The Stalker will easily give you great burst damage, fun movement abilities, and great utility abilities within the first 10 levels. Upon entry into the game you can immediately start with all the boosts mentioned below except for Flask of Experience. Fastest times should be 10 - 15 hrs depending how well you complete Quests and your luck with queues. Although this may seem like the best plan, we highly recommend you take your time and enjoy all Nexus has to offer.
This guide will cover the basics to get you successfully by any situation in Wildstar as a Stalker. This is currently not a min/max lvling guide and will include some talk of features in general. Full Wildstar level unlocks and map here
XP Bonuses before you start:
5% Exp Boost - 2 Step Verification - Link
10% Exp Boost - Flask of Experience - Guild Unlock - 500 Renown
50% Exp Boost - Flask of Advancement - in game Cash Shop - 230 NCoin / 115 Omnibits
The first ten levels for the Stalker consist of many core abilities, some of which can be swapped out at level 14 and 24. This will ultimately give you the wherewithal for how to properly utilize your abilities. This is very important considering the way combat mechanics are usually the highest priority over straight DPS. Below you will find the abilities for this level block that are important for taking down your enemies and doing the dance that is combat in Wildstar.
Nano Skin: Lethal - Your class innate is used to stealth past enemies or gain a damage bonus to your abilities. In combat use this whenever its up.
Shred - This is your main basic attack that will be the filler when your Suit Power is low.
Impale - Your main big damage ability. If Punish isn't up, then use Analyze Weakness in Stealth and start unloading a couple of these.
Stagger - Your first interrupt ability. Get use to this ability because it can stop an oppenents spellcast and create a MoO - stunning them and increasing damage recieved by 50%.
Punish - Use this whenever its up, best used if your innate is up, below 35 Suit Power and you can use Analyze Weakness before hand.
Analyze Weakness - This ability places a mark on your foe that increases damage and is consumed when you deal damage to the foe. Best coupled with the Punish ability.
Pounce - Your main movement ability. Use it to pounce into combat or escape danger.
Neutralize - This will be your main AoE ability. Try and save as a finisher for packs if you become surrounded. At level 24 you can swap this out for Preparation.
False Retreat - A movement / stun ability. Use to escape danger or add an interrupt armor on your opponent. At level 14 you can swap with Tactical Retreat.
The Stalker can be a fun futuristic ninja that offers high mobility and some sweet burst damage. You want to start out in your innate Nano Skin: Lethal (R) and tag your target with Analyze Weakness (3). After that unload as many Impales (2) as you can. Use your innate whenever it is not on cooldown. If you land a crit and proc Punish (4), try and use Analyze Weakness (3) before using it.
The abilities you want to make sure you utilize on top of the usual DPS stuff is Stagger (5), False Retreat (8), and Pounce (7). Stagger (5) and False Retreat (8) will allow you to interrupt your opponents armor (A brownish shield with a number next to your opponents nameplate.) - This will not only increase DPS on your enemy but it will also result in less damage taken; this is key to keeping health up and in turn getting into more fights quicker. Interrupting your enemy is essential to combat in Wildstar and will become a must in Elder Game content - get it down, and tighten those reflexes.
The Pounce ability will get you into fights faster (More Exp!!) or get you out of impending danger; same with False Retreat. These abilities may fall to the bottom of your list in destroying your enemies but they are what make combat in Wildstar fun and truly engaging with your enemy. Use them well, and use them often.
But wait... that's it?
Yes and no - as you level you will get more abilities that should be played with and used as needed; but this should put you in the right direction. Remember to keep an eye out for Preparation and Tactical retreat later on. I get it, we all want that max DPS and to breeze through stuff. The thing is - you really need to learn how to control your character and it's abilities to not only get the most out of your character, but to also get the most fun out of it. These abilities will teach you how to flow through combat, time those interrupts, and maximize those DPS opportunities.
After the first ten levels is when your abilities start to gather more character of their own. You will receive some more abilities that may be useful depending on your situation but for the most part the real flare comes from Amp and Ability points. At Elder Game you will have to gather a few more of these to reach their caps and to fully maximize your abilities and their utility. Try our Amps and Ability Point section to see where you can grab those extras at Elder Game (lvl 50)
Impale - As you gather Ability points it is suggested to always put as many as you can into this ability. It will be the cornerstone of your DPS while lvling.
Shred - This is second priority for Ability points while leveling. You will use this often between cooldowns of other abilities.
Punish - If you have extras then I would suggest placing the Ability points into Punish as it's another great damage dealer in your arsenal.
1. Tier up the Assault Power I,II, and III (1st Tier Assault)
2. Grab Brutality Mastery (2nd Tier Assault)
3. Tier up Critical Hit I,II,III (1st Tier Assault)
4. Grab Onslaught (2nd Tier Assault)
5. Get Fatal Wounds (3rd Tier Assault)
This base Amp setup should have you taken care of for most of the leveling process as a Stalker. After what was stated above you can go for tiering up Strikethrough I,II,III and then Unfair Advantage. This can then be followed by Enabler (Hybrid A/S Tier 3). Another reason to leave you off here is because at this point you should probably start looking at various build guides to get a better sense of what to expect at Elder Game.
We hope this has been a helpful guide to getting you headed in the right direction to leveling a Stalker. Again, this is obviously not a min/max guide by any means and you hould take it upon yourself to truly try and flesh out the rest of what it means to be a Stalker in Wildstar. Special thanks to Red Velvet Ninjas for their input, which you should probably visit for those nifty builds.
