Black Lotus - Unarmed Assassin

[krogyy]

So, here i am, posting my first build. This is the first toon of mine i leveled up to cap and i enjoyed quite a lot playing it. At a glance this build gives you:

• Awesome unarmed animation
• Assassin vorpal strikes at unarmed speed (Fatality!!!)
• More balanced DPS over different fortification levels with respect to a pure rogue
• Less feat starved than a pure rogue, can fit all offensive feats and some defensive ones
• No fail Heal scrolls without swapping items

Race: Halfling

Alignment: Lawful-Neutral

Class(s): Rogue 19 / Monk 1

Starting Stats: Str 16, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 8, Cha 10

Feats

• TWF
• iTWF
• gTWF
• Power Attack
• I.C: Bludg
• Thoughness
• S.F: UMD (I.C:Pierce)
• Quickdraw
• Improved Evasion
• Opportunist
• Skill Mastery (2x)

Choose I.C:Pierce if you plan to use rapiers effectively (for Rad II's, smiters, banishers or easily obtainable boss beaters).
The tradeoff is that you'll need either a +3 cha tome or swap items for no fail heal scrolls

Skills: Full ranks in UMD, DD, Search, Spot, Diplo and Balance. Rest divided between OL, Jump and Tumble.

Enanchments

Assassin III		8
- SA Accuracy IV	10
- SA Training IV	10
- Damage Boost II	3
- Improved Hide II	2
- Improved MS II	2
- Subtle Backstab I 	1
Subtle Backstab IV	9
Haste Boost IV		10
Extra AB II		6
Halfling Cunning III	6
Halfling Guile III	6
Thoughness II		3
Luck (Reflex) II	3
Skill Boost I		1
---------------------------
Tot			80

Equipment

• Helm - Minos Legend
• Cloak - Epic Cloack of Night
• Necklace & Ring #1 - Kensai set (Holy Burst)
• Belt & Ring #2 - FB set (Shocking Burst)
• Bracers - Rad II, 45 hp, +5 dex skills
• Trinket - Litany / Shimmering Arrowhead
• Armor - DT +5 res, +6 cha, Tharne's wrath
• Googles - Tharne's Googles
• Boots - Madstone / Con. Opp. +5 cha skills, blind immunity, disease immunity
• Gloves - Epic Brawling Gloves / Seven-fingered gloves

Modified Stats

• Str - 16 base + 5 lvl-up + 2 tome + 6 item + 1 litany + 1 exc + 2 rage spell + 2 madstone + 2 fire stance = 37
• Dex - 16 base + 2 tome + 4 item + 1 litany = 23
• Con - 14 base + 2 tome + 6 item + 1 exc + 1 litany = 24
• Int - 10 base + 2 tome + 1 litany = 13 (+6 swap in item for traps = 19)
• Wis - 8 base + 2 tome + 6 item + 1 litany - 2 fire stance = 15
• Cha - 10 base + 2 tome + 1 litany = 13

Hit Points

Rogue		114
Monk		8
Con		140
Heroic d.	20
Shroud Item	45
GFL		30
Thoughness	22
Enhancements	20
Favor		10
Minos		20
--------------------
Unbuffed	429

Rage		20
Madstone	40
-------------------- 
Self-buffed	489

Earth Stance	20
--------------------
Situational	509

Saves

Rogue		6	11	6
Monk		2	2	2
Resistance	5	5	5
Stats		7	6	2
Racial		1	1	1
Enhancements	0	2	0
Alchemical	1	1	1
-----------------------------------
Unbuffed	21	28	17

GH		4	4	4
Luck		2	2	2
Haste		0	1	0
Rage		1	0	0
Madstone	2	0	0
-----------------------------------
Self buffed	30	35	23

UMD

Ranks		23
Skill Focus	3
Exceptional	5
Skill Mastery	2
Charisma	4	
GH		4
-------------------
Self buffed	41

To-Hit

Base			15
Racial			1
Str			12
Weapon			5
Kensai set		2
Litany			1
Power Attack		-5
---------------------------
Aggroed & Unbuffed	31

Divine Power		5
Madstone		1
Rage			1
GH			4
Haste			1
---------------------------
Aggroed & Self buffed	43

Spectral gloves		2
SA Accuracy		4
Cunning			3
Tharne's Googles	5
---------------------------
Situational		57

Edit - Update 10.2: Now that metal threaded handwraps drop with reasonable frequency in DA elite/epic i though to add a DPS comparison using the best crafted weapons. For TWF it is +5 holy burst silver of GEOB, for un unarmed it is the same save for holy instead of holy burst. THF still uses ESOS with devil ruins augment crystal.



