Pollution

Hello, My name is Pollution, and I'm an Alt-a-holic.

I have been playing CoX since CoH was in Beta. Even then, I was unable to get my main toon over level 22, due to my obsession with Alts.

I have exactly one toon at levle 50 in these almost three years. I have another who is at level 42, Ember Reign, the Fire/EM tank. I also have quite a few 30+ level toons.

I find myself daily debating about what toon to play. Currently, I'm focusing on Chatter, the DM/FA Brute, for whom I wrote my first guide for this game. I have only respec'd him once, and that's saying something for me.

I have over 50 alts on varying servers. Some in their 20s, most in their early teens. I seem to achieve a travel poiwer and then loose interest in my toon. I once tried playing as much as I could without a travel power, by 6 slotting Sprint, but ED ended that toon's carrier, as without a travel power, even Swift+Sprint 3-slotted for speed became too much of a burden.

I would like to reform, but I find it hard. my toons mean alot to me. Each one has a history, a backstory, an origin of powers story, and yes, even a family. My level 50 hero's family were killed by Crey Corporation. Another's family lives happily in Vermont, and welcomes her home as if nothing has changed for her since she was a child. My Tank's family is estranged, his father disagreeing with his chosen lifestyle, due to his uncles death in the Rikti Invasion, he blames Heroes just as much as the Rikti.

You see. An idea pops into my head, and I have to try it out. I can't tell you how many controllers I've tried, or how many defenders were deleted, only to be replaced by an exact clone.

I am here today, to tell you all that Alts have destroyed my life. I find myself thinking of them in the middle of the night, craving even, to play with the costume creator, even if I don't have a concept. My wife and children are ashamed that I only have one 50, when others have entire server's full of them.

My name is Pollution, and I'm an Alt-a-holic.

Overall not a bad guide for your first attempt. Here's a few notes on the DM/FA I think are EXTREMELY important that differ from what you've got here.

On Stamina: Don't worry about it. Take it later sure, but don't force it. you've got 2 endrec powers at your disposal and you really shouldn't rush into Stamina unless you REALLY don't want to slot EndRedux's in your powers.

Take more attacks earlier. Nothing sucks more than waiting for an attack to recharge while you loose fury.

don't bother slotting damage into attacks until 28-30. Fury takes care of all that for you and you won't really notice a difference until you hit SO's anyway. SLOT THOSE UTILITIES AND DEFENSES FIRST!!!

Take blazing aura asap. Trust me, you will kill faster, MUCH faster. BA does more damage over the session than any other power in the game. (run herostats, you'll see). Don't worry about slotting it until LATE in the game, but have it, those 2s and 3s become 10s and 20s with Fury. BA is a brutes best friend since it'll kill guys your not directly attacking, thus acting as an extra defense and helps you gain xp faster.

Check out my guide for what I'm talking about here. I've got a few different builds on it, concept, min/max, and a hover build. And they only go up to 40 so you can play with the rest of your enh slots to 50 (since patron powers weren't here when I wrote it, been meaning to update that, probably in I8)

Check out the guide in my sig, trust me.

Edited for typo (said 38-30, ment 28-30)

Ok, coming back from a lag in internet access, and I have to say I'm confussed, even after looking through all the posts. Do we have a definate answer yet? Is it:

A.) Total Paid Time = Time
B.) Account Created Date through Current Date = Time
C.) Hours Logged In = Time
D.) Some other variant?

Because in my situation, I was in Beta, Bought the Preorder, Bought the game, Bought the DVD Edition of the game, Beta'd CoV, Bought CoV Preorder, Bought CoV, Got another copy of the game as a gift, Left, Came back after 2 months with a 15day come back and join us thingy, Got ANOTHER copy of the game as a gift, and here we stand now.

So all together, I've got like almost 6 months where I had an active account but didn't have to pay.

My Total Time Paid shows 12 months (which baffles me since I've only taken 6 months off in these 3 years) with the 6 months or so free play.

If it's a case where it's A. That blows.
If it's B. That's lame as well, since I played about an hour or two every day for a long time, but didn't sit there taking a bath whilst a character sat idle.
If it's C. Neat, but hardly fair.

Sorry if I'm behind, but I've been incommunicado man for a while.

Then I stand corrected.

AFAIK The Brute Version of Taunt is NOT autohit. at least, I missed in beta with it at least 5 times or so before I respec'd out of it.

BUT, I do remember something about PVP Brute Taunt not being autohit, so that's why you'd put the acc in Taunt. For MOST Brute powers, think of what the effects are for a scrapper. Attack powers do have taunts, but GENERALLY only if they hit (blazing aura for example).

oh hell no.

DO's will make a BIG difference, in fact if you only slot EndRedux's pre 12 (not a HORRIBLE idea, just not a GOOD idea) then you'll have an easier time. DO's not only make endurance less of a constant worry, but when SO's become available, Consume and DC will be ALL you need for your end issues.

I STILL recomend at least TAKING Stamina (slot if you feel the need). You'll find that just that extra UMPH! extends your fighting capabilities when not faced with multiple foes or missing Consume/DC's. In Beta at level 30 with 1 Slot in Stamina, I could fight to my hearts content with sprint, both shields, acrobatics, and BA turned on, using the 3 dark attacks, jump kick, brawl and siphon life as an attack chain, and still coming up with enough end for Healing Flames when things got extra sticky and Siphon Life missed/didn't keep up with the damage.

End issues WILL resolve themselves, you just got to fight to SO level to have them ALL gone, and DO level to feel better.

