SomeGuy

That's odd. I've got mutiple Katana scrappers and LDs is a mandatory pick IMO. These are my personal picks for Kat. Obviously, everyone prioritizes things differently. DA and CtW are personally ever picked for me as set mules. But the stuff that is highlighter yellow are the ones I don't take. This is Kat/SR, so I could see DA being wanted on something else. But LDs seems like it is mandatory for ANY combination. Also, my KAT/SR is 50 and fully setted out and exemps very well. It isn't a leveling build, so I assume choices would be different for a leveling build with mostly SOs/IOs.

This is actually a really good guess and example IMO. Also, I'm very firmly one of the folks that really enjoys the DM gameplay style. Easily one of my fav sets. I just really wish it's actual performance were closer to some of the more middle of the road sets (yeah, it's that low performance wise). I've got a RAD/SS tanker and it's overall DEF is honestly pretty low, yet the darn thing feels unkillable in 99% of the content of the game. The AT is that good at what it does. And it's buff wasn't it's survivability. Talk about an AT that got overbuffed...sheesh. But hey, I haven't been pushing the bleeding edge of killing things and barely staying alive since 2004 in this game. What do I know. /s

Dark Melee is measurably not even close to the top DPS performer. I really wish this myth would die. Not sure how or why it started.

Wait, you are saying if someone copies your build down to the letter they might not get the performance out of it you do? You can't just slap anyone in a LeMan's level vehicle and get LeMan's quality driver performance out of it? /s Also, does the F in 801.F stand for "lol your F'ed"?

ENA, INV, or WP. You want a taunt aura. All three of those are solid secondaries, with personal preference being that order. That order has the most "oh shi" buttons too, with WP being absolutely a "set and forget" secondary. That can be really nice, but it also means you have zero options if you are out of inspirations and things start going south.

Just don't do regen.

I remember on Live buying the extra enhancement tray slots just for the amount of respeccing I did. 😛

I don't miss it, but each their own. BL is better DMG on paper than Fault, and Fault and BL would take the same set. So, preference. Fault has the benefit of being available when exemped VERY low. I would consider that pretty important. My biggest concern would be doing Fault and Tremor back2back in a rotation and the combined KD of the two scattering the mob. You would definitely have more soft CC with Fault. I know with my Stone/Rad is was easy to drop cause I have Radiation Siphon procced out so it's a darn good AOE at low level. Now that I'm looking at it on paper more, I think I would give it a serious go for Stone/ENA and just drop BL for myself personally.

I almost did this combo but went Stone/Rad instead purely because of concept.

Here's my quick take: Procced out Touch of Fear adds more AOE than you realize. The soft control it provides is nice, but that's not the real reason to take it. Add Ball Lightning, Soul Drain, and Shield Charge to the mix and your AOE isn't horrible. This is defense soft-capped and 2s shy from perma-hasten. With Ageless, Time Lord Day Job, and Base temp power you will easily be perma...those three are another 40% total. SL resist are at 52, FC resist are 43.2, EN at 21.5. Park your character in Cim for the extra +3 res to all. You won't encounter enough Toxic and Psi to really care, but those are 20.75 and 14.5 on this. One with the Shield isn't even on the bar. It's just a unique mule. This will crank out some darn good DPS for a DM. Remember, this is a scrapper. Play it like one. Kill things. Taking your time will get you earning debt.

Scrapper? Claws, Dual Blades, or EM. Claws is easily the best AOE out of those three too.

I've solo-ed every TF in the game with my DM/BIO (except the reichsman ones, and I have solo-ed the hero version of this). I enjoy the combo quite a bit. It's not the sturdiest x/bio combo for scrappers, but it's definitely up there due to the -TOHIT, Touch of Fear, and life that Siphon Life gives back. You can actually crank out some decent AOE too.

