[Guide] Assassin

Hey guys.
I've always wanted to make an Assassin guide, and was going to wait for 3.0 to come out to make this, but now that it is unlikely that I'm going to be playing in 3.0, I will just make one now.

In this guide, I'm going to talk about how to fight different classes in different stigma spec/manastone build. Most of the videos that I will be using to explain how to deal with various situations is from my latest/last pvp video of which I made about two months ago:





vs. Ranger
Watch - 1:50
Fighting rangers basically comes down to how well you can kite their remove shock buff while taking as little damage as possible. Feel free to pop clear focus, flurry, and sensory boost AS you engage or ranger is coming towards you. (Don't prepop everything when you know ranger is moving away from you. They will simply kite your sensory boost easily with speed of the wind.)
When engaging, (when ranger is about 30~35 meters away from you) pop FE and pay attention to their FE. If they do prepop FE, which 90% of the rangers do, use Radiant Rune/Darkness Rune to burn it (Watch - 1:55) (reasong being these two runes are 20m range instead of 10m range like blood/needle rune) then Ambush. When the ranger is stunned, use Ripclaw right away. Don't try to carve runes with rune carve and fang strike UNLESS they try to save their remove shock on Ambush. When the ranger is carved with all 5 runes (3 is enough if you've used rune carve/fang strike) run away from the ranger (40meter-ish is enough. 30m~35m is enough if the ranger doesn't have beastial fury up. [You have to MANAGE YOUR DISTANCE in 1v1s.] By the time their remove shock buff is down, your sensory boost will be down too. Now, AS you engage, pop Aether Twisting (Watch - 2:08) and use Dash Attack to close the distance (flash of speed/Dash And Slash works too if you have them equiped) and use binding rune - then finish him. (use oath if you want to make sure)

Things to remember:
1. Always prepop your EYE I when 1v1ing a ranger. DO NOT bother going into Hide, as this just slows down your movement speed and its likely that the ranger will have his eye up too.
2. DO NOT open with DnS if anything, use Dash attack as an opener.

Note on Dash attack - Dash attack DOES go through FE/Illusion/and other evading skills, HOWEVER, it will not kill the buff. Even if you use Dash attack on FE, they will still have FE buff up, but you will do damage with dash attack. (Weakening Blow works the same way)

3. Don't ever try to face tank Ranger's dmg or to chase him when he has Speed of the Wind buff up. You will get kited to death. You have to manage your evasion skills well and have to know how and when to use Dash attack/Flash of Speed/ Dash and Slash.

4. Reason for using Sensory Boost in the beginning is to resist their Traps, Snare, Shackle, Silence, Sleep arrow, and hopefully evade one of their hardest hitting skills. Aethertwisting is also to resist skills listed above. DO NOT pop Sensory with Aethertwisting at the same time.

5. When Fighting MR RANGERS Best thing you can do is to pop FE and use Whirlwind Slash to bait their remove shock - kite - then use Ambush + Oath when the remove shock buff is down.


vs. MR Cleric
Watch: 1:14
Easily one of the hardest fights if you are not good with your movement/camer control/weaves. Easiest fight if you have a lot of experience and good movement/weaves. Key here is to know how to weave while moving. The easiest (not the best) way to weave while chasing the target is to jump, release the W key while you are in the air, hit Auto Attack Key, then press W again, Repeat. This is how I weave while chasing most of the time. The only down side is that you can't make turns while in the air, and because of that, it is extremely easy to lose your target and give him distance to heal. Jump weave ONLY when you can anticipate his movement (when he is only moving forward.)
Another way to weave while chasing the target is to release W for VERY short time, hit Auto Attack Key, then hit W again - repeat. This needs practice, but once you get this down, it is very useful in fights against every class. Do practice on this.

How to Jump Weave / Weave While Moving


(Practice this in a straight line first. Then have your target make turns)

Because your stuns get resisted 99% of the time without Oath you really need to be able to be on top of him throughout the entire fight.
Note that this needs A LOT of practice and pvp experience, but you will get used to it eventually, and when you do, 90% of the cleric fights won't last longer than 30sec.


Things to remember
1. Pay close attention to your debuffs when you are fighting a dps spec cleric with Festering Wound and Blind. Clerics usually do 1 dot - fastering wound - blind. Save one of your evasion skills for when you get double debuffed. Chances are they will cast blind if they know what they are doing.

