Fighting stalkers comes down to two things - 1) being able to spot them, and 2) denying them the opportunity to use AS.
The first means getting +perception, whether from tactics (from the leadership pool), the temporary IR goggles that are available in sirens when heroes have control of the zone, or from being granted +per from an empath or sonic defender/controller.
The second is about movement - never stand still long enough for a stalker to hit you with AS. This forces them to kite you with something like Energy Transfer, and try to placate/AS. If you don't manage to keep them in their tracks with a swift impale, retreat.
Other powers that can be useful... from Regen, pick up resiliance, which will give you some protection from the stuns from energy melee.
Have integration constantly running, with at the very least 3 heal SOs in there, reconstruction slotted 3 recharge, 3 heal, same for dull pain and instant healing.
The very best stalkers will still kill you, but you should be able to tip the balance a little more in your favour by following those tips.
The very best way to deal with stalkers is to team up, preferably with an empath granting clear mind, or a sonic granting clarity, or with a /devices blaster who is capable of revealing the stalkers from hide, and calling the targets. Teaming makes PvP a) easier, and b) more fun.
Hope that helps.
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Fighting stalkers comes down to two things - 1) being able to spot them, and 2) denying them the opportunity to use AS.
The first means getting +perception, whether from tactics (from the leadership pool), the temporary IR goggles that are available in sirens when heroes have control of the zone, or from being granted +per from an empath or sonic defender/controller.
The second is about movement - never stand still long enough for a stalker to hit you with AS. This forces them to kite you with something like Energy Transfer, and try to placate/AS. If you don't manage to keep them in their tracks with a swift impale, retreat.
Other powers that can be useful... from Regen, pick up resiliance, which will give you some protection from the stuns from energy melee.
Have integration constantly running, with at the very least 3 heal SOs in there, reconstruction slotted 3 recharge, 3 heal, same for dull pain and instant healing.
The very best stalkers will still kill you, but you should be able to tip the balance a little more in your favour by following those tips.
The very best way to deal with stalkers is to team up, preferably with an empath granting clear mind, or a sonic granting clarity, or with a /devices blaster who is capable of revealing the stalkers from hide, and calling the targets. Teaming makes PvP a) easier, and b) more fun.
Hope that helps.
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Post is Raz-Approved
The biggest thing Cap has missed off though is the epic powers. Focussed Accuracy turns stalkers into a poor mans scrapper, even more so when coupled with tactics.
Unfortunately, depending on WHERE you PvP makes a difference. In sirens, the players you really want to worry about are also the ones who will have fit stealth into their build before lvl 30, meaning tactics will not give you enough +PER to see them until it's too late and the same goes for Warburg.
In RV, FA and tactics make this no worry which is why so few stalkers venture there.
In all fairness though, a spine/regen should not be getting AS'd regularly even without all this as quills should interrupt the AS a lot of the time. If you're standing still long enough for stalkers to actusally time the AS to avoid Quills, I suspect your problems lie elsewhere.
If it's sc you wanted to PvP in, /sr would be a better secondary IMHO... and for lv50 also in many cases
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Fighting stalkers comes down to two things - 1) being able to spot them, and 2) denying them the opportunity to use AS.
The first means getting +perception, whether from tactics (from the leadership pool), the temporary IR goggles that are available in sirens when heroes have control of the zone, or from being granted +per from an empath or sonic defender/controller.
The second is about movement - never stand still long enough for a stalker to hit you with AS. This forces them to kite you with something like Energy Transfer, and try to placate/AS. If you don't manage to keep them in their tracks with a swift impale, retreat.
Other powers that can be useful... from Regen, pick up resiliance, which will give you some protection from the stuns from energy melee.
Have integration constantly running, with at the very least 3 heal SOs in there, reconstruction slotted 3 recharge, 3 heal, same for dull pain and instant healing.
The very best stalkers will still kill you, but you should be able to tip the balance a little more in your favour by following those tips.
