jprewitt73

Are you looking for a cheap build you can realistically get at level 50 without much time investment? Or, are you looking for a no-expenses spared give me all you got type build? Are you looking for high survivability or high damage? A good mix? Builds will vary wildly based off of what you are looking for.

If you're looking for a farming build, this is where you should look first: Tankers can farm well, but a Brute will farm faster. If money is no object, then you should definitely look at a Brute if you plan on active farming. For passive farming, a Tank would be best.

I took your advice and moved around some slots from Chilling Embrace and added to Tough to add the S/L defense. With one application of Energy Absorption I am sitting at well over 50% defense to S/L and E/N. As for Icicles, I don't mind holding off on it, as when I exemp, Chilling Embrace seems to anger enough mobs to hold them to me during team battles that I don't really need it. Without CE I would definitely move it up. I plan on keeping Permafrost as the added S/L resist is something I really like having. Even if it isn't much, it's still worth it in my mind. I added another slot to Psi Blade and reworked some of my attack slotting based on your advice as well. I will plan on buying a entomb proc (merits ftw) but I don't see myself spending much on the rest of the winter sets. Maybe if they drop in price someday, but for now I just can't justify. I'm limited in my play time, so I use what I have very efficiently. Thank you so much for the advice. I truly appreciate the information and assist. CrystalClearChakra.mbd

CrystalClearChakra.mbd I took your advice on several parts of the build and this is what I have settled on for now. I feel pretty comfortable with it. I really don't like using the winter sets as I don't see their overall value being worth the effort of obtaining. Yeah, I could farm or do some market PvP, but I'd rather go with the option I can buy now. Patience is not one of my virtues. I've got perma Hoarfrost, Mass Levitate hitting every 6 seconds (without the FF +recharge proc considered), and Energy Absorption up every 20 seconds. Definitely enjoying this look. I'm not quite at the HP cap, but I didn't factor in any Accolades. With Accolades I am over the cap. Any additional things I should consider changing?

This would be what I would go with, and many of these pairings I already have: Bio Armor/Ice - Ice Patch helps tremendously with survivability (my first 50 on HC) Dark Armor/Savage Melee - I have the Brute version of this. Savage works soooooo well with Dark Armor Electric Armor/Battle Axe - One of my favorite tanks. Huge AoE potential and chopping people with electrified axe attacks is fun Fiery Aura/Radiation Melee - AoE is fun and this is my personal farmer Ice Armor/Psionic Melee - Current work in progess and great synergy. Slows and -Recharge work great together from both sets Invulnerability/Dark Melee - Unkillable and hits like a freight train Radiation Armor/Claws - A radioactive buzzsaw that never stops hitting Shield Defense/Energy Melee - I have another Brute version of this as well. Get AoE from your primary and fantastic ST damage from your secondary Stone Armor/Staff Fighting - break dancing boulder and great synergy with increased recharge from Form of the Mind (still a work in progress for me) Super Reflexes/Martial Arts - classic pairing creates a true natural hero/villain (the only primary I have never played, even on Live) Willpower/War Mace - Yet another Brute version for me. I love this pairing. Willpower keeps you going on and on and on. War Mace just makes me happy with it's sound effects.

They asked who the most powerful is, not the most curmudgeonly.

You definitely gave me a lot to think about. I am working on a new and updated build and will post shortly with your advice. I truly appreciate it.

Recently hit 50 in my new project and wanting to see some alternate opinions. I absolutely love Ice Armor and Mass Levitate is one of my favorite powers now. This is what I am planning on running, but wanting to know if anyone else sees areas I could improve. It seems the Mids export feature is not working for me right now, so this is what I am running: Anyone with experience for either of these sets have any advice or words of wisdom to get the most bang for the buck with this build?

My vote would be for Savage Melee as well. I'm extremely biased though, so take that with a grain of salt. Savage Melee increases both your end redux and recharge. Both of which are amazing bonuses for Stone Armor. Being a /Stone Brute means you'll be the one wading into large groups in teams, so AoE is going to be something you want to have. Savage Melee excels in AoE and has some of the strongest ST as well. Not to mention, with Savage Leap you can hop from one group to the other while in Granite and be somewhat quick. Energy Melee hits like a freight train, but it can be slow and has atrocious AoE damage. I have a EM/Shield Brute that I shelved a while back. It was fun to play, but I just truly do not enjoy Energy Melee on anything other than a single target Scrapper.

Definitely agree. That absorb proc has saved my hide on more than one occasion. Even on higher base health characters it can be a blessing in disguise.

