Different Axe builds, but which to choose?

[The_Traveler]

the caveat here is that i havent done much solo with this combo, so YMMV.

 

I have been playing an Axe/Bio scrapper (originally had him as a rad armor figuring i could also bring a group heal to the party, but i died...alot... and it felt bad) it is surprisingly good.  with offensive adapt and evolving armor, axe hits... so hard.  you can accidently delete mobs with crits and weaken your dna siphon (use it first).   blue bar hasnt been too big an issue since low levels thanks to using dna siphon, and FFbs in axe powers helps with keeping up shielding and siphon and parasitic.  id say the weakest power is the dmg aura... but it also lowers incoming damage by 15% soooo.   

 

bottom line, they have paired surprisingly well together.  

[Sovera]

Hmm. The Fire/Rad really is a lot of damage. But god damn, I'm not used to dying once or twice per mission against COUNCIL, of all things. So much as a +2 spawn and I'm already wincing in advance.

 

So I respeced into an early Tough/Weave and it got a bit better, though still dying once in a while. They are not fully slotted but I'm not sure that 6-7% resistances will make that huge a difference.

 

On a Tanker it is not as noticeable, but on a Scrapper the Particle Shield power is not a good alpha soaker. It recharges too slowly to be up at every spawn unlike Ablative Shield. The only heal the set has is Radiation Therapy and that one depends on the number of enemies around, which, fair, slotted for heals would give 290 HP + 58 per enemy and be up every 20 seconds.

 

Procced as I have it's 183 HP + 37 and up every 23 seconds.

[Duckbutler]

10 hours ago, Sovera said:

Hmm. The Fire/Rad really is a lot of damage. But god damn, I'm not used to dying once or twice per mission against COUNCIL, of all things. So much as a +2 spawn and I'm already wincing in advance.

 

The Council revamp might have overdone it. It's hard for me to say, though, I don't know what precisely changed. I just know that all my characters I'm leveling are in that same boat.

 

On topic, I really like my axe/shield scrapper and need to play him more. Very sturdy and I haven't found reason to complain about the AoE damage. Axe cyclone pulls everything in, against all odds spikes up your damage output, then you follow up with pendulum. If anything is still alive, cleave. Most of the time there isn't much left at that point even for cleave because the real value of cyclone's AoE is keeping the pack tightly bunched while the team AoEs. That'll matter less if you're solo.

 

I have the scrapper's strike crit proc in cyclone and it's pretty great there for AoE. Sad that it's not part of the single target rotation, but at maybe 5+ targets it becomes practically guaranteed. 

[Sovera]

I think that I found the solution for Radiation Armor's squishiness, but the pacing of the build is not very welcoming to actually try it in game.

 

Basically, Katana. 'Immunity' to melee with minimal investment is a fat layer of minus incoming damage for the resistances to take over the rest of the damage. But the pacing is dire. Fly only at 30, only one ST attack until level 22 (17 exemplared). I can level taking the other ST attacks and Flashing Steel until 22, but the exemplaring will be terrible if it goes too far.

 

That said it's niggles because otherwise Rad Armor needs something and it's not heals, it's the means to not need heals. And Divine Avalanche is it. Sure, there will then be ranged damage, AoE, etc, but if we cut a third of the damage out it's what the set needs to make damage manageable. In the end the AoE combo wipes out whole packs of enemies fast but in that small interval we need to survive which is what Radiation Armor was not being very good at.

 

And DA recharges so fast it can be DA, Golden Dragonfly, DA, okay, already softcapped to melee, now DA can be relegated to filler once Soaring Dragon and Golden Dragonfly are recharging. Katana is pretty decent at ST damage even if the AoE is a bit light but Rad Armor will help with that and Katana will help Radiation Armor.

 

Also appreciated, but not a deal maker, DA animates so fast and has such a short recharge that damage procs do not do much in there (17% chance for a regular Touch of Death) which means it is a good place to place the 5th and last LotG. This places Hasten at 125 seconds and the FF proc will eliminate that gap.

