Story Archer

No, I don't think so - and I really appreciate you taking the time to respond in such detail. One of the things I try to figure out when looking at different builds is which decisions were made as a result of personal play style and which as a result of one decision being objectively better than the other. Again, thanks for sharing your build and the reasoning behind the choices you made. It's offered a great deal of insight.

Alright, roping you two into this same reply. I'm posting the most updated build I'm currently using below, and I'm going to have some questions specific to the builds you guys are using in comparison to my own - not necessarily saying that one is better than the other, just pointing out my reasoning for what I did so that you can tell what I'm missing, if anything. Note: the two empty IO slots will have FF +Rech procs in them, I just leave them out to keep them from skewing my recharge info. [Ladyshrike II].mbd So first off, the defensive side of things. I've been accused of chasing defensive numbers on my Scrappers a little too much, and I'm fine with that so long as I'm not sacrificing any obviously greater benefits elsewhere. I notice that my defenses are considerably higher than either of yours, specifically with regards to E/N/F/C (46.2% for me vs. 34.1% for Camel and 31.8% for SomeGuy). We're pretty even everywhere else except for SomeGuy's 50% S/L Res, which Camel and I basically have soft-capped at around 75%. I can't find any other aspects of the build where I'm lagging (like recharge or offensive output), so I'm assuming that's all good? I tend to value defense very highly because of its ability to mitigate debuffs and other secondary effects, but since Bio has no DDR, I don't want to lean too heavily on it. Camel, I noticed that you took the Ageless Incarnate - was that why, or do you just like the additional Recharge? Next, Genetic Contamination. I see that both of you took it, though you did different things with the slotting. I chose to use that power slot and those enhancement slots on Spring Attack instead. My reasoning was that 1) the damage from one Spring attack is the equivalent of about 10-12 ticks from Genetic Contamination (closer to 15 if I make that last slot a damage proc), but I get the benefit all at once, and I get it every 35-40 seconds instead of spread out over 1-2 minutes, and 2) the initial KB helped me avoid the threat of alpha strikes whenever I engaged a new mob which could jumpstart a cascading defensive collapse. I know that GC grants a damage debuff against your foes in addition to its damage - how noticeable is that in terms of your survivability? You both took Maneuvers - was that primarily so that you could slot another LotG +Rech IO? Between Maneuvers and GC, your endurance totals are notably ahead of mine. Are you noticing any issues with that, or does Parasitic Aura perform so well that its not a problem? I think you guys also both took Shockwave. I've kind of avoided that power as I'm pretty happy with my attack chain as it is. For single targets its just FU -> Focus -> Eviscerate and for groups its FU -> Spin -> Eviscerate. Those chains really don't have any gaps, and just throw in Moonbeam whenever it comes up in either instance. I'm guessing that you took and use Shockwave in the same way that I use Spring Attack, as an opener to help mitigate alpha strikes? I can't help but notice the HUGE Psi hole we all have in our defenses. Has that ever actually been an issue for either of you guys? Is there anything obvious in the build that I linked that I may have overlooked or might not properly understand when it comes to slotting? Thanks again for your insights!

Yep, that's working for me. Thanks. I always find it interesting, the different approaches people take in their builds. Two quick questions - first, how do you feel about the performance you're getting with things set up this way and secondly, do you mind some build-specific questions and comparisons between the one that I posted and this one?

I think that this is an important point to emphasize. The massive single-target blasts are ideal against GM's, AV's and EB's... but against everyone else, they often overkill your target (especially once you start factoring in Incarnates and critical hits), all while expending more endurance and tying you up in longer animation times while less damaging attacks might have already allowed you to move on to your next target. This is why I rank Katana and Claws as my favorite primaries, despite the more frequently resisted damage type (not that energy is very far behind in that regard). Katana grants more opportunities for -Res slotting and provides a strong defensive option while Claws has better AoE, a built-in ranged attack AND a built-in ranged AoE attack to boot. Both generally feature quicker animations that let you be more efficient in your attacks.

The two biggest consideration between those two options would seem to be 1) the playstyles feel very different imo, with one being super tanky and the other much quicker and offensive-minded (if I were to run a /Stone anything, it'd be on a Brute or Tanker) and 2) how you feel about the two power sets assorted visuals.

