Ideas for the New Assassin Profession

I think it would be cool if Anet concentrated on the assassin 'idea' of taking out a certain foe, as opposed to a group. Perhaps as skill that did extra damage against a certain enemy? e.g:

:More damage against Monks/other proffesions.
:More damage against bosses. (or Ghostly heroes in PvP)

I don't think Assassins should have more damage against monks. In PvP monks have a hard enough time with the warriors getting on their case. I say Assassins have advantages against warriors ... why?

- warriors attack and cause most harm to monks
- monks have advantages against undead/necros (e.g. holy dmg, scourge sacrifice, etc.)
- necros would have an advantage against assassins (since most assassin skills have to do with poison, deception, bleeding etc. that have no relevance to minions etc.)
- then assassins will have advantages against warriors (e.g. disarming attacks, trip maneuvers, etc.)

Memsmers already have the advantage over warriors. A mesmer vs warrior, mesmer will wind hands down.

A memsmer vs two warriors. Mesmer will win with some effort

A mesmer vs. three warriors: Mesmer might win, warriors prolly will win.

Mesmer vs: four warriors: Warriors will prolly win...

maybe buff the assassin against mesmers, if that's the case.

we should at least not pick on monks ... monks have a tough enough time in PvP as it is ...

Warrior are already weak as-is. I dont think that assasins should have a certain advantage over one class, but more focused on controling any character (specifications with skills/attributes) (like any other class).

Rather than making assassins generally stronger against a specific type of enemy, I think assassins should be able to pick their own target to be stronger against - but only as long as nobody else is hitting that target. That would fit the assassination theme while keeping a strong role within the group.

Should assassins have low armor, and no AOE skills? I think the assassin should have skills directed toward bringing down those lvl 28 warrior bosses. Something like 50% armor penetration would be nice...
This would give them an advantage over warriors, but their armor could be caster armor. The idea of sending someone with lvl 60 armor in to combat a warrior in melee is usually frowned upon.
Truthfully, the assassin should be like a melee ele. This might not make sense, but they should be able to deal a substantial damage to one person at melee and would have to be healed the entire way but a large group of healers...
This could be anagalous to a suicide character, which would make sense as most assassins end up dying in the end...
Hmm... lets think... a character where half the point is to kill and die...
Count me in

Well I am all for the idea of assassins being anit-warriors but I came up with some ideas.


Assassin's Assigned Target
Energy: 10
Recharge:25

A random ememy that is seen on your radar is selected. For 5-12 seconds you deal 60% more damage to this target.

Better in PvE but in PvP this is somewhat good at attacking ememys but since the assigned target is random you might not get the target you want.

Spirt Sight
Nerco Skill
Soul Reaping (finally a use for it)
Energy: 10
Recharge: 25

Enchantment spell For 12-25 you can see ememies using cloaks disragrading their cloak effects.

Decided to take Xue Yi Liang's idea of making nercos counter-assassians

Cloak Seeking Lightening
Ele skill
Lightening Magic
Energy: 15
Recharge: 15

All currently Cloaked enemies take 50-150 lightening damage. This Attack has a 25% armor Penatration.

Would been nice counter for a Assassin disappear group I know for sure someone is going to think of. This would seem godly but this only works on cloaked enemies.

My general idea- the assassin is capable of detering or disabling a group of enemies, but can only bring the really lethal stuff to bear on a single predetermined target. How?

Assassin's Mark: For 10-66 seconds this foe is your prey. No other assassins may Mark this target while your skill is in effect. Assassin's Mark is automatically recharged when the target dies. (60 second recharge)

combined with a number of dual purpose skills like...

Pounce: 'Jump' to target foes location. If used on your Marked Prey, you gain 25% run speed increase.
Turn Wrist: Inflict weakness on a target. If used on your Marked prey, they cannot attack for xx seconds.
Judo Chop: Target's current action is interrupted. If used on your Marked prey while they are casting a spell, they are knocked down and suffer exhaustion equal to half the cost of their spell.

