Clint_Thrust

I can't recommend EM/ELA Brute enough for PVP. My build is something like this, the trick is to never ever jump in PVP! The Webnade is there to bring fliers down: -

01) --> Energy Punch==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Rechg(5) Dmg(43) Dmg(46) Dmg(48)
01) --> Charged Armor==> EndRdx(1) DmgRes(9) DmgRes(9) DmgRes(11)
02) --> Bone Smasher==> Acc(2) Acc(3) Rechg(5) Dmg(31) Dmg(34) Dmg(37)
04) --> Conductive Shield==> EndRdx(4) DmgRes(11) DmgRes(13) DmgRes(13)
06) --> Build Up==> Rechg(6) Rechg(7) Rechg(7) TH_Buf(15) TH_Buf(17) TH_Buf(25)
08) --> Swift==> Run(8)
10) --> Static Shield==> EndRdx(10) DmgRes(40) DmgRes(40) DmgRes(40)
12) --> Hasten==> Rechg(12) Rechg(15) Rechg(17)
14) --> Super Speed==> Run(14)
16) --> Health==> Heal(16)
18) --> Total Focus==> Acc(18) Acc(19) Rechg(19) EndRdx(23) EndRdx(23) EndRdx(25)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20) EndMod(21) EndMod(21)
22) --> Lightning Reflexes==> Run(22)
24) --> Stimulant==> Rechg(24)
26) --> Aid Self==> IntRdx(26) IntRdx(27) IntRdx(27) Heal(29) Heal(29) Heal(31)
28) --> Provoke==> Acc(28) Acc(31)
30) --> Grounded==> DmgRes(30)
32) --> Energy Transfer==> Acc(32) Acc(33) Rechg(33) Dmg(33) Dmg(34) Dmg(34)
35) --> Power Sink==> EndMod(35) EndMod(36) EndMod(36) Rechg(36) Rechg(37) Rechg(37)
38) --> Power Surge==> Rechg(38) Rechg(39) Rechg(39) DmgRes(39)
41) --> Intimidate==> Acc(41) Acc(42) Fear(42) Fear(42) Fear(43) EndRdx(43)
44) --> Invoke Panic==> Acc(44) Acc(45) Fear(45) Fear(45) Fear(46) EndRdx(46)
47) --> Web Envelope==> Acc(47) Acc(48) Acc(48) Range(50)
49) --> Lightning Field==> EndRdx(49) Acc(50) Acc(50)

Glad you all agree, I was so frustrated!

I think he actually believes I should played how he wanted, I do suck and I am a coward. Shame people can be so narrow minded.

EM/ELA Brute (with no +perception) fights a Claws/Regen Stalker in the arena level 47-50 - no insps allowed.

I spend the whole fight using Super Speed moving, trying to avoid AS. When he gets one in I pop Aid Self, run in BU+ attack chain. He's a /Regen so he heals then placates then goes back into hide. This goes on for 10 minutes - result 0-0

After the match I get grief telling me that I am coward and won't fight "toe to toe" like a Brute should which I interpret as "you won't stand still and let me AS you". So we fight again same sort of thing but he's not using hide (this is the most annoying part of the fight) whenever he placates me I try and break line of sight. To shouts of “all you do is run”! I beat him 1-0 (not much of an achievement because he wasn't using hide).

What was most disheartening was the fact that I was called a coward and that I couldn’t PVP because, as I see it, I wouldn’t stand around and let a Stalker AS me.

Earlier on I got the same kind of response from a Stalker in Warburg, because I was using Super Speed and trying never to stand still long enough to let him get AS off.

The way I see it if a Stalker wants to Assassin Strike me he’s got to work for it the critical part of Assassin Strike is unresistible it doesn’t matter how much defence or resistance I have it hurts a lot. And Aid Self isn’t reliable enough for me to recover before the inevitable Placate + Critical.

What are people’s opinions on this fight?

Not 100% sure how Gauntlet specifically works differently from any other taunt in PVP but I find taunting is effective against me, being a resistance build I find it'll hit me most of the time.

