This guide based on my experience and it's only my recommendations. It's your chose follow this guide or not.
Contents:
1. STATS
2. SKILLS
3. BEFORE LEVEL 80 BUILDS
4. AFTER LVL 80 BUILDS
5. SKILLS DISTRIBUTION
6. EQUIPMENT
7. ATTACK SPEED
8. PVP
1. STATS
Strength: Increase your attack.
Stamina: Increase HP (vary with your level), 2 p.def, 2.3 m.def.
Intellect: Increase MP, 5 m.def
Agility: Increase your attack, haste speed, 0.3 hit rate, 2 p.def, 0.23 dodge, 0.018 special hit rate
Luck: 0.036 special hit rate
Recommended builds is 2 Stamina/3 Agility or 1 Stamina/4 Agility. Full Agility need very Stamina balanced items set otherwise it’s very weak. With Strength you lose more then you get.
2. SKILLS
In this section I will show all assassin’s skills and will comment each.
Passive skills
Basic passive skills
These skills should be maxed in all builds because they increase your battle abilities.
Blade illusion: Increase fatal strike odds by 9%. This is the main boost of fatal strike rate.
Focus: Reduces enemy’s defense by 10% during combat. Very helpful against warriors with high defense or other opponents with high defense.
Disturb: Reduces enemy’s hit rate by 10% during combat. Very helpful against opponents with high hit rate (especially against other assassins)
Agile: Increase your own haste rating by 10. Boost assassin’s main advantage. (Not very helpful before lvl 60 but very helpful after).
Advanced passive skills
These skills are optional and maybe learned if you have enough free skill points.
Uprush: Haste rating +10, hit rate +10%, attack power +10%, dodge -10%. Good skill which boost your attacking ability. (The only con of this skill is that it will overlap bonus from Haste skill).
Evade: Chance to evade the damage when being attacked by Fatal strike/Combo attack/Armor Ignore. Very helpful skill can help to avoid enemy’s attack. (Especially helpful against mages)
Damage skills
Basic damage skills
Extra wield: basic damage skill. Max before level 31, only 5 points after.
Jab: basic damage skill. Max before level 31, only 6 points after.
Advanced damage skills
This skills is your main damage dealing abilities before lvl 80
Assault: 20% chance to increase the attack damage by 25%. Very high damage skill especially when fatal strike triggered.
Phantom Strike: Increase fatal strike odds by 10%. Boosted rate of fatal strikes give high damage output from this skill.
Maim: 10% chance to palsy enemy for 6 sec. Very deadly skill with fast attack speed.
Meteor Strike: 10% chance to make enemy enter Fragile state for 10 sec. With sub-skill this skill gives better damage then Phantom Strike (Doesn’t stack with Weaken secondary skill).
Secondary skills
Haste: Increase your haste rating by 20. Not very helpful skill if you have slow base attack speed but usefulness of this skill increase with your base attack speed. The faster you are the more boost you will get (Can be overlapped by Uprush).
Poison: Reduces enemy’s HP by 1% every 3 sec. Great skill against enemies with high HP and defense especially against instance Bosses.
Entwine: Reduces enemy’s haste rating by 20. Not very helpful against opponents with slow attack speed but drastically reduce enemy’s attack speed if he has fast attack speed. The faster your enemy the more speed reduce he will get.
Weaken: Reduce enemy’s attack power and defense by 10%. Can help against high damage/high defense enemies (Doesn’t stack with Meteor Strike sub-skill).
Toxic King’s skills
Toxic Attack: When your target is poisoned, your damage will increase by 15%. Great damage boost if you use Poison secondary skill.
Vicious Plot: Increase the chance of activates Haste, Poison and Bad Luck 6% and the effect of Insidious Pounce by 15%. Great passive skill which boost trigger rate of all Toxic King’s secondary skills and increase bleeding effect of Insidious Pounce.
Bad Luck: Disable the enemy to launch special attacks for 12sec. Helpful skill against opponents with high special attack rate.
