Kinetic Melee / Energy Aura Build (Thoughts/Comments/Suggestions)

[LordRelicHunter]

Greetings all!

 

It's been awhile since I've done a build of anything. And since this is my first Level 50 since Homecoming, I'd like some thought/comment/suggestions on my build.

 

I'm open to everything!

 

Thank You all in advance!

Jynami Shui - Brute (Kinetic Melee - Energy Aura).mbd

[Sovera]

Kinetic Melee is a problematic set at the moment. It hits weakly and the last power, the T9, animates so slowly without any benefits (the crit able ATs have their T9 reset Power Siphon at least) that it's better to just spam the first three attacks.

 

Now looking at the build you missed on a ton of juicy bonuses by not completing the sets you left unfinished, and also made the error of leaving Overload toggled on which skewed the final numbers but that's easily fixed.

 

 

Untoggling Overload shows you got S/L defense down back at 46% (it should be at least 45%) but Cold/Fire is at 36% (not a huge problem since not many enemies use cold or fire) and Energy/Negatic is at 39% and 30% respectively (which, yes, is a problem since those two are everywhere in the game).

 

Fortunately it is easy to fix. Swapping the slotting with Power Siphon and Focused Accuracy and making it all Gaussians adds another 2.5% to all.

 

Luck of the Gambler 7.5% recharge is usually desired. Can only have 5 of them slotted but worth chasing. This rule of five applies everywhere and you can check if it's been transgressed here in View Active Sets:

 

That's why I have Weave and Kinetic Shield slotted with LotGs (regen and +HP is nice but not THAT important) instead of Power Shield (1.5% S/L resistances is better in my opinion, but I had reached the limit of 5-of-a-kind and so had to change).

 

You forgot to add both +3% defense to all uniques which is a big 6% accounted for in the 45%.

 

You also forgot the 5% to all resistances in Shield Wall.

 

Hasten is a good power to have since it has a large chunk of recharge. Recharge will make Power Siphon and Energy Drain/Energize come back faster.

 

When I finished I had free slots so I pimped up things like Super Jump, Overload, Boxing and Brawl to push your slow resistances to 90% (the more slow debuffs the slower your attacks and your movement becomes which can be deadly against some enemies) but those are flex spots and can be removed and placed somewhere else. For example the Unbreakable Wall unique gives 100 HP and might be worth over 10% slow resists (but we get HP back from inspirations and Energize but can get the slow resists only from powers and IOs), but it's just 10%. Worth it? Not worth it? MATHS! I think it's worth keeping the extra 10%.

 

But the 2.5% to S/L in Launch could be worth swapping to get that 100 HP. Btw, the Launch slots can go to Combat Jumping if you'd rather pimp that out.

 

 

If you really do want to keep Concentrate Strike regardless let me know and we'll see what we can shuffle. Probably Overload and then scrounge slots from somewhere.

 

 

All in all you just got tripped by Overload which is an easy mistake to do when starting but not a biggie.

 

Jynami Shui - Brute (Kinetic Melee - Energy Aura).mbd

[LordRelicHunter]

16 hours ago, Sovera said:

Kinetic Melee is a problematic set at the moment. It hits weakly and the last power, the T9, animates so slowly without any benefits (the crit able ATs have their T9 reset Power Siphon at least) that it's better to just spam the first three attacks.

 

Now looking at the build you missed on a ton of juicy bonuses by not completing the sets you left unfinished, and also made the error of leaving Overload toggled on which skewed the final numbers but that's easily fixed.

 

 

Untoggling Overload shows you got S/L defense down back at 46% (it should be at least 45%) but Cold/Fire is at 36% (not a huge problem since not many enemies use cold or fire) and Energy/Negatic is at 39% and 30% respectively (which, yes, is a problem since those two are everywhere in the game).

 

Fortunately it is easy to fix. Swapping the slotting with Power Siphon and Focused Accuracy and making it all Gaussians adds another 2.5% to all.

