The_Foo

Welcome to the Brute AT!

First thing to know:
Brutes = SMASH!!!

That's all you *really* need to know. Get out there, start hitting things, get overcome with Fury and go on a rampage.

For those interested in more details:

How Fury works
Fury provides a +200% damage boost. That means that at full Fury, a Brute does 3x base damage.

Geko sez:
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Each time you click attack or are attacked, your Fury will increase (Click AoE and PBAoE attacked do not count more than a single target click attack).

Each time a foe attacks you, you gain some Fury.

It does not matter if you hit or do damage. It does not matter if your foe hits you or does damage to you. It’s purely based on directed attacks.

Dropped entities, like a Burn Patch or ice slick, do not add to your Fury.

Your Toggle Auras do not add to your Fury (no matter if they are damage or debuff). Currently, enemy toggle, auto powers and dropped entities (like enemy blazing aura, Ice storms, fire or burn patches) DO add to your Fury. This is NOT supposed to happen and will be fixed.

What does Fury do?

The more Fury you have (indicated by the Bar under your endurance bar), the more damage you do. Fury multiplies your base damage up to 3 times your base damage when your bar is full.
The more Fury you have, the harder it is to gain Fury (as your Fury rate increases, each attack is worth less, so you have to work harder to maintain max fury).
Fury decays at a constant, steady rate.
When you are fighting a Boss or higher rank foe, you will gain Fury at a faster rate (twice as fast). If you are fighting an Arch Villain, giant monster (or equivalent) or player, you will gain Fury even faster (3 times as fast). This can go up to 4 times as fast with multiple high ranked foes (say 3 bosses, or an AV and a Boss).


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Fury is based on attempted attacks you make, or made against you, not hits or damage.

More about Fury generation...

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Recharge times for different melee power sets really wont cause much of a difference in Fury (once the next few adjustments in power sets comes out).
Once you get about 4 single target attacks, along with brawl, there really is no wait time between attacks.

Additionally, although continued aggressive behavior (attacking) is necessary to “maintain” Fury, the amount of Fury you gain from getting attacked is far greater. Attacking is just necessary to maintain Fury and agro.


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Now, personally, I find that attacking is very much a part of Fury generation. The only time when I get more Fury from being attacked is when I am surrounded. Against one or two enemies, or slow-attacking enemies, you’ll need to keep punching to build Fury.

Best practices:
-Set Brawl on Auto-activate (CTRL+CLICK).
-Cycle your lowest damage attacks first. I start from Brawl, Jab, Punch, Haymaker, and repeat as they're available.
-save your big hits for after Fury has built. The exact amount is up to you. I find with 0.5 (out of 1.0) Fury, that a 3 DAM SO slotted-KO Blow can one-shot any even-con minion.
-don’t be afraid to leave an almost-dead minion alive now and then while you beat up his still-healthy friends. Minions are pretty harmless, and the extra Fury will help you take out his buddies or Lt/Boss faster!


Tank or Scrapper?
Neither and both!

Geko sez:
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Actually, brute defense values are the same as scrappers, but they have slightly more HP. They do much less base damage than a scrapper, but have higher potential damage with Fury.

As with all archetypes, this becomes most apparent at level 20 and beyond.

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Brutes are NOT Tanks
Read this and understand this. Brutes, while tougher than Scrappers, are not meant to be aggro-holding meatshields. A Brute is very much an offensive AT. Fury is what a Brute is about.
Brutes have more HP than Scrappers, but quite a bit less than Tanks, and their defenses run on Scrapper-like numbers, not Tank numbers.

That said, Brutes can Tank pretty well, and are actually quite resillient. Brutes also have a single-target taunt in their attacks, Taunt Auras, and the same AoE Taunt ability that Tanks have (though it comes later in, despite being in the Primary pool).

Do not expect a Brute to be your bodyguard. Chances are, you want them busting heads instead of babysitting.


Who's the Brute rep?
His name is Jonyu, and he is mighty.

Jonyu sez:
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Greetings Brutes!

