Gone with DM/EN. I heard that the energy shields were pretty poor so I figured why mess with success by choosing a defensive set that's considered the best? The J-dizzle does not play that.
I have tried a few brute types up to level 8. But gone for EM/EA
I have taken Barrage/Energy Punch as my attacks (L12 so far). An Fury just flies up. No big attack as yet, waiting for Total Focus at 18.
Currently running a DA/Fire Brute, if you like fury fire is the way to go, with blazing aura on in a team your fury builds up at an incredible rate be warned though the aggro you take at times can be pretty intense, as long as you got a good healer with you though this can be a lethal combination.
Too many 50's to list here's a few you may know.
Slazenger, Area51, Area53, Area54, Erruption, Mind Plague, Thresher, Sheath, Broadside, Debt
Stone/Stone all the way for me. It's so violent! The sound effects, the ZOMG damage!!, the screen shaking when you do pretty much anything. It's easy to get into the smash with that much audiovisual feedback.
I am playing dark melee/stone armor. Thought it could be useful (and i like the visuals) when stone is defense rather than resistance and DM reduces accuracy, but i am getting rather disappointing with the build... 
I went with EN/INV and I have never looked back 
My Brute is now level 24 and i'd say he's doing pretty damned well - of course, I havent teamed much with other brutes so there may very well be more powerful builds than what I went with, but I can take loads of punishment and dish it out as well.
Overall, it feels just like being a tanker again - almost brings a tear to my eye 
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I am playing dark melee/stone armor. Thought it could be useful (and i like the visuals) when stone is defense rather than resistance and DM reduces accuracy, but i am getting rather disappointing with the build...
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Why is that ?
I have a dark/stone and I am very happy with it. What is your problem ? Perhaps I can help you enjoy the SMASH with this build 
WEll ,it is more a problem with my build than with the sets...
First of, i spent 2 slots on Sotne Skin just to discover 3 general enhancements add like an extra 2% resistance wich is less than 1 hp per hit 10-15.
I heal slotted (2) earths embrace too thinking it would add to the extra HP gained to discover it is only to the healing... Yeah, maybe it was too powerful what i expected.
And my problem with rooted, which i cant find really useful because of impaired movement.
In general i group with a SS/invul brute and he is much more smashing than me. Hits for 290+ with rage! Oo
I think it will get better once i get the Brimstone armor, btw ¿can i use brimstone/rock and crystal at the same time?
Stone skin is not a slottage priority, but those slots can be usefull. FYI, stone skin base is 7.5% for a brute last I checked (75% a tanker value which is 10%), so 3 res SOs will add 4.2% res. Not incredible but noticeable.
Heals in earth embrace a really usefull when you use it as a heal and not only as HP booster.
Rooted is one of the shinning gem of the stone armor line. Status protection + life regen is pure gold. However, if you can't cope with the movement penalties, just stop here and reroll another caracter because it will be your daily life as a stone armor brute. And it will get way worse with granite armor. The travel power of choice for a stone armor user is TP. Others are almost useless.
For SS, yes, it can pop great numbers. But as dark is mixed smash/dark energy damage (when it is not pure dark energy), you will be less resisted and overall the damage will compare. Wait a bit to see what soul drain can offer to you in terms of damage output And you have all those utility powers (siphon life, dark consumption, touch of fear) to compensate.
All armors in the stone line can stack except granite which cannot be run in conjunction with rock, brimstone, crystal and/or mineral.
Thanks, ¿touch of fear makes enemies flee or just reduces their accuracy as it is in the description?
About stacking, i remember i could not stack DA with a scrapper, but brutes seems to be able. :S Has it changed to scrappers too? Anyone knows? I only play COV ATM and cant test it.
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Thanks, ¿touch of fear makes enemies flee or just reduces their accuracy as it is in the description?
About stacking, i remember i could not stack DA with a scrapper, but brutes seems to be able. :S Has it changed to scrappers too? Anyone knows? I only play COV ATM and cant test it.
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/DA toggles have stacked for quite a bit now. ToF (and all Fear powers) cause your target to cower in front of you, a bit like a hold but it doesn't turn off toggles etc. If you attack them, they can attack you back but with an Acc Debuff.
Energy Melee/DA
High Mez, insane damage. All types of damage res, great heal. Fear, +perception power.
Problems will be endurance, big time but with ED slotting endurance can be okay. Also it'll be a [censored] which can be a pain.
SS/INV all the way, took stamina at 20, never looked back, lvl 31 now, RPD/TI/UNYEILDING/INVINCIBILTY, JAB/PUNCH/ HAYMAKER/KNOCKOUT BLOW/ no end probs at all never have to rest, and rarely use inspirations, i even took on an arch vilain on my own she was a few lvl's below me and my health never moved and my end rarely went below 1/2 way, SS/INV is awesome. THE BEST 
Have to say I'm luvin' my DM/SD Brute... when Shadow Maul connects having followed a mass hit Soul Drain... its pure SMASH poetry!! Then one SMITEY swipe of the claw and its tickets for anything +2 (usually)!
Yeah so Rooted is a Zimmer Frame achilles heel as far as speed is concerned... Slotted Swift mitigates it a bit but the real money is with some one with Kinetics...
