Seeking Dark/Dark Advice

[Timeshadow]

Hey Scrappers,

I've got a concept for a Dark/Dark but I haven't played DM since 2007 and I've never messed with DA before. So now I have questions:
 

1. Is Shadow Maul worth taking? Looking at Mids', I can see that the total damage is pretty good but being locked in place for that long animation seems...bad. I didn't know any better back when I was running DM as my first ever toon but now I'm considering skipping it in favor of Shadow Punch and a pool attack.
    
2. Should I proc Touch of Fear? Seems to me like it's a great candidate. It wants damage slotting anyway so why not dump some procs in and exploit the AoE?
    
3. Am I gimped without Death Shroud? I know damage auras are generally great. Problem for me is I love running stealthed and toggling DS on and off all the time is a pain, even with binds/macros. I'd love to leave it out entirely but if that breaks the build I'll have to consider a different secondary.
    
4. Is it viable to chase +Defense? Not looking for softcap here, just enough to get a significant chance to avoid attacks (~32%) as a supplement to my resists.  

 

I appreciate any help y'all can provide.

[Frozen Burn]

I love Dark/Dark.  had one on live and I made another here on HC.

 

Shadow maul is worth taking, but because you are aware of the animation time, be careful of it.  Don't use it when you know things are happening around you and you don't want to be locked int to that time.  Take Shadow Punch too.  The damage per activation time is still good.  

 

Proc'ing ToF - meh.  Sure.  I guess.  i'm not into proc'ing a ton of things into powers and prefer sets.  But yes, this seems like a power that could be proc'd well, if you so choose.

 

Your're not gimped without Death Shroud.  And turning it on/off for stealthing is not an issue.  No binds or macros needed.  It's a great power.  But if you don't want it, don't take it.

 

Chasing +Def is certainly a good idea.  The strongest builds have a mixture of +def and +res.  Since Dark armor is Res-based, adding in +def is a good thing.  

[Doc Spectre]

I don't think death shroud does damage if you are not attacking (so while stealthed).

I coudld be wrong, so worth testing.

Edited Wednesday at 09:33 AM by Doc Spectre

[Uun]

1. Shadow Maul got its arc increased a few years ago, so it's much easier to hit multiples than it used to be. I don't use if for single targets, but it's still better than any pool attack you could replace it with.
2. Touch of Fear procs very well, however, only use Melee AoE procs. The fear and -tohit are single target and will only proc on the main target.
3. I don't recommend skipping Death Shroud, especially with your limited AoE options. It doesn't suppress while stealthed, so you do have to turn it off if you're trying to be sneaky.
4. Having some defense is a good idea but I wouldn't chase the soft cap. Keep in mind that Dark Armor has no DDR and any defense will be stripped away easily.
5. You don't ask about it, but I recommend skipping Cloak of Fear. It has a huge accuracy penalty, uses a ton of endurance and only effects minions. It requires 6 slots to be even marginally useful. I also skip Oppressive Gloom (which also only effects minions) but that only requires 1 acc in the base slot if you decide to take it.

 

[Timeshadow]

Thanks for the insight, gang. You really gave me some clarity.

My other question, which I should've asked in the OP, is about the ATOs. Specifically, I'm a little confused about where to slot them and whether it'd be better to go for the full set bonuses or frankenslot them instead.

To my knowledge, the +Crit proc is best slotted in a mid-tier power. Something with enough recharge so as not to make the chance for activation too rare, while also being quick enough that I can fish for crits with more powerful attacks during the limited uptime. Do I have that basically correct?

[Uun]

The Critical Strikes proc should go in a power that has a short animation time after effect. In the case of Dark Melee, that would be Smite or Shadow Punch. You can slot the entire ATO set there if you like. There's no particular reason to split the set.

 

The Scrappers Strike proc can be slotted in any power. The ATO can be split if you want to double the S/L defense bonus, otherwise it can be 6 slotted.