Signalrunner

My workaround is to play like a scrapper instead of rerolling as a scrapper. The base HP between the two ATs is only a difference of 134HP at lvl 50. I open with an attack other than AS like the others have mentioned. Using AS in-combat still outpaces a Scrapper's baseline damage output.

Except the Stalker version isn't set and forget. It doesn't have Rise to the Challenge, the toggle that can spike +Regen to high levels. You know, the one that WP is known and loved for? It's traded for a click heal on Stalkers- putting it on the same level of activeness as Invulnerability for less performance. A downgrade is a downgrade. It's not a meta consideration to say that.

I would trade the Body Mastery pool for Weapon Mastery. You can still pick up Physical Perfection on the way to Exploding Shuriken. Epic AOEs are a great opportunity to get additional AOE into your build. More AOEs, more chances at Build Up resets, like @StrikerFox mentioned.

Epic > Weapon Mastery > Web Grenade (Scrapper/Stalker) has an 8 second recharge time which conflicts with the patch note change below. It should be 10 seconds: Epic > Weapon Mastery > Web Grenade (Scrapper/Stalker) - This power now deals smashing damage on impact. Now accepts damage enhancements and sets, recharge increased from 8s to 10s

Alright, I'm convinced redraw doesn't matter for the most part. The one thing I'm still confident that is dragging down live server Staff right now is the root time. On most other sets you can still move/chase/reposition towards a target when a redraw is triggered on a target out of range. With Staff, you have to wait for the root time to play out. Redraw revamp is a welcome improvement here from my testing. I have videos of the Archery trapdoor runs but the sample size is too small and I can't generate anymore because the Archery/Ninja Blaster I used only exists on Brainstorm. I'm cool discarding the 41s difference as data. If I had to point at something for my archery results it'd be behind the keyboard performance variation + inconsistent visual feedback from redraw on affecting me (e.g. I may have waited for redraw based on visual cues when I didn't need to).

Thanks for the breakdown. Reading this and testing Archery a bit more made me realize I was conflating the few sets that still have forced root time on redraw like Staff Fighting (don't remember if there are more, Spines might be one) with those that don't, like Archery. Staff has the 0.1-0.2s delay that I believe Six was talking about. I recorded 2.29s on Precise Strike-Assassin's Staff vs. 3.14s on Redraw-Precise Strike-Assassin's Staff. I'll have to re-test with a longer attack chain. For my archery tests, it was an Archery/Ninja blaster on Trapdoor test with a 41 second difference between redraw on and redraw off. admittedly, very small sample size of just two comparison runs because I was focusing on testing something else. @Number Six I misinterpreted your statement and mistakenly took it to mean you perceived a 0.2s difference to be effectively nil. Apologies, I didn't have a clear head responding to that.

The performance gap is not effectively nil. Redraw drags down my mission clear times by a noticeable degree, because those 0.2 seconds simply add up. It may not affect melee ATs as severely, where they only have to redraw when using an infrequent armor click or power pool. But have you tried say, an Archery blaster with redraw on while cycling in melee attacks from the secondary? I have. Weaving those attacks in cause constant redraw. If you redraw 100 times in a longer mission, you will effectively have had stood there doing nothing for 20 seconds.

Or you could just burst the boss down with a +162.5% damage buff. 62.5% from Aim and 100% from Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control: Chance for Build Up proc (which has a 90% chance to proc provided you don't slot more than 70% recharge in Aim). That option is off the table now though. Long live beanbag!

Kinetic Melee/Energy Aura on a Stalker. Stalker is non-negotiable because KM's Assassin Strike is the fastest melee attack in the game, and it hits hard. Skip Hide for a more Scrapper vibe, if you must, because this combo will still hit harder than the Scrapper version because of AS. Concentrated Strike feels slow you say? Good, that power is a skip on Stalkers since CS doesn't crit and Stalkers can get build up resets through their Assassin's Mark Archetype Enhancement. Both sets have a speed forcey vibe to them and you can slap on Zapp and Ball Lightning from Mu Mastery for electricity. The endurance discount from Energize also lets you keep running Speed of Sound/Super Speed with less strain on your blue bar.

@BrandX @InvaderStych Yeah, Choking Powder is holding 5 dmg procs in the Hybrid on video- each with 90% chance to proc. 466 worth of damage before the pylon's resists with a 1.07s cast time. It's definitely one of the main draws of Blaster /Ninja. I was making tweaks between videos so I'm running different attack chains in both: Hybrid off chain: GD-CP-Blaze-Snipe-Fireball-Blaze (decimation build up proc in choking powder at 28% proc rate). I had a couple runs at 1:01 and 1:02 with this set up with Hybrid on. Hybrid on chain: GD-Blaze-Snipe-Fireball-Blaze-CP (decimation build up proc in snipe at 22% proc rate- didn't go off at all in the video). I feel like this one could breach 60s if the RNG gods are favorable but I haven't put in enough runs yet.

Fire/Ninja blaster, one with hybrid off and one on. for those eyeing my buffs, the one with a damage icon on my bar is actually a defense buff that I couldn't get rid of: https://archive.paragonwiki.com/wiki/Blessing_of_Tielekku

The auto buff that looks like a damage buff icon is a+2% defense buff from dream doctor arc that I couldn't get rid of. used 2 def insps and had def amplifier on. I did detoggle once from leaving super speed on. wondering if adding rain of fire would be useful.

