My War Mace/Willpower brute did not have any problems surviving EBs, though war Mace is a bit slow.
Any Willpower brute with though from the fighting pool will he an excellent survivability. I have heard some good things about SS/WP and DM/WP but have not personally tried ether of them.
DM/*
It's that good.
Dm is very minimalistic in animations, however the utility it adds in a hard hitting attack with a self heal, endurance recovery tool, a immob, a fear(very optional imo) and castles gift to brutes soul drain.
It lacks a bit in aoe though, well not really since when fury gets going sd an dc becomes potent aoe's.
I love my dm/inv but would suggest you start out with willpower.
At the moment I'm considering rolling an Inv brute as I'm not that keen on Willpower, still deciding on the Primary to take though. Feel like I'm leaning towards SS, Any Suggestions or tips?
Edit: After getting my [censored] kicked again on my Ar/traps on the lowest difficulty I renamed Sullster to Sgt. Sullster and have rolled a SS/Inv. Any up to date IO builds and help would be appreciated.
47 Month Vet
Main: Sullster: Level 51 STJ/SR Speedster
i have a 50 DM/WP Brute and he can defeat the EB he encouters with no difficulty , and i am not using tough or weave , i have slotted attacks for -to hit debuffs and with the heal he is always good ..also the AoE +End power makes Strenght of Will end drop a non issue. ..oh and he is only slotted with basic IO's currently so is a cheap build .
Never be afraid to run more than one brute if something else takes your fancy. 
That's one of the best advice I've taken to heart. I have a Energy/Invulnerability, Super Strength/Super Reflexes, Elec/Elec, and a Dark/Fire. :3
Try not to be disheartened with your brute when you have endurance problems, all brutes will suffer this prior to level 20, and even beyond, due to how their inherent 'Fury' works.
Remember that there are some melee attacks not in the primary, such as Air Superiority from Flight pool. Some are useful, some aren't, some may be required in order to access the later powers.
As a SS/Inv, if you plan on getting Fighting Pool later on, you won't need to take Jab, because Boxing from Fighting Pool shares the same animation (but not the "*POW* OH GOD MY LIVER" effect). You may want to keep Brawl on auto to be a filler in your attack chain, and to help you build up Fury.
If you don't know how Fury works already, it builds up for all attacks you attempt (even if they miss), and all attacks aimed at you (even if they miss).
Other tips with a SS/Inv is that due to Rage in your primary, you can afford to get away with slotting just one Accuracy SO in each attack (saving the other slots for one Endurance follow by Damage and Recharge) and relying on Rage's To-Hit to buff up your accuracy. It's a good idea to set up the combat data window and show the following:
ToHit bonus
Damage bonus
Regeneration
Recovery
Endurance comsumption
Smashing Damage
Smashing Defense
The ToHit will show you when enemies are using tohit debuffs, the Damage will show your fury (with Rage adding an extra 80%), and also show you when Rage flatlines, allowing you to use the milder attacks until your damage goes back to normal. The others are all optional really, but it's handy to know.
Powers to pick up as soon as they're available:
Knockout Blow
Rage
Footstomp
Unyielding
Invincibility
Stamina
:3 Above all, have fun!
Ideon's Paragonwiki page
Member of Paragon/Rogue Knights
Arc: 60092 - Supa Rumble in the Park
"Keep living the dream, and never let any jerk tell you what to do."
-- High-Roller
Thanks for the advice Ideon it should come in handy when I make my ss/inv brute later on. I decided to delete my SS/inv as I couldn't see me playing it as my main. I rolled an electric/electric brute and I'm having a blast!
47 Month Vet
Main: Sullster: Level 51 STJ/SR Speedster
Elec/Elec really comes into its element past level 35. The secondary pretty much revolves around Power Sink. One of the few powers where I feel 3 slots of recharge SOs/IOs isn't too much, you want it up as often as possible.
I'm also starting a brute, and was wondering if SS/shield was any good, or is */Inv just too good?
SS/Shield, from what I hear, is a horrific monster due to Rage and Against All Odds working together. :3 However, Shields is a mix of strong defence and weaker resistances. It's also a bit harder to softcap than a Super Reflexes.
