[u]Introduction[u]
Hello. You know me, so I'm not going to introduce myself. However, I will say that I've been playing my Ninja Blade/Ninjutsu Stalker since Issue 6, and yes, AC, Ninja Blade does exist now, since it's the name of one of the weapons you can choose to wield if you choose this set. However, for all intents and purpouses, I will refer to this combination as Katana/Ninjutsu, because they are almost exactly the same.
So, you want to be a Stalker, eh? Did your poor pink pom-poms get nerfed into the ground? Did you try Bane Spiders, only to realize that they're lame watered-down versions of the Stalker, the king of everything? Or maybe you've played a Blaster and got tired of dying.
This guide will explore, in detail, how to make things die - wether it be against mindless NPCs who will provide little challenge for you, or against players, who might have some shred of skill. If you've never felt the awesomeness that is making things die in a split second, or if you're already on your way to level 50, this guide should provide all the information you need to keep on stabbing.
So, without further ado, here's the actual guide. Read at your own risk.
[u]Stalkers: The Other Blaster[u]
If you are reading this guide as an introduction to the Stalker AT itself, here is some general information about the Archetype.
Stalker Inherant Power: Assassination
This is what makes you different from those Scrappers over on the other side of the fence. This power is closely tied to Hide, the first power choice in every secondary that you cannot skip, and if you could skip it, you wouldn't because I would personally assassinate you for being so foolish if you did. This power is also closely tied to Assassin's Strike. I will explain how Assassination works on it's own, with hide, and with Assassin's Strike.
First off: You will always have a base 10% chance to score a critical hit with your attacks, always, always, always. Unless you're using an inherant (Brawl) power or temporary power. Then you will never, never, never crit. Unless the power crits on it's own. Then you will... You get the point.
This is a very small bonus in the lower levels where most of your attacks will be used from hide. When hidden, your attacks will always score a critical if they hit, UNLESS they are cones or area of effect. This is an unfortunate thing for many Stalkers who cannot automatically crit with their strongest hitters, namely Ripper, Golden Dragonfly, and Eviscerate. AOE or cone powers will have a 50% chance to crit, normally.
So, in hide you have a base 100% chance to crit, and outside of hide you will have a 10% chance. Those powers mentioned above that are small cones will have a higher chance to crit without hide.
In addition to this, your ability to score a critical outside of hide will increase by 3% for every teammate within 30 feet of you. As good as this sounds, teammates won't always be that close to you. This perk is best in AV or Hero fights when the team is usually piled around the enemy.
Another main thing about it, is how it works with your signature attack - Assassin's Strike.
If you use AS from hide, and hit, you will do extreme damage. Not like "Hey, I did half of this guy's health in one blow," I mean EXTREME damage. Like the kind of thing that will make people who don't know how to PvP cringe. This is the thing that causes people to want you to be nerfed. But it won't be nerfed. Laugh at them, and then kill them.
AS also has an effect called Demoralize. This power is only in PvE, but works very well. If you use AS on an enemy from hide, and hit, and the target survives the blow (That part makes no sense conceptually,) everybody in a gigantic area will have their accuracy debuffed by a small amount, and will have a 25% chance of being hit with a magnitude 5 Fear effect, which will make things twice your size cower as you rip them and their friends apart. This is the "Nice thing" that Stalkers get, that will amuse you for many stabs, punches, dark skull things, etc to come.
That is Assassination. It is where most of your damage will come from. Without it, you will do Tanker-worthy damage. Embrace Assassination. Love Assassination. Assassinate with Assassination. Team with Assassination. Sleep with Assassination. Eat with Assassination. It is everything you are.
Stalker Primary Rundown
These are brief summaries of each Stalker Primary.
Energy Melee: Considered the "Best" Stalker primary for PvP, and on teams fighting against NPCs it is definately the worst. It still holds it's own as a decent solo set, as it can drop 3 or 4 targets in short order with a few ridiculously hard hitting attacks that almost match AS's power. It stuns enemies, is the king of single target burst damage, and has a few powers that look very cool. Drawbacks are lack of AOE damage, high endurance cost, slow recharge, and the pom poms look ridiculous.
Spines: Also known as Banana Melee, this set offers a good mix of Single Target and AOE damage, sort of a jack of all trades set for Stalkers. It has a few ranged powers, which can help in PvP. Slow animations and lots of DoT make it all around sub-par in PvP, however. The DoT from your spines will interfere with Placate, making you quite vulnerable.
