Bruiser Summary

[Jedi_Knight_Jr]

<p>Hey im looking to get back into game when RoK comes out.</p><p>Im probally going to make myself a bruiser.</p><p>But i wanted to get a summary of this class. Im looking for a class that can Solo well,can DPS or Tank(if need be), Is wanted in groups/raids, Will be able to buy gear for with out haveing to spend a ton, and have fun playing.</p><p>Id like to get peoples feelings on bruiser. If you like playing your brawling character and why.</p><p>-thnx in advance</p>

[Novusod]

Summary of the class is you will solo through levels 1 to 80 faster than any other. In the low tiers you will be the best small group tank and have near Top tier dps. As you level your ability to tank will be surpassed by the plate tanks your dps will will sink well below T2. By end game bruisers are not desirable in raids or very high end heroic groups. In summery we start off the strongest but end rather in weak in the end game.

[MysticoN]

you whil roll one of the best solo'ers, you can both tank and do ok dps in groups. i love to be a dps role in groups whit my bruisers, bq if i see that we are whipeing i can feign death and res the group<img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> you also look good whit gi and batons<img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> the only thing that sucks that we are not "needed/whanted" in raids.i have played necro, ranger, monk and bruiser. and i love bruiser most by far. its also the one that are most fun to solo whit<img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Madmoon]

<cite>Novusod wrote:</cite><blockquote>Summary of the class is you will solo through levels 1 to 80 faster than any other. In the low tiers you will be the best small group tank and have near Top tier dps. As you level your ability to tank will be surpassed by the plate tanks your dps will will sink well below T2. By end game bruisers are not desirable in raids or very high end heroic groups. In summery we start off the strongest but end rather in weak in the end game. </blockquote><p>Hooey.  We are the bottom of tier 1 tanking, granted, and which should not be.  But as large as the gulf is between us and the worst platehead, it is even more immense between us and the best tier 2 tank, rogue or whatever.  And while our damage output is not on par with a rogue at the end of the game, we still put out significant damage while at the same time being able to tank.  And we are still at the top of the damage chain for tanks, being beaten only by 'Zerks, and then only in AoE.  We still beat them at single target.  The other plateheads cannot compete.  We are not very desireable in raids and high end heroic groups, perhaps, but you will still see plenty of action in raids and very high end heroic groups.  A difference that makes no difference is no difference.  Do we earn a spot solely in our out-of-the-box abilities?  No.  Are we there, nevertheless?  Yes.  In summary, you will have great fun getting to 80, and have <i>lots</i> to do at 80.</p><p>RedmouserBruiser, AB</p>

[Raca]

I would have to disagree one one point. Between Plate tanks and rogues we are marginally better tanks then the rogues and immensely worse than the Plate tanks. In a raid our avoidance is such crap that rogues prolly tank better. And in RoK all three will be able to use a defensive build for raiding if wanted since it will be so easy to switch back and forth so the argument that Rogues wont be using a defensive stance is crap.

[Redbed]

<p>Just my opinion...Only stating my opinion.  If your that worried about perceptions of others or acceptence by others, then dont be a Bruiser.  Frankly you dont have the right attitude to be one.  If you dont have confidence in yourself, if you dont have confidence that your are the supreme be all, end all bad*** (I can censor myself, thank you!) then I dont think you can use the skills we get to their max effectiveness.  Again, Just my opinion based on your stated Criteria.  Prove me wrong!</p><p> And I swear, the next Monk or anyone else I aint grouped with that Tries to "Save me" is going to get a new respect for bruisers beaten into him.  I got mend, I got Feign Death.  I'm not going to die!  And so what if I do!</p><p>(See thats the attitude you need.  Those Bruisers that wear Gi's in Appearance...Dont even get me started.  I want to beat the Lameness out of them).   Again, ATTITUDE.</p>

[Rayche]

