A Soloist’s Guide to Dark Melee/Regeneration Scrapper:

The First 38 Levels in Issue 6

 

Dark Melee/Regeneration is, bar none, the most fun I’ve had playing City of Heroes. What the combination lacks in impressive damage numbers, ranged attacks, and defense, is more than made up for by the sheer effectiveness of the combination. I stumbled into this combination by reading a variety of guides; by nature, I tend to like blaster and controller types. I usually prefer to fight at a distance rather than the up front in-your-face style of game play that defines scrappers and tanks. When I read some scrapper guides for the heck of it, I became intrigued.

 

Many of the existing guides provide outdated information with how some of the powers work in Issue 6. In addition, the slotting advice that the older guides provide doesn’t reconcile with Enhancement Diversification. I’ll provide a little advice on how to level up, but there is no one right way, this is a pretty flexible combination.

 

Dark Melee Primary Powers:

I don’t like several of the Dark Melee primary powers that much. But there are a few key powers that make Dark Melee synergize really effectively with Regeneration, especially for a solo type player. None of the Dark Melee attacks are particularly spectacular in terms of damage, even with enhancements. But when combined with critical hits and Soul Drain at 26, you will occasionally get a spectacular hit.

 

Shadow Punch:

Power Level:        1

Endurance Cost:  4.37

Activation Time:   0.57

Recharge Time:   3

Range:                    5 (Melee)

Effects:                  1.39 Negative Energy

0.93 Smashing

2.33 Overall Damage

Also debuffs target accuracy: -5%

 

Shadow Punch is a basic attack; quick, decent recharge, not impressive in damage, particularly in the later levels. I don’t particularly like this power, mainly because the damage just doesn’t stack up well in the future. The Negative Energy component is good; most enemies will not mitigate it much. It does debuff the enemy’s accuracy and the debuffs stack with other Dark Melee attacks. There are alternatives, namely Boxing, Flurry, or even Siphon Life. I didn’t find any of the alternatives to fit really well with my play style, so I went with Shadow Punch. If you choose to take this, you will be using it regularly, even if the damage seems light later on. Fairly low endurance cost.

 

Smite:

Power Level:        2

Endurance Cost:  6.86

Activation Time:   0.97

Recharge Time:   6

Range:                    5 (Melee)

Effects:                  2.78 Negative Energy

0.89 Smashing

3.67 Overall Damage

Also debuffs target accuracy: -5%

 

Smite will be your mainstay single target heavy hitter. Quick activation, moderate recharge, moderate endurance, and good damage. Debuffs the enemy’s accuracy and the debuffs stack with other Dark Melee attacks.

 

Shadow Maul:

Power Level:        2

Endurance Cost:  8.53

Activation Time:   3.07

Recharge Time:   8

Range:                    5 (Narrow 5 Degree Cone)

Effects:                  4 ticks @ 0.75 Negative Energy

4 ticks @ 0.75 Smashing

6.0 Overall Damage

Also debuffs target accuracy: -5%

 

Shadow Maul has a moderate activation time, moderate recharge, good damage. The endurance cost is on the upper end of your primary attacks. This power requires a little bit of skill (or maybe a little bit of luck) in positioning to use effectively. You may find yourself trying to line up an attack to hit two or more enemies with the narrow cone and spending too much time instead of just attacking. When you get the hang of it, you’ll be hitting multiples on a regular basis. Just don’t get yourself pummeled too much trying to line up an attack! When attacking Clockwork’s, this power is particularly great at wiping out the little Gears that spawn when a boss dies. Use this power with care when you are up against a tough crowd. If you get hit with an alpha strike or are already really low on health, you might get into a situation where you’re sitting there watching the animation when you really need to pop a health inspiration. The down side to this attack is the activation time of 3 seconds. You are essentially frozen in place and it feels like a long time when you’re really taking a beating.

