Sith_Rose

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http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/47534

That Sapper looks. . . odd. . .

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*blink* *blink*

Oh, I really hope that's not the dreaded Quantum Sapper...

Something that I urge everyone to keep in mind here:

This is NOT NCSoft's fault. This is the responsibility of your credit card institution, and NCSoft really has no control over whether your credit card issuers decide that something is potential fraud. Let's please try to avoid blaming NCSoft or their billing software for problems largely caused by the credit card company, 'k?

Aside from correction of previously-mentioned bugs...I will note that I've not seen anything on the list that I disagree with.

The ability to select color and logo specifically for banners and tiles *without* having to change the SG colors and logo. As it stands, in order to place banners which are different from your SG colors and logo, you have to change your SG colors and logo, place the banner, change again, place a second banner, etc. You also can't use the same model of banner for two different color/logo settings.

Kitchen utensils such as pots and pans and place settings for tables. A wider variety of papers, cups, and office-type items. A wider variety of decorative items for Arcane and non-Tech (home, office, shop, basement) type bases. Actual BEDS that look like beds. Give us the ability to make our bases look like homes or offices, if it's too time-prohibitive to make individual apartments available to players.

Rescale items for appropriate normal height, I.E. 6 feet-ish. Huge characters *should* appear huge when trying to use these items. They shouldn't appear normal sized in comparison while my female model looks like a gnome.

Vines, water effects, a wider variety of plants, flowers, trees, and earth-type/grass-type floor textures.

Outdoors or skylight textures for ceiling tiles - probably prohibitive in terms of technology for it to be dynamic, but static with options of daylight, cloudy, and night-time would be quite acceptable. The same goes for wall art "windows". Static choices of "wilderness", "city", "rural", "ruins", etc...

The ability to completely remove the bordering on rooms - I would rather not have to put something along every wall in order to not have half of my walls bordered and the other half naked. Alternatively, options between non-suppressable bordering and suppressable bordering.

Access tiering seperated for each individual type of storage bin. I.E., allowing all members to access Inspiration storage, allowing 3rd rank members to access Salvage storage, and allowing 1st rank members to access Enhancements.

Personal Enhancement storage for all SG members, using the same technology as current Invention Salvage storage. Scaling storage quantity with levels would be acceptable, provided that it's at least equal to the quantity of Salvage storage available at that level. For that matter, I wouldn't be opposed to seeing Enhancement banks in general...

That's all I can think of at the moment that hasn't already been covered.

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If it fell on it's face, why was it brought back "by popular demand"?


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The only "popular demand" is from the forum bootlickers who are more into comic books than games. In the actual game, the invasions are utterly despised.


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That does, of course, explain 100% why every time there's an invasion, the zone is swarmed with people and requests for teams fill the air, doesn't it.

Oh wait. That might actually imply that people on the servers enjoy the event and want to participate in it. Unless you'd like to make the claim that the only folks participating in the events on every single server are the "forum bootlickers".

Count me in on the "back by popular demand" section here. Oh, and about those comic books? The last comic/graphic novel I read (discounting the COH one) was Elfquest. When it was released. Do, please, continue painting folks with broadly inaccurate brushes. It gives us something to laugh about while we're licking the developers' boots and actively working to make this game an unpleasant place for you to be.

The blimp's been in AP since...well, at LEAST since I3.

You should try looking up more often.

*looks up from her secret orders from the evil World of Warcraft people...* Oh. I shouldn't have said that, should I? Darn it, now I've blown my cover...

Eh. I know full well it'll become worthless when I9 goes live. At that point, I expect someone like Silverspar or ZombieMan to write you lot a nice guide to how to raid the new Hamidon, and have it get all stickied up here. Why not me? Because I haven't been doing it villainside, and thus can't write much in the way of a guide for the villains as well as for the heroes. Besides, I probably won't be raiding as often as I do presently once I9 goes live.

A couple of useful binds/macros to set up for Hamidon raids:

/bind numpad6 "target_custom_near singularity" - This will target the nearest Singularity for Hold phase.

/bind numpad 5 "target_custom_near $targetter" - $targetter should be replaced with the targetter's name. So if Nucess-PB is targetting for the raid, the string would read "target_custom_near Nucess-PB". If you're in visual range of the targetter, this will reacquire them for you without having to open the Friends list.

/bind numpad4 "target_custom_next Mitochondrial Antibodies" or "target_custom_next Mending Mitochondria" or...well, you get the idea. Targets the next visible one of whichever you've placed in that bind, and cycles through them in near to far order when pressed repeatedly.

You can also do a "target_custom_near $mitotype$$target_custom_near $mitotype" to target the nearest varying types of mitos in order with one button. This works better if you can maintain solid visuals of the mitos - If you can't see it, you can't target it.

The "next" variable targets them in near to far order, and cycles through the targets when pressed. The "near" variable only targets the nearest visible one.

The normal server-wide raid times are:

Saturday, 6 PM Eastern/5 PM Central/4 PM Mountain/3 PM Pacific
Sunday, 8 PM Eastern/7 PM Central/6 PM Mountain/5 PM Pacific
Wednesday 8 PM Eastern/7 PM Central/6 PM Mountain/5 PM Pacific

There is no discouragment of anyone choosing to organize a raid on a different day. If you do choose to do so, feel free to advertise on VirtueUnited, and the mods will assist in making it known that you're forming up a non-scheduled raid.

The VirtueUnited MOTD will be updated as possible to reflect raid status, targetter, taunter, and IAF leader.

All raid leaders use the Request channel to issue instructions, requests, and general communication with raiders. Please monitor this channel. Please do not use it if you are not a raid leader. Broadcast is used for general chatter throughout the course of the raid.

Raid Definitions
Organizer: The person stuck with the job of herding all the cats into a coherent whole, usually an experienced Hamidon raider. Virtue uses this position intermittently, as we are generally relatively well organized and know who most of the experienced raiders are. Raid Leader position.

