A-Me Echo Shadow Form Assassin

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This build has been archived and is not updated by the GuildWiki community.

This build is only maintained for historical reference and may contain incorrect or outdated information.

Reason: Introduction of Deadly Paradox and other Nightfall skills.

This build uses the skill Shadow Form to make you virtually invulnerable for about 45-50 seconds. You can only take damage from skills, all spells and attacks miss. The combo is meant to take advantage of the character being enchanted all of the time to do extra damage quickly and replenish energy. This specific build is meant for PvP. It does well in AB and RA on its own, but can be slightly altered for more team friendly builds in GvG and HA.

Attributes and Skills

Assassin / Mesmer	Attribute Rank
Shadow Arts	11 + 3
Deadly Arts	4 + 3
Critical Strikes	9 + 1 + 3
Dagger Mastery	10 + 3

Golden Phoenix Strike

Equipment

zealous daggers of enchanting, or mods like Energy +5; damage +15% while enchanted; 20% enchanting will work very well, Daggers of Xuekao are also ideal.
Armor that gives + energy ( with Daggers of Xuekao energy should be 33 ).
The new Energy Runes from nightfall can be added on for increased energy also(+2 for each rune), but other runes would have to be removed.
With a Superior Vigor Rune health should be around 230. However, this is ok because Shadow Form will negate almost all damage.

Usage

Before going into battle use Arcane Echo, then Shadow Form.
When the recharge on Shadow Form is just above the skill number on the number bar ( in this case 7 ), hit the echoed shadow form. This is around 1/3 through the skill's recharge time(60 sec), just before the 20-25 seconds you have before shadow form runs out.
Be sure to have 10 energy when you need to cast the second Shadow Form, not having the energy or not getting enough crits is usually what keeps this build from not working well.
When Shadow Form is about to end use Shadow Refuge followed by Dark Escape and RUN.
The attack combo Golden Phoenix Strike , Twisting Fangs , Golden Lotus Strike , Entangling Asp does quite a bit of damage with bleeding, deep wound, poison, and knockdown.
Golden Phoenix Strike plus Twisting Fangs will usually reduce the target to about half life if they have low armor(Me/El/Mo/etc).
Usually 2 rounds of the combo can be done, one after each casting of Shadow Form.
If set up properly this build should have about 33% crit, 25% dual strike, and 20% chance 20% armor penetration(from Daggers of Xuekao).
With the 20% enchanting with your daggers, Shadow Form will last longer, but arcane echo will NOT.

Counters

Touch Skills. Watch out for Touch Rangers!
Conditions
Signets, but almost nobody uses these for offense
AOE, all Area Of Effect Damage will still be dealt unless the spell targets you and fails

Variants

More Shadow Arts will extend Shadow Form, but this version works just fine with a +20% enchant Dagger.
You can remove the Deadly Arts superior rune to put your health over 300 and add an Energy Rune for +2 energy.
Horns of the Ox and Falling Spider can be an effective combo also.
Entangling Asp and Twisting Fangs can be replaced by Death Blossom and another skill(maybe Critical Eye) for an effective PvE build.
Deadly Paradox will help by cutting the recharge for Shadow Form in half.

Notes

This build can be used to farm some Am Fah bosses such as Xuekao.
It can also be an effective build in missions so the healer doesn't have to stress on you, although it is best for PvP.