 

Touch of Fear:

Power Level:        8

Endurance Cost:  8.53

Activation Time:   1.17

Recharge Time:   15

Range:                    5 (Melee)

Effects:                  Single Target Fear and Accuracy Debuff

+20% Accuracy Bonus

Debuffs target accuracy: -5%

 

With an accuracy bonus of +20% to hit, Touch of Fear is obviously meant to sideline a boss while you work on the minions. It also debuffs the target as with most of the Dark Melee powers. It is not necessary in the first 30 levels, in my opinion, and besides, I like to focus on the boss first and take out the minions later. In PvP or sketchy situations later on, this power could help you and it should be revisited later in your career.

 

Siphon Life:

Power Level:        10

Endurance Cost:  11.96

Activation Time:   1.93

Recharge Time:   120

Range:                    10 (PBAoE)

Effects:                  2.78 Negative Energy

2.78 Overall Damage

Also debuffs target accuracy: -5%

Self Heal of 10%

 

Siphon Life is a matter of some debate. Many Dark Melee scrappers see this as an utter waste of a power, while others believe that the heal has merit even if the endurance cost and recharge are high. The heal is a rather paltry 10%, and although you can get this up to about 19% with slots, you also need damage, recharge, and endurance reducers to make it effective. I attempted to put this power as one of my three main attacks (in lieu of Shadow Punch) during a respecification test. After fighting enemies with it for about an hour at level 25, I found that I could basically function with it in solo. The heal does offset a little bit of the damage you take, and slotted with damage SO’s, the hit that the enemy takes is a little better than Shadow Punch. But the fights seemed a little longer and drawn out, even while hasted. I decided that it simply wasn’t worth it. If the damage was higher, the heal was higher, and recharge were lower, or any combination of the above, this might be an attack to pick as one of your three main attacks and forego Shadow Punch.

 

Confront:

Power Level:        12

Endurance Cost:  ?

Activation Time:   2.17

Recharge Time:   3

Range:                    80

Effects:                  Single Target Taunt

+20% Accuracy Bonus

 

Not much debate on Confront; skip it or roll a tank if you want to taunt enemies.

 

Dark Consumption:

Power Level:        18

Endurance Cost:  0.52

Activation Time:   1.03

Recharge Time:   180

Range:                    8 (PBAoE)

Effects:                  2.22 Negative Energy

2.22 Overall Damage

Self Endurance Restoration based on the number of enemies hit.

 

Dark Consumption is your first possible Point Blank Area of Effect attack. It doesn’t do much damage; on the other hand, the endurance cost is almost nothing. The main benefit is the endurance restoration. If you manage to hit 3 or 4 targets, your endurance will likely be fully restored from zero. Hitting 1 or 2 will still restore a decent amount. You will not find yourself using this very much in solo play if you pick it up. While in groups, you may find yourself using this often. You can get away with skipping this power and picking it up later on in the 30’s if you wish. It is not required and with your regeneration powers, you will not normally have endurance problems at level 18 when this becomes available because of Quick Recovery in the Regeneration power set.

 

Soul Drain:

Power Level:        26

Endurance Cost:  15.6

Activation Time:   2.37

Recharge Time:   180

Range:                    10 (PBAoE)

Effects:                  2.67 Negative Energy

2.67 Overall Damage

Accuracy and Damage bonus to self based on number of enemies hit.

 

Soul Drain is your second and last possible Point Blank Area of Effect attack (in the primary power set). It is also your Aim and Build Up rolled into one. The damage is not tremendous, but it is better than Shadow Punch and it can hit multiple targets. In the Dark Melee power set, this is a much have and plan on slotting it up. This will become your opening attack in groups of any significant size (3-5+). Slotted up with recharge and damage, you will give each enemy a good wack and boost your own accuracy and damage for about 15 seconds. You will take down sizable groups of yellows with a couple oranges in about 30 seconds with this power. Big groups of whites and blues are a walk in the park, keep your eyes open for big groups after getting the power.

 

Midnight Grasp:

Power Level:        32

Endurance Cost:  11.96

Activation Time:   2.07

Recharge Time:   15

Range:                    5 (Melee)

Effects:                  3.56 Negative Energy

10 ticks @ 0.28 Negative Energy

6.33 Overall Damage

Immobilizes Enemy

Also debuffs target accuracy: -5%

 

Midnight Grasp is your final primary power. It is not a wopper of an attack, but it fits in nicely with your other attacks. By the time you get this power you’ll be used to your three main attacks and working this one in will be refreshing. When slotted with damage enhancements the damage index is a very respectable 12+, although a good 40% is DoT. The accuracy debuff stacks along with all of your other attacks, and this power stops runners in their tracks so long as they are not a Boss. A lower level Boss might be paused by this, but an equal or higher level Boss will not be immobilized, though they will still take the DoT damage if it lands.

