Lot of crickets on this one, so I'll give it a bump. I'd like some answers myself, since I too have recently rolled a Mace/Shield, and don't my butt from a hole in the ground here, and there seem to be a lot of tough choices in this build. I'm also probably bailing on Grant cover, since I tend to solo most of the time.
I've played both sets, but not together.
Rather than tell you what I think is 'skippable', I'll tell you what I think are "must" or "should" haves.
Warmace
- Bash or Pulverize
- Jawbreaker
- Clobber
- Whirling Mace
- Crowd Control
- Build Up (for 6 slotted Gaussian's, which is great for /Shield)
I would not make a Warmace Brute without taking those powers.
This is not to say the other powers are bad, I just feel those are the ones that I would take as highest priority.
I would most probably take Shatter as well, although I'm not a big fan of cones - which is why it didn't make the list.
I put Build Up in there specifically because you're looking for WM/SD. I think you can skip Build Up on some builds, but you most probably will want it for Gaussian's and to use before Shield Charge.
Shield
- Deflection
- Battle Agility
- True Grit
- Active Defense
- Against All Odds
- Phalanx Fightning
- Shield Charge
Again, I would not make a Shield Brute without those powers.
Deus, thanks for the reply! Yeah, I can't see not having build up - if any combo was made for it, it seems like WM/SD is, given shield charge and WM's solid burst damage.
I've got a couple of high level WM characters, and in general I'd recommend that you skip either the Tier 1 or Tier 2, and since we're talking Brutes here, take everything else except Taunt. Shatter is the highest damaging attack in the set other than Clobber, and has a pretty large cone--45 degrees, 8 feet deep--so it's not difficult to hit two or three foes with it. I consider it a must have.
For Shields, One with the Shield is the most easily skipped, IMO. The primary benefit of Grant Cover other than the ally buff is the fact that it provides defense debuff resistance. If you're planning to use Hami-Os in Active Defense you won't need it for that, but for those of us with less infamy to throw around its defense debuff resistance is very useful.
My Characters
Knight Court--A CoH Story Complete 2/3/2012
I consider these powers to be absolutely essential:
one of Bash or Pulverize
Jawbreaker
Build Up
Clobber
Shatter
Crowd Control
Deflection
Battle Agility
True Grit
Active Defense
Against All Odds
Phalanx Fighting
Shield Charge
I consider these powers to be useless except for set muling:
one of Bash or Pulverize
One with the Shield
OwtS is nice, but I haven't yet encountered a situation where it was really needed.
Taunt, Whirling Mace and Grant Cover each have their uses. You don't need Taunt as a brute, but it comes in handy if you want to tank the "harder" TFs. Also takes some great sets. Whirling Mace has ok damage but nothing special. It's fine to have, fine to skip. Grant Cover is an interesting beast. If you wanna tank TFs, I'd strongly recommend it, especially for ITF. It grants you precious defense debuff resistance, and even if you get your hands on 3 Membrane Exposures for AD you might want it to max ddr. Personally, I'd never skip it on any of my brutes since I expect to tank all content because that is the only sure way you'll never lose fury.
While I wait for Tonality to chime in, let me ask:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Deus_Otiosus
Bash or Pulverize
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Exxar
Bash or Pulverize
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Quote:
Depends on how much recharge you're going for.|
Originally Posted by Kheldarn
Which one? I'm thinking Bash, as it recharges faster, and WM is a kind of slow recharging set...
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I prefer Pulverize, because once you have Whirling Mace, Shatter and Crowd Control as well as a fair amount of recharge, pulverize's slightly longer recharge time will be less of a factor.
But that's for a final build, for a levelling build, I might actually take both and then respec or second build out of one of them later on.
I always took pulverize. Never had problems with attack chains.
This is of course for an endgame build. Get both for leveling.
Quote:
Even slotted with HOs double stacked Active Defense alone is only 75-80% defence debuff resistance. Adding Grant Cover on top takes you to the DDR cap and puts you on a par with /SR for dealing with cimerorans.|
Originally Posted by Finduilas
...The primary benefit of Grant Cover other than the ally buff is the fact that it provides defense debuff resistance. If you're planning to use Hami-Os in Active Defense you won't need it for that, but for those of us with less infamy to throw around its defense debuff resistance is very useful.
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Triple stacking AD? Ok, not useful then, but I don't know anyone with that sort of recharge and some of the /Shields I play with are into the 11th digit on their builds now.
Quote:
Good to know. As I mentioned, I've never been able to afford the Hami-Os myself, but I've heard others dismiss Grant Cover as unnecessary when they're used.
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Originally Posted by Edana
Even slotted with HOs double stacked Active Defense alone is only 75-80% defence debuff resistance. Adding Grant Cover on top takes you to the DDR cap and puts you on a par with /SR for dealing with cimerorans.
