Zerethon

I don't bother with self heals unless the set has one built in. Generally on my Broadsword/shield i don't get hit enough to care, and if i do it's not hard to jump back, heal, and then charge back in and beat faces Generally the idea of playing stalker is "it can't hurt me if it's dead" and having 2 AOE skills that do damage and an easy perma hasten (Between all the ST/AOE and defense skills of shield, it's not hard to get it) you do so much damage and your defenses are solid enough between the extra def stalkers get that nothing is a serious issue The only notable thing, if your def set doesn't have KB Prot, acro is a good choice, but shield has plenty of mez protection. Notes: Ditch ladder, it's damage is meh, the cone is tiny, and it's super slow, swap to havoc at level 1 and swap it with charged brawl to have a massively faster DPS loop Fighting is "eh" adding 2 more end-heavy toggles for some minor extra resist isn't worth it, Drop the pool for Grant cover, Stealth (2x LOTG's easy) and something else. Edit, wasn't a hard edit to make: Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ ZapShield: Level 50 Natural Stalker Primary Power Set: Electrical Melee Secondary Power Set: Shield Defense Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Concealment Power Pool: Speed Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery Villain Profile: ------------ Level 1: Havoc Punch Hct-Dmg/EndRdx:50(A), Hct-Dmg:50(3), Hct-Dmg/Rchg:50(15), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(37), Hct-Acc/Rchg:50(40) Level 1: Hide LucoftheG-Rchg+:50(A), Ksm-ToHit+:30(34), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP:50(37) Level 2: Charged Brawl CrsImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(A), CrsImp-Acc/Dmg:50(3), CrsImp-Dmg/EndRdx:50(9), CrsImp-Dmg/Rchg:50(37), CrsImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(40) Level 4: Deflection RedFrt-Def:50(A), RedFrt-EndRdx:50(5), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx:50(5), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(34), RedFrt-Def/Rchg:50(39), LucoftheG-Rchg+:50(42) Level 6: Assassin's Shock SprStlGl-Rchg/Hide%:50(A), Hct-Dam%:50(40), SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg:50(7), SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(31), SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(31), SprStlGl-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(7) Level 8: Build Up GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg:21(A), GssSynFr--Build%:50(9) Level 10: Battle Agility RedFrt-EndRdx:50(A), RedFrt-Def:50(11), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx:50(11), RedFrt-Def/Rchg:50(34), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(39) Level 12: Placate RechRdx-I:50(A) Level 14: Super Jump Jump-I:50(A) Level 16: Active Defense RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(17), RechRdx-I:50(17) Level 18: Chain Induction Mk'Bit-Dmg/Rchg:50(A), Mk'Bit-Dam%:50(19), Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(19), Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg:50(25), Mk'Bit-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:50(39) Level 20: Against All Odds EndRdx-I:50(A), EndRdx-I:50(21), EndRdx-I:50(21) Level 22: Stealth LucoftheG-Rchg+:50(A), LucoftheG-Def:50(23), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx:50(23), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(25), LucoftheG-EndRdx/Rchg:50(46) Level 24: True Grit GldArm-3defTpProc:50(A) Level 26: Thunder Strike Obl-%Dam:50(A), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(27), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(27), Obl-Dmg/Rchg:50(43), Obl-Acc/Rchg:50(43) Level 28: Grant Cover LucoftheG-Rchg+:50(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx:50(29), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(29), LucoftheG-Def:50(31), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg:50(43) Level 