How to play assasins in arena?

[Maximy]

Legit asking for any helpful info,cause this is the most confusing class for me.

Do I need to wait for team to engage? Because so far poor guardian/warrior who engages gets hardcore deleted,

If I engage I get wiped almost instantly.

Do I need to wait for team fight to occur so I can jump in and steal all kills? Because I've done that one game and poor Jormugandr ended up with 10+ deaths, because he was the only one engaging with me close to 8 deaths (Every time when I joined the fight all the focus went to me instead of him) while team mates were farming minions.

I want to learn this role, but so far has been major disappointment.

[Lil Foodstamps]

*Assassins

[Maximy]

Originally posted by Specific Impulse:

*Assassins

Thanks, that was really helpful.

[Ishamael]

well when i play assassins in arena i build a little tanky and either engage first when i see someone out of position ( like a discordia coming too far forward) or wait until someone else goes in and then i go on thier dps. Most of the time i engage first ( cause the guardian/warrior too slow for me) and get some ults and then rest of the team goes in to kill them. it might result in assits and kills or death and assits. position yourself to the right or left of the map, will force them to eihter go on you or your guardian engage.

[Ishamael]

Originally posted by Ishamael:

well when i play assassins in arena i build a little tanky and either engage first when i see someone out of position ( like a discordia coming too far forward) or wait until someone else goes in and then i go on thier dps. Most of the time i engage first ( cause the guardian/warrior too slow for me) and get some ults and then rest of the team goes in to kill them. it might result in assits and kills or death and assits. position yourself to the right or left of the map, will force them to eihter go on you or your guardian engage.

this dosent work for me as i wanna be the one to engage but you can always wait for the enemy to come first too.

[Lil Foodstamps]

Originally posted by Maximy:

Originally posted by Specific Impulse:

*Assassins

Thanks, that was really helpful.

No problem

[Clead HeavenHell]

I do believe assassin should be mostly clearing monster camps (try to steal enemies) while looking for nasty ganks. Would say that CC is very useful in Arena, but also ensuring that enemies don´t run away with 10 hp is helpful (stealth, speedy hit and runs), but look for a good balance between power/squishiness to decide how to act in every situation.

So from my knowledge (casual player), waiting for the team fight to start can be a good option, or if you have ways to survive a 5v1, you could engage, survive and help your teams to initiate the team fight.

Another option, is waiting for them to engage (with guardians with strong CC) and just grab the mage/hunter from behind once or twice so they get scared of you so they won´t capitalize in a good initiating since they will be expecting you.

So either, you can initiate the team fight and then run away (if you run with the kill, the better, but the idea is just to mess their formation so your tank/mages can exploit it), or wait for them to engage, and focus in their mages. Or wait for your tanks to engage, and kill them quickly when they try to run away/reorganize ranks.

Also look for an assassin that calls you, but at the same time exploits the Arena features (mostly team fights with a lot of running away back to base, and very few instances of camps farming).

[HEX: SOLO QUEUE]

Originally posted by Maximy:

Legit asking for any helpful info,cause this is the most confusing class for me.

Do I need to wait for team to engage? Because so far poor guardian/warrior who engages gets hardcore deleted,

If I engage I get wiped almost instantly.

Do I need to wait for team fight to occur so I can jump in and steal all kills? Because I've done that one game and poor Jormugandr ended up with 10+ deaths, because he was the only one engaging with me close to 8 deaths (Every time when I joined the fight all the focus went to me instead of him) while team mates were farming minions.

I want to learn this role, but so far has been major disappointment.

I have hundreds of hours in Arena. If you play one in Arena you're very likely to have a bad time because they're very fragile and you are very unlikely to get team support. That isn't to say impossible but certainly the worst game mode for that class.

You might try a couple defense items (more like a warrior build), they won't make you tanky but they might stop you getting 1 shot. You have to pick out stragglers or people trying to get the red buff solo and ♥♥♥♥ like that. It's not easy.

[Alphaeus]

Echoing what others have said, Assassins are likely the least viable picks in Arena. They're built to gank and punish, but since Arena keeps things tight that reduces the chance for them to do this. That said, Assassins can certainly be viable.

