SR brute PvP questions

I realise currently the last 5 posts on the pvp forums all have my name on them but this is the last one for now I promise

Basically after I got my claws/fire brute to 50 and was let down with how easily a -recovery power could slaughter it, its lead me to reroll a new charecter.

Im thinking of some form of SR defence based brute. However I have some questions.

1) In terms of melee defence/resists ranking I heard it went in the order of regen, SR then fire. This still true?

2) I see people say elude is pretty much nessessary since the defence nerfs, however with set bonuses does this still apply?

3) I'm thinking if I fully set for ranged defence it should still be over softcap even with DR taken into account and I dont fully understand how chance to hit is calculated now they messed around with it. I heard Elusivity being passed around but I have no idea how this is calculated and how to find out what SR is since its not listed anywhere as far as I can see, has it been scrapped? if not, can someone explain how its calculated?

4) Anyone recommend a primary to go with SR on brute? Im not a fan of the double rage stacking on brute to avoid the drop because psy recharge slows pretty much screw you over with that and I can see it being changed at some point. So anything other than SS?

5) How survivable would you rate SR compared to other sets on a brute? Which ones would you say are better (if any)?

6) Which would you say is the most survivable AT/Powersets nowadays in pvp besides regen scrapper?

7) One unrelated question, a friend of mine just announced his traps mastermind is firing 4 grenades per target now with one acid mortar placed,this is before mortar stacking with two or more placed. This true? if so that makes acid mortar the single best -res debuffer in game around its area since 4x grenades would be -80% resists, thats before you stack more than one unit together... If this is true does it also apply to corrs and defenders?

Defense sets are great in PVE, but it translates poorly into PvP. SR is pretty squishy outside of elude. Everything will hit like a truck, and "softcapped" defense won't do a lot for you considering DR and the fact that most characters have some form of tohit buffs or defense debuffs. That and the lack of a self heal puts SR below Elec, Fire, Invuln and WP.

Self heal can easily be remidied by aid self though, and now edging towards scrapper rather than brute because if i took broad sword I could get parry which pretty much sorts melee defence out, leaving me free to set purely for ranged defence. All in all your looking at around 55% ranged defence after sets, which im not sure how hard DR will hit it.

Defence debuff wise, I thought other than autohit powers such as radiation debuffs, the fact that most debuffs would miss anyway due to high defence should stop that? plus SR has the highest defence debuff resists in game, does that not count for anything in pvp? To hit buffs are always an issue though agreed with that. Other than SS though with rage.

I would have thought if you can survive the initial boosts from build up and/or aim for the 10 secs its up, you should be ok for a bit till it recharges? Of course using that time to apply a defence debuff would suck, but we are talking about freedumb pvp here, a lot of players dont have the intelligence to do more than attack in the first place

55ish Defense will get dropped to around 35-37 after DR.

Wow that badly? hmm ok I can see your point then...

EDIT: in that case, anything in particular that performs better than the rest? I know elec performs well, not sure of willpower on a brute.

granted my bane is a different beast, i have around 70% ranged defense in pve, and around 43% in pvp, but thats with me focusing almost entirelly on ranged defense, I do notice some difference with it at that value, not as much as I may like. Granted I have no idea what DR scaling for brutes looks like.
On the plus side,
Brutes can have that pile of HP factor, although not as great as tanks
And I imagine with their HP, the scaling resist from the passives is more noticable than in stalkers or scrappers
And they do get elusivity and defense debuff resists unlike my bane

on the negative,
defense outside elude is challenged
to my knowledge, brutes don't have anything in their patron pools compariable to a tanks fossilize

post elusivity nerf i played my sr brute for 5 minutes before gutting it.
it's bad.

I dont want to sound negative, but I have tried my SR brute for PvP and it was a big disappointment and I stripped the toon and placed the IO's on a stalker. I suggest you find another secondary for a brute for PvP. I would even pick EA over SR just because you get an HP buff when in overload and you can run into a mob and heal off of NPC's in zones. I rather PvP with a resist secondary.

Hey Soto.

I'd say Invuln > Elec/Fire > WP

This is based on personal play experience. Yes it's different for everyone.

Greeny

See im a fan of invul pre-i13.

I used to PvP regularly on my invul/ss tanker for a couple of years before that hit then I moved to US from EU so lost the charecter. I am curious as to why you put invul above elec though? I hear different comparisons with this but usually the majority say elec is better. Im guessing its to do with -end protection and energise giving regen boost almost perma without sets.
Invul I couldnt guess why it would be better other than +hp and some defence power, but since defence is borked i doubt it makes it better than elec.

Invuln gets psi resist in PvP now, but yeah Elec is better.