ThugsRus

IV. Pool Powers and Epic Pool Powers

Pool Powers:
Fighting: Tough Weave
Personal Comment: Not required, but the added lethal / smashing resist and the large bonus from weave makes this pool HIGHLY recommended.
Slotting Recommendation: 3 slot titanium coating in Tough, and 3-4 slot LotG in Weave

Fitness: Swift Hurdle Health Stamina
Personal Comment: Electric Melee / Shield is an endurance pig. Stamina is required and having health invaluable.
Slotting Recommendation: 3 numina / miracle in health, 4 slot stamina with Performance Shifter

Speed: Hasten, Super Speed
Personal Comment: Every build I've made in this game excapt DB stalker has required Hasten. This one is no exception
Slotting Recommendation: 3 slot Recharge IO until perma, then 2 slot Recharge IO.

Jumping: Combat Jumping, Super Jump
Personal Comment: I love having combat jumping for it's movement increase. Having the added defense at .07 end cost is a bonus. This ability is also highly valuable just for the slotting options.
Slotting Recommendation: 2-3 slot Zephyr AND / OR 1-3 Slot LotG

Medicine: Aid Self
Personal Comment: Would make a good choice since mobs are rarely standing up and you shouldn't worry about interuptions, but I've never taken this power.

Leadership: Maneuvers, Assault, Tactics
Personal Comment: Too endurance expensive for the bonuses these powers grant.


Ancillary / Epic Pool
Mu Mastery
Personal Comment: This is the pool I have always used. Mu Lightning and Ball Lightning are the powers I recommend. Mu Lightning does very good single target damage and can be used in you standard single target attack chain to replace Jacob's Ladder. Ball Lightning is a great ranged AoE that can be cast between every Lightning Rod, Shield Charge, and Thunder Strike. Socketing Ball Lightning with Ragnorok Chance to Knockdown is an invaluable addition to your AoE knockdown arsenal. I tried out Electric Fences and though it's a great AoE the two big problems with this power is the damage is pathetic and this power negates your ability to keep everyone on their backs. Immobalized opponents can't be knocked down. All your Ancillary Pool attacks are not effected by Damage buffs and debuffs. So build up and ball lightning won't do any extra damage. This is useful to know if you ever are debuffed and need to deal damage. I have also noticed that mobs running vengeance are easier to hit using these powers.
Slotting Recommendation: Elec Fences (5 Positron + Trap Hunter Proc), Mu Lightning (5 decimation or 5 apocolypse), Ball Lightning (5 slot Positron + Ragnorok chance for knockdown)

Mace Mastery
Personal Comment: haven't tried it.

Soul Mastery
Personal Comment: looks similar to mu, haven't tried it.

Leviathan Mastery
Personal Comment: I've been very tempted to try out Arctic Breath. Being able to deal -resist on a pack of mobs prior to lightning rod / shield charge will be fun to try, but I'm not ready for another respec yet.

III. Secondary Power Set

Shield Defense
Overview -Shield Defense is a defensive powerset released in Issue 13, it is available to Tankers, Scrappers, and Brutes. Your mastery over the shield protects you from all forms of attacks in the form of defense as well as some moderate damage resistance to most types of damage. Your training with the shield enables you to protect your nearby allies boosting their defenses.

Powers

Deflection
Your mastery of the shield allows you to easily deflect melee attacks, and attacks that do get through your ironclad defenses tend to do less damage. While Active Defense is active the user will gain defense to melee attacks and some minor resistance to lethal and smashing damage. Recharge: Fast

Recharge Fast
Minimum Level 1 (Brute)
Effects Toggle
+DEF(Melee), +Res(Lethal, Smashing)
Personal Comment: One power to handle both melee defense and lethal / smashing resist makes slotting this power challenging, but we work with what we've got.
Slotting Recommendation: Many choices here. Aim to cap your def bonus then stack some resist if you have room (I suggest 3 LotG + 2 steadfast)

Battle Agility
Your incredible reflexes allow you to position your shield to deflect incoming ranged damage. While Deflection is active you will benefit from increased Ranged and AoE defense as well as some moderate protection from Defense Debuffs. Recharge: Fast

Recharge Fast
Minimum Level 2 (Brute)
Effects Toggle
+DEF(Ranged, AoE), +Res(Defense Debuff)
Personal Comment: Toggle Ranged Defense is nice on all melee bosses but 90% of the time you'll have this on.
Slotting Recommendation: Either set of 4 LotG or set of 6 Red Fortune.

