Forum Link Code:[url=]A-Me Black Shroud[/url]
The Black Shroud takes advantage of the limited synergy
between Illusion of Weakness and Golden
Phoenix Strike to fire off two partial attack chains, thus
loading up its target with degeneration and conditions, while
preventing the target's use of skills (and/or, in major variants, Spells and enchantments) for up to
13 seconds.
Attributes and Skills
Equipment
- Shrouded
Armor since first attack chain is EN intensive.
- Weapon 1: Cruel Daggers of Fortitude or Defense to leverage the
Deep Wound.
- Weapon 2: Zealous or Vampiric Daggers of Fortitude or Defense,
for optional use while the Shrouder and the target is under Blackout.
Usage
- Choose target. Ideal targets are support characters whose
skills and spells keep the group safe, rather than offensive
characters, in general.
- Approach target and start attack chain. Apply Blackout, then
decide whether to evacuate or continue attack.
- See Variants and Notes for suggestions for replacements for Aura
of Displacement and Illusion of Weakness.
Counters
- Melee hate counters work well vs. this build, though you can
still apply Blackout and the Shroud of their choice even if Blinded or under other
significant melee counter hex.
- There are no significant self-heal skills in the bar, though
there are options for minor heals such as Illusion
of Weakness or Shadow Refuge.
- If not interrupted, skills such as Vengeful
Was Khanhei or Healing Hands can prevent the Black Shrouder
from leveraging the advantages versus the target gained by applying
Blackout or Shroud of Silence. Evasion or blocking skills such as
Guardian or Sliver Armor have a
similar effect.
- All of the skills in the standard Black Shrouder's bar require
melee range, and there is no movement reduction skill, so the
Shrouder will frequently be giving chase.
- If Illusion of Weakness is removed or is
triggered, then unless the user has brought Aura of
Displacement as well, this Assassin cannot begin an attack
chain until it is replaced, so stripping is annoying.
- If the target is adjacent to allies, then Horns of the Ox
will not provide knockdown. This is a problem, but if the target is
a support character, the Black Shrouder can still disrupt support
by using Blackout and the Shroud of their choice. Frequently,
people pressured by assassins run away from allies a little bit in
order to have running room, and that is enough for Ox to work.
- If there is an enchantment stripper, then the Black Shrouder
can be sent away from combat before getting the chance to put the
nail in someone's coffin. This is not necessarily as much of a
problem for the Shrouder, though, because in the major Variant, two
enchantments must be stripped or activated before the Shrouder is
unable to begin a combo.
Variants
- Shadow
Refuge should be used in split or gank situations in a GvG,
allowing for faster recovery. It is recommended to decrease Critical
Strikes to free up more points.
- Recommendations for Elite slot: Aura of
Displacement, Shadow Shroud, or Shroud of
Silence. If carrying either Shroud, then it's best to decrease
Critical Strikes to 7 or 8 to maximize duration of Shrouds when
applied. If you choose to use a Shroud, you must either
bring Illusion of Weakness or swap out Golden Phoenix Strike,
because otherwise you will not have an enchantment, and you will be
unable to start your combo.
- Wastrel's Worry could replace Illusion
of Weakness for more damage.
- Another tested variant uses no elite, and carries Wastrel's and
Illusion of Weakness. This variant was not as successful as the
above variants, however.
- A Beguiling Haze variant was tried, and found to
in general be less effective because it required better timing. It
synergized well with Blackout when it succesfully landed.
- A Power
Block variant was tried and found to be too energy intensive as
well as difficult to use.
- A Dagger Mastery variant built around Temple Strike had
more limited success due to the longer recharge; it takes longer
time for the build to recover from misses, evasions, and
blocks.
- Another variant used Mark of Instability for KD, using Dual
Attack Twisting Fangs (and leaving out Horns of the
Ox), but this variant provided lower spike damage even if it
did more reliably apply conditions.
- A suggested variant swaps Twisting Fangs for Blades of Steel
(or another high-damage Dagger Mastery-based Dual Attack), since
this build does not have particularly high Critical
Strikes. This variant proved less efficient at making kills
because the combination of Bleeding and Deep Wound is hard to replace even with a large
raw damage spike.
Notes
- The name Black Shroud refers to original core concept of
this build, which was to deal out degeneration and conditions and
then follow up with Blackout and Shadow Shroud or
Shroud of Silence, while continuing to attack the target
with high melee damage. The name was retained even though the
build's major variant now includes Aura of
Displacement, because it's a cool name for an Assassin
build.
- The Black Shroud build is intended to shut down and kill
squishies of various types, though it was originally intended to
make the lives of Monks more
difficult. It is capable of very quick kills versus most opponents
if not properly countered, however.
- The build contains two flex slots, including the elite, because
several major variants were tried during testing, with reasonable
success. Users can choose to augment offensive or defensive
capabilities of the Black Shrouder, by choosing either to carry a
Shroud elite or Aura, and by choosing Wastrel's or Illusion of
Weakness. Other options are discussed briefly in the Variants
section.
- Note that carrying Illusion of Weakness does three things for
the Shrouder. First, it provides insurance that the Shrouder will
be able to initiate an attack combo, and it does so without
claiming a pip of EN regen. Second, it provides a small emergency
heal. Third, it enables the Shrouder to use both Shadow Step points
of Aura offensively, since the Shrouder will be enchanted at both
ends.
Assassin / Mesmer 
