New to the game and Could really use some advice

[Ameranth465]

So I have just started the game and tried out one or two characters, none of which i really loved enough to continue playing. So my question is this, What class (As well as Primary/Secondary combination) is the best (For Villains only please) for solo leveling. I guess I will group every now and then but truly I want to be able to blow through solo content like there is no tomorrow. Thanks in advance for the help ^_^

[Aett_Thorn]

First off, welcome to the game and to the forums.

Secondly, my first question would be: why do you want to blow through the content? This game is not end-game focused. The focus is on the content from level 1 to level 50.

Secondly, if you do want a great soloing toon, I'd say that any Brute or Mastermind will serve you well, as well as certain types of Stalkers (my Elec/Ninjitsu Stalker is a solo machine).

[Red Valkyrja]

Brutes are usually your best bet. I've gotten a Dual Blade(DB)/Willpower(WP) to 50 solo'ing most of the way. Be aware that DB has attack combo's that take a little getting used to.

Masterminds works as well.

And what Aett said. It's about the journey, not the destination.

[Plyxx]

Eh,if played right they all will.The easiest new guy friendly is a brute.I like super strength or fire paired with willpower or invul.
But opinions will vary.

[Meltzzz]

Try a Stalker or a Brute, they can solo pretty well with the Stalker's added bonus ofgoing to the mission oobjectives and just doing them (although you eventually will have to do more than that to get lvls.)

My Stalker is EM/EM
and my lvl 50 Brute is Dual Blades/WP

[YuriFoxfirega]

[ QUOTE ]
First off, welcome to the game and to the forums.

Secondly, my first question would be: why do you want to blow through the content? This game is not end-game focused. The focus is on the content from level 1 to level 50.

Secondly, if you do want a great soloing toon, I'd say that any Brute or Mastermind will serve you well, as well as certain types of Stalkers (my Elec/Ninjitsu Stalker is a solo machine).

[/ QUOTE ]

As I've come to expect as usual, I cannot possibly state anything that would be any more accurate then Aett has already done.

Except maybe fluff it out by being needlessly verbose, as I often tend to.

Still, to sum up: This.

[Plyxx]

Oh,I don;t know he did say "secondly" twice.But then again is "thirdly" a word?


.....I kid,Aett,don't hurt me

[Ameranth465]

Thank you everyone. Now then let me rephrase my question. Which class completely dominates and is incredibly enjoyable in PvE? Mastermind or Brute? I don't want to play one of them and then start getting bored even though I am blowing through. I want to play a class that is incredibly fun to play and deals a lot of damage.

Also if I go MM which would be a good combination?

[YuriFoxfirega]

I'm biased - I found Masterminds terribly boring, even though most content was almost trivial for my Bot/Storm.

Brutes, though... It just doesn't get tiring to remodel someone's face with your own fists.

I look at it this way - if you really don't mind doing nothing but supporting other things (in this case your pets - even having personal attacks felt sluggish and weak in the long run for me), then Mastermind isn't a bad choice, and a very effective one.

If you prefer to do more to personally end fights, Brute may be a better choice.

Passive vs. Active.

EDIT: And I had one of the more active Mastermind secondaries, and had another (Thug/Poison) up to about the same level before deciding to stick with the Bot/Storm.

[Ameranth465]

Ah ok. So what is the most dominating PvE Brute Primary/Secondary combo?

[7thCynic]

My vote is for a Super Strength / Willpower Brute. Hands down.

SS deals a great bit of damage and feels very 'super', while Willpower provides lots of survival tools that are very beginner friendly.

[Smurphy]

[ QUOTE ]
Thank you everyone. Now then let me rephrase my question. Which class completely dominates and is incredibly enjoyable in PvE? Mastermind or Brute? I don't want to play one of them and then start getting bored even though I am blowing through. I want to play a class that is incredibly fun to play and deals a lot of damage.

Also if I go MM which would be a good combination?

[/ QUOTE ]

In City of Heroes all combos and all classes can work. It's more about fitting your personal playstyle.

I think you want to be a Brute of somekind. Masterminds tend to make their Henchman and then you simply need to press the forward button. Sure, you could debuff or attack but you don't actually need to on a Mastermind while soloing.

Brute Primary wise I'd pick the Primary that sounds "coolest" to you. They all can work just fine solo. Personally, I prefer Stone, Super Strength, War Mace, and Battle Axe because they are the most "smashy" feeling. The others work fine but the ones I listed make me "feel" like I just crushed something.

Secondary wise, Willpower is very user friendly. You simply turn on the toggles and go. There are no buttons to press. Allowing you to mash your attack buttons mercilessly without thinking "do I need to do something to survive".