The very best way to deal with stalkers is to team up, preferably with an empath granting clear mind, or a sonic granting clarity, or with a /devices blaster who is capable of revealing the stalkers from hide, and calling the targets. Teaming makes PvP a) easier, and b) more fun.
Hope that helps.
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Some nice advice there, thanks for the reply.
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The biggest thing Cap has missed off though is the epic powers. Focussed Accuracy turns stalkers into a poor mans scrapper, even more so when coupled with tactics.
Unfortunately, depending on WHERE you PvP makes a difference. In sirens, the players you really want to worry about are also the ones who will have fit stealth into their build before lvl 30, meaning tactics will not give you enough +PER to see them until it's too late and the same goes for Warburg.
In RV, FA and tactics make this no worry which is why so few stalkers venture there.
In all fairness though, a spine/regen should not be getting AS'd regularly even without all this as quills should interrupt the AS a lot of the time. If you're standing still long enough for stalkers to actusally time the AS to avoid Quills, I suspect your problems lie elsewhere.
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Yes I stand still. Why? Because I want a fight. I didn't goto a pvp zone to run away from people. The only way to get a stalker out of hide for me is to stand still and let them AS me, and try to pick up the pieces to fight back.
I don't understand the huge emphasis on not standing still, theres no other way to engage in a fight with a stalker if I cant see them, so I stand still.. Then try to do the best I can, which is rarely adequite.
Movement is the best defense against most stalkers because they're not skilled enough to get an AS off on a moving target. However, it can get boring because many simply don't try.
My advice would be to find a Sonic/ Def or a /Sonic controller or an Empath and do some duo'ing, you'll have +perception and some nice buffs to aid in taking them down. Hell, Force Field's also help to a degree!
If you want to solo grab the IR goggles, jump a little bit, try and goad them in to Scrapping with you, maybe bring some Insights for the +perc too.
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In all fairness though, a spine/regen should not be getting AS'd regularly even without all this as quills should interrupt the AS a lot of the time. If you're standing still long enough for stalkers to actusally time the AS to avoid Quills, I suspect your problems lie elsewhere.
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Quills doesnt help against Defence heavy secondary builds. SR and Nin can both avoid quills and other damage auras if slotted well enough. My own Ninjitsu stalker can stand next to red +2 Spine Wardens in PvP zones, AS targets standing next to 2 of them for 'safety' and kill the target before the Wardens or player can react. Can do the same to PvP quills and tanks such as those with Blazing Aura.
Best thing to do, as mentioned, dont stand still for any length of time, I've manage to AS someone with Repel running.
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Yes I stand still. Why? Because I want a fight. I didn't goto a pvp zone to run away from people. The only way to get a stalker out of hide for me is to stand still and let them AS me, and try to pick up the pieces to fight back.
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This is the issue with Stalkers - and actually with Stealth in general. You generally cannot choose to fight a Stalker - he attacks only at his own volition. Which is usually when you are engaged to someone else.
My PvP toon in FF/Psi with fly. I bubble my friends, then cruise over the battlefield with PFF on. That way, I can provide air cover for my firends - when one of them is attacked by a Stalker, I drop PFF and open up on them. This sometimes keeps them pinned long enough for more people to come in and pigpile them - but not very often. I can see how people think my tactics are something of a bore - but its the best way I've found to respond to Stakers.
When cruising like that, I sometimes spot a Dominator - and they're dogfood to me. Very few of their powers affect me; very few of their defenses dull my attacks. The imbalance is glaring. Then, not every ranged toon has mez resistance.
when i used to play my spines/regen (before i got bored with him) i took him to SC a couple of times and i found that quills slotted 2end 2acc (was the slotting i had the time i'm referring to)
and i was fairly safe from stalkers. suure, i couple of 'em made it close/long enough to AS me but also alot of them had problems with Quills, and popping Spine Burst every once in a while helps too since AoE/PBAoE hits even though you dont see them, and the "range" is slightly bigger on Spine Burst than on quills
@EU Brimmy - Union and Exalted servers
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The biggest thing Cap has missed off though is the epic powers. Focussed Accuracy turns stalkers into a poor mans scrapper, even more so when coupled with tactics.
