Death and Darkness - Dark Melee/Ninjitsu
Introduction
Hi, I'm AC. For the past two years or so, I have played Ninjitsu to the point of obsession, and have leveled several different Stalkers, each with the Ninjitsu secondary. Dark Melee/Ninjitsu is one of these (and is my current favourite), and after many, many long months, I have completed the journey (yay! level 50!). In the spirit of my Art of Ninja guide, this guide is intended to be more informative than the last, including information about Patron Pools and the Invention system, the latter of which I shall explain in-depth, albeit geared towards informing you about the possible Invention combinations that can yield tremendous levels of power for Dark Melee/Ninjitsu; it is not intended to be an all-purpose guide.
Dark Melee - Shadow's Touch
So, you've taken a little looksee at the Stalker Archetype. Perhaps you're attracted by Dark Melee's often irresistible damage type. Perhaps you're more interested in its -tohit to stack with your defences. Perhaps you simply have an obsession with death and darkness! Whatever the case, no doubt you've chosen to select Dark Melee as your primary set, otherwise you probably wouldn't be here.
Dark Melee offers a very high degree of safety, while providing decent damage with relatively short animation times. Its damage is rarely resisted. The following is an in-depth and quantified list of the various abilities that Dark Melee offers, and my thoughts on them.
Shadow Punch; Available at level one.
Damage: 17.02(smashing), 25.02(negative energy) at level 50; this translates to 2.33 Brawl Index, which, for future reference, is the amount of Brawls required to equal the level of damage the power will inflict; it's often shortened to BI, which is the abbreviation I will henceforth be using.
Secondary Effect (debuff): 5.625% -tohit, which lasts six seconds.
Endurance Cost: 4.37 points.
Recharge: Three seconds.
Slotting Recommendation: Three damage, two accuracy Single Origin enhancements, AKA SO's.
Animation Description: Brawl... Now with extra Darkness! It's a very quick animation, taking a mere .57 seconds to animate.
Comments: Ah, that underestimated skill, how you are shunned by your peers. Do not skip this, as it is the "bread" in your bread-and-butter manoeuvre. If you do, you are dooming yourself to a very, very long time of pain and regret (believe me -- voice of experience here). It's not an extremely powerful attack, but it gets the job done. Its animation is so short, it and Smite can perform a quick one-two punch that can inflict an astounding level of damage on an enemy (as much as one use of Shadow Maul). It can also be used to quickly debuff a single critter, or quickly finish off a damaged critter.
Smite; Available at level one.
Damage: 16.02(smashing), 50.05(negative energy) at level 50; this translates to 3.66 BI.
Secondary Effect (debuff): 5.625% -tohit, which lasts ten seconds.
Endurance Cost: 6.86 points.
Recharge: Six seconds.
Slotting Recomendation: Three damage, two accuracy Single Origin enhancements.
Animation Description: A quick punch swinging upwards, leaving you in a unique combat stance. Another extremely quick animation, it takes .97 seconds to animate.
Comments: The "butter" in your bread-and-butter manoeuvre. It's a good starting attack, and will serve you well in your Stalking career. Most of its damage is negative energy, which is both a good thing and a bad thing; you'll find it is rarely resisted, but when it is, that smashing component ain't gonna matter much, and Smite will be a very useless tool.
Shadow Maul; Available at level two.
Damage: Four ticks of 13.51(negative energy), four ticks of 13.51(smashing); this translates to 6.0 BI occurring over the entire duration of the animation.
Secondary Effect (debuff): 5.625% -tohit, which lasts ten seconds.
Endurance Cost: 8.53 points.
Recharge: Eight seconds.
Slotting Recommendation: Three damage, two accuracy Single Origin enhancements.
Animation Description: Remember in "The Matrix" when that Agent chap pummels Neo with those really fast punches, so quick that his arms were a blur? Matrix, meet Dark Melee. Shame it takes so long to animate; it requires a whole 3.07 seconds to animate, which is an eternity to a Stalker.
Comments: Some people love this power. Some people hate this power. I am, for the most part, in the latter camp. It does a good deal of damage, and those of you who are skilled in cones (or who paid attention in math class when they explained the concept of angles) will be able to manipulate this into a limited Area of Effect attack, allowing you to damage multiple foes for a very high amount of damage. The problem is, this power "roots" you for a very long time. It is also not guaranteed to critical when used from Hide. Together, it makes this power tricky to use. Personally, I recommend trying it out at least once, and if you don't like it... well. You're level-frickin'-two. Reroll. 
Assassin's Eclipse; Available at level six.
Damage: 35.03(smashing), 15.02(negative energy)--special note: You'll never want to use this power unless it will critical. Therefore, its true damage is best calculated at 35.03(smashing), 15.02(negative energy), and 300.3(negative energy crit). This translates to 19.44 BI (PLEASE NOTE: Castle, our illustrious developer, has recently expressed interest in changing Stalkers, particularly their Assassin's Strike -- as such, this guide is subject to be rendered obsolete at any time).
Secondary Effect (-stealth, interruptibility): Inflicts ten seconds of negative Stealth on you. Therefore, you WILL be visible, no matter what you do, for ten seconds after you use this power. It is also interruptible for two seconds, so try to avoid getting hit during those two seconds, mm'kay?
