Phosphorescency

Yes there is. SS/WP without stamina works. But I wouldn't really recommend it, one of the great things about SS/WP is having both available to handle the huge endurance demands of the SS primary.

Can you run without Stamina? Yes, with sufficient end reduction in the attacks and some set bonuses. I'd get it, though you don't need to have it in the early 20s IMO.

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Came up with a concept for a WP/BA Tanker that I really like, so I've worked up a build. I like the build, but I suspect I have too attacks...if there is such a thing. The build uses everything from Battle Axe and everything from Will Power except Resurgence. I chose to skip the APP.

Now it boils down to Chop vs Stamina.

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Kind of the reverse of the BA/WP Brute that I wrote a guide for. Though Brutes and Tanks obviously play differently and slot very differently.

But Chop is skippable regardless. Since you can't skip Beheader, Chop has the 2nd lowest DpA of the single-target attacks (there's VERY little difference), though it has a tiny bit better DpS than Gash, Swoop or Cleave.

You can easily get a full attack chain in Axe without Chop, and it's as skippable as any of attacks. I'd take Stamina over Chop, easily.

Spines/Fire does more damage, and is roughly as tough as Spines/Dark provided you don't face enemies that target /Fire's weaknesses. Fire has more exposures than Dark, but in a farming setup, they aren't very relevant. Avoid psi, cold, toxic, end drain, and slows and you'll be in great shape. Fight things that do fire damage and laugh.

Another thing to consider-- make sure you're on one of the easy firebases. The small guns in the middle should con white to you--if they are yellow, move on to a different base.

They don't heal, so getting them all down to near-death is a great strategy.

If possible, do this outside of prime time so the chance of getting killed during the process is lower.

Enough recharge to make Dull Pain permanent is a very, very nice thing.

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It should take off as soon as you get one of the mez toggles, either Oppressive Gloom (my choice and recomendation) or Cloak of Fear. If you didnt pick up OG at 28 this might be why you are down on /dark.

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True except the picking up OG at 28. It's not available until L35 on a scrapper, which is a few levels past where the OP has gotten.

But true. Until you get OG, you have only middling resist shields, some minor slows, and some knockdown in Ripper to keep you alive between Dark Regen cycles. And you're a huge aggro magnet on teams, capable of pulling aggro off of many tanks--aggro you're not great at surviving.

OG keeps the minions off you for a relatively low HP and trivially low end cost. It adds dramatically to your survivability.

To the OP--get your Spines/Dark to 35 with an acc slotted in Oppressive Gloom before you give up on the character. Get Tough in the build if you can, especially if you plan trips to Cimerora.

Be careful against things doing heavy Energy damage like Rikti most of the time, and the occasional enemy doing Toxic damage (ouch!). Instead go fight the carnies that most despise fighting and tear them into shreds.

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I'd make the argument low level sr and dark are not everyone's cup of tea, which might really detract from the 'fastest to level' argument... have both, love 'em, but not early bloomers.

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Which is why for a fast leveling, low downtime version I'd only pair it with DM. Something like Claws or Fire can be stronger late and heavily IOed, but dm/sr is more fun to get there IMO.

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Dark regeneration and soul transfer can make you unkillable if you use them right.

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You're going to have to explain to me how soul transfer helps make you unkillable....

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More like flavor of the decade...

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If we'd had WP that long... to the extent that any primary synergizes with WP, SS does it well. WP provides insane regen, reasonable res or def to pretty much everything, and extra end recovery. It doesn't provide any self-heal, or do any damage.

So for synergy, I'd be looking for a primary that can help in those times you need some breathing room for the regen, and a primary that did reasonable AoE damage on its own.

Footstomp covers you on both counts. Only bad thing is you don't get the AoE mitigation until you barely need it any more since WP has matured by 32. But once you get it you're just an insane killing machine.

I found that Battle Axe also did well, loads of knockdowns and good AoE damage. Mace is similar, less early mitigation but better late AoE. I haven't seen many elec/WP builds, but that would work too, I'd expect.

Not sure what you've tried, but for the survivability/fast killing/least downtime, I'd look at dm/sr, kat/regen, or bs/wp. All give you good mitigation, strong attacks, and little downtime. Pretty easy ride all the way up for any of them. Kat/regen starts fastest. All good at end game TFs, dm/sr is I think the strongest end game of the three.

Any scrapper levels pretty well, but if you want a farm build at the high end, spines/something is your best bet. /fire is highest damage but has large holes in protection. /dark is nearly as strong but has large endurance issues.

