First introduced in Build 104, the Assassin is a mid-range fighter who poisons groups of enemies, damaging them over time. To unlock the Assassin you must reach level 20 with the Rogue and the Wizard. See his stat gains, caps, and averages here.
The Assassin uses daggers and wears leather armor. Their offenses, 60 attack and 75 dexterity, gives them the ability to deal decent damage at a respectable rate. An Assassin is not as reliant on their dagger than the other two classes, thanks to their Poison.
The Dagger of Foul Malevolence, Dagger of Sinister Deeds, and Dagger of Dire Hatred are the highest available tiered daggers available. Their decent range allows Assassins to stay a bit further back, while having a little more defense than an ordinary robed class. Sinister Deeds is more difficult to acquire, and Dire Hatred is soulbound and only available via Oryx’s Sanctuary, but they deal more damage.
The Spirit Dagger, found in Davy Jones’ Locker is functionally similar. It has a slightly lower range and a “wavy” pattern, but deals more damage than the T12 dagger. The damage range is very wide, but the overall DPS should average out.
The Corruption Cutter, from the Cursed Library, carries the unique trait among daggers of firing two shots. Its strange shot pattern gives it a ~ 25% range decrease, and is quite risky to use, but technically has the highest DPS against low defense enemies.
The Symbiotic Ripper from The Crawling Depths fires quickly, in exchange for lower average damage. The drawback is that shots move very slowly. This makes it difficult to hit fast enemis, but you can use this property to lead your shots against enemies on a set path. This dagger can be seen as an alternative to the Dagger of Foul Malevolence.
The Queen’s Stinger is unique in that it pierces both enemies and defense at the same time. In exchange, it loses out on raw DPS and range. For mob clearing or against high defense, there’s few better options available.
The Etherite Dagger and the Dirk of Cronus sacrifice range for massive damage output. They are more difficult to use in dangerous situations, but very valuable once an Assassin is comfortable with it. Etherite drops from the Haunted Cemetery, as well as a weaker tradable legacy version. The Dirk of Cronus drops from the Cube God, and is extremely rare; you may want to use it on a dagger class more suited for it.
The Carved Golem Remains boasts a large range of 6.3 tiles, in return for sacrificing some of it’s damage. While on the weaker end, this dagger can still get the job done; the assassin may benefit heavily from the ability to safely stay back while tossing poisons.
Avarice from Oryx’s Sanctuary is possibly the strongest dagger avaialble, with insane damage and superior range. The only downside to this dagger is it’s firing pattern, spreading shots that converge at maximum range.
When you use his special ability, the Assassin lobs a vial of poison at the location of your cursor. This poison takes time to land (0.8 sec for tiered), enemies caught take damage over time. Poison has two primary uses: take out groups of enemies, or take out enemies with high HP (gods, quest bosses, etc.) through hit and run tactics. As the Assassin’s poison ability moves up the tiers, the range, total damage, and MP efficiency improve, but the damage is spread out over a longer time period.
You can quickly run forward and catch a lot of enemies’ attention, then run back the way you came. The enemies will clump up straight into your position as they chase you, so you can sit back and watch them die. Depending on your speed stat vs the monsters’ running speed, you may need to adjust where you throw the poison. Play around with it until you’ve got the timing down.
If you aren’t quite a good enough judge of where to aim the poison while running, or if you prefer to play off-center (set a hotkey to switch between center and off-center in the options), and don’t have much space on the screen to aim in front of yourself while running, then you can aim the poison right at your character and stop moving for just a second, then resume running. You might take a hit here or there, but you’ll have better control over the enemies’ movement and should be able to hit more of them with your poison.
Assassins can also fire over walls and setpieces, dealing damage from absolute safety. While few dungeons have these, setpieces and Quest Monsters do.
The Nightwing Poison/Baneserpent Poison/Necrofish Poison are decent generalist poisons. Tiered poisons are easy to use and carry solid damage, making them very good options for clearing groups of enemies. If a better suited poison isn’t available, they still work well at attacking bosses.
