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Assassin
Assassin
Assassin.png
Job Base: Thief
Job Type: 2-1
Changes At: Sograt Desert 16
Number of Skills: 10
Total Skill Points: 85
Total Quest Skills: 2
Job Bonuses
STR AGI VIT INT DEX LUK
+6 +10 +2 +4 +8 +0

Overview

Assassin.jpg

Enlarge

Assassins strike from the shadows, quickly dispatching their enemies. They're capable of dealing massive amounts of damage with Sonic Blow and taking on groups of opponents from stealth with Grimtooth. With bonus FLEE and speed from Increase Dodge, an Assassin can dance around most opponents and aggro mobs of monsters for their party. It is also the only class capable of dual-wielding and using Katar type weapons. Katars double an Assassin's CRIT rate, allowing them to achieve guaranteed Critical strikes on every attack should they spec or gear for it. Last and very least, Assassins specialize in poison skills, but they are incredibly lackluster and not recommendable to anyone outside of the potential fun factor.

Job Change Guide

See Assassin Job Change Guide for detailed information.

Changing into an Assassin from a Thief requires the player to complete a number of tasks at the Assassin's Guild in (moc_fild16 205, 296) (two maps south and two maps east of Morocc):

  • A Written Test
  • An Assassination Test
  • An Endurance Test
  • A Maze test

Make sure to get the Throw Venom Knife quest skill as soon as the test is finished.

Builds

[Notes - Click to expand/collapse]

Note: Most PvM Assassin builds are very similar, so any can function as another given the right equipment (the most notable difference being lower HIT of CRIT/SB vs. DD). Also, builds are always subjective and by no means is this guide the final arbiter on stat distribution; learn from the community and through personal experience. Since it's such a flexible/samey class, don't be afraid to put more/less in a stat than recommended if it suits a preferences or leveling location. The main unifying stat for every Assassin is STR, but everything else is variable (except VIT, never invest in it for PvM).

ROratorio's CalcX is currently the best build/damage calculator for oRO, but be mindful that the damage calculations are not exact. Assume \~5% margin of error. It's important to use this to determine the one-hit capability of Sonic Blow, as well as final CRIT rating.

Some stats are presented as "total"s (including buffs, gear, pets, and Job bonuses) because they give certain bonuses at specific increments.

  • STR - Significant melee ATK bonuses at increments of 10.
  • INT - SP Regen +1 at increments of 6. Min MATK bonus at increments of 7 and max MATK bonus at increments of 5.
  • LUK - Perfect Dodge +1 at increments of 10 and +1 CRIT at increments of 3.

Skills

[Skills - Click to expand/collapse]

Most Assassins will get the same skills, since the poison related ones are relatively useless.

Enemies with a weakness to the Poison element will have a bigger weakness to another element, so the Enchant Poison points could be spent on Thief skills instead (Hiding or Steal, as Envenom is similarly weak).

Sonic Blow (SB)

[Sonic Blow Build - Click to expand/collapse]

Recommended for players who - want to level or farm as fast as possible; don't mind multi-clienting; are willing to deal with having to refill SP/rebuff every \~5 minutes

  • STR: 100/110/120 total
  • AGI: 40-60
  • VIT: 1
  • INT: 1 or 36/42/48/54/60/66 total
  • DEX: 30-50
  • LUK: 1

The namesake skill is this build's primary method of killing, but Grimtooth is sometimes also used on maps with high monster density.

STR vs AGI - STR is the most important stat, and should be increased ahead of AGI to achieve one-hit kills with Sonic Blow ASAP. Depending on the choice of leveling area, STR should be \~80/90/100 total before investing in AGI. FLEE is less important when an enemy can be obliterated instantly, and Fly Wing can be used to escape as soon as the animation for SB starts (SB damage will still happen). Cloaking or Back Sliding can also be used during the animation once the 2 second cast delay ends.

INT - More INT means less downtime to recover SP, so the higher end is recommended, especially for those with less funds for SP gear and consumables. You should aim to eventually be able to sustain Sonic Blow usage for the entire duration of Blessing (i.e., when you have to return to rebuff), any excess SP/regen beyond this threshold is largely wasted.

DEX - Sonic Acceleration adds a significant amount of HIT when using SB, which is why DEX can be low. And HIT will naturally rise as levels are gained. Be sure to note the FLEE rate of the preferred enemies to level on and calculate stats accordingly.

