Eddy_B

From what I can tell at a quick look

1. Dont need int.red in AS, 2 acc 3 dam and a endrdx or rch will do you fine

2. Guess you wanna pvp with this build, so yeh as Zaldor said, leave out health, pick a different patron, and figure out where you wanna pvp.

3. You said you were taking stealth at 30, good choice.

4. Would take Bone Smasher earlier and Focused Senses later. At early lvl, its better to get through them faster with greater damage output, than to have more defence, as you lvl up, and take on harder stuff, this then becomes more important. This is just for a lvling up point of view. On my /SR i took senses at 24.

5. As said before, min of 2 acc in each attack.

6. For PvE you dont need the extra slots in SS or hurdle really.

7. Take Build up earlier, helps enourmously in the low lvls.

8. Slot Hide up for def with any spare slots. Helps with your aoe and cone defence.

Just remember, slot for acc first, then damage then rch or end red in attacks.
Slot for endrdx in shields first, then def.
And Elude, slot for rch, then def.

Have fun with it.

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If by saying "OTHER tier9 stalker attacks" you mean "Golden Dragonfly and Eagle's Claw" you are right. However, I find the fact that two of six tier9 attacks do have a small chance to crit when the stalker is not hidden hardly noteworthy enough to make a big deal from MG belonging to the majority that does not. To the contrary: I find it by far more noteworthy that MG is the only tier9 attack to have a 100% chance to crit from hide and to crit with full efficiency at the same time.
Likewise I find it hard to believe that Eddy wrongly assumed that MG would belong to those few attacks that have this chance for unhidden crits when he seems to talk from experience. I think it's more probable that he was talking about the 100% chance to crit from hide and the impressive damage of such a reliable crit.

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I mentioned a chance for MG to crit while not in hide? Where? It will 100% crit COMING OUT OF hide (NOT WHILE UNHIDDEN!), ie from hidden or after using placate.

As to the other tier 9s, have no experience of them really, I know spines is a cone, which means crappy chance of crit from hide as with other cones.

Anyway, wasnt this a thread about /dark?

OK just to clear this one up. MG DOES crit while you are in a hidden state, be in proper hide or the psudo hide from using placte. One of my best combos is to BU+AS and LT, placate one mob, and MG a minion, usually one hitting them. MG does great damage when coming out of hide, as the crit counts the DoT ticks as well. Other tier 9 powers, being cones, have a decresed chance to crit out of hide, whereas MG, being single target, will ALWAYS crit from hide.

Even outside of hide, used for scrapping, MG is still an awesome attack, its fast, debuffs, and immobilises.

So to clarify. While hidden, using MG, will bring you out of hide and do a hefty crit. This is the same for the psuedo hide of placate (not sure about smoke bomb).

Clear?

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I admit I deleted it because of dark melee (utter lack of hard critters from stealth made placate useless)

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at 25 DM/'s only decent hit out of hide is Smite. At 26 you get Touch of Fear, a fantastic power, and at 32 Midnight grasp, a very very nice power to crit with out of hide. OK so its Not EM/, but then who wants one of them

With my MM i have tarpatch up most of the time with 3 lvl 35 SOs and no hasten. If a kin is around, i can double it up sometimes. Have just started a fire/dark cor for use in teaming, and cant wait to have tar patch up all the time to help with the BURN!!!

Oops, yep my mistake. The devs forgot to label RV as a farmers only zone, or at least might as well have done.

Patron powers can be taken for a few reasons.

1) Concept. If your an undead soldier and with dark powers, then Soul Mastery would suit the concept. Ghost Widows stuff has some of the best animations of the lot and fits a dark concept best. Soul Storm is probably the coolest looking hold out there. Her shield stacks nicely with shadowfall and her cone immob looks awesome too, and will help greatly with keeping mobs at range while you fire from a distance.

2) PvP. Many people take Mace for pvp as it has the better shields and good secondary effects for pvp. For this see what maelwys said. Though you can only use patron powers in pvp in warburg (and who actually pvps in there?) and the arena.

3) What sounds/looks good. This can vary from player to player. Like the idea of mu lightning? drawing out an arachnos mace? making stuff float in the air? or having sharks do your bidding? pick on this choice.

Just remember, you can only choose your patron once.

Um sorry Rav, guess you missed the smiley and fying pan comment. Was just something to wind Von up. oh well

Am looking forward to doing some more SFs though!

Hey Von, I thought Sunday was the second Vill ST night or Catch up team night?

*waits for the inevitable fryingpan

For those that missed it the first time, can't be bothered to look back over previous pages, use the search function, or look in guides, or at my Sig link. Here it is again, a guide to help those new to stalking in PvE.

http://uk.boards.cityofvillains.com/show...ge=0#Post955861

With ease. Dont set your diff too high (doing them on relentless like the rest of your papers is a nice way to burn through insps). Vicious is good though or Villainous.

