Generally in order to be 'team friendly', you're going to want to be able to "scrap" a bit.
Dual Blades is fairly good for this since it promotes the idea of keeping attacking (rather than AS'ing then rehiding) in order to get the effects of combos. Regen is also a good choice since you have low downtime.
In order to maximise your scrapping potential, you're going to want to have as low downtime as possible. Slotting Numina/Miracle uniques and/or endreds will ensure you can keep attacking constantly.
IME, teams appreciate consistently high damage output and survivability over "situational" powers like Resuscitate. Put recharges in Placate (so you can critical regularly) and make sure your attacks are well-slotted. Recall friend is one of the better situational potions, since Stalkers can easily ghost to the end of a mission when the need arises. Being able to TP the entire team to the end-boss is quite handy.
Also, don't skip AS, slot it well. It's going to be a lot better versus Archvillains soon.
For me the 'team friendly' Stalker is just one who's got the key powers and has some clue as to how to slot them 
Recall Friend and possibly Stimulant (the ally status effect protection/removal power) is typically the best pool powers to have - the first handy if you want Teleport as your travel power. Getting Assault and Tactics can be handy too but with this powerset combo, maybe too tight for luxerys.
However unlike Ninja Blade, you will have almost no protection from damage so it may be worthwhile to see how often that 'Sweep' combo can be up.
Wow... over a week and only 2 replies (thanks for those). Slow down guys, only so many posts I can read!
Is there really so little you have to say on DB with stalkers?
Given I got no tidbits of info here, I've continued searching around for guides, builds etc on my own and came across the US forums. A few threads in there moaning about the hashup of the combo's they've done for stalkers with DB. 2 of the staple combo's requiring BU, so basically reduced to only once per mob pack. Weaken is a cone, rather than pbaoe like the Brutes.
None of you thought to mention any of this? Any one have some thoughts on it now?
Read some more about Regen too, popular US opinion seems to be that it ain't great on a squishy stalker, as they simply don't have the health pool to really get the benefit from regen like Scrappers do.
No thoughts on this either?
Come on guys... I asked for some waffle, and I got... **tumble-weed**... Are the EU stalkers all too busy assassinating bunnies or something? I don't want to go to the US forums for this stuff, I can't reply or ask questions on the US forums. I'm L30 now, and whilst still enjoying it, what I'm reading isn't filling me with confidence. Am I wasting my time with this set?
Let's get a bit of chatter going, maybe?
Cheers.
Well as an attempt to help out:
First off I dont have a DB/Regen, and i think that might be part of the problem since there are very few of those out there. In my experience (and thats all there is, i have no figures on this) /regen is one of the least popular stalker secondaries. Why? I personally would prefer other sets due to its lack of defense. Other power sets, especially /energy /SR and /Ninj in the later levels have great defense allowing you to hide mid fight much easier. This seems to have been held against /regen. In its defense however, the endurance usage is low so you could make a stamina-less build (although how this would perform in a long "scrap" type fight is variable based on your slotting might need to whack some +recovery bonuses in!).
As for Dual Blades: I've had a little play with it on a stalker and i really want to like it! The animations are far to graceful for Brutes so it really should belong to the more surgical stalkers. But something for me doesnt click. As you already mentioned, combos are borked. I would add to the above that the combo mean that you will have to take a lot of the attacks meaning your build will be tight (although, if you go staminaless, you will have more room). Also, the combos are made up so that it takes many levels to get more than empower (although since you are 30 already, this isnt an issue). One pro is that you get Empower combo (which for all other Dual blades is a soft build up - and most avoid!) as well as build up, 2 +dmg powers! For me, the biggest draw back with Dual blades on a stalker is the animations feel rather long. My other stalkers are Dark melee and Claws, both of which attack very quickly, something that, for me, increases the survivability. I mean, doing te long sexy animations leaves me open to attack, and stalkers can't risk that as much as other Dual bladers can (and especially regen when delaying a heal by too long can mean death).
