Ok fellow Assassins, I have a question! For the first time the other night I got to group and head into Black Claw Village. The bonus to grouping is always (mostly) standing behind the mobs which of course allows for many attempts to use Surprise Attack. Not quite sure how it’s a “surprise” given I’ve been there for 30 seconds already, but maybe it’s more a “SURPRISE, that hurt more didn’t it” factor…

While it’s great for the extra opportunities to use it, I was surprised at how often it didn’t appear to land. Which brings me to my question:

How small is the area in which I need to be to land the actual backstab?

I ask this because at times I seemed to be just a smidge off center and my SA would land for a measly 50 or 70 damage. Other times I’d swear I was lined up with the mobs spine and still, nothing more than 100 or so.

Of course there is the problem that mobs seem to move around so much that there were times that it wasn’t facing the way I thought it was (general confusion and hard to see the actual face of the mob), or it might move right as I hit SA, and of course the automatic assumption of lag on my part. But still, I seemed to only land 1 in 10 good Surprise Attacks.

Is the window really small? Are there any other Assassins out there who have trouble locating the back of the mob in group/cluster situations? It could be because I like my view scrolled out a bit, but I’m not that far zoomed…

As I concentrate more and more on my Assassin, I realise that I have found the class for me… at least for now. Although the alt-itis hasn’t set in yet, I highly doubt I’m completely cured. But yes, I do believe, against everything I have ever known in the past, the Assassin class will be the first class I take to 50.

“Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will.”

So, being the perfectionist I can be, I spend almost as much time researching the Assassin as I do playing one – helps that there’s more times I am too distracted to play (courtesy of toddler and now new puppy) than times I can sit down and completely lose myself in game. As I slowly level up (still only 16 due to a week of no play), I start to not only don better gear, but also spend more time in the same pieces of gear than the really early levels. I’ve been told that as you get higher in levels you replace pieces less frequently, so now is as good a time as any to make sure I’m improving the right stats.

So, what stats does an Assassin work towards? Thankfully… pretty much the same as the Ranger!

Physical Crit – The main one for an Assassin to raise, up to the soft cap of 440 that is. The good news for me, is at these low levels I’m at no risk of hitting this cap any time soon. Apparently around the mid 30 levels you can reach it, so for now, this is pretty much the only stat I need to worry about.

At these lower levels (under 30), it’s recommended to just make use of any Physical Crit stones that drop unless you have enough money to burn on buying them off other players. If you obtain any nice stones (+8 or higher), a lot of PvPers recommend holding onto them until you have level 25 or over gear as the Abyss is where they really come in handy.

Evasion – This is an Assassin stat to concentrate on if you are looking into lots of PvP, which let’s face it, if you’re playing Aion you most likely will be. That said, there are a lot of players out there primarily interested in the PvE aspects of the game (either in general, or just on their Assassin) and as such, Evasion isn’t something they really need to worry about.

There is no cap for Evasion, however it works on a comparative stat bases of Accuracy vs Evasion. If your Evasion level is higher than your opponents Accuracy, you start having chances to evade – the bigger the difference, the more evasion. On the flip side, if your opponents Accuracy is higher than your Evasion, they will nearly always land their hits.

You want at least 400 Crit rating before you start dropping it for Evasion…

A tip courtesy of Triniel: When calculating the evasion you will want vs someone of your level, use your own accuracy as a sample. Assassins have one of if not the highest base accuracy, so take your evasion – your accuracy / 10 = Chance to evade someone of your level.

Attack – When you look at a lot of the older Assassin guides, they recommend Attack Speed Increase, but in all my searching, I can not find anything that increases the speed. The only thing I can find is the +attack manastones. In F8L’s guide, he puts Attack last… I can only assume it still belongs there because while it boosts the base damage you do (white damage), I’d still prefer the ability to crit because as Assassins, we need quick kills.

Personally, white damage is for Rangers and Gladiators. Assassins are here to do big numbers and kill our opponents quickly.

