WW Ghost Assassin Guide V2.0

[Moritz]

I just wanna comment on the usefulness of DF.

DF is indeed in all cases worse than a fast namelock. And with some practise, Psyhammer + namelock catches even the fastest and most defensive casters.
BUT there is one exception, where I personally find DF very handy.
This is on duels against other assassins of any kind, but mainly other WWsins such as Ghosts or hybrid variants.
In those duels it's really important to get in and hit, deliver venom, some phys dmg and OW, and get away again without getting hit - before your opponent starts whirling as well.
The best way (IMO) to do this is with a quick DF and a short whirl (or even a quick triwhirl) - the key is NOT getting git by mindblast when you tele in.
If you try to lock your opponent with MB first, and then use tele/ww, he will most likely be able to MB lock you as well while you blast him; this is bad because you often won't be able to get away by teleporting anymore and have to whirl away or tank, while tanking often isn't that good (esp. vs hybrids - assuming your opponent got about the same stas as you) because there might be some adverse traps lying around (which means a disadvantage for you while tanking) and whirl away will almost necessarily get you some trap htis too (namelock + trap/mb spam).

So I find that after some back and forth and rather defensive trapping, a sudden offensive attack with DF can be very helpful as you can often get you again WITHOUT getting mindblasted.
This is very important, especially vs hybrids.


In other duels I find DF rather stupid, for it has a really long animation, is bugged etc.
That's why I got DF on my fury as I always use fury in sin vs sin anyway, so I don't have to skill any point into DF and can still use it when I need it.

 

[Uncle_Mike]

IMO awesome guide.

IMO Happy is right :smiley:

 

[Nazdakka]

shouldn't you be able to afford an enigma if you have a few poison facets? and on that note, if you cant afford an enigma, then you won't be able to afford the circlet or the rings, or claws, am i correct?

you leave me in quite a tough spot, since the premise of the entire build is to teleport and act partly like a trapper.

but to answer your questions, having the 9 frame bp would be less important when you aren't teleporting. when you're landlocked you'll be playing defensive, so you will have more time to set up your traps. i wouldn't go anything over 10/11 frame traps though.

as for the armor, i would recommend bramble or fort for a replacement for your armor, but seeing as you can't afford enigma, i'd probably go along with your nat's suggestion.

malice i guess is fine if you can't use a fury. make sure you use a fast claw though, since malice has 0 IAS; you need faster than -14 WSM to hit 4 frame traps.

I'm from the SP forum, and I'd PvP in TCP games. No duped runes means that high rune prices are extremely high, while the rest is in roughly the same order as you are used to. I have the resources to get most of what I need, including Ohms for CtA and Chaos, Poison Facets and hopefully a functional FCR/Skills Circlet (either magic 3 Shadow/20 FCR/2os or, if I'm really lucky, a rare 2/20/some os/goodstuff). Just not Enigma or Fury

Trapping: Ok, so I'm hurting my offensive ability by losing Trap laying speed, but that aspect is weaker anyway thanks to losing Enigma. My rough offensive plan would be rapid-fire MB -> swirlies -> traps -> DFlight approach -> WW until death, and so losing frames while trapping means the whole thing cannot be executed as effectively, especially as DF is so slow. With Chaos main and Malice offhand 9 frame traps seems very achievable, as I'd make both in -30 claws, while with Fool's main and Chaos offhand it's much harder, as I'd need a really fast Fool's Claw (which Denton would scoop up ). I guess that's OK, seeing as the MB/trap lock appears to be best against the low-def characters which I'd be using Malice against.

 

[nex]

Very nice guide :thumbsup:

 

[TienJe]

I just wanna comment on the usefulness of DF.

DF is indeed in all cases worse than a fast namelock. And with some practise, Psyhammer + namelock catches even the fastest and most defensive casters.
BUT there is one exception, where I personally find DF very handy.
This is on duels against other assassins of any kind, but mainly other WWsins such as Ghosts or hybrid variants.
In those duels it's really important to get in and hit, deliver venom, some phys dmg and OW, and get away again without getting hit - before your opponent starts whirling as well.
The best way (IMO) to do this is with a quick DF and a short whirl (or even a quick triwhirl) - the key is NOT getting git by mindblast when you tele in.
If you try to lock your opponent with MB first, and then use tele/ww, he will most likely be able to MB lock you as well while you blast him; this is bad because you often won't be able to get away by teleporting anymore and have to whirl away or tank, while tanking often isn't that good (esp. vs hybrids - assuming your opponent got about the same stas as you) because there might be some adverse traps lying around (which means a disadvantage for you while tanking) and whirl away will almost necessarily get you some trap htis too (namelock + trap/mb spam).

So I find that after some back and forth and rather defensive trapping, a sudden offensive attack with DF can be very helpful as you can often get you again WITHOUT getting mindblasted.
This is very important, especially vs hybrids.


