Jibikao

Crab leg is a curse. Once you choose Crab, you won't be able to take it off!

I started as Crab, then Bane and then soldier/bane hybrid.

Yes, /FF will reduce the problem of tier 1 pets dying too quick.

Your biggest problem is that you combo Necro with /Poison. Necro/Poison is a good PvP build but in PvE, it truly sucks. The debuffs from /Poison (even after the buffs) are not good enough to protect the tier 1 pets if you are fighting more than one enemy. Your zombies will die easily against lethal damage, which is like the most common damage in the game. I had a necro/poison when I started this game. I didn't like it at all. Necro/Poison should solo alright if you stick with x1 and higher setting.


I was going to suggest Necro/FF if you really like Necro theme but as you found out, Thug/FF is a very good combo. The tier 1 Thug pets tend to use range attacks. They do run in sometimes but not as often as the zombies who are meant to go in for melee.

It's just seeing Damage Proc (and with Critical!) is more satisfying than seeing the -20% resist. It is kinda hard to tell the effect of it on regular enemy but when you fight against pylon/AV, I guess the 20% -resist is way better.

And I tend to only rely on AH Proc when I can slot in more than one place.

I am just curious about the impact of AH Proc on Pylon fight. Like how much better with and without?

Yes, I remember reading that spreadsheets and it turns out Smashing isn't as bad as what most people think. Lethal is bad for sure. You have several very common mobs that are consistently resisted to Lethal the most. IE: Longbows, some Arachnos, Malta, some Councils and high level Crey.

And Psionic isn't as "un-resistable" as the game detail says because when Psi is resisted, it is resisted so much.

I remember Fire is the least resisted damage type in the game.

That's partially true. That's why Martial Art's advantage isn't that great because it's all smashing damage. Dark Melee's dps is a tiny bit behind but it does dual damage.

By the way, I feel smashing damage is alright. Lethal damage is the worst. Lethal has some very extreme cases when you fight Malta and Robots. Malta, as an enemy group, have about 37% resistance to Lethal. That's as high as it gets. Psionic has similar problem. When psionic gets resisted, it's resisted A LOT! And then you have Carnies group and some Devourer enemies that have minus resistance to lethal damage!

Sorry mate, I am Villain. Statesman's death cheers me up. :P It's about time to change the face of the franchise. Put Lord Recluse or Ghost Widow's face up there! (evil grin)

Did you level a lowbie Staff Stalker?

The attack chain of 3s, 6s and 8s CONE attack is very nice and then you throw in Assassin Strike when 3 stacks is on.

With 9' reach, Guarded's cone attack can easily hit 2 targets. It is a really nice attack at lvl 4. Its base damage is like a real 8s attack which is higher than 2nd tier attack Piercing. The great thing about Guarded is that it's a good cone attack with only 8s recharge. I use it all the time when its on. I don't feel like I am wasting my dps by using Parry. The bonus +defense really feels like a bonus rather than something that I need to sacrifice for to get. I get that feeling when I use Parry because its base damage is low and activation time is kinda slow too. Guarded even without any +defense slotting is a decent attack.

I really don't know how well an attack chain of 3s, 6s and 17s eye of storm. That is strangely long wait before Single Origins, don't you think?

You don't like Guarded? I love that! I think for lower leveling, Guarded is way better than Eye of Storm. Eye of Storm is going to have 17s recharge. That's awfully long wait at lvl 4, don't you think?

I've had some debates about this in the beta form. I can't imagine any of my stalker not taking Musculature (one of the new Alphas has +damage at Radial I think).

Take SJ for example, with T4 Core, my Shin Breaker (8s) attack jumps from 206 to 239 and Uppercut jumps from 398 to freaking 461! If you critical, that's going to be 66 extra damage and 126 extra damage! Stalker is all about criticals.

With the new Assassin Strike, endurance is a problem but I need to respec to see how I can reduce that. (I still think endurance cost should be lowered a tiny bit)


I know some of you like Spiritual more for +recharge (since we don't have +recharge inspirations) but if I am putting so many sets in many attacks, I might as well use them, rather than only using 2-3 attacks repeatedly.


I truly think Musculature makes a huge difference on Stalker (and Scrapper and Blaster, basically those with the highest damage modifier).

Wow, that's pretty good!

Anyone know SJ/SR Scrapper's number? I wonder which one is better.

Not as often as I thought it would be. Chilling Embrace is so awesome! With the new AS, you even have less trouble to use critical AS.

SJ is a good candidate because a combo 3 Uppercut hits harder than the real AS.

If you are on a large team, EM's effectiveness will scale down pretty bad because ET can't critical and TF's critical value is not full.

MA on a full team scales the best but it's still not enough dps for a set that excels in ST.

Dark Melee is only a little bit behind MA/EM but it has great utilities and good damage type and a small cone.

Basically, I feel Kinetic easily replaces Energy Melee and Street Justice easily replaces MA. I am loving SJ right now. It has a high damage pbaoe and combo 3 critical Crushing Uppercut is just NASTY. I normally don't like using Placate but Placate + CU is awesome.

Oh, don't feel sorry for Spines! Throw Spines is arguably one of the best cone attacks and it also has -slow debuff. The new AS change will improve Spines so much more in ST department. You basically start the fight with BU + Throw Spine, Impale + Rippers and critical AS.

You should feel sorry for MA and EM. Based on your numbers, MA and EM look pretty pathetic for a set that excels in ST damage with zero AoE. That's just sad.

I think if they insist on not giving any aoe back to MA/EM, then their ST number needs to be at least 30% higher than most sets.

If the average dps is around 71, then MA/EM should be at least in the 90s range.

Yes but as greedy as I am, I feel 1K Cuts needs to be 12' radius. :P I have to guess they added 5' extra reach for Stalker's 1K Cuts because Sweep combo couldn't be used often and there is no Typhoon Edge. But after they increased melee reach from 5' to 7', 1K Cuts' 10' doesn't seem as impressive as Scrapper's 7'.

Again, I am greedy.