Maelwys

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Somebody remind me whats the Mu guardian downtime with hasten though?

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900 Seconds Base Recharge
460.35 Seconds Recharge (With three +0 Recharge SOs)
338.98 Seconds Recharge (With SOs plus "perma Hasten")
240 Second Duration

= 660 Seconds Normal Downtime
= 220.35 Seconds Downtime (slotted)
= 98.98 Seconds Downtime (With "perma hasten")

Hasten would only be running in 120 second bursts though, so what about "under optimum conditions"?
A quick, rough calculation (Hasten lasts 120 secs and Recharges in 187.21 secs.. 1.955 recharge is applied when it's not on, 2.655 recharge is applied when it is) makes this out to be just over 148 secs downtime.

He has fairly high base accuracy and his -ToHit aura is autohit, but you'll probably still want to slot at least one Acc SO in the power since his heal and hold are both useful and require a ToHit check.
His tohit debuff is definately worth slotting since he has defender level debuff numbers. I wouldn't bother with slotting for immobilise though unless you have major trouble with "don't let X escape" missions in PvE.

For PvP you'll want to slot him for accuracy and to have him out as much as possible... he's just short of perma with 3 Green Recharge SOs. Personally I went with 1 Acc/3Recharge/2ToHitDeBuff on my Bot/Dark.

Ideal Slotting? 3 Membrane HOs (Tohit/Defense/Recharge) + 3 Endoplasm HOs (Acc/Mez). I wouldn't slot him for +Heal unless you really need more green numbers. His base heal is nearly as strong as your slotted heal anyway.
Dark Servant currently can't accept Pet IOs, so you'll probably be stuck with using the "common" level-50 IOs in I9 if you want to replace SOs. It'd be a decent increase on SOs though, +40% compared to +33.3% for schedule A enhancements like Accuracy.

Great Job folks.
Another "interesting" raid... but it kept us awake!

Bit of a Bump, but here's as good a place as any to post this overview:

*** [u]Stealth Caps in feet:[u] ***
@25: 968 (Stalker) 484.0 (Non Stalker) - Bloody Bay
@30: 1003 (Stalker) 501.5 (Non Stalker) - Siren's Call
@38: 1059 (Stalker) 529.5 (Non Stalker) - Warburg
@50: 1143 (Stalker) 571.5 (Non Stalker) - Recluse's Victory
The Perception cap is always Stalker Stealth Cap +10 feet.


*** [u]Stalker Stealth Power Buffs in feet:[u] ***
-500 feet (Stalker Hide)
-389 feet (Most "Stealth" powers including Concealment Pool Stealth)
-611 feet (Concealment Pool Invisibility and Grant Invisibility)
-222 feet (Concealment Pool Phase Shift)
-389 feet (The new i9 travel power "+Stealth" IOs)
Note that all Stealth apart from Hide will suppress if the Stalker is debuffed.

Most forms of Stealth do NOT stack. Hide, Phase Shift, Grant Invis and the new Stealth IO are exceptions.
For example the Pool Power "Stealth" will not stack with dark's "Shadowfall", or the Pool Power "Invisibility".
However Stealth can be Stacked with Hide, Phase Shift, the new Stealth IO and/or Grant Invisibility.


*** [u]Perception values:[u] ***
+ Normal inherent "Perception" range is 500 Feet.
+ Powerset Self-Perception Buffs except Tactics all give +300 feet.
+ Clear Mind and Clarity buffs vary by level, but two applications will always hit the perception cap.

[u]Tactics Value buffs in feet:[u]
+ 172.2 (Blaster/Tanker/Scrapper, Bloody Bay)
+ 186.2 (Blaster/Tanker/Scrapper, Siren's Call)
+ 208.6 (Blaster/Tanker/Scrapper, Warburg)
+ 242.2 (Blaster/Tanker/Scrapper, Recluse's Victory)
+ 307.5 (Defender, Bloody Bay)
+ 332.5 (Defender, Siren's Call)
+ 372.5 (Defender, Warburg)
+ 432.5 (Defender, Recluse's Victory)
+ 246.0 (Controller, Bloody Bay)
+ 266.0 (Controller, Siren's Call)
+ 298.0 (Controller, Warburg)
+ 346.0 (Controller, Recluse's Victory)
+ 221.4 (Kheldian, Bloody Bay)
+ 239.4 (Kheldian, Siren's Call)
+ 268.2 (Kheldian, Warburg)
+ 311.4 (Kheldian, Recluse's Victory)


[u]What does this mean?[u]

Stalker Hide + Stealth is -889 Feet, and can attack.
Stalker Hide + Invis is -1111 Feet, but can't attack.
Stalker Hide + Stealth + New IO is -1278 Feet, and can attack.

