Curse

Drasu · Aug 08, 2007, 03:10 AM // 03:10

Hey all.

I haven't posted here in a while, but I felt like contributing something to the PvE community that I think some Assassins might enjoy. The name of the game is AoE blinding while doing damage, and it works out pretty well if you can get the monsters round up.

Critical Strikes: 10+1
Dagger Mastery: 11+1+1 (or 3, but it doesn't make much difference)
Air Magic: 10

[skill]Black Lotus Strike[/skill][skill]Black Spider Strike[/skill][skill]Death Blossom[/skill][skill]Golden Phoenix Strike[/skill][skill]Glimmering Mark[/skill][skill]Conjure Lightning[/skill][skill]Critical Eye[/skill]

So, basically, put up conjure, then cover it with Critical Agility, and Put glimmering mark on the stuff you want to attack and go. We don't have any Moebius Strike, but that fact is offset by the number of offhands we have, which should be able to keep you busy without wishing you had Moebius, heh. Hopefully this build can carve a new niche in the PvE world for assassins- AoE blinders that can stille contribute their fair share of damage!

Picuso · Aug 08, 2007, 07:49 AM // 07:49

Nice

I'm going to try to cap that elite

Coloneh · Aug 08, 2007, 07:56 AM // 07:56

why not do jagged>wild>DB instead of the 3 offhands. that frees up a skill slot for a self heal.

moko · Aug 08, 2007, 02:11 PM // 14:11

[skill]Blinding Powder[/skill] + you get a good elite? it's a fun idea but i wouldn't ever call it good in practise.

if anything; get an air staff, spec into deadly arts, get some poison & paradox, spam signet of toxic shock and the blind thingy etc.

also 3 e management skills + crit strikes is overkill~

Divyn · Aug 08, 2007, 05:17 PM // 17:17

Poor build imo. Like pointed above, you can blind with other skills. Plus, it isn't the assassin's task to blind. Blinding surge is way more efficient.

Shuuda · Aug 08, 2007, 05:27 PM // 17:27

EDA is much better if you really must waste an elite on blinding, it has good synergy with Jagged strike.

Drasu · Aug 08, 2007, 06:56 PM // 18:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coloneh

why not do jagged>wild>DB instead of the 3 offhands. that frees up a skill slot for a self heal.

By taking a bunch of offhands, you get to Death Blossom much more quickly compared to taking a lead -> offhand -> dual combo like that. You don't need a self heal as well- let your allies do the supporting.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mokone

[skill]Blinding Powder[/skill]+ you get a good elite? it's a fun idea but i wouldn't ever call it good in practise.
if anything; get an air staff, spec into deadly arts, get some poison & paradox, spam signet of toxic shock and the blind thingy etc.
also 3 e management skills + crit strikes is overkill~

I guess I could see that working out in an instance where you're fighting extremely hardy monsters, but one of the bonuses of taking the above build is that it can constantly switch up targets and move from cluster to cluster of monsters very quickly where the recharge of Blinding Powder would hold you back, making this build end up fitting really well in a blitzkrieg-style PvE build. Point taken with the Blinding surge assassin, but the porblem I see with blinding surge, ebon dust aura, et al. is that while you can keep that single warrior monster blinded, the other 4 warrior monsters beside you are still hacking away, and you'd burn yourself out of energy trying to keep them all blinded.

As for e-management, spamming golden phoenix strike and Glimmering Mark quickly takes its toll- by taking Black Lotus and Critical Eye, you can keep your energy at a pretty healthy level. Besides, Critical Eye helps to keep Critical Agility up longer- yay for synergy.

