advice please - ?/bio stalker

[Neiska]

Hello everyone,

 

I just wanted some imput on stalkers. I am planning on trying out a stalker with the bio secondary, (mostly because its my favorite powerset).

 

Is there any primary stalker that pairs well with bio? Or is it pretty much anything? I was thinking maybe broadsword or savage, but I have zero experience with most of the stalker powersets. Ususally play a crabber or tankermind.

 

Case its important, my goals for her will mainly be solo play, and would like to be able to do as much of the content as possible, including incarnate stuff.

 

Thanks bunches in advance!

[Osirisbain]

I too love Bio, I've made a Bio in every AT that can take it

 

I have a Lvl 50 Rad/Bio stalker and I enjoy playing it, she can tank +4/8

but as far as the best primary it's really hard to say honestly

everyone has their own opinion on the "Best" 

im working on a few other ?/Bio stalkers right now also, but I'd just say poke at a few different setups and see which one you like the feel of.

Just have fun with it either way 😄

 

Edited January 11, 2020 by Osirisbain

[honoroit]

Ice / bio gets very good

 

Spines / bio for aoe, air mob down, and ranged works well. 

[Neiska]

isnt ice for tankers though? its not listed on the wiki as a stalker power

[honoroit]

1 hour ago, Neiska said:

isnt ice for tankers though? its not listed on the wiki as a stalker power

It's on homecoming for stalkers, was ported with some other sets. 

 

Highlights include a frost touch thing that's extremely potent, ice breath cone, and a big pbaoe for your 32.

[Sovera]

Everything works well. Ice/Bio has good AoE and good ST, plus a panic button in Ice Patch for hard fights. Kinetic Melee blooms earlier with all the ST attacks and AoE you'll use being obtained by level 18.

[Frosticus]

pick whatever primary you want. Maybe avoid em and martial arts though unless you really want them.

all the others have varying utility, procs, aoe damage, or gimmicks.

 

every stalker can do more or less the same single target damage without considering damage type. A couple pull ahead a bit, a couple lag behind, but all are excellent. 

[SeraphimKensai]

I have an Elec/bio stalker it's fun. But yeah literally any set/bio should be reasonably good.

[Neiska]

Hello everyone,

 

Thank you all for the imput! I decided to go electric melee/bio. Staff looked interesting but it wouldn't have really suited the character. Strangely there doesnt seem to be as many referance builds for stalkers, or at least as many as other AT's. I assume this is because during live the AT was percived as being "weak"? (just guessing on my part).

 

Anyway, thanks bunches for the replies. It is appreciated! And I am still learning stuff about the game. Powers I understand, its power slotting that gets confusing. Game seems a bit complicated to min/max. But its something to shoot for!

[Seroster01]

14 hours ago, Neiska said:

Hello everyone,

 

Thank you all for the imput! I decided to go electric melee/bio. Staff looked interesting but it wouldn't have really suited the character. Strangely there doesnt seem to be as many referance builds for stalkers, or at least as many as other AT's. I assume this is because during live the AT was percived as being "weak"? (just guessing on my part).

 

Anyway, thanks bunches for the replies. It is appreciated! And I am still learning stuff about the game. Powers I understand, its power slotting that gets confusing. Game seems a bit complicated to min/max. But its something to shoot for!

Yeah I think Stalkers were considered underperforming for much of the game's history. Stalker's big calling card was AS from hidden, but this was slow, interruptible, and after combat started it only came up when Placate was up & then could still get interrupted pretty easily. But for Homecoming I think they're in the running for one of the strongest ATs due to sheer damage output. I quit playing CoH a fair amount of time before the shutdown, so I'm not sure what exactly changed when, but there's 3 Stalker specific changes/additions that seem to have come between what I remember & now,  and they get another bonus from the change to a PPM system instead of a flat %.

 

The first change is the overhaul on AS mechanics, which made it a normal part of the ST attack chain (now animates very quickly & can't be interrupted if it's used while the character isn't Hidden). The other 2 are the Stalker ATO unique effects, which I'd say are both among the most powerful ATO effects I've seen. the chance to recharge BU is strong, but for several primaries the the Chance for Hidden proc is a huge game changer. Sticking the Hide proc in AS & trying to maximize its proc chance by limiting the recharge slotted in it will result in AS having a 90% chance to put you in Hide any time it hits a mob, which can then be followed up with whatever your next strongest single target attack is for the auto-crit (or to give one of the AOEs that can crit their Hidden chance, if you're more concerned about AOE). When you combine all of these factors & add it to the existing Stalker chassis, the result is a class with basically unparalleled ST DPS, solid survivability, and with some of the newer primaries a Stalker can also have strong-to-extreme AoE damage.

