Ranged focused Brute: Is it possible, effective, or just crazy?

[taigakirdape]

I don't have a good excuse for this as Sentinel is just sitting there staring at me, daring me to make another one.
BUT...I was wondering if use and abuse of Power Pool powers combined with Brute's fury could make a Brute who focused on range damage more than melee.  An inverse Blapper, if you will.

Can it be done?
Should it be done? 
Has it been done?

[Krazix]

Most top end builds for brutes, tankers, scrappers and stalkers take ranged attacks from epics and make use of them. But they're added to the normal rotation. The idea of sitting at range on a Brute and just using blasts is not a good one. Especially like you said, since sentinel is right there, and your blasts will be taunting things anyway so very soon you won't be at range anyway.

 

 

[FupDup]

Can it be done? Sure, but it would have to wait until later in the game to come online (epic pools). 

 

Should it be done? Lolno. 

 

If you insist, the primary would probably need to be Claws (Focus, Shockwave) or Spines (Impale, Throw Spines) along with an epic pool of choice (probably Fire, Levi, or Psi), and probably Sorcery for Arcane Bolt + Enflame (using Arcane when it's powered up for max damage). Experimentation might be an alternative to Sorc but probably a bit weaker. 

 

The armor set would be weird to choose because normally you want damage auras, but if you want to stay at range then the damage aura is kind of wasted. There's also a number of armors with scaling buffs based on enemies in melee, so those would probably be avoided too if you wanted to commit to truly commit to it. That might just leave SR as the only one with no aura component at all?

Edited January 4 by FupDup

[tidge]

If someone were to go this route, I would almost certainly opt for Force of Will over Sorcery... the primary selling point is Wall of Force, but there are two ranged 'attacks' (one is actually a debuff, but it can either be minimally slotted or slotted with some tricksy pieces) that can be taken as pre-requisites for Wall of Force, plus a very good travel power.

[Gobbledigook]

16 hours ago, taigakirdape said:

Can it be done?
Should it be done? 
Has it been done?

Yes.

Not seriously anyway.

Yes.

[taigakirdape]

Thanks all. Things to ponder...

[Jacke]

I think the key problem here is that there may not be enough attacking for the Brute to push Fury high enough.

 

 

[taigakirdape]

19 minutes ago, Jacke said:

I think the key problem here is that there may not be enough attacking for the Brute to push Fury high enough.

 

 

I'm going to try Experimentation as that toxic dart has a really fast recharge. Sadly that locks me out of Sorcery though.

[Doomguide2005]

Against things like Battle Maiden in Tinpex with her blue pools of death my Claws/SR scrapper I will at times chain Focus, Shockwave and Envenomed Dagger standing just at the edge of a patch.  Shockwave has the -resist proc in it.  Shockwave is also the limiting one having the shortest base range.

 

There are times when I'd love to fiddle around with a secondary build with 3 damage/range HOs like I once had in SW on Live.  Huge cone is insane.

[Psiphon]

On 1/4/2025 at 3:17 AM, FupDup said:

Can it be done? Sure, but it would have to wait until later in the game to come online (epic pools). 

 

Should it be done? Lolno. 

 

If you insist, the primary would probably need to be Claws (Focus, Shockwave) or Spines (Impale, Throw Spines) along with an epic pool of choice (probably Fire, Levi, or Psi), and probably Sorcery for Arcane Bolt + Enflame (using Arcane when it's powered up for max damage). Experimentation might be an alternative to Sorc but probably a bit weaker. 

 

The armor set would be weird to choose because normally you want damage auras, but if you want to stay at range then the damage aura is kind of wasted. There's also a number of armors with scaling buffs based on enemies in melee, so those would probably be avoided too if you wanted to commit to truly commit to it. That might just leave SR as the only one with no aura component at all?

Agree with this completely.

If you want true range, then no it can’t really be done but if you’re prepared to be in melee but have attacks with a reasonable range then spines is a good option, even the PBAoEs have decent range. Spine with FA or DA would be my choices.

[Without_Pause]

While Claws is a easy entry point, the problem is FU isn't ranged so you don't have a good way to boost your damage. 

 

Have I gone into a ranged mode with a Claws character due to the situation? Absolutely. 

Edited January 6 by Without_Pause

[electric_emu]

On 1/3/2025 at 7:17 PM, FupDup said:

That might just leave SR as the only one with no aura component at all?

 

SR's taunt aura is in Evasion (AoE Def toggle), no?  I am fairly certain every single Brute/Tanker armor powerset has a taunt aura.  

[Bionic_Flea]

 

Is it possible?           Yes.

Is it effective?           No.

Is it crazy?                 Yes.

