Microcosm

Technically you could, with multiple builds and /selectbuild 1 or 2, but executing that would require everything to recharge. Would be pretty terrible on your dps and survival 😉

Statements like "Resistance sets are bad" are just not right. Electric has the +rech and Energize that EnA has, higher resistance (obviously), solid psi resist which is helpful here, and is completely immune to end drain. You just have to build it differently. Get S/L defense up to softcap, then use whatever other tools you want to push past it for debuffs, like Shadow Meld, Barrier, Unleash potential, Support Core Hybrid or insp combining. Resist sets are better on a tank where they can push to higher percentages, but tanks don't get Shadow Meld or do as much damage. I took a db/elec scrapper I've been tossing at a pylon on test, swapped assault out for tactics to give some confuse/perception protection and went at this thing on Vicious. I hadn't tried the ASF before. I slogged through, but part way in to mission 3 I decided I had better things to do with my time than play dark souls in coh... Maybe I will do it on Villainous later. It's definitely doable on electric up to that point I can at least say though. I would definitely prefer to take a stalker in this, to nuke the more dangerous targets first.

DB/Stone stalker, mostly procced except Power Slice which I needed for some set bonuses. Using standard incarnates Musc Core, Degen Core, Ageless Core, Pyronic Core, Assault Core (not toggled): 1:29 1:30 1:25 1:37 1:26 Chain of (BU) > AS > AB > SS > MB/PS Then did a couple with just Power Slice and no Moonbeam, just to see: 1:37 1:55 1:40 The build is usable without Ageless for endurance, but requires some use of Geode as a combat rest in that case. Crystal Armor is not really good enough to cover a proc build on its own, basically. It's overall very sturdy, but it will eventually die when completely swarmed by +4 Cimerorans and Shadow Meld and Geode are both down. Outside of that extreme defense debuff scenario, though, stone should be very tough.

Staff/Ice Stalker, procced build, standard incarnates of Musc Core, Degen Core, Ageless Core, Pyronic Core, Assault Core (not toggled): 1:48 1:50 2:02 1:57 1:45 2:07 Did more runs as I tweaked things, and they all fall in that same general range, using AS > SR > PS > MB, popping in Water Spout or Build Up as they're up. Adding in Sky Splitter tends to add 20 or so seconds, which has been the problem every time I've tried to get something out of Staff since the proc changes, because I assumed, apparently wrongly, Sky Splitter would be better in a proc build. The best I'd done before was 2:21 with a Staff/Bio stalker, so I'm pretty happy with this version.

Yep. Agree with the above. Claws/Ice is probably favorite scrapper as well. It does require a good amount of investment but really shines at the high end.

Look forward to that. I don't think bio will be able to do this chain without severe gimping or large gaps, because it has to come up with an extra 20% recharge somehow. I think ElA and EnA are the most capable of it given the +rech and the recovery tools. But if you find bio can do it I will subscribe to the Billz Builds podcast immediately.

I don't know, it's well over softcap. Sure it would be nice if it had a way to heal, but I really doubt it's squishier than a bunch of the bio builds that get posted. On the other hand, after tossing together a quick test you can indeed do the same thing with ElecArmor, utilizing it's +recharge with a proc build, while softcapping or close on S/L. So if you want something sturdier that is an option. Also EnA should be, though I'm not an expert on that armor set. Edit: something's off in my mids... on bet server it's right at softcap while in combat, not over. This without any healing or panic button means the build succumbs on a 4/8 ITF, which is where SR should be shining most against other sets because of all the DDR.

I loaded this onto beta server and ran it with hybrid toggled off for comparison and got the below 1:42 1:50 (short server disconnect) 1:46 Then I respecced out of body and added WaterSpout, Hibernate and Assault, because if you're running Ageless you have no need of Body (without it you do run out of endurance, tested that): 1:46 1:35 1:55 If you can get this setup on an Elec or Stone armor you might swing slightly larger numbers, as they both also offer the +rech and a damage aura. Very nice.

That's how I use it. FU > Focus > Eviscerate > Shockwave all proc out with different types of purple procs and two -res procs. Works pretty well. My Claws/Ice usually does in the 1:50s, with occasional swings above and below because procs be procs.

