Worm_Kalpa

I have a level 50 dual blades/ninjitsu stalker that had weapon mastery before a respec to take psionic mastery. I also have played ninjitsu on stalkers a number of times. I can share some insight. For your questions: My takeaway from the old thread Caltrops as a "Proc Bomb" (just in case you haven't seen it) is that the proc bomb approach is alright but don't expect something great. The issue with using caltrops while teaming is that the fear component of the power scatters enemies, which doesn't help when going through mobs but is useful in some situations. The Overwhelming Force KD proc helps but it doesn't always go off so enemies can still scatter. I've been experimenting on my ice melee/ninjitsu stalker slotting Caltrops with the Annihilation resist debuff proc and the Superior Frozen Blast immobilize proc/recharge, and it works well so far with Ice Patch providing KD. You might want to test out swapping the Bombardment damage/recharge for the Frozen Blast immobilize proc. That way, you have two procs and the slow component to keep enemies in the caltrops patch so they are more likely to take damage. Smoke Flash is not worth it. The stalker version doesn't have the resist debuff or damage and to-hit debuff that the blaster and sentinel versions have. Plus it has a long recharge time, and a longer animation time and lower magnitude compared to Placate. Placate got a buff (or bug fix) some time ago that's talked about in this thread, plus it's part of the Empower combo for dual blades. Smoke Flash can be replicated with a temp power from the P2W vendor. I recommend dropping it and likely take Hasten. You have the right idea in building for high global recharge for dual blades. I would see if you can fit in a recharge reduction in Kuji-In Rin (the mez resist click power) for more stacking and in case you get a recharge debuff. It currently recharges before the duration is up but some more security is nice. The tricky thing about dual blades/ninjitsu stalker I found is that the combination is a very active play style. There is building and maintaining focus, the combos from dual blades, and all of ninjitsu's tools. The stalker version of ninjitsu was designed for the slower skirmish-style gameplay that stalkers were originally intended for, but stalker gameplay has changed. You might miss combos or focus when using ninjitsu's tools. Is that your experience as well?

From my experience and listening to others, the following melee sets are either particularly good or best on stalkers: Electrical Melee: The set on other ATs has great AOE and mid ST damage, but the stalker version has much better ST damage while keeping the nice AOE attacks. This is due to swapping Lightning Clap (a PBAOE stun) for Assassin's Shock. Ice Melee: This set swaps a mediocre ST attack (Greater Ice Sword) for a much better ST attack (Assassin's Ice Sword). Ice Patch is a one-slot wonder that helps with crowd control. Frost is a 90 degree cone and Frozen Aura is a PBAOE, and both are good. Freezing Touch is a great ST and is also a hold. Cold is one of the least resisted damage types and the speed and recharge debuffs help with runners and reducing enemy attacks. Kinetic Melee: The stalker version gets Build Up, which helps a lot with burst damage and fits the stalker's gameplay. Burst is a PBAOE that has a 100% chance to crit from stealth, which is much better than other similar PBAOEs. When Concentrated Strike is a critical hit, it instantly recharges Build Up. There's a satisfying attack chain that can be made with that. Finally, the damage debuff and knockdown from some attacks helps with keeping you alive. Staff Fighting: Automatically gets only the Form of the Body stance so can only get part of the unique mechanic while other ATs, but also gets Build Up to help which other ATs don't get. Get Assassin's Staff to help with ST damage. All of this helps with damage on a set that doesn't do as much damage on other ATs. Plus it has some AOE attacks and control abilities. The following armor sets that are either particularly good or best on stalkers: Energy Aura: A solid damage type defense-based set. Stalkers get a consistent recharge buff, powers to help manage endurance, a self-heal, and even a stun aura-type toggle. Ice Armor: Similar to Energy Aura, this is another damage type defense-based set. Stalkers lose Icicles (lethal damage aura) for Hide, which is a good swap. Stalkers get an endurance drain power that also boosts defense, they keep Chilling Embrace which is an aura-type toggle that debuffs enemy damage, recharge, and speed, and the T9 power is good and has a 300 second base recharged. Invulnerability: A mixed resistance-based and defense-based set. The neat thing is that the stalker version has one resist passive that covers the non-smashing-or-lethal damage types, while the other versions have that split across two powers. Invincible boosts to-hit. Shield Defense: Great positional defense-set with boosts to resistance and max hp. The stalker version keeps Against All Odds and Grant Cover, which is surprising to me but welcome. Shield Charge is a self-teleport AOE attack that helps with melee sets that are lacking in AOE attacks. There are more great sets for stalkers but those are the ones that I want to highlight. I hear Stone Armor is great for stalkers. The stalker versions of Bio Armor and Dark Armor are worth a look. For Bio Armor, Genetic Corruption loses the resistance debuff but gains a sleep component, and that allows some interesting procs and strategies. Dark Armor on stalkers is less endurance heavy than it would be on other ATs, and it keeps Cloak of Fear and Oppressive Gloom. For interesting combos, I have an ice melee/ninjitsu/fire mastery stalker that has nice control and utility capabilities. I've been meaning to make a kinetic melee/ice armor stalker for theme and stacking damage debuffs. One final note that you likely already know is that stalkers benefit tremendously from the chance to hide proc in the Stalker's Guile ATO set. Slot that in whatever version of assassin's strike you have to really do some damage.

