AOE scrapper?

[Parabola]

1 hour ago, DreadShinobi said:

I didn't say anything about "squishies" and I also don't adhere to the squishy rule and I personally treat it as an outdated obsolete term for the current state of this game. I play blasters, controllers, defenders, corruptors, and none of them are squishy. You can be a squishy if you want to play like that, but every archetype in the game has all the tools available not to be one.

 

I mentioned sidekicks, which depending on how enhanced they are may or may not be actually contributing, especially if they are fighting +5s, it is often better for them to just keep up with the pace of the group rather than try to play clean up duty. If your character isn't capable of handling the clean up duty, and clean up duty isnt even required then why are you doing it? It is absolutely optional to do clean up duty unless it is specific to the mission objective. If you are a sidekick and falling behind the rest of the group to do something you are ill equipped to handle, something you don't even want to do, you are also falling outside of leadership buff toggle radius and the support of your team mates, and if you die trying, well that is your choice. 

Squishies is simply an accepted generic term for those AT's that do not have armour sets. Believe me I am well versed enough in playing them to know how tough they can be. You can choose to not use the term if you like but others do and will.

 

If sidekicked characters are engaging spawns with the rest if the team rather than doorsitting they are in a position to attract aggro. If the damage dealers run off it can leave people with the bosses aggro'd to them. They can run after the rest but the bosses will follow and they don't get any choice in the matter. It isn't about choosing to clear up or taking on challenges that are too big, it is about being stuck with them.

 

Anyway, this is pointless. We seem to have different views on teaming etiquette and that's fine. As you say we are all free to leave teams we don't like.

 

Edit: Apologies to the OP for the thread hijack!

Edited April 28, 2021 by parabola

[ninja surprise]

20 hours ago, parabola said:

This is fine as long as those leftovers aren't +4 bosses that the squishies are ill equipped to deal with.

 

Totally agree with you.  No self respecting Scrapper can look a boss in the eye and run away instead of punching it!

 

19 hours ago, parabola said:

The bosses don't stop attacking just because the damage dealers run off.

 

A technique I call "Wiping The Booger": When you have unwanted aggro, run/fly/jump past the Tank. The aggro will follow you but peel off in the Tanker's taunt aura/punchvoke.

The mobs will usually get caught up in the team's AoE attacks and attack the PC with the highest threat level.  Unless you're all at the aggro cap, then things get dicey.

[Doomguide2005]

     Like with a lot of things there's truth I both positions.  Some maps avoiding is difficult if not all but impossible (think ITF between boss and ambush in caves, have fun with that).  On the other hand you knocked 😜 rather aggro'd the mob you own it philosophy.

[Krazie Ivan]

On 4/26/2021 at 9:34 AM, Uun said:

Not everyone's taste, but Staff has 2 wide cones plus a PBAoE.

yeah ...but what if the player wants to complete an entire attack chain before our sun runs out of hydrogen & eventually becomes a nebula?
;P

[Heraclea]

I just started a Staff/Ninjitsu scrapper (for concept reasons; building a retiarius) and I can confirm that Staff has quite adequate AoE and gets many of them early. so early that DFB was a bit of a pain. 

 

OTOH, a Spines/Energy scrapper is one of the mainstays of my AE stable these days.  Clears faster than any Spines Brute I've tried.  Energy, especially paired with Spines, seems to be a random collection of powers; your mez protection is also the taunt aura, but then again you have stealth.  But you can get well above the softcap to several types without compromising the build in any way. 

[Zapped]

I'm running a dark melee/regen scrapper and I do pretty decent Aoe damage on tfs and teams. 

 

I like start off with  IH or Mog, alternating between the two for alpha strikes. 

 

Then for Aoe damage I hit with Soul Drain which increases both my damage and chance to hit. 

 

Then I follow through immediately with Void Core Final Judgement. It's a Wide PbAoE Extreme  damage attack. 

 

Then drop Dark Consumption  immediately after. 

 

If any bad guys are still standing, both Shadow Maul and Sands of My are melee cones that are high DoT and attack multiple targets if you line them up right .

 

After that I have Midnight Grasp, Siphon Life and Smite to deal with bosses and lieutenants. 

 

The trick is knowing your powers well and the best time to use them. 

 

If I wade in right behind the tank, or tank a mob myself if the team doesn't have one, firing off Soul Drain can allow me to inflict massive damage on the entire mob, sometimes even before blasters can get off a shot. 

 

 

[brasilgringo]

On 4/26/2021 at 9:15 AM, Obsinious said:

Or even Claws/Rad if you're after aoe.  Rad armor has some moderate cool down attacks that can really be weaponized with procs for aoe damage.

 

Rad is also a great armor with a taunt aura.  Along with end recovery, regen boosts, an absorb, a recharge buff based on enemy saturation, and the aforementioned AoEs.

Yeh, slot out Radiation Therapy and Ground Zero with procs/dmg.    They are both very very nice added AOE.  This is how I did it on my /Rad scrapper.

Level 16: Radiation Therapy -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/Rchg(29), ScrDrv-Dam%(29), TchoftheN-%Dam(31), Obl-%Dam(31), Erd-%Dam(31)

Level 35: Ground Zero -- Arm-Dmg(A), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), Arm-Dam%(43), TchofLadG-%Dam(43), Obl-%Dam(43), Erd-%Dam(45)

Edited May 6, 2021 by brasilgringo

[Uun]

17 hours ago, Zapped said:

Then for Aoe damage I hit with Soul Drain which increases both my damage and chance to hit. 

 

Then I follow through immediately with Void Core Final Judgement. It's a Wide PbAoE Extreme  damage attack. 

All the Judgement powers are flagged to ignore external boosts. Soul Drain doesn't increase its damage.

