Maelwys

Personally I have a grand total of ONE person from the unmentioned SG who graces a place on my global friends list. Most of the others are simply causes for me to switch sides in PvP zones when they come on...

I rate the aforementioned Global Friend as a good player and a generally decent person though, so I've nothing against the actual SG itself as-such. There just seems to be an extraordinary ratio of Dumb People to Normal People in it. Or at least Toons that act dumb... maybe it's just a big roleplaying thing?

They also have something of a reputation for the worst forms of Powerlevelling, acting up at the old-style Hamidon raids, etc. Interesting how a groups' reputation can proceed people like that. Even more interesting was that someone from *THAT* SG was questioning *YOUR* SG's reputation though.

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I can imagine what a claws stalker can do with 100% recharge lol, would be insane pve wise.


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Looks nice, I've been playing around with those sets in the builder. They do amazing things. But I have a minor nitpick, take one rare damage IO out and slot the rare proc, then make you last slot some mako that covers the space you need filled up. Those procs are too good to pass up.


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I skipped all Change to [X damage, X effect] Because i find them rather useless in pvp. Especially when you are a stalker.

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I don't like the Procs in normal attacks either. I have one in each of the two AoE damage Auras on my Spines/DA Scrapper now and they do help out occasionally, but I wouldn't slot them in an attack unless the attack couldn't be made any better in normal gameplay by slotting a different (enhancement percentage) IO.

The one exception to this would be on a Stalker, in Assassin Strike. My current EM/Regen's build has a Mako's 'Chance for Lethal' in AS at the moment, which will be changed to one of the new Purple set's "Chance for Negative Energy Damage" whenever I can find/afford one. Damage Procs in AS fire independantly of the actual damage done by the attack, meaning that on average once every 3 hits (with Purple) or once every 5 hits (with Mako's) I'll get a complete one-shot on a squishy instead of simply bringing them down to 1 HP.

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please copy the list and add to it.....

1) Atlas Medallion Accolade (+5% max end)

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Easily got solo by level 25ish
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2) Numina's Convalesence Unique IO (+regen+recovery)
3) Miracle Healing Unique IO (+recovery)

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Pricey naturally, but any level's IOs will work here since they're "Procs".
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4) Task Force Commander Accolade (+5%maxHP)

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Oh, nope. Can't do this one. You need to be level 35 or higher to join the last TF (Numina).
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5) Portal Jockey Accolade (+5%maxHP +5%maxEnd)

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Assuming you can find a team to SK you through the two 40-45 and 45-50 arcs, this is doable.
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6) Freedom Phalanx Reserve Member Accolade (+10% Max hp)

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Fake Nemesis Farming is the only thing to worry about, and can do this with a team in PI.
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7) Archmage Accolade (Spell of Protection)

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Owchies. 500 Ilusionist Decoys and 200 Banished Pantheon Masks to wade through by level 30.
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8) Karma + Steadfast Unique IO for Extra KB Protection

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This one's a set bonus, needs to be 33 or lower. Which isn't a problem, since Karmas only go up to 30.


Things also to look out for/get:

Accolades: Geas of the kind ones. Gettable at level 30, massive +Tohit, +Recovery, -Defense.
Phase Shift Temp powers (Craftable one and Warburg one)
Pets: Warwolves, Amy and Shivans.
Armor Temp Powers: Cryo Armor and Wedding Band. "Safeguard reward" ones too if you can be bothered.
Other Temp powers: Stuff like the "Beanbag Launcher", anything that is ranged and can mez.
Set IOs: Aegis Unique IO (Mez resistance). Needs to be level 33 or lower.
When i11 hits, you may also want one of those "+Perception" global unique IOs from the ToHitBuff sets.
Also might want to look into the new Purple IOs that're meant to keep set bonuses regardless of level.
Other: Flight Pack(s) from Safeguard missions and/or the normal missions ("Antigravity Matrix")

Also, if you're REALLY determined to have a slight edge, consider making your origin "Science". It gives you a power with a 50% chance of "sleep", which is one of the few ways you can toggle-drop an FF or Sonic.

