Curse

Sidra · Mar 25, 2006, 04:27 PM // 16:27

You only need 1 or 2 unlocked skills for this build... I haven't tested it in 12 v 12 or PvE yet, because I just put it together by taking out one of my old skills and putting this in.

A/R

Skillset:

1. Leaping Mantis Strike
2. Fox Fangs
3. Death Blossom
4. Moebius Strike {Elite}
5. Blades of Steel
6. Death's Charge
7. Viper's Defence
8. Troll Unguet

Attribute Allocations:

Wilderness Survival: 5
Dagger Mastery: 12
Shadow Arts: 9
Critical Strikes: 8

(there should be around 3 points left over. play around and find something you like).

Note: The point setup is just what I've conceived would work well with the build... I may change them later as I test it out.

Suggested method of use:

If running to enemy (no Death's Charge) use mantis, fox, DS, moebius, and go recharge. If enemy has above half health after all 4, wait as long as you can and then hit them with Blades. If you time it right, you should have 4 skills recharging, and at 4 x 12 damage per hit, that takes you to +48 damage for that one attack. If they are still alive and start to fight back, they should be low enough so that they can easily die from a degen skill. You should have enough energy to use vipers now, so use it if they start hitting you and then run around. They will most likely be too busy chasing you to defend.

If you get interrupted during one of the combo skills, than use vipers, run, use trolls quickly, and Death's Charge back in. you should have around enough energy to at least do a Mantis, Fox, DB, and then maybe a moebius and even a Blades, if you do some critical hits. Also. If you are being degened in an area where you have comrades who may or may not be fighting already, lure the person attacking you with vipers and trick them into attacking the party member (if they have more health than you.) then unguet and death's charge back in, using whatever you can while they're distracted with your buddy.

This is my first attempt at making a build, and I have no idea whether it's at all plausible. It seems to me like it would be a more effective 12 v 12 or PvP build than a PvE build. C&C appreciated, and don't hold back on trashing it if it's to bad, because I know I have to learn more some day and pointing out the things that suck most about it will probably help.

edit: i tested this thing out. if you lay out all of the skills, 1 after the other (with no inhibitions on your energy, you'll notice. less once i update and test with a less-requiring lead attack) you should be able to kill the enemy in about 6 seconds. leave enough time for Death Blossom to do its duel damage and then hit BoS very fast after moebius should get you 60-75 dmg from the BoS attack, after doing at least 30 on every attack beforehand, 50+ on some. Sometimes, you will not even have time for the BoS after you do a moebius, but do it again anyhow because the recharging moebius should give you enough boost to finish the enemy off.

SparhawkJC · Mar 25, 2006, 06:48 PM // 18:48

Interesting build. Some things I would change, replace Black Mantis Thrust with Mantis Sting. It has shorter recharge, same extra damage and only requires your target to be moving to put the crippling on. I would also use Heart of Shadow instead of Viper's defense because I find healing yourself more useful that poisoning your attacker. Also don't put anything in wilderness survival if you're just using it for trolls. Maybe throw in storm chaser and apply poison if you want to use wilderness survival. I would much rather just put in Shadow Refuge as my self heal, less cast time so easier to use in battle. Then take those points from wilderness survival to pump Critical Strikes up to 10 or something else. Also I don't really agree with having a 5 hit combo. Unless you happen to crit on a couple of hits, which I'm not really comfortable counting on, you're going to be hurting for energy. I would take out blades of steel and put in a utility skills. Some suggestions are, critical eye (which is the bomb at 10 crit and also helps energy management), Locust's Fury, Sharpen Daggers, Unseen Fury, Way of Perfection, Way of the Fox, or Way of the Lotus. You could also just as easily switch it for a hex and keep Black Mantis Strike. Hope this helps.

Sidra · Mar 25, 2006, 07:54 PM // 19:54

I put unguet for the continuous regen, where shadow refuge gives you around 100 health if its high enough after 4 seconds. 5 seconds and unguet counters degen problems, since i normally go after other assassins and casters. I tried the build and it worked very well, with minimal energy management problems. You would probably want to go Mantis, Fox, BoS, Moebius, and THEN use jungle. If you critical hit at all (which you should have) you should not even have to wait 3 seconds for enough energy for a second moebius, recharging all skills and dealing the damage that it does. It's best not to waste energy on monks, due to their tendency to cast every spell on themselves instead of on their party members. I made what I could with the skill points that I had. I will probably try those out later if I manage to "lvl up" again. Thanks for the tips, they will definetely be usefull.

LaserLight · Mar 25, 2006, 09:06 PM // 21:06

Hmm...Leaping Mantis Sting over BMT is probably a good idea, but I'd say stick with Troll Unguent and Viper's Defense. As much as I hate Troll, it'd work better on an Assassin randomly flitting around the battlefield than it would for most anything else, and Viper's is just cool. Besides, though it's something of an emergency thing, ye can always trip Death's Charge even when you're already on top of an enemy, to get the healing.

Also. Black Mantis, Fox Fangs, Jungle, Moebius? ye do know Moebius has to follow a Dual, right? And that Jungle is an Off-Hand that has to follow a Lead, and not another Dual? I'll agree that the way Blades of Steel is set up now rocks hard, but I'd think about rearranging your skill stream anyways, man.

Sidra · Mar 25, 2006, 10:45 PM // 22:45

Jungle is a Duel. And if you interchange Jungle for Death Blossom the build works so much better that it's not even funny. I was able to lay down BMS, FF, DB, Moebius, and BoS all in a row and then with the critical hit factor lay a vipers and get away. I definetely succeeded better using troll (instead of Shadow Refuge, even if it heals more) due to the degen countering that kills so many assassins. I intend to switch out Black Mantis with one of the better lead attacks. I know there is a stance countering one that I think would be usefull against rangers with Whirling Defence and other assassins with stances, maybe even warriors.

I'm editing the first post to factor in Death's Blossom, due to the fact that Deaths is 5 1 12 instead of 10 1 15 like Jungle, and deaths does 35 and then 35 to all adjacent foes, making it much more efficient IMHO. There are definetely things that need to be tweaked and altered, and I think that with the release of Factions I can improve on it a great deal once I have more skill references. Anybody have more suggestions? Or a name suggestion for this?

SparhawkJC · Mar 25, 2006, 11:22 PM // 23:22

With that many hits in your combo, maybe The Juggler? Oh and I don't know how I missed this the first time, but everybody knows you should have rez sig in your skill bar.

Sidra · Mar 26, 2006, 12:00 AM // 00:00

Not for 12 v 12 m8. it's virtually useless. This build is mainly good for taking out casters and lone assassins, it just needs some tweaks and it can tank an assassin better. I can lay down all 5 skills in a row and do some serious damage
sometimes i dont even get to hit my BoS because I take them down too low. Viper's is also good if you know you're about to die, and you want to take the lowest down person out also. It works particularly well against assassins because their healing signets or troll unguets dont usually go fast enough to save them from the degen madness.

Edit- I've decided to call it the BoS 5-Hit Blowout Build. Lol.

Sidra · Mar 26, 2006, 04:34 AM // 04:34

I just edited out black mantis for leaping mantis. it's a must have for recharge and energy cost issues. there are some other skills that I want to try out for different reasons. When Factions comes out, I intend to perfect this build and its options to the fullest extent that I can. I'll try to get as many skills as I can tomorrow. I'm turning in for the night though.