Unthing

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You're going to need a fair dose of perception enhancers to see through that, though it is supposedly possible.

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Focussed Accuracy plus Cloak of Darkness will make "Recluses Suspiciously Redecorated Atlas" a hellhole for Stalkers. Nothing can hide from me at the moment, I doubt they will be able to eather.

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Make sure some people on your team have Tactics too just to be excessive.

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What he said . Martial Arts has inherent accuracy boosts and greater chance of criticals. Low activation time and the opportunity to go "Weeeoooahhhh!" In a high pitched voice ala Bruce Lee every time you kick the [censored] out of another boss. What looks cooler than jumping over a balcony and landing next to an enemy and rearranging their kidneys with a well placed eagles claw? - backflip-tastic.

Broadsword, Katana and Claws? In a game where we don't kill anyone it always kinda confused me; what are you doing with those blades exactly?

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This is one reason why I never made a scrapper with these power, especially the sword ones. Also Claws have a ranged attack ???

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Spines? Well it's just silly for a start - they sound like a bowl of rice crispies standing next to you and that animation is annoying.

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Its main problem is that it really limits your character outfit. Cloaks look silly with spines. I only use my cloak for travelling and posing. A really nice mix of powers, but a little short on the single target attacks.

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Dark Melee? Aside from annoying graphics and sound this powerset is about as super-heroic as Fred West's patio set.

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Err yes I guess so. The graphics aren't as annoying as Spines, and the whole thing is really nice with a combination of great damage and some useful status effects.

I've never used Martial Arts.

Note that a lot of the powersets lean towards various origins. Most would need a lot of justification to be Tech and 3 of them can easily be natural.

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I'm inclined to agree with Birdy. While I think ninjutsu doesn't completely come into its own till later, it just has the feel of a themes set. Some sets just feel like "oh, we'll throw something in here because it needs x power." Ninjutsu feels like the set was designed around the concept.

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If by Birdy you mean Ravenswing then yes, it does look that way and works very well with what little I know about Ninja.

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yeah, I saw that regen doesn't have placate. I still cant decide between the above sets tho

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Placate is in the primary, so regen doesn't have it, claws etc does. Ninjitsu does have some nice looking aggro dodging powers, one of which is an AoE placate available at lvl 28. I suspect it has a very long recharge though. It is the only stalker secondary to have this.

In terms of primaries, Assassin's Strike, placate and build up are all the same in each set so I would go by the other attacks or the look/feel. For instance Claws gets Focus and Ninja Blade gets Divine Avalanche.

Regen plays more like a scrapper, I've found that I was suprised how effectively I could scrap 2-3 minions, however I got completely messed up the first time I came up against the gear produced by clockwork prince. Regen is quite endurance light, as you run only one toggle (Integration) as opposed to the 2 or 3 of the other sets.

Ninjitsu seems to be about shedding aggro in various ways, I suspect it would be the most fun when the high level powers are available.

In theory a defence set ( anything other than Regen ) should be more capable of using AS in the thick of combat when multiple enemies are aggroed to you.

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One of the greatly underestimated blaster power combos: ice/ice! A true blastroller with several holds, and very little inclination to stay within melee range... And as Doulos has said, if it's a blaster power, one of the Rangers will have it

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Ice primary is great. However I wouldn't have been able to get past level 6 without the wonders of Caltrops from the Device pool. It adds that small amount of chaos to give you an extra attack chain or more of blasting. Not to forgot the defensive nature of smoke grenade + cloaking device.

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and claws?....

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I was pretty unsure of the MA stuff and know nothing about claws.

I think the special refers to the amount of damage not the damage type. I would be very suprised if the dev's intention was to make AS do untyped damage.

Note that most scrappers and most stalkers do smash/lethal damage. The only stalker that doesn't is with energy melee, which I'd guess ( on paper ) is probably the best primary at high levels.

