I'd say stick with WP. I've tried EA, Elec, and WP. I have enjoyed EA, and I have loved WP.
However, I personally think /Elec is a terrible, terrible secondary.
The problem is that it is PURELY RESISTANCE. You have zero defense, unless you wanna count the marginal values from Combat Jumping/Stealth/etc. On top of that, you also have no self-heal. So unless you get to 50 and somehow slot your character for some defense, you're gonna simply watch your character slowly die in combat as its health drops bit by bit, and there is not a darn thing you can do about it other than running away or hitting an inspiration.
But you gotta give it some credit. Electric Armor does look cool. 
elec/sheild
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elec/sheild
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this, qft. omg elec/shield is the only legal combination of elec melee or shield defense for a brute. hands down.
lightning rod + shield charge, omg against all odds/thunderstrike? i mean talk about serious [censored] kicking. you can still softcap shield defense.
i made one recently and after getting addicted to it have it at 35 allready i just picked up shield charge, but omg it can only get better.
without a doubt if you make anything other than elec/shields you need to take your show off and then kick the wall infront of you as hard as you can.
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elec/sheild
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this, qft. omg elec/shield is the only legal combination of elec melee or shield defense for a brute. hands down.
lightning rod + shield charge, omg against all odds/thunderstrike? i mean talk about serious [censored] kicking. you can still softcap shield defense.
i made one recently and after getting addicted to it have it at 35 allready i just picked up shield charge, but omg it can only get better.
without a doubt if you make anything other than elec/shields you need to take your show off and then kick the wall infront of you as hard as you can.
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I agree with the above statement with less self violence and more butt kicking
Pinnacle: Hold my beer. Watch this!
Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.
MA arc #117314!! Try it nao!!
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elec/sheild
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this, qft. omg elec/shield is the only legal combination of elec melee or shield defense for a brute. hands down.
lightning rod + shield charge, omg against all odds/thunderstrike? i mean talk about serious [censored] kicking. you can still softcap shield defense.
i made one recently and after getting addicted to it have it at 35 allready i just picked up shield charge, but omg it can only get better.
without a doubt if you make anything other than elec/shields you need to take your show off and then kick the wall infront of you as hard as you can.
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I have an electric/shield at 50 which was PL'ed mostly via AE, though I played the last 9 levels or so legit. 
I would absolutely hate to level one of these up. Pre IO set bonuses, I thought the build was just awful. The difference between having the 20% defense and 12% resists (though S/L is better once you get tough and weave ups your defense to about 26%) that you get with SO slotting and what you can get with IO set bonuses is eye opening. It's not a build I'd recommend someone level up the normal way. It's made worse by a really low damaging primary. Sure it has AoEs, but if you're soloing it's bleh.
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elec/sheild
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this, qft. omg elec/shield is the only legal combination of elec melee or shield defense for a brute. hands down.
lightning rod + shield charge, omg against all odds/thunderstrike? i mean talk about serious [censored] kicking. you can still softcap shield defense.
i made one recently and after getting addicted to it have it at 35 allready i just picked up shield charge, but omg it can only get better.
without a doubt if you make anything other than elec/shields you need to take your show off and then kick the wall infront of you as hard as you can.
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I have an electric/shield at 50 which was PL'ed mostly via AE, though I played the last 9 levels or so legit.
I would absolutely hate to level one of these up. Pre IO set bonuses, I thought the build was just awful. The difference between having the 20% defense and 12% resists (though S/L is better once you get tough and weave ups your defense to about 26%) that you get with SO slotting and what you can get with IO set bonuses is eye opening. It's not a build I'd recommend someone level up the normal way. It's made worse by a really low damaging primary. Sure it has AoEs, but if you're soloing it's bleh.
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its fine, its feels off kilter one on one simple because you can kill huge hoards faster than that solitary guy. As for soloing and even in SO spec pop a purple, run around a map and get them all together to feed fury/AAO and kill them in seconds.