I know with your resistances that you don't really need them, but it still hurts my heart a little to see a Dark Armor without both Cloak of Fear and Oppressive Gloom. 😞

Defense is a nice bonus if you can get it, but definitely not worth building for with Dark Armor. Soul Mastery is amazing though. Gloom is a hard hitting and fast ranged attack and Darkest Night is great to use in hard single target fights. Definitely worth a look. Also, for your viewing pleasure: Check out this thread to get some ideas!

I play Savage Melee. A lot. It has to be one of my favorite melee attack sets. It hits hard, fast, and Savage Leap is one of my favorite attacks in the game. Other melee sets have damage mitigation. Savage Melee has damage multiplication. If everything you do costs less endurance and recharges faster you can attack even more. It is one of the highest performing sets in game and you won't regret it. @Without_Pause is right though in that Hemorrhage is skippable. Everything else is great, but once you get enough recharge built up you only really need Maiming Slash, Blood Thirst, Vicious Slash, Rending Flurry, and Savage Leap. I have found that I don't really like the cone on Shred, but if you really want another AoE attack you could do worse. Plus, the added +recharge from Savage Melee will help Invulnerability out a lot to help get Dull Pain back up faster. Definitely do it and you'll love it.

Your best bet would be to look through some of @Snarky's threads about this combo. He has some really great advice and slotting techniques that should help a lot. @Uun has a lot of great advice as well. Dark/Dark is a very slot hungry build, so you will have to sacrifice certain things to get what you really want out of it. I would highly suggest dropping Cross Punch as that really limits what you can do with the build. If you truly want it for theme or enjoyment, then go for it, but that power is taking a lot away from the rest of your build.

I currently run a Savage/Dark Brute and honestly? This pair was made for each other. Your primary increases your end redux and recharge to a secondary that desperately needs them both. It's a match made in heaven. With my current build I have near capped melee defense and I run both the Fear and Disorient toggles. Being able to build in additional end redux (via set bonuses) has been a huge help. During long solo fights against AVs I will normally turn off Cloak of Fear (it doesn't do anything to any AV anyway) and I can punch and scrape endlessley without running out of end. This is what I am currently running: There seems to be a difference between Mids and actual gameplay. My melee defense is at 42% in game with no outside buffs, but in Mids it shows at 38%. So, not sure what's going on there. However, this build has been a absolute blast to play. It hits hard, takes out minions and lts easily in groups, and I can solo +2 AVs with relative ease. Add on to what others have said, you should check out @Snarky and his threads about /Dark Armor. I got a lot of inspiration from him for this build. SInUtero.mbd

Absolutely fantastic information. Thank you @Snarky. I've never played a Dark Armor character before, but I can honestly say this has been some of the most fun I've had in game in a while. My endurance isn't at a point where I can run everything just yet (only level 32 right now), but paired with Savage Melee it definitely is a ton of fun. Also, that heal is ridiculous. Even with no global recharge it's up so often that it darn near takes a true act of God to put me down completely.

RIP Yomo's inbox.

If you're wanting something that will be minimal effects then you can't really go wrong with either Willpower or Invulnerability. Both of those can have very minimal/no effects at all. Heck. even Regen would be a good one for you. The Knockdown in Footstomp helps to keep you alive enough to hit your heals. You have some pretty good options honestly.

I actually just started a Savage/Dark Brute today. It fits a concept I am working on, but I had a question about the myriad of toggles. Do you tend to run Oppresive Gloom and Cloak of Fear together? Do you use one more than the other? I also noticed you take OG a little later than I would have thought practical. Is that because Cloak of Fear is a better mitigation power than OG?

This is a great resource! I completely and totally missed this when I was searching.

That makes sense! I've noticed that with permadom I don't have as many end issues as earlier levels with the auto refill, so this may be worth messing with. Being slot starved just seems to be the default for Dominators unfortunately.

And I completely forgot to say, but I rarely take travel powers before level 49. The temp travels from the P2W vendor does more than enough for me usually. Just my own personal preference.

Thank you so much for the feedback. I will definitely be adjusting some of my choices. I've definitely noticed that my lack of any ranged attacks doesn't always make it easy to be in place to do what I need to do on a team. Quick question for you though: How do you survive with your end use? It looks like you're barely above the break-even point. How are you able to play fast-paced with that sort of recovery?

I recently finished my Ice/Savage Dom and I'm wondering if anyone has any advice moving forward to help increase survivability. This is what I'm currently running: Dominator (Ice Control - Savage Assault).mbd I can pop a small purple and be close to the soft cap, but I'm wondering if there are some things I may have missed or some additional slotting that will make this really go crazy. I would like to be able to solo and team about 50/50. Any thoughts?

Is there anything in particular about Earth Control that helps with the AV killing aspect, or are you relying more on the -Regen from Drain Psyche and other debuffs from Incarnates?