Pfft.

AR clearly wins in the arena.
No contest whatsoever.

Full Auto + Camera Spin > Chuck Norris.

Impale too.

Often simply just used for playing "Tag the squishy"...

Though I agree that in general damage out of hide is fairly pants, EM Stalkers are quite happy to operate out of hide in terms of their damage output... pity they still tend to get faceplanted by a stiff breeze...

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It's a nicely written guide.

My question is this: is there anything a stalker can bring to a PvE team that can't be done as well or better by another AT?

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Annoyance?

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I give up, doesnt look like im getting through to anyone who doesnt love to pvp with stalkers :/

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except i don't play stalkers in pvp and i still think you're dumb.

edit: freeze ray after you get AS'd? what?!

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Sure you dont... freeze ray following AS is the only thing that will give you a few seconds other than a heal before you get placated, and yes if your moving you may be able to get a little range before they realise whats happened and hit breakfree.

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Placate does nothing if you're moving.
Webnade is a far better option as a first-reactionary attack.
Or even a normal attack. ANYTHING that causes damage.

Just move your rear out of the way already and stop presenting them with a target.

Also, your Freeze ray will do absolutely diddly-squat against all but the most ridiculously-built stalkers out there.
EVERY secondary has hold protection, and even Acrobatics by itself protects against a single Blaster hold.

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You can say what you want but resorting to names... arent you supposed to be at school?

Funny thing is though look how many people actually posted saying there balanced who play stalkers to pvp, ironic really.

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What ironic is that you seem to avoid playing Stalkers to find out their weaknesses.
And also fail to appreciate that people who have first-hand of playing Stalkers might be able to tell you something about their weaknesses or what what they find difficult to beat in PvP.

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Anyway had enough of stalker flames for today, when you guys can fairly pvp, roll a charecter that actually needs some skill to play.

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Most of the people responding to you don't focus on playing Stalkers in PvP.
They simply have a Stalker that they have used in PvP before, and know it's weaknesses.

Perhaps instead of flaming the people trying to point out flaws in your argument, you should level a Stalker yourself and discover its weaknesses by yourself. If you fail to see the logical fallicy in your arguments, fail to heed other people when they point them out, and refuse to discover them for yourself, then frankly you're due everything you appear to get from Stalkers in PvP zones.

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Im begining to understand now why I was told its useless to post here :/

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That's partly why I wanted to jump in with actual rebuttals before the regulars told you to simply "learn to play".

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Its not a lack of experience why i didnt take the medicine pool because its rare your up long enough to use a interuptable heal PVE or PVP, if i cant get time to use an insp then how can i use a power? :P

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That IS lack of PvP experience because if you had experience with using "Aid Self" you'd know how powerful it is, how fast-activating it is, and how you can slot it to heal through a DoT or toggle debuff. You simply will not see any solo Blaster PvP builds discussed on these boards or the US boards by seasoned PvPers that do not feature Aid Self, the Speed Pool, the Leaping Pool, and either the Ice or Force epic pools.

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I wouldnt waste my time posting here if i didnt know what i was talking about because I'd be getting flames every two minutes, much like is starting to happen... needless to say by a stalker.

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Firstly, I'm not flaming you. I'm rebutting points you make which I don't agree with, and I'm desperately trying not to insult your playing experience while I'm doing it because that's precisely what usually happens when someone posts this kind of thing on the PvP boards. The regulars have a field day with all the blaring errors in their argument.

Secondly, I'm not a Stalker. I simply happen to have a Stalker toon.
Three Stalker toons actually. None of which are level 50.
I also happen to have seven level 50s and several active toons in the 20s-40s.
And my main is a /regen Scrapper.