This limits the power that an assassin has to indiscriminately destroy anyone- while their skills are strong, they must be very choosy in who they select to kill. Assassin's Mark would be tied to the primary attribute, and an assassin can only Mark one target at a time.

That mark thing might be abused and used as a spike skill so ya.

It would be abused as a spike if two assassins could be using their full powers on a single target, but the idea is that only one assassin may have a mark on a target. Two assassins, gotta find two targets. This would prevent, first off, all assassin teams, unless they just wanted to man up one to one on their 8 different targets. Other than that, this enables spiking like an axe warrior enables spiking, so yeah.

If Assassin's Mark showed up as a "Condition" on their target's screen, it probably couldn't be abused too badly. Spiking is at it's best when the enemy doesn't know exactly when it's coming, or who the target is. Knowing who the target will be reduces the effectiveness of the spike. Only thing then is that assassin skills that capitalize on the "marked" condition should have a casting time of 2 or more seconds.

O my bad I'm blind. lol

PRIMARY

Dark Speed: skill level * 2 added atk speed. Skills under this attribute etc. etc.

Hidden Hand:Allows 2 weapons; you attack 2*(12/skill level)% slower.
Skills under this attribute etc. etc.

Ninjitsu:magic of shadows and distraction.

Tools:ex:grappling hook/ninja star

Blood Pact:skills using sacrifices of energy/health/regen to make offerings to their god(s) for true powers of the gods.


Dark Speed:
Rush!:
5 e/0 c/10 re
for 1/3 seconds, you move 12/50 percent faster.

Strikeback:
10 e/0 c/5 re
the next time you are to take damage, negate the damage and deal an attack+5-18 dmg. This skills range depends on the attribute level; 12 being bow range. (unless you are wearing a bow because of ranger sub)

Eliminator (Elite)
25 e/1 c/45 re
if this attack hits, you strike for +12-22 dmg. If the opponent was suffering from deep wound, that opponent take double the damage from this skill.

Mirage Armor
10 e/3 c/25 re
for 15-25 seconds, you have a 37-82 percent chance to dodge attacks. For each attack sucessfully dodged, you gain 1 energy.

Clone Self(Elite)
25 e/8 c/60 re
for the next 8-18 seconds, damage dealt to you is negated and subtracted from your dummies hp(hp=your max hp+no hp regen/buffs/armor) when you use a skill on a foe, that foe suffers a dummy strike version of that skill for .2-.75 times the damage. This effect may only be used once per 2 seconds.

Hidden Hand:
Double Strike:
8 e/2 c/20 re
for 5-10 seconds, when you do a critical hit, it gains +50 percent armor penetration.

Fake Attack:
5 e/1 c/5 re
you hit an enemy for no damage with one hand to do double damage on the second hand.

Combined Strike:
10 e/0 c/25 re
you attack with both weapons at the same time doing stacked damage +20 percent armor penetration. Weapon damage affected by attribute.

Multi-Strike(Elite):
18 e/3 c/45 re
you attack 33 percent faster and have a 12-50 percent chance to strike twice with your first-hand weapon for 7-21 seconds.

Rage-Masher:
25 e/6 c/60 re
you do 2 attacks (ranged) that do half physical and half dark damage.

Ninjitsu:
Exploding Powder:
8 e/2 c/5 re
35-89 damage + 33 percent chance of blind to all adjacent enemies.

Hallucinogenics:
13 e/3 c/15 re
enemy and target adjacent foes suffer from a random condition for 5-28 seconds. (the area of this spell is heal area*heal area)

Trip Wire:
10 e/4 c/25 re
trap; for 25-160 seconds, adjacent foes suffer knockdown and 8-26 dmg for 2 seconds every 6 seconds. (area smaller than that of heal area)

Interesting.... I don't think there whould be such emphasis on 'marked prey'. Maybe it would be better to think abou the attributes an assassin might have and THEN come up with skills...