Insidious Pounce: Has a 10% chance to increase (Agility/2) damage to the enemy. Makes your target bleed and lose HP as many as your (Stamina*3) points within 30 sec. The effect can exists together with Poison effect. High damage skill with bleed post effect. Bleed damage deal Stamina*0.3 damage every 3 sec.
Shadow Assault: The attack has 30% chance to make the caster enter the Uprush state for 10 sec. This skill has very high damage and can boost your attack abilities with sub-skill. (The only con of this skill is that it will overlap bonus from Haste skill)
Shadow Master’s skills
Sequent Hit: When the target is slowed under effect of Entwine, your damage will increase by 12. Great damage boost if you use Entwine secondary skill.
Deadly Slaughter: Increase the chance of activate Entwine, Weaken and Mute 6% and the clone’s damage by 15%. Great passive skill which boost trigger rate of all Shadow Master’s secondary skills and increase damage of Shadow Soul clone damage.
Mute: Disable then enemy to use skills for 10 sec. Helpful skill which prevent your enemy from using skills.
Shadow Soul: Has a 12% chance to create a clone of you which will exist for 40 sec. The clone’s attack power is related to assassin’s agility (Agility/2). Only one clone is allowed to exist. Clone has 6 sec attack speed. Clone start attacking after 5 sec from creation. Clone can’t deal fatal strikes and use skills. Damage of clone slightly affected by opponent defense.
Fierce Dance: This attack has 30% chance to make the enemy enter the Sluggish state for 10 sec. This skill has very high damage and can slower your enemy and boosts your damage (if Sequential Hit is learned) (Doesn’t stack with Entwine secondary skill).
Notes
1. I didn’t tested Mute and Fierce Dance skills.
2. Maim's Palsy effect can be canceled by Entwine or other speed reduce skill and Entwine effect can be canceled by Palsy effect.
3. Entwine and Haste/Uprush effects not cancel each other but stacks.
3. BEFORE LEVEL 80 BUILDS
In this section I will show different variants of assassin’s skills builds before lvl 80.
Notes:
Haste tree – Haste, Poison, Uprush skills.
Entwine tree – Entwine, Weaken, Evade skills.
Assault tree – Assault, Phantom Strike skills.
Maim tree – Maim, Meteor Strike skills.
Basic builds
This is most popular skill sets.
1. Haste/Assault trees (also pre Toxic King build):
Pros:
Fast attack speed;
Highest damage output;
Poison help against high defense opponents.
Cons:
Lack of defense, rely only on dodge.
2. Entwine/Maim trees (also pre Shadow Master build):
Pros:
Ability to stop enemy from attacking;
Good debuffing abilities;
Additional chance to fully avoid damage;
High survivability.
Cons:
Low damage output.
Advanced builds
This is less popular but more stronger builds then Basic builds.
3. Haste/Maim trees:
Pros:
Fast attack speed;
Ability to stop enemy from attacking;
High damage output;
Poison help against high defense opponents;
Average survivability.
Cons:
None
5. Entwine/Assault trees:
Pros:
High damage output;
Good debuffing abilities;
Additional chance to fully avoid damage;
Average survivability.
Cons:
None
6. Haste+Entwine/Assault:
Pros:
Fast attack speed;
High damage output;
Ability to slower enemy attacks;
Average survivability.
Cons:
Weaker against high defense opponents then pure Haste/Assault tree build;
Lack of skill points.
7. Haste+Entwine/Maim:
Pros:
Fast attack speed;
Ability to slower enemy attacks;
Ability to stop enemy from attacking;
Average survivability.
Cons:
Weaker against high defense opponents then pure Entwine/Maim tree build;
Lack of skill points.
4. AFTER LVL 80 BUILDS
At lvl 80 you may continue your pre lvl 80 build or make new class promoted build.
Toxic King
Pros:
Fast attack speed;
Very high attacking ability;
Very strong against high defense opponents.
