Aion’s fourth beta event weekend was a whole lot of fun
this week!  The chat box was alive with chatter and players were happily roaming
everywhere.  I spent three blissful days playing a gorgeous Elyos Assassin
enjoying another fun
Aion weekend.

I previously highlighted
the Ranger class which is your
other option as a scout going through ascension.   While the Ranger and the
Assassin do have some similarities, the first thing I figured out was that they
each play very differently.  Which of the scout classes will appeal to you? 
Read my preview on the Assassin class to find out!

The Good

I love melee combat and the Assassin has plenty of it. 
Unlike the Ranger who focuses on ranged skills, the Assassin is all about
getting up in the face and cutting the heck out of anything stupid enough to get
too close.

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As a damage class, the Assassin has the huge benefit of
quick battles.  Combine this with the resting ability, bandaging, and potions
and an Assassin can blow through content at amazing speed.  I spent a roughly
equal amount of time on my Assassin as I did my Ranger, and yet I got much
further with the Assassin.

The Assassin has quit a few buffing abilities which goes a
long way in making up for the lacking base defense.  They generally don’t last
very long, but it is enough to get you through a tough encounter mostly
unscathed.

The Bad

While Assassins can carry a bow they really have no use for
it beyond using it for mob pulling.  Lack of ranged skills, even minor ones,
really kills the whole “scout” feeling but it does give a clear difference
between the scout classes.

I’m a pretty big fan of positional attacks and I expected
the assassin to have great need for the Hide skill and hoped for a nice arsenal
of stealthed backstabs.  This is, after all, a class that is meant to shroud in
darkness and attack from nowhere!  It seems that the Assassin only has a
standard positional attack that gets upgrades occasionally, which was a bit of a
letdown, but you’ll find out later on why this one minor thing really just frees
up time to think about other great features.

WAAAHH-CHA!

My favorite thing about the Assassin is its total ability
to kick massive ass.  Starting out, you are given a couple of very nice damage
skills and temporary battle buffs that jump start your evasion and attack
stats.  If you are Elyos, you get an ability called Divine Strike that does a
sick amount of damage if you happen to have the DP available for it.

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Following the same advice as the Ranger, go dual wield and
keep a bow handy for pulling mobs from tight spots.  The combination of using a
dagger in the main hand and a short sword in the offhand works well for the
Assassin and you’ll be rewarded with decent auto-attack damage if you use dual
wield.

The Assassin and the Ranger start out with the same basic
melee skills.  Soon after you choose the Assassin path, you’ll pick up the
skills called Follow-up Strike I.  This skill boosts the physical attack of the
immediately following skill by 50% and adds 500 points to your accuracy.  If you
combine this skill with a hard hitting attack like Swift Edge II, you can take a
nice chunk out of the health of your adversary.

Most of your melee skills will be upgrades from the
originals but the Assassin does have a unique feature that adds another level to
melee combat called signets.

Signets: Adding, Stacking, and Bursting

The signet system is an interesting additional aspect to
playing the Assassin that will greatly benefit each player if you learn what it
is all about and use it in every battle.

Some skills that the Assassin uses will add or have a
possibility of adding an engraved signet on an enemy.  The Assassin also has
some skills that can burst a signet.  Applying a signet, then bursting it, will
add additional effects such as additional damage or stuns to the mob you are
fighting.  The skills that the Assassin uses will specify in their tooltip what
the signet effect will be.

These signets can stack and build in intensity the more you
apply them so the more you stack signets, the greater the effect will be!  You
can see the signets being applied under your enemies health bar so it is
something to keep an eye out for when you roll up your Assassin.

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Poisons, the True Mark of the Assassin

An Assassin would not be an Assassin without the ability to
deviously poison your foes.  Thank goodness Aion knew this and made them a part
of the class lineup! 

Starting at level 16, when you get your first Apply Poison,
you will have the nifty skill of spreading poison on your weapons and enjoying a
chance at extra damage every time you stab the bad guy.  Apply Poison gives a
20% chance of poisoning the target and lasts a whopping 2 minutes so you can
enjoy its benefits through an entire battle or two before re-applying.

To sum up the Assassin, I’d say that this class is
definitely an all out, down and dirty, DPS class.  If you are looking for hands
on melee gameplay that doesn’t have the worry of being the meat shield, the
Assassin will surely wow you!


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Aion Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

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