Curse

Kevlar · Mar 27, 2006, 12:12 PM // 12:12

Stealing my post from another thread for discussion. Thank you LaserLight for the kind words!

Hoping to see some inventive non-dagger Assassin builds...

A/W The Weedwhacker

My Weedwhacker build is based off of a few goals: to make a high-damage Assassin without energy management concerns, to provide a multi-tiered strength for PvP players of different skill levels and to have a lot of fun doing something different (you'll see the need for the name when you watch an Assassin swing a hammer!). Variations on the build can allow for an Assassin with an overabundance of energy providing access to high energy cost skills, heal/speed Assassins, typical Warrior knockdown stuff or other things I haven't thought of yet.

Attributes:
Hammer Mastery 12
Shadow Arts 9
Critical Strikes 9 (This should be upgraded to 10 with proper helmet selection.)
7 attribute points unspent

Skills:
Enraged Smash {E}
Counter Blow
Staggering Blow
Auspicious Blow
Fierce Blow
Death's Charge
Dark Escape/Viper's Defense
Shadow Refuge/Res Sig

Alternate build skills:
The above build has more Energy than it knows what to do with. Replacing one of the Hammer skills with Caltrops or Return will allow for Crippling abilities in PvP in exchange for some damage/offensive output. The addition of Flurry would provide for faster attacks, again at the expense of skill variety or pure spike. Shadow Arts opens up a lot of possibilities, as does going for knockdown in the hammer skills.

Primal Rage {E} in place of Enraged Smash would provide 10 seconds of minimum 20% chance of critical but would not guarantee a certain measurable damage.

Build Usage:

Beginner players: The key to this whole build is Enraged Smash. Enraged Smash at level 12 will provide +10 damage per fully-charged adrenal skill (maximum +40) and recharges every 2 strikes. This means that you're doing 40 - 50 damage every other hit. When combined with minimum 10% chance of critical, this gives the Weedwhacker a 40 - 100 damage poential against squishies every other strike if your hammer skills have charged up. Let the hammer skills charge and all you need concern yourself with is to use Enraged Smash until the enemy drops.

Advanced players: Obviously, the above applies but there is a good chain of condition/damage skills in the other hammer skills; they're not just there for show. If you've got someone on the ropes, abandon your Enraged Smash/DPS and run down the list of charged skills. (Knockdown could figure more prominently in this build but in the combo we have we're doing a lot for the player in other ways.) Counter Blow will knock down an attacking enemy, Staggering Blow provides weakness, Auspicious Blow will boost you by 7 energy in addition to damage and Fierce will finish off with extra damage against weakness.

Of course, the use of this combo reduces the effectiveness of going back into an Enraged Smash spam but once the skills charge again you're good to go doing +40 damage every other hit. Therefore, I see this as a decent, simple damage build with a nice combo potential for knockdown or conditions when appropriate. On the whole, it appears it would be a strong choice for melee and I can't wait to try it with a permanent character.

Finally, the use of Shadow Arts provides a nice means of healing and fast ingress/egress. When used properly, this would allow you to build up adrenaline on an attacking warrior, Death's Charge to a squishie for surprise, potentially catch them off-guard with Counter Blow and begin spamming damage.

Weaknesses:
The straight build has no IAS. I'd like to find a way to integrate a good attack speed booster but the one I really want - Tiger's Stance - is not a good choice for a Warrior secondary [tied to Strength]. Typical Warrior shortcomings and the fact that you're using Assassin armor for a Warrior's job also come into play, here. Adrenaline denial would crush this build.

Hope you enjoyed the read!

Yukito Kunisaki · Mar 27, 2006, 01:41 PM // 13:41

unfortunately, I can almost smell the thoughts of people thinking:

"16 dagger mastery will always be better than 12 hammer"

I like the idea though!

Effigy · Mar 27, 2006, 04:43 PM // 16:43

It's a tight build, but I think you might benefit by fitting Frenzy or Flurry in there. IAS would help you build adrenaline faster to reach your full offensive potential, in addition to the increased damage you'd get by swinging more often.

Yukito Kunisaki · Mar 27, 2006, 04:55 PM // 16:55

Assassin with Frenzy = death...

Double damage with only 70armor-ish, just isn't worth it.

True assassin, like Sexy Nikka, simply run in, do their 3-4 hit combo, then run away like pansy while smiling...

I think just landing the 4 hits successfully is like 60% dmg if the enemy wasn't piling on the stances + enchantments. But Wild Strike and Expunge Enchantments seem like things that'll always be on a smart assassin's skill bar... [or that deadly art where your next 4 hits are unavoidable...]

