InvaderStych

Dmg Auras work as a kludge-taunt sometimes by adding "threat" from dmg, Beta Decay from /Rad may not actually have a taunt, but it does draw attention (debuff threat). AAO from /SD, I believe has a taunt component as well. In the current beta some of those powers are getting the ability to slot taunt sets, but not Beta Decay. IIRC at this point the only secondaries where this is an issue are /SR and /Nin. The latter, arguably, has a thematic reason to not have one.

I wonder if part of the problem with the unintended Teleport thing would be that we could suddenly teleport "destructable" objectives (Gun/Drug crates, Demon Portals, and so forth) or even regular "Glowie" objectives away from (or towards in the case of target-ables that explode and dmg mobs) the mobs guarding them .... Either way, I'm in the "Lets figure out a way to 'port Bosses" camp, for sure. 😄 Edit: Just read your sig line Doc, "Consensus Reality" is my new phrase of the week.

Not exactly, no. Bodyguard mode MM's can off-tank and debuff, but they lack the taunt control of a Tank. A tank with debuffs as a secondary effect from their primary and secondary (Dark/Rad, for example) could do some "support" via those debuffs, but they wouldn't be very strong and would be limited in stacks and duration - rendering them somewhat moot against hard targets (AVs/GMs). For example, Radiation Therapy has a minor -regen debuff baked in, but it is minor enough (at least on my Scrapper) that it's not worth calculating into tactics when soling AVs. Nothing is going to come close to Defender debuff numbers though. IIRC even Controllers can't match them from their respective secondaries, although Ill/Rad is a classic off-tank/debuff monster, so YMMV. As to the question of "why a Scrapper instead of a Tank/Brute," my personal answer is because I find it more fun/engaging, and when one of my Scrappers is the Only Toon Standing during an otherwise team-wipe, that's just awesome sauce smothered over a bowl of awesome.

IMO: The speed buff stacking from /Nin Shinobi is a very nice and thematic QoL trade-off for a set that lacks a "taunt aura" for Scrappers. Never even noticed that it did not stack +jump with CJ. I just defaulted to running both for the brief moment I was running that toon on Live.

This. Dark/Rad/Soul Just about no problems, but under heavy de-buffs /Rad still gets in over its head. Soloing DA arcs I learned quickly to take down the BP radiation bosses immediately on sight. PPD Awakened will eat your lunch in large groups. Soloing +4x8 Cims is my current challenge - once I get back into game again. As scrappers go though, I don't remember having any more durable than my Kat/Rad. Which doesn't say a ton - there are oodles of better builders an players than I on these boards, lol. But a Soul Drain fed Ground Zero inside Meltdown sounds just downright delicious. Zero End Problems with this route as well. As long as you don't expect the same HP pool, Absorb pool from PS, and resist cap, then no, definitely not. Love my Kat/Rad and on teams I tend to try to stay just ahead of the flow, soak an alpha or two, drop big AoE, if I do end up in trouble the team has caught up long before it becomes an issue.

Obviously that is because ...

Quick question, and apologies if it has been asked and answered in the last 13 pages*: What is the reasoning behind disallowing Taunt sets on Scrapper Beta Decay? The Scrapper versions of RttC, AAO, Entropic Aura, and Invincibility are all getting taunt sets (and many thanks for that, btw), why not Beta Decay? Similar question, to a lesser degree, on Scrapper Evasion and Integration although I could see not wanting a taunt from those, thematically, on a Scrapper. Edit' * = I did a search in this thread for "Beta Decay" and came up empty, but since that didn't find the phrase in the OP spoiler block my seach-fu may have failed.

Yup, also, when Insight is up it extends the Hold duration. I want to say long enough to start stacking Mag, but controls aren't my strong suit. It does mean getting to slot two epic procs as Camel's build demonstrates.

