Titan Weapon/Bio Armour Guide

[Jaegernault]

I keep getting asked about my character, especially as I made them in April before the set seemed to explode! So here is what I hope is an exploratory analysis of the set, with its applications  and performance. If nothing else if might give people ideas for different approaches to the set. This is my take on the set, others will have different thoughts but that is part of the fun, finding your own way! This is my first Guide attempt so be kind please!

 

Titan Weapon/Bio Armour Guide

Overview:

As with all melee sets, your first choice is the archetype you are going to play, after choosing the powers you then decide who would complement the aspects of those powers the best, often leading to heated debate! Your choices are Tank, Brute, Scrapper and usually Stalker but they don’t have Titan Weapons available. After that you explore the power sets to make your ultimate fighting machine.

Each choice is unique in both how it plays and how it enhanced, specifically I look at the inherent powers each class gets, the weighting for each power set and their damage potential. This can be a tough choice. My personal opinion on Bio Armour is it is a Hybrid class, it has a little resistance, nothing you can really count on. Its defense is fairly good, but its power lies in Absorb Shields. Yes, it has good regen, but regen isn’t going to save you the same way.

 

Inherent Power and Stats

The Tank is by birth right, a Tank. Their primary power set is defensive and their inherent power, Gauntlet, is all about keeping the attention on them so that others can fight freely. They also benefit from the largest Hit Point pool available and their defensive powers pack the most of any class, allowing Gauntlet to work at its best.

The Scrapper is the opposite of the Tank, their primary is all about damage and survival is a secondary concern. Their inherent power is Critical Hit, which lets them get a chance to deal double damage. Its not predictable so you can’t count on it right off the bat however. Their base damage is higher than a Tank, Their Hit Points a lot lower. Their defensive powers are good but only about 60% ish of a tank. Ideally you want your target to be dead before they can start really hurting you.

The Brute is like a mash of a Tank and Scrapper. They have Hit Points higher than a scrapper but not quite that of a Tank. Their base damage is lower than a tanks, and a lot lower than a scrappers but their inherent power is Fury, which is a damage bonus based on how much attention they receive. Fury gives an “absolute” max bonus of 200%. You will find that’s impossible to get let alone sustain, ive found 90% to be about the max to keep up, giving them a 180% damage bonus once they warm up, initially at low levels this is hard to gain and keep but later on it just happens all on its own and needs little attention. Their power pools are the same as a scrappers in placement so first focus is on dishing out the damage, and second port of call is taking it, which with the increased hit point pool they do very well.

Power set weighting

The Tanks primary would be Bio Armour so all its defense and resistance is at peak power. Now its important to remember that neither of those are the cornerstone of the set, but both are handy to have in prolonged fights. The Absorb aspect however is based on your base health, and the tank has that in spades. Boasting the largest Hit Point pool they gain the largest absorb, giving them a truly huge health buffer. The secondary power set, being Titan Weapons in this case gets its own perk on a tank. The T1 power Defensive Sweep gets to do – Resistance AND it’s a cone, so it’s the only tank to get an AoE -Res power at level 1, this helps with the damage right off. Damage wise the tank has a damage cap of I believe 400%, which with some work and a few inspirations you can hit and do some impressive damage.

The Scrappers Primary is Titan Weapons, which already boasts one of the highest damage bases available, all be it the animation time can be crippling. But, because the scrappers base damage is high to start with, using this power set gives it even more impact, very little can take multiple hits and live. Secondary wise, Bio Armour has the least to work with defensively. With the smallest Hit Point pool of the 3 choices the absorb shield is lowest and the resistance and defense is at the bottom of the pile too. Damage wise the scrapper again has a 400% damage cap with the same requirements as a tank, a little effort and you hit it.

The Brute is again a hybrid, Titan Weapons initially does the worst when starting a fight, but being a high damage base it hits very hard anyway, and every swing gets harder until its eventually cleaving enemy apart with every swing. Their increased Hit Point pool lets them take better advantage of Bio Armour's absorb Shield, however they get no better defense or resistance then the scrapper. Damage wise the brute is unique in that they can get up to 675% damage cap, that’s very high and while you can use inspirations and buffs to reach it, without a dedicated support class with you, don’t plan on sitting there for more then 30 seconds, that being said, it the target is alive that long its impressive.

Archetype Specific Enhancements

For the Tank, Enhancement wise I'm looking specifically at the Archetype Specific Attuned Enhancements, one gives a chance for +resistance to all and the other a chance for +absorb. Breaking those 2 down a little, a Tank is made to take damage so the +resistance will never be turned down, the +Absorb power is essentially MORE Hit points based on your base Hit points, which you have the most of so this again is a substantial bonus. Bio Armour however, employs its own huge Absorb Shield and it does have an upper limit that’s very easy to reach, its resistance is sub-par at best so the +resistance is great, but the Absorb Proc is wasted.

For the Scrapper, their Archetype Specific Enhancements are catering towards critical hits as the first one is an across the board increase to the chance they occur all the time, the second is a proc that boosts the chance to +50%. Note that’s not increasing the chance by 50% that’s adding it on. So if you had a 10% chance to land one normally its gonna be 60% chance when this fires, letting those pesky bosses be cleaved in half

The Brute gets 2 different bonuses from their Archetype Specific Enhancements. The first is a Proc that gives them a quick boost of Regeneration and Endurance, the second gives them a chance to gain bonus Fury with every attack. Both of these go with fury as one lets you get mad faster and the other lets you stay there, mad is more damage so its more carnage.

Difference between sustain and Peak power

This seems to appear a lot and im not sure why. When your factoring in things for a character you need to look at it from a battle prospective, not just one hit or 1 powers cycle. An example of this would be Unstoppable the invulnerability Power set, It caps all your resistance except Psionic. Your going to be hard as nails, at least until its nap time and you have to wait for recharge. Damage wise, consider Gang War from the Mastermind, made even more powerful with Burnout. You suddenly have this massive damage spike, but its not sustainable, Gang War can be made fast, but Burnout will NEVER be up as often. Its Burst Damage, you won’t use it on every mob unless your waiting for them to die of old age!

Sustainable Damage Potential

This one is harder to explain so Ill look at the Scrapper and Brute as comparison, Assume each has identical slotting and powers, both with Build Momentum and  chance for Build up included. We will assume 2 scenarios, an Apex Moment where everything is maxed out, and a generic time that can be repeated with every mob fluidly. The attack of choice does 100 Damage. The brutes base multiples is 0.75 and the scrappers 1.25.

Brute Apex. 675% damage bonus in addition to 100% damage enhancements, means that the attack that did 75 damage gets augmented to 150 from IO’s and then increased to 656.25. Keep in mind its the base damage that’s multiplied. That’s 656.25 damage before enemy resistance, that’s a huge increase but it cant get higher without the target getting debuffed.

Scrapper Apex. 400% damage bonus in addition to 100% damage enhancements, means that the 125 damage attack goes to 250, bumping up to 625 damage, after reading the brutes you'll think, pff brute wins hands down, but he scrapper has one other power, Critical Hit! That 625 gets whacked up to 1250 damage, almost 50% above the brutes.

Brute Sustained. Assume they are getting their full 200% fury bonus despite it being impossible. Assume also they hit Build Up with the proc that also activates (it can happen every mob). Build up gives +50%, the proc another 100%. Giving the brute a sustained damage of 380%, add on the base IO’s and your hitting for 450% damage, nothing to laugh at! So that 75 Damage Attack is doing 431.25 Damage that you can fairly accurately predict. Now the brute can eat red inspirations continually and amp that up, but that is extra.

