Along came an assassin - 1v1 suggestions

[DemeXrt]

I'm Engineer tree, let's say 9/10 on gear - all Obroan augmented and ran into an assassin and we did some duels. Believe deception tree. I got kicked and I'm looking for help. As I try to get better and have my skill catch up to my gear, I need to get better at countering the classes and this one got me.

 

I would be in cover - he would not be visible. I would get knocked out of cover and stunned. Before I could hit anything, I was at 70% health with nothing interrupt-able and really struggled to get into a rotation from there.

 

If I entrenched early, he just waited it out and said so. I got Evasion popped once at the start (of 4 times) and that helped, but not much but that was lucky to get it fired off. Got OS laid down and tried EP/TA/SOS but tough with interrupts. Never really got close. I tried dropping PP on top of me early and still couldn't find him until knocked out of cover. Seemed like no chance of catching him at range.

 

I don't think I played it well from the 70% mark, but I was at 50% very quickly with very little chance to seemingly respond - if there is a way to avoid that open, that is one option. The other place to work is the 70% mark - hunker down didn't really seem to work. I rolled through him a couple of times and that bought a few sec but not much.

 

Not so worried about duel but solo guard scenario. I guess there, I roll, leg shot and stall - kite during the call, but even that would have been tough to do. I'm fair 1v1 - beat many and loose to really good players. I didn't mind losing here as he/she was better, but they were fast.... really fast.

 

Plus this obviously applies to arenas so.... Any suggestions appreciated.

[Hei_Atzfel]

From my experience as an assassin and watching various snipers fight various assassin's, if a good assassin decides that you're going to die when you're a sniper, then there's not really much you can do about it other than delay the death and try to hold out while your team comes to aid you. I don't personally play a sniper but I've yet to come across a sniper who gave me much trouble.

[Aelanis]

From the opposite side, as I main a Shadow, I'm going to have to tell you: Snipers are my favorite targets. As long as I can get in unnoticed, I'm fairly well able to kill them before they can seriously react. I also play on a PVE server, so I don't expect to find many great PVP Snipers

 

A Shadow/Assassin's strongest move, Shadow Strike/Maul, can only be used from behind. You're kinda boned if we close to melee range under stealth, and it'll be uphill from there. Your best bet is honestly laying down Plasma Probe pre-emptively near yourself, and hope you catch them off guard. Once they show themselves, roll away, and DoT them up. It will force them to use shroud/resilience, and either drop to stealth or move out. At that point, get ready for them to try to get you from behind again. (note: behind also means from the side, since that works for the "behind target" criteria of the attack). If they can't get that move off, you've won half the battle. Aside from that, DoT them up to gimp their stealth, and then pop off your big hits.

 

I would only use Orbital once you've made them blow Shroud/Resilience, so you can ensure it'll do its damage, or make them back off. Then, if they use Deflection, flashbang them, put some distance between you, and hit them with tech attacks. Specifically, drop Explosive Probe on them, then DoT them up. If deflection is still up when they get close, Debilitate them, and burn them down, they won't last long. Just make sure not to waste your big tech hits until after they've used Resilience/Shroud. And don't forget your knockback, followed up by an explosive probe and some DoTs.

[DemeXrt]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm on a PVE server as well So all in all, it is a tough matchup and in games where I am guarding - try to get the heck away and kite / call.

 

My first reaction is not to DOT anyone, but I will work on that for any stealths - good for me to be reminded to keep them out of stealth - that's a rule I tend to forget. I do it in huttball as IP has a slow and I can add the dart which is not in my usual rotation so I think that is good for me.

 

Much appreciated. Again, to me, full Engi tree is more of an object oriented build than a 1v1 build so I know I need to be careful in places. Just trying to keep getting better by recognizing situations faster as there is always a lot going on in PVP with tons of options.

[MasterFeign]

Assassins have force shroud and deflection. Two defensive CDs, that essentially can diminish the two engineering rotations.

 

I've played both classes, and have found that playing marksmanship against them has had better results. Though darkness assassins are easier to kill in engineering.

 

Essentially, the best thing you can do is plop the plasma probe on to yourself, and refresh it there and the spot that you choose to be in cover in should be next to a wall, or some other tall object. Because after they use their force shroud, you want to pop covered escape twice, to make use of those scattered bombs and do what is called a 'wallbang'. They can easily go from 100% to 40% in 4.5 seconds. Doing this with stuns is also helpful.

