Keeping in mind that I don't know their respective chances to build focus, charged brawl is a significantly better attack. It does better DPA and I also like the fact that the short cast time allows you to more easily fit it into gaps or finish off enemies that are on the ropes. Havoc punch is basically equivalent to jacob's ladder in terms of DPA, but single target. That's pretty weak sauce, especially for an AT that can use all the aoe that it can get.
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That was my plan actually, to use Jacob's Ladder as part of my ST chain.
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Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle
Keeping in mind that I don't know their respective chances to build focus, charged brawl is a significantly better attack. It does better DPA and I also like the fact that the short cast time allows you to more easily fit it into gaps or finish off enemies that are on the ropes. Havoc punch is basically equivalent to jacob's ladder in terms of DPA, but single target. That's pretty weak sauce, especially for an AT that can use all the aoe that it can get.
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
For Assassins Focus gains I'd recommend Havoc Punch...in my experience with all the types of stalkers I play the slower recharging latter fighting skills provide better opportunity to gain that focus! Sure DPA wise due to its quickness Charged Brawl is a option...but with the right IOs and Sets behind you...Havoc Punch is a decimator on a stalker...especially if you just happen to be in hide!
You could easily run a chain of BU>AS>LR(mind you I have ato set in AS to put me back in hide!)>TS>CI>HP>then AS again...modify the chain how you want...that's one of many ways I run into a mob of enemies!
Virtue: Streets Avenger (Main - Villain) - Lvl 50+3 Street Justice/Energy Aura Stalker (Agility Radial T4/ Degenerative Radial T4) - Fully IO'd
Global: @Black Marabuna
If you don't pvp, I think I would drop Thunderstrike first but it's just me.
With enough recharge, Chain Induction can provide similar pbaoe damage and it's fast.
Thunderstrike has better burst damage but its activation time is terrible. If you need one more aoe, I would take patron aoe.
I do use both Charged and Havoc because they cost less endurance and they have better dpa than Thunderstrike.
I would probably drop Charged Brawl. Yes, it has better dpa but it doesn't gain Focus as reliable as Havoc. And if you have Stalker ATO proc, you want the next follow up attack hit harder.
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.
Yeah I can respect your opinion on TS...the animation often makes me want to drop it...pvp or not! Lol
Virtue: Streets Avenger (Main - Villain) - Lvl 50+3 Street Justice/Energy Aura Stalker (Agility Radial T4/ Degenerative Radial T4) - Fully IO'd
Global: @Black Marabuna
on my elec stalker i actually do BU+LR then thunderstrike for mass crit cause LR doesnt break hide
i havent played my elec energy stalker since the i22 changes to fit in AS as part ofthe attack chain
To revive our brief discussion from that other thread, Jibikao, the way I see it having six or seven fast attacks leading up to AS should be pretty solid for focus unless powers beneath a certain recharge threshold simply don't generate focus at all. I'd say the same about following up AS's guaranteed hide with a strong attack: it's great in theory, but at what point is it more important to do that than to simply have a high DPS chain? In any case, I guess I'll find out how I feel when the rubber meets the road as I plan to have my stalker created in a few minutes and ioed by monday.
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On my current Elec/Will, I have all the primary attacks but I mostly only use Thunderstrike for battle opening BU + LR + Thunder and only use Thunder right after Assassin Strike because I have the proc. I also use Thunderstrike for full set bonuses. I hate that long animation! A lot of time I am just hitting a dead corpse. lol|
Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle
To revive our brief discussion from that other thread, Jibikao, the way I see it having six or seven fast attacks leading up to AS should be pretty solid for focus unless powers beneath a certain recharge threshold simply don't generate focus at all. I'd say the same about following up AS's guaranteed hide with a strong attack: it's great in theory, but at what point is it more important to do that than to simply have a high DPS chain? In any case, I guess I'll find out how I feel when the rubber meets the road as I plan to have my stalker created in a few minutes and ioed by monday.
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But if you have to drop either Charged or Havoc, I say Charged only because with enough recharge, you should have no problem cycling Havoc, Jacobs and Chained and use AS whenever it's 3 stacked.
