My Plan Upon My Return: My First Shielder

So after 5 months of having no CoX but my un-updated copy of Mids' (I'm on deployment) I've decided I want to make a Mace/Shield brute when I get home.

...these will both be new sets to me, and I know they've gotten a lot of changes since February, some of which I know and some I don't.

Basically, I have some questions:

1. Can I skip any of the ST attacks in Mace? Seems like Jawbreaker and shatter are pretty similar, with new Clobber being useful.

2. How viable is Shields without any IO support? I was planning on taking the team powers (mostly because I like teaming and for the DEF debuff resistance), maybe tough and weave, but I don't want to have like 9 toggles to even live through a full spawn. Got that on my fire scrapper, thanks.

3. What kind of helpful tips/tactics have people found for shields?

4. How cool are the customizable maces? Especially with the new costumes I've seen that have been released lately.

Quote:

Originally Posted by EarthWyrm But I do understand that there is an internet rule that any bad idea must be presented by someone at least twice a year to remind everyone who hasn't already read every previous thread on the topic precisely why the idea is bad.

[ QUOTE ]
So after 5 months of having no CoX but my un-updated copy of Mids' (I'm on deployment) I've decided I want to make a Mace/Shield brute when I get home.

...these will both be new sets to me, and I know they've gotten a lot of changes since February, some of which I know and some I don't.

Basically, I have some questions:

1. Can I skip any of the ST attacks in Mace? Seems like Jawbreaker and shatter are pretty similar, with new Clobber being useful.

2. How viable is Shields without any IO support? I was planning on taking the team powers (mostly because I like teaming and for the DEF debuff resistance), maybe tough and weave, but I don't want to have like 9 toggles to even live through a full spawn. Got that on my fire scrapper, thanks.

3. What kind of helpful tips/tactics have people found for shields?

4. How cool are the customizable maces? Especially with the new costumes I've seen that have been released lately.

[/ QUOTE ]

1. Haven't made a mace user so I can't recommend powers

2. While you could use SO or standard IO, you will want to slot up some stamina recovery as Shield can be a drain.

3. Many shield toons I see are Electric Melee so they can have Lightning Rod plus Shield Charge, or Super Strength for Shield Charge+Footstomp. Also you are not Captain America, and you and your mighty shield are not invincible, shield is a nice set, but it is not at the same durability level as Stone, Invul, WP. Its a cool set with cool abilities and its better then energy armor.

4. Paragonwiki.com has pics of the maces and shields. Many nifty items to be had if you can unlock em.

Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

[ QUOTE ]
How viable is Shields without any IO support? I was planning on taking the team powers (mostly because I like teaming and for the DEF debuff resistance), maybe tough and weave, but I don't want to have like 9 toggles to even live through a full spawn. Got that on my fire scrapper, thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]
I built a Sheild brute who's very tough but has to run a ton of toggles and I invested a staggering (to me) amount of inf to buy lots of IO sets. I'd say if you just want something that's strong on pure SOs, look elsewhere. Willpower is the most commonly recommended. Invincibility has gotten some buffs and is stronger than it used to be but you do have to cherry pick your foes for max effectiveness.

When were these Invuln buffs? I don't remember any ones announced lately...

Quote:

Originally Posted by EarthWyrm But I do understand that there is an internet rule that any bad idea must be presented by someone at least twice a year to remind everyone who hasn't already read every previous thread on the topic precisely why the idea is bad.

It was a couple issues back. Invul still has the psi hole (rassafrassin.....) but it is stronger then it was.

WP has no Psihole, offers Quick Recovery which if combined with Stamina means "what stamina problems"? and is overall a great armor set.

Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

Shatter is not entirely an ST attack - it's a narrow cone; I would not skip it. With some global recharge, bash is the attack you can easily respec out of later on.

If you still need to skip a power after that, it comes down Jawbreaker and Whirling Mace (imo). Jawbreaker is knockup, which can be handy mitigation. Whirling mace is your standard low damage 10 radius attack with 20ish% chance of mag2 stun.

My Mace/Shield skipped bash and whirling mace; nonetheless, I've considered respeccing back into WM. Either way you go, you have great AoE potential in shatter + crowd control alone.

Regarding your choice to stay away from additional toggles in the fighting pool, I would get weave no matter what. It's not entirely easy to get melee/range/AoE def all past 45%(soft cap) on a shield brute, even moreso if you don't take weave.

