Curse

olrox · Oct 08, 2006, 08:11 PM // 20:11

Okay, i love the elite skill shadow form. It's pretty under rated and i've yet to see a build that successfully utilizes it. Would anyone mind helping me think of a build that could be usefull for both PvE or PvP with little/no changing of skills between the two?

A/Any

Here's what ive got so far: Golden lotus strike, Disrupting stab, repeating strike, golden pheonix strike, expose defenses, Critical eye, recall, and of course, shadow form.

The armor im using is all shrouded parts for the added energy, and the runes are a superior vigor rune, 3 minor runes for critical strikes, dagger mastery and deadly arts, and one superior for shadow arts.

The attributes are currently set at Dagger mastery 9 (8+1), Deadly arts 9 (8+1), shadow arts 15 (11+3+1) critical strikes 10 (9+1).

The weapon im using is a zealous sai of enchanting with a +15% while enchanted mod, and i occassionally switch with a set of daggers of xuekao.

So far the build works by obviously casting recall on a monk or someone whos support. wait for your energy to recharge, then head towards a spellcaster and cast shadow form when next to him, then use critical eye. expose defenses comes next, then golden lotus strike to regain some of the lost energy. Open up with golden pheonix strike then begin ripping with repeating strike until the enemy goes down (which is pretty quick for one character focusing on the opponent.)

When shadow form goes down immediately remove recall, and let yourself recover. here in lies the problem. There is nearly 30 seconds of waiting for shadow form to recharge and for you to recover. i origionally thought to use shadow refuge instead of golden pheonix strike, but then you cannot use repeating strike, which is necessary for the build. the one thing that could be replaced with shadow form is disrupting stab, but sometimes thats needed to stop the spellcaster from removing your enchants or the like.

Im sure there are skills from secondary classes that might be able to help, or assassin skills, so if you can think of anything, please let me know. Thank you!

Yanman.be · Oct 08, 2006, 08:27 PM // 20:27

....Twisting Fangs > Repeating strike.

olrox · Oct 08, 2006, 08:32 PM // 20:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yanman.be

....Twisting Fangs > Repeating strike.

Twisting fangs is an excellent finishing move, but with repeating strike and high enough critical hits (with critical eye going for the +1 energy for each critical hit = 4 energy regained), it only costs one damage per hit (or free if using the zealous daggers) and it deals an extra 23 damage per hit. it takes twisting fangs 15 seconds to recharge, leaving you to hit with simply regular attacks. possibly replace pheonix strike with twisting fangs?

Shadwu · Oct 08, 2006, 08:34 PM // 20:34

Arcane Echo Shadow Form?

olrox · Oct 08, 2006, 08:45 PM // 20:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadwu

Arcane Echo Shadow Form?

Ah! I completely forgot about arcane echo. ^^; I should replace disrupting stab with it.

thank you for reminding me of that.

Shadwu · Oct 08, 2006, 08:51 PM // 20:51

Does Illusion of Weakness work with Shadow Form?

olrox · Oct 08, 2006, 09:03 PM // 21:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadwu

Does Illusion of Weakness work with Shadow Form?

I'm not sure but im going to try that once i reach senji's corner and can change from A/R to A/Me.

That sounds like a good idea though.

I think it might work because it seems to register the health loss from shadow form as damage; and besides, your losing more than 3/4 of your health because of shadow form.

olrox · Oct 08, 2006, 09:09 PM // 21:09

Nope, as it turns out the health loss does not count as damage.

Lambentviper · Oct 08, 2006, 09:30 PM // 21:30

then it should still get set off by a wand or something....so that could still work

silentblade · Oct 08, 2006, 11:56 PM // 23:56

evn if u arcane echo shadow form its problem still lies on the recharge w/ boht shadow from combined its around 30-40secs still 20 secs of recharge thus leaving u vulnerable still need ot find a way to prevent this

pve-er · Oct 09, 2006, 01:18 AM // 01:18

Shadow form isn't helpful in PvE due to its high recharge time and huge reduction in Health. Shadow form isn't that invinceble, any universal enchantment revomal skill can put you in great danger, some Rt spirit attack ( I taste that from Iqinouis in Jade Sea) also can remove it and you are a dead Sin. also Shadow form don't prevent teh effect from Signet skill. it is really not that powerful as you think
therefore it isn't usful in PvE combat.

the only build that I incorperate Shadow form is my A/Mo runner build. it is use to prevent hex and damege in Imperial sactum or running through mob that don't stripe enchantment universally.

