A thing to remember is that most "Granite" builds you'll find posted up are post-respec. ie the toon reaches 38 (32 for tanks) and then ditches all "unnecessary" armours in favour of Granite and whatever powers will lessen the impact of its slowing effects.
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A thing to remember is that most "Granite" builds you'll find posted up are post-respec. ie the toon reaches 38 (32 for tanks) and then ditches all "unnecessary" armours in favour of Granite and whatever powers will lessen the impact of its slowing effects.
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Mmmm, never had a granite toon, neither tank or brute and I am not sure I got your exact meaning here (sometimes my English plays tricks on me soz). As I'll be shortly rolling a stone brute, could you please be a little bit more specific on your advice Steam? I mean, which powers can be respecced safely once you reach Granite lvl?
Thx 
What he probably means is they take all armors and use them up until 32/38 then respec out of the ones not needed anymore. What im looking for is the same as you though, what armors are needed for the leveling up process before 32/38.
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What he probably means is they take all armors and use them up until 32/38 then respec out of the ones not needed anymore. What im looking for is the same as you though, what armors are needed for the leveling up process before 32/38.
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I suggest grabbing all the shields (except maybe Brimstone Armour, because fire/ice isn't that common). When you reach level 38, you respec out your shields except Minerals (because that'll be your only psionics protection) and grab some attacks, some +speed/+recharge powers et cetera to reduce the debuffing effects of Granite Armour as much as possible.
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What he probably means is they take all armors and use them up until 32/38 then respec out of the ones not needed anymore. What im looking for is the same as you though, what armors are needed for the leveling up process before 32/38.
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Indeed I do.
I'm not so sure about ignoring Brimstone Armour as those meddling Longbow seem to field an abundance of Flamethrowers and incendiary grenades.
Something else to keep in mind is that Granite reduces the damage of your attacks. Among the things a Brute brings to a team is durable damage. The -recharge and -damage directly impacts on this. Ofcourse, if you have a competent */Kin corruptor on your team then this won't be a problem (Kin + Granite Brute = SMASH! ).
Mmmm,
I see now what you mean. Tbh, if that is the way, I am having second thoughts about a stone armor toon since I don't like the idea of going perma-granite from lvl 32 (or 38) onwards, as per some stone tanks I've teamed with, I was always under the impression that Granite was more like a Panic Button such as Elude or Unstoppable for scrappers and it was usual to go around with rooted, stone armor and/or minerals.
You don't have to make a granite build, it is possible to make a passable non-granite brute or even take granite as a panic button. The problem I see with */Stone Brutes is that Stone armour was made with Tankers in mind. Brutes usually require alot more mobility than Tankers who are masters of static combat.
Aha, I should have spotted that one. To be honest the idea of a brute is more appealling than the idea of a tanker, hence I'll probably go for a Brute then. Regarding the mobility, it's no problem, I'll trick you into rolling a kin so you can SB me 
Hey all
I am making a PvE brute for a large aoe based team where herding will be a essential part of the gameplay. I made the brute without knowing alot of the set pre-granite and looking at it after the first 10 levels im somewhat puzzled and would really appreciate some help from stone veterans. Since its mainly a defense based set I have been comparing it to energy aura, a set I have a brute with and I know how it performs.
It seems to be mainly defense based armor but its so low defense im wondering if its survivable in a big group. I made a build taking all armors up until the level 38 armor and these are the totals for stone and energy aura. Numbers in () are with tough, weave and, for EA, combat jumping.
stone armor
defense
18,7(24,6) smash, lethal, energy, negative
29,3(35,3) psi
resist
11,7(29,3) smash, lethal
29,3(29,3) fire, cold
energy aura
defense
25,7(34,5) smash, lethal
32,2(41) energy
22,2(31) negative
29,3(38) fire, cold
5,9(14,6) rest
resist
11,7(29,3) smash, lethal
11,7(11,7) negative
14,6(14,7) energy
Looking at this, energy lacks psi protection but are miles ahead on everything else except resistance to fire and cold for which it has high defense instead.
So, my questions are these:
1. I know most attacks contains some part of smashing/lethal damage so I guess rock armor will provide defense from basicly any attack but is 18,7% enough? Im thinking of going for weave asap to put the total defense at almost 25% for smash/lethal, is this whats needed?
2. Is a stone brute pre-granite able to herd mobs and be a good brute for a large team or should I wait until after 38 to take on that role.
3. I have read a few guids on stone brutes/tanks and most seem to think pre-granite its mainly about rock armor. Brimstone and crystal are somewhat expendable. Seeing that its hard to fit in all armors, tough, weave, stamina, travelpower etc could I skip those two and still function?
Any help is very much appreciated, thanks.