Psionic/Regen Brute Build Critique

[Terenos]

Howdy! I'm looking for feedback from any build masters out there for what I'm thinking of as the "final" form for my Psionic/Regen Brute.

 

My main goals for this guild are to prioritize solo content against a wide variety of enemy types, hopefully pushing up the difficulties to at least +2/8 in the end. Based on other regen builds, my own experience solo to 37 (and playing many other Brutes), and random bits of chatter, I'm focusing on capping HP, getting additional regen bonuses, and trying layer in resistance as far as I can via set bonuses. Defense is a tertiary concern for me, as without any sort of significant DDR it will tend to fail quickly in melee. For budget limits, I'm avoiding Very Rare set recipes, and limiting myself to one partial pvp set in Panacea.

 

Spoiler

Universal Truth - Villain Brute
Build plan made with Mids Reborn v3.7.14 rev. 3
──────────────────────────────
Primary powerset: Psionic MeleeSecondary powerset: RegenerationPool powerset (#1): TeleportationPool powerset (#2): LeapingPool powerset (#3): FightingPool powerset (#4): LeadershipAncillary powerset: Leviathan Mastery

──────────────────────────────

Powers taken:

Level 1: Psi Blade
A: Unrelenting Fury: Accuracy/Damage3: Unrelenting Fury: Damage/RechargeTime5: Unrelenting Fury: Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime9: Unrelenting Fury: Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime36: Unrelenting Fury: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime36: Unrelenting Fury: RechargeTime/+Regen/+End

Level 1: Fast Healing
A: Invention: Healing3: Invention: Healing

Level 2: Telekinetic Blow
A: Mako's Bite: Accuracy/Damage9: Mako's Bite: Damage/Endurance11: Mako's Bite: Damage/Recharge11: Mako's Bite: Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge34: Mako's Bite: Chance of Damage(Lethal)36: Force Feedback: Chance for +Recharge

Level 4: Quick Recovery
A: Performance Shifter: Chance for +End5: Performance Shifter: EndMod45: Performance Shifter: EndMod/Accuracy

Level 6: Reconstruction
A: Preventive Medicine: Chance for +Absorb7: Preventive Medicine: Heal/RechargeTime7: Preventive Medicine: Heal/RechargeTime/Endurance

Level 8: Psi Blade Sweep
A: Brute's Fury: Accuracy/Damage13: Brute's Fury: Damage/Recharge13: Brute's Fury: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge15: Brute's Fury: Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime21: Brute's Fury: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge34: Brute's Fury: Recharge/Fury Bonus

Level 10: Teleport
A: Winter's Gift: Slow Resistance (20%)

Level 12: Combat Teleport
A: Invention: To Hit Buff

Level 14: Combat Jumping
A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed15: Reactive Defenses: Scaling Resist Damage19: Shield Wall: +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All)

Level 16: Integration
A: Panacea: +Hit Points/Endurance17: Panacea: Heal/Endurance17: Panacea: Heal45: Panacea: Heal/Recharge

Level 18: Ailment Resistance
A: Preventive Medicine: Heal19: Preventive Medicine: Heal/Endurance48: Preventive Medicine: Heal/RechargeTime

Level 20: Resilience
A: Unbreakable Guard: +Max HP21: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance27: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance/Endurance40: Impervious Skin: Status Resistance/Regeneration42: Gladiator's Armor: TP Protection +3% Def (All)42: Gladiator's Armor: Resistance

Level 22: Greater Psi Blade
A: Mako's Bite: Accuracy/Damage23: Mako's Bite: Damage/Endurance23: Mako's Bite: Damage/Recharge25: Mako's Bite: Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge37: Mako's Bite: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge37: Mako's Bite: Chance of Damage(Lethal)

Level 24: Reactive Regeneration
A: Numina's Convalesence: Heal/Endurance25: Numina's Convalesence: Heal/Recharge33: Numina's Convalesence: Heal34: Numina's Convalesence: +Regeneration/+Recovery

Level 26: Mass Levitate
A: Obliteration: Damage27: Obliteration: Accuracy/Recharge29: Obliteration: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge29: Obliteration: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge31: Obliteration: Chance for Smashing Damage37: Force Feedback: Chance for +Recharge

Level 28: Kick
A: Invention: Accuracy

Level 30: Tough
A: Steadfast Protection: Resistance/+Def 3%31: Steadfast Protection: Resistance/Endurance31: Aegis: Psionic/Status Resistance40: Aegis: Resistance/Endurance42: Aegis: Resistance

Level 32: Weave
A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed33: Luck of the Gambler: Defense33: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance

Level 35: Spirit Shark
A: Devastation: Accuracy/Damage39: Devastation: Damage/Endurance39: Devastation: Damage/Recharge39: Devastation: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge40: Devastation: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge

