I always recommend the fighting pool for all brutes (at least Tough) and would recommend the same to you. I usually pick up Tough/Weave in the late 30s early 40s depending on my build.
I'd also recommend Hasten to get your attacks up quicker for better fury generation.
But it really depends on your total build if any suggestions are best for you.
I would take Tough/Weave.
I have to disagree with Hasten. Claws recharge so quickly you're rarely down if at all. But I do understand the Fury build suggestion...
Taunt. I take taunt for the team mode but rarely use it solo as I have brawl and focus to punch-voke.
YMMV
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I agree with the consensus, you want Tough & Weave.
And while you could probably get away without the fitness pool, I personally wouldn't - you want that extra passive regen and recovery - claws might be light on endurance compared to other sets but once you get spin on a very high recharge you'll be happy for the extra recovery.
I personally would take hasten as well.
Other than that for building purposes, focus on typed defenses to say 30-35% for SM/L/Ene/Neg and then focus on hit points.
Unless you're willing to make sacrifices to softcap.
A few posts below yours is mine asking for someone to look over my build, which is also a claws/WP brute. Mines a bit hardcore as I was trying to make mine as sturdy as possible and I've also been collecting the rare and expensive Kinetic Combats which make up a good portion of my build. My claws brute is currently at 38, so I'm getting ready for that final push to 50, especially with the double XP weekend upon us.
As to your questions, if you're called upon to be the tank in large groups like you said, taunt might just be something you could use. Willpower is weak in it's taunt aura, so being able to hit taunt to keep the focus on you and your fury bar in full groups might be beneficial. Plus you can get some great IO set bonuses. Solo, it's a wasted pick, so you'll have to chose how badly you think you'll need it and how tight your build is.
Fighting pool, absolutely. I always build my toons to be as independant as possible when I'm building my scrappers and brutes. I want to be able to take the hits like a tank while dishing out damage that Tanks can only dream of. The fighting pool gets us closer to a tank. With willpower I'd suggest getting your defenses up to the mid 30's, it's not that hard to do and then with liberal use of purple insps you can be softcapped. Mix that with willpowers already good HP boost and super regen and recovery and you'll be unstopable.
Hey folks. Long time player, first time brute. I've made a Claw/WP version of my claw/WP stalker 'cause I really love the stabacadabra and I figure with fury I'll pretty much be a walking meatgrinder.
So far, by and large, I've been pleased.
I'm at 30 and starting to question what is going to be preferable in a Brute for the Mid-to-End game. I do PVE, solo a tiny bit more than team (but my teams tend to be large), not looking for Master of whatevers.
Right now I've grabbed all the attacks I'm going to take (I like shockwave on my stalker, but it doesn't make sense on the brute), so I'm looking at the secondary and pools.
Questions:
1. Taunt - There's a lot of debate on this. Good idea to get it now before I get into Patrons or save it for later? Or drop it entirely? My thought here is that for a single-target ranged taunt, I have Focus.
2. Fighting Pool - No clue what to do with this. Not sure when to take it, how much to take it, whether WP offsets the need for it, whatever.
3. Any other necessities? Right now I've mostly focused on primary/secondary (with travel and fitness).
I'm sure some guides out there might help, but I don't know if they would be up to date on the state of the game at present. Sorry for the newb questions.
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