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.
My Elec/Nin that I copied over to test the changes on beta skipped Havoc Punch and I had no issues with building Assassin's Focus because Charged Brawl, Jacob's Ladder, and Chain Induction gave me plenty of changes to get it.
I have no idea why people are saying they can't build focus before Assassin's Strike recharges. It's not hard to build 3 stacks with any decent attack chain on a mature build, and if you're leveling up using only the high recharge attacks - good DPA or not - just to have a better chance for focus the longer delays between power activations give focus a chance to drop off just as much as a chance to build it.
Build for a decent chain, let focus come as it will - and it will - and let the RNG sort it out while you watch things fall down.
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Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle
it has gone from unconscionable to downright appalling that we have no way of measuring our characters' wetness.
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Originally Posted by Brillig
It's hard to beat the entertainment value of Whackjob Wednesdays.
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Yeah having gotten my elec/ice off the ground, I easily build focus with just CB and JL. I can hardly imagine that CB-JL-CB-CI-CB-CL-CB-AS is going to fail to leave me with a triple stack most of the time seeing as that's seven pre-AS attacks in under ten seconds. As I see it the actual problem might be that it doesn't take enough advantage of AS's potential availability, but maybe I could swing CB-JL-CB-AS-CI if I really break the bank... Much to contemplate.
I have an elec/wp from pre changes and although I have no intention of ever dropping Thunderstrike (I love it!) I am not sure if the new changes were much of a buff because the single target damage is still pretty poor I think.
Has anyone worked out the new best chain?
Something like AS>JL>CB>CI>CB>Repeat? (That was right off the top of my head so now actual calculation done)
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British by act of union, English by grace of God, Northern by pure good fortune!
British by act of union, English by grace of God, Northern by pure good fortune!
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Originally Posted by Aggelakis
PrincessDarkstar: "RAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHH SOMEONE IS *WRONG* ON THE INTERNET!"
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I think CB-JL-CB-AS-CI has the edge since it follows AS with a single target attack, whereas JL only has a 50% chance to crit from hidden state. Not that it would be bad the other way, and perhaps that is superior if you have more targets within the cone already. Both chains clearly take the same slotting so it's no trouble to test them back to back.
My lack of stalker playing time made me forget that, thankfully they would be interchangable enough that you can use either depending on how much is in front of you at any given time 
Though I would probably use Thunderstrike after AS (Instead of JL) whenever it is up in an AoE situation because I love the animation so much. I am not sure if I could fit it in every time, or every 2nd chain.
Princess Darkstar - Proud Member of the Handprints of Union, the #1 ranked SG in Europe!
British by act of union, English by grace of God, Northern by pure good fortune!
British by act of union, English by grace of God, Northern by pure good fortune!
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Originally Posted by Aggelakis
PrincessDarkstar: "RAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHH SOMEONE IS *WRONG* ON THE INTERNET!"
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If you wanted to work thunder strike in it would greatly alleviate the amount of recharge needed for the rest of the chain to be smooth. Thunder strike itself would need a fairly huge amount of recharge to follow AS every time, you might have to insert another charged brawl or two. However just using it every second time through a chain would give all of the other powers some serious breathing room, with that three and a half second animation time.
Which one should I skip if I need to free up a power pick?
Or should I try to keep both?
With my planned build, I will not need all the ST attacks to slot Kinetic Combat in for soft-capping. I'm splitting the ATO between AS and probably Lightning Rod for the 10% S/L defense I can get from it at 50.
If I keep both, I will probably put Crushing Impact or Hecatomb in the one that isn't slotted with Kinetic Combat. (Crushing Impact is far more likely)
My build is Electric/Energy, and I will most likely be skipping Disrupt, as I doubt I will need the extra mitigation. Not sure how relevant that is, but I figured I'd mention it.
I'm going with Energy mastery for theme and because this stalker is a hero and I don't want to cross over for Patron Pools. That will more than cover my end recovery needs.
So, any insights on which attack I should look into skipping would be quite helpful.
See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately.