Atago

Except my Crab Spider i've played only Brutes, Scrappers and Tanks, think i have ~3 Dozens >lvl30-50 on 3 Servers. OK, i tried some MMs but it felt for me too much like babysitting. So after 3 Years of jumping in and burn my Attacks i getting bored of it and decided to give ranged ATs a try. But i am not sure which AT and Powersets would fit my Playstyle most. Maybe you can help me out. Here are the things that are important for me:

-I have to solo a lot(75% of the time).
-At ~lvl30-35 i normally start to use IO-Sets and switch to /x8, if -1/ or +2/ doesn't matter for me. So from ~lvl 30 and with some IO-Sets the Toon have to be survivable enough to handle /x8 Spawns without needing dozens of Greens per Fight.
-AOEs...yes i want them, i love to see all the Numbers on the screen. Cones only if i can stay at Range the whole time and keep the Mobs together.
-I hate buffing me, my Pets or Teammates al 20secs, so no Buff-Sets like Bubbles for me
-Pets are OK for me if they can take care of themself but not needed.
-I hate Breaks, so Chars that run out of end infight or need downtimes after each Fight are a Nogo for me. If it's so at the lower levels it's OK, but it has to change in Midgame.
-Controls, mmm don't know, could be nice. Love to see when the NPCs get knocked down from my Stone/Ice Toons or wander disorientated around my Dark-Scrapper.


I don't wanna start 20 new Toons, play them till lvl30 and delete then 19 of them, so i hope you can help to narrow down the Choice a bit.

And the DPS will not increase much, in some Cases will drop cause 10secs of the triplestack will be eaten by the Ragecrash and your Rage crashs in shorter Periods. If you don't really have an incredible Recharge it's better that Rage starts exactly after the Crash. For Example 54secs Doublerage then 10Secs Crash and THEN near the end of the Crash the next Rage starts. If you have let's say 5 sec more recharge Rage starts at the beginning of the Crash and 10sec of it are wasted.

Ok, rolled some Numbers to see the Difference btw. the 2 Powers:
Unenhanced wo Rage/Bu:
FS all 22,1sec 59,2DMG=2,68 DPS
Tremor all 17,3sec 41,7DMG=2,41DPS

Enhanced(99,08% Damage and Rechargebonus):
FS all 12,1sec 117,9DMG=9,74 DPS
Tremor all 10,3sec 83DMG=8,06DPS

Enhanced w. 65% Fury
FS all 12,1sec 194,9DMG=16,11 DPS
Tremor all 10,3sec 137,3DMG=13,33DPS

No big difference in the Basenumbers but with higher Recharge, Fury and Enhancements the Difference increases to more than 20%, without taking BU and Rage into calculation. From what i see if i don't use Rage i would have better Damage with Tremor/SM + BU than with Footstomp/SS.

Think that answers my Question. Cause i can't live with the Ragecrash i think about stop playing my lvl39 SS/WP-Brute for a while and don't invest more Inf and time into him and roll a Stone/WP instead. If there are Changes to Rage sometimes i can revive the Toon.

THX Dudes

OK, now i can understand the Reasons that speak against Damage Auras even if there are many Powerset-Combos which would benefit of it (i think of Tanks and Brutes with SR/WP/SD/Invul or Masterminds for Example).

Is Footstomp really that better than Tremor? Has the 3,3sec Animation that strong Gimp-Effect or is it only Rage that makes the difference?

Is it really only Rage why PPL preferr SS? Is SS even without Rage stronger than SM?

Anyone who has Experience with both Sets in the Endgame can tell me something about it?

Why there isn't any Damage Aura in the Epic/Patron-Pools? I thought that the Pools are there to give the Player Powerchoices to get their Toons more rounded and give them access to Abilities which their Primaries/Secondaries do not offer. I mean there are all sorts of Powers Control/Buff/Debuff/Melee and Ranged Attacks(AOE+ST)/Stealth/Health/Stamina/Pets...the only Powers i miss are Damage Auras.

Would they imbalance the Game or what is the Reason? Enlighten me, please.

Mostly +2/x8.

Btw.
If the mish is not outdated there should be no yellow Mobs at +2.

I find the biggest problem with Hurl is the Knockback. Might be funny, but after a time it gets annoying and it is smashing Damage, which is highly resisted in the later game.

With a Softcapped Build Elude is not really needed. Most Debuffs will not hit you and if you get Defense Debuffed you can use an Inspiration.

45% or 47% doesn't make a real Difference. If you are Debuffed your Defense will fall so much that you have to use an Inspiration in both cases.

Mmmm, i don't really understand why you waste so many Slots for +Def-Sets to reach softcap. Softcapping a SR is so easy that you don't have to use +DEF Sets in your Attack-or Defpowers. I would skip them and focus more on usefull Sets with +End/+HP/+Regen and +Recharge.

