Twilight_Snow

The enemy-targeted damage toggle is effectively a DoT attack without to-hit check. I think if an attack does damage, it is usually required to have a to-hit check. I guess that's reason why we don't really have enemy-targeted damage toggle, as the dev can just give us a DoT attack.

Although you stress that the suggestion has nothing to do with energy transfer, I think such auto-hit can be justified by having the large self damage as in energy transfer. And I think the toggle is quite thematic to energy transfer, as it sounds like a constant transfer of energy between your character and the mob.

I think the suggestion is ok. Probably not copying power sets directly from scrappers as it is, but modifying them such that they are more in line with the design of existing blaster's secondary sets. Actually, you did say the same thing in your subsequent posts.

I'll comment on a couple power sets below.

SR is the easiest in terms of good survivability. It is easy to soft cap. But apart from taking tough and aid self, that's all you can do in terms of higher survivability. It is pretty hard to have a significant boost to resistance through IO set bonus. My opinion is that if you want to enhance your brute in some other aspect, for example higher dps, then SR is convenient because you have a lot of room to enhance other things after soft-capping defense.

I think you can slot the powers with Lysosome exposure HO to enhance defense debuff.

(The guide has two sections. The first section is on energy aura, and the second one is on fiery melee. Builds are posted using Mids' designer version 1.92. The final update to this guide is at Issue 19.5, when the incarnate alpha slots were introduced. I am sorry that I cannot update the guide with the latest information anymore as I am no longer subscribing this game.)

Part 1. Maximal survival guide for energy aura brutes

1. Introduction
   
   Energy aura has a bad reputation of being squishy. Whether it is true or not, I hope that you can have fun with your energy aura brute after reading this guide. The guide is intended for people who have some experience in energy aura and want to make their character less squishy. There are many different ways to optimize an energy aura brute. Here, I only focus on how to maximize your survival as energy aura brutes are considered among the worst.
   
   
2. A brief history of energy aura
   
   Energy aura was introduced in Issue 6 when City of Villains was released. It is a replacement of ice armor as a defense-based secondary power set for brutes because ice armor hinders the generation of fury. Since then, there were numerous discussions in the forum about the problems of energy aura. Between Issue 11 and 12, a list of suggestions put together by players was stickied in the brute forum. The only open response regarding energy aura from the developers is by Castle in the News section of the City of Heroes web site during the testing of Issue 13. In Issue 13, toxic resistance was added to energy protection, and energy drain was given a healing and taunt component.
   
   
3. An overview of energy aura
   
   I do not think that it is necessary to explain each power in details nowadays. A brief description of each power can be found at the Paragon wiki web site. If you want numbers, please look them up in the City of Data web site, or the in-game power details. I shall give an overview of the power set, as well as explaining its strengths and weaknesses.
   
   
   • Design theme
     
     Energy aura has an overall technology and science theme. It is mainly a defense power set that is based on deflecting incoming attacks. As such, energy aura offers damage-type defense (i.e. smashing, lethal, energy, negative energy, fire, and cold defense), as opposed to positional defense (i.e. melee, ranged and AoE defense) for power sets based on reflexes and dodging.
     
     
   • Characteristics of energy aura
     
     
     1. Defense
        
        Various damage-type defenses are provided by kinetic shield, power shield and energy cloak. Status protection is from entropy shield.
        
        
     2. Damage resistance
        
        Damage resistance (only smashing, lethal, energy, negative energy, and toxic) is rather small and in the form of passives by dampening field and energy protection.
        
        
     3. Utilities
        
        
        • Stealth
          
          Energy cloak is one of the two main characteristics of energy aura. It is designed to be a combat stealth. Compared to the stealth power pool, energy cloak has no movement penalty. In addition, defense and the stealth radius are not suppressed after attack. Note that the stealth will be suppressed after you click a glowie.
          
          Energy aura is probably built on the concept of using stealth as one of the sources of defense. Apart from defense, it also allows the brute to attack a small group of mobs without aggro-ing the whole spawn or the spawns nearby. However, that is all stealth can provide as far as combat is concerned. One of the main complaints about energy aura is that such design is too stalker-ish and not thematic to the design of brutes. In particular, fury can be generated by aggro, therefore such stalker-ish design is usually considered counter-productive. If the brute is intended to herd and do massive AoE damage, then combat stealth does not serve any purpose, although one can argue that the player should not pick energy aura to start with for an aggro-ing brute. There is nothing wrong to have stealth as one of the utilities of a brute, but it is still under debate among players whether it is an issue to have stealth as a main feature of a brute.
          
          
        • Endurance management
          
          Energy drain is a fast-recharging power that drains the endurance of nearby mobs and adds it to yours. It takes two to three mobs to fully replenish the whole endurance bar. Practically, this gives you ample amount of endurance no matter how endurance-inefficient your character is. In addition, it is an auto-hit. Energy drain is the set-defining power of energy aura.
          
          Conserve power is long-recharging. Most people consider it redundant as energy drain can already take care of endurance. The power is still useful for handling the crash from overload, and after being sapped by sappers, for example.
          
          With IO sets and accolades, there are abundant sources of recovery that players can use to augment their characters. To make full use of the endurance management, players can couple energy aura with endurance-heavy primary power sets. In addition, the endurance management allows players to use many toggles provided by power pools and patron power pools, which are otherwise difficult for other secondary power sets.
        
        
     4. Healing and hit points
        
        Small healing is provided by energy drain. The healing strength increases with the number of mobs around you. By hitting the maximum number of ten mobs, 60% of the hit points can be replenished. Some people consider the healing with 1 mob is too small. I believe the intention is to help energy aura brutes only in large teams.
        
        Overload provides a significant boost to the maximum hit points. Nowadays, with soft-capped defense being so standard, it is seldom necessary to use overload as a boost of defense. As energy aura does not provide significant resistance, having higher hit points is an alternative way to prevent the brute from being one-shotted by heavy-hitting AVs.
        
