I've got a DM/EA at 43 right now, and he's pretty damn fun. I'm closing in on soft capping the main types of defense, so he's really gonna be something else. I love having the stealth and having taunt for when I need attention or don't want it.
Don't I know you???
Well, it certainly is better than it was before! One of my first Brutes was a SS/EA. Needless to say, the ride to 50 was extremely painful, and he was deleted shortly after.
Since the mini-buff to EA, giving it a self heal, things have gotten a little bit better. I've never made it to IOing him out, but it shouldn't be too bad. One good thing: you have some great end-recovery tools in the later levels. The defense isn't the best, and the stealth is situational, but overall, it's not bad.
TL;DR Go for it. It's not a FotM set, or the best Brute secondary, but it can get the job done.
~Alpha
"People are like stained-glass windows.
They sparkle and shine when the sun is out,
but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is
light from within"
Quote:
Really, it depends on your tolerance for pain. I have a Energy/EA brute that I mostly ran solo, but at level 47 or so I ran on the level 40 SF. This is the one where you get a bunch of ambushes from CoT. I was the last one standing and took down the AV alone (though the rest of the team certainly helped whittle him down).|
Originally Posted by Res_Ipsa
Is there any kind of consensus around the Energy Aura secondary? I'm thinking of putting together a DB/EA Brute in Going Rogue, and I'm wondering how much pain I'm signing up for.
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I took Tough and Weave, and soft-capped S/L defense, have Fire/Cold/Energy defense in the low 40s, Neg in the 30s and Psi at 15. The positionals are at 22% or so.
It would be rather pricey reproducing this character now, since it uses three sets of Kinetic Combat.
It's roughly as survivable as my SS/Electric brute, but the AoE isn't as good. I don't have experience with Dual Blades at higher levels, so I can't speculate how it would interact with EA.
My DB/EA recently hit 50. I am capped to s/l/f/c/en due to weave, cj, maneuvers and a few set bonuses(no kinetic combats). I have tough and the resist passives. My only real build regret right now is that I don't have Hasten, but I could rework sets or somehow get a pvp +def and make that happen. I have BF and the Sweep and Attack Vitals combos.
Overall very survivable, able to farm +1/x8 with basically no effort, can do higher but I have to use insps more intelligently/frequently the higher I go. The double knockdown in Sweep is amazing, although getting the 2nd requires you to throttle your dps down a bit, so you have to gauge your survivability. Fury generation without aggro is on the low side, so on teams I often jump into a second group unless it's something that can kill me outright, which is pretty rare.
I love the unsupressed stealth, I never have to worry about fighting any more than I want, and can pull anything successfully and easily. Energy Drain is okay, I don't like that it's a source of both end and hp necessarily, I wish it was just hp(and better at that). My build is an end hog but I'm not really optimized for it, I just rely on ED and to a lesser extent CP.
It's fun and I like it. That said, if you're either a) more interested in being the toughest brute(as opposed to having tricks like stealth and +end) or b) have a ton of money, you should probably go with a different secondary.
EA is definately a love it or hate it set. Frankenslotting and taking Tough and Weave will have your toon standing at the end of most every encounter... if you have the deep pockets then by all means, IO crack that sucker. Combining DB with it allows for some minor crowd control thanks to the Sweep combo. I have had much luck with my Claws/EA and see similar results for DB. Go ahead and give it a whirl... the worst that will happen is you hate the combo... 
"You sir, have never been in a hammer fight, that much is clear."
-Blast_Chamber
*yeah, I quoted myself.
Quote:
I can confirm this. I have my DM/EA brute soft capped to all but Psi. He's hella-tough, and fun as all get out.
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Originally Posted by dougnukem
I've got a DM/EA at 43 right now, and he's pretty damn fun. I'm closing in on soft capping the main types of defense, so he's really gonna be something else. I love having the stealth and having taunt for when I need attention or don't want it.
|
@Rylas
Kill 'em all. Let XP sort 'em out.
