Stormwind_Rider

I might suggest scraping up another slot to drop in Placate. 2 slots is pretty good, a 3rd only cuts off a few seconds which you can probably live without. Not much I can comment on Dark Armor, I have very little experience with it in general, and none on stalkers.

Is this a character already at level 50?

PvE?

One Thousand Cuts deserves more than just 4 slots. It's what makes DB so successful at scrapping, I can't say enough good things about it. Plus, it's great from Hide. 50% chance of crit against everyone in a large cone with your highest damage attack.

A nice alternative to consider is slotting IO slots for +regen. It's a bit easier to acquire than trying to get a respectable amount of defense starting from zero. With a brute's high hp count, and the set's good resists, the combined regeneration from Energize, Health, and IO set bonuses can go a long way to keeping you up in a fight while costing much less to acquire than a lot of defense.

Transfusion is a huge -regen debuff. Heal yourself, and he's not regenerating at the same time.

DP/Kin is what I play, and it's a rather frantic set. It doesn't have a huge amount of solo survivability. Using Suppressive Fire to full effect is key to surviving soloing (hit those Lieutenants!). The set really shines best in teams, though.

There's no hit-roll in the combat log, not even when I turn on Pet Hit-Rolls.

I know it can take accuracy enhancements, but so does Taunt, but it only misses in PvP.

So can Fulcrum Shift miss in PvE?

I don't have the time to go through everything but a few things pop out at me. I have a Fire/Dark corruptor at level 43.

Howling Twilight auto-hits, no accuracy needed.

You're taking Fearsome Stare way too late. That power is awesome, and will serve you much better early on instead of Howling Twilight.

If you follow this power build from level 1, it will be painfully slow at low levels because you have long-recharge attacks.

Luck of the Gambler - +recharge is obscenely expensive. You said you don't have tons of inf. Good luck getting those unless you farm yourself some villain merits.

Unless you really want the snipe set bonuses (which are admittedly good), I would skip Blazing Bolt and take Blaze or Fire Breath instead. As a snipe power, it takes too long to use, and I find that once the set combination gets going, you're just going to rip through enemy groups. Fire Breath is particularly good, it does fantastic damage in an AoE. Just use it first, or right after Rain of Fire, so it has time to do its damage. If you don't want the fire breathing animation, remember Issue 19 will have an alternate set of animations for Fire Blast, specifically including Fire Breath.

Don't ask questions in Player Guides. This kind of question should be in Player Questions or in the Archetypes and Powers forums.

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=242254

I present The Quick and Dirty Guide to Dual Pistols.

This guide was written mostly from my perspective playing the set as a Blaster and Corruptor, but since it only covers this particular set, it should be applicable to defenders as well. I've included the levels at which each power is available as both Primary and Secondary.

I present The Quick and Dirty Guide to Dual Pistols.

I present The Quick and Dirty Guide to Dual Pistols.

The Quick and Dirty Guide to Dual Pistols

This guide has been written because a DP guide doesn't exist.

As the title states, it's not a comprehensive guide to the set, but a fairly quick look to give prospective players of the set a better feel for what it does and how it plays, because as we all know, the in-game short and long text aren't particularly helpful.

Dual Pistols is available as a Primary for blasters and corruptors, and as a Secondary for defenders.

My experience with the set is with both blasters and corruptors, though my corruptor is by far the higher level of the two (38) and has every power in the set.

Overall, the performance of the set is solid, but not outstanding. It has a set of fairly useful abilities, and your IO slotting options are pretty wide, but you won't be setting any damage records.

Every power in this set does have an inherent accuracy bonus. Most are 1.1 (a base 10% higher), but Executioner's Shot is 1.25 and Hail of Bullets is 1.4.

Visual Appearance

The aesthetic design of Dual Pistols is clearly drawn from action cinema. Lots of rapid fire, fancy maneuvering, and the like. Think John Woo movies. Equilibrium is also clearly source material for the style (the gun kata influence can very obviously be seen in the movements of Hail of Bullets, the Tier 9 power). As such, if you are a stickler for “realism,” you may be annoyed by the visuals of this set. Your character WILL spin his pistol on his hand, throw them in the air, and engage in all sorts of unnecessary footwork. But it's STYLISH.