Level 38: Second Wind
A: Numina's Convalesence: Heal/Recharge45: Numina's Convalesence: Endurance/Recharge46: Numina's Convalesence: Heal/Endurance/Recharge

Level 41: Moment of Glory
A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed43: Invention: Recharge Reduction43: Invention: Recharge Reduction43: Invention: Recharge Reduction

Level 44: Taunt
A: Perfect Zinger: Chance for Psi Damage46: Perfect Zinger: Threat/Placate/Recharge46: Perfect Zinger: Threat/Placate/Recharge/Range48: Perfect Zinger: Threat/Placate/Range48: Perfect Zinger: Accuracy/Recharge

Level 47: Concentration
A: Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control: Chance for Build UpA: Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control: To Hit Buff/Recharge

Level 49: Maneuvers
A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge SpeedA: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance

──────────────────────────────

Inherents:

Level 1: Fury

Level 1: Brawl
(Empty)

Level 1: Sprint
(Empty)

Level 2: Rest
(Empty)

Level 1: Swift
(Empty)

Level 1: Hurdle
(Empty)

Level 1: Health
A: Regenerative Tissue: +Regeneration

Level 1: Stamina
A: Performance Shifter: Chance for +End47: Performance Shifter: EndMod

Level 1: Insight

 

 

Any feedback is appreciated! Thanks!

Universal Truth - Brute (Psionic Melee - Regeneration).mbd

Edited June 24 by Terenos
Added image for totals in spoilers

[zenijos10]

If you switch out the 3 recharge reductions for 2 +5 reductions in MOG, you can get a slot back a slot and only lose 1 second of recharge, you probably don't need the +end slotted into stamina either, you have a lot of it.  One option  to reuse those slots is to 5 slot numina that will give you 3.75 more s/l resist and 4 slot Aegis for 3 more resist  to get 71 total S/L.  

 

You're also over the HP cap, so you can afford to drop one of the slots in quick recovery (or any other sets targeting HP+ bonuses and add it elsewhere.    You could add it to weave to get some extra accuracy and extra S/L resists,.  I suggest also adding a kismet, acc+6% somewhere, that + the LOTG Accuracy set bonus will get your accuracy to 95% on most powers.

 

 

Edited June 26 by zenijos10

[Terenos]

Thanks for the feedback, especially on the max HP thing. I definitely get a bit of set blindness when I'm placing things and just think, "Well, may as well just put another one in." This is especially true for +hp bonuses, as I'm not used to the amount that Regen has just baked into the base powers.

 

This new build is both more survivable and easier to put together (dropping a PVP IO is pretty big budget-wise).  HP is still overcapped, but by a significantly reduced amount,
 

Spoiler

Universal Truth - Villain Brute
Build plan made with Mids Reborn v3.7.14 rev. 3
──────────────────────────────
Primary powerset: Psionic MeleeSecondary powerset: RegenerationPool powerset (#1): TeleportationPool powerset (#2): LeapingPool powerset (#3): FightingPool powerset (#4): LeadershipAncillary powerset: Leviathan Mastery

──────────────────────────────

Powers taken:

Level 1: Psi Blade
A: Superior Unrelenting Fury: Accuracy/Damage3: Superior Unrelenting Fury: Damage/RechargeTime5: Superior Unrelenting Fury: Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime9: Superior Unrelenting Fury: Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime36: Superior Unrelenting Fury: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime36: Superior Unrelenting Fury: RechargeTime/+Regen/+End

Level 1: Fast Healing
A: Invention: Healing3: Numina's Convalesence: Heal43: Numina's Convalesence: +Regeneration/+Recovery

Level 2: Telekinetic Blow
A: Mako's Bite: Accuracy/Damage9: Mako's Bite: Damage/Endurance11: Mako's Bite: Damage/Recharge11: Mako's Bite: Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge34: Mako's Bite: Chance of Damage(Lethal)36: Force Feedback: Chance for +Recharge

Level 4: Quick Recovery
A: Performance Shifter: Chance for +End5: Power Transfer: EndMod45: Power Transfer: Damage/EndMod

Level 6: Reconstruction
A: Preventive Medicine: Chance for +Absorb7: Preventive Medicine: Heal/RechargeTime7: Doctored Wounds: Recharge39: Doctored Wounds: Heal/Recharge

Level 8: Psi Blade Sweep
A: Superior Brute's Fury: Accuracy/Damage13: Superior Brute's Fury: Damage/Recharge13: Superior Brute's Fury: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge15: Superior Brute's Fury: Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime21: Superior Brute's Fury: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge34: Superior Brute's Fury: Recharge/Fury Bonus

Level 10: Teleport
A: Winter's Gift: Slow Resistance (20%)

Level 12: Combat Teleport
A: Invention: To Hit Buff

Level 14: Combat Jumping
A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed15: Reactive Defenses: Scaling Resist Damage19: Shield Wall: +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All)

