Best stalker you have played.

[thegee]

 I have played street justice/bio  and I love the stalker archetype. what is your favorite build And why? I want to make another one. Share builds if you want.

[Gulbasaur]

I play a BS/Shield/Fire/Sorcery stalker as my first ever stalker, and I have to say I really enjoy it. It's partly because of the theme, but it's also really fun to play. 

 

Elemental sword and the energy shield, coupled with a wizardy getup and he's my flying battlemage who blinks in and out of visibility in combat thanks to the ATO. Broad sword has some heavy hitters, shield is a good balance of defence and resistance and I took blaze mastery for the AoE, range and debuff. The shield teleport is a really useful knockdown power and you can basically AoE all the minions out of a fight with fireball then shield charge as a combo. 

 

I've included Sorcery because it's a core part of how I play.

 

Rune of Protection patches the psi hole with no crash - I use it much more than One with the Shield and between the two you've got pretty high damage resistance most of the time. With global recharge reduction bonuses, it's up very frequently. Spirit Ward is a useful utility power as it can prevent a teammate from faceplanting and Enflame does acceptable damage if you cast it on a tank surrounded by enemies but is really great as a control power as the AI hates standing in patches. If you whack it on an enemy they'll just start running - useful for breaking up boss-heavy spawns because the boss you cast it on will basically vanish for 30 seconds on several maps. 

[Redlynne]

2 minutes ago, Gulbasaur said:

Enflame does acceptable damage if you cast it on a tank surrounded by enemies but is really great as a control power as the AI hates standing in patches. If you whack it on an enemy they'll just start running - useful for breaking up boss-heavy spawns because the boss you cast it on will basically vanish for 30 seconds on several maps.

Finally ... a power that tells Tsoo Sorcerers and Skyraider Porters to "go and die in a fire already" somewhere else on the map without needing to watch them crumple at your feet.

[Gulbasaur]

13 minutes ago, Redlynne said:

 Finally ... a power that tells Tsoo Sorcerers and Skyraider Porters to "go and die in a fire already" somewhere else on the map without needing to watch them crumple at your feet.

From casual observation, they really don't know what to do with patches. Quite often they teleport away, teleport back, then teleport away again.

 

People overlook the use of a power that gets a boss to just bugger off for a bit. If you've not got a tank to cast it on, it's a really handy way of bewildering the AI and making a group more manageable.

Edited August 10, 2019 by Gulbasaur

[Redlynne]

So ... basically a Caltrops patch that follows them around ... burning them wherever they go?

 

I can dig that (grave for them).

[thegee]

How much do like broad sword? shield i like and i can see fire but i have never played BS before. Is it that good on a stalker?

[Gulbasaur]

20 hours ago, thegee said:

How much do like broad sword? shield i like and i can see fire but i have never played BS before. Is it that good on a stalker?

It fits the theme I was going for and plays well enough. The T8 and T9 powers both hit hard enough that you don't feel like you've wasted a crit as long as you hit one of those two.

 

It's very focussed on single-target damage, which suits a stalker very well and Parry means that your normal attack chain raises your melee defence, which is just a nice additional feature.

[Yomo Kimyata]

On 8/10/2019 at 2:39 PM, thegee said:

 I have played street justice/bio  and I love the stalker archetype. what is your favorite build And why? I want to make another one. Share builds if you want.

I don't think I ever played stalkers on Live, but I'm enjoying them a lot here.  

 

I've got a staff/bio in the mid 20s, a stj/sr in the teens and a bs/sd in the teens.  The staff is definitely my favorite.  I'm a little disappointed in the stj -- damage is really lackluster in comparison to the other two, but I think it will mature as it levels.

[drbuzzard]

It is possible to be a good AOE stalker if you use electric melee. The set does a while lot of damage to groups, and thundrestrike does extra damage out of hide. 

 

For single target, I've been quite enjoying my radiation melee/bio stalker. The damage on one target is simply excellent. However I am finding that violating my policy that all stalker builds should be on defense sets is reinforcing the policy since I lose hide to AOEs and the build is quite squishy. Haven't quite attained the last bio power so perhaps durability will get a big boost there, but so far it's pretty soft (compared to energy aura at least). 

[Xingularity]

I love my Stj/Bio, but I'm thinking of trying out a elec/shield as well. 🙂

[KaizenSoze]

Broadsword/Shield Def

 

Massive critics almost on demand

Shield charge AOE

Team friendly -dam, +dam, and def buffs

 

Only thing I do not like, mez protection is a click. Cannot have everything.

 

See the thread in the forum about the build.

 

Blossoms late, slot end reduction in your attacks when leveling.

[GavinRuneblade]

My favorite was dark/dark/leviathan (whirlpool with -res). Will never be popular, will never be OP, but was a lot of fun, worked at all content, including master of runs and the hardest incarnate badging attempts.

 

/dark is like an onion, you get lots of layers. def, res, heal, -tohit, fears... you get it all. Nothing is overwhelming or inately maxxed out, but it was very reliable against every enemy type. Sappers, furies, ppd, cimerorans, rikti magus/heavies, carnies, incarnates, etc.

 

I imagine no one will ever play it these days because it can't farm +4/x8 solo. But speaking as one who enjoys actual missions and story arcs in teams, this was the most fun I ever had with a stalker.

