For those of you who are a big fan of 23/1/17 in our current patch, you might have realized by now that Bioware has significantly nerfed hybrid builds in 2.0. After toying around, I have come up with a decent build that has a little bit of a tradeoff while retaining most of the things that made 23/1/17 great.

27/2/17

http://i.imgur.com/H3bfuWR.png

Direct SWTOR Spy link: http://pts.swtor-spy.com/skill-tree-calculator/sith-assassin/222/?build=022132001121023002120200000000000200000000000000000000000000000003202300012220000000000000000000&ver=20

Pros

>Gain Harnessed Darkness from Shock

>Retain instant-cast Whirlwind

>Gain Death Field

>Retain reduced cost of Death Field.

>Retain extra Thrash damage.

Cons

>Loss of Spike out of stealth. One less interrupt unless you're willing to sacrifice your Force Cloak

>No up-front Maul available at a reduced cost. If you want to use Maul, you're stuck with the full 50 force cost and whatever damage it applies.

Its not too bad of a tradeoff, but if you were relying on Maul for all that extra juicy damage, that may not work for you. I'm going to try it out and see how it works, so unless they change some of the skills by the time 2.0 officially releases, this seems like a decent build that closely resembles 23/1/17 or even 24/0/18 (probably resembles the latter more, now that I think about it.)

Feedback appreciated.

For those of you who are a big fan of 23/1/17 in our current patch, you might have realized by now that Bioware has significantly nerfed hybrid builds in 2.0. After toying around, I have come up with a decent build that has a little bit of a tradeoff while retaining most of the things that made 23/1/17 great.

 

27/2/17

http://i.imgur.com/H3bfuWR.png

 

Direct SWTOR Spy link: http://pts.swtor-spy.com/skill-tree-calculator/sith-assassin/222/?build=022132001121023002120200000000000200000000000000000000000000000003202300012220000000000000000000&ver=20

 

 

Pros

>Gain Harnessed Darkness from Shock

>Retain instant-cast Whirlwind

>Gain Death Field

>Retain reduced cost of Death Field.

>Retain extra Thrash damage.

 

Cons

>Loss of Spike out of stealth. One less interrupt unless you're willing to sacrifice your Force Cloak

>No up-front Maul available at a reduced cost. If you want to use Maul, you're stuck with the full 50 force cost and whatever damage it applies.

 

Its not too bad of a tradeoff, but if you were relying on Maul for all that extra juicy damage, that may not work for you. I'm going to try it out and see how it works, so unless they change some of the skills by the time 2.0 officially releases, this seems like a decent build that closely resembles 23/1/17 or even 24/0/18 (probably resembles the latter more, now that I think about it.)

 

Feedback appreciated.

I think there are too many points in madness. The whirlwind as well, is no longer an instant cast. It's 1.5 seconds (without alacrity as it is now useful). It still retains the mini stun on breaking early though.

I think most of us are used to using maul from behind and sparingly for that matter as it would take a while for it to proc so it's not that terrible of a loss. With my build I've kept out of stealth spike, kept full points in charged mastery and swelling shadows, but took out 2 points from force horrors and didn't have any in haunted dreams. Also, based on my playstyle and gearing, I don't have any points in fanaticism, and it works fine for me. In fact, the current live build I play is quite similar to this new 2.0 build aside from the passive 20% armour nerf, the no proc to maul buff and forced to take a 15% less chance of proccing a 2nd shock from chain shock now.

However, and this is a big one, now that we can mitigate kinetic damage, I believe we'll be able to survive longer, which should make up for the damage loss. The only bad thing about this is that fights will last much longer.

Since we can't get insta whirlwind, this is what I will be using.

http://pts.swtor-spy.com/skill-tree-calculator/sith-assassin/222/?build=022232201121023002120200120000000100000000000000000000000000000003222100011000000000000000000000&ver=20

You get to keep out of stealth spike and conspirator's cloak which I like much better than I thought I would. Maul still hits pretty nicely even without duplicity.

Fanaticism and chain shock points are optional on what you want to put where obviously.

How about a revision then?

31/2/13

http://i.imgur.com/EzErNym.jpg

Now gains Spike out of Stealth while losing the force cost reduction of Death Field and the reduced Whirlwind cast time. Can be switchable with the front end Maul, but personally, I'd take non-stealth Spike over a forward facing Maul.

