I'm a sith assassin and I'm having a terrible time defeating elite (golden) mobs when I need to kill them. I'm not doing fast damage and Khem Val keeps dying quickly even though he's in tank mode and I've upgraded his gear constantly.

Am I doing it wrong?

I'm speccd madness, tried the other dps spec but I hated it.

I have Khem Val, Andronikos, and Ashara (I also have the droid but afaik that droid has no combat uses)

I'm level 35 on Quesh

Any help as to what I'm doing wrong would be great ^_^

If you're level 35 on Quesh, you're a bit on the low side for that planet. Certain classes are also just going to have an easier time soloing elites. Have you tried, even though you're Madness, using Dark Charge and trading hate with Khem? Don't forget to use Channel the Force if it's up, either.

Assuming you've tried all of that, though, the best advice I could give to make it easier is to do some Flashpoints or PvP for a level or two and then go back and hit it again.

I had the same trouble with madness while I was leveling. First switch to dark charge. Second, you can use Ashara, but about half way, you will have to switch aggro. You are still gonna die alot. Once you get your healing companion around level 40, along with creeping terror, you can face roll elites. Madness just takes patience. also, if the elites are more than 2 levels above you, forget about it. 2 levels is very hard as it is.

I found out later that the droid can heal. You might be better off with him. A tanking companion is pretty much worthless for madness spec...then again, anrdo is even more than worthless.

I had the same trouble with madness while I was leveling. First switch to dark charge. Second, you can use Ashara, but about half way, you will have to switch aggro. You are still gonna die alot. Once you get your healing companion around level 40, along with creeping terror, you can face roll elites. Madness just takes patience. also, if the elites are more than 2 levels above you, forget about it. 2 levels is very hard as it is.

 

 

I found out later that the droid can heal. You might be better off with him. A tanking companion is pretty much worthless for madness spec...then again, anrdo is even more than worthless.

I tried with the droid and his heals were mediocre...is there any way to make his heals stronger? I dont know if its his gear or whatever but i didnt find any droid gear on the trade market

It depends on how many elites involved.

If only one, tank and spank with Khem Val is easy.

If more than 1, what I do is I mind trap 1 while I turn off Khem Val's AoE so he wont hit our CC target. I usually let Khem Val tank at the start of the fight. Midfight when his health get low, I switch to Dark Charge and start taunting to get the aggro. I always interrupt elite mobs big abilities.

You can manually control Khem Val's use of AoE.

On me, I just started this game. So far, I am not complaining with my Hybrid Madness Assassin. I can stealth and mind trap while having range Force Lightning and powerful range AoE.

I wish there's a damage meters mod I could use to see how gimp my dps is.

So far, I was able to beat flashpoints of my level including Mandalorian Raiders. Many of the encounters, I usually survive last. I cant even die on wipe becoz of Force Cloak. For now, I just dont agree that Madness Assassin sucks.

It's the player skill that sucks not the spec.

The droid is actually an excellent healer. Geared out, I'd prefer him to Thalos since he can take quite a beating.

As for gearing the droid: There is a repeatable heroic 2+ on Nar Shaddaa called Glitch, from Agent Ryleah in Network Security, that gives an orange droid part - do it twice and fill both part slots. 5xQuesh commendations give an orange Motor - get two of those. Toss on a boe earpiece +implants, maybe even hand-me-downs from you just to boost his HP. Buy him a green or blue shield generator, and on the Quesh quest line, pick the green moddable Sensor unit. Voila, baller healing companion with excellent survivability.

The droid is actually an excellent healer. Geared out, I'd prefer him to Thalos since he can take quite a beating.

 

As for gearing the droid: There is a repeatable heroic 2+ on Nar Shaddaa called Glitch, from Agent Ryleah in Network Security, that gives an orange droid part - do it twice and fill both part slots. 5xQuesh commendations give an orange Motor - get two of those. Toss on a boe earpiece +implants, maybe even hand-me-downs from you just to boost his HP. Buy him a green or blue shield generator, and on the Quesh quest line, pick the green moddable Sensor unit. Voila, baller healing companion with excellent survivability.

I agree with this guy 90%. 2V-R8 is a great healer if you gear him.

That other 10% though: The droid is the single most annoying companion I've yet seen. I switched to Ashara as soon as I got her because the droid is SO FRACKING ANNOYING!! You hear us BW? For the love of God shut the damn droid up already! Please!

first step to not being a noob assassin is to respec into darkness or deception. Madness increases dot dmg-- sins only have 2 dots. Sorc's have more.

I have to correct you on that, both sorcerer and assassin have 3 dots, granted the sorcerer would be best for a dotter, since you dot up your targets and still have force energy to do more, while an assassin will have very limited resources for more.

Also, Madness is very viable, the problem is, if you want to romance a companion that is not your healer companion, be prepared to either spend loads of credits to up their affection via gifts or have issues with questing due to the lack of a tank to take the heat, while you cast.

But that is off-topic, just saying both assassin and sorcerer have 3 dots, one of them is unique to either AC, but the other 2 are identical.

I'm a 39 Assassin full Madness spec and I had no trouble using Khem at the moment. Elites causes me no trouble if they are alone. If they have company I usually Mind trap the elite, kill their companions an then the elite himself.

I use Khem because i like to be behind the target to use Maul when duplicity procs and if you have the aggro you have to cc the elite to do it. Usually I kill elites the fastest I can and Khem Val does not even die. Just spend some money on tank gear for him and he will be fine. Also save your stun for emergencies and if everything fails just stealth yourself and try it again.