Saikochoro

Quoted for truth. The likes of follow up, blinding feint, and soul drain really drive their respective sets.

When solo and not comparing powersets that give constant damage boosts (bio/shield/dual blades/claws/dark melee, etc) a solo brute maxed out fury can out damage a solo scrapper. However, as soon as the scrapper is also able to have consistent access to damage boosts they start to close the gap fast and eventually come out ahead. The closer each archetype gets to the caps the further ahead scrapper pull. This is mainly due to brutes low base damage modifiers and scrappers high base damage modifiers. Non constant boosts also close the gap, though not as much. Each use of build up benefits scrappers more than it does brutes due to it boosting higher base damage on scrappers and also boosting it by a higher amount. Keep in mind any buff from armor or attack set (build up, follow up, AAO, offensive adaption, meltdown, etc) will buff at a higher value on scrappers than brutes. So not only is the % buff greater, it is also buffing a higher base damage on a scrapper than brute. Anecdotally, I tend to play a lot of claws, dual blades, shield defense, and dark melee. So my scrappers often rock pretty large constant damage boosts. And with the ATOs crits are fairly common, if not almost guarranteed on some attacks based on slotting. All of that will often overcome the fury bonus. However, if you have constant runners then brutes easily come out ahead. Chasing runners nukes dps. Thats why a lot of plays like armors with taunt auras on scrappers.

Main reason to make a brute over a scrapper is if you intend on leveraging higher resist caps, higher hp, and don’t like runners. In most cases, a scrapper will out damage a brute as long as the enemies aren’t running. But runners are a problem. That’s one of the reasons sets with a taunt aura on scrappers, such as shield or ea, are popular on scrappers.

My favorite stalkers include: -dual blades/EA -street justice/EA -dark/shield -ice/shield -energy/EA As you can probably see from that list: I recommend either energy aura or shield defense as the armor. Take your pick of the attack set.

Unfortunately tankers don’t get EA. The offensive bonuses that EA gets is it’s scaling recharge. This allows you to forgo some recharge set bonus and chase other goals and allow EAs recharge bonus to tighten up your attack chain. Honestly both sets are really awesome. And for what it’s worth if you team then their differences don’t really matter as much. For example if you team with a kinetics then you’ll probably be damage capped and have insane recharge no matter what armor set you use. I suggest you make one of both to try them for yourself. War mace will pair nicely with either, but I think fits better thematically with shield. That or make a dark melee/shield defense scrapper because dark melee synergizes amazingly with shield. And then do war mace/energy aura because it’s strong and pretty.

Or dual blades shield. Or katana shield.

Shield defense is the better armor in my opinion, but energy aura is still amazing. Though keep in mind that my opinions are usually focused on level 50s with incarnates, and a large budget. Filling out an attack chain and managing endurance are my personal main goals while leveling. In my opinion both sets aren’t super leveling friendly because both suck down endurance until they get something to manage it. Energy aura’s endurance woes go away with energize. Shield relies in proc IOs and I take ageless destiny. Overall I think energy aura is easier while leveling. Shield has better mitigation, but not by much. Shield has better DDR. It doesn’t have the psi hole that energy aura does, but it doesn’t have a heal like energy aura does either. Both can get good resist values s/l resist (60%+), and in the 40s-50s on secondary resist types depending on preference. Energy aura is easier to build for recharge. But at max level I have all the recharge I need on shield. AAO is very nice when surrounded, but not as noticeable against single hard targets. Then again energy auras recharge buff is also really nice when surrounded, but not as noticeable against single hard targets. Overall you can’t go wrong with either. I think EA is more well rounded, but I believe shield has a higher potential. I have a lot of shield and a lot of EA characters. I like both sets enough to fully recommend both.

