I'm Now Stalking.... Don't tell the police!

[WuTang]

Ok I guess my thing -now- is to make at least one of every AT...who knew?!

 

Inspiration hit me the other day and surprise...surprise the name I wanted was NOT taken! Do I have the recent name releases to thank for this?? No idea, but it tis now mine all mine....

 

Any ways, and as usual with my builds, the goal it theme meets function. I went through 3 hand-to-hand primary sets before I picked Street Justice, but Electric Armor is a must for theme. Hmmmmmm, crap... and as I'm typing this I'm hit with, "could Electric Melee work and use a different secondary?" Oh well we're here now with StJ/Electric!

 

I read the beginners guide to Stalking, great read, and thanks @Croax and all other contributors for that post! Having read that I made changes to my slots. 

 

I've built a decent Electric Armor Scrapper, but with it I soft capped melee and S/L defenses, it works pretty well, but I wanted to try out how I've seen many others slot it and didn't bother with defense (this changed a bit with rev. 3) and focused on attacks and resistances, but man oh man the HP is at Corruptor levels.

 

There are a few things I'm unsure of but none more so than the epic pool selection. It feels like using any attack outside the primary set is a waste due to it not granting Assassin's Focus, even if it has decent DPA. And then there's the fact that I don't think StJ needs any more attacks, but I've never played it before, so not sure. So now I'm wondering if the epic Energy Mastery wouldn't be a better choice. (OK I did just retool for Energy Mastery, and I like it better) BUT, I'm gonna leave this part in cause I am curious if the epic attacks are worth taking.

 

I focused on recharge to get Energize on perma. Proc'd the T9 for MOAR DAMAGE! Right now I've got Desitny: Barrier, but Ageless Radial would just about cap my debuff resistances and bump my recharge enough to fully perma Energize, not to mention make everything a bit faster. Plan is to use Power Sink offensively as a sapper more than an endurance replenisher. Skipped Placate, just didn't see a need. 

 

So without further ado.... Please feel free to pick it apart!

 

Thanks!!

 

-WT

 

Stalker (Street Justice - Electric Armor)3.mbd

Edited November 4 by WuTang
added screen shot

[Spaghetti Betty]

Hullo!

 

I actually happen to be doing a bit of research into StJ/ Stalking as well. I have a good foundation since my main, Spaghetti Betty, is a StJ/Rad Scrapper!

 

So I get that it feels like using anything outside of the primary feels like a waste because of the combo system, but the special thing about the Stalker variant is that AS gives 2 combo points! This allows you a lot of flexibility in your rotation, seeing as how fast AS is already a super important part of it for Stalkers in general.

 

And I wouldn't be too worried about trying to build 3 Assassin's Focus every time you click fast AS, either. It's already such a high-DPA attack that the crit is a bonus, and you want the Hide proc going off as often as possible!

 

Another thing. I know it seems tantalizing to run only procs in Crushing Uppercut, but you really need this on as short of a timer as possible. It contains pretty much all of the damage in the set.

 

That being said, my StJ/Ice runs a rotation like this:

 

Shin Breaker -> Heavy Blow -> AS(hide) -> Epic Snipe -> Crushing Uppercut

 

Very rarely do I have to deviate from this rotation, and the only glaring issue I've had with it is that the Hide proc is used on the Snipe instead of Uppercut. It still dishes out a ton of damage, and I can always use Placate to force a crit every 20 seconds or so.

 

As far as the build goes, it looks serviceable to me, though I would find ways to inject some Slow RES into it!

Edited November 4 by Spaghetti Betty
Added bit about Focus

[WuTang]

@Spaghetti Betty

OK retooled a bit, it's more expensive but meh it's just inf...

 

With Ageless Radial I'll have 96% slow resist and Crushing Uppercut is at ~6 sec with full set of Hecatomb and running Ageless.

 

Think I'll throw it into the test server and see how she does!

 

Thanks!!

 

-WT

Edited November 5 by WuTang

[WuTang]

OK had to tweak it again... Rev 5! 

