Grimm2

Where is that note? I was actually excited to getting around to testing it on a sent.

All the ticks are positively modified by Fury, yes. DoT ticks from Fire/Spines Melee, Brimstone from Stone Armor, damage auras, and whatever others i forgot also get modified by Fury.

I'm personally inclined towards the heal proc, as I agree that an occasional real heal is very valuable for Stone armor. You can test out both though. I've never used the placate proc, I wonder how long the effect lasts, and how easy it breaks on damage.

You might choose to turn it off if your build is squish, for some reason. But, Stone Armor should be easy enough to stack def with that a small purple gets you to softcap. The Brimstone proc can crit, and is basically another 20-30 dps, someone calculated it. It's really good. The sleep will de-toggle ghosts with Darkest Night (for example) even if broken instantly. TLDR: ❤️ Brimstone

I haven't re-made it on Homecoming, but a fond favorite of mine on Live was claw/invuln, as a kind of robo-power ranger. Very tough and it lets you stand and blend. Glowing claws are shiny like invuln.

In s/l farms with my bio/claw/energy tank, I find i use Parasitic Aura (on the living) and DNA Siphon (on dead foes) for the endurance management as much as for the HP regen. Ablative I only press once in a while. 30% s/l def, 90% s/l resist. Sets with frequent opportunities to trigger Force Feedback procs are really nice for Bio, as a side note.

It is a toggle now! Very worth having on Sents.

Here's the first iteration of my Rad/MA/Energy Tanker I made recently. It is built with a balance of offence and defense with Fold Space, 100% slow resist, Focused Accuracy, and planning on Ageless Radial for emergency debuff resistance. It hits Res cap for S/L/E/T with 1 stack of MotT, and caps N/F with a few more stacks. 34% Melee def without Storm Kick. (think Thunder Kick = Storm Kick in Mids). Ground Zero with a KD proc is like Shield Charge, triple-procced Dragon's Tail is like a wood chipper, and it just can't be slowed down. I'll have to stress test it further as incarnates develop. I suspect I'd build tankier and less procced for a 4*, but I'm more casual and bum around standard TFs, radios, and Dark Astoria. If anyone has feedback on streamlining this offensive build, it is welcome; building Rad armor (and building in Homecoming in general) is a developing skill for me. edit: i'm dumb at posting

I think here's your answer, @bustacap. The devs opened up build opportunities by allowing stealth powers to be taken and run concurrently. To prevent super stealth stacking, they made it so only the strongest active stealth effect applies. They also likely saw that players can still get effective invisibility with a single minor IO slot that would not require entire character rebuilds. You've even identified the solution yourself. Shout at the traffic from your porch and wave your cane, I'll bring over some beers and we can rail at the world together.

I agree. Like, Dominators as an AT are only accepted with no downtime to their inherent as a basic build goal. I think my idea only holds water if it is a Build-up-esqe boost to the Rage bar, like, 10 seconds, that could be used tactically to burst a spawn, boss, or problem mob. Then the cool down period would be equally short, and normal Rage rules would resume. It is a lipstick-on-a-pig solution. You could have the same idea with no lockout, but then I imagine it would have a longer cooldown and potentially forgettable. Though the original idea was meant to be ignoreable anyways since it changed nothing about how the brute plays, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The idea of a "Max Rage" button tied to the Brute inherent came to me as I read this thread. It'd be another button to press, but what if when a Brute is over 50% Rage, you could activate "Max Rage," forcing the Rage bar to the top for a short period. On expiration, the Brute gains the "Fatigued" condition, preventing Fury gain over 50% for the same period of time. A player could then have access to higher burst damage that could be used tactically, giggling at All That Fury, and average sustained damage is unaffected. A player could also ignore the button and play as it has been without penalty. *tilts hat* You all have a good day.

I've yet to take Spines to 50 on a Tanker, but have on a Brute and Stalker. As a general comment, I find that Spines feels kinda terrible leveling up, and i think it's due to Spine Burst and Impale. They're slow and I wish they did more damage, and there's no big heavy- hitter to look forward to. When you have Lunge/Ripper/Throw Spines (plus Quills or Assassin's Strike) slotted and a peck of recharge, though, it's a different story. You output good sustained AoE and packs die on accident while you get the job done on the bosses. As it is the cast times give you extra time to recover end and let your other powers recharge. I like that you can play it passively or actively (jockeying for cone position), both are fun If they do a pass on Spines, my wishlist is any combo of the following: 1. Spine Burst- Faster cast time 2. Impale - short-range snipe that can fast cast 3. Give the whole set a native 5% crit that can stack with Scrapper/ Stalker inherent, or just be there for Tanks/Brutes. Spines are sharp! Thanks for listening to my Ted talk, grab a free hypodermic needle on the way out. They're clean, and I made them myself.

