Kinetics/Energy Brute

[BurningFury]

Hello Brutes!

 

This is my first attempt at a brute. It's also my first trip through CoV. I've missioned my way through 20 so far and have enjoyed the trip. I have experience with an inv/energy tank. Outside that, my toons are mostly ranged. 

 

Kin and Energy seemed interesting to me. The animations are a touch slower than I'd like but not as bad as Energy's total focus and pre-27 Energy Transfer. So, no big deal. Endurance usage is manageable so far.

 

Goals:

I like to team up but am happy to solo. I don't intend to tank but would be happy to do so for a group, if needed. I'd join a farm but don't intend to be a full-time farmer. Honestly, I just want to punch a lot of things in the face. 

 

Questions for the group:

As my only melee is an INV tank, I am not used to seeing such low resistance numbers. Is this typical for brutes or just energy brutes? The defense numbers are ok for S/L/E/Fire/Cold but resistance numbers are horrible.

The epics for brutes seem rather meh. Thoughts on energy mastery? Would something else be a better pick? Curious to hear what other brutes like.

 

Spoiler

Pocket Fusion - Villain Brute
Build plan made with Mids' Reborn v3.6.6 rev. 3
──────────────────────────────

• Primary powerset: Kinetic Melee
• Secondary powerset: Energy Aura
• Pool powerset (#1): Speed
• Pool powerset (#2): Leaping
• Pool powerset (#3): Fighting
• Pool powerset (#4): Flight
• Ancillary powerset: Energy Mastery
  

──────────────────────────────

Powers taken:

Level 1: Body Blow

• A: Superior Brute's Fury: Accuracy/Damage
• 3: Superior Brute's Fury: Damage/Recharge
• 9: Superior Brute's Fury: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• 36: Superior Brute's Fury: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
• 39: Superior Brute's Fury: Recharge/Fury Bonus
  

Level 1: Kinetic Shield

• A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• 5: Luck of the Gambler: Defense
• 11: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance
• 17: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance/Recharge
• 17: Kismet: Accuracy +6%
  

Level 2: Smashing Blow

• A: Superior Unrelenting Fury: Accuracy/Damage
• 3: Superior Unrelenting Fury: Damage/RechargeTime
• 9: Superior Unrelenting Fury: Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime
• 36: Superior Unrelenting Fury: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime
• 39: Superior Unrelenting Fury: RechargeTime/+Regen/+End
  

Level 4: Power Shield

• A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• 5: Luck of the Gambler: Defense
• 11: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance
• 36: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance/Recharge
• 37: Shield Wall: +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All)
  

Level 6: Power Siphon

• A: Adjusted Targeting: To Hit Buff
• 7: Adjusted Targeting: To Hit Buff/Recharge
• 7: Adjusted Targeting: To Hit Buff/Endurance/Recharge
• 37: Adjusted Targeting: To Hit Buff/Endurance
• 46: Adjusted Targeting: Recharge
• 46: Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control: Chance for Build Up
  

Level 8: Hasten

• A: Invention: Recharge Reduction
• 37: Invention: Recharge Reduction
  

Level 10: Entropic Aura

• A: Perfect Zinger: Chance for Psi Damage
  

Level 12: Repulsing Torrent

• A: Bombardment: Damage
• 13: Bombardment: Accuracy/Recharge/Endurance
• 13: Bombardment: Damage/Recharge
• 48: Bombardment: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
• 50: Bombardment: Chance for Fire Damage
• 50: Overwhelming Force: Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown
  

Level 14: Combat Jumping

• A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• 15: Luck of the Gambler: Defense
• 15: Reactive Defenses: Scaling Resist Damage
  

Level 16: Super Jump

• A: Unbounded Leap: Jumping
  

Level 18: Burst

• A: Armageddon: Damage
• 19: Armageddon: Damage/Recharge
• 19: Armageddon: Damage/Recharge/Accuracy
• 40: Armageddon: Recharge/Accuracy
• 40: Armageddon: Chance for Fire Damage
• 40: Sudden Acceleration: Knockback to Knockdown
  

Level 20: Energy Cloak

• A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• 21: Luck of the Gambler: Defense
• 21: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance
• 42: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 22: Focused Burst

• A: Apocalypse: Damage
• 23: Apocalypse: Damage/Recharge
• 23: Apocalypse: Damage/Recharge/Accuracy
• 43: Apocalypse: Recharge/Accuracy
• 43: Apocalypse: Damage/Endurance
• 43: Apocalypse: Chance of Damage(Negative)
  

Level 24: Energy Drain

• A: Power Transfer: EndMod
• 25: Power Transfer: Damage/Recharge
• 25: Power Transfer: Damage/EndMod
• 33: Power Transfer: Damage/Accuracy/Endurance
• 33: Power Transfer: Damage/Accuracy/Recharge/Endurance
• 48: Power Transfer: Chance to Heal Self
  