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little instance here though, your in sirens, trundling around as you do with your ice/device blaster, looking for something or someone to kill, bam you get hit by a stalker,

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Whoa. Stop right there. if you're moving you won't get AS'ed.
The worst that could happen to you is a Build-Up + Impale, or an Energy Transfer or Bonesmasher on you from an EM Stalker. It's rare to find an EM Stalker in the zones that can properly time a "Build-Up" when they're following someone because you don't know exactly when your follow will actually bring you within melee range.

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down to 50% or lower hp, this point your first instinct is either heal or freeze ray so... 1) heal- they placate and crit, back same situation then smoke flash and dead or run till hide comes back and repeat 2) freeze ray- slow or held, either way breakfree run, repeat.

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NO, NO, NO.

What you want to do is pop a breakfree immediately, then stay mobile and blast from range. ALWAYS Webnade first. That'll ground them. Then start firing off your slows or drop caltrops at their toes if you're skilled enough to do so without entering their melee range. For everything except a Spines or Claws Stalker they simply can't hit you from range. And most Stalkers will not have Superspeed or Teleport in Sirens. If they have superspeed, keep your altitude, pile on the slows, and keep applying webnade and attacks until they die.

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Main point being in a realistic pvp situation like sirens you cant just stand at same point throwing caltrops or ice storming because you will be there all day and not hit anything because they just take a step back and find an opening.

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And my point was that you should not give them the chance to step back.
As a Devices you will be far more mobile than a Stalker. Assuming you can survive their opening attack it will be VERY rare to encounter a Stalker that you can't beat by simply spamming your ranged attacks and webnade.

Anything less, one-one-one is simply down to inexperience and poor playstyle.

I've lost count of the number of /dev blasters that my Stalker has beaten into bloody pulp because they simply didn't use their tools properly or assumed that I couldn't see them (My EM/Regen is the only Stalker I've ever seen that took "Tactics" by level 30). GOOD /Dev Blasters are rare, but very challenging.

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I give up, doesnt look like im getting through to anyone who doesnt love to pvp with stalkers :/

I see now why i was told not to bother because I will be overwhelmed by the people who dont want to see stalkers at a competable level because that would mean they have to use skills besides AS and Placate

Guess its another post to add to the ones already posted, hopefully one day it will actually get through to someone who doesnt love to play a PVP god :P

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Whilst you seem to have a completely closed mind on this matter. Hopefully this point will sink-in:

Placate doesn't work in PvP.

Placate will not stop your teammate from killing the Stalker that used it on you. Placate will also get negated whenever a previously-applied mez effect (such as an EM attack's stun) wears off.

Stalkers that rely on Placate in PvP for anything other than delivering a follow-up critical hit are kidding themselves. And if you're inexperienced and silly enough to stand around to let them hit you with that follow-up attack then, frankly, you really should: "learn to play".

And by no stretch of the imagination are Stalkers PvP Gods. Rads one-on-one, MMs when they're setup, Ice Tankers against all but a few builds, team buffers. THESE are far better and more dangerous than Stalkers.

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thats 2 on 1 pvp, your bound to win by numbers then, DoT's do work yes, but for the short time it takes them to run/repeat you might as well not bother, eventually its just like an annoying bug that wont go away until eventually they win.

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The point is that when they're running if you have DoT on them you will be able to see them (and attack them) until 10 seconds after the DoT wears off. Acid Arrow lasts for a good 30 seconds which is why I said it was the best option. Chase them down. Kill them. Then they can't "repeat" until they're back from the hospital.

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There a lot of combinations that are MEANT to nullify them but arent doing. Thats what the entire post was about.

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And I'm rebuking that idea.
Tankers: anything Fire/, anything Ice/. Some INV/.
Scrappers: anything /Regen. Lots of /SRs.
Controllers: Any primary but Ice/ particularly. /Empathy, /FF, /TA, /Sonic.
Defenders: FF/, Empathy/, TA/, Sonic/.
Blasters: Fire/, Ice/, /Devices.
Masterminds: (Any, but particularly FF or Traps)
Stalkers: Any
Corruptors: Fire/, Ice/, /Traps, /Cold.
Dominators: Any (if they're good and mobile) but /Psi particularly.
Brutes: /Fire, /NRG. Some /Elec and /Inv.

