An Encounter With Stalker.

[Tsukinoki]

@Kinperor
I had him moving around and using his abilities he didn't stand still at all for me...and he teleport spammed, making him nearly impossible to hit or keep track of part of the time.  When I was playing with my friends he managed to down a full modded Rhino *twice* because of teleport+slash dash.

I do agree that he was a bit on the squishy side, but he is a *lot* closer to being fairer, yet still challenging, to a wider range of players than he was previous to the event.

[Kinperor]

See, this sounds more interesting than what I had. I would share another video, but he really stood still, so a picture would sum it up. 

 

I'll have to meet him again to get a good idea of what's up with him ATM. 

[Tsukinoki]

@Kinperor
It will definitely take playing around and hoping to encounter him more so I can better gauge him overall.

The one thing that I will say is that I did not notice him teleporting us around, though it was hectic and he may have been teleporting my friend.  He was teleporting himself quite a bit though.
Further, his kills weren't insta-kills and were allowing us to revive each other.
And finally I didn't notice my friend stagger when IS was removed from him.  Though I would see him pop IS, stalker would do his dispel and then start damaging his health.  I just never saw him do the stagger animation which may mean that they removed the stagger from the dispel.  It's also possible I just didn't notice him stagger from the effects.
If they removed the stagger than that would fix the issue with bringing along shade and having him pop up...but I'll need to see if it still does have the stagger for sure.

[Shanicus]

I really liked stalker in the Darvos event - still as powerful as ever (watched him slash-dash through a line of MOA's, which was hilarious) and incredibly quick (he did rolls, flips and even wall-ran across one of those big pillars to get at me), but he wasn't a drawn out fight due to his low level, and I was able to use my Strun Wraith (level 10, freshly forma'd with only a Blaze damage mod equipped) to take him down after a few Avalanches ripped open his shields.

Outside the event though - I'm one of those very, very few players who doesn't have a problem with the Stalker but agrees that he should be looked at so he doesn't obliterate everyone he faces. His current level scaling is either 'Lowest level in system+15' or 'Highest Weapon equipped on target+15', which I think is just a little too much with the current leveling system - that can change his level between 30ish (Pluto tier, level 70 in old system) and 45 (Tier 3 Void, 120 old system) which is a titanic jump in levels and can really screw with you based on what you've got equipped - I highly doubt a MK-1 Braton is going to do too well against a level 20 Stalker in the new scaling system (and what's worse is for those newbie players who decided to level their Braton to 30 before switching out; suddenly level 45 stalker all up in their face is not going to win people over).

Changes I'd propose to him is making him less durable and a little less damaging - a 'glass cannon' if you will, bringing him in line with a heavily modded Rhino or Saryn in Conclave than the wall of steel that he is now. His base stats are in line with an Excalibur suit, but with scaling this brings him up to pretty intense levels at 30-45; reducing his armour and hp would help, and stopping him from dealing 500+ damage with every attack would definitely bring him within non-frustrating ranges so you have a chance of winning against him. Since he's a Warframe - and a light warframe at that, not a Frost or Rhino - I think his strength should come from speed and abilities rather than sheer damage resistance and output. So while he's easy to damage, he's hard to hit due to his mobility. Lord knows that's how I fight him, and that's so much more fun than just standing there, attempting to tank his hits.

As for how I fight him - in a no Shield, Health or QT/Rage (though that's been nerfed now) Loki; after dying to him several times in a Maxed Vigor/Vit/Redirection Rhino, I figured I'd try the opposite side of the fence and attempt to out speed him. When the lights first flicker I find one of the larger rooms and use Loki's speed to my advantage - I run along the walls, slide, flip and roll out of the way, never stopping until the shadowy bastard is dead. Since all his attacks are projectile-based, this really helps me avoid his highly damaging hits (and since he always spawns on me as 45 thanks to my Brakk, one hit with 225/225/50 is an insta-kill). If there are other enemies in the room I use my abilities as well; switch teleport something whenever Stalker gets into melee, throw a Decoy down when he slash dashes to absorb the blow, Radial Disarm a group of enemies so they crowd around him and melee him, giving me a meat-shield... just using everything I can to make it as hard as possible to actually catch me.

