Top-tier Stalkers

[00Troy00]

I'm looking to make my first stalker. I get that there is no "best," but I'm sure there is an upper tier?

 

Also, are there certain sets that are better on a stalker vs scrapper?

[Mr. Vee]

try energy/bio

electric melee/ is better on stalker and I find the stalker version of /invulnerability to be amazing. Stalker is probably the least awful kin melee but that's not saying much and you miss out on the set's gimmick.

[Troo]

 

[starvingduck]

I would recommend Elec/Shield, The electric melee fixes the problem of low single target damage all the other electric melee AT's have, with the assassin's strike. Elec/Shield also fixes the low AOE that almost all stalkers have by electric giving you Lightning Rod and shield giving you Shield Charge. It makes for an absolutely great single target and great AOE character, and is a load of fun.

Edited August 16, 2022 by starvingduck

[pretty_jesus]

9 hours ago, starvingduck said:

I would recommend Elec/Shield, The electric melee fixes the problem of low single target damage all the other electric melee AT's have, with the assassin's strike. Elec/Shield also fixes the low AOE that almost all stalkers have by electric giving you Lightning Rod and shield giving you Shield Charge. It makes for an absolutely great single target and great AOE character, and is a load of fun.

How does Elec/Shield compare to Energy/Energy? 

[Shocktacular]

I really enjoy Street Justice on stalkers because between the combos and quick version of Assassin's Strike, you can get about half of your attacks to be boosted one way or another if you do it right.  My StJ/Energy stalker is the only character I've ever had do 4-digit damage regularly; AS from Hide with Build Up with the "Chance for Build Up" proc in it gives me a total of about 1200 dmg in a single strike against +1 incarnate content bosses.  For some reason, this damage is split into 2 numbers, one of which is around 800 dmg and the other is around 400 damage or more (this probably has to do with attack types or something).  In any event, it's really awesome and it feels really awesome every time I do it.  I'm working on a StJ/Stone currently and she's been a lot of fun too!

Edited August 17, 2022 by Shocktacular

[DyingLegacy]

Ice ice baby

 

but seriously, stalkers get the best version of ice melee.  They get to keep ice patch (wtf a stalker with ice patch) AND the aoe t9 foot stomp wannabe.  Assassin strike ‘fixes’ the st damage that ice suffers from on other ATs, ice patch fixes the running away issue that enemies give stalkers, and you can easily fit in another aoe attack via epic/patron pools and fully slot it (I took fireball, but one could also choose to take ball lightning if they want to free up a power as you only need to take one power as opposed to two for fireball).

 

ice armor is very friendly on slotting as it has a few powers that dont need slots, and it’s a beast at surviving.  It has an endurance drain, a dull pain type heal and the best tier 9 defense no contest.  Chilling embrace pairs very nicely with ice patch, as it practically makes enemies stationary.  One of the big problems people have with stalkers is that enemies like to run from you, so you end up with large groups running away.  Ice/ice helps remedy this.

[Mezmera]

18 hours ago, Mr. Vee said:

try energy/bio

electric melee/ is better on stalker and I find the stalker version of /invulnerability to be amazing.

 

Agree on all of this.  Energy Melee is nasty on everything including Stalkers just dedicate yourself to killing the biggest thing in the area.  Electric Melee is nice too because you get one big ST attack that feels like its normally lacking on other ATs.  Street Justice is great as well and was the top tier ST king until EM's revamp, which it still has a it better aoe potential.  

 

Invulnerability is my favorite armor on Stalkers and I'm not even an Invuln homer.  There's just a lot of great all around building you can do with it on Stalkers.  It's just so very tanky.

 

I have a bunch of Stalkers and my favorite is my EM/Invuln.  You can't go wrong with StJ or Elec melee though.  As for armors there's also a few good ones, I like Ice for some unique stuff it can do and its pretty strong all around.  You'll want an armor with a potential for high defenses so that you get better use out of scrapping through hidden status for crits and such.  

 

Stalkers are one of my favorite ATs and it's mostly how much it has transformed since the end of live to what it is now.  I am a villain homer though.  

Edited August 17, 2022 by Mezmera

[00Troy00]

I'm interested by the fact that many have reccomend Inv. as I was always told it wasn't worth taking on anything but a tank or a brute because once could only achieve 75% resistance. Did something change?

[Mezmera]

2 hours ago, 00Troy00 said:

I'm interested by the fact that many have reccomend Inv. as I was always told it wasn't worth taking on anything but a tank or a brute because once could only achieve 75% resistance. Did something change?

 

They are capable of reaching high resists except for psi per usual by taking all the powers in the set.  In place of Unyielding you're getting access to some pretty decent elemental defenses which you can then build on.  You can also build in some real nice melee defenses with all of those resist powers and 4 set Unbreakable Guards.  You're also getting a nice heal and some endurance resistance. 