From what I saw last night Chelsea with his ss/ela was able to execute his attack chains without burning too much endurance. He fought the tank to a draw, neither was able to damage the other enough to win.

I on the other hand don’t slot for endurance reduction and sometimes had to wait around for Power Sink to recharge. This didn’t really have a negative affect because I was able to defeat the fire tank by doing enough damage to him before his heal recharged.

It is possible to detoggle someone with Power Sink however I wouldn't rely on it as it can be situational.

I find it works in 2 ways: -

1. In an extended battle using it as often as it comes up will take toll on your opponents’ endurance which means if they use their end hungry big attacks or heal = detoggle whack whack whack whack - dead

2. In a zone you see someone low in end - zipping in hitting Power Sink = detoggle whack whack whack whack - dead

But an extension of that would be everyone else doing the same! We'd all be whiffing away until the insps ran out or some clever chap started using yellows...

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But it doesn't matter that you won't use insps - there was nothing wrong with the other chap using his head and making a clean getaway. Hats off to him.

Acting one way doesn't mean everyone else has to act the same, people thinking that way is what starts these ugly messes off.

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But if everyone thought like you all Brutes would have to do is eat 12 reds and 8 purples to 3 shot Regens Scrappers and 2 shot everything else (except tanks). Leave RV buy more insps, rinse and repeat.

This would pretty much work for any AT.

I think you're disagreeing with my post Chelsea?

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I agree its getting silly now. People getting angry and threatening players over the use of inspirations, accusations of cheating...

I took my Tank into BB and was accused of "cheating by using inspirations " by a villain..Its not my fault if my Ice armour allows me to ignore his silly calptrops and then mace his head into a pulp

Despite that the majority of pvp for me is fun and good, though I guess we are due another "silly" period again where the fools gain in numbers.

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The only problem I have with using insps in PVP is when I spend 10 minutes fighting someone using powers only having a great time, manage to out play them – go to finish them when they eat greens while running back to the base... Very frustrating when I could have popped purples/reds and finished the fight much sooner. Maybe I’m a fool for believing people think and act like me. If it was the other way round I wouldn’t have used insps even if I had a full tray it would have been a worthy death.

So is on tonight @ 8:00pm in the arena?

I've been wanting to get into Arena matches for a while now.

4 seconds is a long time with low/no endurance especially if you're planning on using your Brute for PVP Fu.
3x Recharge Reductions 3x Endurance Modifications is the way to go.

My Brute will have endurance problems in extended PVP battles especially when I am fighting 1 v 1. This is with LR, hasten and 3 x recharges in Power Sink.

You could slot your attacks with endurance reductions rather then relying solely on Power Sink, however, in my opinion if they replace +damage enhancements you’re reducing your burst damage which is key in PVP. I realise that with Brute’s low initial damage modifier (0.75 I think – less then a tank) the +%damage is not a huge amount but with Fury generation borked in PVP you’ll need all the help you can get.

Of course once you hit Power Surge all your endurance worries go away… for 3 minutes.

Edited: To elaborate

The sad fact is in a world of over accurate heroes in later levels resistance is better then defence.

You [u]will[u] be hit so you may as well resist the damage.

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THINK ABOUT HOW THE OTHER PERSON MAY TAKE WHAT YOU ARE SAYING.

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How about thinking about our poor eyes and making that wall of text a little more friendly?

The Nicti/Nictupodo will have the same power sets as the hero side Kheldians but have 0.75 of their damage and 0.75 of their def/res but luckily they'll have an inherent to even things up.

But that won't work in PVP.

Worst insult I have ever received in COV was during my first foray into RV at level 42: “F***ing arrogant C***”. Needless to say that got a petition.

I won’t insult players I’ll insult the way they play.

My EM/ELA Brute has never beaten any /regen scrapper 1 vs 1. Only time I have taken them down is when I am fighting a team of heroes with pets and heavies in RV. If I use Demonic then Powersurge all those attacks build up lots of fury and I am then able to out damage their heals.

