WuTang

Curios if you've done this yet. I have also been kicking around this combination on a Brute, but the only Dark Armor experience I have is with a Tanker, and he's a stun gimmick build. But I do take him into ITFs and TBH he doesn't fair well. I don't mean he dies, but he doesn't do as well as either of my other Tankers. He has defenses in the ~30% range and that gets stripped in long fights and then stays that way. I have to lean hard on the heal because even with 90% S/L (pretty much maxed all Res) the incoming damage is overwhelming, and the extra layer of mitigation that the stun affords me is also not effective against the Romans. My Brute build procs out VS, RF, and SL. I still have decent enough resists and "according to MIDs" the endurance is under control well enough that I took Barrier. Not sure it will exemp well but should survive at 50, the lack of epic attacks sucks though and hurts the overall performance, but the blue bar blues suck more. Not sure I'll pull the trigger TBH. Have a Sav/Bio Brute already and he's a beast. So, anything that underperforms that wouldn't be worth rolling...... LOL I think I just talked myself out of it. Still though, let us know how the solo ITF goes.

My Dark/Em tank is setup to be gimmicky. It's a stun build, which doesn't actually work in an ITF very well, or at least it hasn't the 3 times I've ran with him.

I used my Fire/Dark/Soul Corruptor it felt solid and useful, but to be honest, I was still getting my footing. On a +4 or less on most of my toons I can race forward and survive long enough to kill a bunch before the group catches up. And on two of my Tanks, I can "pull it all" and be fine. Can do that on several of my Brutes too. I can't yet comment on the ease of starred runs. Being carried, in my mind, doesn't give me the cred I need, But that run was very smooth. There were deaths, but never a wipe. And the coordination of the 7 members was, to my eye, seamless.

So here we go... I'm finally dipping into star level content for ITF. I joined a 4* for my first time, as support, I figured, start out the way I plan to continue. And I think I did well...or was carried more likely....but I'll tell myself whatever I need to hear! But seriously, what should I expect? The fights weren't difficult, but we had a stupid good team lead that new what the F she was do'n, so I was really just along for the (ride) experience, which was invaluable. Now I want to Tank one or DPS one, so I'm curious, is there a different way to build for star content? As of right now I only have 3 leveled Tanks, loads of Brutes, some Scrappers, and a nice selection of Corruptors. My Tanks are Rad/MA/En, Bio/BA, and a Dark/EM (this one isn't in consideration). Based on what I know about ITF in general and having seen the fight in a 4*, I think the Rad Tank would be my best option. But wondering what others think work for hard mode. The Bio is a Map Server baby and isn't fully incarnate, getting there, but after seeing the fights I'm not 100% sure Bio, at least my build, would do so well on the big-boi fights. If my build needs Ageless Core, is that a no-go? In the one run I'm pretty sure I was the only one without Barrier. I guess what I'm looking for is a "hey these are the things..." So, if anyone knows all the things, I'd appreciate a heads up! Thanks! -WT

With that in mind, is there an actual endurance draining build that is effective? Suppose a recharge debuff would need to be in the mix too.

Perfectly stated!

Yeah all but the primary slotting was from another build. I don't think SS needs acc debuff resist either so long as rage can be maintained at x2. I was really just seeing where I could get the resistances to, and I think they are more than adequate even with a proc'd out build. I do like the addition of Dominate in your build. I don't really like Hurl either, but thematically it is the quintessential super strength move. Personally, I would even swap out some just to reduce defenses and bolster resist even more, just because every 60 sec it's going to be sitting at near 0% for 10 sec. Working in Cross Punch would be another good thing, I think.

What ya think about this Brute version? It's partly @Soverabuild that he helped me with a long time ago. Think I'll give it a go. Brute (Super Strength - Radiation Armor).mbd

Yes, I keep Rage double stacked. I don't always have to pop an insp especially if I'm only dealing with S/L damage types. The problem comes in when it's any of the other types of damage. I can get fire/cold def up decently but my eng/Neng def lags and the resistances to those types are only in the high 50s to low 60s. Then couple that with the lack of a heal and a crash occurs, boop, my big guy is munching carpet and not in the fun way. This is why I was trying to put together a build that had high-ish regen combined with heal procs while maintaining procs and typical defenses. Basically, what I've come to realize is the combo of SS/Inv is not my cup of tea. I should say that, even with my build in its current state, it does very well on teams, it's solo where it all seems to fall apart....well when against anything but S/L that is. I think /Inv is a good power set, but I seem to do better with resist and regen armors. I'm thinking of pairing it with a different offense to see how well it does for me.

Regen Brute... I have a couple Blasters but have a hard time getting into them.

This is mine. A vet here on the forums put it together for me, because like you I leaned hard on survivability, but the damage output was just never there. So, she hooked me up. I did tweak it a bit from her original build to suit my playstyle better. This build is good for farms and all content. It also exemps very well. Maybe it can give you some ideas. Rip Torn - Brute (Savage Melee - Bio)Spaghetti Betty1.3.mbd

With Stealth, you lose all but 2.89% of the def boost when engaged in combat, which in a farm is 100% of the time. And I think your resists are too high. You're losing out on some procalicious damage. A big part of Bio's damage mitigation is its regen and shields. I farm with the same power sets with just a base of 77% S/L resist and 20% S/L def. Farming is about surviving just well enough to kill fast AF. Clear time is king. Also, Bio needs global recharge, as much as you can pack in there because it's a clicky set and that's how it survives. I would dump Stealth and pickup Hasten. I would also proc out Vic Slash and add a FF +recharge in the mix...actually proc out Rending Flurry, Sav Leap, and Hemorrhage as well. All of those have great proc % chances. As is, I think your build will survive a farm but you'll be there for a while.

