Curse

Rogkun · Apr 20, 2008, 09:57 PM // 21:57

Okay, I'm at the point where Mr. Togo asks me to choose a secondary profession. So far I found Monk to be the most helpful, here's why:

Bane Signet: Does DECENT damage, costs nothing, recharges every 20 seconds. 1 Second to use.

I checked out ranger, warrior, mesmer, necromancer, all of them. They all seem to run very HEAVY energy cost moves. (except warrior but the tactics moves didn't help me as much as I thought they would ).

I'm looking for quick, cheap, effective skills. If I can find something near as effective (or more) as Bane Signet, I'd use it right up. No Joke.

Got any pearls of wisdom about skills I could learn with other classes? Or should I stick with monk?

Note: Literally, enchantments just don't last long enough with some classes. I can't afford high energy costs, long casting times, and slow recharging.

FlamingMetroid · Apr 20, 2008, 10:00 PM // 22:00

Secondary professional hardly matters for the assassin. All the damage they rely on come from dagger attacks, and for defense rely on crit defenses and your monks.

Rogkun · Apr 20, 2008, 10:02 PM // 22:02

Sounds solid. So any prof would work?

It's just that people on the forums make such a big deal about it. o_o

I'm just trying to make my character as effective as possible.

RavagerOfDreams · Apr 20, 2008, 10:02 PM // 22:02

the only reason sins use a second prof are for

a) hexes
b) knockdowns
c) ias's

and some of the caster builds use a few for dmg but other then that it shouldn't matter

Rogkun · Apr 20, 2008, 10:04 PM // 22:04

Alright, Thanks a lot guys. I guess I'll stick with my monkey (hehe..monkey) then.

You guys have been very helpful. Thanks! =D

shironos · Apr 20, 2008, 10:04 PM // 22:04

As an assassin you shouldnt even need Bane Signet as your attack skills more then cover that damage unless of course your going signet spiker (ew...) for some reason but I'd recommend monk to get through factions but you should explore the other secondary professions for activities beyond PvE such a /W for PvP for the IAS and such.

Rogkun · Apr 20, 2008, 10:08 PM // 22:08

well I'm new to the game, I do this with most rpgs I play with. Just trying to get the best I can. Also I didn't know the relation between main and sub classes.

You see, at my level my attacks fluctuate between skill spam and regular attacks (blow off a chain and wait for the nearest time to hit my next skill). During that time, I might as well blow of an attack that can deal more than 1 damage to a high def monster or when I'm hexed and my attack reaches 'baby chicken' status. (bane signet)

I checked out the other classes. And from this advice I see that most secondary prof skills are pvp tricks.

It's just that I figured the gravity of my second class would be greater pve-wise.

Note: most of the other classes basically sapped my energy, that's why i didn't want to go to them.

Marverick · Apr 20, 2008, 10:36 PM // 22:36

You can take a Conjure, which only costs 10 energy every 60 seconds and adds damage to every single attack.

Or just run [skill]Moebius Strike[/skill][skill]Death Blossom[/skill] for nonstop damage.

Adje · Apr 20, 2008, 11:47 PM // 23:47

I think the problem with choosing a second profession for an assassin is you don't realize that you can use certain skills to compensate the energy loss of the 2nd profession until you're higher level. This is especially true because you initially have pretty low attributes and your double strikes/critical hits are too low to see the significance of the energy gain. I've never tried it myself, but I've been told that A/Rt is an excellent combination because you can use the 5 energy ritualist weapons to buff yourself for considerable damage and the 5 energy is regained pretty quickly anyways through skills and crits (especially in conjunction with high dagger mastery for higher double strike). This also applies for secondaries like the elementalist for conjures.

Magikarp · Apr 21, 2008, 04:45 AM // 04:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marverick

You can take a Conjure, which only costs 10 energy every 60 seconds and adds damage to every single attack.

