Saturday, October 1, 2011 at 6:00 AM |  
I've found that my theorized top MM spec (51 MM and 15 Inf) didn't pan out nearly as well as I hoped. Nightstalker is doing awesome though. The problem with it is that on BG and PS, you really need a ranged DPS spec and try as I might, I can't find a bursty-enough Gunblade spec for the new patch, although some variants are decent.

Reluctantly I gave up NB for Sin and I'm relatively pleased at the results.

Cut and Shoot
44 MM / 22 Sin / 0 x
This utilized MM ranged abilities with Assassin openers. You can do enormous damage on a single target with your openers and it has a good amount of utility. You should be running Vamp and Elec munitions and Baneful Touch works great with Elec. I find rending a bit lacking.

Macros

Finisher 1
cast Expose Weakness
cast Rapid Fire Shot
cast Deadeye Shot
cast Hasted Shot

Finisher 2
cast Expose Weakness
cast Bull's Eye
cast Deadeye Shot

Gameplay

This spec has a ton of viability now. With Baneful, your munitions damage is very nice, and then adding in Cut and Run really de-emphasizes the need for Infiltrator. If you want you can run 0 Inf for a 2nd Break Free, but I prefer Side Steps or Shadow Shift, making this the first PvP spec I've ever run that doesn't have Infiltrator. You also have Foul Play if a warrior or 51sin-type closes to melee on you and if they break it, you can immediately hit them with Static Shot which is on a different DR.

I tend to open on tough targets in melee if I can, to get the Cloak and Dagger bonus. Ideally, things go thusly:

EW > Assassinate > Barbed > Swift x2  > RFS

This combo will kill the crap out of anyone 2+ ranks below you. If its a mage, I might use Paralyzing Strike instead. A good burst rotation:

Having 5 CPs > Finisher 2 Macro > Strafe > RFS

This combo frequently clears 7k damage for me with a string of crits. It does very well in the open field as well because of the crit bonuses in assassin and it isn't bogged down with stacking debuffs that 51 mm/15 inf suffers from. The problem with Silver Tip in PvP is that by the time you get the bonus up, its often time to change targets. This one frees you to choose targets of opportunity and that flexibility is very nice.
Posted by Dunsparrow Labels: ,

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

im only rank 2 but i do some amazing damage with this spec, nice one. Stokez - riptalon

October 1, 2011 at 9:37 AM  
Anonymous said...

Nice spec, very fun to play.

Can you help me with my macros a bit. I am using this for combo builders and finishers. I also use Barged Shot as a builder and throw in Baneful touch. This work, or am I losing DPS?

#show Savage Strike
cast Foul Play
cast Poison Malice
cast Savage Strike
cast Swift Shot

Finishers

#show Deadeye Shot
cast Expose Weakness
cast Deadly Strike
cast Rapid Fire Shot
cast Deadeye Shot
cast Hasted Shot

#show Deadeye Shot
cast Expose Weakness
cast Bull's Eye
cast Deadly Strike
cast Deadeye Shot

October 1, 2011 at 11:39 AM  
Vixtrola said...

finnaly coming to the dark side huh dun? remember you saying you would never play sin.. although guess this is technically a MM build.. i used to run this little bit few patches ago.. prob a good time to revisit it

October 1, 2011 at 1:20 PM  
Jaradcel said...

Hate to break it to ya Dun, but this spec's been around since 1.4 when 44mm was a nice spec to play with...

But yeah, it does do pretty decent burst and with a good opener you're wootzing it up

October 2, 2011 at 5:13 AM  
Anonymous said...

2 thoughts i wanted to speculate on-

first how does that deadeye shot macro work? i have RFS/Hastened shot macroed in one then deadeye on a seperate hotkey.

secondly, instead of assassinate, wouldnt paralyzing strike be better?
I use para strike right now but wondering if assassinate would work better.

October 2, 2011 at 10:24 AM  
Anonymous said...

Having tried many combinations after the patch (suffering from the loss of hit and run instant cast while moving)I tried this one out. Its very good and very fun to play. Big Thanks Dunsparrow!

October 2, 2011 at 4:35 PM  
Anonymous said...

Ive been able to stunlock healers from 100% to dead with this spec, cant beat it

October 2, 2011 at 11:59 PM  
Anonymous said...

Dun... time to go back to the roots!

And realize the true "Teleporting Sniper" potential.

You wrote about a version of it prior to 1.5, but base it around 44 MM and get rid of the points in Inf! Dodge>Break Free in most cases.

Once you get high enough hp, people will start bursting down other people first :)

Much more enjoyable after 1.5 to put it that way!

October 4, 2011 at 8:42 AM