Endurance Cost: 14.35
Recharge: Fifteen seconds.
Slotting Recommendation: Three damage, two accuracy, one recharge Single Origin enhancement.
Animation Description: You scrunch up, in a very comical position similar to the explusion of commonly-solid waste in humans. You then shove your shadow-shrouded fists towards your foe in a thoroughly non-comical manner, while conjuring an eerie skull with glowing red eyes, which is subsequently shoved into your foe; your foe then emits a gaseous aura which rises upwards. The observant amongst you might notice that this "gas" seems to form a subtle and ghostly skull around the foe. It is quite possibly one of the best animations in the game, and makes up for the fact that it takes a whopping three seconds to fire, two-thirds of which is interruptible.
Comments: Your assassin's strike. You walk up to an opponent while you're in the Hidden state, click this, and your opponent is dealt an extremely high amount of damage after a short period. Like I stated, it is interruptible; therefore, you will be well-advised to avoid being attacked while this power animates. It also means you cannot move for two of those three seconds. Veteran Stalkers have learnt to perform a hop at the end of this interruptable period, giving you some distance between your foe and your frail self, or perhaps to move you towards your next target quicker. Try to practice it when you feel comfortable with Stalking; it can prove very useful. Curiously enough, this power delivers an extremely high level of rarely resisted damage, as it is almost entirely negative energy. This is, again, both blessing and curse; even still, however, it's easily the most powerful of all the Assassin's Strikes.
Build Up; Available at level eight.
Effect: Provides an 80% damage buff, and a 20% tohit buff to you for ten seconds.
Endurance Cost: 5.2 points.
Recharge: Ninety seconds.
Slotting Recommendation: Three recharge (minimum), three tohit buff (the more the better, but this is entirely optional).
Animation Description: You stretch up, and somehow manage not only to glow, but to glow darkly. Don't ask me how. It takes 1.17 seconds to fire.
Comments: Build Up makes you temporarily more deadly and more accurate for a short time. Best used prior to Assassin's Eclipse. If you don't take this I will personally hunt you down and show you precisely why you should take it.
Placate; Available at level twelve.
Effect: Forces a targetted enemy to forget about you (Player versus Environment, AKA PvE, only) until you either re-attack it or re-aggro it (the latter after 20 seconds); forces a targetted player to no longer be able to select you (Player vs Player, AKA PvP, only) for twelve seconds.
Secondary Effect: Essentially places you in an "artificial" Hide for ten seconds.
Endurance Cost: N/A (free!)
Recharge: Sixty seconds.
Slotting Recommendation: Three recharge.
Animation Description: Remember in Star Wars, Obi-Wan tricking those Stormtroopers about the Droids? Same 1.5 second animation. For those poor souls who never experienced that movie, you wave your hand at your foe.
Comments: This is a turning point in your Stalking career. You tell something to not attack you, and it simply must obey. Anything from Underlings to Arch-villains, everything will be affected equally by this. It also places you into an artificial Hide, which acts exactly like your regular Hide. This will give you an automatic critical, or the opportunity to use Assassin's Eclipse. Unfortunately, this power is susceptible to all the problems associated with Hide, as well as a few of its own. You'll have to be careful to use this directly after or during your opponent's attack, otherwise it stands the chance of being interrupted, which will cost you your Hidden state. Also, Placate is bugged in PvP; player characters that you have placed any Effect (like, for instance, Dark Melee's -tohit or one of the Patron Pool's single target holds) on will resist the Placate effect entirely (you will, however, still be placed in your artificial "Hidden" state. All in all though, it's an extremely effective power, and if used strategically, can turn the tide in a battle. Just be sure not to unwittingly turn a critter's aggro onto a squishier teammate.
Siphon Life; Available at level eighteen.
Damage: 50.05(negative energy); this translates to 2.77 BI.
Effect: 101.73 point self-heal at level 50; this is roughly 10% of your health.
Secondary Effect: 5.625% -tohit for ten seconds.
Endurance Cost: 11.96 points.
Recharge: Fifteen seconds.
Slotting Recommendation: Varies; some tend to focus on the healing. Others prefer to focus on the damage. I, personally, recommend two accuracy, three heal, and one damage if you have the slots for it.
Animation Description: You grasp thin air with your left hand and pull towards you, with a green light surrounding you. This animation takes 1.93 seconds to animate.
Comments: A relatively effective bag of tricks all in one package. Fully slotted, it does okay damage, okay -tohit, and an okay heal. Think of this not as a powerful heal like Kuji-In Sha, but more as a "boo-boo remover". It's pretty much a free respite every fifteen seconds. Use it as such.
Touch of Fear; Available at level twenty-six.
Mez Effect: Magnitude three (which means it'll work on lieutenants in one application; bosses will require two applications) Fear, lasting 22.35 seconds in PvE, and 11.17 seconds in PvP.
Secondary Effect: 11.25% -tohit, which lasts twenty seconds.
Endurance Cost: 8.53 points.
Recharge: Eight seconds.
