StrikerFox

Slot the Panacea unique into Dark Empowerment. After upgrading pets, they will get the chance for heal/end. Keep in mind the MM won't get the chance at all.

How would Empower and Sweep be used on your other build without Assassin's Blade? DB is good on a Stalker only because of Assassin's Blade. Without it, dps is lackluster and better 2 of 4 combos can't be used at all.

Stalker DB combos are pretty bad compared to other ATs. -The Attack Vitals combo uses the 2 worst dps powers on Stalkers to activate it (Nimble and Vengeful), negating it's usefulness. -The Weaken combo, which may be useful at lower lever, is achievable at lvl 26 while other ATs get it at lvl 6. -The Empower combo uses 2 non-attacks to activate and relies on BU and Placate recharge to keep it perma. -The Sweep combo is a ST attack on Stalkers while other ATs, it's an AoE. It also relies on BU recharge and can't be reliably used continuously. The only thing that makes Stalker DB advantageous over other ATs is Assassin's Blade. The attack chain of [BU]-AS-Abl-SS-Abl-repeat is solid and can easily integrate the Empower (BU-AS-Plac) and Sweep (BU-AS-Abl) combos with slight modification.

Our Alpha incarnate pick buffs pet upgrade powers. It was probably obvious to everyone but I wasn't sure and tested on Necro and Mercs. It should work for Ninja and Bots too. Necro Upgrade 1: +Dam res. Cardiac/Resilient Upgrade 2: +Heal. Vigor/Spiritual (Increases pet's max HP and pet's Siphon Life heal) Mercs Upgrade 1: +Dam res. Cardiac/Resilient Upgrade 2: +Def. Agility/Nerve Ninja Upgrade 1: +Def. Agility/Nerve Upgrade 2: +Heal. Vigor/Spiritual Bots Upgrade 1: +Dam res. Cardiac/Resilient Upgrade 2: +Heal. Vigor/Spiritual I don't think this trumps Musculature/Intuition but if pet survivability is the priority, it might help decide an Alpha pick.

Use the Equip and Tactical upgrades as mules. Equip can slot damage resist and Tactical can slot defense IOs. Steadfast +3% def or the KB prot, Karma KB prot, Shield Wall and Reactive Defense uniques etc. I'm not familiar with the FF changes. Maybe slot Force Feedback chance for +recharge in Repulsion Field/Bomb and M30. Just to try to get Serum recharged faster.

No, I haven't even respec my own Necro/Dark build yet. Not until Mids' is updated with the MM changes. Just remember for Necro, first upgrade can slot damage resist IOs, second upgrade can slot heal IOs, and Soul Extraction can slot pet, hold and -tohit debuff IOs. Some of the heal unique IOs currently work on pets when slotted into the second upgrade. Numina's, Miracle, Panacea and I think Regenerative Tissue. Can pick up a lot of E/N def by three slotting Thunderstrike into the MM's personal attacks, or some +6.25% recharge if four slotting Cloud Senses sets.

Couple changes I recommend are: -Swap the slotting between Dark Embrace and Tough. DE provides more +dam res to S/L/N/T than Tough. The larger buff from a full set of Gladiator's Armor will improve stats. -Swap the Unbreakable Guard +7.5% max HP with Steadfast +3% def. Steadfast's +dam res will help help pet stats and your S/L res is already capped at 75%, so the +res portion is doing nothing for the MM. -If you're willing to use boosters on a couple of the Reactive Armor IOs, S/L will still be capped at +75% without the Red Fortune bonuses in Shadow Fall, Maneuvers and Weave. -If you're willing to boost a +recharge and Expedient Reinforcements IOs to +5 in Soul Extraction, a hold damage proc can be added instead of the 2nd +rech IO. Soul Extraction will be about 8.6s off perma but their damage output will increase by a good amount. -Swap the Miracle unique in Dark Empowerment for the Panacea unique in Health. The +end gain will average out to be the same, but pets probably need the random heal more than the MM. All in all, fantastic build! Though it hurts me to see no Howling Twilight. I love that power.

Seems fine but I took Rebirth Radial for a heal and I don't solo since the game came back. Stalkers and Scrappers, with the same primary/secondary, built similarly... In most cases, the survival difference is pretty small. Higher HP/regen is usually the biggest difference between the two ATs. Also the missing power for AS can make a difference like MA's Dragon's Tail for example. Losing the KD mitigation is pretty big. Back during live, I solo'd three Paladins with a much weaker StJ/SR Stalker build.

