RAAAAA!!!! A guide to the DM/FA Brute
By
Big_Bitterman,
Posted on: 2005-10-27 11:21 in Player Guides
Really nice post, sir! I'd give you some stars...but I don't know how. I'll be rolling a DM/FA brute when live comes down the line.
When there is no room left in Hell, the Dead shall walk the earth.
Very nice bro, you covered just about everything. Now for my suggestions.
Consume, Dark Consumption, Soul Drain, and possibly Siphon Life should all have at least two Accuracy enchancers, especially at the SO levels. These powers are critical and a series of misses can doom your Brute, especially if he is Stamina-less. You'll thank me when Spectral Daemon Lords and Death Mages start debuffing your accuracy into the gutter.
Cycling Brawl, Boxing, Shadow Punch, and Smite make for a great Fury building sequence. Getting Boxing makes taking Tough even more worth it if you're going for the Power-Build.
Consume, Dark Consumption, and Soul Drain are aggro-magnet powers. Once you fire those off everyone is going to be taking a shot at you, driving your Fury up quickly. Just make sure that you can survive the incoming assault long enough to dish it back out. In fact, I like to use Consume for topping myself off at the end of a battle and there is nothing like having all of your foes at a sliver of health and finishing them off while refilling your endurance at the same time.
Shadow Maul's greatest strength is that it is a cone attack. Once you get manuevered to line up your targets, the trick is to target the guy behind the one you are closest to, someone in the middle of the mob. That greatly increases your chance of hitting most of the mob with a single attack.
Blazing Aura may seem like pitiful damage at first, but with full Fury and a good Soul Drain buff you can get those damage ticks past 30 damage each without slotting any damage into the power at all. This is one of the keys to taking down large mobs quickly, the aura whittles them down so you don't have to hit them so many times in the long run.
I strongly recommend Combat Jumping, Superjump, and Acrobatics. Combat Jumping gives great resistance to Immobilization, which Fire Aura lacks greatly. Superjump is just an awesome travel power. Acrobatics provides strong Knockback and some extra Hold resistance. If you hate getting rooted and knocked around, this is the power pool for you.
As for Concealment, a Stealth Brute might be an interesting concept worth trying. You could drop into the middle of a mob unseen, turn it off and fire your Soul Drain and still have instant Fury while maintaining the element of surprise.
Leadership would only be worth it really if you have a regular group to play with that has a concept and/or are balanced against each other. With that in mind, a team made almost entirely of Brutes with each running Assault could be a fearsome force to reckon with.
When you do die, and trust me that you will get your [censored] kicked sooner or later on some Trial or in a PvP match, nothing makes a more awesome comeback than Rise of the Phoenix. Burning vengance from beyond the grave! 
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Very nice bro, you covered just about everything. Now for my suggestions.
Consume, Dark Consumption, Soul Drain, and possibly Siphon Life should all have at least two Accuracy enchancers, especially at the SO levels. These powers are critical and a series of misses can doom your Brute, especially if he is Stamina-less. You'll thank me when Spectral Daemon Lords and Death Mages start debuffing your accuracy into the gutter.
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Very true, the only REAL problem with the DM/FA Brute is all the good powers. Limited slots, TONS of good powers. But I agree, it is nice to hit ALL the time vs. damn near always. I would actually recomend that you put a recharge in Siphon Life instead of an extra accuracy. At level 30 3 heals (at 30) gives you 199 hp back. Now that's actually alot, but if you got in over your head, and can't get out, it's always nice to have that heal up again faster, vs. hitting EVERY time. It's a grey area and depends on your playstyle, but yeah, good point.
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Cycling Brawl, Boxing, Shadow Punch, and Smite make for a great Fury building sequence. Getting Boxing makes taking Tough even more worth it if you're going for the Power-Build.
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Indeed. The first build listed is my own concept build. Jump Kick just looks so very sweet on Chatter, I can't imagine getting rid of it...I know it hurts fury, but MAN it looks good. But yeah, good chain, good fury, good SMASH!
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Consume, Dark Consumption, and Soul Drain are aggro-magnet powers. Once you fire those off everyone is going to be taking a shot at you, driving your Fury up quickly. Just make sure that you can survive the incoming assault long enough to dish it back out. In fact, I like to use Consume for topping myself off at the end of a battle and there is nothing like having all of your foes at a sliver of health and finishing them off while refilling your endurance at the same time.
