Dark/EA

Ellusive · 03-10-2007 10:17 PM

i want to make a dark/EA brute and i was wondering if anybody could give me some tips or just opinions about it and maybe post a guide to show me how to slot it as i usually go wrong

Ellusive · 03-10-2007 11:00 PM

Actually.... hmmm... maybe i want electric/EA hmmm.... or elec/elec or dark/elec hmmmm... confused... well any suggestions pleeeeeeeease

Cognito · 03-11-2007 01:37 AM

Go with concept first.

A few thoughts, however...

/EM and /Elec both lack a self-heal - meaning dark becomes a little more attractive because of its primary self heal.

/EM feels a little less resiliant than /Elec - but is the king of endurance recovery.

Elec/Elec has some synergy in allowing you to very effectively END drain enemies... although this can be counter productive in terms of building fury, its an excellent way of dealing with enemies.

Dark/EA has very good synergy... apart from the Self heal of dark, it has -acc debuff effect which goes VERY well with defence (like EA or Stone) as opposed to resistance (like elec) armours.

Do you want to solo or group?...

In groups you are looking at big AoE attacks... Fire is best, Strength and Energy Mellee are worst. Dark is fairly weak, Elec is fairly good. Solo, the opposite applies.

Similarly, EA is a little poor in groups... having no taunt aura means it is hard to get enemies to attack you (which helps keeps your team mates alive and builds your fury).

Hope those are some pointers. No set is "gimped" at all, so play what you feel is right and looks cool. As far as PvE goes, just recall that AoE (Area of Effect) is king in (big) groups, whilst Single Target Effects is king solo. This goes just as much for choosing which powers to get as to which sets to choose (its just that some sets have more AoE available than others).

The_Spad_EU · 03-11-2007 07:45 AM

Dark/EA is very nice as far as /EA combos go. You get the 5% ToHit Debuff from every attack, plus the 10% ToHit Debuff from Touch of Fear, which is a really handy effective Defence boost. You also get Dark Consumption, Energy Drain *and* Conserver Power, meaning that Stamina just isn't worth taking. Finally, you get a small self heal in Siphon Life, which can be used as part of your attack chain to keep your health topped up.

Here's my Dark/EA build, currently level 43. He's quite susceptible to bad luck, but he's still more than capable of holding his own solo or in teams on any difficulty level:

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://sherksilver.coldfront.net/index.php)
---------------------------------------------
Name: Daps
Level: 50
Archetype: Brute
Primary: Dark Melee
Secondary: Energy Aura
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Shadow Punch==> EndRdx(1) Acc(3) Acc(3)
01) --> Kinetic Shield==> EndRdx(1) DefBuf(7) DefBuf(9) DefBuf(9)
02) --> Smite==> EndRdx(2) Acc(5) Acc(11) Dmg(11) Dmg(13)
04) --> Power Shield==> EndRdx(4) DefBuf(5) DefBuf(7) DefBuf(15)
06) --> Combat Jumping==> DefBuf(6)
08) --> Shadow Maul==> EndRdx(8) Acc(13) Acc(15) Dmg(17) Dmg(17) Rechg(19)
10) --> Entropy Shield==> EndRdx(10)
12) --> Aid Other==> IntRdx(12)
14) --> Super Jump==> Jump(14)
16) --> Hasten==> Rechg(16) Rechg(21) Rechg(23)
18) --> Dark Consumption==> Acc(18) Rechg(19) Rechg(23) Rechg(25)
20) --> Energy Cloak==> EndRdx(20) DefBuf(21) DefBuf(27) DefBuf(31)
22) --> Siphon Life==> EndRdx(22) Acc(29) Acc(29) Heal(31) Heal(33) Heal(33)
24) --> Aid Self==> IntRdx(24) IntRdx(25) Heal(31) Heal(34) Heal(34)
26) --> Soul Drain==> Acc(26) Acc(27) Rechg(33) Rechg(36) Rechg(36)
28) --> Energy Drain==> EndRdx(28) EndMod(36) EndMod(37) Rechg(37) Rechg(39) Rechg(39)
30) --> Touch of Fear==> Acc(30) Fear(34) Fear(43) Fear(45)
32) --> Midnight Grasp==> EndRdx(32) Acc(37) Acc(39) Dmg(40) Dmg(40) Rechg(42)
35) --> Conserve Power==> Rechg(35) Rechg(40) Rechg(42)
38) --> Overload==> Heal(38) Heal(42) Heal(43) Rechg(43) Rechg(45) Rechg(45)
41) --> Gloom==> EndRdx(41) Acc(46) Acc(46)
44) --> Soul Tentacles==> EndRdx(44) Acc(46) Acc(50)
47) --> Summon Widow==> Acc(47) Acc(48) Dmg(48) Dmg(48) Rechg(50) Rechg(50)
49) --> Super Speed==> EndRdx(49)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Power Slide==> Empty(1)
01) --> Sprint==> Empty(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Acc(1)
01) --> Fury==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Rechg(2)
---------------------------------------------

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Ellusive · 03-11-2007 11:01 AM

Ahhh yes sorry forgot to mention ill be mostly playing in team so i guess AoE attacks would be best any idea which is best ?????? ive never really had a brute before and want to make sure i get it right before getting high level and finding out its not that good after all

The_Spad_EU · 03-11-2007 12:27 PM

Firey Melee is the outright best for AoE attacks.

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Zyhar · 03-11-2007 05:23 PM

try dark/ea its brilliant, i liked it and i'm sure u will 2

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Cognito · 03-11-2007 06:12 PM

[ QUOTE ]
try dark/ea its brilliant, i liked it and i'm sure u will 2

[/ QUOTE ]

But rather bad for teaming. No taunt aura, not many AoE attacks.

The_Spad_EU · 03-11-2007 06:56 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
try dark/ea its brilliant, i liked it and i'm sure u will 2

[/ QUOTE ]

But rather bad for teaming. No taunt aura, not many AoE attacks.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well technically, no AoE attacks.

You've got Soul Drain and Dark Consumption, but neither are really "attacks"; any damage they do is pretty much coincidental. Shadow Maul is a cone, but you'll never really get more than 3 or 4 mobs in it at once.

It can be a real pain, but you tend to get used to it - you don't get AoEs, but you get fairly high damage single target attacks in a reasonably unresisted damage type along with ToHit debuffs as an auto-hit secondary effect.

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_Tundra_ · 03-12-2007 12:25 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
try dark/ea its brilliant, i liked it and i'm sure u will 2

[/ QUOTE ]

But rather bad for teaming. No taunt aura, not many AoE attacks.

[/ QUOTE ]

But on the plus side, much less need for the Fitness pool, so easier to fit Taunt itself into your build.

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Ellusive · 03-17-2007 12:42 PM

Ok thanks for the replies but after a [u]lot[u] of reading the posts and which brute suits me best and trying out different powersets ive decided to go for EM/EA

But are there any powers that I should steer clear from if i will be in PvE mostly and mostly in a team? Could someone also write up a build guide for me please? I would like to know how to slot my char as I never really know how?

Thanks