Help fine tuning my raid AA spec :)

[Draylore]

<p>Could use some advice/critique for my raid AA spec.  </p><p>I created this 'base' spec which just has what I consider must haves for me(236 points).    Not sure how to best spend the remaining 14 points.</p><p><a href="http://www.beetny.com/eq2aa/?002i184a159a14a5@988@3212i5555@1555@25@455555511@ 1155@35121k@355@5523@115@3551@255@1511" target="_blank">http://www.beetny.com/eq2aa/?002i18...5@3551@255@1511</a></p><p>My raid force is just now starting to work on UD.  We still have not killed  HM 3-Mages, 4RT and Fish dude.</p><p>ATM I went with AE from pred tree mostly because of the HP boost.  I am really more focused on max single target DPS than doing well on trash AE so at some point I might play around with INT over STA.</p><p>Thought about putting some points into Stealthy Avoidance to maybe help with not having to joust AEs as much.   Or Bewilderment....really havent much issues with my hit rates however.</p><p>So would appreciate any advice on how to spend the extra points or if ive missed something on my "must haves".</p><p>Thanks,</p>

[Zacarus]

<p><cite>Draylore wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Could use some advice/critique for my raid AA spec.  </p><p>I created this 'base' spec which just has what I consider must haves for me(236 points).    Not sure how to best spend the remaining 14 points.</p><p><a href="http://www.beetny.com/eq2aa/?002i184a159a14a5@988@3212i5555@1555@25@455555511@ 1155@35121k@355@5523@115@3551@255@1511" target="_blank">http://www.beetny.com/eq2aa/?002i18...5@3551@255@1511</a></p><p>My raid force is just now starting to work on UD.  We still have not killed  HM 3-Mages, 4RT and Fish dude.</p><p>ATM I went with AE from pred tree mostly because of the HP boost.  I am really more focused on max single target DPS than doing well on trash AE so at some point I might play around with INT over STA.</p><p>Thought about putting some points into Stealthy Avoidance to maybe help with not having to joust AEs as much.   Or Bewilderment....really havent much issues with my hit rates however.</p><p>So would appreciate any advice on how to spend the extra points or if ive missed something on my "must haves".</p><p>Thanks,</p></blockquote><p>I don't raid on Taofeng any more, he's just a pvp toon now.  But, I have a few quibbles with your setup.</p><p>One, you have 15 points into increasing your health.  While I think that's sensible in bg / pvp, I think its a waste in a raid aa spec.  Two, you're not getting physicality which imo is great in any assassin aa spec.  I like having the extra way to stealth.</p>

[TerrorFirmer]

<p><cite>Zacarus@Nagafen wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Draylore wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Could use some advice/critique for my raid AA spec.  </p><p>I created this 'base' spec which just has what I consider must haves for me(236 points).    Not sure how to best spend the remaining 14 points.</p><p><a href="http://www.beetny.com/eq2aa/?002i184a159a14a5@988@3212i5555@1555@25@455555511@ 1155@35121k@355@5523@115@3551@255@1511" target="_blank">http://www.beetny.com/eq2aa/?002i18...5@3551@255@1511</a></p><p>My raid force is just now starting to work on UD.  We still have not killed  HM 3-Mages, 4RT and Fish dude.</p><p>ATM I went with AE from pred tree mostly because of the HP boost.  I am really more focused on max single target DPS than doing well on trash AE so at some point I might play around with INT over STA.</p><p>Thought about putting some points into Stealthy Avoidance to maybe help with not having to joust AEs as much.   Or Bewilderment....really havent much issues with my hit rates however.</p><p>So would appreciate any advice on how to spend the extra points or if ive missed something on my "must haves".</p><p>Thanks,</p></blockquote><p>I don't raid on Taofeng any more, he's just a pvp toon now.  But, I have a few quibbles with your setup.</p><p>One, you have 15 points into increasing your health.  While I think that's sensible in bg / pvp, I think its a waste in a raid aa spec.  Two, you're not getting physicality which imo is great in any assassin aa spec.  I like having the extra way to stealth.</p></blockquote><p>Physicality isn't great.  Also, extra health is essential for raiding.  I'm not sure what you're talking about, but it is very inaccurate for raiding.  A dead dps doesn't do any damage.</p><p>I think that you need to decide if you want to specialize in the extra AOE dps or single target for raiding.  If you want that extra AOE dps you really need to maximize the AOE auto attack.</p><p>Your spec seems to be all over the place.  Why the extra point in point blank shot?  Why the points in offensive stance (useless)?  Is your crit not 100% without max points in crit?  Even without max points in crit, and legendary gear, I have about 138% crit.  There are wasted points there.</p><p>Instead of just telling you what to do, I'll give you an example of what might be good.  This is my survival/aoe spec:</p><p><a href="http://www.beetny.com/eq2aa/?002l1a48148a14aa@988@3212o55@153@155555@25@1555@1 5511@11555@2521p@35@15@455@21555@251@2555@111" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.beetny.com/eq2aa/?002l1a...55@251@2555@111</a></p><p>Another example, if you want to go full on dps on a single target, would look like this:</p><p><a href="http://www.beetny.com/eq2aa/?002l1a48148a1@8a4a@188@3212o55@153@155555@25@1355 @15511@11555@25121p@35@15@455@21555@251@25@15511" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.beetny.com/eq2aa/?002l1a...55@251@25@15511</a></p><p>You'd have less hit points, but extra single target dps.</p><p>You just need to find focus on what you intend to do and go from there.</p>

