WuTang

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?

Meep!

Rage crash can give you the ouchies if you don't account for the -20% def debuff every 60 seconds (if you double stack it) when the majority of your mitigation comes from defenses. It is a powerful set though for sure. ST damage is through the roof.

Quick update... Finished out the build and got the important incarnates to T4. It does well, wouldn't say great. ITF is still tough, I guess all the mez resist sort of cancels out my whole stun thing, like @Warshadessaid. I've also noticed it seems to rely pretty heavily on the heal... But man does he look cool doing. At least he's not face-planting like he was!

Dude sorry to hear about your accident and glad you weren't hurt. On your build, Cardiac can be a good choice. For me it was between that and Resilience. Resilience offers a +toHit but my hit can't be debuffed so I felt that the endurance reduction was better option.

Man I haven't thought of this combo! This will be AOE madness! Rad armor is a great set, very easy to get resistances nice and high. Then couple that with all the KU and KD in Battle Axe and the shield from Rad talk about mitigation. Oh man, gotta have one now! But I might make it a Tank instead... Everything that @Maelwyssaid is very true. Proc'd out, the AOEs in Rad are mini nukes. Axe Cyclone takes procs very well too. Have fun with it. There are so many different ways to slot...

I wouldn't skip Torrent. It can be a powerful KD tool to setup a risk-free Blackstar + Void combo that'll leave melee wondering WTF. Also, Dark Pit + Oppressive Gloom is a powerful stun combination. I keep bosses stunned, and Oppressive Gloom is a low-cost toggle. Dark Servant, while he walks as if he hasn't a care in the world, he is powerful and helps with heals and controls which frees you up to do more damage. Life Drain is stout, I would 5-6 slot it for damage. +Recharge in Kick doesn't work. Theft of Essence proc will not net you much at all in Twilight Grasp nor Life Drain. It's more beneficial in AOEs. Howling Twilight is a stout AV debuff and rez, but perhaps you've over slot it a bit? Triple Dark is a set that can be played anywhere on the field. I go in and hang out with melee while keeping the pile stunned. I port around healing anyone that's wounded. I debuff the bajeezus out of the bad guys' chance to hit so that they are just whiffing on my team. It's just a stout combination of powers. This build is far from perfect, but I find it's a happy medium between damage and support. I found that MIDs has the buff duration wrong on Spirit Drain, so it's over slotted IMO because perma isn't achievable in game, so a few of those slots could be better utilized in other powers like Moonbeam for instance...but it is running at 50% up time so there is that. The +Recharge in Torrent hits 100% of the time, unless you're wasting it on just a couple bad guys, though TBH it's still fun watching even a couple baddies getting knocked on their backsides. Maybe you find it useful or maybe it sparks an idea. That's the nice thing about being able to share builds with the community like we do. Even if the entire build looks like garbage to you, there's always the chance to find that hidden gem that you haven't thought of yet. Any who, at 50 pretty much all builds work, at least that's what I've found. -WT Corruptor - Dark-x3-5.mbd

I like it! Thanks for sharing!

Dude that is NOT fair. Scrapper Barrage gets a -100% regen debuff?? And it's the only AT that gets it....

I like that your builds always scare me a bit, but I know they work Somehow you find that razor thin edge of staying alive well enough to do max damage.