PSA for vMA: Fortified Brass is Stronk

DocFrost72

I'm surprised more guides or videos don't discuss this. To be fair I might just not have been looking hard enough

Fortified Brass:

(2 pieces) 1206 max health
(3 pieces) 2975 physical resistance
(4 pieces) 2975 spell resistance
(5 pieces) adds 5170 physical resistance and 5170 spell resistance

When added as a total, fortified brass grants a little over 1k health and a little over 8k of each resistance. Coupled with each class' major resistance buff, you could absolutely wear light or medium armor and survive otherwise run ending attacks. I would venture a guess that the main reason that people forgo it is that they hear "dps matters heavily in vMA". Despite that claim, I can only think of only two hard dps checks in the entire arena (round one and six), and the threshold is low (maybe 10-15k just to kill the adds before they overwhelm you or heal/kill the boss). It allows you to actually react to danger with a lot more forgiveness.

Disclaimer: I understand not using it for score runs, but first runs and flawless runs this set is really, really powerful.

Edit: Thank you to @Inarre for the round six correction

Mister_DMC

Agreed, on my first flawless run on Stam DK I used chudan as I didn't have room on my bar for spiked Armor and fortified Brass didn't exist yet. Brass is nice in bgs, definitely an underrated set.

Inarre

DocFrost72 wrote: »

I can only think of only one hard dps check in the entire arena (round one), and the threshold is low (maybe 10-15k just to kill the adds before they overwhelm you or heal the boss).

I believe ice round is a dps check as well at the third island.

Salvas_Aren

Yeah, pretty little difference to Chudan, except for the number of pieces.

FearlessOne_2014

Inarre wrote: »

DocFrost72 wrote: »

I can only think of only one hard dps check in the entire arena (round one), and the threshold is low (maybe 10-15k just to kill the adds before they overwhelm you or heal the boss).

I believe ice round is a dps check as well at the third island.

Dressing Room addon is your answer.

Valve

Inarre wrote: »

DocFrost72 wrote: »

I can only think of only one hard dps check in the entire arena (round one), and the threshold is low (maybe 10-15k just to kill the adds before they overwhelm you or heal the boss).

I believe ice round is a dps check as well at the third island.

You'll be surprised by how little DPS you actually need to clear that (especially when you can take sigils).

I did it at one point in PvP heavy armour on a templar a long time ago.

Inarre

Valve wrote: »

Inarre wrote: »

DocFrost72 wrote: »

I can only think of only one hard dps check in the entire arena (round one), and the threshold is low (maybe 10-15k just to kill the adds before they overwhelm you or heal the boss).

I believe ice round is a dps check as well at the third island.

You'll be surprised by how little DPS you actually need to clear that (especially when you can take sigils).

I did it at one point in PvP heavy armour on a templar a long time ago.

I probably wont be surprised actually. I'm pretty practiced at VMA. just adding to the list of mechanics in OP's post. I'll never understand why adding information on a thread is always taken as "clearly you are disagreeing with OP, so therefore you must not know what you are talking about".

DocFrost72

Inarre wrote: »

DocFrost72 wrote: »

I can only think of only one hard dps check in the entire arena (round one), and the threshold is low (maybe 10-15k just to kill the adds before they overwhelm you or heal the boss).

I believe ice round is a dps check as well at the third island.

I always forget that is a dps check. I think, if it was possible, the check is even lower than round 1's. But you are correct: OP edited. Thank you and enjoy an insightful!

Salvas_Aren wrote: »

Yeah, pretty little difference to Chudan, except for the number of pieces.

The fun part about brass is it stacks with major resists (including, if you were inclined, chudan). I personally would rather use an armor buff ability for 13k resists, but to each their own.

ezio45

ssshhh theyll nerf it.....

casparian

My preference for pushing Flawless is 1 Chudan + 1 Pirate Skelly, coupled with your class's major resists buff. That won't push your resists up quite as high as Brass, but it will get them to around 40% (edit: this is in medium armor), which is high enough to feel quite tanky if you're not just standing in the wrong place all the time. With this setup, I get to to wear two damage sets while keeping my resistances within a few percentage points of what Brass would give me.

daemonor

well you know what else is easy? when your dps is thru the roof and the mobs die just by you glancing at them on spawn point...vma is always more damage>>>>anything else

Rohamad_Ali

A werewolf tank wearing FB will live indefinitely .

