If that's the case, I think I accomplished the impossible, because I think this Beast build is fun to play! It's not just tapping brains powers until your eyes glaze over, it's very mobile with an active rotation, and it's pretty good damage and clear. While the Salvaged Alien Weapon legendary definitely powers up this build, it's not necessary and can be run on cheaper gear.

Also, a big thanks to Remi for letting me quote her.

Play this build if you like...

 

• Active rotations.
• Resource management.
• Movement/mobile builds.
• Unconventional builds that don't use a traditional left-click spender.

 

I would not recommend this build if...

 

• You want a simple build. There is a lot to pay attention to when playing this build, and the rotation is very difficult.
• You want a tanky hero. Beast isn't the squishiest thanks to the Intervention System talent triggering barrier system at low health, but aside from that he has no inherent ttl or survivability mechanics so he's average ttl/survivability at best.
• You want someone OP. I think Beast is underrated, but he's never going to match someone like Nova or Blade.

 

Build Explanation

 

This build has a lot going on. The basic summary is that you're spirit stacking to turn  into a powerful cooldown layer that can brutal for over a million damage, and the movement power cooldown reduction on salvaged alien weapon allows you to almost always have a power active despite not having a spender/left-click power. Power duration + cooldown reduction helps maintain the Bestial Frenzy buff from , and  reduces the cooldown on  and other brawn powers so you not only have better uptime on the Beastial Frenzy buff

 

 - This power is good for traveling across the map and clearing trash. Against bosses and elites, sure to use it when you have 4 charges ready because using 4 charges (within 5 seconds) fully restores momentum and grants a powerful 10% damage and crit chance Bestial Frenzy buff. Because of the time it takes to use this power 4 times, you don't have to start lunging at a full 4 charges, having 3 charges with 2-3 seconds left on the cooldown of the final charge also works. FYI, you glow red while the buff is active.

 

 - This power is not only your dash, it also grants 10% momentum per use, on top of the amount you get from moving, so it's actually more like 15%+. This is a good power to use if you're below 50% momentum, but you don't have enough   charges to get full momentum.

 

 - This power is technically not a dot, but it functions like a ground dot with a fairly big catch-range/aoe A few seconds after using this power and the drone deploys, hit  to activate the 100% attack speed bonus.

 

 - As mentioned above, the purpose of this power is to activate the 100% attack speed bonus on . Be sure you wait until the drone drops before using this power or else the drone won't get the bonus. This power can also clear trash, but the damage is fairly low so don't be surprised if it doesn't kill anything.

 

 - This power is good trash clear at 50%+ momentum thanks to the bleed it provides. It's also a good power for traveling around the map. Against bosses and elites, be sure to hit with this power at least twice early in the rotation for the stacking bleed dot.

 

 - This power is okay damage, but its main purpose is to push down the cooldown of all your other brawn powers, including. You don't have to use this power immediately off cooldown as long as you use it before  because Friends in High Places resets this power's cooldown.

 

 - This power scales hard off of spirit/momentum, which transforms a power with low base damage into a hard hitting cooldown. Friends in High Places also resets the cooldown on , allowing more frequent use of other brawn powers. You can only use this power when Beast has at least 50% momentum so you might need to  once or twice before using this power.

 

 - Beast's signature. This is a hard-hitting, fully invincible power with a fairly large aoe. Be sure  is on cooldown before using this power so you get the 30% teamwork synergy damage bonus.

 

If you do not have a , then I recommend replacing  with . It is actually slightly worse dps, but the swing is a good way to fill downtime. If you stick with Electro-Catalysts, you'll have moments in the rotation when you're doing nothing.

Rotation

 

So this rotation is admittedly very complicated and hectic. I will write down a starting rotation, but afterward I'll write down a general guideline because the rotation breaks down.

 

Starting Rotation: x4 ->  ->  x2 ->  ->  ->  ->  ->  ->  ->  x4 -> You will likely hit 50% momentum in between frenzied lunges so you can fit in a  before using the 4th charge, also you want to fit in a . Around here is where the rotation starts to break down.

 

• As a general rule, you'll want to  when you have charges, and preferably above 50% momentum so you can maintain the bleed dot. You might even want to somersault when  is off cooldown, because you likely won't have above 50% momentum after using 
• Use  off cooldown when you can. If  is off cooldown when Friends in High Places is off cooldown, then be sure to  first, because  instantly refreshes the cooldown on , thanks to the Bestial Fury talent in the second row. As ar result, you're almost always using  right after , unless your signature is off cooldown because Bestial Beatdown reduces the cooldoown on Beast's signature. Speaking of signature...
• Use  off cooldown, but make sure  is on cooldown so you get the 30% damage bonus from the teamwork synergy.
• Be sure not to use  until you have 4 charges or close to 4 charges so you can get the Bestial Frenzy buff. It's fairly safe to start lunging when you only have 2-3 seconds of cooldown left to get the 4th charge.
• If you're below 50% momentum and don't have enough  charges for full momentum restore. Then you can use a  or two to restore momentum.
• Try to use  off cooldown. It's not the end of the world if this is missed, the power duration Beast has extends the duration about 3-4 seconds past the cooldown.
• The most important use of  is to power up , not much reason to use it otherwise. Not a big deal if you forget to hit Electro-Catalyst.