Edit: I'm not saying that this build is the godliest thing to grace GW, but I see it as a build that's fun to run in PvE, while giving an interesting utility for your party. If you can get a group of people together and make a rollage-focused team build, the possible damage mitigation from this build helps to keep your monks' energy in check, and you're still able to contribute a formidable amount of damage.

pingu666 · Aug 09, 2007, 03:45 AM // 03:45

how about
1 glimmering mark
2 black lotus strike
3 twisting fangs
4 black spider strike
5 blades of steel
6 conjure lightning
7 critical agility
8 optional, shadowstep or a attack skill

if u want a blitzkreig style, use assassins promise as the elite, and a shadow step

Coloneh · Aug 09, 2007, 06:12 AM // 06:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drasu

By taking a bunch of offhands, you get to Death Blossom much more quickly compared to taking a lead -> offhand -> dual combo like that. You don't need a self heal as well- let your allies do the supporting.

you dont need to get to death blossom quickly. its a blinding support build, not a DB spam.
and not wanting a self heal is just stupid, its not the monk's job to heal every scrap of damage you take.

moko · Aug 09, 2007, 01:18 PM // 13:18

Blinding Surge is AoE blind with an easily met condition, FYI.

blinding powders recharge can easily be reduced to 10 by deadly paradox if you use it at the end.

Coloneh · Aug 09, 2007, 08:13 PM // 20:13

also you dont have a rez.

SotiCoto · Aug 17, 2007, 01:30 PM // 13:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coloneh

also you dont have a rez.

The only worthwhile rez is a hard rez, and an assassin with a hard rez is guaranteed to be worse at assassinating than one without.
I swear.... I will never get the fascination some folks have with sticking res-signets on every build. Biggest waste of a slot.... ever. If the assassin is the only member of the party left alive then things are pretty much doomed anyway.

[Of course there are exceptions... like the final fight against Abaddon, which pretty much requires Res Signets and Sunspear Rebirth Signets all round.]

Cebe · Aug 17, 2007, 01:46 PM // 13:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by SotiCoto

The only worthwhile rez is a hard rez
*snip*
I will never get the fascination some folks have with sticking res-signets on every build. Biggest waste of a slot.... ever.

Quoted for truth. Resurrection Signet is horrible in PvE in my opinion outwith some very specific uses. In PvE if you're going to take a res, take a hard res. If neither profession is Paragon, Monk or Rit, Just don't take one.

To the OP, as nice as those sort of builds are, I did a similar thing but with [wiki]Assassin's Promise[/wiki]. 2 "must require hex" off-hands and two duals...If the hex is removed, or your hex is diverted or interrupted etc. etc. then you're useless for a while until your hex has recharged.

I generally get around this problem by taking hex-heavy heroes so that if I for some reason Assassin's Promise has to have it's full recharge of 45 seconds the heroes have a nice spammable hex they can use so I can keep going.

I like the idea of Glimmering Mark, I've used it on a couple of physical damage dealers and in my opinion is better than Blinding Powder due to it's recharge, and it still has the AoE effect. It's also a hex, so that if the blind condition is removed, target for can easily be blinded again just by attacking. That being said, I Imagine Blinding Powder may prove more useful with a skill such as Assassin's Promise or Moebius Strike which (conditionally) recharge your skills.

SotiCoto · Aug 17, 2007, 02:27 PM // 14:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celestial Beaver

That being said, I Imagine Blinding Powder may prove more useful with a skill such as Assassin's Promise or Moebius Strike which (conditionally) recharge your skills.

I don't remember if it works with Moebius Strike or not (it isn't an attack skill), but I know that it works with Assassin's Promise quite nicely.
Not only that but it took me a while to realise that I could Offhand > Blinding Powder > Dual Attack rather than merely stopping at Blinding Powder.

Then again....
.... Just a thought....

But what about Contagion > Shadow Sanctuary (followed by some means of removing the Blindness from yourself) or Shadow Sanctuary > Plague Sending on an A/N?

Would those be too inefficient? I figure maybe some use can be made of them, but I can't think of how to improve on such an idea right now.
I mean if it was just one opponent then Shadow Sanctuary > Plague Touch would be fun, but we're talking about AoE blinding, aren't we?