Dark Melee: This set is perhaps unkillable in PvE, with stacked -ACC on your enemies and defense from your secondary powerset making you nearly impossible to hit. Fast animations excluding Shadow Maul, which everyone has if they took Sands of Mu anyways. Low single target and AOE damage for a Stalker, but "Chainsaw" builds with lots of recharge using only the fast activating powers seem to do well. In PvP your secondary effect is made useless, because Defense in general is broken when figthing players. More on this later.
Claws: The fastest, and probably lowest damage set for Stalkers, with a few ranged powers that make it very similar to Spines. Low end cost, but low damage make it good yet bad in the lower levels, but Focus makes a huge difference.
Martial Arts: Also known as "lol MA." This set is like Energy Melee with inferior stuns and damage, but faster recharge and activation times, which surprisingly is not a good enough trade-off to make this a good set. Recent buffs have made it decent, but still sub-par.
Electric Melee: The PvE set. You will get many AOEs, or at least, powers that will hurt multiple targets quickly, later on in your career. Recent buffs have made Chain Induction a very takeable power, while Thunder Strike and Lightning Rod provide most of the punch of the set. Lighting Rod does not crit, but it also does not drop hide, giving you a free crit with AS or Thunder Strike, or whatever else you feel like using. Beware, however: This set's Single Target damage is inferior to other sets. Not reccomended for fighting anything with more HP than you in PvP.
Dual Blades: Since it has come into existance, it has been considered the worst Stalker Primary time and time again. Decent AOE damage, slow activations, lower damage, and the need to stick around and activate multiple powers in a row to get combo bonuses to have meaningful secondary effects, makes this set very unimpressive in PvE and PvP. For this reason, buffs may be coming soon, but I still wouldn't roll one.
Stalker Secondaries
Basically, I wouldn't reccomend playing anything but Ninjutsu, Regeneration, or (for PvE) Willpower. Regen and WP are currently being hurt by the broken Stalker HP cap, making Ninjutsu the only good option. And if it gets Nerfed, we'll all have to assassinate Castle, assuming he doesn't nerf that too.
Dark Armor: Good AOE mezzes for migitation, but Resistance and AOE toggle powers don't fit well with the Stalker theme, even though you'd think all Stalkers would be Dark Armor. "Dark Evil Dragon Master Summoner Lord Demon" would be a very common name if this set was any good (And if you could make names that long.)
Electric Armor: I have never played this set beyond level 10, and that was on a brute. But Resistance powers, 2 un-wanted utility powers, and the fact that you would probably need to take every power to be effective... Yeah, don't ever make one of these.
Energy Aura: Better than Electric Armor because it is defense. The godmode power suffers from the broken HP cap. Do not roll one of these unless you think it will be buffed.
Super Refexes: Even though this set was around first, this is "The other Ninjutsu." Slightly better-than-Ninjutsu Defense, and a +Recharge power are the only things this set has going for it. You must take every power and slot it well to be good, and you lack the Control powers and heal of Ninjutsu.
Regeneration: If you ignore the fact that Dull Pain is basically worthless nowadays, this set is very good. You have two god-modes, neither with crashes, a self heal, good mez protection, and enough regeneration to actually notice it. If you don't take Ninjutsu, take this or Willpower.
Willpower: Suffers in the same way as Regeneration does, but this set offers a mix of resistance, defense, and regeneration. The staple power here is Rise to the Challenge, which will make you regenerate HP very, very quickly... In PvE. This is not a PvP set.
And, not that you've seen all the powersets that are terrible, here are the ones that are godly.
[u]Ninja Blade[u]
Here, you will take your first steps in becoming a Ninja, and eventually you will master the art of making things die. Here is a list of the powers that will make you hurt things. A lot.
Gambler's Cut
This is a very fast attack with a nice animation of you performing two cuts across your enemie's torso, doing relatively low damage. This power, especially with IOs, recharges ridiculously fast. It is an attack chain filler in PvE, but more of an "I'm taking this because I have to" power in PvP. I reccomend this over Sting of the Wasp.
Slotting: 2-3 Damage, 1-2 ACC, 0-2 Recharge
Sting of the Wasp
This power is slightly slower but deals more damage than Gambler's Cut. As this build is all about being fast, I reccomend respeccing out of this in the later levels, but using it in your attack chain until level 26, when you get real attacks. You slice your enemy diagonally relatively quickly. Very unimpressive, but at level 1, can't expect anything better.