Other note here, Rest is only like 5 min recharge time now. Use it, you SHOULD be able to go about that long before running completely out of Endurance with SMASHFEST tactics. If you turn off your toggles, your end will recharge to 100 before your fury goes under 20% or so. Don't be afraid to take a break every now and again, make your team wait, or do some killing without you, don't get killed just cause you're impatient....and stuff.

I've done the Hurdle+CJ thing with my Fire/EM tank on Justice, and I got to agree, that the LOOK of H+CJ is cool as hell, it's more of what you feel like is better, if you like Swift, do it, if you like having a bind for Target_Nearest$$Follow, and hitting jump, do it.

I'm a HUGE proponant of picking what makes you happy. No power in this game is useless. If you like how it feels, or what it does, DO IT!!!

Jump Kick is really not great for a brute, it's a long animation, and looses more fury than say using AS does. But I like how it LOOKS on Chatterer. It's INSANELY cool to see him do, and it's vaguely utilitarian. I use it, I'll continue to use it.

I like the build above. It's strong, good fury good SMASH!, good bute. It's not completely cookie cutter, and it's happy for teh SMASH!

So, what's interesting with this particular build is you're damn near unstoppable at 30, and you're downtime is ziltch. At the same time, you're not standing there taking everything coming at you like pre I5 tankers herding whole maps of uber badness. You'll ALWAYS be doing something. there will be close calls. MANY close calls. The key will be knowing when the fecal matter has hit the rotery ocillator and BUG OUT!!!

oh, and SMASH!

I don't know about the eye, but that darned tree for the respec trial can be easy, or WAY hard. First thing you should do is clear out all the mobs in the cave, skip doing the vines till last, as they grow back. After you're finished with the mobs, you need to take out 15 vines at the same time (before the 1st one grows back that is). After that, we didn't really have any problems with the Tree itself, then again, there were lots of Brutes on the team, and we had our SMASH! on.

Don't missunderstand me. Hurdle is great, I like it with most of my builds, it's very versitile. In fact, I could go with EVERY power in the fitness line. I think they're all that good. But given a choice for a DM/FA Brute, Swift's the way to go. No question in my mind.

ahhh, but Swift equals MOB HERE DEAD! NEW MOB! SMASH!

I tried it both ways in beta, and I gotta say, Swift gave better SMASH! results. Less degredation of fury between mob groups.

then agian, the difference between Hurdle travel with CJ vs Swift travel with CJ 2 levels, and then, you got SJ going on, so who cares.

I've found that Swift get's you from group to group alot faster than you'd think. And with just one endrecovery in stamina, you can leave sprint on and still fill up from your Consume/Dark embrace combo without having too many issues. Without sprint on, you'll do great, with sprint, be carefull.

But again, you're results may vary.

No, check out the notes on that power above.

Blazing Aura (while not building up fury) is affected by fury.

So each tic won't add to your fury bar, but you'll see the damage go from 10-30 in a matter of seconds in a big fight.

TAKE BLAZING AURA! It WILL help, adds agro, damage is buffed, and with Fury and Soul Drain and Firey Embrace, [censored]!!!

BA does not build fury, just gets cooler from fury

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Very nice bro, you covered just about everything. Now for my suggestions.

Consume, Dark Consumption, Soul Drain, and possibly Siphon Life should all have at least two Accuracy enchancers, especially at the SO levels. These powers are critical and a series of misses can doom your Brute, especially if he is Stamina-less. You'll thank me when Spectral Daemon Lords and Death Mages start debuffing your accuracy into the gutter.

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Very true, the only REAL problem with the DM/FA Brute is all the good powers. Limited slots, TONS of good powers. But I agree, it is nice to hit ALL the time vs. damn near always. I would actually recomend that you put a recharge in Siphon Life instead of an extra accuracy. At level 30 3 heals (at 30) gives you 199 hp back. Now that's actually alot, but if you got in over your head, and can't get out, it's always nice to have that heal up again faster, vs. hitting EVERY time. It's a grey area and depends on your playstyle, but yeah, good point.

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Cycling Brawl, Boxing, Shadow Punch, and Smite make for a great Fury building sequence. Getting Boxing makes taking Tough even more worth it if you're going for the Power-Build.

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Indeed. The first build listed is my own concept build. Jump Kick just looks so very sweet on Chatter, I can't imagine getting rid of it...I know it hurts fury, but MAN it looks good. But yeah, good chain, good fury, good SMASH!

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Consume, Dark Consumption, and Soul Drain are aggro-magnet powers. Once you fire those off everyone is going to be taking a shot at you, driving your Fury up quickly. Just make sure that you can survive the incoming assault long enough to dish it back out. In fact, I like to use Consume for topping myself off at the end of a battle and there is nothing like having all of your foes at a sliver of health and finishing them off while refilling your endurance at the same time.

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Great Minds my friend, Great Minds. Those are BIG agro Magnets, and after spending some time in Siren's Call, Jumping into groups groups of 20 Longbow, hitting Soul Drain and dying after one punch, that's good advice. Bubbler would help, if that cowardly MasterMind would deign to come out of his PFF long enough to throw one on you...

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Shadow Maul's greatest strength is that it is a cone attack. Once you get manuevered to line up your targets, the trick is to target the guy behind the one you are closest to, someone in the middle of the mob. That greatly increases your chance of hitting most of the mob with a single attack.

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My record is 5 guys at once, have never been able to do it since. That power REALLY needs range enhancements able to be added for the Cone Range. 2 is standard 3 is good. If you hit 4, light a cigarette baby, it don't get better than that.

