Curse

MSecorsky · Apr 06, 2006, 06:31 PM // 18:31

the more I'm convinced they can really work and be quite effective and the less convinced I am of the ney-sayers basically crapping all over the build. For example, just a quick thought from reading through the skills came up with this potential build:

Death's Charge - Spell
Shadow Step to target foe. If that foe has more health than you, you are healed for 40...112.

Expunge Enchantments - Skill
All of your other non-attack skills are disabled for 10...6 seconds. For each skill disabled in this way,
target touched foe loses one enchantment.

Golden Lotus Strike - Lead Attack
If it hits, this attack strikes for +1...+16 damage. If it hits a target that has no enchantments,
you gain 3...9 energy.

Repeating Strikes - Off-hand Attack
Must follow an off-hand attack. If it hits, this attack strikes for +5...+17 damage.
If it misses, it takes an additional 15 seconds to recharge.

Twisting Fangs - Dual Attack
Must follow an off-hand attack. If it hits, Twisting Fangs strikes for +3...+9 damage and struck foe suffers
from Bleeding and Deep Wound for 5...17 seconds.

Mantis Sting - Lead Attack
If Mantis Stings hits, target foe takes +5...+17 damage. If this attack strikes a bleeding foe,
that foe is crippled for 3...13 seconds.

Shroud of Silence {Elite} - Hex Spell
All of your Spells are disabled for 15 seconds. For 3...9 seconds, target touched foe cannot cast spells.

Rez Sig

Now, I know this is open to shredding, sure. However, I think this could, at least, be a real effective squishy killer. Of course, I'm always open to thoughts and criticism and the only way to know for sure is to put it into practice... but, well, here ya go.

Hmm... would probably start with Charge, Shroud, Expunge, then the attacks...

Spoony · Apr 06, 2006, 06:42 PM // 18:42

Nice build, quite decent, but not leet. Nice thinking with the expunge and shroud, since it doesnt affect u (well xcept res signet for expunge). Nothing too new or too interesting.

MSecorsky · Apr 06, 2006, 06:47 PM // 18:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spoony

Nice build, quite decent, but not leet. Nice thinking with the expunge and shroud, since it doesnt affect u (well xcept res signet for expunge). Nothing too new or too interesting.

Well, first shot after looking at the skills. Besides, I wouldn't know leet if it bit me on the arse. But that being said... I think sinz have real potential.

Spoony · Apr 06, 2006, 06:49 PM // 18:49

Well u can always try Gwfreaks, a tool, which u might consider to use when making builds.

MSecorsky · Apr 06, 2006, 06:54 PM // 18:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spoony

Well u can always try Gwfreaks, a tool, which u might consider to use when making builds.

A thought... but I have little trust of downloaded tools for games such as this. Many accounts have... shall we say... swapped hands involuntarily... as a result. Nah, Trial and error ftw!

Spoony · Apr 06, 2006, 06:55 PM // 18:55

Well this ones not "error and trial ftw" style, so u can download it, from their page if u want, but thats just ur decision.

SparhawkJC · Apr 06, 2006, 07:03 PM // 19:03

Ok first things first. You don't need two lead attacks in your combo. The only attack skill that should be doubled are off-hands and most of the the time the other off hand attack is Moebius Strike. In my opinion every assassin should have shadow refuge on their skill bar. You'll never need another heal skill ever again. Think of it as troll's for assassins but better.

First of all decide how you want your stat distribution to be. If you're going daggers you MUST have some investment in critical strikes so a nice chunk of your attributes are going to go there. Then you want dagger mastery at 16 to get more chance of crits and also to deal with most damage with your daggers. So this will leave you just enough stats for another attribute. This attribute should probably go into the line that your heal skill is in, which will probably be shadow refuge so the rest of your skills will go in there. This leaves no room for Deadly Arts, which requires significant investment to be decent.

Now what I would do is take out expunge enchantments and golden lotus strike. Replace them with shadow refuge and an offhand. Take out repeating strike and shroud of silence while you're at it. Repeating strike requires your combo to be built around it to useful, and it needs another offhand in order to be pulled off. I would much rather just use a dual attack since they deal more damage and are generally better. If you want to stick with mantis sting (which now cripples a moving foe) and twisting fangs you should use jungle strike as your offhand.

So now your skill bar should look like the following:
1. Leaping Mantis Sting
2. Jungle Strike
3. Twisting Fangs
4. Attack Buff of your choice (I recommend critical eye)
5. Shadow Refuge
6. Death's Charge
7. Utility skill of your choice
8. Res sig

And your attributes would be 16 dagger mastery, 10 critical strikes, and 9 shadow arts counting runes.

Well now I guess I completely changed your build.

Myodato · Apr 06, 2006, 07:05 PM // 19:05

Well, apart from the fact we have another person who doesn't realise you need another off-hand to start using Repeating Strike, it's a pretty solid build. I should also point out that the description of Mantis Sting is completely wrong, and is currentl 'if it hits a moving foe.' To be honest, whilst I think it's a nice skill, that you should definitely have a snare, and a spare lead is a good idea, it's hard to land consistently without a speed boost (Dash works). Otherwise, you'll usually find it hits just as your target stops moving (and therefore no cripple).

Last thing, is can anybody tell me whether Shroud of Silence is removable like a normal hex, or there for the duration as per Blackout ? This detail makes a huge difference to my opinion of this elite.

MSecorsky · Apr 06, 2006, 07:15 PM // 19:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Myodato

Well, apart from the fact we have another person who doesn't realise you need another off-hand to start using Repeating Strike, it's a pretty solid build. I should also point out that the description of Mantis Sting is completely wrong, and is currentl 'if it hits a moving foe.' To be honest, whilst I think it's a nice skill, that you should definitely have a snare, and a spare lead is a good idea, it's hard to land consistently without a speed boost (Dash works). Otherwise, you'll usually find it hits just as your target stops moving (and therefore no cripple).

