The Land of Grant - Where the admission fee is your dignity

Guild Wars - The Assasin Tutorial

ON THE ART OF THE PVE ASSASSIN


Ever since I bought my copy of factions, one class has appealed to me, the assassin. But lately I've been seeing an abnormally high number of parties with one rule: No assassins. How to remedy this situation I wondered? My solution is this short guide to mastering and understanding the way of the silent blades.
Over the following pages we will encompass several rules, tactics and skills that should never be overlooked, and the aforementioned that will result in you spending a great deal of you time talking to henchmen.

Also note that at no stage will I instruct you on a specific build, if your looking to make a cookie cutter, Press alt + <-- , then go somewhere else.
Hopefully you'll get something out of this to help you but if not maybe I might just convince you that we aren't such a crappy class after all. Welcome to the practical guide to assassin use:



1. Don't Tank


Before we begin we must first learn a special phrase, we will repeat this often for it is the foremost reason why assassins are disliked. Repeat after me; "I am not a Tank" Repeat this 'til it gets stuck in your head, then repeat it some more. This is the fundamental rule for successful assassin playing that is always ignored. The reason? ARMOUR 70. lets face it, you cant take much more than an Elementalist when it comes to melee combat. Far too often do I see assassins charging blindly towards the first thing they see, usually a big chunky warrior with a pointy stick. One warrior you can beat, two, plausible, but you'll be left hurting afterwards, three? Unlikely unless your lvl 20 and running around Tsumei Village harassing the Crimson Skulls. I cant really explain that point any clearer so I'm moving onto the next topic.

2. Play Dirty

Since we have learned that tanking is a bad thing, we now move onto the slightly trickier phase. Anyone who plays a ranger and knows how to kite will know what I'm talking about. Don't be afraid to blind, cripple and Shadow-step away from warriors - A combo of all three is also fun ;) Just like shampoo, rinse and repeat, don't be afraid to turn around and run backwards to blind someone's sorry backside if they decide you look squishy. Though as mentioned before don't confuse your kiting with tanking, it WILL get you killed outright. That said, a blinded warrior is a viable target and usually destroyable, which brings us to the next point.

3. Make Grenth Proud

You, as an assassin have enough hexes to make a necromancer blush - don't overlook the sheer usefulness of a good hex. Throwing something like enduring toxin or Seeping Wound (Elite) can really tip the fight in your favor, since it ignores armor and takes away your opponents one big advantage; Durability. It IS entirely possible to literally bip your opponent to death under a staggering number of hexes. Also don't overlook the hexes that enhance your own survivability - necromancer hexes like Parasitic Bond for example.
The other side of the leaf is downright annoying to anyone but you. I'm talking about Shadow Arts, that ridiculously powerful group of defensive spells and skills that stops you bleeding from a newfound orifice. But once again, don't confuse shadow arts with Tanking, for Shadow Arts simply cannot handle that much damage.


4. Pick on the scrawny ones

Ok so by now you've discovered that an assassin has a lot of tricks in his or her wily sleeve for evasion and defense. But what about offense? There are three important rules for going on the offensive; What should I attack?, how should I attack it? and how will I get away?
While the answer I give you will invariably change as new builds are created but the fundamentals behind it will still apply.

a) What should I attack?
You as an assassin work best when you take out support characters, look for the monks and healing ritualist monsters dilligently healing from the back rank. These are your main targets, followed usually by group nuker elementalists and minion masters, but make sure you don't pull down the groups aggro onto yourself while you do it.

b) How should I attack it? Lets face it people, it didn't work for Custer and it wont work for you, don't charge in like a loon. Work your way carefully around the group, making sure not to pull the aggro of any other patrolling enemy groups. Try to come in from the sides, or even from the back, making sure that you are in a position where you wont be overwhelmed and can get back to the range of your healers rapidly but making sure you don't catch the healers with aggro. A viable and generally simple tactic is using a combination of two shadow steps, one to the target and one to a party member, however, make sure to select a party member who wont cause you to build an 'aggro bridge'.

c) The tactical Retreat
Right now that the carnage has begun, you've happily taken your victim by surprise and shown him the way of the pin cushion ;) What do you do once the body hits the floor and you find yourself staring at the beady little eyes of a lvl 24 Afflicted Warrior who's just noticed you're between him and safety? There are several ways to do this, if the enemies between you and the safety of the back line are weakened severely then you may want to risk the fight. If not, or your party is going down badly, there are 2 options.

c - 1) RUN - Running while it may seem cowardly to your party members it can be a lifesaving trick, so turn tail and bolt in the opposite direction, lose the aggro, then work your way back around the circle to a place where you can pick your next target without interference. believe me, the monk who doesn't have to rez your sorry backside will appreciate it.
c-2 The shadow step
A very simple one, something like recall or even spirit walk will do the trick nicely. An assassin ranger using spirit walk can get in and get out very quickly with almost no fear of dying, so long as the spirits remain. Using recall can work,
though the cost to energy regen can prove fatal if you are careless enough to run out of mp while suffering degen.


5. Dance baby Dance!

Theres nothing worse than an assassin who stands still in the middle of a fight, undermining efficiency and generally giving your healers a heart condition. Keep Moving! Unlike many MMORPG's, in Guild Wars you CAN dodge enemy attacks to a certain degree. While a blast to the topknot with lightning strike is a little hard to avoid, spells like fireball and flare, even meteor can be dodged if you pay attention. A useful and very efficient tactic is to bring along a movement spell or two, even a 5 second speed boost can get you away from a meteor shower or an Icy Maelstrom. That little less pressure on your healers may even save your party from a wipe out!


Well by now you've read my guide to mastering the assassin, hopefully you learned something out of it, if not then maybe its not the style of play you prefer. As a final note, yes I do make mistakes and errors, if you find something wrong, don't flame

me, E-Mail me nicely and I may even thank you for it in the guide.

Yours in the way of the Blade,
Karina Darksong [lvl 20 A/R]


Comments? Questions? Outrageous Suggestions?
E-Mail Me: Bahamut_256@hotmail.com