Looking for a fun brute to level.

Preferably something viable at 50, but I'm more interested in an enjoyable leveling experience than end game for now. It seems a lot of excellent builds are only truly enjoyable once they're close to the best they can be, and before that point they suffer from severe issues like lack of Endurance, incredibly low survivability, etc. As it stands consider me a new player with no infamy to work with, so I can't solve my problems with infamy.

I love AoE, but I love a comfortable End pool more. Foot stomp + shield charge looks like an incredibly enjoyable AoE combo, but if I run out of Endurance every pull I'm going to be tearing my hair out.

Since whatever I make is, hopefully, going to end up being my first 50, I want it to be something I can farm with. I hear SS/WP is better than SS/SD for that. I also hear WP is outrageously survivable for PvE, and very easy to maintain, so I'd like to look into that.

I read guides saying SS/Elec was a good combo but I don't know if that still holds true since it was many many issues ago. If I'm choosing a secondary to supplement Endurance I'd rather it be WP anyway.

Other primaries I was considering were EM (nerfed hard I hear), Elec, Fire, (I hear both of those work better for Scrappers due to rage damage bonus not effecting fire's DoTs and electric's Lightning Rod), DM (it just doesn't seem to have enough SMASH in it for me!), and I'm up for suggestions.

Also, I'm wondering if I may prefer a Scrapper to a Brute. I just thought SS seemed like the ideal AoE set, with foot stomp being so incredible and all. If anyone wants to argue that Scrappers are better, for whatever reason, feel free to do so and I'll look into it.

Thank you for your time.

Sounds like you're definitely looking for something /WP. It's a pretty smooth ride from 1-50, gives you plenty of endurance with Quick Recovery, and works well on SOs or common IOs. Super Strength is king when it comes to AoE for Footstomp alone. Though you'll have to wait til 32 for that. Claws is a really decent AoE set with good single target. Fire Melee is still good. I wasn't too impressed with Elec Melee but others like it.

Fire Melee is good. Nice power progression, as WP like S_T mentioned. And good end usage. Claws and DB are good in this aspect too, but not smashy at all. DM is awesome, but no significant AoE and not very smashy either. Not that Fire Melee is 'smashy' but burning people feels just as good.

SS is far from smooth to level. I love my SS/Fire but you get KO blow at 8, feel super, rage at 18, feel better but already think 'I wish I had another attack) and then you feel 'meh' from 20 to... 33 when you put some slots in Foot Stomp, your only AoE. I parked both my SS toons at 24 because of that, then I decided to level my SS/Fire (found WP too boring, the other one I had at 24, I like damage auras and interactive secondaries like Fire, Dark, Elec - although I find /Dark counterproductive to fury if you keep oppressive gloom turned on, so I play /dark on scrappers).

SS is not a huge end hog like Stone Melee, it's much more manageable. I like Stone Melee a lot, great tools and damage, but prepare for end problems like no tomorrow. The AoE is not very good tho.

From what you cited... EM is too St oriented because the AoE is meh and you only get your heavy hitters at 26 and 32, I only like it on Stalkers. Elec's ST damage is pitiful, I have one at 50. I'm playing a ELM Stalker and it's much better (crits - a LOT of crits on teams, A. Strike, LR won't pull me out of hide when I have it, Thunderstrike always crits - the ST part at least), so Stalker ELM can do fine on ST damage. I hate my 50 ELM brute St damage and shelved him because of that.

You might wanna look at Mace too since it was buffed sometime ago. You get Clobber, a great attack, at 8, then a PbAOE, then another great ST attack and a great 180 degree cone at the end. Axe is alike, but Mace looks more powerful since the buffs.

I loved lvling my SM/WP nothing gives me that SMASH feeling like swinging the hammers or one shoting LTs with siesmic smash. The aoe is ok, tremor's animation is longer than footstomp, and fault dosn't do any damage but the knock down/stun is amazing for stoping alpha from large spawn. The single target damage is insane and the sound effects just add to the smashy goodness. Prior to lvl 20 was real hard on the blue bar but after QR and stamina (I took both) I never worry about end even on a set as bad on end as SM.

My SS/WP Brite has taken over the Favourite Alt position (previously held by my Fire/Fire tanker for a good couple of years) - it plays well on SO enhancements alone and for me it feels very brutish wading in with fists flying.

WP has great survivability from the start and although it has no actual Healing power as such the various healing buff powers you get tend to more than compensate.

Happy Bruting on whatever you choose!!

Claws.

If wanting to farm at 50 is important, then I'd say SS/WP. For pure fun, I'd personally go SM/WP. The stone hammers are sooo much fun and you get a fair amount of mitigation. Stone has fast, end-hungry attacks so WP is a great pairing.

My main brute is an SS/SD. But honestly I don't recommend it unless you have a huge budget. On just SOs or inexpensive IOs you'll have more fun on SS/WP or SM/WP and still be very effective either solo or on a big team.

Fun set from begining to end with decent aoe?

Claws.

It's a bit off the beaten trail which I think makes if fun, but claws/da is a great AoE combo that no one seems to talk about, with the fast recharge of spin and quick claws attacks you should have no problem building up fury as many say they encounter with DA. Also, DA is tough on the blue bar but with claws low endurance costs you shouldn't be bottoming out too much. Only problem is it could be a bit of a costly build if you base your build on defense. But if you build on recharge and the get the the theft of eccense proc (moderately expensive) the end game build won't even be all that pricey.

I'd say either a Claws or SS/WP. Both are absurdly fun.

Claws has killer AOE goodness with Spin at level 8. It does fantastic damage, and is better than its scrapper counterpart.

Claws/WP would be a great set to level with.

SS/WP would as well. Rage is awesome not just for the damage boost, but also for the + To Hit. It helps with your slotting on brutes.

Also, if you slot attacks with an end reduction, you won't have many endurance issues with just Stamina.

I slot my Brutes 2acc/2dam/1 end red/1 recharge red. Unless is is a SS brute, then I use 1 acc and 3 dam with the others as listed.

Also a crazy fun combo for claws is /Elec. A little late bloomer with the self heal for brutes but still puts out some crazy aoe from begining to end. Also not as bad on the blue bar as most other sets.

I'll tell you what not to make - my first 50 villain was a SM/DA. *shivers* oh my god the end problems...holy hell.

Hey guys, thanks for all the recommendations! I've got like 6 level 10 Brutes now. Trying to decide which one I want to keep is hard, they've all got their pros and cons.

To further advertise Claws, it has a built in reduced rate of endurance consumption, and reduced recharge rates, when compared to other 'standard' melee sets. Something around 20%, wasn't it? It's been a while so my memory is a little off when it comes to numbers.

In other words, it's as if it were tailor-made for Brutes.

I'm really interested in trying out claws but I can't decide on a proper secondary. What would you suggest Col?

Claws/Elec is solid and looks great.



Varied attacks, decent resistances, a fairly good self-heal nowadays and excellent End consumption and recovery abilities.


You'll make Carnies cry and laugh at Sappers, Rikti and Crey Power Tanks.