Welcome to the Stalker world....(I have a lvl 50 MA/SR stalker over Triumph way and a 42 DM/EA on Champion)
Attacks out of hide are Auto-crit, use your Assassin Strike then placate/next-best-attack or reverse that.
On a large team, target bosses or annoying Lt mobs. We used to run a large team that attacked right when I hit Build-up before Assassin Striking the Boss. You are much more survivable since the Stalker buffs and you can "scrap" much more effectively than "in my day" (how funny does that sound),
Stamina is probably a good idea, there are some excellent /Ninjitsu guides out there with some fantastic advice so try to peek at them.
You are not as squishy as you think...I would run paper missions "boss hunt" or "steal" missions for quick levels, ghost to end, pop some inspirations and clear final room. Rinse and Repeat.
Good Luck.
Noght 50 Scrapper Broadsword/Invulnerability
Fire Umbra 50 Brute Dark Melee/Fire Aura
Impulse Cry 50 Blaster Sonic/Energy
Internist 50 Mastermind Poison/Thugs
Ice Omega 50 Corrupter Ice/Radiation
Prickly Heat 50 Dominator Plant/Fire
Champion Server
Most AoE attacks aren't auto-crit from hidden status, there's usually a 50% (sometimes lower) chance; all of the single-target attacks are, though.
On a large team, assassin's strike and scrap away - the number of teammates within 30' of you boosts your base 10% out-of-hide critical chance by 3% each, up to 31% on a full team that all packed in close (note that this is for all attacks, even the AoEs have the same percentage chance). That's more than double the best chance for critical a Scrapper gets, plus you can add more with Placate and the initial hidden critical. If you're solo, it depends on your survivability and the mobs in question but generally speaking it's best to scrap it out once you have more than 1 attack other than Assassin's Strike (some builds take longer to reach this point than others). With Claws, just keep going. 
*/Nin is a decent combination for Stalkers. You'll groan at lethal resistance later on (I have a DB/WP in the mid-30s and can't convince the rest of my teammates to run Carnie missions 
) but generally speaking you'll do fine with it. Must have powers... eh, I'll let someone else speak for the Claws side, but the two defense toggles, the mez clickie, and the self-heal are the "must haves" from the secondary. Stamina is a playstyle issue; if you're on teams that never stop and never wait between spawns you'll probably want to pick it up. Even then, most of the time I put it off on my Stalkers to the mid/late 20s so I can get everything else set up.
Don't bother with Acrobatics, just pick up a -KB IO. Preferably a couple of BotZ -KBs so you can get the rest of the set to boost your ranged and AoE defense even more and aim for the soft cap on defense, but I'm using a Karma -KB (some of which I got on level 10-14 Bronze Rolls from AE, but I had 3 or 4 in base storage before i14).
As mentioned, for set bonuses aim for positional defense, after that it's a preference thing between more damage, hit points, or recharge. My DM/Nin is softcapped with Hide suppressed on melee and ranged with roughly 42% AoE, has around 50% global recharge + Hasten, and is capped on hit points with the accolades. You don't have to make many compromises unless you want to, and if you don't want to softcap you can always just go for recharge and pick up Shadow Meld from Soul Mastery.
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Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle
it has gone from unconscionable to downright appalling that we have no way of measuring our characters' wetness.
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Originally Posted by Brillig
It's hard to beat the entertainment value of Whackjob Wednesdays.
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All non-aoe attacks are auto crit from hide except energy transfer. That one power doesnt crit but it negates the hitpoint penalty instead. As for as advice to give, ninjutsu is always a good secondary to choose. Stalkers have gone thru alot of changes the past few issues. The whole run and hide thing after you come out of hide is not good to do anymore. If on a team always stay and scrap it out. You get increased criticals than scrappers when you have more teammates near you in melee. So running aways doesnt help you there. Also when using assassin's strike always target the critter with the most hitpoints, usually a boss. If you dont do this alot of the time the damage is overkill and wasted. The only time I dont go after boss first unless its something that can totally screw over a team like say a Tsoo Sorcerer or Malta sapper. For the most part your job is kill the boss fast so that once all the aoes from your teammates a laid down just about everything would be dead.
Bump and Grind Bane/SoA
Kenja No Ishi Earth/Empathy Controller
Legendary Sannin Ninja/Pain Mastermind
Entoxicated Ninja/PSN Mastermind
Ninja Ryukenden Kat/WP Scrapper
Hellish Thoughts Fire/PSI Dominator
Thank You Devs for Merits!!!!
Thanks for all the advice.
Although, I've got a few more questions now that I've had some time to play and have looked down the line at later powers.
Anyone know if Focus (claws) is worthwile? It looks like I could skip it if I plan to stay in close.
What about blinding powder?
I think smoke flash would be really great, but I'm not sure since I hear how buggy placate seems. Is this worth taking?
Before I get too far down the line, I'm considering re-rolling as a dual blades/ninjitsu. What are some advantages/drawbacks? Basically, what do I gain/lose by going to DB?
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
I have one Claws character, a Claws/WP Scrapper. I love Focus - it's a fast-animating, good damage (ignoring AS, second highest in the set for Stalkers) attack with knockdown that just happens to have range. You could skip it, but there are better options to skip IMO.
Blinding Powder is amusing but not great out of the box; it's a good place for an IO set mule and to provide a little -tohit to stack with your defense (and the demoralize effect from Assassin's Strike) but the durations on both the sleep and confuse aren't very long. It's absolutely wonderful with a full set of Coercive Persuasions in it, though - the Contagious Confusion alone makes it silly, because who doesn't want a Stalker with Seeds of Confusion?
