Col_Blitzkrieger

Just coming back? Make a Brute.

I'm certainly excited about the fancy glowy armor the Resistance seems to get.

I'd include Masterminds under "Most solo friendly", considering how they're the easiest AT to get to the point where you can effortlessly solo AVs or x8 spawns.

Go for the Corruptor, you'll get an inherent that actually does something useful.

Let's see.

Col. Blitzkrieger - My main, 5th Column member, was in the Zig during the Council takeover and never stopped being loyal. Elec/Elec Brute with a costume themed around the 5th in appearance, albeit with a light electric powersuit covering his upper torso and arms.

Freddie Femur - Skulls Bone Daddy, Thugs/Dark Mastermind. Rather than physical attacks, his magic specializes in turning shadows into portals, through which he can summon gang members as if out of thin air. He uses the small skulls shoulderpads - one is his own former mask (using the Critix helmet), the other belongs to his dead brother, from which he can conjure his spirit in the form of a Dark Servant. His goal has been to prove two things: that even a Skull can be a force to be reckoned with with enough determination and ambition (he even got Ghost Widow to take him on as an apprentice), and that enough bullets can kill everything.

Archon Blitzkrieger - Council Earth version of my main, costume styled around an Ascendant. Elec Melee/Shield Defense.

The Warshade and two VEATs are a given. I had a Freakshow, but I ended up deleting him and remaking him as a custom enemy in the MA.

I personally dislike Dark Armor on tanks because the mez powers are rather useless against AVs (and the -ToHit in CoF is largely resisted), thus they lose a chunk of their mitigation right there.

Or so I remember it being. Keep in mind that I've been away from the game for like half a year now.

Gravity Control/Assault Rifle Dominator. Gravity effects tinted blue.

Yes, I'm aware Dom secondaries have melee in them too. Give it a rifle butt and/or some Martial Arts moves or something.

This may or may not have anything to do with me having recently played Mass Effect 2.

...more non-Brutes, if I'm playing mine at the time. They're stealing my Fury, damn it!

So I've heard as well. I had it slotted into Punks/Arsonist on my Thugs MM and monitored their stats for 5 missions in a row, didn't proc even once so I got rid of it. Definitely doesn't work in minion pets, didn't bother trying with Enforcers due to lack of spare slots (I have Lady Grey and Achilles Heel procs in them)

Jacob's Ladder is your only pure Energy attack aside from Lightning Rod. A general tip for melee cones to -greatly- increase the area: Take a step back right before using it. I don't know if this is a latency abuse or something, but it treats the cone as longer and wider than it really is if you do this, allowing you to easily hit the cap of 5 targets every time with minimal aiming. It takes getting used to, but once you figure it out it'll be second nature to you with narrow melee cones like Jacob's Ladder or Sands of Mu; considering you can't enhance the latter and BU doesn't affect it, you should just use Jacob's whenever you currently use Sands, as they're very similar in reach and area. I certainly enjoy it. Only gripe with it is the slightly slowish feeling animation, but looking at the numbers it seems to be mostly a 'feel' thing than actual slowness.

Chain Induction is pretty great. I use it as often as possible. Granted, I'm Elec Armor so I don't have any endurance issues, so you might want to slot it for EndRedux as if it were an AoE. In fact, it technically is an AoE of sorts, if a 'different' one. The bouncing shock does pure Energy damage and benefits from enhancements and buffs like Build Up, while jumping a considerable amount of times (~5, give or take a few randomly). The damage on your primary target is equal to that of Havoc Punch.

The only subpar power in Elec Melee is Lightning Clap, which Stalkers don't even get due to Assassin's Strike, and maybe Charged Brawl, depending on various factors.

tl;dr I'd wouldn't skip either. Just replace Sands with Jacob's in your chain.

Energy Aura feels less squishy (my opinion) and has the best soft stealth in the game due to a mechanics oddity*, as well as one of the best godmodes, while being easy to softcap to typed damage and having an endurance drain that allows easy running of Fitness powers. Elec Armor provides more AoE damage and has a more reliable heal, plus it makes you nigh-immune to energy damage and Malta Sappers; it would also allow you to play a reliable sapper yourself if you were using Elec Melee, but on its own it kind of falls short in that department. I have one of both. I can't think of either set having particular synergy with Claws, except maybe Spin + Static Field providing a high amount of AoE DPS.


*(To clarify, the stealth radius does not suppress in combat. This means you can engage spawn A near spawn B and spawn B will not see you even as you're fighting. Mobs within the same spawn are still alerted to your presence.)

The Brute is probably the easiest, toughest-out-the-box starter Archetype you could try to play. If this is your first, then I'd recommend Super Strength as a primary and Willpower as a secondary. Super Strength gets its hard hitter attack at an early level 8 or so and is very powerful (and smashy!) in general, whereas Willpower is nice and passive while still being strong and has no true weaknesses.

At higher levels it can even tank reasonably well, although a Brute's true role will always be to smash things. Also, they're fun - I'll warn you, the Fury bar can become very addicting.

Yeah, Kadabra Kill is just in a poor level bracket in general. Most of my toons encounter a spike in game difficulty when I reach the guy, mostly because of the damn Singularity. You can only get stronger and stronger as you go on the MM, though. Keep at it. Kadabra Kill is in no way a good indicator of the average challenge level you'll encounter when fighting EBs.

You did take the Forcefield Generator, right? It gives some Hold protection to you and your pets. On the flipside, Robotics has no protection against Smashing damage, if I recall correctly. If all else fails, either wait a few levels, or give your pets some Inspirations to help against the Singularity. Breakfrees, purples or oranges, that sort of thing. Or reds, and try to burst KK down. Or ask for someone else to help you - no shame in that.

Slightly off topic - what's so bad about Ballistae? Never had any issue with those on my MMs.

Nemesis/Rularuu weapons are indeed available in the AE for custom mobs.

-ToHit/Acc/Heal. In no particular order of priority.

What are your powersets?

Lose the Fitness pool, it's a waste of power choices. Stamina doesn't carry over to Nova/Dwarf forms, and Stygian Circle makes it redundant in human form.

Probably the Dullahan - a custom Fir Bolg AV, huge suit of armor with a flaming pumpkin for a head.

Either that or Steampunk Willie - a Nemesis-aligned Freakshow EB with a Nemesis Rifle and Force Field powers, and what I've been told is a very appropriate costume design. If you don't get the blindingly obvious joke/pun/reference in the name, then you are very young indeed.

Might grab some screenshots later. Both are currently still involved in arcs in a work-in-progress state.

Medic heals you too.

My brother has a Necro/Pain and a Mercs/Storm. He has a lot more fun with the Mercs/Storm. Then there's the mildly amusing 'stormtrooper' joke with such a build.

No, that's what I'm saying. I lay all that stuff down (Mortar, FFG, Beacon, Caltrops, PGT) and then all I can do is spam web grenades for the rest of the fight..