I just wanted to introduce myself. I will be the Archetype representative for Brutes and I hope to address any issues and concerns with the Brute. Just to give you a little background information about myself, I currently have a level 23 Dark/Fire Brute on the beta. I am a part of the powers team and I work directly under Geko, who some of you may already know from such great shows as the Great Geko Nerf of 2003, the Great Geko Nerf of 2004 and, of course, the Great Geko Nerf of 2005. I’ve been playing online RPG’s for a long time dating back to my MUD’ing days in college. I’ve had max level characters on Everquest, Anarchy Online, and World of WarCraft. I generally have a preference for melee classes so I’m very happy to serve the role as Brute representative. Oh, and one final word before I go...SMASH!

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Jonyu has been very good, and took feedback regarding the power progression in Fiery Aura into account, giving /Fire Brutes access to Plasma Shield (their Hold/Sleep protection) at 16 instead of 20.


NUMBERS (Beware!!)
What you've all been waiting for! Raw data to read until your eyes bleed!

Damage
The Brute damage cap is 850%.

According to Jonyu, a Scrapper has a maximum damage potential of 6.00, factoring in Criticals. Brute damage at cap was 5.95, but has recently received a bump. The current number is estimated to be 6.00 as well, meaning that a Scrapper with crits, and a Brute at full Fury should do similar damage.

Sidenote:
The Brute damage base is 0.75.

Circeus offers the following:
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Which means...

Brutes look like this:
0.75 Base
+200% Fury
+100% BuildUp
+113.5% Enhancements (6 Damage)
%Buffs: 413.5% (of 750% needed to cap)
Total: (0.75 * (1 + 413.5%)) = 3.85125 out of 6.375
Remaining Buffs needed to cap: 336.5%
(0.75 * (1 + 413.5% + 336.5%)) = 6.375

Now, before Scrappers get up in arms that potentially Brutes will be able to out-damage Scrappers, please notice the following:

Scrappers: Remaining Buffs needed to cap: 186.5%

This means that a Brute needs 1.8 times the number of buffs that a Scrapper does to achieve their maximum damage.

Or to simplify the above statement: Under the same conditions, a Scrapper is going to hit their maximum damage well before a Brute does.

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HP
To give you an idea:

Scrapper HP without Dull Pain at 29: 876.11
Brute HP without Dull Pain at level 29: 981.2
Tanker HP without Dull Pain at 29: 1226.56

As you can see, Brutes have a good deal more HP than Scrappers, but are a good distance behind Tanks.


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I’ll update this if more information comes to light. Thanks to Circ’s big brain for the concise damage numbers.

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You know, that's a pretty wide brush you're painting with, my friend. Could you scale the bigotry back just a smidge to allow those who enjoy a casual bout of PvP but don't have jarring psychological issues some breathing room?

I mean, really. I've never even eaten a baby once.

As for communication, sure, you're right. They could say, "Hey, head in there to check it out, you'll be safe," but what about some small benefit of doubt that they're not totally insane and trying to get you ganked?

I'm willing to bet that the vast majority of people will get the mission and then just go check it out without a further thought.

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On the contrary, I'm being very specific. Are there people who like a little casual PvP out there? Absolutely. I specified the very particular people who I've experience first hand in other games who ruin it. At no point did I say everybody who does PvP is a jackass.

Besides. What's wrong with eating babies?

As for the Devs being up on setting things so that I won't get ganked on that intro mission...previous experience in other games. Repeated failures to implement good systems in other games. Could they? Maybe. But if they'd tell me how and what they've done FIRST before entering the zone...maybe I'd just enter the zone.

As for others taking the mission and being fine with it. Maybe. But given the hue and cry I'm seeing, I'm betting a lot of people are snapping back because a lot of previous bad PvP experience in other games, and because of missions like those I specified, even if they didn't express that point.

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There's an overall tone to most anti-PvP posts that names the PvPer as a jackhole and buttass. Given the general ire in your original post, perhaps I misread your overall stance on the issue.

As for the hue and cry on the boards, I think that's probably a case of extremist complaint. Most people just don't care. They check it out, decide if they like it and move on. They don't even think to check the boards for build advice; why would they feel the need to come here and comment?

I tried explaining the anti-PvP sentiment to a friend and he was completely boggled.

"Wait, I'm a bully?" he said.