The Murky Toxin is a potent B-rank UT found in the Toxic Sewers. There are 2 simultaneous detonations, the first doing the majority of the damage, but having a tiny 2.5 range. In exchange, it deals more damage than tiered posions, and furthermore gives the user 3 ATT and 3 DEX. If you have good aim, this is a very strong poison for bosses.
The Plague Poison has nearly double the range but double the throw time of a tiered poison. While very slow, it is about as MP efficent as any tiered poison. It is great against large clusters of enemies, such as in the Godlands.
Virulent Venom, also found in the Toxic Sewers, instead deals instantaneous damage when thrown. And when you get hit, a poison will automatically be thrown at your attacker for no MP cost, but with a 6 sec cooldown. This poison is great for when waiting is an issue, or with the full ST set.
The Parasitic Concoction is the poison belonging to the Flesh Collector ST set and is dropped by the Nightmare Colony. This poison might have lackluster damage, but inflicts curse; when playing solo or in a group that lacks a mystic, the 25% DPS boost to your weapon or other players can be far more valuable.
The Bottled Medusozoan is a very unique “poison” obtained from the Royal Cnidarian. Unlike other poisons, this item throws out a stationary Cnidarian that pulsse out damage in an area around it over time, though unlike all other poisons, does not ignore defense. This tends to be a very situational but strong item, best against groups of lesser enemies and stationary pbosses. Additionally, you can only have one out at a time.
The Crystallised Fang’s Venom deals pitiful damage for a poison. In exchange, “Pogmur” will inflict the Armor Break status on enemies, which is a massive increase for group DPS. In addition, it gives a great +4 DEX / +4 ATK buff. This poison is difficult to use, with a range of 4 tiles and a 1.5 second throw time. It is also very rare, dropping from the Crystal Worm Father of the Dwarf Miner Event.
The Polarity Poison is a rare drop from the Twilight Archmage. This poison outdamages every single other poison in the game. The orange primary bomb not only does massive damage over time, but the blue secondary bombs are also great for damage in addition to providing utility with their 3 second slows. This poison is a must have for both utility and damage, with its only downside being that it is a rare drop from The Shatters, a very difficult endgame dungeon.
The Hydra Skin Armor, Wyrmhide Armor, and Leviathan Armor are the best tiered leather armors. They provide decent bonuses to DEX and DEF, increasing the Assassin’s DPS and survivability. The Hydra Skin and Wyrmhide are the best tradeable leather armors. The Leviathan Armor is THE best tiered leather armor, though soulbound and dropping exclusively from endgame bosses.
These armors greatly increase the Assassin’s rushing capabilities.
The three Beehemoth Armors dropping from the three Beehemoths are leather armors that prioritize mobility. They give +5 SPD in exchange for DEF and DEX, giving the Assassin mobility and some rushing capability.
Meanwhile, the Turncoat Cape from Treasurer Gemsbok is a complete upgrade to the aforementioned Beehemoth Armors. The Turncoat Cape not only gives more def and double the SPD, but it also has a proc that turns the wearer invisible when taking 30+ damage. This armor much greatly enhances the Assassin’s rushing capabilites, with the only problem other than its DEF and DEX decrease being its difficulty in obtaining it, as it drops from an endgame miniboss.
These leather armors are great for boosting general survivability.
The Armor of Nil is arguably the best defensive leather armor in the game. A rare drop from the Void Entity, the Armor of Nil gives a whopping +26 DEF, similar to that of the Dominion Armor. The downside is the loss of DEX, which this armor doesn’t give, unlike tiered leather armors, and the -3 SPD. However, the both losses can be negligeble, as the Asassin already has a high DEX cap and high SPD cap. Also, the Assassin’s poison already does a fair amount of damage, meaning that loss of DEX does not make a large difference. On the other hand is the Luminous Armor, an ST leather armor from the Crystal Cavern. Instead of DEF, it entirely lacks any DEF bonus in exchange for a whopping +200 HP (which is more than the Ring of Decades)+5 SPD, and +5 VIT. The Luminous Armor is similar to the Breastplate of New Life in that it sacrifices DEF for HP, albeit much more drastically. While HP is generally better for survivability than DEF, the huge loss of DEF can hurt the Assassin as the class has naturally low DEF. However, most shots in endgame content already do lots of damage or armor pierce, so HP can still be useful on the Assassin.
