Line of sight is key for dealing with ambushes on a stalker. Make sure you are hiding at a corner and that the ambush cant see you. As they approach the corner hit Build Up and use your strongest attack that isnt AS on the first guy to run around the corner. Placate the next and turn your attention to the last guy. You only have to scrap with one enemy if you do it like this. You should still be buffed from BU and should be hidden due to placating. Easy.
I love playing stalkers and have soloed a claws/SR (soft capped) to 50 and a em/regen with no problems.
I find it very tactical and not so much AS and run away, i stay and fight which you can very easily do with a good build.
Stalkers can hit 1500 hp easy and can have good defense if you work at it like with SR that can hit the soft cap easier than a scrapper can.
Sure they are hard the first 20 levels or so but it gets alot easier after that.
Don't forget Demonic Aura to, with you lvl 38 power it makes EB's a doddle.
I always pick it up at lvl 25, its a life saver.
Defiant's GoEH/MILITIS METUS
The problem with SR is that unless you have soft cap, your pretty bad, and unless you have a lot of endurence to spare you cant hit that before elude unless you have a gimped attack set.
SR takes loads of endurence with the toggles to run too, its definately worth it if you can cap defence but up to that point you go down easily.
If you are wanting a charecter to level fast and easier, you definately need regen with stamina so your heals dont steal your endurence, thats up till i13 anyway, when the -25% heal effectiveness comes in it will be another story...
I personally have no problems at all soloing my lvl 36 SO slotted katana/SR stalker on Relentless. Just took out 2 Ballistas in Tech Naylors arc too. It is a bit heavy on the endurance yes, but that's what blues and rest are for.
And what -25% heal effectiveness are you talking about? You mean the one mentioned by Castle in his PvP Powers Changes post?
@True Metal
Co-leader of Callous Crew SG. Based on Union server.
Maelwys giving great tips as always. I'm working on a stalker myself at the moment, though it is MA/regen. Made more sense first time round to go with lots of healing to get a grasp of how to play this AT.
The things you've listed shouldn't really cause you a problem though. Anyone with a half decent personality can easily make friends with people on this game. Being an MMO as well it does pay to make friends with people, either just to work with in duo's, trio's and what not or even if they just get you invited to a team.
Btw look at the inherant buffs, straight away you have a 10% chance to crit, +3% for each member in your team which with a full team should be about 31% chance to crit with any attack. Chance also to demoralize when AS land's so you also terrorize groups around the foe you've attacked buying you time, and you also debuff the foe's tohit.
These inherant bonus's are always there too, unlike scrapper's who have to fight foe's much tougher to increase their chance to crit.
All have Pro's and Con's
My stalker is more durable then my scrapper, and she does A LOT of single target damage. My tip is to make a new one and change away from ninjitsu if it's too hard for you.
WP, regen?
EM, DM?
EDIT: They are now both as durable as the other, on the other hand the scrappers damage is higher (average attack) and more consistant.
For example, my scrapper did 260 damage with a minor damage attack at lvl 23, so there is a lot of potential there.
On the other hand my stalker can do like 1300 damage in one attack, however as already said it's limited.
You gotta adjust to the situations and AT.
As already stated stalkers can be an asset to any team.
I have been playing a db/regen now for awhile and it's really fun. Also first toon i have been soloing which have helped me appreciate the content(marino being my current fav) since most pugs just do papers which bores me.
I would get an active vg but most of em have rules that i cant comit to(monthly prestige quota etc). I still team though but car crash quality pugs on villains has burned me.
Taking defense base secondary is one of the hit & run stalker key ... working well already at the early levels (with range defense activated, of course):
AS the 1st opponent (choose your target,normaly, he is dead)
==> targetting an other opponent (you can do it during the AS 3 seconds interruption)
==> running away during 4 sec (your range def is acting here)
==> press "f" (follow) and use your harder spell (which make a critical, because you are re-hide) - excluding AS, because staying at melee 3 seconds could be dangerous because of mobs have seen you before you re-hide - ; then finish the 2nd target and continu this cycle .
