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Luna's TR Build Guide
batuba
Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users Posts: 89
LUNA'S TR BUILD GUIDE - Executioner's Style (PvE)
First off I'd like to clarify that this was not originally my build as far as feats however, rotation and points into powers are. I can't remember who's feat build it was (and when I find out I will give due credit) but ever since I've seen my damage sky rocket and always first on dmg by around 1-4 million over other players (even over other TR's) against equal geared characters. I hadn't planned to write a guide so I don't have all the screen shots needed at the moment, but if this post is useful to anyone, I'll be sure to get some next time I'm able to log in the game, also my first time ever writing a guide however I was asked to do so by many TR I grouped with as well as the constant whispers I get in game about my build. If there is a similar post with a similar build, then I apologize in advance, however I havn't seen any builds so far. So here goes...
-EDIT- I'm updating Powers section as well as Rotations soon. I'll let you know when its complete.
My character's name is Luna@batuba (currently at 11.2k Gear Score) and is a Drow Trickster Rogue. My ability scores are as followed (with out campfire buff) : 24 Dex, 19 STR, 19 CHA.
-EDIT- I've changed my stats around due to my gear giving me enough crit to where I felt I could drop some dex to add a bit more dmg with CHA.
Stat Priority
I've always personally went Power > Crit > Recovery > Armor Pen.
This was mainly due to poor itemization in the game and not enough top tier gear giving Armor Pen (infact non of the T2 sets have armor pen as a basic stat on the armor)
Another example, the ring from CN that gives Power/Crit/Armor Pen has a DEFENSIVE Slot. When every other dps ring gives a Offensive Slot.
Right now I down graded some rings and changed out a lot of my Power offensive sockets and replaced them with Armor Pen leaving my self at 20% Defense Reduction.
I was at 5700 Power with 51% however now dropped to 4600 and around 49% crit to attain the 20% armor pen while unable to drop a less priority stat such as Recovery.
Right now my stat priority is at Power > Crit >20% Armor Pen> Recovery.
Now you may be asking, "Why not 20% armor pen first slot?" its because I feel this build requires high amounts of crit and always felt Power to be a mandatory stat to increase as high as you can. Get armor pen IMO when you have flexibility with gear and you feel you do enough damage already and can begin to explore other stats.
FEATS
HEROIC
Action Advantage 2/4/6/8/10% additional Action Point for dealing Combat Advantage damage. 5/5
You should constantly be striving to be in combat advantage due to extra damage and feat bonuses. Getting extra action points is very nice as well.
Weapon Mastery 1/2/3% greater chance to land a critical hit. 3/3
This build is based on crit and crit damage. Every bit of crit will help.
Toughness Increase your Maximum Hit Points by 3/6/9%. 1/3
Little bit of extra HP never hurts and a good place as any to dump the extra point needed to advance in the tier.
Cunning Ambusher You deal 2/4/6% more damage for 6 seconds after leaving Stealth 3/3
You should constantly look to fight from stealth when your able. This will stack very nicely with other abilities later discussed.
Endless Assault Your encounters deal 2/4/6% more damage. 3/3
More damage... can't go wrong
Scoundrel Training Your At-Wills deal 3/6/9% more damage to foes not targeting you. 3/3
Clearly not a soloing ability however you in groups you'll nearly always have this damage bonus.
Disciple of Strength Increase the amount of bonus damage Strength gives you by 5/10/15% 2/3
If your Race is Human, I strongly recommend finishing this up with 3/3. Again, more damage always better.
PARAGON
Dazzling Blades Your At-Will powers have a 3/6/9/12/15% chance to reduce the cooldown on recharging Encounter powers by 1 second. 5/5
Get your abilities off CD faster... Can't go wrong
First off I'd like to clarify that this was not originally my build as far as feats however, rotation and points into powers are. I can't remember who's feat build it was (and when I find out I will give due credit) but ever since I've seen my damage sky rocket and always first on dmg by around 1-4 million over other players (even over other TR's) against equal geared characters. I hadn't planned to write a guide so I don't have all the screen shots needed at the moment, but if this post is useful to anyone, I'll be sure to get some next time I'm able to log in the game, also my first time ever writing a guide however I was asked to do so by many TR I grouped with as well as the constant whispers I get in game about my build. If there is a similar post with a similar build, then I apologize in advance, however I havn't seen any builds so far. So here goes...
-EDIT- I'm updating Powers section as well as Rotations soon. I'll let you know when its complete.
