Stun you can definately avoid, it sucks.
I'd also avoid barrage, it's a really low damage power, however most brutes i know use low damage powers such as barrage to help build fury, so maybe barrage could be okay? Honestly i wouldn't take it and stick with energy punch for upfront damage. If you run out of EM attacks to fire just hit brawl to keep the attack cycle and build more and more fury.
Barrage easily replaces brawl for fury generation. 
Energy Punch is a basic attack - possibly the least exciting of the bunch.
Bone smasher is crunchy!
Whirling Hands is your PBAoE and not to be missed. 
Total Focus just is!
Stun is the one you could miss as it's a stun rather than damage dealer. 
Energy Transfer costs you some health but does huge amounts of damage.
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Barrage isn't really that low-power an attack, and of course it's good for building fury, which is why i usually have it on auto-fire for the first part of a mission as it cycles quick and has a quick animation.
It deliveres close to 70% of the damage of Energy Punch, so it's okay in my book - and Barrage, Energy Punch and Bone Smasher are a good cycle of damage while you wait for Total Focus and Energy Transfer to come back up
I've skipped Stun which is a fairly common decision
I've given whirling hands a miss as I had death shroud and don't have the slots for another attack - wish I did
I don't have barrage as I've squeezed Air Sup. in to replace it - brawl on auto for fury and the knock down on air sup. is a life saver vs. bosses at low levels...
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Skip barrage, there are more than enough high powered attacks to keep a rotation going so will more often than not be simply idle.
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I beg to differ....I didnt take barrage initially and at low lvl had a real problem building fury. I eventually took it and found it invaluable, not only for the fury but it stacks with energy punch/bons smasher to increase the chance of stun.
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I've skipped Stun which is a fairly common decision
I've given whirling hands a miss as I had death shroud and don't have the slots for another attack - wish I did
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I'm currently torn between picking up Stun (mainly for PvP) or Whirling Hands (more PvE-oriented).
My EM/Fire needs a respec at around 32 anyway (planned from the start) so any decision I make isn't exactly irreversible. Much like Petting's reasoning, I already have a PBAoE in Blazing Aura, and in many respects it's superior to Whirling Hands (except for the funky animation 
) - I already have a complete attack chain, so that's not a consideration either. I know how useful Stun can be in tight situations from playing my Blapper - as /Fire lacks the stonewall defences of /DA and /Inv, it'd be useful to have a guaranteed mez in the back-pocket for when the excrement hits the ventilator... YMMV.
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I don't have barrage as I've squeezed Air Sup. in to replace it - brawl on auto for fury and the knock down on air sup. is a life saver vs. bosses at low levels...
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If you don't have Air Sup/Boxing/another quick attack, Barrage is a good pick. If you do, it's surplus to requirements.
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I beg to differ....I didnt take barrage initially and at low lvl had a real problem building fury. I eventually took it and found it invaluable, not only for the fury but it stacks with energy punch/bons smasher to increase the chance of stun.
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As it stands on both of my EM brutes I have much better attacks and in my rotation there isnt room or need for another attack especially with ETs low activation time. I also dont rely on my attacks to build my fury, thats what mobs are for 
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Have to agree with botty, I also skipped barrage, had more than enough attacks to keep a full attack chain going even when slowed a bit. I did pick up whirling hands for the pve levelling portion, but will probably respec it out if I ever decide to pick my brute up again and turn it into a pvp character.
So have to say I would skip barrage and pick something else up instead
I'd probably have taken it, but then I dont think I'd be playing stone secondry, I'm eying up En Armour for my next one, or electric Armour. so wouldn't want mobs hitting me build my fury, want me hitting mobs to do it instead
Edit: To clarify if you're Inv or Stone you can probably take the pounding, if you're not you want the fury to build from the damage you're dishing out
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I've got EM on my Stalker, had it on my Tanker in CoH and considered it again the other day for my second Brute.
The best thing about Barrage is its one-two animation, but I think I'd skip it on an EM Brute then at L6 take Boxing (faster animation, better damage, opens up Tough, costs slightly more End), or maybe Air Superiority (yummy knockdown, but maybe animates a bit slow and costs a bit too much End for an auto-power) - that's if you can spare a power pool choice. I have both on Lord Mayhem (Boxing as auto-power) and never regretted it, but then both were better than Scorch any day. I also just picked up Air Sup again on my new SS/Dark Brute (Jab as auto-power).
Whirling Hands looks a bit poor to me - quite low damage for an AE - but maybe I'm just comparing it to Fire Sword Circle's bigger area and far superior damage. I guess if you want an AE as an EM brute there's no other choice.
Stun looks great on paper (Mag3 disorient - though TF is Mag3 as well), and I plan to take it on my Stalker, but for a Brute I probably wouldn't bother unless you plan to PvP a lot... and I know you don't PvP much, Miss Actually if some AVs/heroes could be stunned (I have no idea if they can) you could reliably stack disorients with TF & Stun, but I guess that's a bit situational to be worth a power pick.
We'll have to link-up again for some all-brute teaming - I've been missing the SMASH!ing fun you, Mr M and I had levelling through the 30s, bulldozing everything in our path!
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I'd probably have taken it, but then I dont think I'd be playing stone secondry, I'm eying up En Armour for my next one, or electric Armour. so wouldn't want mobs hitting me build my fury, want me hitting mobs to do it instead
Edit: To clarify if you're Inv or Stone you can probably take the pounding, if you're not you want the fury to build from the damage you're dishing out
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Thats probably a fair point, my brutes are stone and inv.
That said at lvl 32 my attack cycle is full.
