A Mild-Mannered Reporter: In the case of Stalkers
It's kind of fitting that I wrap up this series on archetypes in City of Heroes just before I begin a six-week stint of a game chosen by popular opinion (go ahead and check in on Choose My Adventure if you're curious) because it's time for the last of the lot, one that seems almost obvious in retrospect when you look at the pattern in which I've been talking about each archetype. Scrappers were followed by a hybrid melee class, Brutes, which were followed by the Tankers, followed by the similarly party-oriented Defenders. Then we moved on to the inversely powered Corruptors, then the similar secondaries of Masterminds... and so on.
Long story short, there's just one archetype left, and in many ways it makes sense that this one would come at the absolute end of the proceedings. After all, we're talking about a class that prefers to stay hidden, one that sneaks out of sight and destroys opponents through a sudden and unexpected blow to the vitals. That's right, it's time to talk about Stalkers, and whether you're new to the game or just the class, let's cap things off with the sneakiest player option in the entire game.
Stalkers in a nutshell
Stalkers are like Scrappers in the broadest sense -- they deal melee damage. However, Scrappers are brawlers, taking hits and giving as good as they get, winning fights by straight-out durability and damage combined. A Stalker is not like that. A Stalker's targets never see her coming, and they're too dead to see her leaving. It's a class of silent kills, of sneaking, of assassination and subtle movement and patient destruction of your targets one by one. It is, in short, the stealth class.
Not, of course, that Stalkers are the only class that can skulk about in the shadows. But Stalkers derive the bulk of their abilities from doing just that, right down to the fact that their signature ability allows them to land crits on enemies unaware of their presence. That doesn't just mean from stealth, either -- placated or incapacitated foes are vulnerable as well. But when they have a few seconds to drop totally out of sight, that's when a Stalker is able to maximize the first-strike capability of stealth. Anyone can be sneaky, but no other archetype can pop out of hiding with such intense force, then drop back into stealth after a few moments.
The upside to playing a Stalker is that it's a very different take on the melee damage archetype; you're playing the sneaking assassin instead of the in-your-face brawler. The downside is... well, if you need to be told that the class doesn't do so well in a stand-up fight, you might have missed everything we talked about just now. You can buff your Defense pretty handily to avoid being a complete sitting duck, but when attacks start connecting, they connect hard. Plus, since your highest damage comes straight out of stealth, you're essentially worse in a fight the longer it goes on. Some people talked about Stalkers essentially launching one attack, then scurrying off in big group battles until they're Hidden again. That's not entirely true, but the core of it does have some basis in reality.
Primary sets
A Stalker's primary powers are focused around doing damage and are very similar to the sets afforded to Tankers, Brutes, and Scrappers with one important difference: the assassination strike. Each tree features an attack that deals a great deal of damage from stealth and takes a long time to wind up, making it a perfect opener for groups of enemies. You also gain a Placate power in place of the taunt-style abilities and generally trade one of the set's area attacks in exchange for your assassin strike.
Broad Sword, Claws, Martial Arts: A bit worse on a Stalker than on the other melee sets, mostly because you trade in almost all of your already-limited area capability for your assassination strikes.
Electrical Melee, Spines: Here, however, most of your area capability is retained, so the sets are as solid in the hands of a Stalker as anywhere.
Dark Melee: Losing Dark Consumption and Soul Drain gets you... Build Up and Assassin's Eclipse. Whee. Also, Siphon Life is moved to an insanely high level before you unlock it. It's not so much that this set is bad; it's that the really nice tricks normally present get shuffled off.
Dual Blades: Do you want to be an assassin? Most of the area capability of this set is stripped out, but the fact that your Empower combo is swapped to Build Up, Assassin's Blades, and Placate means that you attack with your highest damage straight out of stealth and then put your target in a state to be stealth-hit again. For strong single-target damage, it's a fine contender.
Energy Melee: I am fairly certain that in the game's terminology, the disorient effects from this set will not trigger your special assassination ability and allow you unbroken strings of bonus crits. But you still wind up with a target that's been clocked in the face and then is left staggered, so it's good times.
Kinetic Melee: Actually, I think I'd rather have Build Up than Power Siphon. You really just lose your ranged sweep, so it's a pretty solid set with a mix of area and single-target abilities.
Ninja Blade: Unique to Stalkers... but really, it's Katana under a different name, and it has the same issues that Broad Sword has. Not bad, but it gets kicked down to middling for the archetype.
Secondary sets
Every Stalker secondary starts with the same basic power, Hide, which allows the Stalker to drift into stealth and provides a bonus to Defense. This power is also worth loving because it costs no Endurance despite being a toggle, meaning that it's an excellent passive bonus to what you would want to be doing anyhow. Aside from that, it's the usual mix of defense and resistance.
Dark Armor, Super Reflexes: Functionally about the same as for the other melee classes -- you lose a couple of powers, but nothing terribly significant.
Regeneration, Willpower: No Quick Recovery? What madness is this? The loss of several set-defining powers means that the admittedly limited utility these sets offered in a group gets shot out the window rather unfortunately.
Electric Armor: You lose out on a passive area damage, but between Lightning Reflexes, Energize, and Power Sink, you're still getting the best out of this set. You don't really get to the good stuff until level 20, but once you do, you're getting a very strong set.
Energy Aura: I still think this is a pretty lackluster set for Brutes, but Stalkers get all of the best parts of that set plus Repulse, which is an excellent and very likable power to give yourself some breathing room. Best of all, hitting Overload on a Stalker is the sort of thing you can exploit for glory, with nothing needed afterward but a brief hiding place while the debuff wears off.
Ninjutsu: Stalker-exclusive, this set is nearly overpowered when you pick up that AoE Placate. Or that conical Sleep effect. Or when you factor in how insanely good all of your Defense values will be. While I'm not sold on Ninja Blade, this is a great opportunity for Stalkers to fade in and out of the shadows.
As for me...
I make no bones about how much I love playing in melee, so you would think that Stalkers would be one of my favorite classes, right? But it's not so. Stalkers are actually pretty far down on my list, and a big part of the reason is that I just don't like the way stealth classes play. When I play rogue-like classes (not roguelikes; that's different) I usually make a concentrated effort to be as un-sneaky as possible. It's not that I can't respect the class for what it is, it's that it just doesn't jibe with my preferred playstyle.
It's a bit sad for me because the archetype is sufficiently different from Scrappers that there's a lot of differences in play between the two, and considering how many abilities they share, that's laudable. At the same time, though, I keep having to force myself to remember to take things slowly and move like a stealth class ought to, and to make a long story short, I find that playstyle just doesn't light me on fire. The fact that the class isn't quite as party-friendly as Scrappers doesn't help matters, either.
On the other hand, being able to ninja around is pretty cool.
As always, I'm eager to hear what you guys think both in the comments or via mail to eliot@massively.com. (I fully expect to see a thread full of how much you love Stalkers, for instance.) Next week, let's wrap this whole series up proper with an index, some parting thoughts, and the usual aggregation I do when I finish a little mini-column series. Unless, of course, Freedom is still a hot-button issue. Boy, it can be a bit of a lousy game to be writing ahead.
By day a mild-mannered reporter, Eliot Lefebvre unveils his secret identity in Paragon City and the Rogue Isles every Wednesday. Filled with all the news that's fit to analyze and all the muck that's fit to rake, this look at City of Heroes analyzes everything from the game's connection to its four-color roots to the latest changes in the game's mechanics.