Slotting Recommendation: Another tricky one. Some people want the Fear, others want the -tohit, some like it out of the box. I emphasised the fear effect.
Animation Description: You seem to touch your foe with your left hand, emitting a strange, shimmering black glow. This takes 1.17 seconds to animate.
Comments: Touch of Fear is Godly. Not taking this power is the CoH/V equivalent of making the biggest mistake of your life. It can single handedly fear bosses if given a little bit to work its magic. It can also destroy a single critter's accuracy. Now, those of you coming from, say, World of Warcraft, might think of Fear as something that makes things run away. "Why would I want to make something run away from me? I'm a meleer, I don't want that." Well, of course This power, however, doesn't cause them to run away. No, it causes them to cower in fear, immobile. The critter will not attack unless attacked. Like I said, a very powerful tool for mitigation. Curiously enough, this power also has an accuracy bonus to it, so you can get away with only one accuracy if you're really short on slots.
Midnight Grasp; Available at level thirty-two.
Damage: 64.06(negative energy), ten ticks of 5.51(negative energy)(55.1negative energy damage added together) over 9.1 seconds. This translates to 6.3 BI.
Mez Effect: 17.88 second Magnitude three Immobilize in PvE; 11.92 second immobilize in PvP.
Secondary Effect: 5.625% -tohit for twenty seconds.
Endurance Cost: 11.96 points.
Recharge: Fifteen seconds.
Slotting Recommendation: Three damage, two accuracy, one recharge.
Animation Description: You reach out to your foe with your left hand, seeming to channel a veritable darkness. Your foe, if successfully immobilized, will have strange, slithering tentacles surrounding him. This takes 2.07 seconds to animate.
Comments: Some people say skip it. I say they're freakin' nuts. This power is another great one. The animation is neat, the effect is wonderous, the -tohit is always welcome, the immobilize is gravy, and the damage makes me giggle like a schoolgirl. Not taking this power is a very bad decision, so take it, or go roll a Claws Stalker and get out of my guide.
Ninjitsu - Veil of Shadows
This concludes
"Shadow's Touch", your analysis of Dark Melee. Now let us move onto Ninjitsu. The ancient art of Ninjitsu lies in your skill to deceive, evade, and trick your opponent into believing you are somewhere you're not. You also come complete with several tricks up your sleeve which can provide a quick getaway if you need to. You are also naturally evasive, meaning you can dodge a blow before it knocks you into the next life.
Ninjitsu is, by most sane people's accounts, the most powerful secondary available to Stalkers, and I agree wholeheartedly. There simply is no better choice for a Stalker. Ninjitsu was tailor-made for Stalkers, granting great defense, a self heal, a powerful Tier 9, and various tricks and toys that can often turn the tide in a battle.
Hide; Taken forcibly at level one.
Effect: Places you in a state of "Hidden", until you attack or are physically damaged. In order to Re-hide, you must not attack or be harmed for ten seconds following your De-hiding. Grants you 5.625% defence to everything except AoE; and it gives 37.5% defence to AoE. IMPORTANT NOTE--almost all of the AoE defence will suppress when you exit your Hidden state, and you will only retain 33% of the other defence. Therefore it is suppressed to 1.875% defence to everything.
Endurance Cost: Free (new with Issue 11).
Recharge: Twenty seconds.
Slotting Recommendation: One defence, unless you PvP often in Recluse's Victory, in which case a few defence SO's are recommended.
Animation Description: You scrunch inward, and become translucent and nearly invisible. This is a nearly-instant activation power.
Comments: This is given to you automatically at level one. And for good reason, because if it weren't, I'd threaten you until you took it, since it's the entire reason for being a Stalker. This power makes you entirely invisible, to everything, with the exception of the following: Rularuu Eyeballs, Knives of Artemis, Rikti Drones, "targetted" ambushes (which is to say, any ambush directed specifically at you, rather than sent to your location -- Mayhem missions are specifically geared towards giving you a large load of these), and player characters with specific +perception powers. This power gives you an automatic critical (double damage, except in the case of Assassin's Eclipse, which is detailed above) when you first attack, and gives you another crit if you don't attack or get hit for ten seconds.
Ninja Reflexes; Available at level two.
Effect: Grants you 13.8% Defence to melee attacks.
Secondary Effect: Gives you 17.3% resistance to Defence debuffs.
Endurance Cost: .26 points per second.
Recharge: Four seconds.
Slotting Recommendation: Three Defence, one endurance reducer.
Animation Description: A bob-and-weave animation. I miss the old one, even if it wasn't the best. 
Anyway, it also produces a shimmering blue aura around you when you move. It takes .5 seconds to animate, and will not root you.
Comments: You're a Stalker. You're in melee nearly all the time. Why the blazes would you -not- take this power? It grants a good level of defence to a critical area.
Danger Sense; Available at level four.
Effect: Grants you 13.8% Defence to Ranged and Area of Effect attacks.
Secondary Effect: Gives you 17.3% resistance to Defence debuffs, and drastically increases your perception.
Endurance Cost: .36 points per second.
Recharge: Four seconds.
Slotting Recommendation: Three Defence, one endurance reducer.
