I am converted!

[Two5boy]

 I always favored the scrapper for melee characters and never understood the point of stalkers, viewing them merely as weaker scrappers who preferred stealth to direct combat. However, this perception has changed dramatically.

 

Due to a character concept I had I rolled a BS/SR scrapper and levelled him to 28, but became disenchanted by the mediocre damage output, which many NPCs resisted.

 

Curiosity led me to the scrapper forums, where I read about the superior performance of BS when used by stalkers. Encouraged, I decided to give it a try. Following the advice on the forums, I invested in two ATO procs, and the result was astounding. The damage output was phenomenal, and with the ATO procs, the character felt incredibly powerful and enjoyable. This stalker could not only match but surpass my scrapper in every aspect. In one notable encounter with a large mob, the Build Up proc activated four times, resulting in a spectacular display of critical hits and big orange numbers.

 

Now, I am a complete convert—I absolutely love stalkers. They offer the ability to stealth, engage in combat effectively, and deliver tremendous damage, making them thrilling to play.

 

I wish I tried them earlier 

[Shocktacular]

I recommend trying Street Justice on a Stalker; between Assassin's Focus and the set's combo building mechanic, you can unleash boosted attacks a good chunk of the time. My StJ/Energy stalker has given me the highest damage I've ever seen against even-con enemies -- over1400 damage on a single target.  Admittedly, I achieved this with Assassin's Strike boosted by Build Up with the Gaussian's Chance for Buildup proc in it, but it's still one of the biggest orange numbers I've ever made on any character ever (it was in one of the Dark Astoria Incarnate missions, too, so the enemies had better defenses and resistances than most).

Edited April 23 by Shocktacular

[Worm_Kalpa]

It's always great seeing more people having fun with stalkers.  The i22 buffs came late but help a lot with DPS and thus a stalker's utility to a team.  The two ATOs that you mentioned are also excellent.  Plus hide and the fear effect from assassin's strike are useful and let stalkers fight on their own terms.  All of that builds up to seeing huge orange numbers go up, sealing the doom of anything still standing as they fruitlessly cling to any hope of resistance, and then slinking away to inflict that experience on the next group.

 

Some offensive sets are held as better on stalkers than other ATs because of stalker's focus on single-target damage.  Electric melee and staff fighting are two examples.  Ice melee is also supposed to be good.  I have a dual blades stalkers and the large damage from assassin's blades helps with lethal resist, while the two cones and combo system help deal AoE damage.

[Two5boy]

Still learning stalkers but it’s been great so far. 
 

One question I would like to ask the stalker community. I am missing a lot with AS from hide. I mean more than I would expect. It doesn’t really matter since I don’t reveal myself after a miss but it’s very odd that I miss so much. Is there a mechanic or a quirk I am missing?

 

I have 58% accuracy and this is against +1 and +2 mobs. 

[ZemX]

1 hour ago, Two5boy said:

I am missing a lot with AS from hide. I mean more than I would expect. It doesn’t really matter since I don’t reveal myself after a miss but it’s very odd that I miss so much. Is there a mechanic or a quirk I am missing?

 

Yep... psychology. 🤪  You probably aren't actually missing more with AS.  You just notice it more because it's more of a big deal moment and when you miss and the enemy doesn't even notice?  It almost seems like an insult.

 

AS has inherently high accuracy (1.2x) to begin with and you're enhancing it a further 58%.  Hitting a +2 enemy is 56% base chance.  .56 x 1.2 x 1.58 is greater than 1... so you should be hitting capped 95% chance toHit unless the enemy has high defense or something.   If you want to be sure, go to the Combat window and start monitoring "Base->Last Hit Chance" . This way the window will always show your most recent attack's chance to hit.  It should show 95% in this case.

 

I think we've all noticed the same thing, but there's no hidden mechanic here.  Just good old human brain mechanics.  😈

[ZemX]

8 hours ago, Worm_Kalpa said:

The i22 buffs came late but help a lot with DPS and thus a stalker's utility to a team.

