DarkMaster

BillZ, we all realize that you are practically married to Claws. There is no reason to wave around that marriage certificate every minute someone whispers "claws". Don't get your panties in a bunch every time someone doesn't find Claws as impressive as you do. Chill.


Besides, it is in my opinion that the OP would have a better "blastery" time with KM. In fact, KM somewhat loosely resembles Energy Blast already. Sure, Claws may have a little better aoe damage, but KM does have the ability to buff its damage from "range", which is something Claws does not have the luxury of. For a Scrapper, which is what I propose for the OP to roll over a Brute, that buff is a little over 31% +dmg and easily stackable, not 25%. Those buffs will assist the damage of future attacks as well. I do feel that Claws would definitely be somewhat hamperd in the damage department against many foes, especially highly lethal resistant ones, without the use of follow-ups and chained melee attacks, which is its forte. I'm not crunching numbers on it, but that's my take on the matter.


I also don't need to have a logbook of number crunching to present an opinion about what set I think the OP would be happier with for a ranged damage melee set. Personally, I feel he'd like KM over Claws, with a mix of ranged Patron/Epic attacks. He can take my opinion, and others opinions and come up with his own decision. That's how this works.

Well, the other thing that you are going to want to consider, and I think it is a HUGE impact on your choice, is that the only way Claws is going to get any use out of it's "Build Up" power, Follow-Up, is by running "into" melee range to do it...


This means, that every 10 seconds...you'll have to run into melee to get a damage/tohit buff....and if you want to "stack" that buff....you'll have to run into melee even more. Basically, if you want to use the advantage of Follow-Up, your damage booster, you'll have to be in melee range to do it. Which sorta defeats the purpose of "ranged damage dealing Brute" if you ask me. This leaves Shields as NOT a contender as well, since AAO requires you to be in melee for it's effects to work.


With this staggering downside as a factor, I'd actually say that KM and SS are your only options, with Claws coming in as a distant third. At least both KM and SS don't require melee range to work, and KM can stack it's dmg buff without being in melee range in the first place.


Furthermore, Claws is all lethal damage, which is the most resisted damage type in the game, even over Smashing. Without being able to use Follow-Up consistantly, and stack it, you are going to feel the effects of all that +res tremendously. Your damage is definitely going to suffer. At least KM has some exotic damage type with Energy, and you can still get its damage buff to work for you even outside of melee.


My vote solidly rests on choosing a: KM/FA Scrapper w/various ranged Epic/Patron powers.


For what you want, I don't find Claws as a serious contender at all tbh...

Right on the money.


Also, the damage results should be taken with a grain of salt and used as food for "thought." They should not be taken as law. In every situation where someone has reached the "top-10" of the damage charts, they are ALL under complete and total OPTIMUM conditions. That's Shield Defense with a fully saturated AAO (plus mobs that can't hurt him), or Dark Melee with a fully saturated Soul Drain 100% of the time, people using recovery serums or outside recovery boosters for endurance (most dps'rs will admit that without those they couldn't sustain their attack chains for more than a dozen seconds or so), perma Immobs/Mez'ing, perfected (expensive) IO slotting, and a good/perfect run where they happend to not take more damage than they could survive (which doesn't always happen in a basic/general scenario). These damage charts are very useful to see what "IS" achievable with a perfect build, in the perfect settings, with the perfect conditions, with the perfect run, but it's by no means gospel and should only be used to help you determine what you might want out of a set.


In fact, some of the sets which make the top 10 or 15 don't really have that great of "overall" dps without all of these conditions in place. Which means you might build one, not have the money to spend a fortune on it, run on into a TF with a basic pick-up group, and be sorely dissapointed with your results...


I liken these damage comparisons to a Drag Race Car. Under "OPTIMAL" conditions, that Drag Racer is going to severly beat just about any car down a perfect stretch of flat open road, but good luck trying to park it, drive it down a road with curves, or hit corners on it. In comparison that new Corvette Stingray isn't going to match the Dragsters zero to 100 speed, but is going to be much better as an everyday driver that can park, handle curves, and can still kick MUCH rear in speed if it ever needs to against 90% of what you'll ever actually face on the road


Think of it that way.