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Blazing Aura may seem like pitiful damage at first, but with full Fury and a good Soul Drain buff you can get those damage ticks past 30 damage each without slotting any damage into the power at all. This is one of the keys to taking down large mobs quickly, the aura whittles them down so you don't have to hit them so many times in the long run.

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YES! someone finally believes me!!! Yeah, I think since Beta started that was my opinion. I remember the other testers being all like, "no, BA sucks, don't take it" I was like, "Fury guys, FURY" they went, "....ohhhh....wow, good point"

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I strongly recommend Combat Jumping, Superjump, and Acrobatics. Combat Jumping gives great resistance to Immobilization, which Fire Aura lacks greatly. Superjump is just an awesome travel power. Acrobatics provides strong Knockback and some extra Hold resistance. If you hate getting rooted and knocked around, this is the power pool for you.

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Yup, old standby, never fails the Firey Aura does it? Leaping is by FAR the best choice for the DM/FA Brute. not only do you have access to the status resists, but that paltry 5% defense ACTUALLY does something in combat. It's amazing how much less often you get hit.

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As for Concealment, a Stealth Brute might be an interesting concept worth trying. You could drop into the middle of a mob unseen, turn it off and fire your Soul Drain and still have instant Fury while maintaining the element of surprise.

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Yeah, but really that's just not how I feel this combo should go. it's all about the SMASH! . You COULD do it, you could try it, and hell that extra defense again, it helps, but as most Brute Vets know, once that Fury starts to build, you could care less about tactics.... KILL KILL KILL SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! Dead.....oops

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Leadership would only be worth it really if you have a regular group to play with that has a concept and/or are balanced against each other. With that in mind, a team made almost entirely of Brutes with each running Assault could be a fearsome force to reckon with.

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Assault is actually worth it for EVERY offensive AT out there, it may not seem like it at first, but hey, 5, 10, 12, 20% whatever the numbers are for extra damage is still 5, 10, 12, 20% EXTRA damage. And with ED it may be worth it. TACTICS though, there's a power that you may want to pick up upon further consideration. not only will you hit JUST A BIT MORE, but them darn Stalkers and hidden Scrappers start to become ALOT easier to deal with.

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When you do die, and trust me that you will get your [censored] kicked sooner or later on some Trial or in a PvP match, nothing makes a more awesome comeback than Rise of the Phoenix. Burning vengance from beyond the grave!

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OH YEAH!!! Nothing pisses people off more in PvP than killing a Brute, only to be BLASTED by his cold dead corpse. And while they're getting to their feet, stumbling around disoriented, you're calmly putting your toggles back up, cracking your knuckles and ITCHING to get vengance. Not to mention that it does pretty keen damage with just a few slots (not that more than 2 extra for damage does much).

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Positron did state it in Beta. In fact is was originally a 800% cap and Fury was a 300% boost. In Beta Fury was changed to 200%, the cap raised to 850%, and our base damage raised by an amount I don't remember but someone else can fill in.

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Blasters are 1.0

Brutes WERE .7

In the last week of beta, Brutes were first buffed to (get this) .7002 Weak right?

about 3 or 4 days till the end of beta, Brutes were buffed to .75 vs a blasters 1.0 and a scrappers 1.2 (ish)

Yeah, Brutes SMASH! (note the one exclimation point, not 3...that's important)

I actually saw a brute during the 1st PvP event last week hit the 850% damage cap. It was beautiful. He was on a team with a Fulcrum shifter, and was fighting in the BIGGEST hotspot there was. Brute hit Soul Drain and Firey Aura build-up like power, was Fulcrum Shifted (looked like it hit damn near everybody) and punched 3 guys at once with Shadow Maul.

Only the tank lived...till the Brute brawled him for several hundred points of damage... I cried a single tear. It was GLORIOUS!!!

Before we begin, special thanks to the following guides, for hooking me on the Brute AT.
Brute = SMASH!
The Art of SMASH!
V’s Guide to Brute Numbers

Ok, so you want to be the most powerful Brute out there huh? You want to SMASH! your opponents to pulp. You want to see the flames of your armor glint off their terrified eyes. You want, well to be mighty. Right then, DM/FA Brutes are for you.

PRIMARY Dark Melee
Here’s the skinny on this particular build. DM has MANY utility powers. Fear, Accuracy Debuff, Heal, Endurance regeneration, build-up type attack, oh, and SMASH! Lots of SMASH! Let’s look at the powers.

LEVEL 1 Shadow Punch
DESCRIPTION You wrap your fists with Negative Energy channeled from the Netherworlds, then perform a quick punch that deals minor damage. Shadow Punches cloud the target's vision, lowering his Accuracy for a short time. Great for building Fury.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 acc, 1 end redux, 3 damage, 1 acc debuff

LEVEL 1 Smite
DESCRIPTION You wrap your fists with Negative Energy channeled from the Netherworlds, then perform a Smite that deals more damage than Shadow Punch, but has a longer recharge time. Smite clouds the target's vision, lowering his Accuracy for a short time. Again wonderful Fury generating attack. And the damage isn’t that bad either.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 acc, 1 end redux, 3 damage, 1 acc debuff

LEVEL 2 Shadow Maul
DESCRIPTION You wrap your entire arms with Negative Energy channeled from the Netherworlds, then perform a series of blows that deal a lot of damage over a short period of time to multiple targets in front of you. These blows cloud your target's vision, lowering his Accuracy for a short time. The biggest downfall to this attack is the long animation. You can loose a lot of Fury using this attack, make sure you’ve used your Fury Building attacks first, THEN fire off this one.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 2 acc, 1 end redux, 3 damage (it should be noted that this power FEELS like it misses often, this is not the actual case, but to counteract this feeling a second accuracy enhancement is added. This will make it FEEL like it is hitting more often, especially against higher level foes)

LEVEL 6 Touch of Fear
DESCRIPTION The Netherworld is one scary place, and with but a touch, you can give your enemy a glimpse into this dark world. This will cause them to helplessly tremble in Fear. Foes in this state of panic have reduced Accuracy.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING For this build, none. Burning Aura will cause them to attack as often as it tics. The only use this power could have for this build is acc debuff.

