well, of course SS fits perfectly with evrything you want and synergizes well with all those secondaries......hate to echo all other suggestions, but for pbaoe and st soloing...cant bet it
elec/elec based on your criteria I'd say it's one of the best synergy you could get.
elec/ has 2 Aoe and they do very good damage ( thats without saying how COOL LR looks)
I'll offer an odd duck choice: Stone/Dark
This combo becomes a beast after IO sets. You can slot for a huge amount of +rec, and wind up with better rec than a WP brute with Stamina (who isn't IOd for +rec, cuz lets face it, that would be silly)
This combo has the best mitigation offerred by any of the AoE combos available. Fault+OG=everything stunned. Just don't turn on OG at fights start, wait till you get fury up.
Pick up Scirocco for your patron- it has two targetted AoEs that are radial, not cones. And fences will prevent all those perma stunned mobs from wandering.
You'll wind up with four AoEs (Tremor, Ball Lightning, Electric Fences, and Death Shroud) plus fault (which you can throw dam procs in) and have top end ST damage available as well.
SM/DA makes me wince just thinking about the end use.
My choices would be in this order
SS/Ela
SM/Ela
SS/FA
SM/FA
Elm/Ela
I think we need a little more clarification on what you want to do with your brute. Are you just enjoying the game, trying out the AT, planning on farming, is there any particular primary you dont like based on looks?
Any brute works, its like scrappers in that regard any combination works and lets you solo and team effectively. Some things to keep in mind, fury is a big part of playing your brute effectively so understanding this mechanic is critical to enjoying and getting the most out of your brute.
Next what do you want out of your secondary, healing, resistance, endurance recovery, defense? At the top end of the game when you can cap defense, defense based builds become very strong, frankly overpowered, but it is a long road to get there and they suffer early and dont blossom without some spendy IO's.
SS/FA is a bit of a FoTM build but its popular for a reason. Easy fury building chain, decent single target, a ranged attack, great aoe, a great heal, some endurance management. It just feels...SMASH as well.
I like /dark and /electric with SS but you might want to wait on these if you dont have much melee toon experience in the game. Dark is a toggle/endurance nightmare without expensive IO's but can do amazing things, and electric has great endurance management and neat toys but no heal.
Whatever you pick just remember your new motto in life is...SMASH!!!!
stone/dark is going to kill you for end use until you get waaaay into the IO game.
The two aoe sets people seem to like are SS and elec. They're both good, but elec/ has one of those irritating melee cones and lightning rod is on a longish cooldown, so I prefer SS.
You could pretty easily pair SS with any of the secondaries you listed; elec armor and fiery aura are both good, but I would take fire because it's a hassle not having a self-heal.
@Dysc, on virtue:
Virtue blues: Overnight (DP/MM), Kid Ridiculous (FC/rad), Panorama (Ill/time)
Virtue reds: Block Party (SS/SD), Goldcrush (earth/fire), Deadwire (claws/elec), Snowcrush (ice/kin)
Hi Brutes -
I am looking to play with a Brute and want to use one of the secondary sets that has a PBAOE aura on it. So I think this would mean just /fire, /DA or /Electric Armor.
I tend to prefer to solo and like aoe skills, but much prefer PBAOE and not cones (I can set them up, I just don't find it fun).
What pairs best with those secondaries in your opinion? I know that Brute builds are all fairly strong, but perhaps some of you have some experience and can recommend some synergistic primaries.
thanks