        
     5. Resistance and protection against status effect and debuffs
        
        Energy aura provides around 52% defense debuff resistance by the kinetic shield, power shield and entropy shield. Unfortunately, the resistance cannot be enhanced. This is problematic for energy aura brutes because defense debuffs are very common. Extra defense debuff resistance is provided by overload. Energy aura also provides repel and teleport protection, which are probably useful in pvp only.
        
        
   • Weaknesses of energy aura
     
     
     1. Low psionic defense and toxic resistance
        
        Toxic defense does not exist in game. There is some history to this weird design. When the game was released, toxic damage did not exist. The attacks that were supposed to deal toxic damage were untyped. Later on, the toxic damage type was added to the game. Only toxic resistance was added correspondingly, but not toxic defense. Fortunately, there are few attacks that are purely toxic. Most of them are coupled with lethal. Most power sets do not have strong toxic resistance. I believe toxic damage is probably a designed weakness for everyone.
        
        Psionic attacks are quite common for villains at all levels, for example Arachnos. Typical power sets based on typed defense or resistance are weak against psionic attacks, unless the power set has a theme that suggests otherwise, for example willpower and dark armor. It is still an ongoing debate whether energy aura should have higher psionic defense.
        
        
     2. Relatively low negative energy defense
        
        This is probably a designed weakness of energy aura. If the energy that fuels energy aura is positive energy, then its counterpart is negative energy. This weakness is usually considered minor as negative energy attacks are a small percentage compared to other damage types.
        
        
     3. Susceptible to defense debuff
        
        Although energy aura has a decent amount of defense debuff resistance, debuffs are usually quite significant (~10% per hit), and they can stack quickly leading to the so-called cascade failure. Defense debuffs are pretty common, for example from Cimerorans, Arachnos Tarantula (to make it worse for energy aura, the attack is psionic), and Longbow. They are common mob groups for villains.
        
        Currently, only super reflexes has full defense debuff resistance. This is probably because the power set nearly offers nothing but defense. It seems like for defense-based power sets with various abilities, the defense debuff resistance is set to be ~50%, for example invulnerability, stone armor, and shield defense. In this sense, energy aura is not particularly gimped in this aspect. However, defense debuff is something that players should watch out for.
        
        
     4. Susceptible to various secondary effects: confuse, fear, perception debuff, to-hit debuff, slow and –recharge, -recovery and endurance drain
        
        Interestingly, energy aura only offers resistance to secondary effects which you will likely encounter in pvp only. Resistance to –recovery and endurance drain are actually thematic to energy aura but the set does not offer any protection against them.
        
        
     5. Problems with heavy-hitting bosses and AVs
        
        This is actually an issue of power sets based on defense with minimal damage resistance. While you can deflect many incoming attacks, the unlucky shots that bypass the defense can hit hard if they come from bosses or AVs.
   
   
4. Strategies to improve survival for energy aura
   
   The first step to boost survival for energy aura is to soft-cap damage-typed defense by taking the appropriate power pools (fighting or leadership) and stacking IO set defense bonus. It is quite easy nowadays to soft-cap smashing, lethal, energy, fire and cold defense. It is not crucial to soft-cap negative energy defense. However, it would be nice and not really hard to do so. I suggest leaving psionic defense as a weakness of your energy aura character. It is possible to soft-cap other defense types together with psionic defense. However, you need to dedicate the whole build doing so. As you can see from the weaknesses of energy aura above, soft-capping defense alone can still be easily defeated despite the enormous effort. Note that there is no toxic defense in game.
   
   If an attack can pass through your defense, resistance can reduce the incoming damage. Therefore, the second survival boost is resistance. Although the resistance passives in energy aura offer little resistance, dampening field can stack with tough in the fighting power pool to give a decent amount of smashing and lethal damage resistance (up to ~30%). Unfortunately, this is nearly all you can do for resistance because there are very few IO set resistance bonus. It is more effective to optimize your build for other bonus.
   
   On the other hand, darkest night from the Soul mastery patron power pool offers damage debuff (~20%) on your target. The outcome is effectively resistance because it reduces the incoming damage. Darkest night is a toggle that uses a lot of endurance. Energy aura is one of the power sets that can use the power effectively because of its superior endurance management.
   
   After you get hit, the primary objective is to boost your capability to take another hit and then recover. The higher the hit points, the higher the capacity. While you can use overload to temporarily boost your hit points, your endurance crashes as the power expires. Therefore, it is only good for short fights against AVs. In general, bosses can land heavy hits. You are not supposed to use overload for every mob group.
   
   Fortunately, there are many IO set bonuses that boost your hit points. You should stack the hit point bonuses as much as possible. Both energy drain and aid self from the medicine power pool are effective means to replenish your hit points. The former power is more appropriate when you are surrounded by a large number of mobs, while the latter one is better when facing a single mob like an AV.
   
   The three strategies above are common ways to boost survival. The slightly unusual strategy for brutes is debuff. Usually, debuffing is considered the job of corruptors. Darkest night from the Soul mastery mentioned above not only debuffs damage of the mobs, but also lowers their to-hit chance. At a first glance, it is not obvious that energy aura with soft-capped defense needs to-hit debuffs, because mobs’ to-hit chance is already floored to the minimum, further debuff seems redundant.
   
   The key is that to-hit debuffs can mitigate the effect of defense debuffs from the mobs. Many players choose to enhance their defense to ~50% (usually they can do that for smashing and lethal defense only) such that they can take one defense debuff. Darkest night allows you to take several defense debuffs while keeping mobs’ to-hit chance to the minimum. To-hit debuffs behave effectively like defense, and it can be treated as another layer of defense. Note that to-hit debuffs can be resisted by mobs. The amount of resistance depends on the difference in level between you and the mobs, and the rank of the mobs (i.e. minion, lieutenant, bosses or AV). Therefore, darkest night should not replace the need to soft-cap defense, but considered as a complement to defense.
   
