Medic!

I cant figure out a Brute to build and play,i may end up with either SM/ or SS/ as a primary,but does the secondary even really matter for a brute?They all seem...well...underperforming in one massive way or another.I guess this can be said about all ATs and there armor sets.

Im trying to make 1 of every AT,hero side and villain side,and play them till lvl 50,not concerned with alts,however,funtionality and fun factor come into play.

So far iv only come up with 2 AT mixes that i like alot.A Electric Armor/Ice Melee Tanker,and a Traps/Elec Blast Defender.The rest im having issues with deciding on,so i need some input from the SMASH community on this one.I have odd tastes when it comes to power combos,but,i think ill go with the before mentioned SM/ or SS/ as a primary on this build....just seems to have that Brute feel for me,with the Ka-POW! and CRUNCH! effects and sounds they give.

Super Reflexes is a pretty easy Brute secondary if you can IO yourself out around 30 to cap your defenses, it makes the ride to 50 pretty smooth.

Willpower is also considered a fairly fun armor set.

As far as primaries you can't really go wrong...they're all fun and have a strength (ok..except one...but I won't go there). I'm personally fond of SS and SM as well. I have a SS/ELA and SM/ELA in the 40's and I can say that even without heavy IO slotting they're pretty solid. My SS\ELA is an AoE monster with lightning field, foot stomp, and dark oblit. The thing is that ELA can feel squishy...so add in tough and weave....it really does make a difference. And since ELA has Power Sink and energize (and end drain resistance)...endurance isn't an issue. So my pick would be one of those personally.

I have other brutes, including willpower brutes, but for me, ELA with something like SS, SM, or even WM would be quite strong. You get decent resists (add in tough\weave), endurance drain resist, PSI resist, END management tools, +Rechange, a self heal, slow resists, an AoE damage aura that can be slotted not only for damage\acc\end, but with a disorient proc, which I've found to be invaluable (especially on my fire\ela brute).

In the end though, there is always something that a secondary won't do well. For ELA that's toxic damage, which is relatively rare. In my opinion, ELA can be made into quite a beast...even with light IO slotting.

While I agree with Krom on Electric Armor and enjoy the heck out of it myself. I have noticed that a lot have not figured out how to play it well. Most of the people I have meet are not very good at it.

For a newer player I would recommend Will Power or Super Reflex (see mild to wild comments above). INV can be pretty tough but red side but it has some situational issues late blooming being one.

My comments to the OP is each AT has its own strengths and weaknesses as well as each power set there in. The beauty of the game is your not shoved into a specific role. You can preform a role of your tailoring. Some obviously do this better than others.

Maybe if we understood how you felt they were under preforming it would help to give advice and help you pick a set that works well for you.

You'll need to get past expecting your brute to behave like a tank. WHile it is possible to achieve high levels of mitigation (we have the same caps), our base levels are lower, which means it takes a bit more to get us to where we need to be.

I agree with the powerset recommendations. I'd avoid defense sets until you get the hang of the AT - those sets shine when you dump a lot of IOs on them. WP is the generic and is very beginner friendly. Quick Recovery/Stamina will spoil you. As will electric's endurance tools.

I was having issues at first on my /WP brute, got him to 30 and realized that I wasn't liking him like I liked my scrapper. Then specc'd him into the fighting pool and got weave and it did make a big difference, I started to like him a bit more and he was a lot more survivable, although I still perfer a scrapper, it is still nice to play other options. Overall, I would say check out the fighting pool on certain sets, really gives them that extra mile.

Well,i still havnt decided on a Brute build yet,but,im noticing Scrappers seem fun,just like Brutes...sure..they dont get the UGH SMASH! kinda feel to them,but when you run into a mob with a Spines/Elec Scrapper,it is FUN!

That and iv decided on what power sets for a secondary armor i wanna use for the Brute,but,i cant quiet make up my mind yet.The Armor sets on the table are.....

Fire Aura
Dark Armor
Rock Armor

I have also added Energy Melee to the list of Melee Choices for the Brute,which doesnt over shadow my previous 2 desired picks for a Brute melee set.

The sets all do feel different.

Other people can talk relative potency much better than me, so I won't. Any set and set combo can work solo in this game, so don't worry about it.

Super Strength is a very solid set. It feels huge, until it stops, and it stops a lot. If not hitting things constantly irks you, don't play SS. If you like feeling like a destructive force, it's great. It's also a stronger set if that matters.

