Assassin's First Impressions

SoulWispher - Sanctuary

Hi all

I want share my thoughts with you higher higher level Sins,to check if there is something wrong with me or not
But first of all,I want say that these are earlier impressions about this class,so I don't known how will be on later levels,so consider all the below comments for Lv.1-30 range

A first overall impression:
Sin are light-armored PvP-Based not-so-high damage Dealers,strong and weak in melee combat,can kill almost anything that breath but he have to that quick and hard because it won't live for long under the enemy counter attacks.

Edit:System prevent me to post the entire message

SoulWispher - Sanctuary

uhm sorry for double post but every time I try to edit the above Post the system cut it by 1/3 without giving me any reason...

I try to post here the rest of the post:

Edit:Failed again,the system don't let me post anything else besides these few words

Psudeotrophe - Dreamweaver

SoulWispher - Sanctuary wrote: »

Hi all


A first overall impression:
Sin are light-armored PvP-Based not-so-high damage Dealers,strong and weak in melee combat,can kill almost anything that breath but he have to that quick and hard because it won't live for long under the enemy counter attacks.

While you have a good first impression, its kinda in between. Assassins aren't totally PvP based. The Psychic's are more geared towards PvP than assassins, as they're more capable of dealing with all of the classes effectively (they're in possession of a very viable Bleed damage over time that can mangle Caster classes). Assassins excel at killing softer classes, and Soloing. Characters that chose to wear Arcane and some light armor (example: arcane armored cleric's, Wizards, venomancers, Light armored Wizards, venomancers, Archers). While we do possess a slower attack speed than Blademasters, we still are capable of increasing our attack speed to presentable attack speeds with proper Interval equipment and Genie based skills. We do struggle with heavier armored classes, Typically Barb's and Blademasters, as they are our natural enemies (high pdef vs a class that possesses no magical styled attacks) and Heavy armored venomancers can prove tricky if you're not careful.

Our PvP oriented skills and Lock out skills require a great deal of patience, as they have harsh reset times and cost, 15 seconds for sleep, 30 seconds for a two spark stun, and 60 seconds for a ranged stun (Similar to an archer's Stunning arrow but stunning arrow cools down faster). All this is contrary to a Blademaster's ability to lock you out of combat for literally, close to a minute during combat.

Assassins in Pwi are masters of Surviving nearly anything, from being struck with the most devastating Aoe Physical attack Armageddon (barb) , the Status crazy Myriad Rainbow (veno), the frightening Heaven's flame (Blademaster), the Pummeling power of a Wizard's elemental skills, to the Piercing Metal attacks of the Winged elves, and with some luck, surviving. Blood Paint, focused mind, Deaden Nerves and Tidal protection are vital in this aspect. Focused mind will allow you to absorb high damage attacks, or negate them all together, it is a frustrating skill that will annoy and pester your opponent; for instance, if a cleric happens to hit you with Tempest and you have Focused mind active, the damage has a chance, to hit for full, or 1 damage. The only other class that possesses a skill similar (magic only) is the Barbarian with their Beastial Rage, Blademasters need to adapt one with their Genies (IE Balance or True Emptiness). However, Focused mind works on all enemy skills unlike the aforementioned skills.

Also, Assassins if you stat them to do so, can solo bosses, quests, and Aoe grind highly effectively, which ultimately is very lucrative. Building up enough resistance and knowing when to go "all out" are usually the better ways to look upon this class. Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty from time to time and explore what you're capable of. You'll find that you can off tank not to dissimilar of a Blademaster through the use of Bloodpaint and focused mind. As an Assassin, I do find myself doing quests I was unable to do alone on my previous character's I had chosen to play (Archer, BM) but I don't feel overly powerful as I understand my weaknesses, and chose to hide them.

Evict - Heavens Tear

Above is tl;dr.

Low levels (1~50) are pretty squishy, but you get used to it. From lvl 59 onwards, Assassins get stuns and skills that allow you last longer, aswell as better crit rate. I'd say Assassins are heavily PvP based, but aren't any good until you get your stuns.

SoulWispher - Sanctuary

Thanks for you replies even If couldn't write all the comment.
I'll try to summarize the rest since the above mentioned reasons.

Yes,its true,Sins are quite squishy on early levels,they pot A LOT(I consume about 1 Pot x Mob),and also I think they have few useful skills on early levels.

The skills I use most are Wolf Emblem(All time),Slipstream Strike(Deal decent damage),Puncture Wound(Nice starting move),Windpush(For Moving around),Focused Mind(Quite useless on early levels,few magic mobs),Rip Strike(Good skill but with more than double Mp cost than other up-to-level skills) and Shadow Escape(One free spark is awesome,but long cooldown).

About Weapons
Im not sure about this,but the Damage Bonus received from the DEX Points is mostly based on Weapon attack power right?,needless to say,Sins weapons to my level are the most weak weapons around,even with 1.25 Attack Rate,because of this,there's ins't much Dex bonus on damage so far so i believe,maybe past lv.50 or 60 will I have some decent damage output x 1 Dex Point?,Archers on other hand have quite high attack weapons,but they're supposed to kill mobs faster than us since they can't even let em get close,so I guess is right...(Maybe).