Go to Vidiotmaps.com and check out the maps for each mayhem there. It gives all the side mishs, great for getting extra time. Also, have your global pane open so that you can see ambush messages. When you see one, stop, take them out, and move on. Also remember that when you stand infront of the vault, it triggers and ambush, when the door gets to half health and buckles, it triggers another one, and i think there might be one for when you bust the door too. Clear all these, then when the hero turns up, AS the minion and dance with the boss. Great fun, nice and easy.

Just take your time, deal with ambushes as they come, and dont run straight to the bank, and grab the cash. Doing this is a nice way to get the debt badges, but not complete them. Take your time.

Shameless plug time. Check the guide out in my sig. Hopefully some usefull advice there about lvling a PvE stalker.

Doing papers is dull. Very very dull. But the exp is fast when you ghost and kill what you need. I just find this takes more out of the gameplay though, and so lvling just seems to take longer. Doing arcs, reading the text (try and spot the funny stuff, lots there) and generally enjoying the gameplay experience will make lvling seem faster. Also, joining a team makes it go faster too.

Also Banks are great fun on a stalker, lower the diff to Vic for an easier run, to the side mishs, take the ambushes as they come, and take your time. They become very very easy when you get used to them.

Otherwise my advice is this. Think about the journey, not just the destination.

Welcome to the wonderful world of stalking, and the forums Kiazer.

My advice on stalker combos: pick a concept you likem, and roll with it. There are lots of great guides on the various powersets, each having different play styles to each other. Read my guide (shameless plug :P) on how to play a stalker in general.

As for combos, most anythign can work pve really. Some are better and less frustrating that others, and some will drive you nuts (looks at dark armour, why is it on stalkers?) Read the forums, both EU and american, see what you like the look of, make a concept, and have fun!

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I was opening fights

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I regularly open up the fight with an ice slick placed from behind a wall. Great way to annoy the brute, or stop the alpha if their isnt one.

Actually, I think in general, domies were made to annoy brutes anyway

Well he was talking about getting TP as a travel power, which is pretty fast, and doesnt have the downsides of SS (Lagville really is hell with SS). Also, he didnt even mention getting Hasten, or SS, and I just suggested Hasten, would only recommend SS in a tight build that took Hasten anyways. Also, in a LRSF team, its more than likely there will be at least one other with Recall Friend, cutting down travel time even more.

Well if its only for LRSF, then most of my advice still stands.

A second travel power just really isnt needed. If you can give me a solid reason for two travel powers, I would love to hear it and will concede the point.

Of course stalkers can do without stam. But in the LRSF, you tend to get scrappy. Your taking it anyway, so its a moot point really.

Aid other is a long animation i agree, then go stimulant if you want aid self. A usefull thing against Heroes that have a tendency to wanna one try and one hit you. Though u are /nin anyway, so probs not really needed.

At the end of the day, as long as your hitting stuff, you cant go far wrong with any build. Recall friend is the main thing to take for any stalker who is in a PvE environment (and yes that includes LRSF). Other than that, I would say, what you need in pvp, is not always whats needed pve. Would be interested to see your final build though.

Ide say Hasten would be a good pic too. Really worth it for the obvious reasons. Long drawn out battles get longer without this.

Well LRSF IS PvE, but I get your point. I think it will largely depend on the team you go with. Is it going to be a regular team of often the same people? If so, who has what powers? Patrons offer a snipe (only usually taken for LRSF) A pet, again mainly taken for extra help in LRSF, and other stuff too, depending on who you took. These are well worth dipping into for your toon.

For PvE, if you wanan scout, recall friend will be a must, and team tp will only be usefull as a panic button really. Generally it will either just annoy people, or save you a bit of time instead of having to recall them one by one.

CJ and SJ with teleport already as a travel power doesnt make much sense. 2 travel powers is for pvp, not pve. Unless of course you want the extra def from CJ.

Assault/tactics - odd choices for stalker really, not a huge buff to the team, but then it all helps. Usually as a squishy stalker, your either the first or the very last to die depending on luck. Veng might come in handy, but there is always that chance you will be the one its cast on. If you have enough spare powers, probs an idea.

Fitness = no brainer

Aid other and aid self might help too. Aid other is nice on any team, every little bit of healing helps. Also will give you access to Resuscitate. Suffers from the same drawbacks as Veng in that you will likely die very fast, but along with recall friend, a great way to organise the bodies for veng, or howling twighlight. Also just usefull for TFs when you run out of breakfrees. one goes to hosp and rezzes the rest.

Patron powers. Yes these are not the best powers, but they are usefull. Depending on which patron you took, they offer some nice diversity such as holds, ranged attacks, a pet (also usefull for SFs) and immob usually. The Hold will help when stacked. The pet will help to add extra dps. The ranged attacks are invaluable for a melee toon.

