Assassin Guide



The Assassin Guide provides in-depth information on play style and tactics for the Assassin. It covers the different playstyles of assassin and how they are used.

The Basics​
First off, what is the Assassin class and what does it do? Just as the name implies, the assassin is a stealthy, hard hitting class, but there are a few downfalls.

Pros:
 * Extremely powerful damage
 * Hard to defeat if played right
 * Excellent in stun locking (keeping mobs stunned)
 * Able to camp in Vanish for periods of time when low on health.

Cons:
 * Assassin is the most mana hungry class due to how Vanish drains mana and cuts off natural Mana Regen (It is 1 mana per second) and Mana Regen sometimes not coming due to being in Vanish (Mana Steal can be triggered in Vanish).
 * Lacks mobility until after level 46 (where Vanish gives Speed 5)
 * Can't be used at long range.
 * Can be vulnerable when not in Vanish due to how it has to stay at a close range.

Spin Attack
Unlocked at level 1, and upgraded at levels 16 and 36. Cast: Right-Left-Right

This is a 360° attack that does 150% damage to all enemies around you. It's great for dishing out damage to a large crowd from a safe distance, but has no knockback. At later levels, it becomes a good spell that can debuff enemies, setting them up for an attack or allowing for an easy escape. Spin attack can blind enemies, making them unable to move or cast spells for a short period. It can be spammed effectively with good costs and sustain, and is often considered the main damage source of spell Assassins. The spell costs 6 mana.​

Vanish
Unlocked at level 11, and upgraded at levels 26 and 46. Cast: Right-Right-Right

Being one of the Assassin's most crucial spells and fitting with its theme, Vanish turns you completely invisible to the enemy eye for a short period of time. The duration of invisibility is five seconds. The spell also gives a very powerful damage buff and a speed buff later on. This is a very useful spell, and can be used both as a defensive ability to save you from many deadly situations, or as an offensive one to get close to enemies and launch powerful attacks. After your invisibility wears out from Vanish, you still have an 80% damage boost for 2 seconds, assuming you're above level 26. However, there are very important things to remember regarding Vanish:


 * Mana does not regenerate when invisible, and the player loses mana. This also applies for mana regen got from equipment.
 * Getting hit, attacking, or casting a spell will turn you visible again.
 * You are propelled in the direction you are facing when you cast Vanish.

Multihit
Unlocked at level 21, and upgraded at levels 36 and 56. Cast: Right-Left-Left

Multihit is a powerful close-range attack with large knockback. Multihit hits the target 11 times quickly in succession, the first 10 for 30% damage, and the last hit for 120% damage, adding up to a grand total of 420%. At lower levels the knockback of Multihit is somewhat random, but once the player unlocks the 'Force' upgrade, the spell becomes easy to control. It costs 8 mana and has a range of up to 5 blocks.

Smoke Bomb
Unlocked at level 31, and upgraded at levels 46 and 66. Cast: Right-Right-Left

Being the Assassin's only ranged attack, it throws a small white bomb, that explodes into a cloud of smoke, dealing 60% damage every half a second to any enemy caught in it. If an enemy stays in it for its full duration, the spell becomes even deadlier than Multihit Because of this, Smoke Bomb becomes a very useful tool to have, but does not perform as well against mobile targets. At later levels, it slows enemies greatly and more bombs can be thrown at once. The spell costs 8 mana.​

Limit Repetition​
On any class, if you repeat the same spell over twice in a row, the cost of your next spell will increase by 1 for each additional time you repeat this spell. To prevent your spell costs from skyrocketing, it is good practice to mix up the spells used. This is called Spell Cycling.

All Spells are Viable ​
On Assassin, all of its spells are quite viable for combat and dealing damage. How much you should use them depends on a few factors such as spell cost, but that will be noted on later. This is very important to remember.

Practice ​
Assassin has a very high skill ceiling, so practice is very important. Learning how to properly aim Multihit and Smoke Bomb, and how to properly time Vanish are all important. Multihit's range varies depending on the angle the player is facing, Smoke Bomb requires a decent aim to land, and correct Vanish timing may hugely buff one's DPS and can also improve mana sustain. It can also be good to test spells/spell cycles in towns to make it easier to get used to them.

Sustain
At early levels, the best way to increase DPS is to focus on getting good mana sustain, not high damage on individual spells. Up to a certain point this is the easiest way to increase damage, if used right, although one should always seek to have enough mana sustain and good costs on any spell build.

Offensive Vanish
Vanish's 80% damage buff is extremely important and powerful, so should be used before major attacks, if possible. Assassin only obtains this buff with the 'Stealth' upgrade, obtained at level 26.

Melee Builds
Melee builds on Assassin require the player to be at a close range. Vanish is once again a useful tool for its damage buff, mobility and dodging capabilities.

Mana Sustain
Vanish mechanics make certain noticeable differences in Mana sustain compared to other classes. Knowing these are fundamental to the playstyle of spell builds.

Mana Regen
Mana regen is used to passively regen Mana. The downside with it on Assassin is that Mana does not regenerate when the player is in Vanish, so it can be quite inconsistent. Due to this, Mana regen-reliant Assassins often may need to play a bit more carefully and try to time the Mana regen ticks with Vanish.

Mana Steal
Mana steal on Assassin is often more viable over Mana regen. Players usually decrease their Attack speed to Super Slow using -Tier Attack equipment, as this increases the chance of activating Mana steal per main attack hit. Players can activate Mana steal right as Vanish ends, which provides a unique advantage. Mana steal allows the player to remain in Vanish most of the time while maintaining perfectly fine mana sustain, unlike Mana Regen. This method of sustain is generally considered superior at endgame, but it is important to note that it will not work best in some builds.

