Curse

Lawnmower · Oct 16, 2006, 09:52 PM // 21:52

No one wants to group me and I understand why. I freakin suck with my assassin. hardest class to use bar none IMO. But I love it.. im a naruto and general ninja fan bla bla bla...

But I just stink at this class. Its so hard. I need some really good tips to how to have succes in PvE. I need you guys to tell me what to do so I can be a good assassin and keep a good reputation in PvE groups. I dont wanna be the sin that screws it up for the rest of the group.

The sad thing is that I know it... when I took my Warrior through factions there was always some dumb assassin who died constantly. now I know how they feel.. and I need help

I love melee classes, and I wanna play something else than my warrior. another option would be to wait for deverish in NF, but I like daggers much more than scytches, so I really wanna do a sin...

But I wanna do a sin right!

What skill to use? what secondary? what templates to dabble in? what is bullit proof? why do I die after five seconds, and why does the enemies block/evade/miss everything i throw at them?

Pick Me · Oct 17, 2006, 12:55 PM // 12:55

This should be posted in the Assassin's Forum.

Skills to use:

Lead Attack
Off-Hand Attack
Dual Attack
Off-Hand Attack/Dual Attack
Defense/Healing
Healing
Teleport Away
Rez Signet/Hard Rez

The most important skill you must have is intelligence. You must know who to attack, when and when to runaway.

When I created my Assassin, I had another of my characters find a set of daggers that had +15% damage when enchanted. So I created an A/Mo (who else has long lasting enchantments?). Eventually I had skills that utilized hexes and I found daggers that did +15% damage on hexed foes. So I switched to A/Ne (who else has life giving hexes?). I wanted to make sure I also had a way to get rid of conditions. Eventually I purchased the Signet of Malice. My hexes were long enough, my enchantments were long enough and I had a condition remover. So I then decided to change again for A/W. Balanced Stance and Wild Blow work great (no kds, critical hits, no fear of stances, blocking or evades).

There is no way for a melee character with the armor of a ranger and no defenses whatso ever can ever expect to be immune to death. As you know, death is inevitable (as in real life - the only absolutes are death and taxes; thankfully, in GW, we have no taxes

)

Skills can be segregated into 3 types:
Fast recharge
Good damage
Condition

While you won't find all three in a single skill, some have 2 of the three.

Unsuspecting Strike is a good Lead Attack
In the early stages, Fox Fangs is a good second attack (can't be blocked or evaded). Twisted Fangs is basically a must (good damage, bleeding and deep wounds).

Teleport away is good with Recall or Return (or Aura of Displacement (e))

Teleporting in without a way out is a spelling of trouble. Get in, do your damage and get out. My rule is once you are hit, leave as fast as you can.

I only die because of my stupidity or because I get spiked (or group wants to resign; or no one keeps NPCs alive).

Healing - sadly its either Shadow Refuge or Way of Perfection (you should take Critical eye and Critical Strike if you use this one). Heart of Shadow is okay, but teleporting near another enemy is not good.

Watchout for Blinding from Rangers (throw dirt). Evades and blocking can be countered by Wild Blow, a lucky Wild Strike, Way of the Fox, and Expose Defenses. Using WotF and ED, Wild Strike can remove a stance, which would allow all other attacks to be able to hit. Since its hard to get that 1st hit once a defense is up, use WotF or ED first, then lead with your unblockable/unevadable chain.

As a Monk and a Ritualist, I don't care if an Assassin dies, as long as they do their best, I'm happy. If they aggro insainely, then I get annoyed. As a Necromancer, I love silly Assassins (not stupid ones), as they try to kill, then they die. I use their bodies as a well or as a minion.

As a Warrior and a Ranger, Assassins can do wonders, but they must stay out of harms way.

And as an Assassin, I know from the other professions, that running away is preferable than to stand there and die. Never tank, never stay in the fray more than necessary and make sure that you can escape danger.

Hope this helps you.

Good luck.