I know it's a tricky tactic, but i like playing stalker like that, I really feel the adrenaline this way ^^... as soon as placate is avaible it is more confortable, and you can use it as an emergency tool .
It works well alone, but you can be hurt sometimes ... in group if you have some Brute or MM for taking aggro it's more easy to play, of course .
A good travel power for hit and run stalker is TP, with the shift+LeftButton bind on it it's simple to use, and really enjoying for a stalker (Tp in ==> AS ==> Tp out)
Bah hit and run. Only problems i've had solo is leo knight, echo(mostly due to having aeon as a lt + 2 wyvern lt), that sfinx guy and freakbosses on ruthless. You just have to plan insp use and you can scrap it out. Aurora has been the easiest one yet, empower, ablating, venom grenade(love the siren temps) and all of a sudden she was gone.
To be honest most stalkers I've attempted have made me bored by lvl 20, but the elec/elec build I'm working on atm has kept me interested so far.
I have the usual def problems in big mobs or EB's but I can take them, tho when i made my stalker I knew he wasn't gonna be another stone tank equivalent. 
**He's big bad and charges ur phone if u know where to stick the plug** 
-01 Elec/Elec Stalker [Defiant] lvl 24
Aptum KM/SD scrapper (Defiant) Aptum brute (freedom) Aptum MA/SR scrapper (union)
Aptum. DB/Regen scrapper (union) Frank Murphy MA/SD scrapper (defiant)
Dirk Dark Thug/FF MM (defiant) Grunt-503 AR/Dev blaster (defiant)
Hot-HunterZ Kin/Fire controller (defiant) HunterZ Claw/Inv scrapper (defiant)
Kniteborne Stone/Mace tank (defiant) Knitemare PB (defiant) Seer Martinez Widow (defiant)
I found getting a stalker to lvl 35 quite easy (stopped playing it after then as I got distracted by other things). Solo play can tend to eat up inspirations, but when in groups they can be devestating!
That said, I have not played one for a good few months so am not aware(yet) of how the recent updates will have effected them (I am still logging in my heroes at the moment 
).
Anyway back to point, I found Dark/SR to be v-effective.
wat u guys fail to understand imo , is that stalkers are meant for solo casual players . like myself .
Im still a newb , but , i think in pvp areas stalkers make the difference over hero side scrappers . when it comes to pve , i must agree , yeap , they are kinda a gimp . but their nice gameplay , funny as hell . all players should have 1 stalker for when they want to play solo for kiks
sry for x2 post
and having 1 stalker in a team is kinda lame , having 2 or 3 is kinda a serious stealth dmg for bosses and other high lvl mobs , and btw , missing and AS dosent leave u in the open , u remain hidden . but that is prolly recent so i wouldnt know
it is less about the at and more about the player behind the screen. Stalkers can complement any team.
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Stalkers can complement any team.
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Usually it goes along the lines of "Thanks guys for inviting me!" and "The mobs are going down fast - you guys own!"
I kid of course and concur with ToyRobotTerror's view that its the player that makes the character, not the AT.
Love playing Stalkers as anyone who knows me will tell you I've got too many Five level 50 ones so far and another three to level up!
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How to possibly play a stalker and like it?
[/ QUOTE ]Realize that they're basically Scrappers, only better.
Hmm. Cant stick to Stalkers myself, I find playing with /DA scrapper is pretty close to being a stalker, except with more consistant damage and a lovely heal.
I say ditch the stalker. Unless someone can advise you to do other wise. 
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Hmm. Cant stick to Stalkers myself, I find playing with /DA scrapper is pretty close to being a stalker, except with more consistant damage and a lovely heal.
I say ditch the stalker. Unless someone can advise you to do other wise.
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Well a lot of people gave some advice on hos to play a Stalker. Especially advice about how to play a nin/nin stalker. I followed up on this advise and found that my Stalker has gained a bit more survivability. Enough survivability to allow me to play her once in a while. A thing that goes well against normal opponents.