Coloneh · Aug 18, 2007, 05:27 AM // 05:27

some of the most selfish people iv ever seen here. no res sigs? shit, im not playing with humans again anytime soon.

Yanman.be · Aug 18, 2007, 09:42 AM // 09:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by SotiCoto

The only worthwhile rez is a hard rez, and an assassin with a hard rez is guaranteed to be worse at assassinating than one without.
I swear.... I will never get the fascination some folks have with sticking res-signets on every build. Biggest waste of a slot.... ever. If the assassin is the only member of the party left alive then things are pretty much doomed anyway.

[Of course there are exceptions... like the final fight against Abaddon, which pretty much requires Res Signets and Sunspear Rebirth Signets all round.]

You're wrong. Certainly in PvP, and high level PvE. Ressing your dead monk, or tank, within 3 seconds, in full health is an awesome skill. I'd bring people just for that.

Darkpower Alchemist · Aug 18, 2007, 11:49 AM // 11:49

Celestial is notorious for not liking the res sig on the bar, so I'm not surprised by the comment-but I agree that the not carrying a res thinking pattern is rather selfish.

I don't always expect my monk to res me, since his/her job is already intense, yet, if their are deaths during combat and morale boosts to look forward to then let the res sigs fly.

Some builds perform without res sigs, but when in a human team, I'd rather have res sigs on people. As for glimmering mark, the blind is ok ine PvE, but it's unneeded in that envionment. Blinding guys that drop like hotcakes down a fat man's throat seems to be sort of a waste.

SotiCoto · Aug 20, 2007, 08:13 AM // 08:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yanman.be

You're wrong. Certainly in PvP, and high level PvE. Ressing your dead monk, or tank, within 3 seconds, in full health is an awesome skill. I'd bring people just for that.

All fine and well if you're expecting to die a lot and still want to continue on (and I certainly wouldn't think to express an opinion of PvP here since I don't do that)... but generally if I'm in an area where three members of my party with resurrects isn't enough (aside from big boss encounters), I generally pull back to rethink my party builds and see if I could put a bit more survivability in there by other means before resorting to the signets.

Yeah.... sure... res your dead monk, tank or MM (see below) in 3 seconds. What if they die a second time? ... You're basically screwed. I would bring the SRS more often if it was re-usable without having to kill a boss inbetween.... but it isn't. Just due to my personality, I get VERY stingey with single-use skills and the like, and won't use it unless it is an absolute emergency, by which time it is often too late.

As I'm sure I've mentioned though..... it is generally enough for me to have the 2 monk henchies and Olias with resurrects. Putting Rebirth on Olias is one decision I will never regret, as he alone has saved me from more wipes than any of the monks (not least since he prats about at the back behind a wall of minions and is generally highest priority NOT to die). For this very reason, I would always recommend a Minion Master with Rebirth in the party....

jesh · Aug 21, 2007, 02:19 AM // 02:19

You don't use a res sig in an emergency. You use it as soon as you see a blacked out bar on your screen.
This way, you avoid having your party neutered for twice the amount of time.
The main strength of a res signet is that it allows your party to quickly recover from a death and possibly carry on with no more casualties.
A hard res does NOT do this in most cases.
There are 2 viable hard rezes.

Glyph of Sacrifice+Res Chant
Healer's Boon+Res Chant (on a necro preferably)

If you aren't running these, chances are you're hurting your team more than helping.
The thing that makes me cringe most is seeing a ranger with 0 in protection prayers resing the monk with Rebirth in a PuG. Mid battle.
Not only do you waste 10 seconds and deplete all of your energy doing so, you will probably contribute to another untimely death of your monk and keep them on the ground even longer.

Coloneh · Aug 21, 2007, 07:02 AM // 07:02

jesh, you forgot Death Pact signet. 120 seconds is a very short amount of time to not die.