Farming Brute

Ok so ive been researching for the last 3 days about brutes and farming. It's been a great while since i last played. I have found lots of information on a bunch of builds but I only have a 31MM on villain side so I don't have any money whatsoever. But I really wanna play a shield defense char. I want either FM/SD or Elec/SD. I understand its gonna suck till I get money to io them out but im not too worried about that. I'm more worried about being good then looking good.

The question I wanna ask though is will electric have enough single target damage with gloom patron power to take on av's/eb's? Im not gonna farm them solely. Just if I run into av's or eb's during story arcs or whatnot will I be able to atleast kill them with elec? I was thinking more than with fire melee I could solo av's/eb's and still have 3 aoe attacks to take out mobs also for farming.

Thank you for the replies. I'm sorry if this info was somewhere else cause I didn't find it :/. If you think I should really go with another build for first time farmer that has no money and still farm mobs for cash,then please let me know. (Anything but SS or stone melee and stone armor)

Well im not sure how it works here but someone can close the thread. I figured it out on my own. Gonna go with fire/shield/soul and know till i get billions of money i wont be as good but still decent for farming mobs and single targets. if anyone wants to add anything or tell me a different first time farmer build then PM me. Thanks guys.

I enjoy farming with my SS/SD/Elec brute. Does quite nicely on the Liberate TV map at +0/8-man/no-boss/no-AV setting. Even without purples or Luck of the Gambler +recharge IOs.

I also have a SS/FA/Elec brute, but I find the SD to be more fun personally.

Ah thank you. I'm reluctant to go SS because of the rage crash and all smashing damage. And I read so far that you can't really solo av's because of the all smashing. I might be wrong but that's just what I have read. I guess I'm asking too much to want to solo av's and aoe farm as a first time brute but I thought id try anyways.

I was gonna go fire/shield/soul brute and for blue side shield/dark/pyre tanker since dm's damage with make up for the tankers low damage I hope. Or might make him a scrapper. not sure yet. I was just wondering if elec/shield/soul was able to farm mass mobs and still pull off av kills with the single target attacks and gloom but, fire/shield/soul seems the best way to go.

Builds that can solo AV's generally aren't as good at farming, EB's won't be a problem though. Fire/SD will probably run out of endurance long before you can kill an AV.

As for farming it should do just fine. FSC is a great AOE and you also have Shield Charge.

Ah ok thanks a lot. Ill stick with the fire/shield/soul and just put no av setting on. sorry for the questions. im still prety new. Ive been searching and searching but all i find are builds and expensive builds but nothing about a great first time farmer. I found a thread also about resistance versus defense, do you think that a resistance set would be a better option for someone without set ios ad just using regular ios? cause I was thinking of maybe fire/elec or dark/elec or any combo or elemental resistance sets.

For a farming brute I'd recomend Elec/Shield or SS/Elec.

Super Strength may be all smashing damage, but it's still one of the most effective primaries for brutes, for for ST AND AoE. Lightning Field is an excelent damage aura and Lightning Reflexes will help Foot Stomp (and your patron AoE) recharge faster, not to mention you'll have infinite endurance with Power Sink and Energize

SS/Elec or SS/FA. While FM is a serious contender with FSC (especially paired with /FA) SS wins because of the larger radius on Footstomp. Most PBAoEs are 8, FSC is 10, Stomp is 15. You'll easily hit most of a spawn with it standing in the middle, whereas smaller AoEs often leave stragglers.

SS also wins if you're farming Nemesis because KO Blow is great for dealing with Fakes to ensure they don't bubble. Elec is really flashy and does great damage spikes, but unless you're moving incredibly slowly or have really really high recharge paired with /SD, you're not telenuking each spawn. SS wins out for high consistent AoE damage, which is what matters on a farm. If you like Elec by all means go for it, its just not as good as SS or FM, for that matter.

As for secondaries, I would say most can work, but /FA or /elec would be best. Elec for the reasons mentioned above by Silverado, /FA because FE is great, Blazing Aura has a small radius but does great damage with Fury/Rage/FE and Healing Flames is a great heal. I've not tried running a SS/Elec myself, but I've seen friends do so and it looks pretty good. The advantage of /elec is if you don't have wads of cash to spend on +rec uniques and recharge sets for bringing up Consume faster, elec can be easier to get going due to Energize and Power Sink.