Scrapper Sustained. Assume again they hit Build Up with the proc that also activates (it can happen every mob). Build up gives +62.5%, the proc another 100%, and the IO’s an additional 100%. That’s 262.5% damage bonus. So that 125 attack does 453.125. Slightly better then the brutes but not enough to warrant the lower Hit Points, But, the Archetype Enhancement that adds +50% crits.. can go in an AoE attack, and trust me, when you use it, it will almost always trigger, but it in a power with a fast cool down and its going off continually. So that 453.125 damage is more often then not hitting for 906.25.

Additional Info About Bio Armour's Resistance and Defense when paired with Titan Weapons

Titan Weapons first attack gives you Melee Defense, which as a melee character is kinda handy. It also has a LOT of Knockdown, for those unfamiliar, Knockdown (kd) and Knock back (kb) both share the trait of knocking the enemy on their back sides, if they are lead down they aren’t attacking, that’s 100% defense and resistance from that damage source, at least until they are up again. Difference is, KD keeps them in place, KB sends them flying, meaning you have to chase them, or they could attack from range, and until Titan Weapons gets a Ranged attack to throw the sword, that’s not good. It also happens that Titan Sweep (Cone), Whirling Smash (PBAoE) and Arc of Destruction (Cone) all have KD so every time you use it the enemy have a chance to not do any damage for 2-3 seconds. That’s enough for a defense debuff to wear off, health to regenerate, to use a power with a cast time or just hit them hard till they don’t get up.

In summary of choice:

Tank – Better sustained survival at the cost of damage. A – Resistance power at level 1 to help with targets right away and the best effects from the absorb shield, combined with Gauntlet let you get attention and keep it. Enhancements that augment your resistance but one that’s lost on you in the form of absorb. Titan Weapons KD lets you keep knocking them down so your defenses are even stronger.

Scrapper – Sustained survival initially will be tough, you get the worst defense, resistance and absorption of the 3 choices, but, your damage is highest right away and has a chance to score double damage, which gets insanely high once you factor in enhances to make it more likely. Your greatest defense is no one left alive to retaliate. Titan Weapons KD lets you keep knocking them down so your defenses are not being hit as much and you have time to use powers.

Brute – sustained survival is better then a scrappers as the Absorb shield is working harder, not as good a s a brute but your going to be a tough nut to break. Damage wise, you will get more damage with every attack and can reach a damage cap no other can reach, albeit with a lot of work and its non-sustainable. Your damage at Max effects wont rival a scrappers but you have more survival powers to let you keep going once the scrappers luck runs out and they fry. Titan Weapons KD lets you keep knocking them down so your defenses are left alone and regeneration and absorb shields last longer.

My play style Is all about jumping in and taking out the biggest guy before he knows I'm in the room. To that end I choose the scrapper, their damage is unrivaled, so long as they don’t get carried away and get owned of course! But we can minimize that. The Power Info that follows will apply to all 3 classes but the focus will be on scrappers and their goals.

Power Overview - Generic

Primary: Titan Weapons

T1 – Defensive Sweep – A Light Damage Cone attack, with a wide Arc (120 Degrees). The attack gives you 11.25 Melee defense per hit, tank gets 15% and adds -Res to this as well. [4s Recharge] {This is handy during leveling on a scrapper but skippable on final build}

T2 – Crushing Blow – High damage single target attack, does -Defense so can tack Achilles Heel -Res Proc if desired. [8s Recharge]. {This is a perfect Single Target Chain attack, its fast and high damage, good for leveling and final build}

T3 – Titan Sweep – High Damage Cone attack (120 Degrees) that does knockdown. Handy for Forced Feedback +Recharge proc. [10s Recharge]. {This is handy during leveling on a scrapper but skippable on final build once you have a good recharge bonus}

T4 – Build Momentum – Your version of Build Up, scrapper gets a +50% damage bonus and +20% Tohit on application for 10 seconds, additionally, slot it with a proc from Gaussian's Set for an additional +100% damage chance, it fires a lot! {NEVER SKIP THIS}

T5 – Follow Through – Superior Damage Single Target, Does KD and stun, but neither are worth it during leveling. However once your at 50 it’s a intricate part of the Single Target Chain for big bosses. [10s Recharge]. {Take this once your lvl 50 and have some global recharge}

T6 – Taunt – Ranged Foe Taunt, handy if your tanking but its not your job, that massive sword in your hand is your Taunt! [10s Recharge] {Skippable}

T7 – Rend Armour – Extreme Damage Single Target attack, also does – Def and -Res, meaning it can take a proc for MORE -res too. This is your boss killer and needed in leveling and final build. [16s Recharge] {Take every time you are given the choice}

T8 – Whirling Smash – PBAoE attack boasting the widest area available, a whopping 15”. For reference that will hit most of a mob BEFORE they even turn to face you. It also does KD so they are all on the floor. Build up and a Critical from this will kill all the minions instantly it hits. [14s Recharge] {Take every time you are given the choice}

T9 – Arc of Destruction – Superior Damage Cone attack (120 Degrees) that does KD. Its fast and lethal, whats not to love. [10s Recharge] {Take every time you are given the choice}

Secondary: Bio Armour

{Everything in this set is needed so this is an overview of the components they contribute}

T1 – Hardened Carapace – This is your resistance to smashing and toxic damage. Also gives you Stun and Sleep Protection early early on. [Adaptation will either increase endurance discount, resistance values or damage bonus based on form]

T2 – Inexhaustible – This gives you a Hit point boost, some regeneration and recovery bonus as well as resistance to slow and endurance draining effects, handy at higher levels. [Adaptation will either increase Max Hit points further or grant more regeneration and recovery]

T3 – Environmental Modifications – This is your statuary Protection to Hold, Knockdown and Immobilize as well as substantial defense to Fire, Cold, Energy and Negative, with some Psionic as well. [Adaptation will either increase Max Hit points further, with additional defense or a To Hit Bonus]

T4 – Adaptation – This is your gateway to forms allowing other powers to behave differently depending on needs. You have Efficient, Defensive and Offensive Adaptation

              Efficient  - in short you can go longer without taking a break for energy

Defensive – your harder to hurt and have more Hit Points, you do however suffer a decrease in damage output.

Offensive – All your attacks to additional Toxic Damage and you get a bonus to To-Hit, but you loose resistance to everything. <---- This one is what I always run in, it also gives a passive damage boost

T5 – Ablative Carapace – A clickable Absorption + Regeneration power. This will add your base Hit points to your health in the form of a shield. The shield cant regenerate and will turn off after 30 seconds if not depleted, but you can always reapply it when its low! This is your panic button as it needs nothing but yourself to activate. If you take a large enough hit to break your other shields and loose health, the regeneration will also heal you up  while your shielded. [Adaptation will either increase the regeneration or absorption capacity]

T6 – Evolving Armour – This gives a pitiful amount of resistance and is worthless to enhance, however! It is a PBAoE Taunt with built in -Res. Essential for holding attention and making sure they go down screaming. [Adaptation will either  add regeneration and recovery, increase resistance and defense at the cost of resistance debuffs or further debuff enemy resistance.]

T7 – DNA Siphon – This is one of those panic buttons you will have but not really need unless you NEED it. Its complicated without forms and worst with them but basically if you hit a living enemy it gives you health and endurance, if you hit a corpse you get regeneration and recovery. Living targets also are taunted and suffer -regen.