30: Super Speed Run-I:50(A) Level 32: Lightning Rod Arm-Dam%:50(A), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx:50(33), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(33), Arm-Dmg:50(33), Arm-Acc/Rchg:50(50) Level 35: Shield Charge Obl-%Dam:50(A), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(36), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(36), Obl-Acc/Rchg:50(36), Obl-Dmg/Rchg:50(46) Level 38: One with the Shield StdPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(A) Level 41: Hasten RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(42), RechRdx-I:50(42) Level 44: Moonbeam Apc-Dam%:50(A), Apc-Dmg:50(45), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(45), Apc-Acc/Rchg:50(45), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx:50(46) Level 47: Soul Storm UnbCns-Dam%:50(A), UnbCns-Hold:50(48), UnbCns-Acc/Hold/Rchg:50(48), UnbCns-Acc/Rchg:50(48), UnbCns-EndRdx/Hold:50(50) Level 49: Shadow Meld LucoftheG-Rchg+:50(A), Rct-ResDam%:50(50) Level 1: Assassination Level 1: Brawl Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Dash Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Slide Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Quick Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Rush Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Surge Clr-Stlth:50(A) Level 1: Sprint Empty(A) Level 2: Rest Empty(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift Run-I:50(A) Level 2: Health NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+:50(A), Mrc-Rcvry+:40(13) Level 2: Hurdle Jump-I:50(A) Level 2: Stamina PrfShf-End%:50(A), PrfShf-EndMod:50(13), PrfShf-EndMod/Rchg:50(15) ------------ ------------ Set Bonus Totals: 21% DamageBuff(Smashing) 21% DamageBuff(Lethal) 21% DamageBuff(Fire) 21% DamageBuff(Cold) 21% DamageBuff(Energy) 21% DamageBuff(Negative) 21% DamageBuff(Toxic) 21% DamageBuff(Psionic) 11% Defense(Smashing) 11% Defense(Lethal) 6% Defense(Fire) 6% Defense(Cold) 6% Defense(Energy) 6% Defense(Negative) 6% Defense(Psionic) 8.5% Defense(Melee) 6% Defense(Ranged) 6% Defense(AoE) 103% Enhancement(Accuracy) 112.5% Enhancement(RechargeTime) 15% SpeedFlying 117.5 HP (9.76%) HitPoints 15% JumpHeight 15% SpeedJumping MezResist(Confused) 71.25% MezResist(Held) 71.25% MezResist(Immobilized) 71.25% MezResist(Sleep) 71.25% MezResist(Stunned) 71.25% MezResist(Terrorized) 71.25% 12% (0.2 End/sec) Recovery 36% (1.81 HP/sec) Regeneration 25.25% Resistance(Smashing) 26% Resistance(Fire) 26% Resistance(Cold) 5% Resistance(Energy) 5% Resistance(Negative) 6.5% Resistance(Toxic) 6.5% Resistance(Psionic) | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1468;679;1358;HEX;| |78DA6594CB4F135114C6EF6DA7D4292D500AF22C08854E696168D585F11117F2100| |543D2C4852F98968B8C4C4AD32946966E35BE70E15FE0C28D7F8BF1F13FE8C247E2| |C685580FF39DB68436697EBD5FCFF9CE776FE776E5D15CF8FDE2E3CB4246AE3896E| |BAEE5AB96B3AD2AC11B5675B762397E21847ECB2AE7B76CE56C046935C2156B2BCA| |51CA9C7754B15AB18B9603A1F1F59CDA54255799E8AC2F45787567C731979555B64| |BF7A3DE62A9F4D076ED82EDD8D5BD90A7E4CB4A6DA072C1AE9694EB0ECC97EDA259| 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Does AAO suppress when Hidden? Or do you have to manually turn it on in every fight lest you aggro stuff? I'm curious, 'cause that's the power I prolly woulda replaced with Hide, rather than Grant Cover. Stalkers don't usually keep taunt auras. While it "taunts" it doesn't actually taunt in testing unless slotted for it, but it also doesn't technically "Do" anything, so enemies do not notice you standing right next to them with it on (it doesn't cause a status effect or damage specifically) Scaling bonus damage is 10% for the first dude, 5-ish per additional, and -7.5% on enemy damage

