Lipe82

[ QUOTE ]
You're [censored] without travel powers. Big time.

[/ QUOTE ]
QFT.

We all could keep adding points to Xury2's list there, but pretty much, the line quoted above sums it up. Just dont PvP without it, you'll be up for a LOT of frustration.

A functional group of players interested in the game content AND in cool, hero-style RP. Hope you guys have a blast! What a shame I checked this thread so late, I'd make a hero and jump on its tryout asap. Why are these so hard to find?

Meanwhile, in the red side... I stand alone, LFT, having a real hard time finding a group of Villains on similar standards, and dodging yiffing cat-girls on Pocket D.

I made a /Pain guide oriented specifically for Masterminds, so everyone please feel free to go there, check and comment!

Sharing the Pain - A Mastermind guide to Pain Domination

Oh yes, and if possible I'd like to see this guide pinned on our Masterminds Guides topic.

[u]Sharing the Pain – A Mastermind’s Guide to Pain Domination[u]
by Lipe82

Pain Domination (a.k.a “/pain”, “pain dom.”, “PD”)is an original power set introduced on Issue 13. It has a “sadistic” theme on its concept, as characters learn to enjoy the pain inflicted on themselves (represented in-game as negative statuses) and manipulate it on their favor (as buffs and heals). A versatile support toolkit with an useful power for every situation your team gets into.

As Masterminds control their own “team” of henchmen, in their hands Pain Domination isn’t only a great support kit for group missions and Strike Forces – it’s also great for solo runs. And gets better: due to the Bodyguard mechanics of MMs, the self-inflicted pain damage/statuses are barely noticeable. The set has some “self +DMG” components also. MMs rarely use attacks of their own, but if they do it they still get to enjoy a damage boost on it.

Notice that this guide assumes familiarity with the Bodyguard mode for Masterminds and was designed from their perspective; most tactics here might not apply for other ATs that use Pain Domination as a Power Set.

[u]::Pain Domination General Overview[u]
Versatility – Instead of focusing heavily on an aspect of survival (Like Force Field’s Defense, Empathy’s Healing), Pain Domination has an interesting assortment of multi-functional powers, and most of them are great. You have a group heal, 2 kinds of targeted heal, a Mez-breaker, a +Regen PBAoE, buffs for allies, debuffs for enemies, and an ally resurrection. It really has a lot of what is needed for your group or your henchmen. It just does a lot of cool different things.

Active Secondary – This is where play-style comes in to decide if PD is a good secondary for you. Some Masterminds get bored as they set up their buffs then sit and wait till their pets are done with the fight. Pain Domination is nothing like that, as you have to keep watching your allies to heal them, use a needed mez-breaker or buffs, debuff the right enemy, and so on. Pain Domination is a very active set requiring fast wits and management during every fight. No toggle-and-go here.

Frontline Support – This set was designed for better results if you stay close to the main melee zone (or at least can hop in and out of it as needed), because many effects of this set are a PBAoE. Again, for a MM this isn’t problem or risky, since that means you’ll stay on Bodyguard range, and makes easier to apply other PBAoE toggles such as Assault. It’s just a difference for those used to the healer staying distant from the big fight scene.

The Mitigation Issue – This is probably the biggest drawback of this set, thankfully, because its easy to come around this with little practice. The set provides NO Resistance or Defense. You have great healing, but whenever your target gets hit, it WILL hurt – and that’s specially true with the squishy ATs or Henchmen. That means you want your allies fully healed at all times, or you risk losing them if the next hit takes more damage than you can out-heal. You have plenty of healing tools to get on top of this.

The Stamina Question – The set isnt specially Endurance hungry when well slotted, and as a MM you don’t use much Endurance for attacks to begin with. For late levels, though, you want to be able to spam your heals. My advice is to get Stamina. If you have many toggles running (Sprint, Combat Jump, Assault, Maneuvers, Tactics, etc) or like using “self” powers (Primary or Pool Attacks, Hasten, etc), get it on your 20’s. Otherwise you can delay it to somewhere after getting your Tier3 Henchmen (mid-30’s). Regardless, for endgame content you’ll need it. Running out of Endurance for a set based on active powers pretty much nullifies the set altogether.

Carry Inspirations – Now this is a fact for any supportive-role character, and even more so considering Pain Domination focus a team and not yourself. Your self-heal is very limited, however good control of henchman makes for that. But you have no means to get free from Mezzes, Holds, Stun and the like – which will keep you from healing, turning you into a dead weight. Make sure you have some Break Free inspirations or these powers can severely cripple your performance past level 20 or so.

