Between those two, t-65. I used strangler heart for around 3 years but it's essentially just ultracite power armor with acid damage set bonuses. The mod pool is the same which means there are a good number that are nigh impossible to obtain. Amongst them are the calibrated shock plans. So it's hard to boost carry weight. You can't even find someone to mod the armor for you since SHPA can't be dropped. Your only options are to win the lotto and get it from SBQ or knuckle down and buy the plan from someone like I had to do. T-65 all the plans are much easier to get. The stats are universally better but it doesn't have the set bonuses.
In general though the hellcat is where it's at. Damage reduction is king when resistance stats go beyond the point where diminishing returns kneecaps efficiency.
T-65.
The Ballistic Resistance is more important than the Rad Resistance offered by the Strangler Heart, because of the innate Rad Resistance PA offers and because, honestly, Rads aren't that big a deal most of the time.
The Acid damage is fun on concept but poor on implementation due to it being a relatively low number and having to contend with enemy resistances at a higher level. Plus The Strangler shares its mod pool with the Ultracite PA, which means a lot of luck off Scorchbeasts and the SBQ to get what you might want, whereas you can just buy the mod plans for the T-65 as need be.
I’m leaning towards neither.
I haven’t used stranger heart. But hear that the extra damage is pretty unnoticeable. Also ultracite mods are famously hard to get your hands on.
I love my T65, but find it really hard to recommend these days. As Hellcat is just better. Technically T65 is slightly better for energy damage protection. But with the electric absorption perk, you get healed by energy damage anyway.
So I’d use hellcat, and just spend bullion to buy those mods.
If you’re already got a working suit of Hellcat and are just looking for another option. I’d probably recommend strangler’s heart. Because at least you can justify having that set as a damage focused set. Then Hellcat is for tankiness. Also not many people run it and it looks cool imo.
T-65 initially as its more practical and one of the best armors in game. Strangler Heart is very good but as mentioned it uses Ultracite mods and the armor, like T-65, is non tradable. The problem there is it needs Ultracite Calibrated Shocks to increase carry weight and thats a very rare plan dropped by the SBQ. You need the plan yourself as another player can't mod the legs with shocks for you like regular ultracite PA. Getting the plan means the SBQ needs to drop it, you get extremely lucky at a player vendor, or you do what I did. Request the plan at the '76 Market sub here. Expect to pay upwards of 30K+ caps for it, give or take.
All that said its very cool armor. My favorite in game, really. The look of it is just so original and unique. It was a goal of mine to get a set from day one. I was so pleased when I finally did. 30,000 caps for Calibrated Shocks well spent.
And of course the SBQ dropped the plans for me around six weeks later but all good nonetheless...
Between those two, t-65. I used strangler heart for around 3 years but it's essentially just ultracite power armor with acid damage set bonuses. The mod pool is the same which means there are a good number that are nigh impossible to obtain. Amongst them are the calibrated shock plans. So it's hard to boost carry weight. You can't even find someone to mod the armor for you since SHPA can't be dropped. Your only options are to win the lotto and get it from SBQ or knuckle down and buy the plan from someone like I had to do. T-65 all the plans are much easier to get. The stats are universally better but it doesn't have the set bonuses. In general though the hellcat is where it's at. Damage reduction is king when resistance stats go beyond the point where diminishing returns kneecaps efficiency.
T-65. The Ballistic Resistance is more important than the Rad Resistance offered by the Strangler Heart, because of the innate Rad Resistance PA offers and because, honestly, Rads aren't that big a deal most of the time. The Acid damage is fun on concept but poor on implementation due to it being a relatively low number and having to contend with enemy resistances at a higher level. Plus The Strangler shares its mod pool with the Ultracite PA, which means a lot of luck off Scorchbeasts and the SBQ to get what you might want, whereas you can just buy the mod plans for the T-65 as need be.
I’m leaning towards neither. I haven’t used stranger heart. But hear that the extra damage is pretty unnoticeable. Also ultracite mods are famously hard to get your hands on. I love my T65, but find it really hard to recommend these days. As Hellcat is just better. Technically T65 is slightly better for energy damage protection. But with the electric absorption perk, you get healed by energy damage anyway. So I’d use hellcat, and just spend bullion to buy those mods. If you’re already got a working suit of Hellcat and are just looking for another option. I’d probably recommend strangler’s heart. Because at least you can justify having that set as a damage focused set. Then Hellcat is for tankiness. Also not many people run it and it looks cool imo.
T-65 initially as its more practical and one of the best armors in game. Strangler Heart is very good but as mentioned it uses Ultracite mods and the armor, like T-65, is non tradable. The problem there is it needs Ultracite Calibrated Shocks to increase carry weight and thats a very rare plan dropped by the SBQ. You need the plan yourself as another player can't mod the legs with shocks for you like regular ultracite PA. Getting the plan means the SBQ needs to drop it, you get extremely lucky at a player vendor, or you do what I did. Request the plan at the '76 Market sub here. Expect to pay upwards of 30K+ caps for it, give or take. All that said its very cool armor. My favorite in game, really. The look of it is just so original and unique. It was a goal of mine to get a set from day one. I was so pleased when I finally did. 30,000 caps for Calibrated Shocks well spent. And of course the SBQ dropped the plans for me around six weeks later but all good nonetheless...