Guide: How to WRECK lvl 50 Assassin PVP solo que

[Midnight_Malice]

Allright thanks for the answers, basically since PvP is a secondary focus I'll stay with my deception spec and just deal with how I tend to do in PvP. I believe dual spec was confirmed, so I'll just raid and stuff until then and work on alts and stuff. I love my Deception spec for PvE I am out DPSing all my friends at this point and they don't want to 1v1 me at all, which is kinda awesome.

 

If PvP becomes my focus, then maybe I'll respec. Again thanks for the tips guys.

Edited January 13, 2012 by Midnight_Malice

[Rayaleith]

Hate to double post but since I am leveling this is important to me. Once more: Is it a viable build for leveling? I know you can level with any class and any spec but when I say viable I mean if it is a proper way to level as assassin and gain levels in a timely fashion or is it a slow process?

[Astarica]

Doesn't kinetic bypass armor as well? There is an entire AC *cough*operatives*cough* that revolves around that damage type. There is a really good thread written up on it in the PvP section here. You're correct, armor does fine mitigating weapon damage, but there is so little of that type in the PvP metagame that it is in fact trivial.

 

Meaning that a reduction of X% from expertise is a flat reduction of X% regardless of armor rating.

 

Kinetic and energy attacks are stopped by armor, and that includes most projectile and even lightnign. Problem with Operatives is that they got a buff that ignores 50% of your armor, so yeah against those guys you might as well not be wearing armor for all practical purposes.

 

I pulled the list of Sorcerer abilities, a class you'd expect to have a lot of attacks that bypass armor:

 

Force Storm (AE) - energy

Affiliction (long dot) - internal

Crushing darkness (short dot) - kinetic

Lightning strike (quick nuke) - energy

Force Lightning - energy

Shock - energy

Death Field (AE) - internal

Thundering blast (talent big nuke, longish CD) - internal

 

As you can see the only real big nuke that bypasses armor is Thundering blast, which is a 31 point talent. The long dot (Afflicition) bypasses armor too, but that's obviously not something that will burst you down. Everything else is mitigated by armor.

 

If you took Saber Mastery, you also have 19% damage reduction versus internal/elemental, versus 0% for all other classes (your class buff gives you 10%, and after you die once you can't expect to always have every class's buff on in PvP). I don't think armor-piercing attacks are that prevalent, which is probably why only Operatives feel totally overpowered since all their attacks are armor piercing since their armor piercing ability comes from a self buff.

 

BH have 3 stances and one of them gives them 35% armor piercing, but the other two stances are also pretty useful in their own right (one is healing and other increases their armor and slight damage buff). It's true most DPS BHs will be using the armor piercing version but they're definitely giving up something (survivality/healing) for that.

Edited January 13, 2012 by Astarica

[phthalo]

Hate to double post but since I am leveling this is important to me. Once more: Is it a viable build for leveling? I know you can level with any class and any spec but when I say viable I mean if it is a proper way to level as assassin and gain levels in a timely fashion or is it a slow process?

 

Yes, I leveled from about 30-50 as Darkness. I would even say its better for leveling. I was tired of getting very low on big pulls and sometimes dying. After the switch I was taking down multiple mobs much faster without the risk of dying and I used Ashara all the way to 50. After being Darkness so long I tried switching back to Deception last night and that didn't last very long. I guess I am used to all the extra tools and the survivability. Also I would say it was fast, I would skip mobs as Deception but as Darkness I would finish all the bonuses because it seemed faster to me.. less downtime.

[Jechkt]

I like it in a way, but insta-cast tornado/raze I think outweights Wither/Harnessed Darkness. If and only if you can really abuse insta-whirlwind.

[Nelena]

I have a question to the OP:

 

why did you skill 3 points into electric execution instead of shroud of darkness? Since dark charge doesnt deal any damage it seems absolutely pointless to put any points into electric execution, or am i missing something?

[Hypernetic]

I have a question to the OP:

 

why did you skill 3 points into electric execution instead of shroud of darkness? Since dark charge doesnt deal any damage it seems absolutely pointless to put any points into electric execution, or am i missing something?

 

Dark charge does damage. The real question is why have points in swelling shadows since dark charge's proc has a CD and procs almost all the time anyway.

[HysteriaX]

The 31/0/10 build is solid (minus swelling shadows it's bad don't get it). However, I think the 27/14/0 build is the best pvp build atm. You do more damage, have almost the exact same survivability and you have reduced cooldowns on your pvp cc break, 2 seconds off of Jolt (which I cannot stress how important this is for pvp), you get an extra 10 force, 15% movement speed (again very important for melee), instant 10 force with increased regen on a 45 second cooldown, and probably the most important you get 50% shock cost reduction. The shock cost reduction from 2 stack induction saves you more force than torment ever will. You give up 9% melee crit that requires a force crit to activate, 50% chance to do 50% more damage on shock, 2% damage reduction, and an AOE that hit's like a wet noodle.

