Kaeladin

Here's my take: Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Mutation Stalker Primary Power Set: Savage Melee Secondary Power Set: Bio Armor Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery Villain Profile: Level 1: Maiming Slash (A) Superior Blistering Cold - Accuracy/Damage (3) Superior Blistering Cold - Damage/Endurance (3) Superior Blistering Cold - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (5) Superior Blistering Cold - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (5) Superior Blistering Cold - Damage/Endurance/Accuracy/RechargeTime (7) Superior Blistering Cold - Recharge/Chance for Hold Level 1: Hide (A) Defense Buff IO Level 2: Savage Strike (A) Superior Assassin's Mark - Accuracy/Damage (7) Superior Assassin's Mark - Damage/RechargeTime (9) Superior Assassin's Mark - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime (9) Superior Assassin's Mark - Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (11) Superior Assassin's Mark - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (11) Superior Assassin's Mark - RechargeTime/Rchg Build Up Level 4: Hardened Carapace (A) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP (15) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance (15) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance (17) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime (17) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All) Level 6: Assassin's Frenzy (A) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (19) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (19) Crushing Impact - Damage/Endurance/Recharge (21) Superior Stalker's Guile - Damage/Endurance/Recharge (21) Superior Stalker's Guile - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (23) Superior Stalker's Guile - Recharge/Chance to Hide Level 8: Boundless Energy (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End (23) Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance (25) Panacea - Heal (25) Panacea - Heal/Endurance (27) Panacea - Hea/Recharge (27) Panacea - Heal/Endurance/Recharge Level 10: Environmental Modification (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (29) Luck of the Gambler - Defense (29) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance Level 12: Shred (A) Armageddon - Damage (31) Armageddon - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (31) Armageddon - Accuracy/Recharge (31) Armageddon - Damage/Endurance (33) Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage (33) Eradication - Chance for Energy Damage Level 14: Build Up (A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up (33) Recharge Reduction IO Level 16: Adaptation Level 18: Rending Flurry (A) Obliteration - Damage (34) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge (34) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge (34) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (36) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (36) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage Level 20: Boxing (A) Empty Level 22: Tough (A) Reactive Armor - Resistance (36) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance (37) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge (37) Reactive Armor - Endurance (37) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3% Level 24: Weave (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (39) Shield Wall - Defense (39) Shield Wall - Defense/Endurance (39) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All) Level 26: Hemorrhage (A) Hecatomb - Damage/Recharge (40) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (40) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Recharge (40) Hecatomb - Damage/Endurance (42) Hecatomb - Chance of Damage(Negative) (42) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative) Level 28: DNA Siphon (A) Preventive Medicine - Heal (42) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime Level 30: Ablative Carapace (A) Preventive Medicine - Heal (43) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime Level 32: Savage Leap (A) Superior Stalker's Guile - Accuracy/Damage (43) Superior Stalker's Guile - Damage/Recharge (43) Superior Stalker's Guile - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (45) Eradication - Chance for Energy Damage (45) Eradication - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (45) Eradication - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge Level 35: Combat Jumping (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (50) Luck of the Gambler - Defense Level 38: Hasten (A) Recharge Reduction IO (46) Recharge Reduction IO Level 41: Maneuvers (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (46) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance (46) Luck of the Gambler - Defense Level 44: Parasitic Aura (A) Preventive Medicine - Heal (48) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime Level 47: Moonbeam (A) Apocalypse - Damage (48) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (48) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Recharge (50) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance (50) Apocalypse - Chance of Damage(Negative) Level 49: Shadow Meld (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed Level 1: Assassination Level 1: Brawl (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Dash (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Slide (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Quick (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Rush (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Surge (A) Empty Level 1: Sprint (A) Empty Level 2: Rest (A) Empty Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift (A) Empty Level 2: Health (A) Numina's Convalesence - +Regeneration/+Recovery (13) Miracle - +Recovery Level 2: Hurdle (A) Empty Level 2: Stamina (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End (13) Performance Shifter - EndMod Level 1: Blood Frenzy Level 16: Defensive Adaptation Level 16: Efficient Adaptation Level 16: Offensive Adaptation Level 50: Musculature Core Paragon Level 50: Barrier Core Epiphany Level 50: Reactive Radial Flawless Interface Level 50: Assault Radial Embodiment ------------ 1) With its defenses the way it's set up, using barrier will softcap s/l/e/n/f/c defenses all at once (with just the 5%). 2) End efficiency should be good enough to run without ageless. 3) Gained more recharge; you're not going to get perma-hasten on a /bio build in most cases, and it's unnecessary; you can do your rotation without needing perma-hasten. Overall should be a stronger defensive build than your current iteration, with a little more recharge, and slightly better slotted attacks.

Sample leveling build you can use as an example template: Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 49 Magic Scrapper Primary Power Set: Street Justice Secondary Power Set: Willpower Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leadership Hero Profile: Level 1: Heavy Blow (A) Accuracy (3) Accuracy (3) Damage Increase (7) Damage Increase (13) Damage Increase (36) Endurance Reduction Level 1: High Pain Tolerance (A) Healing Level 2: Sweeping Cross (A) Accuracy (5) Accuracy (5) Damage Increase (7) Damage Increase (13) Damage Increase (36) Endurance Reduction Level 4: Mind Over Body (A) Endurance Reduction (37) Resist Damage (37) Resist Damage (37) Resist Damage Level 6: Fast Healing (A) Healing (15) Healing (15) Healing Level 8: Rib Cracker (A) Accuracy (9) Accuracy (9) Damage Increase (11) Damage Increase (11) Damage Increase (25) Endurance Reduction Level 10: Indomitable Will (A) Endurance Reduction Level 12: Combat Readiness (A) Recharge Reduction Level 14: Boxing (A) Empty Level 16: Rise to the Challenge (A) Endurance Reduction (17) Healing (17) Healing (19) Healing Level 18: Spinning Strike (A) Accuracy (19) Accuracy (23) Damage Increase (23) Damage Increase (25) Damage Increase (36) Endurance Reduction Level 20: Quick Recovery (A) Endurance Modification (21) Endurance Modification (21) Endurance Modification Level 22: Tough (A) Endurance Reduction Level 24: Weave (A) Endurance Reduction Level 26: Shin Breaker (A) Accuracy (27) Accuracy (27) Damage Increase (29) Damage Increase (29) Damage Increase (34) Endurance Reduction Level 28: Heightened Senses (A) Endurance Reduction (31) Defense Buff (31) Defense Buff (31) Defense Buff Level 30: Combat Jumping (A) Empty Level 32: Crushing Uppercut (A) Accuracy (33) Damage Increase (33) Damage Increase (33) Damage Increase (34) Recharge Reduction (34) Recharge Reduction Level 35: Hasten (A) Empty Level 38: Maneuvers (A) Empty Level 41: [Empty] Level 44: [Empty] Level 47: [Empty] Level 49: [Empty] Level 1: Brawl (A) Empty Level 1: Critical Hit Level 1: Prestige Power Dash (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Slide (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Quick (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Rush (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Surge (A) Empty Level 1: Sprint (A) Empty Level 2: Rest (A) Empty Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift (A) Empty Level 2: Health (A) Healing Level 2: Hurdle (A) Empty Level 2: Stamina (A) Endurance Modification Level 1: Combo Level 1 Level 1: Combo Level 2 Level 1: Combo Level 3 ------------ Covers first 38 levels.