I used my main's money(I can barely manage to buy pots with this char),to buy a legendary weapon for my Sin(Lv.30 don't remember the name),found on AH,with 2 Average Garnets and +1 Refining,but but but even now I kind feel like im too slow on killing and even lv.25 mobs cut my Hp to half before they're dead....

Actually my attack is around 500-800,I choosed the Full Dex build,and I got the rank I armor...is there something better I can get at this level?

Psudeotrophe - Dreamweaver

5 dex increases your attack damage by 20 points. it gives you some leeway to play with other stats, while 1 vit gives you 10 hp 2 pdef, 1 str gives you 3 pdef. the damage difference between the builds is minute, but the crit chance is, in some regards a respectable reason to go pure dex, though, isn't necessary, because at lvl 74, a pure dex high str, or vit built sin will all sit with a 200 damage difference per strike. Its not a noticeable difference when you're swinging out 3k hits at the same rate as you're fellow sin who's built differently.

Our Stat basis is exactly the same as an archer* Edited in because I thought it was needed to be mentioned*


Honestly, if I was to recommend anything on a sin it's to wear heavy helms, they are more pointed towards melees and developing the STR to wear them wont nerf your Damage. Being as I rarely ever use skills (I've had the same Silver MP charm on my sin since I was lvl 12) I find arcane headwear rather lacking, But, if I found an arcane headdress that gave +330 hp +330 mp + 5 vit reduce phys damage, like mine does, I'd snatch it up in a heart beat, then I could revert to pure dex, but until then I'm gonna keep my aqua helm.

Another thing is, you're damage will always feel somewhat lack luster, use Windshield (a genie skill) to kinda amp up your attack speed, and extreme Poison does minutely help, but when you get Subsea Strike up to par, Xpoison suddenly becomes a distant memory. Keep Ribstrike Leveled, because you can severely damper your enemy by dropping their attack speed by half, and when you get Shadow teleport that suddenly becomes a very viable opener. Also use Knife throw to open up in attacks because it gives you time to prepare, (preemptive pot to absorb the damage)


To answer you're Final question. Rank armor will almost always be the best armor presented to you at your level, its regrettable that we can out grow it quickly.

Islamey - Dreamweaver

because at lvl 74, a pure dex high str, or vit built sin will all sit with a 200 damage difference per strike. Its not a noticeable difference when you're swinging out 3k hits at the same rate as you're fellow sin who's built differently.

Although there wont be much of a difference in regular hits, the difference in damage potential becomes obvious in critical hits.
Criticals double damage. What used to be a 200 damage difference now becomes a 400 damage difference.
And it doesn't end there. Double spark and critical hit and that 200 damage difference becomes a 1200 damage difference.
Keep in mind that an assasin can permanently double spark at lvl 59.
(This is pure theory and doesn't take any defense or anything into account so you won't *actually* hit 1200 more in-game. In other words, take this advice with a grain of salt.)
But the fact is, a vit build loses alot of dps capability compared to pure dex builds at higher levels.
This is the main reason that the 4 dex 1 str pure build is recommended.

Islamey - Dreamweaver

Our PvP oriented skills and Lock out skills require a great deal of patience, as they have harsh reset times and cost, 15 seconds for sleep, 30 seconds for a two spark stun, and 60 seconds for a ranged stun (Similar to an archer's Stunning arrow but stunning arrow cools down faster). All this is contrary to a Blademaster's ability to lock you out of combat for literally, close to a minute during combat.

Taken in the correct order and leveled enough, an assassin can permanently lock someone for as long as they want.
Assassins have so many disables to choose from, by the time you're done using two, another will cooldown.
Chi is never a problem because they have 3 skills that generate 400+ chi.
Just make sure you are familiar with your skills and know your cooldowns.

Sins weapons to my level are the most weak weapons around,even with 1.25 Attack Rate

You will feel that assasins deal low damage until you get double spark at lvl 59. Then your dps becomes amazing. Weapons with high attack speed rely on frequent sparking and criticals for damage. You won't have that until you are atleast lvl 60+.

Kuroi_Sin - Dreamweaver

Acutally our damage is that "lack luster." I am a pure DEX build with 3 magic. I'm using LV69 Evilstare Dual Daggers +3 and 2 immaculate garnets and I can easily hit over 20k crits and sometimes over 30k. With 2 spark and normal attacks I usually get 6-10k hits (including crits). my assassin.

EDIT: I once hit a 15k with a normal attack o.o that was fun. Wasn't a crit either. Very, very fun. Gotta try to do that again <.<

StretchIt - Harshlands

Kuroi_Sin - Dreamweaver wrote: »

Acutally our damage is that "lack luster." I am a pure DEX build -12 vit that I statted in the beginning. I'm using LV69 Evilstare Dual Daggers +3 and 2 immaculate garnets and I can easily hit over 20k crits and sometimes over 30k. With 2 spark and normal attacks I usually get 6-10k hits (including crits). my assassin.

