Stalkers and AOE

[drgantz]

I've read many times that MA is a weak powerset for Stalker.  Most comments that I've read say that it is because they lose the AOE.

I've also read that EM is one of the strongest powersets for Stalker, but it also loses its AOE.

 

I assume that I'm missing something.

[Astralock]

You are.  Energy Melee has Power Crash, which is one of the best Stalker AoE attacks.

[aethereal]

EM has one of its two AoE in Stalkers (power crash, the cone), and it gets a higher damage version of power crash than the other ATs.

 

But, I mean, the other reason why people like EM on Stalkers is that it has truly exceptional ST damage in return for poor AoE.  Martial Arts has a bunch of good-but-not-great ST attacks.

[Bopper]

The problem with MA for Stalkers is they get no AoE, and they are the only AT that gets no special damage bonus from Eagle's Claw. 

[ZemX]

Even in the twisted original dev vision of Stalkers being single-target assassins.... MA was weird.    Even when Assassin Strike couldn't be used as a rotational attack, you still had SIX other single-target attacks.  Now that AS can be used in combat, it's seven.    It is long overdue to have one, if not two of the non-AS attacks swapped for a cone and a PBAoE, respectively.  Oh, and there's no reason Storm Kick shouldn't have the +def from the Brute/Tank version when other Stalker primaries get similar +def moves.  With Incarnates and Hard Modes pushing up the soft-cap, it would even be useful for that.

[drgantz]

Thank you everyone.  I read several websites and they didn't have Power Crash.  I guess it was added later.  After reading this, I checked the character builder and Power Crash was there.

[aethereal]

1 minute ago, drgantz said:

Thank you everyone.  I read several websites and they didn't have Power Crash.  I guess it was added later.  After reading this, I checked the character builder and Power Crash was there.

Power Crash was what was the Stun power was made into during the EM revamp.

 

It is indeed the case that pre-EM-revamp, EM wasn't very good on any AT, including Stalkers.

[ZemX]

1 hour ago, drgantz said:

Thank you everyone.  I read several websites and they didn't have Power Crash.  I guess it was added later.  After reading this, I checked the character builder and Power Crash was there.

 

City of Data is also a good place to look: 

https://cod.uberguy.net/

 

Very detailed info parsed from the game data files and updated regularly when patches land.

 

If you are trying to Google information on this game, you will very often be directed to old Wikis like Paragon Wiki that are describing the state of the game back when it was Live.