No offense but if you PLd your elec/sheild most of the way you really dont get what playing the sets are like, elec isnt SM or SS for single target face pounding but has plenty of damage and chain induction works now which was the biggest gripe about the set for a long time (just DONT put a proc in it or it will break and use the procs % to jump mobs as opposed to its base 100% 5 times)
oh and you increase your resistences by slotting resistence in deflection and true grit
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elec/sheild
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this, qft. omg elec/shield is the only legal combination of elec melee or shield defense for a brute. hands down.
lightning rod + shield charge, omg against all odds/thunderstrike? i mean talk about serious [censored] kicking. you can still softcap shield defense.
i made one recently and after getting addicted to it have it at 35 allready i just picked up shield charge, but omg it can only get better.
without a doubt if you make anything other than elec/shields you need to take your show off and then kick the wall infront of you as hard as you can.
[/ QUOTE ]
I have an electric/shield at 50 which was PL'ed mostly via AE, though I played the last 9 levels or so legit.
I would absolutely hate to level one of these up. Pre IO set bonuses, I thought the build was just awful. The difference between having the 20% defense and 12% resists (though S/L is better once you get tough and weave ups your defense to about 26%) that you get with SO slotting and what you can get with IO set bonuses is eye opening. It's not a build I'd recommend someone level up the normal way. It's made worse by a really low damaging primary. Sure it has AoEs, but if you're soloing it's bleh.
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its fine, its feels off kilter one on one simple because you can kill huge hoards faster than that solitary guy. As for soloing and even in SO spec pop a purple, run around a map and get them all together to feed fury/AAO and kill them in seconds.
No offense but if you PLd your elec/sheild most of the way you really dont get what playing the sets are like, elec isnt SM or SS for single target face pounding but has plenty of damage and chain induction works now which was the biggest gripe about the set for a long time (just DONT put a proc in it or it will break and use the procs % to jump mobs as opposed to its base 100% 5 times)
oh and you increase your resistences by slotting resistence in deflection and true grit
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No offense taken, I admit I have a skewed opinion about this combination.
Slotting the resists in those bring them up to what? A whopping 18%? That's still not alot.
I'm not interested in Elec/Shield at all. I am already aware that /Shield is the new uber toy. My character concept just doesnt allow for it. Also, I want a secondary with endurance/recovery powers in it. But mostly, I refuse to go /Shield because it is antithetical to my character idea.
I guess for now, I'll stick with Willpower. I can't really think of a good reason to switch to /Elec or /EA.
Thanks to all!
Lewis
Random AT Generation!
"I remember... the Alamo." -- Pee-wee Herman
"Oh don't worry. I always leave things to the last moment." -- The Doctor
"Telescopes are time machines." -- Carl Sagan
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elec/sheild
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this, qft. omg elec/shield is the only legal combination of elec melee or shield defense for a brute. hands down.
lightning rod + shield charge, omg against all odds/thunderstrike? i mean talk about serious [censored] kicking. you can still softcap shield defense.
i made one recently and after getting addicted to it have it at 35 allready i just picked up shield charge, but omg it can only get better.
without a doubt if you make anything other than elec/shields you need to take your show off and then kick the wall infront of you as hard as you can.
[/ QUOTE ]
I have an electric/shield at 50 which was PL'ed mostly via AE, though I played the last 9 levels or so legit.
I would absolutely hate to level one of these up. Pre IO set bonuses, I thought the build was just awful. The difference between having the 20% defense and 12% resists (though S/L is better once you get tough and weave ups your defense to about 26%) that you get with SO slotting and what you can get with IO set bonuses is eye opening. It's not a build I'd recommend someone level up the normal way. It's made worse by a really low damaging primary. Sure it has AoEs, but if you're soloing it's bleh.
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its fine, its feels off kilter one on one simple because you can kill huge hoards faster than that solitary guy. As for soloing and even in SO spec pop a purple, run around a map and get them all together to feed fury/AAO and kill them in seconds.
No offense but if you PLd your elec/sheild most of the way you really dont get what playing the sets are like, elec isnt SM or SS for single target face pounding but has plenty of damage and chain induction works now which was the biggest gripe about the set for a long time (just DONT put a proc in it or it will break and use the procs % to jump mobs as opposed to its base 100% 5 times)
oh and you increase your resistences by slotting resistence in deflection and true grit
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No offense taken, I admit I have a skewed opinion about this combination.
Slotting the resists in those bring them up to what? A whopping 18%? That's still not alot.
