Darkness - soo OP right now. Here's why any other spec isnt nearly as good:

[Grogget]

Alright so, I've tried two different builds that revolve around the Darkness tree. For each build, Darkness always has 31 points specced into it, all the way up to Wither, whilst skipping Dark Ward because I don't wear a shield and its basically useless. The difference is in where I put the remaining 10 points.

 

The first build I tried out was the WitherStab build (31/10/0: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#200bIrozrskdsZhGb.1 )

and this is a real neat build because you get to keep the effectiveness of stealth as if you were specced as Deception. Not only that, but you get a big chance for those Maul procs which is huge if you time it right. The one downside I saw to this build was that you didn't really have too much of a burst, rather your damage was more of a sustained type unless you got in those maul procs followed up by assassination and maybe a shock in for good measure. Another thing was that this build was very costly when it came to your force spending; regardless of the high regen rate from the "Blood of Sith" skill tree, in fights, I was always running out of force for those crucial seconds where I needed it to finish off a rotation. That may have been just bad timing on my part, but overall it did cost me quite a bit, regardless of what rotations I might have tried. A good counter to this, though, since you have the further increased force regen from the Dark Embrace skill in the Deception tree while stealthed, if you come across that situation, you can use Blackout to increase your force regeneration rate to a whopping 80%, and then re-open with a Spike or a Maul if you have it procced. It will definitely take opponents off guard as they are most likely not expecting a tankasin to be doing a deception assassin based move.

 

As for the vanilla build of 31/0/10 (http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#200bIrozrskdsZZf0cM.1) , its also a great build, I love the chance of a double shock, but I'm sort of questioning putting 2 points into Torment. While it does decrease the force cost of shock and thrash, its only by a small amount: Shock = 45 normal, 39 with Torment; Thrash = 25 normal, 23 with Torment. Basically it benefits shock the most and thrash, is well... barely noticed a difference. All in all though, with that double shock, you gain a slight burst increase and the critical chance increase of Exploitive Strikes is a real neat thing too.

 

To recap (TL;DR version):

WitherStab Build Pros and Cons

+ Increased Stealth Speed and level, hard to detect.

+ Increased Force Regeneration from Dark Embrace, upwards to 50% (80% total with Blood of Sith)

+ Unbreakable Will CD is reduced from 2 minutes (default) to 1:30 if both points are spent on this skill.

+ Maul procs. Need not say more.

- Overall build is very expensive as far as force costs go. Can use Blackout technique to counter, though.

- DPS is not quite as bursty as the vanilla build, rather its more sustained... so good luck killing healers unless you severely outgear them.

- Lack of a chain shock from the vanilla build... what you see is what you get, and it costs quite a bit of force to use.

 

And last but not least, here's a video of the WitherStab build I've been using.

Edited June 2, 2012 by Grogget

[NoTomorrow]

Darkness it the epitome of opness on this game.

Force shroud, 50% deflection, force pull, knockbacks, force speed, tank armor, shields + many many more.

HOLY JEBUS its the complete domination package for a pvp class.

[InariOkami]

Darkness it the epitome of opness on this game.

Force shroud, 50% deflection, force pull, knockbacks, force speed, tank armor, shields + many many more.

HOLY JEBUS its the complete domination package for a pvp class.

 

You clearly forget pyrotechs shoot hot pire at our faces. And double marauder glowsticks are HOLY JEBUS OP TOO. Oh and snipers can wtfpewpew you so hard! And OPowered (cwutididthar) can heal so hard! And sorc healers throw lightning at our face! And Mercs have icky bubbles.

 

SO OP MAN