UPDATE: Thank you to Strategiize for suggesting a 3 piece stalker, 2 piece survivor gear setup. Ideally one would pull the tanking mods out of the survivor gear and replace them with power/surge/crit mods. With this setup you keep your dps up while taking advantage of the very useful 20s CD on Spike!

OK guys here it is. For all those complaining about the shortcomings of deception and madness, or assassin pvp in general try this on for size: (I think deception and madness both have their place but this IMO is the best for solo que)

31-0-10 full darkness/chain shock.

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#200bcrskrskbsZZf0cM.1

With this spec you OWN every map. Huttball is a playground for you to annihilate. Your damage may seem low at first but your staying power is HUGE. You also have the most escapability of ANY class in the game giving you the ability to completely avoid death if you play your cards right. With this set up I have gone countless solo que games with 25-45 kills 15-25 killing blows, 8-12 medals, and 0, 1, or 2 deaths per game! Currently around valor rank 40 with almost full champ gear (2 piece cent).

Now you may ask why full darkness? Why not deathfield? Simply put wither is much easier to use, has a useful debuff, and harness darkness will turn the tide of any 1v1. This spec also gives you nearly spammable 10m range moves and buffs them. Further more going into deception may seem like a good idea but setting up maul will frustrate you with the amount of CC and knockbacks in team play. This is where Darkness excels, you have 4 moves with 10m range and can break movement impairs and super sprint every 20s... talk about staying on target!

Some tips: use stealth and pull to set up 1v1s. Use stealth and AoE knockback to get up beside a caster on a vantage point and knock him down to where you want to fight him. Use your defensives when you get focused obviously. Use a SHIELD GENERATOR and dark ward this is HUGE mitigation. Use guard on squishies to get your guard medals. Take biochem for the very useful rakata medpack (5-6k heal) and permanent 136 willpower and 56 power from the stim as well as the adrenals! Get your Matrix cube from datacrons. Get all your useful datacrons. Obviously use dark charge.

Now this spec is versatile. You can gear out pure dps (recommended) other than the shield generator and have great damage (2-4k assassinates, ~2400 crit shocks with 45% for another to follow etc). This makes you a great brawler able to survive in the fray and escape when you need to or 1v1 ANYONE. NOTE*** healers can be tough to kill without big burst damage, save interrupts and DPS clickies for these situations. Or you can go full tank gear to ball carry or be a huge support to your team and leave the damage dealing to the OP mercs.

Final note: Many of you think operatives are OP but guess what... with this spec you will crush them. You have more than enough survivability to outlive their burst if you get caught in it. Return fire with your own CC, get your defensives up, heals up, and start kiting them with force slow and your 10m range moves for the win. If you happen to have your CC break up its GG and the operative is toast.

TLDR - Spike out of stealth, pull, massive survivability and escapability, good damage, 20s force speed with snare/root break, ability to kite and not be kited with 4-10m range moves = IMMORTAL!

PS: I PvP without a chest on cause assassins are such BEASTS!

Lord Raiden Ascended - lvl 50 Assassin, Master Zhar Lestin Server

Great post thankyou

Was wondering how viable darkness would be in pvp at 50, as I plan to go Tankasin.

Just a side note, have you tried PvE tanking in this spec?

Great post thankyou

 

Was wondering how viable darkness would be in pvp at 50, as I plan to go Tankasin.

 

Just a side note, have you tried PvE tanking in this spec?

I actually use this exact spec to tank PvE aswell )

I like this build, I want to point out that you probably get more force regen in darkness, than going into deception for the out of stealth regen since the darkness talents are always on.

I will try this, plus you get +30% dmg to wither and its much quicker on cd than death field (which I use now).

Thanks

I like this build, I want to point out that you probably get more force regen in darkness, than going into deception for the out of stealth regen since the darkness talents are always on.

 

I will try this, plus you get +30% dmg to wither and its much quicker on cd than death field (which I use now).

 

Thanks

Very true and good luck to you! Also note that in the tentative 1.1 patch notes wither is getting a 15% damage buff and AoE snare!!!

Good post I myself am a strong advocate of the 31/0/10 build. It is important to note that you have to adjust your mind to the spec. Most ppl come to sins thinking rogues and this spec is the absolute anathema to that mindset.

Important tips for mastering this spec

1. Your primary job is to get as much attention as possible off your team. Feel free to run through crowds of enemies throwing out a taunt and smashing healers in the face to get that attention

2. learn to CC/interrupt lock healers. KB, jolt, electrocute, pull, and spike are very important to locking down a healer. A locked down healer heals no one which makes ppl attack you.

