What do you LIKE about energy/energy? (or not)
By
Derangedpolygot,
Posted on: 2010-11-22 16:43 in Brutes
Energy Aura is good set its just not a tanking set. It has good survivability if you try not to tank with stealth and multple +endurance/-endcost powers with minor heals. And capped energy res
Energy melee is definetly powerful but is slow now. you can easily solo some AVs with these sets very high damage and decent res/def
My Cheerleader called Pom Pom is alot of fun to play. 
He will honor his words; he will definitely carry out his actions. What he promises he will fulfill. He does not care about his bodily self, putting his life and death aside to come forward for another's troubled besiegement. He does not boast about his ability, or shamelessly extol his own virtues. - Sima Qian.
Like? hmmm...
I like look of the effect of Kinetic Shield...
I hate everything else about Energy Aura:
* Low Typed Defense(there is no such thing as Toxic Def)
* A mere pittance of Damage resistance(and no Psionic)
* A tacked-on ridiculously low Heal.
I would go on, but I'm beating a dead, dead horse...covered in flies.
The plastic tips at the end of shoelaces are called aglets. Their true purpose is sinister.
--The Question, JLU
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Energy Aura's endurance management tools and stealth do appeal to me and could easily be incorporated into my playstyle. Since I'm more oriented towards offensive melee, playing the toon as a pseudo-tank would not be an issue.|
Originally Posted by _gohan661_
Energy Aura is good set its just not a tanking set. It has good survivability if you try not to tank with stealth and multple +endurance/-endcost powers with minor heals. And capped energy res
Energy melee is definetly powerful but is slow now. you can easily solo some AVs with these sets very high damage and decent res/def |
As for Energy Melee, it seems similar to Martial Arts. Both sets have significant Disorient capabilities, theoretically allowing you to stack them against bosses. This also seems like a plus to me.
So far, so good.
Thanks for your input.
It will come down to your playstyle. As a single target takedown specialist energy/energy is ok... though depressingly often with EA alone you won't live long enough to stack those stuns. Not something I'd try and run on /x4 or higher with even if you do softcap (I did - without using kinetic combats. It's endurance heavy to do but energy drain helps with that).
Weight training: Because you'll never hear someone lament "If only I were weaker, I could have saved them."
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With Fitness becoming an inherent, the low defense and damage resistance can more easily be beefed up with the Fighting pool. So this is an issue to be addressed but not necessarily a deal-breaker for me.|
Originally Posted by Derangedpolygot
Like? hmmm...
I like look of the effect of Kinetic Shield... I hate everything else about Energy Aura: * Low Typed Defense(there is no such thing as Toxic Def) * A mere pittance of Damage resistance(and no Psionic) * A tacked-on ridiculously low Heal. I would go on, but I'm beating a dead, dead horse...covered in flies. |
As for the Toxic & Psi holes, I plan to deal with them preemptively using the tools available to the powersets. Specifically, I'll use Energy Aura's stealth capability to attack problem enemies first with stuns, then take them out as quickly as possible while they're reeling. Not as good as actual resistance or defense, but doable.
Agree that the heal is sub-par. I'll just have to carry around a decent supply of greens.
Much obliged.
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"Fun to play" is my primary criterion, so that counts for a lot. If playstyle, concept and powers mesh together, then I'm willing to go for a less than optimal build in terms of the numbers.
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Originally Posted by New Dawn
My Cheerleader called Pom Pom is alot of fun to play.
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I still play on the default difficulty settings, so /x4 won't be an issue. I don't plan to adjust it until I get at least one toon to 50 and have firsthand knowledge of most of the game's enemies. (and a decently tricked out build in terms of IO sets)|
Originally Posted by TheBruteSquad
It will come down to your playstyle. As a single target takedown specialist energy/energy is ok... though depressingly often with EA alone you won't live long enough to stack those stuns. Not something I'd try and run on /x4 or higher with even if you do softcap (I did - without using kinetic combats. It's endurance heavy to do but energy drain helps with that).
