24 replies to this topic

[-PenguinFetish-]

Ive decided to do the example videos for these on threatening. I did get a few Perilous clips, but I felt they were too long and required moving into position too often, so it didn't really show off the different stages of attacking larger groups. In the interest of time, im doing to be doing all of these on threatening difficulty. Please note that for perilous difficulty, the strategy remains the same, but it just takes longer to execute. (pun not intended).

 

Video link here.

 

Abilities

 

- Twin Fangs (2 hits at 200% weapon damage per hit with 200% bonus damage if flanking. 8s cooldown. 50 Stamina cost. Upgrade sunders armor for 8s and provides +100% damage. 

 

- Hidden Blades (3 hits. 300% weapon damage per hit. 32s cooldown. 65 stamina cost. Upgrade reduces cooldown by 4s and doubles number of hits.)

 

- Stealth (50% damage bonus when attacking from stealth. 29s duration. 24s cooldown. 20 stamina cost. Upgrade enters stealth instantly, removes all debilitating effects and lets you pass through enemies.)

 

- Flank Attack (2 hits at 200% weapon damage each. 8s cooldown. 35 stamina cost. Upgrade enters you in stealth after attacking.)

 

Mandatory passives

 

- Knife in the Shadows (automatically crits when attacking from stealth)

 

- I Was Never Here (allows you to use stealth after killing an enemy)

 

Strategy

 

The objective here is to flank enemies and remain hidden. With your ability combo you can be in stealth at all times, more or less. Stay ahead of your party and run behind enemy lines. Target archers and wraiths first because they will destroy your party on the higher difficulties if not taken care of fast. 

 

Remember, DO NOT ATTACK FIRST. When you are behind a group, attacking first will allow all the archers to lock onto you. Even if you go into stealth, those archers will still have you locked and be able to shoot you out of this. Remember to let someone else take aggro first, unless there is only melee units around you. 

 

You are primarily a supportive role, dealing massive damage when attacking from the side or the back. Your role is to thin out the enemies who are targeting your party, to make their lives easier.  

 

My daggers each have 90 base damage and they each can 1 shot everything except bosses and guardians when using twin fangs behind from cloak on threatening difficulty. Hidden blades can also 1 shot most things. Flank attack is weaker, but it allows us to enter stealth when everything else is on cooldown. 

 

Anybody wondering why I didn't use shadow strike - it is bugged and does not allow you to utilize 'I was never here' when killing from cloak.

 

 

 

[Cirvante]

Nice, I need to respec mine.

[GrommitSmit]

Thanks for this. One of the guys in my regular weekend group is looking to unlock her, only a few leather away, and will undoubtedly be asking advice on how to make her work like his N7 Shadow from our ME3MP days. This will fit the bill nicely.

[J. Peterman]

Still at level 8, and I'm struggling without "I was never here" and "Knife in the shadows" on anything above routine.

[DarthLinebacker]

I've run Twin+Stealth + Hidden Blades for a while. Finally decided on Shadow Strike as a fourth a few hours ago, only to find it 's bugged guess a promotions in my future.

[J. Peterman]

Ok, so I'm at level 16 or so with two ~70 something base DPS daggers, and an almost identical build, but I don't seem to be doing anywhere near the same amount of damage against the same enemies on threatening. Bear in mind I have no clue about the game mechanics etc.

 

One of the daggers does AOE damage. Could that possibly explain a reduction in damage when using Twin Fangs on a single target?

[PvtNiss]

In short your weapons suck, welcome to RNG loot. Daggers can go over 400 DPS and you will want some with over 300 DPS to deal any decent damage. OP says his daggers base damage is 90 with a rune it's probably at 300 DPS. You will want Crit damage or +% attack rings/Cunning necklace and if you can put flanking damage or critical damage (dexerity) modifications in your weapons make sure you do. The difference in your assassins damage will vary greatly depending on how lucky you are with drops and little else. AoE daggers have less damage per hit than normal daggers so once you find one with more DPS drop it they are worthless.

