Jibikao

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More than likely.. it tells you in the guide.

It's probably not going to be a category of foes, but an individual character in that group that will be lvl 50. You can even use him as your ally if you want.

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But how do I pick that lvl 50 foe? I see my custom critter being lvl 1-54. How do I set them to 50 or where do I find that lvl 50 critter (or critter group)?

The guide just says Natterling - Minion (50 - 50). Where do I find this critter?

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The guide probably says something about adding in an escort, rescue, or a patrol of a lvl 50 group which will force the mission to be lvl 50 also. If the mission is lvl 50, the custom critters will be also.

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But I look through the list of standard critters and the highest one I've seen is 45-54. There is none that is lvl 50?

Ok, I read a little guide on how to force a mish to be auto-scaled to 50. But how do I force my custom critters to be lvl 50? I can't find a way to do it.

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You're right. Stalkers are much better now, and I often see them going shoulder-to-shoulder with the scrappers and brutes. But the OP was about Dark Melee, and stalker DM loses Soul Drain, which is a selling point to the set for many.

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Yes, but instead it gets Build Up which has a shorter animation, doesn't require a tohit check (albeit one at with a bonus, having a 1.2x base accuracy), and doesn't break hidden status so you can still have a guaranteed critical on that first hit after using it.

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Yeah and Midnight Grasp can critical for a lot of damage. When it criticals, the total damage appears first (rather than waiting for the dot to finish and then add the critical damage).

I've heard DM Stalker can produce a lot of ST damage.

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Hi,

I'd like to know if Placate is useful solo to get the auto crit twice or is it canceled by getting aggro?

thanks

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I find Placate is mostly useful when I solo.... you can lose aggro on boss, AS him or run away.

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The problem is some people are so obsessed with disproving the whole "we need a healer or we'll die" theory, that they have actually gone one step further and tried to prove that healers are not just not needed, but are indeed useless.

Now I've teamed with lots of teams, some with healers and some without healers. So I have quite some experience on both sides.

My experience?

Having a healer is what I consider "easy mode" or the "safe option." An averagely played healer, such as an empath will quite easily keep a team alive providing there is some other form of support to back them up. So if you suspect the team may actually not be all that good, a healer might be able to keep the team moving. Also, healing is quite straight forward, it is a concept people will understand even if they are new to CoX. Again this reinforces the belief of it being a safe option.

However healers can only do so much and don't usually speed up the team's ability to kill faster. I'm sorry for any healers who read this, but I have rarely been on a team that has had healers and has still overperformed. If I had to grade the team, healer teams usually sit at 3/5 or 4/5. They are never the best, but they also rarely outright suck.


Now for teams without healers, there is a much bigger variety of performance. I was on an 8 man Manticore TF yesterday with 2 Trick Arrow defenders and myself a Mind/Storm controller (without 02 boost) and we blazed through the TF in just over 2 hours despite not having a healer. We even pulled 4 full groups and still lived as we locked down and debuffed them all to oblivion. Heals? They were not needed, and if they were, everyone has respites that they can utilize. I really enjoyed this TF.

However I have also been on teams that has had no healers, but also had players who are not fully aware of how to best use their powersets. These teams could hypothetically perform VERY well, but unfortunately some players have less knowledge then people expect and the team underperforms horribly. I have been on many teams that have lacked healers and proven to be a total nightmare. Especially if you are a good player and put yourself on the line to make sure the team is victorious, but the end result is that despite the team winning, you are the person who repeatedly eats dirt. Teams without healers generally go from anything from 1/5 to 5/5.

Overall, a team with a healer is safer then a team without a healer and is more likely to perform adequately. A team without a healer could potentially perform much better however it could also potentially perform much worse. It is a bit more of a gamble.

People quite rightly get upset when an ignorant player demands that the team invites a healer. The player in question obviously does not have the knowledge which if possessed, would tell him that healers are not required. However if my experiences are true, then it is quite likely that a bunch of average players would find having a healer less riskier and generally the safer option which is more likely to succeed. From their perspective, you can't blame them for wanting someone who can heal.

