I hit 50 the other day and starting to enjoy some rvr. I'm seeing I have some questions as an inexperienced stealther. Would greatly appreciate the communities input. I am 50 thrust, 39 CS, 26 DW, 36 env, 37 stealth (+12 on all)

1. Perf Chain:

When I am engaging a melee class, should I avoid any styles after the initial perf, ie Crippling Stun (7 sec stun) because I would think this would trigger resist timer, and my my 9 sec Dragonfang stun would not trigger? Or does it?

If I'm engaging any other class that would not melee me, I should use the entire Perf Chain because the Crippling Stun 7-sec stun would be the best stun I could get?

2. Anytime:

Post PA opener, I have been using Dragonfang with Garrote as back up, if DF hits, I go to Pierce and usually get off 3x, then a final Garrote + Achillies will finish them off. If DF does not hit, Garrote lands, and then i follow up with Dragonfang with Achilles Heal as backup. If DF lands, then Pierce 3x, if Achilles lands, then I start over with DF and Garrote followup.

If my DF has landed and/or my stun is resisted or timers or purged, I go into Hamstring with Garrote as backup, and if Hamstring lands, then Leaper with Garrote back up. If I evade again, I typically start Hamstring line over again as opposed to Leaper follow up.

3. Poisons:

I put Dot on my mainhand and str/con debuff on offhand. I have DW up to 26+12 so I think I've hit the 50% offhand swing rate. I am not that good at weapon swapping yet, so this is something i need to improve on and am aware I could do better. I do have a few back up weaps, but they all have dots on them just in case of a resist. I have not been using snares because i throw a garrote in for that and is easier for me, at the moment, than juggling weapon swaps. I have yet to find the disease poison that important, but then again i have not had a fight last long enough or high enough RR to see IP or potion popping.

Can yall please advise on areas I could improve or am I covering the basics? My reaction time needs improving, but I want to make sure I have the basics down and understand it all conceptually.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers.

Poisons / Weapons:
Attempt your perf or first attack with your 2handed slot + offhand slot equipped. Make the poison on that 2handed slot be something that needs to land, imo, poison or str/con debuff. As soon as you are sure you've hit with your main hand weapon (in the 2h slot), switch to your normal one hand slot + offhand. Make sure that poison is the other important poison (dot or str/con). Put disease on your offhand. Disease is really important when players start using heal pots or when player start using the few classic heal proc item drops. It also debuffs a little strength and snares, so if you have to sometimes you can kite a little because of it. Personally I would hit first with Str/Con debuff. Except against a BD where you have to land disease first. BTW I don't think IP is affected by disease.

In general, continue practice swapping in new main hand weapons (that have a dot poison on them) during the middle of a fight. I believe each time you hit the poison is reapplied, which is faster than the then normal poison tick interval. The faster you finish the fight the better. I also suggest once you get better at doing that, that you start to carry a backup weapon with Str/Con debuff and eventually disease. This is extremely important for:
- fighting more than 1 enemy back to back.
- reapplying str/con debuff after a resist or a enemy purge.

Anytimes:
I go to Pierce and usually get off 3x - Did you mean Pincer?
So, you should either be doing the Hamstring Chain or just spam Hamstring and keep backing it up with the Hamstring follow up. However, due to https://www2.uthgard.net/tracker/issue/2516/@/Reactionary_styles_not_lasting_through_stuns this might not be possible. Given that bug, test with a friend and see how many hamstrings you can get off with your current weapon speed after DF compared to how many styles total you can get off during the stun. If you can get of 4 styles, and 2x Hamstring then you could do:
Hamstring
Hamstring
Leaper
Garrote

But if you're averaging only a single Hamstring after the DF then meh, maybe you are better off with Pincer. I suggest you upvote that issue!

Perf Chain:
Generally, if you can get Crippling Death off, go for it. Yes, at some high level, if you are facing an opponent that isn't dual wielding (so you are very sure you will get DF off) and you want to force your opponent to choose between an early purge of str/con debuff or a later purge of the DF stun you could purposely not land Creeping Death. But against most opponents if you land Perf and CD they are probably dead immediately unless they purge and IP.

Nezix wrote:Anytimes:
I go to Pierce and usually get off 3x - Did you mean Pincer?

No I did mean Pierce. The lvl 29 rear positional thrust style. That being said, I had no idea you could keep spamming evade style. I will play with this. If that works, it would def be better than what Im doing. Thanks Nez.