Rad vs. any other armor for a Brute

[BigKahuna337]

Looking for opinions on best all around armor specifically for a Brute. For the sake of argument I'm throwing out Fire. I get it, if you want a farmer, FA is best. I'm throwing out Regen and SR are useless armors imo. I've built dozens of Brutes and haven't found any as all around effective as Rad. The only downside is lack of DDR but I slot Ageless Radial when needed and can make due with it plus a purp here and there. Please tell me where I'm wrong or share your opinions on the below.

 

Invul: I'll give the slight edge on sturdiness but the long recharge on Dull Pain pisses me off in farms. The Unstoppable crash blows especially compared to Rads Meltdown. But if you're and Invul person, I get it.

 

Shield: Fun armor but the lack of heal and low resists, from my experience it has more holes than Rad.

 

Stone: The movement penalties on Granite..I just can't abide by it.

 

Elec: Great armor. ~90 Res S/L/F/E with 30+ Def on the same but Rad can build to that too and Rad Heal and Absorb smash anything Elec can do.

 

WP: I'm not a WP expert, built only once or twice but totally sucks on a farm. Personally it feels kinda weak, but what do you think?

 

Dark: Seems pretty decent, great heal great on Psi but weaker than Rad and Elec imo.

 

NRG: Fun armor, great on Def weak on Res. For big groups of mobs though, doesn't hold up like the Res based armors imo.

 

Bio: Fun armor but too clicky for me.

Please tell me your opinions. The Brute I'm basing this off of is a WM/Rad I built that just seems better to me than the dozen others I've built.

[Lunar Ronin]

You don't need Granite for Stone Armor, FWIW.

[BigKahuna337]

So would you place Stone -Granite over Rad for a Brute?

[Lunar Ronin]

2 minutes ago, BigKahuna337 said:

So would you place Stone -Granite over Rad for a Brute?

 

I don't know about *over* Rad, but it'd be just as good with layered defenses and resistances, instead of relying entirely on one or the other.

[Ringo]

....SR is useless?  What on earth?

[BigKahuna337]

I've found SR to be fine one on one and probably PVP, which I never got into but vs +4x8 the lack of Res drops a SR brute like a level 1 Blaster. I'm sure it has niche uses but what do you use it for? Give some example please. DDR I know it's great.

Edited February 29 by BigKahuna337

[BigKahuna337]

And would you take SR on a Brute over Rad for all around game content and if so, why? Not trying to pee in anyone's Cheerios just looking for in game experiences on these armors. Thanks.

[Erratic1]

3 hours ago, BigKahuna337 said:

Bio: Fun armor but too clicky for me.

Please tell me your opinions. The Brute I'm basing this off of is a WM/Rad I built that just seems better to me than the dozen others I've built.

 

I think a lot of people see the ability to change stances with Bio and think they are supposed to. Choose a stance and depart from it rarely. Easy. Other than stance dancing, there are 3 click powers which should only be invoked as needed.

 

Energy Aura has 3 click powers and yet nobody ever calls it clicky. Likewise Electric  Armor has 3 click powers and is also never called clicky.

 

Probably a good thing Fire has been discounted as it has 4 click powers. But Rad Armor was not discounted and has Radiation Therapy, Particle Shielding, Ground Zero, and Meltdown all as click powers. Oddly, it too is not ever called clicky.

 

 

[SeraphimKensai]

I'm in the camp that Rad Armor should be built in such a fashion that it doesn't need DDR, because it doesn't need Defense. My SS/Rad Brute uses capped resistances, capped slow res, and absorb and gets through +4x8 without any issue whatsoever.

[Ringo]

On 2/28/2024 at 6:40 PM, BigKahuna337 said:

I've found SR to be fine one on one and probably PVP, which I never got into but vs +4x8 the lack of Res drops a SR brute like a level 1 Blaster. I'm sure it has niche uses but what do you use it for? Give some example please. DDR I know it's great.

On 2/28/2024 at 6:42 PM, BigKahuna337 said:

And would you take SR on a Brute over Rad for all around game content and if so, why? Not trying to pee in anyone's Cheerios just looking for in game experiences on these armors. Thanks.

 

Super Reflexes Pros:

Soft Cap all positional defenses

Scaling Resistance % to all damage types (except Psychic? It's not listed in COD)

Defense debuff resistance.  Slow debuff resistance.