Edit: (old) Here's a DPS comparison chart comparing the Halfling version to the Horc one. All other builds are Horcs. Weapon used is +1 metalline of Greater bane. i also added the Epic Brawling Gloves's extra piercing damage. no seeker item whatsoever altough a +6 seeker event hat may be squeezed in.

[krogyy]

So, no opinions whatsoever so far. i take it as a testament that there are no obvious flaws

[Arlathen]

• Assassin vorpal strikes at unarmed speed (Fatality!!!)

SUB-ZERO WINS!

Sorry, memories of a misspent youth playing Mortal Kombat in the arcades came flooding back at reading this.

The only real criticism I can level at this build is that the standard Assassin Rogue with capstone and a Radiance Rapier may out-dps your build due to the higher frequency of sneak attacks gained from the blindness. There's also a substantial increase in SA Dice from the capstone, IIRC.

However, for something a little different, I really like this.

I can still see that Uppercut off the bridge move in my minds-eye

[Ookami007]

As a flavor build, it's not bad... I'd probably swap out some equipment posted for epic items, but otherwise, not bad.

The inclusive of any +3 tomes is always suspect since they aren't THAT easy to get one, let alone the one you want/need.

But it IS a flavor build and a full assassin khopesh STR build will still outdps it since 1) There are no GS handwraps and 2) You don't get the higher unarmed attack damage of a full monk... plus the crit/crit multiplier of unarmed strikes will significantly impact your dps in epics. And a dual Min2 heavy pick build will leave it in the dust in epics against held mobs.

But like I said, this isn't a dps build... it's a flavor build... and as such, I suspect would be alot of fun to play.... especially with customized armor and the ninja mask cosmetic helm from the store.

[Kinerd]

I had just done some of the math on this recently. 20 rogue will have more sneak attack damage per time even taking unarmed speed & wind stance into account, but not by too terribly much. Real weapons will also obviously have much better base damage, critical profiles, and procs than 1 monk unarmed and handwraps. I don't mean these as criticisms, just responses to the people who were wondering.

I am curious by what you mean, OP, by "More balanced DPS over different fortification levels with respect to a pure rogue", if you care to elaborate.

[valas1750]

I have a very similar build, but dwarven.

18rog/1mnk/1fght

Focuses on stunning blow as well, with metallic stunning+10 wraps and ToD rings.
Unarmed+wind stance allows you to provide the most SA DPS if sneak attack is assumed a constant (due to significant increase in speed and a noticable increase in double strike outweigheing lesser SA dice).

Ill post more about my build later, but currently has a stunning blow DC of 41, and some gear gains could increase this higher). Yeah I dont get radiance weapons, which is a pain... but this is a partial flavor build (well in fact, just a flavor build that works quite nicely).

The fighter level increases hp by 10, adds 1 to stunning blow DC, and frees up a feat slot (but removes a rogue extra feat).

The simple truth is though that there is not a faster vorpal-er out there. This guy attacks as quick as possible while having vorpal on his weapons (a pure 20 mnk hits faster, but cant get the vorpal on handwraps). Definitely think your build will work fine, but ill be sticking with my dwarven slammer... the stuns help so much.

[Kinerd]

Unarmed+wind stance allows you to provide the most SA DPS if sneak attack is assumed a constant (due to significant increase in speed and a noticable increase in double strike outweigheing lesser SA dice).

From Vanshilar's swing animations per minute thread:

Monk unarmed = 89.4 * (100% + 1.39*sum of each boost%)
TWF = 86.6 * (100% + 1.2*sum of each boost%)

(There are slight changes due to BAB, but a 18/1/1 or 19/1 will have the same or nearly the same unarmed BAB as the armed BAB of the 20.)