::[u]The Powers[u]
Nullify Pain
PBAoE Small Heal, Moderate Recharge (8s)
Enhancement Suggestion: 2-3 Heal, 0-2 Recharge, 1-2 End. Reduction
Avaliable: Lv 1
A first and mandatory power that rocks, healing you and every ally nearby. Its heal isn’t a lot and it’s your only power to self-heal. But, since you have minions to take the heavier damage for you instead, this power fits as a glove for MMs. It’s better used when the team is under AoE damage, or to heal split bodyguard damage on all henchmen with 1 click, or to heal that little bit without overdoing or wasting Endurance. Make sure you either get near your team or move them near to you when you use this.

This power is ridiculously great for “Tankermind” – taunt an enemy with all minions on Bodyguard mode; the enemy hits you, damage is split between you and your henchmen, pop Nullify Pain and everyone’s good again. For that you want to slot 3 heals, recharge and endurance.

Soothe
Ally Moderate Heal, Fast Recharge (4s)
Enhancement Suggestion: 2-3 End. Reduction, 2-3 Heal, 0-1 Recharge
Avaliable: Lv 2
Your default healing power, which you’ll use throughout all your carrier. 2 Endurance Reduction enhancements are needed because it’s fairly Endurance hungry, a 3rd End. Red. Will have small returns however and is better filled with healing power. It’s pretty fast on itself so 1 recharge should be all you need, if any (after all, you got 2 other healing powers). You cant use this power on yourself.

Share Pain
Ally Strong Heal, Slow Recharge (15s), Self + DMG (18%), minor Damage to self
Enhancement Suggestion: 2-3 Recharge, 2-3 Heals
Avaliable: Lv 4
A heavy heal (you cant use on yourself) that you’ll learn to [u]love[u]. It heals for a good amount of HitPoints, using nearly no endurance (0,5 per use). As you’re “sharing the pain” it frenzies you adding 18% to your own damage (not your henchmen, your own attacks). As a tradeback, it inflicts you some damage (roughly 18% of your HP) as cost, and you are unable to heal yourself for about 15 seconds (not even from inspirations) after using it.

Now check this out: the self-inflicted damage gets split if you use it on Bodyguard mode. Therefore, this is nearly a godamn cost-free heavy heal for Masterminds if you have your minions on bodyguard mode before using it. I’m not sure developers considered Bodyguard mode when they made this power.

Only problem here is if YOU are being heavily attacked when using it, because it will keep you from being healed (as in, if you’re tanking and use this heal on someone, you’re pretty much dead), or if you spam it so much that you eventually kill yourself... But honestly, you have other healing powers so you don’t need to rely only on this, and as a Mastermind you wont be under heavy fire normally.

Conduit of Pain
Ally Rez, Self +DMG , +ToHit, +Recovery, +Recharge, Long Recharge (3m)
Enhancement Suggestion: 1 Endurance Reduction
Avaliable: Lv 10
Resurrects a fallen ally (not henchmen), AND buffs you with 22% dmg, 15% chance to hit, 175% endurance recovery, and 400% health regen for 1 minute, after which you’ll be weakened for 30 seconds.

Usually, a mastermind wont make a lot of use for these awesome self buffs, then again you shouldn’t notice the weakened state affecting your performance as well, so it comes down to a Rez with tricks. This power is great for players that group a lot (since MM’s aren’t easy to kill), but you can fit it on your build later. Only a strictly solo player should skip this power.

Also to note, this power has a very short range. It’s useful for the mastermind to have Combat Jump activated so you can leap to your fallen comrade, revive him and jump away of the danger zone right away.

Enforced Morale
Ally “break-free”, +Perception, +Recharge, +Speed, Fast Recharge (4s)
Duration: 90s
Enhancement Suggestion: 0-1 Recharge Reduction, 0-1 Endurance Reduction
Avaliable: Lv 16
This power is great for MM’s that seek to shine in groups, as it will free your teammates of nearly all “stop” effects such as stun, sleep, fear, etc. You can pop this power on targets before they get affected by such effects and they’ll be protected for the duration of the power.

It has built-in bonuses also as noted above, but these buffs are fairly unnoticeable except for the +65% Perception (interesting for PvP or blind-happy mobs). Cant use it on yourself.

Recommended for those focusing on team-support role, at whichever level you can fit it into your build; if you prefer to solo or focus on other MM routines, you may skip this power.

Suppress Pain
Toggle, PBAoE +Regen
Enhancement Suggestion: 1-3 Heal
Avaliable: Lv 20
An aura that doubles the rate of your HP Regeneration (unslotted – it gets over three times HP/Second if slotted properly) for you and your allies. The range isn’t very big so you want to keep potential targets near you.

This power has a pretty low Endurance cost (0,2 per second), but its effects aren’t that much noticeable, except when applied on players who also focus +Regen as a part of their builds. It works better if stacked with Painbringer (last power on set). You can either skip this power altogether, or get it later, as around the 20s nobody really has a lot of +Regen buff to make this a noticeable buff.