 

Built right Invuln is a stellar armor on Stalkers.  You can build in high melee and elemental defenses, have a heal and some endurance resistance.  I see this as good as EA on Stalkers but better because all of the extra high resistances Invuln is capable of at the expense of DDR and the endurance drain.  

[Mr. Vee]

3 hours ago, 00Troy00 said:

I'm interested by the fact that many have reccomend Inv. as I was always told it wasn't worth taking on anything but a tank or a brute because once could only achieve 75% resistance. Did something change?

The brute/tank/scrap version was issue 0. Stalker and sentinel got it waaaaay later and it's more streamlined with them. It still has the psi hole but is much easier to build for. It's relatively easy to softcap s/l/e/nrg/f/c. I don't even take the t9 and rarely even need to hit dull pain.

Edited August 17, 2022 by Mr. Vee

[StrikerFox]

4 hours ago, Mr. Vee said:

The brute/tank/scrap version was issue 0. Stalker and sentinel got it waaaaay later and it's more streamlined with them. It still has the psi hole but is much easier to build for. It's relatively easy to softcap s/l/e/nrg/f/c. I don't even take the t9 and rarely even need to hit dull pain.

 

The holes are getting patched up and currently on beta.

[Haijinx]

On 8/16/2022 at 8:04 PM, Shocktacular said:

I really enjoy Street Justice on stalkers because between the combos and quick version of Assassin's Strike, you can get about half of your attacks to be boosted one way or another if you do it right.  My StJ/Energy stalker is the only character I've ever had do 4-digit damage regularly; AS from Hide with Build Up with the "Chance for Build Up" proc in it gives me a total of about 1200 dmg in a single strike against +1 incarnate content bosses.  For some reason, this damage is split into 2 numbers, one of which is around 800 dmg and the other is around 400 damage or more (this probably has to do with attack types or something).  In any event, it's really awesome and it feels really awesome every time I do it.  I'm working on a StJ/Stone currently and she's been a lot of fun too!

 

Def the best version of STJ 

[Meknomancer]

Running out of combos to try. Stalker wise elec/nrg is still no. 1 for 99% of stuff the shield charge on shield doesnt make up for the massive amount of extra slots/recharge/epics i can squeeze in on /nrg, only elec/bio came close. For the other 1% of gaming when your 1 on 1 with something it has to be energy melee with StJ a close 2nd. With /nrg. Bit sad really that 1 primary and 1 secondary are so far out in front of everything else but that doesnt mean other stuff isnt a lot of fun. Ice is a great primary, i did love it with /sd and /ice.

[bustacap]

Ice gets 2 aoes that are great and when they got AS it replaced one of the worst ST attacks in any primary. 

 

Stone gets a damage proc, resist, def, +Hps, more end recovery, no psi hole, and way to shrug off defense debuffs (that also increases the proc damage)

 

 

[Infinitum]

On 8/16/2022 at 6:39 PM, pretty_jesus said:

How does Elec/Shield compare to Energy/Energy? 

Two completely different animals.  

 

I have both - both are outstanding, however I go to each for different reasons.

 

When I want to take out things fast with lots of AOE and decent ST I go with the Elec/Shield.  In Stalker terms I don't think more AOE exists anywhere else than the combo of Shield Charge, Lightning Rod, Chain induction, and Jacobs Ladder.

 

When I want to put individual focus on taking out many hard targets - anything from Boss to GM - I go with the Energy/Energy.  There isn't a single target combo stronger than Total Focus, AS, ET, and Bone Smasher.  It also has the best version of Power Crash because it has longer recharge which following the damage formula has more damage than the other versions of PC.

 

As far as the Secondarys go - totally different animals also - both are outstanding.

 

Shield gives you top tier positional defense and decent resists also - has no heal or endurance management is the tradeoff.  It is really strong especially if you pair it with Ageless Core to sustain your Endurance.

 

Energy Aura gives you solid Typed Defenses to everything but psi or toxic and middling resists.  It definitely has more of a psi and toxic hole that should be patched as best as possible in light of the upcoming enemy typed defense tag changes.  What EA gains is an endurance/defense click that is up often enough to never worry about endurance or the defenses it affects as long as you use is as often as it is up.  Also energize which more than doubles your Regen and provides a 50%+heal every 30 seconds - again if I am in a pitched battle I use it as often as it is up.

 

That's basically the gist of the two - as I said very different, but very good both of them...  

 

Hell... Just build both.  Haha

[pretty_jesus]

19 hours ago, Infinitum said:

Two completely different animals.  

 

I have both - both are outstanding, however I go to each for different reasons.

 

When I want to take out things fast with lots of AOE and decent ST I go with the Elec/Shield.  In Stalker terms I don't think more AOE exists anywhere else than the combo of Shield Charge, Lightning Rod, Chain induction, and Jacobs Ladder.

