City of Villains Coldfront (CoH, CoV)

The Electric SMASH!!!(tm) and You! – A Guide to Electric Brutes, v1.1

Please note, this guide is in Damage Scalar format! For those familiar with Brawl Index, a second notation near damage is included. Brawl Index is the amount of damage the power does compared to your Brawl damage, for those not familiar with either. DS info is Found Here.

This is the Professor Todesfall guide on how to build a better Electric/Electric robot. This guide works just as well if you are a meddling magical fairy, filthy mutie, accident of science, or just naturally electrical, but that is merely an unintended side effect of the nature of this guide.

If you’re looking to be an Electric/Electric Brute, you’re going to want to know the facts. How are you different from your flaming, dark, tough, energetic, and rocky brothers? How are you better? How are you worse? These questions can be tricky, and even a detailed first glance won’t say it all. In fact, before even looking at that glance, you should read: Foo's Brute Guide. Also, while it’s of less concern to you defensively, you should still read Arcanaville's Defense guide. Regardless, here is that glance:

Pros –
-High Resistances
-Resist Psychic Damage
-Resist Endurance Drain
-Endurance Recovery
-TP Foe Protection
-Resist Slows
-Auto –Recharge
-Auto +Speed
-Auto KB/Immob Protection
-Endurance Draining attacks
-A slight AoE bent in attacking

Cons –
-No Self Heal
-No Fear or Confuse protection
-No Toxic resists
-KB/Immob protection is only partial

That’s a pretty big first glance…but can you handle the repercussions? First, we’ll go over the powers in detail, and then we’ll come back to what it all means. For ease of reference, Rch is recharge time, Act is activation time, Acc is accuracy off a base of 1, End is the endurance cost, EPS is endurance per second, Radius is the radius of effect, Rng is range, and Base refers to % resistance. Str is Strength (a Prima guide measurement) and I will convert these to Mag (Magnitude) which is more commonly used by the player base. A Mag 2 (or higher) status effect will affect minions, a Mag 3 (or higher) will affect Lts., and a Mag 4 (or higher) will affect Bosses. Attacks may have another notation of "Drain", which is formatted as (# or # / # for #). The first set shows the amount drained from a target, and the second is the chance to return X endurance. So Drain (5% or 2 / 10% for 5) would mean that the power drains 5% endurance from NPCs or 2 End points from players, and has a 10% chance to give you back 5 End.

Electric Melee

1) Charged Brawl (level 1)
-Attack: Melee / -Acc: 1.0
-Dmg: 0.5 S/L + 0.34 Eng = 0.84 DS (1.3889 + 0.9444 = 2.3333 BI)
-Drain (7% or 1.25 / 10% for 2.184)
-Rch: 3s / End: 4.369 / Act: 1.07s

-Charged Brawl is part of your Bread and Butter attacks, and is a basic punch that serves well as a quick attack. Don’t skip this unless you have a darn good reason. Also puts target to sleep (zappy electric dance!) for 6 seconds 10% of the time…but this is of Str 2.38, which is Mag 2 (minions only). Another 10% check to reduce a foe's End recovery by 100% for 2 seconds.
-Slotting: Standard slotting of 1 Acc, 3 Dmg will serve you well. Additional slots (if any) should go to End and Rch, but this should wait to higher levels (and access to Synthetic Hami-Os).

2) Havoc Punch (level 1)
-Attack: Melee / -Acc: 1.0
-Dmg: 0.8 S/L + 0.52 Eng = 1.32 DS (2.2222 + 1.4444 = 3.6666 BI)
-Drain (10% or 2 / 10% for 3.432)
-Rch: 6s / End: 6.864 / Act: 1.5s

-Havoc Punch is the other part of your Bread and Butter, and you will use it often. Good, builds Fury, use it, don’t skip it. Also puts target to sleep (more zappy dance!) for 8 seconds 30% of the time…but like Charged Brawl this is Str 2.38, and thus only Mag 2. Another 30% check for a 4 second reduction of a foe's End recovery by 100%.
-Slotting: Standard slotting of 1 Acc, 3 Dmg will carry you far. Like Charged Brawl, End and Rch can help, but should only be applied in later levels and after access to more slots (thanks to respeccing with SHOs).