Ok, here are my real world observations.We had a Bruiser in our first Karnor's castle group ever last week. We came up to this named 74^^^ heroic Sergeant drolvarg and the guardian went to pull him. He gave her an uppercut and knocked her into the watery moat where she was eaten by moat monsters. Our fury died before the bruiser could grab the aggro, as did our Brigand.This left me (On my Mystic), a Coercer and the Bruiser.We fought that named for another solid minute and a half. The only reason we failed was because we ran out of power. The bruiser was quite easy to keep alive during that fight, and if the Coercer had remembered to put his hate transfer on the bruiser when the guardian died the coercer wouldn't have died and we would have had enough mana regen to finish the fight.We've also used Brawlers to tank KoS instances and even some named in Freethinkers hideout.Bruisers have a buff that's a HUGE benefit in raids called... oh crap... brain cramp!... Anyway, it gives +90 to all combat art damage raid-wide, and gives +20% to all taunts and detaunts. (This makes a massive difference in a raids aggro management.) I really miss Bruisers when we don't have one on the raid. (And they parse just fine as well.)The reason you don't see them in the top tier parses a lot of the time is because they are considered a "Stand alone" class, so they don't usually get put into groups with Coercers or Dirges or other forms of power regen or DPS buffs. The reason your zerkers are usually parsing higher is because they have Dirges and Coercers in their groups, and that's hundreds of DPS there. (P.S. Dropping a devastation fist on heroic mobs for up to 32k damage makes your group go "Whoah, [Removed for Content] did you just do?!?!?&quot<img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Pnaxx]

<p>2 things worth noting here...</p><p>1. If you are in a friendly guild, you should have no problem gettin in a raid. If you find your guild is treating like chit, find a new guild, there are tons out there who are less [Removed for Content] about this stuff I'm sure. I'm sure you will raid!</p><p>2. If your like most of us though, there will be times when you are not raiding and left doing solo quests...there we shine! With Feign Death(FD), you can run through tons of evil critters, FD, and they all leave you, get up, rinse and repeat til you get where you need to be. We also have a great Heal to keep ye in the fight as well as awsome DPS and survivability because we are tanks. So you can go toe to toe with Heroics and Named mobs just fine...and if you get into a bit of trouble, FD.</p><p>Aslo, we have Fear we can pop on a mob to make them run away like scared children. I use that for adds I can't handle or while waiting for my CA's to refresh. So while the mob is running away, by the time he gets back, I'm all ready for another round of serious dps'n on his [Removed for Content].</p><p>We are an extremely fun class and have many tricks to survive out there. Heck, we even have a mez.</p><p>So, I can't think of a better class to play. If you play a Swashy or Ranger...any scout...you will not have the means available to you as we do. They die much faster upon gettin hit...we can take a hit. They have to run all over the place while fighting, which is bad news when soloing as you will be running right into adds. We just stay put and slug it out....within a few feet of adds, but they never notice us.</p><p>Aslo, you can go with the STR Line while you are lower levels which make your bare fists better than the best weapons out there. You will save tons of coin on weapons, by not having to buy them, and once you get into the upper 60's, you can find weapons better than your fists and respec your AA's then to acomidate your new weapons.</p><p>I'm tellin you, I have a Zerker, Pally and Templar as alts but I never play them...I love the bruiser so much. Go for it, you will be happy...I'm quite sure. </p>

[tt66]

<cite>Novusod wrote:</cite><blockquote>Summary of the class is you will solo through levels 1 to 80 faster than any other. In the low tiers you will be the best small group tank and have near Top tier dps. As you level your ability to tank will be surpassed by the plate tanks your dps will will sink well below T2. By end game bruisers are not desirable in raids or very high end heroic groups. In summery we start off the strongest but end rather in weak in the end game. </blockquote>Pretty much.We're great at soloing and heroic stuff. (Although nowhere near the kings of heroic content that SoE seem to think we are), but we're rather weak at raiding. I'm not saying you'll never see a raid zone (there are many of us on these boards who raid), but in general you'll be invited because of your skills as a player, rather than because of the intrinsic strengths of your class. It takes a very good brawler to be worth more to a raid than an additional average bard (for example).If you don't care about raiding, bruiser is an incredibly fun class to play. If you do, then I <b>strongly </b>advise you to at least check out a Swashbuckler or Brigand (in new Dark Elf god-mode flavor!) before getting to level 80 and being disappointed.Maybe things have changed and our abilities at lvl 80 make us awesome in a raid. But I wouldn't put money on it.

[Renobeno]

Is having a 2Handed weapon an option?  Or is bare hands / 2 weapons better dps output?

[Oldlore]

We had a bruiser tank in KC and did just fine with a mystic and inq.  About as good as or better than the zerker we had earlier.  Both were earing low/mid-end kos fabled.  A friend of mine soloed the first two KC heroic quests this morning by FDing to get the updates.  The only problem I see is with raid tanking and it really is a problem shared by most people who play tanks.  80-90% of people playing plate tanks will never be regular raid MTs.  So it might be 90-95% of brawlers, woopteedoo.