[TerrorFirmer]

<p>Oh, also, looking at your spec, i noticed that you don't spec for improved hemotoxin.  I'd definitely suggest using hemotoxin, especially in AOE fights.  It does more damage (over time) than the caustic and if you get it to trigger on an AOE attack you get a nice damage boost.  Unless your tank really sucks you probably won't need to improve your ignorant bliss, and if they are that bad then the extra points of detaunt won't help much.</p><p>Also, the tricks that you picked up are useless for raiding.  Jugular slice duration and the root duration are not as helpful as the extra defense debuff on crippling strike and the increased reuse of torture.  As an assassin, even if they were useful (i.e. the mobs weren't mostly immune to them), you are more useful focusing on dps.  The extra agility is negligable compared to the base damage and bonus of masked strike (an ability that gets used quite a bit).  What does it give you, like 30 extra agility for 5 points spent?</p>

[boon515]

<p>None of these are optimal for a raiding assassin imo. The closest one is Terrorfirmer's single target dps, but even this has some problems as far as i'm concerned.</p><p>KoS:  even going down the intel line arguable to begin with as opposed to maxing the health in the stam line. However, eventhough it is reasonable for the poison expertise, maxing poison combination is a waste of AAs especially since he didn't take the endline ability which by itself would do more dps overall in a raid fight than the 16% extra poison dmg since hit ratios in a raid fight can be lower than usual (btw, you do use hemotoxins, right? hit ratios is the reason for hemotoxins). Personally, i take the health...raid is about survival first.</p><p>EoF: The three points in death mark are no good since Temps and dirges for sure get in increase in procs that max it out. I would spend two of the three from death mark to max deadly focus. Not for the dps since you should be maxed out in that during a raid, but the increase in duration for the increased accuracy is well worth the points (that would increase hit ratio for a longer duration). The rest is reasonable.</p><p>TSO: More than two points in sinister strike with worthless since the reuse is maxed after two points, given you max sinister strike in the EoF line. Instead, put them into offensive prowess for the extra skill increase. Remember there is no cap on skill. I would also move the points from crippling strike into hunter's accuracy since the extra agi affects all dps and the boost in crippling strike is a moderate increase to a low dps CA. However, thats my personal preference.</p><p>That's what i would change, but whatever.</p>

[Draylore]

<p>Appreciate all the replys.  Few things to think about.</p><p>The extra point in Point Blank Shot and Fitness in my original post was a mouse click goof =P</p><p>I have not been running Hemo but will swap those points and switch from Caustic and see how it goes.</p><p>As for my choice in Tricks........it seemed like the least 'wasteful' way to get Enhanced Stealth Assault since from what ive been told the points in Death Mark in the Assassin tree are pretty useless with proper raid settings.</p><p>I chose to put points in Offensive Prowness because I was having crappy hit rates.....Also it only takes 2 points in the TSO Sinister Strike to cap its reuse so Prowness seemed like the best choice in that line.</p><p>I have played around with INT line and frankly could not tell any real DPS increase.....and having to remember to reapply Intox all the time was getting annoying for such little gain.  Might play around with it again now that ive geared up some and have a more stable raid setup as far as buffs.</p><p>ATM I have spec with points in Stealthy Avoidance and Bewilderment which so far seems to be helping with less jousting and surviving better on the HM mobs.  Hard to tell if Bewilderment is really doing anything for hit rates.  Still need to test somem more.</p><p>I am trying to focus myself on ST DPS which is why I am sorta skipping the AE Autoattack, hoping those points are better spent elsewhere.....but ATM really need to have all the HP I can get as we tackle more HM and UD content so sorta need to at least go that far in the STA line.</p><p>Here is the current spec I will be trying out..hopefully with less mouse click goofs =P</p><p><a href="http://www.beetny.com/eq2aa/?002m1a48148a14a@a8883@1212n5555@1555@25@25@1555@1 5511@11555@25121p@355@5523@11555@251@255@1511" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.beetny.com/eq2aa/?002m1a...55@251@255@1511</a></p>