 

Luck of the Gambler 7.5% recharge is usually desired. Can only have 5 of them slotted but worth chasing. This rule of five applies everywhere and you can check if it's been transgressed here in View Active Sets:

 

That's why I have Weave and Kinetic Shield slotted with LotGs (regen and +HP is nice but not THAT important) instead of Power Shield (1.5% S/L resistances is better in my opinion, but I had reached the limit of 5-of-a-kind and so had to change).

 

You forgot to add both +3% defense to all uniques which is a big 6% accounted for in the 45%.

 

You also forgot the 5% to all resistances in Shield Wall.

 

Hasten is a good power to have since it has a large chunk of recharge. Recharge will make Power Siphon and Energy Drain/Energize come back faster.

 

When I finished I had free slots so I pimped up things like Super Jump, Overload, Boxing and Brawl to push your slow resistances to 90% (the more slow debuffs the slower your attacks and your movement becomes which can be deadly against some enemies) but those are flex spots and can be removed and placed somewhere else. For example the Unbreakable Wall unique gives 100 HP and might be worth over 10% slow resists (but we get HP back from inspirations and Energize but can get the slow resists only from powers and IOs), but it's just 10%. Worth it? Not worth it? MATHS! I think it's worth keeping the extra 10%.

 

But the 2.5% to S/L in Launch could be worth swapping to get that 100 HP. Btw, the Launch slots can go to Combat Jumping if you'd rather pimp that out.

 

 

If you really do want to keep Concentrate Strike regardless let me know and we'll see what we can shuffle. Probably Overload and then scrounge slots from somewhere.

 

 

All in all you just got tripped by Overload which is an easy mistake to do when starting but not a biggie.

 

Jynami Shui - Brute (Kinetic Melee - Energy Aura).mbd 42.48 kB · 0 downloads

Thank you for the insight and the build. Greatly Appreciated!

 

I was still following the old live server thinking, which is why you saw 3 slots here and there. When I was doing this build, I focused firstly on my shields, and such. Hence, I went for a 6 bonus Def Set and a 6 bonus Resist Dam Set. All other shields and toggles went 4 slot, and I tried to find the best 4 bonuses there. Overload, I figured that I needed 3 Heal, 3 End Mod for maximum efficiency, since I was not hoping to use it as often, so I went for some decent 3 piece bonuses there. Combat Jumping, Tough & Weave has always been 4 slots for me (again, old thinking), which is why they were set they way they were. I also didn't really consider the PVP sets, as I thought they were for PVP specifically, hence why they weren't even a factor.

 

In regard to attacks, my thinking was that Concentrated Strike would be 6 slotted for maximum damage, and I figured that Power Siphon was key to the set, so that's why it was 6 slotted. I was trying to factor in a lot of recharge bonuses to assist in PS recharging quickly, as well as Energy Drain and Energized. The other attacks were 4 slotted also for the best set bonuses as well as damage. Also, as you can see, some of the set bonuses also focused on increased accuracy, to hit more.

 

I did not know that the set was problematic, as I just made the character because I loved the set moves. I do understand the windups for a lot of the moves and that's okay with me. So, I would like to add Concentrated Strike back into the mix, if possible. I also have no problem adding Hasten to the mix, if it will make the build better. I just don't know what I could drop. Maybe Focused Accuracy? Also, would I still be able to 6 slot all of my attacks? I also saw that you were able to slot Health and Stamina. When I was doing my build, I just left them by the wayside, as I couldn't figure a way for them to fit in. Would they still be viable as well?

 

And also, I haven't even begin to look at Incarnate yet... *shivers*

 

That's probably a whole different discussion, lol

 

Can't wait to hear back. Thank You again!

[Sovera]

7 hours ago, LordRelicHunter said:

Thank you for the insight and the build. Greatly Appreciated!

 

I was still following the old live server thinking, which is why you saw 3 slots here and there. When I was doing this build, I focused firstly on my shields, and such. Hence, I went for a 6 bonus Def Set and a 6 bonus Resist Dam Set. All other shields and toggles went 4 slot, and I tried to find the best 4 bonuses there. Overload, I figured that I needed 3 Heal, 3 End Mod for maximum efficiency, since I was not hoping to use it as often, so I went for some decent 3 piece bonuses there. Combat Jumping, Tough & Weave has always been 4 slots for me (again, old thinking), which is why they were set they way they were. I also didn't really consider the PVP sets, as I thought they were for PVP specifically, hence why they weren't even a factor.