T8 – Genetic Contamination – This is the trade off for no resistance to work with, -damage and some PBAoE toxic Damage aura. Its damage isn’t noticeable but its -damage is very much so and it further increased in Defensive mode.

T9 – Parasitic Aura – This is your bread and butter power, some people say it’s the panic button but as it HAS to have living targets I say its your opener! In short every Foe you hit will give you some absorb shield, roughly 20% of your capacity when enhanced. It also massively increases recovery to the point you WILL cap it. Fire this in a mob say when they are all on their backs after your PBAoE and you will get 1300 absorb, and capped recovery for the next 45 seconds, meaning you are all but unstoppable, until the shield drops anyway. If it drops fast after half the mob is dead, Ablative Carapace is your backup to fill it again, though you wont get endurance benefits. It also debuffs enemy damage, who could say no!

Power Pools

These are by no means the only selection you can make, but I found them to be the most efficient for my style.

Fighting Pool

                Boxing – Needed for the other two!

                Tough – Smashing and Lethal Resistance, cant avoid needing it.

Weave – Additional Defense to all, Kinda need it also for harder enemy.

            Speed Pool

Hasten - +70% recharge speed, made constant, not needed but handy to have it your wanting to go full speed.

            Leaping Pool

                                Combat Jumping – Additional defense, not a requirement but a nice extra.

Leadership Pool

                             Maneuvers – A nice bit of Defense that you can share with your team.

Tactics – Tohit Buff and some fear resistance, high end enemy use fear a lot so this helps. The To-hit helps hitting enemy more reliably so we don’t need to focus on Accuracy as much in powers

            Patron Power Pool

This one is totally up to the users preference, My choice was based on wanting to always be on +4*8 so I needed even more survival and a way to give myself defense to defense debuffs!

Soul Mastery

Moonbeam – A long range snipe, can activate in combat as a range attack or out of combat as a sniper attack. Very high damage, great for runners or separating multiple Archvillians.

Shadow Meld – The reason for the set choice, think Elude only it last 15 Seconds, recharges in 25 Seconds and has no crash. Gives 32% defence to everything upon activation allowing you to softcap everything even Incarnate level enemy easily, added benefit that with such high defence you can take a few -defence hits and not worry.

 

A Mids Reborn Built for download: Just copy it into the browser and it should download.

http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/download.php?uc=1525&c=693&a=1386&f=HEX&dc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

The above explained a little.

The build uses 2 attack chains, a single target chain and a AoE chain. Typically you will target the biggest guy in the mob, use the AoE chain, and then switch to Single Target to finish them and any other bosses.

Single Target Chain

Crushing Blow – 6 Slotted with Superior Scrappers Strike {Attuned}

Reason: The set gives good bonuses, the unique 6^th one is all about critical's, which is paramount for this build.

Follow Through – 6 Slotted with Superior Blistering Cold {Attuned}

Reason: Sets give some of the best defense bonuses available and the proc in the 6^th slot gives this a good chance to hold even bosses with its fast application.

Rend Armour – 5 Slotted Hecatomb {Purple IO}

Reason: Its one of the best Single target sets available for our best attack, I've not included the 6^th slot as a pure damage IO from purple sets is a total waste for anything other then the 6^th bonus, which isn’t needed here.

 

Area Effect Chain

                                Whirling Smash – 5 slot Armageddon with 1 slot Forced Feedback + Recharge Proc.

Reason: Purple sets don’t benefit from the pure damage IO unless it’s the bonus you want, the 6^th slot uses the forced feedback as it will almost always fire in this power and massively boosts recharge for 5 seconds, since most of our powers are under 5 second recharge this makes them very fast.

                                Arc of Destruction – 6 slotted Superior Critical Strikes

Reason: This is the crown Jewel of the build, the set inside it is what makes everything work. That proc we talked about earlier with a chance to add +50% chance to crit, that’s per target, add that to an AoE attack and the chance of firing goes up even more I've found. I've found its far more likely to fire then not and when it does the next 3 seconds of attacks are devastating due to Build Up, Chance for Build Up and crit chance. A purple boss cant even get an attack off, they go down so fast.

 

For Bio Armour, I chose to focus on resistance to smashing and lethal damage as it’s the most common, then defense to everything else. Relying on soft capped defense and a vast Absorb Shield to keep my alive long enough to drop everything around me.

Hardened Carapace: 4 slotted with Aegis for the smashing and lethal resistance bonus and then the 2 unique +3% defense IO’s giving me 6% free defense to everything.

Inexhaustible: 2 Slot Panacea, the +Hit point Proc and the pure Heal IO. The +HP proc essentially gives off 64 health every 3-4 seconds like a passive heal, the other IO is to boost my Max HP a little more. The 3^rd Slot is performance Shifter + Endurance Proc, its constantly going off, prob not needed at lvl 50 but at lower levels r against endurance drainers you will be glad its there.

Environmental Modifications: 4 Slot Shield wall, including the +5% resistance to all. 5^th slot is Luck of the Gambler +7.5% Recharge IO, they do add up! Shield wall gives better bonuses then Luck of the Gambler if you don’t need the accuracy.

Evolving Armour: 2 Slot Unbreakable Guard, +7.5% Max HP is around 100 extra health, the second resistance/Endurance IO in there is to make it cost less and give the resistance a boost tho its worthless in the build.

DNA Siphon: 2 slot with recharge. We don’t need its healing or its endurance, we just want it up when we need it, tactics takes care of accuracy so this is ample, rarely misses even at lvl 54.

Genetic Contamination: 6 Slot Superior Avalanche, this is a winter set so great bonuses but its jewel is the chance for KD proc, it turns this PBAoE toggle into a KD aura that can send bosses flying. And a lead down enemy is a good enemy! Its endurance heavy so the extra slots help make it less impact.

Parasitic Aura: 2 Slot Recharge. If your attacking mobs you will cap your absorb limit easily by default and enhanced this will cap your recovery. Id rather have it up a lot then enhance it for no reason.

Boxing is irrelevant.

Tough is 4 Slot Aegis for the smashing and lethal resistance and the bonus to that effect too.

Weave is 4 slotted with Shield Wall for the bonuses and 1 Luck of the Gambler +7.5% recharge.

Hasten is 2 Recharge IO’s, this will have it up more then we ever need it.

Combat Jumping, a plain Defense IO, it helps in tough fights and additional +recharge from Luck of the Gambler only accounts for a tiny amount now, id rather the defense.

Maneuvers is a plain defense IO again, you could use a +7.5% recharge IO but it’s a minimal effect for less defense.

Tactics is an endurance reduction as it is quite high, but we need it to function.

Moonbeam get 5 slotted Superior Winters Bite, all but the proc this time so its doing good damage. A chance to slow a target down isn’t needed if the target is dead!

Shadow Meld: 4 Slot Luck of the Gambler for some extra Hit points and a little accuracy, then 2 slot with Recharge IO’s so its up as much as possible.

