Rage, KO Blow, Footstomp should be enough to let one favor SS over SM 
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Somebody enlighten me because it seems SS beats Stone, while I think they were meant to be equal when you add up all the pros and cons.
[/ QUOTE ]Powersets will never be completely balanced unless they're identical. It's all down to playstyle and preferences, as well as consept.
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Somebody enlighten me because it seems SS beats Stone, while I think they were meant to be equal when you add up all the pros and cons.
[/ QUOTE ]Powersets will never be completely balanced unless they're identical. It's all down to playstyle and preferences, as well as consept.
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SS and Stone have both a good amount of KB and some disorient. Both big hitters have a hold component (can anybody confirm wether KO blow has a hold or a major disorient?) and 2 AoE's of which only one deals damage. Every set has 3 basic attacks but Stone and SS have alot in commom, almost identical. Most SS brutes I see have the same playstyle as most stone brutes (haven't been on heroes alot so don't know if the same goes for tankers). Footstomp/fault the mob, make sure you're the center of attention and hit the strongest mob with KO blow/Seismic smash.
The only reason some stone player have to change their playstyle is because stone/stone is a good working matching set, and so is SS/INV. Seeing as SS and Stone/ only differ a tiny bit they would both go well with /Stone and /INV.
So both sets are almost equal, yet SS has an edge over Stone? Changing your playstyle won't make stone better, SS will just be slightly better at it. That's why I was wondering why Stone doesn't have something in Seismic to even things out, or even have a different power?
Stone's stun power is better, as well as the 3 first attacks, which you noted yourself. So if someone wants those to be their main strengths, he picks stone over SS. There are differences, so which set is 'better' is down to preference. Sure other might have better sustainable DPS, or something else, but the other set wins on something else. Also, concept is a big thing to be taken into account as well.
At early levels SS builds fury like a monster and stone is hard work, the two mallet attacks chained though knock down nearly anything
"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!"
From reading the power descriptions I assumed that both sets had equal disorient powers, so I guess that evens the sets out (except for concept reasons that is). Thanks for some new insight everybody 
Super Strength has only one disorient and its a little one, from Jab. And its very rare it does apply at that.
I like both set. Like everyone said, it just boil down to preference or concept. Wacking people with a mighty huge granite hammer or smashing people to pulp with your bar hands.
Oh, didn't state my preference. I love the stone mallets, and the smash of stone. The only thing that SS has that would tempt me from Stone is Foot Stomp, it looks very "brute" but other than that I'll be making a Stone Brute soon (I should say again as it was my first character on Live for CoV but I really didn't grasp fury then)
"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!"
My main is a Stone/ brute and I simply love Seismic Smash, a nice big smash with a great sound effect and animation and when it hits it always applies a mag 4 hold. This has to be the power that defines Stone Melee right?
), my conclusions are:
Then one lvl later when I finally started teaming (lvl 23) I met alot of SS/ brutes. They were all so happy with their KO Blow: it deals great damage, has a nice animation and can apply a hold. This sounded so familiar that I went to the forums and had to know if KO was actually better than my Smash.
My results (from a hero planner):
Seismic Smash:
Cost: 18,512
Activation: 1,5
Recharge: 20
Range: 5
BI: 9,89 (It's flawed, but works for brute set comparison)
KO Blow:
Cost: 18,512
Activation: 2,23
Recharge: 25
Range: 5
BI: 9,89
So besides the hold magnitude (couldn't find it, hero planner says KO blow applies a major disorient actually) KO blow's only flaw is that it's slower.
This made me think that Stone and SS were pretty balanced (the only 100% smash sets). But after checking the other powers (had some time left, so why not
The first 3 attacks of SS are weaker. Stone fist deal the same amount of damage as Punch, and Stone Mallet's damage equals Haymaker's. Heavy Mallet is stronger than all but KO Blow.
So:
Stone Fist > Jab
Stone Mallet > Punch
Heavy Mallet > Haymaker
Tremor's animation time is horrible, but deals damage.
Fault has a good animation, deals no damage but disorients.
Footstomp has a good animation AND deals damage.
The lack of disorient in Footstomp is made up by having Handclap.
All of these also have knockback.
So:
Footstomp + Handlap > Tremor + Fault
Rage gives a great damage and accuracy boost (with a downtime as long as BU lasts), almost negating the difference in damage of the first 3 attacks and buffing KO so it now beats Seismic in damage.
BU ofcourse negates this by giving a 100% damage boost instead of a 80%.
But Rage is a buff that is up 90% of the time.
So:
Rage > BU
The taunts and hurls are both equally useless.
So:
Brawl > taunt + hurl
Stone's score so far: +3
SS's score so far: +3
It basically comes down to Seismic Smash vs. KO blow:
Seismic Smash can be used once with BU every 34 seconds.
KO Blow: can be used 7 times with Rage for 90 seconds.
If each attack has one rechred SO and Rage/BU is 3 slotted with rechred and both sets use hasten whenever it's up)
Somebody enlighten me because it seems SS beats Stone, while I think they were meant to be equal when you add up all the pros and cons.