I'm glad someone posted this... I'm fairly noobish to CoV, as I mainly play heroes, but I was tinkering on Mids trying to find some Brute combos, and while I've heard that EA was weak, the Defense numbers look pretty decent to me. Plus it has a stealth power and End Recovery/Heal (autohit?).
Am I missing something?
Yeah, whatever. Another person who is bringing a ton of preconceptions to EA so the set won't stand a chance. Just play one.
In answering yout first question, relying on attacking is absolutely not a good way to build fury. Get taunt.
Controling threat levels with stealth comes more into play when stealthing missions or breaking contact. Since the stealth is unsupressed, enemies will de-aggro fairly quickly. Yeah, you will find situations where you are whipping up on a group and a nearby group is standing there clueless. But most of the time it's a novelty. Situations where that is really helpful are pretty rare. You will do fine on teams. But on teams, try to think of yourself as a scrapper more than a tank. Once you get higher defenses via IOs, you can tank. Until then you are like a stalker/scrapper hybrid.
As above, EA holds aggro well, especially since a taunt was recently added to energy drain. You can tank.
EA is not weak. It has a ton of utility. You can skip stamina and/or skip the passives and/or conserve power and pretty much build any kind of set up you want. Look to the medicine and fighting pools to toughen your toon.
EA works well with just about all primaries except maybe fire. Something with some mitigation helps. But that is mostly everything.
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Yeah, whatever. Another person who is bringing a ton of preconceptions to EA so the set won't stand a chance. Just play one.
In answering yout first question, relying on attacking is absolutely not a good way to build fury. Get taunt.
Controling threat levels with stealth comes more into play when stealthing missions or breaking contact. Since the stealth is unsupressed, enemies will de-aggro fairly quickly. Yeah, you will find situations where you are whipping up on a group and a nearby group is standing there clueless. But most of the time it's a novelty. Situations where that is really helpful are pretty rare. You will do fine on teams. But on teams, try to think of yourself as a scrapper more than a tank. Once you get higher defenses via IOs, you can tank. Until then you are like a stalker/scrapper hybrid.
As above, EA holds aggro well, especially since a taunt was recently added to energy drain. You can tank.
EA is not weak. It has a ton of utility. You can skip stamina and/or skip the passives and/or conserve power and pretty much build any kind of set up you want. Look to the medicine and fighting pools to toughen your toon.
EA works well with just about all primaries except maybe fire. Something with some mitigation helps. But that is mostly everything.
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Thanks for the response From_Below, this is exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping for.
I have a WM/EA brute I took to 50 awhile back, so I can answer your questions. I post a lot since I found I enjoyed the set after I started playing it. I made him as a joke back when the Strong and Pretty thread first started thinking it would be terrible as every body was saying. Of course then both sets got buffed and things did change. EA has a real bad rep and gets a lot of hate. At one point that may have been justified, but I dont think that is the case anymore. It does play different than other sets, so dont think it will play like WP.
1. Is relying on quick attack chains to build fury the best way to go for an Energy Aura?
I went WM which is definitely not quick animating. I build fury by taking the alpha in a team and yes I have done that since level 1. I died sometimes also, but with a defense set that is going to happen.
2. I've read that controlling enemy threat levels via Energy Cloak is one of the trademark utilities of an /EA. What does this translate to in-game in a typical teaming situation from spawn to spawn? Energy
Cloak makes keeping agro difficult at times. In the early levels I took taunt and was able to steal agro from all the other brutes pretty easily. Before you have AoEs it is really the only way to keep agro reliably.
3. Can /EA handle spawn alphas and how does it mitigate this?
Yes EA can handle alphas just fine. I have been doing it since level 1. As you get more of your powers you will handle it better, but that is true with all sets. I took all the powers in EA except conserve power and tough and weave so that I have layered mitigation.
4. What sort of team role does an /EA play in terms of holding aggro and psuedo-tanking?
I tank with my EA all the time. Once I hit 50 I spent about 400mil inf on mine and am now sitting at the softcap. I am able to take on a spawn of 12 level 54 bosses solo, so yes you can tank well. I keep agro now by using my AoE attack chain and using Energy Drain, I dropped taunt once I hit 50.
5. What primaries pair well with /EA?
Primaries with mitigation help EA a lot. Fire is probably the only primary I wouldnt play with EA. I would go with a set with a lot of AoE myself, but single target sets would be good also.
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1. Is relying on quick attack chains to build fury the best way to go for an Energy Aura? I ask this because I know that /EA is highly susceptible to the "streak breaker" code and will likely get bashed with attacks that hit through defense thereby making prolonged fights problematic. This seems to discourage slower activating primaries.
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I think the streak breaker code is for human players. Mobs don't have streak breaker code. For prolonged fights, I guess it is probably an AV. While you can soft-cap defense, there is still a 5% chance to get hit. Since EA's resistance is not high, I think it can be problematic if you don't have good ways to heal yourself or some kind of support behind you.
I have a Dark Melee / Energy Aura brute that does quite well solo --- I don't team much, so I can't offer any insights there.