Broadsword was only ever balanced on scrappers because the crits were randomized entirely Stalkers however, get random crits AND on-demand crits PLUS Assassin strike which can be instant and guarenteed critical. So one of the most damaging melee sets in the game, combined with on-demand double damage, gets pretty stupid. In the build i posted, parry is like 1sec CD so it's just throw it around to never die to melee or lethal damage And with this...you get a stacking damage bonus for having more enemies around you, and the ability to just drop an AOE nuke because why not, not critting isn't a big deal when it can lead into a crit anyways Replace broadsword with any other set, like fire or elec that have more AOE Attacks and you trade some of the defense for even more damage and more AOE, but the shield part of the build still works as does the rech if you pay attention to set bonuses. Tertiary, the same rule of thumb applies for any other stalker build, you don't really need capped defense when YOU always dictate the start of a fight - and typically that means you get the chance to eliminate a large portion of incoming damage by just killing or CC'ing enemies before you're even at risk of damage. Doesn't mean you won't get any, most secondaries can get like 20%+ Def on top of resistances and have good to amazing survival while putting out damage that makes a blaster blush. With the caveat of being melee.

Ask and you shall recieve, attached my build to this post. PERMA HASTEN (117-ish recharge, 120 duration) and pretty solid all-around defense and resist. Nowhere near like a brute, but given i can just vanish more or less at will it doesn't matter. No Parry, no T9 (65% Smash/lethal with the T9 on!) Stalkers control the world. Stalkers control time itself! (Build pasted below this mark: WALL OF TEXT WARNING) Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.962 http://www.cohplanner.com/ SnBStalker: Level 50 Natural Stalker Primary Power Set: Broad Sword Secondary Power Set: Shield Defense Power Pool: Leaping Power Pool: Concealment Power Pool: Speed Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery Villain Profile: ------------ Level 1: Hack CrsImp-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(A), CrsImp-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx:50(3), CrsImp-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(15), CrsImp-Acc/Dmg:50(37), CrsImp-Dmg/Rchg:50(40) Level 1: Hide LucoftheG-Rchg+:50(A), Ksm-ToHit+:30(34), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP:50(37) Level 2: Slice Obl-%Dam:50(A), Obl-Dmg:50(3), Obl-Acc/Rchg:50(9), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(37), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(40) Level 4: Deflection RedFrt-Def:50(A), RedFrt-EndRdx:50(5), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx:50(5), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(34), RedFrt-Def/Rchg:50(39) Level 6: Assassin's Slash SprStlGl-Rchg/Hide%:50(A), Hct-Dam%:50(40), SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg:50(7), SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(31), SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(31), SprStlGl-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(7) Level 8: Build Up GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg:21(A), GssSynFr--Build%:50(9) Level 10: Battle Agility RedFrt-EndRdx:50(A), RedFrt-Def:50(11), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx:50(11), RedFrt-Def/Rchg:50(34), RedFrt-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(39) Level 12: Placate RechRdx-I:50(A) Level 14: Super Jump Jump-I:50(A) Level 16: Active Defense RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(17), RechRdx-I:50(17) Level 18: Parry LucoftheG-Rchg+:50(A), Mk'Bit-Dam%:50(19), Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(19), Mk'Bit-Acc/Dmg:50(25), Mk'Bit-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg:50(39), Mk'Bit-Dmg/EndRdx:50(42) Level 20: Against All Odds EndRdx-I:50(A), EndRdx-I:50(21), EndRdx-I:50(21) Level 22: Stealth LucoftheG-Rchg+:50(A), LucoftheG-Def:50(23), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx:50(23), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(25), LucoftheG-EndRdx/Rchg:50(46) Level 24: True Grit GldArm-3defTpProc:50(A) Level 26: Disembowel Hct-Dmg/Rchg:50(A), Hct-Dmg:50(27), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(27), Hct-Acc/Rchg:50(43), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx:50(43) Level 28: Grant Cover LucoftheG-Rchg+:50(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx:50(29), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg:50(29), LucoftheG-Def:50(31), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg:50(43) Level 30: Super Speed Run-I:50(A) Level 32: Head Splitter Arm-Dam%:50(A), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx:50(33), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(33), Arm-Dmg:50(33), Arm-Acc/Rchg:50(50) Level 35: Shield Charge Obl-%Dam:50(A), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg:50(36), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(36), Obl-Acc/Rchg:50(36), Obl-Dmg/Rchg:50(46) Level 38: One with the Shield StdPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(A) Level 41: Hasten RechRdx-I:50(A), RechRdx-I:50(42), RechRdx-I:50(42) Level 44: Moonbeam Apc-Dam%:50(A), Apc-Dmg:50(45), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(45), Apc-Acc/Rchg:50(45), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx:50(46) Level 47: Soul Storm UnbCns-Dam%:50(A), UnbCns-Hold:50(48), UnbCns-Acc/Hold/Rchg:50(48), UnbCns-Acc/Rchg:50(48), UnbCns-EndRdx/Hold:50(50) Level 49: Shadow Meld LucoftheG-Rchg+:50(A), Rct-ResDam%:50(50) Level 1: Assassination Level 1: Brawl Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Dash Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Slide Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Quick Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Rush Empty(A) Level 1: Prestige Power Surge Clr-Stlth:50(A) Level 1: Sprint Empty(A) Level 2: Rest Empty(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift Run-I:50(A) Level 2: Health NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+:50(A), Mrc-Rcvry+:40(13) Level 2: Hurdle Jump-I:50(A) Level 2: Stamina PrfShf-End%:50(A), PrfShf-EndMod:50(13), PrfShf-EndMod/Rchg:50(15) ------------ | Copy & Paste this data into Mids'/Pines' Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1464;692;1384;HEX;| |78DA6594DB4E13511486F74CA7547AA0948350A1202D744A0B43AB5E180F3141045| |16A489A78E3A10C7483239396748ACAA5AFA0173E8117DEF802C6F30B180FEFA017| |1E126F4C14C7D5F957C1D026CD377BCD5EFFFAF7DA7B4FF1DE5CF8E9C2FD7342899| |CB74DC729971AA6BD29EB812B6663BB6EDA3E2144B0549D6D856918E7E77251DA52| |1AB3F59A592997EED6EA9591D69B39B92EAB8E344AB72C69575A43115EAED56C634| |99A5B567523E60D16AB772CC75AB56CABB113F422A52D292B98396F35AAD271E217| 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|FF7CBE593FF663AAF2083EC20FC0AE87E03F15BED8B1| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

