Title says it all, which do folks prefer on an anti-infantry MAX? I seem to mostly get killed by explosives and the bonus from the anti-small-arms armor seemed really small, so I just use flak. Am I missing anything?
If I'm not alone in the world and running regen I'm probably 60 / 40 - Flak / Kinetic. Charge and general awareness saves me from explosives enough that I can run Kinetic and not end up dying more because of it. Hear jumpjets or see a HA duck behind a corner? Charge now, think later.
Flack seems easier to upgrade and get more of a benefit for upgrading flack then kenetic. I think I will leave kenetic at lvl 1 and work on flack. As for regenerative armor. Well I am afraid that it will be useless unless maxed.
Nah, Regen is great when you're in a lightly supported area. If you're ranging around a tower or dealing with single squad incursions, you may not have an engi to back you up (or to help at all). As long as you're limiting your fights to 1v1 or 1v2, regen is just fine. What's nice about Flak is how damn cheap it is to upgrade. Pick up 4 ranks, chuckle as you dip in and out of cover, pegging Tanks while your engie buddy reaps the bonus xp.
For AI, flak will save you from C4 and libs/bad ESF pilots, but not much else as direct hits from HA rockets and such still do full damage. On the other hand, kinetic armor when maxed gives effectively 60% more HP against small arms fire, which is definitely nothing to scoff at. I'm not a big fan of nanoregen, but a point in it is helpful for terminal swapping during those times when there's somehow zero engineers around.
I love max nano repair for late night sessions when there's not many people around. As an NC MAX I tend to run out of ammo and need a lot of engineers anyway. You should really run KA5 and just mash F when you hear jump jets. Otherwise, you can stomp around like a robotic invincible Rambo with shotguns for arms.
Max flak will save you from getting C4'd, but you will still have little health left. And its going to be absolute nobrainer for NC Maxes after they release the shield because you can stop rockets and small arms fire with it and really the only thing that can dmg you is splash. Flak ftw.
#1. Kinetic if with engineer support, Nano if solo #2. Flak only if outdoors/burster Kinetic gives a massive EFFECTIVE HP increase "in game" (I can't recall but I'd say 30-40%+) despite the tiny number (+1.5% each level or something) on the game screen. C4 is avoidable - bullets are not. Flak also does not stop direct hits from HA rockets etc. The only area flak is REALLY useful is against rocketpods and Zephyrs (burster). Also it is cheap. Nano is for when you have no engineer mates handy, or when in a low-traffic area (you have time to "recharge" between gunfights)
You should get all the armours honestly. Anyway, flak is the most useful out of the two. Everyone pulls out the explosives when they see a MAX and it has saved me so many times from nades, C4, tanks, rocketpods, AV MAX. I only use kinetic when the enemy does not use a lot of explosives.
I tend to pull AI MAXes when there is engineer support at hand, otherwise I play the engineer support myself. With that in mind, I usually run max kinetic. 60% extra EHP is a huge difference, but the other benefit is that an upgraded engineer can repair you as fast as you take damage from multiple sources. Occasionally a wily LA will get around behind and above you and C4 you, but in such situations there is normally a medic to revive you. Flak armour will stop instagib from full, but you will almost certainly get finished off by the enemies you were tanking anyway. AV and AA, it becomes a toss-up between nano repair and flak.
Playing alone or lack of good engineers = nano-regen Good engineers presenr = Kinetic armor Good engineers and alot of explosives being used = Flak I dont use flak all that often, but it does come in handy at times.
I use all 3. I typically use Flak only when doing anti tank duty or anti air. I use kinetic only when I am trying to break a well defended room w/ eng assistance of course. I primary use nano repair though. It works well and has got me out of some pretty tight situations.
I have Kinetic 5 on my Anti Infantry loadout. It really makes a huge difference. I could really feel it back when the VR-loadout bug was there and it got unequipped. My first round was a massacre. When i have it on, i can steamroll entire entrenchments. It's expensive, but if you like your MAx, it is well worth it.
Grabbed nano-regen 3 (fairly cheap compared to last 2 ranks) on my MAX focused TR alt. It's pretty good at topping you off between fights since the recent buff. Small arms fire can do quite a bit of damage so if you don't have dedicated Engineer support regen is really useful. Without an Engineer the non-regen options are pretty weak for AI work where you're likely to take damage frequently. It can be a toss up between Kinetic and Flak for when you have Engineer support. It's a good point that if you have Engineer support, you likely have Medics around to revive you if explosives insta-gib you. Personally I'd go with kinetic if I had a pocket Engineer as the DR is fairly significant. Flak makes sense for Burster duty and possibly AV work as well.
I used flak for everything, but I tried Kinetic for the AI build and it works much better, of course I kept flak in the AA build.
Use flak when: You are on anti-air or anti-vehicle duty. You are in enclosed spaces and are not yet comfortable with avoiding explosive damage You die to C4 a lot You take more damage from explosives than from bullets Use kinetic when: You are after small arms infantry You can reliably avoid rockets and prevent deaths by C4 You are on anti-max duty You are supported by your faction's engineers Use nano-repair when: You are soloing or running around small outposts You don't get much support You're in the open, but can reliably find cover In term of order of acquisition, I'd get flak first, then nano-repair and kinetic last. Flak can be used in all builds. Nano repair means that a conservative max can enter all encounters at maximum health. Kinetic means that a max with outfit support will be the strongest max as long as no explosive damage is involved. As a side note, the recent inclusion of NC and TR AV max weapons have made the use of the kinetic armor even more situational than it was before.
Now that the Shields are out, Kinetic have mostly lost it's use. I'd either go Flak to stop the splash damage, or nanos so you can heal while behind your shield.