Parry – The third on my list of stats to increase because it can help you evade hits which in turn pops your Counter-attack ability. I also solo a lot (currently) so the less damage I take the better. All that taken into consideration, I do not go out of my way to slot for this stat, but if I have a Parry stone sitting around, an empty slot and nothing else to fill it, I will make use of the parry stone. Once the gear is replaced, or I have another crit stone drop, I will replace Parry. (Same goes for HP Stones)

Don’t discount Parry if you have a chance to use it, when an Assassin evades, it’s not only reducing the damage taken, but of course allowing an additional (Focused Evasion free) use of Counter-attack. Should CA stun, it then opens up another opportunity to jump behind the mob/player and use Surprise Attack. With the nice damage SA can do, this could easily be the turning point in a fight…

Accuracy – a trait a lot of Assassins ask about because when you look at it, you need to be about to hit in the first place to do nice damage. Thankfully though, Assassins have the highest natural Accuracy in game and we don’t need to worry about it – Yipee!

So far… that is what I have learned. Bear in mind all of my information comes from reading other players postings, but I did read A LOT of different posts and everything seems to be relatively similar. Of course, if I have anything incorrect, please feel free to politely point it out by commenting below.

No Hide -> Surprise Attack Opener?

Coming from the Ranger, who had like 3 abilities in total for most of her levels 10 through to 16 life, it’s quite a different experience on my Assassin who has long since filled up her first hotbar and is currently trying to squeeze additional abilities in. I’m not used to having this many skills to choose from in a fight. I tend to get so focused on watching all the pretty flashy buttons that I have missed stuns, can not keep up with guild chat and have even died a couple of times due to completely forgetting about my health. Those deaths annoy me, it’s not like I got beaten down by a tougher mob, it’s just that I lost my concentration and forgot to heal back up before entering a new fight.

At level 16 (ding last night, yay me), I have even more fun little options to include along my hotbar somewhere. It’s funny, I actually got a little disappointed when I tested and learnt that Fang Strike isn’t on the same cooldown timer as Rune Carve and that I could in fact use both during the fight. Why? Because this means I had to shuffle things around to slot Fang Strike in there somewhere lol. I can’t click my abilities (too slow, too annoying), and I don’t like contorting my fingers to use Alt + numbers. I like all my main abilities that I use every fight on numbers 1 through to the little + key.

So, in an attempts to maximise my damage while reducing the feeling of playing a piano every fight (fingers all over the keyboard), I’ve been researching the better rotations and working out how to arrange my own skills to suit me.

I’ve been reading over the Assassin Skill Rotation – PvE (Solo) thread found on Aion Source, and one thing I noticed that was missing from all the recommended rotations was no use of the Hide -> Surprise Attack combo as an opener? Now, before you go commenting about it, I am aware of the disclaimer which states:

If a mob is not KoS, infer that Surprise Attack will be the first attack (not buff) used in your rotation, always. If it is KoS, you use your Surprise Attack only after you have landed a stun and have positioned yourself behind them.

But at the moment, 95% of the mobs I am fighting are KoS. Which means most of the fights I am engaging in, if I follow this thread, dictate I open with my Swift Edge Chain (Swift Edge >> Soul Slash). I find this interesting as I had always assumed that Rogues/Assassins/Vermin – what ever you want to call them – always stealthed up to their target and took their first cheap shot from behind?

Oddly enough (to me), I’m actually happy to read this as I can now stop trying to hide and sneak my way up to every mob, which is very annoying with our constant lag and the fact that the mobs aren’t kind enough to just stand in one spot while I get into position. I mean really – if I’m loitering somewhere, I stand still! Or better yet, sit! I don’t constantly wander in a 5 foot radius doing nothing lol. Bloody mobs.

In a way knowing this new info also takes away some of the “Rogue” style feel to the class for me as there appears to be little use of hide in the PvE scene. Obviously I have not read up on PvP yet as I am nowhere near that part of the game. But by having less use of Hide, the Assassin comes across more as a melee class that can backstab, than it does the Rogue from WoW.

As I learn more and more about the Assassin, the more I come to think I’ll really enjoy her and she will be my first class to go all the way.



In case there is a poor sucker out there who has never played a MMORPG for Aion and doesn’t know… KoS = Kill on Sight

So, in my attempt to educate myself on the Assassin class, a necessity given I have never played anything close before in my life, I come across my first lingo hurdle… the “follow-up”. It’s got something to do with our abilities as so far I’ve only seen it used when discussing optimal attack rotations, but for the life of me, I can’t figure it out. Examples are:

I tested out dev+follow-up and compared it to just follow-up using SA

And

Around level 14-15 SA would crit in the 900-1,100 range with just follow-up. Using devo+follow-up I’d hit anywhere between 1,200-1,400 range.