[J. Peterman]

In short your weapons suck, welcome to RNG loot. Daggers can go over 400 DPS and you will want some with over 300 DPS to deal any decent damage. OP says his daggers base damage is 90 with a rune it's probably at 300 DPS. You will want Crit damage or +% attack rings/Cunning necklace and if you can put flanking damage or critical damage (dexerity) modifications in your weapons make sure you do. The difference in your assassins damage will vary greatly depending on how lucky you are with drops and little else. AoE daggers have less damage per hit than normal daggers so once you find one with more DPS drop it they are worthless.

 

Figured it'd have something to do with that. IIRC, one's at 270 dps with a rune I got today, and the other is in the low 200s. I've got no other mods on them. I'm still unsure what the default increase in critical damage is. Like I said, I'm clueless.

[-PenguinFetish-]

Ok, so I'm at level 16 or so with two ~70 something base DPS daggers, and an almost identical build, but I don't seem to be doing anywhere near the same amount of damage against the same enemies on threatening. Bear in mind I have no clue about the game mechanics etc.

 

One of the daggers does AOE damage. Could that possibly explain a reduction in damage when using Twin Fangs on a single target?

 

Make sure you are hitting from behind or the flank. You need better daggers. RNG is a cold mistress unfortunately. 

[J. Peterman]

Make sure you are hitting from behind or the flank. You need better daggers. RNG is a cold mistress unfortunately. 

 

I definitely do the flanking thing, but will keep on waiting for better weapons. I still enjoy the gameplay and thanks for the build. It was hard as hell playing without "I was never here" and the upgrade to flank attack though.

[PvtNiss]

I definitely do the flanking thing, but will keep on waiting for better weapons. I still enjoy the gameplay and thanks for the build. It was hard as hell playing without "I was never here" and the upgrade to flank attack though.

If you still haven't upgraded from that AoE dagger for the love of god place it in your offhand. I just found a blue lvl 20ish AoE dagger that was better than my stupid white one's that i've been using for over 100 hours. I put it in my right hand thinking I was going to get some AoE to boot! Man oh man how terrible it is already hard to hit a moving target from behind sometimes but aoe animation doesn't let you hit moving targets at all. Having it in your left hand with a normal dagger in your right fixes this issue only your right hand counts as doing AoE attacks or not.

[JRandall0308]

Stupid question, but... your CHARACTER'S right hand, or the right-hand side of the screen?

 

Because with your character facing you, his right hand is on your left-hand side of the screen.

 

Heh.

[PvtNiss]

Your characters right hand, that would be the left slot in your inventory. :-) Also seems you don't get any flanking bonus or backstabbing thing with it it's wierd but my damage was lower.

[veramis]

I definitely do the flanking thing, but will keep on waiting for better weapons. I still enjoy the gameplay and thanks for the build. It was hard as hell playing without "I was never here" and the upgrade to flank attack though.

 

Single target daggers are better than AoE daggers because you will be using mainly your abilities to attack, not basic attack, and your abilities are not affected by the AoE of the weapon but still suffer from the lower DPS of AoE weapons. What rogues offer most is DPS, but sadly that's dependent mostly on weapon damage. Once you have 300-400 DPS daggers, they are great. Mages and shield warriors are more forgiving on weapons because they have utility abilities like CC, barrier, taunt, so if you get frustrated by low DPS these other classes are friendlier to people without good weapons.

[J. Peterman]

If you still haven't upgraded from that AoE dagger for the love of god place it in your offhand. I just found a blue lvl 20ish AoE dagger that was better than my stupid white one's that i've been using for over 100 hours. I put it in my right hand thinking I was going to get some AoE to boot! Man oh man how terrible it is already hard to hit a moving target from behind sometimes but aoe animation doesn't let you hit moving targets at all. Having it in your left hand with a normal dagger in your right fixes this issue only your right hand counts as doing AoE attacks or not.

 

I still have it, but I never had it in my right hand. I'm not a heathen.