 

I won’t go through the stats as you can download and view them yourself if you want. My play style involved running towards a mob, hitting shadow Meld as I go, it has no animation but has a 3 second cast time so you can’t do any powers while its activating. When I arrive in the mob, I'm at 70% defense to most things, use Parasitic Aura and get 1330 Absorb Shield and capped recovery, then Hit Build Up and whack the boss/Elite Boss/Arch Villain with Arc of Destruction hitting for 150% of normal damage normally, 90% of the time this triggers Critical Strike Proc, giving my next attack a critical with the 150% attack boost, if you choose your AoE attack, red minions die instantly, lieutenants take 90% damage and bosses a fair chunk, if you choose a Single target you can reduce a level 54 boss to a corpse with Arc of Destruction>Rend Armour>Follow Through. This same chain will do a good chunk to an Arch Villain and even a Giant Monster. By the time Shadow Meld ends everything is usually dead, maybe a boss has half health if it was near the edge of the mob, but another Single target chain and he is dead before he gets a shot off. All this time Whirling Smash and Genetic Contamination and knocking foes over so they cant run or fight, letting them just die in peace. Once the mob is gone you start running to the next mob with full health and endurance, once they are in sight, shadow meld is back up as its only a 24s recharge now, and repeat. Mix it up if you like but everything always dies.

For Incarnates

Alpha – Cardiac can help with endurance and resistance if you need it early on, but musculature gets more use once your rocking at a good speed.

Interface – Reactive gives fire damage and a -2.5% resistance proc, I've found Degenerative is more effective for its -Hit points, especially against bosses and above.

Lore is usually personal Preference, I personally Like the Banished Parthenon Right hand T4, the support Pet has an AoE Ice Storm attack and is untouchable, good for annoying lots of enemy. The mix of -res helps with AV’s too.

Destiny I tend to use Ageless, the +recharge bonus is huge and it will give you limitless endurance constantly, your team will love you too if they don’t have it.

Judgment is aesthetics mainly, but I’ve always had a soft spot for Ion, the fact it goes all round lets you use it as a taunt that not only attracts attention but kills all the minions! Combined with musculature id goes from 273 to 404 damage at lvl 54.

Hybrid is a mixed one. Typically, the left hand tree works better on scrappers, the right hand tree better on Brutes. I took the left hand tree for the cumulative damage boost, it really adds up with all the AoE.

Final Thoughts and Notes.

-----Momentum-----

Titan Weapons employs a unique mechanic called Momentum, I initially left this out as I feel its something you kinda need to see in action but ill amend this for completeness. Momentum is exactly what it sounds like, getting it to start moving takes effort, but then your whirling it round like a crazy person. Momentum is a Buff that activates the moment you use any Titan Weapon Attack. All stats for the set show the cast time of the powers with no momentum employed making it look slow and clunky. This means that Initially at low levels you WILL struggle. Your first attack will generate momentum and that will be retained for 10 seconds. During that time your animation times are super fast and fluid. When it ends, you start all over again. This means you WILL need to employ attack chains that recharge in order. Initially this is a real challenge as the powers are endurance heavy and you will struggle to have enough powers to keep going for 10 seconds at a time. Your attack chain will also change constantly as you gain additional recharge speed and get a feel for the powers. Additionally, you have a wonderful power called Build Momentum, essentially Build Up, except it gives you momentum without attacking. Once your recharge is high enough you can use build up for your first attack chain, then use 1 slow animation to trigger a second chain before build up is ready again. There is a very narrow area where you can extend momentum if you activate a power in a time window, but your talking half a second if that, it may be a glitch, we may never know. When Momentum is up, attack, when its down, use Bio Armour to regenerate yourself, apply shields, use Shadow Meld, what ever you need. This will optimist your battle time considerably.

Once the build is complete a single Build up will clear a mob before it expires except specific purple bosses/EB/Archvillians. And for those rare occasions, that momentum downtime is when you use Bio Heals, and any powers that cause redraw. When you use Build Momentum, you instantly get your weapon back removing redraw and your off again.

 

------ Leveling up and affording------

At level 1 you take every attack power for using momentum, once your 32, you can respec to ones you like, or hold out till 50 and respec into a final form. If you use this build, it operates fine on Basic IO's. This costs in the region of 6 million influence but you can start getting them at lvl 25 so its not expensive. Once your level 30 you can save up for a steadfast Protection +3% Defense Proc, currently valued at 5-7 million influence. At level 50 your immediate ones you will want to acquire will be a:

Gladiators Armour +3% Defense, typically 10-12 million influence. (easy Defense boost)

Critical Strikes +50% chance for Critical Hit 9-12 million Influence (This is what takes you from very good to God-Like)

Avalanche chance for knockdown 9-12 million influence. (This will help keep you from taking damage)

Note that superior versions are better but are a lot more expensive. Buy the BASIC ones and upgrade yourself. I've noticed that some sets are a lot more expensive now like AEGIS, currently going for 8-10 million each! these help a lot with bonuses but can also drop, dont feel you need everything fast, prioritize what you feel you need.

------Conclusion------

This is my take on the build. Focusing on Defense and Absorb shielding and using massive crits to kill everything before you take any damage. This build can run on +4*8 with Bosses and AV’s enabled against any enemy I've come across to date. Nemesis as my personal Favorite as you can kill the Fake Nemesis at lvl 54 before they can pop their shield, and the war husks explode!

Challenging Enemy who can cause issues:

Praetorian's due to the debuffs they can stack and the +to hit they summon – to deal with them herd them so they cant escape your damage

Banished Parthenon as again they debuff a lot. Take Down the Sorrow Bosses first as they cripple defense.

Canaries as no one likes them and the Dark Ring Mistress can use an auto hit -33% defense attack, 1 is fine, but if you get 2 or 3 in one mob you loose your defense, target them first and if needed herd to get everyone together.

New Addition: Rularuu, specifically Overlords. Their damage is fine, but one of their power's is a phase shift on the target, and it lasts a LONG time. I killed 3 mobs of them on +4*8 like butter, but one of them in the 4th mob got a shot off and i was intangible for about 20 seconds, I had no idea how long it was lasting and there was no warning it was dropping so when it did my shield had run out and I was hit with about 4k Psionic damage in one burst, it was lights out lol - Interesting thought however, if your made intangible, surely a power like Phase Shift or Ethereal Shift should be able to break you free since it removes you from the place in which you are!

In all these cases however, your damage is equal, few enemies can take the hits so even ones that can hurt you, you will hurt them far more! If in doubt, herd them up so you can hit them harder! I hope you found something within all this useful or at least gave you inspiration to improve on it! Be Kind!

 

P.S. Some have commented that this is a God-Tier Build, and yes it can do amazing things, but it will also drop like a lead balloon if your not paying attention or you start getting lag. I can run 20 missions and hardly take and damage at +4*8, but a few seconds of heavy lag and ill hit the ground if its when I need to deploy a shield or heal. Nothing is immortal and your play style will massively impact how this build works for you. Adapt it to your own style and you will be impressed, else you may find you made a very pricey vengeance bait character!

Edited January 29, 2020 by Jaegernault
Additional material added per comments

[Sovera]

4 hours ago, Jaegernault said:

They have Hit Points higher than a scrapper but not quite that of a brute tank.

 

[Jaegernault]

8 hours ago, Sovera said:

 

Thanks! I had through it several times but its always harder to spot your own mistakes 😄

[rshacklef0rd]

Did you not take ablative carapace?

[Jaegernault]

It should be in there yes. 6 slotted for max absorb and recharge. Its set as a panic button since its not reliant on mob proxy. Its showing as taken at lvl 16. For the most part I took each secondary and primary as soon as available, filling in the rest with power pools. currently my character is VET146, obviously after 100 its nothing but show, but the set when paying attention can take on "most" threats.

Edited January 27, 2020 by Jaegernault
expanding

[Murcielago]

You forgot to mention: Have a pile of influence to buy your inventions in order to make this combination god-tier. 

