Your thoughts on elec/elec scrappers

[Doc_Scorpion]

I came up with a concept for an electrical based character, and after much consideration... am leveling her as an elec/elec scrapper.  So, I'm curious as to your thoughts as to leveling/playing such a scrapper.  (I've played many scrappers before, so I'm familiar with the general idea.  Just not this powerset.)

I hope I don't put people off by saying this, but my approach is a bit different than what's more common on these forums.  I'm not really interested in endgame builds, as it'll be a long time before she even breaks thirty as I'm soloing through content and am frequently level locked.  Nor am I interested in billion inf babies as I don't have a sugar daddy (farmer) toon (and aren't interested in building one).

I've gotten her to lvl 6, and she has a smooth, enhanceable, single-target chain.  (That is, relies on actual powers rather than P2W powers.)  Though I don't scorn mitigation and defense, I do lean somewhat towards the "death arresting is the ultimate debuff" school of thought.  So, where next? What powers are must-haves?  What powers are skippable?

Current powers:
Brawl
Charged Brawl
Havoc Punch
Air Superiority
Charged Armor
Flight

I know Air Superiority is likely to be a controversial choice...  But I needed one more single-target power, and I already had the Flight pool open.  (My early build priority is a smooth single target attack chain.)  It's inherent chance for knockdown also adds a small but useful amount of mitigation.  I list Brawl because I have it, and I might as well use it.  It's not slotted beyond the single default and probably never will be as it's going to be replaced with a better attack later on.  (Probably Boxing because it's stun seems to synergize with Electrical Melee's sleep and also opens the road to Tough.)

[Seigmoraig]

At level 6 you have access to Jacob's Ladder, while not being the best power in the game (long animation) it should be miles better than brawl, air superiority or boxing/kick because pool power attacks have a different (much lower) damage scaling value than your main AT attacks. Also don't be fooled by it saying it's a cone...which it is, it's just that it's a very narrow and short cone (even more so than sands of mu) and I personally view it as a single target attack that sometimes can hit 2 or rarely 3 targets.

I wouldn't skip any of the powers in Electric Melee while leveling up. Since you will be soloing I would even take Taunt since it has the added benefit of reducing the attack range of attackers, Those pesky casters and archer types will need to come in close to be able to attack you. Once at 32 and you have access to all your powers, you can probably drop Jacob's ladder/taunt.

I'm not too familiar with /electric armor so I won't pronounce myself too much but looking at the powerset online, I wouldn't skip any of the powers in that set either.

Boxing/kick is a must for every melee type because it opens the way for Tough and Weave which are both very good. I usually use Boxing/kick as an IO set mule (Notably Kinetic Combat set which is affordable and has good 4 piece set bonuses) . If you don't plan to mule a set into it, I would go for Kick since you can frankenslot a Force Feedback Chance for + Recharge for when you are recharge debuffed

Edited October 4, 2019 by Seigmoraig

[Doc_Scorpion]

Jacob's Ladder is on the shortlist for my next pick, but the long cast time meant it didn't fit well into a smooth attack chain.  (With the enhancements from the P2W vendor and the powers I have - there's never any waiting, I always have a power ready to fire.)

[RobotLove]

Thunderstrike is skippable until later. It's great at what it does but is slooooow. I'd recomend waiting until you pick up energize (self heal) as the long animation will have you eating quite a bit of damage.

 

I have two quality of life suggestions.

1) If you spend any amount of time air born in combat ( I run Combat Jumping in all my builds and tend to hop from mob to mob ) consider investing in one of the -4 Knockback IO's if you can afford it (Zephyr's in travel power usually won't break the bank).

2) Once you pick up Lightning Rod, make the following keybind - /bind <key> "powexec_location target Lightning Rod" or make it a macro if you prefer. This will get rid of the clunky reticle placement and makes it much smoother to use.

[Doc_Scorpion]

Dinged lvl 9 last night... picked up Conductive Shield  and boy, this set is a bit of an end hog.  (All attacks except Brawl now have P2W proc, +ACC TO, END RED TO.)   TBH, that's generally true of all AT's other than MM's.  Things should get better in the DO/SO ranges.

Going to be stuck at this level for a while so I can run some content and pick up the Atlas Park safeguard.  That's part of why I prioritized the single target attack chain, it makes this period of being XP locked much less painful.  (I can also concentrate on defenses as I level.)
 

