I have a SS/FA Brute and I'd have to totally agree with the above posters. Speed is the key to a successful Brute. And what I mean by speed is the faster you can cycle your attacks, the better.
I usually start with Jab, then Punch, then Brawl. By the time you are through with your first Brawl, Jab is back up, then it's sort of a toss up between Brawl and Punch, depending on which cycles first. If you have Haymaker, you can toss that into the mix and there should almost always be at least one attack ready to go when you've finished with the previous one.
Since the attack recharges are different on each one, and some will cycle faster than others, I don't have a specific sequence of attacks, i.e. I don't sit there and wait for the first attack to finish cycling if I've just finished the last attack in the sequence. I will start off with a specific cycle, but then switch to whatever is up when I need to SMASH.
Also, try not to waste a high hitting attack like Haymaker on a mob that only has 2 hp left, it's an endurance waster to do that. Slot for Acc the most, since the more you miss, the longer it takes to SMASH something and the more endurance you lose in the process. At low levels endurance drain is the biggest obstacle to overcome. Even with Jab and Punch slotted with Acc and End enhancements, you should be doing pretty good damage and they will build fury very quickly which is the whole point behind a successful SMASH.
As far as inspirations go, dont carry any reds, you get enough damage with fury. Carry greens for healing and blues for endurance recovery, maybe a defense or two if you want, but Id focus on heal and end recovery.
I'm level 10 fire/stone and have just come fresh from soloing the 2 elite bosses in the Billy Heck PO arc. Yes you need 2 defence insps to do it (or at least it helps a lot), but I'm finding my brute very soloable. I'm not even using fury to the max, often struggling to get it going to any decent extent.
Duoing with a buffing corrupter is even better.
Dread Minotaur, Protector
It's true. This game is NOT rocket surgery. - BillZBubba
I got a SS/Inv Brute up to level 10 in beta. My impression is ---
Manage endurance consumption is key. I picked feeble passives over superior toggles in Inv because they didn't eat any; and since even the best resists are not that good anymore, I wouldn't take any toggles until after Stamina. Concentrate on your primary. Make sure your travel powers stay off regardless of how fast your teammates move.
Recharge is key. Endredux and recharge are almost as important as damage in attacks.
Your ideal is steady state fighting: there should always be another enemy in reach, you shouldn't take more than two or three on at a time. Pace yourself or do body pulls that aggro only part of the crowd.
If you mind your endurance, keep up your recharge, and keep punching at a steady state, your damage will take care of itself.
<《 New Colchis / Guides / Mission Architect 》>
"At what point do we say, 'You're mucking with our myths'?" - Harlan Ellison
Note: Brutes really don't need to slot up a lot of damage. SMASH takes care of it. TO's should be acc, maybe a end redux or two to keep you going without resting, and keeping that end meter, and more importantly that fury meter up.
0.0 fury makes baby jebus cry.
Once you get access to DOs, slot everything that is not passive with a Endurance Reducer. Then use the leftover money to get a Accuracy for each attack.
Always take the first two basic attacks and do use Brawl, those are your main Fury builders. Save your heavy attacks for when Fury is up to at least 40%
Anything else you can find in the Art of SMASH! guide.
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Once you get access to DOs, slot everything that is not passive with a Endurance Reducer. Then use the leftover money to get a Accuracy for each attack.
Always take the first two basic attacks and do use Brawl, those are your main Fury builders. Save your heavy attacks for when Fury is up to at least 40%
Anything else you can find in the Art of SMASH! guide.
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Never took the first attack, and I always start with my heaviest hitting attack. 3, 2, box and brawl have worked fine, and I garner enough fury from one set of mobs to move on to the next with a full meter.
"Guides" are only ment for people who want to follow other people's pattern. I'd suggest people try it out, see what builds up fury to your liking, and stick with it. After that, it's smooth sailing to 40.
Thank you everyone for the great information, we even got a developer post! I'm going to remake my Brute and take everyones advice and see if I like it any better. I'll also be evaluating the power sets to figure out what would best suit my style. But, maybe you guys can help here too!:
I want a self heal.
I want good damage mitigation. (+res)
I want to avoid an abundance of toggles.
I want a great single target attack.
Summary: Great solo.
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Never took the first attack, and I always start with my heaviest hitting attack. 3, 2, box and brawl have worked fine, and I garner enough fury from one set of mobs to move on to the next with a full meter.
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Every tried doing it the other way around? It's that heavy hitter that benefits most from Fury, not Brawl.
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"Guides" are only ment for people who want to follow other people's pattern. I'd suggest people try it out, see what builds up fury to your liking, and stick with it. After that, it's smooth sailing to 40.
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The Art of SMASH! is not a template or build guide, it is a FAQ for the Brute archetype so that people don't have to ask these same questions repeatedly.
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My advice, don't use your armors. Your attacks are your damage mitigation. Toggle defenses just drain your endurance, which means you have to rest more, which means you have lower fury, which means you do less damage, which means you get hit more by enemies.
