My Assassin guide

Alright well here is my guide i am writing for the new assassin class. It will take awhile to finish but hopefully it will help new and up coming assassins.

Contents
~Assassin as a class - brief description of what the assassin is(will finish when have more info)

~Builds

~Skills (will finish when i have more info)

~ Equipment (will add more to this as i level)

~Leveling (will add more to this as i level up)

~ TTs/FBs/BHs (to be added later)

~ Rebirths (to be added later)

~ PvP (to be added later)

~ Genies (to be added later)




Assassin as a class
The assassin is a melee class that uses daggers with many different skills. There damage potential is great but they are rather lacking defense wise focusing more on killing a foe before it has a chance to kill them.

Builds
While i still believe the only build an assassin should be using is the 1 str 4 dex each level one. I will still list the other builds and try to explain why they are not worth it.

Pure
1 str 4 dex each level

This build gives you enough str to use light armor of your level and puts all the rest of your points into increasing your damage, crit rate, accuracy and evasion.
The faster you kill a mob the less time it has to hit you.

Hybrid
2 str 1 vit 7 dex every 2 levels

This build gives you a little more hp than the pure build but at the cost of decreased damage.
While leveling as a pure build i have not come across a mob that can take out all of my hp before i can kill it, so having a higher max hp is pretty useless if the mob gets in an extra hit because you take that little bit longer to kill it.

Vit Build
1 str 1 vit 3 dex each level

This build is even worse than the hybrid one, you lose even more damage and crit for a small amount of hp more.

At 81 a pure build will have 4% more crit and 80 more dex than a vit build, but the vit build will only have 1040 more hp. Since you have 6 pieces of equipment that you can shard and refine for hp, only one that you can shard and refine for damage and none that you can shard or refine for crit rate the Vit builds really isn't worth it.

Skills

Twin Strike ~ learned at level 1
A swift strike with both daggers.
Deals a great amount of physical damage.

Complete ****, don't even bother touching it. Unless they give this skill a good sage/demon bonus there's no reason to even use it once.

Puncture Wound ~ learned at level 3
Deals a great amount of damage and causes a bleed effect

unlike most DoTs this skill is actually pretty good, i defiantly suggest leveling it up and using it at the start of all your fights during your lower levels. Thou after 60 it isn't too useful.

Slipstream Strike ~ learned at level 6
A superb assassin skill.
Deals a great amount of physical damage to the target.

This skill is almost just as good as puncture wound and should be leveled every chance you get

Raving Slash ~ learned at level 9
Deals physical damage to the target and increases your movement speed

only lasts 3 seconds which really isn't that long and the damage isn't that great, i wouldn't bother with it at all

Windpush ~ learned at level 9
Increases own movement speed.

not a bad skill, will be very useful for annoying kiters later on but i don't see any reason to lvl it past 1 at lower levels

Tide Form ~ learned at level 9
Transform into a fish. Increase defense level and swimming speed. Only available in the water.

looks good on paper but you can't use skills while in tide form so it really isn't worth leveling

Shadow Walk ~ learned at level 13
The assassin can hide themselves from enemies. Enemies with an Awareness level lower than your stealth level can not see you. Only usable outside of combat.

a nice skill, leveling it decreases the mp per second it uses and increases your stealth level, but it's more a pvp skill and not needed too much for pve so level 1 does just fine for awhile.

Deep Sting ~ learned at level 19
A bloody assassin skill. Deals great physical damage and has a chance to put the target to sleep.

has kinda low damage, and sleep wears off when you hit the target so i personally didn't bother leveling it, but it should prove to be a useful pvp skill later on

Focused Mind ~ learned at level 19
Temporarily increases your chance to avoid enemy skills.

at lvl one it is only 11.5% chance of avoiding attacks and it only lasts 33 seconds with a 90 second cool down, but at level 10 it is a 25% chance of avoiding attacks and lasts 60 seconds so it's pretty sweet.

