Official Thread for Brutes: Electric Shields
By
13th_Stranger,
Posted on: 2006-05-01 24:02 in Developers' Corner
I think I'm going to be happy with the electric armor set. More than happy, but I don't think I'll really start enjoying it until about level 24 after I get lightning reflexes and have SO's in everything. I can see this being my all-time favorite set once it's fully set up by lvl 40 though.
It was like that with my SS/EA brute too. It was only "ok" until I got energy cloak wherein I noticed a big reduction in aggro and big increase in survivability. Then once I got energy drain it was all up hill from there.
I think taking and running stealth while fighting could greatly mitigate alot of damage by not aggroing enemies more than 10-15 feet away while attacking which is basically all EC does even though it gives a defense boost. As soon as I got energy claok I noticed it wasn't the defense boost that was making me far more survivable, but the aggro reduction.
I know some might say that goes against what a brute wants, but that's not true. My SS/EA brute runs all shields and his cloak and maintains high level fury easily. I still aggro as much as I need, it just stops that extra aggro that quickly becomes a hazard rather than help. I run 5 toggles on my SS/EA brute and with 1 end reduc in all toggles and fully slotted energy drain and Conserve Power. Endurance is never an issue.
I figure I'll run 6-7 toggles on average on my /ELA and have 1 end reduc in attacks which should offset the 2 extra toggles as compared to my SS/EA with no end reduc in attacks. I don't think endurance will be an issue.
I've already voiced the buffs I think they should give the set so I won't do that again. This is the build I plan for when live hits:
1-shadow punch, charged armor
2-smite
4-shadow maul
6-conductive shield
8-touch of fear
10-static shield
12-combat jumping
14-super jump
16-swift
18-dark consumption
20-acrobatics
22-health
24-stamina
26-lightning reflexes
28-siphon life
30-hasten
32-midnight grasp
35-power sink
38-power surge
41-boxing
44-tough
47-soul drain
49-web envelope
Stealth is not energy cloak. The instant you attack, all your stealth goes away.
Ahh, my mistake.
I still think /ELA is gonna be fine. I'm just gonna have to accept the holes.
ELM on the other hand....
Waiting to 47 to take Soul Drain is a shame, it's a pretty good alternative to Build Up.
Hurdle stacks with Combat Jumping very nicely for fast and mobile jumping, I suggest you try that instead of Swift.
Waiting to 28 for Siphon Life is a pretty long time too. I would swap Conductive Shield, as elemental damage isn't really a huge threat in the early game, in the great majority it's smash/lethal and some energy, with the odd bit of psi damage. The only major amount of fire in the low game that I can recall is from Longbow flamethrowers, and I've never found them terribly threatening. Even the psi damage isn't really what gets to me, it's the -recharge hit (why I'll be picking up Lightning Reflexes).
I think Hasten is overkill for your build, I have no plans to take it for mine. I don't have complaints about recharge for pretty much any of the Brute melee sets.
I know hurdle stacks with super jump or combat jumping. I'm tired of it though and wouldn't mind something a little different. Every brute I've ever made has hurdle+SJ.
Siphon Life is gonna be my primary form of healing.
You can never get enough recharge imho. Kinda like endurance.
After further consideration I'll probably make this build:
1-smite, charged armor
2-shadow maul
4-conductive shield
6-siphon life
8-touch of fear
10-static shield
12-combat jumping
14-super jump
16-swift or maybe tp foe or stealth. Doesn't really matter
18-dark consumption
20-acrobatics
22-lightning reflexes
24-hasten
26-boxing
28-conserve power
30-tough
32-midnight grasp
35-power sink
38-power surge
41-aid other
44-aid self
47-grounded
49-web envelope
A no stamina build. Should be very easy with fully slotted dark consumption/power sink/conserve power and 1 end reduc in attacks and toggles. Also, no fear of having end drained do to large resistance to end drain and -recovery.
I think this would be a fun build that has excellent overall resistances, excellent healing ability, outstanding endurance management and end draining ability, and great damage mitigation through -acc and fear and 2 immobilze type powers. Not to mention a steady stream of negative damage.
With hasten recharging in 30 seconds after use and accounting for lightning reflexes +recharge buff dark consumption would recharge in 45 seconds and power sink in 25 seconds the majority of the time. I could fire off 1 DC, 20 seconds later fire off PS, 20 seconds later fire off DC non-stop. At that rate I'd probably at least equal staminas end regen every 45 seconds just hitting 1 enemy on each drain. Against 2-3 enemies at a time I would easily outstrip staminas recovery with those 2 excellent end drains and probably be equal to stamina+QR in end recover ability and still have conserve power sitting in reserve at all times not to mention power surge and it's end recovery in reserve. Stamina shouldn't be an issue.
Also I will be able to maintain a very high damage attack chain without needing to put any recharges into my powers. With hasten on + lightning reflexes I don't need any recharges in attacks and will most likely be capped at usable recharge speed or overlapping. Most likely my attack chain would be Touch of fear-smite-midnight grasp-ToF-smite-shadow maul--repeat in pvp and siphon life thrown in for heals as needed.
I like hasten for getting up power surge faster and resisting -recharge etc.
If I do go the stamina route this is the build I would make:
1-shadow punch, charged armor
2-smite
4-shadow maul
6-siphon life
8-touch of fear
10-static shield
12-combat jumping
14-super jump
16-swift
18-health
20-stamina
22-acrobatics
24-lightning reflexes
26-conductive shield
28-soul drain
30-hasten
32-midnight grasp
35-power sink
38-power surge
41-dark consumption
44-conserve power
47-web envelope
49-grounded
That looks pretty strong to me, although as usual I'd suggest Stimulan over Aid Other, I feel you'll get a ton more use out of it and it doesn't benefit from any slotting.