My character's name is Luna@batuba (currently at 11.2k Gear Score) and is a Drow Trickster Rogue. My ability scores are as followed (with out campfire buff) : 24 Dex, 19 STR, 19 CHA.
-EDIT- I've changed my stats around due to my gear giving me enough crit to where I felt I could drop some dex to add a bit more dmg with CHA.
Stat Priority
I've always personally went Power > Crit > Recovery > Armor Pen.
This was mainly due to poor itemization in the game and not enough top tier gear giving Armor Pen (infact non of the T2 sets have armor pen as a basic stat on the armor)
Another example, the ring from CN that gives Power/Crit/Armor Pen has a DEFENSIVE Slot. When every other dps ring gives a Offensive Slot.
Right now I down graded some rings and changed out a lot of my Power offensive sockets and replaced them with Armor Pen leaving my self at 20% Defense Reduction.
I was at 5700 Power with 51% however now dropped to 4600 and around 49% crit to attain the 20% armor pen while unable to drop a less priority stat such as Recovery.
Right now my stat priority is at Power > Crit >20% Armor Pen> Recovery.
Now you may be asking, "Why not 20% armor pen first slot?" its because I feel this build requires high amounts of crit and always felt Power to be a mandatory stat to increase as high as you can. Get armor pen IMO when you have flexibility with gear and you feel you do enough damage already and can begin to explore other stats.
FEATS
HEROIC
Action Advantage 2/4/6/8/10% additional Action Point for dealing Combat Advantage damage. 5/5
You should constantly be striving to be in combat advantage due to extra damage and feat bonuses. Getting extra action points is very nice as well.
Weapon Mastery 1/2/3% greater chance to land a critical hit. 3/3
This build is based on crit and crit damage. Every bit of crit will help.
Toughness Increase your Maximum Hit Points by 3/6/9%. 1/3
Little bit of extra HP never hurts and a good place as any to dump the extra point needed to advance in the tier.
Cunning Ambusher You deal 2/4/6% more damage for 6 seconds after leaving Stealth 3/3
You should constantly look to fight from stealth when your able. This will stack very nicely with other abilities later discussed.
Endless Assault Your encounters deal 2/4/6% more damage. 3/3
More damage... can't go wrong
Scoundrel Training Your At-Wills deal 3/6/9% more damage to foes not targeting you. 3/3
Clearly not a soloing ability however you in groups you'll nearly always have this damage bonus.
Disciple of Strength Increase the amount of bonus damage Strength gives you by 5/10/15% 2/3
If your Race is Human, I strongly recommend finishing this up with 3/3. Again, more damage always better.
PARAGON
Dazzling Blades Your At-Will powers have a 3/6/9/12/15% chance to reduce the cooldown on recharging Encounter powers by 1 second. 5/5
Get your abilities off CD faster... Can't go wrong
Post edited by batuba on
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Better than the alternatives at this point. Also less threat on you means you can take advantage of the 9% extra dmg from your target not focusing you from Scoundrel Training (see above).
Brutal Backstab While Stealthed you critical with 5/10/15/20/25% more severity. 5/5
Bread and butter of this build. This with Lurker's assault and other feats discussed make this build brutal.
Critical Teamwork You and your nearby allies gain a 1/2/3/4/5% chance to crit. 5/5
More crit for you AND your party... YES PLEASE
Duelist’s Flurry has a 5/10/15/20/25% chance to apply ‘Deadly Momentum’ Deadly Momentum; Increases your critical severity by 5% per stack. 5/5
This is an amazing feat. You'll nearly always have all 5 stacks of this with only one DF chain.
Overrun Critical When you land a critical hit, one of your next attacks strikes with 30% of your crit severity.
Amazing ability that allows you to get off some consecutive big crits.
Underhanded Tactics Increase the effectiveness of Combat Advantage for you by 4/8/12/16/20%
As stated before, to maximize your damage, you always want to be in Combat Advantage as much as possible and this will increase the benefits by 20%... again, YES PLEASE!
POWERS I USE CONSTANTLY SITUATIONAL POWERS I NEVER TOUCH
There are powers I don't mention here, and I didn't do so because I didn't bother placing points into them at all.
POWERS
OLD POWER SELECTION
-EDIT- NEW POWER SELECTION
LET ME CLARIFY THAT I STILL STAND WITH MY OLD POWER SELECTION AS WELL. HOWEVER I DROPPED SOMETHINGS THAT I WAS NEVER USING AND PLACED THEM TO OTHER ABILITIES THAT I COULD ACTUALLY BE USING INSTEAD. DON'T FREAK OUT BECAUSE YOU SPECCED ONE WAY AND NOT THE OTHER!!!