Slotting: 3 Damage, 2 ACC, 0-1 Recharge
Flashing Steel
I have seen people in the late 20's with this power and the first two powers, as well as every other power in the primary except Build Up and Placate. If you do something like that, I will make you die. This power is -only- an attack chain filler until level 26, or earlier. Respec out of it as soon as you get a third attack. You slice horizontally in the least impressive way imaginable, and can hit a few foes. It does not auto-crit, as it is a cone.
Slotting: 3 Damage, 2 ACC, 0-1 Recharge
Assassin's Blade
I have already explained this power, but because it is so godly, I will do it again. This is you. This is what makes others hate and fear you. It kills things before they have a chance to react, and if it doesn't, everyone around you will start cowering, and for good reasons; this power is usually followed by a stab-fest that will kill everything in a sort of horror movie fashion. Texas Chain Saw Massacre? Hows about Rogue Isles Katana Making Deadness of Things? I would watch that movie.
This power is best used on Bosses. It will not kill them outright, unless they are a few levels below you, or if you have some serious buffage on you, and that means that the mob around the boss will be debuffed and have a chance of being terrorized. Killing bosses is also your main role, followed by scrapping it out with the minions.
This is one of the best animations in the game. Ask Angry Citizen, also known as "The other Nin/Nin Stalker." By the way, I am "The Nin/Nin Stalker," not him. He doesn't have what it takes to write a guide about Nin/Nins after the Stalker buffs and Inventions, thus I win. Muhuhahaha. The animation consists of you crouching down low, katana in your left hand while your right hand is placed on the bottom of the hilt. After a brief pause while you aim for your prey's organs, or face, and contemplate slaughtering his buddies, you push the sword into them, which usually results in them dying. See? You made them dead! You're already on your way. After you hold the sword inside of them long enough for them to realize, "Oh my god, I'm going to die," you pull it out, and stand in a Ninja Pose until you move or finish off your foe. The sound that accompanies the stab sounds something like "KerSHEEK," followed by the unmistakable sound of blood spilling, even though your sword is still inside of them. Gah, immersion breaking!
Slotting: 3 Damage, 2 ACC, 1 Recharge
Build Up
This is another neccessary power if you want to make things die. While your larger, more primitive Brute allies will often hold off on this power until they have an attack chain, you know better. You want this power. Immediately.
Slotting: 3 Recharge, 0-3 ToHit Buff
Placate
This power bestows upon you the ability to make a single enemy forget you ever existed. You wave your arm at your target and you dissapear. Other targets will be able to see you and attack you, and this artificial hidden status does not provide any defense like Hide does. However, the person you use this power on is completely unaware of your pressense. I'll help to put this in perspective.
Drew: Hey, Bob?
Bob: Yeah?
Drew: You ever get that feeling that you're being watched?
Bob: Nope... *ASSASSIN'S STRIKE!* *Placate*
Drew: Hey, uh, Bob... You look a little dead there. Maybe you oughta take a brea--*ASSASSIN'S STRIKE!*
That is what Placate will allow you to do. A free critical every 31 seconds with SOs, so long as you aren't hit before you attack. Does that sound awesome? It should. This, allong with Build Up and AS, make you you. Take these three powers immediately, or you will hear mysterious knockings on your door, and when you open it no one will be there... Or will they? *Assassin's Strike*
Slotting: 3 Recharge
Divine Avalanche
Now that you've passed the miserable lower levels and you have started on your path to becoming a Stalker, you will get powers that will define your powerset. This is your signature Katana attack. There is only one other power like this in the game; Parry, from Broadsword. Stalkers do not get Broadsword. This means that your Stalker buddies, assuming that they are not Katana, will not get this power.
"Well, what gives? It looks like it does minor damage and doesn't even lower their defense like my other attacks." Quiet, you. You do not fully comprehend the sheer awesomeness of this power. The animation is a quick parrying stance, as though you're having a lightsabre battle, followed by a whack on the head. The same damage as Gambler's Cut ensues, but every application of this power grants you 15% Defense to melee and lethal attacks for 10 seconds.
Now, 15% resistance would be less overwhelming. But in a game where enemies are so unskilled that 45% defense will render them useless, and the fact that Ninjutsu offers almost 30% defense on it's own, this power makes you unkillable in melee, where you will do 99.9% of your fighting. It also makes bullets, arrows, and any other sharp or pointy projectiles less likely to hit you. It is good to always trust this power in the later levels when you have it slotted. Jump into a mob the size of which any Brute would hesitate to engage, and spam this power. Not only will you likely survive, but this power fits in with your attack chain so well that you will be able to make things die while taking minimal damage yourself. If Stalkers had gods (They are their own gods,) they would pray to Divine Avalanche.
