Not So Clever Hound

[CLASS BUILD] Vorpal, The Quiet Executioner – Assassin Devoted with Amra 2H Axe - Solo PotD Class: Assassin/Devoted (technically Amra gives you 2 Barbarian-like abilities that will proc in almost every fight, so this is more an Assassin/Devoted/Mini-Barb!) Concept: Very synergistic mix of stealth and melee dealing high damage and CC to multiple targets. Can be crudely summarized in 6 words: Clear Out With Amra From Stealth. This is a No-Rest build. Game Version: RTwP. Works with latest updates and DLCs as of v5.0.00040. I recommend the Full Community Patch and the No Forced Rests mod (otherwise just metagame around them, it’s fully viable but just a bit annoying). PotD Solo Viable: Yes. However be advised that you will NOT be able to best Hauani o Whe… at least not without a lot of tedium and RNG luck involved. Not that it really matters to this build anyway. Companion: Nope (meant to be played solo by definition). Maybe Edér could approximate but he would be noticeably weaker. As always, this is going to be a somewhat long post so please bear with me. I’ll explain briefly why I think this toon is interesting, go over the specs and key abilities, and detail some useful strategies throughout the game. -----INTRO------ I won’t bore you with my long thought process on trying to build a strong solo melee MC Assassin, but I’ll just explain why I ultimately landed with this one and why I find it interesting enough to share with the community: It is one of a few melee glass cannon builds that is viable to play solo on PotD. Also one of a few strong MC Assassin combinations that is neither a ranged weapon user nor a spellcaster. It makes optimal use of the 2-handed Axe Amra, which is a super cool weapon obtainable very early, but that can be somewhat hard to build around effectively. It is very synergistic: the end result is noticeably stronger than the sum of its parts. You start with a typical Fighter/Thief archetype, but you end up with a cloaked meat grinder from Hel. It has a very fun playstyle, feeling both very dynamic and powerful. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll have very few reloads. Tearing groups of enemies apart with a well-placed Clear Out leaving sturdy opponents prone with half their health missing while you turn invisible for a second round is some of the most fun I’ve had in melee with this game. Before going through the specs, I’ll just mention a couple more things: Devoted is optimal here in combination with Assassin + Amra and other items because together they concentrate a lot of goodies that are important to this build: on one hand piling up a ton of Accuracy, (Crit) Damage, Penetration and Sneak Attack/Deathblows-enabling Afflictions to kill very fast and on the other hand having Invisibility, Crowd Control and lots of passive Healing to stay alive. The downsides are almost nonexistent because: you can still use other weapons with pretty good accuracy if needed, there are very few enemies strictly immune to Slash DMG and you can punch through virtually any Slash AR. Plus as a backup before getting Amra, Devoted bonuses also apply to your fists (hello Monastic Unarmed Training). It has been said before but for those who are wondering: Assassin builds can somewhat counter-intuitively benefit more from a high DMG 2-hander than from dual-wielding, even if most of their offensive abilities are full attacks - and this build is another one to prove it. This is mostly because of stealth and recovery mechanics and how they work with initiating combat, but also because in our case we will use a lot a certain Fighter ability (Clear Out) that is a primary attack anyway. -----SPECS------ Race: Aumaua (Coastal probably optimal, doesn’t matter too much) Background: The White that Wends – Hunter FINAL STATS WITH ALL PERMABUFFS AND NO-REST BUFFS AS OF 5.0 (without combat buffs): MIG 30 (18 Base +2 Aumaua +2 Berath +1 Gift from Machine +2 Alchemic Brawn +2 Hot Razor Skewers +2 Woedica’s Strangling’s Grasp +1 Chameleon’s Touch) CON 10 (3 Base +2 Berath +2 Alchemic Brawn +2 Konstanten Boon +1 Upright Captain’s Belt) DEX 23 (16 Base +1 Chameleon’s Touch +2 Berath +2 Alchemic Guile +2 Amira’s Blessing PER 28 (18 Base +1 White that Wends +2 Berath +1 Konstanten Boon +1 Effigy: Sagani +2 Alchemic Guile +1 Savage Cunning +1 Cauldron Brew +1 Ajamuut) INT 24 (17 Base +2 Berath +1 Konstanten Boon +2 Alchemic Wits +2 Charm of Bones) RES 11 (3 Base +2 Berath +2 Alchemic Wits +2 Nature’s Resolve +2 Rikuhu’s Blessing) ADDITIONAL PERMABUFFS: Food: Hot Razor Skewers Adratic Glow All Trainings Dawnstar Blessing Luminous Adra Potion Nature’s Resolve (Accuracy) Savage Cunning (Survival) Galawain’s Gift x3 (Acc. against beasts) Infamous Captain, Bonus Skills, Champion Stats, Port Maje vendor, Fully discovered Map, Bonus Money… invested all 105 Berath’s Blessing Points SKILLS This time counting all the bonuses and items I invested to have 13 Athletics, 13 Mechanics, 12 Stealth, 12 Diplomacy, 18 Survival, base + bonuses on others). Temporary focus on Arcana as needed to steamroll certain big end-game DLC fights. ----- ABILITIES ------ ASSASSIN (+GENERAL) Crippling Strike, Backstab, Fast Runner, Smoke Veil, Blinding Strike, Dirty Fighting, Two Handed, Arterial Strike, Gouging Strike, Combat Focus, Persistent Distraction, Tough, Uncanny Luck, Deep Wounds, Improved Critical, Deathblows. DEVOTED Disciplined Barrage, Warrior Stance, Disciplined Strikes, Rapid Recovery, Weapon Specialization, Conquerer Stance, Unbending, Armored Grace, Clear Out, Unbending Trunk, Weapon Mastery. OPTIONAL/SITUATIONAL Until you get Amra, you should go Monastic Unarmed Training and 2 weapon style. The Rogue’s Deep Pocket is helpful if you temporarily switch to Arcana-heavy to remove a bump in the road with a barrage of scrolls. I will comment on those choices in Strategies further below. Note that I have tested a lot of the other passive/offensive abilities and none seemed to bring a lot of additional power or utility - happy to discuss though! -----GEAR------ Weapon Set 1: Amra! Mythic, Wanton Gore, Tempered Fury. Weapon Set 2: Nothing critical here but I like to keep handy Oathbreaker’s End, Magran’s Favor, Slayer’s Claw, The Red Hand, Dragon’s Dowry... Head: Helm of the Falcon. Keep handy Acina’s Tricorn. Neck: Charm of Bones. Keep handy a couple Fireball Necklaces for fun with Boeroer’s stacking trick. Chest: Devil of Caroc! Mythic, Heart of Bronze, Devil’s Due. With permabuffs, it gives us 12 Guile & Discipline / Encounter. Cape: Ajamuut’s Stalking Cloak! Gloves: Woedica’s Strangling Grasp. Keep Burglar’s Gloves and Firethrower’s gloves handy. Ring 1: Chameleon’s Touch. Keep handy Ring of Focused Flames. Ring 2: Ring of Prosperity’s Fortune. Keep handy Ring of the Marksman (keep Kuaru’s prize handy) Boots: Slippers of the Assassin! Keep handy Rakhan Field’s Boots for fun, and Sandals of the Water Lily. Belt: Upright Captain’s Belt Pet: Abraham. Keep Eviee handy. Potions: Invisibility, Ryngrim’s Repulsive Visage (this potion is always amazing in tough fights if your enemies are vulnerable to RES afflictions), Ascension, Healing. -----GENERAL STRATEGIES------ The general strategy until you start fully solidifying this build is to use Rogue abilities to focus down targets one at a time, and reset the fight as appropriate with Smoke Veil. Do not keep the fight up for too long at a time. At the beginning, you will use your fists, which are surprisingly effective and will carry you well into level 12-13. Buy all the nice stuff in Port Maje, the Necklace of Fireballs from the optional vendor in particular can be nice to quickly dispatch the drake and its buddies at the Digsite and save some time. You can go to Gorecci street at level 4+ and punch everybody to death, which is nice. After Port Maje, you can start getting a lot of levels under your belt quickly, while starting to pick a lot