DoTs, Defence buffs, Perception buffs. Heals. +HP. Autohit debuffs.
These things does a good anti-Stalker toon make.

Note that Clear Mind and Clarity are loved just as much for their mez protection as their perception buff.

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As for the constantly performing one im guessing you mean nrg/nin which is godly if you dont have resists :P

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Meant Energy, which is the only primary that stacks up towards endgame.
/Regen and /Nin are the top secondaries, and /Regen has a lot of well-known mez holes.

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Inexperienced people tend to complain here a lot i understand that but i do keep mobile and yes i play solo because thats just the way i play, the idea was 1 vs 1 and theres a difference between surviving the hits and actually winning.
I have yet to see one stalker that doesnt run away successfully if the original attack fails just to come back two seconds later, breakfrees and insps only last so long.

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Firstly, Breakfrees last anything from 30 to 90 seconds.
If you have a Strength of Will that's several minutes.

Secondly, "running away" or "kiting" is part-and-parcel of PvP, and it applies to every AT.
If you can't stop them from running away, the best you can achieve is a Stalemate.

Most solo Anti-Stalker tools will not let you beat Stalkers. They'll let you survive them.
To beat a GOOD Stalker, you'll need to be a much better PvPer than they are, or get a team.
Unless they make a mistake, a Good Stalker will simply not be found until they attack someone.

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I understand your tanker point because after the inital damage blast theres not much to back in up, the problem is against other classes theres not much chance.

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Regen Scrappers, Tankers, MMs, Brutes, they can all weather the inital attack. Squishies have to keep mobile because they won't survive the follow-up to an AS. If they keep mobile, the AS won't happen. If you get AS'ed, you stopped moving. If you stopped moving and you don't have a team, you should EXPECT to be AS'ed.

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Even if regen scrapper stands a chance, it doesnt change the fact that +perc isnt doing anything worth having. That being said you did give me a new one to try, i never made a troller with artic air yet.... but if its anything like the apparent device blaster a.k.a stalker hunter then it will be a big waste of time.

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Different principles, Blaster simply stacks perception (and can never go above the cap), Artic Air negates stealth (and LOWERS the Stalker's stealth rather than raising your perception). a Dev Blaster IS a Stalker hunter, but perception is not the main reason anymore: Caltrops, Webnade, Cloaking Device and Trip mines are.

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SR scrapper is based on luck unless you use evade, then if the stalker runs off until its gone then your dead.

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Quite possible to get perma-Elude-level defences now with Set bonuses.
Stalkers, frankly, can't hit for [Censored] without using Force-of-Nature or Yellows.

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Controllers dont have enough chance to hold a stalker even if slotted long enough to be able to outlast them,

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Many Stalker secondaries don't have protection to Fear and/or repel. Their immobilise protection is also much lower than Scrappers/Tankers and most Controllers can stack immobilises far quicker than holds.

It only takes 2-3 Controller holds to hold a Stalker.

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Blasters have been closest I've personally come to winning with as i said before Ice/Device + leadership pool

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Tactics is pointless if the Stalker has a Stealth IO. You'd be better off Spamming Ice Storm and Caltrops everywhere. Once a Stalker is revealed you can webnade them and stick Snow Storm on them, at which point they're as good as dead unless they have Phase Shift or Teleport-Self.

If you can get a toggle debuff anchored onto a Stalker, ONE level of perception is good enough to see them since the Stealth IO and "Stealth" the power don't work under the influence of debuffs (eg. Snow Storm).

Also, only SR or NIN Stalkers get a +perception power in their secondary, so a /Devices Blaster can become "invisible" to other Stalkers by taking Cloaking Device + a Stealth IO.

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Thought about taking the medicine pool to try that out on a blaster but its one i havent tried before because i hear theres an interupt time, i dont know how long it is but im sure in time it takes to heal i could be hit with another couple of attacks which isnt good.