 

I'm sure there's some weaknesses in the class that I've papered over with the inf I've spent on the build, but I seriously don't think I've ever had a character as strong as my Sav/Bio Stalker is at 50. I hear good things about ElM as well, so hopefully you'll like your character too.

[siolfir]

9 hours ago, Seroster01 said:

The first change is the overhaul on AS mechanics, which made it a normal part of the ST attack chain (now animates very quickly & can't be interrupted if it's used while the character isn't Hidden). The other 2 are the Stalker ATO unique effects, which I'd say are both among the most powerful ATO effects I've seen.

The AS mechanics were added in issue 22, which is when they added Super Packs and the first set of ATOs. The second set was in beta at shutdown.

 

[Neiska]

Hello again everyone,

 

Well I made her first sort of mock up for the number crunch. I wouldn't mind any critiques or input, or if any veteran stalkers want to point out any misteps I made. (shes my first one).

 

I sort of made her with defenses in mind, she ends up with 32ish defenses vs most things, and 70% S/L res. It has low energy and negative res though. But she does have a shadow shield she can push to go super turtle mode when things get hairy.

 

Would welcome any input! (hope this is linked right)

 

http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/download.php?uc=1507&c=704&a=1408&f=HEX&dc=78DA7D94594F135114C7EFB4534A4B0BADD0B2AF0544902E1113D71815F441884011637C686A19DA0963A799D6045C1E7C564170FB02AE2F7C16D7AFA0B8B0185F4C5CC6D3F91FA009C4499ADFBDFF73EEDCFF39776E4766073DCB676F9F1092F7B496CCE713F142529B510CF78492CA64754D4FCFD9851055439A12B9A2EA6D1C7692D6C2E3C488A2294A98325205434D253508ED9BE141655AC9E695F029554F9C37D2C9AC9A4A9C34AEEA86F08EEABA163EA3A63305359BF658B3612599A349D5E6644A31F21935E7B6E6F19CA24CD50FE5D45478F3ED71FD1A6D98CC171463AE8E5CF5D0EF8E4BF063DAC40C21260BDB34D89D013F8688929523C439BBA5DD75B1244C8774DC66697B8F310F81BD87C1FE2360E428F889DE67C7FB6CF63A1A34CBA2B216F405C115CA7120C7E19894AC759E0B60E504D816073BC7C1EE31F01E7973F25AE707F82D7FCF7C0DBADF30DF829E77A044C7859698C265D223E6695AC19556BC4205C19760F70BAEF839B8EF19187B0A7EA62ABC5CA9F70776F0AD81C175F00BE55421C7B4D3EE7ECEF71F44357B06985150A69C6ACEA90E40ABA961FAC005F21CE02A027D38C5FBA4D542936B47091DB2A81B638E832D71E604B8486BEAB9F67A01BF0D266A6BF80536FD66FE055BFE806B5457237B68B43AB94E4A33147BF33CB2420B60E743E6237089766EE59D5B6FC938EF9BCC59B07D8E799D79030C52873AB8431DDCA1107728C41D5AA162BAD85DD722AADD08E14E14FDF54CF2895E665EE46FFA12F89D72FBD85F5F0D3AB33FC00C321FF0F7CFB5F53F06FDE42FCCFEC2EC2FC2BE22ECF3A7478828DFCB28E7C43816F3838DF2D6DD359BB6C7C52975BB775B914439762E7382D15D62368EC54A63ACC99C7360975819C706FEB36E7887BB5179EBFF434896E2F289E2176655B3EAA6A8541A5D2F55DAD1DFB51D591BDB8A243DE1135B02BF15EF19BFFF6BC978B564FC0FF5FDEF44

[Sovera]

2 hours ago, Neiska said:

Hello again everyone,

 

Well I made her first sort of mock up for the number crunch. I wouldn't mind any critiques or input, or if any veteran stalkers want to point out any misteps I made. (shes my first one).

 

I sort of made her with defenses in mind, she ends up with 32ish defenses vs most things, and 70% S/L res. It has low energy and negative res though. But she does have a shadow shield she can push to go super turtle mode when things get hairy.

 

Would welcome any input! (hope this is linked right)

 

You forgot one of the +3% defenses unique IO (there are two) so that's a boost right there. With some minimal slotting changes you can be at 40% to everything and then rely on Barrier for the last 5% ignoring Shadow Meld in the process.

 

If you split Superior Stalker's Guile in half you get 10% to S/L instead of just 5%, and if you use five Superior Blistering Cold you end with another 5%. So you can easily get it to 40% down the range.

