TerraScorcher

Totally safe to build for now, WP gets a great Plus end power, and because you are a brute you can slot end reducers in your attacks without taking that big a hit on damage. Go for it!

Will the character be male or female,
Will the char be based loosly on a Walt Simonson Thor pantheon model?
Meaning will he or she be an ancient character in a modern world or will they be "new" relative to our time?
How much of the Valkyrie bloodline and powers will your character have at their disposal? By which I mean how otherworldly awesome does the character need to be, the more human, the less amazing they need to be out of the box and the more fun you can have by having the character ruminate over his or her defeats.
If your character will be ancient, a battle axe or Mace (Hammer model looks so choice) would suit very well since Brutes cant have a sword.
BUT dont forget about dual blades, Valkyries had awesome battle prowess so DB would tap into that and the set has a certain grace that could show the more than mortal abilities and otherworldly power your character has.
If you are looking at the Valkyrie heritage coming to the fore in this character then you could have fun with secondaries, WP is one of the smoothest to play out of the box and it just keeps getting better, but if your concept allows for it, fire or electric could be fun.
Just for giggles remember that the Norse gods were almost as prolific at producing ******* offspring as the Greek gods were, so if you need to tweak for your secondary, there are lots of gods or even frost giants (who were godlike in their abilities) that can help you get the powersets you want and still be in concept.

I'm looking for help in figuring out how to slot my Axe/WP Brute.
He's only 23 at the moment so this will be a work in progress.
Hassle is I'm a bit at sea as to what I should be aiming for in my IO slotting.
What I'm really looking for is a good build, but more importantly the theory behind it. What makes it a good build, what were the driving reasons for slotting the way you did.
What made you choose a particular set or combination of sets, what were you building towards.
I doubt I will have the coin to duplicate some of the builds that I have seen, so given the understanding of what they were trying to achieve and how they set about doing it, I should hopefully be able to come up with alternatives that work with my budget.
I'm not thinking about RWZ challenges or AV hunting at the moment, just an all around solid build that lets my character wade though the games content surrounded by a sea of enemies and come out winning if played right (most of the time).

If you can find it, there should be a post from POWERFORGE about his DM/Shield Character.
After looking hard at the possibiliteis he decided to go Brute Rather than Scrapper.
DM/SD is an awesome combo to play, the self heal really plugs the one gap shields has.
Regarding how to slot siphon life, your needs will dictate how to slot, before your defenses are fully slotted you will probably want to up the healing aspects, but after your secondary is slotted, you will probably won't need as much healing and can slot for damage and still get enough healing to make back any health you lose from incoming hits that make it through your defenses.
Not sure why you are taking so much damage though. SD does have a good taunt aspect so you can expect to be pounded on, but you should also be seeing quite a few misses.
There are a couple of powers that provide 2 aspects, slotting the wrong aspect first could lead to you feeling understrength.
If there are no guides in the Brutes section take a peek over at Scrappers, there are lots of guides there.
Trust me you have a great combo, stick with it.

Good thinking Gruumch!
I'm a little tight for slots, but I did just that,
I made a Claws/Inv for my Mandelorian
and
a Battle-axe/WP for my Sith Lord.

Both are still low, but I think you are right about WP, it seems...easier which suits the Dark side Sithlord, Yoda himself said the darkside was easier so that fits

The Mandelorians are all about hard training and fighting discipline so Inv will suit him.

I think Killer was merely stating that if you have one HP left, you are still up and swinging. So ultimately even if you get huge swings in your health bar, if you are still standing, you ain't dead yet no matter how close to dead you might be, it's whether you actually go down that actually determines if you are squishy or not.
Ultimately if you are still standing you can still try and kill your foe, so defense while it can seem squishy with its huge green bar swings isn't necessarily squishy.
It's a valid point, but after pointing that out to try and stop me from making what might be a hasty descision based on obsessing over my green bar too much he gave his 2 cents on WP and INV.
At least that's how I took it.

