One Scrapper to Rule Them All

[One IV All]

Howdy all.

 

Long time lurker, first time poster. I saw someone post something similar on the Defender thread, so I thought I'd do the same thing for a Scrapper.

 

Coming back to COH and I'm looking to run a "do it all" Scrapper. Something that can role with anything this game throws at it (heck, maybe even PvP). A couple combos I'm looking at/come to mind:

Dark Melee/Shield: I remember this being good on live, and it seems like it'd still be a classic here. Just a ton of synergy, with DM bringing a heal to Shield.

 

Psi Melee/Shield: Shield Charge and Mass Levitate seem like they'd be *chefs kiss*. No heal here, but Psi is a less resisted dmg type, right?

 

Claws/Rad Armor: My first Scrapper on live was a Claw/Regen. This would kind of be the 2.0 I feel. Rad seems to have a lot of tricks and is pretty layered.

 

Dark Melee/Rad Armor: This one seems interesting, mostly because Beta Decay provides a -tohit, which I think goes well with Dark Melee and it's -tohit. Just an extra layer of defense.

I also think Kinetic Melee looks pretty sweet, but it seems like it's an under performer? 

 

Anyways, does anyone have thoughts/suggestions on the best combo above? Or, in your opinion, what is the ONE SCRAPPER TO RULE THEM ALL?

 

Thanks!

 

 

[twozerofoxtrot]

4 minutes ago, One IV All said:

Dark Melee/Shield: I remember this being good on live, and it seems like it'd still be a classic here. Just a ton of synergy, with DM bringing a heal to Shield.

 

Yeah, this is good. End Hungry, I think. Otherwise perfect. 

 

4 minutes ago, One IV All said:

Psi Melee/Shield: Shield Charge and Mass Levitate seem like they'd be *chefs kiss*. No heal here, but Psi is a less resisted dmg type, right?

 

Psi is heavily resisted by anything mechanical: council bots, nem bots, etc. There are some foes who are weak to it, but IIRC it's sort of feast-or-famine.  Will say this is a good combo if you like farming ITFs.

 

6 minutes ago, One IV All said:

Claws/Rad Armor: My first Scrapper on live was a Claw/Regen. This would kind of be the 2.0 I feel. Rad seems to have a lot of tricks and is pretty layered.

 

 

This combo is stupid strong. I ran this on a hover scrap and loved leveling it. Can't recommend enough, play wise.  But I could only take so much of the rad particle effects. Just my hangup. 

 

12 minutes ago, One IV All said:

mostly because Beta Decay provides a -tohit, which I think goes well with Dark Melee and it's -tohit. Just an extra layer of defense.

 

Nah. Go with the claws/rad. Rad's absorb is so good it makes the self heal from Dark superfluous.  And the -hit isn't as impactful as you might think. Better to just Spin to Win.

 

14 minutes ago, One IV All said:

I also think Kinetic Melee looks pretty sweet, but it seems like it's an under performer? 

 

It has some attacks with unfortunate cast times, and the rest of the set isn't carried by other powers or effects to make it worthwhile. It's not gonna rule anything, but if you like the look then worth a try. After all, Superheroes are all about Looking Cool.

[One IV All]

6 minutes ago, twozerofoxtrot said:

 

Yeah, this is good. End Hungry, I think. Otherwise perfect. 

 

 

Psi is heavily resisted by anything mechanical: council bots, nem bots, etc. There are some foes who are weak to it, but IIRC it's sort of feast-or-famine.  Will say this is a good combo if you like farming ITFs.

 

 

This combo is stupid strong. I ran this on a hover scrap and loved leveling it. Can't recommend enough, play wise.  But I could only take so much of the rad particle effects. Just my hangup. 

 

 

Nah. Go with the claws/rad. Rad's absorb is so good it makes the self heal from Dark superfluous.  And the -hit isn't as impactful as you might think. Better to just Spin to Win.

 

 

It has some attacks with unfortunate cast times, and the rest of the set isn't carried by other powers or effects to make it worthwhile. It's not gonna rule anything, but if you like the look then worth a try. After all, Superheroes are all about Looking Cool.