Last night I had a 1 v 1 vs a claws/regen. I did a hideous large amount of damage compared to him over the duration of the fight but every time he got low on hp he would heal to full health. It looked to me that twice during the fight he healed for over 1,000 hp. The only way I think I can find a way of beating any regen is to play one and discover their weaknesses and be able to identify the gaps in their healing chain.

Are any other brutes able to consistently beat any /regens in PVP?

I’m not saying nerf regens as it appears they are the rock to my scissors and I know other AT’s have to tools to defeat them.

I believe you can help yourself more by starting with a well rounded build and develop your play style from there. Just stepping into PVP nowadays is painful for the unprepared and purposely gimping yourself seems like flagellation to me.

Of course whatever floats your boat

I did consider a build without shields and be truly hit and run (after reading Elernet’s build suggestions) but I thought I’d better learn to walk before I try tap dancing.

I'm confused... winning = fun

Electric Melee is very AOE oriented so if you want a change of pace go for the EM/ you'll be an awesome engine of destruction. There will be times when you've got 80% fury and surrounded by mobs that you will ache for a good AOE but when you're tearing chunks off an EB/AV/Hero you'll be smiling. Also if you did make a foray into PVP EM/ is your friend.

But I can't see what I can drop for Aid Self? Hasten/SS? Teleport completely?

What I think will happen is I'll develop the build as I gain more experience and learn what works for me. Thanks for the advice people.

What's wrong with wanting to win at all costs? I’m pretty sure everyone else in the zone is doing exactly the same thing.

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your not gonna take Focused Fighting till lvl 28!?!?!? WHY!?

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I have chosen Focused fighting so late because I’m not planning on being in melee range long enough to warrant having melee defence earlier and at level 28 I'll have it in time for Sirens. But on the flip side of that PVE might be a pain without it. Hmmm

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With teleport as only travel power you
- will never attack flying attacks
- never attack moving ground targets
- hardly be able to follow escaping targets

Get fly, swift + quickness speeds up your flying power, and fly is king in pvp. skip phase shift if you want to hit & run, and probably try to fit in aid self.

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Like Chelsea said, there is too much –Fly going around in PVP to make it reliable for attack or escape. The 3 range enhancements on TP will mean that if I need to get out of a situation it going to be pretty hard to stop me, even if immobilised. IMO this is the essence of the hit and run Stalker.

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Youre probably right. But still, when they -fly you, you can always just placate and move away,

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Trouble is in PVP as a Villain I hardly ever find myself fighting one on one, and you can only placate one person.

I'll think I’ll drop Phase Shift for SS, my Brute has it exclusively at level 46 and does very well in RV. In 4 bars he’ll hit 47 and get Web Envelope from Black Scorpions Power Pool so I can stop using the Gold Bricker Jet Pack to reach fliers... Phase Shift was just there to allow me to annoy PFF using Blasters and Hibernating tanks as much as they annoy me!

I’ll definitely consider Aid Self but what to take out?? Bah, why is SR so tight…

Hello, below is the proposed build for my new EM/SR stalker; the intent is to use him in PVP. I have chosen teleport as the travel power to enable quick attacking and escaping from my target.

I have gone for the passive defences as I think defence defines the Super Reflexes power set and slotted I can get an extra 7.8% def which is nothing to be sniffed at. This means that I haven’t included Quickness, is this a mistake? I don’t see the extra recharge and run speed to be that beneficial compared to the extra defence. I am also inclined to replace the Recharge Reduction SO’s on my attacks with another +Accuracy SO, (3acc and 3dam) which would help me hit those Heroes.

I look forward to your critique.

