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All Brutes "can solo without tons of IO requirements". Seriously, they all can. Energy Melee is single target focused, so if you were looking for AoEs, you chose the wrong power set. Damage wise, Whirling Hands does as much damage as any PBAoE in any set, but people generally hate it because an additional % to Stun is arguably the least helpful secondary effect there is.|
Originally Posted by Viper Knight
I came back to the game after a 2+ year hiatus for Going Rogue/Alpha Strike. I play mostly blue side, and rolled up a Praetorian Energy Melee/Electric Armor Brute i've since taken to Paragon (i won't post the build since it's very utilitarian atm, still slotting SOs). I'm just hitting my 30s and inadvertently it seems as though my build is very specialized for single boss/lieutenant fights and seems to get overwhelmed against large white conning mobs of minions and has some severe endurance problems as well. I just don't think i can get past the combination of slow EM animations and the lack of any real AoE until 49 though i know a couple of well slotted procs would handle the endurance problem easily.
So first of all, if you were me, would you re-roll? Second of all, what primary/secondary/ancillary sets would you recommend? My goals are for a well balanced build who can solo without tons of IO requirements (i am a little on the poor side...5 sets of Kinetic Combat are not within my grasp currently) and will most likely be a praetorian to blue side build. I know i'm asking a lot, but if you have any mid's builds you can post or PM me that would be great too. I wouldn't ask, but clearly I need some help from the experts. Thanks, VK |
You'd have to determine for yourself if the Single Target focus of your set doesn't cut it. On my Tanker, Energy Melee is fine, but Tanks aren't supposed to take down crowds quickly. Personally, I think Brutes should have good AoE potential too. On a Brute, I'd say Fire, SS, or Stone would be nearly as hard hitting as Energy Melee, but with better AoE damage. I'd also say War Mace and Battle Axe have great AoEs and decent ST damage.
If I were to get Energy Melee on a Brute, I'd pair it with either Shields (AoE goodness and extra damage) or Fire Armor (Burn for AoE damage and Healing Flames).
I'm not so much of a build guy, but with Shields and Weave you can get about 28% defense to Melee, Ranged,and AoE attacks with Level 50 DEF IOs. If you can squeeze another 6% defense with IO sets, you can soft cap your positional defenses with a single small purple inspiration.
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First of all welcome back to the game.|
Originally Posted by Viper Knight
I came back to the game after a 2+ year hiatus for Going Rogue/Alpha Strike. I play mostly blue side, and rolled up a Praetorian Energy Melee/Electric Armor Brute i've since taken to Paragon (i won't post the build since it's very utilitarian atm, still slotting SOs). I'm just hitting my 30s and inadvertently it seems as though my build is very specialized for single boss/lieutenant fights and seems to get overwhelmed against large white conning mobs of minions and has some severe endurance problems as well. I just don't think i can get past the combination of slow EM animations and the lack of any real AoE until 49 though i know a couple of well slotted procs would handle the endurance problem easily.
So first of all, if you were me, would you re-roll? Second of all, what primary/secondary/ancillary sets would you recommend? My goals are for a well balanced build who can solo without tons of IO requirements (i am a little on the poor side...5 sets of Kinetic Combat are not within my grasp currently) and will most likely be a praetorian to blue side build. I know i'm asking a lot, but if you have any mid's builds you can post or PM me that would be great too. I wouldn't ask, but clearly I need some help from the experts. Thanks, VK |
My main for the 1st few years I was here was a EM/ELA brute and I loved it to death.
That being said he is now retired and rerolled. Todays game is just to much about large spawns and fast movement to enjoy him anymore.
You can still have a lot of fun with EM/ELA. EM is great against hard targets on TF's and /ELA tends to shine in the end game where you run into large amounts of exotic damage types.
If you want a good balance of AOE goodness along with great ST for EB/AV's then FM is hard to beat but you don't get any soft control.
Super Strength is another good option with /ELA if you can deal with the Rage crash for some people its no big deal for others they can't stand to play the set due to it.