 

 

 

Regeneration Secondary Powers:

The hallmark of any good Regeneration Scrapper is zero downtime. This is why you’ll enjoy soloing with this combination; when you get done with a fight, you search for the next one immediately. Rarely will you be sitting around waiting for endurance or health to come back. With Enhancement Diversification and nerfing, the effectiveness of several of the Regeneration powers has been limited to some extent, but they are still quite effective.

 

Fast Healing:

Power Level:        1

Endurance Cost:  N/A

Activation Time:   N/A

Recharge Time:   N/A

Effects:                  Heal Rate +75% of Base

 

Well you don’t have any choice about taking Fast Healing, you’re getting this whether you like it or not. Slotted with 3 heal enhancements, it’s a pretty good heal rate boost. Prior to Issue 6, this power might have been ignored, but with Enhancement Diversification, this power becomes well worth slotting to 3 heals.

 

Reconstruction:

Power Level:        2

Endurance Cost:  10.40

Activation Time:   0.73

Recharge Time:   60

Effects:                  Heal 25% of total HP’s

Resist Toxic Damage, +25%

 

You don’t have to pick up Reconstruction immediately; I didn’t pick it up in the first 30 levels. On reflection, this power might have been beneficial in some of those “Holy Crap!” situations that crop up from time to time. It’s not going to save you if you’re totally overwhelmed and not trying to get away. But in close fights or team wipes where you’re the last one standing (and that will happen more than once), this power could buy you enough time to turn the tide of battle assuming you are actually doing enough damage to kill enemies quickly enough. If slotted with 3 recharge and 3 heals, you have the ability to do ~50% heal every 30 seconds or so. With Hasten, that drops down to every 23 seconds. So in the final analysis, you don’t need this power to succeed the early levels and you don’t necessarily need it later either. If you find yourself in situations where you are using up heal inspirations on a regular basis then this power is for you. One great use for this power is in a task force where you aren’t allowed to buy inspirations and find that you need to pop heals fairly often. It should be mentioned that the Resist Toxic of 25% will help you in the level 10-20 game when you are doing the Dr. Vahz sewer missions. In the later stages of your career, you will be running into Toxic again, so the 25% resist can be handy.

 

Quick Recovery:

Power Level:        4

Endurance Cost:  N/A

Activation Time:   N/A

Recharge Time:   N/A

Effects:                  Recover Endurance Rate +0.56 EP/second (base is 1.67 EP/second)

 

Quick Recovery is definitely a must have, but it’s not necessary to slot it up immediately. Slot it at your leisure or when you feel like you’re running low on endurance often. Because of Enhancement Diversification, you don’t want to put more than 3 slots total in this power. The only enhancement you can put in is Endurance Modification.

 

Dull Pain:

Power Level:        10

Endurance Cost:  10.40

Activation Time:   0.73

Recharge Time:   360

Effects:                  Heal 40% of total HP’s

Boost HP total by 40%

120 second duration

 

Some guides will suggest that you can put Dull Pain off until the later levels. Don’t. Get this at level 10 and slot it for 3 recharges as soon as possible. I got this power at level 10 and slotted it for recharge along side slotting Hasten with recharge. For tough solo fights where you’re going to hit a Red boss, a couple of oranges, and other minions, you want to hit Dull Pain and Hasten before diving in. Adds lots more hit points to your pool and automatically increases your heal rate because your heals and heal rate percentage boosts are based on your total pool of hit points. It also can be used after a fight has started to give you a heal in addition to the hit point boost. This power makes a huge difference between rolling over a group of red enemies like a freight train and panic-popping a bunch of heal inspirations to get through the fight. The difference is night and day and you will quickly rely on Dull Pain before going into any tough fight.

