Mids Brute Sets

[Serim]

 Hello everyone, this is my first post and first time delving into sets and at least one of those things is overwhelming.  I was wondering if anyone a bit more familiar with sets would be interested in sculpting my savage/rad brute with some fancy enhancements.

 

 My goal was to increase survive ability while maintaining the (what i think is) high endurance recovery. So far the character has held its own but is lacking the capability to fight battles of attrition against dots or larger mob pulls.  The health regen has kept me alive while leveling but I feel it isn't something to rely on, even against bosses.

 

 The attack speed of savagery lets me maintain decent rage levels, allowing nifty burst damage with things like frequent arcane power+arcane bolts, though in the end almost everything is single target.  If I use meltdown combined with rune of protection amazing resistance levels are achieved, but only for 1 minute, so downtime can be harsh. 

 

 Looking at my first high level build ever may be painful for the eyes so I must advise some sun glasses to reduce strain. 

 

 

Aura S - Brute (Savage Melee - Radiation Armor) MODDED.mbd

[Sovera]

Feeling squishy is normal since you're still using SOs/generic IOs. It is time to transition to using inventions and reap bonuses.

 

I was having a talk about slotting Radiation Armor a thread below called 'A question about Rad' which you can probably check for ideas. But first we need to make sure you have the cash to start buying things. Hopefully you should be brimming with Merits from playing (always hoping you did not stick to to radio missions and the Architect).

 

Check my newcomer guide first since it has a lot of useful information. In is how to turn Merits into cash. Don't fret, it's painless. Once having money and sure you're comfortable with the idea of using IOs we can tackle the build.

 

One thing I will point out is that in theory you should have enough attacks in the first three from Savage Melee and have no need for Arcane Bolt. Unless you like it and want to use it of course, but Vicious Slash, Savage Strike, Maiming Slash, repeat, should be available early on once we get your slotting sorted on the cheap.

[Serim]

That is a very useful conversation to butt into and it raises some questions that may help me sculpt the character myself!

 

I've spent quite a bit of enhancement getting particle shielding to be constantly active, though it does require about 10 endurance to cast.  The current build focuses on endurance efficiency (almost 4 recovery/sec) and making sure that buffer shield/regen is available.  Should I apply such a thought to attacks as well, instead of purely damage and accuracy?  Endurance had been a notable problem to deal with while leveling.  I've been afraid to speed up attacks because of uncertainty over how much recovery is actually needed for sustaining combat.

 

WuTang seems to have massive resistance and defense baselines with their /rad, is all of that from sets as well?!  The thought was my 50% or so resist baseline was adequate but now it seems otherwise.  Additionally their particle shielding power recharges even faster than mine, though they only have like 2 recovery per second.  Am I focusing on the wrong paths?

 

Is 60 seconds of nearly all resistances being 90% worthwhile or do late game battles last way longer than that?

 

Procs sound like they would be very useful when combined with the attack speed of savagery.  Is it viable to drop damage enhancements in order to acquire them?  Are they something that should be a focus, or can I just have one ability using proc? Do they all come from sets?

 

There are some cool looking unique set enhancements, would it be inappropriate to pick and choose singular uniques (or other powerful options) from different sets since some are so powerful?  Set bonuses seem to only add a small boon, though I'm guessing those smaller percentage gains matter more at higher levels.

 

When building with sets should I just erase my current enhancements in mids and build fresh?  A lot of replacement hesitation is coming from sets seemingly having less focused improvements than IO.  Do the set bonuses from multiple powers make up for the loss of a purely large bonus?

 

[Sovera]

6 hours ago, Serim said:

That is a very useful conversation to butt into and it raises some questions that may help me sculpt the character myself!

 

I've spent quite a bit of enhancement getting particle shielding to be constantly active, though it does require about 10 endurance to cast.  The current build focuses on endurance efficiency (almost 4 recovery/sec) and making sure that buffer shield/regen is available.  Should I apply such a thought to attacks as well, instead of purely damage and accuracy?  Endurance had been a notable problem to deal with while leveling.  I've been afraid to speed up attacks because of uncertainty over how much recovery is actually needed for sustaining combat.

 

WuTang seems to have massive resistance and defense baselines with their /rad, is all of that from sets as well?!  The thought was my 50% or so resist baseline was adequate but now it seems otherwise.  Additionally their particle shielding power recharges even faster than mine, though they only have like 2 recovery per second.  Am I focusing on the wrong paths?

