User:Jioruji Derako/User Builds/A-any Critical Fox

 OUTDATED

''This build was created prior to a large number of skill updates, and has not been edited to reflect these changes. It is kept merely as an archive. This build was vetted before becoming outdated.'' This PvE build is built around the Assassin's primary attribute, Critical Strikes. Using Way of the Assassin for a huge increase in your critical chance, Way of Perfection to grant plenty of healing per critical, and Critical Defenses for a near-permanent 75% chance to block, nearly every hit you land will net you +3 energy and +28 health. Using a fast-recharging, nearly-unblockable attack chain, you can steadily and reliably get your damage through.

Attributes and Skills
[build prof=assas/any critic=11+2 dagger=11+1+2 shadow=8+1][Golden Fox Strike][Wild Strike][Critical Strike][Way of the Assassin][Critical Defenses][Way of Perfection][Critical Agility][optional][/build]


 * Wild Strike can be switched out for Golden Fang Strike, sacrificing the extra damage, stance removal, and unblockable effect in favor of an on-demand Deep Wound to help kill targets.
 * Critical Strike is mainly used as energy management, as your critical chance is already extremely high. Depending on your play style, you might not need the energy; Death Blossom can replace the skill quite easily. Recharge aside, nearly any other Dual Attack can work as well.


 * Your optional slot is quite flexible, but there are a few especially good options.
 * Shadow Refuge is a solid self-heal, and easy to use in mid-battle, making it especially nice when running alongside Way of Perfection.
 * Resurrection Signet (or any other resurrection skill) should be used when in a full PvE group.
 * Critical Eye will grant a nice boost to energy-management, not to mention the sizable extra Critical Hit chance (thus increasing your health gain as well).
 * Death's Charge gives you an easy way to jump into a battle and start gaining health; your main method of health gain is from melee attacks, and against ranged attackers, a speedy entry is key. Death's Retreat can be useful for the reverse, if you need to jump out of a fight to heal.
 * Your secondary profession always has good options as well, and you can choose many different strategies based on your own playing style and needs.


 * If survival is an issue, you can go A/D and switch Shadow Arts for Earth Prayers (see Variants, below). The A/D variant loses a bit of the original build's flexibility (because you no longer have the option of picking any secondary you like), but makes up for it in pure staying power, with high health regeneration thanks to Mystic Regeneration.

Equipment

 * Nightstalker's Armor is recommended.
 * Daggers with an "of Enchanting" mod is best, and preferably a "+15% while enchanted" or "+15% while in a stance" mod. Daggers of Xuekao may be the best green daggers for this build.

Usage

 * Your strategy will be centered around keeping your enchantments and Way of the Assassin up at all times. In the heat of battle, you'll need to remember to check your status bar often, and make sure to keep all your skills up as much as possible.
 * Critical Defenses is near-useless outside of battle; make sure to only activate it if you know you can get a critical hit within the next few seconds. Way of the Assassin is also easy to maintain, and low costing; make sure to keep it up constantly in battle. Way of Perfection and Heart of Shadow both sport high durations, so you can easily activate them before entering battle.
 * Critical Defenses provides a high block chance, which should help you to survive long enough to kill most other melee classes. Remember though, spells can't be blocked, and will be your downfall; don't let yourself get below 50% health if at all possible. Also, many melee classes will deal more damage then you; despite your high block chance, the damage may be fatal. Don't try to tank.
 * When facing foes with Enchantment removal, keep in mind that Critical Defenses will almost always be the first to go, regardless of the order you activate your enchantments. This is because whenever you land a critical hit, Critical Defenses will re-apply itself, thus moving back to the top of the list. Don't rush into battle too quickly; you may find out too late that a foe has a removal skill of some sort, and you'll be stuck without Critical Defenses for the duration of it's recharge.
 * Way of Perfection should be gaining you a good amount of health as you fight; Critical Strike will always land two critical hits, so it doubles as a nice self-heal every six seconds. Heart of Shadow allows you to shadowstep away from tough foes, making it harder for opposing melee classes to land hits; against foes with gw:projectile weapons or spells, activating it as they attack can dodge as well. The health gained from the skill can be used to counter moderate spikes as well.
 * Above all, remember; regardless how long you can last in a fight, you're not a tank. Disengage from any foe you don't know you can beat; you are a lot more helpful to your group alive in the backlines, as opposed to dead in the frontlines.

Counters

 * Your main worry is Enchantment removal and the Blind condition. When Blinded, your best bet is to get out of combat. Without a critical hit, you'll lose Critical Defenses and be easy prey for most attacks. Enchantment removal can also get rid of Critical Defenses quickly, and the recharge time is normally longer then your average lifespan without it active. If you're able to remove the condition with an optional skill, very well, but otherwise step out of combat until your vision is clear.

Variants

 * For superior self-healing and defense, consider going A/D and switching all of your points from Shadow Arts into Earth Prayers. This will allow you to use Mystic Regeneration as your heal. The large Block chance granted by Critical Defenses, in addition to the +9 Health regeneration provided by Mystic Regeneration (at 8 Earth Prayers and with three enchantments active), should serve to keep you alive for a much greater amount of time and especially against other melee classes, and Mytic Regeneration works just as well when not in battle. Your attribute points should be re-ordered, like so:
 * [build prof=A/D name="Mystic Nine Tails" dag=11+1+2 crit=11+2 earthp=8][Golden Fox Strike][Wild Strike][Critical Strike][Way of the Assassin][Mystic Regeneration][Critical Defenses][Critical Agility][optional][/build]
 * This variant works much better against melee foes than casters, and the quick recharge times on the Dervish enchantments means you don't suffer nearly as much against foes with enchantment removal, as it's not a big deal to simply re-cast one of your cheaper enchantments to keep Way of the Assassin active, or keep yourself alive.