Animation Description: You look around; your head starts to shimmer blue when it moves, and occasionally emits a brief flash of blue. It takes .5 seconds to animate, and will not root you.
Comments: You're a Stalker. Some things aren't in melee all the time. Why the blazes would you skip a power that grants you Defence to ranged and AoE attacks AND boosts your perception?
Caltrops; Available at level ten.
Damage: Piddly.
Effect: Slows your foes rather significantly (I don't know the exact numbers on its slow, since City of Data doesn't)
Endurance Cost: 7.8 points.
Casting range: 25'.
Radius: 20'.
Duration: Forty-five seconds.
Recharge: Forty-five seconds.
Slotting Recommendation: A slow or two.
Animation Description: Generic left-handed toss. A carpet of sharp, metallic spikes covers the area. This takes 1.07 seconds to animate.
Comments: I dislike Caltrops. It tends to offer mediocre mitigation potential, while scattering things to the four winds. Granted, they do this very, very slowly, but it's enough to be annoying. Its only real use would be in PvP, where it can be used proactively to prevent the retreat of a Super-jumping foe. If I were you, I'd skip this, and never look back.
Kuji-In Rin; Available at level sixteen.
Effect: Protects you from Stuns, Holds, Sleeps, Fears, Immobilization, and Confuse.
Secondary Effect: Gives you 22.5% resistance to Psionic damage.
Endurance Cost: 10.4 points.
Duration: One hundred twenty seconds.
Recharge: Two hundred seconds.
Slotting Recommendation: Three recharges. If you have a significant amount of -recharge IO's (more on that later), then go with two.
Animation Description: You press your hands together, and emit a vertical beam of purple, shimmering light. You, too, begin to shimmer with a slightly more reddened light. This takes 1.83 seconds to animate.
Comments: No-brainer pick. It's your status protection. It also makes you big 'n strong against psychic damage. So eat your veggies, kids, and buy vitametavegiRin.
Kuji-In Sha; Available at level twenty.
Effect: Heals 25% of your hit points.
Secondary Effect: Grants 15% resistance to Toxic damage for 60 seconds.
Endurance Cost: 10.4 points.
Recharge: Sixty seconds.
Slotting Recommendation: Three recharges, three heals.
Animation Description: Essentially the same as Kuji-In Rin (1.0 seconds instead of 1.83, however), except you emit green tendrils instead of a purple beam.
Comments: If you don't take this, you reject everything it means to be a gamer. It's an extremely powerful self heal. Get it, slot it, love it.
Smoke Flash; Available at level twenty-eight.
Effect: Placates critters for 16.4 seconds; Placates players for 12.3 seconds.
Endurance Cost: 2.3 points.
Radius: 20'.
Recharge: One hundred twenty seconds.
Animation Description: You toss something to the ground below you, which explodes in a shower of grey smoke. It takes 1.83 seconds to animate.
Comments: A decent power, but not necessarily required. It's another one of Ninjitsu's "toys", and it's fun to have around. It's a very useful panic button, capable of taking the heat off you very easily. Note that this will not place you in an artificial "Hidden" state; therefore you will not get a free critical from this power. I took this power at level 47, as I didn't want a Night Widow.
Blinding Powder; Available at level thirty-five.
Effect: Casts a Mag Two (affects Minions only) Sleep that lasts 11.92 seconds in PvE, and 9.5 seconds in PvP. Casts a Mag Two (affects Minions only) Confuse that lasts 23.84 seconds in both PvP and PvE.
Secondary Effect: Casts a 7.5% -tohit that lasts fifteen seconds.
Endurance Cost: 7.8 points.
Cone Arc and Depth: 45°; 25'
Recharge: One hundred twenty seconds.
Animation Description: You toss some white stuff with your left hand. It takes 1.07 seconds to animate.
Comments: Ever seen "Bloodsport", when that big asian martial artist tosses that powder at Jean-Claude? That is Blinding Powder, and it has a similar effect in-game. Critters can't see you very well, are often blinded and incapable of action, and those that are capable of action can't hit very well and sometimes hit someone else. In the immortal words of some unnamed and uncouth chap: "it [censored] you up pretty good, man." It's a very effective power, allowing you to temporarily neutralise a large cluster of small fries instantly.
Kuji-In Retsu; Available at level thirty-eight.
Effect: Grants you 45% melee, ranged and AoE defence; triples your innate jump height and speed, and increases run speed by nearly the same amount.
Secondary Effect: Provides you with a 100% +recovery, and 34.4% resistance to defence debuffs.
Endurance Cost: 2.3 points.
Recharge: One thousand seconds. Yes, you heard me right.
Duration: One hundred eighty seconds.
Slotting Recommendation: PvE; three recharges. PvP; three recharges, three defence buffs.
Animation Description: You pray. No, honestly, you press your hands together like you're praying; a beam of baby-blue light extends outwards from your hand. It requires approximately two seconds to fire.