 

Is 60 seconds of nearly all resistances being 90% worthwhile or do late game battles last way longer than that?

 

Procs sound like they would be very useful when combined with the attack speed of savagery.  Is it viable to drop damage enhancements in order to acquire them?  Are they something that should be a focus, or can I just have one ability using proc? Do they all come from sets?

 

There are some cool looking unique set enhancements, would it be inappropriate to pick and choose singular uniques (or other powerful options) from different sets since some are so powerful?  Set bonuses seem to only add a small boon, though I'm guessing those smaller percentage gains matter more at higher levels.

 

When building with sets should I just erase my current enhancements in mids and build fresh?  A lot of replacement hesitation is coming from sets seemingly having less focused improvements than IO.  Do the set bonuses from multiple powers make up for the loss of a purely large bonus?

 

 

In no particular order:

 

Small bonuses are small but stack up. You can get something like 30% for a particular resistance by adding them. Recharge is the same and adding more recharge from bonuses stacks. Sometimes to a point where Hasten is permanent.

 

Split IOs like damage/recharge are more powerful than single stat ones. Not that it may be visible at first glance when a level 50 accuracy is worth 42% (you chose SO in Mids which is why you see 32%, but generic IOs go to 42%) and a damage/recharge goes to 26%. But basic math shows it gives 52% instead of 42%. Looking at Particle Shielding your current slotting gives it 94% heal and 94% recharge, but we change to a Preventive Medicine and now it gives 73% endurance discount, 97% heal, 73% recharge, on top of giving 2.5% resistances to Smash and Lethal, 3% resistances to fire and cold, 3.75% endurance discount to all your powers, and 8.75% recharge to all your powers. So even losing some recharge from 94% to 73% it recoups back with the bonus and is actually at 80% recharge.

 

Reiterating what I said in the guide you don't lost anything by buying more expensive IOs since they can be sold back or just passed on to an alt. You may balk at seeing each piece of Preventive Medicine is worth around 2-3 million each, but, once bought they are for your whole account to use forever and ever.

 

Endurance problems are no longer a problem once you get a Theft of Essence proc in Radiation Therapy, and of course sprinkle endurance reduction in your attacks. Endurance reduction in attacks helps a lot more than it does in your toggles. One endurance reduction in your toggles is enough.

 

Meltdown is a bit obsolete by now. Not completely, and since it is a single power it's fine to keep and use it, but as I showed in the other thread we can reach 85% to a few resistances by using the bonuses and the incarnate powers (incarnate powers are a level 50 thing).

 

Procs are useful, but less so in your case since they follow a formula based around recharge and your attacks are pretty fast so they don't get a lot out of procs who will have a low chance to activate. It's fine to load attacks with procs, but it does come at a cost of not slotting other things or losing on slotting sets for their bonuses.

 

When building with sets you can just erase your SOs be it in game or in Mids. They cost peanuts and are not worth keeping. If you did check the guide you'll know that one Merit is worth around 200k. A complete build in generic IOs at level 22 (generic IOs never turn red after 5 levels like SOs do) costs around 2 million and will last until level 50 if need be. A new character can earn about 3 million in the first half hour of their life if they are strapped by cash, or just about 2 mill if ignoring the non-play aspect (going around picking badges) and just hitting things and leveling up.

 

This involves selling Merits. Have you checked how many you have yet?

[Serim]

Having just found the set overview option in mids I now understand what you mean by the small things add up.  Looking at some other /rad builds has revealed they have dozens of set bonuses, if not more.  I suppose it will just be a matter of knowing what to go for, maybe writing down options and alternatives, then stacking what is most synergistic. Thank you for the breakdown of data on particle shielding as it really made all that information click so to say. 

 

You're absolutely right about the intimidation factor of costs being in the millions, though I didn't realize the sets are account wide, that is wonderful news! I'm glad we can sell the IO back because I've only got like 3.5mil to my name.  It has actually been a while since I've played so no idea what I did to be so poor, but learning is fun so whatever.

 

Meltdown shall be my door wedge into these incarnate powers you mentioned.  I'm not quite 50 on the actual character but it is likely wise to learn about the pool that is going to be dived into.