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Great Minds my friend, Great Minds. Those are BIG agro Magnets, and after spending some time in Siren's Call, Jumping into groups groups of 20 Longbow, hitting Soul Drain and dying after one punch, that's good advice. Bubbler would help, if that cowardly MasterMind would deign to come out of his PFF long enough to throw one on you...
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Shadow Maul's greatest strength is that it is a cone attack. Once you get manuevered to line up your targets, the trick is to target the guy behind the one you are closest to, someone in the middle of the mob. That greatly increases your chance of hitting most of the mob with a single attack.
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My record is 5 guys at once, have never been able to do it since. That power REALLY needs range enhancements able to be added for the Cone Range. 2 is standard 3 is good. If you hit 4, light a cigarette baby, it don't get better than that.
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Blazing Aura may seem like pitiful damage at first, but with full Fury and a good Soul Drain buff you can get those damage ticks past 30 damage each without slotting any damage into the power at all. This is one of the keys to taking down large mobs quickly, the aura whittles them down so you don't have to hit them so many times in the long run.
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YES! someone finally believes me!!! Yeah, I think since Beta started that was my opinion. I remember the other testers being all like, "no, BA sucks, don't take it" I was like, "Fury guys, FURY" they went, "....ohhhh....wow, good point"
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I strongly recommend Combat Jumping, Superjump, and Acrobatics. Combat Jumping gives great resistance to Immobilization, which Fire Aura lacks greatly. Superjump is just an awesome travel power. Acrobatics provides strong Knockback and some extra Hold resistance. If you hate getting rooted and knocked around, this is the power pool for you.
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Yup, old standby, never fails the Firey Aura does it? Leaping is by FAR the best choice for the DM/FA Brute. not only do you have access to the status resists, but that paltry 5% defense ACTUALLY does something in combat. It's amazing how much less often you get hit.
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As for Concealment, a Stealth Brute might be an interesting concept worth trying. You could drop into the middle of a mob unseen, turn it off and fire your Soul Drain and still have instant Fury while maintaining the element of surprise.
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Yeah, but really that's just not how I feel this combo should go. it's all about the SMASH! . You COULD do it, you could try it, and hell that extra defense again, it helps, but as most Brute Vets know, once that Fury starts to build, you could care less about tactics.... KILL KILL KILL SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! Dead.....oops
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Leadership would only be worth it really if you have a regular group to play with that has a concept and/or are balanced against each other. With that in mind, a team made almost entirely of Brutes with each running Assault could be a fearsome force to reckon with.
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Assault is actually worth it for EVERY offensive AT out there, it may not seem like it at first, but hey, 5, 10, 12, 20% whatever the numbers are for extra damage is still 5, 10, 12, 20% EXTRA damage. And with ED it may be worth it. TACTICS though, there's a power that you may want to pick up upon further consideration. not only will you hit JUST A BIT MORE, but them darn Stalkers and hidden Scrappers start to become ALOT easier to deal with.
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When you do die, and trust me that you will get your [censored] kicked sooner or later on some Trial or in a PvP match, nothing makes a more awesome comeback than Rise of the Phoenix. Burning vengance from beyond the grave!
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OH YEAH!!! Nothing pisses people off more in PvP than killing a Brute, only to be BLASTED by his cold dead corpse. And while they're getting to their feet, stumbling around disoriented, you're calmly putting your toggles back up, cracking your knuckles and ITCHING to get vengance. Not to mention that it does pretty keen damage with just a few slots (not that more than 2 extra for damage does much).
Before the AoE nerf, my record with Shadow Maul was around 25-30. Herded a bunch of Nemesis Jaegers up with Invinc, got them to stack, and let it rip. I died from the explosions 
Does Blazaing Aura build Fury?
I heard that it didn't before, from other beta testers, but if it does, wow. That's gotta be insane.
No, check out the notes on that power above.
Blazing Aura (while not building up fury) is affected by fury.
So each tic won't add to your fury bar, but you'll see the damage go from 10-30 in a matter of seconds in a big fight.
TAKE BLAZING AURA! It WILL help, adds agro, damage is buffed, and with Fury and Soul Drain and Firey Embrace, [censored]!!!
BA does not build fury, just gets cooler from fury
It can build Fury indirectly by attracting and holding aggro. The more those guys are aiming at you the better your Fury will grow.
Awesome job fellas. I get goose bumps just thinking about my little DM/FA brute.