POWERS

Each power will be listed at the level it becomes available, blasters and corruptors before the slash and defenders after the slash.

Pistols
Level 1 / Level 1(mandatory)

Your character fires one of his pistols at the target. This power will alternate which gun is used.

Pistols is the basic low damage, fast recharge attack you get in any blast-type set. It does all lethal damage and inflicts a minor defense debuff on the target. If Swap Ammo is active, 30% of the damage instead becomes cold/fire/toxic. You also lose the defense debuff, and the slow/DoT/-dmg effect of the new ammo type does NOT apply.

IO Sets Allowed: Ranged Damage, Defense Debuff, Accurate Defense Debuff

Dual Wield
Level 1 / Level 2

Your characters spins backward, taking a step forward into a crouch with both pistols held horizontally, wrists crossed, and fires both at the same time.

The same second attack as most blast sets, Dual Wield does more damage than Pistols, and recharges slower. Without Swap Ammo, it will knockdown the target. With Swap Ammo, you get the 30% damage type change, plus the bonus effect for ammo type: Cold(Slow)/Fire(Extra Damage over Time)/Toxic(-damage debuff).

IO Sets Allowed: Ranged Damage, Slow Movement, Knockback

Empty Clips
Level 2 / Level 4

Your character fires both pistols rapidly in a cone in front of himself.

This power is a fairly standard cone attack with a range of 40 feet in a 30 degree arc. The damage is less than Pistols (about 9/10). This power will inflict a minor defense buff without Swap Ammo, and the standard effects with Swap Ammo. Many players dislike this power because you have to maneuver to catch multiple people in the arc, and because it does low damage. It is a pretty underwhelming power, and Bullet Rain becomes available at level 8, and is overall a better power. However, Empty Clips is an AoE attack, which means if you have multiple enemies to hit, it's still very efficient to use, IF the aggro doesn't kill you. It does have a fairly reasonable endurance cost and recharge moderately fast.

Important Note: This is the only AoE attack in Dual Pistols that can slot Achilles' Heel: Chance for Resistance Debuff. If you can get your hands on one of these IOs, then Empty Clips is worth the power choice.

IO Sets Allowed: Targeted AoE Damage, Slow Movement, Defense Debuff, Accurate Defense Debuff

Swap Ammo
Level 6 / Level 10

If your character has his pistols drawn, he will spin them in his hands quickly when changing ammo type, otherwise there is no animation.

Swap Ammo is the primary gimmick of Dual Pistols, allowing you to change part of your damage type to cold, fire, or toxic. Taking the Swap Ammo power gives you three toggle powers: Cryo Ammunition, Incendiary Ammunition, and Toxic Ammunition. When you activate a toggle, part of your damage type changes to that toggle's respective type, and the secondary effects of your attacks change. Cryo does cold and gives enemies a slow effect as well as a recharge penalty. Incendiary adds extra Damage over Time. Toxic gives the enemy a penalty to damage. You can only run one of these toggles at a time, and they do not cost endurance to use. All of the visual effects of your attacks, except for Pistols, will change. Ice bullets have a blue shot with snowflakes drifting behind them. Fire bullets have a yellowish-orange shot. Toxic bullets have a green shot with a spiral surrounding the trail.

IO Sets Allowed: Not slottable

Bullet Rain
Level 8 / Level 16

Your character holds his pistols out to the sides and lifts them up while firing, curving a series of bullets at your target and the area around him. The effect is much like curving bullets from the movie Wanted.

Bullet Rain has a range of 80 feet and a radius of 15 feet. Your main target and every enemy within 15 feet of him may be hit with this power. It does the same damage as Pistols. It does knockBACK without Swap Ammo, and the usual effects with Swap Ammo. It is an excellent AoE power, with the usual associated high endurance cost and long recharge time.

IO Sets Allowed: Targeted AoE Damage, Slow Movement, Knockback

Suppressive Fire
Level 12 / Level 20

Your character fires a quick shot from a crouch with one leg forward, then recovers.

