Energy Melee/Regen is probably your best bet for soloing pve
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Yeah, EM or MA primary (they give you some control), SR (best defence) or Regen (best recovery) secondary.
Avoid: Ninja Blade
I really should do something about this signature.
Anything but spines as primary, as spines is very tough at low levels because of the AoE, and lack of decent attack chain until high level.
For secondary i'd say ninjitsu, good defence and a self heal to fall back on. Regen ain't to good because of lack of defence as you'll end up out of hide quite a bit and essentially losing a lot of damage.
Thanks for the responses guys. I'm thinking on passing on EN for the mo, because I'm more likely to use that on a brute perhaps.
Was thinking along the lines of MA/xxxx. Which would be the best match for that pve/solo without giving too much functionality up (i.e. Ninjitsu has some nice debuffs, etc while Regen just seems to be about recovery).
Thanks Again,
For a beginner I would still recommend regen, its not new, its not as hot as the scrapper set but its better than most people think and will allow you to get to grips with a stalkers play mentality a little easier.
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Why avoid Ninja Blade ?
Is it because it isn't as good as the other sets ?
i say Martial Arts/Regeneration and NEVER EVER EVER get Ninja Blade. Martial Arts/Regeneration is a Perfect Match 
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Anything but spines as primary, as spines is very tough at low levels because of the AoE, and lack of decent attack chain until high level.
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There's one AoE Spines Stalker power before level 26. You don't need to take it. The level 26 power is a short range (melee range) arc. I find it difficult to position more than two enemies to get hit by this when soloing i.e. it doesn't generate too much aggro.
I find impale (available at level 18) really good for controlling the playing field when soloing.
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i say Martial Arts/Regeneration and NEVER EVER EVER get Ninja Blade. Martial Arts/Regeneration is a Perfect Match !
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why avoid ninja blade????, i got my stalker up to 40 with ninja blade/regen..i got nothing negative to say about it. had great fun with it.
Without any effective control Ninja Blade is less effective for scrapping and harder to master for a new stalker.
I really should do something about this signature.
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Without any effective control Ninja Blade is less effective for scrapping and harder to master for a new stalker.
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Might be, but I like my ninja blade/ninjitsu stalker although she is just 11. No problems whatsoever in soloing 
My friend and i both made a stalker to lvl them together from the start. He was Martial Arts/Super Reflexes and i went Energy Melee/Ninjitsu, essentially they are very similar at the start just EM is punches and MA is kicks i have seen that later on SR has more defence than NI but NI has a heal and 2 powder moves (blind and flash). Any way as lvl 8 i noticed the gap in our powers starting to show (he could kill 3 mobs in the time i killed one) we are both sloted very similar, i have 2acc and 1dmg in each move atm and my friend has 1acc 1dmg and 1-end. All in all i think my friend made the better stalker, though i will be interested to see what the powder moves are like .
Yeah, as Banmido says above, I ended up making a MA/SR stalker, and like him very much.
Thanks again for the feedback guys.
Hmm I've only just re-subscribed and picked ninja blade. Have I made a mistake?
I also too EA secondary.
I'm lev 13 and seem to be doing ok so far..
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Hmm I've only just re-subscribed and picked ninja blade. Have I made a mistake?
I also too EA secondary.
I'm lev 13 and seem to be doing ok so far..
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Nothing wrong with Ninja Blade, from what I hear anyway, never been a swordsman myself.
As for EA it's (in my view) one the less interesting Stalker secondaries, but it makes up for it by watching your back nicely, with good resists against a fair few damage types, as well as having Entropy Shield which stops sleep, knockback and enemy teleportation. Energy Drain is also a very nice power giving you end and taking away from your enemies provided your enemies are in the power's range. If you plan on pvping Repulse is also a nice power, as if slotted with accuracy or whatnot it should interupt other Stalker's AS. It's also quite a pretty powerset.
I took it for concept reasons, but ended up liking it a lot. My job is to concentrate on stalking, EA let's me do that without constantly tapping my shoulder.
The Smoking Demon
Ash/Tar Corruptor
Union
@The Smoking Demon
I have a MA/SR stalker and he is going well at 17. I think that ninja blade was hard to handle for me and I have quite a few scrappers on CoH. It doesnt really matter but I hated EA as secondary. Not that great resistence and the shields you get weren't very good 
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It doesnt really matter but I hated EA as secondary. Not that great resistence and the shields you get weren't very good
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EA is perhaps the weakest of the Stalker secondaries, but I find the shields good once slotted with a few damage resists. If people choose EA hoping that it's going to turn them into a INV scrapper then they are going to be disapointed, but judging their protection against your standard health or protection without them on and they make a remarkable differance.
I've taken on some bosses with EA that other Stalkers would probably think twice about going up against, because I know even if he hits me with his best attack right off the bat, then with my shields up I'm most likely going to survive.
The Smoking Demon
Ash/Tar Corruptor
Union
@The Smoking Demon
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I've taken on some bosses with EA that other Stalkers would probably think twice about going up against, because I know even if he hits me with his best attack right off the bat, then with my shields up I'm most likely going to survive.
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Yeh well I got it and kept dying even when slotted maybe this is because of my gameplay bit it sucked!
Already been said but im also new to scrappers/Stalker type classes (mainly playing a blaster) and MA/Regen is an awesome combo to go with
I'm mainly going to be PVE, so I'm not particularly worried about PvP viablility. Also going to want to be able to solo effectively.
Any suggests what would be a good starting point?
Seems to me that stalkers may have issues with self-healing and aggro, so I'm not sure which way to take one really.