Skill setup and rotation

**Mizelle** · 01-10-2013, 09:05 AM

So after a lot of trial and error and a lot of re-specs I have found the skill setup and rotation that seems to work for me. It's good for clearing groups and also single targets.

Skills
(2) Shadow Piercer - Leading Dagger (Good multiple target damage dealer)
(3) Razor Shield - Whirling Razors, Increased Duration (Dodge bonus and 8 secs of dmg makes this a nice skill)
(5) Aimed Shot (Keeping the +crit -enemy armor buff stacked is vital and makes for some seriously hard hits)
(2) Shadow Veil - Shadow Absorption (Very nice group damage buff, always charge as it effects the smoke area size)

For passives I have 5 points in Dex and 5 in Int. I could have went crit or dmg but with AS buff the crit is high enough and I was doing good dmg before passives were
implemented. The Int allows me to not only use less pots but it makes my rotation more efficient by not having to focus on potting or going oom and potting before being able
to continue my skill rotation.

Skill Rotation (If I put an * before the skill it means I'm charging it)

So when fighting groups of mobs I'll lead with a quick AS to start the crit buff. Then I drop *SV and Razors followed by AS and *SP with a couple quick auto attacks to fill in
the empty space. I keep that rotation going until we are clear, re-drop smoke and razors if it comes down to it. Just remember to keep that AS crit stack going.

For bosses I'll drop *SV and Razors followed by AS spam to build up crit stack. I throw auto attacks in between here also. Once I have full crit stack I go between AS and
auto attacks until boss is dead. Also re-drop smoke and razors as needed. I used to put a quick SP on boss but SP is so inconsistent most of the time it just hits the boss
but every now and again it will shoot across the room and pull more mobs. If you have an awesome group that isn't a problem, if you don't have a really good group then
its not a good idea

So yeah been playing for about 3 weeks or so and this is the setup I have finally rested on. Looking forward to hearing some comments from you guys as well as any
suggestions for improvements or your own personal playing style.

**wvhills** · 01-10-2013, 10:06 AM

I'd take out Shadow piercer and replace with Nox. Nox has really good intial damage, is aoe, and does good damage over time. I also don't like shadow piercer because (like u said) it shoots u all over the screeen, draws unwanted mobs and takes up time to walk back to your party at boss fights. I'd also take out the 5 in int and put them in shadow veil and nox. U can always get a pet to make up for the 50 mana you lose.

From reading ur skill rotation it doesn't sound like u actually use shadow piercer. Instead of just autoattacking and spamming aimed shot you could charge smoke, charge razer shield, tap nox for aoe, damage over time and armor reduction, then aim shot, nox and auto until boss is dead. If u are worried about pot usage and have plat I recommend purchasing nexxus. After he levels up his arcane ability restores a lot of ur mana. I'll use him a lot while running through maps then switch to horton at the boss for more crit .

**Mizelle** · 01-10-2013, 11:03 AM

I'll try Nox instead of Piercer. The 5 points I put into Int are on the passive side so its actually +25 Int which is 250 mana. I'm gonna look into nexxus, thanks for the input

**DeltaKain** · 01-11-2013, 03:11 AM

NoxBolt also increases damage taken by 10% for 6 seconds I think. And if I remember correctly it actually stacks so at the 5 second mark they'll take an additional 50% damamge. Not 100% sure but that's my interpretation of the skill (can't remember which upgrade it is that causes the targets to take additional dmg but it's there somewhere)

Side note - I do also use that EXACT set up except i RARELY charge SP because of it's tendency to shoot you all over I just tap it. Also because it has a global cd depending on the timings I'll wait for AS to come off cd. My rotation to be exact is charged AS to start off then charged SV (max skill) then razor shield then AS then immediately SP (not charged). Reason for this is that AS global cd is about 0.5s so you can use SP right after. However if AS is 1s cd left and you use SP then it resets to 2s and you essentially wait 3s for your next AS - when that happens I wait to use AS then go back to SP until it catches up again.

EDIT:"Noxious Bolt
Unlock: 31 mana, 2 sec cool-down, 14m range, 9-11 damage, poison damage every second for 3 seconds.
Lingering Poison: Adds 3 seconds to the duration of poison damage.
Strengthening Shot: Increases the impact area of a charged Noxious Bolt to 6 meters.
Fragmentation: Each second a target is damaged by Noxious Bolt’s poison, they receive an additional 10% damage.
Serrated Arrowhead: Impact damage for each Noxious Bolt is increased by 15%."

The Upgrade "FRAGMENTATION" increases damage taken by enemies over it's duration so I'm pretty sure that after 5seconds they'll take an additional 50% dmg - I'm not sure how the tick goes so there's the possibility it doesn't actually tick over into 60% since it stops at 6s.

**Abuse** · 01-11-2013, 05:30 AM

Originally Posted by DeltaKain

EDIT:"Noxious Bolt
Unlock: 31 mana, 2 sec cool-down, 14m range, 9-11 damage, poison damage every second for 3 seconds.
Lingering Poison: Adds 3 seconds to the duration of poison damage.
Strengthening Shot: Increases the impact area of a charged Noxious Bolt to 6 meters.
Fragmentation: Each second a target is damaged by Noxious Bolt’s poison, they receive an additional 10% damage.
Serrated Arrowhead: Impact damage for each Noxious Bolt is increased by 15%."

The Upgrade "FRAGMENTATION" increases damage taken by enemies over it's duration so I'm pretty sure that after 5seconds they'll take an additional 50% dmg - I'm not sure how the tick goes so there's the possibility it doesn't actually tick over into 60% since it stops at 6s.

Question: It has a cooldown of 2 sec, so if you do it 4 times every 2 seconds, the effect of the first Nox Bolt should be over when you can do the fourth Nox Bolt, so you can't get over +30% damage, right?

**Mizelle** · 01-11-2013, 04:15 PM

With the skill to add 3 seconds of poison damage on Nox Bolt you will have 6 seconds of +10% damage increasing each second. If the damage bonus stacks you could potentially
get more than +60% damage within that 6 second time frame. If it doesn't stack then I would only use it every 6 seconds. Perhaps if you start with a charged Nox Bolt and then
build up your Aimed crit bonus by the time you go for your second or third bolt you should be doing some serious crit damage. I look forward to more discussion, I like sharing and
learning so I can play as good as I can in groups and help out.

**Heiki** · 01-12-2013, 02:29 AM

If i'm not mistaken, the +10% added damage per second applies to the DOT portion of the skill only...which doesn't amount to much.

This combined with a very small area of effect for the poison "nova" and the absence of a -10% armor upgrade that everyone seems to be missing made me change from nox to SP even though i don't like SP either. At least it hits 3 times (better damage per charge) and it heals you pretty well if you take the upgrade.

I'd be glad to be corrected though as I still think a nox/AS build is more fun to play.

**bubble** · 02-10-2013, 05:36 AM

Cool setup. How did u manage 22 skill points? I only have 20 skill points at lvl 21. An extra 2 points would help.

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**SuRfY** · 02-10-2013, 11:04 AM

Originally Posted by bubble

Cool setup. How did u manage 22 skill points? I only have 20 skill points at lvl 21. An extra 2 points would help.

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Good observation!