Alpha for a DP/SR Stalker?

I've heard a lot of arguments on the subject, but my Stalker is in something of a more unique situation - by which I mean she's nowhere near as good as most - so I wanted to ask for a bit of advice in terms of what to go for in the Alpha Incarnate slot. Let me explain.

This Stalker I'm talking about is using Super Reflexes, but is not defence-capped even against regular content, let alone against the higher base to-hit of Incarnate enemies. I doubt she ever will be, and this aspect of her build is really not something I'm going to budge on. Call it stubborn pig-headedness. What this means, however, is that I need to find defences from somewhere else, which is where Elude comes in.

Elude, like all classic God Modes, gives pretty serious protection - 45% defence unenhanced. This is easily enough to cap me against most foes (though apparently not Soldiers of Rularuu Overseers...), so this seems like a good source for protection in situations where I REALLY need it. Like all classic God Modes, Elude also has a 1000 second recharge, which is around 17 minutes. Here's the thing, though - I can reduce this, and considerably. Just with slotting, I can get it down to around 8 or 9 minutes. With various recharge bonuses that I expect an Uncommons-only Inventions build to bring and a recharge alpha (Spiritual?) I might be able to get this down to a very usable level. Obviously, not perma, as I'm well aware this isn't possible, but quick enough to be useful enough to where I'm not afraid to "go Elude" whenever I feel like it.

So, that's a case for the Spiritual Alpha, but there are others that also make sense. For instance, the damage one (musculature?) is a strong contender. A Stalker is largely defined by the damage she deals, so going with a damage Alpha seems natural. Granted, my powers are already enhanced for damage past the highest ED bracket so the increase might not be so great, but Alphas do ignore ED for part of their buff. I doubt I'll ever shoot for T4 Incarnate sutff just because of how difficulty it is to obtain given that I'm not a fan of Trials, but a T3 Musculature Alpha still seems to offer a decent percentage.

There are also the couple defence-based Alphas - Agility and Nerve - but in both of those, defence seems to be a secondary component. For Nerve, the accuracy doesn't strike me as that useful, especially since this character is likely to use Targeting Drone from Weapons Mastery, and from Agility, the endurance modification doesn't do much for me, since the only endurance-modifying powers my Stalker possesses are Stamina and Physical Perfection (why is that even in Weapon Mastery?), and they seem to be enough between them. More than anything, though, these are just defence buff enhancements, and my defence buffs are already enhanced past their ED caps, plus percentage enhancement in them doesn't lead to that much of a buff increase.

The rest of the Alphas just don't seem terribly interesting and seem more geared towards other ATs. Still between those, I really don't know which one to pick. I don't even have a strong argument to make. Any advise on the matter would be very welcome, though I must repeat: Changing the character's build outside of the Alpha slot is not going to happen.

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Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

I really wanna know how you made a Dual Pistols stalker.

That's Dual Blades, so DB. I apparently mistyped on the title, and now I can't change it...

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Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

17Can I ask WHY you don't want to hit the softcap? Behind an SR Tanker, an SR stalker is the single EASIEST character to get 45 on in the entire game. If it's for RP/concept reasons, that's fine, but if it's cause you're worried about having to make sacrifices, that's just plain wrong. An SR stalker can hit 45 with like 10 slots. I build an SR scrapper that managed to softcap AND slot 217.5 global recharge WITHOUT spiritual.

I'm all for saying there's no right or wrong way to build a toon, but if you're not gonna get a SR to 45, literally EVERY other secondary is better

Is this an SO only or common IO's only build? Sounded a bit at one point that you were using sets but only the uncommon (yellow recipe) sets like Crushing Impact or Thunderstrike.

Nerve can add several percentage points to defense ... the amount will vary depending on, among other things, how many +defense powers you have. Not personally familiar with Agility but it should have similar effects to Nerve with respect to defense values. The "extra" unneeded +Acc of Nerve could, if you are frankenslotting the build, be an advantage, simply underslot for accuracy (at least on one build that won't exemp well) using the universal +Acc enhancement of Nerve and focus on rech, endred, dam, etc..

Destiny(Barrier) can add, at minimum as I recall, 5% for 120 seconds (perma) as Tier 3 version.

Between Nerve (or Agility) and Barrier one could be adding 7% or 8% which should put a build with just the toggles and passives up around 38% perhaps even 40% give or take a bit. Any pool powers should rapidly push up towards 45%

If the goal is to reduce the downtime on Elude then yes to Spiritual/Agility and Ageless plus I'd use Eye of Magus and Barrier (if not using Ageless) if I needed Elude like defense during Elude's downtime (plus inspires of course when possible). Just Toggles plus Passives should allow using a single purple to soft cap as well (or be close enough outside of doing silly scrapper tricks to not matter) while leaving your DDR still capped at 95% (meaning unlike most AT's who use a purple to cap cascade failure still won't be a concern even though you aren't a "soft capped" build.

Looks like you've decided on Agility. Congrats, you've just hit the softcap. Agility + all SR powers + suppressed Hide + Weave + CJ = 45% when slotted with common IOs. Why aren't you going for Incarnate softcap again?

Because I'm not using Weave. As I said, I've already had to exclude powers from the build that I'd have wanted to take, and I'd sooner take a performance hit than exclude three more to take a power I don't need, one I don't really want, all for the sake of one that'll be useful. Yes, I'm aware that's not optimal, but that build will not be changing.

And, yes, I do seem to have settled on Aguility. It seems to offer the best combination of attributes. Now it's a matter of actually GETTING it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.