PVE assassin guide by Yishuin

as ive promised in my previous guide (assassin guide from lvl 1 to 49), here comes a more completed guide and the lvl 59 skills of course . I took all the content of my previous guide and made some adjustment so you'll find a lot of things previously said in the previous guide. Enjoy reading.

What is an assassin?

Well its pretty simple. Assassin are melee damage dealers wich can be compared to archers for the build. I mean they wear light armors and their damage and weapons are based on the dexterity. That's all. Assassin are definitely not tank. Also You will need to spend a lot of money not only into skills but also into stuff and refining. Assassins are very bad in making money at the beginning. If you want to make money in the early lvl you are not in the right section. Try the venomancer forum . I suggest you not to begin PWI with assassin if you are new to the game also. At the first 30-40 lvl lvling will be hard and long.

You will notice too that assassins have more mp than a bm. Its of course because you will have to use more skills than a bm.

The builds :

many builds were discussed in this forum. I will list here the main.

Daggers require lvlx3+2 dex so you have to put 3 dex each lvl to use the best daggers for your lvl.
Assassins wear light armors so its lvl+4 str required.

Pure dex build : like archers, 4 dex and 1 str each lvl.
Hybrid dex/vit : its each 2 lvl 7 dex 2 str 1 vit.
Vit build : Like archers also, 3 dex 1 str 1 vit each lvl.
HA build : each lvl 2 str 3 dex.

Choose the one you like the most. The pure dex build will allow you to play the most powerfull melee damage dealer in PWI while the hybrid and vit build will lower your damage but will increase a little bit your hp. The HA build will increase your defense ok but you will never be able to wear the most powerfull Heavy armor and its a sacrifice both in vit and damage dealing

After using a little bit my brain (not too much of course ) i found something interesting between the pure dex build and the HA build for the first 30-40 lvl. A pure dex build is a 4dex/1str build each lvl while HA build seems to be 3dex/2str each lvl. Youll notice the not so big difference between those two.
What my mind have suggested to me is to lvl up with HA during the first 30 lvl (so 2 str every lvl) then at lvl 30 you are going to have more usefull skills. So STOP putting str and put only in dexterity until you reach the cap of str = lvl+1, then you start following a pure dex build. So if i calculate correctly with the 5 basic stats points, at lvl 30 you will have 63 str. So youll be putting all your 5 points in dexterity from lvl 31 to lvl 59. After that lvl, gogo again 1str/4dex. Of course between the lvl 30 and 59 your armors will change slowly from HA to LA . I think its a good way to learn how to play your assassin .

the stuff

As i said, assassin are wearing light armors and use daggers. While your damage directly increase your capacity of taking damage (bloodpaint) i suggest you to use the best daggers you can find (legendary ones from the weapon token quests are perfect of course). for the armors, always wear the best for your lvl (2 or 3* with some sockets or legendary if you can find/buy it).

what shards using? well every post ive read talk about citrines, citrines and always citrines. But you have bloodpaint to replenish your hp. therefore i tried to use garnet gems to increase my armor. Well its a choice. it allows me to be effective only with spark eruption and bloodpaint. The other side of it is that i dont have plenty of hp. Of course you can use citrines but you will have to use more pots.

I suggest you to find protections necklace and belt. If you can wear armors with 1% phys damage reduced it is a very good investissement .

How playing assassin?

Well as assassin are melee damage dealers and have not the HP of a BM you will have to kill your opponent as fast as possible with all your skills helping you. Unlike BM assassin are not very good at auto attack at the beginning of the game (from lvl 1 to lvl 50-55 i would say).

Your skills :

for details about skills please refair to your character or use http://www.ecatomb.net/skillpwi.php

Assassin have a lot of damage skills and buffs to help them in their purpose.

Twin strike. Its your beginning damage dealer skill and like most of the first skill you have there's no point in leveling it. Not good damages with the mp cost at lvl 10. Even if there is low cooldown and low chan and cast time.

Puncture wound. Interesting things begin. Its, as far as i know, the most powerfull bleeding effect in PWI. It Deals base physical damage plus 100% of weapon damage. Causes the target to bleed for 4210.5 physical damage over 9 seconds at lvl 10. And you will agree with me saying OMG this amount of damage in only 9 seconds. Just max it. It will be maybe one of your main skills against monsters.

Slipstream strike. Like Puncture wound its your other main damage dealing skill. Deals base physical damage plus 100% of weapon damage plus 2918.1 at lvl 10. Just max it. You will abuse of this skills in all situations : solo, boss and everything you can imagine.

Raving slash. Mmmh deal low damage and decreased the target speed. For me totally useless. Ive kept it at lvl1.