[CriticalFlame]

Funny i have yet to encounter a Assassin/Shadow i couldn't handle on my Gunslinger. Though if im gonna be honest, Saboteur/Engineering is not your best choice for single target fights. Try a couple of matches in Sharpshooter/Markmanship or Dirty Fighting/Lethality.

[Jamalzero]

Funny i have yet to encounter a Assassin/Shadow i couldn't handle on my Gunslinger. Though if im gonna be honest, Saboteur/Engineering is not your best choice for single target fights. Try a couple of matches in Sharpshooter/Markmanship or Dirty Fighting/Lethality.

 

Much like this post im quoting, I dont have any issues getting anyone in a 1 v 1s... having said that on my ENG sniper i love fighting deception assassins in particular. Yes, after lv 42 they open up with "Surge charge and Spike" IF they are good if not the fight wont last long for them lol. If they start with "Surge charge, spike, maul, low-slash, maul, electircute, maul, maul, im at about 50% or 45% depending on crits but ill get up and coverpulse....then the pain begins!

 

I start off with Corrosive dart and Interrogation probe then place Explosive probe. Once those are down I use Debilitate and exfiltrate to widen the gap between us (unless they use force shroud) which then ill wait until it drops and Dot up stun and roll. after that i go in cover > hit entrench > shield Probe > EMP charge to reset the cooldown on both abilities pretty much giving me 40 seconds of entrench and 2 shield probes when the 1st one ends. after i hit my defensive stuff i cast Abush to pop the 1st explosive probe if it hasnt popped already then i go straight into serise of shots to blow up the rest of the cluster bombs... At this point they just lost 60% percent of their HP and they normally stealth out and try to run. If they dont they try to rush me and stun/ knockback me/ mes me to get me out of cover...this is when i emote "/lol" them and flash bang > exfiltrate > Orbital strike> and the moment the 1st shot goes off I leg shot so they sit in that for 2 more sec. If they really did try to run...due to my dots it re exposes them and i leg shot use snipe > re apply my dots > explosive probe and snipe > etc...til dead. But it takes a pretty decent assassin to take me down in a WZ if im solo defending...

 

Just because of the 30 stacks of stealth detection if they dont use blackout just before entering 30m theyre F***ed because ill see them and get the jump on them. and they'll die before they can even get close to me. I love it when the bad assissins/Operatives try to sneak up on me in PvP lol

[Avicii]

Much like this post im quoting, I dont have any issues getting anyone in a 1 v 1s... having said that on my ENG sniper i love fighting deception assassins in particular. Yes, after lv 42 they open up with "Surge charge and Spike" IF they are good if not the fight wont last long for them lol. If they start with "Surge charge, spike, maul, low-slash, maul, electircute, maul, maul, im at about 50% or 45% depending on crits but ill get up and coverpulse....then the pain begins!

 

I start off with Corrosive dart and Interrogation probe then place Explosive probe. Once those are down I use Debilitate and exfiltrate to widen the gap between us (unless they use force shroud) which then ill wait until it drops and Dot up stun and roll. after that i go in cover > hit entrench > shield Probe > EMP charge to reset the cooldown on both abilities pretty much giving me 40 seconds of entrench and 2 shield probes when the 1st one ends. after i hit my defensive stuff i cast Abush to pop the 1st explosive probe if it hasnt popped already then i go straight into serise of shots to blow up the rest of the cluster bombs... At this point they just lost 60% percent of their HP and they normally stealth out and try to run. If they dont they try to rush me and stun/ knockback me/ mes me to get me out of cover...this is when i emote "/lol" them and flash bang > exfiltrate > Orbital strike> and the moment the 1st shot goes off I leg shot so they sit in that for 2 more sec. If they really did try to run...due to my dots it re exposes them and i leg shot use snipe > re apply my dots > explosive probe and snipe > etc...til dead. But it takes a pretty decent assassin to take me down in a WZ if im solo defending...

 

Just because of the 30 stacks of stealth detection if they dont use blackout just before entering 30m theyre F***ed because ill see them and get the jump on them. and they'll die before they can even get close to me. I love it when the bad assissins/Operatives try to sneak up on me in PvP lol

 

You are either talking about the leveling brackets per your lvl 42 mention and ****ed up Deception rotation or horrible players.

There is a reason a Sin/Shadow wins every 1v1 tourney and the top few places is a Sin. The leveling bracket is 75% unskilled players and regs at max level is slightly better.