Hmmm Gruumch, Do you see large spikes in your health bar? That's the thing thats causing me the most disatisfaction with my Claws SR scrapper, he actually gets the job done, just not the way I want him to feel while he's doing it.
I want this char to have as little movement in his health bar as possible, yeah I know PSI is gonna knock me on my Assterisk and toxic is going to be a pain too but against smashing or lethal I will be golden if I'm INV and I think when they bumped up the passives in I13 the other damage types got better resists as well.
The thing im going to hate is getting to lets say 30 and wishing I'd gone with whichever secondary I didn't choose.
I will admit its handy to have the stamina to burn that WP has, but I have a DB/WP scrapper Jedi character whose health can go down pretty quick, the tier 9 makes that more manageble but if its not on, his general feel is less solid than my BS/WP scrapper Jedi.
While IOs will definately help either INV or WP I'm planning just generic IOs for him at the moment.
Let me know.
Thanks

I am re rolling a concept character that I found a bit lacking for what my concept of him was.
Basically he's supposed to be a tough bloodthirsty (melee range) mercenary, for Star Wars fans out there, he is supposed to be a Mandalorian.
Claws/something
I had made a Claws/SR Scrapper (hey no flames GR JUST came out) but his massive health swings are making me not like him. He doesn't die that often, but he hangs on in with his scaling resistance at max with a handful of HP and that just doesn't feel tough, so he's not fitting the concept I had for him.
So I am making a Brute, Tougher, mebbe a little less damage but also tapping into the whole battle lust thing with the Brutes fury bar.
My first choice of secondary was INV, I've played an invuln tank and was overall impressed with how tough they seemed (except vs PSI)
I have a couple of scrappers that are WP and while my BS/WP feels tough since he gets the defensive bonus of parry, my DM and DB/WPs don't feel as tough.
Its subjective I know, but thats why I'm coming to you.
I'm looking for a secondary that feels TOUGH. No wild health swings. I dont mind if his health gets whittled away, but I want him to feel like he can go wading into combat and isnt going to have to scurry back away with his tail between his legs. Or worse yet go wading in and face plant taking the alpha!
So Brutes, I need your opinions which set feels tougher based on your experiences with them, INV or WP?

Hey Bill,

Can you explain (in the simplest terms possible) how double stacked rage hurts in the long run?
Not being snarky or disagreeing, just wanna understand some more about game mechanix etc.
Thanks for taking the time.

Just a couple of pennies,
I prefer heroes to Villains, so Redside is my guilty pleasure. Stomping stuff just cause you can and might making right are heaps of fun, but its hard for me to stick with it on redside....Unless I have a great backstory.
The plots on red side are very interesting and with the right backstory its a blast to uncover them.
So my advice would be make a killer story for your character.
The next bit of advice is this, IO's can ease the rough edges of just about any character. Make use of the black market and you can either strengthen your strenghts to the point where you are unstoppable or mitigate your weaknesses to the point where you cant be killed by them anymore (Hurt, sure, but not killed).
Since Uberness or relative Uberness is possible for any character you choose to make, it's a matter of sticking with the character long enough, and for me that means a great back story.
If I like my character I'm ok with not liking his stats until I can improve them.

Checks for Broken Bones vicious papercuts or bruised egos,
Hmmm Ive been on the forums for a long time and Umbral has never welcomed me!
But since his "welcomes" are generally responses to stupidit....umm ill informed posts,
I've probably just been lucky so far!

Very Nice Jade,
I appreciate the input.
Thanks for the link too, it was a fun read.
I'm Currently thinking WP/SS with INV/SS as a possibility as well.
My thinking on WP is that since it gives a hefty boost to end, It captures the aspect of Supes never getting tired, I was playing my INV SS hes only 16 at the moment but he was sucking more blue than he had in fighting Tsoo groups in Steel.
But then again I had forgotten about INVs slow resists, its gonna suck when my WP goes up against the Knives and slows to a crawl!
Hmmm more thought.