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You're solo PvPing with a Blaster that DOESN'T have the medicine pool? This smells of inexperience, which is probably where the anti-stalker sentiment is coming from. You can get Aid Self's interrupt time down to a little less than 0.5 seconds, which is short enough that you can activate it through a Toggle debuff.

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Ohh and tanker did pretty badly, guess could call it a stalemate as the stalker got bored but couldnt hit him because he was running to rely on AS and hide repeat to whittle down but heals filled back up fairly fast

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Stalemate != loss.
Ice Tankers are all about never-dieing. Attacking is simply a bonus...

Sheesh, I love Mondays.

OK, as a disclaimer: I have a Stalker that I've PvP'ed with. However, I also have a Mastermind, a Defender, a Scrapper and a Peacebringer that I've PvP'ed with. I've been on the giving and the recieving end of countless AS's and I'm pretty competent in singling out an AT's weakness.

Stalkers are absolutely fine as they are in PvP. There are a LOT of AT and power combinations that effectively nullify them, there is only one Stalker primary powerset that performs consistently well at the higher levels, there are very few Stalker builds that are suitable for Team PvP and they are virtually a melee-only class.

I also have a level 50 Katana/Regen Scrapper. It's quite possible to build one so that a Stalker can't kill it without downing a considerable amount of red inspirations beforehand.

Your main problem is that you're trying to see Stalkers. Don't bother. Old Tactic. You can't see them anymore if they're halfway decent because there'll only be 10 feet worth of visibility even when you're at the perception cap. Instead, assume that a Stalker is ALWAYS after you as soon as you set foot in a PvP zone. Keep mobile and carry breakfrees, and 95% of Stalkers won't be able to kill you. The sole exception to this is an Ice Controller running Arctic Air - they'll reveal any Stalker that comes within 25 feet of them.

Once a Stalker tries to hit you and drops out of hide, they have very little that they can do to stop you handing them their own behinds. Keep a damage-over-time attack on them to keep their Hide Suppressed (Acid arrow is by far the best for this, but things like Fire DoTs, Spines DoTs, Chillblain DoTs etc. all work) and/or webnade/slow them. When they placate you, go mobile again, get a teammate to hit them or use a PBAoE. This is fairly basic anti-stalker tactics and it WORKS.

A Stalker will find it very difficult to kill a mobile tanker or Regen Scrapper, and they can't reliably kill a mobile squishy that's carrying breakfrees either. If you're up against a team of Stalkers, simply get your own team. Defence buffs are your best friend, AoE debuff patches are a close second. A team of Stalkers will simply not beat a well-played, balanced team of heroes.

I've lost track of the number of times that I've had to switch from my Stalker to my Mastermind in a PvP zone because there were too many melee toons about and/or the heroes "got it together". Stalkers are only kryptonite against someone that is solo, inexperienced and/or immobile. And even then, something like a Fire Tanker, or a Perma-Dull-Pain regen scrapper (with +HP accolades) is quite capable of just standing there and shrugging off an unbuffed single Stalker's attacks. My supposedly-FOTM EM/Regen Stalker has a lot of trouble killing an IMMOBILE well-played, well-built Fire Tanker or Regen Scrapper. And I have encountered several that he simply can not beat one-on-one.

Masterminds laugh at Stalkers, Stalker versus Stalker battles end in draws, most Tankers are immune one-on-one, and at least one Scrapper secondary is very hard to beat one-on-one. That's several combinations that won't get completely overpowered by Stalkers, even before you think about anti-Stalker tactics or teaming.

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I notice lots of you are focussing on the Kin element but I've always found the rad side to be very effective too - damage is ok but debuffs are mad! Within a team my Rad element has been more valuable I reckon (aside from the normal cries of "SB plx")

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As most have already pointed out, Rad powers simply aren't that good at dealing lots of damage quickly. They work wonders at debuffing defense though, so if you're up against an Ice Tanker or a SR scrapper then you'll hit them more often. Unfortunately in most high level Team PvP you'll be ally-buffed up the whazoo anyway (CM/Clarity/PB'ed Fort/Bubbles) and your debuffs won't really make much difference to a toon with much defence debuff resistance. If you really, really, need to hit something in PvP it makes more sense to just hit "Aim" (slotted for ToHit) than try to get in close enough for a pre-emptive X-Ray Beam/Cosmic Burst.

