What is my best option

[hakurr]

ok i am posting this on Brute / Scrapper / Tanker forum i am looking for my best option for highest damage / great survivability.

 

1. should i make Brute, Scrapper, or Tanker

 

2. armor set: Shield , Bio , Stone or is there something that is better to help with survivability and damage

 

3. attack power: Energy Melee , Fire , Electric or is there something better for maximizing damage out put 

 

i mainly play solo except for the rare TF. i want to be able to run at at least +2 x8 when i hit 50 

 

and i am not worried about the cost to make the combo work.

[PLVRIZR]

Stone/Fiery tank.  See @Sovera's sig (and posts).  Nigh unkillable and near the top for damage.  Scrap will do more damage, but no scrap armor will be close to being as survivable.  Brutes suffer from not getting the tanker ATOs and some will argue they'll do a smidge more damage, but will be significantly behind the tank in survivability.

[Warshades]

With regards to attack sets:

• Energy: great for ST damage, average at AoE.
• Fire: near the top for both ST and AoE, great overall choice.
• Electric: fairly good AoE, bad ST damage unless you choose to run it on a stalker (assassin's strike + patron/epic snipe help a lot with ST damage). Elec/shield stalker is an excellent combo if you want to use electric melee.
• Axe: great ST and AoE damage, also a great overall choice.
• SS: revolves around rage, but easy to proc bomb. Excellent AoE nuker when paired with rad armor. I'd go with rad/ss tank for this combo (nuking mobs quickly actually hurts building/keeping up fury on a brute).
• Stone: great ST damage, okay AoE but not top tier imo.
• Claw: another good overall set, but a bit below fire and axe imo.

Those are the main contenders to consider.

 

For armor sets:

• Stone: great survival with a good damage boost, no need to even run/pick up granite to max out survival.
• Shield: great survival, higher damage boost than Stone (AAO + shield charge). No heal and lacks the regen boost that rooted provides to stone armor.
• Bio: higher offensive boost than stone/shield imo, still very survivable but relies on cycling between your absorbs and regen click powers.
• Fire: arguably the highest offensive boost, but also the lowest survivability compared to the 3 above.
• Radiation: another strong damage boost (2 procable AoEs, meltdown crash is easily manageable and can be picked up for it's offensive boost). Good survivability, but not quite at the level of stone or shield imo.

Also worth considering if you want to exemplar well, some sets can be very late bloomers like SS not getting foot stomp until lvl 30 on tanks.

[One IV All]

1 hour ago, PLVRIZR said:

Stone/Fiery tank.  See @Sovera's sig (and posts).  Nigh unkillable and near the top for damage.  Scrap will do more damage, but no scrap armor will be close to being as survivable.  Brutes suffer from not getting the tanker ATOs and some will argue they'll do a smidge more damage, but will be significantly behind the tank in survivability.

I’ve looked at this combo @Sovera has talked about. Honestly, seems like it might be the best combo of tank AND dmg in the game lol. I’ve messed around with it as Shield/Fiery as well. Not sure how the two would match up to each other.

[Sovera]

*wave*

 

It's still Tanker damage when it comes to pylons. Roughly 4 minutes where a Scrapper ought to do it at least in half that time (any Scrapper build that does not do a Pylon in at least 2 minutes needs a good look). But for soloing it is still plenty enough to be killing AVs even early on while cranking the difficulty to 0x8 by level 13 and then cruising which is *not* something other ATs can boast (that said leveling does not take too long and once at max level all ATs can be made sturdy once enough money has been poured into them).

 

For more ST damage a bit of proc bombing and a different epic pool might get there, but I try for balance (though dialed to 11 as far as I can) and yeah, the Stone/Fire is what I got.

 

Still, for your goal I'd say try it, you can always sell the gear if it did not jive.