Knife Throw ~ learned at level19
Throws your dagger towards the target. Deals a great amount of physical damage and has a chance to interrupt channeling.

a useful skill as an opener on melee mobs or when mobs run away, but the damage is pretty poor so not really worth leveling till later for pvp

Rib Strike ~ learned at level 29
Deals physical damage to the target, and reduces its attack speed.

an awesome skill that not only does good damage but also decreases the attack speed of the target for 30 seconds with a 100% success rate when it hits. I used this skill heaps from 29 to 60 but after 60 i just got lazy and just melee things.

Shadow Escape ~ learned at level 29
Force yourself into stealth. Dispel all negative status. Enemies with an Awareness level lower than your stealth level cannot see you. Increases own Chi.

a great skill for getting out of a tight spot or just for getting a spark, it's only down side is it's cool down of 90 seconds
but hey when every other class needs a spark for skills like this and this one actually gives you a spark you can't really complain about a cool down xD not worth leveling till later thou, same deal as shadow walk

Tackling Slash ~ learned at level 29
A tackling skill of Assassins. Deals physical damage and immobilizes the target. Increases own Chi.

lol god i hate mobs that run, this skill is a god send, immobilizes them for 6.3 seconds at lvl one and it also gives you 50 chi, and it only has a 15 second cool down
leveling it isn't really important but when you have spare spirit it is a good choice

Shadow Jump ~ learned at level 29
Instantly move to the targets location.

oh man this skill is fun, unlike the fail wizzie teleport that looks like some silly jump this one actually teles you to the target, but leveling it isn't too important till later on

Dagger Devotion ~ learned at level 29
Increases all damage with daggers

lol basic mastery, useful of course

Cat-Like Tread ~ learned at level 29
Increases your stealth level.

increases the level that people have to be to spot you when your in stealth

Sharp Observer ~ learned at level 29
Increases your awareness level.

helps you spot other assassins, basically just cancels out the other assassins cat-like trend

Spark burst ~ learned at level 29
Costs 1 spark. Gain 150% extra weapon damage for 10 seconds. Become invincible for 1 second.

Your first spark burst, pretty awesome, with tackling you can nearly use it on every single mob you fight.

Bloodpaint ~ learned at level 34
Makes all friendly units within a range can recover some HP each physical combat attack. This skill only works on Blademaster, Barbarian and Assassins.

heals you for 2% of the damage you deal, kinda useless with a crappy dagger. But when you have a nice dagger it reduces the amount of pots you need or how often your charm ticks.
Leveling it only increases the duration not how much you heal, so i suggest just save on spirit for now and just recast it when it runs out.

Throatcut ~ learned at level 39
A swift throat cut. Deals high damage and has a chance to silence the target.

Just got this skill and it looks pretty nice at level one it has a 86% chance to interrupt channeling and it also silences the target for 2.2 seconds, just a guess but i think the silence will be 4 seconds at level 10.
Also at level one it has +2071.7 damage were as my lvl 7 slipstream is only +1820.1, so it should have nice damage at a higher level.

Now with only an 8 second cool down you have got to be thinking what the down side to this skill is and unfortunately it does cost one spark and has a kinda long cast/channel.

I prefer to use my sparks on my 59 skills or on adv spark, but i can imagine times when a 4 second silence could be really useful so i will probably level this when i have spare spirit.

Deaden Nerves ~ learned at level 39
The secret technique of the tide born assassins. Avoid one attack that would otherwise kill you. Recovers some hp upon death.

Yay auto-life =D, just looking at this skill makes you think they put it in just to **** off wizards, they sleep you use an ulti and all it does is tick your charm. lol

Leveling it up just decreases the cool down so i wouldn't bother until you start serious pvp or something.

Chill of the Deep ~ learned at level 44
Focus on the chill of the ocean deaths. Reduces attack speed but increases attack level.

Awesome skill if you have been skill spamming to level, it adds +16.5 attack level at lvl 1 and +30 attack level at lvl 10. This is defiantly worth leveling for pvp but you won't really skill spam to level past 60 so it's not of huge importance on a pve server.

Maze Steps ~ learned at level 44
A special movement of the tide born assassins. Increases own movement speed, and become immune to stuns and immobilization.

