Ok ok ok, so many of you are saying, "Why do we need a guide for one of the more popular builds?" Well, to put it bluntly, because some people make poor builds.
First off, Lets go over the pros and cons of Energy/Stone
Energy:
Just about every power in this primary set has a disorient factor. Some have low magnatude, low percentage to hit (with disorient) and some are high magnatude and always hit. Now, what does this mean for you as a Brute? Simple. If they are stunned and doing the stupid man's drunk dance, they aren't hitting you.
"But Kubwulf, I'm a Brute, I want them to hit me."
True, to a point. However, if you can stun that boss and LT and build Fury taking out the minions, by the time that boss has gathered his wits from where you scattered them, you'll be at full fury and ready to grind him into dust with minimal effort.
The other good point is that Energy has a fairly fast attack chain with a little helpful slotting. Example: On Stone Fang, my 40 Energy/Stone Brute, I have one recharge in Bonesmasher. My attack chain looks something like this...
Barrage, energy punch, brawl, Bonesmasher, rinse and repeat. Once I have 80+ Fury I start mixing Total Focus and Energy Transfer in there. Point is, Energy is by far one of the most end friendly sets that I have experienced. I won't go so far as to say its the BEST end friendly set, but for my needs, I wouldn't look anywhere else.
Stone Armor:
Defensive set. They can't hit you, you take no damage. One of the best defensive sets in the game. Gives you a self heal (Earth's Embrace) an AoE damage/slow/taunt aura, a regen power (Rooted) and resistance/defense to every energy type in the game including psionics.
Cons:
Energy Melee:
Pink pom-poms of death aren't very brutish looking. I consider this cosmetic and not much of a downside. Others find it deplorable that they have to SMASH stuff with pink pom-poms.
Your too biggest attacks have drawbacks. Total Focus is a great damage dealer with a very good chance to stun in both PvE and PvP. However, it has a very slow animation time.
Energy Transfer, while fast (animation wise) has the drawback of using your HP to charge it. Now, I don't see a big problem with this since the HP used are the same no matter if you use it to open your attack when you have no Fury as if you use it at 80+ Fury.
Stone Armor:
Running Rooted, although it gives you status protection vs just about everything, it slows you to a crawl. You either live with it, and take TP as a travel power, or you burn slots in Swift to make up for it.
Post 38 you get Granite Armor. Awesome power in my opinion. However, you can't run, fly, jump, with this power on. While in granite not only is your speed reduced, but your damage as well. The trade off is you now become virtually impossible to kill. The other downside to granite is that you can stack rooted for status protection but it slows you down even more, and you can't stack your armors. In other words, although granite gives you protection vs everything but psionics, you can't turn on your Minerals at the same time. This makes facing psionic enemies a lot tougher. Especially if they are surrounded by non-psionics and you feel you need granite...
Ok. Pros and cons (the major ones anyways) are covered. Now, is Energy/Stone really for you? Lets take a closer look.
Brutes in general are fast levelers. We fly through our missions and generally don't have a problem upping our difficulty at early levels. For Energy, you have good damage, with some soft control in just about all your powers. At 80+ Fury you can one-shot most minions with a BoneSmasher attack. If they survive, you can feel confidant switching to a target with full health since your mudpots will be able to finish off the now drunk minion.
With my build, I recommend taking a few attacks at early levels and start into your powerpools early. Since Smashing/Lethal is the most common type in the game, slot up your first armor, Rock Armor with 2 endredux, 3 defense. Take the passive Stone Skin and slot it 3 resist. After that, take a healthy mix of primary, secondary and powerpools. At level 20 my build looked something like this (minus slotting)
Level 1: Barrage Rock Armor
Level 2: Stone Skin
Level 4: Energy Punch
Level 6: Swift
Level 8: Boxing
Level 10: TP Foe
Level 12: Bone Smasher
Level 14: TP
Level 16: Health
Level 18: Stamina
Level 20: Earth's Embrace
As you can see, I was really light on secondaries, but I got almost all the pool powers I'll need. From this point, fill in your attacks and defenses as you see nesaccary. I didn't take any other armors until 38 when I got Granite. The only powers I tool from my secondary are Rock Armor, Stone Skin, Earth's Embrace, Rooted, Mud Pots, and Granite Armor.
Now, Energy Melee has only one AoE attack. Its good to gain aggro in a team with more than one brute. Your mudpots plus Whirling Hands will help keep you with the majority of the aggro but I don't recommend taking it. In a team, both Brutes need Fury so they should be working in concert to take out seperate groups to build fury.
