On Assassins and Being a Team Player

KBar - Harshlands

Greetings, my fellow fishmen. I know, I know, "Assassins are awesome! High DPS, invisibility, plus Bloodpaint makes you practically invincible!" However, you aren't as special as you might think. Bloodpaint can only heal you for so much, after all. Sometimes, you've gotta get a squad. Unfortunately, not all of you have realized this. I can count on one hand the number of assassins that actually know how to play well with a party. So to help all of you Prima Donnas (and I don't use that as a derogatory term) I've decided to create a simple guide to help you be a team player. Trust me, the rest of your party will be greatful.

1: Rib Strike early, Rib Strike often.
Your Rib Strike ability isn't just a great spike damage skill. As you can read in its skill description, Rib Strike gives the added bonus of lowering an opponent's attack speed. So use this as often as you can, especially on bosses, as lower attack speed means the tank takes less damage and the cleric doesn't have to spam heals as much.

2: Guard your cleric.
Your high damage, debuff attacks and teleportation skills means you can kill and maneuver around the battlefield quickly. It's best to use these skills to keep mobs off of your cleric. If your cleric manages to take aggro due to healing, you can:
1. Shadow Teleport (your teleport stun move) and Throatcut to stun and silence the mob, effectively removing it from play until either you and/or your party can kill it.
2. If your telestun and silence attack is on cooldown, use your other teleporting ability (Shadow Jump) and Tackling Slash to get to the mob and keep it from moving so that your cleric can maneuver out of its aggro range while you kill it. Deep Sting also works well if Tackling Slash is on cooldown.

3:Control your anger...and aggro.
As a high-DPS class, you generate aggro quite easily. Indeed, not knowing how to control aggro well is one of the top ways to get killed quickly. Luckily, you have two built in skills that can make aggro control pitifully easy:
1. Chill of the Deep. I can already hear some of you balk at the mere mention of the skill. Who would want a skill that actually lowers attack speed? Sure, it gives a minor attack level boost, but it's not even remotely equal to the damage you can put out without the buff on. However, you're in a party, so unfortunately damage isn't everything; Survival is. Chill of the Deep is almost essential for aggro control on bosses, as your lowered attack speed means you can let the tank do his job without any real worry (plus, it gives Rib Strike a nice damage bonus, so it's not all bad). Plus, casting it a second time ends the effect, so you can activate it when you start a boss, then deactivate it when the boss's health is about halfway gone, as by then the tank will likely have the boss's complete attention, letting you cut loose and take out the other half of the boss's HP quickly.
2. Shadow Escape. This skill is absolutely essential to aggro control, as casting it completely removes you from the aggro table. Use this for those moments when you actually take aggro away from the tank, so that you don't die, the tank can easily regain aggro, and no one gets mad at you for a party wipe.

4:Subsea Stike= more damage for all!
Your Subsea Strike skill is an AoE that increases the damage mobs take for a set amount of time, similar to the Dragon that BM's have. The best part is, they stack! So if a BM is in your party, use this as soon as you see the dragons, as that means more damage for everyone.

5: Bloodpaint your tank.
As you know, Bloodpaint lets you regain health equal to a percentage of damage you deal, so you want to cast this on your tank the moment he pops in the instance. In fact, it's great for everyone else in your party that's melee DPS, as it lets them get the bloodsucking benefits you get. Luckily, Bloodpaint is an AoE skill, so you just cast it when the cleric's casting buffs and you're good!

That's about all I can think of for now, I'll add more if I can come across anything else that could be helpful. Now go out there, and be a team player!

Typhyse - Sanctuary

I'm glad a post like this has been made. I myself hate the lack of support abilities we sins have and take great pride in the few we *do* have. I already utilize all of these support tactics (especially CoD, it's great when I'm the highest level in squad. Particualrly since I already have -0,1 int)

Do you too notice the BM and/or barb always run (whether intentionally or unintentionally) when you BP? Happens to me all the time and it drives me nuts. Though as the only high level sin in my guild and a marshal, I'm around a lot. My leader is a BM and he absolutely LOVES BP; we often joke that he's a cracckhead and BP is his crack x3

Ribstrike: I have mine at level 9 (which has almost a 50% atk speed reduction) and it does wonders.