[YuriFoxfirega]

Brutes are like scrappers - Pick one from each category and enjoy your wrecking ball. Playstyle and personal preference weigh so much into it, it's hard to really say what is by the numbers the 'most dominating', as everyone has a different way of interpreting that phrase.

Purely damage wise, Super Strength/Fire Armor likely tops the chart. Survival wise, Stone Melee/Stone Armor. Middle of the road, cointoss.

[Smurphy]

[ QUOTE ]
Brutes are like scrappers - Pick one from each category and enjoy your wrecking ball. Playstyle and personal preference weigh so much into it, it's hard to really say what is by the numbers the 'most dominating', as everyone has a different way of interpreting that phrase.

Purely damage wise, Super Strength/Fire Armor likely tops the chart. Survival wise, Stone Melee/Stone Armor. Middle of the road, cointoss.

[/ QUOTE ]

Your answers are all tailored towards high level and a lot of team and area of effect situations. He is asking specifically for soloing from 1-50. I don't think your analysis and choices are very applicable.

[Ameranth465]

Ok cool you have all been so helpful ^_^.

If it isnt too much trouble could someone give me a quick lowdown of how each of the primaries and secondaries for brutes work?

[7thCynic]

Paragonwiki is your friend. :)

http://paragonwiki.com/

[Smurphy]

I'll give you basic "feel" version of each Primary/Secondary and pros cons. However, the first thing you should do before making a brute is reading the Endurance Dysfunction Guide in my signature. My analysis will mostly be focused on "feel" rather than the hard #s.

Battle Axe and War Mace are relatively the same. You whoop out a big chunk of something on a stick. Then you swing it and bash something.

Dark Melee has a lot of very fast activating Punch/Jab type powers. Think your hands turning black then moving a billion miles an hour.

Dual Blades whoops out two blades of any kind you can imagine then you can use them in crazy combos to slash enemies.

Electric Melee is lots of big bad BOOM lightning effects. Electric Melee is often focused on hitting lots of enemies at the same time. Solo, you are likely not to fight hordes of guys often.

Energy Melee gives you Pink "pom-poms" which you use do ridiculous style punches that send enemies flying.

Fire Melee pulls out Fire swords and fists and hits the enemy. The enemies don't go flying or get stunned or shocked or anything... but they will take extra damage ticks.

Stone Melee gives you big rocks and stone mallets that you can use the crush the enemies and send them flying.

Super Strength's punches can knock guys over. Knockout Blow gives you a ridiculous windup and drills a guy into orbit.

Secondary wise there are two major categories: Resistance and Defense. Resistance means that attacks that hit you do less damage. Defense means attacks miss you completely.

Dark Armor is mostly resistance but has some Defense as well. Also it has a HUGE self-heal with a steep endurance cost. Dark is very much an all around set but it causes your costume to essentially become a black cloud.

Electric Armor is almost purely a resistance set with no way to self-heal. It also grants you several bonus damage and endurance management powers.

Energy Armor is a defense based set with many endurance management powers and a minor self-heal that is relatively late blooming.

Fire Armor is a resistance based set with a very fast recharging, early self-heal power. Fire Armor also has many damage bonus powers.

Invulnerability has both Defense/Resistances. The resistances are almost all to Smashing/Lethal damage types. They are the most common in the game. It also has a huge self-heal type power on a very long recharge timer.

Shield Defense is a defense set with bonus defense for teammates and an attack power in the set. Also, you pull out a shield. Shield does not work with Dual Blades.

Stone Armor glues rocks to your face. Initially you get mainly defense based powers. Your status protection power slows you down. Also you have a long recharge big self-heal. At level 38 you can completely encase yourself in rocks making you nigh invulnerable but severely lowering your damage/recharge if you choose to turn on that power

Super Reflexes is a defense based set with some increase speed powers. There is no self-heal power.

Willpower is a regeneration/defense/resist set. None of the powers require you to push a button. Also has a bonus endurance power.

I personally recommend, for you... either Fire Armor, Invulnerability or Willpower. Willpower has you pushing the buttons the least often and is generally "easiest to use". Fire Armor will give you the ability to use a Self-Heal very often and more damage. However it lacks some of the survival "oomph" other sets get. Invulnerability gives you fantastic Smashing/Lethal resists and a big self-heal on a long timer. I think you could do fine with pretty much any secondary but these may three may be best for you personally.

[YuriFoxfirega]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Brutes are like scrappers - Pick one from each category and enjoy your wrecking ball. Playstyle and personal preference weigh so much into it, it's hard to really say what is by the numbers the 'most dominating', as everyone has a different way of interpreting that phrase.

