SF/DA - in need of advice from the "gods of brooting" :)

tl;dr at the end for those who understandably cannot stand my rambling

Ahoy,

I have recently resubbed to CoH - and I have to admit it was mainly for staff fighting and how it works on a brute.
I only seldomly used to team at all, and I certainly have no idea about IO'ing, or incarnating, or whatever - for me so far, the game has been about coming up with a large number of satisfying and diverse character concepts and, in general, levelling.

I always wanted to have a /dark brute, for thematical reasons, but it used to be the one set that was totally not fun for me to play on a brute - the reason was the prohibitive end cost of dark regeneration and the set's total reliance on it during the levelling phase - enter staff fighting and soul mastery, and all of a sudden the end costs are easily manageable. Ever since level 22 and SOs, I have been running at x4 without any IOs at all, and faster than most other combinations I tried out so far. I might have to now and then use purple inspirations when the recharge on dark regeneration is a bit too long for icoming damage, but in general, my brute tears through masses of opponents like a shadowy chainsaw.

I admit single target damage seems a bit lackluster, especially considering that the other two staff fighting masteries don't really work (yet, I guess) due to end issues, but it is nowhere near dramatic (it's still a brute ).

Now I am nearing the 40s and I still don't feel like shelving the toon - in fact, I have teamed a whole lot (which is a new experience for me) and always had the feeling I was contributing a lot to any team setup whatsoever. CoF/OG/Dark Regen make for a nice alpha-soaking combination (yet :P), AoE damage is quite ok despite the damagetype and as soon as debuffs from the team kick in, I find myself grinning like an idiot at the feeling of immortality I get.

In fact, I would very much want this brute to be my first 50 that actually gets IOed and incarnated. I do have mids downloaded - but my competence ends right there. The whole system is set up in a way that I am having some trouble making sense of it.
That's why I'd appreciate if some experienced player could whip up a "starting" IO setup that is not too pricey (my level 50 /fa brute whom I don't care for much but who can farm AE reasonably well has earned me the paltry sum of 1.5 billion inf.) It's what I got and what I can spend at the moment, and I am looking for a decent setup for starters that could lateron be gradually improved upon as more inf trickles in.

I found most builds posted would cost a hell of a lot more than I could afford at the moment, and they are usually so intricate that I get no feeling whatsoever of how and why things are set up the way they are - I'd rather gradually improve upon a solid formation to get a feel for improvements myself.

So that's it - I understand that's a lot of work and hassle I am asking for, so I do understand if noone feels like doing that, and I cannot offer anything else than my everlasting thanks for those that help me out (Sorry, soul's already been sold for twinkies.)

Anyways, thanks for reading all that drivel,

PB

tl;dr - I am looking for a more or less solid starting IO setup for level 50 for a SF/DA brute that should ideally cost no more than 1.5 billion inf (if that is possible at all). Thanks in advance for any and all contributions that help me out

Personal taste and build goals can affect a plan quite a bit. For example, I didn't take either of the mez auras and couldn't squeeze in taunt without losing something I valued more. With that said, here's my build with the expensive stuffs traded for cheaper stuffs -it's still not a cheap build, but I'm not good at estimating total build costs. I use whatever merits I happen to have for expensive bits, have a base with a lot of crafted drops in storage, etc. I'm thinking you could get it done for 1.5b, though. Also, I took hasten a lot earlier on my live build.

I built for positional defense, 45% melee / 32.5% ranged and aoe (i.e. small purple to softcap), with a side of recharge. To hit chance is capped vs. +3 baddies, end sustainable.

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Awesome, thanks a ton!
I checked the markets and at first glance, it should kinda bust my budget by a good billion...but hey, that's just three evenings of farming.

Gonna play around with it and mids tonight. Again, thank you, MUCH appreciated!