Leo_G

I actually never played a Claws Stalker, but I hear it's pretty scrappy.
Claws Pros:
-Looks sexy.
-Scrappy.
-Build Up naturally recharges faster (72 sec vs normally 90sec).

Claws Cons:
-Not very Bursty.
-Eviscerate is single target.
-Damage isn't compensated for the lack of Follow up.

I also have no 'Ninja Blade' Stalker and I don't like Broadsword period.
'Ninja Blade' Pros:
-Very survivable with resist sets.
-Also Scrappy and Bursty.

'Ninja Blade' Cons:
-It's called 'Ninja Blade' instead of Katana or even Ninja-to.
-It loses an AoE and its tier 9 only has a 50% crit chance since it's a kinda-cone.

Dark Melee is fun on a Stalker. While Katana makes resist sets really survivable, DM makes defense sets really survivable. With the heal, the fear/-ToHit/Placate, you're hard to kill. You've got lots of negative energy damage which you can crit on command and you've got a huge shadow skull in your Assassin's Eclipse! It's scrappy, it's bursty, it's got utility and it feels sneaky. IMO, it's the best basic function stalker primary.

Martial Arts...my MA Stalker is still young (only 21) but she's surprisingly strong. You don't have any native AoE, but your ST is very strong. Eagle's Claw hits harder than its Scrapper counterpart and can crit on command but you lose the extremely cool looking Dragon's Tail...but hey, you get the most bad *** Assassin's Blow animation in Fist of Annihilation.

Energy Melee...I have one in the 30s and I like it...but it's an acquired taste. I tend to focus on smacking stuff with AS from hide and then aiming at hard targets with TF and ET. They don't benefit much from criticals, but they are consistent (if they ever land). The control is rather meh unless you enhance it...all in all, I wouldn't suggest it unless you just like Energy Melee.

Dual Blades...I do like this set. Having played my new DB/FA brute a lot, I noticed I don't like using the combos all the time. It frustrates me when I miss a combo (due to a miss or foe out of range or needing to use a heal or something) and it frustrates me more when I don't *need* a combo because, by the time Attack Vitals starts ticking, the foes are dead or would have been just as dead had I just used Blinding Feint + Burn + Sweeping Strike. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, combos are overrated. If you like pulling them off every now and again, you should have no problem playing them on a Stalker. If you *must* use combos all the time then I pray for your soul, no matter which AT you choose to play them on. No, you don't get Blinding Feint or Typhoon Edge, but you gain things in return. Ablating Strike is a pseudo-PBAoE in that, if you put procs in it, they will check all foes within 10ft of you every time you click the power. Your Sweep combo is auto-hit 10ft PBAoE if you connect with your main target so use that wisely. Your 1kcuts is a few feet longer and you can combine it with an 80% +dmg buff and 50% crit chance for some great burst AoE dmg.

Kinetic Melee...mine is young. I don't have Concentrated Strike slotted yet, but I hear its quite nice. It hits pretty hard and it will automatically recharge Build up if you critical with it. That said, you automatically crit with CS when using it from hide or after placate so use that to your advantage. Also, Burst, the PBAoE, will crit 100% from hide rather than the standard 50% that AoEs get. Use *that* to your advantage too. All in all, you lose Power Siphon (but lots of KM users express a dislike for the power...it seems quite nice to me) but gain Build up. The only other power you lose is Repulsing Torrent which is pretty cruddy for an attack and even cruddier for a utility/mitigation power. And your Assassin's Strike looks like a Kamehameha blast...use that to your advantage.

Spines...I love Stalker Spines. It's slow, yes, but it's heavy. It's one of the few minion mower powersets Stalkers get (Dual Blades being one and Electric Melee being another). It's weak on ST attacks, meaning you'll have to lean on Assassin's Impaler more than other Stalkers would if you want to kill bosses. But the crits you get +BU plus the slows just makes for a cool feeling Stalker. I like to play mine from range until he kills mostly everything, then whip out Ripper to finish off stragglers and then placate/AS for the persistent ones.