Smoke Flash, I had on one /Nin Stalker and used a respec to get rid of it the next available chance because it was too situational and didn't do what I was hoping for. The animation was too slow to save you if you really need it for a panic button, it needs a to-hit check so doesn't work all that great at one anyway, it's occasionally difficult to tell what it hits since there isn't a "miss" message, it notifies mobs that you've affected them so that as soon as the placate wears off they come right after you even if they were ignoring you before, and it doesn't place you in a hidden status to get an extra critical. All of that said, I'm sure there will be some people recommending that you take it and skip Blinding Powder, because Ninjitsu is funny that way - your playstyle really determines more about what you want or don't want.
For switching to Dual Blades vs Claws, the disadvantages are loss of range and higher endurance cost and recharges (due to losing the secondary effect of Claws), but you get more AoE attacks (including the Sweep combo) and DB having slightly harder hitting attacks as a general case. The animation times are close to a wash, but the combo system has its own issues.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle
it has gone from unconscionable to downright appalling that we have no way of measuring our characters' wetness.
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Brillig
It's hard to beat the entertainment value of Whackjob Wednesdays.
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I just hit level 12 and HOLY CRAP I love being a stalker. Thanks a ton for this info everyone!
I've checked out the guides too; man have they helped. I would have never guessed that you could start an assassin strike without being hidden, but have it hit right after you return to hidden and still get the bonus damage. Wow.
I love being able to take out bosses before the team can tell what's happening. I even set up a macro to say "See this $target? Yeah, he's dead, he just doesn't know it yet." to let them know who I'm taking out.
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
Focus can be used to control a pesky target. It is your best friend, and good at catching runners as well. Also helpful against flying foes. Only reason to skip focus is for conceptual reasons for your character.
i have more of a scraping type of claws/ stalker. so i dont have placate. but you will need eviserate, focus, and shockwave. if you want to know more about claws/ for stalkers just contact me at @Hellion Mollie
No [Placate]? That is like Stalker-Blasphemy!! Placate and AS are the hallmarks of Stalkering.
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I love being able to take out bosses before the team can tell what's happening. I even set up a macro to say "See this $target? Yeah, he's dead, he just doesn't know it yet." to let them know who I'm taking out.
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....hmm...well, enjoy that ability while you can...because it doesn't last long. By your late 20's, you won't be defeating bosses that fast anymore, and by your 40's forget it. In fact, you'll probably drool at how much faster Brutes, Doms, Widows, and well built Corruptors do it than you 
It's the sad but true fate of the Stalker.
I wish there was something more that dev's could do to change that, because personally...I LOVE being the "boss killer" on my Stalker...too bad it doesn't end up that way in late game. Instead, you become the Minion to Lt. vanquisher...the only problem is that AoE's take care of those quickly anyways so who cares?
Bleh, sorry to rain on your parade, I'm sure others feel differently. Enjoy your Stalker..
Curse you!
I recently hit 24 so I'm not feeling the pain you described just yet. I can't quite knock out a boss with a single BU+AS anymore, but it's damn close. I sure have a fun time soloing. At least late game I'll be able to kill sappers and the like before anyone has to worry.
So I started using the dual build thing to my advantage. I've named one stalker and one scrapper. They're very similar since I don't have many skippable powers within the AT. The main difference is that "stalker" has a travel power, but scrapper has stamina and skips placate.
The reason for this is because I "stalk" solo but "scrap" on teams. Solo has smaller spawns, so placate becomes more useful. In teams, I need to be able to keep up, so stamina has been necessary.
Anyone else do something similar?
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
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I don't think so because it's easy enough to fit a travel power, placate and stamina on a ninjitsu build.
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Originally Posted by DechsKaison
The reason for this is because I "stalk" solo but "scrap" on teams. Solo has smaller spawns, so placate becomes more useful. In teams, I need to be able to keep up, so stamina has been necessary.
Anyone else do something similar? |
Early on the alt build is handy so you can include the slower recharging BU and Placate in those painful pre DO/SO levels while making do with mayhem travel powers. Heck with the Day Jobs you don't really need any now but I'd find that too fiddly and stay traditional with a travel power at 14
Bout the only power on a /Nin I'd skip is Smoke Flash for the reasons already described, very, very vague and not particulary useful often. I miss my cone Eviscerate move but the damage increase on the single target version is nice. I went with Claws/EA so took Shockwave and Repulse so knockback became a major factor in my survival when soloing. I'd still take Shockwave as with the added crit chances on teams it can be a reasonable damage power.
Welcome to the world of Stalkers.
I've never done a stalker, and I haven't even done much of any melee AT (though I don't know if it would be relevant), so I have a few questions.
Are attacks while hidden auto-crit, or just much higher chance to crit?
In a large team, should I hit and run, hide, and hit again? Or should I assassin strike and then just scrap away and pray I survive? Any general tactics advice?
Thematically, I picked claws/ninjitsu. Is this a decent combination? What are must have powers? I'd like to go superspeed, but is CJ and acrobatics worth going for superjump instead? Is stamina necessary with this combo? Later on, what kind of set bonuses should I be trying for?
I've only played for a few levels, and I already appreciate stalkers a lot more. It's not easy being squishy AND attracting a lot of aggro.
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.