Power set pairings that are optimal on a Scrapper?

[BuiltDifferent5]

I.E. Sets think think work better on a Scrapper compared to any other AT?

 

I’m asking this because, in my experience so far, it just seems that many/most combos just seem to work better on a Tanker with their larger AOE’s and ability to abuse procs while being much tougher.  Not dying = being able to do more damage as well 😂

 

So, in your experience, are there any combos that just SHINE the most on Scrappers? For example, Elec Melee/Shield defense is KNOWN to really be great on Stalkers. Pretty much any of the resist sets are going to be better on Brutes/Tankers.

 

Some combos that stuck out to me:

 

Claws/Stone Armor, but mostly because you CAN’T run that combo on a Brute or Tanker 😂 another is Dual Blades/Energy Aura since the +Dmg you get with that combo/set screams Scrapper.

 

Claws/Bio and Battle Axe/Bio seem great on a Scrapper, but I’m not sure if it truly outpaces the same combo on a Tanker.

 

Maybe something with Shield Defense?

 

Anyways, I just thought it’d be fun to hear from all you heroes out there! What are some combos you’d only run/feel are optimal on a Scrapper?

[SomeGuy]

I suppose to answer this question better it matters what you value more personally. Damage or survivability?

[Uncle Shags]

You can make a claws/stone armor brute and tank.  You can't do claws/ninjitsu though (but can on stalker). 

 

I think the only fully exclusive melee combo is SS/Regen brute? I might be wrong though. 

 

Perhaps part of the answer could come from the scrapper crit ATO?  When set could best leverage it?  I know it works really well on titan weapon. 

[biostem]

I go with sets that aren't available on other ATs - like /Ninjitsu.

[BuiltDifferent5]

57 minutes ago, SomeGuy said:

I suppose to answer this question better it matters what you value more personally. Damage or survivability?

Good clarification. I guess the cop out answer is “a mix of both”? Lol

 

Looking at it, it seems like /Shield and /Energy Aura (and maybe Ice or Stone?) kind of fit the bill the most.

[BuiltDifferent5]

32 minutes ago, Uncle Shags said:

You can make a claws/stone armor brute and tank.  You can't do claws/ninjitsu though (but can on stalker). 

 

I think the only fully exclusive melee combo is SS/Regen brute? I might be wrong though. 

 

Perhaps part of the answer could come from the scrapper crit ATO?  When set could best leverage it?  I know it works really well on titan weapon. 

Great point on the ATO proc. Probably makes a huge difference based on what sets leverage it best.

 

Just looked though, and you CANNOT pair Claws with Stone Armor on a Tanker or Brute unfortunately. Their T9 does not allow it for some reason.

[BuiltDifferent5]

42 minutes ago, biostem said:

I go with sets that aren't available on other ATs - like /Ninjitsu.

Ninjitsu seems promising. Maybe something like Ma/Ninjitsu. I think MA gets a +Crit proc on a Scrapper as well?

[biostem]

2 minutes ago, BuiltDifferent5 said:

Ninjitsu seems promising. Maybe something like Ma/Ninjitsu. I think MA gets a +Crit proc on a Scrapper as well?

I like it with combos you can't generally get elsewhere - like war mace, titan weapons, or battle axe...

[Maelwys]

1 hour ago, Uncle Shags said:

Perhaps part of the answer could come from the scrapper crit ATO?  When set could best leverage it?  I know it works really well on titan weapon. 

 

I suspect that offensively TitanWeapons or perhaps IceMelee are going to clinch it for working better on a Scrapper due to hefty Single Target damage plus solid ATO opportunities.

 

For Secondary... it's hard to look past the Defensive Powersets. Their 75% hardcap hurts Scrappers far more on the Resistance sets. Maybe Shield Defense due to Scrappers getting decent raw numbers from Shield Charge (even though it can't Crit) and a greater comparative damage increase compared to Brutes from Against All Odds buffage?

Ice Armor on Scrappers also gets Icy Bastion instead of Hibernate.

 

Edited yesterday at 01:53 AM by Maelwys

[DarknessEternal]

Titan Weapons is pretty mediocre on a single target.  You all are remembering the pre-nerf version.

[SomeGuy]

3 hours ago, BuiltDifferent5 said:

Good clarification. I guess the cop out answer is “a mix of both”? Lol

 

Looking at it, it seems like /Shield and /Energy Aura (and maybe Ice or Stone?) kind of fit the bill the most.

 

 

I am REALLY biased with what I'm about to say then.

 

TW/EnA on the scrapper side. Ele/TW on the tanker side.

 

I love all three of those sets. TW, Ele, and ENA. Are they the best at fitting the bill of what you are asking about? Not sure. But they sure are great and TW/ENA does really good damage and doesn't want to die. And the ELE/TW tanker doesn't want to die. I'd imagine something X/RAD would be a lot of what you are asking about too?

 

MA does have a crit boost after you use Eagle's Claw for the NEXT MA attacks you use in the time it's applied. I have done MA/NIN but ended up gutting it for, you guessed it, lack of a taunt aura. Re-rolled MA/RAD.