Instead, focus on your single target attacks. This is where different playstyles come in. I won't tell you how to slot. I will say that slotting for me was a simple choice. I wanted end efficency and max damage. I got there by slotting accuracies and end redux with a little damage. See, for me, if I have 3 acc in a power, I don't miss all that often. That means I use my end more efficiently. However, I've seen brutes that slotted for damage and with a half full fury bar they make me look like I'm playing with my kids' blow up punching bag while they're tearing Mike Tyson's Everlast punching bag in half. Its all a matter of playstyle. I suggest at least 2 acc though regardless of what your other slots are.
Now, with Energy Melee you can slot for damage, disorient, taunt, end redux. (aside from accuracy of course)
I went with end redux because in groups I like to keep going in a fight. Once I have full fury I want to be able to hit that next group without waiting. However, if you want to assist teams, go for disorients. Stun that boss and make it so he can't ever hit anyone. Or go for damage and shred everything that comes before you. Energy melee is so versatile in this regard that you can literally slot 2/2/2 and not have to worry about making a mistake. The other upside to Energy Melee is that the Energy component is one of the least resisted in the game. With a full fury bar and a Build Up+Energy Transfer I've brought a +3 boss to 1/4 life in one hit.
To close this guide I'll make the following suggestions.
1) HAVE FUN. If this set doesn't feel fun, don't play it.
2) Grab your power pools early. At low levels (under 10) you have that extra power. Puny though it may be, use it. take advantage of it and get started on travel power and stamina ASAP
3) Take TP and learn to use it well. Practice. TP foe is great, but with a single slot you don't hit often and you need to be fairly close. When using Rooted or granite or both, knowing how to TP can be a lifesaver. You will save yourself so much frustration knowing how to TP into a mob of baddies or away from them if it gets that bad.
4) Choose your 4th power pool carefully and think what you want to do with it. As of this printing, I7 has not yet come out. I plan to take to Presence pool and make myself into a tank by taking all three taunt powers. But this is only because my SG raids every weekend and if the opposing SG is hitting me, they aren't harrassing my teammates.
I hope this guide, meager though it is, has helped some people. I know its not perfect and a lot is based on opinion. I know a lot of you like numbers. I don't. This is a fun set to play and one of the most survivable. Have fun with it. I appreciate any feedback or questions.
Ok ok ok, so many of you are saying, "Why do we need a guide for one of the more popular builds?" Well, to put it bluntly, because some people make poor builds.
First off, Lets go over the pros and cons of Energy/Stone
Energy:
Just about every power in this primary set has a disorient factor. Some have low magnatude, low percentage to hit (with disorient) and some are high magnatude and always hit. Now, what does this mean for you as a Brute? Simple. If they are stunned and doing the stupid man's drunk dance, they aren't hitting you.
"But Kubwulf, I'm a Brute, I want them to hit me."
True, to a point. However, if you can stun that boss and LT and build Fury taking out the minions, by the time that boss has gathered his wits from where you scattered them, you'll be at full fury and ready to grind him into dust with minimal effort.
The other good point is that Energy has a fairly fast attack chain with a little helpful slotting. Example: On Stone Fang, my 40 Energy/Stone Brute, I have one recharge in Bonesmasher. My attack chain looks something like this...
Barrage, energy punch, brawl, Bonesmasher, rinse and repeat. Once I have 80+ Fury I start mixing Total Focus and Energy Transfer in there. Point is, Energy is by far one of the most end friendly sets that I have experienced. I won't go so far as to say its the BEST end friendly set, but for my needs, I wouldn't look anywhere else.
Stone Armor:
Defensive set. They can't hit you, you take no damage. One of the best defensive sets in the game. Gives you a self heal (Earth's Embrace) an AoE damage/slow/taunt aura, a regen power (Rooted) and resistance/defense to every energy type in the game including psionics.
Cons:
Energy Melee:
Pink pom-poms of death aren't very brutish looking. I consider this cosmetic and not much of a downside. Others find it deplorable that they have to SMASH stuff with pink pom-poms.
Your too biggest attacks have drawbacks. Total Focus is a great damage dealer with a very good chance to stun in both PvE and PvP. However, it has a very slow animation time.
Energy Transfer, while fast (animation wise) has the drawback of using your HP to charge it. Now, I don't see a big problem with this since the HP used are the same no matter if you use it to open your attack when you have no Fury as if you use it at 80+ Fury.
Stone Armor:
Running Rooted, although it gives you status protection vs just about everything, it slows you to a crawl. You either live with it, and take TP as a travel power, or you burn slots in Swift to make up for it.
