Worst Brute build?

hey what about EA?

i've never tried it, cause it looks so uninviting compared to the rest of the sets. Course, the Devs go way off on descriptions sometimes. They use completely different adjectives in descriptions to mean exactly the same thing. Also, they use exactly the same adjective other times to mean wildly different things. They might as well say JHJH Damage, and TYUI Range. In other words, figure it out for yourselves.

Wow, didn't think there would be so much passion reguarding my wifes DM/Fire brute. Firstly, I know how I'd put one together, I can build anything into anything else, however, this is her character, with powers or combinations that I might not choose. That said, I have seen it perform, 3 +1 Lt Longbow and the thing is on the floor, this is with all the fire armors except temp prot (i think, its been a while) and tough/weave. I have mulled over it quite a few times but I never like the defense I get out of it while retaining its damage, and I know it can put out the damage! Muhahaha. At this stage I am considering just going like me 3F scrapper with +HP +regen +rech.

If the combination does well, then great, but please don't go to personal criticisms, I was sharing an experience, nothing more.

Actually, I have the i19 mids mod, I might have to revisit it. So yeah, carry on

Wow...I know there were only two posts commenting about my brute, but did they, one in particular, have to come off so personal and nasty? I'm glad you can tear everything apart with your DM/FA, but I cannot. I die in about 4 seconds - that is *with* tough and weave.

Secondly, my husband never said that it was a crap set, just that I have had some unfortunate difficulty with it.

And thirdly, I am not a crap player just because I am having difficulty with this combination of powers. Sorry I'm not as perfect as you are.

Edit - Since a couple of you claim that its such a perfect combo that can tear through anything, care to share the build that you're using?

DM/FA actually should not be a bad build. It is gonna require a lot of playing like a Blapper however. I do not believe it will ever feel "tanky" But with 2 heals that are almost always available, and Brute Hit Points, you should be okay as long as you avoid the Alphas. (unless it is fire damage alphas...there are some serious Fire farms right now)

As far as Blapper, yes, it will do serious Damage. Dark Melee has some of the best Single Target Damage there is, paired with a nice (possible best) damage aura going from Fire Armor. There are ways to pump Fury besides eating the Alpha. A new one is to go Villain, and go Big. By Tip Missioning Villain you get the FURY is 100% now power. Not a bad trick. But seriously, after 30-60 seconds in combat your Fury should be at the now standard 75%.

You may need to do some patching to feel comfortable. I do not like Fire Armor, but have tried it for concept builds. I had real problems with knockback. It interrupted things like, well, heal. And it placed me where I did not want to be. Bad combo. Either picking a pool power that helps negate knockback, or adding Procs that do so are the only way I would play Fire Armor, or Dark Armor for that matter. Knockback is not good for a Brute, not the way I play them. It got me dead many a time, and is one reason I still shy from these armors. I have to plan carful (and maybe be willing to spend some BM money) to even start a concept toon in that direction now.

With a serious damage dealing combo going, you can either push that element, or start I/Oing to softcap DEF. Will be expensive, maybe not possible, but anything you can do to pump those numbers will make life easier.

Anyways, Dark Melee/Fire Armor is a strong combo, it is just not a straightforward Super Strength/Willpower, or Super Strength/Invulnerabilty Brute. You gotta think careful how it will interact with mobs, and come at the mobs in a way that you always win. You know, be evil. Good Luck next time out with this pairing if you try.

Build for defense and FA can be very tanky.

I started a DM/FA Brute just because of some of the posts in here. From 1-4 it was not healthy. Did not like the costumes/names, so rerolled 3 times. got to 4th each time. Tried once in AE, disaster. tried once in Mercy, not good. Now in Praetoria, also struggling. I have 2 Vet attacks, so it shouldn't be that horrid, but it felt that way. Anyway, heal comes in at 4th, solo'd a mish, did not go bad. I'll prob get 10 to 16 by late tonight, if leveling in Prae stays at all constant. Lot of ToTing though, and that screws team building. Will let you know. (Laughy - 4th DM/FA Brute)

The thing is, that brute was lethal (for me) in the 20's and low to mid 30's. I was running at X6 with little problems. As soon as I got to the 40's and entered Grandville...

Complete and total disaster. Even with tough/weave I was dying at X2 +0 spawns. I mean wiped out in seconds. It got to the point I had to run X0 -1 just to be able to run certain missions.

She finally got to 50, but now she just sits. My husband and I have tried to plan out builds in MIDS and can't come up with anything that doesn't need about 5 set mule power picks. I even had a friend try and make a build...she made 7 of them and still wasn't satisfied, and she's a very competent player and builder.

I'd still like to see the builds being used by the people here who claim their DM/FA can chew through high lvl difficulty with absolute ease. Heck, I'd want to see a vid of it. =P

okay, i was gonna slow grind to test powers, but I will try to get PL'd whenever possible. Shouldnt take me more than a week to hit 40s and a couple to 50. actually planning on using this guy as a farmer mebbe. But I believe set mules are not the answer here, I think capping S/L defense will work. Have you tried that?

My experience with DM/FA was about the same as yours, StarKitten. I tore things up until I hit 40, then it got really rough for me. Not having any mez/control really hurt when I started facing things like Sappers.

Dark/Fire has TWO End recovery powers that should fill your bars, are sappers really that bad? i would assume this Brute would be better off against sappers than most.

My personal experience is that I got defeated too fast to hit them, but that was before the change to Consume that added end drain resistance. They may fare better now.

Yeah, Sappers suck. I also noticed against Carnies (my main is a Dark/Invul brute) that they resist End Drain. Shouldn't matter as much with Sappers, since they are surrounded by nonend drainers, but the thought crossed my mind.

also, i was fighting the Cap GM, ol' Sparky, and he drained me of nearly all end twice. I drained him right back for a full bar each time, and he was the only one around. that boy is just full of good endurance.

I have to admit I love my DM/FA stacking heals helps as does stacking end restorers and while it does feel a bit fragile at times when I try and take an Alpha strike Phoenix turns me into a portable hand grenade

I don't really understand all the Energy Aura hate.
Sure, the stealth toggle is really stupid especially on a brute, but that aside it's really not hard to make a really solid brute with it. One of my favorite chars is my SS/EA brute, and while it was a bit squishy to start so are many other sets. With IOs it's hard to make a brute that doesn't perform extremely well. Certainly some sets make it easier than others.

Even so, making EA out to be some sort of ubergimp is just plain wrong.

The worst brute to me would be x/Stone Armour. Just a personal feeling that if I want to be tough I'd play a tank, and not have to suffer all the consequences that goes with /Stone.

I admire your love of a challenge, Zophar. I think it's been said here already that "worst" is a matter of opinion and playstyle; there are far too many non-numeric factors to take into account here as well. I think you should do like Dechs and find one that's a personal challenge for you and make it work. Have fun!