He's my casual player barometer. Friggin' guy didn't even put SOs in most of his powers until level 30.

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I mean, really. I've never even eaten a baby once.

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Not even once? Aren't you curious?

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Typo. It should read "at once".

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The point is that you and everyone should try something before you complain about it.

Its like a 5 year old saying that he doesnt like a food when hes never tried it.

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Actually, the point is, I've tried PvP in MMoRPGs before, and I pretty much hate it. Or to be precise, I hate the people who flock to it because of inadequacy issues and bully complexes. Head to Head games can be great, but I've yet to be impressed with online implementation. The other point is, don't give me half (or less) of the information and then force me to go INTO the area that's defined purpose repels me to find out what you as a Dev THINK you have done to correct the issue.

Its about communication, respect for the customer and player preference. And the provider being aware of it, especially for those people who are casual players and not forum posters or readers.

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You know, that's a pretty wide brush you're painting with, my friend. Could you scale the bigotry back just a smidge to allow those who enjoy a casual bout of PvP but don't have jarring psychological issues some breathing room?

I mean, really. I've never even eaten a baby once.

As for communication, sure, you're right. They could say, "Hey, head in there to check it out, you'll be safe," but what about some small benefit of doubt that they're not totally insane and trying to get you ganked?

I'm willing to bet that the vast majority of people will get the mission and then just go check it out without a further thought.

You can talk to the PvP contact and leave before the 30second timer expires. Literally.

Food for thought, people. Try these things before complaining.

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Hey,

I also rolled up a Stormie for fun in the Bloody Bay event. "Boltz." First time I've played with Hurricane.

Holy Moley! Linked with Superspeed, I was zipping about scattering villains like bingo-balls. Eventually someone in the horde would use a ranged Mez on me and blow me away, true.

If anybody knows how to turn off that toggle as a melee AT, I'd sure like to know.

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So YOU were Boltz! I HATE YOU.

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What damage type?

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Pansy.

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Hmm. Is that Toxic damage, like Thorns, then?

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No one has +Res to Pansy.

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HA! I'm a regen scrapper. I don't NEED +res!

i'll just heal it up!



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zOMG!! HE's totally UNBALANCED vs PANSY dmg!! Give him teh NURF!!!@!!37!

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Don't worry. Synapse's shoes have -Regen. And his head. And his costume. Also cats. Plants. Trees. Rocks. Cars. Certain types of fruit found locally. Wristwatches. Fire. Ice. Electricity. Psi. Salt. Polyunsaturated fats. Monounstaturated fats. Figs. Will Ferrell.

Everything does, really.

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What damage type?

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Pansy.

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Hmm. Is that Toxic damage, like Thorns, then?

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At higher levels Brutes get the power to summon Synapse and throw him at enemies as a range attack.

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Is that single-target or AoE?

What's the brawl index?

What damage type? ( SMASHing?)

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Last night, I saw a Brute run straight out of Breakout, go to Nerva, and run the respec trial SOLO!!!!!one!

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lol, he had to get out of breakout first? when i created my brute, a message just popped up on the screen saying "you win at cov, congratulations!"

man, i can't wait to get my passive unstoppable at level 2!

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I hear Bill Brasky is a Brute...

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Man, last night, I watched a lvl 1 brute 1 shot a police drone, go into Skyway and score with Minx. True Story.

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I'll do it again, too! Except this time I'm going to visit Swan!

Here's the latest in my "I wanna be Mighty!" guides.

It's a "best I can do" kind of guide, though, because of the limited tools we have to work with after I6.

Tentative Inv/EM post-I6/ED-compliant build

Food for thought: Half-Life 2 was available to download but not play a while before it was released, and that's not even an online game.

The release date is the release date. You're angry because you can't log in now. That's valid. The facts, however, are that you don't have a pre-order serial key, and that it is buying the pre-order package that gets you the serial key that allows you entry, not simply pre-ordering. If your local store sold out of pre-orders, you'd be similarly out of luck.

Caveat emptor, my friend.

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I'm still curious how you figured out the 2-day pre-order headstart date (launch date minus 2) and still claim ignorance of the actual launch date. Boggles my mind.