Good on you bro for finding this out and sharing it.

---edit---
Oh there are a few thing I have to add:
1) Knife Throw: use it on those stunning mobs for chance to interrupt chanelling. it's not hard to max it out as it's a low level skill and has a short cooldown.
2) Get a bow! Archers are a great support class, and and we sins will do as one in a pinch.
3) FCC note. For AoEing the rounded up rooms: +Sparkburst - Inner Harmony - Tangling Mire - Subsea Strike - Earthen Rift. I have Subsea at lvl 4, Earthen Rift at lvl 5, and Tangling Mire at lvl 10, and this combo does wonders.

Graey_Rain - Harshlands

Yep, these are the basic support sin techniques that all sins should be using in squads and unfortunately don't. Amazing how few sins actually bother to rib or subsea boss's. I often use subsea combined with tangling mire and dragons/Heavens flame if a bm's in the party. Tangle and subsea roughly double the physical damage the boss takes when maxed. Combined with dragons it's almost 4 times more damage the boss is taking from each physical hit from every part member and considerably more from magic attacks too. The most important point in dd'ing when not tanking is to amp the damage dealt by the whole party rather than just doing as much damage as possible yourself, as if you do too much damage you steal agro so have to stop attacking and stealth. Meaning you contribute more to the damage the boss receives by amplifying party damage rather than sparking and whacking away like a nub until you get one shot by the boss lol.
Hmmm... what to add... In party's sins should also utilise their stuns and tackling slash to immobilise runners. Places like the hallucinary trench have a lot of runners. Very annoying trying to kill them when they keep running off. Immobilising them will make things a lot faster, make sure to tell your party members not to immobilise over your tackling slash as your's lasts 9 seconds and there's won't last as long (e.g. barbs... always cutting my tackle short xD bad kitty's!!!)
Anything else... errrm... Stealth can be a very useful tool for party play. You can stealth to check which doors are open in certain instances, e.g. bunch of 8x players got a bh on styg and too cheap to buy wines? Stealth, go make sure stygs doors open. If so it's easy to clear to him unwined, if not reset the cave and check again until his doors open. In FC's you can stealth and kill the shades to open the doors without clearing the room of mobs, so your party can then either do a large pull of all the mobs you would have otherwise had to kill in small groups, or you can just skip them to make the run faster. In FC's you can also perform the bm's job of stunning the bishops that stand in groups with the four blue fox's. Usually the bm will run up with will of the bodhisattva on to resist the immobilise the bishop will use then roar of pride to stun the bishop and fox's, then the rest of the party come in and kill them. If you don't have a BM in squad or he doesn't have will or he just sucks and keeps failing, you can take his place. Maze step resists the immobilise too, and it's only the bishop that immobilises not the fox's, so you can run in with maze up, inner harmony if you need the chi and headhunt the bishop, then aoe the mobs to make sure they don't agro the cleric if they start healing you. If you're low on chi or maze is on cool down or you just prefer doing it this way, just stealth walk up to the bishop and stun it. Problem with this is that many people don't seem to understand how stealth works or what the hell you're doing or something and run in randomly behind you and get themselves immobilised anyway or start attacking before you stun or healing you or something silly. Stealth just seems to confuse people xD So explain carefully what you're about to do before you do it.

All I can think to add about supporting your party as a sin. Nice little guide, hope my thoughts are helpful b:bye

Typhyse - Sanctuary

Graey_Rain - Harshlands wrote: »

In FC's you can also perform the bm's job of stunning the bishops that stand in groups with the four blue fox's. Usually the bm will run up with will of the bodhisattva on to resist the immobilise the bishop will use then roar of pride to stun the bishop and fox's, then the rest of the party come in and kill them. If you don't have a BM in squad or he doesn't have will or he just sucks and keeps failing, you can take his place. Maze step resists the immobilise too, and it's only the bishop that immobilises not the fox's, so you can run in with maze up, inner harmony if you need the chi and headhunt the bishop, then aoe the mobs to make sure they don't agro the cleric if they start healing you. If you're low on chi or maze is on cool down or you just prefer doing it this way, just stealth walk up to the bishop and stun it.

