Louis_Cipher

DM/Fire has been my Fav for a long time. Fiery embrace/Soul drain = Great damage boost, DC/Consume = extreme end recharge, Siphon life/heal flames = extreme healing. Burn/BA augments DM lack of a good fast recharge AE and with Patron/epic AE, you can chain AE's non stop.

With all the bpae you can jack Energy/Neg Def with eradication, Lethal/Smash is EZ to get with kinetic combats and Archetype 5%x2, so cap S/L/En/Neg and 90 percent fire resist you are tough as hell to boot (and most cold attack have a S/L component). What ever damage you do take you have Siphon in your attack chain and Healing flames.

So you have really nice AE & ST damage, very sold solid Def and Resist and Great healing. That is layer survivability at its best. Plus you get the Balrog Shadow and Flame style. Who can ask for more.

Yea the math works better with follow up but in reality the ranged aspect of focus is such a huge edge is dwarfs the math.

I had it in Follow up for a while. I find the ATO proc works MUCH better in focus. Give it a try.

Yes, you can get and maintain max fury with using frenzy and the properly slotting you ATO. You pop frenzy at the start or inc of the mob and then make sure you hit your ATO power when ever it is up. I find putting your ATO fury proc in a power with base 8-15 sec recharge time has the best effect on maintain max fury. This way you get decent to good return from your power and global recharge as well as getting global proc off alot.

Go with Kinetic Combats for ST melee. Then get Brute Archetype enhancement 3 in FS. You can get 5 percent S/L def for each set of 3. You want to build your S/L def up. You get the biggest back for you buck from S/L def. Then focus on Nrg/Neg def or recharge depending on what you like.

IMO

1) TW/Stone/Soul
2) Dm/Invu/Mul- If you cant handle the stoner debuff then go with DM/invul. I dont like Dm with stone because a lot of Dm powers already have a long recharge. Go with MU for AEs since DM lacks low recharge AE.
3) TW/Elec/soul-
4) SS/Invul/soul- Never discount the Damage mitigation of Footstomp.
5) DM/WP/soul- Very good combo. I like both my 50 Dm/invul and DM/Wp. The Invul is tougher though.

If you are going SOs like you said, I would get burnout with invul/Elec. Nice to have back to back unstoppable/power surge. Burnout is also a nice bonus on DM with long recharge of DC and SD.

I have played around with a lot of Alphas. I have a love for recharge so I wanted spirit and went with it on most of my brutes for a while but the extra damage for musculature just does more for my brutes. Now I use Musculature on all my brutes. I do have at least 2 back up alpha on all my brutes. I just pick the one I feel is best rounded and one just for survivability just so I have it. I never use back ups. Musculature damage bonus is just too sweet.

I know the damage for musculature on scrappers is better due to higher base damage on their powers and brutes have much lower base damage but I still see most benefit out of musculature.

Now I could see skipping musc and going with spirits or cardio if you had end, recharge issue or survival issues but I think barrier and ageless are better at addressing those.

If you give musculature a real run, is really hard to go back.

Alot of good points above. However consider Burnout and Unstoppable. You get 6 straight minutes of unstoppable. This can make up for a lot weakness that you will have without IOs set. Unstoppable comes with a 100 percent end regen bonus. Pick up Demonic aura and Force of nature to cover you crashes, so with dull pain add, you can stand tall. Your toon should be very tough when you need it to be against exotic and as always really strong against S/L damage.

Fury proc works best for me in focus. Since it is ranged you tend to get it off more. If you have to back off a mob like in Baf with circles, you can get an extra fury proc. Then target an add, get another focus of while you get in melee range. I even manage about 70-80 percent fury on chokes in BAF.

Prior to Barrier and Burnout I use to skip unstoppable as a standard rule. I felt Unstoppable just got me killed. With Burnout, barrier and then toss in Demonic Aura you can cover you crashs very well. However, you have to do something many CoX players are not very good at Pay Attention. If you can pay attention, unstoppable can be a powerful and consistant tool. It's now worth considering. Having said that, Capped L/s/neg/nrg def with dull pain will make you just about unkillable.

If you want to do it up right. Trick out a DA/FM. Its seriously potent. DA really only weakness is no KB and its end consumption. Which both become moot with resist KB enhancements and Ageless/alfa slot/epic phys. You trick a DA out, you can be unkillable and with a high dps secondary like FM/SS and such your just one nasty toon. Not to metion an GODLY heal

Honestly everyone would like a little more. I can't blame people for that, its human nature.

I play a lot of melee toon.

