City of Heroes Broadsword/Super Reflexes Scrapper Guide (I14) by TwilightPhoenix -------------------------------- Table of Contents -------------------------------- 1. The Purpose of the Guide 2. General Overview of the Power Sets 3. Broadsword's Powers 4. Super Reflexes' Powers 5. Ancillary Power Pools 6. Generic Power Pools 7. FAQ 8. Contact Info 9. Copyrights -------------------------------------------- The Purpose of the Guide -------------------------------------------- At the writing of this, there were no guides on the Scrapper combination of the Broadsword primary and Super Reflexes secondary. This is actually quite a bit surprising, as the two sets synergize together pretty well (though it's hard to find any combination for Scrappers that don't work). Having played a BS/SR Scrapper up to 50 and using him quite a bit afterwards still, including some forays into the arena and PvP zones, I decided to put together this guide to the power combination. Please note that this guide is suggestive. Your play style and experiences will vary, as will what you build it for. Consequently, while I will give some slotting ideas for the powers, I'm not going to suggest specific slotting or post any builds. After all, a build meant for soloing an AV won't be the same as one meant for murdering people in PvP. -------------------------------------------- General Overview of the Power Sets -------------------------------------------- As with any combination, you'll have things you can do very well and things you won't be so hot at. These are things you'll have to cope with. Luckily, CoH offers plenty of ways to make up for your weaknesses while playing to your strengths, especially with the generic power pools (which will be covered later). Broadsword/Super Reflexes is a late blooming set. You get some of your important things early on, but the first seven levels are really the hardest part of your journey. On the other hand, once you reach your higher levels, things will just get easier, especially once you start getting Single Origin Enhancements (SOs) or comparable strength Invention Origin Enhancements (IOs). Mixing and matching set IOs will also help a great deal, but can be expensive. Remember, slotting up all of your powers is much more helpful than dumping all your cash into a single, rare and powerful IO, such as a Miracle +Recovery. If you want the big shinies, be patient and wait until you can get them without gimping yourself, because this set can gimp itself hard without enhancements. Anyway, lets look at the two sets apart from each other. Broadsword is a slow, but powerful set. It relies on heavy bursts of lethal damage to kill its targets. Early in the game, two-shotting even-con minions isn't uncommon. Later on, three-shots will often do them in, even if they have some resistance. Broadsword also has a good mix of single target and crowd controlling abilities. It has three main single target attacks (Hack, Slash, and Disembowel) and three main multi-target attacks (Slice, Whirling Sword, and Headsplitter). It also has Parry for added survivability and a standard Build Up for some serious pain. Finally, every hit you land will reduce the opponent's defense, making them easier to hit. On the downside, the attacks are slow. Early on with your incomplete attack chain, you'll notice you'll have plenty of time to toss Brawl around in between attacks. Additionally, Broadsword also is fairly endurance heavy. Big orange numbers come at a price. Finally, it's purely lethal damage. While normally not a problem (and even a plus against the likes of the Carnival of Shadows or Zombies) lethal damage is the most commonly resisted type in the game. And enemies that resist it usually do by a good amount. Fortunately, they're typically obvious: made of metal or a Circle of Thorns spectral daemon. Additionally, your damage numbers are high enough that your heavy bursts are still pretty significant. Super Reflexes is a very powerful set, but very late blooming. It doesn't solve all of it's problems until a lofty level 35 and may very well be the weakest defensive set until you hit SOs. However, it pays off well. Well slotted, SR is a beast and can often survive whatever killed the tank. With plain slotting without Parry in the higher levels, Super Reflexes is either the first to die because the Random Number Generator dictated it, or, more often, the last. With some help from generic powers and a couple of IO sets, SR will be the last to die, if at all (barring the few enemies with auto-hit attacks in the game. Malaise, Rommulus' pet Nictus, I'm looking at you). SR's main weakness is the low levels. Early on, your defense will maybe stop a quarter of the incoming attacks and the omni-present assault rifle low level mobs carry will debuff your defenses like mad, sometimes into the negatives. Higher levels, however, will see not only less defense debuffs, but even up to 95% resistance (the maximum) to defense debuffs. Without even using a single IO. SR additionally gets resistance that scales with the amount of life you have remaining, a global recharge boost, boosted perception, and perhaps the best mez protection power in the game. On the downside, it's a tight build (you'll need at least seven of the powers to do well), fairly endurance heavy, and relies purely on its defense for survival. Yes, it does have the scaling resistances I mentioned, but they don't do a whole lot in most situations. In the end, you'll probably see your health like this: full, enough to survive more than one big hit, enough to survive one more big hit, in danger of getting killed by the next hit, and dead. Overall, your main weaknesses are endurance, defense debuffs causing cascading defense failures early on, the robot with heavy lethal resistance, and slowness. Luckily, with power picks, levels, and slotting, these can all be overcome. Your strengths are your high damage, silly survivability later on, defense debuffs, and ability to handle both big, tough targets and groups about equally, if you so choose to make yourself able to handle both equally. Again, your hardest levels will be the first seven. If you just keep in mind that you will improve down the road, and I mean massively, the early struggles will pay off in the end, and they will pay well. The biggest possible payoff will be softcapping your defenses, if you so choose to do so. The enemies have a 50% chance to hit without any other modification and everyone has a minimum of 5% chance to hit. Consequently, 45% defense is a softcap. Reach it, or at least get close, and your survivability will become utterly ridiculous. -------------------------------------------- Broadsword's Powers -------------------------------------------- Remember, you are a Scrapper. Your primary is a damage set. Your job is to run up to the enemy and hit it until its dead. If it's not turning dead, then you're not hitting it hard enough. While you'll certainly need the secondary, your main job is to kill stuff, not to tank. Not to mention you're not going to want to tank early on if you can help it. With that in mind, lets look at our powers. Hack Melee, High Damage(Lethal), Foe: -Defense Available Level: 1 "You Hack your opponent for a high amount of damage. This attack can reduce a target's defense, making him easier to hit." As late as your single-target attack chain will bloom, Broadsword is nice enough to give you one of your most useful powers right from the get-go. Hack is a power that does quite a bit of damage and you'll use as often at level 50 as you did at level 1. It's a very good attack, I strongly recommend taking it at level 1 and getting some slots into it as soon as you can. Slotting ideas: The standard slotting for most attacks, using anything but set IOs, is 3 damage, 2 accuracy, 1 recharge/endurance reduction. I personally prefer the endurance reducer. Once you start to outgrow the lowbie accuracy boost, put emphasis on getting your accuracy in before the damage. Also make sure to get the endurance reduction in there to ease up on your endurance costs, it'll make a difference. Slotting for defense debuffs is an alternative, but I wouldn't do it to the exclusion of accuracy. After all, if you can't land the attack, you're not debuffing anything. An IO worth noting in particular is Achilles' Heel: Chance for Resistance Debuff. This is a defense debuff IO and works in almost all of your Broadsword attacks. If you have a few million to spare, consider getting one or more for Hack or your other attacks. Slash Melee, Moderate Damage(Lethal), Foe: -Defense Available Level: 1 "You perform a quick Slash that can reduce a target's defense, making him easier to hit. This attack causes moderate damage, but has a quick recharge time." The more controversial of the two level 1 options. Slash is the weaker, faster recharging, more endurance light, fast animating attack of the two. Some people skip it entirely, some people take it early for attack chain filling and later respec out. Some still actually respec into it to fill