City of Villains Coldfront (CoH, CoV)

Dark Spectre's School for Assasins

PREAMBLE:

There seems to be a common theme out there of people dissatisfied with their Stalker characters' performance. “Too slow”, “too weak in combat” are commonly heard complaints. A few of us however are on the other side of the coin and love our stalkers. I have become convinced that the difference is a matter of how you perceive and play the AT. This guide is an attempt to distill the techniques that I have found to be very successful for my Stalker in CoV. There may be other ways to successfully play Stalkers. This is just one way I know of that works and works well.

I have to start this with the single msot important rule: Stalkers are not scrappers. In point of fact, they are very different from any other AT we've seen in CoH/CoV and require a unique attitude to play successfully. This is not a power character. If what you play the game for is a feeling of raw brute superiority over your enemies, play a Brute or even a Mastermind, but don't play a Stalker. You will be very disappointed. What the stalker is, is a thinking player's character. If you enjoy the feeling of living on the edge and winning out over superior odds through cunning and skill, then this may be the AT for you.

I am writing this from my place of experience-- the balde/ninjitsu stalker. Although I think most of the principles will transfer fairly well, you will have to do some experimenting with your own power sets if you use different ones.

I have written the rest of this in the form of a narrative for an important reason. More then any other AT, Stalkers require you to live and role-play the role. If you can truly get into the mindset of the assassin, the rest all comes naturally and easily. If you can't, you are probably going to be very frustrated. So without further Ado...

Lesson 1: Introduction to the art of the Ninja

“Welcome, Comrades.” The class blinked as their instructor walked in and addressed them in Russian. A slip of a girl, not more then 5'6”, with clear blue eyes over high cheekbones and long straight blond hair reaching down her back to almost touch her rear. She wore a button-down shirt and bluejeans and could not yet be 25. The only thing that looked vaguely martial about her was a Katana held up by a cloth belt wrapped around her diminutive midsection.

“I am Alexa Ivanova, codenamed Dark Spectre, and I will be your instructor in the art of assassination.” She looked around the room, sizing the expressions up carefully. “Alexa means 'Strength of the People' and that is what those of you who complete this course will become. You will be the scalpels by which our superiors extricate the cancers from the body politic. You will be the peoples' angels of death.”

She paused and looked the faces over one more time before going on. “I know some of you are wondering what I am doing at the front of this room. I look like I should be dating college football players and writing term-papers, not teaching a class on killing.” She stopped once more to encourage nods and murmurs. “Well, this is your first lesson. Your most important weapons are not the sword or rifle. Not your hands or your feet. Your most important weapons are perception and deception.”

OOC: A stalker is not a scrapper. You cannot just dive into combat and expect to survive. Your stealth will be your most important asset. We will discuss how to use it as this proceeds.

Alexa paused and smiled a somewhat feral smile before continuing. “I have had 8 years KGB training for my role, beginning at age 2. I killed my first target with a table knife when I was 8.” She paused to grin a little wider, enjoying the shocked expressions she saw on some faces and noting with satisfaction the few students who remained coldly neutral in outward demeanor. “ Would anyone like to test me?” She rested her fingers lightly against the hilt of her Katana and let her mind slip into that place she went where she did not consciously think about attack and defense, but simply was a shadow that moved in response to the action around her. As no one stepped up though she came out of her zone in a moment and relaxed her feral smile into a more natural one.

“Good,” she commented, “that was lesson two. There is no haste. Time does not exist for the Ninja. The great ninja master Rhas Al Ghul has said, 'The ninja knows that invisibility is a matter of patience.'
Never dive into an unknown situation. Gather your information and only strike when you are reasonably sure of success.”

OOC: There is seldom any excuse for getting in over your head as a Stalker. Your stealth is good enough to fool almost any enemy as long as you don't stand still right up close to them for an inordinate amount of time, Use your stealth to case the situation thoroughly before you attack. Many missions can in fact be resolved fastest by going to the ending and working backwards. I will talk more on that further on.

