Zerethon
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Posts posted by Zerethon
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1 hour ago, Hjarki said:
Hack is a relatively high damage per activation attack for a basic attack. However, no basic attack cracks into the top 3 for high damage per activation on a Stalker set.
The top 3 for Broad Sword are Head Splitter, Assassinate and Moonbeam. Those latter two are the in the top 3 for every Stalker primary.
Head Splitter is the lower third of damage-per-activation for Stalker heavy attacks (it beats Claws, Dual Blades, Electric Melee, Ninja Blade and Spines; it's less damage-per-activation than the heavy attack from all the other sets).
ET can't crit, STJ Needs combos, KM Needs constant crits and tanks on a missed build up or crit, Rad melee is great....but 'tis ET Animation so slow as sin, staff i haven't yet decked out at 50 but the whole set feels much slower and weaker than others, Savage is great with bleeds so it has setup like STJ....
Ice, well, is just Ice. Dark actually is probably second-best with it's rarer damage type and additional immobilize (And crit, it's only an ST where HS is actually AOE and is 50%)
On-paper numbers don't impress me, and in my playtesting with fully-decked stalkers, i notice i DO more with sets like broadsword, dark, energy, electric, ice, etc. since i don't have any other mechanics to worry about.
STJ is amazing....if i keep combo points, Savage is amazing....if i have stacks of bleeds, etc. Like i LOVE my Savage/Shield stalker TO DEATH, but in practice he doesn't feel NEARLY as destructive, even with a similarly complete build and Incarns. Absolutely shreds heavy targets though, not terrible against swarms either but a lot of times i find myself missing stuff like head splitter/disembowel when i'm playing newer sets. those fast heavy attacks with good damage -
As a note, Shield charge (Any any other teleport attack like Lightning rod) Doesn't crit
It doesn't unhide you because you -don't- deal the damage, it's a funky thing in the way it's programmed, but also since you don't deal the damage it can't crit
And in my experience "On paper" numbers mean absolutely nothing, something can do 999999999dps on paper but good luck getting that perfect situation where you can attack one enemy that long without moving for it to work
EG: Kinetic melee is absolutely mad on paper, in practice however it's not nearly as scary, Even dark melee is completely murderous....if you stay at 10 stacks of siphon and never have to stop hitting something
Broadsword is scary because the DPA (Damage per activation) is EXTREMELY high especially on crits, so it's DPS Trends higher in a stick&move fight and it's in-place DPS isn't shabby either
The ATO's drive this point too, BS Can get the build up proc, but lose almost no damage if you have to hop away before popping it and jumping in again (EG: To dodge a big AOE) Placate -> jump back -> Jump back in w/ Build up -> Crit/AOE
More or less, one crit from Broadsword is a crit and another attack or 2 from some other sets, THAT is the major factor at play in actual practice -
What alpha and hybrid are you using? Im stuck between cardiac and agility.
Musculature Alpha, Assault Hybrid. More damage is best damage
How do you deal with end drain?
Ageless Invocation does wonders at 50, otherwise just blues occasionally in long fights.
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What alpha and hybrid are you using? Im stuck between cardiac and agility.
Musculature Alpha, Assault Hybrid. More damage is best damage
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Moonbeam, now that was a great idea. I can fit it in and it does not require a phttps://forums.homecomingservers.com/index.php/topic,2932.msg58014.html#newre-power. Unfortunately I can only use it during Build-up, but not bad at all.
Never forget teams, if you have a soldier/widow or people with boosted leadership or buffs, it can be instant without buildup
Also, Stalker snipes can crit from hide/hide proc which makes them do an insane amount of damage for an instant power
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That said Charged Brawl, Chain Induction and AS are such beautifully fast animations that it makes me sad to include the slow paced 1.9 seconds animation Jacob's Ladder in there.
