[CLASS BUILD] Vorpal, The Quiet Executioner – Assassin Devoted with Amra 2H Axe - Solo PotD

[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!  

[thelee]

wow really creative, i love it. by late game are you mostly relying on unbending for survivability, or are you still using a lot of de-aggro and re-engagement?

 

2 hours ago, Not So Clever Hound said:

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.

*jaw drop* did not know that.

 

[Not So Clever Hound]

1 hour ago, thelee said:

by late game are you mostly relying on unbending for survivability, or are you still using a lot of de-aggro and re-engagement?

Thanks @thelee! It depends on the enemy roster: if it's just a lot of big hitters with uninteresting attacks, I will pop Unbending and Clear Out, but if it's a threatening mix of enemies with Priest/Rogue/Cipher abilities that can ruin your day, I will sneak in and take them out first. Interestingly, I cleared out most of Splintered Reef mostly with... straight-forward Clear Out   and some careful timing on my Smoke Veil casts.

On Clear Out, I'm totally with you. I had mostly used it with Citzal's Spirit Lance where numbers are so crazy anyway that I didn't pay attention. But on this toon I ran a lot of different tests, with different weapons, abilities, with/without community patch etc. and yes, Clear Out hits twice. Saucy!

[NotDumbEnough]

Are you sure Unbending benefits from healing modifiers? I checked for it before, but at least the character sheet does not acknowledge it. I think only its duration can scale.

[Boeroer]

1 hour ago, thelee said:

*jaw drop* did not know that.

Yes, the initial target gets hit twice (not the rest of the enemies though). I thought that was widely known.

But the better synergy is Carnage (or Wanton/Riven Gore) + pushing. Like I reported in the past a Monk/Barb can hit an enemy twice (with FoE AND with Carnage) when using Force of Anguish because he pushes the enemy into the Carnage AoE that is centered around that enemy. You hit, deal damage, push and then Carnage procs and hits again.

Same happens with Clear Out + Carnage (or in this case, Amra-Carnage). - but here ALL enemies get pushed so all potentially get dmg rolls twice (Clear Out + Carnage). Usually - if you hit 5 enemies you will see 10+ Carnage rolls. If Amra-Carnage procs often it often won't stack ("Similar effect with longer duration already applied"). Don't know the exact mechanic. That's why I prefer Riven Gore over Wanton Gore because the destroy effect still procs (iirc).   

A Fighter/Barb with Clear Out + Amra can even apply dmg thrice (Clear Out + Carnage + Amra).

But of course an Assassin has other goodies. Although I think that the Clear Out AoE hits (after the initial attack roll) will no profit from Assasinate? Or does that work nowadays?

 

 

 

 

Edited March 5, 2021 by Boeroer

[dgray62]

Thanks for sharing this. I take it that you consider the +2 PEN and +25% hit to crit from Devoted outweighs the extra resource regeneration from Tactician, Not So Clever Hound? Tactician would also give you more flexibity, i.e., no penalty when you use other weapons such as Dragon's Dowry.  But the extra PEN and hit-to-crit would be especially nice with Amra.

[Boeroer]

Besides the +2 PEN a Devoted only gets +25% crit damage (so 50% overall), not crit conversion. The 25% crit conversion comes from Disciplied Strikes.  

[dgray62]

Ah yes, my mistake. Thanks, Boeroer. But I wonder if this is worth it. Smoke veil costs 2 guile, and is relatively expensive. With tactician I believe that you'll automatically get brilliant while invisible and playing solo, which would allow you to maintain the backstab/smoke veil routine without running away, which isn't possible in all encounters anyway.

[Boeroer]

Not with Community Patch, but otherwise that's true: Tactician will trigger Brilliant when invisible.

However, the fight will stop when you are invisible for a few secs anyway - and then Brilliant will stop and you'll get back all resources anyway (unless you apply Gouging Strike or so first so combat won't stop/reset).

 

 

 

[dgray62]

Thanks. So I guess the best strategy is to use smoke veil to retreat from combat to regain resources.

[Not So Clever Hound]

4 hours ago, NotDumbEnough said:

Are you sure Unbending benefits from healing modifiers? I checked for it before, but at least the character sheet does not acknowledge it. I think only its duration can scale.

