New player - help setting up a Claws/** scrapper.

[Boadwinter]

I've been playing around with some builds, looking at ideas, but I'd love some experienced help on what to go with here as I'm kinda clueless in the end of the day.

 

I tried out a Claws/WP for a bit, but maybe it was a bit too caveman for my tastes, WP just felt like it was non-existent on my character and all I was doing was pressing two/three buttons over and over. Still, I enjoyed the claws portion quite a bit, it felt like a nicely flowing set in general, so I want to try and still go for a Claws build in some other fashion.

 

My goal is to just have a solid build that can be taken most everywhere, definitely one that is good solo though as I suspect thats where most of my playtime will come from.

 

I've been eyeing a few, but really any advice I'd happily take here. Energy Aura, Bio, Rad are the three I see come up the most. While WP was a bit too simple for my tastes, I definitely don't wanna swing the exact opposite way and end up being overly complicated. A happy middle ground ideally lol

 

So I guess, keeping in mind I'm like new new, it'll be my first character, what would you recommend pairing it with?

[Frozen Burn]

Most armor sets don't have a lot of clicks and are simple.  Generally, you don't want many as that is less time clicking your attacks.  Will Power is a very solid set and will meet your needs once you get up in levels.  

 

Bio can be very clickie and is a solid set, if you want to feel like you're "doing something."  Regen also can be very clickie and presents a unique playstyle, but WP is far better, especially for someone new to the game.  

 

Ninja has some cool utilities and Rad can be fun too.

[Without_Pause]

You rang? 😁WP is better on ATs with a larger HP pool. I still found it to be an okay set even on a Brute if you want to push the envelop in terms of soloing diff. WP will absolutely have issues with various larger mobs when debuffs starting hitting. 

 

Regen. Classic and solid as long your aren't trying to push the envelop THAT much in terms of diff setting. I soloed my way on Live back during the original diff settings(+2 IIRC), I was only using common IOs, and it worked for that. So yes, you can absolutely Wolverine your heart out on Claws/regen on the cheap and be fine. 

 

I lean Def based sets these day and more so for Scrappers.

 

- SR. Fantastic You can set the mezz click toggle to auto, but that might also be a bit boring for you. End heavier and blooms later but really blooms when it does.

- Nin. My only experience with this is in the 20s, so I haven't kicked the tires quite enough. I know someone said it is one of the easiest sets to level, and so far that seems to pan out. I can't say anything on end game playing though. 

- Cold. I'm currently in the low 30s(31?) so I am still forming an opinion on it. It's currently pretty good, but you need the T9 power.

- Stone. I know people talk about the lack of a taunt aura, but Stone is just so so good. It is just a bit quirky for Scrappers. I would do this as a Brute if I could ever get the character to look right, and you know, it was an actual option.

- EA. I now have four level 50 EAs across each of the ATs which have it. So yeah. It's pretty fantastic as long as you don't go pumping the diff setting too much on a mission with a large amount of Psy in it which thankfully is rare. Also, I have my build on the forums.

 

Do note, I would convert one of the slots in Energy Drain to a LotG: Def and remove one slot to add another LotG: Def to Maneuvers or Energy Clock. This would give you 20% more Regen versus a bit more Max End, which is less an issue since you have Energy Drain to refill your End anyway.

 

The current state of my build is that I have everything but Lore at T4. I default to +3/x8 for solo. Very few maps make me lower it. I could do +4, but I don't for the sake of speed. When I find the time, I will look into trying out Barrier as an Incarnate option.

 

 

Edited October 6, 2023 by Without_Pause

[InvaderStych]

19 hours ago, Boadwinter said:

So I guess, keeping in mind I'm like new new, it'll be my first character, what would you recommend pairing it with?

 

First: Listen to @Without_Pause when it comes to all things Claws. They've been one of the experts on that set for as long as I can recall.

 

Next: /Willpower is a great set for a beginner on any Melee AT: It is "Fire and Forget" for defense which allows you to focus on learning other aspects of game play. I ran a Savage/WP Brute for my first run to 50 back when I discovered HC's existence in early 2020. Not a toon I've played much after that run, but it was worth doing to re-acquaint myself with the game since I hadn't played since before the last days of Retail. Despite the toggle-heavy nature it has decent tools for helping manage the Blue Bar (Endurance). Also, the comprehensive mez protection toggle eases the ride the first time through, one can worry about that complication with their next toon(s).

 

Opinion: /Rad armor is an excellent choice for a Scrapper. Once you get into ramping up the difficulty settings while solo (assuming that's a thing you plan to do) it will want some amount of knowledgeable slotting and well-timed use of Particle Shielding, Radiation Therapy, Ground Zero, and Meltdown. It also benefits greatly from Shadow Meld from the Patron Pools. Something the think about for later toons, or if you're inclined to dive right on in to additional complexity.

