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This build is not favored by the
GuildWiki community.
The general consensus among users of GuildWiki is that this
build is not viable.
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The Triple Threat Assassin is designed primarily for ABs and CMs. It is also effective in PvE. This
build's title refers to the opportunity to knock your foe down
three separate times in about five seconds, while doing substantial
damage. Knock-down itself provides three benefits: interruption,
flight prevention (so you can do damage to your opponent), and
protection (through prevention of your foe from harming you or your
group). This build will effectively remove most casters from the
fight, and is useful to render warriors ineffective for a few
seconds.
[edit] Attributes and Skills
[edit] Equipment
- Any type of armor will work. You may choose the set with health
bonuses, or the set with armor bonuses.
- Weapons which lengthen the duration of enchantments and vampiric mods will be
most effective with this build.
- Cast Way of the Empty Palm so that most of
your attacks will be free. Energy management will now be
unnecessary for about 15 seconds. Shadow Refuge may be used as a short-term
cover enchantment. Most times if an enchantment is going to be
stripped it will be stripped early on, such as when closing in on
your target.
- Pick your target and cast Mark of Instability on them as you
close the distance.
- Once in range use Iron Palm to knock them down (because they are
hexed).
- Follow this with Falling Spider and Twisting Fangs.
Your opponent is now suffering from Poison, Deep Wound, and Bleeding; Twisting Fangs has triggered Mark of
Instability, and your opponent has once again been knocked
down.
- Follow with Golden Phoenix Strike and finish the
combo with Horns of the Ox. Your opponent is now knocked
down for the third time, as it is probable that they will be trying
to run (and therefore distancing themselves from their group).
- If your opponent is still alive, they shouldn't be for much
longer. An extra hit or two, coupled with the degen induced from
previous skills will be all that is needed for any caster to fall
without direct intervention.
- For prolonged fights, your initial skills and chain will not
recharge for 20 seconds. You still have the ability to use Golden
Phoenix Strike and Horns of the Ox, which are on a faster
cooldown timer. Make sure to use Shadow Refuge first so that you are
covered with an enchantment, or Golden
Phoenix Strike will miss.
- Use Shadow
Refuge as needed.
[edit] Counters
- Blind and Weakness will stop your combos. You have no way to
rid yourself of these conditions.
- Since this build is meant for spike damage and knock downs, Protection
Prayers skills like Reversal of Fortune or Guardian and defensive stances will greatly reduce
its effectiveness because it will significantly reduce or avoid
damage altogether. You can't damage what you can't hit. **note**
With the advent of Nightfall and the new skill Lift
Enchantment assassins may find a deadly skill to use against
protection-built monks.
- While coming with some defense from Shadow Refuge, you
are not a tank and should not try to linger in a losing situation.
Thankfully, alliance battles are chaotic enough for you to
disappear into the crowd or get a safe enough distance away that
others will focus on another player.
- Again, this build is lacking somewhat in defense. If a player
has issues with finding when to go in and when to hang back for a
few seconds, this build will find itself in trouble quickly.
- It takes time to get this build prepared for the attack chain.
An alert player may notice you and move to safety.
[edit] Variants
- One could choose to use Recall or Dash
rather than Shadow Refuge. This may give some extra
utility, but comes at the cost of self-reliance.
- For the Random or Team Arenas, you could include the Resurrection Signet, but you're left with
no defense. This build is not recommended for such instances.
- Way
of the Lotus could be used as a substitue for Way of
the Empty Palm, as it provides some additional energy that may
help push the full attack chain through.
- Siphon
Speed may be used as a replacement for Mark of
Instability to ensure that if they survive your entire chain
you will have a few seconds to finish them off, or to close the
distance more quickly. This does sacrifice one knockdown but
against certain foes that you do not expect to immediately
eliminate, it allows you and your group to keep pressure on
them.
- Enduring
Toxin is another good hex to use rather than Mark of
Instability; again, you will lose a knockdown, but it may be
effective for runners. The primary drawback to this hex is that it
only lasts 3 seconds unless they're moving at the very second it
woud expire.
- Entangling Asp could be incorporated instead
of Falling
Spider for a stunning four knockdowns; however, it
inflicts poison and no direct bonus damage, while the latter has
bonus damage. While degen is very helpful, this build prefers to
kill them while they're being incapacitated, not wait for them to
die after they've run off (and Falling Spider Poisons them
anyway).
- The second half of the attack chain (Golden
Phoenix Strike and Horns of the Ox) are not critical. These
slots are not being made optional because they make this build what
it is. It could be acceptable to replace these skills with
additional defensive skills and remove Way of
the Empty Palm to be replaced with another elite, since the
build would not be as energy-intensive; this, however, would make
the build into another type of build and not simply a variant.
- Again, this is primarily an AB and CM
build, so I haven't included the Resurrection Signet.
- This build is effective in other arenas, but is not recommended
unless you have an understanding with your team and have a specific
purpose for including this character.
- There is often debate about whether a Resurrection Signet should be included in
PvE builds. It is left out intentionally for this build with the
understanding that one will be running with other players aware of
the situation and that find it acceptable.
- One reason some players may find this build enjoyable is that
it opens up more possibilities for armor and weapon selection. In
many builds the user is forced to stick with Shrouded Armor
and Zealous dagger
tangs. While these are a great boon, they take away from additional
protection or damage-dealing capabilities like those found with the
+15 armor (while attacking) and reduced condition length mods, and
vampiric, sundering, or elemental
damage tangs.
- Feel free to experiment with or customize the attribute point
and rune selection. As this build is still being tested, the
optimal setup may not have yet been found.
- The ability to knock down your opponent three times ensures
that you will interrupt most of their spells before they die. For
any player who does not precast their protection or regen spells
this means you will most likely prevent them from using those
spells. It is not guaranteed that you will interrupt all their
spells or skills, but with a sharp eye and good timing you can shut
that character down for all practical purposes. This may help
prevent the other player from using defensive stances or spells, as
well as prohibiting the use of skills like blindness that will render
you useless. You must attack them quickly and catch them off guard,
and preferrably players who get too involved in what they were
previously doing to bother using their instant spells or skills on
you. Overly-aggressive elementalists and monks too involved in
healing others come to mind.
- As mentioned above, this build requires a good sense of timing
as well as good reflexes to master. Once you have done so, you
should expect a lot of hate coming your way. That's what you
wanted, right? :)
Assassin / Any
