Blue_Centurion

It seems like there could be a lot better high end builds. Anybody got some thoughts to how to make this thing pick up and scream with a few billion thrown at it?

Most brutes do not take taunt. It is a useful tool, with many applications, but it wastes a power choice and in truth Brutes do not need it. The only possible desperate need is when you are in a large group and people keep hogging your agro. Then taunt will circle them around you for more fun.

A comment was made above about Brutes not taking the damage tanks can, so no taunt. There is a lot of truth to that. There is also a lot of truth to Brutes being the premier meat shield in the game, the only one redside for a very long time, and many builds (Stone, Invul, when tweaked a bit, Willpower when outright built out like a billionaire can do, and Dark/dark also taking a few billion to set right) will tank very seriously. Stone and Dark will generally only work at 38+, and Will shines as a easy tanking experience in mid 20s to mid 30s when the tweaks need to be seriously done. Invul Brute makes a fun redside tank for everything except Psi missions, although you will sacrifice some damage output for a solid tank build. Of these 4 that I mention only Will and Stone would generally take taunt, even tanking.

The general rule for a Brute is to run in first, survive the alpha while it pegs your rage bar, and smash. Working with a good Dom can spoil you, cause they hardly need you except for mop up. This run in 1st tactic will work with almost all PUGs, no taunt needed, right up until the team can no longer handle the spawns at all. Smart squishies use the brute as a ghetto troller, getting all the mob attention, then doing their thing.

I know a small percentage of people grok what I mean when I say Tanks are controllers, with a very specialized way to control mobs, and built to handle the job.

Brutes are damage dealers, in quite a few cases edging out even what scrappers can do. (I give scrappers a respectful nod, but there is truth to this.)

I still give the brutiest bruteness title to the secondary Willpower, with most attack sets working. xxx/Willpower is playable when dead drunk, and it still does the job.

My new brute that I plan to run for a year and a half uses a lot more tricks (Dark/Invul), and would be a lot tougher to play dead drunk, too darn many decisions/tactics.

So, for shear stupid, mean, ornery SMASHtastic effectiveness. = "Strength/Willpower" IMO

I used a SS/Will to solo all content redside, and does good on Task Forces/Strike Forces. Good with SOs, good with I/Os. GL

Hey folks,

I am looking for a sweet build out for my new Praetorian. The toon is a Freedom based Dark Melee/Invulnerability brute named Necros. He will be my badger, and I plan on soloing a lot of content, doing tons of Task Forces/Strike Forces, changing alignments, etc. I figure a year and a half with the guy should net me 99% of city badges, just having fun.

My request is for a high end build out. Money is not a problem, I have a few toons I will be stripping, since this will be my new main. One is a brute with 4 sets of purps, various procs, another a permadom, etc. So cash is not a prob.

I am really not good at planning high end build outs. I tend to just ram expensive sets on a toon and run around the cities. Does anyone have good insight into how I should be planning this guy? As I said, he will solo most content, but will need to be able to handle Task Forces/Strike Forces, including Master TF/SF badges. Thanks in advance.

Thanks to everyone. There were some very interesting points made. I may have mentioned my favorite brutes have traditionally been Invulnerability and Willpower. In fact, aside from the Psi hole, my main problem with Invul is I hate the drop at the end of unstoppable, but everyone has complaints I guess.

There can be little doubt that Dark Melee fills a number of gaps for Invulnerability, and that many of it's strengths (healing/end rech) are somewhat wasted on Willpower. I have run a dark/will to 25, doing all content redside, and a dark/invul to 40 just teaming randomly. The points made here remind me of many of the things I experienced. Both are strong, but DM just backs Invul better.

The choice will therefore be Dark Melee/Invulnerability. Again, thank you all.

Perfect, thank you.

I have started doing the story arcs in Praetoria. Have finished about 3 as a Loyalist, and have hit 6th level. I have yet to get a single morality choice. Is there a list of what missions/contacts give morality choices. I hear contacts give them at the end of arcs, is that right?