3) Jacob’s Ladder (level 4)
-Attack: Melee Cone / -Acc: 1.0 / -Radius-range: 5’ in a 50 degree arc from target
-Dmg: 0 S/L + 1.5 Eng = 1.5 DS (0 + 4.1667 = 4.1667 BI)
-Drain (7% or 1.25 / no return)
-Rch: 8s / End: 8.528 / Act: 1.67s

-Jacob’s Ladder is where the AoE part of your attack chain starts…and lets you start practicing as early as level four. As a melee cone, this may be fairly familiar to you in application if you’ve played Dark before. Compared to your Bread and Butter, it’s OK as a single target attack, but shines when you can hit two to its maximum of five targets. Every hit target has a 10% chance of getting a Str 2.38 (again, Mag 2) Sleep put on them for 6 seconds as well. Another 10% check occurs to reduce the foe's end recovery by 100% for 2 seconds. Tip: Cluster enemies, and target the one in the back of the cluster. If you target the closest one, you’ll hit only him, but by targeting the back, you catch (up to four extra) targets in between the target and you in the arc. A good attack with decent activation, you’ll want it at low levels and will get use out of it for a long while. You may consider dropping it in a respec later on, but do so only when you know you’ll have a solid attack chain without it.
-Slotting: Once more, 1 Acc and 3 Dmg is really the way to go. Throwing a single End in here may help, but should wait until later levels.

4) Build Up (level 6)
-Self Buff: +80% Dmg / +20% ToHit
-Rch: 90s / End: 5.2 / Act: 1.17s

-The requisite Build Up. +80% base damage, +20% ToHit. Some will skip it and never look back, others will take it and never regret it. Great for opening a fight or complimenting your Fury and external buffage when you’re ready to lay down some heavy smack to higher level and boss level targets.
-Slotting: Base slot goes to Rch. If you have slots to spare, put in up to 2 more recharges. Getting an extra 80% damage every 45 seconds goes a long way to getting it whenever you need it.

5) Thunderstrike (level 8)
-Attack: Melee AoE / -Acc: 1.0 / -Radius: 7’ from target (Eng portion)
-Dmg: 1 S/L + 0.96 Eng = 1.96 DS (2.7778 + 2.6667 = 5.4444 BI)
-Rch: 18s / End: 10.192 / Act: 3.3s

-You’ll want to find room for this one! The activation is a bit slow, but it makes up for it with great single target damage and a high chance of knockdown. Remember those clusters you got good at making for Jacob’s Ladder? Well, now you can target anyone of them, because anyone within about 7’ (2’ ft. past punching range) of your target is gonna get fried by the Energy portion of the damage. They’ll even do the zappy dance for you. This attack is one you’ll want to take, and won’t regret. As a side note, this has a 50% chance to give a Str 3.57 Disorient (Mag 3 Stun) to a hit PvE target, and will knock down your target 80% of the time. The 40% chance to reduce end recovery on a hit target by 100% for 4 seconds is frosting on the cake.
-Slotting: 1 Acc, 3 Dmg, and get them in ASAP. This power can really benefit from an End or Rch boost, even beyond what your sets are capable of, so that extra SO (or two) could be well worth your while. You may be tempted to slot for Disorient, but it only increases the duration, not the chance. Slotting for something that only happens 1/2 the time isn't necessarily wise.
Note: The sleep component appears to be like Jacob's Ladder, with a 10% chance to have a Str 2.38 (Mag 2) Sleep on enemies hit by the AoE portion. This is currently unconfirmed.

6) Taunt (level 12)
-Targeted AoE Mez: Draws Aggro (20s in PvE, 5s in PvP) / -Acc: 1.0 PvP, autohit PvE
-Rng: 70 ft. (15 ft. radius) / up to 5 targets / End: 0 / Act: 2.67 / Rch: 10s

-The requisite Taunt. If you plan on teaming and have the room, you might find this useful for drawing aggro away from your decidedly squishier allies (or other Brutes in severe danger). However, you’ll likely consider this power quite skippable. It’s an aggro management tool…but it’s that much less SMASH!!!(tm) or other powers you’ll find more useful.
-Slotting: If you picked this up, you obviously want to taunt. That means Taunt Duration and Recharge are for you. If you PvP, Acc is a good idea too. If your goal is to tank, then you're actually going to want to slot Taunt into your other attacks as you can spare it as well. Tanker-wannabe. Go back to Paragon!