Comments: Nyah nyah, you can't kill me. *cough* You're nearly impossible to kill with this power. You die from abysmal luck, from one shots, from auto hit damage auras, and from massive +tohit that is almost always found only in PvP zones. You also move particularly fast, and practically can't run out of endurance. That is, until your three minutes of heaven are up. Once your burst of glory is over, you lose all of your endurance, and can't recover any endurance for twenty seconds. It's an extremely powerful ability, but it cannot and never will be "perma-able", which is to say, you'll never be able to constantly have this power active, not even with a dozen Speed Boosts, Hasten and a gazillion Luck of the Gamblers (note: this will be explained later). Not taking this power is a mistake, pure and simple.
This concludes
"Veil of Shadows", your updated guide to Ninjitsu. Allow me to explain pool powers, and their effects.
Teleportation: One of four possible "travel pools", Teleportation is useful to a Stalker in many ways. First, one can use it to pull a troublesome foe from its comrades, allowing you a relatively quick and clean kill if you feel you are incapable of surviving the onslaught of your enemies in a direct confrontation. Second, you have a very important ability that noone else can claim to have at level one: invisibility. This gives you the opportunity to "ghost" missions for a team unwilling to fight all the critters; "ghosting" is the term used when you bypass the majority of the critter spawns to complete the mission objective as quickly as possible in order to reap the mission reward Experience. "Stealthing" is another term. Recall Friend is the centre of this technique; however, be warned: not every team will desire this technique, preferring instead a more direct approach towards completing your objective. So please, do not do this without being requested beforehand. Third, one can use Teleportation to pull off an interesting little manoeuvre a friend of mine has dubbed the "telegank". Teleganking is setting your Teleport reticle directly beneath the feet of the target and queueing Assassin's Eclipse. You will arrive next to your target, and immediately start Assassin's Eclipse. The chances are extremely high that, should the manoeuvre be successful and you arrive directly next to your target, your Assassin's Eclipse will be uninterrupted, unleashing a very large burst of damage very quickly, and taking any human player by complete surprise. Unfortunately, this technique is difficult to master, and dependent on the manoeuvrability of your target. Should he or she change position during transit, this technique will fail.
Speed: One of four possible "travel pools", Speed is particularly useful to most Stalkers. This is largely due to "Hasten", a power which substantially decreases the recharge time of all your powers for two minutes. Hasten is extremely popular, because faster recharge generally means faster kill speed. Super Speed, the actual travel power itself, isn't a particularly great travel power in City of Villains. Lord Recluse, in his infinite wisdom, decided the construction of intricate walls and concrete fortifications rising hundreds of feet into the air would aid his "Destined Ones" in their endeavours. Foolish spider. If you have the patience for it, it can serve as a travel power, but you'll often want to strangle the cruel individual who built Grandville, the last Isle you will explore, which is notorious for being particularly difficult to navigate. The other two powers in the set, Flurry and Whirlwind, are about the least useful powers to a Stalker. If you want them for concept, feel free, but if you're looking at this guide, you're probably more interested in bending your concept to work for you, rather than bending yourself to work with your concept.
Flight: One of four possible "travel pools", Flight is very much "love/hate". If you intend to participate in Player vs. Player combat, this pool is very inadequate. Those who praise it tend to enjoy its simplicity: it is very much point-and-click, and auto-pilot the rest of the way. You can soar majestically over the critters while they vainly shake their fists, for the vast majority will be unable to attack you if you so choose. Those who malign it tend to point out its speed; of the four "travel pools", Flight offers the slowest speed in return for its relative simplicity and safety. They also point out its numerous counters; many foes come equipped with powers which, when affecting your character, will prevent the use of Flight, often for extended durations. Flight also comes with Air Superiority, easily one of the best powers in the entire game. Air Superiority consistently knocks foes down upon a successful hit, preventing them from attacking you for a short time. The best part: this power can be chained, repeatedly, over and over, to keep a foe on his butt for all of eternity (or until you miss). Hover is okay if you really don't want Air Superiority (believe me, I find myself skipping it too in favour of Hover), but it's not really a great power. Hover is analogous to molasses in January -- it's literally that slow. As for Group Flight... a completely worthless power to a Stalker.
Leaping: One of four possible "travel pools", Leaping is easily the most picked. It offers incredible vertical and horizontal manoevrability with very little endurance cost. While slower than Teleport, it's not much slower than Super Speed, and can often reach its destination before Super Speed, entirely through its vertical manoevrability. Leaping also comes with Jump Kick (a terrible power by all accounts), Combat Jumping (a useful travel power pre-requisite), and Acrobatics (should Invention Origin knockback protection enhancements be inadequate).
Fighting: Completely unworthy of the pool selection. Fighting gives mediocre smashing and lethal resistance, a tiny level of defence, and weak attacks. Skip.
Concealment: Ordinarily, you'd think, "Concealment! I can stack this with Hide to avoid those annoying Rikti Drones that see right past my stealth!"; you'd be wrong. Concealment is ONLY useful in Player vs. Player environments. Stealth effects work to your advantage in there, and stacking Stealth does have some benefit. In Player vs. Environment, extra Stealth is unneeded and completely irrelevant. Hide, Invisibility, Superior Invisibility and the like will provide complete stealth to everything that can't see past Hide in the first place. Any further stacking will provide no benefit. However, the one interesting power in this set is, of course, Phase Shift. Personally, I don't think it's worth wasting a pool over. Take this if you want to participate in Player vs. Player combat, but don't give it a second thought otherwise.