Some good places to start. I'll toss in my own version. Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Magic Scrapper Primary Power Set: Psionic Melee Secondary Power Set: Shield Defense Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Concealment Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Psi Blade (A) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage (3) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance (3) Touch of Death - Damage/Recharge (5) Touch of Death - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (5) Touch of Death - Damage/Endurance/Recharge (7) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative) Level 1: Deflection (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3% (7) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All) (9) Shield Wall - Defense (9) Shield Wall - Defense/Endurance (50) Shield Wall - Defense/Endurance/Recharge Level 2: Telekinetic Blow (A) Superior Critical Strikes - Accuracy/Damage (11) Superior Critical Strikes - Damage/RechargeTime (11) Superior Critical Strikes - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime (13) Superior Critical Strikes - Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (13) Superior Critical Strikes - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (15) Superior Critical Strikes - RechargeTime/+50% Crit Proc Level 4: Battle Agility (A) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance (17) Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge (19) Red Fortune - Endurance/Recharge (19) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge (21) Red Fortune - Defense (21) Red Fortune - Endurance Level 6: Concentration (A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff (23) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge (23) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge/Endurance (25) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Recharge/Endurance (25) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Endurance (27) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up Level 8: Psi Blade Sweep (A) Armageddon - Damage/Recharge (27) Armageddon - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (29) Armageddon - Accuracy/Recharge (29) Armageddon - Damage/Endurance (31) Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage (31) Fury of the Gladiator - Chance for Res Debuff Level 10: True Grit (A) Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance (31) Panacea - Heal (33) Panacea - Heal/Endurance (33) Panacea - Hea/Recharge (33) Panacea - Heal/Endurance/Recharge Level 12: Active Defense (A) Endurance Reduction IO Level 14: Boxing (A) Empty Level 16: Against All Odds (A) Endurance Reduction IO Level 18: Tough (A) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All) (34) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP (34) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance (34) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance (36) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime Level 20: Phalanx Fighting (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed Level 22: Weave (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed (36) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage (36) Reactive Defenses - Defense (37) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance Level 24: Combat Jumping (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed Level 26: Greater Psi Blade (A) Hecatomb - Damage/Recharge (37) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (37) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Recharge (39) Hecatomb - Damage/Endurance (39) Hecatomb - Chance of Damage(Negative) (39) Unbreakable Constraint - Chance for Smashing Damage Level 28: Boggle (A) Coercive Persuasion - Confused (46) Coercive Persuasion - Confused/Recharge (46) Coercive Persuasion - Accuracy/Confused/Recharge (46) Coercive Persuasion - Accuracy/Recharge (48) Coercive Persuasion - Confused/Endurance (48) Coercive Persuasion - Contagious Confusion Level 30: Hasten (A) Recharge Reduction IO (40) Recharge Reduction IO Level 32: Mass Levitate (A) Eradication - Damage (40) Eradication - Accuracy/Recharge (40) Eradication - Damage/Recharge (42) Eradication - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (42) Eradication - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (42) Eradication - Chance for Energy Damage Level 35: Shield Charge (A) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Accuracy/Damage (43) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Damage/Recharge (43) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (43) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge (45) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (45) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Recharge/Critical Hit Bonus Level 38: Stealth (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed (45) Luck of the Gambler - Defense (48) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance Level 41: Conserve Power (A) Recharge Reduction IO Level 44: Physical Perfection (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End Level 47: Grant Cover (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed Level 49: Super Speed (A) Celerity - +Stealth Level 1: Brawl (A) Empty Level 1: Critical Hit Level 1: Prestige Power Dash (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Slide (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Quick (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Rush (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Surge (A) Empty Level 1: Sprint (A) Empty Level 2: Rest (A) Empty Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift (A) Empty Level 2: Health (A) Miracle - +Recovery (15) Numina's Convalesence - +Regeneration/+Recovery Level 2: Hurdle (A) Empty Level 2: Stamina (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End (17) Performance Shifter - EndMod (50) Endurance Modification IO Level 50: Musculature Core Paragon Level 50: Reactive Radial Flawless Interface Level 50: Assault Radial Embodiment ------------ 1) Softcapped to all positionals without phalanx fighting; with it, you get a nice buffer for DDR. 2) Destiny is a big question mark; this build might have ample endurance management as it is. If not, feel free to run ageless and drop some slots in stamina (as well as perhaps the body mastery tree) to run some other stuff. If it is, you could use either barrier (to get more defense + resist and drop some defense slotting to slot for more offense/HP/etc.) or rebirth (for max health or regen). 3) Took concealment and super speed as per your concept request (wouldn't be my choices obviously, but it's doable with this build with minimal effect).