of the items and permabuffs that will enhance your combat abilities. Pick Amra when you want to go to Dunnage, there’s no rush. At this point already, you can virtually kill anything with Gouging Strike if you take your time. The Slippers of the Assassin are a great early add for a free invisibility once per fight. Helm of the Falcon + Abraham + DoC breastplate + Armored Grace is going to put your recovery in a really sweet spot. From an item point of view, Ajamuut’s Stalking Cloak is really a big upgrade when you get it (increased ACC, DMG + free Stun on hit from Stealth/Invisibility). Things start to be really strong when you get Clear Out. Then of course Deathblows with Persistent Distraction/Clear Out and Unbending Trunk when needed will drastically improve your combat potential. Let’s discuss some cornerstones of the build: AMRA: what a beauty. Very high base DMG and PEN, bonus crit DMG, a situationally nice weapon modal when you want to boost your DoT, a no-drawback Frenzy proc that puts our MIG to the max of 35, a Carnage-like proc that can seriously boost your DMG output on all enemies around… In practice, those procs will always trigger in serious fights. The build is entirely well, built around this weapon. SMOKE VEIL: Absolutely crucial of course. Can be used to run away and reset a fight, or more honorably to ignore incoming attacks, deaggro enemies and prepare your next devastating attack. ARTERIAL STRIKE AND GOUGING STRIKE: The bread and butter of most Rogues, these abilities are useful from beginning to end. Arterial Strike is really nice when you can make the enemy run around or chase you without taking nasty disengagement attacks. Potions of Ryngrim’s Repulsive Visage and Clear Out will be helpful for that, and of course you can create a horrible DoT-fest between Arterial Strike, Gouging Strikes, Deep Wounds, Bleeding Cuts… Gouging Strike is cheesy but so powerful of course. It can simplify a lot of fights and help you effortlessly farm Mythical Adra Stones with Dorudugan and Belranga. DISCIPLINED STRIKES: Disciplined Strikes and other Hit-To-Crit modifiers can get you to serious conversion rates, to complement your already high ACC. This is key to maximize because a lot of our crazy DMG bonuses are On-Crit. With Disciplined Strikes, Dirty Fighting, Uncanny Luck and Prosperity’s Fortune, you can get to almost 50% Hit-to-Crit conversion, and up to 61% with a potion of Perfect Aim on top. [1-(1-0.25)*(1-0.25)*(1-0.15)*(1-0.1)*(1-0.1) = 61%] CLEAR OUT: I could write a poem about this ability. A weapon ability that hits in AOE is always great. If it pushes and inflict prone on top, even better. Clear Out actually hits enemies twice with damage for some reason unknown to me, which bumps it up a tier. I think there are a couple funky things happening with those double hits in terms of the interactions with Sneak Attack, Deathblows, Assassinate and Backstab (the Raw DMG lash version from the Community Patch) but the bottom line is that in almost all situations you are going to hit like a truck. DMG per target will very often be in the 200-300 range, and you can of course prone-lock opponents. Now this ability is supposed to be balanced by the fact that it targets FORT, which is usually the highest defense on PotD. But we can reach an ACC of 173 from invisibility and a high Hit-to-Crit conversion rate so… yes, this ability is insanely powerful with this build. Clear Out alone with a few Smoke Veils can win a surprisingly large amount of harder fights. UNBENDING TRUNK: With such high MIG and Dawnstar’s Blessing, your healing is so high that this ability becomes essentially a “Cannot Die” effect for as long as it’s up. As simple as that. -----THE END------ Always happy to read your thoughts and potential for improvement! If like me you’ve ever wondered what would happen if we gave a giant battle axe to The Predator and dropped him on Eora, then I think you may have fun with this toon!

