Without_Pause

My "world breaker" build is Rad/bio. Not sure I would consider it the most brutish. Post tank fix, I might go with that version, but on a tank. Brutes can be made to fill in well enough as a tank. I'm not sure much of the categorizing matters that much. Any and everything on a team is near a luxury at this point.

I was one a PuG with a Sonic defender with a def armor. They kept running into battle before the tank got there.

Savage will have above average AoE, but below average ST damage. It does play nice with what it can be paired with. If the dev team ever makes Hemo worth a damn, it might be my favorite melee set as long as I accept it needs a sturdier armor set to go with it as I don't recall much of any mitigation coming from Savage. All things considered, Hemo should be better.

I would personally like a Savage/wp, but I would pick something like /elec which offers a heal and +recharge. /elec has end recovery, but Savage is lighter on end usage. Not saying /elec is better than /wp. My main here is a Claws/wp brute. I'm just saying as a brute stacked +recharge will be fun, see Savage/rad.

I would be curious to see the build. In terms of leveling, my default is just using level 25 common IOs. Dark also has a range heal, and to be honest, depending on their build, ie Elec/elec, I find end drain not to be that great at mitigation, and more so in today's playing of the game with +4 mobs. Short Circuit's animation isn't ideal for a PBAoE either. My experience comes from having a Kin/elec on live as a main and leveling a Elec/kin controller on HC into the 40s. The controller version is better, but good luck draining end on a +4 AV. FYI, Elec blast has never been know for it's damage.

Worse from the stand point of /dark only really having the heal in terms of needing things to recharge and Savage fueling recharge. Both secondaries should put out more damage respectively though. It is just /bio is known for its offense. Saying that, I have a low level Dark/savage tank.

One of the few combos I would do would be Savage/rad. ST won't be great, but Savage is end friendly and offers +recharge which is what /rad wants. Fury fuels the DoT of Savage. Lots of potential in AoEs, It is more fury than smash, but still brutish. Mine is level 14.

I'll add to the chorus of people who can find their melee character in doing less than meaningful damage to a mob due to having to get into melee range. Not always, but in certain situations. I do tend to solo my melee characters a lot more.

The favoritism towards capping def over capping resist is a good tell what the player base thinks is the one to focus on. But yes, a steady stream of damage can be easier to deal with than an occasional oh crap amount of damage. I wouldn't mind trying a resist set on a stalker, but those sets work so much better on the sturdier melee types, I pick those instead.

Take two builds. One is resist based and the other is defense based. They both over time average out taking in 40 points of damage/sec. Which one is better? The defensive one is. The reason is even though the resist one is taking in small amounts of damage over that time frame, it is also taking in more of those hits. Also, more end drain. More slows. More -recharge. A defensive based set is taking in less of them and gives the player more time to recover from said attacks. Now, if the resist based set has some sort of advantage to help mitigate further damage, then that would help. The problem is Stalkers having lower HP and lower resist caps compared to other ATs. One way for the resist sets to be better is to improve an advantage to offensive numbers like using a damage aura, but Stalkers don't get those and added offense isn't unique to resist sets, see Shield. Plus, good luck with -def when you do add in def to a resist based set.

Taking Maneuvers can mean less deaths all around. Plus, the +recharge IO.

I do believe until EM's rework StJ was the pylon king for Stalkers. Note, I'm not saying that measurement is the end all be all because it isn't, but it is still noteworthy.

StJ/ea is fantastic on a Stalker.

If you are crafting the IOs, a level 35 is cheaper to craft in terms of currency than a level 50.

Agreed. I think the listings are quite close to what I would pick outside I might have minor quibbles, I'm not sure anything gets moved to a lower ranking. EM would feel better if it kept WH. No attack set needs that many ST attacks, IMO. More so when end game builds trend towards using three ST attacks. I still get confused on the design decisions for stalkers and AoE. Hopefully the dev behind Claws not having Spin isn't in game development anymore.

Storm is great for debuffs. I saw a video all an almost all Corr Water ITF and there were a number of /storm sets used.

Currently running a Dark/savage tank and enjoining it. I see no reason for the brute version to not be solid as well. ST damage could be better, but if Hemo ever got fixed, Savage might be my favorite attack set.

