Assassin PvE build: skills, stigmas, boards and gear priorities

Assassin damage comes from two places: the boss's back and your crits. Heart Gore fires off a Critical Hit, Insignia Explosion cashes in the Insignias you stack, and Quick Slice fills every gap and gives MP back. Illusive Clone takes Heart Gore's cooldown away for ten seconds. That is your burst.

Stay behind the boss. Rear Smite, Ambush and the extra 30% on Triniel's Dagger only pay from there. If the boss turns, move first and hit second.

You put 10 points into a skill. Everything past 10 comes from Daevanion nodes, ring lines and arcana lines, and those extra levels are what open specializations.

Heart Gore is the skill to push first. At 16 its fifth pick resets the cooldown on every crit, and the class stops waiting on it. Four Daevanion nodes (one on each of the first four boards) take it to 14; one Heart Gore line on the Parchment and one on the Chalice make 16. Two rings and better cards take it, Insignia Explosion and Quick Slice to 20 later.

The macro key is unbound by default. Put it on right mouse button. The macro presses left click twice and right click once (50, 50 and 80 ms), so you hold it and the stacks do the rest. Stigmas, Ambush and the movement skills stay manual. A macro spends them at the wrong time.

Evasion Stance is your block. It dodges everything for a moment, and at level 5 it holds two charges. If one boss keeps landing its yellow attacks on you, swap it in for Savage Fang for that fight. It does not save you from red ones; walk out of those.

Take the first seven to 10, then Defense Break. Gear and arcana lines push Rear Smite, Assault Stance and Exploit Weakness well past 10.

On Global you work with five boards. Four of them carry a +1 node for every skill you use, so each one is a level for Heart Gore, Insignia Explosion and Quick Slice.

Skill nodes first (Heart Gore, Insignia Explosion, Quick Slice, then the three main passives), big damage nodes second, then Attack, Critical Hit and Accuracy as filler. HP nodes cost little and buy a lot of forgiveness.

The pet boards (Cogni, Fera, Natura, Varian and Special) each have nine lines you reroll with crystals. Lock a good line before you reroll the rest.

Mastering Genus Insight also earns Unbound by Genus, one of the best attack titles you can wear.

Four Vigor cards give the Primal Vigor set: +60 PvE Attack at two pieces and +150 at four, while your HP is above 70%. A fifth Vigor card adds nothing to the set, so the Bell goes to Magic for Destruction.

Card grade sets how many skill lines it holds: one on a Common, up to four on a Unique, with each enhance adding a level and a line. Put the first lines of the Parchment and the Chalice on Heart Gore until it reaches 16.

Weapon and guard roll damage. Armour pieces each roll stats plus one Assassin passive; put Rear Smite, Assault Stance and Exploit Weakness there.

Start on Spiritforged Dagger at +10 with Pilgrim jewellery and two Ascension Bracelet. The top of Season 1 is Aulamus Dagger at +15, Vakron armour such as Vakron Helm and Aulamus Ring at +10.

Manastones roll at random. Keep Attack and Critical Hit on the dagger and guard, and Attack, Critical Hit, Accuracy Bonus and HP on the armour.

For theostones, put Theostone: Tassin's Command on one weapon and Theostone: Feruk's Instinct on the other. A poison stone such as Theostone: Santras's Secret does about as well early on, and the gap closes as the stones get better. Later,

When two rolls compete, value them in this order: Back Attack Damage Boost, Weapon Damage Boost and Critical Damage Boost, Damage Boost, Double Chance, then flat Attack. Accuracy and Critical Hit only matter until you hit the cap.

Wings also give an owned effect just for being in your collection. pureun-jeongwangui-nalgae, pureun-padoui-nalgae, tusaui-nalgae, deuramata-dungjiui-nalgae, sup-jeongryeongui-nalgae, heosangui-meari-nalgae, akmongui-nalgae and guwonbateun-tarakui-nalgae are worth levelling for that alone.

Title: Playing God shows up on a lot of attack lists. It is a PvP title first: the Double Chance helps in dungeons, but Unbound by Genus carries far more PvE Damage Boost.