Dark Melee / Fiery Aura build critique

[Marvel Fan]

Hi all.

 

So, the other day I had the chance to team up with a Dark/Firey Brute. We were running 54+, and it's like his health never dropped once as he was standing in the middle of packs. I never asked about the build, I have just tried to come up with my own. Here it is and I'd like to see if anyone thinks I did okay with it. 

 

I am sure there is better out there, this is just what I can come up with. Whirlwind and Phoenix Rising are there mostly for flavor.

 

Thanks in advance.

Brute (Dark Melee - Fiery Aura).mbd

[Uun]

• Smite has very good DPA and should be slotted.
• Fire Shield is over-slotted.
• Since you already have Consume, you don't need Dark Consumption for endurance. I would drop it for Touch of Fear, which works quite well with %dmg procs.
• Blazing Aura (and toggles in general) is a bad place to slot %dmg procs. Each 3.5 PPM proc has a 30% chance to fire every 10s. On top of this you don't slot any accuracy, which further hurts your proc chances. You also don't slot any end reduction and Blazing Aura is an expensive toggle. Most efficient slotting is 3x Scirocco's Dervish (acc/dmg, dmg/end, acc/dmg/end). Add a 4th piece if you want the acc bonus.
• Consume is a utility power, not a damage power. It should be slotted with a combination of End Mod and Heal sets (heal enhancements increase the +hp buff). Move Superior Unrelenting Fury to Soul Drain.
• Tough and Weave are over-slotted.
• Performance Shifter +end is pointless in Phoenix Rising. Slot a standard endmod IO or a recharge IO.
• Whirlwind requires end reduction if you intend to use it. 
• Combat Jumping and Weave should each be slotted with LOTG +rech. One of them should also be slotted with the Reactive Defenses scaling resist.
• Slotting sets with F/C resist bonuses (Superior Avalanche, Hecatomb, Armageddon) isn't productive, since Fire caps fire resistance out of the box. I would focus on increasing your E/N resistance, which is pretty low.