48 réponses à ce sujet

[Puffy9999]

Hi All-

 

What is the latest consensus?

Is SS still bugged?

 

Going Stealth- Upgrade

HB-Upgrade

TF-Upgrade?

 

Need the 4th. Death blow does sound cool as a finisher.

 

Thanks!

[russ4ua16]

Depends on how much damage you're doing. If you can one shot everything with twin fangs then you don't really need death blow. The last promotion I did, I took both TF and DB. You lose out on two damage increasing passives if you go that route. Flank attack can get you killed. Shadow strike is a waste of points imo.
Best to just buff your TF as much as possible. Also, I stopped upgrading stealth after my first couple of promotions. Once a mob starts an attack animation, it doesn't matter how quickly you can enter stealth. I've developed a habit of repositioning myself before I try to re-stealth. This prevents most incoming attacks from breaking your stealth just after you entered it.

[Beerfish]

I always take SS on both the assassin and the alchemist.

[Jeremiah12LGeek]

Flank Attack suffers from serious tracking issues when being used at a different elevation than the target (and, on occasion, for no reason, at all.)

 

But that having been said, it is a very reliable way to regain Stealth without being forced to spend points on abilities that you may or may not even equip, and combines that with an excellent way of tactically closing the distance to an enemy almost instantly.

 

I find myself being frustrated by Shadow Strike more often than I find myself being grateful that I took it.

 

Death Blow is pretty cool, and seems to benefit from the cooldown upgrade even if you haven't actually spent a point on it.

 

I have no idea how much any of that helps.

[russ4ua16]

I always take SS on both the assassin and the alchemist.

Not to be a wise ass. Serious question: what do you use it for on the assassin?

[russ4ua16]

snip

My problems with flank attack: I'm always flanking. So, if I use it, that puts me in front of the mob- the very last place I want to be. Second, if an attack is in progress when you FA through a mob, it hits you. Doesn't even have to be intended for you.

The one thing I found it really useful for was evading attacks like the demon commander's aoe.

[actionhero112]

Deathblow has the following weaknesses

-It's stamina cost is severly bugged, any time the second hit goes through, it costs an additional 50 stamina. 

-It doesn't always work with Dance of Death (50 stamina on kill)

-Unless the opponent has less than 50% health after the first hit, the second hit will not proc at all.

 

Positives

-After twin fangs this is highest damage ability you have available to you as an assassin in the majority of scenarios (SS beats it on high health enemies I'm pretty sure, though the percentage is like 66^) 

-the second strike has noticable aoe

-Unique knockdown on red templar knights and venatori brutes when used from behind

 

 

Flank Attack has the following weaknesses

-When used from higher elevation, you will go flying over the opponents head. 

-Lowish damage

-second hit can be blocked

Positives

-Hits all enemies in a line between you and your target

-unending stealth

-secondary way of getting into stealth

-can be chained ( you can flank attack, go into stealth, wait for the cooldown of flank attack to tick away, then flank attack again and go back into stealth)

 

SS weaknesses

- Does not work with knife in the shadows, only works from your own crit chance.

- Has weird tracking.

- Comparatively high cooldown

SS strenghts

-High aoe damage

-Knockdown

-hits enemies that are on the ground that you will miss with conventional attacks

-reduces hidden blade cooldown.

 

I'm sure some like poisoned weapons, but I haven't played with it enough in multiplayer to really get a good assessment of it on the assassin. 

[DrKilledbyDeath]

I have been messing around with Flank attack and Shadowstrike on my alchemist. I substitute stealth with flank attack and use it as a get out of jail free card. As for Shadowstrike, 1 man team combo with ice flask.

[DBR87]

I'm actually curious about what is optimal for an assassin now, too. I finally got 2 Daggers of Red Birth or whatever those 400+ DPS daggers are called and I got a "common" (bullcrap) Ring of Life drain.

 

I felt assassin was bad when I couldn't one shot anything with my AoE daggers but now would like to know what other essentials are there, if not really good options. Poison Weapons' 25% increase in damage when active seems tempting.

[russ4ua16]

I don't believe the 25% DMG inc from poison weapons is working. I was running it for that bonus.

[actionhero112]

I don't believe the 25% DMG inc from poison weapons is working. I was running it for that bonus.

Works on autos, not abilities. Unless that's been changed by a patch recently. 

[Jeremiah12LGeek]

My problems with flank attack: I'm always flanking. So, if I use it, that puts me in front of the mob- the very last place I want to be. Second, if an attack is in progress when you FA through a mob, it hits you. Doesn't even have to be intended for you.

The one thing I found it really useful for was evading attacks like the demon commander's aoe.

 

If you're willing to keep using it, try using it first, before other abilities. With the upgrade, it will put you behind enemies and send you into stealth, allowing you to chain it with other things more easily. if it kills someone, and you have the passive to regain stamina from kills, you are especially good to go.

[CelticRanger275]

I've tried several different builds with all the above abilities and to be honest they all take some getting used to.  I really hate Death Blow unless its in a static cage full of half health mobs, because I too often find myself with no stamina after i use it and wandering around trying to get out of LOS because it didn't proc the cd-free stealth.  I hate how often I find myself leap frogging around trying to catch mobs with twin fangs, but when you can get a successful attack off with it, it usually kills mooks and you can restealth.  Shadow Strike is about the same as TF targeting wise, fails to proc stealth, but the shatter combos and the fact that you can hit multiple mobs with it, are nice.  So, in essence, you will likely find yourself unhappy with any build you put together and wanting to change it up every single time.  Just my opinion, but roll with whatever suits your fancy at the moment because you won't likely be sticking with it long anyways.

[Puffy9999]

Thanks guys - Its Agony and Walking Death time..