Purely damage wise, Super Strength/Fire Armor likely tops the chart. Survival wise, Stone Melee/Stone Armor. Middle of the road, cointoss.

[/ QUOTE ]

Your answers are all tailored towards high level and a lot of team and area of effect situations. He is asking specifically for soloing from 1-50. I don't think your analysis and choices are very applicable.

[/ QUOTE ]

I wouldn't say entirely the high-end. Stone Armor, maybe, as it's very reliant on a toggle that you only get at 38 (as a Brute), but it's not exactly awful before that. Compared to how it is after, maybe. But, in that same vein, a lot of other Brute secondaries also mature late. The only ones I can think of that mature early are Dark Armor and Willpower, and even Willpower isn't fully 'complete' until around 28.

Super Reflexes/Shield Defense are 'okay' but not exactly the most survivable until you start getting close to the soft-cap, which can vary a lot on when you get it. Firey Aura is a lot better then people give it credit for, honestly, especially if you get and slot Healing Flames early for recharge and take it slow. Electric is... mediocre, unless you're going purely for damage, in which case it's not awful (but it also doesn't have Firey Embrace, which is like getting Build Up again).

Super Strength is also one of my favorite sets. Also, I don't see how it's not applicable when I preface it with the following:

[ QUOTE ]
Brutes are like scrappers - Pick one from each category and enjoy your wrecking ball. Playstyle and personal preference weigh so much into it, it's hard to really say what is by the numbers the 'most dominating', as everyone has a different way of interpreting that phrase.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's implied (perhaps poorly) that anything after that is purely a subjective opinion, and very likely to change. It's really hard to screw up a brute unless you slot really, really weird.

EDIT: I mean, out of 81 total combinations (9 primaries x 9 secondaries), there are some that are less ideal then others, but taking into account the strengths and synergies between sets, it's still very hard to seriously mess up as long as you're willing to experiment. Which I encourage a lot. I still agree with Aett - this game isn't about the end game, it's about the trip there. Screw around and find out what works best for you, and heck with anyone else's opinion on the matter.

[Ameranth465]

Ok thanks everyone. So Dual Blade for a brute isnt that great?

I am thinking I will go super strength + fire armor or willpower. Anywhere I can find a good build?

[Sailboat]

Yeah, I really liked Masterminds at first -- made one my main villain -- but after getting the good powers, mine gradually fell by the wayside and sits unplayed. I have more of every other AT.

[Mizzer]

Link to Brute Player Guitdes (http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=brutes&Number=4010452&pag e=0&fpart=1).

There are good guides for both of your choices. Have fun, and welcome to the game.

[Memphis_Bill]

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, I really liked Masterminds at first -- made one my main villain -- but after getting the good powers, mine gradually fell by the wayside and sits unplayed. I have more of every other AT.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well -

I started with a bot/ff (long before any redside powersets were FOTM :) ) and found it... exceedingly boring. Gave up on MMs for quite some time (that MM is all of 26, and just hit that recently.)

After a while, I went into the MM forums, talked about my playstyle and why I didn't like that bot/ff (not busy enough - bubble and watch, basically) and asked for suggestions. Ended up with a Thugs/Poison I took to 50 and had a blast with.

MMs and Defenders, I'd think, have the most variability in playstyle between powerset combos within the same AT. If you try one and don't like it... try another combo. (Of course, you could also just find the whole pet thing isn't your style, which is perfectly valid as well.)

[Smurphy]

[ QUOTE ]
Ok thanks everyone. So Dual Blade for a brute isnt that great?

I am thinking I will go super strength + fire armor or willpower. Anywhere I can find a good build?

[/ QUOTE ]

Dual Blades works great with a brute. However it may not "feel" Brute like and smashy to you.

Try doing this with a Super Strength build. If you don't like it at level 8 then Brute is not for you.

Take Punch at level 1
Take Haymaker at level 2.
Take Air Superiority from the Flight Power Pool at level 6.
Take Knockout Blow at level 8.

The other powers don't matter so much. Slot all of those powers to 4 slots first, two Accuracy and two Endurance Reduction. If you don't enjoy that you won't enjoy a Brute.

[Ameranth465]

so if i dont enjoy that I wont enjoy Dual blades? I like dual blade stalkers but they seem a little to squishy for my liking which is why I dont really wanna play one.

[Fulmens]

I only have a couple of brute combos, and obviously I only speak for myself.

Elec/Invuln -Invuln feels a little weak, because V-side has a lot of damage that is "exotic" types. Elec is HUGE STUPID FUN after about level 33, but before that I would say it's a little weak.