So I'll give you the caveat to Sovera's general statement (which is not inaccurate, just generalized): I have a claws/ice and a claws/bio on test that do almost exactly the same damage. This is because the ice hits softcap and can then load up on damage procs. For the bio, I have procs but just a few less so that I can get to 40% def (less than the ice, but enough that Barrier compensates). Now you could forego the softcap and focus just damage and the bio will for sure pull ahead, but that's very artificial because there's no way I'm playing that in reality. Similarly, StrikerFox recently posted how his db/Sr stalker was able to get so high in the rankings because he hit the softcap quickly, gets the free +rech from Sr and then just loads up on more +dam than other sets can. Last caveat to a, again, generally accurate statement: snipes contribute less to claws than to other sets, because claws already has a place for the purple range proc and decimation build up proc.

We're just going to disagree, and that's fine. To each his own. I won't play nin on a scrapper because it lacks caltrops. You can still get caltrops with the epic pool, but then you can't take waterspout/hibernate or moonbeam/shadow meld, which is a non-starter for me. I went back to that first itf mission on 4/8 on both the Sav nin and a slapped together Sav SD, both softcapped. I used ageless radial with both, but I think I could do it without ageless as well, might try it later. I also faceplaplanted with both due to my lack of planning: for the nin it was to the swarm of bright novas; for the SD it was earlier in the mission where I had pulled two groups and the stars aligned such that one with the shield and hibernate were both down and some defense cascade started. Likely I would have sailed through that on an Sr. But both shield and nin would do better against that final mission essence that's auto hit, with shield being the heavy favorite for the resist. And nin would do better against the mother mayhem mission that's all psi damage. None of these sets is "bad". Where nin really falls down? A bunch of flying enemies that aren't flying close to the ground (caltrops affects them if they stay close enough to the ground) and large end drain that gets through, which hurts every armor except Ene/Elec. I don't use nin most of the time for a similar reason I don't use shield: I like to make high proc damage builds. Such builds require lots of endurance help and/or rech from the secondary. That leads one to Ene/Elec and to a lesser extent Sr/Stone/Rad/Bio. The exception would be with savage or claws which are endurance light. Edit: so, just for giggles, I redid that mission at 4/8 without any destiny powers whatsoever on both. The results are that SD hits harder and goes faster (huge surprise), but if I aggro a whole room with that I will last only as long as one with the shield and hibernate, then I'm going down. That's with all the ddr available to SD. On the nin, I can aggro as much as I want as long as my proc caltrops are down and I will survive that aggro. With Barrier or some way to push well over softcap the shield would be the obvious choice because it does more damage, but survival-wise caltrops are very underrated.

This sentence made me sad. So sad that I slapped together a savage/nin build, then proceeded to clear some +4 Rikti and some Pylons, and solo the first mission of the ITF on +2/8 on beta server to remind myself nin is actually not bad. I'm pretty sure I could have done it +4/8, but didn't try. I'd like to clarify about nin: 1) With good recharge and some resist slotting, nin can actually cap Toxic and Psi resistance, since the resistances from the Heal and Mez clicks are stackable. That can be a very big deal, considering that most of the attacks in game that ignore all defense are either Toxic or Psi. 2) Caltrops is super not skippable. Skipping this is probably why people think nin is squishier. It is an active mitigation power that provides substantial mitigation. Throw a knockdown proc in there and you increase it even more. Caltrops also happens to do a good amount of damage over time, both to single targets and AoE. I combined it with Fold Space to pile the enemies densely on the patch. 3) The heal is very solid. 3) Blinding Powder is skippable, but fun with Contagious Confusion. 4) Smoke flash should always be skipped, especially as there is a temp power you can purchase that does the exact same thing. 5) Kuji-in Retsu (t9) is indeed skippable, but it has its uses if you want it for def debuff. It is not the best secondary for all things, but it is not bad either. I would actually generally take it over SR unless I really needed the +rech from SR, but that's just me. You deal with the lower def debuff resistance by making all your enemies flop around or try to run away very slowly on Caltrops. Just a different approach.

