Most survivable scrapper

[dekova]

Hi all, I've recently returned to the game and am looking to build a solid, survivable scrapper. Someone who can jump into a bad situation and whittle down the enemy until he stands victorious. Damage doesn't have to be top-notch so long as he can eventually outlast his enemies (or stalemate an AV). I'd also like it to exemplar well.

 

I'll be investing a significant amount of time and effort into this character, I don't mind if it's expensive. But... since this will be my first character in a while, my preference is that it's not overly complicated (but I'll manage if it is).

 

What are your recommendations?

 

Edit: I bet I'm going to get a bunch of brute or tank recommendations. I'd prefer to do this with a scrapper, but will consider a brute.

Edited Thursday at 04:09 PM by dekova

[Without_Pause]

Dark/shield. They compliment each other rather well. Dark's DPS is on the lower side so Shield helps it. Shield can use a higher amount of end and has no heal. Dark takes care of that. #2 pick would be Dark/sr.

[Uun]

Defense armors perform better than resist armors on scrappers due to their lower resist cap. I've found Shield, SR, Energy, Ninjitsu and Stone to be very survivable. Shield and Stone also buff your damage. If you're looking for a taunt aura, Shield would be the way to go (Energy also has a taunt aura, but it's weak on scrappers).

[Linea]

I'll second the "Defense Armors".  Really, any of the defense armors will do.
 

The toughest, at least for now: Angel Hornet EnM/EnA

The stalker version is fun too: Street Justice/Ena

If you want fun and durable enough, I'd say /Bio:  Kate Wolf Katana/Bio

EnM Ena ShadowMeld Scrapper - Angel Hornet 801 - Recharge-T9 ver 2J Psi+ - [i25].mbd

Kat Bio Scrapper - Alpha 3 ITF - [i28].mbd

 

[Yomo Kimyata]

I’m going against the grain a bit, but I really like running a resistance heavy secondary matched with an offense with a +defense power.  A well built staff/invulnerability scrapper will be last one standing.  My “main” is a broadsword/inv scrapper and I use it as a benchmark for +4/x8 content.  Not the fastest to clear a map, but rarely hits the floor.

[StrikerFox]

3 hours ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

I’m going against the grain a bit, but I really like running a resistance heavy secondary matched with an offense with a +defense power.  A well built staff/invulnerability scrapper will be last one standing.  My “main” is a broadsword/inv scrapper and I use it as a benchmark for +4/x8 content.  Not the fastest to clear a map, but rarely hits the floor.

 

You're probably right. I remember back during live, a player named Werner did Rikti Challenges and DA content at +4x8 with a Katana/Dark Scrapper. Also I don't think he slotted/used incarnate powers. It wasn't super fast but seemed extremely hard to kill.

[Uun]

15 hours ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

I’m going against the grain a bit, but I really like running a resistance heavy secondary matched with an offense with a +defense power.  A well built staff/invulnerability scrapper will be last one standing.  My “main” is a broadsword/inv scrapper and I use it as a benchmark for +4/x8 content.  Not the fastest to clear a map, but rarely hits the floor.

I like Invulnerability (and I've mained a MA/Inv scrapper since 2004), but I don't think it qualifies as a "resistance heavy" secondary. Base values are 33.75% S/L, 15% F/C/E/N/T and 11.25% P. Most of the heavy lifting against non S/L damage is done by Invincibility, which is a defense power. Compare the resist values to Dark (22.5% S/L/F/C, 15% E/T, 30% N, 37.5% P) , Fire (22.5% S/L/E/N, 67.5% F, 15% C/T) or Electric (32.25% S/L/F/C, 61.88% E, 22.5% N, 15% T, 26.25% P).

[Yomo Kimyata]

3 hours ago, Uun said:

I like Invulnerability (and I've mained a MA/Inv scrapper since 2004), but I don't think it qualifies as a "resistance heavy" secondary. Base values are 33.75% S/L, 15% F/C/E/N/T and 11.25% P. Most of the heavy lifting against non S/L damage is done by Invincibility, which is a defense power. Compare the resist values to Dark (22.5% S/L/F/C, 15% E/T, 30% N, 37.5% P) , Fire (22.5% S/L/E/N, 67.5% F, 15% C/T) or Electric (32.25% S/L/F/C, 61.88% E, 22.5% N, 15% T, 26.25% P).