3. My preferred open in huttball is pull into the acid, spike them, then stun them as they get up if needed. If you stun before spike you trigger resolve.

4. Spike also pushes ppl forward a couple meters use this if an enemies is too near a cliff or trap.

5. medpacks are your friends carry one at all times

6. don't be afraid to blow your defensive cds in order to survive.

7. learn when to run, running can be the best distraction. The other night i got the other teams best dpsers to chase me down one huttball lane while the ball carrier went up the other with no serious resistance.

8. Learn the locations of the healing powerups they can extend your staying power tremendously.

9. when in doubt vanish and run the time it takes to you find a spot to seethe is usually less than the time needed to respawn and move halfway across the field.

Good post I myself am a strong advocate of the 31/0/10 build. It is important to note that you have to adjust your mind to the spec. Most ppl come to sins thinking rogues and this spec is the absolute anathema to that mindset.

 

Important tips for mastering this spec

 

1. Your primary job is to get as much attention as possible off your team. Feel free to run through crowds of enemies throwing out a taunt and smashing healers in the face to get that attention

 

2. learn to CC/interrupt lock healers. KB, jolt, electrocute, pull, and spike are very important to locking down a healer. A locked down healer heals no one which makes ppl attack you.

 

3. My preferred open in huttball is pull into the acid, spike them, then stun them as they get up if needed. If you stun before spike you trigger resolve.

 

4. Spike also pushes ppl forward a couple meters use this if an enemies is too near a cliff or trap.

 

5. medpacks are your friends carry one at all times

 

6. don't be afraid to blow your defensive cds in order to survive.

 

7. learn when to run, running can be the best distraction. The other night i got the other teams best dpsers to chase me down one huttball lane while the ball carrier went up the other with no serious resistance.

 

8. Learn the locations of the healing powerups they can extend your staying power tremendously.

 

9. when in doubt vanish and run the time it takes to you find a spot to seethe is usually less than the time needed to respawn and move halfway across the field.

Excellent points. I couldn't agree more with everything you said.

Do you get the tank gear or the DPS gear when playing this spec? Do you think it's stronger than deception for those who have no problems with deception?

I personally prefer dps gear using a shield generator instead of a focus. For solo que I definitely think this build is stronger however if you are rolling around with a pocket healer then go deception by all means.

While I do see the advantages of this build I prefer my 23-0-18. Instant Force Whirlwind with 2s stun at the end is boss as an additional interrupt for pvp or in combat ability to take an opponent out of the fight for 10s without using their CC removal. On top of that.. there's a 30m range on Death Field and only a 10m range on Wither. Also, Death Field does Internal Damage not Kinetic. So I seem to get some really nice hits on it.

After they buff Wither in the next patch however I do plan to swap to a 31-10-0 or possibly a 31-0-10 to try it out. That AOE snare will be sweet on top of the -5% damage debuff on it already. Will have to see if it's worth the trade offs. I just feel I get more out of a 23-0-18 than any other combo.

While I do see the advantages of this build I prefer my 23-0-18. Instant Force Whirlwind with 2s stun at the end is boss as an additional interrupt for pvp or in combat ability to take an opponent out of the fight for 10s without using their CC removal. On top of that.. there's a 30m range on Death Field and only a 10m range on Wither. Also, Death Field does Internal Damage not Kinetic. So I seem to get some really nice hits on it.

 

After they buff Wither in the next patch however I do plan to swap to a 31-10-0 or possibly a 31-0-10 to try it out. That AOE snare will be sweet on top of the -5% damage debuff on it already. Will have to see if it's worth the trade offs. I just feel I get more out of a 23-0-18 than any other combo.

It's a different playstyle the 23 vs the 31 build. Both are quite viable but both have different pros and cons.

31 build trends more to defensive and support tank that can still output better damage than other tanks

23 is more of an offensive tank. Reasonable survival and reasonable damage but probably should shy away from being the center of attention

My only question is a minor one on your talent spec. Why go 3/3 Electric Execution as opposed to going 2/2 Thrashing Blades and 1/3 Electric Execution? It feels like since you will be using Dark Charge all the time the dmg on it is real small, does it add up? As opposed to having to having a stronger Thrash.

I go thrashing blades and 1 point into endurance buff. The endurance isn't much but electric execution is easily the worst talent in all of our trees imo.

While I do see the advantages of this build I prefer my 23-0-18. Instant Force Whirlwind with 2s stun at the end is boss as an additional interrupt for pvp or in combat ability to take an opponent out of the fight for 10s without using their CC removal. On top of that.. there's a 30m range on Death Field and only a 10m range on Wither. Also, Death Field does Internal Damage not Kinetic. So I seem to get some really nice hits on it.