[ZorkNemesis]

8 minutes ago, Uun said:

All the Judgement powers are flagged to ignore external boosts. Soul Drain doesn't increase its damage.

 

While true, I personally love to put my Fury -Res proc in Soul Drain, which would help Judgements.  Also the extra ToHit doesn't hurt.

[Zapped]

On 5/6/2021 at 12:53 PM, Uun said:

All the Judgement powers are flagged to ignore external boosts. Soul Drain doesn't increase its damage.

 

I never said that void Core Final judgment benefited from Soul Drain.  Sorry if you got that impression. A good scrapper thinks 4 or 5 attacks ahead. 

 

 

My typical attack chain when facing large mobs it's to wade in with soul drain, then Void Core Final Judgment, and Dark Consumption which I have slotted with knock down and damage. 

 

Then I finish with dark melee and Sands of Mu. 

 

Five AOE attacks in under a minute. 

 

And anything still left standing can be finished off rather quickly with Siphon Life or Midnight Grasp. 

 

 

Edited May 8, 2021 by Zapped

[Thrax]

Spines/Bio is crazy on aoes.  Even your heal is an aoe attack kinda.  Two passive damage auras.  It is pretty fun.

[Pzn]

3 hours ago, Thrax said:

Spines/Bio is crazy on aoes.  Even your heal is an aoe attack kinda.  Two passive damage auras.  It is pretty fun.

Great combo.  It's like the classic spines/dark combo with supercharged damage.

 

 Spines/ninja is interesting too after the shinobi changes.  Opening with tons of crits on throw spines is beautiful.

[Shred Monkey]

Generally speaking, if everyone just blasts away at the first thing they see, the bosses die last since they have the most hit points.

 

Based on the premise that this is how most damage dealers play, my theory is that the faster the bosses die, the faster the team's pace through the mission.  Or, to put in another way, any ST damage I do that doesn't hit a boss is wasted.

 

So, based on this theory, on my single target focused toons, I like to race through the mission killing only bosses and skipping everything else (outside of mission objectives and specific nuisance NPCs that I also target... I don't play in a bubble).  Occasionally, I get ahead of the meat of the team by 1/2 a spawn, but since there are no bosses slowing them down, they usually catch right back up.  AND I'm eliminating the biggest threat to any teammates of the less durable variety.  

 

My experience with this has been very positive and I certainly never feel like my ST toons are not contributing to the team when I play this way.

 

Edited May 13, 2021 by Shred Monkey

[hakurr]

if you want a lot of AOE try looking at Titan weapon and look at putting it with Energy Aura you can slot Entropic Aura with taunt enhancements to help keep thing on you. 

[Wavicle]

Electric/Shield

[Yomo Kimyata]

In an 8-person team setting, everyone is going to feel that they are picking up the scraps because no one has their kill-all AoEs up for every mob.  so don't sweat that.

 

My most overpowered AoE scrapper is Rad/Bio, and it's ridiculous solo.

[BrandX]

On 5/8/2021 at 2:55 PM, Zapped said:

 

I never said that void Core Final judgment benefited from Soul Drain.  Sorry if you got that impression. A good scrapper thinks 4 or 5 attacks ahead. 

 

 

My typical attack chain when facing large mobs it's to wade in with soul drain, then Void Core Final Judgment, and Dark Consumption which I have slotted with knock down and damage. 

 

Then I finish with dark melee and Sands of Mu. 

 

Five AOE attacks in under a minute. 

 

And anything still left standing can be finished off rather quickly with Siphon Life or Midnight Grasp. 

 

 

 

Proc'ed out Dark Consumption too?

[Hew]

(claws/tw) / (bio/rad w/procbombs)

[Zapped]

On 6/24/2021 at 3:58 PM, BrandX said:

 

Proc'ed out Dark Consumption too?

I have 3 Performance Shifters in Soul Drain

 

[Uun]

13 hours ago, Zapped said:

I have 3 Performance Shifters in Soul Drain

Not sure how you managed that. Soul Drain doesn't accept end mod sets.

[Hew]

On 6/24/2021 at 3:58 PM, BrandX said:

 

Proc'ed out Dark Consumption too?

Avalanche  +1 proc

[Zapped]

On 6/29/2021 at 11:40 AM, Uun said:

Not sure how you managed that. Soul Drain doesn't accept end mod sets.

Thats easy, I was drunk 🙂

I have 3 Armageddons in soul drain. Ones a chance for fire damage

 

 

[Bill Z Bubba]

10 hours ago, Zapped said:

Thats easy, I was drunk 🙂

I have 3 Armageddons in soul drain. Ones a chance for fire damage

 

I've long proselytized the many powers of alcohol.

[VV]

On 4/26/2021 at 6:13 AM, DreadShinobi said:

Fiery aura brute with a primary that a scrapper has access to. Just pretend that youre a scrapper and be a brute with a functioning taunt aura, a better resist cap, and a higher hp. Fiery aura is what you want for the aoe carnage, it just doesnt work like it should for a scrapper.

WHOA WHOA WHOA. What do you mean Fiery aura doesn't work like it should for a Scrapper??? I am literally moments away from rolling up a TW/Fiery Scrapper, but if FA has a problem, I might need to change.

[Deuce Spade]

9 hours ago, VV said:

WHOA WHOA WHOA. What do you mean Fiery aura doesn't work like it should for a Scrapper??? I am literally moments away from rolling up a TW/Fiery Scrapper, but if FA has a problem, I might need to change.

Some people think it works exactly as it should for a scrapper, to be fair.  I'm in the opposite camp.  The poster means that no taunt aura means the mobs flee instead of staying next to you, so your damage aura and burn, especially, aren't the AOE powerhouses they are on other melee characters.