Caster Sins

Master of Sins

Academy Page

Join Date: Oct 2007

San Fransisco

Assassins of the Crescent Moon

A/

It seems to me that more and more GW has been nerfing the physical side of the sin, although the sin has taken more nerfing than anything else period. Most sins run pressure nowadays, but one thing that has vanished almost completely is caster sins. I used to see sins run around with Deadly Arts and SoJ all the time, but now they are almost all gone. I know the they destroyed deadly paradox by upping energy from 5 to 15... which was really rediculous considering only one other stance has 15 or more energy- and thats Rampage as One... but its elite. Although it did get rid of the overpopulation of casters, they are gone. I have been able to work out some good stuff using classic SoJ sin, minus deadly paradox.. so far I've been running

Augury of Death
Dancing Daggers
Entangling Asp
Sig Tox Shock
SoJ
Soulstone Strike
Iron palm
Restful Breeze/Rez

For TA or higher dps i drop Restful/Rez and use deadly paradox, then switch combo so SoJ comes after Augury for KD interupt, and use IPalm for KD with Soulstone- This build runs with 560 hp as well, giving good endurance to balance lack of healing..

the point is there are still plenty of good caster sin builds, but people never use them anymore, if anything they run N/A or Me/A for Corrupt Enchant/ Enchanters Condumdrum.... why?

English Warrior

English Warrior

LEET HAXXOR!

Join Date: Feb 2007

Random Arena

N/A

Deadly Paradox nerf thats why there not here much.

Paddatoochie

Paddatoochie

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2006

I use this combo on an ele with Ether Prism. It works well.

As long as you cast Ether prism while you have 45+ energy, your energy will be stable, unless you're interupted, but hey, if you're interupted, chances are your combo will be too.

moko

moko

??uo??o??

Join Date: May 2006

Quote:
which was really rediculous considering only one other stance has 15 or more energy- and thats Rampage as One... RaO is not a stance.

you don't actually use a rez.

you're late ont he discovery of gimmicks.

boo.

Reve2uk

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Aug 2005

W/N

I am running a caster sin, this is my current build:

Augury of Death
SoJ
holy strike
Iron palm
Dancing Daggers
Disrupting Dagger
Shadow Refuge
dash/res

I run it mostly in ab and it works fine, best sin build i have played in a long time, and i find extra dmg out put isn't need on the build, well in ab anyway not tried it that much in ra tbh.

MercenaryK

MercenaryK

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jun 2007

What A Mess

W/N

I very strongly believe that Paragons have been nerfed since release, and Assassin's have gotten some 'boosts' here and there. This latest update is the only buff Paragons have received.

zling

zling

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2006

Caster Sins are annoying as ever...
dont see much change in them...
I still hate them and they still suck...
so why bother...?

Tyla

Emo Goth Italics

Join Date: Sep 2006

I think caster sin's are still weak, can't outdamage my monk for nothing.
The only thing that is pressure on them is the KD, apart from that...gg.

ensoriki

ensoriki

Forge Runner

Join Date: Aug 2006

Canada bro.

A/D

Quote:
Originally Posted by MercenaryK
I very strongly believe that Paragons have been nerfed since release, and Assassin's have gotten some 'boosts' here and there. This latest update is the only buff Paragons have received. Paragons have gotten more than one buff

Sin nerfs?
SP
Paradox
R.I.P Horns of the ox
R.I.P Shadow of Haste,
Black Lotus Strike
Black Spider Strike
BoS has gotten nerfed
Signet of Toxic Shock
Deadly haste >.>
Wastrel's Collapse
Aura of Displacement
Feigned Neutrality
Expose Defenses
Trampling Ox
Beguiling Haze
recall
Shadow Form: increased Energy cost to 10.
Shadow Shroud: no longer prevents the casting of untargeted enchantments.
Shattering Assault, depending on opinion
L-O-D

Think I missed a few >.>
Some of those skills were nerfed multiple times
And Yes Wastrel's Has been nerfed.
The name was nerfed.
Didn't really look at skill balance updates to see what was nerfed


* Aria of Zeal: Increased casting time to 2 seconds.
* Energizing Finale: Increased the Energy cost to 10 and reduced the amount of energy gained per shout or chant to 1.
* "Incoming!": Increased Energy cost to 10 and decreased duration to 1..5 seconds.
* "Stand Your Ground!": Increased energy cost to 10.
* Aria of Restoration: decreased healing to 30..90.
* Aria of Zeal: decreased Energy gained to 1..6.
* Ballad of Restoration: decreased healing to 30..90, decreased recharge time to 15 seconds.
* Chorus of Restoration: decreased healing to 30..90.
* Hexbreaker Aria: increased casting time to 2 seconds.
* Song of Restoration: decreased healing to 30..90.
* "Stand Your Ground!": now only affects party members, Energy cost increased to 15.
* "They're on Fire!": now only affects party members.
* Anthem of Flame: now only affects party members.
* Anthem of Guidance: now only affects party members.
* Crippling Anthem: now only affects party members.
Defensive Anthem: increased casting time to 2 seconds.
* Aggressive Refrain: now causes Cracked Armor for 20 seconds when applied.
* "Go for the Eyes!": increased recharge time to 4 seconds.

