Good primary for a /Bio brute?

[Turric]

I have a spines / bio brute in my collection. She is very effective at both farming and regular content. 

[Yomo Kimyata]

12 hours ago, Saikochoro said:

Dang you and @Coyotedancer. I have yet to make a broadsword character, but I have been thinking about it. Now my altitis is acting up again and my sites are fixed on broadsword now. 

I only have a few broadsword characters, but they are very special to me.  The broadsword/bio brute is working out *very* well.

 

 

 

 

[lokpyrite]

I think rad/ is good you get an awesome pbaoe in atom smasher and 2 damage auras. 

[Saikochoro]

4 hours ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

I only have a few broadsword characters, but they are very special to me.  The broadsword/bio brute is working out *very* well.

 

 

 

 

Nice! Well thanks to this thread:
 

Yonaka Taichou made his first appearance into Paragon City. Broadsword/Shield Stalker.  I wanted assassins strike 😉. 

[StriderIV]

5 hours ago, Saikochoro said:

Nice! Well thanks to this thread:
 

Yonaka Taichou made his first appearance into Paragon City. Broadsword/Shield Stalker.  I wanted assassins strike 😉. 

Savage Melee has been a blast so far! Only lv. 11, but I like the feeling of not having to wait for cool downs haha. Seems like I always have an attack up.

[StriderIV]

20 hours ago, Heraclea said:

The main advantage of Savage Melee is its endurance discount, which is largely lost on Bio. 

 

Spines is good, and might look good with the armor set, or at least as good as its possible to do with either Bio or Spines.  You can do the whole mutant monstrosity thing this way, and the two make sense to pair conceptually.  Bio's recovery advantage will help with Quills. 

 

The new Energy Melee would also make a good pairing, since Bio has a damage dealing aura, a mostly single target set that excels at taking down a hard target fast has much to recommend it. 

 

Sets like Broadsword or Martial Arts that offer defense boosts will also work well if you want a tanking brute.  I will say that I was underwhelmed by Broadsword's performance on a BS/Energy Aura brute.  Bio may improve its efficiency and AoE potential.  If you want to be tanky and have a lot of regeneration, Dark Melee is also worth a look.  That would be a good look for Bio as well. 

 

(Looking good is half the battle.  When I made a new Energy Melee brute, I went with Fire for the armor set because I've always thought the two looked good together.)

Thanks so much for the input! I’ve noticed you’ve shared a lot of knowledge in the past on Dark Melee/Dark Armor =]
 

I’d loved to pick your brain, because I’m interested in a “dark” themed hero. Would you recommend something like Dark Melee/Dark Armor on a Brute, Tanker or Scrapper? Which AT utilizes it the best.

 

Or would you recommend other combos? Like DA is an endurance heavy set, so would Savage Melee pair well with it for the endurance recovery passive? Are there specifc dark builds you’d recommend for a tank/brute?

 

Lastly, how does Dark (melee or aura) stack up endgame to other power sets?

 

So sorry for the million questions, I just want to pick your brain! 😂

[StriderIV]

20 hours ago, Heraclea said:

The main advantage of Savage Melee is its endurance discount, which is largely lost on Bio. 

 

Spines is good, and might look good with the armor set, or at least as good as its possible to do with either Bio or Spines.  You can do the whole mutant monstrosity thing this way, and the two make sense to pair conceptually.  Bio's recovery advantage will help with Quills. 

 

The new Energy Melee would also make a good pairing, since Bio has a damage dealing aura, a mostly single target set that excels at taking down a hard target fast has much to recommend it. 

 

Sets like Broadsword or Martial Arts that offer defense boosts will also work well if you want a tanking brute.  I will say that I was underwhelmed by Broadsword's performance on a BS/Energy Aura brute.  Bio may improve its efficiency and AoE potential.  If you want to be tanky and have a lot of regeneration, Dark Melee is also worth a look.  That would be a good look for Bio as well. 

 

(Looking good is half the battle.  When I made a new Energy Melee brute, I went with Fire for the armor set because I've always thought the two looked good together.)

Thanks so much for the input! I’ve noticed you’ve shared a lot of knowledge in the past on Dark Melee/Dark Armor =]
 

I’d loved to pick your brain, because I’m interested in a “dark” themed hero. Would you recommend something like Dark Melee/Dark Armor on a Brute, Tanker or Scrapper? Which AT utilizes it the best.