 

I can't speak for every assassin but I can say in my beta time and on live the main problem I have with assassin in pvp (other than the obvious CC chains that every range gets) isn't that our abilities don't do enough damage, it's that you never have enough force to do anything once you get someone low enough on health to finish them off. Blackout & Deceptive power alone gives me 4-7 extra kills per warzone because it gives me just enough force for that last maul, shock or assassinate to finish someone off before they heal, LoS, or knockback for the 37th time that fight.

[Hypernetic]

The 31/0/10 build is solid (minus swelling shadows it's bad don't get it). However, I think the 27/14/0 build is the best pvp build atm. You do more damage, have almost the exact same survivability and you have reduced cooldowns on your pvp cc break, 2 seconds off of Jolt (which I cannot stress how important this is for pvp), you get an extra 10 force, 15% movement speed (again very important for melee), instant 10 force with increased regen on a 45 second cooldown, and probably the most important you get 50% shock cost reduction. The shock cost reduction from 2 stack induction saves you more force than torment ever will. You give up 9% melee crit that requires a force crit to activate, 50% chance to do 50% more damage on shock, 2% damage reduction, and an AOE that hit's like a wet noodle.

 

I can't speak for every assassin but I can say in my beta time and on live the main problem I have with assassin in pvp (other than the obvious CC chains that every range gets) isn't that our abilities don't do enough damage, it's that you never have enough force to do anything once you get someone low enough on health to finish them off. Blackout & Deceptive power alone gives me 4-7 extra kills per warzone because it gives me just enough force for that last maul, shock or assassinate to finish someone off before they heal, LoS, or knockback for the 37th time that fight.

 

That's not a bad build either. I think it comes down to play style mostly. I like the synergy between Energize, Exploitive Strikes, and Chain Shock personally.

 

I also really like harnessed darkness in PVP. People really under estimate it's worth, especially when used with recklessness.

 

I think your build is better for more of a lone wolf slash killing focused build. I like wither. Also in 1.1 wither will be a beast.

 

That said, I think your build is excellent and I'm not knocking it at all.

[lollermittens]

I've been playing with this spec but it doesn't change the fact that assasins are on the bottom of the PvP ladder right now. If I see an assassin on the other team popping out of stealth, I will be sure to swtich targets on him because they are so squishy and easy to kill.

 

We are easily kited; we have no protection (even with the 31/0/10 build) or enough armor reduction; our damage isn't that great in comparison to say... smugglers/operatives; we simply aren't cut out for PvP.

[Astarica]

31/0/10 is probably worse than 27/whatever/whatever until Wither gets buffed, but that'll happen in a couple days. Losing the movement buff isn't a big deal when your spammable attack snares all the guys around you.

 

Losing Induction isn't really that big of a deal because you actually won't find too many situation in PvP where a guy is going to stand there and let you Thrash him twice. Also, due to Energize, you pretty much should Shock immediately if Energize procs, so you won't always have 2 stacks of Induction built up. If you have only one stack of induction, just getting the Madness talent for cheaper Thrash means Thrash + Shock = 23 + 39 = 62 Force, while 1 stack of induction gets you 25 + 34 = 59. The 9% bonus to melee crit from Madness works on Assassinate, which is very useful in making sure tough targets actually die instead of survive. I recently speced 31/0/10 and a lot of time I don't even melee except for Assassinate (which is 360 degree, unlike most melee attacks). I mean sure if someone is gracious enough to stand still for me to hit them, I'll still Thrash them a few times, but most enemies aren't so cooperative. The nice thing about 31/0/10 is that you can be heavily snared/rooted and still deliver nearly full damage, whereas Induction based DPS will get shut down by snare/root.

[Cloaster]

How viable is this spec for leveling, since i am a new sin and really wants to have a easy time lvling + pvping when PVE get boring .)

 

AtomeT

[fitterbr]

I have a question to the OP:

 

why did you skill 3 points into electric execution instead of shroud of darkness? Since dark charge doesnt deal any damage it seems absolutely pointless to put any points into electric execution, or am i missing something?

 

As has been discussed at length in this thread already the points in swelling shadows, electric execution, shroud of darkness, or thrashing blades are rather unimportant and up to you. I personally don't feel that the extra 3% endurance is worthwhile as I never experience getting burnt down from full to dead inside of CC. In fact when you are dieing 0-2 times per warzone more hp probably isn't an issue. For my play style electric execution is the lesser of the throw away points needed to proceed through the tree.

