Fit of the Week: Brutix

And so it has come to this, my favorite of the combat battle cruisers.  That would be this monster:









[Brutix, Dual Rep]

Medium Armor Repairer II
Medium Ancillary Armor Repairer, Nanite Repair Paste
Damage Control II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II

Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Warp Scrambler II
Stasis Webifier II
Medium Capacitor Booster II, Navy Cap Booster 400

Heavy Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Small Unstable Power Fluctuator I

Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Medium Nanobot Accelerator I

Hammerhead II x5



I've mentioned the weakness I have for "green and covered with blasters" lots of times, and no ship exemplifies this philosophy like the Brutix.  The thing looks like a monster, and fit this way it hits like one, too.  And it's surprisingly durable as well as being wicked fast.

Let's start with the last because comparisons with the Talos are going to be inevitable.  Yes, the Talos is faster, lots faster.  There's no getting away from that.  In a battle between a Brutix and a Talos, the Talos is going to win both because of damage projection and because the Talos is going to have the option to run away.  The only good news here is that virtually any combat battle cruiser is going to be a bad match for the attack battle cruisers as they're currently designed.

And that assumes that the attack BCs won't get themselves rebalanced a little at some point, which I suspect they're going to be.

So much for what you can't do.  Let's talk about what you can do.  The terrific thing about the new Ancillary Armor reppers is how good they are at cutting down the one previous weakness of blasters: the fact that you had to take a lot of enemy fire during your closing stage without being able to apply your own.  Overheat your MWD as you close (of course), then overheat your MAR2 (not the Ancillary one).  Only activate the MAAR if you need to burst tank DPS against your targets.

Your goal is to close to pistol shot range.  The Talos has to kite, but the Brutix doesn't have to.  You have the tank, and the burst tank, to take a tremendous amount of fire as you close.  Drop your drones at about 15km and let them go in and apply your first DPS.  Then get your web and scram on the target.  At that point, you can shut down your MWD and orbit super tight... the closer the better.  Trust your web to manage transversal issues and manually pilot at 400 meters or so.

At that point, the beauty of a blaster ship comes in: just literally hit F1.  As soon as you drop to 50% armor, turn off the overheating on your MAR and burst tank with your MAAR.  Be careful with the MAAR!  Each cycle is going to repair about 20% of your armor so don't overdo it.  You have a ton of structure; don't be afraid if you bleed a little bit into it now and then.  Your real job is cap management: keep your cap as high as you can after your MWD is shut down.  The goal here is to be able to run the MAAR without charges concurrently with the MAR while you apply some 700 DPS to your target and outlast him.

If you've done your tackle approach on the right kind of target, you almost certainly will.  The Brutix is now a tough old monster as befits its heritage.

Mindflood booster of the Synth variety goes really well with this ship, as does Synth Drop to mitigate any residual transversal issues you might have.  You can switch to Null if you like and get more range but honestly if you want to fly like that, you may as well be in that Talos and take your chances at being tackled by a close range heavy brawler like the Brutix.

Not much more to say about this ship, so I'm gonna close with an alternative fit which is just nasty and fun.  Consider it a bonus FOTW:

[Brutix, Shield Gank]
Damage Control II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Power Diagnostic System II

Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Warp Disruptor II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Large Shield Extender II

Heavy Neutron Blaster II, Null M
Heavy Neutron Blaster II, Null M
Heavy Neutron Blaster II, Null M
Heavy Neutron Blaster II, Null M
Heavy Neutron Blaster II, Null M
Heavy Neutron Blaster II, Null M
Medium Unstable Power Fluctuator I

Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I

Hammerhead II x5


This one flies exactly the same way, only you will need to overheat that Invul as you close and you're not going to have a web so you're probably going to need another tackler involved.  But the DPS is monstrous.  Overheated, it goes to 1000, and that's before you load Void if you manage to tackle a carrier.  It's a fun ship to fly and believe it or not has a 50k EHP tank before heat.  As I've said a couple of times before, Gallente shield-tanking isn't the joke it used to be!

Whichever of the two you choose, happy brawling!


All Fits of the Week are intended as general guidelines only.  You may not have the skills needed for this exact fit.  If you do not, feel free to adjust the fit to suit to meet your skills, including using meta 3 guns and "best named" defenses and e-war.  Ships can also be adjusted to use faction or dead-space modules depending on the budget of the pilot flying it.  Each FOTW is intended as a general guide to introduce you to concepts that will help you fit and to fly that particular type of ship more aggressively and well.