Support Characters - A Soul Linker slave to cast Assassin Spirit is highly recommended, and necessary for one-hitting on higher level maps. A Priest can provide the usual buffs and drastically increase SP recovery with Magnificat. An Endow Sage will help achieve staggering levels of damage in tandem with Assassin Spirit (easily \~10k+). A Scholar or married characters can refill an SB assassin's SP bar without needing to use an inn (5k zeny) or consumables.

If Grimtooth is going to be used over SB a lot, INT is less important, and AGI (ASPD, FLEE) and DEX (HIT) should be on the higher end.

Critical

[Critical Build - Click to expand/collapse]

Recommended for players who - don't mind leveling slowly; have considerable funds for equipment or are willing to invest a lot in LUK; prefer auto-attack play style; don't like multi-clienting and/or want to play solo; hate needing to replenish SP.

Note on Double Attack (from 4117.png Sidewinder Card): DA chance is rolled before CRIT chance. DA cannot also be a CRIT.

Since CRITs ignore armor and always hit, the power of this build is most notable when facing enemies with high DEF and/or (to a lesser extent) FLEE. The primary goal is to get CRIT rate to very high or 100+ (ideally \~110 since enemy LUK will reduce CRIT chance), but don't invest in LUK as a Thief. Remember that Katars double CRIT chance.

STR vs. AGI - These can be raised in tandem, with a preference toward reaching base 90 AGI for 2620.png Rogue's Treasure (the best accessory for CRIT Assassins), should that be used.

DEX - HIT will be entirely unnecessary once a high enough CRIT rate is achieved, so in the end DEX will only be useful to shrink your damage range (negligible) and slightly increase attack speed. Ideally it would be kept low. However, such low HIT can limit leveling locations for a Thief and early Assassin (Metalings are a great compromise for this). If this is frustrating, DEX can be raised to suit a specific HIT need, or if a high CRIT rate isn't feasible (don't forget Double Attack gives passive +10 HIT).

LUK - Investment in LUK will vary wildly depending on available funds for equipment. 100+ CRIT rate is possible to achieve with little to no LUK and the right gear, but most builds will be in the range of 20-50. Also, having higher LUK can free up weapon slots for better damage cards.

Support Characters - This build plays well solo, but the usual Priest and Endow Sage will always help. A soul linked Alchemist with Berserk Pitcher (lvl 85+) and soul linked Blacksmith with Advanced Adrenaline Rush can dramatically improve the killing potential of critical assassins. If one is necessary/available, a Dancer can use Fortune's Kiss to round out CRIT rate.

An alternative build option is to focus on average DPS (some people believe 100% CRIT is overrated), using a 1264.png Specialty Jur [4] with 4117.png Sidewinder Card and 2 / 1 Racial / Elemental damage cards. This build would likely have 1 LUK, and instead increase DEX. Two 2620.png Rogue's Treasures would raise the CRIT rate by 40 on their own. While this would have a better overall damage output with Double Attack, it is weaker to high DEF and high FLEE enemies.

Dual Dagger (DD)

[Dual Dagger Build - Click to expand/collapse]

Recommended for players who - don't mind leveling slowly; have a large reserve of Zeny to invest in daggers; prefer auto-attack play style; don't like multi-clienting and/or want to play solo; hate needing to replenish SP.

When properly equipped, these Assassins can reach the highest auto-attack DPS of the three builds. They're simple to build and play, but require a significant Zeny investment to be worth making.

STR vs. AGI - These can be raised in tandem, with a preference for STR. Although meeting the FLEE threshold of a map first will be more important if you don't have support characters and/or don't want to use HP consumables.

DEX - Unlike the other two builds, this Assassin actually needs HIT to hit things. Be sure to note the HIT requirements of the enemies you wish to level on.

Support Characters - This build plays well solo, but the usual Priest and Endow Sage will always help. A soul linked Alchemist with Berserk Pitcher (lvl 85+) and soul linked Blacksmith with Advanced Adrenaline Rush can dramatically improve the killing potential of DD assassins.

See "Dual Wielding" below for more information regarding mechanics

Tactics

Grimtooth Mobbing

[Grimtooth Mobbing - Click to expand/collapse]

On oRO, hyperactive monsters disperse when the player they're chasing goes into Hiding, which makes it more difficult to mob and kill enemies with Grimtooth. One way around this is to use the Hiding skill twice instead of once. Enemies won't repeat the dispersal behavior more than once in quick succession, so the second time you hide you'll have them grouped up close enough to be able to hit majority (if not all) with Grimtooth.