 

@Spaghetti Betty you are right...that rotation of yours is mathematically sound +/-1 sec. And unless I'm mistaken only the first rotation will have 2 Assassin's Focus charges, but after that there should be 3 - barring any misses. So........ I think I balanced it out.

 

 

Stalker (Street Justice - Electric Armor)5.mbd

[Projector]

I love my Stj/Stone Stalker. It's a lot of fun!

I would agree with most of what Betty suggested, but I played around with a few different things.

I'm visual, so I hope you don't mind I downloaded your build and made some edits! It  looks like you were prioritizing Melee/S/L Def, so I tried to keep that, but did switch some other things around:

Project0r Version Stalker (Street Justice - Electric Armor)5.mbd

Swapped the set out in TP to two range IOs (which I would boost to +5). Since you aren't running Super Speed, this range will feel REALLY good, especially across zones or when teleporting to teammates in mission maps. For example, in LRSF, if you get the access code to unlock the door to Ms Liberty, these two range IOs will allow you to TP back to your teammates from the room with the glowie. 😄

I did make a couple of slot changes to get you some additional max HP. Without accolades, you were down at ~1,300 with a possible max being 2088. If you do get the Accolades, with the changes I made you'll be at 1688 (Without the passive accolades, this build puts you at 1443). I think Max HP gets way overlooked in most builds, since the hits are guaranteed to come at some point no matter how much defense/res you build.

Also the Power Transfer set's Chance to Heal is almost always better than flat regen buffs, and stacking them as much as possible can make a big difference in how quickly you regen, even though it obviously won't show in the regen numbers. Power Transfer also does have better set bonuses, so I swapped it into Power Sink. If you are willing to give up a slot somewhere else, say the 6th Ragnarok in Spinning Strike, you could get one more Power Transfer Proc in Stamina. Given your plan to aggressively use Power Sink, you will gain around 180 HP each time all three proc. Leaving it at only 2 would still be around 120hp each time they proc

Imo, I would suggest procing something. For example, you could leave the Hecatomb in CU, and proc Assassin's Strike, leaving just the Acc/Dam and the Hide Proc from the ATO set. For the increased number of proc options, I chose to proc out CU, plus who doesn't love more psi damage? This does knock down CU's recharge from ~6 to ~9 seconds, so you may have a slight gap, but that can usually be made up with Placate.

Speaking of Placate, throwing two boosted recharge IOs made it virtually equivalent, being 17.02 now whereas before you had 5 slots in it and the recharge was 16.96. Functionally, this shouldn't feel any different.

Personally, on my build I have just about everything proc'd that can and I have zero issues with damage output. That being said, Stone Armor is a lot less reliant on set bonuses to get adequate survivability, so that's a little skewed.

Basically, I did sacrifice some recharge, but I do think you'll see a little more survivability, while also allowing you to put out some serious damage. An extra almost 400 HP is nothing to scoff at, especially when it means you don't have to give up any defense and only a little resist.

Betty most likely knows more than me on all of this, so I'm happy to defer to them and I look forward to having my suggestions torn apart 😄

Edited November 5 by Projector

[Spaghetti Betty]

2 hours ago, Projector said:

I love my Stj/Stone Stalker. It's a lot of fun!

I would agree with most of what Betty suggested, but I played around with a few different things.

I'm visual, so I hope you don't mind I downloaded your build and made some edits! It  looks like you were prioritizing Melee/S/L Def, so I tried to keep that, but did switch some other things around:

Project0r Version Stalker (Street Justice - Electric Armor)5.mbd

Swapped the set out in TP to two range IOs (which I would boost to +5). Since you aren't running Super Speed, this range will feel REALLY good, especially across zones or when teleporting to teammates in mission maps. For example, in LRSF, if you get the access code to unlock the door to Ms Liberty, these two range IOs will allow you to TP back to your teammates from the room with the glowie. 😄

I did make a couple of slot changes to get you some additional max HP. Without accolades, you were down at ~1,300 with a possible max being 2088. If you do get the Accolades, with the changes I made you'll be at 1688 (Without the passive accolades, this build puts you at 1443). I think Max HP gets way overlooked in most builds, since the hits are guaranteed to come at some point no matter how much defense/res you build.