I do the same thing when teaming, even when I'm playing a stalker or blaster. First, I'll use Rebirth or any other available support power if the teammate's HP is really dropping. If it's one or two tough enemies, I then help the teammate in trouble defeat them. If they're getting overwhelmed by a group, I'll use any CC and debuff powers like Caltrops to help before dealing damage. When things are going well, I look for any potentially annoying enemies hanging out in the back of the current mob that others likely don't have targeted.

I did some more testing of Ice Melee tactics against runners and got some more insight. This was while solo and with larger mobs. Also on a level 50 incarnate'd out character but the basic advice should still apply for when leveling up an Ice Melee stalker. Frozen Aura is moderately helpful for dealing with minions and LTs that are about to book it because of the autohit sleep component. It has a slightly larger radius than Ice Patch (10m vs 8m), and the animation time before the sleep effect is slightly slower. However, sleep is broken by knockdown. And Frozen Aura doesn't have a speed debuff component while Ice Patch does. It's a decent substitute for when you don't have a patch down but the enemies are just need one more hit. The Freezing Touch+[most holds from an epic powerset] combo is useful for preventing bosses from getting far away from you. You can keep them frozen (ha) in place with enough recharge. This combo is available at level 35 if you take the holds from Darkness Mastery or Fire Mastery. I found it especially useful for the Malta Zeus titans since they resist cold damage and are prone to fleeing when their health gets low. I hit them with Freezing Touch and Char at the 50% health mark, and whittle them down without having to chase them into another group. Ice Patch is still great.

I tried this out on a few mobs with my level 50 ice melee stalker, and the preliminary results show that Ice-Patch-at-50%-HP does somewhat help with runners. The KD and speed debuff from Ice Patch are useful for bosses or anything that won't go down after one hit from a ranged attack from an epic pool. I noticed that sometimes enemies in the Ice Patch don't run straight out of it but change direction every few seconds and thus stay in the patch even more. The tactic is limited by the radius of the Ice Patch but it has its uses. This was while solo so the tactic needs testing in teams and against large mobs.

I collect temp powers whenever I can on my main characters. For my side characters, I'll go after specific temp powers if they are useful or fit the character's theme. The envenomed dagger is my most consistently used temp power since it debuffs the targets regen which is great for AVs. I'll also use the amplifier buffs, jetpack, and Shivan shard as needed. Otherwise, I most often use the use-limited temp powers from the START vendor like revolver or hand grenade to fill in attack chains. I use the temp powers granted by missions but only in some cases I'm able to get the temp power again through flashback or mayhem/safeguard without too much trouble. It has a lot of charges/use-time so I won't accidentally use it up. It has a limit to how long you can keep the power, which is different than how long you can have it activated. The original Nemesis staff granted by a mission and some of the zone event temp power rewords work like this. Might as well use it before you lose it. I like temp powers since they allow you try out different attacks without having to roll up a different character. I also like some of my characters carrying an assortment of gadgets and weapons especially if it frees up powerset choices. Like the web grenade temp power (or more likely day job power) means my stalkers and scrappers can immobilize or inflict -fly on targets without taking Weapon Mastery. And having the Nemesis staff prestige power and Nemesis staff temp power at the same time was fairly fun and useful when soloing as a squishy character.

