Lord Mayhem

Bots/Dark is efficient, powerful and good fun - and I usually hate pet classes in MMOs! My Bot/Dark is L35, can solo fine on all difficulty settings (usually stay on Ruthless though to avoid Heroes/AVs) and I have few problems teaming with friends either - it's a great combo. Once you get your tactics sorted you shouldn't die unless you make a mistake, as it should be.

I took everything from /Dark except Black Hole - it might be useful to isolate a boss from his minions/lieuts but Fearsome Stare can do that too - otherwise all the /Dark powers are fantastic.

From Robotics I took all the bots/upgrades, but just one attack: Pulse Rifle Burst (best single target damage attack) - I sometimes use it to finish off runners while my bots focus on other targets (you don’t want them wasting a volley of AE attacks just to take a sliver of life from a runner). And against an EB/AV/Hero I can throw in some extra damage to make myself feel useful (since the L32 pet buff I'm starting to wonder if the bots need me at all! ). You could skip it, but it's a help at lower levels when you only have 1-2 bots - and it looks cool

I didn't take Repair because the /Dark heal, Twilight Grasp, is fantastic - keep your bots close to you and you can heal them all with it. Put 2 Accuracy SOs in at L22 and it hardly ever misses. I was also going to slot it with 3 Heal SOs, but it works fine for the bots with 1, so I may use the spare slots elsewhere. And 6-slot Fearsome Stare because it's wonderful - mine is 3xFear, 2xAccuracy, 1xRecharge and against orange/red minions/lieuts it’s back up before the fear wears off.

I just got Stamina at 35 and it's not really necessary, but there wasn't anything else I needed - it mainly helps me when buffing/summoning at the start of missions (I don't have to Rest anymore mid-buffing). But apart from travel and Leadership’s buffs there isn’t much you'll need from the power pools that you won’t already have from /Dark.

My final recommendation is to take Recall Friend before L26 (easy for me as I took Teleport as my travel power), because all of the bots tend to get stuck on railings, furniture and each other from time to time - the L26 Assault Bot is particularly bad (always seems to get stuck after using tube lifts in Longbow bases). With Recall Friend you can un-stick bots without having to dismiss/re-summon/re-buff them. I also suspect it will be useful for repositioning the L38 /Dark pet, seeing as we don’t have direct control over it.

Have fun!

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Dunno, I'm quite looking forward to a ranged attack, I currently use a temp power to pull and might be able to make use of it, same for the AoE immob (I'm thinking during AoEing here maybe).

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Pulling? As a brute? Sacrilege! Just wade in and SMASH!

I can’t see a regular use for the AE Immobilise. I wouldn’t open with it (I’d rather be swarmed, to build my Fury) and it’s overkill for both PvP and for stopping PvE runners. Guess we’ll have to see if the pet is just a “novelty toy” - I’m sure it will be for Stalkers (can't see it meshing well with Hide, like kidnap victims don't).

The ranged attacks in PPPs were to be expected, I just wish Brutes had some of the useful perks Tankers/Scrappers get in CoH, like Conserve Power, Focused Accuracy, maybe a single target hold (to stop runners and for PvP). I could have fitted those to my Brute’s concept and playstyle more easily than what we’ll actually be offered. For my Brute I’m seriously considering not taking a patron - that would fit his concept as well

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My problem is I tend to create chars before the backstory, so that gives me some major headaches

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Hehe. I enjoy putting concepts together to justify powersets I want to play. My problem is I have too many concepts I want to re-use from characters I’ve deleted. I’ve even tried to adapt some of my hero bios into villains, while still trying to do justice to the original concept with a villain AT and powersets that fit - now that’s a major headache

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Got a mate who rolled fire/dark after seeing my MM's debuffing, seems to work well, I'm after a /kin corrupter, but to be frank Ice isn't suiting me. I've yet to find a corrupter that really gels, even though I adore the /kin, /dark and /rad sets. But that's a discussion for another topic

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I love grouping with /kinetics, but I didn’t enjoy playing one My Fire/Rad has lots of synergy - not surprising /Dark does too with the playstyle similarities to /Rad at low level (re: Rad Infection vs Darkest Night).

I don’t think Energy/ will have any synergy with /Dark, but I might try it for the sake of concept (there I go again...) - I was tempted by Ice/Dark, but it didn’t fit any bios I wanted to use, and I just love the look of Energy Blasts and have been looking for an excuse to play that powerset for ages - I just wish Corruptors could use Storm Summoning because I reckon that would work great with Energy/. But then I’d love to have an Archery/Dark Corruptor too /sigh

So many concepts, so many powersets, so little time

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My decision would probably been very different if I didn't know for a fact that I'll only take a maximum of 3 of the PPP powers, if that.