2. I've both soloed and played in team my Elec/SD up to 47 now, and never had a problem leading teams and tanking. You just need to refill your inspi tray with small purples between each mission. Just pop one or two and your defense is soft capped in every position. OtwS is a very good tier 9 and alot of help against very tough stuff.

3. Put a FF +rech proc in Crowd Control, it has a chance to proc for every critter hit, and gonna give a +rech boost to all your powers including Shield Charge, BU, Hasten. Take Hasten and BU 3xslotted with rech too. Frankenslot SC to get 95% dam and 95% rech. So, BU and SC will be up very fast and always together.

Good luck

My WM/SD just hit 50, and he's a beast. There's enough ST and AoE damage there, and I've taken the whole primary except taunt.

/SD needs some investments, but I didn't do any evil marketing, and am still able to cap all positions on defense by the time I reached 50. I took the whole secondary, and the medicine pool, not tough/weave.

re: shields: I won't use shield charge until I saturate AAO. I don't need the KD usually for survival. Mobs will vary.

Re: maces themselves: I didn't use many, just the night stick.

[ QUOTE ]
/SD needs some investments, but I didn't do any evil marketing, and am still able to cap all positions on defense by the time I reached 50. I took the whole secondary, and the medicine pool, not tough/weave.

[/ QUOTE ]
Can you post your build, please? I'd like to see a capped build that didn't require large investments and didn't use weave. Is it capped with no teammates standing near?

Yeah my SM/SD is build without CJ and cost me a toon of loot and still soft caps all positions. But I don't think you could do it without weave. At least not without totally nerfing the rest of the build. Also, Med pool is my life saver TAKE IT!!!!

The way I pretty much use the fighting pool is to take Tough without slotting it and never planning on using it, but putting a Steadfast +Defense in its inherent slot, THEN taking, slotting and running weave. Between the two of them you get a defensive boost of about +9% while only using 3 slots and only paying the endurance cost for Weave.

And as a Brute, you can always use another quick, low-cost attack.

Here's a WM/SD build with softcapped melee and range, without tough/weave. AoE is only at 41% tho:

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1,401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Level 50 Mutation Brute
Primary Power Set: War Mace
Secondary Power Set: Shield Defense
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Pulverize -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(3), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(3), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), T'Death-Dam%(7)
Level 1: Deflection -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(7), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(9), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(9), RedFtn-Def(11), RedFtn-EndRdx(11)
Level 2: Jawbreaker -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(13), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(13), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(15), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), T'Death-Dam%(17)
Level 4: True Grit -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(17), Heal-I(19), ResDam-I(19), ResDam-I(21), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(21)
Level 6: Battle Agility -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(23), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(23), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(25), RedFtn-Def(25), RedFtn-EndRdx(27)
Level 8: Clobber -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(27), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(29), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(29), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31), T'Death-Dam%(31)
Level 10: Active Defense -- HO:Membr(A)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(31), Zephyr-ResKB(33)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(33), Zephyr-ResKB(33)
Level 16: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 18: Health -- Empty(A), Empty(40)
Level 20: Stamina -- Empty(A), Empty(39), Empty(40)
Level 22: Against All Odds -- Empty(A), Empty(39)
Level 24: Build Up -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(34), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(34), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(34), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(36), GSFC-Build%(36)
Level 26: Shatter -- Oblit-Acc/Rchg(A), Oblit-Dmg(36), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(37), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), Oblit-%Dam(39)
Level 28: Phalanx Fighting -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 30: Hasten -- Empty(A), Empty(50), Empty(50)
Level 32: Crowd Control -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(40), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(42), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(42), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42)
Level 35: Shield Charge -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(43), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(43), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(45), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(45), Oblit-%Dam(45)
Level 38: Super Speed -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(43), Zephyr-ResKB(48)
Level 41: One with the Shield -- Empty(A)
Level 44: Gloom -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(46), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(46), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(48)
Level 47: Darkest Night -- Empty(A), Empty(50)
Level 49: Grant Cover -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury
------------
[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]<ul type="square">[*]20% DamageBuff(Smashing)[*]20% DamageBuff(Lethal)[*]20% DamageBuff(Fire)[*]20% DamageBuff(Cold)[*]20% DamageBuff(Energy)[*]20% DamageBuff(Negative)[*]20% DamageBuff(Toxic)[*]20% DamageBuff(Psionic)[*]13,6% Defense(Smashing)[*]13,6% Defense(Lethal)[*]10,5% Defense(Fire)[*]10,5% Defense(Cold)[*]15,2% Defense(Energy)[*]15,2% Defense(Negative)[*]3% Defense(Psionic)[*]24,3% Defense(Melee)[*]23,6% Defense(Ranged)[*]18% Defense(AoE)[*]35% Enhancement(RechargeTime)[*]34% Enhancement(Accuracy)[*]9% FlySpeed[*]95,6 HP (6,38%) HitPoints[*]9% JumpHeight[*]9% JumpSpeed[*]Knockback (Mag -12)[*]Knockup (Mag -12)[*]MezResist(Held) 8,25%[*]MezResist(Immobilize) 12,7%[*]MezResist(Stun) 4,4%[*]4,5% (0,08 End/sec) Recovery[*]10% (0,63 HP/sec) Regeneration[*]2,52% Resistance(Fire)[*]2,52% Resistance(Cold)[*]3,13% Resistance(Negative)[*]9% RunSpeed[/list]