Just like the bm skill, be very nice for pvp but it seems leveling it only increases your movement speed not the duration so no hurry to level this past level one for awhile.
Also it costs 1 spark but has a 90 second cool down so will probably only use this once per fight.

Earthen Rift ~ learned at level 49
Denote the ground under the enemy. Deals great physical damage to all enemy units around you.

An aoe that hits everyone within 8 meters, but unlike other aoes it doesn't have static add on damage. At level one it deals base physical damage plus 220% of weapon damage, then level 2 is 240% weapon damage. So it is pretty safe to assume it will be +400% weapon damage at level 10. Which should prove to be nice but at 49 not only do you not need an aoe, you have crappy weapon so all your other skills out damage earthen rift.

Raising Dragon Strike ~ learned at level 49
An advanced assassin technique. Deals great amount of damage to the target, and increases own chi. perfect accuracy.

This skill is awesome, it gives you 150 chi every time you use it, just at level one the damage isn't as good as slipstream or rib strike is when your 49. When i'm with a decent tank i can stay sparked the whole time using this inner harmony and sometimes tackling slash.

Subsea Strike ~ learned at level 59
An advanced assassin technique. Deals physical damage to all targets within 8 meters. Causes a increasing damage effect.

Pretty nice skill, costs 2 sparks but causes the target to take 16.5% more damage at level 1 and 30% more at level 10.

The only down side to this skill is the damage, it adds no +% of weapon damage and at level one only adds +1.9k static damage.

Headhunt ~ learned at level 59
A swift blow to the head. Deals physical damage and stuns the target.

The stun on this skill is nice but it is our only ulti that adds +% of weapon damage. Only 55% at level 1 and 100% at level 10 thou, but the static damage at level one is +3.8k at level one.

So it looks like this will be more of our finisher skill, to try and bypass a squishies charm or something.

Power dash ~ learned at level 59
Dash into an enemy formation with a death determination. Deals physical damage and increases own crit strike rate.

While the skill info may say it is your rage damage that increases it is actually your crit rate, 22% at level 1 and 40% at level 10. Plus 40% crit rate is insane, a pure dex level 100 sin will already have 20% crit rate just from his base dex, that doesn't even count crit/dex added from equipment.

Can you imagine how much damage an end game sin can do with ~70% crit rate for 8 seconds?

Tidal protection ~ learned at level 59
Temporarily increases your chance to avoid negative status effects.

A nice skill, 27.5% chance at level 1 and 50% chance but it only lasts 60 seconds at level 10 and shares the same 90 second cool down with focused mind. Be great for avoiding a bm stun lock but sometimes focus mind can be a better choice for fighting people like wizards.

Inner Harmony ~ learned at level 59
Greatly increases own chi.

omg i love this skill, it channels/casts instantly. meaning you can use it in the middle of a pvp fight lol
gives you 155 chi at level 1 and 2 spark at level 10 with a 60 second cool down. It's like sage chi skill on steroids.

Shadow Teleport ~ learned at level 59
The assassin can focus on the ground and swiftly dash to the target. Instantly move to the target's location, and stun the target.

Our second stun skill, lasts 3 seconds but has a 180 second cooldown. It also costs one spark so it seems it will be more of an emergency skill.

Spark burst+ ~ learned at level 59
Costs 2 sparks. Recover 10% maximum hp. Gain 300% extra weapon damage for 12 seconds. Become invincible for 2 seconds.

With a good dagger you can kill mobs in 4-5 seconds after adv spark and with tackling slash, RDS and inner harmony you can be adv sparked in most of your fights.


Equipment

Armor
Assassins use light armor but you can use heavy armor at the lower levels if you want because nearly all mobs are physical but i prefer to just use the quest armor you get till 30.
Then at 30 you get the rank top and pants which are very nice. After that you can just use npc armor till about level 70. You can buy 2 star or 3 star LA from the auction house if you want, but i just use plain unsharded armor and i'm doing fine. The level 60 dq LA gloves are awesome but they are fairly expensive.


Weapons
Assassins use daggers as there only weapon because you cannot use skills with any other weapon.
Some people like using a bow at lower levels to hit mobs before the mob gets close but personally i found i kill monsters fast enough without worrying about swapping weapons.