 

Your characters right hand, that would be the left slot in your inventory. :-) Also seems you don't get any flanking bonus or backstabbing thing with it it's wierd but my damage was lower.

 

I feel like knife in the shadows doesn't always work, and I don't always get the flanking bonus too.

 

Single target daggers are better than AoE daggers because you will be using mainly your abilities to attack, not basic attack, and your abilities are not affected by the AoE of the weapon but still suffer from the lower DPS of AoE weapons. What rogues offer most is DPS, but sadly that's dependent mostly on weapon damage. Once you have 300-400 DPS daggers, they are great. Mages and shield warriors are more forgiving on weapons because they have utility abilities like CC, barrier, taunt, so if you get frustrated by low DPS these other classes are friendlier to people without good weapons.

 

I could've sworn that I've had Twin fangs hit multiple clustered opponents with the AOE dagger equipped.

[PvtNiss]

Twin Fangs can hit clustered enemies without aoe daggers too. Pop it on a cluster of mobs in the center of pull of the abyss and you will hit them all.

[lzjblade]

The first 3 skills are no brainer. I am kinda hesitating cuz although the low stamina cost and short cooldown of the flank attack looks great, the upgrade version of posioned weapon i believe give u 25 percent damge bonus for all of ur other skills. Besides, u don't necessarily need the knife in the shadow, since u already have very high crit chance when attack from the flank. I could be wrong though, about the part of posioned weapon.

[Rahmiel]

I just leveled my assassin from 1-20 using nearly this build.  The only thing I did differently was move down the tree for the increased crit chance from flank and the crit chain thing.. instead of scent of blood or bloodthirst, whatever it's called.  It's a solid build and I'll probably go with bloodthirst next time since the crit chain isn't necessary and.. I guess I'd grab deadly for the other point.  Just my two cents.

 

Great solid build though.  I was wreaking havoc on every zone 5, standing outside of the chokepoint flanking enemies as they went in.  I'd say the only downside to this class/build is when people start complaining and disparaging you for not being in the room.  I guess, as the assassin you shouldn't be flanking in their eyes.  Stealth is so powerful for dropping aggro (doesn't work how I'd like it, but I've got the hang of it now).

 

I'm using a lvl 23 common dagger for my main hand and a lvl 15 unique in my offhand.  The bonus on that unique is a 10% chance to cast hidden blades.  There are times where hidden blades is cast 3 times in a fight, once from auto attack, another from my using the ability, and again from a flank attack.  So sweet.

 

Anyway, good job on your builds, they're all pretty solid and really fun.  Just.. man, the name calling when you don't enter the final room is ridiculous.  I also had a great streak with some teams knocking out 8/10 or 10/14 demon runs on threatening.  Which is usually trouble for pugs but we did really well.

[MadMaximoff]

I just leveled my assassin from 1-20 using nearly this build.  The only thing I did differently was move down the tree for the increased crit chance from flank and the crit chain thing.. instead of scent of blood or bloodthirst, whatever it's called.  It's a solid build and I'll probably go with bloodthirst next time since the crit chain isn't necessary and.. I guess I'd grab deadly for the other point.  Just my two cents.

 

Great solid build though.  I was wreaking havoc on every zone 5, standing outside of the chokepoint flanking enemies as they went in.  I'd say the only downside to this class/build is when people start complaining and disparaging you for not being in the room.  I guess, as the assassin you shouldn't be flanking in their eyes.  Stealth is so powerful for dropping aggro (doesn't work how I'd like it, but I've got the hang of it now).

 

I'm using a lvl 23 common dagger for my main hand and a lvl 15 unique in my offhand.  The bonus on that unique is a 10% chance to cast hidden blades.  There are times where hidden blades is cast 3 times in a fight, once from auto attack, another from my using the ability, and again from a flank attack.  So sweet.