I'd love to see the build, but for some reason I've never been able to make the 'data chunks' work. This is what I'm currently working with, and how I'm currently planning on slotting those attacks: [Ladyshrike II].mbd

Interestingly, I'd argue that /Rad and /Bio offer the most damage-wise, or at the very least are right up there with /Shield. I hear you about the aesthetics of the two sets - I really had to work to come up with a cool concept for /Rad, but now I've got three (2 Tankers and a Brute) since I tend to favor Res-based armors for those guys... the mini-nukes are incredibly effective when properly used. I finally got over my aversion to what Bio looks like and gave the set a chance (Ninjitsu has been my go-to for Scrappers and Stalkers), and I've actually found some very appealing visuals to take advantage of. Sure, I'd love to be able to have a 'minimum fx' option for some of the armors, but I've made the visuals that go with offensive adaptation synergize beautifully with my claw concepts and now she's one of the coolest looking characters I've run - so there is hope!

On that point and as an aside, do you think that a more exotic power set like Dark Melee gains a noticeable advantage over the more commonly resisted S/L sets? Not against every mob, obviously, but over the life of the character? To the OP, I am REALLY digging my Claws/Bio right now... she feels as strong or stronger than any scrapper I've played to date.

A Claws/Bio is exactly what I'm working on. Do you feel like the various procs fire off often enough when slotted this way to outweigh the benefit of a FF proc or damage proc in Focus? I'm planning on keeping a full set of Superior Winter's Bite in my snipe...

I actually think they (the buffs) only last for 5 seconds or so...

That's kind of my standard slotting (what it is now). I was just looking at the possibility of all three attacks giving a potential boost to each other when chained together, and shifting the CS proc to Strike was the only way to pull that off without unravelling the entire enhancement structure I've got going on... but you're right, when I'm in 'AoE mode', my attack chain is Follow Up -> Spin -> Eviscerate, so I'd want it in there regardless.

Yeah, I'm considering that too. The only reason I dropped the FF proc in was to help cycle through non-attack abilities a bit faster (Hasten, Ablative Carapace, DNA Siphon, Parasitic Aura). I've got decent +Rech, +155% w/Hasten, but Hasten isn't perma, so I was thinking every little bit would help.

I understand how the recharge rates affect procs and (of course) I slotted for recharge in all three of those attacks, meaning that the procs will fire less frequently. I'm just curious which of the two slotting options are more likely to deal the greatest damage over time.

Abusing FF procs in Stone Melee is a long and cherished tradition... but you should consider using it in everything EXCEPT Seismic Smash. For that, go 5x Hecatomb + the damage proc from Unbreakable Constraint. FWIW, my favorite pairing with Stone Melee + FF procs is Radiation Armor. Maybe throw in a little Psionic Mastery Epic to stack holds with Dominate, grab Harmonic Mind and get your ranged mini-nuke in Psionic Tornado (also slot-able for the FF proc). EDIT - sorry, thought I was in the Tanker forum for a sec with this last comment...

I'm talking about both Decimation & Gaussian's procs here. I'm working on my final Claws/Bio Scrapper and I'm looking at trying something which might or might not be very effective and I was hoping to get some thoughts. As I understand it, each of these procs will give you, on average, one 5 sec buff of +40% ToHit and +100% damage every minute. At the moment I have a fast-recharging single-target attack chain of Follow-Up -> Focus -> Strike. I work in Moonbeam when it comes up and Eviscerate whenever there are two or more targets, but I can chain those three attacks very smoothly. In each of those three attacks, I have one enhancement slot that I can do pretty much anything with, and at the moment, that bonus slot looks like this: Follow Up: Superior Critical Strikes +50% Crit. proc Focus: Force Feedback chance for +Rech proc Strike: Touch of Death chance for Dmg proc In the interest of maximizing damage, I was considering this configuration instead: Follow Up: Gaussian's Chance for Build-Up proc Focus: Decimation Chance for Build-Up proc Strike: Superior Critical Strikes +50% Crit. proc I like the idea of all three attacks in the chain having the chance to significantly boost the other two (and whatever else gets thrown in there), but is this just fool's gold? Will they fire often enough to outweigh the benefits of the slotting I'm already using? I'm specifically thinking of utility against hard targets here, like EB's, AV's & GM's. FWIW, I've selected both the Musculature Core Paragon and Assault Core Embodiment Incarnate abilities, and usually run with the Offensive Adaptation up.

Necro'ed this rather than start a whole new thread. Anybody know what the duration of Soul Drain is? It doesn't come up in Mids...

Back to the original conversation, this build is really working out well. I'm getting a ton more utility out of Radiation Therapy slotted the way it is rather than using it as an additional mini-nuke. With Rad Therapy, Foot Stomp and Psionic Tornado all doing solid PBAoE KB, I'm chaining a lot of mitigation together. [Majestrix IV].mbd (Empty slot in Psionic Tornado is for Cupid's Chance of Confusion proc)

Well, that's pretty simple, straight-forward and not remotely intuitive at ALL. How the hell is someone supposed to figure that out? Thanks for the help, guys.

