ZemX

I wouldn't mind seeing this updated but I also wouldn't be too surprised if it hasn't changed all that much either. I'm a long time stalker fan and even here, this long after the Issue 22 overhaul, Stalkers are still at the bottom of the list of standard ATs in popularity. So I wouldn't suspect even after some of the powerset changes here that much has happened to change people's typical preferences on what is "the best" enough to make much of a difference in these charts.

Heh... I just discovered HC a couple months back and last night was the first time I'd run LRSF since Live. But it was neat arriving at that Freedom Phalanx mission and thinking to myself... "Didn't we used to go to Warburg for bio nukes and Shivans on this one?" Or am I remembering a different one? I kind of remember the sleep tactic too now that I'm reading it here. But anyway, I was on a similar team that didn't really know the right way to tackle that fight. Fortunately, there were enough incarnates on the team to just brute force it. My ninjitsu stalker took one instant dirt nap in that mess, I don't even know from who, in there somewhere, but I got back up with Unrelenting and the team finished the fight relatively quickly. Certainly way less trouble than I remember.

I PUG all the time too. It's why I play this game. It has such variety! But I'm a filthy casual. I don't much care if every team I am on operates like a well-oiled machine. Figuring out how to make it operate at all is the fun part for me. But everyone should do what makes them happy. I don't knock min/maxers and spreadsheet superheroes. If that's their thing, good for them. That said, I think there are definitely exceptions to my "PUGs are fine!" attitude and Barracuda is probably one of them. You don't want to join a BSF and see all the warning signs (+4 mission setting, more than half the team is sidekicked, there's no tank... or the tank is sidekicked too and has no set bonuses to boot, etc.) It's more than likely not gonna go well. Overall, even though I PUG exclusively, I've rarely failed a TF/SF and when it's happened it's usually because of the team composition things I just mentioned, not because you can't get people to listen to some simple instructions. If I had to pick only one thing to watch out for it's not badges, accolades, ATs, or even powersets and set bonuses... it is levels of teammates relative to the difficulty setting. Sidekicks can be facing up to +6 bosses/EBs/AVs on a +4/x8 team, meaning for those enemies, they might as well be spectators unless they are strictly providing buffs/heals. That other stuff is important too, but the relative levels makes the biggest difference in my opinion. Similarly, a team leader who notices these things and adjusts difficulty to compensate is a good team leader. I'm always a little wary of people who are advertising their teams as +4/x8 for that reason. It means they more than likely aren't flexible and would rather wipe and have people drop than lower the difficulty.

Thanks! Guess I've been doing this the hard way on my Stalkers. Well... sort of. I usually have Moonbeam (snipe) and one-shot the portals one by one. The summoned gang around the portal comes after me and I beat them down. Rise. Repeat. During this time, most of the ambushes arrive, but fortunately not while I am battling EBs. Finally, it's just the two EBs left. Snipe the Captain. Beat him. Then go beat the Honoree. Next time I can play it a bit smarter!

I've only gotten a few 50s myself and always did Ramiel right away, but this latest one I noticed (because I wasn't paying attention before) that I was earning IXP, threads, unlocking the Alpha slot, and was able to craft an Alpha without having done Ramiel's arc. So... he's just flavor then? Or is there something he does unlock? ETA: Nevermind. A little more reading... it unlocks the Alpha at the end of the arc without having to earn the IXP to do it? I guess that's good to know. I've probably wasted some IXP in the past because I usually hit 50 on a team, earn half the slot anyway, then take a break to do Ramiel's arc.

This. Also, the lightest colors (full white being the best) will look more like polished metal because you'll see the environment mapped reflections more clearly in it. But if you want to tint it, that works too, but I'd stick to lighter shades close to white to maintain the shiniest most reflective appearance. It's still there, but somewhat muted by dark shades.

Croax's big Tier List and Builds thread recently posted has many build examples, including KM/EA. Keep in mind though that they are endgame builds, including a fair amount of purple IOs and such. Still usable though while leveling if you substitute some cheaper sets for the purples for now (unless you're just that rich). As for what I've been doing: I usually just wing it. I knock out the power order first in Mids to use as a guide while I level. Often there's a respec in there in the 20s or early 30s because I find having both low-tier ST attacks is often good in the beginning and then the faster recharging one tends to become irrelevant later in the presence of better recharge in both the powers and globally. But it depends on the set. But it's also not a bad idea to use an endgame min/max build as a starting point and work backwards from there if you want to relax it a bit and add more "fun" stuff. You can then see how much defense or resist or recharge it is costing you to make those choices compared to the min/max build. As a Stalker, in general, I would prioritize getting the ATO procs first at the very least. Get Stalker's Guile: Chance to Hide and put it in AS. Get Assassin's Mark: Chance to Build UP and put it in a lowish tier attack power so you have it active even when you exemplar (remember, it doesn't matter which power that one is in because it globally makes any attack you use, including secondary and pools that hit enemies, have a chance to refresh build up. So I prioritize availability because I exemp a lot for TFs and lowbie mish teams). The rest of those sets are obviously nice but you can often kit out several other powers with normal set IOs for the same price as one full set of either (non-superior) ATO. Then at 50 you buy on AH (and/or use dropped) catalysts to turn those slotted ATOs into the superior versions. Gaussian's Build Up proc is also really nice in Build Up, especially once you have Assassin's Mark refreshing it more often than it normally would on recharge IOs. It means you probably don't have to worry about adding two or three slots to recharge IOs for Build Up, so you can spare one for Gaussian's. The proc when placed in Build Up pretty much fires every time you use Build Up... which is a lot when you have the ATO proc as well. Its extra damage isn't as long lived as Build Up's, but it will enhance at least one strike after Build Up with that extra damage. This is a good thread on endurance recovery IOs and enhancements if you want to prioritize a few of these to help with endurance issues. But mainly I just make sure to get one end redux IO in each major attack first as well. I start putting normal IOs in place of SOs at either 22 or 27, then replace them eventually with full sets when I have the scratch. Sorry that rambled a bit but that's kind of my process. I prefer to hammer this stuff out as I go rather than spend too much time not playing pouring over Mids builds.