Cons:
Lack of defense, rely only on dodge (if Bad Luck not used);
Lack of skill points.
Notes:
1. Bad Luck is very good skill against enemies with high special hit but to use this skill you should sacrifice Poison (reduce ability to fight against high defense opponents, also reduce damage from passive) or Haste (drastically reduce attack speed). You may swap Haste if your speed close to 2 sec;
2. At lvl 80 you should select skill which you drop Assault or Phantom Strike to get Insidious Pounce skill (I kept Assault because of sub-skill).
Shadow Master
Pros:
Ability to stop enemy from attacking (with Maim only);
Good debuffing abilities;
Additional chance to fully avoid damage (with Evade only);
High survivability (with Maim and Evade).
Cons:
Low damage output even with Shadow Soul;
Lack of skill points.
Notes:
1. Mute is very good skill against all enemies especially high attack speed assassins. Weaken maybe sacrificed for this skill.
2. At lvl 80 you can select Shadow Soul skill but it very weak at low levels.
Warning:
Error here will cost you 5xx+ DG/DS to reselect class.
5. SKILLS DISTRIBUTION
Before lvl 30 you should max your attack skills and Focus then put rest skill points to Disturb.
At lvl 30 you should reset your skills and make this:
Extra Wield, Focus, Disturb – 5;
Jab – 6;
Haste/Entwine (depend on selected build) – 7;
Blade Illusion – 1;
Maim/Assault (depend on selected build) – 1.
At lvl 31 you should get your 2nd secondary skill depend on selected build.
After lvl 31 you should put skills in Blade Illusion (up to lvl 9), Attack skill (Maim/Assault, up to lvl 7) and 2nd secondary skill (up to 7 if it’s Poison/Weaken or up to lvl 6 if it’s Haste/Entwine). After that you should max your Focus and Disturb.
At lvl 60 you should have:
Extra Wield – 5;
Jab - 6;
Haste/Entwine (or both if you selected them both as your secondary skills) – 7;
Blade Illusion, Focus, Disturb – 9;
Maim/Assualt, Poison/Weaken (if you selected them as your 2nd secondary skill) – 7;
At lvl 60 and after you should max your Agile skill and start lvl your 2nd attack skill – Phantom Strike/Meteor Strike.
If you selected build with Evade then you may get Evade instead of Focus.
6. EQUIPMENT
In this section I will sort different variants of equipment according their cost.
1. Cheap variant: Full instance set.
Pros:
High dodge;
High hit rate;
Good damage;
Balanced stats.
Cons:
Slow attack speed.
Note:
This is weakest and cheapest set (even if this set is full +9 it’s less effective then others). Recommended builds is all builds with Entwine.
2. Medium variant: Instance set with red SkyWalker’s/Agility rings, necklace and armguards.
Pros:
Very high dodge;
High hit rate;
Good damage;
Fast attack speed.
Cons:
None.
Note:
This variant is balanced between cost of getting items, stats, dodge and attack speed. Less expensive then 3rd variant but better then 1st variant. This set good for all skill builds.
3. Expensive variant: Full red SkyWalker’s with balanced Agility/Stamina stats, except maybe True instance boots and 1/2 instance daggers.
Pros:
Very fast attack speed;
Good/High damage.
Cons:
Low dodge (compared with previous 2 variants);
Low hit rate (compared with previous 2 variants);
Weak without upgrading.
Note:
This is the most expensive set but it’s also the best variant that you can get for assassin. This set should be +7 min. Also you should balance stamina and agility on suffixes to at least 1/3 stamina and 2/3 agility. Recommended builds is Toxic King (most effective) or builds 6,7 (less effective).
7. ATTACK SPEED
This is the most important assassin’s stat. The main boost for attack speed give your daggers, then Haste Rating prefix on items. Haste Rating boost affected by your base attack speed, the faster your base attack speed the more you will get. Entwine and Haste skills useless if your opponent or your attack speeds are slow, but with fast attack speed their values maybe significant (for instance if your attack speed is 2.83sec then Haste give you 2sec final attack speed, but if your attack speed 6sec it will give only 5.8sec final speed).
