Return of Reckoning

Hi everyone,

I’ve recently decided to main my Witch Elf, Nyss, and I’m having a great time. Currently, I am CR 28 / RR 31.

I’ve been looking for updated builds and guides, but most of what I find is the 'Warband-ready-Destro' style, which focuses heavily on AOE (Broad Severing). To be honest, I really don't enjoy the AOE playstyle. I want to play my WE as a tactical assassin.

My goal is to reach CR 40 / RR 45 and then have a solid build that carries me further into the endgame. My playstyle includes joining unorganized Warbands (picking off targets at the edge) and small-scale roaming.

A few specific questions for the experts here:

Which Stats to prioritize? Beyond Strength, should I focus more on Weapon Skill for armor pen, or Initiative for extra defense? How much Crit is 'enough' for an ST build at RR 45?

The Witchbrew Debate: I’ve heard about the Witchbrew build. Some seem to hate it, calling it outdated or a 'noob trap', while others recommend it for a 'tankier' feel. As a newcomer, what is the current verdict? Is it viable for my goals, or should I stay away?

Current Meta Builds: Which ST builds are actually considered 'good' right now and—more importantly—why? Is it about the Pounce-resets, the Elixir buffs, or pure Armor Penetration?

Something like this:
https://builder.returnofreckoning.com/c ... 0,523,9434

Gearing: Should I focus on specific dungeon sets (Sentinel/Bloodlord) for an ST-focused WE, or is sticking to the RvR gear path (Vanquisher etc.) sufficient?

I’m really looking to dig deep into the mechanics of the class, so any technical tips or builder links would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

I'm far from a WE expert. What I do love about the class is it has a ton of tools and a lot of viable builds. Each has their strengths and weaknesses.

Stats, you want to get to the soft-cap on strength (1050) with a lini. I generally ignore weaponskill, we get enough armour bypass as it is. Initiative is worth it if you're building a parry build, otherwise dont bother. Crit....it takes quite a lot to get to high crit values, i don't think you'll be able to get very high at low ranks / gear.


Witchbrew - as it does magic damage, its great for heavy- and medium-armour targets. It does pretty solid damage, but it can't crit so its not good for burst. There's also no positional requirement so you can reliably fire it off (this can be a real pain with sac stab!)


Builds - as mentioned, there's a ton of viable builds. The main choice you'll have to make is are you going full damage / glass cannon (traditional assassin), defensive, regen, or some sort of hybrid.

If you're gonna be genuine solo roaming, looking for 1v1s, I don't think you can rely on glass cannon builds. So many people have decent defences and some regen that your burst just wont kill them until you're much higher rank. So, you need some defences and/or regen.

If you're gonna be in groups, then glass cannon / full offence is good, you're tanks and healers will keep you alive so you can do your thing.

This is my current build, for mostly solo-roaming:

Witchbrew Regen - Witch Elf

I put renown in full reflexes, giving me about 40% parry, then i get regen from the Kiss of Doom tactic as well as Grimshimmar chest piece. But, I still get to have some decent offence, with 3 offensive tactics. I dont bother with crit, so i run the melee power stalwart talisman to boost sustained damage.

I can go more defensive with the same build if needed. Same setup, just change tactics to the following: Str, Kiss of Doom, Swift Movements, Sacrifices Rewarded.


When im roaming in a group, I prefer this build:

Sac Stab - Witch Elf

I go full crit to make sure I get the most out of the tactics. When you're guarded / healed, you can put out a hell of a lot of damage and really burst people down. I also love sac stab, it can crit really high and I love the slow on it too.

You may notice that I specced for Kiss of Doom and Swift Movements, but im not using them. Thats just so that if I'm solo for a bit, I can quickly switch to a bit more of a defensive/regen build.



Another option you've got for builds is to combine Trivial Blows (reduced crit damage) with Sacrifices Rewarded (bubble when u get crit). The idea is to allow yourself to be crit a lot so you get a lot of bubbles, whilst diminishing the damage received from all those extra crits. You can get -40% crit damage from full trivial blows, -3% from pocket item, then i think -5% from a lini. I've not tried this myself but friends have had a lot of success with this combo, making them quite tanky.