World of Pain
PBAoE Buff, +DMG, +ToHit, +Resistance(all damage), Long recharge (4m)
Duration: 90s
Enhancement Suggestion: 0-2 ToHit Buff, 2-3 Recharge Reduction, 1-3 Resist Dmg
Avaliable: Lv 28
Amazing group buff with pretty decent values out of the box (12% extra damage, 11% Reduction from ALL kinds of damage and +7,5% ToHit) and they get even better when slotted properly. You should slot into whatever you feel that your henchmen or team is lacking, and fit in Recharge Reduction to keep it up as many times as possible.

Every Mastermind should get this, at least at later levels, as its damage resist properties will boost your Bodyguard mode even more, reason why 1 ResistDmg is mandatory, 2 optimal, and 3 if you have slots. Make sure henchman and teammates are around you when you pop it.

Anguishing Cry
PBAoE, Foe –Resist –Defense, Long Recharge (2m)
Duration: 30s
Enhancement Suggestion: 2 Acc, 2 Recharge, 0-1 Defense Debuff, 1-2 End Reduction
Avaliable: Lv 35
Another impressive power from this set, it reduces the enemies’ resistance AND defense against ALL types of damage by 22%. The area of effect of this power expands from your position, so for optimal use of this power you should have your enemies clustered and or taunted, get as close as possible to them, and use it. It’s safer to switch to bodyguard mode when doing this, as you’ll take less returning fire if any, and because henchmen might lure their enemies near to you.

Notice that this power requires a ToHit check, so you want it slotted with +Acc enhancements as a priority.

Painbringer
Ally Buff, +DMG, +Regen, +Recovery, Long Recharge (5m)
Duration: 90s
Enhancement Suggestion: 3 Recharges (mandatory!), 1-3 End. Modification
Avaliable: Lv 38
Last Power on the set, gives some Damage bonus to your chosen target, while also pumping its Endurance Recovery and HP Regeneration. Lets see how this works.

The extra Damage is a bit more than the effect of a medium Red Inspiration, so it might not look so impressive at first. The Regeneration bonus unslotted is more than double the Suppress Pain value. As I said before, Regeneration isn’t much of a lifesaver, but if you have both powers you can stack it for 7 times the normal HP/Second ratio (9 if slotted) of your target. Finally, with 3 Endurance Modification IO, the target’s Endurance recovery skyrockets over 1500% (yes, 15 times the original End recovery rate).

The optimal usage of this power should be on a boss fight, on whoever is going to tank it, or on the highest damage dealer around, or on your Tier3 Henchmen (which will fit either or both the previous conditions).

Your build shouldn’t be so tight that you need to skip this power, but if you run with a fixed group and have a Kinetics on it, that wouldn’t hurt you much. However, if you join random groups a lot, or if you’re attempting to solo bosses, this power becomes pretty much mandatory.

[u]::Last Comments[u]
Pain Domination is pretty interesting for Masterminds regardless of Primary. On the first levels, keeping squishy minions (as ninjas) healed with this might be annoying, but perfectly possible, and as you get more henchmen it stops being a concern at all – specially as you slot Heals/Recharge on your Nullify Pain.

Any comments, critiques, suggestions are all very welcome and I ask you to do so, I'd like to hear how actually helpful this guide can be.

Regardless it was taken in consideration a good amount of data (and personal play style) involved on the usage of the set. Hope you can make the best use of it!

[b]©Lipe82, March 2009.
This guide was made based on Issue 13 with aid of Mid’s Villain Designer and well, beer.

As you said, your build is a pretty specific purpose one. But even on that, I'd recommend taking Placate. As soon as the AS is recharged, placate and hit it.

Given, placate is a 1v1 thing. But on a Mob, should be possible to AS your first target, scrap some, and Placate+AS the last one. OR, in a nasty fight (say, against 2 red mobs), remove one of them from the fight while you kill his friend post-AS.

It's really a strategical move with some versatility.

Bumping, because I dont see any decent DB guide for stalkers out there. As of I13 apparently nothing changed too drastically on my guide, but what should I do if I wanted to edit/update it?

And yeah, if anyone like this guide nad would recomend for sticky, thanks.

The ones resposible for the upkeep of this thread could please add my Dual Blades guide on the list? Thanks in advance!

Finally, my guide about DB is out. I'm reserving this post for any needed additional changes.

I'd like to invite any and all players new and old interested on the set to throw opinions and share your informations on the matters discussed above, since the guide is open for editing and constructive comments.

[u]This is my Slice! - A Stalker’s Dual Blades PvE/PvP guide[u]
By Lipe82

The Dual Blades set (or DB for short) is a very stylish set, allowing for weapon customizations and inspiring for many interesting concepts. Developers designed it to be a very fast set, and still with tactical elements in the forms of sequences (combos), which add secondary effects to your attacks.

