Personally I would ditch barrage.....take energy punch earlier. The pick up boxing and take tough later instead of kick. That should put you nearer cap on resist for smashing and lethal damage, saving unstoppable for those moments where there is a big bad, since the downer on it can be pretty mean. But thats just me......I have odd builds 
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All a matter of opinion of course, I find FA far to squishy
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I really don't understand this commonly held opinion that /Fire brutes are squishy. There were very few occasions in my 40 levels as a Fire/Fire when I felt squishier or took more damage than the many many other brutes I teamed with: At L38+ I felt squishier than /Stones in Granite, but I'm glad I don't have their penalties. Against AVs/Heroes I felt squishier than /Invuls when they turned on Unstoppable... but only for 3 mins. If there were many mobs in CoV that dealt Cold/Psionic I'd probably have felt squishier than /Darks, but there are hardly any so I don't. And I always felt less squishy than /EAs.
In typical gameplay, both solo and in teams up to 8-strong, I never felt squishy - in big teams I'd usually be the one taking the alpha-strikes (unless it was against a spawn with loads of CoT spectrals as they do Cold damage) and I've tanked most of the AVs/Heroes in CoV too. Most of the time as a /fire you won't take more damage than Healing Flames can handle against smash/lethal/energy/neg.energy damage, and fire damage might as well be raindrops.
So /Fire isn't weak for a Brute and perpetuating that fallacy does nobody any favours. I wonder if that thinking comes over from CoH, where Tankers were generally better off with /Stone or /Invul for herding (before Invincibility got nerfed), so /Fire and /Ice (which brutes haven't had since beta, of course) were seen as weak.
Imho the few drawbacks /Fire does have - Burn being poor, being weak to Cold/Psi damage, CJ/Acrobatics being necessary to get full status protection (/Darks need Acrobatics for Knockback protection too) - are well worth it in exchange for:
1) resist shields not being toggle/End heavy (so you can run Tough if you want, no problem)
2) being incredibly resistant to Fire damage (my alts know how much Behemoths, Damned and Chief Plasma Scientists can hurt)
3) getting both a Heal and End-recovery power (consume) in the same set
4) getting a second build-up power with longer duration for Fire powers
5) getting the best damage aura available to brutes (Blazing Aura) - which with Fire Melee primary (which has the best Brute AE damage attack in Fire Sword Circle) means you will do more damage than any other Brute in PvE... easily.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
All a matter of opinion of course, I find FA far to squishy
[/ QUOTE ]
I really don't understand this commonly held opinion that /Fire brutes are squishy. There were very few occasions in my 40 levels as a Fire/Fire when I felt squishier or took more damage than the many many other brutes I teamed with: At L38+ I felt squishier than /Stones in Granite, but I'm glad I don't have their penalties. Against AVs/Heroes I felt squishier than /Invuls when they turned on Unstoppable... but only for 3 mins. If there were many mobs in CoV that dealt Cold/Psionic I'd probably have felt squishier than /Darks, but there are hardly any so I don't. And I always felt less squishy than /EAs.
In typical gameplay, both solo and in teams up to 8-strong, I never felt squishy - in big teams I'd usually be the one taking the alpha-strikes (unless it was against a spawn with loads of CoT spectrals as they do Cold damage) and I've tanked most of the AVs/Heroes in CoV too. Most of the time as a /fire you won't take more damage than Healing Flames can handle against smash/lethal/energy/neg.energy damage, and fire damage might as well be raindrops.
So /Fire isn't weak for a Brute and perpetuating that fallacy does nobody any favours. I wonder if that thinking comes over from CoH, where Tankers were generally better off with /Stone or /Invul for herding (before Invincibility got nerfed), so /Fire and /Ice (which brutes haven't had since beta, of course) were seen as weak.
Imho the few drawbacks /Fire does have - Burn being poor, being weak to Cold/Psi damage, CJ/Acrobatics being necessary to get full status protection (/Darks need Acrobatics for Knockback protection too) - are well worth it in exchange for:
1) resist shields not being toggle/End heavy (so you can run Tough if you want, no problem)
2) being incredibly resistant to Fire damage (my alts know how much Behemoths, Damned and Chief Plasma Scientists can hurt)
3) getting both a Heal and End-recovery power (consume) in the same set
4) getting a second build-up power with longer duration for Fire powers
5) getting the best damage aura available to brutes (Blazing Aura) - which with Fire Melee primary (which has the best Brute AE damage attack in Fire Sword Circle) means you will do more damage than any other Brute in PvE... easily.