Thanks for the info, and for narrowing down my Rad Armor choices. That makes sense. Couple follow ups:

- Between Dark/Shield and Claws/Rad, would you lean one way or another?

- I can see what you mean about the cast times for KM. I wonder if they'll lower those in the future. The first 3 attacks seem quick though.
- Someone on Reddit mentioned Street Justice. Do you have any experience with that set?

[StriderIV]

Honestly, all the combos you posted are great. Dark/Shield or Claws/Rad might be the way to go if you want to min/max.

 

Concept is also important. Two of my favorite Scrappers are a Psi/Shield and a Kinetic Melee/Ice Armor, since I love their concept/background stories I came up with for them.

[twozerofoxtrot]

1 minute ago, One IV All said:

Between Dark/Shield and Claws/Rad, would you lean one way or another?

 

Yes, but, I'm biased. I took the Claws/Rad from 1-50T4 and I've only ever done paperwork or seen others play DM/SD.  But it was really fun. Meltdown is like a mini-Rage, and paired with stacked Follow Up you get some silly damage. Also so much AoE potential. Great for clearing while having solid ST.

 

5 minutes ago, One IV All said:

The first 3 attacks seem quick though.

 

Yeah, they are. But they don't carry the set. Nothing does really. No idea if the set's gonna change but you're looking at a good 6 months before it feasibly might, based on previous patch schedules. Not worth waiting.

 

7 minutes ago, One IV All said:

Someone on Reddit mentioned Street Justice. Do you have any experience with that set?

 

Yes. It's bark is worse than it's bite. Hot take but I think people get excited by the visceral display and conflate that with damage. Crushing Uppercut can be a proc cannon but so can a lot of other high teir attacks. Also I'm not a big proponent of builder-spender mechanics in MMOs cause outside of solo play you're apt to lose your optimal spend window to overkill from teammates. My two cents for what that's worth.

 

[One IV All]

1 minute ago, twozerofoxtrot said:

 

Yes, but, I'm biased. I took the Claws/Rad from 1-50T4 and I've only ever done paperwork or seen others play DM/SD.  But it was really fun. Meltdown is like a mini-Rage, and paired with stacked Follow Up you get some silly damage. Also so much AoE potential. Great for clearing while having solid ST.

 

 

Yeah, they are. But they don't carry the set. Nothing does really. No idea if the set's gonna change but you're looking at a good 6 months before it feasibly might, based on previous patch schedules. Not worth waiting.

 

 

Yes. It's bark is worse than it's bite. Hot take but I think people get excited by the visceral display and conflate that with damage. Crushing Uppercut can be a proc cannon but so can a lot of other high teir attacks. Also I'm not a big proponent of builder-spender mechanics in MMOs cause outside of solo play you're apt to lose your optimal spend window to overkill from teammates. My two cents for what that's worth.

 

This was all super helpful and you gave me a lot to think about, I appreciate you taking the time Fox! 

[BrandX]

As someone who mains a Kinetic/Electric Armor Scrapper, but has rolled a Kinetic/Bio Scrapper, I have to say, Kinetic is not an underperformer.  The Kinetic/Bio of mine got a 100 second pylon time and another poster was getting 95 seconds.

 

This isn't to say it doesn't need some tweaks (Concentrated Strike needs trimmed from 3.036 seconds to 2.772 seconds at least, wouldn't hurt to something besides reset Power Siphon on crit too...that may be enough, but I'd personally also love to see Focused Burst animation time taken from 2.244 to 1.584 - 1.848 cause I want to use it regularly) to make it more enjoyable for more.

 

 

[Nemu]

Kinetic melee is great for a ranged scrapper too!

 

 

Unlike the other phony builds posted here that claim that they can "do it all," This one really can!

 

It can pew pew and pam pam, and also run away! That last one is literally impossible for the majority of scrappers and guess what? I got you covered fam.

[nihilii]

I love Kinetic to death but I think it's firmly an underperformer.