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This is dangerous advice. The toggles don't drain all that much endurance to begin with, and the S/L toggles mean you're taking about 3/4 the damage without them. You can rely on dropped inspirations to keep you fighting, and sometimes shut off a toggle to get end back. Overall, however, my experience doesn't really support turning off the toggles, as I find that having low health can be worse at times than low end. And, there is nothing wrong with letting fury go down occasionally so you can be certain of surviving the next fight.
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Note: Brutes really don't need to slot up a lot of damage. SMASH takes care of it. TO's should be acc, maybe a end redux or two to keep you going without resting, and keeping that end meter, and more importantly that fury meter up.
0.0 fury makes baby jebus cry.
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Three damage SOs means doing 200-400% base damage.
Zero damage SOs means doing 100-300% base damage.
Just saying.
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I hope he meant that Brutes don't need to slot for damage right away.
By the 20's you should be slotting for Damage.
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I'm actually considering slotting rest for the 1st time in my CoH/V career. Figure 1 rec-red and 2 int-reds should do it. I'll start with 1 int-red when I get home to see how much it helps.
That pause before the immobilized flag goes up is a killer.
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IntReds won't help the pause before the Immob+Heal happens, they'll just make it so that you can only be interupted during a smaller fraction of the pause. And really, if you're anywhere where you might be interupted, you probably don't want to use Rest.
I have to admit that I'm considering the possibility of slotting Rest for Heal and Recovery. If I have to pause and Heal, I want to minimize my Fury loss, so topping off the tank quicker has some appeal. Haven't decided though, and it won't be til the 20s at the earlist in any case.
"Trust me, it worked in the Simpsons." - Calash
For my energy/energy brute (which I had at 24 in Beta, and am now remaking for Live), I took the first two attacks, then got some secondaries, as well as Build Up, before taking a third energy attack. With a recharge on Brawl, I used that, plus the first two energy attacks, for my fighting.
I put two accuracies and an endurance reducer on each attack (not Brawl), and didn't bother with damage enhancers until I had some defense/resist slotted up. I'm planning on two acc, 1 end reducer (2 or 3 for toggle defenses), and 3 damage per attack, or 2 damage and a disorient enhancement (haven't decided yet).
The key is Fury, so rush from spawn to spawn, popping Catch a Breaths when needed, and only stopping when you're about to run out of end. It's actually kinda intense, just Resting, as you're watching your endurance go back up, as well as your Fury plummeting. I find myself thinking "c'mon, Rest, faster faster", and have even dropped out of Rest early, just so I have a decent amount of Fury left in order to SMASH! =^_^=
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Peppermint Cat-- Lv50 Mewtant Ice/Eng Bls
i looooooooove playing hte brute. I didn't like scrappers or tanks in COH. but fury is about the most fun thing that I think I have ever had to play with. building up the furry, trying to keep it up as you run from group to group is so different play style.
Just remember you are not going for alpha strikes. you are trying to manage the fury so you can give big SMASH.
I think Accuracy is more important to slot than damages. more damage is always better, but before you get SO acc, slot heavy on accuracy.
I love this game.
-k
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Thanks for the replies all, here is my build up to 8 as requested:
Archetype: Brute
Primary Powers - Ranged : Super Strength
Secondary Powers - Support : Fiery Aura
01 : Fire Shield damres(01) damres(5)
01 : Punch dam(01) dam(3) acc(7)
02 : Haymaker dam(02) dam(3) acc(5)
04 : Blazing Aura dam(04) dam(7)
06 : Healing Flames recred(06)
08 : Knockout Blow recred(08)
Slotting might be SLIGHTLY off, I didn't go in game to check, have to get ready for work.
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ouch! same type brute here but i took jab and it works wonders for fury...i think that is your problem. in fact rest of powers i have the same powers and i solo on viscious, had to tone that down when i was facing a psi elite boss but other then that been soling since 1-10 on viscious...i do use insprs for bosses but that is normal imho.
Suggestion:
Air Superiority
This power is essentially a faster-recharging Haymaker (and therefore less damaging) with a near 100% knockdown chance.
This power makes bosses, even elite bosses a cakewalk. Once you're able to slot SO's, one recharge reducer and you can pretty much guarantee a foe is on its back for the duration of a fight. Also, if you're fighting a pack of minions, you can AS several of the minions to keep from getting hit a lot (useful when you're low on health and high on rage).
My 15 SS/Fire Brute has Punch/Brawl/AS/Haymaker (after testing Jab/Brawl/AS/Haymaker/KO Blow up to 26 in beta) and seriously kicks buttocks. Personally, I found Jab to not work well for my play style.
Of course, do what's fun for you! AS may not make thematic sense for a Fire/Fire brute, for example. Happy brute-ing ... er, SMASH!!!-ing!
Edit: Oh and as has been mentioned before ... try using your first few attacks (the low-endurance ones) to build Fury ... even if it means not attacking for a second, try not to use KO Blow or Haymaker until your Fury meter is 40% or higher. You will find you run out of gas (endurance) MUCH less frequently this way as you're not burning too much to get your fury up, and then when it *is* up, you can pound your foes into the pavement with relatively less endurance use.