In conclusion, teams can do very very well without a healer, but they can also do very very badly. This depends on the quality of the players who are involved. If you are on a team with inexperienced or bad players, a healer might be a safer bet. However if you are teamed with good and experienced players, you could quite happily live without one.

So are healers bad or good? In my opinion they are just another way of allowing the team to succeed. They real reason this whole topic is discussed so heatedly is because of the need of some to try dispell the necessity of healers.

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I agree with your post.

I don't think "healer" is "the sux". I was running an ITF last weekend and I specifically said we were looking for "supports". I didn't specify a "healer" or a specific type because we already had a good mix of SoA, Brute and MM (mm is considered support in my book). So in the end, an empathy and radiation joined us. Excellent! That's a good mix of healing, defense and debuffs. We did really well.

I think a lot of new players look for healer because that's what they are used to seeing from other games. If they actually choose a bubble set like /thermal, /ff and /cold, they may find that those buffs provide an "easier" way to support the team (instead of trying to click an ally and HEAL).

I am making a Sonic/Pain Corr now and I find healing quite annoying. I have to click a friend to heal and I sometimes lose track on what needs to be killed first (so my team takes less damage!).

This is another reason why SoA is so good. Most of their buffs don't require you to "click" an ally. You just need to stay closer and the awesome team buffs spread around.

Damn, how come I always end up praising SoA....

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bots and thugs seem to have the highest DPS and zombies are most survivable.

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Actually, bots have one of the worst dps. Their advantage is that they survive so well so their dps is better than Ninja/Necro because melee pets way easier. You deal ZERO dps if you are dead. Robots have good aoe damage if you have ways to slow the foes (tar patch for example).

In terms of raw dps, Thug is definitely at the top mainly because they have the range to maintain that dps.

Ninja supposedly has the highest dps when both Jounins are at melee range but like I said, you gotta survive to produce that DPS.

Merc is actually pretty good too once you put procs in them.

Oh, stop comparing Brute VS Scrapper!!!!


Man, Stalker has got so good now. Why don't people compare these 3 instead?

I would take Stalker > Brute and Scrapper but I am weird.... with Shadow Meld, I have god-mode to take any alpha for the team at the start of every fight and if I am spine, my aoe damage + ball of lightning is nothing to joke about!

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With 2 of it's combos attached to build up and the fact that it even has build up seems to put it at a serious disadvantage compared to other dual blade wielders at least in pve.

And do MM pets or pets in general count in crit calculation?

And did the snipe powers get a boost in damage?

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Stalker's DB is actually quite good. You just don't need to rely on combos much. Attack Vital combo is a great ST dps combo. Yes, Sweep Combo sucks so I didn't even take one of the attack powers that ties to Sweep. I only use Power Up combo against bosses but after I got 1K Cuts, I tend to start the battle with Build Up + 1K Cuts on 3 targets. That's a lot of aoe damage.


2. Not sure about pets giving stalker +critical chance but I feel it does.

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About to pick up level 44, and I noticed that the GW epic has been changed since I last played stalkers (issue 8 ).

What's Shadow Meld? It seems like a short elude sans endurance crash, but it lasts only for 15 seconds? I suppose this is something you can skip if you're soft capping. For a resistance based stalker, a nifty choice perhaps, but not for the claws/sr I'm refitting.

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Shadow Meld is one of the best patron powers in the game IMO. Yes, it only lasts 15s, but it's at least 20% defense against ALL. You may not need it if you are /sr with soft-cap defense but if I remember correctly, some of the mental attacks don't have "position" so you need psionic type defense against it.

You need a lot of +defense to soft cap /nin and you may only be able to soft cap either melee or range. This is when Shadow Meld becomes useful and /nin doesn't have resistance to defense debuff. If you get hit once by Longbow's rifle, your defense value is decreased a lot.