A slight revision to your build, perhaps? http://pts.swtor-spy.com/skill-tree-calculator/sith-assassin/222/?build=022132001121023002120203110000000100000000000000000000000000000003202210010200000000000000000000&ver=20

At this point, its just playing around with specs until you find the right one.

How about a revision then?

 

31/2/13

http://i.imgur.com/EzErNym.jpg

 

Now gains Spike out of Stealth while losing the force cost reduction of Death Field and the reduced Whirlwind cast time. Can be switchable with the front end Maul, but personally, I'd take non-stealth Spike over a forward facing Maul.

This will be my build come 2.0. I've posted it a few times in other threads. However most people will be rocking the stalker gear which the bonuses won't do much for the force eating abilities we have. I have my own gear and rotation that will make this spec just the same.

This will be my build come 2.0. I've posted it a few times in other threads. However most people will be rocking the stalker gear which the bonuses won't do much for the force eating abilities we have. I have my own gear and rotation that will make this spec just the same.

Some commentary. You should take the reduced shock/thrash cost over parasitism. You won't be casting DoTs to make that work.

Move 2 points of endurance to the bottom. Your bottom row should be filled in darkness. Not a bad spec. I will give it a try.

Some commentary. You should take the reduced shock/thrash cost over parasitism. You won't be casting DoTs to make that work.

 

Move 2 points of endurance to the bottom. Your bottom row should be filled in darkness. Not a bad spec. I will give it a try.

Hmmm just noticed the difference now. The above posted wasn't the exact build I intended for. This was the one I wanted:

http://pts.swtor-spy.com/skill-tree-calculator/sith-assassin/222/?build=022322201121023002120200100000000200000000000000000000000000000003222100010200000000000000000000&ver=20

Still 31 2 13

If it works out better, I may put 1 chain shock point into the front maul, but as it is now, I'm used to playing with plenty of CCs and roots and whatnot, so attaining a behind the person hit wouldn't be too hard, plus maul isn't all that important in my rotation, especially depending on my opponent (tank for example).

Hmmm just noticed the difference now. The above posted wasn't the exact build I intended for. This was the one I wanted:

 

http://pts.swtor-spy.com/skill-tree-calculator/sith-assassin/222/?build=022322201121023002120200100000000200000000000000000000000000000003222100010200000000000000000000&ver=20

 

Still 31 2 13

 

If it works out better, I may put 1 chain shock point into the front maul, but as it is now, I'm used to playing with plenty of CCs and roots and whatnot, so attaining a behind the person hit wouldn't be too hard, plus maul isn't all that important in my rotation, especially depending on my opponent (tank for example).

Death field costing 50 force and having no bonuses attached to it from madness tree. Why? If you're into PVP you could get the reduced cooldown on force speed and if you're into PVE you could get assassin's shelter and wither. You could also get darkswell in either pvp OR pve, getting you a nice 25% damage reduction ability as well as more force. You really want death field over all that?

Death field costing 50 force and having no bonuses attached to it from madness tree. Why? If you're into PVP you could get the reduced cooldown on force speed and if you're into PVE you could get assassin's shelter and wither. You could also get darkswell in either pvp OR pve, getting you a nice 25% damage reduction ability as well as more force. You really want death field over all that?

Those are defensive measures. While I haven't explicitly tested 2.0 in terms of dark ward and shielding, I think I should be able to survive a bit longer, enough to make a dent on the other team. I already hit 4k death fields in my min maxed 50 gear (as a level 55), combine that with hitting 5 people, is quite nice (a mini smash if you will).

Also people seem to forget the importance of out of stealth spike, it's such a useful skill and should almost be used at every chance possible.

Those are defensive measures. While I haven't explicitly tested 2.0 in terms of dark ward and shielding, I think I should be able to survive a bit longer, enough to make a dent on the other team. I already hit 4k death fields in my min maxed 50 gear (as a level 55), combine that with hitting 5 people, is quite nice (a mini smash if you will).

 

Also people seem to forget the importance of out of stealth spike, it's such a useful skill and should almost be used at every chance possible.

If you want more damage, then you should be taking wither, conspirators cloak, and mounting darkness and dropping a point somewhere else in darkness to keep at 36. This will give you much more damage and won't rape your force pool in the process, while also giving you extra harnessed darkness stacks, and aoe slow and damage reduction, and won't waste points in dot damage. No matter how you slice it, death field without fanatacism is a bad idea.