P.S. Can you still "stack" creeps? THe invuln fella who said he nailed 25-30 of um sounded realllllyy nice.
When there is no room left in Hell, the Dead shall walk the earth.
I believe that there is a hard target cap set for Melee oriented cones, so you can't hit more than 5, I believe. Additionally, if you were going to take Stamina with this build, I highly suggest taking Hurdle over Swift, just because Hurdle stacks nicely with Combat Jumping, which helps you travel pretty darned fast before level 14. Sure, you look like a mexican jumping bean. But you'll be a fast bean!
Save the drama for yo' mama.
ahhh, but Swift equals MOB HERE DEAD! NEW MOB! SMASH!
I tried it both ways in beta, and I gotta say, Swift gave better SMASH! results. Less degredation of fury between mob groups.
then agian, the difference between Hurdle travel with CJ vs Swift travel with CJ 2 levels, and then, you got SJ going on, so who cares.
I've found that Swift get's you from group to group alot faster than you'd think. And with just one endrecovery in stamina, you can leave sprint on and still fill up from your Consume/Dark embrace combo without having too many issues. Without sprint on, you'll do great, with sprint, be carefull.
But again, you're results may vary.
With Combat Jumping Hurdle is redundant. Swift means getting to mobs quicker without have to turn on Sprint and having it draining your endurance.
Okay, to each their own, but Hurdle still stacks with Super Jump at 14, while Swift is just sitting around unused for me, at least. Hurdle adds to jump distance, so it'll always be good in my book.
Save the drama for yo' mama.
Don't missunderstand me. Hurdle is great, I like it with most of my builds, it's very versitile. In fact, I could go with EVERY power in the fitness line. I think they're all that good. But given a choice for a DM/FA Brute, Swift's the way to go. No question in my mind.
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With Combat Jumping Hurdle is redundant. Swift means getting to mobs quicker without have to turn on Sprint and having it draining your endurance.
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Not true.
Hurdle increases the speed you traverse the ground, as well as increasing your jump height. The increase in horizontal travelling speed just from having Hurdle running is greater than that provided by Swift.
Go test it for yourself if you don't believe me - get two level 6 characters to race, one with Swift and one with Hurdle.
If you're choosing between Swift and Hurdle purely based on which will get you from mob to mob quicker, Hurdle will do a better job, even if that fact seems less intuitive.
Hurdle also stacks with Combat Jumping, and once you get Super Jump, it stacks with that too, increasing your main travel power's travel speed.
Hurdle is the superior choice in every way.
-k
I wonder, does Touch of Fear build Fury?
It's a quick activating/fast recharging melee attack. I wonder if it would be useful to have it in a Fury-building attack chain.
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With Combat Jumping Hurdle is redundant. Swift means getting to mobs quicker without have to turn on Sprint and having it draining your endurance.
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Combat Jumping + Hurdle can be faster than Swift + Sprint (also faster than CJ + Swift).
Even in tunnels and hallways, if you get the knack for it, you can do some 'quick-hopping' and get around fairly quickly.
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With Combat Jumping Hurdle is redundant. Swift means getting to mobs quicker without have to turn on Sprint and having it draining your endurance.
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Not true.
Hurdle increases the speed you traverse the ground, as well as increasing your jump height. The increase in horizontal travelling speed just from having Hurdle running is greater than that provided by Swift.
Go test it for yourself if you don't believe me - get two level 6 characters to race, one with Swift and one with Hurdle.
If you're choosing between Swift and Hurdle purely based on which will get you from mob to mob quicker, Hurdle will do a better job, even if that fact seems less intuitive.
Hurdle also stacks with Combat Jumping, and once you get Super Jump, it stacks with that too, increasing your main travel power's travel speed.
Hurdle is the superior choice in every way.
-k
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Hurdle and CJ do NOT stack for vertical leap height. Tested myself on test server. And hurdles doesn't help your speed much in door and cave mish where the ceiling is too low for bunny rabbit hop moving. I take Hurdle when I have SS, swift otherwise.
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Hurdle and CJ do NOT stack for vertical leap height. Tested myself on test server. And hurdles doesn't help your speed much in door and cave mish where the ceiling is too low for bunny rabbit hop moving. I take Hurdle when I have SS, swift otherwise.
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Hurdle gives a +19.54 + LVL*0.094 f/s increase to your horizontal speed (unslotted.) It also gives a +6 ft jump height increase.