 

I really feel like an old man when I see anybody complain about AT balance these days.  Like I'm on my rocking chair on the porch telling them how we early Stalkers trudged uphill both ways in the snow to our missions through 16 whole issues before they finally addressed Stalker balance!

 

AND WE LIKED IT! (no we didn't).

[Two5boy]

2 hours ago, ZemX said:

 

Yep... psychology. 🤪  You probably aren't actually missing more with AS.  You just notice it more because it's more of a big deal moment and when you miss and the enemy doesn't even notice?  It almost seems like an insult.

 

AS has inherently high accuracy (1.2x) to begin with and you're enhancing it a further 58%.  Hitting a +2 enemy is 56% base chance.  .56 x 1.2 x 1.58 is greater than 1... so you should be hitting capped 95% chance toHit unless the enemy has high defense or something.   If you want to be sure, go to the Combat window and start monitoring "Base->Last Hit Chance" . This way the window will always show your most recent attack's chance to hit.  It should show 95% in this case.

 

I think we've all noticed the same thing, but there's no hidden mechanic here.  Just good old human brain mechanics.  😈

I really think you are spot on it’s all psychology. I get annoyed with myself when I run up to a mob line up and wait for the animation and whiff I completely miss. I am like what the hell. It’s a stationary target and I am supposed to be a super assassin lol. 

[StrikerFox]

Create a tab in the chat window, add in and monitor hit rolls. It will say something like "Assassin's Strike missed! Your Assassin's Strike had a 95% chance to hit. You rolled a 97.2."

[ZemX]

50 minutes ago, Two5boy said:

I really think you are spot on it’s all psychology. I get annoyed with myself when I run up to a mob line up and wait for the animation and whiff I completely miss. I am like what the hell. It’s a stationary target and I am supposed to be a super assassin lol. 

 

It's the worst on a team.  Like I will try to leave just a few seconds early so I can find the next spawn's boss, line him up, and get into the power-crouch before the rest of the team arrives to nuke everything.   

And then whiffff.... just as the rest of team is arriving to witness.  "Uhh...nobody saw that, riiiight?" 

[Lunar Ronin]

5 hours ago, Two5boy said:

Still learning stalkers but it’s been great so far. 
 

One question I would like to ask the stalker community. I am missing a lot with AS from hide. I mean more than I would expect. It doesn’t really matter since I don’t reveal myself after a miss but it’s very odd that I miss so much. Is there a mechanic or a quirk I am missing?

 

I have 58% accuracy and this is against +1 and +2 mobs. 

 

Psychological, as said.  Also, you don't want to open with Assassin's Strike.  You do more damage opening with another power and using Assassin's Strike as part of your rotation.

[ZemX]

1 minute ago, Lunar Ronin said:

Psychological, as said.  Also, you don't want to open with Assassin's Strike.  You do more damage opening with another power and using Assassin's Strike as part of your rotation.

 

Depends when you start the clock.  When I am playing a Stalker, I consider that clock is only running while the fight is happening.  Someone else who is more focused on total map clear time may have a different perspective, but to me at least, if that's what I care about.... I'll play a Scrapper.  What I like about Stalkers is deleting dangerous enemies fast.  It's what the AT is designed for.  So my clock starts when AS lands, not when it begins.  Scale 7 damage and a nice AoE debuff... in zero seconds.

 

But like I said, depends what you value in your gameplay.  When I play a Stalker, even on a team, I consider my value is boss killing or dealing with otherwise dangerous or troublesome foes, instantly.  Or as fast as possible anyway.   I am not looking to maximize my total average damage output over a whole mission.  If I am dropping bosses around the same time the rest of the team is annihilating everything else with an AoE barrage?  Job done.  Hence I will skip to the next spawn early if there's nothing worthy of my attention in the mop-up phase of the previous fight so I have plenty of time to select a target and set up to time the AS landing right at the time the team arrives.   I am not there for sustained DPS.   I am a specialist.

 

Just sucks when that AS misses in full view of the team is all. 🤪

[Haijinx]

I usually only use fast AS that way I don't have any time to zzzz