New to scrapping, reading all your posts, Willpower or Dark Armor decision time!

[Yipp]

I have a Dark/Dark Brute but really dislike the fury mechanic, was working on a Elec/Dark Tank, but quickly realized I am the wrong person to be the team tank.

 

Dark Armor & Melee I am familiar with and reading the comments I see it is respected. Willpower also appears to be praised for its simplicity and effectiveness.

 

What are the top 2 or 3 choices to pair with Willpower and how would you rate or explain the differences between them and a Dark/Dark Scrapper?  And is there a common pitfall or mistake players make running with Willpower or Dark Armor you feel it is important to point out.

 

Thanks in advance for your replies.

 

 

[Murcielago]

Willpower is the set and forget secondary and with a little investment into some IOs can be near unkillable in PvE. Dark Armor is a a nice set that offers a little everything, heal, res, aoe damage, but it's an endurance hog and usually requires some kind of endurance modification. Pairing pretty much anything with WP is pretty nice, usually you'll see Katana/Broadsword for the +def, spines is another one as it adds a ton of AoE to the mix, dark is nice because it adds a heal and endurance recovery. I can't speak for a lot of the newer powersets as I haven't any experience with them.

[marcussmythe]

WP less reliant upon attention being paid to it, in both building and playing.

Dark requires more care and feeding at every step of the process - but responds better to min/maxing.

 

How much work do you want to do?

[Yipp]

Thank you Murcielago, marcussmythe for your thoughtful replies!

 

Pairing pretty much anything with WP is pretty nice, usually you'll see Katana/Broadsword for the +def, spines is another one as it adds a ton of AoE to the mix, dark is nice because it adds a heal and endurance recovery.

 

I will look into Katana/Broadsword & Spines before making any final decision. I have played a lot of Dark Melee & like its tool box/utility nature... Your post was very helpful!

 

WP less reliant upon attention being paid to it, in both building and playing.

Dark requires more care and feeding at every step of the process - but responds better to min/maxing.

 

How much work do you want to do?

 

Based upon my Dark/Dark Brute experience I will go with Willpower... Your thoughtful response has confirmed it as being the best choice for me.

 

One more question, please.... "IF" I want to stick with Dark Melee... If I choose to not use Shadow Maul in my rotation (SP+Smite+Siphon Life) (due to animation) what power would you suggest? Would taking fighting and using crosspunch or kick... or Spring Attack from leaping work in the rotation? And which Epic or Patron pool would you recommend?

 

Thanks again!

[hejtmane]

From a guy who had two level 50 Dark Armor scrappers dm/da and spines/da and one I started in i2 when armors did not stack.

 

Also note Dark Armor has no knockback protection so your either need to take acrobatics  or two KB protection IO's and yes you want Two.

 

It can be endurance hog but not as bad as it was pre ED. DA is utility set but like everyone stated a lot more care and feeding vs the set and forget WillPower. This may or may not matter to you but WP also has a taunt aura and Dark Armor does not so with running spines harder to pull the bad guys in but ?DA does have COF or OG for the minions

 

 

[MunkiLord]

I never used Dark Armor, but I did use WP quite a bit and it felt like my most survivable Scrapper overall. As far as pitfalls with WP, the only real thing I can think of is making sure to play to its strength, which is layered mitigation. Don't pour all of your resources into just defense, or just regen, or just resist. What makes it so effective is it does multiple things very well.

[Yipp]

Thank you MunkiLord & hejtmane for your helpful feedback... I really appreciate that you took the time to respond... thank you

[Without_Pause]

As someone who detests Shadow Maul, I would look at sets like Claws, SJ, Staff, and Kat. I think all of them have rather good animations to say the least. I ran Claws/regen to 50 once and working on Claws/wp now, although as a brute. I'm pretty sure I got my Kat/sr to 50 as well. Added SJ recently and been looking at Staff, so I think that's another add soon enough. Mere talk of Kat makes me want to roll one again. I slightly like the speed of Claws more, but I have no qualms with Kat.