SS / Stone
My character is much more of a "concept character", though, than a max/min character.
I haven't got "rooted" yet, though. I'm worried that the slowdown from rooted will pretty much end this character. I'm willing to 2 or 3 slot swift to remain viable as a brute.
The "ugly look" of stone armour fits perfectly with my character, ugly thing that he is. Hopefully it'll get uglier when I get the higher level armours (I'm 14th right now).
"Granite" armour: If / when I reach the point where I've taken all my core concept powers, I might take this. I need to test it out on test server first, though... I don't want it to break the character concept.
Rooted : Does "rooted" slow attack speeds ? If it does, then my character concept is shot, and I'll switch to my dark/dark brute (another concept I built up nicely, but haven't played it very much).
Stone/Fire here.I love Stone melee even though the attacks are a little slower than the Fire/Fire i ran with in the Beta.
O ye that love cake! Ye that love to lick and nibble, stand forth! Freedom to taste and savor hath been hunted round the boards. If I am to be denied my cake ere long, let it be said that I went to my fate with a face full of creamy frosting and a smile on my face.
Go. Nibble. Lick Cake!
EM/Dark. I know both work sets well independantly. I'm finding the teens a bit slow, but I'm pushing through for what the build will be like in the late 20s and early 30s, where I think it will really bloom. Other sets are good early, but I think this will work out nicely in the end.
Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA
I went with SS/Fire ... I played DM/EA in Beta and DM/Fire in the event.
I picked SS because I believe its best at getting Fury, and I do think that's correct. Also KO Blow is a great attack and does a ton of damage.
I got kind of frustrated with DM and my fury bar not building fast enough. Adding Boxing or Air Sup would have helped I'm sure.
I took that right away although min max fury builders might want to take Haymaker.
There aren't any bad primaries. I think DM is the most solo friendly, with Siphon Life and Touch of Fear you can solo red bosses easily.
I'm thinking that I will have to take Boxing/Tough though.
I'm not convinced FA gives better defense than EA, might be about the same.
I rolled a DM/EA have enjoyed it so far. I'm only lvl 5 but the forums sure predict DOOM for me with EA. We'll see.
*points to sig*
Um yeah. I still have a few levels till the build comes into it's own, as 90% of the time I'm without toggles.
Dark Regen is my new favorite power though. Recharge is a lot faster than I thought, and it's the perfect "OH CRAP" button for me if I take on too much.
End is an issue, but I'm sure all brutes are facing that, with the exception of EA after 28. Stamina is helping, SO's in that will help more in a few levels. SO's in end redux in attacks and shields will also.
I originally rolled my brute as eng/ea, but got tired of it after nearly making lvl 10 so re-rolled him as eng/invul. So far, I'm loving it. I'm playing at the second difficulty setting right now.. and that's not to say that it's easy.. it's fairly tough, but I love it.
But usually, I roll whatever smashes my fancy. Right now that's Skull Fist, master of the Skull Fisting!
Energy/Fire
Energy/Energy -which is pretty hard going so far.
My DM/Fire Ninja Pirate brute (Arrrrr-san) seems a lot easier to play, though it may just be because I'm teaming with my regular crew two of whom are playing buffers of some sort. (Ice corrupter, and bubble dom)
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Rooted : Does "rooted" slow attack speeds ? If it does, then my character concept is shot, and I'll switch to my dark/dark brute (another concept I built up nicely, but haven't played it very much).
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No, Rooted only slows movement speed. Also single-slotted Swift brings you up to a bearable movement speed for a Tank, but a Brute will definitely want to slot it in order to move from enemy to enemy.
Fire/Fire, since my tanker was Fire/Fire.
Also made an EM/Stone (two sets I've been meaning to try).
Heroes of Justice: Geratron - 50 FA/FM Tanker
Villains of Infinity: Psychotron - 50 FM/FA Brute, Operative Gerald - 50 Arachnos Widow
Rogues of Exalted: Peanut Butter Fairy - 50 FM/FA Brute
Fire/Fire because it's just so pretty.
Girl in pirate hat with fire sword... what could be better? No, she's no pirate, she justs like the hat... and burns anyone who dares mock it!
Together we entered a city of strangers, we made it a city of friends, and we leave it a City of Heroes. - Sweet_Sarah
BOYCOTT NCSoft (on Facebook)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/517513781597443/
Governments have fallen to the power of social media. Gaming companies can too.
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Hard to dispute a red name choice.
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You must be new to the forums. 
(Good to see a fellow Minnesotan out there! 