This power does virtually no damage, and stuns your target at a Mag 3, which means it will work on most Lieutenants and Minions, and not have any effect by itself on Bosses and above. With Swap Ammo active, 30% of the tiny damage becomes the new damage type, and the power will Hold the target at Mag 3 instead of Stun. This is generally better than Stun, because then they won't wander around in a hyperspeed daze. However, depending on your secondary set, sometimes you might want to Stun instead (for instance, Energy Manipulation for Blasters) to stack together.

IO Sets Allowed: Ranged Damage, Holds, Stuns

Executioner's Shot
Level 18 / Level 28

Your character stands tall, spins his right pistol in his hand several times, then fires a shot which will hit the target's head (instead of body like most attacks).

This is a high damage, short range (40 feet, half the normal 80) power, much like Blaze from Fire Blast. It does take a long time to animate as well (2.57 seconds), and the attack is at the end of the animation. This power does Knockback and a minor Defense Debuff without Swap Ammo, and the usual effects with Swap Ammo. You may want to skip this power if you dislike the time it takes, or you don't want to get that close. Defenders can probably pass over it without too much angst. It is the highest damage power in the set except for Hail of Bullets, however. Alternately, if you have a great deal of recharge bonuses, you could drop Pistols and use Executioner's Shot along with Dual Wield as your main single-target damage.

IO Sets Allowed: Ranged Damage, Slow Movement, Knockback, Defense Debuff, Accurate Defense Debuff

Piercing Rounds
Level 26 / Level 35

Your character throws both pistols into the air, spins around, catches them, and thrusts the pistols forward while firing.

This attack does high damage at a range of 80 feet and is actually an extremely tiny cone (it's really just a straight line from you to your target). Any enemies in that line along with the target have a chance to be hit as well. This power hits a maximum of 3 enemies. It does a Resistance Debuff without Swap Ammo, and the usual effects with Swap Ammo. Very good damage, twice as much as Pistols, and just a little bit less than Executioner's Shot. It does have a lengthy recharge and high endurance cost, however.

IO Sets Allowed: Targeted AoE Damage, Slow Movement

Hail of Bullets
Level 32 / Level 38

Your character begins a “gun kata,” takes several steps, and firing several times with each step at all angles.

Hail of Bullets is Dual Pistols' “nuke” power. It functions like a regular Point Blank AoE attack, doing relatively high damage in an area around you. It does NOT drain your endurance after use or prevent recovery. The power does a lot of knockdown without Swap Ammo, and loses some of the knockdown in exchange for the usual effects with Swap Ammo. It also grants a moderate defense bonus to you while you are using it.

Important Note on how this power works: You make an accuracy check for each enemy in the attack's radius (25 feet). On a miss, the power does nothing to that enemy. On a hit, Hail of Bullets then does multiple ticks of damage. EACH tick has a 60% chance of actually hurting each enemy that was successfully “hit.” This means the damage from Hail of Bullets is not entirely consistent, since each enemy will take some damage ticks but not others.

IO Sets Allowed: PBAoE Damage, Slow Movement, Knockback

*****

And that's Dual Pistols.

I'm also having this issue. First noticed it when I tried to log in one of my Rogues who was parked in Talos. Tried my other Rogue there. Also nothing.

Then I logged in my tanker, ran around, then went to Talos. Immediately mapservered out, and now I can't log into him either.

Do the secondary effects from Fire, Cold, and Toxic ammo stack?

If I throw Toxic ammo on, fire bullet rain and then empty clips, is every hit enemy debuffed twice? etc.

Also, anyone have the numbers? I seem to recall the long help had 'em, and thought toxic ammo was a -10% dmg debuff for corruptors.

I've got a DB/WP guide for stalkers, since someone asked about that. It's in my signature.

Ablative Strike does indeed do slightly more damage than Power Slice.

I'll eventually revise this guide with all the subsequent notes. I'll include specific numbers and such since Issue 12 so helpfully included Detailed Info numbers.

Single Shot on Wolf Spiders is ridiculously slow to fire. It has a 1.67s animation, compared to the 1s it takes to fire Burst. There's a lot of extraneous movements and it annoys the hell out of me.

I feel it should be cut down to a 1 second animation time.

Fast note: Indomitable Will also protects against Fear.

