Best powersets for high damage brutes?

[Neiska]

Hello Forums!

 

Lately I have been experimenting with Brutes, and I am interested in making a high damage brute. I am wondering which power pairings would really shine? And I know "high damage" is subjective, as in game difficulty, AT/GM vs ST vs AoE that's not what I mean. I mean with the fury mechanic and Brutes lower base damage, some sets perform better on brutes than they do on Tankers or Scrappers.

 

I know that Spines/Fire is the AoE king, but rad melee/fire or even /bio might perform as well. Either by having 2 damage auras, and I am also uncertain how well Frankenslotting Procs on damage auras are for Brutes, as it works well on tankers.

 

I was thinking perhaps an Energy Melee/Bio Armor Brute, for decent AoE but very strong ST, with both a damage aura and different stances for different situations, with a proc slotted damage aura, if that works with the fury mechanic well.

 

I am just uncertain just what all stacks, with maximum damage cap and fury and whatnot. I mean, if you are at maximum fury, would Build Up, Offensive Stance from Bio, a "build up" proc, musculature alpha, and so on all stack or are there diminishing returns as there are with other effects? And is the "damage cap" for Brutes still +700% as it says on the old wiki or has that changed?

 

Basically, I would like to make a Brute that can rip a battleship apart, and far as sets go I am thinking EM/Bio might be the best performer, but I am open to suggestions!

 

TLDR - asking for clarification on Fury, because I have read and heard conflicting things about it. 

 

Thanks bunches in advance, and happy friday!

[Uun]

It all stacks. Brute damage cap is +700%. Enhancements are about 95% and full Fury is about 200%. That gives you another 400% to play with. Build Up is 80% and the proc is another 80%. Without buffs from Kinetics, you're unlikely to get close to the cap. 

 

Procs in damage auras are generally not a good idea for any AT. They only have a chance to go off every 10 seconds.

[Neiska]

Thank you!

[vibal]

If you're thinking about energy melee, I'd give stone melee a look. It's got great ST damage (seismic smash is a dude deleter) and tremor makes up for it's animation time by being one of the rare 15' melee AoE's. Fault is even a decent 1 slot power if you've got room in the build.

 

You'll get similar ST numbers with a tick better AoE and the consistent KD in stone is more reliable than energies hit/miss disorient.

 

But if you love the look/feel of energy it's a spiffy ST set.

[Sovera]

EM is better AoE than StM though, weird as as it may be. Power Smash, Whirling Hands, Power Smash won't win prizes but it will leave a gap for Total Focus at the end. Plus it's an orgy of stuns being showered in AoE.

 

I've been on a Ice Melee bent so I'll make a quick mention of it. Frost at level 2 + Brute's Fury makes leveling a breeze. My brute was one shotting full spawns all the way to 18-20 which is a very nice feeling. A brute's squishyness gets protected with Ice Patch too.

[vibal]

On 9/1/2021 at 12:50 PM, Sovera said:

EM is better AoE than StM though, weird as as it may be. Power Smash, Whirling Hands, Power Smash won't win prizes but it will leave a gap for Total Focus at the end. Plus it's an orgy of stuns being showered in AoE.

 

I've been on a Ice Melee bent so I'll make a quick mention of it. Frost at level 2 + Brute's Fury makes leveling a breeze. My brute was one shotting full spawns all the way to 18-20 which is a very nice feeling. A brute's squishyness gets protected with Ice Patch too.

 

Ah, I had forgotten about the cone - yeah. I'll stand by the flavor's being similar though & you can pick where you want that silly slo-mo jump animation. Either set is going to put the clamp on single targets.

 

Also, actually applying damage in a 15' PBAoE is also much more reliable than whirling hands' 8'. Haven't played with the updated EM but I'm really learning to love even a 10' PB over the rinky dink 8 footers.