What's the most fun Stalker build for you?

[machogriz]

I've been browsing through past threads trying to decide on my first stalker and I'm just curious, what is everyone favorite/most fun Stalker?

 

I normally run tanks, but every time I team up with a stalker, I think to myself, "That looks really fun!" 

 

So, hit me with your favorite and most fun powersets that you'd recommend trying out!

[JStacy337]

I'll throw in my fave:  Kin/Energy, my Zoom-Stalker.

 

All of the attacks in Kin/* have -Damage which works very well when/if any get through */Energy's +Defense.  */Energy also has Energize (Heal and End discount), Entropy Shield (+Recharge status protection toggle), and Energy Drain (PBAoE End siphon) to make sure you never want to leave combat.

 

Kin Melee has a bad reputation of being a "slow" set, but the attacks feel very quick to me (Concentrated Strike being an outlier).  CS, however, does benefit from resetting Build-Up on crit, so I can't advise skipping it.  The set also boasts a very decent ranged knock-down power in Focused Burst, though it comes late at L26.

 

All-in-all, it was a very fun Praetorian character for me.  I skipped Placate from the primary, and Disrupt (PBAoE Stun-toggle) and Overload (+Defense "Oh crap" power, with a hard crash).

[Shockacon]

I was so used to mostly ST damage on past stalkers that once I got an Electric/Shield stalker up high enough for Lightning Rod and Shield Charge (later on adding Ion Judgement) I'd cackle in evil glee over the AOE damage I could cause. Savage has been fun and I leveled to 50 with one pretty quick. Claws was my first 50 so it has a special place in my black heart for it even though I recognize it ain't the best damage-wise. I'm working on a Street justice one right now, and it's early, but I get a good vibe from it so far.

[Coyotedancer]

My Kin/Bio/Dark is the favorite here on Homecoming... Tough enough to stand up to just about anything I throw her into, and hits like a sack of bricks.

 

Back-in-the-day it was my DB/WP/Mu. That one was just stylish, and when paired with a perma-summoned Adept partner (Yeah. Serious Recharge Monster was serious, and I had invested a lot into her NPC companion'), they collectively turned into something of a nightmare.

[Frosticus]

Savage w/ proc'd savage leap.

Enough fun that I've taken it to 50 twice.

 

It has tremendous aoe output which is rare for stalkers and the great single target that we expect from the AT.

But it is more than that. Savage leap moves you almost instantly. It ends up being one of the fastest play-styles I've encountered in this game. 

[machogriz]

12 minutes ago, Frosticus said:

Savage w/ proc'd savage leap.

Enough fun that I've taken it to 50 twice.

 

It has tremendous aoe output which is rare for stalkers and the great single target that we expect from the AT.

But it is more than that. Savage leap moves you almost instantly. It ends up being one of the fastest play-styles I've encountered in this game. 

That sounds like tons of fun. I love AoE and fast play-style. What secondary do you recommend with it?

[Frosticus]

9 minutes ago, machogriz said:

That sounds like tons of fun. I love AoE and fast play-style. What secondary do you recommend with it?

I've done it with bio and shield now. I really like shield, but every secondary is/can be great.

 

I have a small savage guide for stalkers, might be of use if you end up taking that route. 

 

[kosten07]

I'm leveling my third Stalker with StJ, done regen, willpower, and now invuln. 

 

I just can't get over how much oomph StJ feels when the attacks go off.

[SwitchFade]

DB/EA

 

SM/EA

[Crater Kate]

My favorite Stalker combo that I've played is still my first - Street Justice / Super Reflexes.

 

StJ is a monster of a set in terms of dealing really competitive damage, having a good amount of soft control, flowing really well, and just being purdy. SR is great on Stalkers because you press Tab, F and charge at your next victim at Mach 7.

 

It's basically Batgirl on superadine and that's just awesome 

[Hjarki]

My current preference is Staff/Energy/Soul.

 

Staff is just a generally solid Stalker set:

• Force Feedback-friendly attacks, with a PBAoE.
• Unusually large radius PBAoE. Most Stalker PBAoE are 7 yards; Staff is 10 yards.
• Slow, high damage attack for exploiting criticals.
• The Perfection mechanic gives you both better defense and better offense than could ordinarily be expected from the set.
• Stackable, enhanceable Melee/Lethel Defense.
• Ranged attack

Likewise, Energy has some significant virtues:

• Provides a +20% recharge bonus.
• Provides both a heal and some endurance management
• Disorient toggle that stacks with Disorient from primary so you can achieve useful Mag.