The DFB nerf is foolish at best and highly counterproductive at worst. *snip't* It also sets a Dangerous precendent for other, long-running massively efficient XP/Inf farm TF's & trials like ITF. Especially since as far as i can find, this was a full-on stealth nerf to the Trial SPECIFICALLY to stop the "DFB to 20, -REDACTED- to 35. ITF 35-50" Loop a lot of us have been doing to power up alts. of note, is that instead of changing merit drop rates, they tripled the amount needed for a conversion, this sets up the potential to stealth-nerf the droprates over time. And now this with DFB. DFB was great because you could get to 22 (Low-level TF's SUCK and are absolutely horrible slogfests, and random radios are equally slow if you're just trying to level up) and it kept people from begging for PL's and crap from level 1. P. soon you're gonna see all the good 25-45 content get nerfed to crap too, it's got nothing to do with "Player choice" or "time/effort to reward ratio" either, that whole line is BS. 1-20 List it with me: DFB, Posi 1&2(Long as fel, useless) Synapse, DIB, Yin....Or random radio/paper/whatever missions AND OH YEAH, lets NOT FORGET VILLAINSIDE. which has EVEN WORSE OPTIONS IN THE 1-22 RANGE Make the drop-off point for DFB 20 instead of 10 (Because skipping the 10-20 content as well is less BS, especially redside) and just stop trying to nerf speedlevelling. This is City of heroes, you'll break the freaking game completely long before you beat powerlevelling. Also: It never was. AE PL's are still faster, PIPL's are still faster, but it was the combination of XP and TF Mechanics that made it great for leveling toons AND catching up friends or bringing friends into the game who've seen your upper-level gameplay and want to join in without being useless Having them stand at the door in AE/PI Farms doesn't teach them anything, rolling a new toon and doing DFB with them a few times on even footing not only gave them the same super fast levels, but also taught them significantly more about actually PLAYING THE FREAKING GAME. Lessening the rewards also hurts a solo player, i have a very specific loop i do on my alts, because i can literally hit 50 in a day without being farmed by anyone, all the DFB Nerf does is slow me down a bit. I'm trying to get numerous alts to 50 so i can help my friends that i keep running into by filling any role they need at the time With the old merit rate, the comical influence and XP that some TF's give, and my loop, it took no time to get a decent L50 build going. Still doesn't, it's just 66% more obnoxious and slow.

SR Wins. Click antimez can be stacked for upwards of 20 mez resist No need for a travel (Quickness+Swift+Sprint+Ninja can reach 80+ MPH) Inherent Recharge bonus from Quickness (20% More global rech basically means you have 3 LOTG's slotted from 28-on) POSITIONAL DEFENSE THAT CAPS EASILY, SR has no holes to any type of damage Lots and lots of DDResist means it's hard for enemies to actually drop your defense Quickness makes PermaHasten super easy, which means you do monstrous DPS once IO'd Passives give scaling damage resist as your health drops (Agile+Dodge stacked with Reactive defense and shield wall is dumb) Adding Concealment:Stealth gives you ~13% def to all damage types as well as your posistional defense with base 50 IO's Cons: More end intensive since it doesn't have an END drain No healz "Meh" T9 Requires management of 2 clicked powers instead of 1 (Put PB on auto and click hasten when it comes back up) Basically, pair SR with anything that does lots of damage and it'll beat up any other set that isn't electric like it owes it money. Electric gets a pass into the cool kids club with SR because it also has quickness (Lightning reflexes) and it gets a heal & End drain, it just isn't a defense set so it's a much more involved set than SR. SR Embodies the "Either i kill it, or suddenly it's not my problem anymore" mentality well. Effectively, you almost never get hit, but if you get hit, it suuuucks. But until they hit you, they have to contend with the insane constant machine gun of heavy attacks you can throw out from your recharge. Energy aura HAS to use up slots for travel powers, doesn't get the recharge, and isn't positional def, it has a little more sticking power. BUT on my Elec/SR and EM/Elec things just don't live long enough to be a problem. Elec/SR Especially, they have to be STANDING long enough to try to hit me, and that's hard with all the KD & Stuns combined with Stalkers guile & placate for constant critical hits.

