Brachaesnethar

My lightning field has, I think, one damage, one acc, one endurace reducer, one end mod and a Chance To Stun IO.

True, it doesn't go off often but I always get a chuckle when some foe suddenly starts staggering around slackjawed. Hurts my fury, perhaps, to NOT have someone attacking me, but as my Elec/Elec has no heals and I can maintain fury just fine, I welcome the break from getting beat upon.

With the endurance-draining PBAOE (Power Sink? I forget the exact name) I can take away everyone's endurance, but it's the end mod in Lightning Field (and my innate electric attacks' ability to possibly drain some END) that KEEPS a foe's endurance down low.

If I can survive long enough at the start of the fight, I can keep an Elite Boss flatlined for endurance until the fight's over, thanks to the End Drain from Lightning Field continually chomping away at the little endurance he manages to recover.

I have a Dark Melee / Energy Aura brute that does quite well solo --- I don't team much, so I can't offer any insights there.

Dark melee synergizes well with defense-based sets due to the -ToHit component, and Touch of Fear lets me take one for entirely out of the fight.

The invisibility cloak does not suppress in combat, so you can melee one three-foe spawn RIGHT next to another three-foe spawn and not get extra aggro (as long as you stay outside the reduced-perception range of the extras --- you can't stand ON them unless you had a Stealth IO or something extra).

This means you don't have to worry much about adds. Of course, on a team, that could be a detriment.

The PBAOE endurance transfer is VERY handy and while TYPED defenses are not that great in general, they do well enough.

No, it's not the most powerful set, but it CAN be quite fun. I play this brute like a tough stalker, basically.

Here's a quick and dirty power-selection build:

Level 1: Charged Bolts
Level 1: Transfusion
Level 2: Lightning Bolt
Level 4: Ball Lightning
Level 6: Hover
Level 8: Swift
Level 10: Siphon Speed
Level 12: Zapp
Level 14: Fly
Level 16: Health
Level 18: Tesla Cage
Level 20: Stamina
Level 22: Aim
Level 24: Siphon Power
Level 26: Voltaic Sentinel
Level 28: Speed Boost
Level 30: Increase Density
Level 32: Thunderous Blast
Level 35: Transference
Level 38: Fulcrum Shift
Level 41: Charged Armor
Level 44: Electric Shackles
Level 47: Power Sink
Level 49: Conserve Power

This skips Short Circuit (PBAOE end drain/dmg) as the corruptor version is likely worse than the blaster / defender versions and frankly I never thought much of it as either a damage-dealing power OR an endurance-draining power.

It also skips Repel (PBAOE knockback aura) and Inertial Reduction (PBAOE superleap granting power). I threw in the Mu lightning patron for thematic reasons, too. Not sure if the corruptor pet is boss-level or not ---- it MAY be that Summon Adept would summon a Mu Adept who would occassionally HEAL you, in which case that might be a better choice than Power Sink or Conserve Power.

If you want to cut powers, you can probably ditch Zapp without missing it much... and if you primarily solo you can ditch Speed Boost and Increase Density (ally only buffs). And if you hate the endurance crash of the "nukes" as I do, you could skip Thunderous Blast.

One thing to note with Elec/Kin is that Elec doesn't offer much in the way of mitigation except Tesla Cage's Hold, and yet almost all kinetics requires you to be in melee range.

Actually now that I think about it, you might be better off putting Short Circuit in there ---you'll be in melee range for Fulcrum Shift, Transference and Transfusion any way. With Power Sink and Short Circuit you might be able to drain the endurance from a group of foes before they ganked you. If you had a healing Mu Adept pet along, too, that would be helpful.

So, yah, replace Zapp with Short Circuit, above, perhaps. Not exactly a 'blapping' build since there are no melee attacks per se, but with Charged Armor and the PowerSink + Short Circuit combo you can probably do well in melee range, flinging off your lightning attacks.

