melee support assassin: Poisonous Boa

moriz

??ber t??k-n??sh'??n

Join Date: Jan 2006

Canada

09 Jun 2006 at 18:56 - 1

http://gwshack.us/99257

this is apparently the first time a support assassin is being attempted, so please bear with me if this does not work. This is specced for PvP, either GvG or Alliance Battles, but the build can be adapted for PvE with a few changes

the purpose of the Poisonous Boa is to weaken targets so other melee chars (warriors and assassins, etc) can finish them easily. the basic build features siphon speed for mass snaring and self speed boost, and enduring toxin to make kiting very painful. it also packs the dancing daggers-->entangling asp-->vile miasma for some very easy knockdowns and degen. the elite i chose to use is Assassin's Promise for energy management and a quick recharge of skills.

the variation comes between impale and rigor mortis. impale is excellent for supporting a standard AoD assassin, while rigor mortis is used when other assassins are not used. personally, i believe a gank team consisting of the Poisonous Boa and a stand AoD assassin would be extremely effective.

DieInBasra

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Aug 2005

09 Jun 2006 at 20:13 - 2

So, uh, what is this guy doing? Don't say degen, because 7 of it can be countered by a single mend condition/ailment, and can only be used every 20 seconds. Being able to put out rigor mortis every 30 seconds isn't anything much, either. How is 5 degen with a 10 second recharge painful? The only support I see this guy bringing is a snare in the form of Sipon Speed, which is a rather good spell. Besides all that, you don't even have a ressig.

I cannot see how this character could be useful in a gank, either. How does he contribute to NPC killing? an AoD assassin already pops on 7 degen, with 10 as the limit. The only useful skill would be, again, Sipon Speed and maybe Impale. All in all I can't recommend this build. Don't try make deadlyu arts work, they really don't. Except maybe on assassin secondarys.

moriz

??ber t??k-n??sh'??n

Join Date: Jan 2006

Canada

09 Jun 2006 at 21:22 - 3

Quote:

Originally Posted by DieInBasra

So, uh, what is this guy doing?

i believe i made it very clear what this guy does: support other melee chars.

Quote: Originally Posted by DieInBasra Don't say degen, because 7 of it can be countered by a single mend condition/ailment degen is merely a side benefit. the knockdown+degen is very nice, don't you think?

Quote: Originally Posted by DieInBasra How is 5 degen with a 10 second recharge painful kite and get hurt by degen. don't kite and get pummeled by that warrior. sounds pretty painful to me. at the very least, it will make kiting tougher since the target will have to stop every 3 seconds, which will allow the warrior to catch up anyways. the degen is not much, but the combined effects will slowly catch up to the other team in terms of energy spent healing and removing

Quote: Originally Posted by DieInBasra

The only support I see this guy bringing is a snare in the form of Sipon Speed, which is a rather good spell. Besides all that, you don't even have a ressig. if you don't see the support chain, here it is:

1. warrior chases target. target runs. Poisonous Boa casts enduring toxin
2. target manages to shake off enduring toxin, but gets hit by the warrior as he stops (many times, if he's unsuccessful)
3. target continues to kite. Poisonous Boa casts siphon speed. target gets hit by warrior.
4. target manages to shake off siphon speed. Poisonous Boa casts dancing daggers-->entangling asp-->vile miasma. target gets KD'd and suffers more degen and the warrior pounds on him some more.

sounds like pretty good support to me. of course, the chain could end anywhere when the target dies. thoughout the support chain, the Poisonous Boa continuously forces the other team to adapt to it, whether by moving differently or removing the hexes/conditions. that in itself will cause pressure in forms of energy spent by the other team.

also, you most certainly do not need a rez sig in an AB, and not always need a rez sig in GvG either.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DieInBasra

I cannot see how this character could be useful in a gank, either. How does he contribute to NPC killing? an AoD assassin already pops on 7 degen, with 10 as the limit. The only useful skill would be, again, Sipon Speed and maybe Impale. it contributes by being a char that's not affected by blind (the counter to a ganking assassin), as well as contributes in damage and movement control. it can be used to harass the elementalist long enough for the other assassin to pull off a kill, or cover the escape of the gank team if they're pursued.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DieInBasra

Don't try make deadlyu arts work, they really don't. Except maybe on assassin secondarys. that's rather a... strange view on things, isn't it?

DieInBasra

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Aug 2005

09 Jun 2006 at 23:02 - 4

Quote:

degen is merely a side benefit. the knockdown+degen is very nice, don't you think?

Degen and knockdown with a 20 second rechagre isn't, no.

Quote:

at the very least, it will make kiting tougher since the target will have to stop every 3 seconds, which will allow the warrior to catch up anyways. the degen is not much, but the combined effects will slowly catch up to the other team in terms of energy spent healing and removing

They don't have to stop every three seconds, first of all because 5 degen doesn't hurt unless it's on more then on person, second of all because of the ten second recharge, which means you can only keep it on a third of the time if they do decide to stop.

