leeowensoas

BillZ, that's a great lookin build, and I imagine the extra regen will go pretty dang far. What incarnates are you using with that (and did you use hybrid for yourr pylon run)? I'm gonna try and work up a build that uses BF->AV and can let go of some of the recharge chase in exchange for building out resists and regen, but that still keeps enough room in key attacks for some procs. I'll be definitely drawing heavy inspiration from your slotting wisdom here (I always forget about the Shield Wall set bonuses because most PVP sets hide their best bonuses in PVP only). I would admit that my build is at about the bare minimum of what I consider acceptable survivability, and I'd like to make a tankier second build which uses the wonderful slotting freedom of the DB/SR combo to push survivability while still keeping acceptable DPS (though I suspect this goal would work much better on a brute or tanker, as both can still kill AVs quite effectively with BF->AV, and the combo doesn't really need recharge for much of anything if not using the higher recharge attack chains. Further, I've never really explored adding survivability with Incarnates (other than Rebirth kicking Aid Self out of every build ever), because I don't like when my builds can't function without incarnates (like relying on the Barrier 5% to softcap a build or the recharge boost from Ageless(?) to run an attack chain. My build philosophy always rests around building a complete, self-sufficient character with only IOs, no temps, insps, boosters, etc. (old school scrapper rules) and then using incarnates to add more DPS to an already stable base. I will admit that this leaves me building with blinders on at times, and I've been itching to finally start branching out. That's actually why I fell in love with this combo originally, Dual Blades really only needs 4-7 powers from the primary and can comfortably skip a couple. SR requires 8 power choices, but not necessarily a lot of slots. BF->AV is relatively end efficient as far as high-DPS chains go, so neither set really *NEEDS* anything from IO bonuses or pool powers (other than the virtually universally obligatory Tough, Weave, and Combat Jumping or Hover). Arguably the combo doesn't even need hasten for optimal performance. As such, it ends up being a fantastic baseline "blank slate" to build with, because all the slotting sacrificed to chasing recharge and defense on other combos can be played around with either for power or just for fun experimentation. There's plenty of room to try out wacky pool powers and epics, to try any and every incarnate. Compared to my shield builds, for instance, which have to sacrifice a lot of fun or flavor in the name of ruthless efficiency, perma-hasten, and 45% defenses, I could build this combo with any slotting goals and still know that I'm gonna be able to survive more or less well enough, and do enough baseline damage, to engage in pretty much any part of the game solo or in a group in a way that lives up to my personal standards and expectations for a scrapper.

How do you build your SR scrappers? Mind sharing a build I can look at? I usually go pretty balls-out on damage and recharge, but what do you add to SR to get it where you consider it “good enough”?more resists or hp? Pool powers? (I haven’t run aid self in years, never tried rune of protection). I don’t make “pylon builds”, I see plenty of builds on here that pretty much only work for pylons, but this is my actual build that I run content (usually +2/8, mostly cause +4 is a heck of a slog) with, and I haven’t felt particularly squishy. But we might also just have different expectations or standards for survivability. But I don’t feel like I’ve had end problems, never run ageless, like I said I think I’m gonna spec OUT of body mastery

figuring out just how valuable optimizing for the Critical proc can be has me thinking about trying out Eviscerate again. Yeah the animation time sucks, but that slow animation makes it the best proc mule in the set, especially as it can add another purple proc and another -res proc to your chain. Further, Follow-Up proccing the Critical Strikes proc at like a 60% chance if you slot it right seems like it would do brutal dps when followed with a double (or triple) stacked Crit Focus and Crit Eviscerate (I think it’s like an 85% chance of Crit with the proc active, and the big red number would benefit most from critting frequently)