[Vea]

A TW guide without talk of the momentum mechanic?

[Jaegernault]

6 hours ago, Murcielago said:

You forgot to mention: Have a pile of influence to buy your inventions in order to make this combination god-tier. 

Ive added in a section in regards to priority spending, although it will happily run +2*8 on basic level 25 IO's.

 

5 hours ago, Vea said:

A TW guide without talk of the momentum mechanic?

Ive added this as well as its impact is substantial when using a build planner and seeing the horrible cast times. But its also something you need to experience and get a feel for, some things cant be learnt from a book 😄

[Yomo Kimyata]

I appreciate this!  I don’t play TW much but I’m all in on Bio.  It’s nice to read a detailed analysis with your thought processes.

 

i seem to differ with consensus on DNA Siphon and Genetic Contamination.  To me, the former is just too good a vehicle for damage profs to be used just as a safety button.  I currently six slot it with Perf Shifter A/R/End mod, the accurate healing damage proc, Eradication damage proc, Obliteration damage proc, the purple damage proc, and the pvp -res proc.  I think the % is at or close to 90%, so it’s good for a few hundred points of pbaoe damage and a res and regen debuff.

 

For GC, the damage doesn’t feel worth enhancing, you can put the purple set in a bunch of other powers, and the -dam is unenhanceable.  So if I take it, I’ll generally one slot it for endurance reduction.  Maybe a proc.

 

great work!

[Jaegernault]

TW has damage in spades so its slot heavy. The PBAoE alone will do 450+ damage to red minions and recharges fast enough for 3 shots before build up ends. As a result there is little need for a proc based attack when it wont give bonuses, tho for other primary choices id agree.

 

Genetic contamination was a tougher call. Its not there for the damage as even at full power its ticks of 30 damage to red enemy. Its enhanced for the set bonuses and specifically the knockdown proc.

 

Knockdown works like 100%defence  for 2 seconds. If they have to stand up they cant attack, 9/10 times they die before they can stand!

 

Im working on an alteration build for adding more ranged damage and a solid hold as i currently still cant solo LGTF green mitos... but slots are tight so its s fine tuning exercise!

[Olly]

On 1/30/2020 at 4:16 AM, Jaegernault said:

Im working on an alteration build for adding more ranged damage and a solid hold as i currently still cant solo LGTF green mitos... but slots are tight so its s fine tuning exercise!

 

I respec'd specifically for soloing the LGTF Hami, but not much changed. I took the fire epic pool and 6-slotted char for the hold. I used it as part of my solo non-AoE rotation with envenomed daggers.  That was enough to get past the green mitos.  It would look like nothing happened until the Hold mags finally stacked up enough, and the mito would just crumble.  It was a *long* fight tho.  For the ranged mitos, char, blackwand, envenomed dagger, (possibly some other ghetto temp powers) and the void judgement were enough to kill them. 

Edited February 2, 2020 by Olly

[Jaegernault]

Im looking at something similar, only using the soul tree, dark blast for range, soul storm for a hold and shadow meld to top up psi defence 

[Darkir]

On 1/10/2020 at 10:53 AM, Jaegernault said:

Sustainable Damage Potential

All of these calculations are incorrect. The Scrapper has a damage scale of 1.125 as seen here: https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Damage

 

Also, the damage cap for scrappers is 500% with 100% of that being your normal damage, so +400% damage buff, BUT it includes enhancements. So, an attack that does 100 damage at damage scale 1.0 will do 112.5 damage without damage buffs on a scrapper and 562.5 damage at the cap. It's important to remember that the enhancements are included in the damage buff cap, even though they are not shown in the +damage section in combat attributes.

 

The damage cap for brutes was recently changed to 700% or +600% damage in i26 with the brute/tanker patch.

[Jaegernault]

The brute alteration  was recent, and further lowered their performance. 

 

Additionally the tanks recieved a decent update thats not been incorporated yet either. 

 

Neither of these changes altered placement in the rank for performance in terms of dps.

 

I took the base values from another forum post I read so its not surprising they may differ. I dont trust many of the online materials as there have been so many changes and not everywhere keeps it updated.

 

In game play however, a damage capped brutes best shot with titan weapons is still dwarfed by a scrappers both sustainably and in burst damage.

 

Ill update damage caps for tanks and brutes as well as modifies when i get time, for completeness, assuming they dont change them again, but it doesnt effect the comparison to any noticable degree

[BeowulfinIA]

This is my current build.  Any recommended tweaks?

 

Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.0.7
https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Landsknecht: Level 50 Natural Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Titan Weapons
Secondary Power Set: Bio Armor
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Crushing Blow -- SprScrStr-Acc/Dmg(A), SprScrStr-Dmg/Rchg(13), SprScrStr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15), SprScrStr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), SprScrStr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), SprScrStr-Rchg/+Crit(17)
Level 1: Hardened Carapace -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(25), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(31), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(31), GldArm-3defTpProc(31), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(34)
Level 2: Inexhaustible -- NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(3), NmnCnv-Heal/Rchg(3), NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(36), NmnCnv-Heal(36)
Level 4: Titan Sweep -- SprCrtStr-Acc/Dmg(A), SprCrtStr-Dmg/Rchg(5), SprCrtStr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5), SprCrtStr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11), SprCrtStr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11), SprCrtStr-Rchg/+50% Crit(13)
Level 6: Follow Through -- Hct-Dmg/Rchg(A), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), Hct-Acc/Rchg(7), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(9), Hct-Dam%(9), FrcFdb-Rechg%(48)
Level 8: Environmental Modification -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(25)
Level 10: Build Momentum -- GssSynFr--Build%(A)
Level 12: Adaptation 
Level 14: Super Jump -- Jump-I(A)
Level 16: Ablative Carapace -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(39), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(39), Prv-Heal/Rchg(39), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(40), Prv-Absorb%(40)
Level 18: Rend Armor -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(19), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(19), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(21), SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(23)
Level 20: Evolving Armor -- HO:Ribo(A)
Level 22: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(23)
Level 24: Kick -- Acc-I(A)
Level 26: Whirling Smash -- Arm-Dam%(A), Arm-Dmg/Rchg(27), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(27), Arm-Acc/Rchg(29), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(29)
Level 28: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(43), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(43), UnbGrd-Max HP%(45)
Level 30: DNA Siphon -- Obl-Dmg(A), Obl-%Dam(37), Obl-Acc/Rchg(45), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(46), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(46), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 32: Arc of Destruction -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(33), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(34)
Level 35: Genetic Contamination -- Obl-Dmg(A), Obl-Acc/Rchg(36), Obl-Dmg/Rchg(42), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43), Obl-%Dam(45)
Level 38: Parasitic Aura -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 41: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(42)
Level 44: Moonbeam -- HO:Centri(A)
Level 47: Shadow Meld -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg(A), LucoftheG-EndRdx/Rchg(48), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(48), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(50), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(50)
Level 49: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(50)
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit 
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Clr-Stlth(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run 
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), Mrc-Rcvry+(37), RgnTss-Regen+(40)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-EndMod(A), PrfShf-End%(37)
Level 1: Momentum 
Level 12: Defensive Adaptation 
Level 12: Efficient Adaptation 
Level 12: Offensive Adaptation 
Level 47: Experimental Injection 
Level 1: Quick Form 
------------

 

Edited June 15, 2020 by BeowulfinIA

[Jaegernault]

Personal play style will play a huge part in how a build performs. I like to live on the edge in the fight, constantly surrounded by enemy to feed from  while killing them all. Bio Armour is suited to large mobs, a single AV foe will be harder to take down then 10 Elite bosses, but neither are a big challenge.

