Darkness PVP Builds

[iiconik]

After doing some research on Darkness Assassins, I compiled this post consisting of 3 builds and the info that goes along with running them. I have mirrored posts and added comments to put everything in one accessable post. Enjoy!

 

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DARKNESS ASSASSINS

 

 

"Jedi. Their order is a fading light in the dark. Corrupt and arrogant. They must be punished. The Jedi shall fall!"

 

Playstyle: High threat defender; melee with some ranged moves.

Mode: Dark Charge

PvE Builds: Standard (31/0/10)

PvP Builds: WitherChain (31/0/10), WitherStab (31/7/0+3)

Which spec should I pick?: Standard is your best option if you want to both PvE and PvP, as it performs well at both. WitherChain is my recommendation for the hardcore PvPer, and WitherStab is an experimental build I want to mess around with a bit. Three points are leftover with WitherStab; I recommend they go in Exploitive Strikes in Madness, or Obfuscation in Deception.

 

Overview of Recent Changes:

 

v1.1.2 - Energize now functions correctly with Recklessness. Harnessed Darkness now has a 30 second buff life, and can be applied via Wither. Raze and Induction are now inaccessible in Dark Charge. The overall effect is a significant buff to Darkness's survivability and damage and a significant nerf to the effectiveness of hybrid specializations that do not take 31 points in Darkness. There are no hybrid specializations that I consider worth recommending at this juncture now.

v1.1 - A Quality of Life improvement makes it so that tanks can change the recipient of their Guard without first removing it from their previous target, which is a significant boon to Sith Assassin tanks. Dark Charge has been changed to heal a larger amount, but more infrequently; Overcharge Saber increases the rate of the healing. The net effect is an overall moderate buff to the self-healing in the majority of situations. The biggest point of note, however, is the Wither buff - the ability now drops a 50% snare on all afflicted targets, and deals 15% more damage than before. This significant increase to AoE threat and utility essentially removes all compelling reasons to play a Hybrid Madness Tank in PvE, and should cause those playing it for PvP to rethink their position.

v1.0 - Discovery that Shielding and Defense are only partially effective in PvP significantly changes gearing approaches for this class in PvP, as well as skill specializations.

 

 

Welcome to our tanking tree. The Darkness Assassin has the highest single-target threat of the three tank styles available in the Old Republic, and we possess a mix of battlefield control, mobility and range that makes the playstyle a blast. The bulk of a Darkness's survivability is defined by her high blocking chance, while she has moderate avoidance, stable mitigation, and the unique ability among tanks to self-heal. Though the class's armor rating seems initially low, Combat Technique and several of its specialized skill brings the class armor values on par with the Jedi Guardian, and it has superior damage reduction for Elemental and Internal damage, the two types not covered by armor.

 

ABILITY OVERVIEW

 

Priority List:

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

2. Force Lightning (3 stacks of Harnessed Darkness)

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

4. Wither

5. Shock (Energize)

6. Discharge (every CD)

7. Thrash

8. Saber Strike (Conserving Force)

This priority list holds even single-target, as Wither and Discharge have useful side effects, and Death Field is good damage for the FP cost.

 

Dark Ward: Useless in PvP; shielding is basically unimportant there and it costs Force and splits your attention. In PvE, just keep it up whenever it is about to expire.

 

Spike: This ability is most notable in PvP; it causes less than half a bar of resolve. Darkness Assassins will be able to use this ability out of stealth, and should use it before any of their other stuns; it's particularly effective after Force Pulling a target into a hazard in Huttball, or to be focus-fired, thanks to the Nerve-Wracking skill. Do not open with this ability at the start of the fight, but save it to disorient the opponent. In PvE, the tank should use it regularly on the primary non-boss target.

 

Wither: This ability generates more single-target threat than your Thrash, increases your Harnessed Shadows stacking, and deals a comparable amount of damage, while also snaring the target and ignoring defense/accuracy. It also delivers a hefty 5% damage debuff to the target. And it strikes up to five targets at a time within 5 meters of your original target. Use it every cooldown. This ability makes Darkness Assassins very important for harassing opponents trying to move between objectives, especially in Huttball and Voidstar.