This what happens when I type it out on my phone 😁

1. Secondary sets that are budget friendly. I would say most layered mitigation sets are good budget sets because they do a little of everything, but not necessarily the best at one thing. These are good because you aren’t pigeon holed into one focus when you don’t have a decent budget. Bio armor is a good example of this. It is flexible and offers some of everything. That said, I believe there are better secondaries than bio armor. Shield defense also offers a damage boost, and is much tougher than bio when you are able to invest in it. I personally believe shield defense to be the best armor in the game and energy aura to be the runner up. But that is because they suit my goals well. SR and stone armor are also great. 2. Best way to make money depends on your goal. Marketing is going to be the best inf/hour. One of the primary methods of marketing is crafting and converting. Farming is another option, but requires specific archetype/builds, with IO investment, and level 50 to reach its full potential. But that can be another good source. I have done all sort of methods and have come to focus on merits -> converters -> inf. It allows me to run task forces or story arcs and then liquidate my rewards. I personally also find it to be the least boring. And it’s pretty good consistent money. You could easily afford a purpled out build doing this. It would just be a bit slower than marketing/farming. 3. I think the stand out newer sets for scrappers are energy melee and stone armor. I know there were other proliferations and sets, but I think those two are the belle of the ball. 4. Attuned IOs are awesome. They are made by adding a catalyst to a set IO. However, manually making them attuned is wasteful since the market automatically does it if you bid for an attuned IO instead of a normal one. You can tell they are attuned because they don’t have a level on them. The benefit of attuned IOs is that they level up with you and you keep the set bonuses all the way down to their lowest available level. I slot attuned and never look back. ATOs are archetype specific enhancements. They are some of the most powerful sets in the game (although some archetype sets are duds). They have great set bonus usually with some defense, resists, and recharge. They can be catalyzed at level 50 to become purple and have their power and set bonuses increased. They usually try to take an aspect of the archetype and provide a boost to it. For example, the single most overpowered IO in the game (in my opinion) in the Might of the Tanker resist proc. You can triple stack it for 21% resist to all. Scrappers get increased crit chance procs. Stalkers get a hide proc and a build up recharge proc. Some sets offer a straight damage proc such as one of the blasters sets. These are usually pretty pricey (6-10 million each depending on how patient you are), but are some of the best enahncements you can get. I definitely recommend them for scrappers. 5. Lots of changes to the market to increase quality of life and help keep prices down. There are a lot of quality of life changes to give options to increase leveling speed. Also, you can easily switch alignment with bill the full on pocket d. A lot of others that I am forgetting.

How about no to all of these suggestions. This would alienate many players and cause them to quit. This is directly targeting specific areas play styles that you believe to be wrong based on your comments. Farming and power leveling is every bit as valid a play style as running through story content. One of way of playing is not better or worse than another way. Here are a couple suggestions that people who look down on power leveling and farming can use in their own gaming without encroaching on others. 1. In AE missions, leave approximately 75% of the enemies undefeated before clicking glowies. If all enemies must be defeated, turn off xp once 25% of the enemies have been defeated. 2. In radio missions, leave approximately 50% or the enemies undefeated. Or alternatively, turn of xp halfway through the mission. 3. At each veteran level, open up your salvage window and delete all threads and emp merits that were rewarded upon leveling. Or buy boosters/super inspirations and then delete those. 4. When obtaining double xp boosters from p2w vendor, open up the auction house and pay 5-10 million for one white salvage for each hour of xp booster you obtain. For 50% xp booster, buy white salvage for 2.5-5m influence. Be sure to delete the white salvage after purchasing. This also serves to make white salvage sellers happy with a nice surprise. Alternatively, don’t buy xp boosters. There you have it. You can use those methods to play the game how you want to play it. Others can continue to play how they want to play without being oppressed by those who “superior” players who want to crack down on offending play styles. Alternatively, you can just let people play how they want to play and accept people like to approach gaming in different ways.

Dual pistols/ninja gets my vote. The only blaster I have that I enjoy more than my DP/ninja is my DP/ma blaster. It is very stylistic and weapon based. I enjoy weapon based specs a lot more than elemental/super power based specs. It checks a lot of my fantasy/scifi boxes. Very fun combo that does good damage and looks cool.

Shield Defense is the best armor in the game in my opinion. When built right, I have never thought, “man I wish I had a heal!” I carry a line of greens on me and rarely ever use one, let alone the whole line of them. Great defense means I rarely get hit. Great resists means that the few hits that do make it through don’t hurt much. I have found that the panacea, power transfer, and incidental regen bonuses that are a by product of my other slotting choices cover 90% of my need of healing. As far as how it performs on brutes versus scrappers: it’s not really that it’s bad on brutes it’s more of that it just rocks on scrappers and it’s absolutely crazy on tankers. So for me, it’s more of the brute vs tanker vs scrapper question in general. That said, brutes don’t get quite as much out of AAO and shield charge. But honestly that’s okay. Shield defense is still outstanding on brutes. It is outstanding on any archetype that can take it.

