I did a search in the guide section, and the following threads pop up.
R_M's I9/I10 Energy Melee/Energy Aura Brute Guide
Darkness Bound- a guide to the Dark Melee / Energy Aura brute, just add luck
Maybe the guides are not quite updated, but they are ok as a start. You can ask if you have other questions.
The two main questions I have (as I'm reading over these two older guides) are:
1) Is this a "Medicine pool required" set? I.e. Is the heal from Energy Drain sufficient to make the set reasonably survivable on its own, or like pre-i16 /electric, is medicine "mandatory"?
2) Can I "main brute" (take alphas in large teams) with this defense set? If so, what are some general tips you all can give to help me make that happen?
And thanks for your response, Twilight. 
1. If you take enough attacks, most of EA powers, fitness, travel powers and the fighting pool, then there will be enough power choice for either medicine pool or patron power pool. It's up to you to make the choice, medicine pool is not required.
The heal in energy drain is small, but significant with many mobs around you. I believe the intention of the heal is to help the survival of energy drain in large teams.
2. You'll have a tough time grabbing aggro because of energy cloak, you need to use taunt and aoe more.
I bet your concern is whether energy aura can take damage. You need to soft cap defense using IO set bonus. And the power set is weak against psionic and toxic damage, so you've to know your enemies and tank in a more intelligent way sometimes.
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Honestly if you want to main, I would roll Invuln, Stone, or Shield. To be perfectly honest i have watch more energy aura brutes "and stalkers" run into a group only to get instagibed before they get a chance to do anything. |
Originally Posted by Doctor_Xaxan
The two main questions I have (as I'm reading over these two older guides) are:
2) Can I "main brute" (take alphas in large teams) with this defense set? If so, what are some general tips you all can give to help me make that happen? And thanks for your response, Twilight. |
This comes from second hand experience from being alittle to slow for some people "Granite pun intended" and watched Energy Aura brutes run in and die in a split second to alpha's.
1) Is this a "Medicine pool required" set? I.e. Is the heal from Energy Drain sufficient to make the set reasonably survivable on its own, or like pre-i16 /electric, is medicine "mandatory"?
I did not take the med pool on my brute, but a lot of people do. I find the heal in ED to be good enough for me and rarely have a problem. Mine recharges in about 25 seconds for 46% heal off of 10 mobs and with my capped defenses it is always enough. When you are leveling up you may want med pool.
2) Can I "main brute" (take alphas in large teams) with this defense set? If so, what are some general tips you all can give to help me make that happen?
I tank with my WM/EA brute all the time, but this is an IO'ed level 50 also. As I was leveling up this brute I took taunt since I was short on AoE's. Once I had a full attack chain of AoE's I was able to maintain aggro without any problems.
While leveling up I had a rough time in the early 40's, but other than that it was a fun build. Psi really tore me up till I could get IO's slotted. I currently have capped all defenses except Psi and negative energy. Psi is around 21% so it isn't that bad of a whole anymore.
The self-heal in Energy Drain is 3% HP per enemy hit, which can be enhanced up to about 6%. This means having four enemies surrouding you still nets less of a heal than popping a Respite. It hits 10 targets max, which means you're looking at absolutely no more than a 60% heal in even the worst situations.
If there was something that rubbish thought was rubbish, it'd be the self-heal in Energy Drain.
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My EA does quite well enough, especially when supported by the team in this case.
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Originally Posted by King_Armageddon
Honestly if you want to main, I would roll Invuln, Stone, or Shield. To be perfectly honest i have watch more energy aura brutes "and stalkers" run into a group only to get instagibed before they get a chance to do anything.
This comes from second hand experience from being alittle to slow for some people "Granite pun intended" and watched Energy Aura brutes run in and die in a split second to alpha's. |
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When I have 4 mobs around me I have no need for a heal. The only time I need it to heal me is when I am fighting close to the aggro cap and then it is 46% every 25 seconds. That really isn't that bad.
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Originally Posted by GuyPerfect
The self-heal in Energy Drain is 3% HP per enemy hit, which can be enhanced up to about 6%. This means having four enemies surrouding you still nets less of a heal than popping a Respite. It hits 10 targets max, which means you're looking at absolutely no more than a 60% heal in even the worst situations.