The most viable general tactic is probably to focus on your Kin powers.

Increase Density, Speed Boost, Inertial Reduction. These buffs are what you want to spam, spam, spam.
ID gives Smashing/Energy resistance (yay!), Mez + KB Protection (Yay!!) and TP-Foe protection (YAY!!!).
Speed Boost is the best form of Crack available legally, and IR grants unsupressed movement.

Transference. This can be very, very nasty in small teams or even one-on-one as a toggle-dropper. Especially if you take "Power Build Up" from the epic pool which allows you to nearly completely drain a foe in one shot.

Transfusion. Usually I'd say "don't bother", but /rad debuffs will make this hit most of the time and it does a good bit of -regen. Use as-needed but it won't be very useful much of the time.

Fulcrum Shift. Unless you're fighting a Mastermind, I wouldn't bother using this much in PvP.

Siphon Speed. Your primary "Slow" tool. Useful if someone else on the team has a -jump/-fly power. You can also use this as a ghetto replacement for Super-Speed if you're short on power pool picks.

Siphon Power. Generally just as useful as Fulcrum Shift in PvP since most fights you'll be focussing on only one target. The damage debuff gets very noticable if you can stack this a few times.

If you're focussing on buffs, slot ranges in them. "Stealth" from the concealment pool combined with a Stealth IO will make you invisible while buffing (suppresses when you actually attack something). In most higher level arena fights your foes will have +perception, but villains in the zones tend not to have any...

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TP Foe can be countered by TP Self

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How so?

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Soon as you see the TP Foe icon appear on your buff bar, Click your TP-Self bind. You'll port back immediately after being TPFoe'd. If you chain the second teleport properly, you won't set off trip mines etc. 99% of the time. It's easier to pull this off on the EU servers because we have lower pings compared to the US players (so there's generally more time for a TP-Foe'd person to react in order to queue up the teleport-self).

Apparently it takes a bit of practice, but teleporting has become second nature to me (my first scrapper had teleport as his travel power and since then I've taken three other toons with Teleport to level 50).

Alternatively, and assuming you have SJ or at least Combat Jumping, simply Jump. You'll get out of the vast majority of TP-Foe traps that way (usually the only time it doesn't work is if there's an overhanging ceiling).

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Nothing wrong with it in pvp, or in pve.

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Seeker Drones in PvP?

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Sets off all a telemining blasters mines, enemy hiding in mobs, and I've stunned empaths before, which gave us time to stop a blaster then kill them. There may be other uses I've never heard of or come across. With all the other toys, traps is still tougher to play than most other sets anyway (since a blaster will chew through things like FFG & tpfoe will hurt). They all have a use though, including seekers.

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It's only useful against players when it decides to home in on them. Which it usually doesn't if they're mobile at all, instead opting to go for the unaggroed NPC that's standing 300 feet away. The stationary targets like tripminelaying Blasters can be countered by any pet. Or TPFoed themselves... TP Foe can be countered by TP Self or oranges and it needs to hit you to work (so FFG helps slightly, as does Protector Bot bubbles and CJ, Maneuvers, etc).

I had Seekers in my build for Sirens Call PvP on my Bot/Traps MM. I ended up Respeccing it out for Maneuvers (already had Assault and Tactics by 30) because it added precisely zero to my gameplay. As far as I'm concerned, seeker's only use on my MM was "Giving me a chance to take another pool power". Enermy toggles can be dropped by Poison Trap or your henchmen easily enough (Protector Bot's ranged stun attack is great for this post-32 upgrade), so you don't really need another (unreliable) mez.