Taunter: A Tanker who will taunt the Hamidon throughout the raid in order to keep him from hitting the Mito Teams and/or the Holders. Raid Leader position.

Targetter: This person leads the Mito Teams. All Mito Team members will place this person on follow and target through them. This ensures that all Mito Teams are hitting the same Mito. Raid Leader position.

Illusionist Air Force: (AKA IAF or ISS) Formerly known as the Illusionist Suicide Squad, this is a team of four to eight Illusion Controllers. They (currently) fly above Hamidon and air-drop Phantom Army into the goo to take aggro off the Mito teams. Formerly, they went into the goo directly; this practice was discontinued as of I7.

Taunter Healing Team: (AKA THT or Aggro Team) 2-5 characters with a single target heal, preferably Empaths, Stormies, and Peacebringers. This team keeps the Taunter alive while he's keeping Hamidon's attention. They are always teamed with the Taunter.

Mitochondria: Hamidon's bodyguards. These are AV-class bad guys, of three types. Blue Mitos have a single-target hold and DOT attack. Yellow Mitos have a single-target heavy damage attack. Green Mitos heal Hamidon and other Mitos. If any Mito is not held when it reaches 1/4th of its' hit points, it will split into two mitos. These split mitos are not necessarily the same color as the original one.

Raid Phases
Organization Phase: All raiders gather on the Safe Rock. Targetter, Taunter, and IAF Leader are chosen. All characters with an aura heal put their heal on autofire to test the healing bubble. Force Field users activate Dispersion Bubble. The IAF takes position above Hamidon and begins dropping Phantom Armies. Note: Due to the graphics being a migraine trigger for multiple people, Sonic Resonance users DO NOT activate their bubbles at any point during the raid. Disabling a third of the raid is a bad thing.

Mito Phase: All Mito Teams and the THT enter the goo in one large group, protected by the multiple AOE heals and bubbles. The Targetter selects a Mito and everyone attacks as a group. Once a small pocket of Mitos has been cleared, the THT sets up and the Taunter begins to hold Hamidon's aggro. When the Blue and Yellow Mitos are cleared, AOE heals are turned off and the IAF joins the Mito Teams.

Hold Phase: Once all Mitos are destroyed, all raiders except for the Taunter and two of her Healers gather on Hamidon. Tanker and Defender duos patrol the goo for stray or trained monsters. All characters with a hold power (I.E. a power which takes a Hold Enhancement) put their Hold on autofire and proceed to stack enough hold magnitude to hold the Hamidon. No non-holds are used at this time. Note: Hold can only be determined by visual means at this time. Raid members and leaders watch for Ice and Earth hold graphics around Hamidon. They will observe to ensure that there is a solid, unwavering hold for 4 minutes prior to calling Attack Phase.

Attack Phase: Once hold is stable for four minutes on Hamidon, Attack Phase will be called. All raiders with the exception of the Monster Patrols and the remaining THT begin attacking full-force. A raider with visual sight of Hamidon will call out his HP and monitor hold status. If hold drops at any point, attack will immediately be halted and Hold Phase will resume. This continues until Hamidon is defeated. Ensure you have a free enhancement slot at the start of this phase, and ensure that you get at least one hit in on Hamidon if you are otherwise occupied.

Bud Phase: Once Hamidon is defeated, a large number of Hamidon Buds, boss-class critters, will spawn where he was. Defeat these for fun and profit. Or don't. This is also the point where everyone starts trading their enhancements around.

Frequently Asked Questions
Why do we hold Hamidon? Because if Hamidon drops below 50% health and is not held at any point, he will spawn one yellow mito for each hero in the zone. At most raids, that's upwards of 100 yellow mitos. This is called an Uncontrolled Mito Spawn or a Yellow Dawn, and is an immediate failure of the raid. Should this happen, there will be no Hamidon raids until the server is reset. There is no recorded recovery from a UMS. Attempts have been made, and failed. Miserably.

Why do we have a Taunter and a Targetter? Without a Taunter, Hamidon fires an AOE attack at the Mito Teams once every 30 seconds. This is an auto-hit, untyped damage attack against which there is no defense except healing. It two-shots anything but Tankers, and 3-shots Tankers unless there is a significant hit point buff (Dull Pain, Earth's Embrace, Hoarfrost) active. The Targetter ensures that everyone in the raid is attacking the same mito for better efficiency and to reduce the chance of a mito split. The Taunter and THT keeps the rest of the raid from hitting the dirt.

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Looks like he just performed Ripper.

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Then where are the rest of the spines sticking out of his back, legs, upper arms? Yes, it does look like the ending animation for Ripper, except...there's a lot of missing spines there.

Animation change or new powerset? Or...NPC with signature powerset? That's also a possibility.

Several comments here.

First, the Rage crash does NOT have a self-disorient. It has an end drop of 20 or 25, and 10 seconds of reduced defense/only affecting self where you cannot attack. I would strongly, very strongly, recommend taking Rage as soon as it's available for any SS/ Brute.

I would never put Stamina off to 22 on a Brute. The added endurance recovery is simply too good to pass up for the keep-moving playstyle of a good Brute.

Taunt is useful but a playstyle choice. I try not to skip it on mine.

AOE damage auras should, IMO, be put off until after 20 so that you have the endurance to support them and continue attacking at a frenetic non-stop pace.

Burn is incredibly underrated, especially in Mayhem missions. One of the nastier killing tools of your secondary, especially when combined with an AOE knockdown power such as Footstomp, Burn combined with Blazing Aura is very destructive if properly used. The more so since your Blazing Aura will taunt them back into your Burn patch, and since you can get a cone or AOE immobilize in your Patron pools.

Why in the name of god are you not putting 3 Damage into KO Blow? Make that thing do as much damage as you possibly CAN!

