SwitchFade

Well... While technically true, IF you can get over 195-200% recharge, the sacrifices one would have to make to the build in terms of survivability by trading set bonuses would make for a considerable less durable stalker. I've spent countless hours on DB on all ATs and have 4 of them on stalker alone My DB stalkers have 180-185% recharge and using the chain you mentioned of assy strike>ablating>sweep>ablating, there is a .7 second delay between sweep and the second ablating and then a .9 second delay between the second ablating and going back to assy strike. I have play tested this chain as well as others thoroughly. The chain I posted has no delays, completely fluid; by switching the chain to swap out power slice for ablating may mean that one attack has more damage, it slows down the whole chain considerably, resulting in less actual DPS. I have in the past tested a 200+% recharge build necessary to close the delay gaps and make the attack chain you mentioned fluid and the it has marked sacrifices in survivability. I only recommend this build when someone plays on teams exclusively. To get a fluid attack chain, the best survivability and extremely high DPS, the chain I posted is optimal because trying to get over 180% recharge causes an extreme dip in survivability for a modest dose increase and also makes most builds not able to exemp well.

As 20F said, the cone is built into the chain, and when you use BU, there's a second AOE combo built in to ablating. Make sure you put the stalkers guile ATO in assy strike for the chance to rehide and crit on ablating; put assassin's mark ATO in any of the other 3 attacks, I have it in power slice, but it doesn't matter, the chance to insta recharge BU is global. Slot the ATO as soon as you can, you should have your assy strike 6 slotted by lvl 11 and have the whole stalkers guile set in there by lvl 11. You should have the assassin's mark ATO slotted by lvl 18-23 latest, all 6 in an attack. Get the panacea proc +HP/end in health right away. The rest... Depends on secondary and Mids fun.

This has been asked a few times so I'll reply here, but also search some. DB stalker works best with very high recharge, 170%+ If you do that, your attach chain is BU>assy strike>ablating>sweep>power slice, repeat from assy strike when BU is recharging. 4 attacks only. The combos are built in to that chain, that's all you need. If you min/max DB, you can get to 600+ DPS, it's a beast.

Nerf Regen. Twice.

OP, you said, "also, I powered leveled up a toon...." If you choose that path, more power to you; however, it has its cost. No vote from me.

Uh, EA can hit 55+% to s/l/e/n/f/c so the only holes is psi and toxic. The s/l def change didn't affect EA, it plays exactly the same, unless you relied on s/l, which is not what EA is. if you min/max EA on a stalker that means out of hide you hit the def noted above, 55+% easily. I still face tank all the same MOBs I did before.

Bonfire is a blasters beat friend. There are many ways to mitigate damage.

Good show innoculating against the argument that it's not an issue! However, I'll still bring it up... It's only an issue if you fight Psi all alone at max difficulty. Considering EA can do exactly that to EVERYTHING else .. EA is so potent in all otherr areas that this is it's balance, and that's ok. So, I don't think people are pretending it's not an issue, we see it and accept it because of how OP EA is in all other areas. All my stalkers are EA and I can do absolutely absurd things with them. EA is just fine as is, I vote.

I love FF, one of the best missions I game. I run it routinely on all new toons. There are no triggered ambushes, you can bypass everything but the altar, the key holder and FF. When you get to FF the most widely accepted best tactic is to bum rush frosty and hold/kd/arrest him as fast as possible, to prevent him from summoning pets like jack, who are murderous to low level TO/DO toons. Then, when he's arrested, the mission completes so the team can keep fighting but if you are near death you can exit if needed. That said, the reason this mission is so great is, because of how much you learn and how much tactics matters when you're new, or running an SO only OG type of style. For example, you attack the 3 MOBs standing in a hallway and the rest of the group is sneakily hidden in a room, but the same group with the same aggro proximity, they poor out of the room and wipe the group. Or when you get to the ice slide room, and there's one MOB standing there, looking innocent.... And all his buddies drop on you from above, the second he is aggro'd. The OG mission designers made this one mission really well, it taught us all about line of sight, corner pulling, proximity, aggro range and team work. But no, you don't have to clear anything to prevent ambushes.

Unfortunately, it's a great deal of work because the animations changed have to be completely re-created, which is why katana was never made right handed. Interestingly, katana being wielded "left handed" is actually historically inaccurate, the uchi-katana was always worn on the leftbthrough the Obi (unarmored) and the hand position when wielding was always "right handed" with the right above the left, even for left handed people. So, I'd love to see more animationa get dominant hand option alternates, but it is tons of work.

@Bill Z Bubba has insight on Claws, if he's around and would like to chime in.

Pocky is really good when frozen. Also, I prefer beer glasses frozen.

I'm sure the bug will get patched. And, Kheldians need the damage cap raised, it's far too low now. And human form needs 1 mag prot added to each shield, get all 3 and get 3 mag prot. This would make kheldian mainstream.

<twitch> Nerf Regen.

Yes vote on more costume options

If you want the most damage, fire/fire. If you want next best and more mitigation, water/fire or water/elec I've done DP/mc, as well as the three I listed... dp/mc is fun but nowhere near the others. For reference I also pushed DP/mental/fire to it's max (bonfire saves you) and this also can't keep up with water/ or fire/ I love DP, but if you're talking dumping out gobs of damage on everyone and their dog, it's fire.

Psst.... try it on a stalker. Same hero... new boots!

This.

Yes vote on more costume options

Yes vote on more costume options

XX/XX Usually, this combo is good for solo play. 😝

Sparkly magic fingers needs a revamp? Does it not have enough sparkly magic?

WP offers no def debuff, and S/L is not a coverall. I've pushed WP tanks, brutes and scraps as maxed as they can be and when the Regen debuff hits, the set folds much faster than Invuln, Stone, Shield, EA, Rad or Dark On the other hand, it's a very beginner friendly set and no maintenance; the trade off is, it doesn't reach the heights of other sets, which is ok. It is what it is, a set and forget beginner to intermediate set. As for which foes do -regen, I would have to look it up again, but quite a few late game do, I found the set lacking in end game content ability

Over cap is really good against def debuff. Also, keep in mind that WP is easily gutted when faced with Regen debuff, so you can't rely on it and want as much def/res layering as you can with balance I've pushed WP to it's extreme and any foe that hits you with -regen just neuters the set.

OP, your described playatule is not really blapping, it's just what a normal blaster is... Which is use ranged and melee. Blapping is... run into melee and stay there, regardless of powers. You attempt to pick a set that has more pbaoe and melee focused powers, but regardless, blapping is, go in.... stay in. If you want to be extremely melee focused... water/fire, water/elec, fire/fire....