I love themed build, actually I play with an Elementalist “engineer” (totem/mortar mainly) and I very like it ! But, I want make another character with an “assassin” gameplay (like title says ^^).
Off curse I pick up Nightblade in 1st class, but I hesitate for 2nd class between Occultist (Witch Hunter) and Arcanist (Spellbreaker), but I’m open for any idea
I don’t want overpowered character, just pleasant and viable character assassin type.
In first, Witch Hunter (focus to poison/acid damage) can hit and run to apply poison.
In second, Spellbreaker (focus to cold damage) can dash in a group and freeze everyone and spam execute (like a fking bullet time :D).
According to you, who have the most “assassi” gameplay ? Maybe another combinaison ?
Witchhunter, apply poison --> run around --> collect loot
My engineer have sensibly a same gameplay :
launch storm totem/mortar --> launch vines --> run (off curse launch tower/vines when I can) --> profit
Poison witch-hunter definitely works for an “assassin”.
Now I also advise you to play a cold spellbreaker because it’s very nice, but it’s more a ninja than an assassin.
Why ninja ? I imagine an assassin who appears directly in a mob group and activate bullet-time/smoke-bomb (freeze nova) to kill everyone fastly and safely with execution !
Witch Hunter look more “magessassin”, mainly for Dreeg’s Blood which launch a poison projectile (look not very assassin, for me ), but poison concept his good, mainly for boss I think… Very difficult choices
My friend, I don’t want to sound like a dick but who gives a f**k if WH is more like a “mageassassin” ? Poison WH is probably a top 3 build in 1.0.0.4. despite the nerfs to MoD and other forms of resistance reduction.
If u don’t believe me look at the following compilation I made for you:
And now…a bonus…something you don’t see too often:
Blood of Dreeg is a buff/heal like Pneumatic Burst… you might confuse that with Dreeg’s Infinite Gaze from Mark of Dreeg Component.
If you go full close combat you are not a caster at all.
My friend, I don’t want to sound like a dick but who gives a f**k if WH is more like a “mageassassin” ? Poison WH is probably a top 3 build in 1.0.0.4. despite the nerfs to MoD and other forms of resistance reduction.
Maybe, but I don’t care about overpower of the build (I said it in first post). I search just a gameplay approaching at maximum “assassin”. And your Witch Hunter is definitely not an assassin for me (I see your video) : too much effect (nova/projectile/…) and no DW (assassin must have 2 dagger/sword, surely not a greatsword xD).
So mee, I give a f**k about this, I love play themed build (said in first too) and theme I want devellop in this char is classical-rpg assassin.
And bro, my answer is not an offense just your proposition don’t match with my idea
Blood of Dreeg is a buff/heal like Pneumatic Burst… you might confuse that with Dreeg’s Infinite Gaze from Mark of Dreeg Component.
If you go full close combat you are not a caster at all.
Sorry for that, I’m french and my game too, but yeah, it’s that :rolleyes:
Ok, my friend, I understand - you are not a min/maxer. As such you might want to try a Blademaster because he has no “magical” abilities at all (or very few, at least). A high-end HC Ultimate viable poison WH will be obliged to use “magic” like Dreeg’s Infinite gaze and similar poison DoTs because his dps comes through stacking different kinds of poison. Even if you don’t do a triple shotgun build like I had, you still have to rely on “magical” procs like Scorpion, Manticore and the Abomination constellation - and guess what, they are all “magic”.
Give a the Blade Master a try then - the DM set is exactly that: a set for an assassin that focuses on pierce/cold ;). You can even add “bleed” into the equation if you desire…
OBS: Ohh…and I forgot - you are perhaps new to the game and haven’t read all “flavor texts” yet. You know what’s written on that 2H legendary sword ? It says: “Unorthodox tool of the Master Assassin Belanor”.
Yep Blade Master can be great for pure assassin with Shadow Strike and Blitz can move rapidly to priority target to kill them fast Thx now I’m hesitate with Witch Hunter and Blade Master (finally Spellbreaker are the most worth of 3 for me), damn you !! :furious: (joke)
Sooooooo, I’ve few question :
Who can make most damage between WH and BM ?