 

Don't forget to +5 your isolated IOs for some extra oomph (right click the IO, for example the ones in Hasten, then place the cursor over it and press + five times before choosing it again. You can buy Boosters in game for this, but it's a level 50 thing).

 

 

I have a build I never got around to try since after making it on HD I looked at it and wasn't enamored on how Jacob's Ladder was sort of needed and Thunder Strike is such a loooooong animation, and Lightning Rod's damage is a bit heh considering the long recharge, but you can take a look and maybe get some extra ideas. Relying on Shadow Meld isn't a bad strategy either.

 

Your ST rotation is probably going to be AS (fish for Hide procs), Chain induction to use the Hide proc (If Jacob's Ladder doesn't auto crit from Hide as ST skills do. Chain Induction isn't a ST target but technically I think it passes as one due to the slotting), Jacob's Ladder, and then Havoc's Punch. Rinse and repeat. In AoE situations try to use Thunder Strike instead of Chain induction so it can make use of the Hide proc, which is going to push everything back so much you probably only need Chain Induction before AS has recharged.

 

Spoiler

http://www.cohplanner.com/mids/download.php?uc=1526&c=717&a=1434&f=HEX&dc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

 

[Neiska]

Thank you for the feedback Sovera, i definately missed some things. Your loadout does look better than mine for sure. My single complaint is its missing parasite aura, isnt that a big one to have from Bio armor? I mean thats the other absorb/super recovery tool there, and ive always had it. Unless it sucks on stalkers?

[Seroster01]

6 hours ago, Neiska said:

Thank you for the feedback Sovera, i definately missed some things. Your loadout does look better than mine for sure. My single complaint is its missing parasite aura, isnt that a big one to have from Bio armor? I mean thats the other absorb/super recovery tool there, and ive always had it. Unless it sucks on stalkers?

IDK if it's any better or worse on Stalkers than it is on any other AT, but my Savage/Bio Stalker hasn't really felt the need for it, at least in comparison to the powers he took instead. I hit Ablative Carapace>Shadow Meld before my opening volley, and typically I'll kill enough of the spawn that I can Siphon the dead ones for a good regen bonus. Between the 3 of those powers he almost never dies.

 

When he DOES eat dirt, it's typically a borderline Insta-gib due to some combination of ye olde Cascading Defense Failure and/or enemy To-Hit buffs (which seem annoyingly common on newer mob types...). Given that I don't usually have enough time to react when this goes wrong, I'm not sure that the T9 would help a whole lot unless it was cast before it was needed, and then you'd run into uptime issues & such. It's good for a T9 from an Armor set, but like most of those it seems like it's too situational to use a power pick on when you can pick something that's more frequently available and/or broadly useful. 

[Sovera]

8 hours ago, Neiska said:

Thank you for the feedback Sovera, i definately missed some things. Your loadout does look better than mine for sure. My single complaint is its missing parasite aura, isnt that a big one to have from Bio armor? I mean thats the other absorb/super recovery tool there, and ive always had it. Unless it sucks on stalkers?

Parasitic is a very good power and you can try to make room for it for sure, but in practical terms you may find it just gathers dust without ever coming to use. My only Achile's heel is the ITF with the cascading defense debuffs. I simply cannot face those spawns alone since they can murder me under twenty seconds. To do so I need to kite some, CC some when available, and never get cocky. 60% S/L resists simply don't keep me alive. That's the moment where Parasitic Aura will shine (mind, it won't do miracles in that particular TF).

 

But other than the ITF /Bio is god mode and with Ablative and DNA Siphon (which doubles as a big heal if we are taking damage while surrounded by live targets (while being a Recovery tool if used on tools)) I simply don't need anything else.

 

So yeah, try to make room for it since even unslotted it works fine, but keep an eye on how often you use it and then decide if it is worth it to keep it or not. We all have different playstyles after all. Shadow Meld could replace Parasitic for about the same end result and be up 100% of the time instead of Parasitic's half uptime.

[Frosticus]

Tough question. I have parasitic aura on my sav/bio. It is up over half the time.

It is basically god mode lvl regen+recovery. However, it is a bit misleading imo

 

-If things can't debuff you then you didn't really need parasitic aura.

-If things debuff you they might well kill you right through it anyway.

 

In that regard the power may have actually gotten me killed a few times because you are regening well north of 100/hp sec on top of all your bio layers, so you hang too long and then splat. 

 

Genetic corruption is of questionable value on an aoe stalker as you don't really fight minions if things are going properly. 

 

My final thoughts on stalker /bio and this might be because I've geared it too much toward offense, but it is a fair weather set. 

