Scout line: For the most part, this line is full of useless abilities, but that's to be expected when looking at a line split between the entire archetype. Personally, I'll probably end up going with 5 points in Stealth speed, 5 points in Sinister Strikes and the end-line ability. I think the recast reduction on master strike will be worth more DPS than the miniscule increase in the others, Cheap Shot is really only helpful for solo, links for tanking, and Quick Strikes is a horrible return on input.
Cheap Shot - 5% reuse speed reduction per AA spent. Theoretically, this means a 1 second reduction per point spent.
However, this is not the case.
1 point - 5% reuse speed, 1 second reduction, 20 seconds to 19 seconds.
2 points - 10% reuse speed, 1.8 second reduction, 20 to 18.2 seconds. (Actual reduction: 9%)
3 points - 15% reuse speed, 2.6 second reduction, 20 to 17.4 seconds. (Actual reduction: 13%)
4 points - 20% reuse speed, 3.3 second reduction, 20 to 16.7 seconds. (Actual reduction: 16.5%)
5 points - 25% reuse speed, 4.0 second reduction, 20 to 16.0 seconds. (Actual reduction: 20%)
Now, this could be another AA with tricky wording, but a 25% reuse speed reduction on a 20 second ability *should* lower it by 5 seconds, not 4, no?
Decent for soloing, though it'd be nice if that extra second was removed like it should be.
Strengthened Links - Additional physical mitigation to defensive stance. 153.5 points of physical mitigation per point?
1 point - 153 Mitigation.
2 points - 307 Mitigation.
3 points - 460 Mitigation.
4 points - 613 Mitigation.
5 points - 767 Mitigation.
Not bad for a tank-spec, obviously. Otherwise, worthless.
Quick Strike - Improves base and critical damage of the Quick Strike line by 1.5% per rank. T8 spell is Scarring Blow(L71)- Base damage at AD1(And naked because the tooltip is STILL BROKEN if you have any +CA) beta buffed is 229-382. The DOT portion is unaffected by the AA.
1 point - 1.5% increase, 232-388.
2 points - 3% increase, 236-393.
3 points - 4.5% increase, 239-399.
4 points - 6% increase, 243-405.
5 points - 7.5% increase, 246-410.
The min damage gets roughly a 7.4% increase - Which is fine, with rounding it's accurate - and the max damage increase is roughly 7.3% - Again, with rounding, not surprising.
It's going to get skipped by pretty much every assassin, though, as it's relatively worthless.
Sinister Strike - Improves reuse speed of Sinister Strike (L&L mastery strike) by 5 seconds per point. For a total of 25 seconds. On top of the previous Assassin AA to increase by 8 seconds per point, it totals out at 65 seconds faster for 10 points spent, which isn't a terrible deal. The beta buffed character didn't have this ability however, so I cannot say for certain that it actually works - though this would be a hard one to screw up.
Offensive Prowess - Improves skill bonus of offensive stance by 5% per point. At AD1, Blade Fury gives +39 to Slashing, Piercing, and Ranged.
1 point - 5% increase, +41.
2 points - 10% increase, +43.
3 points - 15% increase, +45.
4 points - 20% increase, +47.
5 points - 25% increase, +49.
Seems to work properly to me. +10 to melee skills for 5 AA's seems a bit moot, to be honest.
Shadow Walker - Increase stealth run speed by 2.5% per point. Test char was a DE, so 15% base stealth speed.
1 point - 2.5% increase, 17% run speed.
2 points - 5% increase, 20% run speed.
3 points - 7.5% increase, 22% run speed.
4 points - 10% increase, 25% run speed.
5 points - 12.5% increase, 27% run speed.
Works as advertised. Though I question the fact that you end with 12.5% - does the game calculate run speed including that half percent, or does it round down making it a waste of space?
Decent. It stacks with base run speed, at least. Beta Buffed toon doesn't have the earring to start with, and there aren't any on the broker.
