Anything other than Dark Melee, Kinetic Melee and Dark Armor then. 
There's a whole ton of Brute combinations you can try out. Brutes have more options to pick from than Scrappers in their primaries, with the same secondaries too. Fire Melee? Shield Defense? Super Strength? Invulnerability? So many choices!
If you don't know the mindset of a Brute, try thinking of a more sturdy Scrapper who likes to be in "Scrapperlock" status all the time.
My Brutes which I have are:
Super Strength/Super Reflexes
Electric Melee/Electric Armor
Dark Melee/Fire Armor
Fire Melee/Shield Defense
Energy Melee/Invulnerability
Stone Melee/Willpower
Try any combo which looks interesting to you and give it a try.
Ideon's Paragonwiki page
Member of Paragon/Rogue Knights
Arc: 60092 - Supa Rumble in the Park
"Keep living the dream, and never let any jerk tell you what to do."
-- High-Roller
I get paralysis when I have too many choices. You should see me trying to eat in a restaurant I've never been in before, it's amazing. (If I've been there before, I get the thing I had last time, so I can eat in predictably-finite time.)
For a first time Brute I would suggest Claws/WP. If you don't mind being more squishy in exchange for more damage, then I'd go with Claws/Fire.
[U][URL="http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=251594"][/URL][/U]
Boy, that's an interesting choice -- I'm not sure how I feel about "squishy".
If it weren't for all the people saying it sucks, I'd be tempted by energy aura -- for historical reasons, I love having stealth powers, even when I'm on a character who has no reason to use them. :P
Looks like I'll be stuck in the character creator for the rest of the day. 
My SD/SS Tank is quite fun, but I'm sure a SS/SD Brute would also be awesome.
Quote:
Odd...I find Dark Melee to be one of the most fun melee sets that I've ever played. It was my first toon to 50, and for the life of me I just can't seem to stop coming back for more of it. Meanwhile, I honestly can't stomache Super Strength even though I realize it's a fabulous set and that most people would lash out at even the mere thought of not liking it. I've only ever been able to play two SS characters all the way to 50 with only a few puking sessions along the way. All the rest I've attempted simply cannot survive their 20's....just too dang slow and boring. Good set, but boring as hell.| Anything other than Dark Melee, Kinetic Melee and Dark Armor then. |
Basically, to each his own.
As far as "most fun" Brutes? I've EPICLY enjoyed these combos:
DM/ELA - PowerSink keeps you moving and keeps fury pegged now matter what. DM helps ELA's overall survivability.
DM/WP - QR+Stamina+DC(<--if you even need it) keeps you moving and fury pegged. DM stacks very well with WP.
DM/Shield - AAO+SoulDrain+FullFury is a thing of beauty for a Brute. Shield Charge makes up for DM's lack of AoE. DM pairs well with SD's Defenses and grants a heal.
DM/Fire - The most un-resisted damage type combo a Brute can get his callused hands on. Solid damage here. SD+FE = something is going to die fast. DM helps aid in FA's survivability.
Fire/Fire - Burn baby burn! This combo, simply put, melts face....literally. This was a VERY fun run. Albiet a bit "fragile" at times, the amazing damage output made it all the worth. BU+FE+FullFury+FireDamage = z0mgfirebbqinferno.
Claws/SR - Sleek, stylish, fast, and sexy. SR has no +recovery boosts, Claws has an inherent endurance discount. This pairs well and is very fun, for me at least. It has solid speed, damage, defense, and end management.
***Stone Melee/ELA or /WP is pretty amazing too and very "smashy"***
I literally have over 20 Brutes, but those are my top picks for the ones which I've had THE MOST fun with while leveling. In general though, if you can combine a solid amount of survivability (it doesn't even have to be the "best") with a solid amount of endurance recovery (i.e. QR+Stam/Power Sink/DC/etc) and pair that with an attack set that is "fun", fast(enough), and deals solid damage numbers, you will have ALOT of fun, as a Brute.
With all those things combined--endurance, damage, speed, and high survivability--you live and breath what being a Brute is about. Sure, there are sets out there that could possibly survive better than those I've listed and be bumped up a notch to "extreme" in survivability...but you're not a Tank...you're not here to be able to survive a meteor strike...you're here to cause it. To me, being a Brute is about smashing things non-stop with unrelentless and unforgiving wrath until you've dealt such an ungodly amount of destruction that you've created a vortex of empty space where there was once a planet upon which you were smashing.....enjoy
SS/Fire, SS/Elec, or pretty much SS/anything.
@macskull, @Not Mac | XBL: macskull | Steam: macskull | Skype: macskull
"One day we all may see each other elsewhere. In Tyria, in Azeroth. We may pass each other and never know it. And that's sad. But if nothing else, we'll still have Rhode Island."