7) Chain Induction (level 18)
-Attack: Melee AoE / -Acc: 1.0
-Dmg: 0.8 S/L + 0.52 Eng = 1.32 DS (2.2222 + 1.4444 = 3.6666 BI) (jumps do .7 DS [1.95 BI] Eng)
-Rch: 14s / End: 10.192 / Act: 1s

-Another gem, you’ll find this attack is faster than Thunderstrike, for the same cost…but it’s also pretty random. There’s a chance that this will arc to other targets, but the chance is random (and seems to be a number of additional targets algorithm). This is a love-it-or-hate it power…and you’ll either love it, or hate it. The real consideration is that it’s paying for Tunderstrike while getting the benefit of Havoc Punch…a Havoc Punch that may just decide to arc and hit extra targets a bit farther away than Thunderstrike would. Diamond in the rough, or waste of space? I can’t really tell you, you’re gonna have to get advice from other Brutes who know how you play and what you like. Me? I like it. There's even a handy 30% chance to reduce the target's end recovery by 100% for 4 seconds.
-Slotting: Acc and Damage, 1 and 3. If you want to use this a lot, Recharge is for the better. I'd save off on that until they get the bug fixed.
Note: Chain Induction is still currently bugged for XP loss. Damage dealt beyond the actual attack (the extra arcs of damage) are not treated as player dealt, pet dealt, summon dealt, or even confusion credit, but as a completely outside entity. This means that any of this extra damage will take a proportional amount of XP to damage dealt compared to the total health of the enemy. Example: Chain Induction arcs and does 1/2 of a minion's HP, and you immediately follow up and defeat it. Because half the damage was "by you" and half "wasn't" (Chain Induction), you get 1/2 XP for that mob. This is currently being looked into, and a fix is coming…SOON(tm).

8) Lightning Clap (level 26)
-Attack: Melee AoE Mez / -Acc: 0.8 / -Dmg: 0
-Rch: 30s / End: 13 / Act: 1.23s / Radius: 19’

-Lightning Clap can save your bacon. This power packs Disorient and Knockback into one happy 100% package…at a slight accuracy penalty. For those who wonder, it’s 100% chance of KB with 100% chance of an 8s Str 2.38 w/ 50% for an 8s Str 1.19 Disorient. For the less game-mechanic inclined, that's a minion level stun, with about a 50% chance to stun any Lts. For those familiar with Magnitude, that's basically a 100% chance of Magnitude 2 Stun with an additional 50% chance for a Mag 1, stacking into a Mag 3 Stun. In PvP, the Disorient goes to 5.34s at Str 2.38. You’ll either find you use this power as an extra soft control (see Power Sink in your secondary), or as a “too many, oh @#$%!” (*CLAP!*) and run away power. Which means you either think this power is completely skippable, because why would you want a power that hurts Fury generation, or a must have because it can make a difference that helps compensate for your lack of a self heal. If you can’t figure out based on that analysis, you’ll just have to test it. Me? I like it, but I see there’s also some trouble fitting it in your build sometimes.
-Slotting: Accuracy. It takes two to get this power up to the 95% ceiling you want to be at against even cons, and 3 to be truly safe. Stun Duration is useful if this is your panic button, but not always so if it's a utility combat power for you. Recharge allows it to be up more, but that's not always good. If you have it, slot 2 Acc and then go fromA there based on experience. Summary:
-Basic Slotting: 2 Acc
-Panic Slotting: 3 Acc, 3 Disorient
-Utility Slotting: 2-3 Acc, 1-3 Rch, 1-2 End

9) Lightning Rod (level 32)
-Attack: Teleport (60') + PBAoE / -Acc: 0.9
-Dmg: 1 S/L + 0.7 Eng = 1.7 DS (2.7778 + 1.9444 = 4.7222 BI)
-Rch: 90s / End: 13.52 / Act: 2.57s / Radius: 20’

