Eletric Melee/Shield: Scrappers vs Brutishes vs Stalkers

[LEUGIM6]

Hello all.

I am considering leveling up an Electric Melee/Shield character.

 

What would be the difference between Scrappers, Stalkers and Brutes, as far as DPS (ST vs AoE), survivability?

How about at Incarnate lvl, have they different usefullness?

I thought Stalkers would deal more damage, but on Mids, Scrappers seem to do more?

 

Ty

Edited March 12, 2021 by BioFlame

[Mr. Vee]

I've had all 4, go stalker. AOE on them will deal with your trash mobs but then you're left chipping away at bosses. Stalker's the only one with a good single target solution. Also it's personal preference but I'd skip T-strike - underwhelming and sooooo sloooowwww.

[Infinitum]

Its fantastic on all 4 Ate, however its a tad better on stalkers because the positional defense numbers can be built to the sweet spot, and for offense you get two huge ST fast attacks in AS and Fast ET - which often gets double EF. TF also is a heavy hitter for ST.  

 

Where it gets interesting for stalkers Is the shield charge power crash aoe output.  PC is a solid aoe for the stalker and hits hard too.

 

It just seems to work out best for the stalker - but there's no wrong choice it's good on them all.

[Mr. Vee]

woops, i thought you were talking electric melee. ignore my above.

[LEUGIM6]

No, you were correct, I meant electric melee (EM). 

 

So, you say Stalker would be better because of AS being a very good ST to compensate for Electric's AoEs...

....but aren't the AoEs a lot weaker on Stalker?

[Meknomancer]

Gotta go with Mr Vee on this one my scrapper hit the shelf and hasnt been played since i made the stalker version. Stalkers single target is way better and it has the same aoe as the brute/scrap/tank. If you meant better aoe from epics tank and brute are slightly ahead if you go mu mastery but its a pain to squeeze those in and hardly anyone will as it means sacrificing too much. 

[LEUGIM6]

That were my thoughts. But Mids's damage numbers on Electric Melee are lower on Stalker than on Scrappers.

Is the power coeficient the same in stalkers and scrapepers?

[Mr. Vee]

You have to figure for hide crits, being able to guarantee crits with AS and the hide proc in AS making the next attack crit more often than not. All of which is kind of difficult to measure just looking at mids and clicking the assasination toggle on/off. There's also the fact that lightning rod doesn't break hide. But really trash mobs are nothing. If any survive a build up/LR/Shield charge they'll go down from chain induction or a quick hit of anything. Bosses are the real issue with electric melee and stalker's the only one with the ability to do more than chip away slowly at them.

 

I started on HC with the scrapper version (brute and tank were both live) and that character is now my idler/market toon. It's been stripped and had its name changed to "Wishiwasastalker". Sounds like Meknomancer had a similar experience.

[Meknomancer]

Yup i just haven't got round to stripping it yet i still have hopes that one day elec melee on scrapper will get a bump. My hopes aren't high 😛

 

[Saikochoro]

2 hours ago, BioFlame said:

That were my thoughts. But Mids's damage numbers on Electric Melee are lower on Stalker than on Scrappers.

Is the power coeficient the same in stalkers and scrapepers?

Scrappers have a higher damage modifier than stalkers. So at base their damage is higher. However, stalkers get assassins strike, which is one of the best powers in the game. It is fast and does great damage and when used probably basically crits every time. Scrappers don’t really have anything that can compare. 
 

When you add in the ATOs (stalkers have the best ATOs) stalkers have access to an almost constant damage bonus (build up has very high uptime with assassins Mark proc) and have controlled crits (stalker guile proc). 
 

Don’t get me wrong, scrappers are still amazing, but on shared sets stalkers will pretty much always do more single target damage than the other melee archetypes. Scrappers do however often have better AoE damage because a lot of stalker sets replace the AoE power of the equivalent set on other melee archetypes. 
 

For electric/shield I would definitely go stalker over scrapper.  Electric suffers from low single target damage, which is not as much of a problem for stalkers since they get assassins strike. Still even electric on stalkers is lower on the single target totem pole than many other sets.

 

Consider also looking into savage/shield, which is in a similar vein to electric/shield. 

Edited March 12, 2021 by Saikochoro

[Call Me Awesome]

I can only speak for the Stalker combo but it rocks.  I can clear an entire spawn with BU/Shield Charge/Lightning Rod/Fireball, then clear the next with conventional AOE attacks and repeat from the top for the third spawn.  AS finishes off any bosses.

[Troo]

yep, the crits and AoEs not breaking hide plus single target for finishing.. I'm sure scrappers are good.. just not this kind of good.

[SomeGuy]

I've done all of the combos except for tanker. Honestly, one of my favorites melee set combos. All three definitely are forced to have altered playstyle differences, Each one, really felt like it highlights the differences with the three ATs. I built all three very similar (as much as I could). You can definitely feel the squish factor as you go from Brute - Scrap - Stalk.  Regrdless of which AT you go with, you will be the OOOOOOH AHHHHHHH WOWWWWW on your team.  Now, the SUSTAINED damage difference between a brute and scrapper isn't that big, but the stalker version? Umm....that's a different story. Because of ass strike, electrical melee on stalkers is pretty wildly crazy ST damage too. All three make entire mobs disappear, but a stalker is going to be able to solo an AV before you bore to death (assuming you can take a hit and live). Honestly, this is one of the combos where you really just need to weigh what you value more. Al three rock.

 

side note: I used to farm with my brute. I wouldn't do that with my scrap/stalk.

 

sider note: Thunderstrike is awesome.

Edited April 1, 2021 by SomeGuy
Thunderstrike is awesome.