New to the game and Could really use some advice
By
7thCynic,
Posted on: 2009-05-18 15:30 in Archetypes and Powers General Discussion
First off, welcome to the game and to the forums.
Secondly, my first question would be: why do you want to blow through the content? This game is not end-game focused. The focus is on the content from level 1 to level 50.
Secondly, if you do want a great soloing toon, I'd say that any Brute or Mastermind will serve you well, as well as certain types of Stalkers (my Elec/Ninjitsu Stalker is a solo machine).
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I was just the one with the most unsolicited sombrero." - Traegus
Brutes are usually your best bet. I've gotten a Dual Blade(DB)/Willpower(WP) to 50 solo'ing most of the way. Be aware that DB has attack combo's that take a little getting used to.
Masterminds works as well.
And what Aett said. It's about the journey, not the destination.
Eh,if played right they all will.The easiest new guy friendly is a brute.I like super strength or fire paired with willpower or invul.
But opinions will vary.
Try a Stalker or a Brute, they can solo pretty well with the Stalker's added bonus ofgoing to the mission oobjectives and just doing them (although you eventually will have to do more than that to get lvls.)
My Stalker is EM/EM
and my lvl 50 Brute is Dual Blades/WP
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First off, welcome to the game and to the forums.
Secondly, my first question would be: why do you want to blow through the content? This game is not end-game focused. The focus is on the content from level 1 to level 50.
Secondly, if you do want a great soloing toon, I'd say that any Brute or Mastermind will serve you well, as well as certain types of Stalkers (my Elec/Ninjitsu Stalker is a solo machine).
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As I've come to expect as usual, I cannot possibly state anything that would be any more accurate then Aett has already done.
Except maybe fluff it out by being needlessly verbose, as I often tend to.
Still, to sum up: This.
Oh,I don;t know he did say "secondly" twice.But then again is "thirdly" a word?
.....I kid,Aett,don't hurt me
Thank you everyone. Now then let me rephrase my question. Which class completely dominates and is incredibly enjoyable in PvE? Mastermind or Brute? I don't want to play one of them and then start getting bored even though I am blowing through. I want to play a class that is incredibly fun to play and deals a lot of damage.
Also if I go MM which would be a good combination?
I'm biased - I found Masterminds terribly boring, even though most content was almost trivial for my Bot/Storm.
Brutes, though... It just doesn't get tiring to remodel someone's face with your own fists.
I look at it this way - if you really don't mind doing nothing but supporting other things (in this case your pets - even having personal attacks felt sluggish and weak in the long run for me), then Mastermind isn't a bad choice, and a very effective one.
If you prefer to do more to personally end fights, Brute may be a better choice.
Passive vs. Active.
EDIT: And I had one of the more active Mastermind secondaries, and had another (Thug/Poison) up to about the same level before deciding to stick with the Bot/Storm.
Ah ok. So what is the most dominating PvE Brute Primary/Secondary combo?
My vote is for a Super Strength / Willpower Brute. Hands down.
SS deals a great bit of damage and feels very 'super', while Willpower provides lots of survival tools that are very beginner friendly.
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Thank you everyone. Now then let me rephrase my question. Which class completely dominates and is incredibly enjoyable in PvE? Mastermind or Brute? I don't want to play one of them and then start getting bored even though I am blowing through. I want to play a class that is incredibly fun to play and deals a lot of damage.
Also if I go MM which would be a good combination?
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In City of Heroes all combos and all classes can work. It's more about fitting your personal playstyle.
I think you want to be a Brute of somekind. Masterminds tend to make their Henchman and then you simply need to press the forward button. Sure, you could debuff or attack but you don't actually need to on a Mastermind while soloing.
Brute Primary wise I'd pick the Primary that sounds "coolest" to you. They all can work just fine solo. Personally, I prefer Stone, Super Strength, War Mace, and Battle Axe because they are the most "smashy" feeling. The others work fine but the ones I listed make me "feel" like I just crushed something.
Secondary wise, Willpower is very user friendly. You simply turn on the toggles and go. There are no buttons to press. Allowing you to mash your attack buttons mercilessly without thinking "do I need to do something to survive".
Brutes are like scrappers - Pick one from each category and enjoy your wrecking ball. Playstyle and personal preference weigh so much into it, it's hard to really say what is by the numbers the 'most dominating', as everyone has a different way of interpreting that phrase.
Purely damage wise, Super Strength/Fire Armor likely tops the chart. Survival wise, Stone Melee/Stone Armor. Middle of the road, cointoss.