-BOOM!, baby! If you refuse to take this power, I call you a lunatic. This mini-nuke has both an effect (80% Knockdown chance) and a boom (all that pretty, Fury enhanced damage, plus the free light show) to make even a Blaster jealous. This power shines as a way to start (or completely pre-empt) a fight after you’ve ended another. Scenario: you’re right near full Fury, and your team has the situation handled with this group or you’ve just landed the last punch. There’s a pretty group of enemies all nicely clustered for you right nearby! Pop just enough Redage and Build Up to give you the benefit of some serious buffage, and BOOM!...look at all the pretty corpses. One caveat: there IS an acc penalty. You also don’t have Aim (something all Blasters with half a brain use with THEIR nukes). So if you want to BOOM! and not flourish a broken rapier (so to speak), make sure you’ve got Acc in the power, and +Acc/+ToHit as well. Also, get good with that reticule: you’ll be very embarrassed if you just miss an enemy because you’re 21’ away when you BOOM! and not 20’. Lest we forget, this IS a teleport power, allowing you to use it just fine while immobilized.
-Slotting: 1 Acc, 3 Dmg, 2 Rch (advised). If differing from this, 1-2 Acc, 3 Dmg, 1-3 Rch is most serviceable. A single Range can get your range out to 72' and isn't all that bad an idea, if you feel you can sacrifice a Rch.
Note: testing of this power indicates that the current "known" damage values may be incorrect, and suggest that instead this power does a more traditional PBAoE "Nuke" with a standard "Nuke Distribution" of effect, having a base wave of ~1.3 DS value with a chance of one or two "follow ups" of ~.936 DS each. This would make the power most likely to do an actual DS of ~2.1 with a chance of as high as ~3.172. These equate to BIs of 3.7 and 2.6, with the potential for 8.9. This is currently being tested, and I will post when more information is confirmed.

-General slotting notes: Some players find that they can live with only 2 Damages (instead of 3) in any given attack. If you find this true for you, you can either save an extra slot for elsewhere, drop in an Endurance (not really a concern at later levels), or a Rch for faster SMASH!!!(tm). Due to your ability to gain endurance and access to +Rch effects, however, you may find that only 3 or four total slots (1-2 Acc, 2-3 Dmg) is all you'll ever need in any attack (exception being LR, which dern well better have 1-2 Acc, 3 Dmg, 1-3 Rch). Also, some players like 2 Accuracies in most powers to get that much better "I DON'T miss" potential, and LR and LC should very definitely have at least one and likely two Acc.

Electric Armor

1) Charged Armor (level 1)
-Toggle: Self + Res(S/L, Eng)
-Base: 26.25% Smash/Lethal, Energy / -Rch: 2s / -Act: 0.67s
-EPS: 0.26 (0.13 end every 1/2 second as ticks) / Enhancements taken: +Res, -End, -Rch

-You have to take it. Really, you actually don’t have a choice. And you’ll love it. The center of your early resistances, you’ll find S/L is something you’ll enjoy through the entire game.
-Slotting: 3 Res, 1-2 End. You want this power on most of the time and giving the most benefit, so slot up!

2) Lightning Field (level 2)
-Toggle: PBAoE, Minor DoT (Eng), Foe –End
-Dmg: 0.216 DS (0.6 BI) Eng / -Radius: 8ft. / -EPS: 0.52 (0.26 end every 1/2 second as ticks)
-Rch: 10s / -Act: 2.03s

-The best analysis of this power is courtesy of Speqter:

That’ll give you a good idea. It’s also a toggle that costs the same as two armors…so it’s decent area damage (and aggro holder), but you may just not think it’s worth it.
-Slotting: 1-3 Dmg, 1-3 End. This is something of a hog, but if you take it, you probably use it to hold agg through damage and drop mobs you don't touch. Being able to run it while protected is a must, and while 3 Ends may be excessive, 1 is a good idea and 2 isn't bad. The damage is discretionary.

3) Conductive Shield (level 4)
-Toggle: Self +Res(Fire, Cold, Eng, Neg)
-Base: 26.25% Fire, Cold, Eng, 15% Neg / -Rch: 2s / -Act: 0.67
-EPS: 0.26 (0.13 end every 1/2 second as ticks) / Enhancements taken: +Res, -End, -Rch

-Your second toggle shield, and the elemental one. If you feel you can live without it, I think you’re crazy, but that’s up to you. 26.25% against both Fire and Cold with the added 15% to Negative Energy is nothing to sneeze at. Especially not when the numbers look more like 42% and 24% when slotted with +3 SOs.
-Slotting: 3 Res, 1-2 End. Just like Charged Armor, you want to get the most benefit and keep it up. Slot, slot, slot.