Well done, @lewis_cb! This fight can be frustrating for a lot of reasons . And completed without Potion of the Final Stand / True Lover's Kiss cheese! That is commendable.

Damn, @BoeroerI just responded at the same time

Are you looking to play Solo or with a Party? If the latter, how do you envision your party? If you are looking for Solo, that narrows down possibilities. If party-based, a Helwalker/ Priest of Rymrgand has a strong thematic fit, will satisfy your desire for a melee/caster hybrid, and is a well known strong combo with Turning Wheel, Thunderous Blow synergizing with both melee and casting etc. Then grab all the thematic gear from BoW for style and powah.

I agree with both of your points. I definitely don't want to be the advocate of scroll spamming but for the sake of argument I'll mention that: Quantity can beat quality: if you unlock the 6 pocket slots, you can carry and spam up to 30 Great Maelstrom scrolls in a single fight. By end game those are also relatively easy to manufacture on an industrial level with your million coins and access to all vendors refreshing inventory in 24h. Scrolls can scale off of other things: Arcana PL + item keyword PL + abilities like Assassinate can significantly boost scroll attacks. Maybe not to the level of a fully optimized SC Fury casting the same spell as a natural ability... but pretty good. On spells that target FORT, the +25 ACC from Assassinate is really good.

Also as others have mentioned before, I think that the "curse" of the Druid/Fury is that his most powerful signature spells are available as scrolls and can in certain cases be more valuable to other classes than to the source class. Insect Swarm, Plague of Insect and Embrace the Earth Talon can be good for anyone but especially with builds with inherently high accuracy buffs or ways to debuff FORT to land the spell effectively. Avenging Storm is very strong for martial classes, of course especially broken with Monk SC builds. Greater Maelstrom is a boon to all but seems like it was made specifically for the Arcane Knight: Can get very high Arcana (in the 30s) and with some of the items Boeroer mentioned, reach very high PL on Avenging Storm. Pulsing AoE spells fit well with a static, buffing/tanky approach. Stand your grown, buff, create hazard AoE, let the enemy close in and die. Will work very well in combination with Combusting Wounds, Chill Fog, Freezing Pillar, etc. Really enhances the offensive potential of a build that can be a bit soft on that side in late game encounters if focusing a lot on defensive abilities (i.e. instead of having to spam Blood Sacrifice) Greater Maelstrom benefits from the Eternal Devotion fire lash. Like many players, I try to limit my usage of scrolls to specific situations but the availability of these Druid scrolls has always felt a bit unfair to the uniqueness of the Druid IMHO, just as hypothetical scrolls of Whispers of the Wind, potions of Assassinate or Gloves of Disintegration would hurt the uniqueness of Monk, Assassin and Cipher .

Maybe if you never ever help them and come back in late game you get this interaction - which would explain why no one usually gets this variant? Or it could be cut content? Funny how random things still get uncovered in the game at this point . On a similar but unrelated note, I've noticed that the Amira's Blessing buff that you can get during the Arsonist event in Neketaka is not really referenced in builds/posts playing No-Rest, but it's a sweet +2 DEX that you can receive only if you get in the house, investigate but don't pursue the arsonists. I guess most players (like me most of the time) get in and rush to get the arsonists and the flame blights in the back. Maybe it's common knowledge, but I only discovered that it's more beneficial to not pursue them and debrief with the neighbors instead randomly.

Yeah, the peaceful resolution is nice because after that all the shrooms in FS and their infested pals will be peaceful. Usually when I'm at this point of the game, trash mob fights are getting a bit old, so I welcome the opportunity to bypass those fights and get to the end of FS a little faster!

There is also the option of a Diplomacy check but it's high, in the 20's. You can also get lower checks in this discussion if you accept the symbiote (at the condition that it will respect your boundaries ) which has zero impact on anything else in the game as far as I know. Possibly in this case you get a "simple" Survival 15 check or even a RES check of 12 if I recall correctly. Bottom line is, there are multiple options to solve this peacefully if you've visited the enclosures first and/or if you have found and read the annals of Llengrath up to this point.