Do either of you have a screen shot, because I can't find this elusive '+' you speak of... no '+' when I hover over an enhancement, no '+' when I go to the selection window, nothing. I've got the latest version.

Just wanted to make sure that I'm not missing anything obvious - there are no arcane themed invention worktables available for bases, correct? I just plop that computer array with its high tech holographic display right in between the ancient tomes and mystical artifacts?

You're not wrong. I'd say that I know about 20x what the average joe running around knows and less than half of what someone who's really gotten into the thick of it might. I only ever remember how much there is to it when I try to explain it to someone new ("Alright, so a psuedopet is..."). Case in point, I don't have the slightest idea what 'Damage per Animation' might mean or how it would differ from 'Damage per Activation' - the animation occurs when I activate it, no? Back to the original question, which is still somehow falling short. Let's take Hasten. I have two level 50 generic Recharge IO's in it. In the game, I use Enhancement Boosters to bump those up to '50+5' generic Recharge IO's, which increases their effectiveness and the speed at which Hasten recharges. I don't see a way in MIDS to make those two IO's in Hasten become '50+5', either visually or algorithmically, and I just assumed that it wasn't an aspect of the game that MIDS accounted for. Then I saw the image you posted and thought that maybe I had missed it. That's what I'm asking about.

Well, first off I can't find that last part (show damage per activation) anywhere in my config options, BUT I don't think I adequately expressed what I was wanted to know to begin with. In the image I quoted, it shows enhancements that have been boosted beyond L50 (i.e. 50+5). I don't see any option in MIDS which would allow me to turn on or display those individual enhancement boosts, much less have them taken into account in the Totals. This probably isn't the thread for all that, I just never knew it was an option.

Above, @Tidge suggested the Enzyme HO (Def DeBuff / ToHit DeBuff / End Redux), which is perfect.

This particular type of build definitely plays differently from other Tankers - when teaming I even make sure to inform the others of that, particularly if there is another, more traditional Tanker there. The entire point of the build is to leverage the Rage benefit of SS by mitigating its drawbacks as much as possible, otherwise the Rage crash would be utterly intolerable (to me, at least). This is primarily done by focusing on non-Defense 'defenses' and by using Damage procs in place of more traditionally used sets because they help to circumvent the massive -DMG drop. Rad Armor checks all these boxes and then some (such as -Rech and Endurance drain resist), creating a lot of synergy with trying to get your recharge up (Particle Shielding, Rad Therapy, Ground Zero, KO Blow, Rage, Foot Stomp, etc.). My attack chain is actually pretty simple, though you have to be a little flexible given all of the variable recharge flying around. Against single targets it's pretty much Cross Punch -> Haymaker -> either Dominate or KO Blow (whichever is up) and then scan the recharge row listed below for applicable options before beginning again. When surrounded (which is most of the time) it's Foot Stomp -> Cross Punch -> Haymaker -> whichever ones of the following that have recharged: Rad Therapy, Ground Zero, Psionic Tornado, Pyronic Judgement, Hasten, Rage, Ageless Destiny and Assault Hybrid. It seems like a lot, but its really not - you just click your three attacks and scan the row of potential recharges before beginning again. FWIW, she is an absolute wrecking machine. As a further aside, Psionic Tornado and the Pyronic Judgement make for a brutal ranged AoE one-two punch. I'll frequently use them against a second group of mobs further away while I'm surrounded by the first group.

Update: Majestrix IV [Majestrix IV].mbd I really want to thank everyone who has taken the time to weigh in on this discussion. The different perspectives offered have not only helped to immeasurably improve this build, but a number of my others and hopefully will continue to offer additional insights to anyone who comes across it in the future. This newest iteration has some substantial improvements, including: I am leveraging the +Res ATO proc more efficiently, so that 1 tick will put me right at 50% for Cold & Psi, 90% for everything else. I picked up an additional +6% Cold, Negative and Psi Resistance to round out the above. Foot Stomp deals more damage, more consistently. Beta Decay is slotted more efficiently with the Enzyme HO. I'm adding additional mitigation by leveraging the Confuse proc from the new Cupid's set in Psionic Tornado (shown as an empty slot for now). Radiation Therapy has gone from (yet another) mini-nuke to a utility proc bomb that helps with mitigation and recovery. Still playing with the slots there. Note: the empty slots in Haymaker, Foot Stomp, Cross Punch and one of the ones in Psionic Tornado are all for the FF +Rech proc. The extra one in Psionic Tornado is for the Confusion proc from the new Cupid set. It's been surprisingly effective.