I think I will roll with Flank Attack since I want the passive after that and since I am down there might as well grab it.

[Drasca]

Deathblow has the following

-Unique knockdown on red templar knights and venatori brutes when used from behind

 

Can you elaborate on this? I haven't seen it and want to know.

[russ4ua16]

Works on autos, not abilities. Unless that's been changed by a patch recently.

I only tracked ability damage. Thanks for the info. Makes it useful on bosses.

[actionhero112]

Can you elaborate on this? I haven't seen it and want to know.

 

When you use deathblow and it activates it's second blow from behind and the brute doesn't die, that unit will be knocked down.

 

Here's a bad picture of a red templar knight having health but being knocked down by my inquisitor. I used flask of fire so I could spam deathblow to get the desired effect on him. 

Spoiler

[actionhero112]

I am not saying you are wrong, per se, but must point out that this is a slightly misleading statement. 

 

Flank Attack does a total of 400% weapon damage. Shadow Strike's does 600% weapon damage. Twin Fangs also does 600% weapon damage. Death Blow can hit for a theoretical maximum of 1,200% weapon damage. This is obviously not counting attack, flanking, stealth, critical, or any other damage bonuses.

Death Blow has the potential of being the highest damage ability in MP, however finding an enemy with 99.6% health missing that still has enough health left for the huge damage numbers from Death Blow to mean anything is currently impossible.

 

Now, while Shadow Strike and Death Blow do amazing damage, the reason Twin Fangs is preferred is because it does not have a conditional requirement for maximum damage. Shadow Strike requires the Assassin to be stealthed or not have been hit recently for the last 200% of it's 600% damage, and a massive 900% of Death Blow's 1,200% damage is variably contingent on the remaining health of the enemy. Neither are ideal for newer players to the Assassin, but with practice they can both be just as devastating as Twin Fangs.

 

 

I have never seen it happen in MP. The photo here is from SP, so maybe the effect is bugged in MP.

 

I will note to everyone that it is very important to not base information about skills from experience in SP. The effects may likely be different, either unintentionally or by design.

 

Twin Fangs does 2 hits of 200%. Now then we add the flanking damage bonus, 200%. This is a total of 600. Now we add the ripping fangs bonus for 100. This equals 700. 

 

I like how you admitted immediately after boasting of this huge damage% that it's irrelevant because to get off two hits on a 99.6% health target, that unit would have to have near 10k as .4 of it's health, which doesn't exist. Essentially you're admitting you were disingenuous in the above statement because of the conditions of the game.

 

In order for deathblow to be the best damage dealing ability in the game, you'd have to have a constant stream of enemies with 99.6% health remaining, but enough hp for the damage to register. Also it would have to have the stamina glitch fixed. I think we're playing different games here. That's an impossibility. 

 

The point you're making is irrelevant, because the majority of the time deathblow will not be receiving those bonuses. Twin Fangs, however, always receives it's benefits no matter the health level of the target, which again, makes it the better ability for damage, because the whole point of having a high damage ability is to one shot enemies at full health. Not overkill them at 99.6%. 

 

I am not suggesting any of the abilities beyond twin fangs are superior than the next. They fit different playstyles, different needs and different purposes. That's why I laid out their benefits. 

 

Also let's be honest, nothing matches hidden blades in terms of immediate single target damage, not even your fantasy scenario deathblow. It's ranged, it does 6 hits of 300% damage for a total of 1800%. 

 

Also I can confirm it works in multiplayer. The photo is from SP because it allows the easiest way to show the effect due to being able to pause it. But I checked it worked in multiplayer as well. 

 

EDIT: In fact because I can do math, the way you're calculating deathblow and twin fangs says that at 100% health, that one hit of deathblow is equal to 1 hit of twin fangs. And I know you know that's wrong. 

[Drasca]

I am not suggesting any of the abilities beyond twin fangs are superior than the next. They fit different playstyles, different needs and different purposes. That's why I laid out their benefits.

 

I like this. For me, both TF and DB are overkill on anything that isn't a commander or elite enemy, so it is a matter of which actually hits in a given situation. Both of them do zero damage if they miss. Same for HB... it can miss, or be blocked. QQ.

 

 

Also I can confirm it works in multiplayer

 

Interesting. I don't usually DB them, as I use HB on them, or if I do DB, it is after TF and the DB finishes them so I never get to see them knocked down.

 

I'm not worried about being out of stamina if I DB into a SC. Everything is dead. Why do I need more stamina?

[russ4ua16]

You guys are brave. I stay clear of static cage.

[orskar]

flank attack for me. the free stealth is great when you don't get a kill on something, makes up for the lack of damage. I use hidden blades and flank attack for damage, flank attack is for quick stealth and for offensively dodging attacks. it also makes for a good evasion trick when desperate, ie  you are about to get hit by an arrow and can't quite get to cover in time. the "interrupt" effect on enemies helps a lot too, especially if they are about to attack a team-mate.

 

deathblow is too out of the way on the tree to get, unless you have high enough cunning to forget about knife in the shadows.

 

shadow strike I was put off by it apparently not activating "i was never here" which imo is essential for assassin. 

[Jackyl]

Flank attack all the way. Free invisibility is great, the burst of speed is good and i don't have high enough cunning to guarantee crits out of stealth. Deathblow is so far down the tree and since i only play in threatening it doesn't see much use besides on bosses.

[veramis]

Agree about deathblow being a kind of late ability. It is one of the reasons I made the AWESASSIN BUTTON build. If you feel like fooling around with shadowstrike, the build makes good use of it, but keep in mind its not a particularly damaging or safe build for perilous. But it is pretty awesome for routine and threatening .