P.S. Watchout for Death Novas and Afflicted's own version of DN. Theirs cannot be removed (I've tried in various ways, didn't work

)

BohemianKeith · Oct 17, 2006, 11:20 PM // 23:20

To the OP, i feel your pain my friend. Personally i find that my assassin's best friend is AOD, it allows you to tele in, pop an important enemy ele or monk then pop back out. Once you finish off your selected target i recommend protecting your casters because assassins are good at dealing, not taking dmg so if there's a couple of knights smacking your monk around then your going to make yourself more usefull by protecting them rather then rushing back to the front lines while your AOD is recharging. With that being said i also recommend bringing blinding powder to also help defend your casters or to just plain mess up the initial assault by the mob because you can easily AOD in hit your combo, powder them then retreat. I dunno, just my 2 cents, hope it helps...

zeracore · Oct 18, 2006, 12:13 AM // 00:13

assassin / rangers
throw dirt is a good skill to have
it will allow you to tank long anuff to git out of the fray
the traps come in handy too

BohemianKeith · Oct 18, 2006, 02:09 AM // 02:09

Throw dirt is pretty useless at 0 expertise which is the attribute associated with it which is ranger primary....Perhaps you mean ranger / assassin.... But i am curious about your assassin trap scenario

Effendi Westland · Oct 18, 2006, 08:28 AM // 08:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pick Me

... long post...

Excellent advice. I use 3 attack skills (lead, offhand, dual) and assassins promise myself. Using the cannot be blocked/evaded offhand and dual attack. Shadow Refuge is my favorite, together with Dark escape. I'm also being an a/necro for plague touch (I don't like blind

).

Thom Bangalter · Oct 18, 2006, 08:32 AM // 08:32

Assassins suck in pve. accept it.

Isileth · Oct 18, 2006, 05:40 PM // 17:40

I actually got through factions with my sin that had no teleport at all with only 24 deaths. Sins despite popular belief arent totally squishy. Things like critical deffence, shroud of distress, flashing blades etc make it very easy to hang around while still not worrying to much about deaths. The fact is if you go with a nice quick recharging combo you can 80% of the time kill your enemy before they can get of 2-3 attacks.
My advice to you would be to take 1-2 deffence skill and a heal like shadow refuge, wait for tanks to engage then slip past them to the enemy backline. You can then easily dispatch any casters or rangers who happen to be there.

Yanman.be · Oct 18, 2006, 05:48 PM // 17:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thom Bangalter

Assassins suck in pve. accept it.

Now where are those pictures again....

zeracore · Oct 18, 2006, 06:23 PM // 18:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by BohemianKeith

Throw dirt is pretty useless at 0 expertise which is the attribute associated with it which is ranger primary....Perhaps you mean ranger / assassin.... But i am curious about your assassin trap scenario

no throw dirt is not useless but i will admit it don't last long
your better off using it defensively
rite be for you use dash or any other escape play you have or a trap that can be planted quick
good traps are
vipers nest
flame trap
dust trap (expensive but good) allows you to stay in the fray longer)
barbed trap
i yous only 1 or 2 traps at a time on my skill bar

Effigy · Oct 18, 2006, 07:42 PM // 19:42

If you want a blind skill on an A/R, Blinding Powder would be better than Throw Dirt. The blind will last longer and it has less than half the recharge.

zeracore · Oct 18, 2006, 10:14 PM // 22:14

problem with it is that it only effects one foe
.
throw dirt affects foe and foe adjacent to your target
usually won you are attacking a monk he/she has bodyguards
against a single target blinding powder is better

Harvey Birdman · Oct 18, 2006, 10:22 PM // 22:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by zeracore

problem with it is that it only effects one foe
.
throw dirt affects foe and foe adjacent to your target
usually won you are attacking a monk he/she has bodyguards
against a single target blinding powder is better

They recently changed blinding powder so it affects your target and foes adjacent to it.

Div · Oct 19, 2006, 12:56 AM // 00:56

It's really hard to get a good group as an assassin in pve unless you're with a group of friends or guildies. It doesn't matter what your skill level is, sins are just seen as the useless class since they can't tank as well as warriors, they have less armor than rangers who aren't even close in combat, they have no healing/support like monks or rits, and they can't do large amounts of damage to large amounts of enemies like eles or necros. The only class that's just as hard to get a group is mesmer because there's less of a need to shut down one target or deal lots of damage to only one target. With that said, good luck practicing your sin and get friends/guildies to help out.

Pick Me · Oct 19, 2006, 12:20 PM // 12:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by holymasamune

It's really hard to get a good group as an assassin in pve unless you're with a group of friends or guildies. It doesn't matter what your skill level is, sins are just seen as the useless class since they can't tank as well as warriors, they have less armor than rangers who aren't even close in combat, they have no healing/support like monks or rits, and they can't do large amounts of damage to large amounts of enemies like eles or necros. The only class that's just as hard to get a group is mesmer because there's less of a need to shut down one target or deal lots of damage to only one target. With that said, good luck practicing your sin and get friends/guildies to help out.