Put an end reduction into your fast attacks instead of wasting those slots in additional end reduction for Blazing Aura. You get vastly more effectiveness per slot in saving on your total endurance expenditure with end reduction in an attack instead of in toggles. Run the math on it yourself, you've got the numbers right there.

While we're at it, I'd replace Jab with Boxing instead of Punch, since Jab/Boxing are pretty equivilent damage/recharge/end cost wise, and Punch does more damage than either.

Rage with 3 Recharge/3 to-hit eliminates the need for a second acc except in PVP. Rage with 3 Recharge SOs is perma-able. So with Fiery Embrace...what Rage downtime? The only downtime you have is your 10 second crash, and it's a waste to use FE during the crash.

Consume recharges slowly. If you plan to use it reliably, put the three recharge in it.

Your ideas are somewhat solid, but I disagree with most of your build design for a Brute here. I completely disagree that Tough is "required" for a Brute in any way, and feel that Stamina is a much higher priority for Brutes. While Tough is possibly useful, I've yet to see an absolute need for it on any of my five Brutes, including the /Fire brute.

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When I use Psychic Scream (Psionic scream, whatever) on my defender, it usually goes in incredibly slow motion for about 5-10 seconds while everything else around me goes at normal speed. Meaning I'm getting pounded on by enemies while I sit there with a glowing ring in front of me, watching everything else move at normal speed. I hope this isn't intentional :[

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Seconded. I have replicated this as being every other usage of the power Psychic Scream from Defender Psychic Blast set *when hovering*. I have not done extensive testing while on the ground, but it is worth noting that I did not encounter this bug at all when grounded. It is an approximately 4-5 second hang time, in which you are trapped in the leaning forward final animation of the power after it has completed animating. This really makes Psy Scream completely unuseable in combat for a Defender.

Update: I just purchased two GVE codes on the same credit card within a 10 minute span, after purchasing a third the day before on the *same* credit card - a Visa, and the only card we own.

Apparently they have removed the ridiculous one card per month restrictions for GVE codes. Halleluiah!

Here, let me copy the info from the One Book of Rularuu for you to add in...

"This book is said to contain the essence of the timelines that could have been, are, and could be. The full meaning is beyond the comprehension of all but Rularuu, but even the tiniest fragment of the text bestows power upon those who possess it. The One Book gives a 20% reduction to debt incurred by all Super Group members at all times."
Category: Items of Power
Upkeep: -150000
Does not allow auxillary connections.

It is also amazingly cool-looking. Archimedes has posted a couple of screenshots of it on the Virtue forums, in our COP thread there. If you'd like more screenies, we'll see what we can do.

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What about teleport?

I am in no way saying it's good for PVP, more that it's so essential for PVE that I'm stuck with it.

Also, any thoughts on the Leadership pool? I'm going to respec my 44 Empath, and was wondering if I could get away with getting out of Fitness and into Leadership.

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If you do not have Leadership, especially Tactics, then you are a sitting duck for whatever Stalkers happen to be running around. And there is NO guarantee that your teammates will be paying enough attention to catch the Stalker that *they* can see and *YOU* cannot. Or, for that matter, the invisible Scrapper or Blaster doing their best imitation of a Stalker.

Not to mention that Tactics offers some resistance to Confuse and Fear powers, and Assault offers some resistance to Taunt and Placate. All of which are relatively common powers in PVP. And most of which are not well-resisted powers in general. Vengeance is entirely nasty for turning the tide of battle as well.

I strongly disagree that Absorb Pain is useful in PVP. The minute your health drops, you are, once again, a sitting duck for anything that would normally take two to three shots to kill you and can now kill you in a single hit. Then again, I don't like AP much at all for any purposes. I live by the credo that a dead Empath heals/buffs/rezzes nobody.

I still prefer Fly for my Empath in PVP, and I do play her as almost pure support in PVP. It's not the fastest power out there, certainly, but it's good for keeping out of the range of non-fliers while still being *in* range to support the team. If you want, add in slotted Hurdle and Swift for the times you get grounded and you'll find that you can move pretty darned fast on the ground as well.

In answer to your question on Stamina...it is a qualified yes. Qualified, because constant buffing/healing/Leadership/travel power toggles are quite a bit of an end drain, though Vigilance offsets that reasonably well, and because it does leave you very vulnerable to end-draining and -recovery powers. If you plan to PVP exclusively as a pure-support Empath, I would recommend taking Stamina. Bear in mind that I'm speaking from the perspective of someone who *does* PVP with a PVE built Empath, largely taking a heavy support role, and without Stamina. It can, certainly, be done, and done well. It takes more work, and a much heavier load of blues than most people would prefer to carry for PVP.

This is the build I use for my Empath. It is a PVE build, but it does exceptionally well in PVP for a heavy team-support/minimal attack playstyle. Do understand that this *is* a respec build. Power selection and order has largely stayed the same, but slotting has changed drastically due to the sheer number of Hamis that she has.

