Poison charges & melee assasin build

I've always wanted to make a melee high damage + hit & run build for a long time but its hard to make one that can also compete with some of the best/efficient builds out there.

I like the new changes to DOT and the fact that melee splash now works with viper strike, but i wish there was a way you could do more with the poison charges other than apply vulnerability.

Back in the days of Titan Quest poison damage was pretty basic but highly effective, although the skills you were able to pick were awesome!
Examples:
Envenom Weapon:
1 Active Energy Cost per Second
25 Poison Damage Over 6 Second(s)

Mortal Wound:
+15 Energy Cost
+60% Bleeding Damage
+60% Poison Damage
3 Second(s) of Stun

Nightshade:
+15% Poison Damage
-10% Total Speed for 5 Second(s) (speed debuff on monsters)

Poison Gas Bomb:
45 Energy Cost
3.2 Meter Explosion Radius
98 Poison Damage Over 6 Second(s) (I so want this! Poison arrow doesn't fit my play style)

Toxin Distillation:
+12% Poison Damage with +10% Improved Duration

Obviously all these skills are able to be leveled up for better effectiveness, but you get my point.


I also really wish there were mechanics like the assassin class in D2 similar to its martial arts where it applies charges to the target, then you could expend the charges to apply massive burst damage when using a specific move.

Dare i also use a character in League of Legends as an example?
Twitch:
Passive: applies a stack of deadly poison that deals x damage per second over blah second

Skill:
Expunge:
Twitch expunges all nearby enemies afflicted by Deadly Venom, dealing physical damage equal to a base amount plus bonus damage for each stack of Deadly Venom on an enemy.


There is still soo much you can do to make chaos damage build more unique, have variety and make them viable with popular builds.
Please GGG, tell me you are going to do more with chaos T.T

If you want to maximize Viper Strike damage, go dual low life readbeaks. It basically triples the viper strike chaos dot. Considering it only scales with items (added chaos quality is negligible when using this setup) you don't need links really. This also frees you from needing damage nodes.

You can build from this build's base;
http://imgur.com/a/PG3ZX

Use a 3link of VS+Splash+Multistrike and after applying the charges use Double strike with the supercharged damage from auras/added "element" damage.

Later, if you are able to get one, use Empower with viper strike.

"

battled wrote:

If you want to maximize Viper Strike damage, go dual low life readbeaks. It basically triples the viper strike chaos dot. Considering it only scales with items (added chaos quality is negligible when using this setup) you don't need links really. This also frees you from needing damage nodes.

You can build from this build's base;
http://imgur.com/a/PG3ZX

Use a 3link of VS+Splash+Multistrike and after applying the charges use Double strike with the supercharged damage from auras/added "element" damage.

Later, if you are able to get one, use Empower with viper strike.

Thats a pretty cool build and thanks for that, but i also wanted to get the message out there that theres is still soo much GGG could do with chaos damage and right now the whole poison assasin build is so bland.

"

battled wrote:

If you want to maximize Viper Strike damage, go dual low life readbeaks. It basically triples the viper strike chaos dot.

Sorry, but you missed the boat, in 1.0.2 Viper Strike is no longer anything but a secondary support skill. I tested lvl-16 VS + Melee Splash both with Redbeak and with a normal sword, and there was little or no difference in the Chaos DoT degeneration rate. As far as anyone has been able to determine at this point, there are no supports that increase Viper Strike's DoT damage rate, aside from level-boosters like Empower or using Vulnerability to curse your targets.

"

RogueMage wrote:

"

battled wrote:

If you want to maximize Viper Strike damage, go dual low life readbeaks. It basically triples the viper strike chaos dot.

Sorry, but you missed the boat, in 1.0.2 Viper Strike is no longer anything but a secondary support skill. I tested lvl-16 VS + Melee Splash both with Redbeak and with a normal sword, and there was little or no difference in the Chaos DoT degeneration rate. As far as anyone has been able to determine at this point, there are no supports that increase Viper Strike's DoT damage rate, aside from level-boosters like Empower or using Vulnerability to curse your targets.

Just as i had suspected, bummer.

I would truly love a reply from GGG to know if they have any more plans for chaos based builds in the future :/

I guess no one really cares about chaos builds :/

Redbeak does work with Viper strike, RogueMage is misinformed.

"

dudiobugtron wrote:

Redbeak does work with Viper strike, RogueMage is misinformed.

Well actually he is more of lets spam every thread with rage than misinformed.

You could always try this;

2x Redbeak
The Blood Dance

Viper strike - Multistrike - Melee splash - Empower - Curse on Hit - Vulnerability
Flicker strike - Melee phys dmg - Added fire damage - LoH / WE


Should give you the assassin feeling ^^

"

Titan_Uranus wrote:

You could always try this;

2x Redbeak
The Blood Dance

Viper strike - Multistrike - Melee splash - Empower - Curse on Hit - Vulnerability
Flicker strike - Melee phys dmg - Added fire damage - LoH / WE


Should give you the assassin feeling ^^

Thanks man, it definately would compared to what other choices i have right now.

Also, bump for the 1.0.3 patch announcement:
Passive skills to support degeneration and chaos damage skills.