Farming stalker -- for reals

[Yomo Kimyata]

If you were to build a stalker for +4/x8 farms, what power sets would you go with?  I've looked at the AoE thread but wonder what people think when aiming for a specialized environment.

 

I have a thought but I'd like to hear from the stalker community!

[Bopper]

I've only played one stalker which I could farm with but it's not made for farming. If I had to guess at a suggestion, perhaps Savage/Fire for its Savage Leap and Burn AoE potential. Throw in an epic AoE and you could thin some mobs fairly quickly. Plus, Fiery Aura can proc bomb Consume. 

Edited April 4, 2021 by Bopper

[Troo]

Elec/Shield, s/l

[Sgt. Terminus]

I would seriously consider Ice Melee, with Frost and Frozen Aura you have the makings of a good aoe attack chain.   The tele nukes are great but I don't know if you can get their recharge down to be in a consistent attack chain which is what you want if you are clearing a +4/8 moon map.   Ice Patch is great mitigation since you are capped 75% resist, the hits will add up even if def capped, also will prevent runners.  I would find a way to take Blaze Mastery for Fireball, it is just so good.

 

For a secondary, Fiery Aura looks good with Burn but you are missing two great fire armor farming powers in the damage aura and fiery embrace.  Having both a Ice/Fire stalker and scrapper, the scrapper is far superior for farming.    It still might be your best bet but you would definitely want Ice Patch because Burn will make them run.   You could look at Rad, two aoe damage powers or Bio which is just good at everything.

[Coyote]

Ele/Shield, Sav/Shield. With FF procs in the telenukes and Thunderstrike, Ele/Shield can get the telenukes easily into the 20s, probably low 20s, so you can fire one off about every 12 seconds. And the knockdowns help with the weaker Stalker defenses/HPs.

[Omega-202]

There's some good suggestions here from a damage perspective, but in my attempts to run farms on my Stalkers (Elec/Inv/Mu and Dark/Shield/Soul), they weren't all that effective because of runners.  Without a taunt aura or punch-voke, some enemies were wandering off which cut into the kill times.  

 

Has anyone figure out a way around this?

[Machariel]

Not much to be done about the low Threat generation of Stalkers.  You could try to keep them in range with things like Ice Slick, caltrops, chilling embrace, oppressive gloom etc but none of those are great answers. Ice slick is probably one of the better ones though and is a nice bonus to frost and frozen aura.

 

i haven’t run the numbers or anything but I’d definitely consider looking at /rad for a farming build as it has two candidates for a proc bomb AoE and Ground Zero can hit up to a whopping 30 targets.

[Yomo Kimyata]

37 minutes ago, Omega-202 said:

There's some good suggestions here from a damage perspective, but in my attempts to run farms on my Stalkers (Elec/Inv/Mu and Dark/Shield/Soul), they weren't all that effective because of runners.  Without a taunt aura or punch-voke, some enemies were wandering off which cut into the kill times.  

 

Has anyone figure out a way around this?

 

I have not gotten past the planning stages yet, but I was hoping that the Hybrid: Melee: Radial taunt aura would help?  Does anyone have any experience with that?

[Steampunkette]

Sav/Shield/SJ. TRIPLE TELENUKES. Toss in your Judgement annnnd...

 

Open with Savage Leap, hit a hard target with Assassin's Strike and then Hemmorhage to spend stacks. Shield Charge. Build stacks to use Rending Flurry for the larger AoE. SJ Telenuke on runners as a way to do quick chase and finish off the spawn.

 

Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

 

Taunt Aura is nice and all? But enemies who are taunted -still- run, sometimes. It just has to do with their particular AI. You can make it less of a big thing by using lots of scripted spawns (Bosses, Patrols, Etc) that allow you to directly alter the escape AI conditions.

[Nemu]

I have a staff/fire that I run for normal +4/8 content. It does fine in fire farms too. Not as fast as my rad/fire brute but still can hold it's own. And double build up burn crits always make me giddy. Toss in whirlwind and have mobs fall at your feet as a countermeasure to runners, not 100% effective but +500% style.

[Yomo Kimyata]

This is all great stuff, thanks!
 

I’m going to test run an elec/bio, then an elec/fire.  I’m really not in love with shield for various reasons, and ice melee (and fire melee) are out until I get more  costume skins.  The elemental swords give me the heebie jeebies.

[Hjarki]

On 4/5/2021 at 4:17 PM, Omega-202 said:

There's some good suggestions here from a damage perspective, but in my attempts to run farms on my Stalkers (Elec/Inv/Mu and Dark/Shield/Soul), they weren't all that effective because of runners.  Without a taunt aura or punch-voke, some enemies were wandering off which cut into the kill times.  

I've seen this comment a fair bit and it's always puzzled me. I see no behavior difference between Scrappers/Blasters in farms and Tankers/Brutes with regards to runners. Likewise, in actual gameplay, enemies run away from taunt auras all the time.

 

Are people confusing the -range effect on the power 'Taunt' that forces enemies to come into melee range with the Taunt effect (which, as far as I know, has no effect beyond controlling what target enemies select)? Or am I just not noticing some game effect that's obvious to everyone else?

 

In terms of the actual topic, I think it would be tough to beat */Shield for raw damage. With that in mind, I think staying allive as a */Shield Stalker in a +4 fire farm would prove tricky.

 

Probably the best choice would be something like Claws/Bio/Dark where you simply Hover-blast with a bunch of ranged cones.

 

[Thought Planter]

I have a few stalkers that can run the +4/8 S/L comic con.

 

Sets without a uninterruptible heal, will occasionally face plant in the small map where incoming damage can upwards of 5 minutes without a break. 
 

I find /EA, /Regen, /FA, /elec armor, Dark armor and Bio can all be built for that sustained damage. Although, my EA, elec and FA also have capped S/L resistance as well as 45 and up S/L defense.

 

My Shield defense and Invul, while typically better during regular play, buckle under that much sustained fire without munching on greens. The defense sets like ninjitsu and super reflexes are much harder to cap resists on without some major trade offs.

 

My Fire/fire and my savage/energy aura are probably my best performers when it comes to farming attempts. I think Ice melee is a good option as well. My Ice melee/Invul is fantastic in most situations. It’s my stalker version of Ss/Invul.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 9, 2021 by Thought Planter

[Fan Mail]

I wonder how well Energy Melee/Fire Aura would work?  I don't have one so not sure.   But hear me out.  Burn, Assassin Strike, Total Focus, Energy Transfer.  So maybe farming +4/x4  😄

 

Darn it, now I have to try it out!

Edited April 14, 2021 by Fan Mail

[tidge]

My only comment on this topic is that (specifically for Stalkers) I wouldn't bother with farming at +4. I realize that the "farming vision" is higher level enemies give more XP, but I think the return on time spent farming will be greater running against even level enemies with faster farm times and vendoring the common level 50 recipes. staying away from the farms and just endlessly recycling some specific content at +0/x8 to also earn merits may be just as rewarding.

[Hew]

enm/rad, for the rad procbombs, expanded radius on buffed power crash.