I recently decided to try this AT as well, and have had a great deal of fun with two different types.
From everything that I read, Ninjitsu seemed to be the overall best choice for somebody new to Stalking. As such, I created a MA/Ninjitsu stalker as my first one, both for the thematic reasons, and for the fact that MA has the greatest single target attack chain. As a stalker tends to be a single target specialist for a majority of their career, it was my planning to exploit that. This one is now in his 30s and still alot of fun.
With the revamp to Energy Armor, I decided to try that one as well. Kinetic Melee seemed to fit well with the concept, and is a fun set too, so my last creation has been a KM/EA stalker. This one plays a little bit different than the MA/Nin, but is even more fun. Even as a long-time altaholic (non-PL) I have decided to make this combo my main toon on the new server, and will take him up to 50 and through the incarnates.
Ninja Blade/Ninjitsu is the best for noobs. NB is one of the highest single target damage attacks. In this case most people find MA, while fun, counter-productive to this ideal.
My main Red side toon is NB/ELA and he is one TOUCH S.O.B. for a stalker and a lot of fun. When you cap out at lvl 50 go for perma-haste and get power sink refresh to max. You attack like lighting, and have the endurance to pull it off. However I am new to IOs in general, don't have that many lvl 50s, so I can't offer too much along that advice.
@Kongar
Personally, I recommend Dark Melee, Electric Melee or Ninja Blade as primaries to start with. Martial Arts is also pretty solid. As everyone mentioned, ninjitsu is a good one to start as it is powerful, only available to stalkers, and has everything you might want (defenses, DDR, a self heal, a tier 9, and some fun toys also). I hear good things about the new Ice Armor, and changes to Energy. /SR is as good for stalkers as anyone else, and dirt cheap to build up as always. I don't recommend /regen because of the low HP cap on stalkers. /Willpower works a bit better for us if you wanted to go that route.
@pyrobeetle: Mad cow was pretty correct.
to get the most out of /nin you want to build for defense. It is also positional (melee/AoE/ranged) rather than typed (smash/lethal/energy/etc) so you want to focus on positional defenses.
Ninja Blade is often paired with /nin because of theme and Divine Avalanche. Two hits of DA will keep you softcapped to melee defense with some room to spare if you slot for it at all. So you only need to worry about getting ranged and aoe out of your sets giving you a lot more room to play with in your build. As an example, Mako's set gives a big ranged defense bonus for the 6th piece and the other bonuses along the way are very nice too.
MA is a hard hitting set, and it does smashing. Lethal and smashing are the two most resisted damage types but smashing significantly less than lethal so that's a good advantage.
"Hmm, I guess I'm not as omniscient as I thought" -Gavin Runeblade.
I can be found, outside of paragon city here.
Thank you everyone at Paragon and on Virtue. When the lights go out in November, you'll find me on Razor Bunny.
Thanks everyone for your input am off to make a Ninja Blade/Ninjitsu. Happy Hunting.
Not to mention, Stalkers are the only chance you will get to use Ninja/Ninjitsu (For now) so why pass up the chance? :P
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If you slot DA for defense, it only takes one hit to soft-cap you on top of your toggle and Hide. Two hits provides a buffer against melee defense debuffs so this combo is extremely tough for the ITF.|
Originally Posted by GavinRuneblade
Ninja Blade is often paired with /nin because of theme and Divine Avalanche. Two hits of DA will keep you softcapped to melee defense with some room to spare if you slot for it at all.
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NB/Nin is one of the easiest Stalkers to level because from level 10 you can have Caltrops and from level 18, Divine Avalanche and soft-capped melee defense. Soft-capped melee defense is nice because you can draw a group around a corner or similar obstacle that blocks line-of-sight, getting them all bunched up to make maximum use out of the short-range cones Flashing Steel and Golden Dragonfly while dodging all their melee attacks.
It's a good compromise between solid single-target DPS and a bit of AoE. Its big problem is lethal damage which people often suggest addressing with Achilles' Heel procs (since NB can slot them in several powers). Problem there is then you can't reach some of the six-slot bonuses for defense. I went for ranged defense soft-cap in my build, ignored melee, and only got part-way there for AoE defense. I have a lot of purples in my build (it's an old build) which are great for damage and recharge but no good for defense, with the one exception being the Confuse set in Blinding Powder (5% ranged def). I only have one Achilles' Heel proc and it's in Flashing Steel.