Alright, I hacked it out on mids real quick, but I can already see some tweaks I want to make. Hopefully the build chunk works, my mids is being wonky. Novel incoming oh, and I missed saying it in the first post, but obviously no inspirations were used. Standard scrapper rules NOTES: I haven't managed another time under 1:20, yet, frequency of the Critical Strikes proc and the subsequent Sweeping Strikes crits is what makes a run go from 1:30ish to the more exceptional times (72% chance of firing, on the best run it went off nearly every time.) Further, the Gaussian proc has a solid 1/6 chance of firing, might be worth just replacing with another damage proc for a more consistent 60% chance, but when you get the Gaussian build-up on top of double-stacked Empower into a Critical Sweeping Strike, Zapp, or Ball Lightning, it just feels really good, so that's hard to give up. Add in the randomness of misses (especially Blinding Feint), doublehit procs and regular procs, two -res procs, and random crits, and the variability on the chain ought to be quite high, at least in theory. In practice though it seems to stay somewhat consistently in the 1:20-1:30 range. On the record setting run, I unslotted the Performance Shifter: Chance for +End and didn't use Conserve Power. This was because I wanted to see if I could run the chain sustainably without Physical Perfection/Conserve Power, and I figured removing the PS proc would be a rough equivalent to dropping PP, without doing the actual respec. End wasn't an issue, though I was so surprised at my damage I kinda lost track of my blue bar. Didn't appear to be struggling though, which means on the next go-round I can ditch the lame Purple mules in Boxing, Laser-Beam Eyes, and Energy Torrent, and instead can get back my beloved Zapp, Ball Lightning, and Electric Shackles, all purpled out. The extra power slot would allow me to toss combat jumping on top to pad the softcap a bit, and move over the kismet, opening a free slot to take the Preventive +Absorb in health. EXTRA IMPORTANT NOTE: ALL HAMI-O's were 53 in-game, they won't go over 50 on my mids for some reason, but that extra Acc/Dam is key when you're only have two slots not dedicated to procs. Everything else should be +5'ed. | Copy & Paste this data into Mids Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1524;710;1420;HEX;| |78DA65935B4F134114C767B75BCBF64A29943BBD8185962E2DF1F2829720F601DB5| |2A9F2669A954EB171439B5E12306AE257F0C56F60C2B39F401F8DE8073114D46752| |CFEE396397B869F39B3373FEE79C3933533CDAF2D6EBF9FB4CF23F30F44EA75AD96| |FEBAD166FBB4A7AB7D7D60D069FA7D268470B9CD79BED9A0BEC19E1542D7283736D| |ABA71BD54D43AFF14EE4DFD216AFF3C30ED72A3DD3DAE575831FF10EF3949B4D43C| |B1B8D83175D1F8ECD61E3F0C06D599516E735AF352C70BD05F3C187ADC6BEB6D9AC| |1D578B7AA7CBDBC75350430AFEAFCC62F01B286C03A03898AC03732A935F2295650| |7B20A76526545532409915BB216AF79883EE4889F1840BE76090D1B3825CAE4A64C| |6ECAE0A50CDE53D9B2FD9F8121959540EC10191D94D14F194729E328651CA38C6F4| |0E41422E7573383C2C6BE21C74F89DF91E11FC8B72072494CB6CA745199E1149633| |45E54DA5D19E392172C5129741AC5246A6A6716F3B30E9A149D93381B5CD8D4856A| |43915A982938F9C241F392D5C8239AFB2C7B0181011026291222C50040F3805A9BF| |2C78894EBB3019120585325890049313A22F13DBB2557AA6402C227325E20ED201A| |249123926CD1114165DC7638BDEC53E09BE03E76971D6D3D4C4D806362B7687780F| |C589BE6C054B30B42B209E15BB9DA5DD2668B78BB45B059CE6C9C939DF47E5E239F| |10279FD17F137F10F320EE2886876848E29497C028B71D19D385DB5245DB5245DB5| |15BA6A2B74D52A107849347F89227DF431B62C9ABF7C86B99F02D2227C7A155BB1A| |A11D78859642687DC03912644DA3A4EAEDD20DE24DE42E66E23BFC0FBCE8A9AB2E2| |DE29C3F70E3FF8584419BEE641E1FFF5B2327CB84CB2A6CEDC43098383B3429FDB2| |66516C3EDA6B6F1BC527B98BF7F456905BBB8A2FB80C5AFBC47A6A218BC0C4E3951| |E433BBA1DB8DE776E351C866E4276DC6F4B8CDF8B968333ED93527719BC1C2C3F73| |5F80B184CD5B8| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

I have both core and radial maxed out, and the radial seemed to kill the pylon faster, only by a couple seconds, but at this pace a couple seconds can be a lot! I think (to my limited understanding) DoubleHit operates like a proc, so a build centered around maximizing proc chances likely leverages it to the maximum. Also running Empower->SS means you’re sitting at a constant +100% damage, plus 10 from hybrid auto, another 10 or so in set bonuses, and a gaussian’s proc triggering semi-regularly, and I feel like with that much +damage already in tap, and on relatively quick, low DPA powers, even though it’s easy to get and keep 5 stacks, the extra 65% (75?) just kinda gets washed out. More so I’ll just take anything that’s not more Lethal damage, especially when I’m wielding the frickin laser swords haha

I’ve abstained from trying out Bio thus far for a complex mix of reasons, mostly centered around my jealousy of it, lack of a concept which excites me and my fear that once I go bio, I’ll never be able to go back to anything else haha, I do want to see what I can do with it and BillZ, regarding survivability, I mean, it’s a SR scrapper, it does what it says on the box. idk how other people build their SR scrappers, but to me this feels as solid as any of my other SR scraps have, I don’t feel like I sacrificed things I would have otherwise found worth pursuing with sets slotted instead of procs. Actually, compared to something like my Claws/SR, not having to eke out that last 20% recharge, I feel like I sacrificed less and ended up with some fun bonus powers to boot (I am fully addicted to fast snipe + hover). So long way of saying probably not particularly tough by some people’s standards, but I like SR because it doesn’t take much to get “tough enough” to make me happy. idk how to post a mids build but I’ll try and figure it out and post the build