Rather than point to a specific AT, I'll suggest (as others have) that you make MANY alts and try out different powersets. I've got around 70 myself. Some of them I play around to the low teens and lose interest and never play again... others I make just on a lark and find I -love- them and play them obsessively.

Often trying to build 'the perfect one' will prevent you from finding the one that you discover to BE the perfect one. My favorite example of this concept is from a pen-and-paper roleplaying game I hosted for seven years--- one of the FIRST players created what I thought was a lame character (but hey, his choice) but then he never showed up to the first or any other game. So I took over the character as a GM character (mouthpiece).

That character that I cared NOTHING about, that I would NEVER have made myself, turned into the most-loved, most-detailed, most FUN character in the game. By contrast, when I tried to insert ~my~ "favorite" character into the game, it was all kinds of epic fail. Nothing was 'right' with that character, nothing went the way I thought it should, etc.

So bottom line, you may be surprised to find out that your 'perfect character' is not the one you THOUGHT you wanted in the beginning.

So make tons of alts!

My Sonic/Sonic primarily solos, so I was "able" to skip a lot of secondary powers that only affect allies:

Level 1: Shriek
Level 1: Sonic Siphon
Level 2: Scream
Level 4: Howl
Level 6: Hover
Level 8: Shout
Level 10: Sonic Cage
Level 12: Swift
Level 14: Fly
Level 16: Health
Level 18: Sirens Song
Level 20: Stamina
Level 22: Sonic Dispersion
Level 24: Aid Other
Level 26: Screech
Level 28: Aid Self
Level 30: Combat Jumping
Level 32: Dreadful Wail
Level 35: Amplify
Level 38: Liquefy
Level 41: Patron: Scorpion Shield
Level 44: Patron: Web Cocoon
Level 47: Patron: Focused Accuracy)
Level 49: Shockwave

This is just a quickie power-choice list, and it's not exactly accurate --- I think I have Shockwave a lot earlier, eg.

But, yah, as stated, Siren's Song makes things SO easy to solo. I use the "drift" of Fly to coast into range of the cone (targeting the farthest foe) --- often the foes will do that, "Hey, what's this?" kind of pause BEFORE attacking, so I don't get any alpha strikes.

Then I just use Screech (single target stun) and destroy that foe.... at which point Screech is refreshed and I destroy the next, etc.

The PBAOE shield (Sonic Disperson) is GREAT --- status protection!

While one could probably make an AoE build out of Siren's Song, Howl and Shockwave, I'm more geared for a single-target build.

I have both a Claws and a Dual Blades / Ninjitsu Stalker and both run up against the same problem: Ninjitsu has so many GOOD powers!

Utility powers, not just "more defense" like Super Reflexes (I have two 40+ SR scrappers and was quite tired of getting ALL the secondary powers, turning them on and ignoring them).

Normally I try to get Stamina by 20 but with the DB/Nin I think I'm already at level 24 or so, and it's looking like I may not be able to squeeze in Stamina until 28 or 30. But I'm not missing it overmuch, since fights tend to end before I totally run out of endurance.

Thematically, any kind of blade (claws, ninja blade, dual blades) would mesh well with ninjitsu, I'd think.

One annoying thing I discovered is that if you, for example, need only two hours more to get a Day Job badge which will ALSO earn you the accolade badge... and you don't log on for like 20 days... then when you DO log on, it'll give you the Day Job badge and Accolade Badge ---- but no temp power charges. Until you log off, now that you [u]have[u] the accolade badge.

It makes SENSE to do it that way, I suppose. Just disappointing to get the Accolade badge, find out (from its description) about this cool temp power and realize that ~now~ you have to go offline to let the charges build up so you can actually use it.

Never tried to post a link, so let's see if this works (re: Chain Link Fences)

Penny Arcade mentions their power as presented in the Infamous video game.

[ QUOTE ]
Or, is BIB worth taking at 18 if it means I won't get stamina until lvl 22? I'm tempted but, how important is stamina in the level grind between 20 and 22?