 

I would consider all of those to be resistance heavy, to be honest, and probably bio and radiation as well if I squint a bit (although they certainly cover healing and some defense as well).  With Tough, you can approach the 75% cap in one or more areas.

 

What secondary would you consider to be resistance heavy if not invulnerability?

[Uun]

43 minutes ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

What secondary would you consider to be resistance heavy if not invulnerability?

Electric, Dark and Fire, and to a lesser extent Radiation and Psionic (due to their absorb shields and +regen). Bio is a hybrid set and only has resistance to S/L/T, relying on defense against F/C/E/N/P. I consider Invul to be a hybrid set as well. 

[SomeGuy]

On 11/6/2025 at 9:58 AM, Without_Pause said:

Dark/shield. They compliment each other rather well. Dark's DPS is on the lower side so Shield helps it. Shield can use a higher amount of end and has no heal. Dark takes care of that. #2 pick would be Dark/sr.

 

I was afraid this combo was going to get brought up. No, nothing with Dark Melee as a primary will ever fit this bill. DM doesn't do enough damage. It just won't kill things before they are able to kill you. Full stop.

And no, Touch of Fear is not enough either. 

 

*I have a DM/SD that is completely setted out. Fun combo, but definitely not as survivable as OP wants. 

 

Not sure what experience Lin has with Claws, but overall, Claws has a lot of soft-CC to help mitigate damage. 

 

Based on what OP said, Claws might just be the primary they are looking for. Claws exemps better then any other melee primary and has AMAZING ST and AOE DPS. Claws/ENA or Claws/Rad I am thinking? I personally have a set out Claws/Bio and frickin' LOVE IT. DPS *is* damage mitigation. If it's dead, it can't hit you. If something is susceptible to KB, between Focus and Shockwave, you can keep it on it's ass the entire time until it's dead. Big mob? Shockwave for group damage and everything on it's ass, spin for amazing AOE damage, repeat until entire mob dead.

 

Listen to @Linea about this subject. 

Edited yesterday at 04:53 AM by SomeGuy

[Thraxen]

My main is pretty close to unkillable. Sav/inv. Claws/sr or claws/rad are good.  My claws/st is weird built but focus can bounce most stuff a ton. And shockwave can a lot of stuff. Spins/stone is pretty high. Lotta slows built in. Geode is t great but saves a death a lot. 

[Without_Pause]

1 hour ago, SomeGuy said:

 

I was afraid this combo was going to get brought up. No, nothing with Dark Melee as a primary will ever fit this bill. DM doesn't do enough damage. It just won't kill things before they are able to kill you. Full stop.

And no, Touch of Fear is not enough either. 

 

*I have a DM/SD that is completely setted out. Fun combo, but definitely not as survivable as OP wants. 

 

Listen to @Linea about this subject. 

I have two Dark Scrappers at 50. I have done Claws to 50 something like 5 times. By all means, yes, Dark is lower on the damage side, but the OP said 'Damage doesn't have to be top-notch.' They wanted something which can jump into a bad situation and whittle down the enemy until he stands victorious.' Apparently your Dark/shield can't do that. From the person I believe most known for Dark/shield, 'SD and AAO you'll be able to steamroll most +4x8 groups.'

 

 

 

And listen to Linea. You mean the 'I'll second the "Defense Armors".  Really, any of the defense armors will do' part? So basically if you grab a Def armor you are good to go?

 

FYI, I'll also recommend the often slept on Ice. Damage type is good across various mobs versus say Claws against things like DE, and still puts out solid damage overall. Ice Patch is cheat mode for survival. I would have rolled a Scrapper version if not for my Tanker version. 

 

While not current, it still places Ice in S tier for Scrappers. 

 

 

[SomeGuy]

6 hours ago, Without_Pause said:

I have two Dark Scrappers at 50. I have done Claws to 50 something like 5 times. By all means, yes, Dark is lower on the damage side, but the OP said 'Damage doesn't have to be top-notch.' They wanted something which can jump into a bad situation and whittle down the enemy until he stands victorious.' Apparently your Dark/shield can't do that. From the person I believe most known for Dark/shield, 'SD and AAO you'll be able to steamroll most +4x8 groups.'

