Stalker Street Justice

[Razor Cure]

I had a Stj scrappa on Live, and figured I'd give it a go on a stalker, because their ATOs are stupidly awesome. The Stalker is 33 atm..and I have noticed..

 

The stalker version has Build Up, instead of COmbat Readiness.

This seems to be a pure buff, and damage wise, it is. However...it does NOT grant the auto 'combo level 3' status at the scrapper version does. Why is this annoying?

You dive it a fresh mob, hit BU/CR and the whack it with Crushing Uppercut, getting that sweet lvl 3 boost.

On a scrapper that is.

On the stalker..you sneak in, BU, then AS the big nasty (AS gives +2 combo lvls). And then crushing uppercut. But it is NOT at combo3. Can you use another attack in between to get to lvl 3? Sure can. But..

EVERY other stalker has the ability with the ATO in AS to do the following..BU..AS..Best Attack, with said attack getting an almost 100% crit from the chance to hide IO.

But STJ cant do that.

 

Granted, I could put the ATO in another power (which I will have to experiment with), but it just works SO good in AS. I am thinking that placing it in another attack might make the proc rate crappy, at least compared to AS, when it fire basically every time.

 

The other problem. Both sets have 4 combo building powers...but the stalker has one of those becoming AS. Leaving 3, one of those being the pissy tier attack. that would basically never get used with a decent attack chain.

 

Suggestions: Make AS a combo lvl 3 builder all by itself (perhaps the lvl 3 ONLY works when used from hide?) to make up for the lack of +3 in build up.

                    Let Sweeping Cross be used as a finisher OR builder. If used at lvl 3, it fires as a Finisher. If less than 3 stacks are present, it fires as a builder.

                    Add the combo level 3 buff to Build Up itself.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 3, 2019 by Razor Cure

[General Idiot]

I like the idea of leaving it as +2 combo when used out of hide, but +3 combo if used from hide. Gives the whole BU -> AS -> Best attack thing that every other set can do, but doesn't change the in combat balance of the set unless you take the time to placate and the chance of getting hit and interrupted for it. As for the other changes, Sweeping Cross as a builder might get me to actually take it at all ever so that's got my vote. The combo level from buildup though might be more debatable. On scrappers, Combat Readiness gives a lower damage buff than other buildup powers to account for the free combo levels. Stalkers specifically get normal Build Up instead precisely for the same reasons of having the same potential alpha strike other sets get. So that's likely a case of pick one, because the same logic that says +3 combos on stealthed AS also says keep full strength Build Up.

[Itikar]

To be fair, also the other stalker powersets that have similar gimmicks, such as staff and savage melee, do not get that combo advantage. Staff does not have build-up in the regular version so it's not a good comparison, but savage melee does get blood frenzy stacks through blood thirst.

 

I am not saying it should not be changed, what I want to highlight is that it would be odd to create such a disparity, and that the current situation reflects a general trend among stalker powersets.

[DR_Mechano]

To be fair this problem IS solved but require putting the 'chance to hide' proc in AS. Since your combo goes BU>AS>CU since you're attacking from hide this also means that CU will crit as well, this pushes your alpha strike powers waaay past that of a scrapper since you're doing two massive hits that can (and I've done this myself) shave off half of an elite bosses health bar in 2 hits.

[Leogunner]

You could take Placate, which is what the AT did before ATO, and just do BU>AS>another combo builder>Placate>CU.  Or, as you mentioned, just put the chance to hide proc into something else.

 

Shifting things for optimal use for Stalker SJ rather undermines the other sets that aren't optimized for Stalker use.

[Vanden]

Does this even cost you that much damage? IIRC the crit damage on Crushing Uppercut is only equal to the damage of CU with no stacks of Combo Builder, so you're only missing out on the difference in damage between combo level 2 and combo level 3 of CU.

[Razor Cure]

On 11/4/2019 at 7:32 AM, Vanden said:

Does this even cost you that much damage? IIRC the crit damage on Crushing Uppercut is only equal to the damage of CU with no stacks of Combo Builder, so you're only missing out on the difference in damage between combo level 2 and combo level 3 of CU.

I was wondering about that. I didn't think it was that much but when I checked the power..CU goes from 168 damage at 0 to 217 at 3. That is a bit.

[Haijinx]

This is an uneeded change

 

STJ for stalkers is already better than scrapper (yes ive played both) 

 

Just attack with shin breaker from hide, then fast AS and proc hide then Crushing Uppercut.

 

Slow AS is too boring anyway. 

 

======

I do have a suggestion for Stalker AS though - allow an alt animation with the one for Rib Cracker.

 

That animation is what I miss from the Scrapper set.

[Razor Cure]

1 hour ago, Haijinx said:

Just attack with shin breaker from hide, then fast AS and proc hide then Crushing Uppercut.

Yeah..no. Doing that wont even be a sure fire crit on AS. Great solution.

How is Slow AS boring? Thats like saying any other slow, long animation attack is boring. There is literally no better way to open a fight than AS from hide. Then cant hit you till it lands..and it does about the best damage in the game.

[Haijinx]

11 minutes ago, Razor Cure said:

Yeah..no. Doing that wont even be a sure fire crit on AS. Great solution.

How is Slow AS boring? Thats like saying any other slow, long animation attack is boring. There is literally no better way to open a fight than AS from hide. Then cant hit you till it lands..and it does about the best damage in the game.

Other slow long animation attacks are boring.

 

What is the DPA of slow AS?   

[MunkiLord]

Not sure this suggestion will get much support. From what I understand Street Justice is one of the best, if not the best, Stalker primary.

[Haijinx]

9 hours ago, MunkiLord said:

Not sure this suggestion will get much support. From what I understand Street Justice is one of the best, if not the best, Stalker primary.

It has the same AOE as the scrapper set,  so better than most stalker sets .. and is one of the best ST for stalkers also.

 

I just would like the ribcracker animation in AS as an option .. since you have 4 uppercut animations in the set right now.

 

 

 

[Steampunkette]

14 hours ago, Razor Cure said:

I was wondering about that. I didn't think it was that much but when I checked the power..CU goes from 168 damage at 0 to 217 at 3. That is a bit.

Assuming each Combo Point grants the exact same amount of damage difference, per rank...

 

You're "Losing" 16 points of damage.

 

When you AS you get the 2 combo points, so your CU is at Combo 2 and dishes out 201 damage plus Crit.

 

I dunno. To me it just doesn't feel like a big deal. 16 points out of 369 is just not enough to care?

[Haijinx]

6 hours ago, Steampunkette said:

Assuming each Combo Point grants the exact same amount of damage difference, per rank...

 

You're "Losing" 16 points of damage.

 

When you AS you get the 2 combo points, so your CU is at Combo 2 and dishes out 201 damage plus Crit.

 

I dunno. To me it just doesn't feel like a big deal. 16 points out of 369 is just not enough to care?

In exchange you get a full build up instead of 62.5 like scrappers also. 

 

Considering how often Stalkers get to hit build up, that's big.