 

Maul: Only use this ability while Exploit Weakness is an active buff. If you're not WitherStab specialized, don't use it at all.

 

Discharge: In Dark Charge, it functions like a cheaper (20 cost versus 30 cost) and weaker version of Wither that bypasses standard armor-based damage reduction. It has double the cooldown length, and deals less damage even against heavily armored targets. -5% accuracy is also a significantly weaker debuff than -5% damage in PvP, though it's the other way around in PvE. It's useful and necessary, but not very fun or compelling.

 

Electrocute: It has a much longer CD than Spike, but is also a much longer stun. In PvP, when used on kill targets it should be reserved for targets who are already near their maximum resolve bar. It's also very handy to use on non-kill targets, of course, to prevent enemy ranged artillery and healers from freecasting. In PvE, it should be used similarly to Spike.

 

Whirlwind: 23/0/18 Hybrids will use this ability a lot due to having it as an instant cast; the two second cast makes it uncommon for use by any other type of Darkness Assassin. The primary incapacitate basically gives the opponent a full grey resolve bar from nothing. If the target has any grey on their resolve bar prior to casting, they will get a white resolve bar, granting them CC immunity until the bar drains completely. Any damage will break a Whirlwind, but Madness Hybrids will then get a secondary two-second stun. If the target did not already have a white resolve bar, this second stun will trigger and give them one. All in all, Whirlwind is a risky and situational ability and I only recommend using it in PvP on a target you have no intention of killing or can guarantee that you will kill in 2-3 global cooldowns. In PvE, its benefits are slim.

 

Force Shroud: Any ability that doesn't deal 'weapon damage' in its description is affected by this ability. Use it together with Force Cloak to make a successful escape, use it offensively when you anticipate a cast, use it to remove all healer-removable enemy effects on you... It's on a short cooldown and grants you five seconds of near-immunity. It's particularly useful for running the ball in Huttball, or surviving boss damage traps like those on the final boss of Athiss or Eternity Vault. Force Shroud is not affected by nor causes a global cooldown. Jedi Knights and Scoundrels have some immobilizes and snares which Force Shroud does not grant immunity to.

 

Force Cloak: Obviously, a very useful defensive escape tool - but you cannot be healed while in it. Make sure to keep stealth in a position that's easy to activate immediately following Force Cloak. Worth noting is that Overcharge Saber does not break stealth, but medpacs will - so the former would be wasted if you used it within 10 seconds of Cloaking without first breaking stealth, while the latter will immediately break your stealth and heal you. In PvP, I frequently run for the heal power-ups while being chased, cloak, and then immediately destealth right before I run over the heal. Force Cloak is not affected by nor causes a global cooldown. Deception Hybrids do not have the issue of Cloak preventing healing.

 

Mind Trap: A very useful ability - in PvP it can help a partner take an objective, reduce the number of opponents you have to face temporarily, break an opponent's objective taking without revealing your presence. In PvE, the biggest issue is that you risk discovery if you're not careful, and that your AoEs can break your Maze. It's used well in conjunction with Blackout to prevent the former issue, and strategic use of Force Pull can help with keeping your targets far enough away from your Mazed victim.

 

Blackout: For most Darknesss, this ability is only useful to ensure that you can remain hidden for a brief period of time while Mind Mazing or scouting. If you're an Deception hybrid, you'll want to avoid using it for that and instead using it to guarantee when you can go all-out against a target. I recommend using it at about 25% to 75% Force. Any higher and you risk wasting some of the energy, and going lower risks having periods where you have insufficient energy anyway; none of the Force would be wasted, but your burst period would be hampered. This ability does not respect the global cooldown.

 

Overcharge Saber: Use it whenever you need a 10% heal. This ability does not break stealth. The bonus to your healing over time from Combat Technique is notable, but not significant enough to plan around. The 2 minute cooldown is short enough that you can use it multiple times in long boss fights like in operations: once early on, once in the middle, and then once towards the end. Most boss fights of any kind will allow at least two uses if the first is cycled early, so don't be too shy about saving it. This ability does not respect the global cooldown.

