SomeGuy

I've done Staff/EnA stalker and ooooohhhh boy that was a LOT of fun to level up. The set just looks SOOO GOOD in action and it has a really fun flow. If you don't care about best DPS and stuff, staff is just amazing. If you do care about numbers and how it compares? Stay away, it really is dead last in numbers, and it is "best" on a stalker for numbers. And even then, number wise, it isn't good. But the set really does look and play great.

OK. Fine, I'll serious talk. Regen out of the box on just SOs is good when compared to other sets when built to the same standard. But The rest of the game exists. Regen scales so incredibly bad with sets that it is laughable. It slides to dead last incredibly fast when sets are involved. And once you go no-holds barred and influence is no factor? You don't consider regen. You want to. You get mad you considered it, but realistically can't. But you don't roll regen. The first character I did set bonuses was my claws/regen scrapper. My second was a DB/SR scrapper. After that a ELM/SD brute followed by a SS/FA brute. The ability to PLAY sr, sd, or fa was completely mind blowing compared to the "omg i'm dying click click click" style of x/regen. The set just doesn't give enough base defense or resistance to be worth anything, and everyone knows by now that HP/S is freaking useless for sustained survivabilty (if you disagree with this you're not pushing your character). Not to mention, the way regen survives? It has no protection from being debuffed in game. It doesn't even get that. Even then it would be horrible. HP/S is nice when you take a calculated risk that you can take that hit and be fine. It is NOT something you rely on to out-live your target/s. It has no layered ability to survive and it gives no extra boost to DPS. It has zero pros and only cons compered to other sets. WP has layered abilities to survive and is really the closest (if not THE closest) to old-school regen set-and-forget. Rad armor has great resistances and good HP/s and REALLY good stamina management. And it get's a +dmg when meltdown is active. Bio armor is squishy as hell, but it absolutely makes up for it in spades because of how much raw firepower it can bring. EVERY armor set except regen has a strong list of pros. Dark, invincibilty, energy aura, ice, you name it. The only thing you get out of regen is a strong example of your primary, and hopefully you enjoy playing it. Cause regen doesn't give you any benefit from it. I get regen is a legacy set we'd love to see get love. But Super Strength is a legacy set and it's pretty obvious it's not getting that nerf rectified either.

Dual Blades has Sweeping Strikes and it does crazy crap when it crits. And it is REALLY obvious when Midnight Grasp on Dark Melee when it crits. I legit would see Conc Strike on my KM/FA scrapper hit for over 1200 pretty routinely. That combo was pretty wild for for stuff like that. 5x Stack Power Sihpon and FE popped into a Conc Strike = oof ow haha.

I actually remember before issue 4 taking Air Superiority on my Claws scrapper. My DPS was crap, but whatever I was hitting was constantly flopping on to it's back.

Mmmmm Papi (Kanil) worked with me on my rad/bio/mb scrapper. Had some interesting results to say the least. Did some VERY different things then what I would normally do with a build, but it worked. Scrapper RM/BIO/MB 1:35 (post nerf) (proc build, has to use recovery serum) This build is an end hog amongst end hogs. OMG. It only has around 30% s/l def, but it can survive a pylon fine. I turn off maneuvers at the first ageless recovery dip, then turn off weave on the second recovery dip. So, a pretty dramatic drop in averages then what I was doing before. That's an understatement.

Problem is, whirlwind is useful in combat.

DB or Claws (paired with anything other than regen) is going to be your best mechanically. DB will put out more ST DPS, but claws will be really close ST DPS wise but do noticeably more AOE. Your best DPS wise for a secondary is Bio Armor in offensive (who plays bio in other modes other than staff melee). There might be better secondaries based on your preferences. Now, you can't pair DB or Claws with SD, so that is where EM and WM come back in to play. I can TOTALLY vouch for WM/SD being an amazing combo. Scrapper EM/BIO/MB 1:23 (post nerf) Scrapper DB/BIO/MB 1:25 (post nerf) 1:21 (pre-nerf) Scrapper WM/BIO/MB 1:31 (post nerf) Scrapper CLAWS/BIO/MB 1:32 (post nerf) 1:26 (pre-nerf) Those are my own personal ST Pylon times (those aren't best, those are averages). WM is freaking AWESOME but doesn't hold a candle to claws soft-cc in ST or AOE.

Gotta agree with the Claws melee sentiment. It gets everything it needs really early, feels great 1-50, and shines super bright with incarnates.

This is a reason why I went just a tap over 40%. I let perma barrier carry that last 5%. Even at it's weakest buff duration, it's 5%. I didn't have to sacrifice a ton to get that last 5%. Allowed a LOT of wiggle room. The incarnates for that build are: Muscle, Reactive, Barrier, and Support. No clue what I get for judge/lore. They aren't always there so I don't really care.

This happened on Excelsior. I wasn't allowed on a team because they needed a healer. First, what? This person also marks the adds each pull? Then today I had a stone tanker freaking out in a TF that no one was healing him. The team needs more damage. Not heals.