[tt66]

<cite>Oldlore wrote:</cite><blockquote>We had a bruiser tank in KC and did just fine with a mystic and inq.  About as good as or better than the zerker we had earlier.  Both were earing low/mid-end kos fabled.  A friend of mine soloed the first two KC heroic quests this morning by FDing to get the updates.  The only problem I see is with raid tanking and it really is a problem shared by most people who play tanks.  80-90% of people playing plate tanks will never be regular raid MTs.  So it might be 90-95% of brawlers, woopteedoo.</blockquote>Yes, well done. Brawlers are quite good at dealing with heroic content. And feign death makes us punch above our weight as a solo class.Thank you for your staggering insight.

[Oldlore]

"<span class="postbody">Thank you for your staggering insight."</span><span class="postbody">"We're great at soloing and heroic stuff. (Although nowhere near the kings of heroic content that SoE seem to think we are), but we're rather weak at raiding."Jeez it looks like you said the same thing too.  I guess your sarcasm doesn't apply to comments you make eh?My point, if you cared to read the entire post before you struggled (and failed) to come up with an intelligent reply, is that it's not just brawlers struggling to get into raids.  It's non-MT/MA shadowknights, paladins, zerkers, guardians, and monks.  Some people talk as if every person who plays a plate tank is a MT or OT...I doubt the majority ever are. </span>

[DrkEmr]

<p>I'm also new to the game and trying to decide on what class to make. A few months ago, prior to the pre RoK patch, it seemed as if Bruisers were very content with their class. Then more recently I've noticed that Bruisers have started complaining about a general drop in their performance in all areas. </p><p> Many people said Bruisers were still good solor's, though if only because of their feign death ability. While I am all for using every ability to its fullest, I am concerned that the increase in expressed discontent over the Bruiser's abilities, hints that the class has become nothing more than a gimped explorer of sorts; not being able to accomplish much except feigning death past  mobs that they would otherwise be unable to take down, to albeit more quickly reach the end of some object retrieval quest objective.</p><p>I guess my concern is if the class had no feign death, would it still be considered a good solo class based solely on its ability to go toe to toe with not just the occassional named mob that you blow all your 1 hour cool downs on, but with the trash mobs that you would have to wade through without feigning death to sneak past?</p><p>Are monks considered the better of two brawler incarnations presently? I remember a time when Bruisers would laugh at anyone who even had to post a thread asking which of the two was better. </p>

[Pnaxx]

<cite>DrkEmrys wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I'm also new to the game and trying to decide on what class to make. A few months ago, prior to the pre RoK patch, it seemed as if Bruisers were very content with their class. Then more recently I've noticed that Bruisers have started complaining about a general drop in their performance in all areas. </p><p> Many people said Bruisers were still good solor's, though if only because of their feign death ability. While I am all for using every ability to its fullest, I am concerned that the increase in expressed discontent over the Bruiser's abilities, hints that the class has become nothing more than a gimped explorer of sorts; not being able to accomplish much except feigning death past  mobs that they would otherwise be unable to take down, to albeit more quickly reach the end of some object retrieval quest objective.</p><p>I guess my concern is if the class had no feign death, would it still be considered a good solo class based solely on its ability to go toe to toe with not just the occassional named mob that you blow all your 1 hour cool downs on, but with the trash mobs that you would have to wade through without feigning death to sneak past?</p><p>Are monks considered the better of two brawler incarnations presently? I remember a time when Bruisers would laugh at anyone who even had to post a thread asking which of the two was better. </p></blockquote><p>Hehe, thats a good post. And your right, there were plenty of Bruisers who carried the Lore right here into the forums...and rightly so. But as far as Bruisers complaining...if you notice, some of the complaining is from Monks too here in out forum. The RoK issue hit both. </p><p>But I don't have RoK yet, so I can't comment on this, but from what I have been reading, all tanks are having issues from the hard hitting mobs there. So I have not been under the impression there is anything to be concerned about.</p><p>Another thing on complaining....it has always happened. I have been in and out of these boards for quite a while now, and there is nothing new. Yes, there have been times in out hay-day when there wasn't alot to complain about, but even then ....there have always been "disussions" about upcomin "nurfs" and so on. So I can't remember a time wen there wasn't concern over one thing or another.</p><p>I think at this point, the Brawler brings to the table several things that make it a great class to play.</p><p>1. FD</p><p>2. Fear.</p><p>3. Heal</p><p>4. Survivability that comes from being a tank.</p><p>5. DPS that is uber to many other non tank classes.</p><p>6. Slight Mez...which I removed from my hotbars...lol</p><p>Anyway, we are very good at soloing because of the combination of all these. It isn't one thing. Never has been. I rememebr when our Mez was "nurfed" and that was supposed to be the end of our class. It really was made almost useless, but still we go on doing just fine. </p><p>So, while I can't speak to RoK, I can speak to being with the class long enough to have seen many changes come over us and still we just leave a heap of bloody beaten bodies all along Norrath. If you like what Brawlers bring to the table, then roll one, if not, so be it.</p>

