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Cons as you list them:|
Originally Posted by 4c3Player
Ive recently came to the realization that EA is quite good while messing around on mid's and id like to share the pro's and the con's of it, to inform people who may not know of it and are looking for a good secondary and to see what other people think of energy aura as a whole
Pros 1. Stacking +recharge in Entropic Aura 2. Decent self heal 3. Self + endurance power 4. Great tier 9 for sticky situations 5. Great defense values 6. A little RES 7. Endurance drain protection (Silly sappers you cant hurt me!) 8. Self stealth (tied with super speed is just as good as invisibility) Cons 1. Endurance heavy 2. Harsh crash in Overload (leaves you with 0 endurance) 3. Defense debuff protection isnt great 4. Bit of a weakness for Negative damage 3. Very little psionic protection I may have missed some, but those are the things i can think of right away, These are the reasons i feel EA is one of the best, if not the best scrapper secondary, its like Fire aura, but for defense, The defense is like SR, but it does so much more! |
1. End-heavy until later levels, maybe. EA gives you bottomless endurance and is up very quickly for most builds with some recharge.
2. AFAIK, Overload may leave you bottomless on end, but I think it doesn't have any health crash at all. I wouldn't call that "harsh", but more forgiving than some.
3. IMO, Defense Debuff protection seems about average for most Defense-based sets.
4. I'll give you that it's a little harder to softcap Negative than to softcap S/L (and lolenergy), but it still isn't THAT hard. Make good use of some Eradications in your PBAoE powers, that'll get you 3.13% E/N defense per power.
5. Very, very few things have Psionic protection at all, so this isn't a specific shortcoming, imo. The only ones I can think of off the top of my head that are great against Psi are /Dark, /WP and /Elec.
For the record, I agree with you, EA is a fantastic set. I'm just not sure I entirely agreed with the cons you listed.
While I agree that Softcapping NE isn't that hard on Energy Aura doing so might gimp your build in other areas.
Still, it's trivial to get NE to 32.5-36% defense and just pop purples when the odd CoT/BP/Council/5th mish comes up.
And it's not endurance heavy compared to attack aura sets (Dark, Fire and Elec). In addition it also has two endurance managment tools, Energize (The set's heal) and Energy Drain.
Because of this it's a better choice to pair with endurance hungry sets like Titan Weapons.
The endurance and recovery debuff resistances aren't stellar, but they're there. A Sapper can still drain you, unlike Elec, but they'll have a harder time of it.
A +Stealth IO in sprint will also give you enough invisiblity to do the Robot in front of a mob without them seeing (Provided they don't have +Perception)
I thought it also had a big TOXIC hole. And the def-debuff weakness (low) is notable, no?
One thing I am noticing on soft-capped S/L/E/N toons is that the psi hole is HUGE for things like Carnies and Fortunatas/NW, especially on +3/+6-+8. An /SR or /SD positional toon sometimes fares better as even if the attacks are psi, they *sometimes* are tagged as positional (ranged, AOE, etc). 2 dark ring mistresses will shred my soft-capped Ice Armor stalker unless I deal with them quickly, etc. Just something to bear in mind for sets like EA.
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Yes. Yes it is!
| Energy Aura? AWESOME? |
The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
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Something worth noting that I've seen with both my /EA scrapper and my /Inv brute - chasing E/N defense bonuses will also get you some small amounts of Ranged defense that can help reduce the pain of psi attacks.|
Originally Posted by Granite Agent
I thought it also had a big TOXIC hole. And the def-debuff weakness (low) is notable, no?
One thing I am noticing on soft-capped S/L/E/N toons is that the psi hole is HUGE for things like Carnies and Fortunatas/NW, especially on +3/+6-+8. An /SR or /SD positional toon sometimes fares better as even if the attacks are psi, they *sometimes* are tagged as positional (ranged, AOE, etc). 2 dark ring mistresses will shred my soft-capped Ice Armor stalker unless I deal with them quickly, etc. Just something to bear in mind for sets like EA. |
Arachnos just sucks on higher difficulties no matter what.
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As does Longbow.
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Originally Posted by Kazz
Something worth noting that I've seen with both my /EA scrapper and my /Inv brute - chasing E/N defense bonuses will also get you some small amounts of Ranged defense that can help reduce the pain of psi attacks.
Arachnos just sucks on higher difficulties no matter what. |
Dr and kazz, you both present very valid points, mostly what everyone has said so far is my Cons were TOO HARSH, that shows a good secondary, no?