@Boeroer I think it's a cool idea and a fair compensation for casters (for group play at least but solo has many other ways to become OP). Of note, I think this will make Bloodmage even more OP vs. the other classes in SC and MC configurations. Of note #2 I agree with all of @Exanos's points... maybe then Brilliant for casters could have more PL increase (RP fit)? Of note #3 and to your last point @Exanos, do you know that under certain conditions, Tactician could circumvent the nerf of having Brilliant renew resources only once? It's a well-known fact that you can trigger Brilliant Tactician if you turn invisible and deaggro your enemies at a certain distance. However what I've seen on several occasions while playing with this, is that Brilliant Tactician is applied and cancelled, then reapplied etc. in quick successions which actually renews your resources quite quickly (if you can stay away from the enemy and not aggro of course). I've not put any efforts into understanding this quirk better and making it happen consistently, but it could be a way for Tactician SC/MC builds to circumvent the nerf that @Boeroer suggests?

Sorry @dgray62 I saw your earlier post with a delay . I'm really not sure what's going on, I use volatile runelock as well and the self damage has never broken my stealth from the Slippers nor Smoke Veil. The log should hopefully explain what's going on. I'm very confident this is something identifiable and fixable easily Not a big deal but Dragon's Dowry is your Medieval .50 Cal. sniper rifle, you want to use it to its fullest extent!

@Boeroer to the rescue! Thanks Totally right on the Slippers, they work like Smoke Veil. No problem with Deep Wounds or other DoTs (unlike of course Pulse attacks like Greater Maelstrom. That still break stealth because it throws an attack roll for each pulse). Anyways... your point about going out of combat could be the thing, but in my pretty extensive experience playing this build I never ever saw this issue on an opening kill. Maybe later on when you've downed several enemies and the combat is underway, and you use Smoke Veil to take a breather because things are getting a bit too heated. Then remaining enemies lose interest and combat suddenly stops, you get out of stealth, you haven't replenished your Guile pool, bummer. But it doesn't seem to be the problem here!

Hi @dgray62 glad you're still having fun with this build. I never had this issue and I just tested my build now against Ikorno. I can maintain stealth with Slippers of the Assassin after a kill from Dragon's Dowry (one shot or two shot). So thinking about things that could interfere... I am playing with community patch, are you? Did you take any passive that could do something funky to invisibility (e.g. my point about Echoing Horror)? EDIT: There must be either an item or ability or game version effect that is running interference. I have extensively used this weapon with both Kaylon's Glimmer Man build and my build and it has never been an issue. Really the only time when I was going out of stealth when I wasn't planning to was because of trying out Echoing Horror. EDIT 2: Thinking about it more: the Dragon Dowry Lash is not a separate attack roll but a lash, that is just calculated and added to your main attack just like your biting whip lash. so there is absolutely no reason it would break stealth. There is something else going on, let's find out! EDIT 3: I just tried without the community patch and invisibility from the Slippers still triggers and is maintained.

That's completely true. For what it's worth, from my experience as a player who doesn't usually like mods too much, you can really consider this mod as the final polishing Patch to the game that didn't happen, rather than a typical Mod that tweaks the experience in a certain direction or messes up the balance. It's not the case.

Impressive chain reaction! Interesting that Deltro's Lash triggers Deathblows from a Minoletta PPB. I was hoping for the same kind of effect from Blightheart's corrosive lash but sadly it doesn't work.

@Haplok That screen shot is brutal I will definitely try this combination. Add Combusting Wounds and Avenging Storm and say goodbye to your GPU .

