Assassin?

[smokes]

Ashagasksashah edited! See below

[Ring]

I don't think it's correct, there's still no Dual Wield there...

[smokes]

Hmm yes, i was actually planning dual wield and i clicked it plenty in the calc! I guess i copy/pasted the wrong link somehow, let me try and find the build i was actually going for ^^


Right, this should be correct (i hope). Comments are appreciated

EDIT- nope... whenever i copy/paste those links it all gets screwy and the skils are all in different places :S duno how to fix but meh... guess i can type out the skills :|

SKILLS:

WARFARE:
Weapon Training 6/6
Dual Wield 6/6
Hew 6/6
Cross Cut 6/6
Tumult 6/6

Battle Standard 10/10

Onslaught 8/8

War Wind 8/8
Lacerate 8/8

ROGUE:
Flash Powder 8/8

Blade Honing 6/6
Lethal Strike 12/12
Mortal Wound 8/8

Anatomy 8/8

Throwing Knives 12/12
Flurry of Knives 6/6

-------

With a bunch of points left over to finalize the character...

Opinions is thx!

[Ring]

Assassin

Don't forget Ignore Pain (you will really need that pierce resistance in Epic and Legendary, or you'll be killed by the first crow that attacks you). I'd skip Adrenaline, take out some points from Throwing Knives (but not from Flurry...) and invest in War Horn and Ancestral Horn (the last one is for the bosses). Also, Lethal Strike is good, but only against bosses, against mobs it's recharge is too slow unless you have some -% recharge equipment.

[smokes]

That's great

Thanks a lot for the help... One more question though! (well probably 10 by the end of this thread but meh ^^)

What should I take in terms of stats? For the first 9 levels I've taken a mixture of HP/Str/Dex, but i guess with dual wield there will be a couple of sick awesome swords with a high dex/str requirement so I'm wondering what I should be aiming for in terms of points. Is HP a waste?

Cheers again

[Ring]

I've never invested in HP in any of my characters (90% of whom are melee) and they don't complain. The health is covered by gaining levels in a given mastery (pressing the big +), and if you're going for a melee build, then STR is the place to invest. You will need some DEX to wear the best armor, but again, that should be covered by your mastery levels (if you see you're coming up short, and need a few points in DEX, go for it, by all means, but your main focus should be STR since that gives you the best attribute point:damage ratio).

[raduneo]

Originally Posted by Ring

So your Assassin is now level 60?? That's what TitanCalc says...

How is that again?? Dual Wield activates around every fourth hit (meaning that approximately 2 hits in 9 will result in an attack with two weapons), all other hits are dealt with either one weapon or the other (not both). Since Calculated Strike also hits once in four attacks, you have about 1 chance in 16 to have both skills activated at the same time.

With Onslaught you get the +% Damage bonus every time you hit. Add to it the nice +attack speed (16% may not be much, but it's something) from Ardor, the great 15% pierce resistance (really handy on Epic and Legendary), Hamstring, which seriously slows your opponents down, and you've got yourself one neat skill.

Shouldn't this be moved to either Warfare or Rogue areas??

Well perhaps in theory, but in practice I found that enemies fall faster with Calculated Strike than with Onslought. Try it out and tell me how it worked for you. (I'm not saying that I can;t be wrong )

[smokes]

By the way is it possible to re-allocate your stat points (HP/str/dex etc) at the Oracles also or is it only skill points?

[Ring]

Only skill points. Also, you cannot change the mastery and, IIRC, you cannot buy back the points invested in raising the mastery level.

Your stat points stay the way you make'em, so be careful and plan ahead. If you are planning to trade, set your mind on a particular item or set, and aim towards that.

[Infares]

Originally Posted by Ring

So your Assassin is now level 60?? That's what TitanCalc says...

How is that again?? Dual Wield activates around every fourth hit (meaning that approximately 2 hits in 9 will result in an attack with two weapons), all other hits are dealt with either one weapon or the other (not both). Since Calculated Strike also hits once in four attacks, you have about 1 chance in 16 to have both skills activated at the same time.

With Onslaught you get the +% Damage bonus every time you hit. Add to it the nice +attack speed (16% may not be much, but it's something) from Ardor, the great 15% pierce resistance (really handy on Epic and Legendary), Hamstring, which seriously slows your opponents down, and you've got yourself one neat skill.

Shouldn't this be moved to either Warfare or Rogue areas??

Keep in mind the attack speed cap was raised by quite a bit, even while dual wielding. So attacks like Calc Strike and Psionic Touch are much better now than they were before. Procs like Dual Wield and Shield procs are only bottlenecked by your attack speed.

Also I think Ring's using the term "Oracle" because it's a close translation to whatever it's called in the Polish Version. In the English versions that NPC is called the Mystic. The first you meet is in Delphi, which you get to at around level 12-13.

Here's my idea for an Assassin.

Bleed damage isn't very good in Legendary difficulty, also the build assumes +4 to all skills, so I reduced Lacerate to level 1 which becomes 5 and therefore maxes the amount of enemies caught in your War Winds. (if you get another one for skill points over max let me know)

Battle Standard's Duration is as long as the battle standard is up, which is much lower than the listed duration in Titancalc for some reason. Triumph is much more important than Battle Standard itself.

I've maxed Dodge Attack and Ignore Pain as well as Ardor. There is no Calc Strike in the build however. Fights open with Nighshade + Mandrake Flurry of Knives into War Wind and followed by charging up Onslaught before continuing the attack. War Horn for when you're overwhelmed and Battle Standard + Lethal Strike for bosses.