[TerrorFirmer]

<p><cite>boon515 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>None of these are optimal for a raiding assassin imo. The closest one is Terrorfirmer's single target dps, but even this has some problems as far as i'm concerned.</p><p>KoS:  even going down the intel line arguable to begin with as opposed to maxing the health in the stam line. However, eventhough it is reasonable for the poison expertise, maxing poison combination is a waste of AAs especially since he didn't take the endline ability which by itself would do more dps overall in a raid fight than the 16% extra poison dmg since hit ratios in a raid fight can be lower than usual (btw, you do use hemotoxins, right? hit ratios is the reason for hemotoxins). Personally, i take the health...raid is about survival first.</p><p>EoF: The three points in death mark are no good since Temps and dirges for sure get in increase in procs that max it out. I would spend two of the three from death mark to max deadly focus. Not for the dps since you should be maxed out in that during a raid, but the increase in duration for the increased accuracy is well worth the points (that would increase hit ratio for a longer duration). The rest is reasonable.</p><p>TSO: More than two points in sinister strike with worthless since the reuse is maxed after two points, given you max sinister strike in the EoF line. Instead, put them into offensive prowess for the extra skill increase. Remember there is no cap on skill. I would also move the points from crippling strike into hunter's accuracy since the extra agi affects all dps and the boost in crippling strike is a moderate increase to a low dps CA. However, thats my personal preference.</p><p>That's what i would change, but whatever.</p></blockquote><p>Poison combination is a fantastic debuff.  Will make all of your hits that hit for poison damage hit much harder in combination with caltrops.  Also is a nice raid debuff for anybody who hits for noxious.</p><p>The three points in death mark are far superior to wasting five points in jugular slice. </p><p>The minor added agility affecting all dps is something you'd have to test, but I really don't think that the extra agility is worth the points.  I'd think that increasing the dps on an ability that you will be using to debuff with anyway would be superior over a flat .03% base damage increase (especially if your agility is already very high on the curve).  10% base damage and 10% crit bonus to an ability that will be up quite a bit with high reuse sounds like the winner to me.  Might just be personal preference, though.</p><p>The sinister strike comment actually makes sense.  I never realized that it did cap out at two, thanks for the info!  That is wasted points that I can put in something else.</p>

[Draylore]

<p><cite>TerrorFirmer wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>boon515 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>None of these are optimal for a raiding assassin imo. The closest one is Terrorfirmer's single target dps, but even this has some problems as far as i'm concerned.</p><p>KoS: even going down the intel line arguable to begin with as opposed to maxing the health in the stam line. However, eventhough it is reasonable for the poison expertise, maxing poison combination is a waste of AAs especially since he didn't take the endline ability which by itself would do more dps overall in a raid fight than the 16% extra poison dmg since hit ratios in a raid fight can be lower than usual (btw, you do use hemotoxins, right? hit ratios is the reason for hemotoxins). Personally, i take the health...raid is about survival first.</p><p>EoF: The three points in death mark are no good since Temps and dirges for sure get in increase in procs that max it out. I would spend two of the three from death mark to max deadly focus. Not for the dps since you should be maxed out in that during a raid, but the increase in duration for the increased accuracy is well worth the points (that would increase hit ratio for a longer duration). The rest is reasonable.</p><p>TSO: More than two points in sinister strike with worthless since the reuse is maxed after two points, given you max sinister strike in the EoF line. Instead, put them into offensive prowess for the extra skill increase. Remember there is no cap on skill. I would also move the points from crippling strike into hunter's accuracy since the extra agi affects all dps and the boost in crippling strike is a moderate increase to a low dps CA. However, thats my personal preference.</p><p>That's what i would change, but whatever.</p></blockquote><p>Poison combination is a fantastic debuff. Will make all of your hits that hit for poison damage hit much harder in combination with caltrops. Also is a nice raid debuff for anybody who hits for noxious.</p><p>The three points in death mark are far superior to wasting five points in jugular slice.</p><p>The minor added agility affecting all dps is something you'd have to test, but I really don't think that the extra agility is worth the points. I'd think that increasing the dps on an ability that you will be using to debuff with anyway would be superior over a flat .03% base damage increase (especially if your agility is already very high on the curve). 10% base damage and 10% crit bonus to an ability that will be up quite a bit with high reuse sounds like the winner to me. Might just be personal preference, though.</p><p>The sinister strike comment actually makes sense. I never realized that it did cap out at two, thanks for the info! That is wasted points that I can put in something else.</p></blockquote><p>Perhaps if you just compare those two.....but going with 5 in Torture and 5 in Crippling Strike instead of 5 in Jugular and 5 in Parlayzing Strike  means and extra 3 points you have to spend overall to get Enhanced Stealth Assault and  the Tricks and Bleeding endlines.</p><p>So unless im missing something,  the question becomes are those 3 in DM better than putting them elsewhere outside those two trees?.</p>