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Thank you.
You might be sorely disappointed.
Energy Melee is VERY single target oriented, whereas Energy Aura does better with large mobs. I currently am running a Dual Blades/Energy Aura, who for thematic reasons is a ghost pirate who was poisoned at sea. That explains his psi, toxic, and negative holes. To be honest, I have only just gotten him to 42 and he has been a blast to play. The DB portion gives me good AoE as well as ST. [Kinetic Dampener] temporary power has been a very helpful tool while leveling.
The one thing that I believe Energy Aura could use to make it a moderately OK power set to a great power set is enhanceable DDR. That alone would bring it up to speed with other sets like Invuln and WP. Might not make it as sturdy as SR or SD, but it would be a step in the right direction, and would not take any major changes to the set that others tend to suggest.
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.
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Could you describe an example of this lack of synergy (or perhaps, more accurately, this difference of focus)? I'm just trying to gauge how bad it is and if there are methods of compensating for it.|
Originally Posted by _Pine_
You might be sorely disappointed.
Energy Melee is VERY single target oriented, whereas Energy Aura does better with large mobs. |
My main goal is to approach the character with my eyes open and a full understanding of its abilities and limitations. One of the things I really enjoy about the game is finding the right tool (i.e. power) for the right job (i.e. task) and then devising a play style to make the best use of the combo's capabilities. It's why. for example, I love the versatility of /Devices on Blasters or DM/DA on my scrapper. I'm finding all of these views very helpful to that process of character definition and fine-tuning.
I love all the knockback stuff. Saves my butt more times than not.
I recently started a little project called Stalkerish Brute (Dark Melee / Energy Aura) as a goof because I've made several Stalkers to lvl 50 and haven't had one Brute past lvl 42. With the new Fury change, this Brute has become my most favorite Brute!
To make long story short, here are some positives about /EA Brute (not too sure about Energy Melee though)
1. Unsuppressed Stealth! It allows you to stealth in, kill some mobs while other mobs can't see you! In fact, there were times when I took down two targets and the rest of the enemies in the same group didn't even know I was there! You can't get any more Assassin-like than this!
2. Take Taunt! Brute's Taunt has no accuracy check. With i19, you have one more room to take it. Use it to grab aggro when you want to. Use it to generate Taunt! Use it to Pull! I've never taken Taunt before until I made my DA/EA. I love it. It costs no endurance too.
3. Take Energy Cloak! Think of it as giving you "flexibility" rather than "restricting" your role. When you want to grab aggro, use Taunt. Energy Aura set is balanced with you running Energy Cloak because the base value on Kinetic Shield is lower than Stalker's version. (I didn't know that until recently!). So if you are not using the stealth power, you need to get other powers like Weave to get decent defense, unless you want set bonuses. Kinetic Combat is one expensive set. 
4. Yes, Psionic damage sucks. This is part of the reason why I chose Dark Melee as primary so I have another heal in Siphon Life and tohit debuff to avoid some psi damage.
5. Stop carrying so many Green inspirations! After you got Energy Drain, you really only need Purple! Just with one purple, your defense is high enough to take most alpha. With two purples, you are god-mode. Just carry one or two greens in case you get unlucky heavy hits in a row. And I only carry one blue.
6. Energy Aura has repel protection. I love it when I stand beside Singularity pet when I fought Family bosses. :P
Honestly, Energy Aura on Brute offers a different and yet EFFECTIVE gameplay style. You see Masterminds trying to be "Tanker". Well, you can turn your Brute into a Stalker-like while still doing awesome damage and being able to tank when you want to!
What's left is to normalize all Assassin Strikes and improve Stalker's old sets (Claw, MA and EM)! You don't need to bring back the missing PbAoE attack. You just need to make the existing ones better! For example, make Slice a WIDER and LONGER cone.
I can't speak to Energy / Energy directly, but I do have a level 50 Kinetic Melee / Energy / Energy and he's quite powerful.