Have fun taking a stalker out of WB and into the PvE world!

Yep, on my stalker I mezz stormies regularly with my melee range ToF. This is how i do it. I stand there nice and close, as they usually stay so nice and still, then I ask them nicely to drop their toggles so I can ToF them. When they do that, I lay ToF on them, placate and AS them and finish em off with brawl. Oh wait...we talking about real life here? Oh.

I love the link in your sig Zaldor, had me laughing hard!

Also, anyone that says playing a stalker is easy is either very good, or just against very poor opponents.

And with trollers, Stormies are untouchable unless you are /EA or get someone to detoggle them first. That doesnt make a stalkers life hard, noooooo.

Hi EVIL and UD ppl.

The SG has gone nuts over organising the regular teaming night stuff at the moment, and the pvp side is getting ignored. New toons tend to do that to people. We will try and get ourselves a bit more organised fairly soon, honest!

Lol gohan, I try and make things as clear as I can, as I don't much like the illegible jibberings you sometimes find on here. As to being well spoken, was kind of trying to make the guide sound like an ancient piece of wisdom passed on by the kung-fu masters Much more poetic, and nicer to read. Also, try reading Sun Tzu's - Art of War sometime, or any other Tao and ... or Zen and the art of ... type stuff, might see some similarities

And Tar Patch + Ignite too actually, just Tar Patch and anything! Tar Patch ftw!

Sorry Gohan if I sounded a bit off and harsh, bad day yesterday, so probs sounded more put out that I really was.

My personal feelings on EM aside (a whole other rant), I realise that each type of stalker is played differently. Spines with Impale will behave differently. EM/Nin has a different playstyle to every other set. EM/ being insanely overpowered, it makes your playstyle different. no matter what secondary. I think I just felt like you were attacking what I wrote so felt the need to defend it, as I said, bad day (dentists are just professional sadists afterall)

This guide was just intended as a way or helping those who dont get stalkers playstyle to understand them a bit better, and to help the numerous poorly played pve stalkers I see out there. They get into a certain mindset, name that of a scrapper or brute, and ignore the finesse that a stalker can be played with, rather than the sheer power and brutality of scrappers and brutes. These are basic guidelines, not rules. There will always be adaptations to be made to any guidelines, ways you have found that work better, or where this doesnt work for you. But to know how to improve on this, you first need to know better than this. For all those that do, great, do what you do. For all those that dont, or would like to know, I think this guide accurately reflects how a pve stalkers should be played.

I shall leave with this. Adaptability is key to survival, for the rigid tree is blown over in the wind. However, a tree with out roots and a base, can never reach the lofty heights. Learn to adapt when you need to, but know your purpose and your place.

Gohan:

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it really aint that end heavey especially with a set in (which is the best way to slot it)

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AS is end heavy when you dont have the sets in it, ie at low lvls. There is no doubt about the end cost of this power. yes it can be lessened, but its still end heavy.

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this i really dont think is right during a big fightt (6 + mobs) i definetly get 2 AS if not 3 placating not only hides you but once your back in hide you get the awesome def of your hide power which makes it really hard for you to be hit and with /ninjitsu you got a PBAoE placate which yea dont hide you but it does stop them atacking you
which is when you need to be careful about your fiend's aggro :P

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It largely depends on the minions. There are many pesky minoins and LTs out there. I think it depends on the type of stalker you have. If your EM/Nin, then you will fight differently to a DM/SR. But the point remains quite valid. A stalker is better vs few enemies. Reducing the number of them quickly by taking out the minions and Lts, means you can take your time with the boss. I found this a much more tactical way to play it, especially when solo. Of course if your /nin it might be different, but there are other sets other than /nin out there.

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never failed this mission.... dont see how you can unless your trying to stop an EB bosses are dead after 4 hits

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The stop X from escaping Mishs are easy to fail if your not EM/ as you have no way of stopping them from running away. There is mish from a contact in Grandville where you have to stop an EB from escaping. Took 2 domies in domination to stop him. A boss is easier, but then if your EM/ so is everything. The rest of the primaries dont have this luxury.

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10 seconds later the mob is dead

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As I said, a brute-stalker team can work, its just fast paced, and from what you said, you just proved my point.


However, as I said in the first paragraph. This is by no means a definitive guide. Each set has its different play styles. However few play their stalkers well. If you play it well and are effective, good, but many dont.

Domies rock? Never!! *looks around to see if anyone believes him*
Shhh, don't tell people!! Domies might become FoTM! :P

But seriously, Domies do rock, I love my ice/psi, and have a mind/ice myself waiting to be played sometime. Just dont big up domies to much! Keep the secret to yourself