GiS-FT-MB-GiS-FT-IS I couldn't make FA work like the OP could, and he averaged 1:36. That could, and most likely, is just because of RNG. So I definitely wish I could have made FA work, but holy cow I was going OOM with that chain so fast. If I cheesed it and used a Recovery Serum before each run, yeah I'm sure it would work. ATO2 proc in GiS.

Auroxis? The same dude that was active in the original pylon thread?

Scrapper Rad/BIO/MB 2:14 Chain: DB-RSi-MB-DB-RSi-RSm I was under the idea it would be better than this. Not sure where I am messing up. On the bright side, it's incredibly consistent.

Funny timing. I just got done doing some runs with mine tonight.

This build is a good example of how to hit 45% sl def and resistance cap slfce on a electrical armor brute. I've got a TW/ELA brute that does the same thing. | Copy & Paste this data into Mids Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1371;669;1338;HEX;| |78DA4D93DB6F125110C6CFB28B2D944B690BF406086D8172D9426D7D356A5B1F6C9| |32AC65742E8919220908526F6D1FFC05BE28355AB6DD5C6C4BFCB5BD578AFD1ACC3| |7E2342B2FC76BF997366F63BB36B37965CAF2EDC3C239481F3B552AB553C676CB5A| |5F38A2C6FD61BB546655B15F4EBA36BD48A14D7644D4A7DB92E8DCA361E26115892| |D764BD45A19A2CB78D6AB978D6B8DE30846BBDD1A8E9ABB2D4ACD62B4EEBA1D0947| |2C36DDDAE542B9B6D0A78FF656D48A3B5596D06979BD5B28E8D0B8DAD5A71ADD46A| |4B637B941A89761A52E8AF73095313EB849826462F312F83E3053051242634B127B| |A6B54B14837794D0CE6987930B000F62B9C2A4CBBE2D32CCDE662BA41A707747999| |83E03EAD5251C7AE1EA896A6ED329F80FD4F997BA0731F74D03A3BEAAAF6439BA59| |DD8210E131F80B93485F30EE15470301D0FFA76517B7C078C3F04138F988FC16794| |ED406F8A23AC58BE7862E001A903DCF7C031FA497D657E0333DF41FD0738F7130C5| |0236EDED7ED87879E8B883D27D58B98F006E926445E117C5CCB97C67B0E256CD67B| |0D25C19159660A0CF039BE200CF37EC35961AD8D517D3F6B7EF647212DC85E06794| |6B23C23599E119D6744A5DC319E8D31F623C3FE642260360A1E52D604CFC6C411DE| |71F235F30D187E0B46DF81D3EFF9FCA94E88EB84D8A7F0B1B03C09FF06E7FE801E0| |A47D8A3C83D9CDFC95BCCDBCC3B60F42E933D2A53B918F718CBC3DFA91C7C9CCA32| |75707A8E99418F3EEA7106756D33DC63FC3362F12FA0242479F692F3583F7B8AB9C| |05C0453A7F95C69DF349F513A8A331A214DC73E42E75A2FE929C75A6E1EF556B4EE| |B76B4E6A827F66E7D134C56AAFC213B1AE75BF60A15859474E52B8BEC2591F7AB52| |4B48FFF354589F29C5F456F9F7AF3EFC3D78354B7BAF92B4012F7F91710C5BD96| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

This build might look really familiar to some of you (it's as old as shutdown on live). Regardless, I haven't played a more damaging and tanky character then this one. That includes all the current iterations of THINGS going on now. Really only posting this cause I noticed the old build wasn't exactly compliant with the current version of Mid's (this build is that old) and I rebuilt it to not give errors like crazy. | Copy & Paste this data into Mids Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1385;664;1328;HEX;| |78DA5D93494F136118C7DF69A7605B16A1B4ECD0164B0B856941F16A08228940828| |1706DC676522669686D39E8D1AF6054BCB99DBC9828105C0F7E0DBD7951541615BD| |E2D3F9FF8BE8A4EDEFEDB32FEFCC5FBFD8F074E6E605A585A60A66A592992C9BD99| |5D56225B3582CE46CABEC9937F376D6ADE4A9976FEC7F7DC5982A9B57338B253B67| |956BC2D852D9B457EDD57C66C6CCE5ADB57F8D6A4AE55F28160BC6A5829D5F59F33| |9E7C59265E59A9DE39C658A7165C52E35C2AC6A255EA1E9929D3596A7279732F366| |D6929FCA9A55BED121C585151FADFA73E451699752635EE51A250D504F916355EAA| |A6EC4EDF0B9FFD85753ED72E815DD3874AE9A4AE26AF7203B759BBC03FAEE92EB60| |C33BF10AE8CA2B937323AECB1DD4A07B8FDC4D1FC06DC9ED818DF2D026541D3A647| |AFDB682FD06787A93DC025B5F802F258E97B9BC8CD3E6239BC03AD1FAD98BFF3C66| |111A27CF821DE7C809B0EB137A0A8A57237D1B1FA3F6AE4760CF7DF201D8F7907C0| |2BE92A4CDECB139A2B003410BF7D5C2DE5AD96B1F7B0CB3C7307B0C5FD31DBE9678| |01C60B4C0874B77A23B22065C101D86F88AC9D33698FCA21AEAB813E32024665479| |DF4EB4CA2B64DF1EB666DDDBBE8FFCC677287FC020E7E25BF812D12AF97397BB987| |41EE21CE3DB48A4D3F73F6731E5B9233CAF9460F30B7F80FF22738F49DDC514EED4| |353F8FF567C63F48DD176789F64AC61C61A39243FBA9C7B7E286527E0AB2516A04B| |5F019FC9C293D0E9C941DC879138389A2087C9247C7E4B3C83B518ACC5602D066B4| |9B18F146B4AFDC2BEDA642E69F8AA3467D7A3D75EEE23F9C8A366F5E3B7F568EEA4| |76145116F4E33756698EC7AE4F249CB7C6BBB1FF57E6D222D85D64193923977137F| |64EFA25E07770D26F1DF5476E810361EC72362060857F00D892D08E| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