Level 26: Concentrated Strike

• A: Hecatomb: Damage
• 27: Hecatomb: Damage/Recharge
• 27: Hecatomb: Damage/Recharge/Accuracy
• 31: Hecatomb: Damage/Endurance
• 31: Hecatomb: Chance of Damage(Negative)
• 31: Touch of Death: Chance of Damage(Negative)
  

Level 28: Energize

• A: Preventive Medicine: Heal
• 29: Preventive Medicine: Heal/Endurance
• 29: Preventive Medicine: Endurance/RechargeTime
• 34: Preventive Medicine: Heal/RechargeTime
• 42: Preventive Medicine: Heal/RechargeTime/Endurance
• 46: Preventive Medicine: Chance for +Absorb
  

Level 30: Dampening Field

• A: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance
• 34: Unbreakable Guard: +Max HP
• 34: Steadfast Protection: Resistance/+Def 3%
  

Level 32: Energy Protection

• A: Gladiator's Armor: TP Protection +3% Def (All)
• 33: Gladiator's Armor: Resistance
  

Level 35: Boxing

• (Empty)
  

Level 38: Taunt

• A: Perfect Zinger: Chance for Psi Damage
• 39: Perfect Zinger: Threat/Placate
  

Level 41: Tough

• A: Aegis: Psionic/Status Resistance
• 42: Impervious Skin: Status Resistance/Regeneration
  

Level 44: Weave

• A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
• 45: Luck of the Gambler: Defense
• 45: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance
• 45: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 47: Superior Conditioning

• A: Power Transfer: Chance to Heal Self
• 48: Power Transfer: EndMod
  

Level 49: Physical Perfection

• A: Panacea: +Hit Points/Endurance
• 50: Miracle: +Recovery
  

──────────────────────────────

Inherents:

Level 1: Fury

Level 1: Brawl

• (Empty)
  

Level 1: Sprint

• A: Celerity: +Stealth
  

Level 2: Rest

• (Empty)
  

Level 1: Swift

• A: Invention: Run Speed
  

Level 1: Hurdle

• A: Invention: Jumping
  

Level 1: Health

• A: Numina's Convalesence: +Regeneration/+Recovery
  

Level 1: Stamina

• A: Performance Shifter: Chance for +End
  

Level 16: Double Jump

 

Spoiler

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[Without_Pause]

Your Resists are low. I can get 75% S/L on my /en Brute. I can toss you my Claws/en Brute build, but part of the difference is I skipped Taunt and Evis which means I skipped on two more powers in my primary which frees up more space for other stuff. I would recommend looking at skipping Repulsing Torrent. Its DPA is rather low although Burst isn't great either. Really, Kin struggles with AoE damage. I'm conflicted on CS since it clearly has the best DPA, but its Recharge is 20 seconds. Kin's ST damage overall isn't that bad. I haven't looked at Brute numbers to see if CS is actually worth taking. I default to going Energy/Body for melee, but EA can get away with not needing it and Kin can use help in the attack area, so choosing something else is a decent idea. 

 

 

 

Without Remorse - Brute (Claws - Energy Aura).mbd

[Snarky]

My opinion: Kinetic Melee is one of the lowest performing Melee Sets.  I have it on a tank at 50.  I have played it.  It depends on a long stack gimmick that is dramatically inefficient at late game and fast moving modern combat environments 

 

Energy Melee would be a better choice, or Super Strength if you can stand the crash every two minutes 

[Uun]

I'm baffled as to why you have so many sets with all the pieces +5'ed. The primary reason to +5 enhancements is to hit ED max with 2 or 3 pieces. With 4, 5 or 6 pieces you're almost certainly at ED max before +5'ing. There's also no reason whatsoever to +5 a proc or global.

[Without_Pause]

And just am FYI, that build would exempt terribly as you lose the set bonuses if you exempt too low. My default is using attuned IOs outside of purples since they are already attuned. 

[BurningFury]

4 hours ago, Snarky said:

My opinion: Kinetic Melee is one of the lowest performing Melee Sets.  I have it on a tank at 50.  I have played it.  It depends on a long stack gimmick that is dramatically inefficient at late game and fast moving modern combat environments 

 

Energy Melee would be a better choice, or Super Strength if you can stand the crash every two minutes 

 

This would explain why there are so few posts about Kin. Sort of disappointing as I like playing concepts that are built well rather than purely optimized flavors of the month. I have an EM tank. Not sure which option I'll go with. 

3 hours ago, Uun said:

I'm baffled as to why you have so many sets with all the pieces +5'ed. The primary reason to +5 enhancements is to hit ED max with 2 or 3 pieces. With 4, 5 or 6 pieces you're almost certainly at ED max before +5'ing. There's also no reason whatsoever to +5 a proc or global.

 

I'm curious to how much I can squeeze out on some builds. I do this with any build in Mids. I may attune enhancements. Though I do have a couple of builds where I have done this. Perhaps it is a bit wasteful.