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Brutes are like scrappers - Pick one from each category and enjoy your wrecking ball. Playstyle and personal preference weigh so much into it, it's hard to really say what is by the numbers the 'most dominating', as everyone has a different way of interpreting that phrase.
Purely damage wise, Super Strength/Fire Armor likely tops the chart. Survival wise, Stone Melee/Stone Armor. Middle of the road, cointoss.
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Your answers are all tailored towards high level and a lot of team and area of effect situations. He is asking specifically for soloing from 1-50. I don't think your analysis and choices are very applicable.
Ok cool you have all been so helpful ^_^.
If it isnt too much trouble could someone give me a quick lowdown of how each of the primaries and secondaries for brutes work?
Paragonwiki is your friend. 
http://paragonwiki.com/
I'll give you basic "feel" version of each Primary/Secondary and pros cons. However, the first thing you should do before making a brute is reading the Endurance Dysfunction Guide in my signature. My analysis will mostly be focused on "feel" rather than the hard #s.
Battle Axe and War Mace are relatively the same. You whoop out a big chunk of something on a stick. Then you swing it and bash something.
Dark Melee has a lot of very fast activating Punch/Jab type powers. Think your hands turning black then moving a billion miles an hour.
Dual Blades whoops out two blades of any kind you can imagine then you can use them in crazy combos to slash enemies.
Electric Melee is lots of big bad BOOM lightning effects. Electric Melee is often focused on hitting lots of enemies at the same time. Solo, you are likely not to fight hordes of guys often.
Energy Melee gives you Pink "pom-poms" which you use do ridiculous style punches that send enemies flying.
Fire Melee pulls out Fire swords and fists and hits the enemy. The enemies don't go flying or get stunned or shocked or anything... but they will take extra damage ticks.
Stone Melee gives you big rocks and stone mallets that you can use the crush the enemies and send them flying.
Super Strength's punches can knock guys over. Knockout Blow gives you a ridiculous windup and drills a guy into orbit.
Secondary wise there are two major categories: Resistance and Defense. Resistance means that attacks that hit you do less damage. Defense means attacks miss you completely.
Dark Armor is mostly resistance but has some Defense as well. Also it has a HUGE self-heal with a steep endurance cost. Dark is very much an all around set but it causes your costume to essentially become a black cloud.
Electric Armor is almost purely a resistance set with no way to self-heal. It also grants you several bonus damage and endurance management powers.
Energy Armor is a defense based set with many endurance management powers and a minor self-heal that is relatively late blooming.
Fire Armor is a resistance based set with a very fast recharging, early self-heal power. Fire Armor also has many damage bonus powers.
Invulnerability has both Defense/Resistances. The resistances are almost all to Smashing/Lethal damage types. They are the most common in the game. It also has a huge self-heal type power on a very long recharge timer.
Shield Defense is a defense set with bonus defense for teammates and an attack power in the set. Also, you pull out a shield. Shield does not work with Dual Blades.
Stone Armor glues rocks to your face. Initially you get mainly defense based powers. Your status protection power slows you down. Also you have a long recharge big self-heal. At level 38 you can completely encase yourself in rocks making you nigh invulnerable but severely lowering your damage/recharge if you choose to turn on that power
Super Reflexes is a defense based set with some increase speed powers. There is no self-heal power.
Willpower is a regeneration/defense/resist set. None of the powers require you to push a button. Also has a bonus endurance power.
I personally recommend, for you... either Fire Armor, Invulnerability or Willpower. Willpower has you pushing the buttons the least often and is generally "easiest to use". Fire Armor will give you the ability to use a Self-Heal very often and more damage. However it lacks some of the survival "oomph" other sets get. Invulnerability gives you fantastic Smashing/Lethal resists and a big self-heal on a long timer. I think you could do fine with pretty much any secondary but these may three may be best for you personally.
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Brutes are like scrappers - Pick one from each category and enjoy your wrecking ball. Playstyle and personal preference weigh so much into it, it's hard to really say what is by the numbers the 'most dominating', as everyone has a different way of interpreting that phrase.
Purely damage wise, Super Strength/Fire Armor likely tops the chart. Survival wise, Stone Melee/Stone Armor. Middle of the road, cointoss.
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Your answers are all tailored towards high level and a lot of team and area of effect situations. He is asking specifically for soloing from 1-50. I don't think your analysis and choices are very applicable.
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I wouldn't say entirely the high-end. Stone Armor, maybe, as it's very reliant on a toggle that you only get at 38 (as a Brute), but it's not exactly awful before that. Compared to how it is after, maybe. But, in that same vein, a lot of other Brute secondaries also mature late. The only ones I can think of that mature early are Dark Armor and Willpower, and even Willpower isn't fully 'complete' until around 28.