For boomerangs, I can see them working as an alternate animation for the various shuriken powers, like those in Martial Assault or Weapon Mastery. The character animation would remain the same while a boomerang replaces the shuriken. A boomerang dealing lethal damage instead of smashing is a very minor quibble, but that also applies to the various elemental weapon options and the customization is nice. For primitive weapons in general, I believe they could best be handled by a power pool. The advantages of a power pool over a powerset is that it's open to all characters, there's some flexibility in what mechanical niches the powers can occupy, and each weapon can have one or two powers instead of trying come up with nine powers. The unfinished Utility Belt power pool is an example and even has bolas. I can see a javelin or any similar throwing polearm weapon in this hypothetical power pool being a single-target attack and it can use the animation of the already-existing Pilum power that some enemies have. Boomerang can be a ranged cone or a chain, even though that's not how they work in real life and is how they are sometimes portrayed in media. But it would be fun.

Left-Hand Shark, occultist of the oceans. Water Blast/Marine Affinity Corruptor

From an old thread on story arcs, I'll link a post that covers some of early (as in issue 0 and issue 1) blueside story arcs that give background on and develop the major enemy groups in the game. You'll have to do some of them through flashback but others should be around your level. https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/33532-any-flashback-story-arcs-surprise-you/?do=findComment&comment=431826 For blueside, I also recommend -Collateral Damage: Laura Lockhart's arc, do it twice -Freaklympics: fun concept, shows that there are different factions in the Freakshow, and the last map is neat I'm more familiar with redside and the arcs I recommend there are -Echo Down the Aeons: Marshall Brass, time travel weirdness -The Cult of the Shaper: Diviner Maros, seeing into the future weirdness and the dialogue sells it well -High Roller's Last Gamble: Slot Machine's last arc, helping a washed-up old villain If you ever make a character in Praetoria, the Imperial City Resistance Crusader arcs are great. Vagabond's and Wardog's arcs with the neutron bomb are action thrillers in the best way. Do them as an undercover Loyalist and contact Marchand to get more dialogue and the Loyalist perspective on their actions.

That is a lot of work when you get into the details. Thanks, it is good to keep in mind that seemingly minor or quick changes can require a lot of work

I like the idea of removing zone limitations since the explicit issue is 'how to get more people to play on redside' instead of 'how to get more people to play as villains and/or rogues (and thus, implicitly, playing on redside)'. I think it's one part of the solution since you also need content and other things to interest people to play on redside. But having that idea in mind opens up to the idea of adding some hero contacts to the Rogue Isles (and even villain contacts to Paragon City), which I like. The HC arc that is for rogues but starts blueside is kind of along that same thinking. Also, the 'Recapture Miss Francine in 90 minutes' from Westin Phipps and the 'Stop the transmission' mission from Marshal Brass have heroic outcomes if you fail them so those also capture the spirit. Again, taking notes on how the goldside 1-20 arcs are done can help here. Potential redside hero contacts would likely be unassuming or undercover. There could be different unlock requirements depending on alignment. For example, I can see even a villain unlocking a redside hero contact if they have the Spider Smasher badge and the contact needs some assurance you aren't an Arachnos lackey. Although I don't know if a requirement 'if hero with or without badge or villain with badge then unlock' would be tricky to program or require more resources than it is worth. Speaking of resources and programming, I think it would be fine if these hypothetical 'redside hero' arcs were low-level and fairly simple. I'm thinking along the lines of the revamped Faultline arcs or the Westin Phipps and Marshal Brass missions mentioned earlier. Maybe some dialogue choice at the end if you betray them, help them out of your benefit, or just help them with no strings but no different badges. I'm completely fine if a new contact and arc don't have an associated badge or cool design stuff if adding those would mean more work than is needed. A side-note on the subject of revamping zones, but damn some of the Rogue Isles zones need a design update. The old devs said that revamping zones is as much work as making a new zone, but I'm talking about minor (to my knowledge) edits instead of a full revamp. I like Cap Au Diable's design since you start off in the 'decent' part of town with rough parts with Vahz hanging out to harvest organs and pipes going everywhere. You then work your way up to Aeon City and the 'nice' part of town near the university where the Gold Brickers are breaking into the buildings there. It adds a visual sense of progression as a villain when you are climbing to level 20. Others have stated that that is what made the old Mercy Island work. Some redside zones have residential areas with too much trash and debris that it looks post-apocalyptic (new Mercy Island) or they don't emphasize the rich part of the Isles enough (St Martial). Keep Sharkhead mostly as is since it is supposed to be suffering from Cage's mining runoff, pollution, and exploitation of the Scrapyarders but update the design of the rich parts. That adds some aesthetic variety that turns off some people from playing redside.

