Assassin PvP build

Finally, after two and a half year I did my first PvP match. At the Random Arena Island, meaning a 4v4 match.
I decided to use an Assassin for my first PvP run because they are the best single target killers in the game. And since you are only fighting 4 players ánd have 3 party member, this looked like the best class for a first try.

I came up with the following build:
-Leaping Mantis Sting (Cripple)
-Wild Strike (Kill stances)
-Horns of the Ox (KD)
-Falling Spider (Poison)
-Twisting Fangs (Bleeding and DW)
-Flashing Blades (Block)
-Death's Charge (Shadow Step)
-Resurrection Signet
Which turned out to be a good solid skill-bar. Because after 9 runs I still didn't die even once, I killed 3 of the 4 enemies (including the revived onces), and achieved 8 of the 9 victories as Flawless.

Now I don't know if the opponents where so bad, my team was so good or if I just got lucky, but everthing went well. I slashed and spiked trough every target. From the squishy onces to the heavy armored onces. Untill I came across a Necromancer/Assassin (Curses), a Mesmer/Necromancer (Curses), a Monk/Mesmer (Prot) and a Ritualist/Monk (Spirit).
All 'squishy' targets, but neither me nor my party wasn't able to kill any of them.
My party: Me, an Assassin/, an Assassin/Warrior, An Elementalist/Mesmer and a Ritualist/Mesmer.

All the heavy armored characters where easy to kill. And if they started hitting me, I just used Flashing Blades or Shadow Stepped to another enemy.

Now is my question: How do I counter these damn curses and protection monks? Is there something terribly wrong with my build, or is it usual that an Assassin gets arsekicked by Necro's, Mesmers and Prot Monks?

Note that I didn't use any upgrades like runes, 15^50 weapons, Zealous weapons or anything like that. I just used the standard PvP equipment.

Flashing Blades = No go in PvP.

About those hexers...can't do much except interrupt them, remove them yourself or rely on your monk to do it.

About the protectors, your build fails in bypassing them. You need an interrupt or anti-block skill.

Flashing Blades seemed to work pretty well in PvP.

Anyway, would Fox's Promise or Expose Defenses work instead to avoid the blocking of Prot monks? Or is it also possible to use Assault Enchantments or Shattering Assault. Since most of the time they are under the effect of Enchantments.

And when using Expose Defense, would it be better to switch Leaping Mantis Strike and Falling Spider for Black Mantis Trust and Black Spider Strike?
That way I can drop Horns of the Ox (which is needed to activate Falling Spider) and which in a skill like Moebius Strike or another Elite...

Damn, there are just too many possibilities :P

The thing I love about an Assassin actually, altough most of the time it PvE it doesn't matter which skills you use... But for now it is 'Goodbye PvE' and 'Hello PvP' anyway

You were playing RA. Anything works there. In PvP, it's better to take an offensive skill if you're an offensive character. I agree, people may attack you, but you shouldn't sacrifice a (elite) skill just to bypass that. Kill them before they can attack you .

The problem with both [skill]Shattering Assault[/skill] and [skill]Assault Enchantments[/skill] is that you must first get to them...that means at least 2 hits,( not counting [skill]Dancing Daggers[/skill] and [skill]Iron Palm[/skill] ) plus a dual attack for [skill]Assault Enchantments[/skill] . Might be just better to leave those skills out and simply be able to ignore the blocking enchantments.

Another thing you will have to learn as an Assassin is that not all targets are good targets. Offcourse, you have to kill everyone to win a match, but the order matters. If I'm on an RA team with no monk, I will go for the offensive targets first, disrupting their offensive capabilities, so they can not harm my team, so they don't die, thus allowing them to pressure their defenses.

In general, having less lead/off hand combo's is best. If you use a hex, simply use [skill]Black Lotus Strike[/skill] ([skill]Black Spider Strike[/skill] ). This bypasses the lead attack, preserving energy and increasing your "accuracy" against blockers.


A pretty good starter build would be this one:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cla0lFbbpwE
(watch the rest of the videos, shows alot of tactical decisions that might seem illogical at first, yet are key to success )( Or download all 3 hi-res versions at once: http://www.megaupload.com/en/?d=3E7V6E20 )

You can heavily modify this build. Change the last 4 skills, put in another lead, or even dual attack.