The young woman reached next for a stack of thin boards tied together with a rope. “This,” she continued, “is something you may have seen before, but I am going to show you another way of looking at it.” Picking the burliest looking man in the group she walked up to him and said, “You, what is your name?” “Steve Jordan, maam.” The man replied with an American accent and a snap to attention. Obviously ex-military, probably a mercenary. Perfect.

“Take these boards, Steve Jordan, and try to break them. The man did as he was told and grunted as he exerted all his might to no avail. Alexa let him continue for a moment and then said, “Alright. Now untie them and try them one at a time.” Doing as he was told, Jordan started breaking the boards one at a time with hardly an exertion. Alexa looked at the rest of the class. “Lesson 3: Separate your targets. A large group will bring you down by sheer weight of numbers and raise such a ruckus that everyone else will come running. A few men, however, can be taken out quickly and quietly by a competent assassin without making herself known to reinforcements.”

OOC: Again, this is not a scrapper. A stalker is acceptable in combat as long as your endurance holds out but when it goes, so do your defenses. You want your groups in manageable numbers so you can take them out quickly. The way to do this is to scout the situation and isolate groups. Generally you can find spawn clumps of 3 to 4 that you can take out. This is particularly important when facing bosses as attacking the boss will often bring everyone in viewing range running in. If you can take out the outlying groups first it will go much easier when you fight the boss. However remember the primary rule of stealth. You will want to get your first shot in on any hard enemy from stealth (more on this below).

“Alright”, Alexa smiled at the room, “I am sure none of you came here to break boards. This is not a wood shop class.” The room murmured, unsure if they should chuckle or not. “Let us get down to actual techniques.” Alex reached down and pulled the sword from its sheath. “I already explained that you should case your enemies. Know their strengths and weaknesses. Mr. Jordan..” “Yes, maam?” Well, at least he was consistent. Something to be said for army training. “Even with this sword, I assume you feel a big man like you could handle a little girl like myself.” Jordan blinked, unsure of the right answer. “Um, I'm not sure maam.” Alex smiled, he wasn't as thick as he sounded. “Good answer, you don't know... but if I walked straight up to you, I suspect your raw strength would best even my trained sword arm...”
Taking a step back, Alexa disappeared into the shadows in the back of the room. The class waited, holding their breath. Jordan tensed up, looking around. The class continued to wait.. 3 min ... 5 min. Nothing happened. Jordans eyes began to swim and he reacehd up to rub them. At that exact moment Alexa, now wearing her black gi, tights and hood, dropped from the ceiling directly behind him and laid the cold steel of the sword against his neck. Into his ear she hissed, “you are dead, Mr. Jordan.”

Allowing the class a moment to realize what had happened, she then dropped the sword from his neck and pulled her hood back. “Alright. Can anyone tell me why I just killed Mr, Jordan.” The class muttered and someone in the back offered tentatively, “because he's big?” Alexa smiled. A good group.

“Exactly. Lesson 4: In a tight group, you will get one and only one strike for free. Target your prime opponent and take him out. If you can do it quickly and quietly enough you may even be able to slip back into hiding before they know what hit them”

OOC: By far the best stalker attacks are from a hidden state. Criticals are much more likely from hiding and the fabled Assassin Strike is really only a good attack when done from hiding. Once you attack, your hidden state is lost to any in the spawn who can see the attack. If they see you, they will close immediately.

The ones that are facing away and don't see you generally wont immediately attack but when you drop the next MOB at least one more will generally figure out something is up and attack. The exception is bosses who all the MOBs in the area are watching and taking orders from, so they all know when he/she/it is attacked.

Don't waste your attack from hiding on a lesser creature of there is a larger creature in the spawn. Remember, speed is your ally as a stalker and you want to take the biggest threat in the group down first.

Alexa returned to the front of the room and gave the class a few moments to consider what she had just demonstrated. The, holding up her sword, she signaled for attention again. “I want to take a few moments to talk about equipment.” She began. “The equipment I just used was simple. A sword, a black outfit. Some climbing claws.” She displayed each as she described them. “Your equipment does not have to be fancy... but it does have to be in perfect working order. What if my gi had a spot and one of you had looked up and caught a reflection? What if my claws had slipped and I had made a noise climbing out over Mr. Jordan? What if I had dropped down and my sword had been to dull to slash open his neck in one stroke?” She looked around the class and gaged the murmurs. “You are correct. I would be dead, not Mr. Jordan.” She looked slowly around the room.