 

Ice Melee on scraps is pretty darn good also. Ice Patch is a gimmick, but it's a really good gimmick and fun. Sadly, it doesn't work on most AVs that well.

 

It's hard for me to consider Stone for scraps since it doesn't have a taunt aura.

 

Also, if anyone thinks TW is mediocre on a single target, they are entitled to their opinion. Regardless how wrong it is.

 

*and yes, I am talking about the current version.

Edited yesterday at 04:18 AM by SomeGuy

[BuiltDifferent5]

30 minutes ago, SomeGuy said:

 

 

I am REALLY biased with what I'm about to say then.

 

TW/EnA on the scrapper side. Ele/TW on the tanker side.

 

I love all three of those sets. TW, Ele, and ENA. Are they the best at fitting the bill of what you are asking about? Not sure. But they sure are great and TW/ENA does really good damage and doesn't want to die. And the ELE/TW tanker doesn't want to die. I'd imagine something X/RAD would be a lot of what you are asking about too?

 

MA does have a crit boost after you use Eagle's Claw for the NEXT MA attacks you use in the time it's applied. I have done MA/NIN but ended up gutting it for, you guessed it, lack of a taunt aura. Re-rolled MA/RAD.

 

Ice Melee on scraps is pretty darn good also. Ice Patch is a gimmick, but it's a really good gimmick and fun. Sadly, it doesn't work on most AVs that well.

 

It's hard for me to consider Stone for scraps since it doesn't have a taunt aura.

 

Also, if anyone thinks TW is mediocre on a single target, they are entitled to their opinion. Regardless how wrong it is.

 

*and yes, I am talking about the current version.

Alright so I HAVE seen you and Ratch talk about TW. I myself HAVE run an Elec/TW Tanker and the combo is *chefs kiss*. For some reason, it’s hard for me to mentally get it going on a Scrapper since it takes time to get Momentum going.

 

MA/Nin sounds promising, but I totally get not wanting to run something due to lack of a taunt aura. I DO mostly team, but that would be a game breaker if I solo’d.

[lemming]

4 minutes ago, BuiltDifferent5 said:

MA/Nin sounds promising, but I totally get not wanting to run something due to lack of a taunt aura. I DO mostly team, but that would be a game breaker if I solo’d.

I run a Katana/Nin and a MA/Nin.   Both work great and while runners happen, it's rare and they don't  get far.  (werewolves seem to be an exception, but that doesn't matter with taunt aura)

[tidge]

Maybe these thoughts will help to narrow the selection?

 

I'd ignore any Scrapper (primary) that includes damage-over-time as a significant portion of the damage dealt. This is based on my own experience with a Savage Melee Scrapper... the Criticals don't occur with DoT, so something liek a Brute would be better because Fury does boost that damage (I realize Brutes were not in the ask, just saying).

 

This wasn't directly mentioned, but sometimes there is a sort of obsession with %damage from procs. Scrapper combos should do 'better' than Tankers where %damage isn't the end-all-be-all. In other words, trying to leverage %damage instead of improving damage (and other attributes) from Scrapper attacks is probably tilting the advantage to Tankers.

 

In order to get the most out of the Critical Strikes ATO %+Critical Hit proc, you want to have attacks to use that have favorable "arcana-time minus animation-time-before-effect". See this post for the explanation and some examples.

 

[aethereal]

4 hours ago, tidge said:

Maybe these thoughts will help to narrow the selection?

 

I'd ignore any Scrapper (primary) that includes damage-over-time as a significant portion of the damage dealt. This is based on my own experience with a Savage Melee Scrapper... the Criticals don't occur with DoT, so something liek a Brute would be better because Fury does boost that damage (I realize Brutes were not in the ask, just saying).

 

This is just Fire Melee and Savage.  For some reason that I think is probably conceptually wrong, if you have DoT as a "secondary effect," then it doesn't get multiplied by crits, while if you have DoT as the primary point of the power, you do get it multiplied by the crit (and typically delivered as a single up-front package to boot).  But Scrappers don't need buffs, so we're probably just fine without changing it.

 

In practice, I think it basically only implicates Savage, which has more consequential DoTs than Fire does.

[aethereal]

13 hours ago, lemming said:

I run a Katana/Nin and a MA/Nin.   Both work great and while runners happen, it's rare and they don't  get far.  (werewolves seem to be an exception, but that doesn't matter with taunt aura)

 

I've run Scrappers with and without taunt auras, and honestly I don't holistically notice a difference.  I know that some players really, really, really feel like taunt auras make a big difference in their experience, and I'm not here to fight anyone about what they should like, but I just want to inject a note of ambiguity into the constant refrain that taunt auras are super important -- reader, you may not agree with that!  Try it yourself and see if it bothers you.

