Master Assassin: an int based build

[Saekee]

I have not played this character in over a year in favor of high DC wizzy, vangard pally, and a mechanic great xbow build.

Is anyone playing this build or a variant successfully in reaper content these days?

My experience in reaper to date suggests it wouldn't do too well....I think I would end up breaking out of combat too much to heal up, or get one shot-ed too often to be fun. Also aggro mechanics still do not seem to favor stealthy types....

the traps work well--I do not have much reaper experience but I found the glitterdust was blinding reapers

[Psiandron]

I have not played this character in over a year in favor of high DC wizzy, vangard pally, and a mechanic great xbow build.

Is anyone playing this build or a variant successfully in reaper content these days?

My experience in reaper to date suggests it wouldn't do too well....I think I would end up breaking out of combat too much to heal up, or get one shot-ed too often to be fun. Also aggro mechanics still do not seem to favor stealthy types....

Not currently playing an assassin, but melee rogues can do quite well.

Using diversion and deception gear as well as try to let other party members gain aggro before really laying in and killing everything helps.

In terms of survivability, as long as you take some steps to shore up your defenses you may not have as big an hp point buffer as some others, but you should still be fine.


On a different note, a vanguard pally? After the last nerfing I didn't think anyone did those anymore... Find a way to stay effective?

[Mellkor]

Not currently playing an assassin, but melee rogues can do quite well.

Using diversion and deception gear as well as try to let other party members gain aggro before really laying in and killing everything helps.

In terms of survivability, as long as you take some steps to shore up your defenses you may not have as big an hp point buffer as some others, but you should still be fine.


On a different note, a vanguard pally? After the last nerfing I didn't think anyone did those anymore... Find a way to stay effective?

Yep

[Mellkor]

Well, with the Ravonloft stuff out, I decided to dust off my assassin and give it a try again.

Still Dex based, (Assassin (41 points) and Vistani Knife (30 points) build in Shadowdance) that said, with the new gear it is a blast to play again!! I really like Vistani enhancement tree, I think it added what was needed to make this build viable again. Too bad you cant have both tier 5's in Assassin AND Vistani

Still some stealth issues, but there are ways around that with smart play.

I am able to roll with 50% dodge, 25% incorporeal, 20% blurry, and 10% ghostly. Improved dodge puts me over 100% for when its needed. That covers defenses nicely. I am not sure if I could get dodge anywhere near that high with an int build.

100 assassinate. There is a little room for improvement, but it seems 100 is pretty much a no fail number for most difficulties including reaper 10 on mobs that can be assassinated. Also I would have to give up something more important, IMO, for 4 or 5 points more DC. Going int based would definitely result in a higher assassinate DC simply because I can get int higher than dex by maybe 10 points, at the cost of defenses and some DPS. Could be worthwhile with some minor play style changes.

97% Doublestrike! I could easily get this to over 100, BUT again at the expense of something better, IMO. A few more points wont make much difference anyway.

Skills: nowhere near as high as my int based mechanic, but workable, also not as many skill points. I find I have to swap to trapping gear on harder difficulties whereas I never have to on my Int based guy.

I am still grinding some raid gear (Pain and Suffering daggers are sweeeeett!!!!). After the grind, I will flip back to an int build to see what I can do with it and compare to dex based.

-JR

[Saekee]

Well, with the Ravonloft stuff out, I decided to dust off my assassin and give it a try again.

Still Dex based, (Assassin (41 points) and Vistani Knife (30 points) build in Shadowdance) that said, with the new gear it is a blast to play again!! I really like Vistani enhancement tree, I think it added what was needed to make this build viable again. Too bad you cant have both tier 5's in Assassin AND Vistani

Still some stealth issues, but there are ways around that with smart play.

I am able to roll with 50% dodge, 25% incorporeal, 20% blurry, and 10% ghostly. Improved dodge puts me over 100% for when its needed. That covers defenses nicely. I am not sure if I could get dodge anywhere near that high with an int build.

100 assassinate. There is a little room for improvement, but it seems 100 is pretty much a no fail number for most difficulties including reaper 10 on mobs that can be assassinated. Also I would have to give up something more important, IMO, for 4 or 5 points more DC. Going int based would definitely result in a higher assassinate DC simply because I can get int higher than dex by maybe 10 points, at the cost of defenses and some DPS. Could be worthwhile with some minor play style changes.