Also, when asking for single target damage, I think that myself and others are sometimes reffering to: "who can put out the most single target damage in about 30-45 seconds during 'average' conditions" and not really "who can put out the most single target damage over a time period extending over 5-10 minutes". Because for most of what we do in this game, the "30 seconds" worth of major damage output is much more important than what is possible to achieve over a ten to fifteen minute period. Even when on a team that is fighting an AV, in most cases, it isn't going to take your team more than 4 minutes to defeat that single AV. For most, that 30-40 seconds worth of gratification, which can happen with every fight, is alot more gratification than a tedious 10-15 minute slow kill which only happens once-in-a-blue-moon lol. Furthermore, you will rarely find a time where you'll find 6 people that wanna "sit-out" for 5 to 10 minutes or more and watch you take the empathy for recovery aura and slowly solo that AV...just not gonna happen in most cases. Even if they did let you do that just to see if you could, it would only ever happen once lol, they don't wanna watch that tediousness a second time


Anyways, it's damage output between "30-40 seconds under normal conditions" is usually what I refer to when talking "most damage".

Imho, probably the best you're going to get for "ranged" attack damage will be from either Claws or Kinetic Melee, with SS coming up a close third, and those paired with Fire Armor.


Both Claws and KM have two ranged attacks, although KM's second ranged attack-Repulsing Torrent-is more of a "mitigation tool" than a ton of damage, but, it does recharge faster than Shockwave for Claws, so it's a bit of a toss-up. Add to either of those Primaries a decent ranged attack from your patron powers--and there are SEVERAL different options to choose from, although I lean more towards "Gloom" for ST--and you've got yourself a pretty decent ranged "Brute" class. Pair this with the secondary Fire Armor so that you can stack a bit of damage increase on all of those ranged attack with Fiery Embrace, and I think you'll be very pleased.


You might also consider a Scrapper though, for ranged damage. I mean, if you're staying mostly at range, then any Scrapper or Brute has little to worry about as far as survivability goes, so a Scrapper would work fine as well. One nice thing about a Scrapper would critical chances on your ranged attacks and that they start out with higher damage modifiers. You might not maintain a solid amount of Fury on a Brute when attacking at range, so that could hinder some of your overall damage output. A Scrapper doesn't have to worry about the Fury Dance for his damage.

And once again, if you don't want people to point out issues or give suggestions, then don't post. I suggested that you roll a set with more aoe when hearing you talk of attempting aoe damage with EM. That set change could have been a change in either primary or secondary (which could allow you to keep EM). I see no problem with what I suggested, especially in a post that is asking for suggestions in the first place.


So lets make a better deal, don't make a post asking for help/suggestions if you don't want them -and- whatever suggestions/help/info/feedback you do get, take with a grain of fricken salt, absorbe them, and learn from them. No need to jump on someone because of a (valid) suggestion. Had you replied to my first response with something more explanative or reasonable, such as: "ah no Dark, I realize the aoe in EM isn't all that, I was just responding with a possible solution to the 'stun-stagger' that everyone is afraid of which is caused by WH. I really like EM and am hoping to simply maximize what little aoe it does have cuz I likes pink-pom-poms" then your outcome of responses back would have been vastly different.


Don't forget, you're the one asking for the feedback afterall, not us.

I'm not being "so srs", but when I read things like this:

....I'm inclined to believe that maybe you don't realize how lacking EM really is in the aoe department. That you'd most likely be better off just pounding them 1 for 1 with your heavy hitters than spamming that weak attack.


If you realize that EM is weak in aoe, bravo, and have fun with that. I'm not being serious, I was giving you a heads-up/warning in case you "didn't" realize that.


