I started a Dark/Fire brute some time back, and enjoyed him for a good few levels. I did plenty of reading around about PvP viability too. Seems as tho Dark/* can be very annoying, but I wont want to praise it too much, because on paper it does have enough goign for it to become the next FoTM in my view.
Why?
-ACC!!!
Infact with a fast cycling touch of fear, its theoretically possible to reach over -100% Accuracy in the first 15 seconds of a fight and apparently max out at about -160%.
I dont like shadow maul as a brute power. It has to be said. The cone aspect to it I like, the animation time I do not.
My Dark/Fire is an endurance nightmare though. I do plan to get Dark Consumption and Consume though, which should provide enough for a stamina-less build i hope.
aye, DM can be pretty powerful in PvP IF you know how to use it. Personally got a DM/SR scrap, and the -acc combined with SR's +def can really floor the hit chance of someone.
As said, in PvP shadow maul CAN be dangerous to use. Its great damage, nice cone to it, but the animation time is SO long that if you either miss or dont kill, you become an easy target yourself.
Also you probably wont need siphon life with dark regen, but if you CAN fit it in, hell why not 
"god, how many devs did hami have to sleep with to get ED?"
Total Cat @Stagefright
dont mean to sound ungrateful here chaps but this toon is practically level 50, im fully aware of the pros and cons tomost the attacks of DM, what im looking for here is ideas of PvP builds, specifically powers and methods of slotting them to make them strong in certain areas.
You talk about Dark melee like its easy to play, saying how it acc debuffs but i'll tell u this for free, it doesnt work like that in PvP. Dark's main weakness is its supposed strength. 1 Acc debuff is all it takes.
But maybe you know something about slotting i don't? This toon is fanastic in PvE but so far as i can tell is so weak in PvP its unreal, the only thing i can fight is tanks, everything else seems to just debuff my acc and then own me.
There are a few good guides on the american forum. The best one I have linked at the bottom. Im sure youve seen it already.
The key to being annoying in PvP is cycling your Fear as often as possible. It has the highest ToHitDeBuff with the longest duration. -20% ACC for 20 Seconds base. It also has a high base accuracy of 90%. So, a 2/2/2 with Accuracy, Recharge and ToHitDeBuff is the key. Lets not forget the fear effect itself.
I never said PvPing with this character would be easy. Theoretically the key is picking long fights. You can stack your fear 3 times with the above template for -60% Acc, BASE. Slotted its about -100% ACC. Then you have your own self heal from the primary to cycle in. Sure its a small one, but its all adding to sustainable damage. I'm not suprised you have most luck vs tanks. The build is designed for a long fight. I'd have thought you are abest suited to taking down Tanks, Scrappers and other brutes with this. Not sure against someone with huge burst damage that this would be nice.
With regard to getting your accuracy debuffed? Not sure i follow you, everyone is subject to being accuracy debuffed? Commonly for a PvP build you are going to need at least 1 more accuracy in your attacks. Sorry if you knew this already.
PvP is never 'easy' even with a FoTM cookie cutter. (I must assume as I havent got one). Your playing a none cookie cutter in a PvP environment, so as I have said many times, should you get some success, then you should be pretty satisfied!
Forgive my theoretical musings.
http://boards.cityofvillains.com/sho...part=1#5030780
now that was helpful! thats what i was looking for but now i need help with Dark Armour lol. Although i know what pwrs im going to pick and i know the build im going to try now, but its the slotting i think i may struggle with.
Do you know of any equally helpful guides to Dark Armour?
P.S. I've realised what i was doing wrong with slotting my attacks and the complete lack of hasten in my build (which id be thinking of picking up since i hit lvl 40 back months before I7 hit) but this is making me wonder if im slotting my armour incorrectly :S
thanks again Chaplain
Often its difficult to supply advice to people on the boards, as you never know how much they already know. There is a whole degree of 'basic understanding' which is assumed by most when replying to requests for advice. I assumed you might know this basic understanding when I replied. If you dont know, then maybe we can go back to basics and talk through it again. Understand I am not trying to be insulting. Just want to avoid confusion!
Sorry, i dont know about Dark Secondary, no experience. Consider looking in the scrapper forum for some of the most mature understanding of the powers, since its been around there since day one. Check the player guides section, and click on Bridger's Sticky at the top, and follow the link to the US Players Guide of Guides. Then search for brute and scrapper guides about DA, of which im sure there will be plenty. You want an i6 or i7 guide if there is one. A quick search of my own, picked up these:
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...part=1#4121476
and from the scrapper guides forum;
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...part=1#3645148
Beware that one, its issue 5, not sure of big changes since then.
I'm assuming you know to slot more than one acc.
CoF is AWFUL in PVP. End draining, inaccurate, deosn't even drop toggles. ToF is excellent, the cloak is most definately not. However, OG is a wonderful thing, since it can stun and therefore detoggle any squishy. This becomes joy against controllers and certain defenders.
Resists should be 3 resist 1 end redux.
Dark Regen in PVP should be recharge, acc, and heal. 2/2/2.
Cloak of Darkness will help, and deal with any stealthy heroes.
Soul Transfer is for specialised granite-killers ONLY. Mine works wonders on granite brutes, but it's a bit of a power waste.
Death shroud needs slotting, and only the first tick builds fury. At a maximum of 1 brawl per tick, it's not a PVP power IMO.
Ok the topic says it all, basically need advice with powers and slotting for a dark/dark brute. So far as preference goes the following is a list of powers i cant see me coping without....
Dark Melee -
Smite
Shadow Maul
Touch of Fear
Dark Consumption
Midnight Grasp
I'm really stuck as to whether to include siphon life in that list as well...
Dark Aura -
The 3 resist auras which i cant remember the names too. The obvious 3.
Dark Regeneration
Other than that im not sure. I'm faily sure CoF is decent in PvP but i dont know if its best to go for the stun aura over CoF and then pick up the Dot Aura etc. Ideas for combo's is basically what i need here, and most importantly ays of slotting them so that its a fully effective.
Fitness Pool -
Hurdle, health (unslotted or would it be better to go for swift instead?) and stamina
Travel power -
Unfortunately i have to go SuperJump so...
Combat Jumping
Super Jump
Acrobatics
Patron - Sirocco (Mu)
Ranged attack is decent (top of the list and wouldnt mind keeping it)
Electrifying Fences (handy but only good in PvE i'd imagine?)
I'd also quite like to pick up Hasten if possible.
Thanks ahead of time for any suggestions anyone might have.