stesergio Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 I'm typically a ranged DPS player but I have always liked the idea of playing a stealth class, so the new combat styles gave me a good chance to try it out. First, I picked up Assassin & Shadow on my force characters and loved it. Was able to kill stuff fast and generally found it to be fun. Then I decided to pick up Operative as a second style for my Agent and I must be doing something wrong because it takes forever to kill basic solo content trash groups. It's not like I'm dying or anything, it just takes forever to kill one target at a time in a group of weak / strong enemies. I have read the only 7.0 guide I could find but guides are really intended for max dps on ops bosses. I'm not a raider, and this is not my main character, just trying it out for casual story / conquest stuff. As I said, I'm not having trouble clearing stuff it just seems really slow. I know this is a single target focused class and I don't expect the same kind of AoE that other classes have but still seems like I'm doing something wrong. I've been playing Concealment but maybe that is not the best choice? Backstab requires stealth and in group content you can use the combat stealth but when playing solo the combat stealth exits you from combat and resets the encounter so kinda useless. Would Lethality be better? I know it's hard to give advice without seeing what I'm doing but any general tips for dealing with spread out groups of enemies, which discipline / abilities work well, or general tips would be appreciated. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramell Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 Backstab can be used as a Frontstab after every detonation of Volatile Substance. This is the main way to use the ability, other than as your opening attack. It also does not require stealth, only that you do it from behind, it merely gets stronger from stealth. Fortunately that Volatile Substance trick also makes it count as stealth. Your main attacks when facing the enemy from the front, especially at lower levels where you do not yet have the abovementioned function, are Laceration and Veiled Strike. And use Volatile Substance as soon as it's off cooldown, and keep your Corrosive Dart up. In general Concealment is a strong single-target burst damage spec, excelling at tearing down one enemy at a time, so Lethality's AOEs and DoT-spreading may be better for solo content. I am very fond of Concealment, though. It's my main spec. Concealment hasn't changed substantially with 7.0, so any older guides are still applicable for the core attacks at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stesergio Posted February 25, 2022 Author Share Posted February 25, 2022 Backstab can be used as a Frontstab after every detonation of Volatile Substance. This is the main way to use the ability, other than as your opening attack. It also does not require stealth, only that you do it from behind, it merely gets stronger from stealth. Fortunately that Volatile Substance trick also makes it count as stealth. Your main attacks when facing the enemy from the front, especially at lower levels where you do not yet have the abovementioned function, are Laceration and Veiled Strike. And use Volatile Substance as soon as it's off cooldown, and keep your Corrosive Dart up. In general Concealment is a strong single-target burst damage spec, excelling at tearing down one enemy at a time, so Lethality's AOEs and DoT-spreading may be better for solo content. I am very fond of Concealment, though. It's my main spec. Concealment hasn't changed substantially with 7.0, so any older guides are still applicable for the core attacks at least. Yeah, I know the Volatile Substance trick but still figuring out how to really time it since as you said it has to "detonate" so using the ability doesn't immediately make backstab useable. Basically, as you said, I find myself just hacking away with Laceration and Veiled Strike over and over then move to next target and repeat so killing a group of 3-4 even weak targets seems so slow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night-runner Posted February 25, 2022 Share Posted February 25, 2022 (edited) Volatile substance can be triggered in 2 GCDs after application. When leveling, this is easiest accomplished by having corrosive dart on the target either pre-applied, or applied directly following Volatile Substance. Once you get Acid Lash (tactical item), you can open with Backstab (procs acid blade),apply Vol-subst, hit veiled strike, then hit Lacerate to tick Acid blade and trigger Vol-Subst My tio for leveling, have your companion in tank mode so you can still get behind mobs and backstab them Edited February 25, 2022 by Night-runner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverWF Posted February 27, 2022 Share Posted February 27, 2022 Volatile substance can be triggered in 2 GCDs after application. When leveling, this is easiest accomplished by having corrosive dart on the target either pre-applied, or applied directly following Volatile Substance. Once you get Acid Lash (tactical item), you can open with Backstab (procs acid blade),apply Vol-subst, hit veiled strike, then hit Lacerate to tick Acid blade and trigger Vol-Subst My tio for leveling, have your companion in tank mode so you can still get behind mobs and backstab them Such complicated rotation! >< OP play Assassin/Shadow really... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night-runner Posted February 27, 2022 Share Posted February 27, 2022 Such complicated rotation! >< OP play Assassin/Shadow really... Gotta take off the training wheels sometime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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