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Sin PvE Guide:

Feel free to contact me through discord if you have any questions or suggestions about this guide: Phantom#4776

Who am I?

My in game name is PhantomToast and I play on the NA-Yura server.
I’ve been playing since Beta and wish to share my experiences and thoughts about this class.
I have a few notable achievements, hopefully those can persuade you that I am qualified for writing and sharing my thoughts:

• First assassin to obtain “Master Of Darkness” on NA: 5/20/2016
• First 25% soul separation role for first BT clear on NA: 2/10/17
• Rank 1 multiple times for PvE content ranking (f20/outlaw island)
• Been in every NA first clear raids (BT/VT)
• Duo’d SM/EC/DT/NS/SSM/HH on release

Why do I play this class?

My first time playing this class was on KR server, when all you can do is hold heart stab to stay in stealth. It was quite a meme to play assassin back then, but good news is that sin is a great class to play right now. I play this class because I liked the concept of comboing, and I thought this was the only class that can chain CC. Anyway, about the class:

Pros: 

• High damage
• Party buff
• Party iframe
• High mobility

Cons:

• Hard to play
• Requires good ping/fps
• Harsh DPS environment

That was a lot of general ideas about the class and stuff that you probably don’t care about, so let’s get into more details about what the class actually does.

Pre-Level 50:

For people new to this class, make sure to have a good pc and connection to the server if you want to be sufficient with assassin, or else I suggest other classes. 

How important is ping and FPS?

This class’ rotation revolves around lowering cooldowns and stacking certain buffs within a short amount of time. If you have trouble executing in a limited time frame, then your rotation will collapse and will find the class to be weak (damage not proportional to gear).

Some ideas to keep in mind if you decided to play assassin:

1. There are no “useless” skills, each skill serves its purpose depending on the situation.
2. Know what each skill does, read the description carefully. (at least know that time bomb resets 5 stacks of poison without me telling you, it is written in the skill description)
3. CC only when you need to, those skills usually have low damage.
4. Spamming skill keys is not always the best way to maximize DPS.

Basics:

Some people think assassin is the easiest class because of the “perma-stealth” technique that had been used since release. Utilizing stealth will be the best way to level your character.

• Stealth: Gain 30% Evasion Rate, 30% Crit Damage

Enemies without “true sight” buff will lose target when you enter stealth (only applies to level 45 or lower).

• Poison stacking: some skills will apply “poison” to enemy that last for 10s, and can be stacked up to 5 times. 

For example, Shadow Dash(1), Landmine (z), Venom Pierce (rmb).

I will be going into the stacking process later on, just keep in mind that some skills requires poison to activate.

Ways to enter stealth:

Shadow Dash(1), Hook Kick (tab)

Ways to maintain stealth (in stealth already):

Shadow Drain (1) *requires at least 1 stack of poison to refresh stealth

Rotation:

Once you hit level 4, you can start doing some basic rotations IN STEALTH,

Heart stab>lightning crash>heart stab>lightning crash (repeat)

Or often seen as:

rmb>f>rmb>f

>>>

What it should look like:

Tips and tricks:

• You actually only need Shadow Dash (1) to permanently stay in stealth, as it puts you into stealth when used from behind the enemy and only has a cooldown of 6s. Keep in mind that you can only use this skill when you are 5m+ away.

***make sure you get comfortable with stealth mechanics, know how to stay in stealth and leave stealth with lightning rod (4) and shadow kick (tab)***

Post-level 50:

*pick a build when you hit level 50. Different build requires different gears, so pick carefully. 

Builds: (subject to change)

1. Lightning
   1. Most difficult assassin build
   2. Bad DPS environment
   3. Highest sustained DPS in game

1. Shadow Tiger
   1. Easy to master
   2. Good DPS environment
   3. Mediocre sustained DPS
   4. Low burst DPS

1. Shadow Dragon
   1. Medium difficulty
   2. Good DPS environment
   3. High burst DPS
   4. Above average sustained DPS

4. Shadow (starbreaker)

1. Endgame shadow build
2. High burst, high sustain
3. Rely on soulburn for burst

If you are a visual learner:

1. Lightning                   

1. Shadow Tiger           

1. Shadow Dragon        

Now that you have decided which build to play, let’s get into each one of them separately:

Lightning

Shadow

Some honest opinion here: I suggest everyone to play shadow build. It might not shine as much as lightning build before obtaining certain gear (starbreaker bracelet), but the difference between the two builds is only about 10% for endgame under perfect scenarios (not going to happen 99% of the time). Lightning is better, but it’s not worth playing to be honest.