Claws is really good. Fast powerful attacks. It doesn't have the brutality of SS, but it feels much quicker. It's extremely damaging, but very heavy on the endurance, so keep that in mind for the secondary. If you hate having to stop for endurance breaks, you'll need a very specific build.

Dark is a more 'tactical' Brute set. It isn't as outright damaging as most, but it has a lot of useful tricks in it, like craploads of -ToHit, a heal, +end, and a really really nice +dmg +ToHit. If you've got an active secondary it'll be hard to manage both, but it's a great match for a passive set.

Dual Blades is... not the best. It's got decent single target, better AoE, but others are better at each. It's a lot of fun to watch for a while, but it tends to grate on you, because it neccesitates pretty specific attack chains and no variation. Three of the four combos are good, and Vital Strike is fantastic. It's a set to play for concept or fun, not efficiency.

Electric Melee is a great AoE set, but pretty light on active damage protection compared to anything else. Low-power sleeps are dodgy. If you pair it with a good damage secondary, it's a powerhouse. Single target suffers.

Energy is good. Those who say it sucks outright are pretty much wrong. It's not as strong as it was, but it used to be preposterously good. It's very single-target, and good against fewer foes, because of stacking stuns. It's not much good at all for AoE.

Fiery Melee is damage, damage, and more damage. It's fantastic at AoE and pretty good at single target. It destroys the end bar, so you need a good recovery secondary for it. You also need a survivable secondary because it has no damage mitigation except for killing the enemy first. It feels really good to play at the later levels, and a bit slow early on.

Stone Melee is the SMASHiest of the sets. It feels slow, but massive. It's very good at single target and AoE, depending on how you build it. It's also got good mitigation, although you want to avoid knockback. You pretty much need a stamina-boosting secondary for this because it's absolutely voracious.

War Mace is not as huge as Stone Melee in feeling, but it still feels very powerful. IT's quite good at single target and does small-group AoE very well. It's got a whole mess of mitigation, too. It's not too end-heavy, either. It's a pretty good all-round choice. If you're looking for help with a build be careful, because it got enormously buffed a while back.

Axe used to be an okay powerset, just a bit better than War Mace, until War Mace got huge. It's not as nice to play as most other sets. It's still playable, but the only real reason to go with it right now is because you want to hit things with an axe, which is a very respectable reason.

Which secondary you play is actually wuite important, because they feel ver ydifferent. The right combos just flow fantastically.

Dark Armour is very strong, but pretty damned bad at low-levels. It's furiously end-hungry before you get Stamina. It's got decent resistances and fantastic Psi protection. It's also got some strong control powers in it, and a good damage aura. The REAL reason you want it is because of Dark Regeneration, which is pretty much heal-to-full every thirty seconds BEFORE slotting. This all makes it a very 'tactical' set, and quite active. It goes well with simpler primaries, especially end-light ones. If you want an apocalyptic death machine that sucks endurance like water, Fiery Melee is your man. Pity it has a Tier 9 resurrect.


Electric armour is a very passive set, and damned tough in resistance. It's great for endurance, with a cost reduction AND an energy drainer. It's pretty passive, so even better for active sets. Your knockback protection is tricky, though. Recently a small heal was added to it, saving the need for Aid Self. It's also got a good damage aura, making it a natural choice for end-heavy primaries. I can't give much advice on how to combo it, though I suspect Fiery or Electric would be good choices, or anythign that stands to gain from the recharge boost. Be careful with the Tier 9, it's potentially worse than not using it.

Energy Aura isn't very good. It used to be interesting for being the only pure defense set, until Super Reflexes said hi. There's a good bit wrong with it, not the least that the SFX really grate, too much to go into here. It's not much good except for concept builds.

Fiery Aura is very active and very, very angry. It's a resist set that's not that tough and has mez holes in it, but it has one of the best heals in the game really early. You mostly want it for the damage aura, end-drainer power, and the fat damage boost it has, which works twice as well for Fire damage. It also has a Tier 9 resurrect ,which is a letdown. Go Fire, or maybe Elec, and make a damage-dealing king. Dark is the way if you want to make it a bit more survivable.

Invulnerability used to be a little worse but got buffed recently. It's a good survivability set because it has high resistances, some defense, and a massive but slow heal and HP booster. It does nothing for endurance, and the Tier 9 is not nice. It's very passive, so good for active primaries. It's extremely resistant to the most common damage in the game, and has decent defensesbut anything Psi will eat your face. It's not better or worse for any particular powerset, but I like it with the weapon sets.