Arrow Usage

[Arrow Usage - Click to expand/collapse]

Upon obtaining the Throw Venom Knife skill after completing the relevant Assassin Skill Quest, assassins can equip arrows in addition to venom knives. These arrows cannot be consumed by any assassin abilities, and elemental arrows will not change the element of any attack for an assassin. There are two noteworthy applications of this.

The first is the use of status arrows in combination with Grimtooth. Because Grimtooth is considered a ranged physical attack (from rank 3 onward), the status afflicting effects of arrows like 1761.png Cursed Arrow and 1759.png Frozen Arrow can proc from it's use. Aside from potential PvP and WoE applications, this is important for Grimtooth mobbing and cursed arrow usage as enemies with the Curse status effect move much more slowly and are easier to keep grouped for Grimtooth use.

The second application of the ability to equip arrows is the 1772.png Holy Arrow item. This item increases damage done to demons by 5%, and this increase is irrespective of whether or not the user is firing said arrows from a bow, so utilizing these arrows can give assassins a cheap boost when dealing damage to demons.

Mobility

[Mobility - Click to expand/collapse]

Aside from the passive movement speed increase that assassins get from the Increase Dodge Thief skill, there are other (criminally utilized) methods of getting around the world as an assassin.

The first is proper Back Sliding usage. The delay of this ability is entirely ASPD-based. In other words, increasing your attack speed by doing things like unequipping your weapon or drinking an ASPD potion can dramatically increase how fast you can use Back Sliding. You can also hotkey the changing of your character's facing (which is useful for the use of this ability) through the /bangbang and /bingbing commands. /bangbang rotates your character clockwise, and /bingbing rotates your character counterclockwise. You can add these commands to your chat shortcut menu (default keybind alt + m) and then change the binding of where you added them on the shortcut menu by pressing escape, selecting keyboard settings and then choosing the "Emotion" tab. Hotkeying the changing of your character's facing is especially important if you want to use backslide while your character is in an animation lock from something like Sonic Blow.

The second is the Cloaking ability. Cloaking gains a movement speed boost when used near walls, with up to a 30% faster than normal movement speed boost at rank 10. While this is generally useless in cities, on certain maps like Sphinx, Pyramids and Ayothaya Dungeon it can be used to great effect.

Dual Wielding

[Dual Wielding - Click to expand/collapse]

Assassins are the only class who can dual wield, and how this interacts with hotkeys, the equipping and unequipping of weapons and related mechanics is not exactly intuitive.

When auto-attacking, each attack treated as a single event, even though it shows two different damages. This means the effects of your daggers are combined (e.g. weapon element and cards). Element/endows and DEF bypassing effects only apply from the right hand.

In the equipment window (default keybind ALT+Q) the righthand weapon is in the left column, next to the sprite's right hand, and the lefthand weapon is in the right column, next to the sprite's left hand. If the character has no weapons or shields equipped, then the first single-handed weapon equipped goes into the right hand. If any weapon is in the right hand (including a Katar) then the next single-handed weapon equipped goes onto the left hand. This means that if you have a Katar equipped, the first single-handed weapon you equip goes onto the left hand (also un-equipping the Katar) and the second one goes onto the right hand, while if you start out empty handed the first equipped goes onto the right hand and the second onto the left hand.

Be it the equipping of a shield or 1228.png Combat Knife in PvP or WoE, quickly unequipping your main hand weapon to maximize your ASPD for Back Sliding (done by equipping a katar and then equipping a shield) or any other multi-weapon application; Becoming practiced in the interaction between dual wielding, hotkeys and the equipment window is important for playing an assassin.

Equipment

Note on Cards: Percent damage increase cards (Race/Element/Size) are additive with the same type of card (e.g. 2 Element damage cards is 20%+20%=40%) but multiplicative with different types of cards (e.g. 1 Element card and 1 Race card is 20%x20%=44%. So having variation of card types is better than using only the same type.

Sonic Blow

SB assassins should focus first on being able to one shot their intended targets, then either maximizing SP/SP regeneration or reaching the minimum FLEE to be able to 95% dodge their intended targets depending on the availability of support characters and their willingness to use consumables/Kaahi.

[Sonic Blow Equipment - Click to expand/collapse]

Weapon

Headgear

Armor

Garment

Footgear

Accessory

Critical

More integral for critical assassins than other types is to plan out their equipment before making their assassin as their build will depend largely on available equipment (see Assassin#Critical above).

