Koda651

One of the reasons I paired StJ with SA — along with its satisfying attack chain and amazing DPS — is that its AoE works so well with Brimstone and procs for precisely the same reason it's generally underwhelming as an AoE: it's tiny. While Lightning Rod doesn't set enemies on fire AT ALL, Spinning Strike does it pretty well, especially considering its short CD. Also, what is with that crazy-long first sentence? Forty-two words? Geez.

Been struggling since the revamp of Mercs to pick a secondary to go with it. After bouncing back and forth among /Traps, /Time, and /Nature, I'm now seriously considering /Cold. Looking for input from anyone who has experience with this combo or just a /Cold MM in general. Did you have issues with the lack of a heal, status immunity, or personal defenses? Did you take the Medicine pool or hold out until 50 for the Rebirth Radial (forgoing Clarion)? What level of content have you soloed on your /Cold MM? I played a Bots/Traps back during the live days, but on Homecoming I've mostly stuck to sets with at least an AoE heal, so I think I'm in a rut. MM community, please help me drag myself out of it! Thanks.

Aside from the heal, Caltrops is one of the main reasons to take Ninjitsu. Without the click powers, Ninjutsu is just a worse SR. When Ninjitsu — which was created for stalkers — was later proliferated to other ATs, Seishinteki Kyoyo was given to those ATs along with Bo Ryaku to replace Caltrops and Smoke Bomb. I'd much rather lose Smoke Bomb than Caltrops. Then again, I'd also rather get Ryaku out of that exchange than Kyoyo...

I have a StJ/Stone and Elec/EA stalker both at 50, and they're probably my all-time favorite characters in CoH. StJ on a stalker produces an extremely satisfying attack chain between the combo system in the set and the Assassin's Focus inherent. They play off of each other so smoothly, it feels like it was designed that way. And the animations are satisfyingly "bone crunchy." Pretty sure StJ is a close second on single-target damage for stalkers; the only drawback to this set is its mediocre AoE. Electric melee is, of course, electric melee. Shield Defense is a more popular pairing for the dual hide-friendly tele-nukes, but I enjoy Energy Aura more overall as a secondary. No tele-nuke synergy here, just a solid AoE primary (the best AoE stalkers can get) with a secondary that guarantees you survive the resulting aggro. Both Stone Armor and Energy Aura have built-in recharge bonuses (15% and 20%, respectively). Stone has endurance recovery (20%, just slightly weaker than an extra copy of Stamina) in one of its main toggles, and Energy has Energy Drain and Energize. The latter can provide a ~60% energy discount (along with high health regen) and can be up constantly with an aggressive recharge build (aided along by the 20% included in the set itself). They team well and also have a pretty fun time going toe-to-toe with +4 AVs. I try other builds and other ATs sometimes, but I always go back to these two.

Got my StJ/StA to 50 and kitted out this weekend. No incarnate powers yet beyond T1 Musculature, and I have to say this is my favorite Stalker armor yet — possibly even slightly more than EnA. Endurance management without Energize takes getting used to, but it only even becomes noticeable when wailing on a single hard target for over a minute straight.

Psi Melee would be a good thematic match with the crystal versions of the Stone Armor powers. I can't bring myself to run Psi until Insight gets a buff, though, so I'm presently running a StJ/StA Stalker and enjoying it greatly. The small radius on Spinning Strike gives it some halfway decent Brimstone proc numbers for an AoE.

I think it's just Hover. All of your in-game defenses are 2.65% higher than what your Mids screenshot indicates they should be, and that matches what Hover provides. Do you have the green circle clicked on by Hover in your Mids build?

Empathy Defenders can pick up Healing Aura and Heal Other at level 1. Is it silly for them to keep using those skills at level 50?

I started a StJ/StA Stalker a few days ago. He's up to 30 now. What are the numbers like on your Brimstone procs at 50? Aside from crits, I assume they don't scale with anything else, like enhancements or buffs; I'm just curious about the raw damage numbers. [Edit: Got to 50, and while the Brimstone ticks aren't huge, they add up to a non-trivial boost in dps, if only for how reliably they proc. It's like having a damage aura toggle on my fist.]

Just from "napkin mathing" the data we have from the in-game stats, how do you think Stone Armor will measure up to something like Energy Aura?

I don't have experience tanking with Titan Weapons, but I have a Bio/Rad tanker at 50 who with no outside buffs or heals pretty much can't die without being absolutely saturated with recharge slow debuffs. So it's a reliable set. And, on top of that, it's fun to play! The Adaptation modes add a fun layer to gameplay -- Offensive Adaptation, in particular, is a nice boost when survivability isn't a big issue (and it rarely is). Again, haven't played with TW post-nerf, and before that it was on a brute. Don't know what it feels like to tank with it. But the defense buffs in attacks sure wouldn't be a bad fit with Bio!