Shield Defense is absolutely fantastico for an offensive build. Unlike the Tank version it's damned hard to make it super-tough, so I don't worry about that. Instead, I look at the supreme carnage you get with a damage buff that gets bigger for every enemy in range, and an AoE attack that I would swap any two primary powers in any set for. It's a bit active, and not helpful for endurance, so not much good for some sets, and you need some mitigation to live. Its Tier 9 is damned helpful. Even though it's not that much resistance, it's got a solid HP boost and, very luckily, a fat recovery boost. It's the premier secondary for an AoE build. This thing plus Super Strength is the most fun I've ever had with any character in-game. You're basically an unstoppable force of nature with two damage buffs and two huge AoEs who by all rights should be dead but survives because the enemy has to live longer than three seconds to kill you. It's not SMASH, it's what SMASH wants to be when it grows up. Just remember, in teams you have to play like a Scrapper, not a Tanker. SMASH!

Stone Armour is preposterously tough. You can have vast resistances AND defense AND a huge HP boost al at once. The problem is it's a damned slow thing. You're almost immobile unless you take teleport and use it to move in combat. You're also very end-heavy and a late starter. It's very awkward to play unless you build it just right, so you really need to seek advice from the veteran Stoners. Also, it's end-heavy, so as tempting as it is to combine with Stone Melee, only do it if you don't mind needing a full tray of blues for the rest of your life. It's the Tanker's Brute.

Super Reflexes is supremely hard to kill, since it has massive positional defenses and really high resistance to defense debuff. It also gains slight damage resistance as you lose health, to give you time to pop a green. It has no heal ,which is a nuisance low-level, and is a late starter. The biggest weakness is that it just doesn't feel right for many Brute concepts. It's an easy set to use and end-light, so goes well with active primaries. It's damned good with Claws.

And finally, Willpower. It's a strong standby set for any primary, with a light mix of defensive options. It takes a bit of work to make it really tough, but once you do, it's TOUGH. It also has a massive boost to recovery and the best regen power outside Regen. It's a very passive set, so good for active primaries, and despite the lack of damage aura, still good for AoE primaries. It works with everything, but it's best with Stone, because it compensates the horrendous endurance costs.

The most important part about playing a Brute is that there are som many different flavours of SMASH. Find the one you like, and keep rolling until you do. When you find it you'll be bewildered at just how fast the thing levels up, because the game will fly past you're having that much fun.

And one last thing: your costume is more important than anyone will admit on the forum. A costume you really like will make even the crappiest build fun to play, and make fun Brutes awesome.

[/QUOTE]It irks me that you can afford to fully IO out a toon, even at the stupendous prices of the good sets, with what some people are willing to pay for one single recipe. Do peopel really enjoy farming that much?[/QUOTE]


OMG!Someone finally said it!

SOOO FREAKIN TRUE!

Alot of us dont like to farm for endless hours to IO toons,and most of us "Cant",due to i dunno...work....jobs...and possibly a life outside the game?

Want to afford those IO's?

Step 1: Get a second account!

Step 2:

Step 3: Profit

I agree with Tonal and crew I have been able to play my main L50 with out a lot of farming I tend to avoid the farm teams or most farming missions as I have done them to death. I will go street hunting in RWZ or get a team together and run a series of Paper missions or WZ missions. In doing this I have also paid for every IO project on this server. About 16 full builds plus surplus. I am not a marketeer or very into the aspects of Market PVP that earn others a lot of INF. But I do bid carefully and protect myself from some of the salvage cost manipulations. Last week I past the 1 B mark. Granted I have a few new concepts to IO out and that will drop below.

My message is that just having fun playing your main L50 can bring in plenty of INF. If your careful with the market. I do not have any purples on any character I sell every purple I get. My builds are still very effective with out them and I still have a lot of fun.

I have a for fun Dark/Dark I made long ago I take out to have some fun with. He is my Super speed undead pirate. Yes super speed on a peg leg. Smite with the Hook or Siphon as a finishing move is cool looking.

He is nearly suicidal in +1 - +2 missions. With siphon life and Dark regen it takes some hard hitting to put him down. My alt build I went with a fear monger and took the presense pool and have four useable fear powers. I have three IO sets of two in each to jack my Fear duration through the roof. Touch of Fear lasts forever.

He is a lot of fun but I do not plan on ever taking him to 50.

Of course half the fun is talking like a pirate in chat.