It's a classic one that's for sure. I tried it several times and never got past lvl 8. I'm not sure why, I love brutes, but somehow this combo never really gave me the right feeling. A lot of people swear by it though, so my advice would be to just try it out and if it doesn't work, you can always re-roll as an EM/DA :P (I'm not biased...honest)
I havent played any /Inv Brute, but I can talk about SS. It's very good, even better when you have Air Superiority. Some Bosses dont even have a chance to hit me because I always KB them.
SS/inv is a good combo.
would agree with T0ughGuy690 - tried loads of brutes - elct/DA, dark dark, SS/inv - but all didnt feel right.
I resisted rolling a fire/fire for a long time; cos of all thebad press in CoH and f/f tanks - but finally rolled one, and its amazing fun.
Conclusion = SS/inv - is a classic build; which lots of peeps enjoy. wasnt for me. but hav to play it urself really
SS/inv will be great until u meet lots of end drain around lvl 40. Still knock down is the best defence against that for a brute with no end drain protection. A SS/elec brute will find it the easiest thing to grind on mu end drainers, since they do pitiful damage till you're drained and without shields. However /inv will be easier to play against the majority of enemies; and for a brute beginner likely to be more forgiving with dull pain and good smashing resists. Its my opinion that what ever armour u choose u should get aid self as a priority; it will prevent otherwise unavoidable deaths and cut down time (i.e. rest) to only the times when u run out of end.
I disagree, being a Dark Armor brute. I can run into a full spawn of enemies with 10% of my health, press a single button, and be back at 100% health. I get that power at lvl 16. Skipping a travelpower at 14, I could get aid self 2 lvls earlier at best (and that would be a bit of a strange priority for ANY char). So from 16 on out I can go from hardly any health at all to full health when I have just 3 mobs around me (even soloing, nearly every spawn has 3 mobs). You really think I need aid self?
DA sure does well on its self heal, I dont have Aid Self on my DA and I dont miss it. (1 heal enchancement makes that full from 2 mobs, and is still usefull against EBs)
I also dont have it on my Elec/Fire cause I Duo with a thermal. My self heal is enough to keep me alive with the shields in place.
I wouldn't say Aid Self was a must for all brutes, i'd imagine its very nice on a /En brute or a /Inv though cause of the high defence
"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!"
Its not a must - but put it this way, in a rush to get lvl 50 I bet I could gain xp alot faster than you would. I ground out 45-46 on 1 mish solo on my DM/elec brute just because I like to push the envelope and go beyond what is supposed to be possible, with any method I have at my disposal (herding a platoon of nemisis soldiers behind a rock to use shadow maul on at least 5/30 with 15 reds). I died a few times on this mish but it also got me to figure out a way of timing when power surge is going to drop.
Ive played the /da set, albeit on a stalker and I was really fearful of getting in over my head. Frequently I needed to heal from the last spawn and I tried once or twice to jump into the middle of the next spawn to heal but the rooting stopped your escape, therefore I chose aid self and always will. Same thing in mayhem missions, in a couple of seconds u will know if your dark regen is going to be enough, and if its not u need to run. Then aid self really shines, but imo I would just exit the mish to lose aggro; or area attack them when they are bunched up after coming though a door after u
I teamed with an /elec brute and actually felt quite sorry for him that he had gone 40 lvl with nothing but greens to help. Its the time when you are not in control and things go bad - u need a heal with doesnt require u to expose yourself to more damage; at best you will be left in a healing cycle unable to fight back but normally just plain face planted.
OH - Just thought - how useless with /dark regen be against a kiting opponent in PvP? Assuming u have taken a travel power which leaves you exposed to slows or even web nades.
Just to be clear, dark regen is a great power along with /dm siphon life, just I would get aid self to make myself a rock hard brute!
On the route to 50 I didn't find a single time with my brute where I needed a heal without someone to heal off of. I like to herd, the entired final room of the wearhouse maps are my favourites, and dark Regen cycles pleanty fast enough for that. As for there not being an enemy in melee when I need to heal? Another problem I didn't come across. If I'm being hurt then there is someone to heal from, and as I'm a brute I will be stood nose to nose with them.
I have Aid Self on my DM/SR scrapper, it is great, if I had it on my brute it would sit untouched, just like the green insps I delete when they're dropped for me
"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!"
/DA definitely doesn't need aid self for PvE, and /FA is possibly better off with tough instead as well. For others, however, Aid self is really nice.
