Perks of Dungeon Keeping

Dungeon Keepers can be very useful to assassins, much farther than the increased alignment gain.  First there is the 'Elegant' line of equipment.  If you come across a reward token, by all means use it and get elegant clothing.  It all raises stamina, which is very useful.  There are also four pieces of spawn-dropped armor that raises stamina: I recommend asking your Dungeon Keeper to spawn them on a few tiles.  They are: dark chestplate, dark gauntlets, holy legs, and holy sleeves.

Assassin Builds

Here I will list a few Assassin builds I have made/seen and thought pretty well of:

Pure Shadow-Strike Build (made by Henderson)

This is one of the best builds I have made, I think.  It requires a bit of setting up, but it can kill a LOT of stuff for it's level.  First thing you want to do is get either a Crossbowyer at a decent level or a Scribe and a Mana buff or seventeen.  The buff in question is 'Stronger Bowyer's Reward', when cast it gives 62000 stamina.  That will hold you over for a while. 

Now, all you really need to train for quite a while is Shadow Strike.  This build specializes in it, and you'll need around 500000 in the skill, preferably by 3000 (Don't worry, hehe). Ask a Dungeon Keeper to spawn you heavily aligned level 1000 spawns.  Once you hit around 200 you should hopefully be able to kill them: if not, get some equipment from forts and a buff or two.  You MUST train in Dungeon Keeper dungeons for a while in this build, for you'll need 1 million alignment as soon as possible.

Once you've trained Shadow-Strike to around 60000, you'll notice you will start to need some more Stamina.  Look in the above paragraph to get some: also, you can use religion buffs.  Start training again, until 1500 or so...

Once you've reached here, you should have around 150000 stamina (at least).  You want to buy ALL the Shadow Strike tomes you can find, preferably at least 200000 sc worth.  Continue training until 2500 or so.  You should have around 300000 stamina at this point: if not, start gaining a lot of alignment (to 1 million), buy some pieces of elegant clothing, stamina equipment, etc.  Around this period, stop leveling for a week or so, and wait and consume all the Shadow-Strike tomes it takes until you have 450000 Shadow-Strike.  Then get a scroll of Master: Shadow Strike, learn it, and cast it, for another 50000 Shadow-Strike.  Congratulations!  You know have 500000 Shadow-Strike and can learn Beckon the Reaper.

Now comes Stamina.  Depending on your financial status, it'll be hard to give you a strategy to get 50000 stamina.  But I'll list everything I can:

• Base Stamina stat (8 * 2500 = 20000 total)
• Maximum Religion Buff (85000 + 20000 = 105000 total)
• Stronger Bowyer's Reward (62000 + 105000 = 167000 total)
• Full Set (40 runes) of Stamina Runes (40 * 4500 = 180000 + 167000 = 347000 total)
• Two Pieces of Elegant Clothing (2 * 15000 = 30000 + 347000 = 377000 total)
• Dark Gauntlets, Dark Chestplate, Holy Sleeves, Holy Legs (4 * 15000 = 60000 = 437000 total)
• 63000 Stamina from random Stamina Equipment (63000 + 437000 = 500000!! total!!)

Well, there you have it.  That's my way to 500000 Shadow-Strike and Stamina.  Using Beckon the Reaper in combat will result in damage of nearly 1 million.  After that, have fun!  You should be able to kill nearly every spawn in the game.  Just train.

After that, of course, comes working on Combat skills.  Have a 2:1 ratio for Specialized:Base weapon skills, and consume plenty of tomes for both.

Balanced Build (Made by Henderson)

This build does not rely on Shadow-Strike too heavily, instead it focuses on all three skills (Shadow Strike, Base Weapon Skill, and Specialized Weapon Skill).  Although it will not be doing masses of damage with Shadow-Strike early on, it will do a considerable load of damage more afterward than the Pure Shadow-Strike Assassin.

For every level until you reach 500000 Shadow Strike train:

• 40 Shadow Strike
• 40 Specialized Weapon Skill (Short Blades, Hand Guns, Half Axes, etc.)
• 20 Base Weapon Skill (Bladed, Guns, Bludgeoning, etc.)

Afterward train your skills normally between your Specialized and Base Weapon skills (I usually use a 2 : 1 ratio).

This build is a lot simpler than the Pure Shadow-Strike assassin, although possibly weaker in the long run.  It does not require nearly as much stamina at first, although it is always welcomed.  Perhaps the largest advantage of this build is the ability to use skill Styles along with the Shadow-Strike Styles.

Things to Remember

Stamina Equipment is always a viable choice.  Even if you have an equally good piece of equipment for your skills, always choose Stamina.

If you feel your assassin sucks (which it certainly doesn't), look over it.  Is it lacking equipment?  Is it missing a Stamina buff?  Etc. etc. 

 

Feel free to PM me in the game (Chat Name: Ace of Nimbus/Jagged/Henderson) if you have specific questions.