I did my Necromancer Guide a while back, now it’s time for the Assassin, my current fourth favorite class to play. The Assassin is considered one of the worst classes in the game by many, but I know that a lot of you guys including me think otherwise.
Pros of the Assassin
The Assassin has been known as the King of the Wine Cellar and for me, the Bane of Oryx, for the longest time. The class is great in events, against bosses, and pretty decent at rushing as well. I like the Assassin because unlike many other classes where you just spam your ability, it takes some skill to master when to throw the Poison and when to save it for another time. Therefore, you are forced to learn the Invulnerability phases of bosses and events. In my opinion, this is what the game is supposed to be like.
Plus you get to, you know, run around with that Agent Skin and think of yourself as Ezio.
Cons of the Assassin
The Assassin’s rushing skill clearly lacks when compared to other dagger classes. His DPS isn’t the best, the Poison deals damage slowly, and he is somewhat squishy. Other than those, there are no real direct “cons” of the Assassin. He’s just pretty mediocre all-around.
Dagger Choices
A Dagger of Foul Malevolence (T12) is often enough to satisfy all of your needs. Its range is as safe as a dagger’s range can be, a reliable DPS output, and none of that weird “wavy shot” pattern.
Pros -
- Reliable DPS
- Decently safe range
Cons -
- Not the best DPS
- Not the safest range
The Spirit Dagger is basically an alternative Foul. It has a little less range for a higher average damage output. However, its overall damage is less reliable (the damage gap is large), and it has a wavy shot pattern, making it hard to get all of the shots in. For most circumstances, a Foul is just fine, and if you don’t have a Spirit Dagger, it’s not recommended to go for it, since it doesn’t have the highest drop rate, plus a T12 dagger will do the work just as efficiently (maybe more efficiently).
Pros -
- Good average DPS
- Good against moving enemies
Cons -
- Less reliable DPS
- Less range than Foul
The Carved Golem Remains is by far the safest dagger to play with. With a low damage output, but a nice, safe range, it’s great for both Tricksters and Assassin because they are both quite squishy and need the extra range. Try using it as a swap-out with a tiered dagger to switch around with DPS as safety. A very useful item in general.
Pros -
- Safest range
- Good on Tricksters and Assassins
Cons -
- Low DPS
The Bone Dagger is a situational “piercing” dagger for early-game players that try to clear many enemies at once. It doesn’t deal a lot of damage, so it is recommended to have a tiered dagger along with it. A good and useful beginner dagger, but once you get something better like a Foul, you don’t need to use them anymore.
Pros -
- Good for clearing many enemies at once
Cons -
- Less appealing to advanced players
- Low DPS output
The Queen’s Stinger Dagger is a direct upgrade of the Bone Dagger. It pierces through enemies and ignores defense. An extremely efficient dagger for quickly clearing minions and dealing high amounts of damage to bosses with high defense. Dropping from the advanced dungeon, The Nest, it is a very rewarding white bag drop. I would say it’s worth the time and effort it takes to get one of these.
Pros -
- Good for clearing many enemies at once
- Good against enemies with high DEF
Cons -
- Not the best against single low-DEF enemies
- Rather hard to obtain
The Dirk of Cronus and Etherite Dagger are two high-damage daggers with short ranges. I don’t recommend using them on an Assassin because the class has no reliable way of protecting itself while getting to close to enemies.
Pros -
- Extreme damage output
Cons -
- Low range
- Less safe
The Symbiotic Ripper is an interesting dagger that deals more damage than an Etherite all the way up to 95 DEF, the same range as a Foul, plus a 120% rate of fire. However, the slow-moving projectiles have trouble hitting fast-moving enemies. Overall, a fantastic dagger that is definitely worth the effort of farming the Crawling Depths.
Pros -
- Extreme damage output
- Fast rate of fire
Cons -
- Slow projectiles
- Not good against fast-moving enemies
This is DPS graph to help you out on deciding which daggers do how much damage by DEF. The line colors are shown on the upper right corner.
Poison Choices
The standard Baneserpent Poison (T6) is good all-around. Decent damage, mediocre radius. If you don’t think a full Life Potion is worth getting one, just spend a few Defense Potions for a Nightwing Venom (T5). It deals a little less impact damage, but overall, it’s almost just as good.
The Murky Toxin is a special ability that actually throws two poisons. The basic strategy is simple: You can land both in, use it. You can’t, don’t because you’re wasting a ton of MP. You don’t have this? Definitely use it. 
The Plague Poison is essentially a weak poison with a longer duration and larger radius. A useful item for controlling large crowds of enemies, but I feel like a simple tiered poison would be enough to do the job on most occasions. I don’t have this item, though, so I can’t be too sure.