And traps are rangers only, like nature rituals are rangers-only, adrenaline skills are warrior-only, corpse-targeted spells are necro-only, etc.

Another thing is the idea of a 'marked target' would be too good. These skills would completely overshadow the other professions.

For ideas about attribs of an assassin, there might be....

• Stealth
• Fast Attacking (like fast casting, but for using weapons)
• Luck (increases chance of critical hit, increases chance to hit while blind, increases chance that any spells against assassin fail, 1% per lvl of Luck)

Fast attacking would be the primary assassin attribute, although Luck could also be.

Any ideas on more attributes that DON'T have an inherant effect (effect without skill).

I reckon assassins should be made good against rangers cos they can get past all their evading and maybe because of their 'sneaking' powers do not set off traps... and the warrior could be made less good against the ranger.
Also, I reckon the assassin should be good against the mesmer. But definitely not the monk. Mesmers and warriors are for that.

i agree..... if you look through history ninjas main jobs were as assassins.....

i believe that they should be able to use things like throwing knives and such... as well as melee weapons..... as well as having a quicker attack rate over other characters seeing as they should be trained to QUICKLY silence/kill the enemy...... not to mention stealth...... not completely undetectable just a little harder......

a skill i think may work......

failure is not an option: preparation--elite

energy and stuf up to anybody....

if health is below 50% when you use this preparation your attacks strike for an additional 10-20 damage and cripple the enemy.... if striking a fleeing enemy you deal an additional 7 damage and foe is knocked down. preparation ends if your health rises above 50%

I'm not sure if a warrior can be made any "less good" against a ranger!

nicky nightmare...
About the skill, then you would get a tank that uses sac skills to make sure that he maintains -50% health.

Might need to nerf that skill

Okay this whole VS stuff is stupid. Yes, there are inherent weaknesses in the classes, as well as strength. However, capitalizing on these, and even *nerfing* to make it more obvious is plain stupid.

For one thing, the purpose of the mesmer class is to have a counter to everything. Subvert, control, dominate. That would include the assassin. Sorry, fanboys.

oh god, it's gonna be warrior/assassin hysteria..i mean seriouly, dual-wielding warriors? ouch...and since it's all about balance. We should see how x/assassin would work...since come on an assassin/ranger will be a pain.

Jesh is right. Although some classes have dominance over thers, it is not because there is a 'vs' in the skill description. It is just how the class is designed. Obviously, mesmers can kill monks, where elementalists are the best to kill warriors. The first one is because monks have to cast a lot, giving mesmers the advantage. The second one is because warrior's armor is weakest vs elemental attacks. None of the mesmer skills say 'against monks' or 'vs monks', but it does imply 'vs casters'.

They will continue this trend, undoubtedly...

thats why you make assassins and necs incompatible.....
besides it is simply a suggestion.......

incompatible???

???

That would be a direct violation of the fun of trying new combos!

*sigh* but you're right, its just a suggestion...

lol when i said incompatible i meant make there skills cancel eachother out in order to balance the combo...... though they should prolly do that with W/R first.......

lol ever since IWAY everyone hates Warriors but anyways.

Signet Of Honour
Casting Time: 2 sec
Recharge: 5 sec

Signet: Your attacks deal 10-20% more damage but you cannot cloaks for 5-12 seconds

Disappear

Cloak for 4-7 seconds you cannot be targeted, cannot be viewed on the radar, and are invisible to oppenents and move 33% faster. Disapperar ends if you attack, touch a ememy, take damage or use a skill.

I got an idea for the First boss:

Marcolp Duel-knife

Elite: Duel Weild

Where he is: At the VERY start of the first new mission .

Sorry if I duplicated, but thread is a long read:
1)Attack Speed Attribute (the only reasonable primary attribute I could come up with). Straight forward... quicker attack speed on melee and bow.

2)Weak armor. Think elementalist.

