Tips for a beginner? Starting Assassin?

[Greywolf]

So yeah trying to learn the ins and outs of the game, just trying to figure out which skills are most useful and what to do and what not to do.

Just wondering what skills and stats are most important, don't want to invest in skills and stats then find out later on in the game while they may have had some use at the start their effectiveness starts to fall off, also wondering if there are any hard and soft caps for skills? What is the max you can put in a skill and what is generally the max you need in a skill?

At the moment I have decided to go with Assassin and the following spread of attributes

4 str, 10 dex, 6 con, 10 per, 6 int, 4 cha

Strength seems like the least useful only increasing carry weight and skills like Axe which I probably wont be using as a sneaky Assassin, just curious about the damage modifiers, does it just effect str based weapons or all weapons?

Dex seems like a no brainer giving more AP and increasing skills like daggers, also finding a lot of dialogue checks for dex

Constitution is always useful but having a hard time putting it above the other stats?

Perception seems like it would be incredibly useful increasing hit chance and ranged weapon range as well as uncovering hidden items

Intelligence I really seem unsure of, says it increases skill point gain which seems like it would be incredibly important but not sure how useful this is

Charisma, not sure I really see the use for it as a hearless killer who mostly wants to go unseen, I am sure it has a use but at the moment that use is not immediately obvious to me and I have no idea if it really offers all that much?


As for skills I decided Dagger as my main combat offensive skill with dodge being my defensive, seems like it would be very useful at the start but not sure how daggers scale in usefulness with the rest of the game, wondering if it is a choice that will bite me in the backside later on? In any case it seems to be paired with critical strike which seems to have a lot of importance in some dialogue checks in getting a killing blow without getting caught up in combat?

Sneak is obvious, so is lockpicks so I plan on investing in them, question is what is the max level you need to invest to pass most skill checks? Is there a cap where over investing is pointless?

Alchemy seems useful so seems like one I want to invest in, the rest not so sure, how good are things like steal and impersonate for an assassin? Also lore?

Just curious as to what you think good build options are for an assassin?



Also for some combat encounters I take it you arent supposed to be able to win and sometimes it is better to cut your losses and flee is that it? Especially if your character is non combat focused?

[skaudus]

Hey! You're pretty much on the money on post of your assumptions. The INT won't make much of a difference either way for this type of character, and you can safely put it in either CON or STR.

For an Assassin, there are several viable skill paths you can take. Most of the main quest has a pure combat way out, a Sneak + Critical Strike way out, and a smooth talker way out.

The first relies purely on brute combat skills, so in your case dodge + weapon + critical strike are enough. Alchemy is also an amazing tool, since potions and bombs can make any fight unfair.

The second is more the classic sneaky type, relying on high DEX + sneak + crit to take targets out without resorting to combat. On the rare occasion that you are caught in the open, you'd be more than capable of taking your target out. The main skills are critical strike and sneak, but some Impersonate wouldn't go amiss.

The third is the pure smooth talker type, the Assassin that serves its target poisoned cookies with a smile on everyone's face. You'd need Impersonate and Streetwise for this sort of character.

As far as skill levels are concerned, it depends. Critical Strike can go up to 8-9 by the endgame. Sneak and Lockpick can sit tightly at around 5-6, since most Sneak checks are composites with DEX (and since your character already has max DEX, most sneak checks are automatically easier. If you were to play a 4-DEX character, you'd have a much tougher time.)

Streetwise and Impersonate, while probably not on the radar for your character, can also be around 5-6, but I think you also need some CHA for them to work as intended.

Steal ends up paying for itself by the endgame, but it doesn't bring that much to the table. Lore is great, and generally pays for itself up until around level 8 if you explore everything. However, most lore stuff is also locked behind higher INT. You can make a hybrid that can do everything, but if it's your first couple of playthroughs, I'd recommend going all-in on builds first, so you can safely ignore Lore up to, say, 3.

As far as combat is concerned, daggers + dodge are great! However, you'll have to rely much on aimed attacks, which require Critical Strike.

