Leo_G

Lol, did you do that on purpose?

What could anyone possibly do with an electronic version of your...oooh, hmmm

Actually, it has more to do with the effectiveness of a power relative to its position in the set. Well, let me just give an example:

Archery's tier 1 is Snap shot. It's the 1st power in the set, recharges the quickest and does the least damage. It's tier 2 is Aimed shot which is the 2nd power in the list, recharges a bit slower and does more damage than the 1st power. Archery's tier 3 blast is Blazing Arrow. Although it is the 4th power in the archery set, it's the 3rd single target attack of the set which does the most damage of any other single target attack in the set (well, except Ranged Shot but that's considered to be a Snipe, not a tiered blast).
So tier 1= Snap
tier 2 = Aimed
tier 3 = Blazing

For electric blast, it is missing its 'tier 3' so to speak. It has Charged bolts (the 1st power, recharges quick and does the least damage), Lightning bolt (the 2nd power, recharges a bit slower and does more damage) and that's it. The only other single target attack it gets is Tesla Cage which does less damage than the tier 1 attack (Charged bolts).
So tier 1 = charged bolts
tier 2 = lightning bolt
tier 3 = ???

What you're asking for is either a reordering of the set or the reverse Psionic Assault treatment. Neither would go over well with current Brutes.

You can want it all you like but that doesn't mean it's a good idea. It'd essentially piss people off just to appease your mentality that tier 9 = m0Ar dmg. It's not even an issue of something being sacrificed for the state the set is in, yet you have an opinion you're entitled to ask for more? Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth...

That was a very interesting post. Is there any kind of journal or something that talks about this in more detail? Or you can just keep talking. I promise no one will fall asleep.

Shut yo mouth, woman!

Seriously, I would have loved a martial arts set with some ranged bow/shuriken attacks thrown in. I see not how such a set cannot be considered as an assault set when Thorns is just spines with an extra ranged attack. Earth Assault is pretty much melee only with 2 ranged attacks + 1 targeted AoE. Martial Arts could simply be a mix of the melee set and the Archery set. Same with Ninja Assault having a few katana attacks + the shuriken attacks + caltrops (and if you want to get fancy, a power from traps to emulate a crafty ninja trap).

If I were as big into Naruto as I used to be, *All* my doms would be ninjas using elemental ninjutsu and kicking *** with weapons....ah heck, I'd probably still do it...

Oh, forgot about the Lost. I did fight them too but the only issues I had with them were those Choppers and their axe -def attack. The psi bosses tended to go down quickly (usually while casting that AoE immobilize that does no damage).

I haven't faced Vahz at all yet...but they're a pain for nearly everyone.

Haven't faced any council yet either, if I recall...and while the negative may be a pain, it's not like you don't have fire defense available for the other stuff. Same with Goldbrickers and their sonic attacks. Aren't their sonic attacks both smashing and energy?

What was this discussion about anyway? I forgot Anyway, I've had my difficulty set on -1lvl/+3team and it's been smooth sailing. After I finish my missions from radio I'll turn my xp back on, get some DOs and push it to +0lvl/+3team and see how I do.

...I'm gonna go play now

Well, I'm only lvl 13 right now but I have cut off xp a few times so I can get through contacts without out lvling them and so far I haven't run into much besides smash/lethal. I can count the times I've run into otherwise:

-There were hellions doing fire dmg but only the bosses
-I dealt with Skulls, none of which actually got much chance to do anything outside the long Soul Drain animation
-Some Longbow bosses using Energy Melee and Fire Melee, but both those are also smash/lethal
-Those snake bosses with their toxic breath but I think that's AoE. Not even SR will protect you from that early on
-The last mission I did had Legacy Chain throwing energy blast/melee but both are smashing

Haven't run into any council yet but they're mostly lethal anyway. The majority of that stuff is bosses too, and guess what goes down first?

It's entirely possible to get at least close to the soft cap by mid 30s. I mean, my EM/EA stalker sits at 40% to fire/cold and 38% to smashing/lethal (can't recall how much energy but it's around the same) and he's only lvl 33...and I never soft-capped anything...and he's only used a few stun sets...

