Most reliable secondary in tough content?

[Parabola]

As the title says really. Which armour set would you like to have when you come up against the games more annoying enemies? I've built a dark tank to perform well against just about anything but of course stalkers don't have anywhere near as much res. Would an overcapped SR be as good as anything? EA can also get pretty tough but with a psi hole (at least sr covers most psi through postional defences) and much less ddr.

[Croax]

I have made good experience with Ice, Shield and EA. I also had some surprise deaths with SR, Ninja abd Bio. Those deaths have mostly been my own fault. So maybe they are good too.

[Hjarki]

I've made the comment before that you generally want to resist S/L/F/E/T and defend against C/N/P. However, when building a Stalker, survivability is rarely my primary concern. I'm not looking to tank Incarnate trials or being impervious to all harm, but amplify my ability to deal damage - because that's why you bring a Stalker along.

 

So with a Stalker, I'd generally take Fiery Aura over Radiation - despite Radiation probably being the stronger 'tank' set - because Fiery Aura gives me an additional AE to complement notoriously AE-light Stalker primaries. I'd probably avoid Bio because losing the -resist field puts it behind Shield for personal damage augmentation. Super Reflexes have more comprehensive defenses than Energy Aura, but they both have a recharge bonus but Energy also feeds you endurance. And so forth.

[Gulbasaur]

Super Reflexes has damage resistance that scales with your health that doesn't show up in planners, making it look weaker than it is. It's a solid set that picks up very early and continues to improve.

 

Hybrid sets with defence and resistance are generally a bit better than pure defence or resistance sets, in my opinion. It's also much easier to add defence than resistance through pool powers and IOs, so that might be worth considering. Invulnerability on Stalkers remains very good, although it doesn't have an endurance management power. I took a stalker to 50 and beyond with Shield Defence and found it good fun and very sturdy.

 

Don't fall into the trap of trying to build it like a tank - 75% damage resistance is still very significant and stalkers really don't have any way to hold onto aggro in a group so you'll rarely be the focus of attention for long.

Edited June 8, 2020 by Gulbasaur

[Zeraphia]

2 hours ago, Gulbasaur said:

Super Reflexes has damage resistance that scales with your health that doesn't show up in planners, making it look weaker than it is. It's a solid set that picks up very early and continues to improve.

 

Hybrid sets with defence and resistance are generally a bit better than pure defence or resistance sets, in my opinion. It's also much easier to add defence than resistance through pool powers and IOs, so that might be worth considering. Invulnerability on Stalkers remains very good, although it doesn't have an endurance management power. I took a stalker to 50 and beyond with Shield Defence and found it good fun and very sturdy.

 

Don't fall into the trap of trying to build it like a tank - 75% damage resistance is still very significant and stalkers really don't have any way to hold onto aggro in a group so you'll rarely be the focus of attention for long.

Going to echo some of these thoughts here, Stalkers are a damage-first toon even more so than Scrappers. Their primary focus really lies in the ability to be a single target assassin that has the main goal of "killing it before it kills me." Really, Hide itself is the greatest damage mitigator you have, opened up every fight with the first hit unless they have extremely high perception. 

 

I would definitely not avoid Radiation like another poster mentioned. Radiation actually can shore up the AoE weakness even better than FA can given it can proc out both Ground Zero and Rad Therapy into massive damaging AoE hits, granting high resistances to the ones that matter most, and also giving them a high absorb and helpings with endurance management. 

 

Bio is also extremely solid because it grants additional damage components to Stalkers and grants them high defenses or high resistances (you can softcap E/N/F/C and cap S/L resistance) and gain an absorb and decent regeneration as well as a heal that can also be proc'd into being a decent AoE, so again, not a bad set at all once you build it.

 

/Shield /Bio /Invul /Rad /Ice /Ninja seem to be the most durable to me.

[Parabola]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Yeah, I'm not looking to try to tank, it's more about solo performance against the enemies we all love to hate. Of course anything can be solo'd at +0x1 but that doesn't feel all that super, +something x4-6 with bosses is probably more the mark I'd like to hit. I'm looking to run a stalker solo through all the content both sides (maybe one per side I haven't decided) and so don't want to find myself several months down the line with something that simply can't handle some endgame enemies.

