Stone/WP or /SD?

Im looking for something where I can spend much of my time soloing till I get to higher lvls and can dump some meaningful sets into the build.

I know stone melee's aoe isnt anything special but I figure with all my ST damage i wont be spending more than a couple hits on most things anyways once I get fury up. Im just curious which might fair better in team scenarios where I might be the meatshield. I have roughly a billion infamy stashed away for when I need it so Im not too pressed on money.

I see myself softcapping(or very nearly) shield when possible and the extra aoe attack sounds nice too. Tho WP is always a very repectable set..and notedly cheaper set wise.

Any input would be nice, still new to the AT

On Virtue server, at least, the sets that people grab for defense bonuses have skyrocketed in price. My friend is spending BILLIONS in order to softcap his SS/Shield brute, and she still isn't done.

If you have the kind of scratch needed to softcap it, then I say go for a Stone/Shield, and also see about throwing in lots of Recovery and some accuracy. Stone is an endurance-intensive set, but the Bonuses from Against all Odds should puts its ST attacks damage into the Stratosphere while you're waiting for Shield Bash to recharge.

I personally have a Stone/WP Brute that I really like, but it's taken me a lot of influence and both Stamina and QR in order to make Seismic Smash part of my regular attack chain (the ST damage is well worth it, however, and the Hold component of the power rarely takes effect because it tends to one-shot lieutenants and bosses). I had to get a friend to make the build, since I don't have Mids on my mac. We focused on Defense first, then recovery, regeneration, and accuracy. Some small damage bonuses were thrown in while accumulating the ones that were a priority.

Willpower will be somewhat cheaper, but it won't really be significantly cheaper if you try for both high typed defenses and a solid amount of recharge.

For example, a high end Willpower build will want at least 3 sets of kinetic combat, as well as 3-4 LoTG 7.5 Recharges, and several sets of Numina's for the +HP bonus - not to mention the numi proc, and the miracle proc (which you'd probably want for SD as well).


But you're looking to solo quite a bit to 50. And in that I would give the edge to Willpower. Stone melee has a ton of knockdown, which is good for both sets while leveling - but it's also quite endurance heavy which is where willpower will make life easier for you.

Willpower also plays quite well on just SO and standard IOs, or even frankenslotting cheap sets. And when you decide to add more of the higher end sets it will get even stronger.

Once you get into the 40s you can grab Mu patron pool for E-fences and Ball Lightning, since you already have access to a ton of hard hitting single target attacks.

I can live with less aoe dmg...i see my ST damage being enough to cut my losses there. And even at lvl 9 I see fault mitigating lots of incoming damage The med pool is there to be a set mule for more hp and kleep me alive when things hit a little too hard. Im just wondering if Im thinking right or if I should modify this some





Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.621
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Level 50 Magic Brute
Primary Power Set: Stone Melee
Secondary Power Set: Willpower
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Medicine

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Stone Mallet

• (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage
• (3) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance
• (5) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge
• (13) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (29) Accuracy IO

• (A) Healing IO
• (11) Healing IO
• (36) Resist Damage IO
• (36) Resist Damage IO
• (46) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery

• (A) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage
• (3) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (5) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance
• (13) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge
• (25) Accuracy IO

• (A) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%
• (7) Impervium Armor - Resistance/Endurance
• (15) Impervium Armor - Resistance/Recharge
• (23) Impervium Armor - Endurance/Recharge
• (40) Impervium Armor - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge
• (46) Titanium Coating - Resistance/Endurance

• (A) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Endurance
• (7) Numina's Convalescence - Endurance/Recharge
• (46) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Recharge

• (A) Absolute Amazement - Stun
• (9) Absolute Amazement - Stun/Recharge
• (9) Absolute Amazement - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge
• (15) Absolute Amazement - Accuracy/Recharge
• (34) Absolute Amazement - Endurance/Stun
• (50) Accuracy IO

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
• (11) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
• (37) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
• (40) Luck of the Gambler - Endurance/Recharge

• (A) Empty

• (A) Empty

• (A) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Recharge
• (17) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Endurance
• (17) Numina's Convalescence - Endurance/Recharge
• (33) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Endurance/Recharge

• (A) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge
• (19) Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage
• (19) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance
• (21) Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (23) Accuracy IO
• (31) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge

• (A) Endurance Modification IO
• (21) Endurance Modification IO

• (A) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
• (37) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Endurance
• (50) Numina's Convalescence - Endurance/Recharge

• (A) Endurance Modification IO
• (25) Endurance Modification IO

• (A) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage
• (27) Decimation - Damage/Recharge
• (27) Decimation - Damage/Endurance
• (29) Decimation - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
• (36) Decimation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Endurance/Recharge
• (31) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
• (31) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
• (37) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge

• (A) Kismet - Accuracy +6%
• (43) Kismet - Defense/Endurance

• (A) Eradication - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• (33) Eradication - Accuracy/Recharge
• (33) Eradication - Damage/Recharge
• (34) Eradication - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• (34) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage
• (40) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Endurance