Can it be done?        Yes.
Should it be done?   *shrug*  As an experiment, sure. 
Has it been done?    Not sure, but I bet someone has.

Edited January 6 by Bionic_Flea

[Spaghetti Betty]

This was pretty funny to build! Though, I think personally I'd run it as a Tanker. That way you wouldn't need Barrier to make up the last 5% DEF!

 

Angry sentinel I guess - Brute (Battle Axe - Super Reflexes).mbd

 

 

This is a great opportunity to bring up that Cleave has a range of 40ft for some reason!

[Nemu]

On 1/4/2025 at 10:46 AM, taigakirdape said:

Thanks all. Things to ponder...

 

Everyone skips right over Kinetic Melee. It's ok, not everyone can be as cool as a hover blasting wavy arms panda. But you can.

 

 

 

Edited January 7 by Nemu

[Maelwys]

32 minutes ago, Nemu said:

 

Everyone skips right over Kinetic Melee. It's ok, not everyone can be as cool as a hover blasting wavy arms panda. But you can.

 

 

 

 

 

[taigakirdape]

6 hours ago, Spaghetti Betty said:

This was pretty funny to build! Though, I think personally I'd run it as a Tanker. That way you wouldn't need Barrier to make up the last 5% DEF!

 

Angry sentinel I guess - Brute (Battle Axe - Super Reflexes).mbd 41.82 kB · 0 downloads

 

 

This is a great opportunity to bring up that Cleave has a range of 40ft for some reason!

That looks epic.   Gotta try this.
Thank you!

[Snarky]

I did a “tank mage” invul/kinetic melee tank.  It did indeed fight from short “range” quite a lot.  It….was not my most exciting run.   Adding in ranged pool attacks would make this more “ranged” but also stretch a Brute build into even more contorted caricature of itself.  It CAN be done.  I have a friend who runs “toggle man” taking only powers that are toggles.  Obviously they do not inflict this strangeness on unknowing PUGs.  It performs…like a toon using only toggles.  

[bentlax33]

I'll let you imagine the rest.....but that's a big fireball.  I would also slot KB as it has a longer than typical melee range.......and hits like a Mack truck, would make this build viable.  Or you could do the same with Ice Mastery and proc the attacks out like crazy....that would be a fun ranged brute, plus the double rage rain!!!  Pair with your preferred secondary

[taigakirdape]

I do like the idea of big big fireball!
Betty's Project Will slotting also makes sense.  Spines didn't work for me, visually. Ugly.

But honestly...this is working better than I thought it would so far.  Fury covers a multitude of flaws, damage wise. And my defenses are stronk, early. Unlike usual for me and Brutes.

[Parabola]

I put a build together for this a while ago (never actually played it though). SS/SR with force of will and mu. If you do a forum search for 'brutinal' you should find it.

[Uncle Shags]

Try it out on the test server before you commit. 

[Gobbledygook]

On 1/7/2025 at 5:55 AM, Maelwys said:

 

 

Thanks for reminding me that I never watched this. And now I have to make a Kin melee toon.

[dtaxtman86]

On 1/3/2025 at 5:07 PM, taigakirdape said:

I don't have a good excuse for this as Sentinel is just sitting there staring at me, daring me to make another one.
BUT...I was wondering if use and abuse of Power Pool powers combined with Brute's fury could make a Brute who focused on range damage more than melee.  An inverse Blapper, if you will.

Can it be done?
Should it be done? 
Has it been done?

Here is a ranged focused Brute build I quickly threw together. I think Claws is a decent set for this. Plenty of ranged cones and a ranged ST. Still took spin just because it makes sense you will be getting aggro. If you want more ST, you can certainly swap the epic pool for something else. I took Intuition for the damage and the range, but you can take Cardiac too for more res and end redux. The only Caveat is that follow through needs melee for the stackable buff. Don't see any of the other sets really being any better though. If you simply cannot have follow through and dont want the damage buff and sacrifice it to stay mostly all ranged, swap it for arcane bolt. If you want a faster recharge or avoid any of the claw attacks, Project Will is also available. Lastly, just remember that Brutes are fury based, so not getting attacked will gimp you. I would suggest running a build on a scrapper or tanker instead.

 

 

Gumbo - Brute (Claws - Super Reflexes).mbd

Edited January 30 by dtaxtman86

[dtaxtman86]

Here is the Ranged Scrapper build as well, as I just think its better than a Brute. Went with Spines and SR, This looks more interesting for me. Rune of Prot and Elude can save your butt and 2 travel powers. Went with ageless due to Elude crash 😃

 

 

 

Scrapper (Spines - Super Reflexes).mbd

Edited Saturday at 12:29 AM by dtaxtman86