 

Integration:

Power Level:        16

Endurance Cost:  0.24/second

Activation Time:   3.10

Recharge Time:   10

Effects:                  Total Heal Rate increase of 150% (50% can’t be enhanced)

Boosted Protection from Hold, Sleep, Disorient, Knockback and Immobilize effects.

This is a toggle power.

 

You must acquire Integration at level 16 and slot it to 3 heals at level 17. This is simply the best power of the set. The endurance drain is minimal, so keep this toggle up at all times. You will notice yourself NOT being disoriented, knocked back, immobilized, etc. A red or purple might get one in and immobilize you (or what ever) for a few seconds, but most times the effect simply won’t take hold on you.

 

Resilience:

Power Level:        20

Endurance Cost:  N/A

Activation Time:   N/A

Recharge Time:   N/A

Effects:                  Boosts Damage Resistance to Lethal, Smash, and Toxic by 5.62%.

                                Minor resistance to Disorient.

 

Resilience essentially lowers the amount of smashing/lethal/toxic damage you will take by 5.62%. Also adds a little resistance to Disorient effects which might help after a Revive. Doesn’t cost any endurance and adding slots doesn’t do much for you, so you can grab this, then use the next level to slot something else. This power isn’t critical at level 20 and it can be safely skipped until later, perhaps. In fact, if I were to go down the Reconstruction route, I might have picked that up around the time that this power was available. Because of Enhancement Diversification, you don’t want to put more than 3 slots total in this power. The only enhancement you can put in is Damage Resist.

 

Instant Healing:

Power Level:        28

Endurance Cost:  10.40

Activation Time:   1.17

Recharge Time:   650

Effects:                  Total Heal Rate increase of 800% (600% can’t be enhanced).

90 Second duration

 

Instant Healing is a contentious power for regeneration Scrappers of all types. It used to be a toggle that ate up horrendous amounts of endurance and had a longish recharge time. It was changed to a 90 second duration heal rate boost with a huge recharge time. The endurance cost isn’t bad, nor is the activation. However, the recharge is extreme at almost 11 minutes. 3-slotted with recharge reduction, you can get the time down to ~5 minutes with Hasten, but it’s still a long time. So the crux of the problem is the wait. Are you going to try and hold up a group waiting for it? No. So are you going to wait to use it when all hell breaks loose and the team is collapsing like a wet taco? Maybe, but it probably won’t save you, even if it was a 2000% heal rate boost. You want this power for the situational tough group encounter or when you are going to fight a tough crowd solo. You want to start this power before you’re in trouble, not after. I think this is a good power that simply has too long a recharge associated with it. Pick it up at your discretion. If you want a butt saver when you’re in trouble, Reconstruction might work better for you at this point. If you’re interested on taking on reds, purples, and otherwise pushing the envelope (and willing to wait out the recharge time or play around with lower stuff until its ready), then this power is for you. I’ve found that using this power along with Hasten and Dull Pain, you can take on a group of red bosses with orange minions without too much trouble. You will take some huge damage, so always have those heal inspirations, Reconstruction standing by, or use Touch of Fear to sideline one of the bosses.

 

Revive:

Power Level:        35

Endurance Cost:  0

Activation Time:   4.33

Recharge Time:   300

Effects:                  Revives self, half hit points, no endurance, and disoriented.

 

I’ll just say that Revive seems like a waste of a power slot to me, but might be useful in PvP. I rarely ever die while soloing or in a group, so there just isn’t much need for this power.

 

Moment of Glory:

Power Level:        38

Endurance Cost:  2.60

Activation Time:   2.57

Recharge Time:   1000

Effects:                  Lowers HP to 25% of normal

Resist all (but psionics) +40% (might be +80%)

Defense +80% to all (but psionics and toxic)

Boosted Protection from Hold, Sleep, Disorient, Knockback and Immobilize effects.