 

Or would you recommend other combos? Like DA is an endurance heavy set, so would Savage Melee pair well with it for the endurance recovery passive? Are there specifc dark builds you’d recommend for a tank/brute?

 

Lastly, how does Dark (melee or aura) stack up endgame to other power sets?

 

So sorry for the million questions, I just want to pick your brain! 😂

[Saikochoro]

4 minutes ago, StriderIV said:

Savage Melee has been a blast so far! Only lv. 11, but I like the feeling of not having to wait for cool downs haha. Seems like I always have an attack up.

That is one of my favorite things about savage! Glad you are having fun!

[StriderIV]

12 minutes ago, Saikochoro said:

That is one of my favorite things about savage! Glad you are having fun!

I feel like Savage gets a bad rep, people comparing it to Titan weapons. But honestly the dmg seems really high! It’s just mostly in DOT.

[Saikochoro]

6 minutes ago, StriderIV said:

I feel like Savage gets a bad rep, people comparing it to Titan weapons. But honestly the dmg seems really high! It’s just mostly in DOT.

Yeah I honestly don’t know why savage gets a bad rap. The damage is definitely there. It has decent up front damage and good dpa on maiming and vicious. The real winner for savage is that the attack chain is so darned fast.  Sure it might not have a single super hard hitter. But it’s speed makes up for it IMO. Plus, once you have savage leap fully proc’d out it is glorious. 

[StriderIV]

22 minutes ago, Saikochoro said:

Yeah I honestly don’t know why savage gets a bad rap. The damage is definitely there. It has decent up front damage and good dpa on maiming and vicious. The real winner for savage is that the attack chain is so darned fast.  Sure it might not have a single super hard hitter. But it’s speed makes up for it IMO. Plus, once you have savage leap fully proc’d out it is glorious. 

Seriously man. I’ve liked it so much, I’m seriously considering making a Dark Armor/Savage Melee Tanker. I feel the extra fast attacks will create such a different feel for the attacks. My kind of knock against Dark Armor is the past has been how endurance heavy it is, but the end return on Savage Melee might help with that.

 

Also, a Vampire Dark Armor/Savage Melee tank just sounds cool =P

[StriderIV]

47 minutes ago, Saikochoro said:

Yeah I honestly don’t know why savage gets a bad rap. The damage is definitely there. It has decent up front damage and good dpa on maiming and vicious. The real winner for savage is that the attack chain is so darned fast.  Sure it might not have a single super hard hitter. But it’s speed makes up for it IMO. Plus, once you have savage leap fully proc’d out it is glorious. 

I guess /Shield with the dark shield could work as well and be kind of on theme =P

 

So you have any experience with Savage Melee on Stalkers? I hear it’s pretty good with that AT as well.

 

 

[Saikochoro]

1 hour ago, StriderIV said:

I guess /Shield with the dark shield could work as well and be kind of on theme =P

 

So you have any experience with Savage Melee on Stalkers? I hear it’s pretty good with that AT as well.

 

 

Yes, I do. I have a savage/ea stalker that I enjoy a lot. Savage/shield on stalker is also extremely good.  
 

Stalkers probably have savage best as they get all the same AoE goodness and the single target is even better than brutes or scrappers. I actually take hemorrhage on stalkers as it is a very hard hitting dot on stalkers. Plus you get assassins strike. I recommend savage on basically all the melee archetypes. I also like it on dominators. 

[StriderIV]

Just now, Saikochoro said:

Yes, I do. I have a savage/ea stalker that I enjoy a lot. Savage/shield on stalker is also extremely good.  
 

Stalkers probably have savage best as they get all the same AoE goodness and the single target is even better than brutes or scrappers. I actually take hemorrhage on stalkers as it is a very hard hitting dot on stalkers. Plus you get assassins strike. I recommend savage on basically all the melee archetypes. I also like it on dominators. 

That is awesome dude! So if I put you in a bind and made you choose, you’d probably say Stalkers are the best with it endgame? I hear rumblings that Tankers with Savage are undervalued.

[StriderIV]

2 minutes ago, Saikochoro said:

Yes, I do. I have a savage/ea stalker that I enjoy a lot. Savage/shield on stalker is also extremely good.  
 