+ Stalkers can never hit the Stealth Cap with just Hide + Stealth in any PvP zone.
+ Tactics plus a Powerset +Perc ability will ALWAYS see through Hide + Stealth.
+ Tactics plus Powerset +Perc will ALWAYS see through Hide + Invis for Warshades (only by 0.4 feet in RV!).
+ Tactics plus Powerset +Perc will ONLY see through Hide + Invis in Bloody Bay for Scrappers/Tanks/Blasters.
+ Two layers of Blaster/Tanker/Scrapper Tactics will not see through Hide + Stealth until above level 32.
+ Tactics by itself will only see through Stealth when used by a Defender, at level 42 and above.
+ Stalkers that use Hide + Stealth + a Stealth IO will ALWAYS be at the stealth cap unless suppressed.


[u]Who can hit the Perception Cap without extra buffs?[u]

+ In Bloody Bay, Tankers/Scrappers/Blasters/Warshades with Tactics and +Perc from their Secondary.
+ In Siren's Call, only a Warshade with Tactics and a +Perc Power from their Secondary.
+ In Warburg, only a Warshade with Tactics and a +Perc Power from their Secondary.
+ In RV, only Tankers/Scrappers with Tactics, +Perc from their Secondary plus Focused Accuracy.

It's also worth noting that the only -Stealth power available to heroes is "Arctic Air" from the Controller's Ice Primary. This is a 20 foot radius PBAoE, which reduces enemy Stealth by 389 Feet AS WELL as suppressing all forms of Stalker Stealth apart from "Hide" due to an Autohit Debuff/Mez.

A Stalker can also be revealed by Autohit PBAoE debuffs such as Hurricane or Chilling Embrace, providing that there is at least ONE +perception buff in effect to see through "Hide". However usually the radius of Autohit debuff Auras is only 10 Feet, so there is no combination that will beat "Arctic Air" for effectiveness.

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There's no solo diff between a spines stalker with Lunge, Impale, Eviscerate and AS and one with Lunge, Impale, Eviscerate, AS, Spine Burst and Throw Spines... Well, actually, the second one might go a bit faster as he has more attacks.

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EM would stilll solo quicker though!

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If you only want to do solo/duos, I agree 100% EM is the best choice. No contest. But in teams, Spines (with AoEs) is often better.

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Bah, curse you and your l337 precognitive skills!

*shakes fist*

Seriously, I think everything was covered in your last post! I can't see anything to argue with offhand now... well maybe apart from the bit where you took what I said about Aid Other/Stimulant seriously... (unfortunately light sarcasm doesn't carry across into typed media that well even with a winky)

I know that Spines is fairly powerful in it's own right at ST. Unfortunately after having played a completely-AoE-build Spines/Dark Scrapper to level 50, I think that a Stalker with the same powersets built for AoE damage would leave me severely unimpressed. But I don't think I'll ever forget the first time I saw a single Assault Bot's Incendiary Missile salvo wipe out 30+ closely packed Nemesis...

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Lots of people tend to undervalue, or just dislike, AoEs. Some people build for PVP or soloing, so min/max towerds ST damage.

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True. But there's ATs that are well suited to AoEs and ATs that are simply not. I have a Peacebringer, Bot/Dark Mastermind and a Spines/Dark scrapper, each sitting at 50, each of which is far, far better suited to large-scale AoE slaughter than the best-built Spines Stalker could ever hope to be.

Stalkers are NOT suited for fighting large mobs. Spines has no Quills, Criticals won't work as well (if at all). Dark's AoE damage leech was replaced with Build Up... the list goes on.

If you want to build a villain that is good at fighting large mobs, roll a Mastermind. Stalkers can get AoEs, but they will ALWAYS be sub-par at fighting large groups. Therefore you will get more milage from speccing your Stalker to play on the AT's strengths, rather than it's weaknesses. That means stealth, single target attacks, and spike damage.

If the price for that is to not fair as well in large teams, so be it. Stalkers don't exactly need teams anyway, and usually prefer to team with one or two other melee damage dealers. Two Stalkers working in unison, for example, can make short work of most AVs.