in for the removal of Parry. And a few, who are the ones I choose to disagree with, take this over Hack and never get the higher damage power. Try it if you like, respec out of it later if you don't like it or need it. If you can wait until level 8, Parry has a similar recharge time and gives great survivability in exchange for damage, making it a more useful filler. Slotting ideas: Same as Hack, except recharge is less of a concern. One idea is to use Slash as a proc shooter, aka IOs, like the aforementioned Achilles' Heel, that have a chance for an effect on hit. Stick a couple of accuracies and your procs in and Slash away. This is attractive simply because of Slash's fast animation and higher recharge time, as well as procs not caring how strong the power they are in is. Slice Melee (Cone), Moderate Damage(Lethal), Foe: -Defense Available Level: 2 "You slice your sword in a wide arc, attacking all enemies in front of you. Slice does less damage than Slash, but can hit multiple foes and reduces their defense." Your first crowd control ability, and only at level 2! I strongly recommend getting it early as possible, even if you plan to focus on single targets. It does enough damage for single foes, but while your defenses are weak, it'll help compensate by killing groups quicker. And dead enemies are not hurting you. Later on Disembowel will replace its use as an attack for single targets, but it's still good for groups. Do note that it requires some positioning to use right, being a cone and all. However, the arc is very generous, so it doesn't take much practice to get to where you know how to hit the whole mob. Slotting ideas: Again, same as Hack. Procs work here well too, simply because you can fire them off against multiple foes and can help boost your damage output against the whole mob. Build Up Self +Damage, +To Hit Available Level: 6 "Greatly increases the amount of damage you deal for a few seconds, as well as slightly increasing your chance to hit." Build Up can bring your damage to scary levels. It roughly doubles the damage each hit will do as well as increase the likely hood of those hits landing. Trust me, when your 300-damage-while-resisted-Headsplitter turns into 600 and can critical for 1200, mobs will cry and you'll be amazed at the size of those numbers. Get it as soon as you can fit it in. It's incredibly useful, but you'll have some other powers you may need sooner. Alternatively, Build Up can be used in situations where the foe is difficult to hit. Extremely useful against stacked Vengeanced Nemesis, Rikti Drones, or anything with defense. Slotting ideas: Recharge is a no brainer. A bit of a brainer is To-Hit. Remember, Broadsword attacks debuff defense. If you're fighting a hard to hit foe, you can pop Build Up, land a few blows, and still have a 95% chance to hit against the enemy after it wears off. Another idea is to slot a Gaussian's Synchronized Fire Control: Chance for Build Up. It won't fire very often, but a double Build Up is an awesome sight to behold. I actually had a teammate once say "Did you just critical the AV for 2000!?" Parry Melee, Minor Damage(Lethal), Self: +Defense(Melee, Lethal) Available Level: 8 "You can use this power to Parry incoming melee attacks. The parry itself does minor damage, but every successful hit will increase your defense against melee and lethal attacks for a short while." Damage-wise, Parry is your weakest attack. Utility-wise, it's the best power in your set. Every hit you land with Parry will boost your Melee and Lethal defense by 15%. With a little recharge, you can easily maintain a double-stacked Parry for 30% defense. Toss in more recharge or Hasten and you can sometimes hit triple stack. By the time you can maintain triple stack, you won't need to be able to (and with the amount of influence you'd spend to get there, you could make yourself not need Parry to begin with). Get this power immediately, it'll be a massive turning point in your journey to 50. You'll suddenly go from being squishy to quite resilient in the face of melee and lethal attacks. Most of those early defense debuffs will be less dangerous because they come from lethal sources. Consequently, they'll hit you less. In the late game, you can eventually outgrow Parry by choosing certain other powers and getting the right bonuses from IO sets to softcap your defenses. Until then, get and use Parry. Open every fight with it and use it frequently. Slotting ideas: Accuracy is the most important aspect, followed by a little bit of recharge. You want Parry to hit often. If it misses, no defense for you. And if you do miss, you want to be able to get your boost back ASAP. Beyond that, you can either add defense to make Parry even stronger or slot damage and make it into more of an attack. Both are viable. Also, don't forget an endurance reduction. Confront Ranged, Foe: Taunt Available Level: 12 "Challenges a foe to attack you. Useful to pull a villain off an ally who finds himself in over his head." Your a Scrapper. Your job is to kill things, not hold aggro. And when your defenses are still growing, you really don't want to be the one holding the aggro. However, if you take a route for very high defenses, particularly the softcap, Confront will help you sub for a tank in a pinch. The main draw a Scrapper may find is that taunts now reduce the target's range. You can bring an enemy closer so you can make better use of Parry. Or, in PvP, you can make that annoying Blaster throwing Fireballs at you get closer... or at least go away for awhile. However, despite the benefits, this is a very low priority power and should only be picked if you really have no better choices. I respecced my Scrapper into it after I realized Focused Accuracy was doing me almost no good and because I already used all four of my pool picks, so I couldn't pick up Hasten. It lets me "Scrank" nicely, but I in no means actually need it and neither will you. Slotting ideas: Outside PvP, slot for taunt, recharge, and/or endurance reductions, if you add any slots at all. Procs are also an interesting though, since in PvE Confront is an auto-hit. The stun proc is very cheap at the writing of this guide. In PvP, accuracy and range are probably the way to go. Whirling Sword Point Blank Area of Effect Melee, Moderate Damage(Lethal), Foe: -Defense Available Level: 18 "You perform a Whirling Sword maneuver, attacking all foes in melee range. This attack wounds your opponents, causing them to take minor damage over time and reduces their defense." Your only true area of effect. It does good damage and also adds a (usually) insignificant damage over time on hit foes. Yes, the damage adds up, but the bulk of the pain will come from this power's first hit. If you have Slice and are good at positioning, you can possibly skip this power. However, having both will help you kill groups even faster, though Whirling Sword is fairly poor for hitting a single target. Too endurance heavy for that. Perhaps my favorite thing about the power is the fact it is a PBAoE. If you get bored, you can fire it off anywhere to show off or just to do it. No enemies required. Slotting ideas: Everything said about Slice applies here. Disembowel Melee, Superior Damage(Lethal), Foe: Knockup, -Defense Available level: 26 "You perform a powerful Disemboweling maneuver that deals a great amount of damage, and can knock a target up into the air. This attack can reduce a target's defense, making him easier to hit." This power is as wicked as its name suggests. Disembowel is the top of your pure single-target damage attacks and is pretty much a must have. It activates quick and looks awesome while doing it. When you hit a foe, they'll have a good chance of getting popped into the air, which is a form of soft control. An enemy in the air and on his back after he lands isn't running away or attacking anyone. This is a power made of sheer win and is my favorite in the set. Get it, slot it up, and love it. Slotting ideas: As much win as Disembowel is, slotting is pretty much the same as Hack. You can slot Knockback sets into it though, but putting Knockback into it is generally a bad idea, except just for laughs. Headsplitter Melee, Extreme Damage(Lethal), Foe: Knockback, -Defense Available level: 32 "You perform a devastating Head Splitter attack that deals a massive amount of damage and can even knock a foe down to the ground and reduce it's defense. This attack has an exceptionally good critical hit capability, better than other broadsword attacks, that can sometimes deal double damage. The power of this attack can actually extend a short distance through multiple foes." The top end of your crowd control and the crown jewel of the set. This power does the most damage of all of your attacks, so it'd be silly to pass up on this. Note, however, its crowd control capabilities are limited. Yes, it's a cone, but a very narrow cone. It takes a lot of practice to figure out how to hit more than one enemy, and those guys don't like to cooperate in letting you do that. Even still, it