Or just run [skill]Moebius Strike[/skill][skill]Death Blossom[/skill] for nonstop damage.

he's new dude. im sure he doesnt have that just yet... not to mention whether or not he has proph.

a good start would just simply be Jagged Strike, Fox Fangs or Wild Strike, and Death Blossom. That should be more than overkill for most starters.

spec your attributes for mostly dagger mastery, a little critical strikes, and a little shadow arts. (something like 2 dagger raises to every 1 crit and shadow raises). this should get you till you're over near Haiju/lvl 13ish

then the builds get a little more diverse and powerful.

Bobby2 · Apr 21, 2008, 06:02 AM // 06:02

Until you get to Death Blossom, Dancing Daggers is the best skill available to you. Until you get to Moebius Strike, Assassin's Promise is the best Elite skill cappable for PvE.

Deadly Arts ftw.

As for the 2nd profession... you'll be able to change it way before it actually starts to matter.

(Bane Sig is quite good. KDs are very welcome in any build.)

Pick Me · Apr 21, 2008, 02:29 PM // 14:29

Before you choose a 2ndary, here are things to consider:

1) do all quests for each 2ndary, thus increasing your xp, money, skill selections (should you ever need to change 2ndaries), and allows you to level up faster.

2) Benefits from each profession (assuming you only have Factions):

Warrior - Wild Blow (critical hits each time, cannot be blocked, removes stance); Balanced Stance (cannot be critically hit, cannot be kd)

Elementalist - Conjure (flame, lightning, or frost - nice enchantment for Pheonix skills), Wards (used with glyph of lesser energy)

Monk - long lasting enchantments (again good for pheonix skills), hard rez, condition removal, hex removal, better self-healing

Mesmer - Fragility (Assassins can do many conditions, and it is a good hex to use with Black Lotus skills), Hex removal.

Ranger - apply poison, antidote signet

Necromancer - condition transfer, Barbs (another good hex to use with black lotus skills), Parasitic Bond (see barbs), Weaken Armor (nice with shadowy burden)

Ritualist - hard rez, weapon spells, life (if you use Spirit Walk), better self-healing

BlackSephir · Apr 21, 2008, 03:35 PM // 15:35

Well, you're playing Assa so I'm assuming you have Factions (im so smort) then I'd say /W with decent allegiance rank is your best friend. Save Yourselves is so ridiculously overpowered with typical MS/DB build that it begs for nerfing. But don't tell ANet.
Giving your other team-mates immortality for few seconds is good.

Bowstring Badass · Apr 21, 2008, 07:50 PM // 19:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Magikarp

he's new dude. im sure he doesnt have that just yet... not to mention whether or not he has proph.

Why does it matter if he has proph no assassin skills from proph.

Snow Bunny · Apr 21, 2008, 08:33 PM // 20:33

I assume this is purely for PvE which means you can use PvE skills.

I'd go /W and take SY, Brawling Headbutt, and Critical Agility.

You have your IAS, some passive defense, and a KD - all of which should be almost on demand with the speed at which you will attack.

Kaleban · Apr 21, 2008, 09:42 PM // 21:42

Go Monk secondary and here's why:

Once you can cap Assassin's Promise, throughout most of the game a 4-skill attack chain will just about drop any monster without a monk backup. So what you'd do is a skillset like this:

Assassin's Promise [e]
Black Mantis Strike
Lotus Strike
Death Blossom
Black Spider Strike (off-hand doesn't require a lead as long as enemy is hexed)
Protective Spirit
Shielding Hands
And a Shadow Step skill, probably Death's Charge for the healing.

So your basic premise is to cast your two Monk enchants, AP the target, Shadow Step in and unleash your attack chain. You'll take very little damage due to the two protective enchants, do a tremendous amount of damage, and be able to warp all over the battlefield because AP recharges your skills.

The recharge on the monk enchants don't matter because AP again has that covered, this is all provided you kill your target in one salvo, its smart to let a warrior hench/hero/player take the initial aggro, then warp in once the target starts taking damage. If you can get away with only one monk enchant, I'd switch out one for Blades of Steel or Twisting Fangs. BoS will do tremendous damage, enough that you won't need Deep Wound from TF. And the cost is lower in energy on BoS.

