Rogues and zoos

To be honest, I barely craft anything out of brass, the usual pieces I find and pickup or buy out of vending machines are more than enough. The only thing I do need lots and lots of, and thankfully can get a decent amount of, is aluminum and iron, to make Thermite, and the the stuff required to make steel so I can make frag nades (which are pretty good up until about level 10). Clockwork Knight came in handy with it's wrench when I wanted to make acid or poison to make awesome AoE bolts.

 

The only bad part of this is when a diggle thief takes your big Stack O' Traps (TM), and you end up setting them all off after it dies. :*( Don't put trap stacks in your belt!

Another useful strategy is to get some skills that give you knockback or teleport. The mace and unarmed tree have knockback, and dodge has a teleport.