 

 

Moment of Glory should be experimented with on lower level enemies until you become familiar with its effects. Your hit points are reduced to 25% of normal and your healing abilities are squelched during the time this power is active and for a little while after it ends. But when slotted with one defense and two damage resistance, you virtually hit the caps on defense and avoid over 50% of all damage, except psionics. It’s a risky proposition and many find that it’s not worth picking this power up or they respec out of it after they try it out. If you slot this one up, 3 slots are reserved for recharge since you’ll be waiting around for 16 minutes, 40 seconds otherwise. One slot for Defense and one slot for Damage Resistance is all you’ll need beyond the recharge. Do not use this power when battling psionic or toxic creatures unless you can force melee attacks. This can be achieved, but requires skill and situational awareness. Moment of Glory isn’t for everyone, and you can certainly get by just fine without it. In fact, by the time MoG is available your Scrapper is already a pretty well defined killing machine.

 

 

Power Pools:

Concealment: Pick up this pool if you want the defenses afforded by Stealth and the utility of Invisibility. Phase Shifting later in the game might help you get out of bad situations. If you intend trying to boost up your resistances and defenses as much as possible, consider the Fighting pool also for Tough and Weave.

 

Fighting: One potentially viable bypass to Shadow Punch is Boxing. You will be foregoing the Negative Energy damage which is rarely resisted and the accuracy debuff that comes in handy. But you will be have a quick punch and be setting yourself up for Tough and Weave. This pool is not any kind of requirement and damage resistance or defenses provided by Tough and Weave are not necessarily of great value to a Regeneration Scrapper. For a defensive build, particularly for PvP play, Tough at least, is a requirement.

 

Fitness: With Enhancement Diversification Health is worth a second look. Assuming you want this pool, you are probably after Stamina because you’re planning on future toggles or you feel like you run low on endurance too often. Older guides would say that that picking up Health is a waste. Well Swift comes in handy, but Hurdle will only be of value if you didn’t select the leaping pool. So if you have Combat Jumping and Super Jump, I can’t see a good reason to pick up Hurdle instead of Health. Pick up Health and leave it at the one slot heal which will give you an extra 30% heal rate boost, it’s negligible, but it’s certainly not going to hurt.

 

Flight: Most Dark Melee Regeneration scrappers pick this up for Air Superiority, primarily as a replacement attack for Shadow Maul. Shadow Maul has that 3 second activation time that can be annoying or lethal to a PvP player. Other than picking up Air Superiority for PvP, I don’t recommend this pool.

 

Leadership: For a team oriented Scrapper with slots to burn on endurance reduction, I think this is a fine set of powers. For the soloist, forget it, it’s simply not worth it.

 

Leaping: Highly recommended, Combat Jumping, then Super Jump as your travel power. In-doors or out-doors, you can get out of bad situations fast with this power pool. Maybe get Acrobatics near the very end of leveling when you’ve got all of the critical powers.

 

Medicine: Not worth the trouble; this pool is simply unnecessary for a soloist regeneration Scrapper. If you want every possible healing power you can get your hands on, then maybe this fits your hero’s theme.

 

Presence: Are you kidding? Avoid this pool like the plague.

 

Speed: You pretty much got to have Hasten. Pickup Super Speed if that type of travel is your thing (I prefer Super Jump). Flurry is another potential replacement to Shadow Punch. I tested it out during a respec test and it works out quite well. In the end I found that the fights seemed a little too slow for my taste and stuck with Shadow Punch. If Flurry had the same 5 degree cone that Shadow Maul has, I would not hesitate to take it in lieu of Shadow Punch. As it is, it has a slow activation time and the disorient effect seems too rare. It’s also 100% smashing damage which will be mitigated by lots of enemies later on. Whirlwind is useless for a Scrapper.

 

Teleportation: For the team player, it’s helpful. For a soloist Scrapper, I wouldn’t bother. When you’re on a team let someone else do the porting, you worry about dealing damage and not needing healing. Teleport Foe might come in handy under certain conditions, but it would be of rare value. The Teleport self power is too complicated to save your bacon. Instead, turn on Super Jump and leap away or behind an obstacle.

 

Ancillary Pools

Ancillary pools are available at level 41 and are beyond the scope of this guide. However, none of them are required and only Focused Accuracy when slotted fully with 3 endurance cost reduction and 3 accuracy enhancements looks particularly attractive. All other powers in the ancillary pools are nice to have but not of tremendous value.