Below level 60 just use the best weapon you can find and if your lucky enough to get the mold off a weapon token quest make sure you use it.

Ornaments
Well rings are simple just use the best physical attack ones you can find.
With necklaces and belts thou i suggest physical defense for leveling but i would keep a pair of m def ones for times when you have to fight a boss with a magic aoe.

Hats and Capes
Some people will say to use a mp hat cause hp helms need too much str. But we already have enough mp we don't need more so i suggest just using a lower level hp helm like archers do.

Capes, well evasion does very little so i would just try and find a cape with a nice stat on it.



Leveling

Levels 1~20
The assassin is pretty easy to level up at the start you just follow the quests you get. Don't bother using twin strike it sucks, just normal attack till you get to level 3. At level 3 you get Puncture wound and this nice skill makes leveling even easier. You just open with puncture wound then auto attack till the mob is dead.

So with puncture wound you just follow the quests till you get to level 6. At level 6 you get Slipstream strike, now personally i prefer puncture wound then slipstream strike but some prefer it the other way around. Both puncture wound and slipstream should be leveled whenever you can.

As you follow the quests you soon come to level 9 and get your first cultivation quest so you talk to the guy and he wants you to kill demonic jellyfish. These guy are up on the mushrooms and while at first glance they might not have a good spawn, they re-spawn instantly so just pick a mushroom that no one else is on and get killing.

Once your done killing the poor jelly fish and have talked to the guy you can get your level 9 skills, but none of them really need to be leveled past level one for awhile. While some people do like using rave slash i found it rather useless and just stuck to the puncture wound > slipstream slash > auto attack to kill mobs.

Some more quests later and you get to level 13 and you get your shadow walk skill to make yourself invisible. A fun skill but again no hurry to level it up. By now you might want to start carrying hp pots and maybe mp pots around with you.

As you keep following the quests till you get to level 19, none of the quests are overly difficult. At 19 you get your second cultivation quest, just kill a mob for a drop then dig a flower. After that you can get your level 19 skills.

Again none of them need to be leveled in a hurry, but some people do like deep sting as it puts the target to sleep for 5 seconds but i found with puncture wound > slipstream > auto i was killling mobs fast enough without standing around for 5 seconds cause i used deep sting.

Following the quests you should get given a quest to kill some ocean tusker i think it was called, in the cave of menaces. If you don't have a nice friend willing to come kill it for you then just wait in the cave and when a higher level comes to help there friend with the quest ask politely if you may join them.

After the quest the elder gives you a 3 star dagger but the level 20 supply stash one is better. Don't sell the trail one as you can trade it to general summers in arch for 10k hp charm. By now you should be level 20 and time for you to leave raging tide city and head off to arch.


Levels 20~30
The 2xs, oh i'm sure most of us remember the 2x as nasty werewolfs ganging up and killing us, or maybe that's just me. lol

At level 20 you get your first weapon token quest, these are quests that tell you to go kill a boss in an fb higher level than you for a chance to get a mold, you get these every 10 levels. Asking a friend to help with these is really worth it as the molds you get are so much better than any other weapon for your level. But if none of your friends are high enough and your not in a guild yet you can go and wait in the center of arch until you see someone asking for people to do BH29. Then you just ask politely if you can come along because you need the boss.

Well now you head off to arch and continue just following quests to level using puncture wound > slipstream > auto attack to kill off the mobs. But there are a few changes you should note, most of the mobs that use to be aggro in the 2x are no longer aggro making the 2x much easier than they use to be imo.
Even the werewolf spear men are no longer aggro, yay!

Around this time you might want to find a nice helpful guild to join as you start getting bosses that you cannot kill by yourself, but most factions will be willing to help you out if you ask nice and polite and wait till some one isn't busy, don't nag people or be really pushy about it.

When you get to 29 you get your next cultivation, it is fairly easy but you do get 2 bosses that i'm pretty sure the assassin has no chance of soloing, i didn't try.
You also get your 29 fb, most people will love the chance to do an fb as it gives them both exp and rep. If no one in your faction is high enough there is almost always someone in world chat offering to do your fbs19-fbxx(59+ wined), so just pm them and say you have your 29 fb to do.

