Leveling Lotus - Revamped

Preface: This is a revamp of the Lotus leveling feat build. I'm keeping the old build because while there are things wrong with it, I still think that the evolution of the guide is important to recognize. I've since hit level 62 and have learned an extraordinary amount about what is and is not good, what is and is not effective. I've bounced some ideas off of Camaan, the first level 80 Assassin worldwide who also happened to level Lotus, and a few others who are between 60 and 80 and have experience with Lotus and Corruption builds.

I have removed some excess weight that was very circumstantial (Flesh Necrosis/Combo Blindside) and I've made sure that all of the feats that you obtain will help you kill, survive, or survive by killing. I've also ordered them in such a way to maximize their effectiveness. The important change in this guide has to deal with how you approach level 50. So please, re-read the guide (especially the bottom, where we get to level 50/60 specs and how this will change your performance.)

So here is the new and improved leveling lotus feat build:

Level 10-14: Improved Poison Stance (5 points)
Relatively simple choice, you should always be in a stance and going down the Lotus tree this is your only choice.

Level 15-19: Flesh Rot (5 points)
I know early on it can be underwhelming, but you have to keep in mind this is PASSIVE and it's a flat damage increase that can stack up to 5 times.

Level 20: Cat's Paw (1 point)
Assassins early on have trouble getting used to being squishy and not having "outs." Well this is one of your outs and can be used when you need to take on 2-3 stronger mobs or a boss mob. It gives you (some) evasion for 10s which will be ramped up later.

Level 20-24: Deft Blades (5 points)
Yet another passive damage increase, it gives you a percentage chance to hit with your offhand weapon.

Level 25-29: Vile Poisons (5 points)
This improves the damage on Slow Death Strike.

Level 30: Golden Lotus Extract (1 point)
This one point wonder is on a cooldown but essentially heals you for 50-60% of your HP and could be considered a "get out of jail free" card. When you use it, it does an instant heal (like a potion) and then adds a HoT which heals the same as the instant heal. In PvE and PvP Golden Lotus Extract especially when combined with potions makes it very easy to escape almost any situation or to heal through a caster nuking you while you're mezzed/rooted/knocked back. Be careful not to use this while using another skill, knocked down, stunned, or so on... you have to wait until it wears off, or this will fail to fire off.

Level 30: Combo Snap Kick (1 point)
This one point wonder is also on a cooldown and like Golden Lotus Extract is one of the Lotus tree's defining feats. You can use it on NPC's and players alike though it rarely works on heavily armored players. Another "get out of jail free" card against any 1-2 mobs you're fighting as it disables them for approximately 4 seconds and CAN hit multiple targets. In PvE I usually potion/Golden Lotus Extract and then go for the Snap Kick if I get low as it stops their damage and allows the HoTs to catch up. This is also great when you're PvP'ing- open with a sneak attack followed by a Momentum stun and then a Snap Kick followed by a Combo.

Level 31-33: Accelerated (3 points)
Makes the cooldown on your Lotus / Poison combos shorter. Simple and passive.

Level 34-37: Cat's Paw (4 points, bringing it to 5 points total)

Level 38-40: Combo Atrophy (3 points)
A defensive combo this lowers your targets damage significantly for a short period of time. I use this on bosses mostly but occasionally on indvidual mobs.

Level 40: Opportunistic Strike (1 point)
This is an ability that makes your next "Combo Starter" a critical strike. One important thing to note is you have to use Opportunistic Strike BEFORE you start the combo. This means you can't go Combo>Opportunistic>First hit. ("Combo Starters" - Remember the "Combo Starter" hit that has a chance to crit is the hit that occurs when you press the Combo button and your character swings- not the first directional arrow hit.) It's on demand dps and it's useful in PvE and PvP, I would suggest using it every time it's up. One other thing worth noting is Opportunistic Strike does not work on feated Combos or on generic Combos such as Cunning Strike. I strongly suggest using this with Slow Death Strike, Grim Corruption, or Swift Strikes as it works for all of these.

