tidge

From memory, the Blue Corporate Culture arc (which has nothing to do with chemical pollution) are the sets of missions that most bluntly tie Crey Corp with other groups found in the CF zone, and typically has several missions in that zone. Like many arcs of its era, it will send the player(s) to several other zones as well. I have a small appreciation for the original Hazard Zones, but I always longed for some content that would better explain what is going on in them. Faultline is the obvious "best in class" example of a reworked original zone with not just its series of arcs but also a TF that ends up finishing in the zone. Boomtown at least has a spawnable GM,plus a random GM but otherwise there is no real story there (a few new missions not withstanding). Terra Volta remains a waste, and Eden is just a waypoint to more interesting content. I miss old Dark Astoria, but if the devs were going to sacrifice a zone to Incarnate content that was a better choice than Perez Park, IMO.

Oh to be clear, I barely even market. I haven't even spent that much time in-game the last few months. It's been at least a year since I did anything that most of us would consider "marketeering". The niches I noticed looking "odd" were because: I was playing around with 2nd or 3rd builds, and who wants to spend all that time on the test server?! I check the AH before I pull/craft/spin pieces for new builds. After a play session, there are certain enhancement drops I will always craft/spin... and the Miracle set is one that I always check.

I want to thank you for admitting that you were behind this peculiar part of the market; I'd noticed the oddness for this unique some time ago and simply ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . You didn't stop all my sales, but I feel like you got in the way of many. I don't work in specific niches, so it is not as if concentrating on this enhancement had major effect on me. I believe there is similar activity happening in a few other areas as well... although I am mostly out of the market myself, I still drop certain things there.

There was a player on Torchbearer who used the names of Pink Floyd cuts for his characters (I sussed him out when I met "Your Possible Pasts"); I'm sure he wouldn't mind you using Seamus as the name of one of the (howling) canines. If you are having trouble coming up with names for the felines, there is always Kitty Purry. My poor henchmen remain nameless, but I get a kick out of seeing what other players name theirs. I offer no real opinion except that for macro reasons you many want each of their names to start with a different letter.

