Help with Assassin Class

I have a quick question...

How do you stay alive as an assassin?

Me and a friend of mine are leveling, and it seems almost every group we pull that has 4 or 5 mobs, I always die in a few hits. I'll hit my target a few times, next thing I know I have the entire group beating me down.

Any tips would be helpful, thanks!

You have a healer on your team? Personally I'd take the ritualist and monk henchies for staying alive.

1. Take the healer henchies or just one, either way things die very fast.
2. What level are you and what level are your foes?
3. What is your weapon damage?
4. Armor level?
5. Your level?
6. Your attack skills?
7. Your defense/other skills?
8. Your health?

Get max armor (70) as soon as possible. Also, go to nightfall when you can and get the skill Critical Agility for more armor (and attack speed). If you use enchantments (like Critical Agility and Strength of Honor on a monk hero) I'd suggest Blessed Insignia. These put together should put your armor level over 100.

Also, in a party of 8, take 2 dedicated healers/protters.

If you have access to Nightfall, you can get [[Critical Agility] for armor boost and IAS. If not, [[Critical Defenses] works about the same. Or you can have [[Soldier's Stance (PvE)] and [["Fear Me!"] to power it. [[Flashing Blades] is also another nice option.

I have the level 55 armor, each one is enchanted with +10 armor vs physical damage, and something else that I forget.

My weapons are like 7-13 damage, with +15% vs. hexed foes, I have like 270 heath, level 13 or so (I'm not logged into the game right now, trying to remember off the top of my head). My foes are roughly level 13-16.

I can't remember my abliities other then the shadow step one that heals me, and the one that gives me like +8 health regen.

Also I always run with a monk NPC, and an ritualist NPC

Sounds like your armor and weps are decent for your level so maybe it's your playstyle. Remember, you're an assassin. You're job is to get in quick (unawares), hit with some good blows and get out quick. You aren't a tank and it's not your job to stand there and take hits. Get in...get out. And learn to kite...running is not cowardice, it's smart.

Aside from the obvious things like defensive skills, there are two key things you need to know. First, the higher your health and I think armor are, the less likely enemies are to target you. Second, most people make the common mistake of rushing in as an assassin because they're melee, but you have to stay back and let the front line (warriors, dervishes etc) get ahead of you first. They don't have to start fighting before you move in, just make sure they're ahead of you so they engage the enemies before you do.
When you're playing alone with henchmen/heroes that usually means getting just into aggro range, then staying back for a moment while they rush past to attack. You can also just flag them onto the group but that's unnecessary, and can often screw you over by leading ranged characters and healers into the middle of the fray.

Barring special builds, the assassin's role isn't to get in their faces and start hacking away like most melee; you have to move around inside the group while they're distracted and tear down soft/priority targets.
With that in mind, as an assassin you both can and mostly likely should ignore focus fire (unless it's a boss); a good assassin can kill any random monster in a few seconds.

If by that you mean 4 or 5 enemies, then you need more defensive characters on your team. Always atleast 1 dedicated healer in your party. In partys of 6 or 8 consider 2, or atleast 1 dedicated, + 1 heal/support hybrid.

If however you mean 4 or 5 mobs... then try pulling 1 mob. Much easier to handle.

In case you open the combat as the first one of your team who attacks by shadow-stepping inside an enemy mob: this is like saying "Here I am all alone, kill me".
With this, you are stepping out of range of your healing monks. You are the first who is seen by the enemy mob, so all of them attack you. But as assassin, you are not a damage-absorbing tank.

Instead, don't open the combat. Let someone other from your team do it. Preferable a warrior, a ritualist with spirits, or a minion master. Run to the first enemy. Use the shadow step mid-combat for self-heal and for getting quickly from a dead enemy to your next target. Or don't use shadow steps at all.

haven't looked in too deep on assassin's skills much, but i do know shadow stepping skills help. Your role is high dmg in and get out fast if you can't make the kill. there are certain shadow step skills that enable to you get out of tight situations.

As other people say, don't rush in as the first in your group all mobs will attack YOU and you'll be dead in seconds.

Also early on you get an enchantment that you should use before battle called "Shadow Refuge"