Level 41-42: Combo Atrophy (2 points, bringing it to 5 points total)

Level 43: Excellent Balance
This is knockback resistance/immunity. You'll start running into mobs around 40 that are soldiers and will knock you down. They do it very predictively (like most players!) and you can pop this right as you engage a mob you know will knockdown (especially if there is a group) and save yourself a lot of taken damage and time spent out of commission.

Level 44-48: Combo Sabotage Armor
This combo lowers your targets directional shields. It's very short in duration but these points will be respec'd out at 50, and it's useful for taking down bosses solo.

Level 49: N/A

Level 50: It's time to respec.
The most important thing that I overlooked while leveling was that you had to funnel a lot of useful feat points into skills that aren't necessarily top notch. These skills would include Combo Atrophy and Combo Sabotage Armor. At 50 you gain access to Flurry of Blows and Lotus weapons, both of which are exceptional feats. By respec'ing at 50 you can free up those points that you sunk into those not-so-useful Combos while you were leveling and put them into the more useful level 50 tier feats.

At level 50 your talents should look like this, which will include descriptions only for the two new talents, Lotus Weapons and Flurry of Blows:

Improved Poison Stance (5 points)
Flesh Rot (5 points)
Vile Poisons (5 points)
Cat's Paw (5 points)
Deft Blades (5 points)
Accelerated (3 points)
Combo Snap Kick (1 point)
Golden Lotus Extract (1 point)
Opportunistic Strike (1 point)

Level 50: Lotus Weapons (5 points)
This feat is basically a second Flesh Rot and it stacks with Flesh Rot and also can stack up to 5. Again a huge passive DPS increase.

Level 50: Flurry of Blows (5 points)
This gives you a pretty high chance to proc Flurry of Blows which gives you a +15% chance to hit with your offhand weapon for a brief period of time. In my experience, this procs rather often and is a significant DPS increase as well.

Level 50: Lotus Tainted Blood (2 points)
This feat gives you magical invulnerability ratings and is prereq for a feat you want later, Lotus Overload.


Now, after all of this you ask yourself: Why did I respec just to throw these points into Flurry of Blows/Lotus Weapon? Well, the DPS increase is absolutely incredible and I feel like a lot of the Assassins in their 50s that may be struggling may have overlooked how many feat points they had wasted in their leveling builds when they could respec and reallocate those once they meet the level 50 requirement. Also, why only 2 points in Lotus Tainted Blood? I'll still have points left over at 50? Well, the idea is to not have to do this again at 60. If you follow the outline above, you should not spend any additional feat points from 50-60. When you hit level 60 you will have 12 unspent points. You will then distribute those points as follows:

Level 60: Swift Ending (5 points)
Swift Ending adds poison damage to Lotus Weapon/Flesh Rot as the mobs HP gets lower. Basically this is another passive damage increase/debuff and it does a fair amount of damage.

Level 60: Sense weakness (1 point)
Chance to crit on some of your most used Combo Starters such as Grim Corruption, Lethargy, Impede Life, etc. ("Combo Starters" - Remember the "Combo Starter" hit that has a chance to crit is the hit that occurs when you press the Combo button and your character swings- not the first directional arrow hit - this is mentioned under Opportunistic Strike as well.)

Level 60: Assassination (5 points)
Assassination is similar to Swift Ending, as the mob gets lower on health you get more offhand procs. With Flurry of Blows and this you will notice the numbers you're putting out increase a huge amount to the poin that it will start to spam your screen, something most Assassins aren't quite used to.

Level 60: Kidney Shots (1 point)
This gives you an ability which allows you to do more damage. Basically, I use this like Opportunistic Strike... on every cooldown and against bosses/packs larger than two.

Level 61: Lotus Tainted Blood (1 point)
Previously Mentioned

Level 62: Lotus Overload (1 point)
Lotus Overload I haven't quite tested yet but it seemed novel, and at this stage casters are really quite annoying (Thunder River...) This basically says if someone crits you, you become almost immune to spells for a period of time. I have yet to test this talent so I won't comment on it further.


I hope everyone enjoys the new guide as I spent quite a bit of time on it. The increase in efficiency (intially at 50, but even moreso at 60) will make you Assassin players that stuck it out absolutely esctatic. ENJOY!