---------------------------------------------
Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://sherksilver.coldfront.net/index.php)
---------------------------------------------
Name: Agent Storm
Level: 50
Archetype: Defender
Primary: Empathy
Secondary: Energy Blast
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Healing Aura==> Rechg(1) Rechg(3) Rechg(3) GolgiExp(17) GolgiExp(17) GolgiExp(27)
01) --> Power Bolt==> NucleExp(1) NucleExp(11) NucleExp(11) EndRdx(21) Rechg(34) EndRdx(48)
02) --> Power Blast==> NucleExp(2) NucleExp(9) Dmg(9) EndRdx(21) Rechg(33) EndRdx(46)
04) --> Heal Other==> Rechg(4) Rechg(5) Rechg(5) GolgiExp(23) GolgiExp(25) GolgiExp(27)
06) --> Hover==> Fly(6) Fly(7) Fly(7)
08) --> Clear Mind==> Rechg(8)
10) --> Energy Torrent==> NucleExp(10) CentiExp(29) CentiExp(29) EndRdx(33) Rechg(34) EndRdx(43)
12) --> Fortitude==> MembrExp(12) MembrExp(13) MembrExp(13)
14) --> Resurrect==> Rechg(14) Rechg(15) Rechg(15)
16) --> Fly==> MicroExp(16) Fly(36) Fly(37) EndRdx(39)
18) --> Recovery Aura==> Rechg(18) Rechg(19) Rechg(19) EndMod(34) EndRdx(40)
20) --> Recall Friend==> Rechg(20)
22) --> Assault==> EndRdx(22) EndRdx(23) EndRdx(25)
24) --> Tactics==> CytosExp(24) CytosExp(31) CytosExp(33)
26) --> Regeneration Aura==> Rechg(26) Rechg(31) Rechg(31) GolgiExp(37) GolgiExp(43)
28) --> Power Burst==> CentiExp(28) NucleExp(39) NucleExp(39) Rechg(40) EndRdx(40) EndRdx(43)
30) --> Swift==> Run(30) Run(45)
32) --> Adrenalin Boost==> Rechg(32) Rechg(36) Rechg(37)
35) --> Vengeance==> CytosExp(35) CytosExp(36)
38) --> Aim==> MembrExp(38) MembrExp(50)
41) --> Oppressive Gloom==> EndRdx(41) DisDur(42) EndopExp(42) EndopExp(42)
44) --> Dark Consumption==> Rechg(44) Rechg(45) Rechg(45) EndMod(46) NucleExp(46)
47) --> Dark Embrace==> RibosExp(47) RibosExp(48) RibosExp(48)
49) --> Soul Drain==> Rechg(49) Rechg(50) Rechg(50)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Empty(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Empty(1)
01) --> Vigilance==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Empty(2)
---------------------------------------------

Great answers! I find it interesting that your early-level recommendations are almost exactly opposite to mine. *grins* Just goes to show that there's definitely no one true way to build a Brute. I've mentioned in other threads that my original build for my DM/Fire was no-fitness, and that I wound up respeccing into Fitness at 27 because I wanted those slots I needed in end reduction elsewhere. And because I found that with soloing, the spawns weren't quite large enough to really get as much endurance back as I wanted to have to keep going. What can I say, my first melee character was a /Regen scrapper, I have an allergy to low blue bars in melee.

To address the "maximizing time in combat" debate - I also tend to solo my DM/Fire a lot. My general playstyle with Brutes is often described as psychotic in pace. Or, kill things as fast as possible, move to the next group as fast as possible, and rest/stop as little as possible. "By maximizing time in combat", I really should have said "building for long-term sustained combat" instead. It's probably more accurate, since I prefer to be able to run through an entire mission without stopping at all. However - I also tend to run my Brutes on anything between Relentless and Vicious, so I'm fighting +1s at a minimum, and usually +2s and +3s. That tends to lead to spending more time *in* any given fight rather than two-three shots to kill and move on. I just don't find it a challenge if the enemy isn't much able to hurt me, and whites...really die too fast. That will definitely color both slotting and combat perspective, the more if you run in smaller teams/duos.

A note on enemy combat styles here, with regard to AOEs and combat mobility. There are several kinds of enemies as far as general attack pattern goes. Bear in mind, these are screaming generalities, if you want specifics on what every enemy in the game does you'll have to do it yourself.

One, like the Longbow Eagles, Carnie Harlequins, Council Galaxies, and Fortunatae, are what I call "Range-Preferred". What this means is that they will almost always prefer to fight from range, running away if you close to melee, and will not normally come directly into melee range themselves. In other words, they fight like your average Controller or Blaster. They are usually comparatively squishy.

Another is "melee-preferred". Legacy Chain of Steel, Trolls, Family, Knives of Artemis, for examples. They will have one or two ranged attacks, but will use them and then attempt to close to melee. And they will stay there, because their best attacks are melee attacks and they have the HP and defenses to support being in melee with you.

The third kind is mixed-range. COT Thorn Casters, Paragon Protectors, Crey Tanks, Bone Daddies, Hellion Damned, to name a few. They have good defenses, and good damage from both range and melee. Often, they'll have some fairly vicious attacks from both melee and range.

Melee-preferred enemies make Brutes with AOEs happy. They don't generally run from you unless they're really hurt, and they like to cluster up in mobs. Thus, you don't have to move nearly as much to get to your next target. This is also when you'll get the best use of your AOEs, damage aura, and cone attacks.

Now, if you're using cones like Shadow Maul and Jacob's Ladder, you'll need to maneuver around these guys. They'll like to circle you, which is not conducive to a melee cone, so you'll need to hop out of the circle onto one side. Use your cone quickly when you do this, because they'll want to circle around you again.

Range-preferred enemies are a bit trickier to handle. Most of them won't clump up nicely for you unless you're pulling them into a corner. (More on that later.) So you'll have to go and get them. How you do this will generally depend on your secondary, your team, and your travel pool of choice.

If you have ranged attacks on your team, let them handle the ranged enemies first. You concentrate on the melee attackers, and don't waste time and fury chasing down one or two range-preferred enemies until you're done with the main group of bad guys. If you're feeling particularly tankish that day, you can toss out a taunt or two to keep the ranged attackers focused on building your fury rather than damaging your teammates, but that's entirely up to you. Well, and up to whether you took your Taunt. I recommend that Stone Armor Brutes specifically take their Taunt for this reason - Once you've got Rooted or Granite running, you're going to find it tricky to chase down one or two Eagles, and you'll suck your end bar dry if you teleport to them.