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Regards, Four-Cee-Three
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Pretty much.|
Originally Posted by 4c3Player
Dr and kazz, you both present very valid points, mostly what everyone has said so far is my Cons were TOO HARSH, that shows a good secondary, no?
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Sure, Eng has it's flaws, but what set doesn't? Since it's rebuilding by the devs it's gone from an 'okay but not that good' set to 'oooohhh yeah, this is wicked' set.
It's good, but not as good as SR, WP, or Shield.
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Do you have some comparative analysis to support such an absolute statement or is it just standard forum booty talk?
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Originally Posted by Polydeuces
It's good, but not as good as SR, WP, or Shield.
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The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
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Off the top of my head, |
Originally Posted by Darth_Khasei
Do you have some comparative analysis to support such an absolute statement or is it just standard forum booty talk?
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SR:
-Passive +20% recharge
-95% DDR
-Easier to soft-cap because of positional defense
-Easiest to Incarnate soft-cap because of high defense values
-Minimal psi hole (only psi attacks you won't be dodging are of the Mind Control type which usually deal low damage)
-No toxic hole
Shield:
-Minimal crash T9
-Easier to soft-cap because of positional defense
-Built-in AoE attack
-Minimal psi hole
-No toxic hole
WP:
-Minimal crash T9
-Soft-capping S/L gives you impressive layered defense
-No psi hole
-Quick Recovery
In EA's defense, it's probably the best set to play while leveling. Good defense, a +Recharge aura, good heal/end management and stealth. Hit the later levels, however, and you'll start getting decked by Carnies, Arachnos, Rularuu, Rikti, Praetorian Seers anything with psi. DE bosses will wear you down with their toxic ranged attacks.
You can solve that by popping a few lucks but then that defeats the purpose of soft-capping all the other damage types, which is a hassle in itself. Try to patch the psi-hole and you're gimped on recharge and other areas, I would imagine.
Great set to level but it's not as well-rounded as the other sets mentioned when it comes to end-game.
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Originally Posted by Polydeuces
Off the top of my head,
SR: -Passive +20% recharge -95% DDR -Easier to soft-cap because of positional defense -Easiest to Incarnate soft-cap because of high defense values -Minimal psi hole (only psi attacks you won't be dodging are of the Mind Control type which usually deal low damage) -No toxic hole Shield: -Minimal crash T9 -Easier to soft-cap because of positional defense -Built-in AoE attack -Minimal psi hole -No toxic hole WP: -Minimal crash T9 -Soft-capping S/L gives you impressive layered defense -No psi hole -Quick Recovery In EA's defense, it's probably the best set to play while leveling. Good defense, a +Recharge aura, good heal/end management and stealth. Hit the later levels, however, and you'll start getting decked by Carnies, Arachnos, Rularuu, Rikti, Praetorian Seers anything with psi. DE bosses will wear you down with their toxic ranged attacks. You can solve that by popping a few lucks but then that defeats the purpose of soft-capping all the other damage types, which is a hassle in itself. Try to patch the psi-hole and you're gimped on recharge and other areas, I would imagine. Great set to level but it's not as well-rounded as the other sets mentioned when it comes to end-game. |
My KM/EA scrapper just does not have the issue you described with late game enemy groups. However, as I learned when I was running an I9 version of the PB through late game content mopping the floor with Carnie Illusionist, nothing is equal in terms of gameplay style and therefore experiences.
Thanks for the breakdown.
The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
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I'm not yet sure how new EA compares to /WP and /Shield, but I'd rate it above /SR for most purposes. It has resists that work all the time, a very good heal, and incredible endurance management, yet still isn't very difficult to softcap.
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Originally Posted by Polydeuces
It's good, but not as good as SR, WP, or Shield.
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My EA does have issues with psi enemies. Being first into a spawn set at 6+ players with a Master Illusionist or two, I don't last very long. I don't benchmark sets by trying to solo 6+ player spawns but I usually am the first one to jump in when running with a team. EA just doesn't allow for this when there is a healthy mix of psi dealing mobs. Not as well as the other sets I mentioned anyway.
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Originally Posted by Darth_Khasei
My KM/EA scrapper just does not have the issue you described with late game enemy groups. However, as I learned when I was running an I9 version of the PB through late game content mopping the floor with Carnie Illusionist, nothing is equal in terms of gameplay style and therefore experiences.