Dark melee synergizes well with defense-based sets due to the -ToHit component, and Touch of Fear lets me take one for entirely out of the fight.
The invisibility cloak does not suppress in combat, so you can melee one three-foe spawn RIGHT next to another three-foe spawn and not get extra aggro (as long as you stay outside the reduced-perception range of the extras --- you can't stand ON them unless you had a Stealth IO or something extra).
This means you don't have to worry much about adds. Of course, on a team, that could be a detriment.
The PBAOE endurance transfer is VERY handy and while TYPED defenses are not that great in general, they do well enough.
No, it's not the most powerful set, but it CAN be quite fun. I play this brute like a tough stalker, basically.
I have played 6 brutes to 50 so far and if I had to rank them on overall durability EA would not be the bottom.
I would rank my /Stone and /WP over /EA, but I think /EA is better than my /Dark and /Elec and about even with my /FA.
edit: I would probably rank /Dark higher if I had enough inf to IO him out with purples.
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I have a Dark Melee / Energy Aura brute that does quite well solo --- I don't team much, so I can't offer any insights there.
Dark melee synergizes well with defense-based sets due to the -ToHit component, and Touch of Fear lets me take one for entirely out of the fight.
[/ QUOTE ] Yeah I could see how it would being a quickly animated utility set whose secondary effect pairs perfectly for +Defense. I'm really looking for AoE potential though but I appreciate the feedback.
I rolled up a Elec/EA to start getting some personal experience. We'll see how it goes.
My bother plays a Fire/EA that he swears by. He seems to do alright when playing it. He uses Tough and Weave, as well as Darkest Night and Soul Tentacles. He doesn't take damage in melee, and slaps Darkest Night and Soul Tentacles on ranged enemies or bosses. He crowed about having soloed an AV, but I don't know which one it was.
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Having a few quick attacks to help build Fury is always a good thing, but not exceptionally for EA. As noted, getting things trying to hit you is better for building Fury anyway.
Energy Cloak is fantastic for soloing, except when rescuing hostages. For teams, you'll have to work a bit harder to hold aggro. Taunt is really useful for this. As a bonus, some of the Taunt sets have fantastic set bonuses for typed defense.
My WM/EA had trouble taking as much abuse as some brutes until I got my IOs in place. With everything put Psi and negative soft-capped, a bit of resistance, and a little self-heal available, he can handle the alpha as well as about anything other than Granite.
Your non-suppressing stealth makes holding aggro harder, but not worse than, say, Willpower. Energy Drain has three purposes making it interesting to decide when to use it. It's end recovery, your "taunt aura" and a tiny self-heal. If tanking, you may need to jump in, fire off an AoE, and then basically queue up ED need it or not.
EA is okay, but if there's another Brute on the team and s/he has a taunt aura, your Fury generation is gonna be sucking.
As a soloist, I generally like the set, and consider Medicine Pool to be mandatory. It's not IF you'll get hit, but WHEN.
Also, one of the above posts referenced /EA as being more durable than /FA....my experience is actually the opposite when dealing with GMs and whatnot. Resist-based sets provide a more consistent damage intake, which will sometimes be higher than the damage intake of a defense set like /EA, but the damage isn't anywhere near as spiky. Spikes are harder on your self-healing, and on any team healers you may have. There are bodies of research into this topic regarding raid boss tanking in other games, and although the numbers that go into the mechanics vary, the theories are sound.
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EA is okay, but if there's another Brute on the team and s/he has a taunt aura, your Fury generation is gonna be sucking.
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Will pairing it with a AoE centric primary help to maintain aggro?
I'm running a Elec/EA right now though she's still at the low lvls.
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EA is okay, but if there's another Brute on the team and s/he has a taunt aura, your Fury generation is gonna be sucking.
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Will pairing it with a AoE centric primary help to maintain aggro?
I'm running a Elec/EA right now though she's still at the low lvls.
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Yes, pairing it with an aoe oriented primary will definately help your aggro management and control. I also think that you'll be quite pleased with ELM/EA, it's a pretty good combo imho 
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I think the streak breaker code is for human players. Mobs don't have streak breaker code.
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Actually, mobs do get the streak breaker.
General replies to the thread:
A Fury building attack chain is a fine way to build Fury (especially solo).
Invulnerability is way better than EA. WAY better. Invulnerability has always been highly underrated on these fora for some reason.
And if your Dark Armor Brute is weaker than your EA Brute, you built your Dark Brute wrong. Very wrong.
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Streak breaker is more for a long streak of misses when you should be hitting. Or so Arcanaville says here.
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And if your Dark Armor Brute is weaker than your EA Brute, you built your Dark Brute wrong. Very wrong.
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Provided we're not discussing substantially IO'd builds, I can agree with this.
The cake is a lie! The cake is a lie!
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And if your Dark Armor Brute is weaker than your EA Brute, you built your Dark Brute wrong. Very wrong.
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Provided we're not discussing substantially IO'd builds, I can agree with this.