 

Deflection: Amazing survivability CD in PvE. The 2 minute cooldown is short enough that you can use it multiple times in long boss fights like in operations: once early on, once in the middle, and then once towards the end. Most boss fights of any kind will allow at least two uses if the first is cycled early, so don't be too shy about saving it. In PvP, it's of limited function; it will provide a decent survivability bonus against specializations that rely heavily on weapon damage, such as the Deception Assassin, Sentinels and some Gunslingers; it is of less useless against those that primarily rely on tech or force damage, such as the Commando, and completely useless against a Sage. This ability does not respect the global cooldown.

 

Recklessness: This ability should work with Energize, but as described in the notable issues segment, it does not. That's not a major concern, however; you primarily want to use the ability with Force Lightning as a Darkness Assassin, as it increases the range to 30m and gives a 60% boosted chance of critical on every single tick. Harnessed Darkness is what you want to save your first Recklessness charge for. Your second should ideally be spent on Shock, as you will almost always have enough Force to activate Shock immediately after a full-duration F-Lightning. Anything else is a waste for anyone with the Harnessed Darkness skill. If you are Darkness and don't have Harnessed Darkness, your best bet is to use it with Death Field. If you don't have that, either, use it with... whatever, I guess. Note that Shocks that activate with the Chain Shock skill will consume two charges of Recklessness, and Death Field's heal will also consume a Recklessness charge. This ability does not respect the global cooldown.

 

Force Lightning: Never use this ability as a Darkness unless you have three stacks of Harnessed Darkness. With three stacks and Recklessness active, I can guarantee delivering 3.5k damage in 1 second, and another 3.5k damage over 2 seconds. That is a massive amount of single target threat, and a massive amount of burst damage. In a multiple target situation in PvE, this should go towards your secondary target, as it will even up your threat very quickly.

 

Shock: Ideally, you should only use Shock with the Energize buff active, which can be noticed on your buff bar or with a briefly flashed halo of color around your character. When opening, however, you may wish to begin with Shock to gain a Harnessed Shadow buff; the amount of healing and damage delivered by Harnessed Shadows is too large.

 

Force Pull: In PvE, never start a fight with your primary target using Pull; it has a threat component and a long cooldown, so it's best used to reposition a ranged enemy closer to you mid-fight. In PvP, it's extremely versatile; you can use it to close gaps with a target, pull someone into the fire (where you will then stun them), pull them into your group (where you will focus fire and murder them), or - and this is a personal favorite - sprint about 25 meters away from the group and pull a healer or a tank away from the rest of their group. Pulling the healer away prevents him from healing effectively and you may be able to kill him, especially if you broke a tank's Guard on him. Pulling the tank away prevents him from taunting and again interrupts his Guard on an ally. Use your judgement on which is the best to pull away at a given time; I usually prefer to get the healer, especially if it's a Sage, as a Sage can pull their tank right back to them.

 

Lacerate: This move is typically terrible and should only be used when you can guarantee you'll strike at least four targets, or if you like spinning in place like a pretty ballerina. In PvP, it can also be useful for preventing objective caps, but watch out for the Force Cost. However, when paired with Deflection and other defensive cooldowns, the Force cost can briefly become negligible and make its use more compelling when a lot of AoE damage is necessary.

 

Unbreakable Will: Your CC breaker as a Jedi Consular. In PvE, just use it any time you're stunned for more than a second. Your speed should be used for breaking immobilizes and snares instead. In PvP, try to reserve it for when you have a white bar of resolve, unless you absolutely need to break an objective cap by the enemy or something.

 

Force Speed: You can do it every 20 seconds, and it breaks all snares and immobilizations on you. Use it judiciously to avoid hazards (like in Hard Mode Directive 7), sprint right through hazards (in Huttball, but this is risky even when paired with Force Shroud), close gaps, etc.

