actually it cost me less to softcap my ss/ea than it did to do it to my spines/sr, by a decent margin..the defence to type bonuses usually come much earlier in the sets than the positional, ie 2-4 slot vs 5-6 slot
So how are you liking the set as a whole? What holes or dangers should I be aware of when using this set?
Currently on Virtue:
Jinrazuo - Crab Spider
RWZ All-Pylon Solo Run
as a brute its not too bad, not my fave, the end is nice, the heal slightly noticable, but my outlook on the set is a bit tainted by all the mitigation ss already provides in kd etc. the no slow resist hurts, but same with any other set without it, i hate to say that as far as def sets go though, it falls behind in stalks due to no self heal, or perception, or travel boost, or def debuf res, having said that, in pve, it has the best T9 of them all imho
a. Energy Drain provides a self-heal, albeit relatively small until it's saturated. You even admit as much early in your post, then say that it falls behind "due to no self heal".
b. It has defense debuff resistance, just not much of it. Like Ninjitsu, it's not slottable.
c. The Psi defense is lacking, an issue that positional defense mostly ignores.
d. It is far easier to softcap SR than EA, and much cheaper - it can be done with a single Steadfast Protection +3 defense IO. I have a DM/EA build that's softcapped to all but Psi (the actual character needs more slots and is only softcapped to S/L/E currently), but if I were going from scratch on IOs it would be very expensive.
e. For a Stalker who can permanently hit the hp cap through accolades and set bonuses regardless of set, Overload is simply "moar defense".
f. The only major disappointment I have with EA is the lack of +perception.
g. For Stalkers, you get Repel. It at least has a giggle factor.
Overall, EA isn't a bad set and provides more build leeway than SR; in exchange you're giving up defense debuff resistance and most of your defense to psi attacks.
I still prefer Ninjitsu because it also is a fairly loose build, the heal doesn't require mobs around you, and if you want to take the little tricks and perks you can.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle
it has gone from unconscionable to downright appalling that we have no way of measuring our characters' wetness.
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Brillig
It's hard to beat the entertainment value of Whackjob Wednesdays.
|
I've really enjoyed my DM/EA Brute.
I've deleted 2 mid-high level /EA stalkers.
Here is why I have a hard time with /EA stalkers:
The resistance to defense debuffs is low.
Massive psionic hole.
The Tier 9 provides a good amount of hit points that are largely wasted on a stalker with sets and accolades.
/EA brutes stealth power doesn't suppress making them more sneaky than stalkers in some cases.
Here are some of the reasons I keep making /EA stalkers:
You don't need everything from your secondary making it versitile.
Based on your playstyle you can bypass stamina.
Very solid toggle mez resistance.
Tactically interesting utility powers.
I want one stalker with every secondary.
I'm currently leveling an Elec/EA stalker (playing solo exclusively - except for quick badge mishes needed for accolades that other players might need, doing as much SA/Badges content as I can, blocking xp if I have to) and I really am enjoying it. I'm currently lvl 26 on her.
The Psi Hole is indeed big but since I recently played an Invul scrapper, I don't have too much trouble with it: you get used to carrying greens and purples, just in case.
Rest of the defenses are pretty good and I rarely get killed unless I happen to foolishly think I can take a +1 EB without inspirations and while remaining static 
They can be improved rather easily, as was said earlier, as the IOs that provide typed def can be stacked between themselves and grant additional positional def now. If you do a lot of MA content, the tickets can be used to get most of them to boot.
@Viper Kinji
Currently working on:
Turtle Snapper - SD/MA/Ice Tanker
The self heal is decent with a healing set slotted into it. You can easily run a pile of toggles on top of the one's from your secondary and worry about end very little. My Elec/EA has tough, weave and maneuvers. She's over the def softcap most of the time and has the godmode button for AV's or other ToHit buffed baddies.
Psionic heavy packs will hurt, but that's about your only weakness.
With my Godmode up I've waded into large boss packs who spam -def and taken almost zero damage. It's a cheap build to cap out on defenses and very flexible for additional toggles.
Personally it's my favourite stalker secondary.
I've got a DM/EA that I like a lot, one of the big draws for me was the unlimited blue bar. Skipped stamina and never looked back, although I did eventually grab swift for the move speed boost. The lack of psy defense is definately noticeable with how often you fight arachnos, but seeing as arachnos don't have enough perception to see you alpha striking the heaviest psy hitter usually solves the problem.
I have NOT softcapped him, choosing to build for +dmg set bonuses instead and hes still quite survivable, admittedly I have a self heal from DM as well. Just like any other defense set, the RNG will occasionally dictate that you die now, I've been two shooted in a couple seconds through overload before :P
yeah that RNG is the main reason that I wish we got shield defense or that stalker WP had QR instead of the heal.
how abut some slotting examples to get these max softcaps?
Fluffy Bunny 1 Person SG
Rabid Bunny 1 Person VG
Both on Pinnacle
Hobbit's Hole 1 Person SG
Spider's Web 1 Person VG
Both on Freedom
It's been a while since I've played Stalker (roughly when CoV went live), but I noticed that they've made some nice changes to them so I'm ready to try again.
I'd like to try something different than what is normally found (DA, SR, NIN) so I thought Energy Aura would be interesting. However, when looking at the set I noticed that the defensive toggles provide DEF against dmg type instead of Melee/Ranged/AOE. How well does this stack with IO bonuses as I've noticed that a lot of the good bonuses provide DEF vs Mel/Rng/AOE?
It almost seems like IO'ing Energy Aura will be futile since You'll have average def against mel/rng/aoe and also against all types but since they don't necessarily stack it doesn't seem like you'll be anywhere close to soft cap against any attacks.
Am I correct in my thinking here?
Currently on Virtue:
Jinrazuo - Crab Spider
RWZ All-Pylon Solo Run