Global: @Kelig
First of all i think i may have misspoken a little. This toon solos just fine on +0/1 or +1/1 even just using SOs, but he is kind of a specialist and without support toons i'm having issues handling 'mobs' which is frustrating.
@Julio - Yeah, i'm thinking the combo leaves me a little too specialized--give me a boss or a couple of Lts and I mow through them like a knife through hot butter, but give me 8 white minions and all of a sudden i feel underwhelming to say the least. So seeing as I can't really pick a new secondary looks like I'm going to need to re-roll before i invest anymore time into him. He can be fun, but more often than not i'm frustrated.
@Joe - Thanks for the welcome. I think i'm having the same issue you had with yours...in certain circumstances he's a marauding menace but i don't think i want to spend the rest of his career doing doors at +1/1. I like the balance of ELA on paper, but it seems like without some expensive IO work picking up some quality defensive numbers is going to be a little tough.
Without worrying about what i selected for this last toon, what would anyone recommend for a powerset combo?
if you want something effective right outta the box i highly recommend willpower. its amazing on its own and a good primary you will feel like a god soloing most mobs. then once you sink some IOs it becomes even more incredible. i myself just finishing outfitting a stone/wp and its easily going to cure my altitis from its sheer awesomeness. picking up soul mastery kinda broke my toons concept but i could suck it from how much it helps with soloing/tanking/etc.
having a primary that gives you some mitigation will also really help out. i went with stone cuz it just 'feels' powerful swinging that mallet. also spamming fault is not only humorous but very helpful b/c i can literally keep mobs on their tails while im beating them into mush with all the KD
mace, DB, claws(its like it was made for brutes), and SS also gives decent mitigation in one form or another if swinging a stone hammer doesnt tickle your fancy. dark melee is also loads of fun since you can spam a healing attack in your regular attack chain
/ELA is still a very viable secondary for any of these primaries, but as for other secondaries SR & shield are nice only needing a few sets to hit those softcaps, but shield takes a lot of rather expensive IOing to really shine. other sets that are late bloomers are EA and dark, they need some IOing to be more manageable but if you do it right they are loads of fun.
@Injenius~Virtue
Stonefather - 50 Stone/WP/Soul brute
Sable Affliction - Earth/Dark/Fire Dom
Wild Cipher - Beast/Time MM
For a good mix of single target and aoe - or at least aoe control - it's hard to go wrong with superstrength or stone melee. Fault covers a multitude of sins, and footstomp is... footstomp.
That said you shouldn't be running into a lot of packs of 8 white mobs on x1. If you add toughness and then drain them dry with a single power sink with your damage aura running it shouldn't matter much that you're beating them one on one.
Plus, of course, there's always the "I don't have to put up with you scrawny weaklings" Power Surge coming up as well.
Weight training: Because you'll never hear someone lament "If only I were weaker, I could have saved them."
@ Blissful & Brute- Thanks for the tips, both Stone and SS are sounding pretty good at this point.
Thanks for all the help everybody!
I came back to the game after a 2+ year hiatus for Going Rogue/Alpha Strike. I play mostly blue side, and rolled up a Praetorian Energy Melee/Electric Armor Brute i've since taken to Paragon (i won't post the build since it's very utilitarian atm, still slotting SOs). I'm just hitting my 30s and inadvertently it seems as though my build is very specialized for single boss/lieutenant fights and seems to get overwhelmed against large white conning mobs of minions and has some severe endurance problems as well. I just don't think i can get past the combination of slow EM animations and the lack of any real AoE until 49 though i know a couple of well slotted procs would handle the endurance problem easily.
So first of all, if you were me, would you re-roll?
Second of all, what primary/secondary/ancillary sets would you recommend? My goals are for a well balanced build who can solo without tons of IO requirements (i am a little on the poor side...5 sets of Kinetic Combat are not within my grasp currently) and will most likely be a praetorian to blue side build.
I know i'm asking a lot, but if you have any mid's builds you can post or PM me that would be great too. I wouldn't ask, but clearly I need some help from the experts.
Thanks,
VK