I take musculature alpha and ageless destiny on my shield scrappers. I don’t find that I need to heal much, but always carry a few greens just in case. The power transfer and panacea procs are helpful as well.

Honestly, I want the following for regen: 1. Debuff resistance (regen, recharge, recovery) 2. Scaling resists - same as SR (works good and no need to reinvent the wheel). 3. Perhaps a + rech added to a toggle or auto power. I’d be fine with a flat bonus like in SR/stone or a scaling bonus like EA. These would not make it a top tier set, but would certainly make it less squishy. I don’t feel that it would fundamentally change how it’s played either. I would be very happy indeed if they gave regen these things even if it doesn’t make it S tier.

Honestly even if the friend did leave because of farming it still doesn’t mean that anything needs to be done about farming. I had a friend that logged on in the first week of homecoming and had totally forgotten about things like DFB or farms. He also didn’t know about the pay to win vendor. He played for a several hours, got bored, and quit. When I asked him if he would try playing with me he said that running around doing low level radios, contacts, or street sweeping was a lot more boring than he remembered and had no interest in doing that again. I proceeded to nag him for a long time (many months) to try again. When I finally got him to try it again I introduced him to the pay to win vendor, DFB, and farming. I helped him farm an alt account to be able to farm himself. I taught him how to craft and convert for influence and also helped deck out his first couple 50s. He has been regularly playing ever since. So just as farming might have deterred one individual it has certainly encouraged another individual to stick around. To imply that curtailing power leveling will somehow get new players to stay is flawed. It may get some people to stay, but would certainly get others to leave. I myself wouldn’t have stuck around if I couldn’t power level easily. There correct answer is to leave options open for people to play how they want to play. Veteran homecoming players can help by answering questions, but it is also on new players to ask questions and decide if they like something or not. There are plenty of varied team advertisements for all sorts of in game activities for people to choose from. It’s not just farm advertisements.

My vote goes to shield defense as the best primary. Easily softcapped positional defenses. With the right set bonuses and tanker resist ATO you can have capped s/l/e/n/f/c resists. Mine also has about 75% toxic resist and about 54% psionic resists with ATO proc. Not to mention almost capped DDR and a great damage bonus. Throw in shield charge and you are ready to rock. I’ll promote ma to use as the secondary. It adds an extra 10% defense to all allowing you to chase other bonuses and still have 60%+ defense to each position. Has decent single target damage and dragons tail is a great AoE. It knocks the mobs on their butts so even if they could hit me, and if their hits actually hurt, they are useless because they are knocked over constantly with dragons tail. Shield/energy might do more damage to a tough target and is ludicrous on its own terms, but shield/ma tanker is the definition of an immortal force of destruction.

It’s always the same story with these arguments. Some players believe they know best how to play the game and everyone should get with the program. The thing is it doesn’t matter what you believe to the the best path of playing the game. The best path is determined by the individual playing the game. If they want to power level to 50, then that is what they should do. If they want to slow level, turn off xp, and hit up all the story contacts, then that is what they should do. If they want to solo to 50 and never see another player, then that is what they should do. If they want to only team to 50, then that is what they should do. Just because someone power levels to 50 doesn’t mean they haven’t considered other options. Even if they haven’t it’s not up to you to dictate how they should play. They should play how they think is best not how you think is best for them. There are plenty of non farming LFG advertisements going on all the time that newcomers and veterans alike can join.

Agreed. Nerfing farming isn’t going to help or solve anything. Farming isn’t unique to homecoming or CoH. Nor is speed leveling. Removing options or trying to give players into one way of playing will just alienate and annoy players. I would have played for maybe a couple weeks at most if I couldnt easily level and gear multiple Alts in a short manner of time. Even during live I didn’t not enjoy a grind to 50 or story content. The notion that players should somehow be forced to do that at least once implies that there is a correct way to play the game and that is the correct way. That is just stupid. Burnout happens with any game. I sincerely doubt the answer is for longevity is brand new players who have never touched city of heroes. This is a very old game and plays as such. Even if we do get an influx of brand new players forcing them to stop and smell the roses is less likely to get them to appreciate super old roses and more likely to get them drop the game in favor of a more modern game.