[/ QUOTE ]

BIB -is- awesome; I'd actually be tempted to push Stamina back to 22 to get BIB ASAP. You'll be sucking wind more often, perhaps, but with BIB you can also end fights a LOT faster: it's the BIG GUN.

FWIW, I have a 45-ish Ice/Ice/Ice blaster and I only rarely find myself using Ice Storm --- even with slows, it's easy for foes to run out of the AoE (unless they're also falling down on ice patch or rooted/held).

With Ice/Devices, you can perhaps keep foes in the Ice Storm with Caltrops / web grenade and the two ice holds... but if you had a free respec, I'd juggle things to get Stamina at 20 and BiB at 18 --- which could mean pushing Ice Storm out some.

Oh, Taser is also not to be ignored: my Devices blasters usually put it on auto-fire since if I am close enough for it to launch, I'm usually close to aggro range (although the cloaking device of course prevents ACTUAL aggro until much closer)... the stun can be slotted to last quite a long time and with ice's holds (or web nade or caltrops) you can keep stunned foes from wandering around too much.

A lot of people don't care for the second ice freeze ray, but I got both of them (and the one from the ice secondary!)... Bitter Freeze Ray has the longest range of your ice attacks so sometimes I can fire it at extreme range, hold one foe and then AS I move closer so I can fire freeze ray, the target of freeze ray is ~just~ realizing that his buddy is in a block of Bitter Frozen Ice. In this way, I can lock down an entire solo-size spawn with little to no risk.

VERY safe, ice is. And devices' cloaking device, taser, and caltrops further enhance safety.

I got an AR/Kin to the mid teens before frustration got to be too much: kinetics just has no mitigation to speak of and while Siphon Speed feels GREAT, having to get in close for Transfusion (and later, Fulcrum Shift / Transference) did not look promising.

I made an AR/Dark, though, and things have been going QUITE well so far. Still not up to the mid-teens, so I cannot say for SURE that it'll continue to be easy (just about ANY powerset is easy until the teens).... I have a feeling it'll be a LOT easier based on the powers that will be available.

Air Sup is still an awesome power for just about anyone (my controllers use it for damage-dealing AND extra mitigation). Only time I DON'T use it is if the character should not be in melee and needs to hover (perching blasters) or if the character has a weapon (katana, claws) that would have to be re-drawn after using Air Sup.

I'd imagine it's the lack of paragraph breaks - souvenirs would logically be quite long if they summarize the entire arc in some fashion. The "wall of text" usually refers to that particular thing (no breaks). imo.

Just finished that mission for Johnny last night. Thing I hate most about the wailers is that they LOVE to stay at a distance and shoot --- herding them requires a corner or other means of FORCING them to move closer together. It's so frustrating to have juicy PBAOE attacks and auras ready to use and only ONE little blighter in range. :P

Another thing to consider is that there is no penalty for BIDDING. So what I usually do is bid like 11 inf for something ---- even if it has a history of selling for 100,000 inf or more. I wait to see the "# of bids" increase by one (my new bid) and if I don't instantly get the thing, I cancel my bid ---- at NO COST --- and then increase the bid.

If it's an item with a high bidding history, I'll usually go up to 111 inf and then 1,111 inf until I get it or until I start getting too high for my tastes. By all means, don't keep increasing your bid JUST to get the item.

With this in mind, you can often get recipes, salvage or crafted enhancements for peanuts. I've been on the other end of this transaction, too ---- when I was working on the Field Crafter badge, I would routinely dump several IOs on the market asking only 5 inf... and a few times someone has bought the item for like 10 inf... so I lost some money, there, but I figure any money I get from that sale is better than destroying the IO, which was my other option ----- no room to store it, no vendor will buy a crafted IO.

Anyway, when you SELL something on the market, you have to pay a broker fee EVERY time you offer it. So you can't offer something for 2 million then pull it off the market and offer it for 1 million and then pull it off the market and offer it or 500,000 ---- trying to get the MOST you can. You have to pay the broker fee EACH time you put it up for sale. So don't do that.

