Path of Blades at Level 60?

flayedawg · January 2014

Is this ability still useful at level 60? At 46 it's one of my favorite abilities; I use it constantly, solo or grouped, & it seems to work very nicely for clearing low-level trash & such.

pitshade · January 2014

Great for trash in Sharandar in Dread Ring. Wouldn't use it in party content as there are other classes for AOE. Same thing with Blitz. Keep them if you enjoy solo content since lots of weak mobs can be a headache.

beckylunatic · January 2014

Yeah, it's great for the level 60 campaigns, just as it was great for clearing trash while levelling. It also has applications in PvP for chewing other rogues out of stealth. I would avoid using it in dungeons where your job is to put concentrated hurt on the biggest thing in the room.

axis40 · January 2014

in the end of dungeon looks like this:cw 18mill
tr 6mill(same gear)
so if u just spam pob and blitz
u would make 5 mill
and even if u went afk no one would nothice.
so same what you put in pve just tag along

chemboy613 · January 2014

i like this, but it's because I personally don't like blitz at all.

That said, it's useful in PvP against other TR and GF.

Cool ability, but situational.

vrtesseract · January 2014

yes POB might not be the higest DPS ability the brilliance of it is its very set and forget it. so it doesn't interfere with your stealth rotation as much as other AOE powers. and you don't need to be facing towards foes it also doesn't move you so your not going to fly off a cliff when you accidently hit the button.

POB is very good to have for people who have enough to think about without worrying about trash. oh and having blitz AND POB is great for if your running around trash heavy areas or areas with a lot of stealty foes or swarming anklebiters. which is VERY VERY common for NW who seems to have the theory isf the dragon ist strong enough ..more adds is the solution.

at level 60 most used ability for me is POB/Duelist everything else is situational. if you want more stealth dummy/stealth strike are good to have. if your a crit junkie Knife/and that shadowy daily are a must. I you into stuns smoke bomb/and the low level stun power are great, if your into evading damage that encounter that makes you immune for 5 sec and bloodbath are good. If you have a need to be able to move around faster or getting into hard to climb spots. the teleporty backstaby strike/blitz is good. so most powers a rogue gets are situational

but in most builds POB is a great third encounter power to have in any situation because its so very balanced and easy to use.

vasdamas · January 2014

Very useful against permastealth rogues in PvP if you don't have bilethorn enchantment

shauku11 · January 2014

PoB is pretty weak, in dungeons blitz is superior for aoe and dazing strike is better in conjunction with cw skills. It's hard to justify using it in an encounter slot with other skills unless you think the second aoe skill is needed and you can't use dazing strike.

flayedawg · January 2014

Thanx for the information, everyone, very useful

pitshade · January 2014

One trick for clearing trash using PoB is to go to just outside their aggro range, hit the encounter and then enter stealth, now run up and use sly flourish (or DF is facing something big) to do AOE damage while staying stealthed.

PoB, Blitz and Smoke Bomb are about the best way to go through Quickling Den if you can't stay in stealth the whole time.

xyntrynz1a · January 2014

Gloaming cut can get you through the quickling den in stealth.
If you have the appropriate feat, every cut gives you stealth as does every kill.

Its quite comical

jinadu · February 2014

Path of Blades imo is uselss in end game content, I don't even have a single point on it.
Blitz on the other hand is awesome, I've hit 25k blitz before on multiple enemies.
Also, if you knew how to use blitz you would know that it doesn't send you backwards if you jump and use it so I don't know how ppl have problems with falling off cliffs... Why would you even have your back to a cliff in the first place, let alone use blitz like that.

reiwulf · February 2014

I never thought of using it for trash mobs inm sharandar or dread ring, it sounds like a great idea, I'll try my luck with it today.

kweassa · February 2014

It's not bad, but doesn' really provide any meaningful "special trait" while used in stealth. (such as VP stuns, LB always crits, DaS activates 50% faster, WR lands 3 stacks.. etc etc..) It just ticks faster, and thus ends quicker, and then leaves you waiting for a long time for the cooldown.

It's use is much too situational, and therefore, I've dumped it. Like others have said, I prefer Blitz. Much more useful.

shadow5930 · February 2014

I've picked up the ways of the WK and I use the path of blades.

I think that the feat which increases damage output in 20' range includes PoB in it's increase. Which is always inside that range.

I haven't quite gotten my Wk to 60 and I plan to respec to fine tune my spec once I am there. That said, when I did do PVP, I was eating through people with DS, CoS and PoB. Using BnS and SS to keep in stealth. I kept courage breaker on tap so that the GWFs even fell, quickly, when I'd hit them with that and go into my routine.

I could be wrong, it's just something I noticed last night in 59 pvp.

beckylunatic · February 2014

pitshade wrote: »

One trick for clearing trash using PoB is to go to just outside their aggro range, hit the encounter and then enter stealth, now run up and use sly flourish (or DF is facing something big) to do AOE damage while staying stealthed.

It is a "fire and forget" skill, and I also like using it as a lead-in, prior to other encounters, entering stealth, etc.

What I like about it as opposed to Blitz (which has applications too) is the duration, and that it radiates from you. It's something you can have going on while you use other abilities.

I'll admit that Blitz is a skill I only recently started experimenting with much with a TR trying to focus primarily on throwing knives, so I'm not as versed in it as I could be.

pitshade · February 2014

In general, I prefer Blitz to POB. My WK has both, but my MI uses Banelorne's build and could only afford one and right now that's Blitz. It may change again, I'm fickle when tuning a character. POB is most useful in Quicking Den, though viable in any solo play. The big advantage is that it keeps going. However unless you do the trick of using it before aggroing mobs, you're going to take hits while it activates. I don't like it from stealth because it just hits quicker and ends faster.

Blitz is great for dealing with the standard trash mobs. It really shines paired up with the WK at-will since you can get DOTs on the weak stuff and then Blitz when it closes. Watch as redcaps, runts, servitors and zombies ragdoll all over the place. It cools down a lot quicker than POB, does damage faster and also serves as a minor additional form of dodge when facing heavy melee attacks. Given that in most cases, you are facing 3-4 mobs at a time while soloing, the speed of the attack, the fact that it can hit everything an the cooldown time make it superior to clearing solo trash.

Some of it can come down to playstyle and gear though. POB was marginally better for me when my MI was in Master Duelist, as I could activate before combat started and then reduce the cooldown with the set bonus and Flashing Blades. It also has the bonus I mentioned before: that you can use it prior to stealth, enter stealth and start attacking without letting mobs get any hits on you in between. With Blitz, you can't be stealthed before AND after engaging in combat while using the power.

Path of Blades at Level 60?

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