i dont know brutes kick ass
They are definitely strong but they're just big guys with bug weapons, they're not smart. Elites are true warriors and they are smart. Take that scene from Halo 3 where the Elite/Human fleet warps to the Ark. An elite says "they outnumber us three to one" when the brute fleet approaches the Elite fleet. The ship master says "then it is a fair fight", that just shows that the elites can win because they use their heads and fight smart rather than run in guns blazing.