Ice Melee/Bio Armor/Moonbeam Scrapper Average of 1:35 across a lot of runs. Same as my TW/BIO/MA's average now. Crazy streaky for some reason. I've almost come to expect Freezing Touch to miss. I just got a 1:07 and a 1:54. WTF.

Market PVPers love you. They sell at a profit, buy it back at an insane discount, then they'll do it again.

Seriously. I don't care if you're active or not. Sticking with the group or playing City of Solo 80s Action Hero. Real life happens and you have to AFK. Or not. Maybe you're just alt-tabbed on PHub. This isn't some sperg lord MMO where EVERYONE has to be present. Just have fun. Play a min-max character or 6 slot brawl. Whatever. Just have fun.

I really am biased towards claws, so I'd say it would pair with them well. Anything well, really. As for pairing with ENA? That depends on if you think you will IO the set and soft cap all the damage types. If not, any primary you enjoy that has an attack that does +def to melee/smashing (kat/broadsword/tw). Dark Melee pairs with, well, anything really. But it also applies -TOHIT which adds to your defense 1:1. Dark Melee also has an attack (siphon life) which heals you for a little. Dark Melee is definitely not the king of single target DPS, and has reputably bad AOE, but it has a pretty different play style compared to the other damage primaries. It has soe soft CC is the set and an end fill power too. It's pretty neat leveraging it's tools. I can't think of any bad primaries. Even sets that are VERY AOE heavy like Electrical Melee and Spines are good. Really good, amazing at what they do really. Just a matter of what you value. Honestly, whatever set you enjoy the most pairs with well. Just don't do regen.

x/bio is a glass cannon. If played right, you will seem unkillable, but that's cause everything is dead before it can kill you. If a target stays alive just a smidge to long, you're eating an awaken. x/ena is a freaking GREAT armor set though. Definitely way more survivable than x/bio. You absolutely can't go wrong with either armor. They are both fantastic. It just comes down to what you value more. ENA and BIO for scraps both have a taunt aura. Actually, there isn't a single scrapper armor that is bad. Well, except regen. It's cold and wet grabage. It's the armor equivalent of playing in old dirty dish water. Don't roll melee regen on anything. OMG, just don't.

The optimal solo scrapper is any of them. So really? It's the one you enjoy the most. Mechanically? I'm biased towards Claws. Amazing single target DPS (in the top 4 for scrapper melee...EM, DB, WM, then Claws that order for me...all close), probably the best AOE of the scrapper primaries, two ranged attacks, a ranged ST soft CC, and a ranged cone soft CC. It also exemps REALLY well. You get all the ST attacks you need by 18, you get Spin (one of the best melee AOE attacks in the game at level 6(?). If you've only done Synapse TF as Claws you might wonder why the TF gets so much hate. Just don't pair it with regen. Don't pair anything with regen for that matter. Anything else is fine.

The ones in my posts. EM, DB, WM, CLAWS, and TW all do better ST DPS than DM. By a noticeable amount. Those are just the sets I've tried. I wouldn't be shocked if Ice Melee and Kinetic Melee are pretty way up there. I know IM/KM are better ST DPS than FM (tested them all as x/SD). Hell, I'd be pretty surpsied if Electrical Melee on a stalker, paired with bio, isn't trouncing DM with ST. I was really surprised at how much ST DPS a ELM stalker does. Paired it with x/nin and got 2:34. I just enjoy scrappers. There are definitely other ATs cranking out better ST DPS (looking at some blasters and stalkers).

Wow. I really do not like TW's new chain. Face smash > skill, I guess. TW/BIO/MA 1:35 BU [mom] RA AoD FT RA AoD FT RA [/mom] CB [mom] AoD FT RA AoD [/mom] CB [mom] RA AoD FT *HIT BU ANYWAYS* is the chain I used.