My build has 32.5% defense to melee/ranged. I use 1-2 purples at a time to hit softcap and have some extra for debuffs + break frees, all in the video. Here you go @zuel Blaster - Electrical Blast - Martial Combat - New.mxd

Elec/Martial Combat - 4:44 Fun fact about MC: Burst of Speed reliably (feels like 80-90%) procs Reach for the Limit so it's like a mini build up + AOE. Doesn't stack on itself though

MA/SR - EC-SK-CAK-SK, focus chi used when up with EC holding crit strikes ATO2. 1:56 2:05 1:58 1:50 2:07 2:00 1:51 T4 Musc Core | T4 Degen Core | T4 Assault Core passive | T4 Ageless Core was on for most of the runs including the 1:50 time Did some runs with MA/SR to see if MA could break 2 minutes without /bio or /shield.

I'm on board with this, seems like it'd be a cool addition!

I'd also like to bring up that the recent Energy Melee rework gave Stalkers a stronger version of Power Crash due to the set not having Whirling Hands like the other melee AT counterparts. It was a step in the right direction. Why can't this newer design philosophy also be applied to Burst on Stalkers since the set omits Repulsing Torrent? Reducing the crit rate just feels like a step backwards in light of recent design improvement. It should be left alone or be put off until a rework for Kinetic Melee (for all ATs) can be done.

Besides adjusting the damage/recharge values via standard dmg formula like Bopper suggested, lowering the cast time and/or increasing the radius of Burst would be a start.

Heavily dissatisfied with this decision. It's become a de facto feature of the set and it's often one of the reasons the community of Stalker players recommend the set. Please rework Burst or revert the change, as it's a heavily underperforming AOE without the original crit rate.

I don't strictly follow this but typically as an opener for groups I find myself doing: Build Up->Burst->Build Up (if the Build Up reset ATO procs)->AS on a Lt/Boss (to potentially proc Hide)->Ball Lightning (this can be another another epic pool AOE like Fire Ball)->Build Up again (if ATO resets it)->ST chain on a Lt/Boss until next Burst. I rinse repeat and start cutting away to a more single target chain when the herd thins. The build up resets can get real addicting in larger groups. If you don't have an Epic/Patron power pool AOE, that's fine- you can run a single target chain until next Burst with AS preceding (to try to get Burst crit from hide). KM/Ice is solid 👍 Hoarfrost and Icy Bastion should make for a pretty tanky Stalker.

An optimal single target attack chain is just that. It doesn't mean don't use Burst or Focused Burst. It means, here how you kill stuff faster when Burst is recharging or you're down to 1 or 2 enemies since you brought up some key complaints of general slowness. By all means, you should absolutely be using Burst during AOE situations- it's one of the best melee AoEs in the game since the Stalker version has 100% (instead of 50%) chance to crit from Hide. Likewise for Focused Burst when you can take advantage of the ranged component. Sorry if the advice sounded rigid! I only meant to address your original complaints of slowness in one of the fastest melee sets in the game. Opportunity and build freedom comes in different forms! I personally played 1-50 twice on original live and HC with a KM/EnA Stalker and I found the lvl 32 power to be extremely lacking after taking it both times. A near 3 second long attack (that doesn't crit) felt absolutely shackling and I was glad to be rid of it. Plus dropping Concentrated Strike frees you up of more power pool picks. I discovered it for myself (then found others did too) and it really didn't feel cookie cutter to be honest, felt the opposite since I broke past the game's prescribed method. It depends on how you look at it! Absolutely feel free to try out the lvl 32 power and all KM has to offer and reach your own conclusion.

@Aeroprism I noticed you skipped Quick Strike which robs you of a smooth attack chain. One of KM's greatest strengths is that it comes online to its full attack chain very early on at lvl 6. Quick Strike, Body Blow, Smashing Blow, and AS are all necessary for that. Your unhidden single target attack chain should look something like: Body Blow-Quick Strike-AS-Smashing Blow (with Quick Strike as filler for any gaps) Having Quick Strike fills out gaps where you're left waiting and adds additional chance for you to generate Assassin's Focus (for that sweet +33% AS crit chance). Hope that helps!

Bumping this to add: This also happens with "fast" AS while unhidden if you don't have your Staff drawn. To add, the hit numbers and visual effects don't align properly with the animation because of this issue- they appear shortly after. Crossed out the above- It doesn't seem to be the case for un-hidden AS after recent testing. I believe giving Staff the treatment Katana and Titan Weapons received would fix two issues: -The delayed weapon draw and mistimed AS effect mentioned in this thread -Staff weapon always having to be re-drawn after using a non-Staff power (e.g. Hasten, Ball Lightning, etc)

I want only two things if Minimal / Alt animations proliferated to everything is too broad: Minimal/alternate FX for all of Bio (looking at you, Ablative Carapace). Spinning Kick animation proliferated to Martial Arts Storm Kick on Melee ATs at the very least.

Staff/SR Stalker Testing All Pylon times are with T4 Musc Core/T3 Degen -HP only/T4 Hybrid Core passive. Leadership Assault toggled on. My only epic power is Physical Perfection from Weapon Mastery. Serpent's Reach-Precise Strike-Assassin's Staff-Sky Splitter 2:53 3:13 - sloppy start -Didn't record further than this because I wasn't impressed with the DPS in a few extra half runs Guarded Spin-Precise Strike-Assassin's Staff-Sky Splitter / Guarded Spin with -Res + 4 damage procs (98% dmg enh value) 2:55 2:42 2:47 2:20 2:31 2:32 Mercurial Blow-Serpent's Reach-Assassin's Staff-Sky Splitter / Mercurial with -Res + 4 damage procs (110% dmg enh value) 2:48 2:32 2:52 2:34 Guarded vs Mercurial chains seem close enough DPS-wise, however Guarded offers two added benefits: 1. Perma +DEF buffs from GS since it's now part of the main attack chain. 2. On average, more Build Up reset ATO procs for non-Pylon content since the idea is you'll be hitting more enemies with GS built in to your chain.