True Grit
Your intense training has left you tougher than even the hardiest of heroes. You gain additional hit points and resistance to fire, cold, energy, negative energy and toxic damage sources. This power is always on and costs no Endurance.

Minimum Level 4 (Brute)
Effects Auto
Self +Res (Cold, Energy, Fire, Negative Energy, Toxic), +MaxHealth
Personal Comment: The bonus to hitpoints is awesome (unless you are working on the Ironman / Unbreakable badge since damage taken doesn't count unless you drop below your base hp). The hitpoint bonus loses it's sparkle after 50 when you start getting accolades, but I still have this power 3 slotted. Maxing out the resist for this power has always been lower priority to me than hitpoints.
Slotting Recommendation: set of 3 Miracle or set of 3 Numina

Active Defense
When you activate this power, it grants protection from Sleep, Disorient, Fear, Immobilize, Confusions, Repel, Knockback, Hold and Defense Debuff effects for a short duration.
Recharge: Very Long
Minimum Level 10 (Brute)
Effects Click
Self +Res(Disorient, Hold, Immobilize, Sleep, Fear, Confuse, Repel, Knockback, Defense Debuff)
Personal Comment: HATE this power! This power is your 1 click imuunity power which is great, but I have two major complaints. The first is that you have to click it each time it's up which means that this is your one and only auto power. Get used to watching hasten all the time because +recharge is less important that losing all your toggles from a hold / stun. Second complaint, this power has a 1.5 second cast time and lasts 120 seconds and recharges at 200 seconds base but at 60 seconds when juiced up on Speed Boost. This means that 1 / 40 of your time will always be spent casting this power and having your build-up / lightning rod interupted by this power will drive you crazy. Heaven help you if you leave a recharge IO in it because then it's up every 52 seconds.
Slotting Recommendation: 1x Cytoskeleton Exposure ( this buffs all your mag resists including defense debuff resist, plus it has zero recharge).

Against All Odds
The harder pressed you are in combat the greater your offensive abilities become. Each enemy that stands toe-to-toe with you in combat will grant you a damage bonus. The first foe you engage in melee grants the highest damage bonus, and up to 10 foes can contribute to this effect. Each foe in melee also suffer from reduced damage as your shield deflects a portion of their damage. Recharge: Slow

Recharge Slow
Minimum Level 16 (Brute)
Effects Toggle
Self +DMG
Foe -DMG, Taunt
Personal Comment: This power supplements your damage output and is magnified by other damage boosters. I've read the numbers and it seems that it adds somewhere between 55-90% to your overall damage output. I need someone to explain the math to me, but with 16 mobs on me, this power + Fulcrum Shift + assault I'm sitting at +650% damage in combat attributes.
Slotting Recommendation: 1x end red

Phalanx Fighting
Fighting very near your allies allows you to deflect attacks much easier. You will gain a small bonus to your melee, ranged and area of effect defense this bonus grows for each ally near you. This power is always on and costs no endurance.
BUG! When using MIDS to build your villain, MIDS will report a large defense increase when Phalanx Fighting is enabled. I recommend turning this power off in MIDS and just knowing you have a 3.75% defense bonus to all defensive postions.

Minimum Level 20 (Brute)
Self +DEF(Melee, Ranged, AoE)
Personal Comment: +3.75% defense to all positions with no end cost and another power you can slot a LotG:recharge in makes this power a no brainer. If you team alot, it only gets better.
Slotting Recommendation: Def IO, or LotG: Recharge if you don't already have 5 other places.