Weapon wise my Primary tends to vary, but I use my Brakk against him - I've got maxed Hornet Strike, Diffusion Barrel and 2000 points of explosive damage modded into it, which helps whittle him down. It still takes quite a few shots to take him down though, and the fact that it's one of the few weapons I have that can kill him when he's at 45 does not help any newer players find guns that work against him. I'm gonna run the Sobek when I level my secondary weapons, see if that's an effective weapon against him (Shotguns work well due to his speed), but at the moment it's Despair (takes ages), Brakk (takes a bit), Strun Wraith (Takes a bit, but needs to be in CQC) and the Vectis (single clip is a boon as you can't hang around unloading a 10-shot clip into him). Everything else is either too slow or requires too much standing still to accurately hit him.

I love the concept of the Stalker and really do enjoy fighting him, but he should invoke feelings of 'Yes! Epic fight ahead!' in the player base instead of 'Great, there goes another revive'; he should be a challenge, not a Frustration.

PS: also, has anyone noticed how he'll attack the entire party now instead of picking just one guy? I had him kill half my squad (including his target) earlier, with him just switching focus after each kill. Thank Christ we were all using shotguns, otherwise it would have been a total party kill.

 

[drMightyPotato]

The stalker in the event is was very different. He didnt insta kill me, his aim is not as perfect, his hp/shield pool i smaller (I had my fully modded brak so he whent down in 5 shots directly trough health), he is once again targeted by other factions, his dispel no longer stuns but his teleport does. 
My rhino (250+ armor, 1110 shield, 470 hp) managed to get me out simply by running and dodgeing. All in all its a improvement from the old stalker, and i enjoyed the fight for the first time since his buffing spree.

Would be quite nice if they removed the ability from dispel to affect you even when he doesnt see you, giveing that ability a line of sight.

[Kinperor]

@ Shanicus: Mhh, I see. Did you face the U11 Stalker yet, beside the one in Darvo's mission? 

 

I would also be curious to see a video of how you fight the Stalker, if you have the means to record stuff. 

[Shanicus]

@ Shanicus: Mhh, I see. Did you face the U11 Stalker yet, beside the one in Darvo's mission? 

 

I would also be curious to see a video of how you fight the Stalker, if you have the means to record stuff. 

Alas, my computer isn't strong enough to handle both Warframe and a recording program - tried before but it just ended horribly, with massive framerate drops and crashes. When I get a new Graphics Card I might be able to, but that's not for another 3 months or so.

As for me fighting the Stalker post 11 - yes, I have 5 times - the first few times was in a Rhino and was unprepared so I died easily, the one before last time was in an Excalibur I was leveling who got shredded (level 6 Braton Prime and 7 Lex = 22 stalker, killed me very quickly) and the latest time was in my Loki during a Capture III mission. It took a good 3-4 minutes to beat him with the Loki because I knew I was in such a squishy build and his damage is through the roof, but I did have my Brakk on me which helped whittle him down slowly while I kept dodging. I fought him in the very large room that's got the two metal orbs hanging from the roof and walkways crossing over, so I would run onto those then jump off and switch teleport to the second one mid-jump to throw him off. I ended up burning a fair amount of energy that fight as well, with me using about 5 or 6 medium energy restores and just running over them whenever I had the chance.

It was really fun and challenging fighting him with my Loki, but I can definitely see why he needs some tweaking; I'm really good with my Loki and had my good weapons equipped which is why I survived; my fully modded Rhino (Max Redirect/Vigor/Vitality/Steel Fiber) who I use when I just want to steamroll low level alerts got easily destroyed when I first fought post-11 Stalker. As much as I loved the fight I don't want to have to run around in all my best gear just in case he spawns in on a mission I'm doing.

[Kinperor]

Alright, I see. Good insight. 

 

This tie in with what I said earlier: Fighting Stalker should be realistic for people that are 40-60% ready to fight Stalker (the % readiness is arbitrary, but you get the idea). People below that are just too poorly equipped or familiar with Stalker, and the people above probably have 4 stars weapons equipped all the time, making Stalker trivial.

 

I think Stalker's stats should be reactive, and not static: Example, Stalker spawns on a dude who has an un-potatoed nearly maxed weapon with one star, and as such has a hard time breaking Stalker's shield, as a result of that, Stalker gets lower health/armor stats. Same situation, but with a potato'd 8 stars Soma, and then Stalker gets more health/armor (to a cap) and uses wilder tricks. 

