Frosticus

Breaking hide is inconsequential because you lead with an epic aoe and still get to the spawn as fast or faster than lightning rod. It does more damage than LR when procs are added because it procs like an aoe whereas LR procs like a psuedo pet. It is a way better movement power because it activates off off an enemy target rather than a location target. this means leaping to fliers or other hard to reach targets (ie council maps) is instantaneous. The range modifier on the damage is unfortunate at times, but it is rarely needed at point blank and if you do use it up close it still procs at 89% which means you still retain the majority of your damage. All of which is compounded by being able to use it 2x as often as LR. I think people just dont really know how to slot savage leap because the power is only so-so without procs. Whereas LR is super flashy and pretty good out of the box. I mean earlier in this thread someone said to skip the power.... A 600+ damage (without buildup), near instant cast, 15ish sec cycle aoe. *450+ damage from point blank. To each their own I suppose.

savage leap is hands down the best T9 melee attack if slotted properly.

does /thorny still have redraw? if not then the recent round of dom buffs look good. I agree that savage is similar and certainly more fun

If the team already has mitigation then it doesn't need control, at which point you can see why a controller is trying to become a dps'er via containment. Conversely, a dom using a st control on something the tank has already neutralized is a waste. I find myself more and more often simply dropping sleet and fighting on my dom. I have controls handy if health bars start declining, but they are rarely needed on most semi decent teams.

yah bio is a bit weak vs some end game stuff, but as a stalker you have the option of simply backing off for a few sec to shake debuffs and then savage leap right back in as no one expects you to tank. Epic snipes crit for full damage. They are great attacks. Moonbeam accepts one more damage proc than Zapp. Either will serve you well. zapp takes performance shifter which should now give you end as that was patched awhile ago. basically shadow meld vs ball lightning. Both can pretty dramatically shift your performance. In opposite directions mind you.

For attack sets that retain most or all of their aoe stalkers definitely get the best version because they have good aoe and superior single target. Sets like elec melee and savage are quite a bit better for stalkers. Lots of stalker secondaries are not as good though. /rad giving up beta decay, /fire not having feiry embrace, scrapper ninjitsu is better, /bio loses the -res aura. Ultimately every melee AT is in a pretty good spot though and can handle just about any content when fully built up.

Actually savage has really good DPA, but it gets that from a lot of dot damage and it has no really heavy hitters. Hemo and viscous slash can both do pretty good damage, but they don't have much burst/upfront. Savage leap with procs is really good. Probably the best melee t9 attack available. It's a very good aoe set, with mediocre single target damage. A lot of dot damage and a subpar damage type. Stalkers get far and above the best version of savage

I'd enjoy illusion on doms. I dont think for a second it would be the best in most regards. What I seek for a dom, as I really like the assault sets, is a primary that just let's you attack almost full time. Especially for savage assault, I just want to fight all the time. I've tried grav, fire and dark and something isnt quite there for what I seek. Finally, I like solo'ing tf 's. It is certainly possible with other primaries, generally a bit more so with illusion.

acc isnt an issue. I have offensive adaptation, tactics and kismet. plus about 45% global acc bonus. It's a lvl 50 build so lvl shifted for 45+ content. that is enough for 95% vs +3s. I use savage leap sometimes against single targets. w/ 5 procs it is definitely worthwhile. but it is a bit endurance heavy on my build. I use it often if AVs start fleeing and against fliers. You can que up a follow up attack vs fliers. Elec melee is good. Stalkers get the best version, same as savage in that regard. Less st and aoe once procs are factored in, but a better damage type and cooler looking power effects. Lightning rod doesnt proc the way savage leap does (ie LR isnt great for procs) but it doesnt break hide so that can be advantageous.

I haven't actually tested savage leap with additional recharge, but it should be a 15ft aoe with base rech of 40. Which according to the ppm calculation should mean it is 89% for 3.5ppm procs. I slot 4 damage procs, 1 -res and a +5 arma dam. I use musculature radial to finish off the damage enhancing and to help my endurance (sm/bio). I've posted in some other savage threads how power performs with said procs. Chance for hide proc almost always goes in AS for most stalkers. Savage is no different. If it hides you then use hemo vs something meaty. Or if fighting a pack then use rending flurry, or ball lightning. The only time I use blood stacks at 5 is in rending flurry. Leap>AS (rehides)>rending flurry at 5 stacks and 15ft aoe. Lead that off with an epic aoe and that is some of the best (and largest) aoe any stalker can do. It is also very easy with no special positioning required, plus savage leap always ensures you are at the front of race to the spawns haha. Otherwise, if hemo exhausts me while I'm fighting then so be it. I'm not going to avoid hemo (especially if I'm hidden). There are no real downsides to being exhausted. Watch your combat log to see how hemo functions hidden/unhidden. Blood stacks help it, but not as much as hidden status and not as much at the 5th stack helps rending flurry. I don't use shred.

ah ok. I thought maybe hover made it even faster. I'm familiar with the damage mechanics of it. I often just switch targets and bamph over to them. I'll give hover a try though to see how it feels. I think feral charge (and savage leap) are my two favorite powers these days.

what do you mean by this? feral charge is nearly instant for me with a slight pause after it executes before you can get the next power to activate. with maiming, viscous and feral plus the odd fearsome stare tossed in, I dont have time to really move around much. Until I feral charge the next enemy of course. I find the best repositioning tool (aside from feral charge) is unkindness as it doesnt root. So you can do decent cone damage and apply 2 -res procs while moving unhindered.