Good question! I'm not sure. Because the tooltip isn't very helpful in that regard, but for sure I get a ton of healing from Unbending Trunk. It is not an ability that I use often (I just like that it's there) but when I do, health is just going to take care of itself.

[Not So Clever Hound]

3 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Tactician will trigger Brilliant when invisible

If you are running a playthrough without Berath's Challenge, on this build I think that Devoted is better than Tactician. I understand the hype and love for Tactician, I partake in it too  . But the Tactician Dilemma drawbacks are strictly in the way of this build!

[Not So Clever Hound]

4 hours ago, Boeroer said:

But of course an Assassin has other goodies. Although I think that the Clear Out AoE hits (after the initial attack roll) will no profit from Assasinate? Or does that work nowadays?

I will get back to you on this but I've seen instances where enemies were hit by Clear Out + Assassinate bonuses without (!) Sneak Attack or Deathblows. And Backstab hitting twice. Which is weird when you think about the whole Stealth/Invisibility mechanics. I will do more testing as soon as I get a chance.

[Not So Clever Hound]

4 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Same happens with Clear Out + Carnage (or in this case, Amra-Carnage). - but here ALL enemies get pushed so all potentially get dmg rolls twice (Clear Out + Carnage). Usually - if you hit 5 enemies you will see 10+ Carnage rolls. If Amra-Carnage procs often it often won't stack ("Similar effect with longer duration already applied"). Don't know the exact mechanic. That's why I prefer Riven Gore over Wanton Gore because the destroy effect still procs (iirc).   

I have seen this "Similar Effect" message show up but interestingly, it was on double Backstab procs (which sometimes work anyway). We're reaching yet another area of Deadfire oddity. @dgray62 I know you appreciate those weird Deadfire moments  

[Boeroer]

If you get the same "similar effect" message on Backstabs you know you are using the Community Patch.

 

 

[Not So Clever Hound]

Yep!  Interesting point about Riven vs. Wanton Gore. I remember reading an old post from you about that while planning for this build. At the end I went with Wanton Gore on the basis that because this toon is built around doing abnormal levels of damage, I could get more consistent mileage from a higher damage conversion %. I also thought it would be best because this ability seems to be able to crit, unlike the real Carnage (?). Indeed I've been validated in the fact that Wanton Gore is a lot more than a gimmick and can really increase your total damage dealt. But probably as you say, Riven Gore has a more interesting interaction with my beloved Clear Out ability. Oh well 

[Not So Clever Hound]

16 hours ago, Boeroer said:

But of course an Assassin has other goodies. Although I think that the Clear Out AoE hits (after the initial attack roll) will no profit from Assasinate? Or does that work nowadays?

@Boeroer this is interesting: after doing more testing I have found that indeed the Clear Out AoE hits do not benefit from Sneak Attack or Deathblows BUT they do get the 50% Assassinate Bonus on Crit as well the PEN and ACC bonuses of course. Nice! Also interestingly, Bushwack from Ajamuut's stalking cloak will only apply to the main attack, not to the AoE attacks. It almost seems like the game considers the Clear Out AoE as a spell effect, not a weapon effect.

Edited March 6, 2021 by Not So Clever Hound

[Boeroer]

That's indeed interesting. It used to be different.

Maybe I should also check if WotEP's AoE now also works with Assassinate (it didn't back in the days). Mortar AoE and rods' Blast, too. 

[Not So Clever Hound]

@BoeroerI had some ideas from this build and my Cipher/Assassin recent run, but I just retested more extensively with Mortar/Blunderbuss and Clear Out to be sure. It's a little funky because it really depends on what hits whom first, and whether there are pre-existing conditions qualifying for Sneak Attack/Deathblows. So essentially there are 2 cases, I'll start with the simple one  :

1) If you are in the middle of a fight with targets that already have afflictions that qualify for Sneak Attack and Deathblows, every attack (AoE Clear Out, AoE Hand Mortar, AoE Thunderous Report...) on those targets will get Sneak Attack and Deathblows, and also Assassinate if you are hitting from stealth. Powder Burns still seems to behave a little funky but seems to get everything as well (maybe not Sneak Attack all the time and not Assassinate depending on timing/placement). By the way I just landed a Thunderous Report from invisibility on a poor group affected by Gouging Strike with the Cipher/Assassin and it did 457 DMG to the first target and 400+ DMG to each his buddies. Ouch  

