How to Stalker in Endgame

[Hjarki]

On 5/25/2020 at 10:32 PM, Crater Kate said:

Honest question - how are you guys keeping your end management good enough that you can afford to go into Epics that aren't Body Mastery?

 

The only 50+ Stalker I have is a StJ/SR (which is, admittedly, a pretty end-intensive setup), and tried running a Moonbeam build with it. Even building other powers with end in mind, I was just nowhere near able to keep a good attack chain going without bottoming out in 2-3 rotations. Going for Body and having access to 3 Perf Shift +End is a little bit of the nuclear solution, but it's the only way I'm able to deal sustained damage.

 

Is this a thing where my build's the exception, not the norm, and most other Stalkers don't have this kind of tax on them?

One thing I've noticed is a lot of players don't seem to grasp where endurance consumption comes from.

 

For example, Focused Fighting costs 0.26 End/Sec while Assassin's Strike costs 10.87 End/Sec (endurance/activation time). Yet you'll see players worry about putting endurance reduction in Focused Fighting but rarely considered it for Assassin's Strike despite the fact that it is far more important for Assassin's Strike.

 

This also means there are a lot of little efficiencies that may not seem like they save endurance but actually do. To hit a +3 enemy, you need +97.92% accuracy. If you've slotted Kismet, this drop to 75.93% accuracy. That's about the difference between an A/D and a D/E standard enhancement in all of your offensive powers - an across-the-board reduction in endurance costs for offensive powers of ~20% or so from a single slot. The same sort of calculus applies to Tactics - if you don't have to slot Accuracy, you can slot more End Reduction (within reason).

 

Or consider your use of Moonbeam. Suppose you use Zapp instead. Both cost 17.94 endurance. Let's reduce that by 42.4% - a single EndRed which takes us to 12.6% endurance. Now, let's use a single slot for Performance Shifter +end. If we have no internal recharge, that's the equivalent of +7.88% endurance return. So instead of consuming 13.49% end/sec, our Zapp is consuming 3.55% end/sec. If we stick that Performance Shifter into Ball Lightning, it has a capped chance to proc (due to target count) and the effect is nearly free with even modest EndRed slotting. Theft of Essence is even better for this purpose, although generally harder to find places to slot.

 

That being said, the most common way to solve endurance problems is via Incarnates. Ageless tends to solve all endurance problems and, frankly, it's almost universally the best Destiny. Defensively-based Destinies aren't nearly as good because they give you defenses that fluctuate between 'more than enough' and 'not enough'. In contrast, fluctuating amounts of endurance return aren't a big deal because its a long-term expenditure.

 

Note: My above example of Zapp omits the fact that Electric powers of this sort have a small chance to return Endurance as well, so technically they become cheaper with EndMod slotted into them. Because the chance is generally so small, it's normally not worth slotting EndMod for this purpose (compared to EndRed).

[Sovera]

10 hours ago, Bunmaster said:

Depends on your powersets, those that doesn't have their own way of recovery, it's either body mastery or ageless. Because Miracle+Panacea+Numina aren't enough.

One thing usually forgotten is the Recovery Serum that the P2W vendor sells. We can buy large stacks of it, it does great things for endurance straight at level 1 to 50, and it's also dirt cheap at 10k a charge.

 

 

9 hours ago, Hjarki said:

That being said, the most common way to solve endurance problems is via Incarnates. Ageless tends to solve all endurance problems and, frankly, it's almost universally the best Destiny. Defensively-based Destinies aren't nearly as good because they give you defenses that fluctuate between 'more than enough' and 'not enough'. In contrast, fluctuating amounts of endurance return aren't a big deal because its a long-term expenditure.

I agree with everything said here, but just want to say that in my point of view endurance isn't really a problem when we build for it (and the above mentioned Recovery Serum doesn't take precious inspiration slots), and native recharge is usually high enough if we chase it. Barrier, on the other hand, makes for an amazing panic button. As someone currently playing a KM/Bio Stalker I can't say how utterly disappointed I am at Parasitic Aura as a T9 panic button. It does nothing to save me to the point I feel like losing the 25% damage and re-rolling as Ice just for Icy Bastion. But if in trouble suddenly overflowing resistances and defenses will make it very difficult to die.

[Chrome]

On 5/28/2020 at 6:40 AM, Sovera said:

As someone currently playing a KM/Bio Stalker I can't say how utterly disappointed I am at Parasitic Aura as a T9 panic button. It does nothing to save me to the point I feel like losing the 25% damage and re-rolling as Ice just for Icy Bastion. But if in trouble suddenly overflowing resistances and defenses will make it very difficult to die.

i personally do not use it as a panic button perse, i use it on CD which on my build is super close to perma...maybe 15 seconds shy, which not only fixes any issue of dying it also fixes any issue of endurance.

[Riverdusk]

On 5/25/2020 at 7:32 PM, Crater Kate said:

Honest question - how are you guys keeping your end management good enough that you can afford to go into Epics that aren't Body Mastery?

 

The only 50+ Stalker I have is a StJ/SR (which is, admittedly, a pretty end-intensive setup), and tried running a Moonbeam build with it. Even building other powers with end in mind, I was just nowhere near able to keep a good attack chain going without bottoming out in 2-3 rotations. Going for Body and having access to 3 Perf Shift +End is a little bit of the nuclear solution, but it's the only way I'm able to deal sustained damage.

 

Is this a thing where my build's the exception, not the norm, and most other Stalkers don't have this kind of tax on them?

Another often overlooked help is the +recovery buff you can get from a SG empowerment station.  It is a 17% recovery buff (which is a bit better than having an extra Miracle slotted).  It lasts for 1.5 hours at a time (despite its description saying only 1 hour), and only costs 3 pieces of cheap salvage.  Also can be renewed in seconds thanks to the quick SG tp code. 

 

I use the recovery and recharge (easy +20% global recharge) SG buffs almost constantly on my characters now.  Keep stacks of the salvage needed for them in a salvage storage rack right next to the buff station.

 

I do like body master too though (focused accuracy and energy torrent are also great imo), so nothing wrong with that epic.  

[Hjarki]

On 5/28/2020 at 6:40 AM, Sovera said:

I agree with everything said here, but just want to say that in my point of view endurance isn't really a problem when we build for it (and the above mentioned Recovery Serum doesn't take precious inspiration slots), and native recharge is usually high enough if we chase it.

While it is possible to play a number of tricks with endurance/recharge, ultimately there's a simple rule: "you get what you pay for".

 

The reason sets like Titan Weapons or Storm Summoning are such endurance hogs is because they deal incredible amounts of damage compared to more 'endurance friendly' sets. Essentially, every offensive power is a mechanism for converting endurance into damage. The less time it takes to do so means you'll spend a lot more endurance over time to deal more damage over time.

 

The same is roughly true of recharge. If you've reached a point where you can't use more recharge, then you've reached a cap on your damage capability. A build that has a much higher cap - i.e. can use more recharge - is a more damaging build.

 

In contrast, defensive issues tend to fall into the 'good enough' category. Either your defenses are sufficient or they're not. If you have a generally strong defensive structure, it's fairly easy to just use inspirations to cover those rare situations where they're not good enough.