97% Doublestrike! I could easily get this to over 100, BUT again at the expense of something better, IMO. A few more points wont make much difference anyway.

Skills: nowhere near as high as my int based mechanic, but workable, also not as many skill points. I find I have to swap to trapping gear on harder difficulties whereas I never have to on my Int based guy.

I am still grinding some raid gear (Pain and Suffering daggers are sweeeeett!!!!). After the grind, I will flip back to an int build to see what I can do with it and compare to dex based.

-JR

with so many rolling warlocks, assassins fill a great roll in mopping up held mobs, assassinating targets, using Trick to break fortification. Ravenloft can be rough with the undead content...Improved traps glitterdust works on reapers, blinding them. Really nice vs carnage ones.
I do not play endgame but check out ROGUE Quatre in my sig!

[Mellkor]

Yeah, Trick sure makes a noticeable uptick in DPS on a single mob, particularity when the entire group is beating on one. I would say it is a must have now. Great for Boss mobs!

As for undead, nothing much has changed in that regard with rogues, except the higher fort bypass I can get now seems to get me to sneak attack damage on undead much faster than before.

I have always had very disappointing results with trap making. Has that changed in the last 2 years or so?

[Saekee]

Yeah, Trick sure makes a noticeable uptick in DPS on a single mob, particularity when the entire group is beating on one. I would say it is a must have now. Great for Boss mobs!

As for undead, nothing much has changed in that regard with rogues, except the higher fort bypass I can get now seems to get me to sneak attack damage on undead much faster than before.

I have always had very disappointing results with trap making. Has that changed in the last 2 years or so?

If you take the improved traps enhancement, the DC = your disable device skill at the moment the trap is set. So web and glitterdust are really strong.

[Melllllkor]

If you take the improved traps enhancement, the DC = your disable device skill at the moment the trap is set. So web and glitterdust are really strong.

A 100+ web DC sounds good. I will give it a go and see.

Is it practical to set up? I would imagine it would take too long to set to be useful....

[blerkington]

I found the traps most useful when soloing. The pace at which groups usually move means you might spend time placing a trap which could have been used to kill all the monsters instead. But glitterdust traps are very useful defensively and allow you to assassinate monsters whose aggro you have. So if your group is prepared to cooperate and doesn't have another good source of CC the traps could be very useful even in high skull reaper runs.

In a recent post you mention you're hitting 50% standing dodge. Would you mind providing a breakdown of how you achieved this figure, including gear and enhancements, along with your PRR and MRR numbers? I recently lost some dodge by switching to the mistladen vestment and moving AP from acrobat into vistani. Does your number include the bonuses from nimbleness and built up shadow charges, and require using an outfit instead of light armour?

Thanks.

[Wipey]

I have always had very disappointing results with trap making. Has that changed in the last 2 years or so?

Traps are pointless.

Would be interested in that 50 Dodge too. 41 with stacked Measure the foe, 4 Acrobat core and Mist-laden with +2 MDB aug. Drow.

[Mellkor]

I found the traps most useful when soloing. The pace at which groups usually move means you might spend time placing a trap which could have been used to kill all the monsters instead. But glitterdust traps are very useful defensively and allow you to assassinate monsters whose aggro you have. So if your group is prepared to cooperate and doesn't have another good source of CC the traps could be very useful even in high skull reaper runs.

In a recent post you mention you're hitting 50% standing dodge. Would you mind providing a breakdown of how you achieved this figure, including gear and enhancements, along with your PRR and MRR numbers? I recently lost some dodge by switching to the mistladen vestment and moving AP from acrobat into vistani. Does your number include the bonuses from nimbleness and built up shadow charges, and require using an outfit instead of light armour?

Thanks.

