Elec or Spines?

I'v decided to roll a PVE only stalker. I'm going to use Energy Aura for my secondary, mainly because of Energy drain. I'm just seeing what would be a better choice for AOE combined with EA. I know that stalkers arent used for to much aoe, but I have plenty of exerpience with brutes, and I want to change it up a bit. Plus i'm a big fan of stalkers.
So what do you guys think? Spines or Elec melee?
pros, cons, comments....

I'm a fan of Elec Melee on Stalkers.

To me Stalkers are all about burst damage over DPS, and it so happens Lightning Rod is also all about burst damage, but in the AoE department(It also doesn't break Hide).

I like both primaries.

That said, for PvE only, I'd take Elec over Spines, primarily because of
the Lightning Rod, Thunder Strike combo.

Typically, that combo wipes out a entire spawn by itself, and it still leaves
you with Placate and AS if needed.

More importantly though, is that it's a perfect tactic for dealing with high
perception or stealth ignoring foes, like KoA, or Rikti Drones etc.

The tp-self effect of Lightning Rod allows you to see those mobs far enough
away that they don't react (unlike trying to use an AS). You get the
guaranteed first surprise strike, and with KoA especially, the entire spawn
is usually dead before they even get a chance to use their Caltrops.

For me, that trumps anything I could do to them with Spines. YMMV.

As for secondaries, I'm much more in favor of WP or Nin, so I don't have
anything meaningful to add regarding EA.


Regards,
4

Also Elec.

But... Energy Aura?

Generally speaking, Positional Defense > Typed Defense. Virtually everything in the game has a Melee, Range, or AoE designation. There are a few that don't, but it's very, very rare.

Add to that that while Positional Def set bonuses are one at a time (3.25% Melee Defense, or whatever) and Typed Def set bonuses are two (3.25% Smashing/Lethal Defense, or whatever), there are only 3 Positions but 7 Types.

Typed Defense sets also usually have a pretty heavy hole vs Psionic damage and a weakness to something else. Ice Armor for tanks has a Psi hole as well as virtually no defenses vs Fire. Off the top of my head I can't recall what Energy Aura is, but at a glance it seems to work best against Energy, then Fire/Cold, then S/L, then Neg, then Psi. That's not fantastic. With the right primary to get you access to set bonuses you could patch those holes, but that's true of anything, to a point.

The other thing the Defense sets have going for them is Defense Debuff Resist, and even fully slotted Energy barely seems to top 50% (which is why it gets molested so much on ITFs). The only thing the set REALLY has going for it are Conserve Power and Energy Drain.

Bottom line, for me, is that Energy Aura isn't as terrible as some make it out to be but isn't anywhere near as good as its proponents try to claim. If you're stupidly rich, you can trick it out to be pretty good, but that same wealth could be making a Ninjitsu or SR build nigh immortal for far less effort. That's just for stalkers. Compared to something like Shield with that kind of budget (capped Positionals, better S/L resistance, capped DDR, shield charge, etc) and I'm just not seeing it.

All of which is largely irrelevant if you're making a concept build, want a challenge, or even just want something different.

I personally prefer Def over Res myself, which is why WP has me aggravated so much at the moment on my stalker. The trade off of def where getting hit, when spec'd enough, is rare but that hit hurts; I appreciate it much more than what I'm too stubborn to put down.

i have no problems on the ITF those guys miss me so much and even if they do get a shot in my def doesnt budge from 1 or 2 attacks that may land and by the time the next attack would hit me the other debuffs are faded off already i also have shadow meld and with my slotting adds another 31% to all defense for 15 seconds including PSI wich make's a huge difference for 15 seconds long enough for me to heal.

the thing i like about energy is it has big energy,fire,cold,neg energy alot more typed attack def instead of just S/L or melee everything def is pretty weak to psi but it is indeed avoidable but PSI is also or should be typed as a ranged attack but at the same time is PSI so it is alot less dodged or deflected.

the real wierd thing too i noticed was sometimes loads of psi attacks miss me and im like whoah wth is going on thats wierd like i cant be touched then there are other times where i get hammered on so idk why or whats the difference but its strange.

anyway i just think EA is very good depending on your build and set bonuses you go for im always thinking of ways to squeeze that extra 1% def out of my build all tho its not much its something more that i didn't have before.

Once i get my 3% extra bonus from glad Armour proc ill be golden

Also i don't see many EA running around so i am trying to be different then shield ETC ETC
trying to make EA a power set really worth more to look at i know i could prob make another def type toon that does mad aoe with better def etc etc but i don't want what everyone else has i want to make EA better then that basically i want to take powers that get crapped on and make them shiny

Which is a perfectly valid thing to want to do, but not very helpful for those who aren't in the full thrall of character optimization. EA gets crapped on for a reason, and while it's not as deserving of it as some seem to think, it's not entirely without merit.

I have a Elec/EA stalker in her mid-30s, and I love the character. Highlights of Electrical melee include Lightning Rod, sure, but I like the minor detail that you can slot a 'Chance to heal self' proc in almost every melee attack. This seriously increases the character's durability.

EA seems adequate but unexciting. Energy Drain is another power that helps you stay alive in combat, but in general the EA set feels...typical, nothing special. At least I'll never have to worry about endurance.