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Magic Scrapper Primary Power Set: Dual Blades Secondary Power Set: Dark Armor Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Leadership Power Pool: Speed Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Nimble Slash (A) Empty Level 1: Dark Embrace (A) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP (3) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance (3) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance (5) Unbreakable Guard - RechargeTime/Resistance (5) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All) Level 2: Ablating Strike (A) Hecatomb - Damage/Recharge (7) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (7) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Recharge (9) Hecatomb - Damage/Endurance (9) Hecatomb - Chance of Damage(Negative) (11) Achilles' Heel - Chance for Res Debuff Level 4: Murky Cloud (A) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance (13) Reactive Armor - Resistance (15) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge (15) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Recharge Level 6: Death Shroud (A) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Accuracy/Damage (17) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge (17) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge Level 8: Blinding Feint (A) Superior Critical Strikes - Accuracy/Damage (19) Superior Critical Strikes - Damage/RechargeTime (19) Superior Critical Strikes - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime (21) Superior Critical Strikes - Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (21) Superior Critical Strikes - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (23) Superior Critical Strikes - RechargeTime/+50% Crit Proc Level 10: Obsidian Shield (A) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge (23) Aegis - Psionic/Status Resistance (25) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance (25) Aegis - Resistance Level 12: Boxing (A) Empty Level 14: Tough (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3% (27) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance (27) Reactive Armor - Resistance (29) Reactive Armor - Endurance/Recharge (29) Reactive Armor - Endurance Level 16: Dark Regeneration (A) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Damage/Recharge (31) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (31) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Recharge/Critical Hit Bonus (31) Theft of Essence - Healing (33) Theft of Essence - Chance for +Endurance Level 18: Vengeful Slice (A) Superior Blistering Cold - Accuracy/Damage (33) Superior Blistering Cold - Damage/Endurance (33) Superior Blistering Cold - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (34) Superior Blistering Cold - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (34) Superior Blistering Cold - Damage/Endurance/Accuracy/RechargeTime (34) Superior Blistering Cold - Recharge/Chance for Hold Level 20: Cloak of Darkness (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed (36) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All) (36) Shield Wall - Defense/Endurance (36) Shield Wall - Defense Level 22: Weave (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed (37) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage (37) Reactive Defenses - Defense (37) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance Level 24: Combat Jumping (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed Level 26: Sweeping Strike (A) Armageddon - Damage/Recharge (39) Armageddon - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (39) Armageddon - Accuracy/Recharge (39) Armageddon - Damage/Endurance (40) Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage (40) Fury of the Gladiator - Chance for Res Debuff Level 28: Maneuvers (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed Level 30: Hasten (A) Recharge Reduction IO (40) Recharge Reduction IO Level 32: One Thousand Cuts (A) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge (42) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge (42) Obliteration - Damage (42) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (43) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (43) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage Level 35: Moonbeam (A) Apocalypse - Damage/Recharge (43) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (45) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Recharge (45) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance (45) Apocalypse - Chance of Damage(Negative) Level 38: Confront (A) Mocking Beratement - Taunt (46) Mocking Beratement - Taunt/Recharge (46) Mocking Beratement - Taunt/Recharge/Range (46) Mocking Beratement - Accuracy/Recharge (48) Mocking Beratement - Taunt/Range (50) Mocking Beratement - Recharge Level 41: Shadow Meld (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed Level 44: Soul Storm (A) Unbreakable Constraint - Hold/Recharge (48) Unbreakable Constraint - Accuracy/Hold/Recharge (48) Unbreakable Constraint - Accuracy/Recharge (50) Unbreakable Constraint - Endurance/Hold (50) Unbreakable Constraint - Chance for Smashing Damage Level 47: [Empty] Level 49: [Empty] Level 1: Brawl (A) Empty Level 1: Critical Hit Level 1: Prestige Power Dash (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Slide (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Quick (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Rush (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Surge (A) Empty Level 1: Sprint (A) Empty Level 2: Rest (A) Empty Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift (A) Empty Level 2: Health (A) Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance (11) Numina's Convalesence - +Regeneration/+Recovery (13) Miracle - +Recovery Level 2: Hurdle (A) Empty Level 2: Stamina (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End Level 50: Musculature Core Paragon Level 50: Ageless Core Epiphany Level 50: Reactive Radial Flawless Interface Level 50: Assault Radial Embodiment ------------ Couple of things about this build: 1) This build is contingent on ageless destiny to handle your endurance consumption needs; if you don't have access to ageless, I'd advise putting 2 more end mod slots into stamina and taking the body mastery tree instead (conserve power w/1 or 2 recharges + physical perfection with performance shifter +end proc). This will drop a considerable amount of recharge, but end management will be an issue if you do not. 2) With this build (and in general at about 260-270% total recharge put into ablating strike via recharge slotting + global recharge), you can start using the BF - Ablating - Sweeping - Ablating for single target. For group situations, BF - Attack Vitals combo is the way to go (can also use 1k Cuts as well to add to your AOE). 3) 2 power slots available for whatever you'd like. 4) If you have less than 260% recharge for ablating (from slotting + global recharge), use the BF - Attack Vitals combo for both ST and AOE. Should see a nice mix of damage and survivability with this build; only issue will be end management pre-ageless. Some slotting is flexible; if you want a usable nimble slash, you can drop the slots in confront and put them into nimble slash. I'd advise kinetic combat 4-piece + frankenslotted 2 whatever. Hope it helps.

Bill, I can give you the actual recharge % for the claws rotation of FU - Slash - Focus - Shockwave: The big one is shockwave (needing 206% recharge total to achieve "gapless", so say 90% recharge slotting + 116% from global sources including hasten). Others can actually run with a bit less than that. Realistically, having say 200% recharge only adds approx .08s delay for future shockwaves, so claws has a very modest level of recharge required for that rotation. After that, you're mostly adding recharge to boost availability of utility skills (and/or skills like water spout) + decrease cooldown of hasten.

After looking at both of our builds, here's a build I came up with. Now THIS looks like a really well-balanced build: Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Magic Scrapper Primary Power Set: Claws Secondary Power Set: Bio Armor Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Strike (A) Superior Blistering Cold - Accuracy/Damage (3) Superior Blistering Cold - Damage/Endurance (3) Superior Blistering Cold - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (5) Superior Blistering Cold - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (5) Superior Blistering Cold - Damage/Endurance/Accuracy/RechargeTime (46) Superior Blistering Cold - Recharge/Chance for Hold Level 1: Hardened Carapace (A) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All) (7) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP (7) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance (9) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance (9) Unbreakable Guard - RechargeTime/Resistance Level 2: Inexhaustible (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End (11) Performance Shifter - EndMod Level 4: Environmental Modification (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (13) Luck of the Gambler - Defense (15) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance (15) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Recharge (50) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge Level 6: Boxing (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage (17) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance (17) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge (19) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge Level 8: Combat Jumping (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed Level 10: Adaptation Level 12: Hasten (A) Recharge Reduction IO (19) Recharge Reduction IO Level 14: Tough (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3% (21) Reactive Armor - Resistance (21) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance (23) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge (23) Reactive Armor - Endurance Level 16: Ablative Carapace (A) Preventive Medicine - Heal (25) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime Level 18: Weave (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (25) Shield Wall - Defense (27) Shield Wall - Defense/Endurance (27) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All) Level 20: Evolving Armor (A) Reactive Armor - Resistance (29) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance (29) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Recharge (31) Reactive Armor - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge Level 22: Maneuvers (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (31) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage (46) Reactive Defenses - Defense Level 24: Slash (A) Hecatomb - Damage (31) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (33) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Recharge (33) Hecatomb - Damage/Endurance (33) Hecatomb - Chance of Damage(Negative) (34) Achilles' Heel - Chance for Res Debuff Level 26: Spin (A) Armageddon - Damage/Recharge (34) Armageddon - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (34) Armageddon - Accuracy/Recharge (36) Armageddon - Damage/Endurance (36) Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage (36) Fury of the Gladiator - Chance for Res Debuff Level 28: DNA Siphon (A) Preventive Medicine - Heal (37) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime Level 30: Follow Up (A) Superior Critical Strikes - Accuracy/Damage (37) Superior Critical Strikes - Damage/RechargeTime (37) Superior Critical Strikes - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime (39) Superior Critical Strikes - Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (39) Superior Critical Strikes - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (39) Superior Critical Strikes - RechargeTime/+50% Crit Proc Level 32: Focus (A) Apocalypse - Damage (40) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (40) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Recharge (40) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance (42) Apocalypse - Chance of Damage(Negative) (42) Gladiator's Javelin - Chance of Damage(Toxic) Level 35: Genetic Contamination (A) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Accuracy/Damage (42) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge (43) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge Level 38: Eviscerate (A) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Damage/Recharge (43) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (43) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Recharge/Critical Hit Bonus (45) Eradication - Damage (45) Eradication - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (45) Eradication - Chance for Energy Damage Level 41: Parasitic Aura (A) Preventive Medicine - Heal (46) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime Level 44: Moonbeam (A) Empty Level 47: Shockwave (A) Ragnarok - Damage (48) Ragnarok - Damage/Recharge (48) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (48) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge (50) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance (50) Annihilation - Chance for Res Debuff Level 49: Shadow Meld (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed Level 1: Brawl (A) Empty Level 1: Critical Hit Level 1: Prestige Power Dash (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Slide (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Quick (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Rush (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Surge (A) Empty Level 1: Sprint (A) Empty Level 2: Rest (A) Empty Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift (A) Empty Level 2: Health (A) Miracle - +Recovery (11) Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance (13) Numina's Convalesence - +Regeneration/+Recovery Level 2: Hurdle (A) Empty Level 2: Stamina (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End Level 10: Defensive Adaptation Level 10: Efficient Adaptation Level 10: Offensive Adaptation Level 50: Musculature Core Paragon Level 50: Assault Radial Embodiment Level 50: Barrier Core Epiphany ------------ Key notes: 1) Assuming end-consumption is not an issue, barrier (just the 5% component alone) lets you softcap your s/l/e/n AND f/c (I decided why not if using barrier) defenses. 2) With barrier, s/l resistance goes up to 73.2% while in offensive adaptation. Runs reactive armor; the moment you drop below 80% health (or you're fighting a group of 4 enemies, or any combination between those two), you're hard capped for scrapper. 3) Maintains ample recharge to run the FU - Slash - Focus - Shockwave rotation. Recharge sits at a respectable 157.5% global (with hasten). 4) Runs the full package of ST and AOE tools that claws would use with the exception of water spout; I could probably come up with a build that runs it, but things would have to shift. Edit: for anyone interested in actually using this character as a leveling template, PLEASE do not follow my power selection exactly in the order I did; this was mostly to just put something together. The actual skills are correct, but I would take a lot of the attack powers WAY earlier than this build shows; again, this is just for build testing purposes!

