Does Assassin have a role in groups?

[brian14]

I never played an Assassin until now and do not recall ever playing a Rogue in epic levels at all, so putting a pure rogue assassin (my main, Completionist) through epics is a new experience for me.

And in every party, raid or otherwise, it has been a disappointment.

Playing Assassin solo is great fun, even if slow. As of right now, she is level 25, and soloing Sschindylryn quests EE was a perfect test of her abilities. End fight in each of three Houses was a drawn-out affair as I would sneak in, kill one of the guards, perhaps pull couple more out into the corridor, repeat until the boss was alone. (Don't see how this could work in Portal Opens though) But in every party I was relegated to being a trapmonkey. By the time I sneak up on a mob, it is already dead, and my contribution to boss fights was minor. Might as well go Mechanic route and optimize for traps.

[Mindos]

I find myself having the role of running behind everyone, picking up remnants and bags.

Ideally, in a group, I guess the role would be to sneak ahead and kill the orange boss, or champs, casters, etc. But SSG nerfed the stacking sneak speed "bug", and with today's full run speed zerg and kill way, you'll never get ahead of the group.

You're never gonna lead the kill count, but killing the harder hitting mobs while the group handles the boss, etc, would be a perfect use. But everything is already dead, and the group has done two more dungeons since I started writing this, on R10, so...

Solo and have fun I guess!

[DYWYPI]

When you Solo play Assassin, you make plenty of observations about your environment and how the groups of mobs are positioned or moving, etc. You'll also have to learn to be patient and watch your chosen "mark" and make your deadly strike count.

It's generally not advisable to blindly rush around and aggravate large mobs; since you'd be potentially losing your valuable Sneak Attack bonus, when more than one monster tries to pound you.

An Assassin will typically separate a single monster from the large group via Bluff, or know your limitations on how many mobs your Rogue can handle toe-to-toe if it goes pear shaped. You won't get Assassinate until: Level 12. So before then you should be learning how to approach mobs without being detected by the main group - picking off lone stragglers or learning how to separate them.

Learn to thin-out and control dangerous groups; so you don't get hemmed in, as that can lead to a fast and stupid death...

You should make good use of Sneak as it will allow you to get very close to your specific target (choose which foe you want to fight) in many cases and dispatch them more efficiently, without alerting the whole dungeon.

If you're playing in a group you typically have the luxury of the other players generating the aggravation, still you want to be flanking and backstabbing. Albeit in groups you don't typically need to be moving in Sneak that often once mob combat has commenced. You still do not want aggravation from the mobs if you can help it. Since you are meant to deal swift massive 'Sneak Attack' damage, and not waste your time trying to slowly wear down an opponent with endless puny swings.

I exclusively play Assassins when at Epic and the majority of the time I'll solo them.

I'm not really into the hardcore "minimum kill discreet stealth runs" I tend to clear all the mobs rather than leave them living.

It sounds like you are spending far too much time in Sneak mode; when in within a group, which is very inefficient. You should be able to get plenty of kills and Sneak attack damage within a group situation and also regularly Assassinate. That's assuming you are doing a quest level difficulty you can handle.

If you've never dealt with traps before then of course you will be a little slower. Albeit you should be still getting plenty of melee action, and you should be able to help debuff some bosses.

[draven1]

Any single target focused builds have almost no role in group battle when an AOE can clear whole room in oneshot on R10.

This game is made for AOE player's fun only.
No tactics, no positioning concern, no risk & reward, no coordination, no situation awareness, no balance between offense & defense.

Just rush, push 1 button, and BOOM, repeat on next horde of mobs, quest completed.

[kamimitsu]

My main was a vistani assassin for many many years before I finally started getting on the TR train. Now that strikethrough THFs and nukers can plow through rooms quickly, it's harder, but there is still a role for you. Here's how I play in groups.

