Curse

gage · Apr 23, 2012, 08:22 AM // 08:22

I started playing an assassin, really fun but I'm running into trouble with getting my critical defenses and critical agility stripped by some enemies. Are enemies like these everywhere in the game? Anyone know how to prevent getting stripped all the time?

FallenAngel_ · Apr 23, 2012, 09:16 AM // 09:16

You can protect against them with spell immunity but it is generally not worth bringing to protect against it. Some areas will have mobs that can strip enchantments but not every.
It is useful to use a cover enchantment (an enchantment cast after so enchantment removal will remove the cover first) to protect the enchantments you want to maintain.

gage · Apr 23, 2012, 09:48 AM // 09:48

Well both critical agility and critical defense refresh on crit so they always end up in the front. How many areas (is it the majority of the game?) have enchant stripping mobs and what works as an assassin in those areas? Without Crit Agi, they do a lot less damage it seems, at least when I play them.

tichi · Apr 23, 2012, 10:21 AM // 10:21

to answer your question first: yes you run into enchantment stripping mobs pretty much everywhere in the game. even areas that normally don't have enchantment stripping tend to get it due to spawn changes from WIK/WOC or in HM.

as someone already said spell immunity is just not worth it in general PVE so i have two suggestions for you:

1) use cover enchantments - you don't have to carry them yourself. bring some spammable prots like reversal of damage and reversal of fortune and use them on heroes. if you don't have access to heroes yet research henchmen builds i'm pretty sure those skills are used by henchmen aswell. spammable enchantments like that lessen the chance that you will be targeted by ench removal in the first place and if you are you still have a nice chance that none of your vital enchantments will be stripped.

2) for general PVE use stances and skills - WOTA is rather popular in PVE and with a good reason too. you will rarely have trouble with mobs removing WOTA since it is a stance and if you couple it with critical eye they should make up for what you lose from critical agility. as for defenses i suggest you rely on your backline to keep you up. if anything i suggest you change second profession to warrior and bring save yourselves for amazing party wide support

hope this helps

Spiritz · Apr 23, 2012, 12:32 PM // 12:32

Another way to protect - well sort of protect is to prioritise the foes according to danger level.An example of this could be - a mixed mob with melee , healer , necro in - the necro would have say 1 enchant strip skill and be the priority target with healer next then the melee.Pain invertor can be funny when used against chilblains - ive seen a necro foe almost blow themselves up as whole team had an enchant running lol.
I used to enjoy watching ele foes use aoe on minions with pi on them - boom and they are dead.
When i vq farm unwaking waters map the necro outcasts i always aim for first - even if i end up pulling other mobs in - dragons aint too bad unless with the boss as he can do a serious amount of dmg and outcast warriors and sins can be easily outhealed if the teams setup right.

aspi · Apr 23, 2012, 01:35 PM // 13:35

Some mobs will strip them no mater how many covers you bring, but that's not very often in PVE. My derv heroes always bring withering auro(because of reap impurities) but I can also see it being usefull for your sin. And also try bring a smiter with strenght of honor for your melee char, makes it even more impressive with death blossom for instance.

gage · Apr 23, 2012, 07:26 PM // 19:26

Would carrying spell breaker on a hero or carry vow of silence work?

More vow of silence since dagger spam build does not have an elite attached to it.

HigherMinion · Apr 23, 2012, 09:32 PM // 21:32

This is the main problem with those skills; they are truly unworkable. Don't use them.

You have Way of the Assassin for IAS, which is rarely stripped, or just don't bother using an IAS because Jagged Strike-Fox Fangs-Death Blossom chain is fast enough without. You should micro prots on yourself from your heroes when entering combat to prevent that +24AL from CA being necessary.

gage · Apr 23, 2012, 10:40 PM // 22:40

I heard way of the assassin was a bad skill to have because it was way weaker than critical agility and did not increase dps as much and so most people preferred CA over it.

Also, would using http://pvx.wikia.com/wiki/Build:A/W_...27s_Stance_Sin be a better idea? No enchants, 75% block + 33% IAS in a stance.

Xenomortis · Apr 23, 2012, 11:24 PM // 23:24

If you have heroes, having multiple enchantments on them can help spread the strips out and provide a lot of covers.
Way of the Assassin provides a boost to critical hit chance; which can help a lot with energy management. Critical Agility is a higher boost to damage due to the higher boost to attack speed, but the difference is small with the fast activating attack skills anyway. It's also a PvE skill and sometimes you want to take three others, but there's little concern with the elite on an Assassin.

Cuilan · Apr 23, 2012, 11:26 PM // 23:26

The official wiki lists the foes of each area so you can see if an area has any or much enchantment removal. Go there until you get the hang of what to expect. Maybe add more knock downs and interrupts to your group.

gage · Apr 24, 2012, 12:32 AM // 00:32

http://pvx.wikia.com/wiki/Build:A/W_...27s_Stance_Sin

Wouldn't that build be better overall since it doesn't depend on enchants and you get 75% block too

Cuilan · Apr 24, 2012, 12:43 AM // 00:43

It's not even on the current PvX
http://www.gwpvx.com/

So my assumption would be no and that you should drop the old and hardly updated PvX.

superraptors · Apr 24, 2012, 12:48 AM // 00:48

with that many fast activating skills, critical agility is really not needed at all, critical defenses is also not needed, if you want defense get your heroes to bring it...

if you really want to bring it then carry interrupts on your heroes and they will interrupt the strips for you.

and most fights end in 5 seconds so those enchs are pretty redundant.

gage · Apr 24, 2012, 01:39 AM // 01:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by superraptors

with that many fast activating skills, critical agility is really not needed at all, critical defenses is also not needed, if you want defense get your heroes to bring it...

if you really want to bring it then carry interrupts on your heroes and they will interrupt the strips for you.

and most fights end in 5 seconds so those enchs are pretty redundant.

Actually after playing some time, I equipped my mesmer heroes with a ton of interupts and other heroes as well and they are interupting those pesky disenchants quite well, enough time for me to kill the mob. Hmm, that might have been the answer to all my problems.

Skyy High · Apr 24, 2012, 01:51 AM // 01:51

Learn which mobs use enchant removal. Prioritize them first for death / shutdown.

gage · Apr 24, 2012, 11:20 PM // 23:20

Uhh, so does anyone know how to survive hard modes? Seems like as a melee I get focused and die a lot more than if I was ranged. Anyone have any idea if HM is really going to be like this or is it going to be easier? (Or maybe switch to bow assassin just to be safe at range)

saint666 · Apr 25, 2012, 06:20 PM // 18:20

put one of these http://www.gwpvx.com/Build:Rt/any_Soul_Twisting_Prot in your team and problem solved.

gage · Apr 25, 2012, 09:20 PM // 21:20

Is that stronger than an ER prot infuser for defenses?

saint666 · Apr 26, 2012, 02:54 PM // 14:54

Yes, you can't strip the prots, it prots the whole party, which is better for most pve. ER prot is better for some teams, u need an actual player to run those anyways.

I run

wota
mm-mop
sos-splinter weapon
st
panic
inep
HBurst
UA

You have lots of prots, heals, shutdowns, AoE and single target damage. Enough to c-space though most parts of GW.