I could see a case being made for E/N, but F/C damage? There aren't really many in the way of those damage sources at the high end, and in your build I noticed that you softcapped defenses to those damage types but none of the others; however, it's pretty easy to softcap your e/n defenses with a little tweaking as you're already just about there. I'm going to disagree with your assessment that "I've gimped the very point of what Bio Armor is designed for with its multi-layered mitigation approach." Most moves in this game are tagged with a smash or lethal component, and defense utilizes the better defense value for whichever components are tagged with it (e.g. a fireball that does smash and fire based damage will use the defense rating of your best one to either). I don't want to pull out arbitrary percentages, but it's a LOT of damage sources where smash/lethal are the primary components tagged. I'm not pulling this type of build approach from "Kael's book of wisdom "; this has been considered, just from the small sample of the building community that I've worked with over time, one pretty solid approach to building that allows you to handle a significant chunk of the game's damage intake especially when things such as "getting hit, with some of those moves, = getting debuffed (whether with defense debuffing, any other secondary effects)." If we disagree on this, that's totally fine. Thank you for the correction; I type a lot and sometimes I make mistakes (especially when we're slinging these terms around). My hope is that you understood what I was getting at, regardless. I also now understand perfectly why your resistance values are the way they are (thanks for sharing that build!); without aiming to softcap s/l, and given our considerable differences in recharge (my "standard" template uses anywhere from 155 - 170% global recharge depending on attack set, while yours is 126.3%), you really went ham on those s/l resistance bonuses. While not personally the way I would build, this did actually bring up a few interesting build points for claws/bio (and similar sets) that could maybe incorporate features of both of our approaches: 1) Claws only needs a very modest amount of recharge total to do its optimal rotation, with shockwave (the one with the highest requirement) needing about 210% recharge to do the chains we did (FU - Slash - Focus - Shockwave - repeat). Both of our builds exceed that requirement, albeit mine substantially so. 2) Ageless is probably not even needed for claws at all, given its end efficiency + low level of recharge required especially if you put ample slotting into stamina + inexhaustible. This opens up build opens for something like barrier (which would allow both of our builds to get to whatever defense values we want with less slot effort, and/or shore up resistance to hardcap in my case), or perhaps Rebirth. 3) For a set with a mostly moderate DPA moveset, like Claws, and also your comment earlier about water spout being the sole -res proc of some sets, that might make me heavily consider incorporating it into those types of sets. I might need to go back at some point, if I can find the time (and will; having 40+ test toons on the beta server was a nightmare to create @_@) to retest. 4) Movesets with low recharge requirements for their rotation, by virtue of needing less "recharge bonus-oriented sets", can chase things like s/l resists or HP% boosts. I'm very sorry, but I cannot agree with this at all as it goes completely against all my statistical, and research-oriented, training. I can fully agree with you that you've played this game "long enough." I can fully agree with you that you've been part of Pylon Testing for a long time. But to say that you already know what to expect in variance and can come to a generalized conclusion from a single data point for each condition? I absolutely cannot agree with that, no matter what level of expertise a person might have. That simply goes against all reasonable conventions of testing/verifying. Experts in the "hard science" fields, or any statistician, with enormous amounts of expertise, would never be able to make that claim. We're obviously not talking about hard science here with CoH, but "some" level of verification/replication is needed to make ANY sort of conclusion when we're talking about "how good is X compared to X?". If we disagree on this, then I have nothing more to add on this point unfortunately other than "We disagree." Look at my little Katana/Bio sample for reference: 2:01 = 449.7 2:16 = 414.75 2:06 = 437.13 1:56 = 463.36 1:54 = 469.16 2:00 = 452.34 1:56 = 463.36 1:58 = 457.76 Now look at something like my StJ/Bio stalker testing sample: 2:17 = 412.69 2:12 = 423.3 2:22 = 402.81 1:56 = 463.36 1:50 = 481.4 2:25 = 397.25 2:20 = 406.7 That is a VERY notable difference in times. Had I just stuck with (if my first attempt, for example was), the 2:25 time, I'd say...that StJ/Bio armor stalker does the same DPS as my ice melee/bio scrapper? That's obviously not the case, but that is why I needed to test it out more to see what kind of trend I noticed. You are correct that, in terms of "seconds" of time variance, it wasn't that massive from a mean. However, seconds in pylon testing start to matter more as you reach lower times because DPS does not increase/decrease in static amounts for time spent. You can see this by comparing DPS values in 2 second increments (e.g. between 1:54 to 1:56 vs. 1:58 - 2:00). At these values that most of us are looking at (e.g. > 2 minutes), it's not a massive difference but there is one. As you get to lower times, your DPS goes up more (e.g. going from 1 minute - 50 seconds is a HUGE DPS increase versus 4 minutes - 3 minutes + 50 seconds). If I remember correctly, did you not also say that this was your first go at /bio armor for the purposes of this type of testing? That would mean you do not have previous testing data with this set to compare it to. It'd be one thing if, on Monday, you tested Conditions A + B for 5 attempts each, then on Wednesday you tested A + B for 3 attempts each. That would totally be legit. But I don't believe that is the case here, unless I am remembering horribly. Finally, I wouldn't run each condition 5 times myself. I'd ignore the "base" one that you used, and probably choose maybe 2 of them that I had the most interest in. Run 5 attempts each, and then just take a peek. I didn't want to run the "one extra test" mostly because I knew that "one test" would really be 5+ (I know this sounds ironic given what I stated, but I had done a lot of testing up to that point of the day >_>), and...I just wanted to try out other characters and do other things. I'm a build, and test, aholic. I divert my attention rather quickly. If you want to talk about this further, feel free to hit me up in PM; otherwise, I'd suggest we both just continue onward from here. Edit: Added my samples for Katana/Bio and StJ/Bio to clarify.