works awesome for whatever you plan on whacking. Enemies hit by it are very likely to get knocked back, usually down in front of you instead of out of reach. Headsplitter does have one serious flaw: the animation. Whereas sets like Katana and Martial Arts get pretty, flashy tier 9 attacks, Headsplitter is pretty darn meh. In my personal opinion, it looks more like a shoulder splitter. Slotting ideas: Pretty darn identical to Disembowel. Don't slot for knockback unless you like chasing your targets after hitting them. The amount it has is good enough for keeping an enemy off of its feet. -------------------------------------------- Super Reflexes' Powers -------------------------------------------- Ah, Super Reflexes, a much misunderstood power set by those with little knowledge or experience with it. While all the new players are running around with their shiny Regeneration, Willpower, and other earlier blooming defense sets, you'll be fighting tooth and nail to stay alive. Those unaware of SR's strength will think you're weak and may even laugh at you. But, once you start to bloom, everyone who laughed at you will be force to stare out your awesome mitigation prowress. This is, of course, not to say SR is the king of defense sets in the end or anything, it just blooms powerfully late game whereas in the early game you almost might as well not have a secondary. SR likes to take things slow with those who pick her. Stay faithful to her and soon enough she'll return the favors. However, beware of RNG, for he will every now and then step in and try to break you two apart. ... Ahem! Random romantic allusion aside, let's get to the powers... Focused Fighting Toggle: Self +Defense (Melee), Resistance (Confuse, DeBuff Defense) Available Level: 1 "You become more evasive to melee attacks while you have Focused Fighting activated. This will increase your Defense verses melee as long as it is active. Your focus also offers you resistance to Confuse effects and Debuffs to Defense." You don't have any say whether you get this or not. Fortunately, for a power you have no choice in, it's a good one. This is your primary source of melee mitigation. It's a toggle, so once you turn it on, it won't go away until you die or run out of endurance. However, it does take a small amount of endurance to keep running and will suppress if you get stunned, held, or slept. Focused Fighting also helps you with those defense debuffs and provides protection against the very rare Confuse status. Well, rare outside Mission Architect at least. On the rare occasion you fight a foe without melee attacks, like a Skull Buckshot, you can turn off Focused Fighting. Slotting Ideas: Get at least three slots onto it before you hit SOs. Once you hit SOs, putting three defense SOs into Focused Fighting will make a night and day difference in your survivability. Depending on your endurance, you may want to consider adding an endurance reduction in addition to those. Just bear in mind that your attacks are the big endurance suckers, not your toggles. Outside of IO sets, you probably won't need more than four slots in any of your toggles. Speaking of IOs, one thing you might want to consider putting somewhere is a Kismet +Accuracy, which isn't exactly what it says on the tin. It doesn't boost accuracy, it gives you an additional 6% chance to your to-hit rolls, which is quite nice. Focused Senses Toggle: Self +Defense (Ranged), +Perception, Resistance (DeBuff Defense) Available Level: 2 "You become more evasive against ranged attacks while you have Focused Senses activated. This will increase your Defense versus ranged attacks as long as it is active. Your improved senses also allow you to perceive stealthy foes as well as resist Defense Debuffs." Essentially the same as Focused Fighting, except for ranged attacks. Almost every enemy in the game has a single-target ranged attack, so you'll almost always need this on. Get it no later than level 4 and keep it running. Not only will it add additional cushion against defense debuffs, it also boosts your perception. The boost is enough to see everything in PvE that stealth's or tries to blind you. In PvP, it'll let you see anyone that isn't trying to stack stealth powers on themselves. In other words, virtually everyone else except PvP oriented Stalkers. Slotting Ideas: Same as Focused Fighting. Agile Auto: Self +Defense (Ranged), Resistance (DeBuff Defense), Resistance (Damage, Special) Available Level: 4 "You become innately more Agile, and are able to naturally avoid some ranged attacks and resist Defense Debuffs. Your Agility also grants you minor Damage Resistance to all damage except Toxic and Psionic. This Damage Resistance is only available as you lose Health but it improves as your HP declines. This power is always on, and will permanently increase your Defense versus ranged attacks." Your first auto power. Doesn't provide a big boost, but it's always on and doesn't cost endurance. You can put this power off a bit, but it's strongly recommended you don't skip it outright. The defense stacks with Focused Senses, making ranged attacks even less dangerous, and therefore allowing you to close with a foe more safely. It adds even more defense debuff resistance, protecting you some more from cascading defense failures. It also provides scaling resistance. You won't really notice it with just Agile, but with all three autos, it helps if your health gets low. Often you'll get taken from too high to too low or dead before resists really kick in. But, ironically, all three of the autos can make you more survivable at 30% health than at 50% health. Slotting Ideas: 3 defenses and nothing else. Agile takes nothing else and beyond that you don't need anymore defenses in it thanks to Enhancement Diversification. You can, however, put defense uniques in it and/or other auto powers and enjoy them permanently (or until you replace the enhancement or remove it during a respec). Practiced Brawler Self +Resistance (Knockback, Disorient, Hold, Sleep, Immobilize) Available Level: 10 "Your training has allowed you to become a Practiced Brawler, tuning you into a perfect fighting machine. You gain a resistance to Knockback, Disorient, Hold, Sleep, and Immobilization powers for a short duration." This is your mez protection ability, and it is a click. Theoretically, you can go without this power, but it'd be painful. Very painful. You can delay it for a little bit, but grab it before level 20 when mezzes really start to show up. Again, it's a click power, so it isn't always up without some slotting and/or global recharge. Slotting ideas: No more than two Recharge enhancements, only one if you enough recharge from other sources. Two recharge SOs plus Quickness should be enough to make it "perma", aka self-stacking. Just control click the power so it automatically fires whenever it's up. Bear in mind, it won't auto-fire if you're using an attack or have one queued. So, take advantage of the gaps you'll have in your attack chain to let it fire. Later on when you finally get a gapless chain, you'll have to pause to let it fire. Dodge Auto: Self +Defense (Melee), Resistance (DeBuff Defense), Resistance (Damage, Special) Available level: 16 "You have the ability to innately Dodge some melee attacks and you resist Defense Debuffs. Dodge also grants you minor Damage Resistance to all damage except Toxic and Psionic. This Damage Resistance is only available as you lose Health but it improves as your HP declines. This power is always on, and will permanently increase your Defense versus melee attacks." Agile for melee attacks, so it stacks with Focused Fighting instead. Delay it if you must, but don't skip it. It also stacks with your growing defense debuff resistance. Slotting ideas: Same as Agile. Quickness Auto: Self +Recharge, +Speed Available level: 20 "Your Quick reflexes allow you to move faster than normal, as well as resist slow effects. This power is always on and permanently increases your attack rate and movement speed." A very useful power. The only reason to put it off is to get Stamina, in which case you should get Quickness at 22. The main usefulness of getting Quickness is that it's essentially putting an extra recharge DO in all of your powers. For free and without ED. It's an incredibly useful power and not one you want to skip. It also boost your running speed and gives some resistance against slows. Note that you can take Quick, Swift, and use Sprint to make a ghetto travel power. Won't be as fast as real ones, but it's nice if your build is that tight. Slotting ideas: All Quickness takes is run speed enhancements. Therefore, do not put slots in it. Just stick a run speed enhancement in it if you want and put slots where they'll actually help you. Lucky Auto: Self +Defense (vs. Area of Effect), Resistance (Debuff Defense), Resistance (Damage, Special) Available level: 28 "Your superior reflexes make you seem incredibly Lucky. Lucky improves your Defense to Area of Effect attacks and grants you resistance to Defense Debuffs. Lucky also