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Different ATs have far different levels of ST and AoE damage. It would not, for example, be better to use a 10-damage-per-target AoE than a 200-damage single-target attack when confronted with less than 20 targets (and since most AoEs cap at 16 targets, this is not often the case!).

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Those numbers are purely fictionnal. Even ET doesn't do 2000% damage compared to Brawl.

Let's talk about real numbers, at 50.

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Fine, from Spines alone:

88 Lethal Damage (AoE: slotted Spine Burst from unhidden, 3 sec activation, 15 End, 15 Sec recharge)

684 Lethal Damage (ST: slotted Assassin's Impaler from hidden, 3 sec activation, 14 End, 15 sec recharge)

Yes, you can build a claws or spines stalker which has AoE attacks. But you will gimp yourself by focussing solely on AoE attacks, find it more difficult to solo and Corruptors and MMs will still greatly outdamage you.

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Hitting 5 foes with Spine burst and Throw spines will yield you higher damage than TF + ET. It's reasonable to expect you'll hit around 7-8 most of the time, if not all 10, and do almost twice the damage TF + ET do. Even when resistance comes into play (at higher levels, lethal is often resisted but energy isn't), you'll come out ahead with spines.


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However this makes no sense unless you intend to be always on an 6-8 man team. Have you SEEN CoV lately? Defiant rarely tops 100 people in the evenings these days, and Union isn't much better.

Last weekend there were often less than 50 people online. Getting a regular team all the way to 50 is going to be virtually impossible unless you prearrange it with a group of friends and all level at the same rate.

If you were going to be going to that extreme you might as well go the whole hog: skip stealth and take Grant Invis, then kit out your stalker with the Leadership pool and Aid Other/Stimulant. Hey, it'd add up. Forget about those nasty high damage single target attacks and load up on weaker AoEs and pool power allied-buffs...

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I dont think its helpful to say "EM/Ninj" is "Uber" in all aspects of play.

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No disagreement here, but I WOULD say Nin is the best all-round secondary, and EM is the most damaging primary. And they have some synergy since Nin's self-heal is able to heal back Energy Transfer's damage.

Nin because it has so many tricks (AoE Placate, uninterruptable self-heal, Fear/Confuse Protection, Non-Toggle Mez Protection, +Perception, Caltrops, "God Mode", Decent levels of Positional Defence... the list just goes on) and EM because it has extremely high burst damage of a usually unresisted type, with a high chance for stun.

Like it or not, Stalkers are built for spike damage. Assassin's Strike/Criticals is one example, the mechanics of Placate is another, every Primary having "Build Up" is a third. EM plays directly to those strengths. You are simply not going to find a higher level of Stalker spike damage than Build-Up --> Assassin's Strike --> ET --> TF. And as previously mentioned, ET and TF do not lose much damage output when "scrapping" out of hide.

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As regards AoE damage. In large spawns, AFAICS, AoE damage will be far more mathematically efficient in terms of DPE and DPS than single target attacks irrespective of what AT you are.

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No, not irrespective of what AT you are.

Different ATs have far different levels of ST and AoE damage. It would not, for example, be better to use a 10-damage-per-target AoE than a 200-damage single-target attack when confronted with less than 20 targets (and since most AoEs cap at 16 targets, this is not often the case!).

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Oh, and as for those stalkers that only AS, run and hide?. They can get a warning, a second warning, and a swift kick from any team I run, thats for sure. This is basically "I will not suffer any significant risk of debt to self, and am quite happy to perform sub-par so the rest of the team picks up the slack and the risk". I cannot abide such behaviour in any AT.

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I'd agree if they were JUST using Assassin's strike, or if they were doing sub-par damage and if self-survivability is the reason for this behaviour. HOWEVER, if they're rehiding in order to push their damage output up then I'd disagree. It might take them 7-8 seconds to rehide and then pull off a Build-Up Assassins strike for 600+ damage on a boss, which would make the fight go by much faster. By staying in melee range unhidden they might appease your wrath and draw some aggro from the squishies, but they'd certainly be doing less damage over time than strategically rehiding/placating in order to achieve maximum damage output via critical hits.

Regardless, see my earlier comment about Energy Melee... it'd actually be better for your team to have an EM stalker if you want a stalker that can stay and 'scrap' without losing too much damage output potential.

There is a REASON that some powersets feature consistently in FOTM builds. Just look at the difference in damage output between an Ice and an NRG blaster secondary. I'm not saying the other sets are useless (because they're not!) but they are just not as consistently high performing as EM. If EM had a ranged -fly attack, you'd hardly see any stalkers with another primary.

