Best secondary for Dark Melee?

[Nightmarer]

To be honest, I don't understand the problem of lack of AoE, other sets also lack AoE, such as Martial Arts while others lack ST thus making boss killing harder than other sets, that's what Pool Powers and Ancillary / Patron powers are for.

 

To keep in topic, the lack of AoE in Dark Melee can be covered by Cross Punch, Spring Attack, Energy Torrent, Ball Lightning + Electric Shackles, Fire Ball, Night Fall + TT, Caltrops + Exploding Shuriken plus secondaries such as Shield or Fiery Aura.

 

Honestly, that's the beauty of the game, the amount of possibilities it offers.

Edited September 23, 2019 by Nightmarer
Typos, typos everywhere

[Without_Pause]

For me personally, it is one AoE with a small cone which roots you for a decent amount of time. Even if the damage scaling is correct, it isn't an AoE I enjoy using. 

[Bill Z Bubba]

22 hours ago, Nightmarer said:

To be honest, I don't understand the problem of lack of AoE, other sets also lack AoE, such as Martial Arts while others lack ST thus making boss killing harder than other sets, that's what Pool Powers and Ancillary / Patron powers are for.

 

To keep in topic, the lack of AoE in Dark Melee can be covered by Cross Punch, Spring Attack, Energy Torrent, Ball Lightning + Electric Shackles, Fire Ball, Night Fall + TT, Caltrops + Exploding Shuriken plus secondaries such as Shield or Fiery Aura.

 

Honestly, that's the beauty of the game, the amount of possibilities it offers.

This is my take as well. My DM/Inv brute is built more for concept that anything else. If I want massive aoe, there are sets for that. If I want massive ST damage, again, there are combos that excel at that.

I don't use shadow maul because my attack chain is MG, Gloom, SL, repeat with DC, SD and DO thrown in as available.

Does he get the job done? Yup. Is he hard to kill? Again yup. Would he be far more interesting if he wasn't shoving his left hand out over and over again? Again, yup. But it is what it is.

[ninja surprise]

Had a DM/SR on live that was my first 50 and always fun to play. DM gets you a heal and gets your endurance back, which is fantastic when your armor can't do that.

 

But it goes absolutely great with Ice Armor.  Soul Drain buffs Icicles so you don't have to spend as much time punching minions.  Ice is defensive same as SR, so same benefits.  Ice has a bigger heal / HP buff to recover from big hits faster than Siphon Life can.  Two endurance recovery powers keeps you going all night long!

[Frostweaver]

Dark/SD FTW

[ChocolateMercenary]

DM/EA is really great. Two Heals, two endurance drains, an instant softcap button that isn't the t9, great recharge before SOs, and the AoE hole can be patched by any good APP/EPP,

[Riverdusk]

On 9/23/2019 at 11:47 AM, Nightmarer said:

To be honest, I don't understand the problem of lack of AoE, other sets also lack AoE, such as Martial Arts while others lack ST thus making boss killing harder than other sets, that's what Pool Powers and Ancillary / Patron powers are for.

 

To keep in topic, the lack of AoE in Dark Melee can be covered by Cross Punch, Spring Attack, Energy Torrent, Ball Lightning + Electric Shackles, Fire Ball, Night Fall + TT, Caltrops + Exploding Shuriken plus secondaries such as Shield or Fiery Aura.

 

Honestly, that's the beauty of the game, the amount of possibilities it offers.

Not to be nit picky, but I believe electric shackles is single target.  You are probably thinking of brutes which get electric fences (which I wish scrappers got instead).  I do think water spout is underrated though which you didn't list, and it helps clean up those extra minions too and is an easy cast and forget (and also happens to be good against hard single targets).

[Ravenprince]

I would say Fire, Dark, Electric, and Ice because they all have an AoE damage aura.  Out of those 4, I would choose Ice.  It can take the alpha the best out of those 4.  It will have the highest mitigation with a full group.  Then the -ToHit from DM will pair nicely with the defense of Ice.  Ice also has -rchg resistance, so you won't slow down hitting siphon life and most of all killing, although you won't be getting hit much anyhow with soft capped defense and -tohit, but those pesky Psionic hitting NPCs which slow recharge won't affect you much.

[ThrillMill]

1 hour ago, Ravenprince said:

I would say Fire, Dark, Electric, and Ice because they all have an AoE damage aura.  Out of those 4, I would choose Ice.  It can take the alpha the best out of those 4.  It will have the highest mitigation with a full group.  Then the -ToHit from DM will pair nicely with the defense of Ice.  Ice also has -rchg resistance, so you won't slow down hitting siphon life and most of all killing, although you won't be getting hit much anyhow with soft capped defense and -tohit, but those pesky Psionic hitting NPCs which slow recharge won't affect you much.

