Best AoE stalker?

[Galaxy Brain]

Kind of an odd question, but I remember my claws/nin stalker being a blast since it had 2 cones you could crit with. What other stalker builds have good AoE?

[Auroxis]

My vote goes to Elec Melee. It was a beast back when I played it years ago, and it's certainly a beast now that you can make an Elec/Shield Stalker.

[Mr. Vee]

That'd be my pick. Haven't tried electric with shield yet but had an electric on live and lightning rod doesn't break hide. I've heard tell that shield charge doesn't either but not sure about that. Even if it doesn't a lightning rod, shield charge, t-strike combo with one of the latter two critting would be bananas.

[Moka]

Elec and dual blades would be my two picks.

[Galaxy Brain]

Thanks everyone!

[Justisaur]

According to when the damage sheet had it on it, it was Savage Melee, now it says Ninjitsu.  Of course take that with a bucket of salt. 

 

I think you're better off going Scrapper for AoE though as AoE sets give up an AoE or two for AS & Placate, and AoEs only get a 50% crit chance from hide, while the Electric & Shield teleport AoEs get none as they're pseudo-pets.

 

(edited - meant to say Scrapper for AoE, not Stalker)

[Auroxis]

According to when the damage sheet had it on it, it was Savage Melee, now it says Ninjitsu.  Of course take that with a bucket of salt. 

 

I'd pretty much ignore that AoE tier list, it assumes narrow short range cones hit their target caps and doesn't give 15 radius AoE's any advantage over 8 radius AoE's. Hence why katana/ninja blade is valued that highly.

 

I think you're better off going Stalker for AoE though as AoE sets give up an AoE or two for AS & Placate, and AoEs only get a 50% crit chance from hide, while the Electric & Shield teleport AoEs get none as they're pseudo-pets.

 

While they might not crit themsleves, they also don't break hide so you can still crit out of them with an attack of your choice.

[marcussmythe]

If the elec and shield teleport AOEs do not break hide (and one assumes that the Spring Attack one would not either) - and forgive a stalker noobs confusion - does that suggest one could chain all three without fear of retaliation, undetected by mobs?

 

... surely not.

[Microcosm]

If the elec and shield teleport AOEs do not break hide (and one assumes that the Spring Attack one would not either) - and forgive a stalker noobs confusion - does that suggest one could chain all three without fear of retaliation, undetected by mobs?

 

... surely not.

 

No, they will be aware. You end up back in hide if you use a bunch of stuff like that while unhidden though. Used to do that with lightning rod, caltrops and waterspout.

[Justisaur]

According to when the damage sheet had it on it, it was Savage Melee, now it says Ninjitsu.  Of course take that with a bucket of salt. 

 

I'd pretty much ignore that AoE tier list, it assumes narrow short range cones hit their target caps and doesn't give 15 radius AoE's any advantage over 8 radius AoE's. Hence why katana/ninja blade is valued that highly.

 

I think you're better off going Scrapper for AoE though as AoE sets give up an AoE or two for AS & Placate, and AoEs only get a 50% crit chance from hide, while the Electric & Shield teleport AoEs get none as they're pseudo-pets.

 

While they might not crit themsleves, they also don't break hide so you can still crit out of them with an attack of your choice.

 

Doesn't matter if they don't, after testing I rarely got a crit after doing those two as I'd almost always get hit for a little bit, which ruined hide.  I especially think Elec/Shield is way better on a scrapper due to those issues.  Perhaps if you always team with a tanker or brute who's really good at grabbing agro and you wait for them to do so, but you're wasting DPS that way too.  I also don't think it's really all that good in general, it's visually impressive, but that's about it, I found it fairly disappointing, the teleports are really short too.  It might work better if you don't teleport in to start, use your AS or second biggest hitter, then use the AoE teleports as if they were just regualar AoEs.  The other issue with that is you aren't getting any Focus from Shield Charge which is going to lower your DPS from AS if you're using it.

 

I'm not saying Elec/Shield isn't viable on a stalker, it is, it's just loses less on a scrapper (still can't crit with the pseudo pets though).  I think you'd be better off with different sets for AoE on a stalker is all, NB/Bio perhaps?

 

I haven't tried an awful lot for AoE on a stalker so far so I'm not entirely sure.

[Mr. Vee]

The issue might be that using them doesn't break hide but triggers against all odds, which can. Just guessing though.

[Auroxis]

No, I think the issue has more to do with Thunderstrike's animation time. If something hits you before the damage, you lose hide and the chance to crit. Though if you have softcapped defenses that won't be too often, and you can always just crit with a fast regular attack like Chain Induction since you don't really need AoE's out of hide after nuking the pack.

[FUBARczar]

Psi, Rad, Elec, Ice paired with Shield all have great AoE fun

 

Staff and Dual Blades w/o SD are also good.