Combat Jumping gives a +0.25 f/s horizontal speed increase, and a +8ft jump height increase.
They do stack (tested via parsing of demos files.)
By comparison Swift gives +5.20 + LVL * 0.043 increase in horizontal speed.
I don't have any trouble bunny hopping through cave and office missions but I guess that's a personal thing.
There is an excellent post here which breaks down and gives detail for every movement speed increasing power in the game, if you want more info.
-k
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Hurdle and CJ do NOT stack for vertical leap height. Tested myself on test server. And hurdles doesn't help your speed much in door and cave mish where the ceiling is too low for bunny rabbit hop moving. I take Hurdle when I have SS, swift otherwise.
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Hurdle gives a +19.54 + LVL*0.094 f/s increase to your horizontal speed (unslotted.) It also gives a +6 ft jump height increase.
Combat Jumping gives a +0.25 f/s horizontal speed increase, and a +8ft jump height increase.
They do stack (tested via parsing of demos files.)
By comparison Swift gives +5.20 + LVL * 0.043 increase in horizontal speed.
I don't have any trouble bunny hopping through cave and office missions but I guess that's a personal thing.
There is an excellent post here which breaks down and gives detail for every movement speed increasing power in the game, if you want more info.
-k
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Well thats interesting because in i5 I did standing test jumps with CJ on and off (with hurdle) and my vertical height leap was indentical. How can we have had different experiences?
nice guide, played this in beta, lots of utility.
start your own hurdle/swift argument elsewhere, kids.
hi
how is this build ?
Exported from version 1.5C of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh
Archetype: Brute
Primary Powers - Ranged : Dark Melee
Secondary Powers - Support : Fiery Aura
01 : Fire Shield endred(01) damres(3) damres(3) damres(5)
01 : Shadow Punch endred(01) dam(5) dam(9) acc(11) acc(34)
02 : Smite endred(02) dam(7) dam(7) dam(9) acc(15) acc(40)
04 : Shadow Maul endred(04) dam(11) dam(13) dam(13) acc(15) acc(40)
06 : Blazing Aura endred(06) acc(17)
08 : Siphon Life recred(08) hel(19) hel(19) hel(21) acc(21) acc(23)
10 : Healing Flames recred(10) recred(23) recred(25) hel(25) hel(27) hel(17)
12 : Combat Jumping endred(12)
14 : Super Jump jmp(14)
16 : Plasma Shield endred(16) damres(27) damres(29) damres(29)
18 : Dark Consumption recred(18) recred(31) recred(31) acc(31) acc(40)
20 : Consume recred(20) recred(33) recred(33) acc(33) acc(39)
22 : Acrobatics endred(22)
24 : Swift runspd(24)
26 : Health hel(26) hel(34) hel(39)
28 : Soul Drain recred(28) recred(34) recred(36) acc(36) acc(39)
30 : Boxing acc(30)
32 : Midnight Grasp endred(32) dam(37) dam(37) acc(37) acc(36)
35 : Tough endred(35)
38 : Rise of the Phoenix hel(38)
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I have a question, now having got my Dark/Fire to 16. How the heck do we stop knockback? I don't see any inherent power that does..?
I can take acrobatics I guess, but I read mixed posts on how well that works.... 
comments from experience..?
Acrobatics will stop all but the strongest knockback. Only a few archvillains have ever been powerful enough to knock me down with it running.
Wow this seems like a nice choice for Brutes. I know Faeri will be looking at this and will go ca ca for co-co nuts when he sees these builds.
Before we begin, special thanks to the following guides, for hooking me on the Brute AT.
Brute = SMASH!
The Art of SMASH!
Vs Guide to Brute Numbers
Ok, so you want to be the most powerful Brute out there huh? You want to SMASH! your opponents to pulp. You want to see the flames of your armor glint off their terrified eyes. You want, well to be mighty. Right then, DM/FA Brutes are for you.
PRIMARY Dark Melee
Heres the skinny on this particular build. DM has MANY utility powers. Fear, Accuracy Debuff, Heal, Endurance regeneration, build-up type attack, oh, and SMASH! Lots of SMASH! Lets look at the powers.
