UnicyclePeon

All,

I have an Electric Melee stalker I am considering, and I believe that I will be able to achieve the set numbers I want regardless of whether I take Charged Brawl or Jacob's Ladder. So I am wondering which you think I should take, if I only take one or the other?

In the past I have been frustrated at Electric Melee because it has lots of fast attacks and doesnt hit hard enough in single target. Therefore, with Assassin Shock being in the mix now, I am tempted to go with Jacobs so that I feel like I have slower but heavier melee, with bigger hits. However I am worried that then the set might feel too slow.

On the other hand, in the past, I've hated how slow Jacob's Ladder can feel, and I am personally terrible at getting more than one foe in it.

So I am wondering if anyone has any advice on which I should take if I only take one or the other.

Thanks,

Lewis

I like my EM/WP/MU Brute. I hated him until I had all 3 Mu AoEs tho (Whirling hands makes 4 AoEs). Now he is fun, now that I can unleash 4 AoEs abd then pick off the stragglers with EM attacks.

But the EM itself? Hate it.

Lewis

Thanks for the replies.

I am not planning onany AoE powers from my epics. Just the ones from my primary. I do have the full ATO set in Assassin Strike. I havent done much teaming, but I will try to pick targets more carefully going forward.

Thanks,

Lewis

All,

For years and years, I didnt understand Stalkers. I tried a few and deleted them. But with all the recent changes, I decided to make a Street Justice/Super Reflexes Stalker. I like him, and I hit level 33 and so I have all my attacks slotted up.

Its a fun character, but I am still not sure that the single target damage meets my expectations. Sometimes I do build up, assassin strike, crushing uppercut, and yet I find that a red boss or barely purple boss is still alive.

So I wonder if my expectations are too high, or if sometimes its normal to need to throw in a shin breaker or another blow or two, to finish the boss. But its certainly a quicker kill than on other characters I have played.

I dunno. Are my expectations too high? Is there some order of power activation I should use? Should I expect to have to use more attacks? Does anyone have any general tips on play?

Thanks,

Lewis

I dont usually care about recharge, and I am such a fanatic about endurance that even /ea and /elec dont have enough endurance tools to satisfy me. So I usually go cardiac on sets that have accuracy boosts (super strength, invuln) but otherwise I prefer vigor. I like the t3 one that gives level shift, acc, and end reduction.

I am pretty sure I am the only brute who uses vigor tho.

Lewis

DMystic,

Thanks!

Lewis

Wait.

On Street Justice, am I supposed to put the stalker set in the assassin strike or in crushing uppercut for best results?

My STJ/SR stalker is only level 29 so I dont have crushing uppercut yet, but I did already put max slots in assassin strike and I have the full stalker set in it.

Help?

Thanks,

Lewis

Is eviscerate the one where you jump/spin in the air? The one at level 26? I hate it. It looks so stupid to me, even in a supers game. I took 2 claws characters to 50, hated it from 26 to 50 on both, but recently dropped it from both and I am so much happier. I dont even care if I am a little less effective compared to some idealized attack chain. I have a new claws brute and I am so looking forward to skipping it.

Lewis

/not saying its a bad power, just that I hate it

Sounds truly awesome. Congrats!

Meanwhile, I am in Stalker Hell, due to a friend goading me into making one. But I need to get back to some controller action.

Lewis

I dunno. My SS/Elec is pretty hot and cold. Or stable and unstable. At times, ranged foes really rip me up. And by definition, ranged/aoe would cover all the ranged/aoe, not just most. Plus it would help with the more esoteric ranged attacks.

Maybe I should have dual builds so I can do both. But maybe S/L *is* best.

Feeling uncertain,

Lewis

All,

I have a level 50 SS/Elec brute with capped Smashing/Lethal defense, and he rocks. I have SS/Dark in the works with similar numbers planned. However, I discovered that I could instead get both AoE and Ranged up around 40% or more at the expense of Smashing/Lethal or Melee type defenses. Now obviously if I were Katana or Broadsword, I could cap melee too. But i'm not.

Still, I am thinkihg that I should switch from S/L defense to Ranged and AoE. That way I am not ripped up by ranged foes, and for melee foes, I am a Brute. That is where I crush them. Foot Stomp. Punches. Damsge auras. Depending on secondary, Stun or EndDrain or Burn damage. So I still think I would dominate anything in melee range and be more well-rounded against other stuff.

What do you think?

Thanks,

Lewis

I dont know that I like /nin conceptually. I thought /Ice had more toggle-juggling, due to CE?

Lewis

Thanks for the replies.

I want to make a Stalker, but I am not sure what to make. If I dont make Electric Melee, then I will have AOE envy. But if I do make Electric Melee, then I sm stuck with Electric Melee. Basically, I hate the set other than Lightning Rod.