But when FURY is UP!! I don't think it matters what type of Brute you are... you'll always be a SMASHING Brute!
Well, seems im rather alone with my SS/DA combo which totally rules. I have awesome damage output thanks to the 100% rage i have. only 10 sec of downtime every 2 minut. now at lvl 36 im getting a bit sick of those 10 secs of downtime all the time, it can get you killed if your not careful, with dark armor i cant cast the heal when the downtime arrive. But heck i smash so well with rage that it really doesnt matter. Hurl is great for pvp, -fly, knockback and haymaker damage, but its animation is too long for pve. The other attacks are great, I only have Punch, Haymaker and KOblow as single target attacks, but i dont wanna waste 1 power on jab even thou it would help the fury bar a bit. Hand clap, well solo it will ruin the "damage taken fury part" and in group i usualy have other ATs taking care of the AE status part. Dark armor, well, i tried cloak of fear, didnt like it, in groups all feared mobs are woken up by AEs anyway and solo it costs too much (even slotted 3 -end cost). It have a -acc of 20% unslotted which is awesome but still, it misses alot even with acc in it and they wake up, and im not sure how long the -acc lasts. Oppresive Gloom, well disoriented mobs wont hit back when you hit them. Its really nice for those huge crowds of mobs, jump in with OG on and all minions around you will definetly be disoriented until they die, leave the AE or i turn off the toggle. The cost? almost no endu, a tiny tiny bit of health /mob /tick, considering the damage i would take if the minions were hitting me its a ripoff. Cloak of darkness and obsidian shield are the most used toggles, the rest i only use when the fights get tough. Dark regeneration, well all i can say is, when is the nerf coming?. 2 mobs give me full health if im down at flashing red health, and i can use it every 15 second the way i slotted it atm, it cost 11 endu (No wonder they didnt give regeneration set to brutes). Anyway, i have no need for endu break, rest up health breaks or someone to back me up with damage. I do group alot thou and find that im just as useful in groups as solo. Sometimes i wish the dark regeneration was group heal(i also wish world peace and we know how likely that will happen, about as likely as dark regen become a group heal. But the point is, often im the last survivor of a team smashing the last mobs so the others can revive. As long as i have endu i keep on going from foe to foe. When it comes to smashing resist, sure generally longbow and CoT ghosts are the only thing i meet so far that resist smashing alot, exceep bosses with armor set powers. The resists? well 35% is the average resist for lethal, smashing, cold and fire. Toxic and energy a bit lower and neg, energy psi alot higher. With dark regeneration its all a piece of cake anyway.
Anyway, thats some of my experience from SS/DA combination.
(sorry for the large chunk of text. textlayout isnt my area)
/D
What???
Your dark regen only uses 11 end?
My scrappers dark regeneration uses around 50 end. 
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What???
Your dark regen only uses 11 end?
My scrappers dark regeneration uses around 50 end.
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Acctually i had it remembered wrong, its 17.. 17,34. my bad.
Dark regeneration base cost is 33 endu for both scrappers and brutes, so if its 50 for you i suggest you contact the support :P
/D
Stone/Dark
OH MY GOD - I guarantee anyone who uses this build will enjoy it... brawl - air superiority and the two mallet attacks = a full fury bar in seconds and perma knockdown/up with air sup and the mallet attacks rules.
Death shroud gets you lots of aggro so your fury bar stays up. I teamed with a kinetics/fire corruptor last night and we whizzed through missions.
Darmash you are not alone with the SS/DA combo it rules completely as far as I am concerned.
EU Global: @Night Druid
Little Squeak: Little Squeak talked to Me and Me said that Me is Me when Me thinks of me and Me is Me's name
Toxic Glow: I was tryin' ta teach her not ta refer ta herself in the third person, an it backfired
I love my En/Ea. Barrage, energy punch will build up about 80%fury in 2 enemies and will barely dent your endurance, then its bone smasher for the odd near 1 shot and whirling hands to smack everyone around and keep the fury up, and for lts a good fury bar + build up + Total Focus = nearly 1 shot with almost gauranteed disorient... oh yeah did I forget that all the other attacks have a decent chance of disorient and then theres the actual stun attack, and all your damage is smash/energy so much harder to resist it.
Yeah the armor is a bit squishy but with ann end drain and stealth plus a mix of active armors and passive resistance you can get a nice smashing to smashed ratio.
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Darmash you are not alone with the SS/DA combo it rules completely as far as I am concerned.
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Same here...SS/DA. If they had left EM the same as a tanker and gave ET at level 24, holy hell...but meh I'm not waiting until the 30's for damage again...level 8 and already got an extreme damage attack!
ive got a fire/fire brute, seems to work well
SS/INV for me.
nice fury building, and with perma rage on the damage is awesome then.
I have rolled an nrg/da brute
nrg for out and out dmg with stun and dark armour for the control type shields at higher levels.
Great for PvE but mainly created for me to use as a melee PvP villian
Started a stone/da brute. Wow. What can i say, no endurance issues so far, 1 shotting +2 minions and taking on groups of 4 or 5 +1/2s. Great fun.