Siolfir
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:I actually took Teleport for a travel power instead of Flight on the one of my characters that doesn't have CJ (a Dark/Cold Corruptor), in part to prevent being caught by an immobilize - it also works great for getting off of the old stacking Caltrop patches and past CoT pain crystals the broke her stealth when trying to go through Oranbega missions.Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle
I'd call it pretty different since for knockback there are IOs to take. You can also take hover if you don't like leaping, even post-change that still leaves you immobile for less time than being knocked to the floor does. The point about immobilize is that the only option is CJ if there's nothing in the set itself. Feel free to hover all you want but you still won't be going anywhere. Having mentioned unyielding stance, teleport also comes to mind but typically if you're trying to escape from a group of NPCs you need to be able to duck around corners, precisely the kind of thing teleport cannot do.
And Hover/Flight doesn't protect from KB like it used to, it just shortens the downtime where you're completely unable to do anything due to a shorter forced animation. That's at best "resistance"; you may as well compare it to Weave (which has immob resistance).
As for the IOs, how do those apply when doing balance passes which should "balance for SOs"? In any case, it's obvious that the devs disagreed with me about the issue when creating Willpower; it's also equally obvious that despite plugging Willpower's holes they never felt the need to go back and plug some (IMO) just as problematic holes in the existing sets. -
I don't even have an Alpha slotted on any of my Stalkers.
Then again, the characters that I have any incarnate powers slotted are as follows:
EM/Elec Brute: (all t3) spiritual alpha, ion, spectral (for the 75% DoT), storm elementals (for theme), rebirth (for +regen)
Rad/Kin Corr: t3 spiritual, t3 void, t3 diamagnetic
SS/FA Brute: t3 musculature, t3 pyronic
Ice/Rad Corr: t3 cardiac, t1 cryonic
Sonic/Cold Corr: t3 spiritual, t2 cryonic
Fire/Fire Dom: t1 pyronic (not even an alpha!)
I also just got the t3 destiny on the EM/Elec Brute and haven't really gotten a chance to use it (the slot unlocked during a TPN trial ran just before I logged her off and the power was already built), but I chose it for the silly levels of +regen to plug any gaps that Energize doesn't.
You could always try Ageless? -
Quote:It doesn't critical for full damage, so I'd debate that it's a superior alternative for ATs that have critical capabilities (Controller, Corruptor, Scrapper, Stalker).Originally Posted by Warfarin88
If you don't need the 100% knockdown of Air Sup, Jump Kick is actually a superior alternative, given its faster recharge rate.
I personally love Combat Jumping for reasons already listed - I think I have all of 1 character past level 20 (some of those Stalkers take a while to fit powers in) that doesn't have it.
Super Jump is a taste issue - it's nice but more often I'll take SS for the stealth.
Acrobatics is mostly useless with -KB IOs but if you don't have access to IOs (due to going premium) you'll probably want it despite the endurance cost. It's also been nerfed in the past - it used to be 100 mag KB protection, effectively making you completely immune to any KB that can be resisted at all. -
Quote:Which without IOs is 3 powers from the exact same power pool that the cure to all your immobilize issues come from or else a complete reroll of the character to pick different sets. But the answer there is "so take Acrobatics". I just find it a bit hypocritical that saying "so take Combat Jumping" is such a burden to those who feel threatened by immobilize. I've never been in a situation where I died because of immob; I have died due to being unable to react because of a chained KB.Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle
I don't find knockback to be all that dangerous even when I'm playing a squishy who for some reason does not yet have a -KB IO. It is the most transient status effect that can be inflicted on a player character. It is a common effect, but it virtually always occurs as a chance to proc rather than a guarantee. In any case, by the time it becomes really prevalent you've had many levels to find some way to protect yourself against it.
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Well, I'd pretend to help but I don't have Mid's on this computer and don't have the set bonuses memorized beyond "Scirocco's Dervish @ 5 and Blessing of the Zephyr @ 3" - neither of which really help your build since you're tight on slots and have no PBAoEs.
