I have an Elec/Dark Tanker, and it is undoubtedly one of the strongest builds I can fathom. It may be even stronger on a Brute, factoring in fury. With this build, you essentially have strong resistance to every attack you'll encounter, with a few very specific exceptions. I wouldn't recommend tanking Hydra tentacles in the Apex TF with this, but consider what all you have to work with.
-Near(would be very hard to reach on a Brute) capped resistance to Smashing/Lethal. Capped resistance to Energy(which seems to be prevalent in the newer content), and very agreeable resistances to Fire, Cold, and Psionic..
-Absolutely no fear of endurance drain.
-No need for physical perfection, or Cardiac Alpha, which opens up even more possibilities.
-With this combo, not only do you get synergy(lack of defense, compensated by -to hit), but you also have two heals, which both recharge moderately fast. With enough recharge, Energize becomes permanent.
-You have the added bonus of +recharge/+runspeed. The recharge, itself, is essentially 3 LoTG +7.5 recharge; and if you need defense, you have the option of CJ/Maneuvers/Stealth/Weave. Grounded doesn't work with Hover, from what I've heard, but I've never had hover on an Elec. Armor to test it.
Basically, your only holes are a lack of defense, and toxic. That's it. In all other areas, Elec. Armor goes above and beyond.
Awesome, so my armchair analysis seems pretty good. I may have to get this guy going soon. It just sounds like a great combo. I've wanted an Electric Armor hero for a while now but just haven't gotten around to it.
I was chatting with someone the other night about SS/Elec vs. Dark/Elec, and while my own preferences lead me toward favoring SS just due to Footstomp (since I enjoy AoE), Dark/Elec really seems like a beast of a combination to me.
Elec is one of the sturdiest defense sets with a solid IO investment to add some defense to its already great resists, which seems like it would synergize well with the -ToHit from Dark's attacks. With two heals it seems like the biggest threat would be drowning yourself in all that endurance you'll have.
Is this combo as strong as I think it is? I primarily play solo with large spawns, so I tend to lean toward AoE focused sets (while SS isn't focused on AoE, Footstomp is delicious), but I am very tempted to roll this combo in the future. It will be expensive, but I don't have Going Rogue yet and won't roll it until I do (so I can move him hero-side), which should give me time to finish up my Elec/SD Scrapper and farm some influence for it (I have a SS/FA Brute farmer already, but it's not nearly as satisfying as Shield Charge > Lightning Rod). Yes, I could roll a scrapper, but I'd prefer the survivability of the Brute for this combo.
Note: I don't know either set very well, so my limited 'off the top of my head' analysis may be way off.