Fire/Willpower- I like this one a lot better in the low levels. Admittedly Self Forging Weapon is only around level 27, because I have too many projects, but she's quite violent and impressive. I haven't tried her on many big teams, but solo... there's not much that can do more than ding the bodywork.

Villainside everything always feels hard to me up to about level 20 or 22, but then it takes off. I don't know if heroside spoiled me or what.

(In general, Dark Armor is not a brute I would recommend unless I'd seen you play and it somehow matched your playstyle. )

[ClawsandEffect]

[ QUOTE ]
so if i dont enjoy that I wont enjoy Dual blades? I like dual blade stalkers but they seem a little to squishy for my liking which is why I dont really wanna play one.

[/ QUOTE ]

I play a Dark Melee/Super Reflexes brute. It is a combination far more commonly seen in scrappers, but it is the most enjoyable brute I have ever played. Everyone has given you he best information they can muster in regards to the questions asked, but ultimately no one can tell you what you will enjoy.

Really, with a brute, just pick whichever 2 powersets sound cool and run with it, and you'll probably be fine.

Stalkers are squishy on purpose. If they were invisible, hit like a truck, AND hard to kill they would be overpowered. That said, try one of the defense based secondaries and you might have better luck, Ninjitsu is my personal favorite.

Stalkers require a MUCH different playstyle in the early levels than a brute does. With a brute, you just wade in and keep swinging until they're dead or you are (usually they end up dead first) With a stalker you have to think about your targets and tactics a little more, some stalkers CAN throw down like a brute or scrapper later in the game, but generally are better suited to hit and fade style fighting.

[Acyl]

[ QUOTE ]
so if i dont enjoy that I wont enjoy Dual blades? I like dual blade stalkers but they seem a little to squishy for my liking which is why I dont really wanna play one.

[/ QUOTE ]

ClawsandEffect is correct. Stalkers can go toe-to-toe, but you're absolutely right in thinking they are more fragile. That's the point. A properly built Stalker can be reasonably tough, but never solid like a Brute.

Dual Blades has one notable advantage for Brutes. DB attacks animate quick and recharge fast. You can throw out a lot of attacks in a short span of time. This makes gaining and keeping Fury somewhat easier.

What's the downside? Dual Blades lacks a big heavy attack. Pretty much all the DB attacks are fast, but they only do moderate damage. DB doesn't have a single attack that really uses Fury to do awesome damage (like Knockout Blow).

Is that a huge problem? No. It really isn't. Honestly any brute will be fine solo. My own 50 brute is an Elec/Will built for groups. It's a team-centric build, and Elec Melee is notoriously lousy for single-target damage (it's better for AoEs). But my brute still goes through solo missions much faster than most characters.

You're kinda looking at this the wrong way. You're asking which brute is the 'most dominating' in solo play. That's like asking what kind of grenade is the most explosive. All brutes solo well. You'll be a rampaging murder machine no matter what you choose.

The only limiting factor you'll encounter is your endurance consumption. At the early levels you'll probably run out of endurance way before you run out of health. Which is actually another reason why Dual Blades isn't a bad choice. The attacks are relatively endurance-light compared to end hogs like Stone Melee or Battle Axe.

So if you like Dual Blades, by all means, go with Dual Blades.

For your secondary, I suggest Willpower or Super Reflexes, because they're the easiest to get used to - most of the powers are toggles or passives, so there's not much you need to activate or watch out for. But honestly, just go with whatever sounds cool to you.

[NeoSporin]

[ QUOTE ]
Thank you everyone. Now then let me rephrase my question. Which class completely dominates and is incredibly enjoyable in PvE? Mastermind or Brute? I don't want to play one of them and then start getting bored even though I am blowing through. I want to play a class that is incredibly fun to play and deals a lot of damage.

Also if I go MM which would be a good combination?

[/ QUOTE ]
Honesty, no one can give you a rock solid answer to this question. "Fun" is subjective. "Fun" is different to different people. Some people love brutes, some people hate them. Same for every AT.

We can tell you that ?/? Brute is best... but really that's best for those us who find it fun. You might not agree once you played one so many levels.

That being said, as others have pointed out, Brutes are a good start for a new player, they can deal the damage and get through missions about the fastest, solo. (Assuming SOs and no IO Sets). Masterminds are a very close second, and some players with tons of experience might outdo a brute.

I enjoy soloing both Brutes and Masterminds. I wont assume you will too. Give em a try.

Also, it is entirely possible that this game may not be for you at all. I love this game. My sister played it for about a year and moved on to another MMO which she enjoys more. I tried that other game for about a month and could not get into it.