 

In regard to attacks, my thinking was that Concentrated Strike would be 6 slotted for maximum damage, and I figured that Power Siphon was key to the set, so that's why it was 6 slotted. I was trying to factor in a lot of recharge bonuses to assist in PS recharging quickly, as well as Energy Drain and Energized. The other attacks were 4 slotted also for the best set bonuses as well as damage. Also, as you can see, some of the set bonuses also focused on increased accuracy, to hit more.

 

I did not know that the set was problematic, as I just made the character because I loved the set moves. I do understand the windups for a lot of the moves and that's okay with me. So, I would like to add Concentrated Strike back into the mix, if possible. I also have no problem adding Hasten to the mix, if it will make the build better. I just don't know what I could drop. Maybe Focused Accuracy? Also, would I still be able to 6 slot all of my attacks? I also saw that you were able to slot Health and Stamina. When I was doing my build, I just left them by the wayside, as I couldn't figure a way for them to fit in. Would they still be viable as well?

 

And also, I haven't even begin to look at Incarnate yet... *shivers*

 

That's probably a whole different discussion, lol

 

Can't wait to hear back. Thank You again!

 

 

Not a problem. The weakest link was Superior Conditioning that is, strictly speaking, not necessary in a build that has Energy Drain that recharges every 20 seconds and gives half a bar with only one enemy in range.

 

Scrounged the slots from SuperJump so a bit of S/L resistance was lost, and then the extra slots from Energy Cloak that were there just for the E/N bonus and placed everything in Concentrated Strike with a Mako set to get back the E/N bonus. Did lose 5% recharge but it's not the end of the world.

 

 

Jynami Shui - Brute (Kinetic Melee - Energy Aura)(1).mbd

Edited April 11 by Sovera

[LordRelicHunter]

15 hours ago, Sovera said:

 

 

Not a problem. The weakest link was Superior Conditioning that is, strictly speaking, not necessary in a build that has Energy Drain that recharges every 20 seconds and gives half a bar with only one enemy in range.

 

Scrounged the slots from SuperJump so a bit of S/L resistance was lost, and then the extra slots from Energy Cloak that were there just for the E/N bonus and placed everything in Concentrated Strike with a Mako set to get back the E/N bonus. Did lose 5% recharge but it's not the end of the world.

 

 

Jynami Shui - Brute (Kinetic Melee - Energy Aura)(1).mbd 42.53 kB · 2 downloads

Wow!

 

I can't thank you enough for the insight, and the build. It's way better than mines by leaps and bounds! I'll get started on building this right away.

 

 

Now, Incarnate Powers....

 

After reading the Comprehensive Guide, I didn't see anything that I thought would fit for Brutes. Since, I don't understand it fully, maybe I missed something. Any help there would greatly be appreciated.

[Sovera]

7 hours ago, LordRelicHunter said:

Wow!

 

I can't thank you enough for the insight, and the build. It's way better than mines by leaps and bounds! I'll get started on building this right away.

 

 

Now, Incarnate Powers....

 

After reading the Comprehensive Guide, I didn't see anything that I thought would fit for Brutes. Since, I don't understand it fully, maybe I missed something. Any help there would greatly be appreciated.

 

Incarnates are a bit complicated but not unduly so. I would almost say more about being counter-intuitive than complicated.

 

The moment you reach 50 you automatically start building veteran XP to gain veteran levels. Once you start gaining veteran levels you get incarnate crafting materials.

 

Now this is where the counter-intuitiveness starts creeping in:

 

There are TWO types of 'recipes' which you can find here:

 

 

But you go to Create, and, lets say, start with Alpha. Alpha is the most important anyway.

 

Alpha has the 'fix' to whatever your build has. Guzzling endurance? Go Cardiac. Slow recharge? Go Spiritual. More damage? Go Musculature. Playing a Controller and doing lots of CC? Go Intuition.

