Assassin or Strider?

[ApathicAlpaca]

Not sure which class to level with. Everyone saying Assassin because of high strength growth but Strider has this awesome Skull Splitter attack and is the best climber on large enemies.
Assa does not 'inherit' the improved climbing and damage boost while clinging to large foes, right? That's only Strider vocation, yes?

Which would you suggest to level with (10+) and why?
Thanks!

IF Assa, would you propose sword or dagger for leveling?

PS: Levels are so fast that I would really HATE to keep tabs on my XP all the time, get back to town and change vocation before levelup so that's a no go for me.

[zadymek]

Originally posted by jasmira:

Not sure which class to level with. Everyone saying Assassin because of high strength growth but Strider has this awesome Skull Splitter attack and is the best climber on large enemies.

Strider is being criticised for "balanced" stats gain. It has nothing to do with skills, which, as you pointed, are awesome.
And yes, Strider is master climber with Strength and Speed boost on climbing.

Personally I have no issues with kinda wasteful leveling as Strider, but each to his own.
I'd say
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCC_b5WHLX0

[Fredericks of Cursewood]

Play both. There really is no reason not to. If you get OCD about missing a few stats, you can load up dinput8 or another save editor and respec your character.

[Guh~hey~hey~♫]

Assassin for leveling, strider for endgame. It's if you wanna max out physical attack power stat growth, but overall strider definitely the best class and has a very balanced stat growth with skills also balanced to compensate for their lack of power growth (which is why growing one with the power attack stat growth of an assassin makes it an absolutely broken physical class damage-wise).

About strider's climbing bonuses, they dont apply to all type of ennemies, there's a list on the wiki with more details about it.

For assassin daggers gives way more advantages as a trade off for range compared to sword. Non exhaustive list include:
- dodge roll
- thousand kiss, that can be used on ground while sword equivalent gouge cant.
- masterfull kill, makes countering any melee attacker a joke
- instant reset, a mandatory skills that allow to cancel KDs, staggers or skills, so you can evade an incoming attack/grab.
- invisibility (LOL)

A mistake to avoid though is to try to keep using starting skills like biting wind (which is total garbage) instead of taking more advanced skills.
As an assassin you need assassin skills, as a strider you need helm splitter (aka click to win).
Same for bows, threefold/fivefold stay usefull as debilitation appliers or for special arrow abuse, but striders need to go the fracture dart (tricky to master but devastating) and hailstorm volley route.
Without those you wont feel it too much for assassin thanks to their stat growth focused on power, but on strider it will make the class feel very underpowered.

Yeah strider my favorite class and assassin is the class I played the most (to level my striders) :3

P.S.: Both ofc. also this will allow you to easily switch to ranger later on and be able to use most ranger abilities efficiently if you want to.

[Spelunker]

To be honest it doesn't make much difference. Gear is more important in this game and there's no such thing as a perfect build in DD. Personally I like a balanced build for my Arisen so I can easily swap vocation and a more specialised one for my Pawn, but there's no right or wrong just personal preference.

Here's a link to the wiki for stat growths:
https://dragonsdogma.fandom.com/wiki/Stat_Growths

I would advise increasing your stamina between lvlsl 11-100 as this is always useful. Getting lvls as a Ranger, Assassin or Strider are best for this. If you're considering one of the Magick vocations at some point including MA or MK then Get some lvls in Sorcerer between lvls 11-100 too.

Personally I'd say the most important thing to concentrate on at this point is getting useful Augments as they can make a big difference. Warrior has some of the most useful so I like to get those first. To get vocation ranks quickly you need DP which are best got by killing small weak creatures so get out there and slaughter some sweet innocent bunnies! Plus bats, rats, deer, ox, etc.
https://dragonsdogma.fandom.com/wiki/Augments
https://dragonsdogma.fandom.com/wiki/Discipline_Points

Here are some Augments that I consider most useful:
- Sinew or Leg Strength. These increase encumbrance limits. Pawns should always have this IMO.
- For Melee: Ferocity, Impact and Clout are must haves. Bastion is really useful for defense at lower lvls too though can be discarded when you get to higher lvls. These are all Warrior Augments. Vehemance is good too.
- For Magick: Awareness for defense (good for non magick users too). For Magick attack get Articulacy and Acuity. Gravitas and attunement are nice too.
- If you like using physical bows (NOT MA) Precision and trajectory are useful.
- If you like climbing monsters try Arm strength (And gloves of Might). The special DA Augments Adhesion and Opportunism are useful too if you can get them.