I believe the balance is
Blade, def debuff and self buff, increased ACC.
MA, knockback, disorient ?, increased ACC.
Energy, energy damage as well as smashing.
Spines, recharge and speed debuff, one ranged attack, minor DoT toxic component.

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Solo I still find the stalker very playable - it just involves a lot of running away if things go wrong . Kill all missions can be a pain but when the map is spawned for a solo player there usually aren't that many mobs to take out.

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I've found no problems soloing but then I have a more scrapperry secondary. Kill all missions have not been a pain for me since placate. I suspect that when we're in the mid twenties you'll be assassin striking more than me due to the utility of your secondary.
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The only problem I've found (and it's not really a problem as such) is that it's quite restrictive regarding power choices at lower levels. At level 6 you really need to take AS, level 8 or 10 for the pre-requisite of your travel power, 12 is placate, 14 is travel power, 16 is mez protection. In amongst all this you still have to try and pick up a decent attack chain for finishing off mobs that survive AS as well as taking your defensive powers from the secondary pool. This is the first character I've ever had still using brawl at level 18 .

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I have had a number of characters that still used brawl at 18, however all of the rest of them were tanks, for Golden Golem I used Brawl until level 35.

I agree totally on the power picks being very tight. It's even tighter if you aim to have stamina ( like me ). Once I got to level 16 and got Integration I really am glad I started the fitness pool at level 10.

I currently have 3 attacks ( Lunge, Barb swipe and Assassin's Strike ) and placate from my primary. Luckily Barb Swipe, Lunge and Brawl chain quite well, I don't know when I will get impale as I haven't planned my twenties yet. I have Hide, reconstruction and integration from my secondary. I also have Hasten and Superspeed from the speed pool and swift from the fitness pool. Hasten is great for speeding up the recharge of placate and reconstruction in those nasty fights.

Given that Defender Tactics 3 slotted ( 12.5% base ) or Targetting Drone 3 slotted ( 15% base ) are enough to remove one ACC from all attacks, I would guess that Focussed Accuracy with either 25% or 33% base buff will possibly be able to remove 2 ACC SOs from all attacks.

Given that Defender Tactics 3 slotted ( 12.5% base ) or Targetting Drone 3 slotted ( 15% base ) are enough to remove one ACC from all attacks, I would guess that Focussed Accuracy with either 25% or 33% base buff will possibly be able to remove 2 ACC SOs from all attacks.

Welcome to Union Psygon!

You could try putting 3 recharges it in. Even so it should only be at two-thirds effectiveness.

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I've kept Minerals, but to be honest that's as much for sentimental reasons as anything else since it's not enough for Psi-AV tanking anymore and there's precious little reason to use it otherwise.

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That's just dumb then. What's the point of a Psi defence power if it isn't good enough to help against AV's.

I enjoyed my attempts to tank the Psi clockwork king, however I did stock up on Luck inspirations and pop them like candy, relying on Dull Pain and a healer to keep me alive. However I was under the impression that a stone tank or DA scrapper didn't have to got to the extreme lengths I did to do it.

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May not use /regen this time though. The Stalker set doesn't have QR, and some of the other sets look more attractive for use by a Stalker, Ninjutsu in particular. I'm just worried about the nerfing defense-based sets took and how playable they are.

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Which powers did you take from regen? I've been relying on my 4 slotted reconstruction to keep me alive. I only got Hide, Recon and Integration so far and haven't played since I got integration. However Ninjitsu looks neat, with effectively a second ( group ) placate and some other powers. It looks like the most stalkery ( and least scrappery ) of the 4 powersets.

I think regen can probably survive the most battering but generally I think the defence sets will let you pull off better stuff.
SR fully slotted may be able to Placate one enemy and AS whilst being attacked by others ( because they miss ).
Ninjitsu has group confuse, sleep and placate powers.
Energy has enemy endurance drain, which if it is as good as defender short circuit might allow you to AS in combat.