[n00baka]

My favorite so far is my Psy / SR. I’ve managed to get about 60% Defense to all positions, which feels like the most overkill thing available to me, and I’ve enjoyed every second of it. 

 

I focused very hard on making sure it was “Exemplar-able”, so every power pick at every level is designed for doing any content. Of all my characters, this is the one I plan on so long as many TFs as I think I can get away with. 

 

 

Though I am falling in love with my Elec/Shield stalker, so who knows what will happen in the future!

[Justisaur]

Psi/Ice, the -recharge stacks from both sets, so stuff you're actually fighting if it survives the psi barely attacks.  Psi hits really hard as long as you don't run up against resistant mobs, I hate that, but I just love the way psi looks and when it does work it's great.  

[thegee]

Is it better to slot for 5 change of damage and 1 acc. into AS or slot it with a set bonus. Ive seen both.

[ericc191]

Any love for Fire Melee or is it considered outdated? I've always loved it on Brutes due to the seriously quick damage it outputs.

[Frostweaver]

Fire Melee is decent enough, but loses a little on stalkers, about middle of the road. It's signature aoe is sorta less, and it's 'burn' damage adds, like spine toxin, do not get multiplied by criticals.

But it's not bad by any means... It's simply more of a thematic choice and less of a top tier performer.

[Colder]

I can't say this enough....

 

 

ICE/ICE

 

I'm like the only one on my server, and it's incredible how good it is.

 

First, I rolled a StJ/Shield, very impressive character, DMG was superb, I had one gripe. CLICK MEZ is for the birds. I rerolled after like vet level 20 and never looked back. Ice Melees DMG is on par if not slightly less than StJ and I have ICE PATCH. The weakest power in IM was removed for AS(GIS), and Ice Armor is just too impressive with Icy Bastion up in 60 secs with global rech procs and 3 rech enh, it boost survivability by adding to regen, recovery, and resistance and is truly an amazing power, much better than hibernate. I really suggest you give Ice/Ice a try, you won't be disappointed.

 

edit: I forgot to add, frozen aura and frost are amazing AoE powers.

Edited September 22, 2019 by Joshizfly

[Colder]

On 8/30/2019 at 9:51 AM, thegee said:

Is it better to slot for 5 change of damage and 1 acc. into AS or slot it with a set bonus. Ive seen both.

I put the 6 Stalkers Guile in AS for the chance to hide, im pretty sure most do it that way.

[Croax]

7 hours ago, Joshizfly said:

I put the 6 Stalkers Guile in AS for the chance to hide, im pretty sure most do it that way.

I sure do with all my stalkers.

 

And to the topic: Elec/Shield hands dpwn the best combination for me. You walk in and blow stuff up. Can't get better than this.

[Tater Todd]

I had quite a few on Live and I'm JUST NOW remaking my old ones.  Stalkers took my melee cherry and even though I am still range-heavy I have learned to appreciate melee more thanks to Stalkers.  My first was the classic Nin/Nin which I remembered as being amazing.  I thought that I had my nostalgia goggles on but man was I wrong.  Nin/Nin is still a beast.  I'm thinking about rolling a BS/Rad and a Kin/Shield.  Broadsword should feel somewhat at home since I am familiar with Ninja Blade and Kinetic Melee seems like it would be quite interesting on Stalkers.

 

With Kinetic Melee I'm thinking...

1. (Stealthed) Build Up + Concentrated Strike
2.  Three attacks to build Assasin's Focus with the hide proc in it + A recharged Build Up from the concentrated strike buff
3. Concentrated Strike again from Hide.  Build up recharged again and maybe Burst?  I need to test this on Beta first of course before I even roll one and level it to 50

[Tater Todd]

Oh and I have a Ice/Shield and Ice/Rad that I'm working on.  Back on Live I have a Kin/Ice and it was AMAZING it was like playing a Tank that could DPS!

[Midnight Blue Mage]

Savage Melee/Invulnerability is really fun and my second-favorite toon ❤️ charge into the center of a crowd and start spraying blood everywhere... safely!

[Colder]

6 hours ago, Tater Todd said:

Oh and I have a Ice/Shield and Ice/Rad that I'm working on.  Back on Live I have a Kin/Ice and it was AMAZING it was like playing a Tank that could DPS!

Ice Melee is a true contender in AoE DPS and ST DPS and so little people are aware. Plus slow is an amazing secondary debuff, Ice patch is a top tier defensive tool, and the worst power in the set Greater Ice sword was replaced for AS.

[Tater Todd]

On 9/23/2019 at 9:23 AM, Joshizfly said:

Ice Melee is a true contender in AoE DPS and ST DPS and so little people are aware. Plus slow is an amazing secondary debuff, Ice patch is a top tier defensive tool, and the worst power in the set Greater Ice sword was replaced for AS.

I don't doubt it!  I have been one of the loud few on Live who have been pushing for Ice Melee being available for other ATs so I was beyond excited to see the proliferation of the set on other ATs on Homecoming. 

I joined a team not too long ago with my Ice/Rad Stalker.  The team was hesitant because there was no support, the diff was set crazy high and the Tank kept getting overwhelmed and dying...would you know I managed to keep the tank alive by using Ice Patch right underneath him as well as softening up the mobs with my crit buffed Frost and Frozen Aura?  It was nice experience and I hope the team learned more about the Gospel of Ice! Haha

Edited October 14, 2019 by Tater Todd