Erratic1

It is a nice wedding of capabilities and weak spot cross-covering. The closest I can think of bringing similar to the table would be Claws/EA or Claws/Nin--the former being the more offensive of the two with the latter being the more survivable.

Years back at this point. And to be fair, there was the buff where Fury does not drain as quickly as it originally did. In any event, I have my two most recent level 50 Brutes I am working on with no plans for anything to follow. The build space where Scrappers and Tankers do best seems wider and more interesting than trying to explore the narrow path where Brutes do best. Not going to rule out an idea coming to me, but that is what it is going to take for me to make another Brute at this point.

As is the notion that extra damage coming to you randomly above what you would otherwise do is somehow a detriment. And the notion becomes even more absurd when you factor in the ATO which helps regularize crits. And yet somehow, suddenly getting a second package of damage and dispatching your opponent in 3 hits as opposed to 4 is a drawback. What trouble me is that Brutes had to be nerfed, more than once, to protect other ATs (Scrappers and Tankers) and yet there is nothing being protected about being a Brute. But that is on record.

All those people getting surprise refunds from their doctor's office for overpayment not allowed by the insurance company just throwing the money away because, "It wasn't planned for." Oh wait...I have NEVER seen that happen. In fact my mother, just earlier today when I was visiting her commented on the surprise lowering of her Internet bill by $20 every month from now until next December, which she was informed of when a company representative called to see why she had dropped cable television with them...nothing she planned for and oddly enough something she was happy to be receive. Its a planet of 8 billion people, so I cannot say there is nobody on Earth who would not receive with joy a bit of extra money surprisingly showing up. But I certainly have yet to run into any of them. I am honestly perplexed at the notion there are people playing out there who both know their attacks and their expected damage so well on top of knowing their foes resistances so well that they can predict the exact number of blows it take to dispatch a foe. Of course there is that probabilistic, uncertainty of a given blow landing...oh wait, chance again! Will you look at that!!! Sorry, that sounds absurd.

Dreadshock 2a - Brute (Energy Melee - Electric Armor).mbd

This is my current target build (the character is currently lacking a couple of the Winter IOs and Hami's). The resistances were easy enough to get to, so you could pretty easily forgo the Melee positional defense in favor of doing something else if you so choose. I may attempt version which shoots for perma-Hasten instead at some point.

Electrical is a pretty solid, A-tier armor set. There are tougher but Electrical Armor is decently tough and has perks. Paired with the right offensive set (Dark Melee), it can get up to S-tier. Radiation Melee is hard hitting, but it has an endurance consumption problem (experienced this on every build I have had with it until I got around to IOs and a focus on endurance cost reduction). I do not dislike Radiation in the least, but honestly, you'd probably be better off with Energy Melee, Stone Melee, or Super Strength if you're going the big hitter route. I would give it an A or B rating depending on what it is paired with. I have only paired Rad Melee and Electrical Armor on a Tanker, and the experience was in mind when speaking of Rad Melee's downsides above. As a combo I would give it an A-/B+ rating. But I leave open the possibility someone can show me something new with it that would up that rating.

Fast Healing gives 25.95% resistance to -Regen.

Power Transfer: Chance to Heal is a nice offset for the health cost of Energy Transfer and can help keep you going, so slot it early. Whirling Hands + Power Crash in Energy Transfer mode can quickly work down groups. Will edit to add as I think of things.

What is the advantage? Thinking most people would happily take receiving double pay for their work with a 6% chance over just receiving their pay because they come out ahead. Do explain why you wouldn't.

It's a tempting idea....

You are claiming it is some sort of advantage for damage values to stay clumped together as opposed to spiking due to crits?!? Well...guess not winning the lottery gives me more consistent income and so is better than winning millions of dollars. You have not remotely seen condescension yet.

This line: contradicts this line (which isn't true): Either they do damage the best or they don't. And the following line... ...is like saying a Ford Mustang is faster than a Bugatti Veyron if you exclude fuel from the Bugatti. As for the following: The cards dealt in Blackjack are random but understanding the nature of probability allows gambling houses to stay in business with far more losers paying the houses than the houses pay winners. Likewise, Scrappers and Stalkers can leverage the ability of their ATO which increases crit chances to reliably deal more damage than a Brutes over time. Regeneration is crappy for any AT that gets it. It is not a top armor set. In fact, I seem to recall having a picture which illustrates where Regeneration is...

There is a mission arc named, "The Tsoo Coup". Think that suggests how it is pronounced.

Yes, generally damage auras are on resistance based sets, but Bio breaks that being a universal truth. As for being better off with a damage aura, if everything were the same between two tankers except one had a damage aura and one did not, then the one with a damage aura would be ever so slightly better off in terms of aggro holding, but.... One of the two Tankers I am currently working is a Bio/Dual Blades. Yes, he has a damage aura. I am also sure the thing which is most meaningful to the parties I am in is that what I am dealing with is spending significant portions of fights getting back up off the ground as I have two knockdown attacks. I see some party member has drawn attention from a few foes and the damage aura may eventually get those foes attention but knocking them all down really solves the problem far faster (as would hitting them all or taunting them). I would not let damage auras drive my choice of armor set.

While true, it is also not likely to be necessary as everyone is pretty survivable against what is being fought at unless difficulty has been turned up.

I would recommend Taunt to someone who has never tanked before because it is a useful tool and it is probably better for all involved to learn to not use it while you have it as a fallback tool.

As I recall, the final nail in the coffin for my Willpower Tanker was being hit with so much -Recharge his attacks were slated to be available the next time the world's continent's merge to form Pangaea. SR has some resistance and on any defense set, the attack has to land for the nasty to occur.

I run a lot of Positions (so many I remind people of the groups unseen to the left and right of that door and the ambushes in the penultimate mission). Those groups being left have less to do with having or lacking Taunt than rushing without thinking. Granted, Taunt would allow you to pick up one of those groups presuming it wasn't wasted on the group containing Ulcer. Posi 1 can be joined at level 8, before Taunt is available. Posi 2 can be joined at level 11, which given Taunt comes at level 10, means it might not yet have been taken in lieu of key offense and defense powers. The earliest I would expect a Tanker to have Taunt would be in their 20s. There are certainly enough power slots that working Taunt in is a easy and just a matter of when. What bothers me are those who treat it as their mandatory opening at range...particularly when I am standing near them on a squishy character, as I dislike AoE responses hitting me because the Tanker decided to unnecessarily range pull with Taunt.

WTF are they running to? Even if I am herding, I am coming back to the first group. And in that case I will not have engaged the first group but zipped past them so there should be no illusions about them paying any attention to me. And its not like you cannot let people know the plan before engaging. I may be less communicative when there are multiple takers in the group but at that point there is plenty of aggro control.

Seems to me to be more expected by Tankers here on the forum than something anyone is going to notice you not having/using. Definitely has its uses, but on my most recent Tanker, I took it late and keep forgetting it is there. Nobody seems to notice.

But Electric Armor has a damage aura.

I've played Dark Melee, and I've played Shield (not on a Brute) but have never had a desire to pair them. Still, thought I'd toss out something incomplete which may give you some ideas.

If you want to go Shield, let me suggest Energy or Stone, both of which hit hard but are not endurance hogs. For a slight bit more endurance work but easily managed, Battle Axe.

Had a Rad/Shield scraper and endurance was always a struggle. Heck, it was a struggle on my Elec/Rad Tanker and Elec has tools to help (solved with Alpha choice). Rad hit hard but it drinks much too. But if you like suffering you could go Dark/Rad.