Thanks for the breakdown. |
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I here people say the same thing about Inv and I just have never had this problem. Then again I never had a problem with voids and no mezz protection on old PB's, so I am still inclined to think this is more a playstyle deal than something truly crippling. Heck it might be a YMMV deal. No worries I'll continue to rock my KM/EA as I have before.
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Originally Posted by Polydeuces
My EA does have issues with psi enemies. Being first into a spawn set at 6+ players with a Master Illusionist or two, I don't last very long. I don't benchmark sets by trying to solo 6+ player spawns but I usually am the first one to jump in when running with a team. EA just doesn't allow for this when there is a healthy mix of psi dealing mobs. Not as well as the other sets I mentioned anyway.
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The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
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Yeah, probably not pushing yourself far enough.
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Originally Posted by Darth_Khasei
I here people say the same thing about Inv and I just have never had this problem. Then again I never had a problem with voids and no mezz protection on old PB's, so I am still inclined to think this is more a playstyle deal than something truly crippling. Heck it might be a YMMV deal. No worries I'll continue to rock my KM/EA as I have before.
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I don't know why you would make that kind of assumption out of the blue having never played with me, but that is the kind of thing people here do for whatever reason.
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Originally Posted by Polydeuces
Yeah, probably not pushing yourself far enough.
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The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
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That about sums it up for me. I still have plans to roll a new /SR character with thematic justification for Aid Self (as a Brute, though, not scrapper, because the lack of a taunt aura makes scrapper /SR unplayable (but that's a whole nother can of worms!)) at some point in the future.|
Originally Posted by Hopeling
I'm not yet sure how new EA compares to /WP and /Shield, but I'd rate it above /SR for most purposes. It has resists that work all the time, a very good heal, and incredible endurance management, yet still isn't very difficult to softcap.
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Originally Posted by Polydeuces
Yeah, probably not pushing yourself far enough.
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If you've absolutely never run into any issues whatsoever, then it is reasonable to assume you prefer soloing or are a sideline scrapper in groups. Why? Because an IO'ed out EA that didn't build for Psi defense will only have around 18% Psionic defense (Weave, CJ, Maneuvers, 2x +3% defense procs) which will be eaten through when you jump into a bunch of +2 hard-hitting psi mobs.|
Originally Posted by Darth_Khasei
I don't know why you would make that kind of assumption out of the blue having never played with me, but that is the kind of thing people here do for whatever reason.
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Originally Posted by Kazz
Maybe he doesn't want to push himself. That's the best part about the game: you can play at whatever's fun for you. Besides, if you're (apparently) masochistic enough to willingly do Carnies/Arachnos at ultra-high difficulties without making allowances... well, I sure wouldn't.
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Again, EA has some great tools and is very attractive for leveling. But sets like SR pull ahead in the end, where you can soft-cap all positions easily without holes and have Rebirth Destiny for your heal.
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I play my KM/EA vs +4 settings. I solo and play on teams. |
Originally Posted by Polydeuces
If you've absolutely never run into any issues whatsoever, then it is reasonable to assume you prefer soloing or are a sideline scrapper in groups. Why? Because an IO'ed out EA that didn't build for Psi defense will only have around 18% Psionic defense (Weave, CJ, Maneuvers, 2x +3% defense procs) which will be eaten through when you jump into a bunch of +2 hard-hitting psi mobs.
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On teams I am not a tank and don't try to jump in taking team alpha's in +4 content.
In terms of mitigation against hard hitting enemies, I do that before jumping into a bunch of them, YMMV.
The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
There is something that I feel is not being taken into account when it comes to EA (and ElecA when it is discussed) and that thing is Energy Drain.
1. With the right slotting it is pretty easy to completely drain a mobs end. Oddly mobs w/o end don't attack much. Go figure.
2. This power not only drains, but adds +Def.
3. It stacks if you have high enough +rech.
So, EA is easy to soft cap to typed damage, has an end drain/recovery, that end drain adds +def, and can be stacked. This puts it above SR, and WP. Shield is pretty hard to beat in most cases, but it takes very heavy IO slotting to reach its real potential.
I have every scrapper secondary except fire at lvl 50. EA and ElecA are by and far my favorite. I do tend to push myself with Pylon tests, and the RWZ challenge.
Now for some numbers, which I suck at, so I will give the numbers and someone else can do the math if they like. I am using my staff/EA's numbers, well because that is where I am playing right now. I am listing base numbers/1 application of ED/ stacked application.
