I’m currently running a S/D D/P stealth build that I’m growing a little tired of so I started looking into the Acrobatics and Trickery lines to see how well they stand up without having stealth to fall back on. S/P combines some of my favorite aspects of the weaponsets that I’m currently running while fitting nicely with the no-stealth theme.
I haven’t finalized any gear choices yet so I would really appreciate any input on the subject. The target values that I’ve been building around for each build are a minimum of 50% crit chance with Signet of Agility and 15k HP/18k Effective HP. I like to create builds with 1vX in mind and 18K EHP seemed to be the point where I struck a nice balance between survivability and effective power. That being said, most of the survivability in these builds should come from blinds, shadowsteps, dodging, evades, and well timed interrupts instead of sheer stats.
BUILDS
Keep in mind that the 180 precision bonus from Signet of Agility was added manually
- 10/30/0/0/30
Smart initiative management combined with First Strikes and Lead Attacks could provide a potential 25% damage boost that goes up to 45% on targets below 50% HP. Signet Use helps keep initiative up along with Kleptomaniac while providing a 24s cooldown stunbreak and condition clear/endurance regen through Infiltrator’s Signet and Signet of Agility. Sleight of Hand gives more control through dazing along with relatively frequent boons, boon ripping, and small heals via Mug. I’m also thinking about running Centaur runes with this in order to stick to targets better. I’d rather not blow a lot of initiative on back to back IS since 2 of the 3 damage bonuses are initiative dependent.
- 10/30/0/30/0
Good HP and high effective power. Changing to PTV armor instead of zerker still allows you to keep a respectable EP while boosting your EHP to over 23k. The combined damage bonuses of Fluid Strikes and First Strikes should be way easier to maintain considering how much dodging would go on with this build. Throw in Orrian Truffle and Meat Stew for more dodgebeasting. Quick Pockets and Quick Recovery provide good initiative regeneration, but I’m considering swapping Quick Pockets for Assassin’s Reward. This build also has way kitten on support than the 30 Trickery build and can’t do anything about enemy boons.
- 0/30/0/25/15
Similar to the above build with more boon support. Higher initiative pool and Kleptomaniac would let me be a bit more aggressive with blinds/interrupts/etc while keeping all the damage boosts, but obviously not as good at control as the 30 Trickery build.
Notes and Other Ideas
- One of my biggest concerns about going the no-stealth route was how susceptible I would be to condition burst, but between Shadowstep, IS/Shadow Return and Signet of Agility I think I should be fine, but if someone could provide a different viewpoint then that would be great.
- Sigil of Generosity/Purity- I’m thinking about swapping out Sigil of Fire on the SB for one of these. That way I could swap to SB to deal with condition pressure instead of using Shadowstep or repeated IS/SR. Has anyone tried these?
- Roll for Initiative – Replacing Infiltrator’s Signet with this would be great for keeping initiative up while still providing a stunbreak and an evade, but it comes at a price of a cooldown that’s 250% higher than the signet with Signet Use. Also, this may be overkill as far as initiative regen goes, but any feedback on the idea would be appreciated.
- HP on Crit food- even with the internal cooldown I think this could be pretty beneficial to the builds. Anyone still running these?
So what do you guys think?