magikwand

I disagree here. I have a couple of db toons, and neither one of them has all powers. In fact, I would strongly recommend *not* taking all the powers. There are really only two combos that I would say are worth having on a brute; attack vitals and sweep. Weaken and empower, and more specifically empower, are not giving to give much bang for your buck on a brute.

Sweep is nice to have for any secondary that benefits from being saturated with foes. Inv, wp, elec, fire, and dark all come to mind. Inv and wp for defense and regen reasons. The other three for the fact that your damage aura will mulch them up while you do your thing with db.

Not sure if DoT from attack vitals is boosted by fury, but DoT is your friend on a toon that makes his wages doing damage.

In fact, my db/inv ended up being one of my looser builds ever due to how many powers I was able to skip from the primary. The only reason that I would say taking all of db is good is if you like the animations. Since I mentioned that, I will say that the set still looks stunning. Particularly mid-air. My db/inv is an angel and Typhoon's edge is probably my favorite animation ever when done in the air.

I say roll the db/elec. I rarely ever see db toons these days. The synergy is not huge between the two, but the fun would be.

This is not biggest reason that they are not as good for brutes. The pet damage/base damage options are they key here. After all- you can always wait a moment until fury is reasonably high and AAO is fully saturated and you still won't hit as hard using either SC or LR on a brute as you would on a scrapper. The combo is still good on a brute, but it is just plain better on a scrapper.

I agree with everything you said. Perhaps it is better to let him clarify, but he possibly wants it reviewed as it has overshadowed much of the earlier melee sets in many areas. Some people seem to be calling for rebalancing/nerfs here.

EDIT: I see that wasn't the direction he was going at all from the post on page 2.

My list:
Energy melee
trick arrow
force fields
sonic resonance
electric blast
most MM primary sets
most Manip sets
stone armor

I recall reading somewhere that shield defense has a stronger taunt aura than invulnerability.

If I were you OP, I'd roll a SS/SD. Like someone else said, that is something that is not available to scrappers and something that will rock your socks off thoroughly. Mine hits like a freight truck going downhill at about 200mph.

I know you've already done SS a number of times, but the pairing of SS and shield is something to behold (minus possible rage crashes heh).

Since when is SD not good for defense? I mean... soft capped positional defense is very attainable if you know how to make a decent build.

And where did the OP say that he would not invest in his build with IOs?

I would say scrapper for this combo. SD favors scrappers- and crits on St J are a thing of beauty.

I will second this... but only because you have stamina, physical perfection and superior conditioning. If you had nothing beyond stamina, the endurance modification increase would be largely null.

You know what... even with that said, I think Cardiac is still worth looking into. If you are already positionally soft capped, unless you are knocking at the incarnate softcap, the added defense may not be worth it to you. However, the endurance reduction in Cardiac is something that pretty much anyone can appreciate.

True. I have a couple of incarnate shielders, both have rebirth or ageless available for use. I wouldn't use barrier on those toons, but the OP was looking for a way to reach incarnate soft cap... this is just one of several ways this can be done.

I still wouldn't go so far as to call it a net loss personally, but that is just me.

Thanks for reading negativity where there is none. A handout is defined as something is something given freely or distributed free of charge. That is what you asked for in your initial post, was it not?

All I was saying was that posting your own build for critique would be a better idea than just asking for one that someone else created. This is good as a good starting point for any build would be including powers that you like and not ones that someone else may prefer.

As far as the other fluff in your post about who has been here longer- what relevance does that have to anything I said? None. Just because you have or have not been here longer than anyone else doesn't mean that your opinion of anything carries more weight than anyone else's.

What is my damage? Wow, way to go with the personal attacks. No, I am not a special needs child, and I won't stoop to your level of calling names or insulting people that are retarded or autistic.

I will be mature and apologize if my post came across as negative. Sorry for that.

The only thing I wished to convey was that posting your own build is a great way to ask for help. Better than the alternative of just asking someone else for one.