Back with another update: My ProcMonster DB/SR Scrapper got yet another build tweak, and I did some more pylon murdering. Hybrid Radial ON, no lores, temps, or p2w my best run was 1:17. 77 SECONDS! With no Bio, Shield, or Fire to boost damage, just Doublehit and a solid 3-4 procs in every attack (with 0 slotted recharge) IDK if there’s any way to tweak the damage even higher, but as a DPS fiend i’m glad I took another look at SR proc builds: my best time on this toon with a traditional build running the “optimal” chain, (hitting 313% recharge in AS and running BF->AS->SS->AS) was around 3 minutes. Properly tweaking for an optimal proc setup (and getting 191.25% global recharge so I can run Empower->SS) cut my time in half on average and more than halved my personal best). I feel like some crazy things could be done the same way with claws or katana, but I’d really like to try proccing out a TW/SR in the same way and seeing what kind of numbers I can get, I wouldn’t be surprised if I could get around that one-minute mark BillZBubba, you’re the resident claws genius, have you tried out a 4-proc build and compared to FU->F->Slash? There would be no way to hit the same global recharge, but I see some serious potential there

I finally rebuilt my OG proc Monster, Sir Leeford the Dual Blades/Super Reflexes Scrapper (now with Zapp and Ball Lightning!) NO lore pets, temps, or boosters Took down a few pylons: BF->AS->VS->SS [Assault Core Activated] 1:53 BF->AS->VS->SS [Assault Radial Activated] 1:54 BF->AS->Zapp->VS->SS [Assault Core Activated] 1:54 BF->AS->Zapp->VS->SS [Assault Radial Activated] 1:47 That last one, the 1:47, looks to be a personal best (beating out my WM/SD Scrapper and EM/SD/Soul Brute by a solid minute)! What I love about this build is that in the attack chain, in addition to the Attack Vitals combo, you get minimal slotted recharge in all the powers other than Zapp (0.232 in BF from the CS proc, 0.0 in the rest of the attacks), maximizing proc odds: 2 -res procs, 2 purple procs, 6 regular procs, and perhaps most importantly, both the Gaussian’s and Critical Strikes procs in Blinding Feint, with roughly 19% and 72% chances of firing respectively. Between all the procs, the chain does 5 different types of damage, 6 if you include Zapp (w/a purple proc and toxic proc). Placing Zapp in the chain means it is getting cast while under the effects of double-stacked Blinding Feint (+tohit), and usually also Critical Strikes, and sometimes the Gaussian proc as well, and it will hit right after the Achilles proc (hopefully) triggers Honestly the biggest surprise to me is how consistent the times are. Considering a huge part of the DPS comes from procs, crits, -res and crit procs, I expected more variability okay obviously I’m excited, I’m gonna go lie down

Title pretty much covers it. I fell in love with my melee toons and haven’t switched play styles in a decade. What’s something totally different that still can solo effectively (AVs, groups up to *8, maybe +2)?

Haha okay thank you! My very first character in City of Villains when I was about 14 was Fire just for the glory that is that sweet Fire scimitar! I definitely get some of these criticisms as I play the character more. Idk, I just hate the piddly 8’ AoEs and find critical strikes proc leading into fireball and then FSC tends to wipe out spawns pretty dang well,, but beyond +1/2, the damage doesn’t take em down fast enough for him to not feel a bit fragile at times

I feel like I frequently see FM brought up as a set that needs adjustment, mostly because it’s really old. Obviously mechanically it lacks any primary mitigation in exchange for more damage, so sets that out damage it and have mitigation are arguably better in most ways, but I feel like I see people talk about fiery melee as “bad” and I just don’t really feel it. Maybe it’s cause I pair it with Shield, which is godly, but I feel like my FM/SD scrap is just as solid as my WM/SD Scrap, and people are super into WM these days? Is there something I’m not seeing that explains this reputation/perception?