 

 

 

For those not aware (because we have new players around) Divine Avalanche is a power that gives 15% defense to Melee and Lethal. This power stacks three times so DA by itself can softcap defense (45% is the sweetspot), but since I was already building towards a modicum of Melee/Smash/Lethal defense by slotting uniques, plus the ATO giving 5% S/L and 2.5% Melee, DA does not need to be used three times. Even with Combat Jumping and Weave turned off we still are at 50% Melee defense with two uses of DA which, as mentioned above, happens in the first 3 seconds of combat.

 

Even while leveling a level 10 SO or IO in DA is enough to have Melee defense at 40% with both defense uniques, (and since there is no reason to level without amplifiers this also becomes 45%) with two applications of DA which is already enough in the low levels to be immune to melee. But, even without fancy uniques of level 10 defense IO/SO a third application will still still put Melee at 45% which with DA having a native recharge of 3 seconds will happen very fast.

 

 

Now yes there will be AoE and Ranged damage, but even so some of the Ranged will be Lethal (arrows and bullets are commonly Lethal damage (someone correct me if I'm wrong)) so even some of that that ranged damage will be deflected, but, most importantly, Rad Armor is a resist armor so it can handle that. What it couldn't handle so far in my playthroughs is TOO much damage incoming.

 

Even what I said above about deflect a third of the incoming damage isn't correct since as a general rule mobs do few AoEs and most will run into melee or use melee moves if we are close to them. I might say melee is ... 50% of all damage (don't quote me) with 30% being ranged and 20% AoE. Might even be more skewed towards Ranged than AoE.

 

 

Anyways, this is a lot of theorycrafting bla bla bla. I'll boot up the build and report how it goes. For now this is the basic sketch of the build. I will play it and refine once I see how it behaves.

 

 

Since Sting of the Wasp is a hundred points more damage than DA there is something to be said about removing the slots from Weave and apply them there to solve the lack of ST attacks if exemplared. I know the regular way of playing Katana is alternating DA and Sting of the Wasp if not needing the defense since Sting does more damage, but eeeh, that's so tryharding. But it's viable and an option. Also, it allows to split Blistering Cold around and get 100% recharge resistance which is very important for resistance based armors.

 

I've talked myself into it. Took the slots from Weave since it's just a mule for another LotG (though we have enough endurance to keep it toggled on, sure, whatever) and spread them around. But Sting of the Wasp is barely worth using with just two slots being a mere 50-ish more points. Still, it's good enough for leveling/exemplaring.

 

With the changes the build now has 100% resistance to recharge debuffs and a 124 Hasten and still hardcapped to all (with Barrier) except a little bit in Fire, and the usual Rad Armor holes in Cold and Psi. There might be something said to tetris the bonuses and just reach 75% without Barrier so we can take Vigor instead, but I feel Barrier PREVENTS the damage and is good for cascading defense failures (which still hurt resistance armors) instead of trying to heal through it and once building towards having Barrier might as well account for the perma 5%.

 

Time will tell.

 

Scrapper (Katana Rad).mbd

 

 

I can cobble a leveling build if new players need it, but I will level taking Gambler's Cut instead of Sting (at the extreme low levels it's better to have fast recharging powers) and Flashing Steel at level 2 until Posi 2 is done where I will respec into the build. Until Posi 2 is done we can do with a third attack and Flashing Steel works for the job.

 

Edited March 29 by Sovera

[twozerofoxtrot]

19 minutes ago, Sovera said:

(arrows and bullets are commonly Slash damage (someone correct me if I'm wrong))

 

Lethal Damage.

 

I've not heard Slash damaged commonly used in CoH. Maybe a carry over from another MMORPG?

[Sovera]

1 minute ago, twozerofoxtrot said:

 

Lethal Damage.

 

I've not heard Slash damaged commonly used in CoH. Maybe a carry over from another MMORPG?

 

God damnit, I keep saying Slashing when I mean Lethal. You'd think it would have sunk in already...