 

The same goes for swelling shadows. If you read back in this thread the math has been done for you already but in essence: with a 50% chance to proc dark charge per single hit in a GCD (yes thrash and SS will produce more) you will not be proccing dark charge every GCD and as such the 15% increased chance to proc dark charge will go a long way over the course of a 15 minute warzone both in terms of damage and self healing. This will change with the incoming 1.1 patch.

 

Again these skill points are rather unimportant to the overall build so place them where you will and continue to roll face regardless.

[nilssen]

I'm using the same spec aswell, but I've ditched wither, Shroud of Darkness and swelling shadows. For PvP this is just better. Spamming thrash/shocks with force lightning at 3 charges is pretty decent.

 

However, everytime I go up against either a shadow or a sage who knows how to play it's gameover.

Edited January 14, 2012 by nilssen

[fitterbr]

I've been playing with this spec but it doesn't change the fact that assasins are on the bottom of the PvP ladder right now. If I see an assassin on the other team popping out of stealth, I will be sure to swtich targets on him because they are so squishy and easy to kill.

 

We are easily kited; we have no protection (even with the 31/0/10 build) or enough armor reduction; our damage isn't that great in comparison to say... smugglers/operatives; we simply aren't cut out for PvP.

 

Sorry you are having a hard time in PvP as an assassin. With the 31-0-10 being discussed in this thread you are the most mobile melee in the game with the best ability to deal with kiters (pull, stun, slow, spike, range damage moves, etc). We are NOT easily kited, in fact we kite others quite well.

 

You are also not squishy. With a full set of stalker gear minus two pieces of dps modded survivor gear for the spike CD reduction and a shield generator you still have 21% reduction to internal and mental (which bypass armor) 35% chance to shield for 24% (I have read that in PvE at least shielded attacks CANNOT crit, not sure if this applies to PvP), and over 40% damage reduction in Champ gear. Wither also applies a -5%damage debuff to your targets and discharge applies a -5% chance to hit. What more do you expect? Furthermore in team fights you should be guarding others and popping mind control/mass mind control for -30% damage done by your enemies to your teammates.

[fitterbr]

31/0/10 is probably worse than 27/whatever/whatever until Wither gets buffed, but that'll happen in a couple days. Losing the movement buff isn't a big deal when your spammable attack snares all the guys around you.

 

Losing Induction isn't really that big of a deal because you actually won't find too many situation in PvP where a guy is going to stand there and let you Thrash him twice. Also, due to Energize, you pretty much should Shock immediately if Energize procs, so you won't always have 2 stacks of Induction built up. If you have only one stack of induction, just getting the Madness talent for cheaper Thrash means Thrash + Shock = 23 + 39 = 62 Force, while 1 stack of induction gets you 25 + 34 = 59. The 9% bonus to melee crit from Madness works on Assassinate, which is very useful in making sure tough targets actually die instead of survive. I recently speced 31/0/10 and a lot of time I don't even melee except for Assassinate (which is 360 degree, unlike most melee attacks). I mean sure if someone is gracious enough to stand still for me to hit them, I'll still Thrash them a few times, but most enemies aren't so cooperative. The nice thing about 31/0/10 is that you can be heavily snared/rooted and still deliver nearly full damage, whereas Induction based DPS will get shut down by snare/root.

 

Agreed! Nice to see someone who has tapped the true potential of this spec! Happy hunting! 5k+ assassinates are the only way I've found so far to hit the 5k damage in a single hit medal.

[Astarica]

I PvPed a bit more with 31/0/10 and find that you basically aren't a melee class anymore. You can get rooted and just trade hits with shock/force lightning/wither at nearly no DPS loss with any ranged class and they'll often be really surprised that you're dishing out nearly 100% damage from what they normally think of as safe distance. Of course, you still have no way to hit someone > 10m but that's why we're not a ranged DPS. The only problem right now is that I don't have an effective way to chase down runners outside of the normal stuff (Electrocute, Force Speed, Reckless + Force Lightning) but when Wither becomes a snare that should change.

 

It is probably a bit weaker than than Thrash based builds if you are always able to melee the enemy, but unless the enemy has mostly melee, it is their objective to make it difficult for you to melee them.

 

Normally you should just do Shock + Force Lightning. Don't bother building up to 3 stacks unless there's someone you really want to kill. Since it is still possible to escape from Force Lightning, you really should consider retarget the closest enemy that isn't near some obstacle for your FL unless your current target is close to dying. The only problem with this is if you start a FL and the enemy started a heal, it is hard to tell whether your FL will beat their heal on time, but you can't interrupt it because doing so interrupts your own FL, or at least it can potentially harm you whereas Thrash-based build have no such problems (all attacks are instant).