So I'm afraid it's bad news from me. But like I said, most of this is based on theory rather than any practice (although that was good enough for my degree!) so I'm sure you know much better after 30 levels! Hopefully this will spark some debate
Oh and finally, you've gotten it up 30 levels, you will know by now whether you enjoy it. If you do, then ignore all the haters and keep doing it! If you don't enjoy it, move on
Edit: removed ambiguous comment
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Well I've personally played a DB Stalker to level 5 and thanks to the level bump on test, I have one at 36 (DB/Willpower). Generally I'll post in here and insta-kill the thread but I'll throw in some more observations from the sets you've got
I found the DB attacks to be effective most of the time but geared more to the 'lets herd to a corner' tactic to take advantage of the cone attack moves, which means a fair bit more endurance getting used. I kept running out of endurance -either from not having Stamina or from not doing enough critical strikes/causing enough damage. Was forgetting that two of the DB moves do knockup so as long as you have those available and not sapping your blue bar too much you'll be fine. The longer animations from the attacks I'm guessing make using Reconstruction sometimes difficult mid fight? I find that in them middle of using Divine Avalanche/Soaring Dragon 
I think the Regen element is pretty decent all things considered - the only times it gets _really_ hard is when your in the 40-50 range and fighting Arachnoids who spit -Regen attacks on you. At level 35 I took Resiliance, as without it (when lackied up) the Malta guys were giving problems with stuns (later spent some inf and got those status protection IO's to help combat fear effects as well). I've no idea how MoG is going to turn out - I just know that I like the reduced recharge and removal of -health and regen, its the duration time of 15 seconds that seems 'meh'.
All I can say is that if on soloing you can AS kill one of three in a spawn, juggle another so it can't attack you and work on the third in safety, then theres nothing wrong On a team your somewhat more lucky as not only can you do normal tactics but act as a squishy bodyguard and with care, plow along with some cone damage, attacking the rear of the brutes herd.
I would certainly not say your wasting time as in two levels you get the 'best' attack and access to the lovely level 35 IO's. Your already past the hardest part, it just gets easier and easier really.
Woo - thanks for the replies. Good to read on a boring friday at work, with ... sigh, 5 hours to go before I get to play all weekend.
To keep things going, I'm going to throw out my build to be picked over. Obviously upto 30 is done already, so I can't change that without respec, but 32 onwards is still open to change. I've not put the slots into the build, as I am hopeless at remembering what I've slotted already. Obviously AS and highend attacks will be highly slotted etc. Any advice on pool powers that are worth slotting more than is obvious (because of IO sets) would be great. I heard a rumour of good sets being possible in health?
Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.30
http://www.honourableunited.org.uk/mhd.php
Targh: Level 50 Magic Stalker
Primary Power Set: Dual Blades
Secondary Power Set: Regeneration
Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Medicine
Power Pool: Teleportation
Villain Profile:
------------
Level 1: Nimble Slash
Level 1: Hide
Level 2: Power Slice
Level 4: Reconstruction
Level 6: Assassin's Blades
Level 8: Ablating Strike
Level 10: Fast Healing
Level 12: Build Up
Level 14: Combat Jumping
Level 16: Swift
Level 18: Health
Level 20: Stamina
Level 22: Super Jump
Level 24: Integration
Level 26: Vengful Slice
Level 28: Placate
Level 30: Aid Other
Level 32: One Thousand Cuts
Level 35: Recall Friend
Level 38: Sweeping Strike
Level 41: Resilience
Level 44: Instant Healing
Level 47: Dull Pain
Level 49: Revive
------------
Level 1: Brawl
Level 1: Sprint
Level 2: Rest
Level 1: Assassination
------------
| Copy & Paste this data chunk into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
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Leveling might have seemed painful... L8-26 with no new attacks is a long time, and indeed I was desperate for something new to press by the time I hit 26, but I'm a big lover of Stamina, however much I resent the time it takes to get it. The early mayhem temp travel powers easily lasted long enough to go that long without a travel power. Particularly if you keep the Goldbrickers Jetpack from a mission until it runs out of fuel.
Aidother at 30 was a tough choice, but I've already used it a lot. As a stalker, I'm used to trying to get an interuptable move off in the heat of battle, so getting a heal off isn't difficult. As an added bonus, using it doesn't break hide, which is very nice.
Notably, I'm missing out MoG, but I've read litterally nothing good about it. It is not liked at all. Maybe this'll change in the future, but for now, I'm happy taking Revive as the final power. 5 minute recharge will be fine without slotting, and a +heal enh will bring me back with 70-80% health. Besides, everytime I AS, it's a moment of glory .
~
To add to some of the comments you made. Regen doesn't have the defence of some of the other sets, you're right. But get me some forcefields and with integration then there's nothing a mob can do to stop me. It's hard to hit me, and they can't knock me down or mez me. Ruin mages are so much simpler when you can just stand next to them ignoring the knockdowns, ripping them a new one.
Without the forcefields, I've found a well slotted hide, and combat jumping, so far, is providing adequate defense, and after a fight, by the time I'm back in hide, I'll be full health and end again which is lovely. Rest has been moved off my bar as I just don't need it. I've also coped fine so far with just the one heal. I haven't yet got dull pain, or instant healing, or resilience; all of which will hopefully combine into fairly hefty mitigation.