 

I think that would be a fairer way to adapt Stalker to the player(s). His shield would be the segment where he gauges you, and once that's done his health changes based on DPS. Slap on that a DPS limiter to make sure people doesn't cheese him by faking a low DPS on his shield before using a stronger weapon. 

[Davoodoo]

He definitely needs to be toned down.

The whole instant power canceling thing is a little too much.

Cancelling powers is actually a good idea but not as it is now, no animationm no nothing, your powers just stop working without any real reason. Let it be either targeted when he needs to actually see you or small range aoe around him with at least short casting time. 

Stalker also should be affected by our powers but he should be able to cancel all cc on him same way i mentioned he could cancel our powers.

And again his hitscan dread which can oneshot ppl in lighter than heaviest frames is just beyond dumb idea.

[Aspari]

Yeah new Stalker is complete bullS#&$. I wish DE would have just made it so that the only person who could target Stalker was the Tenno he was targetting. He didn't need to have any of his damage buffed. Hell, it would have been cool if the Tenno was kidnapped into some Dark Realm to do one-on-one battle with the Stalker. 

[Brimir]

The new Stalker might as well cause a pop-up on your screen

 

"You lost one Revive."

 

See Stalker -> Abandon Mission

[TonyFoot]

Seriously, who was the idiot at DE who said...."I think the stalkers needs a buff", im talking major levels of stupidity here, don't they "test" their changes? didn't one of them tried to fight the "new and improve" stalker?

 

This isn't on the front of the box concerning warframe, but since this is still beta, WE are the testers. 

...actually doesn't help much because DE gets so many conflicting reports on these things and no one can seem to form a general consensus, on this or any topic. Also doesn't help that when any topic becomes conflicted, even in the slightest, DE is extremely hesitant to make any changes.

I can see the reasoning behind this (they want to make as many people happy as possible) but it really isn't helping development.

[Chemorrhage]

As a Full Tank built Steel Wall of a Rhino, I've found some success in keeping a medium range cover/to/cover style of fighting. Recently Ive found such love for the Karak rifle as my new stalker-hunter gun with a Split chamber, Serration maxed and heavy calibur mod setup to really lay down the hurt.

 

The strategy is simple and plays to my frame builds strengths in damage resistance and sheer volume of return fire. It also very much helps to keep a sentinel (In my case dethcube) to lay down some cover fire and buy you breathers.

 

The moment stalker alerts you to his presence find cover that allows you to break LOS with him and keeps your sentinel floating just outside of cover keeping it in LOS with stalker. For me it was then a point of going toe to toe in a gunfight hitting to cover after he got a shot off on me in return, keeping my dethcube in LOS however to peck away and prevent any form of shield recharge for stalker. I then reloaded, recharged and returned to the fight.

 

My Rhino Build can take about 3-4 consecutive hits from stalker before going down, knowing this I never let him land more than 2 (even that was risking it) making sure to get the better of each trade off and bitterly bringing him down before getting back into my cover and keeping him out of LOS by moving around it if e tried to get closer.

 

I've had some good success with this and would recommend it to other Rhino players because it doesn't rely on using speed which isn't Rhino's strength unless you have a vanguard helmet equipped and some speed mods.

[Helljack84]

Your Brakk loadout is awful. But yes to everything else.

 

Please keep in mind that the videos show a heavy Warframe, with maxed out mods for taking even more punishment.

Every other Warframe will be killed in 2-3 hits, even with maxed out survivability mods.

Edited December 24, 2013 by Helljack84

[Kinperor]

As a Full Tank built Steel Wall of a Rhino, I've found some success in keeping a medium range cover/to/cover style of fighting. Recently Ive found such love for the Karak rifle as my new stalker-hunter gun with a Split chamber, Serration maxed and heavy calibur mod setup to really lay down the hurt.

 

The strategy is simple and plays to my frame builds strengths in damage resistance and sheer volume of return fire. It also very much helps to keep a sentinel (In my case dethcube) to lay down some cover fire and buy you breathers.

 

The moment stalker alerts you to his presence find cover that allows you to break LOS with him and keeps your sentinel floating just outside of cover keeping it in LOS with stalker. For me it was then a point of going toe to toe in a gunfight hitting to cover after he got a shot off on me in return, keeping my dethcube in LOS however to peck away and prevent any form of shield recharge for stalker. I then reloaded, recharged and returned to the fight.