I've found Blasters are reasonably easy to handle pre-32. In Sirens if my /traps is up against a few Blasters then they get pretty much the same treatment as anything else (Caltrops, Webnade, Poison Trap) Even Fire Blasters or Spines Scrappers: in BG mode you can easily weather their damage providing that you use defensive/goto instead of defensive/follow to position your henchmen outside their PBAoE range (Triage helps greatly here). Post-32 however a Blaster will just nuke you to death, so unless you can see them coming and position yourself well and/or webnade them early then you're out of luck. Build Up + Aim + Nuke is just 'paper' to any MM's 'rock'.

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Personally I'd rate the /traps powers in descending order of uberness for a MM as: FFG, Poison Trap, Caltrops, Web Grenade, Trip Mine, Triage Beacon, Acid Mortar, Detonator, Seeker Drones. As a Bots/ I get more use out of Triage Beacon than Trip mines though...

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Acid Mortar slightly better than Detonator? Come on! Methinks you underestimate it's power. :-)


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I did say "personally"... I'm biased due to my Bot's survivability... all Acid Mortar does for me is speed up fights (-resistance, -defence) since I don't need anything to take an alpha but myself and BG mode!

Bodyguard mode only *should* work when you have a pet in "defensive/follow" or "defensive/goto".

If you flat-out tell a pet to attack ("Defensive/attack") that pet will drop out of bodyguard mode and you'll take more damage when you're hit. Thus, it makes sense to tell one or two pets to attack and keep the rest in BG mode. The pets that are in BG mode won't attack until an enemy tries to use a power on you or your pets, but when the attacking pets attack a mob and the mob fires back, the pets in BG mode will react.

Also, in recent issues it seems that Defensive/Follow doesn't necessarily stop a pet from attacking a foe that has ALREADY fired on it (as it was back in i7 when I first levelled a MM). Currently you need to use Passive/Follow first and then switch to Defensive/Follow to make pets forget about any previous aggro. Maybe it's possible that what sinergy_x is seeing is a reaction to previous aggro?

The only methods I've encountered of getting a pet in BG mode to attack an enemy that hasn't already attacked that pet is to resummon FFG whilst targetting that enemy or somehow get that enemy to attack you or your pets (eg. via entering their aggro range or using a power on them).

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Nothing wrong with it in pvp, or in pve.

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Seeker Drones in PvP?

The AI means they don't home in reliably and their flight speed means they haven't a hope of catching anything. Also against other players -40% damage is working against enhancements and buffs, so it'll realistically be less than -20% even if both somehow hit.

The stun isn't a reliable method of detoggling squishies either, since it's a low % chance to stun.

Just webnade, 'trop them and toebomb them with Poison trap, along with FFG it's pretty much all you'll need. Acid Mortar thrown in to speed up the kills, Bodyguard mode + Triage beacon to weather most damage.

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(funny how you can let pet attack -targeted- without them going out of defensive stance)

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Does that keep you in bodyguard mode? I wasnt sure about that?

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Easy to do with Traps, just target an enemy and resummon your FFG. The AI thinks the enemy killed your old one (and you'll see "XXX defeated Force Field Generator" appear in the combat text).

Alternatively, you can just do what all the other MMs do and tell your tier 1 and/or tier 2 pets to attack and keep the rest in either defensive/follow or defensive/goto.

Until level 41 I used to just keep them in Full BG mode and run in and toebomb something. As soon as any of the toebombed mobs looks at me funny the pets start hitting them, chaos ensues. Post-41, you can AoE-ranged-immobilise the mob from a long way off, then your pets pretty much automatically start attacking them (cue the Assault Bot *WHOOSH* fun)

On a Corr, sure. Fine Alpha takers, no doubt.

On a MM, just tap your "Bodyguard" bind and run in and toebomb them with Poison Trap, or toss down 'trops.