4) Static Shield (level 10)
-Toggle: Self +Res(Hold, Sleep, Disorient, End Drain, Recovery DeBuff, Psi, TP)
-Base: 26.25% Psi / -Rch: 4s / -Act: 1.17s
-EPS: 0.26 (0.13 end every 1/2 second as ticks) / Enhancements taken: +Res, -End, -Rch

-This is another toggle, and it’s your status protection. Ohhhhh, looky, you get Psychic damage resistane too! Take. It. Protection from all those mezzes and Psychic to boot for the cost of one shield (and something around 42% with SOs, at that!)…that’s a bargin. Note that the Psychic resistance is fixed, and is affected by Damage Resistance SOs, but that the Status protection is unaffected by enhancements, but scales with level. The Endurance Drain protection is also 80%.
-Slotting 3 Res, 1-2 End. Even more so than your other two shields, you want this to be up, and having Psi resists will help a LOT late game. You can likely hold off slotting the resistance component until later levels, but slot for End immediately so you don't have to choose between status protection and attacking.

5) Grounded (level 16)
-Auto: Self +Res(Eng, Neg, End Drain, Immob, KB)
-Base: 9.375% Eng, 7.5% Neg / Enhancements taken: +Res

-This is perhaps the good and bad choice, and the one power that truly has a downside. The energy resistance is almost trivial considering how much you get from other powers, but the extra Negative energy resistance by itself makes this a good auto power. Throwing in moderate Immobilize and Knock Back protection is great too. Here’s the real catch: you have to stay near the ground. That wouldn’t be SO bad, except that the definition of “ground” by the game seems a bit buggy, especially in caves and on ramps, etc. Grounded now scales properly to level. This matters, because previously it failed to grant proper protection against things like Earthquake, but does so now. If you're near the ground, that is, and a still buggy definition of ground. Acro stacks with the protection from Grounded in great ways, but know the ups and downs of Grounded, or be sent up and down a lot.
-Slotting: 1-3 Res. The base slot is only good for Resistance, really. If you find you really, really want that extra Negative Energy protection, slot it more, but this can easily wait until the late game.

6) Lightning Reflexes (level 20)
-Auto: Self +Spd, +Rch, Res(Slow)
-Base: Rch = 20% discount, Spd = +5.2+(lvl*.043) ft./s
-Enhancements taken: +Run

-This power, at first glance, seems almost trivial. Take another look. TWENTY PERCENT RECHARGE DISCOUNT on ALL powers. That’s like having a bit better than a +3 Recharge DO in EVERY power. And it counts as an external buff, so you still slot the appropriate powers with 2-3 recharge if you want. If you use Hasten, this also helps make it that much closer to perma, and stacks with Hasten’s own external buff, which means you can still get the full benefit from any powers slotted for recharge as well! The additional run speed is also nice (and really, the only way to use the one slot). The Slow protection you’ll find you appreciate, even if it tends to only be good against one application. You’re not going to want to waste enhancement slots on this one, but you will notice a definite benefit to taking it.
-Slotting: 1 Run Speed. If you find you have extra slots to spare and just want to run faster, put in another 1 or 2 Runs, but it's a waste of slots IMO.

7) Conserve Power (level 28)
-Self Endurance Discount / 66% Discount
-Lasts 90s / -Rch: 600s / -End: 7.8 / -Act: 1.17
-Enhancements taken: -End, +Rch

-This power IS a good power. The benefits it gives, however, are overshadowed when you are able to have Power Sink, and Stamina and Endurance reduction slots can also be more effective. Many of you reading this will consider this a skippable power. However, if you intend to run all your toggles constantly with Combat Jumping, Acrobatics, and Tough plus Weave (to make your S/L resists truly impressive and add some noticeable +Def), and perhaps even a Leadership or two, you’ll find this to be a boon sent from heaven. Slotted for recharge and with the benefit of Hasten and Lightning Reflexes, this power can be up for good amounts of time with manageable downtime. The fact that it doesn’t hurt Fury buildup is also something to consider.
-Slotting: 3 Rch. If you took this power at all, you want it up. 3 Recharges is the way to do it.

