Moot_Point

Dark Melee/Dark Armor
A Brute's Guide to the Dark Side


General Brute Information and play style:

Brutes are not quite tankers and not quite scrappers but many people play them like one. This guide is not meant to get you to change your plays style, but I do offer some suggestions based on my own experience. That said, take what you like and ignore what you don’t. Also, any comments and suggestions on this guide are always appreciated.

Brute get a nice bonus to their damage when either; they attack someone, or someone attacks them. In order to achieve the best effect from this (even on an 8 man team) you will be shifting between targets quite a bit. I highly suggest you use Recharge and Endurance Reducers in your attacks (after you slot them for Acc). The increase in damage output becomes rather high quite fast when you are able to increase your rage bar quickly.

In some cases you will have to be the first man in, but when you have an option, always allow the pets from master minds to jump in first. The first hit can be quite deadly most of the time, even with a good healer. I find it much more effective to follow the pets in and take agro from them one mob at a time. I run and shift from one target to the next quite rapidly. Any attack chain you can put together that will help you with this will quickly raise your Rage bar.

One final note; there is no one right way to play a Brute. If you are playing support in the backfield pulling the mobs from the backfield players or if you are up front standing toe to toe with any and all comers, play your toon as you like.

I have rated each power below on a scale of 1-5. 1 is the least useful and 5 is the most useful. I also included suggested slots for each. With the advent of Endurance Discount, I try to revel in slotting for as many different things as I can in hopes of getting a better return for my power.

Dark Melee:

Shadow Punch – This is by far your quickest attack and will help you fill in any attack chain you have. It does decent damage and lowers their to-hit Acc. (Score 4) slotting 3 – Acc, Rchg, End Red (if you have spare throw in some damage as this is one attack you will use more than any other to keep your attack cycle going)

Smite – Fairly decent attack with a fairly short recharge. This can also help fill in your attack chain. If you are going to be using Air Superiority or another “filler” attack you can skip this. Personally, I would not because I really like keeping the –Acc as much as possible. (Score 4) slotting 3 (or more) Acc, Rchg, End Red (and as many Dmg slots as you can afford)

Shadow Maul – This is a very small and very short cone attack that works like Flurry from the speed line. If you are looking for great fillers this would be great, but since it hits multiple targets, it is an added bonus. Granted, if you miss, the whole “whiff” factor and animation time can be a pain. Seeing this go off after your rage has been built up is nothing short of amazing. This is truly a hallmark power to pick up (Score 5) slotting 6 Acc, Rchg, End Red, and 3 Dmg

Touch of Fear – This power can be very situational. If it hits the hold (fear) effect is nice, but in most cases you are “trying” to get the mobs to hit you – to boost your rage. This said, there will be plenty of times when you would like to lock down someone and this will surely work. (Score 2) slotting 1 Acc (put more slots in here if you are going to take it and you have them – add in Fear and To-hit)

Siphon Life – This is another situational power. Some take it and swear by it others never bother. It is an attack with some damage that will help raise your Rage as it heals you at the same time. I have seen DMs with me who had it last longer than I did in a close fight because of this power. It is not much of a heal, but if you 3 slot it you can get around a 20% heal. If you feel you need the heal early on, pick it up. If not, wait for Dark Regeneration. If you have no other heal, this can come in handy depending on your secondary. (Score 3) slotting 3 – Acc, Rchg, Heal (if you have more slots 3 slot the Heal)

Taunt – This power has been changed and modified over time since CoH came out. At the moment it works as stated. You can target one enemy and taunt them to attack you. This can boost your Rage while pulling a mob off of an ally from a distance. It is situational due to the fact that it only targets one. Some take this and put it in as part of their attack chain, but many skip it. You have so many other choices for getting and holding their attention, that this one could be skipped. (Score 1) slotting 1 – Acc

Dark Consumption – Brutes are one of those ATs that eat thru endurance pretty quick. You are cycling your attacks and running toggles so endurance can become scarce. This power allows you to get some back. It works like Consume from the Fire secondary. The more mobs the more endurance you will get back. In order for it to work though you must slot it for Acc. (Score 5) slotting 4 – Acc, 2 Rchg, End Rcv (if you can throw in a slot add another Rchg – the End Rcv is for when you are fighting smaller mobs or bosses)

Soul Drain – This is a very nice version of Build up. It is an AoE attack that will boost your Acc and Dmg based on the mobs around you. Throw this in with rage running and it can become very ugly. Some use it at the beginning of a battle to draw agro, boost damage and increase Rage. Overall this is one of the set defining powers. (Score 5) slotting 3 – Acc, Rchg, End Red (slot up to 2 more Rchg in this if you can)

Midnight Grasp – This is a very nice attack and immobilize that like all dark attacks lowers their accuracy. This is another of the set defining attacks. Aside from the nice damage over time, it will immobilize most to keep those pesky mobs in place. You can use this and move onto other mobs as the enemy takes damage over time and between your attack and their response, your rage will go up. (Score 4) slotting 6 – Acc, End Red, 3 Dmg, Imb Dur

Dark Armor:

Dark Embrace – Toggle armor that gives you smash, lethal, negative energy and toxic resists is pretty good for a level one power. As a dark armor toggles become your life, so slot them each with End Red. (Score 5) slotting 4 – End Red, 3 Dmg Resist

Death Shroud – Toggle that will get you more agro than you can handle pretty fast while eating up your endurance in the process. Other than that, this is a wonderful power and one that helps define the set. I usually wait until after Stamina to pick this up because there are so many things I want and can’t fit them in early enough. (Score 5) slotting 6 – Acc, 3 End Red, 2 Dmg

Murky Cloud – Toggle armor that gives you energy, negative energy, fire, cold and endurance drain protection that only gets better as you run into new mobs. Lots of bonus resists on one toggle makes this well worth the choice. (Score 5) slotting 4 – End Red, 3 Dmg Resist

Obsidian Shield – Toggle armor that gives you psionic protection (one of the few) and protection from sleep, hold, disorient and fear, this is yet another toggle you will end up running. (Score 5) slots 4 – End Red, 3 Dmg Resist

Dark Regeneration – One of the nice things about having to deal with all of the toggles on dark armor is Dark Regeneration. With only 3 enemies you can heal yourself pretty much back up to full. You will have to hit them and the endurance cost is pretty pricey, but the heal factor is nice. This is truly a set defining power. (Score 5) slotting 5 – Acc, 3 End Red, Heal (I throw in the heal for those times when only one or two mobs are left and my health is low)

Cloak of Fear – This toggle is very expensive and does not do nearly as much as it did at one time. It has been tweaked a bit too much I think. It can still be a great hold (fear) on most mobs, but the endurance cost is very steep and there are better alternatives, at least until they change it again. (Score 2) slotting 5 – 2 Acc, 3 End Red

Oppressive Gloom – Toggle AoE that will disorient mobs around you. This comes in very hand and can be a pain at the same time. Mobs that are disoriented tend to wander off, but they don’t attack very well. If you are going to be diving into mobs taking the alpha strike, this can help quite a bit by thinning out the herd some. (Score 5) slotting 2 – Acc, Dis Dur (if you want to add in another Acc and Dis Dur it will only help it some)

Soul Transfer – This is basically a self rez. They have played with it some over time, and it is an ok power. If you need to use it in a massive mob situation, you can draw a tad too much agro. But, overall a decent rez power. (Score 4) slotting 2 – Heal, End Rec

Pool Powers

Leaping
With no knockback/knockdown protection, you will definately want Acrobatics. If you pick up Dark Consumption and Dark Regeneration, it make it easier to pick up Acrobatics at level 20. Sooner or later you will become tired of watching yourself bounce off of the floor. One option around this is Hover, but since you grab more agro being agile and quick on the field, hover can become a problem.

Fitness
Given the number of toggles you will be running along with constant attacks, Stamina (even 3 slotted) is pretty much required. Once again if you pick up Dark Consumption and Dark Regeneration early it will allow you to put off the Fitness Pool until your early 20s.

Final Note

Once again, any comments on this would be appreciated. Tanks are more my thing, but I am starting to love Brutes. Final Note

geko, you so totally rock

quickly raises hand............. I just did..

Fiery Aura - Tank Primary Powers

After seeing way too many question on the board and to update some of the guides already out there, I decided to put together a guide to the Tank Fire Primary. I have swiped and stolen ideas from experience and many posts that I have see. Also, I have spent quite a bit of time talking to other fire tanks to get their perspective.

That said; understand that this guide is designed for my view of a tank. One of the reasons to choose a fire tank is the offensive damage you can do with one, no matter what secondary power you choose. I tried to design mine with a balance between defensive and offensive powers. All of the powers listed are based on Issue 2 and I will update this after 3 hits and I have a chance to try them out. I have tried to rank the powers based on things you must have/should have/optional/not needed.

Blazing Aura – This is a decent AoE that runs as a toggle. It does use a bit of endurance, and with all of your other toggles it can be expensive. On the plus side it is a constant tick of damage that adds up fast. Any time you can save yourself an attack, you have saved yourself endurance for your defenses. I would slot it with (Acc, End Red, and as many Dmg as you can spare). I do not have this six slotted yet at 38, but will have it soon. This is a wonderful power for getting and holding aggro. You can run around a room of bad guys, then run out and jump around a corner or door and they will follow you like lost puppies, just in time for you to Provoke them and put them away with all of your attacks. This one is one of my favorites but I will list it as a SHOULD HAVE.

Fire Shield – This is your first armor and gives you decent fire/cold and as an added bonus lethal/smashing. You cannot add enough slots to this power. If endurance is a problem before consume and stamina, but an End Red in it for a while. After you are able to recover endurance better replace it with a Dmg Res. I have this 6 slotted at 38. You won’t need to slot it heavily early on, but as you notice that you are taking more damage, add a slot on your next level up. This one is a MUST HAVE.