I'm barging in here so some of what I say might have been covered already, but here are some ideas that I have. The first is about one factor of many that adds to the huge popularity gap between redside and blueside. The last three are how to get more people to play redside. 1) The updated beginning (Galaxy City, continuing tutorial contacts, some of the new contacts) don't work as well in terms of plot and player-appeal for redside as it does for blueside. I agree with earlier posts that changes to Mercy Island as a result of the updated beginning were an overall downgrade. The popularity and thus population gap between blueside and redside existed before this, but I would argue that it didn't help redside. In the updated beginning for heroes, you start in part of Paragon City, deal with a disaster there that is the vanguard of something big and new coming, and then go to another part of Paragon City. There the new contacts have arcs dealing with how the destruction of Galaxy City affects Atlas park and deal with the fallout there. It makes narrative sense, you're doing heroic deeds dealing with villains taking advantage of the situation, and there is a sense of urgency. Even the Twinshot arcs, as annoying as the dialogue and some of the plot points are, build into something that ties into the Praetorian invasion arc and even brings up the meteors in Galaxy City. I liked the Outbreak tutorial and consider the updated beginning for blueside to be an overall lateral move (needs some changes but it is more exciting). In the updated beginning for villains, you start in part of Paragon City, deal with a disaster there that is the vanguard of something big and new coming, and then go to the Rogue Isles where the impact of what happened in the tutorial doesn't feel significant. Your focus is now directed towards something completely different: Longbow taking over part of Mercy Island, which is small stakes compared to the fallout of a new alien invasion. While Twinshot's arcs treat you like a newbie moron, Dr. Graves' arcs suffer more from treating you like an angry newbie moron. Dr. Graves' arcs also don't tie into something established (Praetoria, neo-Shivan invasion) and the conclusion of what was possessing Dollface isn't hinted at or followed up anywhere IIRC. Also, Lt Harris is more of a creep with issues than a serious villain. In the old beginning for villains, they start in prison, break out with the help of Arachnos, and are given the choice of sticking with them or not. That's cool, makes narrative sense, and is still exciting. Plus Dr. Creed is better than Dr. Weber. 2) Take plot and character interaction ideas from the newer redside contacts (Dean MacArthur, Leonard, Vincent Ross, especially Mr. G) and also from the 1-20 goldside contacts (mainly Power Loyalists) and make new low-level contacts or maybe even update some of the existing contact dialogue. The villains get no respect complaint is an old and valid one. I remember that the initial beta version of the Barracuda SF was pretty bad about that. But as others have stated, the original devs did work on fixing that with new contacts and arcs. I recall the second SSA for villains also being pretty good in that area, but it's been awhile. And as others have said, the conclusion of Operation: DESTINY has you showing that you are stronger than your patron and Recluse and thus deserving their fear and respect (ties to the first point about the old redside beginning being better). Emphasize that! I believe the HC redside contacts and arcs are good about treating you as a partner to a scheme rather than a lackey, so the HC devs are on the right track there. 3) Have redside content that is on the vigilante-villain area of the alignment chart. Not just a vigilante only contact in the Rogue Isles but something where most would view you as a villain even if you sincerely believe you are improving things. This can include arcs where you are trying to do good or fight a group but using extreme means. The vigilante -> villain alignment mission A Broken Protest Sign is along the lines I'm thinking. You fight against the Cage Consortium for noble intentions but it means doing some stuff a villain would do and even join in. Some Crusader Resistance arcs can work for inspiration. This suggestions is tricky to implement, least of which is that this is meant to be in that murky ambiguous region between alignments. 4) Odd idea, but have more arcs along the lines of Captain Petrovich and Slot Machine's second arc for those who want to play a bad guy without actually being a bad guy. The first has you rescue the widow of Scrapyard, and you help a washed-up villain retire in the second one. I'm thinking of contacts tied to the Scrapyarders or even some benign faction of the Luddites, where you are working in the Rogue Isles but kind of improving things for people there. And you can get rich in the process or set yourself up as an important figure, but don't have to. And of course can betray them at some point. So instead of working for the Family or Cage Consortium in Sharkhead, you work against them but on your terms with no trickery by the contact. This does feed into the 'villain vs villain' complaint about redside and that you are a hero that happens to be working in the Rogue Isles is valid criticism. But I think this can work if presented to the player as exactly that from the get go and done the right way. Besides, if this works then why not look into blueside arcs where you are a hero but a jerk?