 

+Going through your build, Crushing blow is bang on what ive found is best for balance.

+In hardened Carapace, I tend to use AEGIS, since it gives a large defense boost.

+Inexhaustible is getting a little too much attention Id say. Its best function is increased Max HP, the fact it boosts regen/recovery leaves it open to proc slotting, a whole set is overkill.

+I skipped Titan Sweep as by 32 you have more AoE then you will ever need.

+Environmental Modifiers looks neglected, its your primary defense toggle, and bio armour works best using defense/absorb shielding.

+Follow Through is single target to forced feedback isnt gonna fire much, I tend to slot the Superior Blistering Cold there so its a heavy hit that can stun and hold.

+Build up needs love! its how you dont need to wait and put the kettle on while warming up an attack chain, 2 recharge and ull have it up for every encounter, usually 20s after set bonuses.

+Ablative Carapace I tend to slot numinia for the ranged defense thats stuck on the end of the set, you only really want recharge and healing in there so its usually golden like that.

+Weave needs more slots for ramping its defense if you want to play defense/absorb style.

+tough has the same principle as Hardened Carapace, Aegis gives a defense boost, resistance isnt gonna save a scrapper:D

+some people say you need DNA siphon for extra damage, its really not needed and its contribution is on par with boxing, 2 recharge as a panic button is more then enough for most things

+whirling smash is a great one for the purple, but slap in a 6th slot for the forced feedback proc and it almost always fires!

+generic contamination is "technically" a damage aura but its really small! what it does offer tho is a great place to slap in Superior Avalanche for a chance to knock foes over who come close, if they arnt stood up they aint hitting you! 

+parasitic aura is a personal preference, some people like to use it as a panic button, but as it feeds off nearby foes, i find it better as an opener when its power is maxed out. 2 recharge and its almost perma.

+I 5 slot moonbeam with the ranged winter set for the bonus, its nice for runners bu they shouldnt really get a chance to run! it is however great for pulling avs from other av's, Miss Liberty TF would be a lot harder solo otherwise!

+Shadow Meld needs more recharge, every second really helps. End game if you keep your defense above 60% to all even Praetorian debuffs bounce off you.

 

http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/download.php?uc=1503&c=684&a=1368&f=HEX&dc=78DA6594C96FD34014C6C78D4B699A360D5DD2255DB2744B204D682F6CAA80D20A68A09002C760D2A1B50889E504098E1C38224A5BC489ED583609FE0CD67F0028ABC485E5C0014EE6C5EF4B28B225EB37FEDEBC79CFDF789CBA38E9793C7D7942284DFB735AB19849674DCD30A45997CEEA329F95A27CD5D11DA84432299993323EA797B47CE694D48C42BE18AA0627E559992FCAF83EBD90396A2E68793D9BD96B9E2F98A271B650C8C5A7F485C5929E5F70DB4F6943CA79AF3D9C91DABC348B8BBAE1A93C1B34AFF380A167E3E992963B47ABA70B17729994562C49F352073515A5FBAA5FE0B26AC5339710495534BD009F333B5E32BB5E81AF996FC294A62037A1D85A4D121C63AAE3A09FD8A30ACF76CE7D4BB90AE7D62841D602FDE0CD1A9BEF688E8BE7A8AEC31CEB3D044E81D3CC601BD7B946EF538BF7A95D526D6DD3757099E95E0157999E1BCC253F6F56B9A7BA98B0B5CD15AE714FEBD4533DF7642934B981E78B862E9EE722AD91E3AE467812862761781286271F682D2FFCF31E63ADF93898666E99034F305B4F3297A9571FD7567D43DC5BEB30B37D048C323B62CC8F54AF857394963FECDBE02FA64A7DB7C1EB36781C81C711781C39881C781DA21C3FD6F3C3A728B842814EBC5BE70EAE3FB89339B40BDC0DEE618E5C617EA23EBBB16E37D6DB06FAA8660F3CEFE9656D956AF561CFFB4EF35EF66BE01930CB0CCE8392F9996A85901BBAC5DAE86DF00E337917BC074EB00F5F2877007D0EA0BF51F02B4D19C6FE0CAF71DEC87DF00133FA107CC4FCED1122865E62F0786B2BD80CFA94FFFCA8B0857C89C3977890B576D212D012F02AA056CF7BF913B62CD1A7564FB1157544130E25E950C61CCAB843997128B32ACA92A2D84A7D339D7756AC6FEEEAFF01D11F0EE5BB43F9E950D6FFFDDFAC27E5B38BF1FB0DE3A71BC647A2D57DB3FE023C24FC58

 

Something like this will max out a Defense/absorb playstyle. There is plenty room for adjusting, For instance I like Experimental so I can teleport round the battlefield even faster. but every tweek needs balancing!

 

No one build is the right build, ive seen people use the exact build Im running slot for slot and dieing next to me as their play style isnt suited to it. So you just adapt to how you play to max out the performance! hope this gives you some ideas;

 

[Jaegernault]

HI there, 

 

1. I specified cardiac as an option for early on, only to T3 as that is a lot easier to get then destiny and allows you to run for longer without effort, its not needed and I go straight for musculature now but its a consideration for some peoples play styles.

 

2. I only run in Offensive Adaptation, I removed the other 2 from the hot bar as the swap time was more trouble then the benefit.

 

3. You can slot more Luck of the Gambler if you like, but the return is so small its inconceivable. your talking shaving 0.1 seconds off some powers. The same argument can be made for enhancing all the IO's to +5, you get a "slight" improvement in end game content but its not worth it. In the latter case I always catalyse them so I can run lower content more efficiently.

 

4. FItness is automatic and not pickable. I slot a Performance shifter in stamina as overkill for endurance draining enemy but thats a common thing for any build. Ive updated my build with more recent updates since this was built to be more adaptive to me. for instance I not 3 slot Inexhaustible with 2 Preventative meds and a panacea, the 2 procs and 1 pure health. Ablative Carapace holds numinia so no extra procs are needed for health, and health regen is inconsequential when ranked against bio in general.

 

5. the scaling resistance is a common misconception. It only works if you loose health. and its benefit is only noticeable when your below half health. With absorb shielding you rarely even use regeneration so the chances of it firing are next to 0, and if your hit hard enough to break a 1300 absorb shield AND take 1000 hp off you, 10% resistance aint gonna save you before your face down 😄

 

6. Not sure where your getting your stats from in that form or how your calculating the attack chain but it looks like your computing an instant attack chain there, last time I checked we are human and need reaction time to move to powers. My attack chains are 100%, powers dont que unless im out of range. Getting the recharge faster serves no purpose as ready is ready. I never double follow through in a single build up, its redundant as it doesnt debuff.

 

7. The -res Ive since incorporated into Genetic contamination, the forced feedback is a chance per target hit, so a single target using it is a terrible investment. Its in Whirling Smash that almost always fires when used, again, above a certain level extra recharge isnt needed and single target chains are faster by base so dont need it. If the entire mob dies before build up ends im then just running with build up still active and not using it. A Purple boss drops in 3 hits, while killing all the lower ranks by proxy. An AV or certain EB is the only enemy class to be able to survive the initial attack chain, the EB doesn't survive the second chain, an AV lasts about 45 seconds, unless they have large heals or a T9 defense power like unstoppable.