Notes:
1. My tests gave me that fastest attack speed is 2sec.
2. Most of assassins at lvl 60 keep using Sting of Pain or other low level daggers which is wrong. At this level your main priority is switch to lvl 60 daggers because they give about 0.4 attack speed which is big boost at this level.
8. PVP
Assassin vs Mage
Facts:
1. Mages have highest damage of all classes and highest special attack rate;
2. Storm Envoy after lvl 86 can use Extinguish skill (double their damage and reduce their defense (70% for 10 sec at max level, 100% for 15 sec at lvl 1) which can deal amazing damage to you. After this skill triggered you have 10-15 sec to kill mage (if he doesn’t kill you before);
3. Some mages are using Restoration Shield (restore part of taken damage) or Fire Shield (deal 1% of your HP damage each 3 sec for 18 sec (with Flame Overlord passive skill also increase their P.Def by 25%)) skills;
4. Some mages are using Concentrate for damage increase;
5. Most mages are using Palsy secondary skill which disable your attacks for 9 sec;
6. Some mages have Eye for Eye skill which returns half of your fatal strike damage back to you.
Tips:
1. You should maximize your damage to mage (fast attack speed, Poison, Insidious Pounce, Weaken, Meteor Strike and Shadow Soul) and/or minimize damage taken (high dodge, Maim, Meteor Strike, Fierce Dance, Evade, Mute, Bad Luck, Weaken and Entwine);
2. Never rely on dodge in battles with mages.
Assassin vs Warrior
Facts:
1. Warriors usually have more HP then assassins, have much more P.Def and higher attack then assassins (sometimes even higher or similar to damage of mages);
2. Some warriors are using Block or/and Fortitude skills for reduce damage taken;
3. Some warriors are using Furry Attack or/and Bloodlust skills to increase their damage;
4. Some warriors have Tooth for Tooth skill which returns half of your fatal strike damage back to you.
Tips:
1. Poison and/or Insidious Pounce are very helpful skills against warriors with high P.Def;
2. Fast attack speed help against both high P.Def warriors and high damage warriors;
3. Try to minimize damage taken (high dodge, Maim, Meteor Strike, Fierce Dance, Evade, Mute, Bad Luck, Weaken and Entwine);
4. Never rely on dodge in battles with warriors.
Assassin vs Assassin
Facts:
1. Assassins have high dodge and fast attack speed;
2. Some assassins have ability to slow (Entwine and Fierce Dance) or disable your attacks (Maim);
3. Some assassins have fast attack speed;
4. Some assassins have DoT damage (Poison and Insidious Pounce);
5. Fights between two assassins (if they have similar equipment) more random then other fights.
Tips:
1. Try to boost your attack speed to attack before your enemy;
2. Try to minimize damage taken (high dodge, Maim, Meteor Strike, Fierce Dance, Evade, Mute, Bad Luck, Weaken and Entwine);
3. Never rely on dodge in battles with assassins.
Common tips
1. Try to boost both your dodge and attack speed it helps against all opponents;
2. Try to increase your damage to your opponent (fast attack speed, Poison, Insidious Pounce, Weaken, Meteor Strike and Shadow Soul) or reduce damage taken (high dodge, Maim, Meteor Strike, Fierce Dance, Evade, Mute, Bad Luck, Weaken and Entwine);
3. Try to upgrade your set to at least +7;
4. Full +9 set not guaranty your victory;
5. Never give up especially at 60- levels your fighting abilities start shine at 60+ levels;
6. Never rely on dodge in battles (you should balance all your stats and don't rely only on dodge);
7. If you think that assassins fails in arena better start train mage/warrior.
With balanced equipment/skills/stats builds it’s possible to achieve 80%+ winning percentage against any enemy.
