Anyone made a DM/FA Brute???

How well did it perform early, mid, and late game? Could you farm solo, or needed help? What was the damage output like? How was your survival rate? Could you Tank in TF's like ITF? Is it fun?

I'm currently leveling a DM/FA brute, only got him to lvl 30 so far, but he's tons of fun. He preforms pretty well, both solo and teaming. It's pretty squishy at first, but that's not really too much of a problem now. The damage output is pretty nice, DM builds fury really fast, and once I've picked up Mu mastery, I can tell he'll be a fantastic farming toon, especially with burn and the AoE damage boosts in the mix. Never tried tanking any TF's on him, so no advice for you there.

Thanks for the reply

/FA is plenty survivable when you are in higher lvls. Tons of fun and extremely potent for damage. If you have a primary with a few tricks like DM, you increase your survivability pretty solidly. Depending on how much you want to develop Accolades and set bonuses, you could build a veritable beast.
Mid and lower lvls can be a bit challenging- but nothing that is unbearable. The bonus to being a "squishy" fiery brute is that you can pump out dmg pre-IOs that might make most other secondaries blush.
I have great success tanking ITFs with my /FA. If you can play to fiery aura's strengths, and have a solid build planned, it won't be too hard. It becomes easy sauce if you aren't too proud to pop a purple inspiration every now and then. I know it isn't particularly difficult to softcap a /FA's defense to S/L damage. Furthermore, it can be done without neutering your damage and recharge possibilities. I am no number cruncher, but I can tell you that much. In my build I maximized recharge and dmg, and focused a bit on defense too.
If I were concerned about farming, I don't think I would roll a DM though. DM is largely ST and primaries that deal more AoE are more favorable for farming. No matter how good you are at lining up enemies with Shadow Maul, it will still be extremely time consuming and most likely never capture the hits a good Foot Stomp or Fire Sword Circle will. Even with some help from Patron pools, it is a good bet that you just won't be as fast a farmer as an Elec melee, claws user, fiery melee, or Superstrength user.

To answer the question in your subject: Yes.

I rolled my DM/FA brute back before IO's and man what a stinker! I was able to go stamina less through the early lvls with consume and dark consumption, but as you get higher in lvls that build doesn't become too viable. In PvE the scientist map was probably the only thing I was able to farm with great success but DM strength is definately ST.

With the introducion of IO's the buzzsaw build made this toon a monster being able to slot all procs in smite and shadow punch. It's all playstyle, I had more fun in pvp than pve with this build.

I just made mine at 1am Sat morning. Breezed through the early levels and got Stamina last night.

Seems pretty solid so far. I'm a bit fearful of how it will deal with damage come level 35+ on ITF's and vs tougher stuff like Carnies, but if my SS/Fire brute made it, I'm sure this one will too. I'm very much looking forward to Midnight Grasp>Burn and the Soul cone Immob.

I was once on a VG that pl'd and farmed all the time. The VG leader was a DM/FA and man he ripped mobs to shreds. OF course.....they were customized to be flamethrowers, lol.

Thanks for the replies all! So the DM/FA AT synergy is best used in PvP it sounds like, or possibly AV soloing?

as long as you have some KB protection, yah I believe so. Blazing aura will probably reveal sneaky little stalkers for you too.

My DM/FA brute is tons of fun and my only level 50 villain. A few notes:

1) Siphon Life and Healing Flames keep me alive.

2) Just as much, so does Darkest Night from soul mastery. As long as I am paying attention, there isn't much that is killing me running 0/x6. I know that isn't as up there as some combos, but it's not too bad.

3) Single targets are pretty easy. Stack the -tohit to go to town. Just make sure HF and SL can keep up with hits that do get through. Again, DN from soul mastery helps with this a lot.

4) MG+patron immob means you can burn patch bosses without them running.

5) Dark Consumption and Consume BOTH come in handy for me, even with stamina (can't dodge the end drain attacks. Non end draining attacks and I don't need either unless it's a protracted fight).

6) Hit fiery embrace before soul drain, it will turn it into a decent AoE attack when it's recharge is respectable. Oh, and the 10 seconds after that combo is glorious for all your damage. 30 seconds for Burn and BA (which ticks for me over 50 right now, not counting my proc).

7) Burn is tricky as a brute. First, since it's a pseudo pet, it caps at +400% damage. Second, you find out that Fury is a 2 second refeshing damage buff. What this means is that for the first 2 seconds burn is going, it get's your Fury bonus, but drops off after that. This is why the numbers drop all of a sudden.

8) I started out with Mu as my patron, then switched to Soul. My AoE didn't drop by THAT much (though I never took Static Discharge) and DN is just huge. Gloom is also like the best Single Target patron attack for Brutes also.

9) Rise of the Phoenix is very fun. I lose Fury and a few seconds when I die, but it looks cool and it helps me judge what I can take without having to run from the hospital.

AV Soloing is a tall order for this build but you are able to generate fury faster than most builds. Between HF and SL you could stay alive, but getting through their regen would be the biggest hurdle.

Ive just started playing a DM/FA brute and am really enjoying him. He is the first Brute Ive managed to get to a decent level (hes lvl 22 and all my other Brustes have stalled at around lvl 4!).

I've just got a couple of questions about it though:
* How useful is Taunt? Ive taken it so far but am finding it not to be that effective as when I have taken it on my Tanks. Is that just my imagination or do they work differently between the ATs?
* Do I need Stamina? So far I have been running without it and have found although I have the odd time I need to quickly rest between mobs Consume and Dark Consumption seem to be doing the trick (even though they are unslotted).

Thanks guys!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger Quote: 16. Has Paragon Studios redefined "player" to require your mouse to subscribe separately from your keyboard? If your mouse has greater processing power than your gfx card, the answer is yes.

I'd agree with the above re: Stamina. With my DM/FA brute (and, IMO, brutes in general), a significant goal is sustaining Fury. While I haven't tried playing the brute without Stamina, it's my opinion that Stamina smooths the otherwise precipitous roller coaster of endurance you'd experience with the clickies of Consume / Dark Consumption. This translates into more seamless sustenance of Fury.

Plus, both DM and FA have enough skippables that it's not so big a deal to fit in the Fitness track as it is with powersets that practically necessitate (out of utility, coolness or some confluence of the two) choosing every power.

(Actually, the thought of having Stamina, Consume and Dark Consumption is part of the reason I made the brute in the first place... compared to other brutes I've rolled, the pleasure of having gratuitous amounts of accessible endurance is almost illicit. YMMV.)

Cool - thanks very much for the input D-Void, Magikwind

Think I will definitely aim to save Stamina (I was planning onto originally but Dark Con and Consume made me question it, hence the me asking).

I think I will keep Taunt, but may move later in the character build rather than early on

Thanks again guys

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zwillinger Quote: 16. Has Paragon Studios redefined "player" to require your mouse to subscribe separately from your keyboard? If your mouse has greater processing power than your gfx card, the answer is yes.