Solo, several EB's have gone down, but they have all required 3 purple insp and 2-3 red and several greens to get through it. A couple, like the shiven one, required me to retreat and then come back to finish them off with a AS before their health could regen.
~
The comment made about us getting 2 +dmg abilities is a little incorrect, as to activate empower, you need to Build up, AS, placate... which means by the time you've activated it, BU is over. You might get time for one ablat Strike with both powers, which with the hide from placte will be a crit. So that is indeed nice. Usually though I prefer to use sweep, and save the placate for a crit/AS midfight.
[ QUOTE ]
All I can say is that if on soloing you can AS kill one of three in a spawn, juggle another so it can't attack you and work on the third in safety, then theres nothing wrong p
[/ QUOTE ]
A spawn of three would be, BU, AS the first, Ablating strike the second, which causes the sweep combo, knocking down both remaining and usually killing the second. Then scrap the third, using the attack vitals to knock it down. Or even placate it if you really want to use some cooldowns.
~
I think I'll be carrying on to 50. Hey, least it most certainly isn't a FOTM build
That's . . . quite an odd build if you don't mind me saying so (Placate at 28?).
From a regen perspective I think you need to pull Dull Pain and Instant Healing into the build much earlier. They're a big part of your damage mitigation. Aid Other looks a bit lonely in there by itself as well. If you were going on to get Aid Self I could sort of understand it (though not really for a regen) but certainly at 30 you've got much more important choices to consider (like Dull Pain and Instant Healing <hint, hint>.
I'd be very interested to see your slotting as well.
"If there's anything worse than being sacrificed, it's being sacrificed incompetantly."
[ QUOTE ]
That's . . . quite an odd build if you don't mind me saying so (Placate at 28?).
[/ QUOTE ]
Of course I don't mind you saying. If I only wanted my opinion on it, I would have continued just talking to myself rather than posting on a public forum
First response I'd make is, I have no experience of these powers, so I don't 'miss' having what I don't know. If I were to roll a second stalker (knowing intimately now what placate actually does) then yes, placate would likely appear much earlier. However, not knowing what it really did meant I didn't miss it.
Second, what I did know about placate was that it tended to cause the death of squishies when duo'ing if used irresponsibly. I spent the vast majority of my time 1-20 as a duo and thought I wouldn't miss it.
Third. Placate is available at L12 I think. I got build-up then as this opened up the first duelblades combo to me. Then I got CJ towards a travel power, swift towards stamina, health towards stamina, stamina itself, superjump as a travel power.
Which means, the earliest I could have got placate unless I delayed stamina, or further delayed a travel power, was L24. Not much earlier really.
One possibility is Build-up could have replaced fasthealing at 10, and then I could have got Placate at 12. I think I would try this if I were doing it again (or respecing) but it wasn't a great issue to me by any means.
~
I'm assuming, from your post, that Dull Pain is another power that once I know exactly how it works, I'm going to like a lot. It does sound good. However, I'm really not struggling for mitigation right now. I tend to either be one shotted, or survive by running, and hitting my self-heal. Mainly the latter. Duel pain increases my health, so I'll take the point now, it would likely prevent some of the one-shotting.
I've just taken 1k cuts at 32 over the weekend (a fun little move) and still don't regret Aid Other at 30. I used it so many times over the weekend's teams, I'm halfway to the first heal badge. It is a life-saver and a team saver and better still, it doesn't reset the re-hide counter, so by the time I've moved to someone and healed them, I'll be hidden and ready to crit or even do another AS. I think healing whilst waiting for hide is considerably better team play than standing around or just scrapping. I don't understand why you see it as 'lonely'.
L26 was new attack and new combo. L28 was new utility for attack and survivability and new combo. So L30 being a support power just makes sense to me.
Taking some of your advice, and continuing the cycle, my new plan...
32 1k Cuts (New attack)
35 Dull pain (New survivability)
38 Recall friend (New support (I really want this power. I still do a lot of duo'ing with a MM, and it'd be handy to ghost and recall him a lot of the time.))
41 Sweeping strike (New attack)
44 Instant healing (New survivability)
47 Resilience (New survivability, likely need more slotting than revive)
49 Revive (Just useful).
[ QUOTE ]
First response I'd make is, . . .
<lots of sensible stuff>
. . . I think I would try this if I were doing it again (or respecing) but it wasn't a great issue to me by any means.
[/ QUOTE ]
Good points, well argued. I had to put off Stamina until 24 to get Placate (and Dull Pain) in early and AS/Placate isn't a very duo friendly playstyle.
