Nightshade BG spec

[Uncle Sick(tm)]

Alright... rolled an ickle Nightshade and came up with following template *coughs and pulls the cover off the blackboard*

Stealth - 21 ( +1 so far: Jewel of Madness)
Envenom - 10
Pierce - 15 (have some + pierce items, will be 18ish at 24)
CS - 21

Good enough or did I feck it up somewhere?

Still looking to trade an Archer's Bracer and a Mantle of Unseelie skill for +stealth and +envenom items.
So if anyone wants to trade - go right ahead

 

[Uncle Sick(tm)]

*dramatic bump*

 

[Dorin]

stealth: 19
envenom: 13 (new snare)
blades/piercing: 15
cs: 21

try blades imo, works out well for bg as i have been told (not big difference compared to other classes in bg)

 

[old.Kladen]

i would go for
19stealth
18pierce/blades
21crit
8envenom
4CD

but im not very fond of poison

 

[Luuna]

I wouldn't take stealth any higher than 16 tbh. You're putting those points into Stealth for BG use only, once you're out of Thid you're going to need higher skills in weapons and envenom for grouping and more importantly soloing :

I'm playing around with a shade also, and come BG's at level 24 she will be specced :

Stealth : 16 : Detect Hidden, bump with items.
Pierce : 20
Envenom : 10 : 3rd DoT
Crit Strike : 21 : PA

5 points left over

 

[Uncle Sick(tm)]

I like Luuna's template (is it the same shade my bard met so long ago?) - very similar to the one I had in mind.

My problem is, though - the only +stealth item I have is... a jewel of Madness *grins* Found two in the tomb yesterday. And with low stealth Infils and SB's will have my Luwikeen's liver for supper anytime...*sighs*

Every piece of Nightshade gear my main ever found, I gave away to NS' in need. Ain't I just nice?

Anyway - still trading that Archer's Bracer or the Mantle of Unseelie skill if anyone has +env or +stealth items left over.

Oh- one more question - autotraining stealth to 24. Is it really worth it?

 

[leril]

it is worth it for a few extra points but i only took it to 20 cause i wanted to go to the bg hehe

some ppl are sayin that the points get cancelled in 1.52 i dunno though....

it is worth takin it but not 4 to long otherwise in pvp you will be seen really easy and in pvm youll get uncovered

auto-train for a while and save points for stealth while doin it

 

[Luuna]

Have a cloak and pendant (level 30+ I believe) that Cornell gave me a while back when we were testing an event on Gorre. Created a Shade specifically for the event and while we were porting he handed them to me. /send Luuna or Nyame ingame and they are yours. You can use them specifically for BG and when PvE use some other items so they don't degrade too quick.

I like Luuna's template (is it the same shade my bard met so long ago?)

Yus.

 

[Jonaldo]

awww jeeez... am I just not the nicest guy ever?

 

[Uncle Sick(tm)]

Wee!

Many thanks, Luuna.


Edit: Oh, by the way- what mobs drop Nightshade items? Found a Master Assassin's Pendant on a Siabra Waylayer earlier tonight.

Any other mobs that drop good Shade gear?

 

[old.Patrick-S]

<coughs> was completely gimporized (did i say was? oops slip of the tongue) in bgs lol but i started with low stealth and couldnt get near enough anything to PA/bs 2 so overdid it and got like 22 stealth at 24 hehe but as for items u could get a high char to do anxious healer quest for +2 stealth cloak then think its rogue lord pendant or something (not overlord..) which is +4 dex/quick +1 stealth cant remember wot drops it though then of course in sprag den theres earth crafted molded helm or summin which has +3 which is nice and handy meaning u shud be able to get the cap fairly easily think theres some + stealth boots somewhere lol id try and get low-mid twentys with items if i were u but then ur pve would suffer <rambles on for a bit incoherently then goes to :sleeping: >

 

