Curse

vashichiban · Jul 09, 2006, 02:06 AM // 02:06

i just started playing factions and i made a A/Mo. so far i have made this build:

-golden lotus strike
-leaping mantis sting
-fox fangs
-nine tail strike
-dash
-shadow refuge
-flashing blades [E]
-live vicariously

attributes

healing 7
dagger mastery 12+1
shadow arts 8
critical strikes 8+1

i use golden lotus strike for energy i use dash to catch up to ppl so i can cripple them with leaping mantis sting i use live vicariously and flashing blades to keep my health up

if you ahve any tips or critisms please share.

Dako Changed · Jul 09, 2006, 03:29 AM // 03:29

This looks absurdly like my Main build.... which I've decided to abandon. As fun as it is to be an Assassin that can get in the heat of combat, we're just not going to see many teams that way.

WildmouseX · Jul 09, 2006, 03:53 AM // 03:53

this is the most streight forward, critique/ advice your probly going to get.

tip: efective assassins avoid takeing dmg, not standing around enemy lines trying to heal it.

shadows refuge should be the only heal you need, and you should only ever have to use it in between fights. when you pack yourself up with heals instead of escapes and dodges, you end up spending your whole time standing around trying to heal yourself while everyone pounds on you untill you run out of energy.

golden lotus strike and leaping mantis sting are both lead attacks that are dependant on different situations, and because golden lotus strike requires your target to be enchanted for you to get energy, and you don't have anything in your comob to start bleeding - you don't have any control of when you will or won't get the benifits from them.

your off-hand and dual are fine as is.

dash is only a 3 second burst, and is for the most part useless. it only gives you that 1 benifit, and doesn't give you it for any length of time. by the time you catch a kiteing target, your speed boost ends, you get 1 auto hit then he runs away from you again.

flashing blades only works if your attacking, with the low crit hits and the dependence of your enemies to enchant themselves - you're not going to have any energy after 1 trip through your combo, therefore relying solely on auto attacks for the 50% evade - dagers max at 17 dmg B4 armor with auto attacks, which makes you totaly inefective durring that time.

with the low armor of the sin, they take larger ammounts of dmg when they get hit - generaly speaking anywhere from 24-50 pt's a hit. - live vicariously is healing back only 14pt's max, leaving you with a huge deficite in healing from it -- add to the fact that it is an enchantment which is going reduce your energy recharge, forceing you into auto attacking for the flashing blade evades much much sooner.

you have no way of dealing with conditions that are placed on you, the worst of which is blind, as you can't even land the week auto-attacks you need for flashing blades.

also it is considered good ediquite to bring res with you.
--------

for a A/M i would suggest the following

Shadow of haste- instead of dash : shadow of haste is only 25% speed boost, but lasts up to 17 seconds, and you can time your combo to end when the skill does, teleporting you out of harms way so you can regroup while your skills and energy recharge - instead of standing around trying to heal yourself while everyone pounds on you.

jagged strike- instead of both your lead attacks : GLS requires you to be attacking an enchanted target to be usefull, in PVE that's generaly just the boss' which are well guarded, in PvP that's the war tanks which will own that build. - LMS requires your target to be bleeding, so unless you bring something to start him bleeding at some point, you will be dependant on your teammates to bleed him b4 you get to him.

the off hand and dual are both fine, however switching out your dual for repeating strike will allow you to stack up more hits, while still only useing 3 skill slots; because repeating strike will lead into it's self after you use fox fangs. beter yet would be to go with a off hand and dual that will add more conditions onto the bleeding - this is just personal prefrence stuff though.

keep shadows refuge, as it should be the only heal you need.

Purge conditions- instead of live vicariously. conditions are you #2 worst enemy (the desire to tank is #1), since this build is hit and run, you don't need multiple heals -- PC works the same at every attrib level, take your pts out of heal and dump them into crit hits and dagger mastery (as dagger mastery increases your dmg just like str does for war's)

---side note, the sig of malliace can also go here, to save on energy, but it has a longer cool down and requires you to keep conditions on em.

resurection - even with 0 in healing, the multiple use res is prefered. being a team player will get you farther with groups then not. a good sin can ride a group streight through 3-4 missions at a time.

your last slot dedicate to avoiding dmg, energy management, speading conditions or immobleiseing your target - or combinations there of. - some skills i'd point you too would be - vipers defense (teleport away when hit + posion), Way of the lotus (+energy when you use dual attack; not usefull if you bring repeating instead of a dual), Calltrops (cripples targets trying to run away, +adjacent ones), Shadowy burden (slow target by 25%, + -20 armor to your attacks if they have no other hex's), Assassins Promise (+ 5-17 energy if target foe dies, and all skills recharge instantly) and so on - you can even throw in another attack to up your combo to a 4 hit, but there are better skills to put here.

use shadow of haste to run in, fire off your combo, then it will pop you out of harms way, use refuge to heal any dmg you might have took, pick a new target and go again.

with your set up, you are takeing a -1 energy regen, useing two lead attacks that hardly ever benifit you, running yourself out of energy by repeditively useing a inefective dash to stop kiteing, then spending your time dishing out little to no dmg auto-attacks for the purpose of fueling a deficent benifit to healing , requireing you to further depleate your energy by useing refuge while in attack range of the enemy group -- all the while the whole enemy team pounds all over you.

with this set-up, you run in, deal your full spike of dmg, teleport out of harms way b4 you take dmg: haveing time to recharge your energy and set-up for your next attack in relitive peace.

vashichiban · Jul 09, 2006, 05:21 AM // 05:21

thx for the help

Bloodied Blade · Jul 09, 2006, 06:13 PM // 18:13

Hmm...

