Stalkers on teams

[normalperson]

 

 

I think when you play a stalker right, they're kind of the "unsung hero" of the team.    You're waiting until the split second the tank has all the mob gathered and aggroed, and then assassinating the boss, which also puts all the other nearby minions in a state of fear.            

 

But the tank won't realize your strike is why the minions weren't dealing damage for the first few seconds of the fight (due to the fear effect) , and the boss was already dead, so it just looks like their armor/defense was very splendid. 

 

Just want all you stalkers to know I can see the difference.         

 

On teams with no stalker, I notice the boss living longer, and often the lack of a dead boss is what wipes a whole team out, on harder settings.     As for the fear effect, I started noticing it when I gave one of my brutes "invoke panic"         -  makes a big difference.   And stalkers have that effect built into their assassin strike. 

[Uun]

The fear only occurs when you use slow Assassin's Strike, and only has a 25% chance to occur. If you're using slow Assassin's Strike on teams, you're neutering your DPS.

[skoryy]

9 minutes ago, Uun said:

The fear only occurs when you use slow Assassin's Strike, and only has a 25% chance to occur. If you're using slow Assassin's Strike on teams, you're neutering your DPS.

 

Depends on when you're using it.  On lower-level teams, I'll lean into it more on Bosses since we won't have the room clearing AoEs.  On higher-level teams, I'll use it as an opener on Elite Bosses and above to help speed things up a little.

[normalperson]

1 hour ago, Uun said:

The fear only occurs when you use slow Assassin's Strike, and only has a 25% chance to occur. If you're using slow Assassin's Strike on teams, you're neutering your DPS.

 

DPS is for scrappers and brutes.           A stalker is really more there to help the team's survival.         

 

That's my point: end the boss sooner and he deals less damage to your party and your tank, even if killing just that one guy means you did less total DPS than the blaster. 

 

The boss in most spawns poses more threat to the tank than all the minions combined.    The less effort your tank is taking to keep their hp up, including less end burning on mitigations, the faster he/she moves between spawns, and possibly the more enemies he/she will be comfortable gathering in one place.               Then your team does more DPS even if you as an individual did less. 

Edited 16 hours ago by normalperson

[Riverdusk]

Agreed and I'd say not just bosses, also potentially annoying mobs like tsoo sorcs, succubus that can wreck people with confuse, etc.  Sappers too although more people can take them out with just one hit, but not always as stealthily.   I know I never worry about the infamous sappers that so many seem to hate while playing my  stalker.  I'm always seeking out the most annoying mobs and trying to take them out quick.

 

Almost the same role as a controller I feel.

 

Edited 15 hours ago by Riverdusk

[Uun]

I do focus on bosses, but I'm using quick AS as part of my attack chain whenever Assassin's Focus is up.

[WuTang]

46 minutes ago, normalperson said:

DPS is for scrappers and brutes.           A stalker is really more there to help the team's survival. 

I don't know if I agree with this. Stalkers can do way more DPS than a Brute. And prob a tad more than a Scrapper. Stalkers are like Blasters in melee. They may not have much AOE at their disposal but their attacks are quick and deadly. I've seen Stalkers solo clear packs in +4 ITFs, she was a DB/Nin. 

 

Don't get me wrong, I have more Brutes than any other class, love'm, but they aren't in the same league as Stalkers. Brutes stay upright more easily, so if the fight takes too long a Stalker is gonna get their tail handed to'em where a Brute won't.

 

Those have been my observations at any rate...