Most other travel pool types can either jump, run, or fly over to these little scaredy-cats. Keep in mind that they like to run through other spawns that haven't yet aggroed, so be sure you're keeping an eye on what's around them. Don't Brutelock and collect more aggro than your team can handle when chasing down a ranged enemy. Where we Brutes encounter problems is with the fliers in high-clearance areas. If you don't fly or have a charged flight temp power, you have three options. First: Let your ranged teammates handle it. Good option. Not so good if you're solo. Second: Get out of their line of sight and wait. They will return to attempt to kill you again. The bad part is that this will not do good things for your Fury bar. Third: Move on to the next spawn and let them come back to you. I find that this third choice works well for most cases. This is NOT a recommended tactic for Tsoo Sorcerers, since they'll heal anything you're fighting regardless of whether it spawned in their group or not. Kill the Sorcerers before you move on.

I think that'll do it for today's update. As always, feel free to ask questions, throw insults, or add your own opinions on the matter.

Why is it that all of the builds I see out there are designed for high-level characters, and don't tend to take the limitations of mid and low level characters into account?

Couple of comments here...Mind, this looks like a reasonably good build.

For maximum time in combat, I strongly recommend slotting every attack with an end reduction, especially at mid to low levels. Before you can get your end recovery powers slotted, most Brutes will find it very beneficial to have end reduction in all attacks to maximize time in combat, especially on the two fastest attacks in the primary. Besides...if you like damage, slotting this way will enable you to slot Dark Consumption for damage rather than end reduction. Which is really, really fun.

I'm not sure why you've skipped recharge reductions in your two smaller attacks - A mid-level DM/Fire doesn't have a full attack chain without recharge reductions in those attacks. Especially since your build doesn't include Hasten, which I tend to disagree with. I feel that DM/Fire really benefits from Hasten because of the slow recharges on the utility AOEs.

I would tend to recommend two accuracies in Siphon Life - it's an attack you REALLY don't want to have missing.

Burn is vastly underrated, especially in mayhem missions, Oranbega, and caves. When paired with Blazing Aura, the enemies will bounce in and out of your burn patch, trying to attack you but also trying not to close to melee. It's more effective on melee-preferred opponents than on range-preferred opponents, certainly. In Mayhem missions, you can easily stand at a side mission or bank door, drop multiple burn patches, and wait for the Longbow to enter and fall down writhing. Burn does work best when coupled with both Taunt and Blazing Aura, but just Blazing Aura works nicely too. Obviously, it shines most when you're teamed with a couple of Dominators or Corruptors who can lay out AOE immobilizes. A Plant Dom paired with a DM/Fire Brute is truly a sick and disgusting combination. Burn does not, however, work from Hover at all - You must be *on* the ground to use it.

Not a bad guide. I'd like to see a bit of insight into your playing style with it though, and possibly some anecdotes from your early and mid levels. I find that those are generally very helpful for newer players who are looking for Brute guides.

I also prefer the strategy of destroying objects, eliminating police officers, and doing all of the side missions first, then going to the bank once I'm done with the incidental stuff. I rarely finish a mayhem mission with less than 20 minutes on the timer.

If you are in a large group, then perhaps your strategy would work better. In a small group or solo, I heartily disagree that you should go straight for the bank. In my experience, you wind up with less time in the long run when you do it that way.

The Hulk. Grundy. Mr. Hyde. Brutes. The redheaded stepchild of the Scrapper and the Tanker. The whirling, speedy, dervish of destruction of COV. This is a brief guide to the playstyle of the Brute, and the care and feeding of your Fury bar.

Fury. One cannot mention Brutes without mentioning Fury, as it is the power which turns you into a behemoth of brutality. First and foremost, the Brute is designed best for sustained combat. The longer you're in a fight, the higher your Fury bar is, which means the higher your damage is. This will often lead to what is known as the Brute Suicide, a reckless charge from one mob of enemies to the next with little to no concern for your Endurance or Health bars. One should take care when attempting this, as it can lead to a stunning faceplant if you don't have the appropriate tools to survive. And once you die, your Fury bar empties.

Be prepared. Ensure that your team knows what Fury does, and how it works. Remind them that you enjoy a high Fury bar, and so do they. Inform them that you will not want to stop unless you have to, so they may wish to be prepared to keep up with your pace. Regrettably, not all teams can do this. If they can't keep up, you may have to bite the bullet and slow yourself down. A Brute is a machine of destruction, but a Brute who refuses to work with his team is often called a dead Brute. A Brute who refuses to consider tactics, strategy, and common sense is also often called a dead Brute.

Obviously, one should consider the level of the enemies, your own weaknesses, and the team composition and competence while moving at the Brute pace. It is unwise for the Invulnerability Brute to charge recklessly into the spawn full of Tarantula Mistresses, and for the Electric Brute to rush headlong into the mob of Vazhilok. OK, so it's unwise for *anyone* to rush headlong into a mob of Vazhilok, but that's beside the point. On the other hand, if the Invulerability Brute happens to have brought along a Dark Miasma Corruptor, he'll have a much better time of charging into those Tarantula Mistresses, as will the Electric Brute who acquired a friendly Poison Mastermind. Know what your team can do for you, and remember that the team is there for reasons other than simply supporting your climbing Fury bar.

Why yes. I am telling you to adjust your playstyle depending on what you've brought with you on the team. If you have a Stalker, they usually like to get into position before you charge. AOEs do nasty things to Hide, and Stalkers get very sad when their Assassin Strike is spoilt. Masterminds fall into two camps, those that cherish their pets and hate to see them die, and those who use and abuse their pets, resummoning mid-combat with ease. Know which type you have, and whether you should expect to charge with, before, or after the pets. Corruptors come in many fun-filled flavors, but none of them are healbots or shieldbots. Recognize the strengths and weaknesses of their particular flavor - The Dark Miasma will make things miss, the Kinetics will boost your speed, damage, and end recovery, the Thermal, Sonic, and Cold will buff you quite merrily, and throw debuffs at the enemies, and the Traps will...do whatever it is that they do. Treat your Corruptors well, and never spam "Heal plz, SB plz, shield plz". Dominators will grab the enemy, hold them, and tear them up, so let them focus on their targets while you focus on everything else. And ignore those worries about a Dominator hurting your Fury bar, just remind them that you don't always want *everything* locked down. Don't discount the team-saving abilities of a Dominator - A Seeds of Confusion or Total Domination tossed out at the right time can turn the tide of battle. Brutes can be your partners, splitting the aggro neatly and slicing it into manageable chunks, or your enemy who tries to take the entire aggro, leaving nothing for you. Play nice with your fellow Brutes, and remember that they like to have high Fury too. You can generate a good Fury with part of a spawn perfectly well, there's no need to hog the entire thing. Discuss this with your fellow Brutes, and work out some strategies - For example, if you have a /Dark and an /Invulnerability Brute, let the /Dark take the alpha on things he is more resistant to, while the /Invul takes the alpha on his strengths.