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The "arguably better" part apparently needed some argument. >.> So I'll clarify what I meant.
Numerically, Spines has more AoE potential. Realistically, it depends on the difficulty you're fighting at, mob placement and resistance, and all boils down to whether or not anything in the spawn lives through LR+TS - or at least how many things are left, since the difference in single target damage is more significant than the difference in AoE.
I have a Spines/Nin that I stopped playing after getting sick of what all lives through a lethal damage AS that dies to an energy damage one somewhere in the low 30s, and ran my PL'd Spines/WP through enough content to get accolades and Leviathan Mastery at level 50. I'm aware that Spines is playable and has good AoE damage - but I've never looked at my Elec/Nin and thought "I need more AoE, I can't keep up with that Spines character". For me both sets finish missions in roughly the same amount of time, and ElM has an easier time against hard targets.
And like I said before - if you enjoy the set, have fun with it. I just got annoyed that I had to hit Build Up to kill a minion with Assassin's Strike, so I switched to a set I enjoyed more. -
Quote:Electric Melee has better single target damage and comparable (arguably better due to higher burst) AoE, and it's a mixed/exotic damage type.Originally Posted by _Hush_
Well , I've noticed most stalkers nowadays it seems either pick Kinetic Melee or Electric Melee . Now with that being said, How does Spines measure up as a choice for stalkers? Is their a reason why there aren't that many running around using that power-set? I'm not complaining just simply trying to figure out whether or not quite frankly if I made the right choice picking Spines. I mean I like the set personally. I just would like to know where it stands as a choice for damage.
Spines is good for AoE damage, but it's lethal damage and also pretty far down in the pack for single target.
If you like it, keep playing it. If you're worried about number-crunching, then you probably wouldn't have picked a Stalker in the first place. -
Quote:fixed.Originally Posted by Mr. DJ
I think being in charge of a trip to the corner grocery would be too much for Des.
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Quote:Electric Armor only has protection via Grounded, which means that they have no immobilize protection if they need to jump or fly over something; Dark Armor has to take Cloak of Darkness, and Fiery Aura's protection is from Burn. Stone Armor doesn't have any form of mez protection without pseudo-immobilizing itself via Rooted or Granite Armor.Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Immobilize is a very common and long duration mez relative to its recharge. Melee don't notice, because all melee are protected against it. Squishies tend to notice it more, but they also generally kill the source of immobilizes with ranged attacks which reduces the net effect. It would literally be like adding sappers to every critter faction and telling people that hey, cabs exist, so what's the problem.
I'm really, really, really wondering why having to take a very cheap toggle that also acts as a great set mule power is such a burden compared to other armor sets. Conbat Jumping provides half of the defense of Cloak of Darkness, the same immobilize protection, costs a lot less endurance, and is available to anyone very early.
I've also died a lot more often to chain knockback than I have being immobilized - you can't even pop inspirations while you're flopping around. -
Quote:Only got this far into the thread so far, but here's the speculation:Originally Posted by OneFrigidWitch
But what comes in 6 and 7?
In 6, Recluse takes over Paragon City and romps around for a bit before he gets bored and starts secretly training Ms. Liberty as a replacement.
In 7, Libbie flips out and starts killing people and Recluse has to stop her from destroying the city. In trying to help, he finds out that States really faked his death just to get some peace and quiet. Eventually after a fight destroying large chunks of the city he stop Libbie and is celebrated as a hero.
oh, wait... that sounds familiar... -
Quote:My ElM/Nin is (somewhat) jokingly named Tolerable.Originally Posted by Erratic
I happened to make my stalker without reading up on the AT here on the forums and lucked into ElM/Nin. It has been a fantastic combo, and having picked up Lightning Rod this past weekend has taken my enjoyment level to just plain silly, wrong fun levels.
I've even gotten a few comments about how wrong my character is.
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Quote:You may want to edit the OP, then, since it says this:Originally Posted by Kioshi
Plus I'm done with the PvPs, I liked it better on my squishies and they were obsolete in i13 (because of their powersets - holds, slows, etc, made useless).
