Tuesday, March 10, 2009

[Guide] Cat's paw



Cat's paw is a skill that comes from 5/5 feat - it gives 40% evade for 10s.

Cat's paw stacking
CP evade buff stacks with stats/other buffs. That means that hybrid assassins can get instant 50% evade because they already have 10% evade from prediction feat. If you dubble tap backwards you will get another evade buff that will stack with your CP.

Cat's pawn and casters

CP will help you to evade only melee/ranged damage and will in general be useless against casters. Single exception to that rule is a necromancer - CP might help you to evade his pets's melee.

Cat's paw and rangers
CP will help help you in two scenarios when fighting rangers

1/ closing to melee range - CP evade might keep you safe when your are trying to get close to ranger, but at the same time you are wide open to several ranged attacks.

2/ being rooted/snared - if you can't break the root CP and active blocking will help you to survive the duration.

Cat's paw and melee
CP is obviously used to evade most deadly melee combos. Remember to apply CP before the combo starts because once it hits there is no way to evade it (the only solution is to break the combo by fear or knockback).

Cat's paw and charge
CP helps to negate other players charging and stuning you. It is very common for assassins to open their fights with From the darkess - CP backed up with EB will save you from FTD+Snap Kick combo.

Most common usage:
1/ when escaping - to prevent stagger or other snare being applied
2/ in mass pvp - to prevent aoe melee damage coming from several sources at once
3/ in mass pvp - to kill chosen target without being cc'ed by others
4/ in 1vs1 duels - to get some healing time

Buff stacking by Hybrid
This is called "god mode" by some because of assassin's power in a limited timeframe of 10sŁ

Immunity to fear/charm/stun (avatar of death)
Immunity to knockback (Exellent balance)
50% evade (cat's paw + prediction)
10% melee resistance (unholy armor)

Go 5/5 with Cat's paw
CP is worth every feat point and there is no valid build that doesn't include this great skill. In order to take full advantage of CP's buff go for full 5/5 because even cutting one point from it will nerf CP to the point that it is highly questionable if you want to have it at all.

Opener, not saver
CP is NOT a second chance skill - apply it early on to take advantage of it's buff rather than counting on 40% evade to bail your ass out of sticky sitation when you are low on HP. Even 50% evade still gives coin toss chance that opponent's combo will ignore your evades.

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