8) Power Sink (level 35)
-PBAoE Self +End, Foe -End / -Radius: 10ft. (Base return = 25 end / minion)
-Rch: 60s / -End: 13 / -Act: 2.03s
-Enhancements taken: -End, -Rch, End Mod, Taunt

-A bane and a blessing, all rolled up into one. This power can give you back a full endurance bar from a reasonably sized fight, and some soft control. However, the fact that that comes at the expense of incoming attacks (meaning less Fury) is something to weigh. Many of you will find that the benefit outweighs the cost (quite handily, in many cases), but there will be a few of you neither want nor feel you need this power at all. The choice is yours, but choose wisely. If nothing else but a mob-control panic button for you, this makes a dern good panic button.
-1-3 End Mod, 1-3 Rch. This power is a very YMMV power. The drain is slottable (and not a bad idea at all) and with 3 Rch you can have this up every half a minute. The only way for you to decide is to play with it on your own and choose.

9) Power Surge (level 38)
-Self +Res(Disorient, Sleep, Hold, Immob, KB, End Drain, Recovery DeBuff, TP, Dmg [not Psi]) +Recovery
-Base: 52.5% (Smash/Lethal, Fire, Cold, Tox), 60% (Eng), 45% (Neg)
-Lasts 180s / -Rch: 1000s / -End: 2.6 / -Act: 1.96s
-Enhancements taken: +Acc, -End, -Rch, +Hold, +Dmg, End Mod
-Special: When this power ends, you drop to 10% HP and 0 End, a special EMP Pulse activates (holds even Lts./minions for 10s). The Acc and Hold affect the EMP Pulse

-Do you wish you could look like a Gremlin? Do you love the cackle of electricity? Do you just love taking only half damage from any non-psychic? Well, this is a power you’ll want, and is your “god mode” button. Unslotted, this thing lasts for three minutes out of just under every 20. Slotted (and with Hasten and Lightning Reflexes), the recharge means it can be up far more often, and resistance slotting means that 52.5%/60%/45% can go to ~84%/96%/72%. When running this and your toggles, you can EASILY cap resistances and have ~42 % to Psychic! That’s a darn good deal. The fact that this completes your status protection and has +Recovery means you’ll love every second of Gremliny goodness. Your slotting will depend on your other powers, however. The EMP Pulse at crash is also a “safety feature” that other builds don’t have. Just don’t go touching any water. Remember, however, that even with this up, Confuse and Fear will still leave you discharging at thin air.
-Slotting: 3 Res, 3 Rch. You want to get the most benefit, the most often, and that's the way to do it. If you find you want to run your other shields, you can sack a few Res slots in this for an Acc, Hold, and/or End Mod. Acc and Hold help the safety button, but are likely a waste, whereas End Mod increases your recovery while Power Surge is up…which can let you run your other shields (and Lightning Field) while attacking like a mad-beast. I'd stick to 3 Res, 3 Rch, and consider 2 Res, 1 End Mod, 3 Rch.

But What Does It All Mean?
-Put together, all of this means that the Electric Brute has options and flexibility, but must face choices. This also means that the Electric Brutes may not be right for you, even if other Brutes are! An Electric Brute is capable of high DPS with a solid attack chain, and has both resistances and the potential to hold aggro that rivals Tankers, especially if you take your Taunt and have experience tanking. Heck, you have resistances that can make even a Tank blush! Your single target damage is a tad lackluster compared to other sets, so while you can eat hordes of minions and Lts for breakfast, expect longer fights against Boss and Elite Boss foes. However, your damage mitigation varies from other sets: you have only your resists and damage to save you, along with the minor Sleep component (negated if you’re running Electric Field) of your attacks. The –Recovery component of your attacks is something you may not even notice, and only comes into play as a tool for keeping a drained target from recovering. This typically only helpful in EB or AV fights, and even slotted to drain your target, you likely can't do it reliably enough without other, also slotted drainers there. If you can utilize this, you can keep a target effectively at 0 End, but it takes a lot of doing, and a lot of drain. You will likely notice the return from your basic punches however, since using them often will help prevent you from running out of endurance quite so quickly. You have no +Def, and NO HEAL. So, more so than other Brutes, Electric Brutes have to ask the question: how do I approach a fight? Other Brutes (with some exceptions) charge in and just SMASH!!!(tm), and know that if things get hairy they can heal, then run if they must.

