Are assassins terrible ?

[Enkall]

Darkness assassins are great tanks! Anyone who says otherwise haven't tried it or is doing something wrong.

 

At lvl 38 now with 10k health, 4.2k armor and plenty of defense etc. Threat is no issue, of course any tank in game should ignore normal mobs, tank the golden ones and as many of the silver ones you can pick up. The rest cant even touch your healer.

 

Tanking FP's is easy and no healer has ever complained. My gf even heals me on her dps specced merc.

[bennyrosso]

I see assassin ad DK in wow and operative more as rogues.

I'm lvl 42 assassin and I don't think I'm bad in pve but I don't think I'm a rogue

[DarkenWulf]

You are not naked!

 

Ahh I knew I was going wrong somewhere

[Seksi]

Well, seeing as there are buttloads of Assassins EVERYWHERE, I can only assume they aren't so terrible as you make them out to be.

 

It's by far the most common class I see on a daily basis.

 

Terrible indication of anything. I rolled a Sin because it was the coolest sounding of them all and of course everyone wants to be Darth Maul. I am level 29 and am about to shelve this toon, feels way too underpowered compared to other classes. If our tank was worth a crap it would be viable, they really need to buff Khem ALOT. When they do that I will come back, until then enjoying my Commando much more. Nice to actually feel bad ***.

[Seksi]

Yep, please reroll BH/Jugg. Too many SI out there anyway.

 

I'm actually fairly convinced that I'm OP @ 40 as deception... I am a force of nature in Warzones.

 

I tend to agree though, that most assassins are terrible and mash their maul key. It has nothing to do with the class, though.

 

Funny how everyone assumes people are talking pvp when this game is clearly pve focused.

[Seksi]

Alright trying to do my class quest on Voss at lvl 44 and for the first time I'm literally stuck. I won't go into details on what is troubling me for spoiler reasons, but it's safe to say that sins are seriously gimped compared to other classes after level 30. As I desperately CC groups of regular mobs and then slowly chip away on single targets and still ultimately end most fights with low health on both myself and my companion, I watch bounty hunters or Sorc kill the exact same packs of mobs literally with one aoe move. There is an imbalance here no matter what, either sins are just bad or aoe is too strong with other classes.

 

I lvled all the way up to the high 30s as Deception and I noticed a lot of other 30 + assassins in my guild asking for help with class quests (only assassins though). I decided to check out the forums and most have recommended playing as deception when lvling because it's supposedly better, and in some ways it is, but something is just very wrong with this class. I read this guide http://sithwarrior.com/forums/Thread-Sith-Assassin-Jedi-Shadow-Tanking-Compendium (which btw, you can't expect every player to go to this amount of effort just to hit level 50) and I use that priority system and it's still basically impossible for me to finish my class quest on Voss. I have all skills binded, I'm no keyboard turner or clicker. It may be a gear problem in my case as I just switched specs but come on, should it really be this ridiculous? I wouldn't complain if it was this hard for ALL the classes as I do enjoy challenge in my games, but it appears it's just assassins that are struggling and it's only really after you hit lvl 30 and up.

 

^^^^^This. Too many people having this issue with this class. I am a MMO vet and consider myself a good player as well, never had this problem before, and I AM geared up. Khem could use some better gear but it's not terrible, this is the only MMO where you have to gear up two toons for one. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the challenge of this game early on, but now it is just getting absurd. I have to warzone or space combat to gain more levels just so I can continue my class quest which is yellow to me and at level? I don't believe other classes have that problem.

[punman]

^^^^^This. Too many people having this issue with this class. I am a MMO vet and consider myself a good player as well, never had this problem before, and I AM geared up. Khem could use some better gear but it's not terrible, this is the only MMO where you have to gear up two toons for one. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the challenge of this game early on, but now it is just getting absurd. I have to warzone or space combat to gain more levels just so I can continue my class quest which is yellow to me and at level? I don't believe other classes have that problem.

 

It's not the class.

[DarthNorik]

Level 40 Assassin here. I have been pvping since level 12, valor level 25 and not once did I ever feel I was under-powered in there. Im 100% madness spec and most people just run when they get in pvp with me which is not possible thanks to all my stuns(electrocute, whirlwind, creeping terror, force slow, force speed) Even if they do get away from my 10m range I can still nuke with a 3k death field.