My question to you though is this: if you wanted more dps and not a tanking spec, why did you get dark ward and dark bulwark? You know shielding without any absorb is pointless right?

If you want more damage, then you should be taking wither, conspirators cloak, and mounting darkness and dropping a point somewhere else in darkness to keep at 36. This will give you much more damage and won't rape your force pool in the process, while also giving you extra harnessed darkness stacks, and aoe slow and damage reduction, and won't waste points in dot damage. No matter how you slice it, death field without fanatacism is a bad idea.

My question to you though is this: if you wanted more dps and not a tanking spec, why did you get dark ward and dark bulwark? You know shielding without any absorb is pointless right?

Because you cannot progress up the tree without wasting points in those shield skills.

If you want more damage, then you should be taking wither, conspirators cloak, and mounting darkness and dropping a point somewhere else in darkness to keep at 36. This will give you much more damage and won't rape your force pool in the process, while also giving you extra harnessed darkness stacks, and aoe slow and damage reduction, and won't waste points in dot damage. No matter how you slice it, death field without fanatacism is a bad idea.

My question to you though is this: if you wanted more dps and not a tanking spec, why did you get dark ward and dark bulwark? You know shielding without any absorb is pointless right?

Full wither buffs still provides about half the damage that deathfield does (not to mention it has a 10 metre non-placeable range). I'm already used to using maul from behind, and with the spike move, it's no issue to get behind them, I'm already used to it. My force pool is also quite plentiful so no fanaticism is okay with me.

Dark ward now provides damage mitigation to kinetic abilities. I use a shield (with dps mods), so I loose something like 100 force bonus damage, but gain a decent amount of mitigation which can be used for both those moves. Plus they provide more chances to quicken the cooldown of force shroud.

Because you cannot progress up the tree without wasting points in those shield skills.

You were saying?

Full wither buffs still provides about half the damage that deathfield does (not to mention it has a 10 metre non-placeable range). I'm already used to using maul from behind, and with the spike move, it's no issue to get behind them, I'm already used to it. My force pool is also quite plentiful so no fanaticism is okay with me.

 

Dark ward now provides damage mitigation to kinetic abilities. I use a shield (with dps mods), so I loose something like 100 force bonus damage, but gain a decent amount of mitigation which can be used for both those moves. Plus they provide more chances to quicken the cooldown of force shroud.

So instead of using just one 50 force ability you're going to use 2 in your rotation?

Best of luck to your force pool (and if you'd actually tried it you'd see you actually don't have enough force with just DF), and full darkness actually does more dps anyways if you parse it out. But feel free to go for it.

You were saying?

>Implying it's not a SWTOR-spy bug.

http://i.imgur.com/8ImHbGE.jpg

See also:

http://i.imgur.com/6z0Edgc.jpg

You can't progress up the darkness tree without taking Dark Bulwark, although it would be nice to...

4/10 for trying.

>Implying it's not a SWTOR-spy bug.

 

http://i.imgur.com/8ImHbGE.jpg

See also:

http://i.imgur.com/6z0Edgc.jpg

 

You can't progress up the darkness tree without taking Dark Bulwark, although it would be nice to...

4/10 for trying.

lol in both of those screen shots you have 1 point in charge mastery and no points in swelling... so you can progress up the tree with out them

So instead of using just one 50 force ability you're going to use 2 in your rotation?

Best of luck to your force pool (and if you'd actually tried it you'd see you actually don't have enough force with just DF), and full darkness actually does more dps anyways if you parse it out. But feel free to go for it.

150 force goes a long way.

150 force goes a long way.

What exactly do you do to get a 150 force pool? I know it has something to do with the Force-Mystic PVE set... but I think I'm missing something here.

Actually yes i WOULD give up that for deathfield in terms of pvp. My assassin tends to hit with it for between 4-5k damage, with reduced cost that means i can deal that type of damage not only with range but in terms of an assassin it gives you the greatly desired AoE that they have no other way (Unless of course you're cybertech). The tech uses of Deathfield, even aside from it's damage, make it extremely useful in my current Darkness-Madness hybrid spec.

I DO have a new idea i'll be trying the next few days with more madness points, we'll see how it works out.