Ghost widow, all day every day on every stalker i make. One-click instacap defense + another spot for LOTG Crit-capable ranged dark blast that can hold the purple ST Ranged damage set Potentially-instant snipe that can hold a ranged set Coolest looking hold in the game that can take a purple set FREAKIN' NIGHT WIDOW PET. Or: Some dissapointing dark blast/dark control powers Yeah, hero dark has always been garbage compared to soul. Body mastery or whatever is fine to take while you unlock the patron powers, but once you start slotting IO's (2 slots in health, miracle and numinas proc, 3 slots in stam Perf shifter proc+end mods + Any other recovery bonuses you get) your don't really notice AS or anything using endurance. Basically, if you're a stalker, go body whenever to make the last bit to 50 easier, at 50 you swap to soul and become a nearly unkillable god.

SJ/SR Or SJ/Elec. OR if you just want to obliterate single targets, EM/SR or EM/Elec SR Or elec secondary can both skip travel powers (Sprint, swift, quickness/lightning reflex Slotted for max run bonus) and get an inherent recharge bonus (+20% means more DPS) and therefore have the most "Extra room" in their builds since fitness is inherent now. Energy aura is OK, SR is significantly better at not dying (Positional defense works on all types of damage, rather than having defense to types of damage) Elec is good if you plan on teaming or essentially tanking content, but can still be built into an unholy monster since it has an end drain and heal. Psi melee is....Psi melee, it's got some good stuff and a good damage type, but so many other sets own it in raw DPS (Nin blade, broadsword, energy melee, SJ, fire.....) it feels more like a dominator or blaster secondary than a stalker primary. Overall, Energy aura is good with kinetic melee just for the looks, but if you're going for min/max type nuking it's not the best option If you want a really cool looking stalker that has a "Flow" to it's combos? Fire Melee/Super Reflexes and set all the swords to the greater fire sword. You pop out by lazoring a guy in the back, do a broadsword AOE Combo (GFSword -> Fsword -> FSwordCircle) and then exhale a line of murder. SR gives you the movement speed all the time paired with +rech which makes Fire even scarier since it gets 2 AOE attacks and with the recharge, you can stack some of fires longer lasting DOT Effects so if you get hit, you can jump away and still be doing damage End of the day, all your choice, there's almost no "Bad" stalker build, since they all get on-demand crits.

Electric/SR (Bolt from the blue!) + Broadsword/Shield (WHY DOES THIS EXIST!) + Fire/Regen (Party time) After learning about the stalkers guile IO that practically always procs when slotted into AS, anything i planned on making as a scrapper is just being made a stalker at this point, controllable crits has always been amazing and i've always been a stalker main anyways, so it works out. @Zerethon in game, Torchbearer, if anyone is new to stalkers or just wants to learn the ropes better

Missing AS from hide used to suck a lot worse. It's NBD, it recharges fast on miss so you can try again, but it's not autohit because: A.) From hide, it does critical and partially UNRESISTABLE damage B.) It doesn't unhide you now if you flub it C.) No free lunches on Higher-level targets. Level 50 with sets + it's higher innate accuracy a Built-up AS almost never misses and will typically hit even 54 AV's that have popped defense-capping ultimates. so missing, especially at low levels, really isn't that big of a deal.

