Thunderforged for Assassins?

[Phaeton_Seraph]

I'm just curious what the fashionable assassins are doing these days with the thunderforged weapons.

Are there variants better suited for Assassinating, DPS, or CC (or whatever you might need not to get gangbanged)?

[CThruTheEgo]

This is what I'm using on Hassan's Assassin:

mainhand: Thunder-Forged Dagger (1st degree burns/dragon's edge/mortal fear/force damage ritual/orange slotted ruby of endless night/colorless slotted cha8 [cha just fits with the rest of my gear setup])
offhand: Agony (entropic/phlebotomizing/disintegration/improved deception/force damage ritual/red slotted positive spell power138)

I tried dual wielding Thunder-Forged and felt the deception proc rate was too low coming from just an item. So I went with Agony in the offhand.

Given that I'm only using one Thunder-Forged, 1st degree burns for vulnerability and dragon's edge for fort bypass seem manadatory to maximize dps.

[brzytki]

Yeah, I agree with CThru. I tried using two TF weapons but the deception proc is just too low for my liking as well. I wish we had the tier 5 enhancement from Harper moved to assassin tree :drool:

Also, about the Endless Night augment, is it working well for you, CThru? I personally don't see the point of neg level on vorpal. Am i missing something? There was a thread long time ago when Kinerd did some testing about neg lvls and it was concluded that they recover at the rate of 1 every 3 seconds. While it's nice if it procs at the beggining of a fight, it does nothing (apart from -2 to skills, attack, dmg and saves) if it procs after getting the mob to 90% hp.

Edit: Oh, when fighting an orange hp meatbag (like 100k+ hp) it certainly looks attractive.

[CThruTheEgo]

Also, about the Endless Night augment, is it working well for you, CThru? I personally don't see the point of neg level on vorpal. Am i missing something? There was a thread long time ago when Kinerd did some testing about neg lvls and it was concluded that they recover at the rate of 1 every 3 seconds. While it's nice if it procs at the beggining of a fight, it does nothing (apart from -2 to skills, attack, dmg and saves) if it procs after getting the mob to 90% hp.

Edit: Oh, when fighting an orange hp meatbag (like 100k+ hp) it certainly looks attractive.

I'm not that impressed tbh. I don't see it proc much. But I'm also not real impressed with many of the other options. For the purpose of controlling agro, I don't like the idea of an AoE proc on a rogue, so that rules out all of the ruby eyes and the meteoric star ruby. I think crushing wave is also an AoE, but I'm not positive about that. Deconstructor actually seems like a good option for an assassin because of the destruction proc. The destruction proc applies once every 3 seconds, so I'm sure it's not the best option for trash but might offer the most dps against bosses since the lower fort means more dps for the whole group.

[Dpadan1974]

This is what I'm using on Hassan's Assassin:

mainhand: Thunder-Forged Dagger (1st degree burns/dragon's edge/mortal fear/force damage ritual/orange slotted ruby of endless night/colorless slotted cha8 [cha just fits with the rest of my gear setup])
offhand: Agony (entropic/phlebotomizing/disintegration/improved deception/force damage ritual/red slotted positive spell power138)

I tried dual wielding Thunder-Forged and felt the deception proc rate was too low coming from just an item. So I went with Agony in the offhand.

Given that I'm only using one Thunder-Forged, 1st degree burns for vulnerability and dragon's edge for fort bypass seem manadatory to maximize dps.

Couldn't agree more. This is what my rogue uses. The proc rate is too low IMO. Deception is far too valuable. I'm also working on a dagger with flames/dragons edge/ and crippling flames for bosses. This is the best combo of weapons for a rogue. The DPs loss of using agony is so minute That the deception helps more

[Saekee]

I'm not that impressed tbh. I don't see it proc much. But I'm also not real impressed with many of the other options. For the purpose of controlling agro, I don't like the idea of an AoE proc on a rogue, so that rules out all of the ruby eyes and the meteoric star ruby. I think crushing wave is also an AoE, but I'm not positive about that. Deconstructor actually seems like a good option for an assassin because of the destruction proc. The destruction proc applies once every 3 seconds, so I'm sure it's not the best option for trash but might offer the most dps against bosses since the lower fort means more dps for the whole group.

Crushing wave is single target and, unintuitively, does bludgeoning damage, not frost/water.

[CThruTheEgo]

Crushing wave is single target and, unintuitively, does bludgeoning damage, not frost/water.

Thanks for the info on being single target. Wiki lists it as doing both cold and blunt damage (http://ddowiki.com/page/Crushing_Wave). Is that incorrect?

Some questions about crushing wave came up in another thread. Do you know if it stacks? Like if it procs and then procs again before the 6 seconds are up, does another 6 seconds start? Or does it simply override the previous one? Or not proc at all while one is already going? Just trying to understand the mechanics.

[Dpadan1974]

Thanks for the info on being single target. Wiki lists it as doing both cold and blunt damage (http://ddowiki.com/page/Crushing_Wave). Is that incorrect?

Some questions about crushing wave came up in another thread. Do you know if it stacks? Like if it procs and then procs again before the 6 seconds are up, does another 6 seconds start? Or does it simply override the previous one? Or not proc at all while one is already going? Just trying to understand the mechanics.


I believe it just restarts the timer

[Saekee]

I believe it just restarts the timer

hi Cthru and Dpadan, I can test this when I get to level 20--I have the tier 3 caolomel wraps--but it will take a while (a month?) til I get there. I think Dpadan is correct though, so it resets the timer. Not sure if it is cold AND bludgeoning--definately the latter--works on skellies! But it would make sense that it would be cold also.