LF keys to Assassin PvP

[YanksfanJP]

After leveling a bit on a republic healer for PvE, I'm going to make an Assassin for PvP purposes. I've never played a stealth character in PvP in an MMO (or a melee character, actually - always been ranged), so I'm looking for someone to provide some tips as to what I should be keeping in mind, things to watch for, etc.

 

For years I've been the guy trying to keep rogues off me. I want to see what it's like to be the rogue this time around, and coming in at the start of a new game seems like the best time to do it. Help is appreciated.

 

I've already read the sticky thread, just looking for some anecdotal tips others may have that wouldn't be in there.

Edited December 21, 2011 by YanksfanJP

[Windkull]

Know your CCs, know your cooldowns.

 

Stealth opener will almost always be maul, and a lot of clueless people will let you get even 2 mauls off. Healers will then try to heal, which you interupt with jolt, most classes will try their stun on you, which you immediately break. stick on them, force slow, and save your stun for the final burn when 2 GCDs will kill them, unless you really need another interupt. Don't hesitate to offensively use force cloak to get the energy regen and another maul. Save overload for an interupt unless you can knock them into acid or fire (then stun them there). Whenever force is low be sure to still be auto attacking for push back and to generate procs. Thrash if you can't maul (Voltic strike as well). Use your energy regeneration abilities, the key is to interupt and burn once you get them to ~50%. Against a lot of classes, 10 seconds can result in a kill. If you ever get slowed or rooted, use force speed to get out of it. Don't let yourself get CCed, most classes only have two, and so you can break out of both. Use deflection if a big damage ability is coming your way and you can't do anything about it. Watch your procs and keep the pressure on, most people panic and try to run. Running from an assassin is death.

[pinkfreudHC]

Half of it is all about your keybinds. This vid is about Rift, but there is universal knowledge to be had: http://www.gamebreaker.tv/mmo-keybinding-demystified-rift-instant-action/

 

Past that, choose squishy/half-dead targets (at least until you get a feel for things) and learn to circle-strafe to keep on their back.

 

Identify choke points. Generally a healer will be the last one to exit a choke point. Stand stealthed off to the side and swoop in for your kill. Try not to go into choke points yourself, though, as they are breeding grounds for AOE (the natural enemy of the Stealth classes).

 

Know that sometimes it is a tactical advantage to let a target go, if there is a better target in the near future.

[Jephurien]

Wind's advice is all valid. I'm 26 right now, and pretty much all my fights start with a maul to open, then discharge to keep the lightning charge DOT on them. Remember to keep the DOT up the whole fight. The rest of the fight revolves around me running circles around them using maul when possible. Electrocute when you can to get a stun and you can fit in 2 mauls during that time unless they break. Shock when they get out of melee range, and use force slow and defensive cooldowns when necessary to close the gap and stay alive. The most important thing I think is to get familiar with your keybinds and never ever keyboard turn. Maul is going to be your bread and butter though.

[gunslinger]

New fact I just learned from reading this. I need to rebind my discharge to a more accessible key and use it more often

[YanksfanJP]

Thanks all. I took some of your advice and did 3 Warzones tonight at Level 12. I was top damage in two of them (at Level 12!!) and got a few MVP votes too.

 

Question - for an Offhand, am I supposed to use the Generator with a shield proc (the tanking one) or just the regular caster offhand Focus?

[Astarica]

Maul is terrible DPF and unless you open it with stealth (due to Dark Embrace) it's almost never worth it to start with a Maul even if the other guy starts with his back turned on you on purpose since without the EW proc you're giving up most of your DPS potential. It's true in PvP you often have more time to build extra Force since players will try to be evading you but it's not so much that you can get away with Maul without EW very often unless you absolutely can't close in to melee range, but in that case you wouldn't be able to use Maul in the first place.

 

My primary hotkeys for PvP are Assassinate, Discharge, Force Lightning, and Shock for offense. I don't even use Thrash very often anymore because if your Thrashes connect, you might just find yourself not having enough Force for a Maul to finish someone off when you need it. Using a rotation of Force Lightning/Discharge/Shock I usually have about 50-60 Force which means I can attempt to Maul/Assassinate someone down if I see an opening, and those are also the moves that connect reilably in PvP since they've a range of 10m instead of 4. I prefer to use Lacerate to dump excess Force, even though you need 3 targets for it to be better DPF than Thrash, since Lacerate donsn't require targetting and has a lot of side benefits in WFs (interrupting capture attempts).

Edited December 22, 2011 by Astarica

[punman]

Well, here's a very, very basic scenario. Some details left out intentionally, some probably unintentionally! It's tough to translate how the fingers hit keys while I'm in front of the screen into an actual mental process that I can write down. That's why I intentionally don't go into too much detail, a lot of this stuff, if you have someone try to tell you, it won't become instinctual as quickly as if you just figure it out as you go along yourself.

 

You should never use Maul unless you have EW up, not even as an opener. You're blowing 50 force, that's ~45% of your resource pool, on an attack that's only slightly more damage than Thrash/VS without the armor pen proc. Open with Thrash/VS to fish for a EW proc. Get your finger on your UW key because you'll need it immediately, as you will be immediately stunned, and you want to break out of the first one (usually.) If you actually got a 2nd ability off after Thrash/VS, perhaps another Thrash/VS, now you can Shock with the decreased cost, then Discharge. Benefit here is your opponent is probably scrabbling to get away from you and those two abilities have 10m range. Force Slow, close in for the kill: Discharge (if you hadn't before) then Maul (you most likely have EW up now, the chances of NOT are actually pretty slim) then if your target's friends haven't all turned around to kill you, you're probably nicely chewing through your target's health bar. If they did, Force Cloak and run, go heal up, find another target.

 

Turn cast bars on enemy name plates so you can see what they're casting, Jolt the heal, Electrocute a damage cast. Why? Jolt prevents them from using again for 4s, and you'd rather lock out a heal than a damage ability. They'll cast the damage ability again, maybe, but that's 4s they won't get their big heal off. Need another interrupt? Overload is a bad choice, because it won't fire off for 0.5s after you hit the button, and they've probably gotten the spell off by then. If it's targetting you, you could Force Cloak and drop target, but if it's a heal you've got limited options. Low Slash will do it but generate a ton of Resolve, however if it's your only choice and the fight is almost over, it probably doesn't matter.

 

Good luck, and remember that success in PvP comes not only from knowing your own class but also knowing every class you are fighting, all their abilities, and when they will tend to use them, and what you need to do to counter them (or just take the hits.) This comes only with research, practice, and simple experience winning and losing thousands of fights over the life of your character.