• (A) Empty

• (A) Impervium Armor - Resistance/Endurance
• (39) Impervium Armor - Resistance/Recharge
• (39) Impervium Armor - Endurance/Recharge
• (39) Impervium Armor - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge
• (43) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/Endurance
• (43) Steadfast Protection - Knockback Protection

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
• (42) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
• (42) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
• (42) Luck of the Gambler - Endurance/Recharge

• (A) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
• (45) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Endurance
• (45) Numina's Convalescence - Endurance/Recharge
• (45) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Recharge

• (A) Numina's Convalescence - Endurance/Recharge
• (48) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Endurance
• (48) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Recharge
• (48) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
• (50) Interrupt Reduction IO

• (A) Accuracy IO

• (A) Empty

• (A) Empty

• (A) Empty

• 14.3% Defense(Smashing)
• 14.3% Defense(Lethal)
• 3% Defense(Fire)
• 3% Defense(Cold)
• 6.13% Defense(Energy)
• 6.13% Defense(Negative)
• 6.75% Defense(Psionic)
• 8.63% Defense(Melee)
• 4.56% Defense(Ranged)
• 3% Defense(AoE)
• 8.55% Max End
• 38.8% Enhancement(RechargeTime)
• 18% Enhancement(Heal)
• 42% Enhancement(Accuracy)
• 309.2 HP (20.6%) HitPoints
• Knockback (Mag -4)
• Knockup (Mag -4)
• MezResist(Immobilize) 11%
• 12% (0.2 End/sec) Recovery
• 100% (6.26 HP/sec) Regeneration
• 2.52% Resistance(Fire)
• 2.52% Resistance(Cold)

I'll start off by saying that I have not looked at the build posted, so this is just general thoughts based on having a level 50 SM/WP Brute, a level 50 SD/SS Tanker, and having played a SS/SD Brute to 44.

My notes:

You're taking Stone Melee. That means in order to have a nice attack chain, you're going to want +recharge - conversely, with a high amount of +recharge, you've also got one of the best potential DPS chains, topped only by Dark Melee with nearly-capped or capped Soul Drain. However, investing heavily in recharge also means that you're going to want to invest in +recovery, because even with a Numina's proc, Quick Recovery, Stamina, and a Performance Shifter proc, my SM/WP (with ~200-220% recharge and ~75-80% endurance reduction in each attack) can run out of endurance in prolonged fights without a few seconds to recover. Doing missions she's fine, and most AV fights as well... but I've had to hit Strength of Will just for the extra +recovery before.

If you're taking Shields - which doesn't offer QR - enjoy the look of your secondary power icons, because unless you're into pacing yourself (and why play a Brute if you're going to deliberately slow down) or stopping to rest that's all the blue you'll get to see until you get a lot of IOs for endurance reduction invested.

However, Shields will offer you good survivability as well, and Shield Charge to help out with Stone Melee's last-place AoE damage (it's behind EM, even, if you hit the same number of mobs with Tremor and Whirling Hands). You can also go with positional sets for defense, which are a bit easier to build up numbers on, and Against All Odds actually will keep mobs around you instead of running off to go attack everybody else that you don't AoE. But, until you end up softcapped, Willpower is going to help more for survivability.

Also, if you're taking Fault, don't bother with the ridiculously overpriced Kinetic Combats. You simply don't need them - I aimed for recharge, took Tough and Weave, and if I get into trouble, I hit Fault and regen all my hp back before the mobs even stand up. Against things that Fault doesn't work on (Cimerorans), I use Strength of Will - although if you hit it first in the spawn you can still use Fault effectively even against Cims. If it really bothers you a lot, pick up Darkest Night.

My recommendation? If your idea is to make a character that's going to dive headfirst into +4/x8 and try to solo the whole spawn without help, you probably want a softcapped Shields with a self-heal. Having them never hit you is better than trying to outregen the incoming damage when they're getting it boosted from the purple patch. But I do know that my SM/WP can reliably take care of +2/x8 without much thought, if I think about what I'm doing +3/x8, and if Fault works on the spawn occasionally +4/x8, all without Darkest Night. And that's just building for recharge, not defense.

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Im pretty much set on WP at this point...just because I doubt I will ever have the funds to fully IO /SD like Id want to. Im already lvl 10ish and can see where fault will be my favorite attack and form of mitigation. Ive already tweaked the build slightly for another 10-15% recharge in there to tighten up my attack chain. Ive also racked up a nifty 235% recovery rate with endurance reductions everywhere I can fit them so I can keep truckin through mobs.

Is stone fists worth keeping even once Im higher lvl?

So far my staple power pools will be fitness, leaping, and fighting. As it stands Ive really only got room/slots for either a 4th PP for set mule or a patron to beef up aoe dmg. Im open to suggestions for either if anyone has 2cents they wanna add in.