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The math wizzes on the scrapper forum mostly say that a damage proc outperforms the achilees heel in solo performance scenarios except for very very high damage builds. In teams, the achilees is prety much always better since everyone benefits.|
Originally Posted by Zem
Its big problem is lethal damage which people often suggest addressing with Achilles' Heel procs (since NB can slot them in several powers). Problem there is then you can't reach some of the six-slot bonuses for defense.
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There are of course exceptions and specifications and I can't really keep track of it all. But I try to keep it to 1 achilees where it fits, and the rest damage.
"Hmm, I guess I'm not as omniscient as I thought" -Gavin Runeblade.
I can be found, outside of paragon city here.
Thank you everyone at Paragon and on Virtue. When the lights go out in November, you'll find me on Razor Bunny.
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Any/Any|
Originally Posted by Kongar
Hey there, I have never played a stalker not sure why, Have played many scrappers, tanks and controllers and would like to give a stalker a try. Can anyone give me some advice on which sets would be good for a newbie stalker.
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Mileage may vary on sets, but none are outright gimped. I favor Defense over Resist sets, since I dislike getting hit while Hidden, but I've a level 50 Claws/Will who is a blast.
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I suggest you dont take Regeneration as a defense for Stalkers.....its.....difficult and Frustrating as a Stalker Defense. |
Originally Posted by Kongar
Hey there, I have never played a stalker not sure why, Have played many scrappers, tanks and controllers and would like to give a stalker a try. Can anyone give me some advice on which sets would be good for a newbie stalker.
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If you decide to take either Dark Armor or Energy Armor.....be prepared for the Graphics...those two armor types do not have options to supress the GFX....so you either get to look like a cloud via Dark Armor or very bright and shiney due to the energy Armor....Both sets though are not too bad. and work very well....just their Graphics leave a little to be desired at times.
New to stalking here as well and I wasn't entirely sure if a Spines/Electric Armor set was effective, at the moment I do enjoy using it but I'm kinda low level so that isn't much to go by ^^'
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Spines and Electric Armor should be effective in their own way.|
Originally Posted by Casrein
New to stalking here as well and I wasn't entirely sure if a Spines/Electric Armor set was effective, at the moment I do enjoy using it but I'm kinda low level so that isn't much to go by ^^'
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Every Stalker set has its weakness and advantages.
Well in mews opinion....the exception is Regeneration right now...because it doesnt work very well for Stalkers....ie the developers need to recalibrate it to make up for the stalker health amount.
The biggest hurdle you will have is determining what your strength and weakness is....and then enhancing that...and with Stalkers there is also a style of play that will determine this as well.
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On the primaries, I feel that BS and Spines are pretty disadvantaged as well. You'll always be better off with ninja blade over BS except for looks and concept. Damage? Ninja blade is higher over time (significantly) even though less per hit. Speed? ninja blade is faster. Endurance? Ninjablade uses less. AoE? NB has the same as BS and it's up faster so used more often. Defense? this is one where they tie. And you can run similar comparisons against most other primaries and BS will lose again and again. It's just most glaring against ninja blade.|
Originally Posted by PsychicKitty
Spines and Electric Armor should be effective in their own way.
Every Stalker set has its weakness and advantages. Well in mews opinion....the exception is Regeneration right now...because it doesnt work very well for Stalkers....ie the developers need to recalibrate it to make up for the stalker health amount. The biggest hurdle you will have is determining what your strength and weakness is....and then enhancing that...and with Stalkers there is also a style of play that will determine this as well. |
Spines, I've played to 50 and into incarnate. I strongly recommend against it. Not a positive experience. Crap single target, crap AoE. Lots of AoE yes, but crap AoE. Low damage, does dots, long activation times. The worst offender is that spine burst breaks hide at the beginning of a 2-second attack and deals mediocre damage at the end of the animation. I've tried using it as an opener while hidden and occasionally been killed before the damage was applied. Throw spines is as good as it gets, but it still isn't great. I've gone to over 100% damage slotted plus procs and it still sucks for damage. If you want AoE, go electricity. That set is much more effective.
"Hmm, I guess I'm not as omniscient as I thought" -Gavin Runeblade.
I can be found, outside of paragon city here.
Thank you everyone at Paragon and on Virtue. When the lights go out in November, you'll find me on Razor Bunny.
Hey there, I have never played a stalker not sure why, Have played many scrappers, tanks and controllers and would like to give a stalker a try. Can anyone give me some advice on which sets would be good for a newbie stalker.