Don't get me wrong, the weather is usually good, but it is a bit weak vs energy and psi and can fold very quickly if you don't monitor debuffs. I've done a solo MoITF on my sav/bio, but it required a lot of shadowmelding and frequently disengaging. I haven't been able to solo crimson prototype yet from market crash.  As a general rule I don't use inspirations/temps/lore when solo'ing though, so ymmv.

[Sovera]

That's my experience with Parasitic as well tbh. Regen is nice, but it's not going to perform a miracle like in the example I gave of the ITF. We still can't jump into the middle of a spawn and have our defense go into the negatives and expect Parasitic to save us. In that aspect Barrier is the real panic button between resists and a ton of defense that needs to be whittled down (or has DDR baked in).

 

Genetic Corruption is also of very dubious use. The -damage is not something we will notice, the sleep hardly even does anything, and the heal from the sleep proc is nice and all but eh. The other versions of the aura at least do damage which is always something.

Edited January 15, 2020 by Sovera

[Neiska]

Okay, then some further questions then, and thank you for being patient and helpful to a new player.

 

1. - I actually like the idea of perming shadow meld. I assume this takes 5 Rog's with the global reduction and perma haste? (not sure on how the math works on that).

2. - When I messed with tanker and scrapper, genetic and parasitic were the great abilities to have, its what let my TW/Bio scrapper clear everything ive attempted on 4/8. But if genetic and parasitic are "meh" on a stalker, or situational, why do people say Bio is one of the top defensive sets for stalkers? My limited experience so far with /bio was its the combination of regen, recovery, and absorbtion that made it so good. It was like an extra layer of defense that other sets dont get, IE - an "outside the box" layer of defense. So the set isnt so much about front loading defense/resistances, though those of course help. 

 

Anyway, point is if you arent relying on the regen/absorb from /bio, why take it on a stalker? Just for the offensive stance for more damage? I mean, there are other sets you could take that might offer better surviveability. Again, new player, so just going off what i have read/heard, not personal experience.

 

3. So far I have heard two things about bio stalkers, that they are tough nuts to crack like scrappers/brutes, but some here said you still have to be careful and not get swarmed. So which is it? It cant really be both, or does it come down to playstyle and preferance?

 

@Sovera- I do appreciate the advice! I am looking to combine my power selections with some minor tweaks, but with your superior enchancement selections and spacing. (my biggest picks are swapping out the flying pool for soul mastery and parasite aura.) - Shadow Meld looks too good to pass up as an extra emergency button (would be better if you could perma it!) on top of Barrier, and I still would like parasite aura, as I am simply too used to having it when playing a /bio than not having it.

 

Would like to say that threads like this is one thing that makes the community awesome, older players helping newer ones. Sure people dont always agree but thats okay! (and i think a good thing.) But thats far cry better than some games where the reply always is "suck it up" or "git gud" etc.

 

Thanks bunches again! Will be tweaking my planned build again when I get home.

[Frosticus]

17 minutes ago, Neiska said:

Okay, then some further questions then, and thank you for being patient and helpful to a new player.

 

1. - I actually like the idea of perming shadow meld. I assume this takes 5 Rog's with the global reduction and perma haste? (not sure on how the math works on that).

2. - When I messed with tanker and scrapper, genetic and parasitic were the great abilities to have, its what let my TW/Bio scrapper clear everything ive attempted on 4/8. But if genetic and parasitic are "meh" on a stalker, or situational, why do people say Bio is one of the top defensive sets for stalkers? My limited experience so far with /bio was its the combination of regen, recovery, and absorbtion that made it so good. It was like an extra layer of defense that other sets dont get, IE - an "outside the box" layer of defense. So the set isnt so much about front loading defense/resistances, though those of course help. 

 

Anyway, point is if you arent relying on the regen/absorb from /bio, why take it on a stalker? Just for the offensive stance for more damage? I mean, there are other sets you could take that might offer better surviveability. Again, new player, so just going off what i have read/heard, not personal experience.

 

3. So far I have heard two things about bio stalkers, that they are tough nuts to crack like scrappers/brutes, but some here said you still have to be careful and not get swarmed. So which is it? It cant really be both, or does it come down to playstyle and preferance?

 

1. You can't perma shadow meld, but you can have it up close to half the time. Which is enough to take just about every alpha. It is best used on the way into spawn because it has a long cast time.

 

2. Genetic on the other melee AT's gives -res and damage. We all wish thats what stalkers got. It is an ok power. Another layer to the parfait that is /bio. It works really well vs even or +1's, but you don't need it against them. It barely does anything vs +3/4. Though it does up your resistances a bit, which is ok. Parasitic is a god mode power. If it was on a set like /sr or /shield it would be unbelievable. But you don't need it vs regular stuff and when you do need it, there is a good chance it won't keep you upright.

