Jibikao

Exactly. I have tried to use Assassin Strike more on my lvl 50s Stalkers and I actually find them very annoying to use in high-end contents. Clockworks, for example, has very high accuracy and they do a lot of dot damage. Hard to get off an AS during Apex first mission and AS is even less appealing in the 2nd mission against Battle Madien. It's just too much going on to set up an AS. If I have the chance, I just run in to hit as many times as I can before the blue flame drops or I could be attacked by Swords.

I've also tried to use Assassin Strike more in BAF and Lamba. Don't like it. The enemies shoot so many "burning patches" on the ground which interrupts AS. And in Lamba, there is just so much s!@#4 going on that it's not worth the time. The only good time is to BU + AS a crate from the start but I see Brutes/Scrappers soloing each crate just fine. Stalker doesn't really have an advantage here except maybe for scouting.

What else is left? LRSF? I don't see Assassin Strike being particularly useful during AV fights.

Basically I find Assassin Strike quite lacking at lvl 50 or even before that. When you get interrupted, you just lose too much endurance and lose the opportunity to do something else and the damage isn't that great. Assassin Strike is basically only good at ganking the weak (minions!). Hell, a BU + AS can't even kill a lot of +2 Lieuts.

PS: The good news is Assassin Strike should grant Fear effect even after the target is dead in one hit. :P

I should have PMed dev more about AS giving 3 combo points. :P I only tested the set during early levels.

3 combo points from Hidden and 2 combo points outside of Hidden. Fair enough I say! (although I know I'll never use AS outside of hidden but some people may feel the need to AS all the time!)

Overall, SJ is very decent on Stalker. The loss of Rib Cracker is kinda annoying but at least none of the aoe is taken out (small radius though).

I think for a set that has zero aoe attack, I think they can make an exception. :P

Because if you are not taking Patron aoe, you'll need to kill ONE at a time. For a set that has no aoe to work well in a team situation, MA's activation time needs to be a lot quicker than what it is now.

I mean hell, you already have Brute/Scrappers doing +4/8 with great ST damage and AoE damage.

I really think MA is too slow.

(by the way, Claw seems pathetically low? They got rid of the cone but Claw ends up being not a great aoe set and definitely not a good ST set. WTF???)

So the average of 5 best martial arts powers is 76. Using 95% enhancement, MA has about 148 dps (not counting chance to miss of course). The current MA is about 68. I think it's a very reasonable buff for MA. :P

Is this number too good? This doesn't seem that overpowering to me if they trim down the activation time even more for MA since it has no aoe. Each kick needs to be quicker!

It's just sad to see that MA's best attack is a tier 2.

Using 66.86 number with 95% damage enhancement is about 130 dps. Is this considered high among Brute/Scrapper/SoA or?

I remember Night Widow can go over 200dps?

I am terrible with math but can you calculate MA's dps if Cobra/Crane have 1.33 activation time, Axe has 1.36? (not sure if they would use this kind of number) and Eagle has 2.33s.

I really find MA a bit too slow for its ST dps. They should trim it down a bit.

The biggest upgrade is Life Drain. It is now a decent attack that doesn't cost a lot ton of endurance and only has 8s recharge. The single hold also does decent damage too.

I am never a big fan of AoE knockback, especially as strong as Torrent is. 80 range?!!!

It is useful but when I want to go all out on aoe, I don't want to aoe and then they are scatter and then they are immbed..... T_T

TT only has 40 range? I can't remember but its range is quite short. Even if you put +range, it is still quite short. It is just a wide cone.

Kinetic Melee's ST chain isn't bad. It's not the top but it has one range attack (100% knock down?) and one good pbaoe with 100% critical from hidden. Concentrated Strike can refresh Build Up 100% chance whenever you critical (team critical, natural critical chance and from placate/hidden).

I would gladly trade some MA's top ST DPS for a bit more aoe.

EM isn't the top and I agree that set needs more love.

I want to believe so but it's not quite. If the content is 'hard', Bane actually offers way more damage than Stalker because Bane can increase the team's damage by a lot with resistance debuffs and damage buffs. And bane's personal damage is arguably higher than Stalker. I know I've soloed Pylon with Bane but not with any of my Stalker.

However, I do agree somewhat that when the content gets too easy, Stalker's role is even less important because people don't care about waiting for you to setup Assassin Strike. They can just build up/aim and aoe the mobs to death including bosses.

I feel my Stalker a bit more useful in itrials as the battle lasts a bit longer and I have more chance to have more teammates around me. Do League mates count as Team Critical? Probably not... I just feel during BAF, I could score a lot of critical. In fact, I scored like 3 crits in a row one time on Night.

I played Lord of the Ring online a bit before I came back here and one of the things that "Burglar" class does (besides being the only class that can stealth as far as I know) is that he can trigger Team Coordinated attack more often than other classes (it's another name in the game but this is close enough).

Team Coordinated attack is useful in Raid and Large team because it can offer HUGE damage or huge healing or energy fuel if the healer/mage needs it. There are different effects depending on how the team member chooses it when it happens. It's pretty neat.

I know CoV doesn't have Team Coordinated attack but I thought it's neat that they give Burglar another "purpose" for the team. Burglar in Lotr is actually a Melee/Debuff/control hybrid.


I know there are a few things that they can't improve for Stalker but what else is in this game that can give Stalker a special spot?

If Single Target Burst damage is Stalker's special trait, then I can honestly say it's not superior enough.

If Stalker is supposed to be the King of stealth, then I can honestly say Stalker is not superior enough without unsuppressed Stealth. Stalker should have unsuppressed stealth in pve and not Brute!


There are still rooms for improvement that won't break the game's balance. Hell, what is the base-line for this game's balance anyway? I am already seeing people soloing TFs that are meant for a group!