   
5. My suggested build
   
   Below, I shall suggest a build to maximize survival of energy aura. Based on the discussions above, my idea is to set up multiple layers of protection: soft-cap defense through IO set bonus and fighting power pool, use darkest night as a second layer of mitigation, and pick aid self to replenish hit points. This is tougher than maximizing defense alone as the character will be well-rounded and can adapt to various situations. Such multi-layer protection is made possible by energy drain, which provides an immense amount of endurance.
   
   I tested energy aura with the reputation set to +0/x8 (i.e. even level with the spawn size set to an 8-people team) at level 50 with bosses against Arachnos, Cimerorans, Longbows, and Carnival of Shadows. Energy aura brutes have a lot of difficulties against these groups without all the tools. With the build below, the survival is acceptable, in the sense that the character can live with occasional use of inspirations. It can also complete the so-called RWZ challenge (i.e. fighting a group of level 54 Riktis in Rikti War Zone without using inspirations). You are welcome to use the build as it is, or incorporate some of my ideas into yours to make your character stronger.
   
   Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.92
   http://www.cohplanner.com/
   
   Click this DataLink to open the build!
   
   Level 50 Magic Brute
   Primary Power Set: Fiery Melee
   Secondary Power Set: Energy Aura
   Power Pool: Leaping
   Power Pool: Fighting
   Power Pool: Medicine
   Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery
   
   Villain Profile:
   Level 1: Fire Sword -- P'ngFist-Acc/Dmg(A), P'ngFist-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), P'ngFist-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7), P'ngS'Fest-Acc/Dmg(9), P'ngS'Fest-Dmg/EndRdx(9), P'ngS'Fest-Dmg/Rchg(11)
   Level 1: Kinetic Shield -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(11), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(13), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(13)
   Level 2: Cremate -- P'ngFist-Acc/Dmg(A), P'ngFist-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15), P'ngFist-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), P'ngS'Fest-Acc/Dmg(17), P'ngS'Fest-Dmg/EndRdx(17), P'ngS'Fest-Dmg/Rchg(19)
   Level 4: Power Shield -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(19), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(21), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(21)
   Level 6: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), Ksmt-ToHit+(50)
   Level 8: Incinerate -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(23), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(23), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25)
   Level 10: Entropy Shield -- EndRdx-I(A)
   Level 12: Build Up -- Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg(A), Rec'dRet-Pcptn(27)
   Level 14: Super Jump -- Winter-ResSlow(A)
   Level 16: Boxing -- Empty(A)
   Level 18: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), Aegis-ResDam(27), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(29), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(29)
   Level 20: Energy Cloak -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(31), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(31), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(31)
   Level 22: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(33), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(33), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(33)
   Level 24: Stimulant -- Empty(A)
   Level 26: Fire Sword Circle -- Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(34), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34), C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx(34), C'ngBlow-Dmg/Rchg(36), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg(36)
   Level 28: Energy Drain -- Numna-Heal/EndRdx(A), Numna-Heal/Rchg(36), Numna-Heal(37), Efficacy-EndMod(37), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(37), Efficacy-EndMod/EndRdx(39)
   Level 30: Aid Self -- Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(A), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(39), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(39), Dct'dW-Heal(40), Dct'dW-Rchg(40), IntRdx-I(40)
   Level 32: Greater Fire Sword -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(42), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(42), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43)
   Level 35: Dampening Field -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(46), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(50)
   Level 38: Energy Protection -- Aegis-Psi/Status(A)
   Level 41: Gloom -- Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(A), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(45)
   Level 44: Darkest Night -- DarkWD-ToHitDeb/Rchg(A), DarkWD-ToHitdeb/Rchg/EndRdx(45), DarkWD-Rchg/EndRdx(45), DarkWD-ToHitDeb/EndRdx(46), DampS-ToHitDeb/Rchg/EndRdx(46)
   Level 47: Dark Obliteration -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(48), Posi-Dam%(48), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50)
   Level 49: Taunt -- Zinger-Dam%(A)
   ------------
   Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
   Level 1: Sprint -- Clrty-Stlth(A)
   Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
   Level 1: Fury
   Level 4: Ninja Run
   Level 2: Swift -- Run-I(A)
   Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
   Level 2: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(3)
   Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(3), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(5), P'Shift-End%(5)
   ------------
   Set Bonus Totals:
   • 12.38% Defense(Smashing)
   • 12.38% Defense(Lethal)
   • 9.25% Defense(Fire)
   • 9.25% Defense(Cold)
   • 14.88% Defense(Energy)
   • 14.88% Defense(Negative)
   • 3% Defense(Psionic)
   • 7.688% Defense(Melee)
   • 8.938% Defense(Ranged)
   • 6.125% Defense(AoE)
   • 1.8% Max End
   • 52% Enhancement(Accuracy)
   • 4% Enhancement(Heal)
   • 53.75% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
   • 5% FlySpeed
   • 208.02 HP (13.88%) HitPoints
   • 5% JumpHeight
   • 5% JumpSpeed
   • MezResist(Immobilize) 5.5%
   • MezResist(Sleep) 4.4%
   • MezResist(Terrorized) 2.2%
   • 20% Perception
   • 12% (0.2 End/sec) Recovery
   • 68% (4.256 HP/sec) Regeneration
   • 20% ResEffect(FlySpeed)
   • 20% ResEffect(RechargeTime)
   • 20% ResEffect(RunSpeed)
   • 2.835% Resistance(Fire)
   • 2.835% Resistance(Cold)
   • 3% Resistance(Psionic)
   • 15% RunSpeed
   
   Discussions on the build:
   
   
   • Attack:
     
     
     1. I suggest to use GFS>INC>Gloom>CRE>FS as the attack chain. If you do not have gloom, you can add the sixth slot for GFS such that the attack chain GFS>INC>CRE>FS can be run. Please see the second part of this guide for details.
        