There about even
Sin's have had more nerfs

BUT

Assassins the
Shadow of Haste: decreased Energy cost to 5, increased the duration to 30..60, and decreased the movement speed by 15%.
buff, which was awesome fun while it lasted

fireflyry

fireflyry

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Jan 2007

New Zealand

A/D

Caster Sins deserved to die as they took less skill to play than SP builds imo and the BLS nerf ended up making them breed like rabbits.

The fact you need a tad more thought and skill to run one now is why most people rarely play them but that goes with any cookie cutter build that gets the nerf bat.

Good riddance imo.

Master of Sins

Academy Page

Join Date: Oct 2007

San Fransisco

Assassins of the Crescent Moon

A/

Yeah I basically agree- assassins started out in factions as only physical really, deadly arts were a side show, although deadly arts is now a great utility, they really should buff back the physical side of the sin and bring it back to the good times <(^_^)>

Bowstring Badass

Bowstring Badass

Forge Runner

Join Date: Nov 2005

Character selection screen figuring what I want to play...

Purple Lingerie - :D

Quote:
Originally Posted by Master of Sins
Yeah I basically agree- assassins started out in factions as only physical really, deadly arts were a side show, although deadly arts is now a great utility, they really should buff back the physical side of the sin and bring it back to the good times <(^_^)> You mean instagib no chance to heal yourself sins? lol

@ensorki- the Shadow of Haste buff was awesome being able to clear an entire base with the help of a burning arrow taking the guild lord down in 4 mins was fun.

Master of Sins

Academy Page

Join Date: Oct 2007

San Fransisco

Assassins of the Crescent Moon

A/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bowstring Badass
You mean instagib no chance to heal yourself sins? lol lol- yeah pretty much, I mean hell sins were cheap in the beginning and it was fun! ^o^

Bowstring Badass

Bowstring Badass

Forge Runner

Join Date: Nov 2005

Character selection screen figuring what I want to play...

Purple Lingerie - :D

Quote:
Originally Posted by Master of Sins
lol- yeah pretty much, I mean hell sins were cheap in the beginning and it was fun! ^o^ If you mean the AoD gps-horns-falling-twisting sins with distortion and dark escape? lol

I miss the old day sins. Can actually somewhat run it cuz of buff to GPS now 5e again but horns got nerf.

ensoriki

ensoriki

Forge Runner

Join Date: Aug 2006

Canada bro.

A/D

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bowstring Badass
Y@ensorki- the Shadow of Haste buff was awesome being able to clear an entire base with the help of a burning arrow taking the guild lord down in 4 mins was fun.
You know it!

Quote:
Originally Posted by mr lol
Yeah I basically agree- assassins started out in factions as only physical really, deadly arts were a side show, although deadly arts is now a great utility, they really should buff back the physical side of the sin and bring it back to the good times <(^_^)> Mind telling me when Deadly arts became great utility?
Using Deadly arts, Utility and Great without the word Should, should be illegal >.>

Lets See Deadly arts utility
Augury of Death = Broken, Broken Skills get nerfed sooner or later, So Who gives a crap, I shouldn't even count this.

Siphon Speed, Okay

Disrupting Dagger, Alright

Shadow Prison, Not really Great >.> N-E-MOAR

and umm...uhh...ur... umm....mmmmm......well maybe...no....ugh..........if you switch the......ah.....umm.....well ummm thing makes up for.....no uh.....dammit!

it's not great at all.

Sir Pandra Pierva

Sir Pandra Pierva

Forge Runner

Join Date: Apr 2007

Sardelec yelling at Tenshi

Angels Of Strife

E/

I miss the old time sins.QQ

Bobby2

Bobby2

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jun 2007

Delayed in order to meet ANet's high standards

[MaSS]

W/E

Quote:
Originally Posted by ensoriki
You know it!

/snip (sorry Enso)

it's not great at all. Ehm.

Siphon Speed: A+. A quick, reappliable Hex that serves both offense and defense? I'll take it.
Shadow Prison: B++. The recharge nerf may hurt a bit but its powerful effect remained the same. Other nerfs have made the original build less powerful.
Augury of Death: B+. There are better ways to gain DW, more reliable too. And in the sense of support other DWs would last longer too.
Disrupting Dagger: A. For any class except Mesmer and Ranger (who have better interrupts)
Siphon Strength: A. Maybe I'm a Siphon junkie, but this shuts down all opposing melees you cast it on and I love it. The crit rate boost is just gravy.
Assassin's Promise: B+. It doesn't help with the killing. But outside of Moebius Strike, this skill offers the best chance of being ready to go again right after finishing your spike (and who doesn't like rampaging...)

Overall, DA is still pretty strong IMO. There are other skills that have their uses in the right setting as well but I can't be arsed to list them all right now