JWatt

I'd go for it and get Vengeance unless your build is so tight that you can't possibly fit it in without losing something great. It's good for stopping an impending wipe after the first person drops.

My Plants/TA can hold AVs for significant periods of time, almost always long enough for them to be take down, but I wouldn't say that it's "perma". It works by combining Hasten, some IO bonuses (recharge, accuracy, and hold duration), and the fours holds I have in my build (Strangler, Ice Arrow, Vines, and EMP Arrow) to keep it held down.

I also put priority on getting the Vanguard Medal Accolade (http://cityofheroes.wikia.com/wiki/Vanguard_Badge) as soon as I could. That makes it much easier to apply holds at the start of the fight to get it initially contained.

As an Earth/Rad, you'll probably be able to hold an AV with proper IO slotting, Hasten, and the Vanguard Medal, especially since you have both Quicksand and Radiation Infection to lower its defense. Keeping it held permanently, though, will require a lot of IO slotting. I'd just make friends with another Controller or an Ice Blaster with Freeze Ray. Then you don't have to obsess on your holds quite to much and can focus on slamming an AV with those lovely Radiation debuffs.

I wouldn't expect Drain Psyche's regen debuff to be as good as Lingering Radiation, and a sonic blaster doesn't get as much -Res in its attacks as a defender ot corrupter. If I recall correctly, it's only 7.5% or so, compared to 13% for Corrs and something ridiculous like 20% for defenders.

Mine has soloed EBs and some AVs by keeping away, using PFF when needed (no capped ranged defense), and making good use of the -recharge in Mental's attacks as well as the -res in the primary.

I think that a Traps/Sonic Defender would have enough debuffs, but not enough damage to hurt a GM.

Cold is a great set. It gives you a lot of powers that let you turn enemies into mush before finishing them off.

Energy gives what I would call "solid" damage, and most of its powers cause knockback. Its powers also seem to cost a comparatively large amount of endurance for the damage output you get (due to it dealing both smashing and energy damage).

It would work, but there's not much synergy or anything. Just pop enemies with debuffs and hit them with energy attacks, and try to lay down sleet near a wall so that you can use the KB to keep them from trying to run out. When on teams, make sure and keep your buffs up and watch your KB so that it doesn't cause problems for others.

I'd go for Mind/Energy. You lose a lot of control to get that better damage, and later in the game it'll be your control that will be the most important.

Softcapping defense for a Claws/SR after grabbing weave isn't terribly hard, is it? I also don't know how many LoTGs you plan on putting in, but it seems like you wouldn't need that many with Quickness and Hasten.

Electric Armor gives some extra damage and Lightning Reflexes, as well as a heal, but its resistance based protection still means that you're guaranteed to be taking damage. I'd go with SR.

Welcome to doms.

Most 50-level farmers tend to be Fire/Psy dominators.

Mind probably has the best overall control. Mind/Energy and Mind/Elec are popular builds.

Plants has good control and damage, and it doesn't require a whole lot of powers to work, so you can pimp out your secondary. Carrion Creepers and Seeds of Confusion are great. Works well with just about any secondary.

Earth Control offers a lot of AoE mezzes and holds, as well as defense debuffs to make sure your powers dont' miss, making it great for melee-oriented doms. Earth/Earth doms are a blast.

Ice is good for lowering speed and recharge. My brother's Ice/Ice dom is a nasty little monster, especially when teamed up with my Earth/Earth dom.

Why not SR? Did you try and tint it blue or aqua? It could also be some kind of fish sense. I like the SS/SR combo as long as you get hasten and stack Rage to avoid the crash.

My other choice would be SS/Elec. You could do the electric eel thing, or tint it blue and consider it the "calling on the sea" thing after getting Static shield. If you don't like that, then I'd say invul.

Dark armor and SS both use so much endurance that I'd be afraid to play a character that combines the two. Shield would work fine, but SS and shield don't work together so perfectly and magically that I'd demand using it over everythign else, and you already have a shield toon.

I had very little trouble leveling up my Broadsword/Fire scrapper into the 40s, where he was promtly placed on the back burner when I got bored with blue side for a while. Fire CAN be a little clicky compared to Invul or WP, but after grabbing Healing Flames, Tough, and Consume your downtime will be near nothing.

I agree with Jax on dropping Acro for IO KB protection when you can. I used Combat Jumping as my Immob protection.

Entry 3:

Been off for a while due to RL. Family member got hurt and is immobile, so I've been playing man-nurse whenever possible. Logged in at 11pm just to say that I did something.

Soloed due to the late hour. Climbed up to level 18 with paper missions. Grabbed health, and after 2 missions with 2 different teams, bringing me halfway to 19, I called it a night.

Teaming with Corrupters is a lot of fun. They give buffs or pre-chew enemies, and their attacks are nice additional damage right now, since I'm lacking AoEs. Dominators are slightly less fun at times, since their holds interfere with Fury building. Other brutes suck, since most of them are outshining me right now, and Stalkers are...well they're Stalkers. Banes and Widows at this level are so eager to gain XP that most of them quit as soon as there is more than 10 seconds of downtime.

I started buying blue and purple inspirations to keep myself going longer. I'm okay on money for now, since I auctioned off a couple IO recipes I got when teaming with the level 50s. I might want to start buying more wisely after getting my level 22 enhancements, though.