Yup, my in first FCC run at 76, we had another sin around my level and no BM; we were able to take out the bishops together in seconds flatb:sin

Taste_of_God - Lost City

KBar - Harshlands wrote: »

Greetings, my fellow fishmen. I know, I know, "Assassins are awesome! High DPS, invisibility, plus Bloodpaint makes you practically invincible!" However, you aren't as special as you might think. Bloodpaint can only heal you for so much, after all. Sometimes, you've gotta get a squad. Unfortunately, not all of you have realized this. I can count on one hand the number of assassins that actually know how to play well with a party. So to help all of you Prima Donnas (and I don't use that as a derogatory term) I've decided to create a simple guide to help you be a team player. Trust me, the rest of your party will be greatful.

1: Rib Strike early, Rib Strike often.
Your Rib Strike ability isn't just a great spike damage skill. As you can read in its skill description, Rib Strike gives the added bonus of lowering an opponent's attack speed. So use this as often as you can, especially on bosses, as lower attack speed means the tank takes less damage and the cleric doesn't have to spam heals as much.

2: Guard your cleric.
Your high damage, debuff attacks and teleportation skills means you can kill and maneuver around the battlefield quickly. It's best to use these skills to keep mobs off of your cleric. If your cleric manages to take aggro due to healing, you can:
1. Shadow Teleport (your teleport stun move) and Throatcut to stun and silence the mob, effectively removing it from play until either you and/or your party can kill it.
2. If your telestun and silence attack is on cooldown, use your other teleporting ability (Shadow Jump) and Tackling Slash to get to the mob and keep it from moving so that your cleric can maneuver out of its aggro range while you kill it. Deep Sting also works well if Tackling Slash is on cooldown.

3:Control your anger...and aggro.
As a high-DPS class, you generate aggro quite easily. Indeed, not knowing how to control aggro well is one of the top ways to get killed quickly. Luckily, you have two built in skills that can make aggro control pitifully easy:
1. Chill of the Deep. I can already hear some of you balk at the mere mention of the skill. Who would want a skill that actually lowers attack speed? Sure, it gives a minor attack level boost, but it's not even remotely equal to the damage you can put out without the buff on. However, you're in a party, so unfortunately damage isn't everything; Survival is. Chill of the Deep is almost essential for aggro control on bosses, as your lowered attack speed means you can let the tank do his job without any real worry (plus, it gives Rib Strike a nice damage bonus, so it's not all bad). Plus, casting it a second time ends the effect, so you can activate it when you start a boss, then deactivate it when the boss's health is about halfway gone, as by then the tank will likely have the boss's complete attention, letting you cut loose and take out the other half of the boss's HP quickly.
2. Shadow Escape. This skill is absolutely essential to aggro control, as casting it completely removes you from the aggro table. Use this for those moments when you actually take aggro away from the tank, so that you don't die, the tank can easily regain aggro, and no one gets mad at you for a party wipe.

4:Subsea Stike= more damage for all!
Your Subsea Strike skill is an AoE that increases the damage mobs take for a set amount of time, similar to the Dragon that BM's have. The best part is, they stack! So if a BM is in your party, use this as soon as you see the dragons, as that means more damage for everyone.

5: Bloodpaint your tank.
As you know, Bloodpaint lets you regain health equal to a percentage of damage you deal, so you want to cast this on your tank the moment he pops in the instance. In fact, it's great for everyone else in your party that's melee DPS, as it lets them get the bloodsucking benefits you get. Luckily, Bloodpaint is an AoE skill, so you just cast it when the cleric's casting buffs and you're good!