 

Thanks!

[Sovera]

First foray with the Katana/Rad.

 

Working pretty well. I decided to push it and went into 0x6 at level 8 to test Divine Avalanche, and, well, it worked. I did have to eat a few greens since I did not have the damage to whittle big groups at once with just Flashing Steel.

 

I wasn't aware that the 50% crit is per enemy. Later on using it in Flashing Steel had it pop up nearly per use depending on how many enemies were around. This was a game changer when Lotus opened.

 

Ended up doing Posi 1 at level 10 still at 0x6. Luminous bosses were a nightmare which doubled down by getting my recharged debuffed deep into the negatives at times from the Vhaz lieutenants. It reminds me that Clamour will ignore DA since most of her attacks are ranged or AoE, but we'll see.

 

Posi 1 went well enough regardless and I ended up not dying once, finished it in 54 minutes which was okay considering my only AoE had been Flashing Steel. Posi 2 will have both Lotus and Radiation Therapy. Lets see how it goes.

[Sovera]

I return.

 

Posi 2 went easily. I kept Flashing Steel for ST and AoE and it was very helpful. The AV was slowly whittled as expected from doing it with the equivalent of two T1s and one T2, but perfectly safe as most of its attacks were melee and I was softcapped thanks to DA. Even Earthquakes and such were not too problematic thanks to Build-up (+Gaussian) to burst down the mages. Definite endurance problems thanks to the electrifical fields and ranged electrical attacks but nothing a (very) occasional Recovery Serum did not fix.

 

Formed a group, we did Synapse. Easy, same strategy of alternating BU and RT since everything goes faster in a group. Having an early Gamma Boost removed all previous problems of endurance I had.

 

Leveled the character to 38. Was testing it from level 28 to 34 soloing the first mission of Yin at +1x8 and seeing the minutes slowly diminish as slots were added. I was in the process of slotting Golden Dragonfly first and then Ground Zero which ended shaving about 5-6 minutes to clear up to the police station opening.

 

The survival is there though. Other than extreme cases of pulling two +2 packs at the same time Yin's TF was smooth sailing once I got into the cadence of going in, Divine Avalanche, Soaring Dragon (just as a filler while waiting for mobs to come on over), Divine Avalanche again, and then pop Build-up, Divine Avalanche (for good measure and because GZ takes so long that DA's stacks fall off) and Golden Dragonfly (to fish for the 50% proc), Lotus, Ground Zero, Radiation Therapy. At that point Golden Dragonfly and Lotus would be about recharged and I'd repeat. After that it would be mop up the few lieutenants that lucked out and the bosses.

 

Speaking of bosses I'm starting to get vietnam flashbacks from bosses healing, ressurecting, or transforming. The nausea inducing moments of seeing a crucial hit 'miss' thanks to the archaic 5% and then the boss transforms and now I need to kill it AGAIN was sapping my will to live as it repeated once or twice PER SPAWN.

 

Especially as unlike Cremate neither Soaring Dragon nor Golden Dragonfly are reliable in their KD which means I have no way to stop them from transforming despite watching it slowly happen as a trainwreck in slow motion. Very annoying mechanic, very very.

 

Council can still be tough as they are a faction that is skewed towards ranged damage and they deal Lethal that debuffs defense so I ended up dying once to them. But, a lot less than with the Fire Melee variant that was dying once or twice PER MISSION instead of once PER THE TF. But I'll see once I get to Moonfire/Citadel.

 

The single target damage is not as nice as Fire Melee thanks to Divine Avalanche being in the mix but for regular gameplay this is not a big problem since the ST comes AFTER the deluge of AoEs and most of the time I would have either a boss healing or transforming while still doing all the AoEs. Despite saying this Clamour was devoured despite having died to her and the ambush. Her debuffs are brutal and it's just too many warm bodies. Second time I inspirationed myself up and for the big ambush after she retreats it was surprisingly easy by rotating the AoEs.

