Erratic1

SS has good amount of crowd control along with being a relative easy to go by set. It's simple and the animations/feedback feel good and impactful. Stone Melee has comparable controls, better damage (ignoring Rage), and greater chance at its controls occurring.

This is one that should. I'll explain further below. See my earlier post in this thread about existing comic book characters that are super strong. Yes they do exist, and no they're not "Tankers" or "Brutes". If you're still not convinced, we can talk about how Scrappers somehow have Titan Weapons. Now I've been playing Super Strength for years, and I've seen 3 camps - Camp 1 - INV/SS Tankers: They don't care much about the defense debuff as much as others because they have a resistance-based primary. They also don't care about the damage debuff very much because they're tanks. Camp 2 - SS/FA Brutes: Mostly farmers. Enough said. Camp 3 - Super Strength fans that want to feel super strong and punch things instead of using weapons or elemental powers. This is why we need powerset proliferation of Super Strength for Scrappers. Replace Rage with Build Up and be done with it. Comic book scrappers include such characters as Wolverine, Daredevil, Wildcat, Timberwolf, etc. Many are stronger than average, some stronger than human, but I have a hard time thinking of any that are in the juggling boulders, lifting tanks category. They are exceptionally strong, not super strong.

What is the purpose and perk of Super Strength if it has Build Up just like every other melee attack set? Because, maybe, it should be handled like any other melee attack set? Pretty sure any other set would love to have a perma build-up running, while they just sit with their 10 second one. Every other set does something no other set does. Why should Super Strength not get it's own special thing? You dodged the question with your, "I'm sure any other set..." reply. How about answering the question?

What is the purpose and perk of Super Strength if it has Build Up just like every other melee attack set? As for proliferation, not every set should be proliferated. There should be reasons to choose one AT over another. For that matter, it's not even thematic for scrappers to have super strength.

Why not just make it an Accuracy debuff for the duration of the endurance/damage debuff? The concept of the crash is you're too tired to do anything. This means your attacks are weak and listless (inaccurate). Note, this addresses using temporary powers as they too would be inaccurate.

Another difference would be in the Leadership pool powers, with Defenders having stronger effects.

I am not advocating here, but rather giving another data point for your consideration.... Since you are looking at TW and hasten, Beta Decay in Radiation Armor grants recharge based on the number of nearby foes. At max value that should be enought to roughly equal an SO Recharge enhancement. Moreover it also debuffs foe's defense and to-hit--you are more likely to hit them and they are less likely to hit you. You won't see hits as big as with Bio in Offensive Adaptation but you will cycle your powers faster and be able to take on larger groups.

Damage Cap explained.

Beta Decay in Radiation Armor gives recharge based on the number of foes (up to 10) around you. At max it should be +32.5%--effectively an SO Recharge. The same power also lowers foes two-hit and defense.

You couldn't take Shield with Titan Weapons anyway and Bio is a good set.

I got my Ice/Time controller to 32 the night before last. Originally I had been running both auras but respec'd out of them because even at 32 it was unpleasant enough being in big groups and thinking on future factions one encounters at later levels I could only see things getting nastier.

I have a 40 Radiation/Psi Tanker and a 33 Savage/Bio Scrapper. Both have been quite solid in play, though nowhere near as flashy as something like Shield or Fire. I have not played it, but a Radiation Melee/Shield Scrapper might be interesting. Radiation Melee has a splash damage effect when you hit a target you've contaminated with a single target Radiation attack power. Irradiated Ground lowers foe's defenses, so hitting should not be a problem. Combine with Shield for the damage boost and area damage and you could have a quote potent character.

Matter of what you want to debuff. Debuffing resistance requires Sonic.

