Head

Two sockets give you the greatest possibility for statistic gain over anything else. A Health crystal gives +150 Health, while a Health V technique gives 20. Therefore, it's always best to utilize sockets when you can.

The only contest to the sockets would be Razor Teeth V. Razor Teeth is not useful overall - its bonuses are not as noticable as Piercing Winds.

When considering quested technique kits, you also have Sigil of Ascent and Fiery rose Quartz Shard. Sigil of Ascent is a defensive option that gives protection against slows, but it's after a good handful of quests and requires a biped crafter.

Fiery Rose Quartz applies a small Burning DoT on ranged and melee attacks, which outdamages both Tooth and Claw and Strength crystals, but as it's a quest kit, it's not recommended immediately. Since it's Tier 2, it's easy to get, so I would still rcommend it.

Wing

I always strongly suggest making a travel scale set and a battle scale set when it comes to velocity / speed techs. Scales can be swapped in and out with a hotkey, allowing for quick adjustments when entering a battle.

That being said, Tooth and Claw V and Piercing Winds were chosen as they would give the most notable effect to damage overall. +50 Strength (total) would give about 3 damage per hit, while two Piercing Winds kits reduces Galewind's recycle by half which is not anything to shake a stick at. Additionally, the kit adds +50 DPS to Galewind total, which is a huge boost to the ability's damage.

Chest

Two sockets give you the greatest possibility for statistic gain over anything else. A Health crystal gives +150 Health, while a Health V technique gives 20. Therefore, it's always best to utilize sockets when you can.

That being said, chest scales have a massive selection of technique kits to choose from. While they are individually useful, I have them not listed as the recommended because they are locked behind a long grind, which isn't the purpose of this 'quick set' lineup. However, their effects aren't something to shake a stick at and could be useful to certain people who want to put the time into grinding for them.

Foreleg

Two sockets give you the greatest possibility for statistic gain over anything else. A Health crystal gives +150 Health, while a Health V technique gives 20. Therefore, it's always best to utilize sockets when you can.

Additionally, foreleg scales have no 'good' technique kits for increasing your DPS or survivability in most situations that are easily achievable enough for this list. Some of you are screaming about the Myloc Veteran Rune - this is a very, very good technique, but it is locked behind the Dralnok's Doom quest and requires a biped crafter.

As you can technically buy it, I'll still mention it as an alternative, but note that it may take a bit of effort to achieve.

Statistic techniques are a straight downgrade on this scale unless you go for Dragon's Breath, which is useless and thus also a downgrade.

Back

The back scale doesn't allow for many techniques on it, so you are quite limited on what you can choose. The only regular techniques it takes is Health and Dragon's Breath, the latter of which is useless.

From a short questline, you can obtain Bone Lacing, which is a relatively useful technique that reduces incoming damage from Undead. However, since it requires a quest, it is not the displayed 'recommended' item here.

Hindleg

The hindleg scales can take three techniques, and simply said, these two will affect your DPS more than mixing Dexterity in would. Naturally, you can always use Dexterity instead of Strength or Tooth and Claw, preferably the former. It will lower your DPS output, though, so be aware.

Tail

Much like your back scale, your tail scale has extremely limited variation in terms of its techniques - Dragon's Breath or Health. For technique kits, the Dragon tail techniques are quite powerful when using Tail Whip so, naturally, Dragon's Breath being useless, you will want the technique kit.

You can go between either the Tail Blade or Tail Axe tech kits. I personally recommend the Tail Blade in general use. Broken down into numbers, the Tail Blade is a 7.7 DPS increase. The Tail Axe is an 8.3 DPS increase. While the Tail Axe is better in terms of DPS, it procs in one large burst and rather rarely for a 30-second recycle ability. The Tail Blade is more noticable in open world combat. So while the Axe is 'better', it's more useful for monsters with high health where it actually has a chance to proc.

Claw

Without diving into epic weapons, this sort of setup for your claw is likely going to be well-rounded. Out of all of the applied claw techniques, Andorr's Ironwood Shaft takes a straight lead - it adds +14 DPS, which is the most valuable addition anything can give you. However, it's a quested technique, so a close second is Battle-Forged V with +10 DPS and +50 Tooth and Claw. While the other tech kit variations are helpful in their own way, I won't be listing them here as there would be far too many.

