So I leveled to 50 as Deception the whole time, and have really enjoyed the way the spec works. I haven't had too many complaints. I love PVP'ing and have no real problems with survivability. I've been at the top of the medals/damage/e-peen list at the end of most matches. And yet, I'm curious about the apparent Darkness craze going on. I haven't tried tanking (this is my first character in my first MMO) but I think I'd enjoy it. I think I want to try it out. That being said, are the builds/rotations in this forum's codex still viable for the current patch? The witherchain build seems reasonable and I don't think adapting to a different priority list would be too difficult. Or are most people using a different build? I have cent/champ gear for most of the small pieces, not the big 4 yet (I just can't get rid of my supreme inquisitor look right now) but from what I've been reading, everyone is just keeping DPS gear anyways, so should I keep going for the stalker sets? If that's the case, then all the better since I could just swap between specs with minimal gearing issues. I'm not adverse to getting two sets of gear, either though. I've looked through the forum a bit and can't really nail any specifics about this "awesome" darkness FOTM pvp spec.

TL;DR I'm curious about FOTM Darkness spec. What are the specifics for build/rotation/gear and how hard would it be to transition between Deception and Darkness and back (ad nauseum) if desired.

So I leveled to 50 as Deception the whole time, and have really enjoyed the way the spec works. I haven't had too many complaints. I love PVP'ing and have no real problems with survivability. I've been at the top of the medals/damage/e-peen list at the end of most matches. And yet, I'm curious about the apparent Darkness craze going on. I haven't tried tanking (this is my first character in my first MMO) but I think I'd enjoy it. I think I want to try it out. That being said, are the builds/rotations in this forum's codex still viable for the current patch? The witherchain build seems reasonable and I don't think adapting to a different priority list would be too difficult. Or are most people using a different build? I have cent/champ gear for most of the small pieces, not the big 4 yet (I just can't get rid of my supreme inquisitor look right now) but from what I've been reading, everyone is just keeping DPS gear anyways, so should I keep going for the stalker sets? If that's the case, then all the better since I could just swap between specs with minimal gearing issues. I'm not adverse to getting two sets of gear, either though. I've looked through the forum a bit and can't really nail any specifics about this "awesome" darkness FOTM pvp spec.

 

 

 

TL;DR I'm curious about FOTM Darkness spec. What are the specifics for build/rotation/gear and how hard would it be to transition between Deception and Darkness and back (ad nauseum) if desired.

Darkness uses more power then crit but the 31/0/10 still uses dps gear instead of tank gear. The whole point of 31/0/10 is to get HD stacks up. With recklessness you will fry 50 % of your enemies HP.

The reason why people go en mass darkness spec right is because of the sheer utility it brings. force pull extra cc and 20 cd snare removal makes darkness the best allround pvp spec.

Don't forget that Darkness has slightly more survivability as well from talents and by recovering 12% of your health when you successfully cast Force Lightning.

This^^

Most (hell, lets be honest, all) pvp is warzones and that means chokepoints of high dps, lots of enemies and aoe dps, deception do not flourish in such environments, we melt too fast and the dead can't dish out damage.

Deception is a great 1v1 spec, it's arguably stronger 1v1 than darkness....but this is not a duelling game.

Play deception if you enjoy it, i would recomment not playing a spec just because it's fotm, enjoyment is everything.

This^^

 

Most (hell, lets be honest, all) pvp is warzones and that means chokepoints of high dps, lots of enemies and aoe dps, deception do not flourish in such environments, we melt too fast and the dead can't dish out damage.

 

Deception is a great 1v1 spec, it's arguably stronger 1v1 than darkness....but this is not a duelling game.

 

Play deception if you enjoy it, i would recomment not playing a spec just because it's fotm, enjoyment is everything.

+1 and a amen!

Played a deception assassin till recently, respecced to Darkness at level 42. I PvP a little, but mostly I respecced due to PvE, since deception absolutely needs Khem to perform well.

In PvP, Deception works well, if you understand your game is NOT jumping in the melee. Your game is intercepting the isolated target or taking the healer/ranged at the fringe of a big fight.

As pointed out, go in the middle and get busted by AoE and block of DPS.

Darkness goes into that melee and live, but bursting a lone target down is obviously less effective. People speccing Darkness and keeping DPS gear aim at a middle ground comparable to a marauder, with slightly better damage mitigation and less DPS. But much of your survivability will come from abilities and self-heals.

That said, did both, love both. I'm enjoying Darkness, but at the same time I won't say I'll never go back to deception. Its a fun spec imo, and I don't know why so many people have an issue with it.