Optimal chain for Elm is Chain Induction>Charged Brawl>Jacob's Ladder>Charged Brawl. Fit in Waterspout(or Caltrops)>Build Up>Lightning Rod>AS when all are available for a full Assassination added in without needing placate.
I'm not sure Martial Arts is the highest dps or not...
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My MA/Will finally hit 50 on the weekend!
Yes, on paper, MA has the highest Single Target DPS and it should be because the set has ZERO AoE attack. It is a bit ahead of EM and DM before critical damage considered. Once you add in critical damage, MA is ahead of EM quite a bit.
However!!!
MA is all smashing damage which can be a pain against certain type of enemies. Both EM and DM have dual-damage type and EM stacks stuns better, while DM has good utilities. (DM also has a small cone)
So if you only care about the highest dps on paper, then MA is the king for Stalker.
The word "optimal" suggests to me that there are other things to consider. Optimal is what I would consider utility + damage and I would probably put Dark Melee ahead of Martial Arts.
What MA allows me to do is to ignore Assassin Strike. I rarely use AS after I slotted Eagle Claw. Sometimes it is a better to start with BU + Eagle because it is a guaranteed mag 3 stun. An example would be fighting against Circle of Thorn Lieuts who heal themselves when health drop low. Well, an AS can't kill him in one hit (+2 or +3), so unless you follow up with a very quick hit like Crane Kick, he will heal up. However, if you start with BU + Eagle Claw, he won't have a chance to heal and die.
This also applies to any boss that has god-mode when health is low. It is better to try to stack enough holds with Eagle Claw and Cobra than trying to deliver Assassin Strike in the beginning which triggers god-mode.
PS: Oh, Carnie Strongman has a mode that gives him a lot of smashing resistance. I didn't know this until recently. 
So yeah, you definitely want to stun him before he casts that.
What's left is to normalize all Assassin Strikes and improve Stalker's old sets (Claw, MA and EM)! You don't need to bring back the missing PbAoE attack. You just need to make the existing ones better! For example, make Slice a WIDER and LONGER cone.
I was doing a little math using the optimal chains for each set, and am I right in observing that Martial Arts is now the top DPS set for Stalkers?
Also, what are the optimal chains for stalker KM, Claws, DB, ElM, and Spines?