[Gaige]

<p>Meh:</p><p><img src="http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/6990/aa1ch.jpg" /></p><p><img src="http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/2008/aa2hz.jpg" width="949" height="722" /></p><p><img src="http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/5581/aa3to.jpg" width="946" height="729" /></p><p>I keep toying with the idea of dropping some reuse for bewilderment, but 10% reuse is pretty hot and its only 6% accuracy with 8 points.  However once I get Mossassus cloak with 5% static reuse I might drop some in pred for some accuracy.</p>

[Gaige]

<p><cite>TerrorFirmer wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Poison combination is a fantastic debuff.  Will make all of your hits that hit for poison damage hit much harder in combination with caltrops.  Also is a nice raid debuff for anybody who hits for noxious.</p><p>The three points in death mark are far superior to wasting five points in jugular slice. </p><p>The minor added agility affecting all dps is something you'd have to test, but I really don't think that the extra agility is worth the points. </p></blockquote><p>The entire int line is a complete waste.</p><p>Points in death mark are totally wasted because it never wears off without using all of the procs, which means proc rate isn't an issue.  In fact it almost instantly is used.  You're "wasting" five points in jugular slice so you can get RS without spec'ing the other side of the tricks tree since you're already spec'ing to that side in order to get our HP debuff.</p><p>Agility is always worth the points, its the only stat in the game that affects both CA damage and auto attack damage.</p>

[Draylore]

<p>Thanks Gaige,</p><p>Thats most likely a similar build I was heading towards.  </p><p>Dont have the gear you have so not sure I can afford to give up even the 5% HP from TSO tree.</p><p>Also, I need to spend some time going thru my red&white adorns.......no doubt ive screwed that up somehow =P</p><p>Kinda still struggling with keeping Crit/MA/CB/Potency/ATK where they should be even with raid buffs.</p><p>And for some reason my poor attack mod has gone down down down as ive geared up <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  Like barely over 1k solo <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Gaige]

<p>My white adorns are primarily agility, ability mod and casting speed my red adorns are bonus, flurry, masked, villainy and ffu.</p>

[Draylore]

<p><cite>Gaige wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>My white adorns are primarily agility, ability mod and casting speed my red adorns are bonus, flurry, masked, villainy and ffu.</p></blockquote><p>CB or Pot on Main/Offhand/Ranged?</p>

[Gaige]

<p>CB, its only worthwhile to use pot adorns until you're over 80 solo imo.</p>

[Draylore]

<p><cite>Gaige wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>CB, its only worthwhile to use pot adorns until you're over 80 solo imo.</p></blockquote><p>ATM with my current main raid gear setup ....solo I am 102crit, 80CB, 74Pot, 82.5MA, 1127ATK, 21300HP</p><p>And thats with :</p><p>-2% potency on main/off/ranged & BP</p><p>-2% CB on Forearms,Legs</p><p>-Flurry on Shoulders (yes my lame Brawler T3 shoulders cause we only have killed Waasnu a few times <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />)</p><p>-Crit white on Forearms, Cloak</p><p>-MA white on Legs,.</p><p>-HP white on head,hands,Ear</p><p>-Casting speed white on Wrists</p><p>- +21 weapon skill on feet</p><p>-ATK MOD and AGI for the rest.</p><p>Also have the Focus reds you mentioned.</p><p>Probably gonna change out some of the HP adorns.</p>

[TerrorFirmer]

<p><cite>NM, don't care enough</cite></p>

[Crashn]

<p>OK, I may be a bit slow. Are you saying not to get pot adorns until your CB is over 80? </p><p>I am sitting at 66CB and 55pot... I have legendary CB adorns on my weaps and bow...i have been thinking about changing all/some to pot but am not sure. any suggestions?</p><p>Thanks </p>

[wyrrykk]

<p>Thanks Gaige, I've been a fan of your advice for awhile, but never took the time to say thanks...Good Stuff!</p>