Combat Maneuvers

[Kalishar]

Kalishar, your Combat Maneuver training is as follows:

Skill name Mnemonic Ranks
Shadow Mastery smastery 4
Garrote garrote 4
Silent Strike silentstrike 1
Cunning Defense cdefense 5
Vanish vanish 3

Available Combat Maneuver Training Points: 13


Any thoughts on where to start next? Maybe get that last rank of smastery, start wspec? I thought about mobility but I'm not sure since any time I'm on the ground and in rt I can usually vanish and get back to standing without leaving hiding. Cdefense seems good on paper but I still get popped by bandit cml maneuvers just the same.

I hardly ever use garrote but it really fits his style and I would feel bad about removing it.

[cwolff]

I love mobility. It's cheap and it saves me from having to worry about typing >stand. I find it exceedingly convenient. The passive -1 to sneaking would be great too. Sucker Punch is a good CvC maneuver.

Have you used silent strike or cutthroat much?

[Palcron]

The 5th shadow mastery rank is nice for the 1 second RT when moving. As far as mobility, it happens often enough that a critter will swing before you have a chance to react and vanish that, in my opinion, it's worth the points. Toughness is nice, as well, as one rank gives you an extra 15 HP (if that matters to you at all). Silent strike seems like kind of a waste, in that shit usually dies on the first swing anyway, so who cares if you aren't hidden (unless it's for RP purposes). Wspec is good to have, but not overly necessary. I would say definitely cdef and disarm. You might still get hit with a maneuver, but it does make a difference. Every little bit helps when it comes to avoiding maneuvers that could otherwise result in instant or guaranteed death.

[Kalishar]

I love mobility. It's cheap and it saves me from having to worry about typing >stand. I find it exceedingly convenient. The passive -1 to sneaking would be great too. Sucker Punch is a good CvC maneuver.

Have you used silent strike or cutthroat much?

I have not used cutthroat very much, I used to have 1 rank in it. I do like the skill though, it's just getting hard to find the points for everything I want vs everything I'll really use. Silent strike is also very cool, but I find myself not using it often since you can't aim the shot, and as long as I'm not massively overhunting I usually get the crit I'm looking for so it doesn't matter so much that I stay in hiding. The times that I screw up and miss, or something else happens, a quick "cman van" usually saved my bacon anyway.

Yeah, looks like I'll pick up that 5th rank of smastery then figure out where to go from there.

The reason I was thinking about wspec was that it gives a bonus to CML defense when using the weapon type you're specialized in, and along with the ranks of cdefense I have I was hoping that would be enough to avoid most maneuvers without having to train too many ranks in each actual maneuver (ie disarm, subdual strike, shield bash). Probably wishful thinking on my part :D

[Sorcasaurus]

I found silentstrike a great way to incapacitate one or two mobs before ambushing and leaving myself in the open. I believe it still gets some additional weighting, so it was rare that is didn't end with the critter at least stunned/knocked over. Unless you're anxious to put those points elsewhere, might be worth keeping for now?

I'd say mobility would be great to have. I don't often hear anyone say they regretted using points for it. The next post raises an issue with having it.

[Mumblz]

...
I'd say mobility would be great to have. I've never heard anyone say they regretted using points for it.



I actively use a good portion of stamina if not all(surge, smastery, vanish, coup, sigils) and even with the couple enhancives I have, I find myself short. This passive manuever used to stand is definately not on my list as I would find myself breaking muscles every hunt.

[Sorcasaurus]

I actively use a good portion of stamina if not all(surge, smastery, vanish, coup, sigils) and even with the couple enhancives I have, I find myself short. This passive manuever used to stand is definately not on my list as I would find myself breaking muscles every hunt.

Thank you, I now know differently. Edited above

[stormcrow]

also while mobility is nice, you can use vanish just as effectively. If I get knocked down or put into any RT I vanish. Like mobility, it can't be used when stunned. When mobility first came out it would make you stand during a stun, now only rt. Also, surge of strength used to have a shorter timer and you could run it full the whole hunt without much stamina loss. I hated when they nerfed those two.

[cwolff]

also while mobility is nice, you can use vanish just as effectively. If I get knocked down or put into any RT I vanish.


I'm sure Vanish is just as effective when it comes to helping a rogue not get killed but it doesn't seem that you can say it's just as effective as CMobility.

The point of mobility is that you're never fighting from your back and it requires 0 keyboard input. With Vanish you're still on your back and unless you have 55 ranks of gambits you have to come out of hiding to stand up anyway. I guess it's situational. If you are in a swarm with some heavy hitters standing up in RT and stance offensive is not so hot. My rogue is Sword and Board so he's probably better able to survive something like that than a different build.

All in all, do whatever works for you. At some point the TP's will be free to do them both. Don't sell mobility short though. It's really nice and automatic.