Yeah, I'm aware of that, but solutions like Creative's Alchemy or IndirectSound were supposed to wrap those APIs and redirect them through their own implementation. And it works for a lot of old DS3D games, but not this one apparently. You can install the Alchemy DLLs in the game directory but it still doesn't "detect" the capability. It must be doing something non-standard to decide that 3D audio isn't available and so it leaves the 3D Audio selection grayed out. Ah well, It's not a huge issue. Just one I was curious about. I'm playing around with the Creative sound control panels to try to tone down the peaks a little and made some of the sounds less annoying without having to dive into individual wave files. It's a little better. Thanks everybody!

I assume since nobody in two years ever responded to this the answer is probably no, but I figured I might as well ask. I keep playing around with audio. I have tried Alchemy as well as several registry hacks related to it found for other games, and can't get the 3D Audio option to un-grey. Anyone else have the magic solution? I otherwise just set Windows to stereo and get at least some left/right separation of sounds in the world. It's not a super big deal but there are certain sounds that are tremendously annoying. Like they are implemented without location at all so if you are in range of the sound it is just blasting max. volume into both ears (I game on headphones). Rushing water in sewer maps, the giant PI teleportals, and the overhead monorail are a couple examples. I just started an Ice Melee character and literally feel brain-freeze when I draw the Ice Sword, it's so damned loud. I can't just turn down overall volume or else everything else is too quiet. I guess I will play with dynamic range in the sound drivers or something. Anyone else with similar problems or is it just me?

Okay, that makes sense. Thanks. Also, I don't want you to think I was giving you a hard time about Regen being a meme. This entire AT was a meme, once. Still loved playing one, even then. 🤪

Really appreciate all the work, Croax, but I'm a little confused by the secondary rankings in this one vs your other guide thread. You didn't give a ranking there but to take just the most glaring difference: There you called Rad Armor "one of the best secondaries across all ATs" but here, you put it in C tier. You also seemed a little more positive on Electric Armor and Willpower there than here. And the worst you said about Regen was "Not a bad choice, but not great either." Here, it's a... meme? 😀 Has your opinion on these just changed that much over time?

Yeah, but it's getting that nerf. Hopefully they do as one person has already suggested and at least up the radius to 10 in exchange for "fixing" the crit. But even then it will be a set with just one AoE unless they give it a little love similar to EM. Though it would be simpler to swap in Repulsing Torrent for one of KM's "too many" ST attacks. Do the same with Martial Arts. Though KM is newer they both suffer from some old-school thinking of what Stalkers were supposed to be.

Oh man, I had NO idea what I was doing when I started the Staff/Rad. It just sounded like oddball fun at the time. But... two relatively good recharging 10ft range/radius AoEs in the primary and two PBAoEs in the secondary, one of which (I think) can hit up to THIRTY targets? That one is practically a guarantee of Assassin's Mark on a big team. I sometimes can't hit Build Up fast enough that I don't end up wasting a proc. Can't imagine how you'd keep up with a set combo that has even more AoE than that.

Then don't do it. Optimal attack chains don't matter a hell of a lot in practical day-to-day missions. If you're competing for DPS on a pylon or attacking a very tough enemy, they can matter. But a typical boss or LT? Not really. If you aren't standing around waiting for an attack to recharge, you are doing fine. And if you want to have a little a-typical Stalker fun, try to fit Presence->Provoke in somewhere. This will solve any issues you have with enemies scattering while soloing and comes in quite handy, I've found, on teams for gathering up strays who might be attacking the support. Plus that whole "Ah ha!" bring-it animation coming from a Stalker is just fun to watch. Though obviously you'll want to go easy on it until you've built some decent defenses. If you really wanted something that's more one-vs-many, you'll probably have to go to a different primary. I've been having a lot of fun with Staff Fighting, but any primary with at least two good AoEs (that aren't ridiculously narrow cones) will make attacking larger spawns a lot less painful. Elec/Shield is said to be a monster in this regard as well, with not only a few big-hitter AoEs but some synergy from Shield benefitting from having more enemies clustered around. But I find Staff a good balance between AoE and Single-Target goodness that it still feels like a Stalker, just one that isn't afraid to take on ten enemies at once. Staff/Rad is surprisingly good, I've found, when IO'd to improve on what the set already does, which is resistance + regen/absorb. I have some added defense but didn't attempt to hit soft caps on anything. It's a layered approach that is so far a hell of a lot sturdier than my Staff/Nin who is soft-capped to positional but little else so far. In any case, lots of fun playing in a very scrappy fashion but still able to sneak/kill when called for.