Anofalye

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Bone smasher (5/5) 4.55 BI - Another must have. Provides bout a 60% chance to land a Mag 2 disorient and does very nice damage. Has a very fast activation time too.
Medicine - we dip into this pool for Aid Self. Now, I know many electric brutes pick Tough instead which is great for PvE. However, Aid Self helps us deal with any incoming damage type. So, it helps us recover from damage from /EM Tankers, Blasters, etc. In PvP, you'll get a lot of different types thrown at you. The only bad thing about Aid Self it can be interrupted by debuff auras (like chilling embrace), damage auras, infections (like rad defenders), etc.


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Bone smasher is good, but in the extremely late game (with SHOs or lots of IOs), I would suggest that you respect it out. As you will have +RCH flooding in TF and ET, you will see that you have time only for 1 attack to be added in that chain of 3 attacks...since you already have energy punch...do you really want this upgrade, or do you need that extra power to be put elsewhere? I mean, bone smasher is better then energy punch, but is is worth it? It's depend on the tastes of the players I guess, but personnally, I don't want that little extra damage bad enough to spent a power on it, when I can get something else. You won't have the time to do bone smasher and energy punch...bone smasher is better then energy punch, but that better so you spent 1 more power?

Healing is purely optional IMO. If you don't take healing, you need 2 things: Fighting...and always keep 4 greens on you, you run lower, go buy some for 50 infamy, you need 4 greens. Combined with though, these few greens will do the magic. In big groups, you resists will be maxed fast with a buff vs lethal and smashing if you have tough...weave is purely optional, you start from nearly no defense...adding some is better then none I guess, but you are sooo far behind...yet if you combine weave to IO bonuses and buffs, it might start getting interesting.

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it grabs aggro AND uses no endurance.

I advise tankers to take taunt, but I don't expect it, nor do I kick for it.

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However, it take an action which could have been used to do something else, damage or knockdown. I would also advise that all tankers/brutes that are stoners/invul take it, as a complementary power to their aura.

But any other tankers/brutes...they are offensive brutes/tankers, and thereby their role is more on the devastating side then on the tanking side. Their aura is doing a fair job. I wouldn't think any ill of a fire tanker that doesn't take taunt, as long as he has his aura, he outaggro every non-tanker in the group.

See, why should a fire tanker taunt instead of attacking? He is having build up and that fiery thing that also increase his damage...or he can deal no damage at all and taunt...a fire tanker isn't as solid as a stoner or an invul to start with, so if he takes more aggro without doing damage, it is getting heavy on his character.

Again, taunt is merely an extra to the aura IMO, and only the stoners/invul really need it, other have more offensive roles and thereby should consider more offensives alternatives. IMO. A fire tanker is doing about twice more damage then a stoner...this is important to consider if you want or not to taunt and deal no damage at all. A stoner that sacrifice all his damage to take aggro doesn't sacrifice as much as a fire tanker, and he can take damage a lot more than a fire tanker, and a lot longer...same logic vs an invul.

Personnally, on my invul brute, taunt is pretty much in the same mindset as Unstop. I use it when troubles happens or is about to happens (if I died, after the rez and a few toggles, I will throw a taunt or two).

Invincibility is doing 95% of the aggro management, with 3 shos and 3 taunt increase, I outaggro nearly everyone without an effort unless they want to take aggro from me.

Taunt...since I am an energy melee, it means that I could do an attack dealing as much as 3500 damage...or taunt...I only do it in emergencies situation, if it is my duty to. If I see peoples using rain of fire, fear or whatever non-sense, I will often let the offender died before using taunt to save the non-offender. See, a brute has a responsability to keep his group alive, but you also don't have to cover dumbs moves...if they are scattering the mobs, their problem. Scatters powers are extremely good, but they have to be used at the proper moment, they are situational...if nobody wants aggro in the group (the brutes/tankers are deads or none in group), then they are good, but if you have someone who is handling aggro, then scatters should be kept for if they died and not before.

Taunt main use for me is in PvP, even if I don't PvP much. Nothing like watching a group of heroes/villains thinking they can kill the other brute fast while you deliver tremendous energy damage on them...to just taunt them when the other brute start to feel under pressure. It has a heavy psychological bonus, peoples hate to be taunted. A Broadsword scrapper been taunted by an invul brute isn't happy, not happy at all. He was beating on the ela brute/fire brute and doing much damage, and now, he can only attack an invul brute and do very limited damage, turning him away from the other brute is good, but the effect on his psycholigical mindset is even better, he hates it...and if you do it more, he will wants to switch toon quite fast!

My ela brute never took taunt...and I never will take it. My ela shouldn't be the main tank, and if this happen, the aura is doing a fair job if not perfect...and since all my attacks also happen to be AoE, I am good at taking aggro from everyone who isn't actually wanting it. Which is pretty much the job of my ela, my ela doesn't want to take aggro from a stoner or an invul in 95% of the situation, and if these tanks want me to take aggro, they know I have my aura and they can turn their aggro off.

Could my invul live without taunt? Yes, just like I can live without unstop. Would I skip either taunt or unstop? I would feel like skipping something that although not vital, is incredibly nice. But again, it depend. It depend on the peoples, but personnally, if I play a stoner or invul, I see taunt as a nice extra option, for problematic situation, while if I play any other type of brutes/tankers, I would find the aura enough, wouldn't want taunt.