Proccing out Touch of Fear is a good AOE boost. You might be a tad surprised. Also, consider the Mu option to help with AOE again. With Soul Drain, Dark Consumption, Ball Lightning, and Touch of Fear you may like your AOE. Focused Accuracy seems like a bit much TBH. It eats a good amount of end/s. And Invincibility gives a +TOHIT for every enemy in range. And Soul Drain is also a +TOHIT for every enemy it hits for 30s. Ehh, here's my quick take on how I would do it. As you can see, I don't mind skipping certain things to hit the numbers I want. Anyways, this will hit scrapper HP cap with only Dull Pain and no accolades. SL defense soft cap and SL res hard cap. It'll poop out ST DPS as well as DM can and it will actually do decent AOE. This will exemp as well as DM can, and ToF being procced out and taken at level 6 really will help out with AOE low level (assuming the procs are catalyzed). This build takes Fly cause I don't have any idea if Fly is a must have (or if Super Speed is). The way I slapped this together it only had room for one travel. I normally wouldn't even have taken it and just taken the T9 to mule (and not even put on my bars). Oh, and Tough is NOT toggled on. It is just a mule. As for Incarnates, Muscle for Alpha. I would personally do Ageless Recovery, but DM isn't end heavy and this build has a lot of recharge. You might do something else.

ElM/SD is definitely a fun combo with two teleport AOE booms. Don't discount Fire Armor. Burn is really wild AOE. And it's a crazy good ST attack too. Fire Armor has a PBAoE toggle too. Just be prepared for runners with Fire Armor. Shield and Rad don't have a PBAoE but they do have their click AOE attacks and also a taunt aura. With Rad Armor, you can proc out Radiation Therapy for just damage procs and it ends up being a pretty darn good AOE, no lie. You'd be surprised how well a DM/RAD's AOE can end up being with a procced out Touch of Fear, Rad Therapy procced out, and Meltdown. And Dark Consumption and Soul Drain slotted for damage. I don't have a DM/RAD, but I do have a DM/BIO and it FEELS like it clears packs just as fast as my EM/RAD. Even has a decent Trapdoor time.

It's normally way to deep to get unless I'm doing a "pylon only" build. Which I've only done once. On Test. I like having slotted attacks when I exemp.

Sometimes it's DPA and cast time is about the same/better then the power you would replace it in the chain with. And it is a cone, so it can take different slotting. And if the build is already taking tough/weave it's not a big jump to take it. But it can take the Fury -RES proc (this is a big one) and also take the +RCHG proc if you want to use that one.

Not sure his exact reason, but you can slap a -RES proc in it for sure. Cross Punch is definitely an interesting little power.

Yeah, I noticed the set didn't respond to being procced out well. But the KM/SD synergy is legit. I had a KM/SD years ago and enjoyed it. Your results aren't surprising. But Focused Burst has such a long ani time I can't see it really contributing to ST DPS. I always had my best results 1-3, conc strike, and snipe when it's up.

Start the MSR by yourself while they are forming...done that a few times 😄 And I absolutely did it out of spite from someone whining at me for doing a test.

That isn't a high bar....

Since the end of Beta right before shutdown (so back in 2011). It was never the unkillable armor that people who were only spreadsheet warriors screamed of. Bio is squishy as hell. Bio is a melee glass cannon. It's offensive output can not be matched, but if you actually capitalize on the sets true strength get ready to ride the bleeding edge of life and debt.

*stares at rommy trying to be usain bolt*

Yeah, they can. Fortunately, you aren't waiting 30s for them to come back up and try again 😛 I honestly just wish more people were aware that DM isn't a DPS monster like it is perceived to be and just tweaking Soul Drain could bring it in line. It's a REALLY fun set to me and I wish I never found out the reality of it's performance. Cause you are darn right about Soul Drain should being factored in to performance.

Umm, this changed a while before the game shutdown. Brutes aren't out damaging scrappers. Brutes got their Fury nerfed. Then when ATO2s hit the scene, scrappers left Brutes in the dust and Brutes got a pretty worthless ATO2. But you are absolutely right about the runners part. If they are a 30s jog away from you, you ain't doing damage. Brute > Scrapper in the DPS department there. Brute: Taunt Aura means less/no runners. Scrap: Runners and questioning why you rolled a scrapper with a secondary without a taunt aura.

Soul Drain needs a full 10x stacks to get to the top 10 of scrapper primaries in terms of ST DPS. And it can miss. And it has an incredibly long animation time. Follow-Up and Blinding Feint are same/similar to each other. Soul Drain isn't even close to what they are.