The Bottled Medusozoan is what I like call the “jelly tick” or “pulse jelly”. This item basically throws a blob of jelly that stays in one location and pulses poison into enemies around it. However, because it doesn’t move, it isn’t very practical against moving enemies. It would be really effective against non-moving or little-moving enemies like chests and some bosses. A cool item, but very situational.
The Parasitic Concoction is what I call the “apple cider” or just “cider” for short. It’s what I called it in my Random Stuffy Stuff Thread. It gives Curse to enemies for 3 seconds, so it’s a great Poison for both teamwork and solo. Only use this Poison if you have a reliable Dagger. Overall, a really handy item to have around, especially against Bosses and events.
Armor Choices
Choosing an armor is mainly based on your playstyle. Pick a playstyle below:
Good DEF, Support DPS - Hydra Silk Armor / Wyrmhide Armor
Support Rushing, Bit of HP-DEF Combo - Leaf Dragon Hide Armor
Support Ability Usage, Bit of SPD - Harlequin Armor
Support DPS, Bit of SPD - Spectral Cloth Armor
Good DEF, Good SPD - Beehemoth Armor
Good DEF, Improve SPD and DPS - Coral Silk Armor
Safest DEF, Lessen SPD - Armor of Nil
Improve DEX and SPD, Lessen ATT - Apiary Armor
Mediocre DEF, Improve ATT and VIT - Golem Garments
Safe-ish DEF, Improve ATT, Lessen VIT - Rags of the Host
And here are my top 7 UT armor picks for the Assassin:
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Leaf Dragon Hide Armor - Sure, less DEF. However, the extra HP fixes that. Plus there’s SPD, WIS, and VIT added.
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Harlequin Armor - Extra MP and WIS. Helps with the Poison, which is pretty important.
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Golem Garments - Improves ATT by a whopping 8, and VIT by a whopping 7. You can’t go wrong with it.
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Rags of the Host - IMO, a worse Golem Garments, but still pretty good.
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Spectral Cloth Armor - Increases SPD as well as ATT and DEX. Pretty sweet.
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Coral Silk Armor - Pretty much a safer Spectral with a larger SPD boost.
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Armor of Nil - If you’re gonna go safe, why not all the way, you know?
So yeah, that’s pretty much it. As a quick summary, if you’re more dependent on your Poison, go for the Harlequin Armor with the sweet MP and WIS. Want more versatility with SPD, WIS, and VIT? Go for the Leaf Dragon Hide Armor
Ring Choices
Like choosing an armor, choosing a ring is mainly based on your playstyle. I’m not gonna go over them again because it’ll take time and I don’t really wanna. So I just put down a couple rings that I think are pretty good on the Assassin.
Health Ring - Duh. I mean, you really can’t go wrong with more HP.
Hivemind Circlet - Supporting ability usage as well as DPS, there’s a reason why its part of the Assassin’s ST set.
Interregnum - Come on, it gives 75 HP and 5 ATT. Not the best, but why not, you know?
Horrific Claw - For newer players, this ring is actually pretty good, giving similar stats as the Expo.
Experimental Ring - For really advanced and ambitious players, maybe not, but for decent players, why not? The HP, MP, DEF, and VIT are all really good for safety and ability usage.
Bracer of the Guardian - A well-balanced item that gives you HP, MP, ATT, and DEF. Basically a Nile and Pyra combo. Pretty cool.
Ring of the Spinx - Okay, fine. It’s not the best choice, but think about it. The DEX improves DPS, and the WIS and MP supports ability usage. If you have enough HP and a good pet, this ring isn’t so bad.
Ring of the Pyramid - This ring is more for the players that want pure safety and a bit of DPS boost. A good choice for the Assassin, but not as good as the Nile in my opinion.
Ring of the Nile - Let’s say you’re somewhat good at dodging, and you want a little MP and some other stats to help you out on rushing and DPS. The Nile is for you. A great and balanced ring that provides good stats.
I don’t need to talk about the Bloodshed, Potato, Purple Void Thing, and Omni, do I? I know the answer: No. No, I don’t.
Tips
Some tips because why not?
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Maybe keep a T3 Poison as a swap-out in case you need to spam it a little. I sometimes do this in Abbys because yes, I do Abbys…though I don’t have the balls of steel to properly rush it.
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Common knowledge: Just have a few HP and MP pots. It’s really not hard. You see these guys?
They drop a bunch of those good stuff. -
Try for events as soon as you think you’re ready. Some give loot, drop dungeons, and fame/exp. If you’re lucky enough, you can get yourself a white or ST.
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Got to a Boss or event? Switch to a T5 or T6 Poison, throw it as many times as you can (I usually find twice or three times enough), try to get a couple shots in with the Dagger, back off until the rest do the job (assuming you’re in a group).
So that pretty much sums it up. I don’t think I did a really good job on it, but I just needed something besides homework and stuff like that. So yeah.
