Curse

Francis Demeules · Mar 24, 2006, 04:56 PM // 16:56

R/A, I keep the Fangs of Melandru build during the last Event with Beastial Fury and Escape as Stance to attack and self defence.

Yukito Kunisaki · Mar 24, 2006, 07:12 PM // 19:12

As/Ri

Nobody mentions it and I'm guessing everyone thinks it's not a good idea... But I want to try it.

Weapon Spells to augment a dual dagger machine? Sign me up!

Jetdoc · Mar 24, 2006, 07:30 PM // 19:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaserLight

Possibility 6: Darkling Torrent, Blackout Version
Me/A
Dom 11 (15)
Illusion 8 (9)
Shadow 10
FC spare points (+1)

Blackout
Cry of Frustration
Power Spike
Shatter Enchantment
Aura of Displacement [E]
Distortion
Dash
ReSiggy

Playstyle: Rough prototype of AoD Blackout Mes. Utility char. AoD, Blackout, cancel AoD to instantly retreat without needing to use skills. Uses interrupts and Shatter Enchant to make itself useful otherwise. This thing is weak and I know it, but hey.

Why use Mesmer as the primary here? Since you aren't using their primary line, it seems like one would benefit more from the Assassin's higher armor...

Mr Fizzle · Mar 25, 2006, 01:14 AM // 01:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kwisatz_Haderach

An A/Me for Fragility comboes with Temple Strike, Twisting Fangs, and Black Mantist Thrust.

By the Way, for all you E/A out there ive been working on a spike build with some of skills listed above. So please message me if interested.

Yah I was thinking of the same thing except Lead Attack,Tempel Strike,Ox's Horn,Falling Spider

I need to check on what skills I did use in the other preview weekend Ill post later

.

LaserLight · Mar 25, 2006, 01:25 AM // 01:25

Jetdoc: Mesmer primary for the Runes necessary to get the maximum Blackout time. In the case of Darkling Torrent Blackout Ver., the Assassin side is used for its teleport skills, not its daggers. Darkling Blackouyt's not meant to stick around and get hammered :-P

lord_shar · Mar 25, 2006, 11:29 PM // 23:29

Based on the opening skills available in FPE, I went with an Assassin/Warrior:

Dagger mastery 10
Tactics 10
Shadow 8
Critical 8

1 - Jagged Strike (lead attack)
2 - Fox Fangs (offhand)
3 - Twisting Fangs (dual attack)
4 - Mobius Strke (Elite offhand, resets attack skills)
5 - Watch Yourself (tactics based armor)
6 - Shadow Refuge (damage reduction + healing)
7 - Healing Signet (more healing)
8 - Viper Defense (poisons attacker)

The idea is to spike damage while being able to out-tank and out-heal opponents. Soloing with it for giggles, and results look good so far.

Kevlar · Mar 26, 2006, 03:25 PM // 15:25

Someone already made brief mention of this on page 1 - I had the same thought this morning as well and am turning it into a full build submission. My character name in NA servers is Sahaj Haruti if anyone has questions. The build has room for improvement.

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 it (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.

Hope you enjoyed the read!

Mango Midget · Mar 26, 2006, 04:28 PM // 16:28

A/W

16 dagger
8 Tactics
11 Critical Strikes
3 Shadow Arts

Good Random Arena build

Jagged Strike
Temple Strike
Horns of the Ox
Falling Spider
Repeating Strikes
Heal Sig (can be replaced with Troll Ungent if so inclined)
Death's Charge
Res Sig

SparhawkJC · Mar 26, 2006, 05:14 PM // 17:14

Critical Death

A/*

16 Dagger Mastery
10 Critical Strikes
10 Shadow Arts
7 points Unused

Equip:
Bladed Mask+Superior Dagger Mastery Rune
Shrouded Armor with Minor Critical Strikes, Minor Shadow Arts, Minor Deadly Arts, and best Vigor Rune you can get
Zealous Daggers of Fortitude with +15>50

Leaping Mantis Sting (lead attack)
Jungle Strike (off-hand)
Critical Strike (dual attack)
Moebius Strike (elite off hand)
Critical Eye
Shadow Refuge
Death's Charge
Rez

Leaping Mantis Sting and Jungle Strike can be replaced with Unsuspecting Strike and Fox Fangs respectively if you want a heavier first hit. Critical Eye can be replaced with Way of Perfection, Way of the Fox, or Way of the Lotus, depending on your needs.