Since priorities shift drastically between PvE and PvP builds, I can see where things may be a bit off.Quote:Originally Posted by Kioshi
But she'll be my main villain from now on so I wanna respec her into a PvP build and need suggestions because I haven't done a /nin build in a long time.
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Slotted or no, taking Thunder Kick instead of Storm Kick makes baby Stalkers cry*.
I still haven't even planned out a build for Trouble, and she's currently level 36.
Going off of memory with what she has now, only listing slots since there aren't any IOs slotted yet (attacks are 2 acc/2-3 dam).
1. Smite: 5 slots
1. Hide: 1 slot
2. Shadow Maul: 5 slots
4. Reconstruction: 5 slots
6. Assassin's Strike: 5 slots
8. Build Up: 2 slots
10. Flight: 1 slot
12. Placate: 1 slot
14. Maneuvers: 3 slots
16. Integration: 4 slots
18. Siphon Life: 5 slots
20. Resilience: 1 slot
22. Combat Jumping: 1 slot
24. Hasten: 3 slots
26. Assault: 1 slot
28. Instant Healing: 1 slot
30. Dull Pain: 4 slots
32. Midnight's Grasp: 5 slots
35. Dark Blast: 4 slots
Stamina: 3 slots
I think that's right for where she's at currently - she still runs out of endurance way too quickly. The plan is to get MoG, then Shadow Meld, then I hadn't decided for 44/47/49. I'd still need another defense power to throw a 5th LotG in, so maybe Vengeance if I don't go through the Fighting Pool.
* - And not just because Storm Kick is the best DPA attack in the set... it's also because then there's no chance of ever trying to get Thunder Kick replaced with an AoE! Not that there was much chance in the first place... -
Quote:What amuses me about this question is that Blasters have more hit points than Controllers... so if all but a few things are locked down or you're talking stray AoE damage, they're harder to kill than the Controller.Originally Posted by schattenbolt
I see value in each of y'alls posts, and they really do go far to explain Dominators. I am curious. Outside of mezzes for mitigation, how fragile are Dominators? Are they middle of the road like Controllers? Are they glass-cannons like Blasters?
That said, I'd put them somewhere between overall, closer to the Controller side than the Blaster side but more dependent on how you play them - a Controller has a secondary that also helps with survival, while a Dominator's secondary pretty much just mangles things. But much of the survivability comes from an abundance of control, and a high recharge perma-Dom will have so much control with inherent mez protection from Domination that they can be safer than most Controllers. -
Quote:I tested it in the open beta with a Dual Pistols/Kinetic Corruptor, before the chance for each tick was added, and before it gave you +defense so you can live through the animation.Originally Posted by KnightofKhonsu
My question is this. Has anyone else found themselves shocked by what 'Hail of Bullets' can do with or without using Fulcrum Shift?
I found myself shocked when after damage capping myself with Fulcrum Shift in a large spawn, I fired off Hail of Bullets only to have half of the (+1) minions and everything larger in the spawn live through it (the ticks originally had a lower chance to go off even when you hit the target); then I faceplanted because Transfusion was animating when my hit points ran out.
The power has come a long way since then and is a lot better, but that's the only time I can say I was "shocked" by the power. -
Some nitpicks - currently Fireball from the APPs also has a 100% critical rate from hidden status, but I'm wondering how long those will last after i22. Thunder Strike has a 50% chance to critical on the AoE portion - the single-target part of it has a 100% critical rate, but since Lightning Rod also does knockdown you can usually get the Assassin's Strike off.
I'd recommend KM over EM because it has Burst for some AoE, regardless of the critical rate, and since you have a lot of control over Build Up's recharge with Concentrated Strike. -
Quote:See my response in the other thread where you proposed the same thing.Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
The bosses were sorta tacked on there for theme, bosses, elite bosses, arch villains. Yes, you are right, I believe most Stalker AS users can neutralize with extreme prejudice any boss. But the changes I suggest go right to the core of the AS, making it a signature move not lacking in teeth, as it appears to be now.