 

 

Builds and Slotting

No matter how good a class combination can be; crappy power and slotting decisions can gimp you to the point that you will give up on it. That is pretty hard to do with a Dark Melee Regeneration Scrapper, but not impossible. I’m going to give advice based on soloing most of your way to 35. You will still be VERY effective as a team member, and when you find yourself on a team that is in over it’s head, you will often find yourself to be a sole survivor. Yes, it feels good not to pick up debt, although sometimes I almost feel guilty.

 

The build below is a very balanced approach, but for an aggressive play style. The enhancements are fairly evenly spread out in terms of when to slot. You will notice that there are three attacks from levels 1-4, and those are the only attacks slotted up for damage until Midnight Grasp at level 32/33. Those are all the damage you really need to be able to do. The rest of the slotted powers are about healing, recharge, or regeneration.

 

---------------------------------------------
01) --> Shadow Punch==> Acc(1)  Dmg(15)  Dmg(15)  Dmg(19)  Rechg(25)  Rechg(31)
01) --> Fast Healing==> Heal(1)  Heal(9)  Heal(9)
02) --> Smite==> Acc(2)  Dmg(3)  Dmg(3)  Dmg(13)  Rechg(23)  Rechg(23)
04) --> Shadow Maul==> Acc(4)  Dmg(5)  Dmg(5)  Dmg(13)  Rechg(21)  Rechg(21)
06) --> Hasten==> Rechg(6)  Rechg(7)  Rechg(7)
08) --> Quick Recovery==> EndMod(8)  EndMod(19)  EndMod(25)
10) --> Dull Pain==> Rechg(10)  Rechg(11)  Rechg(11)
12) --> Combat Jumping==> DefBuf(12)
14) --> Super Jump==> Jump(14)
16) --> Integration==> Heal(16)  Heal(17)  Heal(17)
18) --> Dark Consumption==> Rechg(18)  Rechg(31)  Rechg(31)
20) --> Resilience==> DmgRes(20)
22) --> Swift==> Run(22)
24) --> Health==> Heal(24)
26) --> Soul Drain==> Rechg(26)  Rechg(27)  Rechg(27)  Dmg(34)  Dmg(34)  Dmg(34)
28) --> Instant Healing==> Rechg(28)  Rechg(29)  Rechg(29)
30) --> Stamina==> EndMod(30)  EndMod(37)
32) --> Midnight Grasp==> Acc(32)  Dmg(33)  Dmg(33)  Dmg(33)  Rechg(37)  Rechg(37)
35) --> Reconstruction==> Heal(35)  Heal(36)  Heal(36)  Rechg(36)
38) --> Moment Of Glory==> Rechg(38)
---------------------------------------------

 

There are alternative routes that may be even more survivable. You could skip a power like Resilience and go with Reconstruction at that time instead. To make Reconstruction effective, you will need to slot it up and those slots take away from your other healing or attack powers. You could skip on Quick Recovery for awhile and go with something else since you won’t necessarily have a ton of toggles to worry about. If you skip Quick Recovery, you may find that you have more down time between battles unless you stay well stocked with Breathers. With the build above you will not normally have endurance problems, when you do, it will because of some very tough team battles or you are fighting enemies that drain your endurance.

 

I’m not much of a PvP’er, but if I was, I would respec this into a much different looking build. I’d pick up Tough and Weave for sure and probably get rid of Shadow Maul in favor of Air Superiority and/or Boxing.

 

There are a few critical powers and slotting musts:

 

Your main attack powers: Prior to Enhancement Diversification anyone would have said to go with 1 accuracy and 5 damage. In issue 6 your best bet is 1 accuracy, 3 damage, and 2 recharge. What you lack in the big number hits, you make up for by attacking with greater frequency.

 

Hasten, Dull Pain, and eventually Instant Healing: These powers are used in two situations (normally). While solo, you come across a sizable group of orange, red, and even purple enemies, including bosses, so you prepare for the fight by activating all of these in order. Then dive in and let the carnage begin. While in a group, you are going up against an Arch-Villain, Elite Boss, or some other tough situation. Just before the battle begins, you activate all of these powers in order. While taking out blue/white/yellow street trash don’t waste the use of these powers, activate them when you’re in for a tough fight and you know you’re going to get hammered. Slot these for recharge, you want to get them back up ASAP.

