Simply Bruting NRG/Will

[Snarky]

I have always been a Brute player.  Overwhelmingly my alts and projects have some combo of SS and Dark attack and Invul or Will armor. My first (and only) 50 in the new world is a Dark/Invul Brute.  A few of my favorite variations in the 40s

 

Been a tough week at work and so when I logged in last night I just created a simple character for smashtastic fun. After looking around I chose Energy/Willpower as it seems the build with the least thought involved. Even in late game no worrying about huge crashes or planning things out 2-3 minutes ahead

 

After 2 DFBs Atlas got momentarily quiet but I got on a 50 team running the war hulk mao. I now have a level 27 Brute lol

 

I am looking forward to Getting to 50 because I have never runEnergy past mid 30s

 

What is with the Energy Transfer thing. How much damage do you actually do to yourself. How should it be slotted?  Recharge yourself into the ground. Lol

 

Anyways just posting random Brute stuff. Any input on Energy melee is appreciated though. Thanks

[HelenCarnate]

ET doesn't do enough damage to yourself to matter on a high regen set like /WP. The main issue is the long cast times on the 2 biggest attacks and lack of decent aoe. This makes you feel pretty useless on teams outside of AV fights. On a full team by the time you finish Total Focus your target is dead or to the point where energy punch would have been just as effective.

 

 

[bartwart]

I'm leveling an nrg/inv brute right now and have some opinions on it.  Currently I"m at level 29.  Regarding Total Focus, its very situational.  The gentleman above is correct in that by the time you finished casting the power, the mob is dead.  Coupled with the fact that its single target only and has a high activation cost, and you see how situational it really is.  By comparison, Thunderstrike and Tremor have some AOE component, so even if your original mob dies, chances are you'll still damage his buddies.  I only occasionally use Total Focus in group content, but its not part of my regular attack chain.  In fact, I'm thinking respecing out of it and adding another power instead from one of the tertiary pools.

 

Regarding the lack of AOE in the NRG set, I took Spring Attack from the Jumping Pool (since I usually take super jump as my travel power anyway), and love the results.  With SOs, I 6 slot it: 2 accuracies, 2 damages, and 2 recharges), and its usually up every mob encounter and is a great opener.  I open with Spring Attack -> Whirling Hands before entering into my usually attack rotation.  I also have Spring Attack on my Earth/Earth dom who is by the nature of /Earth a melee character, and I love that power on him.

 

I had initially experiemented with taking Cross Punch from the Fighting pool, but respec'd out of it when I hit 20.  I'm thinking about respecing back into it.  I actually liked Cross Punch a lot (much better than Total Focus), but at low levels its a big sacrifice to be able to get.

 

There's a synergy with the fighting pool where if you get boxing, kick, and crosspunch, each of those powers gains 30% extra damage.  Crosspunch smacks hard and has a modest cone angle.

[marcussmythe]

So the best way to Energy Melee is to Leap Attack and Cross Punch?  :D

[bartwart]

Yeah!  Weird in a thread about nrg I gush over cross punch and spring attack.  The energy set as a whole underperfoms IMO, but there's a way to suppliment it with Spring Attack and the Fighting Pool to have a really awesome attack rotation.

 

Putting aside nrg for a moment, Spring Attack is that good and can probably go into a lot of other set rotations, not just for nrg brutes.

 

Back to NRG as a set.  Here's the reasoning for skipping a few powers in NRG and supplementing with the Fighting pool.  First, Total Focus is meh, and arguably a liability in your attack chain, given that mobs die so fast, it has a high activation cost, cast time, and is single target only....it really needs to be reworked so that its more like thunderstrike or tremor.  So that said, Total Focus is skipable.  Then looking at the first two powers in NRG: Barrage and Energy Punch...skip one of those.  So with that power, along with Total Focus, you have two powers in the nrg set you know you're going to skip.  You can substitute those two power with boxing and kick from the fighting pool.  Now all you need is to find a good opportunity to slot in cross punch, and the synergy mechanic between those 3 powers gives each a 30% bonus to damage from them plus a special effect.

 

Once you have those plus the afore mentioned spring attack (make sure to slot it with enough recharge so that its up about every 1 minute), here's how the encounters go:

1) Open up with Spring Attack and Whirling Fists

2) Cycle through a regular attack chain of cross punch, bone smasher, your tier 1 or tier 2 power...which ever you kept, kick, and if nothing else in your rotation has recharged yet, activate boxing.  The attack order may vary.  Rinse repeat

 

EDIT: Energy Transfer, from what I hear, might also be a skippable power, but I'll haven't reached level 32 yet.

[Sidious]

Generally Energy Melee suffers from a combination of nerfed damage and slow animation times.

The damage is able to be mitigated with IO/sets.

The animation time would require the devs to speed things up.... a lot.

 

I know. I'm bummed too. it's one of my favorite powers.