3)Sword Attribute (II)--name it whatever, but something should make the sword and swordsmanship the top weapon. This would be an energy based weapon skills line that would focus on front loaded damage (big bang...recharge). The idea would be to balance this with the warrior attribute line, so together you would have a rather complete swordsman.

4)Knife line, second weapon line. Two handed...well a knife in both hands. Think Wheel of Time's Thom the Gleeman, a seemingly endless set of knives that can be used from range and touch. Powerful up close yet also useable at "half-range". Low damage but noticable faster than a sword. Speed allows quick skill combos and spike damage.

5)Loner buffs: If there are no friendlies within a range--aggro circle or radar depending-- you can self buff (heal, regen, energy regen, speed, recharge). Aggro circle would give you "baby buffs" (quick heals, etc.), while empty radar means you get some fairly nasty long lasting buffs. Some would last only while no one is in said distance and others would work for a set time. Basically this promotes some loner behavior as would be expected from an assasin and would be a boon to PvE solo players (which is only right).

Assassin's Furry
Casting time: Instant
Recharge: 15

Stance For 5-10 seconds whenever you strike in Melee you attack 5% the next attack.

This effect would grow as you attacked more may need to lower its power.

I also think for the Pre-sear starting task or whatever mission that you should hide and try to take out someone once he comes and his "guards" leave that you appear and attack.

No 10 pages isn't long

so basically the idea is copy the rogue class out of WoW?

I've never heard of the rogue class is it like this?

I've never played WoW

Yeah pretty much. It has stealth abilities; lots of very powerful finishing moves; sap abilities; some attacks must be made from behind etc etc

Its very hard class to play well; but very rewarding if u can. I don't play it personally, but a lot of the best pvp players in WoW are rogues; at least on the server i am on.

It will be interesting to see how the GW equivalent works out.

its difficult to fill a niche that the rangers dont already fill, ot that the warriors dont fill, so i think more imagination is required above poison daggers.

in terms of waht the assasin would be like, i think lithe, possible with cloak abilities and the bility to be untargetable for short peroids of time.
The ability to let them move in areas that others cant is nice. i think relying on condition based attacks like warriors is too similar, as is adrenalin.

ok, so weak armour, increased speed, focusing on dodging dmg rather than enduring it, and of course dual wieldng, i dont think Anet as a choice as far as thats concerned.

my ideas would be utilising the second weapon in more interesting ways, how about a pin down style attack, were u throw ur dagger/sword into their leg, their crippled, but u lose one of ur weapons till u take it back.

Throws and counter attacks fit in nicely, but decieing the enemy could be another avenue, such as decoys on the radar (useful in gvg) or cloaking on the radar/cloaking from vision.

a whip style weapon, PoP style, its difficult to say what kinda weapons this assasin might have, wether it will be arabic style, asian or western as is much of the rest of the game. traditionally assasins are seen as the enemy of the samurai warriors, where the assasin used evrything in his power to overcome the enemy, wether that be dust in the eyes or using the enemys own swords against them, a disarm skill?

i think a good skill/attribute is agility. being able to attack while continuing running would be really useful. however i think the more likely 'unique' attribute will be stealth, which was originally gonna be for rangers.

the only thing i hope they avoid while making more professions is either making them a too much of a jack of all trades, or doing things which other classes already do. i hope they bring in some new conditions whih are assasin specific, paralysis would be a powerful one, and a really diifenrent way of playing. sorry bout the long post, and i proberly went off topic a little...a lot back there.....

Massive brainstorming session has gone on here . I think there's more good suggestions in this thread than I can count... You've made me a lot of work presenting your ideas to the devs!

I've really enjoyed reading this thread, and will continue checking back regularly as long as you keep presenting new ideas. Keep up the good work, and keep enjoying working together on developing the ideas.