If you have access to Nightfall and EoTN, there are some great skills, my current AP build for when I am vanquishing is:

Assassin's Promise [e]
Shadow Fang
Black Mantis Thrust
Lotus Strike
Death Blossom
Black Spider Strike
Blades of Steel
Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support

You can the Assassin at your target to take initial aggro, AP the target, Shadow Fang in, unleash your combo. Usually the target is killed outright, if not, Shadow Fang ends, warping you back to where you shadow stepped from, and puts a Deep Wound on the target which almost ALWAYS kills the target for sure. With a 10 in Deadly Arts, AP lasts 12 seconds, and Shadow Fang is static at 10, so the Deep Wound killing your target also triggers AP's conditional recharge and energy.

Bobby2 · Apr 21, 2008, 10:49 PM // 22:49

Wow a lot of immediately applicable advice here

NOT

Bront · Apr 22, 2008, 01:45 AM // 01:45

[Generic advice]
Your secondary class should compliment your primary in some way, preferably with more than 1 skill along a particular skill line, or else you end up spreading your points out too thin. Generally, you want to only spec heavily into 3 attribute lines, maybe 4 if the build needs it, but any more, and you're hurting yourself.
[/generic advice]

So, given that...

What are your goals as an assassin? I realise this doesn't immedately help you, but you should be looking long term.

Smiting Prayers is rarely a good attribute line to spec time in (for any class at any time), and you will usually do more damage with your dagger skills, so I wouldn't advise going /Mo just for Bane Signet. Self heals are nice, but assassin self-heals will be more synergistic than specing into monk skills. Condition and hex removal skills though, is a useful aspect.

Warrior and Ranger are common assassin secondaries. Warrior has several IAS skills (increased attack speed), and some defensive skills, but also allows you to play builds using Swords (not so good), Axes (much more common), and Hammers (not to common), which can do a lot of damage with critical hits. Rangers can use bow builds (the Critical barrager or Critical Interrupter builds), as well as offer trapping, Pets (potentially useful as a distraction/tank while you bounce in and out), and some nice defensive skills (though many are in the Expertise attribute line, which means you can't improve them).

Ritualist offers Splinter Weapon, which is a good skill, and a few other useful weapon spells and self heals. Avoid using a lot of spirits as a A/Rt though if you go that route.

Necromancer has a few touch and condition causing spells that synergize with an assassin, but many spells are expensive.

Mesmer has Epidemic and Fevored dreams to spread conditions, which can be effective on a sin, as well as a few defensive stances to protect against elemental damage (Matra of Lightning, Fire, frost, etc). Usually more specific build stuff though than general usefullness, so probably better of waiting till you can change for this one.

If you have Nightfall, once you can change, you can always got /Dervish or /Paragon. /Paragon doesn't hold too much interest (not sure if a Crit Spear build would be any good, but I doubt it), but /Dervish is a popluar build for several dervish enchantments, as well as they make excelent runners.

Remember, you eventualy can change your secondary, so you're not locked into your choice. Pick something you think would be fun, and if it doesn't work out, you aren't out too much.

Clarissa F · Apr 22, 2008, 04:30 AM // 04:30

Lead, offhand, dual, crit defenses,crit eye, ias, self-heal.

Find what fits you best. Go monkee just for the heal, since you are only Factions. Take Flashing Blades(yes, I know, I know....) JUST until you are comfortable getting in and out. Get AP asap. From there, it's up to what you are comfortable playing. If you are staying Factions, A/R for crit barrage or Serpent's Quickness, A/E for Conjure, A/M for heal, A/W for ias maybe.

Whatever. It's late. Just make sure you have fun with it.

Super Igor · Apr 26, 2008, 12:44 AM // 00:44

Assassins hardly use ssecondary profession, all their damage comes from their dagger chains and its usually enough. All the damage buffing or heling should come from your heroes.

Anyway, I would have chosen either /W so you can use Save Yourselves! in the future to help your team with +100 armor bonus or /Rt for great hard rezzes, the possible use for /Mo I can find is rebirth which could be usefull considering you dont whant to stay in the fray when things get bad, Vigor's could be used to but meh, you are not a tank so no point in the on-hit health gain.

~Super Igor

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