 

While Force is indeed a concern, it is mostly because this spec does a ton of damage. Shock + FL can do 5K+ damage without using anything special, so it does drain your Force pretty fast. To do 5K normal damage in two non-assassinate moves, you'd usually need the equivalent of 2 Mauls and that's at least 75 Force. Trying to build 3 stacks of Harnessed Darkness will kill your Force, so make sure whoever you're using it on is worth it.

[lazylantern]

OP or anyone stream this build?

it appears all the streams are deception. I'm curious to see some tanking/kiting action.

 

I am currently leveling my assassin and build this spec. I also recommend it to anyone since you very easily get 6+medals if you can put a guard up on an average sorc or a good merc. I've been getting the paladin medal quite regularly

 

I cant wait to get assassinate as I've yet to get the "damage in 1 blow" medals.

[Hypernetic]

I've been playing with this spec but it doesn't change the fact that assasins are on the bottom of the PvP ladder right now. If I see an assassin on the other team popping out of stealth, I will be sure to swtich targets on him because they are so squishy and easy to kill.

 

We are easily kited; we have no protection (even with the 31/0/10 build) or enough armor reduction; our damage isn't that great in comparison to say... smugglers/operatives; we simply aren't cut out for PvP.

 

You are doing it VERY wrong. VERY very wrong, my friend.

[fitterbr]

OP or anyone stream this build?

it appears all the streams are deception. I'm curious to see some tanking/kiting action.

 

I am currently leveling my assassin and build this spec. I also recommend it to anyone since you very easily get 6+medals if you can put a guard up on an average sorc or a good merc. I've been getting the paladin medal quite regularly

 

I cant wait to get assassinate as I've yet to get the "damage in 1 blow" medals.

 

My apologies. I would love to do some video capture for you guys but at the moment my machine would not be able to produce a quality video. Perhaps in a month or so when I build my new rig.

 

Glad you are enjoying the build. At 50 you will easily hit 10 medals per game unless the other team is a premade and intentionally trying to shut you down.

[fitterbr]

For those who continue to PM me, Yes darkness is a perfectly viable leveling spec.

[T-Rexy]

Hey I just respeced to your exact spec from my previous 5/33/3 spec Im lvl 50 and I am absolutly loving it everything you have said is 100% true everybody who says otherwise is just not intelligent and just ignore em lol

 

I have a question one question is this the priorty list you use? If not can you please post your version !!

 

0. Saber Strike (Out of Force)

1. Dark Ward (1 charge or about to expire)

2. Discharge (Every time it's up)

3. Wither (5 seconds after cooldown ends) or Death Field (every CD)

4. Force Lightning (3 stacks of Harnessed Darkness)

5. Assassinate (Target at 30% health or less)

6. Crushing Darkness (Raze buff)

7. Shock (Energize buff) or Lacerate (2 or more enemies)

8. Thrash

 

 

 

Im LOVING this spec!!

[Kennobai]

I fail to see why would anyone even remotely good want to play this after getting 3-4 pieces to get damage started off, this is honestly one of most mind numbing specs I've ever played, WoW included. You literally need only 7 buttons as this spec to do your thing.

[Hypernetic]

Hey I just respeced to your exact spec from my previous 5/33/3 spec Im lvl 50 and I am absolutly loving it everything you have said is 100% true everybody who says otherwise is just not intelligent and just ignore em lol

 

I have a question one question is this the priorty list you use? If not can you please post your version !!

 

0. Saber Strike (Out of Force)

1. Dark Ward (1 charge or about to expire)

2. Discharge (Every time it's up)

3. Wither (5 seconds after cooldown ends) or Death Field (every CD)

4. Force Lightning (3 stacks of Harnessed Darkness)

5. Assassinate (Target at 30% health or less)

6. Crushing Darkness (Raze buff)

7. Shock (Energize buff) or Lacerate (2 or more enemies)

8. Thrash

 

 

 

Im LOVING this spec!!

 

I actually don't use saber strike that much when I have low force. I find it better to keep the GCD open in case I need to pop a CD. Force regens very fast, especially if you are being hit.

 

Also PVP isn't so much about a rotation as it is about the situation. I suppose your list would be the general priority, but why even discharge or wither on someone who isn't doing much damage to you in the first place or who is attempting to flee or is a healer?

 

I save force lightning for when I actually need the healing from it and don't use it every single time I get 3 stacks up.

 

It's also impossible for you to have wither and the raze talent at the same time so I'm not sure why you have that in there.

[Jonesywonesy]

what implants, ear, wrist, belt, and weapon do you use!? i wanna try this out!