Battle Axe Secondary Suggestion

[Shadowstorm06]

I've been reading a lot about Battle Axe, and it seems really good. I want to give it a run on a Scrapper. I'm a little torn on s

[SeraphimKensai]

I have it on a scrapper paired with Energy Aura, it works well.

 

Regarding SD or Bio either could work well, but your initial question doesn't have much criteria for people to choose. We don't know what you plan on doing with it and at what difficulty, we also don't know your budget for the toon like are you IOing it with set IOs or just running SOs?

[Shadowstorm06]

3 minutes ago, SeraphimKensai said:

I have it on a scrapper paired with Energy Aura, it works well.

 

Regarding SD or Bio either could work well, but your initial question doesn't have much criteria for people to choose. We don't know what you plan on doing with it and at what difficulty, we also don't know your budget for the toon like are you IOing it with set IOs or just running SOs?

Great questions. I'd be looking to IO the hero out. I primarily plan on teaming and love to push the difficulty.

[Ringo]

Ninjitsu for Crit from Stealth

[biostem]

7 minutes ago, Ringo said:

Ninjitsu for Crit from Stealth

This is actually a fun combo.  I rolled a war mace/ninjitsu scrapper because I wanted a "better" stealthed mace user than Banes, (this was before the update).  Titan weapons also makes for a fun pairing with ninjitsu.

[Ringo]

Oooooh, I hadn't even considered TW/Nin

 

I like the idea of a sneak attack with a 10 foot long, 3 foot wide sword!

Edited February 29, 2024 by Ringo

[UltraAlt]

9 hours ago, Shadowstorm06 said:

I've been reading a lot about Battle Axe

 

I'm a character-concept player.

It makes more sense to me on a character conception level to pair battle axe with shield rather than bio armor.

[Duckbutler]

There's tons of options and tons of character slots so you can always tinker until you find something you like. I think some of the armor sets really take over the character concept and costume and Bio armor is one of those. I have yet to make one, despite how good everyone says it is, because I don't wanna play some sort of weird monster. I was already thinking of giving an axe/shield scrapper a go next weekend because my brutes all keep stalling in the mid levels.

 

The problem I have then is I start looking at my weapon/shield characters and I start saying, "I can do this in any other of a dozen games that I love where it's more thematically in line with the game. What can I do here that I can't do there?"

[Greldek]

axe is very end hungry, and so is shield. unless you plan on mitigating that significantly from a low lvl axe/shield will be kind of a bummer to run.

[StriderIV]

 

2 hours ago, Greldek said:

axe is very end hungry, and so is shield. unless you plan on mitigating that significantly from a low lvl axe/shield will be kind of a bummer to run.

I run a Psi/Shield Scrapper myself that I absolutely adore, but I agree that end can be an issue. It is probably even more taxing with Battle Axe.

[Thraxen]

I'm currently leveling axe/shield.  Want to avoid obliteration set as the end reduction sucks.  The end isn't that bad, just get the procs and slot stamina a bit.  Axe Cyclone to draw them close, get the plus damage boost, then shield charge is a lot of fun.  

[Duckbutler]

Up to 17 it's been a problem but a completely manageable one with some wise use of inspirations and a good team. Putting in a little cash to pick up some attuned Power Transfer IOs for Stam at 17 helped. I've got a few others in my back pocket for when they become available. I'm thinking it's only going to get better from here because even though I've still got a lot of toggles to pick up, I have zero endurance reduction slotted and I should also be grabbing conserve power and physical perfection. I think had I not paid some early attention to Endurance, I'd probably be stalled out.

[Yomo Kimyata]

Between Bio Armor and Shield Defense I am going to go with Bio Armor first and foremost simply because I like Bio Armor and I'm lukewarm on Shield.

 

Mechanically, I'd probably make the same decision.  The new and massively powerful Battle Axe set has a few things that characterize it:  pure lethal damage, at least a chance of knockDOWN in every attack except Swoop which has knockUP, attacks that have been upgraded from cones to AoEs or targeted AoEs, and the reverse repel effect of Axe Cyclone which draws enemies close to you.  Only lethal damage to me means I'm looking for other sources of damage that are not lethal; Shield has smashing damage, but that is going to be generally resisted the same as lethal, but bio has some minor toxic.  Knock* means lots of opportunities to slot a Force Feedback +recharge, which means lots of global recharge; Bio has a bunch of clicks that really benefit from recharge, while only Shield Charge really benefits from the Shield side; AoEs and the reverse repel tell me that the set will benefit from PBAoEs; again, I see this helping Bio a lot more than Shield.

 

Three factors outside of any synergies:  Bio has heals but Shield doesn't; Shield is easy to soft cap defenses while Bio isn't; Shield is endurance hungry while Bio has a couple of endurance tools available.  Two more I just thought of:  Shield has repel resistance, which is becoming more and more relevant in the end game; Bio tends to have uglier graphics.