[Note: I DO have a EM Stalker, but it isn't /Nin. /Nin did not suit my PvP playstyle as much as /Regen did.
I do not pretend that my Stalker is good at soloing big mobs because he isn't. I've a Robot MM for that!]

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To be honest, the better stalkers I've seen make full use of their abilities and adapt their game for the team they're in, or the enemies they're facing. They may spike in and out in some fights, but in others they may choose to scrap as it keeps aggro off other teammates.

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Absolutely agreed. Some builds may be better at one tactic or the other, but generally speaking there is no ultimate tactic for each and every situation in each and every team.

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Except, obviously, "MORE DOTS!!!"

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I am looking at making a stalker but i can't seem to make my mind up about witch the best for pve.

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Personally I'd say that EM/NIN would be the best all-round choice for a stalker, EM is by far the most damaging primary and /Nin is great in PvE and no slouch in PvP. Unfortunately like EM/Regen it's a very popular combo, so you'll get no points for originality should you roll one... and a good build will be VERY tight. Spines is another fairly powerful primary in both PvE and PvP, trading mez and spike damage for increased range and AoEs.

Energy Aura and Dark Armor are both very good in PvE (+Endurance, Heal/Gloom) but suck royally in PvP. Nin, Regen and SR are better all-rounders and which one is "best" will depend on the situation and your playstyle.
That said, Nin has a "trick" for almost every situation imaginable... it's a solid choice.

In a biggish PvE team a Stalker will generally concentrate on single targets. Stalkers are NOT made for AoE.

There's room for argument on Scrappers, because the damage bonus they get from criticals is a set % chance and it doesn't matter if they're AoE attacks or not. However Stalkers have lower base damage, fewer AoE attacks (No Quills etc.) and the AoE/Wide Cone attacks they do have do NOT get the full 100% Critical chance 2x damage bonus from attacking whilst hidden.

Cases in point:
+ Every set's PBAoE Melee attack except Spine Burst has been removed from the Stalker Primaries.
+ Spines' Spine Burst (PBAoE) only has a 30% chance for a critical from hidden.
+ Dark Armor 'Dark Embrace' and 'Dark Regeneration' get no critical at all from hidden, and will break hide.
+ Dark Melee and Claws have 'Build Up' instead of the AoE damage leech and Follow-Up.
+ Dark Melee 'Shadow Maul' (Cone) only has a 50% chance for a critical from hidden.
+ Claws 'Eviscerate' and 'Shockwave' (Cones) only have a 50% chance for a critical from hidden.
+ Ninja Sword's 'Flashing Steel' and 'Golden Dragonfly (Cones) only have a 50% chance for a critical from hidden.
+ Spine's 'Ripper' and 'Throw Spines' (Cones) only have a 50% chance for a critical from hidden.

Placate also only works on one target. If you have aggro from more than one target your psuedo-hide will likely be broken by incoming damage before you can attack, so you will lose any Critical damage bonus.

To be honest the better Stalkers I've seen so far will "Spike" in and out of melee range, picking off one mob at a time from the group. Whilst Assassin's Strike is by far their most damaging attack, it's not necessary to run and rehide after every attack; especially if you use placate effectively and do not rely only on Assassin's Strike. Stalkers CAN be built to 'scrap', however the longer a Stalker remains unhidden in melee range scrapping with the enemy the worse their overall damage output will be... they simply become lackluster when you take away their Critical hits: they lack a Scrapper's criticals, base damage and hitpoints.

Energy Melee primary has a significant advantage in team play, the two top tier attacks are both very powerful and do not do 100% extra damage from hidden (Energy Transfer does no extra damage, and Total Focus only has a 30% bonus). This means that Energy Melee Stalkers can deal close to their 'normal' level of damage without needing to rehide/placate, which actually makes them a better option for PvE teaming than the other primaries since teammates often complain when a Stalker runs off to rehide mid-fight.

(There's a good reason that EM Stalkers can go unhidden, toe-to-toe with Regen Scrappers in Siren's Call...
Bottom Line, if you want to contribute AoE damage to a villains team: roll a Mastermind or a Corruptor! )

Just to throw some numbers out there for consideration:

The regen will be hitting against about 2-9% defence constantly with (FA + Attack effects) vs (SR defence + PvP ToHit penalty). Build Up will counter the remainder of the defence, plus one instance of DA. Outside of Elude, it's therefore basically down to Broadsword spike damage versus "Aid Self".

