Curse

Dinkytowner · May 03, 2006, 05:39 PM // 17:39

A/

Dagger Mastery 12+1 (mask)
Deadly Arts 8+1 (minor rune)
Shadow Arts 7+2 (major rune)
Critical Strikes 8
-runes are hard to come by atm so they are a little erratic and the attributes are subject to change as I am still trying to figure out the best setup.

Jagged Strike (Dagger Mastery, 5e, lead) - Causes bleeding 8 sec
Iron Palm (Deadly Arts, 10e, lead) - dmg + knockdown if suffering from hex or condition
Falling Spider (Dagger Mastery, 5e, off-hand) - Must be KD'd, dmg + poisined for 18 sec
Fox Fangs (Dagger Mastery, 5e, off-hand) - +dmg cannot be blocked or evaded
Death Blossom (Dagger Mastery, 5e, dual) - +dmg and dmg to adjecent foes
Shadow Refuge (Shadow Arts, 5e) - healthe regen and +health at the end if attacking
Cap or Res Sig
FLEX SPOT - have been using Way of perfection, but I think I need an escape skill in here

Idea - Basically you lead with a JS, IP, FS, DB combo and the target is usually dead. Fox fangs is in there to provide another off hand when skills are recharging so that you can be useful in the meantime. I found myself a little useless while my skills were recharging after the first kill when I started using this build so I included Fox.

Questions - Any good suggestions for a useful escape skill? Any elites that I should look for to include in this build? Any other good skills to cause a KD with the lead atttack that is less costly? I made this build around Falling spider and would like to keep that in there I just think that there must be a better KD lead out there. Also suggestions for attirbute pts and runes to look for would be appreciated. Thanks for any help you may be able to provide.

Kurow · May 03, 2006, 05:46 PM // 17:46

yeah.... http://guildwarsguru.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3024099

I suppose mine is more geared towars PvP, but the similiarities are striking. Before I switched out jagged strike, 6 of the skills were the same. (now its only 5)

Dinkytowner · May 03, 2006, 06:08 PM // 18:08

That's just strange... Maybe I should have looked around b4 posting

I don't think impale will work for PvE, but I will definately try it in arenas as I was looking for an A PvP build. Does anyone know where to cap Aura of Displacement? I think that would be the perfect escape skill for this build.

sphere830 · May 03, 2006, 06:12 PM // 18:12

I like Vipers Defense for an escape skill, it takes a little getting used to, but the teleports work very well for getting away and you leave your opponent a little surprise on your grand exit. I like the build, it looks good for mobs.

angeleyes · May 03, 2006, 09:08 PM // 21:08

Nice defense skill:

Shadow Form

For 5...17 seconds, all hostile Spells that target you fail and all attacks against you miss. When Shadow Form ends, lose all but 5...41 Health.

GuildWiki url: http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Shadow_Form

But very nice damage build!

Dinkytowner · May 03, 2006, 10:29 PM // 22:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by angeleyes

When Shadow Form ends, lose all but 5...41 Health.

This kinda bothers me...

I want to escape an regenerate my health not lose more of it. Is this skill useful in practice? I will go an cap it and try but, nonetheless I'm a little skeptical.

S!carius · May 04, 2006, 08:11 AM // 08:11

I think shadow form could be useful as long as you can kill your target in 5-17 seconds. You could also time it with shadow refuge so you get the +HP right after you get dropped down to 5-41. You could also use a low hp weapon combo right as shadow form ends, then switch back to your normal combo.

Lets say you have 9 in shadow arts. Your low hp weapon combo uses a sword or axe with the -50hp item. At 9 SA you get dropped down the 38hp, shadow refuge gives you 56 hp, and when you switch back to your regular weapon combo (I'll use a perfect fortitude mod for the example) you game 80hp. Your total hp after all that would be 174. If you have a decent monk, you will get healing too.

Tromador · May 04, 2006, 10:57 AM // 10:57

Interesting, I was using entangling asp for the knockdown, then similar, but I like jagged edge and iron palm better. Dunno where I missed Iron palm... *blind*. Actually, I've prolly missed it as I hadn't thought of using two leads as a combo, but of course... why not?

I like to use "Death's Charge" to get into the back of the mobs into their casters. I been using recall as the escape skill. Cast it on whoever sits at the back of my group. I was with a Rit on TS the other day, "Cya in a sec" she would say as I vanished into the fray. Could also cast it on your monk, teleport back for healing. Hope the monk is an understanding type

. Then again, return would work good too. I like recall though. Once it's running, the escape is instant and can't be interrupted. Also, the mobs have to strip your ally, not you, to stop the escape. On the other hand, return is cheaper for energy, then again you might not have any left anyway. Then there's aura of displacement too (and you can't wait to recharge the energy cost like after recall)... I do worry about that one getting stripped though.