@Vesimas if you're going with Aloth as a Battlemage I would much rather spec him as a melee Hybrid to make use of Citzal Spirit Lance. If you want him as a ranged DPS then Pure Wizard is better, but you need more solidity on your front line then. From your roster, the ideal front line is really Aloth Battlemage and Xoti Monk, they will swing the fight in your favor quickly almost every time. Here is what I would consider if I were you (I try to keep the item spoilers to a minimum). Aloth (equipped with a certain early game Llengrath Grimoire) focus on martial/melee buffs in both trees and Mob Stance. Starts by buffing to oblivion, engages melee pack, casts Spirit lance. Then starts using Clear Out to target as many enemies as possible (Mule Kick also very good) and I will guarantee that your jaw will drop when you see what happens on screen Xoti (equiped with a certain early-game Monk small shield for example and ideally with a certain late game stalking cloak) specs with Swift Flurry, Thunderous Blow, Turning Wheel, Heartbeat Drumming. Starts fight using Whispers of the Wind. Second jaw drop Add-in a quick Combusting Wounds at the beginning of the fight... and melee combat hardly gets any better in Deadfire. Then Edèr as Swashbuckler has a lot of flexibility to flank and complement your frontline or creep up (or charge) squishies in the backline. You can equip him in many ways, a 2H can be a nice choice if you want to attack from stealth (max opening DMG). Really whatever you want there. Your ranged MC can be a primary caster (Wizard SC, Wizard Assassin as said, Ascendant... many good choices) or a primary weapon user (Mindstalker with Hand Mortars and a certain Blunderbuss , a SC/MC Ranger...) and focus on the backline squishies (casters first) and the occasional front line help. Tekehu will do his thing, heal, buff/support and the occasional offensive spell. This is in my opinion a great way to leverage the roster you're thinking about and leaves you with a lot of flex on your MC and Edèr (less so on Aloth and Xoti). EDIT: What you planned above is totally fine too and will definitely carry you through Classic or Veteran so you can safely go with that . My post is more from the perspective of optimizing the different toons for end game party synergy.

Unless there is a weird balance change between RTwP and TB, Assassinate gives you +25ACC and indeed +4PEN and +50%Crit DMG. It's a huge boon for a Wizard that can always benefit from extra ACC, PEN and DMG to get the job done (and doesn't have a ton of other ways to increase those besides, oh well, all his buffs/debuffs and Combusting Wounds). It is super fun, but not very party friendly in my opinion at least in RTwP and relies upon a somewhat niche playstyle. You might want to go with something a little more standard - not in a bad way. A SC Wizard is my favorite toon (in RTwP) but if I may, either vanilla Wizard or Bloodmage might be better than Evoker. Bloodmage is outstanding in certain specific situations with his renewable resources (only Xoti in your planned roster has renewable resources). There are just so much outstanding damage spells and combos you're disregarding with an Evoker, to me it's not worth the extra PLs. But again (if it wasn't clear ) I play RTwP, maybe the balance is different in TB. Still, Wizard is all about versatility - Evoker goes against that idea. And I've played my share of Evokers .

It's a great point and one that I forgot to mention in another post where the OP was really into a build where Slayer's Claw was one of the cornerstones of his planned playstyle. On one hand, OK late game gear gives you something to look forward to. But on the other hand, getting your build complete at the end of SSS when you are playing Party or Solo PotD is looooong. I personally favor builds that will come to fruition and be somewhat complete earlier. Like if a build is amazing with all the Weyc gear from FS. Some of those items are powerful and potentially transformational to certain builds. But by the time you've finished FS... you are usually 99% done with the game anyway.