        
     2. The build uses dark obliteration as the second aoe attack, in addition to fire sword circle. The damage from dark obliteration is not really strong, but it certainly helps when soloing large spawns.
        
        
     3. For brutes that do not use weapons and do not have a smooth attack chain, boxing can be slotted up and used as a filler attack. This way, you will not waste a power choice for picking the fighting power pool. This can happen for super strength, for example.
        
        
   • Soft-capping defense:
     
     
     1. Kinetic combat is great for smashing and lethal defense bonus in melee attacks. However, four slots are usually not good enough for an attack. It is better to add a fifth slot at least (probably not too big a deal if incarnate abilities are taken into consideration).
        
        There is a growing concern about the expensive price of kinetic combat in the market. The poor-man replacement for kinetic combat is smashing haymaker. However, both its hit point and defense bonus are considerably lower. Some people use touch of death instead. At a first glance, touch of death does not look like a right choice, because the defense bonus comes at the sixth slot, and it is probably designed for positional defense.
        
        Even though the defense bonus from kinetic combat comes at the fourth slot, we typically allocate the fifth slot to better slot an attack as mentioned above, unless your primary power set is super strength with rage. The difference in the number of slots between using kinetic combat and touch of death is practically just one slot. Moreover, the sixth slot for touch of death is a damage proc, which even kinetic combat users are interested in actually. Together with the fact that touch of death offers the same hit point bonus as kinetic combat, touch of death is not a bad alternative if you want to use an IO set better than smashing haymaker, but cheaper than kinetic combat.
        
        
     2. You can mix and match two IO sets into a power to maximize the bonus. For example, you can use pulverizing fisticuffs together with pounding slugfest in melee attacks, and eradication with cleaving blow in PBAoE attacks. This way, you can collect a lot of energy and negative energy defense bonus.
        
        
     3. If you are not interested in soft-capping negative energy defense, you can slot your melee attacks with other IO sets, for example crushing impact, which gives bonus on hit points and recharge.
        
        
     4. Power sets based on defense have many defense powers obviously. Unfortunately, defense IO sets are not that great for typed defense bonus. However, this is the place where you can collect hit points, regeneration and recharge bonus, for example use luck of the gamblers.
        
        
     5. Immobilization powers are convenient places to get defense IO bonus. For example, enfeebled operation gives a lot of smashing and lethal defense. If you pick soul mastery as the patron power pool, soul tentacles have a narrow short cone unfortunately. Practically, you can only hit very few mobs with it. If you take soul tentacles, it will mostly serve the purpose of an IO set mule, and does not contribute much damage.
        
        
     6. You can take into account the effect of the alpha slot. The nerve alpha boost can offer around 2-3% defense. It should not be significant enough to change how an IO build is optimized. However, it is helpful in soft-capping negative energy defense, for example.
        
        
     7. Beyond defense soft-cap:
        Typically, we do not bother going beyond the soft-cap (at 45%) for fire, cold, and negative energy defense. Since energy defense is quite high for energy aura to start with, it can easily go beyond the soft-cap unintentionally when you try to raise negative energy defense. Hence, the real question is whether it worth the trouble to go beyond the soft-cap for smashing and lethal defense. If possible, I suggest doing so by either raising the smashing and lethal defense to ~50%, or use darkest night.
        
        Defense debuffs are typically ~10%. Since energy aura can reduce half of its effect, a defense of 50% allows you to take one defense debuff while maintaining the soft-cap. The issue is that it only allows you to take one hit. You can consider a defense of 55%, which allows you to take two hits, and do significantly better against Cimerorans, for example. In general, the higher the better, but it is a trade-off as you are forgoing other IO set bonuses.
        
        Darkest night debuffs the to-hit chance of mobs, which effectively raises your defense. It allows you to take ~3 defense debuffs, and debuffs the damage of mobs at the same time. My experience is that it is inconvenient to be used in team. Since this guide is on maximal survival, I recommend darkest night, in particular if you solo tough missions. If you choose not to take it, I recommend raising smashing, lethal, and energy defense to ~50%.
        
        
   • Alpha slot abilities:
     
     Overall, the alpha slot abilities are not significant enough to radically change an IO build. It is best used to complement a build to achieve certain goals, or to make up for useful attributes that are not slotted well in a build.
     
     
     1. Cardiac: At a first glance, cardiac abilities may find little use for energy aura. However, for the suggested build, the endurance usage is actually a bit high. My experience is that I need to use energy drain whenever it is up. It is problematic when fighting mobs that can drain endurance. So, the extra endurance reduction provided by the cardiac alpha slot is helpful. The resistance gained by the secondary aspect is probably too small to be relevant.
        
        
     2. Musculature: The damage buff from the musculature alpha slot for brutes is not as good as that for scrappers, because the base damage for brutes is relatively lower. Hence, there is less incentive for brutes to take musculature. If your primary power set has the ability to debuff defense, for example claws and dual blades, then the secondary aspect of musculature is worth considering.
        
        
     3. Nerve: Typical slotting of an attack does not fully saturate accuracy. Hence, the nerve alpha slot should be helpful if your attacks are under-slotted, or when fighting against level +3 or +4 mobs. For energy aura, the defense toggles are usually well-slotted for defense. Under such situation, the extra defense offered by the nerve alpha slot is only a few percent, which is not much. However, it is helpful for soft-capping negative energy defense such that the build does not need to forgo so many other IO set bonuses.
        