Level 16: Integration
A: Panacea: +Hit Points/Endurance17: Panacea: Heal/Endurance17: Panacea: Heal

Level 18: Ailment Resistance
A: Preventive Medicine: Heal19: Preventive Medicine: Heal/Endurance

Level 20: Resilience
A: Unbreakable Guard: +Max HP21: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance27: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance/Endurance40: Impervious Skin: Status Resistance/Regeneration42: Gladiator's Armor: TP Protection +3% Def (All)42: Gladiator's Armor: Resistance

Level 22: Greater Psi Blade
A: Mako's Bite: Accuracy/Damage23: Mako's Bite: Damage/Endurance23: Mako's Bite: Damage/Recharge25: Mako's Bite: Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge37: Mako's Bite: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge37: Mako's Bite: Chance of Damage(Lethal)

Level 24: Reactive Regeneration
A: Numina's Convalesence: Heal/Endurance25: Numina's Convalesence: Heal/Recharge33: Numina's Convalesence: Heal/Endurance/Recharge33: Numina's Convalesence: Endurance/Recharge34: Numina's Convalesence: Heal

Level 26: Mass Levitate
A: Obliteration: Damage27: Obliteration: Accuracy/Recharge29: Obliteration: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge29: Obliteration: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge31: Obliteration: Chance for Smashing Damage37: Force Feedback: Chance for +Recharge

Level 28: Kick
A: Invention: Accuracy

Level 30: Tough
A: Steadfast Protection: Resistance/+Def 3%31: Steadfast Protection: Resistance/Endurance31: Aegis: Psionic/Status Resistance40: Aegis: Resistance/Endurance42: Aegis: Resistance45: Aegis: Resistance/Endurance/Recharge

Level 32: Weave
A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed33: Luck of the Gambler: Defense

Level 35: Spirit Shark
A: Overwhelming Force: Accuracy/Damage39: Overwhelming Force: Endurance/Recharge39: Force Feedback: Chance for +Recharge40: Overwhelming Force: Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown

Level 38: Second Wind
A: Numina's Convalesence: Heal/Recharge45: Numina's Convalesence: Endurance/Recharge46: Numina's Convalesence: Heal/Endurance/Recharge50: Numina's Convalesence: Heal/Endurance50: Numina's Convalesence: Heal

Level 41: Moment of Glory
A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed43: Invention: Recharge Reduction43: Invention: Recharge Reduction

Level 44: Taunt
A: Perfect Zinger: Chance for Psi Damage46: Perfect Zinger: Threat/Placate46: Perfect Zinger: Threat/Placate/Recharge48: Perfect Zinger: Threat/Placate/Recharge/Range

Level 47: Concentration
A: Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control: Chance for Build UpA: Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control: To Hit Buff/Recharge

Level 49: Maneuvers
A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge SpeedA: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance

──────────────────────────────

Inherents:

Level 1: Fury

Level 1: Brawl
A: Invention: Accuracy

Level 1: Sprint
A: Unbounded Leap: +Stealth

Level 2: Rest
(Empty)

Level 1: Swift
A: Invention: Run Speed

Level 1: Hurdle
A: Invention: Jumping

Level 1: Health
A: Regenerative Tissue: +Regeneration48: Miracle: +Recovery

Level 1: Stamina
A: Performance Shifter: Chance for +End

Level 1: Insight

 

 

 

 

Universal Truth - Brute (Psionic Melee - Regeneration).mbd

[zenijos10]

Looks pretty sturdy!  To throw a wrench in it, or perhaps to just give a alternative view.  Many level 50 regen brutes and now tanks swap out some survivability for more offensive power via procs.  Killing faster can help survive a lot of things too!

 

For example Greater Psi Blade could go from about 280 average damage to 379 with 4 procs and 2 acc/damage.   Also just as a note, in most cases as a brute you will not get a lot of use out of enhancing taunt (many people skip it entirely), so weigh those set bonuses carefully.  Additionally, you have a lot of endurance (though not a lot of endurance  debuff resistance).  You can probrably afford to lose the slot holding miracle in health (one of the quick recovery slots).   Finally, the concentration second slot isnt doing much either.    So those slots might be better elsewhere, or allow you to lose some set in attacks and gain them in defenses.  Also, your accuracy still isn't great against +4 enemies.  The kismet +acc enhancement would do a lot of good.

[Erratic1]

41 minutes ago, zenijos10 said:

 

For example Greater Psi Blade could go from about 280 average damage to 379 with 4 procs and 2 acc/damage.

 

He has Fury set to 0. Move it up to 85 and Greater Psi Blade hits for 471.

[Terenos]

1 hour ago, zenijos10 said:

Looks pretty sturdy!  To throw a wrench in it, or perhaps to just give a alternative view.  Many level 50 regen brutes and now tanks swap out some survivability for more offensive power via procs.  Killing faster can help survive a lot of things too!

