What is the best Farm Melee Archetype?

[Talionis]

It used to be we needed Tanks to farm, but with the way the game has developed it appears that damage is the most important. Brutes still get taunts and more damage than tanks.  But is there a logic to Stalkers or Scrappers being the best melee toons?

[macskull]

It depends what you're doing but as a general rule, Stalkers lack the AoE and Scrappers lack the survivability (lower HP and resistance compared to Brutes and Tankers). Brutes are usually the cheapest to build and easiest to play so they're the most popular.

[rheckenkamp]

Spines/Fire/Mu Brute.  I have way more fun farming with mine than playing the actual game.  

[Talionis]

I guess I am trying to understand when you build a Brute versus Scrapper versus Tanker versus Stalker.  All are very similar.  Play styles are similar. I can build the same character as either of these Archtypes and possible as Crabs, Widows, etc.  so if I have a melee character idea how do I pick which archetype?

[Apparition]

You're asking two different questions.  "What is the best farm AT?" and "What is the best melee AT?"

 

Once the Tanker changes go live, Tankers and Brutes will be about even so you'll be fine with either.  I made a Fiery/Rad Tanker for farming several weeks ago in anticipation of the Tanker changes.  Even without the Tanker changes, the character still does very well at farming.

 

Now, for your second question... That depends on exactly what you want to do.  Do you want to be an AoE meat shield?  Tanker.  Do you want to be a single target meat shield?  Brute.  Do you want to do a lot of AoE damage?  Scrapper.  Do you want to do a lot of single target damage?  Stalker.

[Talionis]

22 hours ago, Apparition said:

You're asking two different questions.  "What is the best farm AT?" and "What is the best melee AT?"

 

Once the Tanker changes go live, Tankers and Brutes will be about even so you'll be fine with either.  I made a Fiery/Rad Tanker for farming several weeks ago in anticipation of the Tanker changes.  Even without the Tanker changes, the character still does very well at farming.

 

Now, for your second question... That depends on exactly what you want to do.  Do you want to be an AoE meat shield?  Tanker.  Do you want to be a single target meat shield?  Brute.  Do you want to do a lot of AoE damage?  Scrapper.  Do you want to do a lot of single target damage?  Stalker.

I was trying to ask about the best farming melee toon.  I’m aware Blasters are probably better farmers.  It seems to me that the difference between these melee archetypes has shrunk mightily and that there might be a best answer now.  It maybe there is still a big enough difference that I’m wrong.  
 

what I seemed to see was Brutes were preferred because they have the bigger damage cap and their taunt attacks can keep opponents grouped for them and others to melt enemies.  
 

scrappers can do more damage but lack sufficient taunt to keep enemies bunched.  
 

Tanks were unnecessary.  I heard they were making changes to tanks but I’m unclear if it will push people away from Brutes.  
 

presumably all Toons can be made fairly survivable.  

[Giocondi]

On 1/4/2020 at 9:47 AM, Talionis said:

what I seemed to see was Brutes were preferred because they have the bigger damage cap and their taunt attacks can keep opponents grouped for them and others to melt enemies.  

 

This is it right here. Also brutes and scrapper  damage output is very similar when a brute's fury meter passes a certain threshold (which it does when farming). So a brute is the best farmer as far as standard AE farming goes because:

 

Taunt auras

High Damage

High damage resist cap (equal to tanks at 90% while scrappers only get 75% cap)

[siolfir]

On 1/4/2020 at 9:47 AM, Talionis said:

Tanks were unnecessary.  I heard they were making changes to tanks but I’m unclear if it will push people away from Brutes.  

For farming, the higher target caps and extended AoE sizes in the melee sets only will narrow the gap between Tankers and Brutes; the Brute damage cap is being reduced (to +600%, 700% total) while the Tanker damage cap is being increased (+400%, 500% total) and their melee modifier is being increased, so with inspiration usage to cap your damage on a scale 1 attack:

 

• Tanker: 0.95 * 5 = 4.75 * 55.61 = 264.1475 per target, max 16 targets (PBAoE w/+50% radius), max 10 targets (cone with double arc) - theoretical unresisted max 4226.36 damage at highest target cap
• Brute: 0.75 * 7 = 5.25 * 55.61 = 291.9525 per target, max 10 targets (PBAoE), max 5 targets (cone) - theoretical unresisted max 2919.525 damage at highest target cap

 

The patron/epic AoEs are unchanged for both ATs (there's a patch note about switching them to use the ranged damage modifier, but the Brute ranged modifier was changed to 0.75 to match their melee modifier, and Tankers was changed to 0.8 to match their current melee modifier - in the end it's a wash).

Edited January 7, 2020 by siolfir
throwing in more maths