 

As a rule the two big ones are Musculature and Cardiac but there are niche uses for others such as Agility for a little bit more of recharge, defense, endurance, etc.

 

Musculature is not super useful for a Brute due to Fury diluting its damage boosting but you don't really need need anything since your endurance is taken care of, your recharge is decent, etc.

 

All incarnates will be the same with a left and a right side, and the left or the right side will give slightly different results under the same theme.

 

Musculature's right side is

 

 

And the left side is:

 

 

They are about the same. Now these bonuses run afoul of Enhancement Diversification so the '45%' is more like, 15% in actual practice, but it's still 15%. Because of this the damage difference between the '45%' version and the 33% version is minor, something like 3-4% (if I recall correctly) which usually has me picking the 33% version as more rounded version. I may not care much about the extra run speed, or defense debuffs, or immobilization duration, but that endurance modification buff is another 0.20-ish per second.

 

So, explanation out of the way, how does this work?

 

First one, right at the bottom:

 

 

Both recipes are the same thing, but they use different incarnate materials. The top one, with the Essence of Incarnates, is the 'shards' and actually rarer on Homecoming so you can safely ignore it (this is basic advice for newbies but once you grasp more of the game you can save some materials by using these recipes, but that's for later).

 

The second recipe with the Biomorphic Goo is called the 'threads' recipes and is the type you will always be wanting because it is the one that Homecoming is geared towards. Pretty much everything is geared towards the threads between getting them from drops once we're 50, getting them from veteran level-ups, getting them as rewards from Tinpex or doing Dark Astoria rewards, etc.

 

So, looking at it, you need

 

 

Now lets say you're level 50, got a few veteran levels, so you have some basic materials. You go to Convert:

 

 

 

Incarnate thread. And then you check what you need. A Biomorphic Goo? Right there under Common:

 

 

 

Once you bought all you need return to Create and craft it. Then go to Equip and equip it.

 

Now, part of the clunkyness is that to craft the second tier we need to craft the first tier, AGAIN.

 

So to create

 

 

we need to craft the first one first since it is part of the needed crafting materials.

 

Eventually to craft the very last one you need to craft them all! Which means crafting the first to craft the second to craft the third, then craft the first to craft the second to craft the other third, and finally with both those thirds you can craft the fourth! *pantpantpant*

 

Now you don't need (or have to, or are even expected to) only use threads to craft what you need. Every few levels (it's deterministic and not RNG) you get better crafting materials, and doing certain content gives Empyrian Merits. These are the ones you should be using to buy everything rare and very rare:

 

 

 

 

 

It seems complicated on the surface but it's simpler once getting past the initial phase.

 

 

Now, tips:

 

- Try and do a Tinpex every day once at 50. Either keep an eye on LFG or form one once comfortable with it. Tinpex is actually two extremely short TFs that take about 15 minutes each and give a choice of rewards at the end. Always pick the Incarnate Materials reward. It's RNG, but you can luck out and get a Very Rare and save a ton of materials, but even just a common saves 20 threads. Also, each of those TFs gives an enormous 40 merits so you come out of it half an hour in total with 80 merits and two incarnate rewards to help building your materials, AND enough merits to sell and buy one purple IO a day.

- Level ups at 50 also give incarnate materials and it will be common to see people running the Imperious TF (colloquially called ITF) because that TF is a well of XP with a metric ton of enemies.

- As a fresh level 50 try to do a Tinpex before crafting anything. Hey, maybe you'll get the materials needed for the T1 without having to spend a lot of threads.

- Whatever flavour of Alpha you pick make it your first priority to reach one of the third options (colloquially just called T3 since third row). Reaching your T3 in any of the alphas gives a +1 level shift. Now all enemies are -1, so if fighting +4... they are now +3. This is a HUGE power boost both in defense and offense so it has first priority. This level shift is only for level 45+ so if exemplaring lower than 45 it goes away.

 

 

 

Keep in mind Incarnates can and should be tailored for your build and playstyle. But this what I usually pick as a bog standard as incarnates go:

 

- Musculature for my Alpha and pick the 33% version to have a damage boost and faster replenishing blue bar.

