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Look Very Carefully: The Shroud Assassin's Handbook (by erachima)
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<blockquote data-quote="Nibelung" data-source="post: 6711921" data-attributes="member: 74499"><p><strong>Originally posted by erachima:</strong></p><p></p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="font-size: 15px"><strong>Visions of Oblivion: Epic-Tier Assassination Techniques</strong></span></p><p>As an epic-tier Assassin, your insight has grown beyond mortal concepts of "life" and "death", you can now see how to end the existence of angels, demons, gods and stars. Compared to paragon, the Assassin's epic power selection is actually rather weak. However, it's not as if the powers from previous levels are getting any weaker.</p><p> </p><p>Short version: select <strong>Claim the Dead</strong>.</p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Utility 22</strong></span></p><p>There are two good choices here, but <span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Claim the Dead </strong></span>works every encounter and raises both your offense and defense, so you should probably take that one.</p><p></p><p><strong>Level 22 Assassin Utilities</strong></p><p>[sblock]</p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>Assassin's Eye </strong></span>(D379) - You get to ignore debuffs to attack and damage, as well as resistances, for a round. While you could do worse, this is really the sort of effect that should come as a daily power with better condition avoidance.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Claim the Dead </strong></span>(D379) - Self-heal, some THP, and a bonus move action for either this turn or next when you kill your shroud target. <strong><span style="color: #00ccff">Best</span></strong> on those Assassins who have picked up a minor or move action attack someplace, but nobody's complaining about this one. The default pick for the level.</p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>Fortress of Shadow </strong></span>(D379) - Well, sustainable invisibilty isn't bad, but aren't you invisible 2-3 rounds per encounter anyway? Probably not a worthy selection for U22.</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Gloaming Dance </strong></span>(D388) - Invisibility as a consolation prize for missing, and 2 more squares of shadow step distance EoE. Junk.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Ignore Barriers </strong></span>(HoS) - You know what just might make the DM cry? Encounter-long phasing. It can also be totally useless if there's nothing around where walking through it will screw up the DM's plans, of course.</p><p><strong>Soul of Death </strong>(D379) - Spend a surge as an interrupt to hitting 0, and then refill your shrouds. A decent bounce-back effect.</p><p>[/sblock] </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Encounter 23</strong></span></p><p>An extremely weak level. Take one of the also-rans from paragon, or better still, swap for a theme or MC attack.</p><p></p><p><strong>Level 23 Assassin Encounter Attacks</strong></p><p>[sblock]</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Cruel Shadows </strong></span>(D379) - It's an epic tier power with a combat advantage rider. Worthless.</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Obsidian Spiders </strong></span>(D379) - Another AoE power, but significantly worse than Well of Shades. Worthless.</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Shadow Swap </strong></span>(D379) - This utter "gem" of a power apparently wants one of your allies to throw a save-ends stun on you? Point is, it's worthless.</p><p><span style="color: #800080"><strong>Wraith's Assault </strong></span>(D379) - This power lets you fly your speed+4 and makes you phasing during the movement. The attack side's basically an afterthought, unfortunately, but it would've made a nice utility power.</p><p>[/sblock]</p><p><strong>Level 23 Theme Encounter Powers</strong></p><p>[sblock]<span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Sohei Supremacy</strong></span> (Sohei, D404) - This still isn't technically a multiattack, but it's a charge power, chainable to the Sohei Flurry minor action, and adds a two-target option over the heroic pick. A solid upgrade.