i would not use swift strikes 10, wirlwind or sins of the flesh but swift strikes 8 and 9. as aas, i advise you to use precise and decisive with liberation and master assassin (aka “i don’t want to care about debuffing armor” 
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use avatar or overdose (they are probably both viable options: burst damages with either health or stam regen, even tho overdose gives better damage output) with liberation and kidney shots early in the fight to have the best burst possible asap and maybe use it again a second time if the fights lasts. UNLESS the encounter offers a vulnerability window you want to save them for.
also remember you can stun with slow death strike and soul strike every ~20 second or so. you can use soul strike with both grim corruption and slow death strike at the same time and it will land the donation and the stun.
Thx for the intel. I will likely be re-subbing a bit later to be able to spend more than 10G, so will set another spec to test out Lotus focus (would do it soon, but am almost broke IRL, and League of Legends is abt to have a $$$ event I have been waiting yrs for). IIRC, I found Lotus tree sub-par in the past, but nvr went to end feats on it, as it was early days when I tested it.
I heartily agree on not using SS 10 much, tho I keep it on hotbar, just in case. Yes, it taking longer to land makes it more easily disrupted by CCs or enemies jumping away, but its dmg output is proportionally greater than the extra directional time required, so you gimp yourself to avoid the 3rd directional unless you go w/Sins, instead. At least it’s not a 5 dir, as I heard pre-rework Sin had (nvr played Sin b4 Godslayer/rework, so IDK, personally).
I had more survivability issues in PVE w/Master Assassin slotted than Sins and Cast. Do Turanian bosses have a LOT of critigation? My crit chance is low, to begin with, so MA’s value seems situational.
I tested DPS on a strawman in town (but it’s not a strawman fallacy 
) and Sins gave 30-50% more damage than SS9, on avg (it looks like the dmg occurs over the same amt of time, tho I might be wrong on that). Master Assassin d/n modify SS9 enough to note, except the very first SS9 test returned 3x crit strikes! After that, however, it was quite questionable, as that run actually produced LESS crits on avg, overall, so that burst might have just been RNG.
I have 8-10 all hotbarred over to the side, mapped to slightly more awkward keypress configs than my main foci. I use a mouse with CTRL/SHIFT/ALT mapped to thumb keys as modifiers, so it isn’t piano-level awkward, but it is still a bit more effort to run the SS key combos.
Sins, I just rly, rly like, for the abovenoted reasons, and the fatality it and Cast can give.
Cast’s returning shards is admittedly less a factor w/o DWW/GC used (tho AoD eats 4), but is still a help. Lethargy is cool, and remains on the hotbar, but Cast just works better. Can’t have both it and MA, so I go w/Cast, and that leaves a slot open, which (high-damage output) Sins goes into.
TBF, when not running DWW/GC/AoD, I nvr used to even look at my shards, as it was a nonfactor, so Cast returning shards is not as important in that case. While Miasma rotations, FtD, Lotus Dart, and other things use shards, it was such a slow expenditure I almost nvr even got close to using them all, so oft outright forgot they were even there. Reverting back to n00b spec, OtOH, got me immediately putting both shard regens front and center (basically “down mid” directional position on the key, and that + Ctrl for the OT one [EDIT: Necrotic Empowerment]).
Reverted to using DWW as backup because it literally is the only thing reliably getting me through certain encounters if AoD is presently down (and AoD is on the same feat line, anyway). The Refuge of Apostate statue pairs are CC-immune, and wreck my Sin if combos fail to land (or if their crits do land), so DWW usually lets me drop at least one of them fast, and so survive the encounter, whereas I KNOW there was no time left to only combo them dn before dying, as did this endless times before, and saw a lot of deaths in the results despite doing everything by the numbers. A lot of stuff like that in the game. If my armor and health were considerably better, might not need it.
While I prefer to FtD in and Miasma ASAP in PVP (tho will Snap Kick ASAP if they run, as there’s no CC break for knockdown), if I know they will just immediately CC break the FtD root and jump jump jump jump jump, I sometimes DWW/GC squishies before they can react.