Your sockets would be best filled with the Fangs of Fury and Strength if you are a Lunus. Helians without the FoF crystal would likely benefit more from a defensive crystal like a Health boost.

Two sockets give you the greatest possibility for statistic gain over anything else. A Health crystal gives +150 Health, while a Health V technique gives 20. Therefore, it's always best to utilize sockets when you can. Prioritize Primal over Power when you can as the boost to your attack skill provides more overall damage output than to your power stat alone, but it is extremely minimal.

While you can technique this head scale with Power, the +25 Power gives a bit less damage than the +33 Primal and far less than the +65 Power.

I always strongly suggest making a travel scale set and a battle scale set when it comes to velocity / speed techs. Scales can be swapped in and out with a hotkey, allowing for quick adjustments when entering a battle.

That being said, Primal V and Piercing Winds were chosen as they would give the most notable effect to damage overall. +50 Power (total) would give about 3 damage per hit, while two Piercing Winds kits reduces Galewind's recycle by half which, as a Primal based ability, scales well on a caster. Additionally, the kit adds +50 DPS to Galewind total, which is a huge boost to the ability's damage.

In short, Piercing Winds would outscale Power.

Chest

Two sockets give you the greatest possibility for statistic gain over anything else. A Health crystal gives +150 Health, while a Health V technique gives 20. Therefore, it's always best to utilize sockets when you can.

That being said, chest scales have a massive selection of technique kits to choose from. While they are individually useful, I have them not listed as the recommended because they are locked behind a long grind, which isn't the purpose of this 'quick set' lineup. However, their effects aren't something to shake a stick at and could be useful to certain people who want to put the time into grinding for them.

Foreleg

Two sockets give you the greatest possibility for statistic gain over anything else. A Health crystal gives +150 Health, while a Health V technique gives 20. Therefore, it's always best to utilize sockets when you can.

Additionally, foreleg scales have no 'good' technique kits for increasing your DPS or survivability in most situations that are easily achievable enough for this list. Some of you are screaming about the Myloc Hierophant Rune - this is a very, very good technique, but it is locked behind the Dralnok's Doom quest and requires a biped crafter.

As you can technically buy it, I'll still mention it as an alternative, but note that it may take a bit of effort to achieve.

Statistic techniques are a straight downgrade on this scale unless you go for Dragon's Breath, which is useless and thus also a downgrade.

Back

The back scale doesn't allow for many techniques on it, so you are quite limited on what you can choose. The only regular techniques it takes is Health and Dragon's Breath, the latter of which is useless.

From a short questline, you can obtain Bone Lacing, which is a relatively useful technique that reduces incoming damage from Undead. However, since it requires a quest, it is not the displayed 'recommended' item here.

The hindleg scales can take three different techniques, and simply said, these two will affect your DPS more than mixing Focus in would. Naturally, you can always use Focus instead of Power or Primal, preferably the former. It will lower your DPS output, though, so be aware.

Much like your back scale, your tail scale has extremely limited variation in terms of its techniques - Dragon's Breath or Health. For technique kits, the Dragon tail techniques are quite powerful when using Tail Whip so, naturally, Dragon's Breath being useless, you will want the technique kit.

You can go between either the Tail Blade or Tail Axe tech kits. I personally recommend the Tail Blade in general use. Broken down into numbers, the Tail Blade is a 7.7 DPS increase. The Tail Axe is an 8.3 DPS increase. While the Tail Axe is better in terms of DPS, it procs in one large burst and rather rarely for a 30-second recycle ability. The Tail Blade is more noticable in open world combat. So while the Axe is 'better', it's more useful for monsters with high health where it actually has a chance to proc.

The Scale of the Grand Magus tech kit is rewarded from a very simple questline so I will mention it here, but again as this is a no-quest guide, it's not the recommended item.

Without diving into epic weapons, this sort of setup for your claw is likely going to be almost the best. Out of all of the applied claw techniques, Deadly takes a straight lead - it adds +15 DPS to spells, which is the most valuable addition anything can give you. As most other tech kits only affect melee, you've little in the way of variations if you are looking for something different.

