Assassinate + Cipher Powers

[lucasolt]

Hello,
recently i've been running an assassin + wizard. I could make use of the assassinate passive on fireballs and such, and it works reasonably well.

Now I am trying to do the same with an assassin + cipher, but im not really sure if the interaction is working well.

Using mind wave, only the primary target gain the bonus. Silent scream seems the same. I tested it some more, and i guess it makes sense, its not instantenously aplied to the secondary targets. wow this is just sad, ive thought i had found my build :/ another advantage for wizards over cipher.

Anyone can share some insight about this?

Thanks

Edit: checked amplified wave and shock wave, both dont work at all, because you get out of stealth while casting on the ally
detonate only the primary target. Not sure about desintegrate, but its crit seems to only affect duration anyway

Edited July 5, 2018 by lucasolt

[Dorftek]

Well in all honesty isn't it best to use the assassinate bonus with something like Thunderous report? It does more dmg then any of your powers and it will fully charge ur focus right away. Then, assuming ur playing Ascendant wich is by far the superior cipher you can go ahead and use borrowed instinct and then spam spells.

[Loren Tyr]

It should work with Disintegrate, which can still be useful to get it to actually stick on high Fortitude targets. But in general, it's just not going to interact well with Cipher abilities, since essentially all their AOE effects are of the 'single target + surrounding area kind. The game parses that as separate attacks, and if the primary attack causes the assassin to be unstealthed by being loud or causing enemy damage, Assassinate will just cease to apply. It's fairly easy to predict from the spell descriptions what it'll work for in that sense. Wizard do have some spells it works well with (Druids too of course), enough to make it a useful combination with Assassin. But Cipher's I'm afraid just isn't ideal for this (though I'd argue, +25 ACC on things like Disintegrate can still be quite useful).

Edited July 5, 2018 by Loren Tyr

[lucasolt]

It should work with Disintegrate, which can still be useful to get it to actually stick on high Fortitude targets. But in general, it's just not going to interact well with Cipher abilities, since essentially all their AOE effects are of the 'single target + surrounding area kind. The game parses that as separate attacks, and if the primary attack causes the assassin to be unstealthed by being loud or causing enemy damage, Assassinate will just cease to apply. It's fairly easy to predict from the spell descriptions what it'll work for in that sense. Wizard do have some spells it works well with (Druids too of course), enough to make it a useful combination with Assassin. But Cipher's I'm afraid just isn't ideal for this (though I'd argue, +25 ACC on things like Disintegrate can still be quite useful).

you are right. The fact that most nukes from cipher are raw damage is also not very synergic, the bonus penetration from assassinate is wasted.

But its still good for building focus with weapons abilities like Dorftek suggested (thunderous report is so good! one handed hit to crit ability works on it too)

[SaruNi]

Have you tried using assassinate with the charm / dominate abilities? Of course they don't benefit from damage or penetration, but they get the accuracy boost, which means they're almost guaranteed to hit.

[Haplok]

Yeah... or you could instead have someone in the party/cipher smack the enemy once for a -25 will debuff - limitless times per combat. Plus, if you were not hiding, you could have debuffed that enemy further with Tenuous Grasp/Psychovampiric Shield for another -20 will. And maybe buff yourself with +20 from Borrowed instinct? Being  forced to waste time and stay hidden for the assassination bonus is actually a huge limitation.

[Verde]

Can you use Assassinate with Soul Annihilation? That ability is crazy powerful. Like seriously. Just make sure you have high Accuracy.

 

If it does work, makes the case for the skill that gives you higher focus at the beginning of battle = more damage. I'm sure there are some deadly fun combinations out there.

[SaruNi]

Yeah... or you could instead have someone in the party/cipher smack the enemy once for a -25 will debuff - limitless times per combat. Plus, if you were not hiding, you could have debuffed that enemy further with Tenuous Grasp/Psychovampiric Shield for another -20 will. And maybe buff yourself with +20 from Borrowed instinct? Being  forced to waste time and stay hidden for the assassination bonus is actually a huge limitation.

 

Assassinate + will debuff is the equivalent of +50 accuracy. Almost guaranteed dominate, even against many enemies with high defenses. (Besides, it makes it easy to *initiate* combat with a spell cast before combat starts, without having to try to time it so one of your party members lands a shot---and initiates combat---right before you finish casting.)

 

Dominate the strongest possible enemy....

Edited July 6, 2018 by SaruNi

[Boeroer]

Assassinate + Soul Annihilation does work - however a crit and bonus pen don't do much for the fixed raw damage.

 

Assassin + Cipher isn't the perfect combo unfortunately.