 

For example Greater Psi Blade could go from about 280 average damage to 379 with 4 procs and 2 acc/damage.   Also just as a note, in most cases as a brute you will not get a lot of use out of enhancing taunt (many people skip it entirely), so weigh those set bonuses carefully.  Additionally, you have a lot of endurance (though not a lot of endurance  debuff resistance).  You can probrably afford to lose the slot holding miracle in health (one of the quick recovery slots).   Finally, the concentration second slot isnt doing much either.    So those slots might be better elsewhere, or allow you to lose some set in attacks and gain them in defenses.  Also, your accuracy still isn't great against +4 enemies.  The kismet +acc enhancement would do a lot of good.

 

I've tried the playstyle of heavy procs on brutes before, and it's never really my cup of tea for them - I've found that pushing fury through recharge and sustain provides a faster route to damage. I also prefer to over-emphasize survivability and sustain over extra damage (when it's a trade-off I have to consider). I've found that, when teaming, the team is either blasting through enemies so quickly the little bit of extra damage I could bring with procs doesn't really make a heavy impact or I'm acting as the key tank, where soaking alphas and living is the most important aspect I bring. My playstyle tends to favor preparing for the latter than optimizing for the former.

 

I like the idea of bringing in Kismet, and dropping the slot in concentration and moving it over to mule that enhancement in combat jumping is probably where I'll end up. There's also a part of me that likes the idea of just dropping concentration entirely and switching it over to Tactics out of Leadership to provide that extra high level accuracy and provide a layer of confuse/fear protection when solo. While the damage bonus of Concentration is really nice for bursting with Insight/Greater Psi Blade, the utility of Tactics might just be a better QOL addition.

[Terenos]

1 hour ago, Erratic1 said:

 

He has Fury set to 0. Move it up to 85 and Greater Psi Blade hits for 471.

 

TIL that was a slider. Thank you!

[zenijos10]

1 hour ago, Erratic1 said:

 

He has Fury set to 0. Move it up to 85 and Greater Psi Blade hits for 471.

with Fury at 85, I see Greater Psi blade hitting for 706 ( on average) with 4 damage procs and 1 dam/acc and 1 damage.  So the damage can scale with fury, however it is average damage, and the RNG can be stingy sometimes.   

 

Terenos, I understand your build philosophy, just wanted to show there are always tradeoffs and ways to make useful changes.  Maximizing defense means giving up some offense.

Edited June 28 by zenijos10

[Terenos]

12 minutes ago, zenijos10 said:

Terenos, I understand your build philosophy, just wanted to show there are always tradeoffs and ways to make useful changes.  Maximizing defense means giving up some offense.

 

Totally, I appreciate the feedback. It's good to step back and think through my choices on the build, which is why having other perspectives like yours only makes it better!

[Erratic1]

2 hours ago, zenijos10 said:

with Fury at 85, I see Greater Psi blade hitting for 706 ( on average) with 4 damage procs and 1 dam/acc and 1 damage.  So the damage can scale with fury, however it is average damage, and the RNG can be stingy sometimes.   

 

I thought proc damage was flat and not modified by outside effects. I may need to ask someone who procs damage.

[Nemu]

I firmly believe that the regen playstyle and build philosophy hasn't really changed even with more dependable/consistent passive regen and some debuff resistance.

 

More recharge, more slow resist, more recharge, more slow resist - when things go bad it's your clicks that's going to save you, not passive regen. -recharge debuffs were and still will be the bane to your survival.

 

Looking at your new build you have 40% recharge debuff resistance and 50% recharge global bonus, no haste. This might work for easy content but I guarantee you will start to feel the pain as you ramp up difficulty. 

 

Look to supplement your toolkit with additional sources of +resist such as rune of protection or melee hybrid. That's the typical and established regen build strategy. But again:

More recharge, more slow resist. Get hasten, and then more recharge, and more slow resist.

[zenijos10]

16 hours ago, Erratic1 said:

 

I thought proc damage was flat and not modified by outside effects. I may need to ask someone who procs damage.

Proc damage does not get modified.   But consider that with 1 dam + 1 dam/acc  Greater Psi Blade can get to 76% dam enhancment (217 damage), with a full set of Mako it gets to 93.5% (288 damage).   Fury affects BOTH of those.  At 85 fury, 408 and 479 respectively.  You can put 4 procs on top of that 408 to get to average damage of 689.   

• With Musculature core (and 85 Fury), it closes the distance even more boosting the 76% damage enhancement to 119% (ed 122%) and meanwhile 6 slot Mako is at 127% (ed 143%).  This put average damage between the two at 746 for 1 dam + 1 dam/acc + 4 procs versus 516 for 6 slot Mako's.
• With musc + 85 Fury + INSIGHT it is 750 damage for 6 slot and 974 damage for 1 dam + 1 dam/acc + 4 procs.
• If you add in concentration + Gaussian's Build up it goes to 1020 (6 slot) vs 1244.

