Tell me about Energy Aura

For a long time, Energy Aura was a much-maligned power set, and when there are so many other (great) options available, and since it doesn't really have anything that can't conceptually be done with another set, I never really cared to look into it.
Somewhat recently, though, EA got a pretty sizable round of changes. I'm very curious about how people with experience using the set feel about it now.

Specifically I'd like to know:

1. How does Energy Aura compare to other armor sets?
2. How does Energy Aura compare to itself, when employed by the different archetypes it is available to?

I24 Proc Chance = (Enhanced Recharge + Activation Time) * (Current PPM * 1.25) / 60*(1 + .75*(.15*Radius - 0.011*Radius*(360-Arc)/30))
Single Target Radius = 0. AoE Non-Cone Arc = 360.

My Stj/EnA Brute hit 49 last night, so I'll chime in with my thoughts:

Energy Aura is Pretty Good. Not awesome, but Pretty Good. Its a very clicky set, not a set-and-forget set like Invul or Wp. Energy Drain and Energize both recharge very fast, and you frequently need them, especially Energy Drain.

The lovely boost in recharge you get from Entropic Aura means you will cycle attacks faster, and blow through end fast, so you need to pop Energy Drain that much more often. Plus it offers a nice little boost to defense.

Building to typed defense instead of positional is a bit of a chore, but I haven't played with sets yet to see how far that can be taken. That Psi defense hole, though... yeesh.

And as useful as Energy Cloak is, I hate not being able to see my costume until the middle of a brawl. :-/

EA is actually pretty damned nice these days.

I recently got a WM/EA scrapper up to 50, and it's a plenty effective.

Adding in tough and weave, plus minimal set bonuses I have it softcapped for S/L and over 40% def for energy/fire/cold. Negative energy is a slight hole, and psi/toxic are unpleasant. The fact that you run around with a good amount of energy and L/S resistance really does have an impact on survivability. The recharge bonus is also quite welcome. I can easily enough solo on x7 or x8. You can heal when you need to, and you really never run out of endurance.

The nice thing about the set is that you can get L/S softcapped without buying kinetic combats for those ridiculous costs. Smashing Haymaker is actually sufficient (and way cheaper).

EA is really nice now, still not the best, but it is really nice. (dont want that nerf bat swinging at it...)

When you get to Incarnate level things, the Kin Combats are welcomed over the Smashing Haymakers, but that is because the soft cap needed is higher. Until that point though, the lower price works just fine.

I have a kin/EA brute I run in incarnate trials and it works great.

Ice Ember

I doubt any ATO will get more expensive once i22 hit live.

First reason is people can spend their tokens on super packs when i 22 hit live which means more chance to get ATO's and if not that more chance to get merits to get ATO's.

Second Reason is enhahcement converters can be used to convert to same set piece into a random one. Surely it may take some time to get what you want but so far I didn't had any problem to get whatever set i want in beta with only super packs bought with my tokens for my main and secondary toons and still have enough to get two or three more toons with either sets I have in my email or merits i got from packs. So if prices will increase on market people will stop buying higher ones and just get the cheapest sets (some are under 10mil which i think ridiculous considering they need at least 25mil to buy from merit vendors+correct amount of merits) and than convert until they get what they want.

Returning to topic. Two set of three scrapper ATO gives %5 s/l defense if normal and %10 s/l defense if superior. IIRC brute and stalker sets are same and so far this is best defense buff in the game for a mere 6 slot.

How potent, and how reliable, is the Recharge bonus?

I24 Proc Chance = (Enhanced Recharge + Activation Time) * (Current PPM * 1.25) / 60*(1 + .75*(.15*Radius - 0.011*Radius*(360-Arc)/30))
Single Target Radius = 0. AoE Non-Cone Arc = 360.

Of the top of my head, it is about 3% per for, up to 10, with the first giving more. So A full sized mob gets you at least 30-40.

Energy Aura is a great set, now. I am even one of teh few people who think it was pretty (or any) good way back when. One of the first friends I made playing the game (started redside) used to play a SS/Ea brute and he was and still is, the best melee I have ever seen.