 

"Underperform" is a relative term however. If you're with a bunch of people where the norm is jumping 10 feet high and you jump 9 feet high, you're going to be an underperformer within that group, but you'd still look positively superhuman to most of the world.

 

That's roughly how it goes with Scrappers. The "underperforming" powersets can still solo level 54 archvillains when push comes to shove.

 

Shield is a kickass secondary to Rule Them All. There's great comfort in having softcapped positional defenses with high DDR, *and* resistances, *and* maxHP on top. All of it passive also gives you so much freedom with your actions. Throw in the aggro aura for good measure.

 

Only thing it's missing is a heal. Dark Melee is obviously great for that. Could also plug the hole with Rebirth Incarnate, as Shield has literally no other hole.

I think you could be happy with either Dark/Shield or Kinetic/Shield.

[One IV All]

2 hours ago, BrandX said:

As someone who mains a Kinetic/Electric Armor Scrapper, but has rolled a Kinetic/Bio Scrapper, I have to say, Kinetic is not an underperformer.  The Kinetic/Bio of mine got a 100 second pylon time and another poster was getting 95 seconds.

 

This isn't to say it doesn't need some tweaks (Concentrated Strike needs trimmed from 3.036 seconds to 2.772 seconds at least, wouldn't hurt to something besides reset Power Siphon on crit too...that may be enough, but I'd personally also love to see Focused Burst animation time taken from 2.244 to 1.584 - 1.848 cause I want to use it regularly) to make it more enjoyable for more.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, nihilii said:

I love Kinetic to death but I think it's firmly an underperformer.

 

"Underperform" is a relative term however. If you're with a bunch of people where the norm is jumping 10 feet high and you jump 9 feet high, you're going to be an underperformer within that group, but you'd still look positively superhuman to most of the world.

 

That's roughly how it goes with Scrappers. The "underperforming" powersets can still solo level 54 archvillains when push comes to shove.

 

Shield is a kickass secondary to Rule Them All. There's great comfort in having softcapped positional defenses with high DDR, *and* resistances, *and* maxHP on top. All of it passive also gives you so much freedom with your actions. Throw in the aggro aura for good measure.

 

Only thing it's missing is a heal. Dark Melee is obviously great for that. Could also plug the hole with Rebirth Incarnate, as Shield has literally no other hole.

I think you could be happy with either Dark/Shield or Kinetic/Shield.

Someone on reddit was actually saying Kinetic is one of the better performers on TANKERS, since it can leverage procs/FF. What are your guys thoughts on that? @BrandX Electric Armor mixed with Kinetic is a cool concept.

[nihilii]

I'm not sure I agree with that Tanker assessment. Personally, I feel the problems with Kinetic come down to lengthy animation times compared to actual effect/damage. Which unfortunately prevents the set from being a top dog on any AT.

 

i.e., Concentrated Strike is your standard Total Focus-like attack, but activates the slowest out of all similar powers at 3s.

Power Siphon being a 2s cast is also such a drag. Not only you have to ramp up your damage, you have to spend 2s doing no damage in order to start that ramp up.

 

The flipside to this, in my opinion, Kinetic Melee feels awesome during the leveling phase. You're not bound by animation times yet before recharge becomes optimal. You get 3 fast attacks, and the Power Siphon +tohit and damage buffs is actually excellent given that you have less tohit and damage at those levels.

 

[twozerofoxtrot]

7 hours ago, nihilii said:

Only thing it's missing is a heal. Dark Melee is obviously great for that. Could also plug the hole with Rebirth Incarnate, as Shield has literally no other hole.

 

This comment really had me thinking. 

 

DM/SD is about plugging the holes in two good sets. DM gives SD a heal, SD gives DM more damage and AoE.

 

Claws/Rad on the other hand, is just combining two wildly strong sets with no real discernable weakness in the current state of play.

 

...

 

Not really arguing strongly for the latter. Just something that came to mind when we look at the rationale for selection. 

[StriderIV]

31 minutes ago, twozerofoxtrot said:

 

This comment really had me thinking. 

 

DM/SD is about plugging the holes in two good sets. DM gives SD a heal, SD gives DM more damage and AoE.