Speaking of taking the alpha strike, I've seen the question of Tanking as a Brute many a time. I shall say this. You are NOT a Tanker. You do not have the hit points or defenses to handle the amount of incoming hatred that a Tanker can. And that is, frankly, not your job. Both Brutes and Tankers want a certain amount of incoming attacks, aggro directed towards them. Both wish to hold on to the aggro as much as they can, but for entirely different reasons. A Tanker wants that aggro because he can survive it, and because attacks that hit him aren't hurting his squishier companions, who in turn are busy killing everything in sight while the Tanker takes the brunt of the attack. A Brute wants that aggro because everything that attacks him builds his Fury bar, and makes him able to kill things better and faster. Things which attack the Brute's companions are not building the Brute's Fury, and should thus be redirected. In short, a Tanker wants to grab and hold aggro so his team can kill things, while a Brute wants to grab aggro and kill things, not necessarily hold the aggro.

This leads me into some of my list of Frequently Asked Questions.

Should a Brute take Taunt? My answer is yes, absolutely. It is an extremely useful tool for building Fury, and for redirecting attackers who are at some distance from you. It is NOT necessary for a good Brute build. I will be the first to say that you do not *need* Taunt to do your job and do it well. In comparison, a Brute with Taunt and a damage/taunt aura will hold aggro roughly as well as a tauntless Tanker who uses Gauntlet well. A Brute with Taunt and no damage aura or just a damage aura will hold aggro about as well as a taunting Scrapper. A Brute with no taunt and no damage aura will hold aggro about as well as a tauntless Scrapper. I am informed that Taunt is very nice to have in the Recluse Strike Force, and in PVP situations, so keep that in mind if you plan to do either a great deal. It's also very useful for Energy Aura Brutes, since they have no damage/taunt aura.

But Brute Taunt is only single-target, isn't it? No. Not at all. Brute Taunt is identical to Tanker Taunt. It is an auto-hit 5 target AOE in PVE, and requires a to-hit check in PVP. I have been told that Brute Taunt has a slightly shorter duration, but I haven't directly tested that myself. Taunt can be slotted for accuracy, but this is strictly for PVP purposes. If you do not plan to PVP, you do not ever need to slot accuracy into Taunt, since it's auto-hit vs NPCs.

Why can I slot my attacks with Taunt Duration? Brutes have a Punchvoke effect inherent in their attacks. Each enemy that you hit will briefly be Taunted into attacking you when you hit them. This lasts about 5 seconds. Note: This is NOT the Tanker inherent power, Gauntlet. Gauntlet affects up to 4 targets in addition to the target the Tanker hits, and is basically a melee-range Taunt that takes effect with every attack the Tanker lands. The Brute Punchvoke is single-target. It only affects the enemy that you just hit.

I did mention Brutes in comparison with Scrappers earlier. Well, Brutes play very much like Scrappers in some aspects. However, where a Scrapper will go directly for a Lt. or Boss threat, the Brute will let that threat slide a bit until they've generated some Fury. They'll pick off a few minions, and then let loose on the Boss or Lt. when their Fury is high and their damage is good. You see, unlike Scrappers, who are able to bring high damage to the table right out of the box, Brutes take a bit of time to bring their damage up. But when they do, they'll blow a Scrapper right out of the water.

Slotting your Brute - getting over the pre-Stamina endurance crunch.
Caveat: These slotting recommendations are my personal preference, and presume that you do not waste money on slotting anything other than found trainings before level 12. This section discusses slotting pre-Stamina and pre-SOs.

Brutes are, as I've mentioned before, best designed for sustained damage. They shine in situations where they can get into a fight, keep pounding, and never, ever need to stop. This makes things awfully tricky for pre-Stamina Brutes, who will rapidly find their endurance to be at a premium when their Fury bar is high and they want to keep going. Damage Auras are expensive, and hard to maintain with DO slotting and no Stamina. I usually recommend avoiding them until level 22, when you already have Stamina and can support the endurance cost of the aura.

Now, I'm of the mind that if I'm dead, I'm not generating Fury. Or anything else, for that matter. So I will normally drop at least three slots into each shield, preferably four, as soon as I can manage it. One of those slots get an End Reduction right off the bat, and the others are Damage Resist/Defense. This slotting is predicated on the theory that you run only the appropriate shields to a given situation - I.E. don't run your Mez resist if your enemies have no mezzes, don't run your Energy/Element shield if they only do smashing/lethal, etc. Micromanaging your shields is very important to keeping your baby Brute going as long as possible. And remember, a single Luck or two Sturdies are as good as your shields at this level. If you absolutely must, you can pop a Luck or a Sturdy and drop your shields for a minute to continue a fight when you're out of blues and endurance both. Once you reach level 22 and can get SOs, 1 end reduction is sufficient for most shields and damage auras.