At the top end game you get alot of versitility. You can IO to be tougher, more damage and better taunt. Its a trade off. I always go for the best balance approach myself. For example, I go with void on my judgements because I like damage debuff with the big damage hit. Now somebody who goes with pyro or ionic will do more damage but in some situations, I live where they will not or keep somebody else alive because I debuffed up to 32 mobs.

Having said this. I have a FA/DM/pyro Tanker. He is not a little tougher then my SS/invul/soul brute...he's ALOT tougher. He is also real solid damage to as well. He has capped S/L def and resists, with Ranged/Nrg/Neg def capped as well. Which gives him a cap to vast majority of damage. I don't worry about cold much because most cold attack have an S/L component. The hard hitting psi attacks are generally ranged. When I get damaged I have two great heals. Now having said that SS/invul brute is no squishy. He is tough as hell but just not compared to a tanker built to be tough. NOTE, I am comparing a FA tanker to an Invul brute. I think these to should be closer in toughness then they are.

My brutes do more damage then my Tankers but from my experience the toughness to damage ratio between tankers and brutes is on target.

As far as taunt ability of tankers and brutes. Most brute dont even takes taunt. I have never ever ever ever had a problem out taunting anyone on my Tankers. Having said that I take taunt. If you having trouble out taunting a brute. I suggest you check your build for taunt, if you are missing it...ummm that might be the reason why.

I have seen alot of tanker builds recently without taunt. I am going to say its about 65/35 as to if a tanker has taunt/no tuant. I will say brutes are about 10/90. You can spot check that in PD some time, if you disagree.

I could see a badly built tanker w/o taunt getting out taunted by an brute with taunt.. but hey that's the choice one makes by not getting taunt and the choice the brute made by getting it.

In the end I don't have a problem with an AT get a bump up. I do have a problem when people want other AT's to be bumped down so they can feel better. So if Tanker get a bump in damage sweet or in taunt sweet. I will say I don't think tankers have any problem with toughness. They are easily and by far the toughest AT out there BAR none and the others....even the brute don't compare if similiarly built and invested.

In the end game there is such huge variation in preformance due to IO sets and Incrantes, the have and have nots. Just the choice between Barrier, Ageless and rebirth can make a huge in the toughness or damage aspect. OMG dont get me started on the ALFA Slot varations (Resilient vs Musculature) /shakes head. Honestly comparing IO'ed and incarnate brutes and tankers is just crazy complex. It so based on what the player wants to do with toon (which is ABSOLUTELY GREAT/much love devs). Best results would come from comparing the EXACT same builds. I am comparing my FA Tanker to my Invul brute for effect. Because FA is consider to be a softer tankers and invul is consider one of the tougher brute secondaries.

Ok, I solved all your problems...you can all thank me later when the Devs implement it.

It's a click power, which transforms the scrapper in to a small brown puppy. That spams

SCRAPPY DAPPY DOO

over and over.

This generators massive agro aura and lasts for a 120 secs.

PERFECT. You guys are set.

I am going to play the odd man out, Muscle. Most brute frown on big red because we don't get the as much of a bonus as scrappers, blaster and other due to the lower damage base/scaling.

However, Crims and judgement on big red, are just vicious. Damage boost to your attack is significant as well.

Having said that I normally play pretty expensive builds with very high global recharge/capped L/S at min, so I do not see a big hit from spirit/agility and others.

I do normally get two or more alfa's. 99 percent of the time I run muscle, I just can't pass up the damage but I buy the one that I feel is best fits my toons power, agil for example in your build. I would suggest buying both Muscle and agility T3, see which one you like best go for t4. (Get the t3 45percent damage muscle, you get the full 45 percent on crims and Judgement).

I have always liked the Idea of the Sniper attack. That attack that takes all you focus to built up and direct into a single focused blast to waste that enemy. However, game play in CoX, the sniper blast in its current form is just about useless.

Cox has is such a fast paced game the long animation time cripples it.

This is compound by the interupt.

I played with sniper attack and found it useful only when there is a long pull on a AV, like seige or NS.

You simple cant invest is a power that useless, no matter how much you like the concept. I do really like the concept.

I think there is a place in the Blaster concept for a a Extreme power blast with a long range and long recharge time. The activation time needs to be cut, the interupt you could take or leave.

Honestly, just taking the crash out would make it a real t9 power. You could even up the End cost on the front end to balance it out a bit.

It all part of lore man. The comics flux toons power even more so. Just saying animate series or animated movie, does not make it less true.