Assassins are not ment to tank (although A/W or A/N can tank well - but not recommended).

They have AL 70 as I recall on my Sin for armor, just like Rangers (but they have bonuses vs elemental + bonuses vs 1 particular type of elementa damage).

Can you please show me what other professions have healing/support that are the same as Monks or Ritualists? Can Warriors say they have the equivalent? Rangers? Mesmers? Elementalists and Necromancers don't have the same healing as Monks or Ritualists either to heal a team (yes, wells are nice and wards are nice too, but not the same as Monks or Ritualists).

Assassins are not ment to go 1 vs more than 1, so you can't expect an Assassin to do AoE damage.

Mesmers interupt, health degen, defend and other things, other than just shut down.

Assassins are far from useless, but what you have said is still true (not enough armor to tank, lack of good AoE, lack of good healing skills, lack of party support skills, etc.)

Assassins are ment to take on a single weak armored enemy and pound them into the ground quickly. Warriors need a little time (to build adrenaline), Rangers can't kill 1 enemy as quick either. Elementalists and Necromancers are squishies and if they can't get their spells off (Assassins have nice interupts), they fall like paper. Monks and Ritualists, without prep-time, Assassins teleport in and they go down with ease.

The roll of an Assassin is to get in, kill, get out. They have powerful attacks, do great spike damage and the best in and out skills in the game. Utilize them and you will see how Assassins are far from useless.

Until people have successfully learned how the Assassin is to be played (from initial creation to end game), people will have a bad attitude towards all Assassins. I also wish people would stop thinking the only way to be successful in PvE is to have 2 Warriors, 1 Nuker, 1 MM/SS, 2 Monks, 1 Ranger, 1 other (that is not a Mesmer or Assassin). People tend to think that Mesmers have only a few uses in PvE and Assassins have no uses at all. I've been in successful PUGs with 3 Assassins, with 2 Mesmers, or with 6 Warriors.

Not every PUG needs 2 monks. 1 monk and a rit, 2 rits should suffice too. If the monk or rit is very good, then only 1 is needed (the group of course must have some intelligence as well).

martialis · Oct 19, 2006, 10:11 PM // 22:11

An assassin is a bit like a warrior in permanent frenzy, so you'll never be as good as core classes and you'll always suck in most situations, sadly. Of course you can do some cool things, like shadow form and shadow shroud, but you can't nuke, or distract and confuse the monsters. The good assassins I see can stay alive and kill a few things, and consider that success. I don't know how good they get in pve.

If you want a place to practice, try THK. It's fun, and a nice confidence-booster. If you want a challenge, maybe try to 4 or 5-man it with henchies.

The factions missions are much more difficult in certain ways, and I don't know if that's intentional or not.

Altrex · Oct 21, 2006, 11:51 PM // 23:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pick Me

As you know, death is inevitable (as in real life - the only absolutes are death and taxes; thankfully, in GW, we have no taxes

That made me lol. Nice advice

jesh · Oct 22, 2006, 01:20 AM // 01:20

Pick Me, that was some awesome advice, and I agree with you whole heartedly. I also agree with Isileth here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Isileth

My advice to you would be to take 1-2 deffence skill and a heal like shadow refuge, wait for tanks to engage then slip past them to the enemy backline. You can then easily dispatch any casters or rangers who happen to be there.

Knowing how aggro works in the game is the assassin's best tool for survival. I'll often play my assassin with no heals, and take Caltrops and Dash or Watch Yourself!. Blinding Powder can be nice too from what I've seen, but I don't have personal experience with it as of yet.

Torikae · Oct 22, 2006, 01:32 AM // 01:32

Having just created an Assassin myself, I've found that going A/Mo has made it less of a challenge (and FAR more enjoyable!) than I expected. As I normally play monks, I've grown accustomed to watching assassins attempting to tank and dying left, right and center, but my assassin (admittedly having only reached Nahpui) is still a Survivor (I'm not going for lv2 or 3 - I just happened to get lv1, and am proud enough of that :P).
I expect I sacrifice a fair bit of damage by throwing points into Protection Prayers, and by using that much-needed energy to cast them. For instance, I found that Protective Spirit got me through all of Vizunah Square's Afflicted Soul Explosions with ease, but that the 10 energy to keep re-recasting it hurt my attack chains rather. All the same, though, I probably still did more damage in total than the group's other assassin, who spent most of his time gathering DP ;P