Aid Self will recover about 500HP (at level 50, slotted) for a scrapper and it's up every 20-25 seconds. At level 50, a scrapper has about 1390HP (1670 HP with all +HP accolades).

At level 50, Broadsword's most damaging attacks are:

+ Headsplitter (480ish damage, slotted + Build Up)
+ Disembowel (360ish damage, slotted + Build Up)
+ Hack (300ish damage, slotted + Build Up)

You can just about fit these into one "Build Up" chain, 480+360+300 = 1140 damage, so it'd take a Critical Hit with Headsplitter (for 1620 total damage, 15% chance!) to kill a (non-fully-HP-accoladed) SR outright.

Frankly I can see no way that the SR could win here, and at least two ways that the Regen could win.

Focussed Accuracy and Build Up properly slotted is about +64% ToHit. That's enough to punch through SR's +31% melee defense like it isn't there, plus one +23% DA buff and nearly half of the PvP -25% ToHit penalty.
Along with PvP accuracy slotting, the regen would have a big advantage even allowing for 'Aid Self'. The SR simply won't have any defence worth talking about unless they're running elude or stacked DA constantly.

That's not even considering the -defence from the Primary attacks, which will be -15% to -22.5% constantly. For Elude or stacked DA, the Regen could use the Geas the Kind ones accolade for a short buff to +ToHit.

I'd also bank on the SR running out of endurance before the Regen (either through spamming Aid Self or Elude's crash)... so unless the SR plays to kite and/or conserve endurance, they will wear themselves out.

Was a Sunday last time too. Bah!

Won't be there, other duties on Sunday evenings I'm afraid... GL though.

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I'm English, I don't have to be nice to anyone.

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Fixed that for you...

(Northern Irish!)

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Insights, it has been confirmed, work like tohit buffs: they are exactly the opposite of lucks in effect.

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That would be "ToHit side".

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Insights, it has been confirmed, work like tohit buffs: they are exactly the opposite of lucks in effect.

*** New for I7 ***

Lucks and Insights are mislabeled. According to the devs, lucks and insights are REALLY these values:

DEF
S - 12.5%
M - 25%
L - 33%

ACC
S - 7.5%
M - 18.75%
L - 37.5%

This is considered a bug that is being worked on. What's unclear is whether the values are wrong and the labels are right, or the labels are wrong and the values are right, or if *neither* are what the values of the inspirations really *ought* to be.


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(From the above link!)

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I quoted ya and changed it to what i think ya meant

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it doesn't make things one sided in the slightest in a duel between defensive toons.

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That reads better to me.

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Well, I'll admit my /regen doesn't usually notice the -def... but my INV hesitates to use it!

It's not any more overpowered than using Vanguard or Eye of the Magus really, all have pros/cons so it depends on the situation and toon whether it'll be effective. And it's only available once every 30 mins...

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But I'd be spamming Brawl in a duel with a brute with Energy Aura armour for the de-toggles.

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Brawl's only got a 5% chance to knock off a toggle, and if you were using it that way you'd want to slot it with a second accuracy SO. And if the Brute's smart, he'll bring breakfrees in the unlikely event that this happens.

Frankly I wouldn't bother staying in melee range at all unless he starts spamming aid self constantly (in which case slowing him with Chilling Embrace is a good plan, and if you knocked off his mez protection even for only a second then you could quickly finish him off)

You can easily hit through his defenses already with just Focussed Accuracy, so I'd concentrate on hit-and-runs with Spike damage from Build Up ET/TF/BS and then kite him so he loses fury until TF/ET recharge. He'll not be able to catch you with Super Speed + Chilling Embrace running, and he'll lose any hope of getting the +300% damage buff he could get from Fury.

I'd bring loads of Reds, some Blues and a BF or two to the match. Can't see the tank needing other insps.

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I'd advise you to pick up the "Geas of the Kind ones" accolade too, it gives a very large ToHit buff (as well as a large -defence debuff, so use it carefully) and will let you hit him through his Tier9.

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Needs to be removed from PVP imo. It makes things so 1 sided. I dont know if the devs have factored this in but an SR using the first Elude is easily dropped and then resses waiting for Practised Brawler to return. Maybe it will be removed very soon now just like when ya mentioned "Perma-Rage" i was sworn to secrecy over this and hated being sworn to secrecy but now you've mentioned it "YAY!!"

