The Sword/Dagger build
I’d say Executioner over Hidden Killer, as from what I heard, the latter doesn’t always offer a 100% crit. rate from stealth. Could be wrong, I guess, but in either case, I’d say that how good HK would be for you would depend on your crit. chance (what stats are you geared towards?) and how often you actually stealth in fights. Meanwhile, Executioner is a very nice passive bonus.
Blind on stealth is a fun thing, while stealth on steal is finicky: should you auto-attack immediately after you stealthed from steal, then the whole thing might have been pointless. Plus if you think about group fights, blinding your opponent(s) benefits your teammates as well.
Whether to ditch the 10 in Acrobatics to get Mug depends on what you actually use Acro. for, I guess. Mug’s a nice burst if you crit, but getting might on dodging is also nice. Let’s not forget that while 10 in Deadly Arts will give you +100 power and +10% condition duration, 10 in Acrobatics gives +100 vitality and +10% boon duration: which one works for you better also depends on your gear setup.
Hope that helped a bit. Have fun with S/D!
(edited by bloodymarx.9052)
Thanks! Might stick with my blind on stealth and Executioner then! May try Mug however as I i’m pretty much full berserker with valk weps and a vit accessory or two, so I hear it would hit quite hard at around 3100 power… Thanks for the reply
I’ve been having success with a 0/30/10/30/0 build… I think that Hidden Assassin restores about as much HP as Shadow’s Rejuvenation, and provides me with more HP overall. It’s a matter of opinion, of course, but certainly seems to be the road less traveled.
I wear a pretty even mix of Knight/Zerker/Valk gear (heavy emphasis on Valk for vitality) with Emerald Orbs in everything (sans Para. Sig. on dagger) giving me a good amount of toughness to not be too glassy.
I could see the benefits of 0/30/30/10/0, and may just try it out to whet my curiosity, but I’ve been fairing pretty well with my spec and is always something else to consider.
Note: Vigor on Heal + Withdrawl + Feline Grace is why I stick to my spec over the Shadow Arts route, as I feel like I can almost perma-dodge in any scenario, and add a 10% bonus to my DPS at the same time. Thoughts welcome.
I’ve been S/D for a while now, and I don’t mean to turn this thread negative, does anyone actually use FS? I find everything else about the skills to be absolutely awesome, but the most killing I’ve done with FS is when it threw me off a cliff.
I’ve been S/D for a while now, and I don’t mean to turn this thread negative, does anyone actually use FS? I find everything else about the skills to be absolutely awesome, but the most killing I’ve done with FS is when it threw me off a cliff.
Rarely. I use it if I know the target isn’t going anywhere, which isn’t often (like when a warrior tries to 100b me) but even then I can’t trust the trajectory of this flimsy skill… Otherwise, it’s seriously just a liability in that I feel like it will peel me off my target, and if anyone knows S/D you really gotta be tenacious with that… I hold out hope that they may fix this skill, but I’m doing OK without it. That would just be icing on the cake.
Do you mean assassin’s reward mate? Tried that before and wasn’t blown away by it but I know a few people who rate it.
But yeah I had a very similar build previous to this one, I absolutely loved withdraw and its ultra quick cooldown with vigor on heal, hilarious amount of dodges!
still find myself bashing dodge and having nothing there with my current build but I see the ethos of s/d to rely on shadowsteps and stealth&daze/blinds for damage mitigation instead of dodges. Both work really well to be honest!
I’ve been S/D for a while now, and I don’t mean to turn this thread negative, does anyone actually use FS? I find everything else about the skills to be absolutely awesome, but the most killing I’ve done with FS is when it threw me off a cliff.
I’ve figured out how to use it more or less in combat vs a target on approach.
Scenario: Your group and the enemy group charging at each other….pick your target and run towards them, just before you reach melee range veer slightly right and hit FS. 9 times out of 10 it will land both hits, which is great vs a target who just popped stability to charge in and fear bomb or some other form of CC.
Aside from approaching from the front, though, the second strike just mostly misses. Also, it’s great vs any class with regeneration or any other buff you’d like to peel off.
~Shadowkat
^ very good tip – i’ve found that veering slightly to the right thing helps as well. but mainly ignore it as like you said, far too unreliable! Hopefully it’ll get some love as the devs work there way through the many fixes etc.
Definitily grab Executioner, it’s just so much better than HK for S/D.
Stealth on steal is somewhat worthless, as steal has a long cooldown and other traits are just better (not to mention that CnD+ Steal does the same thing)
In the SA tree, I take Infusion of Shadow, Shadow’s Embrace, and Shadow’s Rejuvenation. SE could be swapped for blind on stealth if you feel like you have enough condi removal.
10 points in DA is definitely worth it for Mug. With CnD, S/D has pretty decent burst (7-8k).
In the CS tree, I prefer Critical Haste over Side-Strike. It adds a little umph to our burst damage. Plus, you can even sometimes manage to get hasted stomps!
Good luck.
I do 20/30/20/0/0 I don’t really focus too much on buffing the flanking strike rather buffing my ability to annoy people with the #2 skill and stealth.
The second strike is completely in your control, just pretend it’s your autoattack. You can move etc. First strike is the only thing I sometimes have trouble with but yes going to the right of your target usually gets the hit off, and the skill is amazing for stripping boons but not much else tbh. 99% of the time I am just C&D stun spamming and auto attacking to victory.
One of thieves many exciting builds /srcasm
“I find this rain quite pleasant, it feels as though raindrops are blessing our victory”
I’ve figured out how to use it more or less in combat vs a target on approach.
Scenario: Your group and the enemy group charging at each other….pick your target and run towards them, just before you reach melee range veer slightly right and hit FS. 9 times out of 10 it will land both hits, which is great vs a target who just popped stability to charge in and fear bomb or some other form of CC.Aside from approaching from the front, though, the second strike just mostly misses. Also, it’s great vs any class with regeneration or any other buff you’d like to peel off.
This is a great tip. Thanks. I’ll most certainly be using this in the near future!