The Vest of Abandoned Shadows is a more peculiar leather armor. Dropping from various minions within The Shatters, it acts as a defensive armor, giving the 
Armored effect when the wearer is in-combat. This armor also has a high +15 VIT and moderate +50 HP, which increases the Assassin’s survivability a little more as HP generally boosts survivability more than DEF. It can be seen as more situational due to the proc activating only when in combat. However, it is great for use when you are fighting and taking a lot of damage. This fits with the melee nature of the Assassin, although because he can also throw poisons from afar, range isn’t as much of an issue. Still, this leather armor is good for when you need to get in close to enemies for dealing damage.
The Harlequin Armor dropping from The Puppet Master is a great leather armor for the Assassin. It sacrifices survivability for utility, providing less DEF for more MP. This synergizes well with the Assassin, as his poison ability requires high amounts of MP usage.
Health Rings are great for improving overall survivability. The Ring of Unbound Health and Ring of Decades provide very large increases to HP, +180 and +190 HP respectively. They can be good for improving the Assassin’s survivability in general.
While less used, the Ring of Defense can still be beneficial on an Assassin. As the class has 25 DEF, and has shorter range requiring it to get closer to enemies for damage, a DEF boost is more beneficial to the class than other, more high DEF classes.
Since the Assassin’s poison consumes a high amount of MP, some players may seek more MP focused rings, such as the Ring of Unbound Magic, Sourcestone, The Twilight Gemstone, and Ring of the Sphinx. MP can also act as a psuedo DPS booster, as the poison can deal heavy damage given enough time. The Ring of Unbound Magic provides roughly 1-2 more poison throws with its high MP boost. Meanwhile, the Sourcestone from the Void Entity is more balanced, giving both HP and MP, meaning it should be used for when you want a balance between survivability and utility on your Assassin. The Twilight Gemstone not only provides +110 MP, giving one more poison throw, but it also reduces your MP cost, along with a few bonuses to mobility and defense. Finally, the Ring of the Sphinx gives a simple +100 MP along with +4 to both ATT and DEX, making it useful for people who want balance between DPS and utility.
These rings provide a more balanced playstyle. The Omnipotence Ring (Omni) gives a balanced spread of small bonuses to all stats, which can be good for people who want a well rounded Assassin. Meanwhile, the Bracer of the Guardian (Bracer) focuses more on HP, MP, DEX, and DEF. Finally, the Divine Coronation (Coro) is considered more offensive than the Bracer, giving more HP, less MP, more ATT than DEX, and a little less DEF. Bracer may be preferred over Omni since the loss of WIS, VIT, and SPD may seem negligeble as very small losses. Coro could also be preferred for its higher DPS stat bonus, and willing to accept the loss in MP.
Both The Forgotten Crown (Crown) and Magical Lodestone provide excellent stats for general DPS increase. While Crown may offer HP, which is generally considered better than DEF, DEF is still beneficial on the Assassin due to the class’s low DEF cap. Also, the SPD increase is nice for increasing the Assassin’s mobility.
The Exalted God’s Horn from Oryx the Mad God 3 is a more focused DPS increasing item, having more HP than The Forgotten Crown while still having a decent DPS boost. It works well on the Assassin due to the range of his poison, allowing him to do damage from afar while gaining even more survivability.
The main strengths that lie within the Assassin is his high damage output, compared to the other dagger classes, along with the poison ability to do even higher damage to groups of enemies. His higher Wisdom stat of 60, like the Trickster, compared to the Rogue also helps him regenerate his MP for sooner poison uses. With your high speed and damage output, you can often succeed by darting in, quickly damaging a target, and darting out. Even without a Priest backup, an Assassin can solo many events this way.
