Hey, I have recently come back to the game and have brushed off my assassin and am trying to learn the class. Could someone please look at my toon/gear/stats/AAs and tell me what im doing wrong or right? I currently parse 1 million on the dummy 2.2mil in buffed group-- is it good or bad considering my level of gear (mostly non gemmed) and that most of my spells are expert level? My current casting rotating is like this: 4 pre-buffs, then caltrops>torture>improvised weapon>deathmark>gushing wound>>evade>shadowstep>nightblade>masked strike>ambush>quickstrike>impale>IPS>(PFT/CLAWS if im doing complete FFU chain)>Jugular strike>Eviscerate>massacre>stalk>assassinate (dont use this if mob has too much hp)>FFU>nox enfeeblement>touch of night>deathblow> paralyzing strike> crippling strike>spineshot>evasive manuvers>smoke bomb> Spinning spear (if ae attack)>then add all arrow head icon attacks, hilt etc. whilst keeping caltrops/torture/deathmark/gushing wound/masked strike/ambush/impale up all the time. Thing is that with charm buffs active i can be over 1.5mil on dummy but as soon as they go away and i have settled into caltrops/torture/deathmark/gushing wound/masked strike/ambush/impale rotating, dps drops to just around 1mil. Some people say that i need to upgrade my spells and gear gemmed, some say my casting rotation is wrong, some say i need better weapons and purple runes and so on. I would like if i can narrow it down to (besides the obvious) to something i can fix first before working on the rest Thanks Link to toon: http://u.eq2wire.com/soe/character_detail/1301377345039
i am by no means an expert on assassins.. for some reason they are one of the few classes i just have not played. However, looking at your character I can tell you that you are lacking a bit of attack speed and flurry. Auto attack is your largest source of damage on your parse, and the best way to increase that is with more hits. I am hoping someone that plays the class takes a look at helps you out with that. I haven't the foggiest on what you could trade out for more attack speed or flurry. Keep in mind though that 200 attack speed is the soft cap, anything over that converts to flurry. Maybe reforge some casting speed into attack speed if you can cuz you do not need more than 100, and if you run with classes that buff it you can run with even less (like 85 i think). Things to consider, good luck.
For your gear, your parses are good. You could comfortably get another 100cb/pot with gear upgrades that would improve you further. And like said above, work on flurry and overcapping attack speed. Aiming for around 50 self buffed flurry is not unreasonable.
That starting order wat. Don't use Impro, ambush earlier, don't use stalk before assassinate, you forgot stealth assault, use smoke bomb for an off-ffu SA if it's up, don't quick strike/impale between ambush and rest of ips. Ideally your small chains should look like Ambush, (Ability), (Ability), Nightblade*, (Ability), (Ability), Ambush, FFU. What order you cast abilities/where you put Nightblade would depend on auto attack timing etc but it should start and end with Ambush. Don't bother maintaining Caltrops/Torture in a raid setting, or in a group where you have any two of dirge, either rogue, either cleric, shadowknight.
Thank you very much for the replies guys. Really helped me out. @Buffrat: Starting order are 3 buffs (honed reflexes; exacting; deadly focus) not sure why i said 4. Also, regarding my combat art level, it goes without saying i should master out but do you think that it will make a significant difference to dps overall? Thanks
In my experience, masters don't make THAT big a difference over expert. Do you want to get all your masters eventually? Of course. Do you want to spend money on masters when you could be spending it on better gear for yourself? I wouldn't. I'm still running with mostly expert spells, although I have picked up a few master spells here and there. I currently pull ~2.6m DPS on an epic solo dummy. I suspect that number would increase by *maybe* 100k were I to master all of my combat arts. But I am a poor rat, so I just research them, heehee.
What I like to use is (Regular group wise), on incoming my 4 buffs plus w.e clickies I am using at that time, Debuffs, Deathmark, Gushing wound, Impale, Quick strike,Shadowstep, Nightblade/masked/ambush and regular CA's until the mob is at 60ish then I use my PFT chain for the under 30% FFU then Deathblow. I use the left side prestige you might need to make some adjustments. I don't really even use Improvised weapon or headshot unless I have absolutely nothing else to cast, I try to prioritize my bleeds and nightblades. Also I don't use stalk anymore the 10% potency really isn't worth the cast time of it. And eventually you're gonna wanna swap your DPS mod runes to CB imo.
You should Frontload every time with honed/deadly. Master priority should be Ambush, FFU, then all your other stealth abilities. Death Mark GM.
Thanks Buffrat and the rest. I have taken on board whatever you guys suggested. My haste is now over 500 and flurry at 51%. Still working on AOE auto, cb and potency. I have also upgraded my weapons and with these fine tuning i can now easily reach over 3million in groups and around 1.7mil on training dummies. I still am getting used to the ambush short chain but overall feel more confident. Just had a slight concern though, the other night in dom, i was with another scout (brigand) and he was doubling on my parse, he was a lot better geared and more experienced so i thought may be it is just that. Are brigs/rangers better on dps these days?
Just a quick question. In terms of ability mod, what should be my aim for now? I used to be at 14.9k but now after making some changes i am down to 7k. Is this enough for now or shall i go higher once my gear is upgraded? Thanks
