Super Reflexes and Power Pool Selection
By
Captain_Morgan_EU,
Posted on: 2006-08-22 09:39 in Stalkers
I've been messing about with my Claws/SR Stalker's build on the Test Server recently and I'm finding that, for PvP purposes, Stealth and Aid Self are the way forward (I'm going to opt for Aid Other as well).
If you go down the Invis road then you need to remember that you cant attack while it is switched on and that a decent bind to switch off Invis and start AS would probably be the best advice.
The down side to taking either of these is that you cant fit any Patron Powers into your build at higher levels with out messing up your Primary Power Pool selection (Assuming that your still going to take the whole of the SR pool)
All that said I am a pretty casual PvPer and I'm sure there is an /SR Stalker with more PvP experience than me that could offer some more advice.
you can get away with dropping agile,dodge and evasion (evasion is AoE def but hide takes up the slack if 3 slotted)and taking 2 of the PPP's and stealth/invis but to get aidself/invis AND the PPP's is next to impossible without dropping some usefull powers.
I will give you a piece of advice tho .. in PVP you WILL get hit no matter how high you defence is.
Defiant's GoEH/MILITIS METUS
So I guess what you are saying is that Agile and Dodge aren't worth it. I'm not so sure. Three slotted they are about 8% which on top of the 30% from the other toggles and hide is quite a good bonus and besides Quickness, its the only advantage SR has over the other defence based secondaries.
I'm not so sure about dropping Evasion. I've not seen any concrete numbers, but HeroBuilder states about 12% for Hide and 36% for Evasion on AoE defence (three slotted with SO's). That's a big difference. Mind you, that's another endurance draining toggle to manage, although I do have the slots for the End Reds.
Surely though, If I drop Evasion, Agile and Dodge, I might as well have taken Ninjutsu and got a built in heal (costing one slot not two). As daft as it seems, aren't these the powers that define SR?
dotn make the mistake of dropping any of the passives in the SR set, they are all needed, your defence is defence and you need as much of it as you can get. The AOE def isnt just aoes, it also includes cone attacks and there are much more of these in the game than you may be aware of.
you need all the SR secondaries, forget the patron powers, they are mediocre at best.
here are the powers I would ahve in a EM/SR (not in any particular order)
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Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://sherksilver.coldfront.net/index.php)
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Name:
Level: 50
Archetype: Stalker
Primary: Energy Melee
Secondary: Super Reflexes
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01) --> Energy Punch==> Empty(1)
01) --> Hide==> Empty(1)
02) --> Focused Fighting==> Empty(2)
04) --> Focused Senses==> Empty(4)
06) --> Assassin's Strike==> Empty(6)
08) --> Build Up==> Empty(8)
10) --> Agile==> Empty(10)
12) --> Placate==> Empty(12)
14) --> Hasten==> Empty(14)
16) --> Practiced Brawler==> Empty(16)
18) --> Super Speed==> Empty(18)
20) --> Dodge==> Empty(20)
22) --> Stealth==> Empty(22)
24) --> Invisibility==> Empty(24)
26) --> Energy Transfer==> Empty(26)
28) --> Quickness==> Empty(28)
30) --> Hurdle==> Empty(30)
32) --> Total Focus==> Empty(32)
35) --> Evasion==> Empty(35)
38) --> Elude==> Empty(38)
41) --> Health==> Empty(41)
44) --> Stamina==> Empty(44)
47) --> Stimulant==> Empty(47)
49) --> Aid Self==> Empty(49)
**Acceptable "support" responses**
Its your fault
Its your computers fault
Its your ISPs fault
Hide 3 slotted is 60% AoE defence for SR.(5% ranged 5% melee)
Evasion would add another 33% AoE defence and make it 94% AoE def.
Edit:
The max def i can get on a build is 40% melee 40% ranged 94% AoE.. problem is 40% won't stop ppl hitting you in PVP thats skipping the PPP's and aidself.
Defiant's GoEH/MILITIS METUS
the numbers are fundamentally useless in real terms as it doesnt factor in the .5 acc modifer in pvp as opposed to .75 in pve. The upshot is my sr scrapper, without elude or parrys def buff, has def of 30% and is really, really hard to hit and it makes pvp a joy. Even with my scrappers insane accuracy I still miss SR stalkers who are fully slotted, sure the random number gods can be kind or cruel but its far better to maximise your def as that is all SR is, no heals, no ticks, just def.
All imo of course
**Acceptable "support" responses**
Its your fault
Its your computers fault
Its your ISPs fault
well with all the scrappers taking tactics and FA 40% is nothing plus a spiney with BU and impale will have no problem beating it,then you have blasters with targeting drones and tactics.
my nin/nin has 30% def and gets hit all the time 
Defiant's GoEH/MILITIS METUS
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my nin/nin has 30% def and gets hit all the time
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Same here. I normally play without shields in sirens as they help very little (apart form going thru damage auras to AS). If I want to engage in a scrapping contest I need to augment the shields with insps.
If I do take Agile and Dodge then, I'm still left with my original problem of whether to take Stealth/Invis or Aid Other/Aid Self.
I've only really got two spare slots.
What would you choose? More Stealth or Heals?
you can't PVP without stealth and invis and i don't care what ppl say (its probably mostly heroes saying go without it) so i would go with stealth and invis.
Defiant's GoEH/MILITIS METUS
Stealth. More stealth = less need for heals.
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you can't PVP without stealth and invis
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Yes, yes you can. But I'll not repeat my full argument, as different playstyles need different things.
For an SR, stealth will be more useful for PVP than aidself. If you want to actually do some levelling, then aidself would be my choice. (I'm respeccing into a PVP build at 50, which will have stealth, but I'm pretty certain I'll pick up most of the PVP badges before then without it).