Quote:

1. warrior chases target. target runs. Poisonous Boa casts enduring toxin
2. target keeps running because 5 degen really isn't that much
3. target continues to kite. Poisonous Boa casts siphon speed. target gets hit by warrior, but it would have probably been better if he was slowed by an ice hex or a cripshot, because they do something esle
4. target manages to shake off siphon speed. Poisonous Boa casts dancing daggers-->entangling asp-->vile miasma. target gets KD'd and suffers more degen and the warrior pounds on him some more. and then "poisonous boa" /sits for 20 seconds. Edited it for you.

Quote:

as well as contributes in damage and movement control. it can be used to harass the elementalist long enough for the other assassin to pull off a kill, or cover the escape of the gank team if they're pursued. Why aren't we useing an Air ele with gale or a water ele again?How about an CP mesmer? I wouldn't really consider what you're doing as "damage" though.

moriz

??ber t??k-n??sh'??n

Join Date: Jan 2006

Canada

10 Jun 2006 at 13:29 - 5

let's see...

gale: causes exhaustion. it knocks down with no side benefit. because of the exhaustion, even an ether prodigy ele can only hope to use every 30 seconds. compare that to the 20 seconds of dancing daggers-->entangling asp, i believe they are at least equal in usefulness

-5 degen is not that much, but it is -10 hp per second. if they keep running, it will stack up rather quickly. many times i've seen an warrior or assassin attack a target, only to see the target escape with a tiny sliver of hp. this skill by itself should tip the balance enough to make the kill

the Poisonous Boa does not have to /sit for 20 seconds after the end of the chain. if the target is as stupid as you make it to be, that character has just run for about 10 seconds, and enduring toxin is recharged. not to mention, the target had just lost 100 hp for just kiting. there's also a good chance of the target is one whack away from death, in which case the Poisonous Boa simply casts assassin's promise, gaining 21 energy and recharging all his skills as the target dies. and anyways, if the target does stop to let enduring toxin end in 3 seconds, he's still screwed: there's a warrior just waiting for him to do so. enduring toxin is more than just a degen skill: it's a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" kind of spell, kind of like diversion except the effect is not as powerful. and if you're still skeptical of its 10 second recharge, let me remind you that diversion's got a 3 second cast time and 30 second recharge.

impale does a lot of damage. assuming that it does trigger on both hits of the dual attack, it will do 140ish damage vs a squishy. that's on the same level of lightning orb, and it costs less energy. even if it doesn't trigger on both hits, it still does a little over 70ish, which is on par with energy surge. combined with an assassin ganking npc's, the Poisonous Boa can use all his skills indefinately with assassin's promise.

DieInBasra

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Aug 2005

10 Jun 2006 at 16:59 - 6

Quote:

it's a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" kind of spell, kind of like diversion except the effect is not as powerful. and if you're still skeptical of its 10 second recharge, let me remind you that diversion's got a 3 second cast time and 30 second recharge.

Hear that folks? Diverion has a 30 second recharge. I think you just proved your expertise. But seriously, why not take 5 degen unconditonally, like IoR or something of the sort?

Quote:

that's on the same level of lightning orb, and it costs less energy.

Except lorb has a 5 second recharge and an ele can also be doing other things to help his party.

Quote:

the Poisonous Boa can use all his skills indefinately with assassin's promise. Non of which that are actually worth anything while ganking npc's except A spell with a 5 second recharge.

Quote:

gale: causes exhaustion. it knocks down with no side benefit. because of the exhaustion, even an ether prodigy ele can only hope to use every 30 seconds. When an ele is in Gale mode he doesn't have eprod on. But Gale is still alot more ondemand, and is almost always worth the exaustion.

Really, this build isn't good. I can see a water/air ele, other AoD/Mantis assassin, or a CP mesmer as so much better in every situation.

LaserLight

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Nov 2005

La La Land

[NOVA]

11 Jun 2006 at 01:21 - 7

Decent concept, bad execution. I'd pitch the Dancing Daggers/Asp and focus more on the useful Hexes in the Assassin line if you're wanting to run a melee support. Try this:

Crippling Dagger
Siphon Speed
Impale
Shadow Refuge
Expel Hexes [E]
Dark Escape
7-Swing Slot
ReSig

Not exactly the strongest build under the sun even now, but this way you can snare two different ways, deal a smidge of damage with Crippling Dagger while also dealing Impale damage via a friendly Daggersin, and get rid of Hexes.

Honestly...this was the best I could do with the concept, and I'm not sure I'd call it third-tier, let alone second or first. Only real reason it's even close to useful is the high-damage Impale and Hex control capability. A water El is a better snare char, and a normal AoD Daggersin beats pants off of Crippling Dagger and Impale for damage. I don't see a real reason to run this build in any form over water snare, which can snare and deal respectable damage, or AoD Dagger, which can deal nutty damage without needing much in the way of a snare.

Points for effort, but Deadly Arts just isn't something you can really run as a primary attribute.