First things first, a slight bug/porting fail for any I25 Devs that bother to see this: Hide shouldn't replace phalanx fighting, it should replace grant cover. Stalkers are "Selfish" and do not typically get damage-dealing auras or team-support only powers, the taunt-free version of Against all odds is fine however. Now to the meat of this. So, as a LOOONG time stalker main, I25 has stalkers with shields, something i wanted for AGES after we got broadswords and electric melee both on stalkers. And i am obsessed with building very "Tanky" stalkers who just jump into the middle of L54 crowds and start beating faces in (My Energy/SR and Elec/Elec on live were both well known for tanking AV's and farming 8-man missions) And now, we have an IO Set called "Stalkers guile" with a proc that is "Chance to hide" Some rundowns: Broadsword on stalkers has a tendency to be very "Broken" as it's original balance was more or less that it's ability to crit was random, so the ridiculous damage of things like Disembowel and Head Splitter on crits was fine, since it was random, Stalkers remove this randomness with Stalkers Guile and Hide/Placate - Simply slot the SGuile proc into Assassin strike. You now have a chance to instantly rehide after AS from hide, and also any time you use the instant unhidden AS, meaning you get a free crit disembowel or head splitter basically at will, since when slotted into something like AS the proc chance feels like 75%+ It's also tanky, against melee or lethal damage, Parry, 5-slotted creatively with defense set IO's and accuracy, can stack 15-odd percent def to melee and lethal, which combined with Shields in this case, easily softcaps you to both defense-wise. Parry also has a recharge like brawl, so it's easy to throw it out between basically every other attack On to shield, You get both shield charge and "Against all odds" Shield charge lets you teleport and lay the smack down on groups of enemies, Against all odds increases your damage for having more enemies around you, and SC has the ability to knock down enemies on hit, combined with the damage potential of broadsword, this means you can warp into the center of a group after potentially fearing most of them by landing an assassin strike, and start laying down the damage with slice, disembowel, and head splitter, with parry thrown in here and there to keep your def up to their CQC ability Lets talk stupid and/or basically useless: Grant cover. This power being in the set for stalkers tells me whoever did the porting did NOT read the design stuff for stalkers. Damage auras and team-buffing powers are the first things to go when porting or designing the stalker form of the set, so Hide should have replaced this instead of phalanx fighting (It makes more thematic sense for the stalker to be harder to kill in a melee with it's teammates, than for the stalker to be protecting them) HOWEVER, since we get it, lets abuse the crap out of it until they change it. Grant cover, with 2L35 END cost reduction IO's and a defense IO Gives roughly +11% DEFENSE to everything but Psi and a 30% Buff to defense/recharge reduction resist. This is stupid. This means my shield stalker paired with an SR stalker, even if that SR is only using SO's in all 3 toggles (3def 2EndReduc) they are SOFTCAPPED out of hide (Assuming Stealth+Hide+Toggles) Let alone if there's 2 shield stalkers, having around 25%+ Base def to all + grant cover on each other giving over 10% + Stealth means you can basically softcap def to everything like an SR without even trying. It gets better. You also get Smashing/Lethal resist on both toggles, Toxic/En/Neg/Fire/Cold resist and +maxhp on grit, and FEAR/REPEL resist with confuse resist on Active Defense (Repel/Fear resist is huge in PVP, almost nothing resists those usually) All around, this means you can hit pretty solid Defense/Resist numbers, do amazing damage and bursts of damage, you've got a lot of clear potential, and you're really hard to kill, especially in PVE and doubly so in team content where you have a version of maneuvers on-par with the Arachnos soldiers/widows for some reason. The hard part Rotation. You don't really have one, generally, you want to use AS Every time it's up, crit or not. Because a proc gives you a crit Disembowel or head splitter, and those will actually hit harder than a crit AS. ideally though you want a crit AS followed by a crit of either, but it won't always happen A Basic opener goes like this: AS -> Placate/Head splitter(PR) -> Disembowel/placate(PR) -> Shield charge/AS/HS (Based on rech/enemies) -> "Scrapping" loop (PR) Denotes proc-based actions, if you get a proc from the intial AS you go straight to head splitter for the crit potential, otherwise placate into disembowel for a guaranteed crit since it's ST not AOE (Placate into AOE only in last resort situations, since AOE only gets around 50% crit chance from hide) The loop: Parry -> Slash -> Parry -> Slice -> Parry -> AS/HS/DB -> Repeat This constantly keeps 1-2 stacks of parry active, if you go into AS and you get a hide proc, follow it with DB or HS, otherwise, loop as normal. When placate is off cooldown, ideally you want Placate -> DB for the crit Final thoughts: While i understand the original devs idea that "Shield doesn't fit" when it comes to stalkers that had more to do with the sets design than actual thematics. Broad sword, Radiation, Staff, and street justice are all questionable anyways. Since we have it in Homecoming, Shield makes for a great secondary for those wanting a very tough "Scrapping" Stalker that can do crazy damage to groups of enemies very rapidly, and smack down on elite bosses and in AV fights through controlled huge critical strikes If one of the devs familiar with the porting of sets would fix the issue with the set (Grant cover should be replaced by phalanx fighting, because Cover doesn't fit the usual MO of stalker sets) It would be even better, in groups you'd be on par with an SR or similar to begin with if near your team and basically untouchable to melee in the same team once you started fighting and stacking parries. For right now however, with grant cover, if in a team with an arachnos soldier, the 2 of you can basically give 20% defense to almost everything to your entire team, on top of whatever buffs any ally has (Lord help your enemies if you have an ice or thermal on your team) and basically ignore anything any enemy does even up to 54's Pools are personal choice, but with TP's being available from 4-on i take SJ for travel, Hasten from speed, and stealth for more stealth (Since stalkers can stack them) and defense to all. This makes it easy to get 5 LOTG global recharge IO's slotted. Tough&weave are also good options, but the build is already very endurance hungry, especially with recharge boosts and hasten, so adding 2 more toggles could be a problem Epic pools, i'd go rogue for a bit and unlock patrons, adding ghost widow gives you a click buff that more or less caps your defense instantly, which is great for avoiding nukes in PVE like doing TF's & SF's or just popping it to avoid alphas when jumping into groups of high-acc mobs (Rularuu, etc.) and they also give a ranged attack and a hold, if you want to 5-slot a couple more purple sets. (Plus dark blast reduces to-hit and soul storm looks cool AF, especially when you have an AV enemy floating comically in the air.) TL:DR - Sword & Board stalker is ridiculously fun, currently kinda broken between it's damage and team buff, and with the addition of the Guile IO it's absolutely monstrous. Thoughts? Planning on making more breakdowns of some of the other hilarious combinations i've been levelling.