 

My candidates so far are a KM/EA and a DB/SR. They are both characters that I have sitting around waiting for a reroll but I'd be perfectly happy to go with something else if there was a much better option. I have a 'I hate psi' build for the EA as follows:

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: Kinetic Melee
Secondary Power Set: Energy Aura
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Concealment
Ancillary Pool: Mu Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Quick Strike -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(A), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(3), Dmg-I(3)
Level 1: Hide -- Ksm-ToHit+(A)
Level 2: Body Blow -- SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAssMar-Dmg/Rchg(5), SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), SprAssMar-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(7), SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(9), SprAssMar-Rchg/Rchg Build Up(9)
Level 4: Smashing Blow -- Hct-Dmg(A), Hct-Dmg/Rchg(13), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), Hct-Acc/Rchg(15), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(15), Hct-Dam%(17)
Level 6: Assassin's Strike -- SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprStlGl-Dmg/Rchg(17), SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(19), SprStlGl-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(19), SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(21), SprStlGl-Rchg/Hide%(21)
Level 8: Build Up -- GssSynFr--Build%(A), RechRdx-I(23)
Level 10: Entropy Shield -- EndRdx-I(A)
Level 12: Kinetic Shield -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(23), LucoftheG-Def(25)
Level 14: Power Shield -- Rct-Def(A), Rct-Def/EndRdx(25), Rct-EndRdx/Rchg(27), Rct-Def/Rchg(27), Rct-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(29), Rct-ResDam%(29)
Level 16: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(31)
Level 18: Super Speed -- WntGif-ResSlow(A)
Level 20: Burst -- Arm-Dmg(A), Arm-Dmg/Rchg(31), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), Arm-Acc/Rchg(33), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(33), Arm-Dam%(33)
Level 22: Kinetic Dampening -- GldArm-3defTpProc(A), ImpArm-ResPsi(34), Ags-Psi/Status(34), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(34), ImpArm-ResDam(36)
Level 24: Boxing -- SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(A), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(36)
Level 26: Focused Burst -- SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg(A), SprWntBit-Dmg/Rchg(36), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(37), SprWntBit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(37), SprWntBit-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(37), SprWntBit-Rchg/SlowProc(39)
Level 28: Energy Drain -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/Rchg(39)
Level 30: Tough -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), ImpArm-ResPsi(39), ImpArm-ResDam/EndRdx(40), ImpArm-ResDam(40)
Level 32: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(40), LucoftheG-Def(42)
Level 35: Energize -- Prv-Heal(A), Prv-Heal/EndRdx(42), Prv-EndRdx/Rchg(42), Prv-Heal/Rchg(43), Prv-Heal/Rchg/EndRdx(43), Prv-Absorb%(43)
Level 38: Zapp -- StnoftheM-Acc/Dmg(A), StnoftheM-Dmg/EndRdx(45), StnoftheM-Acc/ActRdx/Rng(45), StnoftheM-Dmg/ActRdx/Rchg(45), StnoftheM-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(46), StnoftheM-Dam%(46)
Level 41: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(46)
Level 44: Ball Lightning -- PstBls-Acc/Dmg(A), PstBls-Dmg/EndRdx(48), PstBls-Dmg/Rchg(48), PstBls-Dmg/Rng(48), PstBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(50), PstBls-Dam%(50)
Level 47: Stealth -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(50)
Level 49: Invisibility -- ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(A)
Level 1: Assassination 
Level 1: Brawl -- SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(A), SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(5)
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 -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run 
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Pnc-Heal/+End(A), Mrc-Rcvry+(11)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(11)
Level 50: Musculature Radial Paragon 
Level 1: Quick Form 
------------

This does make a few sacrifices along the way to build up that toxic/psi res though.

 

The DB/SR feels like it might be the stronger candidate even though I do love EA and the lack of a heal is a concern. It looks like it will do more damage, it has stronger defences and it has better debuff protection. Playing with procs I've spotted something odd about ablating strike - it's the finisher for sweep and mids seems to be calculating it's proc chances as an aoe rather than a single target attack. However if that isn't correct then loading it out with procs should turn it into a more than serviceable aoe at the end of each sweep combo. Or does it calculate as a single target attack when single target and then as an aoe during sweep? Does anybody know how this functions?

 

Current build for the DB/SR:

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: Dual Blades
Secondary Power Set: Super Reflexes
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Ancillary Pool: Body Mastery