This awesome looking set has serious flaws, however. Main one, its based on lethal damage, which is highly resisted (hell if I know where they measured an energy punch and concluded it was so much worse than a stab on your lungs - more on this below). And then we are stalkers.

Aside from people who simply don’t know how to play Stalkers (you’d be surprised), and the very exaggerated comments about it, the DB stalker has its problems, specially when it comes to PvP. With the exception of Energy Melee, DB seems to be in line with every other Stalker’s primary. Notice however that this is an admitted problem in designing of the AT, and fixes have been and will be proposed. Mainly of all, the set is playable, and properly done it’s a damn fun experience. Seeing the unsuspecting opposition going down in one deep stab speaks for itself.

If you know your limitations and your strengths, though, you can overcome them and actually enjoy the show, having fun with your blademaster killer. While you are far from the potential most of us would expect, you have potentials, and this is what this guide will try to put together for old and new lovers of the Archetype, or the set.

::[u]Dual Blade’s General Overview[u]
Combos - As a Dual Blades Stalker, you need to “think combos”. Treat combos as a whole attack on its own. While all Stalkers need to plan how to best apply their Assassin Strike, you will be planning your Sweep or Empower instead. Do not forget the particular features of your specific single attacks, but remember they were designed to be chained.

Every Power on Set – each combo consists of 3 powers, so to take advantage of the combo system, you will want every and each power from Dual Blades. Exceptions could be made but you will surely miss the combos they are part of (specially Nimble Slash for Attack Vitals).

Secondary Powers Selection – Due to the reason above, this is going to be a tight build, so you should have this in mind when selecting your secondary. A set that also asks for many powers (such as Super Reflexes) will be pretty hard to mature and manage. Specially if you plan on PvP, since your best PvP spot is Siren’s Call (a lv 30 zone, see pvp notes). Regeneration and Ninjitsu are popular, and considered to be “loose” sets. That said, the selection is up to personal tastes, concept and play style, as each set has a different something to offer.

Pool Powers - As with other Stalkers, there isn’t much to look for in the Pool Powers at all. If you’re the kind of player used with healings, it’s good to have a Secondary with some Self Heal as well, since you hardly will have room for Medicine (or any other Power Pool, actually). Leadership and Presence offers nothing to improve your performance noticeably. Depending on your secondary, Fighting could be interesting, if it wasn’t so costy to get to the good powers. If you plan on PvP at all, Stealth from Concealment is pretty mandatory, but useless otherwise. And fitness…

No Stamina? – Even without EndRed enhancements, all powers in Dual Blades are light on endurance. Also, a Stalker lacks survivability for long battles or sequences of battles - will hit-and-run a lot, often finishing it with a single hit. The “cooldown” and setup between fights (specially on PvP) should be enough to keep your Endurance alive, even without Stamina. If you can fit it in, though, it is very interesting for all the buffs the Fitness Pool offer. DB’s end-friendly powers still allows you to scrap some good two or three enemies on pve, with toggles running without endurance problems even without the often mandatory Stamina (managing which toggle you actually need instead of letting it all on helps a lot though).

Travel Powers – Since this is a tight build, you’ll probably be limited to only 1 travel power as well. Choose wisely and consider your needs and preferences.

<ul type="square">Teleportation: Teleport is the fastest (but tricky) travel form. Recall Friend with your ability to go unseen will help making Task Forces a lot easier and faster for your team by tp’ing them straight to the objectives without fighting everything on its way, but isn’t as practical as SS or SJ for PvP. TP Foe have its uses for pulling, or against flying foes, and makes for a few PvP “traps” (TP Foe – Placate – AS). Notice that Teleport is very disappointing out of the box, but with levels and enhancements, it works great.

Flight: Hover and Fly are good (even if slow) travel powers, and notice that it is possible to cast Assassin’s Blade while flying, which often comes as a surprise on PvP. Air Superiority is hands down the best attack from a power pool. Specially if you can fly, there shouldn’t be much need for it, but you can use it to strengthen the value of the many Knockdowns Dual Blades have to offer. Last but not least – Hover offers means to Assassinate that smart [censored] enemy that stays planted on his caltrops/traps all day.

Speed: Even if the set itself is pretty fast, for optimal times of self-heals, Placate, Build Up and so on, you might consider Hasten. Superspeed, while very cool and precise as a travel power (and great for pvp) can be less practical since CoV has many vertical obstacles such as buildings, walls, faults, and etc (and Gradville, one of the last zones, is pretty much a maze of steel walls). Whirlwind, specially for a Stalker, isn’t at all appealing, save for concept reasons if any. No need for a weak filler such as Flurry

Leaping: Jump Kick falls in the same category as Flurry. Now Combat Jump, besides offering a little bit of Defenses, can be made a “mini travel power” if coupled with Hurdle. It’s not even close however to the great mobility offered by Super Jump (and as a Stalker, chasing a target effectively is as important as getting away from the scene of murder), specially considering that slow effects barely affect it. Acrobatics makes a defense against Knockdowns, which many Stalker Secondaries lack, and while Issue 12 should bring a nerf to it, its proposed modifications should still save you from KD on most PvE situations.[/list]
Scrap Stalk – No stalker is designed to scrap in the open near a group of foes due to low HP and best attacks coming out from Hidden state. I will still use the term scrap here, referring specifically to fighting a foe till death without repeatedly hit-run-hide-repeat tactics. That said, DB offer greats potential on any form of scrapping, with its combos and side-effects.