LEVEL 8 Siphon Life
DESCRIPTION You tap the power of the Netherworld and create a life transferring conduit between a foe and yourself. This will transfer Hit Points from your enemy to yourself. Foes Siphoned in this manner have their Accuracy reduced. This power has a reputation for being “useless.” I disagree. Not only does it heal you for about 33% with the below slotting, but you can use it often (more often than Healing Flames at any rate), and use it as a Fury builder. In fact, it may be a bug, or pure perception, but it seems to me that one attack of Siphon Life builds more Fury than Shadow Punch and Smite combined. I always use this attack as the last step before firing off my Shadow Maul. Just to get that much closer to full Fury.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 acc, 1 end redux, 3 heal, 1 recharge

LEVEL 12 Taunt
DESCRIPTION Challenges a foe to attack you. Useful to pull a villain off an ally who finds himself in over his head. I don’t usually recommend this power for Brutes. You’re not a CoH Tank, you’re a Brute. You don’t save your team mates, if they can’t hack it, TOUGH, more for you to SMASH!
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 or 2 acc would be sufficient for this power, possibly a range or 2 as well.

LEVEL 18 Dark Consumption
DESCRIPTION The dark power of the Netherworld allows you to tap the essence of your foe's soul and transfer it to yourself. This will drain the Hit Points of your enemy and add to your Endurance. Here’s another GREAT utility power for this build. Careful use of Dark Consumption and Consume can lead to a Stamina-less build. NOTE: Dark Consumption has a shorter range than Consume. Best used in tight mobs, and use Consume for looser groupings.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 acc, 3 recharge, damage if you have room. This power needs only hit a few mobs to regen your endurance to full. Don’t waste slots with end recoveries unless you solo a lot, then put one in to get a bit more from those bosses.

LEVEL 26 Soul Drain
DESCRIPTION Using this power, you can drain the essence of all nearby foes' souls, thus increasing your own strength. Each affected foe will lose some Hit Points and add to your Damage and Accuracy. This is a GREAT power for this particular build. I’ve used this as my opener in Sirens Call on those GREAT HORDES of Longbow agents that stream into hotspots, and usually manage to hit most, if not all, of them. Your damage SKYROCKETS with this power. The more you hit, the harder you hit, and the more accurate you are. Combined with Fury, all will tremble at the sound of your name.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 or 2 acc, 1 end redux, 3 recharge.

LEVEL 32 Midnight Grasp
DESCRIPTION Mastery over the forces of the Netherworld allows you to create dark tentacles that can Immobilize a foe and continuously drain his life force. Dude, this is your final attack. Of course it’s good. I put a hold in it just for those boss fights and AV/AH fights. The damage on this attack is SWEET, and the hold duration is great.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 acc, 3 damage, 1 hold duration

SECONDARY Fiery Aura
Fiery Aura has been called the best defensive set in the Brute/Tank line. I have to agree. It’s great, a damage aura, a healing power, an endurance recovery, and a damage booster, sounds a lot like DM doesn’t it? I think you’re starting to get the picture…

LEVEL 1 Fire Shield
DESCRIPTION While this power is active, Fire Shield gives you good resistance to Lethal, Smashing and Fire damage. Fire Shield also provides minimal resistance to Cold damage as well as protection from Disorient effects. This is your main defense power. You have to take it at Level one and even if you had a choice, I’d still say take it. It’s always going to be on, just accept it now.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 end redux, 3 resist damage

LEVEL 2 Blazing Aura
DESCRIPTION While active, you are surrounded by flames that burn all foes that attempt to enter melee range. Many people say to skip this power, I say take it, take it soon, and slot it with at least an Accuracy and End Redux FAST. Blazing Aura will do three times the damage of any other attack over time. I played for 6 hours straight one night, and my total damage from Blazing Aura was in the hundreds of thousands. Anyone who says this attack sucks is retarded. Fury boosts the damage of this attack, though is not affected by it. In other words, you can get up to 300% damage with Fury, but the damage tics will NOT help you build Fury, other than keeping a fair amount of agro on you. Take this power, you’ll find it much easier to SMASH! while it’s running.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 acc, 1 end redux, 3 damage

LEVEL 4 Healing Flames
DESCRIPTION You can concentrate for a few moments to heal yourself. The power of the flames can also protect you from Toxic Damage for a while. Take this power ASAP, slot EXACTLY as I’ve noted. 3 recharge, 3 heals and this power comes up every 30 seconds or so for quite the healing buff.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 3 recharge, 3 heal

LEVEL 10 Temperature Protection
DESCRIPTION Temperature Protection gives you strong resistance to Fire damage, and some resistance to Cold damage as well. This power is always on and costs no Endurance.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING None. Don’t take this power unless you’re going for theme. Cold is rare in City of Heroes and City of Villians unless you’re fighting PvP and even then it’s rare. You’re fire resist is already near or maxed with Fire Shield and Plasma Shield. And even without it, you still have a 12% resist, which while not great isn’t bad either. If you do a lot of PvP, just lock onto the ice blaster and SMASH! him dead.