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you can't PVP without stealth and invis
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Yes, yes you can. But I'll not repeat my full argument, as different playstyles need different things.
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Well i don't want to get into the whole stealth pvp arguement but over here in the real world *cough* i mean defiant 
theres alot of spineys and AR/Dev blaster who just love to hunt invis-less stalkers.
Defiant's GoEH/MILITIS METUS
I have a lvl 38 SR stalker with all def powers full slotted and she gets hit all the time in PVP. I'm currently building a Dark/SR and plan to leave out Agile and Dodge and get Aid other Aid/Self as SR badly needs a heal and coupled together with Hasten/Quickness and Siphon Life health shouldn't be a problem. Plus Dark gives and automatic Acc Debuff with every hit that should more than make up for the missing perm powers.
Doesn't sound like I'm going to get a unanimous answer. 
In that case, assuming I don't PvP until late in the game (no real plans to until lvl50), is Stealth needed in PvE?
Is Invis needed in PvE?
Would Agile and Dodge let me scrap more in PvE or is it unnoticeable?
I can see the obvious benefits to Aid Self in PvE, but has anyone got it and is thinking of resepeccing it out because they just don't use it?
Agile and Dodge work extremely well in PvE (until you run upagainst a longbow balista that can almost 1 shot you).
Stealth and Invisible work against Enemy with high perception like Rikti drones. I love SR PvE, there's something satisfing about standing in a ring of enemy watching the dodge flash up over your head as they attack and then hiding while they all attack you. Just don't try it on Longbow, they can hit anything.
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Agile and Dodge work extremely well in PvE (until you run upagainst a longbow balista that can almost 1 shot you).
Stealth and Invisible work against Enemy with high perception like Rikti drones. I love SR PvE, there's something satisfing about standing in a ring of enemy watching the dodge flash up over your head as they attack and then hiding while they all attack you. Just don't try it on Longbow, they can hit anything.
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This is untrue .. no amount of stealth will hide you from certain NPC's like rikti drones or KoA for example .. they will see right through and just wack you anyway.
So no its not needed in PVE.
Defiant's GoEH/MILITIS METUS
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Would Agile and Dodge let me scrap more in PvE or is it unnoticeable?
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Agile and Dodge 3 slotted with SOs offer a 7.8% Defense bonus each to Ranged (Agile) and Melee (Dodge) which may not seem like a lot but ;
With Dodge, Agile and the rest of the SR set (fully slotted with SOs), without using Elude, you will have a 37.9% Defense to Melee and Ranged Attacks and a 45.7% Defense to AoE Attacks.
Without them you are down to 30.1% to ranged and melee and the AoE is unchanged at 45.7%
If you add Stealth and Combat Jumping into it then your Defenses jump up to 42.9% to ranged and Melee and AoE is still the same at 45.7%
I know it sounds End heavy, but I personally found it worth while running all the toggles from the SR pool and CJ in PvE
Hope that gives you an answer to at least one of your questions
Oh and I still think that Stealth and Aid Self (plus what ever first tier power from the Medicine pool) is the way to go. Wouldnt bother with Invis personally speaking, esspecially before you hit level 50.
Edit: By fully slotted with SOs I mean 3 Slotted (curse you post pub posting)
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If you add Stealth and Combat Jumping into it then your Defenses jump up to 42.9% to ranged and Melee and AoE is still the same at 45.7%
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Where you get your numbers from? My fully slotted /sr stalker has got 40,3% melee defense on the planner. thats all /SR powers + stealth (not slotted for def) + hover (= same as CJ, not slotted for def).
however the planner states 3,75 (unslotted)/5,8% (slotted) def for hide. im not sure if thats correct. is this the def when hidden or while fighting?
so, what would a /SR stalkers total def be while fighting?
Got the numbers from using the Hero/Villian builder that can be found at coh.coldfront.net which I'm told is fairly accurate.
i get 8.8% on my hero builder for agile and dodge 3 slotted
max def i can get is 40.8 melee/ranged 96.8% AoE thats without slotting stealth for def coz nobody in there right mind would slot it for def anyway.
Defiant's GoEH/MILITIS METUS
For PvP, I'd personally get all the single target defenses in SR (toggles and passives, both ranged and melee) + Quickness, but wouldn't really bother with AoE or Aura defenses really... nevertheless i'd always get stealth and medicine pool no matter if I just can get 4-5 powers from energy pool (actually IMHO you don't need more, really)
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For PvP, I'd personally get all the single target defenses in SR (toggles and passives, both ranged and melee) + Quickness, but wouldn't really bother with AoE or Aura defenses really... nevertheless i'd always get stealth and medicine pool no matter if I just can get 4-5 powers from energy pool (actually IMHO you don't need more, really)
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that mean you don't bother with any AoE defence at all ?
Defiant's GoEH/MILITIS METUS
Not really, people attack with single attacks 95% of the times, as its dps is usually higher. When I play my stalker I only are about AoE's right after I've used placate. Being as tight as stalkers builds are, imo having really high melee and ranged defenses is capital
My EM / SR stalker's build is pretty much sorted, but there are some powers I just can't decide on.
In my opinion, if I don't take Agile and Dodge then I might as well have taken one of the other Stalker defence pools as I would only have the same defence as Ninjutsu or Energy Aura and they both have some nice little tricks as well. Taking Agile and Dodge though, makes SR a pretty tight set power selection wise having taken all the powers.
My dilemma is then whether I take Stealth and Invisibility or Aid Other and Aid Self.
I hear both Aid Self and Stealth are pretty much needed (and Invisibility for PvP).
Are there any high level stalkers who can advise how they get on with or without these powers?
Or should I just accept that my defence is the same as Ninjutsu and Energy Aura and take both of the power pools?
Cheers in advance.