evetsleep

I'm going to go ahead and say it. Concept is King. We get 1,000 slots per server. Use'em (I have 826 now 🫡). Marine is so well done it still surprises me how powerful it ended being, especially in the hands of pet wielders. That being said I've given them all a spin and they all have different ways they can play well with Marine. Recent I took the much maligned Beasts and paired it with Marine (Wet Fur!) and they do really well with everything that the new set brings. Personally I think the choice first is do you want to be in melee range with your pets. After that come up with a concept you like and have at it!

I've started building, where it makes sense, many of my sentinels to be close range (occasional melee range) and I've been pretty happy with it. They are not blappers, but staying out of melee all the time seems to be leaving a ton of potential damage on the table (specifically later on when you get access to the ancillary melee attacks).

It works on brute for both katana and broadsword :). I was running my broadsword/fire brute today ... Inspired by this thread and I was reliably sitting at 47% melee/lethal and he's not IO'd at all yet.

I just want to chime in to add on to the blasphemy. Fire armor really needs a taunt and you'll only get it from a brute or tanker. Between those two I prefer the brute because, as far as I recall tanks cannot stack parry but brutes can. On my broadsword/fire brute I could softcap (~45%) melee\lethal just about as soon as I picked up parry via a few parry hits since it recharges really fast.

Holy moly....while I was out at the gym today getting my creative juices flowing I had an idea, but then I said...no way. Got home and FFS...the name was actually free now...I feel a great sense of responsibility to do it justice: 🔥❄️Frost Burn❄️🔥

I just picked up one I've tried for years to get: Captain Wavy Hands Kinetic Melee/energy Aura brute Yes I know kinetic melee isn't great. I'm past making meta characters and I focus on concept (because it's king) these days.

Also I think it's often forgotten that tanking things doesn't just being highly survivable, but also generating threat and taunting. Sentinels don't really get a taunting ability so off-tanking without a taunt won't really work (IMHO). Brutes, and to some extent, some scrappers, could off tank since they're both durable and can taunt. If you're looking to off-tank I'd recommend a brute or a taunting scrapper.

Honestly I don't think you can efficiantly farm without a brute or tank. It's not just about damage output but high defense, resistances, and importantly taunting to keep the baddies from spreading like cockroachs in the light. Anything can farm, but at +4x8 I don't think it's realistic to do it without a highly survivable taunting AT. My 2 inf.

If footstomp scratches a particular itch, Frozen Aura from Ice Melee is very similar without needing Rage... It's also a pretty fun/safe/effective set IMHO.

Concept is king 👑. Bio Armor is awesome, but it doesn't always fit. More power to you 🙂

I've been noodling this question myself lately.. specifically on what to bring along with my farmer (other than another one.. I am far too impatient to build another). I'm considering: Illusion/kin - really for the improved illusion for threat reduction and safe casting of fulcrum and speed boost for the recharge buff.. quicker burns and other AoE attacks. Illusion/Marine - Marine has some really interesting things that boosts recharge, damage, to hit, etc.. doesn't really need to be illusion, but I'm thinking invisibility will minimize taking aggro off the brute In the end the problem (for me) is dealing with the aggro you'll get as a non-farmer. If you have some tools to deal with that without being annoying to the farmer you're golden. As a defender I think kinetics, Marine, or trick arrow are the best options since they boost the things a farmer needs: damage and recharge.

Not saying this is crazy, but the few times I've brought in a traps toon to a farm the acid mortars didn't last long at all plus they take aggro away from the farmer (pealing off a few.. just enough to be a little annoying).

I'm currently running a bots\marine MM (where the bots are notorious END eaters). Toroidal Bubble goes a super long way to helping with END consumption on bots, so I'd image you're instinct is correct here.

I've tried both and they proc on cast but that's it. So not really worth it from my observation.

I mostly agree with you except for Trick Arrow. Fully slotted Flash Arrow combined with pets that have native defense and the defense IO's meshes extremely well. I rarely need to resummon my thugs and ninjas, while flimsy, have a self heal on their own. The -DMG in trick arrow goes a long way, also, to preventing minions from being one shot in most normal content.