So, how does Assassin work?

[dunehunter]

'invisibility dispelling aura', is this a new thing added by DLC?

[thundercleese]

'invisibility dispelling aura', is this a new thing added by DLC?

Heh, didn't know how else to describe it. In the fight(s) with the inquisitor(s) in The Endless Queries, if you get too close to one of the mobs (my guess is the head inquisitor) and are invisible, you instantly become visible. Likewise if you try to go invisible while close to her it cancels immediately. It was doing my head in until I realised.

 

Not sure if it's the same for stealth, as the mobs there have a pretty quick discovery period. Also I only tested with Smoke Veil but I can't imagine it being different for other sources.

[dunehunter]

 

'invisibility dispelling aura', is this a new thing added by DLC?

Heh, didn't know how else to describe it. In the fight(s) with the inquisitor(s) in The Endless Queries, if you get too close to one of the mobs (my guess is the head inquisitor) and are invisible, you instantly become visible. Likewise if you try to go invisible while close to her it cancels immediately. It was doing my head in until I realised.

 

Not sure if it's the same for stealth, as the mobs there have a pretty quick discovery period. Also I only tested with Smoke Veil but I can't imagine it being different for other sources.

 

 

Remind me of True Sight and inquisitors in Baldur's Gate, sounds very cool

 

Actually I was surprised that in the original game there's no way to detect invisiblity. In baldur's gate there's see invisibility, true sight and etc. In nwn2 steath vs spot for Hips and true sight for invisiblity. But in pillars, invisibility = Invincible

Edited August 6, 2018 by dunehunter

[thundercleese]

 

 

'invisibility dispelling aura', is this a new thing added by DLC?

Heh, didn't know how else to describe it. In the fight(s) with the inquisitor(s) in The Endless Queries, if you get too close to one of the mobs (my guess is the head inquisitor) and are invisible, you instantly become visible. Likewise if you try to go invisible while close to her it cancels immediately. It was doing my head in until I realised.

 

Not sure if it's the same for stealth, as the mobs there have a pretty quick discovery period. Also I only tested with Smoke Veil but I can't imagine it being different for other sources.

 

 

Remind me of True Sight and inquisitors in Baldur's Gate, sounds very cool

 

Actually I was surprised that in the original game there's no way to detect invisiblity. In baldur's gate there's see invisibility, true sight and etc. In nwn2 steath vs spot for Hips and true sight for invisiblity. But in pillars, invisibility = Invincible

 

Yeah, that's what threw me off tbh; there was no ability like it in the series till now, it was so unexpected.

 

Assassin can do bad things with the right setup:

[dunehunter]

 

 

 

'invisibility dispelling aura', is this a new thing added by DLC?

Heh, didn't know how else to describe it. In the fight(s) with the inquisitor(s) in The Endless Queries, if you get too close to one of the mobs (my guess is the head inquisitor) and are invisible, you instantly become visible. Likewise if you try to go invisible while close to her it cancels immediately. It was doing my head in until I realised.

 

Not sure if it's the same for stealth, as the mobs there have a pretty quick discovery period. Also I only tested with Smoke Veil but I can't imagine it being different for other sources.

 

 

Remind me of True Sight and inquisitors in Baldur's Gate, sounds very cool

 

Actually I was surprised that in the original game there's no way to detect invisiblity. In baldur's gate there's see invisibility, true sight and etc. In nwn2 steath vs spot for Hips and true sight for invisiblity. But in pillars, invisibility = Invincible

 

Yeah, that's what threw me off tbh; there was no ability like it in the series till now, it was so unexpected.

 

Assassin can do bad things with the right setup:

 

 

WOW :D

 

This looks like another cascading proc on kill chain.

Edited August 6, 2018 by dunehunter

[Boeroer]

Yeah, if you wittled them down a bit the raw AoE on kill usually leads to a deadly chain reaction. Very nice with Cleave as well. 

 

The Estoc Engoliero do Espirs from the vanilla game does the same (basically) if you enchant it with Ghost Blades on kill - only that the Oathbreaker's raw dmg AoE is a bit more powerful.

[thundercleese]

Yep, also important to use attacks that hit multiple foes to apply the bleed, or cleaving stance. Or both. It's pretty disgusting with a max AoE HoF. Streetfighter/Berzerker is another good one, if a bit reliant on BDD.