- Stability is also useful when fighting large winged monsters like drakes, Griffins and Cockatrice, especially for Magick users.
N.B. Top tip: Look for armour which increases Stagger/Knockdown resistance.

Hope that's helpful.

[Grr. [SG CMD] Majah Lazah]

Assassin if for high phys glass cannon builds, Strider is for almost balanced, since MK is even-balanced.

[Guh~hey~hey~♫]

For short, if you level as a strider you'll get a nicely balanced character but you will kinda lack attack power for an endgame assassin, that lack good damaging skills to compensate for a low attack power build.
Also to fully take advantage of a pure strider, you will need to use mostly enchanted daggers.
But if you dont mind just staying as strider it wont matter much.

At early levels I wouldnt advise to farm augments... it's a pretty bad idea and a waste of time. Augments increase a percentage of your base stats, at low level it wont make much a difference. Also getting vocation point is capped and the most efficient way to farm them is to beat as low level as possible ennemies, which also makes it easier to farm augments without leveling up.

So it's something you wanna do at higher levels (not before level 50 at least). At early level just grab the few utility augment you can and move on untill you get overleveled compared to most ennemies you might encounter on Gransis.
Having first a ferrystone and portcrystal to travel between town and your farming spot will be welcomed too.

Though augments like sinew for example are pretty usefull for loot management, but it doesnt require farming, if you start as a fighter it's easy to unlock it before level 10 and the first class change. Same for bastion and awarness (though those two arent really usefull if you play on normal).

[Grr. [SG CMD] Majah Lazah]

lack good damaging skills

lol, no. Strider owns mounting, and mounting owns endgame content.

[Guh~hey~hey~♫]

Originally posted by Grr. SG CMD Majah Lazah:

lack good damaging skills

lol, no.

Read better. I'm talking about assassins. If you level as a strider till 200, you wont be able to switch to an assassin and play efficiently because assassins lack the high (broken) damaging skills the striders have.

[Grr. [SG CMD] Majah Lazah]

False. Since I'm running a Pure MK build under your premise I should be struggling under a switch to assassin, and that simply isn't the case due to augments and gear.

[Guh~hey~hey~♫]

Make a pure assassin till level 200, switch to a strider with strider's skills and you'll see what kind of damage it can pull out.

Also I never used the word "struggle" or any synonym of it... I used the word "efficiency".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficiency

I'm not sure what you are trying to accomplish... you start by trying contradict something on strider when I was talking about assassin.... and now you're talking about struggling as an assassin when I'm talking about efficiency...

So either reading and text comprehension of english arent your forte, or you're just trolling.

P.S.: Strider meta (ends at 0.20)
https://youtu.be/qiuFj-R7Et0

[Grr. [SG CMD] Majah Lazah]

Originally posted by ゴリ博士:

Make a pure assassin till level 200, switch to a strider with strider's skills and you'll see what kind of damage it can pull out.

Also I never used the word "struggle" or any synonym of it... I used the word "efficiency".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficiency

I'm not sure what you are trying to accomplish... you start by trying contradict something on strider when I was talking about assassin.... and now you're talking about struggling as an assassin when I'm talking about efficiency...

So either reading and text comprehension of english arent your forte, or your just trolling.

P.S.: Strider meta (ends at 0.20)
https://youtu.be/qiuFj-R7Et0

The only person lacking build/weapon comprehension isn't me.

[Guh~hey~hey~♫]

Actually the biggest difference between the 2, beside strider powerfull dagger and bow skills, is that assassin is a red class hybrid, so you can lock staggered ennemies like a fighter or a warrior.

[Sabaithal]

You can use the strider augments as an assassin if that affects you decision at all.