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I’m really disappointed with the Patron powers for Brutes and Masterminds, from all 4 patrons. For my brute none of the patrons/powers fit his concept, and for both I just find all the powers a bit... meh... especially compared to the choices that heroes get from CoH APPs. Villains can’t respec to a different PPP, they have to do missions to “earn” them, yet generally they seem worse than most hero APPs - I really don’t get it. Ah well, at least my Stalker and Corruptor get a couple of good options (from Ghost Widow & Scirocco, anyway), if I ever get them up that high.

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My last (and tbh first) MMO was WoW, and the horror of specs (linked to the utter trivial nature of obtaining a respec - pay the vendor, there ya go) ruined a lot of play.

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My first was EverQuest - at 50 you were pretty much forced into the same equipment as everyone else of the same class, so we all looked identical and couldn’t customise our skills/powers at all. I’ve played tons of MMOs since then, but none of them gave me as much control over how my character looks/plays as CoH/CoV does.

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As for finding other AT's to play, I get a lot of pleasure from my bot/dark/meds/tp MM, playing him as a sorta defender with pets or something ;-). But like you say, it's hard finding a fun char that really "gels".

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Oh in one way I love my Bots/Dark/TP/Leadership MM just because it’s so efficient/powerful, and because I have a concept/bio that gels with the powers/costume (important! ), but it just feels a bit dull/routine solo - my brute never did. I don’t really enjoy teaming as an MM like I did as a brute/corruptor/scrapper either - I think it’s because I feel a bit disconnected from the action with the bots doing most of the damage, and I can't control aggro as well as I can solo. Also I’ve had some bad debt-ridden pick-up group experiences recently so unless friends are online I tend to solo my "squishies".

I’m still driven to level my MM (because it's not hard, and I want to see what the L32-38 powers are like), but I’m starting to think I’d have found a /Dark Corruptor more fun/challenging - ok I wouldn't have been able to make 6 robots dance like idiots, but I'm sure I'd have coped Maybe I’ll play an Energy/Dark next (I have a concept I'd like to re-use that would fit that build)... errr perhaps after the Elec/Elec Brute

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I definately agree with Valkryst that Air Superiority is superb, but I missed Incinerate, it's a great little attack, and one of the better single-target damage ones in the fire melee "tree".

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Glad you're enjoying your Fire/Fire. Personally I still prefer Fiery Embrace to Incinerate , just like FireKitty does, but the great thing about this game is that we have the choice to be different, unlike so many MMORPGs I've played where everyone is the same at top level. I love that about CoH/CoV.

My main problem with my Fire/Fire Brute is that for the last few months I've struggled to find another AT build that's as much fun to play! My SS/Dark Brute is fun, but I miss Fire's AE goodness - my Fire/Rad Corruptor has that fiery AE goodness and is powerful but lacks survivability and SMASH! - my Robo/Dark MM is very powerful but it's so easy to play, even on Ruthless & Relentless, that I just find it no challenge - and I must have tried dozens of other AT builds that just didn't grab me.

So I just can't wait for I7 so I can play Mayhem again, wading into the middle of spawns and laying down fiery AE death for another 10 levels And once he hits 50 I'll start an Elec/Elec Brute - looks like there's some yummy AE goodness in there

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Since I notice in teams I never get much rage really (what with bots and other brutes and stuff).

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Yeah its difficult building and maintaining Fury in teams, unless they're willing to move at your pace. Teams made up mainly of brutes tend to be fast.

Targets die faster in teams, before you can build Fury, so make sure you’re being hit by as many enemies as possible, because with bigger spawns you’ll get more Fury from being hit than from your own attacks (unlike when you’re solo). Fortunately the Fire/Fire Brute is a walking aggro magnet - Blazing Aura and Fire Sword Circle make you unpopular with everything. Also the alpha-strike from a full spawn in a big team can spike your Fury up to 75+% very rapidly, so try to be first into combat. Just don't try taking the alpha from a spawn with lots of cold, psionic or toxic damage, unless you have a team-mate with heals backing you up.

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Air Sup is prob the most useful skill I've got for survivability.

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I just realised that Air Superiority slotted 2xAcc, 3xRchg would be a 95% reliable knockdown every 2 seconds - that’s very tempting - you could keep a single-target down permanently and still have time to fire off a big attack between each knockdown. Probably overkill for a brute/tanker/scrapper, but perhaps handy for a stalker (if they need to scrap) or a blapper - I might try it on my elec/elec blaster at L22

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I do generate rage a lot faster, but I'm running out of end faster now, presumably due to the faster cycling attacks. Guess it's time to take and slot Consume, didn't really need it before ;-)

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Consume is a fantastic power and well worth getting anyway. Until you get it a fast way to build Fury without using much End is just to alternate Boxing and Brawl on the first few easy mobs in a mission (it's partly the reason I still have a Recharge SO in Boxing) - Fury builds fast, it doesn't cost much End, then once your Fury hits 80-90% you can get into your usual attack chain.

