Curse

Vahn Roi · Apr 22, 2006, 07:02 PM // 19:02

Assassin/Mesmer

Critical Strikes: 14 (10+4)
Dagger Mastery: 11 (10+1)
Shadow Arts: 11 (10+1)
Inspiration Magic: 3

Unsuspecting Stricke
Fox Fangs
Blinding Powder
Twisting Fangs
Shadow Refuge
Critical Eye
Energy Trap
Return (or rez sig)

As far as weapons and equipment go...

Critical Mask (Critical Strikes +1) w/ Superior Critical Strikes
Valkarie's Guise (Health + 15) w/ Superior Vigor
Shrouded Leggings (Energy + 2) w/ Minor Shadow Arts
Shrouded Gloves (Energy + 1) w/ Minor Dagger Mastery
Shrouded Shoes (Energy + 1)

Sundering (10/10) Dragon Fangs or Fortitude (+30)/ Dagger mastery (20%)

This is my first pre-game build so if it completely blows, please give me some suggestions for improvment, I'm not afraid to admit that I'm swinging in the dark on this one.

-- Skill Index --

- Unsuspecting Strike (Critical Strikes)
If this attack hits, you strike for +29 damage. If your target was above 90% Health you deal an additional 38 damage.
Energy:10 Cast:0 Recharge:10

- Fox Fangs (Dagger Mastery)
Must follow a lead attack. Fox Fangs cannot be "blocked" or "evaded" and strikes for +16 damage if it hits.
Energy:5 Cast:0 Recharge:10

- Blinding Powder (Shadow Arts)
Must follow an off-hand attack. Target foe becomes Blinded for 13 seconds.
Energy:5 Cast:1 Recharge:20

- Twisting Fangs (Dagger Mastery)
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 16 seconds.
Energy:10 Cast:0 Recharge:12

- Shadow Refuge (Shadow Arts)
For 4 seconds, you have a 50% chance to "evade" attacks. When Shadow Refuge ends, you are healed for 96.
Energy:5 Cast:1 Recharge:8

- Critical Eye (Critical Strikes)
For 33 seconds, you have an additional 7% chance to land a critical hit when attacking. You gain 1 Energy whenever you score a critical hit.
Energy:5 Cast:0 Recharge:30

- Energy Tap (Inspiration Magic)
Target foe loses 5 Energy. You gain 2 points of Energy for each point of Energy lost.
Energy:5 Cast:3 Recharge:25

- Return (Shadow Arts)
All adjacent foes are Crippled for 7 seconds. Teleport to target ally.
Energy:5 Cast:1 Recharge:20

Elaine Donnerbalken · Apr 22, 2006, 07:26 PM // 19:26

1. is this build for pvp or pve?

Energy Tap is a wasted skillslot, at least with so few points in inspiration.

Sundering as a weapon mod sucks. If you want energy use zealous upgrade, if you want damage use vampire upgrade. If you want to attack warriors in pvp use elemental upgrades.

swordfisher · Apr 22, 2006, 09:24 PM // 21:24

Your skillbar isn't actually energy intensive enough to need Critical Eye, and Energy Tap is 100% useless to you. Your lead offhand dual combo is sort of a mish-mash of strong skills, but the skills have no flow. Unsuspecting Strike is great for hitting someone who's at full health (or near it), while Twisting Fangs is an excellent finisher for someone who's dying.
I would take one point from Critical Strikes and put it into Dagger Mastery (as simple as wearing a DM hat), as it's best to be at 12 for full weapon damage, and the extra point of CS isn't helping that much.

By the way, half of those skills have been rebalanced, even if just a little. GWGuru's always behind on skill listings, try GuildWiki for more up to date lists.

lightblade · Apr 22, 2006, 10:13 PM // 22:13

critical strike only need 13 in it for 3 energy, spend the point on something more useful

Vahn Roi · Apr 23, 2006, 04:43 AM // 04:43

Swordfisher, what would be a good lead offhand dual combo then?

Also, this is for PvE not PvP, sorry I didn't mention that before.

LaserLight · Apr 23, 2006, 09:31 PM // 21:31

If PvE, then you want swift recharge and low cost more than huge damage. Go for Jagged Strike -> Wild Blow -> Critical Strike. And yeah, 13 CS and 12 DM is fairly standard. Put your mask point into Dagger and you're good to go.

