A brute is like a scrapper, but more tank-like. I say "tank-like" because brutes were not designed to be tanks. They do have tank-y powersets though.
A stalker is like a scrapper, but not as strong defensively.
A corrupter is like a defender but backwards, with their damage as primary and support as secondary.
A dominator is like a controller mixed with a blaster - control + damage
A mastermind is unlike anything else.
[SIZE=1][COLOR=Yellow][U]Virtue Heroes (Serenity's Children):[/U] [B]@Eek a Mouse, The Devil's Mark, Outlaw Sniper, Gas-Soaked Rag Man, Amazon Prime, Friday's Child, Hot Blooded,[/B][B]Flower of the Moon[/B], [B]Rouge Demon Hunter[/B], Stimulated Emission, Animatronic Wench, [B]Lennie Small[/B]
[U]Virtue Villains (Serenity's Orphans):[/U][/COLOR][/SIZE][SIZE=1][COLOR=Yellow] [/COLOR][/SIZE] [SIZE=1][COLOR=Yellow] [B]Eek a Rat[/B], [B]Bomb Blondeshell[/B], Babe Brute, Jeanne Dark, Fallen Angle[/COLOR][/SIZE]
Most of the villain classes can be described as hybrids of the hero ATs.
Brute = tank with slightly weaker defense but almost scrapper level damage output. Damage is based on "rage" generated when you attack opponents.
Corrupter = more attack focused defender. Kind of a hybrid blaster/defender.
Dominator = really hard class to describe. I guess you could call them a melee controller. Basically controllers that do insanely high damage at close range. Cause a lot of status effects as well. Have a really powerful innate ability that's charged with damage output (when activated, fully heals, fully refills en, increases all power effects and breaks any holds on you at the same time.) Balanced in that they are extremely fragile. Hybrid scrapper/controller.
Stalker = melee stealth oriented class. Have most of the attack abilities of a scrapper but get bonuses when attacking from stealth. Not as strong as a scrapper outside of stealth but most opponents will not see you. All secondary power pools contain a similar stealth power that you must select.
I haven't played a Widow or Soldier so I can't help there.
A brute is like a scrapper with more HP and a requirement to charge fury with attacks and aggro.
A corruptor is like a defender with more offense.
Dominators will be like blasters with less AoE and more control after the buff.
The other ATs are not like any hero ATs, though if you want to you could say that a mastermind is sort of a tanktroller.
If you arranged them as a wheel it could go like this:
Dominator - Blaster - Stalker - Scrapper - Brute - Tank - Mastermind - Controller - Defender - Corruptor
or
Dominator - Blaster - Stalker - Scrapper - Brute - Tank - Mastermind - Corruptor - Defender - Controller
A game is not supposed to be some kind of... place where people enjoy themselves!
Thanks Eek_a_mouse, that helps.
So if on Heroes I pretty much bounce back and forth between Blasters and Defenders... a Corruptor sounds right up my alley, do you agree?
Edit for: Thanks to you too Chaos, didn't see your post as I was composing my own.
Yeah, corruptor sounds like a good start.
And pick radiation emission for your secondary (but not radiation blast for primary.) It's a nice balanced set and will make people really want you in groups.
Think of a brute as a blank slate; depending upon what powersets you choose and how you slot your powers, it could either serve as a tanker or focus more on damage, like a scrapper. Some builds can fill both roles quite well, but those are less common.
A stalker is a burst-damage dealer. They lack the long-term survivability of a scrapper, brute, or tanker, but can deliver a lot of damage very quickly. That's not to say they can't hang out and fight, but they are more fragile. They rely heavily on the hide mechanism.
A dominator is a cross between a controller and a blaster. Imagine if you took a control set, half of a blast set, and half of a melee set, and mixed it all together. They can be quite fun to play, but do tend to require more attention and careful play than many other ATs.
A corrupter is very similar to what people call an "offender". They are basically a defender that focuses on his or her ranged set ahead of their support/buff/debuff set.
A mastermind is sort of like a defender who carries their own team around with them. The pets you can summon are a double-edged sword. They allow you to save your own end for your buffs/debuffs, but they require constant attention. They can also be upgraded as you level up, giving them more powers to use. They are very useful as aggro management tools, since if a MM pet is defeated, no one gains debt and they can just be resummoned.
As expected, plenty of intelligent, helpful replies.