With rogue haste boost IV and haste, this works out to:

unarmed = 145.7
twf = 133.4

GTWF gives 80% offhand chance, opportunist gives 3% double strike chance, and wind stance I gives 2.5% double strike chance, so we have a total number of swing processes per minute of:

unarmed = 270.3
twf = 244.1

A 19/1 rogue/monk will have 57.5 sneak attack damage and a pure rogue will have 71.5 (on average) from professional enhancements, so we can calculate the sneak attack damage per second by multiplying the above and dividing by 60. We get:

unarmed = 259.1
twf = 290.1

.

We could also treat the halfling case, which offers another 8 sneak attack damage. This closes the gap to:

unarmed = 295.1
twf = 323.4

It's important to point out that when the haste boost is not active the twf gets even better, because the unarmed gets more out of boosts than twf does.

(Incidentally, I also considered the case of going to monk 6 for Wind Stance II and Ninja Spy or throwing in ranger 6 for Tempest I, but each of these are even worse than 19/1.)

[krogyy]

As a flavor build, it's not bad... I'd probably swap out some equipment posted for epic items, but otherwise, not bad.

The inclusive of any +3 tomes is always suspect since they aren't THAT easy to get one, let alone the one you want/need.

But it IS a flavor build and a full assassin khopesh STR build will still outdps it since 1) There are no GS handwraps and 2) You don't get the higher unarmed attack damage of a full monk... plus the crit/crit multiplier of unarmed strikes will significantly impact your dps in epics. And a dual Min2 heavy pick build will leave it in the dust in epics against held mobs.

But like I said, this isn't a dps build... it's a flavor build... and as such, I suspect would be alot of fun to play.... especially with customized armor and the ninja mask cosmetic helm from the store.

i didn't counted +3 tomes in the stats. i just observed that if one day i get a charisma one i can swap feats while still mantain 39 UMD.

for epics, i wrote about possible solutions. i can swap out S.F:UMD for martial weapon proficiency for example to negate the -4 penalty with picks. i would miss the improved crit range but with mass holds is maybe not so important.

rogues are not proficient in picks so also the pure rogue need to pick the same feat or stick with the penalty. and in autocrit situations the capstone's 4d6 sa counts, in percentage of the total damage done, much less.

[BLITHELY]

Unless this has been changed; have not had a splash build that low so this can b verfied but this was the case not long ago. Handwraps r not considered magic weapons for purposes of bypassing damage reduction. Surprisingly many higher lvl mobs have the requirement of magic + other things 2 damage them. Anyways something 2 consider.

[valas1750]

Unless this has been changed; have not had a splash build that low so this can b verfied but this was the case not long ago. Handwraps r not considered magic weapons for purposes of bypassing damage reduction. Surprisingly many higher lvl mobs have the requirement of magic + other things 2 damage them. Anyways something 2 consider.

AFAIK not an issue anymore

[krogyy]

Unless this has been changed; have not had a splash build that low so this can b verfied but this was the case not long ago. Handwraps r not considered magic weapons for purposes of bypassing damage reduction. Surprisingly many higher lvl mobs have the requirement of magic + other things 2 damage them. Anyways something 2 consider.

can you give me an example of such mobs?
i'll verify if it works

[ninjaeli]

SUB-ZERO WINS!

Sorry, memories of a misspent youth playing Mortal Kombat in the arcades came flooding back at reading this.

The only real criticism I can level at this build is that the standard Assassin Rogue with capstone and a Radiance Rapier may out-dps your build due to the higher frequency of sneak attacks gained from the blindness. There's also a substantial increase in SA Dice from the capstone, IIRC.

However, for something a little different, I really like this.

I can still see that Uppercut off the bridge move in my minds-eye

Flawless victory..