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its not huge admittedly but when you think that defence sets (and resistence ones) often buy another toggle with tough for the same amount fully slotted of just s/l and sheild has that essentially for free (ones in passive, ones in vital toggle) its pretty good. On a top build you can have capped positional defence and resistence of 35% for s/l and 18% for all else (bar psi and assuming tough taken) except with the t9 the resistences rise to 70% s/l and 35% for all else.
Also if you factor in the -7.5% damage that AAO gives in melee you have essentially another 7.5% res to all
I dont have the inf to finish my build so am slotting out just melee to be capped defence atm and its a hoot, to me its very much like a fire/kin troller, you are at you best against huge mobs where aao and your dual aoe t9s (sheild charge is the same damage as lightning rod) whilst 1v1 is a more tedious affair as the leverage to get the best isnt there. But its a hell of a lot more fun than a fire/kin IMO I cant wait for going rogue so i can swap it blue side
Elec/sheild is one of those combos that just synergises really well, especially late game, just like fire/kins, separate the sets are ok but combined its carnage. Its also unlikely the devs will do anything to either set to weaken the synergy, unlike SS where Castle isnt happy that the -def crash is avoidable if you stack it.
Its a super tight build (especially if you take aid self) but well worth it IMO
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I'm not interested in Elec/Shield at all. I am already aware that /Shield is the new uber toy. My character concept just doesnt allow for it. Also, I want a secondary with endurance/recovery powers in it. But mostly, I refuse to go /Shield because it is antithetical to my character idea.
I guess for now, I'll stick with Willpower. I can't really think of a good reason to switch to /Elec or /EA.
Thanks to all!
Lewis
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well why does your concept need elec melee? Just wondering as the secondarys you chose seemed a little eclectic with WP being quite unnoticable glowie effects, crackling red electical armour and being invisible in EA. You can easily pick a crackly red electicity sheild and drop a red electrical aura on your character to mimic the effects of electric armour for conceptual reasons. The devs did a good job with the sheilds for conceptual reasons with the elemental sets for ice/fire/dark/elec and various types that mesh with the swords/axes/mace weapon customisations.
Sheild plays to elec melees strengths, WP doesnt really, you would be better choosing a different primary
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well why does your concept need elec melee? Just wondering as the secondarys you chose seemed a little eclectic
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I picked the primary simply because I had always wanted to try an Electric Melee brute. I picked the secondaries I did because I want to have endurance recovery powers available to me the whole game.
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Sheild plays to elec melees strengths, WP doesnt really, you would be better choosing a different primary
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Be that as it may, /Shield doesn't have any endurance recovery powers available to it. Also, using equipment of any kind is in opposition to both the concept and the look I want the character to have.
Lewis
Random AT Generation!
"I remember... the Alamo." -- Pee-wee Herman
"Oh don't worry. I always leave things to the last moment." -- The Doctor
"Telescopes are time machines." -- Carl Sagan
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well why does your concept need elec melee? Just wondering as the secondarys you chose seemed a little eclectic
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I picked the primary simply because I had always wanted to try an Electric Melee brute. I picked the secondaries I did because I want to have endurance recovery powers available to me the whole game.
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Sheild plays to elec melees strengths, WP doesnt really, you would be better choosing a different primary
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Be that as it may, /Shield doesn't have any endurance recovery powers available to it. Also, using equipment of any kind is in opposition to both the concept and the look I want the character to have.
Lewis
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well i think you will prefer a different primary in conjunction with WP but to each his own
Just so you realise, the "end recovery" powers in WP, EA and Elec are 20, 28 and 35 so are not available for the whole game.
The elemental sheilds are far from "using equipment" IMO, I would suugest that you take a peek at them via character creation as they are more of an extension of some melee sets than anything else, in particular the electric and dark ones.
Regardless all brute primarys and secondaries will do fine in most situations, elec melee in conjunction with WP could have some issues with surviving alphas on full teams as the mitigation is a little lacking, LRs KD is great but the recharge means it cant be relied on, thunderstrike isnt bad at all but the radius is very small and you are floating unable to do anything else for 3.3 seconds.