I think Stone Armor might be the set that ticks most of these. 1 is a loss, and 5 is a wash, as Fury and crits buff the Brimstone proc. But 2, 3, 4 are all in favor of the Brute. I suppose Dark Armor might be the set I'd look at next after Stone.

Spines/Stone is still my go-to after 3 months. A lot of that is concept, but it is super fun. I love a tanky Brute, and Spines kinda fascinates me in how all these clunky powers magically come together once you add end redux and recharge. Can't say I'm not hoping for a Spines rework...I have my ideas about that. However, Brimstone and Interface do make a noticable difference when chewing away at a hard target.

I don't think anyone yet mentioned the Theft of Essence +end proc slotted in Dark Regen. I've heard that helps immensely, turning Dark Regen into a neutral or net positive end cost.

Love the play by play, makes me want to build one! Haven't done a controller in ages.

Probably Invuln, Stone, Rad, in that order? I haven't fully built out Brute Invuln or Rad, but can speak to Stone. In a build without Winter sets, I hit defense #'s of 50% s/l/e/n, 45% psi, and 25% f/c. Resistance reached 60% s/l/f/c, 30% e/n. 2.2k hp, boosts to 3.1k hp under Earth's Embrace, regens 40-60 hp/sec. I fear cascading def failure even with my little cushion, slows can be annoying. But not much else though. Feels good to not fear Carnies for a change, but Arachnos (read: Tarantula Mistresses and their debuff) still require some strategy.

This is my current favorite. He is Dwarven Battlerager, my take on the famous Thibbledorf Pwent! In true Gutbuster style, just standing near him is offensive and deadly. You can bounce around acrobatically to maximize Spines coverage, or just stand there and flail on your keyboard, and it's pretty much the same result. All the DoTs i headcanon as copious bleeding. And I built for 50%+ defense and over 3.1k HP. 10/10 style points.

I wouldn't rule out Stone/ either, with a fire- typed damage aura and the fire Brimstone proc. I also prefer Spines over Rad right now, skipping Impale and using the T1 as filler. I have a Spine/Stone brute at T3 incarnates that I can't seem to stop playing...

Some good info here. I also have a /bio sent in the 30s, and I heard that you could get hover to be a fast as fly. Is there any special slotting you need to do to achieve that?

I just got a spine/ stone (graniteless) Brute to T3 incarnates, and it's been a ton of fun. I took Barb Swipe and skipped Impale to better pressure hard targets with DoTs. I went with Brute over Scrapper because I could build over 3k hp under Earth's Embrace, and the DoTs get a boost from Fury. And taunt. I might try a high burst damage set like Fire or Energy to pair with Stone on a Scrapper, maybe less runners if they're dead.

Shield/Axe sounds iconic... so you have a Heroic Flea? You could do a He-Man kinda theme.

I feel you on Bio confusing me on what to build for, Ashesxvx. I've been enjoying the heck out of a Bio/Claw Tank, and it's unexpectedly stable when all kitted out. I have not done hard mode anything, but +4/×8 anything in PI radios, DA repeatables, and S/L farms don't give any issue. My best analogy is that Bio is like a house of cards, which can be stable...if you use superglue. The "cards" my guy has (in offensive stance) is around 30-32% s/l def, incarnate-softcapped e/n/f/c def, 80% s/l res and around 30% e/n/f/c res (plus MOtT +res procs), and a resting regen around 45 hp/sec. I find myself using Ablative as an emergency button, using Parasitic Aura on the regular, and DNA Siphon on the fallen. This ups my regen (65-180 hp/sec depending on what is up when) but also my recovery. They allow me to run Focused Accuracy on top of all the toggles with no problem. All three clicks, saturated, boost me to 200 hp/sec for a bit....vs one target it would be a lot lower. The "glue" of the build is debuff resist from incarnates and IOs. 80% slow resist, Focused Accuracy, and Ageless Hybrid (I think?) keep the card house standing. Claws, in my case, also energizes global recharge through FF +rech procs, which helps out. Without these additions, it's easier to get crippled. That's my Bio experience, I how it helps framing it mentally. My next Bio is a savage brute, I'll see if it comes together as well as the tank feels. In my old age...I might just prefer tank numbers.

I think this is where your argument got confused, Snarky. I'm sure that build can survive many CoX situations, but this statement reaches outside the boundaries of the build's stated intention.

I dunno about /nin, but claws is amazing. If you're ok not having a single big- hitting attack like @SomeGuy said, and lethal damage type, you get: High ST and AOE damage Ranged ST and AOE attacks that knockdown (if you slot KB -> KD in Shockwave) Seamless- in-set attack chains using said KD Low end usage IO options from melee ST and AOE and ranged ST and AOE Choice in slotting the FF+recharge proc and -res procs you don't need every attack from the set to do all this, and you can do it all in the same build (though maybe not every build) All that being said, it's clicky because the attacks are so fast animating. Been building up a bio/ claw tank lately, what a buzzsaw.