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Yeah really hating the nerfs here too, my heal fills only a third of my health bar when it used to do a full bar, my attacks are weaker and my defences are also considerably weaker - pretty much need to rely on a def to keep me alive when fighting just one mob

I'm now just a gimped scrapper but without the damage

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I think Fire tanks are the worst hit. My resistances aren't as badly hit as yours. I think I go down to about 70% slash/lethal, my others barely change at around 25-30%. Dull Pain will recharge slower, it will no longer be perma . The real hit to my survivability I get is with Invincibility.

How come your heal gets that much worse?

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Either way, AS is always going to draw a lot of aggro, and an aggro'd mob can see you right through Hide. Be careful out there, Stalkers!

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I found that if I start the combat, everyone descends on me, otherwise I get maybe the back half of the spawn ( I tend to AS the ones near the back first ). Also if someone opens with an AoE debuff, it reduces the aggro on you.

I think it makes most sense to get someone else to start and then you AS as soon as the enemies start noticing. Most of my face plants were to do with me starting the combat and the team not being ready.

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As Unthing says, dealing with a spawn of three or four mobs is certainly possible (unless you start missing everything).

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This is the bane of my life. It's amazing that simply missing one attacker's strike can turn an easy spawn into a hard spawn or a hard spawn into a free trip to the hospital.

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As Unthing says, dealing with a spawn of three or four mobs is certainly possible (unless you start missing everything).

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This is the bane of my life. It's amazing that simply missing one attacker's strike can turn an easy spawn into a hard spawn or a hard spawn into a free trip to the hospital.

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hmmmmmmmm sounds interesting. So do Stalkers have the same secondaries as Scrappers or are their at least one or two new ones?
and what if you're solo'in? that mean you cant placate? or do they just go back to their non-aggro'd state?

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All Secondaries have hide as their 1st tier power. Hide provides a small def buff ( I assume the same as stealth ) but a higher defence against AoE attacks from what I read on the beta boards, it might be as high as 20% against AoEs.

Super Reflexes is like the Scrapper secondary but without Evasion ( I think ) and everything moved up one to compensate for hide.
Regen is like the Scrapper secondary but without Quick Recovery and with everything moved up to compensate for hide.
Ninjitsu is a new one. It has toggles and the final power from super reflexes ( description wise ), doesn't have passives and has a self heal, some smoke and blinding powers and caltrops.
Energy defence is a new one. It's a defence based armour set.

As far as Placate and solo, the placated enemy reverts to its non aggro'd state and start walking back to their spawn point. So it is good to finish off the last enemy of a spawn.

The effect of this change is:-

To hits against enemies White, Yellow, Orange, Red, Purple, Purple+1
75 68 61 55 48 41 - base
88 79 71 64 56 48 - 1 slotted attack for Acc ( DO )
87 80 73 67 60 53 - 3 slot I6 blaster tactics ( SO )
90 83 76 70 63 56 - unslotted drone ( SO )
95 90 82 73 64 54 - 1 slotted attack for Acc ( SO )
95 91 84 78 71 64 - 3 slot I6 drone ( SO )
95 93 86 80 73 65 - 6 slot I6 drone ( SO )
95 95 91 85 78 71 - 3 slot I5 drone ( SO )
95 95 95 89 79 70 - 1 slotted attack 3 slot I6 blaster tactics ( SO )
95 95 95 90 83 76 - 4 slot I5 drone ( SO )*
95 95 95 91 80 68 - 2 slotted attack for Acc ( SO )
95 95 95 95 95 86 - 1 slotted attack 3 slotted I6 drone ( SO )

* a 3 slotted blaster tactics and a 3 slotted targetting drone in I6 provides the same to hit chance as a 4 slotted I5 targetting drone.

So generally a slotted drone in I6 is equivalent, but slightly better than an acc SO against most opponents. However excessive accuracy can be obtained by combining a single accuracy SO with a targetting drone.