grants you minor Damage Resistance to all damage except Toxic and Psionic. This Damage Resistance is only available as you lose Health but it improves as your HP declines. This power is always on, and permanently increases your chance to evade area of effects and cone shaped attacks." Your auto area of effect power. It comes seven levels before your AOE defense toggle, so it's the first AOE defense available to you. It'll do a little bit to help with the gaping AOE hole in your protections, but it won't plug it. Even still, you'll want to get it at some point, ideally sooner. Of the three autos, it is the most skippable since it blocks the least common positional source. In PvP, it could be skipped entirely since AOEs and cones do less damage than usual in PvP. However, don't skip it if at all possible. It'll make your scaling resistances noticeable and helps you hit the golden number of 95% defense debuff resistance. Slotting ideas: Same as Agile and Dodge. Evasion Toggle: Self +Defense (vs. Area of Effect), Resistance (DeBuff Defense) Available level: 35 "You are Evasive against area of effect and cone shaped attacks. This power increases your Defense versus such attacks as long as it is active. Evasion also helps you resist Defense Debuffs." For such a much needed plug in your defense hole, Evasion is slightly lackluster in the fact it doesn't have an extra perk like Focused Fighting and Focused Senses do (Confuse protection and +Perception, respectively). Even still, you want this power ASAP. It'll finally solidify your defenses and, while active with all your toggles and passives (all slotted), will bring you to 95% defense debuff resistance one you slot, which will all but eliminate cascading defense failures. If endurance is an issue, however, consider turning it off when the opponents are not using AoE attacks. If you're speccing for PvP, Evasion may be skippable since AoE attacks are uncommon and weaker against other players. Slotting ideas: Amazingly, it's just like Focused Fighting and Focused Senses! I bet you weren't expecting that! Elude Self +Defense, +Speed, +Recovery, Resistance (Debuff Defense), +Special Available level: 38 "You can improve your reflexes, making yourself so quick you can Elude almost any attack, be it ranged, melee, or area of effect. Your running speed and jumping height and Endurance Recovery are also increased. Elude also grants you high resistance to Defense Debuffs. When Elude wears off, you are left drained of all Endurance and unable to Recover Endurance for a while." WARNING: Some old guides mention "perma-Elude". Note that making Elude permanent is no longer possible. So no, this power does not nullify the rest of SR. Elude is your tier 9 defense power, your "god mode" click. It's very powerful, as it will take you to the softcap without your autos or toggles. With them, you'll go even higher. For three minutes, you'll be nigh unkillable. Though, keep in mind, you don't get extra resistances or regeneration. So, if you pop it, you may want to get your life up just in case that heavy hit does come through. For the sake of making it clear, YOU CAN GET KILLED WHILE ACTIVATING OR UNDER THE EFFECTS OF ELUDE! Also, NON-POSITIONAL AND AUTO-HIT POWERS WILL STILL HIT YOU! Sorry for the caps, but I felt that needed to be clear. Now, while Elude is very powerful, it does come with a nasty crash. Once it wears off, all your endurance goes bye bye and your recovery shuts off, though blue inspirations still work. Conserve Power is nice to help you get back into the fight right after a crash. However, despite it's power, Elude is the most skippable power in PvE (in PvP, it's always useful). Not everyone likes the nasty crash at the end. Plus, if you soft-cap your defenses, it really does nothing to help you survive longer. Whether you get it or not is up to you, but if you aren't softcapped, it's really nice to have if you don't mind the crash. Slotting ideas: While Elude can be slotted for several things, all you really need is recharges. No more than three recharges so it can be up again as soon as possible. -------------------------------------------- Ancillary Power Pools -------------------------------------------- Once you hit 41, you get access to new, special powers. These, however, aren't that awesome for the most part, unlike for other ATs. Scrappers already have everything they need for the most part. However, APPs do have some nice perks. Scrappers have the options between Body, Darkness, and Weapon Masteries, the fewest choices of all ATs, unfortunately. For all APPs, the first two powers are unlocked at 41. The third (and fourth in Weapon) are unlocked at 44 if you took an APP at 41. The last comes at 47 if you have two APPs. Also note that all APP attacks cause redraw. ===Body Mastery=== Body Master has some nice utility powers and a couple of ranged attacks. Many people take it for the utility, particularly Conserve Power. If you're looking for ranged attacks and don't want the utility, I'd recommend either Darkness or Weapon Masteries. Conserve Power Self Endurance Discount "You can focus for a moment to Conserve your endurance. After activating this power, you expend less endurance on all other powers for a while." One of the most useful APP powers, Conserve Power makes all of your powers cheaper. If you have high enough recovery, this will give you basically infinite endurance while the power's effects are still on. Many players dip into Body Mastery just for this ability. Slotting ideas: Three recharges and nothing else. Focused Accuracy Toggle: Self +To Hit, +Perception, +Resistance(DeBuff ToHit) "When this power is activated, the Hero focuses his senses to dramatically improve his chance to hit. Additionally, Focused Accuracy increases your perception, allowing you to better see stealthy foes. It also grants you resistance to powers that debuff your accuracy. Focused Accuracy is a toggle power and must be activated and deactivated manually. Like all toggle powers, while active, Focused Accuracy drains endurance while active." A very powerful but expensive toggle, Focused Accuracy costs more endurance per second than your three defensive toggles combined. Also, note that Focused Accuracy was recently changed. Some of it's To-Hit was changed to Accuracy, making it less useful. It is still very useful, however. It also has +Perception to stack with Focused Senses, useful for hunting Stalkers in PvP. Slotting ideas: To-hit and certainly endurance reduction. If you're doing PvP, the To-Hit +Perception IO works well here if you don't take Tactics or stick it in Build Up. Laser Eye Beams Ranged, Moderate Damage(Energy), Foe: -Defense "You can emit Laser Beams from your eyes, dealing moderate energy damage. This attack can reduce the target's defense. You must be level 44 and have Conserve Power or Focused Accuracy before selecting this power." A decent ranged attack. When I had it I mostly used it to take out runners or flyers. It deals energy damage, which is a nice change from your pure lethality. Also, it debuffs defense, which will stack with hits from your Broadsword. Laser Eye Beams also look pretty cool too, though can be a bit concept breaking as well. Slotting ideas: Remember Hack? Yeah, that works here too, though has some different options such as a Hold Proc available to ranged powers. Energy Torrent Ranged (Cone), Minor Damage(Energy/Smash), Foe: Knockback "Energy Torrent unleashes a cone of powerful energy that can smash foes and possibly send them flying. You must be level 47 and have two other Body Mastery Powers before selecting this power." Energy Torrent is nice if your goal is to kill groups as fast as you can instead of individual targets. It's a mixture of Energy and Smashing, two types you don't have. It also can knock foes back, though the magnitude is low so it usually knocks them down instead. Slotting ideas: Similar to Slice and all, though there's no defense debuff component to take advantage of. You can grab knockback procs, however. ===Darkness Mastery=== Darkness Mastery has lots of ranged attacks and a pair of cones, as well as to-hit debuffs that indirectly stack with your defense. It's good for additional survivability and taking on larger groups all at once. Torrent and Tenebrous Tentacles work well with Slice and Whirling Sword for clearing crowds. The APP, however, is sorely lacking in utility outside of a hold that's not very useful in PvE. Torrent Ranged(Cone), Minor Damage(Negative Energy), Foe: -To Hit, Knockback "You summon a wave of mire that sweeps away foes within its arc. The attack deals minimal negative energy damage, but sends foes flying and reduces their chance to hit." The more useful and easily accessible version of Energy Torrent. Deals a rarely resisted damage type and also inflicts to-hit debuffs on all affected foes, which indirectly stacks with your defenses. If you want to kill groups as fast as possible and boost your survivability at the same time, Torrent works pretty well for that. Slotting ideas: Same as Energy Torrent, though