 

Claws/Rad on the other hand, is just combining two wildly strong sets with no real discernable weakness in the current state of play.

 

...

 

Not really arguing strongly for the latter. Just something that came to mind when we look at the rationale for selection. 

I definitely agree with this assessment.

[MoonSheep]

On 12/21/2022 at 6:50 AM, One IV All said:

Psi Melee/Shield: Shield Charge and Mass Levitate seem like they'd be *chefs kiss*. No heal here, but Psi is a less resisted dmg type, right?

 

i’ve been playing this as a stalker - it’s a great combo with the addition of AS. if you’re not too fussed about ultimate survivability i’d highly recommend it

 

also consider ice melee/shield for the scrapper, it doesn’t have a strong ‘whacking’ feel (oioi) but is quite effective

[Murcielago]

I'm partial to DM/Shield.

[StriderIV]

2 hours ago, Murcielago said:

I'm partial to DM/Shield.

You have an updated version of your DM/Shield? Do you take Touch of Fear?

[Murcielago]

On 12/26/2022 at 11:05 AM, StriderIV said:

You have an updated version of your DM/Shield? Do you take Touch of Fear?

Nothing recent, its been over a year since I've updated.

 

https://www.midsreborn.com/builds/download.php?uc=1663&c=728&a=1456&f=HEX&dc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

[Thrax]

Claws/rad is super fun. 

[Murcielago]

On 2/4/2023 at 4:35 PM, Thrax said:

Claws/rad is super fun. 

Would you say its rad?

[StriderIV]

On 2/4/2023 at 9:48 AM, Murcielago said:

Nothing recent, its been over a year since I've updated.

 

https://www.midsreborn.com/builds/download.php?uc=1663&c=728&a=1456&f=HEX&dc=78DA6594594F1A5114C7EFC050CB322C022A8A451015410768FBD22D69526AE2426342DAB74647B80A71026480543F49BF40D7CFD0C73E34E9FA35FAA2D2366DBA4F8F73CE2D639884FCE6FCEF39F72C772EE583926F7777E52693FCB774ADD3D9AA540DADDDE6C6C81DADDB33349DC1E329F78C6A83EBDA5E6B04CC98F0D92A739D73B5A419FBF89AF8BF52E2BBBCD9E16AA50E71356186569B756EF06657152FBECD564B5737B8D66E34F702C2A871A3536FB43D965D69735E53ACD795C65EBD0B8EB1DBED4655AD74357D1F72555A3D7DABAC75BADC389C80FA0AF0334E0BC5C794D9BC83B1A29B3932C445A49C25E6901E05DC250C72B2A06489E7C2C408F27C14E9056749384B2B4E5C5C457AD688EB481F383BC95976E6510C5E448ECE10E3C8481239063DB828C8E1A2722254C61895D10327EAD5748D6C335CD4901355620D39C98969A40265B9290373E7500CC1765E125DDE63AC257E42EC232F7C227E267E41CE42B0227654DC346F100354230B4C629A07208670DCA61CFA859E33BF897F90C9BF4413E98782E13CAC20164EE24E0110A3226794E6E284EDC7C5F18CD3C4678BC41FC4AF48199C63E2786234E9F428913E80344D7E9E328421684A4C7EEA111638FF98F804B9F094F88CF81C7900C1D3D4886BFA359631F306B9F896F88EF81E99FD803C84E084C89CD896715123EE2097AAC41A91234330AD94B819A92B58CEF255E235E275A47A03F91112CF89A0B9255A5C46E655629E58407EF7319611C79EA1AF2B08E973E2B07234CA1434A492A7A492678138AAE095B6220AA7673AED66097970BFCDB8CD608CBEAF0D7970994F9D4C936DCA420149B2A423CFE016336919438FCF8819144F6CA22CDDC3C27DABC005E01AD27F842794BC8BEB7D5B9043EAE309F8BF21830F714EEBD94183A63B08FF14C2289C69CC2A383B2C1587A5CBC3D2A561E9E718E4A7EACC5CC466BC0ADB8CC5A8CD7891B2199BD05E51147BDF6E687663C76EBC846E1561FC03A317FEC0

Any way you could copy and paste the build out? Sorry, Mids isn’t jiving with my Mac.