Also note lightning rods damage cap is 400% as opposed to all other brute attacks of 850% due to it being s pseudo pet summon. Also its third "tick" of damage is rather unfairly only focused on a very small radius where you land, i forget the specific size. Sheild charge which is to all extents and purposes the same power but smash damage only sends its full compliment of damage across the 20ft.
Again I will stress DO NOT slot a proc in chain induction as this will break the power significantly.
I have a lvl 26 FM/SD. Sheild charge-->combustion--->fire sword circle= dead anything.
dudes and dudettes (most notably Ice):
he isnt doing shield, come off it.
go wp. using thunderstrike's knockdown, the knockdown from lightning rod (and i'd pick up the pbaoe knockdown the primary also gets) gives you room to regen.
out of the 3 you mentioned, i would also choose WP. elec is a pretty end heavy primary, so QR+stam will be very useful (its useful for everyone, but is much more visible in this particular case)
WP is pretty balanced between resist and defense, combining that with the mitigation from elec sleeps makes for a good synergy.
alota AOE damage with RttC is pretty pimp too.
outside of the /wp part of the AT, may I suggest going Mu and picking up fences. they prevent knockback which is great for using with lightning clap for an extra layer of defense, plus mu gives some extra aoe damage, and keeps it elec for theme purposes.
dont have much experience with ea, but i can tell you that elec/elec is as drainy on your end as a car is on AAs
I'm currently playing a Elec/WP Brute, and having a great time with it, up to level 25 - usually playing on a team of 7-8.
Sure, every now and then something beats my Regen, but I'm not usually the first to fall, not the most frequest, and often one of the last standing, if not the last.
It was very tough up until lvl 16 or 18, then started to pick up, and I could handle more.
Quic Recov + Stamina is a BIG plus, and even better if you have 2 Perf Shifter +End Procs ;-)
I don't even consider the End Drain effects of Electric. Anything I might get is a Bonus, but I completely ignore slotting for it.
People will say this next part is 'Odd' and 'Wont work', but I have three Call of the Sandman: Chance for self heal in my attacks (Jacob's ladder, Havoc Punch, and the other fst punch). Since I have no Self heal, and my Corruptor teammates can be Flaky, it's nice to see that Little Green number pop up now and then.
My memory's not as sharp as it used to be.
Also, my memory's not as sharp as it used to be.
"The tip of a shoelace is called an aglet, its true purpose is sinister." The Question
Cool. THanks for all the additional replies. I'm gonna stick with WP and I appreciate all the input!
Lewis
Random AT Generation!
"I remember... the Alamo." -- Pee-wee Herman
"Oh don't worry. I always leave things to the last moment." -- The Doctor
"Telescopes are time machines." -- Carl Sagan
All,
I have a level 10 Elec/WP brute but I cant decide whether I should really go with Elec/WP, Elec/Energy Aura, or Elec/Elec.
The reason I am limiting myself to those secondaries is that they all get endurance recovery powers (or in the case of WP, I can double up on Stamina and Quick Recovery).
I would lean slightly against Elec/EA since I already have a Super Strength/EA, and also because I want to see my character (and the SS/EA is always invisible). However, I do like /EA since its possible to get up to the soft cap in an affordable manner (sadly, my defense debuff resist doesnt match /SR but oh well).
As for Elec Armor, I'm not too sure on resistance sets. I used to favor them totally, but ever since its been possible to soft cap defense, I've been hesitant towards them. I also hate Aid Self and I think lots of /Elec brutes take Aid Self. I wont take it. I hate the animation and it ruins the character for me.
For Willpower, which is what I am now, I'm just not sure how Willpower holds up. I have some Willpower tankers, and they do OK, but they just have generic IOs mostly, even tho I'm level 50. They survive well in many situations but sometimes with WP on a Tanker, I REALLY feel then incoming damage. But then again, My secondaries arent the best for damage so maybe a brute could do better there with the fast kill rate.
So, that's why I went with Willpower in the first place, and that's what I am now. But I figured while I'm low level I'd ask for a conversation and some advice on WP, EA, and Elec for secondaries.
Thanks,
Lewis
Random AT Generation!
"I remember... the Alamo." -- Pee-wee Herman
"Oh don't worry. I always leave things to the last moment." -- The Doctor
"Telescopes are time machines." -- Carl Sagan