End Line, Evasive Maneuvers - Inflicts 1391-1982 damage on target, decreases threat position by 1.
1 minute recast. 25 meter range.
Far as I can tell, this ability works. Has crit 4/5 times in a row- either I got lucky or it's using spell crit table instead of melee crit.
Predator line:
Stamina is good for soloing. Strength of the Hunter is a bit moot unless I have leftover points. Odds are I would take Cut Arteries and Critical Mastery, assuming they put out decent numbers... just not enough information on them, really. And, of course, the end-line ability is a must with NPC's getting critical hits.
Predatory Stamina - Increase Max Health by 1% per point. Starting health of 8016.
1 point - 1% increase, 8096 health.
2 points - 2% increase, 8177 health.
3 points - 3% increase, 8257 health.
4 points - 4% increase, 8337 health.
5 points - 5% increase, 8417 health.
Works as described.
Insidious Strike - Increases Base and Critical damage of Insidious Strike line by 2% per point. T8 version is Masked Strike (L74) - AD1 beta buffed base damage is 719-1058 damage.
1 point - 2% increase, 729-1075 damage.
2 points - 4% increase, 749-1092 damage.
3 points - 6% increase, 749-1109 damage.
4 points - 8% increase, 760-1126 damage.
5 points - 10% increase, 770-1143 damage.
The 2-3 point increase rate seems a bit screwy to me. Min damage gets a total increase of roughly 7.1%(Hmm) and Max damage gets an increase of roughly 8%. I dunno. Testing again naked to see if CA mod made a difference, base damage of 364-607:
1 point - 371-619
2 points - 379-631
3 points - 386-643
4 points - 393-656
5 points - 400-668
Steady increase compared to the first set of numbers. Odd. Min damage increase is roughly 9.9%, which is fine. Max damage increase is roughly 10%. Perfect. Hmm. Upon re-equipping gear, 5 point damage is as follows: 776-1154, which is higher than the previous amount but still not a 10% increase from 719-1058. I'd guess either the strength and CA mod bonuses aren't being increased(Which would make some sense, considering it says Base damage at one point in the description, or that the tool-tip is bugged as well.)
Cut Arteries - Enemies damaged by the Gash line bleed progressively faster.
According to the Rangers who have tested this, it increases damage per tick for the respective line (In T8, that'd be Gushing Wound(L7
)
I didn't test this particular AA, but it could definitely use some more information on it's tooltip. From the current description my assumption would be that it reduces the duration rather than increasing damage, however it makes no visible change to the lines tooltips at all.
Ignorance is Bliss - Increases the hate reduction of Ignorant Bliss 5% per point.This makes for a total of 75% increased hate reduction if you take the previous AA for this.
Didn't check the numbers, but I would assume it works properly as it's an exact copy of the prior AA with half effectiveness.
Strength of the Hunter - Adds Strength to the Villainy line of buffs. T8 version is Villain(L79) 13 Str per point at AD1 Villain. Strength added differs by spell, does not change from AD1 to M1.
1 point - 13 Strength.
2 points - 26 Strength.
3 points - 39 Strength.
4 points - 52 Strength.
5 points - 65 Strength.
Critical Mastery - Improves damage done by all combat art critical hits by 1% per point.
No real way to test this without a ridiculous amount of information, as such I didn't bother testing.
End Line, Noxious Enfeeblement - Decreases target Spell and Melee critical chances by 10%, decreases target Spell and Melee critical damage bonus by 10%, inflicts 854-1176 poision damage.
30 second duration, 30 second recast. 50 meter range, normal cast time.
Seems to work fine as well. Has a fairly high crit rate, possibly on spell crit table as well?