Put %damage procs in mass confusion, and you will get credit (including drop chances) from any foe that is damaged with the %damage. While they fight each other, hit 'em with an AoE. Here is my Mind/Poison build. Any empty slots are %procs that aren't in Hero Designer. Hero Plan by Hero Hero Designer 2.23 https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer Level 50 Technology Controller Primary Power Set: Mind Control Secondary Power Set: Poison Power Pool: Fighting Power Pool: Concealment Power Pool: Sorcery Power Pool: Speed Ancillary Pool: Primal Forces Mastery Hero Profile: Level 1: Levitate -- GldJvl-Acc/Dmg:50(A), GldJvl-Dam/End/Rech:50(3), GldJvl-Dam%:50(3), Dcm-Build%:40(5), ExpStr-Dam%:20(5) Level 1: Alkaloid -- Mrc-Rcvry+:40(A) Level 2: Dominate -- HO:Nucle(A), HO:Perox(7), GhsWdwEmb-Dam%:50(7), NrnSht-Dam%:30(9), GldNet-Dam%:50(9), Apc-Dam%:50(11) Level 4: Envenom -- AchHee-ResDeb%:20(A), TchofLadG-%Dam:50(13), ShlBrk-%Dam:30(13), ShlBrk-DefDeb:30(15), ShlBrk-Acc/DefDeb:30(15), ShlBrk-DefDeb/EndRdx/Rchg:30(17) Level 6: Confuse -- CrcPrs-Conf:50(A), CrcPrs-Conf/Rchg:50(17), CrcPrs-Acc/Conf/Rchg:50(19), CrcPrs-Acc/Rchg:50(19), CrcPrs-Conf/EndRdx:50(21), CrcPrs-Conf%:50(21) Level 8: Mass Hypnosis -- FrtHyp-Acc/Rchg:50(A), FrtHyp-Sleep/EndRdx:50(23), FrtHyp-Sleep/Rchg:50(23), FrtHyp-Acc/Sleep/Rchg:50(25), FrtHyp-Plct%:50(25) Level 10: Kick -- FrcFdb-Rechg%:50(A) Level 12: Grant Invisibility -- ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP:50(A), LucoftheG-Rchg+:50(27) Level 14: Mystic Flight -- BlsoftheZ-ResKB:50(A), BlsoftheZ-Travel:50(27), BlsoftheZ-Travel/EndRdx:50(29) Level 16: Elixir of Life -- GldArm-3defTpProc:50(A) Level 18: Total Domination -- SprWiloft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear:50(A), SprWiloft-Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/Rchg:50(29), SprWiloft-EndRdx/Rchg:50(31), SprWiloft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx:50(31), SprWiloft-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx/Rchg:50(31), SprWiloft-Rchg/Dmg%:50(33) Level 20: Tough -- UnbGrd-Max HP%:50(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx:50(50) Level 22: Stealth -- LucoftheG-Rchg+:50(A) Level 24: Spirit Ward -- Prv-Absorb%:50(A) Level 26: Terrify -- HO:Centri(A), HO:Centri(33), PstBls-Dam%:50(33), Empty(34), GlmoftheA-Dam%:50(34), JvlVll-Dam%:50(34) Level 28: Paralytic Poison -- GhsWdwEmb-Dam%:30(A), NrnSht-Dam%:30(36), UnbCns-Dam%:50(36), GldNet-Acc/Hold:50(36), GldNet-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg/Hold:50(37), GldNet-Dam%:50(50) Level 30: Weave -- LucoftheG-Rchg+:50(A), Rct-ResDam%:50(37), Rct-Def:50(37), Rct-Def/EndRdx:50(39) Level 32: Mass Confusion -- MlsIll-Dam%:50(A), Ccp-Dam%:30(39), SprOvrPrs-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear:50(39), SprOvrPrs-Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/Rchg:50(40), SprOvrPrs-EndRdx/Rchg:50(40), SprOvrPrs-Acc/Conf/Hold/Immob/Sleep/Stun/Fear/EndRdx:50(40) Level 35: Poison Trap -- Arm-Dmg/Rchg:50(A), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx:50(42), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(42), Arm-Acc/Rchg:50(42), Arm-Dam%:50(43), GldNet-Dam%:50(43) Level 38: Power Blast -- Apc-Dmg:50(A), Apc-Dmg/Rchg:50(43), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg:50(45), Apc-Acc/Rchg:50(45), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx:50(45), GldJvl-Dam%:50(46) Level 41: Energy Torrent -- HO:Centri(A), HO:Centri(46), PstBls-Dam%:50(46), Empty(48), JvlVll-Dam%:50(48), ExpStr-Dam%:20(48) Level 44: Rune of Protection -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+:30(A) Level 47: Hasten -- RechRdx-I:50(A) Level 49: Temp Invulnerability -- Ags-Psi/Status:50(A) Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A) Level 1: Containment 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 -- Empty(A) Level 1: Sprint -- UnbLea-Stlth:50(A) Level 2: Rest -- IntRdx-I:50(A) Level 4: Ninja Run Level 2: Swift -- Run-I:50(A) Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End:50(A) Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I:50(A) Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%:50(A), EndMod-I:50(11), Empty(50) ------------

I should add this: I have logged quite a lot of Fortunata time without the Fighting Pool. Obviously the "core identity" of the ATs are different, but in practical terms for much of the game's content I'm not sweating having only 5% - 12% resistances (Toxic/E/N/S/L)... F/C/Psi are much higher. I don't do anything peculiar with the favorite Fortunata build, except that I'll use Unrelenting as often as possible (every 204 - 219 seconds). I'd like to fit the Power Transfer %Heal into the build, but the build is starved for slots as is.

AFAIK, the Preventive Medicine +Absorb %proc has the same chance to trigger even if the power it is slotted in is never clicked (or toggled on). I don't play SR tanks, so I can't say if there is a better place for that piece/set, and I don't know how +Absorb factors into this particular discussion for SR tanks.

While the Baseball Bat weapon skin exists, the War Mace swings are IMO far less "Baseball" than the Invulnerability secondary....as far as flavor goes. YMMV. I don't mean to yuck-in-the-yum, but be prepared for somewhat slow/clumsy attack chains without Recharge.

