User:Erasculio/Assassin

As flawed as Factions is, I have to admit the art team did a wonderful job in the chapter. Not only it has some of the best armors in the entirety of Guild Wars, but also the animations of its two new professions are incredibly detailed and well done. The assassin in action is, visually, a piece of art: the skill animations, especially for the dagger attacks, are so impressive that they are one of the main reasons behind the skill animations project at this wiki. During the Factions Preview Event, the assassins had an unique animation whenever they received a speed buff, actually rolling on the floor before starting to run; some players complained and it was removed, but I enjoyed the unique animation, and still believe it shows how attentive to details the art team of Factions was.

A pity the skill balancers could not do such a good job. I see assassins as one of ArenaNet's worst mistakes; as expected (since that's the source of many of their really bad mistakes), the assassins were something the player community almost begged for, as an impressively high number of GW players appear to be way too fond of Naruto. Ignoring the fact that a profession focused on solo kills does not really fit a team based game, the shadow stepping mechanic was very detrimental to PvP (as it took away one of its most skill requiring aspects, knowing how to position yourself), and the lead attack –> off hand attack –> dual attack mechanic led to the creation of very rigid skill bars that did not have many options other than kicking away utility skills (which makes warriors such a skill based profession), as well as implementing a gameplay style focused on pressing 1-2-3-4 and repeat.

PvE-wise, the assassins were somewhat of a failure, which is to be expected – a considerably high number of players tried to play them as if they were warriors, leading to months in which most of what assassins did in PvE teams was to serve as minion fodder for necromancers. The fact that many of the enemies in Factions explode when killed did not help the survivability of the low armored assassins, either. In fact, after the release there was a small uproar in the community as assassins players demanded a buff to Shadow Refuge (during the preview event, it did not add health regeneration, rather it gave a 50% chance of evading attacks), claiming it was a skill required in order to play an assassin effectively (which is one more sign of how smart many assassin players are, but anyway). Later the assassins became a massive failure, as ArenaNet took the profession meant to be a glass cannon and gave it god mode, taking months to finally nerf Shadow Form into something very slightly more balanced.

The company never fixed all the issues assassins have in PvE. The profession is one of the worst to play with in a part of AIs; the potential of assassins is wasted when the entire party focuses on the same target, killing it in seconds and often before even the first attack chain is finished. In a human group, it's easy to see who the rest of the party is targeting and aim for a different enemy, killing it or disrupting it by using the assassin's abilities in full. Since heroes and henchmen prioritize attacking your target, as opposed to the target you have called, doing the same thing when H/Hing is incredibly annoying. Shadow stepping is also mostly useless in PvE – using it before the rest of the party has engaged is asking to be killed, as the entire enemy group would focus on the assassin. Using it after the rest of the party has engaged means moving so small distances that the effect isn't really worth it – the best shadow stepping skill in the game PvE-wise is actually Dash, since it allows quick transversal through small distances, it may be used both offensively and defensively, it has a low recharge and a low energy cost. I had hoped ArenaNet would focus on those issues, instead of taking away features that made the assassins unique, such as their fragile nature (which doesn't exist anymore due to Shadow Form) and the use of daggers (which is becoming obsolete due to the use of scythes and the aberration know as the “critical barrager” build).

Despite all the issues, though, I enjoy playing an assassin once in a while. The animations by themselves are worth it, and some of the effects an assassin may trigger are interesting.

(I do have to say, though, that the assassin playerbase sucks. Not everyone, of course, but... Taking a look at some of the fansites, you are not going to see someone seriously claiming to be “the best Mesmer player in GW”, yet I have seen multiple times someone claiming to be the best assassin of GW – often with another preposterous claim, such as being the best RA player in the game. Likewise, looking at the GW2 wiki, there were multiple attempts to make a profession article for assassins, yet no such thing happened for monks, dervishes, etc. I think Manifold's opinion here has proved to be incredibly accurate; it's a pity that it appears something like assassins will return in GW2, if only because that's not the kind of player ArenaNet should catter to.)

(Oh, and all those spikes and daggers and swords and etc coming out of the assassin's armors? Blame Jeff Strain : P)

Armor

 * Imperial Mask (Radiant, Major Dagger Mastery)
 * Elite Imperial Guise (Nightstalker, Minor Dagger Mastery)
 * Imperial Leggings (Nightstalker, Major Vigor)
 * Kurzick Gloves (Survivor, Major Critical Strikes)
 * Kurzick Shoes (Survivor, Minor Shadow Arts)
 * Ancient Guise (Nightstalker, Attunement)
 * Ancient Leggings (Survivor, Major Vigor)
 * Ancient Gloves (Survivor, Major Critical Strikes)
 * Ancient Shoes (Survivor, Minor Deadly Arts)
 * Mask of the Mo Zing (Survivor, Major Dagger Mastery)
 * Exotic Mask (Radiant, Superior Critical Strikes)
 * Seitung Mask (Radiant, Superior Shadow Arts)
 * Canthan Mask (Radiant, Superior Deadly Arts)

Weapons

 * Shiro's Blades
 * Stygian Daggers
 * Ceremonial Daggers
 * Ungues of the Oni
 * Droknar's Knives
 * Poisonous Dragon Fangs of Dagger Mastery
 * Shocking Zodiac Daggers of Defense
 * Dagger Mastery 10
 * Lightning damage
 * Damage (14/50)
 * Armor +5
 * Plagueborn Daggers of Dagger Mastery
 * Dagger Mastery 11
 * Energy +5
 * Dagger Mastery +1 (20)
 * Cruel Sai of Dagger Mastery
 * Dagger Mastery 9
 * Lengthens Deep Wound
 * Damage (15/50)
 * Dagger Mastery +1 (20)
 * Peppermint Daggers

Other

 * 108 Lunar Tokens
 * Dragon Mask
 * Miniature Temple Guardian

Things to get

 * Zodiac Daggers
 * Plagueborn Daggers
 * Mods
 * 1 Health +30 (daggers)

Builds
Note: those suck. I'm not aiming at the most efficient build possible, but rather at something I have fun playing with. And while it's not fun to have ten party wipes, I'm not against playing with a "bad" build if I enjoy it. This is specially true for assassins - the only reason for the Blades of Steel build is how I like the skill animation.