 

Having investigated the procs a little more it seems that a lot of toggles have them in other builds.  Is that because they have a chance to proc very frequently?  I saw some data in mids that suggested some can roll every second.  Is it also that the procs occur more frequently when utilizing aoe powers against groups?

 

As for these merits, it appears I've 86 merit rewards and 47 vanguard rewards (and 15 converters if those can be sold as well or something)  So with some of your data I should have approximately 17mil to throw around which should see me through to my first set.  Before I start throwing those around I'll be sure to read your guide thoroughly so as not to ask you to orate it back to me in this thread.  Thank you for making it in advance by the way!

[Sovera]

3 minutes ago, Serim said:

Having just found the set overview option in mids I now understand what you mean by the small things add up.  Looking at some other /rad builds has revealed they have dozens of set bonuses, if not more.  I suppose it will just be a matter of knowing what to go for, maybe writing down options and alternatives, then stacking what is most synergistic. Thank you for the breakdown of data on particle shielding as it really made all that information click so to say. 

 

You're absolutely right about the intimidation factor of costs being in the millions, though I didn't realize the sets are account wide, that is wonderful news! I'm glad we can sell the IO back because I've only got like 3.5mil to my name.  It has actually been a while since I've played so no idea what I did to be so poor, but learning is fun so whatever.

 

Meltdown shall be my door wedge into these incarnate powers you mentioned.  I'm not quite 50 on the actual character but it is likely wise to learn about the pool that is going to be dived into.

 

Having investigated the procs a little more it seems that a lot of toggles have them in other builds.  Is that because they have a chance to proc very frequently?  I saw some data in mids that suggested some can roll every second.  Is it also that the procs occur more frequently when utilizing aoe powers against groups?

 

As for these merits, it appears I've 86 merit rewards and 47 vanguard rewards (and 15 converters if those can be sold as well or something)  So with some of your data I should have approximately 17mil to throw around which should see me through to my first set.  Before I start throwing those around I'll be sure to read your guide thoroughly so as not to ask you to orate it back to me in this thread.  Thank you for making it in advance by the way!

 

You're welcome 😄 And it's not a problem.

 

Procs are actually not good in auras (except in the original Irradiated Ground in Radiation Melee, but that's been 'fixed' since) because part of the formula involves AoEs. If the power is an AoE and depending on how wide it is, the chances for a proc to go off lower. Then auras only check for procs every 10 seconds. So every 10 seconds there is a chance for a proc to go off. Not efficient.

 

Some AoEs are decent with procs but it's a case by case basis. To see this consider the rule of thumb: 1) don't slot in an aura, 2) check the proc rate:

 

 

 

Hover the mouse over the damage numbers and this tooltip will pop up. The damage proc is the 71.75 (3.5 PPM). The tooltip is cluttered but where it will say (PPM) is where the chance for the proc to go off will be. In this case 87% is magnificent since the ceiling is 90% and it cannot go higher.

 

 

A damage proc in an AoE can go down to

 

 

33% is poor, but, it's in an AoE and you'll be surrounded by enemies so there is bound for some of them to be hit anyway.

 

 

But then to muddle the waters (which is why I say to inspect in a case by case basis) we have our lord and saviour Fire Melee with something like this ever 5-6 seconds.

 

 

 

So with AoE or single target powers always check the chances. Powers with fast recharge like the first attack we can pick (we call them T1, T2, T3, etc because it's their tier) will have something very bad like 17%. At that point we might as well slot bonuses instead of a damage proc. But attacks with a longer recharge can go up to a respectable 50% and still be available every 4-5 seconds thanks to having stacked all those recharge bonuses.

[Serim]

Naturally everything that can be distracting will be when trying to read a guide!

 

Another quick question about these procs if I may!  For savage strike there is a brute set which say the following.

 

 

Does this mean there is a high chance to proc half a second of healing?

 

Also, a lot of /rad builds seem to have the preventative medicine set on the particle shield power.  It says there's a 10% chance to gain a buff, which I assume means every cast you roll for it.  There is then a global -100% chance at 10%, in addition to the buff which says 10%.  Does that mean when you roll, if you gain the buff, you can't gain it again until said buff ends?

 

 

 

Edited April 7, 2024 by Serim
edited for layout

[Sovera]

4 hours ago, Serim said:

Naturally everything that can be distracting will be when trying to read a guide!

 

Another quick question about these procs if I may!  For savage strike there is a brute set which say the following.

 

 

Does this mean there is a high chance to proc half a second of healing?

 

Also, a lot of /rad builds seem to have the preventative medicine set on the particle shield power.  It says there's a 10% chance to gain a buff, which I assume means every cast you roll for it.  There is then a global -100% chance at 10%, in addition to the buff which says 10%.  Does that mean when you roll, if you gain the buff, you can't gain it again until said buff ends?

 

 

 

 

That proc is not very good. The Archetype Origins (called ATOs for short) for Brutes are pretty horrible which is sad because ATOs are usually pretty good for other ATs (archetypes, or classes as they are known in other MMOs). What the one you asked about does is give a 20% regeneration stack and a 6.6% endurance discount buff. Both can stack up to five times, so 100% regen and 33% endurance discount. It's not BAD, but, it's not great either. But outside of the proc the bonuses are pretty decent with smash/lethal defense, resistance, etc which is why you still see it commonly slotted even so.

 

 

For the second question it's actually 10% every, I think, 10 seconds, to gain X in an absorb shield that takes damage before you do. But under the hood the chance goes up (if I recall correctly) the lower our HP goes. So it's common never to see it happen at full HP and then see it pop up when out HP starts taking a beating (which is when we'd like to have it anyway).

 

What causes that is actually the unique proc (the 'chance for +absorb'). Despite being nice to have and useful especially as how it tends to trigger when we actually need it, the set is a staple of the game because it comes chockful with good bonuses. The main one is the massive 8.75% recharge, but then the 2.25% resistances to smash/lethal (commonly known as S/L), the HP buff, and the endurance discount is nothing to sneeze at.

[Serim]

I've been making good progress and am excited about it so figured the file could be posted just because.  The build is probably a little expensive but that wasn't the concern with this learning experience.  Hopefully one day it can be created, although if you'd care to drop 2 cents into the jar again I'd love to see what your thoughts are. 

 

Defenses have been upped to an average of approximately 20%, while resistance is around 65%.  Endurance recovery is still at a decent level if the attack costs have been reduced enough.  To hit and accuracy have been raised a fair amount to ensure constant fun for my foes.  Recharge time is allowing for some constant powers like particle shielding and yet there's still room for more enhancements!

 

Do you think these are adequate numbers so far?  I know it is probably all personal preference but figured I'd ask.  Also there are 2 power slots left which I'm not sure about what to fill with. 

 

I'm definitely going to have to learn about that whole "not so simple way to make money" from your and Shinobu's guides aren't i? 

Aura S - Brute (Savage Melee - Radiation Armor) protoSETS.mbd

[Sovera]

10 minutes ago, Serim said:

I've been making good progress and am excited about it so figured the file could be posted just because.  The build is probably a little expensive but that wasn't the concern with this learning experience.  Hopefully one day it can be created, although if you'd care to drop 2 cents into the jar again I'd love to see what your thoughts are. 

 

Defenses have been upped to an average of approximately 20%, while resistance is around 65%.  Endurance recovery is still at a decent level if the attack costs have been reduced enough.  To hit and accuracy have been raised a fair amount to ensure constant fun for my foes.  Recharge time is allowing for some constant powers like particle shielding and yet there's still room for more enhancements!

 

Do you think these are adequate numbers so far?  I know it is probably all personal preference but figured I'd ask.  Also there are 2 power slots left which I'm not sure about what to fill with. 

 

I'm definitely going to have to learn about that whole "not so simple way to make money" from your and Shinobu's guides aren't i? 

Aura S - Brute (Savage Melee - Radiation Armor) protoSETS.mbd 35.44 kB · 0 downloads

 

Half the powers are not slotted on my end:

 

Spoiler

 

 

You can fill your two missing powers with Rending Flurry (a staple, it's a point blank AoE. I could even say to trade Shred for Rending Flurry since Shred is a cone and will literally hit half the enemies RF would) and Ground Zero (super long recharge but once loaded with procs it's a good PbAoE.

 

I would suggest looking at the builds posted over the thread in this forum I mentioned above and then also the ones posted in 'Different Axe builds but which to pick' posted over the Scrapper forums (you would have to change the Scrapper ATOs for the Brute ones but the Rad Armor part would be the same) since Mid builds have a lot of complexity.

 

Once you have those builds you can swap the primary to Savage Melee and try to emulate the previous slotting to reach the same numbers.