Curse

SparhawkJC · Mar 31, 2006, 07:24 AM // 07:24

Now these are based off GuildWiki's values which are mostly from the PvP event and not this weekend so some values might be changed and I have no way to recheck them until the actualy release of factions so bear with me.

Critical Strikes:

Black Lotus Strike - 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. 10 energy, 30 second recharge/

Now this is an interesting skill, nowhere does it state that it needs to follow a lead attack. Now I didn't try this skill during the last Beta weekend because of that 30 second recharge, but it definitely allows for more combo flexibility and out of the box thinking as shown by some builds in this forum that are already exploiting this.

Palm Strike - Elite Skill. Target touched foe takes 5...53 damage. This skill counts as an Off-Hand Attack. 10 Energy, 3/4 second cast time, 12 second recharge.

Meh unblockable Off-hand attack useful for situations where you're blinded or your target is in stance, but a poor Elite choice in my opinion. Allows for more combo flexibility but comes at the cost of your Elite slot, not worth it.

Dagger Mastery:

Falling Spider - Off-Hand Attack. Must Strike a knock down foe. If it hits, Falling Spider strikes for +5...29 damage and target foe is poisoned for 5...17 seconds. 5 energy, 10 second recharge.

You know I just started noticing that a lot of off hands don't need to follow a lead attack. That being said that knocked down condition isn't better at all. Many more useful attacks available than this.

Fox Fangs - Off-Hand Attack. Must follow a lead attack. Fox Fangs cannot be "blocked" or "evaded" and strikes for +5...17 damage if it hits. 5 energy, 10 second recharge.

I love this move, adds extra damage and will always hit unless you're blinded. Also only costs 5 energy and will recharge in 10 seconds. A staple in any non-condition based combo.

Golden Phoenix Strike - Off-Hand Attack. If you have no enchantment on you, this skill fail. If it hits, Golden Phoenix Strike deals +10...26 damage. 5 energy, 8 second recharge.

Well I guess you'll always have some enchantment on you or the other, but enchantments can be stripped and I'd rather be getting something more out of an attack with that kind of condition than just extra damage. Nice energy cost and recharge though.

Jungle Strike - Off-Hand Attack. Must follow a lead attack. If it hits, this attack strikes for +5...17 damage. If it hits a foe that was Crippled, it does +1...25 damage. 5 energy, 12 second recharge.

If your combo contains either Black Mantis Thrust or Leaping Mantis Sting, you won't need any off-hand other than this with the possibility of adding up to 54 extra damage on a crippled target at 16 dagger mastery. One of my faves.

Moebius Strike - Elite Off-Hand Attack. Must follow a Dual Attack. If it hits Moebius Strike strikes for +5...29 damage. If you stike a foe whose Health is below 50%, all your other attack skills are recharged. 5 energy, 10 second recharge.

Since I tend to choose attack skills with around 10 second recharge times I don't really find myself using this skill. It might be useful for getting another dual attack in while your target is on the ropes to finish him off though, decent skill even as an Elite.

Repeating Strike - 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. 5 energy

Interesting skill, but kinda requires it to be your main focus in order to be effective. That could prove disasterous if you miss or get disrupted while using this skill. Not too bad though, probably more useful in PvE than PvP.

Temple Strike - Elite Off-Hand Attack. Must follow a lead attack. If this attack hits, target foe is interrupted, Dazed, and Blinded for 1...7 seconds. 15 energy, 12 recharge.

Oh Temple Strike, how I love thee. Let me count the ways. You interrupt, daze, and blind my target. Sure that 15 energy hurts but hey this skill is useful against casters and melee foes, and that comes out to 5 energy for each thing that it does. In my opinion the best assassin elite in the game, but then again it doesn't have much competition.

Wild Strike - Off-Hand Attack. Must follow a lead attack. If it hits, this attack strikes for +5...17 damage and target foe loses all Stances. 5 energy, 4 recharge.

Erm....if your target is under an evasion stance this skill is kinda useless. But is is cheap with a short recharge which makes it an alright skill to fill out your combo with.

Alright I think I got all of them all. Let me know your thoughts on these skills. Next week brings about my favorite part of the combo, dual attacks!

Weezer_Blue · Mar 31, 2006, 12:03 PM // 12:03

Maybe it's luck (or glitch), but I've never had a Wild Blow miss due to stance evasion, which means it will always end it too. I'm guessing Wild Strike would work the same way. It's decent for places likely to find stance-dodging opponents like the Randoms.

LightningHell · Mar 31, 2006, 01:25 PM // 13:25

Wild Blow cannot be evaded or blocked.

