Advise(s) for [Harbringer] [Skald] [Assassin]

[alexphanmh]

Hello everyone, hope all is well. I would love to run with a Harbringer. However, the guide in this box is only for Harbringer of Troubadour and Streetfighter. I, on the other hand, am looking for a build of Skald and Assassin. Crits from Assassin can certainly be beneficial for Skald. So, is there any advise or guidance for this build? Thanks.

[Ganrich]

I spent my first 2 full runs with Harbinger, and you could say I did a slew of partial runs too.  I am pretty familiar with it.  I did the Troub/SF build, and it wasn't my first attempt by far.  It was just the best combo I found.  I tried combos with Assassin, Trickster, SF, and no Subclass Rogue.  On the Chanter side I tried both Skald and Troubadour.  I am not a summons type of player so I didn't try Beckoner, and Troubadour makes non-subclass Chanter pointless.  Skald probably works best with SF and no Subclass Rogues.  Troubadour can work with any of them.  Beckoner would be best if you are Ranged, and as such, most likely works with most of them except SF. 

 

So, that said, this combo is rough.  I think it can be good, but you have to follow certain rules.  Stealth makes it rough, btw. 

 

Rule number 1)  No DoT's from either class.  Any upgrade you select for rogue cannot have a DoT because it will pop you out of stealth.  So, no Arterial Strike, no Gouging Strike, no Strike the Bell with one handed weapons, no Pernicious Cloud, etc. 

 

Rule 2)  No offensive Chants.  Soft Winds, Dull the Edge, Thick Grew Their Tongues, The Long Night's Drink, etc.  These all will debuff/hurt the enemy, and keep you out of stealth.  So you must select buffing Chants.  For clarity, you can snag offensive Invocations like White Worms, Seven Nights, and Boil Their Flesh.  As these, if you can pull it off (and it is hard to do), do a single burst of damage and can be performed from stealth.  Their casting times are long, and it is hard to get them off before you are spotted though.  So you will want to reduce cast times if you can.  Rapid Casting is a talent you might want if you plan to Assassinate with these Invocations. 

 

Rule 3)  Two handed weapons.  Use them.  No one handers.  You want to maximize those backstabs, and if you pick up Strike the Bell + it's upgrade for 2 handers you don't get a DoT. 

 

I don't think Skald is a good fit with Assassin, myself.  Mostly because Skald benefits from constantly swinging at the enemy, and Assassin benefits from spending time going into stealth, and then attacking from stealth.  This means you won't gain the benefits of Skald as often.  IE you won't crit as much, and as such won't generate those free phrases.  Sure, a backstab/assassinate has a higher likelihood of critting, but your spending so much time setting it up that it hurts the Skald side more than it helps.  Skalds are better with 2 weapons, and spending their time swinging them.  The big reason is that Skalds only get a 50% chance to gain a phrase on crit, and that works best if you are constantly swinging at the enemy with your weapons.  Assassins won't be doing that.  So, even if you crit on your Assassinate you aren't guaranteed a phrase.  That is just my 2 cents though.  Take it for what it is worth.

 

To make Harbinger work best with Assassin I think Troubadour is best, but I am unsure if your summons will screw stealth up too.  I didn't try that.  If summons can attack while you are stealthed then a Beckoner might work too.  They shouldn't break stealth, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did either.

 

Anyway, start with Hel-Hyraf and Blessed was Wengridh for the Chanter side, and Crippling Strike with the Assassin.  None of the damage invocations at level one are great with Assassinate.  If you do a multi-hit spell out of stealth only the first hit gets Assassinate's benefits.  So Thrice was She Wronged isn't a good pick.  Only grab Thunder Rolled for a knockback.  Hel-Hyraf works because once you get some combat stealth options you can use Hel-Hyraf to reduce their Armor Rating, Stealth, Assassinate/backstab. 

 

It is a very limited selection as you level up because of the "no DoTs" and "no debuff/damage chants" issue.  However, I will give you a few selections that I think might be beneficial, and tell you why.

 

Ancient Memory - AoE heal.  It is good because it can help get you health back as you are in stealth between Assassinates.

 

Mith Fyr - Flame Weapons.  Adds a little more umph to your Assassinate/backstab.

 

Silver Knights - +10 Deflection never hurt anyone, and definitely won't hurt a class that takes +15% damage like Assassin does.

 

Her Courage Thick as Steel - 10pt damage shield.  It isn't much, but if you do decide to go Troubadour you can refresh it every 3 seconds vs 6 seconds and it'll help with incoming damage.

 

Old Siec - 12% life tap.  Your assassinates will hit hard, and this could give a decent chunk of health back when they do.  It combines fairly well with Mith Fyr, and with Mercy which I am getting to.

 

Mercy and Kindness - +100% heal.  I don't need to explain this.  Especially if you select Old Siec or Ancient Memory as it will double their efficiency. 

 

Now for Invocations:

 

Hel-Hyraf - -2 armor Rating on the enemies.  You will hit a little harder.

 

Killers Froze Stiff - Paralyze = you crit more.  This is a must pick for Skald.  It isn't even a question.

 

White Worms -  If your assassinate makes something a corpse you can now make that corpse a bomb.  Pretty fun little combo when I tried it.

 

Seven Nights - you turn into an ice bomb.  If you can get in the middle of a pack while stealthed, and can get this off it will hurt. 

 

The Brideman Slew - +5 Resolve and might.  If you upgrade to Each Kill Fed his fury you also get +5 con and kills will extend the duration.  Extra damage + some synergy with Assassin.  Non-offensive chant so it will cost the Skald more phrases to cast.

