The pet damage cap is 400%. This means that at 95% socketed and 180% from a 9/10ths Fury bar you are limited but 25% additional enhanced damage.
Shield Brutes often get absolutely no damage benefit from Build Up for Shield Charge and Lighting Rod due to the affect of AAO.
Thanks Julius,
So the only reason I might want Build Up is for that extra tiny bit of dmg, or if I planned to use LR as an alpha without building significant Fury first?
Do most ELM'ers bypass Build Up?
I have, and use, Build Up on my Level 50 ELM/WP Brute. I tend to use a Medium or Large Red Inspiration, Build Up, and have a mostly full Fury Bar, since it's impossible to get a 100% full bar. LR is slotted with 1x Acc, 3x Damage, 2x Rech, all L50 Common IOs.
It may just be a personal perception thing, but it seems to me LR does more damage that way. *shrugs* 
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You still want to take it, as you don't always have 90% Fury when its used. It functions well with every other attack that you have, and it also provides valuable +ToHit. |
Originally Posted by Mr_Marvelous
Thanks Julius,
So the only reason I might want Build Up is for that extra tiny bit of dmg, or if I planned to use LR as an alpha without building significant Fury first? Do most ELM'ers bypass Build Up? |
The damage cap issue is more prevalent with /Shield defense and SHield Charge than it is with Lightning Rod.
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I have both of these at 50. The Ele was indeed fun, but eventually I got tired of his lackluster single target damage. The SS is more capable all around, although you have to put up with Rage crashes. |
Originally Posted by Mr_Marvelous
Hello,
Trying to decide between a fun (ELM) or effective (SS) Brute primary for AoE. |
It may sound silly but one thing that really increased the fun factor for me on my SS/Shield was using alternate animations for Knockout Blow and Footstomp. The two handed version of KO Blow, when used with shields, creates the nastiest looking shield bash ever. And the pounding-fist-into-the-ground version of Footstomp is teh sexeh. Those animations have been broken (only when used with shields) for weeks. Can't wait for them to get fixed.
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This makes me wonder on other powers...it seems if I'm at +400% or +600% damage I do the same amount. Is there some point at which an attack won't do any more damage? I'm talking standard attacks, not pseudo pets. It may just be my imagination, but it seems more often than not the damage reaches a certain point and doesn't go any higher even if you haven't reached the AT damage cap. My imagination or some in-game mechanic?
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Every regular attack has the 850% (+750%) cap, as far as I can tell. If you are viewing 655% damage in your monitoring window, then you are probably at the cap due to having 95% enhanced damage in your attacks; that's the only thing that I could think of with your issue.
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Originally Posted by SoilentGreen
This makes me wonder on other powers...it seems if I'm at +400% or +600% damage I do the same amount. Is there some point at which an attack won't do any more damage? I'm talking standard attacks, not pseudo pets. It may just be my imagination, but it seems more often than not the damage reaches a certain point and doesn't go any higher even if you haven't reached the AT damage cap. My imagination or some in-game mechanic?
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I'm not sure why you call SS the effective set as opposed to the fun set. It's stupendously fun, and just so happened to perfectly fit the fighting style I wanted for a new character. The whole thing just makes you look like a berserker beating the crap out everything by smashing a massive slab of steel (or rock) into it. I so desperately want the alternate KoB animation to start workign again, because it is the crowning visual glory of the set to ram the shield into someone's face at full strength for seven hundred damage. I would also pay cash moneys for Foot Stop to get an alternate animation that made you slam the ground with your shield instead.
Hi uber,
I didn't mean to catagorize those sets' qualities as mutually exclusive.
ELM is, after all, a very effective AoE set. I just think the animations are very very cool, hence, more fun for me. I'll be watching those animations fire over and over again thousands of times, so I do always consider this aspect when building a char. Plus ELM gives me some interesting proc options.
SS is also not short on fun, especially with the alternate animations available. I just realize that I will have more fun firing off electric attacks, even though I will get better overall DPS (both AoE and ST) out of SS. The absolute only negative against SS are rage crashes, but the upside to a rage crash is, of course, rage itself.
Tough choice for me, but pretty much a win either way I go :0D
Thanks for the cap info and BU advice too, everybody.
Hello,
Trying to decide between a fun (ELM) or effective (SS) Brute primary for AoE.
I read that Lightning Rod, due to its status as pseudo-pet, only has a dmg cap of %250. If that is true, is it not also true that it makes any dmg buffing beyond fury+slotting a complete waste? (ie: Build Up)
If this is the case, I may steer towards SS for some Rage+FS+Force Feedback goodness. If I still go ELM, I will likely drop Build Up from the build.
Advice?
Info?
Thank you :0D