I like the brute, I have them both. Too many runners with the Scrapper. Fury works wonders with Blazing Aura. More hit points, better healing with Healing Flames and Siphon Life. Burn is so good, that I think of it as my best attack, and use Dark to support it.
I dont like Brutes for everything, and am anxious for Mace coming to blue side, but for this combo, I think the Brute wins out.
I made a DM/Fire scrapper, leveled her to 31, and decided I couldn't stand the lack of a taunt in Blazing Aura. Reason this matters is that while they removed the afraid from Burn, it's still a damage patch, and mobs will run out after a few seconds without a taunt on them. Because of this, I won't play fire on a scrapper anymore.
So like TrainRobber said, too many runners on a scrapper. Basically there are some sets that just work better for Brutes then Scrappers. /Fire is one. Another example is Shield Defense, which is better on scrappers generally. But for a DM/Fire I would say go Brute.
I made a DM/Fire Scrapper recently. As said, there are a few runners. Being a Brute would probably fix that... but, Soul Drain + Burn melts enemies so quickly I never have more than one or two (maybe three) runners. It's really not that bad, in my opinion. But I can't really think of anything the Scrapper offers over the Brute.
Thanks for the replies. So basically the brute has the taunt over the scrapper, and the scrapper has a slightly higher damage output than the brute?
Hmmm. Think I'm going to go with a brute on this one since I'm going to want to farm, tank, etc. So that extra taunt effect would be nice.
So I've been looking to make a DM/Fire, but can't decide on which to go with. A scrapper or a brute? I know both have their own styles, and I know generally scrappers do better damage, but I'm wanting to get some opinions on which of the two others have found to be better overall and more survivable.