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Don't be daft, it doesn't make things one sided in the slightest, particularly in a duel between defensive toons. The reason for this (and why it hasn't been toned down) is very simple: it's a two-edged sword.

Sure it makes you able to hit through high defenses, but everyone hits YOU much more often too. The only reason I'm advising Green to take it is because he'll be better off with 0 defenses than the Brute will, with Hoarfrost, Aid Self, Hibernate and a Higher HP Pool. Only use it when you absolutely need to hit NOW.

Nofuture quotes it as a +200% self-ToHit Buff and a -200% self-Defense debuff. Even resisted that defense defbuff will easily floor ice's +defense. (the +100% recharge and +800% recovery are nice though! )

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If this is to be a PvP build for the duel you mention, I would strongly advise dropping the taunt power for a start. There's noone else he can hit in a duel, so it gains you nothing.

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I'm assuming he still wants to be able to tank, and not devote the remainder of his toon's play life to PvP duelling since he's not hit level 50 yet. Keeping Taunt in the build will mean he can still tank in teams since it helps a LOT in PvE.

If it's a "test server duel" or he has respecs to burn, I'd suggest swapping Taunt for Combat Jumping. It's very low end use, adds mobility and increases your defense slightly. Only needs a DefBuff in the default slot.

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I'd drop Swift and replace with Health, and ideally would find an extra slot from somewhere else to at least two-slot it with healing.

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I'd keep swift, if only for use when Webnaded and SS is suppressed. Hurdle could certainly be replaced with Health if you're not taking Combat Jumping. (Aid Self plus Hoarfrost/Hibernate is plenty of healing though)

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Personally, I'd far rather have Weave than Aid Self in a duel, as he is certainly going to do all he can to interupt you, and there's noone else there to distract him for even a second. Many would argue that one of course.

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I'm one of them! Weave is pointless... He'll still easily hit you with Build Up, and hardly ever hit you without it. And with his AutoHit end drain you'll need the endurance. He can only hit you often whilst Build Up is up (10 secs out of 45 normally, less often with Chilling Embrace) so you'll easily be able to pop off Aid Self between his hits. EM has no DoT and he has no offensive toggles to prevent this.

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I don't see Icicles on the build suggested! Icicles slotted with 2 Acc, 2 EndRdx, and 2 Damage may of course increase the Brute's Rage, but I'd still take it, just to have the option. After all, once his rage is up, you have nothing to lose by turning it on until/unless you Hibernate

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Also would be fairly pointless. Free Fury for the Brute since it does piddly damage without slow/-recharge, you need to be in melee range for it to be effective and it's a very big endurance drain. And if the Tank plays properly, in this duel the Brute should NEVER have full fury ('rage' is the SS power).

Sample build, Ice/NRG at 42:

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Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://sherksilver.coldfront.net/index.php)
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Name:
Level: 42
Archetype: Tanker
Primary: Ice Armor
Secondary: Energy Melee
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01) --> Frozen Armor==> DefBuf(1) DefBuf(11) DefBuf(11) EndRdx(15) EndRdx(23)
01) --> Barrage==> Acc(1)
02) --> Hoarfrost==> Rechg(2) Rechg(3) Rechg(3) Heal(7) Heal(9) Heal(9)
04) --> Bone Smasher==> Acc(4) Dmg(5) Dmg(5) Dmg(7) Acc(15) Rechg(17)
06) --> Wet Ice==> EndRdx(6) EndRdx(17)
08) --> Chilling Embrace==> EndRdx(8) EndRdx(34)
10) --> Hurdle==> Jump(10)
12) --> Hasten==> Rechg(12) Rechg(13) Rechg(13)
14) --> Super Speed==> Run(14)
16) --> Swift==> Run(16)
18) --> Glacial Armor==> DefBuf(18) DefBuf(19) DefBuf(19) EndRdx(23) EndRdx(27)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20) EndMod(21) EndMod(21)
22) --> Stimulant==> EndRdx(22)
24) --> Aid Self==> Heal(24) Heal(25) Heal(25) EndRdx(27)
26) --> Taunt==> Taunt(26)
28) --> Build Up==> Rechg(28) Rechg(29) Rechg(29) TH_Buf(34) TH_Buf(37) TH_Buf(40)
30) --> Energy Absorbtion==> Rechg(30) Rechg(31) Rechg(31) EndMod(31) EndMod(33) EndMod(34)
32) --> Hibernate==> Rechg(32) Rechg(33) Rechg(33)
35) --> Energy Transfer==> Acc(35) Dmg(36) Dmg(36) Dmg(36) Rechg(37) Rechg(37)
38) --> Total Focus==> Acc(38) Dmg(39) Dmg(39) Dmg(39) Rechg(40) EndRdx(40)
41) --> Focused Accuracy==> EndRdx(41) EndRdx(42) EndRdx(42) TH_Buf(42)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Power Slide==> Jump(1)
01) --> Sprint==> Run(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Acc(1)
01) --> Gauntlet==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Rechg(2)
---------------------------------------------