2. VERY IMPORTANT - DO NOT use stationary skills such as, Ripclaw and Assassination (in 3.0 you can) You will lose your target if you do.
However, make a good use of Fang Strike as Fang strike pulls the target towards you. This is the key to win against good mr clerics.
(Watch 1:18)
However Don't use Fang strike IF they have 8k shield, 5k shield, bless of shield, or remove shock buff. Those skills will prevent you from pulling them back with Fang Strike and you will lose your target because of that. (because its stationary)

3. Your opener should NEVER be an ambush/dash attack/dash and slash. Many people make same mistakes. Those skills are to close the distance for when you lose the target completely. (Watch: 1:27)
Instead, Your opener should ALWAYS be Auto attack followed by surprised attack or Venom strike if you have it equiped. And then, use Fang strike to pull him towards you. (Watch: 1:15)

4. Don't waste your FE and AT. Try to time them for cleric's Root. (Its CD is 10sec). It is diffficult, but possible and a lot of top sins do pull this off.

5. Best time for sensory boost is when you have deadly focus up, or when clerics summon the servents.

6. Edit: When you don't have any more evasion skills, its better to leave the little servent, and just kill the noble energy. Little one does almost no dmg and breaks the root.


vs. Sorcerer
Watch - 6:55
Fighting sorc bascially comes down to how fast you can react to silence/blind leap/stun/roots. Your opener is the same as the one you do against clerics.
Hide -> auto attack - surprise attack or venom strike (with killer's eye) -> fang strike.
You have to be on top of him throughout the whole fight to prevent him from casting silence/ice chain/stuns. And to do that, you need to be able to weave off their Illusion quickly. (Watch - 7:38)
Best way to remove Illusion is to Auto attack - rune carve or soul slash(? forgot the name) Don't hesitate to use rune carve or soul slash on illusion as their cds are very short. (Remember, dash attack doesn't count as a hit when used on illusion)

Things to remember
1. Try not to waste your FE and AT. Don't just pop it to resist 1 or 2 random skills. Instead, try to use them when the sorc casts Silence. (Watch - 7:02) It is hard to react to silence since its a really short cast with vaizel or magic assist, but your evasion skills don't necessarily need to resist silence. Watch close to what happened in that video. I used AT when the sorc casted silenced, which I did hit me, but my AT was able to resist the stun even after i got silenced.

2. Try NOT to use any stationary skills other than Fang Strike. And DO NOT use Fang strike when the sorc has Stone Skin/Boon of Ironclad/Remove shock buff . It will not pull him back.

3. Most likely after a sorc uses Blind leap, he will cast silence or cc. If the sorc blind leaps off your screen, make sure to pop FE or AT.

4. If you get treed/slept with no remove shock, chances are, you are gonna lose. HOWEVER, if you do have remove shock, and the sorc comes near you while you are cc'd, he will most likely cast silence followed by Illusion Storm. You can easily pot inbetween these two spells, so ready to pot out of the silence if the sorc comes near you when you are cc'd.

5. When HP/MB/MA sorcs are debuffed with apply poison, you can use OATH + Blind, then Radiant to burry your silence. Note that you need to click off your apply poison once he is double debuffed.

6. Don't ever use your remove shock on tornado. (Watch - 7:51) As you can see from this video, I never use remove shock on the tornado. If you do, you will probably lose.

7. Use Dash Attack/DnS wisely to close the distance if you lose him. Or to counter his Blind Leap.

vs. SM
(Watch - 6:26 and 9:00)
Easily the hardest class to fight along with the plates. So many annoying debuffs you need to look out for.
First thing first, your Buff (scroll) Rotation MUST be:
Flight speed scroll - Courage Scroll - Crit scroll - Apply Poison - Apply Deadly Poison - Running Speed Scroll.
Make sure to prepop clear focus, flurry while in Hide before engaging since you won't have time to buff when fighting good sms. Your opener is the same as always.
Killers eye - auto attack - venom strike - fang strike. (You can put surprise attack between venom and fang strike) - Ambush

SMs can remove your buffs up to 7 without using DP. Ignite Aether, Magic Implosion, and Dispell.
Let SM dispell all 6 of your scrolls, and when he does, pop Apply Poison, Apply Deadly Poison, and then running scroll. (If you watch my previous video where I dueled Shadowwaseem, you will see what I'm talking about.)

Things to remember
1. Skills you need to look out for are Body Root, Silence, Contract, and Shackle.

2. Do NOT use FE and AT in the beginning. It is a waste. ALWAYS try to react and time it for Body Root, sigil of silence or Shackle.

