What is an Assassin supposed to do other than tank?

Assassins are supposed to be in the front line, right? Then why do people tell me not to tank when i do go up there? True, we do die quickly, but what do you expect us to do?

Lol, Sin's are meant to take out stray foes. Your actually meant to be on the backline and shadowstep to the strays, killing them off quickly and without warning

I agree with Cid.

You've seen the movies where assassins pick-off their targets from afar. You are a professional "hit-man" type of character. You may not really have a range attack, but you have ways of getting in and out of combat. Warriors attack the front line, you and rangers attack the squishies in the back. You teleport in, attack (and hopefully kill), then teleport out. Heal, re-energize, then attack. While you recoup your energy, look for another target.

If you want to be mean, nasty, and down right evil, make your character wave at your intended target. Then "poof", you attack from behind. Backstab them, kill them and teleport away.

As Cid said, kill them without warning.

If Assassins are NOT meant to tank. ANet make a big mistake on Assassin Skill "SHadow Refuge". it should be:

"Enchantment Spell. For 4 seconds, you gain 5...9 Health Regeneration. When Shadow Refuge ends, if you are 'NOT' attacking, you are healed for 30...68."

which now is
"Enchantment Spell. For 4 seconds, you gain 5...9 Health Regeneration. When Shadow Refuge ends, if you ARE attacking, you are healed for 30...68."

Quote: Originally Posted by pve-er

Quote: Originally Posted by Cid

reguardless of how you play an assassin they damage to easy. I checked the difference between casters and a sin. the sin takes the same dmg as a necro but elementalist, rangers, monks, take less dmg then those 2 with same armor class and no buff for physical to any.

explain that one.

they are broken. get spiked way to easy. That is exactly why i run life sheath on my sin. I do not tank I strictly use it to anti spike and stay alive NEAR the agro for a few extra kills.

also sins dont kill strays their target is a slightly weakened caster on the outer rim of the battle.... Cats and Dogs are strays. LOL

saider sorry bud but yer kindawrong, sins are supposed to kill strays, as in they are supposed to kill enemies that have left the pack, any enemy that isalone, is a dead enemy in an assassins eyes.

hm, i understand what it means to not tank now. but in alliance battle, a lot of people in groups that don't have any warrior always wants me to do first hit. and usually that means that I'M getting all the hits

assassin style:
1:watch the battle
2:target an enemy far from the battle
3:charge in/shadowstep in
4:lay your combo
5:shadowstep out (IF its the only survivor then you can continue to attack it)
6:recharge skills and repeat.

if your combo didnt kill your target (or didnt give enought conditions to do so after your gone) dont try to fix it by giving a few hits, it means your build is not adequate and you need to change it after your done with the mission/PvP

my 2 cents

I'd prefer it if they removed the conditional... its already the worst selfheal in the entire game. Hell Aura of Restoration is more reliable. At lvl16 Shadow Arts is does 10 regen.... wow... in those 4 seconds i've regened 80 health. This is of course not including Mesmer that just Power Spiked you for 100+ damage or the Shatter Enchantment. At lvl 16 WS, Unguent regens 200 health. Lvl16 Tactics, Signet heals for (i think) 160. Sorry but Refuge just sucks.

nah refuge should read:

after 4 seconds, if there are no enemy near by you, you gain .... health

any way, i played a trapasin before i retire into a critical barrager... but i still likes trapasin more...

tactic: let warrior take aggro, then sneak up cast whirlwind, then cast spike trap (or even cast spike trap before casting whirwind), then as they are knocked down, cast flame trap... then quickly come back to back line... so enemy are crippled, bleeding, ignited, and takes at least 2-3 hits from flame trap (due to crippled)

if you are getting hit using an assassin more than you should, then you should reconsider your strat

In alliance battle the rules are skewed. my usual group, all either sins or warriors, you become the guy who kills the SS necro, or the guy who hits the mm or the annoying mes so they can plow through. most groups want sins to lead the attack because our attacks all have some sort of bonus with it, and death is very impermanent

Thx guys

eh i prefer to take out strategic targets ( casters ) one who have just taken a nice blow or pressure one who is giving them a considerable advantage.
I guess you call them strays?

in AB..I just take out casters and monks (well basically keep the monks busy if you cant kill them)... in short.. anything thats soft hahaha... a monk that just casted all his prot spell on their warior in as good as dead lolx

being a sin sin really effective esp ing Etnara Keys where the terrain is un even.. coz that dont matter to a sin who can shadow step in and out...

Tanking is one big joke if your a sin.. you would even last 5 secs against a warior with gladiators.. lol so dont imagine you can take spikes from 2 eles and live

Quote: Originally Posted by Cid

i good thing to do is to get heart of shadow and shadow refuge in case

then u eliminate the weakest person like the elementists adn assist the warrior in combat and another thing is to eliminate soloists that r not tanks and try to put as many negative status on the enemy.

assasian r especially good at dealing alot of damage with combined skills in 1 go, then escape or heal in wateva way u want to

=) and unlock gold vigor runes for pvp get health up to 625-675 or somethin like that

Good advice all the above. When you get to Fort Aspenwood, either side Kurzick or Luxon is a great place to hone your assassin technique. Frequently you are not in the ideal situation of having the "rest of your group" aggro while you look for the target of opportunity. Because the rest of your group is somewhere else, all spread out, or dead. Ending up solo is really educational!

Good luck with your assassin! You will never be bored, we can guarantee you that.

I believe that the key to surviving as an assassin is learning a little bit of patience. Everyone would love to just drop into the middle of a battle and slice everything up into bits, but unfortunately (mostly for naruto fans, it seems) these assassins were not designed to do that. My theory, judging from the energy cost and recharge time of the most potent assassin skills, is that Anet purposely designed the assassin to deliver one massive payload of damage and conditions to a single target. Naturally, if the the assassin could do this at will, there would be some huge balancing issues, hence the 10+ second recharge on all of our most beloved skills.

Point of all that babble: stay out of the mix for a while, observe the battle, see who is causing the most trouble for your team, wait for an opportune moment, gank said person, flee.