"One day we all may see each other elsewhere. In Tyria, in Azeroth. We may pass each other and never know it. And that's sad. But if nothing else, we'll still have Rhode Island."
In the grand tradition of people who ask for advice on the forums, I went WM/SD.
Basically, while I was messing around in the costume thing, an idea hit me.
Only level 4 so far, but having a lot of fun. I think my previous attempts, I didn't understand fury, and my usual play style of waiting for health before continuing worked really poorly.
Yeah, until you can fully manage your endurance Brutes can be a pain to play, but once you have it under wraps you'll only be stopping when your REALLY low on HP or nothings left to kill.
Many brute players enjoy them for the SMASH! factor. The smashiest brutes are easily Stone Melee and Super Strength. Both of these are among the most endurance hungry primaries, so for a new brute, it's best to pair them with an endurance friendly secondary; Willpower is likely your best choice.
Claws, being the easiest primary on the blue bar, pairs well with most secondaries.
Be careful with any purely Defense secondaries. While they turn into monsters the closer they get to the soft cap, they start out fragile, and sometimes a bit endurance heavy. Shields suffer the least, because their +hp and resistance help soften the blows that get through.
Invulnerability is good too, and will be even better with inherent Stamina.
For a beginner, I'd probably suggest:
Super Strength or Stone Melee/Willpower
Dark Melee/Super Reflexes or Shield
Claws/Willpower, Super Reflexes or Fire
If you manage your endurance well, any primary/secondary combination (except the prohibited ones, of course) will work. Pick something you like, slot your attacks with accuracy and endurance reducers before anything else, and go SMASH!
@Roderick
Stone Melee/Willpower.
With all the mitigation stone melee provides the willpower part of it can take an incredible amount of abuse, especially if you throw in tough. No clicks to worry about defensively... it's 100 percent offensive clicking and positioning all the time. For some that makes the secondary boring to play but I like not having to micromanage my defenses.
Weight training: Because you'll never hear someone lament "If only I were weaker, I could have saved them."
I have to agree to Stone Melee/WP. Was one of the Toons i had the most fun with.
Glad you found WM/SD. Hope you have fun. 99 times out of 100 there are no bad Brute combos. (I would put one down here, but as soon as I did someone would be like "That's my favouritistest evers!)
Have fun smashing.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by DarkMaster
Odd...I find Dark Melee to be one of the most fun melee sets that I've ever played. It was my first toon to 50, and ...
|
Ideon's comment about Dark Melee was because the OP stated they already had several dark based Tankers and was looking for something different.
Yeah. Dark's great, I've just already got one.
Level 8 now, and OMG the lack of blue. I may shelve this until I19.
I'm sure you'll enjoy your brute you selected.
I just wanted to comment that when I saw you say you wanted to play /EnergyAura, my first thought was that you might want to give Stone Melee / Energy Aura a shot. Sure, Stone/Willpower might be "better" but I think that Stone Melee and Energy Aura compliment each other. Stone Melee can be a bit endurance heavy but Energy Aura gives you an endurance recovery tool. Energy Aura isn't as well-rounded as it could be on its defenses and survivability, but it can still be pretty decent, and Stone Melee has lots of knockdown mitigation as well as a stun for when you need that extra edge in survival.
Plus I think Stone Melee has more of a classic fun brute smash.
Stone Melee/Willpower is also a really great combo, and probably better than Stone Melee/Energy Aura. But since you mentioned you liked the idea of Energy Aura and stealth, I figured I'd mention it.
Enjoy your War Mace dude tho. Its a pretty fun set also.
Lewis
Random AT Generation!
"I remember... the Alamo." -- Pee-wee Herman
"Oh don't worry. I always leave things to the last moment." -- The Doctor
"Telescopes are time machines." -- Carl Sagan
Quote:
Yea, but one thing to remember on DM, and pretty much any Brute primary, is that early on it is ideal for a Brute to slot for only accuracy and endurance reduction. Don't worry about sticking +dmg enhancers in your attacks for a long time. Your damage, as a Brute in the low levels, comes better if it's dealt almost entirely through your fury bar. This is a BIG bonus to being a Brute, in that you can attain a much higher level of damage early on than many toons of your same level and you can actually have the endurance to keep on pounding thanks to your ability to slot for pure endurance reduction in attacks without really losing out on damage.|
Originally Posted by seebs
Yeah. Dark's great, I've just already got one.