EDIT: I once hit a 15k with a normal attack o.o that was fun. Wasn't a crit either. Very, very fun. Gotta try to do that again <.<

i don't get it. how do people hit 30k crits 10 levels below me? b:shocked i have +4 max stat evilstares 2 immac, and i crit like 21-23k crit max b:surrender

and with double spark i hit 4-5k... and i'm full dex.

RADD_RATT - Harshlands

StretchIt - Harshlands wrote: »

i don't get it. how do people hit 30k crits 10 levels below me? b:shocked i have +4 max stat evilstares 2 immac, and i crit like 21-23k crit max b:surrender

and with double spark i hit 4-5k... and i'm full dex.

its called people with littles balls lieing about the damage they do. ive had somwhere around a 35k crit before from **** tons of amp damage. but not at lvl 70 lol

Evict - Heavens Tear

RADD_RATT - Harshlands wrote: »

its called people with littles balls lieing about the damage they do. ive had somwhere around a 35k crit before from **** tons of amp damage. but not at lvl 70 lol

This, lol.

doppa23

Psudeotrophe - Dreamweaver wrote: »

5 dex increases your attack damage by 20 points

i'm pretty sure each point of dex gives an amount of damage based on the grade of your weapon (i.e. with a higher level weapon equipped you do exponentially more damage)

Islamey - Dreamweaver

i'm pretty sure each point of dex gives an amount of damage based on the grade of your weapon (i.e. with a higher level weapon equipped you do exponentially more damage)

Thats refine you're thinking of.

Kuroi_Sin - Dreamweaver

RADD_RATT - Harshlands wrote: »

its called people with littles balls lieing about the damage they do. ive had somwhere around a 35k crit before from **** tons of amp damage. but not at lvl 70 lol

Yeah, I'm really lying.

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/8475/32kcrit.jpg

StretchIt - Harshlands

Kuroi_Sin - Dreamweaver wrote: »

Yeah, I'm really lying.

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/8475/32kcrit.jpg

b:shocked hmm i've never tried to damage test on a lvl 21 mob yet, was the mob debuffed? what skill did you use? skill lvl? i really wanna see 30k pop up on my screen lol.

HairyFocker - Lost City

RADD_RATT - Harshlands wrote: »

its called people with littles balls lieing about the damage they do. ive had somwhere around a 35k crit before from **** tons of amp damage. but not at lvl 70 lol

Kuroi_Sin - Dreamweaver wrote: »

Yeah, I'm really lying.

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/8475/32kcrit.jpg

StretchIt - Harshlands wrote: »

b:shocked hmm i've never tried to damage test on a lvl 21 mob yet, was the mob debuffed? what skill did you use? skill lvl? i really wanna see 30k pop up on my screen lol.

well it does make sense to hit lower lvl mobs..
they have less def so damage would be nearer the real potential damage of your wep..
why not try hitting even lower lvl mobs? the numbers get BIGGER

Haden - Dreamweaver

Kuroi_Sin - Dreamweaver wrote: »

Acutally our damage is that "lack luster." I am a pure DEX build with 3 magic. I'm using LV69 Evilstare Dual Daggers +3 and 2 immaculate garnets and I can easily hit over 20k crits and sometimes over 30k. With 2 spark and normal attacks I usually get 6-10k hits (including crits). my assassin.

EDIT: I once hit a 15k with a normal attack o.o that was fun. Wasn't a crit either. Very, very fun. Gotta try to do that again <.<

you may hit for 20k crits, but I've been hitting well over that since your level without spark

Psudeotrophe - Dreamweaver

Islamey - Dreamweaver wrote: »

Although there wont be much of a difference in regular hits, the difference in damage potential becomes obvious in critical hits.
Criticals double damage. What used to be a 200 damage difference now becomes a 400 damage difference.
And it doesn't end there. Double spark and critical hit and that 200 damage difference becomes a 1200 damage difference.
Keep in mind that an assasin can permanently double spark at lvl 59.
(This is pure theory and doesn't take any defense or anything into account so you won't *actually* hit 1200 more in-game. In other words, take this advice with a grain of salt.)
But the fact is, a vit build loses alot of dps capability compared to pure dex builds at higher levels.
This is the main reason that the 4 dex 1 str pure build is recommended.

Actually, your difference doesnt make that much difference still. Because I have a guild mate who is pure dex at my level and I hit harder and last longer than he does. He typically hits an average attack of about 3k I hit for 2.8k, he sparks he hits for 11k I spark and hit for 10.5k. My highest crit spark was 48k his was 42k. Explain that. and that was done with me not using Wolf totem (which I have at lvl 6) with Rising dragon strike (lvl 4) and his was done using wolf totem (which his is maxed). Both were done at the exact same time against Ofotis.