I'd much rather just throw a thunderstrike in there, honestly, or moonbeam if your acc is high enough to make it instant. And -res proc is good, but -res and +dot on everything is better (Reactive interface)
So effectively, even the -res proc isn't a good enough reason to take the janky & slow BS that is jacobs ladder when i can put that effect on everything and get a burn proc too. Or use the -Max HP one to increase clear speeds
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Great thread. I'm new to stalkers and never got into them but I've gone through all other ATs so it's time for giving stalkers a chance. This combo looks deadly but I am told ELE/SHIELD is the way to go. Can anyone comment? Is broadsword better than electric?
I was messing with Pine's but it seems to be buggy for me (I can't move IO slots around with ease right now for some reason).
Anyway, thoughts?
Elec/Shield is another way to build something like this, you get 2 TP attacks that don't unhide you and set you up for AOE's or spikes and it can be built similarly
A Tip, Skip Jacobs ladder (Or shadow maul/Proton wave/whatevertheheck) because it's cone is tiny, it's range is garbage, and the animation is like 2 years long.
The downside is you lose the big single target spikes, so it's a crowd-clearer but struggles on bosses and endurance a little worse.
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I'll chime in here as a stalker main with Dom & Blapper alts
Never, ever, underestimate the power of punching things in the face.
Remember that some of your melee sets actually have mez effects too, and since everything gets a boost from dom, so do they. Paired with a decent melee scale and IO's Melee doms are TERRIFYINGLY strong. My Earth/Earth especially likes being just stuck in the middle of things
Debuffed/Mezzed mobs + Heavy melee attacks makes for a delicious combination.
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Just never forget it's about doing a lot of damage very very quickly.
That sums up the concept behind Stalker... Although, hurry up and wait is also a common description...
There's a saying in robot combat from a competitor that sums up stalker well - "Wait for a good hit"
I see this a lot, if you just pounce in and AS a boss before aggro is pulled, you're probably going to die. if you wait and open with a crit into an instant AS you can do a lot more DPS without taking any return fire, or you can time AS so it lands just after the tanky type jumps in.
It's resisting that urge to just keep nuking enemies, especially when you're not yet totally decked out and die very easily under lots of aggro.
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So i'm working on this and just a few minutes took a break and was looking at a stone ice tank build I had on live.
Tell me why I shouldn't fit in Invoke Panic from the Presence pool. It's (now, according to Pines) a mag 3 fear PBAO with a 20 radius. I know it used to be hated...but mag 3 fear from Hide for 10 seconds for a single target hunter is no joke?
That's huge damage mitigation and it's got to increase your hide rate until you can slot the ATO?
Slotted up it's 22 recharge with 20 duration, meaning you get to pick and chose exactly how to clear the spawn.
It looks almost too good to be true on paper, but I've never played a stalker beyond like level 16 so please inform me.
well, to keep everything in, for say my build of this, the only powers you can drop are a TP and placate without losing damage, but there's no extra slots there, and dropping 5slot to 4slot on several things loses you bonuses like recharge.
You could drop the patron pool, but then you lose the snipe and the def clicky, so.
Season to taste. Just never forget it's about doing a lot of damage very very quickly.
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Your other points are extremely good but I think Lockpick's point is that two 50+5 IOs give the same enhancement value as three 50+0 IOs. It's not a question of "is three slots better than two?", but rather, "can you get the same benefit out of three slots with two slots?", to which the answer is "yes".
*snip*
I'd say probably the "sword and board" aesthetic theme, and the fact that /Shield's melee defense pairs well with BS/'s Parry. Leveraging Parry means you get to fight with a lot of people around you, which maximizes the +damage from Against All Odds, which lets you chunk down minions with Slice and obliterate Lt's and up with Assassin's Slash for as long as you have endurance. That's the part that's surprised me so far- just how tanky I can be if I just use Parry on cooldown.
1. "Without any other boosts" includes upping them to +5's and that kind of thing, sure, once you spend a billion influence on enhancement boosters and +X all your enhancements you only need 2 recharges to get the same bonus, as it stands, the base build, just with sets, no incarnates or ANYTHING has decently perma'd hasten. that was the point.
Where you take it from there is up to you, it also means there's a couple free slots kicking about once you do get to that point you can slot into your defenses or damage abilities to spice them up a little more.