 

People like /bio for a variety of reasons on stalkers. But it is not as good for us as it is for other melee AT's. Every set has its weak spots. /bio just struggles a bit vs energy and psi, which is common endgame damage (its not terrible though) and has no debuff protection, which can be challenging.

 

3. It is both. /bio is hard as nails when things are sailing smoothly and the offensive advantages are great. Its weaknesses are just a bit more pronounced on stalkers because their absorbs are smaller and their regen (hp/sec) is lower due to their smaller health pool.  I've never seen a /bio scrapper stand in a pack of +3/4 cims taking hits like it is a bunch of flies, but maybe they can. My /bio stalker can't with approx 30% s/l def and 60% res. That doesn't hold them off long. 

 

 

[Sovera]

6 minutes ago, Neiska said:

Okay, then some further questions then, and thank you for being patient and helpful to a new player.

 

1. - I actually like the idea of perming shadow meld. I assume this takes 5 Rog's with the global reduction and perma haste? (not sure on how the math works on that).

2. - When I messed with tanker and scrapper, genetic and parasitic were the great abilities to have, its what let my TW/Bio scrapper clear everything ive attempted on 4/8. But if genetic and parasitic are "meh" on a stalker, or situational, why do people say Bio is one of the top defensive sets for stalkers? My limited experience so far with /bio was its the combination of regen, recovery, and absorbtion that made it so good. It was like an extra layer of defense that other sets dont get, IE - an "outside the box" layer of defense. So the set isnt so much about front loading defense/resistances, though those of course help. 

 

Anyway, point is if you arent relying on the regen/absorb from /bio, why take it on a stalker? Just for the offensive stance for more damage? I mean, there are other sets you could take that might offer better surviveability. Again, new player, so just going off what i have read/heard, not personal experience.

 

3. So far I have heard two things about bio stalkers, that they are tough nuts to crack like scrappers/brutes, but some here said you still have to be careful and not get swarmed. So which is it? It cant really be both, or does it come down to playstyle and preferance?

 

@Sovera- I do appreciate the advice! I am looking to combine my power selections with some minor tweaks, but with your superior enchancement selections and spacing. (my biggest picks are swapping out the flying pool for soul mastery and parasite aura.) - Shadow Meld looks too good to pass up as an extra emergency button (would be better if you could perma it!) on top of Barrier, and I still would like parasite aura, as I am simply too used to having it when playing a /bio than not having it.

 

Would like to say that threads like this is one thing that makes the community awesome, older players helping newer ones. Sure people dont always agree but thats okay! (and i think a good thing.) But thats far cry better than some games where the reply always is "suck it up" or "git gud" etc.

 

Thanks bunches again! Will be tweaking my planned build again when I get home.

1 - I'm not sure what you mean by Rog, sorry. Shadow meld can't be made perma to my knowledge but about 26 seconds recharge and 15 seconds duration it's close enough. If you are in a team you'll notice that Stalkers are very slippery. The slightest thing will make mobs ignore you to go hit someone else (we are basically a blapper's wet dream between the damage and aggro slipperiness). This is good (for some people, not me in particular since I both like the 'tank' role and like the enemies to stay glued to me instead of running off at 20% HP) since it means you're not going to be the center of attention when you start hitting things. So Shadow Meld doesn't neeeeed to be perma. Just pop it as you run to the pack of enemies and once it runs out, well, most should be dead.

2 - I played /Bio Scrappers and Brutes, in neither case were their success based on Genetic Corruption. Genetic Corruption is 'just' a damage aura, which incidentally does -damage. The loss of the damage aura diminishes the worth of /Bio for a Stalker (as well as Evolving Armor's -res which Stalkers don't get either) but it's far from being bad. It's still a *very* resilient set for defense and also offense. We don't get this offense/defence outside of recharge buffs from a secondary which are take it or leave it. Ablative is small heal with a good sized absorb shield on top of regen, DNA Siphon double as a heal in a crowd and regen/recovery when used with corpses, Parasitic is as good on a Stalker as it is on a Scrapper (ignoring the detail of stalkers having less HP so regen doing less for them).

3 - I'm insistent on ITF being my /Bio's weakness (on all characters, Scrappers, Brutes, even Sentinels, etc) because the defense debuffs are harsh. This is mostly solved by Barrier. Heck, munching on one purple at the right time might be enough if we are looking outside the set's skills. But that's it. Anything else, including incarnate trials are fine, and I mean deathless runs sort of fine. My one character that has an easier time is my Claws/Bio Scrapper because Shockwave recharges so fast that, combined with Spin and Scrapper crits, I keep a spawn on their butt and mostly dead by the time I decide to stop spamming those two moves. A War Mace character could do the same. So far I have not found Ice Patch living up to the hype in this aspect.