Stalkers probably have savage best as they get all the same AoE goodness and the single target is even better than brutes or scrappers. I actually take hemorrhage on stalkers as it is a very hard hitting dot on stalkers. Plus you get assassins strike. I recommend savage on basically all the melee archetypes. I also like it on dominators. 

Also, I tend to like surviability on heroes. Would you say stalkers have similar levels or survive ability/tankiness to a scrapper?

[Saikochoro]

Just now, StriderIV said:

Also, I tend to like surviability on heroes. Would you say stalkers have similar levels or survive ability/tankiness to a scrapper?

Pretty much yeah. I can’t recall if they have the same health pool as a scrapper or not, but they have the same armor modifiers and the same resist caps. Hitting softcaps on stalkers is also generally easier in my opinion since they have a head start in hide.  I’ve never been disappointed in survivability for either archetype. Both can be build very tough. 
 

I have never had survivability be the determining factor of if I chose stalker vs scrapper. It’s always been about how the primary plays for me.

[Dark Dove]

Just now, StriderIV said:

Also, I tend to like surviability on heroes. Would you say stalkers have similar levels or survive ability/tankiness to a scrapper?

Stalkers lose one power in their secondary, replaced with Hide (which, in turn, offers some small defense value, so you lose a little less in the trade), compared to a scrapper.  They have slightly lower hit point cap. Otherwise they are identical to Scrappers defensively.  You need to pay attention to the secondary though, because some secondaries lose a more important power for hide than others.  Some sets are built differently as well, like Invuln powers that have different effects compared to the scrapper version.

 

All in all, the difference is slight when considering a fully built character.

[StriderIV]

2 minutes ago, Dark Dove said:

Stalkers lose one power in their secondary, replaced with Hide (which, in turn, offers some small defense value, so you lose a little less in the trade), compared to a scrapper.  They have slightly lower hit point cap. Otherwise they are identical to Scrappers defensively.  You need to pay attention to the secondary though, because some secondaries lose a more important power for hide than others.  Some sets are built differently as well, like Invuln powers that have different effects compared to the scrapper version.

 

All in all, the difference is slight when considering a fully built character.

Super helpful! If I were to build a Savage Melee stalker, would you recommend either Dark Armor or Shield defense to go with it? Or both could be decent?

[Saikochoro]

13 minutes ago, StriderIV said:

That is awesome dude! So if I put you in a bind and made you choose, you’d probably say Stalkers are the best with it endgame? I hear rumblings that Tankers with Savage are undervalued.

Not sure. I haven’t gotten a savage tanker to 50 yet. I just enjoy the set as a whole. I can’t imagine it would be much worse than brutes or scrappers. 
 

As far as what is best at 50...I’m going to say it depends.  Stalkers will do more single target than any other melee archetype basically regardless of the attack set. This is due to assassins strike, assassins focus, and their ATOs. So it’s hard to say that they are best due to having better single target damage. This is true with basically every shared set of stalkers. 
 

I think most people would say savage is best of stalkers. I’m not going to deny that, but it depends on the feel. I have many savage characters, but my main ones are:

- savage/EA stalker
- savage/EA brute

- savage/bio scrapper

- plant/savage dominator 

Out of those 4, I enjoy the scrapper the most and the brute second most. Even though stalkers can go berserk and just fight everything in sight just like a scrapper or a brute, I still have a lot of old school stalker in me. So I tend to find the biggest baddest target and focus it down on my stalker. On my scrapper/brute I just leap in and go ballistic on the entire spawn not really caring what my target is. 
 

So it depends on how you generally approach each archetype. Stalkers will do better damage. That is pretty much always going to be the case. The general consensus does seem to be the savage is best on stalkers. I have the most fun on my savage scrapper. 

Edited December 19, 2020 by Saikochoro

[Dark Dove]

1 minute ago, StriderIV said:

Super helpful! If I were to build a Savage Melee stalker, would you recommend either Dark Armor or Shield defense to go with it? Or both could be decent?

Dark Armor on a stalker isn't as optimal as shield defense.  Dark is a resist set and doesn't translate well from the scrapper/tanker version, and Stalkers tend to thrive on defense based or layered defense/resist sets like Energy, Shield, Invuln.  That doesn't mean Dark would be bad, you could still build it right, but you're losing some defense from the loss of Cloak of Darkness into Shadow Dweller, and you're losing the damage aura; it's just not as good on stalkers as other AT's that get it.  Shield however loses a far less important power for hide, and can still be built almost equally as tough as a scrapper version.  Shield is great on stalkers.