My suggested priorities would be Critical Strike > Dodge > Dagger. Don't leave too much of a gap between them, though. While having Crit a couple of levels higher is okay, having Dagger 8 and Dodge 3, for instance, will result in some nasty surprises.

Overall, just keep playing and go by your intuition. Your tasks end up being pretty intuitive, and you can usually tell what you'll need to invest in.

[Greywolf]

Hmmm playing through the Assassin missions in Teron it feels like you come up against a pretty hard combat wall early on that with my characters current gear and skill set seems like a near impossible wall to overcome without spending every resource you have at your disposal and even then it comes down to a massive amount of luck.

Continuing on with the Boatmen of Styx it is the 3rd mission you get from them

You are sent to kill the leader of the guard captain which after you do you are forced into a fight with 4 heavily armoured guardsmen who all have some pretty hefty damage resistance that even with power attacks you arent going to do much damage with a dagger (and since most attacks bounce off their armour without doing damage your poison is not going to take effect), somehow manage to make it through by burning through all my crossbow bolts and bombs and hiding behind the more tanky member of the squad.

Then straight after as if this fight was not hard enough the guild leader goes "right o chaps time for a suicide mission against the guard barracks" and we have to fight more armoured opponents, I have no ranged ammo left and I can't go toe to toe in melee because my dagger does not do much and they do a lot more damage to me than I can do to them, manage to get through the first 2 guards by hiding behind the other assassin and hoping he can take them out before they can take him out but then we get inside, the assassin leader does not stand a chance gets cut down and then so do I, feels like a fight I am not supposed to be able to win?

Am I doing something wrong here? Am I supposed to do this at a later time when I have acquired better gear? This seems like the last quest I have available to me in Teron, can I return to Teron to complete this quest or do I have to complete the assassin quests before moving to the next town?

[Vince]

Can you post your character screen to show your skills?

Dagger is a weak weapon so even a power attack won't do much against heavy armor, BUT it's a perfect weapon for aimed attacks and your maxed PER will help a lot there.

Crossbow? Investing in two combat skills is risky for the first time players as you'd end up wasting skill points and neither skill will be too high.

Are you using nets and alchemy? They can make a huge difference.

The third assassin quest is the last in Teron. You can't leave and come back to do it later; if you will the events will be auto-resolved without you.

Did you do Dellar's quests yet? Random side quests in Teron?

[skaudus]

Daggers work best with Aimed attacks, especially paired with Critical Strike. Critical hits often have benefits beyond inflicting damage, such as penalizing damage resistance and even attributes such as STR or DEX.

Generally, a character with Dagger 4, Dodge 4, Critical Strike 4-5 should have no issue with the Teron Assassin quest, even with no other prior investments such as bombs or poison.

It would help to post your character screen before the big fight so we can see at a glance how much of the content you've explored (based on how many skill points you have). There's a lot to do in Teron, and there's a high chance you could have still explored further for more skills and goodies which would have made the last fight even easier.

[Greywolf]

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1825647123232150651/56DD133F208D6132133E301C725059E0779DE33C/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

Current skill spread though with 1 more point invested in alchemy to get the bombs

That said aimed attack does seem to help a lot, still feel pretty squishy and need to hide behind the other guy as to not get killed but did get through it though wasnt able to save the guild leader though

Have done pretty much all the side content in Teron I could find and survive.

[Vince]

You spent way too much on Lockpick, Sneak, Steal, and Traps. Basically, you have 4 secondary skills that are higher levels than your primary (combat) skills as assassin is a fighter not a ninja. Had you you put them into Dagger and Dodge, they'd be at level 6 (+20% to-hit chance, -20% for the enemies chance to hit you) and you'd have had no trouble at all with these quests.

[skaudus]

Well, the build looks pretty good and comprehensive. You can also buy a couple of bombs and liquid fire vials from the vendor outside the Inn if you haven't already.