[old.Bubble]

roll a SB on excal
save yourself some pain


anyway back on subject
how stealth works-
see hidden and stealth control the 'Bubbles' around stealthed players - with 16 in in stealth i would see you way before you see me(i have 25 ...20+5 in items)
PA is kinda important in BG's i'd also think about putting quite a bit in env(basicly most NS's seem to lack the punch of SB's or the speed and power of infs...more env could make it possible to PA and run...poison would finish)

Blades hurt SB's and inf more than piecing...i dunno if you what you really wanna hunt but my guess would be you don't wanna mess with chain users like clerics mercs and skalds

i believe you can use up to lvl 45 items so feel free to twink the hell out of yourself


Good Luck

 

[old.Kian]

16 stealth is BARELY adequate for Thidranki - at least you get Detect Hidden, but you will be out-stealthed by all the infils and even by most shadowblades. 19 stealth can be taken up to level at 24 with items.

My own spec in BGs was low in Pierce, high in envenom and worked pretty well for me as a hit and run merchant:

19 stealth (+5 from items)
21 Crit Strike (+1 from items)
12 Pierce
16 Envenom (+4 from items)

Didn't have any +Pierce, as I used a 99% quality guarded rapier crafted by my main PA didn't quite one-shot even con casters, but the first or second poison tick usually carried them off if they didn't have a healer handy. Took out a yellow con polearm Armsman with that spec, so I doubt it's entirely gimped... and it worked well for me solo both before and after Thid as well.

/edit Bubble - I could and did go after clerics (just make sure you use a disease poison, it annoys the hell out of them). Skalds were more of a pain.

 

[Uncle Sick(tm)]

Har! Ha-har!!

Decided to get my main to at least 40 (39.9 at the moment), so I started hunting Siabras in the Bog... and boy do they drop nice stealther gear.

Rogue Overlord pendant etc. etc. etc.
+4 stealth and +2 envenom so far and a Sinister something stilletto...

Thanks anyway to Luna for offering those items
Guess I am set, though.
And thanks to Bubble for the hints. I won't roll a SB, though - tempting but the majority of Excalibur's inhabitants make playing unenjoyable.
Hibernia all the way - t'is a lovely place.

Get those Siabras! Hur!*cackles*

 

[old.chesnor]

Problem with any NS template for the BGs is you *will* be outgunned by SBs and infils if you spec for PA. SBs PA with 2h, infils get 2.5 points/lvl. The 2h PA hurts like hell, and most infils will out-stealth you (+5 stealth is easy to get in Alb) so they will PA you first.

Thidranki is swarming with assassins, so your chances of PAing that caster are pretty slim without having to confront loads of enemy assassins first. With poor stealth you will die. The only NS spec I would try (1/ because it's different, and 2/ because it just might work) is something like 21stealth, 21blades (blades rule at killing assassins) and 17envenom. With +stealth items you should have stealth as high as most other infils and definately most SBs. Hunt SBs and infils, and if you are clever you should outmelee them assuming you dont let them get off too many nasty CS strikes.

I know this, because I specced a slash CS-less infil, and I chewed up most NS, the only ones I couldn't kill had higher stealth than me (I had 17+5) and PAed. I even managed to outmelee one or two of them though.

And sickofit, I know how much you despise cookie cutter classes matey, go on try it !

 

[Uncle Sick(tm)]

*considers Chesnor's input*
Hmmm... how about this one?
21 stealth + 4 items
17 pierce + 5 items
15 envenom + 2 items so far
15 cs (for the initial damage output)

I want to go for piercing actually - as a Lurikeen NS my strength is ridiculously low. Don't I actually do more damage (even with penalties) with high dex/pierce spec?