Also, the title of your thread is "Help me make an EM/* Brute", in which case I'm helping you by informing you on EM's total lack of aoe damage and that if using cages+BL+WH for aoe for your mass killing is your future plans, you'd be much better off choosing a different primary. If you don't want constructive criticism, don't post or ask for any...

I'm not trying to be a party pooper...but if you're sitting here talking about wanting to deal "aoe damage" with your EM Brute, I'm going to sit here and tell you that you'll be sorely dissappointed. It's great that you like EM, however I think that if you're going to like EM, then you should like it for what it is, and unfortunately that's not as an AoE geared primary. EM is about single target damage (or at least at one time it definitely was). If you want to really enjoy your EM, focus on that. Sure, pick up a bit-o-whirling hands for "fun" if you want, that's your choice, but expect any sort of great aoe damage return.


I still sorta like EM, even after the nerfs, but seeing you talk AoE inclines me to let you know that it's not going to serve you in that department at all, and that you're much better off focusing on heavy hitting single target attacks. You'll be relatively pleased then, at least with the "big-boom-smashy" feeling the new animations on ET have.


But it's your toon, build him how you want, just remember my warning when you find that your damage and aoe is lagging far behind the rest of the team come late game. GL.

See, personally, I don't think they are. I think they're right at about what they should be. The job of this debuff would be to assist Stalkers i securing their role as "single target eliminator/damage dealer." Anything less than that, and Stalkers wouldn't even notice a difference in performance. They also still wouldn't be considered for teams, with a debuff any less. I could see the -Regen portion being lowered some to no less than -250% regen for 30 seconds, but nothing else really, otherwise it'd be one of those debuffs that might as well not even be there and would still leave Stalkers out cold when picking teams came around..


Once again, this debuff is no-where-near as powerful a debuff as what most Defenders and Corruptors have access to, and most of their debuffs can be applied "on-the-fly" and to more than one target at a time (aoe). Crippling, would be a single target debuff which would require the Stalker to be in melee range to use it and risk having it be interrupted or miss altogether. The debuff would only apply after a "successful" assassin strike and would not be allowed to stack by the same caster. At absolute most, a Stalker might have up to two mobs affected by the debuff at any given time, but that doesn't make for a very effective aoe debuff by any means. So again, it's no-where near too powerful when in comparison to what real debuff classes have to offer imho.


Also, I think 30 seconds is more than a valid debuff duration, especially since the idea behind this debuff is to make Stalkers more effective against "single" hard targets such as +2 lvl EB's and AV's. Anything less time than that, such as a mere 10 seconds....would seriously cut into the Stalker's overall damage output in the end and actually be contradictive to what it's suppose to help us with...which is damage. Because in order for the Stalker to re-apply the debuff...he has to either lose aggro and get into hide status again (which means zero attacking which equals zero damage) or use placate. In either case they'd then have to follow up with and land another Assassin Strike, and as most Stalkers know, AS in general really isn't good for overall dps figures, and can actually severely reduce them.


So no, 30 seconds is a fine number imho. Ten would be way too short for anything worth the debuff, as in most cases you're not going to kill a high level EB or AV in less than 10 seconds..


Anyways, the idea behind AS containting a "debuff" similar to this one is what we're pushing for here, and I really think that overall it's a great idea. We'll leave it to the dev's to decide what the actual debuff figures should be lol..

I think if you want aoe's....then you should really look into a different primary....or at least pair it with a secondary that has some aoes in it already....

The Blessing of the Zephyr nerf?!? Uh-oh, did I miss something!?! What nerf and when?

Also, if a Tanker has a good taunt aura active such as Invince, BA, etc. then that on top of contant attacking is normally draned decent at holding and maintaining aggro. Sure, taking taunt is a bit better, but you don't "have" to take taunt as a Tanker, especially not as one that's also contributing some pretty solid damage numbers. Not imo at least.

Insps do affect pets..simply drag and drop the inspiration onto your pet.