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I play /Inv and /Stone both of which are FAR superior in terms of defence/resistance, it wasnt a statement about damage or anything like that, it was a personal opinion which was stressed in the very sentence that you quote. I find that FA is far to squishy, but thats MY playstyle. So as you can see I wasnt perpetuating any fallacy, merely pointing out MY opinion. I can solo +3 8 man team missions on my Stone and stand there laughing at the mobs (well most mobs). There is nothing wrong with /FA, I have one myself but its FA, not inv or stone, it is what it is but as I said (from my brute playing) it is too squishy for me given my past playstyle. I hope that burn is restored to its former glory (as taunt has been nerfed to the extent that the powerlvling with fire tanks is all but gone) as it doesnt seem to fit the set anymore (IMO) just seems to be flaming caltrops 
**Acceptable "support" responses**
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Statistically fire brutes are better suited to CoV than DA ones except against Arachnos. Most of your resistnaces are equal or higher to mine. And I cope fine with a DA brute.
The amount of S&L still in the game still gives the strength to Inv brutes over both fire and DA, while stone out preform just about everything.
Once again he asked for an opinion between DA and Inv though, and I know Inv is tougher. Will this stop me playing my DA, hell no, does it make me undervalue any other brute? Hell no. If you want a simple playstyle and a good tough brute Inv is probably the best choice. Fire has its bonuses (am thinking elec/fire for my next alt if I dont like the elec armour).
"Well, they found my diary today.
They were appropriately appalled
at the discovery of the eight victims
They're now putting it all together.
Women wrapped in silk
with one leg missing
Eight legs, one body, silk,
spider, brilliant!"
am most interested to find out what elec/elec looks like! I wanna look like a gremlin!
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am most interested to find out what elec/elec looks like! I wanna look like a gremlin!
[/ QUOTE ]
Gremlin Pah!
I wanna look like deathsurge 
[ QUOTE ]
I play /Inv and /Stone both of which are FAR superior in terms of defence/resistance, it wasnt a statement about damage or anything like that, it was a personal opinion which was stressed in the very sentence that you quote.
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I realise it was your opinion, just like most of our posts here are - and I realise most brutes probably seem squishy to someone used to playing a /stone Tanker/Brute post-Granite - I just keep seeing lots and lots and lots of people saying /Fire is squishy/weak (both on UK and US forums), as if it's a powerset to avoid - and we all know how prevailing opinions can affect both game balance and players' attitudes to teaming.
Personally I prefer the all-round protection of /FA and /DA - of course I know Smash/Lethal is far more common in the game, and I don't mitigate that as well as /Invul (Healing Flames covers the gap) - but I've teamed with /Invuls who dreaded certain mobs/spawns that did big Fire/Energy damage (Cold, N.Energy, Tox and Psi being so much less prevalent, of course, that they're barely worth mentioning) - especially Arachnos & Longbow - factions that make Fire/Energy more common damage types in CoV than they were in CoH.
And FAR superior? In resist terms there is hardly a huge gap in Smash/Lethal between /Invul and /FA or /DA - according to most of the planners/builders/forums, with toggles 3-slotted, it's the difference between 65-ish% S/L (/Invul + Tough) and 52-ish% S/L (/FA or /DA, + Tough). That certainly seems about right in gameplay terms - I've never felt /Invul's were mitigating massively more S/L than my /Fire and /Darks, until they hit Unstoppable of course (and I grouped much of my 30s as my Fire/Fire with Mr & Miss Marvellous' Stone/Dark and Stone/Invul brutes, so I had plenty of direct gameplay comparison).
In typical gameplay I guess you have to ask if its worth an extra 13% S/L resist, plus a bit of defence (depending on Invincibility and spawn/team size), in exchange for dropping 10-50+% resist against all the non-S/L damage types. I think it's a fair trade-off - hardly far superior though... unless you were also considering Unstoppable - which of course /FA and /DA get no equivalent to, but which is also situational and can't be used more than 3mins in every 9mins (if you also have Hasten).
Despite quoting you, my post wasn't aimed exclusively at you - I just see a lot of blanket statements flying around about /Fire being weak - without counter-opinions popping up I just think a lot of people would dismiss the set out of hand. I actually think /FA might make the game perhaps a bit easier in some ways for a new player - there are very few damage types you really fear (except Cold and the Tox/Psi that everyone except /Darks fear, but they're hardly common), and incoming damage is more regular/predictable in spawns with mixed damage types.
Just my opinion, of course 
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Gremlin Pah!
I wanna look like deathsurge
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He is a gremlin, though admittedly a big one!
I'm really looking forward to both Electric powersets as well.
One point to note that isnt covered on the hero planners, is that /inv gets tougher the more mobs around you once you have some of the powers.