[valas1750]

On my dwarven version of this, I have improved trip, stunning blow, and maxed diplomacy for agro (obviously stun is more for DPS, but also useful to get a mob off you). Also sitting at 502 HP with the optimal gear setup, as 18rogue/1mnk/1fighter. When in combat expertise mode (A pre-req for IT), my AC is also able to reach ample levels to "tank" (no means to hold agro but... if defense is a concern for you all), with a switch of some gear of course. Will save is indeed my lowest, but it is high enough when combined with slippery mind and dwarven spell saves enhancements to ward off a good percentage of effects (skill focus? ... bah a waste if you ask me). This build going half-elf paladin dilly for the saves could be a good option as well (though reduces your tactics DC by 3 if not dwarf or warforged)

The trip DC will be plenty high without a vertigo weapon, and as long as a stunning+10 metallic handwraps (preferably with icyburst) are equipped, DC for sb is fine as well at end game.


This character will be marginally less DPS to a regular rogue, but will stun, trip, vorpal, and break all DR's while wielding the same weapon. A case can be said about the benefits of using rad2 rapiers to reduce DPS incoming to group, and I admit that is a great weapon, but I feel this use of tactics is always at least tied, better in most situations, and usable from level 1, no fancy gear required.

Not that Im against weapon switching, but being able to do all of this, at the same time, without needing quick draw and mass twitch skills (which would still lower your DPS for a swing or two for the required weapon switches), is very, very nice. And the only other toon who can vorpal at my speeds is a tempest III ranger (though they significantly reduce their DPS while equipping vorpal weapons, and can not stun adequately with a non-stunning weapon).

Had my similar build, just TR'd... now up to level 8 following my new dwarven build, and loving it. Kill charts aren't everything (but I consistently top them), but I also lower damage done to the group with another combat tactic, that works always on anything with legs.

Oh, and im plenty tough at low levels, and have no DT armor yet, no GS items, and no real other high level twink gear waiting for me.

[Xeraphim]

Now roll it with Newb Gear:

No raid loot

No raid loot

oh, and... no raid loot.

Also not applicable: Epic items, Dragontouched armor, ToD sets, Event items.

Roll it like it's going to begin raiding, but hasn't yet.

Of course, after that you get all the cool nifty goodies that you can possibly throw at this neat little concept(please don't send him to my house, I like being alive).

[valas1750]

Now roll it with Newb Gear:

No raid loot

No raid loot

oh, and... no raid loot.

Also not applicable: Epic items, Dragontouched armor, ToD sets, Event items.

Roll it like it's going to begin raiding, but hasn't yet.

Of course, after that you get all the cool nifty goodies that you can possibly throw at this neat little concept(please don't send him to my house, I like being alive).

???? The hell, lol.
Fine, on your regular assassin build, write it with no epic items, no greensteel, no ToD, no DT armor, no event items, and then dont send it to my house....???

[wiglin]

Overall effectiveness aside. Here is a long term option to think about with lots of epic grind and 2x TR. The biggest issue with a build like this is the lack of hitpoints and low will saves, but if for flavor reasons I was set on an unarmed rogue I would do something like this. Taking 1 ranger over 19 rogue lowers dps against everything except your favored enemy (evil outsider), but gives ranger sprint boost which makes for a nice boost to sneaking when trying to assassinate. Assisinate dc is pretty low for anything high level, but thats not the real focus. It still does 10d6 on a failed save and since it doesn’t work in epic no loss. I chose gear that is very grind intensive and would take a while to obtain. I went with 5 pieces of abishai for the +3 profane to con, You could drop the cloak and bracers and replace them with cape of the roc and bracers of the claw, but hitpoints are so low, I would rather have 20 more hitpoints than 2 more str. That would be a valid option though. What I like about this build is combining the already fast attack speed of unarmed and adding 9 uses of rogue haste boost IV. I show the damage as a smallest to highest spread in best case scenarios vs evil outsiders.