2. Nailed it on the head here, stalkers never got /shields on live because it "Didn't fit the theme" but we have it here, so that whole "Rogue knight" or Highwayman type aesthetic combined with the fact it's actually a very powerful and very solid combo to play
Basically, because you not only get a damage boost aura, you also get a solid combo of defense & Resistance + the madness of parry against melee mobs & lethal damage (which is common) and a lightning rod-esque power, you have a ton of AOE Damage (Add void judgement for maximum awesome) and basically the highest ST damage in the game. It's possible to have a burst do over 3k damage (Build up -> Moonbeam -> Instant AS Crit & hide proc -> Disembowel crit/HS crit) and basically just nuke something from orbit
Also it's just fun as heck to play.
Yeah I just find the lack of a self heal' date=' oh snap button and utilty/recovery options compared to some others a bit underwhelming, I get it from the thematic perspective I just wondered what gameplay things made it "better" not just an option since the thread was abotu how "OP" the combo was[/quote']Between OwtS and SMeld it's actually hard to take damage against anything melee or lethal/lethal split damage, since meld recharges so fast and gives you a couple seconds to get the rotation going. a few T1 greens is the most i've ever needed unless i just got too cocky, but you can't really get one-shot by anything so you have a huge margin of error
EA for instance has a heal, but if EA gets hit, it also takes a lot more damage, if this gets hit by the same mob, it might take 3-4 hits instead of 1-2 before it's even in the danger zone.
So there's not really a better build, shield gives you more base survival and damage at the cost of potentially wearing down over a longer fight
What's the typical cost on the hide proc? It'll be tomorrow probably before I log on. I don't have cash cow yet.
7-10mil typically, not super expensive compared to some other pieces
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*Sniiip*
Questions:
Level 16: Active Defense - Why 3 slot for Recharge? One IO and it is permanent
Level 22: Stealth - I assume this is for PVP? I am planning a build with SS and a Stealth IO that currently has me at 215 ft stealth radius in PVE and 800 ft in PVP. Is this not enough stealth?
Level 41: Hasten - Why 3 slots? I was under the impression that 2 slots at +5 maxed out for Hasten?
Sorry if I am asking basic questions. I just assume some of the slotting is for PVP and I don't know enough about it to understand some of the necessities for building for PVP.
1. All click-based Status-prot effects are stackable, this build commonly sits at 20-21 protection to basically everything, which means against mez-heavy enemies you may not commonly dodge, you don't really ever get mezzed by anything easily.
2. Stealth also gives +def to all, so not only can you stealth past a lot of PVE mobs that do have some +per (within reason) you also get another little boost to defense....and it holds LOTG proc. Also more stealth is always more better, because, reasons. Also you'll see stealth over something like maneuvers in a lot of my melee builds, yes the leadership is better defense and helps the team, but it's also EXPENSIVE to run all the time, and stealth is a lot better solo since i can speedrun missions i'd normally have to fight through.
3. 3 slots gives you perma hasten easily without any other boosts, it also means once you deck out to the point of it just being silly, it gives you a better window to re-up hasten (Active defense should ALWAYS be your autocast) since you typically have to click it, that extra few seconds means you can afford to tunnel-vision a little bit without having it go down since it's not like a 1-2 second window. Basically you have the time to land that next attack to take the enemy out rather than having to hit hasten to avoid the drop possibly taking toggles down and getting you killed in a harder fight.
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I feel like I'm missing something important here... Grant cover on stalkers doesn't grant defense to self. According to the power and according to the combat attributes window.
Has this been changed since the OP or is this just something that doesn't display properly or something?
It doesn't give you anything at all, but what it does do is hold another LOTG proc without having to go for CJ or weave or something, and gives your nearby teammates as much defense as the Soldier/Widow version of Maneuvers at 13-15% or so.
It also costs basically no endurance (.06 i think?) so i can basically give my teams other melee damage dealers or tank('s) a huge survival boost for basically no downside at all.
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Not sure of the team composition. I believe the Stalker's name was Suckerpuncher. I saw him using a taunt as a Stalker, which was new for me.
