Talking Alphas from the Pack in AE

Good Evening,

I know not everybody is out there doing AE, and it can be controversial, but I find myself on various chars doing a lot of PuG AE's and I am curious when it should be expected for a Brute to take that first cluster of alphas from a pack.

I have a 30 WM/WP Brute, and I find myself being asked to tank already, and the results are mixed. I need pretty decent healing or something out of the gate to allow time for RTTC to get ahead of the incoming dps curve. I see decked out 50 brutes doing it so easy its cake, and am just ignorant how one ends up there.

I realize I am only 30 and not a tanker, but I assume at some point I will grow into being able to handle these and I was curious what it takes, as far as def or res numbers, etc to be able to expect to tank well enough for AE PuGs.

Also, although I am concerned with WP, I am also curious about and open to opinions on the other secondaries and how and when you would expect them to tank well enough to accommodate this kind of role.

I guess what is confusing me is that now that I am high enough to have 3 slotted SO's into all the WP pool powers that really deal with incoming damage, I don't know where def/res is going to improve except with tough/weave, and then from set bonuses.

Are IO set bonuses needed to allow a Brute to tank in these kind of roles smoothly and confidently?

Thanks for any thoughts.

I have a 50 wm/wp brute who is nearly done with his build, and can handle AE farm boss alphas. The trick is to build for defense, and hit Crowd Control (which you dont have quite yet, and will love) whenever it's up to keep things on their backs. Knockdown keeps them from attacking, defense keeps you from getting hit as much, both of which give you time to regen when you do get hit.

Resist-wise, I took Tough, which boosts his smash/lethal resist to about 50%, and 80% with SoW.

Defense-wise, I took Weave, and leveraged 4-slot Kinetic Combats in the single target attacks, 4-slotted Eradications in the PBAOE attacks, 4-slotted Reactive armors in the resist powers, and have the 3% def Steadfast Protection.

otherwise, i slotted for +hp, +regen, and maybe-someday-but-probably-not will slot luck of the gambler 7.5% recharges for some extra recharge.

all told, the bugger's got nearly 2600 hp, regens 110ish hp/sec in a crowd, around 30% smash/lethal def, and around 40% energy/neg energy def. SoW and inspirations can fill in any gaps, really.


Other than WP, i'd say stone and invuln can take quite a bit of punishment; SR, SD, and EA can all be built for softcapped defense (45% is what you shoot for there), and they become very tough at that level of performance. I bet that /fire, /dark, or /elec can absorb more punishment from tough foes if they build for 20-30% melee, ranged/or aoe def.

You aren't a tank. You are a brute, so act like a brute. If the whole group is moving forward, charge in and be the first one there. If they aren't, tell em where to stick it.

Absorbing alphas in regular content shouldn't be that big a deal. If you are doing AE boss farms, absorbing alpha's will be instant death unless the team is with you the whole time and on top of their game. Tough and weave will help, but they won't turn you into a tank.

Now, when you hit 50, you will be in better shape. However, you still won't be a tank. To actually be able to "tank" the way you are talking will take IO slotting. Like you said, these were decked out brutes. My 50 WP brute does decent in boss farms, but that is with a decent team. I will still get nuked if I don't pay attention. Now, as I add more and more IO sets, it gets easier, I am about 50% of the way there. Unfortunately, it's that last 50% that really makes the most difference.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Telperion Resist-wise, I took Tough, which boosts his smash/lethal resist to about 50%, and 80% with SoW. Defense-wise, I took Weave, and leveraged 4-slot Kinetic Combats in the single target attacks, 4-slotted Eradications in the PBAOE attacks, 4-slotted Reactive armors in the resist powers, and have the 3% def Steadfast Protection. otherwise, i slotted for +hp, +regen, and maybe-someday-but-probably-not will slot luck of the gambler 7.5% recharges for some extra recharge. all told, the bugger's got nearly 2600 hp, regens 110ish hp/sec in a crowd, around 30% smash/lethal def, and around 40% energy/neg energy def. SoW and inspirations can fill in any gaps, really. Other than WP, i'd say stone and invuln can take quite a bit of punishment; SR, SD, and EA can all be built for softcapped defense (45% is what you shoot for there), and they become very tough at that level of performance. I bet that /fire, /dark, or /elec can absorb more punishment from tough foes if they build for 20-30% melee, ranged/or aoe def.

My stone/WP, when I am done with him, will be softcapped for s/l def, have a few less hp, and a bit more regen. I skipped SoW, not a big fan of "god mode" then crash powers

There is no real reason not to shoot for softcapped def on all sets if you really want to be more "tankish," and it is achievable for at least S/L on all secondaries.

I am going this route initially, just my style of play, but when I find a brute that I love more than the others, I am going to start shooting for purples to boost my damage and recharge, and will back off on the def a bit.