Okay, I've narrowed my choices, and I know neither of these two are bad. Any thoughts on which are better, and why? (My first 50 was str/invul brute...my second too on a diff server. My main the last year has been a str/will)

Really interested on insight into the synergy of dark with these sets from someone who has ran it deep.

Thanks, that makes life easier. I can roll up my brute and start badging.

I am looking for a comprehensive list of badges I must get (because only one chance to get) before I leave and can never get back.

Are there mission badges? Some of the kill AVs collection of badges listed, it seems like you have to go blueside to do?

I am really just looking for a basic resource telling me what badges you can only get in Praetoria.

Any help?

Okay, this is the Brute Build I plan to solo all content (except SF,TF, etc.) on Prae/Blue/Red, all badges, etc. Money is not a problem, Vet with tons of cash stashed. Also vet reward powers that change low level problems (Shadow Maul, Blackwand). Any thought on Procs I need to grab, crap I need to be aware of?

Soloing all content, with TF. etc, in groups, on EZmode -1X1

Thanks for reading/replying. I am about to embark on a one year mission to get all badges/solo all content/all zones. I am seriously considering (for shear ease) a something?Willpower brute. My current main is a SS/Will Brute. Considering a Dark/Will.

I understand that in I18 they changed MA for the cities. What were the changes?

Can a MA/Regen Scrapper solo all content? (Money is absolutely not an issue, - so are there any procs I gotta grab ASAP?)

Any MA players advice is welcome, from complete build advice right down to costume. Including "dude, be wise, don't kill yourself, take the meatshield and move on"

So, thinking Energy Melee/Willpower, any thoughts at all?

gonna do all content, all levels, every badge, Praetorian, redside, blueside. Build cost definitely not an issue. What power sets? Why?

Okay, my take on this. Looking at the original post, and he examples give, it is very clear the question is the ATest-iest-iestestest.

So what are brutes, how do the differ from tanks/scrappers. They are a trapper? They are a Scranker? Probably more a scranker. So, the problem occurs. In the setup question the premise is to ignore weaknesses and concentrate on doing the job at hand. But brutes are designed to not have any one great weakness, but to just not be the bestest at def/res/dam/control/etc. They charge into battle, surviving all but the riskiest crap, and turn that hate back at the enemy as damage.

Therefore the armor set must be Willpower. It is the best all around set, fitting the parameters of the not the bestest at anything, but darned good at its job.

Having set our defenses, we can look at our attack types. Since we are using will we have end to burn. Here choices will vary. For personal reasons I chose Strength. Other brute playas have their favorites.

In summary, in my opinion, the brutiest bruteness, the best match of the power set to the AT, goes to Willpower secondary, and choose your weapon up to the Brute.

Even though brutes cannot soft cap dark armor, I am thinking it is truly unnecessary. Out of the box the heal in dark armor is insane. With the right mix of (enhancers/build out) getting the levels up all around a little more, the global rech down, and a few perks thrown in (the end proc in heal, 3 KB prot, maybe a few other pricey procs) then the build would be a frankenmonster. I can see that, hopefully you catch my drift, painted in broad strokes. Maybe not as fun/easy to play as str/will, with no toggle juggling, end/healh monitoring, 2nd set button mashing, etc. But quite possibly much stronger than str/will. Definitely the potential there.

My question is can it be solo'd from level 1, as a badger to get all content? Or is this a late blooming set that in the mid game will really be a bear to complete objectives with? Dark Melee is a late blooming set, and obviously the dark armor stuff will come in slow. Will a player be able to throws in the right LOTGs, Procs, and even have the powers necessary to grind 25-38 content with the ease that str/will players would on SOs?

My first 50 was a str/invul brute. For the last year I solo'd redside with a str/will brute, all content, then TF, SF, badges, more TF, SF, etc.