WP is such a nice secondary for Brutes that you can run it well with pretty much any primary. SS/WP is the FotM, and quite strong, but it's hardly the only choice. Others are as good, or as close as makes any difference in PvE.

Find a good concept that you like, or a primary powerset you've been interested in trying, and have fun...it'll work. WP is that good.

For a mostly solo Ice/Mace, I'd probably run something like this.

No Taunt since it's only somewhat useful solo, no Fighting pool since you can survive any solo-sized spawn without it, and Pyre Master for the damage. Hibernate a bit late since you'll rarely need it solo. Hasten and Build-Up included since they're handy solo, Build Up I don't always use on team builds.

If you have a respec available, take Pulverize on the way up or getting to 22 will be tedious.

For a pure solo build, you could swap Build Up and Chilling Embrace, but this build would also team fairly well.

If you can get a few set bonuses for +HP, +recharge or +smash/lethal defense those would help.

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

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

Level 50 Magic Tanker
Primary Power Set: Ice Armor
Secondary Power Set: War Mace
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Pyre Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Frozen Armor -- EndRdx(A), DefBuff(11), DefBuff(13), DefBuff(15)
Level 1: Bash -- Acc(A), Dmg(3), Dmg(3), Dmg(9), Acc(17), RechRdx(46)
Level 2: Hoarfrost -- Heal(A), Heal(7), Heal(9), RechRdx(11), RechRdx(13)
Level 4: Jawbreaker -- Acc(A), Dmg(5), Dmg(5), Dmg(7), Acc(15), RechRdx(46)
Level 6: Wet Ice -- EndRdx(A)
Level 8: Hurdle -- Jump(A)
Level 10: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff(A)
Level 12: Chilling Embrace -- EndRdx(A)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Jump(A)
Level 16: Health -- Heal(A), Heal(17), Heal(43)
Level 18: Glacial Armor -- EndRdx(A), DefBuff(19), DefBuff(19), DefBuff(31)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod(A), EndMod(21), EndMod(21)
Level 22: Clobber -- Acc(A), Dmg(23), Dmg(23), Dmg(25), Acc(31), RechRdx(37)
Level 24: Icicles -- Acc(A), EndRdx(25), EndRdx(31), Dmg(34), Dmg(37)
Level 26: Energy Absorption -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(27), RechRdx(27), EndMod(34), EndMod(42)
Level 28: Whirling Mace -- Acc(A), Dmg(29), Dmg(29), Dmg(33), Acc(34), RechRdx(43)
Level 30: Build Up -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(33), RechRdx(40)
Level 32: Hasten -- RechRdx(A), RechRdx(33), RechRdx(43)
Level 35: Shatter -- Acc(A), Dmg(36), Dmg(36), Dmg(36), Acc(37), RechRdx(45)
Level 38: Crowd Control -- Acc(A), Dmg(39), Dmg(39), Dmg(39), Acc(40), RechRdx(40)
Level 41: Hibernate -- Heal(A), RechRdx(42), RechRdx(42)
Level 44: Char -- Acc(A), Acc(45), Hold(45), RechRdx(46)
Level 47: Fire Blast -- Acc(A), Dmg(48), Dmg(48), Dmg(48)
Level 49: Fire Ball -- Acc(A), Dmg(50), Dmg(50), Dmg(50)
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Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Gauntlet

Icicles does 8.9 damage per tick in an 8' radius, which is pretty standard for damage auras.

So Icicles does 8.9 damage per tick, 30 ticks per minute. 267 damage per minute, using 31.2 endurance.

For comparison, Whirling Mace, 8' radius, does 49.83 damage per activation, 4.3 activations per minute. 213 damage per minute, using 55.7 endurance.

If you're killing 2-4 spawns at once--and I pretty much always herd up that much solo on my Ice/Mace--Icicles and its zero activation time adds pretty significantly to damage output. Worth having and running IMO. If you're taking out one spawn at a time and just annihilating that spawn in seconds, there may be a better choice.

QR

You get two real single target blasts. Burst does better Damage per Second, Damage per Activation, and Damage per End. It's your best pulling tool, and it works while you're mezzed.

Burst used to be pretty awful, but these days you can make a great case that if you're only taking one single target blast that Burst is the better choice. But I'd definitely take both.

Earthquake shouldn't do that under normal circumstances. Shouldn't do it unless you're against something lower level or weak to knockback...and on a TF against Freakshow shouldn't fit either of those.

I'm assuming you don't have knockback slotted in the power.