There isn’t that big of a difference in survivability between a brute and a scrapper. They both have the same resist and defense modifiers. Brutes have high resist caps, but have a hard time reaching them due to having the same modifiers as scrappers. That said, on willpower they can achieve higher s/l resist fairly easily and have higher base health for the rise to the challenge to work with. So, the brute will be tougher, but it won’t be night and day difference. The scrapper will still be plenty tough honestly. Both will do enough damage to clear any content just fine. Scrappers in general will do more damage though. The real question is: do you want to play super strength or street justice? My opinion: even though double rage stacked, fury filled knockout blows are fun, it doesn’t make up for the rage crash. I abhors the rage crash. I would rather just do less damage consistently than having the 10 second down time. It also crashes your defense, which already is weaker due to not being protected by high DDR. Granted you have resists and Regen that help, but the defense is still a factor in your mitigation. Street justice on the other hand doesn’t suffer from the rage crash. Plus a 3 combo, build up backed, crushing uppercut crit on a scrapper is devastating. So you still get the nice crunchy hits. So my choice would be street justice scrapper. But that is purely due to preference. I just don’t like the rage crash and so that alone is the deciding factor for me. Some people don’t mind it at all though.

Sure thing. My updated build is in my post directly above your first post in the thread. Keep in mind it is fairly different due to different goals. It’s just there for consideration in case you like it better.

Glad the build has been useful to you. You can always check out the updated one too if you like (it is more focused on mitigation my earlier one is more focused on damage). As for the soul mastery, like Errants said, you’ll have to unlock the patron pools for it to show up as an option. You can go to pocket D and talk to Null the Gull (seagull sitting on the box truck in the red section) and switch your alignment to villain. You’ll get a contact to talk to an Arbiter in Grandville. Head over there, talk to him, read some plaques, and then choose a patron to do the first part of their arc. I always choose Black Scorpion as I find that to be the fastest. You only have to go as far as defeating the first elite boss. You can choose any of the patrons though and it will unlock all the patron pools. Then you can switch back to heroes and the pools are open to you.

Dante didn’t delve deep enough in hell to see where speed enhancing speed boosters go upon defeat.

When I first began playing shield defense I didn’t take grant cover because I didn’t realize DDR was built into it.

I played SWTOR from launch through the end of 4.X and quit upon the launch of 5.0. I popped back in for about 2 months last summer and had some fun, but not anywhere near the fun I had in the past. I was purely a pvp player in my swtor days and loved every bit of it through 4.X. Sure there was always the class imbalance frustrations, but I really enjoyed pvp. Back then queue pops were frequent, especially before 4.X, even in lowbie brackets. Even if 2.X - 4.X era were to return I wonder if the pvp population would also return. If so, I may give it another shot again.

For dual blades I would take the following powers: Fully slot out the following: -blinding feint - if you can fit in the critical strikes proc I would. -ablaiting strike - if you can fit in the Achilles heel -res proc I’d do so. -Vengeful slice -sweeping strike - if you can fit in the fury of the gladiator -res proc. -typhoons edge Your rotation is blinding feint + attack vitals (ablating>vengeful>sweeping) on repeat. Throw in typhoons edge before or after attack vitals when surrounded. note: you have to take power slice or nimble slice. I take one or the other, but don’t slot it or put it on the tray. I take everything on Regen, except the revive unless I just happen to have another power slot available. Depending on your budget, my goals are as follows: - Push global recharge. You don’t need a ton to have a gapless blinding feint + attack vitals chain, but Regen loves recharge. You are also very susceptible to -rech debuffs. So get some -rech protection. - I personally like to beef up my resistances rather than defenses on Regen. Defense will get stripped very easily. I generally push s/l resists primarily and e/n secondarily. I usually also pick up rune of protection on Regen to pop in difficult situations. You will still end up with some defenses as a by product. If you have room in your powers you can also pick up shadow meld from the soul mastery tree. Between rune, shadow meld, and moment of glory you have 3 emergency clicks. I also keep some purple inspirations in my tray for emergencies.