 

All this is just epeen stoking here against unskilled players, and not really helpful responses. Yes we can all talk about owning scrubs but that doesn't help anyone.

 

OP go look up Waka's twitch stream past broadcasts, he has 1v1 Sin videos explaining how a Sin responds to each class it's before 2.0 but a similar concept exists. He duels good players and he's won most 1v1 Tourneys on the Bastion. Once you understand a good Sin you can react to them accordingly.

[DarkSaberMaster]

You are either talking about the leveling brackets per your lvl 42 mention and ****ed up Deception rotation or horrible players.

There is a reason a Sin/Shadow wins every 1v1 tourney and the top few places is a Sin. The leveling bracket is 75% unskilled players and regs at max level is slightly better.

 

All this is just epeen stoking here against unskilled players, and not really helpful responses. Yes we can all talk about owning scrubs but that doesn't help anyone.

 

OP go look up Waka's twitch stream past broadcasts, he has 1v1 Sin videos explaining how a Sin responds to each class it's before 2.0 but a similar concept exists. He duels good players and he's won most 1v1 Tourneys on the Bastion. Once you understand a good Sin you can react to them accordingly.

 

Sorry to say, but he is absolutely right when it comes to playing an Engineering Sniper against Shadows/Operatives. I have no problems 1v1 anybody when I node guard solo.And I'm talking about level 55 brackets. People always say that Eng Snipers aren't good at 1v1's. That just leads me to believe that nobody has ever tried it seriously. Doing it once, saying it's hard, then going back to the MM/Lethal/Hybrid isn't the trick. Engineering is all about attrition. Not burst damage. Even though people think it is because of the "wallbang" gimmick.

[Jamalzero]

You are either talking about the leveling brackets per your lvl 42 mention and ****ed up Deception rotation or horrible players.

There is a reason a Sin/Shadow wins every 1v1 tourney and the top few places is a Sin. The leveling bracket is 75% unskilled players and regs at max level is slightly better.

 

All this is just epeen stoking here against unskilled players, and not really helpful responses. Yes we can all talk about owning scrubs but that doesn't help anyone.

 

OP go look up Waka's twitch stream past broadcasts, he has 1v1 Sin videos explaining how a Sin responds to each class it's before 2.0 but a similar concept exists. He duels good players and he's won most 1v1 Tourneys on the Bastion. Once you understand a good Sin you can react to them accordingly.

 

Yeah I have 3 assassins dude and i played them all in deception tree from lv 10-55 and i know the rotation like the back of my hand. ANY **GOOD** assassin will: Recklessness > Spike > maul x2 > low slash > wait 3 sec for energy to build while stunned > maul > shock > discharge > Electricute if they are still alive at this point > maul > assassinate > maul. thats the basic 1 v 1 rotation….

 

now if they break any stun and use cover pulse again, ANY **GOOD** assassin would: Force shroud > force sprint > low slash > continue rotation.

 

If they use entrench, ANY **GOOD** assassin would: stealth out >wait for it to end (40 sec later if ENG tree) then > Recklessness > Spike > maul x2 > low slash > wait 3 sec for energy to build while stunned > maul > shock > discharge > Electricute if they are still alive at this point > maul > assassinate > maul.

 

Now an ENG sniper "if they know the rotation of an assassin they know what to do to keep them at bay, leave plasma probe active and wait for him to show up when he does then pop Entrench, shield probe asap > emp charge, and start your rotation, and when it ends hit entrench and shield probe again.

 

I have fought tons of assassins in duels and in WZs by my self and i only get taken out AFTER the 4th or 5th one shows up and my defensive abilities are all on CD. but in every case i never have to move….if they wanna spam maul while my shield probe is active? ok ill also hit evasion to dodge for 3 sec hit plasma probe to stun them for 2 sec while i cast orbital strike then debilitate them and watch their HP drop as they sit in my massive AOEs…normally this is when the **GOOD** ones back up then LEG SHOT explosive probe Ambush series of shots if they aren't on CD.

 

 

Watch him this is a good representation of an ENG sniper…when solo defending position yourself against a wall if you can so you can get the face melter "wall bang" off as you can see it drops about 67% in damage1 second if not prepared for it….well until BW nerds the mechanic on it anyway but since that ability is being used above the expectations of the developers i doubt they will since they said the same about Hidden strike.

Edited January 16, 2014 by Jamalzero