Not a bad first crack. I made some changes and left you with a few options; here's my version of your build (with my own thoughts in the bottom): Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! Level 50 Magic Scrapper Primary Power Set: War Mace Secondary Power Set: Shield Defense Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Leadership Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Pulverize (A) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage (3) Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance (3) Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge (5) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge (5) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (7) Mako's Bite - Chance of Damage(Lethal) Level 1: Deflection (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3% (7) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All) (9) Shield Wall - Defense (9) Shield Wall - Defense/Endurance Level 2: Jawbreaker (A) Hecatomb - Damage/Recharge (11) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (11) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Recharge (13) Hecatomb - Damage/Endurance (13) Hecatomb - Chance of Damage(Negative) (15) Touch of Death - Chance of Damage(Negative) Level 4: Battle Agility (A) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance (17) Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge (19) Red Fortune - Endurance/Recharge (19) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge (21) Red Fortune - Defense (21) Red Fortune - Endurance Level 6: Build Up (A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up (23) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Endurance (23) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Recharge/Endurance (25) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge/Endurance (25) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge (27) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff Level 8: Clobber (A) Superior Critical Strikes - Accuracy/Damage (27) Superior Critical Strikes - Damage/RechargeTime (29) Superior Critical Strikes - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime (29) Superior Critical Strikes - Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (31) Superior Critical Strikes - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime (31) Superior Critical Strikes - RechargeTime/+50% Crit Proc Level 10: True Grit (A) Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance (31) Panacea - Heal (33) Panacea - Heal/Endurance (33) Panacea - Hea/Recharge (33) Panacea - Heal/Endurance/Recharge Level 12: Active Defense (A) Endurance Reduction IO Level 14: Boxing (A) Empty Level 16: Against All Odds (A) Endurance Reduction IO Level 18: Tough (A) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All) (34) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP (34) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance (34) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance (36) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime Level 20: Phalanx Fighting (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed Level 22: Weave (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (36) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage (36) Reactive Defenses - Defense (37) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance Level 24: Combat Jumping (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed Level 26: Shatter (A) Armageddon - Damage/Recharge (37) Armageddon - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (37) Armageddon - Accuracy/Recharge (39) Armageddon - Damage/Endurance (39) Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage (39) Fury of the Gladiator - Chance for Res Debuff Level 28: Whirling Mace (A) Eradication - Damage (46) Eradication - Accuracy/Recharge (46) Eradication - Damage/Recharge (46) Eradication - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (48) Eradication - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (48) Eradication - Chance for Energy Damage Level 30: Hasten (A) Recharge Reduction IO (40) Recharge Reduction IO Level 32: Crowd Control (A) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage (40) Superior Avalanche - Damage/Endurance (40) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance (42) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (42) Superior Avalanche - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (42) Force Feedback - Chance for +Recharge Level 35: Shield Charge (A) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Accuracy/Damage (43) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Damage/Recharge (43) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge (43) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge (45) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge (45) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Recharge/Critical Hit Bonus Level 38: Maneuvers (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed (45) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance Level 41: Conserve Power (A) Recharge Reduction IO Level 44: Physical Perfection (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End Level 47: Grant Cover (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed Level 49: [Empty] Level 1: Brawl (A) Empty Level 1: Critical Hit Level 1: Prestige Power Dash (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Slide (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Quick (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Rush (A) Empty Level 1: Prestige Power Surge (A) Empty Level 1: Sprint (A) Empty Level 2: Rest (A) Empty Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift (A) Empty Level 2: Health (A) Miracle - +Recovery (15) Numina's Convalesence - +Regeneration/+Recovery Level 2: Hurdle (A) Empty Level 2: Stamina (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End (17) Performance Shifter - EndMod Level 50: Musculature Core Paragon Level 50: Ageless Core Epiphany Level 50: Reactive Radial Flawless Interface Level 50: Assault Radial Embodiment ------------ Few key points: 1) Soft-capped positional defenses (without phalanx fighting active; with it, you get a nice buffer for DDR) 2) 1 power slot + 4 regular slots open to do as you please 3) Ageless Destiny might not be necessary; I'd only use it for the endurance (the recharge slotting + global recharge level I have is sufficient to do the chain of Clobber - Shatter - Jawbreaker - repeat without ageless). If your endurance is good without ageless, you can choose another destiny such as barrier (to get some more resistances + drop some defense slotting since barrier will give a minimum of 5% to all at its lowest), or perhaps something like Rebirth. Hope this helps.

A few points I wanted to respond to: Water Spout is a great move, but it also comes with a very large base recharge. In previous sets, when I tested with water spout, most of my results ended up with the difference in times being net neutral. It's possible that it might favor a set like Claws, where most of its set moves are relatively moderate DPA moves (while water spout has strong DPA), but I've also noticed how much the -res procs in general bring for sustained damage; Katana, which numerically is inferior to Martial Arts (in terms of total DPA per move in the proposed chain, for similar time spent) beat out MA's times handily and I'm reasonably confident it's because of the presence of two -res procs in its attack chain (one achilles and one fury of the gladiator) that it can keep relatively high uptime on. It might be worth testing the difference in DPS times with using water spout (with -res proc) AND having -res slotted into shockwave. The KD/KB IO is totally fine and a quality of life thing; in this testing, I was mostly focusing on numbers. I made this plug because of certain features I noticed in some recent videos I watched of people's kills. I remember seeing (I think an old) /SR stalker who had something like low-mid 20% defense values to melee and ranged defense, but softcapped AOE, and an incredibly high % damage bonus value (which I know only came from cramming as much % damage boosts from sets as humanly possible). I have no issue with it myself, but I wanted to differentiate that, in my testing, I am aiming for what "I" consider to be a reasonably built, general purpose PvE /bio build. I'm also actually now a bit less certain about the impact of degenerative vs. reactive in my testing; I still think it's quite possible that degenerative, on average, leads to slightly faster completion times. I went with reactive because that is normally my choice for general play (and it's a very solid interface that is pretty staple), and also to keep some of my variables relatively within control; the fact that I end up with somewhat different recharge %'s in my builds already bothers me, just due to how each set is slotted slightly differently, but I can at least keep the "core" components relatively constant (all my T4's, softcapped s/l defense as a build goal which normally is very close across primary sets). This is a two part response from me. First off, I do believe that I am creating a build that does unify damage potential (and keeps the utility skills reasonably powerful); my attacks are generally slotted well, I think, and I've grown reasonably efficient with my slotting so that I can maximize my "bang for my buck." When I say neuter, it means in this case doing things like dropping parasitic aura to a single slot, removing any healing/endurance IOs for DNA siphon and dropping it down to a single slotter (when it's one of your most versatile moves in your kit), dropping ablative carapace to 1 slot, all for the purpose of squeezing more slots in for offense. That's what I'm referring to. Also, I'm not sure how you're managing to softcap s/l resistance on bio armor with offensive adaptation; it provides I believe a -7.5% res all penalty to you, and getting capped 75% s/l resistance despite that? I'd need to see how you're building your characters to believe it, respectfully. As for why I work to cap my s/l defenses, this table should provide some idea as to where I'm coming from: Defense/Resistance milestones for achieving multiples of effective HP. Credit: Angelhood 1x effective HP at 0 defense/resist 2x effective HP at 25 defense or 50 resist 3x effective HP at 33.3 defense or 66.7 resist 4x effective HP at 37.5 defense or 75 resist 5x effective HP at 40 defense or 80 resist 6x effective HP at 41.7 defense or 83.3 resist 7x effective HP at 42.9 defense or 85.7 resist 8x effective HP at 43.8 defense or 87.5 resist 9x effective HP at 44.4 defense or 88.9 resist 10x effective HP at 45 defense or 90 resist Defense effective HP and resist effective HP are multiplicative (i.e 43.8 defense and 83.3 resist is 48x effective HP) Non-tank non-epic ATs can achieve 40x effective HP Epic ATs can achieve 66.7x effective HP Brutes and Tankers can achieve 100x effective HP It's great seeing your times! However, I noticed a problem with your testing protocol. If I'm counting correctly, here's how many times you tested each condition: Baseline (no hybrid; FU - Focus Slash): 1 Baseline w/ shockwave (no res proc): 1 Hybrid with Water Spout (-res): 1 Hybrid without Water spout, moved -res to Shockwave: 1 Swapped Alpha and Interface, no hybrid: 1 Used new Alpha and Interface, hybrid: 1 You tested six completely different conditions, once each. You cannot create any generalized conclusions based on this; if you notice in the times I sampled (which, statistically at a number less than 30 or so attempts, is very hard to create generalized conclusions about and not statistically robust, but testing takes awhile!), I at least did multiple (4 - 10) attempts with the exact same kit because you can see for yourself that some of those differences in time were pretty drastic even with the exact same kit. I would encourage you to focus on replicated testing, I'd say an absolute minimum of 5 kills (I know the statisticians are rolling their eyes back like it's an exorcism; it should be preferably more; I'll try to do this myself), just to at least get "something". As it is, there's far too many variable changes and not enough attempts/replications.