 

Ended Yin's TF in 54 minutes. I'll have to try my godlike Claws/Fire Brute that did it in 40 minutes and see if it still has that time despite the new Council.

 

 

 

Verdict:  does what it says on the label. Fixes Rad Armor's squishiness and lends massive AoE to Katana. It won't help against a pylon but even a baseline Scrapper can destroy a pylon (or AV)

[Sovera]

I wonder if a Brute would work 'better'. Crits don't work on secondaries but Fury would. I don't know if there is a point though. The AoE is handled and ST is what's needed and Scrappers have the edge there.

 

Dunno. Brute version with 90 Fury would have 30 extra damage in RT and about 90 in GZ.

[Sovera]

And on that note this is the first time I entered a draw with Moonfire's AV. She hit half life at a good clip and then simply stalled with, what I presume, to be healing. But even on Tankers I always whittled her down without a second thought and this time we really just brawled face to face until I ate some reds.

 

The subject of ST doesn't seem to be, like, super hot. Katana has a decent rep but where do we see it? Pylon tests. Where two -res can be slotted.

[Sancerre]

you can run from it, but i think axe/bio is really the pinnacle of scrapper right now.  i guess more to the point -- /bio is such a strong outlier for scrapper armor sets.  axe is not necessarily the 'best' but it does a lot of things very well and the knockdowns help cover some defensive gaps in /bio in addition to facilitating force feedback recharge procs for /bio's defensive clickies.  mind you there are other strong primaries sets that are in league with axe... but axe cyclone is realllllly nice.

 

i have a feeling you are trying to find the hidden gem of scrapper like you did with tankers (fire/ma tanker really is quite amazing)... and for that effort -- carry on... i appreciate your findings all the same.

[StriderIV]

Calling @InvaderStych to discuss Kat/Rad with Sov 😂 I know it’s one of your main combos, right up there with Psi/Shield.

[InvaderStych]

6 hours ago, StriderIV said:

Calling @InvaderStych to discuss Kat/Rad with Sov 😂 I know it’s one of your main combos, right up there with Psi/Shield.

 

Oh, Hai!

 

Not sure I'm qualified to be giving @Sovera advice on builds or game-play. Sounds like they've got a handle on all things Kat/Rad from my brief read of the run-down.

 

Well played on 2-slotting the Winters into Boxing and Brawl, not something I'd think to do, and recharge resistance is a must-have on pretty much everything, imo.

 

Played this combo with and w/o GZ, never decided which I liked better. Lotus recharges fast enough to be reliable, and GZ's activation time felt like a big pause button compared to the rest of the attacks. That said, the Proccy-Goodness that is GZ is almost too good to give up. If I ever get around to a Page 7 build on this toon I'm not sure which direction I would go.

 

Only things I'd mention:

 

RT doesn't really need EndRdx, maybe swap out that Doctored Wounds piece for a Nictus Heal/Recharge piece and take the +hp bonus for the two pieces of the set.

 

Interesting choice on going with FA/PP on the Epic pool. Another direction I rarely go. After fiddling with Blaze for a bit I decided that the next rebuild is going back to Shadow Meld. Just too good to have that massive defense button on top of all that resistance.

 

Consider Meltdown. The so-called-crash is irrelevant, and the +41.25% damage buff is the real gem in that power. Running that, Hybrid (Assault Core, T4), decent +dam from sets, and a lucky roll on BU+Gaussian's puts the toon within a red candy of capping their own +damage bonus.

 

There's a relatively new Flight set with a Fly Protection Unique. It is good enough for most instances, but serious-business Web Nades can eventually cut through it. Worth considering for anyone who's joined the Church of Hover Melee.

 

Going to assume the preponderance of Perf Shifters and lack of Power Transfers is due to needing to maintain FA.

 

Overall, probably a more robust build than my own. I sort of fall into a pattern with builds and rarely come up with new slotting ideas, lol.