Hey I never said how big a gremlin....you can be stupid deathsurge /sniff.......for I am........GREMZILLA!
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Despite quoting you, my post wasn't aimed exclusively at you - I just see a lot of blanket statements flying around about /Fire being weak - without counter-opinions popping up I just think a lot of people would dismiss the set out of hand. I actually think /FA might make the game perhaps a bit easier in some ways for a new player - there are very few damage types you really fear (except Cold and the Tox/Psi that everyone except /Darks fear, but they're hardly common), and incoming damage is more regular/predictable in spawns with mixed damage types.
Just my opinion, of course
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I know what you mean and sometimes I just go off on one, I perceived it as people thinking I was saying FA sucked when I dont have a very high /fa brute, I try to avoid making specific comments unless I have experience to make such a judgement
My main brute is a kineitically charged (negates the slowdown ) Granite armoured killing machine against which all else pales in comparison (seriously, you should see it in action), I actually noticed the other night a lvl 40 /inv was dying all the time when I was just stood there laughing, I couldnt remeber my /inv being so squishy but I dont play him much now. That said my granite is built for duoing, a kinetic is vital for decent operation as I only ahve end reds in mud pots, I can solo but for teams I need a kinetic or just play a tank with mud pots (which is as dull as dishwater)
I think the comments you are talking about stems from the hate towards the burn nerf (which went FAR too far imo) as it was for some time the defining power for a lot of people in the /FA set, people dont like change or having to adapt around it, EA was lambasted to begin with but seems to becoming a very popular set in pvp (stalkers at least).
**Acceptable "support" responses**
Its your fault
Its your computers fault
Its your ISPs fault
[ QUOTE ]
One point to note that isnt covered on the hero planners, is that /inv gets tougher the more mobs around you once you have some of the powers.
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Yeah - thats just Invul's Invincibility - I was taking that into account, when I said: [ QUOTE ]
plus a bit of defence (depending on Invincibility and spawn/team size)
[/ QUOTE ] but of course Invincibility was hit with a bit of a nerf recently (I think it maxes at either 14 or 17 mobs now) - SherkSilver does mention it stacks up in the power notes on his planner, but he doesn't say what the limit is now.
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I know what you mean and sometimes I just go off on one
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No worries - I always try to read forum posts in the most favourable way possible, seeing as its hard to convey emotion/meaning and avoid ambiguity/misinterpretations in plain text. I just picked out this and another post to comment on, because I don't see many /Fires defending the set - most of the unambiguously nasty posts about /Fire have been on the US forum, although they seem to love /EA over there now.
Personally I'd still rather depend on mitigation (resists) than avoidance (defence) for a "heavy" fighter - probably a throwback to having both a Guardian and a Monk in EQ2 (beta and release, before the DoF combat rebalance), and my experiences tanking with both - avoidance/defence is prone to being streaky and unpredictable, while mitigation/resists is fairly predictable and reliable - makes healing and knowing/planning what you can take much easier. I can look at a spawn with my Fire/Fire and know with fairly high certainty whether I'd be able to survive the alpha or not.
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EA was lambasted to begin with but seems to becoming a very popular set in pvp (stalkers at least).
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Yeah - probably because base-to-hit in PvP is 50%, rather than 75% like it is in PvE, so defence sets perform much better in PvP than PvE. Plus when people can choke down red pills, hit aim/bu and then hit you with a snipe or another big attack, you're much better off avoiding it than being one-shotted - fortunately most PvE mobs don't get big snipes or assassin strikes and can't really take us by surprise either, hehe.
Also of course Stalkers don't get resist sets (yet - I wonder if Dark Armour for them will be resists, or converted into a defence set like some rumours on US forums say) - so EA compares favourably with the other defence sets (Ninjitsu, SR), especially with its superior status protection and auto-hit Endurance Drain (drains 70% from target, 3-slotted for EndMod, I think) for PvP.
It will be interesting to see what changes I7 brings to the defence sets for PvE - apparently it won't change against evens and below cons, but for +1s to +5s we should notice Defence sets being much more survivable.
After I get my SS/Dark to 40, then that and my Fire/Fire to 50, I'll probably play more brutes - probably an Electric/Electric, but I've come up with a solid EM/Invul build that fits a concept I had left over from a CoH tanker I deleted (currently using that concept for an EM/EA stalker, but it doesn't fit the character bio that well) - but EA should be a much better brute set after I7, at least in perception terms (my only experience of /EA brutes atm has been seeing a few of them die more often than other brutes in big teams).