[Neiska]

Hehe, sorry, still learning acyronyms, meant Luck of the Gambler - global recharge. I was asking you need haste, with a reduction IO, plus 5 Gamblers to max your cooldown. 

 

I havent really done many Task Forces. Most of playtime has been playing normal missions on +3 or 4/8 difficulty. And as far as my goals? Not looking to solo AVs and whatnot (though that would be pretty neat). Mostly just hoping to be able to play on max difficulty, at least radio/normal missions, finish ouros, badge hunting, max my incarnates. Anything after that is a bonus. And I havent gotten to really join up with the big missions like ITFs or Mothership (whatever that is. keep hearing it mentioned.)

[Seroster01]

1 hour ago, Neiska said:

Hehe, sorry, still learning acyronyms, meant Luck of the Gambler - global recharge. I was asking you need haste, with a reduction IO, plus 5 Gamblers to max your cooldown. 

 

I havent really done many Task Forces. Most of playtime has been playing normal missions on +3 or 4/8 difficulty. And as far as my goals? Not looking to solo AVs and whatnot (though that would be pretty neat). Mostly just hoping to be able to play on max difficulty, at least radio/normal missions, finish ouros, badge hunting, max my incarnates. Anything after that is a bonus. And I havent gotten to really join up with the big missions like ITFs or Mothership (whatever that is. keep hearing it mentioned.)

You should try the ITF some time. It's popular because it's a trifecta of fun, interesting, & unlike a lotbof late-game content additions it isn't overly challenging. Not to say that it's easy per se (the defense Debuffs that keep being brought up will certainly keep people on their toes), but a lot of the content added later in the game's life has mob groups that are far more annoying than the Cimerorans, Council, and Nictus from the ITF. 

 

Anyway, I'll try to remember to post my SM/Bio when I get home & flash out some of the reasons I did certain things, might give you some ideas.

Edited January 15, 2020 by Seroster01

[Seroster01]

Here's my Build:
 

Spoiler

Villain Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.0.7
https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Stalker
Primary Power Set: Savage Melee
Secondary Power Set: Bio Armor
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Maiming Slash -- Hct-Dmg(A), Hct-Dmg/Rchg(3), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), Hct-Acc/Rchg(5), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(5), TchofDth-Dam%(7)
Level 1: Hide -- ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(A)
Level 2: Hardened Carapace -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(7), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(9), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(9), GldArm-3defTpProc(11)
Level 4: Shred -- Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(A), Arm-Dmg/Rchg(11), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), Arm-Acc/Rchg(13), Erd-%Dam(15), AchHee-ResDeb%(15)
Level 6: Assassin's Frenzy -- SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), SprStlGl-Rchg/Hide%(17), Mk'Bit-Dmg/EndRdx(19), TchofDth-Dam%(19), Hct-Dam%(21)
Level 8: Boundless Energy -- PrfShf-EndMod(A), PrfShf-End%(21), Pnc-Heal(48), Pnc-Heal/+End(50)
Level 10: Environmental Modification -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(23), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(23), Ksm-ToHit+(25)
Level 12: Build Up -- RctRtc-ToHit/Rchg(A), RctRtc-Pcptn(25), GssSynFr--Build%(27)
Level 14: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 16: Adaptation 
Level 18: Rending Flurry -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(27), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(29), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(31)
Level 20: Ablative Carapace -- Pnc-Heal/EndRedux(A), Pnc-EndRdx/Rchg(31), Pnc-Heal/Rchg(33), Pnc-Heal/EndRedux/Rchg(33), Pnc-Heal(33)
Level 22: Hover -- WntGif-RunSpd/Jump/Fly/Rng(A), WntGif-RunSpd/Jump/Fly/Rng/EndRdx(34), WntGif-ResSlow(34), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(34)
Level 24: Placate -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 26: Hemorrhage -- SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAssMar-Dmg/Rchg(36), SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), SprAssMar-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), SprAssMar-Rchg/Rchg Build Up(37)
Level 28: DNA Siphon -- SprStlGl-Dmg/Rchg(A), SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), SprStlGl-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39)
Level 30: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(39), UnbGrd-EndRdx/Rchg(39), UnbGrd-Max HP%(40), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(40)
Level 32: Savage Leap -- Arm-Dmg(A), Arm-Dam%(40), FuroftheG-ResDeb%(42), Erd-%Dam(42), ScrDrv-Dam%(42), Obl-%Dam(43)
Level 35: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(43)
Level 38: Moonbeam -- Apc-Dmg(A), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), Apc-Dam%(45), Apc-Acc/Rchg(45), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx(45), CldSns-%Dam(46)
Level 41: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Def(46), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(46)
Level 44: Tactics -- RctRtc-ToHit(A), RctRtc-ToHit/Rchg(48)
Level 47: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Def(48), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(50)
Level 49: Shadow Meld -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg(50)
Level 1: Assassination 
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
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 -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run 
Level 2: Swift -- Flight-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A)
Level 1: Blood Frenzy 
Level 16: Defensive Adaptation 
Level 16: Efficient Adaptation 
Level 16: Offensive Adaptation 
Level 38: Quick Form 
Level 0: Born In Battle 
Level 0: High Pain Threshold 
Level 0: Invader 
Level 0: Marshal 
Level 50: Musculature Radial Paragon 
------------

