NephtysSK

Hey all, I'm sort of new to this whole EQ2 Flames thingy and since I've been reading I've decided to post a few questions I had regarding my Assassin. (My main is an SK at the present)

With my assassin I'm only level 56, so these questions might be a little irrelevant, but they are at least concerns that I have for the very near future.
The other day in a group, someone had up their parser, and I noticed I was parsing fairly low, which really frustrated me. So I did a little testing of my own. In a group consisting of an Assassin(myself), Wizard, Warden, Shadowknight, Troubador, and Necromancer. I parsed myself on 15 encounters and then averaged the whole. I did (according to my calculations) 3976.87 damage in that time, which came out to an average of 265.12 dps....which in my eyes is laughable. Two of these fights I used Assassinate, my highest parsing dps being 548.78
So...what I'm wondering is A) Why the hell is my DPS so low, and B) How do I get it higher.
I've not played a scout class before now, I played a Warrior in EQ1 for several years, I started EQ2 as a Troub, but after a long hiatus came back to be a Shadowknight. I never really liked scouts much until my Assassin.
I'm aware that some of this has to do with my STR and INT stats which, aren't so high and could be better. I'm STR/INT specced STR: 46481 and INT 47481 with some AA's kind of thrown into the Poisons line in the Assassin tree (1 point from frontload)
I'm using the SSoY and Serrated Bone Dirk, which could be better given the coin I suppose (I'm so broke any money making tips? :D) other than that I'm in full mastercrafted. My jewelry needs a lot of updating.
I suppose it seems like I've answered my own questions.

I've sort of been wondering for a while if getting a weapon with a larger delay would perhaps help? You raiders how often are you using your skills, whenever they're up I would assume? Is there some kind of strategy you use with your timing on skills to get maximum DPS?

Please share your wealth of knowledge with my newb self. I feel sort of lost with this whole DPS thing...I'm too used to tanking

Jayad

There's a few threads about improving DPS in this forum and also the class forum on the EQ2 official site. I'd wager it's a combination of needing better gear, needing better skills and buffs. Also realize that the troub buffer for that group is huge for your mages if you're comparing. Mastercrafted is pretty painful for doing real dps, but until you get 70 and some of the better legendary gear, it's hard to do better. (Who is raiding T6 a lot?)

Most people who post here are full-time raiders and have some of the best gear, so you can't exactly compare dps apples to apples.

Look at your parser and learn about your class. Play with setups and different casting orders and such. Get your adept3s and masters, although you might want to only get the ones you aren't replacing. There's significant DPS boosts with your level 58 and 65 ancient teaching skills. We assassins don't really come into our own until just about level 70, due to which CAs we gain when

timmeh

Make sure you cast the T6 version of mark of the assassin (forget the name) everytime its up. Use a red damage poison. Spec in str/int for crits & endline ability. Stand right on the mob's ass to ensure you are in autoattack range. Spam your abilities, do not try to time anything especially in groups. Get your STR up (only stat that matters). Use the highest DR DW weapons regardless of other factors when < 70.

That should just about cover it

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NephtysSK

I've started getting adept 3's (masters are expensive on najena damnit...on top of being completely broke) for the skills that I'm not going to be replacing between now and 70, I use exposing mark whenever I notice its up, and I am specced STR/INT . I use hemotoxins as well as (when soloing) STR reducing and stun poisons.
How much are you guys worrying about your INT, because right now mine is painfully low (sitting at 88 out of group *cry*)
My only issue with looking at parses and seeing what works and what doesnt, is that I don't understand the parser much, outside of what gets pasted into chat...meaning I haven't really explored it much. As I *think* I mentioned, I've never been much worried about dps due to the fact that I'm nearly always tanking and nearly always toward the bottom of a parse.
I'm trying to get my guild into raiding things like Courts and other DoF raid zones, but we're not a guild that's built upon raiding...so it's going to be tough, and I hardly ever see PURs for Courts...in fact make that never

Really my main concern is that once I'm 70...I will have done something terribly wrong, and be a shit dps-er, which is bad because I'd like to move into a raiding guild
I'm speccing into the "tricks" and "poisons" line into my Assassin tree, to get frontload and repeated stabbing...is this something you guys would recommend, or is there something that might be better? Like the bleeding line? or maybe putting some points into Physicality to make those temp buffs a little better? Right now I'm pushing 72 points, so I can move stuff around fairly easy, whereas when I hit 100 I feel like I should be set with what I've got.

I'll be sure to dig around for those DPS increase post things you were talking about. Thanks

Vaanir

Good weapons, high str, STR/INT AAs and Adept 3 on all CAs will make the most difference.... dont worry about the Assassin class tree, it doesnt enhance dps that much, its very situational.

