Curse

laylife0890 · Sep 30, 2008, 01:43 PM // 13:43

Hi, I'm a slightly lost as to why assassins get spiked quite easily, even with the 70 armor that they have. Taking the different runed up armors my assassin has into account, on average my health is 570 to 590, though it can go down to 550 or up to 600.
I took the time to learn that when playing an assassin I don't be the first in the group to rush into the group of opponents.

Is there an explanation that I just don't realise?

On a side note, please advice on favourable runes and insignias.
Currently I have runes of vitae on most of one set of armor, whilst on the other set I have nightstalkers insignias on most of the set, where appropriate. I also have a minor rune of critical strikes and sup vigor on each armor set.

eximiis · Sep 30, 2008, 01:51 PM // 13:51

70 AL is not that very different then teh 60 from caster class.

You are far from the 100 of warrior VS. physical and 100 of ranger Vs. Elemental.

What i suggest is Survivor insigna. Energy is not a problem with assassins.

No superior, no major rune, just the normal runes. Sup vigor of course.

Try to always have a +AL skill on your bar like the one on critical agility.

As for the rest, don't go in first unless u have ProtSpirit or SB on you.

And when you take heavy damage, run away, (kite).

laylife0890 · Sep 30, 2008, 02:11 PM // 14:11

Quote:

What i suggest is Survivor insigna. Energy is not a problem with assassins.

I shall give that try.

Quote:

70 AL is not that very different then teh 60 from caster class.

You are far from the 100 of warrior VS. physical and 100 of ranger Vs. Elemental.

Would it not be beneficial to have Nightstalker's armor then? That gives the most armor of insignias does it not? I understand health is important, though additional armor doens't hurt, no?

Quote:

No superior, no major rune, just the normal runes. Sup vigor of course.

Yes I did say that I do use a sup vigor rune, runes of vitae and minor critical strikes.

Quote:

As for the rest, don't go in first unless u have ProtSpirit or SB on you.

I also did say I don't rush in.

Appreciate you replying and advice.

MisterT69 · Sep 30, 2008, 02:28 PM // 14:28

I usually never have spike problems, not even in PVE. And most of the time I'm barely running at 500 health (yes I use major sometimes lol). But it's never a problem. Critical defenses/agility save my ass in those situations.

ac1inferno · Sep 30, 2008, 02:33 PM // 14:33

Having a block and constant health gain is good too. I've noticed that alot of sins in pve run something like this:

dag=11+1, cri=10+1+2, earthp=8, shadow=6+1
Golden Phoenix Strike, Critical Strike, Moebius Strike, Death Blossom, Critical Defenses, Critical Agility, Mystic Regeneration, Way of Perfection

They have no trouble surviving mobs and they run a major critical strikes and use all radiant and attunement. They even use a 15% enchanted zealous dagger of enchanting like Pywatt's Talons, so that's even less health.

Felixious · Sep 30, 2008, 03:04 PM // 15:04

<-- uses superior daggermastery and lives. Yay.

Bobby2 · Sep 30, 2008, 04:01 PM // 16:01

Nightstalker runes seem nice but are conditional: they only function when you're actually hitting stuff. When you are kiting, casting, or chasing a kiting foe, you're just a regular 70AL - 560HP squishy. So you see, when the going gets tough, and you must retreat, it's far more beneficial to run Survivor's.

Also, try to:

- Run with an Imbagon friend (in which case you're at 195AL - making Nightstalker's obsolete)
- Pack SY! yourself (in which case the lion's share of prot/heals comes your way!

)

Yes, that would lock you in A/W, but it's well worth it. In this way it does far more to keep you alive than any crap Shadow heal or going /D for Mystic Regen.

PS on Radiants: when Blossoming you can have either Critical Eye or repeated Critical Strikes. They're almost never worth it in PvE.

Eddie Frenzy Spam · Sep 30, 2008, 06:40 PM // 18:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by laylife0890

I shall give that try.

Would it not be beneficial to have Nightstalker's armor then? That gives the most armor of insignias does it not? I understand health is important, though additional armor doens't hurt, no?

Yes I did say that I do use a sup vigor rune, runes of vitae and minor critical strikes.

I also did say I don't rush in.

Appreciate you replying and advice.

Health is always > Armour

So sacrificing additional health for additional armour is not normally the best choice.

White Lies · Sep 30, 2008, 06:47 PM // 18:47

i run on roughly 450hp in PvE (sup dagger and sup crit FTW and idc what u lot say) and i generaly dont have any problems at all...
PS is my friend

~Lies

kai4321 · Oct 01, 2008, 02:33 PM // 14:33

I had this problem when I didn't have Moebius Strike + Critical Agility. I got them and with my build I never really have trouble unless like it's just mass AOE and no way I am gonna get healed from it. I think crit agility is amazing cause it increases your armor by a great amount even if it is just +14 with no sunspear ranks.

illidan009 · Oct 01, 2008, 08:54 PM // 20:54

Crit defense, Asuran Scan, SY, DB+ Moebius, Crit agi...instant win.

ALF71BE · Oct 01, 2008, 09:18 PM // 21:18

PS, always macroed on a hero when going with a dervish/assassin.

You're just a squishy frontliner and like all squishies under heavy fire, you need prots on you. As an assassin, you will always be under heavy fire.

Ctrl + Alt + Space and aggressive heroes so they do the aggro.

Minions so they draw the aggro.

Extra energy is not worth it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by laylife0890

Would it not be beneficial to have Nightstalker's armor then? That gives the most armor of insignias does it not? I understand health is important, though additional armor doens't hurt, no?

Well the thing is warriors/rangers already have high armor and use high hp. You can't have high armor (at least not permanently) so high hp is at least decent and better than armor. You can have someone protting you but you can't have someone giving you constantly extra hp.

Quote:

Originally Posted by illidan009

Asuran Scan,

I don't get the fascination of people with Asuran Scan. It's just not worth it when everything already dies so fast and you can bring more supporting PvE skills so not only you, but everyone, kills faster (EBSoH for example).

Also to OP, sins get suddenly spiked because either you had a bad luck string and didn't hit a critical so Agility wasn't renewed; or it was stripped; or all the minions died so you were next on the list.

wilebill · Oct 01, 2008, 11:27 PM // 23:27

All good advice above. One tiny bit from me, mostly for solo with heroes and henchies.

Get a Longbow, or a Flatbow for weapon slot 4. You do not need to be an A/R to make good use of it. You do not need to use a skill slot for a Ranger skill to go with it. This can just be a simple no requirement bow from the starting area. Yet this tiny bow can make all the difference in the world.

Pull with it, of course. But you can also start combat with it, let your heroes and hench take the aggro and the initial heavy fire from enemy casters, particularly ele's that would spike you down. Then switch to daggers and go in.

Add a vampiric string to your tiny bow for extra fun!

If you happen to have Prophecies, look at the general collector list. There are bows from Prophecies collectors that give you a max of 18 at Marksmanship 3, and 25 (nearly full power) at Marksmanship 6. If you have the spare points.

I often run Dagger/Bow Hybrid in solo PvE. A marks 6 req longbow with vampiric string. Switch between the bow and my favorite daggers with the side buttons of my mouse. It is much more comfortable, though slower, to take down ice imps and other annoying targets from longbow range.