<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>| Copy &amp; Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
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[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
/SD needs some investments, but I didn't do any evil marketing, and am still able to cap all positions on defense by the time I reached 50. I took the whole secondary, and the medicine pool, not tough/weave.

[/ QUOTE ]
Can you post your build, please? I'd like to see a capped build that didn't require large investments and didn't use weave. Is it capped with no teammates standing near?

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry for the delay. Range/AoE at 44%, melee 46%.

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/

[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]

Level 50 Natural Brute
Primary Power Set: War Mace
Secondary Power Set: Shield Defense
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Medicine

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Bash -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(3), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(3), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), T'Death-Dam%(7)
Level 1: Deflection -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(7), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(9), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(9), RedFtn-Def(11), RedFtn-EndRdx(11)
Level 2: Pulverize -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(13), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(13), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(15), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15), T'Death-Dam%(17)
Level 4: Jawbreaker -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(17), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(19), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(19), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(21), T'Death-Dam%(21)
Level 6: Build Up -- GSFC-ToHit(A), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg(23), GSFC-ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(23), GSFC-Rchg/EndRdx(25), GSFC-ToHit/EndRdx(25), GSFC-Build%(27)
Level 8: True Grit -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(50), RgnTis-Regen+(50)
Level 10: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 12: Combat Jumping -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(45), Zephyr-ResKB(46)
Level 14: Health -- Heal-I(A), Heal-I(46)
Level 16: Against All Odds -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 18: Clobber -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(27), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(29), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(29), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31), Mako-Dam%(31)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(31), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(50)
Level 22: Active Defense -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(33)
Level 24: Battle Agility -- RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(A), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(33), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(33), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(34), RedFtn-Def(34), RedFtn-EndRdx(34)
Level 26: Whirling Mace -- M'Strk-Acc/Dmg(A), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(36), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg(36), M'Strk-Acc/EndRdx(36), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37)
Level 28: Shatter -- M'Strk-Acc/Dmg(A), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(37), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg(39), M'Strk-Acc/EndRdx(39), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(39), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(40)
Level 30: Phalanx Fighting -- DefBuff-I(A)
Level 32: Crowd Control -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(43), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(43), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(43), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(45), KinCrsh-Rechg/EndRdx(45)
Level 35: Shield Charge -- M'Strk-Acc/Dmg(A), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx(40), M'Strk-Dmg/Rchg(40), M'Strk-Acc/EndRdx(42), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(42), M'Strk-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42)
Level 38: One with the Shield -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
Level 41: Aid Other -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 44: Aid Self -- 3 slots (48)
Level 47: Super Jump -- Zephyr-Travel(A), Zephyr-Travel/EndRdx(48), Zephyr-ResKB(48)
Level 49: Grant Cover -- EndRdx-I(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury

The Regen Tissue proc fell onto my lap - I didn't buy this one. I'm thinking of changing Grant Cover to Hasten - that's my only grief with this build - the AoEs need to come back sooner.

Each of the zephyr -kb costed $20 mill.

5 months of having no CoX must have been terrible