Wow! So much misconception and bad judgement around here lol! I second Deth on this one, Dm/Fire is actually a pretty awesome build for a Brute! I mean, want exotic damage type!?! This is your build. Dm/Fire definitely does not belong on the list for worst Brute builds, not at all. Gosh, pretty soon someone is going to come on here saying Dark Armor belongs on this list for being "squishy" lol....sad.


I guess to each his own, and if you can't build for crap and don't use any sort of thought proccess when playing then you could easily find certain builds (which are suppose to be powerful) as being weak and subpar.....again, to each his own.


There's the "not that great" of builds out there and then there's "crap" buids, and a couple I've seen listed here may belong on the "not that great" of a build list, but not the "crap" list for sure..


***EDIT***

Ya know....come to think of it....after trying out my "perma-stuck-at-lvl 47-for-about-1.5-years" EM/EA Brute, as well as my lvl 50 DM/EA Brute....heck....even EA really isn't a full on "crap-tastic" or "worst" set, especially not after you gain access to IO's (such as on my DM/EA, but no Darkest Night) or Darkest Night (such as on my EM/EA, but no IO's). Seriously, the set still performs admirably against most content.


For example on my EM/EA Brute (what I claimed to be the "worst" Brute earlier), I had the mission difficulty settings to max +4 and +2/3 members in a mission as well as bosses, and I had absolutely zero problems soloing. The ONLY time things got a bit rough is when I came accross the few Lts/Boss mobs which woud be +5 my level. And what I mean by "problems" is, I was just having a hard time landing hits on them frequently due to their level range so they took a few more swings to kill. But at the same time they still landed fewer than 15% of their hits on me either and I was able to beat them without fear of ever dying. This is on +5's mind you all. Heck, even at this setting Energy Transfer did more damage to me than any +5 mob ever did. Sure, I didn't run into any "psi" enemies (EA's bane of existance, worse than Invln) but besides that, my EM/EA Brute didn't feel weak or less defensive than any other set I have at all.


In fact....and this is hard to admit/realize....but he was quite....beast at it all. Even the end bosses were declawed infant kittens against my EM/EA Brute. Now granted this is all "post-Darkest Night or IO's" and that prior to those powers both my EA Brutes were...well....quite weak, but past that the level of performance is quite amazing really. He was definitely easier to solo than alot of "squishy" toons I have at those same respective levels, such as some Blasters and Corruptors.


Anywho....I think that, in terms of survivability and ability, there really isn't a "worst-brute-build". Because ALL Brute builds perform at such amazing levels to begin with. You'd have to work REALLY hard to make a Brute build just absolutely suck, especially post-IO's or Darkest Night. Even the EM/EA and FM/EA Brutes I suggested as possibly being the "worst-brute-builds" are going to just utterly rip things apart when set loose, and will solo better than most average squishy counterparts. Basically, just about any Brute you make will be outstanding. You would have a LOT harder time trying to find a way to make your Brute just absolutely "suck" and "the worst" than you would have trying to making him awesome, to be honest. This is a luxury that many AT's don't have and can't say. Brutes are, simply put, top performers and well rounded. It's hard to go wrong with any combination. I think it would be easier to ask what the "best" Brute build out of all Brutes is, rather than the "worst". Because, frankly, it's hard to really tell what's the "worst" when it comes to Brutes, but on the other end of the spectrum there are some that stand out slightly more than others in certain areas. If you don't want the best, then just pick ANY Brute, because you can't go wrong.


Now, besides Brute survivability, or based on aesthetic's and feel, I do feel as though an EM/Stone Brute would be an absolute BORE to play. It could survive a small meteor strike, but boy would it look just uggly doing it.....haha. I mean, thank the devs for "Color Customization" lol, because prior to that not only were you a super slow walking rock....but you also wielded the super slow "pom-poms-of-death" and had NO way to change that! LOL! But this is 100% personal taste....haha

I have to second this.


If you had a Dm/EA that was craptastic, then you really have no clue how to make a Brute in the first place and should stop.


Sure, EA is quite lacking, but Dm really helps to massively fill those holes in EA.