-You, however, are going to need to question whether it is better to defeat the minion or let him live to build Fury and whether you need to run. You’re going to need to decide faster than other Brutes, too, since the margin of error is smaller if you want to stay standing. Managing herding is also more necessary than other Brutes. Although you don’t get more Fury from the AoE component of your attacks, you can both hold aggro better and hit anywhere from 1-5 (or even 10) extra targets with practice! Enough practice with Chain Induction, Thunderstrike, and Jacob’s Ladder will have even those AoE happy Fire builds envy your kill power, but it DOES take practice. Manipulating targeting (nearest, farthest, next, previous) and your own visibility are key to this, and each of you will develop your own system. Needless to say, Lightning Rod is quite an electrifying experience once you’ve gotten using it down, and is awesome for both opening or closing (or both at once!) a fight. In the late game, however, you do get a powerful tool available to you: Power Sink. Power Sink can save you, and your team…but it can also make a fight take longer (you’re not gaining extra Fury if you’re not being attacked)! The difference here is that your paradox is larger than most other Brutes, and your survival depends upon your experience and knowing the answers. This also means that enemies who can confuse you or fear you have a very distinct advantage, and you will want to take them down first. It’s up to you to determine how to best utilize your slots and powers…and the answer will vary by the player!

A note on Power Pools
-The powers you take and how you slot them, as well as your play style, will determine the pools you take, and these are examples of the choices (and player types) that make the Electric Brute fun and variable. To get a self heal, you need Aid Self…and another power just to get it. Aid Self is certainly more powerful in pure HP gain…but it is slower, costlier, and interruptible, disadvantages all compared to “true” self heals. Tough (and the extra attack necessary to get it) can also be useful if you can spare the endurance and slots, since with it your S/L resistance is very, very high. If this fits you well, you might also consider weave (especially if you have the Jumping Pool) for the defense bonus. Another consideration is that you may not need Stamina…but you may want Health. This paradox is another choice that must be made. Health is the poor man’s Regen, and with your high resistances, can be very useful in long fights. Stamina also can free up end redux slots for other attributes (like resistance and SMASH!!!(tm)). You’ll also find these help you recover much faster from the crash from Power Surge, and between it and Conserve Power let you run more toggles with less slotting. The cost is three powers, however, and while Swift or Hurdle can be quite nice, it’s something you very well find you don’t need.

A note on travel
-Another hard choice faces you pool-wise: fly, speed, teleport or jump? Fly can give you Air Superiority…and it is possible to fly near the ground to stay grounded. Speed can give you Hasten and the best linear speed possible…added to Lightning Reflexes, you may even consider dropping a primary attack for another power! Jumping can give Combat Jumping and Acrobatics…two key powers to close gaps in your Mez defenses that you may find you feel you need, or may not consider worth the powers at all. Jumping is also nearly as fast as Super Speed…but not being near the ground for Grounded can put you at risk!

A note on Teleport
The fourth option you have for travel is Teleport. Unlike Fly, Speed, and Jumping, you cannot attack while moving (only before or after), but you skip over the space between you and the location. Teleport also means that you either get Recall Friend (great for getting allies out of a bind) or one of the best pulling tools around: Teleport Foe (which is also fairly good in PvP, for those who do). Teleport means that you can either stay Grounded while traveling...or not need Grounded at all. Remember, you can Teleport while Immobilized (and KB doesn't mean anything), which means that with some slotting, it can be a good way to zap around. Again, if you're really hung up on which pool to get, read over TopDoc's guide, and remember the power you get BEFORE your travel power (which may decide for you). If you feel you need Hasten (or Flurry), Air Superiority (or Hover), Combat Jumping (or Jump Kick [but really, leading to Acrobatics]), or Teleport Foe (or Recall Friend)...you've probably chosen your mode of travel and are just having cold feet because the others are cool too. What you choose will be up to you…there is no “right” answer! The powers you might choose to save can even lead to you getting Presence for Fear (or even just Taunt) or even Leadership to give you both that small boost in potential and help get some status resists not just to you, but your team. The fact that Leadership can help provide Confuse and Fear mitigation is nothing to sneeze at, and means that if you can team with folks who have it, you’ll be very happy indeed. For an in-depth skinny on movement, try TopDoc's Movement Guide.

A note on Patron Powers
-41 may seem a long way away. And it is. But Patronage is something to consider. Sirocco is naturally the most thematically fitting and game stacking Patron to take. More damage and more end drain (and recovery). If for some reason you don’t want energy damage, but similar benefits, remember that the other Patrons each offer the same benefits of a two ranged attacks (one an AoE) and an area immobilize…and of course, a pet. The true difference is damage types: Energy for Sirocco, Negative Energy for Ghost Widow, Lethal/Toxic for Captain Mako, and Energy/Smash/Lethal for Black Scorpion. The secondary effects are Endurance Drain, –Acc, Tox/More damage, and Knockdown, respectively. Sirocco is undoubtedly the best fit power wise, but if you want to change things up, pick another patron, but be ready to deal with the non-synergistic effects.