[lemming]

11 minutes ago, aethereal said:

I've run Scrappers with and without taunt auras, and honestly I don't holistically notice a difference.  I know that some players really, really, really feel like taunt auras make a big difference in their experience, and I'm not here to fight anyone about what they should like, but I just want to inject a note of ambiguity into the constant refrain that taunt auras are super important -- reader, you may not agree with that!  Try it yourself and see if it bothers you.

I think my wording was clumsy.   I have the same experience, taunt aura isn't that important with runners.

[tidge]

6 minutes ago, aethereal said:

I've run Scrappers with and without taunt auras, and honestly I don't holistically notice a difference. 

 

Setting aside any potential secondary effects due to enemies in melee range; I have a hard time noticing if (some) taunt auras make a significant difference. On teams... I feel like they help when I also have a Scrapper with (PB)AoE attacks if no one else is trying to get aggro. Solo... I can occasionally see that if *I* move away from certain types of enemies that I've been engaged with, those enemies sometimes decide to come with me.

 

The main lesson that Scrapper 'taunt auras' have reinforced is that "just running past" an enemy with an aura toggled on is not actually any good for "grabbing aggro". Solo... yeah, an enemy will pay attention to the ONE PC they notice... but on teams that does not mean that the same critter is going to pay MORE attention to someone that sped past them than a teammate attacking them.

 

[aethereal]

4 minutes ago, lemming said:

I think my wording was clumsy.   I have the same experience, taunt aura isn't that important with runners.

No, sorry, I got that, I was jumping in to support you.

[One IV All]

17 minutes ago, tidge said:

 

Setting aside any potential secondary effects due to enemies in melee range; I have a hard time noticing if (some) taunt auras make a significant difference. On teams... I feel like they help when I also have a Scrapper with (PB)AoE attacks if no one else is trying to get aggro. Solo... I can occasionally see that if *I* move away from certain types of enemies that I've been engaged with, those enemies sometimes decide to come with me.

 

The main lesson that Scrapper 'taunt auras' have reinforced is that "just running past" an enemy with an aura toggled on is not actually any good for "grabbing aggro". Solo... yeah, an enemy will pay attention to the ONE PC they notice... but on teams that does not mean that the same critter is going to pay MORE attention to someone that sped past them than a teammate attacking them.

 

This hits the nail on the head for me, as someone who primarily teams myself. I guess I'm just too social to solo 😂 I will say to @SomeGuy's point, IF I was going to try and do some solo challenge (like ITF), at that point I'd defintely would go with one of my Scrappers that has a Taunt aura. No way I'm chasing those werewolves and Rommie around 😂

[Story Archer]

19 hours ago, BuiltDifferent5 said:

Ninjitsu seems promising. Maybe something like Ma/Ninjitsu. I think MA gets a +Crit proc on a Scrapper as well?

 

Now that I've gone Ninjitsu, I don't see myself going with anything else for Scrappers. Defense-based set, which is preferable, and a fantastic toolbox/toybox of things to play with. 

 

My main is a Dual Blades/Ninjitsu, but most sets work well with it. Dark Melee probably synergizes the best (MORE toys). I'm a big fan of Claws as well, even though I usually only take 4-5 powers from the set.

[Parabola]

I'm firmly in team taunt aura (not a real team obviously, far too antisocial for that). It has to be said though that these days the only reliably sticky things are tanks. Both scrappers and brutes have to get used to the odd enemy taking to the hills regardless of taunt auras.

 

On the subject of power sets for my money claws is the scrapper primary. Nothing else has such a natural home for the critical strikes set. It also has fantastic single target and aoe damage, fast attacks and decently varied slotting opportunities.

 

I'm also a big fan of shield on scrappers. It's such a shame we can't pair claws with shield...

[BuiltDifferent5]

32 minutes ago, Parabola said:

I'm firmly in team taunt aura (not a real team obviously, far too antisocial for that). It has to be said though that these days the only reliably sticky things are tanks. Both scrappers and brutes have to get used to the odd enemy taking to the hills regardless of taunt auras.

 

On the subject of power sets for my money claws is the scrapper primary. Nothing else has such a natural home for the critical strikes set. It also has fantastic single target and aoe damage, fast attacks and decently varied slotting opportunities.

 

I'm also a big fan of shield on scrappers. It's such a shame we can't pair claws with shield...

Claws + Shield = UNLIMITED POWER haha.

I'm looking at Claws/EnA myself. Seems like it would be solid defensively and still do well on the dmg front. Still messing around with what I want to pair with Shield Defense.

[BuiltDifferent5]

42 minutes ago, Story Archer said:

 

Now that I've gone Ninjitsu, I don't see myself going with anything else for Scrappers. Defense-based set, which is preferable, and a fantastic toolbox/toybox of things to play with. 

 

My main is a Dual Blades/Ninjitsu, but most sets work well with it. Dark Melee probably synergizes the best (MORE toys). I'm a big fan of Claws as well, even though I usually only take 4-5 powers from the set.

Ninjitsu is interesting to me. I can also see the potential to run burn out and rotate Nin's T9 with Unleashed Potential... just cycle those and be unkillable lol.

[Thraxen]

Tw/ninja is super fun