Werner

I certainly no longer have the ability to eyeball a build for quality, but this looks like my most recent plan for my namesake Katana/Regen, though I never actually built it. I see Elegost's name associated with it, and it appears to have a PvE "Wernerscore" of 6363. That's pretty extreme for a Scrapper. This might have been the build I'm thinking of. Or maybe not. For comparison, Alexei, my Katana/Dark, seems to have had a Wernerscore of 6654, and I think he had the highest Scrapper number I'd ever seen. But I'm looking through old folders and documents and I could easily be confused about what I'm seeing. The Wernerscore was essentially a rating of the average enemy output DPS you could survive indefinitely under ideal circumstances. It was named that on the old Scrapper forum since it was from a spreadsheet I mostly came up with. I think I remember Arcanaville saying something like "No Scrapper can handle more than 1000 DPS", and I replied something like "Soft-capped Katana/Dark", and she was like "OK, that, but only on paper because it's all tied up in hitting your heal at just the right time surrounded by just the right enemies", which I can't argue with. Similarly, Katana/Regen's high survivability number is just on paper, because it's all tied up in hitting 317 different click powers all at the right time during the pressure of combat. Maybe it wasn't 317 different click powers. My memory is poor. Speaking of poor memory, didn't they fix the bug that made Hamio Enzymes buff defense powers? I've got some Enzymes in this build. It might not be viable in the current game. Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.96 http://www.cohplanner.com/ Click this DataLink to open the build! Werner: Level 50 Magic Scrapper Primary Power Set: Katana Secondary Power Set: Regeneration Power Pool: Leadership Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Speed Power Pool: Fighting Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Gambler's Cut -- Hectmb-Dmg(A), Hectmb-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), Hectmb-Acc/Rchg(3), Hectmb-Dmg/EndRdx(5), Hectmb-Dam%(11), Achilles-ResDeb%(13) Level 1: Fast Healing -- Panac-Heal/EndRedux(A), Panac-Heal/+End(17), Panac-Heal/EndRedux/Rchg(19), Panac-Heal(39), Panac-Heal/Rchg(40) Level 2: Reconstruction -- Panac-Heal/EndRedux(A), Panac-EndRdx/Rchg(5), Panac-Heal/Rchg(7), Panac-Heal(7), Panac-Heal/EndRedux/Rchg(9) Level 4: Quick Recovery -- EndMod-I(A) Level 6: Build Up -- RechRdx-I(A) Level 8: Divine Avalanche -- HO:Nucle(A), HO:Nucle(9), HO:Enzym(11), LkGmblr-Rchg+(13) Level 10: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), HO:Enzym(17), SW-ResDam/Re TP(46) Level 12: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), HO:Enzym(15) Level 14: Dull Pain -- Panac-Heal(A), Panac-Heal/EndRedux(15), Panac-EndRdx/Rchg(23), Panac-Heal/Rchg(25), Panac-Heal/EndRedux/Rchg(25) Level 16: Integration -- Numna-Heal(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(19), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(21), Numna-EndRdx/Rchg(23), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(27), Numna-Heal/Rchg(29) Level 18: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(46) Level 20: Resilience -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), GA-3defTpProc(21) Level 22: Boxing -- Empty(A) Level 24: Tough -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(27), Aegis-Psi/Status(29), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(31), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(33) Level 26: Soaring Dragon -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(33), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(34), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(34), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), Mako-Dam%(36) Level 28: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), HO:Enzym(31) Level 30: The Lotus Drops -- Erad-Dmg(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), Erad-%Dam(37), Erad-Acc/Rchg(39), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(40) Level 32: Golden Dragonfly -- Armgdn-Dmg(A), Armgdn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Armgdn-Acc/Rchg(34), Armgdn-Dmg/EndRdx(37), Armgdn-Dam%(37), FotG-ResDeb%(42) Level 35: Tactics -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(36), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(40), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(43), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(43), GSFC-Build%(45) Level 38: Instant Healing -- Panac-Heal/EndRedux(A), Panac-EndRdx/Rchg(42), Panac-Heal/Rchg(42), Panac-Heal/EndRedux/Rchg(43), Panac-Heal(45) Level 41: Dark Blast -- Empty(A) Level 44: Shadow Meld -- HO:Membr(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+(45) Level 47: Summon Widow -- BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg(A), BldM'dt-Dmg/EndRdx(48), BldM'dt-Acc/EndRdx(48), BldM'dt-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(48), BldM'dt-Acc(50), BldM'dt-Dmg(50) Level 49: Moment of Glory -- HO:Membr(A), HO:Membr(50) Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A) Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A) Level 1: Critical Hit Level 4: Ninja Run Level 0: Freedom Phalanx Reserve Level 0: Portal Jockey Level 0: The Atlas Medallion Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Clrty-Stlth(A) Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A) Level 2: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), RgnTis-Regen+(46) Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A) Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A) Level 50: Spiritual Core Paragon ------------ | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1516;713;1426;HEX;| |78DA6594594F135114C7EFB4534A4B29945216A10B6B373AB682D120CA832CB2340| |1EAF264C8089776A49936D39AE8A31FC068D48FE0FAE277F0D318597DF4AD9ECEFF| |509B7402F9DDF99FF3BFF79C7BE736FF72C5F763FDF5B250FCF7CB7AADB65F38B0F| |46A555AAEBC5E340E043D5D4FA4654ACB4DC3D055743F2FCB526A5B7A5D37F5704B| |5D9147D2AC496D4F162559F4BA5131031B66495AD2AC6B5783BE9D4AA5AC6D4BFD5| |05AB59251F55DBD570DB3E8B55F0A55290F7BEDE19A512CD52930BA5A350EB4425D| |2F1FD34A85CA8BF27E5EAFD5A5F56A842A4BD2FF9B6689F6D370895987103955381| |2CC24A8A6406F1AF4FD240655B1D2F42AB65715E34E3BD63F010E44C1D918188F80| |ABE451D8A3B0470D835D9CD3C59E6E9E638D3C4E788433266CED2D692ED42D5C696| |8EF48732B8EA6E6742F11DC4ED1CDF4DE027D21C5CE0D50AE07733A3CACF5734E66| |0BEB0E514E0F72941ECEF173CE3AC57AB98F5EAED7CFFD0C713F23DCCF08F7F1803| |C7DF0B8FA1E61BE8187E0E02E38B4075E7B4C0CD3B616F03E49DE00D712E07E33CC| |0D8A0539161C866FF006D6542816E27D0A35E8114E5286B9F2E1055E2D0B8EDF042| |33930360F7E20CF287F25A34758355604274A4C039C7ACE3C0655F28E717563BC8B| |11DEC5F7140BF3BCE1DF0EBBF2C819387D01CE9E30CFC1F829F891BC51F6466FE3C| |B8C2D821377C0E925E65D30B98C5D099277924F62F21362539FC1F81730F595F90D| |9CFB0E6E927706EBAA337CE2493EF1249F788A4F7C8EBF8C5F84049F42C23E85BF3| |E21D25094F42276638E77E784B235EE4C3BC12E5E3F659E31CFC1DC05F312DCA6EA| |B23C6F96E7CD31C7D5D65DA7BF6615DBED4A86E057C58ECA979A34C5CE8AAAAD7BD| |EF0F4D35D44B4B1E3B57DF6F869DBF859DB38D5B166B643C97528F31DCA42BBE2C1| |499C7B5BBF2542C9A0FFCBFF9AA26CD2204EF7E41EEEC4457B7E02F97FDA35FE6DD| |90D12B8DF7F6B77E477| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