        
     4. Spiritual: For energy aura characters, recharge rate has the most impact on dps by enabling the use of high dps attack chains. In my opinion, rather than blindly raising the recharge rate, it is the best if you have a specific attack chain in mind, which then suggests the necessary recharge rate for each attack, and a goal for the global recharge rate through IO set bonuses. With the spiritual alpha slot, you can optimize the slotting of each attack correspondingly. In addition, the healing secondary ability is useful for saturating the effect of energy drain. For example, energy drain can be slotted fully for endurance modification but only partially for heal, and let the spiritual secondary aspect make up for the under-slotted heal.
        
        Higher recharge rate also helps energy drain to recharge faster such that it is available for healing earlier. I believe some people rely on Overload for its boost on hit points and defense debuff resistance. In my opinion, raising recharge does not provide as much bang of the buck to energy aura compared to dull pain in invulnerability and dark regeneration in dark armor, for example. By and large, I think picking spiritual as the alpha slot is not a bad choice, however its main advantage is on boosting your dps, rather than on the clicks in energy aura.
        
        
   • Miscellaneous topics on power choice and slotting:
     
     
     1. If you use darkest night, I suggest you to either take tactics or use an IO (rectified reticle) that increases perception. Since energy aura does not offer any protection against perception debuff, darkest night easily detoggles when fighting Arachnos, for example. In addition, darkest night is quite slow recharging. Slotting recharge reduction helps after the anchor is defeated, and you want to re-apply the debuff onto another anchor.
        
        
     2. Since brutes are not tanks, they are not required to take taunt. However, taunt set IOs offer pretty good defense bonus.
        
        
     3. For energy drain, I suggest a mixed slotting that enhances both endurance drain and healing. One endurance modification can already fill up your endurance bar with three mobs around you. Therefore, enhancing two attributes at the same time should not be a problem. It is better to slot for endurance reduction as well. It is not uncommon to deplete your endurance while activating energy drain. It is usually lethal to have your toggles deactivated.
        
        
     4. There is a question whether aid self is necessary or not. Given its long interruptible animation, aid self is rather inconvenient. In particular, if you are under the effect of a dot (damage-over-time) or an area effect, aid self cannot be fired off. In addition, using aid self may feel like an eternity in the midst of a battle. If you solo 8-people missions where there is an ample supply of inspirations from the fighting, it is more convenient to use healing inspirations. I think the merit of aid self is that it can reduce your usage of healing inspirations, such that you can stock your tray more with other types of inspirations. Aid self is not a must-have, but it is nice if your build has space for it. Practically, healing can be mainly accomplished by energy drain and healing inspirations, and use aid self whenever appropriate to reduce the consumption of inspirations.
        
        Aid self can be interrupted. The interrupt time is one second. While it does not sound long, you should slot at least one interrupt reduction IO such that you can heal yourself reliably when you need it most.
        
        
   • General comments on energy aura builds:
     
     There is no such thing as "the best" build. Different people come up with different builds, which have their own merit. For energy aura characters, defense, hit points, regeneration, and damage (by raising recharge rates and adding extra slots into attacks for damage procs) are typical attributes that players choose to optimize. Ideally, it would be the best to max out everything. However, limited available slots demands trade-off to be made. I shall suggest some practical goals for these attributes at which it is good to stop going further.
     
     For defense, the soft-cap is at 45%, which is the minimal goal for a defense-based character. As discussed above, it is not a bad idea to go beyond the soft-cap to 50%, or even 55% for smashing and lethal defense in particular, but probably not more than that. There are no guidelines on how much hit points and regeneration are enough. Essentially, the more the better after the goal of soft-capping defense is achieved. In general, I suggest collecting these two IO bonuses as much as possible without slotting your build in a weird fashion. More emphasis should be put on hit points compared to regeneration, because incoming damage is usually large, and regeneration is not high enough to overcome such situations for a defense-based character.
     
     For recharge and high dps (damage per second), as mentioned above, it is necessary to have an attack chain in mind. The Part 2 of this guide is written to help you answer this question. Typically, high dps attack chain requires an expensive setup. For example, use purple IO sets, or use the PvP +def IO such that the build can be less dedicated to soft-capping defense, and spare the slots for higher recharge. Hence, the budget is the main concern here. One thing that worth mentioning is that damage procs can contribute significantly to the dps. As a concrete example, running the greater fire sword > incinerate > cremate > fire sword attack chain at 70% fury, which is considered quite optimal, yields 163 dps theoretically. Such dps ranks pretty low in the Rikti pylon thread in the scrapper's forum, even though fiery melee is considered the best among the primary power sets. The reason is not because other primary power sets out-damage fiery melee, but it indicates the contribution of damage procs at the high end of the dps spectrum and beyond what fiery melee alone can offer. Therefore, a tough yet high-dps build requires a lot of thought and careful slotting.
     
   
   
6. Useful temporary powers for energy aura brutes
   
   There are a few items that can help you out during difficult times. Notably, inspirations are most commonly used. With day jobs introduced in Issue 13 and various invention temporary powers added in Issue 17, there are now more options for players to augment their powers temporarily. Here, I compile a list of temporary powers that I think is helpful for energy aura brutes.
   
   
   • Temporary powers that grant defense or resistance:
     
     Temporary defense toggles can be useful when debuffed or fighting mobs with to-hit buffs. There are even toggles for psionic defense as well to patch energy aura's psionic weakness. Some temporary powers can be obtained pretty easily. For example, kinetic dampener and Vanguard psionic shield can be simply purchased. For day job powers, it is nice to obtain the Cimeroran (logout in Cimerora) and Chronologist (logout in Ouroboros) day job badges for the Time Lord accolade. After that, you can logout in Cimeroran to recharge both the Cimeroran citizen day job power and Time Lord's boon accolade for resistance bonus. While the bonus is nice, logging out for 24 hours can only recharge the powers for around 10 minutes, which is pretty short for a typical gaming section. The duration does get longer with longer logout time.
     