Shadow walk. What would be an assassin if he couldnt hide himself ? With this you can go to your opponent without being attacked. Increasing its lvl diminish the mana per seconds cost and your stealth lvl. Personally ive left it at lvl 4 just to see but if you're planning about PVP, TW then max it but only at high lvl (50+). Don't spend spirit on it at the beginning.

Knife throw. Your only far ranged skill. Very usefull to pull mobs or kill a mob wich is running far from you (like vipion and their lovely mana drain skill). Keep it at lvl 1. It also has a chance to interrupt your opponent's cast. Well maybe usefull in TW and PVP but forget it for PVE.

Wolf emblem. increase your damage from crit but last only 30 sec for 1 min cooldown. As you're a dex based class you will have a very good crit rate somewhere around lvl 60 (15-16% something like that as pure dex build). Wait for this moment to lvl it to the max you can. You will use it against boss and solo.

Windpush. A simple increasing speed buff. Leave it at lvl 1.

Deep sting. Ah your first controlling skill. Has a high chance to make your target sleeping for 5 seconds and does reasonable damage. Very good skill for oppening battle with a caster mob or to let puncture wound doing his effect (the bleeding effect doesn't break the sleep effect). Lvl it slowly only if you have some spirit left.

Focused mind. A defense buff. When it triggers you will see a beautiful "1" above your head. Totally useless at the beginning but its 25% At lvl 10. Lvl it like deep sting, it will only be usefull past 20%. MY advice is to have it at lvl 10 past lvl 70.

Rib strike. One of your another main skill. It does very high damage AND it reduces the attack speed of your opponent (50% at lvl10). Keep it up to date. In battle don't spam it as it costs plenty of mp. Just use it to keep the debuff on your target.

Shadow escape. Same as Shadow walk but can be used in fight and it gives you also one free spark. Its one of your emergency skill (like a bad aggro). Keep it at lvl 1 unless you want to do TW or PVP (lvling it reduces the mana cost per second like shadow walk and your stealth lvl).

Bloodpaint. On this skill i say only one thing : I LOVE IT. Its a buff wich can be applied on BM and barbs. It drains 2% of the damage you makes and adds it to your life (if you hit 1000 you will gain 20 hp). Very good buff but keep it at lvl 1. Lvling it only increases its duration. As assassin are a little bit squishy this hp drain is a grace . The lvl 1 lasts 990 seconds, its efficient like this.

Tackling slash. Does honorable damage, freeze the target for a long time (haha i pown you archers) and most of all gives you 50 chi free. like Deep string lvl it when you have free spirit.

Shadow jump. Simply teleport you on your target. This skill will help you a lot at the lvl 60+ to go quickly to your target as there will be a lot of caster mobs. Lvling it increase its range and decrease its cooldown. Lvl it only after your main skills.

Throatcut. Mmh lets see : long cast time compared to your others skills but deals high damage and silence your target. Very good skill to finish a mob while puncture wound is on him. Lvl it only if you don't have anymore priority (like puncture wound, slipstream or rib strike).

Deaden nerves. Another life saving buff. You are totally unkillable during the time you have this buff. Even a hit from a world boss cannot kill you (but it will kill you at the next hit ^^). Leave it at lvl 1. Lvling it only decreased the cooldown.

Chill of the deep. A very good buff increasing your attack lvl (1% more damage each attack lvl you have) but decreased your attack rate. Very good buff against mobs you want to kill fast. ive kept it at lvl 1 for the beginning. Lvl all your main skills before this one .

Maze steps. no comment. cost one spark. good for pvp.

Earthen rift. your first aoe skill. What? assassin are not good in aoe? ah yes . Well keep it at lvl 1. Maybe usefull in Rebirth if you have to DD but you will never be a BM or an archer in doing aoe .

Rising dragon strike. OMFG after tackling slash and its 50 chi bonus here comes Rising dragon strike. Doing massive damage and gives you 150 extra chi. Think im not going to talk too much about this you will see its utility while using it. MAX IIIIIIT.

Dagger devotion. Like bm, foxform venomancers, barbs and archers, you have your skill wich increases your damages with your favorite weapon. Max it .

Sharp observer. increase your awareness. I will talk about it later.

Cat-like tread. same as Sharp Observer.

Subsea strike. Mmmh cost two sparks and its an addition with heaven's flame. Seems to be a good skills but its an aoe and as i said before with Earthen rift, sins are not good at aoe. I suggest you to lvl it up very slowly or even not at all if you don't like this skill. Its a matter of choice.

Headhunt. AAAH an assassin without stuns would be awfull. At least you have one . Costs two sparks but deals a huge amount of damage (maybe your most powerfull damage dealer skill). lvl it when you have no more priority left.