3. Do Not use Flash of Speed on Chain of Earth. Wait till you get rooted and then use it.

4. SMs won't have time to fear shriek you or to fear you if you are always on top of him. (insta fear is a different story)

5. Ambush to bait his remove shock. Your goal is to survive while kiting his remove shock buff up. And then use Binding rune to finish him. (Note that Good SMs often use Contract after their remove shock buff wears off to resist your binding rune .
You can counter this with Blind Burst. Kill contract with your blind burst, and then use binding rune. (Watch - 6:34)


vs. Assassin
(Watch - 2:35 / 3:22 / 8:23)
This is my personal favorite. Sin vs Sin is the most entertaining and fast paced fight in aion pvp imo. Not much RNG involved other than ADP procs or random resist.
First thing first,
You cannot stun him with ambush while he has Aethertwisting up
Also
DO NOT USE AT IN THE BEGINNING
This is so 1.9. Don't ever use Aethertwisting in the beginning. If the other sin uses AT in the beginning, you can simply remove it with Radiant/Darkness Rune + Blood/Needle/Pain Rune. (Watch - 8:23) It is very bad to waste your AT in the beginning where your opponent can just easily remove it with two runes.
Sin vs Sin is not about who ambushes first. It is about who has the evasion skill when its needed, and you don't need AT in the beginning. It won't matter if you get hit by ambush first as long as you can ambush him back.

Rotation for Sin vs Sin
If you see the other sin pop AT or FE, just burn it with Radiant/Darkness Rune + any other rune except binding, then ambush him followed by Ripclaw. (by this time, you would have used your remove shock too on his ambush and 8 runes carved on you too) Kite until his remove shock buff is down. NOTE THAT YOU NEED TO WATCH YOUR REMOVE SHOCK BUFF DURATION ALSO. When your remove shock buff is down or is about to go down, pop AT to buy yourself extra 7 sec. The opponent can't use Radiant + Blood rune combo to kill your AT, because if they do, it will burn the runes carved on you as well, which means he has to carve 3~5 runes again to bind rune you.

IF the opponent does the same thing (popping AT after Remove shock is down) you can counter this with Venom Strike + Blinding Burst (two magic based debuffs that will kill AT) (Watch - 4:06)
If you are not venom build, you can use Lightening Slash + Blinding Burst to remove his AT.
[youtube overlay=true]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFvMrDmsiyw&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]


Note that Venom does not count as 1 debuff 100% of the time while Lightening Slash does, because Venom is a proc based.

Things to remember
1. Do NOT attempt to remove his FE with physical attack. It will give him two extra physical stunes. Instead, use Blinding Burst to remove his FE. (Watch - 3:38 and 8:38)

2. Always keep the Distance with your target while kiting his remove shock buff.

3. Do not prepop AT and FE. Instead, try to time your FE on his Ambush or Dash and Slash in the beginning. If you are lucky, you will get two extra stuns and it will allow you to save your ambush for later use. (Watch - 2:35)


vs. Chanter
[No videos. please provide me with a video if any of you have one]
One of the hardest classes to fight, esp when he is in MR set. Fighting Chanter is always about who uses his remove shock first.

Skills to look out for - Proctective ward, Spell Stop, Blessing of Wind/Earth, Binding Word.

Things to remember
1. Always engage in Hide. A lot of chanters pre-casts Recovery Spell. Don't pop out of hide if you see Recovery spell on him in the beginning. Wait until it ticks off to engage.

2. Your opener remains the same.

3. DO NOT ever use your remove shock on the first stun or first KD.

4. DO NOT ever use Sensory boost with remove shock. If you have SB up, save your remove shock. If you have remove shock buff up, save your SB.

5. Aethertwisting does make you resist Hallow Strike (attack speed reduction)

6. Watch for Perfect Parry. Don't have much option. Can't really kite this as it has really short cd. Just try to weave it off. (Thanks to Gezus.)


vs. Glad
(Watch - 4:28 and 5:30)
Hardest class to fight for obviously reason. But there is a way to increase your chance.

Things to Remember
1. Don't use Apply Deadly Poison. You don't want it to proc, unless it procs twice in a single fight, which is unlikely

2. Always engage in hide

3. Your opener should be:
Hide - buff up - killer's eye - auto attack - venom/surprise attack - rune carve. (Note that you don't use Fang strike here because of UD.)

4. Don't use Sensory boost with Remove shock. Rotate it like always.

5. Don't try to use your remove shock on the first KD, and don't remove shock if you have sensory boost up. (Watch - 4:36)

6. Best way to fight UD glads as an Elyos sin, is to bait their greater healing potion with your radiant rune. To do this, you need to first burst him down fast enough (around 60~70%) and then use Radiant rune . Glads have to pot out of the silence ( not to mention it has a attack speed reduction as well) to use second wind. And thats when you pop Oath + Blinding Burst. (Watch - 4:44)

7. It is better to save your sensory for Zerking.

Updated [3/29/12]