Also the Power Transfer set's Chance to Heal is almost always better than flat regen buffs, and stacking them as much as possible can make a big difference in how quickly you regen, even though it obviously won't show in the regen numbers. Power Transfer also does have better set bonuses, so I swapped it into Power Sink. If you are willing to give up a slot somewhere else, say the 6th Ragnarok in Spinning Strike, you could get one more Power Transfer Proc in Stamina. Given your plan to aggressively use Power Sink, you will gain around 180 HP each time all three proc. Leaving it at only 2 would still be around 120hp each time they proc

Imo, I would suggest procing something. For example, you could leave the Hecatomb in CU, and proc Assassin's Strike, leaving just the Acc/Dam and the Hide Proc from the ATO set. For the increased number of proc options, I chose to proc out CU, plus who doesn't love more psi damage? This does knock down CU's recharge from ~6 to ~9 seconds, so you may have a slight gap, but that can usually be made up with Placate.

Speaking of Placate, throwing two boosted recharge IOs made it virtually equivalent, being 17.02 now whereas before you had 5 slots in it and the recharge was 16.96. Functionally, this shouldn't feel any different.

Personally, on my build I have just about everything proc'd that can and I have zero issues with damage output. That being said, Stone Armor is a lot less reliant on set bonuses to get adequate survivability, so that's a little skewed.

Basically, I did sacrifice some recharge, but I do think you'll see a little more survivability, while also allowing you to put out some serious damage. An extra almost 400 HP is nothing to scoff at, especially when it means you don't have to give up any defense and only a little resist.

Betty most likely knows more than me on all of this, so I'm happy to defer to them and I look forward to having my suggestions torn apart 😄

This looks good! I haven't been at my PC for quite awhile, so I'm not able to make super dialed in tweaks at the moment. And I definitely have way more experience with Scrapper StJ than I do Stalker.

 

I'm always super weary about not having a recharge in CU because you need something like 200% recharge in it to have a seamless rotation with 4 other clicks included. This is achievable with other sources like Speed Boost or Ageless Core spam, so if you know you'll have at least one of those on tap, I can see it working out!

 

I think if there are any attacks that could be proc bomb'd safely, it would be Shin Breaker and Spinning Strike! They are both in that sweet spot of having good proc chance without the lack of recharge messing up your rotation!

[WuTang]

@Projector

I do like some of your ideas, but CU with a +9 recharge is a killer. There would be about 3 seconds of downtime even if I worked BU into every rotation. And with it proc'd CU is hitting for 168 more but the recharge on it increased by 38%, I think that may negate the proc advantage.  Don't get me wrong, my first build also had it proc'd out. That's one of the things Betty got me to see differently.

 

@Spaghetti Betty What do you think of this rotation (no epic snipe): HB > AS(hide) > CU > SB

 

Build up would get worked in before Assassin Strike as often as it can be off recharge. That gives Crushing Uppercut the benefit of Hide & BU, all the activation times figure out to within a second of Crushing Uppercut's recharge. And, after the first rotation AS would have 3 charges.

[Spaghetti Betty]

31 minutes ago, WuTang said:

Spaghetti Betty What do you think of this rotation (no epic snipe): HB > AS(hide) > CU > SB

 

Build up would get worked in before Assassin Strike as often as it can be off recharge. That gives Crushing Uppercut the benefit of Hide & BU, all the activation times figure out to within a second of Crushing Uppercut's recharge. And, after the first rotation AS would have 3 charges.

If it works, it works! During my testing, I found I absolutely needed some kind of extra filler attack to make all of the activations sync up properly. I could see how using Ageless in conjunction with recharge slotting could make a 5th attack unnecessary, but I haven't done any of my own experimenting with it to say for sure.

 

I'd love to see the results of your testing!

[Spaghetti Betty]

Here's my StJ/Ice build, for what it's worth!

 

Sacred Duster - Stalker (Street Justice - Ice Armor).mbd

[WuTang]

OK I never did get around to putting the build on the test server...but I did get it to level 46. Right now without the purp sets, Hasten is 20 secs off perma and Crushing Uppercut is off by just 2 seconds for the rotation I mentioned. I'm also still missing 1 LotG global recharge. So, I'm figuring with purps' recharges, the last LotG, and Ageless it'll definitely be off recharge for the rotation.