“This is critical. Above all else. If you do everything right, if you take your time, if you Separate your targets, if you sneak up on them, you will get one clean shot at a kill. If that fails for any reason, you will be lucky to get out in one piece. Don't lessen your odds by keeping your equipment in anything less then perfect shape.”

OOC: As mentioned above, Stalkers survive by keeping meles short and deadly. You will get one clean shot from hiding per spawn. You want that to count. I find that attacking from behind seems to improve my odds, but it may just be my imagination. Still its good role-play to do it. It also usually gives me the best chance of not being spotted by the entire spawn all atonce.

After that first attack, every swing counts to get the rest of the spawn down before you lose your endurance and your defenses. Keep your enhances up to date. Accuracy is very important. Reduced endurance can also be very helpful. A little extra damage doesn't hurt either to maximize your ability to stand in meele. Finally, the speed pool power Hasten is a great thing to get around level 10 to allow you to attack significantly faster.

Some might disagree but I strongly advise against using Assassin Strike in meele, at least in the low levels. Its slow, it takes a ton of endurance and it isn't really all that damaging when not used from hiding. This changes in the higher levels when you get”placate” which can put you effectively back into hiding in the middle of combat, but even with that I'd use caution in its use. Its best use is as that first key attack. I actually have it double acc enhanced to make as sure as possible that I don't miss that first strike.

Periodically, you will do everything right and, by the luck of the draw, you will miss that first strike. Or something will go wrong and you will pull more opponents then you thought you'd have into the battle. (There is a nasty bug right now that is making this last happen more then it should but the devs are looking into it.)

Congratulations, you have just “blown the assassination” and are in for a nasty fight. It happens to all assassins from time to time. Remember your inspires. You are likely to need them now. Kill all the witnesses as fast as you can and then get away to recover because you will need that too. These panicked fights can actually be kind of fun as you pull out all the stops and escape by the skin of your teeth. As long as they don't happen too often. Try to avoid them, but enjoy them when they do happen. There are some other related techniques for getting through them in one piece that I'll mention as we go on.

“Alright class, lets go back to when I took out Mr. Jordan. I did something wrong. can anyone tell me what? “ Alexa looked around the room at all the blank faces. “I'll give you a hint,” she continued, “lesson 3.” The class knotted their brows as one and then a female voice spoke up from the back of the room. “You didn't separate the group?” Al exa nodded and smiled, “Very good. What is your name?” “Tanya Rodriguez, maam”. Hmm, Alexas ear sized up the accent. Probably South American. She smiled, “Well Tanya, you get an A for memory. That is correct. “

Alex sheethed the sword and then undid the cloth belt and pulled the scbbaard from it, Walking back to stand just behind Jordan she continued. “Alright, I've just killed Mr. Jordan. Those of you facing me have just seen it. You attack. At this point I'm in a bit of pickle. “ Alexa paused for a moment before continuing. “I have very little time. I need to take out the witnesses, and probably the rest of you shortly thereafter, all before the ruckus is noticed by anyone else. Where I am standing now I could....”

Alexa whipped the end of the sheath out, using it like a pratice sword and thumped one student's chest, “take a chucnk out of you. BUT if I am aware of my surroundings... “ she lightly jumped sideways, bringing three students within reach and swung the sheath again thumping all three off them. “I can improve my odds of getting this done quickly.”

Smiling at her students she concluded, “Always be aware of your enemies. Where they are, what they are likely to do, and how to get the best advantage. In particular panicked guards often jump blindly in. By stepping back a few paces you can often get them to move in too close too fast.”

OOC: If you are using blade or another attack power set that has a multi-target attack be very aware of it. It is a complete waste of endurance to use it on a single target unless there is no way to get multiple targets in range. I have found that stepping back a step or two will bring meele attackers all in close so you can multi-attack them. Ranged attackers of course you just have to rush.