I understand Dev = Devotion, and SA = Surprise Attack, but what exactly is the “follow-up” portion of that sentence? I’ve read all my skills and see nothing named similar, so can only assume it’s lingo I am yet to learn.

Can anyone enlighten me?

— Added info October 13 —

From chatting to @Tygir about this particular topic, we came to the conclusion that “follow-up” was nothing more interesting that the next attack that happens – be it auto, or ability. But now, I’m not so sure. Reading the Assassin Skill Rotation – PvE (Solo) thread, I noticed the following:

You should only use Follow-Up Strike with Swift Edge, Surprise Attack, and Whirlwind Slash. The other skills won’t gain nearly as much from it. I’ve done 800-1000 damage Swift Edge crits with Follow-Up quite often, against lvl 26/27 mobs.

That leads me to believe there is an actual ability out there they are discussing? Searching the Aion Armory however, I can find no such skill. Looking through the Scout Master’s Training Manuals, there is definately no “Follow-Up Strike” ability. So what do they mean by it here?

Aion is a visual joy to play, especially coming from the cartoon backdrop of WoW, which I loved as well don’t get me wrong. But there is something about the stunning graphics in Aion that really makes it something else. I’ve been trying to remember to screenshot the different things I see on the way up as it’s always fun to go back through your pictures years later and play the memory game. I’ve still got my original EQ screenshots somewhere…

I figured what better way to memorise the images better than to share them with all of you? From this moment on, I now declare Sunday to be Screenshot Sunday!

Click each image to view full size

So loving my little Assassin at the moment – she dinged level 14 last night. Two levels away from overtaking my Ranger lol.

Her first ‘DP’ skill is Strike of Darkness, and at first doesn’t look anything more interesting that an additional melee attack. I mean, it really isn’t anything more, although it does do some nice damage in itself. Still, saving up the 2000 DP to use it still leaves me a bit “meh, what ever”. Thankfully my Assassin manages to pool up her Divine Points quicker than I ever knew possible on my Ranger and gets to use this additional strike about twice a night. Sure it drops the mobs health by a good chunk, but really nothing to get too excited about. I’m not exactly holding my breath watching the DP climb.

That all said, it does have a funky animation which makes up for the wait I guess, even if it is all over quicker than a guy on prom night…

All that wait, all the time put in to getting to the point of usage, and then what happens? You get excited, you press the right buttons and…. you blink. Over. Done. Finito. What an anti-climatic letdown lol.

I watched another Assassin video done from the Korean servers, and we get another ability that let’s us backflip and spin around while fighting which is totally, awesomely, cool! I so love the added visual effects in Aion!

Killer’s Eye is one of the new Assassin abilities I received at level 10, and I have to admit, the tooltip confuses me. The one shown at AionArmory is incorrect, the in-game version says:

For 10 sec, boosts the effect of Physical Attack Skill used right after the skill by 50%, and increases your Accuracy by 500.

I get that it boosts your attack skill, which I assume means your base damage you do? And I get that it boosts your Accuracy which is great. But what does it mean by “boosts the effect of Physical Attack Skill used right after the skill” ?

Does that mean it activates the 50% boost after you press the Killer’s Eye ability? Or does that mean it only boosts it by 50% to any step 2 chain abilities? I realise it’s probably very obvious to most… but if anyone could explain it to me, that would be great.

Also, since we’re on the topic of this ability, do you (”you” being all Assassins) use it before you engage? Or at a certain point in the fight?

So far I’ve been using the following opening rotation:  Hide > Surprise Attack > Killer’s Eye > Swift Edge… etc… I found if I activated it prior to engaging, the buff was half gone before I began actually attacking.

After yesterday’s frustrations on my Hunter during the day, I wasn’t going to punish myself any further when it came to play time last night. Instead, I opted to jump back on my Assassin, a character switch I made just a few days ago. My only wish for last night was that I didn’t die too much as I just wasn’t sure I had any patience left to handle them eloquently and without abusing my innocent PC. (long day RL wise + Hunter frustrations)

With a deep breath, I began playing…

Oh…. my…. gawd! I could not believe the difference. I was only level 10 when I started playing, yet I was killing stuff better than my level 16 Ranger!! And quickly?! Half the time I would be like “wtf? who opened the loot window?” only to realise that my mob was dead already and it was me mashing my ‘c’ key – which apparently, did you know, also loots as well as activates auto-attack? Half the fights, by the time I was finished hitting all my special abilities and was getting to the auto-attack part of the fight, the mobs were dead.