 

 

 

And listen to Linea. You mean the 'I'll second the "Defense Armors".  Really, any of the defense armors will do' part? So basically if you grab a Def armor you are good to go?

 

FYI, I'll also recommend the often slept on Ice. Damage type is good across various mobs versus say Claws against things like DE, and still puts out solid damage overall. Ice Patch is cheat mode for survival. I would have rolled a Scrapper version if not for my Tanker version. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Normally, listing some of your 50s would be a flex. Not compared to my experience. 

 

I did read and comprehend what OP said about whittling down a mob. DM won't be able to do that if pushing the envelope.  

 

The murc DM/SD build you posted is very old and that has been completely outdone. Even within said combo.

 

And anyone with a lot of experience knows, that list by Ston is a great starting point, but some of it is wildly inaccurate in-game. 

 

I am glad about the Ice Melee reminder. IM is legit AF and sounds like what the OP wants for sure. Ice Patch is fun and the set does solid ST and AOE.

[tidge]

Rando comments:

 

I definitely consider Invulnerability to be a "hybrid" set. One of the things I like best about Invulnerability (on Tankers, Brutes, with bigger Health pools) is that it isn't necessary to run all of the toggles (all of the time, or ever)

 

Scrappers... because of smaller caps (on Resistance and HP) I think perform better with a secondary that contributes to debuffing/damaging enemies in melee while also providing healing/absorb to the Scrapper. I'm not really thinking of "damage auras" for Scrappers as much as PBAoE powers that can have %procs added. Off teh top of my head, Radiation and Bio.

 

Defense based Scrappers IMO perform very well... but they need something else when things go pear-shaped. Incarnates can fill the gap, but I don't like relying on Incarnates to make a character awesome... so for Defense based ones I'm usually looking at a T3/T4/T5 power in a power pool to provide that little extra something.

[Uun]

9 hours ago, Without_Pause said:

FYI, I'll also recommend the often slept on Ice. Damage type is good across various mobs versus say Claws against things like DE, and still puts out solid damage overall. Ice Patch is cheat mode for survival. I would have rolled a Scrapper version if not for my Tanker version. 

I've got an Ice/Stone stalker that I really enjoy and is virtually unkillable. (Ice is better on stalkers than scrappers.)

[BrandX]

Going to say CLAWS/STONE.

 

First off, only Scrappers and Stalkers can pull off this combo and Stalkers Claws is bad.  So, you get a great combo.  It will solo AVs.  Your survival will be good.  Pretty sure I could even improve my build for survival and damage if I made a couple concept changes 😛

 

Not sure if you also include Incarnates, but those will only help with Survival with Barrier or Rebirth to add to your defenses.

[Doomguide2005]

I think well played and well built anything talked about in this thread would fit the bill.  But it also points strongly towards the driver behind it all.  I've seen Werner pull off all sorts of stupid scrapper tricks with his Katana/Dark, I've watched a Dark/Invulnerability tank Recluse, Seen what Bill Z can due on his scrappers, and I've watched Linea running Angel Hornet.  Part of the reason, probably even a big part of why they are so damn tough, is the player running that particular scrapper.  The familiarity and almost 6th sense of when to use power x because the stuff is about to hit the rotary oscillator developed from hours running that scrapper.

 

@BrandXmentions Incarnate powers and probably ideally you take them out of the equation.  At least for me if said scrapper can't exemp down to run Manticore or Numina or other pre 45 content then it doesn't really fit the requirements if can't still handle the deep end.  That said the thing that boosted my own Claws/SR was the Hybrid choice.  Barrier and or Rebirth yes very nice but Melee Hybrid takes an SR who is at the hit point cap, with DDR and the rest of the package and adds in a passive regen at Regen IH levels for her.  Now that is flippin' hard to kill especially with the Destinies to back it up when active Hybrid isn't up.  Funny enough given the right foes Clarion is also great for her.  Terrorize, not so much anymore.  I imagine it would do similar for the holes almost any scrapper might to that sort of thing.

Edited 1 hour ago by Doomguide2005