Survival assassin

I see alot of people complaining about the assassin and how it can't tank and takes dmg easy. All this is true and was a big letdown to the majority of players especially to those who experienced the class during the preview.

All in all a true letdown to most who spent the time and gold in building this long awaited 2nd melee class.

Shadow stepping/ hit-N-run is nice but recharges are rediculous and require 2 slots if you chose to not use your elite for shadow stepping.
Even with this method an assassin is easily damaged when hit.

I designed this build and it brought new life to my character who I was about to delete due to its stereo type in the public view.
I have used ithis build and slight variations of its sort to both stay alive for extended periods of time While still able to deal the fair share of dmg in PvE, RA, GvG and AB's.


Assassin/Monk

11+3+1 dagger mastery
6+2 Shadow arts
8+1 critical strike
10 protection

Equipment: Zelous Kriss daggers of enchanting +5energy
armor: 50/50 mix shrouded and night stalker

HP:420......
Energy: 35

Skills:
Life Sheath { Elite }
Critical Eye
Deaths charge
Shadows refuge
Desperate strike
Leaping mantis sting
Jungle strike
Twisting fang

To anti Touchies, Stance warriors or smiters replace desperate strike with wild strike and replacing twisting fang with death blossom is suggested.

With this build you become much less a burden to a monk in PvE, Can effectivly manage health with minimal energy consumption and if managed properly deal fair amount of dmg.

Not to mention making them think WTF when they have a fairly strong Sin just not taking dmg like it should.

This build is not an excuse to tank but is is a way to stay in long enough to cut thru 2-3 extra targets and not having to worry as much about being spiked.

Again please try the build before you shoot it down. lol


Flame on.

*Gets ready to flame*

What I see from the skills at the moment, I think it could work. But, it seems you have no way of getting away. As you said, hit n run.

Life sheath seems like a good idea to protect yourself, but only negating 110 damage, which isn’t much considering things will do 50+ on a sin, and with the plagued things doing 118+ when they die, you don’t seem to have much protection. Then again, with its relatively quick 7-second cool down and 1-second cast, it would be good if you weren't the center of attention. But this is kind of difficult on a sin anyway due to low armour, and against npcs they would automatically go for you, stripping the enchantment.

Also, due to the *small* amount of health, combined with a small armour, you would quickly become the center of attention.

In pvp I can see its advantages, but many attacks will cut through life sheath before you have a chance to react/re-apply (i.e. a warrior, hits you 3 times and there goes life sheath), so I would either use shadow form, or mist form instead of life sheath due to the relatively low amount of protection it gives, and both of those skills negate physical damage, (downside of mist form is that you cannot deal any back, but you still take damage from spells)

I like the idea, but it is flawed in my opinion.

True their is no way out but then again managed properly you dont need a way out plus you are no longer a burden on the monk.

FYI... nightstalker armour. the buff greatly reduces the dmg taken. life sheath expires half the time before its used up and even when it is shot thru this build usually takes 30-50 dmg before refreshing it. shadow refuge now had a purpose.... maintance.

I never said this was an excessivly dmging build but it does allow the sin to stay alive and battle, do decent dmg and not just hit and run.

now its more like hit hit hit hit then run...lol

But ty for the post.

Quote:

I'm going to be posting precisely why assassin's *shouldn't* tank in something that is hopefully well thought out, but whatever.

Some tank builds can be forced to work, but we need stickies here before we can do anything... Life Sheath is really not an elite you want on an assassin, but I guess it works for you.

If you guys really want a laugh, I'm going to point out something that I think many will agree with- The henchmen are programmed with AI according to what the devs wanted them to do. The assassin henchie runs up into melee and swings his daggers for a year and uses what I have come to believe to be the worst combo ever created...

I cried at the sight of it...

I'm going to agree with @Celab though, if your build works for you, fine. There's just no way that I'm going to use it.

i dont tank i hit 3-4 casters an keep out of ground zero. but it does work for me.
Basically this tips the scale back in balance for the assassin in the way of being more durable. not durable enough to tank but durable enough to work its way thru more then 1-2 targets before having to back out.

Its a happy medium build.lol.

But ty for posting

well. Its been up a while and not alot of comments. I still run this build and IMO is the most balanced assassin build to date.
as stated before i do use several variations on skills but the 3hit combo is a standard ( Leaping Mantis Sting, jungle strike, twisting fangs ).

Life sheath is a better buff then most would think.

PLease try this build or its similar and let me know what you think after
" actually " using it for 1 night.

The mind only works when its open.

Well its been about a month now and I am seeing this build being used in AB's and once in RA.

All though i have tweeked the build a little it is a close base.

I hope all those who are using the build now enjoy its survivability while still able to do considerable dmg.

I have finally given the name " Raging scorpion " to the build sense it now has an " armor " that can withstand spikes for short periods of time and still have its deadly sting well felt.

Dude if you want to tank go A/W and look into "Watch Yourself!" and Bonetti's Defence, you will be a lot more durable. Life Sheath won't last 7 seconds considering your AL. Also take +defence mod on your daggers.

I never said this build could tank. An assassin is in no way a tank. this build allows the sin to absorb the main spikes allowing sr to heal the dmg done from enemies secondary skills. The enchantment last longer then you might think many times expiring before needing refreshing. This in turn allows the sin to go thru 3-5 casters before haveing to retreat without burdening the monk.

Again this is a case of flame without 1 skill point being spent and the 20 minutes it takes to try it out and form an opinion after actually experiencing it.

the mind only works if its open.

thanks and Happy gaming.

congrats, you just made a wammo with an assassin primary. Nuff said.

depends on how you play it.lol

a monk with PS, sheilding hands, vigorous spirit can turn this build into a tank. However this build is designed to survive spikes short term and take out 3-5 casters instead of 1-2.

LOL... the build is getting a tad popular I saw 2 more tonight on the luxon side.