     
     1. Kinetic dampener (invention power): toggle, 12% smashing/lethal defense, 22.5% energy resistance
     2. Cryonite Armor (reward for Mayhem side mission): toggle, 12% smashing/lethal defense, 22.5% cold resistance, 7.5% fire resistance
     3. Kinetic shield (reward for Mayhem side mission): toggle, 15% smashing/lethal defense, 1.875% energy resistance
     4. Combat shield (day job accolade): toggle, 15% smashing/lethal/energy defense
     5. Demonic aura (accolade): click (25 minutes recharge), 30% resistance (all but psionic), 50% defense (all but psionic) for 60 seconds
     6. Cimeroran citizen (day job power): auto, 3.75% resistance to all
     7. Time Lord's boon (day job accolade): auto, +10% recharge, 20% slow and -recharge resistance, teleport resistance
     8. Vanguard psionic shield (purchase in Rikti War Zone with 100 Vanguard Merits): toggle, 15% psionic defense, 5% psionic resistance
     9. Elusive mind (accolade), click (25 minutes recharge), 7.5% psionic resistance, 25% psionic defense for 60 seconds
     10. Empowerment station buffs (supergroup base buffs), auto (last for 1 hour after crafting), various useful buffs and resistance for those with a supergroup base
     
     
   • Temporary powers that heal or grant hit points:
     
     
     1. Med pack (invention power): click (1 minute recharge), heal 1/4 of base hit points
        Using med pack cannot be interrupted. Even if you have aid self, it is not a bad idea to craft a med pack. The heal itself is not really great though.
     2. Born in battle (accolade): auto, +5% max hit points, +5 max endurance
     3. High pain threshold (accolade): auto, +10% max hit points
     4. Invader (accolade): auto, +5% max hit points
     
     
   • Utilities:
     
     Phase shift is useful when the brute is overwhelmed by incoming attacks. While phase shifted, aid self can be used. The nice thing is that darkest night will not drop. Therefore, the phase shift can be turned off anytime, and darkest night will be effective immediately. Note that using rest will detoggle phase shift. In addition, activating phase shift is rather slow. It is not unusual to be defeated while activating phase shift. So, it is a bit tricky to use phase shift effectively as an escape power. However, if you will be defeated anyway, it does not hurt to give it a shot. Depending on the situation, calling out a pet is helpful as well. Most people know the powerful Shivans. Backup radio is an invention power for a pet. Although it is not as powerful, I think it worth a mention as it can be crafted easily.
     
     
     1. Ethereal shift (invention power): toggle, phase shift
     2. Hyper phase (Warburg mission reward): toggle, phase shift
     3. Shivan shard (Bloody Bay mission reward): summons a Shivan Decimator pet that lasts for 4 minutes
     4. Backup Radio (invention power): summons an Arachnos reinforcement pet on the red side (Crabspider Longfang) that lasts for 5 minutes

I modified your build slightly to acquire more e/ne defense bonus (~42% after BotZ adjustment). I slot boxing up, then you can use it as a filler attack without wasting a power choice. I drop total focus as well, and pick up one more patron power.

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.621
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Brute
Primary Power Set: Energy Melee
Secondary Power Set: Invulnerability
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Barrage -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(45), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(45), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(45)
Level 1: Resist Physical Damage -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(43), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(43), RctvArm-ResDam(50)
Level 2: Bone Smasher -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(3), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Mako-Dam%(46)
Level 4: Temp Invulnerability -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(5), RctvArm-ResDam(5), RctvArm-EndRdx(40)
Level 6: Dull Pain -- Numna-Heal/EndRdx(A), Numna-EndRdx/Rchg(7), Numna-Heal/Rchg(7), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(31), Numna-Heal(37), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(39)
Level 8: Whirling Hands -- Erad-Dmg(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), Erad-Acc/Rchg(9), C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx(11), C'ngBlow-Dmg/Rchg(11), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg(13)
Level 10: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 12: Build Up -- Rec'dRet-Pcptn(A), Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg(13), RechRdx-I(15), RechRdx-I(15)
Level 14: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A)
Level 16: Unyielding -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam(17), RctvArm-EndRdx(17), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(34)
Level 18: Boxing -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(19), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(19), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(25)
Level 20: Stamina -- EndMod-I(A), P'Shift-EndMod(21), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(21), P'Shift-End%(23)
Level 22: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(23)
Level 24: Combat Jumping -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(36), LkGmblr-Rchg+(39)
Level 26: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(A), RctvArm-ResDam(27), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(27), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(39)
Level 28: Invincibility -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(29), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(29), LkGmblr-Rchg+(37)
Level 30: Weave -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(31), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(31), LkGmblr-Rchg+(37)
Level 32: Energy Transfer -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(33), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(33), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(33), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34)
Level 35: Tough Hide -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Def/Rchg(36), LkGmblr-Rchg+(36)
Level 38: Unstoppable -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 41: Gloom -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(42), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(42), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(48)
Level 44: Soul Tentacles -- Enf'dOp-Acc/Rchg(A), Enf'dOp-EndRdx/Immob(46), Enf'dOp-Acc/EndRdx(46), Enf'dOp-Immob/Rng(48), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob/Rchg(48), Enf'dOp-Acc/Immob(50)
Level 47: Super Jump -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(50)
Level 49: Resist Energies -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury
Level 0: Ninja Run