Assassin Line:
This is a line where I'm likely to spend near 30 points, honestly. The Tendon Slice debuff isn't that great, though kind of nice. Bob and Weave is a must if tanking, of course. Killing Blow will get 1 point the way it is currently, 5 if it changes to necessitate extra points - whether 1 point or 5, though, it's worth it to speed fights up. Mark will, of course, get 5 points. Crippling Strike as it is will probably get 5 points, though I assume it will be fixed to 15% instead of 25%. Poison mastery will get maxed, and both end-lines are a must.
As I said below, I'd kind of like to see Stealth Mastery get swapped with Killing Blow- it would alleviate a few issues, I think. 2% increase per point for Stealth Mastery, and no need to figure out how to make Killing Blow worth spending more than one point on it.
Tendon Slice - Adds additional offensive skill debuffs to the Torture line. T8 version is Squeeze(L75) - base ability at AD1 is -28 defense, -482 physical mitigation. Same increase in debuffs at AD1 and M1.
1 point - Adds two debuffs. -5.7 Slashing, Crushing, Piercing and -5.2 Disruption.
2 points - Changes to -11.5 Slashing, Crushing, Piercing and -5.5 Disruption. (5.8 increase, 0.3 increase)
3 points - Changes to -17.3 Slashing, Crushing, Piercing and -5.7 Disruption. (5.8 increase, 0.2 increase)
4 points - Changes to -23 Slashing, Crushing, Piercing and -6.3 Disruption. (5.7 increase, 0.6 increase)
5 points - Changes to -29 Slashing, Crushing, Piercing and -6.9 Disruption. (6 increase, 0.6 increase)
Kind of curious about the numbers here, as it seems like they're near completely random as to what the points add. Perhaps evening out the increases a bit? Just seems odd.
Bob and Weave - Grants 1% dodge per point spent. 5% dodge at max. Beta buffed base is 5892 avoidance, 28.5% base.
1 point - 5976 avoidance, 29.2% base.
2 points - 6060 avoidance, 29.9% base.
3 points - 6156 avoidance, 30.7% base.
4 points - 6240 avoidance, 31.4% base.
5 points - 6324 avoidance, 32.1% base.
Doesn't seem to grant 1% base avoidance, but I don't know how that system displays because as a dps I don't pay much attention to tanking stats.
Killing Blow - Passive ability. Grants a 25% chance to cast Killing Blow on target when below (2-10% health depending on strength). According to Aeralik, reduces mobs hp to 1 and then damages.
1 point - 396-736 damage.
2 points - 418-777 damage.
3 points - 440-818 damage.
4 points - 484-900 damage.
5 points - 528-981 damage.
At the moment, there is absolutely no reason to upgrade this ability. The amount of damage added will make a negligible difference on your parse, and the chance to proc is the same all the way up. I think, honestly, that this would be better off swapped with either of the end-line abilities and then making those abilities increase with points spent. Either that or scale this in 20% increments from 20% to 100% chance to proc on hit.
Mark of the Assassin - Improves base and critical daage by 2.5% per point and increases trigger count of the Assassin's Mark line - T8 version is Death Mark(L74). Beta buffed toon with M2 Death Mark is at 632-1045, 5 triggers.
1 point - Increases trigger count by 1, adds 2.5% damage. 647-1071 damage, 6 triggers.
2 points - 5% damage increase. 663-1097 damage.
3 points - 7.5% damage increase. 678-1123 damage.
4 points - 10% damage increase. 694-1149 damage.
5 points - Increases trigger count by 2, 12.5% damage increase. 709-1174, 7 triggers.
Trigger increase is very nice. Much better than the trigger chance increase from previous line. Min damage increase is roughly 12.2%, Max damage increase is roughly 12.3%. Works as described as far as I can tell.
Crippling Strike - Improves the damage and critical damage by 3% per point of the Cripple line. T8 version is Disfiguring Strike(L72) - Beta Buffed AD1 damage is 1206-1870.
1 point - 3% increase, 1256-1953 damage
2 points - 6% increase, 1305-2036 damage.