olrox · Oct 09, 2006, 04:41 AM // 04:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by pve-er

Shadow form isn't helpful in PvE due to its high recharge time and huge reduction in Health. Shadow form isn't that invinceble, any universal enchantment revomal skill can put you in great danger, some Rt spirit attack ( I taste that from Iqinouis in Jade Sea) also can remove it and you are a dead Sin. also Shadow form don't prevent teh effect from Signet skill. it is really not that powerful as you think
therefore it isn't usful in PvE combat.

the only build that I incorperate Shadow form is my A/Mo runner build. it is use to prevent hex and damege in Imperial sactum or running through mob that don't stripe enchantment universally.

I understand that it has alot of drawbacks, that comes with any skill. I just thought it would be interesting to see what could be done with it.

pve-er · Oct 09, 2006, 07:34 AM // 07:34

there are a handfull of build use Shadow form,
from what I recall now
one is the A/E solo farm build in the farming thread
another is my A/Mo runner build

Shadow form really not suitable for mission or quest in faction due to its drawback.

SAPhoenix · Oct 09, 2006, 08:45 AM // 08:45

I use a Shadow Form build in AB along with Shadow of Haste and a stance cancel of my choice. The best part about this particular setup is that you can activate Shadow of Haste, go after targets and when you become the centre of attention, activate Shadow Form and do as much as you can before it ends, then simply cancel Haste to warp to safety. Activating Haste at the res and orb shrines is a good strategy as you can teleport back to either shrine and receive healing from the monks after Shadow Form has ended.

So far, I can honestly say that I have never had it stripped. I've used it several times in GvG too, never had it stripped there either. It's just not something that ppl always expect a sin to bring, thus they rarely prepare for it. That, IMO, makes it one of the most powerful elites available to the sin.

Scourgey · Oct 09, 2006, 08:47 AM // 08:47

Bring 2 assassin/Mesmers:

Arcane Echo,
Arcane Mimicry,
Shadow Form (E),

20% enchant daggers.

Almost permanent Shadow form.

It works, and you are probably better off with unsuspecting, wild strike, critical strikes, & golden lotus strike as you need energy to maintain the enchants.

(This is a PvE build more than PvP though)

MisterB · Oct 09, 2006, 06:17 PM // 18:17

With Nightfall, you should be able to take permanent Shadow Form as A/Me, or even Me/A, if I read the skill correctly. Check out Deadly Paradox:

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

You don't need any points in Deadly Arts for the benefit, since you only need it to reduce Shadow Form's recharge by 50%.
Deadly Paradox>Archane Echo>Shadow Form>etc.
I am not familiar with the timing of Archane Echo, and the skill is not available for me to test, but it should work well in PVE, at least.

Neverending Silence · Oct 10, 2006, 12:55 AM // 00:55

i agree with SAPheonix. it does work pretty nicely and its an unexpected thing to ppl. its an awesome support build as well. if u can egt a monk with u (preferably a life bond monk) in ab then it works very well. i had a life bonder with me while i was using that and i never died once. if i recall correctly i had 22 kills in that round and no deaths. but without a monk around u gotta play it rly smart, other than that its still something worth tryin. sins are always ahrd to even up.

lightblade · Oct 10, 2006, 01:02 AM // 01:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadwu

Does Illusion of Weakness work with Shadow Form?

It does...in a way. It doesn't trigger immediately after Shadow Form end. It takes another attack that hit on you in order for it to trigger. Unfortunately, the damage will be dealt first before IoW heals you. So there's a big chance that you'll be dead before IoR even trigger.

olrox · Oct 10, 2006, 01:36 AM // 01:36

Quote:

With Nightfall, you should be able to take permanent Shadow Form as A/Me, or even Me/A, if I read the skill correctly. Check out Deadly Paradox:

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

You don't need any points in Deadly Arts for the benefit, since you only need it to reduce Shadow Form's recharge by 50%.
Deadly Paradox>Archane Echo>Shadow Form>etc.
I am not familiar with the timing of Archane Echo, and the skill is not available for me to test, but it should work well in PVE, at least.

I like this idea, but the only problem would be the disabled attack skills. I'm sure theres an easy way around this, but we'll have to wait for nightfall. thanks for pointing this out.

Neverending Silence · Oct 10, 2006, 04:51 AM // 04:51

i recommend Hearts of Shadow being thrown in to heal u and the illusion of pain as well. u should survive and then be fine. depends on how hard they hit