LEVEL 16 Plasma Shield
DESCRIPTION While this power is active, you are surrounded by pure plasma. The Plasma Shield gives you resistance to Energy, Negative Energy, and Fire damage. Plasma Shield also gives your protection from Sleep and Hold effects. Not only is this a no brainer for energy and N-energy attacks, this is MOST of your status resist. Take it at 16, I don’t care what else you wanted to do, TAKE THIS AT 16!!!
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 end redux, 3 resist damage

LEVEL 20 Consume
DESCRIPTION You can drain body heat from all nearby foes in order to replenish your own Endurance. The more foes affected, the more Endurance is gained. Foes suffer minimal Fire damage.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 acc, 3 recharge, damage if you have room. This power needs only hit a few mobs to regen your endurance to full. Don’t waste slots with end recoveries unless you do a lot of soloing. Even then, just add the one for when you’re fighting only one mob and you’re running REAL low on End.

LEVEL 28 Burn
DESCRIPTION You can ignite the ground beneath you. Foes that enter the flames you leave behind will take damage. You must be near the ground to activate this power.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 acc, 1 end redux, 1 recharge, 3 damage. It should be noted that most mobs will scatter to the four winds once you drop the burn patch. Taunting will result in them running back and forth into and out of the patch. This power is almost beyond useless unless your foes are immobilized in some way.

LEVEL 35 Fiery Embrace
DESCRIPTION Significantly boosts the damage of all your Fire attacks for quite a while. Also increases the damage of all your other non-fire based attacks for a short while.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 3 recharge, 1 end redux This power won’t help your Dark attackstoo much, but it still helps, and it will do very nice things to Blazing Aura, and yes it stacks with Fury, so you might want to use this for those tougher battles.

LEVEL 38 Rise of the Phoenix
DESCRIPTION If you are defeated, you can rise from the ashes. The fiery resurrection blasts nearby foes with an explosion and knocks them down and Disorients them. You will revive with about half of your Hit Points and Endurance. Rise of the Phoenix will actually leave you invulnerable for a brief time.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 end regen Most people skip this power entirely. I take it only because it’s nice to be able to get up after a faceplant and not be worried about awakens or a team mate with some kind of Rez. The health should be no problem with Healing Flames and Siphon Life, and the recharge on it is not that long. If you find yourself dying more often than this power recharges…you’re doing something wrong.


Ok, now that we got the power descriptions out of the way, let’s talk about Power Pools.

Concealment Why would you take this? You SMASH! not SNEAK! Let the Stalkers and squishies take this, you WANT your enemies to know you’re there. Unless you have a thematic reason for taking Concealment, don’t bother.

Fighting Boxing and Kick are great Fury builders. Fast recharge, Quick animation and low end cost make these wonderful in any attack chain. And Tough is superb for bringing up your S/L resists. With Fiery Aura and Tough, you can get a whopping 60% resist. But then again, that’s another toggle to worry about when you’ve already got 2 healing powers. I skip it, others take it. It’s really up to you. Weave on the other hand is nice in that with just two defense slots, you’re at a 6% defense which while sucking, isn’t anything to scoff at either, considering you’re got great resists going on as well.

Fitness What’s not good about Fitness? Swift, run faster, Hurdle, jump higher, Health HEAL QUICKER, Stamina, more endurance. Now, I say get to Health and 3 slot that if you can find room, that’ll VASTLY decrease downtime and actually help survivability in fights. Stamina, I say get it if you can, but don’t worry about slots. You’ve got 2 end recovery powers, use em. You don’t even NEED Stamina if you stagger Consume and Dark Consumption correctly. But it’s nice to have. Between Swift and Hurdle, I say take Swift. Running faster is good when going from spawn to spawn.

Flight Hover is GREAT knockback protection, the one area you’re going to be weak in, and Fly is the most versatile travel power there is. Air Superiority not only looks neat, but its fast animation, low end use and decent damage make it a superb Fury builder. Besides, it fits in with the whole SMASH! theme does it not? You don’t need group flight, what are you a Controller or Mastermind? No! You’re a Brute.

Leadership When’s the last time you saw the Hulk giving pointers in a battle other than, “PUNY MAN NO HURT HULK, HULK SHOW PUNY MAN HOW TO SMASH!” Skip it, you got enough toggles running as it is.

Leaping AHH, the old standby for Fire Tanks. Yes, leaping is great. Best travel pool for PvP there is. Jump Kick may take longer than say Fighing powers or Air Superiority, but MAN, it sure does look cool. Combat Jumping is a must for extra immobilization defense, Super Jump is KEEN, what could be more SMASH!tastic? Acrobatics is your knockback protection. This is the way I usually go. If you’re not getting Flight for your travel power, GET THIS INSTEAD!

Medicine Great for self healing and the occasional rez for a fallen team mate, but face it, you’re a Brute. If your friend just did a faceplant it’s because he couldn’t keep up the SMASH! and that’s what got him killed. Skip this. It’s just not your style.

Presence Could be a good set for a Brute, Provoke has it’s advantages, but hey, you’re not a Tank, you’re not Herding the map for your Blaster buddies to clean out in one big blaze of power. You’re a Brute. You SMASH! not TAUNT! Skip it, unless it makes sense for your own vision of your character that is.

Speed Flurry sucks for a Fury builder, but like Jump Kick, it looks cool. Hasten is good for extra recharge, but can no longer be made perma, so isn’t really that necessary anymore, Superspeed is king of travel powers, unless you want to go up, Whirlwind has a bad reputation, but is really kinda nice once you understand how to use it. I say skip it, but if your Brute is a Speedster, then this if for you.

