Did I find a good tank build or am I just crazy?

I am leaning on the side of just crazy or very lucky, ontop of the fact that like most assassins i'm inexperienced (fair enough as factions is still new).

But i've put in close to 40 hours so far in 5 days, am level 20 and the current build I have so far has been doing great in PvE with henchies or guild mates. I've been able to "tank".

I decided to play around and try a build that I didnt expect to work, it went like this:

leaping mantis sting
Jungle Strike
Death Blossom
Golden Lotus Strike
Fox Fangs
Horns of the Ox
Jagged Strike
Shadow of refuge

These are all 5 mana skills, the thing that makes this work is mana, I found that you need atleast 25 to 30 mana. My character has 25. And you want to go in order aswell, from 1 to 7. I don't know if this is a bug (I am pretty sure its not intended) but doing one lead attack doesn't recharge your other lead attacks. So you pull off a combo, and then go onto your next combo while your other one recharges, and repeat. With a good monk or two (and one monk henchmen has been good enough) I have almost never needed to hit and run. Of course you also need to have a good understanding of how to call targets and know how to use henchmen.

But does anyone else use a similar? It does a lot of damage in PvE but so far it hasnt been very successful in PvP. I think its a good build only when you have back up. But in my opinion its better then the other PvE assassin builds out there because you don't have to hit and run with it.

just because you can dish it out doesn't mean you can stand there and take it. All offensive is a no no, you are not a tank, and no monk is going to pay that close atenttion to you when there are 6 others that need healing.

Hit and Run is the only way an assassin stays off a steady diet of dirt.

Quote: Originally Posted by Claymore

How far into the game are you? out of curiousity.

On my assassin, Boreas seabed, so of course this whole build could completely back fire, but if someone way into the factions campaign could try this build and test it with me to see how it holds up that would be nice. So far I see no reason to think it wont hold up.

I say you are lucky, and good. I say good because it must be that you use your henchmen well, like letting them take aggro, moving, scraping off, etc.

I say you are lucky because no amount of tactics will save you from concentrated degen necros, prepped ranger fire or AOEs while you are in the middle of them, etc. So your guildies must be saving you.

You have almost No healing or safety, so you must be really working the "staying under the radar" angle. You have Refuge...only. You can't run, teleport in or out, or properly heal. You can't mitigate any conditions or degen hexes...so yeah lucky. That's good to be lucky though.

Grats and all, but thank your guildies since this is a questionable approach.

cheers though.

Well my guildies and others in the alliance we are in seem to think I am bat shit insane. and they are probably right.

The teleport thing I am up in the air about still, a few players in my alliance that play assassins said teleporting really isnt needed in PvE, but then again I never understand why. So i'm hearing conflicting things about that, some have said yes use teleports always, and no you really dont have to.

I am not looking to hear what I want, I am hoping someone comes in here and rips my build apart and explains why it will suck ass in the later part of the game.

Deinonychus, you gave me something to think about though, things I didnt consider. Its all possible that this build will back fire, but there is nothing wrong with making the effort to try something different. Players in guild wars are to afraid of experimenting.

When an assassin can tank, so can a mesmer and a Necro. To be honest, many of them do, but it is not a good strategy. A really good player knows how to exploit all possibilities of their class. If you are good as tank, you can be better as a warrior. Forget the frontline. Get that nasty caster on the back, who is doing 200 damage every 10 seconds. You could have killed him before he casted his next 200. That is your classjob