On a brute using just the early attacks DM kicks out silly DPS. With sets DM/SR can get comfortably over the def cap. So yeah, DM/SR looks alright to 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!"
I thought the same thing when I leveled my main, a SS/Elec. Guess what? It worked. STs from your primary (+ any from Power Pools like AS or PPPs) + Hasten + LR + Power Sink + Rage = Huge, unstoppable ST DPS. But with 2 End crashs and no Heals (unless you get Aid Self like I did).
I leveled a DM/SR Stalker some time ago. It was very good, I was usually over the def cap and Siphon Life worked as a Heal. Plus, you get a +rech power, raising your DPS. If SR was released for Brutes before Stalkers got DM, I would be leveling the same combo you suggested.
BTW, I deleted my Stalker. But that's because I didn't like the AT lol
Siphon life also recently got a damage boost did it not and that's got a pretty quick animation i recon you could get your self a nice quick ST attack chain from Shadow punch / Smite / Siphon Life pop a proc in Shadow punch and Smite (I have Mako's Bite and Touch of Death in mine) and you should end up with pretty impressive single target damage.
On a scrapper Midnight Grasp is fairly good too, even if just to keep the victim from running off so much. Not sure what effect the activation time has on fury though.
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Now i remember that EM as the single target dmg king not long ago but with its nerf to ET is that still the case?
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The animation time was increased to just short of 3 seconds (2.7 iirc?) but the damage is still awesome.
DM/SR should be ok soloing EBs, but imo not AVs. AVs have stupidly high accuracy, so not even the -acc from DM and the defense buff for SR from i13 will help you, if they hit, its going to hurt. Only 1 type of character I know that can solo AVs and that's a ill/rad controller with perma PA. I think the brute will hit the floor before it has done any considerable amount of damage to the AV.
Nevertheless DM is still a good option because negative energy damage isnt resisted as much. But the other options i'd suggest is either SS or EM. However SS is all smash damage which there is a fair amount of resistance to it, and EM has a lot of slow animation times.
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On a scrapper Midnight Grasp is fairly good too, even if just to keep the victim from running off so much. Not sure what effect the activation time has on fury though.
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Midnight Grasp is poor DPS on brutes. The damage isn't as high as the scrapper one and the animation doesn't help 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!"
Damn, this thread reminds me of my EM/WP brute. I beat many AVs solo with that one including Lord Recluse, but that is no longer possible. The ET nerf was nothing short of devastating to the maximum potential single target damage of EM. (Not some theoretical calculation, but the dps of a top-notch build optimised for single target damage: IIRC it was a dps drop in excess of 15% bringing EM solidly below the threshold for AVs.)
Since that character was my main and was reduced to uselessness due to this change (because for everything he still could do I have another toon that can do it better) I was very, very, very displeased. After all going toe-to-toe with an AV is one of the few truly thrilling things you can do in PvE. It is the main reason why I left the game alone for the last couple of months.
I did the maths back then and the results told me that there should only be one powerset left that can dish out enough constant damage to beat an AV: Fire. SS and Stone are close, but many AVs have too high resists against pure smashing damage and their regeneration probably does the rest. All others are hopeless except maybe for a few fragile not-really-AVs. (I did not check Axe and Mace, but since they are also S/L only the chances are not that great.)
So, a Fire Melee brute with high enough recharge to build a repeatable attack chain of the three big-hitters is your best bet... unless Infernal is your target of choice. 
If it has eyes, you can blind it, if it has blood, you can make it bleed, if it has a mouth, you can make it scream.
My first 50 is a Fire/Fire Brute. I disagree with you: he's terrible against AVs. Even with Fiery Embrace. My main, a SS, kills EBs fast, but then I agree with you, his smashing damage isn't enough to defeat an AV.
Perhaps I should take the dust off my Fire Brute and test again, but I have never killed one with him. Or I sucked when I used to play it lol
Hehe, maybe you did suck, maybe it was just a lack of oomph in your build. However, please go ahead and try it. At least I can assure you that dps-wise your brute has the potential to hurt AVs, a luxury other powersets do not enjoy. 
If it has eyes, you can blind it, if it has blood, you can make it bleed, if it has a mouth, you can make it scream.
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On a scrapper Midnight Grasp is fairly good too, even if just to keep the victim from running off so much. Not sure what effect the activation time has on fury though.
[/ QUOTE ]Midnight Grasp is poor DPS on brutes. The damage isn't as high as the scrapper one and the animation doesn't help it
[/ QUOTE ]Examining the Brute and Scrapper versions in-game through Real Numbers shows that, as with most shared abilities, a Brute will do more damage with MG than a Scrapper.
Exactly. Unfortunately Dark Melee as a powerset is not strong enough to put an AV in peril, so you would have to rely on him dying of old age or something like that.