you get to play with To-Hit Debuff IOs instead of knockback IOs. There's some interesting things you can do, like a recovery debuff or a to-hit buff. Petrifying Gaze Ranged Hold "Petrifies a single targeted foe with a terrifying gaze. The victim is held and defenseless." For PvE Petrifying Gaze isn't too helpful to a Scrapper. It's best use is for locking down runners or some of the more annoying minions and lieutenants (Immunes Surgeons, Malta Sappers, etc.) In both PvE and PvP, however, it can be used to detoggle offensive toggles, such as Hurricane, Radiation Infection, and Rise to the Challenge. Personally, I see this more as a PvP power, especially for BS/SR who lacks a mez for detoggling. Slotting ideas: Three hold, two accuracy, and one recharge/endurance reduction should do well enough for all but sets. Dark Blast Ranged, Moderate Damage(Negative), Foe: -To Hit "A long range blast of dark energy. Deals moderate negative energy damage and reduces the target's chance to hit. You must be level 44 and have Torrent or Petrifying Gaze before selecting this power." If you're looking for single target ranged attacks, Dark Blast is probably your best APP option. It's an exotic damage type that helps your survivability, instead of redundantly stacking -defense or dealing damage you already do. Slotting ideas: Same as Laser Eye Beams, except you can do -to hit instead of -defense. Tenebrous Tentacles Ranged(Cone), Moderate Damage(Negative/Smash), Foe: Immobilize, -To Hit "You can create a cone shaped rift to the Netherworld that allows its native creatures to slip their oily tentacles into our reality. These creatures will snare all foes within range, immobilizing them while the Tentacles drain their life and reduce their chance to hit. You must be level 47 and have two other Darkness Mastery Powers before selecting this power." Another damaging cone like Torrent but also immobilizes everyone caught in it. It works for keeping the mobs from scattering, which is nice for the AOE oriented members of your team or yourself so you don't have to chase them down. Mix with Torrent, Slice, Whirling Sword, and Headsplitter for your best possible AOE carnage. Slotting ideas: You can slot this for as purely an attack if you so choose, but increasing the immobilization duration isn't a bad idea either. Just make sure you have plenty of accuracy. ===Weapon Mastery=== Weapon Mastery has a mix of utility and damage through ranged attacks. In the past, it paled in comparison to the other two APPs simply because it wasn't that good. However, it now has a shiny new power that boosts it's utility. Because of what it has, this set is probably better for PvP than PvE. But, then again, that just might be my bias against the first two powers in the set. Web Grenade Ranged, Target Immobilize, -Recharge, -Fly "Upon impact, the Web Grenade expels a strong, tenuous, and very sticky substance that can Immobilize most targets. This non-lethal device deals no damage and does not prevent targets from attacking, although their attack rate is Slowed. The Web can bring down flying entities and halts jumping." If you're looking to stop a group of foes, Tenebrous Tentacles is far superior. Web Grenade, however, is better for stopping runners and can be stacked on bosses. It also doesn't require two powers to get. Even if the target resists your immobilization, it'll stop them from flying or jumping, minus a few instances. This is excellent in PvP because if they don't have Super Speed and you nail them with this, they're essentially a sitting duck for you. Slotting ideas: Immobilization and accuracy. Consider adding range for PvP so you can stop jumping and flying from farther away. Caltrops Ranged (Location AoE), Minor DoT(Lethal), Foe -Speed "You toss a handful of Caltrops at a targeted location and spread the tiny metal spikes over a large area. Any villains that pass over the Caltrops will be forced to move at a slower rate. They will also take some trivial Lethal damage over time." Caltrops would be very useful if it weren't for the fear effect. Throw it at an enemy and they'll try to run off of it, potentially away from you. One or two enemies is no problem, but it will scatter a group. You can, however, stack it with Web Grenade to slow foes even more. It also stops jumping, but keep in mind flying is unaffected. Slotting ideas: Recharge and maybe slow. The damage isn't worth slotting for, though I've heard of people using damage procs to make it pretty strong. Shuriken Ranged, Minor Damage(Lethal) "A classic small throwing weapon, you can throw Shurikens at a pretty fast fire rate. You must be level 44 and have Web Grenade or Caltrops before selecting this power." A ranged attack with no special effects that's weaker than Dark Blast and Laser Eye Beams. It also does a damage type you already do. Not really that great, though it fits conceptually with Broadsword than the other ranged attacks. Targeting Drone Toggle: Self +ToHit, +Perception, Res(DeBuff ToHit) "When this small device is activated, the small Targeting Drone hovers around your head and emits targeting laser sights. The lasers can dramatically improve your chance to hit and increase your Perception, allowing you to better see stealthy foes. Targeting Drone also grants you resistance to powers that DeBuff your chance to hit. Targeting Drone is a toggle power and must be activated and deactivated manually. Like all toggle powers, while active Targeting Drone drains endurance. You must be level 44 and have Web Grenade or Caltrops before selecting this power." An alternative to Focused Accuracy, though harder to get. It works in the exact same way as Focused Accuracy. A good utility power to pick up on the way to Weapon Mastery's final power. But, if you just want it for the utility and don't care for the rest of the set, get Focused Accuracy instead. Slotting ideas: Same as Focused Accuracy. Exploding Shuriken Ranged (Targeted AoE), Moderate Damage(Lethal) "This small throwing star is rigged to explode on impact. You must be level 47 and have two other Weapon Mastery Powers before selecting this power." The only ranged targeted AOE you can grab as a Scrapper (outside of Shield Charge, arguably), Exploding Shuriken is a bit easier to use than the cones from the other APPs. Just target the guy in the middle of the mob and throw it. Unfortunately, it deals lethal damage, which you already have plenty of. Slotting ideas: As this has no special effects, standard attack slotting is the way to go. -------------------------------------------- Generic Power Pools -------------------------------------------- You can have up to four generic Power Pools. Each one has four powers, with the first two available at level 6, the second at 14 so long as you have at least one from that pool, and the last at 20 so long as you have at least two from that pool. Four pools have travel powers and one of them is considered to be required by some players. You can get a lot of utility out of your extra power pools, but be aware any click power will cause redraw. ===Concealment=== The first of the PPs is one that really doesn't work well for a Scrapper. You're a Scrapper, you run in and hit things, not sneak in and backstab them. One of the powers doesn't work on you and two of them don't let you attack. You can also get stealth powers for free pretty easily, such as by doing PvP zone patrols. Personally, this is one of the more useless pools in the game, though it has its moments. They're just not Scrapper moments. Stealth Toggle: Self Stealth, +Defense (All), Self -Speed "You blend into your environment and can only be seen at very close range. Even if discovered, you are hard to see and have a bonus to defense to all attacks. If, however, you attack while using this power, you will be discovered and will lose your stealth and some of your defense bonus. While stealthy, your movement is slowed. Stealth will not work with any other form of concealment power such as Shadow Fall or Steamy Mist." Stealth would actually be useful for you if the defense didn't mostly suppress when you attack or got hit. It's handy for ghosting a mission, but that's really about it. Slotting ideas: Defense, no more than three slots if you even add any, which assumes you even take this power. Grant Invisibility Ranged, Teammate Stealth, +Defense (All) "Grants a targeted teammate invisibility. The invisibility lasts about two minutes. While your ally is invisible, he probably will not be detected unless he attacks a target. If he attacks, he is still hard to see and maintains some bonus to defense to all attacks. This power works with other concealment related powers." Handy for making an ally ghost a mission, but that's about it. Like Stealth, the defense suppresses when the ally is hit or attacks. Slotting ideas: If you're crazy enough to take this, consider endurance reductions so you can buff the team more cheaply and/or defense. I really wouldn't add slots, however. Invisibility Toggle: Self Stealth, +Defense (All) "You can bend light around