KM/EA really that rare?
I would assume it is very uncommon because of all the other sets you can roll. It's not "FoTM" so people don't choose it much. Just like Dark Melee/Energy Aura.
I have hardly seeny any DM/EA, yet.. The two seem perfect for eachother. Soul Drain + Entropic Aura + Energy Drain work very well together. When surrounded by enemies your damage, defense, and recharge are all buffed to very high levels. Not to mention with a very inexpensive build you can: Soft cap defense, perma Hasten, and perma Soul Drain.
I can only speak for myself, but the reasons I don't use Energy Aura are that yes it's easy to softcap, but it offers little in the way of resistances. There are other sets that are more difficult to softcap, but also bring more to the table.
I don't use Kinetic Melee primarily because the animations seem rather long, and most of the damage comes from Power Siphon, which is down more often than it's up unless you have very high recharge bonuses. I've also noticed it doing a lot of knockback on (I think) even-con foes, which is a massive downside for a melee set.
Where are we going, and why am I in this hand basket?
-The aoe on KM is tiny (8')
-KM doesn't appeal to many because of the silly animations.
-It's not SS and it's not TW.
-Energy Aura doesn't have a damage aura, damage auras are king for brutes.
-Energy Aura is a defense based set, Resist based sets are typically better for brutes.
All that being said, it's your account/time. If you wanna give Kinetic Melee/Energy Aura a whirl, knock yourself out. Worst case you find you don't like it, delete the character, and be wiser for the experience.
Where are we going, and why am I in this hand basket?
-Energy Aura doesn't have a damage aura, damage auras are king for brutes. -Energy Aura is a defense based set, Resist based sets are typically better for brutes. |
Could you elaborate on these latter two items? Why are these things true in particular?
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Resistance on a brute is good for what I would assume is because of its high HP, defense is good too.. But with defense, you will be getting hit hard.
Damage auras are good on most melee characters, but Brutes in particular enjoy the benefit of the constant damage ticks that help keep Fury up. They also help keep the aggro on the Brute, which in turn helps keep Fury up.
Resist based sets are typically better because, while defense is very useful, the Brute is still going to get hit. It's also much easier to take a resistance based set and softcap its defense than it is to raise the damage resistance of a defense based set.
Where are we going, and why am I in this hand basket?
I have seen a lot of km/ea brutes around. Particularly because this is a thematic and good looking pairing. Who knows, maybe it's just me.
I think you should roll one and enjoy it. If farming isn't your priority, don't worry about it.
Words to the wise aren't necessary- it's the stupid ones that need them.
"You're right...I forgot...being constantly at or the near the damage cap is a big turn off. Definitely not worth it."
- Vitality
I can only speak for myself, but the reasons I don't use Energy Aura are that yes it's easy to softcap, but it offers little in the way of resistances. There are other sets that are more difficult to softcap, but also bring more to the table.
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Now toss on top of that the ability to debuff your opponent's damage with your attacks and you've gotten even more pseudo damage resistance. On anything you've hit you're looking at, in combination with EA above, taking damage at a rate equivalent to a character with 22% damage resistance. And that before you've applied the first bit of damage resistance to your character.
Under construction
When looking at the combination of a primary and secondary powerset I prefer to look at what they both bring uniquely to the table which can be leveraged by something in the other set. As example, on my KM/SD Against All Odds brings extra damage based on the number of foes nearby and Power Siphon also ups damage, so in combination I want to lay down area attacks, especially after having ramped up Power Siphon a bit.
KM/EA does not strike me as being obvious in its points of synergistic leveraging. This does not mean it is a bad combo nor does it mean there aren't things to be done with it.
Entropic Aura depresses nearby opponents recharge and ramps yours. If you can keep 10 opponents nearby you're gaining a bit more than the benefit of an SO of Recharge to everything you have on top of slowing incoming attacks by those foes. Toss in that Power Siphon means you are applying a damage debuff to what you are hitting. Sure, you may not have incredibly high resistances built in but you will at times operate as if you had them.
The base recharge on Burst is 15 seconds. With 10 foes nearby and Entropic Aura that drops to 11.25 seconds. Add 2 Attack Rate SOs and with sufficient foes it is now at 7.5 seconds. 14 Endurance per hit? Well, its not like you don't have Energy Drain. You'd probably want to pick up Spring Attack as another means of delivering AE damage.
