Rebuilding my Kat/SR from long ago

[Hirumakai]

So I'm trying to rebuild my first COH character, and first one to make it to 50, a Katana/Super Reflexes scrapper.  I had only done a little bit of incarnate stuff before life distracted me, and then the servers shut down.

 

Anyways, I'm wondering how this looks for an end game Katana/SR build, with an eye towards flexibility.  I've already gotten to level 47, but I'm considering what I should aiming to do with my level 50 respec.  I already want to shift some things around.  Aiming to not be terrible while exemplared down, able to be reasonable at end game content, and occasionally stick my nose into the PVP zones.  I remember PVE soft capped defenses + Elude with a ton of recharge/defense being at least survivable when passing through PVP zones.  I've been playing around with the Auction house to get a bunch of attuned enhancements.  On hand I've got most of the build, although not slotted the one's requiring level 50. 4/6 of the Hectacomb (at normal 50s) already , 8/12 of the Scrapper ATOs.  I've got all the Luck of the gamblers (attuned and already slotted) and other defense set IOs, plus the +3% defense IOs in the resistance sets, plus all the Heal and Stamina unique IOs (attuned and slotted).  Plus Mako and Obliteration.  Haven't started on the Armageddon set yet.  I like the idea of stacking some of the resistance bonuses, to be able to hit scrapper resistance cap by 50% health (30+5% scaling resists kicking in by then) in at least lethal and smashing.  Figure I can pull everything together in terms of the remaining enhancements in about a week at the rate I'm going.

 

Not sure where to go with the incarnate stuff once I get there either.  I remember not doing too much with it.  Might have grabbed an Alpha slot that provided recharge way back when, as I vaguely remember having a silly attack chain of something like Golden Dragonfly -> Soaring Dragon -> Sting of the Wasp-> Golden Dragonfly, repeat.

 

I'm open to suggestions or comments on the build.  Thanks.

 

 

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!

Level 50 Natural Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Katana
Secondary Power Set: Super Reflexes
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Gambler's Cut

• (A) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage
• (3) Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance
• (3) Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge
• (5) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
• (5) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (7) Mako's Bite - Chance of Damage(Lethal)
  

Level 1: Focused Fighting

• (A) Reactive Defenses - Defense
• (7) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance
• (9) Reactive Defenses - Endurance/RechargeTime
• (9) Reactive Defenses - Defense/RechargeTime
• (11) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance/RechargeTime
• (11) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage
  

Level 2: Flashing Steel

• (A) Superior Critical Strikes - Accuracy/Damage
• (13) Superior Critical Strikes - Damage/RechargeTime
• (13) Superior Critical Strikes - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime
• (15) Superior Critical Strikes - Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime
• (15) Superior Critical Strikes - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime
• (17) Superior Critical Strikes - RechargeTime/+50% Crit Proc
  

Level 4: Focused Senses

• (A) Red Fortune - Defense
• (17) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance
• (19) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
• (19) Red Fortune - Endurance
• (48) Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge
  

Level 6: Build Up

• (A) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Recharge
• (21) Adjusted Targeting - Recharge
• (50) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 8: Divine Avalanche

• (A) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage
• (21) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
• (23) Crushing Impact - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (23) Crushing Impact - Damage/Endurance
• (50) Crushing Impact - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 10: Practiced Brawler

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO
• (25) Recharge Reduction IO
  

Level 12: Agile

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• (25) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
• (27) Kismet - Accuracy +6%
• (27) Shield Wall - +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All)
  

Level 14: Combat Jumping

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
  

Level 16: Dodge

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• (29) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
  

Level 18: The Lotus Drops

• (A) Armageddon - Damage
• (29) Armageddon - Damage/Recharge
• (31) Armageddon - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (31) Armageddon - Accuracy/Recharge
• (31) Armageddon - Damage/Endurance
• (33) Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage
  

Level 20: Quickness

• (A) Run Speed IO
  

Level 22: Boxing

• (A) Accuracy IO
  

Level 24: Tough

• (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%
• (33) Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All)
• (33) Gladiator's Armor - End/Resist
• (34) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/Endurance
  

Level 26: Soaring Dragon

• (A) Hecatomb - Damage
• (34) Hecatomb - Damage/Recharge
• (34) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (36) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Recharge
• (36) Hecatomb - Damage/Endurance
• (36) Hecatomb - Chance of Damage(Negative)
  

Level 28: Lucky

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• (37) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
  

Level 30: Weave

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• (37) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
• (37) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
• (39) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
• (50) Luck of the Gambler - Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 32: Golden Dragonfly

• (A) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Accuracy/Damage
• (39) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Damage/Recharge
• (39) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (40) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (40) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (40) Superior Scrapper's Strike - Recharge/Critical Hit Bonus
  

Level 35: Evasion

• (A) Red Fortune - Defense
• (42) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance
• (42) Red Fortune - Endurance
• (42) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
• (48) Red Fortune - Defense/Recharge
  

Level 38: Elude

• (A) HamiO:Membrane Exposure
  

Level 41: Conserve Power

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO
• (43) Recharge Reduction IO
  