If it has eyes, you can blind it, if it has blood, you can make it bleed, if it has a mouth, you can make it scream.
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On a scrapper Midnight Grasp is fairly good too, even if just to keep the victim from running off so much. Not sure what effect the activation time has on fury though.
[/ QUOTE ]Midnight Grasp is poor DPS on brutes. The damage isn't as high as the scrapper one and the animation doesn't help it
[/ QUOTE ]Examining the Brute and Scrapper versions in-game through Real Numbers shows that, as with most shared abilities, a Brute will do more damage with MG than a Scrapper.
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The brute has the potential to do more damage with it, if its kept back and only used on full fury. The rest of the time it will slow your chain and reduce your DPS
"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!"
Well, DM/SR is a nice combo, good synersy, but won't defeat an AV.
DM has low DPS, SR won't hold an AV from hitting you.
It's all about resistance
Actually DM has high DPS but low burst damage making it excellent for chewing through minions and such but less good when it comes to something that can smack you back.
I'm thinking that Sitriel may be correct tho in that fire may be your best option far doing anuff damage to take down a AV it has some good high power attacks and the fact that most do some lvl of DoT will go some way to of setting the AVs Regen rate.
From personal experience with my fire/stone its probably possible to take a AV i cam very close to taking the Rikti war leader boy solo but in the end he one but i have a far from optimised build with good slotting and good IOs i recon a fire/stone could be a AV killer.
Wow thanks for replies and all that guys and i must say im surprised, i was under the impression fire melee on the red side was kind of a rubbish single target set :/ and that it was only scrappers that enjoy fire melee as a high damage single target power. But yh to be honest im still very confused, am i right in thinking that as a whole, brutes can't really solo AV's? or can fire actually work well and also be a good solo set
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DM/SR should be ok soloing EBs, but imo not AVs. AVs have stupidly high accuracy, so not even the -acc from DM and the defense buff for SR from i13 will help you
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I've tanked a lvl 54 AV (Ghost Widow) with a soft capped DM/SR scrapper, she did only hit me once, so DM/SR gets my vote for AV soloing on a Brute.-
For AV tanking DM/SR works well, but soloing implies that you have to do all the damage on your own except maybe for a little Shivan help every now and then. And that is where DM fails, even under theoretical circumstances where you hit every attack and everything goes according to plan. I am not sure if it's barely possible with a carefully selected tray full of big red and some blue inspis, but it would seem like a lot of effort to collect such a tray for each and every AV anyway.
If it has eyes, you can blind it, if it has blood, you can make it bleed, if it has a mouth, you can make it scream.
Still think a full fury bar should do the trick tbh.
I made my calculations based on 80% fury ("normal duty temperature") and 100% fury ("heavy duty temperature") and there was still a significant gap to AV killing dps. So, unless there are ways to squeeze even more +damage and/or +recharge out of a DM/ build than I already did I have to say no, although there is a little bit of guesswork involved since I did not factor in the extra recharge from /SR (because I was not planning for a /SR). Nevertheless I am quite sure it is not nearly enough.
If it has eyes, you can blind it, if it has blood, you can make it bleed, if it has a mouth, you can make it scream.
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Wow thanks for replies and all that guys and i must say im surprised, i was under the impression fire melee on the red side was kind of a rubbish single target set :/ and that it was only scrappers that enjoy fire melee as a high damage single target power. But yh to be honest im still very confused, am i right in thinking that as a whole, brutes can't really solo AV's? or can fire actually work well and also be a good solo set
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You are welcome. You should know that CoX forums have a good reputation to defend.
And you are right in thinking that brutes as a whole can't really solo AVs, but with Firey Melee as a special case you should have a fighting chance if the secondary set alone can keep you alive long enough. With EM/ I had many AVs stunned quite regularly and enjoyed the breathing space it offered. No such luck with Fire/, but there is no shame in using some inspis in a tight spot to offset this drawback.
If it has eyes, you can blind it, if it has blood, you can make it bleed, if it has a mouth, you can make it scream.
dual blades and dm has sick dps at 200% recharge
The lack of secondary effect is the only reason I wouldn't have put Fire Melee down as being the most probable. Having seen stupid damage from my FM brute I understand the logic behind it not having a secondary effect
"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!"
Don't forget that FM is shiny 
Its a shame about the ugly swords
"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!"
So i've got my lvl 50 AOE monster brute (my stone/fire) and he's fully IO'd out thanks to some sets help from you guys.
so i think to my self i want to go the other way now i want to maximize my ST damage, minimize my AOE out put and have a brute that solo's EB's and AV's like theres no tomorow. Now i remember that EM as the single target dmg king not long ago but with its nerf to ET is that still the case? Is the new and improved DM/ maybe my best option for ST dps
oh yh i had kind of settled on /SR as my secondary but if anybody has a decent second option of another good soloing secondary let me know please
thanks