Fury is your god and he has a ravenous appetite for Endurance until you’ve fattened him up a bit, so you need a power like Consume that helps you to feed him Once you get that balanced you’ll find everything takes care of itself: continuous high Fury = more damage done = kill things faster = less Endurance spent & less damage taken = faster levelling with less resting.

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Thanks for the advice guys, Air Sup is prob the most useful skill I've got for survivability.

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Told ya

I love Air Superiority so much I now find myself taking it for most of my characters, even on ranged/squishy ATs that aren't taking Fly as travel power! In fact it’s even better for melee survivability on a squishy - they only need it slotted with 2xAccuracy SOs for a 95% chance (always 5% chance to miss in CoH/V) to knockdown any minion/lieut/boss up to a +4 - stick it on “auto” and if something gets in melee just click your "target nearest" key and they hit the ground for 2 seconds, buying you time to do something more decisive (kill, control or run) - that’s good melee mitigation for a squishy.

I think I can help you with your unanswered question:

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1. What is the Stalker damage cap?

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I've read it is the same as most of the other archetypes. I think the only classes that get higher than the usual 400% cap are Blasters (500% iirc) and Brutes (was 850%, but there were some rumours it was lowered - all I know is that with full Fury, Build-Up and Fiery Embrace my damage will still increase if I get Forged by a /Therm corruptor).

Ok here’s my build:

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Exported from Ver: 1.7.5.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder
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Name: Brute - FieryMelee + FieryAura (to L40)
Level: 50
Archetype: Brute
Primary: Fiery Melee
Secondary: Fiery Aura
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01) --> Fire Sword==> Acc(1)EndRdx(3)Dmg(3)Dmg(5)Dmg(5)Rechg(7)
01) --> Fire Shield==> DmgRes(1)DmgRes(7)DmgRes(9)
02) --> Cremate==> Acc(2)EndRdx(9)Dmg(11)Dmg(11)Dmg(13)Rechg(13)
04) --> Healing Flames==> Rechg(4)Rechg(15)Heal(15)Heal(34)Heal(39)
06) --> Boxing==> Acc(6)EndRdx(17)Dmg(33)Dmg(33)Dmg(34)Rechg(34)
08) --> Air Superiority==> Acc(8)EndRdx(17)Dmg(19)Dmg(19)Dmg(21)Rechg(21)
10) --> Build Up==> Rechg(10)
12) --> Combat Jumping==> Jump(12)
14) --> Super Jump==> Jump(14)
16) --> Plasma Shield==> DmgRes(16)DmgRes(23)DmgRes(25)
18) --> Blazing Aura==> Acc(18)EndRdx(23)EndRdx(31)
20) --> Consume==> Acc(20)Rechg(25)Rechg(33)Rechg(39)
22) --> Acrobatics==> EndRdx(22)
24) --> Hurdle==> Jump(24)
26) --> Fire Sword Circle==> Acc(26)EndRdx(27)Dmg(27)Dmg(29)Dmg(29)Rechg(40)
28) --> Health==> Heal(28)
30) --> Stamina==> EndMod(30)EndMod(31)EndMod(31)
32) --> Greater Fire Sword==> Acc(32)EndRdx(36)Dmg(36)Dmg(36)Dmg(37)Rechg(37)
35) --> Tough==> DmgRes(35)DmgRes(37)DmgRes(39)EndRdx(40)
38) --> Fiery Embrace==> Rechg(38)Rechg(40)
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This was a respec build (respec at L32) - if I was levelling up from the beginning again I’d probably take Hurdle/Health/Stamina at 16/18/20 and delay Consume/BlazingA/PlasmaS until 24/28/30 (or swap in BlazingA or PlasmaS for Build-Up, though it's harder to run an extra toggle pre-Stamina and pre-SO - I originally had BlazingA at L8 pre-respec and could barely use it til post-SOs). And don’t take any notice of the levels I put the slots in - if I was playing this build again from scratch I’d just add slots to whichever powers I felt needed them at that moment.

My usual attack chain is: Cremate -> auto-Boxing -> Air Superiority -> Fire Sword -> auto-Boxing -> Air Superiority ... and repeat until everything is dead. With the Recharge SOs in all my attacks that chain is continuous with no gaps (my planner says there’s a 0.1 sec gap before each Air Superiority after the initial attacks, but it’s not noticeable in play). Against a boss/EB/AV/Hero/GM that needs to die quickly I’ll throw in a Greater Fire Sword whenever it’s available, but normally I don’t use it on minions/lieutenants because it isn’t very End/Fury efficient. Fire Sword Circle is usually my opener in teams.

