Very Best Farmer?

Hey guys, long time lurker, very seldom poster here..


I have questions. Gratitude to any who can answer them.

The title of the thread was the Very Best Farmer, and for the most part, only brutes are mentioned. Does this mean brutes are the undisputed farming masters?
The definition I'm using for farm isn't as narrow as "run fire AE farms" but is more like "Gain the most inf per unit time",also the cost of the build is an issue, as whats the point of a great farmer if it takes 3 bil to get him running, you would have to subtract that from your earnings, no? A caveat to this is if there is a truly Exceptional build that is more expensive but manages to pay itself off quickly with the benefit of increased earnings.

Getting back to my original point, brutes.. A tanker can also run FA/SS, and I have seen a couple operate at such blistering speed I wonder how much a brute could beat them by.

More questions..
A scrapper can't do SS, but can run fire like a champ.

What about DM/FA on a scrapper? The initial burst on burn should negate most of the problems of them running away and DM's has 3 awesome AE's one which happens to greatly increased your damage. Or for the matter a Spines/FA or elec/FA scrapper.

That would get us back to Elec/FA.. The difference was said to be somewhat small between elec/ and SS/, but what about a scrapper that packs inherently stronger damage packing elec/fa?

What about various other builds? Can any archetypes come close to the inf/time ratios of ss/fa? Obviously controllers can, but what is the take from a Fire/Kin or Fire/Rad comparatively. What about Stalkers/Dominators/Corruptors/MM etc?

Now after going through all that, I know I started with the "very best farmer" idea, but really want I want is to compile more information on farming in general. There is no home forum sub-area for farming, so the information is scattered throughout all the different sub-areas and is frustrating difficult to collect, collate and let alone analyze. I think it would be awesome and greatly beneficially to all if we could use this thread to start collecting and concentrating farming info(Or start a new thread if need be). Links, personal insight, cold hard facts, etc Please leave flaming and opinion out though!

Anyways, like everything I do, this post has is running in a thousand different directions at once and if somebody out there can actually follow it and provide some assistance, that would be awesome!


ps.

As far as the information collection request, I would not ask somebody to do a whole lot of work for me without anything in return. I am more than willing to collect links and setup a google docs center, analyze numbers, create spreadsheets, forms, whatever(Math/CS Dual Major).

pps.

TL;DR version: If we could turn this into a version of the scapper pylon thread(ie. analytical numbers based in fact), but for farmers, that would be awesome.

Scrappers without taunt aura's aren't going to beat Brutes. The only farming build Scrappers have the edge on Brutes is Shields.

Blasters can potentially put out more damage than Brutes, but the issue is keeping mobs together to maximize your AoE's. This makes taunts and immobs invaluable.

I'm so very iffy to reveal my secrets. the last thing I want is a build nerf.

I was saying that from experience, my Spines/Fire doesn't compare to my SS/Fire. Blasters and Corruptors have to deal with scatter as do most Scrappers. Controllers can be alright, I used to run a Fire/Kin, but they're definitely not the fastest. Fire/Psi Doms can be good too, but again they're not as good as they once were.

For the AE mish's i absolutely love my DM/FA/Fire with his Fiery Embrace Plus Soul drain plus burn = hot Win. Plus two heals for my +4/8 in case and with two Endurance regain powers i love life. Go in, burn em hot, leave em dead. And it can be a fairly cheap build.

Yeah for some reason, if you look at mightnight grasp in game is says (5 targets max)
Not sure why...

And the timers on consumption and soul drain look bad, so I was missing something, a few somethings..


What about about spines/fire? Spines DOES have tons of AE and all of them slow or imob which would certainly help scatter.

However I think the scatter problem is a lot worst for blasters because they can't do ambush missions, on the fire ambush map I am thinking off, there will ALWAYS be targets in range...

in a vacuum i can imagine other archetypes surpassing brutes aoe damage capability. the tough part is, in the real world, are they durable enough to deliver it. thats all farming is. that thin durability/dmg line in a wide scale. i believe a blaster could, with the perfect enemy, outdo a brute. for instance, i once played an ae arc where all the enemies had rooted on. so moved very slowly. that coupled with an aoe immob from a patron pool, and a blaster could deliver his payload with relative ease.

its just crazy how good a brute can get with little to no effort.

While spines does have slow, the effect is pretty minor. Throw spines is the only attack that causes a decent amount of slowdown and even that is not enough to prevent the flee effect. In ambush farms, they will be running off in every direction and in the end you will have to either end the mission early or chase them down.

my DM/Fire/Mu will challenge any ss/fire...kills like crazy with no crash and high damage bonus around 400+(with veng) and perma soul drain/hasten.

many ppl have said its the fastest farming they have ever seen. im loving dm/fire/mu.

Heck i made over 1 billion just today, cant complain with that.

Brute base damage for thier big hitters like Seismic Smash and KO blow is 148.48. Slotted with 3 level 50 IOs it is 259.59. After getting to a massive 10% fury, which is equal to 1 attack with every single mob around you being held and not attacking back your damage would be 325.29.

Tanker base damage for the same attacks is 158.53. Slotted with 3 level 50 IOs it is 315.3. The only other bonuses they can stack on are the same ones brutes can get. BU and rage and such.

Convinced yet?


On my SS/Fire brute, it is not uncommon to have +400 to +500 damage bonus due to double rage, fury and a fairly constant stream of insp that can be turned into reds pretty easily. You go right ahead and try to get +500% damage on a tank.