Empath is in need of some serious tuning.

[Raindustz]

The aura should STACK with items and gear from other people. I have 1 person with a +12 shield each turn and her aura +6. That SHOULD be +18 each turn. But no, it is +12. That is insane. How is she supposed to be viable when gear doesnt affect her at all? I have another item on her that says +10 to all shield giving effects. Does that work? Nope. Explain how +6 shields a turn is viable on planet 2 and on? Insane design choice.

[Fringehunter7719]

Her aura does stack with items and gear from other people, although it does not benefit from them, so long as it is active at the end of her turn. If a character has auto shield regen then that, her aura, and the buff from Empathic Surge (if active) will each independently tick for their full amount each round.

To make sure I just started a run with Empath and Juggernaut with shield aura + the colossus starting shield with 5 auto shield regen and screenshotted the end of turn:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2255182924

The initial shield heal from Empathic Surge benefits from gear, the same as other heals do. If you get an item with + group shield regen, that amount is added to each target each time you use the ability, the same as it is with the Gunslinger's Echo or the Archon's Benediction.

The Empath's real problem is early game before she gets her proper heal at level 6 unless you use the Zyras Lanodora progeny who gets it at level 4. She has no genuinely useful attack either, unless you take the Dinah Lanodora progeny, who doesn't get a proper heal until level 8.

[Thndslz]

Shes in a good state, considering what makes her great are locked to mid-late game.

Making regen items (Regen Shields affix) work on her passive aura would make her incredibly broken for a normal comp.

Regen items DO work on ther Active Shield Regen tho. But you need her on lvl6, thats why i said what i said earlier about her.-

What you need to understand is: what troubles her is the absolute state of microing her auras to extract 100% of her kit. If youre not willing to do that just avoid picking her, no way around it.

[Z_Raven]

Originally posted by Thndslz:

Shes in a good state, considering what makes her great are locked to mid-late game.

Making regen items (Regen Shields affix) work on her passive aura would make her incredibly broken for a normal comp.

Regen items DO work on ther Active Shield Regen tho. But you need her on lvl6, thats why i said what i said earlier about her.-

What you need to understand is: what troubles her is the absolute state of microing her auras to extract 100% of her kit. If youre not willing to do that just avoid picking her, no way around it.

Does her speed aura work correctly? I doesn't seem to do much if you switch mid combat. Will need to double check...
Can you, lets say, turn power up on, use instant attacks, switch back to speed and get speed for the non instant attacks?

[Fringehunter7719]

Originally posted by Zaurok:

Does her speed aura work correctly? I doesn't seem to do much if you switch mid combat. Will need to double check...
Can you, lets say, turn power up on, use instant attacks, switch back to speed and get speed for the non instant attacks?

Yes to both questions.

You can also turn speed aura on to make a 5s attack into an instant attack for stagger purposes and then switch back to strength aura or shield aura before ending her turn as well. Note: You need to issue the command after turning the speed aura on for it to trigger immediately, otherwise it will act at 0s when you end your turn.

The timeline may not display events correctly if you have assigned actions before the aura change. This is easily avoided by assigning them after aura swaps or cancelling and reinstating actions to update the timeline.

[Thndslz]

@Zaurok yes exactly. Also this: by late game i always keep switching between Time and Strength aura. And after everything is set you switch to Strength aura and boost the speed of the one you want or just use Mind Knife/Empath Shields otherwise.

Making sure my damage dealers wil always attack the target after usually removing armor. This isnt a problem for Marksman or Spectre but for Enforcer, Commando, Varangian, Gunslinger its a great tool.

[Enfys Ellezard]

The shield aura is meh because she's rather bs as a damage boosting support. The amount of damage she gives to the team from just using Stimulate + Damage aura adds so much to your overall damage potential and the double turn fury action is easily one of the most versatile skill in the game. And as above mentioned, you also use her in order to manipulate turn order. You can even use it so someone with Rattled can apply it on the enemy first so that your actual stagger can disable the enemy boss for 2 whole turn.

If you want a shield or defensive support instead, Archon is the better option.You really just pick Empath in order to trivialize the final ship.

[DAVOS CENSORSHIP 2030 FTW!!!]

That's the only char worth taking at 3rd planet, Archon works too if you have shield equipment he can use to buff your chars. If you want to start with her, best is the dinah lanohdora shaman with mind scythe and a heavy hitter that can be buffed by her ( Spectre/Enforcer since both have Stuns ). Brakin Syphex at front.