I would do something like this (for relatively starter sin):

Golden Phoenix Strike
Horns of the Ox
Falling Spider
Twisting Fangs
Shadow Refuge
Shroud of Distress
Recall
Rebirth

I realize that Recall is the only teleport there, but at least it gets you *out* of the combat. Later in your career/when you cap Assassin's Promise you may want to try something like:

Black Lotus Strike
Horns of the Ox
Falling Spider
Twisting Fangs
Shadow Refuge / Recall
Death's Charge / Recall
Assassin's Promise {e} (Cap from Xuekao, the Deceptive)
Rebirth

Xuekao is outside of Maatu Keep, I believe he's to the east. Just follow the dirt trail towards the Jade Brotherhood and you will eventually find him. He can be killed with Henchies easily.

Either run Shadow Refuge or Death's Charge as your heal, because once you're into combat, it doesn't matter. Death's Charge will get you quickly from target to target and will heal you everytime the target in question has more hp than you. Shadow Refuge will give you regen and heal you while you're attacking, but you will have to run to your targets.

Good Luck and Happy Assassinating

vashichiban · Jul 10, 2006, 08:37 AM // 08:37

the build i am using, now that i understand the assassin better is:

attributes:

deadly arts 9
shadow arts 8
dagger mastery 12
critical strikes 8

skills:

leaping mantis sting
fox fangs
twisting fangs
shadow of haste
shadow refuge
assassins promise
rebirth
mend ailment

i get the cripple in for run aways with LMS get bleeding with twisting fangs i get out with shadow of haste gain enrgy with sins promise rebirth to res mend ailment for conditions shadow refuge for heal

it seems to work better than my first build

Yanman.be · Jul 10, 2006, 09:23 AM // 09:23

4 attributes is overkill...get Moebius Strike instead of assassins promise, and you don't have to invest 9 deadly arts just for an elite.

WildmouseX · Jul 10, 2006, 01:58 PM // 13:58

that build is a heck of alot better.

don't be paying to much attention to people who are hard core about only three attribs... many people shoot themselves in the foot in this game, by unnessicerly limiting themselves from useing good skils because they want to boost some of the attribs they use as high as they can... good play comes from useing your pts. to their full potential, not from limiting yourself so you can brag about high stats.

morbious strike only recharges your skills, recharged skills are worthless if you don't have the energy to use them. deadly art's not only is helping your assassins promise, but it's also adding it's value onto your attack skills when you use them. increaseing how many hits you get, which in turn is increaseing your chances for critical hits - and increase's your dmg as well.

that is a good base build to be working with, and you'll find it more playible then your other one.

Yanman.be · Jul 10, 2006, 03:24 PM // 15:24

Wildmouse, spreading out 4 attrbitutes just for Assassin's Promise is not more effective than any other elite.

WildmouseX · Jul 10, 2006, 03:45 PM // 15:45

it's not just for assassins promise, as i said above, deadly art's add's to your chance to hit, and add's to dmg... bringing morbious strike just so you can three attrib the character ruins the build. there's no point in rechargeing skills when you don't have energy to use em....

(haveing 4 attribs, that gives you benifits to attack + a usefull elite) > (haveing 3 attribs, none of which help you with attacks, and bringing a worthless elite.)

Yanman.be · Jul 10, 2006, 03:55 PM // 15:55

Go read Deadly Arts...Improves your chances to hit? Adds more damage? Go uninstall. Or learn something about the game, and then answer correctly.

Celab · Jul 10, 2006, 04:18 PM // 16:18

Deadly arts : NO inherant effect, many asasin skills related to harming enemies, become more effective with deadly arts.

Basically saying "it doesnt help much unless you use deadly art skills"

Yanman.be · Jul 10, 2006, 05:54 PM // 17:54

Exactly.

WildmouseX · Jul 10, 2006, 08:07 PM // 20:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celab

Deadly arts : NO inherant effect, many asasin skills related to harming enemies, become more effective with deadly arts.

