Primary for Radiation Armor (giving durability priority)

[Bastille Boy]

I have two eccentric criteria for a good character:

 

1. Ability to complete AE 801.2 solo at high difficulty settings. This requires extreme durability without sacrificing DPS (both single target and AOE). A squishy with no protection other than soft-capped defenses will faceplant almost instantly. Thus far, the only character I have that can finish the mission at max diff is my Shield/EM tanker.
2. Ability to get along well with other people outside combat settings. If a character's superpowers would make them a terrible roommate, I consider the character sub-par.

 

I've been avoiding playing brutes because they seem to fail so badly by criterion (2). Brutes are inherently difficult to live with, on account of their anger management issues. Then I noticed that Radiation Armor has an AOE heal. Maybe living with a /Rad brute would be tolerable, if problematic. Sure, they have conflicts, but they have a way of patching things up.

 

I am wondering what primaries would be a good fit for a /Rad brute, keeping in mind criterion 1. DPS is always helpful, but powers that improve durability could matter more (e.g. tohit debuffs, self-heals, endurance bosts). I don't know whether +def buffs will matter on a resistance armor set that has no DDR. High accuracy / tohit is useful against the Rangers.

 

The fury mechanic introduces some subtleties. I get the impression that sets with +dam powers (other than Build Up) do better on other ATs, because the +dam isn't felt as much on brutes. Does that outweigh the -tohit from Dark Melee? I also get the sense that fast animations are desirable to keep up the fury meter. Do slow animations outweigh the debuffs, self-healing, and high damage in Radiation Melee?

 

Any thoughts or suggestions?

[Ankhammon]

DM/Rad and IO for defense.

 

You will get great damage output on large spawns. Touch of Fear is now aoe and a great control/debuff, get yourself a +end power and lots of damage options to go with very nice amounts of regen and some heal to top you off too.

 

Actually I have a Rad/DM tank and he does just fine on damage. Tanks get more aoe hits (can hit more per aoe power) and to me that makes up for any up front damage the brute gets.

[DreadShinobi]

You should probably ping @Linea for gearing towards their AE content.

[Sovera]

17 hours ago, Bastille Boy said:

I have two eccentric criteria for a good character:

 

1. Ability to complete AE 801.2 solo at high difficulty settings. This requires extreme durability without sacrificing DPS (both single target and AOE). A squishy with no protection other than soft-capped defenses will faceplant almost instantly. Thus far, the only character I have that can finish the mission at max diff is my Shield/EM tanker.
2. Ability to get along well with other people outside combat settings. If a character's superpowers would make them a terrible roommate, I consider the character sub-par.

 

I've been avoiding playing brutes because they seem to fail so badly by criterion (2). Brutes are inherently difficult to live with, on account of their anger management issues. Then I noticed that Radiation Armor has an AOE heal. Maybe living with a /Rad brute would be tolerable, if problematic. Sure, they have conflicts, but they have a way of patching things up.

 

I am wondering what primaries would be a good fit for a /Rad brute, keeping in mind criterion 1. DPS is always helpful, but powers that improve durability could matter more (e.g. tohit debuffs, self-heals, endurance bosts). I don't know whether +def buffs will matter on a resistance armor set that has no DDR. High accuracy / tohit is useful against the Rangers.

 

The fury mechanic introduces some subtleties. I get the impression that sets with +dam powers (other than Build Up) do better on other ATs, because the +dam isn't felt as much on brutes. Does that outweigh the -tohit from Dark Melee? I also get the sense that fast animations are desirable to keep up the fury meter. Do slow animations outweigh the debuffs, self-healing, and high damage in Radiation Melee?

 

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

 

Brutes are not particularly tanky if you intend to solo the 801. They are about as solid as a Scrapper and soloing the 801 series on a Scrapper, well, it can be done I'm sure but it's a place that demands maximum survival.

 

On a team with buffs a Brute can be as good as a Tanker where (most) Tankers strive to be self sufficient which is laudable but makes buffs less needed unless specifically tailored for their armor's weakness.

 

The 'problem' with the 801 series is that is it made to kill people. Simple. And some of it, like defense debuffing, pretty much has no answer if not picking the correct armor set. Rad Armor is top notch for content, but will be turned into a radioactive splatter once the defense debuffs start hitting. Shield is where it is at.

 

If you are interested Linea has made posts on the Tanker forums about the characters that they use for soloing.

I would say go for DM/Shield or Rad/Shield.

[Gobbledigook]

I would go for sets with an AoE crowd control like knockdown. Kill them before they kill you and limit them fighting back.