Name:
Level: 50
Archetype: Stalker
Primary: Energy Melee
Secondary: Super Reflexes
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Energy Punch==> Acc(1) Acc(50)
01) --> Hide==> DefBuf(1) DefBuf(31) DefBuf(34)
02) --> Bone Smasher==> Acc(2) Acc(3) Dmg(3) Dmg(5) Dmg(5) Rechg(43)
04) --> Focused Senses==> DefBuf(4) DefBuf(31) DefBuf(31) EndRdx(37)
06) --> Assassin's Strike==> Acc(6) Acc(7) Dmg(7) Dmg(9) Dmg(9) Rechg(42)
08) --> Build Up==> Rechg(8) Rechg(11) Rechg(17) TH_Buf(17) TH_Buf(19) TH_Buf(19)
10) --> Teleport Foe==> Acc(10) Acc(11) Rechg(43)
12) --> Placate==> Rechg(12) Rechg(13) Rechg(13)
14) --> Teleport==> Range(14) Range(15) Range(15) EndRdx(40)
16) --> Swift==> Run(16) Run(45) Run(46)
18) --> Hurdle==> Jump(18) Jump(46) Jump(48)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20) EndMod(21) EndMod(21)
22) --> Practiced Brawler==> Rechg(22) Rechg(23) Rechg(23)
24) --> Hasten==> Rechg(24) Rechg(25) Rechg(25)
26) --> Energy Transfer==> Acc(26) Acc(27) Dmg(27) Dmg(29) Dmg(29) Rechg(42)
28) --> Focused Fighting==> DefBuf(28) DefBuf(34) DefBuf(36) EndRdx(37)
30) --> Stealth==> EndRdx(30) EndRdx(46)
32) --> Total Focus==> Acc(32) Acc(33) Dmg(33) Dmg(33) Dmg(34) Rechg(43)
35) --> Evasion==> DefBuf(35) DefBuf(36) DefBuf(36) EndRdx(37)
38) --> Elude==> Rechg(38) Rechg(39) Rechg(39) DefBuf(39) DefBuf(40) DefBuf(40)
41) --> Invisibility==> EndRdx(41) EndRdx(42)
44) --> Phase Shift==> Rechg(44) Rechg(45) Rechg(45)
47) --> Agile==> DefBuf(47) DefBuf(48) DefBuf(48)
49) --> Dodge==> DefBuf(49) DefBuf(50) DefBuf(50)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Run(1)
01) --> Brawl==> EndRdx(1)
01) --> Assassination==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Rechg(2)

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i think broken is to strong of a word. a common thing im noticing is people trying to compare hero/villain AT's when quite simply it cant and should not be done...Blasters and scrappers both hav a high damage ratings but its clear that their damage is very different, why? because scrappers have defences blasters dont. Now lets look at it the same way between a brute and a scrapper brutes are quite a bit stronger defensively than scrappers and at full fury you out damage scrappers by quite a bit..why shud you have the same base damage as scrappers when you start off? these type of comparisons can also be made between corruptors and blasters once again high damage ratings but to very different outputs

the chance of critical hits in pve are based on the rank of your foe ie minion/lt/boss/EB/AV in pvp scrappers have a tocrit ratio as if they are fighting a minion

to keep it simple brutes fury is not broken, it takes longer to build because ones its up, you are very powerful. a brutes fury is guarenteed to rise during combat, scrappers can fight for 10 mins and not get 1 crit on a bad day (and i can say that because its happnened to me) so a brute has to pay for that guarenteed damage rise by being in battle for prolonged durations

the KEY word in pvp is team, they didnt make any of the AT's powerful enough to go at a team alone if your dying before you build fury its because you need some buffs or some healing to make you last longer not because fury builds to slowly

as you said though "fixing" it may not change anything at all but im reminded of the phrase "if it aint broke dont fix it"

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I think you've missed the point. The Dev's have said that there is a problem with their code that is proving very difficult to sort out. This means that Fury generation in PVP is not working as intended. We should be generating fury as if we were fighting AV's/NPC heroes. Brutes currently generate Fury as if they were fughting an even level minion. It's a bug and my point was it isn't on the the priority list for being fixed.

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With brutes in general, I only run shields when I have to, S/L resist when fighting foes with S/L damage and taking too much damage, mez protection against mezzing foes, etc.

This all pre-22 of course.

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Max's advice is sound.

Of course pre 22 your attack chain will still try and bleed you dry even with toggle management. However this is the same for all brutes before SO's. Carry lots of blues and you'll be ok.