I saw him, and the set, do simply amazing things, back when we still had SO's. Then sets came along, and it was seriously good. This was a time when elec armour was far and away the most popular brute secondary, and EA was laughed at. He even used to pvp with the toon, during a time where any defence set was 'lol', especially with scrappers and tanks having Foc Acc.

In regards to it's bad rep..I think the main problem with EA, especially before IOs and sets, was the huge imbalance of psy and toxic damage, redside to blue. Arachnos show up all the way 1-50 there, and as an EA played knows..once psy comes in, you go splat. I'd say this tainted the perception of EA, and gave it the label of an under
performing set.

My question is...what would have happened if EA had of been a scrapper set, from the start (before the energize and drain changes). Given the rarity of psy blueside, the lack of arachnos arcs, only a few carnie contacts...I think it would have been well liked.

I have two EA's now..an Stj/EA scrapper and Tw/Ea brute, made one after the other, and I love the set to bits.

The one problem I see is that the colored GFX from the toggles are very minimal, apart from one shield, which overpowers the rest. I want to be prettty! And Strong.

To the OP,

Honestly, as someone with an EA brute for every original primary, I can flatly tell you:

During SO days, Energy Aura on brutes was better than ElA (everyone admit it, the first rendition of ElA stunk and we all just loved that shiny). Now, on scrappers and with the newest changes, it is superior to SR in all applicable situations, even standing there taking it from Romans (defense failure is defense failure). The Psi/Tox hole is present but negligible.

Soul Mastery and Darkest Night make EA even more hilarious. Though I, personally, have retired all melee toons because my Elec/TW/Soul tank is insane and will never be topped by any toon I can make and like, I still sometimes scoot over to my dump server and give the ole SS/EA a run or two, laughing at the Rikti as they melt before my awesome.

I want to know what a character with all energy aura toogles on looks like, you cant do that at character creator...

Really wish the update to Energy Drain added Defense Debuff Resistance though. 51% without my God Mode is quite low.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shubbie Im very good at taking a problem and making it worse.

I'd say EA was pretty good before, but it did get better. If you like Def based sets, it's got a lot to offer. You can cap to most everything with not too much effort (obviously Neg and Psi are the exceptions). You get a fast heal that also discounts End costs, so really no need for a Cardiac on this build and E.Drain can help fill your Def fuller still, fill your blue bar, and can provide some sapper style mitigation. The +recharge is great, since you get more of it when you'll likely need it most.

Having fully kitted out SRs, EAs, Shields, and SoAs/Widows, I know my Def-based melee sets. I prefer SR and Shields over EA for the Positional over typed, and Prefer SR a lot for the DDR. But EA holds it own vs SR for the recharge (or even slightly pulls ahead) and beats all the other Def sets on that front. It has a great (if not the best) self-heal in hte field, and frankly has no worries at all over the blue bar.

A totally respectable set in all ways.


I know I repeated a lot of Firespray's points, but the were good points, what can I say. Well, I guess I could have said.... "I agree with this....." ---------->

Quote:

Originally Posted by firespray Saying EA is better than SR in all situations is a bit of a stretch. It's better in some situations. Against things doing S/L, Fire/Cold, or Energy damage, and that don't do much in the way of defense debuffs, EA is better, due to the heal, and the fact that with a lot of enemies around you the recharge buff from entropic aura is better than the one from quickness. Against things that do negative, unless you can cap out energy drain (which you won't most of the time), SR has more defense, though the heal and the tiny bit of negative resist probably even things out. Against psi and toxic damage SR is WAY ahead of EA since most psi/toxic attacks still have a positional component. And against things that do significant defense debuffs, SR pulls ahead by quite a bit, since it's easy to get 95% DDR at level 50, and EA only gets 50%, meaning it's much more susceptible to cascading defense failure. That being said, I'm not trying to knock EA, it's a great set now, and I'm very much enjoying it myself. Especially the toggle mez protection. I just don't want people to get a mistaken impression about it.

People tend to forget Super Reflexes's damage resistance factor as well. It may only be useful "when it shouldn't be applicable," but it's quite useful when you need it.

Glad you pointed that out Sailboat...

I'll test it and let ya know.