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hey guys, really excited about the sound of this AT. sounds like Blasters used to be before they avoided the nerfs and came up on top(ish).
You say you have to not launch an attack, or be hit for 10 seconds to successfully "re-hide"? so could you theoretically pick up Phase Shift and now that it's a click power, fire this off then launch hide? or is hide an attack rather than buff and thus not b allowed to fire while phased?
Just an idea. Thanks

Shnyet AWAY

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Hidden is a state, it tells you if you are hidden under your stats window. Hide is a toggle that I keep on all the time. You become 'Hidden' when you haven't attacked or been hit for 10 seconds and have your hide power active, so Phase shift would get you to hidden status safely, however you do not lose aggro from enemies just by being hidden. So the enemies who were attacking you will track you down and attack you. This seems unintuitive to me.

Placate is better than Phase shift for rehiding because it stops the target from attacking you ( they will attack someone else ) it also put you back in the Hidden state sometimes. However I've found that if you try and AS a placated foe when you aren't 'Hidden' you ( usually ) do the full Assassin's Strike damage.

I haven't quite got to the bottom of the behaviour of Placate yet.

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Respeccing Golden Golem is too depressing...

I am no longer on active duty. Sorry.

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How come?

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Spending a month getting from 22 to 43 and choosing power slotting the correct way ( from deciding where your weaknesses are ) and then having to respec just seems too much. I managed to get him into a really solid tank with real staying power. I was really enjoying him and now I can't face seeing what he's like.

I'll be concentrating on other characters for the moment which is a shame because I was really hoping to get him up to 50.

My Villain is Unthing's evil twin, Darkthing. I got the name by asking on my supergroup chat what Unthing's evil twin should be called. I then created a character on Union called Darkthing to reserve the name.

The backstory is the same as Unthing's, grew up in a toxic swampland, however he grew to hate rather than like people and started killing them...

I had him planned for about 2 weeks. I came up with the build on Saturday, whilst playing. Luckily no-one chose the same name between me deleting the level 1 CoH character at 9.30am and choosing the name at 9.45am. I also copied the character scaling and colours from Unthing and only modified the height ( to be about 3 inches shorter ) and the shoulder width to be less, so he looks slightly less strong.

I thought that Spines/Regen would be a bad choice for a Stalker, but couldn't change them for character concept reasons. I think I was wrong, they seem fine to me.

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I like my stalker and have levelled him further than I did in beta. Started teaming from lvl7 and found out quickly why I mustn't stick around in a fight after the AS even with buffage. I don't feel like much of a team player with him though.

I can take out one mob quickly and then add some damage, but the MMs and corruptors are the ones doing the majority of the takedowns in teams. Taking one mob down out of 14 isn't exactly much in a full team. I suppose it gives me a chance to take out the problem mob (the mezzers), but it really feels like the team could get on without me.

Assassin's blade is great when used as your AS (requires about 3 ticks to get it off), but you can one-shot lieutenant and seriously damage a boss with it.

My biggest gripe is the time it takes for Hide to 'turn-on again after AS'. I can't seem to reduce it at all and so I'm absolutely desperate to get Placate.

Also I'm now seriously running into end problems with my defence toggles on. I don't think I can escape the fitness pool even after putting end reducers in the toggles.

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The hide time seems just a little bit too long. It is about ten seconds and 7 or 8 would be better. Placate allows you to rehide or just do another Assassin's Strike. However you need to be absolutely sure that there is one one enemy attacking you or they will interrupt your strike. With one DO recharge in it it comes up about once a combat.

The time when you really become useful for teams is when fighting Bosses and Elite-Bosses. When duo-ing with a corrupter I fought 2 Elite-bosses ( on different missions ) and they went down really easily after the Assassin's Strike.

I am expecting that with more slotting at higher levels Stalkers should be able to scrap more effectively.

As for stamina, I'm getting it, as my end usage is enough to know that with higher level powers I will be suffering.