Brutisch Style? All Combinations can perform well, but from a RP and Style point of view:

A Brute is a huge, brutal and agressive Warmachine.
A Brute doesn't pay too much Attention to his Health and Endurance and fights all the time.
A Brute hates downtimes btw. the Fights.
It doesn't matter for a Brute if he faces 1 or 10 Enemies, he goes straight in.
A Brute is not an agile and neat fighter as a Scrapper, more a Bam-Boom-Bam Machine.

1. WP will suit this well. You can fight all the Time.
2. SD thanks to Shield Charge and AAO for a more brutal Brute, but it needs some Setboni.
3. Invul? OK.

1. SS-BamBooomBam...YES
2. Stone Melee-Boom...Booom...Boooom...YES
3. War Mace-BadaBoom..YES

My personal View.

Melee- Most important, yes.
Ranged- A ranged Attack is still marked as ranged Attack even if it is used close to the Target. If all NPCs are close to you they will use their standardattacks for Example xxx-marksman will run around the Corner and will still use his ranged Attacks. Many of the Debuffs are marked as ranged Attacks too.
AOE? Sure, there are specific Enemies and groups that use nasty AOEs, but overall there are much less AOEs than Ranged Attacks in the game.

My Experiences:
Melee****-try to softcap it or get close to, but don't sacrifice your offense too much for it
Ranged***-try to softcap it or get close to, but don't sacrifice your offense too much for it
AOE*-live with that what you get through your Powers, only use IO-Sets for it if there are no other and better Sets instead

Elemental Booster Pack:
Skins for:
Ice
Steel
Fire
Lava
Crystal
Water
Glass


Monster Booster Pack:
-Additional physique with longer Arms, bigger Shoulders, shorter Legs, bigger Head and the clou: if you choose this physique it changes your Animations for Example the Run-Animation in a beastlike Run (four-footed)
-new Monsterheads and Skins

Temp Power Toggle: Monstrous Constitution-> very minor improvement to all: x% RES, x% Def, x% Recovery, x% Regen, x% Recharge....

SD/SS Tank has the advantage that it is so easy to softcap that you can fit a lot of usefull Sets instead of +Defs, +Recharge Sets for Example. With that you can doublestack Active Defense. AD+GC+slotted BA gives you nearly 90% Defdebuff Resist. It's also possible to reach Permahasten + Perma Doublerage + Softcap. SC will recharge very quickly.

But it will still have less Damage than a SS/SD Brute.

The Bruteversion is made for dealing Tons of Damage, so i would take advantage of it and go for High Recharge. With SC+Footstomp you can kill most of a Spawn so quickly that you don't have to survive as long as a tanker. With doublestacked AD and maybe Grant Cover + some purple Inspis you should be on the safe Side in most Situations. So if i were you i would not aim for softcapping all 3 Positions on a Brute(Melee is easily softcapped wit Obliterations) except if you want to use him mainly as tank.

Quills one of the ugliest Auras. Very annoying. An animation similar to Icicles would be much cooler.

If we look at the Question: Who is the best farmer? There is only one answer for a Brute. Playstyle doesn't matter, preferences doesn't matter, how easy it's to play doesn't matter, how fun it is doesn't matter, how survivable it is doesn't matter...
only inf/h counts. And then the only answer is SS/Fire. It doesn't matter if SDs, ELECs or anything else can also be good farming toons. In most of the threads the question is not what are the 5 best combos for a farming toon, but "What is the best Brute for farming?". So no list is needed, it is as Candlestick says:

Agreed, for Example my Stone/Fire is since the changes faster in killing /x8 Spawns than my SS/Invul (Brute) and my FM/WP (Scrapper). I don't find that WP or Invul are good Farming-Secondaries if you try to max you Killspeed.

Pretty solid build. I would skip Conserve Power for FA and put two Rectified reticles in it(take on Slot out of Health). This gives you the +DEF to reach the 45%. Turn FA only on if you fighting high-def Mobs or Mobs with -tohit Buffs and the END should be fine.

Or adding a special Broker/Detective who gives Players access to all Mayhems beneath their lvl without Flashbacking.

Posted the Thread also here:

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showt...28#post3189128

Think this is the better Place for it.

If you start in Praetoria you are lvl 20 when you enter Rogue Isles or Paragon City. Then you missed 3 Mayhem/Safeguard Missions. You missed the Badges(Villainside they are needed for an Accolade) and the Rewards. Same if you switch Sides. All you can do is spamming the Channels on the search for low LVL Players who got a Mayhem. Did this the last Days and found no one. Maybe cause the Server i play on is very empty or most start in Praetoria, only 3 PPL in Port Oakes yesterday:-( It's not funny running around with a lvl30+Char and asking each lvl 5-9 Player in the list the same Question day by day.

All other Badge-Missions are available through Ouroboros/Flashback-System. Why not the Mayhem/Safeguards? Think this should be changed.