But *nods sagely* I like that jagged->iron palm combo, as then I can get into some more damage, instead of two poisonings. Interesting. (all the more so as I have a Superior Dagger Rune, Lucky me

)

Dinkytowner · May 04, 2006, 01:11 PM // 13:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tromador

(all the more so as I have a Superior Dagger Rune, Lucky me

)

bah, lucky and rich...

Tromador · May 04, 2006, 01:20 PM // 13:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dinkytowner

bah, lucky and rich...

Nope, just lucky as my guildy got it on a rare drop and was kind enough to let me have it.

On the same day she got a superior absorption, a black dye and two minor assassin runes.

I got lots of whites :/

Go figure.

The Chimpster · May 04, 2006, 02:34 PM // 14:34

I was going to use my sup dagger rune but then I thought, hey, might as well make use of the rediculous prices while I can. Sold for 20k

Shiruba Oni · May 04, 2006, 06:38 PM // 18:38

Your build probably works best against bosses or single targets or PvP.

I am not very fond of degens for PVE, monsters usually die too fast for them to be fully effective. Also, Iron Palm has a long refresh time...when you are fighting multiple monsters you don't get to use it often.

My favorite skills are Critical Eye, Unsuspecting Strike, Fox Fangs, Death Blossom and Twisting Fangs, Shadow Refuge, Return/Recall.

Critical Eye : Generate energy while you maintain it up (this skill surprised me, its first impression wasn't too good when I first tried it but I like it now, I can tell a difference when I forget to refresh it or don't use it by using other builds...also don't forget that Critical is the primary of the assassin...usually all energy management skills come from your primary).

Unsuspecting Strike : Switch target right before a monster dies (if you are with other players) to get a fresh 100%hp monster for your Unsuspecting Strike, to get the most out of it. Probably the most efficient damage/energy ratio + refresh time lead attack.

Fox Fangs : Decent refresh time, low energy cost, insure linking Dual Attack.

Death Blossom : Ghetto AE, very situational but sometimes more efficient than Twisting Fangs.

Twisting Fangs : Great Dual Attack. Because of deep wound, if you fight a 500hp target, that's base damage + 100 damage, 100+ damage.

Shadow Refuge : Healers will love you if you can take care of yourself (don't be affraid to back up or use return/recall if you get in trouble).

Recall/return : Recall is a permanent enchantment, if you have a +15% damage if under enchantment mod on your weapon, also used to get out of reach if you are in trouble, harder on energy management though. Return is more energy management friendly, but you need to be in casting range which isn't always the case...

Kurow · May 05, 2006, 12:36 AM // 00:36

Uh... this is critique his build, not tell him a completely different one.

Dinkytowner · May 05, 2006, 03:23 AM // 03:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shiruba Oni

Your build probably works best against bosses or single targets or PvP.

Also, Iron Palm has a long refresh time...when you are fighting multiple monsters you don't get to use it often.

Yes and Yes. That's why I put in fox fangs, it gives you a skill that deals descent damage every time while waiting for iron palm to recharge. I would suggest trying the build out. As a rule, try builds out before posting about them, you might find out that there is a little more to them than what appears on paper.

I do agree with everything else you said though. Twisting is a great skill if only fo the deep wound it causes. The reason I axed it is I already had bleeding in this build and I wanted to focus on finding a dual attack that costs 5e, so death blossom it is. Unsuspecting strike does great dmg, but again it costs 10e and zins have evergy hemmoraging issues as we have talked about already. The other down side is if you aren't attacking an enemy at full health you are wasting 10e on a skill that only does moderate dmg. I built this around low cost and a KD skill (to activate falling spider) therefore I got JS, FS, FF, DB and IP for a knockdown.

Tromador · May 05, 2006, 07:57 AM // 07:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shiruba Oni

Recall/return : Recall is a permanent enchantment, if you have a +15% damage if under enchantment mod on your weapon

Nope. Doesn't work like that. You cast recall on somebody else. They are enchanted, not you.

Shiruba Oni · May 05, 2006, 02:20 PM // 14:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tromador

Nope. Doesn't work like that. You cast recall on somebody else. They are enchanted, not you.

I wasn't aware of that. Thanks for correcting me

As for trying the build, I tried something very close to that for PVP. There isn't many skills to be used with falling spider afterall and most build that use it will go for iron palm.

It worked very well (one main difference was using impale before the IP/FS/TF combo)...that's as "spiky" an assassin can get for now I think (which is desirable in a PVP setting). But for overall DPS on multiple targets, I find this build lacking and would be my main critique.

If you are looking for a constant inflow of energy, critical eye will do that for you. For an even greater effect, add locust's fury elite (gives you an enchantment for that +15% dmg if enchanted dagger mod). I just got it yerterday and I love it...I am using a zealous mod for my dagger so I don't have much trouble for energy generation. One thing to note though is while you are using a combo, you don't seem to benefit from locust's fury as you aren't using your normal attack but "casting". Still experimenting with it atm..