SomeGuy

OK. I was wondering if I was seeing what isn't there, so it's really really nice others have noticed this.

Here's my take on SS/ENA Brute: I always take Agility alpha on my Brutes. Makes it super simple to build. Although I was tempted to do Muscle on this one. I build pretty differently then most BTW. I want to get to, what I consider, "enough" survivability then chase killing things. Dead is the best CC. If someone is arguing that, then they are wrong. Dead things can't hurt you. Dead things can't kill you.

I frickin' love TW. I have a LOT of experience with the primary and have it on Scrappers, Brutes, and Tankers. Basically whatever AT it's available on. I know TW absolutely can dog walk other ATs in terms of performance but it takes pretty acute practice with it and a smart build. TW needs a LOT of recharge. If you can do this, it's totally worth it. With that said... I don't know the numbers via proc % difference between non-momentum and momentum attacks. I just know this. Set can proc a lot, and being able to do a good rotation, kills thing really well. The set numerically performs VERY well. If you also like the look and feel....frick yeah. Anyways, one of my fav scrappers is my TW/ENA: Here's my TW/ELE Brute if you're curious also: As you can see, the scrapper is pretty procced out and the brute is not. @Maelwys is awesome.

So I also have a TW/ELE Brute, optimally built very much like the ELE/TW tanker. I did directly compare their ST and AOE kill speed. The Brute definitely does ST faster (about 33%) but when I was comparing their AOE, the tanker was actually faster AND I didn't have to worry about his survivability at all.

Yes, but when you kill something, it can't attack you. And that's even better mitigation.

NGL, the change to Staff has me curious what I can pull off with it. I am legit curious how much the changes effect things. Needless to say...I am expecting disappointment with that considering the recent regen buffs. I did give those a very serious go (I am very nostalgic about regen and want the set to be playable to my standards). You're ideas towards improving Staff are actually really good. The ideas about not just being a straight up damage buff is , i consider, needed. Its to easy to "fix" issues adjusting damage out/in (looking at brutes). Dark Melee is legit one of my favorite sets and I really do wish I never found out the hard data about it's performance. It's....not good. Not good at all. The set, honestly, really is mechanically perfect to me. It's a lot of fun. But by god...it's annoying as hell how much the set depends on Soul Drain. Soul Drain needs to be seriously tweaked. I know EXACTLY what I would do, said it on these forums more then a few times, but the set got changes to Touch of Fear instead (albeit much needed and loved the change to it). But it's funny to me the entire set could be easily made OK by some smart changes to only Soul Drain. You could leave the rest of the set entirely alone and wouldn't have to change setting/slotting AT ALL.

Those numbers definitely are. I've been playing this game for 21 years (this game is 21 years old). I was heavily involved in the original pylon thread, the secret server's pylon thread, and HC server's pylon thread. I know DPS. I know how to build. It very much is off if you actually play the set outside of maximizing pylon times. I've gotten times with my DB, Claws, and TW characters in the low 40s before. No outside buffs. Hybrid off. No pets. The RNG gods very much smiled on those runs. Those runs were instantly discarded. So to say the numbers there are indicative or what to really expect? With some sets? Sure. Others? God no. Not even close. That part very much worries me cause people that choose those sets based on that information are going to be in for a very rude awakening when they aren't able to even get close to that level of performance. Cause of the fact that: they don't have the skill level yet and the set(s) only perform that well in a bubble. All in all, Ice Melee is a very good set but it DOES NOT perform that well outside of a bubble. As for Kinetic Melee...it needs love. So does Dark Melee. And Staff.

Solo player? You will most likely want a taunt aura. Rad EnA Bio Shield Invincibility Ice Melee is a really good balance of mitigation via soft-CC (ice patch) and OK ST DPS. Speaking of Ice Patch, LOSing a mob by going around a corner, then laying down ice patch, just to watch the entire mob round the corner to all go Looney Tunes on their ass will never get old. Claws is a really REALLY good set with amazing ST/AOE DPS and soft-CC. It has really good DPS but it doesn't hit hard and doesn't have a lot of front loaded damage. It's very much a blender of a set. It's really good though. Dual Blades is another great choice (ignore the comments dissuading you from it because of the combo system). DB has mediocre AOE. It does have hard hitting attacks within it's other ones. Claws and Dual Blades are both top-tier sets. And neither is complicated. The best attack chain with DB completely ignores the combo system. Don't do regen.

I had a very strong suspicion this was going to get referenced. As someone who has played all of the melee types (granted savage and psi melee not extensively...but I do have experience with them) I know that there is a very small chance (I sure haven't found it) to make Ice Melee do ST DPS that well while having the build viable outside of pylon kills. The set can take a LOT of procs. I was actually mucking around with IM yesterday and able to do way faster than Dual Blades, albeit there is zero way I'd venture in to the real world with it like that. In terms of actual viability outside of pylons? Ice Melee is good ST DPS. Definitely not THAT good. It is a really fun set though. It's a really good example to me of a set done overall pretty darn well. If it performed that well everyone would roll Ice Melee considering all the other stuff it can do. Like, I have my own personal data collection info (which I update and share) of accumulated DPS times with many sets. Obviously things come down to the player and their ability, but when you've done this sort of thing as much as I have, and as long, I can literally just look at a class/combo and know WTF is going on when I see a time.

Uhhhh according to what? Like, IM isn't bad ST DPS but it isn't THAT good.

I was watching @Holoman on their Bots/Traps MM on Brainstorm and saw 5 of their runs. Mastermind Bots/Traps 0:58 This is an average. No clue if they were running Hybrid or not.

I definitely helped attribute to the target cap being implemented cause of my FA/IM tanker. I had IM THEN show me it was a sleeper of a set, so yeah....that warms my heart seeing it get more love. I can't remember if you were playing with me then.

Tanker RAD/SS 4:21 (Degen/Gloom/CP)

Honorable Mentions: Where the Red Fern Grows Of Mice and Men