You should be upset with yourself and no one else.

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Are you not getting the point of this post? The game is available now. retail. The "intended" launch date is no longer viable, because now the launch date is Yesterday. It doesn't matter when you ordered it online, because Little Timmy can waltz into GameStop and buy it as I speak.

But the game is locked out to EVERYONE who didn't pre-order it. Just sit back and think of how many customers PlayNC is losing.

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You're wrong. The LAUNCH date is Oct. 31st, or you'd be able to get in. That's logic.

The fact that there is a headstart period that you are not a part of is unfortunate, but that doesn't change the actual launch date.

Your beef should be with those alternate channels you reserved a copy through (and/or yourself) for not being informed that a special pre-order box was to be released.

Heck, they sent out multiple emails if you were a pre-existing customer. It sucks, but it's not Cryptic or NCSoft's fault that their publicly promoted plan never made it to your notice.

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Bug. We neglected to give Stalkers and Brutes the immunity to the Range Debuff that Scrappers and Tankers get. I fixed it internally yesterday...it'll hopefully make it to you folks "Soon(tm)"

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Any chance Kheldian Dwarves can get that too?

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I think the reason for the fix is because pure melee ATs (pre-41) don't have any options if their attacks are debuffed to nil.

A Kheldian Dwarf can always switch to human or Nova form and blast away.

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This is a great guide to follow when planning your powersets.

But neither do I understand, or appreciate, all the SMASH!!!es. Some defenders heal, but they don't go around yelling HEAL!!!.

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Ask the birds not to sing, or the wind not to blow.

Base damage for a Brute is now (or soon to be) 0.75. Blasters are 1.0, and Scrappers are at 1.2 (I believe).

I hereby blesseth this guide.

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Positron
“What do I fear? Having an intellectual conversation with a Brute. All that SMASH talk gets repetitive.”


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Oh, yer gonna get it now, Posi. I have taken umbrage to your riposte. UMBRAGE!

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All because, in order to aquire a full set of badges, just for the sake of collecting them, I was forced to enter a PvP zone.

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Seriously? Take some responsibility for yourself. No one's forcing you to do anything. Decide what's more important to you: a badge and the possibility that an accolade is linked to it (which none are so far), or your fear of the risk of debt.

I mean, really. You're an adult, right? If I offer you a gold star badge, a candybar and a lottery ticket, and all you have to do is let an ape bugger you, will you do it? Probably not.

YOU decide. "Do I *need* this badge? Am I willing to take the risk of being killed, and possible getting debt?"

If you are, then have at it. If not, then stop complaining. There's no crime here.

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I didn't get to play in the event because I went to see DOOOOOOOM.

Could anybody tell me if the battle was swinging one way or another?

Were villains or heroes as a collective force winning the overall war?

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Generally speaking, the villains got trounced. I was in a few different iterations of the zone, and the heroes were almost always further along on the tug of war bar.

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I tried 2 different Villainesses for this thing, and a big issue with that was the villains I saw were not cooperating as well as the heroes. Heroes seemed to be far more cohesive and coordinated and villains were more chaotic and disorganized. Almost like the movies/books in a way.

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I really wanted to try out a villain, too, but could not get into Mercy Island at all, so that didn't help.

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I didn't get to play in the event because I went to see DOOOOOOOM.

Could anybody tell me if the battle was swinging one way or another?

Were villains or heroes as a collective force winning the overall war?

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Generally speaking, the villains got trounced. I was in a few different iterations of the zone, and the heroes were almost always further along on the tug of war bar.

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And, while Jack says now that PvP will always be optional, a little over a year ago he was saying no PvP.

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FYI - I never, never, never said that there would be "no PvP." Never.

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GenCon 2004. Listening to the spiel at the Cryptic/NCsoft booth. "No PvP." I thought it was you saying it there during one of the trivia games. But, even if it wasn't. Someone was, and they represented you and the developers in doing so. Or do sales pitches not count?

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Did they say "ever" or "at launch"?

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the masses' desire to kill one another

[/ QUOTE ] I've grumbled many times that if there was that much desire for PvP in COH, the arenas would not be constantly deserted about 24 hours a day. In fact about the only thing arenas serve as right now is a place to buy inspirations during a task force.