I am using a robe (Legendary Disciple of Dawn) with 86 standing Dex, halfling racial enhancements, and max dodge filigrees. There is no way AFAIK to break ~34 dodge with light armour. I rely on 3 shadow charges to max dodge. I log in with a 37 dodge with a max dodge of 40. Keeping measure the foe up (easy with a bit of practice) gets me to 50 dodge with a 50 max dodge. As for AC there is only 5 points difference between the Legendary Disciple of Dawn (robe, AC 92) and the Legendary Mist-Laden Vestment (light armour, AC 97) . As for PRR it is 73 with the robe for a 42% reduction vs. 93 with light armour for a 48% reduction. MUCH higher dodge with slightly less PRR damage reduction wins hands down in my book. I might be able to tweek PRR up some, but it is not a priority on this guy at all. I do not rely at all on nimbleness as it does not help you at all at the beginning of fights and they wear off, so it is useless in my book.

Could maybe get it higher with some iconic past lives, but I am not sure if they affect max dodge.

[Saekee]

I am using a robe (Legendary Disciple of Dawn) with 86 standing Dex, halfling racial enhancements, and max dodge filigrees. There is no way AFAIK to break ~34 dodge with light armour. I rely on 3 shadow charges to max dodge. I log in with a 37 dodge with a max dodge of 40. Keeping measure the foe up (easy with a bit of practice) gets me to 50 dodge with a 50 max dodge. As for AC there is only 5 points difference between the Legendary Disciple of Dawn (robe, AC 92) and the Legendary Mist-Laden Vestment (light armour, AC 97) . As for PRR it is 73 with the robe for a 42% reduction vs. 93 with light armour for a 48% reduction. MUCH higher dodge with slightly less PRR damage reduction wins hands down in my book. I might be able to tweek PRR up some, but it is not a priority on this guy at all. I do not rely at all on nimbleness as it does not help you at all at the beginning of fights and they wear off, so it is useless in my book.

Could maybe get it higher with some iconic past lives, but I am not sure if they affect max dodge.

splash monk and run in water stance for +12 dodge/+8 max dodge! The assassin capstone is overrated and with all the MP buffing Shadowdancer soon, I think the advantages of having 1 monk level and maybe 1 fighter at level 12 so as to make GMoF possible at 18 are awesome. You can also run in wind stance for +4 dex and 12% DS.

For heroic only assassins, 3 monk is just awesome since you can take dex to hit and damage with wraps--lets you own content lowbie content with a pair of vorpal wraps or the Ravenloft undead beaters.

[Mellkor]

I like the assassin capstone to much to give it up. And for some reason, splashing, as nice as it may be, just seems dirty to me

[Saekee]

I like the assassin capstone to much to give it up. And for some reason, splashing, as nice as it may be, just seems dirty to me

have you ever tried stacking faster sneaking on a toon? I recommend that you roll up an iconic and give a try just to see for a few minutes. Maybe an SDK, make them lawful good, and do 1 rogue, 3 monk, the rest rogue; then take faster sneaking in assassin and ninja, plus fast run speed of TA. You will be sneaking as fast as you run! I can outrun a reaper and pursing mobs in stealth, which is awesome

[blerkington]

I am using a robe (Legendary Disciple of Dawn) with 86 standing Dex, halfling racial enhancements, and max dodge filigrees. There is no way AFAIK to break ~34 dodge with light armour. I rely on 3 shadow charges to max dodge. I log in with a 37 dodge with a max dodge of 40. Keeping measure the foe up (easy with a bit of practice) gets me to 50 dodge with a 50 max dodge. As for AC there is only 5 points difference between the Legendary Disciple of Dawn (robe, AC 92) and the Legendary Mist-Laden Vestment (light armour, AC 97) . As for PRR it is 73 with the robe for a 42% reduction vs. 93 with light armour for a 48% reduction. MUCH higher dodge with slightly less PRR damage reduction wins hands down in my book. I might be able to tweek PRR up some, but it is not a priority on this guy at all. I do not rely at all on nimbleness as it does not help you at all at the beginning of fights and they wear off, so it is useless in my book.

Could maybe get it higher with some iconic past lives, but I am not sure if they affect max dodge.

That's helpful, thanks for the reply.

[Melllllkor]

have you ever tried stacking faster sneaking on a toon? I recommend that you roll up an iconic and give a try just to see for a few minutes. Maybe an SDK, make them lawful good, and do 1 rogue, 3 monk, the rest rogue; then take faster sneaking in assassin and ninja, plus fast run speed of TA. You will be sneaking as fast as you run! I can outrun a reaper and pursing mobs in stealth, which is awesome

I already sneak FASTER than I run.....(not all the time, but often enough).