If there was something that rubbish thought was rubbish, it'd be the self-heal in Energy Drain. |
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I think the answers to these have to come in the form of another question.|
Originally Posted by Doctor_Xaxan
The two main questions I have (as I'm reading over these two older guides) are:
1) Is this a "Medicine pool required" set? I.e. Is the heal from Energy Drain sufficient to make the set reasonably survivable on its own, or like pre-i16 /electric, is medicine "mandatory"? 2) Can I "main brute" (take alphas in large teams) with this defense set? If so, what are some general tips you all can give to help me make that happen? And thanks for your response, Twilight. |
Are you prepared to IO out your build?
IO'd EA can be tremendously strong. You'll have more trouble holding aggro on a sustained basis than other brutes, but for grabbing alphas you're fine.
IO'd EA does not require the meds pool.
If you want to play a more "stock" setup, you're potentially headed for some frustration, depending on what buffs are available to you.
The cake is a lie! The cake is a lie!
So, I've roflgrinded up to 37 with the Electric/Energy build, just to give you guys an update.
The issue I'm facing currently is this:
To get soft-capped defense, I'll essentially need to forgo Soul Mastery altogether, which I've found indispensable on other brutes for both maintaining aggro, dealing damage and surviving. I'm also having trouble figuring out how I'd fit Taunt into the mix.
Can the ToHit debuffs from Soul Mastery make up a gap of 5-10% defense?
Is defense capping an absolute necessity for /EA? (it comes with some resistance and the afforementioned self-heal, which makes me wonder if it's not meant to be a 50/50 situation)
I'm actually finding the self-heal build into Energy Drain to be enough to get the job done, in practical use (if one can call slammer farming practical use).
Spiritchaser, in answer to your question, I am prepared to IO the build. However, I'm relatively new to the game and the spammalicious Mid's exports people post on the forums make my eyes cross and well up with tears of confusion.
I have no trouble playing a "finesse-required" build -- in fact, I prefer it. My SS/WP brute is shelved at 50 because it's tiresomely easy.
That said, any advice on which sets to shop for and where to slot them would be -great-.
Thanks for the advice and input so far everyone. It's helped tremendously.
EDIT: Just to clarify - I haven't main tanked yet on this character. I've taken heat when the main tank has gone down and have had my full share of a two-group pull, but I've not been the dedicated tank yet. Waiting for some friends to be online so I have reliable support the first time I give this character a whirl as point man.
Steadfast protection is a good start, throw in some kinetic combats if you can find them, and you're well on your way.
Energy def can come from many places, PBAoE sets are often good for this
I think you can run with soul mastery, and less than capped def against most foes, the only caution is that the toggle does take a little time to throw on...
Oh also, anything with substantial debuff resistance is going to laugh off your toggle debuff... if you fight that kind of thing.
The cake is a lie! The cake is a lie!
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That's definitely one concern I have with this build (and would similarly have with /SR). Longbow = Sadface.
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Originally Posted by Spiritchaser
Steadfast protection is a good start, throw in some kinetic combats if you can find them, and you're well on your way.
Energy def can come from many places, PBAoE sets are often good for this I think you can run with soul mastery, and less than capped def against most foes, the only caution is that the toggle does take a little time to throw on... Oh also, anything with substantial debuff resistance is going to laugh off your toggle debuff... if you fight that kind of thing. |
Actually, I was thinking about mobs with tohitdebuff resistance.
Most notably those mobs with purple triangles.
The cake is a lie! The cake is a lie!
Thanks for the help so far. Here's a question for you:
How much does unsupressed stealth hurt a brute's ability to tank?
Does it literally create situations where a ranged AOE (Dark Obliteration, for instance) doesn't get the attention of any NPCs aside from the ones hit by the power?
If you hit them, you will get their attention. You are in stealth, not invisible.
If you take tough/weave and maneuvers, hitting or being damn close to the softcap on everything except NE and Psi is stupidly easy on a /EA brute. NE will take a bit more work, if you care to even bother with it.
Darkest Night is going to be far from necessary, but will be helpful.
If your SS/WP brute is tiresomely easy, you need to start finding harder things to do.
Dark Armor is like that kid you knew in school that didn't know when to shut up, and no matter how bad he got beaten down, he got right back up again and kept on talking.