yourself to become invisible. While this power is active, you are almost impossible to detect. While invisible, you cannot attack and can only use powers that affect yourself; however, you do have a defense to all attacks. You must be at least level 14 and have Stealth or Grant Invisibility before selecting Invisibility. This power will not work with other self-affecting concealment powers such as Stealth or Shadow Fall." It's essentially Stealth+. Except you can only affect yourself while using it, so no attacking. Slotting ideas: Same as Stealth. Phase Shift Toggle: Self Intangible "You can Phase Shift to become out of sync with normal space. Although you do not become completely invisible, you are translucent and hard to see. You are intangible, and cannot affect or be affected by those in normal space. Although this power is a toggle, you cannot remain phase shifted for more than 30 seconds, even if you still have endurance. Phase shift cannot be used with rest. You must be at least level 20 and have two other Concealment powers before selecting Phase Shift." A nice "Oh crap!" power, though you can pick Hyper Phase up from a Warburg patrol for free. You can't attack or be attacked while using it, so it's great for escapes. However, you can affect other phased targets, in PvE and PvP. Not a good reason to pick it up, however. Slotting ideas: Endurance reduction. ===Fighting=== The first half of the fighting pool is crap. The second half, however, is quite useful. So useful, in fact, many people will pick up this pool and put up with a wasted power pick for the last two powers. Those two powers are also beneficial to a SR Scrapper. Boxing Melee, Moderate Dmg(Smash), Foe Disorient "A decent punch that has a small chance to Disorient foes." It's weak and it causes redraw. It can stun, but that's about it. You can slot it creatively as an attack (or use it in PvP where it actually can hurt), but that may not be the best idea. Slotting ideas: Standard attack slotting, though you can play with stun enhancements and IOs. I wouldn't slot it, however. Kick Melee, Moderate Dmg(Smash), Foe Knockback "A modest kicking attack that has a small chance to knock opponents down." It's Boxing. Except it has a longer animation and may knock a foe back instead of stunning them. Slotting ideas: Standard attack slotting, though you can play with knockback enhancements and IOs. I wouldn't slot it, however. Tough Toggle: Self +Res(Smash/Lethal) "While active, you are tough and slightly resistant to Smashing and Lethal damage. You must be at least level 14 and have Boxing or Kick before selecting Tough." A decent skill, it gives you some resistances you otherwise don't have outside of scaling passives and is a resist all in PvP. The real reason for a SR to get it is to get to Weave. Then there's also the 3% Defense IO and the horribly expensive 3% Defense PvP IO that can be slotted in it, which is pretty darn significant. For you soft-cappers out there, Tough with the normal 3% defense IO is one of the powers many use to reach the soft-cap. Slotting ideas: The two IOs mentioned aside, three resistances and maybe an endurance reduction is the best course of slotting outside of sets. Weave Toggle: Self +Def(All), Res(Immobilize) "While active, you bob and weave, increasing your Defense to all attacks, as well as your resistance to Immobilize. You must be at least level 20 and have two other Fighting Powers before selecting Weave." Ignore the immobilization resistance, you shouldn't be getting immobilized with Practiced Brawler to begin with. Weave gives you defense to everything, which stacks with Super Reflexes nicely. For SR, it's the crown jewel of the pool. However, if you don't plan on softcapping, going for it just for defense probably isn't viable. Combat Jumping and Maneuvers are less costly to get. Slotting ideas: The same as your SR toggles. ===Fitness=== Controversial in whether it's needed or not among some, Fitness is a very useful pool for anyone. It's all auto powers and therefore costs no endurance. In fact, one power boosts your recovery. Swift Auto: Self +Speed "You can naturally run slightly faster than normal. This ability is always on and does not cost any endurance." Increases your run speed and stacks with Quickness. Use with that and Sprint for a ghetto travel power. Slotting ideas: All it takes is run and flight speed. Don't add more slots unless you just have to go as fast as possible. Hurdle Auto: Self +Jump Increase jump height. Faster than Swift, actually. Use it with Combat Jumping for a ghetto travel power. Slotting ideas: Same as Swift, except for jumping. Health Auto: Self +Regeneration, Resistance (Sleep) "You heal slightly faster than a normal person. Your improved health also grants you resistance to sleep. This ability is always on and does not cost any endurance. You must be at least level 14 and have Swift or Hurdle before selecting Health." A very useful power, as it makes you heal faster. Health is the first good power of of the set. However, where it really shines is at... Slotting ideas: Three healing enhancements. Or, if you really want some fun, Health can take three unique IOs: Miracle +Recovery, Regenerative Flesh +Regeneration, and Numina's Convalesce +Regeneration/Recovery. If you get all three, your performance will most certainly have a noticeable increase. However, be prepared to shell out lots of influence and/or merits... Stamina Auto: Self +Recovery "You recover endurance slightly more quickly than normal. This ability is always on and does not cost any endurance. You must be at least level 20 and have two other Fitness Powers before selecting Stamina." Bam! Suddenly, BS/SR doesn't seem as endurance heavy as it was before. Unless you plan to slot for a lot of endurance reductions, always team with people who can boost your recovery, or use Rest often, you want this power. Your life will get a lot easier. Slotting ideas: Three endurance modification enhancements. Worth noting is the Performance Shifter: Chance for +Endurance. It's not too pricy compared to Health's uniques and makes a significant difference. ===Flight=== The most common, and arguably the most fun, travel pool. With flight, you can go anywhere that doesn't have collision detection. It doesn't have that many tools useful to a BS/SR Scrapper. But, if you want to fly, here you go. Hover Toggle: Self Fly, +DEF(All) "For hovering and aerial combat. This power is much slower than Fly, but provides some Defense to all attacks, offers good air control, costs little Endurance, and has none of the penalties associated with Fly. Switch to this mode when fighting other flying foes. Hover also grants pseudo knockback protection; instead of getting knocked down and jumping back up, you just flip over in the air." Hover is a bit slow for a Scrapper, though now can be slotted to tolerable speeds. It gives some defense that stacks with Super Reflexes quite nicely, however. But if you use this for more defense, be prepared to drop some slots here. Slotting ideas: Increasing the fly speed and the defense is the way to go. To do that, you may need to invest up to six slots, however. Air Superiority Melee, Moderate Damage(Smash), Foe -Fly "This two-handed overhead melee attack can knock a flying target to the ground." Some people swear by this power. I don't, especially since it causes redraw and the damage is anemic compared to your primary attacks. It does, however, knock people out of the air and has guaranteed knock-up. No, not THAT kind of knock-up! Trust me, you can use this against Carnies without having to pay child support later. Slotting ideas: Standard attack slotting should be sufficient. Fly Toggle: Self Fly "Fly allows you to travel long distances quickly. If you attack a target while this power is on, your Flight speed will be temporarily reduced to Hover speed. Your top Flight speed increases with your Level. You must be at least level 14 and have Hover or Air Superiority before selecting Fly." Weeee, I'm as free as a bird! One of the more fun travel powers in the game, and also one of the slowest... and laziest. Fly is very fun, but it IS just a travel power. Hence, not much to say on it. Slotting ideas: If you slot it, fly speed and, if you use it in combat, endurance reductions. Group Fly Toggle: Team Fly, -ACC "You can endow your nearby teammates with Flight. Be mindful! Your friends will fall if you run out of Endurance or if they travel too far away from you. Group Fly travel speed is slower than Fly. Flying allies suffer from reduced Accuracy. You must be at least Level 20 and have two other Flight Powers before selecting Group Fly." Group Fly... Group Fly... Group Fly... As fun and awesome of a power as this is, the most use you'd probably get out of it is griefing your team, outside of a few specific instances. Slotting ideas: Endurance reduction, maybe fly speed. ===Leadership=== Outside of concept, Leadership isn't too helpful to a Scrapper. While many pools are affected by AT mods, Leadership is more so than other PPs. And