Assassin build

[A Shady Traveler]

In general lines (like in D&D), as a subclass of melee Rogue, its gear consists of light equipment such as dagger/short sword, leather/cruirass armor in order to preserve mobility and usually have attacks that cause a high amount of damage in a short amount of time like high chance of Critical Hit, Poison, Dodge, Stealth and Backstabing...
So, in oppose of a warrior, an Assassin have to approach with strategy and deception due to its lack of armor/HP.

Now, in EK context, a melee Rogue seem to be more focused in dealing with one enemy at a time in oppose to a warrior's skill Cleave that do dmg to multiple enemies at once.
Regarding gear, a Dirk increasing dmg is more useful than a shield
Skills compatible with Assassin Build are 4 types:

Silent and Deadly
- Stealth + Smoke Bomb
- Stab + Assassinate + Sneak Attack

Increase Hits per second
- Flurry + Evasion

Increase Dmg per hit
- Precision Strike + Massive Critical
- Poison Master

Also useful (but secondary)
- Body Development
- Bloodlust

Group of Enemies Strategy
- Engaging: while dealing with more than one high lv enemy at once, choose one of the group and engage with Stab + Flurry + Evasion until kill him. Then use Smoke Bomb to move away from them untik recharge skills and repeat process killing one by one.
- Attracting ("divide and conquer") attract one enemy of the group with a bow, use companion as bait, walk around and use Stab + Sneak Att followed by Flurry + Evasion.
- Skill Assassinate is ideal to deal with hordes of low lv enemies, combined or not with Bloodlust

Boss Strategy
While companion serve as bait, do Stab + Sneak Att. Then let companion distract boss as much as possible while Stab recharge at least partially (Stab IV has 9 sec cooldown). So proceed to Flurry + Evasion that lasts 5 sec. Then use Smoke Bomb and fastly walk around and Stab + Sneak Att again. (If Stab not recharged yet, let companion distract or let boss chase you around a little )
One possible strategy would be use Smoke Bomb + Stealth and wait recharge skills but current fast enemy regeneration speed prevent it

 

[VDX_360]

Be mindful of the fast regen bosses may get when you step away from melee range (one of the issues of tweaking the system to prevent archer exploits). Currently under review, but smoke bomb can have unintended consequences on enemy health.

 

[A Shady Traveler]

Be mindful of the fast regen bosses may get when you step away from melee range (one of the issues of tweaking the system to prevent archer exploits). Currently under review, but smoke bomb can have unintended consequences on enemy health.

Actually my last line was about it

One possible strategy would be use Smoke Bomb + Stealth and wait recharge skills but current fast enemy regeneration speed prevent it

I propose use of Smoke Bomb to do a FAST walk around to Stab + Sneak Att before regenerates too much. ( i have hopes David lowers it in future updates)

And in an Iron Man run, it may save your life

 

[Atomos]

Thanks for posting this setup. I was thinking about something similar. What are your thoughts about magical training instead of bloodlust?

Bloodlust is good when facing many opponents, but when using hit&run tactics, it's usefulness will be limited.

Magical training on the other hand, allows summoning strong decoy (important when preventing autoheal), and emergency healing. In fantasy realms, rogues are known to use any means necessary to finish their tasks(in D&D rogues have "use magical device" skill).