Since you have a "doesn't really matter" pick at 16, I would suggest finding a way to move Grounded up in your choices.
With only siphon life as a heal, I would seriously think about getting stamina just so you can pick up health.
Please stay on topic of the set's issues. Post a new thread for build criticisms.
Simple: Add Combat Jumping-level immoblize protection to Lightning Reflexes. That means one immoblize.
That's still not as good as unyielding, but it makes sense as Weave and Combat Jumping (both agility type powers) protect vs. one immoblize themselves.
As for the knockback protection, dark and fire were not given the protection so you're stuck with hover or acrobatics. I had a friend with numerous 50s on protector get City of Villians, make a fire/fire brute and he quit over being forced to take the leaping line.
A 3-man team spawn of -1 longbow killed him easily. He never got off his back during one mission. He was so used to invincibility fighting 30 or 40 +5s from the old days he quit.
Thank you, City of Heroes, for giving me a superhero social network combined with amazingly smooth game play. Petitions signed with realistic expectations.
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Please stay on topic of the set's issues. Post a new thread for build criticisms.
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or in the Brute forums... 
@Lasher
First Of The Year
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Edgar Allan Poe
I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.
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i was talking to my fellow eletric/eletric today and what i got from them is the same thing i been thinking
they dont mind or notice the lack of toxic res
they can deal w/ lack of imm. and kb
but they think- like me- that they should add regen (while making it a toggle) to grounded or lighting reflex
that way they dont take any powers from this set that makes it "unique"
Anyone else noticing that the End Drain from Lightning Field seems to be causing mobs to animate the Kinetic Transfusion/Transference Fist pull animation?
omg yes! I thought I was the only one that noticed that. It helps out nicely with survivability too. The instant they do that I thwack the strongest one as hard and fast as I can.
I would just like to get this thread back on its proper track:
boing. hehe.
Just noticed this little bug:
I was fighting some Hellions with my level 5 elec/elec brute and found that when they were in melee range and I had lightning field on, they would seem to keep repeating an animation similar to the one for siphon life.
Always remember, we were Heroes.
My guess is this: You can drain endurance from mobs and so they included the animation for it. Draining endurance and siphons may have the same animation.
Damage over time AoE shouldn't give endurance back. Maybe because the endurance drain is the doing the 30 percent chance return but you don't actually get it... the game is giving it back to the minion and causing the animation.
Minions are Returning AoE drained endurance back to themselves. I've seen this siphon emote only when I used Jacob's Ladder or Lightning Field.
Thank you, City of Heroes, for giving me a superhero social network combined with amazingly smooth game play. Petitions signed with realistic expectations.
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Just noticed this little bug:
I was fighting some Hellions with my level 5 elec/elec brute and found that when they were in melee range and I had lightning field on, they would seem to keep repeating an animation similar to the one for siphon life.
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It's possible that animation is the closest thing the Dev's could find that resembles someone recieving a shock while trying to melee. 
I know there are the two other full body animations that resemble getting shocked, so it's a wild guess on my part. 
Nah, they have an "I'm being electrocuted!!" animation, they probably just have a number wrong and the effect is invoking the wrong animation.
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My guess is this: You can drain endurance from mobs and so they included the animation for it. Draining endurance and siphons may have the same animation.
Damage over time AoE shouldn't give endurance back. Maybe because the endurance drain is the doing the 30 percent chance return but you don't actually get it... the game is giving it back to the minion and causing the animation.
Minions are Returning AoE drained endurance back to themselves. I've seen this siphon emote only when I used Jacob's Ladder or Lightning Field.
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I'm with rejolt, this is exactly what might be going on.
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Nah, they have an "I'm being electrocuted!!" animation, they probably just have a number wrong and the effect is invoking the wrong animation.
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It was just a wild guess on my part. I've seen them do the animation when they are well out of range of my lightning field.
Maybe they drug their feet on the carpet and got a shock when they touched thier gun. 
I'll probably get yelled at for stating the obvious or criticized by the grammer/spelling police(who is pissed because I called them a smarta$$ for being a smarta$$, 
) but the topic of no toxic resistance was brought up and pretty much dismissed right away. Someone in game mentioned the thorn tree from the respec being mostly toxic damage. Also considering toxic damage is mostly DOT, darts from Tsoo and meat doctor attack which does like 22 tics of damage I think. Toxic spiders from Arachnos and the Arachnoids also. Toxic damage is a lot more prevalent in COV then it is on COH.
I gonna have to agree on the toxic damage being more prevalant.
My corruptor at 40 got nearly a third of his HP ticked off from a single lvl 40 toxic dart dot...that's a little crazy
I am the one who mentioned it last time only to have it blown away by thosed who thought it was not an issue.
With no heal and no toxic protection at all we will all be seriously sucking air at the later levels.
I don't mind a weakness - all of the sets have one - I just don't want multiple stacked weaknesses.
Toxic damage is a weakness unique to this set I've brought that up in these 3 posts.
Post 1
Post 2
Post 3
To sum those up. Every melee defensive set (Tanker, Brute, Stalker, Scrapper) has either resistance or positional defense that applies to toxic damage (except electric armor). Every other resistance based set has a heal.
Grounded would make be a great place to add toxic resistance and a +recovery. Add some blurb about being "connected to the earth allowing you to refresh yourself which increases health recovery which also provides some level of toxic resistance."
The health recovery thing works for rooted.
So... has anyone gotten high enough to get the level 38 power (forgot name)? I'd love to see screen shots, along with reading a description of its "power up" animation.