Scrappers get one of the lowest values from all the powers in this pool of all the ATs. Even still, Leadership can be handy. Maneuvers Toggle PBAoE Team +DEF(All) "A good leader knows how to protect his team. While active, this power increases the Defense of yourself and all nearby teammates to all attacks." Probably the most useful power in the pool to you, Maneuvers will give you a modest boost to your defenses, which will bring you closer to the softcap. It also has the side benefit of affecting your allies, but for you that's just a convenient side-effect for this power. If you need more defense cheaply and don't mind another toggle, Maneuvers is a worthwhile choice. Slotting ideas: Defense, no more than three slots worth. And maybe an endurance reduction. Assault Toggle PBAoE Team +DMG Res(Taunt, Placate) "While this power is active, you and your nearby teammates deal more damage and are resistant to Taunt and Placate." A modest boost to your and your allies' damage. Not very significant for a Scrapper, I recommend Maneuvers instead for /SR or any defense based secondary. The Taunt and Placate resistance rarely comes into play in PVE, but could be useful in PvP. Slotting ideas: Damage, no more than three slots worth. And maybe an endurance reduction. Tactics Toggle PBAoE Team +ACC Res(Confuse, Fear) +Perception "While this power is active, your Accuracy and that of all your nearby teammates is increased. Your advanced Tactics also protect you and your team from Confuse and Fear effects, as well as your Perception so you can detect Stealthy foes." A useful power in that it makes you and your teammates hit more, though that's something good slotting can take care of. The mez resistances are, again, rare in PvE but may prove handy in PvP. The perception bonus in PvE will be redundant with Focused Senses, but will help with Stalkers when fighting other players. Slotting ideas: Accuracy and endurance reducers. The +Perception IO can be placed here for you PvP players. Vengeance Click Targeted AoE Team +DMG +ACC +DEF(All) Res(Effects) "The loss of a comrade enrages the team. When a teammate is defeated in combat, activate this power to grant you and your teammates a bonus to Accuracy, Damage and Defense to all attacks. A Vengeful team has no fear, and Vengeance protects you and your Teammates from Fear effects. It also gives you and your team great resistance to Sleep, Hold, Disorient, Immobilize, Confuse, Taunt, Placate and Knockback. This power does not stack with multiple castings." Vengeance is a rather nifty power, but takes some effort to get and should really only be taken as a filler. Since it doesn't stack, it's best to let the defender or another AT with a higher modifier use theirs. But if you do take it and nobody else has it, fire away when that Blaster goes down again. Slotting ideas: Recharge reductions and maybe some healing. ===Leaping=== The jumping travel powerset, Leaping is one of the more useful ones to a /SR Scrapper due to one power. The travel power also is pretty nice. The other two powers are a bit lackluster, at least for you. If you want as much defense as possible, however, you may want to delve into Leaping. Jump Kick Melee, Moderate Dmg(Smash), Foe Knockback "A good jumping kick attack that may knock foes back. Good if you are looking for another attack power." More like flip kick. It has a long animation and short recharge, making it almost permanent out of the box. It will, however, cause redraw and inflicts anemic damage. Strongly recommend not taking this power. Slotting ideas: Standard attack slotting should be sufficient if you actually do take this and slot it. Combat Jumping Toggle: Self +Jump, +Def(All), Res(Immobilization) "While active, Combat Jumping increases your Defense to all attacks, and adds resistance to Immobilization. Moderately increases your jump height and distance while providing good air control." The alternative to Jump Kick is made of win. Perhaps the cheapest toggle in the game, it will boost your defense, stacking with the rest of Super Reflexes and increase your combat maneuverability. Additionally, it can be combined with Hurdle for a decent ghetto travel power. This is a good power to take and the one I recommend if you go into Leaping. Slotting ideas: Three slots for defense, maybe more for defense uniques. Super Jump Toggle: Self Long Jump "While this power is active, you can leap great distances and heights, easily jumping over buildings and from rooftop to rooftop! If you attack a target while this power is on, you will temporarily be reduced to a normal jump height. You must be at least level 14 and have Jump Kick or Combat Jumping before selecting Super Jump." A nifty travel power, but tedious if you hate holding a key to do it. However, because it suppresses, you're better using Combat Jumping for fighting in PvE and using this to get around. In PvP though, it's strongly recommended more moving about the arena/zone as well as hitting fliers. Slotting ideas: Jump speed and, for combat, endurance reductions. I generally don't slot my travel powers beyond the default slot, but it's not always a bad idea. Acrobatics Toggle: Self +Res(Knockback, Hold) "While this power is active, you are very nimble and Acrobatic. You can avoid most Knockback effects and are resistant to Hold effects. You must be at least level 20 and have two other Leaping Powers before selecting Acrobatics." For you, this power is useless. While squishies and a few protective sets will get great mileage out of it, you have the far superior Practiced Brawler. Slotting ideas: For the sake of completeness, I'll go ahead and recommend endurance reductions for the random guy who reads this and still takes Acrobatics. ===Medicine=== The healing pool, it's more of a healing set than Empathy and Pain Domination proportionally. All but one power cannot be used on yourself, making this pool mostly useless to the Scrapper. However, Super Reflexes does like the one power you can use on yourself. Aid Other Close, Ally Heal "Heals a single targeted ally. This power is interruptible." The description says it all. Aid Other is fairly powerful with some slotting and is easy to use in mid-combat once your defenses are solid. The issue, however, would be finding slots to spare to this power. Not too bad of a pre-requisite power for the one you actually want, but you probably won't use it often. Slotting ideas: Healing, of course. Interrupt time reductions are also not a bad idea. Stimulant Close, Ally +Res(mez) "Frees an ally from any Immobilization, Sleep, Disorient, Hold, Fear or Confuse effects and leaves them resistant to such effects for a brief time. Protection will improve with multiple applications and as you advance in level. This power is interruptible." Does everything you want it to do without any slotting. It's essentially an interruptible version of Clear Mind, but not as good, of course. If you're going after Aid Self, this is the better choice if you don't want to slot a pre-requisite power. Good for helping out the squishier teammates who get mezzed if you have a moment to spare. Slotting ideas: Don't need anything but the base slot. Maybe an interrupt reduction in it. Aid Self Self Heal, Res(Disorient) "Allows you to heal yourself, you will also be wide awake and resistant to Disorient. This power is interruptible. You must be at least level 14 and have Aid Other or Stimulant before selecting Aid Self." This is the Scrapper's crown jewel of the Medicine pool. With solid defenses and slotting, you can heal yourself for a nice amount in mid-combat relatively easily. It's great for recovering after a big hit and making sure the next hit won't one-shot you. This is the whole reason to go into the Medicine pool. However, it's 4-second activation time is a bit of a pain. Slotting ideas: Slotting heals is obvious. Recharge reductions and maybe interrupt reductions are also good ideas. Resuscitate Close, Ally Rez "Revives a fallen ally, leaving him with full Hit Points, but no Endurance. The Resuscitated target will be protected from XP Debt for 15 seconds. This power is interruptible. You must be at least level 20 and have two other Medicine Powers before selecting Resuscitate." For the Scrapper-Who-Cares, you can take this to revive your teammates when they go down. If you're well slotted and the RNG doesn't hate you, you should be up to do it. However, I don't recommend taking this except as filler, something I almost did but grabbed Confront instead. Slotting ideas: Recharge and interrupt reductions are all you need. You should be able to get away with the base slot no problem. ===Presence=== In my opinion, this is the most useless pool in the game. Not to say it is useless, but it's not something I'd use. It has two taunts and two fears. You might could get some use, especially if you want to be a dedicated Scranker. Challenge Ranged, Targeted Taunt "Challenges a foe to attack you. Use this to pull a foe off of an ally in trouble or away from a mob of foes. Not as effective as a typical Scrapper