I even managed to take out a few EB's. I had to use dozens of inspirations to do so and it was on the lowest challenge settings. But I managed to get both Barracuda and that awful Freak tank with his summoned earth elemental thingie. Next mission will be the grand finale and I can't bring myself to do that one knowing that i will have to face him again and some others that are worse. I remember that my main needed lots of help and i know that my stalker will not be able to solo it. Even if i load up fully on inspirations. So I suppose I will wait until the EB cons grey on me. Sigh. I hate EB's.
EB's do tend to be a pain in the [censored]. From what I remember (it's been a while) I opt for the BU+AS+DA - Placate - AS+DA - Placate etc etc. When you get to 38+ it is a lot easier because you get the BU+AS+DA+Soaring Dragon+Golden Dragonfly+Placate etc. Even for EB Freak Tanks it only takes a handful of goes to defeat - especially with Red Insps too!
Golden-Phoenix - Lvl 50 Fire/Fire Tank
Oodja Nikabolokov - Lvl 50 SS/WP Brute
Baby-Phoenix - Lvl 50 Peacebringer
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could Chuck Norris?
It gets tricky when they summon pets. Then AS is not going to be of much use because those pets keep disrupting it. Hmm makes me wonder, can you fit no disrupt Enhancements in AS? Might be worth taking then.
Not sure - it is a good idea if you can slot interrupt time enhancements into it though. Then again mine is fully slotted with recharge, damage and accuracy lol
Golden-Phoenix - Lvl 50 Fire/Fire Tank
Oodja Nikabolokov - Lvl 50 SS/WP Brute
Baby-Phoenix - Lvl 50 Peacebringer
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could Chuck Norris?
DM/DA rules IMO, the only 2 EB/AV I really needed help for was Infernal (Shock) and Lilitu (Must be a family thing).
Just remember to slot at least one Acc into your Dark Regen and Siphon Life, cos if they miss.... and ok, I admit, Calystix The Shaper DID take an entire tray of reds, purples and yellows to take.
I have this cool nin/will build with high 30's to f/c/e/n and 15 second downtime on shadow meld(thank you devs!) that i'm itching to try. Only secondaries that underperform imo is elec(only resists) and regen(low hp cap).
See the guide in my sig, it needs updating but it's still pretty relevant, and the recent stalker changes have just made stalkers better at scrapping.
Ankhare is a Claws/Reflexes Stalker with no sets in her powers - I've been away for about a year and a half, and missed out on a lot of the IO stuff.
She is, however, triple slotted with SOs in each of her secondary powers, making her very good at not being hit. For example, without realising which mission I'd chosen from my list (I'd picked it up for teaming with some friends later) I did the Expel Arachnos from the Circle base mission that ends up with a scrap against Silver Mantis, and recommends taking a team. It took about five minutes of constant slugging for me to whittle her HP down, but I didn't get dropped, and didn't have to pop greens like they were going out of fashion. I will admit not having played any other Stalker secondary powerset, and having picked Reflexes because it went with my character concept (She was my second Villain AT, created on the first weekend of CoV), but Reflexes is incredibly good at stopping you from getting dead. Most of the time when I do get done, it's in the time it takes me to toggle six powers back up after being mezzed - but I13 should fix that.
However, I will agree with the tactics that other people use above - You may not be a Brute, trying to smash everything in your path, but you are an assassin, who doesn't want witnesses walking in on you when you're doing your main task - take your time, and enjoy the sneaking around and finding interesting ways of shivving people.
The other thing that really helps Ankhare is the TP Pool.
For big groups that I don't think she can Tank, I use the following: Sneak over, snag a target, get around a corner (having realised that TP has a straight-line range, careful study of the map can give you all kinds of interesting places that are in range of your foe, and yet make any of his mates have to run all round the houses to back him up) and TP him in, AS him and repeat until your opposition is a manageable number, then go in and wreak havoc.
She also held her own against the Server-wide Zombie Apocalypse at 13:00 on Sunday, even (I apologise if you read this, but from where I was sat I was a little amused) when a Spider VEAT of similar level to myself turned up and lasted about a minute.
I do actually find Ankhare a fun character to play, but I am going to have to raise her difficulty again, as I'm finding most of her missions far too easy, due to her defense being too high.
Edit: Oh - And I haven't got Placate. I can see it being very handy, but I just don't feel like getting it.