Their tohit debuff is pants, in the order of 5%. Their perception debuff is pants since it gets overwritten as soon as you attack. Their AI is pants because they don't home in very reliably (utterly pants in PvP). Their -damage is about the only thing they have going for them, it's -40% if both hit (technically you can make this perma if you have some global +recharge set bonuses) but with Bodyguard plus FFG you don't need it in the slightest in PvE even up against AVs. And as already mentioned, the AI makes them completely pants in PvP.

If I'm in desperate need of an alpha-taker on my MM, I'll throw down an Acid Mortar. At least the Mortar inflicts a bit of -resistance while it's sitting there taking next to zero damage from a mob of +3s...

Currently my /traps is sitting at about 45% Defence for both the MM and the pets though. So I rarely need to do anything in PvE apart from resummon FFG when it dies, use Web Envelope and hit my "attack" key. I still get a kick out of the Assault Bot's missile double-WHOOSH on every mob though...

When my pets DO start taking damage, throwing down a triage beacon keeps them all nicely topped up. I rarely need to worry about using "Aid Other" on them individually, even when I'm not bothering to use Poison Trap.

Personally I'd rate the /traps powers in descending order of uberness for a MM as: FFG, Poison Trap, Caltrops, Web Grenade, Trip Mine, Triage Beacon, Acid Mortar, Detonator, Seeker Drones. As a Bots/ I get more use out of Triage Beacon than Trip mines though...

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Can a DM scrapper kill a proper invuln? no way.


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If the INV runs out of Breakfrees then the Stalker and Scrapper can both beat them pretty easily. The Stalker has it much easier than the Scrapper since they have "Build Up" and can effectively ToF then AS in safety.

Claws on the other hand, hasn't a hope...

Triage becaon is pretty darn awesome providing you have a ranged primary (works GREAT with 'Bots)
Detonator is a bit meh though. And Seeker Drones wins the "[Censored]est power award"...

IMO Poison is far better than Traps against single targets, but Traps is better for multiple targets.

PBs are not too bad in zones, can be damn hard to kill them if they're built right.
Of course, they can't really put the hurt on you either...

Warshades? Forget about it.

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Better +perc than you'd otherwise have of course, but don't rely on it to protect you from non-melee toons

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We are talking about ice tanks here

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True, but I was making a general point about the IO!

Also, do you think 29 feet is enough "Reaction distance" between you and a [Build Up + Energy Transfer]?

10 feet certainly isn't for most heros my Stalker encounters...

[Edit: bah, Blasphemy beat me to it... ]

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anyway a blaster would need tactics or he wouldn't be able to see me without a continuous pop of yellows

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Not with the new issue which is just around the corner


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Technically true, but perhaps less useful than you'd think. Bear in mind that although the new IO will let you see any non-stalker in melee range at their "stealth cap", it currently only adds 100 feet of perception.

In Sirens Call this isn't really a factor (level 30 stealth cap is 501 feet, your natural perception is 500 feet so it'll let you see non-stalker invis'ed enemies up to 99 feet away).

In arena PvP at level 50 however (571 feet stealth cap), a +Perception IO BY ITSELF will only let you see invis'ed non-stalkers up to 29 feet away. That's well within the range of, say, unslotted Bitter Ice Blast.

Better +perc than you'd otherwise have of course, but don't rely on it to protect you from non-melee toons.

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Regen aura especially with power boosted is very nice for a troller meaning you can concentrate more on controlling than healing, but thats probably more relevent for an empath troller with a more active primary.

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Except of course PB doesn't affect +regen powers...

And happy b-day Philn00b!

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PB does affect +regen powers, and who you calling a noob?

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It affects straight-up Heals (Aid Other) and Endurance Boosts (Transference).
It doesn't affect +Regen (Regen Aura) or +Recovery (Speed Boost).

See here.

How about "n00bster"? Maybe "n00blet"?

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i thought it wasnt possible to get 45% defence on ice, more like 38-39 using weave, 3% defence IO, and combat jumping.

if it is possble could anyone post what is needed please?

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Basically, the above plus Maneuvers.

That'll get you to about 45%-46% at the expense of another power pool.