There’s only one change I’d make if I had another good reason to respec - I’d drop the Recharge from Boxing (doesn’t really need it) and put another End Reducer into Blazing Aura - but my build doesn’t really need it Endurance-wise so I’m not going to waste my remaining respec just to move a single slot. I’d also like Fiery Embrace and Build-Up 3-slotted for Recharge, but as I only use them at the start of a fight (before Fire Sword Circle) those slots are not really necessary either - BU and FE are both always up when I need them.

You’ll never be able to slot everything to the max so it’s just a matter of prioritising what’s most important to you. I wanted a Brute that was a PvE god, able to do massive damage (more than any other brute build because of the AEs) and keep doing that damage continuously at high Fury without worrying about Endurance/Health - I have that, but with the drawbacks that I’m not so good in PvP and my single-target damage isn’t as good as other brutes (my SS/Dark is better single-target) - I also have no “toys” (i.e. utilities/tricks like Phoenix or Burn) and I can't tank as well as a /Stone in Granite or a /Invul using Unstoppable (but I'll be doing better damage than the /Stone and my all-round resists are better than /Invul when they're not in Unstoppable, though not quite as good as a /Dark) - I'm just damage and mitigation, and the powers that support that.

The build does what I needed and suits my playstyle, so it’s the best build for me. It may not be best for you. Really there is no “best” brute build.

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You can just make a post with really small text

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Lol

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Not even sure where you get the slots to 6 slto things :/ I can squeeze in 5 slots in things. I do like the idea of millions of damage thoguh =).

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It’s just a matter of prioritising. As a Brute your primary is a damage set and your main role is damage-dealer, so your attacks should get prioritised for slots. As a Fire/Fire Tanker your role would be different so you’d prioritise your shields and taunts ahead of your attacks. Though after ED there’s much less of a choice/difference between Brute and Tanker because it's not worth 6-slotting shields anymore - imho most Tankers/Brutes/Scrappers should be able to 3-slot their defensive shields and 6-slot their attacks without too much trouble... providing you don’t take more attacks (or other utility stuff) than you actually need

Brutes aren’t too bad - in my experience brutes have just enough slots to go around without too many tough decisions - I’ve found Corruptor is about the same, but imho Dominator and especially Stalker are much tighter for slots. The only archetype I’ve found easier on slotting than Brute is Mastermind.

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One question though, is it worth 3 slotting Health with 3 heal SO's (to make it up to +80% healing), or isn't it worth bothering with beyond the one slot it starts with?

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It’s probably more useful for a Brute than any other CoV archetype, as we have the most hit points (and the more hit points you have, the faster the regen from health is, because you regen more HP per tick). But it’s still not going to replace having a heal and would mainly be useful as a downtime reducer. But as a brute it will usually be Endurance rather than Health that holds you back (while trying to keep Fury high) - providing you slot Healing Flames with 2/3 Recharges and 3 Heals it should easily do the job of keeping you alive in most circumstances (including taking the alpha-strike from a full spawn in an 8-strong team, which I did often while levelling).

It’s a small bonus really to 3-slot Health, compared to just the basic slot - I think you’ll find those two slots give you a better return when used elsewhere. In fact the only character I’ve considered slotting Health on is my Regen Scrapper, because it stacks with the regens from his secondary, so is actually contributing directly to his main method of mitigation.

Most of my attacks were slotted 3xDamage, 2xAccuracy and 1xRecharge before my respec (at L32). On respec I reluctantly dropped one of the Accuracy SOs to take one End Reducer in every attack.

Did I notice the drop in accuracy in PvE? Against enemies +2 or less I noticed very little difference, solo or teamed. Against enemies +3 and above (i.e. in teams doing higher level missions containing lots of red/purple enemies) I missed more often, but while noticeable it wasn’t debilitating. When debuffed by CoT Spectrals I really miss the extra accuracy as well, but it was still annoying with 2xAcc, and an Accuracy insp generally sorts it out either way. Generally I think the second Accuracy affects PvP a lot more than PvE (though I don’t PvP much with my Brute).

I certainly wouldn’t take less than 3xDamage SOs in each attack on any AT - I think that would affect overall efficiency a lot more than a second Accuracy would.

The End Reducer in each attack improved my efficiency a lot more noticeably than the second Accuracy SO had - post-respec I can run all 6 of my toggles permanently in combat (Fire Shield, Plasma Shield, Combat Jumping, Acrobatics, Tough and Blazing Aura) - I went from having to rest often pre-respec, to being able to do a whole mission solo on Vicious without stopping. Whether solo or teamed I can fight continuously because Consume is always available to top me up (every 90secs) whenever my End bar falls below a third. The few times I’ve run out of Endurance have been in big teams when facing tons of End-draining enemies (like massed spawns of Mu Guardians), but most of the time I never run out of End. So in Endurance terms I feel my build is balanced.