For a quick reference, here are the dual blades combos with the power combinations for stalkers in the right-most column: https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Dual_Blades#Combination_Attacks I have a dual blades stalker that is pretty fun to play. I took all the powers in the set, including Placate, and use all the combos except for Empower. From what I recall when I first made the character, the general advice was to pump up recharge so you can use the Sweep combo as often as possible. The Sweep combo is a PBAoE with a 10 ft radius that does lethal damage knockdown and is activated by by Build Up -> Assassin's Blades -> Ablating Strike (which is also a defense debuff). So its a good opener and can be used in the middle of combat when Build Up is recharged. Also for a reference, here is the data for Sweep: https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=redirects.stalker_melee.ablating_strike_sweep&at=stalker The Attack Vitals and Weaken combos are alright, not great but I like using them when I can't use Sweep. I haven't used the Empower combo much. You're right about the awkwardness of the combos, since you have a short window to use the next attack in the chain. But it's nice seeing a combo go off and I treat the non-Sweep combos more as a bonus then a necessity of the set. Hopefully others can give some more specifics on the optimal, or at least a pretty good, way to play Dual Blades.

One way to get brutes to deal psionic damage is to slot Perfect Zinger: Chance for Psi Damage proc into your attacks. It is part of a taunt set but a brute's power from the primary powerset have a taunt component that allows taunt enhancements to be used. I don't know how good this is mechanically. My understanding is that procs don't benefit from fury but procs are also good for archetypes on the lower end of base damage like brutes, but I could be wrong. Also, slotting the procs makes slotting and getting IO set bonuses trickier. But it is an option along with Staff Fighting's Form of the Mind.

I have an ice blast/ice manipulation blaster in the mid-30s that's fun and works well on teams and when soloing. Previous blasters I tried didn't hold my interest but this character does. Mechanically, ice/ice blasters feel a lot like playing a ST-focused dominator. You get two holds in ice blast and another hold in ice manipulation, so you can hold bosses without waiting on an AoE hold with a long recharge. Ice patch is a PBAoE power that creates a patch that knocksdown enemies, which is a handy means of control. It also helps keep enemies in the area of ice storm and blizzard, two rain-style AoE powers. It's fun seeing enemies try to Baywatch-run out of the area, slip, and fall while orange numbers everywhere are going up. Both sets deal cold damage, which is one of the least resisted damage types in the game. The secondary debuff effects of your attacks are -SPD and -Recharge, so that keeps enemies at a range, they attack less often, and lets you slot in the Ice Mistral's Torment proc for more cold damage. Slowing enemies down is great since you can keep your distance and most enemies have melee attacks as their strongest attacks, so that helps with survivability. Flavor or concept-wise, characters with ice powers have a lot of options. A tech origin can have a suit with built-in freeze rays, mutation origin is classic, science origin can be a cryonics experiment, etc. Your character can be portrayed as affecting more than cold and ice with their powers. For example, they start out slowing down atoms and then learn to speed them up and affect the other end of the temperature scale. That can explain an ice/ice blaster taking fire mastery or super speed, if an explanation is important to you. Cold and ice are also thematically close to death and darkness, so that's another option. Definitely take what bits, both mechanics and concept, are fun and appealing to you.