fixes anything. Agility would almost soft cap S/L/F/C and Melee for you while leaving the rest around 30% and boosting your recovery... just a thought. mids_build DBDA.mxd

Dark Melee/Shield work very well together. Very easy to cap defense and has some really good damage. Dark Melee/Dark Armor for when you want to make sure everything on the map is dead and don't mind that you can't see your toon EVER. I solo GMs with my Dark/Dark. If you go Dark Armor... make sure you get Cloak of Fear so you have something cool to look at (other than the smudge on your screen). You can also pair touch of fear with Cloak of Fear and lock down Bosses and the occasional AV.

Alpha Slot: I like Musculature for extra damage. However, you can use Spiritual for recharge and a boost to your healing. And some more endurance reduction. If you're worried about endurance, Ageless is a blanket patch (the the bonus of +Recharge). Otherwise, I'd suggest Clarion and dump some of the KB protection in your build and salvage a few extra slots for more sets. Hybrid: On a brute, I'd either go with Melee or Assault Radial. Dark armor is very susceptible to defense debuff. Melee would solve that half the time. Also provides some extra KB protection if you're looking to free up some of your slots. My Dark/Dark Scrapper runs at the damage cap 99% of the time by leveraging Musculature, Ageless, and Assault Core with Perma-Soul Drain and Adrenaline Boost (love that power...). It's a blast watching her melt mobs. Dropping lvl 54 Boss' in 4 to 5 punches even when they try heal themselves in combat. Brutes are a little trickier to get to damage cap, but every little bit helps. From what I understand, Assault Radial is the better of the two for damage output on Brutes.

I think you're using too many slots on Dark Regen. Perhaps send a few of those over to Cloak of Darkness, unless you're set on getting the KB protection from Fury of the Gladiator. Dark Regen just needs a little endurance redux and recharge to be epic. I slot mine with 1 Fury of Gladiator -Res and 2 Touch of Nictus, or you can proc it out with the slots you have. Slotting it for Damage on the Brute version isn't going to be a game changer. The Scrapper version does way better base damage. I run 8 pts of KB protection on my Dark/Dark and it seems to be plenty outside of Lord Recluse. You're gonna slip most of the KB attacks anyway, so it'd be quite rare to get knocked off your feet. Here's my current Dark Armor slotting. I have a ton of +to Hit on my toon, so I run Cloak of Fear for the -to hit over Oppressive Gloom. I find it far more useful. From looking at your recharge, I'm assuming that you're looking to work Follow-Up into being permanent in your attack chain. If so you'd have plenty of +to hit to run Cloak of Fear if you'd like. Just a quick thought... If you're wanting more recharge, 5 red fortune in cloak of darkness and 1 LotG gives you like +13% recharge and will give you the extra defense. You can easily peel those slots off Dark Regeneration and still have one of the best heals in the game. Ruby Rocket.mxd

I was wondering just how many Specters you can get out, or if it's limited to the two and will just dismiss and respawn? I was also wondering if Burnout just resets primary and secondary powers once or will do it repeatedly over the 60 seconds? I was curious if I should look to figuring out another respec.

I didn't care much for Radiation Armor. It is really tough, but you need to finesse a lot of Defense out of it so you're not just constantly healing. Heals are great, but it really feels like they put you in a basic death spiral trying to get ahead of the incoming damage with your lower overall hit points. Shield makes a sustained fight a lot easier with it's inherent defense stats.