If your attack misses, it's a waste of endurance. Slot at least one Accuracy DO in every attack. Some people prefer two, and if you're fighting +2s or better, you'll probably want to squeeze two in. If you're only fighting even-cons or +1s, you can manage tolerably well with only one DO Accuracy. Every attack uses endurance. Your attacks will use more endurance than your shields by far. Every attack, without exception, should have at least one Endurance Reduction DO in it. Recharge Reductions are nice, but it does you no good to have a charged attack if you don't have the endurance to fire it off. Forget about slotting damage at these levels, let your Fury carry your damage. That's part of what it does. While a Scrapper will want to slot damage and accuracy at lower levels so they can kill things as fast as possible, a Brute wants to be able to stay in the fight as long as possible. You don't have the burst damage a Scrapper does until your Fury is high, and it takes endurance to get your Fury that high. Stone Melee probably wants two end reductions in many attacks, it's an endurance hog.

My attack slotting when I reach level 22 is usually 1 acc, 1 end reduction, and 1 recharge, with additional slots being devoted to damage as they're available. My shield slotting is 1 end reduction, 3 damage/defense. Those extra slots in the attacks get placed only after my shields are slotted and I have some slots in support powers such as Dark Consumption, Hover, Combat Jumping, etc.

You will have endurance problems pre-Stamina. This is not open for disagreement. Everyone has endurance problems pre-Stamina, except for clever Defenders and Regen Scrappers. Do the best you can, and know that once you hit 20, your problems will ease. Once you hit 22, your problems will be largely gone. My Brutes don't run out of endurance unless they're fighting Ring Mistresses or Sappers, and I run through missions at high speed, without stopping. You just have to get past that hump.

And now for Frequently Asked Questions, round two.

I'm a Dark Melee/Energy Aura, Electric Armor, or Fiery Aura Brute. Can I skip Stamina? This is something that *can* be done. I do not recommend it, personally. With your inherent power being focused around sustained damage, you want to have as much endurance to keep fighting with as possible. You want to be able to slot your attacks and your shields and your utility powers well. Skipping Stamina will require considerably more slots devoted to endurance reduction in your attacks, as well as additional slots devoted to endurance modifications in your end recovery powers. As I recall, when I attempted this experiment on my own DM/Fire Brute, I wound up with 13 slots devoted to endurance recovery of one kind or another that I was able to move into better use when I added Stamina into the build. Bear in mind that with all of these, you must have clumped enemies in order to get the best recovery possible. Anyone using scatter-control or heavy knockback, like your friendly Energy Dominators and Corruptors, or your Robots and Force Field Masterminds, will cause the enemies to scatter. And you will detoggle and die because you can't effectively recover your endurance. I respecced my DM/Fire Brute into Stamina at level 27, and haven't looked back. Now, you certainly can respec OUT of Stamina on Energy or Electric once you pick up Conserve Power and Power Sink, but you'll find yourself having problems exemplaring.

Can Fiery Aura,and Dark Armor live without the Jumping pool? Absolutely yes. However - If you want knock-back protection for either of these two armors, you must take either 3 powers from the Jumping Pool (Combat Jumping, Superjump, and Acrobatics), or you must take Hover and 3-slot it for Flight Speed. Hover is a bit slow, even when 3-slotted with SOs, and you'll want to create a bind or macro to toggle between Sprint and Hover for moving between combats and moving in combat. If you want immobilization protection, you must take Jumping, or you must take Burn, or Cloak of Darkness. Yes, Cloak of Darkness has immobilization protection in it. And Burn is highly underrated for Brutes. It's a very valuable and useful tool, especially in enclosed areas and mayhem missions, but does require thought to use well.

Pros of Hover: Three-dimensional maneuverability. One power selection, 2 additional slots. Ability to go over Mastermind pets with ease. No falling to your doom in Oranbega or Arachnos maps. Available at level 6, combat-useable at level 12 with 3 DOs. Endurance-cheap. Flip over instead of falling down, and you can activate powers while flipping.

Cons of Hover: Slow. Can result in being pushed away from a target when knocked back. Vulnerable to -fly, and you lose the KB protection of Hover while grounded with a -fly effect.

Pros of Jumping Pool: -jump is much less prevalent than -fly. Offers some additional mez protection above your normal mez resist. Faster. Better for PVP overall.

Cons of Jumping Pool: 3 power selections, at least 5 additional slots. Endurance-expensive. Harder to control in laggy situations. Harder to maneuver around Oranbega, especially if you're already bad at aiming jumps. Locks you into a single travel power.

Can I PVP with my Brute? Yes. Brutes can shine in PVP. It will take work, it will take persistance, and it will take patience to get there. However, Brutes have some problems. The first problem is a current bug with Fury generation. Your fury does not generate as fast as it should in PVP. PVP is more about burst damage than sustained fights, by and large, and this cripples the Brute with their speciality in sustained, long-term fights. I'll let someone with more love for PVP than I've got speak in detail about Brutes in PVP, since I'm by no means an expert.

Well. I think this covers our session of Brute discussion for the day. Feel free to add in anything I might have forgotten. For that matter, feel free to disagree with me if you want to. Just remember: Scrappers move fast. When pressed, the Brute pace is described as "Psychotic". We go to Ludicrous Speed and beyond, and our teams can only hope to keep pace.

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Break Frees provide KB protection already...

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Okay then, no problem. Just make em useable while knocked down.

I never use em so I don't even know what they exactly do... All I know is the basic hold, disorient sleep

All I ever use em for so it doesn't really matter

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What? No they dont. Its just mez effects.

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Go read the description of your Breakfrees again. They do KB protection these days too. Yes, this is new.

This is good to know, and thank you for telling us. We must now plot and plan and scrimp on prestige for some time.

I have a few small requests in regards to teleporters, however.

Please, please, please, PLEASE, PLEASE! Make it so that when you use the base medbay from within a mission map, you are dropped at the door to your mission when you leave the base instead of landing at the teleport beacon location for the zone. Please. Pretty please. This is ever so much more convenient and nice and useful and many other adjectives which all mean good.