Race: Half-Orc
Class: 18Rogue / 1Monk / 1Ranger
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stats:
Str: 46 +18 (18Base +3Tome +6Item +1Exc +2Enh +2Stance +5Level +3Profane +2Rage +2Yugo +2Madstone)
Dex: 26 +8 (14Base +6Item +3Tome +2Enh +1Exc)
Con: 30 +10 (16Base +2Tome +7Item +3Profane +2Rage)
Int: 20 +5 (12Base +2Tome +6Item)
wis: 14 +2(8Base +2Tome +6item -2Stance)
Cha: 20 +5 (10Base +3Tome +7Item)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saves:
Fort: 32 (10Base +10Stat +4GH, +5resist +1Ritual +2Luck)
Reflex: 35 / 41 (15Base +8Stat +4GH +5resist +1Ritual +2Luck) / (+6 vs Traps)
Will: 18 (8Base +2Stat +4GH +5resist +1Ritual +2Luck -4Yugo)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills: You can almost max 6 more skills (Hide, Move Silently, Jump, Balance, Spot, Haggle)
37 UMD (23Base +5Stat +4GH +1PL +1SM +3Bunny)
54 Search (23Base +5Stat +4GH +1PL +1SM +15Item +4Boost)
61 Disable (23Base +5Stat +4GH +1PL +1SM +15Item +7Tools +4Boost)
64 Open Lock (23Base +8Stat +4GH +1PL +1SM +15Item +7Tools +4Boost)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Feats:
1: TWF
3: Power Attack / Monk: Toughness
6: Monk Past Life (1d8Fist)
9: Stunning Blow
12: Rogue Past Life (+1Skills, Sneak of Shadows Clicky {+5Sneak Attack Hit / +10Sneak Attack Damage for 1 minute x3})
15: ITWF
18: GTWF

Rogue Bonus:
Improved Evasion
Opportunist
Skill Mastery

Ranger Favored Enemy:
Evil Outsider
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Noted Abilities & DC’s
1d8 Unarmed Damage
12d6 Sneak Attack
33DC Assasinate
38DC Stunning Blow
+3Dmg vs Evil Outsiders
9 Action Boosts (Rogue Haste Boost +30% Alacrity for 3 minutes)
Sprint Boost (helps sneak faster for an assassinate)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Damage: 68-182 Regular / Vorpal Criticals: 119-367
18 Str
1-8 Fist
1-6 Wraps
5 Power Attack
8 Goggles (Sneak Attack)
12 Enhancement
2 Shintoa Set Bonus
1-6 Wraps Effect
1-6 Fire (Dragonscale Robe)
2-12 Holy (Bursting Ring)
1-6 Shock (Bursting Ring)
1 Rogue Past Life
1 Monk Past Life
3 Favored Enemy
12-78 Sneak Attack
10 Sneak of Shadows {3minutes}
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hit Points: 461
108 Rogue
8 Monk
8 Ranger
180 Constitution
20 Heroic Durability
10 Draconic Vitality
22 Toughness Feat
20 Toughness Item
20 Racial Toughness Enhancement
30 Greater False Life
45 Shroud
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Enhancements:
Rogue Damage Boost II
Rogue Skill Boost III
Rogue Extra Action Boost II
Rogue Haste Boost IV
Ranger Sprint Boost I
Orcish Extra Action Boost II
Orcish Strength II
Rogue Subtle Backstabbing II
Racial Toughness II
Ranger Favored Damage I
Rogue Assassin III
Rogue Sneak Attack Accuracy IV
Rogue Sneak Attack Training IV
Improved Hide II
Improved Move Silently II
Rogue Dexterity II
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Armor
Helmet: Epic Helm of Frost (Polar Ray (CL:20, 3/3 rest), Greater Cold Resist, Abishai Bonus, +7Cha, +4Resist)
Eyes: Tharne's Goggles (+5Sneak Attack Bonus, True Seeing, +15Search, +15Spot, +1Resist)
Trinket: Bloodstone (+6Seeker)
Neck: Shintao (+6Con, +15Concentration)
Cape: Epic Envenomed Cloak (+7Con, +5Resist, Greater Poison Guard, Abishai Bonus, +2Luck)
Hands: Epic Charged Gauntlets (+6Str, 20d6 on Vorpal Hit, Abishai Bonus)
Bracers: Epic Scorched Bracers (+8Armor, Greater Fire Resist, Firestorm {CL 17/5 Charges}, Abishai, Greater False Life)
Belt: Shroud (45HP, +1Con Skills, +5Dex Skills, Radiance Guard)
Ring1: Kyosho's (+6Wis, +1Str, Holy Burst, Set Bonus: +2 To Hit and Dmg)
Ring2: Morah’s (+6Dex, +1Dex, Shocking Burst)
Armor: Red Dragon Robe (+8Armor Bonus, Superior Fire Resistance, 1d6Fire, Fire Guard, Incineration Guard, +6Int, Toughness)
Feet: Epic Boots of Corrosion (Abishai Bonus, Greater Acid Resist, Disintegration Guard, Blue, Colorless)

