Curse

Ronom · Apr 15, 2008, 11:13 PM // 23:13

I just got Factions a little while ago and I've been wondering about assassins are they usable? There a bit low on the armor and they are close range combat. At the moment i'm using a a/r for attempting to beat factions and are doing okay... My skills are,

1. Jagged Strike-Bleeding
2. Golden Lotus Strike-energy management
3. Fox Fangs-off hand and damage
4. Golden Pheonix Strike-off hand and damage
5. Death Blossom-AoE (area of affect) damage
6. Shadow Refuge-healing
7. Shadow Charge-healing
8. Shroud of Distress-Blocks and helps survive agaisnt warriors.

PvP has gone fairly well, usually I run in kill the cocky mage who runs ahead of the warrior and try to kill our mage or mesmer. The basic tactic is hit and run. I do better agaisnt rangers and wariors than elemantalists and mesmers. Shroud of distress seems to keep me alive with Shadow Refuge. Once I tanked agaisnt the entire enemy party (I was the last alive) agaisnt a monk, a ranger, a assassin, and a weird paragon that didnt do any damge (or so it seemed). I'm sure this is no feat everyone must have already tanked with a warrior or dervish against a party but I was a assassin with starter armor. I died once Shroud of distress sadly

ran out and so I learned to have attribute lvl 8 shadow mastery so I can keep it on forever.

But in team arenas and GvG and such are assassins playable? and if so what are there build(s)?. (If you havent guessed Im rather new to Guildwars, Ive only been playing for about 3 month any tips would be appreciated)
Notes: Ive been pvp-ing with my noobie assassin at the Shing Jea Arena and hopefully by any of you read this Shiverpeak arena.

Bobby2 · Apr 16, 2008, 01:39 AM // 01:39

This is going to be one horror of a thread.

It's in the wrong forum, btw.

I've always enjoyed my Sin.

Mist Walker Skarloc · Apr 17, 2008, 04:00 PM // 16:00

Inb4 floods of people calling the OP a noob. He's new, so give him constructive criticism and save spamming "Z0MFGZICLES LOLOL LIEKZ HE IS TEH PHAILUREZ NUBCAKES ROFL xd" for people that aren't new and deserve
it.

Assassins can be used in GvG very well, but you'll want to make a PvP-only assassin to do so. PvP-only characters come with max armour and weapons, so that'll make it much easier to get the perfect equipment you need.

For PvP, I'd advise you use any Balthazar faction or free unlocks you may have to get any skills you need for a decent build. (I'll let other people give you some because I haven't played for ages, so I'm not upto date with the metagame). (The metagame, by the way, being the current builds popularly used in PvP).

Once you have a build, you'll want runes, insignias and weapon upgrades that compliment that build. Although these will change according the build, you'll most likely want:

Survivor's insignia on the armour
A mask with +1 dagger mastery minor runes of dagger mastery, critical strikes and shadow arts on different pieces of armour the best rune of vigour you can get and a rune of attunement or vitality on whichever piece of armour you don't already have a rune on.

For your daggers, I expect you'll want 2 pairs with:
The best vampiric tang you can get, the best "Strength and honour" inscription you can get and the best handle of fortitude you can get, and...

A zealous tang you can get, the best "Strength and honour" inscription you can get and the best handle of fortitude you can get

I hope this helps, and as I said, some builds will require you to change your equipment slightly, so take a look at your skills before you choose your equipment. For example, if you're using [skill]Conjure Flame[/skill], you'll want a fiery pair of daggers to trigger your extra damage.

RavagerOfDreams · Apr 17, 2008, 09:52 PM // 21:52

hmmm

ill just say replace shroud of distress with critical defenses

gunster · Apr 17, 2008, 10:04 PM // 22:04

Please don't replace shroud of distress with crit d :P

Lets break it down here: Critical defense lasts max 10 sec with 30 recharge.

Shroud of Distress last max 60 sec with 45 charge.

Both are enchant spells.