Any chance somebody else on the team was using a similar power, like a Ice tank, ice controller, TA defender, etc?

What you focus on depends a bit on what kind of tank you have there too. If you have an Invuln or WP tank, those minions are likely doing them more good than harm.

But that's going way beyond the scope of a mini-guide.

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My vote as far as least resisted goes to toxic.

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You'd be surprised...I'd hate a pure toxic primary or secondary. Devouring Earth and Tsoo resist in fiercely, Undead types in Vahz and BP, guns resist it INSANELY, try taking out a firebase when your powers do 10% damage....

Forgot that the undead BP resist psi as well above.

Fire is the least resisted, far as I can tell. Almost no faction resists it in general blue-side beyond the Hellions. Behemoths and not much else.

"very, very little resists psi damage with the exception of robots"

And carnies. And lots of praetorians. And Psychic Clockwork. And Guns. And did I mention how many factions use robots? Psi is not one of the least resisted damage types, especially 40+.

Since you note the need for blapper play in other secondaries, same for psi, need to be in melee to make use of Mind Probe, TK Thrust, Drain Psyche, or World of Confusion. Subdual has lackluster damage considering its cast time.

With Tough and Weave if you do choose to ghost a mission on your Brute, it's almost as easy. Just turn on sprint, toggle off RttC, and run. Nothing can hurt you much in the time it takes you to sprint by--you'll heal almost all of it before the next spawn.

Tough and Weave are great. Both of them. The difference on my Brute between 21% energy defense and 27% is enough to be noticeable.

Buddahsmash--- You're not the only one who puts a value on getting Stamina and QR both ASAP. There's a tradeoff you have to make on offense, defense, and endurance, and taking Stamina at 22 is a valid way to go.

I personally can't see putting off mez protection until 30, that would be painful for me. 4-slotting Stamina is probably only worth it if you intend to fill the 4th slot with the performance shifter chance for +end proc, which is a great thing to throw in there. Bit expensive, but there's a reason why it's expensive, it's good.

I'm guessing Heightened Senses next pick, you'll enjoy having defense to help when fighting mobs that aren't heavy smash/lethal! You can survive without it with smart use of RttC, but it's a whole lot easier with it.

Ever taken a Brute to the hill in "The Hard Way" in St. Martial in your late 30s? The hill that's just top-to-bottom Freakshow? I recommend it, it's fun to just get Fury up to 80%+ and run around the hill demolishing one spawn after another!

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I can't get your first build to import into Mids for some reason. It's giving me a weird error. Could you please try it again, maybe with the direct data link?

EDIT - Sorry I meant the IO build!

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Here's the repost on the IO build...not sure what changed to make it not import any more, but I got the same error.

Plenty of flexibility in the build, this is just a jumping-off point, I'd say. I made a minor change here to pull the Kinetic Combat IOs out, since they've become pretty pricey now where they were dirt cheap when I originally posted this.

Very little can kill this build, the biggest threat is taking the alpha on 8-man ITFs. Strength of Will comes in very handy on those.

