Super stupid question

[TehPsi]

God, I feel embarrassed even asking this, but I need to know for sure.

 

If a Stalker were *not* to use Hide at all, just not toggle it on... How greatly would that reduce his damage in team play where opening with AS is not as advantageous?

If we assume that it's Street Justice, and Build up and Placate are still fair game, how much does it hurt to lose that initial hide-crit in a team scenario?

[KellionBane]

It really depends on the team... If they're trucking along, and you don't have time to stand around to cast an AS, then don't open up with AS.  Use another move.

 

If your team has horrible damage- then it might be a good idea to open up with AS and eliminate the most dangerous enemy within a pack.

 

Not sure why you wouldn't have hide on, regardless of opening with AS or not. It's pretty much half of our class defining abilities; and if you don't like sneaking about... Then a scrapper might be more your thing.

[Zumberge]

Hey, asking questions is how we learn.

 

The answer would be "less than you'd think."  If a team gets a good head of steam going you might not have the time or need to perform an AS, so it's not an enormous loss there.  On the other hand, free crits are free crits, and Hide's other benefit can't be expressed in pure numbers, in that you can just stand behind a problem enemy and bop 'em when the rest of the group shows up without anybody knowing you're there.

 

Because of how their inherent works, Stalkers can get a 30% crit rate out of Hide on a full team so mathematically they can deal more damage than Scrappers despite the AT having a lower damage scale, but that's dependent on everyone being within a 30 foot radius of you when you fight.  But there is the whole matter of certain defensive sets being worse on Stalkers.  Willpower doesn't get Quick Recovery, for example.

[justicebeliever]

We are all superheroes and supervillains here, no such thing as a stupid question...only Super stupid questions...

 

I am just kidding, and since this is your first post -

Welcome or Welcome back to Paragon City - voted worst city for vegans, because the plants eat you!

(stupid devoured earth)

[Justisaur]

It is conceivable that you're rolling so fast that your hide doesn't have time to come up before hitting that next mob (that happens to me some times solo.)

 

If your AS is charged you're definitely better just hitting that next mob than waiting for hide for your other heavy hitter - if you can get to it in time. 

 

If you don't have time for a hidden AS, then you're only missing out on double damage on your next opener - or whatever's recharged, which could be questionable, perhaps even detrimental to DPS if you take in to account waiting for hide.

 

 

[Leogunner]

Perhaps I'm in the minority but I don't often rush around putting down every last minion as the spawn dwindles to nothing.  It's inevitable that after the big Alpha Strike and the big AoEs roll down and bring most of the mobs down, there will still be a few minions on the outskirts or a lucky Lt that was missed a few times.  As a Stalker, my job is to bring that boss or Lt down right along with the minions.

 

That being said, I leave the stragglers to the Brutes or let the MM's pets handle the light work.  Basically, when there's only 3 or so minions left, over half your team are shooting at the hip to take them out first...not my Stalker.  I just move onto the next group and start scoping out the next targets to get rid of.  There, I feel Hide's true advantage shows.  I can start the fight when I want to and take my time picking the exact victim rather than trying to jump at it in plain sight and hope the game doesn't hiccup and I'm actually 30ft away from where I wanted to land, ruining any alpha strike deflection methods I had in store.

[Erydanus]

Honestly cleaning up the dregs is a perfect job for the single target ranged attack in the epic pool. No need to run over there and shank that last minion I just hit him with 1 or 2 blasts of shuriken while I'm already on the move.

[Razia]

Not as much as you would think. I play a Street Justic/SR Stalker and when I solo I often run Tips, where I need to detoggle hide, because of hostages. It's no big deal, but then again I made my first Stalker 3 weeks ago and I am not playing the old way and opening with AS. I tried a Stalker when CoV launched but couldn't stand the game play. I play my Stalker more like a Scrapper.

[Sovera]

Like Leogunner said I also drop out of the fight when it is down to a few stragglers. They will die in a couple of hits and most people are still spamming AoEs at them. That's when I start moving to the next spawn, picking a boss, waiting for Hide, then waiting for everyone to join me, and then opening up. Not always straight with AS since it has such a loooong cast time, more often just opening with an AoE and then seguing into AS.