Man, always makes me wish i had the old squad or a driven enough group to revive the "Soopa Troopa Squad" 8x Thug MM's with varied secondaries, holy crap was that fun. Doing something like the ITF or Katie hannon was always a riot. Some notes too: "Hard" supports do exist, but generally still have an ST, AOE, & Nuke power to contribute damage Exception: Masterminds, the scaling on primary powers is very low due to the damage output of pets, but it's worth having an attack, usually a cone or AOE that has a debuff if the set has one "Tanking" can be done by almost any role, i've seen and played tank stalkers using presence and the like "Ranged" classes have melee builds, X/NRG Blasters come to mind (Blappers!) who use the inherent boost to their damage to do devastating close-range damage "Manaburn" is a viable tactic, Enemies also make use of endurance, draining their bar to nothing basically stuns them, as it reduces them to brawl until they get enough end to use other powers. This is where electric and the like really shine "Death" doesn't really matter, in a midlevel competent team of almost any composition, someone has a rez skill, or a selfrez. Various tactics even use "Suicide dives" to allow the use of powers like Vengeance, mutate, rise of the phoenix, etc. to help power through certain encounters or even buff the damage of the person who died. Combat is three-dimensional, against some types of enemies, simply hovering above them with a flight ability almost completely neuters their damage output, if you're playing a heavily ranged class this can make fly a very valuable power in some content "Melee range" doesn't actually matter, you can superspeed past an enemy and jump with a melee attack readied up on them, even though you land a ways away out of melee range the attack will still execute and can hit, this can buy you some time solo to use a heal skill, or can be used against bosses with stunning/damaging auras when you're on a squishier class to mitigate the damage you take from melee skills with a huge windup (Total focus, shatter, etc.) There's more, but writing a full-on tipbook of everything i know would be like 200 pages.

For all the hate, smack talk, vitirol & more, The CoX Community has always been one of the most easy-going ones out there. Be it Helping lowbies get through a slow spot, helping people get badges for accolades, bringing extra firepower to help people tackle AV missions, or indeed powerleveling people. I have a couple friends i brought in who mostly level organically, and i have another few who want to play more like me (Get a bunch of levels quick, then see what the game is really like with full attack/debuff chains, etc.) It feels good to be home. This is the game i remember so fondly.

This, also, most of the story can be read later off the whole souvenir system anyways. As far as end-game content goes, only a handful of them actually matter anyways because they award badges you need for accolades.

I Miss the old PVP/TF Group from my VVS days Soulkazm, Zani, Demon Gladiator, Tower & More Mein gott. The cage matches, The supa troopa patrolling in RV/WB, Blowing up TF's at speeds that shouldn't be possible. Good times.

AE, DFB, PI With a buddy, it doesn't matter. There's always going to be people (Like me!) who prefer to hit 50 as quick as possible, have everything available, then go back and do the content we missed (TF's exemp down, etc.) I plan my builds around this even Complaining about this is stupid, circular, and downright old after a while. If you want to "Organically" Mission chain/TF/Street sweep your way to 50, you do you. Heck, if you want a couple quick levels to skip a grindy point or reach a new contact i'll gladly hop on a farming toon and power you through them But farming/powerleveling should NEVER be nerfed into the dirt. As was said earlier in the thread, DFB is great for powering through to level 20 or so to see how a build starts playing out much faster. And since CoX is SUCH an alt-friendly game, after the first couple of "organically" leveled chars, it's a nice way to just boost up a build, spec it out a bit, then jump into a level 20-ish TF and see how it plays Combo sucks? send the Inf to your global (if you didn't use the 100% booster currently), delete it, reroll the toon, try again. i have 24 chars at this point, and about 6 of those are WIP Builds, i do exactly that. Make the dude, DFB with the XP booster a few times to hit 20, drop some mods on them and go do normal content to see how the build holds up. If i like it, they get a permanent slot in my roster, and if they don't work that well i just reroll the build with a different set and try again I get the complaining about LFG spam or AE Being flooded with intentionally broken farm maps, But those are both moderation things Farming has literally always driven CoX, from the glory days of herding entire ZONES and murdering them pre-ED and softcaps to portal corp and the various farmable maps, to speed-TF's and AE, it's always just been a thing Nerfing it or punishing people for doing it is dumb. I'm all for smacking people that do the patrol/ambush broken AE farms. Anything i make for that purpose is typically a Battle maiden-esque farm map. No patrols, just groups of mobs and an AV somewhere with some glowies or smashable things.