Thanks a lot you guys, you definitely helped me pick a starting AT for my first real Villain.
Back for one more question - now that I'm focusing on a Corrupter as a Blaster/Defender hybrid, I'm paging thru the Corruptor guides here... but can't figure out which power set offers single-target Ally buffs like Fortitude, Clear Mind, and Adrenaline Boost.
Are there similar powers Villain-side? Which power set?
Easiest way to think of the villain ATs if you must relate them to hero ATs is to think of each of them as a hybrid of the hero ATs.
Brute = tanker/scrapper
Corruptor = blaster/defender
Dominator = blaster/controller
Mastermind = tanker/defender
Stalker = blaster/scrapper
There's nothing like Fortitude as an all-in-one on a single target with those numbers, but World of Pain (in Pain Domination) is a PBAoE that provides +resistance, +tohit and +dam in smaller values and Forge (from Thermal) is a larger +tohit and +dam buff without any defense (or resistance) attached.
Clear Mind has similarities with Thaw and Enforced Morale, also from Thermal and Pain Domination (Enforced Morale is Clear Mind with a damage component if they're over 90% hp that knocks them down to 90%).
Adrenaline Boost has no equivalent at all; you can get the +regen and +recovery from Painbringer in Pain Domination, but it doesn't have the insane +recharge.
It sounds like Pain Domination wouldn't be a bad choice given the powers you're listed that you're looking for, but keep in mind that it's missing both RAs and you may not like the black/red appearance of the set.
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Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle
it has gone from unconscionable to downright appalling that we have no way of measuring our characters' wetness.
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Originally Posted by Brillig
It's hard to beat the entertainment value of Whackjob Wednesdays.
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Pretty much all villain ATs are a hero AT mixed with a Blaster, except Brutes.
Brute = Scrapper + Tank. Average the two out and you get something with more survival than a Scrapper, but less damage (until their +DMG hits really high values).
Stalker = Scrapper + Blaster. They do high sustained damage and great burst, and AS is like opening with a snipe. Since they're averaged, Stalkers are squishier than Scrappers. But more durable than Blasters, of course.
Corruptor = Defender + Blaster. Less support ability (on par with Controller) but more damage than a Defender. But less than a Blaster.
Dominator = Controller + Blaster. Controls in tact, but you trade support skills for melee + range powers. Damage is actually pretty low right now, but it's going to go up with the dom buff soon.
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Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU
Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.
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[ QUOTE ]
Pretty much all villain ATs are a hero AT mixed with a Blaster, except Brutes.
Brute = Scrapper + Tank. Average the two out and you get something with more survival than a Scrapper, but less damage (until their +DMG hits really high values).
Stalker = Scrapper + Blaster. They do high sustained damage and great burst, and AS is like opening with a snipe. Since they're averaged, Stalkers are squishier than Scrappers. But more durable than Blasters, of course.
Corruptor = Defender + Blaster. Less support ability (on par with Controller) but more damage than a Defender. But less than a Blaster.
Dominator = Controller + Blaster. Controls in tact, but you trade support skills for melee + range powers. Damage is actually pretty low right now, but it's going to go up with the dom buff soon.
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Masterminds are Villain AT's too!
Orc&Pie No.53230 There is an orc, and somehow, he got a pie. And you are hungry.
www.repeat-offenders.net
Negaduck: I see you found the crumb. I knew you'd never notice the huge flag.
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Masterminds are Villain AT's too!
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And Masterminds are, simply, an army of one. Your choice of five minion types with controllable movement. When played right, an MM can become something like a Panzer Assault.
Writer of In-Game fiction: Just Completed: My Summer Vacation. My older things are now being archived at Fanfiction.net http://www.fanfiction.net/~jwbullfrog until I come up with a better solution.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Pretty much all villain ATs are a hero AT mixed with a Blaster, except Brutes.
Brute = Scrapper + Tank. Average the two out and you get something with more survival than a Scrapper, but less damage (until their +DMG hits really high values).
Stalker = Scrapper + Blaster. They do high sustained damage and great burst, and AS is like opening with a snipe. Since they're averaged, Stalkers are squishier than Scrappers. But more durable than Blasters, of course.
Corruptor = Defender + Blaster. Less support ability (on par with Controller) but more damage than a Defender. But less than a Blaster.
Dominator = Controller + Blaster. Controls in tact, but you trade support skills for melee + range powers. Damage is actually pretty low right now, but it's going to go up with the dom buff soon.