Medicine: You're a DM/Nin. You have two self heals already. A third is unnecessary. Leave Medicine to the silly folk who took Energy Aura. A running joke on the Stalker forums is "Assassin's Heal" -- the pocket 'healer' who stays in Hide and spams Aid Other. Don't be an Assassin's Healer.
Leadership: Largely irrelevant for a Stalker. Ordinarily, you'd think, "Gee, Manoeuvres for more defence sounds nice"; you'd be wrong. Ordinarily, you'd think, "Gee, more accuracy sounds nice"; you'd be wrong. Ordinarily, you'd think, "Ooh, Vengeance!"; you'd be right, but it's not worth burning a power pool over. You only have four to choose from, so choose wisely. This is not a wise choice for a Stalker, save for specially designed "Superteams".
Presence: Castle, our feared and respected Powers Guy, once told us a story of how he abused Provoke/Challenge and Placate in Player vs. Player combat to completely nullify an enemy's ability to attack anything. Unfortunately, the little fink ratted to his superiors, and now it serves no useful purpose whatsoever. Some Stalkers report that Intimidate is useful in Player vs. Player combat, but you are Dark Melee! You have a BETTER Fear. Leave Presence to the EM/Regens.
Fitness: This is as close to the traditional MMO "attribute booster" as we get. This pool can let you boost your run speed, your jump speed, your health regeneration and your endurance recovery. It is the fourth that is most useful. Many people feel Fitness is necessary. I am one of those people. This pool comes highly recommended.
Now let me explain to you Patron Powers. Patron Powers are powers that you are given access to at level 41 after you complete a special Story Arc, given by one of four contacts. You are only allowed to choose one Patron, so choose wisely. These contacts are:
Black Scorpion: A big armoured chap with a mechanical scorpion's tail. He gives you access to a special Mace (the medieval kind). It's special because, well, it's not a Mace -- it's really just an intricately designed energy propellant device. This set gives you access to a ranged attack, a "Sniper" attack, a ranged "Hold", and the ability to summon three "Spiderlings". The ranged attack is pathetic. The animation is incredibly long; much too long for you. The "sniper" attack is just that -- a long ranged burst of interruptible damage. Unfortunately, the damage is laughable, and the animation is also incredibly long. We're talking eight seconds long, six of which are interruptible. The hold takes an equally long time to use, but, get this: remember when I was kindly explaining Flight to you? Well, this is one of those powers that prevents Flight. It also prevents jumping. It's a good power, but generally only useful in Player vs. Player combat. The spiderlings are often maligned, but many people do not realise that they are nasty little buggers, and very powerful. Take this set if you want to participate in Player vs. Player combat, or if you want the little Spiderling pets.
Ghost Widow: A sexy goth chick, who just so happens to be dead. She gives you access to several beautifully animated Dark powers. Like Black Scorpion, she comes complete with a ranged blast, a snipe, a hold, and a pet. The ranged blast is pure gold, though. Remember the "bread and butter" combination of Smite and Shadow Punch? This is the honey part. Dark Blast deals about as much damage as Smite, with an equally short animation, at 80' range. Her snipe is equally as worthless as Black Scorpion, for largely the same reason. The hold is pure gold though. Soul Storm is incredible. Soul Storm lets you hold a victim, and hold him or her for some time, by using a wave of beautifully animated souls which force a victim into the air and twirl him or her around. You also strike one hell of a cool pose, with your arms crossed, floating in midair. Take it, even if you don't WANT a hold. The animation is WORTH the power slot. As for the Night Widow, it's just for flavour; she's not as useful as the Spiderlings.
Scirocco: An emo middle eastern chap with glowing eyes. He's emo because he constantly laments his fate as a villain. More on this in his arc. That said, he gives you access to several crimson coloured lightning-based powers (yay! red lightning!). He comes complete with the same package that Black Scorpion and Ghost Widow give you access to. The ranged blast is similar to Ghost Widow's; the snipe is equally worthless; the hold isn't as useful because it doesn't last as long; and the pet is about as useful as the Night Widow. On the descending order of usefulness, Scirocco ranks #2; in PvP, #3.
Mako: A humanoid shark who ... likes fish. And sharks. A lot. So much so that he found ... well. You'll see in his arc. He gives you access to several ... interestingly animated powers (which is to say, you're going to laugh out loud), involving spirit sharks. Yes, spirit sharks, you heard me right. His package (oh haha) is dissimilar to the others. While he has access to a ranged blast (with a long animation, so it's not useful), he doesn't have the useless snipe. Instead, he grants you access to an annoying and incredibly useful entity known as the "Water Spout", which is an untargetable pet that acts like the Storm power "Tornado". It runs every which way, throwing stuff into the air, stunning them, lowering their defence, chewing them up with a high DoT, and generally causing incredible levels of mayhem. Try not to use this on teams, as it can and will be immensely annoying. His hold will prevent Flying, and can be fairly useful. His pet... hmm. I've never seen his pet. I take that as a sign that it's not exactly useful.
Inventions: The Fountain of Power.
