x / A in Jade Quarry?

I haven't played Jade Quarry in a long time but with the weekend's event and the JQ Zaishen quest, I figured I'd give it a try (Kurzick side). What I saw really surprised me. I'd say that well over 50% of the Luxons were using Assassin as their secondary so they can constantly shadow step (or whatever teleport skill they use) all over the place. I think the only Assassin combinations I didn't see over the weekend were Mesmer / Assassin and Paragon / Assassin. Are these shadow step builds really viable builds?

I use it to step up to the ranger shrines and take it out. Probably wouldn't make it if I tried to run up there. It takes forever to walk around to get to an enemy on a top ledge, plus you can get them by surprise sometimes this way.

Shadowstep is practically required if you're going to play melee or PBAoE there, and for everyone else dash is the best no-spec run boost.

All the Mo/P's there and you comment on shadow steppers?

http://gw.gamependium.com/tools/builds/show/6079

Since deaths don't matter in JQ, many people run this build and its variants.

^This.

Due to this, it's made JQ a little harder for the Kurz. Although not all the way too difficult. I've seen more Kurz wins than Lux regardless of the number of monks the Lux had. Still, it's annoying to see all of them go into the Lux side and few with the Kurz.

On subject, shadow step is only one of the viable sin skills in JQ, but another I saw of the assassin class was a bit more annoying. Shadow Form. I've seen casters blow quarries up while under that skill. The opponents would have no choice but to stand by and watch helplessly as their quarry gets nuked. Granted there is no monk guarding it. Those monks in JQ can sure hold up an NPC very well. There are ways to kill off a SF nuker:

Cast degens before SF is up.

Get near it and use Flame Burst, Inferno, or other skills like that.

Use touch skills or signets (a touching ranger would shine on this one) because SF only negates attacks and spells.

Last, but not least, remember who was the one using the SF and warn your team about it so they can try and kill it before it reaches a quarry.

There are other ways to deal with them, too. I just don't know of them, yet. Though SF is tolerable, it's still a problem skill for JQ, so let us hope Anet can do something to it so it won't be this much of a threat anymore.

OP is talking about the Luxons, who don't seem to have the mental capacity to run a Mo/P.

Wait until he puts SF up, use Expunge Enchantments. Kill him (or let NPCs kill him).

@Scythe O F Glory: lol flame at luxons.

Shadowsteps are awesome in JQ.

I use my Dervish in there. I love jumping up to and slaughtering the RoJ monks before they even react

They're pretty necessary if you run any sort of melee in there, and even if you don't they're very handy. So yeah, you'll see a lot of people run /A in there.