Tested myself, Stalker Empower is +20% damage and +10% ToHit for 20 seconds. Thank you, Combat Attribute Window.

I forget his name, but there's an arbiter standing right in front of the doors into Recluse's tower. You talk to him to start the arc where you choose your patron.

Numbers for Empower found in another thread, given by Natsuki.

Stalker Empower is +20% damage, and +13.3% ToHit for 20s (as opposed to 10s).

Weaken hits enemies caught in the 1k Cuts cone with -10% ToHit, -10% Defense, according to Pippy's Guide. It was originally written for non-stalker Dual Blades, with some minor additions for Stalkers, and I can't say if those numbers were altered for stalkers like Empower, though I can't think of why they would be.

You have the Stalker version's powers ordered wrong.

Hide
High Pain Tolerance
Reconstruction
Mind over Body
Indomitable Will
Heightened Senses
Fast Healing
Resurgence
Strength of Will

Just realized, misspelled godmode as "godemode." *facepalm* That's going in as a fix in my copy...

A further note on Sweep: After you attain 1k Cuts, anytime enemies are grouped close enough to be affected by Sweep, they can be fairly easily fit into 1k Cuts' cone, which will do severe damage to all of them, possibly killing some with crits, and then knock them all down anyways. Another reason to drop Sweep.

Thanks for the comments. Typo fixed.

Yeah, I didn't think it was very possible either, but as I passed by level 20, and didn't feel like I was gasping for breath every fight... I just kept going. Stamina at 35 was just for convenience. Occasionally I scrap a lot, and I'll need it, but... it hasn't been a very big issue.

New guide!

The Stalker's Dual Blades/Willpower Guide (PvE) I11

The Stalker's Dual Blades/Willpower Guide (PvE) I11

Since these two sets came out, no one's compiled a guide for them for Stalkers. Most of my friends rolled new characters using the "standard" version of these sets, in some combination or the other, forgoing the bastardized Stalker versions. I decided to buck the trend and make a stalker. And here's a guide for those who walk this path next.

Guide Layout
I ..... Dual Blades
II .... Dual Blades Combos
III ... Willpower
IV ... Power Pools
V .... Patron Power Pools
VI ... Build Suggestions
VII .. A Brief Look at IOs

I. Dual Blades
Having played Energy Melee, Claws, and Ninja Blade Stalkers to varying levels, my overall impression of Dual Blades has been favorable thus far. Even with the much-maligned lethal damage, I've always felt my damage was at least sufficient, moving up to excellent as I acquired the last two powers of the set. Its powers lend it very well to "scrapping," particularly the cone attacks and the Attack Vitals combo. Additionally, Dual Blades is not very endurance-hungry. My endurance bar so rarely bottomed out that I put off Stamina until level 35, despite running all three toggles from Willpower. On to the individual powers.

Nimble Slash
Available at Level 1
A fast two swipes with one of your two blades. This is the basic low damage, fast recharging attack. It is the middle power of the Attack Vitals combo. I consider that combo worthwhile, and thus recommend taking this power. It's also quite useful in the early levels when you simply don't have many attacks to cycle through.
Slotting: 1-2 Accuracy, depending on your tastes. 3 damage. You can slot this one a bit behind your other attacks.

Power Slice
Available at Level 1
Three slashes with your blades. A moderate damage power with a moderately fast recharge. This power starts the Attack Vitals combo and is the middle power for the Weaken combo. I consider it a must-have power.
Slotting: 1-2 Acc. 3 Dam. 1 Rech.

Ablating Strike
Available at Level 2
Slash with one blade, then slash with the other. Slightly less damage than Power Strike, with a similar recharge, but also inflicts a defense penalty on your target, making them easier to hit with your next few attacks. It is the final power in the Sweep combo. While I like this power, and think the animation is cool... this is the only power I do not have on my DB/WP stalker. The Sweep combo is probably the most easily dropped combo. I wanted all of the other powers more, either for utility, or their place in combos. And let's face it: taking every single power in an attack set is a bit overkill. You can't actually use them all, and you'd dump a lot of slots into them. If you can afford it though, this power does take the Achilles Heel: chance for Resistance Debuff IO. If you can fit it, anyways.
Slotting: 1-2 Acc. 3 Dam. 1 Rech.