Unpopular opinion: I'd rather see Combat Teleport offer no secondary bonus at all (teleport and universal travel sets only) and have it's activation/animation/execution pacing sped up. I like the pacing as of the last time I logged into beta (build 2), but a touch faster would be even better, imnsho. We can argue thematic positions back and forth until the end of time because that's subjective, but the bottom line for me is that if it gets any slower than it is right now I'll most likely never use it at all, which would be highly disappointing. I'd rather the focus be on what the power does, not what secondary bonus it confers or what sets it can slot. Please don't mistake this for a position on min/max building, because I'm talking about maxing something that isn't necessarily reflected in raw numbers or set bonuses: Mobility. I know I keep harping on this, but I'm 10000000% firmly against any change to the secondary effects that leads the devs to decide to slow down the pace for "balance" and until I see a Dev/GM post (or similar in upcoming patch notes) unequivocally stating that there is no intention of doing so I'll keep dropping by to repeat myself. 😄 Even the slightest bit slower and CT becomes useless on fast paced teams and less effective as a mobility tool than just using CJ to get from point to point. It would also lose a large amount of the fun factor. Please understand that when someone asks me IRL what is the "one superpower I would want" the answer is, and always has been, "Teleportation" with zero hesitation in my reply. And I've never been happy with the implementation of Teleport in CoX until CT hit beta with this issue. The travel power itself is too slow, clunky, and annoying to use. Tried several times to get into it, and I just can't. CT, in contrast, instantly invoked the "ShutUp And Take My Money" reflex from the first click. So, please, Devs, please, please, please do not slow down Combat Teleport. Please. 😄 I'll wash your car. I'll do your windows. Hell, I'll make you a freaking delicious batch of blueberry corn muffins. Name your bribe! 😄

Validation! I'll have to comb back through the couple threads - I think I missed those posts. 😄

Yeah, took a couple stabs at the regular-weight (no buff/de-buff settings) +4x8 ITF with the Kat/Rad as he stands, and it's just about too intense for my clumsy hands on this 15" laptop. 🤣 It's like the ad I clipped out of an mountain bike magazine years ago when I used to ride every weekend. "Maybe it's not your bike that needs the tune-up." I'm still convinced that a Scrapper in the right hands could pull off the "heavyweight" challenge, just not so sure that those hands happen to be mine! 🤣 And yet, I'll probably give it several more goes with various Scraps as time goes by. Choose a side? Scrapper. That's my side. 😉 To paraphrase the great Bruce Campbell .. "Defense? Resistance? I'm the Guy with the DAMAGE!"

Yes, if max survive-ability is the goal, definitely go Tank. GZ on a tank with the recent buffs they got to AoE radius is utterly insane. Huge target Cap, Huge Radius, Huge Damage, gotta love it. I was going for max damage. With Meltdown, Assault Core (T4, fully stacked), Gaussianed Build-up, and misc set bonuses he can come close to the scrapper damage cap without insps. It was easier with the Villain alignment power (the only useful alignment power, imo) but had to drop that when he went back to Blue. I should probably re-post that build into my own thread for improvements, but it'll be a while before I could rebuild him anyway. Psi definitely needs AoE from another source. Preferably with some soft control if one is pairing with a resist set on a scrapper. I'd love to see Boggle dropped for some sort of AoE (pb or targeted, maybe give it the treatment that Touch of Fear is getting in the current Beta), but that's also another thread, lol. That build is also getting a couple points of +def to all from "Blessing of Tikilu" or however her name is spelled. (Acquired from DA arc) I think that gets shut off with other temp powers for iTrials and challenges though. It was definitely stronger than my Psi/SD is in the early 40s-mid 40s (same slot-as-go approach). She's faltering on Tina/Maria AVs where the Kat/Rad powered through on the backs of the various clicks (RT, PS, SM, Meltdown, etc). I also suspect that Psi/ has an accuracy/hit-roll problem beyond the difference between base accuracy for weapon/non-weapon sets. But I have no data to back that up. Also, if you are moving fast, it is way too easy to trigger ML before you are actually in range of targets and have it fire where you were instead of where you land - missing everyone.