-The final consideration means your build can be very flexible if you are flexible or very tight if you have a core idea in mind, and provides a challenge that can be its own brand of fun. Each Electric Brute is a truly customizable circuit of binary components…and your combination of on and off is going to make or break you! Hopefully, I’ve given you the construction plan: all possible parts included, not all parts will be used in every installation. Use the parts you like, throw out those you don’t, and go bring some ELECTRIC SMASH!!!(tm) to the Isles!

Only half-Electric? Here's how you stack up!
Electric Melee but not Electric Armor
Not having the armor means that you have all the pros and cons of your chosen armor set, whatever it may be. It means you have a fully different set of tools, and while your resists are lower, you compensate with defense (a lot of it, in Energy's case) and some self-healing. Hasten may actually mean more than ever: Electric Melee is good, but it's single target damage will be found a little lacking without Lightning Reflexes (since recharge is a tad slow in comparison to some other sets). Take the notes from the melee set and find what meshes with your armor and play style. Your armor is your other survival tool, and you'll need to know what it can do. Each set has it's own jolly run around which take too long to go into, but other guides out there should give you the feel for each armor set, and hopefully, my notes on ElM can set you right for what you want when put together.

Electric Armor but not Electric Melee
These notes are short enough to go into here, but a little harder to really piece together. You have all the pros and cons of your armor...perhaps the most important of which is (still) no self-heal.
1&2)- Stone and Energy Melee: superb for taking out single targets (and are in that sense the opposite of ElM: instead of dropping a group together, you pound them out one by one). This changes a little as Fault and Whirling Hands come into play, but the reality is the same: you survive by taking out each target before he can hit you enough that you feel it, and you do it well. Lightning Reflexes and the ability to recover with Power Sink (and you may consider taking Conserve Power, even with Power Sink AND Stamina) is a boon for these slow recharge, high endurance sets.
3)-Fire Melee gives an interesting mix that like Stone and Energy, benefits from your +Rch and better ability to get endurance back, but unlike them gives great AoE capacity (Great Fire Sword...you'll love it), it doesn't take up quite as much Endurance, however, which can free up another few powers and/or slots for more utility and versatility.
4)-Super Strength is something like Fire in terms of AoE + Single Target capacity, and can take you far. It's still the first odd man out, tho, because Rage is a superb self buff...but has that aggravating crash. Popping a blue could allow you to recover with Power Sink after a drop in Rage, which could be the key to keep smashing instead of just taking an actual breather (as well as keeping foes from attacking long enough for you to either finish pummeling them or get away as needed). And, let's face it: Rage + Power Surge = grown men giggling like school girls in front of their computer. The additional recharge to your one ranged attack (who DOESN'T want to rip up rocks and chuck them at people?) and the ever-devastating KO-Blow means they could actually come in more handy than usual, and this set combo is one I'm tempted to play in the future.
5)-Dark Melee is the second (and more odd) of the two odd men out here. Dark Melee has decent capacities, and the fact that it is NEGATIVE Energy can make a lot of difference in being resisted by most foes (unless you're facing another Darkie or a select few PvE enemies, that is). It's also the fastest recharging, fastest activation, lowest endurance set. This means that Power Sink and Lightning Reflexes are not so critical to your abilities, but may come in handy if you literally want to have only three or four specific attacks that chain endlessly. One power (and one of those attacks you WILL want up often and accurate) that is sometimes skipped by other Dark Meleers is one you will want to slot like a mad-man: Siphon Life. You have no self-heal in your armor, and this accuracy dependant one is no slouch. Slot this baby triple acc, because you want it to hit whenever it's up. You also have the ability to fear enemies at critical times, debuff hit opponents, and get a variety of buffs (like more End recovery from Drain Life, more Accuracy and Damage from Soul Drain, and a great "HOLD...STILL!" with decent damage power at 32). You give up some SMASH!!!(tm) compared to other set combinations, but between DM and ElA, you have survivability options that are relatively unrivaled.