Bruiser vs brig/swash solo ability

[Aslaa]

ey all, im patching the game now and excited to play! However im wondering which class best suites me! Im a casual player, I enjoy soloing, but when I got some free time, I love a good dungeon crawl! As for raiding...id like to raid, but wont be uber hardcore, more a casual friendly raiding when that time comes. I normally play either a tank as I love to tank, or a DPS / Light tank type who can dish it out and take a few on the chin when needed. I know bruisers are supposed to be a amazing solo class, very straightforward, self heals, FD, etc, however a bit less wanted for groups? The bruiser sounds perfect, can tank, can dps, can solo, fun utility, cool style ...but the whole endgame unwanted thing worries me... Now Swash or Brigs....both do very good DPS, have loads of utility and are wanted by many....but in many games, rogue types seem to have issues soloing. Being that I wont have twink cash and im casual, Im wondering how the Brig or Swash stack up to the bruiser in terms of solo ability?? Anyone shed some light for me so I can pick wisely my class! <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Smythy]

Roll both a bruiser and a brig/swash.  Then choose.  A bruiser has better soloability though because it has 360 avoidence, deflection, FD, and stuff like that where a brig/swash has frontal avoidence, great debuffs, but lack a FD or a self heal to help when [Removed for Content] goes down the drain.

[Xeronoth]

For pure solobility, between the three, Bruiser stands way out- Brigand comes to close second due to their surprise line ( and stuns, which give the brig time to get behind and shoot off at least 1 back attack) and the Swashie comes in a close third, with their unbridled Damage--  Group situations in DPS role Swash stands way out, while Brig stands out good, but focuses more on debuffs than damage, and though the bruiser's DPS is untamed, it is also about half of the Swashie's full potential. However, in small group-tanking situation, Brigand is great for dealing Damage and keeping single target aggro sustaining hits that priests usually can't and mages absolutly cannot, whereas a Swashie has to rely on AoE killing power and only their frontal attacks while keeping aggro with their meager taunts and temporary mez's. Bruiser can do a  both relatively well, tanking a bit better, but suffers from the light armor and lower DPS than that of a Rogue. In a raid situation, I cannot really give a full pro con list like the previous categories, but I can say that the Brigand excells in Debuffing, the Swash deals out massive amounts of damage while the Bruiser is usually left standing in the corner throwing a tantrum because he's not really meant for raiding. <span style="color: #ff0000">(but that's just my Opinion)</span> All in all, It's all in how you enjoy your class, and the play style you prefer. I must admit; this was hard to write up because I only played a Brig to 28, and haven't really Played a swashie, so this is all hearsay about the opinions and comments I hear from my comrades, but I have a level 70 Bruiser named Yukio on the Kithicor server which has more than 48 days worth of time played on, but I rarely play  him anymore-- (BTW: i'm on my laptop because My Main comp is in the shop and I'm basicly unable to play EQ2 on this laptop, so I am bumming cause I haven't been able to play for the past week and a half)

[Bobbette]

I have a 70 bruiser main and a 56 brigand, so I can comment on the leveling up comparison but not so much at the endgame comparison.  The leveling up might be more useful for you though. Bruiser -- if you go the strength line (highly recommended) while leveling up, you'll have the equivalent of the best non-fabled weapons your character can equip without actually spending any money on them.  This leaves cash free to spend on armor and skills.  Bruisers are great for soloing due to the FD and their self heal.  They can be dps and they can be tanks.  At the lower levels you'll often see groups looking for tanks or dps and really you can fill both roles. Brigand -- great debuffs but they don't really shine until 55 when you get your signature debuff called Dispatch.  since hitting the 50s I'm finally starting to notice the difference my brigand's debuffs makes, before that it wasn't quite so apparent to me.  Solo'ing my brigand has been harder because the majority of her really good damage requires her being behind which means some calculated use of skills and maneuvering to the rear to make use of them.  If you go the intelligence line with a brigand you can get a feign death skill but the rest of the line is about detaunting/decreasing hate gain which is pretty useless to soloing.  The strength or agility lines are much more useful in that regard.  However you do get stealth, track, and evac which are very handy in finding mobs, getting to them, and getting out if it's going badly. Still, I found that my bruiser was able to solo far easier due to the heal and the FD.  I often took down groups by killing one or two, FD, heal self, pull and kill the next.  Rinse and repeat until the group is dead.  I can't easily do that with the brigand.

[Ether]

<p>Have a 70 fabled equipped bruiser and a 70 fabled equipped brigand.</p><p> If you are starting the game and want to enjoy it to see the sights and level up reliably as well as take on some extremely difficult heroic encounters, the bruiser is by and far the best class for it. No contest.</p><p> If you plan on raiding, the bruiser is a ton of fun, but your brigand will contribute far more.</p><p>Its the trade-off. Best solo class in the game vs. mediocre raid contribution.</p>

[Junaru]

Having as 70 Monk and rolling Brigand I can tell you a brawler class is a lot easier to solo with. One thing I tend to do with my Monk that I can't do with my Brigand is attack a group of mobs I know I can't kill all at once. I'll do burst DPS and mow down one then FD. My Brigand can evac but 90% of the time it puts me too far to come back in time before it respawns. If you want to solo melee I have no doubts the brawler classes excel in this area.

