I'm only getting this data from the academy, so forgive me if it's not right. I was looking at troops to upgrade as others were already going. There's a bit of an anomaly with brutes. Bullet Sponge is a spec ability for brutes during the activated skill "Bring it on". At Academy 7: Damage is reduced by 40% during Bring It On. At Academy 10: Damage is reduced by 55% during Bring It On At Academy 12: Damage is reduced by 50% ??! Something there is an error. In any case, I don't use brutes anymore and don't see others using them either, perhaps it's time for them to get a somewhat more significant buff especially considering the higher space they take up in a crew. An inadvertent downgrade surely wasn't intended.
Looks like it's fixed: 65%. Still, it'd be nice to see that big crewspace sucking not-so-tough pirate get a significant buff to bring him back into the battle. Some day.
I would add it seems the Bullet Sponge needs to work consistently. I bring one Brute into battle as a tank, but also for it's distract/sponge skill. Many times it doesn't work even within range. Haven't noticed a pattern where it's one type of defense, but who knows?