Yep very true in late DLC fights, but you can hide and play around with your targets in so many ways. With max Arcana and Deep Pockets, you could for instance use Withdraw 30 times, each time completely removing you from the fight for 30+ sec. Of course it's not a fun way to play and Withdraw has a dangerous recovery time, but I'm just making the point - knowing that you are the king of DoT, it's potentially OP to be able to wait around for the DoT to do its job. It is also a unique way to force stealth after casting a ticking spell like Greater Maelstrom or Meteor Shower that would break your stealth otherwise. I've also trivialized Arena fight with like 2 Earth Talon scrolls to shut down a healer and 2 Plague of Insect scrolls to eliminate their pals. I know (and appreciate) that you don't like scrolls. But it's just so good with an Assassin! A lot of fights can also be done in a very different way if you approach with a full stealth mindset. For example, the FS Oratory fight: you can stay out of combat for a long time as long as you don't go either side where the enchanted armors are. You can stay on the bridge, withstand the oculus attacks, kill one obelisk with an arquebus, then kill the 2 mirror images that spawn on the other side, all in stealth and renewing resources. Then start the proper fight at your convenience by either going one side and kill one batch of animated armor after the other, or decide to aggro everybody by unexpectedly shooting the last obelisk still from the central bridge. Maybe it's something that everybody knows already, but I liked decomposing this fight in a very different way with this build than I had before.

Hi @dgray62 I'm so glad you're enjoying this build! I know you've played your fair share of optimized toons in Deadfire so it's great to hear . It sounds like you've had the same kind of jaw-dropping moments that I had when a stealth attack perfectly falls into place. As far as skills, for most of the game I think it's nice to reach (all permanent bonuses included): 13 Mechanics, so with Burglar's Gloves and occasionally Thief's Putty you can open everything in the game, including the Mechanics 18 lock in Splintered Reef that doesn't have a key. Maybe you won't open everything in Forgotten Sanctum but who cares. Diplomacy 13 let me handle everything I wanted to handle in a diplomatic way. You have of course items and consumables if needed if you want to go further. Something like 10-12 in Athletics and Survival. With the occasional item if needed to pass checks (Burglar Glove etc). Stealth in total at 8 is more than enough. When it is time to shift gears with the end game DLC fights, go crazy on Arcana. You can easily reach 22 or 24 Arcana with your skills and gear. That's a lot of PL scaling on those mean scrolls to let you dominate thos big fights .

I haven't tried this exact combo but in my experience bounce/multiple projectiles lose the Assassinate bonus as soon as you break stealth. Your first Eld Nary crit from stealth will still be pretty strong though!

Interesting. I just tested this and Assassinate works perfectly well with Killing Bolt, as the Blightheart lash and any other DMG goodie I have. By the way, to your earlier point about Minoletta's PPB: it can reach a PEN of 33 on crit with Assassinate, potentially more. Guaranteed overpen on all enemies with up to 16 pierce AR, which means more DMG and more lash from Blightheart. EDIT: Actually with Crusted Swordfish you can reach 36 PEN with Minoletta PPB! I just got the overpen bonus on Ikorno who was at Pierce AR = 18. Cool!

First, my apologies @Boeroer as this goes somewhat off-topic with your thread, we can totally take the discussion somewhere else . @HaplokI totally agree with you, the one minor annoyance that I was trying to solve is that as a solo assassin/bloodmage when you re-stealth several times in a fight and decide to stay where the action is, ranged enemies can sometimes get very reactive and ruin your day the very second you break stealth. Killing one squishy ranged enemy to immediately spam a Spectre that will aggro everybody around him could be a nice way to do several jobs at once: disrupt the enemy and diminish the threat while you continue your stealth/AOE nuking routine and stay close to the action all the time. I'm just trying to find a way to make Killing Bolt interesting since it fits very well with the Assassin/Bloodmage theme but is otherwise not that useful. With that in mind, I think that the Blightheart lash would be best way to maximize the Killing Bolt damage. Regarding Rogue resources, you are almost only using your Guile for stealth so you have quite a bit to spare. But you can also just stay out of range and use AOE spells with stealth .

In case this is of interest: I was wondering if the lash would be considered as a weapon effect, and if as such it could benefit from Sneak Attack or Deathblow which otherwise don't interact with damage spells. Short answer is, it doesn't. It makes me sad, but not as sad as when I discovered that Three Bells Through could not apply Gouging Strike in a line. I have a troubled history with Arquebuses. The multiplicative lash is still pretty cool though on big damaging spell crits with the Assassinate +50% bonus. It does indeed work as your total damage done x 1.1.