But for BUYING stuff, by all means, if you have the time you can "inch" your offer up bit by bit until you get it, often for next to nothing.

And to answer the general OP question, I used to slot full DOs at level 12 then at level 22 I'd slot for SOs and then again at 27 I'd get level 30 SOs and so on... was expensive to say the least. But there was nothing ELSE I could buy.

Since they put in IOs (and really a bit before that) I usually DON'T slot Dual-Origin ~or~ Single Origin until level 22 ---- at which point, now, I craft or buy level 25 IOs. As I get new powers, I continue to slot level 25 IOs until level 32 when I can start slotting level 35 IOs. And even then I usually only put those level 35 IOs into "new" slots; I rarely replace an old level 25 IO with a level 35. The increase is usually not worth the cost.

Recipes at the even-numbered levels (20, 30, 40, 50) tend to cost considerably more than the ones at the odd-numbered levels (25, 35, 45)... for whatever that's worth.

For: Ana Cruz, Extrasensory, and most especially Phantoma Storm

Arc Name: "Karmic Exchange"
Arc ID: Arc #47550
Length: Very Long (5 missions)
First Published: Um... don't remember.
Morality: Neutral (leaning heroic)
Difficulty: EB in two missions
Description: (I forget the exact description - I'm at work now) Basically, Corpus Rasa is attempting to resurrect his bride and the PC is tasked with -stopping- him from doing so (for reasons that will be spelled out in mission dialog).... final mission is timed 15 minute that presents an ethical CHOICE.

Foes can run up to the max level but the lower level fluctuates a bit from 30 - 45 or so; foes consist of Carnival, Family, Circle of Thorns, Crey and a hodge-podge sprinkling (wandering patrols) of other factions that can go up to 54th level.

The final fight with the EB (who can downgrade to a boss of course) can be tight in fifteen minutes so if you don't think you can dish out the damage fast enough, get help or lower difficulty to villainous/heroic... or, if it doesn't MATTER if you defeat him (villainous/selfish ethical decision made) then it doesn't really matter.

Don't have one myself, but here's a quickie possible build:

Level 1: Power Bolt
Level 1: Transfusion
Level 2: Power Blast
Level 4: Energy Torrent
Level 6: Hover
Level 8: Sniper Blast or Power Burst
Level 10: Siphon Speed
Level 12: Aim
Level 14: Fly
Level 16: Swift
Level 18: Health
Level 20: Stamina
Level 22: Power Burst or Sniper Blast
Level 24: Speed Boost
Level 26: Explosive Blast
Level 28: Increase Density
Level 30: Pool Power
Level 32: Nova
Level 35: Transference
Level 38: Fulcrum Shift
Level 41: Dark Embrace
Level 44: Soul Storm
Level 47: Soul Drain
Level 49: Power Boost


Skips Power Push (knockback ONLY, minimal dmg), as well as Siphon Power (redundant thanks to Fulcrum Shift), Repel (counter productive for Transfusion, Transference and Fulcrum Shift, alhtough fits thematically with the KB-heavy primary), and Inertial Reduction.

I threw "Pool Power" in there at level 30 just because there wasn't anything compelling to get. Many people would get Hasten; I happen to love the 'air control' that Combat Jumping gives.

At level 8 and 22 I couldn't decide whether to go with the short-range Power Burst or the REALLY long range Sniper Blast. Depends on playstyle, I suppose.

One big problem you may face with this combo is that Energy Blast has knockback in just about everything, although it's not reliable enough (to my mind) to provide adequate ~protection~ for you.

That is, it seems to only knock foes back when I am standing next to them about to use Transference or Transfusion and WON'T knock them back when I need a second to breathe without getting my teeth kicked in.


I picked Ghost Widow's patron powers for Soul Drain (plus Fulcrum Shift = MASSIVE damage for you to deal out!)...

