Bruiser

Bruisers are the evil Brawler class only available to citizens of Freeport.

Bruisers are Fighters... they stand toe-to-toe with enemy creatures, taunting and damaging them, and keeping the creatures from attacking other weaker group members. Bruisers are also capable of a "DPS" role... they are able to inflict damage at a very good rate, allowing them to act as damage dealers if the group already has a "tank."

Bruisers are brutal fighters specializing in a form of martial arts similar to, though diverging from, some of the monk styles found in the original Everquest game. The heaviest armor a Bruiser can wear is leather, as opposed to the heavy plate of other fighters. However, a Bruiser doesn't need heavy armor because he is an avoidance-based fighter. The Bruiser has an innately higher ability to outright avoid an enemy's attacks, coupled with his Deflection skill which is a special ability given to Bruisers and Monks which give them the ability to turn aside incoming attacks. Bruisers lack the innate speed of attacks found among the Monks of Qeynos, they lack "haste" stances which enable the Monks to attack at a much greater speed... however a Bruiser is capable of dealing a great deal more damage per attack due to the innately damaging nature of his attacks coupled with his always active CRY ability which grants a +damage bonus to the Bruiser as well as any group members.

Bruisers gain several abilities at higher levels that are class defining.

Stances: All fighters get Offensive and Defensive stances. Both the good and evil Brawlers possess a "mixed stance" which grants some offensive bonuses as well as defensive bonuses. The Bruiser mixed and offensive stances enable the Bruiser a chance to deliver a fire-based Engulf attack with each hit... when the Bruiser hits an opponent, there's a chance the enemy will take several hundred points of fire damage.

High damage combat arts: Most Bruiser attacks are slow but extremely damaging. Typical recast times are 30seconds to 1 minute. Many Bruiser arts also Knockdown an opponent.

Hundred Hand: One of the main Bruiser attacks is the Hundred-Hand line... a flurry of 8 punches, each dealing low damage but adding up to high damage if they all hit.

Sucker Punch: Bruisers gain an extra attack against opponents with their back turned toward the Bruiser. High damage potential.

Bruisers are infamous for their ability to harden their bodies against incoming melee-based damage. They posess the Spirit line of arts which increases their armor class at the cost of slowly draining their health over 3 minutes. This allows the Bruiser to take less physical damage with each hit, although the health drain makes this ability usefull only against hard-hitting opponents. In an emergency a Bruiser can also Harden Skin... this stuns the Bruiser, reducing him to only standing in place while taunting... but essentially doubling his armor and allowing him to take more hits before dying. A pure emergency ability.

At level 53 the Bruiser gains the ability Stone Deaf which enables the Bruiser to absorb up to 3 non-melee attacks that would do more than 10% of the Bruiser's hitpoints. This enables the Bruiser to wade into battle without fear of high damage spells or creature area affect attacks for the duration of Stone Deaf.

At level 55 the Bruiser gains the ability Sonic Fist... not as useful, this is simply a teleporting punch which allows the Bruiser to instantly appear next to the target, hit, then instantly teleport back to the starting position. It's mostly a pulling tool, although on Player VS Player servers it can be useful to administer the killing blow on a fleeing opponent, or set them up for further attacks with a quickly delivered stun.

At level 58 the Bruiser gains the ability Close Mind... one of the most useful abilities in a Bruiser's arsenal. This ability renders the Bruiser immune to ALL effects that would render the Bruiser unable to act. Roots, Mez, Fear, Stifle, Stun, Knockdown... about the only effect that will effect a Bruiser with Close Mind up is a run-speed debuff like Snare... but the Bruiser can still attack.

Like Monks, Bruisers are able to heal hitpoint damage...unlike Monks the Bruisers can only heal themselves. The Ignore Agony ability allows the Bruiser to heal around 40% of his hitpoints every 90 seconds. Almost twice as fast as the Monk, but unable to heal group members or raid tanks.

Feign Death: As a Brawler, Bruisers are able to fake their own death. This causes creatures to stop attacking, or causes other player characters to lose their target if they have the Bruiser targetted.

Intimidate: Bruisers can intimidate opponents... this acts like a short-term mesmerize and prevents the target from doing anything for the duration.

Knockout Combination: At high levels the Bruiser can activate this ability, allowing him to automatically knockdown and inflict extra damage on an opponent with each and every combat art used on the opponent. This effect lasts for 30 seconds. Coupled with Area Effect attacks this damage can be substantial.

Savage Bruising: At level 50 the Bruiser gains the ability to attack up to 8 enemies at once with a series of 4 instant high damaging attacks. Used properly the Savage Bruising can add up to many thousands of damage... and coupled with Knockout Combination...

From EverQuest 2 Wiki, a Wikia wiki.