 

Meta: If you care about such things, /Bio is basically the go-to "meta" for increasing damage in the armor set. /Energy is the one for maximum durability in Scrapper-Land, but knowledgeable slotting and some investment of Fake Money Units are required for going Full-Meta with anything, including these two.

 

The Good News: This game is profoundly easy once you get the hang of a few basics, and ramping up difficulty settings is pretty much standard practice. Doubly so for melee ATs. "Meta" doesn't matter unless you want it to, and Fake Money Units fall like rain on the island of Kauai.

 

Finally: Welcome Home.

 

Post-Script: Join the Church of the Almighty *BAMF!* by checking out Combat Teleport and a couple simple key-binds. 🤩

 

 

Edited October 6, 2023 by InvaderStych
Because Combat Teleport is Awesome

[SomeGuy]

You're going to have a hard time finding a better combo that you want outside of Claws/EA for a scrapper.

 

Stone is stupidly good damage (it's just as good as Bio) and survivability (wayyyyy better then Bio). If you team a lot with members that can lock mobs down, or they have a good taunt aura, you will be hard pressed not to love this armor.

Visually, you can't get rid of ALL the Stone stuff. This matters, a lot to some folks (me). Also, Stone doesn't have a taunt aura. Yes, this is a deal breaker for some, but not all.

 

Basically, you can't go wrong with any pairing since Claws is just...amazing. Do note, the set does NOT have a lot of front-loaded damage.

 

I've done Claws with Regen (eww, gross), Bio, Electric, Stone, Rad, and EA. The only one of those I abandoned was the */regen. And that was my first 50.

 

Trying to comprehend better what you are saying...it seems like Rad or Bio would be up your alley. EA, when set up REALLY well, can be pretty hands off. Bio and Rad can both be clicky enough to remind you that the secondary is there. 😛 Rad is definitely the more survivable of the two, and it also does give a boost to damage via Meltdown. 

[Thraxen]

SR. It isn’t end heavy. Anyone who that says it is end heavy is wrong.  It is not. There is no argument. It is just not end heavy. 

I have a claws/rad that is fully done. It is fun. 
 

I just hit 50 and IO’d out a claws/sr. It isn’t fully incarnated yet. It is a weirder theme build but I like it much more than the /rad. They are different toons though for sure. 
 

[biostem]

2 minutes ago, Thraxen said:

SR. It isn’t end heavy. Anyone who that says it is end heavy is wrong.  It is not. There is no argument. It is just not end heavy. 

I've noticed a trend that a) some folks think any set that lacks a dedicated +end/+recovery power is "end heavy" and b) many folks don't look at each set in isolation;  The want to run their leadership toggles, tough, weave, and maybe even focused accuracy or other particularly expensive toggles.

[Without_Pause]

5 minutes ago, Thraxen said:

SR. It isn’t end heavy. Anyone who that says it is end heavy is wrong.  It is not. There is no argument. It is just not end heavy. 

Isn't Cardiac a bit of a default pick for an Incarnate for an SR?

[Thraxen]

No. I never do. Ever. If it’s a scrap it’s always musculature. It’s three toggles. There is nothing end heavy about it. 

[Boadwinter]

I've been giving a Claws/EA scrap a go for the last while and honestly really enjoying its vibe (helps that I felt it worked well for the character too tbh), so I think I'll stick with it for a bit and feel it out - seems fairly well liked on here! I think a big reason I didn't mesh with WP was just it didn't vibe well with my character I had in my mind.

 

Appreciate all the advice ya'll gave, big big help overall. Good to know claws is solid on the whole as well - I swear I wasn't just ripping off Wolverine for style points or anything 😄

[SwitchFade]

@Bill Z Bubba has insight on Claws, if he's around and would like to chime in.

 

[BrandX]

For a Scrapper...

 

Claws/Stone Scrapper

 

Why?  Because Tanks and Brutes can't do this combo.  Scrappers can!  Also, it can become quite sturdy and when it does start to fail, GEODE!

 

 

[Doomguide2005]

21 hours ago, SwitchFade said:

@Bill Z Bubba has insight on Claws, if he's around and would like to chime in.