[drgantz]

I'm surprised that no one mentioned Katana.  I've heard that it is awesome.  I think that Kat/EA would make a great combo.

[Rokkeb]

Claws is good from lvl 1 to 50+. And rad is real good on a scrapper too. 

 

It's hard to beat a good claws scrappers for a fun do it all character IMO. And what's the best 2ndary to go with it? Whatever one you want! It goes with them all (cept shield obv)

[Blammo]

52 minutes ago, Rokkeb said:

Claws is good from lvl 1 to 50+. And rad is real good on a scrapper too. 

 

It's hard to beat a good claws scrappers for a fun do it all character IMO. And what's the best 2ndary to go with it? Whatever one you want! It goes with them all (cept shield obv)

To date my hardiest scrapper is claws/rad -  and great for farms too.  I've had a couple of brutes that flesh out real nice once Incarnates fill up, but, not as smooth or amazing as my claws/rad scrapper. Bananas  🙂

[ninja surprise]

On 12/21/2022 at 12:25 AM, StriderIV said:

Concept is also important. Two of my favorite Scrappers are a Psi/Shield and a Kinetic Melee/Ice Armor, since I love their concept/background stories I came up with for them.

 

Concept is the most important.  Sure there are a ton of powerful Scrapper power combos, but if I don't have my own concept and costume, I get bored super fast playing someone else's Scrapper.

With IOs, power pools, and P2W buffs or Accolades, pretty much any combo can "do it all". 

 

Psi Melee will do fine. Even the things that resist it, you just pretend like you're a Tank and hit it 2 or three times instead of just once. What kills Psi for me is Mass Levitate throwing everything willy nilly and then I have to chase my targets again. It was a lot of fun until I got burned out though.

 

My own favorite Scrappers are DM/SR (because my costume looks dumb with any of the shields), Dual Blades/SR, Fiery/Shield, and Savage/Bio. Oh, and my new primary is an Axe/Bio that's a total hoot.  Axe's new Whirlwind attack sucks in all the baddies so they're easier to hit with the other AoEs and Bio's self-buffs. Good times.

 

OP - just spend a few minutes in the costume creator and your One Scrapper will eventually appear.

 

Edited February 8, 2023 by ninja surprise

[StriderIV]

17 hours ago, ninja surprise said:

 

Concept is the most important.  Sure there are a ton of powerful Scrapper power combos, but if I don't have my own concept and costume, I get bored super fast playing someone else's Scrapper.

With IOs, power pools, and P2W buffs or Accolades, pretty much any combo can "do it all". 

 

Psi Melee will do fine. Even the things that resist it, you just pretend like you're a Tank and hit it 2 or three times instead of just once. What kills Psi for me is Mass Levitate throwing everything willy nilly and then I have to chase my targets again. It was a lot of fun until I got burned out though.

 

My own favorite Scrappers are DM/SR (because my costume looks dumb with any of the shields), Dual Blades/SR, Fiery/Shield, and Savage/Bio. Oh, and my new primary is an Axe/Bio that's a total hoot.  Axe's new Whirlwind attack sucks in all the baddies so they're easier to hit with the other AoEs and Bio's self-buffs. Good times.

 

OP - just spend a few minutes in the costume creator and your One Scrapper will eventually appear.

 

I LOVE this. My KM/Ice Stalker, Cryo Strider, is a Cryomancer/Sub-Zero with everything colored blue-white.

 

My Psi/Shield Scrapper Aegis-Blade is an energy warrior with the energy shield and all the energy blade attacks (why Psi fits for the concept). The fact that I’m interested in the background of their powers is what makes them so fun to me.

 

I do get it and I’m guilty of wanting an “UBER” strong hero myself. After this time though, I found it just as fun to take some lesser used combos and make them as Uber as you can. It’s also cool that you don’t really see too many other heroes with your set up haha.