Invulnerability is good in some ways, but if you're thinking you'll be as invulnerable as a Tanker, you won't be. 
Brutes use Scrapper-level resists.
Though I built my energy/inv brute long before invulnerability was upgraded, I went with the option of taking out two of the passives in order to fit in Aid Other/Aid Self. Not sure if you want to follow that route or stick with passives.
Ideon's Paragonwiki page
Member of Paragon/Rogue Knights
Arc: 60092 - Supa Rumble in the Park
"Keep living the dream, and never let any jerk tell you what to do."
-- High-Roller
I would say the passives are valuable enough to pick up, especially now.
That said i only have experience of high level invul with dm where siphon life helps out alot allowing me to use dull pain reactive instead of proactive even if i slot it for damage.
Thank you for the info, helped me a lot.
Give me a shout Sull if you want advice on Brutes, i've rolled most
Depending on your enermy, you will have to pick an appripriate secondry, other than /WP which will handle anything.
SS/WP SS/FIRE SS/ELEC SS/SHIELD DM/SHIELD DM/SR are all very tasty
@Effy
Effy On Hot Sauce Fire/Cold Corr
Effy On Hot Chilli Fire/Dark Corr
Effy On Heat FM/SD Before FoTM
Effy Unleashed DP/EN Blaster 1st 50 @ Union
Elec/Shield is pretty good, can't remember if Thunderstrike would be single target or AoE atm but still fun. However my personal choice would totally be with DM/Shield, yes shield is more Defense then resistance, but AAO is still a damage reduction. Shield's not that bad to defense cap, I managed it quite early on, all makes up for it when you put Fury, Against All Odd's and Soul Drain together. I'd say make friends if you do plan on going shield, as you'll need 3 people within 8ft for the 10-11% defense phalanx fighting gives.
by any chance do you have a widow Effy?
Aao isn't that hot on brutes. I would even say dm/shield scrappers outperforms the brute equivalent.
Now stone/shield is an interesting combo but softcap, endurance and recharge is a tough nut to crack(cp in mu mastery plox)
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Aao isn't that hot on brutes.
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Are you serious?
AAO is great for brutes.
Burst yes. Sustainable dps meh.
Against All Odds is a PBAoE Foe -DMG, Self +DMG. Dunno where dps and burst comes into it. It is an incredibly good power with Brutes +DMG from Fury too.
Fury
Dunno how to explain it better. Will sleep on it.
I think a blanket statement based on how one plays won't qualify as a good one for how another plays or gets to play. It's like the Brutes can't tank or be as survivable as tanks statement which is a blanket one based on exactly what I said. Who you team with, what buffs they can bring, type of brute versus type of tank versus type of enemy all matters.
AAO is a good power, hot enough on its own? Not as hot as I would like it in terms of aggro control but one doesn't rely on it solely.
He will honor his words; he will definitely carry out his actions. What he promises he will fulfill. He does not care about his bodily self, putting his life and death aside to come forward for another's troubled besiegement. He does not boast about his ability, or shamelessly extol his own virtues. - Sima Qian.
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Dunno how to explain it better. Will sleep on it.
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I think I will give it a try:
The problem is that AAO for brutes has - in a way - to "compete" with Fury.
Depending on how many opponents you face and how you have slotted your attacks AAO will give you a nice boost to your burst damage from a "cold start" (without Fury).
But when we include a sizeable amount of Fury in the equation (which we have to do when we talk about sustained dps for a brute) the percentage of damage increase provided by AAO is not all that impressive anymore. The same is true for your burst damage from a "warm start" (with Fury).
The higher you (and others) can boost your overall damage the less noticeable AAO`s +damage effect will be. This is especially true for an AT with a brute's infamously high damage cap.
This is not to say that AAO is not a good power even for brutes, but its usefulness varies with a lot of factors, like the availability of external endurance and healing, if or if not you have the dark/ primary etc.
However, as soon as you have to choose between having /shields with AAO and having another secondary that allows you to maintain a higher amount of Fury for a longer time (considering your personal playstyle) the set favouring Fury wins regarding sustained dps.
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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The higher you (and others) can boost your overall damage the less noticeable AAO`s +damage effect will be. This is especially true for an AT with a brute's infamously high damage cap.
