I just spent 500 mil on a PvE build for my Elec/WP/Mu stalker and it is insane. I start off with Lightning Rod + Thunder Strike + Mu Lightning Ball + Jacobs Ladder = Lots of damage on a team.
Proton Sentry Peacebringer:lvl 50+++ - Human Build / Triform Build
Quasar Sentry Warshade:lvl 50+- Human Build / Triform Build
Red Katipo Arachnos Soldier:lvl 50+++ - Crab Build / Bane Build
Black Katipo Arachnos Widowlvl 50+++ - Fortunata Build / Night Widow Build
Last night, I had a moment of awesome on my Stalker.
DM/Nin at 50, fairly complete IO build, on the new Reichsman TF. On the last mission, ambushes got a little insane, Reichs stunned and defeated our brute and proceeded to wipe the team amid a massive nazi invasion. Being the only one left alive, I said 'Kuji-In Phase Shift and Run!' and did just that. Only I stopped when I realized Reichsman wasn't chasing me.
'Well, I'm just going to die anyway. Might as well take as many of them down as I can,' I thought. So I opened up on a minion, killed him in one shot, got some aggro, and went to town.
Now, there were a lot of them. But not enough to take me down. They kept coming, I kept killing them. Whenever I started to get overwhelmed, I'd throw blinding powder in their faces, hit Sha if necessary, and keep killing.
Had to pop a few inspirations here and there, but with the rate I was cutting through them, that was no problem. The pile of bodies at my feet was truly epic. I couldn't really move, since there were just too many, but it didn't matter. There were enough to kill me through sheer force of arms, but intelligent use of BP, Sha, and Shadow Meld kept me alive.
That's probably the most super I've felt on a melee character. One ninja vs. 1000 nazis? Forget the failsafe. They didn't stand a chance. My Stalker is murder on legs.
Yeah. This is the first Stalker I've played through since they buffed them, and they're much, much better now. In a team, I treat them like I treat Scrappers. They're fire-and-forget damage. You don't have to babysit them or worry about them, mostly, as they've got the tools to take care of themselves. They exist, they kill things, and they're good at it. And when things get overwhelming, the demoralize debuff and chance for fear in AS can make a big difference. And the more teammates you get on the team, the better they do.
Playing one, I really notice the crit chance going up when I've got a lot of friends around. Stalkers definitely have a place in PvE groups. They do great damage, and that damage is always on. They aren't really dependent on conditions to kill things. Even Hidden status isn't super-important anymore, what with both placate and the chance to crit randomly outside of Hide.
Plus, they have a totally different feel compared to other melee classes. I find it more cerebral. Your choices as a player directly affect your performance as a Stalker more than they would as a Brute or a Scrapper (IMO, obviously), and I'm into that.
But yeah. tl;dr version is that they're good in groups now, and good in general, too.
The Ballad of Iron Percy
I try to be extra careful with my Stalker and Doms since I'm a newer player and while the people I've teamed with have been cool, I know they have a bad rep. I probably cringe more than they do if I see a team mate killed since I'm always worried about whether or not it was my fault.
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Mission Architect Handyman