High performance both ST and AoE?

I know there's another "what powersets should I choose?" thread active right now, but I think my request is different enough to warrant its own thread. I know I want to go for /Nin as my secondary but I would like suggestions for primary.

I'm an experienced player and I've got 50s in every other AT but zero stalkers. I don't want a set that excels at single target damage but sucks at AoE, nor vice versa. Is there consensus on one that has a reputation for being strong in both? I've heard good things about Elec Melee (which surprises me because it was very weak in single target when I used it for a Brute), Street Justice, and Kin Melee. But I'd like to read about direct comparisons of the powersets instead of people just saying "Well, I don't know about those others but I sure like mine!"

If this is a straight rehash of a previous thread, I apologize in advance: just link me to the old thread and you have my gratitude. I know there are some guides out there but most of them are older and were made before changes in AS, as well as availability of newer powersets.

Some extremely generalistic comments:

KM has good aoe thanks to Burst which has a 100% crit chance, makes very good use of placate and stalker ATO to leverage. KM has moderately good ST dmg, it would be top tier however it over relies on the Stalker ATO proc to get CS to auto recharge BU. The Stalker ATO can only be triggered once every 10 seconds and with the proposed PPM change, it will be even worse after that.

StJ has extemely good ST dmg, with a hard hitting but small radius aoe. The set benefits from the stalker ATO making CU hit like a truck but it does not over rely on the proc to function well like KM

ElM actually does very respectable ST dmg thanks to AS making up for it's lack of a strong ST attack. Lightning Rod has really good burst damage and doesn't break hide (the latter isn't something I found immensely useful outside pvp, but can still be a nice perk). Most of ElM attacks will deal AoE damage but it isn't as conventional as just having 1 main aoe like KM and StJ.

My suggestion...go ELM.

Stalkers advantage over the other Melee AT is due to Assassin Strike. Even without the proc for added yumminess, the ST DPS is taken care of with that one power.

Skip Havok Punch. Take Charged Brawl.

Charged Brawl + Jacob's Ladder + Chain Induction + Assassin Strike

You can't really go wrong with it. Then you add in the benefits of Lightning Rod for AOE damage and it doesn't break hide.

In fact, I'd say pick up Spring Attack to go with it for a (admittedly) slightly weaker version of LR!

What I am curious about is if it's worth picking up Thunderstrike now? I'd say yes because it's more AOE, but I couldn't say for sure.

I don't know, while I love other sets for various reasons (animations being a big one) and yeah sets like StJ has decent enough AOE (for me anyways), but when wanting a good combination of both...ELM.

Something to think about. Most of the game is not about DPS. Even on Incarnate content. And yes, you want to have some good DPS for big fights, ELM has enough ST DPS to make that a non-issue.

So it's taking you 4-5 minutes to solo that AV/Pylon versis the 2-3 minutes. So what? You jiust mass killed everything on the rest of the map.

Right now, I feel Staff has that perfect mix of good ST and good AoE.

You can't go wrong with Elec Melee and even SJ is good too. The aoe part is just a bit small.

I like Spines a lot especially with the new AS change because now it has a good ST attack that it was seriously lacking before.

Kin is good but animation time is on the long side.

All of my game friends are leveling Staff and all of them love it a lot. They love it more than Titan Weapon for sure.

The best Stalker experience imo are: Staff, Elec, Spine, and Kin. Dual Blade actually has a good mix of everything except that the combos kind of suck if that's what you want.

Rolled my first ever stalker last night. Staff/Nin. I'm level 20 and enjoying the heck out of it.

Was never interested in them before due to the hide, strike, run, repeat game play. But with the recent stalker changes this plays almost like a scrapper.

Looks like it's between ELM/Nin and Staff/Nin. I'm torn! I'm afraid some of the love for Staff is just because it's the newest powerset. Plus I abandoned my level 50 ELM/Shield Brute a long while back out of frustration over his lack of single target damage.... there's a part of me that wants to re-experience a better-balanced ELM but another part that wants to experience a totally new power set.

Decisions, decisions...

Dual Blades is one of the highest STDPS (at omega levels of recharge) Scrapper Primaries, and Sweeping Strike beats basically every single AoE in the game.

I'd strongly consider it.

I've got a level 42 Staff/WP Stalker and she rocks! I played around with KM/Nin but that was Pre-PvE changes. Staff might be new, but it's a solid set and Guarded Spins +melee def and the high amount of knockdown add to Stalker survivability. I find my WP Stalker is more hardy than my WP Brute (also Staff). Can't comment on any of the others for actual play, but looking at Mids, I see some other Stalkers in my future.

Cheers

Electric melee is a beast for stalkers now.

Staff really is sweet, though I haven't been playing it much since I'm still not used to /Ice's aesthetics yet.

Though I am having fun with my StJ Stalker at 35 right now, love two-shotting bosses with the AS-->CU combination (With the help of red Insps).

I do feel like starting a Dual Blades/Super Reflexes Stalker though. What's the word on Dual Blades in general?