- Barrier (120 seconds version) as my Destiny since it is a massive panic button if I am about to die. It gives a HUGE amount of defenses and resistances for the first 10 seconds, and then that amount slowly decays over a period of 120 seconds. At bare minimum it will always give a permanent 5% resistances and defenses. I say permanent because the recharge is ALSO 120 seconds.

- Degenerative 75% damage DoT as my Interface. Degenerative lowers the maximum HP of enemies. This has little effect on normal enemies but once fighting Giant Monsters or Arch Villains their regeneration is tied to their HP so less HP means less regenerated per second. It makes a big difference in soloing them. The choice of 75% to do damage is trying to milk it so it at least does SOMETHING to normal enemies but it's not much.

- For Hybrid I usually pick Assault and chance for increased damage since I'm always all out on damage (once again, picking the right one for you and your build matters). This one lasts two minutes and then has a two minutes cooldown so it's fire and forget and don't fuss about it.

- For Lore I usually pick either Banished Pantheon or Longbow. Lore summons one/two mobs to help you. But, 7 minutes cooldown (not a typo) and the mobs are squishy so they get evaporated quick. BUT, they help a LOT in killing archvillains.... if they don't get vaporized. There are tricks about keeping control of the AV and trying to not have it face the summons so they don't get hit. Honestly it's the least important incarnate for me.

- Ion from Judgement with the chance to do additional damage. It's a nuke. Blaster envy? You're a Blaster now. Once every two minutes at least. Again it's not the most important incarnate for me and one of the last to pick.

[LordRelicHunter]

On 4/12/2024 at 5:35 AM, Sovera said:

 

Incarnates are a bit complicated but not unduly so. I would almost say more about being counter-intuitive than complicated.

 

The moment you reach 50 you automatically start building veteran XP to gain veteran levels. Once you start gaining veteran levels you get incarnate crafting materials.

 

Now this is where the counter-intuitiveness starts creeping in:

 

There are TWO types of 'recipes' which you can find here:

 

 

But you go to Create, and, lets say, start with Alpha. Alpha is the most important anyway.

 

Alpha has the 'fix' to whatever your build has. Guzzling endurance? Go Cardiac. Slow recharge? Go Spiritual. More damage? Go Musculature. Playing a Controller and doing lots of CC? Go Intuition.

 

As a rule the two big ones are Musculature and Cardiac but there are niche uses for others such as Agility for a little bit more of recharge, defense, endurance, etc.

 

Musculature is not super useful for a Brute due to Fury diluting its damage boosting but you don't really need need anything since your endurance is taken care of, your recharge is decent, etc.

 

All incarnates will be the same with a left and a right side, and the left or the right side will give slightly different results under the same theme.

 

Musculature's right side is

 

 

And the left side is:

 

 

They are about the same. Now these bonuses run afoul of Enhancement Diversification so the '45%' is more like, 15% in actual practice, but it's still 15%. Because of this the damage difference between the '45%' version and the 33% version is minor, something like 3-4% (if I recall correctly) which usually has me picking the 33% version as more rounded version. I may not care much about the extra run speed, or defense debuffs, or immobilization duration, but that endurance modification buff is another 0.20-ish per second.

 

So, explanation out of the way, how does this work?

 

First one, right at the bottom:

 

 

Both recipes are the same thing, but they use different incarnate materials. The top one, with the Essence of Incarnates, is the 'shards' and actually rarer on Homecoming so you can safely ignore it (this is basic advice for newbies but once you grasp more of the game you can save some materials by using these recipes, but that's for later).

 

The second recipe with the Biomorphic Goo is called the 'threads' recipes and is the type you will always be wanting because it is the one that Homecoming is geared towards. Pretty much everything is geared towards the threads between getting them from drops once we're 50, getting them from veteran level-ups, getting them as rewards from Tinpex or doing Dark Astoria rewards, etc.

 

So, looking at it, you need

 

 

Now lets say you're level 50, got a few veteran levels, so you have some basic materials. You go to Convert:

 

 

 

Incarnate thread. And then you check what you need. A Biomorphic Goo? Right there under Common:

 

 

 

Once you bought all you need return to Create and craft it. Then go to Equip and equip it.

 

Now, part of the clunkyness is that to craft the second tier we need to craft the first tier, AGAIN.

 

So to create

 

 

we need to craft the first one first since it is part of the needed crafting materials.

 

Eventually to craft the very last one you need to craft them all! Which means crafting the first to craft the second to craft the third, then craft the first to craft the second to craft the other third, and finally with both those thirds you can craft the fourth! *pantpantpant*

 

Now you don't need (or have to, or are even expected to) only use threads to craft what you need. Every few levels (it's deterministic and not RNG) you get better crafting materials, and doing certain content gives Empyrian Merits. These are the ones you should be using to buy everything rare and very rare:

 

 

 

 

 

It seems complicated on the surface but it's simpler once getting past the initial phase.

 

 

Now, tips:

 

- Try and do a Tinpex every day once at 50. Either keep an eye on LFG or form one once comfortable with it. Tinpex is actually two extremely short TFs that take about 15 minutes each and give a choice of rewards at the end. Always pick the Incarnate Materials reward. It's RNG, but you can luck out and get a Very Rare and save a ton of materials, but even just a common saves 20 threads. Also, each of those TFs gives an enormous 40 merits so you come out of it half an hour in total with 80 merits and two incarnate rewards to help building your materials, AND enough merits to sell and buy one purple IO a day.

- Level ups at 50 also give incarnate materials and it will be common to see people running the Imperious TF (colloquially called ITF) because that TF is a well of XP with a metric ton of enemies.

- As a fresh level 50 try to do a Tinpex before crafting anything. Hey, maybe you'll get the materials needed for the T1 without having to spend a lot of threads.

- Whatever flavour of Alpha you pick make it your first priority to reach one of the third options (colloquially just called T3 since third row). Reaching your T3 in any of the alphas gives a +1 level shift. Now all enemies are -1, so if fighting +4... they are now +3. This is a HUGE power boost both in defense and offense so it has first priority. This level shift is only for level 45+ so if exemplaring lower than 45 it goes away.

 

 

 

Keep in mind Incarnates can and should be tailored for your build and playstyle. But this what I usually pick as a bog standard as incarnates go:

 

- Musculature for my Alpha and pick the 33% version to have a damage boost and faster replenishing blue bar.

- Barrier (120 seconds version) as my Destiny since it is a massive panic button if I am about to die. It gives a HUGE amount of defenses and resistances for the first 10 seconds, and then that amount slowly decays over a period of 120 seconds. At bare minimum it will always give a permanent 5% resistances and defenses. I say permanent because the recharge is ALSO 120 seconds.

- Degenerative 75% damage DoT as my Interface. Degenerative lowers the maximum HP of enemies. This has little effect on normal enemies but once fighting Giant Monsters or Arch Villains their regeneration is tied to their HP so less HP means less regenerated per second. It makes a big difference in soloing them. The choice of 75% to do damage is trying to milk it so it at least does SOMETHING to normal enemies but it's not much.

- For Hybrid I usually pick Assault and chance for increased damage since I'm always all out on damage (once again, picking the right one for you and your build matters). This one lasts two minutes and then has a two minutes cooldown so it's fire and forget and don't fuss about it.

- For Lore I usually pick either Banished Pantheon or Longbow. Lore summons one/two mobs to help you. But, 7 minutes cooldown (not a typo) and the mobs are squishy so they get evaporated quick. BUT, they help a LOT in killing archvillains.... if they don't get vaporized. There are tricks about keeping control of the AV and trying to not have it face the summons so they don't get hit. Honestly it's the least important incarnate for me.

- Ion from Judgement with the chance to do additional damage. It's a nuke. Blaster envy? You're a Blaster now. Once every two minutes at least. Again it's not the most important incarnate for me and one of the last to pick.

Sooooo....

 

That's a LOT to digest. I think I'll work on building out the sets first then revisit this in the future. I'll reach back out or send a PM when I'm ready to dive into this!

Thank you so much again for the information!