Lol

Don't know if its a consideration for you,
but I saw a post regarding Claws/Regen where the poster switched out of Regen because the clicky heals were interfering with his going spaz on the attacks.
His issue was he wanted a set and forget secondary so he could concentrate on going BatStuff spamming his attacks.
I haven't felt that way about my Claws/Regen but he is only level 14 so its not like he's taking on the amount of foes he will later which will necessitate more frequent and more strategic clicking of the healing tools avail in regen.
CatWhoorg has had a Claws/Regen forever and I've never heard him say bad things about regen.

For me there is an intense satisfaction when I click my heals. It's part of the Fun.
I love undoing all the damage done to me in 1 second. Plus I find more of those OMIGODS Im still standing with a sliver of health moments which are what living on the ragged edge is all about.

Greetings,
Captain Midnight, My DM/WP scrapper is currently level 47.
I'm at a bit of a crossroads with him.
I'd like him to be able to go after AVs, but I also have some concept stuff that I am undecided about.
I don't honestly have enough Inf to IO out 2 builds for him so I was hoping some of the Heavy hitters might be able to weigh in and help me decide which way to go.
Umbral, you are always up for a challenge so mebbe you can give the 2 concept builds a shot.
Okay the 2 concepts:
Captain Midnight has been becoming more powerful magically.The ultimate extension of this is the Dark epic power set.
At the outset of his crime fighting career (in the 1930s ) He was tapping into Dark Magic to boost the power of his fists, but as he has steadily expanded his magical abilities, Soul Drain, Dark Consumption and Midnight Grasp being examples of his increased magical prowess. Taking the dark epics and having Dark Blast, or Night Fall and possibly Tenebrous Tentacles fits him delving into magical tomes and gaining even greater magical abilities.
Gamewise It gives him more AOE =)

On the other hand I can see Captain Midnight seeking to balance his use of Dark Magics. Having previously rationalized his use of Dark Magic as having been done for the greater good and using the weapons of evil against evil, he is now growing concerned for his soul and turning away from the study of darker magics and instead choosing to focus on his inner strengths by studying with a group of monks he had assisted with a problem with the Tsoo in Tibet and learning the ancient techniques of self mastery known to precious few.
This would involve the Body Mastery epic.
I can't figure out which one I like better.
So all other things being equal will one way or the other close doors on fighting AVs successfully?
I started IOing him in his mid 30s and good percentage of his IOs are in that 30s low 40s range. But Captain Midnight is my Main scrapper and the one I am determined to kit out as well as I can.
So your thoughts and possible builds?

No Umbral, it's not Sad, It's in Character.
But if that wasn't the case all those of us who rely on you would never be able to ask you how best to build a scrapper!
So its ummm happy.

I took a look at the MA animations and while neat I think you are right,
sigh, scrapps are more fun to play than tankers when you solo alot. the exception being Fire tanks which play like scrappers (at least to me).

Not to worry Fury,
It won't wreck my fun.
I'd imagine that for most people playing a supes char the fun comes from THEM having the Supes char, they don't really care about anyone else having a superman clone, just their own.
All that being said My supes clone was intended to be very tongue in cheek.
He is going to be one of my Bee characters on the Guardian server.
His origin ties in with that of my other Bees on guardian:

Paragon’s favorite super hero Mighty-Man found that even a super hero could be affected by the bizarre irradiated bee pollen syndrome affecting those who ate Clover Bee Honey. When news of the total product recall of Clover Bee products reached him, it was too late. He had already shrunk an inch! Mighty-Man sought the greatest scientific minds in Paragon City to see if they could reverse the effects, but nothing could stop the changes. Mighty-Man, Paragon City's most beloved hero was literally disappearing from view! Before long Mighty-Man had turned into a bee person! He was inconsolable at first, but Mighty-Man discovered that while his size and appearance were altered, his powers were not. Mighty-Man re-emerged under a new name, Mighty-Bee! Being the trooper that he is, Mighty-Bee has vowed not to let his small size interfere with his pledge to keep Paragon City safe. He is continuing his fight against crime......Just on a slightly smaller scale!