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AAO still gives a fixed damage boost regardless if it bumps you from 100 to 150% or 500 to 550%. The gain might "look" smaller going from 500 to 550%, but it's still the same gain. Damage isn't on the same scale as defense where the closer you get to the cap the better it becomes. Nor is it the opposite and does less the higher you go. It adds the same amount for the entire range up the cap where it just stops.
It's also a quite good taunt aura and helps tremedously in building fury.
Full fury = 200% damage buff
Full AAO = 65% damage buff
Build Up = 80% damage buff
You can afford to 3 dam attacks.
I tell ya what would look small added to this, assault. I would not recommend assault on any brute really as the DPE isn't worth it. Assault on a scrapper is fine as long as you are fighting.
*Rushes off to make a superstrength/shield brute*
He will honor his words; he will definitely carry out his actions. What he promises he will fulfill. He does not care about his bodily self, putting his life and death aside to come forward for another's troubled besiegement. He does not boast about his ability, or shamelessly extol his own virtues. - Sima Qian.
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The higher you (and others) can boost your overall damage the less noticeable AAO`s +damage effect will be. This is especially true for an AT with a brute's infamously high damage cap.
[/ QUOTE ]
AAO still gives a fixed damage boost regardless if it bumps you from 100 to 150% or 500 to 550%. The gain might "look" smaller going from 500 to 550%, but it's still the same gain. Damage isn't on the same scale as defense where the closer you get to the cap the better it becomes. Nor is it the opposite and does less the higher you go. It adds the same amount for the entire range up the cap where it just stops.
[/ QUOTE ]That is the reason why I was talking about percentage. The piece of cake AAO provides is always the same size (for a set amount of enemies nearby), but if you increase the size of the cake by a huge margin (as Fury tends to do) this same piece of cake looks a lot smaller in comparison. And since we are talking about brutes we are talking about an AT that one- and two-shots opponents regularly with or without AAO. AAO does not change all that much about your performance as soon as you factor in Fury.
If you take /shields you should still by all means take AAO, but if you are in the process of choosing a secondary you have to consider a few things before you know if AAO can provide a net increase in sustainable damage when compared to a different secondary. And this is because of the factor "sustainable Fury" that changes depending on your primary set and playstyle.
If I may use my personal playstyle as a point of reference I can say that I would not use /shields on a brute unless paired with a dark/ primary. In all other cases I can get higher sustainable dps out of other secondaries.
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It's also a quite good taunt aura and helps tremedously in building fury.
[/ QUOTE ]Yes, like all taunt auras (maybe with the exception of RttC 
) it helps with initial Fury building, but unfortunately it does not help with endurance management which is the reason why - with attack sets other than dark/ - I can get more sustainable dps out of other secondaries. Still, all because of the way I have to factor in Fury for my preferred playstyle. Fury is not something I build up once per mob; it is something I build up once per map.
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.
In all the time I've played COV I have never got a brute past 20. I've always been a ranged fan so Corruptors, Dominators and Masterminds I have rolled aplenty.
Its quite funny really because on most teams I'm often told "Your not a brute" or "Your not a tank" when I get die as I decide to Full Auto a +4 Spawn and take the Alpha strike. I find this quite amusing since at level 50 there is no penalty for death. However on some teams I have been kicked off for letting the team down and other stupid reasons.
Warning: Long winded story.
Went to do some soloing last night on my main in RWZ for some Vanguard merits to buy the uniform. Got the mission to investigate a Vanguard Captain.
Upon entering the mission I encounter a Longbow EB I proceed to stack 12ish mines and my other trap abilities. Think heh this is easy. He runs over the mines and proceded to be dented for about 1/10000 of his health. I promptly ate the floor even after popping almost everything in my inspiration tray. Managed to get a controller to come help me and it just took twice as long for me to faceplant than before.
So I send a Broadcast and a stalker and a brute comes to my aid. After finding the EB, within seconds he was eating the floor and the brute commented how he hit like a girl. I want to be that awesome!
I've been looking at postings and guides on here and the US boards but most are a bit dated. Considering I'm a brute noob I was wondering if any of you veterans could point me in the right direction for a first time brute that could solo anything short of an AV.
47 Month Vet
Main: Sullster: Level 51 STJ/SR Speedster