Starting level: 17
Ending level: 18
Power(s) gained: Health

I've found that a combination of thoughtfully applied Domination and Power Boost can keep just about anything held with my Earth/Earth Dom long enough for me to kill it. The only times I seem to die are when either I or someone I'm teaming with does something stupid.

For the record, I consider soloing things like AVs to be stupid unless you've got a game breaking meta build designed to take on things of that calibur. If you can solo an AV then bolly for you, but I'm going to call my buddies and make a party out of it so that we all get more XP, bragging rights be damned!

...Unless I'm on my DM/Nin Stalker. Soloed Mako with him. High five!

I'd go Willpower for your secondary. It tends to make for the hardiest Stalkers. It's pretty easy to slot, really, and there are LOADS of players who can help you with it, since its such a popular set. And yes, it's also popular in PvP.

Energy Aura just isn't a good powerset for Stalkers. While its defense isn't much worse than Ninjutsu's, Ninjutsu gets a heal and powers that keep enemies from attacking, while your powers focus on regaining endurance with Conserve Power and Energy Drain (which you can do pretty easily in-between fights while in hide without risking enemy wrath. And yes I know that energy drain has a heal, but it is only 3% per effected enemy, which is less than almost any other click heal in the game even if you can effect 30 enemies at once, making it a joke) and knocking enemies right out of the range of your own powers with Repel.

I'd go with Broadsword, and then flip a coin for Ninjutsu or Willpower.

Most all of the DB Stalkers I've teamed with seem to drop REALLY fast when on teams, even when they're DB/WP at the higher levels. They draw too much aggro, and their AoE isn't enough to finish enemies off before they retaliate. Broadsword will give you stronger single hits with decent AoE. Parry is also a good power which works well with Ninjutsu, and couldn't hurt Willpower either.

As for Willpower versus Ninjutsu, I would personally choose Ninjutsu just because I think the set is more fun. Thinking practically, though, with Parry boosting its Melee defense and its naturally very high AoE defense, the only defense type you'll need to fret about soft-capping is Ranged defense.

Suckerpunch says it's a cone too. I don't have a high level BS Stalker, though, so I can't confirm it.

Welcome to the game, Sivitry!

Alrighty, Super Strength is a powerful set, and pairing it with Willpower usually makes for a character that can crush just about anything in its way. Claws is comparative in terms of attack power because its attacks recharge quickly. It also has more AoE (Area of Effect) attacks than Super Strength does. I'd say that the difference is a matter of preference, but that both of them would probably work well for a newer player.

For the secondary, I'd suggest Willpower. It's simply the easiest secondary set to use, and it works great with brutes.

Invulnerability is a set that has the most Resistance in the game, which means that you'll always be hit by enemies, but the damage you take is reduced, sometimes to the point where your normal regeneration is enough to heal the damage you take. It has strong protection against just about everything other than psychic damage.

Super Reflexes is a Defense secondary, meaning that it helps you dodge enemy attacks. Enemies will have a harder time hitting you, but when you ARE hit then you'll take full damage. It also has a power that makes all your other powers recharge faster, and it always on once you get it.

Electric armor is sort of like Invulnerability, but it exchanges some of Invulnerability's higher resitances for for powers that will help you fight. You may take a little omre damage than an invulnerability Brute, but you'll deal more damage. It also looks pretty sweet, in my opinion.

Stone Armor is defenitely the powerset with the best protection in the game, and its last power turns you into a giant rock golem with ridiculously high resistance and defense to damage. tTHIS COMES AT A PRICE, HOWEVER, because Stone Armor brutes are VERY, VERY slow as a result of their powers, and their choice in travel powers is limited. Also, your powers recharge slower, lowering your damage. Not everyone wants to play this way, but I thought I'd throw it out there in case you were one of the one who do.

I would say that a SM/SR or DM/Nin would be one of the strongest soloing stalkers. I've been able to solo Captain Mako with mine at level 42. At level 50, with some decent budget IO slotting, I'm going to go on an AV killing frenzy. The problem with the combo is a lack of AoE, so you won't be as effective as other combos while teaming.

Broadsword looks good for Stalkers right now. Its damage it high in both AoE and ST, its AS looks cool, and it has Parry, which raises your melee defense significantly. Its major drawback is that Broawdsword powers use a lot of endurance.

For secondaries, I'd suggest that Ninjutsu, Super Reflexes, and Willpower are the best. Super Reflexes makes you nearly untouchable and gives you a recharge boost. Ninjutsu gives you less defense, but gives tools to help you survive like Blinding Powder and a self heal. Willpower gives a combination of increased health, resistance, and defence to make your Stalker very hardy, and tosses in a self heal just for giggles.

In terms of Epics, I personally like Ghost Widow and Mako for Stalkers. Ghost Widow gives you Shadow Meld, a power which increases your defense significantly for a short time. The long activation time means that you'll normally activate it from hide, or right after assassin strike while enemies are still feared. Mako gives you Hibernation and Water Spout, which are basically a second rest power and a slow tornado. I avoid summoning the last tier pets with stalkers, because the pets can't go into hide, and tend to get discovered and blow to pieces.