Son of Urza · Mar 27, 2006, 06:44 PM // 18:44

I was just wondering: Does Enraged Smash count itself for damage purposes? Or, in other words, do you actually need 4 OTHER adren skills or simply 4 adren skills for maximum damage, Enraged Smash included?

Kevlar · Mar 27, 2006, 09:08 PM // 21:08

In my limited testing it appeared Enraged Smash does not factor into the calculation. I was at best getting +30 with only 3 other charged attack skills.

Thanks to everyone for the comments. I expected the build to be dissected, dismantled and scrapped in short order when compared to the incredible dagger stuff but a twisted part of me still wants to try this out when Factions arrives, or maybe an A/R with a bow.

Myodato · Mar 27, 2006, 10:39 PM // 22:39

Hammer seems a viable option for an Assassin (in terms of being viable instead of hammer war or bunny thumper). Hammer has always been the most energy intensive war weapon (not a problem for assassin), has high max damage (so good for lots of criticals), and doesn't need an offhand, saving you the worry of having to put points in tactics too.

In terms of how it will work when the dust settles, I'm not sure. Hammer skills have had a great increase in adrenaline based skills, whereas before Irresistable and Crushing were the core of (almost) every hammer build, costing 5 energy each and in the case of Irresistable being very spammable. If the focus goes more to adrenal skills (like your build), then A/W hammer becomes obsolete before it's started.

You don't attack faster than a primary warrior, can't get over 12 hammer mastery, have more energy than you'll ever spend (depending on third attribute point, Deadly Arts has some more energy heavy stuff that might fit), and as nice as lots-of-criticals sounds, isn't necessarily worth picking a primary for, especially with the regularity of people running form your kd's and suffering auto-crits.

I think only time will tell how good hammer-sin is, but with the amount of shutdown (including kd) option already available whilst using daggers, I can't see it becoming very coming. Always up for trying new ideas though.

S H I N O B I · Mar 27, 2006, 11:09 PM // 23:09

I was using an A/R setup during the beginning of the FPE weekend, until I came across a nice Katana as well as a Shinobi Blade... Then I tried out A/W, and I must say, its a pretty fun build (and a good looking one too - Shinobi Blade/Katana swords attached to Assassin toons look good together!)...

It faired pretty well when soloing mobs on Pongmei and outside Cavalon (as long as you do the hit and run method ;p )

You basically put your pts in Swds (12) Crit (your choice) and Shadow (your choice)...

Tiger Stance (or For Greater Justice)
Sever Artery (minor degen)
Soon & Moon Slash (hits twice - one unblockable, one un-evadeable)
Dragon Slash (recharges adren)
Critical Defenses (52% blocking for 6 seconds and recharges on every critical hit made)
Death's Charge (Shadow Step to target foe - if target has more health than you, you get hp +100)
Dash (for quick get-aways)
Shadow Refuge (heal... used constantly)

The premise of this build is the same as the Weed Whacker build.... Adrenaline for offense, and Energy for Defense... Use tiger stance (or For Greater Justice) to quickly refill your adren and unleash your swd attacks... Dragon Slash to recharge your Adren yet again... Use Crit Def whenever recharged... Use Death's charge to further refill your hp (make sure the next monster you target has more health than you), and use Shadow Refuge CONSTANTLY (you'll never run out of energy ^.^) It's a decent PvE build, but might not fair well in PvP... I'm sure there are alot of improvements that can be made on this build... so please post them ^.^

LaserLight · Mar 27, 2006, 11:13 PM // 23:13

I noticed that as well - you've got an excellent energy battery here and nothing to spend it on. Was my one real gripe with an otherwise very inventive build. Looking over Assassin skills, however, I think I've found your Weedwhacker's best friend.

Enraged Smash [E]
Staggering Blow
Auspicious Blow
Fierce Blow
Shadowy Burden
Death's Charge
Viper's Defense
Shadow Refuge/ReSigy

Shadowy Burden is mislisted in the GWG skill page, but what it basically does is snares the target for ye. At the same time however, it comes with a vicious side effect. If the Burdened foe is not afflicted with any other Hexes, that target has -20 armor against your attacks.

Suddenly you've not only got a self-snare, but that nasty tail-end barb will boost your hammer attacks a great deal, more than making up for the loss of the extra adren attack's damage. it also gives you something to spend all that energy on while your other energy skills are recharging/not needed.

Personally, if someone had just knocked off twenty points of my armor and was intending to abuse that armor with a giant metal mallet, I would be distressed

Kevlar · Mar 28, 2006, 12:11 PM // 12:11

Wow. *Great* addition, LaserLight.

Yukito Kunisaki · Mar 29, 2006, 08:22 PM // 20:22

Very nice idea Laser... /salute!