I find the SDS-MSS stun d/n land reliably enough to depend on, tho I do get it to work, on occasion. I know the combos both landed, so can only surmise it is either a timing issue on my part (Pushing too fast? And yet everything landed before the stun failed to pop), or just enemy resistances vs my Spell Penetration (which I know exists, but can’t seem to find stats on in character menus). ED also fails a lot on some tougher enemies, so am guessing it’s their resistances.
Kidney Shots looks good, but gotta Lotus tree for it, and AoD > Overdose, IMO, as the HEALING is FREAKIN’ HUGE on AoD, so unless Overdose gives double the damage AoD does, it isn’t worth it (tho Stun res is cool). Oft end up staying at full health under AoD, but dying in a few seconds w/o it. The Spider boss on Iron Statues isle I sat there and burned it to 21% and stayed at full health, but then went 100->0% hp in abt 3 sec after AoD dropped.
PS, I w/n use Lib b4 CCs, as you can get totally screwed if you do. My non-n00b spec went deep into Rogue gen tree, and had multiple CC breaks, but they actually seemed to not work all that often! Might just be I c/n see which CC was on me, so picked the wrong CC breaks, but even the right one sometimes failed, while Lib always works.
Yeah, Vaya is the easiest one, by far. Rly just turn and burn in place. Dros only tough if the rats get position on me that prevents killing them all at once, as they only need 2 or 3 sec to drop me if I don’t get them first or have AoD up.
It can take a long time to not get Accalia. I’ve found the instance reset seems to favor her. Whenever I tilted after 10x deaths and Exit Now’d the game, relogged just to come back to the same face.
General tree is completely useless for PvE for everything but tank classes. Also, except for very rare encounters, Liberation is a burst damage buff for PvE (almost 800 combat rating).
PvP considerations are complete waste of potential in a dungeon: wasted feat points, aas, etc.
I just realised that is most probably what is holding you back so much !
LOL. You may be very much right on the PVE vs PVP angle. Coming up on Cimmeria, you have some dif priorities. That’s why I pointedly d/n use Pressing Strikes or Master Assassin in (instanced) dungeons (tho if bosses have heavy critigation, it could be a factor, albeit tiny, as my base crit % is like 16%).
THAT SAID…
Ppl DID used to PVE here. From what I’ve seen, some still do (a few times I crept up on ppl since back, and had to back off as they were actually in a group helping them grind faction quests), but raiding d/n seem to be a thing on Fury in 2026. So I have plenty of PVE stuff, as have ever mainly PVEd (rarely mini’d, and ever cautious abt getting caught out by hidden groups luring attacks on “lone” victims in the OW, so only took on PC targets who were already low from PVE, and clearly actually alone).
PVP perks DID still have merit in NON-instanced dungeons, however. At least back in the day. Some dude named Silk-something (IIRC, a ranger… OF COURSE) used to PK ppl climbing in specific dungeons that had ladders you HAD to climb to progress. He had himself parked where he had LoS but no one could hit HIM. Pretty much Conan’s world, IMO; gotta just find a way to off such guys, and then PVE. ;D I myself made my ranger (who I suck BAD at, esp since the rework for the up/dn system instead of real combos) specifically after 2 rangers duo-ing in Tortage dungeon (named Heartseeker and Eyeseeker, IIRC) ripped our group apart w/o us being able to touch them.
TBH, I found Gen tree was mostly useless even for PVP. My non-DWW spec d/n have ANY endgame feats, as I went so heavy on Gen tree, as I was RLY trying to focus good comboing and thought CC breaks would carry me through a lot of scenarios, but Gen tree stuff d/n seem to even work that well, and just cluttered up my hotbar w/buffs and oft-non-working breaks.
Regarding Liberation, I get CCd far too much to risk using it before CCs come in, even if it does give Snare/Root immunity. Lib breaks ALL CCs, which includes Stun and Fear, and Stun just happens tooooo daaaamned much. IF (and ONLY if) I went Overdose, I w/n worry as much, as it gives Stun res, so could pop Lib and have Stun, Root, and Snare immunity all at once, but OD’s lack of heal is a deal-breaker for me.