It's also a 'minimal nuisance' build. You don't have to spend a lot of time clicking random stuff just to keep things going. You're not dependent on things like AE drain heals that fail you when you're faced by a single target. You just go out there and do damage with enough protection to keep yourself alive at the same time.

[Glubba]

For me it is by far elec/sd. Two 24 second telenukes just has you blasting through Maps and bringing the aoe hurt down everywhere.

[Marshal_General]

Right now I am messing around with a savage/SR on the test server and I plan to try it with /energy.

I went into DA into the level 54 area to test it. I found a level 54 Ravager boss with a few others. I hit my assault radial, BU and savage leap. This is what happened.

 

[Bunmaster]

I lvled a kin/ea , staff/invul and a elec/shield. Gotta by far the most fun one is kin/ea

[Machariel]

I've tried kin/ea, db/ea, stj/rad, and bs/shield.  I wound up not enjoying bs/shield, but the other three each have something that stood out.  Kin/EA was definitely the most fun overall and exemplars down the nicest, but the other two are definitely stronger characters.  Currently putting together a savage/ice!

 

 

Edited June 21, 2020 by Machariel

[Chelsea Rorec]

I have a kat/nin , claws/SR , EM/bio , BS/Shield.

They have all been fun to play but i think my fav is the kat/nin because when you have a good costume/power set/lore it makes it that much better to play.

[Nemu]

Staff/Fire

 

People avoid /fire on the forums and that's exactly why I'm promoting it. In this age of everyone defense soft capping /fire does just fine. I even took whirlwind for moar SPIN.

 

SPIN to win, burn to WINNNN

[Nightmarer 2]

Staff/WP

 

Despite staff losing its uniqueness on stalkers, animations are still fun and I do not complain about the dmg, then with WP, well a 2k HP stalker with a self heal is damn hard to kill.

 

[Coyote]

Savage/Bio, Electric/Shield... because teleporting around the battlefield with AoE nukes is lotsa fun.

 

Staff/Rad... because it has fun animations and good AoE which is rare for a Stalker.

 

All three builds are very high in AoE for a Stalker (once you proc up the PBAoE heals from /Rad with damage procs).

[machogriz]

On 6/18/2020 at 8:57 PM, Frosticus said:

I've done it with bio and shield now. I really like shield, but every secondary is/can be great.

 

I have a small savage guide for stalkers, might be of use if you end up taking that route. 

 

I ended up going with Savage/EA and I'm enjoying it so far. Your guide has been really helpful as well. I would've dismissed hemorrhage if it wasn't for your explanation of why it is good. 

[machogriz]

On 6/18/2020 at 11:17 PM, SwitchFade said:

DB/EA

 

SM/EA

Do you happen to have a build for SM/EA? I feel like I'm not slotting EA nearly enough, but since I've never used it before I'm at a loss for which powers need more slots.

[Yoru-hime]

Seconded on DB/EA. She feels just about indestructible and slices through AVs with relative ease. Her AoE damage isn't great, but she was designed to destroy hard targets and does it well. When I'm not working on badges for her, I'm testing to see just how much of the content she can handle solo.

[fitzsimmons]

Elec/sd or stj/bio

 

With the elec sd, also take spring attack.  That’s 3 telenukes that don’t take you out of hide.  Super fun.

 

The stj is sturdy AF.  Super expensive build but virtually unkillable.  

[Frosticus]

2 hours ago, fitzsimmons said:

 

With the elec sd, also take spring attack.  That’s 3 telenukes that don’t take you out of hide.  Super fun.

 

Unless spring leap has been altered recently the power is pretty much junk. 

 

Super low proc rolls same as LR and SC but without the strong base damage, or big aoe, to make it worthwhile. 

 

Not breaking hide is neat enough, but is more of a hindrance than a boon if you like using procs because they end up using a psuedo pet that rolls super low probability.

 

Jaunt is really fun on a tele-attacker if you can fit it in. 

[Coyotedancer]

10 hours ago, Nemu said:

Staff/Fire

 

People avoid /fire on the forums and that's exactly why I'm promoting it. In this age of everyone defense soft capping /fire does just fine. I even took whirlwind for moar SPIN.

 

SPIN to win, burn to WINNNN

I have a kin/fire and a claws/fire and they handle just fine. I'm not sure why they're such rare birds. (My pair were both "unicorn" characters. At the point I leveled them to 50, no one else had done so according to the AT/set data the devs posted. A few others have made them since then, but they're still really unusual combinations.)