Recommendations for four melee characters

I've got the notion, as many of us have at one point, to play each AT to level 50. At heart, I'm a controller and dom player so those are under the belt. I've branched out to other AT's that I felt have interesting mechanics and I'm nearing my 50 on a warshade and mastermind. My next objective will be one of the melee AT's, probably a stalker with a scrapper, a brute, and a tank to follow eventually.

So here is my question, without duplicating any primary or secondary, what are your recommendations for a stalker, a scrapper, a brute, and a tank? I'd like to keep the power sets varied both for a more entertaining experience and to gain a little more insight into how melee plays.

Hello Ketch,

My recommendations are:

Kinetic Melee/Ninjitsu Stalker(the Build Up Concentrated Strike synergy is uber)

Dark Melee/Super Reflexes Scrapper(the synergies are very nice here)

Electric Melee/Sheild Defense Brute(some serious AoE killing power here, w/good synergy)

Stone Armor/Fire Melee Tank(be a Lava Monster )

Happy Gaming :-)

Can't really advise you on the other melees, but here's some quick advice on Stalkers...

The easy way not to duplicate the secondary at least is to pick Ninjitsu on your Stalker. At the very least you probably want to stay away from the non-defense sets for your first Stalker. They are less good on a Stalker than they are the other melee ATs. Ninjitsu is not as easy to softcap for defense as SR (but not that hard either) and comes with a very nice self-heal and some gadgety powers like Caltrops and Blinding Powder. It's a Stalker exclusive, at least for now, and likely the most popular secondary choice for good reason.

For primary, Kinetic Melee is a good all-around set and has the interesting instant-recharge mechanic for Build Up whenever you crit with Concentrated Strike (which now includes the Stalker's controlled criticals so just using CS from Hide will recharge Build Up). Electric Melee is weaker on single-target damage but considerably stronger on AoE, if that's your thing. Both KM and Elec Melee are at least as good (if not better) on Stalkers as they are on other melees. Same cannot be said of all Stalker primaries, though I'll admit my favorite is currently still Katana (a.k.a Ninja Blade on Stalkers). Very scrappy set, though suffers a bit from dealing lethal damage type.

Stalker:

KM/Ninja or Electric/Ninja

Scrapper:
BS/Dark

Brute:
Claws/WP

Tank:
Dual Blades/Stone or Electric

Stalker:
Elec/Nin

Scapper:
Fire/Shield

Brute:
SS/Fire

Tank:
STONE?STONE

First up is stalker. Here, I would take elec melee/ninjitsu. Elec melee is one of few things not broken for stalkers. The teleport attack doesn't break hide either. On top of that, your AoE feels pretty helpful on large teams. Ninjitsu is unique for stalkers, easy to softcap, and offers mitigation that is fun.

For the brute, I would say make a ss/fa. Why? FA is all the rage once more, and brutes can leverage the powerset rather well. Fast recharging heal in healing flames, taunt in blazing aura, burn (that still has that recently buffed smell on it), and Fiery Embrace that just makes the set rock. Add in some rage from SS and footstomp goodness, you have ST, AoE and mitigation that is hard to beat. Oh, did I forget to mention fury adding more to just about everything you are throwing at enemies?

Scrapper- Go DM/Shield. There are a number of power gamers out there that are truly enjoying this combo. A soft capped shielder is a thing to behold; and scrappers get the best out of shield defense thanks to pet rules. With new incarnate content pushing the defense cap higher, the - to hit in dark melee will help to even the odds even more in your favor. The dm heal is something that pairs quite well with shield; which has no built in healing ability.

Tanker- make it Elec Armor/ Kinetic Melee. Elec armor is rugged and offers some pretty helpful abilities to increase survivability. End drain isn't an issue and good aoe dmg with the aura to keep attention on you despite a primarily ST focused secondary. Not sure, but I think that the dmg buff from KM rolls into the damage aura. KM is the new kid on the block, but it is fun and hits hard enough.

Stalker - Kin/Nin
Scrapper - Dark/Regen
Brute - Elec/Shield
Tanker - Stone/SS

Reasoning:
Ninjitsu is unique to stalkers and is generally regarded as the best secondary, whereas Kinetic Melee is thought to perform best on Stalkers due to the interaction of Concentrated Strike crits & Build Up.