Last thing, is can anybody tell me whether Shroud of Silence is removable like a normal hex, or there for the duration as per Blackout ? This detail makes a huge difference to my opinion of this elite.

With assassins, that should be "doesn't realize anything".

Didn't know that about Repeating, the description isn't clear on that initially. Well, clarity sends one back to the drawing board!

Spoony · Apr 06, 2006, 07:16 PM // 19:16

Never liked mantis sting... But if u really want it in ur build, take another lead attack so ur combo wont be situational.

And yeah Myo, im sure that Shroud of silence can be removed, since it doesnt disable targets spells, it just doesnt allow them to cast them.

MSecorsky · Apr 06, 2006, 07:22 PM // 19:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spoony

Never liked mantis sting... But if u really want it in ur build, take another lead attack so ur combo wont be situational.

And yeah Myo, im sure that Shroud of silence can be removed, since it doesnt disable targets spells, it just doesnt allow them to cast them.

OK... noob-moment... If they can't cast the spell, how can they use it to remove the hex?

I think the thought is to whether a third party can remove it, at least that's how I read it.

Spoony · Apr 06, 2006, 07:29 PM // 19:29

Well there are 2 ways to counter that:

- Spell breaker

- As u might have thought, other party member.

This skill might be fine to use against spikers, like eles or necros, if theres enough of the assasins to do it.

MSecorsky · Apr 06, 2006, 07:39 PM // 19:39

OK... let's rework using some of the added knowledge gained thus far...

Death's Charge - Spell (Get to target quickly)
Shadow Step to target foe. If that foe has more health than you, you are healed for 40...112.

Shroud of Silence {Elite} - Hex Spell (Shut down target)
All of your Spells are disabled for 15 seconds. For 3...9 seconds, target touched foe cannot cast spells.

Expunge Enchantments - Skill ("Cleanse" the target)
All of your other non-attack skills are disabled for 10...6 seconds. For each skill disabled in this way,
target touched foe loses one enchantment.

Golden Lotus Strike - Lead Attack (Begin the pain, get some juice back)
If it hits, this attack strikes for +1...+16 damage. If it hits a target that has no enchantments,
you gain 3...9 energy.

Black Lotus Strike - Off-hand Attack (Shroud should still be active)
Off-hand Attack. Must strike a Hexed Foe. If it hits, Black Lotus Strike strikes for +1...+25 Damage and you gain 5...17 energy.

Twisting Fangs - Dual Attack (Causes bleeding)
Must follow an off-hand attack. If it hits, Twisting Fangs strikes for +3...+9 damage and struck foe suffers
from Bleeding and Deep Wound for 5...17 seconds.

Mantis Sting - Lead Attack (Should be bleeding)
If Mantis Stings hits, target foe takes +5...+17 damage. If this attack strikes a bleeding foe,
that foe is crippled for 3...13 seconds.

Rez Sig

But yeah... will need decent Dagger, Deadly and Critical. Hmm... have the spare lead, no snares yet. Crippled occurs pretty far down the food chain. The spare lead does seem essential with the limit on Golden Lotus, and the thought behind Golden Lotus was to take advantage of stripping a monk or other squishy of basically all their enchants leaving them exposed and drooling. Shadow Refuge is nice, but requires points in Shadow I hadn't planned on spending at this time. The only purpose of Death's charge was to get me there quickly.

No doubt, it's a work in progress. I severely welcome the criticism and am basically unoffendable, so don't worry about that.

Myodato · Apr 06, 2006, 07:41 PM // 19:41

More worryingly, Contemplation of Purity (a skill, not a spell) could remove it. As most PvP boon-prot monks are already using CoP, this would make Shroud of Silence a waste of an elite.

MSecorsky · Apr 06, 2006, 07:46 PM // 19:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Myodato

More worryingly, Contemplation of Purity (a skill, not a spell) could remove it. As most PvP boon-prot monks are already using CoP, this would make Shroud of Silence a waste of an elite.

Contemplation of Purity - Skill
Lose all "Enchantments", for each one lost gain 6-65 health, lose one "Hex" and lose one "Condition."

If you get off Expunge first, Contemplation won't hurt you. Timing could be critical.

Dang, this is fun!

Siren · Apr 06, 2006, 09:10 PM // 21:10

Quickie question: what is the attribute point spread like? I'd think Deadly Arts would have to be at a respectable level to make Expunge Enchants and Shroud of Silence do-able.

MSecorsky · Apr 06, 2006, 09:26 PM // 21:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Siren

Quickie question: what is the attribute point spread like? I'd think Deadly Arts would have to be at a respectable level to make Expunge Enchants and Shroud of Silence do-able.

Haven't worked that out. But you're absolutely right... probably along the lines of a 13 - 11 - 13 give or take.

MSecorsky · Apr 06, 2006, 09:34 PM // 21:34

Here's a question:

Expunge Enchantments - Skill ("Cleanse" the target)
All of your other non-attack skills are disabled for 10...6 seconds. For each skill disabled in this way,
target touched foe loses one enchantment.

Disabled skills... does this include spells?

Myodato · Apr 06, 2006, 09:46 PM // 21:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by MSecorsky

Disabled skills... does this include spells?

Yes.

Unfortunately GW uses skills to mean anything you can put on your skill bar, and a specific type of thing you can put on your skill bar.

Spoony · Apr 07, 2006, 05:53 AM // 05:53

CoP ftw