 

I think the biggest thing people don't understand in pve is that we have this AMAZING skill called Dark Charge. Once khem val loses aggro stop being a noob and switch to dark charge for a free extra 25% mitigation and more heals. Its not there just for looks people. Also in pvp as well, switch to dark charge when there is a melee guy on you, or your running the huttball, or trying to run away to a health pack. Or just force shroud/force vanish

 

If I hear this class is under-powered I feel bad for the marauder/dps jugg forums...

[austringer]

Swear to god, most of you people just argue to argue.

 

QUOTE]

 

THIS, THIS, THIS, THIS:D

[austringer]

Well, that stunk!

[KhealThar]

I don't believe other classes have that problem.

 

Assassins are amazing compared to jugg/guardian. Atleast you have CC

Edited December 29, 2011 by KhealThar

[KharmicHammer]

...

 

Compared to BH or Juggernauts theyre an absolute joke in tanking (both pvp and pve), I really just find this to be such a crappy class.

 

...

 

It seems their idea to make a class a light armor / caster / tank hybrid is just absurd, and in execution it turns out poorly.

 

Dont get me wrong im sure that there are some players out there who are good as this class, but comparitvely it seems like it by FARRR needs the most work of any class out there come SWTOR's first patch.

 

Assassins can tank just fine, even at lower levels. We're far from a joke at tanking. Keep Dark Ward up, mind your energy and procs, and we do great. Tanked every Heroic quest and Flashpoint so far, and I can't wait to try operations and heroic FPs at end game.

 

With dark charge up, we're not light armor anymore, we're more on par with Juggs and BHs in terms of armor. Our caster abilities can also really help, if you use them right.

 

Overall, I've found the Assassin to be far more fun than my scoundrel smuggler. I love darkness tanking, it's a blast and it's very effective.

[theonepanda]

Yea...assassins are great tanks.

 

They also have amazing defense, shield, and resistances compared to the other two.

 

Our armor is a bit lacking, but only a bit. We have armor about on par with heavy, but those two have a bit more due to other talents that increase it a bit more. No biggie.

 

We also have force shroud, the most broken tool ever given to a tank.

 

You can ignore mechanics every 45 seconds, and you can also remove big dots if your healers are strained.

Edited December 29, 2011 by theonepanda

[JohnAntilles]

It's not the class.

 

Yeah it really isn't....

 

As a Deception assassin running around with Khem Tanking, you should absolutely have no problem with any Class pve encounter....

 

To me it just sounds like these people having problems are not sufficiently updating both there gear, and there companion characters gear, because as long as I pay attention to the elite boss, use the right skills at the right time, I almost always come out of it with half+ health.

 

Something tells me a lot of these assassins aren't using there full repetoir of skills in pvp like they should.

[Smzel]

I played Tankassin to lvl 20 and had a blast with it, i changed my spec madness to play with my bros Jugg since he wanted to tank. TBH Madssassins are very gear dependent, so much of the spec relies of crit procs that untill you get to around 30-40 where you can really start to pile up crit ratings your not gonna be able to play the spec at full efficiency. On top of that its a pretty hard spec to play, you have to manage unearthed knowledge buff, you maul and crushing darkness procs, refresh your dots in time, and not forget to spam death field every CD while doing all of that, but once you do get your head around it you dmg goes through the roof, especially against bosses where you have time to set everything up. I'd say madness is not a good PvP spec just because the amount of time you need to spend setting yourself up for max dmg, but if you like micro there is no better class for you.

[Sookster]

OP's biggest mistake is putting "assassin" and "tanking" in the same post. You're playing the wrong class.

[DarkenWulf]

OP's biggest mistake is putting "assassin" and "tanking" in the same post. You're playing the wrong class.

 

Gratz, you're an idiot.

 

Fear the Tankasin.

[Cardali]

I don't think assassins are terrible but I am VERY underwhelmed by their ability to do well from levels 20+.

 

Other classes that can tank, like the juggernaut and powertech, have DPS trees available to them but can still don heavy armour. Hell, every other class (even the sorcerer, with static barrier) has better survivability.

