Assassin

Author: @Decimus

Last Updated: June 29th, 2024 (Gold Road)

Skills

 

Sets

Champion Points

Craft

Steed’s Blessing

Sustaining Shadows

Gifted Rider

War Mount

Warfare

Deadly Aim

Master-at-Arms

Fighting Finesse

Backstabber

Fitness

Refreshing Stride

Pain’s Refuge

Celerity

Survival Instincts

Stats

Stats

 

Gameplay Tips

Gameplay Tips

• Basic stealth opener: Shadowy Disguise->Heavy Attack->Concealed Weapon (procs Off Balance if flanking opponent)->[Medium Weave for Off Balance stun]->Concealed Weapon/Merciless Resolve (if target is still high health)/Killer’s Blade (if target is low health)

 

• Maximum burst rotation (against tankier opponents): Concealed Weapon (get Off Balance from it by flanking your opponent)->Incapacitating Strike (make sure you don’t have 120 ultimate, as you don’t want to stun with this!)->[Medium Weave for Off Balance stun]->Merciless Resolve.

The order is important here as you want to have the 20% damage taken debuff on your target from Incapacitating Strike while also making sure you stun with the Medium Weave as that allows you to follow up with Merciless Resolve on the same global cooldown, guaranteeing it lands if the stun lands. If you go for a stun with Incapacitating Strike and try to land Merciless Resolve afterwards your opponent has ample time to dodge roll after Incapacitating Strike.

 

• Incap opener (good vs squishier targets who are likely to dodge roll): Shadowy Disguise->Heavy Attack->Incapacitating Strike->[Light Attack]+Concealed Weapon+Bash->[Light Attack/Medium Attack]+Killer’s Blade/Power Extraction.

This opener maximizes the damage on your executes, so if you’re likely to drop a target there you’ll have a lot of undodgeable finishing power.

 

• When playing Stamina Nightblade, make sure to utilize as many “Delayed Weaves”, aka Roll Catches (for you Dark Souls players) as you can, as most of the Nightblade damage is usually dodgeable.

 

• Be very careful when engaging and utilize speed to your advantage.

 

• Manage your stamina by incorporating a lot of heavy attacks into your rotations. As a nightblade you build around burst windows where heavy attacks are a natural fit (and easy to land from Stealth!).

 

• If you’re fighting opponents with roots or snares, you can anticipate those and cast Forward Momentum before engaging to not be rooted and snared immediately.

 

• Pick your targets carefully, you have the luxury of time and the element of surprise when utilizing stealth. Unless you know the target to be squishy, you’ll want to go for low health opponents. If you have a choice between targets at similar health ranges, prioritize sorcerers (as they lack healing typically compared to other classes), then nightblades, then necromancers, after that templars and lastly dragonknights and wardens. If you see a 1H & Shield on your target they’re also likely to be harder to kill as well.

 

• Do not engage on Dragonknights right after they’ve used Leap or Corrosive, that is a recipe for disaster. In fact, avoid Dragonknights as much as possible as they counter Nightblade very efficiently and can be hard to survive.

 

• If fighting a Templar and low health, block. You’ll want to heal up with Healing Soul and cast Shadowy Disguise as soon as possible to counter Radiant Oppression.

 

• When fighting Wardens utilize your speed to stay out of ground AoEs and go for a lot of hit and run tactics while keeping your Resolving Vigor up at all times.

 

• Fighting against Sorcerers once again utilize your speed and try to stick to them after they Streak away, stay above execute by keeping your Resolving Vigor up and burst healing with Healing Soul around 50% Health. Against DoT heavy builds you’ll want to utilize LoS (Line of Sight) as this restricts their Streaks and CC potential (always keep in mind your CC immunity when fighting Sorcerers!).

 

• Roll catch other Nightblades to gain an advantage and keep in mind your Off Balance immunity so you’re not caught off guard. You’ll also want to try and go for counter bursts if the situation allows that (e.g. you’re CC’d but still above 70%~ health, most opponent Nightblades will try to be offensive here and are vulnerable to counterattacks). You can also use Structured Entropy to counter other Nightblades’ Shadowy Disguise, as each tick uncloaks them.

 

• When fighting Necromancers make sure to tap block before Blastbones/Dark convergence pull.