Level 44: Hasten

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO
• (45) Recharge Reduction IO
  

Level 47: Physical Perfection

• (A) Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance
• (48) Panacea - Heal
  

Level 49: Calling the Wolf

• (A) Taunt Duration IO
  

Level 1: Brawl

• (A) Accuracy IO
  

Level 1: Critical Hit 

Level 1: Quick Form 
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash

[Doomguide2005]

I'm really hampered by the death of my computer as I can't open and look at your build in Mids' but one thing definitely pops out.  You probably don't need two recharge reduction in PB unless you are looking to make it stack with itself.  I'd likely keep it to the base slot and put an endred in it.  Make sure your DDR is 95%+, net recovery 2.5 end/sec.  Personally I built my Claws/SR for +health and +regeneration and not for recharge.  I'd shoot to have just enough recharge to have a gapless attack chain then start grabbing +health and regen from there on.

[Maratai]

Thanks for the comments. 

 

Its true Practiced Brawler is generally doubled up even in my current build.  I guess that's probably not helping me all that much in most content, given most enemy controls powers don't land in the first place.  I guess the advantage of using all attuned or purple/pvp IOs, is the set bonuses stick around, so the base global recharge is probably sufficient to keep it up even when exemplared down to 10.

 

As for numbers, the build I presented had 303% regen (1.26% health/second), 204% end recovery (3.41/s).  DDR is only 94.5% though.  Given there's about 1.4% buffer in defense above softcap for the lowest defense (melee), I'm not sure how much that 0.5% matters.  Is it worth an extra slot?  I could move the Practiced Brawler slot to Dodge to get that last bit, and get an extra LotG set bonus of 1.12% health for example.

 

The build is definitely overdoing it on recharge, as it could do gapless chains with much less recharge.  With perma-hasten, its sitting at 191% global recharge.  However, that level of recharge does allows things like Lotus Drops -> Flashing Strikes -> Golden Dragonfly, which is a pretty satisfying AoE attack chain.  Similarly, a chain of Golden Dragonfly -> Gambler's Cut -> Soaring Dragon  -> Gambler's Cut is possible with this recharge level.  However, I find the biggest benefit is having Conserve Power up more than half the time, which in a weird way turns recharge into end reduction.

 

I've just hit 50 and started slotting some of the enhancements I currently, without doing a respec yet, just to get a feel for what the level 50 IOs do for it.  Feels relatively good.  Conserve power is up enough to basically fight non-stop, with end dropping while its down and going up while its on.

 

Although I do wonder what I should be aiming incarnate wise.  Given recharge seems to be covered well enough, and endurance doesn't seem to be an issue, should I just aim Musculture and its 2/3 45% damage buff?  I guess either Regen or Resist for the Destiny slot (Rebirth or Barrier? - hitting the defense hard cap without outside buffs might be funny along with improving resistances). Barrier would presumably stack nicely with the Melee Hybrid slot in terms of resistance and regen.

[Doomguide2005]

I would probably be looking at Musculature.  Boost damage and it will also help with endurance due to the Endmod enhancement perhaps even making CP less needed outside of encountering end draining mobs.

 

DDR at just under 95% should be fine.

 

Yes, pretty much the only place having stacked PB would help is vs Rommy and the stun of his self rez.  Outside of that it's really only helping when exemplaring to low levels or vs massive recharge debuffs that overcome Quickness (and any IO's slotted). 

 

What's slotted in Health and Stamina?  And is it a soft cap or I-cap build?

 

Lastly I know there's at least a couple of threads about Katana/SR probably worth some digging for further options.

 

 

[Maratai]

Thats an interesting idea.  Grab the +33% damage combined with Runspeed and Endmod, both of which are useful to the build.  Given I'm using ninja run as a super speed replacement, the extra run mod in Sprint, Quickness, Swiftness, and Elude are actually useful.  It essentially makes Elude an emergency speed/endurance button (although you need to finish the fight or get where you're going in 3 minutes).  87 mph with just sprint and elude going is kinda amusing.

 

Health is slotted with:

Miracle: +Recovery, Miracle: Healmod, Numina's: +Regen/+Recovery, Numina's: Healmod, Regenerative Tissue: +Regeneration

 

Stamina is slotted with:

Performance Shifter: Endmod, Performance Shifter: Chance for end, Power Transfer: Endmod, Power Transfer: Chance to heal self

 

Physical Perfection (taken at 47) is slotted with:

Panacea: +HP/End, Panacea: Healmod

 

Unfortunately, it takes quite alot of end to run the AoE attack chain.  Conserve power makes active AoE combat go from 5.24 end per second (attacks + toggles) to 2.83 end per second, with an up time of 90 seconds and downtime of 70.  So while the endmod from the incarnate will certainly help, I'm still going to be using conserve power every time its up in heavy combat.

I had to search for what I-cap was.  So the incarnate cap is 59%?  I never knew that.  This was aiming to be a softcap build, and thus was aiming for a little over 45%.  However, because I did leave Divine Avalanche in, its technically can hit the 59% for the melee positional, without incarnate abilities.  I'll have to start including that in rotations against incarnate melee enemies. I had mostly left it in as an IO mule plus exemplaring content down to very low levels.  The build is over softcap enough to hit 59% with a single small purple inspiration as well.