You're on the right track for Alpha incarnate. Either Spiritual to boost your recharge and healing, or Agility to boost your recharge and defense. Also, a Time Manipulation user with Power Boosted Farsight can hit the defense softcap, which grants a huge survivability benefit. But your post implied you skipped Maneuvers from Leadership. I'd recommend taking it. It's also another power you can slot with the Luck of the Gambler global recharge IO, which will help you on your path to perm-hasten, perma-chrono, and perma-PA.

I had an Elec/Nin I enjoyed back in live, but my favorite Stalker now is StJ/Rad. It was awkward leveling with a resistance-based secondary, but kitted out at 50, she soft caps defense during Shadow Meld (Ghost Widow patron) with a 70%+ uptime, and almost all resists are in the 60-75% range. I went with the Interface power that procs ToHit debuffs, so she doesn't even get hit much when SM wears off (and when she does, she has resistances, absorbs, self-heals, and regen). The Interface DoTs are a bit overrated, so it's not even a big drop in DPS in exchange for the solo survivability benefit it provides. And, as anyone who has tried Street Justice on a Stalker will tell you, dps is through the roof. Easily my favorite melee character, and last I checked in the build stats thread, there are less than ten StJ/Rad Stalkers at 50.

I have one of those eight StJ/Rad Stalkers. She's a total badass. My other 50/incarnates are more common combos: Rad/Bio Brute Bots/Time MM Water/Kin Corr Fire/Dark Controller And of course a Spines/Fire Brute named Farmie McFarmFace.

Thanks for all of the input so far! I'd already started my baby Fire/Dark, but now I ALSO have a Dark/Dark troller in the works. City of Alts, here I come!

I'm on Indomitable. Out of curiousity, what are your two /Dark Controllers' epic pools?

Looking to start a new Controller. Played Ill/Rad and Fire/Kin back in live, but psyched about the fun (and possibly overpowered) new Darkness secondary. Has obvious synergy with the Dark Control primary, but I still can't decide between that and Fire Control for superior damage and those lovable scamps, the Fire Imps (as well as the opportunity to play with Bonfire in a post-Sudden Acceleration world). Anyone who has experience in the i25 world with either combination willing to give me a minute or two of their time to chime in with what they like and/or don't like about it? If it makes a difference, (1) I am able and willing to fork over the influence for as many purple or PvP enhancements as it takes to make either combination shine, and (2) I tend to base my impressions of a build around its performance at level 50 with full sets, ancillary powers, and incarnate abilities, so if a combo is a "late bloomer" that is not an issue. Leaning slightly toward Fire/Dark/Fire. But only slightly (otherwise I wouldn't have made this post). Thank you!

I have a 50 StJ/Rad Stalker. Not a Brute — but the Brute would have even more of an advantage due to the aura Stalkers don't get. Spinning Strike gets much better with a healthy dose of global recharge, and the radiation PBAoE power supplements it well. Between the two I have little issue nuking groups of +3 and +4 enemies to the ground. StJ is a fairly single-target-focused set, but from my experience the PBAoE in /Rad props it up well when AoE is needed. (And that's coming from an aura-less Stalker PoV.) No secondary is going to turn a StJ Brute into a min/max AoE machine, but when you're toe-to-toe with an AV or GM, you're going to tear it apart.

At 120% global recharge, Hasten should have no downtime at all. Do you have two recharge IO's in it?

Glad to hear it's apparently something wrong with his testing methodology and not the beta code. I'm all for rolling overpowered characters, but a Corr should not be straight up out-damaging a Blaster with primary alone.

No, that's not what he's doing at all. He's blasting custom mobs in an AE map to see how much damage they take, and writing down the numbers without Scourge. Seems to be an unintended change on the beta shard.

I played around with slotting the Overwhelming Force proc in Fire Imps. It's not reliable, but they frequently juggle bosses with a 20% chance on each Brawl from each imp to proc knockdown.

Dark Melee has always been strong. I second the vote for Street Justice, though; it hits like a truck, has really great sound and animations, and its combo system interplays VERY nicely with the Assassin's Focus mechanic.

I had this RP dilemma with my Stalker. I decided that she had been tasked to go deep undercover to steal Ghost Widow's secrets. She was never "really" a villain at all.

I wish that proc went off "practically always" for me. Have the full Stalker's Guile set in AS on my StJ/Rad, and I can count the number of times it procs in an entire mission on one hand. The other Stalker proc, the global chance to reset Build Up... is ridiculous. I have the Gaussian proc in Build Up, so quite often the reset proc leads to a mid-combat, 4-digit non-hidden crit — on a character who isn't even 50 yet.