Now I gotta make one....

I think the best build is one that plays well at all levels so I want to catalyze some and boost others. Level 50 purples expemp down as if catalyzed (don't catalyze rare) so do the ATOs as does all of the Winter sets. Regular (yellow & orange) enhancements need to be catalyzed to match your level (within their level range). I tend to catalyze any regular enhancements in powers selected before 40 and boost any after. You can boost any or all and when you exemp it won't hurt too bad, but you do lose the set bonuses...BUT the raw boosted stat from each enhancement will remain active, so it's like they're roided out. You can mix catalyzed with boosted within a set if you only need to rely on the 2-3 set bonuses when you exemp. Also, if you don't have any set bonuses to worry about boost them all.

Both, to be perfectly honest. Stone does good damage from what I hear, and Scrapper and Brutes are nearly even in that regard. Defenses and resists are very similar as well with Stone Armor, so they'll both do fine there. So basically, it's down to how do you want to play. Rely on crits or go-go-go with rage.... I do have a soft spot for Brutes, and I do think some sets are better for solo with them over a Scrapper, but not all. I think Stone Armor is one that will be fine either way. That's just my 2 cents.

Burn on paper looks kind of weak, BUT it procs out like crazy. I can maintain a -20% res debuff on a pile and it does good damage. Consume is better to have an HP IO slotted. The recovery is only ~15 sec and you'll get a full blue bar off a few bad guys so the biggest benefits it offers is the boost to your health pool and the endurance debuff resist, both of which last for 120 sec, well above the recharge. Devastating blow is sloooooooooooW, however I took it too but rarely ever use it. When you click it, you can get up and go make a sandwich, come back, get settled back in, and still won't miss it executing. If you plan to stay in flight while fighting the lack of any real knockback protection won't matter. But I think you will find with only Hover on your movement speed may disappoint you, and adding in Flight will make your endurance use lopsided. But all in all, it's a workable build that should do fine.

I don't know, maybe they are just looking to get their cash flow going, it is king. I did the same thing only went the AH route. Which, honestly, I recommend over farming. Both are good ways to make ends meet, but with a market toon you can set things for sale then alt and play the game. Come back hours later or next day, pull in millions of inf, restock the market, and go play some more. AFK farming is probably the same if you have 2 accounts. Active farming, which I do on the reg, is for when there ain't nuth'n go'n on or I need to play without thinking. You guys are right though, don't skip over the content, there is some really good stuff. And the slow grind isn't really slow if you throw in a TF or two.

'Bout a year ago @Infinitummade a build for my Hulk-themed Brute. It's great fun but I wanted to have a 2nd build that wasn't Hulk-themed and more min/maxed. I also wanted to get my endurance under control and use Barrier and work in some +HP procs, while keeping Knockout Blow and Foot Stomp proc'd out. Is all this possible while keeping my exotic defense at soft cap? Cause it's not really working out for me. Alphas... Agility is out cause that messes with the proc %. Musculature is out cause I'll mostly be at damage max already (right?). So, I was figuring on Vigor. I suppose Cardiac could be on the table to bump resists more... Primary is SS so Rage crash is in the mix... BTW how do you guys handle the crash with Inv? Pop an insp? Cause 1 /min seems a bit much. Or do you shoot for higher than soft cap on def to mitigate the -20% hit to defense? I've been chasing my tail, and I think I've gone too deep to see a clear path. So hope'n for a bit of help. Thanks! -WT

So, what you're saying is.... Take Musculature.

Need just a tad more advice... Picking the Alpha... If I have decent resistances before Alpha, S/L 71.66%, for instance, would I be better off with Musculature over Cardiac? I think my tank-brain still prioritizes living over killing. I don't need Cardiac except for the resist bump and the +to shield is nice. I survive very well. I can usually run ahead and soften up the mobs before the rest of the team gets there. I can even stand in there for a minute or more before my green bar starts getting sad. That's good fun and all but wondering now if I'm leaving some DPS on the table? But I've also heard Musculature doesn't actually make that big of a difference, and MIDs could be wrong, but it seems to add a decent amount of damage. Thanks! -WT

Someone else may need to chime in but I'm not 100% certain Kismet +6% hit will work in Grant Cover. Edit: I see where MIDs has it working, but it is not always correct.

Roll a Rad Armor Stalker... 2 tasty AOEs with procy goodness.

I recently rolled a EM/Rad and found this to be true as well. But, thankfully, the rotation doesn't demand I open with AS. I open instead with Total Focus and that loads the chamber with dual Energy Focus, then AS for a hide proc then hit Energy Transfer. The wait for AS in hide is excruciating!

I tend to lean into the debuff resists even though I never really solo. But most of my toons are Brutes so as a tank I don't want to let the team down by being less effective. Then I got to thinking that I seldomly ever care about debuffs when on any of my range, often I have 0% to all. And Stalkers not having any form of an aggro modifier, would I really be targeted outside of splash... I can attest to, at least anecdotally, that even on a team with no tank, which I seemed to be signing up for alot this weekend, the debuffs didn't appear to be that bad. Unless I attacked a mob solo, they seldomly all targeted me, if at all, and chose instead to scatter - I can only assume my awesomeness was too much for'em. I will add, that Combat Teleport is a must on a Stalker, for me, from now on due to that lil problem. Gots another Stalker question. The ATO with BU recharge in it. It states a 5% chance, is that calculated differently, in-game, than PPM? I mean, does recharge affect its proc rate? I currently have it in the T2 attack, but it does not proc very often at all.

I've got a general question about Stalkers. Debuff resistance...is it that important, when on a team? Do the majority of debuffs come from AOE or ST attacks? My thought is that on a team and without an aggro aura and punchvoke then would Stalkers really be the target of the debuffs?