I played a Kin/Sonic Defender pre-shutdown and enjoyed him so much I am rebuilding him currently. I cannot give answers to all your questions, but here are my thoughts: (1) Repel has its uses, situational though they may be. I have prevented wipes before by going bowling--mobs knocked off their feet do not get to attack your party. Less flashy and dramatic, standing in front of other squishy ATs prevents a lot of melee from getting to them. Siren's Song is awesome because slept things don't mind you getting close and doing Fulcrum Shift. It also has wipe prevention possibilities. I am toying with slotting Shockwave for knockdown as another means of control but have not gotten there yet. (2) While you will want to and should be doing attacks, I find enough of my time occupied by buffing, debuffing, and healing that attacks are part of the mix, not a primary function and done as much to debuff the resistance of what is hit as to damage it. Obviously solo you will want to be dealing damage. 1 Accuracy + 3 Damage is as far as I would go, but that also relies on taking Tactics. (3) The primary thing about your Kinetic buff powers is you want them to hit and you want them to cycle quickly. While Tactics helps with this, for things that absolutely critically need to hit, 2 Accuracy enhancements is my go to. As example, Siphon Power had 2 Accuracy + 3 Recharge in it on my pre-shutdown build. (4) Tactics should have 3 To-Hit Enhancements, Assault I previously slotted for Endurance Reduction (what else are you going to put in that slot?). (5) I would imagine you might get more use from Combat Jumping and Acrobatics, but some things come down to personal preference. (6) Hasten, yes, Yes, YES! Your major perk as a Kinetic is you should neve be out of endurance so long as you have Transference up often enough. Stacking Power Siphon along with Fulcrum Shift should allow your team to mow through opponents. For that you want powers cycling as fast as possible. So on top of Siphon Speed, you want Hasten. And Recharge Enhancements in those powers.

Wouldn't you want to do Atom Smasher before Burn for the added Contamination? Will Burn leverage Contamination? I thought you only got damage splash from hitting contaminated targets with single target Radiation attacks. Allow me to note a mistake I was making. I had Irradiated Ground slotted for Endurance Reduction , which may be understandable given my endurance woes (also addressed in the respec). GET DEFENSE DEBUFFS IN THE POWER AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! Blazing Aura hits more reliably, you land more hits and hence you spend less endurance bringing targets down. I may have to reconsider dropping Proton Sweep (though Atom Smasher is up quite often with a single Recharge SO, so maybe not).

It can be endurance intensive until you slot sufficiently and you'll need to IO your knockback protection, but Rad/Fire makes me giggle with joy when I pop Fusion, Burn, and then Atom Smasher while in the middle of a group.

It strikes me as odd you call the set squishy and yet are trying it with another attack powerset. Having a Savage Melee/Bio Scrapper, I have repeatedly had the thought in the back of my mind that Savage/Bio might be at least as good on the Brute. Blood Frenzy stacks while held reduce endurance cost and I have noticed my scrapper is not bothered by endurance issues in the least. Sustained attack should enable a Brute to build and keep Frenzy. As goes squishiness, being a hybrid armor set, I think you're going to need/want to take Toughness and Weave.

I am up to level 32 on my Savage/Bio and no power has been poor enough for me to think, "Get rid if it when you next respec." Hemorrhage however doesn't get as much use as other attacks, so if you have to skip something, I'd consider it.

Think it was stated upthread the vulnerability bar fills based on how much damage you do. I know if I hit a lot of targets with Howl on my Sonic/Bio Sentinel the bar pretty much fills.

On attacks they make, but I was not attacking. Burn is implemented as a pet. https://web.archive.org/web/20140821103945/http://tomax.cohtitan.com/data/powers/powerset.php?id=Brute_Defense.Fiery_Aura

Sentinel Full Auto Cone is also a much wider arc of 90 vs the Blaster 20. Much easy to use and will hit more targets. Subject to the 10 target cap of the AT, I take it?

I thought Burn had its fear effect removed the last time they updated Burn pre-shutdown. Having a Rad/Fire Brute, I tested this morning on several groups of Freaks in Brickstown and not a single run ran from me as I stood in their midst using Burn.

Pre-shutdown I had a DM/Electric Brute which was totally awesome in term of survivability and sustained damage output because the combination has good resists, two heals (including one which is usable as an attack), an incredible self-buff via Soul Drain, and of course two sources of regenerating endurance. Toss in Hasten and it was an unstoppable machine. I once asked one of the few other DM/Electric Brutes I saw why so few people seemed to realize what an incredible combination it was and his response was that he did not know but he was fine with it being just the select few in the know. If it were not for the fact that I hate replicating powersets, when I got into playing Tankers I would have seriously considered an Electric/DM Tanker. Is is hard for me to see how it could not work out.

I am recreating my DM/Electric Brute and fortunately had a copy of it saved via Sentinel. But I doubt the xml save format would look very good here. I will try to get around to transferring it into Pine in the next day or two.

Sad thing is I saw the title of this thread and had an immediate sense of déjà vu.