Also not quite for db. It was pretty close, but it's just between bio and ela. It is quite sturdy though. Edit: should note I was testing on a stalker which doesn't have the damage aura..

A taunt with a large pbaoe explosion when destroyed, instead of the buffs it grants. I really like the proliferation, but Geode feels quite strange to me as a defensive/offensive power. I'm really not sure I like it in its current form, and this is coming from someone who takes Hibernate on almost every Scrapper.

Depends on the way you approach it I think. You can do a standard build in which case, at 50 with a ridiculous amount of recharge, skipping combos is "better". OR you can try your hand at proccing it, or just not put an extreme emphasis on recharge, in which case combos could be better. I like that that allows different playstyles and build choices. Even on ultra recharge builds, though, I always found the AoE combos at least useful.

Been gone a while, but just popping in to say that the elec changes on a sentinel are super fun. Obviously it synergizes with other effects that contribute end drain. There is also a noticeable positive difference using Musc Radial with it (which boosts end drain) against hard targets vs just using Core. I have many times tried elec blast because I wanted it to work, and always dropped it because the end drain was not useful; now it appears to be. Well done.

They get mire as mentioned. A long time ago they used to get eclipse as well, but that disappeared at some point, leaving them as one of the squishiest pets on the block. Since a large part of a Warshades damage comes from these guys it would be really nice to get that back. When they did inherit it they also inherited the duration, so if you had ten seconds left on mire, the pet you summon at that point also had ten seconds left on it, which feels appropriate for balance. Would also be nice to get them to not close to melee since they have all ranged attacks...

Late to this party, but I'll add my comments from a Warshade perspective. TP Target is a nice QoL change. Fold Space is awesome; I will echo what someone said early in the thread that this is a primary/secondary power for a WS and is therefore supposed to be in some way superior to the pool version. I nitpick this because Kheldians have gotten the short stick a few time with powers getting copied from various places and not receiving the correct attributes/buffs. As example this happened briefly with Shadow Cloak once which was made into a copy of Stealth from Invisibility pool until corrected to not suppress its defense. I think it should have a slightly lower recharge or boosted range for a WS. Combat Teleport is 'neat' and honestly closer to what TP should be imo. However, I don't see myself ever taking it, especially on a WS build which is tight since I can't also slot a LotG and the small amount of +rech from a useless power outweighs CT on the whole. Unfortunate. Honestly I'd rather this replace the inherent TP though if I'm going to get one by default. TP itself is still not great. And echo what ScarySai keeps saying that the WS version isn't getting the intangibility.

Nicely done, Doom. And not a surprise to me you pulled it off 🙂 I've been away for a bit, but I'll send your bounty along soon.

What Troo said, but here are some that I feel have particularly good synergy Ice/bio: stacking sleeps and ice adds significant mitigation to bio when needed Staff/fire: staff is incredibly versatile, but is a little weak on damage, which burn helps Sav/ice: savage is strong but gives 0 mitigation, while ice is incredibly resilient once invested in Db/elec or ea or sr: db is especially recharge hungry if you want to push the damage to the max, and these three offer +rech along with being very tough Anything lacking AoEs/rad: rad gives two aoes to help your primary out, especially with procs

Description error, those are dual blades combos.

You can try the full build with incarnates and such on test server first to see if you like it. I spend more time on test than live honestly.

They are very similar in some ways, and you pretty much hit all the differences. I generally simplify the choice this way: if I must have more rech or I never want to be drained I go with elec; if I need more AoE I go with rad. Rad has good end tools and some resist to end drain, but it is still possible to be drained given enough hits. Elec cannot be drained by outside sources. However, rad gets a little more healing and a t9 without a crash. Pick your poison.

Staff/Ice, DB/Elec, and Ice/Bio for me. Staff/Ice was mostly thematic and I also like both of those powersets, though they don't have a particular synergy together.

Ff is not great in waterspout. It is a practically guaranteed fire on summon, but it can't fire after that since the pet itself doesn't benefit from the procs. That's not a lot of up time. If you don't have a place to put the two resistance procs it takes it is a good spot for those or 5 of the Ragnarok set. There's no reason to do a kb to kd either, as it does knockup, not knockback.