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

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

Barbarian IO build: Level 50 Natural Brute
Primary Power Set: Battle Axe
Secondary Power Set: Willpower
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Chop -- C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:45(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:45(7), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:45(13), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg:45(34), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:45(42)
Level 1: High Pain Tolerance -- Numna-Heal:45(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx:45(5), Heal-I:45(11), ImpArm-ResDam:40(39), ImpArm-ResDam/Rchg:40(40), ResDam-I:45(43)
Level 2: Gash -- S'ngH'mkr-Acc/Dmg:35(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:35(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx:35(3), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:45(5), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:45(15), Mako-Dmg/Rchg:45(43)
Level 4: Fast Healing -- Numna-Heal:45(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx:45(7), Heal-I:45(13)
Level 6: Swift -- Run(A)
Level 8: Swoop -- C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg:45(A), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx:45(9), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:45(9), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:45(11), C'ngImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:45(15), F'dSmite-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:40(42)
Level 10: Indomitable Will -- S'dpty-Def:40(A), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx:40(46), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:40(46)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff-I:50(A)
Level 14: Health -- Heal-I:45(A), Heal-I:45(37), Heal-I:50(37)
Level 16: Rise to the Challenge -- Numna-Heal/EndRdx:45(A), Numna-Heal:45(17), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg:45(17), Tr'ge-Heal/EndRdx:30(21), Taunt-I:45(37), Taunt-I:45(40)
Level 18: Whirling Axe -- C'ngBlow-Acc/Dmg:45(A), C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx:45(19), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:45(19), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg:45(25), C'ngBlow-Dmg/Rchg:45(25)
Level 20: Quick Recovery -- Efficacy-EndMod:45(A), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg:45(21), EndMod-I:45(42)
Level 22: Mind Over Body -- TtmC'tng-ResDam:45(A), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx:45(23), TtmC'tng-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:45(23), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(36)
Level 24: Super Jump -- Jump(A)
Level 26: Cleave -- C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg:45(A), C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx:45(27), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg:45(27), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx:45(29), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg:45(31), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg:45(39)
Level 28: Heightened Senses -- LkGmblr-Def:45(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx:45(29), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:45(31), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg:45(36)
Level 30: Stamina -- EndMod-I:50(A), EndMod-I:50(31)
Level 32: Pendulum -- C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg:45(A), C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx:45(33), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx:45(33), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg:45(33), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:45(34), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg:45(34)
Level 35: Build Up -- AdjTgt-Rchg:45(A), AdjTgt-ToHit/Rchg:45(36), RechRdx-I:45(40)
Level 38: Strength of Will -- ResDam-I:45(A), ResDam-I:45(39), ResDam-I:45(43)
Level 41: Kick -- Empty(A)
Level 44: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam:40(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx:40(45), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg:40(45), RctvArm-EndRdx:40(45), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(46)
Level 47: Weave -- S'dpty-Def/EndRdx:40(A), S'dpty-Def:40(48), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:40(48), Ksmt-Def/EndRdx:30(48)
Level 49: Taunt -- Zinger-Taunt:45(A), Zinger-Taunt/Rng:45(50), Zinger-Taunt/Rchg:45(50), Zinger-Taunt/Rchg/Rng:45(50)
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Level 1: Brawl -- EndRdx-I:45(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury

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Really? Because that is exactly what I do, lead with Fire Breath and Fire Ball and then run in with TF and Bone Smasher on the boss. I guess I must be crazy

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There are definitely times and places for that strategy! Soloing it's pretty much the way to go, and it can be effective teamed if you know what you're doing. But seriously, would you recommend that strategy to a new blaster on teams? If you don't have enough oomph to clear out at least the minions with that opening salvo, you're in for a world of hurt...

One thing I usually try to point out to new blasters that I didn't see in the mini-guide is aggro management on teams. AKA, you don't usually want to lead with your AoE attacks.

In my experience at least, throwing a Fire Ball or similar into a group before aggro is distributed or the tank has aggro well in hand is an easy ticket to debt. And pulling with Fire Ball is even more likely to accomplish this.

Not that you can't do these things when you know what you're doing, but you have to know when it's not appropriate.

Maybe worth mentioning that there's nothing wrong with running away on a blaster. I do this often, especially if I didn't initiate the battle when soloing. I prefer to surprise things rather than be surprised, so I'll bolt...then I come back and clean things out.

Kiting isn't always immediately obvious to brand new kids.

A link to a guide on how to single pull would be useful.

I wouldn't say to skip it...without it you're badly lacking for area damage. I usually have a fury building chain of fast attacks like shadow punch, smite, and brawl, and then attacks like Shadow Maul that I would cut loose with once full on Fury. But mainly use it when you feel comfortable you'll hit multiple targets, it's rarely your best bet against just one thing.

For fun some time, on a build with either CJ or Hurdle, let a decent spawn surround you. Target something in front of you, jump in the air, and hit Shadow Maul near the peak of the jump. The "cone" will hit things on all sides of you and hit 5 targets with regularity.

It's a scrapper guide, generally useful, but they made some changes to SR when they ported it to Brutes, and recently made some changes to DM. Brute SR gets Evasion (AoE defense) earlier, and it functions as your taunt aura. It gets Quickness later, which also means you'll want 3 SOs of recharge in Practiced Brawler (mez protection).

Shadow Punch from DM got nerfed a bit since that guide, but Shadow Maul, Midnight Grasp, Soul Drain and especially Siphon Life got buffed so it works out.

Edit--One thing related to Shadow Maul on Brutes. Shadow Maul does nice damage across what is now a decent sized cone. But it takes long enough to animate that you actually lose Fury when you use it unless enough stuff is hitting back at you in return. Good power, but not one you'll want to use indiscriminately on a Brute.

Shockwave sounds like a winner for SR and Regen...my plan is to skip it on my Claws/Dark because I want to keep everything in my damage/mez/heal auras. Only really have room for 2 of three between Spin/Evis./Shockwave.

Sensible or foolish?