Dark Embrace to provide a little safety (very little) while you're in melee range to fire off Transfusion, Transference, Fulcrum Shift or Soul Drain....

Soul Storm just LOOKS cool and of course is a handy Hold; Power Boost would probably increase the -distance- foes are knocked back (not the CHANCE that they are)... but otherwise I'm not sure what good it would be.

Another viable alternative would be to take a patron powerset with an immobilize that prevented knockback (assuming you don't WANT foes to get knocked all over the place.

I'll admit I love the LOOK of the Energy Blast powerset(s)... just wish the knockback were either non-existent or (better) much much more reliable.

G'luck!

I may be misunderstanding your intent, but you can already create a custom critter of the PERSON type, which prevents them from having any powers at all...

I'm at work, so haven't the luxury to skim the 200+ posts here, so I'll just throw something else on the pile:

The over-the-shoulder cape with one point for the broach on the right chest/shoulder looks fine in the login character select screen and in the tailor interface. In the game-world, however, the 'mantle' part is missing over the left shoulder (as it should be) but the cape appears NORMAL and goes up to the mantle area and then abruptly cuts off. The right side goes over the shoulder as it should --- it's just the left shoulder where the schism appears.

Thought I'd add this gem...

There are a total of two parts of the Ghost Widow arc where you simply cannot complete the mission and it must be cleared. GM told me that they knew about that bug.

I just found what MUST be another one.

In the "Kidnap Dr. Crowe" mission which is set in the Portal Corp area of Peregrine Island, there are TONS of inappropriately-leveled foes.

In particular, on Villainous setting my level 41 Brute faced level 46 PPD Quantums and Transcendants. That's just wrong.

I actually managed to beat the one I found out in the 'yard' with some +0 minions... I had about a half-dozen Arachnos troops helping me and we finally beat him down. Then he REZZED HIMSELF. Sent me to the hospital quick-like, then dispatched all the Arachnos guys.

Sidenote: the hospital in Peregrine Island is ~outside~ the mission force fields so I had to use the /stuck command to get back into the mission (put me at an elevator inside the middle building).

I'm presently waiting inside the mission for a GM to clear it. I know Ghost Widow said that I would probably need help... but I seriously doubt it was supposed to have +5 level LTs throughout when presumably one would be doing this mission at level 40 / 41 or so.

Regarding the missions for Ghost Widow...

Yesterday I petitioned the first soul crystal ceremony because I cleared the entire map (including portals) and mapped everything and nothing ever happened and I could not click on the neat-looking crystal thing. I got an email today and sure enough, the mission had been cleared.

Of course, I continue on with the storyline (which took a DRASTICALLY stupid and forced turn that I won't spoil here)... until I got to another Oranbega mission. Cleared the entire map, clicked on glowie... fought two ~foes~ (don't want to ID them or spoil it) that were +3 minions... this was on VILLAINOUS, by the way. Plus THREE minions, on villainous. That got bugged, you can bet.

After I took care of them, I expected to have to fight an Elite Boss that would smear my guts across the walls in 0.43 seconds..... but nothing happened. So I petitioned again.

In Broadcast in Grandville I heard someone say that AFTER that second mission that requires a petition to be cleared, the others progress normally. We'll see...

Unless the story changes drastically in the future missions, though, I am SEVERELY disappointed with the power-posing that our characters are forced into. Bad enough we had to choose ONE 'patron' for whom to become a toadie... but then things get WORSE. Sigh. It's SO much easier on the hero side.

Ran another Mayhem mission, this time in Founders Falls. I was still on Vicious (since I forgot to drop down to Villainous, as I had planned).

This time, I went STRAIGHT for the bank. Had two longbow attempt to arrest me, so I had ONE 30-second "resisting arrest" time boost, but otherwise I only fought inside the bank (Longbow inside the bank, btw, not security guards).

The foe at the end? A red-con regular Boss named Holo-Man (Illusion Controller)... wasn't cake, but wasn't impossible, either.