 

Integration: As soon as you get this at level 16, enhance it with a Heal and add 2 slots for Heal at 17. It can not be stressed enough how important this power is.

 

Soul Drain: Slot for Recharge ASAP. The AoE Damage is nice and later in the 30’s you will want to slot in damage. But the immediate need is for it to be available at all times before a battle. This will become your opening attack against any group of 3+. With just 1 or 2 enemies or green/blue enemies, don’t bother. When attacking a group of 8 or more, the damage numbers you put up after this opener will amaze you. One shot kills are frequent, you can take down a group of whites in seconds. You’ll spend more time chasing them down than attacking. So much the better if there is a Boss in the group that is orange, red or purple. A red or purple boss with lots of yellow or orange minions is probably my favorite group types to attack.

 

 

Dark Melee Tactics

In the early levels you’ll have difficulty with large groups, I recommend taking on smallish groups until you feel really comfortable with the play style. You are getting pummeled regularly, but you’re able to affect the accuracy of what ever you are attacking and regenerate health fast enough to avoid seeing your health bar in the red most of the time. Keep well stocked in heal inspirations, never ever go in to a solo fight against oranges and above without heal inspirations unless you like visiting the local hospital on a frequent basis. You may get away with it once or twice, but you will be worshiping the debt God soon.

 

When attacking a small group of 2 or 3 enemies, make your approach so that 2 enemies that are close together are lined up with you. This way, when you attack the nearest enemy with Shadow Maul, you stand a good chance of having the other nearby enemy take damage in the narrow cone. For timing reasons, your opening attack should be Shadow Punch or your alternative attack, avoid Shadow Maul as an opener. Once you are sure the lined up enemies are in Melee distance, then use Shadow Maul.

 

Once you have Dull Pain and Haste, you are really open to taking on tougher encounters. Once you have your travel power, hopefully Super Jump, you are at the point where you can take on the risky solo situations and jump or speed your way out of disaster. When you get Integration, the levels will fly by, the lower 20’s especially. In fact they may fly by so fast that you don’t get every slot in SO’s before you’re 25/26. Don’t panic, things slow down soon enough and if you’re doing so well without SO’s, why worry?

 

Once you get Soul Drain and Instant Healing, you are going to start finding out that there are enemies out there that are problematic. A group of Red/Orange Tsoo Sorcerers with Ink Men around will put you in the hospital pretty fast. You will have to start picking your fights a little more carefully, but find the right area to work and you can rack up a full load of enhancements to sell every ten minutes or so. You will be able to fully stock yourself in SO’s in no time at all. You’ll spend a lot of time finding the nearest store to sell at and upgrading your enhancements.

 

Speaking of selling enhancements, sell them at the correct store and get the best selling price. You knew that already, right? My favorite place in the 30’s to solo was Brickstown, then when you’re loaded with enhancements, hop on the Green Line to Talos Island where the shops are pretty close together. You’ll get into a regular routine and when it comes time to buy a new wave of SO’s to replace your old ones at level 32/33 and 37/38, you will have millions of influence to do it with.

 

 

Parting Shots

The most debt I’ve ever had with this build at any given time is one death worth. Soloing never took me more than an hour at the upper end of levels to get out of debt. The primary causes for deaths were fighting new enemies that I wasn’t sure about and biting off more than I could swallow. Most of the times I get into such situations, I would simply jump away, but sometimes the debuffs (movement speeds, etc) or an alpha strike would waste me too quickly. 99% of the time you won’t be in debt. Dark Melee/Regeneration is a great first character because you can build up and pass the influence down (with help) to your alternate characters. It is also a simple fighting style, what could be easier that walking up to a group, taking a beating, and still killing them all?

 

I highly recommend the “CoH_CoV Character Builder” by Jay Teague available at http://home.comcast.net/~SherkSilver/index.html. It is up to date as of Issue 6 and very easy to use.