Story Archer

I'm just going to throw this out there before you get too far... I personally prefer Scrappers over Brutes, BUT in the case of Martial Arts, Brutes get a pretty significant +7.5% bonus (unstackable) to all defenses whenever you use Storm Kick (Tanks get +10%, Scrappers get nothing). That's actually pretty huge when it comes to survivability while levelling and it costs you nothing. Also, if you haven't grabbed the free damage/recharge enhancements from the P2W vendor in Atlas, you should definitely do that and slot them into your attacks. There are 5 in total, four with damage procs and one with a KD proc.

Also, focus on Accuracy over Damage early on when it comes to slotting your attacks. You don't have the Endurance or the Health to constantly be whiffing on attacks and you can't crit if you don't hit.

Yeah, between activation times and it's lack of AoE, there's been a HUGE adjustment from Claws/Bio...

Hey - thanks for responding. Yeah, this power combo definitely represents a departure in playstyle from my previous 50 Scrappers (Kat/Will, Dual Blades/Ninjitsu & Claws/Bio), especially the Claws/Bio with all of its lightning-fast activations and AoE goodness. I'm still struggling with the adjustment from that standpoint. So far it feels like a two-step between Total Focus and Energy Transfer with Build Up as often as possible in between, ignoring opportunities at AoE to seek out and focus on the hardest targets. I've gotten a ton of quality use out of a proc-heavy Cross Punch through the years, though that's more often been on Tankers. I've never 'tested' it, but it always seemed to hit as hard as any other filler attack with the added benefit of occasionally popping 2-3 foes at once. I'm still leaning on Mids for numbers (a mistake at times, I know) and I haven't had a build that used it for a while now, so if there's been some sort of changes to how procs fire off, I can't say. FWIW, the build I posted is set for the 'average' damage over time with procs firing at whatever rate they're supposed to, and the buffs it gets/gives from also selecting Boxing and Kick is actually considerable. Power Transfer was intended to help offset the damage taken from constant Energy Transfer use and I added in Numina because the build just seemed to be using a lot of Endurance on paper. I'm actually not overly worried about E/N Resistance, I was more interested in the bonus additional health and since I already had 3 it seemed that 4 was an easy enough accommodation - plus the additional enhancement actually nudges me over 45% defense vs. Ranged & AoE (I chose to cut it pretty close). Your point about mixed and layered defenses over squeezing that last ounce of perfection in one particular area is well taken - Bio really taught me that - but I tend to solo a good bit, probably 75% of the time, so I never want to rely on the buffs of others. Incarnates do make a big difference though. I do a lot of Flashbacks and post 40 (if not post 50) content, so I'm more concerned with a build that gives me a nice selection of the key powers at lower levels than when certain global buffs kick in.

Alright, this is what I think I'm going to go with. It gives me the legendary single-target damage of EM and still a pretty potent 'semi-AoE' attack chain with Whirling Hands, Power Crash and a juiced up Cross Punch (honestly, hitting 2-3 at a time with each of these is just fine for my purposes). I know that going Fly with a melee character is a little weird, but I've grown to like Hover/Evasive Maneuvers in place of Sprint + Combat Jumping on some non-melee characters so I want to give it a shot, especially since it fits with theme. It's easy enough to fix down the road if I don't like it. Scrapper (Energy Melee - Super Reflexes).mbd Defenses and DDR are maxed and the perma-Hasten box is checked so I should be good to go. I didn't go overboard on defense over the cap, didn't put any real effort into Resistances and adding more +Rech was giving me diminishing returns. Once I get her enhanced and give her a whirl, I'll know what tweaks I want to make, if any. Thanks again for the input, guys, helpful as always.

I've got a MA/Shield Brute that I'm trying to get off the ground as well, both she and this one are kinda slaves to their concepts at the moment. EDIT: Updated build below.

e Yeah, you got me.

I've got a 50 Ninjitsu, Willpower and Bio. Bio and Ninjitsu are far and away my favorite secondaries, but my personal biases generally lead me away from resistance-based sets for Scrappers and away from positional defenses when I can help it (Bio is the exception). I have a /Shield Brut I'm working on and off, but the theme I have in mind for this character doesn't accommodate a shield nor her being invisible most of the time, so I figured /SR would work, in particular because I wanted my game play to focus on the offense and because its visuals are basically non-existent (letting the costume take center stage). I was just concerned about its lack of a heal because EM's big gun drains health and I tend to solo a lot..

Did you mean to say here that you'd be surprised if it wasn't a very strong pairing? Honestly, I picked it primarily for ease of play. I'm glad to know that the lack of a heal wouldn't be problematic.

I'm a big fan of Ninjitsu - I love its toolbox and Dual Blades/Ninjitsu was my main for a long time (see below). Looking to try something else out, though it's still high on the list.

So you only use Whirling Hands for AoE? And is SR an adequate secondary for EM even though it lacks a heal? I've never used ET, much less as part of a steady chain, so I don't know if having a heal needs to be some sort of priority with EM.

Energy Punch over Power Crash? Can you explain that one please? And which powers do you usually find yourself using Total Focus as a set-up for?

That actually happened for me with Claws/Bio, who quickly became my main (and I loved my Kat/Willpower and my DB/Ninjitsu before that). I'm working on the Energy Melee scrapper now as a little break and I'm pursuing more of a thematic angle rather than trying to break the game.

Thanks all, for the responses.

Not sure what secondary I'm going to go with, maybe Super Reflexes so that I can focus on figuring out my new primary. Any builds for Energy Melee out there that you guys are currently enjoying? I want to get an idea which powers are worth my time beyond the obvious.