Spines/Bio-armor a good pairing?

[ApistoNate]

Just wanted to pick some brains on what everyone thinks about spines and bi armor as a pair. What are strengths and weaknesses you see? Can you see it being good? Bad? Primarily for PvE or would it be better for PvP. Idk you tell me!

[arcane]

It will be fine for PvE though you will want an APP/PPP snipe to pad your otherwise subpar single target damage.

[Thraxen]

I love it. It was a bitch to level. But one 50’d and blinged out it’s awesome. In my top 3 favorite scrappers. I only have 10-12 but still. 

[tidge]

I have a Spines/Bio Stalker, but not as a Scrapper. The /Bio Secondary makes the Stalker into a very effective PBAoE murder machine. The subtle differences between those two AT in the Primary give me a little bit of pause, mostly because the Scrapper won't have an Assassin's Strike, so as @arcane wrote the single-target damage may be lackluster for the leveling experience.

 

A recollection of my Stalker leveling experience is that I wasn't impressed with Spine Burst. My final build has it delayed until level 12 and slotted with 5xArmageddon. I think it was that I found the animation to be a little clumsy.

[Demobot]

I have a Spines/Bio/Mu Brute that's level 50, fully kitted out, and one of my favorite characters. 

 

Bio Armor is a fantastic set, and I wouldn't skip any powers in it. Definitely read each power description carefully to understand which power does what with each Adaptation. You'll probably wind up using Offensive Adaptation the most, but Defensive and Efficient have their uses. 

 

Spines brings a lot of AoE to the table but suffers from longer animations and a lack of good ST attacks. However, once you're running two damage auras enemies will just start melting. Elite Bosses will be a pain while leveling up, though. 

[LongHalloween]

I can attest as someone whose main is Spines/Bio and came to this thread 2 months ago with the exact same questions/cocnerns: Spines and Bio work great together as a pair. It won't really comes together until ~30-40, but once you get your hands on parasitic aura and DNA siphon you'll be having a lot of fun in missions and your endurance issues will be (somewhat) negated. I'd take energy/body mastery for physical perfection though.

[aethereal]

You absolutely shouldn't need physical perfection on a /Bio character.  The big thing to understand about Bio is the timing of DNA Siphon.

 

DNA Siphon gives healing and Endurance for every live enemy it hits, but it instead gives regeneration and recovery for every dead enemy it hits.  The regen/recovery are more valuable albeit less immediate, and in most cases you want to get a good mix of alive and dead opponents.  Use Parasitic Aura or Ablative Carapace as you hit the spawn, burst out your AoEs and kill most of the minions.  Then use DNA Siphon midway through the fight and you'll see your recovery skyrocket and be in great endurance shape to finish the Lts/Bosses and lather/rinse/repeat with the next spawn.

Edited June 11 by aethereal
Typo

[Thraxen]

I have physical perfection on mine. Great place to put another power transfer heal proc too. I personally don’t like using the heal to fill up end. If you forget the toggles all drop and it’s a pain.  I like not having to worry about end. Personal preference though. 

[kelika2]

its ok but im going to warn you that the auras do not proc offensive stance

[roleki]

Not only does Spines/Bio work well together, it wouldn't be out of place in a discussion of what's the most effective Scrapper combo.  As others have said, it's a bit lackluster before you get DNA Siphon and Parasitic Aura, but after that it's just a perpetual murderball, probably one of my favorite scrappers to run, simply because dropping the Critical Strikes set in Ripper pretty much guarantees that Quills and Genetic Contamination will kill minions and lieutenants without my having to target them specifically unless my ToHit is debuffed or some craziness.