 

The Bride caught their ruse - + 5 Dex and Perception.  faster attack speed and accuracy.  Upgrade gives you Brilliant which adds +5 intellect and you gain +1 class resource every 3 seconds.  It is beyond good, and honestly every Chanter MC should pick it up.  Non-Offensive Chant so it will cost the Skald more phrases to cast.

 

Boil Their Flesh - does raw damage, and if a target dies it does more raw damage to enemies nearby.  So, this has a neat synergy with Assassin if you can get it off before you are spotted. 

 

On the Rogue side:

 

If you aren't getting Persistent Distraction then I would recommend Debilitating Strike upgrade.  You can't get Arterial Strike anyway, and Deb Strike gives Distraction which causes the target to think it is Flanked and that is a -10 deflection.  Lower deflection = more likely to crit.

 

Confounding Blind - Stacking Deflection bonus on target while the blind is in effect.  It can help melt targets.  It is an upgrade to Blinding Strike.

 

Shadow Step - upgrade to Escape that is a Teleport that lets your next strike paralyze.  Once again Paralyze = more crits.  This benefits Skald.  However, Assassin benefits more from the other upgrade that stealths you when you use the teleport. 

 

Killing Blow and Devastating Blow - you have a finishing move on low health targets.

 

Strike the Bell - Only with ranged or two handed weapons.  It's upgrades are specific to the weapon type.

 

Most of the other Rogue active abilities are too expensive, and Harbinger has some issues with Guile costs at low levels anyway.  Take the higher level stuff at your discretion, but remember you don't have a ton of Guile.  DoC Breastplate is purchaseable in Periki's Outlook in Neketaka.  This adds +2 Guile to your character.  Save money and buy it. 

 

Rogue Passives.

 

Backstab - no sense playing Assassin without it.

 

Deep Pockets - This gives you +2 quickslots (6 total), and assassinate works with spells and Grenades.  So, it is actually a decent pick for assassin. Obviously, you want Explosives or Arcane skill to make use of it.

 

Combat Focus - if youre planning to try and cast invocations from stealth then this might help if something spots you and tries to interrupt.

 

Persistent Distraction - This is great.  Everything you engage with is Distracted and that gives them -5 Perception and Flanked Affliction (-10 Deflection)

 

Dirty Fighting - 10% hit to crit conversion.  Need I say more.

Uncanny Luck - another 5% hit to crit conversion, and 5% resistance.

 

Deathblows - +50% sneak attack if target has 2+ afflictions on them.  Moar damages.

 

Imp Crit - more damage on Crit.

 

Avoid Deep Wounds as it is a DoT.

 

Some Attribute advice. 

Get perception pretty high.  16+ or so.  Skald wants to crit, and the higher your accuracy the more likely that is to happen.

Intellect is another important stat as it increases your CCs and Afflicitons duration.

Might is probably fine between 12 and 14 on rogue.  Sneak Attack, backstab, Assassinate, and Deathblows will boost your damage enough that you don't need it too high.

Dex - I would keep it around 10, but that is me.

Con and Resolve are somewhat dumpable, but you are already a bit squishy from Assassin so take care to not make yourself too paper thin. 

 

OK.  That is about all I can say.  I would highly recommend looking at Assassin/Troubadour.  It is really a better fit.  However, if you have any other questions then I will do my best to help.

Edited May 26, 2018 by Ganrich

[Dorftek]

You don't have to be popping in and out of stealth constantly to play an assassin, in fact that will eat your resources rapidly.

 

I play a solo Assassin/Bleakwalker and i stealth in and take out a high priority target then I fight pretty much normally with affliction+FoD otherwise I won't have enough rogue resources for the rest of the fight. Hobbling strike + FoD is the most cost efficient.

 

I'd not go two hander just for backstabbing. Assassinate still work on both weapons while DWing and that's almost a guaranteed x2 crit with the first swing being a backstab as well. With a Skald and some RNG love that's possibly 2 phrases instantly. I actually like the idea to assassinate someone and then xplode him. Just run two chant buffs and ur good right?

 

U might wanna invest heavily into Alchemy and use Deadeye so ur Skalds invocations hit.

 

I'm gonna try this when I get home from work.

[Dorftek]

Alright I made an Assassin/Skald solo just to try it out. Alltho I had only 2.5h so I didn't get further then to lvl 9 and this is not enough to get Shadowing Beyond and I didn't want to waste a point on smoke veil. So I've lvled doing minimum fighting. The character work decently so far, it's very squishy because I dumped res completely and took 2 points from Con. So I snuck past just about everything on the first isle including the Ghosts and Panters.

 

Maxed out both Dex and Per. Even with 21 perception my Accuracy is not very reliable so I'd recommend Alchemy + Deadeye. Also my recovery is really slow after im used to playing Barb/Monk.

 

If the Skalds magic work with deathblows later on, like scrolls did in the first game it would be worth multiclassing with the rogue. Otherwise I'd strongly recommend monk for their very high INT boost, recovery speed and lashes.

[Dorftek]

Lvl 11 so far and I'm really glad I tested this out, very fun character with awesome offensive!

 

Alltho I was wrong earlier about assassinate triggering on both attacks from stealth I still don't recommend using a two hander because the recovery is too slow and more attacks means more crit rolls. I recommend rapiers for this at this point for speed and extra accuracy.

 

Going invisible in combat is not something I recommend soley for backstabbing and assassinate, it's too expensive. It is however a great tool to drop aggro for ur figurine/charms/tank and to quickly take out a dangerous mage or gunner.