</p><p></p><p>[/sblock] </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Daily 25</strong></span></p><p>All of these powers are awful. Take whichever of the good D19s you didn't take last time, or shell out the feat for the <strong><span style="color: #00ccff">Dark Reaver Powder</span></strong> poison.</p><p></p><p><strong>Level 25 Assassin Daily Attacks</strong></p><p>[sblock]</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Assassin's Scalpel </strong></span>(D379) - Expanded crit range: good. Lack of any meaningful rider effect: Bad. Not worth taking.</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Folded Shadow </strong></span>(D379) - It's suicidal E7 Shadow Jack again, but as a sustainable daily. Ignore it.</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Reaper's Touch </strong></span>(D379) - Say, do you know how much damage ongoing 25 is at epic? Basically none.</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Wall of Death </strong></span>(D379) - This intended upgrade of Wall of Shadows is actually weaker, thanks to giving a non-rolled damage instance and not being triggerable by forced movement. The main effect of this power will be that your allies can't see your enemies. Skip!</p><p>[/sblock]</p><p><strong>Level 25 Assassin Poisons</strong></p><p>[sblock]<strong><span style="color: #00ccff">Dark Reaver Powder</span></strong> (HoS) - 10 extra poison damage and end of next turn daze on hits with weapon attacks until end of encounter. Will still not apply to Flurry of Talons, but damn nice. <span style="color: #008000"><strong>Out of combat use</strong></span> renders the target unconscious for a day when ingested.</p><p><strong>Dragon Bile</strong> (HoS) - Prone+EonT stunned tagged to a weapon attack hit. A tad weak for level 25. <span style="color: #008000"><strong>Out of combat use </strong></span>kills a target on extended contact, but only if they're a sub-level threat.</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Eye of Basilisk Powder </strong></span>(HoS) - Petrifies the target, but only if they fail multiple saving throws which they won't. <span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Out of combat use </strong></span> is identical to in-combat use.</p><p></p><p>[/sblock]<span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Encounter 27</strong></span></p><p>The only real option here is <span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Shadows of Doom</strong></span>, but by now you've almost certainly found a superior out-of-class attack, so you should probably keep that one.</p><p></p><p><strong>Level 27 Assassin Encounter Attacks</strong></p><p>[sblock]</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Ambush From Thin Air </strong></span>(D379) - Teleport without LoS up to 20 squares, but only adjacent to your Shroud target. Another in the odd set of Assassin powers that assumes your enemies run. Not helpful.</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Last Word </strong></span>(D379) - An otherwise bland attack with the rider that your shrouds do 1d12 damage instead of 1d6. In other words, +2 damage (assuming you have Lethal Shroud) to each shroud. Totally ignorable.</p><p><span style="color: #ff0000"><strong>Reaper in Black </strong></span>(D379) - Mediocre damage and completely negligible forced movement on nearby foes. Nobody fears this reaper.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Shadows of Doom </strong></span>(D379) - Finally alleviating this quartet of epic suckiness, we get a power that does a tiny amount of static damage each time your enemy takes an action. Sounds bad, but assuming you've properly tweaked your extra damage and vulnerability triggers, this will add up. <span style="color: #00ccff">Excellent</span> for Morninglords.</p><p>[/sblock] </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><strong>Daily 29</strong></span></p><p>For your final power upgrade, you could take <span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Shadow Puppet</strong></span>, or just hold on to the D19 summons and Wall of Shadow. Either works.