In other duels I find DF rather stupid, for it has a really long animation, is bugged etc.
That's why I got DF on my fury as I always use fury in sin vs sin anyway, so I don't have to skill any point into DF and can still use it when I need it.

the thing is that if you are proficient at namelocking, a quick tele whirl will be better than using df -> whirl; there doesn't have to be mb nl spam before you teleport on them. df has a very long animation, and so even after you "teleport", you will have your leg up in the air for a little while. if you don't hit/stun them with that kick, you'll be left open momentarily. i'd much rather just nl tele and do a short whirl if you're looking for quick damage.

personally i'm always watching for that long dragon flight animation. if i ever see it, my first reaction is to start whirling up, and usually df is slow enough to let me start the whirl before they hit me.

i've given dragon flight a try in a lot of different situations looking for those situations where df is useful, but i've been unable to find them. maybe its my style, but i've don't have dragon flight hotkeyed anymore (my fury has +3 df), but point taken. thanks for reading.

I'm from the SP forum, and I'd PvP in TCP games. No duped runes means that high rune prices are extremely high, while the rest is in roughly the same order as you are used to. I have the resources to get most of what I need, including Ohms for CtA and Chaos, Poison Facets and hopefully a functional FCR/Skills Circlet (either magic 3 Shadow/20 FCR/2os or, if I'm really lucky, a rare 2/20/some os/goodstuff). Just not Enigma or Fury

Trapping: Ok, so I'm hurting my offensive ability by losing Trap laying speed, but that aspect is weaker anyway thanks to losing Enigma. My rough offensive plan would be rapid-fire MB -> swirlies -> traps -> DFlight approach -> WW until death, and so losing frames while trapping means the whole thing cannot be executed as effectively, especially as DF is so slow. With Chaos main and Malice offhand 9 frame traps seems very achievable, as I'd make both in -30 claws, while with Fool's main and Chaos offhand it's much harder, as I'd need a really fast Fool's Claw (which Denton would scoop up ). I guess that's OK, seeing as the MB/trap lock appears to be best against the low-def characters which I'd be using Malice against.

if you use a malice with 0 WSM and a chaos in a -30 WSM, you'll be able to bug to -45 WSM and make the IAS requirements for trap laying much less (somewhere around 32% iirc). you should actually hit it without any extra ias anywhere in your gear if you bug with those two claws.

p.s. you should be able to shop fools claws from hell anya. will you have access to 2 um runes to socket it with? thats a much better option than a malice imo.

 

[Moritz]

hum I see your point but with 5-10 traps firing in a screen, shadows running around and mindblast animations and whatever, it may be difficult to perform a good namelock teleport without a lock before.
And if your teleport/ww misses, youre in trouble against trappers or ww/trap hybrids, or at least get a good amount of damage usually while dealing no damage to your opponent.

IMO it's hard to spot the DF animation before the actionframe when wofs, ls are firing and with all those lights and whatever [...].
Just wanted to tell everyone who's interested in ghostsins about my _personal_ opinion about DF, and basically I totally agree with you when you say that DF is a rather sucky skill if you're good at namelocking and know PH techniques etc., but there are some (very few) occasions where I actually find DF not THAT bad/useful.

Thanks for your answers x]

 

[TienJe]

hum I see your point but with 5-10 traps firing in a screen, shadows running around and mindblast animations and whatever, it may be difficult to perform a good namelock teleport without a lock before.
And if your teleport/ww misses, youre in trouble against trappers or ww/trap hybrids, or at least get a good amount of damage usually while dealing no damage to your opponent.

IMO it's hard to spot the DF animation before the actionframe when wofs, ls are firing and with all those lights and whatever [...].
Just wanted to tell everyone who's interested in ghostsins about my _personal_ opinion about DF, and basically I totally agree with you when you say that DF is a rather sucky skill if you're good at namelocking and know PH techniques etc., but there are some (very few) occasions where I actually find DF not THAT bad/useful.

Thanks for your answers x]

yea i know what you mean.

i actually see the 5 traps + shadow mb as my reason not to use df, since if you get hit by any of them, you just end up sitting there with your leg up in the air ><.

 

[CaptnSparrow]

By the way, don't think I said it before but nice thorough guide. I've been playing with a Ghost on D2PK and I'm trying the Valk set and Circlet set, seeing which I like more.

 

[TienJe]

By the way, don't think I said it before but nice thorough guide. I've been playing with a Ghost on D2PK and I'm trying the Valk set and Circlet set, seeing which I like more.

i think my ghost on d2pk got deleted from inactivity ><. i played over there with max during the school year.

but yea, its mainly a matter of preference and what circlet/rings you have access to. if you find circlet to be a better build though, it doesnt mean you can't just swap on a valk when you need the slot for the absorb rings :wink:.

 

[CaptnSparrow]

Yeah.


Currently the D2PK rolling system is messed up with their new patch, so rolling a 2/20 high res visionary helm is going to take awhile. ~~ The 30% Frw on Valk is pretty useful as well, and I'd like to get that on the circ too.