Grant Cover
You are able to use your shield to defend nearby allies. Any teammates who remain nearby gain a bonus to their defense. (NOTE: The defense bonus from this power is only applied to nearby team mates, but not yourself.) Recharge: Slow

Recharge Slow
Minimum Level 28 (Brute)
Effects Toggle
Team (but not self) +DEF(All)
Personal Comment: Great team buff and a good self defense debuff resist. Also another good spot for a LotG: Recharge.
Slotting Recommendation: EndIO or Set of 3 LotG or Cytoskeleton Exposure

Shield Charge
You can throw all of your might behind your shield and charge through ranks of foes in the blink of an eye. Using this power allows you to teleport to a selected area to deal significant smashing damage to all foes in a long cone in front of you, most foes that are struck by your Shield Charge will be knocked down. Damage: Superior, Recharge: Very Long.

Recharge Very Long
Damage Superior (Smashing) (147.8)
Minimum Level 35 (Brute)
Effects Click
Foe Knockdown
Self Teleport
Personal Comment: Ah yes, the best of the best! Fast Animation, self teleport, Massive damage, foe knockdown make this one of the best powers in the game.
Slotting Recommendation: Obliteration Set of 6.

One With the Shield
When you activate this power, you gain strong resistance against most types of damage and also to Disorient, Immobilization, Hold, Knockback, Repel and Sleep effects. One with the Shield costs little Endurance to activate and increases your recovery and maximum hit points for its duration, but when it wears off you are left exhausted, and substantially drained of Endurance. Note that One With the Shield is unaffected by Attack Rate changes. Recharge: Very Long

Recharge Very Long
Minimum Level 38 (Brute)
Effects Click
Self +Res(Disorient, Sleep, Hold, Immobilize, Repel, Knockback, All DMG but Psi), +Recovery, +Max HP
Personal Comment: This is basically a "oh no, i'm going to die" power. Personally I skip this power because I like to avoid death by planning my build for survivability and if things get that hairy, i'll pop a respite.
Slotting Recommendation: no comments

II. Primary Power Set

Electrical Melee

Overview Electric Melee lets you harness the jolting damage of electricity. Arcs of energy surround your fists, dealing out endurance draining damage as you master the searing strength of lightning to smash your foes!

Personal Comment: Electric Melee is endurance heavy, sub-par vs. single target, and one of the best AoE damage brutes available.

Charged Brawl
Your fists become electrically charged and deliver a powerful punch. Charged Brawl can drain some Endurance from the target and may overload his synapses, leaving him writhing for a moment. A portion of drained Endurance may be returned to you. Disturbing an overloaded target will disperse the electrical charge and release him.

Damage Minor Damage(Smashing/Energy) (35dmg)
Recharge Fast
Minimum Level 1 (Brute)
Effects Melee, Foe Sleep, -Endurance
Personal Comment: I never took this power. I don't see the need for a fast recharge / minor damage attack when aiming for +130% overall recharge. Personally I use Havoc Punch as my fast attack since it recharges at 2 seconds.
Slotting Recommendation: no comments

Havoc Punch
The Havoc Punch is a slower attack than Charged Brawl, but makes up for it with a greater damage. Havoc Punch can drain some Endurance from your target and may overload his synapses, leaving him writhing for a moment. A portion of the drained Endurance may be given back to you. Disturbing an overloaded target will disperse the electrical charge and release him.

Damage Moderate Damage(Smashing/Energy) (65.8 dmg)
Recharge Moderate
Minimum Level 1 (Brute)
Effects Melee, Foe Sleep, -Endurance
Personal Comment: Average single target quick attack. Only used for cleanup or EB's or AV's.
Slotting Recommendation: Touch of Death set of 6 or Mako's set of 6 depending on your positional defenses.

Jacobs Ladder
You are able to generate a strong current between your arms and snap a powerful bolt of electricity in an arc in front of you. This melee attack can electrocute all foes within the arc dealing high Energy damage. Jacobs Ladder can drain some Endurance from your target and may overload his synapses, leaving him writhing for a moment. Disturbing an overloaded target will disperse the electrical charge and release him.