I begin to wonder if the time you spend outside doing side missions and SMASH-ing in general ~does~ determine the difficulty of the foe you face inside.

After finishing the bank portion, the mission completed, but I could still go outside and SMASH stuff... unfortunately I got no time boost, so very quickly my time ran out and I had to leave the mission instance.

This is very disappointing, if true. Having only two choices sucks----

* play around SMASHing, doing side missions and so on, and face an unbeatable foe at the end

or

* head immediately to the bank and face a beat-able foe, and then have a very tiny amount of time left to 'play' with side missions and SMASHing.

Level 40, I lowered my difficulty down to Vicious for the Mayhem Mission and it wasn't enough. My foe was a red-con Elite Boss --- Swan. As an invulnerable superstrength brute, I knew I'd be in trouble, but not HOW much trouble. She had a Spec Ops with her (who I didn't see at first, thanks to the civilians running around)... I saw the Spec Ops, tried to tab over and wasted an attack on a civilian running by... then the Spec Ops nearly drained my endurance to nothing. Wouldn't have mattered, though, Swan beat me down FAST.

I went to jail, broke out ---- the PPD robot guards (not the drones, the armored suits) look AMAZING. Crashed to desktop. Went back and the mission had re-set but still had only 8 minutes.

Went into the bank, again got Swan, red-con Elite Boss. This time with a Psi-Cop with her (that I NEVER saw). I popped Dull Pain, Rage, and Unstoppable. I popped four +33% heals... and she still killed me. FAST.

Her Dominate was doing just under 800pts, her Subdue 350 or so, her Psionic Lance another 380 or so... Psychic Scream for 580 or so... Teleketic Blast for 400 and change... and she was spamming attacks FAST, and using what looked like Kinetics to sap my speed so I couldn't hit anything... and as an Elite Boss I could not disorient her with Knockout Blow, or knock her on her feet with Air Superiority. So I got sent to prison AGAIN. Then the mission timed out.

I believe if you refuse to do a bank heist, under the current Live system, the Broker will never introduce you to a new contact. Assuming the same pattern holds true, failing Mayhem Missions (or not taking them in the first place) will prevent you from taking any contacts!

I suppose I could lower difficulty down to ~villainous~ for every Mayhem Mission... just galling that the Mayhem Mission was THAT hard. I mean, it was fun up until Swan. I could even tolerate the Spec Ops and their @#!%^@# grenades that suck my endurance... I could even tolerate the red-con bosses (on Vicious) and the fact that EVERY SINGLE COP IN PARAGON IS PSIONIC. But damn, I ain't touching a Mayhem Mission on Live if they go in like they are now.

Great guide! One thing I would suggest, though, is that Damage Enhancers really aren't as needed for superstrength Brute attacks. I usually slot my attacks with two accuracy (I hate missing), one or two endurance reducers (even with Stamina three-slotted, LONG fights can drop my endurance --- could drop one Endurance reducer if you were willing to rest periodically)... and one or two recharge reducers.

That's right, NO damage enhancers. I let Fury build up my damage. I'm more concerned with hitting and not missing (accuracy), lasting a long time (endurance reducers) and attacking FAST to build Fury (recharge reducers).

I skipped Jab and don't miss it. A Disoriented foe can wander away at high speed, and isn't attacking me to build my fury. With Punch, Haymaker and Air Superiority ---- and of course Brawl on auto-fire ---- I have ZERO down time between attacks. Of course, that's only because of the two recharge enhancers those powers have (actually I think Punch only has one recharge since it is already so fast).

Everyone talks about how slow Haymaker is, but with two recharges in it, it's almost always up. Combine Air Sup, Punch and Haymaker and I routine "bounce" bosses without letting them get any attacks in at all.

I skimmed the guide, to be honest, but if it's not spelled out, I'd recommend emphasizing that BRAWL should be an auto-fire power for all Brutes.