I've gone for endurance conservation and spike damage. Energy Transfer and Total Focus could take a 2nd Acc if you're worried, but they both have inherent +20% accuracy, so they're sitting at +53% with one Acc SO.
At 42 you'll have roughly 29.4% defence to his attacks, combined with PvP's "+25% defence" he should rarely hit you. He'll build fury with the misses, but he'll still need to hit you to actually cause any damage.

If you get the chance to hit 43, I'd slot two ToHitBuff SOs into Focussed Accuracy. The third slot's optional and could go as a Heal into Hibernate, Recharge into Taunt or Interrupt Reduction into Aid Self.

A quick look at Defence vs. Accuracy:

Defense = 30% defense (roughly the same for NRG and ICE)

Focussed Accuracy +24.6% (@42) +31.5% (@43)
Build Up +31.5% (@42)
Base ToHit = 50% (PvP)

ToHits:
0.50 + 0.246 = 0.746 (@42)
0.50 + 0.246 + 0.315 = 1.061 (@42, BU)
0.50 + 0.315 = 0.815 (@43)
0.50 + 0.315 + 0.315 = 1.130 (@43, BU)

Accuracy
1.0 + 0.67 = 1.67 Acc (Bonesmasher)
1.2 + 0.33 = 1.53 Acc (ET/TF)

Accuracy * [ToHit - Defense] = NetToHit
1.67 * [0.746 - 0.30] = 0.74 = 74% (@42, No BU)
1.53 * [0.746 - 0.30] = 0.68 = 68% (@42, No BU)
1.67 * [1.061 - 0.30] = 1.27 = 95% (@42, BU)
1.53 * [1.061 - 0.30] = 1.16 = 95% (@42, BU)
1.67 * [0.815 - 0.30] = 0.86 = 86% (@42, No BU)
1.53 * [0.815 - 0.30] = 0.79 = 79% (@42, No BU)
1.67 * [1.130 - 0.30] = 1.39 = 95% (@42, BU)
1.53 * [1.130 - 0.30] = 1.27 = 95% (@42, BU)

So worst case (FA up, BU down) you've normally a 68% chance to hit him with ET/TF and 74% to hit with BS. If you use Build Up with FA, you'll hit the 95% chance cap regardless of the number of tohit buffs in FA.

By comparison, with two Accs in his attacks he'd only have 33-37% chance to hit you without using Build Up.

1.67 * [0.5 - 0.30] = 0.334 = 33% (2 Acc BS)
1.87 * [0.5 - 0.30] = 0.374 = 37% (2 Acc ET/TF)
1.67 * [0.815 - 0.30] = 0.334 = 86% (2 Acc BS, BU)
1.87 * [0.815 - 0.30] = 0.963 = 95% (2 Acc ET/TF, BU)

Brutes have three main weaknesses when fighting Hero-side toons:

(i) They only have scrapper level defence/resistance numbers.
(ii) They need to build fury to deal decent damage.
(iii) They lack self-accuracy buffs (outside of SS "perma-rage")

+ You can't do much about (i), it basically means that if you are both dealing out and recieving large amounts of damage, the brute is likely to drop before you do. You also will have Hoarfrost ("Dull Pain") which vastly increases your maximum hit points and Hibernate which can stop him from hitting you for 30 secs while you recover HP/End at nearly 'rest' levels. He has lower base HP, and no heals save "Aid Self". He'll have access to the tier9 "Overload" which will boost his HP but not replenish it.

+ For (ii), the plan is to stop him hitting you as much as possible (whilst his attacks do not need to hit you to build fury, you can slow his attacks or kite him) and only hit HIM with high spike damage attacks. This means he won't gain nearly as much fury, since being hit with brawl would generate the same amount of fury as being hit with Total Focus. So build yourself for defense and movement (SuperSpeed would be a good idea since at 42 he'll have access to the -fly/-jump patron webgrenades). Don't be afraid to spam your endurance drain since he has one as well and you'll likely end up trying to drain each other dry. Hibernate can help here, since while you are in it his fury bar will deteriorate without him being able to do anything about it.

