Overpowered assn's

[Albion Child]

Having never played an assn before, I decided to throw one together the other day. I looed over her skills and decided I would build an assasin built for doing massive physical damage using the skills claw mastery, Dragon Claw, and Tiger Strike, as well as Burst of Speed.

Now I hope I'm not making a big mistake by using these skills, but it seems to me that these are some awfully powerful attack skills. Think about it.....

By level 6, you could have this setup. (Den of Evil completed)

Claw Mastery @ slvl 2 AR + 50%
DMG + 43%

Dragon Claw @ slvl 1 DMG and AR+ 50%

Tiger Strike @ slvl 1 DMG + 300%
AR + 50
(also 1 point in Burst of speed and 1 in Dragon Talon as a prereq)



This gives a total of 393% enhanced damage and 150% attack rating @ clvl 6!!!!
Add to this 21% IAS and 23% FRW from BoS and you've got a massive damage dealing, hyper fast god, who almost never misses a swing and can kill almost any boss in act one in just a couple hits(using a plain katar and a magic one with +1 to max damage)

Also, she has other skills for crowd control, as I've seen assins using many different trap skills and mopping up mobs of monsters, not to mention while they are safely 3 screens away.

Add to this the fact that they get 3 HP per VITA point.

They also have a skill for resistance, so this can't be their weakness.

What are we missing? Oh yeah, summons. What's that? You say she has summons? And they can use her skills!!!!!!!!

She can also convert monsters sorta like a pally, or at least stun them.

Her more useful version of teleinesis does damage to boot!

You have an auto targeting skill for PvP that adds Massively massive damage.

What do you get?

You get the crowd control of a sorceress, the speed of a werewolf, the speed and hitpoints of a zealot, and the damage porential of a barbarian. You get a summon that, as far as I can tell, is as good as valkyrie or any golem.

Where are her weaknesses?
Why do so few people play this class? (by my observtion)
Or am I just missing something?

[Archon_Wing]

The assasin is strong, and pretty dominant at the lower levels, especialy in low level dueling.

However, I think this is more of a paper thing. Yes, tiger strike seems deadly at 300% ed but remember it takes three charges to hit. Which means you have to focus on one target at a time. There is also the problem of overkill. You don't need to do that much to a regular monster.

I find that, it's somewhat hard for crowd control. Yes, you have traps, but then you can't have it all. Well, a hybrid does, but well... you get the point. The thing is that most of the assasin's skills need a big investment in. So you don't have that much flexbility. The only real one point wonder is tiger strike, and you hit a brick wall once you get to immunes. Not to mention it leaves you pretty weapon dependent and good claws are hard to find.
Mindblast is actualy pretty overrated and is more of an annoyance, unless it is maxed. The traps have strong potential, but they need to be maxed to do any signifigant damage in a multiplayer game.

She's a one or the other character. You can have venom but not burst of speed or vice versa.

I'd argue the main weakness is a lack of skill points. There's too many good skills, but you have to specialize in a few and that leaves big holes.

Compare this to a Paladin, who can have points thrown everywhere and still be effective.

The shadow master is very powerful, but the cloak of shadows is very annyoing plus its mindblast leaves converted monsters walking around, with you unable to kill them.

Df is a powerful attack, but unforunately our simple minded friends on B.net prefer guided arrows.

One thing I've realized, that actualy playing a character is much diffrent that how it looks on paper. :)

Overall, the Assasin is a powerful character, but she is not overpowered. She's actualy pretty balanced.

Assasins are not that popular because there are no overpowered claws (like the buriza x-bow) and thus may take a momment of thought.

[Elric of Grans]

Hail Albion Child,

You're only looking at the start of the game: a punch-based character of any class can fly through here without any trouble. Besides, +300% damage on a 2-6 damage attack isn't that big a deal :P

[WarBlade]

Where are her weaknesses?

Small amounts of elemental damage at high levels or more accurately a split between multiple damage dealers which have questionable impact alone.

Why do so few people play this class? (by my observtion)

Hard to say, but she has many problems like a high potential for lack of damage and also the trickiness of negotiating Charge Ups through lag (It's extremely difficult timing attacks to the third charge and I for one typically wind up doing four hits or more before releasing a desired third charge).

Or am I just missing something?

Missing a fair bit I'd say.

[Albion Child]

Ok, it's getting slightly more clear now..

I think it was put best by saying her weakness is in lacking skill points.

I still think that this character was the quickest trip by far that I have ever gone thru normal. (And lowest level.) However I do see where I'll be having major problems with PI monsters. I forget where I read it, (Arreat Summit I think.) But am I correct that you can stack multiple charge attacks for one whopping big finishing move? If so, which should I use for PI's? Fire claws maybe? I was planning on spending points in weapon block also, perhaps they would be better spent in other charge up skills.
:ph34r: <assin smiley

[WarBlade]

If so, which should I use for PI's?&nbsp; Fire claws maybe?

Nah. That one's a tad tricky considering it's not even an Assassin skill.

I've always liked Phoenix Strike myself because it can actually freeze monsters over a wide area if need be and the skill offers all three elements to do damage in otherwise. The Cobra Strike pre-requisite is great for the likes of Madawc too. ;)

Claws of Thunder is another popular anti-PI melee skill for the Assassin.

[ManaCraft]

I've always liked Phoenix Strike myself because it can actually freeze monsters over a wide area if need be and the skill offers all three elements to do damage in otherwise.

Amen. Also try spamming meteors by constantly using the first charge. Takes a while to get the hang of it, but when you do ... well, let's just say that PIs are no longer a problem. :D


ManaCraft

[Striker]

Why do so few people play this class? (by my observtion)

Hard to say, but she has many problems like a high potential for lack of damage and also the trickiness of negotiating Charge Ups through lag (It's extremely difficult timing attacks to the third charge and I for one typically wind up doing four hits or more before releasing a desired third charge).

Along with this, it's also a little tricky to rotate through different charge-ups and finishing moves for certain situations. Once you get the hang of it though, it should be pretty much automatic. I'm still trying to get the feel of playing an assassin, but I've gotten to the point where I can quickly switch charge-ups before they disappear.

As for PI's, I agree with Phoenix Strike.

[Albion Child]

QUOTE (Albion Child @ Apr 3 2003, 12:45 AM)
If so, which should I use for PI's? Fire claws maybe?

Nah. That one's a tad tricky considering it's not even an Assassin skill.



Doh......errrrrr......Fists of fire is it?

[Cartimandua]

Fists of Fire is an Assassin skill, but not a very powerful one.

Assassins really are not overpowered for PvM (don't do PvP so don't know). IMO they are well-balanced: there are plenty of skills that stay useful into Hell difficulty, but in all cases you need to think about what you are doing - there are no point 'n' click megadeath skills.

[Nicodemus Phaulkon]

Amen. Also try spamming meteors by constantly using the first charge. Takes a while to get the hang of it, but when you do ... well, let's just say that PIs are no longer a problem.&nbsp;

Left-click right-click left-click right-click left-click right-click left-click right-click left-click right-click

boom..boomboom... boomboomboomboomboomboomboomboomboomboom

whee! :D

[TheDragoon]

The way I do it is just hotkey stuff on my keyboard and then hold down the right mouse button while switching the hotkeys to make my attacks change. :lol:

[Albion Child]

EROFHLMGDFDIAO...

(Energeticallt rolling on floor histerically laughing my god damn fat donut infested ass off)

.....at Nicodemus