Team fights in arena should be started by a tank being backed up by a mage. Whether the tank is a guardian or warrior doesn't really matter, both can engage well. As an assassin, your role is to enter the fight about halfway through. Stay close when it starts but be careful -- after engage both teams will be dumping their kits onto each other. If you engage early, you'll probably die or be punished hard.

The keys you're looking for would be 1) The fight generally having at least 3 gods at 60% HP or less, 2) Enemy gods with low HP making a break for their fountain. These are your targets. If you feel like you can pull it off, hop into the middle of the fight and take out a few enemies. If it is too risky, keep behind the enemy team and go after enemies retreating (just keep alert for the whole team falling back on top of you).

If you are playing careful, it is definitely viable to build "full assassin" in Arena and win. The biggest thing to note is that each assassin needs to be considered on their play style as well as your team composition. It is often a good idea to build assassins a little bit heavier, almost like a high-damage warrior more than a "true assassin" so to speak. Arachne, for example, has enough sustain that she can viably build full assassin. Her lack of escapes, however, means that on a more squishy team she can certainly benefit from a couple beef/defense items to take a bit more punishment in fights (Side Note: Arachne can make for a totally viable "warrior-lite" if your team needs it, and she's not the only assassin that can do this). As another example, Fenrir still remains an assassin that is quite comfortable building a lot of defensive items, but can lighten up for more damage if his team allows.

So, in conclusion --
1) Always deal damage when you can *safely*, and certainly take a kill when you have the chance. You cannot *truly* engage as an assassin in Arena, however, simply set-up an engagement.
2) Learn each assassin and evaluate your team -- many of them can sacrifice a bit of damage for a lot of survivability.
3) Blink Rune. Just...so, so worth it for getting quick kills...or bailing hard when being chased.
4) If your tanks are dying early in every engage...they're simply not doing their job well. Obviously sometimes a team is just outmatched, but generally speaking they shouldn't be dying *that* much.

[Maximy]

Thanks guys. I usually play arena only, rarely play other modes. I pretty much play guardians only,from time to time mages and warriors. I never played assassins before, wanted to give it a try today, and it was defeat after defeat with extremely bad score (like 2-8+)

[Vincent Kincade]

Everything that was said makes sense for the right situation. The last poster's comment regarding knowing your gods and team is paramount. I would like to emphasize the point again. Arena doesn't have hiding spots unless you count the fact not all can focus on the map while an intense battle unfolds. So, all the advice is good and I am grateful for it. Remember it is a team fight so consider each match and look out for one another; playing personal bodyguard to a Zeus for example, will get you some kills hopefully, and more importantly, allow for some massive reversals for the team.

[John]

Thana kinda works as you can kill others trying to get away and scoot out, but most assassins just don't function in arena.

[weeman3.0]

You need alot more than worthless forum comments, you need to learn from osmosis. If you can, find a better player to party with then watch how they play. Or watch other assassin players and learn from that.

Also the advice here isn't good. It sounds good when you say it but doesn't work in game.

[Kikyo]

just dont go full damage items , keep 1-2 slots for physic or magic resist , you mostly cant knockout a hunter with full of your combos when they're maxed level except your playing some kind like Thanatos or Mercury , just play as bruiser , join the battle then use the combo and get out .
I play a lot of Thor and HunzBat that very fun to play as bruiser

[shedora]

imo assassins shine when they can be sneaky and do assassin things, arena gives you a few pillars to hide behind waiting for a pick. you gotta be real good mechanic wise with whatever assassin you chose bc you are squishy and there are 5 people who want you dead, 5+ if you're feeding

[Taril]

Typically, auto attack assassins suck in the casual modes, as there's too short a distance to safety and too many heroes grouped up to annihilate you before you do any damage. You really need to get fed early to be impactful.

Ability based assassins fare better as they just need to get in, drop their stuff and then gtfo. Even better if they can poke during stalemates with ranged attacks like Thanatos, Camazotz or Thor.

Of course, you can also go full Bruiser on some assassins like Ravana, Lancelot and Ratatoskr where you build like a Warrior and just rely on Gladiator's Shield or Animosity for your damage. Heck, I've even seen some full tank Ao Kuang's do well and just ult people constantly.