[/ QUOTE ]
Masterminds are Villain AT's too!
[/ QUOTE ]
Yes, and one of my favs. But it's hard to describe them, unless you want to say "Masterminds can be anything, but in general, they're a 6-person team."
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Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU
Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.
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I didn't see it yet mentioned that stalkers get higher chances for a crit out of stealth when they're on larger teams. It starts at a base number (something like 15% per attack?) and goes up with numbers of players they're teaming with, up to something like 30% I think I think.
Yes, I have a head for numbers. 
Okay ONE MORE question, sorry...
Now I've really spent some time in the Corruptor Guides and on SuckerPunch's builder...looks like Therm and Rad are the heaviest Support secondaries for a Corruptor.
Both have their pluses and minuses, so lemme just poll you Villains; who would you rather team with, a x/Therm with its Buffs and Heals, or a x/Rad with its Debuffs and Heals?
I'd give the edge to /rad. I'm a bit more comfortable with the debuffs over the heals. I'd rather not get hit in the first place.
NO disrespect to Thermal, I just like /rad better
Writer of In-Game fiction: Just Completed: My Summer Vacation. My older things are now being archived at Fanfiction.net http://www.fanfiction.net/~jwbullfrog until I come up with a better solution.
[ QUOTE ]
A brute is like a scrapper, but more tank-like. I say "tank-like" because brutes were not designed to be tanks. They do have tank-y powersets though.
A stalker is like a scrapper, but not as strong defensively.
A corrupter is like a defender but backwards, with their damage as primary and support as secondary.
A dominator is like a controller mixed with a blaster - control + damage
A mastermind is unlike anything else.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, I thought that was a real good explanation. I was tempted not to write anything....but I have a couple of personal things to add to this great explanation.
Stalkers seem to work best on the strike, run and hide, strike tactics. It might seem strange on a team, but this really does work well. Assassin strike, take a couple of strikes, then run around the corner to get hide back, and return - repeat. Their Crit Inherent only works when they are hidden, and the Assassin Strike does best when hidden, so really - this tactic makes a lot sense.
Dominators seem to me to be like Controller with a secondary that is mix of scrapper primaries and blaster secondaries. I really like Dominators because of the domination inherent. Just when you think Dominators are out of the mix because they have no endurance - they can pop that Domination and they will be fully charged with end and doing extra damage. (I am quite baised toward Dominators on the villain side)
(as far as I'm concerned) Masterminds are the tanks of CoV. It's just a matter of their armor is separate from their bodies and so are some of their attack powers. Mastermind pets are very controllable. It is specially important to keep track of/manipulate their settings from attack, defense, and heel. Pet control can really make or break a mastermind.
I'd go with kinetics for the win myself.
If not, I'd go with the rad.
I dislike the graphics effects of thermal. They are very busy and make it hard for me to see combat clearly through a team that is on fire. (I haven't played villains much for a while, but I recall that Thermal is the one that has fire shields..right?)
[ QUOTE ]
Stalkers seem to work best on the strike, run and hide, strike tactics. It might seem strange on a team, but this really does work well. Assassin strike, take a couple of strikes, then run around the corner to get hide back, and return - repeat. Their Crit Inherent only works when they are hidden, and the Assassin Strike does best when hidden, so really - this tactic makes a lot sense.
[/ QUOTE ]Er, no, it doesn't, and in fact, never was only while hidden.
Pre-buffs, Stalkers had a 20% chance to crit out of hide against a held, slept, or stunned target. Post-buffs they now have a 15% chance to crit outside of hide, that increases with the number of teammates near you (I think 15 feet?)
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Originally Posted by Back Alley Brawler
Did you just use "casual gamer" and "purpled-out warshade" in the same sentence?
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Correct on the fire shields. Get those going on a medium to large team and you're basically looking at a white screen and guessting where the targets are.
Writer of In-Game fiction: Just Completed: My Summer Vacation. My older things are now being archived at Fanfiction.net http://www.fanfiction.net/~jwbullfrog until I come up with a better solution.
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(when activated, fully heals, fully refills en, increases all power effects and breaks any holds on you at the same time.)
[/ QUOTE ]Er.... Domination doesn't heal you.