Ah, Inventions. How lovely thou art. How smoothly you glide into slots. How empowered I feel in your presence. How you never break down over time. How your set bonuses excite me.
A few miscellaneous notes on Inventions: There are two kinds of Inventions. Common Inventions, and Set Inventions, commonly known as "IO's", which stand for Invention Origins. There's no "Invention" origin, but since the "old" enhancements are commonly centred around Origins (and called TO's, DO's, SO's and HO's), it somehow makes sense to call them "IO's".
That said, Common Inventions (simply called IO's, which you're probably beginning to think is a particularly ambiguous term -- you'd be right) increase but one aspect of your power. Certainly you can slot different Inventions to increase different attributes, but each individual Common Invention will only increase its specified attribute (I.E. damage). They tend to be quite a bit more powerful than your average SO or DO, but their power is dependent on their level. Common IO's are very similar to SO's and DO's, so if you're returning from a long absence, these are good to cut your teeth on. They're also very handy to round off a particular attribute that Set Inventions did not adequately increase. Common IO's come in five levels -- in other words, starting at level seven, you can slot level ten IO's; at twelve, fifteens; at seventeen, twenties. There are no level twenty-two Common IO's, for instance.
Set Inventions are known as "sets", "set IO's" or simply "IO's", and can be individually specified with their own colourful names, such as Positron's Blast, or Mako's Bite. Set Inventions are characterised by their Set Bonuses, and by the fact that they tend to enhance multiple attributes simultaneously (I.E. accuracy, damage and endurance). Set Inventions are not like Common IO's -- in other words, they don't come in five level intervals. Instead, they have level ranges. Some cap at 40. Some cap at 20. Some don't start until 20. Also, this is important: each "set" is indeed a set. The following is best described with a simile (which I ruthlessly stole from someone -- sorry): Set Inventions are like the three stooges. You can't make the Three Stooges Set with three Larrys. You can only have the Three Stooges with one Larry, one Moe, and one Curly. In other words, you can't have two Acc/Dam/Rech Set Bonuses from the same set. However, if you were to acquire an Acc/Dam/Rech from, say, the Devastation set, and an Acc/Dam/Rech from, say, the Decimation set, you can slot both of those. But NOT from the same set. Set Inventions come in three rarities: Yellow, which is uncommon, and also tend to be the least powerful, but this is not always the case. Orange, which is rare, tend to be powerful, but this is not always the case. And finally, with I11, Purple Inventions were introduced, which are, bar none, the most powerful enhancements you'll ever buy, and boy do they cost a lot.
It should also be noted that Set Inventions come in "types", such as a Stun set, or a targeted AoE damage set, or a PBAoE set. A power will only take sets appropriate to it (so, Smite, for instance, will only take Melee sets, and Kuji-In Retsu only Defence sets).
To make Common AND Set IO's, first you need a recipe. A recipe is just that -- it tells you what you need to create something. What you "need" is Invention Salvage in the specified quantities for the recipe. Invention Salvage comes in three rarities: Common, Uncommon and Rare. Like Set Inventions, each salvage has a level range in which it drops, which generally corresponds to the level range of the recipes it is used in. Invention Salvage comes in two types: Magical and Techology, sometimes called Arcane and Tech. Enemy groups generally only drop either Magic or Tech, but a few (Longbow, Arachnos and Scrapyarders, plus a couple others) drop both. This is to eliminate the need to farm only one certain enemy group -- just a type of group.
Once you have the required salvage and the recipe, you need a Workbench. These are found in Cap Au Diable at the University, Steel Canyon at the University, some Supergroup Bases, and can be summoned by the true badge whores amongst you. When you create the IO, all of the salvage AND the recipe is consumed, lost to the void.
That having been said, here are a few things to look for in set bonuses and IO's in general:
-recharge: To decrease recharge is to increase damage over time, provided you're not limited by animation speed, and to decrease the recharge of Kuji-In Retsu/Sha. This is a very important set bonus to acquire. Notable sets with a -recharge Set Bonus: Crushing Impact (melee), Red Fortune (defence), Decimation (range), Entropic Chaos (range).
+def: To increase defence on a Ninjitsu is to exponentially increase survivability. In other words, every point of defence you have makes the next point more important. This is entirely due to the nature of the accuracy code. For further reading, please read Arcanaville's guide to (tohit and) defence. Notable sets with +def: Mako's Bite (melee, increases ranged defence), Touch of Death (melee, increases melee defence), Red Fortune (defence, increases ranged defence), Steadfast's Res/Def global (resistance).
+acc: To miss is to waste. Don't let your attacks go to waste. Notable sets with +acc: Crushing Impact (melee), Thunderstrike (ranged), Luck of the Gambler (defence).
Procs: A proc is ... well, I really don't know what it means. I do know that it's essentially a "chance" for some kind of effect. If I were to, say, put Touch of Death: Chance for Negative Energy damage into a power, that power would have a 20% chance to inflict a moderate level of Negative Energy damage. Procs are very useful to have. Also, a level 22 proc, for instance, functions exactly like a level 50 proc, for all intents and purposes.