[tt66]

<cite>DrkEmrys wrote:</cite><blockquote>I guess my concern is if the class had no feign death, would it still be considered a good solo class based solely on its ability to go toe to toe with not just the occassional named mob that you blow all your 1 hour cool downs on, but with the trash mobs that you would have to wade through without feigning death to sneak past?<p>Are monks considered the better of two brawler incarnations presently? I remember a time when Bruisers would laugh at anyone who even had to post a thread asking which of the two was better. </p></blockquote>I'd say that without FD, we would be an average soloing class. It really is a class defining trait. Sure, it's useful when trailing through trash to get to a destination, but I think it's real benefit is the way it allows us to punch above our weight when dealing with tough mobs.Take a big nasty mob (say a heroic named). Your average rogue might not want to tangle with it unless they have at least a 75% chance to kill it. It's risk vs reward. A brawler on the other hand, who might only have a 40% chance to kill it, can wade straight in and have a go. Because although we aren't as good at killing tough mobs as the stabby types, if it all goes horribly wrong we can FD and try again. When you have an infinite number of attempts, the RNG will take your side eventually!As for the better brawler subclass... it's all up in the air at the moment. Bruisers do a bit more dps for solo and heroic fun, Monks have arguably better group/raid buffs. Swings and Roundabouts really. Before the "peel" nerf, I was at least kinda-semi-seriously looking at betraying, but I think I'll keep "drag" for now. If nothing else, it's fun for dealing with the new caster AI that's cropping up!

[Beldin_]

<cite>Pnaxx wrote:</cite><blockquote><p> think at this point, the Brawler brings to the table several things that make it a great class to play.</p><p>1. FD</p><p>2. Fear.</p><p>3. Heal</p><p>4. Survivability that comes from being a tank.</p><p>5. DPS that is uber to many other non tank classes.</p><p>6. Slight Mez...which I removed from my hotbars...lol</p></blockquote><p>Ok, it needs Level 65, but don't forget K.O. Combination, really our best skill against nameds in my opinion <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Fear and Mez .. never used or even upgraded them, i'm not even shure if i have to level subjugation or something like that for them <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Pnaxx]

<cite>Shalla@Valor wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Pnaxx wrote:</cite><blockquote><p> think at this point, the Brawler brings to the table several things that make it a great class to play.</p><p>1. FD</p><p>2. Fear.</p><p>3. Heal</p><p>4. Survivability that comes from being a tank.</p><p>5. DPS that is uber to many other non tank classes.</p><p>6. Slight Mez...which I removed from my hotbars...lol</p></blockquote><p>Ok, it needs Level 65, but don't forget K.O. Combination, really our best skill against nameds in my opinion <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" width="15" height="15" /></p><p>Fear and Mez .. never used or even upgraded them, i'm not even shure if i have to level subjugation or something like that for them <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" width="15" height="15" /></p></blockquote><p>Shalla, I am 64 now, so KO is fast approaching. Woot.</p><p>As far as your not using Fear....I would suggest you give it a try if you still solo. Nothing better than popping it on your tough mob that is still standing there after you have given all you can, and now your CA's have to refresh, and instead of taking dmg for a while, you can Fear it, and off he/she is...running away like a scared puppy, and by the time it gets back, your rdy for another round of CA's. Also, while the mob is running away, you can pop a Doll on it, so when it gets back, it is worse off than ever, and you are fresh as a spring morning!</p><p>Also, lets not forget the Addthat needs to go by-by while your fighting...pop Fear and it goes by-by while you take care of business. Priceless.</p>

[Pnaxx]

