Assassin PvE — Ludra-ready

Abyssal Forge: Ludra opens at 2,800 item level and is the hardest PvE of Season 1. It is a ten-player raid, and an Assassin earns its spot there by keeping its damage up through all the moving the fight forces on it. This version is the set the strongest Assassins wear for it: a crafted Dragon Lord dagger and jewellery, Nuakum armour, Unique cards, and every key skill at its last breakpoint.

A Unique card at +3 holds four lines and seven levels. The Parchment and the Chalice put two on each of the three skills and spend the seventh on Shadowstrike and Rear Smite. The Unique Compass takes Savage Roar, Ambush and Storm Rampage to 16, which gives you two extra Ambush uses from behind and a second off every cooldown with each Storm Rampage hit during a stagger.

Illusive Clone at 20 gives every crit a 50% chance of extra damage while it is up, on top of resetting Heart Gore and boosting Exploit Weakness. Swift Contract at 20 makes Rear Smite and Assault Stance hit 1.5 times harder and adds 10% attack speed. Lined up together, those are the strongest twenty seconds the class has.

Every manastone is Unique grade: Attack and Critical Hit on both weapons, Attack, Critical Hit, Accuracy and HP everywhere else. Sigyn's Brilliance on the dagger and Freyr's Wisdom on the guard go off often enough to matter on a class that hits as fast as this one.

One passive line on every armour piece, plus the jewellery, the Mirror and the Bell, puts Rear Smite at 19 and Assault Stance, Exploit Weakness and Impact Hit at 18. Rear Smite's damage from behind is the biggest single multiplier in the build, which is why both the helm and the gloves carry it.