SomeGuy

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

Nope. But it's definitely in the race (that "honor" goes to Staff). The set definitely needs to make Power Siphon less of a hassle to work. The stacks need to last longer and give a stronger buff per stack. And Concentrated Strike needs to have it's animation time reduced. Focused Burst needs to have it's animation time reduced also. It's a really good power, but holy smokes does it really wreck whatever momentum you have created. It's great for picking off runners. Make it better at that without completely disrupting your melee flow. Kinetic Melee definitely has some really nice perks for it's secondary effects. The set is just a hassle to make work and it's damage is WAY to lacking to compensate for it, You can actually make KM do better DPS then DM, but it's a lot of work. Granted, DM's performance is pretty piss poor itself, but at least it isn't frustrating. Like, look at Ice Melee. The set doesn't put up the craziest numbers. Not good numbers, but not bad numbers either. And the set has some really fun mechanics going on. And those mechanics make it worthwhile on any AT it's available on. KM isn't like that. At least on Staff you can roll it on a tanker and just bore things to death. So...maybe KM is the worst set in the game. My second 50 was a FA/IM tanker. Really fun combo then pre-IOs and I'd imagine even crazier now. The Ice Patch?Burn combo is bonkers good. KM doesn't have a pairing like that.

Boo yahh. There's a reason why there are so many character slots. Altitis is a thing. I haven't been able to "main" a character in this game for well over a decade.

I put in a LOT of effort and time to make Staff work cause I *REALLY* like the way the set looks. I still think it's one of the coolest looking sets in the game. It just performs so abysmally bad. Yes, even compared to Kinetic Melee. Yes, you can make that set (KM) work better then Staff, but it will take a lot of work to get there. Basically, I was just trying to get them to "good enough". I can't even do that with Staff. For comparison, I know Dark Melee is a really bad performer but that set is FUN and does "good enough". It's legit one of my fav melee sets despite it's setbacks. I was actually driving a DM/BIO on Brainstorm earlier for poops and giggles. And that applies to Regen. My first 50 was a Claws/Regen I made back in issue *2* (this is back in 2004...yes, I'm old). I put in some serious time and effort to make that set just OK. I had to do some wild crap just to get it on par with other mediocre sets. Yes, I definitely have disdain towards the two, but it isn't because I didn't put in a lot of effort to get them good. I WANTED them to work. Alas... Also, @aethereal, is spot on...this game is NOT hard. It doesn't matter if you pick the best FOTM combo or the worst...just play and enjoy. I'm just sharing what I know as fact and also my opinions.