LEVEL 1 Shadow Punch
DESCRIPTION You wrap your fists with Negative Energy channeled from the Netherworlds, then perform a quick punch that deals minor damage. Shadow Punches cloud the target's vision, lowering his Accuracy for a short time. Great for building Fury.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 acc, 1 end redux, 3 damage, 1 acc debuff
LEVEL 1 Smite
DESCRIPTION You wrap your fists with Negative Energy channeled from the Netherworlds, then perform a Smite that deals more damage than Shadow Punch, but has a longer recharge time. Smite clouds the target's vision, lowering his Accuracy for a short time. Again wonderful Fury generating attack. And the damage isnt that bad either.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 acc, 1 end redux, 3 damage, 1 acc debuff
LEVEL 2 Shadow Maul
DESCRIPTION You wrap your entire arms with Negative Energy channeled from the Netherworlds, then perform a series of blows that deal a lot of damage over a short period of time to multiple targets in front of you. These blows cloud your target's vision, lowering his Accuracy for a short time. The biggest downfall to this attack is the long animation. You can loose a lot of Fury using this attack, make sure youve used your Fury Building attacks first, THEN fire off this one.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 2 acc, 1 end redux, 3 damage (it should be noted that this power FEELS like it misses often, this is not the actual case, but to counteract this feeling a second accuracy enhancement is added. This will make it FEEL like it is hitting more often, especially against higher level foes)
LEVEL 6 Touch of Fear
DESCRIPTION The Netherworld is one scary place, and with but a touch, you can give your enemy a glimpse into this dark world. This will cause them to helplessly tremble in Fear. Foes in this state of panic have reduced Accuracy.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING For this build, none. Burning Aura will cause them to attack as often as it tics. The only use this power could have for this build is acc debuff.
LEVEL 8 Siphon Life
DESCRIPTION You tap the power of the Netherworld and create a life transferring conduit between a foe and yourself. This will transfer Hit Points from your enemy to yourself. Foes Siphoned in this manner have their Accuracy reduced. This power has a reputation for being useless. I disagree. Not only does it heal you for about 33% with the below slotting, but you can use it often (more often than Healing Flames at any rate), and use it as a Fury builder. In fact, it may be a bug, or pure perception, but it seems to me that one attack of Siphon Life builds more Fury than Shadow Punch and Smite combined. I always use this attack as the last step before firing off my Shadow Maul. Just to get that much closer to full Fury.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 acc, 1 end redux, 3 heal, 1 recharge
LEVEL 12 Taunt
DESCRIPTION Challenges a foe to attack you. Useful to pull a villain off an ally who finds himself in over his head. I dont usually recommend this power for Brutes. Youre not a CoH Tank, youre a Brute. You dont save your team mates, if they cant hack it, TOUGH, more for you to SMASH!
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 or 2 acc would be sufficient for this power, possibly a range or 2 as well.
LEVEL 18 Dark Consumption
DESCRIPTION The dark power of the Netherworld allows you to tap the essence of your foe's soul and transfer it to yourself. This will drain the Hit Points of your enemy and add to your Endurance. Heres another GREAT utility power for this build. Careful use of Dark Consumption and Consume can lead to a Stamina-less build. NOTE: Dark Consumption has a shorter range than Consume. Best used in tight mobs, and use Consume for looser groupings.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 acc, 3 recharge, damage if you have room. This power needs only hit a few mobs to regen your endurance to full. Dont waste slots with end recoveries unless you solo a lot, then put one in to get a bit more from those bosses.
LEVEL 26 Soul Drain
DESCRIPTION Using this power, you can drain the essence of all nearby foes' souls, thus increasing your own strength. Each affected foe will lose some Hit Points and add to your Damage and Accuracy. This is a GREAT power for this particular build. Ive used this as my opener in Sirens Call on those GREAT HORDES of Longbow agents that stream into hotspots, and usually manage to hit most, if not all, of them. Your damage SKYROCKETS with this power. The more you hit, the harder you hit, and the more accurate you are. Combined with Fury, all will tremble at the sound of your name.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 or 2 acc, 1 end redux, 3 recharge.
