Curse

Effigy · Apr 20, 2006, 04:25 AM // 04:25

I have a rough idea of what I want to do with this build, but I've having a hard time deciding on the final skillset. Basically, I wanted to make a R/A that utilizes Expertise to spam a lot of dagger attacks for strong, sustained damage. More of a pressure build, but with decent spike potential with deep wound and bonus damage from Impale/Twisting Fangs. Here's what I've settled on so far (values adjusted for attributes and Expertise cost reduction):

Expertise 10+1+3
Dagger Mastery 12
Beast Mastery 6+1
Deadly Arts 6

Impale: 5e, 1 cast, 15 recharge
Hex Spell. For 20 seconds, next time target foe is hit by a dual attack, that foe is struck for 34 earth damage.

Repeating Strike: 2e, 0 cast, 0 recharge
Off-Hand Attack. Must follow an off-hand attack. If it hits, this attack strikes for +17 damage. If it misses, it takes an additional 15 seconds to recharge.

Twisting Fangs: 4e, 0 cast, 12 recharge
Dual Attack. Must follow an off-hand attack. If it hits, Twisting Fangs strikes for +9 damage and struck foe suffers from Bleeding and Deep Wound for 17 seconds.

Moebius Strike {E}: 2e, 0 cast, 10 recharge
Elite Off-Hand Attack. Must follow a Dual Attack. If it hits, Moebius Strike strikes for +29 damage. If you strike a foe whose Health is below 50%, all your other attack skills are recharged.

Tiger's Fury 4e, 0 cast, 10 recharge
Stance. All your non-attack skills are disabled for 5 seconds. For 8 seconds, you attack 33% faster

As you can probably tell, the idea is to keep Tiger's Fury up almost constantly, open with Impale, get in and spam Repeating Strike until in misses, then move into Twisting Fangs and follow up with Moebius Strike to recharge all your attacks, rinse and repeat. I would (ideally) be using zealous/fortitude 15^50 daggers. The problem is in selecting the opening attacks to prime my main combo. Here are some posibilities:

Option 1
The benefit to this setup is that I would only need to use one attack before moving into the RS spam. Refuge is a fast-casting, fast-recharging enchantment that can be used to prime Golden Phoenix; it can also serve as a sort of mini-Guardian with a little self-healing, with or without points in Shadow Arts.

Shadow Refuge: 5e, 1 cast, 8 recharge
Enchantment Spell. For 4 seconds, you have a 50% chance to "evade" attacks. When Shadow Refuge ends, you are healed for 30.

Golden Phoenix Strike: 2e, 0 cast, 8 recharge
Off-Hand Attack. If you are not under an enchantment, this skill fails. If it hits, Golden Phoenix Strike deals +26 damage.

Option 2
With this route, I would just be taking a Lead Attack and Off-hand Attack like usual, then follow with the RS/TF/MS combo. There are several possibilities here, including some non-attack skills that count as lead attacks.

Black Mantis Thrust: 2e, 0 cast, 12 recharge
Lead Attack. If this attack hits, you strike for +17 damage. If target foe is suffering from a Hex, that foe is Crippled for 13 seconds.

and

Jungle Strike: 2e, 0 cast, 12 recharge
Off-Hand Attack. Must follow a lead attack. If it hits, this attack strikes for +17 damage. If it hits a foe that was Crippled, it does +25 damage.

or

Iron Palm: 2e, 3/4 cast, 20 recharge
Skill. Target touched foe suffers 23 damage. If target foe suffers from a condition or hex they are knocked down. Iron Palm may be used as a lead attack.

and

Falling Spider: 2e, 0 cast, 10 recharge
Off-Hand Attack. Must strike a knocked-down foe. If it hits, Falling Spider strikes for +29 damage and target foe is Poisoned for 17 seconds.

Generally, I'd say the first set is more practical since it inflicts cripple, deals considerable damage, and only takes 12sec to recharge. The second set features KD and poison, plus it benefits from having an auto-hit Lead Attack. The long recharge on Iron Palm isn't really an issue because once I start doing Repeating Strikes, I won't need to cast it again until after using Moebius, by which point it should be recharged anyway.

Other possibilities for additional skills:

Siphon Speed: 5e, 1 cast, 5 recharge
Hex Spell. For 9 seconds, target foe moves 15% slower and you move 15% faster.

Expunge Enchantments: 4e, 3/5 cast, 30 recharge
Skill. All your non-attack skills are disabled for 8 seconds. For each skill disabled in this way, target touched foe loses one Enchantment.

Mark of Instability: 10e, 1 cast, 20 recharge
Hex Spell. For 20 seconds, the next time you hit target foe with a dual attack skill, that foe is knocked down. (Possible replacement or addition to Impale)

Antidote Signet: 0e, 2 cast, 8 recharge
Signet. Cleanse yourself of Poison, Disease and Blindness.