Remote Detonate{e} Skill 10e, 3s cast, 45s recharge

Assassin casts steel balls in a n1...n2 radius detonating all traps within that radius. Caster is easily interrupted while using this skill. Effects of traps are not diminished.

Here are A few skill ideas ive cooked up. I have not included energy/adrenaline cost and casting/recovery time because it should be up to the wonderful people at A-Net to keep PvP and PvE balanced

Some of the skills here deal with % invisibility. I belive that either being visible or invisible is too drastic, there should be varying degrees of invisibility. While 100% invisible, you would not be able to be seen by enemies and would not appear on the radar. As the % invisibility decreases you are able to be seen more (transparency effect) and would appear on their radar if you got too close. If you have ever played The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, you know what im basing this idea on; the chameleon spell.

Another idea I have really wanted to tell the Devs is my idea for Multi skill spells. To show you what I mean, ill give an example.

Dust Tornado, Spell
Call up a Dust Tornado at target foe's location for (10-20, Air Magic) seconds. Target foe and foes nearby are dealt (5-20, Earth Magic) earth damage per second. Foes hurt by this spell are blinded when the spell ends for 10 seconds. 25% chance of failure with an earth and air magic total of less than 15

Its a powerful spell, but only If you have high levels in both air and earth magic. The damage delt is determined by your level in earth magic and duration is determined by Air magic. Now on to my Assassin techniques!

EDIT: It has been brought to my attention that some of my skills are broken, so I have decided to leave the values up to any Devs who may want to use this, in addition to energy cost, upkeep and so forth. Heres a Key
X= Variable ammounts of time, damage, and %s
Y=Definite ammounts of time damage, and %s



1.Nerve Gas, Skill
- Touched foe is knocked down for Y seconds. 50% chance of failure with _________ of level 4 or less.

2.Flashbomb, Spell
- Nearby foes become blinded for Y seconds and 1 skill is disabled at random from their skillbar. 66% chance of failure with __________ of 6 or less.

3.Twilight Strike, Skill
- Teleport to target foes location to attack. If successfully hit, target enemy is dealt an extra X damage and is knocked down for 1 second for each condition they are suffering from.

4.Kunai of Death, Hex
- Throw a kunai at target foe. If hit, the target foe is struck for Y damage and cursed for X seconds. If target foe dies while cursed, that foe cannot be ressurected for X seconds.

5.Cloak of Shadows, upkeep Enchantment
- You become 100% invisible. This ends immedietly if you attack or use a skill. 66% chance of failure with _________ of 8 or less.

6.Shadow Form, Elite Enchantment
-You become X% invisible for X seconds. All physical damage delt to you is reduced by half. All damage delt by you becomes Shadow damage, and all Shadow damage delt to you is negated. If you take Holy, Lightning, or Fire damage in excess of Y, this enchantment is immedietly removed and you become blind for X seconds.

7.Disable Traps, Spell
-All nearby traps are destroyed. 50% chance of failure with _______ of 4 or less.

8.Walking On Air, Enchantment
-Your running speed is increased X% for Y seconds. Traps are not triggered while this is in effect.

9.Fake Trap, Trap
-This trap does not activate when triggered. If this trap is destroyed then the person who destroyed it is delt X shadow damage.

10.Gullotine Cutter, Skill
- Target attacked foe is dealt an additional X damage and suffers from bleeding for X seconds.

11.Shadow clone, Skill
-Create a shadow clone of yourself. This shadow clone cannot deal damage. This shadow clone has the same armor, health, and appearance as you. The shadow clone will attack any enemy you target and will follow you wherever you go. When the shadow clone dies, all of your skills are disabled for Y seconds. This spell has a 75% chance of failing with a _________ of 9 or less.

12.Shuriken/Kunai Barrage, Skill
-Throw X shurikens/kunais at target foe. Each one deals Y damage if it hits. If Y or more shurikens/kunais hit, target is knocked down for Y seconds.

13.Fear, Elite Spell
-Target foe cannot move or attack for X seconds. Only Assassin primaries can use this skill.