Teleportation I LOVE Teleport as a travel power, but you don’t have room to mess with this set, skip it altogether. Although, TP Foe is kinda neat if you think about it…


So, now you have an idea of what powers to take, and how to slot them, let’s look at builds. I’ll take em up to 40, because that’s the cap for CoV right now.

Build One: Concept Build

Exported from version 1.5B of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh

Archetype: Brute
Primary Powers - Ranged : Dark Melee
Secondary Powers - Support : Fiery Aura

01 : Fire Shield endred(01) damres(3) damres(3) damres(5)
01 : Shadow Punch acc(01) endred(5) dam(36) dam(36) dam(37) acc(40)
02 : Smite acc(02) endred(7) dam(34) dam(36) dam(37) acc(40)
04 : Shadow Maul acc(04) endred(7) dam(27) dam(29) dam(29) acc(40)
06 : Blazing Aura acc(06) endred(9) dam(37) dam(39) dam(39)
08 : Siphon Life acc(08) endred(9) hel(11) hel(11) hel(27) recred(39)
10 : Healing Flames recred(10) recred(13) recred(13) hel(15) hel(15) hel(17)
12 : Jump Kick acc(12)
14 : Super Jump jmp(14)
16 : Plasma Shield endred(16) damres(17) damres(19) damres(19)
18 : Dark Consumption acc(18) recred(21) recred(21) recred(23)
20 : Acrobatics endred(20)
22 : Consume acc(22) recred(23) recred(25) recred(25)
24 : Swift runspd(24)
26 : Health hel(26)
28 : Stamina endrec(28)
30 : Soul Drain acc(30) recred(31) recred(31) recred(31) endred(34)
32 : Midnight Grasp acc(32) endred(33) dam(33) dam(33) dam(34)
35 : Burn dam(35)
38 : Rise of the Phoenix hel(38)

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I like this build, it makes me happy. This is the build I play, I’m not min-maxed, I went with a theme…Note the Jump Kick, the lack of Tough, no real slotting from Fitness. This is a fun little build for PLAYING, not for “winning”

Build Two: Min-Max Build

Exported from version 1.5B of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh

Archetype: Brute
Primary Powers - Ranged : Dark Melee
Secondary Powers - Support : Fiery Aura

01 : Fire Shield endred(01) damres(3) damres(3) damres(5)
01 : Shadow Punch acc(01) endred(5) dam(34) dam(37) dam(37)
02 : Smite acc(02) endred(7) dam(34) dam(37) dam(39)
04 : Shadow Maul acc(04) endred(7) dam(27) dam(29) dam(29)
06 : Blazing Aura acc(06) endred(9)
08 : Siphon Life acc(08) endred(9) hel(11) hel(11) hel(27) recred(40)
10 : Healing Flames recred(10) recred(13) recred(13) hel(15) hel(15) hel(17)
12 : Combat Jumping endred(12)
14 : Super Jump jmp(14)
16 : Plasma Shield endred(16) damres(17) damres(19) damres(19)
18 : Dark Consumption acc(18) recred(21) recred(21) recred(23)
20 : Consume acc(20) recred(23) recred(25) recred(25)
22 : Acrobatics Empty(22)
24 : Swift runspd(24)
26 : Health hel(26) hel(39) hel(40)
28 : Soul Drain acc(28) recred(31) recred(31) recred(31)
30 : Boxing acc(30)
32 : Midnight Grasp acc(32) endred(33) dam(33) dam(33) dam(34)
35 : Tough endred(35) damres(36) damres(36) damres(36)
38 : Fiery Embrace recred(38) recred(39) recred(40)

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This build focuses more on exactly what this combo is capable of. Note the lack of Stamina. Note the Health Slotting. Note Tough in the mix. This guy will SMASH! anything and everything in his way, and have a ball doing it. This is a character ment to kill, and need no help doing it. But is the min-max build for you?

Build One: Hover Build

Exported from version 1.5B of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh

Archetype: Brute
Primary Powers - Ranged : Dark Melee
Secondary Powers - Support : Fiery Aura

01 : Fire Shield endred(01) damres(3) damres(3) damres(5)
01 : Shadow Punch acc(01) endred(5) dam(36) dam(36) dam(37)
02 : Smite acc(02) endred(7) dam(34) dam(36) dam(37)
04 : Shadow Maul acc(04) endred(7) dam(27) dam(29) dam(29)
06 : Blazing Aura acc(06) endred(9)
08 : Siphon Life acc(08) endred(9) hel(11) hel(11) hel(27) recred(39)
10 : Healing Flames recred(10) recred(13) recred(13) hel(15) hel(15) hel(17)
12 : Hover endred(12)
14 : Fly fltspd(14) fltspd(34) fltspd(37)
16 : Plasma Shield endred(16) damres(17) damres(19) damres(19)
18 : Dark Consumption acc(18) recred(21) recred(21) recred(23)
20 : Consume acc(20) recred(23) recred(25) recred(25)
22 : Air Superiority acc(22) dam(40) dam(40) dam(40)
24 : Swift runspd(24)
26 : Health hel(26)
28 : Soul Drain acc(28) recred(31) recred(31) recred(31)
30 : Burn dam(30)
32 : Midnight Grasp acc(32) endred(33) dam(33) dam(33) dam(34)
35 : Fiery Embrace recred(35) recred(39) recred(39)
38 : Rise of the Phoenix hel(38)

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Here’s a Flight build. I’ve never used Hover for Knockback protection before, but hey, here ya go.