I realize that the teleporters drop you at the beacon location for the zones. The location for Independence Port is...rather out of the way of very nearly everything. It's terribly inconvenient to use, and would be far more convenient were it, say, located near Icon or the Brickstown gate.

The Crey's Folly beacon is in a good place, not far from where most of the mission doors in that zone are.

The Striga beacon...well...What I will say is that it is conveniently close to Moonfire and the trainer. This makes it convenient to get to the task force contacts there. It's rather inconvenient otherwise, as many of the Striga missions are 3/4ths of a mile away from the beacon location.

Dark Astoria - It's conveniently close to the Adamastor spawn sites. This is good. It's not far from where most of the missions in DA seem to be located too. This is also good.

The Hollows - This...could be in a somewhat...better location. Near Flux wouldn't be bad. Near Julius would be tolerable. Where it is...It's not near most mission doors, it's on the far side of the Gulch from both gates, and it's really not a good location for a beacon in a zone used mostly by lowbies.

Perez Park - Nice and central for easy access to all of the linked zones. This makes me happy.

Boomtown - There are few enough missions in this zone that I don't find this beacon to be overly useful. Invariably in my experience, Boomtown missions are on the far side of the zone from where the beacon is.

Faultline - Do you know, I don't even recall where this beacon is, I haven't used this teleporter in so long? About the only use I see for this zone is accursed Vazhilok hunts and a quick shortcut to Bloody Bay if I'm somewhere like Founder's Falls or PI.

It would not be a bad thing to hear other commentary from other players on the locations of the beacons, if there is any possibility of having some of them moved to a somewhat better location.

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Also, did you *really* want me to tell you to go fight Malta?


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Errr...Yes, actually. I did. *grins innocently* What? Why are you all looking at me like that? I like fighting Malta! They're a challenge!

Ah well. I'll just have to find some other thematically appropriate group...Hmmm...Has Crey been done yet? *looks hopeful*

Catch bugs to feed the baby dove. Make a nice warm nest out of scraps and rags that you have around the house. Catch some more bugs, cause it's hungry again. If you're out of bugs, milk-soaked bread will do in a pinch for feeding baby doves.

My to-do list...

Sweep the floor.
Move furniture.
Change the baby.
Sweep under furniture.
Have a Hardcore Cider.
Mop under furniture.
Move furniture back.
Feed the baby.
Mop the rest of the floor.
Have another Hardcore Cider.
Move the fridge...You get the idea.
Check the server status.
Beg husband for backrub when he gets home from work.

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Of course, I tend to have the odd idea that SG members should work with each other, and cooperate, and even share resources. I'm sure not everyone would agree with this. I'm sure there's people out there that insist that *every* member of their SG be in SG mode at ALL times, regardless of whether or not their members have anything resembling enough infamy to purchase their Enhancements. And I'm sure that there are many SGs where there are no entry requirements other than having a character, and some members are cordially disliked by half the other members.

All I can say is this...I'd rather rely on my higher level members, or BE the higher level member, to enable the lower level members to both earn Prestige *and* purchase enhancements. I'd rather have SGs where I actually care about the members, and don't mind donating infamy to them. The whole SG functions better.

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My VG's policy is that we ask that people be in VG-mode pre-24, when the penalty hits, but that thereafter, only so long as they wish. Most of my crew seem to prefer VG mode, simply because they can afford their enhancements themselves just by selling off whatever they find on missions. The problem is, the math doesn't work when these people are trying to earn infamy for the badges that tier eventually into an accolade, and the math especially fails with regards to my VG given that we don't have very many members, despite our efforts to the contrary. The prestige is also not the only issue to consider - for the larger groups, better gear for the base can only be earned by recovering rare salvage drops that only happen in late game.

The importance of prestige v. infamy isn't being overstated, IMO. It's being stated as precisely what it is: a confusing choice by the devs to push players towards personal goals over group ones. This is all the odder given that the devs themselves have acknowledged that bases are needing to get looked at again.

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I'm not going to snip here, I don't want to lose the sense of what Silas said.

Out of curiousity for the prestige vs influence arguement at lower levels, I ran some very rough numbers. Please bear in mind that these numbers are *only* for even-con minions, and do not take into account Lts, bosses, or mission bonuses, nor does it account for leveling up or for high-conning enemies.

A level 32 earns approximately 162 infamy per even-con minion. When solo, they earn 10 prestige per even-con minion.

A level 50 earns approximately 1297 infamy per even-con minion. When solo, they earn 10 prestige per even-con minion.

At level 32, you must defeat 123,457 even-con minions to get Midas Touch. You would, when soloing, earn 1,234,570 prestige by defeating that many minions. If on an 8-man team during that entire time, you would earn 246,914 prestige.

At level 50, you must defeat 15,420 minions to get Midas Touch. You would, when soloing, earn 154,200 prestige by defeating that many minions. If in an 8-man team during that entire time, you would only earn 30,840 prestige.

Now, let's look at the 10 level 32s you could supply with enough infamy to purchase full sets of SOs simply with the amount you've earned from getting the Midas Touch badge. Solo, these 10 level 32 characters will earn 12,345,700 prestige for your supergroup during the time it would have taken them to get Midas Touch at their current level. Teamed, assuming that they're the *only* ones from their SG on the team, they'll have earned 2,469,140 cumulative in that same time.

These numbers assume that you fight nothing but even-con minions and don't get mission bonuses, and don't level, and as such, they are very, very conservative. A worst-case scenario, so to speak. Any actively played character will likely earn much more infamy or prestige than these numbers represent.

I'm really not seeing how dropping out of SG Mode at 45+ long enough to earn 20 million infamy is going to hurt an SG that works together at all, since it allows lower level characters to remain in SG mode longer. I'm going to have to say that I really can't complain with the requirements for this particular badge. And I say this as the leader of an active, moderate-sized SG with a base that still needs quite a few things. (50+ members.)