HLAs for a Stalker

[Slowhands]

Hi! I have just started a SoA and ToA game with a Stalker. I have not played one before, so I was wondering what would be the best HLAs to pick. I am not interested in the most powerful HLAs, but the HLAs that supplements my strategy best.

I have ** in Long Swords, Long Bows, and Single Weapon Fighting Style. Later I will take ** in Katanas as well. (In terms of melee, I am interested in weapons that have a chance at disabling the opponent with the first backstab, and Celestial Fury seems to be the best pick here, for SoA at least.) So, I want to use my Stalker for 'surgical' strikes, both in terms of archery and backstabbing, and I won't use him in the frontline unless absolutely necessary.

For example, do some of the HLAs work well together with backstab? Thanks in advance!

[hannibal555]

In general Greater Whirlwind is considered as one of the best HLA.
It sets your number of attacks to 10 for one round.
Should be effective for missile weapons as well, like your bow.

Considering Backstab, nine added attacks after the initial Backstab wouldn't be bad either ^^.

Deathblow isn't worth it in ToB, would kill only minor enemies, you could get rid of very fast anyway.

Smite and Power Attack would be nice abilities that fit well with your play style flavor,
because they can additionally stun the oponent.

[Silverstar]

Greater Deathblow is hugely useful. It kills annoyingly dangerous enemies in one hit:Mind Flayers, Ulitharids, Beholders etc. they all fall to this. Best tactic to use this:get an arrow of detonation and use the HLA with it, the blast from the arrow will kill all mind flayers, umber hulks, beholders, gauths, in a single room instantly, with no saving throw allowed.

[Slowhands]

Thanks a lot for your advice! I'll take it into consideration when I reach the required level(s). I'll probably focus on Smite and Power Attack first and see how they work with my strategy, even though WW and GWW may be a better pick from a pure power perspective. I like the idea of taking down a whole pack of midlevel enemies with a single arrow, even though it may be a bit cheesy to use (Greater) Deathblow that way...?

[hannibal555]

Originally Posted by Silverstar

Greater Deathblow is hugely useful. It kills annoyingly dangerous enemies in one hit:Mind Flayers, Ulitharids, Beholders etc. they all fall to this. Best tactic to use this:get an arrow of detonation and use the HLA with it, the blast from the arrow will kill all mind flayers, umber hulks, beholders, gauths, in a single room instantly, with no saving throw allowed.

Too often I think only about the Bosses, but you're right of course ^^.

[Silverstar]

I like the idea of taking down a whole pack of midlevel enemies with a single arrow, even though it may be a bit cheesy to use (Greater) Deathblow that way...?

Not too cheesy, but you can do it in a more legitimate way: Dual wield with a weapon which gives an extra attack, improved haste yourself and you will have 8-9 attacks/round, which will make GWW attack nigh useless. So activate Greater Death Blow and storm through the Mind Flayer city, you will cut through them like a hot knife through butter. It's actually quite fun to kill 8 mind flayers in a combo-like move in a single round.

They all die before the first one's corpse stops squirming on the ground. This is why epic level warriors are legendary and actually extremely terrifying for low-mid level opponents. Spells may hurt you but you get a saving throw most of the time. But once that warrior's blade reaches you, you are real d-e-a-d!

Too often I think only about the Bosses, but you're right of course ^^.

Yeah Death blow can't hurt bosses. So Death blow is not high in the priority list of HLAs for most players, but when you are in Underdark, opting to get it there pays nicely, Beholder and Mindflayer caverns are much easier when three improved hasted warriors death blows them with arrows fast as lightning. (ofcourse they each target a different victim for maximum effectiveness, with that THAC0 they can't really miss and the monsters just die. Actually my trio looked scarier than Beholders&Mind Flayers combined.) It is tons of fun!