That's about all I can think of for now, I'll add more if I can come across anything else that could be helpful. Now go out there, and be a team player!

1. i dont rib strike mobs they die in 2-10 normal hits in any fb so whats the point.
ye i rib strike boss, obviously.

2. clerics suck i wont guard them, dont need noob healers ty.

3. if u dont know how aggro works, u are dumb.

4.why bother casting skills, be an interval sin and use normal hits only.

5.duh.

Typhyse - Sanctuary

I detect an oracle/hyper noob who thinks he knows everything about the class now that he's 80.b:shocked

Taste_of_God - Lost City

Typhyse - Sanctuary wrote: »

I detect an oracle/hyper noob who thinks he knows everything about the class now that he's 80.b:shocked

come to lost city so i can pk u please.

Typhyse - Sanctuary

You think PKing me would make you superior to me? LMAOb:bye

Taste_of_God - Lost City

Typhyse - Sanctuary wrote: »

You think PKing me would make you superior to me? LMAOb:bye

yes because i am suprerior to u, u just need proof, that's all.

Okeano - Harshlands

Taste_of_God - Lost City wrote: »

yes because i am suprerior to u, u just need proof, that's all.

Your 83 kills are just shockingly scary. You monster you~

Taste_of_God - Lost City

Okeano - Harshlands wrote: »

Your 83 kills are just shockingly scary. You monster you~

yes for a lv 80 who been playing 11 days and isnt ever red, how can i even get 83 kills lmao, i am too pro for you.

Typhyse - Sanctuary

Taste_of_God - Lost City wrote: »

yes because i am suprerior to u, u just need proof, that's all.

Welcome to the forums; your threats do not phase us here.

---Edit---
Why am I still waiting my time with you?

Taste_of_God - Lost City

Typhyse - Sanctuary wrote: »

Welcome to the forums; your threats do not phase us here.

---Edit---
Why am I still waiting my time with you?

the real reason u arent phased isnt because of the fact we talking on a forum, but because u are on another server, u chicken. come to lost city, then talk.

Typhyse - Sanctuary

Taste_of_God - Lost City wrote: »

the real reason u arent phased isnt because of the fact we talking on a forum, but because u are on another server, u chicken. come to lost city, then talk.

Why would I do that? I'm not insecure with who I am in real life; I don't go looking for people to kill in video games to feed my ego (or lack thereof), as seems to be the case with you.

And if you are so pro, you come over here to my server.

sneakiest

After reading three threads now, I REALLY want to go to LC but yeah, I won't. Seriously Taste, you are really doing yourself no favours, only showing yourself up as a complete noob. GL with PWI.

_Scythe - Dreamweaver

Taste_of_God - Lost City wrote: »

1. i dont rib strike mobs they die in 2-10 normal hits in any fb so whats the point.
ye i rib strike boss, obviously.

2. clerics suck i wont guard them, dont need noob healers ty.

3. if u dont know how aggro works, u are dumb.

4.why bother casting skills, be an interval sin and use normal hits only.

5.duh.

Just pointing out your logical fallacies as if they weren't obvious enough:

2. Clearly you're an idiot. At level 82, even with -int gear, you cannot solo your BHs yet. So therefore you do need clerics. Like any and all players, clerics will make occasional mistakes such as late heals which pull aggro. DDs are supposed to step in here. If you want to solo, go hyper up to 99 noob.

3. Aggro has always been difficult to control as a sin. You make a point in 4. to maximize damage output but yet here you say to control it? Way to be a dumbass and create contrasting statements.