 

Guard: Judicious use of Guard is one of the things that separates the good tanks from the bad tanks. In PvE, you'll typically want to Guard your off-tank - in a flashpoint, this refers to your best-geared DPS (melee preferred over ranged.) This will reduce the amount of healing that needs to go to them. Healers should generally not be guarded barring extraordinary circumstance. In PvP, however, the Guard mechanic changes greatly and a Healer should almost always be your main Guard target. But not your only Guard target. Watch people near you and switch Guards as necessary or even turn them off if it's going to get you killed - you'll do more if you survive, heal, and taunt than if you just go down. Keeping Target Nearest Friendly bound in a convenient place as well as Set Focus and Target Focus is essential to maximizing good Guard play in PvP. Also try and keep your Guard target about 10m away from you. 15+ breaks the Guard effect, while <10 makes it too obvious who you're Guarding as well as making you both susceptible to AoEs.

 

Mind Control/Mass Mind Control: PvE, their usage is simple: you don't have threat, you use this ability and get threat. Force Pull is preferable to MC for a ranged enemy, and note MMC's short 15m radius as opposed to MC's long 30m range. In PvP, use Mind Control every CD on someone who's not hitting you (it doesn't trigger a GCD), but I'd reserve Mass Mind Control for the hectic situations. Every now and then I do burn MMC with only a single target around - if a healer is about to go down and they're already guarded and MC is about to end, then I chain in MMC. It's made the difference a few times.

 

Overload: There's about a 0.5s delay in activation on this ability, which can make prediction hard unless paired with a target who is already immobile. Overload is also the weakest KB in the game, with the least momentum behind it. Aside from the obvious 'knock someone into hazards or down cliffs' component of all knockback abilities, Overload should be used judiciously to get your Guard target some breathing room in PvP.

 

GEARING

 

As with all Inquisitors, Willpower is your primary stat, and you use both physical and Force abilities; Willpower no longer increases the effectiveness of any of your self-healing, however. When gearing in PvE, you will have to balance Shield Rating (chance of a shield effect triggering), Absorption (strength of a shield effect), and Defense. Averaging out these values to provide your maximum survivability has a precise formula. This thread has the related formula you should use if you want to find out what could potentially give you the most survivability out of your upgrade slots. The basic rule is to not try to stack too high on any one stat. In PvE, you will always prefer mods that favor Endurance over Willpower, and you'll never have to make a choice for Endurance versus a secondary stat.

 

For PvE gearing, you can just stick with the Survivor sets.

 

PvP is where the whole thing gets complicated. Avoidance and Shielding (especially shielding) are mostly worthless in PvP, as they will not activate properly on a significant portion of the attacks delivered in PvP. My recommendation for PvP tanks is to slot a balance of power and surge rating in your upgrade slots, along with a bit of critical hit rating. This extends to your relics and adrenals; only your stim is possibly in question, since a higher Endurance translates to a bigger Harnessed Shadow heal. Expertise is, of course, the most important stat - it improves all of your healing - but it's basically a default stat that doesn't need to be factored in. At 50, you'll want to run with two pieces of Survivor PvP gear rather than Stalker PvP gear if you went deep enough to get the Stasis skill - just unslot the Survivor mods and put in Stalker mods. Yes, that means you have to get at least two extra pieces of Centurion, Champion or Battlemaster.

 

Getting the four piece Survivor bonus isn't a big deal in PvP. It's preferable over having two pieces of Stalker and two pieces of Survivor, but the Stalker two-piece bonus is decent enough, so if you want to grab all Stalker pieces initially for the better mods, do so.

 

I do not recommend equipping a Shield Generator in PvP; you'll be better off with a Power Generator.

 

Thank you to Strategiize for suggesting a 3 piece stalker, 2 piece survivor gear setup. Ideally one would pull the tanking mods out of the survivor gear and replace them with power/surge/crit mods. With this setup you keep your dps up while taking advantage of the very useful 20s CD on Spike!

 

 

Dark/Chainshock Tankassin PVP

 

OK guys here it is. For all those complaining about the shortcomings of deception and madness, or assassin pvp in general try this on for size: (I think deception and madness both have their place but this IMO is the best for solo que)

 

31-0-10 full darkness/chain shock.