 

      He's the first name to come to mind especially when paired with SR.  And I've talked about what seems to be widespread belief SR is endurance heavy in other threads, which is utter rubbish.  I'm in total agreement with @Thraxen and also think @biostem gives us a solid reason why the belief lingers on.  And yes I also use Musculature (which also can help endurance modification (Radial Paragon) and hence recovery fyi).  My prime Destiny choices would be Rebirth for a self heal and Barrier.  And I'd say I use Rebirth as often to help teammates recover health after a big hit (exploding ITF crystals or after a whole bunch of the Council Mechs wake during the 3rd mission and decide they need to destroy a support character or two) as for my own benefit.  My Judgment is Void both for the damage debuff and alternate damage type dealt by the nuke.  I've never tried or particularly thought about using Cardiac for either Resistance or Endurance.  By the time Cardiac comes into play any endurance issues are long gone and the Resistance is only going to help powers that can slot damage resistance IOs or sets.  Won't help your scaling resistances, for example.  As an Incarnate it takes facing a stupid amount of endurance drainers to make her end bar drop significantly, I'm probably in overkill territory for most content.  And I'll stop rambling on.

[Gobbledigook]

If you are new then my suggestion would be EA or SR.

 

SR is not endurance heavy. It has 3 low endurance toggles and the rest are auto powers except for Practiced Brawler that only needs to be clicked once in a while.

Slot all attacks with endurance reduction as these will be the main endurance burners.

Take or leave elude, your choice. you won't need it much if at all. 

SR is good even with just SO's.

Ageless Radial Destiny will help endurance and Defense debuff resistance later and you won't need Cardiac with a decent build. Pick Muscualature Radial Alpha if you do need more +recovery. Also the P2W recovery Serum etc.

You won't get hit often and when you do, pop an inspiration or ask a friendly healer 🙂

 

 

Edited October 10, 2023 by Gobbledigook

[Doomguide2005]

On 10/10/2023 at 11:27 AM, Gobbledigook said:

 

SR is good even with just SO's.

Ageless Radial Destiny will help endurance and Defense debuff resistance later and you won't need Cardiac with a decent build. Pick Muscualature Radial Alpha if you do need more +recovery. Also the P2W recovery Serum etc.

You won't get hit often and when you do, pop an inspiration or ask a friendly healer 🙂

 

 

     Ageless should be useless on an endgame build for SR when it concerns DDR.  You should be sitting at 95% the cap maybe slightly under when Ageless is also an option (45th+).  Far more dangerous are foes with To Hit buffs and or higher accuracy. Incarnate base hit and up lvl AVs, doubly true if said AV has access to further To Hit buffs ... such as my discovering Bobcat was generating a ~60% hit chance vs my Claws/SR on one run where she decided i needed to be put down hard despite soft capped defenses and capped DDR and did so 3 times within minutes.  Looking at things I realized that unlike a typical team this one had no Tanker or Brute (or anyone else likely to get her attention via Taunt/Threat mechanics), was not size 8 and also somehow managed to have no defense buffs either.  Well that made her To Hit somewhere around 17% then add in accuracy mods, probably landing her version of Follow Up prior to Eviscerate and the rest was my face planting history.  Note to self when those circumstances pop up use inspires to get to the incarnate cap.  She'd still have a decent chance to smack me but at least it should be under 50% instead of over.

[Gobbledigook]

1 hour ago, Doomguide2005 said:

     Ageless should be useless on an endgame build for SR when it concerns DDR.  You should be sitting at 95% the cap maybe slightly under when Ageless is also an option (45th+).  Far more dangerous are foes with To Hit buffs and or higher accuracy. Incarnate base hit and up lvl AVs, doubly true if said AV has access to further To Hit buffs ... such as my discovering Bobcat was generating a ~60% hit chance vs my Claws/SR on one run where she decided i needed to be put down hard despite soft capped defenses and capped DDR and did so 3 times within minutes.  Looking at things I realized that unlike a typical team this one had no Tanker or Brute (or anyone else likely to get her attention via Taunt/Threat mechanics), was not size 8 and also somehow managed to have no defense buffs either.  Well that made her To Hit somewhere around 17% then add in accuracy mods, probably landing her version of Follow Up prior to Eviscerate and the rest was my face planting history.  Note to self when those circumstances pop up use inspires to get to the incarnate cap.  She'd still have a decent chance to smack me but at least it should be under 50% instead of over.

If you need some +recovery it could be needed (proc heavy builds etc). That is only why i mentioned it. Rather than going cardiac.

Edited October 11, 2023 by Gobbledigook

[twozerofoxtrot]

Unintelligible screeching at the thought of going anything but Musculature Alpha on a Scrapper.

[SomeGuy]

3 hours ago, twozerofoxtrot said:

Unintelligible screeching at the thought of going anything but Musculature Alpha on a Scrapper.

 

 

Right there with ya. And @Thraxen. It's....a LOT of damage people leave on the table choosing something else.

[BrandX]

11 hours ago, SomeGuy said:

 

 

Right there with ya. And @Thraxen. It's....a LOT of damage people leave on the table choosing something else.

 

But I feel the Spiritual helped my Regen survive!