Edited Saturday at 11:10 AM by Sovera

[tidge]

For solo +2x8 (as a goal),  the AT is probably Tanker. Tankers will have larger AoE (for x8) and survivability for +2. Brutes will be roughly as tough, but I think the AoE effect will win out 9for the widest variety of content)

 

The other ATs will be pretty much as good, with Scrappers edging out on single-targets for most primaries, it is just that every once in a while things will go pear-shaped for a Scrapper that Brutes and Tankers can handle. Brutes edge out scrappers only for a few primary/secondary IMO, and I don't really care for the Fury mechanic.

 

If you are relatively new to these melee classes, I'd recommend a Resistance-based Tanker primary that can contribute PBAoE damage before any others. I suggest this because if you can get a feel for what a Tanker can do without relying on "soft cap" defenses you will get a different sort of appreciation for how Defenses can work (and eventually fail) on other characters. Radiation or Bio should be good choices of primary that are "active" contributors to offense. There is always incarnate Destiny Barrier waiting for you.

 

The primaries are a bit of a wash IMO. %Proc-bombing is the key to cleaning up large spawns, but there are pool powers that can be leveraged for that even if the primary isn't AoE-heavy.

[Neiska]

On 3/21/2025 at 10:41 PM, hakurr said:

ok i am posting this on Brute / Scrapper / Tanker forum i am looking for my best option for highest damage / great survivability.

 

1. should i make Brute, Scrapper, or Tanker

 

2. armor set: Shield , Bio , Stone or is there something that is better to help with survivability and damage

 

3. attack power: Energy Melee , Fire , Electric or is there something better for maximizing damage out put 

 

i mainly play solo except for the rare TF. i want to be able to run at at least +2 x8 when i hit 50 

 

and i am not worried about the cost to make the combo work.

 

I have both a Bio/Energy Melee and Bio/Fire Tanker. Both are fantastic. The EM hits SO hard (for a tanker). And the Fire has both Combust and Fire Sword Circle, which means its great at both ST and AoE damage. Stuff just MELTS. Another hidden tanker gem is a Bio/Katana, because Katana has Divine Avalanche, which is a 15% melee DEF buff which is maintained with your normal attack chain. Titan Weapons has something similar, but IMO Titan Weapons is a bit clunky and awkward. Anyway with this DEF buff and with the Tanker ATO "double res dipping" its fairly easy to get higher RES numbers.

 

The thing about Bio is, is until you have enough recharge it can be a bit iffy. Bio armor doesn't super boost RES or DEF like other sets, it takes a swiss army knife approach. But it is fantastic for both Self healing sustain as well as END. Personally I aim for 50% uptime on Parasite Aura (thats your super buff that turns you into wolverine), and use Carapace as a buffer when Parasite Aura is recharging. I don't slot DNA Siphon for healing at all, instead I slot it for END recovery. I do strongly urge you to take Sorcery with Bio as well, as Rune of Protection fits quite nicely with the build and "juggling super buffs" playstyle, and not only boosts resists across the board but status protection as well, which is something Bio Armor lacks.

 

Anyway with bio, I recommend focusing on Recharge until you have "enough", and then focus on getting RES numbers up.

 

I have had a few Shield Tankers as well. Shield turns you into a wrecking ball and has fantastic -DEF Debuff protection built in, making it great for harder content. If you go Shield, I would try to pair it with either something like Dark Melee/Rad Armor for some self-healing. (My Shield/Dark tanker feels pretty much immortal. She just keeps going, and going, and going, and going, pretty much forever.) or you can also pair it with Savage Melee for "another" charge ability, and Savage Melee is actually one of the top performers on tankers too. (For extra lols/funsies you can even take Leap Attack from Jumping for "another" self-teleporting ability to juggle with the other two. It really feels like you are a wrecking ball/juggernaut just bouncing all over the place, and there's nothing anyone can do about it.)

 

Hope this helps!

[hakurr]

Thank you everyone for the advise i have decided on Shield / Electric. 

