Brawler Mechanic Questions

[Cardunc]

Hi

I was going to start a Brawler but there's quite some talents that confuse me.

1. Mobile Defense and Armour Training - Those two kinda offset each other but still the Brawler starts with one point in Armour Training and I assume heavier gauntlets have a higher damage multiplier. So is there a way to wear heavy armour and still use Mobile Defense, does it only affect some equipment slots?

2. Striking Stance - This seems like a pretty straight forward sustain but the talent keeps suggesting that it would be common to have the stance disabled ("If it's active... else it activates...") but I just cannot find other stances that would override this one so am I missing something or were there multiple stances once in development?

3. Physical Resistance - Can those be reduced below 0 for damage amplification? And are the combo finishers and grapples affected by it? Since normal jabs are usually affected by armor I'm not sure it's worth to sacrifice damage to lower this.

Thanks for the help!

[lurkerno9]

1. Heavier gauntlets get more damage and more apr, but have a slower attack speed than light gloves. It's a pretty even trade-off, IMHO, between the extra damage vs. the extra speed, so I typically just take whichever kind of glove has the best other features. "Heavy armor" only applies to armor on the torso slot, so you can feel free to wear metal gauntlets and boots without disabling the effects of mobile defense.

2. No, striking stance is your only stance, you want it on all the time, the only reason it should ever get turned off is because some nasty enemy applied a sustain-deactivating debuff.

3. I know there are ways to get damage resistance below 0 on some classes - doomed, for instance - but I don't think that regular

[Cardunc]

Great thanks! That explains why there's an extra pair of leather gloves in the inventory on character startup. I compared the damage values but didn't realize there was also speed values - needs some getting used to seeing equipment as weapons.

The talent to reduce resistances is Exploit Weakness. I'll probably just have to skill it and test it on an enemy with no/low resistance and check the creatures stats or my damage output and if I'm unsatisfied I guess I can always unlearn it.

[Orion @ UVA]

Brawler has been revised a few times . I think there used to be multiple stances, hence the weird language.

You can indeed reduce physical damage below 0 and deal bonus damage, but it's rare that a normal enemy will live long enough for it to matter. Of course, the lost damage also doesn't matter much against normals.

Exploit Weakness is very powerful because it's so good against bosses and rares and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ like the various upgraded bone giants. If the enemy has 75% physical resistance and you manage to give them another -25% resist, you double your effective damage.

Iron gloves deal more damage per hit, leather gloves let you attack faster. If you're spamming autoattacks, gloves will deal way more total damage, especially if you have bonus damage from your other items. However, if you're using skills with damage multipliers, like a charged-up haymaker for 600% weapon damage or something, gauntlets will do more for you.

Only your chest piece / body armor determines whether you get the benefits of mobile defense or of armor training. You can mix and match other pieces as you like.