Comparing SR and EA

[drgantz]

I had an StJ/SR Stalker and levelled it to 50.  It felt weak playing it.  It was difficult maintaining end, especially around drainers.  I often lost my toggles because of end.  Even with Stamina and Phys Perf 3 slotted with end mod, I still lost all my end around drainers.   I definitely got hit as well, and definitely  used my greens. 

Some people gave advice for maintaining end, such as end red enh.  This helped and I lasted a lot longer, but drainers still hurt. 
I used SR because the toon had Natural Origin.

 

Out of curiosity, I tried EA and tried to make it as subtle as possible.  I thought it was awesome.  The protection was good.  When my end got low, I used End Drain and when I got hurt, I used Energize.  I rarely ran out of end, unless I forgot to pay attention.

I made two StJ/EA toons.  One   had a red costume and had a bright effect with red color, and the other had a black costume with a bright effect and almost black color.  Both EAs were visible, but not massively obvious.

 

I conclude from this experience that EA is awesome!

[Zect]

EA is very versatile and concept-neutral; definitely one of the easiest sets for new stalkers to pick up and wield effectively. The only part that's remotely tricky lies in plugging the neg hole, because the most slot-efficient sources of EN def are pbaoes, ranged ST and holds, all of which are in short supply on most stalkers.

[Solarverse]

The best Stalker I played in this game back when I did play (Homecoming, not live) was an Elec/Elec Stalker. The Elec Armor was very survivable when you bring your defense up. The resistance and immunity to end drain plus the defense you can pick up in various ways made me very powerful. I have had many compliments on him throughout my days of gaming with Homecoming. Give that a shot and see if it doesn't strike your fancy.

[aethereal]

If you're interested in a defense set that goes well with natural origin and has a heal, there's always Ninjutsu.

 

Now, unfortunately, I think the Stalker version of Ninjutsu is just straight up inferior to the Scrapper/Sentinel version, which includes an endurance tool as well.  To some extent, if you want to make a ninjutsu stalker, I like...  sort of endorse making a /ninjutsu scrapper instead -- you get a lite version of Stalker hide mechanics, you get some stealth in Ninjutsu (though not full invisibility like a Stalker), and you get a typed defense set with a heal and an end tool.  But I've taken a /ninj stalker to 50 and it was fine too.

Edited February 5, 2023 by aethereal

[drgantz]

I just made a comparison using the test server.  I made level 50 StJ SR and EA, with no enhancements.

The EA had a Def of 16% in most areas except Psy and Toxic, while the SR had 19% across all.

The EA also had 7.5% Res in many areas, while the SR had 0%.

I'm guessing that EA's self heal will help make up for the Tox and Psy hole.

I also dislike EA's appearance for a Natural, but it is not as bad as many other armors.

[InvaderStych]

7 hours ago, drgantz said:

 

I also dislike EA's appearance for a Natural, but it is not as bad as many other armors.

 

fwiw: Going with the de-saturated end of a given color row in the bright palette usually results in auras that are fairly unobtrusive.

[silverpeacock]

12 minutes ago, InvaderStych said:

 

fwiw: Going with the de-saturated end of a given color row in the bright palette usually results in auras that are fairly unobtrusive.

Is that the left side or the right side?  Thank you, I can't play any of my Bio armor critters because I hate the overlay, so maybe this will help.

[InvaderStych]

6 minutes ago, silverpeacock said:

Is that the left side or the right side?  Thank you, I can't play any of my Bio armor critters because I hate the overlay, so maybe this will help.

 

I want to say err to the left, but depending on the power that's not always the most minimal effect. Sometimes there are shifts where a power uses a variant palette for some reason.

 

I pretty much only use the "Bright" palette as the "Dark" ones tend to just have blackened clouds with a tint on my low gfx settings. 🤣

 

Far left are the darkest colors with less saturation, there's an off-center column of the "deepest" colors, then they get progressively brighter working rightward along the row, then eventually lose saturation again to the far right. I'd have to look but iirc the column on the furthest right breaks that pattern? Depending on the aura sometimes left is better and sometimes right in order to fade it out. Takes a bit of experimentation.

 

The top grays are good for slight effects, but white is blinding for example.

 

Yeah, I can't even with /Bio either. I've seen some awesome applications of the full overlays though, but never came up with one. Minimal effects on that set are ok, but iirc on a couple powers the boogers still appear, if only briefly.

[Andreah]

8 hours ago, drgantz said:

The EA also had 7.5% Res in many areas, while the SR had 0%.

 

SR will get scaling resistances as they lose health. This is very powerful, and automatic. 

 

I have both kinds, and I like both, but my overall feeling is SR is better overall.