Shadowblade Ra's - Phoenix Freeshard

So I've been going back and forth on Ra's that are useful. Personally I really like Purge 3, I have 2 at the moment because I'm messing around with Ra's. I haven't found mop to be very consistent (tried mop 5), viper 4 hits everyone hard and is reapplied even when purged. I'm Norse so I went Aug strength 3, I'm Axe so I make sure I do the Axe speed debuff. Of course lw/tl. I had vanish, like it but I'll respec back to it if I feel like I'm getting zerged to much (lololo). Anybody else have a favorite set up they like or think are must haves?

Wed 20 Nov 2019 8:11 PM by Riac

run viper and swap like crazy (esp after purges) this will help you win fights low lvl. get as much purge as you can handle since this will allow you to take more fights per hour which translates to more rps per hour. pain is good up to a point but really its just gambling for burst dmg, if you can afford it great. str is garbage, idc what anyone says. get beefy.

the thing most of these low rr sins fuck up the most are weap swaps. swap like a crazy person, just keep dumping poisons.

and dont be lame and stealth group. ppl will hate you and not offer you any help. (in terms of spec and all that)

Wed 20 Nov 2019 10:13 PM by Torye

Yeah I can count on one hand when I've grouped. I thought Aug strength upped ones damage? I did run high toughness once and that was actually fun.

Wed 20 Nov 2019 10:16 PM by Riac

Torye wrote: ↑
Wed 20 Nov 2019 10:13 PM
Yeah I can count on one hand when I've grouped. I thought Aug strength upped ones damage? I did run high toughness once and that was actually fun.

yea, but take a look by how much. the main arguement for str is def penetration. youre gonna have to do a personal cost vs benefit to see what its worth to you vs your relative RA budget.
thats all the secrets im giving away for now.

Wed 20 Nov 2019 10:51 PM by Torye

Thanks I appreciate the insight.

Thu 21 Nov 2019 12:35 PM by inoeth

Riac wrote: ↑
Wed 20 Nov 2019 8:11 PM
run viper and swap like crazy (esp after purges) this will help you win fights low lvl. get as much purge as you can handle since this will allow you to take more fights per hour which translates to more rps per hour. pain is good up to a point but really its just gambling for burst dmg, if you can afford it great. str is garbage, idc what anyone says. get beefy.

the thing most of these low rr sins fuck up the most are weap swaps. swap like a crazy person, just keep dumping poisons.

and dont be lame and stealth group. ppl will hate you and not offer you any help. (in terms of spec and all that)

do you realise that there was a change that makes poison swap useless? it does only make sense after the enemy purged

ot: i run toughnes5 purge3 quick3 lw1 tire1 mop6

imo going higher than purge3 is waste because you wont have a fight every 7 or 5 min normally

Thu 21 Nov 2019 4:39 PM by Torye

I didn't know there was a change. What was it? So you have 0 viper? What does your lifebane tick at? I agree on the purge, 3 is the sweet spot.

Thu 21 Nov 2019 5:23 PM by Mavella

Lifebane vs 26% body ticks for 58. Viper 3 ticks for 79 Viper 5 102-103.

Thu 21 Nov 2019 7:53 PM by Torye

I kind of like the viper tick, I can't tell if you like it mavella or find it worthless. I really find mop to be a hit or miss thing or its only critting for like 15 more points or a little more than that.

Thu 21 Nov 2019 9:03 PM by Mavella

I'm pretty pro viper especially vs tanker opponents. I like Viper 3 and 5 the best depending on RR. Don't think you should gimp yourself to dump all into viper5 of course.

It's easily the best consistent dps booster available to sins but obviously doesn't offer as much burst potential as MoP. SB is also more about consistent dps with LA always swinging and a fast OH. I know vs many opponents when I swing at 1.5-1.6 sec my mainhand might hit for only 90-120 dmg. It would take landing a crit + rolling a 40-50% to make it hurt. It's hard to get that consistency even with MoP 8-9. The barrier for viper5 is landing the dot once and letting it work. No additional defense checks to get through. Every block, parry, or a evade is a swing where mop isn't working for you while viper could be ticking a whole lot harder.

Only time MoP is really great is if it gets you a fat crit on perf. That makes perf slightly less worthless as anything more than an ablative breaker.

Thu 21 Nov 2019 10:17 PM by Riac

inoeth wrote: ↑
Thu 21 Nov 2019 12:35 PM
Riac wrote: ↑
Wed 20 Nov 2019 8:11 PM
run viper and swap like crazy (esp after purges) this will help you win fights low lvl. get as much purge as you can handle since this will allow you to take more fights per hour which translates to more rps per hour. pain is good up to a point but really its just gambling for burst dmg, if you can afford it great. str is garbage, idc what anyone says. get beefy.

the thing most of these low rr sins fuck up the most are weap swaps. swap like a crazy person, just keep dumping poisons.

and dont be lame and stealth group. ppl will hate you and not offer you any help. (in terms of spec and all that)

do you realise that there was a change that makes poison swap useless? it does only make sense after the enemy purged

ot: i run toughnes5 purge3 quick3 lw1 tire1 mop6

imo going higher than purge3 is waste because you wont have a fight every 7 or 5 min normally

this fucking guy, gotta love when the rank 6 chimes in with the update from 5 months ago lol..... .im not swapping poisons to do the lifebane dmg add thing. you continusly pump poisons becaus shit gets ressisted and stuff like the s/c seems to fall off around 20 secs sometimes, so its really nice to just keep refreshing them.

Tue 26 Nov 2019 11:32 AM by Bicstor

I would advise against speccing viper until higher RR, 5 maybe 6. Its a lot of points which can be better used increasing your melee damage. RR4/5 assassins who have specced high in viper have crippled their melee dps. An assassin who has specced for melee(MoArms,MoP,AugStr/Con/Toughness/qui) will generally win v a viper specced assassin as their opponent will be dead long before the viper dot has finished its ticks.

Base melee damage/swing speed etc is more important and Viper is just the icing on the cake at higher RR