5. If it's obvious then why comment on it?

Thank you and please take your empty and useless opinions elsewhere. b:bye

Miugre - Heavens Tear

KBar - Harshlands wrote: »

3:Control your anger...and aggro.
As a high-DPS class, you generate aggro quite easily. Indeed, not knowing how to control aggro well is one of the top ways to get killed quickly. Luckily, you have two built in skills that can make aggro control pitifully easy:
1. Chill of the Deep. I can already hear some of you balk at the mere mention of the skill. Who would want a skill that actually lowers attack speed? Sure, it gives a minor attack level boost, but it's not even remotely equal to the damage you can put out without the buff on. However, you're in a party, so unfortunately damage isn't everything; Survival is. Chill of the Deep is almost essential for aggro control on bosses, as your lowered attack speed means you can let the tank do his job without any real worry (plus, it gives Rib Strike a nice damage bonus, so it's not all bad). Plus, casting it a second time ends the effect, so you can activate it when you start a boss, then deactivate it when the boss's health is about halfway gone, as by then the tank will likely have the boss's complete attention, letting you cut loose and take out the other half of the boss's HP quickly.
2. Shadow Escape. This skill is absolutely essential to aggro control, as casting it completely removes you from the aggro table. Use this for those moments when you actually take aggro away from the tank, so that you don't die, the tank can easily regain aggro, and no one gets mad at you for a party wipe.

I'm glad you pointed these out.

My fiancee and I both have sins in the 70s, yet we have slightly different methods of dealing with bosses. She favors using Chill of the Deep for most, if not all of the fight (which is understandable - after all, it basically allows you to go afk). I've been experimenting with a different strategy, which is basically:

1. Rib strike / DPS as normal
2. Take aggro. Immediately use Shadow Escape.
3. Activate Chill of the Deep
4. Rib Strike (or other skill) to remove self from stealth
5. Continue to DPS normally with Chill active, for about 45 seconds or so
6. When Shadow Escape nears the end of its cooldown, deactivate Chill of the Deep.
7. Repeat from Step 1 :P

You'd think all the rest of those examples would be obvious... but unfortunately people don't know how to play these days.

Allow me to add something, too: Tackling Slash is great for melee support as well as defending your cleric. This is particularly true of ranged mobs, and can also be used in cooperation with a pulling genie/pet to freeze the target mob to a specific spot where it can be killed (you'll likely take a hit in this scenario, but you can stealth out if you're afraid the tank won't reach it in time).

Right now I'm just working on avoiding the reflex to stealth out when more than one character has hate on the mob(s). I'm sad to admit that this reflex has caused the death of the cleric at least once in the past. -_-

NSAT - Lost City

CoD doesnt always work since atk lv's add extra aggro... or i guess i still just always out aggro'd the tank with CoD on somehow...

Stretchlt - Harshlands

NSAT - Lost City wrote: »

CoD doesnt always work since atk lv's add extra aggro... or i guess i still just always out aggro'd the tank with CoD on somehow...

The attack speed overpowers the fact you have 30 extra attack levels, since your speed drops by up to 100% at level 10 maxed. It's the same as an axe bm in terms of damage at that point, and most axe bms barely, if ever steal aggro off a barb. I personally never CoD unless I'm pvp-ing, then the 30 atk level actually makes a huge difference in terms of damage spike.

Rav_Remnant - Raging Tide

Taste_of_God - Lost City wrote: »

1. i dont rib strike mobs they die in 2-10 normal hits in any fb so whats the point.
ye i rib strike boss, obviously.

2. clerics suck i wont guard them, dont need noob healers ty.

3. if u dont know how aggro works, u are dumb.

4.why bother casting skills, be an interval sin and use normal hits only.

5.duh.

1. i dont rib strike mobs they die in 2-10 normal hits in any fb so whats the point.
ye i rib strike boss, obviously.

hmm I am pretty sure he doesn't rib strike norm enemies but, it still may help.

2. clerics suck i wont guard them, dont need noob healers ty.

Must state that was a n00b comment. Cleric dies party dies, tank dies party dies. you survive tho kudos, you have to afk a while while they return and buff.

May also state, shadow escape when tank is died should throw off the boss (or enemy) meaning the cleric is safe. Unless the noob heals you, then please attempt a teabag upon dead corpse.

3. if u dont know how aggro works, u are dumb.

no comment

4.why bother casting skills, be an interval sin and use normal hits only.