[Tomanak]

<cite>Etherin wrote:</cite><blockquote><p> If you plan on raiding, the bruiser is a ton of fun, but your brigand will contribute far more.</p><p>Its the trade-off. Best solo class in the game vs. <b>mediocre raid contribution</b>.</p></blockquote><p> While I do agree that the Brigand can contribute more to the raid, I have seen bruisers top the parse a number of times, some doing so consistently. To me the sheer versatility to the Bruiser makes him a winner to me..of course I love my dirge for the same reason <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p> Evac? I dont need no stinkin' evac...FD FTW every time <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[grish]

I agree with quite a bit that has been said here, but the first thing I will say is my first toon made over a year ago was a bruiser, and the main toon I play with to date is the very same bruiser. To compair vs a swash/brig isnt exactly a fair comparison imo, i mean the difference is pretty big. The most obivious being in a group if an add breaks loose, the brig or swash isnt going to be the one picking it up, the bruiser would be doing that, and doing it well. In a pinch for tanking the bruiser is excellent, and if you spec right and know your class there is no reason you can't take several of the top end zones. We may not do it as well as plate but we could do it. In regards to the solo ability, i couldnt agree more. By far soloing quests was one of the things I enjoyed most while playing. If you need to get clear accross a zone just to hail a person, the feign train is always a good way to go. Yeah, there is the invis options for rouges, but we know how that normally turns up. Sony always places one pesky mob that can see invis. Ever had to take a wiz so bad but affraid a wandering see invis mob was going to see you? Worry no more! FD FTW! In regards to raiding hands down a swash will spank a bruiser, no contest. However, on our raids before my assassin became my raiding main I could keep up with both of our brigands, sometimes they got away from me. But in general I would always be on the parse, somewhere in there. Aside from dps bruisers are handy to trigger traps and in the very rare situation maybe even offtank some adds (VERY RARE!). And its not so much that guilds wont raid with a bruiser, they just dont want to raid with more than 1, where other dps classes would be more desireable. The biggest peave I had with bruisers in my raiding experience was the lack of good brawler gear in general. Cleared labs for eons, I managed to get full excarnate set and wurmscale band. It just didnt really seem fair to see all the other fighter stuff drop and no love for the brawler. And it seemed pretty consistant that way in most zones. In EoF things have changed, and there is some nice brawler stuff out there, but you gotta work to get it. Summary is Bruiser is a dps tank. We may not be desired for tanking, but most times we would get taken as dps in a group. Most ppl know the value of a FD or an offtank for grouping. Brigands and Swash's will always be more popular for groups, but long term its my opinion bruisers will always be superior soloist. My opinion is biased of course, but I think bruisers are a great deal of fun. If you want to worry more about end-game raiding and securing a spot in a raid, brig or swash would likely be the better choice.

[Raidi Sovin'faile]

<p>A brigand spec'd for Tank mode can tank and offtank just as well as a Bruiser. And solo very nearly as well (nearly same burst damage, debuffs make up the difference). Only thing I'd say they miss are a solid FD (Int line FD isn't as good as a 10s recast FD), and the massive self heal.. although with lifetap adornments and poisons, it can be close.</p><p>A tank spec'd brigand (not sure on swashy, don't have one), has as many taunts as the Bruiser. He also has a taunting stance, but it's like the guardian (procs taunt when attacked) so it's even better than Bruiser's on-attack taunt proc. </p><p>I've seen Brigands tanking raid mobs, let alone full on Heroic instances (not trivial either). I see no problem with a Brigand pulling offtank duties just like a Bruiser could.</p><p>Honestly, the only reason I'd say Bruiser is better is because of the FD and Self Heal. Otherwise, Brigand can pull their weight in survivability and burst damage.</p>

[grish]

I guess I wasnt aware of brigands taunting, but if the bruiser is spec'd to tank he reduces the timers on both his taunts, and in the same line also reduces the FD timer. I think you also are forgetting the precious rescue!!! Also, the other eof aa line where you increase your self heal you can also pump points into our mitigation temp buff which is sort of nice. I think you get 30 seconds more with 5 points. Like I said though, I am partial to bruisers and got mine pretty decent geared. Self buffed my stats are pretty good and I think I clear like 8.3-8.5k hps, 10k avoidance and my deflection is also doing pretty well with some extra gear. (of course have the fabled deflection heal on wrist as well). I guess the bottom line it depends on what playstyle you like.

[Raidi Sovin'faile]

<p>Sadly enough the Brigand has Guardian level passive taunt, a reduction in timer on his Taunt in EoF AA's, passive magical resistances in EoF AA's, has a "take hit AND detaunt mob off friend, 3x per cast" ability that works better than rescue and can be reused faster.. as well as another Intercept ability from EoF AA lines that gives the Brigand more power... and I think he can even use it on himself if he wanted.</p><p> Honestly, in the aggro holding department.. Brigand does <i>at least</i> as well as a Bruiser, if not better. Only thing I really like about the Bruiser that I'd miss aggro-wise on a Brigand was Drag actually...</p><p>Chain armor means he doesn't need a crappy "health drain for 700 mit" ability, and avoidance is nerfed against anything that really matters anyways. Oh, and their AA's give them like +10% overall more HP, so they can easily catch up in HP with the same defensive gear.</p><p> Rogue can be tanks if they want to.. it's as simple as that. But yeah, self heal + faster recharge FD makes Bruiser better at solo. By that little bit.</p>