Gruumch

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I think it is more efficient to work on s/l defense, you can get high level of mitigation with both resistance and defense.

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I agree. OP asked what the max resist could be and I took it as a math problem. It is definitely better to go for more defense as it is cheaper and Invuln as a set has both already. Layered mitigation is always better IMO.

I came up with 85.8% smashing/78.3% lethal by using those sets.

3 resist IO's in RPD, Temp Invuln, and Tough
3 kinetic crashes in Kick, KoB, Hurl, and Spirit Shark
4 edict of the masters in Summon Gaurdian
4 air bursts in Arctic Breath and Bile Spray

That would get you close to the cap, but is it worth it.

edit: forgot the +3% resist PvP IO, so it would be 88.8% smashing/81.3 lethal

Looking in Mid's with RPD, Temp Invuln, and Tough it shows 75.4% with 3 Resist IO's in each. That is pretty close to it since there aren't very many +resist IO's out there. There is one for +3 that is a PVP set, but it is very expensive. I am at work so can't get in game to check actual numbers to see how close Mid's is.

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hm was wondering if somebody had a strong and pretty build i could look at?

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This is pretty close to my live build.

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

SS-EA BRUTE: Level 50 Science Brute
Primary Power Set: War Mace
Secondary Power Set: Energy Aura
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Bash -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg:30(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx:30(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg:30(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:30(17), Mocking-Acc/Rchg:30(17), Zinger-Acc/Rchg:30(42)
Level 1: Kinetic Shield -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx:50(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg:50(19), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg:50(19), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(31), RedFtn-Def:50(42), RedFtn-EndRdx:50(42)
Level 2: Pulverize -- RzDz-Acc/Rchg:30(A), RzDz-EndRdx/Stun:30(5), RzDz-Acc/EndRdx:30(5), RzDz-Stun/Rng:30(15), RzDz-Acc/Stun/Rchg:30(15), RzDz-Immob%:30(40)
Level 4: Jawbreaker -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg:35(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx:35(7), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg:35(7), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(13), Mocking-Acc/Rchg:30(13), Zinger-Acc/Rchg:30(40)
Level 6: Build Up -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 8: Clobber -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:30(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:30(9), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:30(9), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:30(11), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:30(11), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:30(40)
Level 10: Entropy Shield -- EndRdx-I:50(A)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Def:50(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(31)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Zephyr-Travel:50(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx:50(50), Zephyr-ResKB:50(50)
Level 16: Hurdle -- Jump-I:50(A)
Level 18: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+:40(A)
Level 20: Stamina -- Efficacy-EndMod:50(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg:50(21), EndMod-I:50(21)
Level 22: Energy Cloak -- LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(A), LkGmblr-Def:50(23), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:50(23)
Level 24: Power Shield -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx:50(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg:50(25), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg:50(25), RedFtn-Def:50(37), RedFtn-EndRdx:50(43), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(43)
Level 26: Whirling Mace -- Erad-Dmg:30(A), Erad-Acc/Rchg:30(27), Erad-Dmg/Rchg:30(27), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:30(31), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:30(39), Erad-%Dam:30(46)
Level 28: Energy Drain -- Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg:50(A), Numna-Heal/Rchg:50(29), Numna-Heal:50(29), P'Shift-EndMod:50(34), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg:50(36), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg:50(39)
Level 30: Dampening Field -- ResDam-I:50(A), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(36)
Level 32: Crowd Control -- Oblit-Dmg:39(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg:39(33), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg:39(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:39(33), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:39(34), Oblit-%Dam:39(34)
Level 35: Shatter -- Erad-Dmg:30(A), Erad-Acc/Rchg:30(36), Erad-Dmg/Rchg:30(37), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:30(37), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:30(39), Erad-%Dam:30(43)
Level 38: Overload -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 41: Boxing -- Rope-Acc/EndRdx:50(A), Rope-Acc/Rchg:30(50)
Level 44: Tough -- TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx:50(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam/Rchg:50(45), TtmC'tng-EndRdx/Rchg:50(45), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:50(45), TtmC'tng-ResDam:50(46), TtmC'tng-EndRdx:50(46)
Level 47: Weave -- LkGmblr-Def:50(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+:50(48), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:50(48), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(48)
Level 49: Energy Protection -- ImpArm-ResPsi:40(A)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury


I was playing this guy Saturday night on a 54 boss farm. There was a stone/stone brute on the team that kept dying repeatedly, so I stepped up and started tanking for the team. The /kin on the team was desperately trying to keep the stone brute alive while I was able to solo the mobs on my own. After a while of this the stone brute finally quit after being ridiculed for being outperformed by EA.

On my WM/EA I need the heal when I am in a large crowd. I just haven't needed the heal when I fight a single hard target. I don't fight AV's solo, so if that is what the goal is then my build won't do that. I think the heal is there for when you are fighting large mobs, so in that situation it does a pretty good job.

Also, I just don't need ED to refill my endurance that often. Before the heal was added I found ED just sat in my tray unused a lot, so I slotted it for heal and now use it a lot more.

DM as a primary is going to make /EA play differently since it lacks AoE that WM has in spades. It just irritates me when the heal is called useless by so many when it's not. Since I am softcapped I just don't get hit very often and a 50% heal every 25 seconds works great for me. As always YMMV.

I tend to fight very large numbers of mobs since my primary is WM. I have lots of AoE's so I like to have many targets. When I use ED it is a 56% heal off of 10 targets and mine fires off every 25 seconds. That is a pretty good heal in my opinion.

I have mine slotted 3 numina's and 3 perf shifters for
88.07% endmod
88.07% heal
91.78% recharge
21.2% end discount

So, I only need 2 mobs to completely fill the blue bar also. I have found that I only need the heal if I am fighting large mobs since I am softcapped and refilling half the blue bar against a single hard target is always enough. SS must be a lot heavier on end use than WM since I find ED is always back up before I run out of endurance, so I use it as a heal when I am fighting large mobs, which is most of the time. Obviously we play EA very differently.

Yeah...how does a mountain of stone hide?

That made me laugh.

I wish they would proliferate MA over to Brutes just to see it paired with /Stone.

Wouldn't dropping Hasten make the endurance issues go away? I have a Fire/Dark brute myself and I can't imagine making the endurance issues worse by taking hasten. Mine is very manageable without it and I can imagine it would be a problem if I added hasten in there.

Looking at your build I noticed you are way over the the softcap on most things. You could drop maneuvers and still be over the softcap on everything but fire/cold(it would still be 43%). You could drop it and pick up Shadow Maul for a little bit of AoE that the build lacks. Yes SM is slow, but use it when fury is high and it is a great damage power when you hit more than one mob.

I would also slot ED more for heal than EndMod, it fills your blue bar off of 3 mobs anyway, so the heal needs more enhancing.

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Go SS/SD or Elec/SD are going to be awesome. EA is a joke, Elec Armor not that great, and hardly anybody plays Invuln on a Brute seems like. If you want massive AoE go Elec, if you want uber damage go SS.

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I agree with your first part, SS/SD or Elec/SD are great, but EA isn't a joke. It is better than Elec or Invuln IMO. I have a softcapped EA that can mow through anything. It just plays a lot different than other brutes.

I have Tough and Weave on my elec/fire brute. I do think Tough is required on him to make him survivable, but I was surprised how much I noticed the difference when I added Weave. I only have CJ to stack with it right now, but I could tell a difference. Now I just need to get some +def sets to really make a difference.

Interesting. I have never taken Whirlwind, but that would be funny to see. I have a 50 stone/stone with an unused second build. I may get on tonight and try it.

I tweaked your build a bit, mainly moved some slots. The only powers I moved were Gloom and the passives to maximize Gloom for slotting.