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#200bcrskrskbsZZf0cM.1

 

With this spec you OWN every map. Huttball is a playground for you to annihilate. Your damage may seem low at first but your staying power is HUGE. You also have the most escapability of ANY class in the game giving you the ability to completely avoid death if you play your cards right. With this set up I have gone countless solo que games with 25-45 kills 15-25 killing blows, 8-12 medals, and 0, 1, or 2 deaths per game! Currently around valor rank 40 with almost full champ gear (2 piece cent).

 

Now you may ask why full darkness? Why not deathfield? Simply put wither is much easier to use, has a useful debuff, and harness darkness will turn the tide of any 1v1. This spec also gives you nearly spammable 10m range moves and buffs them. Further more going into deception may seem like a good idea but setting up maul will frustrate you with the amount of CC and knockbacks in team play. This is where Darkness excels, you have 4 moves with 10m range and can break movement impairs and super sprint every 20s... talk about staying on target!

 

Some tips: use stealth and pull to set up 1v1s. Use stealth and AoE knockback to get up beside a caster on a vantage point and knock him down to where you want to fight him. Use your defensives when you get focused obviously. Use a SHIELD GENERATOR and dark ward this is HUGE mitigation. Use guard on squishies to get your guard medals. Take biochem for the very useful rakata medpack (5-6k heal) and permanent 136 willpower and 56 power from the stim as well as the adrenals! Get your Matrix cube from datacrons. Get all your useful datacrons. Obviously use dark charge.

 

Now this spec is versatile. You can gear out pure dps (recommended) other than the shield generator and have great damage (2-4k assassinates, ~2400 crit shocks with 45% for another to follow etc). This makes you a great brawler able to survive in the fray and escape when you need to or 1v1 ANYONE. NOTE*** healers can be tough to kill without big burst damage, save interrupts and DPS clickies for these situations. Or you can go full tank gear to ball carry or be a huge support to your team and leave the damage dealing to the OP mercs.

 

Final note: Many of you think operatives are OP but guess what... with this spec you will crush them. You have more than enough survivability to outlive their burst if you get caught in it. Return fire with your own CC, get your defensives up, heals up, and start kiting them with force slow and your 10m range moves for the win. If you happen to have your CC break up its GG and the operative is toast.

 

 

TLDR - Spike out of stealth, pull, massive survivability and escapability, good damage, 20s force speed with snare/root break, ability to kite and not be kited with 4-10m range moves = IMMORTAL!

 

PS: I PvP without a chest on cause assassins are such BEASTS!

 

**In PvP there is no rotation you will adjust everything you do on the fly. In a team fight I get the debuffs up first but 1v1 would be something like:

 

 

0. Target running or >10m range then force slow/pull/force speed or if 3 stacks of harness darkness and target will eat an entire force lightning then pop recklessness and a power or surge clicky and force lightning.

1. if the target is =<30% assassinate.

2. Shock on CD to build charges of harness darkness

3. wither to get debuff up

4. discharge

5. spam wither/saber strike/thrash depending on level of force and range of the target

 

You may prioritize Thrash higher if you are able to maintain good uptime in melee range in order to get more energize procs or if you don't need the defensive debuffs from wither/discharge.

 

Open to comments on this priority list.

 

Important tips for mastering this spec

 

1. Your primary job is to get as much attention as possible off your team. Feel free to run through crowds of enemies throwing out a taunt and smashing healers in the face to get that attention

 

2. learn to CC/interrupt lock healers. KB, jolt, electrocute, pull, and spike are very important to locking down a healer. A locked down healer heals no one which makes ppl attack you.

 

3. My preferred open in huttball is pull into the acid, spike them, then stun them as they get up if needed. If you stun before spike you trigger resolve.

 

4. Spike also pushes ppl forward a couple meters use this if an enemies is too near a cliff or trap.

 

5. medpacks are your friends carry one at all times

 

6. don't be afraid to blow your defensive cds in order to survive.

 

7. learn when to run, running can be the best distraction. The other night i got the other teams best dpsers to chase me down one huttball lane while the ball carrier went up the other with no serious resistance.

 

8. Learn the locations of the healing powerups they can extend your staying power tremendously.

 

9. when in doubt vanish and run the time it takes to you find a spot to seethe is usually less than the time needed to respawn and move halfway across the field.

