Best 30th level executioner assassin one-turn damage?

[RangerWickett]

Just a thought experiment. Can an epic assassin kill a typical 30th level monster in one round?

If a 30th level half-orc executioner assassin (with the guild executioner paragon path and the xx epic destiny) wins initiative, attacks a standard creature, then action points, what can he pull off?

His basic attack does 2[w]+20 (8 Dex, 6 magic, 6 iron armbands; I'm sure I'm forgetting some charge shenanigans), which he can do once on the charge, and again on the action point.
Half-orc can get him +1[w].
Attack Finesse gives him +3d8 damage once.
His assassin's strike does +9d10 damage once.

And on the action point, he rerolls 1s, 2s, and 3s on all his dice. And if the target ends up with 30 HP left or less, it dies. Since a 30th level monster has 200-250-ish hp, he needs to deal at least 170 damage on average.

If he has Warrior of the Wild and can Hunter's Quarry once, he has to spend a minor action to add +3d6.

If he can apply wyvern venom as a minor action, thats +25.


Hehe, if you're a little ridiculous, be a Strength-based assassin, multiclass into fighter, and take the Eternal Defender epic destiny, which lets you once per day treat a successful attack roll as a natural 20, and wield extra-large weapons. So with your d10 sword, you can almost always hit once for 164 damage + 25 poison + 6d10 crit, plus whatever other ridiculous stuff I'm forgetting. So at least 195 damage. Okay, that's satisfying. Sure, you're a hulking, 8 ft. tall assassin, but you sure speed up combat.

 

[Prestidigitalis]

You could make it a bit more feasible by throwing in a surprise round...

 

[Destil]

Why are you a half-orc? Be a githzari and use their racial paragon path ability to auto-crit on your next attack, then pile on the most damaging one shot poison you can with an action point assassin's strike and high-crit weapon and one of your at-wills. It costs you a lot in average damage (no half damage on misses), but your burst damage is near guaranteed.

Also take ranger multi-classing for an extra 3d6/3d6 or rogue for 5d6/5d8 (rogue forces you to use a light blade, so you'd need to take a dagger and another feat to make it high-crit, may or may not be worth the trade).

 

[MrMyth]

There is also a feat, Venom Hand Assassin - after each rest, you can 'poison' a weapon, and the next attack with it does plus 1d8/2d8/3d8 poison (depending on tier). I found it a great complement to the executioner's 'nova' style.

And, of course, you could tack on other poisons as well. The Executioner's own daily poisons have some good options - Dark Reaver powder adds +10 poison damage on attacks throughout an encounter, or Wyvern Venom for +25 poison damage on that first hit. Other poisons and consumables might be useful as well.

Actually, let's go ahead and try to just count on stuff we can use every encounter. So no Action Points or daily poisons. Some of these choices are probably not very efficient, but let's go ahead and take them just for fun, anyway.

Tiefling Executioner Level 30
Charge: 2[W] with a Rapier: 2d8.
Dex 30: +10.
Attack Finesse: +3d8.
Assassin's Strike: +9d10.
Multiclass Sneak of Shadows/Backstabber: +5d8.
Infernal Sneak Attack: +5d6 (fire).
Surprising Charge: +1d8.
Venom Hand Assassin: +3d8 (poison).
Horned Helm: +3d6.
Thundergod Weapon: +2d6 (thunder).
Shadowdancer's Gloves: +1d6.
Enhancement: +6 (enhancement).
Iron Armbands of Power: +6 (item).
Diamond Scabbard: +5 (power).
Weapon Focus: +3 (feat).
Light Blade Expertise: +3.
Powerful Charge: +2.
Total: 9d10+14d8+11d6+35 = 186.

So, on average, the assassin erupts out of the shadows and instantly slays any enemy with 216 hitpoints or less. Enough to take out artillery and lurkers, most likely, but not most other monsters.

Of course, if you do add in an action point and other resources, odds are good the assasin might even be able to smoke an Elite right off the bat...

Now, that said, other optimized builds can certainly crank out damage along these lines. By level 30, all sorts of crazy stuff is possible.

But still, the assassin certainly does it with style. And rolling 35 dice of damage is always going to be fun.