Healing Flames – This power heals you for a decent value and gives you protections from disorient. If you don’t think you need it, wait until you hit the Tsoo in Talos Island. Your protection gets better as you increase in level. Be warned that at level 22 all it takes is 2 or 3 Inkmen hitting you at once and your toggles are gone, you can’t do anything and your soon going to be seeing the floor. Be patient and approach the large groups cautiously. My best advice at this point is to put this on auto-cast until Issue 3 comes out. I currently have this one slotted with one Rch Red, and 3 Heals. By the time I finish it will be 6 slotted. Given that as a fire tank you are going to be taking some serious damage from time to time this one is a MUST HAVE.

Temperature Protection – This power currently listed as giving you passive fire/cold protection. You get an amazing amount of protection from your two toggles Fire/Plasma Shields. With both shields fully slotted you are only short on maximizing your cold protection. Honestly, the only reason I could think to take this power at all is if you wanted to max out your cold resistance and you wanted some fire/cold protection if your toggles went down. Yes, I know your toggles can get blown quite a lot and some protection is better than no protection. However, I do believe there are plenty of other powers that will do you much more good in the long run. Unless the development team is willing to add something to this power I am going to have to list it as a NOT NEEDED.

Consume – This is an attack power that IF you hit the bad guys, you get some endurance back from them. At the early levels this is huge. Tanks stink at endurance to start with especially trying to run so many toggles. This does very minor damage when it hits and is a great way to get the bad guys attention in an area around you. You really only need to hit about 3 guys for this to max out your endurance, but you have to hit them. This is usually not a big problem at the lower levels, but as you advance and start taking on higher-level mobs it becomes problematic. You can mix and match any combo of Rch and Acc or even End Rcv. Personally I have this 4 slotted (with perma-haste) and it has 3 Rch and one Acc. I may or may not add one more Acc to it later. This power is a SHOULD HAVE even if you are planning on taking Stamina. I strongly recommend both powers, because there is not an AT out there who could not use more endurance.

Plasma Shield – This power give you protection from positive and negative energy and some fire resistance as well. With this one fully slotted you will easily reach the cap on fire resist (You can now laugh at CoT Behemoths). It also is a toggle, and before I was able to get Stamina, I only turned it on when I needed it. Now, I have it running all of the time. Once again you can sub in an End Red. into one of the slot as needed and replace it later. As of issue 2 you do not have to take it early, it can wait for the mid 20s, but you will want it slotted up full by your mid 30s. This will change a bit for issue 3. This is a MUST HAVE.

Burn – Oh how fire tanks love/hate burn in the same breath. This is realistically a “pet” that you cannot buff. When you use flames will burst around you and the bad guys will want to run away. Currently you MUST use Provoke or some other hold to keep the bad guys in the flames. Issue 3 Taunt will be able to do it better. You will need to slot it up, but you don’t have to slot it up that quickly to see the damage. Currently mine is slotted up with 4 Dmg at level 38 but it will have 6 before too long. The amount of damage that you can do to minions with this power is amazing. But, you have status protection tied in with this power. Without a recharge, you can keep your status protection covered quite easily. The problem is that when you cast burn, if there is a status on you already, it can slip in between the Burns and shut off your toggles. After a while you will find that a slight delay will keep your status safe in most battles. If you get hit with too many statuses at once, it will blow through burn as well. On a different note, you can use burn without Provoke to temporarily chase the bad guys away. If you need a second or two break (see Rise of the Phoenix below) this is a fairly useful tactic to keep you alive. This power is a MUST HAVE for the status protection on it.

Fiery Embrace – This power boosts all of your attacks for the next 10 seconds and all of your Fire attack (not burn) for about the next 30 seconds. You can fully slot this with recharge and add in Haste and come real close to almost no down time, but I don’t believe it is worth it even for a Fire/Fire tank. I have one Rch in mine now, and will be adding one End Red. in it before too long and that is about it. As a fire tank you are doing decent damage already, but this just adds icing to the cake, or makes those mobs that are a little too high a bit easier to handle. If I had to choose between this and Build Up I would take FE every time. This is probably an OPTIONAL, but I think of it more along the lines of SHOULD HAVE for those times you really step in it.

Rise of the Phoenix – This is a self rez power that currently gives you about half your hit points and half of your endurance. When you use it there is a short pause and then you knock back all of the bad guys gloating over your corpse. You do rise up in the air in true rez fashion, but you only have a second or two to start hitting your toggles before all of the bad guys who were gloating before are back trying to beat you senseless. There have been a few times when I have cast Burn as soon as possible to buy another few seconds. This power is slated for major update in issue 3 and it will be much appreciated. I took this power early primarily to give the defenders a chance to use their rez on the squishies who need it more than I do. I have 2 heal slots in it to give me a little over half health and will probably only add one slot more at most. This power is truly situational, so it does not really warrant a lot of slots. It is a blast to see in action, but the power is definitely OPTIONAL at this point, maybe even after issue 3, I will have to check it out at a later date.

That about raps this guide up. One of the hardest things to remember as a fire tank is that you can NOT take the damage that a Invul or Stone tank can. But, you do far more damage with burn than they ever will. It is a trade off you are going to have to live with, or choose another type of tank. In mass numbers of minions, the damage you can do is almost staggering – over time. If the bad guys are hurting you too fast, you will not survive them.