This build is meant to get in there, pull off their combo and then move on to a different target. Worked pretty well in PvE have yet to try it in PvP but I think it will also work there.

Sidra · Mar 26, 2006, 06:29 PM // 18:29

Way of Perfection doesn't go too far in PvP. I tried it, and w/o critical strikes and other critical skills which my build didn't have room for, it was virtually useless, and I was getting healed every once in a while, but not enough to make a difference. Rez signets (if used in 12 v 12 and coop missions) are virtually useless, so you can fill that with a troll unguet or a WoTL for e-management. I would definetely go with Fox as it is unblockable and will open up the way to the rest of your combo even if the person you're attacking is in an annoying stance. unsuspecting is a very good lead attack (the best one i've seen, atm.) and makes up for the energy cost with a whopping 50+ damage at 12+ Dagger Mastery.

Eclair · Mar 26, 2006, 09:04 PM // 21:04

Something I'm using in the FPE PvE

A/W

12 Axe Mastery
10+1 Critical Strike
6+1 Shadow skills
5 Tactics (had a shield with 5 tactics req)

Triple Chop
Penetrating Chop
Critical Eye
Executioner's Strike
Frenzy (would like flurry, but can't find it T_T)
Shadow's Refuge
Critical Defenses (not sure on how useful this is)
Res Sig

LaserLight · Mar 27, 2006, 12:17 AM // 00:17

Replying to Kevlar's Weedwhacker build:

Damn, dude. Put that sucker in its own thread so we can discuss it properly, that's just exactly the kind of character building that Assassinoids need to see XD. Excellent built, I'd thought of similar when I saw Enraged Smash, but hadn't followed it up. Characters like that don't come around too often.

As for an IAS...let's see.

Enraged Smash [E]
Staggering Blow
Auspicious Blow
Fierce Blow
Frenzy
Death's Charge
Dark Escape
Shadow Refuge/ReSiggy

Building on the assumption that faster = better, this thing lets you level your weakened Enraged Blows faster, offering what I hope is an overall improvement in damage output. Dark Escape is used as the cancel. Counter Blow was the only one I could see coming out of that chain without hurting the rest of the build too badly, and I'm sure you've already thought of this permutation. Still, might as well put it in print.

SparhawkJC · Mar 27, 2006, 04:48 PM // 16:48

Typhoid Mary

A/N

16 Dagger Mastery (12+1 Mask +3 Rune)
8 Critical Strike (7+1 Rune)
7 Shadow Arts (6+1 Rune)
Rest In Death Magic

Leaping Mantis Sting (Lead) - Cripple
Jungle Strike (Off-hand) - Damage
Twisting Fangs (Dual) - Bleeding and Deep Wound
Virulence (Elite) - Disease, Poison, and Weakness
Plague Touch - Condition Removal
Heart of Shadow - Teleportation and limited Self Heal
Shadow Refuge - Self Heal
Res Signet/Dash/Shadow of Haste

Pretty simple concept, start off your combo after which your target should be hit with at least bleeding and deep wounds and maybe cripple. Then depending on whether or not he has noticed you yet throw down either Heart of Shadow to teleport to safety or Virulence to make it a very bad day for him. So at the end of your attack string your target should be under Cripple (if you were lucky and hit him while moving), Bleeding, Deep Wounds, Poison, Disease, and Weakness.

Also if it so happens that you're hit by a condition just pass it off to someone else with Plague Touch. If you decide to use this in 12vs12 the res sig can be replaced with the speed boost of your choice.

With the energy costs and recharge you can keep on pulling off your combo on the same target after the initial conditions end. I can only imagine how much damage this could deal coupled with a fragility mesmer.

Virulence is a Prophecies only skill and I'm not sure if A-net confirmed that factions characters can go into the Prophecies campaign or not. However I could see this build becoming very powerful in any arena that it is used.