Curse

zepath · May 07, 2006, 11:05 AM // 11:05

I've been using this combo for a while now in random arenas (all my friends don't play much anymore, so it's usually just me going on for a short bout) but I thought I'd pitch it up for review.

Shadow of Haste
Death's Charge

Palm Strike (~69 damage)
Death Blossom (~140 damage)
Golden Phoenix Strike (~50 damage)
Blades of Steel (~120 damage)

Dash

Rezz Signet

So the general idea behind this is to pick out a target that's a little above 1/2 health. Usually when people are at ~70% health, they don't expect anything to kill them too quickly.

Then I choose a spot a little out of range of my target (low armor target) and hit Shadow of Haste. I run forward for Death's Charge right up against them. Then I throw up the four move combo, dealing approx 380 damage.

Once that's done, I hit Dash to cancel Shadow of Haste (when you switch stances, Shadow of Haste turns off, and it teleports you back).

In the case I get into some serious trouble during my attack I can always abort and cancel Shadow of Haste for an early ticket home by turning on Dash.

Anyway, this is pretty much my favorite build. Sometimes I trade in temple strike for palm strike and change up my dual attack to a lead of choice (sometimes a the crippling attack). It lowers the damage output to around 300, but if my target is a monk, that dazing can be the difference between them pulling off a healing touch and them being dead.

Okay, tear it apart. I want to make it better, but I'm left turning circles.

*edit* oh yeah, you have to have somebody else drop an enchant on you before you go in so golden phoenix wil hit. Usually this is not a problem, even in random arena.

*edit2* oh yeah, another favorite "sub" in set of skills is to use the one where you teleport to them/slow hex, followed by the attack that knocks them down if they are hexed. I stopped using that combo a while ago because there was some problem with it, I can't remember what.

NatalieD · May 07, 2006, 12:01 PM // 12:01

Twisting Fangs is far better than Death Blossom for a single target. Deep wounds are unmatched in awesomeness.

zepath · May 07, 2006, 02:26 PM // 14:26

point taken, I think I was using twisting fangs, and then I felt like I wasn't getting my money's worth since I got bleeding from sharpen daggers, but after playing around with things today, I think I'm going to replace death blossom with twisting fangs like you said, and replace sharpen daggers with "way of the fox" for those pesky rangers/monks with guardian.

Spura · May 08, 2006, 11:49 AM // 11:49

Truth be told, I just prefer impale+aura of displacement+golden phoenix+horns of the ox+falling spider+twisting fangs to any other 4 attack skill spike.

Something like 8+1 critical, 12+1+3 daggers, 10+1 deathly, it kills 60 AL target with 100% health. If you try it vs 80 AL dummy you will see it also dies in one combo or sometimes lives with about 10% HP and -7 regen, depends on how many crits you get.

Just my personal preference. After you get aura on you, you can skip it in combo and have enough energy to use frenzy as well before spike. Usually kills monk before he reacts if you use frenzy.

LaserLight · May 08, 2006, 09:49 PM // 21:49

Yes, but that's six skills, and not many of them cheap

.

As far as Assassin skill chains go, best to run by Rule of KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid. The more attacks/skills you can cut out of your chain, the more robust and reliable it is. No, you don't get the huge damage, but then, when your skill stream takes six seconds to fully engage, the enemy Monks have plenty of time to mitigate your impact. Three skills tops for me - would have to be a hell of a move to get me to use a four-skill chain, and five or higher is lunacy.

prencher · May 09, 2006, 07:56 AM // 07:56

I've yet to see a 3 attack skill combo that was worth it, laserlight.. or even just "good enough".. Care to give an example?

Repeating unsurp->fox->twisting or similar is all well and good, but theres too long between the combos then.

SparhawkJC · May 09, 2006, 08:01 AM // 08:01

Point of the assassin isn't to sit there and spam your combo. Pull it off once leave your target hurting and with conditions and move on to your next target. Let your warrior be the executioner.

prencher · May 09, 2006, 08:07 AM // 08:07

Oh sure, but that still doesn't change the heart of the issue; A good 3 skill attack chain where the result actually makes an impact.. Just saying I've yet to see one, I guess one involving palm strike could do well.