Your sockets would be best filled with the Primal Rage if you are a Helian; its effects are beautiful for casters - lowering delay and recycle with a chance to boost your power and primal for 15 seconds, plus additional flat primal boost. Lunus without this crystal would likely benefit more from a Health crystal.

For both factions, however, the crystal Flamestone of Drulkar is very powerful. It is quest rewarded, but it gives a straight 50 Prmal and its flame DoT effect, Drulkar's Displeasure, does a ton of damage. With the cast speed of Drain Bolt, it procs more often than you think.

Head

The Sigil of Ascent protects you from slowing attacks nearly indefinitely. It's a useful effect, especially against monsters that enjoy debuffing you. However, if you want more damage, you can swap it out for a socket and socket a Strength crystal or, potentially, Galt's Lucky Stone.

The Fiery Rose Quartz Shard gives melee and ranged attacks a small chance to apply burning. On a melee character, this ended up adding approximately 16DPS overall, which is pretty nice. Of course, this will be lower in the open world due to resistances and armor.

Razor Teeth, in comparison, is not useful, as it works on Bite only.

Wing

I always strongly suggest making a travel scale set and a battle scale set when it comes to velocity / speed techs. Scales can be swapped in and out with a hotkey, allowing for quick adjustments when entering a battle.

That being said, Tooth and Claw V and Piercing Winds were chosen as they would give the most notable effect to damage overall. +50 Strength (total) would give about 3 damage per hit, while two Piercing Winds kits reduces Galewind's recycle by half which is not anything to shake a stick at. Additionally, the kit adds +50 DPS to Galewind total, which is a huge boost to the ability's damage.

Crest of the Blackhammer Clan is a very, very powerful technique. Across both wing scales, it adds 1000 Blight resistance and an effective 5% damage reduction from Undead. If you don't care for defense, you can swap this out for Tooth and Claw V.

Chest

This scale has an asterisk placed on it because it is technically an epic item. You have to kill Daknor to acquire it. However, it's standard and quest-rewarded, so I'm including it anyway. You can swap this section out for a Conquerer's Chest Scale if you do not have the Ceremonial Scale just yet.

The Ceremonial Scale is simply unmatched in its defensive capabilities. Not only does it give a good chunk of defensive power in raw stats, it also gives a buff that outright reduces all incoming damage by 25%. It's a must-have.

As it is quest-rewarded, none of the regular techniques work on it, but this does not matter much. I recommend two sockets so you can house the two best crystals - Legacy of Ambirannis and Saris Stone of Friendship. These two give a large amount of statistics, with the former offering a lot of offensive bonus, and the latter defensive.

Other good crystals include the Restored Darkstaff's Armor Crystal, if you need Ethereal Armor, and the Sigil of Kaasha, which is a passive heal-over-time.

All that said, chest scales have a ton of variability in drag-and-drop techniques. I have seen many people use the Rune of Resistance on the scale to boost its defensive capabilities further. If you want to replace a socket with a technique kit, that's personal choice. I'm aiming the build a bit more towards offensive.

You can move the crystals in this scale to other scales if you prefer, leaving this open for technique kits, but sacrificing Strength crystals in other scales.

Foreleg

The forelegs offer a good spot to stack strength. The Myloc Veteran Rune gives +60 Strength each, similar to a T6 crystal, and stack with these crystals. Additionally, they give a chance to hit enemies that hit you with spells, which is a good damage bonus.

The socket, I generally put in a Strength crystal for damage. Please read the Chest scale for more information, but you can shift crystals around a lot in this build to focus more on damage or defense. I've listed other crystals I'd put in these slots depending on what you specifically want.

If you need more Ethereal Armor, you can swap out the Hierophant Rune for Ethereal Essence Salve. Generally this is only useful for soloing epics like Elial, though.

Back

The back scale doesn't allow for many techniques on it, so you are quite limited on what you can choose. The only regular techniques it takes is Health and Dragon's Breath, the latter of which is useless. Therefore, I suggest replacing it with the technique kit Bone Lacing.