</p><p></p><p><strong>Level 29 Assassin Daily Attacks</strong></p><p>[sblock]</p><p><strong>Doom Foretold </strong>(D379) - Placing four shrouds allows for a good spike, though by level 29 you're quite close to your ED capstone, at which point your shrouds may stay maxed out constantly anyway. Decent, but not my pick for your final piece of improvement.</p><p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000">Intent to Murder </span></strong>(D379) - "Your" bloody value, not "the target's" bloody value. If you've at all succeeded in optimizing your damage, your standard attacks do more than that.</p><p><span style="color: #0000ff"><strong>Shadow Puppet </strong></span>(D379) - Dominate's dominate, and dominate's good. Now, granted, this is available 20 levels earlier on some other classes, but it's still good.</p><p><strong>Three Shadow Venoms </strong>(D379) - Dazed, weakened, and taking ongoing damage. Decent, but not capstone-worthy.</p><p>[/sblock]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nibelung, post: 6711921, member: 74499"] [b]Originally posted by erachima:[/b] [CENTER][Size=4][b]Visions of Oblivion: Epic-Tier Assassination Techniques[/b][/size][/CENTER] As an epic-tier Assassin, your insight has grown beyond mortal concepts of "life" and "death", you can now see how to end the existence of angels, demons, gods and stars. Compared to paragon, the Assassin's epic power selection is actually rather weak. However, it's not as if the powers from previous levels are getting any weaker. Short version: select [b]Claim the Dead[/b]. [Size=3][b]Utility 22[/b][/size] There are two good choices here, but [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Claim the Dead [/b][/COLOR]works every encounter and raises both your offense and defense, so you should probably take that one. [b]Level 22 Assassin Utilities[/b] [sblock] [COLOR=#800080][b]Assassin's Eye [/b][/COLOR](D379) - You get to ignore debuffs to attack and damage, as well as resistances, for a round. While you could do worse, this is really the sort of effect that should come as a daily power with better condition avoidance. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Claim the Dead [/b][/COLOR](D379) - Self-heal, some THP, and a bonus move action for either this turn or next when you kill your shroud target. [b][COLOR=#00ccff]Best[/COLOR][/b] on those Assassins who have picked up a minor or move action attack someplace, but nobody's complaining about this one. The default pick for the level. [COLOR=#800080][b]Fortress of Shadow [/b][/COLOR](D379) - Well, sustainable invisibilty isn't bad, but aren't you invisible 2-3 rounds per encounter anyway? Probably not a worthy selection for U22. [COLOR=#ff0000][b]Gloaming Dance [/b][/COLOR](D388) - Invisibility as a consolation prize for missing, and 2 more squares of shadow step distance EoE. Junk. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Ignore Barriers [/b][/COLOR](HoS) - You know what just might make the DM cry? Encounter-long phasing. It can also be totally useless if there's nothing around where walking through it will screw up the DM's plans, of course. [b]Soul of Death [/b](D379) - Spend a surge as an interrupt to hitting 0, and then refill your shrouds. A decent bounce-back effect. [/sblock] [Size=3][b]Encounter 23[/b][/size] An extremely weak level. Take one of the also-rans from paragon, or better still, swap for a theme or MC attack. [b]Level 23 Assassin Encounter Attacks[/b] [sblock] [COLOR=#ff0000][b]Cruel Shadows [/b][/COLOR](D379) - It's an epic tier power with a combat advantage rider. Worthless. [COLOR=#ff0000][b]Obsidian Spiders [/b][/COLOR](D379) - Another AoE power, but significantly worse than Well of Shades. Worthless. [COLOR=#ff0000][b]Shadow Swap [/b][/COLOR](D379) - This utter "gem" of a power apparently wants one of your allies to throw a save-ends stun on you? Point is, it's worthless. [COLOR=#800080][b]Wraith's Assault [/b][/COLOR](D379) - This power lets you fly your speed+4 and makes you phasing during the movement. The attack side's basically an afterthought, unfortunately, but it would've made a nice utility power. [/sblock] [b]Level 23 Theme Encounter Powers[/b] [sblock][COLOR=#0000ff][b]Sohei Supremacy[/b][/COLOR] (Sohei, D404) - This still isn't technically a multiattack, but it's a charge power, chainable to the Sohei Flurry minor action, and adds a two-target option over the heroic pick. A solid upgrade. [/sblock] [Size=3][b]Daily 