Assassin's Blades
Available at Level 6
Crouch low and back, both blades pulled back and pointing forward, then thrust. Very similar to the Ninja Blade assassinate animation, but with two blades. This is the signature stalker attack. Take it at level 6. But here's the dirty little secret about Assassin's Blades. After you pick up One Thousand Cuts, this power gets used a lot less.
Slotting: 1 Acc (It has inherent accuracy bonuses). 3 Dam.

Build Up
Available at Level 8
A small bonus to your accuracy, and a large bonus to your damage. Arguably one of the greatest advantages over the other versions of Dual Blades, which DON'T get Build Up. Why is it such an advantage? Go to One Thousand Cuts. This power starts both the Sweep and Empower combos, but that's not why you should take it. Take it because it helps you kill things better, combos or no.
Slotting: 3 Rech.

Placate
Available at Level 12
Makes an enemy stop attacking you, and puts you back in Hidden status, so you can get in another Assassin's Blades or a free critical hit. It can save you from the nastiest enemy, and give you a nice boost to damage. Take it. Note, that if the enemy was /about/ to attack you when you Placate, and hits you, you will lose Hidden status! Works well if you Placate after knocking them down, such as immediately after a Vengeful Slice.
Slotting: 3 Rech.

Vengeful Slice
Available at Level 18
A series of four attacks, the third knocks your opponent upwards. An excellent attack that does good damage, knocks your opponent down, and also completes the Attack Vitals combo. Also, your best attack to land a guaranteed Critical hit with. Slotting damage in this power increases the damage Attack Vitals deals. TAKE THIS POWER!
Slotting: 1-2 Acc. 3 Dam. 1-2 Rech.

Sweeping Strike
Available at Level 26
Cross your blades in front of you, then pull them apart. This is your first AoE attack. It strikes enemies in a 90 degree arc in front of you, within melee range (5 feet). It does excellent damage to multiple enemies, and starts the Weaken combo. Highly recommended. Note, however, that if you use this attack and then try to move into the Attack Vitals combo, it will not work. When you activate Power Slice, the game will think you're attempting Weaken. Use Nimble Slash before you use Power Slice, and you should be fine.
Slotting: 1-2 Acc. 3 Dam. 1-2 Rech.

One Thousand Cuts
Available at Level 32
Hack and slash repeatedly at any poor fools standing in front of you, with little rippling shockwaves in the air cutting past them to strike even further. Whoa... this power is incredible. 90 degree arc, 10 foot range, and a massive amount of damage. Throw Build Up into the mix, and a lot of people are suffering a lot of pain. Now do it from Hide. It's not a guaranteed Critical hit on everyone, but every target suffers a 50% chance to take double damage. I have killed 4 minions with a single use of this power before, by striking them from Hide and critically hitting all of them. It feels... good... Take this power, and LOVE IT!
Slotting: 1-2 Acc. 3 Dam. Maximum Rech possible.

II. Dual Blade Combos
Combos are Dual Blade's "secondary" effect. While Dark Melee reduces your enemies' accuracy, Spines poisons them, etc., Dual Blades lets you pull off combos. Your combos are named the same as the "standard" Dual Blades combos, but require different powers to pull off, and sometimes affect a different number of targets. I use the Attack Vitals and Weaken combos the most, primarily for scrapping.

Sweep (First combo available)
Build Up -> Assassin's Blades -> Ablating Strike
This combo knocks down everyone around your target and does minor damage to them. The knockdown is the really sweet sounding part. It is. Too bad you can't use this combo all that much. You're limited to how often Build Up recharges. You also have to be able to make an Assassin attack without being interrupted, which can be tough in the middle of a battle. It's the first combo you get, so you might use it some, but I eventually respecced out of Ablating Strike and have not regretted it.

Empower (Second combo)
Build Up -> Assassin's Blades -> Placate
This combo gives you some rather minor bonuses to damage and accuracy (about 10% to each). Not exactly big numbers there. It does let you crit on whatever attack you choose next. And if that's One Thousand Cuts, well.. an extra 10% damage is a nice little bit of cream on top. If I had the choice, I would not keep this combo, but I consider all three of those powers to be critical to a Stalker by themselves, so I have this combo.