I've pre-ordered COV and I want it to succeed, but my biggest fear is that PvP zones will be as deserted as COH's arenas and that base raids will not draw the crowds that they hope it will.

Most of the bored 50s I know (in and out of my SG) want:
-50+ content
-New zones
-More interesting missions
-New archetypes and powers, perhaps the non-combat skills

They couldn't care less about pvp and probably won't be interested in any of that aspect that COV is bringing to the game.

In fact I'm not looking forward to the amount of arm twisting I'm gonna have to do to get certain members of my SG interested in base raids. I'll try but it will be a pain.

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I hate the Arena, but I love mission and objective-based PvP. I'm sure I'm not the only one. Witness WoW, where the Arena was pretty much deserted on my (RP) server, but the PvP battlegrounds are a smashing success. Heck, there was even PvP in the regular zones on my server before the BGs came about.

I think most people don't want to fight just for the sake of fighting. They like to have some reason to do so, and that's what these PvP zones provide, with an over-arching conflict and goal to resolve.

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Less lag would have helped but it still was dull and irritating.

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Dull?

I'll likely do a REAL post-ED, post-I6 version of this guide, but consider this an interim solution. I skipped on an I5 guide as it was clearly an update in flux, and I could see stuff building in CoV beta.

If you're looking to use up your respec before I6 drops (which you might as well, as they'll give another), then my advice is to 3-slot everything except the passives.

Here's the build I'll be using my free respec on before I6 drops:
Exported from version 1.5B of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh

Archetype: Tanker
Primary Powers - Ranged : Invulnerability
Secondary Powers - Support : Energy Melee

01 : Barrage recred(01)
01 : Temp Invulnerability damres(01) damres(3) damres(5) endred(29)
02 : Energy Punch endred(02) dam(3) dam(5) dam(13) recred(15)
04 : Dull Pain recred(04) recred(7) recred(7) hel(31) hel(33)
06 : Air Superiority acc(06) dam(37) dam(40)
08 : Unyielding damres(08) damres(9) damres(9) endred(27)
10 : Bone Smasher endred(10) dam(11) dam(11) dam(13) recred(15)
12 : Swift runspd(12)
14 : Fly endred(14) fltspd(29) fltspd(31) fltspd(50) endred(50)
16 : Whirling Hands endred(16) dam(17) dam(17) dam(27) endred(42)
18 : Invincibility defbuf(18) defbuf(19) defbuf(19) thtbuf(25) thtbuf(25) endred(31)
20 : Health hel(20) hel(21) hel(21)
22 : Stamina endrec(22) endrec(23) endrec(23)
24 : Resist Physical Damage damres(24) damres(34) damres(37)
26 : Tough Hide defbuf(26) defbuf(34) defbuf(34)
28 : Resist Energies damres(28) damres(43) damres(45)
30 : Resist Elements damres(30) damres(43) damres(43)
32 : Unstoppable recred(32) recred(33) recred(33)
35 : Energy Transfer dam(35) dam(36) dam(36) recred(36) endred(37)
38 : Total Focus dam(38) dam(39) dam(39) endred(39) endred(40) endred(40)
41 : Conserve Power recred(41) recred(42) recred(42)
44 : Laser Beam Eyes dam(44) dam(45) dam(45) recred(46) defdbf(46) acc(46)
47 : Energy Torrent acc(47) dam(48) dam(48) dam(48) endred(50)
49 : Build Up recred(49)

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01 : Brawl recred(01)
01 : Sprint Empty(01)
02 : Rest Empty(02)

You'll note there's friggin' slots everywhere. This build will be very endurance-efficient, and, either amazingly or disgustingly (depending upon one's opinion), will have very comparable damage output to before the ED changes and pretty much the best defenses you're going to be able to get without heading into the pools.

If the fancy takes you, you could conceivably drop RPD or Energy Punch, Tough Hide, and another power of your choice, and opt into the Fighting Pool for Tough and Weave.

I'll be along a few weeks after I6 with an ED and hopefully updated Inv changes build guide.

Good luck, ma'am!


...you'll need it.