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Pretty huge difference in my EA with and without IOs.
With SOs only, he may be tougher than /Elec. Probably weaker than anything else out there, and the self-heal felt like a bad joke since the modest defense, minor heal and long animation usually resulted in my taking more damage during the animation time than I healed.
With his IO build, he's soft-capped to almost all damage, has decent resistance to s/l, and can fill his blue bar plus get a small respite against 4 guys, every 27 seconds.
Still does have trouble getting and holding aggro vs. other brutes, but he's pretty darn tough now. Very survivable compared to most Brutes.
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And if your Dark Armor Brute is weaker than your EA Brute, you built your Dark Brute wrong. Very wrong.
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Provided we're not discussing substantially IO'd builds, I can agree with this.
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Either end, Dark will end up better. It just has better tools for issues.
Bad players yield bad results. Of course, that applies to both sets as well but hey.
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Yeah, /EA is a defense set, and like all defense it really wants IOs.
Unfortunately, most defense set bonuses are position based, not damage type, so you have to use more of your potential building space to soft cap every type.
In the end it means you can't build for extreme recharge or other set bonus goals as well as the soft cap, but on the other hand, you'll be just as survivable as SR/SD (not sure about the def debuff res though) and have endurance management tools like ED and CP.
And I like having endurance on my brutes.
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And if your Dark Armor Brute is weaker than your EA Brute, you built your Dark Brute wrong. Very wrong.
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Provided we're not discussing substantially IO'd builds, I can agree with this.
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Either end, Dark will end up better. It just has better tools for issues.
Bad players yield bad results. Of course, that applies to both sets as well but hey.
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Going from personal experience, my SS/Dark without IOs was most definitley stronger than my SS/EA without IOs
With IOs, my SS/EA is the more universally capable of the two. Softcapped defence just takes it over the limit.
Now: you could argue that /DA with extra defence can be "tough enough" and have a damage aura. That might be a fair argument, but it's obviously subjective. /Dark can do a lot of different things with IOs, but /EA can do one thing very well, and that's a thing that most foes cannot handle at all.
Now, if we shift over to some really nasty AE missions, then a /Dark with capped ranged def might just possibly pull ahead again, or at least be close to even.
The cake is a lie! The cake is a lie!
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And if your Dark Armor Brute is weaker than your EA Brute, you built your Dark Brute wrong. Very wrong.
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My /EA brute is fully IO'ed out and my /Dark is not. If I had the inf and the interest to IO out my /Dark I may change my mind on it, but I had a lot more fun playing my /EA so it was the one I spent the inf on for IO's. From my personal experience EA was better and more fun to play. Of course YMMV.
edit: Have you played EA to 50? Just asking since a lot of people knock the set without even having played it.
Dark/EA was a great trip to 50. The -to hit paired with the def in EA + IO sets made him VERY difficult to hit. He's one of my top 3 toons to play.
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I have a baby DB/EA in the works can anyone say how it will do in the upper lvls most likely solo with some teaming. I was thinking just getting the attack vitals and sweep combos with blinding faint. I am making in in preparation for going rogue heehee
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EA has some rough spots where you will get frustrated with it. Pre-SO's you will think sometimes you don't have a secondary at all, but most defense sets can feel that way. Also, late game when psi is more abundant you will notice the big hole in your defenses to psi. I avoided Carnies like the plague with mine.
I really enjoyed playing my /EA and now that he is 50 with softcapped defenses he is one of my favorites.
I know, I know.../EA is a pretty masochistic set to try and work with. Recently though, I've taken an interest on trying "black sheep" powersets in order for some fresh gameplay experiences and /EA seems like an excellent candidate...in a manner of speaking. I've rarely had the opportunity to team with an /EA so, I'm turning to the community here in hopes of answering a few questions to try and understand the powerset.
With that being said, let's move to the questions:
1. Is relying on quick attack chains to build fury the best way to go for an Energy Aura? I ask this because I know that /EA is highly susceptible to the "streak breaker" code and will likely get bashed with attacks that hit through defense thereby making prolonged fights problematic. This seems to discourage slower activating primaries.
2. I've read that controlling enemy threat levels via Energy Cloak is one of the trademark utilities of an /EA. What does this translate to in-game in a typical teaming situation from spawn to spawn?
3. Can /EA handle spawn alphas and how does it mitigate this?
4. What sort of team role does an /EA play in terms of holding aggro and psuedo-tanking? I ask this in response to a guide I read regarding approaching an /EA as your typical "SMASH" Brute that acts like a Tank.
5. What primaries pair well with /EA? I should mention that I plan on a PvE teaming build and lean more towards sets with AoE potential vs strictly single target. So, I'm thinking Elec/, DB/, or possibly SS/ (Footstomp). Any suggestions/opinions?
Sorry for the length but I'm really interested in this set and I'm hoping to get some feedback here. Some of the questions are a bit redundant as I'm really trying to understand the approach of an /EA without actually having seen many in action.
Thanks for taking the time to read this if you stuck with me for this long.