Unfortunately, depending on WHERE you PvP makes a difference. In sirens, the players you really want to worry about are also the ones who will have fit stealth into their build before lvl 30, meaning tactics will not give you enough +PER to see them until it's too late and the same goes for Warburg.
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Scrapper Version::
Tactics= +ACC (7%) base / then add it's +PERCEP value
F. Accuracy= +ACC (18.5%) base / then add it's +PERCEP value
Indeed.. my SRs +Percep from Focused Senses, is enough for most times..
But, if I go RV, I ALWAYS have Focused Accuracy running, as coupled with SR,I can generally spot stalkers a mile off, or at least before they get chance to AS me (even then they have a hard time of doing that.)
I have noticed tho a lot of scrappers and such are getting empaths in and using CM alot, stacked enough make stalkering a pain and near pointless.
in response to the quills/spine burst breaking stealth theory, in my limited experience aoe moves like these are really quite anal in terms of distance..
for example if i use the move with the stalker outside of the range, but he moves in while its casting and before it effectively goes off, he still wont be hit by it.. same principal with me moving into mobs, if i jump in and hit the button while jumping, the mobs will be considered out of its range.. it maybe differing play style to what i am used to in other games, but this aoe-range-delay leaves me feeling generally that aoe in itsself is less reliable than it could be..
Quills however with its fast cast time must have some merit in unsheathing stalkers although from what I have read stalkers get high evasion rates to aoe?
At any rate, focus accu and tactics seems like a surefire way to somewhat level the playing field, even if a stalker were to get in and start the AS on me, it would be easy to interrupt if they were visible, even at that range.
Could I ask though, are the higher pvp zones active? I heard that SC was one of the more popular and even then it doesnt ever seem to be flooded with people. I think I would much prefer playing at max cap or closer to it than with limited skills in SC.. just my perception of how enjoyable it would be.
I think I have seen some clips of RV, it looked pretty enjoyable.
With regen scrapper engaging in zone pvp, there are some issues you have heard already in this thread.
a.) Good stalkers only fight when they want to, preferring to wait for the opportunity, so zone can be pretty dead if there arent enough other villains in there.
b.) Regen doesnt make you invulnerable, albeit being a good set overall. Best defense against stalkers is still to keep moving about. I recommend against standing still. However, the zone can be pretty dead if theres only stalkers in there. Can't be helped.
Options are: use a bait, or get good enough +perception.
Latter isnt much of an option against best stalkers, but there will be lot of bad ones in sirens I can guarantee 
Try to find an empathy or sonic defender to clear mind/clarity you. You are going to love it against the weaker stalkers (My empath is lvl 16 atm and I want to engage pvp with him.. I'll be there. hehe.)
So-called stalkerhunters aka. SR scrappers and /devices blasters can manage enough perception on their own to spot stalkers with just hide+stealth. You might wanna consider making one of those if you want to hunt stalkers solo.
If not, just keep jumping around and wait for the stalkers to go after someone else and bounce on them. Impale, web grenade to stop them.. etc.
And remember, pvp in this game is made for teams.. so having troubles when soloing or teamed with solo characters isnt end of the world..
PS. I wonder if people start to notice how boring sirens is if theres just stalkers/scrappers in there 
PPS Jump
around
EDIT: Unfortunately I think sirens call is the only zone with soem pvp going on.. Oh and quills does have a chance to hit while AS is activating, but defense builds manage quite enough defense to be safe.
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EDIT: Unfortunately I think sirens call is the only zone with soem pvp going on.. Oh and quills does have a chance to hit while AS is activating, but defense builds manage quite enough defense to be safe.
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the pvp scene of CoX is pretty much dead?