 

Things to point out: keeping AS under 58% will give the Hide proc a 90% chance to trigger on every use, and with the slotting I put in it the Hecatomb will have ~84% chance & ToD ~65%. The 2 procs seem to have quite a bit of impact on how killy he is, partially because they proc a lot but also because it's a source of damage that isn't lethal. For an Elec Melee character this probably isn't as big of a deal, but it's still a pretty high chance to do an additional 180-ish damage of a rarely resisted type.

 

Similarly, keeping Build Up under 68% slotted recharge will give Gaussian's a 90% chance to trigger & given the reset mechanics from the 2nd ATO you don't really need much (any?) recharge in it anyway. I have the 2 slots there for the bonus to S/L defense, as this is a pretty low amount of slots invested for the amount of S/L defense it gives.

 

I think it's worth noting that I end up fairly short of the S/L soft cap, but this apparently doesn't matter much in-game cause I didn't realize how short I was till I just exported it. 😂

 

As for the stuff relating to /Bio itself, I slotted the 3 recharge-heavy pieces of Stalker's Guile there for the 5% S/L, but having 84% recharge reduction & near-SO accuracy in 3 slots seemed a decent use of the slots. Obviously the damage boost doesn't do a lot of good, and if you've got some other place you'd like to put those then I'd imagine there's more defense-oriented ways to slot it.

 

After fiddling around with some of the spare slots I had I eventually decided to put 4 slots in Boundless Energy, because it has a higher base recovery bonus than Stamina, and after playing around with various slotting options putting a 50+5 healing IO in it seemed to give me the largest defensive bonus for a single slot. After considering my options for that I chose to put a Panacea Heal there and move the Panacea proc from Health to BE in order to get the 2.5% Recovery bonus, since that slot was going to be used in either power for a recovery bonus anyway. Panacea's also a PVP enhancement, which has the bonus of the set bonuses behaving like a purple set (will exemp to any level regardless of the level of the enhancements). In a bit of a related topic, I put a Numina's in Health rather than a Miracle because the character doesn't struggle much with Endurance until Leap is available, and even after that I felt like the 20% regen was a bit more useful than the 5% difference in Recovery. It does have the downside that it's far easier to exemp out of the range that it will work, but if my character was exemp'd that low he didn't really need it it. In the end I don't think the choice between the two will mater very much (1 HP/sec vs .08 End/Sec), but if your primary is more end intensive than SM is it might be a big deal. 

 

Another thing that's probably more unique to SM than others is that I find Hover very useful for getting range on targets mid combat (which boosts leap damage), which requires a certain amount of build investment to make it not be agonizingly slow (also relatively end intensive). CJ would work just as well, and would allow for those some or all of those slots to be put elsewhere if you wanted to do so.

 

It's not a part of the export, but I picked Ageless Radial Epiphany for the Destiny; primarily for the debuff resistance, but also because the recharge boost helps me get perma-hasten & about the time I start running low on Endurance from my regular rotation it will come back up & refill my bar. This is only really an issue in long AV fights, and the only time I've had to make use of it to this point is when I was soloing the Avatar of Mot or whatever it's name is at the end of the DA story arc. Picked Assault Interface (chance for double hit of energy damage) because it seemed the most impactful for my character, and the Void Judgement because a.) the -damage seemed more useful to my character than moar damage, b.) Negative Energy is a rarely resisted damage type, and c.) I think it looks pretty freaking awesome (at least the higher levels, I don't remember the T1 version looking as cool as the T3 version he has now).

 

Anyway, that's all the stuff I can see that I think is worth pointing out. If you have some questions on any of it feel free to ask.