[ QUOTE ]
I'm assuming, from your post, that Dull Pain is another power that once I know exactly how it works, I'm going to like a lot. It does sound good. However, I'm really not struggling for mitigation right now. I tend to either be one shotted, or survive by running, and hitting my self-heal. Mainly the latter. Duel pain increases my health, so I'll take the point now, it would likely prevent some of the one-shotting.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yes, I think you'll find that you like it . It's not just a HP boost but also a sizeable heal. It's not quite as good for us as it is for Scrappers (starting with more HP) but with this and Instant Healing running you'll be suprised by what you can survive.
[ QUOTE ]
I've just taken 1k cuts at 32 over the weekend (a fun little move) and still don't regret Aid Other at 30. I used it so many times over the weekend's teams, I'm halfway to the first heal badge. It is a life-saver and a team saver and better still, it doesn't reset the re-hide counter, so by the time I've moved to someone and healed them, I'll be hidden and ready to crit or even do another AS. I think healing whilst waiting for hide is considerably better team play than standing around or just scrapping. I don't understand why you see it as 'lonely'.
[/ QUOTE ]
You really suprised me here. Aid Other is so often only taken by combat ATs as set-up to Aid Self that I couldn't see why you took it on it's own, but as you describe I can see it fits. Excellent thinking.
[ QUOTE ]
32 1k Cuts (New attack)
35 Dull pain (New survivability)
38 Recall friend (New support (I really want this power. I still do a lot of duo'ing with a MM, and it'd be handy to ghost and recall him a lot of the time.))
41 Sweeping strike (New attack)
44 Instant healing (New survivability)
47 Resilience (New survivability, likely need more slotting than revive)
49 Revive (Just useful).
[/ QUOTE ]
Just to complicate matters, you might want to take a look at the revamped Moment of Glory (currently on test). It's turning from a power of debatable usefulness to what looks like an excellent Panic Button.
Happy Stalking
"If there's anything worse than being sacrificed, it's being sacrificed incompetantly."
Haha, doh! How dare they revamp MoG.
In that situation then I'd probably look at my attacks and see how I'm doing. At the moment, the only combo I can't perform is 'weaken', which requires sweeping strike. Sweeping strike sounds as nice as 1k cuts, so I'll give it a good test, and see whether the new fight sequence it causes leaves any move out I could drop in favour of MoG.
Cheers for your thoughts.
Well he's now (as of last night), L45. Pretty much the home straight now, nothing too exciting in the way of powers left to get. He has all the attacks and plenty of self heals/protection.
The range of sweeping strike isn't great, which makes the weaken combo hard to pull off effectively (on several mobs). But atleast it's a combo that doesn't start with BU. It does sit quite nicely with Vital strike.
I'll be back at 50 with a final conclusion of the sets, but I wouldn't have made it this far if I didn't enjoy it. He will be my ticket to the VEATs
Hey everyone,
. Heal-other would be nice too. Given that regen comes with enough self heals, I could also get the mez protection power instead of heal-self, I forget the name, steroids or something?
Just wanted to seek thoughts and opinions on Duel Blade/Regen as a spec.
I noticed there's a thread further down that hasn't received any replies, so maybe this spec is rather on the rare side? I haven't managed to find any example builds and/or guides either.
My DB/Regen (Targh) dinged 20 last night and so far I'm enjoying him. I have forgone getting a travel power, making use of the early Mayhem temp powers so I could speedup the process of getting BU, without slowing down the time to get stamina. As such, last night I did get stamina, and now I can fight with sprint on without a problem and it's wonderful. Especially with my current health regen too.
22 I look forward to finally getting superjump, and after that, woo! Some new attacks and my shields. It's seeming to be a great combination that by 30 should be coming into it's own.
I'm a PvE'er, and not interested in PvP (Yes that's right). I rolled stalker because I wanted to actually do some damage, after my first character (a controller) but didn't fancy blasters, and liked the idea of the natural stealth. I'm coming to terms with some of the team attitudes towards stalkers, but also met enough people quite happy to team with me that it's not a huge problem. I am also quite content that I am 'pulling my weight' in the teams I've been in.
I've read about various attempts from all kinds of stalkers, trying to build the 'ultimate team friendly' stalker... aoe sets like spines, and Dark seem to be the way to go to really be a 'team player'. There's also mention of various pool powers favoured by the 'team' stalker.. such as recall friend, the fear powers of presence, tactics etc. Any thoughts on just how favoured by teams these are?
My plans for the build are tight, but I am sorely tempted to dip into the medicine pool and stretch down to get the rez, as I do find myself often surviving, and would love to rez someone rather than whistle idly whilst they run from the hospital with malice in their hearts towards 'that irritating stalker'
Just some waffle from me - I'd appreciate other's waffle
Happy Stalking.