You should be pretty fast (assuming you have the movement speed bonus based on rogue levels), so stay just behind the lead charger. Don't worry about moving in stealth mode in groups, it's unnecessary for the most part, since you won't like have any aggro. Wherever the lead goes, follow, and when the fighting starts peel off slightly and aim for 1-2 mobs either A) casting or ranging some distance away (easy), or B) moving/aggro'd toward lead charger (difficult). Jump and hit stealth mid-air (jump is optional, really, but it feels faster than just hitting stealth somehow), and as soon as you hit the ground hit your assassinate button and whack the two mobs. Pro-tip: due to movement, latency, attack arcs, etc., you need to attack the air a few feet AHEAD of any mobs that are moving to land your assassinate.
Once you've hit two, find any other outlying monsters and if you have dire charge, use this to quickly move to and stun small groups or pairs of mobs, if not just move to them normally. Then, cycle through your +W/special attacks (shiv, improved feint, etc.) until they are all dead. Once your assassinate timer is up, rinse and repeat. The key here is find the mobs OUTSIDE of the general kill zone and put them down.

If there are red-named or mini-bosses, then I usually forgoe the above and so long as someone beefy seems to have aggro, use that single target DPS to bring the farker down fast. AoE nukers and Striketrough THFs can handle the trash.

If you have "consume", it's not a bad idea to hit it just as someone opens a door (that you know has a big fight behind) so that when you enter the room to swing, mobs are already dying.

If you know the quest very well, there is some utility in sneaking forward or into optional areas (sometimes past mobs) to pull levers, disable trap boxes, or assassinate troublesome ranged/casting mobs prior to the party arriving.

The other option is to go the kill stealer route (i.e. stick to the big ugly guy like glue), but that's only fun for little while.

[slarden]

In terms of instakill there isn't much of a role in the newest raids, although there will be a role in the upcoming feywild raid based on streaming I saw. This is more of an issue for dc casters because their dps is terrible so they are useless without a need for DC casting. Assassin doesn't really have to give up dps for the top tier assassinate.

In terms of contribution, Int Assassin has top-tier single-target dps so they are absolutely valuable to the party and raid leaders know it. With a tank you should have nearly 100% up-time on your sneak attack damage and with typical assassin threat reduction there is little chance of pulling aggro. Int assassin will also have a super high DC dire charge.

with two weapons an assassin can also help with debuffing. Pain and suffering is great in raids/parties as you have fetters and constricting nightmares debuffing directly on those weapons plus can add shattered device filigree - 3 debuffers without compromising any dps.

The only downside is to get top-tier assassin gear requires multiple raid items.

My int assassin setup uses the following raid items: Silver Dragonscale Helmet, The Family's Blessing necklace, Heart of Suulomades, Devilscale Bracers, Material Opposition LGS belt and boots for the hp bonus and other benefits, Pain and Suffering. This is alot of raid items for one build unless it's your main character and you plan to stick with the build.

Assassin has a very high ceiling (one of the top in the game), but is also the most difficult to play and isn't for everyone. If you stick with it though you will likely experience the full potential of assassin once you get used to the playstyle.

If you don't enjoy the playstyle another rogue option is 11 rogue / 6 ranger / 3 bard dagger thrower - very useful in raids. I am currently running this build on my assassin because the group I raid with is running into problems with not enough ranged characters since melee dps is so good right now (ranged needed for Lord of blades and master artficer). Nearly everyone is a melee in raids with a few alchemists/sorcs for AOE.

[drunkbarbarian]

You could look for a friend who is leveling a tank and no dps. We could use all the leveling help we could get. We grab all aggro, turtle up, swing a bit and wait for you to kill everything while we have a cigarette. Seriously though, rogue dps is top notch single target. Playstyle and finding the right role, and group make all the difference.

Some of best groups I have been a part of, rogue dps was a vital part of our success.

[kmoustakas]

I never played an Assassin until now and do not recall ever playing a Rogue in epic levels at all, so putting a pure rogue assassin (my main, Completionist) through epics is a new experience for me.

And in every party, raid or otherwise, it has been a disappointment.

Playing Assassin solo is great fun, even if slow. As of right now, she is level 25, and soloing Sschindylryn quests EE was a perfect test of her abilities. End fight in each of three Houses was a drawn-out affair as I would sneak in, kill one of the guards, perhaps pull couple more out into the corridor, repeat until the boss was alone. (Don't see how this could work in Portal Opens though) But in every party I was relegated to being a trapmonkey. By the time I sneak up on a mob, it is already dead, and my contribution to boss fights was minor. Might as well go Mechanic route and optimize for traps.

Destroy trash in high reaper. Assasins are in a great spot right now but not for leveling or hard/elite.