EA has issues. It simply has too many weaknesses for the utility of stealth (an ability anybody can easily acquire in the PvP zones as a temp power). A Defense Set with low DDR, PSI Hole, Hard to Cap Typed Defense, virtually meaningless heal in Energy Drain, Fury building is hurt by Stealth, no resist to end drain, hard to justify passives, ... Needs some love like /Elec got recently. I'd love to see a defense based Electric Armor that trades Lightning Field for Energy Cloak - nuf said.
My NRG/NRG is 33 now and he looks really, REALLY cool! Alas, he's by far my weakest Brute and the only one i dred teaming.
Twilight_Snow has good insights on the subject of /EA and a very readable guide.
After playing a stalker it feels like a kinda tough Stalker, after playing a /WP Brute it feels like a waste of time and energy.
Going to see what I can do with him though.
Quote:
Too many weaknesses? I think that's over stating it. Not having enough DDR, I can agree with. The rest? Nah.|
Originally Posted by Arkadian_NA
EA has issues. It simply has too many weaknesses for the utility of stealth (an ability anybody can easily acquire in the PvP zones as a temp power). A Defense Set with low DDR, PSI Hole, Hard to Cap Typed Defense, virtually meaningless heal in Energy Drain, Fury building is hurt by Stealth, no resist to end drain, hard to justify passives, ... Needs some love like /Elec got recently. I'd love to see a defense based Electric Armor that trades Lightning Field for Energy Cloak - nuf said.
|
Psi hole: So many sets have this hole, that it's pointless to single this out. Psi damage is also one of the lesser used powers by NPCs.
No resist to end drain and the "meaningless heal": Well, you have En Drain, which can be up in 30 secs. Being a defensive set, you should avoid most end draining shots (especially Energy based ones!!) so ED should be enough to compensate. Also, the heal in ED can get you up to 50%, hardly meaningless.
Fury issues: Use taunt. Stealth becomes meaningless after that. I have no issues getting Fury because of stealth.
Hard to Cap Defense: Here's a little template showing how EASY it is to soft cap EA to all but Psi. There's plenty of slots left for enhancement for your powers, too. This was a DM/EA build, but you could easily work it out for other primaries.
Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.703
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Template: Level 50 Science Brute
Primary Power Set: Dark Melee
Secondary Power Set: Energy Aura
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery
Villain Profile:
Level 1: Smite -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(7), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(7), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11)
Level 1: Kinetic Shield -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(3), DefBuff-I(3)
Level 2: Shadow Punch -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(13), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(13), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15)
Level 4: Power Shield -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(5), DefBuff-I(5)
Level 6: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 8: Combat Jumping -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(9), DefBuff-I(9)
Level 10: Entropy Shield -- Empty(A)
Level 12: Siphon Life -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(15), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(17), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17)
Level 14: Super Jump -- Empty(A)
Level 16: Health -- Mrcl-Heal/EndRdx(A), Mrcl-Heal/Rchg(29), Mrcl-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(31), Mrcl-Heal(31), Mrcl-EndRdx/Rchg(31)
Level 18: Dark Consumption -- P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(A), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(21), P'Shift-Acc/Rchg(33), Erad-Acc/Rchg(33), Erad-Dmg(33), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(37)
Level 20: Stamina -- Empty(A)
Level 22: Energy Cloak -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(23), DefBuff-I(23)
Level 24: Shadow Maul -- Erad-Dmg/Rchg(A), Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(25), Erad-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25), C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx(37), C'ngBlow-Dmg/Rchg(45), C'ngBlow-Acc/Rchg(45)
Level 26: Soul Drain -- C'ngBlow-Acc/Dmg(A), C'ngBlow-Dmg/EndRdx(27), C'ngBlow-Dmg/Rchg(27)
Level 28: Energy Drain -- Empty(A)
Level 30: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 32: Midnight Grasp -- Empty(A)
Level 35: Dampening Field -- Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(A), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(36), Aegis-ResDam(39), S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(48)
Level 38: Tough -- Aegis-ResDam(A), Aegis-ResDam/EndRdx(39), Aegis-ResDam/Rchg(39)
Level 41: Weave -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(50), DefBuff-I(50)
Level 44: Gloom -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(46)
Level 47: Darkest Night -- Empty(A)
Level 49: Overload -- Empty(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury
Level 0: Ninja Run
------------
Set Bonus Totals:
- 14.3% Defense(Smashing)
- 14.3% Defense(Lethal)
- 10.2% Defense(Fire)
- 10.2% Defense(Cold)
- 14.3% Defense(Energy)
- 14.3% Defense(Negative)
- 3% Defense(Psionic)
- 123.7 HP (8.25%) HitPoints
@Rylas
Kill 'em all. Let XP sort 'em out.