 

Anyway, good job on your builds, they're all pretty solid and really fun.  Just.. man, the name calling when you don't enter the final room is ridiculous.  I also had a great streak with some teams knocking out 8/10 or 10/14 demon runs on threatening.  Which is usually trouble for pugs but we did really well.

 

I know that feeling.

 

"Typical Rogues, never play with the team".

 

That was the lightest comment I got.

 

Well, I am playing with the team, by taking down adds before they ever become a problem, guess you would rather me leave that Red Templar Marksman guy who's kneeling down for a full draw and about to pop the keeper alone?

 

*Sigh*

 

I love the Assassin and this build, I run something similar but with Poison Daggers instead of Hidden Blades, taking the phase 5 boss down to Quarter - Half HP before he even gets anywhere near your team mates is delicious and that's using a rubbishy 252 dps Main hand and 240 dps AoE off hand mind.

[PvtNiss]

Not a fan of poisoned weapons myself it does increase your weapons and thus overall damage by 25% when it's in effect. But with cull the herd, first blood, throatcutter and bloodied prey available to choose from and stealth giving 50% more damage the 25% from poisoned weapons that costs an active ability slot becomes less effective. I would bring it if you could poison a single target more badly having the DoT stack on them several times so you hit them say 4 times for 100% weapon damage per second. They would also have to allow the DoT to crit.

Flank attack does decent damage, you can use it from and slip right back into stealth only appearing for a split second and dropping 2x200% crits one of which gets flank bonus. One of the main reasons you use it is to re-apply stealth should a teammate steal your kill or "I Was Never Here" bugs out. The guaranteed 50% dmg bonus & auto-crit on your next flank attack and becoming invisible for defense is too good to not guarantee having. Flank attack can also be used to slide behind an enemy that is about to hit you with a melee attack, you can dodge arrows with it by sliding to the sides and it works as an evasion tool versus the demon commander and other enemy attacks. You can use it to dash to an enemy mage across his own mines, get away from venatori commanders mines and it's an overal damaging gap closer. If you're attacking an enemy archer and he does the run 'n gun thing it lets you reach his back instantly to ensure he doesn't shoot you. That one arrow will insta you on Perilous difficulty. It also gives me a means to stealth when I used up my normal stealth to drop hidden blades on a really big target that doesn't instantly die from it and trigger stealth cooldown. And if a lot of enemies are bunched up you can hit several of them with the initial strike, do so from stealth and it's a 200% weapon damage auto crit "aoe" with 50% extra damage.

 

I've tried several different setups and if I could choose and i'm playing on routine or threat I would replace Flank Attack with Hook and Tackle. This long range gap closer is pretty damn nice to quickly deal with spread out trash. I suppose for the same reason poison weapons works on routine and threat you can actually take a hit there.

 

Also I love people who cry that i'm not near the team and out in the big open at 5/5 not letting any adds come near their area. Most fun is then entering the room to help gank the boss and watch them struggle with all the adds. Even trade, no? Or even better, the support/tank roles whining that I'm getting all the kills on the assassin. Though it's usually Reavers that will complain you're stealing all their kills and fun, being the OP class they believe they're entitled to solo all for as long as they are capable of doing so to earn the most points and XP. Most don't seem to realize that at the end any XP your teammates get, you get.

[-PenguinFetish-]

The reason i dont take the passives that increases crit chance is because you are automatically critting when attacking from stealth.

[PvtNiss]

Would like to mention that the ring that improves Twin Fangs isn't as great as it sounds unless you have no alternatives. Someone in my party was using it until I notified him of the imo poor implementation. When you're using it the ring will only increase the base damage of Twin Fangs from 200% to 266% and it does not affect the 200% flank or the 100% upgrade damage add-ons. This means it's a 13.2% damage bonus you can get more value from +10% attack or +20% critical damage rings on all of your abilities and basic attacks. Mighty Blow has this too but it works fine on some skills, walking bomb for example receives damage to DoT and explosion.

[Anzer]

tag and bump.

[Exodus2000]

So after we get all those upgrades and passives we unlock whatever we wish?