Curse

Reikai · May 07, 2006, 04:05 PM // 16:05

Well, I've decided to conform... and make an assassin -_-.

I've basically learnt to play an assassin type role, on my ranger, playing around with Aura of Displacement, so I know the basic ins and outs. However, I'm just wondering, which secondaries would work well with an assassin, and which won't? I'm just wondering, especially for PvP (8v8, GvG or HoH), what would work out well. (skill unlocks don't matter... i've gotten all ritualist and assassin skills on my ranger :/)

First that comes to mind would be Mesmer. Against a monk, Blackout, Shroud of Silence, and Blackout again, can easily render the guy useless for about 30 seconds, if he has no one else to remove hexes. This is just one combo however... as I don't find many other A/Me combos that might work out :/

Next would be Monk. I've seen various builds around that revolve around using the monk smiting line, especially using Horns of the Ox, followed by Holy Strike, or something similar, and using monk maintained enchantments to use skills like Golden Phoenix Strike and the like. However, I really can't see myself using mending in PvP.

Then comes Elementalist. Ele secondary could complement the Assassin primary with Knockdown skills such as Shock, or Gale (shock more likely). However, it seems, just like the ranger, that the rest of the ele skill would be way too expensive to use effectively... although a KD/AS Assassin may be interesting...

Ritualists could do well with weapon spells, brutal weapon for example would add quite a bit of damage, if done well in a spike... however, you get boon prots... and skill such as aegis, and you suddenly loose quite a bit of your offense...

This is basically what i've observed so far. I'm not exactly into the A/W thing... although if it really has potential please tell me. A/R... I think imy R/A would be better. And finally, A/N, I havn't really seen any good combinations with this.

If you guys could help me out, it would be really great.

SparhawkJC · May 07, 2006, 08:52 PM // 20:52

I think R/A is definitely more effective that A/R. THe benefits of Expertise outweigh an assassin using Tiger's Fury and Apply Poison. A/W is pretty interesting to play with. I've tried playing with builds using Wild Blow, None Shall Pass, and Auspicious Parry to decent success. A/N is decent with Plague Touch for condition removal but if you want condition removal you should go A/Mo for CoP or "Scary Baby Face" as it's sometimes called. It's pretty useful for canceling out Aura of Displacement.

Iraqalypse Now · May 07, 2006, 09:10 PM // 21:10

I am very, very, very close to making a post on how to think of secondaries for warriors, rangers, and assassins. This is because people, especially those with a PvE background, think of class combinations first and then get into skill interactions. This is a direct result of the PvE system - people choose their class combination before choosing any particulars on their build.

The superior approach to class combinations for typical Warrior, Ranger, and Assassin builds is to choose a "core" set of 6-7 skills. This approach is taken because of the special dynamic of these classes - high investment in primary class attributes, low marginal cost and high marginal benefit with primary class skills, and class-specific limitations for using other classes. For warriors, it is the fact that the best builds use 16 weapon mastery, a speed buff, an attack speed buff, and adrenal skills - combined with a poor energy pool making spells from other classes prohibitively expensive. Rangers tend to need high specs in Marksmanship, Expertise, and often Wilderness Survival - combined with expertise not helping out spells, this tends to exclude other classes. Assassins have such tremendous synergy between their skills that the fifth or sixth Assassin skill is often better than skills from other classes. That combines with the fact that long cast times are bad for Assassins because their energy managment is based on attacking and getting criticals.

OK, now this section is for the assassin specifically. These are the drawbacks to using skills from other classes: long cast times hurt, assassin skillbars are already highly synergistic, and attribute points are spread thin. Things you want to add to an assassin: damage, hex/condition management, disruption. Given that, here are a list of effective skills to bring from other classes into an Assassin build:

monk unlinked (includes unlinked Divine Favor): Contemplation of Purity, Purge Conditions
monk Smiting: Strength of Honor, Judge's Insight, Scourge Healing
monk Prot: not much in here, add if team build requires from this, most likely IMO is life bond.
Monk Healing: don't do it

Necro unlinked: plague touch
Necro Blood: nothing of worth in here
Necro Death: possibly consume corpse
Necro Curses: lots of possible buffs, rend/rigor/weaken armor/barbs seem to stand out the most, also possibly Spinal Shivers + cold dagger.

Mesmer Illusion: snares, although Assassin snares are better for an A/Me. Distortion.
Mesmer Inspiration: Inspired Hex, Drain Enchantment, Power Drain.
Mesmer Domination: Hex Breaker and Blackout seem to be very good on an A/Me
Mesmer Unlinked: arcane echo if an assassin spell really needs it for some reason. Possibly Echo for some attack skill chains.

Ranger: speed buffs and evade stances. Possibly apply poison. Thats about it.

Warrior unlinked: rush, sprint, Coward [e], Skull Crack.
Warrior tactics: Watch Yourself, Bonnetti's Defense, Fear Me
The general idea for A/W is to use adrenalin skills to supplement the assassin at a very low cost.

Ritualist: not much

Elementalist: not much in here, possibly water snares, Conjure X, and speed buffs.

Hope this helps out lots.