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Diceeno

try to get t6 mastercraft weaps instead of the armor. the serrated bone dirk is t5 isnt it? and the ykesha could be t4 or t5. so get those cobald thingies.
and dont compare your dps with those you read sometimes here. compare it with your wiz. get the buffs you can get. if youre running on 88 int with those buffs your grp can give its really low. get the procs and dunno if a troub already have it but if so get jesters cap before hitting one of youre big hits.
also the mobs should die fast try it with caustic instead of hemo and compare those 2.
have fun with your assassin

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NephtysSK

Im having great fun with my assassin thanks
I guess, really my concerns are more direction toward the future and the coming weeks toward 70 (getting there, 57 now)
As someone who is wanting to move into a raiding guild, what sort of things should I be doing, or more what sort of equipment should I be looking for. Keeping in mind of course that I'm limited in what I can raid (we've yet to clear labs as a guild >_< nearly got Vyemm last week). Not only that but I'm also limited by my very tiny pocket book. I've got myself (already) the Planar Orb of the Wanderer which I've seen some high-endish people wearing, though perhaps because they don't have anything else just yet? I've also got the crit chance necklace out of OOB and the treasured attack speed gloves from Castle Mistmoore. Oh and the hat from Vaults.
Is Kithicor's armor, really worth it? I mean +2% crit chance with three set pieces yes, but can't I get better stats elsewhere? Kithicors is pretty easily obtainable at this point, as my SK is still wearing mostly Kyle's. I've looked into Relic armor, but I haven't really done much side by side comparison between Relic and Kithicor's....that and I don't feel I should try to go into a raiding guild wearing soley Kithicor's armor...just isn't logical to me.
sooo....suggestions? comments? etcs...
I'm pretty sure my other questions have been answered mostly. Basically the point is, upgrade your shit newbsauce. which I had figured already. Glad my AA I could figure out on my own, wasn't too too difficult.
I'll give the caustic poison a shot as well....and just to clarify the group example I cited, isn't a consistent group, it was just a pick up group I was in the day I did my little parse test.

Ardain

There are some pretty decent weapons in Labs for your purpose, like Vyemm's Fang \aITEM -2137190112 -1700727302:Vyemm's Fang\/a , Adamantine Dragonfang \aITEM 525048610 644925720:Adamantine Dragonfang\/a and Oblivion's Edge \aITEM 589186883 899515787:Oblivion's Edge\/a (if I recall it correctly, it's been a long time ;) ). Relic armor is absolutely okay, Nemesis is better for sure. And don't spit on Kithicor's only just because it's legendary. Some pieces are better than Relic! Only because there's FABLED written on it, doesn't mean it always has to be the better piece.

Another weapon you can easily obtain is the Maestro's Flame \aITEM 1852132462 -2117382782:The Maestro's Flame\/a from Castle Mistmore. I'ts no-trade, so you'd have to go there with the assassin not the SK. But it has a really nice dmg proc on it and you can kill the Maestro (x2) easily with a half-decent group, you can even pull him downstairs.
For a bow I'd get Raincaller as soon as possible or do Unrest once you're in your mid-60s and get the bow from there until you get a better one. The two from Deathtoll are absolutely okay and there's a short bow dropping in Labs as well.
As for other decent gear Unrest is a good place to go anyway, you can get a good cloak from there (but I'd get Rallos Zek cloak anyway) and a nice necklace \aITEM -561037010 -1451448411:Sour Song Choker\/a .

Caustic is fine but aim to get enough AA points to max out Hemotoxin in the EoF tree and then go for that.

Hope this helps, it's sure not endgame stuff in linked, but stufff that can be obtained quite easily if you're "only" raiding Labs with your guild.

Dai

Edit: Spelling.

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timmeh

Once you can regularly get your STR to 750 in raid groups start worrying about INT.

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Carbajal

Don't worry about that, nothing is permanent. If your dps is still low at 70 it can always be corrected.

IMO, the two main things you should do is get the two highest DR weapons you can easily afford and get your most important CA's AD3 (master if you can). As other's have said, STR is the only stat you want to focus on (for now), so when you get gear that's what you should be looking at. Some of the master crafted stuff has zero STR on it IIRC. If a cloth or leather piece has better STR than the chain (which is common, especially as you level), wear the cloth or leather piece. Obviously if you're solo'ing this is not good advice. :P

Kithicor's has some very nice pieces, and some really crappy pieces. From memory, the chest, boots, shoulders, and legs are the ones that are good. I'd try and get those 4, then you can always replace one and still get your 3 set bonus. I have KoS fabled for most of my slots, but I"m still running around with 3 pieces of kithicor equipped - until you start getting EoF fabled there just isn't much that's better when you factor in the 3 set bonus.

There is some good loot out of unrest. The neck piece and bloodspiller are both good. The neck piece is better than MoA, and bloodspiller is equivalent or better than a lot of the easier to get fabled dw's out of KoS.

Oh yeah - and learn to love that parser. You will learn more about how to dps from using a parser than anything else. You can pick up tips from the forums, but always test it yourself. Most the info on the forums is good, but some if it is just plain wrong and other bits might not work for you with your equipment/raid setup.