Stalkers cap out the same as scraps for resist @ 75% but innately have more defense, unsuprisingly we can be extremely hard for most PVE Mobs to take out, especially @ 50 and decked out to the nines.
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The problem is, you do less damage without it
See, parry has a stupid fast recharge, it's on par with Brawl @ 50 with sets, it can hold a 7.5% Rech (It has moddable defense) and it can apply procs
With incarnates now, Parry gives me Roughly 18% Melee/lethal def, does 100-200 Damage (98 right now without full sets and can crit) can proc mako AND apply/proc reactive interface (-res & Burn over time procs)
This is also the reason you keep slice, it's a quick cone with a massive radius that can hold a proc set and proc incarnate debuffs/effects
ST DPS is Fine, Parry, hack, AS, disembowel & HS (Very short line AOE) chain just fine, if you get the +tohit up in a team you can toss moonbeams in as well (which become instant at 97% AND CAN CRIT for some reason) which for me, with just SO's in moonbeam, can hit for 800+ Damage on a crit against 54's (At 50+1)
Not saying your wrong either, in the end it's personal preference
Literally, the build i posted is my build, my slotting on the server can Exemp down even to Posi TF And still be a monster. Your build is going to be relying on temp powers or TP's to get around since you have SS at 49, you won't have 3-stack stealth if you take it into a lower PVP zone since you have stealth at 41, etc.
Concessions have to be made. Mine is meant to work in any content, at any level, and not feel janky or lacking to play. Or gimped for that matter (Having stealth by 22 so you have it when @ 25, etc.)
But, that's the magic of the game and the build system, if you do purely 45+ Content/PVP there's no issues with your build, but you'd run into problems if you joined a friend on the posi TF to help with badges or something.
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Also missing fiery embrace though if I recall, which pumped up the damage on burn a lot. I was also interested in rad, but it lost the +rech power which was a big part of it's draw to me so I'll stick with scrappers on that I think.stalkers are severely underrated and if more people realized they give up NOTHING to scrappers and brutes now (outside of the whole spines/fire farming thing)....
On homecoming at least, Stalkers can go Rad/Fire which might as well be stalker SS/Fire, no damage auras but you get burn and something akin to foot stomp and they both can crit.
Only 75% Res cap, but you get a goodly amount of healing.
FE is good, But compared to a brute you have no wind-up on damage and can do double damage, compared to a scrapper you get on-demand crits with similar toughness caps but better innate defense
Basically in a lot of cases, stalkers trade some utility for pure damage, and in some cases (Shields, etc.) you still get most of it.
More commonly though, you lose the damage auras and gain hide. so you have everything else anyways.
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That's a very nice build, but I personally am not crazy about relying on Shadow Meld to hit the cap. I'd do something like this (pretty much based on my BS/Shield scrapper):
en in PvE too. Literally any PvP IO will work fine since there's no other bonuses, so you don't care about level.
There's more to it than that, Remember, stalkers ALWAYS get the first word in a fight, wasting a lot of slotting for Def/Res to try and cap out as much as you can just isn't worth it. The set bonus priority on a stalker build looks like this:
Recharge time -> Accuracy -> Damage -> Recovery -> Anything else.
More recharge = More crits, more hiding, more placating, more nuking, more healing (where applicable) you get the idea
I don't Rely on shadow meld to hit the cap, i rely on shadow meld to avoid the nuke from a big group while i wipe out the trash, once they're down parry and CC (Storm, Disembowel, etc.) takes care of the big guys in a hurry.
Remember, Stalker is best looked at as a very powerful melee blaster with better survival, NOT a scrapper. Build to murder things as fast as possible and use your tricks to keep your survival up. With just my build from this thread half-finished, i've done LRSF/STF/ITF/Etc. at 50+4 and i might die once in a run if i get some bad RNG or i mis-target or mistime something.
Not to say it's not a tough build, it's tankier than expected if enemies rely on melee or lethal, parry is an instacap against those and you have so much base resist to them.
Basically, you're the master of the best defense in the game - They can't hit you at all if they're dead.
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stalkers are severely underrated and if more people realized they give up NOTHING to scrappers and brutes now (outside of the whole spines/fire farming thing)....