In Hulk vs Thor...Loki literally takes possession of Hulk. Playing Hulk like a puppet pulling strings. This not mere trickery. Loki speaks though the Hulk to Thor.

Dr. Strange, Hulk, Namor all fight this Dark enitity, later believed to be the Shadowking which also takes control over Hulk. Dr. Strange and Namor continue to battle the Dark Possessed Hulk.

He has always be vulnerable to psi attacks. Hulk is the total opposite of willpower. He can't even control his own emotions and most of the time his actions.

Willpower is self control, the one thing that HULK is not. The master of the focused mind over the body. Hulk is not focused. He just Smashes everything.

Generally, the Hulk always turns back in to Banner once he calms down, unless he has made some deal with Banner, in which Banner Permits Hulk to remain.

I will say this though. In the older comics Hulk, Thor, Superman almost never bleed. They were just invulnerable, nothing could hurt them. As Wolverine's popularity has grown, it has gotten cool to get hurt. These days superman, Hulk and Thor are dripping blood almost all the time. Call it the evolution of comics. It makes for more interesting Comics. I can see the older version of Hulk, the one that never got hurt as Invulnerable with out a doubt. That's the Hulk thats still logged in my brain.

However, one cant deny with the newer versions of Hulk showing practically instant healing ability and the taking damage all over the place, would lead one to follow the regenerations path for hulk. In the middle of the two is Willpower which is nice balance of both as far as effectiveness but not concept wise. The mind over body control thing. Holding your hand over flame and telling your body it does not burn and therefore it does. Just not Hulk.

Please. Hulk is clearly invul who is addicted to unstoppable. Hulks crash is in turning back to Banner. WP does not offer the resists the hulks has to non-lethal and smashing damage types, even use of WP T9 power the resist are below the base levels of the other resist sets.

The hulk's real vulnerability is to psi and magic mind control. He has been control by Loki and others use mind control powers and spell. Hulk is particually vulnerable to the sedation powers of telepaths. Hulk is far more vulnerable to mental manipulation and such then he is physical damage. His weak mind and low level INT makes him a almost a perfect patsy for mental manipulation. In the end if there any question to Hulk resistance to psi, Hulk has been possesed by the shadow king and others, so much for his vaulted Willpower.

I checked an old Marvel stat book I had from some Marvel RPG/Card game.
Hulk's Str 20 when calm (Str is resistance to physical damage) 20 is hero max stat, 10 is the max for a human, above 10 is superhuman, Galatus 25 Celestials 30. Hulk's Willpower 9 (which is the high end of human but not superhuman). Hulk did not have any additional resistance to psi. So Hulks resistant to mental attack would be 9 and his resistance to being shot or burned would be 20.

Dr. Strange for example has 16 willpower and 8 psi shield, giving him a 24 resist to psi attack.

Hulk is the definitive SS/Invul brute.

Juggernat on the other is resist to mental and magic powers when wearing his helmet.

I think with willpower most people are confusing a Hero act of will with willpower such as mind over matter. All superheros have been put in situation where they had to use there will to overcome something.

The willpower set CoX is based trainning of the mind over the body. That punch did not inflict any damage because I have control over my body and I decided it did not hurt. The coals will not burn my feet because I will my feet not to be burn. That's not the Hulk.

Not going to happen but keep holding your breath.

SS is for brutes and tanker. Which happen to be the melees with the lowest base damaged for attacks and weakest damage scale in the game.

When you dealing with the bottom two melee AT attack bases damage you have a lot more leeway. You are not going to set new damage records by give a buff like Rage or a good PBAE like FS to a tanker. It simple not that overpowering on other Tanks or even Brutes.

When you talk about scrapper and Stalkers with such high base damage and then you think about increasing the Rage to 100% and giving these AT a 15 radius BPAE like FS, you going to reach new levels of damage which is why scrappers want SS so bad.

You can see the Huge Damage potential just sitting screaming COME GET ME.

SS was designed for Tankers because of the low damage base but still potent set. The only reason it work for brutes is that they also have such a low damage base as well. Below that of tankers actually.

Honestly, it just not going to work scrappers or stakers because it was designed for lower based AT. It would just be too crazy awesome with the already crazy high damage base of scrappers and stalkers.

It simply not going to work in its current.

They could give Scrappers a watered down version, just to say you have it. Change Rage to build up and reduce FS to 8 Radius but that would not make you guys happy in the least.

Sorry, thought I was clear on the point I was making. Here I will repeat it for you.

All in all its a well balanced game, with alot of cross over.

I was going to be a smart *** but hey. The game is about having fun.