[Yapps]

Elec/Elec Scrapper has been my main character since I started on Homecoming, I know you said you're not interested in endgame builds but I posted mine to show the abilities I picked and maybe help someone else searching. Here are some notes:

 

Super Jump/combat jumping can easily be swapped out for Fly/Hover if that fit's your theme. 

 

Overall I think the biggest strength this set has is burst AoE damage combined with good damage mitigation.  I managed to get the defense softcap for smashing/lethal/melee and hardcap 5 different resists, also Static Shield makes you nearly immune to endurance drain effects like from Freakshow units. and Grounded makes you very resistant to knockdowns, it does turn off when flying however but persists if you're just jumping up and down normally.

 

Its weaknesses  include toxic damage, there's almost no way to fill it so I didn't even try.  And single target damage is pretty low, understandable when most of your attacks are multi-target.  I feel like the final two powers in Electric Armor are skippable.  Power Sink was good for replenishing endurance, but I found more efficient ways of doing that with Panacea and Performance Shifter procs.  The crash effect when Power Surge wears off is also pretty harsh, and after I passively had the 75% cap on most resistances, it's benefit wasn't all that great, so I cut it.

 

My standard attack chain looks like this:  Build up + Lightning rod into a pack of mobs.  Then Chain Induction > Thunder Strike > Jacobs Ladder > Charged Brawl priority while waiting for Lightning Rod again.  Chain induction also has the +Crit chance proc slotted and that does effect the bounces if it procs on the initial hit.  Unfortunately, Lightning Rod cannot crit so there's no point in fishing for a proc beforehand.

 

Thunder strike becomes the second biggest source of damage, and it's also fortunately a knockback, so you can slot the Force Feedback: chance for +Recharge into it to achieve permanent hasten. It's not such a severe knockback that you need to convert it to knockdown either. i've never had anyone complain at me.

 

You could use Havoc Punch instead of Charged Brawl, but I prefer brawl because it's faster and interacts better with the damage proc I've got slotted.

 

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

Electric_Scrapper_v10.8.mxd

[Vanden]

I got pretty frustrated with my Elec/Elec Scrapper due to him sucking... until I respecced him into this build at 47. Now he's pretty great. If I ever respec him again, I'm dropping Power Surge. Those low Scrapper res caps are a bummer.

 

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 2.22
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Camshaft: Level 50 Technology Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Electrical Melee
Secondary Power Set: Electric Armor
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Mu Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Havoc Punch -- SprScrStr-Acc/Dmg(A), SprScrStr-Dmg/Rchg(11), SprScrStr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(11), SprScrStr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), SprScrStr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(13), SprScrStr-Rchg/+Crit(48)
Level 1: Charged Armor -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(7), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(7), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(9)
Level 2: Jacobs Ladder -- Obl-Dmg(A), Obl-Acc/Rchg(3), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(15), Obl-%Dam(15), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(17)
Level 4: Conductive Shield -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(9), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(5), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(5)
Level 6: Build Up -- RechRdx-I(A), GssSynFr--Build%(19)
Level 8: Thunder Strike -- Obl-Dmg(A), Obl-Acc/Rchg(19), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(21), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(23), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(23), Obl-%Dam(25)
Level 10: Static Shield -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A)
Level 12: Super Jump -- Jump-I(A)
Level 14: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 16: Grounded -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
Level 18: Chain Induction -- SprCrtStr-Rchg/+50% Crit(A), SprCrtStr-Acc/Dmg(25), SprCrtStr-Dmg/Rchg(29), SprCrtStr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), SprCrtStr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), SprCrtStr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(48)
Level 20: Energize -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(21), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(34), Prv-Heal/Rchg(34), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(34), Prv-Absorb%(36)
Level 22: Lightning Field -- OvrFrc-Acc/Dmg(A), OvrFrc-End/Rech(27), OvrFrc-Acc/Dmg/End(27), OvrFrc-Dmg/End/Rech(33), OvrFrc-Acc/Dmg/End/Rech(37), OvrFrc-Dam/KB(50)
Level 24: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(39), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(39), UnbGrd-Max HP%(39)
Level 26: Lightning Clap -- Acc-I(A), FrcFdb-Rechg%(33), SudAcc-KBtoKD(48)
Level 28: Lightning Reflexes -- Run-I(A)
Level 30: Weave -- Rct-Def(A), Rct-Def/EndRdx(31), Rct-EndRdx/Rchg(31), Rct-Def/Rchg(36), Rct-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Rct-ResDam%(40)
Level 32: Lightning Rod -- Obl-Dmg(A), Obl-%Dam(36), Obl-Acc/Rchg(37), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(37), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 35: Power Sink -- EffAdp-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(A), EffAdp-EndMod/Rchg(40), PrfShf-EndMod/Rchg(43)
Level 38: Power Surge -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 41: Mu Bolts -- Thn-Acc/Dmg(A), Thn-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Thn-Dmg/Rchg(42), Thn-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), Thn-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43)
Level 44: Ball Lightning -- PstBls-Acc/Dmg(A), PstBls-Dmg/EndRdx(45), PstBls-Dmg/Rchg(45), PstBls-Dam%(45), PstBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46), RechRdx-I(46)
Level 47: Charged Brawl -- HO:Nucle(A)
Level 49: Zapp -- Apc-Dmg(A), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(50), Apc-Acc/Rchg(50)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
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 -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Mrc-Rcvry+(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), EndMod-I(3), PrfShf-End%(29)
------------