[Solarverse]

No, I think the issue has more to do with Thunderstrike's animation time. If something hits you before the damage, you lose hide and the chance to crit. Though if you have softcapped defenses that won't be too often, and you can always just crit with a fast regular attack like Chain Induction since you don't really need AoE's out of hide after nuking the pack.

 

Not true, if you activate the power from hide, you get the crit, even if you are hit before the animation completes...even if it breaks you from hide. This goes for all long animation abilities.

[Justisaur]

Psi, Rad, Elec, Ice paired with Shield all have great AoE fun

 

Staff and Dual Blades w/o SD are also good.

 

Psi only has the one, it's T9, it's pretty nice with the knock-up, but it doesn't do an awful lot of damage.  Fire also looks good for AoE.

[FUBARczar]

Psi, Rad, Elec, Ice paired with Shield all have great AoE fun

 

Staff and Dual Blades w/o SD are also good.

 

Psi only has the one, it's T9, it's pretty nice with the knock-up, but it doesn't do an awful lot of damage.  Fire also looks good for AoE.

 

Fire really only has one as well, because BoF doesn't count.  Spines should be mentioned though because it actually has 3 AoEs.

 

[KelvinKole]

I was pretty disappointed to learn, after hitting level 18, that the Street Justice AoE only has a 6 ft radius; I should have done my homework first. I might even re-roll.

 

I think Fire and Spines are probably best once you factor in size of the AoE and recharge time.

 

[Pzn]

Psi, Rad, Elec, Ice paired with Shield all have great AoE fun

 

Staff and Dual Blades w/o SD are also good.

 

Psi only has the one, it's T9, it's pretty nice with the knock-up, but it doesn't do an awful lot of damage.  Fire also looks good for AoE.

 

Fire really only has one as well, because BoF doesn't count.  Spines should be mentioned though because it actually has 3 AoEs.

Why would you not count breath of fire but count ripper as an AoE?  It's a lot easier to hit several targets with BoF than with ripper.

[Thorazine]

I've heard tell

 

;D

[FUBARczar]

 

Why would you not count breath of fire but count ripper as an AoE?  It's a lot easier to hit several targets with BoF than with ripper.

 

Narrow short cone with low DPA, so, by comparison, it's not that good.

 

[Inergia]

Cone is not AOE. If you stand in front of 10 mobs, you will hit 1 or 2 and maybe a third in the back row. However if you used AOE

you would hit all in front, unless you missed. However, if you step further back away from the group, your cone gets larger the further

it is away from you. You will then him more mobs at one shot.

 

With that said, I am not here to debate that, or take this off topic like others. The main topic of the thread is which Stalker has the best aoe.

I tried Elec/Shield after reading the first few posts here. It took 32 levels before Aoe was even present. Not my idea of the best AoE Stalker 

since it does not have it early levels.

Staff has 2 aoe

Psi = 1

Rad = 1

Elec = 1

Savage = 1

 

These are the only classes with AoE, for the Stalker

Edited March 20, 2021 by Inergia

[Hjarki]

While various sets have AE, there are good and bad AE.

 

'Good' AE has high damage per recharge, hits 10 targets and has a large radius. Ideally, it has knockback so you can slot Force Feedback. The sets with the best AE:

• Spines. A 15' yard PBAoE coupled with a ranged AE Cone that can blanket an entire spawn from a short distance. The fact that it also has the best melee Cone available to Stalkers is merely a bonus.
• Ice. A ranged AE and a 10' PBAoE.
• Psi. Only one true AE, but it's a 10' KB PBAoE.
• Staff. Again, only one true AE, but a 10' KB PBAoE.

[Coyote]

Melee cones are not AoE now? Huh. I guess someone should tell high-level Dual Blade Stalkers that they can only kill one mob at a time.

Usually they hit fewer targets than radial AoEs, but do more damage or have a shorter recharge, to make up for their smaller area.

 

Savage and Electric are high in AoE damage in my experience. Spines is probably higher, though.

[SomeGuy]

Electrical Melee

 

Your Lightning Rod doesn't break hide. LOL. Pair it with Shield for Shield Charge then Ass strike the EB dead. Have fun!

[BrandX]

9 hours ago, Inergia said:

Cone is not AOE. If you stand in front of 10 mobs, you will hit 1 or 2 and maybe a third in the back row. However if you used AOE

you would hit all in front, unless you missed. However, if you step further back away from the group, your cone gets larger the further

it is away from you. You will then him more mobs at one shot.

 

With that said, I am not here to debate that, or take this off topic like others. The main topic of the thread is which Stalker has the best aoe.

I tried Elec/Shield after reading the first few posts here. It took 32 levels before Aoe was even present. Not my idea of the best AoE Stalker 

since it does not have it early levels.

Staff has 2 aoe

Psi = 1

Rad = 1

Elec = 1

Savage = 1

 

These are the only classes with AoE, for the Stalker

 

32 Levels?  You get Thunder Strike at level 26.  You could take Jacob's Ladder for the cone (but I see you don't count it), but I haven't felt that was needed on my Elec/Bio, and do plenty with TS and LR.