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My main brute is a kineitically charged (negates the slowdown ) Granite armoured killing machine against which all else pales in comparison (seriously, you should see it in action),
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I have - it is very impressive - and if I had a kineticist on tap then I'd probably be playing a /Stone too
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I try to avoid making specific comments unless I have experience to make such a judgement
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Me too! That's probably why I'm fairly verbose on the brute forum, fairly reserved but still chipping in on the Mastermind and Corruptor forums (have L20s in both ATs) and fairly quiet in Stalker and Dom (have L10s of both), apart from asking silly questions
Speaking of verbose... oh gawd... this post was an easy way to kill 20mins
I went for SS/Inv only because of the Auto powers. You can get 4 auto powers, giving you mild protection if you run out of endurance. I wouldn't recomend it because the shields suck endurance if you're the main person keeping the team out of trouble. I wouldn't go wit Invuln. But iv'e not tried out any of the other shields so i'm no help there.
SS is brillaint though. Only go with a few attacks - Punch, Haymaker, Knockout Blow, Rage, Hurl and Foot Stomp. I made the mistake of going with Taunt instead of Swift so I use even more end. up. Definitly do with the Auto Powers, but the rest is upto you.
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but of course Invincibility was hit with a bit of a nerf recently (I think it maxes at either 14 or 17 mobs now) - SherkSilver does mention it stacks up in the power notes on his planner, but he doesn't say what the limit is now.
[/ QUOTE ]
I beleive its 16 max now, its funny but I wonder how the devs equate weaker with fun, why not make others stronger? Lazy
**Acceptable "support" responses**
Its your fault
Its your computers fault
Its your ISPs fault
[ QUOTE ]
SS is brillaint though. Only go with a few attacks - Punch, Haymaker, Knockout Blow, Rage, Hurl and Foot Stomp. I made the mistake of going with Taunt instead of Swift so I use even more end. up. Definitly do with the Auto Powers, but the rest is upto you.
[/ QUOTE ]
I went Jab, Haymaker, Air Superiority (looked better than Punch on paper) - its nice having a full attack chain so early (with Brawl to fill occasional gaps til I get SO Recharges) - and Knockout Blow, which is fantastic fun. SS has much more single-target SMASH! than my Fire/ had at this level!
I definitely want Rage, Foot Stomp and Hurl later, although I'm worried about the 10sec crash at the end of Rage - is it bad?
If you time it so your not piling into a new group as it crashes, then no not to bad. Otherwise you can end up in trouble.
Sure do - this is the Energy/Invulnerable build for my level 40 Brute. It's made with PvE in mind as I don't really find PvP all that interesting, and it has served me well so far
Note that I primarily have Invincibility for the Acc bonus when fighting several opponents; with the penalties Unyielding stacks on your defense, its not worth the slots to go for defense buffing.
---------------------------------------------
Name: Stompar Respec 1
Level: 41
Archetype: Brute
Primary: Energy Melee
Secondary: Invulnerability
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Barrage==> Acc(1) Dmg(3) Dmg(21) EndRdx(29)
01) --> Resist Physical Damage==> DmgRes(1) DmgRes(5)
02) --> Energy Punch==> Acc(2) Dmg(3) Dmg(15) EndRdx(31) Dmg(37)
04) --> Temp Invulnerability==> EndRdx(4) DmgRes(5) DmgRes(7) DmgRes(9)
06) --> Hasten==> Rechg(6) Rechg(7) Rechg(11)
08) --> Jump Kick==> Acc(8) Dmg(9)
10) --> Bone Smasher==> Acc(10) Dmg(11) EndRdx(15) Dmg(21) Dmg(37)
12) --> Dull Pain==> Rechg(12) Rechg(13) Rechg(13) Heal(23) Heal(33) Heal(36)
14) --> Super Jump==> Jump(14) Jump(40)
16) --> Unyielding==> EndRdx(16) DmgRes(17) DmgRes(17) DmgRes(31)
18) --> Total Focus==> Acc(18) Dmg(19) Dmg(19) Dmg(34) EndRdx(34) Rechg(40)
20) --> Swift==> Run(20)
22) --> Health==> Heal(22) Heal(23) Heal(36)
24) --> Stamina==> EndMod(24) EndMod(25) EndMod(25)
26) --> Whirling Hands==> Acc(26) Dmg(27) Dmg(27) EndRdx(31)
28) --> Invincibility==> EndRdx(28) TH_Buf(29) TH_Buf(37)
30) --> Kick==> Acc(30)
32) --> Energy Transfer==> Acc(32) Dmg(33) Dmg(33) Dmg(34) EndRdx(36)
35) --> Build Up==> Rechg(35)
38) --> Unstoppable==> DmgRes(38) DmgRes(39) DmgRes(39) Rechg(39) Rechg(40)