I hope this guide is helpful in your endeavors to SMASH! more effectively. I love the DM/FA Brute, and I think you’ll come to love it too.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
That's Positron-Glider.

[/ QUOTE ]

If I'm the only one who get's that joke, do I get pie?

"Yeah, you'll never mess with a guy with a Positron-Glider strapped to his back, huh?"
-Bill Murray, Ghostbusters

[/ QUOTE ]

Except it was "positron collider", not "glider". I was going to try to work in a joke about Posi getting a deal on vehicle insurance from Geko, but lynch-mob considerations deterred me.

Oh, and I think you're mixing two lines--part of yours comes from Venkman's line about them having "an unlicensed nuclear accelerator strapped to our backs".

I am such a geek.

[/ QUOTE ]

ah, damn, it's hard to hear during that scene (where they're trapping slimer).

Bill Murray does say, "...never mess with a guy with a positron (something) on his back huh?" and slimer groans. It always sounds like glider, I'm going to rewatch that scene a few times to catch the exact word. I'd hate to think that for 20 or so odd years I've been missquoting that flick.

[ QUOTE ]
That's Positron-Glider.

[/ QUOTE ]

If I'm the only one who get's that joke, do I get pie?

"Yeah, you'll never mess with a guy with a Positron-Glider strapped to his back, huh?"
-Bill Murray, Ghostbusters

[ QUOTE ]
Couple of changes we're making in I5:

1) Instead of the first five levels being debt free, the first TEN levels will be debt free.

2) XP debt will be halved on mission maps (that includes outdoor mission maps, too).

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok, this [censored] rules

YES, quite a bit I can tell you....try nowhere NEAR the speed as before.

Like I said, I THINK it's 5% per level diff, I remember Geko saying something like that about acc and defense, it's damage that's curved he said.....I THINK

ok, you are all making a VERY simple concept seem ugly and unweildy.

I'll use my bubbler as an example, all powers are 6 slotted with even level SO's for this example.

Running around with NOTHING on: (it's cold out here)
Even level mobs
Minion = 50%
LT = 65%
Boss = 85%

Combat Jumping = unenhanced
Maneuvers = 6 slotted
Hasten = unenhanced
Defense = 20%
Even level mobs:
Minion = 30%
LT = 45%
Bosses = 65%

that's a BIG difference

Running Hasten, CJ and Man, and OH CRAP!!!! Personal Force field with ONE enhancement (114% bonus to defense) for a total of 134% defense.
Even level mobs:
Minion = 5% (acc floor)
LT = 5% (acc floor)
Boss = 5% (acc floor)

NOW, I think it's like +5% per level up from you for their acc bonus......I THINK

+5 level minion with previous defense = 5% tohit (acc floor) from 75%
+5 level LT with previous defense = 5% tohit (acc floor) from 90%
+5 level boss with previous defense = 5% tohit (acc floor) from 95% (thank heavens for that 5% miss no matter what huh?)

THANK GOD, PFF saves the day again, now to find my buddy in Perigrin Island

+20 minion = 16% Acc (150%-134%)
+20 LT = 31% Acc (165%-134%)
+20 boss = 51% Acc (185%-134%)

Dear GOD, +20s are bad!

SOOOO, there's no reason to make this complex. take your %'s from each defense power you have running, add them up, don't forget hasten, that gives you your defense. Take the Mob's BASE tohit (50/65/85 +5 per level above) and subtract your defense, the new number is how often you'll get hit, to 5% MINIMUN. The mob will ALWAYS hit 5% of the time, and you will get hit 95% of the time MAXIMUM.

Force Shield is the easiest to figure out, but add that stuff up yourselves, taking into account what you normally hunt. There is NO max on defense (ok 400%, but that takes a BUNCH of toggles and a BUNCH of bubbles), BUT you always get hit 5% of the time, no matter what.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It's going to be alot of:
/invite BlueComet
waits for BlueComet to arrive, waiting, waiting, waiting
BlueComet is 1/2 way there, but needs to sell real quick or level....
/kick BlueComet
/team he was taking too long, forget him.

[/ QUOTE ]

Um, no. If he's taking too long, he just doesn't get any xp. You still get the same experience you would ALWAYS get with three people. He would just get zero. You're wasting experience still, but it's HIS problem, not yours. If he's not helping the team, sure, kick him. But you're getting the SAME experience as you do CURRENTLY on Live. He's in the team, he's sucking a 1/3 of the experience. The only difference is that with these changes, he wouldn't get any of the xp. YOU STILL DO!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

You'd be AMAZED by how impatient people can be. 5 min in CoH can seem like a lifetime. (ever need that nuke, but wasted it on a bad click and now have to wait?). The number of, "I kicked him cause he's too slow" WILL be seen ALOT. I firmly believe that this will become common.

Besides, this isn't the main PL method anyway, herding is how most of it occures (to my knowledge), and all you have to do is herd to the group (using a high-low sk method). Hell, I've done the fire tank herds to the sk'd lowbie who's mentor is 5 levels below for max sk xp thing, just to help someone get to the travel power after 12 levels of sprint. Trust me, this won't help that, but WILL help teaming go bye bye.

[/ QUOTE ]

But are you even paying attention????? This change HAS NO EFFECT on teaming experience for you, only on the guys who fall behind because they are SLOW! If you currently don't kick people who are slow, you are getting LESS XP from them being on your team. The SAME XP as if you didn't kick them with these changes. Meaning your whole argument is moot, it's pointless to bring up something that affects us even NOW on Live. Teaming will NOT go bye bye, since it still happens on Live.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not arguing that it will change how it is for the team, I'm saying that the amount of kicking will be MUCH higher becuse someone's slow. I agree, that there is no change in reward for the team, and only punishes the guy left behind, but the team will more often be kicking slower players because of it.