+ For (iii), you are both built as defensive toons, but all he has access to is "Build Up". You have Focussed Accuracy, so you will be able to hit him much more often then he can hit you. Focus on high-spike-damage attacks like Energy Transfer and Total Focus, don't use weak attacks such as Brawl/Barrage etc. since this will give him "free fury". I'd advise you to pick up the "Geas of the Kind ones" accolade too, it gives a very large ToHit buff (as well as a large -defence debuff, so use it carefully) and will let you hit him through his Tier9.

+ Get Super Speed since you can't rely on the Jump pool at 42 (patron webnades).
+ Get Focussed Accuracy and Build Up, 6-slot them. Slot 2 accuracies in your attacks.
+ Get your armors, Hoarfrost, Chilling Embrace, Hibernate, Energy Absorbtion and Hasten, consider Aid Self.

Don't worry too much about staying out of melee range, although backing away whilst Total Focus/Energy Torrent are recharging is a good idea since being out of range will stop him building fury through attacking you. You have high defense and Chilling Embrace's -recharge will hamper him greatly. He may try and drain your blue bar with energy drain, so keep spamming Energy Absorbtion (will be up more often than his drain due to Chilling Embrace's -recharge) and if you get into trouble, Hibernate.

One thing you may need to do is back away when you hear him use Build Up. If you can keep away from him for the 10 seconds of +ToHit, you're laughing. Chilling Embrace will stop his Build Up from recharging quickly.

Healing back damage is still mitigation, but actually Regens DO have considerable toxic resistance (arachnos melee) with stacked reconstruction, even under normal conditions when it's not slotted with +resist SOs.

That guide showed for DA with multiple targets hit with the self-heal, (usually considerably higher than SR/INV with only one mob hit) but left out Oppressive Gloom which in itself will negate all the minions.

Amongst my 50s are an INV tanker, a Regen Scrapper and a DA Scrapper... the regen was much stronger until the mid 30s, then the DA overtook it. The INV was very strong against S/L but got spanked by Toxic/Psi.

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i have 2 lvl 50 Katana/Invul scrappers and when you go up against a mob of 7 +3 arachnos with a night widow boss they really are squishy mate...

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Weaknesses aside it's a safe bet that 7 +3 anyfactions and their boss will turn pretty much any scrapper into a sticky shade of red on the pavement.
It was a daft example, nuff said.

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I've not one, but two scrappers who could comfortably handle those odds without using a "tier9". And I'm pretty sure that my Dwarf/Human Peacebringer would be able to handle them too.
Really depends on how effective your build is... INV in particular has major holes in Toxic and Psionic damage, so naturally they're going to get their rear handed to them by a bunch of Recluse's spidermen.

With Dark Armor or Regen it's another story (but then SR and INV are considerably weaker secondaries than DA and Regen when it comes to sustained amounts of damage mitigation... so no real surprise there!)

My Katana/Regen has beaten a Broadsword/Regen on several occasions. The trick is to get a pure-melee opponent so that they don't try and kite you... Regen vs Regen duels DO tend to last for ages though.

So a Katana can often be damaging enough to kill another /Regen, but my bet's easily on the Broadsworder in the above example. Parry + Regen > DA + SR, and (as much as I hate to admit it) in PvP Broadsword > Regen.

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I've always thought it has had the -ACC. I'm sure it did when I played it.

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Hasn't had -acc for ages.

50% Resistance (All but Psi)
20% Defence (All but Psi/Toxic)
Defence Debuff Resistance (About 43%)
Mag 21 Stun/Hold/Sleep/Immob Protection
Mag 10 KnockUp/KnockBack/Repel Protection
-70% RunSpeed
-65% RechargeTime (A little less than two SOs)
-30% Damage Enhancement (a little less than one SO)
-Jump, -Fly.

Mobility issues are solved by Teleport-Self, and since Tankers aren't meant to be damage dealers (and after slotting, you'll only do around 15% less actual damage) the only REAL kicker is that -65% Recharge.

If you can spare two extra Recharge SOs in your attacks + Taunt, it'll compensate for most of GA's debuffs.

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you will go into a fight that no other tank could survive and walk out without a scratch because luck ran good for you.

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Granite tank says otherwise

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A Granite tank would not walk out again.

At least not before this time NEXT millennium...