Slotting: 2-3 Defense, 2 ACC, 1-2 Recharge
Soaring Dragon
Yes! Finally, after 26 levels you've gotten your first real attack. If you're like me, you probably died inside every time you followed up AS with Sting of the Wasp. But no more. This attack will do twice as much damage, knock enemies into the air (Useful for fighting those stubborn Romans who don't like to go down), reduce defense, and make you feel all tingly inside. You spin around and diagonally cut your enemy in half, sending them flying upwards. It's a fast animation (Although not nearly as fast as Gambler's Cut,) that will leave enemies thinking "The hell was that?" if they aren't already dead. Take this power immediately, as this is what you will use to make things die all the way to 50 and beyond.
Slotting: 3 Damage, 2 ACC, 0-1 Recharge
Golden Dragonfly
But wait, it gets even better after level 26. If you've been wishing for a power that will make enemies dead even faster, your prayers have been answered. You jump into the air and bring your sword down on your enemy, which can knock them down. The drawback of this power is that it's a tiny cone that offers no meaningful AOE damage and does not automatically crit from hide. This power will have a slightly better chance of critting outside of hide, but you will, like many other Stalkers, agree that this is no tradeoff. Bug castle until he fixes it. Until then, this attack, when it does crit, will do crazy stupid damage, and I daresay if it were just a little bit stronger it could match AS when it crits. When it doesn't crit, it will do more damage than Soaring Dragon. There are two ways to use this power: If you are using it from Hide, then you will definately want to position yourself in a way that you can hit 2 or possibly even 3 enemies. While this takes a lot of practice, this can occasionally make you say, "Wow, that was satisfying," assuming you score multiple crits. There will be times in your career when you use this power and one-shot kill two or even three enemies, and when you do, give yourself a Ninja pat on the back. However, if you are not confident that the power will hit more than one target, use your crit from Hide on Soaring Dragon, as it is more consistant.
Slotting: 3 Damage, 2 ACC, 0-1 Recharge
Now that you know all about how to make things die, there's still the art of not being made dead yourself, which will be very useful. This art of not getting killed is also referred to as...
[u]Ninjutsu[u]
Hide
I have explained most of what this power does already. However, there are a few things that you might want to know as well.
One, it costs no endurance. Nada. Zilch. What the hell is that word, anyways? Zilch. Whoever came up with it must have been high, or maybe he had a Katana stuck in his neck and he couldn't make any other noise to let us all know that he was dead. Cry us a river, Mr. Zilch Man. Oh wait, you can't, because you're dead. Serves him right.
Secondly, when you are in the hidden status, you will have incredible AOE defense, meaning that if you stand next to a brute and someone throws a grenade at him, odds are you'll sidestep the explosion (Don't ask how, you're a Ninja) and still have your free hidden crit with which to make someone die. The power also adds some less major defense to melee and ranged attacks while you are hidden. If you are not hidden, these defenses will be reduced greatly.
Thirdly, after attacking, you will regain your hidden status in 8 seconds. If you are hit or attack again in this time, the timer will reset. Note that if you use AS and miss, you will keep your hidden status, but this does not transfer over to regular attacks.
Fourthly, never, ever detoggle this power if you are fighting. Not that you won't still kill things; but having this power on confers absolutely no negative effect, whatsoever. Sure, an idiotic teammate might run up behind you and get eaten by the mob... But that's their problem. If you are turning off other toggles to get back more endurance, keep this on, even if you have to train your natural reflexes to do so.
Slotting: 1-3 Defense Buffs.
Ninja Reflexes
This is your first toggle power that will make anything in melee bounce off of you. Stacked with Divine Avalanche, you will be nearly unhittable in melee. This also grants you some resistance to defense debuffs, and will get greater as the levels go by. Take this power immediately.
Slotting: 3 Defense Buffs, 1-2 Endurance Reduction
Danger Sense
This is your other toggle. This will make anything that isn't in melee less likely to hit you. It also gives you more resistance to defense debuffs. Another great thing is it's +Perception, which will allow you to see absolutely anything in the game except some Stalkers. This is mostly a PvP bonus, but it is nice to see your team yell "I'm Blinded!" while fighting Arachnos, but you can just keep killing things to your heart's content.
Slotting: 3 Defense Buffs, 1-2 Endurance Reduction
Caltrops
This is the first skippable power in this set. Others will say that it doesn't actually do anything, and that it's damage is negligible. While it's damage is completely worthless, this power tends to make enemies run around, attacking less. I personally took this power, because it can make a difference in PvP, and because it does offer noticeable migitation agaisnt NPCs. If you have room for it, which, you probably should, as I did, then I would take it. Note that this power is permanant out of the box, but you can stack it with recarge buffs.