You basically have a god-mode for every fight (recharge is only 90s). I remember when I play my Ninja blade/SR (no sets) against 54 bosses in AE, I could take alpha much better than Brutes. He consistently died but I survived quite well. That 15s is so good against all those "throwing knives" that hurt like hell.

If you are resistance/based Stalker, Shadow Meld is a no brainer.

You know, since this is about a hypothetical situation where incoming damage doesn't matter (like fighting a dummy), I have to nominate Thug/Poison or Thug/Trap (or even Merc).

Thug/Trap
Enforcers with AH Proc, Acid Mortar with AH Proc and if the master has high recharge, you can easily lay down two Acid Mortar to get 2x debuff values. That is A LOT of resistance debuffs. Bruiser at melee range of course.


Thug/Poison
Noxious gas is easier with Brusier and if the master's recharge is high, you can put it on Brusier pretty frequently. And /poison has one of the nastiest single debuffs that also includes -regen. Sometimes -regen > dps.

And both Thug/Trap and Thug/Poison, the master uses tier 1 and tier 2 attacks as well. MM's damage is quite high when master uses personal attacks. And does MM get Knockout Blow too? LOL

I am not so sure if Blaster is all that > Thug MM.

I wonder if they are going to add that dark crystal thing in CoV due to Kheldians.

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I'm just use to watching videos of the entire encounter to show that there indeed were no aids used during the duration of the fight. Cheers.

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Well, some of us are telling you that NW can do it and you don't seem like you want to believe it. Why don't you try one yourself? NW is not THAT bad, is it?

Brute is actually pretty endurance light if you know how to manage your enhancements. You start out slow but once your fury is above 50%, you need more blues than reds. Sometimes yellow is better so you don't miss as much.

You should slot -end in brute's attacks more than +dmg at early stage.


One endurance-light combo I can think of is actually Stalker + Ninjitsu. You only run two shields from /nin. Dual Blade is pretty light now that I think about it. You can rely on Attack Vital for single dps or try to line up some foe and use 1k cuts.

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Sounds kinda like one I heard few weaks back, was buffing team with my pain corr, and a stalker said not to use enforced morale on him as it kept him goin stealth.. this have any basis in reality?

[/ QUOTE ]Yes. If he's at full health and you use Enforced Morale on him, his Hide is suppressed for 8 seconds.

(Enforced Morale isn't really woth using on melee characters anyway, since they get mez protection, many get +Per, +Per isn't often needed, and the +Rech/+Spd is very small)

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Why does Enforced Morale cause Stalker to un-hide? Is Castle fixing this?

[/ QUOTE ]Hide suppresses when you're damaged, and Enforced Morale deals minor damage if the target is at full health.

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Yikes.. Enforced Morale does damage on the target? I am making a Sonic/Pain and the more I read about /Pain, the more I dislike it...

But good to know. I need to keep this in mind. But I think most Stalker/Brute run with mez shield unless they are noob or lazy or not endurance.

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NW should be fully capable of it.

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Well, ok not that im in hard dispute perse, but I would need to "see" it to agree with that.

Having some specifically built AV killers, DM/SR scrap, Bot/Traps MM and Ill/Rad troller I would be impressed to say the least to "see" a NW actually do it. "Should be fully capable of it" is WORLDS away from actually doing it when it comes to facing down AV's solo.

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Somebody posted a video here of NW soloing a Hero in RV. I forgot which one. I think it's Numina?? That's one proof I can think of.

So far, I would say NW has the best chance especially against AV/Hero who uses Psi dmg. NW/Fort's psi resistance is ridiculously high. This is one area where NW soloing AV > Scrapper/Brute I think.

My NW almost solo a Gravity/Psi Dominator AV. I think I can do it if I try it again. I used my god-mode too soon and I crashed in the end when she only had like 10% health.