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Mr. Jenson: Level 50 Natural Brute
Primary Power Set: Dark Melee
Secondary Power Set: Super Reflexes
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Smite -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg:40(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx:40(3), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:40(3), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg:40(5), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:40(5), T'Death-Dam%:40(7)
Level 1: Focused Fighting -- RedFtn-Def:50(A), RedFtn-EndRdx:50(7), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx:50(9), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg:50(9), RedFtn-Def/Rchg:50(11), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(11)
Level 2: Focused Senses -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx:50(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg:50(13), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg:50(13), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(15), RedFtn-Def:50(15), RedFtn-EndRdx:50(17)
Level 4: Shadow Maul -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg:50(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx:50(17), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg:50(19), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg:50(19), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(21)
Level 6: Swift -- Run-I:50(A)
Level 8: Siphon Life -- C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:50(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:50(21), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(23), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(23), Nictus-Acc/EndRdx/Heal/HP/Regen:50(25), Nictus-Heal:50(25)
Level 10: Practiced Brawler -- RechRdx-I:50(A)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff-I:50(A), GftotA-Run+:30(40)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Jump-I:50(A)
Level 16: Health -- Heal-I:50(A), Heal-I:50(27), Heal-I:50(27)
Level 18: Dark Consumption -- P'Shift-Acc/Rchg:50(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg:50(29), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc:50(29), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg:30(39), P'Shift-End%:30(40)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%:50(A), P'Shift-EndMod:50(31), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg:50(31), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc:30(43)
Level 22: Boxing -- Stpfy-Acc/Rchg:50(A), Stpfy-Acc/Stun/Rchg:30(40), Stpfy-Acc/EndRdx:30(46), T'Death-Dam%:30(50)
Level 24: Evasion -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx:50(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg:50(31), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg:50(33), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(33), RedFtn-Def:50(33), RedFtn-EndRdx:50(34)
Level 26: Soul Drain -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg:21(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx:50(34), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg:50(34), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg:50(36), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(42)
Level 28: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(36), RechRdx-I:50(36)
Level 30: Lucky -- DefBuff-I:50(A)
Level 32: Midnight Grasp -- T'Death-Dam%:40(A), T'Death-Acc/Dmg:40(37), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx:40(37), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg:40(37), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:40(39), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:40(39)
Level 35: Quickness -- Run-I:50(A)
Level 38: Dodge -- DefBuff-I:50(A)
Level 41: Gloom -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:30(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:30(42), Thundr-Acc/Dmg:30(42), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:30(43), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx:30(43)
Level 44: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(45), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(45), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(45), RctvArm-ResDam:40(46), RctvArm-EndRdx:40(46)
Level 47: Weave -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx:50(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg:50(48), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg:50(48), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(48), RedFtn-Def:50(50), RedFtn-EndRdx:50(50)
Level 49: Agile -- Ksmt-ToHit+:30(A)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury

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Just for kicks I slotted the Stupefy chance for KB into OG and it was one of the funniest things to watch. It was on my Spines/Dark so it looked like sometimes the quills would shoot out and knock things around.

Not practical but funny

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I have it slotted on my fire/dark brute also. It can be very funny to watch mobs go flying for no reason at all. Always makes me smile .

I would try to get some more energy defense, you only have 38% right now. Look for more sets to increase that, you have 51% s/l defense so you can let some of that go to inrease the nrg/-nrg. I 6 slot my defenses on EA and that will help get you soft capped. [u] Here[u] is my WM/EA build with softcapped defenses to look at. You can see how I used IO sets to get there.

As for your slotting on DM, you really should look at how you slotted Soul Drain, Go for recharge, acc, and then end reducers in that order. Frankenslot it, it is to good of a power to not get the most use out of it. The taunt set in it is just a waste and makes the power unreliable. You can drop Dark consumption, you won't need it since you have Energy Drain. Pick up dampening field instead for a spot to place the +3 defense unique and then take the slots you have left to place in your shields to get them to 6 slots for that last Red Fortune IO.

And last but not least, you don't need Aid Self. You have 2 heals already. I run my WM/EA with only the heal from energy drain and don't have any problems. You have SL on top of energy drain,so you should be fine without aid self.

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Shield is child's play.

Go Stone/DA.

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This and stay away from IO's. You will use so much endurance you might drain your team mates endurance if they stand too close.

I don't have a build, but you want to take all of SR and you can skip Lightning Clap in Elec. The rest of the powers are mostly pretty good, I normally skip JL because I find it kind of slow. You may want it though since it is another AoE, so up to you. For pool powers you will want Fitness for sure, FIghting and medicine are good also, and Hasten is nice to bring LR back faster.

As for slotting, make sure you sotfcap defense(very easy with SR) and slot for recharge.

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A little bit ago, I made an Energy Aura brute (too weak to couple it with mace, so I went Dark Melee). I have played it to level 40....

Anyway, EA has to be the flat-out worst secondary I've ever experienced with a brute.

Seriously, no aggro aura + a stealth = crappy herds. But that's actually OK, because if I did manage to herd (well, the corrupter herded much better) I would mostly get pwn'd pretty darn quick!

The end-suck/heal is OK at best, and yeah, looks decent if you have 10 enemies around you. But if you have 10 enemies around you, they'll just 4-shot you anyway, heal or no.

Soloing is not bad, but a 3-yr old can solo pretty much any AT w/o enh's in this game, so that's not really a reliable indication of a set's strengths.

