I might be stalking incorrectly (advice kindly requested)

[tidge]

4 hours ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

If you're worrying about some run-away loser at less than half health coming back later, your stalker may need help!  😀  Seriously though, sometimes I just shrug and move on, "they'll be back and I can kill 'em then." 

 

My "worry" about far-roaming runners is exclusive limited to "defeat all" or needing to defeat the mobs that are required to complete an objective, such as:

• rescue the hostage
• defeat BossBoy and his lackeys
• final battles in certain arcs (I swear: CoT ghosts that fly away are easily the most annoying enemies in a final combat)

[Clave Dark 5]

I was being a tad silly, but you make a good point there.  Usually those wounded foes come back to me soon enough, but the one time I'd need that single guy to finish up the boss's spawn or something, yeah, that's when the runner would be a PITA.

Edited April 27, 2021 by Clave Dark 5

[tidge]

4 hours ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

I was being a tad silly, but you make a good point there.  Usually those wounded foes come back to me soon enough, but the one time I'd need that single guy to finish up the boss's spawn or something, yeah, that's when the runner would be a PITA>

 

Amen. Frankly, I don't see the need to "balance" the range of Snipes (Fast or Slow, Epic/Patron or Primary/Secondary) when the enemy AI allows for (and practically forces) running, and the maps allow enemies to go to some pretty weird places and some extreme distances. I'm not calling for changes to maps, and I don't really know what if anything could be done to affect the AI... at least we are no longer playing with the AI rules where a "stunned" enemy 'stumbles' off at Mach 2!

 

I grok the desire to enforce some sort of arbitrary offensive "balance" between player ATs, but from my PoV being able to single-target a runner strikes me as the "DPS AT Option" for dealing with them, as opposed to "Control AT Options" like Holds and Immobilizes or "Taunt AT" options that can prevent runners in the first place.

[Sovera]

5 hours ago, tidge said:

 

Amen. Frankly, I don't see the need to "balance" the range of Snipes (Fast or Slow, Epic/Patron or Primary/Secondary) when the enemy AI allows for (and practically forces) running, and the maps allow enemies to go to some pretty weird places and some extreme distances. I'm not calling for changes to maps, and I don't really know what if anything could be done to affect the AI... at least we are no longer playing with the AI rules where a "stunned" enemy 'stumbles' off at Mach 2!

 

I grok the desire to enforce some sort of arbitrary offensive "balance" between player ATs, but from my PoV being able to single-target a runner strikes me as the "DPS AT Option" for dealing with them, as opposed to "Control AT Options" like Holds and Immobilizes or "Taunt AT" options that can prevent runners in the first place.

 

I've had some truly exemplary demonstrations of this with Synapse TFs and one missing mob... Poor little dude was trying to escape the inevitable by hiding in the rafters in the big warehouse rooms. This has happened more than once.

[Aeroprism]

@Sovera your dedication to your various fire tanks is commendable 🙂  I will honestly need to try one.  Well, I have my Fire/Staff (my only 50 beside my farmer) but I never managed to make him functional (yes you gave me a build which I need to try).

 

So back to stalking, this gal here is getting more levels, pretty fun to play.  I'm starting to work on her defense now and I find myself starved for a complete build.  What do you guys usually do?  Work the build as you go, or plan straight from level 1 to level 50?

 

Pardon my creative English, not my first language and I just woke up, still in pre-coffee mode.

[ZemX]

On 5/4/2021 at 8:17 AM, Aeroprism said:

I'm starting to work on her defense now and I find myself starved for a complete build.  What do you guys usually do?  Work the build as you go, or plan straight from level 1 to level 50?

Croax's big Tier List and Builds thread recently posted has many build examples, including KM/EA.  Keep in mind though that they are endgame builds, including a fair amount of purple IOs and such.  Still usable though while leveling if you substitute some cheaper sets for the purples for now (unless you're just that rich).

 

As for what I've been doing: I usually just wing it.  I knock out the power order first in Mids to use as a guide while I level.  Often there's a respec in there in the 20s or early 30s because I find having both low-tier ST attacks is often good in the beginning and then the faster recharging one tends to become irrelevant later in the presence of better recharge in both the powers and globally.   But it depends on the set.