So I think one Accuracy in each attack is fine for PvE, unless you regularly group with players above your level or PvP a lot. That said, I’m really hoping one of the Patron power sets at L41-50 has a power like Focused Accuracy so I'll be able to PvP in Recluse's Victory

I'll post my build if anyone feels it would be helpful to see my slotting, but I don't really want to draw attention away from Gen_Prot_Fault's build (because I don't want/need feedback on my own build).

My Fire/Rad soloes very well, right from the start. Pulling with the Rad Infection AE debuff, using terrain to bunch the enemies up around me, I can then use the fire AEs to kill everything. I've taken down 9 minions (3 spawns) simultaneously like that. AE debuffs + AE damage = fast soloing. Single target damage is good too with Blaze and Fire Blast.

In teams my heal is a bit rubbish, but everyone likes Accelerate Metabolism

If you want to drop something to get Build Up then I’d suggest Rise of the Phoenix - but that’s only because I dislike powers that need me to die before I can use them If it cancelled out the debt from the death it might be worth it, but otherwise I’d only be tempted to take it if I PvP’d a lot with my Brute and wanted an “avenge my own death” power

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Is Air Sup that useful? or it just a handy quick attack with the ability to bring down flyers?

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I find it very useful and have it on both of my brutes. Air Superiority is not just -fly, it's a guaranteed knockdown if it hits. While an enemy is lying on their back they can't use powers/attacks, which is great against everything, but especially enemies that like to heal, summon or use other annoying effects (e.g. Fear, Confuse, Placate - I really hate succubi...) - it even works on some AVs/heroes (like Aurora Borealis), so can cut their damage/effects output.

And knocking things down is just good fun and makes you really feel super-powered - the whole reason I made a Super Strength Brute (the day after my Fire/Fire hit 40, hehe) is just so I could have multiple knockdown attacks - and I still took Air Superiority again as well!

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Hmm, think I can make a viable attack chain without Air Sup? Mate just pointed out I forgot Build up, since it stack with Fiery Embrace for some SILLY AoE dmg ;-)

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If you keep using Brawl then sure. Personally I didn’t want to use Brawl, because it lowers your damage-per-second, especially as you won’t be slotting it. Fury-building is important, but you also need to be kicking out some good fast continuous damage for the Fury to multiply

And yes you definitely want Build-Up as well as Fiery Embrace - both of those, with full Fury and 3xDamage SOs in Fire Sword Circle should give you +580% damage bonus, iirc - that's almost 7 times basic damage! Numbers aside, opening with that combination you will either kill most minions (whether 0, +1 or +2) or leave them so low on HP that the next tick of Blazing Aura kills them - and most Lieuts can be finished in one hit too. It's addictive watching all those orange numbers float up, as the minions fall down

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I have 3 dmg red SO's in fire/plasma shield and 1 end red. They are really cheap toggles as it is so it;s better putting any extra slots into your combat jumping/acrobatics/blazing aura.

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Yes Fire/Plasma Shield are cheap - I noticed no benefit from having End Reducers in there, so I took them out - just 3 Damage Resists in each. Combat Jumping doesn't benefit much from extra slots - it's very cheap End-wise so I just put a Jump SO in mine /shrug. Acrobatics is cheap too, but there's nothing worthwhile you can put in it, so a single EndRed is fine.

I wanted to run Blazing Aura and Tough constantly (as well as both shields, CJ & Acro) so I put 1 End Reducer in Tough and 2 in Blazing Aura - with one End Reducer in each attack as well (that made a huge difference) I can fight continuously without resting, solo or teamed, because Consume (with 3 Recharges) is always available whenever my Endurance drops below 30% (of course I have Stamina 3-slotted as well - goes without say).

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It's interesting you mention the animation times for Scorch and Incinerate, because the hero builder says they 1.67, faster than Fire Sword, but sure don't seem it, almost seems like it's using a "draw weapon animation" first.

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Yes Scorch/Incinerate seem to have a small amount of “dead time”, both before and after the animation, which slows them down - Fire Sword definitely feels faster in practice (it has no draw time). Fire Sword Circle has some “dead time” after the animation, but as a situational attack it won’t hurt Fury-building too badly. But Scorch in particular is rubbish in an attack chain as an auto-power “filler” attack when compared to Boxing or Air Superiority, both of which are faster and have nice secondary effects.