Yukito Kunisaki · Mar 31, 2006, 06:17 PM // 18:17

I like Moebius in that some Dual Attacks can be a real B!+c# to deal with... Critical Strike comes to mind... [owch

]

Temple Strike is hot. Dazed + Blind = works on any class, problem? Dmg I guess, as a sin, I'd rather use conditions to do a TON of damage rather than shut them out for a few, but hey, perhaps there's a compromise in the combo that allows both?

Sidra · Mar 31, 2006, 08:45 PM // 20:45

i have both fox and moebius in my combo, but i'm considering switching out fox for wild. jungle strike looks nice too. i dunno.

Shatterstone · Apr 01, 2006, 12:47 AM // 00:47

personally i love falling spider
entangleing asp+falling spider is one of my favite combos.awsome dmg and long poision time makes it an especially deadly skill. i like to have bleeding and poision on my foe at all times.
heres my combo
jagged strike+entangeling asp+falling spider+critical strike+moebius stike+twisting fangs
6 skills holy cow that wont work!! well im here to tell you it does. critical stike+13 points in critical strikes+critical eye+zealous upgrad=instant 10 enrgy and 5 enrgy any time i crit making a 6 chain combo easy to pull of. plus if im waiting on energy i can do a 3-4 skil chain making me very flexiable in my fighting style.

twicky_kid · Apr 01, 2006, 01:29 AM // 01:29

Palm strike is much more powerful than you think.

I does armor ignoring dmg and cannot miss. Counts as an off-hand so it allows you go straight into your dual attack. That only uses 2 slots for attack skills and the rest of your bar to work with. Most of the time without iron palm I would run 3-4 attack skills making it very difficult to be versital.

Or do repeated strike till you are ready to unload twisted fangs for the kill. You can do repeated till the palm strike is recharged twisted fangs>palm strike and start repeated again.

Palm strike is an overlooked skill that is gives you much more than it seems.

Myodato · Apr 01, 2006, 08:23 AM // 08:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by twicky_kid

Palm strike is much more powerful than you think.

I does armor ignoring dmg and cannot miss. Counts as an off-hand so it allows you go straight into your dual attack. That only uses 2 slots for attack skills and the rest of your bar to work with. Most of the time without iron palm I would run 3-4 attack skills making it very difficult to be versital.

Or do repeated strike till you are ready to unload twisted fangs for the kill. You can do repeated till the palm strike is recharged twisted fangs>palm strike and start repeated again.

Palm strike is an overlooked skill that is gives you much more than it seems.

Agreed. I tried it for a while over the weekend with an A/R using just Palm Strike and Death Blossom (for PvE of course). I just spread posion (Apply Poison) and bleeding (Sharpen Daggers) then just dropped the Palm Strike/Death Blossom combo at the right moment (every 12 seconds) doing 150+ damage to my target and ~80 damage to anything near him (+40 x2 at dagger Mastery 15).

That kind of damage, from just 2 skills ? sounds good to me.

In PvP though, you're going to have to do a lot to convince me there's anything better than Temple Strike. I used it a lot in the first preview and killed a lot of Monks thanks to it. Not just in arenas either, as I had some very fun times in HA. Even if you don't get the kill, forcing a monk to purely focus on keeping himself alive can be enough to allow your team to do the job elsewhere.

Murder In China · Apr 01, 2006, 08:34 AM // 08:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by LightningHell

Wild Blow cannot be evaded or blocked.

Wild Blow =/= Wild Strike

Wild Strike requires a Leading attack in order for it to work.

Katari · Apr 01, 2006, 08:29 PM // 20:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Murder In China

Wild Blow =/= Wild Strike

Wild Strike requires a Leading attack in order for it to work.

Not only that, but Wild Strike, last I checked could be blocked and evaded. Without the ability to hit through evastion/block stances, Wild Strike's ability is nearly usless.

SparhawkJC · Apr 01, 2006, 09:04 PM // 21:04

Wild Strike does have some saving graces. It's cheap, has a nice recharge, and will deal extra damage. It's really the stance removal that is kinda useless. If it can be blocked and evaded it's left to remove stances such as lika IAS and speed boosts.

twicky_kid · Apr 02, 2006, 09:24 PM // 21:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Myodato

In PvP though, you're going to have to do a lot to convince me there's anything better than Temple Strike.

Won't deny that temple strike is great. Its not as overpowered as people think it is. Its more that people don't know how to defend against it. You take that into gvg and its just going to get sucked up by draw conditions. Since the duration is short no real reason to remove it off of the drawer unless he is under attack.

The only reason its good is because people don't know how to defend against it. People will learn then it will be stuck in reserve for that fevered dreams build