Attack Vitals (Third combo)
Power Slice -> Nimble Slash -> Vengeful Slice
This power adds some extra Damage over Time to whomever you strike with Vengeful Slice. The damage is based on how much damage Vengeful Slice did (each tick of Attack Vitals does half the damage as a single swing from Vengeful), including the effects of Build Up. You CAN fit Assassin's Blades and then the Attack Vitals combo in Build Up if you're fast. This combo is invaluable for scrapping. I can't count how many times it's finished off an enemy for me. It's about as much as a free extra attack.

Weaken (Fourth combo)
Sweeping Strike -> Power Slice -> One Thousand Cuts
This power debuffs every enemy you hit with One Thousand Cuts, making it harder for them to hit you for a short time. Not the best combo, but it can help increase your survivability. Besides, two of those powers are absolutely critical by themselves, and the third is necessary for another combo that I consider very useful, so you'll just end up with this combo as well by default.

III. Willpower
Willpower is a well-rounded set. It doesn't have a major strength, but at the same time, has no significant weaknesses either. You even have resistance to Toxic damage through Reconstruction, which “normal” Willpower doesn't get.

Hide
Mandatory at Level 1
You have to take this power. You kinda need it to be a stalker, after all. Hide costs no endurance to use, and does provide a small bonus to defense. When Hidden, Hide's bonuses to defense increase slightly, and give you a very large AoE defense, making it relatively unlikely that you'll be hit by a stray rocket explosion or shotgun blast.
Slotting: 1 Def

High Pain Tolerance
Available at Level 2
This power raises your maximum hit points and gives a minor bonus to all resistances. This power drastically helps with one of the major stalker weaknesses: Low hps. Unenhanced, this power raises your maximum hit points by 20%. Heal enhancements will raise that number. Take this power. Soon.
Slotting: 3 Heal. Don't bother to slot resistance.

Reconstruction
Available at Level 4
A simple self-heal. It recovers 25% of your max hps and recharges in 60 seconds. It also provides Toxic resistance for a minute after you use it. Using this power will force you to redraw your blades. I consider this an excellent emergency power. Self-healing doesn't care where the damage you took came from. Very useful power, take it as well.
Slotting: 3 Heal, 3 Rech. Slot Heal slightly faster than Recharge.

Mind Over Body
Available at Level 10
Your first toggle defense. It protects against Smashing, Lethal, and Psi damage. Smashing and Lethal are very common, while Psi isn't, but a large number of Heroes and (Arch)villains have psi attacks, frequently area-of-effect, so this will help you survive those encounters.
Slotting: 3 Res. 1 End recommended if you forgo Stamina.

Indomitable Will
Available at Level 16
Status protection! No more Holds, Sleeps, Stuns, or Knockdowns. It also provides defense against Psi attacks. You'd be pretty crazy not to take this, given how /bad/ being stuck in a status effect is.
Slotting: 1 End or 1 Def. End if you don't get Stamina, Def otherwise.

Heightened Senses
Available at Level 20
A moderate amount of defense against “environmental” effects. What does that mean? It means you get some defense against Fire, Cold, Energy, and Negative Energy damage. You also get a tiny, and I do mean tiny, amount of defense against Smashing and Lethal damage. Not a terribly exciting power on its own, but a big bonus is the bonus to Perception. Who cares? Fight some Night Widows with their damnable smoke grenades, and then you'll be happy for +Perception.
Slotting: 3 Def if you can spare the slots, 1 Def otherwise.

Fast Healing
Available at Level 28
An increase to your normal regeneration rate. Normally, I'm not a big fan of this power. Your regeneration rate is based off your maximum hps, which is usually low for a stalker. With HPT, though, your max hps increases. Regeneration works best when you can stack multiple sources. So, if you take Health, and also purchase some IO sets that grant Regeneration bonuses, then I would suggest taking this power. Otherwise, by itself, leave it at home.
Slotting: 1 Heal. 2 more Heals when you can spare the slots.