If you prefer damage, you can replace the Bone Lacing kit with Family Heirloom. Its outgoing damage is extremely minimal, but it's worth mentioning.

Of course, if you don't have wish to use it, you can use the Dragon's Breath V technique.

Hindleg

The hindleg scales can take three techniques, and simply said, these two will affect your DPS more than mixing Dexterity in would. Naturally, you can always use Dexterity instead of Strength or Tooth and Claw, preferably the former. It will lower your DPS output, though, so be aware.

The hindlegs also don't have much in the way of tech kits to choose from. Dodge, Evasion, and Magic Evasion aren't really better than outright DPS. For survavability, you can put Ethereal Essence Salve, which gives you +100 Ethereal Armor, instead of Strength.

Tail

Much like your back scale, your tail scale has extremely limited variation in terms of its techniques - Dragon's Breath or Health. Thankfully, there are tech kits - Family Heirloom and the tail weapon techniques.

You can go between either the Tail Blade or Tail Axe tech kits. I personally recommend the Tail Blade in general use. Broken down into numbers, the Tail Blade is a 7.7 DPS increase. The Tail Axe is an 8.3 DPS increase. While the Tail Axe is better in terms of DPS, it procs in one large burst and rather rarely for a 30-second recycle ability. The Tail Blade is more noticable in open world combat. So while the Axe is 'better', it's more useful for monsters with high health where it actually has a chance to proc.

Family Heirloom offers an extremely small amount of damage, but it might be worth more in the long run than 20 HP. Of course, swap it out however you want.

Claw

This sort of setup for your claw is likely going to be the best - even better than epic claws in terms of damage. Out of all of the applied claw techniques, Andorr's takes a straight lead - it adds +14 DPS, which is the most valuable addition anything can give you.

On top of this, Frozen Weapon adds ice damage on your every attack. This is immensely powerful as it scales - in some cases, it can effectively double your damage.

The last socket would likely be Fangs of Fury or Wolf's Bane. I haven't tried their actual damage increase compared to each other, but if you are not in a group with someone using a Demon Claw, Wolf's Bane can be pretty helpful at reducing the enemy's armor.

Head

Sockets are always useful for giving you a stat boost and, if something comes out later that sockets into the slot, you don't have to recreate your scale. In this case, I recommend a power crytal over Galt's Lucky Stone. I have not tested it much, but the 3% max damage doesn't feel useful when you consider that the Rune of Mellohndar will have you doing maximum damage at a much higher interval already.

The Sigil of Ascent protects you from slowing attacks nearly indefinitely. As a caster, this is very useful as your attacks speed is already slow. However, if you want more damage, you can swap it out for a socket and socket a Primal crystal.

Another tech kit you could apply is the Fiery Rose Quartz Shard, which gives melee and ranged attacks a small chance to apply burning. It's not really useful as you will be fighting primarily with spell attacks, not melee or range, but it's not necessarily bad either. Razor Teeth is similarly not useful, as it works on Bite only.

Wing

I always strongly suggest making a travel scale set and a battle scale set when it comes to velocity / speed techs. Scales can be swapped in and out with a hotkey, allowing for quick adjustments when entering a battle.

That being said, Primal V and Piercing Winds were chosen as they would give the most notable effect to damage overall. +50 Power (total) would give about 3 damage per hit, while two Piercing Winds kits reduces Galewind's recycle by half which, as a Primal based ability, scales well on a caster. Additionally, the kit adds +50 DPS to Galewind total, which is a huge boost to the ability's damage.

In short, Piercing Winds would outscale Power.

Crest of the Blackhammer Clan is a very, very powerful technique. Across both wing scales, it adds 1000 Blight resistance and an effective 5% damage reduction from Undead. If you don't care for defense, you can swap this out for Primal V.

Chest

This scale has an asterisk placed on it because it is technically an epic item. You have to kill Daknor to acquire it. However, it's standard and quest-rewarded, so I'm including it anyway. You can swap this section out for a Primalist's Chest Scale if you do not have the Ceremonial Scale just yet.