 

(Mirrored from AstralFire and Fitterbr)

[wtfnonamefree]

Darth Fector approves of this thread!

 

edit: Unless you didn't ask the original posters for their permissionm that is. Also, you might want to go through the task of editing it a little bit to work out inconsistencies and contradictions. Maybe a little formatting, making it clearer, what source a particular excerpt stems from as well.

 

The way it is now, it might be more confusing to read through the mashup and reading the OPs in their contexts would still be preferable.

Edited February 25, 2012 by wtfnonamefree

[ZakPreston]

Thank you for a good gide and some useful tips and tricks (2200 rogue here). Thou I'm a lowbie 45 tankassin, and I'd like to clarify a few moments:

• 1. Is it a good option to buy Stalker set first and then change it with Survivor, taking out Mods and Enhancements from Stalker?
  
• 2. Is there any valid Darkness + Deception hybrid build?
  
• 3. Why have you ignored Nerve Wracking? It seems to be a very strong boost to your Assassinate, and stunning a Ball-Hanldler with your Jolt dramatically decreases his chance to survive.
  
• 4. What saber should a Deception Assassin use: DD or Tanky?
  
• 5. I'm not sure if Swelling Shadows and Electric Execution are the best choices. Could you explain id details your choice?
  

Edited February 25, 2012 by ZakPreston

[Mythkyl]

this is going to get erased id imagine i could copy and paste the codex for darkness assassins and paster it here too thanks for dragging your mouse over the codex and pulling this out.?!?

[Farson_]

First you say Dark Ward is useless in PvP, then you go on to say it's huge mitigation?

[iiconik]

Darth Fector approves of this thread!

 

edit: Unless you didn't ask the original posters for their permissionm that is. Also, you might want to go through the task of editing it a little bit to work out inconsistencies and contradictions. Maybe a little formatting, making it clearer, what source a particular excerpt stems from as well.

 

The way it is now, it might be more confusing to read through the mashup and reading the OPs in their contexts would still be preferable.

 

Yeah, I am pretty brand new to posting on the forums so Im not really too sure about all the rules. Really the main reason I did this is so that I could transfer all the information I have gathered from my work computer to home as I am not able to send emails to outside accounts due to company restrictions on our systems. Thank you very much for the heads up!

[iiconik]

First you say Dark Ward is useless in PvP, then you go on to say it's huge mitigation?

 

They are 2 different builds

[wtfnonamefree]

Yeah, I am pretty brand new to posting on the forums so Im not really too sure about all the rules. Really the main reason I did this is so that I could transfer all the information I have gathered from my work computer to home as I am not able to send emails to outside accounts due to company restrictions on our systems. Thank you very much for the heads up!

 

It's a good thing that you try to condense the available information to make it more accessible. But you've got to give credit to the original authors in any case (which you do, but make it more prominent) and, though you don't have to iirc - it is the sensible thing to do to ask for permission first, before posting it.

 

If you haven't already, you should still try to contact the OPs and do it. Also, you should reformat the whole thing, i.e. make one consistent guide by eliminating redundancies and giving the alternative views, when applicable and with appropriate credit.

 

In addition, there are more excellent sources of information to be found in regards to Assassin PvP, e.g.:

 

Gearing

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=242994

 

Defstats in PvP

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=213530

 

And when you tackle the task of creating a superguide - why not go the whole way and supply links to other PvP related information as the 3 stickies in the PvP forum.

 

If you've got the time, dedication and editing skills, this might become the essential Darkness PvP resource. If not, I'd be willing to help.^^ Just hit me up with a pm.

[Skorpeo]

I do not recommend equipping a Shield Generator in PvP; you'll be better off with a Power Generator.

 

Use a SHIELD GENERATOR and dark ward this is HUGE mitigation. )

 

Really confused by these two things said by the OP about using Darkness PVP. Care to clarify?

 

Also, am I to understand that when to just purely PVP that dark ward is not to be used? If that is so, should we spec into Hollow? That being said, what would be the best place to put those three points? Thrashing blades, shroud of darkness, or 1-2 into nerve wracking?