You can definitely place EA on the "craptastic" board, but you cannot place DM WITH EA on the craptastic board, because there are MANY more primaries which when paired with EA are LOADS weaker than DM/EA.


So, re-evaluate.


Anyways, for most "un-fun" Brute build, I'd have to say EM/Stone....so so slow...won't die....but is super super slow in all aspects.


For weakest? I'd have to say probably FM/EA or EM/EA. FM provides no type of "secondary" effect mitigation other than damage (and damage is something EA doesn't "boost" in any way outside of endurance management...) so FM will add very little mitigation to EA's craptastic survivability. For EM, well....it's slow....and suffers in AoE...so things stay alive all around you as you sorely attempt to slowly kill that "one" target in front of you....while being pummeled from all different angles. Also, ET removes health with each use...it's not a ton....but it does add up. EA is very poor at restoring that lost health. On top of taking more hits and damage than alot of other sets might, ET's -health is definitely noticeable on an Em/EA Brute.


Those two Brute sets are why a DM/EA doesn't belong on the "most craptastic" board, as DM and SM are bar none the two BEST primaries to pair with EA if you simply "must" roll an EA toon for it's "pretty-ness" ...

This.

Ah nice! So does combustion really help close the gap a little between aoe damage on a Tanker vs. a Brute with this combo?

Yea, that's what I feel too, and what I've suggested. I think -500% Regen (for 30 seconds) would be a perrrrrfect number for a "successful" AS on a single target.


Personally, I feel as though it should add some -res/-def on top of that -regen (30% -def/-res for 30 seconds), which is what I suggested earlier as well. A debuff like that would help out smash/lethal sets, which run in to mobs who resist that damage type alot more often in late game. I think that the debuff added to AS should be pretty substantial, from even an "RP" sense of things. I mean...you're coming out of the shadows and supposedly delivering a "precise" and "massively devastating" attack on your "un-knowing" victim. He's not ready for it and has little chance to defend himself from it. It should, in all good sense, be a devastating blow against your foe, more than just damage. Plus, on a balance side of things...it's just a single target debuff...which needs a few things to be in place for it to even work, so it's doesn't come anywhere near being "too powerful" or anything.


I just think it really fits the theme and would help make Stalkers more valuable/viable on teams.


My main change for Stalkers, and suggestion still stands:


ASSASSIN STRIKE: Crippling (bonus attribute): : (debuff applied after a "successful" assassin strike, PvE Only)

• -500% Regen Rate for 30 seconds
  
  
• -30% resistance (all) for 30 seconds
  
  
• -30% defense (all) for 30 seconds
  
  
• Does not stack from same caster

This.


Omg....am I ever gonna have ALOT of toons who will need a respec and some constructive "build" planning....omg....I absolutely LOVE the change, but that is the darkside of it.....I have over 25 lvl 50's who will need constructive respec's and build planning and well over 50 alts all over lvl 25 who will need it as well.....lol....fun fun. But eh...worth it....just not sure if I'm ready to roll new toons this minute with such a workload ahead of me.....just don't wanna "add them" to the stack lol :/

Yes, I think it solves alot.


Sure, AoE's are what Stalkers lack (not that you said they need them, I dunno), but I do not feel that a Stalker should have AoE's. I don't think that solves the problem and I feel that it takes away some uniqueness from the AT as a whole. AoE's are not the answer imho.


A single target debuff incorporated into Assassin Strike definitely solves certain problems with the AT when both teamed and solo. It does this without changing the format and playstyle for which the AT was created--which for all good intent and purpose is as a Single Target Eliminator. It would vastly increase a Stalkers ability to allow himself as well as his teammates to deal much greater damage against a single hard target. Thus better fulfilling the role for which they were centered around.


Would taking another Corruptor over a Stalker (or filling up a team of 8 Corruptors/Defenders/Controllers) be more benificial to an "overall" teams outlook and pace through missions, even after the debuff change to AS? Sure, most definitely, but the Stalker wouldn't be alone there. In that situation, there really aren't ANY melee's that would be better for a team like that than simply adding another damage/buffer to the mix. That's just the way the cookie crumbles in this game, however, the change to AS would make a Stalker a much more viable team member on your average pick-up group of players. Which is what 90% of us end up playing with on a more regular basis outside of a few SG AV/TF runs.


