Energy Melee/SD Advice

Background: Thanks to the help of the forum in a previous post (Three Dark/Darks), I'm probably going to be doing a trio with two other friends. Each of us will be SD, with a different elemental shield and primary. For my part, I'm probably doing an Energy oriented one (maybe faked out as Ice with coloring and the right shield--who knows).

Anyway, I come again for help. This will be my first brute. I'm going to look for some guides, but can anyone give me some slotting/power choice advice? Especially looking for advice on what IO sets I would want to use to make him a behemoth. I've played for awhile, and because this trio and I typically do one theme to 50 and then restart, I have a fair amount of cash saved, so expense really isn't an issue. Anyway, I'm fairly experienced on power choice and slotting (bonus wise) on ranged or control type alts, but I have no idea what to do for brutes (or for a NRG/SD brute, specifically).

For Shield Defense, each person's individual aim will be to softcap themselves to Melee, Range, and AoE when not in range of anyone else. Of course, being in a trio of shields who all take Grant Cover will help a lot on the way there, as you'll all be closer to softcap near each other while levelling on the way there, and when at 50, even if all softcapped individually, will pretty much be virtually immune to Defense Debuff due to multiple Grant Cover and one or two Active Defense, along with like 20+ over softcap. Ideally, with i19 in mind and Inherent Fitness, you'd want to take everything if possible from Shield Defense, although One with the Shield can be taken at 49 if required, or even dropped. If you choose to rely on each other to softcap, then you could skip Tough and Weave, though most Shield users will generally take them to bring themselves closer to the softcap and for added safety if far from allies or to take a bit more resistance in the form of Tough. You might even consider Combat Jumping for extra place to put Luck of the Gambler 7.5%, or Assault taken by everyone to bump up damage by 10.5% for each person taking it.

REMEMBER TO TAKE GRANT COVER AND PHALANX FIGHTING. :3 Phalanx Fighting will give you a small unenhanceable def bonus to Melee/Range/AoE even if not in range of other people, and a small buff for each person in range. Just stick with single slot in that and drop a LotG 7.5% when you get the chance.

SHIELD CHARGE - you will love yourselves when you reach level 35. :3

For Energy Melee, while it does have some fast attacks, the harder hitting attacks are all unfortunately slow to animate (Total Focus being 3.3s, and Energy Transfer being 2.67s). Its sole AoE has a tiny radius too, being 8ft, and moderate damage. You do have the option of Shield Charge (which all of you should take), which can make up for it, at least, along with the possiblity of an epic or patron AoE power too. Energy Melee's strength, however, are single target damage, and having the chance to stun in all attacks, meaning a lot of the time, enemies will be unable to attack back. Don't slot for stun though unless you specifically want a set bonus such as Razzle Dazzle which benefits Melee and AoE in 5th and 6th bonus.

For Brute Energy Melee, possible powers to drop are either Barrage or Energy Punch (pick one and don't pick the other), Whirling Hands (if focusing on complete single target), Taunt (if it's only you three, and Shield Defense has a really good aggro aura in Against All Odds x 3), and Stun (you have the chance to stun in all attacks anyway, might as well do damage). You probably want to take Whirling Hands even if it's mediocre because Energy Melee doesn't have any other AoE options, haha. At least it can hit multiple targets and possible stun half of them!

On the off-chance you want to try a different primary, Dark, Fire, and Electric are other elemental options. Stone is also an option, being 'Earth' element (but does smashing damage). You could always try Super Strength and give yourself an aura on your hands or something, along with colouring the shockwave bubbles, haha.

For IO sets...

Melee: Touch of Death (melee) is the most popular one (six slot). Also an option is Obliteration (PBAoE, six slot)
Range: Red Fortune (Defense, six slot), Mako's Bite (Melee, six slot), Thunderstrike (3 or 6 slot, if you pick up a Range attack)
AoE: Performance Shifter six slot in Stamina. Scirocco's Dervish (PBAoE, five slot)
Multiples: Razzle Dazzle can raise both Melee and AoE, but it's a stun set, so if you use this, put it in an attack you don't expect to do much damage with. Gaussian goes into Build Up (which probably everyone except Dark has), which on 6th slot, raises all three positional defense. Steadfast Protection 3% def (resistance, just the one IO on its own), Blessing of the Zephyr (travel, two for range, three for AoE), Lockdown (hold, five for AoE, six for range)

Lots and lots of options. :3 Don't forget 'normal' Luck of the Gambler (7.5% recharge, Def, Def/End, Def/End/Rech) if you don't need Red Fortune due to going over softcap with range.

Regarding the appearance of your shield alts, you might even want to have a costume where you all match each other barring primary powerset (and have the same shield as each other). Themed alts to play with each other are always fun too, not just in powersets. When I made AR/Trap corruptors as part of a themed AR/Trap corruptor superteam, we all chose the 'mercenary' theme, and all chose the police belt thing, along with the Legacy Merc Assault Rifle.

Wow, Ideon, this helps a ton. And yeah, I'm sort of meh on doing NRG. I might try Stone instead; it looks fun. Thanks a bunch for all of the help.

If you are waffling on EM, but want something that is roughly equivalent in theme and ST-ness, try Kinetic melee.