I may be way off base, but it seems to me Stalkers trade everything a Brute or a Scrapper could get for the ability to Assasinate foes. And then cannot assasinate foes. That or Stalker players just really like to hide and don't want to invest a couple picks in the Stealth pool.
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Quote:A version of this was tried on test a while back with various percentages of the mob's max hp, and whether or not it was enhanceable/buffable/etc. There was a huge outcry about mob resistances at the time because the smashing and lethal damage Assassin's Strikes did significantly less damage than the energy and negative energy ones, other complaints that it made AS weaker against smaller targets like Lieutenants and minions, and then I think it was eventually scrapped due to the difficulty in balancing it while making everyone happy. IIRC the highest percentage that it got to was (unbuffed, unenhanceable) 9%, or a 4% that was fully enhanceable to 20% - meaning that 5 damage capped Stalkers would kill any target in the game that didn't have resistance in 3 seconds.Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
I would suggest a much simpler solution for Stalkers though. a damage scalar on Assasin's Strike. just the full one in hide. Have it scale to the Enemy. So a fully buffed AS could level an Boss, any Boss, easily. A buffed AS could leave any EB wobbling and clean some of them. And a buffed AS could actually make a gnarly tick on an AVs health bar. Oh, and add a danged stun to the AS for these hard targets. Cause it should be very surpising to almost get assassinated. Even with purple triangles up. There, then Stalkers would get some respect. And it could be done with a few hours coding, not changing the whole game.
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Quote:There isn't unresistable damage in PvE, nor was it unresistable when they had the scaling AS on test briefly - the reason given was that it breaks a lot of encounters.Originally Posted by Azucar_NA
I thought the damage was mostly irresistable anyways.
In PvP, it's been unresistable, was made resistable as part if the i13 changes, and I think they made it unresistable again but stopped caring a long time ago. -
Quote:According to City of Data, yes. I'm not in a spot to check on my Dominator who has PFF through Mace Mastery.Originally Posted by Trickshooter
Doesn't Personal Force Field offer Base Defense outside of PvP?
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Quote:Well, when they tried to leave some of the protections out of Willpower there was a huge uproar about it in beta. I don't even remember what they were, I think KB and immobilize?Originally Posted by Kioshi
Shields has Fear protection as well. I actually find it quite strange that the two newest armor sets have complete mez protection, SD and WP have it all, even confuse.
I don't remember it being an issue with Shield because they already had tried going that route with Willpower and just preempted the complaining by having the mez click work for everything.
Edit: bah, scooped by Arcanaville.
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Quote:Old style dikuMUDs had a "wielded" position, "shield" position, and a "held" position as part of the default equipment slots. You could wield a two-handed weapon (since it didn't differentiate one- or two-handed), hold another, and use a shield (no matter how large). Plus you could cast any spell you knew while doing so.Originally Posted by Kioshi
Is there any game you can actually use a shield with a 2-handed weapon? Even a legacy fantasy JRPG? I can't recall any...
My character in Skyrim can't btw
Later MUDs added even more spots for extra silliness, but those are just default settings.
Edit to add: There was also a "light" position that you held to use. So you could hold a light, wield a two-handed weapon in one hand, and hold a two-handed weapon in the other (potentially dual-wielding both, but that's not stock Diku) while wearing a shield. And still do all of your normal skills. Realism? What's that? -
Yeah, what Kioshi said. Same with Ice Armor's and Energy Aura's offensive toggles - they won't break a "normal" Hide, but they will break Placate's hidden status.
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Quote:But the devs listen to whining! Case in point: Stalker buffs in i22.Originally Posted by Pyro_Beetle
Personally I have found the Stalker to be a great amount of fun solo, and I hold my own in TF and teams, without listening to the general whining that you will hear if you continue to peruse these boards.
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Quote:And if it bothers you so much, why are you reading - let alone posting in - the thread?Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle
Yeah, and you don't have to worry about whether the devs will take these requests seriously or not. The part that is annoying is that this record has been skipping for months now and reason itself is incapable of changing that.