The reason the debuff in AS started sounding very good to me is it got me to thinking of when and where Stalkers truely begin to start losing their potential and overall viability. After some thought, I came to a conclusion as to "roughly" where Stalkers started to lose their viability to a team. I feel that the MOST balanced and "team-valuable" time in a Stalkers' career is between the levels of 8 to 22. Why? For several reasons:


First off, Boss HP is still low enough between those levels (and for a few levels after even) that a Stalker can remove a Boss from a fight for a low-level group in rather short order when compared to his counterparts of equal level. In the lower levels, even a simple pesky Lt. can be a hardship to your average pick-up group. The Stalker shines at these levels because he can quickly remove that Lt completely and with EASE before it even has a chance to cause trouble. In the later levels, this ability quickly dissapears as teams start running higher difficulty levels and boss HP takes a sharp spike upwards. Teams generally have less and less problems with Lt's later and if anything only worry about Bosses/EBs/AVs. Well, in later levels the Stalker can just barely remove even an LT with one BU+AS, let alone quickly remove a boss for the team, and that lone Lt wouldn't have been much trouble for the team in the first place. This is where teams start to notice the lack of a Stalker's overall contribution to them.


Second, in the low levels, between 10 and 22, Scrappers and Brutes still haven't accessed all of their defensive and offensive potential. They generally have ONE or the OTHER of what they need to be monsters, but not both: they either have solid defenses and can survive a decent amount of damage and aggro, but are lacking in damage --or-- they can dish out a decent amount of damage but cannot handle too much damage or aggro. Without both attributes, they cannot reach the same strides in damage that are needed to quickly and easily dispose of bosses and hard LT's for an average team, or without alot of buff support. Thanks to this, a Stalker can shine. Why? Because he HAS the ability and damage edge over other AT's of his equal level to quickly and easily remove a boss or hard target from the battlefield, thus saving his team alot of time and problems. In later levels, primarily after SO's and access to better attacks and defenses, this edge goes away for the Stalker, since Brutes and Scrappers have full access to BOTH sides of what they need: damage and survivability. They can now run amok killing things left and right with impunity and little worry of dying. Meanwhile a Stalkers performance is only steadily getting worse in comparison.


Thirdly, in the low levels of 10 to 22 even Blasters, the damage cannons, simply cannot sustain a decent enough damage chain in order to be as superior in damage as they could be against hard targets. This is due to low level endurance issues, recharge rates, lack of Hasten, lack of good IO's, lack of sustained damage chains, and even lack of protection such as +res shields and KB protection. Lack of mobility can also keep them from kitting away from danger as efficiently as they can in later game. This deficiency helps the Stalker stand out at these levels as well, since in this area, they STILL hold more fast burst damage and killing potential against a "single target" than any other AT of equal level. And in most cases they can easily and effectively deliver that damage to thier target without risking too much harm. As before, however, this advantage fades in later levels as Blasters gain access to better endurance management, damage, sustainable attack chains, movement, and defenses. Due to a massive increase in Boss HP and resistances in later levels, removing them "effectively" is better done through sustainable attack chains. Our ability to "burst" them to death within a couple of hits becomes alot harder and practically impossible, especially against real threats such as EB's and up.


Fourthly, support toons do not have all of the buffs necessary to turn a Brute, Scrapper, or Blaster into a "damage-tanking-god-of-pure-destruction". Furthermore, they simply do not have the endurance management in the low levels to even support healing an entire team alone. As before, in the low levels, this is what helps the Stalker stand out. Since he is able to quickly remove tough targets from the battlefield with relative ease, he doesn't usually find himself taking unusual amounts of damage. Removing those hard targets as quickly as he does, in turn, saves the team from ALOT of damage early on, thus reducing the amount of healing/buffing/debuffing support that buffers must do. In later levels, this advantage (just as all the others) fades away as Buffers gain access to ALL of thier powers, as well as thier strongest buffs. They also gain access to much better endurance management and refresh rates on powers, so keeping a whole team green and buffed up isn't too difficult. So once that Brute/Scrapper/Blaster recieves those massive buffs/heals, their damage and ability goes through the roof, leaving Stalkers far behind.