Area Attacks, to be or not to be? – DB has great potential for Area attacks, as its last 2 powers are heavy hitters and have a manageable reach. Compared to other classes AoE however, ours aren’t that great. Besides, stalkers hardly have capacity to fight simultaneously five guys and survive all the returning fire as if they were a Brute. Mostly, your AoE will hurt a group (for a fair damage, compared with the attacks of this set), but requires you to hold tight afterwards, while by other means you could outright nullify a threat already and set up for next target. This is highly a matter of play style; the best suggestion is taking and experimenting the AoE if you aren’t sure how they work.

Lethal Damage – Dual Blade’s Lethal damage is highly resisted on high levels. Usually, even if a weakness, this isn’t completely crippling your firepower specially if you have a Damage inspiration for those crucial moments (it is still unfair, however – Energy Melee does pretty decent damage without the need of extra work). On Pvp however, this will highly restrict you (see below)!

::[u]The Powers[u]
Nimble Slash
Minor Damage, Very Fast Recharge (3s)
Enhancement Suggestion: 2 Acc, 3 Dmg
Available: Lv 1
A quick 2-hit, pretty weak attack. Its main use is as the 2nd move for the Attack Vitals combo, but since that combo won’t be available until level 18, you can skip it until you feel a need for a filler on your attack chain. As a first attack selection, Power Slice is a better choice (see below), but from level 18 onward, this power helps your scrapping needs.

Power Slice
Moderate Damage, Fast Recharge (5s)
Enhancement Suggestion: 2 Acc, 3 Dmg
Available: Lv 1
A 3-hit strike with great value as your level 1 power. Its Critical Hit will grant you a nice edge on your first fights before you get Assassin’s Blades, but it is still useful when it comes to scrapping, since it’s the opening move for Attack Vitals.

Ablating Strike
Moderate Damage, Fast Recharge (6s), Target -Def (7,5%)
Enhancement Suggestion: 2 Acc, 2-3 Dmg, optional1 DefDebuff
Invention Origin suggestion: Achilles’ Heel: Chance for ResDebuff
Available: Lv 2
Two horizontal hits with your blades, slightly less damage than Power Slice, and a Defense Debuff. A decent attack on its own right, specially when slotted properly, and the finisher for your first combo available (Sweep).With 1 DefDebuff, your target loses 10% of defense values for 10 seconds. While not a lifesaver, the Def Debuff is useful on fights against high defense foes (Bubbles, Super Reflexes, etc). The –Def component might not be too noticeable at lower levels; also, a second DefDebuff enhancement raises it to only 11%. So, slot only one and on your late teens if at all.

Slotting an Achilles’ Heel: Chance for ResDebuff reduces that Lethal damage issue a bit, effectively granting your attacks an extra 20% punch for a brief time – enough for you to land a full Attack Vitals combo on the now-less-tougher target.

Assassin’s Blades
Special Damage, Slow Recharge (15s), 1s Activation Time
Enhancement Suggestion: 1-2 Acc, 3 Dmg, 1 optional RechRed or EndRed
Available: Lv 6
Now we’re (s)talking. With this one charged, deep stab with both blades, you start enjoying being a Stalker. Used while Hidden, it will cripple or outright yellow mobs, or even above if properly slotted. Coupled with Build Up, it can kill yellow Lieutenants and some squishy players in one shot – about pvp by the way, Build Up + Assassin’s Blades is how you’ll start all your pvp encounters, and a Red Inspiration comes handy for this purpose. Inherent Accuracy Bonus here, so 1 Acc is enough (again, Build Up will pump it). Get (and slot!) this power asap.

Knowing how to apply this power (and mainly what to do next!) is the line between good Stalkers and lame Stalkers, so, a few tips. Pay attention to the activation time, if you move or get hit during it, the power is canceled. Don’t try it on targets over hostile caltrops, damage auras, etc, as you might be exposed before the hit. On PvE, even if you take down a Lieutenant in one hit, its Minions will still go after you. Like all stalkers, this is where you rely on your travel powers, group, and Secondary to avoid dying. As a Dual Blades however, you also have the option of the Sweep combo, knocking down the whole mob (and the eventual survivor) after the hit – more on it later on the Combos section.

