Precondition: I read this question/answer about using shaders, or spritebatch, to render and mark a sprite.

I need to do something like that. I also have a 2D lighting PoC which I need to write. The way it will work will basically be something like:

• Draw all the sprites
• Draw lighting gradients to create a lighting texture
• Multiply/add the lighting texture to achieve different effects

(I use multiple passes of add/multiply the lighting texture to achieve different effects.)

My question is really about a generalization: can I say with certainty that pixel shaders are always faster than adding/multiplying textures to the SpriteBatch? Or that adding/multiplying is always faster? Or if it's not generalizable, how do I decide which approach to take, given that I can probably code either of them?

(If it matters, I'm using MonoGame 3.0 beta for Windows games)