[ QUOTE ]
I thought that instead of putting Crushing Impact in all my single-target attacks, I'd look into other options because I just don't think it's worth the money. I thought Stupefy looked like a good set and I looked into the pricing and it's actually surprisingly cheap! I'm tempted to put this in all three attacks that will take it. Is there any pressing reason why this wouldn't be a good idea?
[/ QUOTE ]
Yes, they don't have any damage buffs. You're a brute, you defeat things. Stunning them for all eternity doesn't help you as much as putting them down. Slot your attacks with melee sets, not stun sets.
In general you want to either frankenslot (use IO's from different sets to maximize the acc, dam, end and rech bonus) or slot sets based on your secondary. Willpower tends to be best if you slot for typed defenses, S/L in particular. This means Kinetic Combats in the attacks and Reactive Armor in your resists. It's expensive as hell though, apparently Invuln tankers just recently discovered the defense softcap.
Well my thought process was more along the lines of this: keeping them stunned gives my WP time to regen, gives me time to build more fury. More fury gives me more damage, even without damage IOs. I'm thinking that between RTTC and stuns, I can stay up long enough that the little dps I'm losing won't be a big deal. Also I thought Stupefy had some badass secondary effects that would be really handy (hp regen, end regen, power recharge).
But I'll look into those other sets. I'm still a noob at IO sets, so I'm not sure what makes one set that much better than another.
QR
The main problem with overslotting stuns on a brute, IMO, is that stunned mobs are not attacking you, and mobs that aren't attacking are not helping you build fury.
One set of 5 Stupefies isn't bad, if you're talking about powers that do minor damage anyway. Heavy hitters need the damage slotting, though. Things that are dead are even less of a threat than things that are stunned. 
My postings to this forum are not to be used as data in any research study without my express written consent.
Brutes are tough, then can handle almost anything you throw at them. Atleast willpower brutes. It would work, but be much slower than it could be. Teams will really miss that extra damage you could do. Also keep in mind that you should spread the love, if you stun one mob, switch targets.
Well I stuck a full set of Kinetic Crash on Jawbreaker since it has damage in it. That whole set couldn't have cost more than 2m inf to craft. I started grabbing pieces of Kinetic Combat to 4-slot in my other three main attacks (leaving out the proc). Unfortunately they're pretty rare so I only got one piece so far. Can I get them using MA tickets somehow (bronze? silver?)? I don't have enough merits to use on that.
I'm not sure what I'm gonna do since the KC's are so rare. The price isn't an issue, just availability and the fact that I don't want to tie up all my auction slots hoping for a recipe (x3). This is kinda the main reason I was looking at other sets...I'm an outside-the-box thinker generally and trying something that's not "conventional wisdom" just to see how it goes seems fun...it has the added benefit of being relatively cheap since nobody wants the other recipes. :-D
So are there any other good sets I could slot besides Kinetic Combat?
Sorry for the double post. I made up a somewhat imaginary build in Mids and I wanted to get some feedback. I know some of this stuff is gonna be hard to get/expensive but I'm not overly concerned with that at the moment. I'm more concerned about learning proper slotting theory.
- I am still L27 and everything up to that point (skill- and slot-wise) is accurate. After that, I'll assume the level that I put the slots in isn't important for now.
- I'm still pretty far off from soft-capping my defense...but my HP and HP Regen are pretty buffed. Is it possible to soft-cap def on this build without using purples/hami-o's?
Any feedback would be really helpful! Thanks!
Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]
Hartari: Level 45 Natural Brute
Primary Power Set: War Mace
Secondary Power Set: Willpower
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Villain Profile:
Level 1: Bash -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(3), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9)
Level 1: High Pain Tolerance -- Heal-I(A), RctvArm-ResDam(40), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(43), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(43), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(43), Heal-I(45)
Level 2: Pulverize -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(5), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(5), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), Zinger-Dam%(19)
Level 4: Jawbreaker -- KinCrsh-Dmg/KB(A), KinCrsh-Acc/KB(7), KinCrsh-Rchg/KB(7), KinCrsh-Rechg/EndRdx(11), KinCrsh-Dmg/EndRdx/KB(27), KinCrsh-Acc/Dmg/KB(27)
Level 6: Fast Healing -- Mrcl-Heal(A), Mrcl-Heal/EndRdx(11), Mrcl-Rcvry+(13)
Level 8: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff-I(A)
Level 10: Indomitable Will -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Clobber -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(13), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(15), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Jump-I(A)
Level 16: Rise to the Challenge -- DisWord-ToHitDeb(A), DisWord-ToHitDeb/Rchg(17), DisWord-ToHitDeb/Rchg/EndRdx(17), Numna-Heal(19), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(29), Numna-Heal/Rchg(31)
Level 18: Swift -- Run-I(A)
Level 20: Quick Recovery -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(21), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(21)
Level 22: Mind Over Body -- RctvArm-ResDam(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(23), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(23), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(29)
Level 24: Health -- Numna-Heal(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx(25), Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(25)
Level 26: Shatter -- Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(A), Oblit-Dmg(33), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(33), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(33), Oblit-%Dam(34), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(34)
Level 28: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(31), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(31)
Level 30: Heightened Senses -- S'dpty-Def(A), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx(34), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(36)
Level 32: Crowd Control -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(36), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(36), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Oblit-%Dam(37)
Level 35: Whirling Mace -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(39), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(39), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(39), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40), Oblit-%Dam(40)
Level 38: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 41: Tough -- RctvArm-ResDam(A), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx(42), RctvArm-ResDam/Rchg(42), RctvArm-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(42)
Level 44: Weave -- S'dpty-Def(A), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx(45), S'dpty-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(45)
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 1: Fury
------------
[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]<ul type="square">[*]9% DamageBuff(Smashing)[*]9% DamageBuff(Lethal)[*]9% DamageBuff(Fire)[*]9% DamageBuff(Cold)[*]9% DamageBuff(Energy)[*]9% DamageBuff(Negative)[*]9% DamageBuff(Toxic)[*]9% DamageBuff(Psionic)[*]21.9% Defense(Smashing)[*]21.9% Defense(Lethal)[*]3.75% Defense(Energy)[*]3.75% Defense(Negative)[*]19.4% Defense(Melee)[*]1.88% Defense(Ranged)[*]22.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]27% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]10% FlySpeed[*]230.5 HP (15.4%) HitPoints[*]10% JumpHeight[*]10% JumpSpeed[*]Knockback (Mag -3)[*]Knockup (Mag -3)[*]MezResist(Confused) 1.65%[*]MezResist(Immobilize) 11.6%[*]MezResist(Stun) 6.6%[*]2.5% (0.04 End/sec) Recovery[*]38% (2.38 HP/sec) Regeneration[*]2.5% Resistance(Smashing)[*]13% RunSpeed[/list]
Anyone? Anyone? Beuler?
Okay so please forgive me if this is a dumb question. I've been marketeering lately and no longer am worried about inf. So I decided to look into IO slotting without worry of price (within reason of course!) For reference I'm WM/WP and Level 26 right now.
I thought that instead of putting Crushing Impact in all my single-target attacks, I'd look into other options because I just don't think it's worth the money. I thought Stupefy looked like a good set and I looked into the pricing and it's actually surprisingly cheap! I'm tempted to put this in all three attacks that will take it. Is there any pressing reason why this wouldn't be a good idea?
I'm also looking at putting Kinetic Crash in Jawbreaker since that's decently cheap too. I haven't looked into AOE stuff yet since I'll be grabbing Whirling Mace and Crowd Control at 34 and 32 respectively.
I'll probably be posting more questions here when I get to working on my secondary and pool powers. Oh, is there any "must have" IO's I should be trying to squeeze in? I know I don't really need knockback protection procs...maybe a stealth travel proc?