 

Might have to try Espiris, the wording suggests it may be more reliable to proc.

Edited August 6, 2018 by thundercleese

[Dorftek]

Lol now watch obsidian nerf it to the ground in the next patch

[dunehunter]

Ah yean Engoliero do Espirs, i tested it with a berserker/chanter who kill his own skeleton to proc the cascading kill chain before, but it's not so OP because ghost blade's base damage is very low. But that new axe looks more powerful to me.

[mant2si]

I found Oathbreaker is really fun and cool look for Berserker/Devoted setup

Edited August 6, 2018 by mant2si

[Boeroer]

Ah yean Engoliero do Espirs, i tested it with a berserker/chanter who kill his own skeleton to proc the cascading kill chain before, but it's not so OP because ghost blade's base damage is very low. But that new axe looks more powerful to me.

I tried it with Torment's Reach - and the Ghostblades also proc off of cone-kills. The fact that Torment's Reach and Ghost blades both use a cone shape makes this a very good combo: You place yourself in a way that Torment's Reach hits as many foes as possible - and so will Ghost Blades once it kills. Usually you'll kill the guy in the front first and bring down the others to 1/3rd of endurance in the meantime. Then, when the first guy falls and Ghost Blades procs it will most likely kill somebody else and so on - chain reaction till death.

 

The raw dmg AoE of Oathbreaker does more damage, but it's circle shaped which in the above case is not so benefical. For others like Barbs that's totally fine of course. 

[thundercleese]

Ah yean Engoliero do Espirs, i tested it with a berserker/chanter who kill his own skeleton to proc the cascading kill chain before, but it's not so OP because ghost blade's base damage is very low. But that new axe looks more powerful to me.

That won't work for Oathbreaker unfortunately, as the DoT will only apply to enemies. What's fun is using Pull of Eora followed by Spirit Tornado then set a script to target lowest health with Barbaric Smash on a Marauder. Everything gets Deathblows and Blood Thirst ensures you can chain smash until everything is dead. You won't get hit either as they will all be too busy cowering on the ground. Berzerker/Streetfighter is best for this as the DoT will quickly bring you down to bloodied. Only bad thing about terrified is it breaks engagement. Nemnok's Cloak to make sure you don't kill yourself.

 

You can do the same with a pure Berzerker and just use HoF instead; same results (quicker if you get good crits) but you also get Barbaric Retaliation so they can soften themselves while you set up. Only problem is your ST will be significantly weaker.

 

Edit: Oops, I've taken this quite off topic. 

Edited August 13, 2018 by thundercleese

[dunehunter]

 

Ah yean Engoliero do Espirs, i tested it with a berserker/chanter who kill his own skeleton to proc the cascading kill chain before, but it's not so OP because ghost blade's base damage is very low. But that new axe looks more powerful to me.

I tried it with Torment's Reach - and the Ghostblades also proc off of cone-kills. The fact that Torment's Reach and Ghost blades both use a cone shape makes this a very good combo: You place yourself in a way that Torment's Reach hits as many foes as possible - and so will Ghost Blades once it kills. Usually you'll kill the guy in the front first and bring down the others to 1/3rd of endurance in the meantime. Then, when the first guy falls and Ghost Blades procs it will most likely kill somebody else and so on - chain reaction till death.

 

The raw dmg AoE of Oathbreaker does more damage, but it's circle shaped which in the above case is not so benefical. For others like Barbs that's totally fine of course. 

 

 

As I said, ghostblade's base damage is really low, you might be able to chain it if all enemies has low hp. The best material is beckoner's half hp skeleton, otherwise, it's very hard to trigger cascading effect.

[Boeroer]

Hm, did it all the time - but as I said with spamming Torment's Reach- So you spare maybe one or two additional attacks with the Ghost Blades. Because the enemies would fall over from the next Torment's Reach (or the one after that) anyways.

[grasida]

When I tested Engoliero do Espirs the ghost blades proc inherited weapon damage boosts from enchantment and so on, so the damage was higher than expected. It also built focus for ciphers. That was the same behavior as lord darryn’s voulge with static charge and ball lightning. I don’t know if it still works that way, though.

[Boeroer]

I think it does. I sometimes had the feeling also works with Swift Flurry and stuff. Because there were so many Ghost Blades stacked on each other - I mean visually.