Uniques: A unique is a very special IO. It's unique because, well, it's Unique: you can only slot one of the same kind at the same time. So you can slot, for instance, the Miracle: Recovery Unique, AND the Numina's Convalescence Unique, but you can't slot Miracle: Recovery twice. Also note that most Uniques are special because the power they are in must be "activated" every 120 seconds in order to receive its effect at all times. Auto powers are a great place to put them in, because they activate themselves continuously -- therefore, their effects are continuous. Also note that the Purple Sets are themselves considered "Uniques", but their set bonuses do not operate like the benefits of the "normal" uniques.
Globals: A global operates globally. It increases a certain attribute, such as tohit, across your entire character. Set bonuses are considered "global effects", but "Globals" themselves are single IO's that give a global effect. Luck of the Gambler: Def/Increased Recharge Speed is one of these. Please note that globals are different from Uniques because you can slot up to five of them in different powers, and still gain their specific attribute bonus (please note that this rule is also true of ALL set bonuses -- five of like kind and you cannot have any more; so five 4% +accs, for instance, and five 5% +accs, but the sixth of each will be wasted).
Tactics: Both PvP and PvE.
A word on tactics now. Not the power; actual tactics employed by you, the Stalker, to combat your enemies.
Staying Alive: It may seem a little silly, but many people don't stop to consider their chances of survival. The innate sense of survivability is very much an experience-based sense, so I cannot help you very much, but I can tell you a few things. Firstly, Touch of Fear is godly. It adds more to your survival than the entire Energy Aura power set. While that may not seem like much, it's simply the fact that one power trumps an entire secondary that makes it so special. Using Touch of Fear tactically is very important in Staying Alive. Knowing when to retreat is also a good thing to learn. It is better to retreat than to kiss concrete. If you sense your demise is imminent, do as Richard Pryor and RUUUN. The entire concept of "honour" in ANY video game situation is completely irrelevant.
Maximising Damage Per Second: I would like to take a moment to explain to you the concept of "DPS". DPS stands for Damage Per Second, and it is the calculation used to determine the overall amount of damage you will deal every second. Ordinarily, you'd say, "But AC, damage over time isn't the nature of Stalkers", and you're right. DPS, however, is defined as Damage Per Second. If you contribute large spikes of damage, that's a lot of damage per second if the fight is over with very quickly. To maximise your DPS, you have to learn one thing: that extra crit damage from waiting for Hide to return? It's NOT GOOD. It significantly decreases your overall DPS to wait for your Hidden state to return. While it's endurance -efficient-, it's not particularly good to do unless you're lazy, or you're low on endurance.
Midnight Grasp: Related to the "Staying Alive" section is this: knowing when Midnight Grasp is going to get you killed. Midnight Grasp is a ticking Damage over Time power. Using it inappropriately is going to get you killed. For instance: Fighting a foe that -requires- Placate. A good example is an Elite Boss prior to Kuji-In Retsu, or a Rikti Heavy Assault Suit found in the Rikti War Zone.
Placate: Related to Midnight Grasp is -Placate-. Knowing when to Placate and when to NOT Placate is extremely important. Placate at the wrong time, and that hapless Corruptor behind you is going to get his guts ripped open. Placate at the wrong time, and your enemy will hit through that brief window where Placate is interrupted.
Proper Targeting: Similar to "maximising DPS", knowing what to target, when to target it and why to target it in the first place is a very important step towards Proper Stalking. Overkill is the absolute worst enemy you will ever fight. For instance, my silly pupil, you do not Assassin's Strike a minion at 20% health. That is overkill. Use Smite instead. Try to use Assassin's Strike on things with lots of health, or on things that present a danger to you and/or your team. Your entire role on teams is to take out key threats, such as a Sapper or a Nullifier, before they become a threat. If this role contradicts my advice of avoiding overkill, then go with the role, but try not to Assassin's Strike a Sapper at 20% health. Too many Stalkers do not realise that it's easier and more efficient to use their normal attacks in certain circumstances.
Etiquette: There are things you should not do as a Stalker. One of them is to "Scout" without permission. It's not proper etiquette to run off, find the boss, and say, "Hey guys! I found the boss!". Why, who gives a damn, little Stalker? While you were off scouting, the team was giving -you- xp. Come back and fight. Another is to Assassin's Strike your Corruptors' anchor. An anchor is a critter in which a Corruptor or Defender or Controller exerts some form of power in order to affect all nearby critters. Killing that critter, known as the anchor, will deactivate the power. Anchors exude a certain graphic for each anchor; therefore, you cannot claim "I didn't see it", because you absolutely can.
Above all: Have fun. It's a game. Try not to take things seriously. Calling someone multiple four-letter-words over a video game is not healthy. When something bugs you, sit back, breathe deeply, and remember: be the better wo/man, and just ignore it.
By the way, for those curious, here is Evanesce's build. It's as close to accurate as I felt like making it, but it's still very accurate. I don't have the Purple set for Blinding Powder, but it's coming as soon as I can nab it. By the way (and this is just a quick edit), apparently the post got just a wee bit too long. So, just copy this chunk into Mids, and you can see the build. (another quick edit to hopefully clear up the issues with viewing the accursed build)
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</pre><hr />
Manoeuvres is how maneuvers is spelled across the pond.