This is an assassin build designed to interrupt and kill the ghostly hero in HA battles. It is also effective at killing other squishy targets, expecially those that enchant themselves. This build works well in Balanced builds and with Air of Enchantment smiters. The two optional slots can be filled with any of the variable skills that are listed, or any other skills you may wish to bring.

Attributes and Skills

Assassin / Monk	Attribute Rank
Dagger Mastery	12 + 1 + 2
Critical Strikes	12 + 1
Deadly Arts	3 + 1

Unsuspecting Strike

Wild Strike

Shattering Assault

Mending Touch

Critical Eye

Disrupting Dagger

Deadly Haste

Resurrection Signet

Variants

• The optional slots are easily filled:
  • Holy Veil and Mending Touch can be used as condition and hex removal for the optional slots.
  • Either of these can be swapped out for Twisting Fangs for more damage.
  • Assassin's Remedy can be used as a riskier but simpler method of condition removal but will be hard to remove Blind with this method.
  • Energy could be a problem even with Zealous daggers, so Critical Eye could be used for more energy.
  • Crippling Dagger can be used as a snare for running targets and will combine well with Deadly Haste. This might require a stronger input into Deadly Arts however.
  • Siphon Speed could also achieve a snare and work well with Deadly Haste, but require an investment into Deadly Arts again.
  • Impale could supply a large amount of damage with a larger investment into Deadly Arts, but Twisting Fangs would usually be a better option.
  • Mending Touch could be replaced with Contemplation of Purity, to combine with Holy Veil to remove one condition and two hexes from yourself. This is a longer method and is less safe though.
  • Exhausting Assault can be used to interrupt actions again, causing exhaustion to spell casting targets.
  • Critical Defenses can be used for more defense.
• Unsuspecting Strike can be replaced.
  • Jagged Strike can be used as a cheaper Lead Attack if energy becomes a problem for you.
  • Disrupting Stab can be a good choice for a lead attack as it is low energy cost as well as an interrupt, in case you fail to achieve interruption from Disrupting Dagger.
  • Desperate Strike can be used as a fast recharging damage lead attack with an 80% health requirement for its conditional damage. At 15 Dagger Mastery it deals +60 damage while under 80% health.
• With an elementalist secondary and points into Earth Magic you can supply yourself with extra armor that would be useful at altars where movement is not a problem. Armor of Earth and Kinetic Armor are good choices for this, and so is the Nightfall skill Stoneflesh Aura. Two of these with 7-11 points in Earth Magic would be the best option. Points in deadly arts are spare, and are less important than the optional skills.
• If you are running with an AoE smiter then a good option is Earth Prayers from the Dervish line with skills like Mystic Regeneration for health regen, Mirage Cloak for extra defense, or Pious Concentration for anti-interruption.
• The immense extra damage from Shattering Assault makes using Flurry a good option for attack boost. Bonetti's Defense can be used for energy gain after collecting enough adrenaline from attacking. Distracting Blow can be used for another interrupt. Wild Blow can be used to guarantee a critical hit if necessary.

Equipment

• Any kind of armor will do, but Nightstalker's Armor would be good, because you are intended to be in the middle of battle at the altar preventing capture.
• Zealous Daggers with 15^50 bonus and of enchanting can increase Deadly Haste's length. Otherwise of defense would be better.
• Fill spare rune slots with +10 health or +2 energy if you want to, or other stacking runes to suit your needs.

Usage

The aim of this build is to be killing targets that are important like Monks and the Ghostly Hero. The use of Disrupting Dagger with Deadly Haste allows casting it every 5 or 6 seconds, which is enough to interrupt the Hero each time and serves as a good interrupt to other targets. The use of the fast recharging combination of Unsuspecting Strike -> Wild Strike -> Shattering Assault allows you to strip enchantments from the Ghostly Hero and kill it with the help of teammates.

Elementalists with attunements will take huge pain from this, and once their attunement is removed you can change target quickly and easily. Smiters using Air of Enchantment and Zealot's Fire will also see a reduction in damage with no Zealot's Fire. Any Monks using Divine Boon are also good targets.

Counters

With hex and condition removal this build will suffer most from direct damage and Diversion.