vs a single tough target? sure but vs trash mobs it shouldnt be. plant/kin/stone is a legit s/l farmer. It can clear trash mobs at a very respectable rate.

feral charge is a 15' aoe that hits 5 targets. It does pretty well with damage procs. I use it in my single target rotation, though its damage is halved at point blank range. It is still as good or better than a pool attack and saves you 4-5 slots that you would have spent on said pool attack. perma dom (while actively playing) on savage is pretty easy and cheap. I dont see a reason to wait until 50 unless you are getting to 50 in a day or two.

this is no issue. more often though what we see is: The scrapper that thinks he is solo'ing shoots ahead too The stalker that opens with AS who was already camping the next spawn The brute that has flatlined fury unless they soak the alpha is trying to stay ahead of the tank. The blaster that needs to see their name constantly on the chat log shoots ahead. And you are left with a couple under developed defender/troller/doms that were fighting on the backline whittling away at some +4 boss and then they arrive just in time to do it again on the next spawn. I've been that troller and it isnt a great experience. What I try to do now if the map supports it is I aggro mobs back to the team and create one big cluster**** of chaos. It makes everyone feel (more) useful and better utilizes long duration patches and the chat that ensues afterwards usually supports the idea that everyone is having fun. If too many people with nukes/judgement are present then such things cease to work.

Game is simply too easy these days. I don't see a setting that disables incarnate/IO's/etc being useful. People put in effort to get those things so they can use them. Probably just need an overall nerf to a bunch of things. Way too much + def available, too much aoe damage. I dunno, I wouldn't want to be the guy implementing nerfs though haha. Fun game still, but I find I actively avoid full teams once above lvl 35 or so. It is just too easy. But a team of 4-5 set for 8 can still be pretty fun in the 40's.

Neat, but you might be confusing "objectively" with "subjectively" 6 assault sets have no tohit buffs, 5 do. Compare that to any other AT that "attacks" like sentinels, blasters, scrappers, stalkers, brutes... compare that to the AT's that use their secondaries to attack (tanks and blasters). - power up probably should have some tohit buff, but at that point the "aim/bu" powers should probably be given some of power ups benefits. The rest of your counters follow a similar pattern.

Proc'd out savage leap is among the best aoe attacks in the game. It most closely compares to a sentinel nuke, but with half the recharge and a very fast cast. It is up every 15 or so seconds with a perma hasten build and procs at 89% for 3.5ppm IOs. It also ensures you move faster than anyone else from spawn to spawn. Psychic wail is great too. It, along with aim, and follow up, are why I made a melee fort instead of nightwidow, but that is a 2.5 min power vs a 40 sec base rech power that do similar damage in game. 16 vs 10 targets, but leap moves you super fast around the battle too. Truthfully I rolled savage on a whim because someone said hidden hemo was good. It really is, I think it is only less than crushing uppercut in terms of damage (albeit a dot, but much faster cycle time). Unhidden hemo is meh, so use it accordingly. But savage leap is the absolute star of the set.

savage leap is 15' and damage application is near instant with the teleport being extremely quick too. I was actually referencing rending flurry as it is very easy to convert it into the 15' version as part of your alpha.

proc'd out savage leap, the option of a fairly quick 15ft pbaoe and hidden hemorrage make savage arguably the best aoe set and among the best st sets. lethal kinda holds you back sometimes.

Prior to set bonuses, doms objectively struggle with: - hitting +lvl enemies/debuffers as they largely lack tohit buffs - being slot starved as both primary and secondary are fairly demanding - endurance management as controls are costly and high rech/ds attacks chew through end - lack of full time mez protection - attack chain flow seeing as many assault sets are clunky until their lvl 38 power - encouraged to fight in melee range without armor/hp/mez protection - lack of burst damage - limited access to sustain powers - lack of aoe damage prior to epics, but no shortage of aoe aggro potential I wouldn't say doms are wimpy without perma-dom, but it certainly circumvents a fair number of their weaknesses. I would say that doms benefit as much or more than any other AT from set bonuses, IO's and team buffs though. I personally don't think I would enjoy a dom without IO's, but once you start getting some nice set bonuses and frankenslotted powers they are an extremely enjoyable AT.

I feel defense buffs are aplenty amd many people build for high personal defense. So that somewhat devalues things like cold shields. However adding thermal res shields to that mix makes everyone super sturdy. plus thermal is very rare. kin is great and all but it is like a light switch if the caster lags on speed boost applications. Which can get a bit tedious for the kin ime.

just about every set has 3 fast low tier attscks . Some are animated more coherently so they feel smoother. For example - Katana is very fast but has weird hitches and pauses so I personally dont feel the speed. Whereas dual blades flows really well and ends up feeling faster imo. Consider savage melee. the telenuke is near instant and is up often enough to be used as movement and damage.

fulcrum, seeds, transference, creepers, aoe immob, creepers and siphonspeed/ir to move quickly to the next spawn. then you want fissure. everything changes once you can focus almost entirely on offense.

How much do you need? You should strive for enough recharge to run the attack chain you want and to have other pool powers/epics up as often as needed. there is no point in having Assassin strike recharged while you are in the middle of GPB. More recharge than that is of little value other than to protect against debuffs( but /sr with a few winter pieces can be immune to slows) and will be outperformed by other bonuses such as +dam, procs, hp, etc. No you can not perma elude.