Build Up
Self PowerUp (+ 20% Acc, +80% Dmg), Long Recharge (90s)
Enhancement Suggestion: 3 RechRed (pretty mandatory!)
Available: Lv 8
By the numbers above you can tell how Build Up is a great tool at your disposal. Besides empowering your combos, its optimal use is specially before your Assassin’s Blade. That’s right: it will make your Assassin’s Blade a lot deadlier. Once you get it, experiment and learn how/when to use it: you want it up before using Assassin’s Blade on a Boss, or higher level enemy, on every and all attempts of Assassin’s at PvP. However, make sure to not waste it on a target that already would die by Assassin’s Blade alone! While it makes Sweep combo available (if you also have Assassin’s Blades and Ablating Strike), getting this power right away may be a bit overkill, you can skip this power until later depending on the level of mobs that you are fighting.

Placate
Special, Long Recharge (60s)
Enhancement Suggestion: 3 RechRed
Available: Lv 12
The Stalker’s wild card. Effectively, what Placate does is Hiding you from the Placated target, so that you can use an attack (enjoying the usual Hide/Critical Hit system), cast an Assassin’s to put him out of his misery at once, or run like a little girl. On PvP its also useful for a set up that would require being out of Hide at first – such as Teleport Foe.

Warning - This power WILL NOT Hide you from everyone, only the Placated target! In middle of a group, the non-placated friends of the target will still want your blood. Also, if the target was in middle of an attack while hit by Placate, that attack will still get you and ruin your Hide. Finally, the DoT of Attack Vitals or secondary status (like Defense Debuff, Fear, etc) will count as an attack, revealing you to the target. Note that lag is a factor in all these examples.

It’s still a great move against tough targets nonetheless, PvE or PvP. Due to its tactical nature, it’s up to you when to take it (but surely around late 20s if you plan on Siren’s Call).

Vengful Slice
High Damage, Moderate Recharge (8s), Knockdown
Enhancement Suggestion: 2 Acc, 2-3 Dmg, 1-2 RechRed
Avaliable: Lv 18
Three slashes, the last one ending on an uppercut that can knockdown your foe. Good damage on its own, and the finisher for the Attack Vitals combo. An interesting aspect of this power is the Knockdown component: if vulnerable to it, you can keep your target on an almost constant Attack Vitals loop, hurting him, knocking him down, over and over. For that you will need Recharge Reduction enhancements on Vengful Slice, as many as you can fit. For PvE this can be a good tool, and for PvP it might help you (see “PvP Notes” section) keeping your foes where you want them. Get his power asap, it’s a good attack to keep you slashing through enemies as you level up.

If you have all the DB powers until here, you have already access to all combos except for Weaken. This should be your optimal tool set for Siren’s Call. Alternatively, you could sacrifice one of the movements above in favor of Sweeping Strikes, below, giving an AoE attack, and a heavy hitter (although not chained) earlier. A matter of style.

Sweeping Strike
Superior Damage (cone), Moderate Recharge (11s)
Enhancement Suggestion: 2 Acc, 3 Dmg
Avaliable: Lv 26
As you make a cross-slash with your both blades, Sweeping Strikes could be considered the first real “heavy hitter” from the stalker set, as it deals a good amount of damage on its own. AND it is an Area damage – its cone isn’t big, but easy to affect at least 2 other adjacent opponents. For those interested in area attacks, this is a great power, even more so when followed by One Thousand Cuts. If you have a consistent attack approach at level 26 and the build is too tight (both things should be true at this point) you can get this power later, as the combo it is part of (Weaken) is fairly inferior to the other ones already available for you up to this level.

Check the “AoE” observation aforementioned on this guide for additional information on when to take this attack, if at all. As a last note, while you get this power, your friend EM stalker has access to Energy Transfer (superior in every aspect). Go figure.

One Thousand Cuts
Superior Damage (cone), Slow Recharge (16s), Area Knockdown
Enhancement Suggestion: 2 Acc, 3 Dmg, optional 1-2 Rech (combo “loop” purposes)
Avaliable: Lv 32
Our last attack, on which the blades recklessly slash everything in front of you, pulling enemies away. Looks weaker than it actually is because its damage is applied in 11 (eleven!) smaller portions, with a last hit about 3 times these single ticks. If you make the math, this is the heaviest attack of the set, besides having a decent reach for AoE purposes, and a built in knockdown. Maybe the only lackluster aspect here is the combo it chains into (see The Combos section), but individually it’s great to reduce the HP of a mob, knockdown the eventual pack that’s giving the Team extra trouble (loose mob onto the squishies, for example), or simply a solid heavy hit to insert when your other attacks are recharging. This is specially true when activated as a Critical Hit! A great add to your arsenal, take it at 32 or around it.

::[u]The Combos[u]
The combo system is very simple to use – whenever you cast a power that is an opener for a sequence, the powers tray will highlight the next powers that can chain as a follow up, so that you don’t need to memorize them. As you get new powers and new combos, you might want to arrange your tray in order to get each attack already near its possible sequences.

