Curse

Yukito Kunisaki · Jun 12, 2006, 06:09 PM // 18:09

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s....php?t=3055208

Can anyone answer my question on the build I posted?

Siren · Jun 12, 2006, 10:50 PM // 22:50

The question being...

Quote:

Is it just me or is assassin now [with nerfs] the most unproductive character come late game pve?

It's just you, trust me. And it's just anyone who hasn't taken the time to learn the tricks of the profession. Hands down, straight-up, no matter what anyone else tries to bullshit...that's the reality of the situation.

Are you aware that AoD+GPS wasn't the only way for someone to bypass the Lead requirement? Are you aware that skill recharges are entirely irrelevant when using certain Assassin skills? Are you aware that you can spec entirely into Dagger, CS, and Deadly Arts, and rock the mother-effing casbah, completely contrary to 99% of what people have been saying regarding Deadly Arts?

I can chain together multi-kills with my Assassin. I can kill non-boss targets faster than Warriors can. Hell, when I'm in the zone...I can out-perform Warriors in just about every way imaginable. The only time they may trump me is in auto-attacking. That's it.

And if your previous thread was designed for build discussion...you should have made it about build discussion. As it stands, your post focused on how much Assassins are mediocre, and all that the replies did was just focus on that, rather than even evaluating the build.

So tell you what. I'll also look over your build and tell you to drop Shadow Arts entirely, because you're not using it in your skill set.

...are you trying to make a really lame joke with this entire thing? Are you trolling? What are you trying to do? Your posts there are filled with nothing more than Defeatist hyperbole and that, my friend, is incredibly lame.

wilebill · Jun 12, 2006, 11:20 PM // 23:20

Nothing wrong with the assassin late game PvE. I've been rocking around the trails in the south end of Kurzick country with the henchies, just using a very simple dagger build, no problems at all. As effective as a ranger, or a warrior for those targets. Let the henchies lock on to aggro, go take out the healer, get the ele's or necros, then the archers, then finish off what's left of the warriors.

I run my crit at 13, use Way of Perfection, not Critical Defenses which doesn't work for me either. Spam Shadow refuge. Use Zealous daggers, spam Shadow Refuge a lot. Use energy cheap one-two-three, Locust's Fury elite. Dagger at 12, I think, and Shadow is 11 or 12. Vanilla as you can possibly get.

Selection of henchies is important. If available, Healer, Rit, Protector, Domination or Interrupt Hench, Lukas the warrior who protects me with his Shields Up from arrows part of the time, Brutus, Sheena, and me. With this combo, I very rarely see my hp go below 50%, henchies do not die either.

I use Viper's Defense, but really do not need even it that often. Death's Charge to the healer only after the henchies have aggroed the warriors, or you will be the center of attention for the whole durn mob.

Rest is technique, pulling is essential. Back towards what you want to pull so the henchies are in front of you, then run a good long way. Usually works.

WildmouseX · Jun 13, 2006, 01:21 AM // 01:21

think of how assassins work in real life. do they load up on armor, weapons, and what not and duke it out toe to toe with their targets? do they take on multiple targets? no. the point of an assassin, is to identify vulnerible targets, hit them hard when they least expect it, then disapear b4 they know what hit them.

you're trying to set up so you can stand there tradeing punch's till the other guy drops. that's not what the class is designed to do, and that's why you keep droping. - with wars you lock horns and let it auto attack, untill you've built up enough adrenlyn to deal out real dmg, with an assassin you need to run in, deal alot of dmg right off the bat, then run like a bat outta hell. i'd personaly say, that if you land even 1 auto attack hit with an ass, you screwed up and are probly gunna die for it.-- also the whole wasteing attrib pts. in shadow arts and not useing any of the skills - as previously mentioned.

to run an ass efectively, you want to get in, deal a ton of dmg +conditions, then bug out b4 they have time to react to you. if you really want to stand around in fights, then you better be bringing shadow step skills, 2-3 at least. the assassin isn't built to take dmg, that's why they die so fast, the assassin shines when they avoid getting any dmg at all.

here's the build i'm currently useing on my A/N

Blood magic:8
Curses:7
Dagger Mastery:12 (major)
Shadow Art's:8 (minor)
Critical hits:10 (major + mask)

Skills:
demonic flesh
mark of pain
golden lotus strike
black lotus strike
death blosum
plegue touch
shadows refuge
return

with this build, i throw return on a monk right away, so my energy will recharge b4 we get into a fight... when we get close to a fight i'll throw demonic flesh on myself for a +144 health, then as my war rush's in i wait for their wars to all agro on him; then i put mark of pain on one close to the middle, run in and nail him with my combo. - the first two hits of the combo fills my energy, while the third dish's out +35 dmg to my target and all surounding foes - add 28 dmg to all adjacent foes/ per hit - from mark of pain - and i have thussly softened up the entire fron line that my war has to fight by 119 dmg.

at this point, no mater how good or bad the fight is doing, i know that i've warn out my welcome and drop the return and teleport back to my monk. - this is the critical error that most assassins are makeing. you can't stay in a fight, peroid.

once back by my monk, i first look to see if anyone rushed the line to come after me, if so i'll take them out right away. since i bugged out of the front line b4 i got hit, i can stand up to a 1 on 1 fight, especially since my attacks are going to be recharged by the time we lock arms. if no one chases me, i'll ancor return on the monk again, and then either go after their monk, or other support guys that have isolated themselves from the rest of their group.

remember, your job isn't to sit there and fight a mob of wars, it's to hit the straglers, 1 at a time- realy hard, realy fast and then split.

there's alot of stuff that can be changed off of my build, suffering, weekness, enfeebled blood, and so on are all good replacements for mark of pain if you want to help out the war while avoiding the front line all together (which is still the best advice any assassin can get).. parastic bond, life sphion and so on are good choices if you want to be able to engage the enemies support guys 1 at a time, to drop them fast.

pretty much any secondary has tons of builds that will make the assassin more leathel. it's not the class that's screwed up, just people trying to play them like war's.

wilebill · Jun 13, 2006, 11:13 AM // 11:13

Very well said, Mouse. Especially "this is the critical error that most assassins are makeing. you can't stay in a fight, peroid." And you must stay mobile. The assassin is a glass cannon, very powerful, easily shattered.

Note that if a shadow escape spell is not ready, you can double click on any party member's name in the party list who should be at the rear. Your assassin will autorun towards them. In a player group, of course, be careful not to drag aggro towards a caster or your healer or they will not thank you for it.

Clicking on an area outside the fight also works if you have autorun on click turned on, which it is by default. When starting an engagement, the "s" key to backup sometimes helps to keep the warriors from engaging you.