Resurgence
Available at Level 35
A self-resurrection power. You return to full hps, half endurance, and get a bonus to accuracy and damage for a short time, which then goes away and gives you a penalty for a short time. Personally, I don't feel the need for a self-rez. I rarely die, being a perfectly cowardly stalker, and I carry awakens. This power largely comes down to personal preference.
Slotting: 1 Recharge. If you really need to use this power that often...

Strength of Will
Available at Level 38
The “godemode” power for Willpower. Just like the set as a whole, it's fairly moderate in its effect. It does not grant you immense power, but the crash at the end is not debilitating, either. You gain a good amount of resistance to all and a nice recovery buff, for 120 seconds. After it wears off, you lose a big chunk off your endurance bar, but you don't bottom out, or lose hit points. Important note, this power is completely unaffected by recharge bonuses of any kind.
Slotting: 3 Resist.

IV. Power Pools
I'm not going to go into every power pool in depth, just make some observations.

When it comes to travel powers, any is as good as another. The only big booster might be Hasten, to help you pull off attacks faster. But with five attacks and then Assassin's Blades, plus veteran attacks, I've never been left without something to hit an opponent with.

Fitness is of course, a common pool choice. As I stated, I did not feel like these two powersets has a real need for Stamina. I did, after all, put it off until level 35. However, Health and Fast Healing would go together nicely, along with some IO Set Bonuses for Regeneration.

Fighting is a possibility, for Tough. You do get stuck with an extra attack that will force you to redraw your blades, however. I don't feel that extra smashing/lethal resistance is necessary, however. The combination of higher hps, existing resistance, and a self-heal are plenty enough to keep you going.

V. Patron Power Pools
Most people consider these pools to be.. underwhelming. All the Pools except Shark Mastery contain the same powers, just with different thematics and damage types. You get a regular blast or a snipe as your first two choices, then a Hold power, then a power to summon an Arachnos ally. Shark Mastery lacks the snipe, instead giving you the Waterspout power, which will throw enemies everywhere!

The only recommendation I can make here is take set fits your character's theme, and get the Hold. After all, you get a chance for free Critical hits on Held enemies.

VI. Build Suggestions
I will suggest two builds, which are based off the build I have used on my Stalker. The first build is to be used early on, and then respecced out of. Notice that a travel power is also postponed. This is because I very strongly suggest running the Mayhem missions at level 5-9 and 10-14 to get the free travel powers (Raptor Pack and Zero-G Pack).

1: Nimble Slash
1: Hide
2: Power Slice
4: Ablative Strike
6: Assassin's Blades
8: High Pain Tolerance
10: Build-Up
12: Placate
14: Reconstruction
16: Indomitable Will
18: Vengeful Slice
20: Mind Over Body

Sometime around level 19 or 20 is when I would respec.

1: Nimble Slash
1: Hide
2: Power Slice
4: High Pain Tolerance
6: Assassin's Blades
8: Build-Up
10: Reconstruction
12: Placate
14: 1st Travel Power choice
16: Indomitable Will
18: Vengeful Slice
20: Mind Over Body or Travel Power
22: Whichever you didn't get at 20
24: Heightened Senses
26: Sweeping Strike

From this point on, you have several choices. You can take Fast Healing and go up to Health in the Fitness tree. You could start picking up Fitness, getting Swift at 28, Health at 30, and Stamina at 35 (which is what I did.) Or pick any other power pool powers that you particularly like. Just make sure you get One Thousand Cuts at level 32 and slot it as fast as you can.

VII. A Brief Look at IOs
There's a huge amount of advice on using IO enhancements already out there, so I will focus on what works best for these powersets. When it comes to actual enhancements, IO sets help greatly in balancing Accuracy, Damage, Endurance Reduction, and Recharge reduction. I would advise a fairly equal distribution of Endurance and Recharge if you can manage it, after getting Accuracy and Damage to acceptable levels.

When it comes to set bonuses, I would suggest searching for a few global accuracy bonuses, since Dual Blades lacks the -def component to its attacks like Ninja Blade. Global recharge bonuses are also always good, if a bit expensive to get ahold of. Finally, if you plan to take Fast Healing and Health, then definitely find some Regeneration bonuses to go on top of those.