In same veins, who have the better survavibility, mainly VS boss ?
How work Nidalla’s Hidden Hand ? Apply his effect when DW skill activate (except Execution)?
DW skill can activate with auto-attack replacement (like Cadence) ? And with Markovan’s Advantage ?
I haven’t built a poison WH yet (seen videos though), but after the BM nerfs I would say probably witch hunter? BM is still quite strong though and really they both kick ass it comes down to watch you want more
Again haven’t played WH, but gonna say night blade of gear. DM set grants 10% phys resist 30% to dodge projectile, with golem boots+oleron devotion we get another ~10% phys resist, with all the free points in gear 1 point shadow dance gets us 12% to dodge melee/projectile (max 20% but not needed) and another 2% from devotion. That being said WH players survive just fine vs bosses so I don’t think it really matters. WH gets extra heal in blood of dreeg+phys resist from aspect, but NB wins here. But like I said in reality I don’t think it matters much
3.Correct only applies on those 3 weapon skills, bonus is not global
Yes but like Scote said every 3rd hit is a guarenteed Cadence hit so it sucks. You want Mistborn Talisman for Troll Rage ability early on and later Shard of Beronath weapon component which grants Beronath’s Fury auto replacer. Mistborn damage is actually a little better, but with shard of beronath you can use a much much better relic so end result is higher dps and +1 to nightblade and +X/Y from completion bonus.
Most fun…uhhh play both and find out? xD Versatile I guess would go to WH, because there isn’t really much you can toy with in NB build. Can change gear a bit and choose to max SS or not I suppose, but devotions are set in stone and play style is 100% just hold mouse down 1 and spam SS/pneumatic. WH you can at least choose to be more caster like if you wish
My Spellbreaker is kind of what you are looking for. I went mostly Nightblade side, with the Arcanist only up to Maiven’s Protection Sphere or Nullification, whichever is later, I forget. It has really good survival with Mirror of Ereoctes on a low CD AND Blade Barrier as Oops buttons. I have so many constellation procs that there is always something going on. The playstyle seems to be what you want. I just wade into the middle, swing a few times and everything is dead. Not really “Assassin”, but more of the bullet-time you were referring to.
I’m also trying a Trickster with the 2h sword mentioned to max out Shadow Strike and the line. That is much more Assassin-y. I can’t face-tank most purple bosses, but I can kill them in 3-4 Strikes.
TomoDak made a pretty good and accurate analysis. However, I actually played both classes for more than 400h each, so perhaps my perspective will help you:
In terms of AoE and trash clearing: WH >> BM. In terms of single target damage, it really depends. In 1.0.0.3. my full gear HC Ultimate BM generally destroyed nemeses 2-3 seconds faster than my WH. However, he died recently to the Mad Queen so I couldn’t test too well how he fares in 1.0.0.4. My hypothesis is that now they are basically on par due to the Belgothian Carnage + DM nerf.
Again, they are roughly on par. BM will have better HP and DA, while WH has far better Crowd Control (CC) - i.e. confuse, petrify targets + massive physical damage reduction from Focused Gaze DEE + AotG.
NHH will work better for WH than for BM. The only reason you take it as BM is the cooldown reduction it applies on Shadow Strike. When you stack +1500% poison damage on your Witch Hunter, you will see how huge the crit damage really is.
Stay away from Cadence :(. It is good for some niche builds, but not for Blademasters.
“Fun” is a highly subjective term. I have derived the same hedonic value from playing both characters. WH is however more versatile because you can build it as:
(i) dual wield proc build; (ii) dual wield SS-spam build; (iii) 2h ranged/melee hybrid SS-spam build; (iv) caster-melee build…and so on. For BM there is only one way to go unfortunately…or maybe two if u don’t really care about min/maxing your characters.
I hope this helps as I tried to be as objective as possible. Still, keep in mind that making both BM and WH viable in Hardcore Ultimate is a very hard task - both class combinations require a high degree of control from the player as well as legendary gear. They are not “noob builds” like a retaliation/reflect warder or a pure pet build, for example.
), but poison concept his good, mainly for boss I think… Very difficult choices 
just your proposition don’t match with my idea