At the start of my Controller's careers (I solo almost all my characters, even forgoing "Death from Below" buffs at times): P2W temp powers, the 5 special enhancements are acquired and ready to be slotted. I like Plasmatic Taser and Hand Grenade. Controller damage from the P2W attacks is still terrible, but it helps smooth out what would be an otherwise boring experience at low levels. Some cost Inf, many are free. Containment goes a long way, although it is hard to recognize at low levels... between focusing fire with single-target attacks, and few slots in powers. This is just one of those things you have to pick up on. Others have mentioned %damage procs in attacks. They work especially well in AoE (I prefer them in Cones). By level 26, most Controllers will have at least one AoE that will serve (with %damage) as a combo control/damage power. I picked 26, because that is when Mind gets Terrify.... but this is still a relatively low level for the game, and an offensive AoE goes a LONG way. Inspirations. My experience with Controllers has been that enemy mez/control is the most likely thing to ruin a Controller's experience, followed by -ToHit (or -Accuracy) debuffs. While leveling, Break Free and Insight are the ones I have found to be the most useful. Insights become less important after serious slotting, but when facing Circle of Thorns through low-to-middling levels those little yellow yummies make a difference. There are temporary powers that allow you to summon pets to both debuff and do damage to enemies. Shivans are can be reloaded, The Snowmen are available from Winter time, and there are others that crop up through arc missions. Earning Shivans is harder as a Controller, because of the DPS and the need to defeat 8 turrets in a relatively short period of time, but it is not impossible. I feel like my solo Controllers have used Shivans (and Envenomed Daggers) against many EB/AV.

I don't play Brutes, but when I converted a concept for an Inv/War mace Tank into a War Mace/Inv scrapper, my attitudes were: Trying to grab/hold aggro was off the table (probably not the case for da Broot), so I worried less about maximizing Resistances and Defenses. Global Recharge was MUCH more important on the Scrapper than for a Tank, so LotG and set bonuses for +Recharge were more important for performance. I should note (if it is not obvious from the WM primary) this is not a farming character.

My (previously unwritten in this thread) opinions haven't changed. Robotics is a strong primary albeit with two things working against it: It does NOT offer a "Recharge Intensive Pet" that can take the global pieces to buff the henchmen The Knockback (especially from the henchmen) makes it difficult to apply debuffs/AoE to enemies (and costs an additional slot to turn into Knockdown) Any secondary that can work around (or support) these aspects of the Bots, specifically keeping enemies somewhat tightly grouped, should be very good. I have experience with /Traps, which can keep enemies together, debuff them, and offers an easy Defense buff for the henchman (FFG). I'm don't like to advocate a Mastermind spamming their own attacks, but Robotics/Traps offers lots of opportunity to have attacks/pseudopets with %-Resistance and Knockdown. I haven't played Robotics/Dark on Homecoming, but on Live it was also a very good combination for reasons similar to Traps. The one aspect of /Dark that I suspect held a lot of appeal on Live is that the mandatory first pick of the secondary (Twilight Grasp) is one of the better "utility" powers to be stuck with on a build. It's no Infrigidate (in terms of %procs) but with the active heal and the single-target debuffs it is a great T1 power. Keep in mind that MMs pay a heavy Endurance tax on just about everything they do, so spamming anything has to take the Endurance costs into account. The one Mastermind opinion of mine that I'll finish with: The henchmen are critical to MM performance, but only to a certain point... I don't sweat trying to keep the robotic Henchmen alive as much as I try to make sure they are doing as much damage as possible. They will pool their Health with the MM (important!), but their damage output is quite a slow grind... try running a mission with only 1 tier of robotic henchmen to see how much of a slog it is... the point I am trying to make is that I don't feel that any secondary for Robotics should be focused only on reinforcing, healing, or buffing the henchmen... and that in order to get the most offense out of them the MM has to be doing something to debuff enemies as well.