Post 38 you get Granite Armor. Awesome power in my opinion. However, you can't run, fly, jump, with this power on. While in granite not only is your speed reduced, but your damage as well. The trade off is you now become virtually impossible to kill. The other downside to granite is that you can stack rooted for status protection but it slows you down even more, and you can't stack your armors. In other words, although granite gives you protection vs everything but psionics, you can't turn on your Minerals at the same time. This makes facing psionic enemies a lot tougher. Especially if they are surrounded by non-psionics and you feel you need granite...
Ok. Pros and cons (the major ones anyways) are covered. Now, is Energy/Stone really for you? Lets take a closer look.
Brutes in general are fast levelers. We fly through our missions and generally don't have a problem upping our difficulty at early levels. For Energy, you have good damage, with some soft control in just about all your powers. At 80+ Fury you can one-shot most minions with a BoneSmasher attack. If they survive, you can feel confidant switching to a target with full health since your mudpots will be able to finish off the now drunk minion.
With my build, I recommend taking a few attacks at early levels and start into your powerpools early. Since Smashing/Lethal is the most common type in the game, slot up your first armor, Rock Armor with 2 endredux, 3 defense. Take the passive Stone Skin and slot it 3 resist. After that, take a healthy mix of primary, secondary and powerpools. At level 20 my build looked something like this (minus slotting)
Level 1: Barrage Rock Armor
Level 2: Stone Skin
Level 4: Energy Punch
Level 6: Swift
Level 8: Boxing
Level 10: TP Foe
Level 12: Bone Smasher
Level 14: TP
Level 16: Health
Level 18: Stamina
Level 20: Earth's Embrace
As you can see, I was really light on secondaries, but I got almost all the pool powers I'll need. From this point, fill in your attacks and defenses as you see nesaccary. I didn't take any other armors until 38 when I got Granite. The only powers I tool from my secondary are Rock Armor, Stone Skin, Earth's Embrace, Rooted, Mud Pots, and Granite Armor.
Now, Energy Melee has only one AoE attack. Its good to gain aggro in a team with more than one brute. Your mudpots plus Whirling Hands will help keep you with the majority of the aggro but I don't recommend taking it. In a team, both Brutes need Fury so they should be working in concert to take out seperate groups to build fury.
Instead, focus on your single target attacks. This is where different playstyles come in. I won't tell you how to slot. I will say that slotting for me was a simple choice. I wanted end efficency and max damage. I got there by slotting accuracies and end redux with a little damage. See, for me, if I have 3 acc in a power, I don't miss all that often. That means I use my end more efficiently. However, I've seen brutes that slotted for damage and with a half full fury bar they make me look like I'm playing with my kids' blow up punching bag while they're tearing Mike Tyson's Everlast punching bag in half. Its all a matter of playstyle. I suggest at least 2 acc though regardless of what your other slots are.
Now, with Energy Melee you can slot for damage, disorient, taunt, end redux. (aside from accuracy of course)
I went with end redux because in groups I like to keep going in a fight. Once I have full fury I want to be able to hit that next group without waiting. However, if you want to assist teams, go for disorients. Stun that boss and make it so he can't ever hit anyone. Or go for damage and shred everything that comes before you. Energy melee is so versatile in this regard that you can literally slot 2/2/2 and not have to worry about making a mistake. The other upside to Energy Melee is that the Energy component is one of the least resisted in the game. With a full fury bar and a Build Up+Energy Transfer I've brought a +3 boss to 1/4 life in one hit.
To close this guide I'll make the following suggestions.
1) HAVE FUN. If this set doesn't feel fun, don't play it.
2) Grab your power pools early. At low levels (under 10) you have that extra power. Puny though it may be, use it. take advantage of it and get started on travel power and stamina ASAP
3) Take TP and learn to use it well. Practice. TP foe is great, but with a single slot you don't hit often and you need to be fairly close. When using Rooted or granite or both, knowing how to TP can be a lifesaver. You will save yourself so much frustration knowing how to TP into a mob of baddies or away from them if it gets that bad.
4) Choose your 4th power pool carefully and think what you want to do with it. As of this printing, I7 has not yet come out. I plan to take to Presence pool and make myself into a tank by taking all three taunt powers. But this is only because my SG raids every weekend and if the opposing SG is hitting me, they aren't harrassing my teammates.
I hope this guide, meager though it is, has helped some people. I know its not perfect and a lot is based on opinion. I know a lot of you like numbers. I don't. This is a fun set to play and one of the most survivable. Have fun with it. I appreciate any feedback or questions.