Frustro

Ice/Ice
Stone/Fire
Fire/Stone
Shield/Nrg

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47,717 words to go.

I've got most of the first battle scene nailed (how close to the actual beginning it is is yet to be determined) and have made a good start on the opening. Some of the descriptive feels a bit fattening at the moment but I'm not going to start picking at it at this stage. My plan is to just let the words come as they come and then fix the nasty bits in a week or two by mounting a Stalinesque purge of adjectives.

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Looking good so far mate! Just don't forget to add zombies, clowns, ninjas, pirates, naked women, and maybe dinosaurs before you're done. Can't BELIEVE so many "serious" writers miss something so obvious

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Why are the Cages good if you cant KB your foes? Thats the main damage mitigation SS offers.

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Well, usually most teams hates any sort of scatter effect as it ruins their own AoE attack opportunities. I usually get at least SOME grief when I go clap-happy with hand clap due to the massive KB.

I use it alot when solo, but when on a team I like to keep the mobs close to me as I don't have any real AoE attacks and everyone else does. So to keep the aggro I need them close. With cages locking the mobs down I can then still use hand clap, even though it doesn't scatter the mobs it still mitigates damage by delivering disorient status to all hit. In my case I have hand clap 3 slotted with disorient enhancers. Immobed and disoriented pretty much equals a hold.

I'd imagine a similar effect would also be useful to a tank with a damage aura.

Edit: Hehe Sin beat me to it..and explained it a lot better using fewer words :/

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Yeah I've run into the same problem as both of you on my EM/Elec and SS/Dark brutes for the 40s. On the EM/Elec in particular I can't take Boxing/Tough (though I wish I could) as I've run out of pools and don't want to drop any of the following: Speed (Hasten), Flight (AirSup & Fly), Medecine, or Fitness.

For you I would say that Lightning Field would be good - when teamed I find that auras are my highest damaging attacks over time on all of my brutes (or so HeroStats tells me), and they are especially useful in a team to keep aggro on you and away from the squishies.

I wanted to take Scirocco for concept reasons on my EM/Elec but nothing in it appeals to me - my EM/Dark friend took all of the Scirocco powers except the pet and respecced them out at 50 because they were all rubbish and he just wasn't using them. I may go Black Scorpion instead because Web Envelope at least has some uses for an /Elec brute who doesn't want to leave the ground (Grounded) - i.e. bringing down flying enemies.

Another option is Taunt - my EM/Dark friend took that solely to use on the LRSF and it seems effective. If you team a lot or plan to do the LRSF then you might get some use out of it - I'll probably take it.

What turns me away from Hand Clap on my SS/DA brute is that it's knockback, not knockdown like Foot Stomp. Although I guess it can buy time to use Aid Self - my friend uses it like that on his SS/Elec.

I think my EM/Elec might end up taking SuperSpeed as well, because he already has Fly for vertical movement (I had Grandville in mind when I chose his travel power), but SS is so much faster for getting around most of the time. However it just seems a waste to me having two travel powers on a character (except for my stalker who had Fly and TP for tactical PvP reasons). But as I've selected all of my pools I don't see any other option.

Honestly the patron pools for brutes are just shamefully bad - web envelope is really the only power that I would say is particularly useful.

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I'm coming from a slightly different situation being SS/Inv and as such don't get a damage aura. So getting the area immob was more due to getting any sort of AoE attack for aggro grabbing...However, now that I've got it I have to say it's pretty darn useful when teaming for when you want to handclap. The cages lock the mobs down making them KB resistant and still makes them disoriented. So in essence cages and handclap together when it hits = a decent area hold

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...you didn't realise you had Shadow Recall for ages until another WS points it out to you when you're level 16. Then you realise you could have TPed all those slow team members over the Gulch for all that time...

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Hahaha...I did exactly the same thing!...and in the hollows no less! Mine was even worse cause when I finally found out I spent a long time wondering why that new shiny button I just placed on my tray was greyed out and went
-"Hmmm...range is really short on the kheld team member tp"
Spent some time with it and even flew closer to the guy I was trying to tp when a team mate asked...
-"Are you sure it works in squid form?"
-"Doh!"
Ended up tp:ing the LAST team member the staggering distance of the last 100 yards :S

They'll never let me forget it either

Ahhh...so THIS is why you were on Red Feather last night eh?

CONGRATULATORILATIONS!

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A few of us from NSA did an 8 man corruptor team the other day, 5 */Rads, 2 */dark and a thermal. A fearsome sight I have to say. Sure, I still managed to faceplant but it didn't matter, always an instant rez!

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That was utter insanity! I've never seen xp like that before. Great fun too!

Congratulations Standoff!

W00t! Just read it! Thanks for mentioning the big blue ape mate

Frostro is still about...not playing him much though as I'm usually busy levelling villains atm.

Congratulations again guys! Grateful that I got to be present at the double-dingage

Hmmmm...how well does the damage auras work for building fury? With the constant tick of the aura it should really do wonders for fury I reckon

Problem is that it doesn't make me feel very -"HA-HAAAAAARRR! GIMME MORE TO CLOBBER!"...instead it's more like -"Oh noes! Quick..must find some more mobs before this bar runs out making me have to slap them around again!"