+Recharge

 

Cons:  

No Taunt Aura (This is wrong, your taunt aura is in Evasion)

No Damage powers

No Heal

Click Mez Protection

 

My thoughts:  SR's scaling resists means the only time you *should* be dropping is from a OHKO at full health.  SR may be better on Tankers because of the higher caps, but SR Brutes can reach the same resistance numbers as other Brutes so getting dropped on +4x8 is more likely a player problem than a set problem.  That doesn't mean that said player can't have less problems on a /Rad over an /SR - but that's on the driver not the vehicle.

 

And yeah, I would absolutely take SR over Rad against all content if your goal is to outlast your opponents.  However Rad can increase kill speed which is something SR can't do, so it depends on what you want your Brute to do.  SR is "less busy".  SR is stronger on SOs.  SR IO slotting is more flexible because it only has to chase Resistance bonuses through sets.

 

I totally get if someone doesn't find those benefits appealing, different strokes for different folks, but mostly what I see from your evaluations is for farming which is a very specific niche about fighting beyond the aggro cap trying to kill as many mobs as fast as possible before they kill you - which, yes, /Rad and /Fire both increase kill speed, have easily capped resistances, and have heals.  That's super in their wheelhouse.  Against harder hitting Bosses, EBs, and AVs Rad and Fire no longer have a leg up, and resist sets will fall before SR

 

Unless those OHKOs get you, of course

 

Edited March 3 by Ringo
Erroneous info on Taunt!

[Parabola]

3 hours ago, Ringo said:

No Taunt Aura

SR does have a taunt aura.

 

Overall I agree with your analysis though. SR offers something different to a set like Rad. It can be made to be an offensive armour simply by achieving a decent level of protection easily, therefore freeing up slotting choices in attacks. If I really want to go nuts with proccing out an attack set SR is one of the first places I start looking.

[MonteCarla]

Hmmm... I'd put Electric Armor even with Rad.

Rad Armor doesn't have a damage aura. I know you can turn Ground Zero into a mini-nuke with procs, but you're missing out on the zero-animation-time, zero-attention-from-you damage field that Elec (and Fire and Dark) get.

I don't have any numbers to back up what the damage aura does when you're surrounded by enemies, but my gut feel is that its significant. 

Out of the big 4 exotic resist sets, Rad and Electric have the best resistance holes (Cold and Cold/Toxic respectively) and Dark has the worse (Energy).

Any of them can be built to have 90% resistance to most damage types, which is an experience that absolutely rocks!

(See my guide for numbers breakdowns)

 

What are you planning to do with your Brute? I'm assuming not farming, but what? Soloing AV's? Hardmode Task forces? Soloing +4/x8 missions? That might help determine what's best?

 

[Ringo]

1 hour ago, Parabola said:

SR does have a taunt aura.

 

Overall I agree with your analysis though. SR offers something different to a set like Rad. It can be made to be an offensive armour simply by achieving a decent level of protection easily, therefore freeing up slotting choices in attacks. If I really want to go nuts with proccing out an attack set SR is one of the first places I start looking.

Ack you're right, it's "hidden" in Evasion.  I completely forgot

[Infinitum]

On 2/28/2024 at 9:06 PM, BigKahuna337 said:

Shield: Fun armor but the lack of heal and low resists, from my experience it has more holes than Rad.

Shield has no holes if you build it right - your don't really need a heal.  Plus AAO is really sweet when you are swamped.   It has better than average res if you build it right also. 

 

On 2/28/2024 at 9:06 PM, BigKahuna337 said:

Invul: I'll give the slight edge on sturdiness but the long recharge on Dull Pain pisses me off in farms. The Unstoppable crash blows especially compared to Rads Meltdown. But if you're and Invul person, I get it.

If you are viewing dull pain as a heal mainly - I get your frustration, but if you make it perma and view it as a perma HP cap - it's purpose is much more valuable.  Invul is sturdy enough to where if you need a heal you have gotten into some gnarly stuff. 

 

On 2/28/2024 at 9:06 PM, BigKahuna337 said:

Regen and SR are useless

Regen is bad,  yes. 

 

SR is one of the best.  SR can occasionally get overtaken by a bad burst roll but I can count on one hand either tanker or brute SR I have have fallen.   Best ddr in the game, positionals easily can incarnate softcap, extra recharge and slow prot. in quickness, a click status protection that will protect even if you run out of end, and then a scaling resistance that will cap and literally make the enemy punch themselves out of end trying to take the last 10% of their health. 

Edited March 5 by Infinitum