Slotting: 0-3 Recharge, 0-3 Slows
Kuji-In Rin
If by this point in your career, your stabbing lifestyle has been threatened by Holds, Stuns, Immobolizes, Sleeps, or any other kind of Mez effect, this power will help a lot. I will mention that it is reasonable to put this off a few levels, but the further you go through the game, the more you will need it. It has two drawbacks, namely, the lack of resistance to knockback powers, which most Stalkers, including me, live with. The other is that it is not permanant out of the box, and won't be unless you have 2 Recharge SOs in it. This power is good because it resists every single mez in the game. While others will cower in fear, attack each other, or otherwise be locked down and turned into playthings, you will never need to fear these effects in PvE. However, against other players, stacking mezzes is much more common, and thus you will want to be careful when facing Controllers or Dominators. This power also gives you very decent resistance to Psionic damage, making Brutes want to kill you for it, but unfortunately for them, you'd totally kill them first.
Slotting: 3 Recharge. It's perma with 2, but any slow effect will give you a short period of downtime, which is a death sentence in PvP. You will have the slots for this, and if you don't, you're doing something wrong.
Kuji-In Sha
This is the power that Super Reflexes and Energy Aura users hate you for. Used with Divine Avalanche, or indeed, just with your shields, makes you very hard to kill. Unslotted it is a 25% Heal every 60 seconds, with stackable resistance to Toxic damage every time you use it. This is basically the same thing as Reconstruction, only this power makes you a Ninja.
Slotting: 3 Heals, 3 Recharge
Smoke Flash
You may be looking at this power, sitting at level 27 and thinking, "I can't wait for my AOE Placate power! Whoosh!" Well, I hate to break it to you, (Not really, I love it) but this power is worthless. "Guh? But I can haves another free critical, and it's totally an AOE!" I'd like to respond to that will a big ol' Lex Luthor WROONG. This power is only an escape tool that will make enemies stop attacking you, assuming you get all of them with the small AOE and the fact that it isn't autohit. It will not grant you hidden status, and it's animation is painfully long, making it very possible, nay, likely to get you faceplanted mid-animation. You shouldn't need this power to save yourself, and if you do, you're doing something wrong. If you've followed this guide so far, then it's likely that you need to stop fighting two mobs at once.
Slotting: I have seen people take this power because there is nothing else to take in the 40's, which is reasonable. In that case, slot it with 1-3 Recharges.
Blinding Powder
This is another great tool for migitation. It is also very ninja-like. While it is a small cone, this power makes enemies fall asleep, can confuse minions, and gives a small ToHit debuff. This power is great because it does not draw aggro to you, meaning that you can use this before you start killing things without having to worry about an enemy yelling out, "Hey! A Stalker! Get 'im!" and having someone knock you out of hide. This is a great migitation tool that most people skip because they don't know anything. This is a very good power no matter what you want to do. PvE, PvP, it will still help you in your never-ending quest to make things die.
Slotting: 2-3 Recharge, 2 ACC, 0-2 Confuse
Kuji-In Retsu
Ah, here it is, your god-mode. Often referred to as Elude, but since Ninjutsu is better than Super Reflexes, you can refer to Elude as Kuji-In Retsu. That's right, SR users, we win. The animation looks like you're praying to god, or perhaps Divine Avalanche, and some sort of blue ray protrudes from your hands. And, for the next 3 minutes, you are invincible. Do you know what this means? You can fight almost anything in the game, and survive. On Strike Forces, use this against the AVs and EBs and you'll feel unkillable for the entire SF. This power out of the box takes 1,000 seconds to recharge, grants 45% Defense to everything, makes your running speed ridiculous, and makes your endurance recovery high enough that you won't need to worry about running out, until the power crashes. After the 3 minutes, you will be drained of all of your endurance for a while, making you quite vulnerable. Luckily for you, Hide doesn't cost any endurance, so it will not be detoggled, and neither does Placate, meaning that if a boss is attacking you after you crash, you can Placate them and they'll walk away. Muhuhahaha.
Slotting: 3 Recharge, 3 Defense
Congratulations, you are now an official Ninja. The journey is not over, however, as there are still 12 levels to go, filled with sup-par Patron Powers that will hopefully be revamped and buffed to infinity in Issue 13. Until then, enjoy taking as many bad powers as you want from 41-49.
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