The bees were gathering their pollen near the Terra Volta Reactor in case you hadn't guessed.
So at any rate while he is definately intended to be a super clone I think he will be fun to play.

Just curious, spiffballing if you will,
what do you think about trying to simulate Superman with a scrapper?
Inv/MA (using punch animations).
Im just pondering whether that might be able to capture the I can punch something into the next universe aspect of Supes.
Supes can solo AVs so perhaps a scrapper as an alternative to being a Tank.
I'll probably try both and see which I like better, But do you think a scrapps resistance would be up to it if I can cap his defenses?
Would I have to gimp his damage output in order to make him as tough as he would need to be?
Do INV scrappers have a taunt aura in their secondary?
Just toying around with the best way to do Supes and thought perhaps go outside the Tanker Box and see if a scrap would be viable?
Your thoughts?

Secondary wise, EMs punches minus their pom pom effects or perhaps they can be toned down to the point of being mild glows might have been a possibility.
I never cared for SS's Pro Wrestler looking (to me) attack animations, but I just remembered they gave us different animations to choose from so I'll have to take a peek and see what the new ones look like.
For me SS attacks were Hulk like, very SMASH, I always thought of Superman as having more finesse and restraint, he didn't always unleash all his power, only when it was really necessary did he do the double handed stuff.
Regarding your WP/SS Is your hi level IO'd or SO'd out of curiosity.
I will be taking a look at Call Me Awesome's guide regarding INV and soft capping, but Its gonna be a while before I get to a level and funds suitable for IOing and he has to be fun along the way.
Oh forgot to add in the Rules: He cant bring shame onto the Tanker class by not being able to tank well!
I have heard that WP can be a bit problematic with aggro holding but have never seen it in person.
So thoughts there would be appreciated.

They did horrible things to my Fire Tank (he plays like a scrapper).
If its any consolation and doesnt violate your principles, you might try doing what I did.
I got even, I summoned up Amy and with her help, I did what I had intended to do in the first place, FRIED EM BAD!
Why have a pocket witch if you dont use her every now and then?!

Respec coming up!
You are probably right that a respec wont do a whole lot at my current level, but I'll take a look at my slotting, bare minimum I'll have 2 slots from fast healing to either add to recon or DP or to an attack, which might make the bad guys fall down faster or make Recon or DP come up faster.
I really appreciate the support.

By the way my main scrapper, Captain Midnight DM/WP is at 47 now and has benefitted a ton from your collective advice.
He is not soft capped but he's getting there.
He's probably not as efficient as he can be since I was cobbling together ideas from many different sources while levelling and getting him IOd, But he is surely alot more surviveable than he was.
Thanks for the helps.

Thanks for the replies.
Its funny I was cramming health and fast healing with 3 slots and you have barely slotted them.
Does that type of slotting hold true in the teens as well?
I guess I always thought that regen in and of itself (before integration) would provide surviveability in fights. But judging by your slotting, not so much.
Its getting my heals up faster and taking my opponents health down faster thats gonna do the trick huh?
This char has lots of Vet respecs, does it make sense to respec him now to get him tracked a little better or just tune him as he gets higher?
Or if it turns out that slotting health and fast heal at lower levels makes sense, is there a tip point (mebbe DOs or SOS) where the added enhancement over TOs makes the extra slots in fast healing and health unnecessary which would seem like a good time to respec.

Greetings Tankers,
Im just getting back into playing after a long Hiatus. Ive kept my account just wasnt playing for a while.
Anyway I thought I'd like to try for the Holy Grail (for me) of Tanking.
SuperMan.
What are the current thoughts on how best to make him.
WP or INV?
Is SS still the best candidate for a secondary?
Rules are he has to be fun to play and since this will be an Homage I'm going to taking laser beam eyes when the time comes.

Whats claws 3.0?