SomeGuy

I haven't taken Vengeful Slice or 1k Cuts since the set was new. VS might have the best animation in the game (SHORYUKEN with a Sword?!) but it...holy cow does it take forever to cast, doesn't do great DPS, and Attack Vitals isn't as set defining as some people make it. And if you find yourself exemped down and not able to do the BF AS SS AS chain, then doing the EMPOWER combo with Nimble Slice is a fantastic alternative. In fact, I actually do run NS AS BF (this gives empower) SS as an attack chain on a few of my DB 50s. If you go this route you will NOT miss VS or attack vitals. Combos for DB are a wash. Not worth chasing, at all. Even lower level.

OK, I can't help it. I LOVE the Claws/Bio combo a LOT. Obviously I build differently, but you have a lot of similar choices to what I would do anyways. I build to emphasize single target DPS. I've played this game long enough to see things stall with high HP targets, not trash that needs AOE nukes to get wittled down. My chain is: FU - Snipe - Focus - Slash - FU - Focus - Slash - SHOCKWAVE (Shockwave has similar DPA to Strike, so no matter what I use this ST or AOE). I've got most of the really powerful procs in my Snipe, as opposed to Focus. I've only MEASURABLY NOTICED a difference in the procs going off between the two. If you do differently, you might or might not notice a difference. My reasoning for this? Procs have a higher chance to go off with things with a longer recharge. With that said, it's why I put the ATO1 set in Spin. I always use FU. I don't always use Spin. I also put the ATO2 in FU since if it goes off I get the crit chance right after it. You should ALWAYS be using FU in your chain if you can. Regardless if AOE or ST. It's DMG and +TOHIT. Strike is a REALLY good chain filler when exemped down and you don't have access to Shockwave. If you peep my build, you'll notice I didn't build for crazy high recharge with it. I have enough for the chain I want to use, and it...works well. Very well. Also, normally with a Bio melee build, I proc out DNA Siphon since it can be a REALLY good early level AOE. Claws has really good AOE so I didn't see the need to with this one, and I get to have the set bonuses instead. *Oh, what @Without_Pause said, take Slash. It's pretty much mandatory as Claws. This is my current build (and the one in the spreadsheet below):

I don't consider a chance at a thing a part of the build. Each their own. I build some pretty high recharge builds and not a single time have I gotten it that high without something outside the build being used (like Ageless, Geas, etc.). I'm not sure which one you are using as an example. but out of curiosity I opened the build provided and WITH Hasten it is showing 250% ( I turned off the procs first).

I love WM and I love EA. Surprised I didn't do them together. Here's my quick take. See get any ideas.

Turn off the FF Recharge procs.

Hasten seems mandatory. Granted, I also thought Stamina was mandatory before it became inherent and people screamed at me tooth and nail about that opinion too.

TBH, seems pretty solid. Confront is a....choice. I've been playing since the game was released many moons ago (yes, back in 2004) and have never once seen the need to take Confront on a scrapper. A claws/regen was my first 50, so claws/bio is near and dear to my heart.

According to my notes from a while back: Scrapper BA/BIO 1:10 (Degen/Melt Armor/Enflame//RoF/Procs) This is an average without outside buffs, no lore, and hybrid off. How I record all my runs. I do know the LOL run I talked about had Geas of the Kind ones and hyrbid double hit going. ATO2 in FT. I think it got as low as 26s? Did similar with DB/BIO and got down to 30s but I do know that build doesn't benefit from recharge near as much as TW/BIO. *for funs I did a pylon only build and cranked out 24s with BA/BIO.

BTW @Ratch_, you motivated me. I did a pure Pylon build with my tw/bio and got some crazy #s. You can definitely get sub 30s times with melee. Consistently.

You can also slot the pvp -Res in it. This is a huge reason and bigger deal then the +rchg. I was getting average run times in the mid 2 minutes with my Rad/SS tanker using Cross Punch with FotG -RES slotted.

I thought the changes were going to be doom and gloom but they aren't that noticeable. I personally haven't changed the way I build. I still shoot for SL softcap and the rest still gets really high along the way. DPS still trumps all. Making things dead is still, and always has been, the best way to mitigate something's damage.

This. I forgot it has a cone. That's how much you want to avoid it.

I can not for the life of me remember what I did leveling up, but I can definitely say Ice/Shield scrapper is super safe and fun. EVERYTHING when you are low level is pretty hard. Especially the Circle of Thorns ghosts that wreck you with -tohit. I do remember Defense oriented sets barely creeping along at low levels and then BAM they become gods/goddesses. The combo is really safe once you get shield charge and frozen aura to mix in with your ice patch. You won't be getting hit much. You WILL want to take everything in Shield, with the exception of the T9 (One with the Shield...this is a player's choice sort of thing). It's a good combo. Just be patient like with any low level character. This combo power creeps better than a lot of other combos. Not necessarily in damage, but Ice Melee still does really good ST and AOE.