I've built for +damage on a StJ/SR Stalker. I think it's the fastest Stalker StJ pylon time with 84s/584 dps. But I haven't looked at the pylon thread in a year, it may have been beaten already. It had a passive damage bonus of +58%. That total includes Leadership Assault's +10.5% and Assault Radial Hydrid's passive +10% damage.

Stalkers still build AF and can activate ATO procs without Hide. It's totally skippable, but still provides a good amount of defense for a single power pick. Can mule several important, unique IOs. I think it cost zero endurance to use. Can help speed through portions of a mission. Hide is still worth the slot imo. I think any build without Hide would be overall weaker than with.

I don't think Soul Extraction pets are commandable. They appear in the pet list but run around all willy nilly at whatever is close by. They act the same way as Dark Servant.

So weird. My soldiers seem to get a def buff when slotting a single +def IO, only had a lvl 20 IO in inventory to try out (I haven't respec yet). Hopefully the HC team can figure out why it's not working for you.

I don't remember checking the +res buff but Mercs were getting the +def. It's pretty small amount. Around +6.2% ranged and +3.2% AoE def.

No, the MM does not. They only have a chance to activate on the MM each time Dark Empowerment is cast. They activate frequently in Health because they have a chance to proc every 10 seconds when slotted in toggles/auto-powers.

Playing around with the Necro changes and a couple great finds. Unbreakable Constraint proc in Soul Extraction works very well. Also other hold, Cloud Sense and Overwhelming Force KD procs. Some uniques heal IOs also buff pets when slotted into Dark Empowerment. This includes Numina's and Panacea. Preventive Medicine doesn't. Not sure about Miracle and Regenerative Tissue. This likely is not working as intended. I tested a few of the uniques that are slottable in other MM primaries. Including the heals IOs, Unbreakable Gaurd +max hp, also Steadfast KB protection. Mercs and Ninjas gain no bonus from them. Haven't tested Bots.

That sounds like great fun. I make play a powerset twice but Necro/Storm would be an exception. Constant barrage of Tornado, Lightning Storm, Freezing Rain, Soul Extraction, Gale, personal attacks with KD being it's main source of mitigation.

I might just use the upgrades as mules for Gladiator Armor, Steadfast +def or KB protection. I gotta see how much resistance Necro pets get with slotting to determine if it's worthwhile. It will likely vary from secondary to secondary.

I'm going to analyze the henchmen proc activations and reassess if they're still worthwhile. Not sure what pet powers are revamped/replaced. Going to rebuild to try to get Serum perma. There's going to be a period of adjustment but it can't be worse than before, right?

Played around a bit with Soul Extraction on Brainstorm and the change is awesome. It's better than Gang War and Hell on Earth. Though I'm finding it difficult to create a build I'm satisfied with.

I almost did today! Was in the character creator, made the costume, and was changing power colors when everything seemed really familiar. Save the costume, back out to my character selection and yep. Life has funny ways to let us know we're getting old.

The Merc and Necro revamps are huge. Two powers specifically: Serum. An AoE buff, no crash and it sounds like it can be made perma. Though there is diminishing returns over it's duration. Serum was pretty crappy before, any improvement is welcome. Soul Extraction. Up to 6 additional pets, they last for 60s, can be made perma. Tested it and the new pets are not exact copies of the Zombies, Grave Knight and Lich. They have their own powers. Imo, if the revamp goes unchanged, it will be the best MM T7 primary power. Better than Gang War and Hell on Earth. I have no attacks on my Necro and didn't test the Spectral Minions. Did't have time for a respec. Thoughts on the other new T7s. Bot's Maintenance Drone, haven't tried it but feel it won't be very useful for a lot of secondaries with a heal. Might be pretty decent paired with Cold, Sonic, Trick Arrow etc. Ninja's Smoke Flash. Didn't test this either. It sounds pretty cool but it's only real advantage is the endurance it will save.

Ohhhh! If you create one, call yourself Delusional. Or Dillusional and make your costume look as close to a herb as possible.

Reading this post made me realize how overpowered the Leadership pool is. Maybe it should be nerfed so everyone can only receive the buff once, even if multiple people have the toggles active. I mean how many "leaders" can be barking orders on a single team?

Not sure. I've never played a PB or WP on a Sentinel before. The tips I gave are pretty general, nothing primary/secondary/AT specific. Those tips could apply to any build.