The tier 9, Overload, is very nice, and if I could live in it, it is very survivable. I have just resolved to: a) never roll a type-defense toon again, and b) ignore EA as the bastage-stepchild of the brute world.

On the other hand, SR was very survivable! Took some doing to get it reasonable (about 30+ levels), but compared to EA, it's gold!

No aggro aura on a brute... and they cap that with a stealth! Wow, and they didn't want spines or ice because those slowed building fury... did they even play EA?

Anyways, I might push to 50 and see how LoLz-worthy it is in RV, I've only used SO's for now; if it looks remotely viable in zone pvp, I might slot some cheap IO sets... not many set bonuses for typed defense.

-r0y

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You are completely wrong sir!

/EA ranks above /Elec and Dark from my experience. Have you played an EA at all?

Yes, I have a WM/EA at 50 and really enjoy playing him.

Definitely STRONG and PRETTY!

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I rolled up an elec/elec Brute last night... I think that's going to be my red-side guy.

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Electric Armor is kind of squishy for a brute. I wnet with elec/fire for a lot of AoE myself, but elec/shield and ss/fire are both popular AoE builds.

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Pure def sets can be explained in one word. That word is an actual name of a power in the /SR set, that word is part of the name of a popular deffense IO set, and that word is the base name for an inspiration. That word is "Luck". The whole concept of def is the % "chance". There is a "chance" you can be in the last battle on lrsf and not get touched and there is a "chance" you can get one shotted buy a NPC hero in a bank mission. Granted, those two examples are on the extreme of both ends. All I'm saying is one person can easily have issues using the same set another person considers to be easy mode. Some people say widows are too powerful. My widow has soft cap "all" def with mind link up. I still get dropped at times leaving me thinking wth? Def sets are a roll of the dice, a draw of the card, a pull of the slot machine. In other words, all about luck. Some have bad luck and some have good luck.

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I think this is a great explanation. You really are just playing with probability and luck. I have a /SR brute that is above soft capped that I love at times and sometimes I just want to delete her. Sometimes I ITF and barely get scratched. The other day, I had a particularly rough run and got one shotted (essentially) by a cyst with my team surrounding me.
One of the team members was a widow with nice buffs, and another was a shield brute running some nice numbers. My defense numbers were well above 100% for positional and past 45% for typed. Regardless, I was still struck down. I suppose it is the game you play with a set that is entirely defense based. (Yes, I am aware of the scaling HP resistance power, and I have it, but if you have a lone HP remaining after a devastating strike, that won't help much.)

Defense based sets are on the unpredictable side still, and there doesn't seem to be much that can be done about that without breaking the game in favor of /SR.

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This is why Stone Armor is still the toughest out there and not SR. It some defense but has all that resistance also so you don't have to worry about a streak of bad luck taking you down.

Yes, Dark has been buffed quit a bit. The damage is pretty good now and Invuln also got a buff not to long ago.

I have a DM/WP brute and it is very good, scrapper should play very similar. I think WP is one of the most popular sets out there right now. You will have Quick Recovery and Stamina if you want both endurance is just not an issue at all.

Oh, welcome back.

[ QUOTE ]
Um, turn off FA, its a hideous, hideous power.

And you're still doing yourself a disservice with that Soul Drain Slotting, (needs more Rech & acc, personally I used a full set of Obliterations, which has nice bonuses to boot )

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Just the fact he has FA running is why he needs Conserve Power. Also, Maneuvers does very little for a brute, but looks like you are using it as an IO mule.

To the OP, you keep bringing up concept so I guess that is why you are slotting for so much +runspeed. Still very odd build to me.

[ QUOTE ]
1. Somewhere in the 1000-1500 dollar range at the VERY most.

2. Smaller screen is a selling point for me. While a 17 inch monitor wouldn't kill a good deal for me I prefer portability to a big screen. I'm not trying to replace my desktop. Just get my hero/villain fix when I'm out.

3. Built in wireless.


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If you are willing to spend that much go with an Alienware Area-51® m15x, they start at $1199

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for all the replies everyone. =D

As for similarities to WoW, the main reason I quit was because I couldn't stand the endgame anymore. The reason I had so many characters at max level was because I'd get one to 80 (or whatever the level was at the time) and then get bored and level an alt.

So I'm looking forward to CoH/V.

[/ QUOTE ]

I switched to WoW at one point and got a Hunter to 80. I just didn't like the whole raiding endgame things and tried to make a few alts, but got bored way to fast there. I came back here because I enjoy making so many characters and I can redo the content more than once without getting tired of it.