 

The tradeoff is real.  Give up the set bonuses in exchange for an extra 220 ST damage every 8 seconds or so?

Edited June 29 by zenijos10

[Terenos]

19 hours ago, zenijos10 said:

Proc damage does not get modified.   But consider that with 1 dam + 1 dam/acc  Greater Psi Blade can get to 76% dam enhancment (217 damage), with a full set of Mako it gets to 93.5% (288 damage).   Fury affects BOTH of those.  At 85 fury, 408 and 479 respectively.  You can put 4 procs on top of that 408 to get to average damage of 689.   

• With Musculature core (and 85 Fury), it closes the distance even more boosting the 76% damage enhancement to 119% (ed 122%) and meanwhile 6 slot Mako is at 127% (ed 143%).  This put average damage between the two at 746 for 1 dam + 1 dam/acc + 4 procs versus 516 for 6 slot Mako's.
• With musc + 85 Fury + INSIGHT it is 750 damage for 6 slot and 974 damage for 1 dam + 1 dam/acc + 4 procs.
• If you add in concentration + Gaussian's Build up it goes to 1020 (6 slot) vs 1244.

 

The tradeoff is real.  Give up the set bonuses in exchange for an extra 220 ST damage every 8 seconds or so?

 

To give the survability comparison, changing to Musculature Core and switching out the Mako slotting you lose out about 17.3 hp/s (143.1 > 125.8) and 3.8% S/L resist (79 > 75.2).

 

For Brutes specifically, though, I don't think procs are necessarily as impactful due to the way Fury boosts our base damage but not our proc damage. Recharge can actually be a stronger buff by making our high damage powers available more often (so you end up using high damage/activation powers more often than filling in with weaker hits).

 

On the damage side, because we've removed recharge both from the power slotting and incarnates, the recharge time goes from 4.35s > 10s, losing potentially half the activations of Greater Psi Blade. While not 1 to 1, because while it is on cooldown, you're filling in with other attacks from your attack chain, none of the other attacks even approach the damage of Greater Psi Blade. If we assume that you would be doing a Telekinetic Blow (the next highest damaging attack) to fill in on occasion, you're still losing at least a little under 100-200 damage per activation of a not GPB power.

 

This sort of math is a little more complicated with Psionic Melee, though, since it ignores the effects of Insight and Insight Lockout periods (damage starts to become much more comparable between Telekinetic Blow w/Insight vs. GPB without Insight). But assuming that you're always going to be clicking the most damaging power in a given situation, having GBP up more often means the damage difference is much lower between proc/musculature and set/Spritual on a Brute.

 

All that being said, I do think there's a strong case for removing one of the Mako's Bite enhancements from GPB (probably the Acc/Dam/End/Recharge one) and replacing it with another proc to bring the damage up just a little bit on a couple of the hits from it, or slotting in a pure damage IO for a more consistent damage increase to the power (since with my current slotting and Incarnate choices it's only barely dipping into ED for damage enhancements).

Edited June 29 by Terenos

[Nemu]

Recharge slotting in powers cuts down proc chances.

 

Your are focusing set bonuses on the wrong things on a regen build. If you think passive regen and a smattering of S/L resist is going to carry you through tougher content, then you are in for a rude awakening.

 

Regen's survival depends on clicks. The focus for a regen build should be recharge, and the bane of regen has and still is -recharge debuffs. This is not a new revelation, this has been discussed long ago. If you don't believe me, look at the posts from Betty who's the current champion of all things regen.

 

 

Obviously Betty and I have evolved our outlook on softcap defenses on a regen since 2022, but the fundamental core of -recharge debuff resist and +recharge for a regen build persist today even after the most recent regen revamp.

 

If you were to pivot and build with an emphasis on +recharge you can offset your 10 second GPB recharge with those global recharge bonuses + hasten, and do more damage with it as well, while still keeping a streamlined attack chain.

[Spaghetti Betty]

37 minutes ago, Nemu said:

Snip

Sometimes I forget about my really old Regen threads before I started truly exploring what can be done with it using every tool at your disposal!

 

But thanks for the shout-out and compliments!

[Terenos]

7 hours ago, Nemu said:

Recharge slotting in powers cuts down proc chances.

 

Yep, it's another one of the reasons why I personally don't tend to go proc heavy with my Brute builds - I love my endurance issues recharge too much 🙂

 

7 hours ago, Nemu said:

Your are focusing set bonuses on the wrong things on a regen build. If you think passive regen and a smattering of S/L resist is going to carry you through tougher content, then you are in for a rude awakening.

 

Regen's survival depends on clicks. The focus for a regen build should be recharge, and the bane of regen has and still is -recharge debuffs. This is not a new revelation, this has been discussed long ago. If you don't believe me, look at the posts from Betty who's the current champion of all things regen.

