Assassin Template help!

[Wrathchild]

Hello everyone! Been awhile since i've been on here, and i've just started playing UO again recently after a short break, of a few months. and I am not used to the temporary forum, so forgive me if this is in the wrong place. (also if a mod moves it please pm me a link or i wont be able to find it )

I have a question regarding templates for two of my assassin style characters.

The first is a ninja-poison style assassin, here are his current skills, some I have set and are part of my template, as you get near the bottom of the list there are more random ones that i'm not sure of, any help would be great.

Hiding - 90.1
Ninja - 86.2
Stealth - 85.1
Tactics - 73.6
Fencing - 73.3
Poisoning - 52.4 (training)
Healing - 50.5
Chivalry - 35.3 (for sacred journey)
Med - 31.8
Anat - 13.9

So once you get down around healing it falls apart and I'm not sure what to do.

The next is a stealth archer character. I had some skills lying around on Soulstones and this is what it became:

Hiding - 86.0
Ninja - 85 (not sure how useful this is for an archer)
Stealth - 85
Archery - 74
Tactics - 71.5
Anat - 53.0
Healing - 50.7
Med - 16.4

So I need some advice on what to make of these guys. Both are intended pretty much for PvP later on down the road. I have PLENTY of soulstone fragments and tokens for more, and 2 regular soulstones as well as the potential to buy another char slot, so i can move skills around and if one or more of these skills needs to be let go completely i can still save it and possibly use it in another char. Thanks for the help!

 

[Solikos]

First of all, I have no 'assassin' characters as of yet, but I read the forums regularly. To my knowledge, a Ninja does not make very good PvM Template. So I am going to assume these are PvP builds.

Hiding - 90.1
Ninja - 86.2
Stealth - 85.1
Tactics - 73.6
Fencing - 73.3
Poisoning - 52.4 (training)
Healing - 50.5
Chivalry - 35.3 (for sacred journey)
Med - 31.8
Anat - 13.9

You are trying to fit too many skills into this build and will be terribly short on points. I'd personally drop Healing and Anatomy and raise Chivalry to take care of your healing/curing requirements. Pardon my ignorance, but what is meditation for? I suppose you need it for poisoning? If not, I'd drop that as well.

120 Ninja
100 Hide
80 Stealth
120 Fencing
100 Tactics
100 Poisoning
80 Chivalry
700 Total

Two problems with this template: Using poisoning reduces Karma, correct? Chivalry spells require high Karma to be more potent (Chivalry skill itself only determines the success rate of actually casting the spell). So you will be healing for much less damage, and will need to do a lot of PvM to keep your Karma high. Additionally, poisoning is not necessary for ninjas because they have a Deadly Poison ranged attack (requires one free hand). Basically, I'd drop poisoning. Fencing or other melee weapons are potentially dangerous, but may be tougher to come by. Conclusion: this first template is pretty weak.

I'm going to throw another potential template in here in case you have your heart set on melee:

120 Ninja
100 Hide
85 Stealth
120 Maces
90 Tactics
120 Resist
65 Chivalry
700 Total

Use Death Strike (Hide + Stealth skill influence damage), then start concussion blows (mace weapon special ability). I don't know much about this template, so won't suggest more, but apparently it works pretty well.

Hiding - 86.0
Ninja - 85 (not sure how useful this is for an archer)
Stealth - 85
Archery - 74
Tactics - 71.5
Anat - 53.0
Healing - 50.7
Med - 16.4

This template would look much the same as the previous build... However there are very key differences: Archery replaces Fencing and Spell Resist replaces Poisoning:

120 Ninja
100 Hide
80 Stealth
120 Archery
95 Tactics
120 Spell Resist
65 Chivalry
700 Total

Note that in neither of the two templates do you require healing/anatomy as you can and should be healing outside of combat (you should be jumping in and out of combat with smoke bombs and ninja skills), remember you are not a toe-to-toe fighter. You can heal with Chivalry or Animal Forms (Ninjitsu). At 80 Stealth you will never fail stealth with a medable suit (leather but not studded leather). However there are pants in game (Shadow Dancer Leggings) that provide +20 stealth, which make up for the rest. Just make sure to Insure them if you wear them in Fel. Regardless, 100 Hiding is very recommended (necessary?) for a Ninja character.

In my opinion, the second template is much better than the first one. Why? Poisoning is apparently somewhat useless in PvP combat as long as your opponent has cure potions and knows how to use macros. Plus, as a Ninja you get poisoned throwing weapons. These throwing weapons require a free hand, but as long as you use a Composite bow it considers that you have a free hand (which means you can also drink potions!). Your Chivalry spells will also be more potent as you will not be constantly losing Karma from poisoning your weapons (someone confirm?). Archery can also dismount other players, which allows you to chase them down with greater ease (if they choose to run, that is). The downside to archery is that it only deals half damage on Death Strike. Spell Resist comes in handy for fighting mages; poison and paralyze can hurt.

Anyway, that's my opinion. As I said previously, I do not actually have a ninja character yet, but I plan on using the second template when I get ready for some PvP.

Hope this helps.

~ Solikos

 

[Wrathchild]

I don't plan on trying to use all those skills in the first template. what i needed was which to drop and what to train. Thanks for the help!

 

[Solikos]

Additionally, here are the two threads that were most beneficial to me about Ninjas:

Ninja Assassin Template

Ninja Archer Template

There are several posts by experienced players who know exactly what they are talking about. Make sure to carefully read over some of the longer posts as they have some great information.

Edit: After reading those threads over again, I changed my original post for the Archery Template... Tactics 100-5 = 95 ... Chivalry 80-15 = 65 ... Resist +20 = 120. Also note that if you have 720 skill points available you can drop those extra points into Tactics (Higher Average Damage) or Stealth (Better Death Strike).

~ Solikos