OneWhoBinds

You could use a second build to get those, but you can't have both a APP and a PPP on the same build.

The set looks good. The set performs... well, seems average to me.

Despite the long feel to the attacks, the attacks actually fire off rather quickly, or at worse on the average... excepting the Tier 9, which takes as long as Eagle's Claw to fire off.

Quick Strike, Body Blow, and Smashing Blow all actually animate (and recharge) fast for melee sets. Focused Burst isn't bad in that respect, although I believe it is slower than the only comparable power - Focus from Claws. Burst has the same animation time as the 'whirling' powers, which is workable. It's also an acceptable PBAoE attack.

Concentrated Strike, as mentioned, takes 2.5 seconds to animate, and hits hard... but it will be up to you if it disrupts your attack chain too much. Repulsion Torrent is a gimmicky power - it's not really good damage, unreliable mitigation, and a knockback instead of a knockdown. It can be immensely FUN... but entirely skippable.

The real gimmick of the set, though, is Power Siphon. It provides a very minor to-hit boost, and a stacking damage boost for every attack that lands... a mini-defiance for melee toons. However, I think that it's like Rage, in that I suspect the set was balanced around Siphon being active - this is only enhanced by the quirk of CS instantly recharging Siphon on Scrappers.

This set, I think, will be best on Scrappers. I don't think it will ever be considered as a top performing set, but it isn't at the low end either. It is more designed for Back End damage, rather than Burst... which is going to throw some people off. On the other hand, comparing it to Dual Pistols is wrong - this set manages to look fancy AND be functional.

Now... whether those animations are good for you or a turn off... that's up to you.

Actually, it doesn't look too bad, if your willing to stick with Twilight Grasp as your only heal. And with the Ember Demon... that can work. Strictly number of powers wise, you are using 17 out of 24 (ignoring Black Hole, of course.) 16 if you decide against Petrifying Gaze.

That leaves room for the fitness pool (3 powers) and a travel pool (2 powers), and 2 or 3 other powers.

SLOTS may be your issue, but if you only stick to 3 or 4 slots in your attacks (you aren't using them for damage, anyway) you should be golden.

They aren't going to give Mission Teleport as part of a pool. Why? Because that would invalidate the one people actually paid money for.

What's more likely is a 'Beacon Teleport' - where the character can instantly warp to any of the area beacons that they have uncovered in the zone they are in. That would cut down TP's annoyance factor, a lot.

For the others... I don't know. Most of the things I can think of that would fit in with the sets... are either impossible with the engine, or would be overpowered.

Before IOs, Dark Armor was a set you really had to have both your eyes open when you took it, or you would find yourself quickly overwhelmed.

When IOs first hit the scene, we were gifted with Knockback protection IOs. With Acrobatics no longer a necessity, Dark became more forgiving, and more people could take it without auto-sucking.

Then, they introduced the Accurate sets, and the Theft of Essence +Endurance Proc was born.

A singe -kb IO, and the Theft of Essence proc in Dark Regeneration, is all anyone needs to not suck with Dark Armor. It still takes time and practice to really get GOOD with the set, but it no longer has such a steep learning curve.

Energy Aura works... it just often feels off. Especially on a Brute.

My issues with the set:

1) Visible Aesthetics - I'm not talking about the 'pretty glow.' That's fine. But if I wanted to play my character's silhouette, I'd have played a Stalker in the first place. Considering how much Energy Cloak plays into the set, skipping it isn't smart... but I really like to, you know, see my character. I'm hopping the Devs, when they eventually look at this set again, give this the same treatment as Cloak of Darkness, and give us the choice of turning off the transparency effect.

2) The Department of Redundant Redundancies Department's visit - Conserve power really is useless to the set. Okay, sure, it can be used for a Stamina-less build (but as a Defense-based set, you'd want Health anyway) or for recovering from the Overload crash (but if you're in such a bad situation that you can't take 20-30 seconds to recover, then you'll probably die before you can actually use the full trick.) But overall, this is still a waste of a power. Again, we can hope this gets a reworking like the Electric Armor version did.

3) Too much Multitasking in one power, not enough elsewhere - They've made Energy Drain into such of a catch-all grab bag power, that slotting the thing is neigh impossible. Furthermore, it's overall effect... isn't so good. Okay, sure, it'll refill your Blue Bar fast and easy... but the heal is pathetic (YES, it can heal up to 50%... with 10 mobs in range. In my experience... if you aren't at the soft cap for whatever those enemies are throwing at you, the heal is simply never enough) and the Taunt will likely wear off long before the power recharges, meaning that on any team, this Brute will fail at aggro management.

On the other had, we've got two auto powers that provide a pittance of resistance (and I do mean a pittance. The resists given by those alone are worthless), and a toggle completely dedicated to Mez protection... and nothing else. At the very least, the Auto powers should get tweaked like ones from Invulnerability were. Give us a reason to take them, as their resist values certainly won't do that alone. I'd also say give something enhanceable to Entropy Shield, but that would probably break the Cottage Rule.

Finally, (4) Where's the Punch? - Energy Aura is nearly unique in that it has no way of adding to a Brute's offense while covering its defense. No damage aura, no buff/debuff aura, no +Recharge passive to increase their attack rate... only Willpower is in a similar strait (It does have a way to boost the player's offense, but only in its self rez, making that dubious at best.) And Willpower, with its multiple layers of defenses on top of a regeneration boost, offers more overall protection than EA does.

Frankly, the worst part of this is... the set only really needs a few more tweaks to be awesome... but we're probably not going to see anything changed until at least the next round of proliferation (if then!)

Okay... first: Why Hasten? Electric Armor already gets Lightning Reflexes. Between that and some Recharge enhancements in Rage, you should be able to double stack it no problem. (Quick look in mids... Recharge in 110 seconds, on a power that lasts 120. Looks good to me.) Unless you've got some reason to need an extreme amount of Recharge, I think that Hasten would be redundant.

As for skipping powers in Electric Armor -

There are really only three "maybe" skips, here. If you're willing to cover the Mez holes with Combat Jumping and a couple of -Knock Back enhancements, then Grounded can be skipped; If you really prefer Hasten over an auto power, you can drop Lightning Reflexes. And Power Surge can be dropped without great impact.

I wouldn't drop Stamina, myself. It's quite reliable, and depending on Power Sink to keep in the blue seems like a bad idea to me.

Actually, popping everything into Mids... Taking Combat Jumping and some -KB IOs instead of Grounded, taking Gloom, Dark Obliteration, and Darkest Night... With the Fighting pool for Tough, but not Weave... hey, look at that, I can even fit in Hasten, after all.

Play around in Mids. If you want I'll post the quicky build I made, this evening (Have to go to work now.)