[Sovera]

8 minutes ago, InvaderStych said:

RT doesn't really need EndRdx, maybe swap out that Doctored Wounds piece for a Nictus Heal/Recharge piece and take the +hp bonus for the two pieces of the set.

 

Interesting choice on going with FA/PP on the Epic pool. Another direction I rarely go. After fiddling with Blaze for a bit I decided that the next rebuild is going back to Shadow Meld. Just too good to have that massive defense button on top of all that resistance.

 

Consider Meltdown. The so-called-crash is irrelevant, and the +41.25% damage buff is the real gem in that power. Running that, Hybrid (Assault Core, T4), decent +dam from sets, and a lucky roll on BU+Gaussian's puts the toon within a red candy of capping their own +damage bonus.

 

There's a relatively new Flight set with a Fly Protection Unique. It is good enough for most instances, but serious-business Web Nades can eventually cut through it. Worth considering for anyone who's joined the Church of Hover Melee.

 

Going to assume the preponderance of Perf Shifters and lack of Power Transfers is due to needing to maintain FA.

 

Overall, probably a more robust build than my own. I sort of fall into a pattern with builds and rarely come up with new slotting ideas, lol.

 

 

The end reduction is a compromise. Simply damage/recharge (or heal/recharge) cuts a slice of damage from RT by lowering the proc chance of activation. With the IO being a triple instead of a double the proc chance is only slightly hit (87%) while still having a little bit of recharge thrown in. Partly because there is a lack of a 6th damage proc, but I feel that an Overwhelming Force proc would fit the bill and maybe help more.

 

 

I'm pretty much the same in regards of being locked into patterns. FA is always there because I loathe being tohit debuffed, Performance Shifters proc galore because FA WAS expensive as heck and it hasn't really settled in my mind it no longer is (not that Rad Armor cares). But I also don't feel like the Power Transfers really do much, though ultimately they will do more than the Perf procs.

 

Alternating Meltdown with Hybrid would have one minute downtime of always running around with a damage boost of some sort, something to consider since it only asks for one slot.

 

But right now there's a new league in PoE and I'm pew pewing there and slowburning here.

[Sancerre]

On 3/29/2024 at 6:26 PM, Sovera said:

And on that note this is the first time I entered a draw with Moonfire's AV. She hit half life at a good clip and then simply stalled with, what I presume, to be healing. But even on Tankers I always whittled her down without a second thought and this time we really just brawled face to face until I ate some reds.

 

The subject of ST doesn't seem to be, like, super hot. Katana has a decent rep but where do we see it? Pylon tests. Where two -res can be slotted.

 

forgot to touch on the damage portion.  the crit strikes proc is a BIG BIG portion of scrapper.  i would say, alongside stalker, the class proc really warps how strong the class feels with and without it.  Very counter to tanker or brute where you just kinda set them in a power and let them work passively.  scrapper and stalker really need to lean into their procs to feel strong.  Getting the level 50 version with increased proc rate is massive (double chance)... as well as picking the 'correct power' and limiting recharge reduction slotting in that power as much as possible -- so that it procs as consistently as possible.  scrapper is very much about playing the lotto with the crit strikes proc.  beyond the crit strikes proc, franken-slotting towards damage procs is otherwise the big way to push the damage even higher... usually at the cost of defense along the way.

 

aside from that zapp and ball lightning are often hallmarks for scrapper, especially combo-ing the crit strikes proc with ball lightning.  i know you are a big fan of focused accuracy but it really is a lot to give up on scrapper to not have ball lightning (or fireball if you opt for blaze instead).  a crit ball lightning ends up a feeling a lot like a corruptor t9 nuke (not quite blaster level).

 

ground zero was a big letdown on scrapper when i tried it out because it cannot crit... and takes so damn long to cast on top of it.  that said -- i think it is 'fine' if you leverage ground zero as proc bomb towards utility instead because they are mostly guaranteed to proc on everything.  both achilles heel and fury of the gladiator -res procs.  also a good spot for avalanche knockdown proc to have the CC utility.