My first Stalker.

Okay, so for just about my entire playing career I've only ever gotten blasters and my PB over to level 50, and no other build older than level 30. So i looked at the primary powers under the stalker category. I love playing on the edge, it's no fun if I'm not near death sometimes So the low HP of a stalker fits my old blapping playstyle that blasters famously flaunt around.

I was thinking of going with dual blades, for the combos, but I'm unsure as to what a reliable secondary would be. I've heard amazing things about /dark on the tanker and scrapper side of the game and that self rez power is extremely tempting. I've heard /nin is suggested very often, but It won't fit my concept well.

What's a good /secondary for a stalker other than /nin?

Try /Willpower

I'll second /will and toss you /sr also (but I recommend picking up aid self if you go that route).

/Dark is wonderful, and quite survivable. However, I do like to be able to see my character's costume rather than being a black blob. And, it's definitely not for everyone as it takes layering to work and really appreciates IOs.

Hmmm, /sr sounds tempting. I've seen what they can do at full power and it's simply awesome.

If it's survivability you're after and you have the budget for it, it's hard to beat /Willpower on Stalkers.

On the other hand if you like to be one step away from defeat often, /Regen might suit you. I'm not sure I'd want to pair it with Dual Blades though, due to the redraw and some of the long animations on attacks.

Whatever secondary you take...you probably want to make sure you get mostly defense.

If you choose a secondary that is resistance....the problem is that it means you will get hit alot....and getting hit alot spoils your abilities.....
i.e. You get hit and are no longer hidden thus no extra damage from hidden....you placate and get hit your placate is then wasted...you start up your assasin strike and get hit....not only does your attack then most fo the time get interupted...but you will no longer be hidden thus even if it goes off still you wont get much damage from the attack.

So as you see people mentioned Willpower yes that set works good.
Another set that works fairly well is Energy Aura since it offers a huge range of defenses.
Superior Reflexes is another good one, and of course Ninjutsu and Ice.

The ones i didnt list is not becasue they are bad...its becasue their focus is resistance.....they are the sets that you would use if you didnt hide much or didnt care about having your placate spoiled or you just dont use your assassin strike much.

I would suggest you dont take regeneration...that set is more frustrating in my opinion then anything else.....that is due ot the low stalker health and the fact those powers just dont help you heal very fast all due to their long recharges and low percentages.

I suggest Ninjitsu. I always do for someone making their first Stalker, it's quite the 'perfect' Stalker set. Besides being considered the best by many (toys, defense and a fast recharging heal), it's unique to Stalkers for now and it meshes well with any secondary.

The only reason I didn't make an Elec/Nin is because I played Ninjitsu too much, so I went /EA. I rerolled my Elec/Regen because she was getting killed too often in the middle of the long animations like Thunder Strike. Now my Em/Nin never had problems with this and EM has quite a few long animating attacks (well only three counting AS but you'll want to use them a LOT).

Since SOs I find Ninjitsu so good, I don't even see the need for /SR on Stalkers, the only advantage is DDR, not something too aggravating since you won't draw as much aggro as a Brute or Scrapper - and the heal is almost always up when you need it since it's a clone of Regen's heal.