Recently played my Water/time blaster on a Posi 1 and got reminded I had access to 3 AoEs even at that level.

Think of a teenager who thinks they know all the things.

That's Savage. Took Claws to 50 twice, and /ea to 50 once. Partly why I couldn't stick with Claws/ea was due to how familiar it felt even though it felt great. One of the few scrapper builds I would think of doing if starting over.

So you are "totally engaged" as a MM at level 27 while only having Transfusion and Siphon Power? You don't even have a staple Kin powers Speed Boost or Siphon Speed. What are you doing instead, using MM attacks? (chuckles) As someone who has taken Kin to 50 more than once with one being my main for years and a MM to 50, I got a headshaking chuckle out of this. I mean, how the hell a /kin at 27 gets thanks for being dedicated while not having one of the two signature powers is beyond me. (dedicated butt kicker, lfxp)

Stalker: StJ/ea. A bit early on my Elec/sd, but I like /ea better. Scrapper: Rad/sd. I was doing this instead of Dark/sd even though that build has a strong fan base. Having gotten them to 39-40, I lean towards Rad. Against All Odds fueling a damage aura and more AoEs. Season with -res procs. Brute: Claws, StJ or Kat with WP. Savage/rad is early, but Savage fuels /rad. Fury adds to Savage's damage. Savage could use a rework on Hemo though. I will die on the hill Savage is what Claws should have been. TBD, SS/elec. It feels like it has potential in my head. I need to tweak the leveling build, and then go from there. Tank: No official good answer as it is an AT I don't play much at all. I think my highest was my hardcore one, Elec/dark, which I actually did like. If not for me playing the brute version, Bio/rad might be my pick. Tanker AoE cap with two damage auras and more AoEs and the ability to switch to an offensive mode. Corr: Fire/dark. A Swiss Army knife of awesome. A nod to Fire/kin through. MM: I got one to 50(Bots/traps), but I don't find the AT fun. I liked that build though. Dom: Earth/earth. One of those, "How is this legal?" kind of fun builds. Plant/fire is great. My hardcore one on live died, and I rerolled it here, but axed it for some reason. I likely need to go back to it. Controller: Earth/storm for sheer fun factor. Teams knew they could play stupid when I had that build. Ill/dark might win for feeling the most powerful overall(includes soloing). Defender: Kin, Rad or pretty much anything with /sonic. Dark/dark. I think controllers got the better /dark port, but on fast moving teams, I felt like I was better off using the defender version as blasting away felt more useful. Blaster: Water/temp since it was my first blaster to get to 50. Ice/ice is close. I even had a Water/ice before switching to /temp. Fire/*. There's a handful of powersets I'm still waiting to get more experience with or at least get them high enough.

My one post where I quoted you says otherwise. Let's be honest, one isn't taking Rad over Dark due to the heal. It is the ability to slot -res procs in it. Agreed, I would(and have) picked Dark and Rad for the other melee ATs. At the end of the day, people pick things for mix/max, fun, or both reasons. The OP never stated which way they leaned. I'm merely pointing out the by far most popular build combo for a stalker might just be something worth looking into even if it isn't the min/max best.

Your statement was you preferred Dark/ea over Dark/shield. What I am saying is there can see support for the reverse since Dark offers a heal. I also looked up Croax's Elec/sd build and every attack had a damage proc unless a ATO set was involved. I already have an /ea build nearing the finish line, and I am working on a /sd build. Yes, the /ea has been a smoother ride, but I would honestly question how popular something like Elec/sd is over Elec/ea. As of 3/2/2020 there were 307 level 50 Elec/sd(#1) as where there were 34 Elec/ea(#37).

In defense of Shield, it trades off the lack of def, heal, end management, etc for offense. IO slotting and Incarnating a build can further patch up it's weaknesses. I'll say that some primaries can benefit from Shield since it adds an AoE. If a primary has a heal and/or end management, then again, I think Shield is the better pick. Case in point, Dark/sd versus Dark/ea. While Elec/sd is certainly a thing(I have one), Elec has enough AoE on its own so Shield isn't "needed."