Thanks for the replies all! Sounds like a lot of folks really kicking butt out there! Definitely looks like a range of standards people hold for their definition of "can solo +4/×8". I think honestly my expectations (that my character should be able to solo as passively, safely, and stress free at +4 as at +2 and never die and never have to retreat and never have to use inspys) maybe was just a bit unrealistic. I think my personal definition of soloing is influenced by old school scrapper rules and challenges, and maybe I should give my poor character a break haha there's a big difference between "CAN solo +4/×8" and "SHOULD solo +4/×8" and even "IS FUN to solo at +4/×8". Kinda makes me want to come up with some sort of ultimate survival challenges. Like an AE mission that puts you against +4/×8 spawns of each enemy group in the game and you have to be able to survive them all. Would be interesting to have a passive one where only your defensive set can be used and it's just straight enduring the enemies for some amount of time, and a more active one where you can attack so your killing speed and primary mitigation will help the survivability. I wonder if there's any build in the game that could AFK against every enemy group at +4/×8? Maybe just including passives, toggles, set boniii, and whichever click power you set to auto-fire

It should double up on the first 2 bonuses, not the first 3 (the two piece and three piece, the 3rd bonus would require 4 pieces)

I frequently see people talking about running at max difficulty on their scrappers, and I gotta ask, when you say your character plays at +4/×8 does that mean all the time? Against any enemy group? Or does that mean you CAN run 4/8 against, say... Council, but would turn down the difficulty against Malta for instance. This question is not being asked with any kind of judgment, or to suggest people are being facetious in their claims, I just want a realistic perception of what my character should be capable of. I have been playing my purpled out WM/SD scrapper (only t3 alpha so far, no other incarnates, but an absolute top of the line build) at 2/8, and yeah, against Council I could probably fight +4, even some harder enemy groups I might be able to get through by the seat of my pants, but then I walk into an Arachnos mission for instance and +2 I have to be way on my toes to not just get toasted. I guess in my head when I hear people say "I run +4/×8" in my head that means "I can blindly walk into any mission I'm assigned (non-incarnate) and not worry about changing my difficulty settings." Is that true? Or am I expecting too much from a Shield Defense scrapper?

Okay, I thought I remembered it finally getting fixed on live way back when. Dang so for DDR on Shields does everyone just take Ageless Radial? I usually like Rebirth on characters without a heal, am I gonna have to take the dreaded Aid Self instead?

Title=thread. Slotting Cytoskeletons appears to enhance DDR in Mids but I don't have a 50 shield to test in game. Don't wanna drop the inf if it doesn't work and have to respec out the extra slot. Also the DDR does still stack from a second casting, right?

Hey all! I'm rerolling my Fiery Melee/Shield Defense/Blaze Mastery scrapper from live. To what I can see his effectiveness hasn't changed much since 2011. Main difference I see is the new proc rules (almost always a buff) and the critical strikes ATO proc. So is Cremate->Incinerate->Greater Fire Sword still the optimal chain? Would subbing in a faster Fire Sword or Scorch allow you to get 3 crits in instead of two from the ATO proc? Is Ring of Fire better with the purple proc and the quick animation? (My gut say this becomes the optimal chain, but I'm having a devil of a time making it endurance neutral). Also did fire blast get the animation slowed? Or is mids just wrong. I remember it being 1.452 arcanatime on live, so the 1.848 on mids surprised me. Any other attacks to consider? Cross punch with a -res proc and purple proc?

Is the taunt aura in shield def enough to counteract if so? Or is Rad Melee better on brute to keep runners in check?

Willpower is the same but first 7 powers

Hey all! I was gonna recreate my fire/SD scrapper from live, I hear stalkers are the bees knees now. It looks like Fire loses it's best attack for AS, but shield doesn't lose anything important. Any recommendations one way or the other?

More specifically, can Zapp (I know it's damage is glitched in Mids) improve Elec Melee's poopy ST DPS?

On live I had really just started getting into scrapper shenanigans when the sunset came, but I recall soloing a bunch of AVs with no insps, incarnates, or no temps, following the scrapper rules. I loved my purpled out Claws/SR and FM/SD. Since coming back, my first character (DB/SR) has only hit level 42, but I did manage to solo Jurassik at the end of the Numina TF (Monster, not GM) with no insps or temps (no envenomed dagger!) with an about half-IO'd build, so that was a pleasant surprise! Did they nerf the Monster class? I thought on live they weren't soloable by melee classes without breaking the scrapper rules, and while it was slow going, I managed to churn him down pretty easily, way moreso than the ambush at the end of the Manticore TF (had to use insps AND daggers for that one!). Excited to get to 50 and really put this guy through his paces. More stupid scrapper tricks forthcoming!

Hey all! On live I remember building for S/L res set bonuses was difficult/not worth pursing due to very few set bonuses and low values. Now I hear people talking about hitting the res cap on a brute and that it's easier to slot for res now. I even hear of people building 50% S/L Res into Super Reflexes of all things! What are some sets that are good for those S/L Res set bonuses? (Especially for SR)

Is this worth slotting in a passive like stamina? Or does it only function in click powers like dark consumption

I heard about rage being "fixed" (or nerfed to hell depending on who you ask) and it got me thinking, is Moment of Glory the perfect power to pop to survive the rage crash, a chance to refill your blue and green bars and then right back into the mix? Also foot stomp seems like it would be great for giving some breathing room for regent's clickies. Anyone who's tried this combo have anything to report? Both leveling and high end