[krogyy]

...

looks good. i also considered taking a ranger lvl for sprint boosts but, after all, i decided i really wanted a fourth rogue feat. mainly to reach high UMD asap.

half-orcs came out only after i rolled this, i would have gone that route otherwise. how can you say no to more haste boosts?

i didn't consider stunning blow as i though i wouldn't be ablt to reach usefull DCs. maybe after i gather some nice gear TRing into horc sounds promising.

[krogyy]

as a new version of the DPS calculator is released (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=195421) with more accurate attack speed formulas i tought it would be good to update the thread.

instead of the original halfling version i evaluated an half orc one (straightforward modifications) as all other builds in the chart are half orcs.

the results are the following, where i assumed +1 metalline handwraps of greater bane as weapons:



among the build considered it is second best damage vs trash, close to the best vs 100% and absolute best vs raid bosses.

not bad...

[Feralthyrtiaq]

Just TRd "Returning" my 12/TA, 8Shintao1 into a Horc Black Lotus Build. At 1Rgu/1Mnk atm. Have no fancy theorycrafting, yugo pots or litany that many of these builds include. You can myddo me if interested in the build. A lil scary (lol) building a rogue for Str but should be a power house. Having a BtA ML2 Robe of Invulnerability (DR5/magic) REALLY helps mitigate low level mob damage. I TRd my Dark monk Xhiron to a Shintao3, Void4 build and he wore it up to lvl 8 when I switched to Lightening Guard of Invulnerabilty. At level 9 started using Kaelth's Touch from necro 3 Scarab Powder Turn and Mod Fort robe until I could work in Hvy Fort item/robe and then ultimately Garments of Equilibrium. It may be a bit off topic but just the value of DR5/magic (or w/e) can't be understated with unarmed and unarmored builds like these.

[Feralthyrtiaq]

Returning has 12 and 13 banked and 3k xp shy of 14 and having to take lvl 12. At 1 monk/10 Rogue Horc UA Assasin...

So far, this build is a monster in parties.

However for soloing

AC is very low considering 23 unbuffed +/- 1 depending on stance.

Up till now DR5/magic from Invulnerability + Stalwart Trinket Stoneskin Procs lend alot of early survivability.

At lvl 10 Using Stonedust HW + Earth Stance Plus Stalwart + DR5/magic is slightly better for damage mitigation.

Once stoneskin procs I swap out to Nimble Trinket and usually bounce back and forth (<3 Quick Draw) depending on situation.

With Earth Stance increase Damage Dice from Jidz Tetka Bracers + Stonedust HW + Stalwart and Rogue Haste Boost 2 + Self Buffed 30 sec Haste the burst DPS + Damage Mitigation IS kinda AWESOME.

Minor touch up healing with UMD cure mod wands or cure sr wounds potions every few fights.

The speed of the attack animation of Wind Stance + Rogue Haste + Haste is balls to the wall crazy. But pretty much this builds "death frenzy" and usual require substantial healing after battle.

Vampiric Stonedust HW at 13 and Garments of Equilibrium at 12 will help soloablility alot esp. with Stunning Blow at 12.

Switching to Fire Stance for +25% heal amp from Jidz Tetka to heal between fights helps on the cost of resources.

Maxed Ranks in Bluff, Diplo, Search, Spot, DD, UMD (MS, Hide and OL are a lil lower, 10 jump a lil tumble etc) + Sneak of shadows PL feat and AP in DD Search Spot Hide MS

No issues at all with any traps anywhere (RR WF +13 lvl 9 spot goggles help) in at level quests on elite.

Bluffing to single pull the Troll, Beholder and Sorc Lts in VON3 on elite is a thing of beauty.