AT WILL
Cloud of Steel
I use this primarily for PvP. No real reason to use this in PvE.
Sly Flourish
My left mouse button. Great for when you don't have time to do a full Duelist Flurry combo. Also during stealth or combat advantage, this can build up some serious damage quickly.
Duelist's Flurry
Right mouse button. This is the main ability of this build. With the feats selected, you'll be adding 25% crit severity as well as a bleed effect that stacks up to 10 times. (I've personally had up to 14k + ticks however average around 4-7k). Keep in mind that this ability has its down sides as well. First two parts of the chain are very slow animations and in that time your target might move away and you'll have to start the chain again. Another is that if your target is knocked off the edge during the 3rd part of the chain, you may fly off the edge as well (or during CW's daily to suck all the mobs to one point, its possible to get stuck in the roof if the ceiling is low enough and you have to do the /killme and waste 20 silver on a repair kit). On a positive note, during the 3rd part of the chain, CC/knockdowns don't affect you.
ENCOUNTER
Impact Shot
Just not a fan of this ability. It can stack up to do some decent damage, however the knock back on it makes it to where there is no DPS time while having to run after the monster. I personally don't like it however grabbed on second build seeing how it might have some PvP aspects to it (I never use for PvP btw)
Shadow Strike
A great ability for this build for remaining in stealth longer to take advantage of Severity bonuses during stealth. Especially useful if there is a lot of random damage comming your way and knocking your stealth bar down.
Dazing Strike
This ability is nearly always on my bar. Dazes target and is part of my combo rotation that I will explain further on.
Deft Strike
You could use this for PvP (however I don't). My main use for this actually is for when I get stuck in walls or wierd places due to Duelist Flurry and mobs getting knocked around by other players. Im forced to place this on my bar and teleport to an ally or enemy in hopes that I don't have to do /killme (/stuck hardly ever works)
Lashing Blade
Amazing ability that dishes out ton's of damage. IMO all rogues and builds should have this.
Bait and Switch
I've tried Bait and Switch due to recommendations however I do not like this ability for several reasons. One being that if targets ignore your clone, you gain no AP and its a wasted slot. For soloing I can see this being nice since targets have no one else to attack but your dummy, giving you a very nice AP boost.
Blitz
My GO TO AoE ability. Does considerable burst damage for an AoE (limited amount of targets, I think its around 5-6) and the best one rogues have.
Path of the Blade
Very low damage AoE however I keep it around in case we need the extra AoE to take care of mass monster adds.
Wicked Reminder
If you know your going to be full time on a boss and will have 0 AoE during the process, this is a nice ability to place on your bar. Low CD makes generating Action Points faster and you help the group with a damage resistance debuff.
Smoke Bomb
I mainly use this for PvP however when I do harder Dungeons, I replace blitz with this ability. It will be of immense help not only to you but your group as well. Try dropping it under a CW's black hole as the monsters fall back to the floor for a great effect.
-EDIT- Changed from yellow to green
Impossible to Catch
PvP skill mainly. If your against a lot of CC, this could be a nice ability to get around it.
DAILY
Lurker's Assault
Your main daily and the whole purpose to this build. Lurker's assault allows you to get permanent stealth during its effect and increases your damage by 60%. Stack this damage buff with your other feats to do extra damage in stealth, leaving stealth and so on, you'll notice monstrous damage. I've taking off 40% off certain bosses health during one use of this daily in T2 instances. Can't stress how good this daily is.
Whirlwind of Blades
I have this on my bar however I'm not sure really how good this is. It hits a limited amount of targets and increases power... Its "okay" for using if you want to do a bit more AoE and only reason I keep it on my bar.
Bloodbath
Decent for PvP since you become immune to damage during its use. I never use it however.
Shocking Execution
Good "Execution" ability for finishing people off in PvP. Not worth it in PvE in my experience.
Courage Breaker
I've never used it... I keep it around in case one day there is a dungeon boss that hits like a truck (maybe a raid *crosses fingers*) and you could help mitigate the damage done.
CLASS FEATURE
Tactics
I'm still up in the air about this one (inbetween this and Skillful Infiltrator). 15% more action point gain is always nice and since Lurker's assault is the basis of this build, getting to use it more often is always good.
Infiltrators' Action
Never use it... need to place points some where right?
Skillful Infiltrator
3% crit, 15% movement speed alone makes this worth while. Since I havnt placed to dodge regen, having the extra movement speed allows me to get out of danger zones quicker (or allows me to side step cone attacks quick enough to where I don't have to dodge roll and can get more dps time in)
Invisible Infiltrator
A must have with this build. 15% more damage with your already 60% damage from Lurker's assault as well as assuring you'll have stealth active when you pop your daily.