Super Reflexes/Shield Defense are 'okay' but not exactly the most survivable until you start getting close to the soft-cap, which can vary a lot on when you get it. Firey Aura is a lot better then people give it credit for, honestly, especially if you get and slot Healing Flames early for recharge and take it slow. Electric is... mediocre, unless you're going purely for damage, in which case it's not awful (but it also doesn't have Firey Embrace, which is like getting Build Up again).
Super Strength is also one of my favorite sets. Also, I don't see how it's not applicable when I preface it with the following:
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Brutes are like scrappers - Pick one from each category and enjoy your wrecking ball. Playstyle and personal preference weigh so much into it, it's hard to really say what is by the numbers the 'most dominating', as everyone has a different way of interpreting that phrase.
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It's implied (perhaps poorly) that anything after that is purely a subjective opinion, and very likely to change. It's really hard to screw up a brute unless you slot really, really weird.
EDIT: I mean, out of 81 total combinations (9 primaries x 9 secondaries), there are some that are less ideal then others, but taking into account the strengths and synergies between sets, it's still very hard to seriously mess up as long as you're willing to experiment. Which I encourage a lot. I still agree with Aett - this game isn't about the end game, it's about the trip there. Screw around and find out what works best for you, and heck with anyone else's opinion on the matter.
Ok thanks everyone. So Dual Blade for a brute isnt that great?
I am thinking I will go super strength + fire armor or willpower. Anywhere I can find a good build?
Yeah, I really liked Masterminds at first -- made one my main villain -- but after getting the good powers, mine gradually fell by the wayside and sits unplayed. I have more of every other AT.
If we are to die, let us die like men. -- Patrick Cleburne
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The rule is that they must be loved. --Jayne Fynes-Clinton, Death of an Abandoned Dog
Link to Brute Player Guitdes.
There are good guides for both of your choices. Have fun, and welcome to the game.
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Yeah, I really liked Masterminds at first -- made one my main villain -- but after getting the good powers, mine gradually fell by the wayside and sits unplayed. I have more of every other AT.
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Well -
I started with a bot/ff (long before any redside powersets were FOTM ) and found it... exceedingly boring. Gave up on MMs for quite some time (that MM is all of 26, and just hit that recently.)
After a while, I went into the MM forums, talked about my playstyle and why I didn't like that bot/ff (not busy enough - bubble and watch, basically) and asked for suggestions. Ended up with a Thugs/Poison I took to 50 and had a blast with.
MMs and Defenders, I'd think, have the most variability in playstyle between powerset combos within the same AT. If you try one and don't like it... try another combo. (Of course, you could also just find the whole pet thing isn't your style, which is perfectly valid as well.)
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Ok thanks everyone. So Dual Blade for a brute isnt that great?
I am thinking I will go super strength + fire armor or willpower. Anywhere I can find a good build?
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Dual Blades works great with a brute. However it may not "feel" Brute like and smashy to you.
Try doing this with a Super Strength build. If you don't like it at level 8 then Brute is not for you.
Take Punch at level 1
Take Haymaker at level 2.
Take Air Superiority from the Flight Power Pool at level 6.
Take Knockout Blow at level 8.
The other powers don't matter so much. Slot all of those powers to 4 slots first, two Accuracy and two Endurance Reduction. If you don't enjoy that you won't enjoy a Brute.
so if i dont enjoy that I wont enjoy Dual blades? I like dual blade stalkers but they seem a little to squishy for my liking which is why I dont really wanna play one.
I only have a couple of brute combos, and obviously I only speak for myself.
Elec/Invuln -Invuln feels a little weak, because V-side has a lot of damage that is "exotic" types. Elec is HUGE STUPID FUN after about level 33, but before that I would say it's a little weak.
Fire/Willpower- I like this one a lot better in the low levels. Admittedly Self Forging Weapon is only around level 27, because I have too many projects, but she's quite violent and impressive. I haven't tried her on many big teams, but solo... there's not much that can do more than ding the bodywork.
Villainside everything always feels hard to me up to about level 20 or 22, but then it takes off. I don't know if heroside spoiled me or what.
(In general, Dark Armor is not a brute I would recommend unless I'd seen you play and it somehow matched your playstyle. )
Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.
So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.
So I have just started the game and tried out one or two characters, none of which i really loved enough to continue playing. So my question is this, What class (As well as Primary/Secondary combination) is the best (For Villains only please) for solo leveling. I guess I will group every now and then but truly I want to be able to blow through solo content like there is no tomorrow. Thanks in advance for the help ^_^