JuliusSeizure

Heat Exhaustion is arguably the most potent PvP skill in the game. And now MMs get it. :-)

I'm not sure how having Radiation as a secondary is even giving you any of these issues. Radiation Infection alone neuters spawns-- and then you have Enervating Field, Accelerate Metabolism, Radiant Aura, Lingering Radiation, and EM Pulse.

Then there's your Primary, which offers solid damage and control. Worm Hole will clump everybody around your debuff toggles, which is an amazing perk, and Singularity is an incredibly potent ally that will chain mez bosses while you AFK.

My initial thought, without a build being posted, is that you took the pool powers too early and neglected actual powers from your Primary/Secondary.

But here's the deal. The existing AT structure for Scrappers denies criticals from their secondary. This is universal and across the board. Whether it's fair or not is a separate debate-- but that IS the current AT structure, and a Shield Charge without criticals adheres to the way the current Scrapper AT plays.

Having isolated skills that are pseudo pets and don't follow existing AT rules is completely different. Shield Charge and Lightning Rod are two notable exceptions to a rule that applies to all Brute damage skills. That is that there is an 850% damage cap, and they are all affected by Fury.

There's no reason that a Brute player should have to hit Build Up and unknowingly have it add no damage to their Shield Charge simply because it's one of two skills that ignores what everything else in the AT does properly.

Call to Arms: 5% defense
Expedient Reinforcement: 10% resistance
Edict of the Master: 5% defense
Soverign Right: 10% resistance

I'm so glad that they allowed for Soul Extraction to take recharge intensive pet sets recently.

That's really silly from someone with so much experience here. Fury has always stacked with every power the Brute possesses. It's why the AT has a .75 damage modifier, less than Tanks. Every power in the Brute's Secondary that's not a pseudo pet has the same damage caps as the AT. This is about having skills operate as expected within the existing AT structure and not being an exception due to being coded as a pseudo pet.

Scrappers have never received criticals from their secondary. Whether they should or should not receive criticals is a completely different debate and has no bearing on specific skills that break the existing AT format.

For sure-- and the Stalker description should most definitely be updated.

I debated this in my head, and felt that while it's awesome that LR doesn't break hide, it feels like more of a bug than an intended feature. My guess is that they let this bug remain because they didn't have time to program criticals. However, Rain of Arrows now scourges, so I don't see why they can't readress this skill at some point. LR really should critical and break hide, but that might anger some people and now be sugject to the cottage rule...

This is called a red herring.

APPs and the rules that govern them have no bearing on the dichotomy that exists between Primary and Secondary skills within the Scrapper AT. Scrappers don't critical from their Secondary. Period. No skill ever does, and Shield Charge will never break that rule.

Nor should you use it to demand tit-for-tat in a perceived AT squabble. I already stated that Scrappers need a 500% damage cap on this skill. This isn't about buffing Brutes but making the skills adhere to AT mechanics across the board. It just so happens that +damage is an AT mechanic for Brutes, and they are particularly hindered by the 400% damage cap.

Umm no. Quills, a damage aura for a Scrapper primary can critical. Blazing Aura, Death Shroud, and Lightning Field for Scrapper secondaries cannot.

Criticals are tied to the Scrapper primary damage skills and not secondary damage skills. Lightning Rod should critical for Scrappers and Stalkers. Shield Charge should not.

Unfortunately, I don't see them readdressing this either.

Changing the skills to have them match AT damage scales was basically an admission that they are not pets, but attacks that employ a pseudo-pet to do damage. (Duh-- that's what they've always been but not what they were numerically). Having them adhere to AT damage caps should have been part of that process.

Simply put, it's easy enough for a Shield Brute to have BU, Soul Drain, or Rage add absolutely no damage to their Shield Charge. This should not be the case, and a player shouldn't have to make exceptions for a handful of skills due to esoteric knowledge that they are using a pseudo-pet and not an actual attack.

What strikes me as unfair is that the skills are now balanced relative to AT damage modifiers, but not relative to AT damage caps. They should have been balanced across the board-- and damage caps are part of that balance.

A Brute exceeding the pet damage cap by 100% is equal to a Scrapper hitting BU and having 4 targets in AoA range. These ATs are quite balanced in regular play.

What you'd really want are the Spiderlings. 3 Imps and 3 Spiderlings would be amazing.