----

----

Obviously Betty and I have evolved our outlook on softcap defenses on a regen since 2022, but the fundamental core of -recharge debuff resist and +recharge for a regen build persist today even after the most recent regen revamp.

 

If you were to pivot and build with an emphasis on +recharge you can offset your 10 second GPB recharge with those global recharge bonuses + hasten, and do more damage with it as well, while still keeping a streamlined attack chain.

 

Before I get into my main points, I want to emphasize that I do not disagree with anything you're presenting here. I trust that your experience is correct that in some of the toughest content available, I will run into problems with my build as presented for survival. I also agree that -recharge debuffs kill; I've experienced that pain on every Brute I've had that runs a click heavy survival build. I also agree that Hasten is, objectively, a top tier power pick when you're chasing recharge bonuses.

 

I think there is definitely a far more optimized build that can be created with the information you've presented.

 

Now I'm going to get into the caveats (and again, I don't disagree with you on how best to optimize a top tier Regen Brute) for some of my choices and for this specific build I'm making

 

On 6/23/2025 at 6:07 PM, Terenos said:

 For budget limits, I'm avoiding Very Rare set recipes, and limiting myself to one partial pvp set in Panacea.

 

-Recharge Debuff Resistance is expensive since it's found for PVE exclusively on Winter Sets (and also for some reason in Synapse's Shock (End Mod - 3 set), Ice Mistral's Torment (Slow Movement - 4 set) and Thrust (Run (no sprint) - 4 set)). You need 8 total Superior Winter enhancements (spread across 4 powers for just the 2-set bonus in each) to max out the -recharge debuff resistance for Regen, which is beyond the resource budget I'm personally allotting this build. I should probably have included Winter Sets in the Very Rare set disclaimer, but in my mind they tend to overlap as "these are super expensive."

 

If the resources for them are available in a build, they're totally worth it for kitting out your character and pretty easy to make space for since they're not just cluttering up slots in mule powers.

 

Alright, with that major one out of the way, let's talk Hasten. As I said above, it is objectively the correct choice in this build. Were I going for the most optimized version, I would probably cut out the Teleportation pool and replace it with Super Speed as my main travel pool with Hasten taking over from Combat Teleport. There's also some (less optimized) arguments in my head that I could eat the loss of one LotG and cut either Combat Jumping or Maneuvers to fit in Hasten if I desperately wanted to keep teleportation in.

 

The "But" that's been building here is a completely stupid, non-profound one. I don't really like Hasten in my builds - I don't particularly enjoy its play pattern of chasing perma and then keeping it as an auto power. Also the sound makes my teeth hurt. That's it, that's the only reason it's not in the build. Nothing exciting, just personal preference. Again, objectively the correct choice for it to be there, and I know how I would change the build to make it fit.

 

So, with all the feedback it's clarified a few things in the build for me and I've refined it to this version:

 

Spoiler

 

Universal Truth - Villain Brute
Build plan made with Mids Reborn v3.7.14 rev. 3
──────────────────────────────
Primary powerset: Psionic MeleeSecondary powerset: RegenerationPool powerset (#1): TeleportationPool powerset (#2): LeapingPool powerset (#3): FightingPool powerset (#4): LeadershipAncillary powerset: Leviathan Mastery

──────────────────────────────

Powers taken:

Level 1: Psi Blade
A: Superior Unrelenting Fury: Accuracy/Damage3: Superior Unrelenting Fury: Damage/RechargeTime5: Superior Unrelenting Fury: Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime9: Superior Unrelenting Fury: Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime36: Superior Unrelenting Fury: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime36: Superior Unrelenting Fury: RechargeTime/+Regen/+End

Level 1: Fast Healing
A: Numina's Convalesence: Heal3: Invention: Healing43: Numina's Convalesence: +Regeneration/+Recovery

Level 2: Telekinetic Blow
A: Mako's Bite: Accuracy/Damage9: Mako's Bite: Damage/Endurance11: Mako's Bite: Damage/Recharge11: Mako's Bite: Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge34: Mako's Bite: Chance of Damage(Lethal)36: Force Feedback: Chance for +Recharge

Level 4: Quick Recovery
A: Performance Shifter: Chance for +End5: Synapse's Shock: EndMod/Increased Run Speed45: Synapse's Shock: EndMod47: Synapse's Shock: EndMod/Recharge

Level 6: Reconstruction
A: Preventive Medicine: Chance for +Absorb7: Preventive Medicine: Heal/RechargeTime7: Doctored Wounds: Recharge39: Doctored Wounds: Heal/Recharge

Level 8: Psi Blade Sweep
A: Superior Brute's Fury: Accuracy/Damage13: Superior Brute's Fury: Damage/Recharge13: Superior Brute's Fury: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge15: Superior Brute's Fury: Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime21: Superior Brute's Fury: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge34: Superior Brute's Fury: Recharge/Fury Bonus