Another vote for Willpower as the best set-and-forget secondary.

As a plug for Super Reflexes, I think it may be possible for an SO build Dark Melee/Super Reflexes to solo an AV under Scrapper challenge rules. I tried many times. I always failed. But it felt possible. I got my heal from Dark Melee. I wasn't able to soft cap, but I was close. Damage output was barely adequate, so eventually, luck would catch up with me before I could finish the job. In any case, Super Reflexes can be very impressive with very little investment.

I vaguely remember a Scrapper forum group-effort Katana/Regen PvE build that was the best one I'd ever seen. Better than the build I was running around with, certainly. I think it was a group effort, anyway. I think I contributed at least a little to it. I'm not sure I saved any of my Mids files, though. I can't find them, but I can't remember what extension they saved as, so maybe they're somewhere not obvious. I assume there's some archive of the old forums somewhere. That build must be somewhere. It used top dollar IOs, though. I assume those won't be readily available for a long time. Well, I suppose they were never readily available. It took a lot of work to be able to afford builds like that. Well, if you consider it work. I never thought of the game as work.

I love /Shield. I think I had two or three /Shields at 50, with my Fire/Shield being one of my two favorites to play. I would be a complete failure if I tried to talk you out of it. But other secondaries really are just as good overall, just with different strengths and weaknesses, their own way of being played. I'd think just for the variety of play style you'd want to pick some others. So I guess that's my pitch - level up a /Shield, sure, but then do something else for variety. Maybe you'll find you like a different way of playing even better.

Howdy! Got married, got divorced, remodeled my house, almost died, nothin' much. How are you?

My favorite for serious IO'd out +4x8 survivability was my Katana/Dark. Big (only?) weakness - defense debuffs. I also hated not having a taunt aura. Rerolled as a Brute shortly before the shutdown but never got the Brute IO'd out. I did most of my farming on an IO'd out Fire/Shield concept build with an attack chain of only the fire sword attacks rather than an optimal attack chain. Took massive recharge to do the fire sword attack chain, and the attack chain included an AoE. He did use other attacks, but they weren't the main chain. I think those were the two I had the most fun playing, that I spent the most time playing. Well, I probably spent more total hours on my Assault Rifle/Devices Blaster and my namesake Katana/Regen Scrapper, but I'd long since mostly abandoned playing them in favor of the two above. And just leveling up other combinations for fun. I may level a Katana/Willpower first now just because I'm a newb again, and it should be easy leveling one without giving up anything in top end potential.