 

But it's also not a bad idea to use an endgame min/max build as a starting point and work backwards from there if you want to relax it a bit and add more "fun" stuff.  You can then see how much defense or resist or recharge it is costing you to make those choices compared to the min/max build. 

 

As a Stalker, in general, I would prioritize getting the ATO procs first at the very least.  Get Stalker's Guile: Chance to Hide and put it in AS.  Get Assassin's Mark: Chance to Build UP and put it in a lowish tier attack power so you have it active even when you exemplar (remember, it doesn't matter which power that one is in because it globally makes any attack you use, including secondary and pools that hit enemies, have a chance to refresh build up.  So I prioritize availability because I exemp a lot for TFs and lowbie mish teams).  The rest of those sets are obviously nice but you can often kit out several other powers with normal set IOs for the same price as one full set of either (non-superior) ATO.  Then at 50 you buy on AH (and/or use dropped) catalysts to turn those slotted ATOs into the superior versions.

 

Gaussian's Build Up proc is also really nice in Build Up, especially once you have Assassin's Mark refreshing it more often than it normally would on recharge IOs.  It means you probably don't have to worry about adding two or three slots to recharge IOs for Build Up, so you can spare one for Gaussian's.  The proc when placed in Build Up pretty much fires every time you use Build Up... which is a lot when you have the ATO proc as well.  Its extra damage isn't as long lived as Build Up's, but it will enhance at least one strike after Build Up with that extra damage.

 

This is a good thread on endurance recovery IOs and enhancements if you want to prioritize a few of these to help with endurance issues.  But mainly I just make sure to get one end redux IO in each major attack first as well.  I start putting normal IOs in place of SOs at either 22 or 27, then replace them eventually with full sets when I have the scratch.

 

Sorry that rambled a bit but that's kind of my process.  I prefer to hammer this stuff out as I go rather than spend too much time not playing pouring over Mids builds. 

[Aeroprism]

Huh. I just got Concentrated strike and even with just 1 Acc IO, it hits like a truck.  Also: the Matrix is strong with this one.

Just for conceptual reasons, I think I'm in love.

[StrikerFox]

2 hours ago, Aeroprism said:

Huh. I just got Concentrated strike and even with just 1 Acc IO, it hits like a truck.  

 

Concentrated Strike isn't bad, I like it a lot. It can be proc'd out to increase it's damage and provides a controlled BU recharge. I was getting 120ish second pylon times with it integrated compared to 140sh seconds without.

 

 

 

Since CS's cast time is so long, a miss would drop it's dps significantly more than other KM powers. The video is a year old and the attack chain used probably wouldn't perform as well today with the snipe changes.

[tidge]

On 5/4/2021 at 9:17 AM, Aeroprism said:

So back to stalking, this gal here is getting more levels, pretty fun to play.  I'm starting to work on her defense now and I find myself starved for a complete build.  What do you guys usually do?  Work the build as you go, or plan straight from level 1 to level 50?

 

I usually always "design" a build for level 50, but my leveling up experience never looks like the level 50 build. An easy difference is that while leveling: I almost always need more Recovery while leveling than I will after I have full set bonuses (and accolades). I'm also a lot 'sloppier' with some enhancement sets; as an example I will typically use Overwhelming Force and (attuned) PVP pieces in powers so I can 'slot and forget'... and I often forget until level 50!

 

A respec at level 50 allows me to clean up all these pieces/choices for the next character.

 

I am also somewhat liberal about trying out different powers (including pool powers) while leveling up. Often the utility of some powers could be predicted but I have found a few 'hidden' gems!

[Carnifax]

On 5/4/2021 at 2:17 PM, Aeroprism said:

 

So back to stalking, this gal here is getting more levels, pretty fun to play.  I'm starting to work on her defense now and I find myself starved for a complete build.  What do you guys usually do?  Work the build as you go, or plan straight from level 1 to level 50?

I build as I go, usually with a levelling build which is 80% of the final build. So most of the sets will be placed as they become available, shoring up with Common IOs or SOs as I go. 

 

At 50 there's usually a respec just to slot up Common 50+5s thus freeing up and moving some slots around. Since I don't use many Purples anyway I don't usually have many changes.