LEVEL 32 Midnight Grasp
DESCRIPTION Mastery over the forces of the Netherworld allows you to create dark tentacles that can Immobilize a foe and continuously drain his life force. Dude, this is your final attack. Of course its good. I put a hold in it just for those boss fights and AV/AH fights. The damage on this attack is SWEET, and the hold duration is great.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 acc, 3 damage, 1 hold duration
SECONDARY Fiery Aura
Fiery Aura has been called the best defensive set in the Brute/Tank line. I have to agree. Its great, a damage aura, a healing power, an endurance recovery, and a damage booster, sounds a lot like DM doesnt it? I think youre starting to get the picture
LEVEL 1 Fire Shield
DESCRIPTION While this power is active, Fire Shield gives you good resistance to Lethal, Smashing and Fire damage. Fire Shield also provides minimal resistance to Cold damage as well as protection from Disorient effects. This is your main defense power. You have to take it at Level one and even if you had a choice, Id still say take it. Its always going to be on, just accept it now.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 end redux, 3 resist damage
LEVEL 2 Blazing Aura
DESCRIPTION While active, you are surrounded by flames that burn all foes that attempt to enter melee range. Many people say to skip this power, I say take it, take it soon, and slot it with at least an Accuracy and End Redux FAST. Blazing Aura will do three times the damage of any other attack over time. I played for 6 hours straight one night, and my total damage from Blazing Aura was in the hundreds of thousands. Anyone who says this attack sucks is retarded. Fury boosts the damage of this attack, though is not affected by it. In other words, you can get up to 300% damage with Fury, but the damage tics will NOT help you build Fury, other than keeping a fair amount of agro on you. Take this power, youll find it much easier to SMASH! while its running.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 acc, 1 end redux, 3 damage
LEVEL 4 Healing Flames
DESCRIPTION You can concentrate for a few moments to heal yourself. The power of the flames can also protect you from Toxic Damage for a while. Take this power ASAP, slot EXACTLY as Ive noted. 3 recharge, 3 heals and this power comes up every 30 seconds or so for quite the healing buff.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 3 recharge, 3 heal
LEVEL 10 Temperature Protection
DESCRIPTION Temperature Protection gives you strong resistance to Fire damage, and some resistance to Cold damage as well. This power is always on and costs no Endurance.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING None. Dont take this power unless youre going for theme. Cold is rare in City of Heroes and City of Villians unless youre fighting PvP and even then its rare. Youre fire resist is already near or maxed with Fire Shield and Plasma Shield. And even without it, you still have a 12% resist, which while not great isnt bad either. If you do a lot of PvP, just lock onto the ice blaster and SMASH! him dead.
LEVEL 16 Plasma Shield
DESCRIPTION While this power is active, you are surrounded by pure plasma. The Plasma Shield gives you resistance to Energy, Negative Energy, and Fire damage. Plasma Shield also gives your protection from Sleep and Hold effects. Not only is this a no brainer for energy and N-energy attacks, this is MOST of your status resist. Take it at 16, I dont care what else you wanted to do, TAKE THIS AT 16!!!
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 end redux, 3 resist damage
LEVEL 20 Consume
DESCRIPTION You can drain body heat from all nearby foes in order to replenish your own Endurance. The more foes affected, the more Endurance is gained. Foes suffer minimal Fire damage.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 acc, 3 recharge, damage if you have room. This power needs only hit a few mobs to regen your endurance to full. Dont waste slots with end recoveries unless you do a lot of soloing. Even then, just add the one for when youre fighting only one mob and youre running REAL low on End.
LEVEL 28 Burn
DESCRIPTION You can ignite the ground beneath you. Foes that enter the flames you leave behind will take damage. You must be near the ground to activate this power.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 acc, 1 end redux, 1 recharge, 3 damage. It should be noted that most mobs will scatter to the four winds once you drop the burn patch. Taunting will result in them running back and forth into and out of the patch. This power is almost beyond useless unless your foes are immobilized in some way.
LEVEL 35 Fiery Embrace
DESCRIPTION Significantly boosts the damage of all your Fire attacks for quite a while. Also increases the damage of all your other non-fire based attacks for a short while.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 3 recharge, 1 end redux This power wont help your Dark attackstoo much, but it still helps, and it will do very nice things to Blazing Aura, and yes it stacks with Fury, so you might want to use this for those tougher battles.
LEVEL 38 Rise of the Phoenix
DESCRIPTION If you are defeated, you can rise from the ashes. The fiery resurrection blasts nearby foes with an explosion and knocks them down and Disorients them. You will revive with about half of your Hit Points and Endurance. Rise of the Phoenix will actually leave you invulnerable for a brief time.
RECOMMENDED SLOTTING 1 end regen Most people skip this power entirely. I take it only because its nice to be able to get up after a faceplant and not be worried about awakens or a team mate with some kind of Rez. The health should be no problem with Healing Flames and Siphon Life, and the recharge on it is not that long. If you find yourself dying more often than this power recharges youre doing something wrong.