For your first VEAT, I suggest the following: leveling through normal content have just enough attacks so that missions are not a slog try to pick all the different non-attacks run with and without toggles IMO, this is the most straightforward way to see first-hand how Endurance costs affects your build and you will get a sense for what all the different powers affect playstyle. If you are really having Endurance issues, it is entirely possible that you are using Hasten "too soon" in your leveling. There certainly can be reasons to want Hasten on a VEAT (Mind Link is probably #1, AoE %damage attacks are probably #2) but you don't really need it... and until you have lots of set bonuses as well as excellent -Endurance in attacks (and other powers) it is simply an Endurance tax trap. I agree that Widows/Fortunata can see Endurance issues without Hasten, but Hasten (plus button mashing) and Sprint are usually the top culprits for draining the blue bar. Respecs are plentiful: I don't think you will end up keeping all the powers you experiment with, but seeing how each works will give you a deeper appreciation for what your build(s) could do.

Why.... that's like 4π!

Some late comments agreeing that Invulnerability being a nice, easy primary that can be made excellent for almost all content... and is simply great for the rest of the content it isn't excellent at. Invulnerability doesn't need many slots in the primary. Ignoring set bonuses and/or globals... while leveling, Endurance reductions in the toggles is pretty much all you need. Having slots for the attacks (Accuracy and Endurance) goes a LONG way. Depending on enemy factions, Inv tankers may not even need certain toggles... maximum Endurance savings! There are only a few instances of EXTREME game content where "perma Dull Pain" would ever come close to being necessary. There are some nice 5/6 slot set bonuses to put in it of course! Now some sour: War Mace. I had a concept that I liked and I considered Invulnerability / War Mace... but I couldn't bear to having such slow attacks (and so few to start!) for so much of the content (I also level up characters by standard game content)... so I used it as a War Mace / Invulnerability scrapper instead. No regrets on this choice, as Invulnerability as a secondary still is very effective. The only thing *I* really miss for that character is the aggro control. As was written above, with enough global +Recharge, War Mace becomes much smoother... in my experience it is one of the offensive sets that sees the biggest jumps in performance once the Superior sets become available for use.

I would find playing my Mind Controller solo to be VERY boring without (%damage) procs. Folks can feel free to spin this as "punching outside the AT class", but I see it as more of an opportunity to get mission clear times within an order of magnitude for all ATs. Even without the %damage procs, Mind can also benefit from "utility" %procs as well. While I wouldn't necessarily describe certain ATs (or primaries, or secondaries) as BAD without certain globals, I think a majority of folks would agree that the global +Recharge pieces make Dominators MUCH more playable, and pieces that provide +Defense/+Resistance (including Knockback/Knockdown, and Scaling) while great for everyone benefit certain builds more than others.

That is very similar to the story of the laptop I just refurbished... I didn't need a personal laptop, except for rare cases of travel where the work laptop wouldn't meet my needs (ehem, privacy), so I didn't bother with the final HDD replacement until it really affected me. It's not as if I was doing much traveling during the pandemic, so the fact that I got the equivalent of 3 months regular use (i.e. ~25% of the year it held on) out of it surprised me. Storage always drops in cost (for the relative same amount) so waiting a year for the upgrade struck me as a no-brainer. I was a little worried about supply chain issues, but aside from GPU for desktops I didn't observe any particular shortages or price-hikes for components destined for older systems. Spending $200 on the upgraded RAM and storage was more appealing than completely replacing a laptop that was in otherwise good shape. I certainly could have spent less... maxing out the RAM was a bit frivolous, and using a second mechanical HDD in place of the SDD would have offered 4x storage for the same price. Post-upgrade, the laptop performs better than it ever did (including lightning-fast boot times), and and I find it to be a decent second station for video/audio editing. It only has a 15-inch display, so even with its decent video card I don't use it for much gaming. TBH, my personal expectations for maximum lifetime of "mobile" computing platforms (laptops, phones) is about four years... usually it's the battery that determines end-of-life for me for those systems. The recently refurbished system has an easily replaceable battery, but I don't entirely trust that I'd be able to find a new (compatible) battery in a couple of years.