It's not the berserker rage of the vikings..it's more like the nicotine urge when you're out of smokes.

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As well as the excellent Brawl (though I now auto Jab, as my attack chain is full enough that brawl doesn't fit properly) advice, I'll also offer this nugget, slot Accuracy, End reduction and Recharge before you slot for damage.

My solo missions (now 39, but have worked this way more or less since the early 20s) work thusly:

1st spawn: Building up fury. Basic chain of Jab, Punch, Air Superiority, Haymaker only.

2nd and subsiquent spawns: As above, plus Stomp, KO Blow and Hurl when needed/I think they will look cool.

At no point unless direly needed will I stop. I'll probably consider resting if my end is below 20% or my health is below 30% and Dull Pain isn't ready. Even if I do rest, my fury usually doesn't fall under 40%.

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Bah...look at all this stratgy and plannerings...all I wanted to do was SMUSH things

On a more serious note I'd say the acc, end red, recharge slotting sounds about right...I went and slotted all my attacks acc, 3xDamage asap since that was the idea I had for my brutes...and figured offense is the best defense. The end drain on my Super strength brute is pretty spectacular

Bah...I wish I'd never tried the brawl-jab-boxing cycle now...but the difference in fury build up is nothing short of staggering. I think I'd be a lot happier smushing stuff if there was a possibility to remove the fury bar.

Yeah I know what you mean. I've TRIED to not let the fury bar get to me and play like I did before discovering the mechanics of it, but I still get stressed out by it and find myself working on fury instead of just smashing heroes faces in. Also from what I've seen...a brute without fury does less damage then a scrapper :/

I think the 2 sets I'm using increases my frustration though...with Super Strength Brawl, Boxing and Jab really feels like slapping them in the face compared to the bigger hits...and on my Shadow meleer I never feel I can motivate pressing Shadow maul for lost time on fury build up.

..and no matter what brute I'm on...a near full fury bar sends me on a frantic race to find more mobs to pound...only to arrive and throw the first punch as soon as my fury bar is all but gone. I think you guys are probably right and brutes just isn't my thing...pity some of them are my favorite concept characters though

Edit: Noticed Light-Petting getting one in before I managed to post and thought I'd clarify something as well...all of this is mostly from a soloing perspective (and only L14-15)...in teams I can pretty much ignore fury and gleefully keep smushing stuff.

Yeah I've found this to be very true...and probably the main reason why I hardly play my brutes anymore. It turns out that all the quick attacks helps generate Fury and throwing in a bigger attack really slows the fury build up down. So to build fury you need to slap the mobs around for a while using brawl and things like boxing and the quick low damage attack in the sets, which is not exactly what I had in mind when making my brutes to begin with.

-"GHUAARGH!" *piff* *piff* *piff* *piff* *piff* *piff* *slap* *piff* *piff* *slap* *BAM!*

I had enviosioned something a tad more brutal for brutes...imho the attacks should have an individual fury bonus...bigger for bigger attacks so that a powerful hit would build as much fury as several tiny ones.

The constant slapping around mobs along with the excrusiating stress of trying to get into fights when the fury meter is up really put me off playing brutes...at least for now. A bit weird really, I thought being a tank fan I'd really love playing a brute for a change, but as it stands I'm liking the corruptors and stalkers more tbh.

"Down with thort! Long Live Lumps"
-Prof. D.P. Gumby

Congratulations Q!

Really hope you roll up a new lowbie and join us as the titter-tatter of little tentacles can be heard all over the NSA base...if there were such a thing.

Hmmm...Just noticed I haven't posted anything here for some reason...sorting it now though.

Congratulations on 50 Jet!

Better late then never right?

Gratz Electrify!

Glad I could be there for the big ding. The ensuing squidathon was great fun as well

I'd probably go so far as saying that chilling embrace is THE best power in the Ice primary set. Before the recent aggro nerf it pretty much allowed for unrivaled aggro magangment when combined with swift or even better a kinetic speed boost...If you have CE and use it right you will now hit the aggro cap of 17 long before you can even consider using taunt. On Frostro I have both CE and taunt and I ALWAYS use CE and pretty much NEVER use taunt.

Gratz indeed!

I pity the Void Stalker thinking he's in for an easy kill if you ever make a squid Bloss

Gratz Gen!!!!

Oh man...thanks for all the kind words Gen...now I feel even more guilty about not helping out on the last stretch I'm VERY glad you made it though!

Looking forward to teaming with you again in some other constallation. You're a great Blaster and a great defender...maybe you're also a great squid?

I got a bit freaked out by the low DEF as well until I had a glance at the powers list. I seem to recall there being a few RES armors in it which would make energy armor a mixed set come later levels? In the meantime I guess the same rules apply as when tanking with Ice...namely avoiding mobs several levels higher. Brutes don't draw as much aggro anyways so I reckon energy brutes will be ok at later levels.