After that, ditch Energy Tap altogether - three points into t (or more accurately five, if I remember that attribute spread correctly) is junk. Instead, just throw the extra points into your Dagger Mastery, get that extra 11th level there. Punt you up to 13 Dagger and 13 CS, which is more than respectable. Then I want to suggest a skill recently suggested to me and one I can't believe I overlooked before - Way of Perfection. Especially in PvE where enchant stripping isn't much of a problem, it's the only HP battery you'll need. Would take on three-quarters of the healing you need for you and drastically lighten your Monk's load. At 11 Shadow Mastery, I believe it lasts for 28 seconds (with a 30-sec recharge) and heals for 28HP per critical. Which you will be getting a lot of. So...something like this:

Critical Strikes 10 (13 w/Superior)
Dagger Mastery 11 (13 w/mask + Minor)
Shadow Arts 10 (11 w/Minor)

Jagged Strike
Wild Blow
Critical Strike
Critical Eye
Way of Perfection
Flashing Blades [E]/Shadow Refuge
Dash/Viper's Defense
ReSig

Or something along those lines. Blinding Powder isn't tremendously necessary in PvE, or even that good. tossed in Flashing Blades as a possible Elite because, with as much Dagger Mastery as you've got, you can have t up almost permanently which offers a constant 50% block rate while attacking. Alongside Way of Perfecton, it'll help you fight off mob ganks.

Hope that helps, man.

Vahn Roi · Apr 24, 2006, 03:52 AM // 03:52

Wow, thanks loads. I'll look into it.

::EDIT::

Just wanted to note that with 13 DM, Flashing blades last 17 seconds with a recharge of 20. The healing bonus of Shadow Refuge is very tempting though and while it only lasts 4 seconds, it has an 8 second recharge. I'm somewhat torn here.

Wyrmslayer · Apr 27, 2006, 01:57 PM // 13:57

Try both, pick the one you like the best.

Vahn Roi · Apr 27, 2006, 06:58 PM // 18:58

I noticed they added something to SR that I had not seen before; you only get the healing bonus if you are attacking when it ends. Nothing too horrible, just something that makes the skill a bit different.

olivo69 · Apr 28, 2006, 09:11 PM // 21:11

give me a real pve and pvp build for a A/ME and dont involve warriors as primary cause this is a section for ASSASINS!

Beat_Go_Stick · Apr 28, 2006, 11:53 PM // 23:53

^^ Actually, that was an Assassin primary (notice the points he spent in Critical Strikes) but it doesn't change the point that he fixed the build by telling him to use a different secondary. Not all too helpful.

I just started an A/Me so I'll get back to this once i play around a little more

Eej · Apr 29, 2006, 12:03 AM // 00:03

Personally I've been fiddling with this kind of a build:

Critical Strikes 10 (+3 Superior)
Dagger Mastery 11 (+3 Mask + Minor)
Shadow Arts 1 (+1 Minor)
Illusion 10

Black Mantis Thrust
Jungle Strike
Temple Strike
Twisting Fangs
Death's Charge
Way of the Lotus
Fragility
Rez Signet

Using a dagger with +5 energy on it.

Basically the general idea is to cast Fragility on a caster who is presumably busy, Death's Charge in, hit them with Black Mantis Thrust, hope you crit once to get the +3 energy for the Temple Strike. Then finish off with a Twisting Fangs. That's 5 conditions right there, or about 75 damage, along with giving you a Hex to use Black Mantis Thrust on. Mind you, if someone is fast about removing Hexes, you still do nice damage, assuming you get Black Mantis Thrust in.

Way of the Lotus is just there to help you do some damage to your next target while regenerating your mana and waiting for all your abilities to cooldown.

Mind you, I've only been trying this out in RA and this is by no means a fully tested build, just something I've been goofing around with.

Spoony · Apr 29, 2006, 09:58 AM // 09:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elaine Donnerbalken

Sundering as a weapon mod sucks. If you want energy use zealous upgrade, if you want damage use vampire upgrade. If you want to attack warriors in pvp use elemental upgrades.

Who told you that sundering mods suck?(at least now, after the updates). It does same damage as vampiric upgrades, but in other ways. For vampiric u can do that always but u experience -1 regen, and sundering u do more than that, but thats 20% chance.