[dunehunter]

When I tested Engoliero do Espirs the ghost blades proc inherited weapon damage boosts from enchantment and so on, so the damage was higher than expected. It also built focus for ciphers. That was the same behavior as lord darryn’s voulge with static charge and ball lightning. I don’t know if it still works that way, though.

 

Base damage 10, 100% damage bonus -> 20 damage, 200% damage bonus -> 30 damage. Normally only rogue can reach such high damage bonus.

[Boeroer]

Well - the Ghost Blades get the Legendary dmg bonus of 60%, the +3 (=+9%) MIG from Sated Ravenous Soul Hunger (the kill it procs already counts for Ghost Blades) and +15% from Two Handed Style.

 

So without any special class ability +84% already. It also gets the +4 PEN bonus and the +15 ACC of Legendary as well - which both often leads to overpenetration (+30%) and crit (+25%). You can reach +100%  dmg bonuses without breaking into sweat. 20 damage in a rather big AoE from a kill + hobble isn't bad at all.

 

It also procs off of kills that weren't done with the blade itself (as long as you are holding it) - like Rooting Pain and Carnage and any spell (like Crackling Bolt). So it also procs off itself. It also procs from allies if you kill them (skeletons).

 

It also profits from Myth Fyr, Turning Wheel (+fire lash) and Lightning Strikes as I found out.

 

I wonder if it also can proc stuff like from Gatecrashers or Boltchatchers... so far it didn't proc, so maybe not.

 

So basically the estoc adds Ghost BLades that profit from your blade stats to EVERY kill you do no matter how. 

 

All in all - if you build a bit around it - it's awesome!

 

Edit: if I'm not mistaken I just managed to proc off the Boltcatcher's shock AoE from the Ghost Blades...

  

Edited August 7, 2018 by Boeroer

[mant2si]

 

All in all - if you build a bit around it - it's awesome!

 ....

Confused Chanter/Barbarian can chain blades on each skeleton kill, which not only heal you but also recover immediately. If I remember correctly it also can proc Blood Storm on AOE

Edited August 7, 2018 by mant2si

[dunehunter]

No doubt if you put every resource into it, it can work fine, with a chanter/monk/rogue/confused barb Anyway, im not so convinced when i see these high hp fampyrs, which is the hardest combat in origin game, but it's OK when killing minions for sure.

 

But for a confused barb, the problem is it can also be dangerous when u are in a party. You might instantly kill your teammates if you do the kill/chain on beckoner skeletons.

Edited August 7, 2018 by dunehunter

[Boeroer]

Yes - better to remove confusion. Or take something else. The Ghost Blades also proc from allies like Skeletons if you attack them directly (no need for confusion) but the Ghost Blades are foe only then.

 

I'm thinking about using it with a nuker build with maybe strong single target dmg spells that then proc Ghost Blades. Something like Ascendant/Assassin + Disintergrate or so...? Or better Ascendant/Barb for Blood Thirst and casting speed... Hm...

Edited August 7, 2018 by Boeroer

[thundercleese]

Similar tactic could in theory be used with Frostfall to keep extending some hard CC's indefinitely. If someone wants to test it out

[mant2si]

Similar tactic could in theory be used with Frostfall to keep extending some hard CC's indefinitely. If someone wants to test it out

 

OMG did this mace proc on friendly target kills ? So chanter/priest can cast empowered Cleansing Flame and then kill their own skeletons to increase it's duration ? That sound pretty crazy, because Cleansing Flame has very high base damage and fire keyword

Edited August 7, 2018 by mant2si

[thundercleese]

 

Similar tactic could in theory be used with Frostfall to keep extending some hard CC's indefinitely. If someone wants to test it out

 

OMG did this mace proc on friendly target kills ? So chanter/priest can cast empowered Cleansing Flame and then kill their own skeletons to increase it's duration ? That sound pretty crazy, because Cleansing Flame has very high base damage and fire keyword

 

Haven't actually tested it myself, but the wording says "on kill" not "on killing an enemy" - which is the same wording as Engoliero, Grave Calling, Hel Beckoning etc. So I don't see why it shouldn't.

 

It also works on kills from spells like Engoliero. It also currently adds +50% instead of the stated +20%, though this has been reported as a bug so enjoy it while it lasts.

 

Edit: This works, and is disgusting.

Edited August 8, 2018 by thundercleese