Still open for more input

 

[Uncle Sick(tm)]

*don't post when still half asleep.... quoting yourself when all you want to do is editing, is unhealthy and looks retarded...*

*sniffles*

 

[old.chesnor]

At lvl24 slash will always do more dmg than piercers regardless of char race/stats. It is not until the higher lvls, when an assassins dex will be much higher than str (dex every lvl, str every 3 levels). I created my infil, put everything into str, and kept slash at my level while I exped. Also slash gets the bonus on leather (and is neutral to cloth, so you can still slap caster silly). Sure thrust gets a bonus on chain, but any NS going for chain wearing Middys or Mercs/Clerics is asking to have thier ass handed them on a plate. Also, not sure about Hib, but there are not many slow thrust weapons in Alb. And if you use CS, you really get the high dmg with the slowest weaps...an NS in Thidranki PAed me with a staff luckily she missed or I was meat)

You will miss the piercing styles (chains off evades, bleeds, target slowed etc..) but high envenom makes up for that in my opinion. Another point, with DF, its easy to load up on +str items if that is what your char is missinfg. In fact (again not sure about Hib) but +str is always one of the easiest stat increases to find.

Of course, the coolest thing about my infil spec was that when I walked of the pad in Thidranki, I wasn't specced identically to the plethora of cookie cutter thrust infils swarming out of the tk.I wasn't obsessed with the size of my PA ("omg! I hit him for 330dmg....ress needed at mtk btw"). I call this phenomenon PAnis-envy.

 

[Dorin]

Originally posted by old.chesnor
At lvl24 slash will always do more dmg than piercers regardless of char race/stats. It is not until the higher lvls, when an assassins dex will be much higher than str (dex every lvl, str every 3 levels). I created my infil, put everything into str, and kept slash at my level while I exped. Also slash gets the bonus on leather (and is neutral to cloth, so you can still slap caster silly).

Thats what the man said , the man said that ! Fear the bladeshades!

 

[Uncle Sick(tm)]

Hmmm...

How about, what I would lovingly call 'Black Adder' template, this?

21 stealth +4
21 envenom +4 (shouldn't I be able to use Minor Lethal poison then?)
18 pierce or blades

Minor Lethal should have the impact of a steamroller and if I come up from behind, I can use a Wasp sting (bleed) and Hornet's sting (slows target) chain-off + poison damage.

I actually like this one...
*enjoys the brainstorming and non-cookie cutterism*

 

[old.chesnor]

Black Adder template hehe

Just looked at Hib slash and it has some nice styles for NS. Glowing blade (from beside) is short snare, chains to Auroric blade is an att spd debuff. There is also an anytime style Fire Blade at 18 which should be nice.

With the snare and att spd debuff from slash, and the general higher dmg slash brings (and bonus on leather) you don't have to worry too much about the poisons on offhand not firing. With low CS your offhand won't hit reliably, so the effects from that slash chain could buy you some time until that offhand weapon hits.

Also I never bothered too much about getting bleed styles off. I preferred to use the most dmging styles and rely on DoT (30ish a tick) rather than creeping up behind just to get a 4 a tick bleed in..

I also always kept a few other blades posioned with DoT, and swapped these in and out in case of resists or long fights (gotta love those evade wars )

 

[calik]

My template is workin wonders in BG almost black adder'ish..

Pierce 9 (gotta get some +items)
CS 21 +2
Env 20+2 (so far, hopin for the last +3 too)
stealth 18+5 (autotrained to L24)

And i have taken out middie tanks without bigger probs... usin BS2 snare...and with a 38/tick dot and str&con debuff they suck

altho my melee is kinda skanky its workin for me

/Zazz

 

[[Cerebus]]

Don't listen to them. Nightshades rock the BG's.

In my opinion, a good stealther depends on two things. Your own intelligence (the players, not the stat) and patience. It ain't got anything to do with stats. I didn't even have PA when I was there and I kicked ass.

If you play clever and don't do the expected things of stealthers, you'll be fine.

Silver wolf thingies near bottom of last dungeon drop a jewel for us. Level 50 thingy that's good for RvR.