Power dash. Mmmh a skill wich does honorable damage and increase your critical hit rate for 8 seconds. Yes i know the skill description talks about rage damage wich should be the damage from your critical hits but its wrong. The skill gives you a buff "increase critical hit rate". So its better than the wrong description . ive tried it before saying this. Thx to Lusca for the info. Well now is the problem : lvl it or not lvl it? As ive seen while using it, its benefit is not as good as the advanced spark eruption. I suggest you to lvl it only after all your skills.

Tidal protection. Good for pvp. with this you can avoid negative status like slowed (maybe stun? freeze?).

Inner harmony. Lets see. For gaining chi we have tackling slash and rising dragon strike. OK here's one another skill. Usable out of fight. Gives 200 chi (2 sparks) at lvl 10. Lvl it like others lvl 59 skills. Now don't tell me you are out of chi its totally impossible.

Shadow teleport. A joke for pve. Usefull every 3 minutes only in pvp. You want to pvp? ok buy it. You want pve? don't waste money and spirit into it. I even didnt buy the lvl 1.

Tide form. Nice im a mermaid. Nice i swim faster. urgl i cannot use skill while in this from. Keep it at lvl 1 .

The awareness. What is this damn thing?

Well simple, the more your stealth lvl is the higher lvl must your opponent be to see you. The more your awareness lvl is, the higher lvl must be your opponent in order not to be seen .
To increase your stealth lvl you can lvl up both of your stealth skills and Cat-Like Tread. If there are all at lvl 10 your opponent must be lvl "your lvl + 30".
Your awareness can be lvl up with Sharp observer. At lvl 10, your opponent must be lvl "your lvl +20" in order not to be seen by you .

How to play with all of these skills?

As i said before you will have to kill your opponent as fast as possible while preventing him doing damage to you.

For this purpose you will be a perfect killer against pure melee mobs. Tackling slash, puncture wound, rising dragon strike and Headhunt are all 4.5 ranged strikes. Hello mob you can see me but you cannot hit me. Of course use tackling slash to freeze your opponent then puncture wound then if available rising dragon strike. If during casting Tackling slash, your target has moved to you. Walk a little bit from him of course .

Use some combos like puncture wound + deep sting. you will see your opponent losing its life while you will be dancing/eating/laughing/taking a pot/anything else you want.

Never attack without Bloodpaint on you. The hp you gain from this skills are so important for a squishy class like you are .

Against a melee mob if the ranged skills are not enough, use Rib strike to help you finishing your target. Maybe you will take one hit from it but that's all.

Chill of the Deep is very good while questing or against particular mobs (expecially pure melee mobs) and in pvp as you will almost 3 shots your target (if its an arcane). However in fb or against boss, don't use it. Yhe auto attack is very powerfull against these monsters (used with some skills of course such as slipstream strike, puncture wound, rising dragon strike, tackling slash... u know im gonna say spark eruption )

Use deep sting as your first skill against casters monsters. Then use some combos like headhunt to stun it then puncture wound and throatcut. I think it will be enough for this mob .

Abuse of Knife Throw to pull your target from his friends. An assassin is good and 1v1 not 1vX.

And the most important!!!! abuse of your spark eruption AND spark burst. you have chi. A lot of chi! too much chi. So use it. Against a boss in fb 59 i can be everytime in spark burst with all the skills increasing your chi.

The most of the time your targets will hit you one or two times at most. Not more. If it hits you 3 times well something is not good in your gameplay.

Always use tackling slash, rising dragon strike and inner harmony to maintain your chi at the max.

A little tip for grinding time . Don't look for mobs with same lvls than you or 1-2 lvl less than you. If you wanna do efficient grind, find some mobs with 5-6 even 7 or 8 lvl less than you. They will do less damage enough for your bloodpoint to replenish your hp so no hp pots cost = efficient grind . But you will say me : "but with low lvl mobs i drop less items so less money" BIIIP wrong answer!!! You are an assassin so you kill fast... very fast... TOO FAST. So your ability to kill fast compensates the low lvl of the mobs youre killing. This will work fine from lvl 1 to lvl 59-60. After lvl 60 with all your skills, crit rate, damage, etc... you can grind mobs of your lvl pretty easily without using too much pots.

Also for grinding, if you find some archer-like mobs gogo grind on them. Just walk just near them, freeze them with tackling slash and finish them with auto attack. They will do only half of their damage since you are at melee range and bloodpaint will maintain you always full life.

end

Well it was my first complete guide. I hope you will find your joy while reading it. I will continue to complete it as i lvl up and increase my knowledge of this great class.
To motivate you i will say that at lvl 61 i can grind non aggressive supreme foxwing (lvl 60) near etherblade without using hp pots and using only auto attacks, bloodpaint and spark burst and sometimes Focused mind.

note : assassin are a pain to play at the beginning : low hp, low defense. Don't worry. Keep playing you will see your char will improve with the lvl.

Bye and see you in sanctuary