Some Bruiser ability I just don’t get

[Dasto]

<p>Hi sort of a new bruiser there are a couple of things I don't get about some of the abilities hoping some could shed some light on it.  </p><p>Mez- I just have the first one so maybe it gets better, but, it is a 2 sec cast about and the mez lasts 3 seconds or so.  Also, you are on auto attack so that breaks the mez anyway.  So is just something they just give us for fun to say we have or is there some use here that I just don't understand.  Cause seems very pointless</p><p>That ability that heals mental trauma or something? What is that about, how does that work and is it useful at all?  </p><p>What about that ability that mitigates damage at the cost of health, that seems sort of pointless too no?  I mean you take less damage for 3 mins but it cost health to cast so what's the point? </p>

[Kylinth]

Since the crowd control changes, mez is worthless at lower levels, with the 68 one having limited use. Imdomitable Will is useful, you can cure most stuns, mezzes, and dots if they're trauma or arcane based. Strapping spirit is good for tanking named, the damage you save by having higher mitigation usually is more than what it costs to keep the spell active.

[Thoral]

The mezz is useful when you run out of combat arts and you are just standing around waiting for them to become available again.  You can use your fear and mezz to buy you some time, and then start in on your combat arts again.  You have to remember to turn off autoattack when you use it, though.  This situation only comes up for me if I'm soloing something really hard, so I don't use mezz often. The health for mitigation buff is very useful when you are tanking very tough mobs in a group.  If mobs are hitting you for a quarter of your health each hit, then using this ability makes it much easier for the healer to keep up.  The few health points per tick that are used by the spell are far outweighed my the massive amounts of damage you are mitigating.  This spell should only be used when you are getting hit hard. I've never used the trama cure, so I don't know what to tell you about that.  I'm usually too busy to be able to see that I have trauma on me anyway.

[Raidi Sovin'faile]

<p>Like Thoral says, the mitigation buff isn't so much about "overall healing" as it is about "surviving large blows". It's not as noticeable in the lower levels, but when you hit the higher levels with debuffs, large hits are a pain. Who cares if you ended up needing more healing overall because of the health cost.. it's better than the alternative: dead/group wipe.</p><p>Mez is good when you have adds coming, or are soloing, or if you don't have any crowd control and you want to handle more things than normal. If you ALWAYS play it safe, then yeah.. mez will be pretty much useless. But if you ever stretch yourself, this can come in handy. Good for getting away from enemies too... Mez, yell, take off and it can't root or stun you.</p><p>And as for the Cure... it gets better with levels. I mean, literally it does... you end up being able to cure a few different things (magic and divine are added as I recall).</p><p>I use it mainly for when running through places and trying to avoid being stunned or rooted.. since it can cure most of those effects. Other times I'll use it when I'm with a solo healer in a place with a lot of debuffs. It can help the healer when I'm low on health and they want to get that heal off, but I'm stuck with debilitate still. The long recast means I can't be spamming it... but it's still a nice boost.</p>

[Tasye]

The mitigation buff is still bugged...you take lots more damage with it up than without it. Still bugged from the day EoF went live. WTG.

[Raidi Sovin'faile]

That's the cost. You drain health to have the extra mitigation. It's not a bug, that's how it works. It's only useful when you are going to be hit really hard. I use it when fighting named. If you only have 9000 health, and you are about to be hit by two attacks of 5000 each, then it won't matter if you didn't have the health drain, you will be dead. If instead you get enough extra mitigation to make it only 4000 per hit and surviving for the healers to heal, then it's done it's job.. regardless if you end up needing more healing overall. I'd rather be inefficient and win, than be efficient and lose. The only bug I've heard of is when mentoring, then health cost isn't going down properly but the mitigation is? Something like that? I dunno.. when I'm mentored, I don't need to use the ability anyways. It's only the higher levels that the ability even really comes into play.

[Tasye]

I know it drains health. That's not the point. It's bugged. I take a massive amount of damage when I use it, so much more that I can't solo ^^^ with it up, but destroy them with it down. It's been bugged since EoF and the combat changes went live.

[Raidi Sovin'faile]

This ability was never meant for soloing. Of course you take more damage with it up when soloing... you have no healing whatsoever. It's meant for when you are getting hit extremely hard PER HIT, and have healing to back you up. Are you saying you actually take more damage per HIT when you have it up? Having MORE mitigation makes it so you are taking MORE damage per HIT? Because that is absolutely not the case for me. More mitigation from this ability is reducing the damage per hit. I'm not disagreeing that this ability makes you take more damage overall. That has ALWAYS been the case, pre-EoF. EoF has not changed anything for this ability that I've ever experienced. It helps you with the single HIT.. at the cost of taking more damage overall.

[Tasye]

The damage I take is MORE per HIT with the buff up. The innate damage of the spell is so trivial that it's not worth mentioning. And it's a stupid assertion that the spell is not for soloing. Pre-EoF I used it *all* the time on ^^^ Nameds and ^^^regular heroics, and it *always* worked. Now it doesn't work, and I cannot solo ^^^ nameds with it up because I take more damage per hit. The same mobs are easy to solo *without* the spell. Try SOLOING heroics with and without the spell, and not having your opinion of the negative effects of the spell cloaked by a healer you are obviously overworking.

[Madmoon]

Have to agree with Tasye.  I never did a parse, which would be the proof, but before any fight of note, I would pop on Bruising Spirit.  Totally subjective, but I noticed a more level HP drain - no large spikes.  I've tried it several times since EoF, and it is the opposite - it seems like it's <i>easier</i> for the monsters to hit me.  I used to put it on after all my CAs, just after hitting my STR AA Crushing De-buff, and basically take very little damage until it wore off, or at least, controllable damage.  I've tried many times since EoF, but have been using it less and less, because it seems toactually hurt me more.  I also used to pop it on as an emergency, say, at the last 20 percent of health.  If I do that now, I end up dead faster.  Wish I had the parse, before and after, to prove it, but I tend to leave Bruising Spirit alone now.

[Agaxiq]

<cite>Madmoon wrote:</cite><blockquote>Have to agree with Tasye.  I never did a parse, which would be the proof, but before any fight of note, I would pop on Bruising Spirit.  Totally subjective, but I noticed a more level HP drain - no large spikes.  I've tried it several times since EoF, and it is the opposite - it seems like it's <i>easier</i> for the monsters to hit me.  I used to put it on after all my CAs, just after hitting my STR AA Crushing De-buff, and basically take very little damage until it wore off, or at least, controllable damage.  I've tried many times since EoF, but have been using it less and less, because it seems toactually hurt me more.  I also used to pop it on as an emergency, say, at the last 20 percent of health.  If I do that now, I end up dead faster.  Wish I had the parse, before and after, to prove it, but I tend to leave Bruising Spirit alone now.</blockquote> I guess I'd have to test this myself, which I'll do in the next few days.  I typically only use it on named, or if I have a lot of adds.  I two-box with a fury, which has a large in-combat health regen, so I dont notice the health drain as much.  I know it does increase our mitigation (at least on the persona window) so unless thats a display bug and we're really getting hit harder.... agressiv