Villain Profile:
Level 1: Power Slice -- Hct-Dmg(A), Hct-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), Hct-Acc/Rchg(31), Hct-Dmg/EndRdx(34), Hct-Dmg/Rchg(36), TchofDth-Dam%(37)
Level 1: Hide -- ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(A), Ksm-ToHit+(3)
Level 2: Ablating Strike -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(A), SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx(19), TchofDth-Dam%(21), Hct-Dam%(21), AchHee-ResDeb%(23), TchofLadG-%Dam(25)
Level 4: Nimble Slash -- SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAssMar-Dmg/Rchg(5), SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(15), SprAssMar-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), SprAssMar-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17), SprAssMar-Rchg/Rchg Build Up(19)
Level 6: Assassin's Blades -- SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprStlGl-Dmg/Rchg(7), SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(7), SprStlGl-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11), SprStlGl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(11), SprStlGl-Rchg/Hide%(15)
Level 8: Focused Fighting -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(9), LucoftheG-Def(9), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(43)
Level 10: Build Up -- GssSynFr--ToHit(A), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg(37), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(37), GssSynFr--Rchg/EndRdx(39), GssSynFr--ToHit/EndRdx(39), GssSynFr--Build%(40)
Level 12: Focused Senses -- Rct-Def(A), Rct-Def/EndRdx(13), Rct-EndRdx/Rchg(13), Rct-Def/Rchg(43), Rct-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(45), Rct-ResDam%(46)
Level 14: Super Jump -- WntGif-ResSlow(A)
Level 16: Practiced Brawler -- RechRdx-I(A)
Level 18: Agile -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), DefBuff-I(45)
Level 20: Dodge -- DefBuff-I(A), DefBuff-I(46)
Level 22: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(23)
Level 24: Combat Jumping -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(25)
Level 26: Sweeping Strike -- Arm-Dmg(A), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(27), Arm-Acc/Rchg(27), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(29), Arm-Dam%(29), FuroftheG-ResDeb%(31)
Level 28: Quickness -- Run-I(A)
Level 30: Boxing -- SprBlsCol-Dmg/EndRdx/Acc/Rchg(A), SprBlsCol-Rchg/HoldProc(46)
Level 32: One Thousand Cuts -- Obl-Dmg(A), Obl-Acc/Rchg(33), Obl-%Dam(33), Obl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Obl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(34), FrcFdb-Rechg%(34)
Level 35: Evasion -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(36), LucoftheG-Def(36), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx/Rchg(45)
Level 38: Tough -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), GldArm-3defTpProc(39), UnbGrd-Max HP%(40), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(40), UnbGrd-ResDam(42), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(43)
Level 41: Weave -- LucoftheG-Def/Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(42), LucoftheG-Def(42)
Level 44: Superior Conditioning -- PrfShf-End%(A)
Level 47: Focused Accuracy -- AdjTrg-ToHit(A), AdjTrg-ToHit/Rchg(48), AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx/Rchg(48), AdjTrg-EndRdx/Rchg(48), AdjTrg-ToHit/EndRdx(50)
Level 49: Physical Perfection -- PrfShf-End%(A)
Level 1: Assassination 
Level 1: Brawl -- SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg(A), SprBlsCol-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(50)
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 -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run 
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Mrc-Rcvry+(A), Pnc-Heal/+End(5)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(3), EndMod-I(50)
Level 1: Quick Form 
------------

 

[Without_Pause]

5 hours ago, Gulbasaur said:

Don't fall into the trap of trying to build it like a tank - 75% damage resistance is still very significant and stalkers really don't have any way to hold onto aggro in a group so you'll rarely be the focus of attention for long.

I had a bad run on a scrapper to where I thought of switching it to a stalker due to generally being safer. Stalkers with Hide and an ATO proc to pop Hide again can be incredibly safe in combat. 

[StrikerFox]

2 hours ago, parabola said:

Playing with procs I've spotted something odd about ablating strike - it's the finisher for sweep and mids seems to be calculating it's proc chances as an aoe rather than a single target attack. However if that isn't correct then loading it out with procs should turn it into a more than serviceable aoe at the end of each sweep combo. Or does it calculate as a single target attack when single target and then as an aoe during sweep? Does anybody know how this functions?

The Stalker version of Sweep worked like that for a long time during live. I think Sweep was coded similar to the Scrapper version, even if it used a ST attack as the finisher. Iirc, surrounding targets would get KD, receive proc damage but only one target would get regular damage. Devs fixed it around i22 with only a ST being affected by KD, regular damage and proc damage. I made a short vid of the change, showing no more AoE KD/proc damage back in 2012.

 

 

[Parabola]

3 hours ago, StrikerFox said:

The Stalker version of Sweep worked like that for a long time during live. I think Sweep was coded similar to the Scrapper version, even if it used a ST attack as the finisher. Iirc, surrounding targets would get KD, receive proc damage but only one target would get regular damage. Devs fixed it around i22 with only a ST being affected by KD, regular damage and proc damage. I made a short vid of the change, showing no more AoE KD/proc damage back in 2012.

 

 

Just did a bit of testing and yeah i couldn't see the procs hitting the additional targets. Knockdown affected all though. I assume the aoe damage is affected by damage slotting and not a fixed amount? It seems ablating isn't the best power to proc out...