Anyway, I normally dont like weapon sets on melee characters, though I have a few. But for a Stalker, it makes sense. Dual Blades fits. I also like Street Justice, conceptually. I just need a secondary. I would be tempted to do Dark Armor, but I hear there is some tedious juggling of the stun toggle with placate. If anyone even uses Placate anymore, I have no clue. I would consider Super Reflexes, except that I already have a level 50 Dual Blades / SR scrapper, and a level 34 SJ/SR scrappet.

Oh well.

Thanks!

Lewis

I love Vigor on my Dark Armor character. But I am not a recharge freak on melee characters. For Dark Armor, specifically Dark Regeneration, accuracy and end reduction are vital, and bonus healing is fine. Also, the acc and end reduction really help with all the crazy toggles I run and with both my damage aura accuracy and with the passable-but-not-great accuracy on my single target attacks (they have 4 kin combats and a CI acc/dam).

So yeah. I love me some Vigor.

Lewis

I have Plant/Storm at 50. Its a very good set. I like it tons. I have a Plant/TA/Fire that is nice too. Level 44 or so. I play it in the same style as Miladys Knight does. I had both Plant/Emp and Plant/Rad in the mid 30s at one point but found them a bit boring.

Anyway, I think Plant/TA may be my favorite in the long term. Well, so far. I would like to try Plant/Poison some day.

Lewis

Do any Stalkers have any good AOE options? I seem to remember that maybe Elec Melee gets lightning rod, which seems unfairly sick compared to what other stalkers get (in terms of AOE). My friend made Elec/ for some reason, I havent asked him why he went with Elec/ but as a min/maxer, I assume he picked Elec/ because lf the AOE.

Anyway, I am just wondering if any other sets posess any nice AOE?

Thanks,

Lewis

What about "Beast Pastor" for a punny name? Dress like a priest, use /Pain for your healing set since there is no /Empathy. Or go /Thermal for more of a fire-and-brimstone Endtimes Pastor.

Lewis

What about "Beast Pastor" for a punny name? Dress like a priest, use /Pain for your healing set since there is no /Empathy. Or go /Thermal for more of a fire-and-brimstone Endtimes Pastor.

Lewis

I like scrappers *because* they dont have any utility effect or gimmick to leverage. They are simply golden. From zero to sixty in zero seconds flat.

Lewis.

How should one slot it?

My build is very tight, so I have only 2 total slots in it. I might be able to scrape up one more at level 50 using enhancement boosters on Stamina so that I could scrape up a slot. I mostly dont even use it so far. But I was thinking 2 recharge, or maybe 2 rech and a lotg global.

Any slotting thoughts?

Lewis

I have character slots which are filled with characters, name costume and all, who merely await proliferation of some sets:

Super Strength / Ice Armor (Brute or Scrapper)
Ice Melee / Super Reflexes (Scrapper)
Fire / Traps (Controller)
Illusion / Traps (Controller)

All of the above powersets exist in the game currently, but not in those configurations. Some of my placeholder characters have been waiting for over a year. I just need a nice round of proliferation and I will be set.

Lewis

To me, the umbral is too much an individual, or too much of a real creature to deny that it is an independent entity. For the Haunts, or for Jack Frost or Singy or even Fire Imps, it is easy to view them as a chaotic unconscious manifestation of my psyche. That alllows me to accept them on mutant or science characters.

But the Umbral Beast barks, hangs out, and interacts too much. I cant pretend it is a manifestation of Will. Therefore, it absolutely kills it for me, for any non-Magic character. Sure, you can jump through hoops ("my mutant powers let me summon beings from a plane of shadow!") but its just too much. To have to do that on 75% of my dark control characters, well, I ended up deleting 5 of them once I played with the pet some.

I will probably keep my magic origin ones.

If it werent for Umbral being too theme specific, Dark could be my fave set. It is brilliant otherwise. I wish you could have it look like a phantasm or singularity ir fluffy or the haunts. Or even if it was a non-sohmd-producing non-playful version of the non-com black wolf. Or something less theme-specific.

Grr.

Lewis

That should be pretty nice! Tempting you into Evil was my pleasure!

I only regret that I have grown to resent the Umbral Beast. Not for the AI. Not directly for the constant yapping. But rather for being too much a reactive sapient/living/engaged creature. It kills almost any non-Magic origin for me. Fire Imps can be mere chaotic reflections of my Will on a mutant or a science controller. Heck, so can the Haunts from Darkness control. But Umbral Beast is too clearly an independent creature, which kills it for me, for non-Magic builds.

So as a result I will be deleting most of my dark control characters. I will probably keep Dark/Storm and my Dark/Fire dominator, but I am likely to delete at least 6 others, or else make totally new characters with magic concepts.

Lewis