I had Scorch and Incinerate, but dropped both on my first respec and don’t regret it. My Fury-building and kill-rate were both so much faster and more efficient with the attack chain: AirSup/FireSword/Cremate & auto-Boxing, than they were with AirSup/FireSword/Incinerate & auto-Scorch - I was so much happier with my brute after I respecced, it made an immense difference.

The main problem I have with Incinerate and Breath of Fire is that they both recharge slowly (10secs basic), so you can’t use them in your continuous attack chain - that makes them situational - and for high single-target damage (boss-killing, mainly) Greater Fire Sword is better than Incinerate, and for killing multiple targets to thin out a spawn Fire Sword Circle is better than Breath of Fire. So how many situational attacks can you justify in your build?

I’d found myself using Incinerate less and less as I levelled up - it’s fun at low levels, but in teams it is too slow and someone will kill your target before Incinerate runs full course, making it a waste of Endurance. With cone attacks like Breath of Fire your dilemma is: do you waste time (losing Fury) moving to make sure it hits the most targets, do you just use it as a regular attack and risk hitting only one target (a waste of Endurance) or do you only use it against big spawns (very situational)?

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Granite is always on if you choose to have it on

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Yeah I know - I was only talking about Unstoppable

There were only two situations in all 40 levels for my Fire/Fire that I felt defensively weaker than another brute: when I was teamed with a /Stone in Granite or a /Invul using Unstoppable (which they can't use often).

Offensively I only felt weaker if the enemy we were fighting had lots of fire resist (the AV Baphomet and the hero Infernal, specifically) - the rest of the time I always assumed I was doing better damage than any other brute because Fire/Fire not only has the best AE attack of any brute (Fire Sword Circle), but the best damage aura (Blazing Aura) and two damage buffs (Build Up, Fiery Embrace).

Fire/Fire is great if you want to deal tons of damage (if you mainly want to tank and don't care about damage then I'd argue you're in the wrong game, playing the wrong AT). You also get both an end-drain (Consume) and a heal - both of which are must-haves in my opinion. And the only drawback is that you really need Combat Jumping and Acrobatics to fill out your status protection - but Super Jump is a fun & fast travel power, so that's not too bad.

An End reducer SO in each attack is handy (my attacks are mostly set up 1Acc, 3Dmg, 1EndRed, 1Rchg for PvE). Stamina is essential, Hasten certainly isn't - if you want a fast continuous attack chain then consider picking up either Boxing or Air Superiority (or both) - with Fire Sword & Cremate they make a particularly nice attack chain for both damage and Fury-building (I found Scorch and Incinerate animated a bit slowly).

Seeing all those big orange numbers when you have full Fury, hit Build-Up and Fiery Embrace, then trigger Fire Sword Circle, makes you laugh maniacally - then a second or two later lots of the enemy fall over dead, as Blazing Aura mops up whatever is still alive, then you laugh even louder Fire/Fire isn't weak.

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The cutoff for Siren's is level 30, not 24 or 25. Bloody Bay's cutoff is 25.

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Click me

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Energy and Martial Arts are pretty similar but there is one trick in MA worth mentioning. The high-end Energy atatcks don't do criticals. This doesn't matter if you use them as a follow up to your AS, but with Martial Arts you can do AS -> Placate -> Eagle's Claw and do a disgusting amount of damage that Energy can't match.

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Energy Transfer (brawl index 12.66) is the only EM attack that can't crit (if you use it from hide it just doesn't drain 10% health from the user, like it normally does). EM's final attack Total Focus (brawl index 9.89) can still crit and it does more damage than MA's Eagle's Claw (brawl index 6.33).

The most "disgusting" amount of damage any stalker can do is an EM Stalker that uses Build-Up, AS, Energy Transfer, Placate then Total Focus - if you're quick enough (no gaps between attacks) then the build-up should last just long enough to cover the Total Focus. So if the OP only cares about frontloaded damage then he has to choose EM.

Having two auto-powers would be too much like having an auto-attack - and we don't want one of those

Boxing, Brawl and Jab (from Super Strength) are all so fast at animating and recharging that with my brutes I've found they usually go off between every attack, whichever one you pick as auto - my SS/Dark is particularly easy because his attack chain is just Haymaker, auto-Jab, Air Superiority, auto-Jab - rinse & repeat (with the occasional Knockout Blow when I'm showboating at full Fury, hehe).

Heck even Air Superiority or something like Punch (SS)/EnergyPunch (EM) recharges fast enough to make a good auto-power (perhaps with a Recharge Reducer in) - my FM/FA used Air Superiority as auto-power for a while and it was very pleasing to have that reliable knockdown keeping enemies on the floor most of the time. In fact that's the whole reason I started a SS/ brute - knockdown addiction

I guess you could stick 3 recharges in Boxing/Brawl/Jab, although you're still limited by the animation time - once you have a full attack chain the animation time matters a lot more than the recharge time.