After you 29 cultivation you get a few new skills, and some of them do change the way you fight mobs.
Rib strike is great on anything, small cool down, no chi cost and it slows mobs attack speed.
Some people prefer to use rib strike first to slow the mobs attack speed but i found using rib strike first the mob hits me one more time because i have to auto attack him after slipstream to kill it.

puncture wound > rib strike > slipstream kills almost any mob your level.

Also you will have noticed during the 2x that archer mobs are a huge pain, well now you have tackling slash which freezes them for 6.3 seconds which makes killing them much easier.

For archer mobs i normally use puncture > tackling > rib strike > then slipstream if they are still alive.

And of course you get your teleport, but you don't really need to level it right now. It is fun but you need spirit for other skills like Puncture wound, slipstream strike, rib strike and dagger mastery.

You also get 3 passives but the only one worth leveling is dagger mastery, the others can wait till you start pvping seriously.

Levels 30~40
Crazy stone time!! this is your first daily quest, all it involves is picking the quest up, making some shards then handing the shards to an npc and then waiting 10mins before you go back and get exp and spirit. At higher levels is can become rather expensive but during your 3x the is tiny.

Also at level 30 you can finally fly, no more running around every where. Just pick up the quest, collect 5 honey dews then go down to raging tides and speak with the npc and he will tell you to collect 5 honey dew. So you hand him over your honey dew you got on the way down and he gives you a pair of little fairy wings. Personally i think these wings are horrible but if you can't buy cs wings they are better than nothing.

You get your next weapon token quest when you get to 30 as well. Most guilds have no problem helping out guildies as long as your polite and wait until people aren't busy. Of course you don't need to do the weapon quests as soon as you hit 30 but if you get the mold they really do help.
But also sometimes you will just get mirage stones from your weapon token quests, i got mirages from my lvl 20 and lvl 30 ones, so just remember it is not guaranteed you'll get a mold.

For most of the 3x you can continue to level off quests alone with no need to grind at all. So you just continue following the quests with the same combos you used at 29.
Level 34 you will get blood paint, i didn't find it too useful in my 3x but it does save some of your hp so you use less pots or your charm ticks less. Leveling it only increases the duration you heal the same amount at level 1 and at level 10, so just save your spirit and recast when it runs out.

At about level 35 if you didn't get the mold from the level 30 weapon token quest then it's time to get a new dagger, just a plain npc level 35 dagger will do but if you can try and find a 2 star or 3 star one.

If you just rushed thou your 3x and barely did any CS then you will have to grind at about level 37. For the 3xs i prefer either the sapphire planes sharks or the dons. The sharks and the mermaids around them use physical attacks and aren't aggro. They also drop rough fur which sells pretty nice to cat shops in arch. After the sharks you can either grind on the big mouth piranhas or the bugs above allies camp. Air and water mobs give more exp than land mobs.

At 39 you get your next cultivation but unlike your previous 2 you can do your fb before your culti. The part some people forget is after the celestial guy gives you the spirit condensing orb you actually have to die to get the next part of the quest.
The fb is the same deal as your 29 one except you have quests to kill certain mobs in there. But most squads that run fbs do them properly and will kill the mobs you need for you.

Once you finish up your 39 culti, you can get throat cut and deaden nerves. Both are useful skills but both don't really need to be leveled above 1 for awhile.

Levels 40~50
Bounty hunter time, well actually he is called the treasure hunter now but that is a lame name so i still call him the bounty hunter. This is your second daily, basically you speak to the guy and he gives you a quest to kill a boss in a low leveled fb. So all you have to do is wait around near the bounty hunter until you see a squad looking for more people to do the same bh you need then you just pm them and then you go kill the guy and come back. You can do 3 bounty hunters a day.

You also get your next weapon token quest, same deal as the last 2.
Levels 50~60

Levels 60+
If you don't know how to level by the time you are 60 then you really should just give up.






While it is not yet finished i will continue to work on it when i can. Please feel free to leave any comments or questions.