However, like the other dagger classes, he lacks the long range of staff/bow users and the defense of sword users. Furthermore, the Assassin does not have the invisibility of the Rogue, or the decoys of the Trickster, so survival is heavily reliant on the player’s skill in dodging all projectiles that come your way. Moreover, he lacks a healing ability, so you should always carry healing items and be patient enough to back off from fights for a minute to recover some HP. Otherwise, you will find your Assassin dead much sooner than expected.
A fresh Assassin’s stats are just like a fresh Rogue’s stats, with excellent Speed and Dexterity stats, but has a much better Attack and Wisdom stat than the Rogue does. Even with all these good stats, a fresh Assassin cannot function as effectively as other fresh classes. This is because the Assassin relies on dodging skills in order to survive, and fighting at medium range does not help him, either. The Assassin can still function with a hit-and-run tactic, but is still difficult to pull off at events without any Speed invested.
An Assassin’s capped stats are great for its purposes. His 75 Speed allows him to quickly run in, toss poison, and escape without spending much time taking fire. He also has a great 60 Attack, along with 75 Dexterity, which gives him decent damage output for a dagger class. A great 60 Wisdom allows him to get back on his feet if he misses a lob of poison.
When fighting alongside allies in the godlands, the Assassin usually doesn’t need to use his poison since the enemy is often killed before the poison can take much effect. Instead he can focus on hit and run tactics, using his high Speed and Dexterity to quickly dispatch enemies and then retreat to the safety of the priests or other long-range fighters.
However, if the group approaches a tough god (Medusa, Sprite God, Red Demon, or Leviathan) with lots of health, then feel free to throw some poison at it to bring its health down much faster. Or, if someone (accidentally, I’m sure) drags a group of gods towards the party, move to the side and take aim, because your poison could be the thing that allows you to eliminate them quickly and continue adventuring, rather than having the whole party being forced to retreat to the nexus.
Assassins are also useful to the party in taking out groups of gods from the safety of castle walls. They can also be of help by dealing significant poison damage to tough event bosses surrounded by large groups of minions, such as Cube Gods, Skull Shrines, and even Oryx.
Since Build 119, the popularity of Assassins has skyrocketed due to the simplicity of getting soulbound damage in an Event. Usually 2-3 Nightwing lobs are enough to get an easy stat potion at a Skull or Cube. It is difficult for an Assassin to get soulbound damage if there is no cover (trees, rocks, etc.) around. If there is, quickly run towards the boss, using the cover, and get off a poison before quickly retreating to safety. Using this hit-and-run tactic, the Assassin can easily land plenty of damage without much to lose, and without much effort. Large groups with you can easily speed up the process.
As for dungeon bosses, the Assassin needs to time his poison effectively, because the poison will not affect the dungeon boss if they are under a period of invulnerability. A mistimed poison can completely waste his MP when another opportunity opens up. This is why it is much harder for an Assassin to get soulbound damage on a dungeon boss than an event boss.
Assassin is famous for being the WC character. It has great speed to rush, and the poison gets easy soulbound qualification on Oryx 2.
Notes: Since it cannot cloak, or teleport like the trickster or rogue, it is important to remember dodging is a must when rushing the WC. Just because you throw poisons, this does not mean you are certain to get soulbound. It is possible to throw 10+ poisons and not get a drop. Throwing poison just means you qualify for soulbound.
Whether solo or adventuring with friends, the Assassin has a fun play-style and an ability that takes only a little bit of practice to master. The Assassin can deal high damage to several groups of enemies, without much effort needed, and can get himself easy soulbound damage. Recommended for those who want a challenge that can still yield rewards. Also recommending to play as PPE (Pet Player Experience where you max yourself from nothing but a pet without trading). As mentioned above, you can just throw 2 lobs of poison at Oryx 2 and easily qualify for soulbound.