 

I suppose if I pop Elude, I can also blow past the I-cap for 3 minutes at a time (with a down time of 132 seconds afterwards).  Actually, if I drop 2 50+5 recharge IOs into Elude, I could have the it be up for 180 seconds, down for 90 seconds.  Which isn't a bad ratio, although the end crash is problematic.

 

I feel like the only way to have 100% uptime on all 3 positionals at I-cap would be via Incarnate abilities like Barrier Core Epiphany, Nerve Radial Paragon, and Melee Radial Embodiment?

Clearly, I should do some reading of these forums on these topics.  Thanks for pointing this stuff out.

 

Edit: Got my wife to create account to play, but then didn't log out.  These last two posts are the same as the OP.  Sorry for the confusion.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Maratai

[Hirumakai]

Just wanted to post an update.  The discussion of incarnate cap made me want to know how hard it was to hit on an SR scrapper.  Turns out entirely doable.

 

So I've reworked the build to hit 59% defense against all 3 positionals.  Had to sacrifice a little bit of recharge and regen to do so, and costs a bit more in endurance but its probably worth it.  It can turn off weave + maneuvers and still be well above soft cap, so when exemplaring down it still quite defensive. Hasten is still 100% up time for example. For incarnate abilities, went with Musculature Radial Paragon instead of Core for more general unsurpressed movement speed.  Since I just didn't seem to make good use of Calling the Wolf in groups, I just swapped it for a stealth option of Super Speed + Celerity Stealth IO.

 

Rebirth Radial is amazing in terms of healing.  It feels like it turns the Super Reflexes into Regen (at least during those first 30 seconds or so).  I went with Melee Core embodiment, for more regen and to shore up resists.  Lore is Talons of Vengeance radial, for even more resists/healing.  To be honest, all that is probably overkill in terms of survivability, and I'm likely to also grab as options an Assault Core and a more damage focused lore to swap in when things don't require absolute survivability.  But it does make for a tanky scrapper with no cascade failure.

 

Although, I don't want to think about how much influence I've sunk into this single build.

 

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!

Level 50 Natural Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Katana
Secondary Power Set: Super Reflexes
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Leadership
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Gambler's Cut -- SprScrStr-Acc/Dmg(A), SprScrStr-Dmg/Rchg(3), SprScrStr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), SprScrStr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), SprScrStr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), SprScrStr-Rchg/+Crit(7)
Level 1: Focused Fighting -- RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(7), RedFrt-EndRdx/Rchg(9), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(11), RedFrt-EndRdx(11), RedFrt-Def(29)
Level 2: Flashing Steel -- SprCrtStr-Acc/Dmg(A), SprCrtStr-Dmg/Rchg(13), SprCrtStr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), SprCrtStr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), SprCrtStr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), SprCrtStr-Rchg/+50% Crit(17)
Level 4: Focused Senses -- Rct-Def(A), Rct-ResDam%(9), Rct-Def/EndRdx(17), Rct-EndRdx/Rchg(19), Rct-Def/Rchg(19), Rct-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(21)
Level 6: Build Up -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 8: Agile -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(23), Ksm-ToHit+(50)
Level 10: Practiced Brawler -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(21)
Level 14: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(25), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(27)
Level 16: Dodge -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), DefBuff-I(23), LucoftheG-Def(29)
Level 18: The Lotus Drops -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(25), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(45)
Level 20: Quickness -- Run-I(A)
Level 22: Boxing -- Acc-I(A)
Level 24: Tough -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(33), GldArm-Res/Rech/End(34), GldArm-End/Res(34)
Level 26: Soaring Dragon -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(27), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(34), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(36), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(36)
Level 28: Lucky -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(37), DefBuff-I(48)
Level 30: Weave -- RedFrt-Def(A), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(33), RedFrt-EndRdx(33), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(37), RedFrt-EndRdx/Rchg(37), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
Level 32: Golden Dragonfly -- Arm-Dmg(A), Arm-Dmg/Rchg(39), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), Arm-Acc/Rchg(40), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(40), Arm-Dam%(42)
Level 35: Evasion -- RedFrt-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFrt-Def/Rchg(42), RedFrt-EndRdx/Rchg(42), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(43), RedFrt-Def(43), RedFrt-EndRdx(43)
Level 38: Elude -- ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(A)
Level 41: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(45)
Level 44: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(45)
Level 47: Physical Perfection -- Mrc-Rcvry+(A)
Level 49: Super Speed -- Clr-Stlth(A)
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit 
Level 1: Quick Form 
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 -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run 
Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(A), NmnCnv-Heal(39), NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(39), NmnCnv-Heal/EndRdx(48), NmnCnv-EndRdx/Rchg(48), NmnCnv-Heal/Rchg(50)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-EndMod(A), PwrTrns-EndMod(46), PrfShf-End%(46), PwrTrns-+Heal(46)
Level 50: Musculature Radial Paragon 
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