I find KM to be very thematically and SFX matched with Energy Aura; the animations and auras synch up very naturally. I also like having an uncommon power set combo; I've only run into one other KM/EA early on, and not at all in the upper levels.
It required persistent pursuit of key IO sets, of course, but I've got 46-47 percent vs Smashing Lethal Energy Fire and Cold, 35% vs Negative, and 20% vs Psi.
As a side effect, Melee, Ranged, AoE are also btwn 20-25% DEF from the IO bonuses, CJ, and Maneuvers.
The combat stealth is actually quite nice and though I didn't think I'd like it on a Brute, I've had no problems maintaining Fury at max. I took Taunt both as a set mule and to help me pull exactly as much aggro as I want / need to keep Fury going; secondarily it allows me to be helpful on teams. It's actually very efficient.
The control and Damage Debuff of KM is very effective. The AoE knockdown of Burst, and stuns are very reliable and help boost up my survivability.
I never ever ever run out of END, except right after the T9 crash. With accolades and Superior Conditioning I have 120 END, a really high REC, and with Energy Drain I can get back END as frequently as every 28 seconds (and a decent heal - I slotted it as a click heal and get 86 health per person around me). Even the T9 crash is easily manageable.
I recently ran the Sarah Moore TF and the Rularuu tore me up a bit (I'm DEF based; what are ya gonna do?), but other than that I very rarely go face first. I sailed up to level 32, and quickly got thru the 40's. I ran a lot of TF's, did the badge granting missions via Ouro, and did a bunch of Hero Merit missions; leveling was on "automatic".
It may not be for everyone, but honestly this character has been the most fun character I've ever leveled in CoH, even displacing my original year one character and long time main from my "most favorite" spot. And I've leveled a bunch of characters. Give it a try and see what you think...
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Thanks for the input, Jibikao. My normal playstyle is very ambush-y so Energy Aura sounds like a good match. To be honest, I've never tried Taunt before, but you're right about I19 freeing up most builds. Maybe it's time to give it a try.
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Originally Posted by Jibikao
2. Take Taunt! Brute's Taunt has no accuracy check. With i19, you have one more room to take it. Use it to grab aggro when you want to. Use it to generate Taunt! Use it to Pull! I've never taken Taunt before until I made my DA/EA. I love it. It costs no endurance too. Honestly, Energy Aura on Brute offers a different and yet EFFECTIVE gameplay style. You see Masterminds trying to be "Tanker". Well, you can turn your Brute into a Stalker-like while still doing awesome damage and being able to tank when you want to! |
I appreciate the suggestions KillerShrike. With 2 experienced EA brutes recommending Taunt (you and Jibikao), it's time to try it for myself. Also nice to know that the defense IOs are doable, if not necessarily easy. I'm definitely getting psyched for this character.
I played a EM/EA back in I5. Shelved and finally deleted just before I9. It was definitely a favorite. Even back then with just SO's it was still pretty solid. For I while I could even Fite Club pretty well with him. Soloed pretty much all of the villain content at +2/3. As several people have said, Energy Melee is really single target oriented. This was my first villain to get to 50. I've been thinking about remaking him recently, with the recent endgame additions.
Like most altoholics, I'm often looking for powerset combos that I haven't tried before. It recently dawned on me that, for some reason, I've overlooked energy/energy. I also don't think I've seen anyone else playing this combo either in nearly 2 years of game play.
From what I've read, the conventional wisdom on energy aura is that it's fairly mediocre and that other secondaries outshine it in various ways. Despite this, I'm inclined to try it out and pair it with energy melee. The two sets seem thematically compatible, even if there's not much actual synergy. The combo also seems to lend itself to a science-fictiony backstory.
So for those who've tried the combo, what was good about it? If you tried it and thought it sucked, then I'd also like to know why. It's quite possible that your misgivings about the combo could relate to your playstyle and may not be applicable to me. This would be for a solo PvE character.
Thanks for your time.