Assassin build

[Ludologist]

After my poor condition-inflicting Ulfednar ascended to the heavens, I needed a new character to fill the void in my character sheet. I came up with an Assassin build. It's still in progress because everything needed makes this build a bit too high level for where we're at. Our Norn has started to feel the pain I can dish out though, so I must be doing SOMETHING right.

You need a fylgia for this build!!!

To begin, when I say assassin, I mean three things:
* A quick burst of high damage, ideally that's difficult or impossible to block
* Having a major presence in unexpected places on the battlefield
* Nigh invisible, tough to get a good bead on who to kill

Secondly, I wanted a few key concepts:
* Very high Evade
* Scale off the drain pile (this will apparently be made much easier with Denizens of the North)

I fiddled around with all of the available options and I came up with 3 viable builds. Here is the one I'm currently using:
The Maiden/Seithkona Assassin
Scorn Dominatrix
Essence 14, Destiny 4 (it's sad, I know!! I needed the 14 Essence to get to the minimum build I wanted to play, and even then I'm missing a couple of key powers)

Actives
*Sunder Mind
Magic Item: Beckon Yggdrasil
Magic Item: Shadow Step
Maiden board: Cleansing Block
Maiden board: Evasive Manoeuvre
Maiden board: Invigorate Spirit
Maiden board: Beckon Yggdrasil
Maiden board: Furious Sprint
Maiden board: Run Away Laughing
Maiden board: Sunder Mind
Maiden board: Visage of Horrors
Maiden board: Dance of Blades (i.e. Fire Aura) <--- If I had to redo it, I'd go with Shadow Dance (Invoke the Shadows) instead
Seith board: Bone Snapper
Maiden board: Armageddon Strike
Seith board: Sun and Moon
Seith board: Shadow Step
Maiden board: Roll into Position

Eventually
Maiden board: Perfect Parry
Seith board: Dark Juxtaposition
Seith board: Syphon Soul with Cannibalize

What's the idea here?
I want to get to max Aura and Shroud ASAP, so Beckon Yggdrasil is the name of the game. If I wyrd the right rune, perfect! If I don't I use my Void rune to play it. Ideally, I position myself so that I drop the alka and move to where I damage as many of my foes as possible. Because I don't start with the Aura condition, it triggers at max intensity as soon as I'm done with my move. Furious Sprint and Run Away Laughing are great for this, because you can Amplify your Move, and it still only resolves as ONE action.

My Norn has yet to see this, but if my opponents are ever clustered together, I'll Amplify my alka once or twice and give THEM aura 1 before I run through and hit them with my own.

Do I need to explain anything else here?
Ah, yes! Perfect Parry and Armageddon Strike. As long as you can keep those two actives away from the damage piles, they synergize very nicely.
Mental damage is Mental damage. If you go first, hit as many foes with it as you can to shut them down.
Also, when you play Invigorate Spirit, you drop all your Focus into Evade, and you maintain it ideally.
Finally, the reason for Visage of Horrors isn't just about opening up the board in the right way. Drop it into contingency with the condition "If my Shroud drops below 4". That's why I should have grabbed Shadow Dance instead of Dance of Blades.

Post-script: Uh, yeah, drop Shadow Step into contingency so that it triggers right before clean-up. You then teleport right into a cluster of enemies so that your happy little Aura can cause some happy little damage during the happy little upkeep. It's also a fantastic escape tool, Nether Pact makes it a 20 hex (plus Focus) jump away if anyone ever hits you.
Suggested house rule: The out of combat use of Shadow Step should be a line of sight teleport (similar to how it works in combat), but you need to make an Ultimate Sacrifice +1. I've used it to get into and out of sticky situations.

Passives
*Thriving in the Crowd
Magic Item: Well of Blood
Magic Item: Aura of Influence
Magic Item: Bully
Maiden board: Combat Awareness
Maiden board: Die Hard
Maiden board: Unbreakable Body
Maiden board: Dance of Autumn
Maiden board: Fylgia’s Embrace (i.e. Blend into Shadows)
Maiden board: Resistance to Vulnerable
Seith board: Spiritual Conduit
Seith board: Nether Pact
Seith board: Barter with Spirits
Seith board: Well of Blood
Maiden board: Aura of Influence
Maiden board: Fueled by the Crowd
Seith: Companion of Magic
Skald Board: Tactical Advantage

Eventually
Skald Board: Enchanted Prowess
Maiden board: Fleet-Footed
Maiden board: Precision
Maiden board: Dance Away
Others to consider on Skald Board: Leaping Striker, Tactician, Stealthy Striker, Combat Manoeuvrability even, not to mention Precision, etc

What's the idea here?
Aura of Influence x2 means that friends and foes up to 3 hexes away are considered next to me when a power refers to Adjacent. This is great for all the crowd-based stuff (Fueled and Thriving) or companion passives (i.e. of Magic). It's also tons of fun when you need to poke a magic user that's casting a powerful spell (some Norns may disallow the ranged pokes).

Well of Blood gives Evade 2 and Parry 1 (so Evade 4 and Parry 2 since I have it twice) when I am bloodied AND have two conditions at maximum intensity (i.e. when I have max Aura and Shroud). We play it that if you can completely stop an active from affecting you at all, it doesn't drop your Shroud down ~ I actually recommend this house rule, because it encourages Shroud players to spend their runes defensively too.

Tactical Advantage lets you give the bonus focus to allies, move, then trigger your Aura (or vice versa). It lets you keep up with enemies trying to run away from you. It's just great with Aura!

Skills
*Feather Fingers
2x Perception
2x Perform
2x Sneak
2x Verbal Manipulation
Escape
Survival: Urban
Sense Motive
Negotiation
Omens (Galdr)
Scorn Pole (Galdr)

What's the idea here?
Ok, so thanks to Visage of Horrors and Armageddon Strike, I end up with Sneak at 3 or sometimes 4 ranks.
The Scorn Pole is FANTASTIC with Sneak. You use smaller skulls (it may up the difficulty a little depending on the Norn's whims) and you hide them at various places. The guards will never see you coming.
I'm starting to develop Verbal Manipulation, since our group seems to be made up of stinky, mute, curmudgeons, who have very punch-able faces...
I plan to grab a bunch more Omens/Portents, because my character is closely associated with a demi-god.
I plan to grab a few more Performs because she's also a talented bone flute player.
I want more Perception and Sneak. It's tons of fun to begin combat by ambushing your ambushers.
Escape is starting to prove its worth, especially when I go in, kill the chieftain, and then need to make a hasty retreat.