Sting of the Wasp has a 5s base recharge. If it had a 10s recharge, but kept the DPA/stats it has, in "theory" it'd have a higher chance to proc attacks but it'd be an awful move with that amount of recharge. Gambler's cut is still the way to go for filler.

So I made all of the changes you recommended, and...well I stopped keeping track of my times after about attempt 10 (using degenerative, making the EXACT changes to my attack slotting as you recommended, using build up and changing my opener, all compared to my original). I was not impressed; the times did not improve by any substantial margin (even with enough recharge to run the chain gapless and now being under s/l softcap, but I tested for the sake of verifying your claim). My single best time with this new set-up was 1:53 after 10 attempts; at best it pretty much matched what I had tested prior; I had pretty similar times compared to my original set-up. Also, respectfully, please, please video yourself when you get a sub-1 minute time with a katana/SR scrapper (even with the hybrid) and then post it, along with the build; I'm assuming this is with a softcapped-to-all PvE build or was this with a specialized pylon build? Because that would mean you did in excess of 770DPS (which even a hybrid toggle TW/Bio ideally-built scrapper would have to push really hard to reach). It was worth trying your recommendations, and one thing I did learn was that the katana rotation is pretty efficient (and could be sustained without ageless if I changed a few things around). That was at least a good experience.

Beta Server (Justin) Ice Melee/Bio Armor Scrapper T4 Musculature Core Paragon T4 Reactive Radial Flawless Interface T4 Ageless Core Epiphany T4 Assault Radial Embodiment (I did not use the clicky/toggle on any tests; just the passive damage bonus) Offensive Adaptation No outside buffs, no recovery serum, no inspirations. Strictly just what my character has. Thursday means more pylon attempts, yes? Ice melee has an odd distribution of attacks; most of its ST attacks are low-moderate in DPA, and then there's freezing touch; this is truly the "clobber of the set." The set also has a nice damage typing, similar to fiery melee, and some slow attached to its secondary effects. But how does it perform for ST damage? As always, the build used a pretty standard template similar to my other /bio scrappers, oriented towards general PvE (e.g. softcapped s/l defenses). How I started every attempt: Hasten + Ageless (prepull stage) - Begin timer as soon as I hit Build-Up. Attempts with following rotation: Freezing Touch - Greater Ice Sword - Ice Sword - repeat Attempt 1: 2:44 = 366.62 Attempt 2: 2:25 = 397.25 Attempt 3: 2:27 = 393.65 Attempt 4: 2:15 = 416.84 Attempt 5: 2:27 = 393.65 Attempt 6: 2:13 = 421.11 Pretty cool, ice melee! One thing to note is that this set has pretty high (but not DB-level high) recharge requirements to pull off this rotation with minimal/no gap (ageless really helps with this, even just the 10% component). One nice thing is that freezing touch can be equipped with TWO epic damage procs (unbreakable constraint + hecatomb), which is quite nice. Another nice set with some decent AOE moves to boot, and a handy secondary. Gooo Freezing Touch!

Some good thoughts, but I looked into this more and wanted to share some of my own reservations: 1) The rotation of Follow Up - Slash - Focus requires approximately 315% recharge in Follow Up to achieve "gapless"; I'd say at recharge levels of 300% or less, it starts to become debatable if the damage gain from brief periods of "triple stacked FU" outweigh the short delays you'll start to experience while waiting for FU. For bio armor, you can only achieve this level of recharge by either A) taking Agility Alpha (not recommended for scrapper) and/or B) the first substantial boosts of ageless destiny (which is doable but requires a little more attention to watching your recharge time and switching mid-attempt). Also note that, in addition to using Achilles Heel' in Slash, I also use Annihilation in Shockwave; these are two separate -res procs, and therefore the latter is another major contributor to single target DPS. 2) I think it's entirely possible that degenerative could shave off time on my pylons, but I want to clarify that in these tests (up to this point) my goal has not been to have the "ultimate pylon kill times"; there's quite a few things I would change in my minds to work towards that goal (I could stand to drop below s/l softcap, add more % damage and/or slot some of my stuff even more offensively, completely neuter my self-healing skills, which are things I normally use in general gameplay, and use those slots for more damage-oriented bonuses). I mention this because, even in the old Rikti Pylon thread days, the difference between reactive and degenerative in testing purposes was how substantial the latter impacted an unusual situation like the Rikti Pylon tests (a very, very large health pool target); -max HP definitely is more substantial there in terms of "reducing total health needed to kill". The stated goal, as I've mentioned, has been to use a standard template with "general PvE build goals" in mind, and to see how each primary set does with the given levels of recharge, defensive stats/tools I would normally have, and make a comparison based on keeping those things relatively constant (I say relative because sometimes slotting for things like epic pool powers changes depending on if the primary pool can take unusual slots such as Armageddon or Ragnarok).

Beta Server (Justin) Fiery Melee/Bio Armor Scrapper T4 Musculature Core Paragon T4 Reactive Radial Flawless Interface T4 Ageless Core Epiphany T4 Assault Radial Embodiment (I did not use the clicky/toggle on any tests; just the passive damage bonus) Offensive Adaptation No outside buffs, no recovery serum, no inspirations. Strictly just what my character has. And the last testing stretch for tonight, fiery melee! Often considered one of the highest ST DPS sets, fiery melee's disadvantage for this type of testing situation is that it carries no ability to stack -res procs into its attack chain; it's all about the numbers! So what kind of numbers did it produce? As always, the build used a pretty standard template similar to my other /bio scrappers, oriented towards general PvE (e.g. softcapped s/l defenses). How I started every attempt: Hasten + Ageless (prepull stage) - Begin timer as soon as I hit Build-Up. Attempts with following rotation: Greater Fire Sword - Incinerate - Cremate Attempt 1: 2:10 = 427.76 Attempt 2: 2:29 = 390.15 Attempt 3: 2:33 = 383.43 Attempt 4: 2:21 = 404.75 Attempt 5: 2:12 = 423.295 Attempt 6: 2:19 = 408.67 While these times are "slower" than the other ones I've posted (katana/war mace/dual blades), one thing to note is that this is a pretty close reflection of its "raw damage output" whereas the other ones are demonstrating their solid ST DPS in conjunction with the power of -resistance debuffs on a target for sustained damage. All things considered, I am impressed by fiery melee's strong ST damage; it has a superior damage typing and it is highly endurance efficient. Its primary disadvantages are: the damage of these moves are DoT-based to a degree (versus upfront), and fiery melee's "secondary effect" is raw damage with no CC capability. Still, it's another rock solid set to play with! Gooo Incinerate!