Level 10: Teleport
A: Winter's Gift: Slow Resistance (20%)

Level 12: Combat Teleport
A: Invention: To Hit Buff

Level 14: Combat Jumping
A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed15: Reactive Defenses: Scaling Resist Damage19: Shield Wall: +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All)43: Kismet: Accuracy +6%

Level 16: Integration
A: Panacea: +Hit Points/Endurance17: Panacea: Heal/Endurance17: Panacea: Heal

Level 18: Ailment Resistance
A: Preventive Medicine: Heal19: Preventive Medicine: Heal/Endurance

Level 20: Resilience
A: Unbreakable Guard: +Max HP21: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance27: Unbreakable Guard: Resistance/Endurance40: Impervious Skin: Status Resistance/Regeneration42: Gladiator's Armor: TP Protection +3% Def (All)42: Gladiator's Armor: Resistance

Level 22: Greater Psi Blade
A: Mako's Bite: Accuracy/Damage23: Mako's Bite: Damage/Endurance23: Mako's Bite: Damage/Recharge25: Mako's Bite: Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge37: Mako's Bite: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge37: Mako's Bite: Chance of Damage(Lethal)

Level 24: Reactive Regeneration
A: Numina's Convalesence: Heal/Endurance25: Numina's Convalesence: Heal/Recharge33: Numina's Convalesence: Heal/Endurance/Recharge33: Numina's Convalesence: Endurance/Recharge34: Numina's Convalesence: Heal

Level 26: Mass Levitate
A: Obliteration: Damage27: Obliteration: Accuracy/Recharge29: Obliteration: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge29: Obliteration: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge31: Obliteration: Chance for Smashing Damage37: Force Feedback: Chance for +Recharge

Level 28: Kick
A: Invention: Accuracy

Level 30: Tough
A: Steadfast Protection: Resistance/+Def 3%31: Aegis: Resistance/Recharge31: Aegis: Psionic/Status Resistance40: Aegis: Resistance/Endurance42: Aegis: Resistance45: Aegis: Resistance/Endurance/Recharge

Level 32: Weave
A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed33: Luck of the Gambler: Defense

Level 35: Spirit Shark
A: Overwhelming Force: Accuracy/Damage39: Overwhelming Force: Endurance/Recharge39: Overwhelming Force: Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown40: Force Feedback: Chance for +Recharge

Level 38: Second Wind
A: Numina's Convalesence: Heal/Recharge45: Numina's Convalesence: Endurance/Recharge46: Numina's Convalesence: Heal/Endurance/Recharge50: Numina's Convalesence: Heal/Endurance50: Numina's Convalesence: Heal

Level 41: Moment of Glory
A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed43: Invention: Recharge Reduction

Level 44: Taunt
A: Perfect Zinger: Chance for Psi Damage46: Perfect Zinger: Threat/Placate46: Perfect Zinger: Threat/Placate/Recharge48: Perfect Zinger: Threat/Placate/Recharge/Range

Level 47: Maneuvers
A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge SpeedA: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance

Level 49: Tactics
A: Invention: Endurance Reduction

──────────────────────────────

Inherents:

Level 1: Fury

Level 1: Brawl
A: Invention: Accuracy

Level 1: Sprint
A: Unbounded Leap: +Stealth

Level 2: Rest
(Empty)

Level 1: Swift
A: Invention: Run Speed

Level 1: Hurdle
A: Invention: Jumping

Level 1: Health
A: Regenerative Tissue: +Regeneration48: Miracle: +Recovery

Level 1: Stamina
A: Performance Shifter: Chance for +End

Level 1: Insight

 

 

 

My goals have largely remained the same in the build, but I now know the reason I'm chasing the numbers I am on both positional defense and s/l resistance. That is, inspirations.

 

In most content that I'm going to be routinely soloing, I'm going to be dealing with the normal defense softcap of 45%. At 20% for the three positional defenses, it means I'm only two small purples (or one medium) away from hitting that number. It's not perfect insurance because I don't have the DDR to sustain against certain mob types, but it's a good pro-active step I can take to minimizing the damage the alpha strike of a mob does to me and helps stagger early damage by giving me time to start juggling mobs with Mass Levitate and Telekinetic Blow so that the high regen numbers can keep up.

 

Smashing and Lethal damage are the two most common damage types in the game, and also the easiest to find resist for outside of sets (mostly due to Tough). I would love to push it to a flat 80% so that one orange could max out my resistance numbers there, but 79% is... fine. There are places I could look to eke out that final 1% but I think that's too nitpicky for this iteration. Chasing other resists would require a complete overhaul of the build, and frankly I don't think it's worth it (but I'm always glad to be proven wrong).