Damage High Damage(Energy) (62.6)
Recharge Moderate
Minimum Level 2 (Brute)
Effects Melee(Cone), Foe Sleep, -Endurance
Personal Comment: LONG animation time makes this a very hated power in my book. It's technically an AoE but the cone is so narrow that hitting more than 1-2 targets is challenging. When juiced up and at the +damage cap this power has an incredibly high damage cap and my jaw usually drops when i see it's numbers. My most recent build drops this power since I've been focused on killing 16 mobs at once vs. worrying about single target damage. I do miss it, but Ancillary Power Pools can fill the void.
Slotting Recommendation: Multi Stirke set of 6 or Obliteration set of 6

Build Up
Greatly increases the amount of damage you deal for a few seconds, as well as slightly increasing your chance to hit.

Recharge Long
Minimum Level 6 (Brute)
Effects Self +Damage, +To-Hit
Personal Comment: Build up + Lightning Rod + Shield Charge = 52 lt's and less will all be dead.
Slotting Recommendation: Gaussian Synchronized Fire Control set of 6

Thunder Strike
A massive attack. You smash your foes with all the power of a lightning bolt. The pummeled victim takes tremendous damage and may be Disoriented. Any nearby foes may be knocked down and take some damage from the shockwave.
Damage High Damage(Smashing/Energy) (81.7 dmg)
Recharge Slow
Minimum Level 8 (Brute)
Effects Melee(Area of Effect)
Foe Disorient, Knockback
Personal Comment: Love this power, hate the radius and animation time. This AoE power has only a range of 7 which means that if you are surrounded by mobs, unless the mobs behind you are glued to your butt, they aren't going to be hit. The radius is 3.5 ft from the point of impact. This means that you need to imagin a small circle of impact around the target you are hitting to maximize your target potentials. Once you figure that out, the damage and recharge of this power make it one of your primary damage dealers. This power recharges in 6 seconds and deals a huge amount of damage.
Slotting Recommendation: Most Important The best upgrade I ever made was adding a Force Feedback +Recharge Proc to this power. Some one needs to do the math on this for me, but this thing fires about 40% of the time. When it fires, Thunderstrike is back up in 4 seconds and your hasten, lightning rod, build up, and shield charge will all be back up in 3/4 the time. I'm guessing it works out to about a 30% overall plus to your global recharge time. Besides that i recommend slotting Obliteration set of 5 and later Armageddon set of 5.

Taunt
Taunt foes to attack you. Useful to pull enemies off allies and keep them attacking you to raise your Fury.
Recharge Fast
Minimum Level 12 (Brute)
Effects Ranged(Targeted Area of Effect)
Foe Taunt
Personal Comment: Who needs taunt when you are laying waste to the masses. The only mobs that won't stick to you are any group of more than 16. In that case there's nothing you can do.
Slotting Recommendation: no comments

Chain Induction
This Electric Melee attack deals moderate Smashing and Energy damage and may drain some of the target's Endurance. However, this attack also induces an unstable electric charge that may jump to another enemy target. The charge will jump randomly between multiple targets, until it inevitably dissipates. Enhancements and Fury will only boost the effectiveness of the initial attacks, not the jumping charge.

Bug! This power is currently bugged. If a Proc Invention enhancement is placed in the power, Chain Induction's 100% chance of jumping to another target will be changed to the much lower percentage of the Proc, such as Mako's Bite: Chance of Lethal Damage 20%, for example.

Damage Moderate Damage(Smashing/Energy) (55.1 dmg)
Recharge Slow
Minimum Level 18 (Brute)
Effects Melee, Foe -Endurance, +Special
Personal Comment: Love this power. Fast animation, decent damage, jumps to multiple targets. A few complaints: The power will not jump targets if you add a proc to it. This really cripples your ability to slot decent sets into this power. Second complaint: If the damage you deal with CI kills your target, it won't jump to the next target.
Slotting Recommendation: 4 slot kinetic combat for the melee defense, add a 5th slot with an accuracy. Later set of 5 Hecatomb.

Lightning Clap
You can clap your hands together to release a violent Lightning Clap. The Lightning Clap can knock down most nearby foes, Disorienting many of them. Lightning Clap deals no damage.