Waffennacht

daemonor wrote: »

well you know what else is easy? when your dps is thru the roof and the mobs die just by you glancing at them on spawn point...vma is always more damage>>>>anything else

I was like, defensive set?? But why?

Now some builds love defensive sets when soloing vet dungeons, but dps is King of vMA

TheStealthDude

daemonor wrote: »

well you know what else is easy? when your dps is thru the roof and the mobs die just by you glancing at them on spawn point...vma is always more damage>>>>anything else

This is nice when you know the mechanics and spawns by heart, but for someone just learning it and trying to get a first time clear, going full glass-cannon is probably not ideal.

casparian

Waffennacht wrote: »

daemonor wrote: »

well you know what else is easy? when your dps is thru the roof and the mobs die just by you glancing at them on spawn point...vma is always more damage>>>>anything else

I was like, defensive set?? But why?

Now some builds love defensive sets when soloing vet dungeons, but dps is King of vMA

A high-damage, moderate mitigation setup is really nice for learning the arena. Now that I know it better I've dropped Chudan + Pirate for Velidreth (because 5K Vigor ticks and Restoring Focus are all the defense I need), but it was a lot easier to get to that point on a more forgivable build.

Danksta

Got my first flawless run in 5 VO/ 5 Black Rose (impen lol)/ vMA DW and bow. You can definitely sacrifice damage for tankiness if your goal is flawless, or even just a non stressful clear.

AlnilamE

DocFrost72 wrote: »

Inarre wrote: »

DocFrost72 wrote: »

I can only think of only one hard dps check in the entire arena (round one), and the threshold is low (maybe 10-15k just to kill the adds before they overwhelm you or heal the boss).

I believe ice round is a dps check as well at the third island.

I always forget that is a dps check. I think, if it was possible, the check is even lower than round 1's. But you are correct: OP edited. Thank you and enjoy an insightful!

I'm going to say that the Ice stage is a higher DPS check than whatever Round 1 is because I didn't even know Round 1 was a DPS check, but I'm well aware of Round 5's

code65536

The best damage mitigation is "you're dead, so you can't hurt me".

I understand the urge to go defensive when you're seeking the Flawless title. And, honestly, if that's what you're after, just spam sigils.

When I got my first Flawless, it was with me playing very, very defensively. Shield on the front bar, etc. After I got Flawless, I no longer needed to play so defensively. And you know what? My second Flawless was so much easier because dead enemies do zero damage.

My advice since then has always been: Don't waste your time with defensive sets. Play offensively. It's just so much easier when things die so quickly that they can't pose a threat to you. If you're seeking Flawless and want to play it safe, that's what sigils are for. Not this Fortified Brass nonsense.

Danksta

code65536 wrote: »

The best damage mitigation is "you're dead, so you can't hurt me".

I understand the urge to go defensive when you're seeking the Flawless title. And, honestly, if that's what you're after, just spam sigils.

When I got my first Flawless, it was with me playing very, very defensively. Shield on the front bar, etc. After I got Flawless, I no longer needed to play so defensively. And you know what? My second Flawless was so much easier because dead enemies do zero damage.

My advice since then has always been: Don't waste your time with defensive sets. Play offensively. It's just so much easier when things die so quickly that they can't pose a threat to you. If you're seeking Flawless and want to play it safe, that's what sigils are for. Not this Fortified Brass nonsense.

I disagree. Switching to a defensive gear setup allowed me to continue my aggressive play style while having the safety of a defensive play style. Before getting my first flawless I tried the grab all the sigils strat and I'd often get killed going for a sigil. I put on heavy armor, I got it on my second try and I never even really came close to dying. I would've got it on my first but I was playing with a controller that my sprint button would get stuck sometimes and it did with the last boss at 8% and I didn't notice til I was out of stam. Different strokes for different folks.

Dubhliam

@code65536 I would very much like to agree with you, but from personal experience, I know how much survivability can do for your first clears in vMA.

I did my first clear, and my Flawless in Heavy Armor.

It takes so much time, and often it is too frustrating to just die time and time again, and feel like there is nothing you can do about it.
People that just started vMA don't know what hit them. They don't know mechanics.

High mitigation gives them the chance to get to know the arena.

erlewine

code65536 wrote: »

The best damage mitigation is "you're dead, so you can't hurt me".

yep, this is such a true maxim about this game that it almost borders on ruining the game completely. Mass DPS trivializes too much of the game. vMA is probably the first place where I really first realized this.