 

 

[Seigmoraig]

22 hours ago, Doc_Scorpion said:

That's part of why I prioritized the single target attack chain, it makes this period of being XP locked much less painful.  (I can also concentrate on defenses as I level.)

Honestly though, you COULD just run Death from Below and be done with the boring lower levels in a flash and get into the meat and potatoes of the game in like 1 hour. I really love playing this game but being stuck spamming brawl and having no enhancements in my slots is not my idea of a good time. Once you get level 12, start running posi1/2 and have an actual rotation that doesn't include level 1 generic powers (except maybe sands of mu) is where the fun really begins for me.

Edited October 7, 2019 by Seigmoraig

[Doc_Scorpion]

8 hours ago, Yapps said:

And single target damage is pretty low, understandable when most of your attacks are multi-target.

Yeah, I'm finding that out...  Not like my kat/regen who is pretty powerful single-target out of the box.  But at base difficulty, it's working out so far.  As I level through my teens, i suspect I'm going to end up alternating between choosing defense and AOE's.  I definitely want as many defenses as possible by the time I hit my 20's & SO levels.  In my experience, that's when things start to get really nasty.  (Read: Freakshow.)

I will be revisiting these high level builds later on!
 

2 hours ago, Seigmoraig said:

Honestly though, you COULD just run Death from Below and be done with the boring lower levels in a flash and get into the meat and potatoes of the game in like 1 hour. I really love playing this game but being stuck spamming brawl and having no enhancements in my slots is not my idea of a good time. Once you get level 12, start running posi1/2 and have an actual rotation that doesn't include level 1 generic powers (except maybe sands of mu) is where the fun really begins for me.

I could powerlevel past those levels...  But then I'd have to Flashback to get a couple of badges I need for accolades and either dual box or trust to luck to find a PUG that's running the lower level Safeguards.  YMMV...  For me, it's just easier to spend a few hours/days running missions at low levels than to deal with alternate builds etc... at some point in the future.  Plus with travel powers coming at lvl 4 and inherent Fitness, low levels are a lot less painful than they used to be.

Slotting hasn't been a problem.  Between the enhancements on the P2W vendor, the extra cash accumulated while level locked, and selling on the auction house it's been pretty easy to afford enhancements.  So far on Homecoming the cash crunch comes when I get to SO levels.  Those buggers are *expensive*.

 

8 hours ago, Yapps said:

Its weaknesses  include toxic damage, there's almost no way to fill it so I didn't even try.

That was my next question...  Good to know.

[Seigmoraig]

2 hours ago, Doc_Scorpion said:

I could powerlevel past those levels...  But then I'd have to Flashback to get a couple of badges I need for accolades and either dual box or trust to luck to find a PUG that's running the lower level Safeguards.  YMMV...  For me, it's just easier to spend a few hours/days running missions at low levels than to deal with alternate builds etc... at some point in the future.  Plus with travel powers coming at lvl 4 and inherent Fitness, low levels are a lot less painful than they used to be.

Actually, it's not as bad as you think. The first run of DFB will get you to level 7 so you could just stop there and do the 5-10 Atlas Park Safeguard. After you get done with that you will probably be good to skip over to Kings Row at 10. No need to bot or pray you find someone actually doing those missions at lower levels. I'm in the "I don't care about badges unless they give me stats" camp personally so I just skip the bank missions on blue.