GO VIKES! No, seriously, just go.)
My Brute is EM / DA.
Energy Melee just seems to be the essence of Brutes. Several small fast attacks, and a couple of the hardest hits in the game. Fury + Buildup + Energy Transfer + Total Focus FTW! 
Dark Armor has good (not great) blanket coverage, including the ever-elusive psi resist, plus a self heal and a few utility powers. I've found that my costume has hardly been obscured at all, especially with the Huge body type.
Yeah...I went EM/EA too...and I'm not sure about it yet. I've been fine soloing so far (only lvl 8), but I'm not sure I dig the disorient effects of EM over other options (suck as knockback, auras, or fears) - the effect visual is harder to see in a chaotic lagfest, and the fact that the mobs STILL wander away - sometimes up stairs or flying - is a real PITA.
Additionally, I'm not sure how I feel about the defense-based EA set. It does offer an early smashing/lethal resist power, so it seems to be fairly balanced, but it doesn't feel as 'good' as my /SR toons in CoH. I'm not sure how, down-the-line, this secondary set will hold out.
All-in-all, I'll probably re-roll with something else just to see...
Energy/Fire, totally rocks! Lvl 10 in the short time I could play this past weekend, solo's like a charm. Wishing I could turn my main fire tanker into this back in COH.... maybe that crossover respec trial down the road? Interesting...
I'm playing EM/EA right now, after playing one in the beta and really enjoying it. I've also started a DM/FA, mostly because it fits the character concept, but also to try making a brute without the fitness pool. Wish me luck!
I'm playing Stone/EA. Love it. Once the rage bar fills...
to quote
"THE HAMMER SPEAKS FOR ITSELF" -Chain
The Maori 7 Stone/EA smashmaster
SS/INV on one of my Brutes and DM/INV on another.
I got me 2 Brutes at the moment, and gotta say, these guys are why I loved my Claws/Regen back in the Mighty Days. 1st one is a Fire/DA. We all know the sweet call of psychic shielding, and Fire attacks seem very end friendly with that sweet DoT and little resist from the Baddies . Now My other Brute is the wicked Stone/Fire combo. Still figuring the Fire shielding out, but from what I gather, as diverse as Dark Armor, with less toggle , no Brain Shield though 
.Stone attacks are off the freakin' chart. I mean is this legal? hehe, no, I suppose not eh? . I know that there are plent of higher lvl baddies with Smash resist, but having your first 3 attacks be Moderat, High, and Superior, in that order, and you get them all by lvl 6 I mean, holy crapola! I'm doing 70 dmg to Lt.s with Rage only halfway! Now, the end drain is more pronounced, think I'm going 2 end reducts with those babies, and recharges cus their expensive AND slow.
Anyhoo, those are my two boys. Their still young, but Daddies very proud! 
I decided to start off with a brute after trying out everything beta and the pvp events.
Decided to go Superstrength/Stone Armor love it so far especially since I slotted up some knock back enhancements.
Super Strength/Dark Amor 4TW!!!111
Rage will compliment the Fury meter quite nicely. Also, the To Hit bonues from Rage will allow me to put some nice Endurance Reductions in my slotting in stead of Accuracy and Damage. With Perma Rage, you should be able to hit that damage cap on a Brute without having a full Fury Meter.
Also Dark Armor has it's little bonuses that were just perfect for my concept. Having played an Inv/SS tanker since I began playing this game, I hated the fact that I couldn't stand a chance against Psi Damage Dealers. Well Dark Armor solves that problem with around a 60% Resistance to Psi Damage. Also the PBAoE's from this set like Stun and Fear are nice on top of the Damage AoE that can act as Aggro getter. I like the self heal which really is built around herding. If I'm in the middle of large mob and getting smacked to hell, I hit the self heal and bam! all better. I also like the Self-Rez which can be useful if you take a dive while aggroing a big mob.
But DA rely's on Tough for any good Smash/Lethal Resistance, so instead of Punch, I'll have to respec into Boxing later on and grab Tough.
took em/ea
tried brutes in beta and said meh its ok another melee set
decided on giving them another try just a few hours ago
soloed to level 10 in under 4 hours which includes making the costume and character background which took a half hour itself
ran the hellions mission at the end of mercy contact mongoose was level 5/6 on malicious so no huge cons but it took under 5 minutes which included me dying once using only punch/barrage
Energy/Fire Aura
Could not decide so I built 4, 2 on Virtue, 2 on Liberty
SS/Inv
DM/FA
FM/DA
SS/Eng
Probably played in that order