I also never needed to stop! I kid you not, I was bandaging or healing (Assassins get Herb Treatment too – sweet) every 3rd or 5th mob, sometimes more. I was popping the heal over time potions and just continuing on fighting. Where as my Ranger, at the same levels, couldn’t. She struggled so bad and would have to constantly stop to heal up and there was no way she could keep fighting with the potions, they just couldn’t keep up.

That said, one of the things I did read yesterday, was that a lot of Rangers recommend sticking with melee weapons only until level 16, something I never read until I was already past those stages. But still, you have to ask yourself, does it really seem right that a Ranger, a bow and arrow class has to resort to melee combat for the first 6 levels after ascension? Especially when they don’t have the added melee moves that you get as an Assassin…

Speaking of Assassin abilities, I was having SO much fun last night. Opening the fight with Surprise Attack saw me drop 250ish hitpoints off the mob, every time. As the night progressed, I was critting for 545 or more!! At level 11 at the time, that is some awesome damage. Those who follow me on twitter would have seen my tweets about it – 545, 557 and 547 crits all in the space of about 10 minutes. At level 11, I was giddy with excitement and couldn’t stop bragging lol.

Last night I managed to go from the start of level 10, to half way through level 12. The non-stop killing helped with that – very rarely did I have to stop and wait for health. In fact, I think I only stopped twice until I got up to mobs that were considered ‘expert’ level (4 dots), and even those I was able to kill on my own. Yes they were close, but I could do it!! On my Ranger I had to get my pity party to carry me through as I just couldn’t take them out solo, most times I could barely get them to half health.

Either the Assassin is far easier to play than a Ranger of equivalent levels (basically 10 – 16), or I’m just really not meant to be a Ranger. Or, I’m just really meant to play an Assassin lol… because I tell ya, I was doing some pretty slick moves last night. I was jumping behind the mobs when they got stunned to get off an extra surprise attack, taking on two mobs at a time, or three mobs in a row after one would aggro the other. I was good…. I was very good.

I think at this point, my Ranger is going to be shelved while the Assassin takes the lead. I may have to update the byline at the top to read “The Ranger who couldn’t…” I’m not going to delete her just yet, she’s the one I worked up my Tailoring and Alchemy on lol, but for now she will be resigned to the class that is played when hubby is bored and can run her through her levels. You never know, I might eventually learn this kiting business, or as she gets higher in levels she will obtain more skills to assist killing, but at level 16, I’m just not having fun on her.

After reading page after page, after page of complaints on Rangers yesterday, I’m certainly in no rush to level and see. One poor Ranger was in a raid for 4 hours and could barely move his thumb the next day from having to jump-shot every single one of his abilities!! Yeah, pass on that thanks. Last night my partner watched a level 19 Ranger kite a level 18 mob and take so long to kill it that hubby killed three of the same mobs in the same time. Not something I really look forward to doing, not when I was absolutely slaughtering my way through the mobs on my Assassin and killing them in under 5 – 10 seconds.

So for now – I am Assassin all the way. I can’t wait to get back on tonight and keep playing!! It will be really interesting to see if I do end up taking her all the way given I have never played a Rogue/Assassin style class before in my life, and, if you read my thoughts on them in one of my more recent blog posts, have never thought particularly high of them. While I will hold to those same thoughts when it comes to the players unless I am proven wrong… I may just have to change my thoughts on the class itself.

So fellow Nezekan players…. as Diego so eloquently put it, “you won’t always have Jumbo your group around to protect you. And when that day comes, I suggest you watch your back… ’cause I’ll be chewing on it.” =p

It is with great disappointment, and a little sadness than I have to announce I made the switch last night from a Ranger to an Assassin. The switch is not permanent, and I am by no means giving up my Ranger completely, but it still makes me upset to not be playing my Ranger as my primary character. Especially as I so love the ‘bow and arrow’ play-style so much.