 

I've seen people write here that we're a class that picks and chooses their fights. But we're not, really. We have the same stun everyone else gets, and no real burst to take enemies out with. No higher parry/deflection to make up for our squishyness. We can be outstealthed by the higher armour operative, and out-meleed by the higher armour, higher dps juggernaut.

 

We lie somewhere in-between juggernaut and sorcerer. Melee combat with force damage. It's a cool idea but, like shaman in WoW, will take a while to really refine.

[Thorzz]

How in the world do you get that assassins are terrible? i keep hearing the oppisite all the time in and after warzones "omg nerf assassins" seems to be the general whine in wzs on my server

[Boxan]

Hahaha cant believe this thread is still going...if you dont know how to play an assassin, chose a different class, don't come here spilling rubbish. Edited December 30, 2011 by Boxan

[Raddpuppy]

Seriously if you can't tank with an assassin you shouldn't play tank in this game, its much easier than tanking with a juggernaught... PT tanking is kinda face roll at earlier levels before the synergies kick in but after that you still need a good rotation to manage heat (early on you can't manage heat except by auto attacking)...

 

Doesnt assassin get a bad *** Shield? I dont know why people seem to find somthing to whine about on every class. I play marauder and it seems its the most complained about but i am LOVING it!

[Aldasar]

Im running Deception with Khem Val and I had no trouble at all leveling to 39. However, I just got Ashara and equipped her nicley. But seriously she suck, she seems to do less dmg than Khem with worse gear and she aint a tank. And I dont get to use exploit weakness... Switched back to Khem and back on track. Been easy leveling so far, if Khem is getting low on hp I just switch to Dark charge and taunt/aoe taunt. I also have his taunt off by default cause of this. A good idea when facing hard situations is to turn off your companions AoE/Cleave abilities and use your CCs. People say it gets easier when we get the healing companion, will see about that.

 

I think I died ONCE so far while questing, and I was really surprised. I usually dont even bother looking at my hp bar lol.

Edited December 30, 2011 by Aldasar

[Digital-N-Plus]

I don't think assassins are terrible but I am VERY underwhelmed by their ability to do well from levels 20+.

 

Other classes that can tank, like the juggernaut and powertech, have DPS trees available to them but can still don heavy armour. Hell, every other class (even the sorcerer, with static barrier) has better survivability.

 

Juggernauts and Powertechs and don't have stealth and backstabs.

Edited December 30, 2011 by Digital-N-Plus

[skalapunk]

As an assassin if you want to tank, keep the following in mind:

 

1) In the darkness tree, yo don't get Dark Ward until level 20, which is very important for tanking

 

2) You probably can't make the same gear choices as a tankasin as you would one of the dps variants. You need endurance, defense rating, damage absorption, etc.

 

3) Make sure you're using Dark Charge. It increases the shield % and absortion of your off-hand Shield Generator. Also, keep in mind that a dark ward charge is consumed upon the shield triggering. That means your defense stat becomes more important, as evading an attack altogether means you don't waste a precious Dark Ward charge..(the cooldown is sometimes longer than you need it to be)

 

4) That being said, make sure you're using an actual shield in your off-hand slot. You can tell it's a shield if it has trigger % chance and the absorption % listed on the item.

 

5) a lot of tankiness comes from being able to rely on a sense of timing to reduce incoming damage. For example, pop your Deflection then use the AOE taunt. Or use Jolt to interrupt a boss's spell.

 

6) Not only are you decent at absorbing and mitigating damage, you are good at controlling threat, which is just as important for tanking as taking damage. You have high threat from attacking, you have a 3 second taunt, you have an AOE taunt, you have force pull

 

7) higher in the darkness tree you get some self healing, too

 

Hope this helps!

[Cardali]

Juggernauts and Powertechs and don't have stealth and backstabs.

 

Have you seen the damage of Maul? It's pitiful. Especially compared to things like Power Shot which does more damage, and from range. It's not like a rogue from WoW where it'll do massive crit damage. Plus, our stealth is pretty useless. The only opening-from-stealth move we have has a knockdown (endgame useless) that wears off before the global cooldown finishes.