Deals x2 to x4 more damage afterwards, x4 would give you more damage afterwards. Just watch the field and play it out as you wish.

5.duh.

...

Noskrad - Heavens Tear

Taste_of_God - Lost City wrote: »

yes because i am suprerior to u, u just need proof, that's all.

OMG!!! b:shocked this kind of ppl should not only be banned from games, but also followed by police and took into quarantine in real life so our children don't get infected by them!!! b:shocked

Typhyse - Sanctuary

Noskrad - Heavens Tear wrote: »

OMG!!! b:shocked this kind of ppl should not only be banned from games, but also followed by police and took into quarantine in real life so our children don't get infected by them!!! b:shocked

LOL ikr? god-complex, anyone?b:chuckle

Vexxis - Dreamweaver

Amazing, the time and effort put into reasoning with it all.

k0ofdeath

Here's what I do when i do BH. My assassin is currently level 77. Choose to listen to me or don't, but don't base it off my level if you choose not to read. A level is just a number, most level 40 assassins I meet are better than the level 100's with +10 gear I see pking.

1. Bloodpaint bms and barbs.

2. Stay with the barb, if the barb looses aggro, its time to step in. Tackling slash the mob, use shadow teleport, deep sting, do something to take the aggro upon yourself to help the overall squad.

3. ALWAYS protect the cleric; Die for the cleric. If the cleric is getting hit by a bunch of stuff, be smart. Tell the cleric to self heal and go up and use earthen strike to take aggro. Run away from all players and shadow escape. (If the cleric is being hit by 1 mob, do the options in point 2). The cleric is more important than you, sacrifice some exp to save everyone from losing it.

4. You are an assassin, not a tank. For average assassins (players who arn't funded by 100 venos b:chuckle jk) with decent gear, don't play "Take aggro from the tank", at least on the bosses. It will make the cleric's job much harder.

5. When you are killing mobs on the way to bosses, make use of Inner Harmony and RDS. They give 150 chi, so speed up the process by single or double sparking on mobs.

6. On bosses, I recommend partnering with a friendly BM. Talk to each other, when the BM has Heaven's Flame, tell them to use the skill when they see Subsea Strike (if they don't know what it looks like, tell them to look for blue curves flying in all directions). This will amplify the damage by alot. (Usually, I can use subsea 1.5 times before the BM has Heaven's Flame ready)

7. Rib strike! It's important, I've seen too many assassins that start hitting the boss and go afk. DO SOMETHING! If you're afk, you're not contributing. (If I catch you afk on bosses, I will kick youb:angry, so pray you don't have me as a leader)

8. Use a bow, they're always good to have around. Nothing beats long ranged attacks on aoe bosses.

Allilie - Sanctuary

Typhyse - Sanctuary wrote: »

You think PKing me would make you superior to me? LMAOb:bye

Sin on Sin pvp is very droll... whoever gets the first stun in wins. Unless you are fail at damage.

Typhyse - Sanctuary

Allilie - Sanctuary wrote: »

Sin on Sin pvp is very droll... whoever gets the first stun in wins. Unless you are fail at damage.

*cough cough* b:avoidb:avoid

Okeano - Harshlands

Allilie - Sanctuary wrote: »

Sin on Sin pvp is very droll... whoever gets the first stun in wins. Unless you are fail at damage.

Unless genie is not on cooldown of course.

CuteButEvil - Harshlands

Yep, agree with you for the most part. Other than I do end up being tank a lot. (and yes, it's my own fault if it dings my charm, if I want to insist on tanking I can't yell at the cleric for not healing fast enough) It really depends on where I am.

And I had a lvl 82 sin tell me their Blood Paint was lvl 1...I was like "and you wonder why you aren't wanted in squads? shesh" If you want to be in a lot squads, it's logical (and kinda polite) to lvl BP.

Typhyse - Sanctuary

CuteButEvil - Harshlands wrote: »

If you want to be in a lot squads, it's logical (and kinda polite) to lvl BP.

Why...?