All four are good but it's my personal belief that DM/ELEC is the best possible paring. 

[ninja surprise]

What's wonderful is that there are so many great secondaries so you can pick one that fits your personal taste and playstyle..

and roll up all the others as alts!

[Ruin Mage]

I'm running Dark Melee / Radiation Armor as my scrapper. Hoping it works well.

[Frostweaver]

I am working more and more with Ice armor on scrappers, and I hate to admit it, but it's actually better on scrappers than on tankers!

In point of fact, I am starting to realize that it might actually be absolute top tier on scrappers, once you account for their 75% resistance cap and hit points. DM/Ice is pretty darned near unkillable, although I am finding that, unlike tankers and brutes, scrappers might want to skip spikes in favor of something better.

[Heraclea]

1 hour ago, Shadeknight said:

I'm running Dark Melee / Radiation Armor as my scrapper. Hoping it works well.

Might be a bit of overkill there b/c Radiation has solid +regen buffs and a relatively fast self heal.  But you're probably going to be quite tough. 

[BrandX]

1 hour ago, Frostweaver said:

I am working more and more with Ice armor on scrappers, and I hate to admit it, but it's actually better on scrappers than on tankers!

In point of fact, I am starting to realize that it might actually be absolute top tier on scrappers, once you account for their 75% resistance cap and hit points. DM/Ice is pretty darned near unkillable, although I am finding that, unlike tankers and brutes, scrappers might want to skip spikes in favor of something better.

I think we'd see more people take Ice Armor, if it had a no FX option.

 

Ice Armor's FX hides the outfit and if they had a minimal FX option, it'd work with a lot more concepts.

 

I know plenty of players who didn't want to touch Bio Armor (considered the best by many) until they learned it had a minimal FX option.

[Frostweaver]

I totally get people hating on the FX. Heck, I won't touch Ice melee on stalkers because the swords look like ugly pieces of crap and the wind noises are insanity-causing, despite Ice's incredible overperformance. I am totally cool with it as long as people are willing to admit that it's FX, not performance, that are inferior 🙂

Edited October 1, 2019 by Frostweaver

[Tonio]

On 9/26/2019 at 6:32 PM, ChocolateMercenary said:

DM/EA is really great. Two Heals, two endurance drains, an instant softcap button that isn't the t9, great recharge before SOs, and the AoE hole can be patched by any good APP/EPP,

Disclaimer: newb here!

 

I recently started a DM/EA Scrapper, still very low level (like, below lvl 10).  I've found his damage to be lacking, and survivability not particularly impressive.  What am I doing wrong? I'm using the first two EA toggles, and the first three DM powers (fast, hard, and cone).  The cone attack, in particular, has been mostly frustrating, since I hardly ever get to hit more than one target, and the long animation is maddening when it misses.

 

Please note I'm not saying you're wrong.  I honestly feel I'm doing something wrong.  Or maybe it starts weak, but gets stronger later on, like when you get both heals and both end drains? 😃

[MunkiLord]

1 hour ago, Tonio said:

Disclaimer: newb here!

 

I recently started a DM/EA Scrapper, still very low level (like, below lvl 10).  I've found his damage to be lacking, and survivability not particularly impressive.  What am I doing wrong? I'm using the first two EA toggles, and the first three DM powers (fast, hard, and cone).  The cone attack, in particular, has been mostly frustrating, since I hardly ever get to hit more than one target, and the long animation is maddening when it misses.

 

Please note I'm not saying you're wrong.  I honestly feel I'm doing something wrong.  Or maybe it starts weak, but gets stronger later on, like when you get both heals and both end drains? 😃

Your endurance is probably an issue, but that will get better. In the meantime I'd prioritize end reduction and accuracy over damage when slotting your attacks and toggles until you have more slots. Smite is one of your best attacks, that should be in your rotation at every level. Shadow Maul can be difficult to use and it has a long activation, I suggest picking up Combat Jumping to help with positioning to maximize it's effectiveness. Plus Combat Jumping is the best thing ever. Overall Dark Melee has poor AoE, that won't be changing. 

[Tonio]

3 minutes ago, MunkiLord said:

Your endurance is probably an issue, but that will get better. In the meantime I'd prioritize end reduction and accuracy over damage when slotting your attacks and toggles until you have more slots. Smite is one of your best attacks, that should be in your rotation at every level. Shadow Maul can be difficult to use and it has a long activation, I suggest picking up Combat Jumping to help with positioning to maximize it's effectiveness. Plus Combat Jumping is the best thing ever. Overall Dark Melee has poor AoE, that won't be changing. 