 

8. you missed a number lol

 

9. ill post an updated build with the tweeks ive made but the Single Target attack chain is 

Build Up > Arc of Destruction > Rend Armor > Follow Through > Crushing Blow( if needed)

 

In normal *8 content Ill use the same attack chain, targeting just a boss using the following.

Build Up > Arc of Destruction > Rend Armour > Whirling Smash >Follow Through> Rend Armour > Crushing Blow > Follow Through...etc  <--bosses die with either the first follow through or the second rend Armour depending on critical and their resistance.

 

10. Moonbeam isnt part of a chain, its handy for pulling a single av from a group if needed or hitting a roman healer who is hiding. Its damage will 1 shot minions, the other ranged attack wont and its DPS works out lower in practice with redraw. It also criticals.

 

11. Travel powers are over rated and suppressible.  Stealth is for if you run into walls a lot, with soft capped defence and a good handle on movement (and obviously no taunt toggles) you can run through mobs and most wont even try and attack you, the ones that do miss, the odd one that hits barely scratches your shield. Ive ghosted missions when needed, even low level TF's. the investment in a Stealth power isnt worth the cost and the travel powers are the same, Ninja run, with any running toggle is a good speed with excellent air control, and you can use it in the Hollows/Boomtown, something Super speed is horrible in.

 

You may take note of the date of the original post, Experimental wasn't available then, upgrading to it was included in my updated build, giving Speed of Sound and Jaunt which are both used in combat, I use Jaunt a lot too, for moving round the battle field and also for going vertically to platforms fast. Its an amazing power.

 

12. We can agree to disagree with the resistance vs defense in smashing/lethal. Shadow Meld get you to 55% defense to those when you enter combat, most things are dead before it is expired. The resistance lets you take hits like Marauders Knockout blow with minimal effect and gives you breathing room. Smashing and Lethal damage are the most highly used damage types in the game and often have the highest numbers. Lethal lowers defense so if your getting hit by it, defense will cascade fail very fast, resistance is seldome reduced save a few rare enemy types. The extra HP gets most milage with a high resistance to facilitate its lifespan.

 

13. I dont understand your final comment. The build maxes out absorb shielding as a primary defense, maxes HP as an emergency buffer, relying on defense to dodge the attacks to save both and resistance to give your HP pool a longer lifespan if needed. 

 

Ill upload a new version that im currently using, just needed to update pines as experimental wasnt in the database, ill add it as a reply under this for easy finding.

 

 

 

[Jaegernault]

http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/download.php?uc=1577&c=730&a=1460&f=HEX&dc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

 

Thats from memory as im not logged in, ive not included badges and accoladed as ANYONE can get those.

[altaholic]

I have this exact build. It's pretty awesome. At first it seemed that the scaled down attack powers would make it less appealing but over time , it all made sense. Being able to outlast Tanks and Brutes is also fun. Well Done!

 

[marcussmythe]

3 hours ago, Tsuko said:

Here you have tons of lots more insightfull people than me ( @Kaeladin @marcussmythe @Sir Myshkin @Bopper @Maxzero and i forget a lot) (and english speakers so you ll not have to go through my awful, rusty and so french english 😛 )

 

 

I have no business being mentioned in the same breath as Kael, Myshkin, Bopper, or Max.. but thank you, and I am flattered.

[Jaegernault]

Your original post was quick to point out stats, but failed on all aspects of content. You also removed comments after it that shared the tone. But ill go into a context comparison so its not left hanging.

 

Ive never understood the point of the pylon test, its a pole that cant move, has only 1 attack, its entirely predictable and like a punching bag. Its purely an attack damage test, not a game play survival test. But some swear by it and I wont judge them for it.

 

Comparing the builds, and to be fair, ill remove Shadow Meld from mine despite it being on all the time as its not in yours.

 

Just on the base stats your resistance across the board is lower on all counts, you sacrifice defense to EVERYTHING else to get smashing/lethal to 45%, yet with no defense resistance 1 lucky shot and it goes poof. You gained a marginal regeneration/recovery bonus, both of which are inconsequential for bio Armour really. Our Max HP is basically the same, yours runs slightly hotter on endurance but not enough to care about. All in all you sacrifice a lot to get a defense rating on the most common damage type to lower defense, Lethal.

 

As your so fond of stat tables im sure the concept of diminishing returns is a fundamental thing. 

Crushing Blow 182% damage bonus, down to 132%. 50% wasted 

Inexhaustable heal set to 145%, down to 101%, almost half the stat is pointless.

Follow Through, 160% down to 130%, another 30% wasted.

Ablative Carapace 145% down to 101%

Rend Armour accuracy and damage both heavily in the red, damage over 200%, lowered to 138%

Whirling Smash 227% to 140%, leaving out the chance for fire damage which would have increased its effect.

Arc of destruction, damage and recharge both in the red.

 

All that red is pushing a number up at a huge cost to every other stat, for a single purpose like a pylon, that might work, since you dont have to chase the target, you can just stand there and button mash.

 

Adrenaline booster is like factoring in Gang War on a Mastermind. Its not a continual thing, in fact its up only 1/3 of the time. But to be fair ill do a 100% vs 100% of some key powers.

 

With Adrenaline booster so for 1/3 of the time.

Crushing Blow 1240 vs 1348 ---> 108% Efficiency

Follow Through 1080 vs 1200 --->111% Efficiency

Rend Armor 2233 vs 2432 --->109% Efficiency

Whirling Smash 616 vs 649 --->105% Efficiency

Arc of Destruction 1147 vs 1305 --->113% Efficiency

 

Looks a decent improvement on paper, in a hacking test put out more damage.

 

Without it, so most of the time.

Crushing Blow 1240 vs 1244 --->100.3% Efficiency

Follow Through 1080 vs 1116 --->103% Efficiency

Rend Armor 2233 vs 2247 --->100.6.% Efficiency

Whirling Smash 616 vs 603 --->98% Efficiency

Arc of Destruction 1147 vs 1209 --->105% Efficiency

 

So using your power that you have up 35% of the time roughly you gain roughly an 10% bonus on damage, the 65% of the fight its off your struggling to get above 2% gain, at the expense of 20% resistance to the most common damage type in the game. 

 

I dont profess to make pylon builds, I think its a pointless exercise, like shooting a test dummy, but some people like it so thats their thing and I wont knock it. I make my builds for ALL content, I can walk into any mission at level 50 on the hardest rep and butcher them, Rularuu, Malta, Carvanel, Council (tho they are babies), CoT, Arachnos, Devouring Earth, doesnt matter as they all follow the rule of 45% defence to softcap plus padding for their +tohit.

 

A Vs for defense, mine VS yours. in brackets is if I decide I wont want to use Shadow Meld which is always available.

Smashing (27%) 58% vs 45%

Lethal (27%) 58% vs 45%

Fire (51%) 71% vs 32%

Cold (51%) 71% vs 32%

Energy (39%) 71% vs 29%

Negative (39%) 71% vs 29%

Psionic (23%) 55% vs 22%

 

So for smashing and lethal you win hands down at soft cap, but 1 shot from council riffle and your at 35%, then 25% and its a cascade failure, Cimerora enemy do it even faster. If Im actively fighting, mine has a 13% buffer to softcap so I can handle the odd hit and it wont impact me, I can also usually handle enemy with decent +ToHit.