Beta Server (Justin) 1) Claws/Bio Armor Scrapper T4 Musculature Core Paragon T4 Reactive Radial Flawless Interface T4 Ageless Core Epiphany T4 Assault Radial Embodiment (I did not use the clicky/toggle on any tests; just the passive damage bonus) Offensive Adaptation No outside buffs, no recovery serum, no inspirations. Strictly just what my character has. The testing for this, and the next, melee set came from some interesting conversations I've been having with other players. In the interest of providing a small sample of what kinds of times these sets could do, given the same base /bio armor template, I decided to put these to the test. How I started every attempt: Hasten + Ageless (prepull stage) - Begin timer as soon as I hit Follow-Up/Soul Drain Rotation: Follow Up - Slash - Focus - Shockwave - repeat 2:50 = 358.36 2:52 = 355.74 2:54 = 353.18 2:49 = 359.7 2:48 = 361.05 This honestly did not surprise me; this is still solid ST DPS but claws is notable for its strong AOE presence. However, it does not match the ST DPS of the sets that are more specialized/focused on that role; just examining the DPA of each of the moves it would use in its chain, and then comparing it to a ST high performer like Dual Blades or War Mace, reveals that it simply cannot put in the same DPA per time interval as those sets can. Still, this is by no means a bad showing, especially with the AOE it has! 2) Dark Melee/Bio Armor Scrapper T4 Musculature Core Paragon T4 Reactive Radial Flawless Interface T4 Ageless Core Epiphany T4 Assault Radial Embodiment (I did not use the clicky/toggle on any tests; just the passive damage bonus) Offensive Adaptation No outside buffs, no recovery serum, no inspirations. Strictly just what my character has. Rotation: Soul Drain (1 stack maintained for this testing, from just hitting the pylon for a 60% damage buff; no saturation) - Smite - Midnight Grasp - Smite - Siphon Life - repeat 2:28 = 391.89 2:43 = 368.05 2:25 = 397.25 2:32 = 385.07 2:31 = 386.74 This also did not surprise me as well; knowing that the ST rotation couldn't slot any -res procs, and the single damage buff is a nice 60% damage boost but dark melee's base DPA on its move chain is not extraordinarily high, I expected times roughly similar to my Martial Arts character and I was right. The interesting thing to consider is, even when greatly saturated, would it still produce similar times the top ST performers that have been presented up to this point? My intuition tells me that, in the best case, it would be competitive with some of the highest scrapper ST performers (DB/War Mace/Katana of the ones I've tested), but I actually am not sure if it would beat them all out handily. Its maximum point of saturation is 150% damage buff (10 targets), which would be incredibly hard to achieve; anywhere from 5-8, at most, seems much more reasonable.

Beta Server (Justin) Katana/Bio Armor Scrapper T4 Musculature Core Paragon T4 Reactive Radial Flawless Interface T4 Ageless Core Epiphany T4 Assault Radial Embodiment (I did not use the clicky/toggle on any tests; just the passive damage bonus) Offensive Adaptation No outside buffs, no recovery serum, no inspirations. Strictly just what my character has. It's hump day, which means more pylon testing! This time, I'd like to test out another underrated set (but not as much as War Mace); it's Katana time! Numerically, other sets have higher DPA, per similar time interval(s), chains than katana does. It also uses the slightly inferior lethal-typing of damage. BUT, it can also slot in both the fury of the gladiator -res, and Achilles Heel -res, procs. That means it has the potential for some serious sustained DPS, but how much you might wonder? As always, the build used a pretty standard template similar to my other /bio scrappers, oriented towards general PvE (e.g. softcapped s/l defenses). How I started every attempt: Hasten + Ageless (prepull stage) - Begin timer as soon as I hit Build-Up. Attempts with following rotation: Golden Dragonfly - Gambler's Cut - Soaring Dragon - Gambler's Cut - repeat (Another 3 button rotation, but you have to weave! Oooooh!) 2:01 = 449.7 2:16 = 414.75 2:06 = 437.13 1:56 = 463.36 1:54 = 469.16 2:00 = 452.34 1:56 = 463.36 1:58 = 457.76 Rather impressive! This is definitely a reflection of both katana's strong ST chain, as well as the power of having 2 different types of -res procs in said chain. There aren't too many sets for scrapper (but there are maybe a few!) that can beat it for ST damage, and it has passable AOE as well. The damage typing is still a bit of a bummer, but overall a very good set and showing! Gooo...Gambler's Cut?

Pine's is off on some of its numbers (particularly with the newer sets, including bio armor). The tooltip info for evolving armor's -res debuff indicates approx. 10% value. Offensive Adaptation also increases this value; the way it was tested was to utilize a standard condition where you find an enemy with virtually 0 resistance to a damage type of your choice (e.g. A level 50 scrapper with no damage buffs, with unslotted attacks preferably on low cooldown, smacking a level 50 council soldier). First establish that the damage value of that move is the damage value you are inflicting on the enemy. Repeat until satisfied. Then, test it with evolving armor and notice the difference in damage dealt. Then, once you have confirmed (repeated) results, repeat with offensive adaptation active (while calculating the damage bonus from it into the base value of the move, then seeing how much more damage you are inflicting as a % compared to what the damage buffed value should be without the -res component). It's possible I could have been off, so I welcome verification. Basically, test it out!

I think your number on the toxic proc damage seems right, but I'll try to verify when I have a chance (doing a lot of other testing for my scrapper DPS spreadsheet! So many numbers!). As for Parasitic Aura, I actually thought about this after you mentioned it and made a swap in my build; I dropped a purp set (was in Soul Storm) and switched to 5 piece Panacea in Parasitic Aura. I lost 2.5% recharge (Panacea provides 7.5%) and 15% global accuracy (not a big deal on the latter; I already run both Offensive Adaptation + Kismet) and gained a hilariously powerful Parasitic Aura in return; good trade! That's two changes I've made to my base build this week; pretty happy about that.

Basically it. War Mace is the superior set of the three (and actually compared to a fair amount of scrapper primaries!) in the combination of its ST/AOE/CC package (and smashing-type being slightly superior to lethal). Broad Sword takes up the last spot of the three; it's actually a set that, numerically, is disadvantaged compared to the other two; it's totally fine if you want to play it, and you can do well, but it's arguably the weakest of the three. Battle Axe is the middle tier between the two in terms of ST DPS, though Pendulum is quite nice for AOE, and another benefit is that it "blooms" relatively early compared to the other sets (i.e. it requires less recharge levels, especially compared to war mace, to do its "optimal" rotation for ST damage). Also, since a comparison between broad sword and katana was mentioned; strictly from a numbers perspective (both tested and in spreadsheet form), katana is a superior version of broad sword. It has a stronger DPA cone and PBAOE attack, and a higher DPA (in the same time interval) ST DPS chain. Surprisingly, broad sword ends up being more "end efficient" compared to katana, but this is by virtue of its slower attack chain relative to katana.