Actually, haven't had problems with end yet.  I'm turning off sprint and super speed when in combat, maybe that's why?  I'll look into slotting accuracy. I've been following advice to sell all enhancements for inf until I can buy IOs; I'll probably not do that from now now. Thanks!

[ChocolateMercenary]

4 hours ago, Tonio said:

Disclaimer: newb here!

 

I recently started a DM/EA Scrapper, still very low level (like, below lvl 10).  I've found his damage to be lacking, and survivability not particularly impressive.  What am I doing wrong? I'm using the first two EA toggles, and the first three DM powers (fast, hard, and cone).  The cone attack, in particular, has been mostly frustrating, since I hardly ever get to hit more than one target, and the long animation is maddening when it misses.

 

Please note I'm not saying you're wrong.  I honestly feel I'm doing something wrong.  Or maybe it starts weak, but gets stronger later on, like when you get both heals and both end drains? 😃

The set is indeed a "late" bloomer. Your attack chain isn't long enough to stack the -ToHit on top of the defense. Also, you will still have holes to psy and toxic damage. Things will pick up one you get Siphon Life, Soul Drain, and Energize.

[Without_Pause]

On 10/1/2019 at 12:54 PM, Tonio said:

Disclaimer: newb here!

 

I recently started a DM/EA Scrapper, still very low level (like, below lvl 10).  I've found his damage to be lacking, and survivability not particularly impressive.  What am I doing wrong? I'm using the first two EA toggles, and the first three DM powers (fast, hard, and cone).  The cone attack, in particular, has been mostly frustrating, since I hardly ever get to hit more than one target, and the long animation is maddening when it misses.

 

Please note I'm not saying you're wrong.  I honestly feel I'm doing something wrong.  Or maybe it starts weak, but gets stronger later on, like when you get both heals and both end drains? 😃

Until you can get reasonable common IOs slotted, I wouldn't read too much into anything. Defense based sets are all or nothing, and you don't have a heal in your secondary until later. 

Edited October 2, 2019 by Without_Pause

[Glowman]

Dm/sr looks fun. Anyone have a build to share?

[MunkiLord]

I do, but it'll be a few hours until I get home.

[Riverdusk]

On 10/1/2019 at 8:06 AM, BrandX said:

I think we'd see more people take Ice Armor, if it had a no FX option.

 

Ice Armor's FX hides the outfit and if they had a minimal FX option, it'd work with a lot more concepts.

 

I know plenty of players who didn't want to touch Bio Armor (considered the best by many) until they learned it had a minimal FX option.

Ice armor does have a minimal fx option, unless you mean even at minimal it is still too much (it does still have some fx to it even at minimal, but doesn't turn you into a total ice cube anyway).

[Riverdusk]

On 10/1/2019 at 9:54 AM, Tonio said:

Disclaimer: newb here!

 

I recently started a DM/EA Scrapper, still very low level (like, below lvl 10).  I've found his damage to be lacking, and survivability not particularly impressive.  What am I doing wrong? I'm using the first two EA toggles, and the first three DM powers (fast, hard, and cone).  The cone attack, in particular, has been mostly frustrating, since I hardly ever get to hit more than one target, and the long animation is maddening when it misses.

 

Please note I'm not saying you're wrong.  I honestly feel I'm doing something wrong.  Or maybe it starts weak, but gets stronger later on, like when you get both heals and both end drains? 😃

One tip on using shadow maul, take a little step back before activating it.  With a tiny bit of range it'll more easily hit more than 1 target as the cone gets slightly wider at the edge of its range(like most melee it has a 7ft range).  It takes some practice, but it gets pretty easy to regularly hit at least 2 and if you can hit 2 with it, it is worth using from a dps/dpa standpoint.

Edited October 4, 2019 by Riverdusk

[Tonio]

1 hour ago, Riverdusk said:

One tip on using shadow maul, take a little step back before activating it.  With a tiny bit of range it'll more easily hit more than 1 target as the cone gets slightly wider at the edge of its range(like most melee it has a 7ft range).  It takes some practice, but it gets pretty easy to regularly hit at least 2 and if you can hit 2 with it, it is worth using from a dps/dpa standpoint.

Hey, thanks! I'd been trying to strafe around the primary target, trying to get the secondary as close to right beside or right behind the primary as possible, which made it pretty fiddly, and usually didn't work, but this sounds more logical, and easier to try, thanks!