Confront and Challenge powers. An Accuracy check is required to successfully Challenge a target." There's no reason to get this over Confront, as Confront is superior and always hits in PvP. Slotting ideas: If you absolutely must take it to spite me, accuracy and taunts are probably the way to go. Provoke Ranged (Targeted Area of Effect), Foe Taunt "This power attracts the attention of a foe and all those around him. Use this to pull several enemies off of an ally in trouble. Not as effective as a typical Tanker Taunt powers. An Accuracy check is required to successfully Challenge a target." If you dip into this pool, get this power over Challenge. It gives you a more Tanker style taunt, which is handy if you want to be a dedicated Scranker. If you get Confront as well, which probably isn't a great idea, you can decide whether you want one or several targets, which can be situationally helpful. Though if you get Provoke, I recommend skipping Confront. Slotting ideas: Accuracy first and foremost. After that, perhaps taunt enhancements. Intimidate Ranged, Foe Fear "You can threaten a single foe and cause him to helplessly tremble in Fear for a brief while. You must be at least level 14 and have Challenge or Provoke before selecting Intimidate." I can see this being potentially useful in PvP or for stopping runners in PvE, but it's not something I recommend. Fear is a lousy mez ability since it doesn't detoggle and the enemy can fight back if hit. On the other hand, it is very rarely resisted. But if you want Fear powers, you're probably going for the next power. Slotting ideas: Accuracies and fears are the way to go. Invoke Panic Point Blank Area of Effect, Foe Fear "This power causes sheer terror in all foes around you, causing them to tremble in Fear uncontrollably. You must be at least level 20 and have two other Presence Powers before selecting Invoke Panic." Since you're in the thick of things as a Scrapper, with some slotting this could provide decent mitigation, so long as AoEs aren't being tossed around, which they will be. I really don't recommend going for it, but if you're this far into the pool, you might as well. Slotting ideas: Same as Intimidate. ===Speed=== A popular power pool due to a very useful power and a travel power that's also fun to use. However, like other travel power pools, some of it's powers really aren't that helpful. Flurry Moderate Damage (Smashing) Foe Disorient (minor) "Unleashes a super fast Flurry of punches to pummel your foe. Flurry is so dizzying that it has a chance to Disorient the target." Very long animation time, redraw, and craptastic damage. Really no reason to get it other than the fact it actually looks pretty decent. Slotting ideas: I'd go with, you guessed it, standard attack slotting. Hasten Self +Recharge "You can reduce the recharge time of all powers for 2 minutes. Although Hasten does not cost any Endurance to activate, you can tire easily since your Endurance does not recover more rapidly. After Hasten wears off, you become tired and will lose some Endurance." One of the powers that everyone loves and some find mandatory. It gives a huge recharge bonus that stacks with Quickness. Broadsword really, really loves Hasten if you can hit it in, as it helps with the slow recharge. And if you hit "perma-hasten", then things should really improve for you. However, it isn't necessary. I currently go without it since all four of my pool choices are needed elsewhere, sadly. If only I had 500+ million influence to burn on that +3% defense PvP IO... Slotting ideas: Three recharges and nothing else. It takes nothing else either. Super Speed Toggle: Self +Speed (Minor Stealth) "You can run at super-human speeds! While running at such speeds, you are a blur, and many foes will not even notice you as you speed past them. If you attack a target while this power is on, you will temporarily be slowed to normal speed. You must be at least level 14 and have Flurry or Hasten before selecting Super Speed." A fun travel power that lets you zoom! Good for running away, closing distances, and generally getting around. It also has a small stealth component, letting you stealth missions if you so choose. It's also a very handy PvP travel power, usually combined with Super Jump for maximum combat mobility against other players. Slotting ideas: At level 50, two runspeed IOs will put you at the speed cap. If you want other stuff after that, endurance reductions are the way to go. Whirlwind Toggle: PBAoE, Foe Knockback "You spin around at an amazing speed to create a Whirlwind around yourself. Any foes that enter this Whirlwind will be tossed into the air. You must be at least level 20 and have two other Speed Powers before selecting Whirlwind." It knocks foes away from you. Since you fight in melee, it's counterproductive. Plus, Whirlwind is just plain silly. Most people I see using it are just trying to annoy other players. Slotting ideas: Endurance reductions if you feel so inclined to take this power. And if you really want to hurt yourself, slot knockback into it. ===Teleportation=== A fun pool, but not too useful for a Scrapper outside of traveling. It can pull foes or bring a slow teammate to you, things of that nature. Probably the least used travel pool. Recall Friend Zone-Range: Teleport Teammate "You can teleport one of your teammates to yourself. The target must be a teammate and can be selected from the team window. You can also rescue a fallen teammate who may be in a hostile location, as long as he is on the same map. Range is not infinite, but extremely long and can be enhanced. This power can be interrupted." Well, the description says it all. Please don't use it to grief your allies, as amusing as that may be. A good filler for helping your friends get around and for stealthing missions. Slotting ideas: Range or interrupt reduction. I don't recommend slotting outside the base slot. Teleport Foe Ranged, Teleport Foe "You can teleport a single foe directly next to yourself. A successful hit must be made in order to teleport the target, and some powerful foes cannot be teleported. This power can be interrupted." Primarily a minion and Lt. pulling power. Personally, I'd rather use Confront for pulling, if I'm pulling at all. It doesn't affect all foes and needs some good accuracy in it to work well. Slotting ideas: Accuracy and range. Maybe interrupt time and recharge as well. Teleport Ranged (Location), Self Teleport "You can teleport long distances. Teleport has no recharge time, and can be reactivated without pause, as long as you have endurance. You must be at least level 14 and have Recall Friend or Teleport Foe before selecting Teleport." A fun but hard to use travel power. Use it and BAM you're there! Excellent for escapes or popping into a mob. Though the near immobile hover at the end is rather annoying. Potentially the fastest travel power. Slotting ideas: One endurance reduction SO with Stamina should let you go long distances without exhausting yourself. Range IOs work really well as well. Team Teleport Ranged (Location), Team Teleport "You can teleport yourself and your nearby teammates to a targeted location. Teammates must be in close proximity to you. Team Teleport costs slightly more endurance than Teleport, but you can teleport your entire team for no additional cost. You must be at least level 20 and have two other teleportation powers before selecting Team Teleport." Like Group Fly, there just isn't a whole lot going for this one outside of amusement and griefing. Slotting ideas: Range and endurance reduction. -------------------------------------------- Frequently Asked Question -------------------------------------------- There is where a FAQ will be... as soon as I get some questions to answer. Hard for there to be frequently asked questions when, at the writing of this section, the guide is in its first edition and nobody else besides me had seen it yet... -------------------------------------------- Contact Info -------------------------------------------- Questions? Comments? Did I have incorrect information on something? Email me at TwilightPhoenix@gmail.com. Make sure to have something like "BS/SR Scrapper Guide" as the subject. Also, no attachments unless I am expecting one from you. Finally, hate mail will be ignored, deleted, and blocked. Also, let me know where you found the guide, especially if you are not on GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com). -------------------------------------------- Copyright Info -------------------------------------------- This guide is copyrighted and therefore subject to international copyright laws. GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com) are permitted to have it viewable as they do any other guide. Anyone else is not permitted to distribute it or use it on their website. If you wish to use it, contact me and we'll discuss. Please note that I will not let you use the current version, since I'll have to update this little section. All rights not explicitly permitted in this section are reserved.