“The last lesson for today class is something I want you to observe. We will do training exercises later to help you to develop your senses. I mentioned before that perception is one of your deadliest weapons. “ Alex let her mind slip back into the zone she knew so well. “I want you all to attack me with those.” She pointed at a rack on the floor net to them full of short wooden bailing pins. The class looked nervously at her, her sword, and each other. With a smile, Alex dropped the sword to the ground. “Come on now, no serious wounds or weapons, but go all out with those.”

After a moment, Ms. Rodiguez turned and pulled a bailing pin out of the rack on the floor. Other followed suit. Jordan closed in on her with it and swung but she deflected it and dodged it with ease. As others joined it became harder and she began to work up a sweat. A motion caught the corner of her eye and she ducked just in time to miss one hurled at her. As she came back Jordan caught her hard on the side, with a slight expelling of breath the back of her mind noted that that would hurt later, when she let it. But for now, all her focus was in her defense. Feeling her breath start to grow short she held up a hand and barked “enough!”

She smiled at the class. “Well done”, she nodded. Jordan spoke up, “Ma'am, you are damn hard to hit.” Alexa smiled broader, “Thank you Mr. Jordan. That is all about perception. As you train you will learn to do similar things. But I must warn you, it takes a lot out of you. and if you lose your inner strength, you will likely not survive the encounter unscathed.”

OOC: Defenses are key for the survivability of a Stalker. The attacks are way cool but I would advise against filling up so heavily on attacks that you skimp on defenses. See my personal order of powers below. Your defenses are what will keep you alive while you finish the spawn off. They don't burn much endurance, at least the ninjitsu ones, but they do require a bit and thus will drop if you use all your endurance up attacking. Sometimes however thats unavoidable. Just try to make it last as long as you possibly can. (Blue inspires can save your butt as can purples. Reds and yellows can help you take the enemy down before he or she takes you down)

The class nodded back at her. “Alright, you have a lot to think about so I'm going to call that it for the day. Tomorrow, we start drills. Class dismissed.” Alex gave them a red-army salute, turned on her heel, and left the room.

Mission Strategies:

People who say Stalkers are slow to level don't understand what a stalker is. Remember Alexa's opening words... your a surgical scalpel, not a blunt instrument. If you play a stalker as correctly goal oriented the rest comes naturally, but for the sake of completeness Im going to lay it out.

It really doesn't play to try to “level clear” with most Stalker missions. Early on its worth doing a bunch of killing just to practice your technique but once you have the moves down you get far more experience by completing missions then from clearing MOBs. In any event if you achieve the mission goals then you get the wonderful little “Exit” button which can save your [censored] if, in then clearing mobs, you find yourself in a bad situation .

If its a “steal the maguffin” mission, just stealth right through it to the maguffin and grab it..

If its a “kill foozle and his guards” that generally means you need to kill the boss and the mooks in his spawn. Stealth to him and do that first.

If its a rescue or support mission very often there is an NPC who will join you and help fight (sometimes remarkably effectively) once you defeat the enemies in his/her/its spawn. Stealth to him/her/it and do that first and the rest of the mission will be much easier
In kidnap missions I've found that in general the kidnap victim doesn't draw agro so you can go get him/her and just lead them out while stealthed right past guards. Having said that, thats a bit too un RP for me so I always clear the guards going in between the exit and the victim. I don't however bother with the guards that come running as second wave once you have the kidnap victim. Since they will typically run from their spawn point right past me and the victim to their set target point I see no need to chase them.

Bank jobs are like “steal the maguffin” except that you can be hidden while breaking into the vault so you will have to deal with some guards in the vault room. If the mission display says “escape with the loot” or similar wording then the guards that come running need to be defeated before it will credit the mission. This is annoying but its life in CoV.
.

Dark Spectre's Current Build
I've got her up to 11th level so far with a minium of dying using the above techniques. This is the order I bought her powers in. I need to jot down my enhances when next in game and Ill add those:

Level 1: Sting of the Wasp/Hide
Level 2: Flashing Steel
Level 4: Ninja Reflexes
Level 6: Assassin's Blade
Level 8: Danger Sense
Level 10: Hasten

Next >

[ Back ]

Quick Search

About Coldfront | Privacy Policy | Advertising