Maybe Spines? Maybe? You can't look at Stalkers with a Scrapper mindset, honestly. Their strength is that they can near-instantly destroy key targets (Sorcerers, Sappers) to make life much easier for the rest of their party. They're not really huge mob-destroying machines, especially since most of the strong AoE attacks in their sets were removed with the one exception of Spines.
I'm not sure about Elec/* as it has more AoE capability, but in general,
stalkers are Single Target focussed. That's not to say they can't handle
(some) crowds, but the design of Assassin's Strike and most of the other
attacks are to deal overwhelming damage to the intended victim. That's
really their forte.
That thinking sort of flies in the face of 0/8 difficulty settings, though.
I'd expect that most stalkers would have problems fighting on that setting.
Personally, I prefer +1 (or +2)/1 for my stalkers with the idea that they're
"precision weapons" intended to surgically/tactically take out the nastiest targets
and let other ("lesser") villains mop up the riff-raff... 
Of course, mileage and playstyles vary, so feel free to do what's fun for you.
Regards,
4
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I was like you also for a long time. I play Brutes a lot and really enjoy being in the middle of a huge mob. So, I always had a hard time making Stalker. Not to long ago I finally made one that I liked playing, an Elec/EA Stalker. He has a lot of AoE to through around and is pretty survivable. You could probably go with any defense based secondary, but the Elec Melee is what mad ethe difference for me. I do run him different than a Brute though. Instead of facing big mobs I face higher level ones instead. On a Brute I run at +1/x8 most of the time, but I have been running the Stalker at +3/x2 instead. Once I get him up to 50 I am sure he will be able to go at x8 though since he has so much AoE and I plan to softcap his defenses .
Ninja Blade with a defense secondary feels pretty unstoppable once Divine Avalanche is slotted up. You won't be conducting an AoE massacre, but it should have a pretty good feel of hacking your way through an army singlehanded.
+0/x8 is a nice setting and all but it's not the end-all-be-all...Different ATs, powersets and combos can do different things and for me, that's what dictates my settings.
My Sonic/Ice blaster puts the setting a +1/x4 with no bosses and can potentially go to /x5 or x6 because he can sleep groups indefinitely and blast targets to kingdom come.
Some of my doms, especially my Plant/Thorn, does the +0/x8 deal because with stealth, it's no issue getting close to confuse the group.
My Kat/SR does +3/x4 because he can do tough big targets but spamming AoEs is draining and not as fun.
For my DM/WP stalker, it's +4/x1 because he's better at neutering the big boys and bringing them down fast. But for my Elec/Regen, +0/x6 or +1/x4 because he's not as good smacking down a big target and better and blasting groups.
I'd go Elec/defensive set. Stalker ELM was the only one with no significant AoE 'nerfs'. While Spines lost Quills, MA lost Dragon's tail, Katana lost Lotus Drops, Elec lost Lightning Clap which you'd probably skip anyway. And it's better at ST damage than Brute and Scrapper versions because of A. Strike, so IMO it's the best one for soloing like +2/x6 or something like that.
On my DM/DA/Ghost Widow I am able to do +1/x4 or even +1x6 against some specific enemies (Rikti, Devouring Earth since they're only rocks at level 50, etc). But I have the most fun at either +0/x2 or +2/x1. Taking out a big group doesn't FEEL like a stalker. I prefer to sneak in, gank the boss and sneak out on my stalker. If I want to slaughter a horde of enemies, I have a brute and a dominator.
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For massive AoE slaughter, I don't think even a Spines stalker could compete with Electric Melee. Pair with the defensive set of choice (I like /Nin) and go to town with Lightning Rod, Thunderstrike, Chain Induction, and Jacob's Ladder.
Most stalkers work much better against small numbers of high level enemies than large numbers of low level enemies, but there are exceptions to every rule.
Rule number six of an empathy defender is NEVER underestimate a blaster's ability to die. I don't care if he has CM, Fort, both RAs, bubbles (both FF and Sonic), and is fighting next to a Storm defender with hurricane on. If there is a way to die in that situation, the blaster will find it.
I love Melee ATs.
There's just something so fun about standing in the middle of enemies and kicking butt in a major fascination.
That being said, the one melee AT I've never gotten past about 8-10 or so is the Stalker.
I'd like to correct that.
My favorite setting for a Scrapper right now, is Plus 0 Plus 8.
Is there a Stalker set that could do that? If so, what would you recommend?
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