Spell Cycling
It is best to try to optimize how you cast spells for optimal DPS. Spell cycles are sets of spells used in a certain order to maximise mana efficiency and damage. As Vanish's damage buff lasts for two seconds, it is good to try and fit in a lot of spells or melee hits (if using a melee build) during this period. To maximise DPS, it is possible to Vanish just for a fraction of a second before attacking, since this way no additional Mana is drained and it allows you to attack fast. The "best" spell cycles for someone to use may depend on the level of player skill, comfort, build type and situation. Many people use different spell cycles, but a couple good examples to repeat are listed below:


 * Vanish - Spin Attack - Spin Attack
 * Vanish - Multihit - Spin Attack - Spin Attack
 * Vanish - Smoke Bomb - Multihit - Spin Attack

Assassin's spell cycles are generally quite Spin Attack-heavy. Smoke Bomb can also be used at the start of a spell cycle as it deals far more damage than any other Assassin spell, but over a period of up to 6 seconds. It is important to note that if you change hotbar slots while Smoke Bomb is active, it will stop working. Multihit can also be used before using Spin Attack to increase DPS, however this will require more Mana. Spell cycles may also be changed depending on one's spell costs. For example, some high level builds reduce spin attack, so that the wielder can spam it and perform a cycle such as Vanish - Spin Attack - Spin Attack - Spin Attack. However, the majority of spell builds use every spell.

Cherry Bombs
By using the Major ID Cherry Bombs, Assassin's playstyle suddenly changes by a lot. The Major ID can be got from the weapon Blossom Haze or the leggings Conspirator's Trickpockets. It causes Smoke Bomb to become Assassin's main damage source, as now your Smoke Bombs explode instantly, dealing 110% damage each. Cherry Bombs builds mostly just use Vanish and Smoke Bomb, and focus on decreasing the spell costs of these two spells. Spin Attack may be rarely used to clear debuffs for example, but not much for damage. Cherry Bombs cycles may look something like this:
 * Vanish - Smoke Bomb - Smoke Bomb - Smoke Bomb

Advanced Skills
Assassin has a large pool of more advanced abilities at its disposal. These include being able to fly with Vanish, Multihit chaining and different ways of Spell Cycling. All skills listed are capable of being major components of how a spell assassin plays.

Flying with Vanish
Vanish's forward boost may be used to fly. As vanish propels you in the direction you are facing, facing upwards with vanish can propel you in the air. However, if you vanish again too soon after your first vanish, this buff will not apply, so it must be timed correctly. It is best to time vanishes slightly after you start falling from the previous vanish. It is also important to use a spell right after vanishing, so that your spell costs are reset. This can be whatever is your cheapest spell. vanish flying is not horizontally fast, but is good for traversing the ocean. After vanishing when facing upwards, the player can also quickly vanish again facing parallel to the ground. This can be used to improve vertical mobility, but requires higher mana regen and very good spell casting. The timing for this may take a while to get used to.

Timing Vanish for Mana
It is important to time Vanish correctly not only to increase damage from individual spells, but also because timing Vanish right can improve Mana sustain. In builds with Mana regen, your mana regenerates a significant chunk every 5 seconds, but it doesn't regenerate when in vanish. To obtain maximum sustain, it is good to learn to time your Vanish in between these chunks. This skill is very difficult to master or get used to, but can be quite helpful in certain situations.

Multihit Cancelling
Multihit hits 11 times. The first 10 hits do low damage, while the 11th does much more damage. The downside is that this final hit propels the target multiple blocks up in the air. Usually the player can only start attacking again when the mob falls to the ground again. This delay causes lower DPS in comparison to spin attack spamming. A solution to this problem is multihit cancelling. This is a mechanic similar to warrior's uppercancel. The player stuns the target with spin attack and then multihits. Right as the multihit ends and the mob is propelled upwards, you can spin attack the target or hit it otherwise to cancel this momentum. This allows the player to continue attacking faster. Multihit cancelling is extremely hard to time, however, and requires lots of practice to get good at. It's best used in builds with multihit cost reductions.

Chaining Multihit
Multihit can be chained together twice, doing some of the damage from the first multihit and all of the damage from the second. To do this, multihit a mob, immediately about 70° down so the target is forced closer to you, and multihit the mob again. This must all be done in a very short period. As spin attack's stun stops mobs from moving horizontally in multihit, spin attack can be used beforehand to make this easier.

Melee Assassin
Melee assassin is also a very viable and common playstyle. There are a few variations, however.

Heavy Melee Playstyle
As Heavy Melee doesn't attack too often and has Super Slow attack speed, it is very useful to cast Vanish between each hit to get that 80% damage buff on every attack. Powder Special 'Quake' is very often used in this playstyle to do huge amounts of damage, coming out of Vanish. The Powder Special can also be buffed using the +Main Attack neutral ID. Heavy Melee's damage isn't too consistent, but it can do large amounts of damage in single bursts of damage.

Fast Melee Playstyle
Assassin can also use build styles such as Tierstack, Rawstack and Cancelstack to get good melee DPS with a fast attack speed. This is a very simple playstyle. It does relatively consistent damage and is maximised by the player consistently vanishing and unvanishing.

Tips and tricks

 * If you have any negative effect and some Mana, cast Spin Attack (after level 36), as the 'Vampire' effect clears any negative effects.
 * Vanish can be used to cancel fall damage.
 * Most of Multihit's knockback can be cancelled by sneaking while casting the spell, or casting Spin Attack very quickly after Multihit. This can make it easier to keep enemies in place and combo them better.