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Stun looks great on paper (Mag3 disorient - though TF is Mag3 as well), and I plan to take it on my Stalker, but for a Brute I probably wouldn't bother unless you plan to PvP a lot... and I know you don't PvP much, Miss Actually if some AVs/heroes could be stunned (I have no idea if they can) you could reliably stack disorients with TF & Stun, but I guess that's a bit situational to be worth a power pick.
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I kept Back Alley Brawler virtually perma stunned/disoriented yesterday, admittedly he was -3 lvls but clearly it is possible
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I kept Back Alley Brawler virtually perma stunned/disoriented yesterday, admittedly he was -3 lvls but clearly it is possible
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Cool, I'm glad it works. Be pretty handy against Calystix and Infernal then to stop them summoning, I'd think.
I've only fought and tanked Brawler and most of the other AVs/Heroes as a Fire/Fire Brute, so I couldn't do anything fancy apart from punching them in the face, setting them on fire and cutting their heads off
Never ever miss Stun if you're planning to PvP a lot.
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Well concensus seems to be for pve, miss barrage and stun. That was my thoughts tbh.
Im not planning much pvp so I thinks thats how I shall go.
Thanks to all that posted.
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Well concensus seems to be for pve, miss barrage and stun. That was my thoughts tbh.
Im not planning much pvp so I thinks thats how I shall go.
Thanks to all that posted.
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You're taking Taunt?
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Well concensus seems to be for pve, miss barrage and stun. That was my thoughts tbh.
Im not planning much pvp so I thinks thats how I shall go.
Thanks to all that posted.
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You're taking Taunt?
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Barrage: Quick, Fury builder and about 20 times more Endurance-efficent than Brawl. HJac uses this on Auto-Fire, for all your Fury needs.
Energy Punch: Decent little attack.
Bonesmasher: Gettting into the big boy attacks now. It is a good thing.
Whirling Hands: Not enough damage for me, got it on the Tank, not for the Brute.
Stun: Never had it, never seen the point. There's enough Stun in the other attacks already. Probably more use in PvP.
Total Focus: Big damage, big End cost.
Energy Transfer: Bigger damage than Total Focus, lower End cost, less animation, just a brilliant power. The health chunk taken to fuel it can be dangerous when you get it first of all, but as you're level increases, the percentage of health it takes each time drops, making it more and more viable.
In conclusion, Energy Melee is a single target set. I've taken all the single targetters except Stun. Whirling Hands and I really don't get along, but if I didn't need an AoE on MBar (mainly as an aggro-grabbing tool), I'd probably not have it on him either.
Got to agree here. Barrage is great for Fury generation (Im Invul.) and recharges much quicker than Brawl.
I have also found Whirling Hands a bit underwhelming but it looks good and is the only AoE I can get.
Well tbh i would skip stun for pvp too, it has a really long animation and as MbarUK said there is enough stun in most of the attacks bonesmasher/total focus/energy punch.Total focus is a mag 4 disorient not a mag 3 if i remember correctly, stun is only a mag 3 and has a fairly long recharge.
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Well tbh i would skip stun for pvp too, it has a really long animation and as MbarUK said there is enough stun in most of the attacks bonesmasher/total focus/energy punch.Total focus is a mag 4 disorient not a mag if i remember correctly, stun is only a mag 3 and has a fairly long recharge.
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But Stun and Total Focus are the only attacks in the set that will guarantee a disorient - the other attacks only have a chance to apply minor disorient effects - and both Stun and Total Focus have the same recharge of 20 seconds base, IIRC. The animation for Stun is 2-3 seconds, less than the 4ish second animation for Total Focus - its "wind up" animation looks slow, but it's in no way "really long". Having them both, needless to say, makes it far easier to perma-mez opponents either in PvE or PvP. I opted to take Stun over Whirling Hands, and I've not been disappointed in the results - but YMMV.
As far as the magnitude of the disorients, I'm not sure if TF always does Mag 4, or always does Mag 3 with a chance to hit Mag 4. Playing experience would move me toward the latter, but that could just be because different bosses have different levels of resistance at different points in the game.
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Well tbh i would skip stun for pvp too, it has a really long animation and as MbarUK said there is enough stun in most of the attacks bonesmasher/total focus/energy punch.Total focus is a mag 4 disorient not a mag if i remember correctly, stun is only a mag 3 and has a fairly long recharge.
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But Stun and Total Focus are the only attacks in the set that will guarantee a disorient - the other attacks only have a chance to apply minor disorient effects - and both Stun and Total Focus have the same recharge of 20 seconds base, IIRC. The animation for Stun is 2-3 seconds, less than the 4ish second animation for Total Focus - its "wind up" animation looks slow, but it's in no way "really long". Having them both, needless to say, makes it far easier to perma-mez opponents either in PvE or PvP. I opted to take Stun over Whirling Hands, and I've not been disappointed in the results - but YMMV.
As far as the magnitude of the disorients, I'm not sure if TF always does Mag 4, or always does Mag 3 with a chance to hit Mag 4. Playing experience would move me toward the latter, but that could just be because different bosses have different levels of resistance at different points in the game.
[/ QUOTE ] I still think its animation time is too long, for just a stun , yes total focus does have a longer animation but it is a guaranteed mag 4 stun with a shedload of dmg, so its worth that extra second, by the time you have them stunned they will already be 8ft away and walking backwards.
edit: According to CoH/CoV character builder total focus has a 100% chance of a mag 3 disorient and an 80% chance for a mag 4 disorient which is still an improvement on stun
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I still think its animation time is too long, for just a stun
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"Just a stun" is actually one of the more powerful control methods available for Brutes. 
If they sped up the animation, that'd be great - but it works well enough for my purposes.
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From what i have heard form people stun dosent sounda very good lol i dont wannapick the wrong moves and regret picking in them im only lvl 15
Any moves that realy should be avaoided in this set as they all read pretty good?
Or any move you would strongly recommend?
Thanks in advance.