<cite>tt66 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>DrkEmrys wrote:</cite><blockquote>I guess my concern is if the class had no feign death, would it still be considered a good solo class based solely on its ability to go toe to toe with not just the occassional named mob that you blow all your 1 hour cool downs on, but with the trash mobs that you would have to wade through without feigning death to sneak past? <p>Are monks considered the better of two brawler incarnations presently? I remember a time when Bruisers would laugh at anyone who even had to post a thread asking which of the two was better. </p></blockquote>I'd say that without FD, we would be an average soloing class. It really is a class defining trait. Sure, it's useful when trailing through trash to get to a destination, but I think it's real benefit is the way it allows us to punch above our weight when dealing with tough mobs.Take a big nasty mob (say a heroic named). Your average rogue might not want to tangle with it unless they have at least a 75% chance to kill it. It's risk vs reward. A brawler on the other hand, who might only have a 40% chance to kill it, can wade straight in and have a go. Because although we aren't as good at killing tough mobs as the stabby types, if it all goes horribly wrong we can FD and try again. When you have an infinite number of attempts, the RNG will take your side eventually!As for the better brawler subclass... it's all up in the air at the moment. Bruisers do a bit more dps for solo and heroic fun, Monks have arguably better group/raid buffs. Swings and Roundabouts really. Before the "peel" nerf, I was at least kinda-semi-seriously looking at betraying, but I think I'll keep "drag" for now. If nothing else, it's fun for dealing with the new caster AI that's cropping up!</blockquote>The other great use for FD in the named situation is , named mobs often times come with some friends. So, with FD, you can kill the friends, FD, rinse/repeat til friends are gone, and while you are FD heal up, power up, kill named. Just that easy. nd yea, if in the middle of the fight you find your on the losing end, FD and try again...you have almost all day to try   <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Beldin_]

<cite>Pnaxx wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Shalla, I am 64 now, so KO is fast approaching. Woot.</p><p>As far as your not using Fear....I would suggest you give it a try if you still solo. Nothing better than popping it on your tough mob that is still standing there after you have given all you can, and now your CA's have to refresh, and instead of taking dmg for a while, you can Fear it, and off he/she is...running away like a scared puppy, and by the time it gets back, your rdy for another round of CA's. Also, while the mob is running away, you can pop a Doll on it, so when it gets back, it is worse off than ever, and you are fresh as a spring morning!</p><p>Also, lets not forget the Addthat needs to go by-by while your fighting...pop Fear and it goes by-by while you take care of business. Priceless.</p></blockquote>Doesn't fear cause social aggro anymore ? Because if the feared mobs comes back with the whole room of friends its not really that funny <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/0320a00cb4bb5629ab9fc2bc1fcc4e9e.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

[tt66]

<cite>Shalla@Valor wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Pnaxx wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Shalla, I am 64 now, so KO is fast approaching. Woot.</p><p>As far as your not using Fear....I would suggest you give it a try if you still solo. Nothing better than popping it on your tough mob that is still standing there after you have given all you can, and now your CA's have to refresh, and instead of taking dmg for a while, you can Fear it, and off he/she is...running away like a scared puppy, and by the time it gets back, your rdy for another round of CA's. Also, while the mob is running away, you can pop a Doll on it, so when it gets back, it is worse off than ever, and you are fresh as a spring morning!</p><p>Also, lets not forget the Addthat needs to go by-by while your fighting...pop Fear and it goes by-by while you take care of business. Priceless.</p></blockquote>Doesn't fear cause social aggro anymore ? Because if the feared mobs comes back with the whole room of friends its not really that funny <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/0320a00cb4bb5629ab9fc2bc1fcc4e9e.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></blockquote>It's probably not worth getting attached to using fear anyway. There isn't an upgrade after level 50, and one of our more recent nerfs put it on the same timer as our mez... so given the choice of a lvl 50 fear or a lvl 77 mez.. well there isn't much of a choice at all.

[Redbed]

Im a little shocked at the no love for mez.  I value my mez above fear.  Charm Dolly debuff on mob, it comes running, mez, 2nd Dolly Debuff, DPS Round ending with Blazing whatever, fear, 2nd DPS Round (if its still alive).  I couldnt take down heroics without mez, or I couldnt take them down so effortlessly (if you call surviving the fight with a sliver of health showing effortless).  Besides, they unhooked the mem/fear thing right?  Mine seems to be unhooked.  I can do both independently, I just came back around late october, cant recall if it was unhooked then or if it unhooked with ROK.