2) If you are opening a fight from stealth and no targets have pre-existing afflictions, things are a bit more complicated:

• Powder Burns gets Assassinate if it's the first thing to land (i.e. if someone is between your target and you when you shoot). In this case, your main attack and the AoE will be considered out of stealth and not receive bonuses.
• If you have Powder Burns on but shoot the closest target to you, your main attack lands first and gets Assassinate and Sneak Attack. The AoE hits and Powder Burns don't get any goodie because they happen afterwards. That is only partially true if your attack is landing a Blind affliction for example, because this enables Sneak/Deathblows for all Powder Burns hits and anything subsequent of course.
• The first target hit from Thunderous Report gets Assassinate and Sneak Attack. The other hits in the AoE get only Assassinate.
• My previous post about Clear Out is of course still true.

I guess there are a few conclusions to draw from this exercise:

• Assassin multiclassing is fun  
• It is confirmed that weapon AoE effects only get Assassinate but not Sneak Attack by default, however they will get Sneak Attack and Deathblows if the targets already qualify with afflictions. As I had mentioned in the Cipher/Assassin build, an opening Gouging Strike or Debilitating Strike with Hand Mortar (or Devastating Blow with Blinding Smoke ) is an amazing set up before something like Thunderous Report!
• For Clear Out specifically, Persistent Distraction is of course super strong and with engaged targets, you may sometimes get more AoE damage via Sneak/Deathblows than hitting from stealth (however your ACC will be much lower than in stealth and your build is all about Crits, so it might not be that good on average). But it is a good reason to alternate between stealth attacks and regular melee engagement, which also keeps the fight dynamic and fun.
• When you use hand mortars from stealth with Powder Burns on, you should really aim for the closest target and not try to aim for someone in the middle of a group otherwise only the first Powder Burn hit will get all your goodies.
• Oh and of course Thunderous Report is totally insane, but we already knew that!
• Did I mention that every time those attacks hit, enemies get stacking Deep Wounds DoT?  

 

Edited March 6, 2021 by Not So Clever Hound

[thelee]

On 3/5/2021 at 4:28 PM, Not So Clever Hound said:

Good question! I'm not sure. Because the tooltip isn't very helpful in that regard, but for sure I get a ton of healing from Unbending Trunk. It is not an ability that I use often (I just like that it's there) but when I do, health is just going to take care of itself.

I don't think you get healing bonuses, I think it's fixed proc off of the damage done.

However, if solo and enough alternate ways to shrug off super hard hits, I can easily (due to how stacking HoTs work) see that unbending can quickly give you >100% healing per tick. I've seen it happen with unoptimized enemies.

Edited March 8, 2021 by thelee

[Raven Darkholme]

I'm quite certain Unbending benefits from Healing bonuses.

Chanter/Fighter with Mercy and kindness and unbending, maybe even Dawnstars blessing on top heals very close to 100% of damage taken.

It isn't super easy to confirm this as @thelee said hot also stacks, but I'd be very surprised if for some strange reason my chars with a lot of healing bonus, somehow have better rng for stacking hot than chars with no healing bonus.

[Not So Clever Hound]

@Raven Darkholme @thelee I've experienced the following: the very first time in combat that Unbending Trunk triggers, the first tick of Healing is strictly 33% DMG of the first hit received (so it would seem that it is not affected by healing modifiers whatsoever). After that the HoT quickly snowballs into healing that can reach indeed over 100% of damage taken. And this is when things get hard to test because you don't get info from the log and you cannot really reproduce the same conditions twice for 2 different characters. Before I try to test more, do you think it could be at all possible that the initial effect isn't affected by healing modifiers but over-time effects would somehow?

[Raven Darkholme]

I just tested it on Dorudugan since he is slow and hits hard.

I've been mistaken all these years I loved to play fighters with Unbending (tbf I cheesed it a lot with draining wall or sot :P) and healing bonuses do not apply at all to Unbending, not the initial tick and also not the following ticks. (they just get +33% overall healing each time cuz stacking ofc)

[Boeroer]

But INT makes for a longer Unbending HoT instance, right?

[Raven Darkholme]

10 hours ago, Boeroer said:

But INT makes for a longer Unbending HoT instance, right?

It does indeed.