Return: 5e, 1 cast, 20 recharge
Spell. All adjacent foes are Crippled for 3 seconds. Teleport to target ally.

Any (constructive) comments and suggestions would be appreciated.

swordfisher · Apr 20, 2006, 03:20 PM // 15:20

I'm not sure of the value of Repeating Strike, but I like the go-around you've got with Moebius Strike. If Repeating misses, just restart your chain, Moebius for the recharge, and voila, ready to go again. The thing I've always really liked about Moebius Strike (but never liked enough on its own to build around) is the fact that you can dual attack -> moebius -> same dual attack if you hit the recharge condition. For this reason, I suggest Nine Tail Strike as the dual attack, instead of Twisting Fangs. Deep Wound is nice, but can only be applied once- the strong +damage (+35 on each hit) from Nine Tail Strike can definitely be stacked. Also, Nine Tail Strike can't be blocked or evaded, which is what would make you break off your Repeating Strike in the first place.

I doubt Impale is worth it at such low Deadly Arts. 38 damage every 20 seconds, especially considering it's going to be mitigated by armor, is not worth the skill slot. Mark of Instability's a nice one that seems to behave like a no-attrib; a little KD never hurt, especially as your attack combo continues on to Moebius and maybe a second dual.

Effigy · Apr 20, 2006, 05:30 PM // 17:30

I suppose you have a point about Repeating Strikes. The thing that really limits it is the necessity of having to use another Off-hand before it, which basically requires a 4 skill combo, or 5 skills i my case. Perhaps I would be better off just dropping RS altogether.

I like your suggestion about reusing a dual attack after Moebius. I hate to give up deep wound, but the combo you suggested may be a better option afterall. Perhaps something like this would be effective:

Mark of Instability
Siphon Speed
Black Mantis Thrust or Iron Palm
Jungle Strike or Falling Spider or Fox Fangs
Nine Tail Strike
Moebius Strike {E}
Tiger's Fury
Res Sig or Expunge Enchantments or Return or Antidote Signet

Any suggestions on which of these would be best? I'm leaning toward using Iron Palm and Fox Fangs to open so that the only attack in my chain that could be blocked/evaded would be Moebius; I'd also have 2 KDs in my combo.
The downside is the recharge on Iron Palm, but I could probably work around that since my chain is 5 attacks and I could slip in some normal hits while recharging.

The thing I'm having the most trouble deciding is the last skill. Obviously, Res Sig would be for 4v4 and 8v8, but in 12v12 I'd want another utility skill.

lightblade · Apr 23, 2006, 09:55 PM // 21:55

Effigy is not entirely correct.

Golden Phoenix Strike is an off-hand attack that doesn't require anything to start. Thus allowing you to use repeating strike over and over again.

I have to say, repeating strike may look good at start, but it's really not as good as you may think. I tried it during the 2 betas, they drain a lot of energy and doesn't do as much damage (Same damage as a normal hammer attack).

Effigy · Apr 24, 2006, 12:30 AM // 00:30

Well, it may drain a lot of energy on an A/** but for an R/A it would only cost 2e per use, which could be completely negated by using zealous daggers and Repeating/normal attack/Repeating/normal/etc, similar to a QS ranger build. However, I too am starting to wonder whether it's worth bothering, since unlike a QS ranger, an RS assassin would have to use an Off-hand Attack to start the combo and the skill go into recharge if it misses. Maybe if the damage bonus was increased it would merit more consideration.

To my knowledge, Golden Phoenix Strike requires you to be enchanted in order for it to work, however it does not require a Lead Attack.

BaseKid · Apr 24, 2006, 12:57 AM // 00:57

...Repeating Strike isn't as good by itself as one may think...

For TA purposes (I wont say what I would use in HA, as thats not really a valid post...)

If ur going to go R/A and have something in expertise, theres only one elite in my mind thats worth using: Temple Strike

Black Mantis Thrust (i forget if its this or another one...its one with cripple on moving players)
Temple Strike (E)
Repeating Strike
Twisting Fangs (finisher move)
Tigers Fury
Whirling Defense
Apply Poison
Rez Sig

This build will hurt spellcasters majorly with temple strike and Repeating Strike, combined with the Tigers Fury. This build however can't get caught overextended against a Warrior (even with the blind, assassins are meant to take out spellcasters)

For RA, take out one skill for troll (probably Apply Poison).

Moebuis Strike I find is an elite I will rarely (if ever) use.

Alone, a repeated repeating strike has no value...however, if u put dazed on ur target (an evil ele or monk or necro or mes...especially those anti-melee ones that will try and ruin ur day) it has significant value with tigers fury. That's my two cents.

NatalieD · Apr 24, 2006, 12:58 AM // 00:58

Golden Phoenix Strike, Black Lotus Strike, and Falling Spider are all off-hand attacks that don't need to come after a particular kind of attack, but have their own conditions instead.