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Archetype: Brute
Primary Powers - Ranged : Super Strength
Secondary Powers - Support : Fiery Aura
01 : Fire Shield damres(01) damres(5)
01 : Punch dam(01) dam(3) acc(7)
02 : Haymaker dam(02) dam(3) acc(5)
04 : Blazing Aura dam(04) dam(7)
06 : Healing Flames recred(06)
08 : Knockout Blow recred(08)
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replace the damage with recharge reduction on the haymaker and the punch.
if you start running out of end, replace the other damage with endurance reduction.
get jab as soon as you can. you need to be always hitting things.
Building Rage is more important than base damage.
Don't be ashamed to pause between battles. It's not your fault you're worthless and weak. 
Also, don't obsess about solo; this is an MMO, so grab a partner in crime.
If you can't solo with a brute you definitely have build issues or went with EA...J/K
DM/Invul, never have trouble soloing, usually do it to and from mish. You'll definitely build faster xp if you keep the damage up. slotting rest?? Wow, can't find a useful power to use 2 more slots on?
I'd rather triple-slot Health, it actually works well on my Scrapper.
Ok guys, I've looked over everything and have narrowed down my rebuilt Brute to the following combinations: SS/Fire, SS/Invuln, SS/Stone
I have builds ready for all three, that I think will work based off the suggestions given by everyone in this thread. So which do you think would work the best minimizing downtime and maximizing damage in a solo situation?
Thanks once again!
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Ok guys, I've looked over everything and have narrowed down my rebuilt Brute to the following combinations: SS/Fire, SS/Invuln, SS/Stone
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Go with SS/Invuln. But don't throw out the old brute, make a new brute! That's why you have 132 character slots now!
----
Topeka (fire/energy), Barnacle Betty (strength/stone), Angryman (dark/fire), and 9 non-brutes, and 65 "heroes".
p.s. Hey board devs! Why is there no UBB code for _underline_ for heaven's sake?
Exactly keep the old brute around, he can be fixed it will just be slow to gain the levels and fix him.
/stone has the best defense of those but has some serious draw backs to be aware of. Rooted while literaly the best remaining regen power in the game slows your movement to a crawl. It can be toggled on and off to move from group to group, but some people find toggling it annoying, and if your facing a group of mezzers you could be introuble before you get it back up. It can be fixed by taking swift from the fitness pool and 3 slotting it for run SO's.
The second major draw back is the flat out best defense out there. 
That is granite armor. It does the same negative to your movement but it also actually slows down your attacks by a noticable amount. Your safe in it but it may prove to slow for you.
With those two warnings /stone is a nifty set. Now /inv is nice as well and holds up well.
But it's MY sadistic mechanical monster and I'm here to make sure it knows it. - Girl Genius
List of Invention Guides
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Thanks for the replies all, here is my build up to 8 as requested:
Archetype: Brute
Primary Powers - Ranged : Super Strength
Secondary Powers - Support : Fiery Aura
01 : Fire Shield damres(01) damres(5)
01 : Punch dam(01) dam(3) acc(7)
02 : Haymaker dam(02) dam(3) acc(5)
04 : Blazing Aura dam(04) dam(7)
06 : Healing Flames recred(06)
08 : Knockout Blow recred(08)
Slotting might be SLIGHTLY off, I didn't go in game to check, have to get ready for work.
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As everyone else has noted, I can tell you right off the bat that your problems stem from a lack of Jab. It's not too late for you; pick it up at 10. Conventional Tanker wisdom says to ignore/skip Jab, but Brutes are not Tankers. In fact you need both Jab and Brawl. Jab and Brawl your way to about 1/3 Fury before throwing in Punch and Haymaker, and then the SMASH can begin.
There is nothing wrong with Brute soloability. In beta I ran the cape mission at 21 with no enhancements, and though it was slow going for obvious reasons I was able to handle about two spawns before needing a rest. It's all about your SMASHING strategy.
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My 19 Dark/Dark is eminently soloable. I have only a small handful of DOs (I'm saving for SOs); despite this I can usually ramage through entire missions without stopping. Endurance is my most common issue (The only DOs I've purchased have been endreduce for my toggles and Maul), though I find that simply not running my shields helps; I tend to eat through enemies quickly enough (due to high Fury) that the damage I take is within reason.
This no doubt depends greatly on your difficulty slider, however. I find that heroic allows me to use the above tactics. Were I to adjust the slider upwards, I think I would have to stop and rest, thus losing the advantage of Fury, so I suspect my experience rate is significantly *higher* at this lower setting. (Though I have not done the math.)
Rule of thumb for me from beta.
Put 2 ACC in your attacks, and LEAVE IT like that till the teens. Then put a End Redux in there. Slot your sheilds HEAVILY from the start. One ALL your sheilds are at what ever slotting you eventually want, THEN slot your damage in your attacks.
Brutes do enough damage with Fury.
Thing to do is use your quick chargeing attacks FIRST, then when your fury is up, THEN use your heavy hitting attacks..