Shroud of Distress only activates when ur below 50% health. That really doesn't matter, seeing as how the only time you NEED to block is when you're low on health. So, why not take Shroud of Distress and keep it on indefinitely than having to risk refreshing critical defenses with critical strikes (terrible in PvE, where enemies come at you in groups with stops in between, usually hard to keep on)

Either way, just remember to bring a cover enchant :P (Shadow Refuge is fine)

What you (OP) need to do now:
1. Get better armor. Starter armor is not going to save you from anything. Save up for max armor, and instead get high armor from collectors, they're cheap and all it takes is a waste of time.

2. Go through the game, and capture an elite skill. I recommend Moebius Strike, so you can do the following attack chain:
Golden Phoenix Strike --> Death Blossom ---> Moebius Strike ----> Death Blossom ---> Moebius strike ---> etc. (until the enemy's dead)
Or, if you hate the recharge on Golden Phoenix like I do, and I'm assuming you have factions only, you can try:
Jagged strike ---> Wild Strike ---> DB ---> MS ---> DB ---> MS ---> etc.

3. Spread attributes through shadow arts, dagger mastery, and critical strikes. Shadow arts obviously for shroud and shadow, dagger mastery is fairly obvious, and critical strikes for GREAT energy management.

The whole point is to spam Death blossom and moebius strike, while using shroud of distress + shadow refuge to keep you alive (this is the most BASIC build for pve)

Once you reach lvl 20, (I recommend you beat Factions), then you can go on to PvP, by that time you will understand Guild Wars a lot better.

Bobby2 · Apr 18, 2008, 05:01 AM // 05:01

Early game (eg when not yet Moebius rampaging) CritDefenses is very hard to keep up indeed. I would also say Shroud would be the best block skill at the moment.

Gunster is pretty much spot on with his prioritizing. However, Moebius Strike can't be capped until far into the game. What you could do:
- Buy an Elite Assassin Tome off someone, and use it to make Moebius Strike available to you. You do need to unlock it first with PvP Balthazar points.
- Another great PvE Elite skill is available much earlier in the game: [skill]assassin's promise[/skill]. A benefit of this Elite is that it teaches you the playstyle of the Assassin way better than Moebius: you're forced to spike down enemies one by one (but very rapidly) instead of dealing out constant (massive!) area damage.

To make the best of your PvE Assassin... get Nightfall

XDeadboltX · Apr 18, 2008, 01:19 PM // 13:19

PvE Assassins are very usable. After you become familiar with the assassin I suggest looking at the thread a little below called something like 'Best PvE Assassin'.

PvP, Theyr great in AB and RA, theres normally at least 3 or 4 assasins on the other team in AB. TA I think they get use through the Nightfall elite Shattering Assault, although this is just coming from what I read on here from time to time. HA and GvG Im not sure I dont play those.

RavagerOfDreams · Apr 18, 2008, 10:06 PM // 22:06

dont need meobius to keep up critical defenses

jagged strike -> wild strike -> death blossum/critical strike + critical eye and your good to go

Giiooo · Apr 19, 2008, 12:00 AM // 00:00

critical strike + critical eye is overkill, i would do 1 or the other

RavagerOfDreams · Apr 19, 2008, 01:41 AM // 01:41

not if your not spamming moebius its not :P

it's more like the saftey skill to make sure your cd doesnt drop other then that its just db spam but since he hasn't go moebius he needs the critical eye to help him out in critical strikes downtime ^_^

once hes got moebius yes it would be overkill and you would drop one or the other

Bowstring Badass · Apr 19, 2008, 04:06 AM // 04:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by gunster

Please don't replace shroud of distress with crit d :P

Lets break it down here: Critical defense lasts max 10 sec with 30 recharge.

Yeah your math = baeeedddddddd.

Crit D can last a hell of a lot longer then 10 seconds.

And for Moebius builds I would say Crit Strike for the initial crit incase you need it for critical defenses and energy.

Anyone know what Shadow Charge is? Deaths Charge?

FlamingMetroid · Apr 19, 2008, 05:31 AM // 05:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bowstring Badass

Anyone know what Shadow Charge is? Deaths Charge?

I'ld imagine. IMO its a pretty "meh" skill, but some people like it.
also: Crit Defenses >>>>>>>>>> Shroud of Distress
In PvE, its more about maintainable DPS than spiking, though there are some fun PvE spiking builds out there. MS/DB is your best friend as an assassin in PvE.
In PvP however, sins have pretty much had most of their effectiveness knocked out of them. A couple scythe sins pop up in HA every once in a while, but outside of RA/TA/AB, they're pretty scarce.

