Bloodstalker Guide 1.7+

[Synovia]

I wanted to add some emphasis to one particular aspect of this build and will begin by quoting the above guide:

Remember, a significant amount of this build’s DPS comes from Expose Weakness, you will be using Final Blow at less than 5 CP’s to re-apply it.

The above cannot be stressed enough for players running Bloodstalker that have the synergy crystal. I had been running this build for a very long time and even with 100% Ruthless Stalker and Impale uptime, I was only seeing numbers on, say, Murdantix that were marginally higher than other specs despite knowing this spec should destroy most other Rogue specs if played to its potential. After quite a bit of practice I found the issue and it was quite simple:

I was letting Expose Weakness stay off the mob for far too long

It's important to note that Expose Weakness applies its extra damage to every single source of damage while it's up. This means that if you have Impale, Serrated Blades and Puncture all rolling on the target, plus auto-attacks and specials, your 20 stacks of Expose Weakness can be completely used up in as little as 3 seconds. This REALLY became noticeable when I installed and configured Kreiri's Buff Bars (http://www.riftui.com/downloads/info...sBuffBars.html) to watch Expose Weakness. It literally seemed that, once I was into the Bloodstalker rotation, EW was falling off almost immediately because of the sheer amount of "ticks" of damage this build does per second.

So, again, it can't be emphasized enough:

Remember, a significant amount of this build’s DPS comes from Expose Weakness, you will be using Final Blow at less than 5 CP’s to re-apply it.

Keep EW up as much as absolutely possible even if it means using Final Blow with only a single combo point. Maximizing EW uptime, for me, literally added 100-200 DPS.

[Angryweasel]

A quick question is it still worth taking the points in mm compared to night if you just hit lvl50?

got 650 ap.

[Mayi]

A quick question is it still worth taking the points in mm compared to night if you just hit lvl50?

got 650 ap.

If I was a fresh 50 I probably wouldn't use this spec. Stick with MM until you start seeing some HK bonuses. You'll mainly be running dungeons anyways.

About BS... has anyone tried this variant?

http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=0M...0xcuR.x0x0m.-5

I brought it up before and people dismissed using jagged on CD with slip away instead of improved final blow or savage strike, but if I remember Kurieg's first build correctly slip away to jagged should be a larger dps boost then either savage strike or final blow improvements.

[Angryweasel]

If I was a fresh 50 I probably wouldn't use this spec. Stick with MM until you start seeing some HK bonuses. You'll mainly be running dungeons anyways.

Got myself a 1h hk dagger yesterday but not a good ranged weapon yet still better to use mm for raids?


Im only gonna run dungeon runs for dailies other than that rotp/gp/dh/hk

for dungeon runs i think the ***-stalker-night build i've been using is good enough for that.

What I want is to maximize my ST dps in raids but im not really sure what trees to take as im pretty low on AP and night seemed to offer better dps upgrades than mm on that account.

[ESFS]

About BS... has anyone tried this variant?

http://rift.zam.com/en/stc.html?t=0M...0xcuR.x0x0m.-5

I brought it up before and people dismissed using jagged on CD with slip away instead of improved final blow or savage strike, but if I remember Kurieg's first build correctly slip away to jagged should be a larger dps boost then either savage strike or final blow improvements.

Used that version before the one thats in this guide, seemed to be slightly less dps if I remember. Isn't it supposed to be higher dps in short fights? Around 3 - 4 mins.

[Mayi]

Used that version before the one thats in this guide, seemed to be slightly less dps if I remember. Isn't it supposed to be higher dps in short fights? Around 3 - 4 mins.

I'm not sure. I've never actually tried it. I'm just going off memory from the dude's post who came up with the BS spec. He had dps per point in each talent outlined and had slip away rated higher then improved savage and final blow. If I remember right he didn't use this version because he thought it was too much of a pain.

[Zyzyx]

R.I.P. Gyle.

I'll make a new bloodstalker guide next week or something. Didn't want to step on anyone's toes previously.

[Enaki]

What happened to Gyle? Did he decide to wander off into the sunset and I just missed a post?

[Mayi]

Gyle didn't design the spec, he just made an updated thread from the original spec which was made before 1.5 even came out. Kurieg is the guy who made it I think it was.

[Rickter]

what poison should you be using with bloodstalker build?

[Lomira]

Heya Guys,

I would like to built a application to calculate DPS. This application will simulate a combat in game but in a "Step by Step" version. It means the time (and latency) will not affect result, just the rotation will matters. I'm still at the begging and i have already issues to calculate properly the dammage done by an attack.

For exemple :
AP : 1320 (+25% of IFP)
Dmg Boost Cruel V. +10%

Savage Strike : roll of 89 => (89 + 1320*1.25/10)*1.1 = 279.4. in rift, i see 282, i have no consumables and no buff (except rest from the city) where the difference come from ?

Second point, when I hit the dummy i parse something like 34X to 404 (exception of Crits), how can i actualy find the real dps ? I think it's impossible because of armors and some others stuffs, but it does not matter, the app can compare rotation anyway no ?

Thanks for help

Sorry, english is not my nativ language and i have some issues to deal with...

[Muspel]

R.I.P. Gyle.

I'll make a new bloodstalker guide next week or something. Didn't want to step on anyone's toes previously.

I wrote one that should be getting posted on Riftjunkies sometime this weekend. I mostly just cover the rotation rather than the in-depth theorycrafting, though.

[Rescorla]

I have nkrebuff installed and have the alerts for Annihilate and Ruthless Stalker configured. They work with no problems. For the life of me I can not figure out how to get nkrebuff to alert me when Impale falls off the target. If anyone can walk me thru that I would appreciate it.

[Jishnu]

I have nkrebuff installed and have the alerts for Annihilate and Ruthless Stalker configured. They work with no problems. For the life of me I can not figure out how to get nkrebuff to alert me when Impale falls off the target. If anyone can walk me thru that I would appreciate it.

open options go to track abilities > debuffs - target (have to scroll the bar down to see this, which is probably why you cant find it) > activate Impale and Expose Weakness. I changed the watcher to show at < 8 seconds for impale so you can see when to reapply it without cutting a rotation.


If the author of NKrebuff doesnt pick his project back up soon it will sadly quit working. I dont know if i can even play without it to be honest. So use to it as a normal ui function now

[Rescorla]

open options go to track abilities > debuffs - target (have to scroll the bar down to see this, which is probably why you cant find it) > activate Impale and Expose Weakness. I changed the watcher to show at < 8 seconds for impale so you can see when to reapply it without cutting a rotation.


If the author of NKrebuff doesnt pick his project back up soon it will sadly quit working. I dont know if i can even play without it to be honest. So use to it as a normal ui function now

I see Expose Weakness in the Debuffs--Target list but Impale is not listed, which is totally perplexing to me.