 

After they buff Wither in the next patch however I do plan to swap to a 31-10-0 or possibly a 31-0-10 to try it out. That AOE snare will be sweet on top of the -5% damage debuff on it already. Will have to see if it's worth the trade offs. I just feel I get more out of a 23-0-18 than any other combo.

23-0-18 is miles ahead of 31-0-10 for PVP.

You have roughly the same amount of mitigation, but you're also stacking DPS-increasing talents with Death Field (30m > PBAE) and instant whirlwind for turning 2v2 fights into two 2v1 fights.

Hey all, Im at 49 about to ding 50 and was going to start pvping, just curious about hte 23/0/18 spec you are running I just threw something together quick to see if this was it.

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#200bI0skdskZZf0forMz.1

Looking forward to trying out both, thanks!

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#200dcrokrskZZf0cRrMz.1

Torment: reduces force cost of Thrash by 2 and Shock by 6. This nets you 10 force every 4.5 seconds (Thrash, Thrash, Shock) This is almost the same as 3/3 Points in Blood of Sith. This spec casts Thrash a lot, if it's not casting Thrash it's casting Shock, and if it's not casting either of those it's casting Assassinate (kill-shot) or free-Crushing-Darkness (which you just proced by casting Thrash).

Lightning Recovery is a must for a PVP build that puts more than 5 points into Darkness. Nothing like breaking roots and getting back on your target when they thought they had you stuck.

You could put a second point into Thrashing Blades by taking one away from Premonition, but this (for me anyhow) is the only debatable change in this spec, and will not make a visible difference in how it plays.

I go thrashing blades and 1 point into endurance buff. The endurance isn't much but electric execution is easily the worst talent in all of our trees imo.

Unless I'm missing something, how exactly is a 9% dmg boost to all attacks, regardless of the charge form, useless?

Oh wait, I think I just realized it. Does this 9% jut buff the Lightning Charge does xxx dmg every 1.5 seconds or does it actually buff all attacks while actually using that charge?

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#200dcrokrskZZf0cRrMz.1

 

Torment: reduces force cost of Thrash by 2 and Shock by 6. This nets you 10 force every 4.5 seconds (Thrash, Thrash, Shock) This is almost the same as 3/3 Points in Blood of Sith. This spec casts Thrash a lot, if it's not casting Thrash it's casting Shock, and if it's not casting either of those it's casting Assassinate (kill-shot) or free-Crushing-Darkness (which you just proced by casting Thrash).

 

Lightning Recovery is a must for a PVP build that puts more than 5 points into Darkness. Nothing like breaking roots and getting back on your target when they thought they had you stuck.

 

You could put a second point into Thrashing Blades by taking one away from Premonition, but this (for me anyhow) is the only debatable change in this spec, and will not make a visible difference in how it plays.

Why do you guys keep putting points in Swelling Shadows when the stupid thing has a cooldown.

No matter what you are capped out at once every 1.5 sec. After patch it will be once every 4.5 sec. Putting points into Swelling Shadows makes no sense.

Unless I'm missing something, how exactly is a 9% dmg boost to all attacks, regardless of the charge form, useless?

 

Oh wait, I think I just realized it. Does this 9% jut buff the Lightning Charge does xxx dmg every 1.5 seconds or does it actually buff all attacks while actually using that charge?

If I'm understanding correctly it increase all charge effects by 9% only. Not attacks under the charges.

If I'm understanding correctly it increase all charge effects by 9% only. Not attacks under the charges.

That is correct from what i have seen. Dark charge does what 50 damage, 9% of 50 is what 4 point something. Yea not wasting 3 points on that

23-0-18 is miles ahead of 31-0-10 for PVP.

 

You have roughly the same amount of mitigation, but you're also stacking DPS-increasing talents with Death Field (30m > PBAE) and instant whirlwind for turning 2v2 fights into two 2v1 fights.

I would say neither is ahead or behind. They are different playstyles. One offers better utility and a moderate gain in resilience. The other offers a slight to moderate DPS gain (depending on procs) and another CC.

The self-heals make quite a bit difference in a long fight losing both of them plus wither does lower survivability and group utility. The DPS gained from thrash crits are nice and WW is nice, but DF is wash bc of the secondary effect of wither and its lower cd. Raze is wash bc harnessed darkness hits harder and is more reliable in terms of how to proc it.

Now when Raze procs frequently (once every 4 or 5 gcds but its just as possible to go 20 gcds due to its low proc rate off crits) yea the spec is better but my personal preference is not to leave that much to chance. Again it's all personal preference and play styles.

Again because no one has responded to my last post. STOP PUTTING POINTS IN SWELLING SHADOWS.

Thank you!