Level 8 now, and OMG the lack of blue. I may shelve this until I19. |
Here are my slotting suggestions for any Brute (barring maybe claws), with basic enhancements-
With TO's I'd suggest: 2acc/3end/1rech -or- 3acc/3end
With DO's I'd suggest: 2acc/2dmg/1end/1rech -or- 2acc/2end/2rech
With SO's it's the standard: 2acc/3dmg/1rech -or- 2acc/2dmg/1end/1rech.
As far as TO's go, no other AT, imho, can get away with that type of slotting as well as a Brute can, and it's all thanks to the sweetness of Fury, which has been "buffed" since i19 as far as a lowbie Brute is concerned.
Also, if you're interested in EA, then there are really only two primaries that I can suggest which will keep you happy and powerful (since EA is sorta lacking) and those two are Dark Melee and Stone Melee. Both offer a wide range of mitigation and damage which will stack nicely with EA and help make it more survivable. Once again, I lean more toward DM with EA here, but that's because DM makes EA look even moar pretty!
anything other than Energy Aura.
hard to go wrong with Brutes.
The Nethergoat Archive: all my memories, all my characters, all my thoughts on CoH...eventually.
My City Was Gone
Yeah, I was noticing that. I made 11 on a team, and I'm going through a bunch of slotting of level 13-14 IOs, mostly dual/triple-aspect. I'm actually slotting stuff from stun sets and the like rather than melee damage because, well, I have plenty of damage, what I want is +acc, -end, -rchg.
One more run of running around and I should be able to find a kismet +6% accuracy to slot in one of my basic defense toggles, which would help a lot. Right now, the biggest endurance drain I have by far is missing.
Quote:
This is sooooo true. For a fun low level Brute this is basic common sense. (at least until i19, and prob still after.) |
Originally Posted by DarkMaster
Yea, but one thing to remember on DM, and pretty much any Brute primary, is that early on it is ideal for a Brute to slot for only accuracy and endurance reduction. Don't worry about sticking +dmg enhancers in your attacks for a long time. Your damage, as a Brute in the low levels, comes better if it's dealt almost entirely through your fury bar.
|
I do have my own slotting theories though. They are simple, and brutal. Say I have an attack like Knockout Blow from Strength. It comes in early, and I am definitely, whatever level I am, gonna want that bad boy six slotted. At low levels, before Stamina and SO, I will drop one ACC and 5 End Red into it. If I can get DOs, I might 2 ACC, 4 End Red it. But you get the point.
The theory being, pump your slots to the level you are going to have them in the mid twenties, but at low level drop in a little accuracy and a ton of End Red. Cuts your down time dramatically, which pumps your Fury, which keeps you smashing/doing more damage. (and this works, I promise)
After you can start buying SOs (at the market starting at level 18 SOs, so 15+) you can start to gt more out of your 6 slotted stuff. Still hang onto heavy end reduction until stamina kicks in, and maybe even a little after. Remember, no matter how cool it is to have +95% damage in all your attacks, if your blue bar is empty, you are taking a knee. I would rather have +0% damage in all my attacks, and just keep smashing. When I can afford it (or get market Lucky) I switch to 1 Acc/2 Dam/3 End Red SOs, and if my stamina can take it switch out another end red for a damage. gl.
I hear wm/enrgy is pretty and strong
I like any brute build I can SMASH stuff with.
Energy Melee / Willpower.
Hard hitting single target, enjoy pounding on the Boss while Lts and Minions are healing you.
I'm in the same boat you are, seebs. I am new to brutes, due to not caring for the unrelenting grim of villianside. Have no idea how one is supposed to play a brute, other than you are supposed to hit stuff a lot, so go for the crappy-but-fast attacks for high dps.
I chose WP - it has the taunt aura in its armor (RTTC), which I though would be nifty for a brute. Found that what I actually enjoyed for attacks was to take all the cones/pbaoe things I could, along with taunt power. Getting a whole bunch of foes around attacking fuels my fury nicely without using the annoying lower damage attacks, and mashing a half dozen or so at a pop gives me a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling inside. Plus, am surprised to find I'm one-shotting minions when fury is full, though am usually far too busy to notice I even have a fury bar, much less how it's doing.
So far, am having a blast with it. Have now conferred all "knowledge" (I use the term loosely) and all experience with you, so am off to go mash more. Hope you have as much fun as I've had with whatever you end up with!
I think Brute is the only AT left I haven't gotten past at least 10-12th level -- I just never seem to have good ideas for them or anything.
So. I want to try out the Brute Experience. What powers should I take? How should I play it? What will give me a really good sense of the archetypal Brute?
FWIW:
* I have a dark/dark tanker, who's fun -- but as a side effect, I'd sorta prefer to stay AWAY from dark/dark if I can for Brute, just for the variety.
* I have a KM/Nin stalker, so likewise, I'd slightly prefer to avoid KM.