DM/ ? for an av solo-er ie single target dps

Lookin to make a single target dps monster and av soloer, what would you say goes best with DM? If you tihnk a different primary is waranteed, please explain. tyvm.

Shield Defense... and the Soul APP

DM/Shield will have a high average DPS due to Against All Odds, and DM's -ToHit debuffs will make soloing AVs easier due to the defense from Shield. It also gives you Shield Bash, a bit of AoE and KB to make your life easier against big mobs. taking the Soul Mastery Patron Poll will give you access to Gloom and Darkest Night. Gloom can become another ST attack in melee, and Darkest Night will work with your Shield Defense to make you nearly invincible. Duoing with another/Shield when you both have Grant Cover is a great way to run through mission after mission without being touched.

DM/SR will hit the defense cap much easier than DM/Shield, and Quickness gives you free recharge reduction. DM's ToHit debuffs will make leveling as a /SR much easier during the suck levels when you haven't gotten enough of SR's powers to protect yourself. Good easy to play combo, but I would personally find it kind of vanilla.

DM/WP will give you all kinds of regeneration and recovery, as well as solid defenses and resistances. Willpower goes well with everything, and I hear it really does well with DM.

DM/Energy will never run out of endurance, but most people hate Energy. It won't be as good as a DM/SR, I guess.

DM/Stone is a surprisingly good match, as long as you grab Taunt to keep enemies near you. Stone moves slowly, and Granite armor makes your powers recharge slower, so having a primary with fast recharging attacks will help you.

DM/DA is an old scrapper favorite of mine. /DA will give you resistance to everything, extra -ToHit, Oppressive Gloom, and Cloak of Fear, as well as Dark Regeneration. Its biggest problems is the high endurance cost and relatively low resistance compared to Invulnerability.

The best bets for soloing AVs would be DM/WP, DM/SR, or DM/Shield.

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DM/Shield will have a high average DPS due to Against All Odds, and DM's -ToHit debuffs will make soloing AVs easier due to the defense from Shield. It also gives you Shield Bash, a bit of AoE and KB to make your life easier against big mobs. taking the Soul Mastery Patron Poll will give you access to Gloom and Darkest Night. Gloom can become another ST attack in melee, and Darkest Night will work with your Shield Defense to make you nearly invincible. Duoing with another/Shield when you both have Grant Cover is a great way to run through mission after mission without being touched.

DM/SR will hit the defense cap much easier than DM/Shield, and Quickness gives you free recharge reduction. DM's ToHit debuffs will make leveling as a /SR much easier during the suck levels when you haven't gotten enough of SR's powers to protect yourself. Good easy to play combo, but I would personally find it kind of vanilla.

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Very thorough break-down, but I wanted to add this:

SR has better resistance to defense debuff than shields, though shields has some. More importantly (IMO), is the fact that shields also provides some damage resistance (@17% or so to everything) and a significant health boost which makes both regen and Siphon Life much more effective...

This matters because, while SR gets to the defense cap faster/easier, they both can... and once you reach that cap, the defense they provide is the same, putting shields way out ahead.

DM/Inv is also very strong so I'm surprised it's not on your list.

DM requires a ton of recharge to maximize its attacks so I'd stay away from DM/SA since Granite's debuff is somewhat counter-productive.

I'd like to toss another nod to DM/Inv. Invuln is suprisingly light on endurance. It provides very comprehensive coverage that scales with the number of targets you face. You won't do the ST or aoe damage of DM/SD, but you get more defense debuff resistance, a better t9 godmode power, loads more hp and a taunt aura which gives accuracy instead of damage. I'd rather have accuracy in soloing and group than the damage buff. The times vs AV's that you need more damage mob defense is also very likely to come into play.

If you want something that performs the AV soloing bit slightly worse, but performs substantially better in AoE scenarios DM/EA is just awesome. Lots of defense, low resists, can run tough/weave easily along with darkest night with inexpensive slotting. Darkest night covers the low resists making less deficient compared to DM/Invuln, but still not at that point. The defenses make up for that though, being easy to softcap with a decent amount of recharge.

DM/Elec is also a very effective AV soloer. High resists to everything but toxic, recharge buff, an excellent taunt aura and near immunity to all of the nasty debuffs. It has less healing than DM/Invuln or DM/EA, also it is less effective in large aoe situations. It can run Darkest night easily though to help out. Darkest night and dark obliteration can give you a decent if low amount of defense to cover you there.

DM/FA is an AoE machine that beast out DM/SD for pure damage output, but falls behind all other options in terms of defense and resistances. The AV soloing upside though is the combination of a melee set immob with burn which you can stack with a pool immob to melt AV's or aoe packs. Fire has problems with melee heavy packs but burn can take them out of the equation temporarily by itself or permanently with a patron immob.

In the final analysis I'd say that DM is just good with anything. It makes any set better. DM/Elec has the largest resist and debuff coverage. DM/Fire has the highest AoE damage and built right can blow away DM/SD for ST damage. DM/SD has great ST and AoE damage with decent defence, but low defense debuff coverage. DM/Invuln has the most comprehensive damage mitigation to everything but psi, is the only defense set with an accuracy boost and eats relatively low endurance. DM/EA is a good combination of AoE and ST utility and can run just about any toggle you want which can give you a ton of options for things to cover up your holes.

I won't suggest which one to pick. Personally for brutes I have a DM/Invuln and a DM/Elec. I have played all of the others at 50 and all are fun imo. Pick the one that fits a concept you have or that you like the looks of best. Pick the one that has the most buttons that will make you smile when you hit them. Enjoy your brute, they're all good.

Hmmm, although dm/sd looks good, i have an elec/sd and tbh, wanted to stay away from the look of holding one arm steady with a shield all the time. Silly I know. WP looks to be the way I'll go, i've never had a/wp anything and i've seen them do wonderful things. thanks for the great advice.

I have a DM/WP and I have to say that while strong, it is no Tank. /WP has the worst Taunt aura available and DM has almost zero AoE causing aggro management to be very difficult. A strong AoE primary is normally a better pair because of punchvoke.

WP is also sorta bad for AV soloing unless you surround yourself with mobs first or get it inf-sploded in da slots or unless the AV deals all psi.

hmm going to try out a DM/Invl.I have an Elec/Invl (only 15 atm)
until you get the nice shields its tough going with just S/L resists and Dullpain..

DM/invul looks like a fun set to try out!