A/W - Combat master. The combination of quick killing dagger skills and the solidity of warrior stances (as well as the new elite skill, Shove, which is happily based on Tactics rather than Strength) will allow this assassin to be both deadly and durable. There is also the possibility there to combine the "critical strikes" skill line with other weapons such as axe or hammer, maximizing damage while adding a return of energy for each successful deadly critical hit. I would imagine that a specialized critical axe weilding eviscerator with warriors cunning and teleportational skills would be a character to be reckoned with. whether or not the old and reliable warrior weapons will continue to be on par with daggers, in the hands of an assassin, remains to be seen but I would imagine that Wild Blow would be a handy addition to any assassin build.
A/Mo - Bringing these classes together is something I havent seen much sign of here but the abundance of energy assassins are privvy to along with the Smiting line from its monk secondary have the potential to really dish out some serious damage. Strength & Honor would only lower your energy regen to 3 pips. This and an assassins natural critical regeneration would still allow the character to be swimming in energy while gaining a nice damage bonus, essentially increasing the weapon damage base to be greater than that of an axe. I'm also convinced this class combo has as much potential for PvE as the ever popular W/Mo, combining maintainable health regeneration with a healthy dose of attack damage in order to make the Guild Wars AI weep tears of luscious loot and skill points.
A/Me - My top pick at this time, the assassin mesmer seems to be most deadly of the assassin classes, imho. Able to attack their enemy's health (with degenerative or damaging hexes, condition stacking, or plain raw attack damage), energy (with e.denial, an easy daze, and a healthy energy supply of their own to draw from so long as their attacks hit), and actual skill bar itself (with Blackout or Shroud of Silence), this assassin could literally shut down their opponent in any way concievable (The idea of adding Domination to an already dominating set of assassin skills makes me smirk like an evil villain). Add that to a very versatile set of personal enhancements from Echo to mantras and what you are left with seems to be an assassin able to attack from numerous conceptual fronts while simultaneously able to aggressively and efficiently defend themselves.
A/R - Due to the ever disappointing Beast Mastery line (the AI of which made me put my pet away and never bring it out again within days of using it), I am highly unlikely to choose this one (though the reverse does have potential due to the ranger's Expertise). Though I am quite interested to see how the "Critical Marksman" idea plays out and well as the teleporting trapper that I'm sure we will see used much more effectively that the A/E template they provided us, I have found that using ranger as a secondary often falls short of effective. Ranger is really a class best used as a primary, imo, and loses a lot of it's ability (spamming arrows, interrupts, conditions, and just skills in general) without Expertise. Guild Wars made Expertise such an effective skill line to boost that most character attempting to use ranger skills without it end up running themselves out of energy or finding that the exact skill bar they have employed would work much better if they just switch their primary and secondary classes. Now I'm not trying to say that ranger secondary can't work. It has been proven to us that it most certainly can and does. I am merely pointing out that the number of times it has worked out and been a superior build pales in comparison to the number of effective builds almost every other class allows as a secondary.
A/N - Necro is one of those classes that only seems to enhance any primary class you pin it to and assassin looks to be no exception. Staple skills like Plague Touch and more eccentric ones like Grenth's Balance all bring build ideas to mind. Making an effective X/N is never a difficult task not only because necro is such a nice complimentary class but also because they do not lose any real potential when you take away Soul Reaping. Sure, removing Rune capability hurts but not much more than any other class. The only issue I have with A/N is that most X/N builds are 100x more effective in Random Arena than in organized PvP. We will probably see a lot of these guys but I definitely do not plan to be one of them. After playing Mo/N, W/N, N/Me, and R/N through most of Prophecies, I am not making another new necro. I will leave the ideas on what this class combo will be to others
A/E - They tried to give us one of these and, imho, failed miserably. On par with other pre-builds such as the Spell Slasher and the Abominable Snowman Warrior templates, their skill bar really proved to be a highly effective death machine that accepts death rather than dealing it. The whole "teleport into a nest of rabid warrior snakes so you can do a couple things before they put you over their knees and spank you raw with the blunt of their weapons" thing just doesnt work. Regardless, I think the "elemental assassin" has great potential. It strikes me as a class that will boost it's elemental daggers to both deal more damage on soft targets but also bypass the +20 AR warriors have on those occasions they are face to face. They can combine their KD teleport and Shock to keep an opponent down...maybe they could even find an actual use for Mark of Rodgort by combining it with attacks that deal extra effects vs. hexed foes :P
A/Rt - This is the tough one. Will their skills compliment each other? The concept of an assassin/ninja type drawing strength from the spiritual realm sounds quite nice in theory but who can really say if 8 skills chosen carefully from each class will be something to be reckoned with. If anyone tried this combo out during the Factions preview, I'd love to hear your take on it
Anyway, I still feel like A/Me is the class for me. Just the thought of the all-purpose (all purple
) skill bar gets my mind going. I am very much looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with using ALL these class combos. What do you guys think? Which one do you think will be most effective in PvP and PvE and why?
