Asking for a friend

[Neiska]

Hello scrappers, and I am asking for a friend.

 

She is having difficulties with her main, a titan/bio scrapper. Ever since the TW change, she more or less hates it. We used to go on missions and things often, but now she says playing it is depressing. So I wanted to ask, what are the other top performers now? I have done some testing, mostly with energy melee and katana, but what would be the best options? 

 

She said she liked the "flow" and having to think of the old TW, and wasn't looking for a braindead primary set. (her words, not mine) So any recommendations or suggestions? I have only played one scrapper, so I have little experience with them. So what are the current top performers you scrapper experts would recommend she looked into?

 

Thanks bunches in advance.

[SuperPlyx]

Sounds like she might like Dual Blades or Staff Fighting, they both have systems that (to oversimplify)  require you to do combos to bank points that you later spend on an attack. 

[ZorkNemesis]

Perhaps have her try Street Justice.  While the set has some funky AoE to get used to, the damage is quite good and the hits make these satisfying crunchy sounds.  Similar to Staff it uses a combo system of sorts where you spend the banked combo to boost a few of the heavy hitting attacks.  The boosted attacks all have bonus damage and often add extra effects (Sweeping Cross guarentees a knockdown, Spinning Strike causes a fear, Crushing Uppercut just hits like a truck).

 

 

Edited April 16, 2021 by ZorkNemesis

[Sir Myshkin]

Really need to narrow down the “why” of the dislike. Yes the set was changed, but the core of the changes tempered the set for better flow (momentum), so it should be giving a more consistent performance now than before.

 

If she’s feeling like she lost a feeling crunch, than War Mace easily suffices that itch, but otherwise we’d really need to understand more about what’s going on there. Others have mentioned a couple of sets that contain chaining mechanics slash combo mechanics similar to the idea of momentum that might give the allusive thought of flow. If “flow” is a visual sense, Kinetic Melee or Claws  have some visual fluidity, Dual Blades and Staff have a flow/flare.

[Neiska]

Thank you for the replies,

 

She said she liked it because it wasn't a braindead set, you had to think. I guess it flows too well for her now? (thats just a guess on my part.)

 

[hakurr]

Duel Blades requires you to think probably the most out of all the primary sets and that is due to the combo system it uses. take a look at this link ( https://archive.paragonwiki.com/wiki/Dual_Blades ) this will show you all the combo attacks for each arch type and what they do. Duel blades are not the high damage type but if used properly they really are very nice addition to a team.

[Shred Monkey]

It's not a scrapper answer, but the epic archtypes might give you the "had to think" element your friend is missing. 

 

The downside IMHO is how they try to force you into a pre-set RP concept.

[ninja surprise]

Hopefully Dual Blades or Staff can scratch her itch.

 

DB has a bunch of combos that do bonus side effects. If you set up your trays to group each of the combos of 3 attacks she can pick combos that debuff the enemy then do extra bonus damage.

 

Staff has Stances that give a bonus side effect after doing a combo.  So by choosing a Stance and then doing one of two combos they get either a self-buff or a bonus damage and secondary effect.  I really like Staff's sound effects. Plus you get a ranged attack that knocks flyers out of the air!

[Koopak]

DBs combos are.. pretty lack luster, hate to say it.

If yer goal is to have a set that requires "thinking" Id suggest Energy Melee, Staff, or Savage Melee. Maybe Street Justice.

EM took my top pick there because of the new Energy Focus mechanic. Combined with thoughtful placement of Superior Critical Strikes crit proc, you end up with a mixed situation where you may end up with a double stack of Energy Focus and able to slap out Energy Transfer with the short cast time twice, or morel ikely, what to use the 2nd charge on. Barrage for a stun, or Power Crash for AoE.

There others yeah have builders and spenders, with Savage having a lock out if you use a spender at max charges, a situation thats usually a net loss, but theres exceptions, so you need to think about its use.

The rest of the power sets are either 'braindead' rotation spams, or just change what rotation to do based on current state (see psi melee)