Specific question on "Multi boxing" While we don't, there are 2 of us that play in the same home on different accounts, i'm assuming you're using the proper tech to differentiate single-machine MB and household multiple-machine multiple players? I'd hate to see people who aren't multiboxing, but rather have many people in the same house playing be affected, friends of ours have as many as 6 people at the same residence playing on the same shard at once.

I'll chime in here On live, i had a farm i made with just normal factions, basically just a variant of the battle maiden farm, big open map, an AV group somewhere with the boss, and a few glowies to click, with a backstory Essentially, a player-made version of the portal corp missions people farmed. I played mostly villains and we didn't really have a lot of good farms like heroes did It never got nerfed or removed, actually got spotlighted or whatever at one point so i just left it active all the time. Missions like that should be completely OK, Look, especially returning players like me that had literally dozens of characters at 50 don't feel like grinding every single toon to 50 by chaining radios and that sort of thing. I want to get to 50 so i can do all the things. Nerf AE i'm just going to farm oldschool portal corp or redside grandville missions (there's a few of them) since i can still go in like i'm an 8-person squad solo and don't have to worry about people popping my glowies and crap. Honestly, i might re-make that old mission and post it up with the original description. It's a farm, but it's not an exploitative one and would give a decent option to people.

Make your char, go to pocket D, talk to the gull, swap to Rogue or Vigilante Rogue is a "Villain" and can do villain contact missions and the like, as well as the patron power arcs at 38+ but can't do heroside story arcs. But you can join in on Hero missions, TF's, etc. Vigilante is the same thing, but heroside, you can do villain SF's and everything, but you can't do villain story missions or anything. All of my chars are either Rogue or Vigi for that reason, heroside is more popular, but i greatly enjoy playing redside content and strike forces (LRSF is still an absolute blast)

I Mean, back in the day i had an Emp/Psi Def and a Kin/Psi Def Emp, especially now with the AOE Buffing, is SUPER UNDERRATED. But you take a set like Rad or psi or something and take the AOE debuff/mezz attacks so you can help stunlock groups or mez AV's and the like It's just like kin, Fulcrum shift and Transference are great, but the +20-something percent resist and bonus from IDensity and the Recharge/Recovery of speed boost shouldn't be underestimated In older CoX (Pre-going rogue for instance) "Pure supports" like you're referring to were godsends - just buff the crap out of everyone and use a couple of attacks that have a debuff attached, and/or just occasionally jump in and pop a nuke (Rad was popular for this for many reasons) If you wanted to speed-run some of the TF/SF content, that was the way to do it. Bring a hard support empath and make your tank and DPS into gods. I'll take having regen-level health recovery and end recovery on top of bonus damage and capped everything all day every day.

Sentinels are....interesting. Goofy combos with stuff like Fiery aura are like really solid scrappers, but some sets that are decent on scrapper/stalker kinda suck on sentinel (Super reflexes for one) If you play like a blaster, you can be an absolutely obnoxious foe, but your durability is basically a stalker without placate or stealth (Or on-demand crits) I would say in the "Vacuum" of Level-50 fully-slotted type fights, they're middle of the road, not quite the one-shot power of a blaster or stalker, not quite the durability of a proper scrapper, but a solid mix in the middle and a fun change of pace.

Infinity/Freedom @Dekahn, Later @Zerethon Good old bad-boys club. Vae Victus Sinistus & You Con Grey Dekahn (Elec/NRG Blapper) Zerethon (EM/SR Stupid Recharge Stalker) + 480billion alts Pretty sure i still have video of old snowball-spam started grudge cage-matches somewhere. Good times.

This is both good and bad. Because this vet leveling system is also a good method to rebuild all your incarnates and purple characters sooner than later. That said the only Change id be for is to make this xp only be awarded during tfs, trials, hami and msr. Though I personally dont think you should change anything at all now. I mean that should have been decided on long ago. Currently not having problems at all putting trials together and I don’t expect them to lose popularity anytime soon. ITrials also give a good chunk of XP too, so when you first start going for your incarnate stuff they give a double whammy of mats AND vet XP, i run the crap out of them on my main when not leveling alts or farming.