Well Energy Melee has higher damage attacks and a slightly less resisted damage type (energy, though still mixed with smashing), and the secondary effects are all disorients.

Martial Arts is all smashing damage but you get a wider range of effect types, from disorient to knockback and even an immobilise.

If you want to scrap a bit after your assassinate I'd say MA because it will be easier to get an attack chain with decent ongoing damage-per-second, but EM is better for quick hit-and-run kills (especially in PvP) because of the amount of damage you can frontload on top of your assassinate with its higher level attacks.

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I often activate practised brawler just before I go into battle


That's fine if you're completely sure you're not going to need it (much of the time in PvE), but in PvP it's a bit late to wish you had it active when you're under a status effect /shrug. Guess it depends how many Break Frees you want to carry - personally I’d rather carry a few blues and have my status protection on all the time.

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You missed this bit off my quote "unless lots of controllers about". Having stealth and hide means I am normally hidden and dont have to worry about being hit or held.

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No I saw that - I guess I'm just paranoid about stalker-hunting teams of heroes with stacked perception buffs (e.g. Tactics & Clear Mind)

I played several grav/ doms in CoV beta and early release (and a grav/ controller in CoH, which I've since deleted) just because I love Propel - it may not be that effective (looooooong animation time) but I think its a 100% guaranteed knockback and surely nothing evokes superpowers as well as throwing cars/forklifts/snooker-tables/computers/tables/anything at your enemies. I love it - so much fun.

I really wish another powerset had a similar power (it could probably fit in Kinetics thematically, or maybe Super Strength's Hurl could have you chucking random items instead of rocks), because sadly I really don't like the look/effectiveness of the rest of the grav/ set. But I still keep wanting to make a grav controller (probably grav/kin) or dominator (grav/energy maybe) just for "Propel goodness"

I adore Shadow Fall (the PBAE stealth) in /Dark - not only does it stealth me when I enter the mission, but I can summon pets inside the stealth area as well. The other day I zoned into a 3 mob spawn waiting for me right by the door, but they didn't aggro til I had all my pets up and buffed - yummy Sometimes an ambush runs right past us too

In fact it's only a pain when I need to lead a kidnap victim out of a mission - they can't see/follow you if you're stealthed.

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Your build will depend on when you fancy PvPing as well.

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The OP said the build was mainly for PvP, so I based my feedback on that.

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I often activate practised brawler just before I go into battle

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That's fine if you're completely sure you're not going to need it (much of the time in PvE), but in PvP it's a bit late to wish you had it active when you're under a status effect /shrug. Guess it depends how many Break Frees you want to carry - personally I’d rather carry a few blues and have my status protection on all the time.

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Woah woah woah, bad idea with Super Reflexes. I'm assuming you've never played SR, as it burns through endurance like hell, even with only one toggle on.

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I've tinkered around with SR on a stalker and scrapper past the first couple of toggles, but only up to L10 - on paper and in reality SR is not as bad as Dark Armour (as tons of scrappers on the US forums agree) - SR actually has less toggles than a fully shielded /EA stalker/brute up to the mid levels, because SR’s status protection is a buff not a toggle - so it's manageable.

I appreciate you have 50 levels of SR experience, but a stalker plays a lot differently - the OP’s obvious desire for a hit-and-run build should preclude any End problems your SR Scrapper might have run into - Stalking is more forgiving on Endurance than the continuous scrapping of brutes/scrappers. While running to let Hide refresh there is ample opportunity to recover End from the “hit”. The OP’s stalker build doesn’t even have a full attack chain until later (Lunge, Impale plus Ripper/ThrowSpines at L26/32) and hasn't slotted Lunge so this is certainly not a scrapping-capable build for most of its lifespan (the main reason a lot of Stalkers take SR). Pre-Impale I really can’t see the OP scrapping much with unslotted Brawl and Lunge, can you?

I can’t see the OP suffering bad End problems - delaying Stamina a few levels is going to hurt what, exactly? Maybe if he runs Stealth as well as both early armour toggles and Hide he’ll feel it, but he won’t be running Stealth in PvE, and in PvP he’ll struggle without it - every hero with a perception buff (Tactics, Clear Mind, etc - surprisingly common) would see right through his Hide before he could assassinate. And taking both Stealth and Stamina by L24 would need other sacrifices. Taking Stealth later than L24 means the OP wouldn’t have it in Siren’s Call (and Warburg is pretty empty when I’ve been there - SC seems busiest for PvP).