Tenacious Concealment
Again... need to place a point somewhere
First Strike
Again... need to place a point somewhere
Sneak Attack
I think we can all agree that this will never be on anyone's bar at 60. Should be renamed to Quick Sneak... flying mongoose or donkey balls.
HOW THIS BUILD WORKS
Okay the goal to this build is to have as much crit and power as you can. On my rogue I have around 50% crit on my character tab (not sure if this includes feats or not) and 4500 or so Power.
When I get to a fight, first thing I always do is position my self to gain combat advantage to gain full benefits of your CA (combat advantage) feats or directly go into stealth.
ROTATIONS
Yes even this game has them! Or at least I like to think so.
BASIC ROTATION
Duelist Flurry - Lashing Strike - Dazing Strike - Blitz (only if there are multiple monsters)
-or-
Duelist Flurry - Duelist Flurry (to try and get the 10 stacks) - Lashing Strike - Dazing Strike - Blitz (only if there are multiple monsters)
STEALTH ROTATION
Duelist Flurry - Lashing Strike - Dazing Strike - Blitz (only if there are multiple monsters)
-EDIT NOTE- Changed from 2x Duelist Flurry to x1. Might work with 2 if you have the 20% extra stealth time feat if someone wants to give it a shot.
If you do this properly, you'll just be in time to get Lashing strike during stealth right before it ends not only getting 100% crit but also insures (due to feats) increased Dazing Strike's damage.
LURKER'S ASSAULT
Duelist Flurry - Duelist Flurry (to try and get the 10 stacks) - Lashing Strike - Dazing Strike - Blitz (only if there are multiple monsters)
-Or-
Duelist Flurry x 3 - Lashing Strike - Dazing Strike - Blitz (only if there are multiple monsters)
I normally go with the second option so I can remain in stealth longer before I break it. Just to give you an idea of the kind of numbers I've seen while doing this rotation in Lurker's Assault : around 50-65k Duelist flurry (per chain) - up to 14k Bleed ticks - followed by a 30-56k Lashing Strike - 34k Dazing Strike crit - 11k crits on each monster hit with Blitz. All this in the short time that is Lurker's Assault. I don't have a vorpal enchant for my weapon yet, but expect to see higher numbers than that if you do get that.
I hope this guide is able to serve at lease one person. I've recieved a lot of whispers in game for my build and I feel that this might prove more useful than my cut up whispers due to me being in the middle of a dungeon. If you ever need additional advice please feel free to look me up, but before doing so read the guide well enough and see if you can find your answers here. I'll post some screen shots soon of damage parses. I'd like to take this oportunity also to let people know that dont judge your class before reaching T2. Most classes begin to shine here. I've seen GWF out dps rogues, Control wizards are key to successful groups as well as dishing out some mad damage as well. Know how to play your class and give them all a good run through in T2 before making judgements.
Thank you.
http://youtu.be/f9Jvanks5uI
Maximizing Duelist Flurry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtBIsqU3uJA&feature=youtu.be
I might bring up better worked ones in the future if requested, maybe of PvP or other encounters (perhaps against other TR's for comparison)
SCREENSHOTS
I'll be posting more as I do more dungeons
I only place my gear due to many requests to do so. I don't like doing this personally due to the fact that if feels like showing off gear or the fact that I have to keep updating every time I get a new piece. Also has nothing to do with the build itself and the whole purpose of the post.
This is my lastest screen shot of my stats. I replaced some POWER sockets for some Armor Pen. I'm trying it out.
I stack Power and crit personally.
I've placed priority to power. At 50% crit I feel i'm in a good place.
Priority to Dex - STR - Cha in that order. I went drow because I liked the Race, wasn't trying to max my DPS. For that make a Half-orc for the 5% crit sev and str/dex
it is 2/4/6 they nerfed it also now it is so weak spending 3 points in it seems like a waste i already used a reset because of the stat increase was so little, better spending it in longer combat advantage aka stealth duration
then again all these 2 percent damage increase are so lame you dont notice it at all if you get a 2 percent increase on a 14k crit it will add as 240 damage, 9 percent damage increase on encounter powers on 14k crit is 1000 extra damage extra every time you can use the skill if you hit for that much lol
wish they had different feat abilities as they seem to have little to no effect what so ever
i love your guide though so dont get me wrong, just saying that most heroic feats have a pretty low effect on performance which is sad
it really depends on how they add/stack. I dont know if anyone has done the math on that yet?