As a general matter of course, not really. DA comes into play against debuffs, the occasional AV fight that last too long, and occasionally certain groups at +4 (usually ones that debuff, lol). I suppose if I really wanted to push my playtime into the realm of extreme difficulty ... all the time ... it would see more use. You are, however, absolutely correct, it does make a difference; when I need it, it's there. Psi's only equivalent would be to spam ML for the knock-up, but without a second, similar power it's tough to lean on that for protection. Downtime for SM inside hasten, before accounting for Beta Decay and Force Feedback buffs is ~37s, which isn't super long until you're *really* in need of it, heh. Originally I didn't want to sacrifice utility in powers like RT for set bonuses. I know, I know, lots of people are all "RT is a nuke!" but not really, only if you fill it with procs. I'd rather take the heal. I recently changed my slotting on RT (build below shows current) to fiddle around with maxing recharge (dropping proc rate) and some dmg procs, but I am not happy with it, and will probably go back to focusing it on heal/recharge like I do with PS. I did proc the ba-jeebus out of GZ though, because why would I not. 🤪 I lean very heavily on the +Absorb/etc from PS slotted to max out the absorb/recharge as well as firing RT often - even without targets it still heals for some - and carry Rebirth (+regen side, even if it's broken because it can be resisted, which is weak sauce, imo) as an additional heal. I want to do more fiddling with iPower options (Hybrid Melee +def looks interesting but initial ITF solo tests did not show good results), but time isn't really available at the moment. When I am in game right now I'm either leveling Psi/SD or playing around with Combat Teleport on Beta. Also, easy to forget - not a tank, not a brute - sometimes I have to play things more carefully when solo, and some stuff I'm still going to need a team (Mot showdown comes to mind) to get through. In fairness, the build on that toon is still a bit of a mess, and it is more of an AV hunter than a +4x8 challenge soloist - so YMMV depending on your goals. It could definitely be improved, but I'd still go the ToE +End/Shadow Meld route even if I added more defense. At that point SM would become a debuff shedding tool just like Avalanche. But to address the original pseudo-question, yes. Resistance sets on Scrappers aren't as numerically good as they are on Brutes/Tanks because of the obvious reasons, but that's what also makes them interesting to play, imo. I've been reticent to post this because it is such a mess. Assume the common Recharge IOs are boosted to +5 (can't get that to work in Mids for some reason, I click the + per instructions but nothing happens) as is the A/R epic in GZ. Hamis are set to ++, fwiw. Kick is slotted as an oh-shit button for situations where I'm under extreme recharge debuffs and need to bring those back down, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Disclaimer to the general audience: I do not recommend copying my build - but I definitely recommend Meld on top of /Rad armor as a tactical choice. I'd really like to see what players who can actually build properly could do with the combo, but that's a topic for a different thread. Hope some of this helps. When I rolled Psi, Rad was my first thought for armor. (Meltdown + Insight + <Crit> GPB, are you kidding me?) I decided go to /SD though because I never rolled that on a Scrapper in the old days and wanted to try it out.

Scrapper. Elec/Rad/<Blaze, Mu, or Soul to taste/needs> Lightning Rod -> Ground Zero -> Rad Therapy -> (Epic AoE if applicable) -> (commence cleanup) -> Repeat for profit. Love /SD and Scrapper Shield Charge is bonkers, but the self-heal and recovery tools on top of strong resists in /Rad are excellent for soloing QoL on a Scrapper.

I tend to roll through toons, but that one was as close to a "main" as I got after CoV launched. Part of that was timing. It hit 50 right when Interface was GAWDMODE and proc'd on every tic of an aura or rain. Yeah, it was an exploit, but it was ludicrous fun while it lasted. Honestly, even after they fixed it, the toon was still a beast. Which is funny because I am probably better at building now than I was then.