I'm glad it seems to have worked out. Here is some jibber-jabber after the fact... I had a quite old 2TB HDD die in my desktop... it was being used for game files, assorted programs that wouldn't fit on the original SSD, and for media backup. I was essentially doing a version of what @starro recommended. I was in the habit of making regular backups of the media, so at the time of failure I ended up only losing about 2 weeks worth of temp work. I will admit I was abusing that drive quite a bit at the end, as it was mid-pandemic and I was taking time to digitize a lot of my media. A few months after that, a family member's laptop went on the fritz due to a dying HDD. Windows recovery saved everything, but it was painful getting everything back. After that, a new laptop was bought as an upgrade, this time with a SSD. The flaky laptop lasted another year with the HDD having been "manually" partitioned to avoid problematic areas... but eventually it gave up the ghost for good. Since storage is cheap, I ended up doing what @macskull recommended and added a M.2 drive AND a second SSD drive... I'm not using a RAID array, the first drive is for programs, the second is for media (and games). I spent ~$50 each for the two 500 GB capacity drives. While I was inside the laptop I boosted the RAM as well, although what I installed was probably overkill. Much of my "cold" media storage is on standard (external) HDD, like @Hyperstrike suggests. For the past several years I've been playing a weird game with external memory.... almost all of the "media players" (think "smart" TVs, blu-ray players) that the family uses, or has regular access to (keep in mind that there are many generations of "smart" TVs), work with FAT32 formatted media... and there is an inherent upper limit of maximum drive size (and individual file size), so I'm constantly on the lookout for 2TB drives. 2TB is the practical max size, although I thought I saw something a long time ago that placed the theoretical uppoer limit for FAT32 at 4TB... but I digress... My experience has been that the cost ratio for consumers to use standard HDD versus SDD / (micro)SD is roughly 4:1. I don't recommend using (micro)SD cards for general personal computing needs, but I find them to be incredibly convenient for content that I want to watch on a TV (or portable device). A small wallet can carry the cards as well as any adapters necessary to connect to a USB slot on a TV, tablet or phone. The only two issues I've faced with watching media this way have been (1) making sure that the adapter will actually fit into the USB slot of the device (geographically, there may be other connectors in the way) and (2) the native file navigation system of the device I connect to... I can't imagine what the usability experts were thinking for some of the interfaces I've seen! Casting directly from my smartphone means I'm familiar with the interface, but not all TVs play nice... and if I'm connected to external media with USB-on-the-go the adapter will drain the phone battery. I typically get spendy with internal memory for my smartphones, but I'm not keeping video archives on them... it also isn't practical for me to keep something like a plex server running.

I simply think in terms of Inf... I went to put a third build on certain character, and AT that has no real business needing a third build mind you... it was just something to check some ideas/interactions and I found I already had three builds on that character, each with what some folks would casually describe as a "spendy" suite of enhancements. The SG tables have gotten to the point where I pull things out of them for use on the AH when I forget to have Inf stored in email. Some of the characters are sitting with so many merits, so many packs, so many catalysts, I've used merit conversion to "buy it now" just because I was too lazy to change to another character to see if they had packs or recipes I wanted for a new build.... anyway, Inf is the great equalizer, everything else offers varying means of market inefficiency. I can't buy Plasmatic Tasers with merits!

I have a couple of builds for which I'd like to use pools other than Sorcery, but in terms of Quality-of-Life for those characters it is hard to pass up: (Mystic) Flight, with a Teleport to get out of certain situations, such as being pinned in by NPCs. A power that can take Health globals/procs (Spirit Ward). A power that minimizes the need for Break Free inspirations (Rune of Protection). <- This is the deal-maker for me A rather decent ranged attack in Arcane Bolt (subject to AT modifiers). I'm personally less sold on Enflame, but I see folks using it.

One of my Fortunata builds includes Weaken Resolve (only slotted with the Achilles' Heel %proc) simply to have a single-target debuff for use on "hard targets". I should disclose that for that build, the pick was taken very late (level 47) and the Fortunata in question has several %-Res pieces slotted in higher level (PB)AoE attacks as well... I don't have all these goodies available for lower level content, but the choices were my compromises to offer another sort of help to PUG rather than just the Fortunata Teamwork/Leadership team buffs. I liked Weaken Resolve a lot more before it got nerfed, and I can almost understand the reasoning behind it. I keep meaning to design a character to go deep into the Force of Will pool, but I have yet to do so.