These changes were made so that LR and SC would adhere to AT damage levels by respecting At damage modifiers. A Brute can't adhere to its AT damage levels without a higher damage cap on these skills. A Scrapper can.

First, let me explain damage caps. Dominators, Controllers, Defenders, etc have a 400% damage cap. This doesn't mean that they cap at +400% enhanced damage, it means that they cap at 400% total damage. Thus, their maximum amount of +damage is 300% (300% enhancement +100% base = 400%). This is really easy to test-- pop 12 small reds on any of these ATs while monitoring your damage through combat attributes. You will cap at 300%. At this point, the socketed damage in your skills is doing nothing.

Now, as stated above, pet damage is capped at 400% as well. This means that a Brute will blow past the damage cap at 95%+180%+25%, which involves just 3 characters in AoA range and 90% Fury. Build Up is completely wasted.

The reason that Brutes are now hurt by this change is that the 850% damage cap is a balance against the Scrapper's 1.125 AT modifier and their 500% damage cap. A brute NEEDS more total enhanced damage through higher caps to equal a Scrapper's enhanced damage.

Here are some numbers:

• Brute Shield Charge at 80% Fury, 3 targets in AoA:
  133[cannot exceed 300%(1+0.95+1.6+.265)]= 507
• Brute Shield Charge at 80% Fury, 3 targets in AoA, +BU:
  133[cannot exceed 300%(1+0.8+0.95+1.6+0.265)]=532 <-65% damage removed due to cap
• Scrapper Shield Charge, 3 targets in AoA:
  200[cannot exceed 300%(1+0.95+33.125)]= 456.25
• Scrapper Shield Charge, 3 targets in AoA, +BU:
  200[cannot exceed 300%(1+0.95+33.125)+1]=656.25

As you can see, Build Up is basically wasted on the Brute, but adds significantly to the Scrapper because their source of damage is from AT modifiers and not extraneous +damage. This is why Brutes have such a high damage cap. They must rely on large amounts of +damage through Fury and other buffs in order to approach Scrapper levels.

Brutes had a significant advantage over Tanks and Scrappers before these changes were made. SC and LR did the same damage for all three ATs, but Brutes benefited from Fury. Now, with the AT modifiers in place, it appears that the developers want these skills to adhere to AT damage levels that they designed. The Brute is particularly hindered by not increasing the damage cap on these skills because it is unable to employ Build Up with a head of Fury for extra damage.

The Scrapper is limited slightly as well, and should be able to hit the 500% damage cap when on a team setting or swallowing reds. However, the Scrapper AT will rarely hit the 400% damage cap without significant outside buffs while a Brute can exceed it by nearly 100% without a single red.

I believe that it checks once when it's cast, and once again every 10 seconds after that.

Stick with it. It's a very potent combination, especially now that ELA has a heal and +regeneration. Energy Melee has a negative reputation on this board due to a re-balancing of the skill Energy Transfer that took place a while ago. The truth is that Energy Melee has some of the highest single target damage-- both burst and sustained, and stacks hard control like no other set in the game.

Another option for a Cyborg would be SS/ELA.

Will Power is a boring, boring secondary that is extremely potent. I've never made one past 29 because I just start yawning after a few minutes.

ELA and Shield Defense are my favorite secondaries. I have a War Mace/Shield brute at 42 and a DM/ELA Brute at 50. The ELA has been my main toon since issue 8. Both of these secondaries can feel squishy at times, but they can also accomplish some really awesome feats. Carnis and Malta melt before my ELA. The Shield Defense brute brings a smile to my face with every Shield Charge, and it's great fun on a team to try and employ Phalanx Fighting to get an additional 3-9% defense. In fact, I intentionally kept my self a bit below the soft cap with this toon's final build so that I can use Phalanx Fighting to reach the cap. It's quite fun.

I know that you already chose ELA, and it will be a great combo. However, I'd also recommend trying an Axe/Sheild. Merely having access to the great weapon/shield skins can add a lot to the character enjoyment.

The Brute skill has different KB values. Shockwave has always worked like that for Brutes, unless you are fighting +6s I believe.

Edit-- just noticed this was answered.

It's prety nice with Siren's Song and your single target stun, however. It also buffs the toHit on Amplify and Build Up, if you ever really need to hit a MoGed Paragon Protector, for example.