8. It is better to use Sensory Boost in the beginning. (Of course, don't use it with remove shock, or don't pop remove shock while you have Sensory Boost) and here is why. (Watch 4:36)
Glad usually uses ferocious chain to KD you. (Feels like it has 70% ish chance to KD you once its last chain is triggered) Glads with good ping can often hit 3 KD chain skills (some of them can use all 4) such as Draining Blow, Crippling Cut, and Final Strike. If you are trying to save your Remove Shock while getting hit by all these 3~4 skills, you are probably gonna die if some of them crit. lol (Because by this time you would be below 80% with Cleave + First two chains of Ferocious strike) But if you do have sensory boost up (Watch 4:36) (Altho Pettoun didn't use draining and Crippling, it could have been one of those skills I evaded) you are going to be able to evade one (almost always) or two (two if you are lucky) skills. From there you can recover with double pot. (You should use remove shock on the second KD or Aerial if your pots are on CD, and try to finish the fight before your remove shock buff wears off.)

9. Note that it is better to use remove shock on KD rather than Aerial lockdown. Glad can only use Final strike after Aerial.

10. Try to save your Greater healing potion for Tendon Slice. Potting out of Lockdown is OK if you can manage to resist Tendon Slice with AT or Sensory.




How to AAC (Auto Attack Cancel)
[youtube overlay=true]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HioIMc0Op4&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Combat Log
Red- Skill
White - Auto Attack

[youtube overlay=true]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFvMrDmsiyw&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]


You can replace venom strike with lightening slash if you don't have it equiped

How to Jump Weave / Weave While Moving
[youtube overlay=true]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Sb5KiINqdM&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
You have to release "W" (move forward key) when you hit auto attack key, or it won't register. Also, if you hit Auto Attack Key too early or too late, you will get a msg that the target is too far away. This needs a lot of practice to be able to do it in PvP without thinking. Keep practicing to a target running in a straight line.


Key Binding
I get a lot of questions about my key bindings, but I usually don't answer them because copying someone's key bindings is not going to bring you anywhere. You have to come up with your own key binding that fits you best. However, there are things that you need to consider when you key bind or plan to redo your key bindings.

1. Try to bind non-stationary skills (rune carve, soul slash, surprise attack, and etc - skills you can use while moving) and skills that you use the most around "W". (with an exception of fang strike)

2. Stationary skills such as Ripclaw, assassination, (in 3.0, this becomes non-stationary) signet of silence (if you are using it) doesn't necessarily need to be around "W" but doesn't mean you should bind it to things like 8 and 9

3. Sort out buff skills such as flurry, clear focus, oath, and etc, and put them together. (same goes to rune bursts)

4. Try not to go beyond 6. It's hard to reach. Make a good use of Alt, Ctrl, and Shift key.

5. Use "G" "T" "C" "V" and other letters. Legion window doesn't deserve "G".

6. It is better to fix your key bindings although it will cost you few days to get used to it, than to never fix it and struggle in pvp. (You will probably make sooo many horrible mistakes once you change your key bindings, but better key bindings will drastically improve your game play once you get used to it.)

7. It is "OK" to "click" Flurry, Clear Focus, Oath and Deadly Focus. It is not ideal, but It's Ok if you are having a hard time finding keys for those.


*Skills that deserve the "most comfortable" keys you can reach
Rune Carve, Fang Strike, Soul Slash, Remove Shock, Ambush, Devotion, Killer's Eye, Surprise Attack, Focus Evasion, and Aethertwisting.
* Note that every skill listed here is either 1min cd or less. These are the skills you use the most, or very often in pvp.*


Kiting/Chasing with Bow (Thx to Ryoko for reminding me)
I know it sucks but while sins need to spend their money on two weapons, we also do need a good bow. Eternal Bows (SW or Master Nanyu) can be used very effectively when fighting Templars or kiting Glad or chasing other classes. You can also hit close to 1k crit dmg just buy auto attacking with bow with Deadly Focus up. When you are Kiting (when the target is behind your toon and chasing you) with bow, remember that you need to - Jump - Release W, Hit Auto Attack Key, then hit W again - Repeat. (very similar to jump weaving with melee weapons) If you hold down W, your auto attack won't register. When you are chasing, (when the target is infront of your toon) you can hold W down.
Recommended Godstone for bow is Movement Speed Reduction Godstone.
Para is ok but it doesn't really proc much. Movement Speed Reduction Godstone procs alot, and makes him waste his Greater Healing Potion as wel.



That's it.
If you have any question, leave me a comment.

Let me know if you want to add things here. I'm pretty sure I missed quite a bit. If you leave a comment and think it's important to note, I will add it here.

Oh forgot to mention.
Much respect to everyone in this video as these players are some of the best pvpers I've met from different servers.

Love you all <3