 

2 hours ago, Doc_Scorpion said:

Slotting hasn't been a problem.  Between the enhancements on the P2W vendor, the extra cash accumulated while level locked, and selling on the auction house it's been pretty easy to afford enhancements.  So far on Homecoming the cash crunch comes when I get to SO levels.  Those buggers are *expensive*

SOs are...pretty awful here since we can craft IOs that don't expire. Once I get to level 22 and can equip the level 25 IOs, I go ahead and fill my slots with those and keep them in place until level 50 just filling in the new slots every 5 levels while I level up. It *is* pretty expensive, about 2.5 mill inf at level 22. You can quite easily get that kind of money solo by that level by selling your rare (orange) salvage drops for 500k a piece, and by converting the merit rewards you get from various exploration badges, story arcs and task forces.

If you look on the Merit Vendors you can find Enhancement Boosters, Enhancement Converters and other sell-able items that you can flip on the /ah. About these flippable items, it's generally a better value to flip all your merits to influence on the /ah and bid on enhancements there instead of buying the enhancements directly from the merit vendor.

Edited October 7, 2019 by Seigmoraig

[Doc_Scorpion]

16 hours ago, Yapps said:

Thunder strike becomes the second biggest source of damage

What's the first?

I picked up Thunderstrike for lvl 10 on a whim, and it looks like once it's slotted it will a fun little toy.

[Yapps]

7 hours ago, Doc_Scorpion said:

What's the first?

Lightning Rod.  It's so powerful, the set should just be called "Lightning Rod melee"

 

It's also a knockdown, and if you use it first, then Thunder Strike, the enemies will just be standing up again when Thunder Strike goes off and knocks them down a second time.

The constant knockdowns can also become a decent form of damage mitigation, If you use Thunder Clap then you can chain 3 of them together; but Thunder Clap deals no damage so I don't use it.  possibilities exist however.

[Doc_Scorpion]

Still plodding away on this build...  And at level 18, I've pretty much got a choice between Chain Induction and Jacob's Ladder.  Thoughts?  Pros/cons?  I'm leaning towards Chain Induction as it appears to be more of an PBAoE attack, and a nice complement to Thunderstrike.

[Errants]

On 10/16/2019 at 1:26 PM, Doc_Scorpion said:

Still plodding away on this build...  And at level 18, I've pretty much got a choice between Chain Induction and Jacob's Ladder.  Thoughts?  Pros/cons?  I'm leaning towards Chain Induction as it appears to be more of an PBAoE attack, and a nice complement to Thunderstrike.

Both Jacob's Ladder and Chain Induction are good. Don't know why they told you to pass on JL, it's same range as Shadow Maul (7'), and actually 5 degrees wider (50 vs 45). Animates in 2 seconds vs 3.5... MUCH better, and useable as an ST attack.

[Doc_Scorpion]

3 hours ago, Eran Rist said:

Both Jacob's Ladder and Chain Induction are good. Don't know why they told you to pass on JL

Nobody told me skip Jacob's Ladder...  I was just looking for something PBAoE-ish, but now that I've played with Chain Induction for a bit I'm wondering if I made a mistake.  I've been building around a strong single-target chain, and Chain Induction is kinda weak in that respect.

[Microcosm]

1 hour ago, Doc_Scorpion said:

Nobody told me skip Jacob's Ladder...  I was just looking for something PBAoE-ish, but now that I've played with Chain Induction for a bit I'm wondering if I made a mistake.  I've been building around a strong single-target chain, and Chain Induction is kinda weak in that respect.

Weak in single target? Chain Induction is the strongest attack electric has in damage per animation. it might feel weak because the animation is pretty fast. Or if you mean in aoe, it's easier to hit more enemies with Chain induction than with Jacob's Ladder.

[Haijinx]

Need both of those to do ST damage with Electric, really.  

 

[Doc_Scorpion]

8 hours ago, Microcosm said:

Weak in single target? Chain Induction is the strongest attack electric has in damage per animation. it might feel weak because the animation is pretty fast.

I'm looking at the damage per activation ingame in the detailed information panel.  It's quite possible I'm misinterpreting though.

[Microcosm]

4 hours ago, Doc_Scorpion said:

I'm looking at the damage per activation ingame in the detailed information panel.  It's quite possible I'm misinterpreting though.

You should pull it up in mids and turn on damage per animation time to get an idea of the relative damage of the powers. It's helpful more for determining full attack chains so you can focus on the best return for your animations. I can't really comment too much on the scrapper version of this though, as I will only play elec melee on a stalker to get the extra single target damage of AS.