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EDIT: Unfortunately I think sirens call is the only zone with soem pvp going on.. Oh and quills does have a chance to hit while AS is activating, but defense builds manage quite enough defense to be safe.
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the pvp scene of CoX is pretty much dead?
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Wouldnt surprise me to be honest given that the game started as a pure PvE experience, and I don't think there wouyld be that much of an upcry if it did.
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EDIT: Unfortunately I think sirens call is the only zone with soem pvp going on.. Oh and quills does have a chance to hit while AS is activating, but defense builds manage quite enough defense to be safe.
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the pvp scene of CoX is pretty much dead?
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There is, of course, arena..
Ive noticed lot of people talking about PVP when they only mean zones..
I think that pvp suffers from the same as PvE ie. lack of players. Since PVP players are only a portion of total populace, it doesnt surprise me that the zones are sometimes lacking people.
I suspect PVP was introduced to draw more people in, unfortunately COX's orientation to teams seems to be too much for some people from other games to understand..
PVP in this game is very nice, not totally in balance but hey, what is. Problem is just lack of players..
And Lord Qel, that comment is about as old as Himalayas. Im growing tired of it.
If you don't have +perception then Quills is your best bet for showing you when a stalker is standing next to you. It probably won't hit the stalker and interupt AS but it will show a "MISS" message every time Quills pulses on them. What I tend to do if there are stalkers about who aren't working as a team is stand somewhere with quills running and my pointer poised over Dull Pain. I have one of my side mouse buttons bound to target nearest enemy. When I start seeing MISS's I hit Dull Pain (I usually wait for the AS to hit first, unless I know it's a good, high damaging stalker then I hit it right away) then hit target nearest enemy when the AS hits followed by build up followed by Ripper and then as many attacks as I can use before they run, die or defeat me. Most times a solo stalker will end up running to be honest - a built up Ripper from a dull pained scrapper is probably more of a reaction than they were expecting. If there are stalkers working as a team then under no circumstances use that tactic - you will get slaughtered. The key to surviving against multiple stalkers is to stay very mobile at all times. Of course it's not always possible to stay mobile either - just do your best to adapt to whatever's going on. Don't lose heart - the more time you spend in the zones the more knowledge you gain and the better you get at adapting and reacting.
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The biggest thing Cap has missed off though is the epic powers. Focussed Accuracy turns stalkers into a poor mans scrapper, even more so when coupled with tactics.
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Hehe, done deliberately Kin - the OP mentioned sirens, so figured I wouldn't confuse the issue by talking too much about the PvP in Warburg/RV 
As for standing still to scrap - a bad idea, against anything - stalkers, corruptors, dominators, masterminds and brutes will all hand your head to you if you don't move around - movement is that important to PVP.
PVP dead? Not a chance. There are regular nights when PVP hits Bloody Bay, Sirens, RV, Warburg or the arenas - keep an eye on the arena channel (when it isn't being spammed ) for people shouting out. It isn't ever going to be incredibly packed (short of special events) but the good thing is, PVP in CoH/V works really nicely with smallish numbers, when the sides are about the same number.
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Wouldnt surprise me to be honest given that the game started as a pure PvE experience, and I don't think there wouyld be that much of an upcry if it did.
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is there that much of an endgame pve wise? There needs to be some incentive for leveling, i honestly though pvp would be more significant
PvP has it's ups and downs, in terms of player activity. Sirens has been busy most evenings for the last few weeks, but RV has yet to take off properly. The international challenge that used to happen on the test server every monday night was fantastic, but fell apart when most of the French PvPers left due to nerfs. Since that ended (back in May) there hasn't been any decent team arena to replace it, although we did have a few good matches against AoW last night. I'm not sure whether there is much going on over on the villain side or not though...
I wouldn't bother with tactics on a regen.
If you're going to stand still, make sure you are watching and listening closely, as you will hear/see the stalker before AS hits, so you can hit dull pain as he AS's you. If you don't have dull pain ready, don't stand still. Im afraid that's just how PvP works in this game.
