SS Brute Advice

[FFTMime]

Just want some general information on Super Strength Brutes. I'll save CharOPs for when I can actually get something to a decent level.

Haven't played COH since COV was first released (played at release and just burnt out). Always wanted Super Strength to be on scrapper so I could be a SS/Regen brute. Though now that I see it, SS/Shield is my alternative idea. Just eyeballing it on a quick low-level run, stamina feels like it would be an issue. Still, anything people have to say would be helpful. My lack of knowing how things work now makes me hesitate. There's too many things I don't know to really know what I'm getting in to.

My general plan is BANG ZOOM STRAIGHT TO THE MOON regardless. 

[Maelwys]

SS is a top tier offensive powerset on Brutes, but there are a few tricks to getting it to that level.

Generally most SS toons will lean heavily into Rage and Foot Stomp and KO Blow and Haymaker. However you'll very likely want an additional filler attack or two from the Fighting Pool (e.g. Cross Punch) and/or an Epic Pool (such as Gloom + Dark Obliteration from Soul Mastery; Spirit Shark and Arctic Breath from Mako, or Electrifying Fences and Ball Lightning from Mu Mastery. A procbombed Char or Dominate can work too).

Stick a Force Feedback proc in Footstomp (to make things recharge faster) and slot Rage for +ToHit (so that you don't need to slot the attacks for accuracy) then slot as many -res and damage procs as you can fit into each of your other attacks (because they won't need any accuracy slotting due to Rage... and Brute's low base damage combined with buffs from Rage and Fury generation reduces the benefit of slotting your attacks for damage aspect; but damage from procs isn't affected by the Rage Crash). With sufficiently high recharge you can double-stack Rage; but the more frequent crash hurts unless you source most of your damage output from procs.

[WuTang]

Rage crash can give you the ouchies if you don't account for the -20% def debuff every 60 seconds (if you double stack it) when the majority of your mitigation comes from defenses. It is a powerful set though for sure. ST damage is through the roof.

Edited March 21 by WuTang
typo

[FFTMime]

Okay so I've seen the term hanging around, but I don't know what 'procbombing' is in context. It's a bit hard to pick up just from reading the forum. I take it something to do with new enhancements to slot? That's a bit after I stopped playing originally. 

[Maelwys]

22 hours ago, FFTMime said:

Okay so I've seen the term hanging around, but I don't know what 'procbombing' is in context. It's a bit hard to pick up just from reading the forum. I take it something to do with new enhancements to slot? That's a bit after I stopped playing originally. 

 

A lot of the Invention Origin enhancement sets include one "global" or "Proc" enhancement; which has strange/unusual effects. There's a list here.

 

One of the popular types of "proc" enhancements are "damage procs": essentially if you slot these in a power then whenever you activate that power it gets a chance to deal additional damage. There's a complicated formula to work out the exact chance; but the short version is that the longer the recharge time of the power (including slotted recharge enhancement; but not including external recharge from buffs and "global" set bonuses) the better the chances that a proc will activate.

"Proc bombing" is whenever you slot lots of different damage procs (and/or resistance Debuff procs) in a single power - often neglecting to slot it fully (and sometimes neglecting to slot it at all) for regular damage enhancement aspect. After the power has enough accuracy to reliably hit, the rest of the available enhancement slots are filled with as many procs as the power can take. Infrigidate from Cold Domination is a good popular example of this: 1x Accuracy and 5x Procs is the typical slotting. I'm fond of doing something similar for Sleep Grenade from Arsenal Control and a good few other powers.

[FFTMime]

Thank you, that makes a lot more sense of what I've been reading around here. Interesting concept. Global recharge bonuses particularly. Oh boy. I can see why builds on this forum look a bit strange now. 

[Warshades]

SS is actually one of the best candidates to procbomb because of rage. The +dmg and +tohit buffs from rage essentially negate the need to slot for damage and accuracy, this is further helped by musculature alpha which helps with dmg enhancement. The trick is getting a good amount of global recharge when you're missing out on recharge from set bonuses because you're putting in 5+ dmg procs in your attacks. Force feedback chance for +rech is a good way to do so, and as it so happens, a lot of SS powers and even Shield Charge can take that proc.

 

One thing to consider before going with ss/shield is that shield is very much reliant on defense as the primary dmg mitigation, followed by resists and just being able to kill faster thanks to AAO dmg buff and shield charge. It has no inherent heal or regen buffs. If I were to do this combination, I'd probably pick a tank as they have higher base defense values from their toggles and it is possible to build up to 65% positional defenses so that even with the -20% from rage crash, you're still at soft cap. Endurance will also be an issue for the combination, though this is relatively easy to fix for lvl 50 content by making Ageless core destiny (which you would want for the recharge help that wouldn't negatively impact proc chances). If you plan to exemplar down for lower lvl TFs and such, I would plan accordingly as you won't be able to rely on incarnates.

 

Also as an FYI, using alpha incarnates like Spiritual that boost recharge count as if you're slotting a recharge enhancement into the power and will lower proc chances of going off. Global recharge from Hasten, set bonuses/lotg +rech/FF +rech, and Ageless destiny incarnate will not.

 

Another excellent proc bomb combination is radiation armor (has 2 nukes you can fill with procs) and even bio armor. You'll still feel the impact of the def loss even on a resist focused set like rad armor, but having the near 90% resist cap to most dmg types (again, easier on a tank) makes it sting a lot less than on a hybrid set like shield. I would personally go with a tank first if you plan on proc bombing for 2 main reasons:

• Easier to survive (higher values on armors and higher base HP)
• Tanks have increased AoE radius for many powers, making it easier to hit all enemies in mobs (this buff didn't affect some powers like Foot Stomp, but it had a high base radius so wasn't really needed)

It may seem counter intuitive to build a tank for damage, but at high content and/or once you're IO'd, the main job of a tank is to take the alpha strike dmg and maintain agro of enemies (easily done by gauntlet inherent and taking taunt). In some ways, quickly nuking mobs so fewer things can attack and kill you can also be considered as building towards survival through offense, something about a saying that the best defense is a good offense? 😄 

 

Personally, rad/ss is my favorite pairing for procbombing, but I would also pick ss/bio before I would go to shield.