14.Kunai of Confusion, Skill
-Throw a Kunai at target foe, if it strikes, it deals X damage. If the target was using a skill, it is interrupted and the foe is now dazed for X seconds.

15.Execution, Elite Skill
-This move can only be used if target foe's health is below X%. Target foe dies and cannot be ressurected for Y seconds. Only Assassin primaries can use this skill.

16.Counter, Stance
-This stance lasts for X seconds. If you are struck for melee damage while in this stance, it is negated, and the persion who delt the damage takes X damage instead.

17.Kunai Trap, Trap
-When triggered, X kunais will fly from the sky, striking target area dealing Y damage each. there is a Y% chance of kunai strike causing bleeding for Y seconds.

18.Doppleganger, Skill (upkeep)
-Create a doppleganger of target foe. This doppleganger has the same equipment, health, skills, and appearance as target foe. The doppleganger will only attack the target foe. If the doppleganger dies, then all of your skills are disabled for Y seconds. This spell has a 75% chance of failing with a _________ of 9 or less.

19.Feign Death, Skill
-You feign death. Y seconds later, you are ressurected with the same health and energy as when you used this skill. The ressurection in this skill is not effected by effects that postpone or prevent ressurection other than this skill. there is a 50% chance of failure to ressurect with a _________ of 8 or less.

20.Focus, Skill
-For X seconds, skills take Y seconds less to recharge.

There, an even 20 ideas for you guys, that hopefully you won't find too broken to use. Thank you for reading my ideas.

do u think assassin needs scout skills like summon spy that can spy for 10 sec farther than the group or the assassin himself?

Its nice to know that the devs are looking at this thread . Anyways I'm starting to run out of ideas but.

Monk Slaying Stance

Stance. For X seconds you deal X% more damage to Monk primarys.

Warrior Slaying Stance

Stance. For X seconds you deal X% more Damage to Warrior Primarys.

And there is one for each profession however I think that something like Monk Slaying Stance should be weaker then Warrior Slaying stance because well Monk Slaying stance would be more useful.

TwilightOblivion your skills are a bit too powerful and also Pin Down is a ranger skill that existed already try a different name

How exactly would that work? good idea thou

Anyways I'll post one last post when Chapter 2 comes out of all the skills that Anet took and put in the game.

Ya, I guess my skills are a bit overpowered, im gonna edit them to seem a bit more reasonable, and ill change the name of pin down.

EDIT: Pin Down has been changed to Nerve Gas, I have changed the values of the skills to Xs and Ys, so that I cant overpower them. I have also added another 10 skills to the list.

Didn't really get a chance to read the whole thread but, did someone already recommend throwing weapons like shuriken/kunai???? That would help differenciate the class more (kinda like a ranger but with less dmg, less range, and faster attk spd)...

Some more suggestions regarding skills: (probably been posted already)

-maybe a passive skill for where the higher the attribute, the more likely it is to evade an attack or be invisible to a target


-dual weilding would be nice as well... kinda like a choice between a warrior (axe/swd/hammer), an assassin can maybe choose between throwing dagger/dual weild jinsoku dggr


-maybe throw in some ninjutsu magic skills like cloning one's self or something of the sort...




suggestions on aesthetics:


-have choices on armor like on warriors (if you wanna look like a viking, barbarian, or knight, etc...) maybe assassins can choose armor that looks like a certain archetype (theif, ninja, etc..)

-Gotta have some baggy ninja pants!!!! (no seriously, I'm not kidding)


-helmets: maybe choice range from Raiden style hats, to eye patches w/ bandanas, to ninja masks with head protectors, etc.... maybe even a fully covered traditional ninja mask ;p


-different running animation (i nominate the Tengu/avicara style run animations!)


-different attack animation, maybe using Tengu/Avicara animations as well (underhanded)


-maybe add in some normal looking hair for the males? Semi-spiky hair would be a nice choice too...