[Bastille Boy]

14 hours ago, Ankhammon said:

Actually I have a Rad/DM tank and he does just fine on damage. Tanks get more aoe hits (can hit more per aoe power) and to me that makes up for any up front damage the brute gets.

 

That's a good suggestion. I wonder whether math of the fury mechanic and Soul Drain makes Dark Melee stronger on a tanker or on a scrapper.

 

28 minutes ago, Sovera said:

Brutes are not particularly tanky if you intend to solo the 801. They are about as solid as a Scrapper and soloing the 801 series on a Scrapper, well, it can be done I'm sure but it's a place that demands maximum survival.

 

On a team with buffs a Brute can be as good as a Tanker where (most) Tankers strive to be self sufficient which is laudable but makes buffs less needed unless specifically tailored for their armor's weakness.

 

The 'problem' with the 801 series is that is it made to kill people. Simple. And some of it, like defense debuffing, pretty much has no answer if not picking the correct armor set. Rad Armor is top notch for content, but will be turned into a radioactive splatter once the defense debuffs start hitting. Shield is where it is at.

 

I know that @Linea has run 801.2 at max difficulty on three scrappers and a brute. The brute was Kat/Rad, which makes me wonder if other +def primaries (Broadsword, Martial Arts, Staff) with /Rad would work.

 

Linea's advice here suggests that tankers can use Radiation Armor in the 801.X series without team buffs up to 801.5. I suspect that this requires some combination of Rune, Demonic Aura, and Wedding Band, and that these powers would be even more necessary on a brute. For 801.6 and above, Radiation Armor needs team buffs. Shield does better, as you suggest.

[Linea]

I went at the problem with Radiation Armor two ways.  One as Def/Res Hybrid, and the other as pure Resist.  For me, I found the Pure Resist build worked better, although I did still build it on the Katana Frame.  The Katana frame made the build a better overall build.

 

Once I got the build to full Tier 4 Incarnates, as long as I remained above -45 defense, I was able to power through on resist-cap heals, absorbs, and Rebirth. -35 was fine, -45 or below I'd eventually fail.  A medium purple here and there will usually do the trick.  You also have to look out for the /Cold very carefully.   If the /Cold -special -enhance -heal lands while you're -35 or below, you're gonna drop like a rock due to having your resists and healing completely shutdown.  Cannons (Rads) need to die just as fast, as they are the primary ones that will keep you below -35 defense.  Cannons (Rads) and /Colds.  If the two combine and you don't kill one asap, it's gonna go badly.

 

Also keep in mind Resist is RDR, and RDR doesn't cap.  So there may be times where a little extra orange doesn't hurt.

 

I monitor my attributes constantly, and try not to stand in the location debuffs.

 

Do NOT let resist cap fail, even by a few percent, or you'll die, as that gets multiplied by the defense debuffs.  You're living in the red, don't blink.

This is much harder to pull off on the brute than the tank, but it's still doable.

 

Kat Rad Brute - Tacidar - Mu 4 (Psi-Tank) - [i25].mxd

Rad Kat Tank - Radicat II - Mu 3f - [i25].mxd

 

Edited August 10, 2021 by Linea

[Bastille Boy]

Thanks, @Linea. This is really helpful (both the builds and the tips about how to play them).

 

It looks as if those builds rely heavily on a Meltdown / Rune / Hybrid rotation. A Rad armor brute won't be easy to drive, but I think it's worth a try.

 

I'm going to play in Mids and see if I can come up with something similar that includes Ground Zero (which is key for concept reasons). I might try Staff in place of Katana.

 

[Linea]

The original was Staff.  Staff gets it's own +resist proc that makes it easier to resist cap.  But I switched it to Katana for slightly better dps, and I'm just really fond of Katana.

 

These are all really old builds, so I'm sure there's a lot of room for improvement, and the game has changed a lot since then.

 

Rad Staff Tank - Radicat - Mu 3 (Psi-Tank) - [i25].mxd

Staff Rad Brute - Tacidar - Mu 3 - [i25].mxd

Edited August 10, 2021 by Linea

[Ninjaboy]

I just tried the 801.2 at +3/8 completely adhoc with my SS/Electric Brute using the wrong incarnates and only stocked up on a few inspirations (also wrong type).

 

I was just stress testing my build which is heavily IO'd but not a silly no travel power, skip key theme abilities , etc.

 

It was pretty easy if all my protection rotations were up or I had some key inspirations available when those were down.

 

Switching to the right incarnates would have made it a lot more friendly as well as targeting key mobs as you mentioned.

 

I was zerging it unprepared and it took me way longer than it should have to get through the first bit of the mission.

 

 

Edited August 22, 2021 by Ninjaboy