New to Brutes, EN/ELA bad idea?

Hello everyone,

I'm quite new to CoX, and therefore quite new to playing any class (let alone a Brute) but I've decided that the Brute AT seems to be the one that interests me.

I chose my power sets based off of what I thought would be fun/interesting to play, and ended up with Energy Melee / Electric Defense brute. Was this a mistake? Am I going to end up hating this character because of his inability to do anything? Seeing as how I'm a very casual player, and don't often look to min/max characters (I really just like being able to enjoy them, not necessarily be the best.) I'm not trying to find the absolutely most devastating build, but rather one that will do well and will be fun to play.

So, tell me wise Brute players, is this a bad combination? If not, does anyone have any hint, tips, or tricks for a new CoV player and a new Brute player? I'll be very grateful for anyone that takes the time to respond to this thread.

Thanks,
-KZ

I like my energy/electric brute. It's not ultra powerful but it has a very quick feel to it.

If you like the feel of energy melee I suggest sticking with it. The only thing it lacks are AOE attacks but it's fun to bash people in the face.

Secondaries you'll get a lot of different responses, each has its benefits. Electric now has a self heal. It's not the most survivable defensive set but if you're not taking on really large groups or if you have inspirations you can pop if the situation is overwhelming it's not bad. Where it shines is it's quick, has a great end recovery/end drain power in powersink and a flashy tier 9 in powersurge. It also does great against Rikti.

If you're looking for a no worries secondary that manages itself I suggest going with Willpower. You have 2 end recovery powers and it's generally good enough to take on most mobs. You don't really have to worry about endurance or healing and it's pretty easy to manage.

Defensive sets I think you should avoid: shield, super reflexes, dark armor, fire armor, energy armor. The reason I say to avoid shield and super reflexes is that they're defensive based sets and if you're not going to build them out they can be frustrating to play. If you get hit you get hit hard.

Enjoy the game, I'm sure others will chime in here with their advice as well.

Also check the boards there are guides and others that have asked similar quesitons so you may find some information that's useful to you.

Thanks, the energy/electric really fits my character concept well (Former engineer afraid of mortality becoming a cyborg) and I enjoy the way that it plays currently. I duo with my girlfriend's character (mind/earth dom) and since we are both very casual players we weren't really trying to make the best characters. I just wanted to see if it the combo was something that people would actively avoid. I noticed that there is a guide for it in the Brutes guide section, but it is quite out dated and I'm not sure how much of it is still relevant.

All advice and comments are appreciated.

Thank you for the correction. I didn't think to use the standard abbreviations, I just shortened the words. I appreciate the input. I suppose I should start building another character then.

Alright, let's try this. If you were to build a brute that would go well with a mind/earth dom, what would it be? I primarily play with my girlfriend and since she very much enjoys that character, thats who I'd like to synergize with.

My answer -- anything you find enjoyable. Electric armor brutes aren't the most survivable but you're not looking for that. It'll be fine for you and fun too and doesn't take min/maxing or lots of IOs to enjoy it.

Boomerrang up there is going into some unnecessary details and shouldn't have lectured on the proper abbreviations for the sets. Don't let one person's negative opinion change your mind.

Electric, Invuln, Stone (usually requires a kin) and Willpower don't need a lot of work to just enjoy. Even fire and dark will work if you have concept reasons for those if you're going to be primarily playing with just your girlfriend.

An nrg/ela won't be terrible, I promise.

If you say you are a casual player with no interest in minmaxing, then you cannot go wrong with any powerset combination. The only thing that will matter is your satisfaction with your concept and "feel" of the powers. HwaRang's advice is sound (although I don't agree on some points), but such things really only get to you if you're interested in max performance and hardcore play.

So if you like EM/ElA for concept, go for it. If you like it for its feel (at least what you can perceive of it during character creation), go for it. You're a brute, as a casual player you will have fun no matter what. Slight advice - you can check out how all of your attacks look in the character creator (power customization tab). So check them out, and if you don't have problems with the long animations of Energy Transfer and Total Focus (as opposed to the short ones of Barrage or Energy Punch), keep your EM/ElA.



If you'll be playing with a Mind/Energy dom EM will suit you quite well. The dom will also have some of the same attacks as you do, so you can stack stuns on tough targets. Unless they already get disabled by the dom's primary powers

Alright thanks guys for the advice. I made a mistake though, the dom is actually mind/earth, but that's alright. I think I'll stick with my energy melee and electric armor just to see how it goes, if I'm really unhappy I'll just roll another character I guess. I appreciate all the help.

I took SS/Elec to 50 recently (before the changes) and I liked it. After Conserve Power got changed to Energize? I *loved* it!

That's SS though. IMO, only huge difference is the AoE damage of Foot Stomp versus the vastly superior single target damage of EM.

Given that you'll be duoing heavily with a mind/earth Dom, frankly I can't see you being disappointed. Mind is a great control set, which will offer a lot of damage mitigation that /Elec might not have. And EM being more ST based means that you won't be interrupting Mind's sleep powers as much. The only issue I can foresee is fury building. Brutes of all types rely on not only attacking, but being attacked, to build fury and thus increase their damage output. Mind having as many AoE lockdown abilities as it does, you won't get attacked as much, and thus won't build fury as fast as others might. In this case, it's a matter of survival vs. killing speed. If you are looking to up your damage output when duoing with a Mind Dom, perhaps Super Strength would be more up your alley. Rage's (permanent) damage buff will help offset the slower Fury building, as well as help pump out more damage once the Fury is built up. And Footstomp is just plain awesome for getting aggro on you as well as mitigating alpha strikes while the dom sets up his/her controls. Can't really go wrong with either set combined with /Elec, so it's really just a matter of theme and play style.

~WP

Personally, I think Energy Melee is (now) the worst primary available to brutes. It is heavy hitting, but anytime I team with anyone else I find that everyone always finishes my meals before I get a chance. In my opinion, it is slow and clunky. Sort of like a bowling ball. Lots of weight, but surprisingly difficult to get it to hit all of your targets at once and be as effective as most of the other sets. I think Dark Melee is a better option for a primary set that is single target focused.