25[/b][/size] All of these powers are awful. Take whichever of the good D19s you didn't take last time, or shell out the feat for the [b][COLOR=#00ccff]Dark Reaver Powder[/COLOR][/b] poison. [b]Level 25 Assassin Daily Attacks[/b] [sblock] [COLOR=#ff0000][b]Assassin's Scalpel [/b][/COLOR](D379) - Expanded crit range: good. Lack of any meaningful rider effect: Bad. Not worth taking. [COLOR=#ff0000][b]Folded Shadow [/b][/COLOR](D379) - It's suicidal E7 Shadow Jack again, but as a sustainable daily. Ignore it. [COLOR=#ff0000][b]Reaper's Touch [/b][/COLOR](D379) - Say, do you know how much damage ongoing 25 is at epic? Basically none. [COLOR=#ff0000][b]Wall of Death [/b][/COLOR](D379) - This intended upgrade of Wall of Shadows is actually weaker, thanks to giving a non-rolled damage instance and not being triggerable by forced movement. The main effect of this power will be that your allies can't see your enemies. Skip! [/sblock] [b]Level 25 Assassin Poisons[/b] [sblock][b][COLOR=#00ccff]Dark Reaver Powder[/COLOR][/b] (HoS) - 10 extra poison damage and end of next turn daze on hits with weapon attacks until end of encounter. Will still not apply to Flurry of Talons, but damn nice. [COLOR=#008000][b]Out of combat use[/b][/COLOR] renders the target unconscious for a day when ingested. [b]Dragon Bile[/b] (HoS) - Prone+EonT stunned tagged to a weapon attack hit. A tad weak for level 25. [COLOR=#008000][b]Out of combat use [/b][/COLOR]kills a target on extended contact, but only if they're a sub-level threat. [COLOR=#ff0000][b]Eye of Basilisk Powder [/b][/COLOR](HoS) - Petrifies the target, but only if they fail multiple saving throws which they won't. [COLOR=#ff0000][b]Out of combat use [/b][/COLOR] is identical to in-combat use. [/sblock][Size=3][b]Encounter 27[/b][/size] The only real option here is [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Shadows of Doom[/b][/COLOR], but by now you've almost certainly found a superior out-of-class attack, so you should probably keep that one. [b]Level 27 Assassin Encounter Attacks[/b] [sblock] [COLOR=#ff0000][b]Ambush From Thin Air [/b][/COLOR](D379) - Teleport without LoS up to 20 squares, but only adjacent to your Shroud target. Another in the odd set of Assassin powers that assumes your enemies run. Not helpful. [COLOR=#ff0000][b]Last Word [/b][/COLOR](D379) - An otherwise bland attack with the rider that your shrouds do 1d12 damage instead of 1d6. In other words, +2 damage (assuming you have Lethal Shroud) to each shroud. Totally ignorable. [COLOR=#ff0000][b]Reaper in Black [/b][/COLOR](D379) - Mediocre damage and completely negligible forced movement on nearby foes. Nobody fears this reaper. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Shadows of Doom [/b][/COLOR](D379) - Finally alleviating this quartet of epic suckiness, we get a power that does a tiny amount of static damage each time your enemy takes an action. Sounds bad, but assuming you've properly tweaked your extra damage and vulnerability triggers, this will add up. [COLOR=#00ccff]Excellent[/COLOR] for Morninglords. [/sblock] [Size=3][b]Daily 29[/b][/size] For your final power upgrade, you could take [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Shadow Puppet[/b][/COLOR], or just hold on to the D19 summons and Wall of Shadow. Either works. [b]Level 29 Assassin Daily Attacks[/b] [sblock] [b]Doom Foretold [/b](D379) - Placing four shrouds allows for a good spike, though by level 29 you're quite close to your ED capstone, at which point your shrouds may stay maxed out constantly anyway. Decent, but not my pick for your final piece of improvement. [b][COLOR=#ff0000]Intent to Murder [/COLOR][/b](D379) - "Your" bloody value, not "the target's" bloody value. If you've at all succeeded in optimizing your damage, your standard attacks do more than that. [COLOR=#0000ff][b]Shadow Puppet [/b][/COLOR](D379) - Dominate's dominate, and dominate's good. Now, granted, this is available 20 levels earlier on some other classes, but it's still good. [b]Three Shadow Venoms [/b](D379) - Dazed, weakened, and taking ongoing damage. Decent, but not capstone-worthy. [/sblock] [/QUOTE]
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Look Very Carefully: The Shroud Assassin's Handbook (by erachima)
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