 

What I've learned thus far though... It's a Boss deleter. It's a different playstyle than I'm used to, just ST rotation, but it's 1, 2, 3, sometimes 4, next target. I dipped into the Teleport pool and use Combat Tele to get into position before my team can scatter the mob, otherwise my rotation switches to using Spinning Strike until I find the boss. I even last long enough sometime to take the big guy out solo then I might have to pop a med purple to smash the rest. Endurance is absolutely not an issue so that got me to wondering...if it turns out I don't need...need Ageless for recharge, which I'll know before Destiny gets unlocked, would Barrier be a better choice for more survivability? Barrier would also work thematically as my Stalker is a science origin that utilized technology, so a force field look is a good look.

 

On the other hand....

 

Ageless Radial will boost my debuff resists to accuracy, slow, and perception to levels that will make them almost bullet proof and give me a lil defense and regen resist to boot. But they are already at decent levels.

 

Nother question... I don't really like the animation of Sweeping Cross and I've gone into the Weapon Mastery pool (didn't know it had a drone!) partly for theme, and right now I've selected Web Grenade for the build...useful? The enhancement set bonuses help but other than that and being as I haven't picked it yet, I'm feeling like I'll never use it. Or it'll be just for the runner or flyer that's trying to get away.

Edited November 11 by WuTang

[Spaghetti Betty]

On 11/11/2024 at 7:57 AM, WuTang said:

if it turns out I don't need...need Ageless for recharge, which I'll know before Destiny gets unlocked, would Barrier be a better choice for more survivability?

 

Absolutely! This is the current conundrum I'm having with mine as well. I did a little toying and found out that with my previous rotation, switching Uppercut and Snipe in the lineup yielded way better damage, but the recharge is off by a second and a half or so without Ageless. So, do I take Barrier for armor, or stay Ageless for damage?

 

I guess it won't really matter if I team with a Kin, Time, or Marine!

 

On 11/11/2024 at 7:57 AM, WuTang said:

Nother question... I don't really like the animation of Sweeping Cross and I've gone into the Weapon Mastery pool (didn't know it had a drone!) partly for theme, and right now I've selected Web Grenade for the build...useful?

 

I have my own predilections about Sweeping Cross not being a very desirable power in the grand scheme of things - mainly it being a pretty subpar way to spend your Combo (if only there was a pool power that was the exact same thing without a Combo gimmick. Hmmm....), but it's besides the point! Web Grenade could be valuable if you need a big target to stay still, whether it be an AV, or a pesky PVPer that keeps speeding away! It's a very situational pick, though! It's not going to be an extremely meta Epic pick in the slightest, but if you like it for theme, then I could mention that Exploding Shuriken is actually pretty alright as an AoE, which is something you have very little access to.

[WuTang]

1 hour ago, Spaghetti Betty said:

but if you like it for theme, then I could mention that Exploding Shuriken is actually pretty alright as an AoE, which is something you have very little access to.

Yes! I actually looked at that and it proc's out nice as well. I will have to go Ageless though, barrier won't be an option at that point.

[WuTang]

On 11/13/2024 at 4:27 PM, Spaghetti Betty said:

but the recharge is off by a second and a half or so without Ageless.

Yup...this is my conclusion also. I have recharge in ever place I could put it. I'll have to have a fourth (non-finisher) attack in the rotation. So, I'm going to respec into exploding shuriken. I currently have it proc'd out, one of which is Annihilation's res debuff. Do you happen to know the duration of the debuff?

[Spaghetti Betty]

6 hours ago, WuTang said:

Yup...this is my conclusion also. I have recharge in ever place I could put it. I'll have to have a fourth (non-finisher) attack in the rotation. So, I'm going to respec into exploding shuriken. I currently have it proc'd out, one of which is Annihilation's res debuff. Do you happen to know the duration of the debuff?

I think it's 10 seconds, but I'm not sure exactly. 

 

I'm sure someone will pop in and correct me if I'm wrong!