Assassin PvE from level 1 (Grobs)

Grobs' point up front: the Assassin has a reputation for being hard, and people who'd enjoy it pick something else because of that. It has two harder mechanics, buff timing and positioning, and even played imperfectly it does very high damage. This guide covers levelling and the move into mid-game at 45. For a 2,800 item level endgame setup, see Krix Domi's Assassin build.

The two hard parts

1. Buff timing. Illusive Clone and Swift Contract make you very strong for a short time. In Season 1 you don't have enough cooldown reduction to keep them up, so don't waste them on trash.
2. Positioning. Several passives and skills do more damage from behind. To get the most out of the class, you think about where you stand.

Levelling: the active skills

Skill	Key	What it does	Specialties to take while levelling
Quick Slice	Left click	3-hit chain, no cooldown, generates MP each hit. Your filler and your animation cancel	HP absorb (life steal makes levelling easy), Multi-Hit
Savage Roar	Right click	3-hit chain, no cooldown, costs MP, always puts an Insignia on the target for 10 s	-20% MP cost (or you run dry in long fights), +20% skill speed
Insignia Explosion		Consumes the Insignias on the target (up to 5); more Insignias, more damage	Multi-Hit, and the one that leaves 2 Insignias behind so you never start from zero
Heart Gore		Usable only after you land a critical hit with anything	HP absorb, Multi-Hit
Ambush		More damage from behind. Grobs finds it a damage loss in the rotation; its 3% HP absorb makes it a decent heal
Whirlwind Slice		Usable after you evade an attack (or after Ambush). Also a loss for him; try it yourself
Storm Rampage		Usable only while the boss is staggered; spam it during that window	5% HP absorb

Early on, Quick Slice and Savage Roar do most of your damage, because Heart Gore and Insignia Explosion start with long cooldowns.

Movement

• Shadowstrike (20 m) and Infiltrate (10 m, usable after a dodge or while flying) both put you behind the target. Keep them next to each other so one covers the other's cooldown.
  • Infiltrate: take +10 m range so both reach 20 m.
  • Shadowstrike: take +20% critical damage for 10 s.
  • Level both to 8 for these.
• Flash Slice puts you on the opposite side of the target. Worse than the two above, but helps on bosses where they aren't enough. Level it to 8 for +6 m (it's only 4 m at base).
• Defiance removes stuns, knockdowns, grabs, fear and frost (press it when the prompt shows). Level 8: restores 20% HP on use.

Levelling: stigmas and passives

• Illusive Clone: the big buff. It removes Heart Gore's cooldown and adds damage. At first it lasts 10 s on a 90 s cooldown, so use it with care.
• Swift Contract: +20% combat speed for 10 s (shorter animations, more skills per second). Always together with Illusive Clone.
• Triniel's Dagger: hits harder from behind.
• Passives: Exploit Weakness (crit chance, attack, a chance to summon 5 clones, and it applies 5 Insignias by itself) and Rear Smite (PvE damage and back-attack damage).

Macro and Daevanion board

• One macro line: Insignia Explosion → Heart Gore → Savage Roar. Hold the macro and left click together: Quick Slice cancels the animations in between. (Grobs has a separate video on macros and animation cancelling.)
• While levelling, also press things by hand so you learn the class.
• Get your active skills to 12 quickly: more damage, and the second specialty slot. Skill points take you to 10; the rest comes from the Daevanion board. His preset spends 82 points on the first three boards, in order (Questlog link in the video description).

Level 45: what changes

Active skill priorities

1. Heart Gore to 16. The level 16 option resets Heart Gore's cooldown when it crits, so you chain it as long as it keeps critting. Illusive Clone removes the cooldown outright; the reset still has a small delay, so the buff is faster, but the reset works all the time. Add the extra critical hit chance option too.
2. Quick Slice to 16. The option "Ignores Block and Evasion and lands as a Critical Hit". Since you press Quick Slice constantly, guaranteed crits are big, and they also open Heart Gore. Add the option that takes time off Insignia Explosion per hit.
3. Insignia Explosion: keep Multi-Hit and take the cooldown cut (10 → 7 s). With Quick Slice's reduction on top, you use it much more often.
4. Flash Slice to 12: a second charge.
5. Storm Rampage to 16 (lowest priority): "-1 s all skill cooldowns on hit", stigmas included. Only use it when your buffs are on cooldown and the boss is staggered; otherwise it costs damage.

[Verified 2026-10-17, game client] Specialty options unlock at skill levels 8, 12 and 16, and the slots to equip them open at 8, 12 and 20. The Quick Slice crit option and the Heart Gore reset are both level-16 options.

Stigma priorities

1. Triniel's Dagger to 10: from 10 it reduces all your skill cooldowns by a percentage on hit. The cut applies to the cooldown remaining, so use it right after both buffs.
2. Illusive Clone to 20: lots of good options, and above all a longer buff (20 s at level 20).
3. Then Swift Contract (its options multiply Rear Smite and Assault Stance) and Savage Fang (5 Insignias on hit; at 15 it adds PvE damage for a few seconds). Savage Fang goes at the start of the macro so even the first Insignia Explosion is at full stacks.

Passives to focus: Exploit Weakness, Rear Smite, Assault Stance (critical damage) and Impact Hit (double-hit chance). Put basic points into the rest.

Macro and rotation

• Macro: Savage Fang → Insignia Explosion → Heart Gore → Savage Roar.
• Rotation:
  1. Illusive Clone + Swift Contract.
  2. Shadowstrike behind the boss (position, plus its crit damage buff).
  3. Triniel's Dagger right away, to cut every cooldown.
  4. Hold the macro with left click. From there it's staying behind the boss and staying active.

How this compares with the endgame setup

Krix Domi (2,800 item level, recorded 2026-10-11) builds the same core around cooldown reduction: Quick Slice and Heart Gore at 16, Storm Rampage for the -1 s per hit, Illusive Clone + Swift Contract, Infiltrate behind the boss, then Savage Fang. His two-macro setup and Arcana are in his guide. Grobs' guide is the step before it.

Garbled terms in the auto-captions

Captions say	Means
Hardcore, Heart Go, Decisive Strike	Heart Gore
Wild Roar, fury	Savage Roar
Sign Explosion, insignia burst	Insignia Explosion
Whirlwind Strike	Whirlwind Slice
Stormy Rampage	Storm Rampage
Penetration, Infiltration	Infiltrate
Flash	Flash Slice
Resistance	Defiance
Elusive Clone	Illusive Clone
Quick/Smart/Fast Contract	Swift Contract
Triple Shake, Triple Shock, Triniad Stun, Triniad's Swing	Triniel's Dagger
Wild Fang	Savage Fang
Backstab, Wrist Intelligence	Rear Smite
Slam	Impact Hit
Avernium board	Daevanion board