It gives a second effect to all your mez powers of them at the same mag for 1.5x normal duration (which leads to 1.5x duration, with the first normal duration-span at double-mag), 75% damage buff (which is getting nixed post-I15 in favor of a higher base damage scalar for the AT itself that puts them at perma-dom damage levels without needing perma-dom), a Break-free effect, and a full end bar.
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Originally Posted by Back Alley Brawler
Did you just use "casual gamer" and "purpled-out warshade" in the same sentence?
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[ QUOTE ]
They are very busy and make it hard for me to see combat clearly through a team that is on fire. (I haven't played villains much for a while, but I recall that Thermal is the one that has fire shields..right?)
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Yes Therm is the one with the fire shields, and you do bring up an important point. I've heard plenty of complaints about how Therm can bring some PCs to their knees, how many people don't like the look of the effect, and in fact, personally, I don't care for the fire shield on me as a recipient, I can only imagine what it's like trying to keep an eye on/target a team-full.
I also wanted to say I realize I oversimplified in saying Therm=Buffs/Heals, and Rad=Debuffs/Heals... Therm certainly has some Debuffs of its own, they just come much later in the build.
Edit for: ArcticFahx I love your Apostrophe Guidelines in the sig - can we please make that a sticky/required reading for all posters on the Interwebz? Thanks!
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Stalkers seem to work best on the strike, run and hide, strike tactics. It might seem strange on a team, but this really does work well. Assassin strike, take a couple of strikes, then run around the corner to get hide back, and return - repeat. Their Crit Inherent only works when they are hidden, and the Assassin Strike does best when hidden, so really - this tactic makes a lot sense.
[/ QUOTE ]Er, no, it doesn't, and in fact, never was only while hidden.
Pre-buffs, Stalkers had a 20% chance to crit out of hide against a held, slept, or stunned target. Post-buffs they now have a 15% chance to crit outside of hide, that increases with the number of teammates near you (I think 15 feet?)
[/ QUOTE ]
Close.
The base critical chance out of Hide for a Stalker is 10%, and it increases by 3% for each teammate within 30' of you to a maximum of 31% per attack. Unlike criticals from Hidden status, this percentage is not halved for AoE attacks.
And "hit and run" tactics are only effective while soloing as a Stalker; on a team you provide far more damage sticking around and fighting and playing hit and run has a good chance of getting you kicked and will likely get you one-starred and commented whether kicked or not. Yes, your attack chain doesn't develop until relatively late for most sets when compared to Scrappers and Brutes, but it's still better than AS...wait...AS...wait...
As for Thermal vs Rad; I'd want them both on the team actually, and in reality which one I'd rather have changes depending on which character I'm playing but if I only had one for a general case I'm leaning towards Rad. -20% damage substitutes for +resistance rather well, and Rad's debuffs are available each spawn and AoEs.
With that said, Rad just happens to have a heal; it's not going to keep people alive with it - that's what the debuffs are for. Thermal can keep someone alive much better if they're playing recklessly; the +resistance magnifies the effectiveness of the heals and Cauterize recharges quickly, allowing you to keep up with a good amount of incoming damage on a single target. If your teammates are playing intelligently, it's mostly just putting up the shields and blasting away though.
And if you're going after AVs, I'd rather have a Cold. Sleet + Heat Loss + Benumb while at or near the defense softcap makes for some fast and easy kills. 
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Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle
it has gone from unconscionable to downright appalling that we have no way of measuring our characters' wetness.
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Brillig
It's hard to beat the entertainment value of Whackjob Wednesdays.
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Long-time Hero, first-time Villain.
Could someone either provide, or point me toward, a really simple explanation of the Villain ATs as they relate to Hero ATs.
e.g. A Brute is like a Tank, but...
a Stalker is like a Scrapper, except...
a Corrupter is like a Blaster, but...
a Dominator is like a Controller, only...
I actually did roll a Mastermind a long time ago, but it didn't turn out to be what I thought it would... and I'm worried I'm going to encounter the same thing with the other ATs, so I'm trying to avoid getting frustrated or starting to level a Villain only to discover it's not what I wanted and have to start from scratch, with another AT about which I know very little.
I've played around in SuckerPunch's online builder, so I kinda know what powersets are available to the ATs, but it's a very "dry" kinda understanding... I'm looking for the "flavor" of the ATs, in terms that I can relate to as a long-time Heroes player.
I've also perused the Paragon Wiki entries, but again, they're not giving me the info I'm looking for in a way that I can relate to as a long-time Heroes player.
Thanks in advance for your help!