[Sovera]

7 hours ago, Seroster01 said:

Here's my Build:
 

  Reveal hidden contents

Villain Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.0.7
https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Level 50 Magic Stalker
Primary Power Set: Savage Melee
Secondary Power Set: Bio Armor
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Soul Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Maiming Slash -- Hct-Dmg(A), Hct-Dmg/Rchg(3), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(3), Hct-Acc/Rchg(5), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(5), TchofDth-Dam%(7)
Level 1: Hide -- ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(A)
Level 2: Hardened Carapace -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(7), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(9), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(9), GldArm-3defTpProc(11)
Level 4: Shred -- Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(A), Arm-Dmg/Rchg(11), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), Arm-Acc/Rchg(13), Erd-%Dam(15), AchHee-ResDeb%(15)
Level 6: Assassin's Frenzy -- SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), SprStlGl-Rchg/Hide%(17), Mk'Bit-Dmg/EndRdx(19), TchofDth-Dam%(19), Hct-Dam%(21)
Level 8: Boundless Energy -- PrfShf-EndMod(A), PrfShf-End%(21), Pnc-Heal(48), Pnc-Heal/+End(50)
Level 10: Environmental Modification -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(23), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(23), Ksm-ToHit+(25)
Level 12: Build Up -- RctRtc-ToHit/Rchg(A), RctRtc-Pcptn(25), GssSynFr--Build%(27)
Level 14: Boxing -- Empty(A)
Level 16: Adaptation 
Level 18: Rending Flurry -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAvl-Dmg/EndRdx(27), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(29), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(29), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(31), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(31)
Level 20: Ablative Carapace -- Pnc-Heal/EndRedux(A), Pnc-EndRdx/Rchg(31), Pnc-Heal/Rchg(33), Pnc-Heal/EndRedux/Rchg(33), Pnc-Heal(33)
Level 22: Hover -- WntGif-RunSpd/Jump/Fly/Rng(A), WntGif-RunSpd/Jump/Fly/Rng/EndRdx(34), WntGif-ResSlow(34), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(34)
Level 24: Placate -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 26: Hemorrhage -- SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAssMar-Dmg/Rchg(36), SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36), SprAssMar-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(36), SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(37), SprAssMar-Rchg/Rchg Build Up(37)
Level 28: DNA Siphon -- SprStlGl-Dmg/Rchg(A), SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), SprStlGl-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39)
Level 30: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(39), UnbGrd-EndRdx/Rchg(39), UnbGrd-Max HP%(40), StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(40)
Level 32: Savage Leap -- Arm-Dmg(A), Arm-Dam%(40), FuroftheG-ResDeb%(42), Erd-%Dam(42), ScrDrv-Dam%(42), Obl-%Dam(43)
Level 35: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(43)
Level 38: Moonbeam -- Apc-Dmg(A), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43), Apc-Dam%(45), Apc-Acc/Rchg(45), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx(45), CldSns-%Dam(46)
Level 41: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Def(46), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(46)
Level 44: Tactics -- RctRtc-ToHit(A), RctRtc-ToHit/Rchg(48)
Level 47: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(A), LucoftheG-Def(48), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(50)
Level 49: Shadow Meld -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg(50)
Level 1: Assassination 
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
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 -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run 
Level 2: Swift -- Flight-I(A)
Level 2: Health -- NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(A)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Jump-I(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A)
Level 1: Blood Frenzy 
Level 16: Defensive Adaptation 
Level 16: Efficient Adaptation 
Level 16: Offensive Adaptation 
Level 38: Quick Form 
Level 0: Born In Battle 
Level 0: High Pain Threshold 
Level 0: Invader 
Level 0: Marshal 
Level 50: Musculature Radial Paragon 
------------

 

Things to point out: keeping AS under 58% will give the Hide proc a 90% chance to trigger on every use, and with the slotting I put in it the Hecatomb will have ~84% chance & ToD ~65%. The 2 procs seem to have quite a bit of impact on how killy he is, partially because they proc a lot but also because it's a source of damage that isn't lethal. For an Elec Melee character this probably isn't as big of a deal, but it's still a pretty high chance to do an additional 180-ish damage of a rarely resisted type.

 

Similarly, keeping Build Up under 68% slotted recharge will give Gaussian's a 90% chance to trigger & given the reset mechanics from the 2nd ATO you don't really need much (any?) recharge in it anyway. I have the 2 slots there for the bonus to S/L defense, as this is a pretty low amount of slots invested for the amount of S/L defense it gives.

Could you link where you found this information about recharge times? HD only shows it for damage procs. I know I have my AS at 76% recharge and the Hide proc only happens... I can't really say... but one in three ou four AS'?

Edited January 16, 2020 by Sovera