 

My Rhino Build can take about 3-4 consecutive hits from stalker before going down, knowing this I never let him land more than 2 (even that was risking it) making sure to get the better of each trade off and bitterly bringing him down before getting back into my cover and keeping him out of LOS by moving around it if e tried to get closer.

 

I've had some good success with this and would recommend it to other Rhino players because it doesn't rely on using speed which isn't Rhino's strength unless you have a vanguard helmet equipped and some speed mods.

 

Last time I had a fight that lasted more than 2 seconds against Stalker, he was too mobile to just play peekaboo with cover. 

 

 

Your Brakk loadout is awful. But yes to everything else.

 

Please keep in mind that the videos show a heavy Warframe, with maxed out mods for taking even more punishment.

Every other Warframe will be killed in 2-3 hits, even with maxed out survivability mods.

 

 

I don't really care for my Brakk load out, I barely use it except for this occasion where I had it on hands.

 

As for the video in my OP, I don't think it's relevant anymore, I am pretty sure he got nerfed since then. I recorded most of my recent fights against him, but there wasn't anything worth sharing other than the fact he can one-shot weak frames (I've seen it on 3-4 occasion now). 

 

I think that other than his ridiculous damage, Stalker is in a good position at the moment. The real issue (and it's a big one) is the damage, you can't even do jack before dying. I have one video where  me and a friend died to Stalker in a couple of seconds and neither of us knows how.

 

On the other hand, I have plenty of videos of Stalker where he dies under a second or glitch inside something like a tool. 

[Leuca]

As a Full Tank built Steel Wall of a Rhino, I've found some success in keeping a medium range cover/to/cover style of fighting. Recently Ive found such love for the Karak rifle as my new stalker-hunter gun with a Split chamber, Serration maxed and heavy calibur mod setup to really lay down the hurt.

 

The strategy is simple and plays to my frame builds strengths in damage resistance and sheer volume of return fire. It also very much helps to keep a sentinel (In my case dethcube) to lay down some cover fire and buy you breathers.

 

The moment stalker alerts you to his presence find cover that allows you to break LOS with him and keeps your sentinel floating just outside of cover keeping it in LOS with stalker. For me it was then a point of going toe to toe in a gunfight hitting to cover after he got a shot off on me in return, keeping my dethcube in LOS however to peck away and prevent any form of shield recharge for stalker. I then reloaded, recharged and returned to the fight.

 

My Rhino Build can take about 3-4 consecutive hits from stalker before going down, knowing this I never let him land more than 2 (even that was risking it) making sure to get the better of each trade off and bitterly bringing him down before getting back into my cover and keeping him out of LOS by moving around it if e tried to get closer.

 

I've had some good success with this and would recommend it to other Rhino players because it doesn't rely on using speed which isn't Rhino's strength unless you have a vanguard helmet equipped and some speed mods.

You must have amazing luck with the Stalker's AI. If I take cover he uses Pull and Teleport like a madman, effectively CCing me to death.

[Shanicus]

I'm not sure if Stalker's had any changes, but he does seem a little easier with 11.5 out - I've fought him 3 times since then and each time he's only been level 30, giving him much lower damage and Health. The armour fix they implemented seems to have affected him as well, since he doesn't seem to be able to take hits like a champion anymore and is surprisingly fragile (a single shot from a radioactive Brakk took him down to about 45% HP from full HP and shields). Last time I fought him was in a Loki with 550/225 shields and health and I was able to take a few hits from him - his Despair took 3 daggers to strip my shields and his Dread got me down to 107 HP (from full shields though), so I was able to survive when normally I'd be insta-killed for screwing up (he caught me in a cell I was unfamiliar with so my parkour was very sloppy).

I don't know what his level scaling is like right now as I've heard of people fighting him at a higher level, but for now I do like his 'level 30' fights as they seem to balance his high damage and fragility so I can not have to dodge him for 5 minutes to stay alive. I'm gonna attempt to lure him out later with suits I'm not used to using, see how that goes down so I can judge his 'new' difficulty properly.

(Note: I play on Solo most of the time, so I have no idea how Stalker interacts with groups as of 11.5 - if you run with groups fairly often he'll probably scale differently to match all the players instead of just one, so any advice I give is probably moot).