Please. Hulk is clearly invul who is addicted to unstoppable. Hulks crash is in turning back to Banner. WP does not offer the resists the hulks has to non-lethal and smashing damage types, even use of WP T9 power the resist are below the base levels of the other resist sets.

The hulk's real vulnerability is to psi and magic mind control. He has been control by Loki and others use mind control powers and spell. Hulk is particually vulnerable to the sedation powers of telepaths. Hulk is far more vulnerable to mental manipulation and such then he is physical damage. His weak mind and low level INT makes him a almost a perfect patsy for mental manipulation. In the end if there any question to Hulk resistance to psi, Hulk has been possesed by the shadow king and others, so much for his vaulted Willpower.

In the end I checked an old Marvel stat book I had from some Marvel RPG/Card game.
Hulk's Str 20 when calm (Str is resistance to physical damage) 20 is hero max stat, 10 is the max for a human, above 10 is superhuman, Galatus 25 Celestials 30. Hulk's Willpower 9 (which is the high end of human but not superhuman). Hulk did not have any additional resistance to psi. So Hulks resistant to mental attack would be 9 and his resistance to being shot would be 20.

Dr. Strange for example has 16 willpower and 8 psi shield, giving him a 24 resist to psi attack.

Juggernat on the other is resist to mental and magic powers when wearing his helmet.

Extreme Survivability and Extreme damage, depends entirely on the build. With an extremely expensive build and alot work put into the toon, including accolades and such perhaps. The base Brute is designed to have superior survivability and superior damage.


Tankers given the same build/IOs/accolades will always be more survivable then a brute. Thats why tankers would be extreme survivability. Now an Invul brute might be more survivable then a FA Tanker but that apple to oranges. The game is designed to have some cross over. DM/stone brute and SS/FA tanker... the brute would LIKELY be more survivable and the tanker more damage. There are exceptions to every rule.

The same thing holds true with damage and scrappers. Given the same build/io/accolades scrappers will likely do more damage then brutes. There is some crossover there two.

Where the debate is which is best balance if survivability and damage. I personally like brutes but when you look at head to head competition in PVP scrappers generally do the best. So one can say scrappers are the best balance of the three.

PVE where brutes have multi mobs attacking the brutes gets closer then most scrappers would like.

Fact of the matter is when you consider the entire game. Brute are superior damage and survivability at the base of the game. And scrappers are very high survivability and Extreme damage and inverse for tankers.

You could give a plus or minus one step depending on the build. An SS/FA brute might hit extreme damage but lose a step in surviviability. Where a DM/Stoner would take a step on the other direction. Thats why people ***** about brute so much is certain builds do very well survivability wise and step on tanker toes. Stoner brute could not compete with stoner tanks but could with a willpower tanker.

A FM/FA brute could do more damage then a DM/invul scrapper damage wise but a the same build on a scrapper likely would do more damage. The DM/invul scrapper could like be more survivable.

All in all its a well balanced game, with alot of cross over.

I have Dark blast/psi/scorp. Got to say I love him. With Scrop shield and IO sets, I have L/S/NRG def capped. Also the little pets spiders are cool. Good ST attack chain with Gloom/Drain life/Absmal. AE is nice aswell with 3 good cone attacks. I like the damage and survivability combo.

I also have the BPAEs. Its just fun hitting Demonic aura and frenzy as I move to engage that group of bots in Baf (just north of courts), firing off Void with the -50 damage duff, then Aim/concentration/shockwave/Drain psyche and Finally Blackstar. Everything dies nicely....and if a mob survived those little spider pets clean up what little hp it has left.

Then I sit back and watch the rest of the 23 toon, kill off the other 3 groups. Knowing I just did 1/4 of the work. I like watching the brutes and scrappers work so hard to catch up.

Of course the only reason I am watch is I have no end left (thanks Blackstar).

I run Muscular/Clarion/spec interface/viod... I have number of T4 lores. I like crims and elements but thematicly I use Acachanos alot...matchs with spider pets and my story line. I Love clarion for blasters.

Overall I would highly recommend the darkblast.

I like the proc alot. The Upside is it increase brute avg damage and level out a damage a bit. The down side is it does not help us at all at top end of our game. Once Damage bonus is maxxed (thank you Kins, we love you) it does not matter if fury is max or not. We dont see any extra damage. So the Top end of brute damage does not increase.

The scrapper + crit does increases their avg damage and increase top end damage as well.

Scrapper got a nice little bonus there. Grats Scrappers. /tip of the hat.

In the end we both got solid damage increase and did better the most of the other types on the proc.