The Ceremonial Scale is simply unmatched in its defensive capabilities. Not only does it give a good chunk of defensive power in raw stats, it also gives a buff that outright reduces all incoming damage by 25%. It's a must-have.

As it is quest-rewarded, none of the regular techniques work on it, but this does not matter much. I recommend two sockets so you can house the two best crystals - Legacy of Ambirannis and Saris Stone of Friendship. These two give a large amount of statistics, with the former offering a lot of offensive bonus, and the latter defensive.

Other good crystals include the Restored Darkstaff's Armor Crystal, if you need Ethereal Armor, and the Sigil of Kaasha, which is a passive heal-over-time.

All that said, chest scales have a ton of variability in drag-and-drop techniques. I have seen many people use the Rune of Resistance on the scale to boost its defensive capabilities further. If you want to replace a socket with a technique kit, that's personal choice. As caster scales offer a lot of tank, I'm aiming the build a bit more towards offensive.

You can move the crystals in this scale to other scales if you prefer, leaving this open for technique kits, but sacrificing Power crystals in other scales.

Foreleg

The forelegs offer a good spot to stack power. The Myloc Hierophant Rune gives +60 Power each, similar to a T6 crystal, and stack with these crystals. Additionally, they give a chance to hit enemies that hit you with spells, which is a good damage bonus.

The socket I generally put in a Power crystal for damage. Please read the Chest scale for more information, but you can shift crystals around a lot in this build to focus more on damage or defense. I've listed other crystals I'd put in these slots depending on what you specifically want.

If you need more Ethereal Armor, you can swap out the Hierophant Rune for Ethereal Essence Salve. Generally this is only useful for soloing epics like Elial, though.

Back

The back scale doesn't allow for many techniques on it, so you are quite limited on what you can choose. The only regular techniques it takes is Health and Dragon's Breath, the latter of which is useless. Therefore, I suggest replacing it with the technique kit Bone Lacing.

If you prefer damage, you can replace the Bone Lacing kit with Family Heirloom. Its outgoing damage is extremely minimal, but it's worth mentioning.

Of course, if you don't have wish to use it, you can use the Dragon's Breath V technique.

Hindleg

The hindleg scales can take three different techniques, and simply said, these two will affect your DPS more than mixing Focus in would. Naturally, you can always use Focus instead of Power or Primal, preferably the former. It will lower your DPS output, though, so be aware.

The hindlegs also don't have much in the way of tech kits to choose from. Dodge, Evasion, and Magic Evasion aren't really better than outright DPS. For survavability, you can put Ethereal Essence Salve, which gives you +100 Ethereal Armor, instead of Power.

Tail

Much like your back scale, your tail scale has extremely limited variation in terms of its techniques - Dragon's Breath or Health. Thankfully, there are tech kits - Scale of the Grand Magus and the tail weapon techniques.

You can go between either the Tail Blade or Tail Axe tech kits. I personally recommend the Tail Blade in general use. Broken down into numbers, the Tail Blade is a 7.7 DPS increase. The Tail Axe is an 8.3 DPS increase. While the Tail Axe is better in terms of DPS, it procs in one large burst and rather rarely for a 30-second recycle ability. The Tail Blade is more noticable in open world combat. So while the Axe is 'better', it's more useful for monsters with high health where it actually has a chance to proc.

The Scale of the Grand Magus doesn't really need explanation - it's a no-brainer for casters.

Claw

Without diving into epic weapons, this sort of setup for your claw is likely going to be the best. Out of all of the applied claw techniques, Deadly takes a straight lead - it adds +15 DPS to spells, which is the most valuable addition anything can give you. As most other tech kits only affect melee, you've little in the way of variations if you are looking for something different.

Your sockets would be best filled with the Primal Rage if you are a Helian; its effects are beautiful for casters - lowering delay and recycle with a chance to boost your power and primal for 15 seconds, plus additional flat primal boost. Lunus without this crystal would likely benefit more from a Power crystal or, potentially, Wolf's Bane. For both factions, however, the crystal Flamestone of Drulkar is very powerful. It also gives a straight 50 Prmal and its flame DoT effect, Drulkar's Displeasure, does a ton of damage. With the cast speed of Drain Bolt, it procs more often than you think.