Erratic1

Yeah, the knockdown and ability to move groups with Axe Cyclone (leap backwards as you activate the power and you drag foes with you).

In raw survival terms Stone and Invulnerability are the top of the heap (Stone top, Inv just behind), but both have downsides you have to work around, just like with every other set. You can take Teleport and Fold Space to deal with Stone's movement issues in Granite form. FWIW, the flexibility gained from Bio and Rad Armor are worth considering taking a slight step down in terms of raw survivability. Also consider raw survivability is only part of the picture, as the choice of primary can significantly impact end survivability e.g. DM/Elec is far greater than the sum of its parts).

While War Mace does bring control to a high damage set, I'd say Battle Axe edges it out in term of control.

I am pretty sure the context, back in the day, was only looking at how defense and resistance compared in regard to incoming damage only, ignoring opponent level scaling, other effects, etc. It is a very limited view, as all the posts above indicate.

Bio is a top tier armor set which some consider on the verge of being overpowered. It typically relies on S/L Resistance and F/C/E/N Defense, though its actual S/L Defense is no slouch, just not enough on its own to rely upon. It has three, "Oh Shit!", click powers which heal, give an ablative barrier, and radically increase regeneration respectively. Add to that it gets three different stances to operate from--Offensive, Efficient, and Defensive which boost damage (toxic damage added to attacks) at the cost of resistance, boost endurance, and boosts Defense and Resistance. Finally, it has a damage aura as icing on the cake. Invulnerability and Stone top it for pure survivability, but Bio is stupidly flexible by comparison. My SS/Bio Brute was built to work primarily in Efficient stance and does not run out of endurance using it. He can swap to the other stances but mostly does not need to. My Bio/DB Tanker is built to operate from Offensive stance. I would not tank hard content in that mode, but regular content and moderate difficulty settings are just fine (on SOs...have not IO'd him out yet).

Surprised myself by making a new Axe/Invulnerability Brute. The extremely thematic name I wanted was not open, so I altered the concept a tiny bit, kept the color, and found a new name--Crimson Axe. His original costume is on the left. The next two costumes come from being indecisive about updating his costume when he hit level 30 and finally deciding to keep both:

Been a while and I thought I would share the costume for my new Symphony/Marine controller, Femme Fate:

Trying to get out of the house on my way to work, but you will want higher resistances and definitely higher defense values. Invincibility should be slotted to enhance defense.

Brutes do not get higher numbers from Res powers than Scrappers do. Only Tankers do. Brutes have a higher Res cap, but they have to spend more accordingly to reach it than Tankers do.

Typo'd. The word should have been unlike (fixed). Will also mention I am running my missions (while on SOs) with difficulty turned up with it feeling much like running a Brute.

Well, that thread revolves around Kinetic Melee, the worst of the worst. Dual Blades does not seem to be anywhere in the same ballpark. I was recruited in to tank for a Manticore TF last night and never felt useless, say unlike my experiences with Kinetic Melee. I haven't played it but once since Live and did not like the way the character on the whole developed. May have to give it another go at some point. Oddly enough, my Bio/DB Tanker is a guy in a mech-suit. 😁

Number of different tactics depending on your situation... (1) On a team let someone else grab aggro. (2) You have "Oh Shit!" powers to use like Ablative Carapace, DNA Siphon, and Parasitic Aura (3) Your offensive set might also allow survivability boosting via healing, knocking things down, making foes less likely to hit, etc. (4) Epic powers can also provide the above aids. (5) Inspirations

Bio is one of the best armor sets in the game, often considered overpowered and a candidate for nerfs. But yeah, Cimerora pretty much looks at Defensive sets like Parasite looks at Kryptonians...like lunch. That does not mean Bio sucks, just you've found Bio's nasty opponent.

Guessing @Story Archer is playing an IO'd build as the sequences listed (and statement about switching to a combo after whittling things down) suggests not using combo for the most part. So long as BF can be cycled to keep the +Hit/Damage up it seems it could be an elegant selection of powers getting you two area attacks and making what would otherwise be lighter single target attacks heftier. FWIW, my Bio/DB character is now up to 44 (should be 45 here in a bit), though not IO'd in the least and routinely makes use of Empower and Sweep. One I do get him IO'd, I plan to drop two powers (PS and TE), so Sweep will no longer be available.

Let me cool this line of thinking a bit.... Among my last characters before Live was shut down was a KM/Shield scrapper. I played him on Live, without benefit of IOs because IOs were hideously expensive in the context of plenty of other players who were similarly equipped. Plainly KM IS AN UNDERPERFORMING POWERSET. PERIOD. Sure, it might perform with IOs better than say Claws without (not sure that is actually true but take it as true for discussion). But with equal investment of resources into the character, KM will be behind most other sets in most situations. Can you solo with it just fine? Sure, you can. But that is why I posted my previous post explaining where it falls down--when you are doing any teamwork. Someone came along later and explained in paragraph what said in a sentence, but that was just expounding on all the detail. I get that some things are labors of love. Got a few characters who are just such. But if you are concerned about KM underperforming, I assure you it does. And to be sure, that one time was not my only experience. I have returned to the KM well at least three more times. It continues to underperform.

On top of what @aethereal wrote, what you pair with DM can make a lot of difference to how much more you squeeze out of the set.

Sure, if you don't mind other people you are grouped with killing things while you are waving your hands around, making your power eventually going off meaningless. Concept is king, until is sucks so much it is no fun.

Things need to stay close for the +Rehcarge on Entropic Aura to work.

Which Flashback missions are you referring to?

I enjoy mine and have no complaints.

Might be more meaningful back in the day when travel was harder. Not sure. No hero arc I've done so far has felt horrible.

How about not caring that things run off because they will come back to you? Move along, and deal with the runner when it returns.

Blueside: The Rise of the Vampyri rewards 42 merits requiring 7 Door Missions (1 Defeat All), 3 Hunts in the level 30-34 range. Redside: To get 42 merits you would need to combine Lost and Found (5 Door Missions [1 Defeat All], 1 Talk) for 20 merits with Into Valhalla (4 Door Missions [1 Defeat All], 2 Hunt) for 15 merits and Taming the Tigeress (2 Door Missions [1 Defeat All], 1 Hunt) for 7 merits. 7 Door Missions + 3 Hunts versus 11Door Missions, 2 Hunts, and 1 Talk. Seems to favor Blue side. Blueside has The Unity Plauge for 42 merits requiring 6 Door Missions (2 Defeat All), 8 Talks. For 6 Door missions with 2 Defeat Alls on Redside same 30-34 level range, you could do both Strange Memories and Nictus Dissection and also have to do a Hunt mission and only end up with 15 merits. If Blueside is getting an extra 27 merits for 8 Talk missions, that seems like a strikingly good deal.

Doing more flashback missions of late, and it seems to me the rewards are more generous on the hero side of things than they are redside. Is there some reason for this?

Axe/Ninjitsu