NW has an advantage in -regen. Can somebody test to see if poison dart's -regen stack? I have a feeling it does. Either that or NW's dps is really high 'cause my well invested Fortunata's dps on AV is a lot less than my NW. But I swear my Fort's damage is not low at all. She has two assault and her attack chain is seamless.

It must be the -regen that plays the huge part in AV soloing.

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Single target may just go to SS brutes

[/ QUOTE ] Dark Melee is higher than Super Strength.

I still don't see how anything can produce the damage a blaster can. Anyone have any comparison numbers?

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I've found this conversation fascinating. I would think that getting mezzed would be murder on DPS.

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I think he meant I16 Dominators. Oh baby.. I can't wait!!

(Perma-dom = all the mezz protection you need in pve)

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He also can't necessarily use his melee often unless he invests heavily in melee defense too

[/ QUOTE ] Since you're talking solo DPS, do you mean facing solo size spawns? Because if so, not much defense is needed at all.

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I think the poster is basically asking "Fighting a Dummy" situation. Who has the MOST dps? Blaster I guess.

I don't care all the claims about how Blaster can survive so well with set bonuses. I've seen plenty of blasters who face dirt so often if they are not babysitted. To me, that's REAL situation.

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Sounds kinda like one I heard few weaks back, was buffing team with my pain corr, and a stalker said not to use enforced morale on him as it kept him goin stealth.. this have any basis in reality?

[/ QUOTE ]Yes. If he's at full health and you use Enforced Morale on him, his Hide is suppressed for 8 seconds.

(Enforced Morale isn't really woth using on melee characters anyway, since they get mez protection, many get +Per, +Per isn't often needed, and the +Rech/+Spd is very small)

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Why does Enforced Morale cause Stalker to un-hide? Is Castle fixing this?

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Single target may just go to SS brutes

[/ QUOTE ] Dark Melee is higher than Super Strength.

I still don't see how anything can produce the damage a blaster can. Anyone have any comparison numbers?

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I've found this conversation fascinating. I would think that getting mezzed would be murder on DPS.

[/ QUOTE ] I'm talking straight damage. I'm not factoring in survivability and endurance.

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Since this thread is talking about "irrelevant situation", I would say Blaster may be on the top but... but but...



I16 Dominator is waiting for this comparison anxiously!!!

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Even with unique Numina and Miracle and set bonuses?

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Yup. Even with multiple uniques, stacked 4% values from purples, and a recovery buff from the crafting station at your SG base.

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May I ask why you need THAT much endurance for??

In normal fights, there are plenty of time to recover in between fights and you get a lot of blue inspirations too.

Against AV/Hero, you can stock up one or two and then rely on god mode to finish off the target.

I can't think of one situation where set bonuses + numina and miracle are not enough, unless you are fighting something that can drain you but that target has to hit NW first or auto hit from Energy Drain-type of power.

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I wanted to know do widows get the same benefits that scrappers/stalkers get with claws. Specifically the endurance/recharge discount that the set gives?

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Widow's claws don't. They are like normal melee sets with 4s, 8s, 10s and an odd one at 16s.

But widow's claws have -recharge/slow and I would use poison dart in the attack chain as well for 25% -regen.

And Widow claws don't have any controls at all. Stalker Claw is actually a very "safe" set with one kb and kd.


In fact, I think widow's claws do a bit less damage for its recharge rate? Those toxic damage can really stack up though especially if you have venom grenade from teammates.

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Night Widows can put out quite a bit of damage, and have great survivability, but their best DPS chains burn through endurance very quickly and this affects the sustainable rate.

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Even with unique Numina and Miracle and set bonuses? My Fortunata has both and she very very rarely has any endurance problem unless somebody drains her. She runs double assault, one maneuver, one tactic and one mez shield.

My Night Widow only has Numina I think and she can run into endurance problem sometimes.

I am annoyed with 50+

Ps 63% 87%

Those robots... ugh