I am looking for a starting brute for Praetoria. (May end with a stalker cause Regen with huge global rech looks cool)

My question is for all around, any mission, any foe, any time, can anything outperform (for easyness) str/will? I hate the drop for tier 9 invul (I hate the drop for rage, but mine double stacks so i suck it up). I have even played with dark/dark to 40 (enhanced it is a seet setup) Dark/invul, even with clunky attack choices wins for survivability, until you add in the tier 9 drop. dark/will is unnecessary for the trade off of added survivability against the ease of str attacks. IMO

Anybody got a sweet idea for what brute walks alone with ease for all missions/badges/content, then teams with ease fr TF, etc???

This is exactly the kind of info I was searching for. THank you.

Currently 20, just rolled into Shark, and loving the idea of a blaster redside.

Unfortunately I have a weekend trip, and will be away from the cities. Brightside, jacuzzi and friends await!

Heyas. I have a Rad/energy at 17 in Praetoria. Gonna hop redside at 20. Before I fall in love (or hate) with it I was hoping to get some blaster feedback.

The toon is gonna play blapper style, actually trying for Blaster/Stalker style, heh.

I was gonna make a Nrg/Nrg again, because I like the ST damage, and the effects. Then looked at the Rad powerset, very very similar attacks, except with the debuff secondary instead of the KB.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the debuff characteristics of the rad attacks? i think they will at least be helpful with my 2 vet attacks.

Thanks, Blapperator.

Flight works. Didn't you see the movie? the Rocket Pack!!!! Get hover/flying, and get yourself rocket boot costume pieces. GL

Heyas. I just started a rad/energy blaster for Praetoria, with a thought of bopping them redside at 20. I have dallied with blasters before, have 50'd one in AE, and have solo'd all blue content with a NRG/NRG to 20.

I was gonna make a Nrg/Nrg again, then looked at the Rad powerset, very very similar attacks, except with the debuff secondary instead of the KB. Having just walked away from Kin Melee and still not that happy with KB, I was like, hey a debuff! How can that be bad. (I'm sure someone will tell me lol)

I am posting because there are no guides for RAD blasters. Any thoughts on this build from people who have experienced it? Should I just use the Nrg/Nrg guides as a starting point.

Oh yeah, I plan to play as a Blapper. But a really terrified one. I don't mind wading in when the agro is locked down and really tearing it up. Before that, I just don't have the room for that many wakies. I am already having some success with trying to help the lead agro collectors with a quick run up and dropping my AoE debuff attacks, then scurrying off to range to examine the effect, pick off the weak.

Thanks, Blapperator.

My main brute (and brutes are my favorite AT) is a SS/WP. As with any build, the enhancers can do a lot to change how the toon is played. Not knowing what I was doing, I threw on 4 sets of purples, along with some other expensive crap. Not the best build out, but has a good amount of global rech. Therefore I regularly run double rage. If I can survive the combat (generally yes, but we all know WP is not the tankiest set) I am usually one of the meanest toons on the team. Global rech also brings up footstomp and great attack chains very fast. When I do drop, WP lets me rise again. A very fun toon to play. Although the reason I am trolling the forums today is to come up with a different toon for Praetoria.

Tried Kin Melee, impressive, yet also problematic. (I am spoiled) The buff is only for 20 seconds (but you can stack it 5 times!) To my way of math that is all you are doing the entire game, even with enough rech to get 5 going. buff, buff, buff, buff, buff, wait the 1st one is wearing off, buff, buff, .....

I am seriously looking at Dark Melee, a late blooming set with a ton of power played right. Now just trying to pair it right.

Okay, more questions. I've gotten up to 31 (would be higher, but BM and crafting is taking time.)

I am at around 60% recharge now. What is the rech % needed for Permadom?

Also, does the 7.5% from LOTG (max 5) count against the other 7.5% like Basilisk's gaze? or is there 5 non LOTG @ 7.5% plus 5 LOTG @ 7.5%?

Thanks, and cyas in the cities.