Rt/A Spirit of the Assassin

The Spirit of the Assassin build is a heavy pressure build meant to combine the power of Spirit's Strength with the speed and spammability of dagger attacks. This build is primarily designed for the Random Arenas, but can be adapted for other areas of PvP.

Attributes and Skills

Equipment

Halcyon's Armor or armor with Radiant Insignia to have additional energy for the combos. Alternatively, a Blessed Insignia could be used for additional armor while enchanted, or a Ghost Forge Insignia could be used for additional armor with a weapon spell. The Ghost Forge Insignia has the advantage of relying on weapon spells which can not be removed.
Zealous daggers of Enchanting are preferred to help offset some of the costs of the skills.
The best Vigor Rune available to help offset the Superior Rune and increase overall survival.

Usage

Before engaging in combat, activate Spirit's Strength and follow up with Vital Weapon.
Proceed to attack your chosen target with your attack chain. As long as you are enchanted these attacks should rarely miss (they cannot be blocked or evaded).
In between chains continue pressure with normal attacks. The damage will still be notable, these attacks are susceptible to evasion and blocking skills though.
If you are ever blinded, activate Sight Beyond Sight to quickly cancel the blind effect and prevent future applications for 20 seconds. Alternatively, if you suspect blinding from your target apply the skill before engaging your target.
When a target dies, or when you need to heal activate Feigned Neutrality and proceed to move away from combat. At 7 seconds it should be enough for a notable heal and the +80 armor should minimize any incoming damage. Be careful not to use any other skills or attack while this skill is active.

Notes

The damage output is a respectable 38-48 base Damage per attack with damage reaching closer to 80-100 during the attack chain or crits.
This build offsets most traditional counters to pressure builds by removing, blocking, and blind from the mix.

Counters

As this build is a pressure build, Weakness will lower the overall damage, lessening the impact of the pressure. Though the effect of this would be minimal as it would only affect base weapon damage and lower attributes by 1.
Relying on an enchantment for the additional damage, the build is susceptible to enchantment removal. If such techniques are suspected it is advisable to use sight beyond sight as a cover enchantment. Alternately you could lay Feigned Neutrality on before coming within casting range so that will get stripped instead.
This build lacks speed boosts and snares making it extremely susceptible to kiting. The Major Variant listed can overcome this somewhat by adding a snare or speed boost to the optional slot.

Major Variants

This variation attempts to capture the strengths of the main build while removing several weaknesses. The overall +Damage from Spirits strength drops a bit in favor of a more variable combo. Additionally the optional slot can be used on the ever popular Falling Spider, OR a speed boost. This will allow for either a spike or an increase in pressure.
However by doing so you lose your unblockable attacks.

Minor Variants

Other weapon skills can also be effective, more notable ones are Resilient Weapon, and Weapon of Warding, although the higher cost, and lower duration means they are more susceptible to running out of energy.
In Alliance Battle and Competitive Mission battles, the Resurrection Signet can be removed and replaced with another skill. Dark Escape is suggested as it can be used before feigned neutrality to greatly increase the survivability of the build.
Replace Feigned Neutrality with Shadow Refuge if you prefer a more consistent heal as opposed to a panic button type skill.
You can also put the 7 points from shadow arts into deadly arts. Then you can use Impale as extra "unblockable" damage (and deep wound) or Siphon Speed to counter kiting. Both of these skills significantly improve your offensive power. However this makes you reliant on others to keep you alive.

See also

• Rt/W Spirit Warrior