I take laser beam eyes instead of recall friend. The other power choices remain intact. I'm mainly moving your slots around. The build should be soft capped after the BotZ adjustment. Unfortunately, most of your +recharge and regeneration bonus are gone. I'm not sure if this is what you want.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.621
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Mutation Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Fiery Melee
Secondary Power Set: Shield Defense
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Fire Sword -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(7), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(9), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(19), Mako-Dam%(23)
Level 1: Deflection -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), HO:Cyto(3), LkGmblr-Def(11), Aegis-ResDam(17), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(19), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(42)
Level 2: Cremate -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(5), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(9), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(15), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(23), T'Death-Dam%(31)
Level 4: Battle Agility -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), HO:Cyto(5), LkGmblr-Def(15)
Level 6: True Grit -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), Aegis-ResDam(7), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(17), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(25), Heal-I(42), Heal-I(43)
Level 8: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 10: Active Defense -- HO:Membr(A), HO:Membr(11)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(13), Zephyr-ResKB(13)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(25), Zephyr-ResKB(31)
Level 16: Against All Odds -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 18: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(21), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(21), EndMod-I(40)
Level 22: Phalanx Fighting -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 24: Fire Sword Circle -- M'Strk-Acc/Dmg(A), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(29), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg(29), M'Strk-Acc/EndRdx(31), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(36), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39)
Level 26: Incinerate -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(27), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(27), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34), T'Death-Dam%(40), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43)
Level 28: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(A), HO:Cyto(39), LkGmblr-Def(40)
Level 30: Build Up -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-Build%(39), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(42), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(43), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(45), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(45)
Level 32: Greater Fire Sword -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(33), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(33), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(33), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), Mako-Dam%(34)
Level 35: Shield Charge -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(36), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Oblit-%Dam(37)
Level 38: Grant Cover -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 41: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 44: One with the Shield -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(45), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(46), Aegis-EndRdx/Rchg(46), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 47: Laser Beam Eyes -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(48), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
Level 49: Physical Perfection -- RgnTis-Regen+(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 0: Ninja Run

I believe endurance can be an issue when you start to add more toggles as you level up. You probably can have more fun with ample amount of endurance. If you don't mind having a minimal attack chain, you can drop slice. Parry is a very fast recharging power which you can use as a filler, and I think you have sufficient AoE attacks.

You can take a look at the build below and see if it's satistory. I don't really want to use HO, but slots are tight. You can actually slot active defense with HO, which can raise the defense debuff resistance of the power. Hopefully, the build won't break your wallet.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.621
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Kaine Le Fay: Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Broad Sword
Secondary Power Set: Shield Defense
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Hack -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(3), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(3), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), T'Death-Dam%(40), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40)
Level 1: Deflection -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), S'fstPrt-ResDam/EndRdx(5), ResDam-I(5), GftotA-Def(31), GftotA-Def/EndRdx(31), HO:Cyto(45)
Level 2: Battle Agility -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(7), HO:Cyto(7)
Level 4: True Grit -- ResDam-I(A), ResDam-I(9), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(9), Numna-Heal(11), Heal-I(11)
Level 6: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 8: Hover -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(13), Zephyr-ResKB(13), Srng-EndRdx/Fly(37)
Level 10: Parry -- Mako-Dam%(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(15), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(15), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Mako-Acc/Dmg(25)
Level 12: Active Defense -- HO:Membr(A), HO:Membr(19), HO:Membr(19), EndRdx-I(42)
Level 14: Fly -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(25), Zephyr-ResKB(31)
Level 16: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A)
Level 18: Whirling Sword -- M'Strk-Acc/Dmg(A), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(21), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg(23), M'Strk-Acc/EndRdx(23), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-End%(21), EndMod-I(40)
Level 22: Against All Odds -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(42)
Level 24: Phalanx Fighting -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 26: Disembowel -- Mako-Dam%(A), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(27), Mako-Acc/Dmg(27), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(29), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(29), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(43)
Level 28: Grant Cover -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(42), HO:Cyto(43)
Level 30: Build Up -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(34), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(34), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(34), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(36), GSFC-Build%(36)
Level 32: Head Splitter -- M'Strk-Acc/Dmg(A), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(33), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg(33), M'Strk-Acc/EndRdx(36), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43)
Level 35: Shield Charge -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(37), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(39), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Oblit-%Dam(46)
Level 38: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 41: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 44: Physical Perfection -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(45), EndMod-I(45)
Level 47: Tough -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(48), Aegis-EndRdx/Rchg(48), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(48), Aegis-ResDam(50)
Level 49: Weave -- GftotA-Def(A), GftotA-Def/EndRdx(50), HO:Cyto(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 0: Ninja Run

Actually, darkest night from the soul mastery helps EA a lot. It is not obvious on the first sight. It's pretty hard to protect yourself against defense debuff. Most people make their defense (in particularly s/l) beyond soft cap such that they can take one debuff. It's a lot easier to use darkest night to debuff mobs' to-hit such that you can still floor mobs' to-hit chance even after a few defense debuffs. And the power has damage debuff as well, which is effectively some kind of resistance.

Since darknest night uses a lot of endurance, not every brute can afford it, but EA (and ElA) makes it really easy. I know that it's pretty hard to squeeze in patron powers, in particular for dual blades which you want combos.

Actually, your build is soft-capped, just that you've to six-slot many powers to acquire the bonus. It's ok, but it seems like you can't slot powers in the way that you want in order to get the bonus.

I changed the slotting of your build. The power choice is kept, but I swap in hover and fly. It would be great to have grant cover for the defense debuff resistance and one with the shield. But the build is tight, so you've to give up something if you want to grab those powers. I think you probably want to take more time to finalize your build.