 

The last thing that's been on my mind has been recharge bonuses in sets, and I think this relates to the Very Rare problem. Significant sources of recharge in sets are either consigned purely to Very Rare sets (the 10%) or buried as 5% to 8% in the 5/6 set bonus slot. I'm actually debating swapping the 5 slot Mako set in Telekinetic Blow to Crushing Impact to pick up the extra 5% recharge speed. The basic trade-off is 3% s/l resist for the additional recharge, and it's very tempting.

 

For normal content, I think these choices and the tools I have available both in the build and on my inspiration bar are enough that I can confidently approach most situations. For harder content, I'm going to have to rely on Incarnate Powers and (shudder) team mates to help.

 

Destiny and Hybrid slots are something I haven't given a huge amount of thought to yet in terms of the build, and with what thought I have given it, regen is new enough to me that I'm not sure that my previous experience on other Brutes is necessarily a good guide for what works best as solo picks, team picks, and league picks on those.

 

So, all this to say, thank you (everyone) for the feedback so far, and if the mood strikes keep it coming! It helps me clarify and improve this build, and, even if I don't embrace some of it right now, I hope that it'll help someone in the future with these sorts of questions.

Universal Truth - Brute (Psionic Melee - Regeneration).mbd

[Nemu]

Thanks for the context. I agree with you after reading through that. You made a build that aligns with your goals and budget and that's all there is to it.  I have no doubt that if those goals and budget change you can adjust your build again to meet those.

 

Remember that you can also get additional slow resist through the time lord day job and also from base craft buff. That should bring your slow resist to respectable levels.

 

If you are looking for a bit more recharge, consider 4 piece basalisk gaze + 2 dam IOs in greater psi blade

 

If you are looking for more late game mitigation, consider soul mastery for darkest night. Gloom is also a good ST attack that diversifies your damage type

[WuTang]

A small concern may also be that you don't have Second Wind on perma. It's off by 14 seconds. That's a 600+ point hit that could come at the wrong time.

[Terenos]

53 minutes ago, Nemu said:

If you are looking for a bit more recharge, consider 4 piece basalisk gaze + 2 dam IOs in greater psi blade

 

If you are looking for more late game mitigation, consider soul mastery for darkest night. Gloom is also a good ST attack that diversifies your damage type

 

Good call on both, I always forget about Basilisk Gaze and how bonkers the low-hanging set bonuses are on it.

 

One of the reasons Spirit Shark is in there right now is that I actually tend to take the Soul Mastery pool on my Brutes and wanted to check out Spirit Shark after the changes to it quite a few issues ago (since it has the stacking buff that ups its damage that I can't find a way to actually reflect in Mids). In testing it out in-game, it's a pretty hefty chunk of damage at 3-5 stacks (plus it's another spot to throw a Force Feedback into), but that 2s cast time is really awful to deal with.

 

I've found that in practice having a range attack from one of the pools is a huge help, so I'm likely going to jump back to Soul Mastery for at least Gloom and use a Cloud Senses set to pick up another recharge bonus. Another option I'm looking at is to dip into Mu Mastery and grab Mu Lightning as a ranged attack and use it to pull in another 3-set of Synapse's Shock (plus a one-off accuracy/damage IO at +5) to shore up -recharge debuff resistance.

 

45 minutes ago, WuTang said:

A small concern may also be that you don't have Second Wind on perma. It's off by 14 seconds. That's a 600+ point hit that could come at the wrong time.

 

I noticed this, too, and what's weird is that there's something going on with my Mids that's causing recharge times in powers (but not the global recharge value, which remains static. because I started obsessively checking to make sure I wasn't accidentally activating the force feedback procs) to change seemingly randomly (Second Wind, for example, somehow loses about 20 seconds) after making a minor tweak to completely unrelated things. I'm not sure which number to trust, so overkill on the number is probably the correct option.

 

My normal inclination is to preserve set bonuses through exemping by attuning most of my set enhancements, even if it means that my final numbers might not be as high as they could be. But for Second Wind specifically I think I'm going to +5 two of the */recharge IOs in it to try to eke out a bit more recharge to bring it back into perma-range.

 

[WuTang]

Are PvP sets out of your price range? 3 5-piece Panacea sets would help with global recharge. I would sacrifice your Taunt slotting for this. You could get 7.5% x3 over the 5% you get from the Perfect Zinger 4 piece.

[Terenos]

40 minutes ago, WuTang said:

Are PvP sets out of your price range? 3 5-piece Panacea sets would help with global recharge. I would sacrifice your Taunt slotting for this. You could get 7.5% x3 over the 5% you get from the Perfect Zinger 4 piece.

 

I have one 3 piece set of Panacea slotted in now, although it was 4 before, so one 5-slot isn't out of the question. Honestly, taunt is largely there as a set mule for that recharge bonus anyway (and because taunt is actually super useful even solo, to the point I miss it if I don't have it). Selling off the IOs in that would probably fund most of the fifth PvP IO and dropping two of the saved slots into Integration wouldn't be much of a change to the build as a whole.