Extra Recharge from Entropic Aura also increase the number of Concentrated Strikes you can launch, which in turn increases the likelihood of recharing Power Siphon.
Under construction
I think KM/EA works better for scrappers in general.
EA is supressing the attack rate of opponents. If I am reading City of Data correctly it is applying a 16% recharge penalty to nearby foes--meaning they are making 6 attacks when normally they would be making 7 attacks. That is equivalent to 14% damage resistance so long as the attacks are coming for closer than 8'--mostly melee attacks but if you happen to be standing next to something targetting you with ranged powers they get impacted as well.
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If you want rare... Try a Dual Blades/EA Brute... I sometimes think mine is the only one of that combo in the whole game!
"Well, there's going to be some light music and a short note of apology saying, 'The universe ended last week, we're really sorry, we don't know what you're doing here, didn't you get the message?'"- Steve Moffat
/EA is not particularly better for brutes or scraps; six of one, half dozen of the other. But the gig with KM is the +dam, which will be better on a scrapper due to the higher base. Ditto DM and Soul Drain.
That doesn't make it 'bad' on a brute. Just a little better on a scrapper. Play what's fun!
I really enjoy my KM/EA Brute and while it may not be the BEST combo in the game if thats all ppl play the game would be boring with only 1-2 combos available per AT.
It DOES have low resistances but it is a DEF set so thats what you get.
It doesnt have a damage aura because it is a Def set and no Def set gets a damage aura.
Its +END/Def power is fun to use. I usually slow for EndMod not only so I get mroe End back but also to drain my foes End by something like 50% (exact numbers escape me as Im not home) of their Endurance.
The +Def is only a small amount but when saturated is 7-8 percent which is a nice buff.
/Inv can get its S/L Def softcapped with IO Sets along with its S/L Res close to hardcap.
Are you able to use IO's? If not good luck softcapping anything (except /SR).
/Inv has no damage aura.
/Inv has no +rech/-end (foe)/+end/+Def/+EndDis/+Regen
/Inv DOES have a +MaxHP
If you only care about %Min/Max enjoy your SS/Inv character.
if you only care about Farming enjoy your /Fire Resistance character and Firefarms.
If you want to try something different try everything - go nuts - find what you enjoy and dont. While spending hours and hours on a bad combo (for you) may "waste" time you can only go so far based on others recommendations.
If your worried about the lack of Resistance /EA has carry some Orange Insps.
That depends heavily on what you are fighting and how many of them.
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The exact degree of its effectiveness will vary depending on foes, but will pretty much never work out equivalent to 16% damage resist, especially since it's reduced by the purple patch and by AV debuff resistance.
KM/EA seems more common on scrappers, at least that I've seen, probably because they get more benefit from Power Siphon, and can recharge it instantly. It's still far from bad on a brute, though.
Yes, that was mentioned; in fact, you had to deliberately omit it from your quote, so o.O
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The exact degree of its effectiveness will vary depending on foes, but will pretty much never work out equivalent to 16% damage resist, especially since it's reduced by the purple patch and by AV debuff resistance. |
KM/EA seems more common on scrappers, at least that I've seen, probably because they get more benefit from Power Siphon, and can recharge it instantly. It's still far from bad on a brute, though. |
Under construction
It doesnt have a damage aura because it is a Def set and no Def set gets a damage aura.
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Hey everyone! Just got back from a long break and spent some time perusing the forums before posting this: It seems that EA/KM is an extreme rarity for Brutes, but I'm unsure of why.
It seems like EA is easy enough to reach the soft cap on its own, and the synergy between the sets seems to be there. Entropic Aura slows down enemy recharge, while dramatically boosting your own. Pair that with Siphon Power, which reduces enemy damage quite a bit while stacking +damage on you like crazy. Entropic Aura lets you get more attacks in during the short window that Siphon Power is up, ensuring that you get your 5 stacks (and the ability to spread them around if you like). On the thematic side, the pieces are there too. Pulling the energy from the enemy to redirect and focus back at them in a damaging way.
Is it unpopular because the combo wouldn't be a good farmer? Is it something else that I'm missing?