Considering how the skill changes over time have mostly relegated the sin to a pressure role, MS/DB is practically a hegemony. One thing I've noticed, however, is that in actual play it is not uncommon to run up against enough defense that you begin throwing unconnecting attack skills enough to start running down your energy. As the pressure comes from having every attack be a skilled attack, as soon as you start missing beats the steam really runs out of what you're trying to do. I've been playing around with a few different versions of bars with multiple dual attack skills to not only make sure that you always have enough energy and recharge to avoid missing beats, but that you'll occasionally have options as to what the most appropriate attack skill is.
Assume each bar goes along with:
A/Mo 13CS/13DM/7DA
Siphon Speed
Black Mantis Thrust
Wild Strike
Trampling Ox
Moebius Strike
Death Blossom
Mending Touch
Rez Sig
Chain knockdowns are fun, effective, and make people rage. The upside of this bar is that pretty much any time your MS hits a <50% target you'll get 2-3 extra KD's off of it. The downside is that this ability relies on having a cripple on the target, so even if the condition doesn't get removed, you pretty much have to exit your MS/DB cycle from time to time and reenter your chain to reapply the cripple. Those times when it pays off are fun, but there are probably better things you can do with a bar overall.
Siphon Speed
Black Spider
Critical Strike
Moebius Strike
Death Blossom
Restful Breeze/dDagger
Mending Touch
Rez Sig
This bar is a simple twist on the MS/DB engine. It uses periodic huge slugs of energy from Critical Strike (typically 14 energy) mixed into the MS/DB chain to make sure you don't run out of gas while liberally applying Siphons and throwing dDaggers. It's a clean, utilitarian build, and the one I enjoy playing the most.
Siphon Speed
Black Spider
Critical Strike
Moebius Strike
Death Blossom
Twisting Fangs
Mending Touch
Rez Sig
I had played off and on with a MS/DB with TF, but found that having a 10 energy attack skill on your bar often tended to increase the problems with energy that could occur against good defense opponents, and ultimately decided that the hotness of having TF in there way outweighed by this. This bar with CS on it took care of a lot of those issues and allows TF to be used much more often. When you have the ability to re-deep wound targets as soon as the previous one has been removed, monks start feeling the pressure. While lacking the utility slot of the previous bar, this one does have teeth.
Anyone have any thoughts or experiences with bars along these lines?
S


[skill]Twisting Fangs[/skill][skill]Scorpion Wire[/skill]