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The [b]Retribution[/b] is coming.
[url="http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j19/Valens_ii/"]Some of my toons[/url]
I thought the PvE of the game was dead to be honest. Seems like numbers have gone right down and many people now PvP only because PvE has become as dull as dishwater. The one thing I find good about PvE though is if I am finding it hard to get to sleep...halfway through one mish and my eyes get heavy.
@Sweet Chilli
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I wouldn't bother with tactics on a regen.
If you're going to stand still, make sure you are watching and listening closely, as you will hear/see the stalker before AS hits, so you can hit dull pain as he AS's you. If you don't have dull pain ready, don't stand still. Im afraid that's just how PvP works in this game.
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Any two stalkers double ASing will get a regen scrapper in sirens. But of course we must have been talking about the current state of teamwork in zones..
What your also failing to spot is the more obvious conclusion. The ONLY way to take down a regen is through massive assaults. Most other characters can be wittled away but Regen's just keep coming unless their powers are overwhelmed.
Whilst Focused Acc is a godsend in PvP, simply having 2 ACC's slotted helps.
Stand in the Rings at Sirens Call, put up an AFK message, wait 2 seconds then drop a yellow.
Wait for it..
BAM- dead Stalker
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What your also failing to spot is the more obvious conclusion. The ONLY way to take down a regen is through massive assaults. Most other characters can be wittled away but Regen's just keep coming unless their powers are overwhelmed.
Whilst Focused Acc is a godsend in PvP, simply having 2 ACC's slotted helps.
Stand in the Rings at Sirens Call, put up an AFK message, wait 2 seconds then drop a yellow.
Wait for it..
BAM- stunned then dead blaster
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Edited for accuracy 
Bring it
This isn't as much a whine post as a cry for help..
Let me give you some details, i'm a spines/regen scrapper, new to the game and apparently a fotm build and apparently one of the stronger pvpers though I have very much yet to see why..
I love pvp, in all mmo I play I love pvping, its primary reason that I do play these games. So when I found out my spines/regen scrapper was meant to be pretty good, I was really pleased. So I leveled her up abit and hit mid 20's and thought id head into sirens to see how I performed.
At first I had trouble doing any kind of damage, I pretty much felt less threatning than a kitten and definlatey not the lion people had implied I should be.. A very kind person helped me out with alot of inf so I could slot SO into my attacks. This helped, it gave me a much nicer bite than I had previously been trying to fight with..
Then came the EM stalker.. bam bam, 2 hit me.. I thought, ok.. well.. it is EM, that hits hard. I'm not running dull pain either so maybe if i was I wouldnt have dropped quite so quickly.
Then came a katana stalker, bam bam, 2 hit me.. I thought, isnt katana meant to be slightly weaker than EM? Why did I go down in 2 hits again?
Eventually after a few days now in sirens, stalkers are wiping the floor with me. Even if I react and use reconstruction after AS, im only put on about 60% hp and placate/restealth and AS finishes me.. I cant keep the out of stealth, they simply run until I get a miss then its game over. if they dont run its placate and I cant attack them, game over. I cant seem to do any significant damage to them either though admitedly I miss an attack currently.
At the end of the day, im confused. I took a scrapper to have decent hp so I couldnt get one hit by stalkers. I took regen so I could survive the initial assasin strike and not get owned by stalkers. So far, its not working. Trying to PvP has become a misery because stalkers just wipe the floor with me so easily..
Is theres something I am particularly doing wrong? I really dont know.. how I am suppost to be the fotm overpowered pvp class/build when most of the villains in sirens kill me with 2 buttons..
I fancied a blaster but refuseed to make one becuase I thought I would be incapable of fighting stalkers.. As it turns out, I am anyway.. I hate to whine, but how can I be so weak, they be so strong and still have people telling me im overpowered and FOTM. At least I could handle the disrespect given to my build if I actually was winning.
advice is welcome