Sweep
Sequence: Build Up, Assassin’s Blade, Ablating Strike (therefore available at level 8)
Effect: Lethal Damage plus Knockdown on the target and foes near to him.
When fighting large groups, after the usual Assassin’s Strike, Sweep will knockdown the target’s friends, giving you time to flee. Also, if you notice the team is having a hard time, knocking down a whole group can give them that little time to re-organize. Notice that using this usually drags the group against you so use it wisely! Learn to position yourself for best use of this combo. A nice idea is using Assassin’s Blade, and while it is still charging, targeting the next enemy and cueing Ablating Strike. Notice the –Def component of Ablating Strike only applies to its target, not the whole knocked down mob.

Build Up+Assassin’s Blades, while killer on PvE, most often will NOT finish another player in one hit, so Sweep can knock them down, dealing a bit of damage itself plus allowing you time for extra attacks while the target gets up – finishing them. Due to the “Knockdown vs Acrobatics” issue discussed on the “PvP Notes”, a hint is using Sweep against PvP targets that lack SuperJump.

Empower
Sequence: Build Up, Assassin’s Blade, Placate (therefore available at level 12)
Effect: Placates the target and buffs your Accuracy and Damage
The value of the Acc/Dam buff is assumed to be 10% on each, but regardless of the exact number, it is pretty low and almost unnoticeable. It’s only use would be on 1v1 PvE fights for that little extra firepower, little being the keyword. You’ll have this combo regardless, since the powers of its sequence are mandatory to any stalker.

Attack Vitals
Sequence: Power Slice, Nimble Slash, Vengeful Slice (available at level 18)
Effect: Knockdown the target, applying Damage over Time
The ultimate combo for scrapping – it will deal decent damage, knock the foe down and let him bleeding for a while. The DoT is composed of five “ticks”, each of them dealing half the damage of Vengful Slice. Build up will influence the whole chain, thus, the DoT as well. When you knock a target with Sweep, apply this combo before he/she gets up and you might lock them on the ground. It’s a great finisher for PvP and PvE after a Sweep.

You have 2 options here, depending on how you slot Vengful Slice. Either maximizing damage, for improved DoT, or sacrificing a damage slot and putting 2 Recharges, to reduce the gap between the “knockdown loop”.

Weaken
Sequence: Sweeping Strike, Power Slice, One Thousand Cuts (available at 32)
Effect: Target and its nearby allies are damaged and debuffed on Accuracy and Defense (and possibly knocked down by the One Thousand Cuts default effect)
This Area of Effect combo might look great at first, because it includes two decent AoE powers and tops it with an AoE debuff. Besides prone to drive attention to yourself, the debuff is very negligible, and hands down, this strictly PvE combo is the worse in terms of returns except maybe for the great AoE Attack chained into it. If your build it too tight you could skip/delay Sweeping Strike (thus skipping this combo), since as far as area attacks go, One Thousand Cuts is a pretty good one per se already, and it’s a lot better if used to break Hide instead of chained (thus making the combo obsolete).

::[u]PvP Notes[u]
All Stalkers, regardless of powersets, are targets that you can’t see until they hit you for a lot, but very fragile after they do so. On settings where players have room for many inspirations and damaging powers (like Recluse’s Victory), a Stalker is hardly a challenge for any experienced pvper; on low level pvp zones (such as Blood Bay) you lack a solid group of powers; finally, dueling a stalker is kinda silly altogether for obvious reasons.

Your best bet for a fun, competitive pvp esperience would be Siren’s Call. It’s level capacity is 30, and by that level the squishies are very squishy and there isn’t room for all the Lethal Defenses/Resists. And after some time playing around this zone, you’ll realize that all other Stalkers are on the same boat as you (again, EM being the dev’s-favorite exception for no logical reason). Claws, swords, kung fu, dark matter, what have we – its all about lurking, waiting, and striking from shadows.

You should lurk and stalk Controllers, Defenders and Blasters, waiting for the chance of a surprise Sweep + Attack Vitals (some don’t even survive through the Sweep). Tankers, Kheldians and most kinds of Scrappers are just impossible to take down alone. Keep an eye while they’re fighting though; with around 1/3 of HP, a nice Sweep or Empower with a few extra hits on these last targets can get you the kill and save a comrade from certain death.

Designed to be played with lethal damaging chained moves, Dual Blades will suffer on PvP. Aside from the Lethal Damage issue discussed above, on PvP, a single strong heavy hitter is better than a sequence of fast hits, even if the total sequence would deal a bit more damage in total. This happens because the of fast pace of fights, hardly allowing one to apply a full sequence of attacks before getting interrupted by holds, stuns, the sheer need to heal, or fleeing foes. DB has built in Knockdowns to counter that – but Acrobatics, a popular power on pvp, nearly nullifies it (Issue 12 will bring a nerf to Acro, however, hopefully making this approach more viable). A way to try and come on top of your limitation is popping a Damage inspiration before each Assassin’s Blade, and making best use of it after the hit. Don’t be greedy however, after a kill, your best bet is running away from the scene of murder, Hiding, and picking up a next target.

