*I don't know if this has already been discussed, but I didn't find anything too specific on the forums/wiki*
I would just like to ask: can the shied regeneration boost of the Seraphic Aura be useful? Or is it just barely noticeable?
Does it only affect the speed at which the bar refills, or also the time that the shied takes to start recharging after an attack?
Is this ultimate a valid choice, or is the Valkirian Aura just simply better?
(Also sorry for my bad English *cough*)
Ok, thank you for the reply, i didn't read some of those threads, i'll do it and see if i can find what i'm looking for.
As someone with both, the ultimate is a valid choice.
Seraphic is better for recovery. If you've been crushed down, and you need to get your stuff toghether, it can really help you out by bringing you out of the mess and giving you your shield's health back.
Valkyrie is better for offense. You use it, and you get to pull off 2 charges without needing to bring or think about CTR. But the best part, is that you don't take damage. This makes some of the risky charges plausible (dread venom striker, fang of vog, leviathan) against large scary crowds that would normally crush you like a bug if you went up and charged them in the face, as well as allows you much better bomb usage tactics.
Valkyrie is probably a bit better. I find myself using it more often than I do seraphic, but it's still apples to oranges and both are entirely valid. There are missions that I would rather have seraphic on than valkyrie and vice versa... like the tortodrone. Being able to throw up an aura and recover from shock and a broken shield is a blessing there. But most situations prefer valkyrie.
Seraphic's ability is quite unique; Valkyrie can be compensated for and downright obsoleted by having more CTR bonuses.
As you may or may not know, Valkyrian Aura gives you CTR Max. Thus, it has no effect at all when you already have CTR Max, other than the defensive abilities it gives. I have lots of weapons with CTR Med UVs, so it's pretty worthless to me as one piece of Chaos bumps all of them up to CTR Max.
Seraphic Aura definitely has fewer uses, but it's very useful when needed. I find these cases to mostly be in super hard missions such as Grinchlin Assault and March of the Tortodrones.
If you don't have weapons with good CTR UVs or constantly run with Chaos gear, I would not get Seraphic Aura.
So, Valkirian aura is more useful in most cases, but Seraphic aura can sometimes be useful too, being more of a "situational" skill. I think I can see why Valkirian aura is usually better, but I like the idea of a "second wind" panic button that can save both me and my teammates. As Krakob said, I also like the fact that it is an unique ability, even though i don't usually use max CTR. I just thought that maybe the shield regeneration buff was so low it was completely useless (like a 5% regeneration speed boost would probably be negligible), but If the Seraphic aura is actually a viable choice and has some uses, I think i'm going to pick it.
Thank you all for sharing your opinions!
Not everyone likes using Chaos Cloak, some like me prefer more defensive sets that are more forgiving when get say burned or shocked.
Also Valkyrian may seem to be the most offensive choice but in reality it can also be very defensive.
When doing a charge quickly and safely could really help you out then Valk is what you need.
If you rely heavily on your shield and tend to run from fights when it breaks then getting a shield reset from Seraphic will let you stay in longer.
LOL, you don't want to save your team mates because if they'll break your already overly-frail shield even faster. You have about.. 3 hits worth of invincibility?
Short of a quick run over some spikes together I agree, and if anyone sees a teammate activate the Seraphynx shield and they aren't running over spikes or some other trap don't force their shield to take more hits, they may be relying on it to safely take out a dangerous enemy.
I chose Seraphic and never once thought I was missing out.
I use it as a panic button all the time. Whenever I'm cornered, or swarmed by a mob, or a Lumber popped my shield I drop Seraphic and try to make my escape while my regular shield refills.
It's not like getting a star in Mario but it has saved me.
--Cheshireccat
Has anyone actually tested to see specifically how much the Seraphic Aura increases shield regen? I've never seen it so I went ahead and did some quick-and-dirty testing.
I tested it by using a program called GifCam to record my shield regenerating without Seraphic Aura, checked how many frames were between when it started regenerating and when it was full, and did it again with the Seraphic Aura.
This probably isn't totally accurate (GifCam can only record up to 33 FPS), but there was at least a slightly notable difference. Without the aura my shield regenerated in ~5.33 seconds (176 frames) and with the aura it regenerated in ~4.12 seconds (136 frames).
So at only an almost 20% decrease in time (1 second shaved off) it really isn't too helpful, still probably more helpful to a Chaos cloak user who has all their weapons at VH or greater than Valkyrian.
@Fehzor and Holy-Nightmare
Ok, maybe trying save my friends is a bad idea. A bad, terrible idea, roger that.
@Cheshireccat
Nice, so Seraphic aura can be useful. Like Fehzor, Krakob and Holy-Nightmare suggested, I would choose this aura hoping it can help, even just a little, on the hardest events and missions.
@Gkku
/bow Gkku
Thanks a lot for the data! Hmm, 20% less time isn't that much, but i guess it's still something. I was just worried this was a completely useless ultimate (because there are some *coughhauntedhazecough*).
If you want to save your friends use bombs like Venom veiler, Voltaic tempest, and Stagger Storm. You can also use the Heart Attack when your enemies are at about %50.
Saving enemies with your seraphynx shield means that you both have to be in sync (rather hard to actually do). These are certain places where sharing your shield is good (shielding and then going to water Vana's mask for example) they can tag along under your protection but your main focus should be your job whatever that may be.
If you get more than 2 people under the shield then it is sure to break fast but just 2 shouldn't make a huge impact on the shield's length.
For a knight who likes defensive sets but still wants to be able to make a quick chain of charges Valkrian is good to have, if you have highly offensive sets and rely on your shield to protect you then Seraphic is good for you. If you rely on dodge since you carry a Swiftstrikebuckler then Seraphic isn't a good idea, but if you use Chaos set with it then neither shield is very useful. If you have a highly defensive mindset and use defensive sets and shield very often then Seraphic is good to have.
Basically whichever you pick you can find a playstyle to fit it (unlike certain abilities like haunted haze or violent heart attack).
Your English is quite good, but sprite ultimate questions have been discussed pretty heavily. Try a Google search such as seraphic aura site:forums.spiralknights.com. Many threads address the question of Seraphic vs. Valkyrian. Probably some of them address the shield regeneration of Seraphic specifically. If not, try asking again here.