Recharge Slow
Minimum Level 26 (Brute)
Effects Point Blank Area of Effect
Foe Disorient, Knockback
Personal Comment: Knockback Magnitude 5.19 means mobs go flying in every direction. No thank you. Skip this power.
Slotting Recommendation: no comments

Lightning Rod
You can polarize your body and become a living Lightning Rod. This power calls forth a massive lightning bolt from the sky to strike you. You can then ride this bolt and instantly Teleport a short distances. You rematerialize in a massive bolt of electricity, dealing massive damage and knocking down all nearby foes. You must target the ground to activate this power. Damage from the lightning bolt is superior but is not affected by Fury.

Bug! This power is currently bugged. If a Damage Proc Invention enhancement is placed in the power, it will have the chance to attack the user instead of enemies.

Damage Superior Damage(Energy) (147.8 dmg)
Recharge Slow
Minimum Level 32 (Brute)
Effects Targeted Point Blank Area of Effect
Foe Knockback
Self Teleport
Personal Comment: Massive damage, you can teleport to the target location, knocks everyone down, and has the best animation in the game. What's more to love? (oh yeah, the fact you still have shield charge ready to fire ... )
Slotting Recommendation: set of 6 Obliteration

I. Introduction
II. Primary Power Set
III. Secondary Power Set
IV. Pool Powers and Epic Pool Powers
V. Extras
VI. Sample Builds


I. Introduction

So you want to be a human wrecking ball? Electric Melee / Shield Defense is a great choice. With all of my builds I always focus on how to squeeze out every bit of goodness out of my characters so please no hate for my MIN / MAX focus in this guide.

Electric Melee is arguably the best AoE Brute out there but I'm not here to debate "Rage+Footstomp=game over!". Electric Melee has four AoE attacks but two that are most used are Thunderstrike and Lightning Rod. With 120% Recharge, Thunderstrike has a six second recharge and Lightning Rod has a 28 Second recharge. Both attacks hit everyone around you and deal massive damage and knocks everyone down.

Shield Defense should be renamed to "The Best Defense ... " The reason for this is that Shield Defense is a VERY good offense. Shield Charge is basically another Lightning Rod (500-550 cap)with a faster animation speed and deals more damage (540-580 cap). Against All Odds is an aura that pumps up your damage output per enemy in melee range. These two huge offensive abilities coupled with a good offensive set make Shield Defense a popular choice of MIN / MAX players.

Choosing Electric Melee with Shield Defense is an amazing duo of powers. With this combination you have superior damage, superior mitigation and on-par defense to other brutes.

Damage - Against All Odds provides about a 90% bonus to damage when surrounded by 10 mobs or more.

Mitigation - Thunderstrike = AoE knockdown, Lightning Rod = AoE knockdown, Shield Charge = AoE knockdown, (Ball Lightning slotted w/Rag Proc = AoE knockdown). With this array of powers all with AoE knockdown, mobs are very rarely on their feet. If they aren't standing they aren't doing damage. Typically purple lt's will be dead before they can get a single shot off.

Defense - with seven inexpensive IO Sets you can reach 40% ranged and melee defense by level 37. At this time you'll have about 12-14 resist to all but psionic. From this point you can begin your final push to 50 and start aiming at nicer IO sets that'll boost your HP, regen, resists and AoE defense. Once completed with sets and accolades you'll be looking at:

45+% melee defense
45+% ranged defense
40+% AoE defense
31 - 34% Smashing - Lethal Resist
11 - 18% Other Resist
2200 - 2400 hit points
250 - 300% regen
45% Defense Debuff Resistance
13.8% Recharge Debuff Resistance

You can increase any of these numbers but you'll be lowering something else. It's all personal preference.

Build Strategy
Enhance your strengths. Shield Defense is an offensive powerhouse that has moderate positional defenses and below average resistances. With this setup it's most beneficial to cap positional defenses, increase hit points, increase hp regen and then push resistances in that order. It's not the most defensive brute in the game, but most of your oppenents will usually be on their backs from all your knockdown so it doesn't matter.