I kinda knew this was coming even if I didn’t want to admit it to myself. My first impressions as a Ranger were not fantastic, but I stuck it out a few more levels as everyone told me that post 16 is far better. What frustrated me however, was that in order to get to level 16, I had to group with my husbands Chanter which honestly, was nothing more than a pity party. He didn’t need me. In fact most of the time I ran around gathering while he solo’d… I did nothing more than leech experience. What bothered me more was that I had to “stick it out” in the first place – no character should have to play through gritted teeth and clenched fists for 16 levels before you reach the fun times. And in fact I know a few players who haven’t – choosing to abandon their Ranger long ago.

While I am fortunate enough to be able to group with my partner to at least level 16 should I then wish to attempt the rest solo, is the fact I have lots to do outside of just playing Aion – I have this blog, which I love, as well as another blog based around The Sims which I also play. In Aion itself, I want to take my time leveling up and getting to really know my class well which all takes time. This all slows down a partner who doesn’t have as much on his plate and is happy to just play and experience. Then again, since I am the researcher of the family, he can just ask me anything he needs to know lol, he doesn’t spend the hours I do researching, reading and googling information.

All of this combined means that I slow down his leveling. He tends to bum around on alts while I do my stuff so he doesn’t out-level me, but then I feel guilty for making him wait around or not be able to play his character of choice because I chose to do other activities. During the week I told him to not wait for me any longer, just go out and level and I’ll give it a go on my own… after all, I was level 15 by now, surely it had to be somewhat easier than when I was level 10 and just finding my feet?

Wrong! Last night I jumped into game, solo, and went to fight some Nimble Aracha. Now yes, the game was laggy, but due to our location, and the fact Telstra likes to f#$% all their customers over, I’m always going to have lag of some sort. Last night’s 2,2000+ ms was particularly bad to start with, but by the time I was ready to actually play it had eased up some. Regardless of the lag factor, the Mosbear mobs I was fighting through to get to the Nimble Aracha were taking me down by at least half health each time. When I finally found my first Aracha, it freaking killed me!!

The death was the last straw and my camel’s back was well and truly broken. I couldn’t stand the fact that I had to sit and heal, or bandage, or use my Odella Powder collection to heal via my Herb Treatment after every mob I killed. I also don’t want it to take 5 minutes to kill a single mob that leaves me half dead! That’s just not fun.

So I cracked it! I threw a little tanty and rerolled.

When I first ascended, I struggled with the choice between Assassin and Ranger. I had planned to go Ranger prior to even stepping foot in game, yet the enjoyment and pleasure I received from the close combat fighting caused real internal conflict. In the end, I decided to go with my original choice of Ranger and ignored the slight glimmer of regret that would later fester and eat away at me.

I’m not deleting my Ranger, and I’m certainly not ready to give up on her yet, but I just can’t solo with her at the moment. For now she will remain my group character as I do love the damage she can do with her bow and arrow given the proper distance. And I still have some hope that I will be able to master her, but for now, I need… I need… A little less conversation, a little more action please. All this aggravation ain’t satisfactioning me. A little more bite and a little less bark, a little less fight and a little more spark, mobs need to shut their mouths and open up their guts… satisfy me…. satisfy me yeah.

*clears throat* Sorry. Proof reading what I wrote originally, I couldn’t get Elvis out of my head lol.

Moving on. I’ve heard great things about the Assassin, I thoroughly enjoyed the pre-10 levels before my Ascension, and am once again, at level 7, enjoying the play-style of surprising mobs from behind and then slitting their throats. One of the good points with an Assassin is I don’t need to constantly switch between ranged and melee weapons and this should alleviate at least one gripe right off the bat. That’s correct yes – I don’t need to switch weapons do I?

Having never played an Assassin style class before this should be an interesting journey. I loathed the repulsive, vile, inexcusably annoying Rogues of WoW. God I hated them, I mean really despised them as a class and all who played them. No matter what class I was on, they always induced cussing to run through my head that would make a sailor to blush should he have had the unfortunately experience of hearing it. But who knows, I might just grow to enjoy a new play-style with Aion’s Assassin…

So without further adieu, I present to you, Dewinter named after Milady de Winter, from the novel The Three Musketeers. A capable and beautiful spy, Milady was remorseless and unrepentant for her countless “misdeeds” and I feel my very own Dewinter will follow in those perfect little footsteps. Thankyou to my good friend Ebonclaw for the name… Shadow, Midnight, and all other “hiding in the dark” names were already taken. Damn you unoriginal character namers for taking all my other ideas!

Dewinter - Aion Assassin