Triple stacking AD? Ok, not useful then, but I don't know anyone with that sort of recharge and some of the /Shields I play with are into the 11th digit on their builds now. |
My Characters
Knight Court--A CoH Story Complete 2/3/2012
Quote:
That's true, you won't get to 95%. So if you must have the absolute most durable build possible, you will take grant cover.|
Originally Posted by Edana
Even slotted with HOs double stacked Active Defense alone is only 75-80% defence debuff resistance. Adding Grant Cover on top takes you to the DDR cap and puts you on a par with /SR for dealing with cimerorans.
Triple stacking AD? Ok, not useful then, but I don't know anyone with that sort of recharge and some of the /Shields I play with are into the 11th digit on their builds now. |
The thing is, unless you're planning on soloing the ITF, I just haven't found the need for 95% in comparison to 75% or so.
Take a build like WM/SD, with Whirling Mace, Crowd Control and Shield Charge - no single pack of mobs will be left standing or alive long enough to give you trouble.
The only time I could imagine maybe having a problem is running off and soloing Cysts - but I do that on my SS/SD and I haven't had trouble so far.
Part of my experience might be tinted because I usually only run with the same group of people, so perhaps on a truly poorly built PUG you might have more issues.
Quote:
My SS/SD has it primarily because on ITF speed runs she needs the DDR to take on the general spawns while the majority of the team do the computer. Outside of that TF it's only there to hold an LotG +7.5.|
Originally Posted by Deus_Otiosus
That's true, you won't get to 95%. So if you must have the absolute most durable build possible, you will take grant cover.
The thing is, unless you're planning on soloing the ITF, I just haven't found the need for 95% in comparison to 75% or so. Take a build like WM/SD, with Whirling Mace, Crowd Control and Shield Charge - no single pack of mobs will be left standing or alive long enough to give you trouble. The only time I could imagine maybe having a problem is running off and soloing Cysts - but I do that on my SS/SD and I haven't had trouble so far. Part of my experience might be tinted because I usually only run with the same group of people, so perhaps on a truly poorly built PUG you might have more issues. |
It is obviously not required; so many people skip it I've toggled it on in a team with 4 other /shields and none of them recognised the animation.
I didn't mean to imply that it was necessary, just that it still has benefits even on high end builds.
I took everything except for Taunt and Grant Cover on mine, though all I have slotted in Bash are two Stupefys. I will say though that I wasn't even aware of the Debuff Resistance on Grant Cover, I could certainly see that being useful in some cases.
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Hmm... I don't have room for both AND Clobber on my Leveling Build. 
Currently, I skipped Clobber...
I think I'll drop Bash, take Pulverize in place of it, and then Clobber where I took Pulverize...
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Yeah, skipping Clobber would make me a sad Panda too. But I'm glad you've seen the error of your ways. |
Originally Posted by Kheldarn
Hmm... I don't have room for both AND Clobber on my Leveling Build.
Currently, I skipped Clobber...I think I'll drop Bash, take Pulverize in place of it, and then Clobber where I took Pulverize... |
My Characters
Knight Court--A CoH Story Complete 2/3/2012
Hehe! After looking the build over in Mids', I think I'm just gonna wait a bit, and not play the character. I have an Elec/SD Scrapper at 36, and I wanna see how OWtS plays. That may be what I drop to make room for both in my leveling build...
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Anyone have a good WM/SD build they can share?
I have re-build my WM/SD 6 times...
Why, cause its so endo heavy I cant use him
He's a powerful beast, but shelved tha endo hog
Last build I only skipped -
Taunt
Whirling Mace
Grant Cover
Quote:
I skipped OWtS on my wm/sd, also skipped taunt. It's also rare that I run the Grant Cover toggle, but I took it none the less.|
Originally Posted by Kheldarn
Hehe! After looking the build over in Mids', I think I'm just gonna wait a bit, and not play the character. I have an Elec/SD Scrapper at 36, and I wanna see how OWtS plays. That may be what I drop to make room for both in my leveling build...
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I had bash but respec'd it out later. The attack chain of pulverize, Jawbreaker, clobber, shatter, and CC are more than enough. (Mace excels when you herd mobs into clusters.) I took Whirling late in my build, it's very handy when farming.
Throw a few sets of crushing Impacts and red fortunes for a cheap build that will be just fine.
currently reading: A Mighty Fortress (David Weber)
Between all the powers between the two sets. Team and solo wise, what is/are the most skipable powers?
looking at the sets on my own when considering teaming, I am considering Grant cover but that is based on not knowing what it does. By the looks of it I gain little from it. What does everyone else get?