 

3 hours ago, Without_Pause said:

And just am FYI, that build would exempt terribly as you lose the set bonuses if you exempt too low. My default is using attuned IOs outside of purples since they are already attuned. 

Thanks for pointing that out. Not sure if I would exemplar down or not. But I do appreciate the point.

[Saiyajinzoningen]

even if it isn't meta.

kin/EA sounds like pure eye candy

[Snarky]

49 minutes ago, Saiyajinzoningen said:

even if it isn't meta.

kin/EA sounds like pure eye candy

I ran a Inv/Kin Tank for a while at 50 because I wanted the meme "Tank Mage"  The big arm motions and half the attacks happening at range (short, but still) really achieved this effect.  If you are into Tai Chi Wizardy look Kin is your set.  If you want to drop a boss you might want EnMel

[Saiyajinzoningen]

10 minutes ago, Snarky said:

I ran a Inv/Kin Tank for a while at 50 because I wanted the meme "Tank Mage"  The big arm motions and half the attacks happening at range (short, but still) really achieved this effect.  If you are into Tai Chi Wizardy look Kin is your set.  If you want to drop a boss you might want EnMel

 

if they fix the gimmick I'll give it another shot

right now I am working on a EM/DA build

still in the early planning stages

 

 

[nihilii]

I love Kin and want to make it work so bad but I have to agree it might be at the very bottom of the barrel on a Brute specifically. This is because Kin relies on self damage buffing, and Brutes get the least out of damage buffs.

If you have an EM tank you might even find your EM tank outdamaging your Kin Brute. That's how bad Kin is (and how good EM is).

 

"Lowest performing" in CoH still means "perfectly able to solo everything, and capable of contribution in teams", so you shouldn't necessarily let that stop you.

 

But, yeah, performance expectations are something to be aware of.

Usually when it comes to epics Soul Mastery is a favorite. It lets you get Gloom which is one of the best attacks available to a Brute. Of course... this bumps against the Kin design as you already have a ranged attack in Focused Burst (so, can't slot Apoc set in both).

I differ with the previous advice regarding +5s. I like to +5 almost everything on my builds, secondary aspects like endurance reduction and whatnot are quite often worth enhancing.

On the other end, it is sometimes wasteful indeed, and at a glance many of those defense armors you 4-slot with LOTGs could likely be trimmed down to 3 or 2 slots, liberating extra slots for your resistance powers (which seem underslotted). Those Brute ATOs are also begging for a 6th slot, the 6th is +6% S/L res for one and +6% E/N res for the other. If you go 5 slots on these you almost always want to go 6 slots.

[Psyonico]

I've got a (very old) kin/ea brute build lying around somewhere.  Here's what I remember about it

 

EA is a mixed set focusing more on Defense rather than resist.  Yes, you can get good resist numbers, but you've got to build for it.  Brutes have lower base defense/resistance values compared to tanks, hypothetically they make up for that in the damage category (that's a rant for another time).

 

EA is too strong ATM, at least that's what the devs will has us believe.  That's why EA isn't on tanks, it would just be too good.

[Without_Pause]

1 hour ago, Psyonico said:

EA is too strong ATM, at least that's what the devs will has us believe.  That's why EA isn't on tanks, it would just be too good.

I chuckle at this mindset every time I play a Stone Armor character. And for those who have read my posts, you already know I think EA is fantastic as a set. 

Edited September 30, 2023 by Without_Pause

[Psyonico]

3 hours ago, Without_Pause said:

I chuckle at this mindset every time I play a Stone Armor character. And for those who have read my posts, you already know I think EA is fantastic as a set. 

I'm not sold that its too strong, like i said, that's what the devs have leaned into.

[Without_Pause]

4 hours ago, Psyonico said:

I'm not sold that its too strong, like i said, that's what the devs have leaned into.

I want quotes on that. I've done missions where Level 50+1 builds for both sets have all sorts of trouble on them.

[Yomo Kimyata]

On 9/19/2023 at 9:56 AM, BurningFury said:

Kin and Energy seemed interesting to me. The animations are a touch slower than I'd like but not as bad as Energy's total focus and pre-27 Energy Transfer. So, no big deal. Endurance usage is manageable so far.

 

Kin Melee gets a lot of hate, because people don't think it generates as much damage per xxx as other sets.  That is, in part, due to the fact that most attacks in the set have -damage (which I *think* is not resistible?) so the intended tradeoff was less damage for more survivability.  That said, if you are zerging content with teams in today's meta, many people only care about the almighty dps.  Solo, you'll probably notice the extra survivability (Burst is your real friend, an PBAoE that drops damage 12.75% for 7 seconds.  That's in addition to any damage resist you have.)

 

I would think that KM and EA would match relatively well together.  the -dam is functionally equivalent to +resist, which layers with the mostly defense-based Energy Aura.  That said, the KM gimmick works better in my mind on scrappers and stalkers, since getting a crit on Concentrated Strike instantly recharges Power siphon instead of doing bonus damage.  You lack that mechanic on Brutes and Tanks.