Regen is a unique play experience and with Stalkers covered, that leaves Scrappers. Dark Melee has a few tools to keep a Regen ticking over with -ToHit, a supplementary healing attack and a fear.

Lightning Rod and Shield Charge are both unique among melee and armour sets, respectively. Both are damage heavy so between Brute and Tanker, I'd put them on the Brute.

Stone Armour is another unique set, thanks Granite Armour and to a lesser extent, Rooted's movement debuffs. What better AT for the most survivable armour set than a Tanker? Rage from Super Strength has to be experienced - words do it no justice. Double stack it and the -Def crash goes away, the +Dam helps make up for being in Granite, good times.

However, if you're willing to wait on making the Scrapper and Brute until Issue 21, I'd swap their sets around;

Scrapper - Elec/Shield
Brute - Dark/Regen

Why? With higher base HP and a higher HP cap, Brutes will likely get more out of Regen than Scrappers do. Also, with the *possible* addition of a taunt aura to Regen for Brutes, bunching enemies for Dark's Soul Drain +Dam +ToHit ability *could get* a tad easier.

WRT Elec/Shield on the Scrapper, higher damage is always good and the survivability dip isn't too noticable.

Stalker: ELM/NIN

If you're only going to make one stalker, why not go with Ninjitsu? ELM is to up your AOE, which is going to help on your teaming. ELM's ST damage is also helped by Assassin Strike.


Scrapper: KM/Shield

KM is a fun set, it's AOE isn't the best, but that's okay you have Shield to help fill in the AOE, as well as having KM's +DMG feature to combine with Shield's +DMG from AAO, not to mention KM and Shield's -DMG abilities.

Also, Scrappers just get the best return out of Shields.


Brute: SS/ELA

One might wonder why not FA, which I'll explain later. I have a SS/FA Brute at 50, SS/ is just fun. Footstomp? Knockout Blow at level 8? And though it's one of the worst all around attacks, Hurl is just fun to use.

ELA will give added AOE with Lightning Field, ENDREC comes a thing of the past, and 90% Energy comes in handy for a lot of late game enemies, and really ELA is a fun set and with a little IO investment can be made more survivable.


Tanker: FA/FM

Now you know why I didn't suggest FA for the Brute. When you can't find a team, or just feel like soloing...speed up the soloing with MORE DAMAGE

/regen may very likely get a rather week taunt aura like WP has.

I'd go Kinetic Melee on the Scrapper, since they get better results from Power Siphon's +damage. Possibly Kin/Shield (Shield's damage boost also does better on Scrappers), or maybe Kin/Regen if you find using cool chi-powered martial arts while carrying a shield looks odd.

For a Brute, I absolutely love my Dual Blades/SR. It's not a power gaming combo but it's a really interesting character and SR works well with a Brute's higher HP.

My only Tanker I've played to high levels is a Fire/Fire, which is a lot of fun if you want to be a slower, tougher Scrapper but not so great if you want to be the immortal guy laughing off an entire 8-man spawn's attacks. For that you might want to try Invul/Stone Melee... especially if you can afford to IO it for extra defense and recovery.

As far as Stalkers go, I personally don't like them but if I did make one it would be Ninja Blade/Ninjutsu. The whole AT screams "ninja" anyway, so why not make the real thing?

Kinetic/Ninja is probably going to be my choice for a stalker. I've been playing it and a dark/ninja, and while I like both, kinetic/ninja seems to have some unique, interesting mechanics that won't be found elsewhere. Though I am enjoying Dark Melee as well and I can see pairing that with another defense armor.

Dark/Shield for a scrapper could be just the ticket. Though I was considering an Elec/Shield something for the fun of double teleporting attacks. For a tank, I'm not so enthusiastic about Stone Armor. It seems like too much of the set is wrapped up in Granite Armor for my tastes. And I see two mentions of SS/Elec for a brute, it's something I'll have to look into.

Thanks for all the replies.

Martial arts/super reflexes stalker to get your "i kick u" going.

Invuln/superstr tank for that classic experience.

Fire/shield scrapper for some scary alpha strike aoe.

