Stalker v. Widow

Taking into account all stalker power combinations, how do stalkers compare to widows in damage and survivability?

I have a widow at 24 and because of the long recharge, the attack chain is sloooow. But the damage is heavier than stalker, but the DPS is probably worse.

So how do they compare in general?

I've been having a look at Widows for the first time today (so I'm no expert), and I've got a high level MA/SR Stalker, and the similarities between the two struck me too.

A Widow can get pretty close to soft-capping all defences easily enough with both Manouvers, Foresight and Mind Link, similar to a SR stalker.

Widows also get:
- some ranged attacks
- some AoE attacks, both melee and AoE
- they also transfer much of their defense bonus to the team, a whopping 29% or so while Mind Link is up, which is equivalent to the entire SR set.
- defence that works against non-positional Psi attacks.
- offensive buffs for team and self from Mind Link

The one big plus the Stalker gets is burst damage. Widows have nothing that comes even close to Assassin's Strike. And that alone probably makes up for all the Widow gimmicks.

I prefer to have a widow around over a stalker because as mentioned they offer very strong team buffs. They are both similarly fragile when their durability is stressed and similarly unkillable when it isn't.

Those team buffs put everyone in a position to better handle that one tough target that will be standing for a short while longer than if the stalker were present.

In terms of damage. Stalkers have more burst, but their sustainable dps is very similar to the best stalker sets. They do a lot more aoe than most stalkers.

If the question is specifically between claws and a NW I'd take the NW if for no other reason than the NW gets spin which was pulled from the stalker version of claws.

Don't forget to take into account that Widows only have partial crits (IIRC, 3/4th crit), and do not have random or scaling crits. Stalkers also start out with more HP than Widows (but have a much lower cap).

We've been saving Paragon City for eight and a half years. It's time to do it one more time.

I prefer widows, and only for a few reasons

yes, team buffs, yay.

Initially, the widow is much more versatile, in that...well night W vs Fortunata w.

both can have some psi attacks, which is cool, and they have both ranged and melee attacks.

stalker has more crit, but I think in the end, widows are a bit more surviveable, and easier in the end to softcap without having to run as many toggles.

widows are more of an aoe thing though
and fortunata are akin to a blaster/controller/tank in some situations.

really depends on playstyle, but on a team, and sometimes solo, in my opinion, widow trumps stalker.

It's funny that you make this comparison because most folks see NWs as being "team friendly" (lots of leadership buffs and mind link) while there are still people who think the opposite of stalkers (that they don't contribute to a team at all... which is a crazy assumption). I think it really depends on what type of stalker you are comparing the widow to. I don't think a widow will ever will outdamage a stalker: stalkers have innate crits out of hide, scaling crits on teams and (I believe) a higher base damage modifier. And assassin's strike on top of it all. It would really depend on what type of stalker you are up against I suppose: A NW will probably out-DPS a claws stalker, but what about a dark melee stalker? And how about area effect attacks? Elec melee stalkers are AE monsters, how does spin and eviscerate stack up to thunder strike and chain induction (oh, and lightning rod as well, but it's on a longer recharge).

A NW is probably closest to a claws/SR stalker, but again there are big differences here; NW claws do about twices as much base damage as stalker claws. And SR's defense, while similiar to a NWs in having scaling resists, also has 95%+ DDR... which is a huge deal. They are similiar in that they are melee ATs with crits, placates and the ability to hide but that's about it. Oh, and they have silmiliar hitpoints (a stalker caps at just over 1600, and while a NW's cap is just over 2400 I don't think I've ever seen one over the stalker's cap).

I suppose the best way to compare damage and survivability of the two would be to run a few tests and see how the toons fare. Like maybe go up against a rikti pylon with a claws/SR stalker and a NW and see who is more successfull (my NW doesn't have the endurance to chain for that long sadly...).

The overall comparison isn't really a fair one. Night Widows can't compare to Stalkers in the role of single target assassin. Mask Presence doesn't provide as much stealth as Hide and burst damage isn't as high. But Night Widows put out better DPS and so are better suited to bringing down extremely hard targets like EBs/AVs.

If you really wanna make a Stalker to VEAT comparison it should be against Banes. They're more closely related in terms of mechanics and associated playstyle.

SoA are far outclassed by stalkers in terms of dps on teams.

Aoe or Single target.