Example.
+10% str bonus, +60% lurkers, +6% for 6s out of stealth, + 10% flanking. how do these add/multiply?
100 weapon damage.
+10% str, for 110 damage, is it then 60+6+10 for +76% damage, or 60, then 6, then 10% for 87%?
If that 6% is being added first, then getting getting increased with every bonus after, its nearly a flat 6% damage boost. which is pretty good.
of course, all three feat options at that teir are really good. 20% longer stealth, 9% to at wills vs not targeting you.
I've been building and playing the rogue in the exact same way - only a few differing feat points...
I took Improved Cunning Sneak (longer stealth) for 2 points, rather than disciple of strength. Once someone actually crunches numbers, we'll know for sure about disciple. However, the extra 8 seconds of stealth is more CA, AP, and more time at the end of duelists to get in a lashing blade (if you hadn't timed it perfectly already.
Next, rather than 4% crit from critical teamwork (with 4 points), I put them into cunning stalker for 20% more AP gain in stealth.
Finally, I do use bait and switch, to extend stealth, as a ghetto roll when needed, or most importantly, for the AP generation. A well-placed bait and switch will fill my meter nigh 80%, after having JUST used a lurkers. So, I am losing a damage ability in that slot, but this is getting me more lurkers/whirl of blades, which is where our DPS spikes.
Finally, with ability scores, I'm heading towards 22 Dex/22 Cha /20 STR on my Drow. When I respec at 60 to optimize, I'm not sure what score I'll shoot for. I wish we knew exactly what 12% combat advantage actually did...
How exacly does this feat works ? I mean combat advantage gives you dmg bonus if enemy arent aware of you while you are in stealth. I dunno how much dmg bonus it gives exacly..put a 30% dmg as example. With this feat u will do like 30% +20% of it so like 36% dmg bonus while in combat adv ?
Very similar to what I am working towards, the exception being where the 'arbitrary' points are spent, though I am not at cap yet.
I think maximizing stealth up time and lurkers is going to be the go to for TR's for now.
Can't wait for more Paragon path's to have some variation to work with, but this build seems really fun at the moment anyway.
I'm not sure on the math in this game. It would require a lot of testing and if someone is up for it, great! Also with the way Powers and feats are described in this game, it leaves a lot of questions as far as optimization of damage and abilities. The multiplier question is a good one, not only for Damage but also for abilities that reduce enemy Damage reduction and such. I'd love to know this as well.
what do you mean with combat advantage? is that a skill or something?
using german version so never heard of this and cant find a skill named liked it..
If you have a +2 bonus, you can roll one stat of 20 at the start. My half-orc started with 15 str, 20 dex, 13 cha.
One question ;
Which class you prefer ? I chose Halfling.
I chose drow because I like the esthetic of being evil based race. It was the only factor in me choosing this race. If I wished to optimize I would have gone half orc
I love the executioner style, and have been building towards it since day 1!
I'm pretty similar with you on most points, but i wanted to just pick your brain (or at least find out your thought process on my differences, and see if i can be convinced otherwise.)
My heroic feats are literally SKILL FOR SKILL the same.
The slight variance comes in paragon tree:
Executioner Tier2: I took the +10% crit chance/severity after shocking execution
I had fully intended on using shocking execution for what it does best, executing.
I had planned on dailys being: Lurking Shadows+Shocking Execution
Lurking shadows will be used as the general go to for damage output and shocking execution will be used sub 50% on big mobs.
The question that i need to eventually find out, is the damage+Crit chance/severity mod (specially timing lashing blade behing this for a guaranteed +10% dmg boost) from a lower HP shocking execution going to beat out the 60% dmg boost on lurking shadows.
From what i've been told, shocking execution can hit for huge numbers, especially on criticals out of stealth (With the 25% severity mod)
What do you think of this?
basically: Exact same build
Changing only: Daily power Whirling blades >> Shocking exe
and changing feat for 10% less threat for 10% more crit/mod after shocking exe (to help with the burn down of big mobs/bosses.)
*Note, i am 100% pve rogue for this build, so no PVP considerations need be made*
I've tried SE for a bit however I've never liked it. The reason I don't like it for PvE is that first its not a 100% crit chance. Second with LA you can crit your Lashing strike for 34-54k (which is around the same numbers I've seen personally with SE. So why would I use SE (which is situational since you depend on your target having low HP) instead of LA where I could have a multiple of abilities hitting extremely hard. I feel it will way out weigh the one attack you get from SE and dmg bonus after.