What is an Assassin?
The Assassin is one of the two second classes of the Thief. It can hold a weapon in each hand, and it is the only class line that can use Katars. Its skill set is built around raw damage and poison.
- With a Katar equipped, an Assassin's critical rate is always doubled, whatever its base value.
- If the Thief skill Improve Dodge has been trained, Assassins move a little faster than every other class.
- Job bonuses at job level 50: STR +6, AGI +10, VIT +2, INT +4, DEX +8, LUK +0.
Becoming an Assassin
A Thief of job level 40 or higher goes to the Assassin Guild, two maps south and two maps east of Morroc in the desert. The guild runs four tests in a row (see also Job Change Quests):
| Test | What happens |
|---|---|
| Written test | 10 questions about Thief and Assassin skills, cards and gear; at least 9 must be right. At job level 50 only one set of questions is needed. |
| Assassination test | In a room of Porings, Drops, Lunatics and Poporings, kill the 6 marked target monsters within 3 minutes. Hitting a wrong monster or a trap means failure. |
| Endurance test | Run across a room full of Mummies and Hydras to the NPC on the far side. You do not have to fight; dying sends you back to the entrance. |
| Maze test | Cross a large room with invisible walls to reach the Assassin Master in the bottom-left corner, answer his questions, then hand the Necklace of Oblivion to the entrance NPC. |
Assassin skills
Renewal numbers from the current iRO. The table shows the main skills; Righthand Mastery, Lefthand Mastery, Venom Dust and Grimtooth are covered in the text below.
| Icon | Skill | What it does |
|---|---|---|
 | Sonic Blow (Lv 10) | Katar attack of up to 1,200% damage with up to a 30% chance to Stun. |
 | Enchant Poison (Lv 10) | Turns the weapon to the Poison element, with a chance to poison on every hit. |
 | Cloaking (Lv 10) | Vanish instantly and keep moving; movement speed depends on skill level. |
 | Katar Mastery (Lv 10) | Adds up to 30 damage with Katars. |
 | Poison React (Lv 10) | Answers a Poison-element attack with one counter of up to 400%; can also counter other attacks with Envenom up to 5 times. |
 | Venom Splasher (Lv 10) | Turns a target into a poison bomb that explodes after a delay for up to 1,400%. |
- Righthand Mastery and Lefthand Mastery win back the damage lost when fighting with two weapons: up to 100% for the right hand and up to 80% for the left.
- Venom Dust uses a Red Gemstone to leave a 2x2 poison cloud for up to 50 seconds. Grimtooth hits a 3x3 area up to 7 cells away while you are hidden.
- Quest skills: Sonic Acceleration (needs job level 40; Sonic Blow gets +90% damage and +90% hit chance) and Venom Knife (throws a poisoned knife).
Common builds
Most Assassins end up with very similar stats; the builds differ mainly in weapons and cards. A typical skill set is Sonic Blow 10, Katar Mastery 7-10, Lefthand Mastery 5, Righthand Mastery 3-5, Enchant Poison 6, Venom Splasher 10, Poison React 10 and Cloaking 3.
| Build | Stats (suggested) | Idea |
|---|---|---|
| Equip Critical (Katar) | STR 60-90, AGI 70-90, VIT 50-80, INT 1, DEX 40-60, LUK 40 | Cards that raise critical rate; crits land even when normal hits would miss. |
| Double Attack Katar | STR 70-90, AGI 70-90, VIT 50-80, INT 1, DEX 40-60, LUK 20-40 | A high-attack Katar with a Sidewinder Card, or a Chick Hat. |
| Dual Dagger | Same as Double Attack Katar | A quick leveling build with a dagger in each hand; the source notes this setup may be outdated. |
Where the Assassin goes next
After rebirth the Assassin becomes an Assassin Cross, which adds Advanced Katar Mastery, Create Deadly Poison, Enchant Deadly Poison, Meteor Assault and Soul Destroyer.
The third class is the Guillotine Cross (often called GX). It still fights with two weapons or a Katar and gains new kinds of poison that other classes cannot cure. The fourth class is the Shadow Cross.
Sources
Game pictures: © Gravity Co., Ltd. · playragnarok.com