 

When I want to put individual focus on taking out many hard targets - anything from Boss to GM - I go with the Energy/Energy.  There isn't a single target combo stronger than Total Focus, AS, ET, and Bone Smasher.  It also has the best version of Power Crash because it has longer recharge which following the damage formula has more damage than the other versions of PC.

 

As far as the Secondarys go - totally different animals also - both are outstanding.

 

Shield gives you top tier positional defense and decent resists also - has no heal or endurance management is the tradeoff.  It is really strong especially if you pair it with Ageless Core to sustain your Endurance.

 

Energy Aura gives you solid Typed Defenses to everything but psi or toxic and middling resists.  It definitely has more of a psi and toxic hole that should be patched as best as possible in light of the upcoming enemy typed defense tag changes.  What EA gains is an endurance/defense click that is up often enough to never worry about endurance or the defenses it affects as long as you use is as often as it is up.  Also energize which more than doubles your Regen and provides a 50%+heal every 30 seconds - again if I am in a pitched battle I use it as often as it is up.

 

That's basically the gist of the two - as I said very different, but very good both of them...  

 

Hell... Just build both.  Haha

Thanks for the in-depth explanation!  I was actually planning to build both already haha.  Do you prefer either one? Any recommended builds are welcome although probably not too hard to find here either

[Infinitum]

18 hours ago, pretty_jesus said:

Thanks for the in-depth explanation!  I was actually planning to build both already haha.  Do you prefer either one? Any recommended builds are welcome although probably not too hard to find here either

 

Anytime! 

 

Preference is subject to my mood so I will answer with Yes.  Haha 

 

As far as builds check out my post on the tanker forums - they are both there and others also.

 

 

[DyingLegacy]

Ice armor is just so strong.  As far as staying alive goes it’s hard to beat.  The t9 is just omg.  The slow aura that gives enemies a slow and damage debuff, also helps to keep enemies from running (a potential huge issue for stalkers).  The dull pain.  The fast animation endurance drain /defense buff.  Slow immunity if you use winters gift and ageless with debuff resist.  A few powers that don’t require slotting so you free up space.  The only place I can see energy aura beating it is the plus recharge that nrg gets.

 

I don’t know why ice armor gets slept on for stalkers.

Edited October 8, 2022 by DyingLegacy

[BrandX]

On 8/16/2022 at 5:53 AM, Mr. Vee said:

try energy/bio

electric melee/ is better on stalker and I find the stalker version of /invulnerability to be amazing. Stalker is probably the least awful kin melee but that's not saying much and you miss out on the set's gimmick.

 

I hit 1:40 pylon time with Kin Melee on a Scrapper, not seeing the awfulness of Kin Melee. 😛

 

That said, I agree with Electric Melee.  I love it on my Stalker (Elec/Bio/Mu)  Pairs well with the Mu Snipe concept wise and gives Electric Melee better ST DPS!

[Yaliw]

Ngl my ice/ice/leviathan stalker is probably more useful to teams that some controllers/dominators

 

Ice patch and Water Spout (KB2KD) Giving massive control

 

All the -recharge and even -dmg from chilling embrace.

 

Able to proc assassin's strike by myself with freezing touch.

 

Big health with hoarfrost.

 

Such a solid combo. Highly recommended.

[drgantz]

I definitely like StJ and am thinking of using SR.  I've heard that it is good, but not sure if it is top tier or not

[Uun]

50 minutes ago, drgantz said:

I definitely like StJ and am thinking of using SR.  I've heard that it is good, but not sure if it is top tier or not

See Croax's Tier List linked above.

[Without_Pause]

I think the combo will work incredibly well. I think people can get a bit too caught up in terms of things being top tier. Case in point, I'll likely delete my En/ea Scrapper at some point. Yeah, I know. En just doesn't work for me. On a Stalker, it has even less AoE. Wee? I know the numbers say it is top tier. It just doesn't feel right to me. I probably should have given my Elec/shield Stalker a longer run, but I just kept seeing all sorts of no in the future based on how I like to play the game. Case in point, I hate long animations, see En.

 

Of the Stalkers I have rolled, I got StJ/ea to 50, and the only other Stalker to really stick is Ice/stone. Ice Patch is cheat mode, and Stalker Ice is the best Ice. I can take that build against a comparable level Scrapper and solo on a higher diff setting with it. Maybe even a Brute. Note, we are talking different power sets. My Ice/stone Brute can be tanky as hell.

[Panache]

I’ve run a bunch of Stalkers to 50 and got them to various stages of Incarnate stuff. My favorite of those was a Stone/Stone/Body, but right now I’m leveling an En/Inv/Soul (a rerolled En/En/Body) and I think I’m going to like it even more. I’m a big fan of “new” En/ and /Inv on Stalkers is really solid. Adding Shadow Meld for alphas and/or heavy Psi enemies has really helped round out the build’s defensive toolkit, and low click management means staying in the pocket on the attack chains.