[Critical Equipment - Click to expand/collapse]

Weapon

example Katar builds

Headgear

Garment

Footgear

Accessory

slotted

unslotted

Dual Dagger

See Assassin#Dual_Wielding regarding dual wielding mechanics and before making equipment choices.

[Dual Dagger Equipment - Click to expand/collapse]

Weapon

right hand

left hand

Universal Equipment

[Universal Equipment - Click to expand/collapse]

Weapon

Headgear

Upper

slotted

unslotted

Middle
Lower
Multi-Layered

mid/lower

upper/mid

Armor

slotted

unslotted

Garment

slotted

unslotted

Footgear

Accessory

slotted

unslotted

Card Sets

Sets are generally not recommended since they limit gear versatility and cannot be used for most other classes. However, they are still useful should one choose to invest in them.

[Card Sets - Click to expand/collapse]

Thief Set

weapon

garment

footgear

accessory

Set Bonus - STR +5, AGI +5. ASPD +5%. Movement Speed +25%. Removes the chance of using Snatch. Removes SP drain when attacking. Certain skills require one less Gemstone.

Class Data

Skills

See Thief Skills for first class skills.

Skill Description Levels Type
Cloaking.png [Cloaking](Cloaking.md)
Allows the character to disappear instantaneously and still move. [Movement Speed](Movement_Speed.md) is dependent on skill level. 10 Active
Enchant Poison.png [Enchant Poison](Enchant_Poison.md)
Imbues the characters weapon with the [Poison](Poison.md) element causing each attack to be [Poison](Poison.md) element damage and to have a chance to inflict the Poison status. 10 Active
Grimtooth.png [Grimtooth](Grimtooth.md)
An attack using a katar that hits a 3x3 area from up to 7 cells away while Hidden. 5 Offensive
Katar Mastery.png [Katar Mastery](Katar_Mastery.md)
Increases the damage done with Katar weapons by up to 30. 10 Passive
Righthand Mastery.png [Right-Hand Mastery](Right-Hand_Mastery.md)
Recovers up to 100% of the dual wielding damage penalty for the right hand. 5 Passive
Lefthand Mastery.png [Left-Hand Mastery](Left-Hand_Mastery.md)
Recovers up to 80% of the dual wielding damage penalty for the left hand. 5 Passive
Poison React.png [Poison React](Poison_React.md)
Counters a [Poison](Poison.md) element attack with a one time physical attack for up to 400% damage. Also has a chance to counter non-[Poison](Poison.md) element attacks with level 5 [Envenom](Envenom.md) up to 5 times. 10 Offensive
Sonic Blow.png [Sonic Blow](Sonic_Blow.md)
Deal up to 800% physical damage with a Katar weapon with up to a 30% chance to [Stun](Stun.md) the target. 10 Offensive
Venom Dust.png [Venom Dust](Venom_Dust.md)
Use a [Red Gemstone](https://cp.arcadia-online.org/item/view/?id=716) to create a 2x2 Poison cloud for up to 50 seconds. 10 Active
Venom Splasher.png [Venom Splasher](Venom_Splasher.md)
Use a [Red Gemstone](https://cp.arcadia-online.org/item/view/?id=716) to turn the target into a "Poison Bomb" to deal up to 1000% damage after a delay. 10 Offensive

Quest Skills

Skill Description Levels Type Job Level
Requirement		 Quest
Sonic Acceleration.png [Sonic Acceleration](Sonic_Acceleration.md)
Increases damage and hit rate of Sonic Blow. 1 Passive None [Sonic Acceleration Quest](Assassin_Skill_Quest.md#sonic-acceleration-quest)
Venom Knife.png [Throw Venom Knife](Throw_Venom_Knife.md)
Throws a venom knife at a target and inflict the [poison](Status_Effects.md#poison) status ailment. 1 Offensive None [Throw Venom Knife Quest](Assassin_Skill_Quest.md#throw-venom-knife-quest)

See Assassin Spirit

Job Bonus

Stat\Amount +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +10
STR 11 25 27 32 45 48
AGI 1 2 3 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
VIT 6 8
INT 4 14 38 42
DEX 9 24 30 31 40 41 46 50
LUK

ASPD

Lower delay means faster attack, for more information see ASPD
Weapon Weapon Delay
Unarmed 400
Dagger 500
1H Sword 650
1H Axe 800
Katar 500