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Energy cloak will reduce you chance to pick up stray mobs, you're going to have to be more active, to work harder to do this job than other brutes, but it's not just cloak that's to blame|
Originally Posted by Doctor_Xaxan
Thanks for the help so far. Here's a question for you:
How much does unsupressed stealth hurt a brute's ability to tank? Does it literally create situations where a ranged AOE (Dark Obliteration, for instance) doesn't get the attention of any NPCs aside from the ones hit by the power? |
The lack of a persistant taunt aura will mean that you will consistantly project a smaller footprint than other brutes for any given effort level. You can grab aggro, but you'll be working much harder to stay even, generally taunting more, doing less damage.
To go back to how much defence you need, if you bail out on the speed pool, and lose hasten (which will cut down your dps, but that's a choice you have) and go fitness fighting leaping leadership, you'll end up with about 37-38% def to s/l. You'll still be taking about two and a half times what a capped brute will, and that's a very VERY big difference, think in terms of having more than twice as much healing available, but it's still exceeding tough most of the time. Fortunatley steadfast helps a lot.
I strongly suggest against skipping fitness, at least at first, but probably not for the reason most would think. Swift and or hurdle are just way to valuable to cut out of most brute builds unless substantial +movement is available from IOs, and even then, you have to wonder if it wouldn't have been much, MUCH easier to take swift, then IO out the build to compensate for whatever else you took fitness instead of.
Now, of course, you can have speed in your build as well, IF you get enough def IOs to drop either leadership or fighting. That's a function of level and cash on hand.
The cake is a lie! The cake is a lie!
As someone who played an /EA brute from launch, I'll back up the statement about not needing Fitness right away.
Hell, I didn't have stamina on it until I was level 40-something... Once I tried it on a concept build I never looked back, but I didn't have any issues. That Energy Drain is a VERY useful power.
Spiritchaser's observation on the way that EA brutes fight fits what I experience. You don't pull as many people towards you as other brutes, unless you actively work on it.
As for Alpha bruting? I've not had too much trouble with it...unless you're fighting a Psi type. Sadly that IS the big gapping hole in your defense. If you see a large group of mobs, you normally don't have a problem with them... And if it's one you're not sure about, all you have to do is use Overload and you're almost untouchable. (For the time it lasts)
My best memory is using taunt to peal off a bad pull on a MoLRTF, and holding off 3 AV's while the rest of the team took out the healer. I JUST ran out of overload right when the rest of the team came over to finish the job, but I handled it.
Didn't even die from that...Still shocked it worked so well.
@Nameless Hero, Insane Sword-wielding Video Game Hero - Also a character in CoH
Yukie Bikouchi, Halfway Lost, and others
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IMO, darkest night's worth it on an /EA for that alone. Toggle debuff as ghetto taunt aura means more time for SMASH! ... or slice-n-dice, for my DB/EA.
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Originally Posted by Spiritchaser
The lack of a persistant taunt aura will mean that you will consistantly project a smaller footprint than other brutes for any given effort level. You can grab aggro, but you'll be working much harder to stay even, generally taunting more, doing less damage.
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If I quote #'s, they're from City of Data.
Global: @Kazari
It was either Taunt or Purple Triangles of Doom. I stand by my decision!
-BackAlleyBrawler
Capping defense for s/l/e/f/c is stupid easy for an EA who is willing to do some farming. No leadership pool required. Two single target attacks get 5 slotted with the kin combat(4) and a mako's quad to round out the %s. Three aegis in either tough or if you choose to get the resist passives to cap out fire/cold. The steadfast +def. Six slot a thunderstrike in a ranged attack, either from your primary or, lets say, gloom. 4 slot multi strikes in a pbaoe. Take CJ, weave, and slot them and your def powers to 54+% enhancement, and you are golden. That's only two power pools, leaving you free to take hasten/ss AND fitness, if you so choose, or medicine as well.
My upcoming claws/ea looks absolutely sick. With three leftover power picks and 12 slots unused, I will be sitting at def cap to all but neg and psi. I have gloom and DN (4 slotted with despairs for the recharge. 57% global recharge without really trying (+hasten and a FF proc). No purples, but I do have 5 LoTG just waiting for him.
I'm currently leveling an electric/EA brute, and am wondering if there are any current guides I can reference to help me with the /EA side of things.
I'm totally confused as to where everything is after the forum migration, so any help here would be greatly appreciated.