Yeah, but in the early game every foe is pretty much *only* using smashing/lethal damage. From the point we were talking about (lvl 1-12), it's overstated to say EA is just completely overshadowed by SR when both are lackluster early on (lvl 1-22).

IMO, from the start, you get *more* value for your endurance running just kinetic shield than you do with SR running Focused Fighting and Focused Senses. At least until foes start throwing psi and negative attacks in the late teens.

u weird

Martial Arts Assault, then?

Well, you still have to pay attention on an EA character. Knowing your HP is going down and *WHY* it's going down (there's a psi mob shooting at you that you didn't see or it's ghosts hitting you with neg energy) requires you to actively keep an eye out and strike out at those first.

I never liked the speed pool myself. I have an Elec/Regen at lvl 42 right now without it and he does fine. But then I play him very differently from my DB/Nin and DM/WP. If I have to, solo, I can wait for a power like Dull Pain or Instant Healing to recharge before striking at the foe or if it's going to take too long to recharge, use the ol' hit-and-run tactic to thin out the foes and take them out without those powers.

It's personal preference. An Elec/Regen will be much more powerful with hasten than without primarily because alot of Elec attacks recharge slow (coughLightningRodcough) and Regen buffs are clicks that need recharge redux. I'm actually going to get it on my stalker but I had a choice between Hasten and Mu Bolts. I choose Mu Bolts because I have slots to burn and if I picked Hasten, I'd have no powers to put the slots in.

As for Stamina, you can get by without it but if you're going to run toggles (like Tough, Weave) it might be a good idea to get. The End drain on your attacks only make your powers cheaper to use, not a substitute for proper END management. I took Stamina on mine so he is only concerned with his green bar (and so he can run sprint all the time) but he mainly took it for Swift and Hurdle.

Elec has enough ST dmg to get by on a Stalker but has the AoE other sets lack. It's more of a generalist set that doesn't really excel at anything except AoE burst damage.

The 4 attacks you listed have quirks for stalkers:
-Jacob's Ladder will have a 50% chance to crit from hide because it's a cone. It isn't a bad opener for closely packed minions.
-Thunderstrike is a Single Target attack with a PBAoE attack attached. It will crit 100% from hide for the ST smashing portion of the attack and 50% for the energy AoE portion. It's the preferred opener because you can toss it on the Lt which will crit and weaken the minions. For most ATs this attack isn't that spectacular but for Stalkers, it's very very nice.
-Chain Induction is a Single target attack that will spawn pets and hit foes around it. It will always crit the target you use it on but never the foes it jumps to. Because of the speed of this animation, it's a good choice for mid-fight placate > crit strategies, especially for a secondary without defense.
-Lightning Rod is actually a pet. It spawns after you teleport in and does damage and knocks down foes. Because it's a pet (and not you) it cannot critical hit. But because the 'pet' is doing the damage and not you, it will not drop you from hidden status. You will still alert foes to your presence but you will still be hidden for a crit hit. It's a decent strategy to use this to knock foes off their feet and then AS your target but I find it's better to use for mid-fight placates > AS as it will either kill anything you haven't already or knock it down.

Recharge. Seriously, get Thunderstrike and Lightning Rod (and Reconstruction and Dull Pain) up as often as possible. More recharge means more Chain Inductions, more Instant Healing, more Moment of Glory, more Placates...pretty much more of everything that both those sets have to offer.

Anything else is up to you. You can probably get some good melee/ranged defense with slotting and power choices too, easily up to the 25% range which is pretty nice when you can heal so much. Damage bonuses stacked with procs if you're going for offense. It's really whatever you're aiming for.

Seriously?

Mine is lvl 10 and he doesn't seem any less survivable than my Stone/Shield brute and he only has Kinetic Shield. It does exactly what SR would do at that lvl (dodge/deflect certain attacks at that lvl) except SR would be for melee/ranged and EA is for smashing/lethal.

That's some pretty sound advice. I like that.

I'd suggest carrying around an equal number of blue insp too (if not more) cause the last thing you want is to lose those toggles.

Besides that, you might want to shore up a bit more mitigation like combat jumping, tough/weave or aid self. You could also figger out how to use Hand Clap and keep foes on their bums with the Shield Charge/Foot Stomp/Hand Clap combo.