Talk:Mesmer Assassin

Umm.. has the OP ever used Illusionary Weaponry? 01:50, 3 April 2006 (CDT)
 * If daggers actually do swing every 1.25s, they'd maximize IW damage assuming no attack speed increasers. Of course, they're two handed and you don't actually have to be an assassin to use them, since you likely wouldn't care about points in dagger mastery.  --68.142.14.68 02:17, 3 April 2006 (CDT)
 * That depends if the Double Strike ability given by dagger mastery makes IW trigger twice. Still, both A and Me professions lacks an attack speed enhancer (AFAIK), so you'd still only be hitting every 1.25s, whereas a Me/W or Me/R would hit every 0.94s. So you're trading a mere 0.06s difference in attack speed for a focus/shield. IMHO, daggers aren't really worth it, unless double stike doubles IW. --theeth 02:30, 3 April 2006 (CDT)

I was meaning you would be silly to be Me/A for IW daggers, you would be sacrificing a speed-increasing stance of a ranger or warrior Skuld  10:33, 3 May 2006 (CDT)

I fixed a typo in the article, and added a short tip on Shadow Shroud based on the Me/A's I've seen in GvG. --Akaraxle 10:30, 3 May 2006 (CDT)


 * Dark Escape also works with IW, and it's a really neat stance, though sadly the recharge makes distortion a better choice. The thing about not chaining really bothers me, otherwise I'd totally dig it for the KD and other effects. I was thinking about Phantasm + IW + Scorpion Wire + Dark Escape and Run + Falling Spider + Exhausting Assault. This would end up with a -9 degen and triggering IW 3 times. Yes,ridiculously long, but it would have been fun if it worked. Wasted several platinum buying those skills too =( Silk Weaker 08:22, 24 June 2006 (CDT)


 * Okay, checked, double strike does work. I had level 6 only so it only triggered only a few times (actually I didn't notice that I was using a sword at first), so yes, it triggers... but is it worth it? Hell'd I know. If you max out dagger mastery, there's no room for a heal. I guess screw dark escape and stick with distortion, but I do wonder if the sacrifice of a nice solid heal is worth it. Silk Weaker 09:36, 24 June 2006 (CDT)

IW Stabber
Okay, due to the talk of whether an me/a could create an effective IW assasin, I spent a while playing around with the idea. I don't think it's actually superior to a me/w, but there are bonuses for using a me/a, so I'll just post the idea here instead of making a new build. First I'll get into the maths.

With Dagger Mastery at level 0, 9, and 12, Illusions at level 16

Sword Speed: 1.33 DPS: 31.57 Sword Speed (with IAS): 1 DPS 42 Dagger Speed: 1.225 DPS: 34.28 Dagger Speed (9): 1.04 DPS: 40.38 Dagger Speed (12): .99 DPS: 42.42

I'm not sure about how GW does rounding (I would guess the usual, but I heard it rounds up or something), I think there should be an article about it here, but in any case, there is an inherent 2% chance of double strike, so I got the speed from (1.25/(1+.02xdaggermastery+.02).

As you can see, the increase of DPS in using a dagger isn't that high, a focus with +1 illusions adds .8 to the output anyway, so you're really only increasing it by around 2 dps, while the focus could give you energy for tasks such as randomly casting diversion or a degen skill or whatever, which is far more useful in a team situation.

The damage with dagger mastery on, however, is comparable to having frenzy or flurry on the whole time. This means that energy is no problem (good if you're using rogue's armor or don't have a +5 or whatever). 42 dps without using any other skills is quite impressive, but the main problem with this is that dagger mastery does not have a healing option, and this is the same for a me/r. Instead of devoting points into 12 Illusions and 12 Tactics/Inspiration for healing and then some for fast cast, you have to spread it around. For this reason, I've used a dagger mastery of 9 for my build to make way for more Shadows and Fast Casting points.

General IW Stabber

Fast Cast: 5+1, Illusions: 12+1+3, Daggers: 9, Shadows: 8

Dark Escape Distortion Shadow's Refuge Illusionary Weaponary {E} Phantom Pain Images of Remorse Illusion of Pain Resurrection Signet

I have used Shadow's Refuge instead since it has a shorter cast time and allows for more time to attack than ether feast. The health gain is also quite comparable despite the +1 rune difference.

Phantom Pain and Images of remorse, due to the heavy cast time, is used before battle, and the 10 second duration should be all you need. the idea is that a -7 degen would be on for 10 seconds, and then a deep wound, meaning 140 damage + deep wound, which is, let's say 72 damage. So around 210 damage with fairly low energy cost hexes. In any case, the scenario is this: Cast the two hexes, IW, and then just continue to attack. Use Dark Escape if target is moving around and you're taking managable damage, switch to distortion as appropriate, Dark Escape could be used to chase them down as well, but if target health is decently low (which it should be after both hexes wear out, even if he's healed... 210 + 422 dmg) and they kite away from their monk or their monk is in no such position or whatever, cast illusion of pain, and simply switch targets.

I've used this a bit in PvE and RA, and the results are quite decent. The healing is a problem, but I had good healing in both times, so actually I found myself dealing more damage than a me/w. Tell me what you think, maybe this can be a viable buid... Silk Weaker 21:14, 24 June 2006 (CDT)