This was a feature of Dell PCs (office, can't speak to "home" systems) since at least the late 1990s. The internal designs would not just have "mutant" design choices, money would be saved by not connecting all the current returns ('ground' path connections) to drive connectors... I'm not talking about custom cables, I'm talking about the millimeters of copper tracing on the motherboards. Between that peculiar choice (seriously, they could have saved 100x times the cost by making mutant cables) and the accursed decision to "skimp"(*1) on power supplies (except for custom form factors) it was often impossible to add anything to such systems beyond whatever left QC checkout at the factory. I used to rebuild discarded (3+ year old) Dell workstations for neighborhood kids who didn't have computers, and it was always a chore to get stuff to fit, both in terms of geometry and power supply. I never bothered to dismantle or analyze the actual power supplies in those generations of Dells. I know that they were the most fault-prone major component of those systems... I can only imagine the compromises that were made internal to them. This is pure hearsay: I once worked with a guy who did years of service with the company who said that there was a serious flaw in a significant fraction of electrolytic capacitors (beyond "disuse" issues) used in many desktop models... the finger was pointed at a supplier, but the root cause was seeing $$$ through buying cheap. For personal desktop systems, I recommend that folks custom build (by themselves, or through a supplier who customizes) systems. My rough order of importance of consideration is: Video card (I avoid AMD), as it is not just games but many apps require powerful video processing Power Supply (running at the sweet spot without over-stressing the supply will allow systems to last Cooling Ability to expand (including external access ports) Personally, I make some effort to have "reasonable" amounts of RAM and drive storage, but prices on these drop, and drives will eventually fail... the only point I want to make is that this is where some compromising occurs for me (in terms of final cost). The primary thing I get non-plussed about from custom-built systems is that occasionally the folks assembling the PCs are a little too neat (for my taste) with internal cable lengths/routings/cable ties... when the time comes for me to get inside the box, I hate having to fish out cables and find they offer no slack! Only once did I have a ding-dong assembler make a really dumb choice to route some front panel USB ports to 2.0 breakouts on the motherboard, when perfectly functional 3.0 breakouts were less than an inch away... and I couldn't make them reach! Sidebar about my experience with "modern" office machines (typically laptops from Dell and Lenovo). Aside from power systems/batteries eventually failing (somewhere on the "catastrophe" spectrum) There are a few common issues I encounter (that aren't model-specific common defects): The video systems are typically crap... many software solutions are web-based that rely on GPU to "do their thing(s)" and low-bidder GPU choices make life painful for those of us who use those applications frequently, The systems are a dog's breakfast when it comes to what sort of ports (and how many) are available (and "docking stations" aren't always the fix!) The power systems (internal, battery, charger) are a roll-of-the-dice. The last bullet is something I wish more laptop manufacturers would (or could) be more upfront about. Based on my personal observation of various generations of Dell laptops, I feel that some of the design/penny-pinching philosophy from their "3-year" approach to leasing business desktops has been implemented... It has been possible to end up with some long-lasting laptops from Dell, but the move away from easily swappable batteries has hurt lifetimes IMO. I've never cracked open a Dell laptop, but I did just upgrade a 3-year-old Lenovo gaming laptop (RAM, SDD) that was painless, as I wanted a mobile backup system.

As a self-report fan of "dark" powers, I suggest you look at a build where you can set aside 3 (preferably 4) powers from the Presence Pool, you must take 2 to get a third, but both third choices are good: Provoke is an inferior Taunt, but ya gotta pick 2. Don't waste slots on it. The Taunt requires a to-hit, and the MaxTargets is something like 5. Intimidate is a single target Fear, not worth investing slots in it, good for stacking with Invoke Panic a very fun PBAoE, doesn't need many slots to be useful. Set bonuses are somewhat mediocre, but there are a couple of %procs available. Unrelenting is the crown jewel of the set. 6-slot it and you have a reliable self-buff/heal in addition to a self-rez (should you need one) The Fear affects are a nice backup for ATO pieces that invoke Fear, such as the VEATs. I've never taken the pool with a Stalker. If the goal is outliving teammates, whether or not they are even near you (i.e. run to the last room and engage multiple spawns) and stand a chance of defeating everything in those spawn, I quite like Ranged w/ AoE control-oriented (Confuse, Fear) Fortunata. You will need other tricks to enhance the scaling damage resistances, but with Unrelenting to fall back on, and the ability to Confuse bosses/support enemies, they can be surprisingly sturdy. I don't really consider this being "tanky" as much as being able to be self-sustaining.