Gruumch

I have a DM/WP brute and never ever ever have endurance problems with just QR and Stamina. I have Dark Consumption but it is slotted and used as an AoE attack. I really can't imagine you ever needing Conserve Power as my blue bar doesn't move on my brute.

They both do well soloing and teamed. I have taken both to 50.

Stone is awesome with Fault, great mitigation.

Fire is probably the best ST damage set of all and also has pretty good AoE in FSC

set them to extreme and they would slaughter everybody

I have a soft capped WM/EA at 50 that I started when this thread was first created. I made him too see how bad the combo really was. I enjoyed playing a lot and then both sets got buffed. I can do some crazy things with him and he is my favorite brute to play now.

TP can be very fast once you get used to using it. I use a bind to make it easier. It does use a lot of end if you don't slot for it, but I can get across a zone really fast.

I have a stone/stone that I have been playing for 3 years now.

[u]This[u] is the build I have been working towards for awhile now, but as long as you take certain powers you will be pretty good. For an SO build 6 slot all your attacks with 2 acc, 2 recharge, 2 end redux. Make sure you have swift with 3 run speed so's and take teleport as a travel power. You will also need tough to cap your resists.

edit: the old guides are still good, lots of good advice in them still. If you are on Freedom look me up and I can show you what mine can do.

On a brute taking both SP and Smite early does help build fury faster. I will drop SP later in the build once I have SL and MG and my attack chain is full without SP. I hear a lot of brutes also skip SM because the long animation isn't good for fury, but I take it and only use it once fury has built up since it is really the only AoE you get in the set.

I use Smite, SL, MG as my attack chain with Boxing on auto. I do reserve SM for those times I can hit 2 or more mobs with it.

I have Tremor on my stone/stone. I only use it once my fury is over 50%. Of course when you have the aggro cap around you you don't have to worry about fury anyway.

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War mace is actually pretty good...

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Yes it is and so is EA.

/Stone is a very tough secondary using SO's, so it just gets better with IO's. My first goal with mine was to cap my S/L resist which doesn't require anything but SO's to do. I live in Granite myself all the time and there for skipped the other armors. I haven't spent a lot on IO's for him,but what I have is to help run speed and recovery.

The best thing I have found about /stone is that it doesn't require anything to be the toughest thing out there and any IO's you go with make it that much better. It's really hard to go wrong with it. There are several older guides out there and they still have good info in them. Look in the tanker guides also, they apply to brutes just as much.

<qr> The flames are getting high in here!

I think it is a pointless debate anyway. CoV doesn't follow the normal class roles like any other MMO or even CoH. Nobody really tanks like in most games. You just don't see the traditional play style here. Most teams just steamroll over mobs and someone takes the alpha. Most of the time it is a Brute, but I have seen MM's do it also. In the 3 years I have been playing I have seen every AT take the alpha on at least one occasion.

I primarily play Brutes and I like to be the first in, but Beyond taking the alpha I don't care if I maintain aggro beyond enough to fuel my fury.

I was looking in Mid's and it looks like the best 2 attacks in Fire melee are BoF and GFS, but you are right Air Sup is better than both. The best PPP attack is Spirit Shark, so best to get it for a good ranged attack. Also, why take Dark Regen for PvP build, you will never have enough targets to justify using it and you have Aid Self anyway. I am not into PvP myself so take it for what its worth.

Most teams I am on play in relentless, but I also have some support on most teams. Rarely have I been on an 8-man relentless team without some sort of support unless it was a farm. Even in all boss farms my DM/WP is normally the toughest brute there.

Brutes also have a lot more HP, and once I got my EA Brute capped to all but Psi(i have 20% there) he is real tough to kill. I have never played Stalker EA...id repulse that good and how many people take it?

I have a SS/WP at 30 right now and a DM/WP at 50. Both can take the lead on 8-man teams without any problems and the DM/WP takes on any EB I have found with ease. I only have common IO's in them, no sets.

What is your build? Do you have Tough and Weave? Post your build so we can see where you are having problems.

Yes the values are different, but the set are actually quite different also. Kinetic Shield and Power Shield are less, but Brutes get Enery Cloak which is 3.75% Def to all. Added together that is 16.55% total and the stealth doesn't suppress. Stalkers don't have that so the numbers work out just fine. In pretty much all cases Brute, Scrapper, and Stalker defense numbers are the same, but you have to look at the whole set since they had to make room for hide in all the Satlker sets.

Why do you have to be able to beat an AV with any build. They are meant for teams. SS/WP should be able to handle any EB you encounter without any problem as is, I find mine can without investing in a bunch of IO's. The only reason you might want to beat an AV is for bragging rights maybe, so make a brute just for that and use this one for other stuff. Not all brutes can solo AV's

It depends on what you are going for. SM/FA will be a much stronger AoE build than SM/WP, but the WP one will be much more survivable and not have any endurance problems. Of course both will be very good builds since you will have Fault. It really depends on what you want to do with your Brute.

AV fights tend to be very long when you solo them and I wonder if SS/SR can keep up the continuous attacking without running out of endurance.

SS is an end hog and SR doesn't have any endurance management tools to fill the blue bar back up. So, how long can you maintain the fight and is it long enough?

You will have 2 heals and 2 endurance recovery powers, so on paper it looks good. I have never played the combo beyond the teens though so I couldn't say how good it would be. I believe there is a guide in the brute section you can look at that will help.

I still use DO's at 12. I find a lot of my endurance problems go away if I fill all my slots with end reducers at that point. I always seem to have about a million inf by that time anyway, so I don't have any problems affording it.

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QR
Bump Because someone was looking for a WM/EA Guide... Heh..

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Maybe I should right one, but I am not sure anybody could take that much STRONG and PRETTY

If you can saturate Soul Drain and AAO for the 185% bonus, combine that with the max from Enhancements of 100% and a realistic 80% Fury then you would have 445%. Now if you can just get Soul Drain permanent!

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Good point on Temp Protection, it makes a good IO mule, but still skippable on a tight build.

Another thing I do with my /fire brutes is pick up kick instead of boxing. 4 slot Kinetic Crash for some real cheap -kb

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Meh.. 1 slot for -kb vs 4 slots can be tough in a tight build.

Personally I use Boxing as a stun set mule if I have the slots. Either 5 slot it with Stupefy or 2 slot it with Stupefy or Rope-a-Dope depending on if you want +recovery or +regen.

And thats not even touching Absolute Amazement. (as my builds don't use purples)

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Yes one slot for -kb is better, but not everybody has the inf to buy those. 4 Kinetic Crashes is dirt cheap.

I do prefer Boxing as the stun set bonuses are much better, but options are always good.

To be honest your question wasn't very clear to me at all and I can see why it was misunderstood. Don't be offended because someone didn't understand your question.