3 points - 9% increase, 1355-2119 damage.
4 points - 12% increase, 1405-2202 damage.
5 points - 15% increase, 1455-2285 damage.
Min damage increase is roughly 20.6%, Max damage increase is roughly 22.2%. Seems a bit off, no? Testing it naked came with these numbers: Base damage - 701-1168.
1 point - 736-1226 damage. (5% min, 5% max)
2 points - 771-1285 damage. (10% min, 10% max)
3 points - 806-1343 damage. (15% min, 15% max)
4 points - 841-1402 damage. (20% min, 20% max)
5 points - 876-1460 damage. (25% min, 25% max)
Obviously something is wrong here. 5% increase per point is definitely not what the AA tooltip states. Not that I'm complaining.
Poison Mastery - Improves the base and critical damage of poisons by 2% per point. Using Caustic poison to test the numbers, my base damage was 880. For Hemo, base damage was 396/tick.(2772 total)
1 point - 2% increase, 897 Caustic, 404 Hemo.(2828 total)
2 points - 4% increase, 915 Caustic, 412 Hemo.(2884 total)
3 points - 6% increase, 932 Caustic, 420 Hemo.(2940 total)
4 points - 8% increase, 950 Caustic, 427 Hemo.(2989 total)
5 points - 10% increase, 968 Caustic, 435 Hemo.(3045 total)
Caustic damage incease is 10% even. Hemo per tick increase is roughly 10.1%, total increase is roughly 9.9%.. so, about accurate all in all.
End Line, Stealth Mastery - Increase damage of Fatal Follow-Up by 10%. Increases damage and critical multipliers of all stealth CA's by 10%.
Fatal Follow-Up - Base: 1144-1352 / Buffed: 1229-1456 (7.5% min, 7.7% max)
Execute - Base: 8352-13780 / Buffed:9060-14961 (8.5% min, 8.6% max)
Pinpoint Blade - Base: 1202-1714 / Buffed: 1279-1842 (6.4% min, 7.5% max)
Moon Blade - Base: 1979-3039 / Buffed: 2138-3304 (8% min, 8.7% max)
Mortal Blade - Base: 3865 - 6303 / Buffed: 4183-6832 (8.2% min, 8.4% max)
Jugular Slice - Base: 1369-2142 / Buffed: 1485-2336 (8.5% min, 9% max)
Slate - Base: 1185-1928 / Buffed: 1296-2114 (9.3% min, 9.6% max)
Stealth Assault - Base: 693-1108+236/tick / Buffed: 755-1212+255/tick (9% min, 9.4% max, 8% tick)
Hmmm. Naked test time:
FFU - Base: 609-744 / Buffed: 670-818 (10% min, 10% max)
EXE - Base: 5837-9729 / Buffed: 6345-10575 (8.7% min, 8.7% max)
PPB - Base: 544-906 / Buffed: 598-997 (10% min, 10% max)
MNB - Base: 1131-1886 / Buffed: 1244-2074 (10% min, 10% max)
MoB- Base: 2603-4338 / Buffed: 2829-4715 (8.7% min, 8.7% max)
JUG- Base: 820-1366 / Buffed: 902-1503 (10% min, 10% max)
STE- Base: 786-1310 / Buffed: 865-1441 (10% min, 10% max)
STA- Base: 446-744+169 / Buffed: 491-818+183 (10% min, 10% max, 8.3% tick)
Execute and Mortal Blade both only get an 8.7% increase for some reason, both clothed and buffed. The other CA's I can identify the difference as being the CA mod difference while wearing the beta buffed equipment, but perhaps there's some confliction in the increase for Execute and Mortal Blade?
End Line, Touch of the Nightshade - Inflicts 2349-3419 poison damage and heals the caster for 1532-2193.
Flanking attack, 5 meter range. 45 second recast.
Works as intended as far as I can tell.
TSO AA's info : NDA lifted today