[StriderIV]

4 minutes ago, Saikochoro said:

Pretty much yeah. I can’t recall if they have the same health pool as a scrapper or not, but they have the same armor modifiers and the same resist caps. Hitting softcaps on stalkers is also generally easier in my opinion since they have a head start in hide.  I’ve never been disappointed in survivability for either archetype. Both can be build very tough. 
 

I have never had survivability be the determining factor of if I chose stalker vs scrapper. It’s always been about how the primary plays for me.

That’s good to know! You might be swaying me to stalker over tanker haha.  Both seem like they could be a lot of fun though 

[StriderIV]

11 minutes ago, Dark Dove said:

Dark Armor on a stalker isn't as optimal as shield defense.  Dark is a resist set and doesn't translate well from the scrapper/tanker version, and Stalkers tend to thrive on defense based or layered defense/resist sets like Energy, Shield, Invuln.  That doesn't mean Dark would be bad, you could still build it right, but you're losing some defense from the loss of Cloak of Darkness into Shadow Dweller, and you're losing the damage aura; it's just not as good on stalkers as other AT's that get it.  Shield however loses a far less important power for hide, and can still be built almost equally as tough as a scrapper version.  Shield is great on stalkers.

That is good to know! So it seems Savage/Shield would be better on a stalker and Savage/Dark would be more optimal on a tanker.

[Dark Dove]

4 minutes ago, StriderIV said:

That’s good to know! You might be swaying me to stalker over tanker haha.  Both seem like they could be a lot of fun though 

The tanker version of Savage benefits greatly from the Tanker AoE buff.  Even the cone (Shred w/resist debuff proc) is worth taking on a tanker, and you don't even need to bother building all of your stacks of blood frenzy to get a good size AoE out of Rending Flurry, it's already big enough to do work (and obscenely huge with full stacks).  Tanker Savage is pretty fun.

 

Stalkers are great too though...

Edited December 19, 2020 by Dark Dove

[StriderIV]

15 minutes ago, Saikochoro said:

Not sure. I haven’t gotten a savage tanker to 50 yet. I just enjoy the set as a whole. I can’t imagine it would be much worse than brutes or scrappers. 
 

As far as what is best at 50...I’m going to say it depends.  Stalkers will do more single target than any other melee archetype basically regardless of the attack set. This is due to assassins strike, assassins focus, and their ATOs. So it’s hard to say that they are best due to having better single target damage. This is true with basically every shared set of stalkers. 
 

I think most people would say savage is best of stalkers. I’m not going to deny that, but it depends on the feel. I have many savage characters, but my main ones are:

- savage/EA stalker
- savage/EA brute

- savage/bio scrapper

- plant/savage dominator 

Out of those 4, I enjoy the scrapper the most and the brute second most. Even though stalkers can go berserk and just fight everything in sight just like a scrapper or a brute, I still have a lot of old school stalker in me. So I tend to find the biggest baddest target and focus it down on my stalker. On my scrapper/brute I just leap in and go ballistic on the entire spawn not really caring what my target is. 
 

So it depends on how you generally approach each archetype. Stalkers will do better damage. That is pretty much always going to be the case. The general consensus does seem to be the savage is best on stalkers. I have the most fun on my savage scrapper. 

What a great breakdown man, I appreciate it. At the end of the day, in PVP at least... fully built Savage/Shield Stalker and a fully built Savage/Dark tanker are probably never gonna kill each other 😂 or the fight is gonna go for 30 mins lmao.

 

it does seem, from what I gathered, that Savage/Shield would be more optimal on a Stalker and Savage/Dark would be more optimal on a tanker.

[StriderIV]

3 minutes ago, Dark Dove said:

The tanker version of Savage benefits greatly from the Tanker AoE buff.  Even the cone (Shred w/resist debuff proc) is worth taking on a tanker, and you don't even need to bother building all of your stacks of blood frenzy to get a good size AoE out of Rending Flurry, it's already big enough to do work (and obscenely huge with full stacks).  Tanker Savage is pretty fun.

 

Stalkers are great too though...

Ooof man it’s tough to decide! I guess it comes down to playstyle. For the tanker at least, do you think Savage/Dark or Savage/Shield is better?