 

For Fire and Cold, common AoE attacks and missile based things, not to mention winter events, im 6% above softcap straight off, and 36% above with active, since neither debuff defense it they wont ever drop unless hit by lethal or energy. Your 32% will get broken a lot, but again wont lower.

 

Energy and Negative, Energy is a -defense power, as anyone who fights the PPD will attest to. They will cascade defense fail almost anything if given a chance, so you dont give them a chance. Without Shadow Meld im 10% higher, but that wont save me at all, with Shadow Meld they wont get a shot to land. Negative is -Tohit normally, not a big deal for either of us with such high accuracy but same numbers as energy. Its also uncommon save a few instances. 

 

Psionic damage is lethal to almost any build, our resistances are equally useless , baseline our defenses are equally worthless, I can, however go 10% above softcap, tho psionic usually has a +tohit as well but it still lets me take large attacks.

 

Your build is focusing on DPS above all, for a Pylon it will almost certainly win, the pylon doesnt move, does minor damage and attacks periodically. You can wreck it like a pro, id be behind the empathy defender (no offence to defenders). If the Pylon spawned mobs of Rikti at lvl 54 at every 10% health drop, Id wager id win.

 

I wrote the guide for generic content across everything, it wasn't designed in mids, it was built on the go while leveling up, adapting to each enemy type, balancing out each flaw with an offset. When new powers or alterations come out I have to re balance it to get it optimized again, sometimes faster then others.

 

As for the nerfing comment, if they want to nerf every combo that can become powerful to godly levels they should just remove half the power sets. Farmers are everywhere across multiple AT's. Ive seen defenders soloing +4*8. Its not about lowering the powers effect, its about adding new content to test it, thats why incarnates where made, it just stalled and become stagnent. Ive made threads in regards to making more difficult content from whats readily available and it got no notice. I see no point wasting my breathe or keys flogging a dead thread when no one in power cares.

 

Criticizing guides and builds is in the spirit of the community, but the way you formatted yours was aggressive, you bullet pointed theoretical flaws with no context or solutions, then deleted a post for effectively calling it out. 

 

People can use my guide or your build, Im not fussed, its not like we get royalties for them, its there to enhance the community and enrich peoples understanding of how powers can be employed. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FUBARczar]

IDK, I am only in my high 20s right now on my TW/BIO Scrapper but I have /Bio Tanks, Brutes, Stalkers and Sentinels so I am very familiar with /Bio.  

 

Quote

+In hardened Carapace, I tend to use AEGIS, since it gives a large defense boost.

Why?  are you fire farming?  IMO who cares about fire/cold 

 

Quote

+tough has the same principle as Hardened Carapace, Aegis gives a defense boost, resistance isnt gonna save a scrapper:D

It's amazing how well Radiation, DA and ELA can do

 

That seems like a lot of slots on Shadow Meld.  Even my Sentinels, which play in Melee range, do great w/o anything like that.  Plus isn't SM a buzz kill with a 3 second animation for only 15 secs?

 

Anyhow, this was my first take on TW (well I had a TW/Fire Brute on live for farming but that was it.)

 

 

 

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 Advanced issue found

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Spoiler

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[Jaegernault]

Fire/cold, I class as elemental damage, yes it's the main thing in fire farms but it's also very common as secondary effects.

 

For example, council, crey use cryo rounds a lot as well as flame throwers, praetorian clockwork mix energy and fire a lot. Banished  parthenon are a pain for it too.  Malta missiles are incendiary, aka fire damage. The winter event is oddly a lot of cold damage. AEGIS also gives other defense too, but huge defence to elemental let's you take end level content easily.

 

Shadow meld is a power I use as I'm running in, usually mid air so i land in the centre of the mob. Those 15 seconds are all it takes to kill 2-3 purple bosses and the entire mob without taking a hit. Its personal preference tho. Is also gives enough of a boost to block nemesis vengeance buffs for a while 

[Argent Aegis]

I can speak to Jaegernault's builds and their effectiveness.  As in they are.  I can only describe TW/Bio as 'Really Hard Easy Mode"....given most situations.

 

I built mine around his one he started with in this guide,  I am curious about his changes and the addition of Speed of Sound into his later build.  But right now I found that this set combination is a bit of a slog through the early levels, but once I started getting AoE's and playing around with team size setting, I found myself chuckling as groups of mobs start getting knocked down and the "Criticals" start popping all over the place.  I was running +0/*4 pretty early.  Start adding in the ATO's and getting some good recharge going, the chuckling getting a maniacal edge. 

 

Jaegernault's tactics are also sound.  I started using them more at the higher levels and the orange numbers got bigger and the "Criticals" more frequent.  I'm not fully Incarnated out yet, still not even +1 level shift, and I can run AE +4/*8 rather reliably. 

 

Which brings me to the Hard Easy Mode.  I can run +4/*8, but not as fast as my Rad/Fire Brute.  But I can run more than fire farms with this build.  Yes - it takes a while and I can still be overrun if I do not pay attention.  This may decrease as I get higher tiered in my incarnates.  My Rad/Fire is fully T4, so would expect that.  In my opinion this powerset does great at large groups and hard ST like AV's.  I have had issues with doing speed TF and other missions where teams just steamroll.  The start up for momentum usually causes me to find that the target is wiped out by the other members when the attack takes place.  It was kind of annoying when I realized that.  If I can get in there first, then yes, I'm rocking.  But no travel power makes that hard sometimes.  I tend to not team as often with him because of this.  This combination also requires you to be on your game and not be watching TV while playing.  I see the floor quickly running anything higher than +2/*8 if I take my eye of the prize for anything more than a few attack chains.

 

Now this combination is on the slate for a nerf.....much to my disappointment since I really do not think it is necessary...so this may all change when page 6 hits.  But in the meantime, I am enjoying and chuckling maniacally with this character.  YMMV

 

 

[Jaegernault]

Thanks for the praise!! There isnt much they could nerf really. Bio isnt godlike on other toons so nerfing that would kill the set across the board.

 

Titan weapons is slow early on and has the longest slowest recharge across any power set. It makes up for this will slightly higher damage values and a really wide AoE.

 

In my opinion it's the ATO enhancements that carry the build. A scrapper able to almost guarantee a full set of crits on an AOE is nuts, especially when the base damage is so high. Slap in a chance for buildup and your swinging for 300% base damage, often doubling it on crits. If they lowered the ATO to say 30% it might even it out but then that's a class wide one... rather then killing sets they need to address the fact they are running a 10 year old game with little to no new content when the last LIVE release of incarnate was geared to preping us of a far tougher enemy. 

 

If they want to address OP they should look at stalkers ATO just as much.. a chance to recharge buildup, meaning you can use your alpha with double build up + a chance to get a 3rd.. and the double build up is reliably repeatable too! Not to mention the chance to hide to get crits on top of it.. 

 

It's easy to point a finger and say that needs a nerf, in the end unless new content is written we are watching a rerun of a classic TV show. You cant consolidate a game when it was stopped mid story, that's like telling sleeping beauty, getting to the glass coffin part then deciding to do a 10 part special on the dwarfs back stories!

 

Some other servers are trying to make new content, and some of it is hilariously unbalanced. One for instance made a power set filled with hamidon attacks! Its entertaining but without stories to play, it's just a quick gimmick, like trying to balance sets designed for more then what we have.

 

I know people will prop comment saying we should be grateful it's back blah blah, and yes, nothing could replace it, including what we have. A story needs authors tho, we certainly dont log in to just chat up miss liberty! :D