So yeah, overall I think a really awesome circlet could be better than Valk, but as far as the realms are concerned I'll probably go Valk. Finding a 2/20/Vis/30frw/Res circlet on realms would be like...

 

[HappyAssassin]

Finding a perm valk on the realms is not easy either. Remember, on d2pk its just a unique, on the realms perm valks are not especially common.

In terms of Dflight in sin v sin, I gotta agree with dave. There's two reasons for this. One, like he said, tele-ww is faster and less risky. You don't need mb spam for a tele-ww. The other mostly applies to ghost vs. hybrid or hybrid vs. hybrid. One of the most important tricks for going offensive vs. a hybrid is shadow use. If you have an immune or tanky shadow (which you are likely to get), you can "place" her with a teleport when you tele in to WW. Instead of just picking up a namelock and teleporting on top with WW (don't mb or they'll see it coming), you teleport near them (not on them, you usually have to aim via the map because they'll be off screen) and WW. The reason for this is that hybrids dueling defensively tend to place their traps slightly in front of themselves, facing towards the opponent. When you land on the traps and WW out of them, your minion stacked shadow will be left behind directly in the traps and you will move out of them at a different angle. Since LS shoots in a straight line, the traps will often miss you completely, meaning you'll either get a clean hit or trade whirlwinds with them. If you're a Ghost vs. Hybrid, trading WWs is how you win the duel, yours are just stronger.

This trick works less well against hybrids who make a trap field than those who keep their traps close together. Also, once you've done the trick a few times they may get smart and start trapping behind themselves, which will really hurt you if you try this. Just keep that in mind

 

[TienJe]

i'm glad you mentioned something about the direction of the whirls. when you're dueling full-fledged trappers, you can jump right into traps and whirl without taking any damage. once you get in, just make sure you ww perpendicularly to the way the LS traps are firing, and you'll very rarely get hit, if you even get hit at all.

developing good control of your whirl is very useful.

 

[MysticDragon]

No use of Psychic Hammer?

 

[TienJe]

i've always been decent with nl, so my first cast with mb always nl's or is close enough to at least stun with the radius of the MB.

i don't really like using skills like DF and psychic hammer as crutches. they definitely work, but i think its better if you practice without them, since you can definitely outgrow them.

 

[Ce Olba]

Let me ask a question about the videos. Well, I ended up watching the barbarian video just because I'm a barbarian player myself. It took me about five seconds after the start of the video to realize that the barbarian you were dueling was, well, not so good. Long, random whirls, no namelocks and huge leaps.

So, why even bother posting a video if the opponent is below-average? It shows nothing, except that you can beat below-average BvCs. Hooray? Also, I believe that it would mean a lot more if you posted a video with a top-notch BvC in it. Even though such BvCs are a rare few.

 

[TienJe]

Let me ask a question about the videos. Well, I ended up watching the barbarian video just because I'm a barbarian player myself. It took me about five seconds after the start of the video to realize that the barbarian you were dueling was, well, not so good. Long, random whirls, no namelocks and huge leaps.

So, why even bother posting a video if the opponent is below-average? It shows nothing, except that you can beat below-average BvCs. Hooray? Also, I believe that it would mean a lot more if you posted a video with a top-notch BvC in it. Even though such BvCs are a rare few.

the person on the bvc was actually a necro player. i stated early in the guide that the videos are purely didactic. i felt that even though the barb player was bad, it got the points across, so i included it.

its not there to prove i can win.

 

[CaptnSparrow]

I don't think that Hdin was aware of what desynch is either.

On a side note:

di·dac·tic
–adjective
1. intended for instruction; instructive: didactic poetry.
2. inclined to teach or lecture others too much: a boring, didactic speaker.
3. teaching or intending to teach a moral lesson.
4. didactics, (used with a singular verb) the art or science of teaching.



I had to look it up. iOi

 

[TienJe]

I don't think that Hdin was aware of what desynch is either.

On a side note:

di·dac·tic
–adjective
1. intended for instruction; instructive: didactic poetry.
2. inclined to teach or lecture others too much: a boring, didactic speaker.
3. teaching or intending to teach a moral lesson.
4. didactics, (used with a singular verb) the art or science of teaching.



I had to look it up. iOi

:tongue:

actually its sort of weird because usually, that hammerdin desyncs like mad. he's probably one of the worst desyncers (best at desyncing) that i know. i just try to spam mb a little bit before teleing to try to get the paladin to resync.

 

[CaptnSparrow]

Really? That's odd stuff. In the vid it looked like he didn't try and make some distance, and he paused extremely often in his short charges to hammer.


Or maybe you just made it look easy. x.o

 

[TienJe]

Really? That's odd stuff. In the vid it looked like he didn't try and make some distance, and he paused extremely often in his short charges to hammer.


Or maybe you just made it look easy. x.o

not sure. i actually think that desyncing large distances isn't really all that useful vs a ghost, since i'll just nl the image of you behind you and tele on top anyway. having more concentrated hammer fields seems like a better strategy.