I definitely remember on the live forums it was. I distinctly remember that (I was pretty active in it). When the thread was recreated elsewhere it was put in a more appropriate section. Part of my confusion. I've seen those threads. I like them a lot.

Actually ran in to someone asking about this today. I'm still baffled why this is in the Scrapper subforum and not just in the general AT forum, since allllllllll ATs do this.

You can cap resistance for a a LOT of the different types of damage with Ele for sure (I have a EM/ELE brute). It's a really REALLY strong set for brutes/tankers considering you can get to 90% resistance for SLFCEN pretty easily if built right. Pairing with Electric will also give you the best balance of debuff resistance and AOE/ST DPS out of those three options. This build is defense softcapped to SL and res capped to SLFCEN. It will also do REALLY good AOE/ST DPS.

What.

Sorcery is a really great option for getting Fly (and teleport!) and improving AOE or ST DPS btw (if you have room for Enflame). You WILL get more bang for your buck with the scrapper ATO2 (50% proc) in Energy Transfer. I understand the logic of putting it in TF. But...maff. Also, listen to Linea.

I had a RM/Stone scrapper I had to gut and shelve it cause of runners. It was bonkers. After the opener, whatever wasn't dead, would do it's best impersonation of Usain Bolt.

If you can keep it alive? Pretty strong DPS boost. But...they have a tendency to fold over pretty harshly. So I personally don't take one on a scrap/brute/tanker/stalker.

I paired SM with /Rad and don't have AOE issues. I proc bombed Radiation Therapy, which is a good AOE early on if you don't need the OH SHI heal . Combined with Tremor and Ground Zero I don't notice an issue. Food for thought. Rad Therapy:

I'm really really good at being misunderstood, but I definitely understand how the proc works. This is how it compares to other top-tier ST sets that are build only:

I just want to say that SM is a pretty chonky set and a lot of fun. I really don't think it gets enough love, but I am a little biased since I think the set is good fun. I did set the animations to be only punches and not mallets. I definitely had a hard time deciding between Rad Armor or Energy Aura and ended up landing on Rad Armor for theme. This is how I have the attacks slotted for SM/RA: I'm more ST focused, hence why I put the ATO2 in SS, but putting it in HM wanting to fish for the PPM for AOE follow up is good logic. I dig it. SM hits hard. It's definitely top-tier.

I wouldn't say Nin is better than SR. Off the top of my head, the personal pro/con list pretty much evens out. They are both really good sets. Really just boils down to preference. I will say SR is more "set and forget" then Nin. With Nin you do have a click heal. SR you basically need to be able to read the room and know when to pop an insp or GTFO. I suppose Nin is more user friendly now that I think about it. As for chain I went with: Eagle's Claws, Storm Kick, Crippling Axe Kick, Snipe (or another Storm Kick here if you choose to not take a snipe). My logic for this chain is I want the crit boost to effect SK and CAK as much as possible. And my testing has shown it to be pretty darned effective... I also put the ATO2 (or 50% crit chance proc) in Eagle's Claw. This is my MA/NIN/MU build. I never made MA/SR. I mainly play a MA/RAD/SOUL due to Nin not having a taunt aura. I mostly solo, so a taunt aura is an essential for someone like me. MA/NIN/SOUL

It's really REALLY hard for me to recommend anything without a taunt aura, so EA, Rad, Bio, and Invinc stand out for me. With that said, I have done MA/NIN and it was really good. And thematically for character concept worked REALLY well. People sleep on Ninjitsu it seems. Not sure why. Good set. Literally the only reason I still don't drive my MA/NIN any more is because of a lack of taunt aura. I went MA/RAD because of it. Ground Zero, EC with crit proc and higher crit chance, then AOE KD kick? Pretty darn good AOE TBH. Ele Armor is really good too, easy to cap a lot of resists on it for scrappers. Sadly, no taunt aura for scraps. Honestly, seems like a really fun combo on a Tanker. I've got a TW/ELE and it really highlights how OP tankers are. Capping most resists, DMG aura, and MA's AOE attack...seems productive. And MA also does good ST. Edit: Just took my MA/RAD/SOUL for a drive. Rad Therapy (procced out), build up, eagle's claws, dragon's tail, ground zero. Most of mob almost completely dead.