Scrapper or Brute?

[ceto555]

Which of the two does better for soloing to max level? When I hit 50 I plan to do Task Forces and Raids, I also want to be Street Justice/Willpower, or maybe a different secondary. Which of the two will give me an easier time, and also get me more groups at max level?

Thanks!!

[Hopeling]

Both will do very well, and getting groups generally isn't hard. But for your goals I would give a slight edge to the brute: Fury makes them pretty OP before SOs, and at 50 they can tank if needed.

Edited August 10, 2019 by Hopeling

[Werner]

I've noticed little difference in feel between leveling Brutes vs. Scrappers, unless the Scrapper doesn't have a taunt aura, and then I'm sad. I used to play mostly Scrappers with an occasional Brute. Now I'm mostly Brutes with an occasional Scrapper. I like having a taunt aura. I like the higher resistance caps and HP. I miss having criticals. When I'm on a team with a Brute I miss doing damage. A friend always plays a Tanker, and he's very serious about keeping enemies off the squishies, and forgets that the Brutes he's playing with aren't squishies. Well, in comparison, I suppose we are. But it means not a lot of Fury to play with.

 

I've never played a purpled out Brute, though. Soon. I know my purpled-out Scrappers were really, really fun solo, and very hard to kill.

[krj12]

For playing in groups and leveling up, I would give a slight edge to the Scrapper.  

Others may have a different experience,  but I have a hard time building rage consistently outside of farms.

The scrapper on the other hand, comes out swinging with 100% of his damage potential at the start of any fight.

The brute is a bit more durable, but if built right, a scrapper is fairly hard to kill.

 

[MunkiLord]

For Willpower specifically, I imagine the Brute is going to be since they'll benefit more from Willpower's regen due to the higher HP. In a TF the Scrapper is going to out damage the Brute in most cases. Both will be good and offense and defense, so it really depends what you want more.

Unless you have a pocket Kin giving you Fulcrum Shift, then I'd absolutely go Brute.

[Bloodofcaine]

While  I love both archtypes, if I were teaming a lot I'd go with a scrapper every time just cause I don't like dealing with the fury mechanic when I am teamed up. Either the team will obliterate spawns while I'm trying to generate some fury, or since I'm usually not the tank I'll run into the same issue cause the enemy isn't focused on me. I tend to like playing my brutes as solo farmers and save my scrappers and other archtypes for team play.

[Murcielago]

What's a brute?

[DSorrow]

I'd say it depends on your build goals and what you want your character to do.

 

With moderate to high IO investment, any secondary that's predominantly Resistance based will be better on Brutes because they have much higher Resistance caps and thus better maximum survivability. For Defense based sets, the survivability question is only slightly in the Brutes' favor due to their high HP, but the difference is so small in my opinion it doesn't really matter. With low to no investment in IOs, the survivability differences will be negligible regardless of your secondary.

 

If you're picking a set that has +DMG buffs (Dark Melee, Claws, Shield Defense, etc), it's going to be more useful to a Scrapper because of their higher base damage values.

 

If you want to have tools for aggro management but have picked a set that doesn't have a taunt aura (Elec Armor, Fire Armor, etc.), you'll probably want to make it a Brute as all Brute versions of the secondaries have taunt, they can punchvoke (only single targets, though) and they have a multi-target taunt.

 

Fury makes Brutes do more damage in the pre-50 game, but it evens out and in the end Scrappers will do more damage in a saturated buff situation, and even without buffs with comparable end game builds if the Pylon thread is anything to go by.

 

Other than that I'd say it's mostly down to preference and character concept. My TW/Elec is a Brute because I thought the character concept fit Brutes better and I liked the higher Resistance caps with Elec Armor. My Rad/SD is a Scrapper because the +DMG is more beneficial with the higher base damage and with Defense as my main, uh, defense, the AT didn't make a difference when it comes to survivability.

[Heraclea]

I generally find scrappers more welcoming to play than brutes, but some powersets favor one over the other. 

 

When there's no tanker on the team, that job will probably fall to any brutes present, and it's slightly harder on one, especially without the right teammate buffs that synch with your secondary.  You can make a regen brute, but try to tank on one and it'll end in tears.  Neither is ideal for facing mobs with big burst strikes; for that you want a tanker. 

 

Brutes want small, fast attacks: brutes favor sets like Dual Blades and Dark Melee, with fast animations and quick recharges.  It took me until close to level 40 before I found my Titan Weapons scrapper fun to play.  Levelling that set on a Brute sounds like pure agony to me.  Brutes need a lot of endurance relief, and need it early on: they'll want a rich patron.  (So do Tankers, for different reasons.) Scrappers can relax in the middle of fights and try to recover in a way that Brutes can't.  Scrapper damage is as consistent as the day is long.  Brutes start out from a place that's worse than a tanker's, and need to work up a head of steam before they reach anything close to their potential.  This makes getting killed a minor setback to the Scrapper, and a catastrophe to the Brute.  This also makes running with the +4/8 set more attractive to Brutes, given content that's actually fun to play.  But for solo, Scrappers generally don't care quite as much about content selection than Brutes do.  Scrappers can solo New Dark Astoria and enjoy the storylines and earn the merits.  Brutes fare less well among kinetic Tsoo and BP shamans. 