Pre-SOs/Stamina you can always practice intelligent toggle management to save End - an SR stalker could turn off Focused Senses once his enemies are in melee with him (he doesn’t have to worry about being shot while approaching either, like an SR Scrapper would) - but I doubt the OP will need to. Heck you can play Stalkers & Brutes without armour toggles for the first 10-15ish levels without noticing much difference (I did with my /EA stalker, and my /DA brute at times). For most armour sets it takes SOs to make a noticeable difference to survivability (and for SR probably the stacked up passives too).

Even the extra SR toggle, the AE defence Evasion at L35, is situational in PvE so need not be on most of the time - but the OP will have Stamina by then.

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You're gonna need two end-reducers on each toggle mate.

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Imho two End Reducer SOs is a waste - according to most planner/builder/stat-progs just one End reducer in Focused Fighting/Senses would only save 0.06 End-per-second - that’s tiny - after 86.6 seconds of fighting you’d only have saved enough End for an extra Lunge - whereas if you stuck that EndRed into Lunge itself you’d save 1.3 End on the cost of the attack and you’d be able to use 4 Lunges for the usual cost of 3 (saving 0.23 End/sec if you just chained Lunges over their 4sec recharge and 1.63sec anim time). Much better End-efficiency in combat, I think you’ll agree.

Personally I only put End Reducers into toggles that cost more than 0.3 End/sec, for a noticeable saving - most defence/armour toggles cost 0.19 or 0.24 End/sec so it’s only offensive (damage auras, repels, toggle-debuffs) and power pool toggles (Tough, Leadership & Concealment pools) that are worth EndRed slots imho. Slotting EndReds into attacks saves you far more End in combat (the only place you’re really burning lots of End). My Fire/Fire brute was a nightmare to balance End usage on, until I realised EndRed SOs in attacks saved much much more End/sec than putting them in cheap toggles - now he can run 6 toggles permanently and do a whole mission solo without stopping.

But none of that is relevant because the OP isn’t going to have End problems, because the build isn’t set up for scrapping. I just hope the OP is going to team in PvE, because hit-and-run can be painfully slow solo.

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Tend to pop most of the yellows and reds petty much as soon as I get them, so I can save up what I'm gonna nead.

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Me too, although I do hang on to a couple of yellows if I know I'm going up against acc-debuffers like CoT or Tsoo, just for when they stack debuffs. But I still seem to end up with tons of greens... except of course on my CoH regen scrapper, who gets tons of blues but rarely needs them /sigh. Maybe blues are just rarer in CoV /shrug - or maybe I'm just very unlucky

My SG is small so sadly we don't have an autodoc in our base yet.

This build really is pure hit-and-run at lower levels (only attacks are the Assassin's Impaler plus unslotted Lunge & Brawl), which could make it tough to level up in PvE unless you have understanding team-mates. Before Impale (which you're taking 4 levels too late, imho) it's going to be a struggle to kill anything in PvE & PvP (L15 Bloody Bay) that the Assassin's Impaler doesn't one-shot - and with being so assassinate-dependant I think you're taking Placate very late too.

Personally I'd delay fitness pool (even with toggles you won't burn End too badly with just the Assassin's Impaler and Lunge) and instead take Placate at 12 (CJ at 10) and Impale at 18 - that would delay Hurdle/Health/Stamina until L20-L24. You may also want to consider a) slotting up Lunge for the lower levels and respeccing out of it later, and b) slotting a recharge SO in Impale instead of an immobilise duration, as you'll rely on it so much for finishing off the things you assassinate in PvE and Siren's Call PvP (and maybe later too, as I hear cone attacks - like Ripper and Throw Spines - are unreliable at hitting in PvP).

Apart from that the only other problem I see is that if you want to PvP a lot in Siren's Call (L25), which seems the busiest PvP zone atm, then you might want to fit in Stealth a bit earlier (i.e. at L20-24, which would delay Stamina again if you took my previous advice).

Admittedly I don't play Spines/SR (I'm EM/EA) so I'm just advising on things that "look" problematic - you may have different tactics in mind.

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Only 2 recharge in practised brawler (it dont need 3). I would probably take out 2 of the to hit buffs in build up. With the 3 slots you have saved I would now put an extra 1 in sprint and an increase jump in super jump. Could possibly put one in combat jumping as well.

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If jump speed is important then instead of Sprint/SJ I'd put those 2 slots into Hurdle - you get a much better unsuppressed jump speed with CJ and still hit the jump cap with SJ too. That said I have a feeling the OP really wants the ToHit buffs in Build Up to make sure he can hit/assassinate heroes with especially good defences (due to purples, toggles, being acc-debuffed or whatever), hence the 3 acc SOs in AS too.

Your point about Practiced Brawler was well made though - 2 recharges make it perma, providing you don't get -recharge debuffed (may be the reason the OP wants the extra one in there, just in case) - the slot from that could go into Hurdle.