I like the points you make. All but one. The heal in ED CAN do 50ish percent of your health bar IF you can survive in a crowd of 10 enemies long enough for it to activate. Pre-softcap that is not easily done with /EA. I read somewhere that it was meant to help when you're grouped facing large spawns. From my experience facing 3 or 4 enemies at a time, when i'm in need of some healing it feels meaningless. Granted, i'm looking at it the wrong way.
Anyway, my point was to qualify the circumstances required for it to do that kind of healing.
You give me hope Rylas 
The other great thing about EA is that Overload grants massive +HP and defense, while just having an endurance/recovery crash. This is the only set in the game that has access to a work-around for the crash on a true tier 9; Energy Drain and Conserve Power basically neuter the penalty of the crash. I've even been able to reliably time Energy Drain (and Power Sink for ELA) to fill my bar a split second after the crash, making it seem like it never happened and preventing any toggles from dropping.
Quote:
I'll agree with you that the heal can be lack-luster in some situations where SOs are the only option for a player. Considering SO's are the balancing point in the game, they could tweak the heal to be better situated for that. But, if you're prepared with purple inspirations or have Weave/Combat Jumping going, then you should be able to get better heals off. |
Originally Posted by Arkadian_NA
I like the points you make. All but one. The heal in ED CAN do 50ish percent of your health bar IF you can survive in a crowd of 10 enemies long enough for it to activate. Pre-softcap that is not easily done with /EA. I read somewhere that it was meant to help when you're grouped facing large spawns. From my experience facing 3 or 4 enemies at a time, when i'm in need of some healing it feels meaningless. Granted, i'm looking at it the wrong way.
Anyway, my point was to qualify the circumstances required for it to do that kind of healing. You give me hope Rylas |
Glad I could inspire you! Find the best IO build for your brute, and I'm sure you'll unlock plenty of potential!
@Rylas
Kill 'em all. Let XP sort 'em out.
Here is what my DM/EA is shaping up to be..he's lvl 47 right now.
The BotZ is actually a Winter's Gift Slow Res though.
More than enough def for everything but Psi and just shy for Neg Energy.
Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.707
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Dark-EA-Pop: Level 50 Natural Brute
Primary Power Set: Dark Melee
Secondary Power Set: Energy Aura
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery
Villain Profile:
Level 1: Shadow Punch -- T'Death-Acc/Dmg(A), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx(3), T'Death-Dmg/Rchg(3), T'Death-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(5), T'Death-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(5), T'Death-Dam%(7)
Level 1: Kinetic Shield -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(7), LkGmblr-Rchg+(9), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(9)
Level 2: Smite -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(11), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(11), KntkC'bat-Knock%(13), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(13), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(15)
Level 4: Power Shield -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(15), LkGmblr-Rchg+(17), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(17)
Level 6: Combat Jumping -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Rchg+(19)
Level 8: Siphon Life -- Nictus-Heal(A), Nictus-Acc/Heal(19), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(21), C'ngImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(21), C'ngImp-Dmg/Rchg(23), Nictus-Heal/HP/Regen/Rchg(23)
Level 10: Entropy Shield -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 14: Super Speed -- Zephyr-Travel(A)
Level 16: Health -- Numna-Regen/Rcvry+(A)
Level 18: Kick -- Empty(A)
Level 20: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-End%(25), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(29), P'Shift-EndMod/Acc(31)
Level 22: Energy Cloak -- LkGmblr-Def(A), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(31), LkGmblr-Rchg+(33), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(33)
Level 24: Shadow Maul -- Erad-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(A), Erad-Dmg/Rchg(25), Erad-Acc/Rchg(27), M'Strk-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(33), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(34)
Level 26: Soul Drain -- Sciroc-Acc/Dmg(A), Sciroc-Acc/Rchg(27), Sciroc-Dmg/EndRdx(29), Sciroc-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(31), Sciroc-Dmg/Rchg(34), RechRdx-I(34)
Level 28: Energy Drain -- Dct'dW-Heal(A), Dct'dW-Rchg(36), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(36), Dct'dW-Heal/EndRdx(37), Dct'dW-Heal/Rchg(37), Dct'dW-EndRdx/Rchg(39)
Level 30: Weave -- RedFtn-Def(A), RedFtn-EndRdx/Rchg(37), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx(40), RedFtn-Def/Rchg(40), RedFtn-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(40), RedFtn-EndRdx(42)
Level 32: Midnight Grasp -- Mako-Acc/Dmg(A), Mako-Dmg/EndRdx(42), Mako-Dmg/Rchg(42), Mako-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(43), Mako-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(43), Mako-Dam%(43)
Level 35: Taunt -- Mocking-Taunt(A), Mocking-Taunt/Rchg(36), Mocking-Taunt/Rchg/Rng(45), Mocking-Acc/Rchg(45), Mocking-Taunt/Rng(45), Mocking-Rchg(46)
Level 38: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(39), RechRdx-I(39)
Level 41: Gloom -- Thundr-Acc/Dmg(A), Thundr-Dmg/EndRdx(46), Thundr-Dmg/Rchg(46), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), Thundr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(48)
Level 44: Dark Obliteration -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(48), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(50), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50), Posi-Dam%(50)
Level 47: Overload -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A)
Level 49: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Fury
Level 0: Ninja Run
Code:
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Don't I know you???
That's an interesting build there...
Isn't Weave in the wrong place?
Quote:
Yea, in reality I picked some powers at different times, like taking Combat Jumping at 47 and will grab Overload at 49.|
Originally Posted by Arkadian_NA
That's an interesting build there...
Isn't Weave in the wrong place? |
Weave actually came at 35 and Taunt at 38 on my live build, as I took Tough at 30. Guess you could say I was too lazy to change it all around in Mids since the slot levels would all have to be adjusted too. :P
Don't I know you???
When GR goes live, I plan to roll a KM/EA toon. EA is the one armor I've always been unable to find a good concept for, and now that I've got one, I'm running with it lol. I just hope I can make it work.
"Iron defenses and a crappy attitude do not, a tanker, make."
Proud Leader and founder of The Gangbusters Super Group and The Madhouse Villain Group: Ask me about becoming a member!
No fair >: (
I'm rolling a Kin Melee/Nrg brute too =(
(stole mah idea -_-)
Your character does not have capped defense. Depending on your AT the cap is between 175% - 225%. Your defense is not teal in the combat window, it can go higher. STOP SAYING IT IS CAPPED! The correct term is Soft Cap.
I enjoy playing in Mids. I specialize in Melee Characters, other AT's usually bore me.
Is there any kind of consensus around the Energy Aura secondary? I'm thinking of putting together a DB/EA Brute in Going Rogue, and I'm wondering how much pain I'm signing up for.