 

For similar reasons, I think Scrappers have a lot more build freedom than Brutes do.   You can build a Scrapper for stealth.  I have one.   Not an option for a Brute.  You can't really break a Scrapper with power choices.  (It helps that they don't have Energy Melee or Super Strength.) Some will do better in endgame content, then again Scrappers are usually more fun exemped down than Brutes are. I have a scrapper that is specialized for this, and is happy to run  Synapse and Citadel all day long.   Something like Titan Weapons/Regen would not be ideal for a Scrapper, but hardly unplayable.  On a Brute it sounds like one of those worst possible power combinations.  I've just said no to fighting pool on at least one Scrapper; just seemed not to do enough to bother with.  A lot harder to do on a Brute.  For concept characters Scrapper is the better choice. 

[Chance Jackson]

On 8/13/2019 at 12:36 AM, Heraclea said:

I generally find scrappers more welcoming to play than brutes, but some powersets favor one over the other. 

 

When there's no tanker on the team, that job will probably fall to any brutes present, and it's slightly harder on one, especially without the right teammate buffs that synch with your secondary.  You can make a regen brute, but try to tank on one and it'll end in tears.  Neither is ideal for facing mobs with big burst strikes; for that you want a tanker. 

 

Brutes want small, fast attacks: brutes favor sets like Dual Blades and Dark Melee, with fast animations and quick recharges.  It took me until close to level 40 before I found my Titan Weapons scrapper fun to play.  Levelling that set on a Brute sounds like pure agony to me.  Brutes need a lot of endurance relief, and need it early on: they'll want a rich patron.  (So do Tankers, for different reasons.) Scrappers can relax in the middle of fights and try to recover in a way that Brutes can't.  Scrapper damage is as consistent as the day is long.  Brutes start out from a place that's worse than a tanker's, and need to work up a head of steam before they reach anything close to their potential.  This makes getting killed a minor setback to the Scrapper, and a catastrophe to the Brute.  This also makes running with the +4/8 set more attractive to Brutes, given content that's actually fun to play.  But for solo, Scrappers generally don't care quite as much about content selection than Brutes do.  Scrappers can solo New Dark Astoria and enjoy the storylines and earn the merits.  Brutes fare less well among kinetic Tsoo and BP shamans. 

 

For similar reasons, I think Scrappers have a lot more build freedom than Brutes do.   You can build a Scrapper for stealth.  I have one.   Not an option for a Brute.  You can't really break a Scrapper with power choices.  (It helps that they don't have Energy Melee or Super Strength.) Some will do better in endgame content, then again Scrappers are usually more fun exemped down than Brutes are. I have a scrapper that is specialized for this, and is happy to run  Synapse and Citadel all day long.   Something like Titan Weapons/Regen would not be ideal for a Scrapper, but hardly unplayable.  On a Brute it sounds like one of those worst possible power combinations.  I've just said no to fighting pool on at least one Scrapper; just seemed not to do enough to bother with.  A lot harder to do on a Brute.  For concept characters Scrapper is the better choice. 

You can build Brutes for stealth (Dark Armor & Energy Aura have stealth built in)

 

Regen is better for brutes too

[Werner]

57 minutes ago, Chance Jackson said:

You can build Brutes for stealth (Dark Armor & Energy Aura have stealth built in)...

Well, yes, but it's hard to generate Fury when you're stealthing around like a Stalker. That said, a little stealth can help break up the alpha strike as it takes some enemies a few seconds longer to react than others, and sometimes every little bit helps. 

[ericc191]

I would give the edge to the Brute based on your needs. Survivability is much better and easier to build up on a Brute. As far as damage goes, solo, you'll build up fury quickly. And on a team, you should have a decent amount of buffs to fill the gap where you might have trouble maintaining fury.

[Bill Z Bubba]

We get a 1000 slots. Build both! I've got 3 Bill Z Bubbas at 50 and fully kitted out now. (I've got 5 but the tank and stalker aren't built.) The scrapper's damage output is considerably higher than the brute's thanks to the scrapper AT IO procs, but the brute can take a lot more incoming damage/attacks and has taunt.

 

I seriously love them both and bounce between them on a whim.

[Tsuko]

Bio armor scrapper with huge investment and/or a pocket def support can "main tank" low dif TF with ease : Bio armor have more agro tools than lots of "brute" armor as regen, sr or energy for instance.

 

In my very humble opinion :

 

Brutes are tanks with average good dps and average agro management

 

Scrappers are DPS able to off tank and, well gear, even tank "farmed" content.

Edited September 2, 2019 by Tsuko

[Without_Pause]

I find /wp works better on a brute. SJ works better on a stalker. Between the brute and scrapper, I would go brute since with the combo system you are likely building up to your combos and building fury anyway.