Grimm2

My spine/stone/energy Brute is my most played toon. Sneaky Rage-boosted DoT damage. For incarnates I use... Judgement: The Mighty one that does knock-up, it feels real good. Throw Spines as they fall back down. Alpha: I've made Musculature and Agility Radial. Agility adds more def padding for when I'm really lazy. Which is often. Destiny: Barrier non-rez usually. The panic button because def debuff cascade does happen. The lingering 5% and Agility Alpha gets s/l/e/n to Incarnate softcap. Lore: Knives, because he's a ladies' man Interface: Degen, he's also a degenerate. Is there one that immobilizes or slows? That might have YMMV worth on a scrapper without a taunt Aura... Hybrid: the double-hit one. I should also try the resist one. I have a sav/stone Brute that runs RoP and the resist hybrid, it's ok but since I didn't build high enough resist to get to 90 % with the clicks, it's not as impactful as it could be.

This is the age-old discussion, isn't it? The Tank buffs left Tanker single target damage less than Brutes', but their AoE superior. And people said, "Why Brute?" Now the gap between Tank and Brute damage favors Brutes, though Tanker damage is still better than pre -buff. And people ask, "Why Tanker?" It's certainly easier to build for that kind of survivability on a Tanker, and Tankers should always have the edge there. Gauntlet and AoE target caps provide better aggro control than Brute punchvoke. Maybe that means more if you take on the higher difficulties currently on Test? Brutes are still a hybrid. Choosing Brute sacrifices Scrapper damage for Tank-ish survivability, and you usually sacrifice proc damage or build flexibility to actually achieve that survivability if you really shoot for it. Character concept matters; if they're supposed to be the toughest, Tanker might be the way. I have a Spine/Stone/Energy Brute I love. I should make its Tanker mirror and report back in.

I'm fairly certain that the optimized chain you're thinking of ignores the combo system entirely. Blinding Feint -> Attack Vitals combo should be much more easily attainable.

Agreed! I returned to Claws recently to finally play a Claw/Bio scrapper. Claws is just so good! I have an attuned ATO proc waiting for him at 50, and I'm excited to dial the crits up to 11.

Ice Melee actually has great AoE*, especially if you're ok bunny hopping up or back to get more targets in Frost. Frozen Aura sleeps as well as damages, and can hold a Sandman heal proc. Ice Patch won't affect AVs, but makes everything else flop. The hold hurts and takes a lot of procs. Not great single target damage otherwise. Dark melee's heal would add reliable sustain vs. targets that resist CC. Far worse AoE, and I don't know how their single target damage compares. *Edit: I haven't done tanks since their update, so I'm not sure how it feels now. Frost is a ranged cone that you can work with, but you have to be willing to work with it.

Finally got around to it, I love this guy. More focus on high HP and near Incarnate def softcap for s/l/e/n (closer with Barrier's lingering 5%), along with slow resist. Brute - Spines - Stone Armor Dwarven Battlerager.mbd

I'll try to post mine tomorrow!

Rad/savage is really, really fun. Extra recharge for Rad's clicks, Leap and Flurry radius is bonkers, and the opening AOE burst salvo hits the whole spawn hard.

I appreciate your general interest in Invuln, but note that this is not the first 3-4 year old thread you've necroed recently, and your chance of getting an answer from the questioned is pretty low.

I haven't opened the build, so maybe about to insert foot in mouth .. But the Impervium proc is not unique, and can be stacked up to the Rule of 5.

I just want to vouch for @Onlyasandwich's Plant/fire/fire Dom build. I think I put a full set of Coercive Persuasion in Seeds, and haven't gotten the Winters in there, but it's otherwise the same. It's a carry-the-team kinda build. It feels illegal to have the kind of aggression that thing can output. It feels like a Diablo Corpse Explosion Necromancer, but with fire.

Reporting back in, I took @Meknomancer's build out for a spin on Test, and it was wicked fun! Having no experience with the build and being a pretty bad Dom player, I still had no trouble with +4/x8 nuCouncil. I liked... The ranged play style. Shoot all the things never really gets old for me. Gleam is a very fast ranged AOE stun, and you can combo with power boost, and keep a spawn perma-stunned. Unleash Potential/Barrier/Hoarfrost gave some very helpful wiggle room, and made building the domination bar to start pretty easy. Happy chaos on the screen with PA. I've taken a toon under 2x XP to 34, mostly teaming on TFs and radios. I've been slotting some IOs for recharge bonuses, up to 41% now. I wish I took Combat Jumping where Weaken Resolve is and taken the latter at 32 and set Unleash Potential at 35. I don't think Trip Mine needs -kb, it caps at .75 kb, which frees up a slot. I find Trip Mine slow, but still a worthy power pick. It's been a great leveling experience. I have forgotten how powerful a tool a single target confuse is. Domination-boosted confuse got us our Posi-1 win vs. the clones, and generally sped us past CoT spawns by confusing Ruin Magi. It feels snappy and mobile, some other sets may have more control, but this guy has multiple ways to be useful. Thanks!!!

I've not done either Illusion or Arsenal Assault, could you elaborate further on why you enjoy the pairing so much? Looking at your build (nice), I'm guessing you use Unleash Potential as an oh-shit power? Do you miss Spectral Terror as another layer of control? I also see no +FF procs, it'd be tempting to put one in Buckshot.

Yeah, Scrapper Claws compares so favorably to Anything Spines. That being said, I like Spines' look, and I've had tons of fun with it despite it not being a top performer with Brute, Tank, and Stalker (144 vet levels on Spine/Stone Brute, and I have a Bio/Spine Tank). With Bio, you probably have the best case setup for Spines (I think Stone Armor is a close second). I'm not a build savant and I copy a lot of builds, but here's my 2 inf. - Spines needs Throw Spines to come together. It's always amazing to me how shit the set feels before Throw Spines is slotted, and how it makes sense after. -Barb Swipe is superior to Impale (except on Stalker). I agree with Maelwys. Stalkers appreciate the bigger predictable crit, but weaving in a Swipe feels better to me otherwise. Even in a team Swipe-Lunge-Swipe gets you in on that boss-mashing action. Throw Spines has a comparable DPA to Impale, as well. -Work on a hard target, letting Throw Spines and Ripper hit everything else. Spine Burst will slow you down. As you've seen, hard targets are the sticking point for clearing a spawn. I only use Spine Burst when I'm lazy about pressing buttons or I'm exemplared. Spines has some nifty slotting options worth mentioning. -Ripper will take a FF+rech, always good for Bio. -Most attacks do minor -Spd, but Throw Spines does a hefty 40%. This works well with 2 Winter IOs + 4 Ice Mistral's, getting you 25% slow resist, HP, some acc, and 50% slow. Slow res is excellent for Bio, and the slow messes with enemy AI. -In your case, you have 2 dmg auras, excellent places for the Brute ATO sets.

This warms my heart. I've always enjoyed Brutes over the years, and though the Tanker changes absolutely made them much more powerful and enjoyable to play, some of my favorite toons are Brutes. I very much recommend sets that can take advantage of the big HP cap and resist cap...Invuln will eat up every s/l bonus you give it, and Stone is my favorite.