Best weapon for crit-hunting Brute?

[limaxophobiacq]

So a brute Berserker/Devoted can stack some serious crit conversion and Frenzy + Disciplined Strikes (47.5 % with weapons and carnage if I understand correctly) plus 25% weapon crit damage from Devoted, but what are the best weapons to utilise it?

Axes seem good for +20% crit damage and Slayers Claw (for interrupts with frenzy), also you're dual-wielding so you can grab monastic unarmed training for a crushing backup weapon that's at least decent. But OTOH dual-wield doesn't play great with Mule Kick and Clear Out being Primary attacks.

Voidwheel and Karabörü play nicer with fighter abilities.

What other weapons would be good with this build?

[Boeroer]

First of all: I think it has some value if the weapon doesn't come late game. Stuff like Engoliero do Espirs with Blade Feast is very good for a Brute for example, but it comes so late(ish) that I consider that a major drawback. So I prefer stuff that can be obtained earlier than that.

I would say the two best options are either Amra (in combination with Riven Gore, confusion and weak summons like Many Lived Pass Bye skeletons) or the Willbreaker (Spirit Frenzy + Body Blows + Brute Force). The Morning Star also has decent PEN and two damage types. Before getting Willbreaker one can use Saru Sichr. 

If you have Ancient Brittle Bones and later Many Lives in the party then Amra is def. more devastating. Riven Gore + Cleaving Stance will chain-kill all skeletons around you on the spot, triggering Carnage and additional Riven Gore procs and kill the real enemies, too. Meanwhile all other on-kill effects besides Cleaving Stances also work with killed summons: +20 health per kill from a pet, Blood Thirst, Bloodlust and so on. But Riven Gore might also instakill party members who get too close to the Brute (meaning: removed from party because really dead/destroyed). Many Lives gives a steady stream of summons without having to micromanage anything. 

Willbreaker is most universally useful and would be my no. 1 pick if I hadn't (or didn't want to (ab)use) party summons I think. You can also get rid of the confusion without any drawback. For Amra-mayhem you must keep the confusion.

Other nice options are Sungrazer (bit late-ish, too but potent AoE on crit-kill), Stalker's Patience (very early if enough money, 20% chance to omit recovery on crit and also on kill via Blood Thirst). I would use both either as single weapon (one handed style), with shield or with a ranged weapon in the offhand (two weapon style).

 Oops - I forgot Lord Darryn's Voulge. This is also really nice with a Brute. Dual damage, one of that shock, Lightning Strikes more often than not and AoE potential.

I won't recommend Grave Calling (Chilling Grave) with skeleton summons - although it's the most potent combination for anything with Berserker. Just because the stacked VFX of multiple chillfogs makes it kind of unplayable (horrid fps drops and sometimes crashes for me, too).

[thelee]

if you have high crit conversion, you might also sungrazer. i don't know which crit proc is better overall, but i've had a lot of fun clearing out rooms of trash mobs with the "on death by critical hit" proc (since it can chain with further crit hit kills).

[Ouroboros226]

Out of curiosity, can a brute beat a marauder when it comes to highest single attack damage? No character I've made so far seemed to beat marauder single target damage potential if you just want big numbers. Assassinate + Barbaric blow gave me 3 digit numbers very early in the game. No other class have come close so far and if they can get triple digit numbers this early I wonder how much pain an assassinate + barbaric blow can land mid-lategame  

 

[Boeroer]

Complicated because what scenario. But in general I'd say there's not much that tops the combined dmg bonuses of a Marauder. 

Maybe if you take a Devoted and average the damage over several attacks (not only the one from stealth/invisibility) and use Clear Out - because the initial target of Clear Out gets hit twice. Which is a 100% multiplicative boost for the action.

But in general I'd say it's difficult to pile up so many dmg bonuses (for more than one attack I mean) as a flanked & bloodied Berserker/Streetfighter Marauder, especially when using Barbaric Blow with a dual weapon setup and Blooded + Bloody Slaughter. You have to crit though to make it really good. And of course you'll also get knocked out a lot...

I have played some Brutes in the past and they are just more reliable. Especially on PotD where higher ACC and even graze-to-hit is more important. Marauders start strong right away with the damage output though so I think they are more fun for most people. 

My current Brute + Amra is top of the food chain when it comes to melee damage so far (not counting Grave Calling stuff) and he's not too squishy - but that's because I cheese a bit with skeletons summons to trigger all the on-kill goodies such as Multi-Cleaving and Blood Thirst and so on. Without summons he would just be an ordinary Brute with more sturdyness but less dmg output as a Marauder. And the skelly-trick would also work with a Berserker/Rogue no problem (no cleave though which is kind of the trick).

 

Edited September 18, 2021 by Boeroer

[Haplok]

On 9/17/2021 at 4:09 PM, Boeroer said:

First of all: I think it has some value if the weapon doesn't come late game. Stuff like Engoliero do Espirs with Blade Feast is very good for a Brute for example, but it comes so late(ish) that I consider that a major drawback. So I prefer stuff that can be obtained earlier than that.

I wouldn't ignore Estocs based on the fact that Engoliero de Espirs comes late.

Before you can earn it, both Eager Blade and Blade of the Endless Paths are very solid picks and available very early). And finally earning your ultimate prize has its worth for me as well.

That said, they aren't necessarily better for a Brute then the weapons you do describe.

 

[Boeroer]

When it's about the best weapon category (not necessarily the best unique weapon) for a Brute I would always say Morning Star. Dual damage, good base PEN and the Brute Force/Spirit Frenzy synergy etc. is really cool - but it is really nice right from the start, too. Just because Knockdown/Mule Kick target Fortitude instead of Deflection. That makes hitting some tough enemies so much easier right away. 

[Faraleth]

I vote for Amra

[Helz]

On 9/17/2021 at 1:48 PM, Ouroboros226 said:

Out of curiosity, can a brute beat a marauder when it comes to highest single attack damage? No character I've made so far seemed to beat marauder single target damage potential if you just want big numbers. Assassinate + Barbaric blow gave me 3 digit numbers very early in the game. No other class have come close so far and if they can get triple digit numbers this early I wonder how much pain an assassinate + barbaric blow can land mid-lategame

Brute is better against multiple targets. Single attack damage is so-so. Even with Boeroer's method, you are chaining lots of 'weaker' hits, and its more efficient to aim them at the crowd. You won't get one big number, you'll get a sea of red.

[masterty66]

So with Amra do you target your skeletons specifically to trigger the on kill effects or do you just wait til you kill an enemy to proc and kill a nearby skele via cleave? What's more efficient?