Electric Melee....this is the only powerset across the melee ATs where it's actually stronger for the Stalker. What you lose (Thunderclap) in the set is made up for by giving you more damage (Assassin's Shock). That's it. Not only that, but Lightning Rod doesn't break hide when you use it so you can follow up with another critical hit. However, LR also doesn't ever crit (not even for Scrappers). It's also weak on ST attacks, like Spines, but not as bad. Thunder Strike will 100% crit from hidden on the choosen target and 50% crit on the targets around it. Chain Induction will crit the target 100% from hidden and then jump to other nearby targets. And for those persistent targets, the other melees have to look for other powers while Stalkers get AS. Oh, and Assassin's Shock looks pretty cool with all the lightning arcing from your hands as you charge it.

I made an arc with a foe-turned-ally named Fire-Kricket which was an insect-looking woman (and insect wings) with sonic blasts and the vanguard blades colored red (cause they're made of fire). It was unintentional, but since she pretty nearly flew everywhere, she looked pretty dancy using those dual blade moves. And she resembled a fairy to me when I played through it with various characters.

Long story short, an always-flying dual blader with glowing magic swords sounds pretty fairy-like to me...just putting that out there.

[EDIT]*and reads more of the thread*

I guess many had the same idea in mind...

But that gives me an idea. I was actually thinking of making a Kinetic Melee Scrapper with nice and bright fx (my Stalker has his colored pink for psi and my tanker has it colored subtle for min-fx). A Pixie Kinetic would fit that bill...and I don't have any characters that use those wings or theme yet (yeah, it took me a while to finally commit to my one werewolf and my one dragon I have on my rooster so now I'll add probably be adding a pixie).

The basic idea is an enjoyable suggestion to ponder in a new hypothetical game but not sure how viable it'd be in this game.

I like the idea of having advantages and disadvantages depending on environment. The main resistance to such ideas is that, just because an advantage is possible in certain circumstances, readers will equate it as a buff across the board. And when they see a disadvantage, the readers will take that as insurmountably no matter what the effect. And if whatever advantages or disadvantages are present in the game, the readers will believe they are gameable no matter what they are or how varied the circumstances.

It's a fun thought. Beyond that, YMMV.

/activate mid-quote swap!

Also, if you think about it, while defense and recharge bonuses are quite prevalent, how often do you face -def and -rech? Vs -res and -dmg?

One thing that really annoys me is how spread out glue grenades and things like that are over enemy groups. Ice isn't so bad, but the glue! THE GLUE!!!

Leo chiming in,

First of all, I'll just say don't give up. You don't have to get your first 50 and stick with it and if you're trying for a really creative, cool character that people will smile and nod to, it takes time. It's a skill, really. You just have to try, revise, retread, edit, compile, revamp, throw away and retry. The first dozen or five dozen characters won't be gold, but most likely they'll be better than your first attempts. Unless you're a writer, concept artist, historian, avid reader of fiction, anything that you can draw from creatively, some of your creations just won't pop so you have to try something else.

Even though I've played for how-many years, I still think my concepts are kind of corny but I like them dearly anyway. And I don't really have many inspirations to draw on creatively except my Bachelor's Degree in CoX.

It takes longer to get than a regular degree but hey, you can give advice about stuff on the forums with it! That's about it though...

But all I wanted was to be able to punch the ground, send a guy popping high into the air and as they're falling, chuck a boulder at them to send them FAAAR away.

Is that so much to ask for?

Alright, can someone give me a reason to *use* Stone Spears?

I'm about ready to create a build for my /earth dom and I'm read to just take the few slots that I had planned for it out. But I *do* like how powerful it looks...it's just the build already feels stretched for power and with Hurl Boulder (buh >_>) as it's sole ST ranged attack taking up a good deal of slots already.

Is there some good use, tactic-wise or slot-wise, for this power? Just for reference, both Stone Spears and Hurl Boulder are competing with Poison Ray and Disruptor Blast for space/slots.

I want to use Stone Spears (not so much the boulder but gotta use something while lvling) but it's just *that* *bad* >_>