Ranged 22/22.80/22.80
Melee 38.42/38.42/38.42
AoE 21.55/21.55/21.55
Smashing 60.39/65.34/69.39
Lethal 60.39/65.34/69.39
Fire 47.40/52.35/56.40
Cold 49.56/54.60/58.65
Energy 53.13/58.08/62.13
NE 44.39/49.43/53.39
Psi 21.55/21.55/21.55
I typed this while standing in a group of ten +1 mobs on the wall. They were not attacking much because they didn't have any end. Also my recharge rate at this point was 192.50 which means I can attack A LOT and hit my click heal quite a bit too.
With the soft cap at 45% (iirc) much of that is over kill. Also I am not having any trouble with any of the mobs in the game. On this toon, or on my TW/EA. I am not even the best builder in the world, and did the test build w/o mids to help. EA is a VERY strong set.
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Pretty hard to mitigate a couple of Master Illusionists IMO with their phasing and higher HP at +2 or higher difficulty.|
Originally Posted by Darth_Khasei
I play my KM/EA vs +4 settings. I solo and play on teams.
On teams I am not a tank and don't try to jump in taking team alpha's in +4 content. In terms of mitigation against hard hitting enemies, I do that before jumping into a bunch of them, YMMV. |
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Originally Posted by Zyphoid
I typed this while standing in a group of ten +1 mobs on the wall. They were not attacking much because they didn't have any end. Also my recharge rate at this point was 192.50 which means I can attack A LOT and hit my click heal quite a bit too.
With the soft cap at 45% (iirc) much of that is over kill. Also I am not having any trouble with any of the mobs in the game. On this toon, or on my TW/EA. I am not even the best builder in the world, and did the test build w/o mids to help. EA is a VERY strong set. |
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For you, yet obviously a YMMV type deal as I have stated now for the third time.
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Originally Posted by Polydeuces
Pretty hard to mitigate a couple of Master Illusionists IMO with their phasing and higher HP at +2 or higher difficulty.
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The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
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Go tell controllers and doms that end drain is not mitigation. How much have you actually played EA, and at what level of build? Because the performance issues you say you have seen seem to be different than what the rest of us are seeing. |
Originally Posted by Polydeuces
Pretty hard to mitigate a couple of Master Illusionists IMO with their phasing and higher HP at +2 or higher difficulty.
The end drain isn't really mitigation. It doesn't drain fast enough for you to see benefit since you'll be attacking in most cases. The first ED won't drain a mob's end bar completely. By the time ED has recharged, the mobs should already be dead or close to it. Same thing with the recharge bonus. How often is your Entropic Aura going to be saturated with 10 mobs for you to constantly see benefit from the +40% recharge bonus? Mobs die, and you have to move on to the next spawn and it drops back down to 8.5% meanwhile. I actually prefer Stalker EA, SR, or ElA because their recharge bonuses are an auto +20%. Makes it easier to build for when considering perma-hasten and attack chains. And while stacked ED puts it ahead of SR, it cuts into time that could be spent attacking and directly mitigating. One application of ED with ten mobs puts EA only a little bit ahead of SR but again EA still has to worry about its holes. |
You are putting SR, WP, and Shield over a set that can achieve the same def numbers, has a click heal, a click end drain, and +rech to make both up faster? I get the impression you are intentionally missing a point.
You also seem to think that SR, WP, and Shield have no weak points. Yeah, continuing the conversation is pointless. I will wait let someone else take this up. Me, I am going to make a Staff/Ea toon as soon as it hit live.
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Ive recently came to the realization that EA is quite good while messing around on mid's and id like to share the pro's and the con's of it, to inform people who may not know of it and are looking for a good secondary and to see what other people think of energy aura as a whole i will rate these powers on a 1-5 star basis)
Pros
★1. Stacking +recharge in Entropic Aura.
★2. Decent self heal.
★3. Self + endurance power
★4. Great tier 9 for sticky situations
★5. Great defense values
★6. A little RES
★7. Endurance drain protection (Silly sappers you cant hurt me!)
★8. Self stealth (tied with super speed is just as good as invisibility)
Cons
★1. Endurance heavy
★2. Harsh crash in Overload (leaves you with 0 endurance)
★3. Defense debuff protection isnt great
★4. Bit of a weakness for Negative damage
★3. Very little psionic protection
I may have missed some, but those are the things i can think of right away, These are the reasons i feel EA is one of the best scrapper secondary, its like Fire aura, but for defense, The defense is like SR, but it does so much more!
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Regards, Four-Cee-Three