DB/Electric - Scrapper vs. Brute

The classic Scrapper/Brute question, but i feel like this time its a little more complex.

Scrappers do more damage (+damage buffs always are better on a scrapper, but especially when perma'd)
Brutes get 90 Energy res vs. 75

I've heard damage auras are better on brutes, will Lightning field make enemies run on a scrapper?

Because DB has redraw, gloom seems like a non-factor, right?

What else is different between the two, and how do i choose?

DB is quite a bit better for scrappers since it has blinding feint. The buff numbers are higher, and those higher numbers have a much larger impact since the AT mod is also higher. You're right that gloom has no place anywhere near DB's top chain*, but I suspect BF -> AV also could not be improved by adding gloom. However, brutes do have other ancillary pools available to them, though we sometimes forget.

Brutes do get 90% energy resistance but that doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me most of the time. Rare is the villain group that does almost exclusively energy damage. It is a nice bonus but it isn't as nice as the fact that the brute can cap all of their resists using the tier nine. That's considerable. Also, while the brute will not be doing as much damage with their damage aura (it's like 5% less when at the damage cap, big freaking deal), the main selling point for running this in brute form is that their damage aura is also a taunt aura. The scrapper aura doesn't specifically make things run, but it doesn't keep them from running either. You may or may not consider that a deal breaker.

How do you choose? Look into your heart. If there you see virtue, grace and humanity, choose scrapper. If you see the eyes of the devil staring back at you, beckoning you deeper still, you might consider brute.

*Double checking the numbers, I'm not actually sure of this. What I am sure of is that redrawing your swords once every five seconds or so would be utterly maddening.

Brute.

No taunt aura on scrapper side means mobs running all over the place.

Brutes can leverage the 90% energy resists for both farming and trial mitigation. Scrappers max out at 75%.

For that particular combination it's not really a contest. Unless you are trying for pylon runs.

I'm trying to remember when it became totally intolerable to about 50% of posters (or at least those who produce 50% of posts) to play any meleer that doesn't have a taunt aura. It's a relatively recent development, because it used to be the case that brutes didn't exist at all and three quarters of scrapper sets lacked taunt auras. Plenty of people played scrappers back then! Indeed, in the game today there seems to be no special bias among the unwashed masses against tauntless sets. Why, then, the guaranteed hostility to the concept on the forums?

Not to be an ***, intentionally at least, but it kind of seems like people who place taunt aura above all else are mainly interested in easy mode. Is this character going to require thought on my part? Ugh. Pass.

Take, I don't know, DB/ELA for example. The scrapper is going to do better damage than the brute in many situations. To put it another way, the only time the brute will do damage comparable to the scrapper's is when she's the aggro focus and fury is already high from a previous spawn. That leaves off-tanking situations, warming up after a delay of any kind, heavy team damage buffs, and intermittent combat such as the Marauder fight as places where the brute will do substantially less damage. I'd call that an important factor, potentially as important as a taunt aura. Potentially more important. Certainly important enough not to dismiss /ELA out of hand on scrappers just because of that one thing.

A DB/Elec scrapper currently holds the top Pylon time, that should tell you a lot.

If you want to go Brute, don't go DB as Blinding Feint is pretty sucky for Brutes. I'd suggest you go for TW instead(or SS, but then you get the "just go SS/FA and win the game" argument).

I just don't agree. You don't have to chase anything down, it all comes back eventually. Scrappers are just as well suited as brutes for ripping into a spawn in terms of hitting its initial, pre-aggro arrangement, yet they're actually much better since at that point the scrapper is doing full damage and the brute is not. Aggro aura or not, for the first few seconds of the fight everything will bunch up on you and in that period of time a DB/ELA can wipe out almost all of a spawn. The "thought" I mention is prioritization of targets. Maximizing cones, such as sweeping strike, as well as aura ticks. This is more complex if things don't always just stand next to you, but that's what makes it more interesting.

I say that not only will DB/ELA be significantly more damaging in scrapper form in most cases, it will be more engaging as well. The real tradeoff is, as you say, lower resists. I find that 75% energy resistance is plenty on a tricked out incarnate build that's already loaded up with defense and regen, and neither the scrapper nor the brute is getting anywhere near their HP cap with ELA so that isn't much of an advantage.

OK OK i got to weigh in on this predicament.

1. Scrapper are more challenging to build cause they are squishier. If you generally make scrappers that die easily then yes go for the next best thing (Brute). Challenging = making it survive like a Brute/Tank

2. If you are going to be a soloer then go Brute because most likely when you team there will be a controller type that will screw up your fury building due to confuses,holds,stuns, etc.

3. Damage auras are the BOMB with brutes.

4. Damage in general is really to similar to compare but one major difference. Scrapper can do high damage whether they are killing 1 enemy or higher. Brutes on the other hand can only kill as fast as a scrapper when they are in a mob AND have agro.

5. As they said you will get better +damage numbers with a scrapper. Its like comparing the Blast power of Defenders and Corrupter. Corrupter will have a higher damage cap and thus will do more damage but Defenders buff/debuff others better. Same here. Brutes can survive better but scrappers do more damage

I'm a scrapper player but i can play any AT quite well. Since i can build pretty good builds i would go scrapper and I do have the same amount of Brutes as i do scrappers. Just cause i want to get good at everything.

Sure, BrandX, I'm not against considering the advantages of taunt auras, cf. my first post in this thread. What I'm against is saying that they're always the number one criterion for any build. That's just not the case.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moonlighter I tend to be goal oriented, so when it takes me 2-3 times longer to clear a Hydra map when I'm doing the portal arc I find it annoying.

Surely the speedy player would take note that the enemies in this mission suck to fight and that you get the Multidimensional badge simply for setting foot in it and conclude that the best course of action would be to drop that mission after setting foot in it?

DB/ELa, with a top end build, is a Scrapper combo hands down.

DB is quite a bit better, and with something like musculature running the top chain, the Scrapper version can do potentially 30% more ST DPS than the Brute.

This is from my actual testing on the test server, I tried extremely hard to get the Brute build where I wanted it to be but I simply couldn't get more than 260 DPS out of it with an extreme top end build.

The Scrapper version, Microcosm's build, hit 345 DPS on the Pylon results (And its either the highest or in the top 3 scores, I'm pretty sure its the highest but I haven't checked in a while).

Microcosm was even kind enough to work with me to tailor the Brute version and squeeze out every ounce of performance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle I'm trying to remember when it became totally intolerable to about 50% of posters (or at least those who produce 50% of posts) to play any meleer that doesn't have a taunt aura. It's a relatively recent development,

Its possibly due to the proliferation of reactive interface, its like having Rain of Fire with no way to keep the mobs in it.