I agree with Cynic. My MA/SR scrapper has aid self and swears by it, but on a dark armor brute aid self truly is pointless. However this thread is derailing pretty fast, we're talking about SS/Inv. /inv being partially defense based *might* make aid self a good power for this set, although I'm not too sure about that.
Once Inv has invinc its best survivability comes from defence, thus I think it would be worth putting in the build, but not at early levels when it has no defence just as and where it can fit
"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!"
[ QUOTE ]
On the route to 50 I didn't find a single time with my brute where I needed a heal without someone to heal off of.
[/ QUOTE ]
Obviously saying /da needed aid self would create a couple of different opinions. I believe I put it that personally I would get aid self for any brute, since sometimes I will definately be fighting lvls or numbers that without running to heal I will definately faceplant.
I quoted you to ask if u have the invader accolade or the force of nature accolade. These would necessitate having fequently taken mayhem missions (where if u dont practice good damage mitigation tactics you can get damaged faster than u can heal). Also what is ur PvP rating? Since /DA is only effective if someone wants to go toe-to-toe which in my experience is not often unless they have overwhelming numbers.
Also Max says that tough is better than aid self, well not according to this guide (who backs up his opinion with numbers):http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...Number=4591283
Ive played a /DA stalker to lv41 I have a good idea what to expect from the brute version & played a DM brute which has a heal with similar characteristics.
As for aid self only being worth taking for a /inv brute after he gets invic? Hum well I must be gimped cause I have aid self and am not planning on taking invinciblilty any time soon. I prefer the lower endurance drain and extra attack I have over my /elec brutes. With hasten and force of nature ( available in sirens for me), then I have a trick to help with /inv lack of end drain protection and lack of end recovery options in /inv (aside from blues).
This game is 99% of grind and what concerns me the most is downtime, aid self reduces downtime significantly; and can be used effectively in battle with moderate skill.
I took aid self on my ice/thorn dom at lv14, and getting to lvl 14 is so much harder and longer without being able to heal. Even on a team I found myself having to ask players who could heal me to do so; and was told by one /rad corr that he only had a self heal. Id rather have a self heal for solo'ing and not having to waste my breath on "less informed players".
No PVP rating, dont tned to PVP, and that wouldn't effect my route to 50.
I dont have the accolades as I only did mayhems from 40-50 (was 40 when I7 was released) I do however have 27 tempory powers picked up from raids which shows I may have some experience in them. When fighting if I'm down to the last couple of foes I hit Dark Regen to make sure I have health for the next group. I've never needed anything else and tough is what stops my health dropping faster than Dark Regen recharges. I could use Aid Self instead, but it would drop my DPS as I wouldn't be attacking. My Fire/DA is a group killer (another reason for no PVP, am pure AOE build) and any time spent clicking powers that aren't killing is a waste for me. Build Up is just about usefull, Dark Regen does a small amountg of AoE damage and thus is alright, Aid Self is a nasty animation to stand their using.
Yes Elec has no self heal, so Aid Self is good for downtime. IMO invinc gives pleanty of defence and thus Aid Self becomes very powerful. I know that my SR scrapper can use it between damage Ticks, but if two things are ticking on him I have to wait for one to finish before I can Aid Self, defence stops that being common.
Obviously your millage may vary. You dont like downtime, I dont like slow attack chains, or downtime. With Dark Regen I have neither, I cant explain why you would but we can put that down to playstyle (the reverse of me not feeling comfortable relying on Aid Self without defence is you not feeling comfortable relying on Dark Regen alone)
Oh and I'd take Aid self over Siphon Life anyday, the only self heal I rank above it is Dark Regen.
"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!"
What about Healing Flames? :P
Healing flames is good for my brute, who Duo's with a corruptor, but is possibly not enough if you wanted to herd solo. Mind you eith tough it might be, dont know, not really tested it. It's not as big a boost but it has a lovely benefit of not rooting you, which is an advantage over even Dark Regen (and a definite advantage over Aid Self as a slight movement and you've interrupted it)
"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!"
I know but you said you only rank dark regen above aid self. I was just saying that, for example, Healing Flames is better too. (IMO)
Ofcourse I'm just being waaaay too technical 
I'd probably rank healing flames alongside Aid Self because both have around equal pro's and cons. Of course Dark Regen has pros and cons too, but the Cons make it fun and the Pros are fantastic
"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!"
Basically I'm thinking of starting a Brute character, sorta Hulk/Abomination style. Is SS?Inv a good Brute set?