A last note, again for all pvp stalkers in general – you will need Stealth (Concealment Pool) and a Stealth IO. While useless for PvE, on PvP many players (most notably Blasters) have means to see through your Hide unless you stack all these. There is a version of this IO enhancement for each movement power, you should get the one that suit you and your wallet (a Jump +Stealth IO can go for around 20 millions!).

©Lipe82, May 2008.
This guide was made based on Issue 11 with aid of Mid’s Villain Designer
Special thanks to Fixer and Reiraku, for ideas, attention and feedback; and everyone in the community who helped me when I started my first stalker with a constructive or insightful comment or critic. The Meaning of Life video is a courtesy of Reiraku Inc.

Slash on!

No unofficial members of PWNZ were hurt in the making of this guide.

I just wonder what goes with our Devs about many matters on the big list. Those issues and suggestions don't seem to be hidden or elusive; nor silly at all, some are out there for long, and apparently not a lot has been accomplished.

I mean, a Capture the Flag while interesting might be very time consuming. But what about making some sets more able to compete? If the determination of sets how it is currently renders most of them very lackluster on pvp, why cant we have a revamp on them?

I wish PvP was more on their priority list.

I can see there was a lot of effort to this guide, and while well written, I have to disagree on some points.

I think that the character backstory should be as straightforward and clean as possible, and specially short on the Biography window of the character. As honestly cool many of them are, not everyone will scroll down for a testament which could be well written in a lot lesser lines. To quote this golden line someone said above:
[ QUOTE ]
Rp'ing means playing a role, not just drama and making up complex stories nobody but you care abought.

[/ QUOTE ]

On Pen and Paper, Tabletop Roleplaying Games (which is where the guide writer seems to be coming from), I'd rate this guide as awesome. But we should face that on Co*, things work different. Its more about how interesting is the INTERACTION of your character with the (often random) other characters s/he side with, than having a fairly interesting story, mostly because a cool story takes some time to "captivate" the viewers until they care about it, and many times your first RP encounter with a given character will be your only one.

My two cents.

[ QUOTE ]
Surprisingly accurate critique of history found in a PvP thread. Awesome.. seriously

[/ QUOTE ]

QFT. "In a pvp thread" being the most surprising.

Hey there man!

I"m no pro with Brutes, so I'll stick about enhancements. There is a mechanic called "diminishing returns". To put it as simple as possible: when you enhance something more than 3 times, the 4th enhancement is severely reduced in terms of bonuses. Whatever you slot, dont slot more than 3 of the same kind.

There is a kind of "General Rule" for enhancements, which is something like this:

Attack Powers: 2 Accuracy, 3 Damage. Optional: 1 Recharge or 1 Endurance Discount.
Defensive Powers: 3 Defense (or Damage Resist). In case it is a "toggle" (a power you activate and let it running) you might want to add 1 or 2 Endurance Discount.

As you can imagine, you'll take some time to get so many slots. You will want to determine priorities on which powers you want optmized first. AND, at level 27, its a good idea to start investing on (or saving for) "IOs" (Invention Origin enhancements). If you dont know what are these, PM me and I can explain.

Last tip - you wanna dowload this awesome Hero Builder to make your planning easier.

Good luck, hope I helped a bit.

Very interesting guide. The synergy of these two sets is really noticeable even for me - and I'm a new player without 1 month of game yet. My first and main char follows those sets, obviously one or two screw ups were done and waiting the lv 24 respec to be fixed, otherwise it is ok.

As I mentioned tho, I am a real novice around CoH and would make some comments and doubts, everyone feel welcome to reply to these.

1) I never went to PvP yet, and frankly dont think about going there till 30-some (after another respec if needed - for now my objective si REACHING that level). So my thing so far is PvE, both teaming and soloing. Would you do any modifications on tha build in order to be versatile and useful both Teaming and Soloing, or it is already?

2) I just love Sniper as a 1st hit; with slotted DO dmg, Power Up and eventually Dmg inspirations, I feel like it does a decent starting punch, and the eventual knockdown allows an approach for Energy Punch &gt; Power Thrust (knockdown again) and if by then it isnt dead, Slug would do the job. Comments on this tatic? Seems to work fine for me but as I said, I am a starter.

3) I absolutely want Superspeed on my build What would you remove from the one posted above?

I'll eventually make what I plan to be my build on that Hero editor and put it here,; please comment it when I do so.

All in all, great guide, interesting comments, pretty helpful.

There are any RP friendly / conceptual SuperGroups in Freedom?