New to stalking

[BurtHutt]

Hey all! I haven't really gone to this AT. I am wondering if there is a combo that works well or plays well. What do you all like/prefer? Is there a powerset(s) that is much better or uber when a stalker uses it? I'd like to give it a go. Posting the build would be much appreciated!

[Troo]

They are all pretty good.

If you have a play style preference there can be nice combinations. Example: Electric/Shield for the teleporting mini nukes (AoE).

 

Energy Melee is pretty straight forward and strong.

 

Good info here:

 

Edited November 6 by Troo

[kelika2]

kin/fire is my goto for blowing shit up as a stalker

[PyroBeetle]

I use a Savage/Stone as my main...almost unkillable, and the Build Up into max range Savage Leap then AS and the now 15 foot radius AoE doe to the mechanics will kill most spawns in about 5 seconds. Just have to mop up bosses.

 

Remember that Placate has changed, it is not really optional anymore in my opinion, but is critical for optimum DPS

[BurtHutt]

8 hours ago, PyroBeetle said:

I use a Savage/Stone as my main...almost unkillable, and the Build Up into max range Savage Leap then AS and the now 15 foot radius AoE doe to the mechanics will kill most spawns in about 5 seconds. Just have to mop up bosses.

 

Remember that Placate has changed, it is not really optional anymore in my opinion, but is critical for optimum DPS

Any chance you can post this build?

[twozerofoxtrot]

Don't pick up Willpower on Stalkers. It's really, really bad. Just look at the powerson the character creator screen to understand why.

 

Otherwise any set is potentially good to okay. Staff and Kinetic melee are actually pretty decent.

[Worm_Kalpa]

From my experience and listening to others, the following melee sets are either particularly good or best on stalkers:

 

• Electrical Melee: The set on other ATs has great AOE and mid ST damage, but the stalker version has much better ST damage while keeping the nice AOE attacks.  This is due to swapping Lightning Clap (a PBAOE stun) for Assassin's Shock.
• Ice Melee: This set swaps a mediocre ST attack (Greater Ice Sword) for a much better ST attack (Assassin's Ice Sword).  Ice Patch is a one-slot wonder that helps with crowd control.  Frost is a 90 degree cone and Frozen Aura is a PBAOE, and both are good.  Freezing Touch is a great ST and is also a hold.  Cold is one of the least resisted damage types and the speed and recharge debuffs help with runners and reducing enemy attacks.
• Kinetic Melee: The stalker version gets Build Up, which helps a lot with burst damage and fits the stalker's gameplay.  Burst is a PBAOE that has a 100% chance to crit from stealth, which is much better than other similar PBAOEs.  When Concentrated Strike is a critical hit, it instantly recharges Build Up.  There's a satisfying attack chain that can be made with that.  Finally, the damage debuff and knockdown from some attacks helps with keeping you alive.
• Staff Fighting: Automatically gets only the Form of the Body stance so can only get part of the unique mechanic while other ATs, but also gets Build Up to help which other ATs don't get.  Get Assassin's Staff to help with ST damage.  All of this helps with damage on a set that doesn't do as much damage on other ATs.  Plus it has some AOE attacks and control abilities.

 

The following armor sets that are either particularly good or best on stalkers:

 

• Energy Aura: A solid damage type defense-based set.  Stalkers get a consistent recharge buff, powers to help manage endurance, a self-heal, and even a stun aura-type toggle.
• Ice Armor: Similar to Energy Aura, this is another damage type defense-based set.  Stalkers lose Icicles (lethal damage aura) for Hide, which is a good swap.  Stalkers get an endurance drain power that also boosts defense, they keep Chilling Embrace which is an aura-type toggle that debuffs enemy damage, recharge, and speed, and the T9 power is good and has a 300 second base recharged.
• Invulnerability: A mixed resistance-based and defense-based set.  The neat thing is that the stalker version has one resist passive that covers the non-smashing-or-lethal damage types, while the other versions have that split across two powers.  Invincible boosts to-hit.
• Shield Defense: Great positional defense-set with boosts to resistance and max hp.  The stalker version keeps Against All Odds and Grant Cover, which is surprising to me but welcome.  Shield Charge is a self-teleport AOE attack that helps with melee sets that are lacking in AOE attacks.

There are more great sets for stalkers but those are the ones that I want to highlight.  I hear Stone Armor is great for stalkers.  The stalker versions of Bio Armor and Dark Armor are worth a look.  For Bio Armor, Genetic Corruption loses the resistance debuff but gains a sleep component, and that allows some interesting procs and strategies.  Dark Armor on stalkers is less endurance heavy than it would be on other ATs, and it keeps Cloak of Fear and Oppressive Gloom.

 

For interesting combos, I have an ice melee/ninjitsu/fire mastery stalker that has nice control and utility capabilities.  I've been meaning to make a kinetic melee/ice armor stalker for theme and stacking damage debuffs.

 

One final note that you likely already know is that stalkers benefit tremendously from the chance to hide proc in the Stalker's Guile ATO set.  Slot that in whatever version of assassin's strike you have to really do some damage.

Edited November 7 by Worm_Kalpa

[tidge]

I haven't found a Stalker combination that I didn't like.

 

One thing about building Stalkers that stands out to me: I almost always see a single pick from and Epic/Patron pool at level 35 that can well-supplement whatever I'm wanting to do with the Stalker... but nothing is necessary to make the Stalker play well... as opposed to other ATs where an Epic pool is usually needed for a resistance/defense toggle. Even though there is the overlap between Scrappers/Stalkers at the Epic level, something always makes me think the Stalker has a light edge (in terms of how to leverage Epics/Patrons).

[skoryy]

If you have the inf to spare to trick one out right, Elec/Elec can be real fun and surprisingly tanky.  And the elec animations themselves are just *chef's kiss*.

 

That said, @tidge is right.  You really can't go wrong with any combo, except maybe Willpower.  I'm now leveling a DB/Nin, and its a lot of fun too even if  DB is underwhelming compared to the other melee ATs.  You too can be a real ninja!  (Turtle shell sold separately.)

[Riverdusk]

If you ever wanted to try ice melee it is by far best on a stalker as its somewhat weak single target damage is made better on a stalker.  Electric melee is good for the same reason. 

 

In the case of ice melee, it is also nice because you get ice patch to help prevent things from running considering stalkers don't have taunt auras.   Although often stalkers can one shot things so they never get a chance to run.