Fair points. I'm going to take each of these one by one to offer some thoughts, especially when comparing it to bio armor: 1) The damage buff of Offensive Adaptation (Bio Armor) is 31.25% on scrapper. The damage buff of Against All Odds is 12.5% base, then 6.88% per enemy near you. At 3 enemies, this slightly surpasses offensive adaptation (33.1%). The max is 10 enemies, which is 81.3% damage buff. But realistically, in a decent solo build (and/or in a group), the time in which 10, or even 9/8, enemies will stay up to provide you with damage buffs, is fairly short. But yes, I agree that, on average, AAO will provide more additive damage % increase. I mention this part because this additive damage increase is of greater value at lower damage values/presence of buffs, but Offensive Adaptation also brings the following additional damage-oriented components: +7.5% to hit (not accuracy!) Toxic damage procs on all attacks A base -10 resistance to all aura (which benefits your party) AND, in offensive adaptation, this is actually increased by an additional 3.3% approx (tested on tanker; will try to confirm on scrapper variant) for a total of -13.3% resistance to all aura; this is quite substantial! A damage aura The combination of these components is very substantial, and therefore I feel reasonably confident in asserting that Bio Armor brings a much stronger offensive package than shield defense in most general play. 2) No arguments here; shield charge is quite nice. Note that this does mean some of the slots you're saving (from point 6) need to go into this, preferably 6 slotted, as it's a strong attack. But shield charge is great! 3) Agreed that positional defense is generally superior to typed defense in principle, but the point about it being "simpler to enhance with IOs" is not correct; they are at best net neutral. There are roughly an equal number of bonuses that also provide large typed bonuses (and smaller positional bonus); believe me, I've built both and a quick browse through set bonus finder will show you that both types of defenses are plentiful depending on which IOs/power sets you are using to aim for those defenses. The Toxic and Psi holes are definitely true, although to be fair most non-positional defense sets run into this issue. 4) DDR is nice; there aren't many sets (and I don't think any resist set actually) that carry it. Certainly handy and a welcome feature of shield. 5) This is...I'll come back to this one. 6) Shield Defense definitely has some nice "initial return" for investment, no question. But note that I say "initial" return, because this is one of the core differences between bio armor and shield defense; bio armor has erratic initial return, but VERY strong late investment. Now to build on a few of my earlier remarks and some of the other things you mentioned: - You mentioned the "resistance hit" from offensive adaptation; it reduces resistance to all by -7.5%. Definitely notable. However, have you ever noticed the difference (particularly in smash/lethal values) between what the two sets can normally achieve assuming similar builds? Well-built bio armor can push over 70% s/l before the penalty, and this does not even fully include evolving armor giving you stacking damage resistance per enemy around you (similar to what AAO does, except for resistance). It's pretty substantial at that; I am reasonably confident that, even with the offensive -res penalty, bio armor WITH the penalty has comparable resistance to shield defense (and honestly, probably more when factoring evolving armor). If you have a shield defense build in mind that might counterpoint this, I'm absolutely open to seeing it. - The skippable powers component; the reason why bio armor is such a power-slot hungry set is because virtually ALL of its powers are very, very useful and strong. It brings one of the strongest regen packages outside of sets that specialize in it (e.g. regen, well-built willpower) and strong self-healing. It has good endurance management in the form of DNA siphon and inexhaustible (not to mention efficient adaptation if even needed). Parasitic aura is an incredibly strong T9 "crashless" power that provides insane endurance and regen, and could potentially be slotted for reasonable uptime. These self-healing and endurance management tools are ones that shield defense notoriously lacks. - To add to this piece, skippable powers are great but it's the question of "what" you'd pick with them. Most attack sets usually pick up 4-6 attacks (at very most) and build-up; most powers beyond that are usually used for extremely situational moments (e.g. parry/divine avalanche) and/or as slot mules. Boxing/tough/weave, combat jumping, and hasten are usually auto-includes for most melee builds. That already locks you into 3 pools; leadership pool is a typical 4th. Epic power pools are nice, but normally used either to provide a high DPA alternative attack (e.g. gloom for brute, water spout) or, again, as slot mules. Travel power is nice of course, but it's luxury. Once you softcap your defenses (whether as shield defense or bio), and have your attacks slotted up, your options become a bit more limited besides chasing flavor powers and/or slot bonuses. In conclusion, I bring these points up because I absolutely love both sets (I was a huge shield defense guy myself before I met bio armor), but I do believe the assertion that it is "the best general secondary set for scrapper" is a bit too strong of a conclusion IMO; I could easily argue that, while possessing a higher entry curve and requiring more investment, bio armor provides much more late-game potential due to the nature of the bonuses/strengths it brings while giving you a strong level of consistent, and VERY powerful, offensive presence without the need to add an additional attack. Just some food for thought; it's totally fine if it's your preference and you love the "type" of playstyle and building that shield defense offers. But I don't necessarily consider it to be the ultimate secondary set.

Yuh.

I'm a little curious why you believe shield is the strongest scrapper secondary in general; I agree it's powerful, but just wondering what your understanding of its power is (I'm assuming you're comparing it to bio in this case).

Agreed.

Respectfully, the true "all-around damage king" at this time is Titan Weapon/Bio Armor for scrapper. IMO, I think it's more fun (and still very effective) to play the characters Murcielago recommended, but both numerically and in performance, TW is in a league of its own (especially with bio armor, arguably one of the best offensive sets for scrapper). I would NOT recommend TW/Bio for a newcomer to melee, or a new player in general. It's not a leveling-friendly, and/or new player-friendly, set (especially combined). But it is undeniably powerful at high end.

Beta Server (Justin) War Mace/Bio Armor Scrapper T4 Musculature Core Paragon T4 Reactive Radial Flawless Interface T4 Ageless Core Epiphany T4 Assault Radial Embodiment (I did not use the clicky/toggle on any tests; just the passive damage bonus) Offensive Adaptation No outside buffs, no recovery serum, no inspirations. Strictly just what my character has. Another day, another set of pylon results. This time, I wanted to bring to attention the strength of a very, very underrated set; it's War Mace! From a numbers perspective (i.e. the DPS spreadsheet I've been working on), I knew War Mace was strong. I wanted to show one small sample of its well-rounded strengths; it has a good AOE kit, strong ST DPS, and good CC effects on its moves. It is VERY end-heavy though (not at the same level as Titan Weapon!). As always, the build used a pretty standard template similar to my other /bio scrappers, oriented towards general PvE (e.g. softcapped s/l defenses). How I started every attempt: Hasten + Ageless (prepull stage) - Begin timer as soon as I hit Build-Up. Attempts with following rotation: Clobber - Jawbreaker - Shatter - repeat (I know, very complicated) 1:45 = 497.99 2:00 = 452.34 1:59 = 455.03 1:47 = 491.17 2:09 = 430.05 2:01 = 449.7 1:44 = 501.5 Strength in simplicity, as they say. Sometimes you don't need the flashiest moves to do some great damage. Sometimes you just need to club a fool over the head (or under). In any case, I hope this gives some proof of the power of War Mace (and, as usual, Bio Armor). Gooo Clobber!