Claws/willpower brute for that "never stop killing" feeling.


Lewis

My suggestions

Brute: Dual Blades/Dark Armor - This combination is good at everything, including killing your End bar. Slot some extra end reduction early on and you'll be alright as you carve up your enemies. Alternative: Electric/DA

Stalker: Kinetic Melee/Ninjitsu - Solid ST damage, a ranged attack, interesting mechanics and powers in both sets. Ninjitsu, as pretty much the only set designed for Stalkers, is a lot of fun. Alternative: KM/Energy ('cause it looks purdy)

Scrapper: Broad Sword/Shield Defense - All around solid and iconic combo that's pretty much what you'd expect. Alternative: Fire/Regen (because mitigation is for pansies)

Tanker: Electric Armor/Stone Melee - ElA shores up the drawbacks in Stone Melee (slow recharge, high end cost, low aoe) quite well while Stone Melee adds two phenomenally useful AoE knockdown powers to absolutely abuse large groups of enemies. Start in Praetoria and laugh maniacally as enemies are entirely helpless against your massive energy resistance at low levels. Alternative: Ice/Ice (tankers are melee controllers, might as well embrace it)

Also, my quick and dirty guide to playing melee:

1. Take powers.
2. Slot said powers.
3. Push buttons until everything dies.

Maybe this is old news to everyone but me, but martial arts is really great since it got buffed. This is particularly true with substantial investment into the character, as its top chain is just ultra brutal and isn't quite as recharge intensive as with some sets. That said, I would suggest trying martial arts on a scrapper, or if you plan to wait a bit to make a couple of these characters, you could wait for i21 and make a martial arts tanker of some sort. FA/MA would be pretty mean as tankers go.

What chain do you run, Organica? If you're rocking Storm -> Cobra -> Storm -> CAK you're doing better DPS than a DM running Smite -> MG -> Smite -> Siphon, before considering BU or SD. Yes it is smashing, but why do you say that's the most resisted? In my experience lethal is far more heavily resisted - basically all the same stuff that resists smashing heavily also resists lethal, with the exception of carnies, and then there's all robots in the game on top of that.

You're also stunning the heck out of whatever you're punching! You've also got room for an achilles' heel proc! What's not to like?

Dragon's tail is one of the best scrapper pbaoes. The only one I like better is spin. Reliable mitigation, the best DPA of any scrapper pbaoe coupled with the shortest animation, standard recharge. That's really hard to beat.

I'm admittedly not a number cruncher, but I read the scrapper forums and pay attention to what people like Werner and Arcanville have to say and to all the comparison tests between various sets. Like I said, no scrapper primary is a bad choice... but MA ranks in the middle of single target damage sets at the very best, and probably in the lower third. MA trades damage for some control-style mitigation that is not always that useful. Here's just one thread that talks about that a bit.

Also, Dragon's Tail is not one of the better scrapper pbaoes. I've farmed with my MA scrappers and I've farmed with my EM/Shield scrapper... Lightning Rod is hands-down a better AoE, as is shield charge, as is fire sword circle... I like Dragon's Tail, but it doesn't kill every minion in a single attack like Lightning Rod does. Combine Lightning Rod with Shield Charge and pretty much everything dies... meanwhile my MA scrapper is still surrounded by enemies. ^_^

I can farm with my MA scrapper. I've solo'd at least one task force with my MA scrapper. It's a fun set. But in a head to head comparison with other scrapper sets, it still comes out on the lower end of the scale.

I looked at that thread and what I mainly saw was people saying, "Well, MA used to be pretty bad and I haven't run the numbers but I assume it still is." Good news! It isn't. I'm not going to tell you that it does the absolute best single target but it does beat much-beloved sets like katana and I believe even claws. You don't have to like dragon's tail but going by the numbers it does the best DPA. That's hard to argue with. It is also up much more frequently than FSC, a power whose popularity can only be due to people's love of large orange numbers. It is up six times as frequently as lightning rod and does about a third of its damage, as another example.

Which would you guess is the better farmer: MA/FA or Elec/Shield? The answer may or may not surprise you!

Anyway, why do you want to disbelieve that MA is good now? It really is! Enjoy and spread the word!