My build has soft-capped melee defense without parry (very close to the cap for ranged and aoe after the BotZ adjustment). It's up to you whether you want to rely on parry or not. I think it's more fun to play without always worrying about parrying.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.621
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Kaine Le Fay: Level 50 Magic Scrapper
Primary Power Set: Broad Sword
Secondary Power Set: Shield Defense
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Hack -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(3), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(3), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), T'Death-Dam%(40), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40)
Level 1: Deflection -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), S'fstPrt-ResDam/EndRdx(5), ResDam-I(5), GftotA-Def(31), GftotA-Def/EndRdx(31), HO:Cyto(45)
Level 2: Slice -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(7), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(25), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45)
Level 4: True Grit -- ResDam-I(A), ResDam-I(9), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(9), Numna-Heal(43), Heal-I(43)
Level 6: Battle Agility -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(11), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(11), LkGmblr-Rchg+(42)
Level 8: Hover -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(13), Zephyr-ResKB(13), Srng-EndRdx/Fly(37)
Level 10: Parry -- Mako-Dam%(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(15), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(15), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), Mako-Acc/Dmg(25)
Level 12: Active Defense -- EndRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(19), RechRdx-I(19)
Level 14: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 16: Health -- Mrcl-Rcvry+(A)
Level 18: Whirling Sword -- M'Strk-Acc/Dmg(A), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(21), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg(23), M'Strk-Acc/EndRdx(23), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-End%(21), EndMod-I(40)
Level 22: Against All Odds -- EndRdx-I(A), EndRdx-I(42)
Level 24: Phalanx Fighting -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 26: Disembowel -- Mako-Dam%(A), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(27), Mako-Acc/Dmg(27), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(29), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(29), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(48)
Level 28: Fly -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(31), Zephyr-ResKB(42)
Level 30: Build Up -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(34), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(34), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(34), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(36), GSFC-Build%(36)
Level 32: Head Splitter -- M'Strk-Acc/Dmg(A), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(33), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg(33), M'Strk-Acc/EndRdx(36), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43)
Level 35: Shield Charge -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(37), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(39), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39), Oblit-%Dam(46)
Level 38: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 41: Conserve Power -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 44: Physical Perfection -- P'Shift-End%(A), P'Shift-EndMod(45), EndMod-I(50)
Level 47: Tough -- ImpArm-ResDam(A), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(48), HO:Ribo(48)
Level 49: Weave -- GftotA-Def(A), GftotA-Def/EndRdx(50), HO:Cyto(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Critical Hit
Level 0: Ninja Run

There are still contents where healing is useful, for example Shadow Shard TF with mainly Rularuu, STF, sewer trial, and Hami raid. If you want to make your character more useful in general, you can invest in +recharge IO bonus such that you can buff more people with fortitude.

I guess anything that can directly affect your character is not allowed, unless it is rez or using awaken. I think the point of the thread is that the rules of what can be done are either inconsistent or not clear to the players.

Interesting idea. I modified your power set as follows.

Thievery

Hide: standard stalker hide

Concealed presence: a lot like the melee defense power from ninjitsu

Steal: You have stolen the secret of your enemies. You have a higher chance to land a critical hit for a short period of time.

Illusive shadow: same as the ninjitsu ranged and AoE defense

Thief dexterity: similar to recharge reduction power offered in electric armor and super reflexes. It also offers various status protection.

Bribe: A mag 3 confuse power that uses some of your inf to bribe an enemy into assisting you. It has a recharge of about 1 minute base. This gives you enough to confuse a minion of LT but not enough to confuse a boss. The inf is deducted after the enemy is defeated. (I think there is an issue if the player doesn't have enough inf if it is deducted at the beginning)

Payoff: PBAOE -damage power. You quickly doll out money to all enemies in your immediate vicinity in an attempt to convince them to pull their punches. Amount of inf used per enemy would follow the same guidelines as bribe.

Invisible hands: A toggle that offers a chance to fire a smashing attack after each attack of yours. (Not sure if it's possible)

Master thief: The same duration, recharge and crash as other stalkers' tier 9s. You have stolen the powers from the enemies around you. Their defense, resistance, recovery, and regeneration are reduced and added to you. It also doubles the amount of inf earned during the duration of the power. (Not sure if it is possible to increase inf earning from a power, but it sounds interesting. I added more to this power such that it can be more than just money)

I have an ElA and an EA brutes. Their overall performance are pretty similar. Both power sets have great endurance recovery, which can allow a lot of heavy toggles.

For EA, make sure that you like the stealth, and you're ok with your toon being transparent. It's pretty standard to soft cap typed defense for EA, and it's not hard to do so. Beyond this, it depends on what you usually fight. There are problems with defense debuffs and heavy hits from bosses and AV. So, you can add aid self, darkest night (for the damage debuff and an extra layer to floor mob's to-hit when there are defense debuffs) or something to increase your HP (either from IO set bonus, accolades or overload). If you plan just to fight council paper mission, capped defense will do the job. Otherwise, you've to use more thought to make the character tougher.

The setting of the game is about Western heroes. it's not very appealing to me at the beginning because I'm from Hong Kong. I sort of facepalm seeing everyone in tights running around. But well, I get used to it now.

I think the underlying main design of the game is to have fun through stories, and fast-paced fun combat. And it avoids the main traditional MMO element that revolves farming/camping for uber equipments (designers try to make boring things interesting by having complicated skill systems to interact with the huge item database). The problem is that no matter how interesting the stories and combats are, they will get boring with time. While other games are as boring, the "fun" persists as you acquire uber stuffs.

I would like the economy/market to satisfy the following things:

1. The price should be less than the inf cap. I think it's not a good thing that players have to get around the market to sell stuffs beyond the cap.

2. Common items should be cheap enough such that I don't need to type 6 or 7 zeros to buy or sell them. I think it gets annoying if the typical price of a common salvage is like a million. Right now, it's ok.

3. Everyone can afford to completely IO themselves with uncommon set IOs. It's the nature of MMO that players who play more will be better equipped. On the other hand, I think it's a good idea that everyone can have a flavor of IO sets. I think CoX is friendly enough to casual players that SO and cheap-IO builds can perform decently well.

As such, I think the current market situation is ok. I don't know what it will be like in the future. Some stuffs seem to get more expensive with time. The dev should have the data to tell. If there is really inflation, both inf sink and higher drop rate will help. For inf sink, just make sure that the system sucks more inf out of the rich, and does not make the poor poorer. For drop rate, the exact implementation will take some thought because not every recipe has the same price. A uniform increase of drop rate will make some recipes cheaper than dirt. I guess the dev probably will wait till the system violates all the 3 things I mentioned above before they want to do something.