 

I know this rotation is very complicated, and can seem overwhelming, but as long as you're using cooldowns and keeping the Bestial Frenzy buff from  maintained, you're good. The rotation is nearly impossible to perfectly maintain so don't sweat it too much if you drop a thing or two here and there. I drop something all the time.

 

Gear

 

As you can see, most of the uniques are not Beast's but there are substitutes for each slot.

 

Slot 1: Obviously,  is bis, but is also good.  or  are okay options if you want health, but I'm pretty sure they're worse dps than Beast's slot 1.

 

Slot 2:  is a ton of flat damage and power duration, both great stats for Beast, but his own  are a good substitute. A cosmic could be BIS or competitive with Kraven's, but I don't have any to test yet.

 

Slot 3:  has too many good stats to use anything else.

 

Slot 4:  is always great for Fighting + intelligence scaling heroes, and Beast is no exception. His own  is pretty good too, it's a lot of flat damage.

 

Slot 5: Beast has two vulnerability powers, and neither one of them is good for this build.  is always good on heroes who don't have good vulnerability powers and can utilize intelligence and/or durability, and Beast is no exception. His own  is actually very good, possibly better than Cobra Hood if it weren't for needing vulnerability, and you can use the  artifact, Sam Wilson, or Arachne team-up to provide vulnerability.

 

 

Artifacts: 

FYI, you can get an Elektra Bandana for 120 orders of the hand from the event terminal. It won't be cosmic, but Elektra Bandana/Mask is very strong, and finding a cosmic one is very difficult.

 

Good substitutes: 

 

 - Use this if you do not have for the vulnerability. Replace . You can acquire  this artifact from Dani Moonstar, the danger room vendor, so it's simply a matter of merits and reroll patience until you get one. Save up the merits for a cosmic version. It can also drop from the Sentinel wave in Midtown patrol. 

 - Armor artifact. A good choice on beast thanks to  being an auto-crit power. It's a matter of reroll patience and armor drives acquiring this.

 - Like Siege's, a good choice for the brutal rating, which means more big red numbers from . This is a Danger Room Trainyard scenario drop.

 - Always a good choice for fighting heroes. Not a top choice for Beast because this build doesn't get much benefit from the attack speed.

 - This is a good hybrid survivability/dps choice.

 

Cosmic Artifact Affixes: The two most important are -10% signature cooldown and 150 spirit. Everything else is a bonus. Get +1 attributes if you want dps, and get +health, defense, deflect, or dodge if you want ttl/survivability.

Budget starter artifacts: , , , and. These are all common drops and easy to find.

 

Legendary: You really want , but  is a good substitute until you can find a Salvaged Alien Weapon. At ilvl70 either  or  works.

 

Insignia: I unfortunately don't have a Mr Fan...Oracle insignia, but that is the ideal insignia. Other good insignias are Cyclops, Weapon X, Captain America, and Taskmaster. She-Hulk is pretty good too. Eric O'Grady and Falcon are decent. You always want crit damage, but other good secondary affixes are brutal rating, melee damage, boss damage, and health.

 

Relics:  and  are honestly quite close. From my testing, Gibborim had more consistent damage with powered up , but Atlantis can have better damage with burst from . I personally prefer Gibborim because Atlantis is used on so many heroes already.

 

Infinities and Synergies

 

Infinity:

I have a little over 1200 IP. However, most people don't have this much IP so here's what I would prioritize.

 

• 0-15 IP - 150 points in Mental Focus in the Mind Gem
• 150-300 - 75 points in Strike Through in the Power Gem.
• 300-450 - 6 points in Fighting in the Soul Gem
• 450-650 - 200 points in Deep Thought in the Mind Gem
• 650-800 - 150 points in Potency in the Reality Gem.
• 800-842 - 6 points into Mind over Matter and Superhuman in the mind and power gem, respectively. Look at your hero sheet, you might only need 5 points in one thanks to rounding errors.
• 842+ - Intelligence in the Mind Gem. It's also worth putting one point into each infusion node, they're on the right side of each gem.

 

Synergies: Beast, Ultron, and War Machine for Intelligence and Fighting, then the physical dps nodes and Storm because this build scales heavily with spirit. If you don't have all of these synergies then any of the 3% physical damage synergies or Winter Soldier work too.

 

Videos

All videos except the M'Kraan ttk are 1209 IP.

1:41 TTK: 

 

Cosmic Kurse Full Clear 1:15:

 

Cosmic Ultron Full Clear 1:49

TTK with ilvl 80 M'Kraan Crystal 1211IP 1:54