Played the ba-jeebus out of mine back in the Before Times. All the AoE, All the time. Mine recently hit her 40s. So much fun. Psi gets more hate than it deserves. I've been running power analyzer on things to see what *really* resists Psi, and what doesn't. Did you know that Neuron's and Anti-Matter's Clockwork mobs don't resist Psi? Most "Bots" have around 60% resist, but not all of them, apparently. That said, between the tons smashing (ML and TKB + SC if you go /SD) and the -Res proc in ML and they go down like an inappropriate metaphor. All that said, Kat/Rad is the new Kat/Dark. Sorry @Werner, but I had to say it. 🤣

Drop the Energy Pool: /Rad doesn't need additional endurance management. Go Theft of Essence +End in RT, go Shadow Meld for alpha-soaking defense, use PS on cooldown for the extra +recovery if you still need it. ML->GZ->RT->Cleanup Bosses. Rinse, Repeat, Profit. My Kat/Rad floats around the mid 20s M/R/A defense, dropping Meld gets to near-as-makes-no difference to soft-cap. RT heals, PS for extra HP (796 more at the scrapper cap), and high resists generally make up for the SM downtime for most situations.

Mostly agreed. Less so on the "grrr" part, more so because I think the the +to-hit is more thematic: "Surprise!!!" "Thwack!" Subjective reasoning: Suddenly appear in front of a hero/villain and they might be able to maintain enough composure to swing back at you successfully, but their "active defenses" (in a narrative sense, not toggles and whatnot) won't have kicked in before you get off your first shot. It's like a sucker-punch. The hero/villain getting hit will probably be able to swing back (no def bonus), but the hero/villain swinging is very likely to land that unexpected hit (+to-hit). Also, my animal brain whispers to me that if they switch it to slot Def IOs they'll feel the need to "balance" it by slowing it down. And that's a hard no from me. 😄 Of course I am willing to admit that the preceding is wild conjecture based on animal brain trying to trick me into getting all defensive about something that really isn't that crucial: just really, really, really fun, lol.

FWIW, the teleport pool is undergoing changes in the near future. Of course it might be a while, but since you're designing around concept this info might help long term plans. For example, Recall Friend and TP Foe are being merged. Discussion thread: Build 2 patch notes copy pasta for the basic rundown:

Gah, of course, RD's Scaling piece. Yeah, that makes a lot more sense. Thanks!

Thanks for posting that. I saved it for /SD slotting reference if you don't mind. 🙂 It'll take a while for me to digest though. I'd ask what these 'Amplifiers' are that ppl keep mentioning, but I'm just gonna go log into game in a minute and look anyway, lol. I'm not sure I understand this right, what's the relationship between Resistance and HP? I've never thought about it like that. I'm also not terribly versed in Tanks, but this seems to be the De Facto (is that the right one?) Solo ITF Challenge thread, so I enjoy following it, heh. Lots of other gems in that paragraph, too. Particularly the attack chain stuff, X<Attack A> = Y<attack B> = Z<Attack C>. Figuring out an optimal pattern overall before it goes into muscle memory, or something. Ok, I'm rambling. 😄

One of the last toons I rolled on Live was a /Regen Brute. My memory is fuzzy, but IIRC it made the Keyes trial a lot easier for some reason. Not that many folks are running Keyes these days. Been meaning to circle back to another one, but I can't decide on a Primary. Maybe when the NRG/ changes go live ... NRG/Regen might be interesting.

Heck, I'm still trying to figure out how *anyone* pulls it off under the Buffed/De-buffed rules. Madness. 😄

I have a Psi/SD that gets regular BU+Gaussians+AAO Stacks+Insight Crits with GPB that are approaching that number (not on +4s, to be fair), though those might have been preceded by FotG -Res. ... and she's just dinged 39 recently. Should be insane when post-50 and built.

If I may paraphrase the great Ron Swanson ... "I don't know how much money I have, but I know how many Kilograms of money I have."