Combo Chains

[MaximumSquid]

How many dual attacks can you actually get off with an assassin?

I know you can use Palm strike to go right into a dual attack.

From there you can justify doing 2 more offhand attacks and dual attacks.

Here's my question though:

Can you use repeating strike in a build to get every dual attack off?

http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/2695/assassincombo4iv.jpg

Alright I admit to not owning a drawing pad, but i'm hoping it's easy enough to understand.

[Colretsun Andolin]

Repeating strikes follows an off-hand attack, not a dual attack, otherwise you wouldn't be able to spam it.

[MaximumSquid]

ah i c. . .

I figured as much, but I had to ask.

I know you can use offhand attacks after a dual attack. I think this is because any assassin dagger attack counts as a lead attack as well.

[The Experimentor]

I know you can use offhand attacks after a dual attack. I think this is because any assassin dagger attack counts as a lead attack as well.

No, you can't just use "any" assassin dagger attack as a lead attack.

Just remember that all off-hand attacks and all dual attacks have a condition that must be followed, or else the attack automatically fails.

For example, as said previously and based on their descriptions, you can't use Fox Fangs (an off-hand attack) after Death Blossom (a dual) as Fox Fangs specifically says it "must follow a lead attack".

But some off-hand attacks can indeed follow dual attacks. It just depends on the situation and conditions demanded. For example, the Fang of Melandru R/A build during the PvP weekend:

1. Jagged Strike (lead)
2. Fox Fangs (off-hand, must follow lead)
3. Horns of the Ox (dual, must follow off-hand, knocks down target)
4. Falling Spider (off-hand, must target a knocked down character)
5. Twisted Fangs (dual, must follow an off-hand)

In this case, an off-hand (Falling Spider) can follow a dual (Horns of the Ox), because they don't follow the normal "off-hand must follow a dual attack" clause.

But the best example is:

Moebius Strike
Skill Type: Off-Hand Attack.
Description: Must follow a Dual Attack. If it hits, Moebius Strike strikes for +5-29 damage. If you strike a foe whose Health is below 50%, all your other attack skills are recharged. This is an elite skill.

You were probably thinking of this. :grin:

And speaking of which, make this #6 in the Fang of Melandru's chain. Because Moebius recharges all other attack skills, if you have the Energy, you can do the following chain:

1 -> 2 -> 3 -> 4 -> 5 -> 6 -> 3 -> 4 -> 5

How's that? 4 Dual attacks in one go! :cool:

[Bravo]

Another thing to consider perhaps if you are going to play the assassin, if you aren't comfortable using the keys to select skills, is to rearrange your skill bar from looking like: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8, to looking like:

1-2-3-4
5-6-7-8. This is achieved by going into the customise option in the menu of guildwars, and customising the layout, dragging the skill box to a size where it is half as wide on 1 edge of the total 'bar rectangle' as the other edge (instead of 1/8 as wide on 1 edge).

As this allows you for instance to put a lead attack in 1, offhand attack in 2, dual attack in 3 as normal, with a second chain in 5, 6, 7, possibly also as normal (or close to normal). This would allow you to for instance if you needed to use a different chain part way through battle (one of your skills in the middle of a chain has been disrupted/distracted/diverted/humilated) by going from 1-6-3 for example, using the alternative offhand attack in slot 6 whilst the offhand attack in slot 2 is disabled.

All in all, rearranging your layout to be 2x4 (or 4x2) allows you to have all your skill icons closer together, whilst still taking up the same amount of space on the screen (to achieve closer skills on a 1x8 or 8x1 setup, you would need to reduce the size of the icons, reducing the obscured part of the screen, but also makiing it harder to click the icons too).

[MaximumSquid]

Moebius Strike
Skill Type: Off-Hand Attack.
Description: Must follow a Dual Attack. If it hits, Moebius Strike strikes for +5-29 damage. If you strike a foe whose Health is below 50%, all your other attack skills are recharged. This is an elite skill.

You were probably thinking of this. hehe. . .actually i was thinking of how you can use falling spider after a dual attack, but this clears up any confusion i had.

Bravo: very cool idea for the U.I. I didn't even know you could stack your skill bar 2x4.

thanks for both replies! :heart:

[The Experimentor]

Bravo, that's clever, brilliant. I'll look into that myself. :cool:

[trafalgar-zero]

actually you can make your skill bar completely vertical, which is very nice is some situations. A 2x4 seems kind of bulky, Oh well.

I got a question that kind of relates to this topic. Lets say you use a lead, then an off-hand, but are knocked down before it is used (and it requires a lead attack) lets say you for some reason have a second off-hand that requires a lead, would you be able to pull the second one off or does the knock down ruin the whole combo and force you to hide until the lead is charged?

[MaximumSquid]

After you do a Lead attack you have a certain ammount of time to continue the combo.

During this time you can use other skills or spells. .. you just can't use another attack skill (Like wild blow for example)

In your case where you get knocked down you should still have time to continue the combo once you get back up. Your skill might be recharging, but you should be able to do an offhand while there is still time.

[The Experimentor]

got a question that kind of relates to this topic. Lets say you use a lead, then an off-hand, but are knocked down before it is used (and it requires a lead attack) lets say you for some reason have a second off-hand that requires a lead, would you be able to pull the second one off or does the knock down ruin the whole combo and force you to hide until the lead is charged?