791 CR from Lib is good, but is only abt 21.6 DPS more. It absolutely makes a difference, yes, but it isn’t worth losing 2/3 my healthbar (abt 4000 hp, when total is abt 5900 if I run FE perk) to a 3-sec Stun I can’t cleanse because I wasted Lib for an extra 21.6 dmg/sec: I strongly feel 64.8 dmg/3 sec is not a good trade for -4000 hp over 3 sec. That math just doesn’t math, IMO.
I thought the topic was about killing a pve boss in a instanced environement, which makes me say again that PvP considerations will be a hindrance. You will most likely have a way better and easier life in those places by using PvE ways in the pirate island as well as the monkey island. You will never get to fight another player there.
Also, the buff from liberation lasts a lot more than 3 seconds, more like 15 seconds. Most CCs by mobs and bosses are easily avoided by going behind them and the CC breaker becomes irrelevant and there is only the damage buff left.
I def don’t use the PVP AAs in any of the Turan instances (BTW I always get the names of Precise and Pressing switched in my head, but I know the icons, so apply them right). On Dead Man’s Hand and Isle of Iron Statues, it is PVE AAs all the way. The only PVP stuff in effect are those you d/n need to slot on the Perk bar. I also usually remember to purge PVP AAs in Refuge, as well, but Refuge is so easy, relative to the others, that it usu d/n matter.
Now, it COULD be a factor that I originally had a lot of mixed PVE/PVP focus in which AAs I put POINTS into, back in the day, as Expertise was def applied to PVP on many an occasion, to round out the costs on that side, so was not always available for bringing up PVE AAs. That is why I said you might be right that I am lacking on the PVE side: not from which AAs are on the Perk Bar.
Liberation’s buff duration is not the issue. Liberation’s buff not including STUN and FEAR is the issue. Lib’s decent but not amazing dmg bonus is useless if you get Stun/Fear locked and 3-shotted. I get stunned waaaaay too often to let Lib get used proactively, and the ape Fears you if you miss the chance to escape because a combo lasts too long and/or d/n notice his castbar.
I have naturally TERRIBLE peripheral awareness (if I look away from the action and back, it can cost me a full sec doing nothing while my brain re-adjusts, as I am naturally hard-wired to look before I leap), so oft just don’t notice the castbar until casting is most of the way through, esp as the bar is a neutral beige color. I will check if the castbars can be recolored to say, bright orange, like in one of the custom HUDs, tho I prefer the form factor of the stock HUD, as it allows for floating hotbars, which allows me to keep CDs in view by moving the bar up closer to ctr screen. I wish the castbars could be moved up so looking away were not needed (SWTOR and RoR [the WAR fan rebuild] are the only games I know which allow this).
I have found that most mobs, including most bosses, will auto-turn to face you, so you rarely get their backs. The ape DOES leave his back open, but you have to notice he is casting, as that is the only time it happens, and my healthbar is gone in 3 sec vs him, even from white-hits, so am usually too busy running away to notice what he is doing. Sadly, AoC nvr rly applied consistent facing difficulty on mobs, like TERA used to; it limited it to player characters.
They can be moved, look into the settings. I don’t know the name of the setting but it’s 100% possible to move them o to the screen where ever you want.
Hey, Force. TY for the intel.
I re-re-checked and did find the movable self/target/target’s-target portraits (which I had glossed over, so not noticed the “target” part, so mistakenly thought had to do w/the inventory pic, but now I see they are mini HP/MP/Stam bars w/buffs/debuffs), which are movable and thus VERY useful (surprised I nvr noticed these before, unless I did on the old PC’s install and forgot abt them a decade later on the new one), but still d/n see any ability to move the castbars, unfortunately.
I will need to see if there is a way to set a custom XML w/the bar location and color changed, but that might take a while. A pity the option to link a mini castbar to the movable portraits was not included.