So, a pattern that I see happening over and over here is this: at some point between lvl 22-30 a Stalker loses almost all credible viability on a team. This is due to every other AT experiencing a sharp increase in both damage and survivability or buffs. Meanwhile, the Stalker only experiences continuing decreases in damage performance due to increased mob levels, boss HP's, and resistances while only noticing minor increases in defenses/survivability outside of heavy IO investment.


At SOME point, they were useful. I know that between lvl's 8-22 I am more than happy to invite about 1 to 2 Stalkers along for Boss/Lt's elimination, and for the very reasons I listed above. No, I don't want more Brutes, and at those levels I definitely don't want a Scrapper for that role....I want a Stalker. Because at those levels, they fill that role and accomplish that task very well. But where does that go later? Thanks to the vast and various reasons I described above, it vanishes.


This is why I feel that if the Stalker role as "Single Target Eliminator" could be made better and last throughout the AT's entire career, they would become (and stay) a more vital and viable asset on the average team setting. Furthermore, if they added a "team friendly" buff/debuff, this would only help to make them even more useful to teams.


This is why I do support and suggest a hefty single target debuff being added to a successful Assassin Strike. Because it would allow the Stalker to continue to be the "Single Target Eliminator" that he was in the lower levels. This would keep the Stalker's damage on his selected target high, and allow him to remove that threat quickly, even in later levels. For his team, just like in the lower levels, this could be an invaluable asset, especially against certain boss class spawns and EB's. On top of allowing the Stalker to sustain his own damage output on a single target, his debuff would affect the entire teams' damage output against that target as well. This means that more than just his own damage output, the Stalker is bringing something to his team.


Sure, we all realize that in much later levels even average bosses are hardly a threat, but they can be a speed-bump and slow a team down compared to just smashing through basic minions and Lt's. If a Stalker was able to remove a purple Boss within 2-3 attacks, then there isn't even a speed-bump to slow your team down anymore. Mission accomplished. And when you get to that EB/AV with your team, and a Stalker is able to apply his hefty debuff to that single hard target, thus increasing the damage output and killing speed of the entire team....you've accomplished your "team-viability/contribution" factor again as well. That debuff/damage potential to hard targets could become invaluable on teams and any team would be foolish to pass up such a hard hitting class who can also apply such a hefty and effective debuff to an EB/AV.


Anyways, those are, of course, my own personal feelings on it. I'm sure other have their own. I just feel as though a change like this would allow the AT to keep its uniqueness and play relatively the same as now, but increase its overall performance at it's role and in team settings.

Well....adding a debuff to AS would, in return, increase the Stalker's "own" damage output...as well as add some "team-friendly" viability by increasing your teammates damage outputs on your selected target. So in my opinion, it would be sorta two birds with one stone: increased damage output on a single target for Stalkers as-well-as adding team-friendly-viability/solutions.


Personally, I'm really liking the idea of AS causing a decent single target debuff now, similar to what Dechs had suggested earlier. I just really see it fitting the AT now in both theme and power advantage against a single meaty target. I really like how it could help to make us slightly more viable in a team setting as well.

I can agree with this actually.


I wouldn't like to see the uniqueness of Stalkers be removed, as I like thier current role as well, I just think that they could--and should--perform that role better. I made some suggestions a page back, and I think those would really keep the Stalker's uniqueness and it's role on a team, whithout changing things too drastically.