Ok, now that we got the power descriptions out of the way, lets talk about Power Pools.
Concealment Why would you take this? You SMASH! not SNEAK! Let the Stalkers and squishies take this, you WANT your enemies to know youre there. Unless you have a thematic reason for taking Concealment, dont bother.
Fighting Boxing and Kick are great Fury builders. Fast recharge, Quick animation and low end cost make these wonderful in any attack chain. And Tough is superb for bringing up your S/L resists. With Fiery Aura and Tough, you can get a whopping 60% resist. But then again, thats another toggle to worry about when youve already got 2 healing powers. I skip it, others take it. Its really up to you. Weave on the other hand is nice in that with just two defense slots, youre at a 6% defense which while sucking, isnt anything to scoff at either, considering youre got great resists going on as well.
Fitness Whats not good about Fitness? Swift, run faster, Hurdle, jump higher, Health HEAL QUICKER, Stamina, more endurance. Now, I say get to Health and 3 slot that if you can find room, thatll VASTLY decrease downtime and actually help survivability in fights. Stamina, I say get it if you can, but dont worry about slots. Youve got 2 end recovery powers, use em. You dont even NEED Stamina if you stagger Consume and Dark Consumption correctly. But its nice to have. Between Swift and Hurdle, I say take Swift. Running faster is good when going from spawn to spawn.
Flight Hover is GREAT knockback protection, the one area youre going to be weak in, and Fly is the most versatile travel power there is. Air Superiority not only looks neat, but its fast animation, low end use and decent damage make it a superb Fury builder. Besides, it fits in with the whole SMASH! theme does it not? You dont need group flight, what are you a Controller or Mastermind? No! Youre a Brute.
Leadership Whens the last time you saw the Hulk giving pointers in a battle other than, PUNY MAN NO HURT HULK, HULK SHOW PUNY MAN HOW TO SMASH! Skip it, you got enough toggles running as it is.
Leaping AHH, the old standby for Fire Tanks. Yes, leaping is great. Best travel pool for PvP there is. Jump Kick may take longer than say Fighing powers or Air Superiority, but MAN, it sure does look cool. Combat Jumping is a must for extra immobilization defense, Super Jump is KEEN, what could be more SMASH!tastic? Acrobatics is your knockback protection. This is the way I usually go. If youre not getting Flight for your travel power, GET THIS INSTEAD!
Medicine Great for self healing and the occasional rez for a fallen team mate, but face it, youre a Brute. If your friend just did a faceplant its because he couldnt keep up the SMASH! and thats what got him killed. Skip this. Its just not your style.
Presence Could be a good set for a Brute, Provoke has its advantages, but hey, youre not a Tank, youre not Herding the map for your Blaster buddies to clean out in one big blaze of power. Youre a Brute. You SMASH! not TAUNT! Skip it, unless it makes sense for your own vision of your character that is.
Speed Flurry sucks for a Fury builder, but like Jump Kick, it looks cool. Hasten is good for extra recharge, but can no longer be made perma, so isnt really that necessary anymore, Superspeed is king of travel powers, unless you want to go up, Whirlwind has a bad reputation, but is really kinda nice once you understand how to use it. I say skip it, but if your Brute is a Speedster, then this if for you.
Teleportation I LOVE Teleport as a travel power, but you dont have room to mess with this set, skip it altogether. Although, TP Foe is kinda neat if you think about it
So, now you have an idea of what powers to take, and how to slot them, lets look at builds. Ill take em up to 40, because thats the cap for CoV right now.