Other than that, it's just knowing how to position and area deny. You can use Liquid Fire to block characters from attacking you for a turn or two, and use nets to deny their precious action points. Honestly, you'll get a feel for the combat system once you play a little more. I remember having a hard time with some fights when I first started out, but you'll soon be able to beat the game blindfolded!

[skaudus]

And yeah, as Vince said, if you had foregone some exploration and only had 4 in the civil skills, you would have had much higher combat skills, which would have made straight-up combat easier. There are numerous tools to compensate for low combat skills, however, but those require a little more getting used to.

The Traps and Steal skills are definitely not useful for an assassin, and if you're just starting out I'd rather invest the skills into combat.

[Vince]

Your primary objective, so to speak, is to survive combat. This should drive the secondary skills (how much you can afford to invest). If you can't fight (without constant reloads), lockpicks and stealing won't help you much.

Other than boosting very valuable passive bonuses, each rank in weapon skills increases THC (to-hit chance) by 10 which in turns makes aimed attacks more viable, each rank in dodge or block decreases enemy's THC by 10.

[Greywolf]

Yeah I get you I just have a bad habit of not being able to leave loot behind, if I am going to sneak into somebodies house and kill them might as well take the valuables as well.

In order to get all the loot and steal everything (which also ties into an obsessive desire to squeeze all the skill points out of the game) before leaving Teron there are chests and locks with traps that need an investment of 5 to get into

I get it is probably not worth the investment in the skills for what you get out of it but still it is a harder habit to break.

[skaudus]

Don't get me wrong, you can still definitely do combat even with the civic skills, it's just that it requires a lot more finesse and game knowledge. The game offers so many tools and the combat system is so complex that it takes a while to master.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2579880272

For instance, here's a challenge run I did a couple of months back, where I had to fully complete the Assassins questline (and kill someone very powerful) with only Critical Strike and Crafting. (This character also had Lore 3 because of a small bureaucratic reason, but it was not needed for anything)

[NOIRE-]

Originally posted by Greywolf:

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1825647123232150651/56DD133F208D6132133E301C725059E0779DE33C/?imw=5000&imh=5000&ima=fit&impolicy=Letterbox&imcolor=%23000000&letterbox=false

Current skill spread though with 1 more point invested in alchemy to get the bombs

That said aimed attack does seem to help a lot, still feel pretty squishy and need to hide behind the other guy as to not get killed but did get through it though wasnt able to save the guild leader though

Have done pretty much all the side content in Teron I could find and survive.

try crossbow, with 8 DEX, 10 PER, 10 INT (or 8 Int and 6 Con if you are not comfortable with low hp). The thing is, Teron has really tiny room for any greedy SP hoarder build who also want to be decent in Combat. You have to take advantage of your faction bonus, joining boatmen give you +10 ranged combat, so go with that, Crossbow the perfect choice with 4 Str build, it actually quite unfair IMO.
10 PER crossbow allow you to be a decent assassin with combat lv as low as 3 (you need to utilize all your slot tho, get either 1 heavy/std crossbow + 2 hand crossbows or 4 hand crossbows), you may need to practice to get used to the playstyle. Did I say decent? Well, Teron wpn of choice is still limited, but once you reach Maadoran you will taste the full power of crossbow.
As for the civic skill, unless you are playing as a thief or doing Completionist run, don't lv up Traps. It has the worst SP investment of all skill. If you have 6 Con tho, you can bear the trap dmg and still can lockpick the chest, just remember to heal the dmg to attribute. You can lv up your Steal to 5 for Teron, then 6 for Maadoran. But I recommend to get to 3 only since it's enough level to steal from any sleeping guests in the Inn, the SP you spend will pay for itself later plus all the items and gold.

If you want a melee char tho, I suggest you to try a thief run, there is one walkthrough in guide section written by kvaliant. I made a more optimized one based on his guide, managed to squeeze enough SP to have 5 in lockpick, sneak, steal & traps to get everything in Teron. Check it https://docs.google.com/document/d/16gWigqLO5vihwj3kS5nfbLXHm7ZuJllMNxnvlsBaw9c/edit?usp=sharing