On homecoming at least, Stalkers can go Rad/Fire which might as well be stalker SS/Fire, no damage auras but you get burn and something akin to foot stomp and they both can crit.
Only 75% Res cap, but you get a goodly amount of healing.
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i'm working on a street justice/rad armor that may just trounce all. rad armor has amazing recovery and healing options as well as absorbs and good resists. while you won't softcap any defense you'll be within a small insp of it and have layered resists, a heal and a heal+absorb plus whatever incarnate goodies you go for.
Rad is another one like shield, it's got a ton of options, it's got good overall defense without too much focused on one thing
Haven't messed with it a lot on stalker yet, but Rad/Titan on tank is dumb. Looking at making something silly like Dark/Rad and just being unhittable.
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5-slotted with Preventative medicine (Including the proc + 4 others maxing for heal) it heals ~1.41% HP/tick according to pines
Not a lot, but combined with regen bonuses and the the fact that fires heal is a short cooldown. Plus potentially combining it with a set like Dark or rad that has a heal self attack, it can be huge for survival.
For the record, 1.41% of ~1300hp is ~17-18hp/tick + potential absorb from PM Set proc + Base regen (Usually 9+ HP with sets a sec)
Again, not a lot, but that's also healing you in combat and more so it's effectively just more HP
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Placate is more utility now than a DPS one, it gets you a crit, but it can also get a big bad off you in a pinch
I Keep it and just single slot it with a recharge, since the +hide proc and focus gives us silly silly damage on their own
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Legit, Stalkers have always been the melee kings, they just have a slow start, especially after the addition of focus
The 2 major issues are Survival & End management
You're tankier than you expect but you burn end like a blaster on a speed binge.
Right now, not even fully finished with the build i can crit on 54's (At 50+1) for upwards of 900 damage reliably with AS, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Decked to the 9's, any stalker build will outright own the DPS of anything else in melee, we have zero ramp-up and a ton of options for making our best ST's always crit, and even resistance-based sets get solid defense by stacking hide and stealth with sets
SR & Elec have the most freedom there, as these 2 don't require travel powers (Quickness/LReflexes + Sprint IO Maxing) which frees up a couple power slots usually
Other WIP Stupid builds Are Rad melee/Fire aura & Ice/Bio
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Hey Zerethon, thanks for the write up and the build, it inspired me and so I got my stalker to 22 last night. I'm guessing however that your slotting isn't for leveling? What would you suggest for that? More slots in the attacks and not so much from stealth etc? Or would he level solo and teams fine as is?
Thanks for your response.
Typically, Level 3 i put a slot each in both attacks, 5 i put 2 in the first toggle, then it's power -> 2 slots until you hit the powers like TG that we take for proc holding but don't slot out further and put the slots into stam/health/etc.
If you look at the build i posted earlier, the text output version shows the enhancement level followed by the level i put the slot into it
EG:Level 16: Active Defense RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(17), RechRdx-I:50(17)
A Stands for the single automatic slot a power normally has when picked, the later numbers are slot levels, when i made it i got as close as i could to exactly how i slot when levelling
Generally, i 3-slot toggles quickly and put 2x EndReduc and a single Defense/resist/damage/whatever based on what the power itself does at 27 with L30 IO's (Protip, if you have your own SG or storage tables in one, @ 50 respec out of your low-level IO's and stash them, since you can re-use them later)
Then i just sort of piecemeal my way to 50 before saving some dosh, flipping to either all 50 SO's or IO's and farming up for sets.
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If you're going setless, you're better off going HO/SHO, you'll get far more of a bonus than IO's
Broadsword/Shields - The Thing that should not be.
in Stalker
Posted · Edited by Zerethon
Sniper attacks can crit, moonbeam hits like a truck on crits and can debuff targets with proc shenanigans or nearly one-shot lighter AT's in PvP from miles away.
Shadow meld is also an amazing "OH FU--" Button and can hold an LotG +rech, the hold ain't bad either.
Given that ghost widow is canonically the Night widow leader, makes sense she's the stalker sugar momma