Build One: Concept Build
Exported from version 1.5B of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh
Archetype: Brute
Primary Powers - Ranged : Dark Melee
Secondary Powers - Support : Fiery Aura
01 : Fire Shield endred(01) damres(3) damres(3) damres(5)
01 : Shadow Punch acc(01) endred(5) dam(36) dam(36) dam(37) acc(40)
02 : Smite acc(02) endred(7) dam(34) dam(36) dam(37) acc(40)
04 : Shadow Maul acc(04) endred(7) dam(27) dam(29) dam(29) acc(40)
06 : Blazing Aura acc(06) endred(9) dam(37) dam(39) dam(39)
08 : Siphon Life acc(08) endred(9) hel(11) hel(11) hel(27) recred(39)
10 : Healing Flames recred(10) recred(13) recred(13) hel(15) hel(15) hel(17)
12 : Jump Kick acc(12)
14 : Super Jump jmp(14)
16 : Plasma Shield endred(16) damres(17) damres(19) damres(19)
18 : Dark Consumption acc(18) recred(21) recred(21) recred(23)
20 : Acrobatics endred(20)
22 : Consume acc(22) recred(23) recred(25) recred(25)
24 : Swift runspd(24)
26 : Health hel(26)
28 : Stamina endrec(28)
30 : Soul Drain acc(30) recred(31) recred(31) recred(31) endred(34)
32 : Midnight Grasp acc(32) endred(33) dam(33) dam(33) dam(34)
35 : Burn dam(35)
38 : Rise of the Phoenix hel(38)
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I like this build, it makes me happy. This is the build I play, Im not min-maxed, I went with a theme Note the Jump Kick, the lack of Tough, no real slotting from Fitness. This is a fun little build for PLAYING, not for winning
Build Two: Min-Max Build
Exported from version 1.5B of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh
Archetype: Brute
Primary Powers - Ranged : Dark Melee
Secondary Powers - Support : Fiery Aura
01 : Fire Shield endred(01) damres(3) damres(3) damres(5)
01 : Shadow Punch acc(01) endred(5) dam(34) dam(37) dam(37)
02 : Smite acc(02) endred(7) dam(34) dam(37) dam(39)
04 : Shadow Maul acc(04) endred(7) dam(27) dam(29) dam(29)
06 : Blazing Aura acc(06) endred(9)
08 : Siphon Life acc(08) endred(9) hel(11) hel(11) hel(27) recred(40)
10 : Healing Flames recred(10) recred(13) recred(13) hel(15) hel(15) hel(17)
12 : Combat Jumping endred(12)
14 : Super Jump jmp(14)
16 : Plasma Shield endred(16) damres(17) damres(19) damres(19)
18 : Dark Consumption acc(18) recred(21) recred(21) recred(23)
20 : Consume acc(20) recred(23) recred(25) recred(25)
22 : Acrobatics Empty(22)
24 : Swift runspd(24)
26 : Health hel(26) hel(39) hel(40)
28 : Soul Drain acc(28) recred(31) recred(31) recred(31)
30 : Boxing acc(30)
32 : Midnight Grasp acc(32) endred(33) dam(33) dam(33) dam(34)
35 : Tough endred(35) damres(36) damres(36) damres(36)
38 : Fiery Embrace recred(38) recred(39) recred(40)
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This build focuses more on exactly what this combo is capable of. Note the lack of Stamina. Note the Health Slotting. Note Tough in the mix. This guy will SMASH! anything and everything in his way, and have a ball doing it. This is a character ment to kill, and need no help doing it. But is the min-max build for you?
Build One: Hover Build
Exported from version 1.5B of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh
Archetype: Brute
Primary Powers - Ranged : Dark Melee
Secondary Powers - Support : Fiery Aura
01 : Fire Shield endred(01) damres(3) damres(3) damres(5)
01 : Shadow Punch acc(01) endred(5) dam(36) dam(36) dam(37)
02 : Smite acc(02) endred(7) dam(34) dam(36) dam(37)
04 : Shadow Maul acc(04) endred(7) dam(27) dam(29) dam(29)
06 : Blazing Aura acc(06) endred(9)
08 : Siphon Life acc(08) endred(9) hel(11) hel(11) hel(27) recred(39)
10 : Healing Flames recred(10) recred(13) recred(13) hel(15) hel(15) hel(17)
12 : Hover endred(12)
14 : Fly fltspd(14) fltspd(34) fltspd(37)
16 : Plasma Shield endred(16) damres(17) damres(19) damres(19)
18 : Dark Consumption acc(18) recred(21) recred(21) recred(23)
20 : Consume acc(20) recred(23) recred(25) recred(25)
22 : Air Superiority acc(22) dam(40) dam(40) dam(40)
24 : Swift runspd(24)
26 : Health hel(26)
28 : Soul Drain acc(28) recred(31) recred(31) recred(31)
30 : Burn dam(30)
32 : Midnight Grasp acc(32) endred(33) dam(33) dam(33) dam(34)
35 : Fiery Embrace recred(35) recred(39) recred(39)
38 : Rise of the Phoenix hel(38)
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Heres a Flight build. Ive never used Hover for Knockback protection before, but hey, here ya go.
I hope this guide is helpful in your endeavors to SMASH! more effectively. I love the DM/FA Brute, and I think youll come to love it too.