phoenix strike advice needed

[droc]

phoenix strike advice needed

i made a phoenix strike assassin way back when lod first came out and just remembered how fun she was, so i just decided to make another except im not quite sure which skills need maxing, or what gear to wear.

right now shes lvl 7, but when i finish her (around 80-85) i plan on having PS maxed, FoF maxed, CoT maxed, potentially BoI maxed, but i hear that the dmg is too low to do anything decent with it. so if i max all those i have 80 pts invested and around 10-15 more or so to play around with. i was thinking of investing them into BoS. i know people will say invest in fade, but im planning on wearing Treachery...im convinced it was designed for a martial arts sin (aside from the IAS and fhr, the fade and venom make it so i dont have to invest any pts there!! hurray). if i decide not to get blades of ice maxed, then i will probably get a shadow, or work on claw block.

ill probably wear dual bartucs (shael'd) for more ias and combined 8 to martial arts! ...unless someone else has any suggestions - helm will probably be griff for the light dmg and -enemy resist. armor is treachery. ammy is metal grid maybe for res and attack rating either that or highlords. rings are raven and rare leech/str/res/life. LoH or dracs for glvoes. gores for boots. dungo for belt most likely (with lvl 15 fade ill get 30%DR)

torch and anni are standard - 7xmartial arts gcs if i can get my hands on these. im not concerned about phsyical dmg...but im trying to boost my lightning dmg. maybe ill socket bartuc with light facets. ill try to get a merc with infinity as well.

i have no idea if this build is a good idea, but i guess ill try it and find out! could be a lot of fun pvm

thanks in advance for any input/suggestions/tips!

 

[stephan]

right now shes lvl 7, but when i finish her (around 80-85) i plan on having PS maxed, FoF maxed, CoT maxed, potentially BoI maxed, but i hear that the dmg is too low to do anything decent with it. so if i max all those i have 80 pts invested and around 10-15 more or so to play around with. i was thinking of investing them into BoS.

That many points in BoS is almost never a good idea. Moreover, you can't have Fade and BoS active at the same time, so you will have to choose between them.

 

[droc]

i wouldnt max BoS...are you sure about not having them active at the same time? i've heard that if the ctc fade comes from the armor it wouldnt override BoS

 

[stephan]

i wouldnt max BoS...are you sure about not having them active at the same time? i've heard that if the ctc fade comes from the armor it wouldnt override BoS

That's not true.

 

[Eilo Rytyj]

I wouldn't bother with the BoI synergy. Fire and Lightning are the two big damagers. Fire because of the damage/time the residual flames of Phoenix1 and FoF3 offer, and Lightning because of the high max damage and great area of effect of CoT and Phoenix2. Add to that Phoenix3 needs 3 charges to get to, while Phoenix1 (meteor) can pretty much be spammed twice as fast as a Sorceress can cast Meteor, you'll find yourself wanting to use the quicker Phoenix1 and 2.

Depending on your gear, I see both BoS and Fade as 1-pt wonders. They can both be prebuffed with +shadow gear; you can shop/gamble for +3shadow helm, ammy and claws. If you're using Treachery, your fate is sealed... you're going to be using Fade. So you don't need to spend more than 1 in Fade, just cast it at the start of the game, and wait for Treachery's Fade to kick in. If you wanted to use BoS exclusively, then I'd probably use a CoH as armour instead, to make up for the resist and DR%, while still getting the +2 skills from this slot.

2 Bartuc's are nice, but I'd probably prefer a Shael'd Bartuc + Jade Talon off-hand. Jade still offers up to +2 to MA and shadow, but it's got huge resist and some mana leech, great if you're using BoS and need the res.

Don't forget the necessary support skills. I'm talking about Mind Blast, Cloak of Shadows, and Death Sentry. These skills make any Assassin hell-viable, as long as she has a reliable damage source. For those extra skill points after Phoenix, FoF and CoT are maxed, I'd toss it up between Death Sentry, Shadow Warrior/Master, and to a lesser extent Claw Mastery (for it's AR bonus primarily). I've only ever used Shadow Warrior because of the greater control you have over her, but you may prefer Shadow Master. In that case, you may wish to add another hard point or 2 to specific skills to increase her likeliness of using them, I dunno it's up to you in that respect.

 

[oakienko]

the most important advice for pheonix strike users (imo):
nail the timing for charge 1 and 2. know how to let each finisher have the correct charge and do it without hesitating.
it should look like sorc's meteor at v1.00 (no casting delay) and the chain lightning should almost sync; charge released when the one before is on it's way back