How did I never try Stalkers before?

[Frostweaver]

I still demand mace for Stalkers, because WM/EA on stalkers would be stronger and prettier than brutes could ever hope for.

[Tiklandian]

Yeah I have tried every class to 30 and this is my fav so far and one I will probably main. Very fun.

 

I have made a few, still trying to figure out exactly which one I want most.  Hoping Savage/Energy is elite.

[Shiva]

After seeing a Stalker destroy everything in a room full of baddies during a recent mission, I was intrigued enough to give one a try.  I looked around at some of the builds folks were hyping.  I ended up rolling a Savage Melee/Bio Armor Stalker and I have NOT been disappointed.  Even as a lowbie, he was one-shotting nearly everything he came across.  Like many of you, I lament the fact that when building a new toon, it's basically worthless until level 20.  That is not the case with Stalkers.  And at least in my build's case the END investment us incredibly low considering the damage output.  There's not even really a need to bloat up the build with a lot of ancillary pool powers to compensate for glaring issues in the set.  The Savage Primary is indeed savage in pretty much every respect.  Bio Armor provides a flexible approach to survivability that I haven't seen with many of my other toons.  I was initially cautious about dropping him into a group of four or five baddies a level or two above me.  I've found out quickly that is not a thing to be concerned about.  I for one still love close quarters fights.  Even in these heady days of Incarnate AOE attacks.  Stalkers make melee feel fresh.  Walk up to the biggest mook in the room and slice him into ribbons.  You won't regret it. 🙂

[Riverdusk]

23 hours ago, Frostweaver said:

I still demand mace for Stalkers, because WM/EA on stalkers would be stronger and prettier than brutes could ever hope for.

Agreed.  Some might say just play a bane soldier, but that just isn't the same.  Could also try a WM/Ninja scrapper and I have been tempted as with ninja you still get the guaranteed crit from hide and a guaranteed crit on clobber sounds amazing, but still wouldn't be quite as nice as having it on a stalker.  

[Frostweaver]

4 hours ago, Riverdusk said:

Agreed.  Some might say just play a bane soldier, but that just isn't the same.  Could also try a WM/Ninja scrapper and I have been tempted as with ninja you still get the guaranteed crit from hide and a guaranteed crit on clobber sounds amazing, but still wouldn't be quite as nice as having it on a stalker.  

wait, do you think they didn't give stalkers mace because they thought it would step on bane's toes?

Ugh. That would suck. Banes aren't any more stalkers than /nin scrappers are.

[vysirez]

Most likely reason is cause Stalkers kind of sucked when they first came out. They were generally significantly less effective then Scrappers. Then they got improved over various patches, and ATO procs were added and they are in a pretty good state now. However the sucky first impression really sticks around.

Edited June 7, 2020 by vysirez

[Riverdusk]

On 6/5/2020 at 6:23 PM, Frostweaver said:

wait, do you think they didn't give stalkers mace because they thought it would step on bane's toes?

Ugh. That would suck. Banes aren't any more stalkers than /nin scrappers are.

Never heard a dev, either live or on HC, say that was the reason.  But I've heard that as a player response before to a request to give stalkers mace, "You could play a bane".  They are probably just trying to give a "helpful" alternative though, not saying it shouldn't be a thing.  At least I'd hope so.  It really wouldn't be stepping on a bane's toes anymore than a claw stalker steps on a widow's.

[MTeague]

On 6/2/2020 at 4:27 PM, Hyperstrike said:

How did you never try them before?

Because they were locked behind Red-Side for most of the game's existence.
And Red Side is enough to make you go down the road and not across the tracks...

Also, the fact that ATOs and Winter-Os have VASTLY improved the general performance profile of Stalkers.

Also, before the Assassin's Focus changes... when you could ONLY assassin's strike from Hide.... Stalkers were the bedraggled puppies sitting in the rain all alone that you invited to a team because you felt so bad for them.  Now they're freakin CERBERUS.