 

1) i eliminated Scrapper due to with soloing most of the time i did not want to deal with runners and eliminated Brute after looking at my builds and tanker just out shines brute on resists, Defense, and damage for my build  

2) i decided on shield due to i don't have a shield that i play on a regular basis as well i wanted to take advantage of the Shield Charge

3) i decided on electric because i have no electric tanks 

 

attaching the build i will be working toward once i hit 50 any suggestions please fill free to let me know 

 

 

 

Tanker - Shield - Electric Melee.mbd

Edited Sunday at 04:57 PM by hakurr

[Erratic1]

1 hour ago, hakurr said:

1) i eliminated Scrapper due to with soloing most of the time i did not want to deal with runners and eliminated Brute after looking at my builds and tanker just out shines brute on resists, Defense, and damage for my build  

 

I say such things and people act like I've pooped in their coffee cups as they are having morning breakfast.

 

I will note as well, Shield on a Scrapper has a taunt aura: Power 'Against All Odds' (Scrapper_Defense.Shield_Defense.Against_all_Odds)

 

[hakurr]

i will take another look at a shield scrapper then i thought that on scrapper that was not there so i stand corrected thank you

[hobopete]

Allow me just to suggest Rad/SS tanker.   With the right build you can really hand out the damage.

[MoonSheep]

55 minutes ago, hakurr said:

i will take another look at a shield scrapper then i thought that on scrapper that was not there so i stand corrected thank you

 

to add a bit of a spanner into the works.. i’d recommend looking at an elec/shield stalker, it has arguably the best version of elec melee as it has assassin’s strike and the stalker ATO granting you extra build ups and hide (usually placed in AS so you’re hidden after a strike) 

 

the controllable crits, extra ST damage in AS and two teleport AoEs that don’t break hide is quite fun - i played one to 50 and found it a really engaging, fast paced alt

[twozerofoxtrot]

On 3/22/2025 at 11:46 AM, PLVRIZR said:

Stone/Fiery tank.

 

I second this.

 

After the reworks this became a stupidly strong combo. Nigh unkillable with top notch AoE and Single Target damage. Better than Rad/SS. The only drawback is having like 27 toggles but you will have the endurance to run them.

 

I see I'm about 6 hours late, but when you get tired of slowly backhanding single target bosses/EBs/AVs down to size, reconsider this combo. It's nuts.

[One IV All]

26 minutes ago, twozerofoxtrot said:

 

I second this.

 

After the reworks this became a stupidly strong combo. Nigh unkillable with top notch AoE and Single Target damage. Better than Rad/SS. The only drawback is having like 27 toggles but you will have the endurance to run them.

 

I see I'm about 6 hours late, but when you get tired of slowly backhanding single target bosses/EBs/AVs down to size, reconsider this combo. It's nuts.

I’m really torn between this combo and Shield/Fiery.

 

You feel it can outperform Rad/SS? I know that is kind of the bar haha

[hakurr]

2 hours ago, MoonSheep said:

to add a bit of a spanner into the works.. i’d recommend looking at an elec/shield stalker

I have a electric / bio stalker already and yes it is crazy strong

 

i also already have a stone / fire tank it is durable and good damage but kinda blah to me not sure why but I get bored easy playing it

 

[twozerofoxtrot]

4 hours ago, One IV All said:

I’m really torn between this combo and Shield/Fiery.

 

You feel it can outperform Rad/SS? I know that is kind of the bar haha

 

I can't say if I feel it does. There's probably observable metrics that can definitively say if it does or not. I imagine builds are going to be a big factor because the margins will be narrow. For the record I play my own build, not Sovera's.

 

But I'd rather play that Stone/Fiery than any Rad/SS. And I'd definitely pick it over Shield/Fiery, if only because it's much easier to deal with the End Drain.

 

 

 

Also if we're talking about the spectrum of play with low level (exemplar) being accounted for, the Stone/Fiery comes online sooner and pulls a lot more weight than Rad/SS (prior to lvl 25).