It really depends on what you are looking for. Here are a few scenerios

Standard PuG with a mix of players - You should pick some standard mission arcs that have a nice variety of minions, lt's and a 1-2 bosses per spawn. Enjoy the content and be pleasantly surprised at the ticket count when you complete it.

Standard PuG begging for huge ticket counts and massive experience from fighting enemies that can't hurt you. Sorry those days are over and AE is not for you. Start paying farmers again.

Solid level 50 looking for hardcore content with high rewards. Put a group together and review the information on each player and verify they have a long list of IO bonus's before starting missions. Discuss your strategy to deal with the high level enemies you will be facing. Packs of 17+ or more will require more than 1 tank. Dominators need to shelf their immobolize powers because ranged attacks will chew people up. etc. Pick smaller mission arcs since you will reach the ticket cap rather quickly.

Hard Core Gamer who solo's 8 man all boss maps. Bosses deal a significantly higher amount of damage and now all include ranged attacks. Ally's are no longer buffing you with shields. Adapt and overcome! Reap the rewards.

Day 1 of Mission architect I used Sky Raider Force Field Generators to help with defense. These got removed for obvious reasons so I switched them to Passive Sonic Captives that did pretty much the same thing. After a while I realized having these guys around wasn't needed so I rarely even rescued them.

WIth the changes to Bosses I'm now taking a substantial amount of damage and want to use my allies again, but it looks like these were nerfed as well because the sonic shield from my passive ally no longer adds any resistance to my brute.

Did the patch remove all buffing abilities from all power sets or what? Does anyone have a work around to for this problem?

I want to say something witty in response to Mirai, but I gotta give credit where credit is due. That was a very good comeback and I properly stand put in my place. Nice one. ;-)

It comes down to the definition of farming

farm-ing Pronunciation [fahr-ming]
–noun
1. Producting Experience And/Or Infamy at a higher rate than another player, thus making that player whine you are exploiting.
2. Having a mind set that working harder should earn more rewards. Sounds like blasfamous republican slander.
3. Spending time researching and reading to further your ability to maximize your time and effort.

ME: "Hi I'd like some candy."

DEV: "Candy is frowned upon, and should not be eaten."

ME: "Everyone is eating candy in Grandville, I'm going to beg for some candy"

ME: "Candy tastes great, I want some more."

DEV: "Candy is frowned upon and should not be eaten"

DEV: "Here's a Candy Machine with a 50 levels worth of ingredients, but don't eat any."

ME: "Free Candy for everyone!!!"

DEV: "Candy is frowned upon and should not be eaten"

DEV: "Here's a candy machine for everyone in the game and instructions on how to make candy"

DEV: "Make sure you don't eat any candy."

ME: "OMG, The heavens are raining candy!"

DEV: "Anyone who has figured out a way to eat candy is obviously a hacker and needs to be punished for eating candy!"

ME: "But you gave me the candy ... "

DEV: "No, we just knew you wanted it, gave you the supplies to make it, and gave everyone a machine to mass produce it. You weren't supposed to eat it though."

This is not a bug. I ran into this last night. I was at 6500 tickets and it said I was at the cap. I thought it was odd, but when i completed the mission i got 3500 tickets for a bonus. So what's happening is the mission "queues" up your tickets from the bonus and counts them towards your total.

The way the system is setup atm the it is impossible to make a 5 star mission. Here is an example why.

ARC #291239
Player 1
* Dialog: Very creative well thought out
* Enemies: Creative custome and cool colors
* Length: 1 hour just right.
*Rating: 5 stars*

Player 2
* Dialog: zomg 2 pages of text, what a loser!
* Enemies: lol, he has a butt cape!
* Length: stupid moron made 3 missions, abandon arc.
*Rating: 1 star*

Player 3
Hmmm let's see if anyone has a 5-star rating.
/sg hey everyone pls review arc #291239 and give it a 1 star, the guy is a jerk!

They removed the force fields because you could stack 4 of them and practically be immune to melee bosses. Unfortunately this was a short sighted fix, since all I have to do is make a passive sonic ally who's sonic dispersion field does the same thing.