You won't see alot of lvl 15s teaming with lvl 13s anymore, they won't want to wait for the guy, and it SEEMS like they're being punished. It may not be the reality, but it's the PERSEPTION that's going to cause this.

There will be MUCH less patience in the game than there is now, ALOT less.

[ QUOTE ]
Conceptually nothing. These changes have no effect on your personal xp gain. A lagger left behind would drain your experience exactly as much as it does currently on live. Sure, the total team xp is lower, but who cares if the guy who decided shopping was more important doesn't get any xp? You're still getting the same xp as you do on Live. A person sitting in a team not doing anything is ALWAYS a drain on team xp, regardless of whether or not they themselves get any xp by it.

So this has no effect on your experience gain, only on the people who fall behind.

[/ QUOTE ]

Again, people will kick due to no travel power, or slowness way more than they do now. Because he's wasting points. People are INSANE about wasting things in CoH, awakens/CoB's/Rages. You think xp will be ANY different? it'll be worse. It may FEEL the same as it does now, but People will be MUCH more aware of it, and kick the guy who waited to get flight or Super Jump until 18 because he wanted other powers to help him (and his team) out more now instead of later. I have SEVERAL characters that didn't get a travel power till post 16 and even 2 with NO travel power who are over 30, that slowness will cost people teams MUCH more often.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It's going to be alot of:
/invite BlueComet
waits for BlueComet to arrive, waiting, waiting, waiting
BlueComet is 1/2 way there, but needs to sell real quick or level....
/kick BlueComet
/team he was taking too long, forget him.

[/ QUOTE ]

Um, no. If he's taking too long, he just doesn't get any xp. You still get the same experience you would ALWAYS get with three people. He would just get zero. You're wasting experience still, but it's HIS problem, not yours. If he's not helping the team, sure, kick him. But you're getting the SAME experience as you do CURRENTLY on Live. He's in the team, he's sucking a 1/3 of the experience. The only difference is that with these changes, he wouldn't get any of the xp. YOU STILL DO!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

You'd be AMAZED by how impatient people can be. 5 min in CoH can seem like a lifetime. (ever need that nuke, but wasted it on a bad click and now have to wait?). The number of, "I kicked him cause he's too slow" WILL be seen ALOT. I firmly believe that this will become common.

Besides, this isn't the main PL method anyway, herding is how most of it occures (to my knowledge), and all you have to do is herd to the group (using a high-low sk method). Hell, I've done the fire tank herds to the sk'd lowbie who's mentor is 5 levels below for max sk xp thing, just to help someone get to the travel power after 12 levels of sprint. Trust me, this won't help that, but WILL help teaming go bye bye.

[ QUOTE ]
Um, Pollution, Dwimble made a post TWO POSTS ABOVE YOURS that you need to check out. It details how if the devs did that, it would allow for powerleveling to be EASIER and IMPROVED with this system.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok, Didn't see that post, wasn't there when I started typing my objection. I CAN see the advantage of having a SK in the range, but his mentor outside the range (but still in SK range) for my suggestion. He's right, that would be big PL advantage.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Still confused about one point: if (for example) you've got a three person team, each person on the team is 400' away from each other person, and person X defeats a bad guy -- does person X get "solo XP" or XP for being on a 3 person team?



[/ QUOTE ]

He'd get XP with the 3 person team multiplier...BUT that XP would still be divided appropriately between each teammate. The others, however, wouldn't receive their shares.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok, wait, so if you have a 3 person team, and they are all say 400 feet apart, and person A kills a Skull that's worth say, 20 points, Person A gets 8-9 xp (don't know the modifiers, but I know it's more than 1/3 of the total xp a mob is worth). Person B gets squat for xp/influence but credit for the kill, as does person C.

So breaking it down, teaming for street hunting now equals out of 20 xp for 3 people that are outside the range of each other and Person A Solo'd the kill:

Person A = 8-9 xp (or whatever) and credit for kill (badge/mish)
Person B = 0 xp but credit for kill (badge/mish)
Person C = 0 xp but credit for kill (badge/mish)

Same situation, but A and B are within 300 feet and person C is out of range, and did no damage:
Person A = 8-9 xp and badge/mish credit
Person B = 8-9 xp and badge/mish credit
Person C = 0 xp but badge/mish credit

So, after all this work on trying to get teaming to be more productive/worthwhile/enjoyable, you have ESSENTIALLY made streethunting in dispersal units LESS rewarding than soloing, UNLESS you're working on badges or a mish.

I REALLY think you should make it so that if A and B are together, and C is out of range:
Person A = 12-13 xp and credit
Person B = 12-13 xp and credit
Person C = squat xp but credit

Otherwise, you're going to see ALOT of slowdown in streethunting, or situations where if someone needs to rest for end real quick, but aren't ESSENTIAL for the team (buffer, who's buffs are still going) slowing down the entire operation so that everyone is together and not wasting xp.

It's going to be alot of:
/invite BlueComet
waits for BlueComet to arrive, waiting, waiting, waiting
BlueComet is 1/2 way there, but needs to sell real quick or level....
/kick BlueComet
/team he was taking too long, forget him.

Sorry States, while I agree with the CONCEPT of what you're trying to accomplish, it's a bad way to do it, you're gonna see even more impatient people on teams kicking slower moving players, because, "they're ruining our xp" Value shouldn't change until that person is in range IMO, and I'm sure people who like this concept will agree.