What is the target DC for assassinate?

[Therigar]

As the title says, what does the assassinate DC have to be in order to work reliably on: a) heroic elite, b) epic normal/hard and c) epic elite?

As a follow-on question, is assassinate considered a tactical feat? I know it isn't a feat per se. But, does the game treat it as one and does fighter past life increase the DC as it does for other tactical feats?

[Tid12]

As the title says, what does the assassinate DC have to be in order to work reliably on: a) heroic elite, b) epic normal/hard and c) epic elite?

As a follow-on question, is assassinate considered a tactical feat? I know it isn't a feat per se. But, does the game treat it as one and does fighter past life increase the DC as it does for other tactical feats?

1) Epic elite requires AT LEAST 50 DC. 55 is awesome and get you through most of mobs in EE. For the other modes, I don't know how much is required.

2) No, it's not counted as a tactical feat.

[Uska]

1) Epic elite requires AT LEAST 50 DC. 55 is awesome and get you through most of mobs in EE. For the other modes, I don't know how much is required.

2) No, it's not counted as a tactical feat.

you have a break down on how to get a 55?

[Kmnh]

you have a break down on how to get a 55?

10 base
20 rogue levels
6 stealthy ED ability
2 Epic Midnight Greetings
17 Intelligence Mod.

The shadowdancer destiny has very few things that you actually want, so taking int points is usually worth it. Reaching 44 int is not hard.

[Therigar]

1) Epic elite requires AT LEAST 50 DC. 55 is awesome and get you through most of mobs in EE. For the other modes, I don't know how much is required.

2) No, it's not counted as a tactical feat.

10 base
20 rogue levels
6 stealthy ED ability
2 Epic Midnight Greetings
17 Intelligence Mod.

The shadowdancer destiny has very few things that you actually want, so taking int points is usually worth it. Reaching 44 int is not hard.

Thanks to everyone for their insight.

[Vengenance]

On Epic Hard my DC of 51 has been very successful on all vulnerable mobs. I can pretty reliably get two assassinates off with each attempt based upon the spacing of the mobs.

I haven't tried EE as of yet so I don't know what the magic number is for that. I've been grinding away for my seal of the Midnight Greetings w/o much luck so I still have +2 DC I can get to without doing anything drastic.

[Arkat]

53 DC works well for me on all content.

[.Revenga.]

The shadowdancer destiny has very few things that you actually want, so taking int points is usually worth it. Reaching 44 int is not hard.

Please disregard this.. There is no way you should spend precious destiny points in int, or maybe max 2 to get an even bracket. Plenty of good stuff to take that is far more valuable then a +1dc.

Although if you want to land assasinate on every EE mob, you'll have to go full ******. If you're content with picking the right targets tho... 50'ish dc is fine.

[nibel]

My old 44 DC assassinate worked very well in old epics. Epic Hard is usually easier than old epics. So, 40+ is good enough for epic hard and lower.

[Therigar]

The shadowdancer destiny has very few things that you actually want, so taking int points is usually worth it. Reaching 44 int is not hard.

Please disregard this.. There is no way you should spend precious destiny points in int, or maybe max 2 to get an even bracket. Plenty of good stuff to take that is far more valuable then a +1dc.

Although if you want to land assasinate on every EE mob, you'll have to go full ******. If you're content with picking the right targets tho... 50'ish dc is fine.

Alright, I'd like to see a breakdown of what people think is worth having in Shadowdancer and why. It seems to me that IF the goal is to be great at assassinations then it makes good sense to "go full ******."

It also appears that the sweet spot for assassinate DC is between 51 and 55. And, more is probably better.

I figure that I can get 3 twists in. If I use them for INT from Magister and Draconic then I can take at least 1 in Shadowdancer. That puts the character somewhere in the 53 range using Kmnh's breakdown.

OTOH, maybe there are better things to take as twists.

Looking at the Shadowdancer ED I can see NOT taking many of the things if the focus is wholly on assassination.

So, what is so important that it becomes a "must have?"

[Kmnh]

Please disregard this.. There is no way you should spend precious destiny points in int, or maybe max 2 to get an even bracket. Plenty of good stuff to take that is far more valuable then a +1dc.

Although if you want to land assasinate on every EE mob, you'll have to go full ******. If you're content with picking the right targets tho... 50'ish dc is fine.

I think we use assassinate for different reasons.

Assassinate is "decent dps" if you are getting two mobs per activation, or one mob that has a lot of HP. If you look for low-fort targets, like casters, bring out cc weapons and a deception item. They will usually die in less than 10 seconds. It's not worth putting assassinate on cooldown to kill a 3500 hp mob.

I stopped using assassinate because I like having aggro, but for the brief time I was using it, the point was to kill stuff like the Ruffians in VoN3. Casters have issues with spell pen, melees take too long to kill them because of the HP.

[pappo]

10 base
20 rogue levels
6 stealthy ED ability
2 Epic Midnight Greetings
17 Intelligence Mod.

The shadowdancer destiny has very few things that you actually want, so taking int points is usually worth it. Reaching 44 int is not hard.

Thanks - I always wondered how DC was computed. So it is based on INT mod + levels for the basic DC and then improved once you gain ability to do Epics ?
Where do you look on your toon stat page to see what your current DC is ?

[Arkat]

Thanks - I always wondered how DC was computed. So it is based on INT mod + levels for the basic DC and then improved once you gain ability to do Epics ?
Where do you look on your toon stat page to see what your current DC is ?

Hover the mouse pointer over the Assassinate icon in your hotbar.

[Kinerd]

Looking at the Shadowdancer ED I can see NOT taking many of the things if the focus is wholly on assassination.

So, what is so important that it becomes a "must have?"

It is perhaps ironic that a class with so much versatility has such a vanilla ED; I agree entirely with you that there is almost nothing fancy worth taking in Shadowdancer and eagerly await a rebuttal.

[Kmnh]

Thanks - I always wondered how DC was computed. So it is based on INT mod + levels for the basic DC and then improved once you gain ability to do Epics ?
Where do you look on your toon stat page to see what your current DC is ?

Hover your mouse pointer over the assassinate shortcut on your hotbar

edit lol didn't see arkat's post

[pappo]

Hover the mouse pointer over the Assassinate icon in your hotbar.

I do not see an Assassinate icon. Currently I am level 10 and have Assassin I. With Assassin I, I got the three assassin focus items. Icechill, Thoughtburn and Soulshatter but I do not see a specific Assassinate icon

[Therigar]

I do not see an Assassinate icon. Currently I am level 10 and have Assassin I. With Assassin I, I got the three assassin focus items. Icechill, Thoughtburn and Soulshatter but I do not see a specific Assassinate icon

Won't have one until L12 with Assassin II of the PrE.

[Arkat]

Won't have one until L12 with Assassin II of the PrE.

Yes

[SSFWEl]

It is perhaps ironic that a class with so much versatility has such a vanilla ED; I agree entirely with you that there is almost nothing fancy worth taking in Shadowdancer and eagerly await a rebuttal.

Shadow Form. Once you activate, you keep it until you die or rest. (sometimes bugged).


Twist with unearthly and draconic perception, activate improved invis for 30 secs that keeps when hitting mobs and then turns into displacement, and you get pretty darn survivable from the invis, 25% incorporeal from Form, and high reflex (+12 from twists, +6 from SD = +18 to whatever you got as base). Further twist with dreadnought 30% haste and you are doing lots and lots of damage while not getting hit.

And don't forget energy drain immunity and +6 to assassinate DC.
I will admit that Oncoming is stupid. Also stupidly hard to get.

[jakeelala]

Also with a high int Consume is badass