Quote:

Originally Posted by guildwikki.org

The damage and effectiveness of linked skills increases with attribute rank in Deadly Arts.

http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Deadly_Arts

attack skills are related to harming enemies, so guess what? they count. i just went into the game to give it a test. went out of the marketplace and attacked that first group of three guys, ran my combo once on each one, each time out.

dmg - deadly art's at 0, and then at 8- netted 4-9 pts more dmg each hit with it at 8.

effectiveness (i.e. hits) - missed 2 attacks with it at 0, and didn't miss any with it at 8

so considering the discription states "skills related to harming enemies", and the wiki's conformation that it does in fact increase dmg and effectivenes (hits) - and the fact that my in game test confirmed this on both count's - i declare myself - winna!

Celab · Jul 10, 2006, 08:52 PM // 20:52

i declare the game bugged.

you obviously ran skills related to deadly art's.

It does, however, say skills, NOT attacks. Linked skills are different to linked attacks.

WildmouseX · Jul 10, 2006, 09:36 PM // 21:36

an attack is a skill related to harming enemies, i didn't test it with auto attacks, but i would not expect it to work for those anyway- - the combo i used was Golden lotus strike, wild strike, and death blosum - all dagger mastery skills, and all are "skills that harm enemies".

it works the same way STR works for wars..STR has the same inherent effect for increaseing dmg of attack skills, and works with all attack skills, not just the ones found in the STR attrib.

epicfail86 · Jul 11, 2006, 08:49 AM // 08:49

The game is not bugged and i agree with Celab. Deadly arts does not increase dmg.

The way i found out is quite simple, sort of. I made pvp sins many times to c if it was a bug but all had same results they were all a/w and brought wild blow. wild blow results in a crit hit (crit hit being absolute max ammount of dmg u will do) and went to temple of balth and used it on the 100 AL dummi. At 16 dagger, 0 DA (13 crit on all builds) it resulted in a 19 dmg hit and zoned back in set points to 14 dagger, 9 DA, and 13 crit and it resulted in 18dmg. Also tried auto-attacking using same set of points results were 19 dag, 0 DA...16 dmg, 15 dag, 9DA 18 dmg

but since wild blow is under war line maybe it dosent count...so i used unsuspecting strike, which i will only counted crit hits. at 16 dag no DA results were 84 dmg....14 dag 9 DA results were 83...

those were my results so i have to say it weakens u a slight bit

feel free to try out

pve-er · Jul 11, 2006, 09:54 AM // 09:54

Here is my build, A/Mo hope it wasn't too bad
Attribute
Dagger Mastery :9+1+2
Shadow Art :11
Critical Strike: 11+2

Weapon: Zealous Sai of Fortitude (EN+5,, Health + 25) customised
Sundering Dragon Fang of Fortitude (AP 20^17%, 15%^enchanted, Health +25) customised, pre-order item
Long Bow (spec don't matter, it is just for pull)
Skills
1. Unsuspected Strike (lead)
2. Wild Strike (off hand)
3. Death Blossom (dual)
4. free slot (situational)
5. Flashing Blade [E] (to evade)
6. Shadow Refuge (to heal)
7. free slot (situational, usually Rebirth)
8. Mend Ailment (condition removal)

WildmouseX · Jul 11, 2006, 01:49 PM // 13:49

D.T. i would suspect you found a reduction in DMG do to changeing your dagger mastery when you went from 0 DA to 9 DA... it's quite posible that my test results differ because i was attacking AI and not the dummies. - irreguardless, it is still better to bring 4 attribs for a usefull elite, then to short change yourself to 3 and forceing yourself to bring one that's useless.

PVE-er, only problem i see with your build is the flashing blades - with a 3 attack combo, you have to resort to auto attacking to get the defensive bonus - daggers max at 17 dmg b4 armorr and ammount to nothing after it - a skill that requires you to stand around in harms way, throwing inefective attacks, for a mild evade bonus is pointless. it's not a 100% evade, so you will take more damage standing around auto-attacking for the benifit then you will with a simple teleport out.

Kyle · Jul 11, 2006, 05:51 PM // 17:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Devine Traveler

The game is not bugged and i agree with Celab. Deadly arts does not increase dmg.

The way i found out is quite simple, sort of. I made pvp sins many times to c if it was a bug but all had same results they were all a/w and brought wild blow. wild blow results in a crit hit (crit hit being absolute max ammount of dmg u will do) and went to temple of balth and used it on the 100 AL dummi. At 16 dagger, 0 DA (13 crit on all builds) it resulted in a 19 dmg hit and zoned back in set points to 14 dagger, 9 DA, and 13 crit and it resulted in 18dmg. Also tried auto-attacking using same set of points results were 19 dag, 0 DA...16 dmg, 15 dag, 9DA 18 dmg

but since wild blow is under war line maybe it dosent count...so i used unsuspecting strike, which i will only counted crit hits. at 16 dag no DA results were 84 dmg....14 dag 9 DA results were 83...

those were my results so i have to say it weakens u a slight bit

feel free to try out

To have your test be accurate you would have to use 14 dagger 0 da 13 crit. Then use 14 dagger 9 da 13 crit. You were changing two variables which makes it alot harder to judge