Quote:

critical strike + critical eye is overkill, i would do 1 or the other

QFT
Its poor energy management to have to use both, choose one or the other.

Kaleban · Apr 19, 2008, 07:38 AM // 07:38

The Moebius builds are no good for learning how to play assassin, they encourage you to take blocking skills and "survival" skills to sit in a mob and try to duke/tank it out. IMHO that's not how the sin class is meant to be played, if you go with Moebius for anything other than farming or vanquishing, you're playing the wrong profession.

The antithesis of what a sin should be. Which is an insta-gibbing angel of death!

Here's a build I've been messing around with:

Promise of Shadows

Dagger - 12+1+3
Deadly - 10
CritStrikes - 8+1

Skills:

1. Assassin's Promise [E]
2. Shadow Fang
3. *Lightning Reflexes
4. Black Mantis Thrust
5. Lotus Strike
6. Death Blossom
7. Black Spider Strike
8. Blades of Steel

* Replace with Critical Agility if you want an armor boost over 75% block while attacking. The upshot is CA lasts about 13 seconds, so you won't have to recast as much as LR, which helps on energy useage too. Allows for more margin for error, as well as more auto-attacks once the combo is done. Pre-cast right before AP

Obviously, its a PvE build, but might be adapted to PvP, the only problem being the amount of hex removal and block/blind.

Basically, you select a target, either a backline caster or an enemy that is already engaged, and run through your skills 1 through 8, throwing in an additional #4 if the target is still alive, for damage and to re-up the Cripple effect.

The trick with this build is, at those attribute numbers, Shadow Fang always lasts 10 seconds, while AP lasts 12 seconds, which means when SF runs out, you teleport away and Deep Wound is applied. If the Deep Wound kills the enemy, and you casted SF right after AP, AP triggers and all skills are recharged, and you usually have about 30 energy back (I run with 37 energy without +5e daggers). If you kill the enemy before SF runs out (didn't need the Deep Wound lol) you'll teleport back anyways, which happens 100% of the time on AL 60 and 80 dummies.

Testing on the 100 AL dummy, with a pair of customized 15>50 Vamp daggers shows that the raw damage prior to Shadow Fang ending can usually kill outright prior to Deep Wound application.

With Lightning Reflexes on, you only have about 3.5 seconds where you're not covered by 75% block, so incoming damage is mitigated well, and by the time you start taking damage, you teleport out.

At 37 energy, your energy pool bottoms out when using Lotus Strike, but it instantly fills 2/3rds or better, which gives you plenty of energy to finish the attack chain.

The fun part of this build is not having to worry about buffing with various enchants, and basically warping all over the battlefield mowing down one enemy after the next with very little downtime. Also, not relying on the finicky CritStrikes attribute for e-management is nice as well, allowing you to max out Dagger Mastery for awesome damage.

I guarantee if you play with this build you will enjoy it! I am open to suggestions on how to improve, about the only skill in the chain that needs to stay is Lotus Strike for the E-management. I like Black Mantis for the Cripple, after the chain is done if the target is still alive, its got long lasting Cripple, Poison and Deep Wound going, but so far, at least in NM, this build kills anything outright one-on-one. As long as you let the tanks carry initial aggro (as any GOOD sin player does), you can warp in and kill the target. Except for bosses, but in general they die very quickly to this build as well if even a LITTLE extra help from another teammate/hero/hench.

Any support that gives this build more lifesteal/on-hit healing above vamp mods is godly, such as Order of the Vampire or Vigorous Spirit, as with any melee character. The only real counters are block and blind, as well as hex removal. In PvE, hex removal isn't too prevalent, but block and blind are. Sight Beyond Sight (Rit-Spawning) provides 8 seconds of Blind Immunity (as well as removal) and the recharge is irrelevant with AP. Or have a Rit hero carry it, and bring Expose Defenses/Rigor Mortis, that way you can counter block & blind. You lose out on Lightning Reflexes, but since its PvE you can use Critical Agility if you have it.