Whenever you successfully perform a lead, off-hand or dual attack, a symbol will appear at the right end of your target's health bar (in your interface, not the one that follows the target on the screen). The symbol is based on the previous attack that hit- single diagonal slash or "/" for lead, double or crossed diagonal slashes or "X" for off-hand, and a quadruple slashes or crossed "X" symbol for dual (look at the skill icons in the 1st post). These guide you with what kind of attack should follow next, and each remains on the target's health bar for around 3-4 seconds.

To answer your question, you hit a target with a lead, so he gets a "/". You are knocked down, but if you can get up and hit him with an off-hand while he's got the lead "/" symbol, you can continue your combo. He'll then getb a "X" for your off-hand, then the dual attack symbol after your dual attack.

Any other disruption follows those rules. Your target suddenly moves away in the middle of your attack combo, or your follow-up attack is still recharging, you can still hit him with the combo in sequence as long as those symbols are shown.

More useful info: http://forums.gwonline.net/showthread.php?t=383184

[MaximusOwnage]

Interesting change for the skill bar, Bravo...

However, when you really want fast chains, wouldn't you usually use hot keys and not the mouse? I think if there could be a way to comfortably adjust the hot keys (without having to learn the whole game over) to create a 2x4 on your keyboard... now thats gonna lead to some fastttt action.

[Bravo]

How about assigning the following (with a sample 'bar' on screen to demonstrate what I mean):

1-2-3-4
5-6-7-8

assign the key 'num lock' to skill 1
assign the key / on the the number pad to skill 2
assign the key * on the number pad to skill 3
assign the key - on the number pad to skill 4
assign the key 7 on the number pad to skill 5
assign the key 8 on the number pad to skill 6
assign the key 9 on the number pad to skill 7
assign the key + on the number pad to skill 8

(assign 0 on the number pad to push to talk?)

Alternatively (but perhaps less comfortable), assign skills 1, 2, 3, 4 to number pad keys 7, 8, 9, + and skills 5, 6, 7, 8 to 1, 2, 3, enter on the number pad (and 0 on the number pad to push to talk?)

This leaves wasd to move, q & e to strafe, tab to cycle targets, t to select priority, space to engage, etc...

Alternatively, bear in mind that you can queue skills up to engage one after the other (so once you see yourself starting skill 1 (important that you see yourself starting skill 1 so that you con't use skill 2 first...), you can already start clicking skill 2 to use it immediately afterwards)

[jouninassasin]

im not sure that woukd make such a good build, what if the person "blocks" one of those atcks? then ur chain will be ruined....

[VILenin]

After you do a Lead attack you have a certain ammount of time to continue the combo.

During this time you can use other skills or spells. .. you just can't use another attack skill (Like wild blow for example)

In your case where you get knocked down you should still have time to continue the combo once you get back up. Your skill might be recharging, but you should be able to do an offhand while there is still time.
Actually, you can do anything that isn't an assassin lead, offhand, or dual attack. You can Wild Blow your target, you can heal, kite, whatever you want. So long as you renew your chain with a new attack in the chain (15 seconds is the maximum amount of time you get in between attacks). In fact, you can switch targets and harass someone else, then go back to the original target and hit him with a dual attack when he least expects it.

Popular offhands that do not require a lead, allowing you to do Offhand > Dual > Offhand > Dual:

Golden Phoenix Strike (Requires that you be enchanted)
Black Lotus Strike (Requires that target be hexed)
Palm Strike (No prerequisite, but it's elite and not an attack per se)
Falling Spider (Requires that target be knocked down)
Moebius Strike (Directly follows a dual attack)

As you can see, a popular chain is Golden Phoenix Strike > Horns of the Ox (causing knockdown) > Falling Spider (requires knockdown) > Twisting Fangs. This was popularized as it has no elite components, giving the user freedom to use any elite. Another common combo is Golden Phoenix Strike > Dual Attack (sometimes Horns of the Ox and sometimes Death Blossom) > Moebius Strike > Twisting Fangs. This combo is not limited by the target's being knocked down, which is conditional, but it has an elite component, being Moebius Strike. I detailed a devastating use for this combo in a previous thread (http://forums.gwonline.net/showthread.php?t=424219).

Personally, my favorite combo is Black Lotus Strike > Twisting Fangs > Golden Phoenix Strike > Blades of Steel, using Flourish to mitigate BLS's long recharge. This combo is possibly the most damage you can do with any character in the game, but it does require that you carry a hex and an enchantment, totaling 7 mandatory skills.

So, does this mean that MaximumSquid is creating an Assassin now?

[LordShar]

The offhand I'm eagerly awaiting is Black Spider Strike (requires a hexed target).

The present attack my assassin uses for PvE is:

Unsuspecting Strike (fast recharge lead attack) -> Wild Strike (fast recharge offhand) -> Critical Strike (fast recharge, energy recovery) -> Moebius Strike -> Twisting Fangs

The above attack skill set provides sustained high damage output.

PS: I really wish Golden Phoenix Strike offered more than just +damage for 10 energy (perhaps an critical hit)... it seems very under-gunned post-nerf. I also wish assassins had an offhand requiring a stance to use.