Best Melee Damage buff?

Lorde

Lorde

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Feb 2007

CCCP

R/E

I have a Sin, I want to improve my damage...

What is the best option? Burst of Agression? Confure Flame? So many options, so little skill slots...

Undressed

Undressed

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Sep 2006

Reich

none

W/

An IAS is always a must. Enchants-wise I'd go for "Judge's Insight" (Mo/Smite).

Edit: I haven't read the sin part, I suck. So take this as a general opinion.

Stormlord Alex

Stormlord Alex

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Dec 2005

Beyond the Forest of Doom, past the Cavern of Agony... on Kitten & Puppy Island

Soul of Melandru [sOm]

W/E

With few free skills available, an IAS for sure. Burst of Aggression is prime, lasting long enough to fire off a combo... And the faster it is, the less reaction time the enemy has and you're more likely to score a kill.

The Conjures require far too large an investment to make them worthwhile, and prevent you from wielding all them lovely Zealous and Vamp daggers...

In a team setting, then a Necromancer's Order-type spells and a Paragon's attack buffs also help to maximize your damage.

Coloneh

Coloneh

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Nov 2006

D/W

BoA, you wont need a damage buff if you can get your combo off in like 3 seconds.

jesh

jesh

Forge Runner

Join Date: May 2005

San Diego, CA

Penguin Village

Mo/

Have Razah cast Splinter Weapon on you at 16 Channeling. That's the best melee buff in pve. Nightmare Weapons works better in other situations.

If you want a skill for yourself, I agree with Coloneh and the others. Burst of Aggression, since assassins don't have an IAS of their own.

samcobra

samcobra

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jan 2006

USA

Mo/Me

burst is nice, frenzy is better. I loved frenzy assassins. Anyway, in terms of damage buffs, I'd say go for judge's insight + strength of honor. At 16 smiting, those do hella damage. Also, that same monk can maintain the prot spirit on you for insurance while you frenzy

Lorde

Lorde

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Feb 2007

CCCP

R/E

Hey hey.

I only have the 2 Monks, the Dervish and the Warrior heroes since I didn't went too far on Prophecies.

I will stick with a IAS because, as someone said, the investment for Flame Weapon is too big. While I prefer Flait, it and BoA are from Nightfall so I will stick with Flail.

I tested it a bit and you really miss running around whitout a 33% IAS. You may do more damage with regular buffs but being quick fells powerful.

kazjun

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Aug 2006

HoVa

W/N

IAS is always good, but if you really want to buff physical damage you can't really go past necros, OoP and MoP boost damage and there are plenty of other hexes that can make them take more damage as well. Though you need a support necro for that.

Darkpower Alchemist

Darkpower Alchemist

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Jan 2006

NYC

The Circle Of Nine[NINE]

E/N

When it comes to buffing physical damage, the best has always proven to come from an outside source in the warrior's case.

Warriors that cast spells may do more harm to their own synergy than one may think,due to attribute investment needs in order to make the buff worthwhile.

[skill=card]Mark of Pain[/skill][skill=card]Illusionary Weaponry[/skill][skill=card]Judge's Insight[/skill]

MoP attacks adjacent foes, which doesn't make it a damage buff, but a hex that is triggered in a certain circumstance, making it ideal for a secondary caster to implement. Judge's Insight is an enchantment that can work from either the primary attacker or the secondary caster, but I would prefer the later to the previous. IW, on the other hand, is a solid dmg buff, since it actually has to be used by the wielder of the weapon. Also, the fact that with an IAS and IW in activation, the warrior becomes a very major threat, since nothing can block his weapon.

Similar buffs to JI and IW should be by far more considered than hexes like MoP due to their implemetation and their cost effectiveness. When using any of these type of Dmg buffs, however, one should always employ an IAS.

IW,in particular, is cost heavy for a warrior, and should,for the most part, be well thought out before being used in a build by a non caster primary. A Mes/W with IW and [skill=card]Flurry[/skill], would prove to be a scarry opponent if also using [skill=card]Physical Resistance[/skill] in a physical damage base battle. The melee dmg output is drastically different from normal warrior damage for the duration of IW. A caster sword and IW would make even a warrior with a crap sword dangerous,if applied properly.

The major point here is application.

samcobra

samcobra

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jan 2006

USA

Mo/Me

are you daft or did you just not read the OP? He's an assassin looking for some way to boost his damage. TBH, the conjure element things are pretty bad. While you are striking faster with daggers due to double strikes, they're still not worth the attribute investment. You should rather invest that into more dagger mastery and more crit strikes to give you the best chance of crits. IAS is the traditional and best way to increase DPS, since you are actually hitting faster. Among IAS, none comes close to the reliability and maintance ability of frenzy. Flail is interesting, but you'll just get kited. BoA is also good, but it doesn't last for full duration. If you're afraid of damage, just cancel with dash, which IMO is pretty much the best cancel stance out there. Furthermore, while flurry is an option since it doesn't reduce bonus damage, you are gimping your main damage a few points and you are having to renew the stance more often. With frenzy you have none of those problems. As for getting spiked while in frenzy... always remember, a cancel stance is faster than an infuse. 0 sec. cast vs. 1/4 sec. cast. Anyway, my suggestion to you is get bonded and frenzy away!