I think the main focus, honestly, is Assassin Strike. If that's our "unique-ability" then the dev's need to find a way to leverage it better for us. Increase its damage, slightly decrease activation times, add more debuffs to it. On a much "simpler" focus than what I mentioned earlier, I'd like to see these main things changed/fixed for Stalkers:

• Assassin Strike
  
  1.) Cast Time Reduction: reduced from 3 secs to 2.67 secs.
  
  2.) Increase Chance To Demorilize: increase to between 35% and 50% chance.
  
  3.) ***Add Single Target Debuff Secondary Effect: -500% Regen Rate and -35% def/res(all) for 30 seconds after a "successful" Assassin Strike (from either Placate or Hide). PvE Only.
  
  
  
• Build Up
  
  1.) Increase Damage Buff: increase from current 80% to 100%

I put stars next to the "Secondary Effect Debuff" added to Assassin Strike, as I feel that that is one of the most important and AT defining changes that the dev's could make for us. If the dev's were to add this type of secondary effect to Assassin Strike, we would have a much more defined role as Single Target Specialist. Our ability to remove meaty single targets from the battlefield and for our team would increase dramatically. More teams would find us useful as well during EliteBoss/AV Fights since we would not only provide decent damage support, but also a hefty amount of single target debuffing for our team. This type of debuffing against hard targets, and our ability to take out hard targets, is what will purely define our role for this AT.


I think it would be balanced as well, and here's why; those are some powerful debuff numbers, however, they are done to a single target. They are not aoe, they are not toggled, and they can be interrupted as well as prevented from being perma during an ongoing battle. Plus, to apply it you must sacrafice melee aggro and endure an interrupt, it cannot be applied "on the fly". So we wouldn't be stepping on Corruptor/Defender toes anywhere. At most you could have up to two targets debuffed, and for only 30 seconds at a time, and this could be performed through: (Hide)AS target 1-->pause for AS refresh-->Placate-->AS target 2. Not a very formidible way to attempt to debuff an entire mob spawn, so in no way would this suddenly move Stalkers into the Defender/Corruptor Debuff value range on a team. Heck, a Tanker has a better chance of "aoe" spreading his -res debuff throughout a spawn than we could ever hope to. It would, however, make us invaluable against hard shelled single targets.


If there was nothing else ever changed for Stalkers, THIS--the debuff added to AS--is the one thing I'd like to see happen, as I think it would define us best.


If there's a +3 level Elite Boss or an AV on a mission that's giving the team hell, I wanna hear teams say: "Wow, we need a Stalker so we can put a dent in this guy." and not only say "need Blaster, Brute, or Scrapper.....lolstalkerz". These simple changes, especially the single target debuff secondary effect added to Assassin Strike, could make that possible. That's my dream, hope, and solution for Stalkers.

Hmmm...I don't believe this is correct.


I'm pretty certain that both Blizzard and Inferno will definitely do more damage than Full Auto+FlameThrower, and Blizzard even more-so once Scourge territory is reached. Now, if "damage-over-a-certain-time-period" is what were talking about, sure, FA+FT is superior to both Inferno and Blizzard since they don't drain your endurance and you can re-use them together every 30 seconds. But if we're talking about a "one-strike" assault, then no, they do not compare to a real nuke imho.


...but eh.....I'm still in the camp of folks who think AR needs a buff...

It's not Dargeting Drone.....it's Targeting Drone....that's what the guy above was catching you on....

That would actually be a cool idea on top of some of the others suggested.


In fact, if it was added to Assassin Strike, I could see it being a -res power even. As much as 30% -res, for say, 15 seconds on a single target? I mean...the idea behind AS is that you "snuck up" on your foe and sliced him before he had a chance to react. So in all good sense that would mean that he was "not ready" for your attack, thus his damage resistance against more attacks "should" be lowered...right? Makes sense to me. Maybe you stuck your sword up underneath his plate armor and thus lowered it's structural integrity resulting in lowered protection, i.e. -res?


I could 100% go for that if added to AS, and it's similar to the idea I suggested, but with a "name" behind why the -regen or -res is taking affect: Crippling.


I like this idea so much, I've updated/added it to my previous post lol