City of Heroes: Live Forum Archive

DM/Fire Armor/Soul Brute - Newbie needs help with build

Bobbyraw2

By Bobbyraw2,
Posted on: 2012-01-27 05:02 in Player Questions

 

Posted

Hi guys. I'm ftp, so I will not be able to use IOs and am stuck with SOs. I am looking for help with a build for a dm/fa/soul brute, as I am not quite sure which powers should be left out, how the powers should be slotted, etc.

I went DM/FA because I don't want issues with endurance (and the 2 aoe endurance drainers seemed like too good a deal to pass up), and the ability to kill stuff pretty well. I realise survivability might be a bit lower than with other secondaries, but I'm hoping that DM's -tohit and /FA helping me kill quicker will be good enough mitigation.

I'd probably need to grab super jump and combat jumping to get acrobatics for knockback resist.

Also, does burn make the enemies run away, or are they going to stay on me because of aggro I build up?

Should I grab Touch of Fear. Should I grab Gloom, Dark Obliteration and Darkest Night from /Soul? My defense is low - should I even bother with Weave - is a little bit extra on top of a tiny amount of def really going to help?


Thanks in advance for any help guys, I'd really appreciate it

 

Posted

It might not be that useful to you, seeing as how you're a brute (and can't use IO's), but you may get some of your questions answered through my DM/fire/soul scrapper guide.

And trust me: Get Burn.

 

Posted

Thanks mate.

Has anyone else got anything to add about my other questions?

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bobbyraw2 View Post
I'd probably need to grab super jump and combat jumping to get acrobatics for knockback resist.
Yes, you will _need_ acro for kb protection without any IOs.

Quote:
Also, does burn make the enemies run away, or are they going to stay on me because of aggro I build up?
Any enemies hit by blazing aura won't run away because of burn.

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Should I grab Touch of Fear.
No.

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Should I grab Gloom, Dark Obliteration and Darkest Night from /Soul?
Gloom is a fabulous single target attack. Great damage, great activation time, and it's ranged. Grab it and never look back. Dark Oblit is also a solid pick. I'd say Darkest Night is situational, it will boost your survivability alot but it also costs alot of endurance. You could pick it up when you want, and have it for when you need it, but having it up all the time will be hell for your endurance on an SO build. It also takes 3 seconds to activate, which is significant.

Quote:
My defense is low - should I even bother with Weave - is a little bit extra on top of a tiny amount of def really going to help?
2 part answer. A tiny amount of defense isn't all that great. Defense is better the more you have of it. However with that said, I'd still say it's worth taking weave. 1) It will effectively stack with all the tohit debuffs you will be putting out and 2) It will be stacking with any defense buffs any team members give you. Having 7% or so defense on your own from weave and combat jumping puts you that much closer to the softcap, meaning you will need less defense buffs or lucks to get there. It is worth it.

 

Posted

Shinobi, could you elaborate on why one shouldn't take ToF? I use it against heavier damaging bosses in large mobs to keep them from landing any punches while I finish off the rest of the group. It's -20 ToHit is huge even if it doesn't completely stop their attacks. I've often found it to be the difference between faceplanting and having time to finish off the enemies.

I haven't ever played this exact build, of course, so maybe that's the difference. Or it's possible I'm doing something wrong with the rest of my building.

--If we can have huge sig images, why can we have only five lines of text?
--...faceplanting like a Defender pulling an AV (Nalrok_AthZim)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha View Post
...I have the patience of a coffee-fueled flea...

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by CoyoteShaman View Post
Shinobi, could you elaborate on why one shouldn't take ToF? I use it against heavier damaging bosses in large mobs to keep them from landing any punches while I finish off the rest of the group. It's -20 ToHit is huge even if it doesn't completely stop their attacks. I've often found it to be the difference between faceplanting and having time to finish off the enemies.

I haven't ever played this exact build, of course, so maybe that's the difference. Or it's possible I'm doing something wrong with the rest of my building.
ToF is a great debuff. If you like it and put it to good use then I don't think thats a bad thing. However with fiery aura things just don't live that long, and since OP is FA his goal should be to maximize that strength. The other thing is Darkest Night. Which not only has about the same -tohit, but also has a hefty damage debuff and is an aoe, and being an aoe toggle debuff means it can also be used for pulling and herding. IMO, Darkest Night eats Touch of Fear for breakfast, and you don't really need both.