 

[celestina]

I have a NS in BG spec

Stealth 19+5
Pierce 18+5
Cs 21
Env 2+3

Env is really low i know but i only need it for the snare i didnt really like posion cause sometimes posion gets resisted and than i would be crap since i would have to give up either cs or pierce to bring env up. Not saying that posion sux it rocks but its just my play style : ) PA ,snare ,run ,stealth,repeat Hard work but the pay off is worth it : ) Most caster would drop in 1 or just one more hit. And if i bump into another stealther no including SBs ( they should be nerfed ) i still can melee them down.. other times i take a dirt nap but hey dont we all : )

 

[Roalith]

Can't really comment on NSs, but high envenom is a helluva lot of fun with an infil. PA + 38dmg/tick poison (23+2 env) often means you can 'fire and forget' at all the other stealther classes, as well as casters (obviously). This is, of course, provided they're solo and don't have a healer with cure poison nearby.

 

[old.willowywicca]

Well my NS at 21 (couldn't be bothered lvling anymore, found thidranki a bit of a bore, prefer "real" rvr) had the following spec:

Stealth 16 + 5
CS 21
Envenom 15 + 2

think that's what I had anyways.. was able to kill a few orange (and presumably lvl 24) SBs with that spec, didn't fight many infils tho (as mids were usually the ones camping hpk) also killed a few mid tanks that were bashing doors at the ck one time.. I had full 99% qua armour and weapons tho, so sorta twinked I suppose. Personnally I found the CS styles did way more damage than any weapon styles so felt there was no point getting any weapon spec whatsoever (damage variance? wots that ) and found it worked quite well overall.

But as I said, I didn't spend long in there, as it was pretty dull mostly

 

[sebula_strings]

My spec at 24 was

- 16+5 stealth
- 15+5 envenom
- 21 criticalstrike
- 18+4 blades

I could handle every stealther i met, the only problem was they had or a fg around them or a scout/hunter who was triggerhappy. Ok, i have alot of + with the items i wear but we Ns don't have a 2.5 spec or Laxe/axe that always hits and has a nice combo..

I capped out of Thid so if you need any items for your BG Ns give me a message..

Goodluck to you

Cheers

 

[VodkaFairy]

Originally posted by old.chesnor
At lvl24 slash will always do more dmg than piercers regardless of char race/stats. It is not until the higher lvls, when an assassins dex will be much higher than str (dex every lvl, str every 3 levels). I created my infil, put everything into str, and kept slash at my level while I exped. Also slash gets the bonus on leather (and is neutral to cloth, so you can still slap caster silly). Sure thrust gets a bonus on chain, but any NS going for chain wearing Middys or Mercs/Clerics is asking to have thier ass handed them on a plate. Also, not sure about Hib, but there are not many slow thrust weapons in Alb. And if you use CS, you really get the high dmg with the slowest weaps...an NS in Thidranki PAed me with a staff luckily she missed or I was meat)

You will miss the piercing styles (chains off evades, bleeds, target slowed etc..) but high envenom makes up for that in my opinion. Another point, with DF, its easy to load up on +str items if that is what your char is missinfg. In fact (again not sure about Hib) but +str is always one of the easiest stat increases to find.

Of course, the coolest thing about my infil spec was that when I walked of the pad in Thidranki, I wasn't specced identically to the plethora of cookie cutter thrust infils swarming out of the tk.I wasn't obsessed with the size of my PA ("omg! I hit him for 330dmg....ress needed at mtk btw"). I call this phenomenon PAnis-envy.

My NS had a sort of gimped spec for bg and I could solo skalds easily. Had 21 stealth, 23 critical strike, 12 envenom, 9 pierce I think.

 

[Talwin-Hawkins]

i think specing a NS,SB and infli come down to how you want to play it, but heres 2good specs for a NS


Stealth=19
CS=21
Wpn=18
Env=10

this gives you a good damage and a good crit hit and with items you can be maxed out on stealth/CS/Wpn.

Stealth=19
CS=15
Wpn=16
CD=16
Env=10

although you dont get PA, you still get BS2 and Thigh cut to use from behind target and the CD will help with extra damage

 

[x-zek]

16 stealth
1xish pierce
21 critical strike
1xish envenom