Game Mechanics How to fix assasin (effort)

In this thread, I will present my ideas for improving the assassin class, focusing specifically on the shadestepper.



1. Shadestepper

The Shadestepper is arguably the worst archetype for raids. While it's not the worst in LI , it still falls short of being the best. The only utility it brings is heavy melee, which is very effective, but regular Shadesteppers are rarely seen.

Abilities to be reworked:

-nightcloak knife

Nightcloak knife is pretty weird. You sacrifice dmg for dmg. Marks with 2 one skill points abilities can do a +60% dmg to mob also by other players (I am not sure) forever, but knife only 40% if there are minions and with more marks ability normaly 6 x 4 =24 and 4 x 4 = 16 without more marks. It's not good. Yeah you can have marks and knife but it is efficient only for raids, useless in LI and shadestepper is bad for raids anyways.

Buffing it makes no sense, it could be good but idea of sacrificing dmg for dmg is not good.

My proposition of rework:

NIGHTCLOAK KNIFE

After backstabbing the enemy behind it while vanish, you will summon Nightcloak knife.
For each stab, knife will mimic your attacks with 8% of your damage. (Max: 10x)
Range: 6 blocks
Duration: 15s (reset after triggering ability, even after reaching the maximum)

I think it is good.

-Deth magnet

Deth magnet is underrated but still not worth 2 ab points.
Reducing its cost to 1 AB could be a simple solution (a lazy idea) or
it could summon a bomb after pulling enemies (a funny idea)



DETH MAGNET

(beginning same as now)
Also, in a place where you enter vanish, a bomb will spawn, that deals damage to pulled mobs.
Total damage: 200% (of your dps)
(neutral dmg: 100%)
(fire dmg: 60%)
(earth dmg: 40%)
Area of effect: 2,5 blocks (circle)

It can also be a new ability.

-violent vortex

It's a cool ability but dmg is kind of low. 10% buff to vortex and a stronger vortex would be healthy.

-dissolution

When I first saw this ability I thought it was good. But it turned out that it has an effect when using Vanishi, not when exiting it. But that is a great idea! Buffing the dura to 1,5 sec and nerfing dmg reduction to 40% and making it happens after exiting a vanish would be a great solution.

Future abilities:

- Quicker shadowing(lame name lol)
Reduces vanis cooldown by 1 sec.

This would increase shadestepper DPS by a LOT.



-stacked knife(also lame name)

After triggering nightcloak knife for the first time it will deal only 2% dmg, but every later stab will add 2% dmg more(3%-5%-7%...)

My favorite idea so far, only good for raids, not good in LI for example.

-flaming bomb

A bomb from death magnet will set enemies on fire, dealing dmg every 0.6 seconds.
Total dmg 30% (of DPS, per hit)
(fire dmg 30%)
Duration: 5s

2.Trickster
Trickster is pretty balanced and useful but has a lot of useless abilities.

-bamboozle

You deal 400% dps with a price of slaying one close. It may seem good, but the multi-hit deals 320% and 460% damage with the 'Stronger Multihit' ability for 1 AP. Bamboozle dmg is not reduced by echo, but the price of 1 clone is too big.
I know that when there is only one clone left, it deals big damage. However, it is still better to choose a different ability instead. In beta 2.0.2 bamboozle deals 500% dmg, and it was good. I believe that it's a good idea to add an additional ability that increases the damage of Bamboozle or/and gives it special effects like stunning and knocking enemies, making it a separate viable playstyle.

-hoodwink

This could be a good ability, but it doesn't work on bosses so it has no usage. Even while fighting with normal enemies this changes like nothing. In my opinion, they should delete this ability now and add it after a higher level cap but make it works on bosses. Instead hear are some ideas for different abilities.

-elusive clones
After dodging an attack with agility you don't lose a clone.

-magic thief
After hitting an enemy with a spin attack you reduce their defense by 5% (max 40x)
Cooldown: 3s
Duration: 7s (resets after triggering ability)

-choke bomb
There is a big hance that you newer heard of this ability. It slows enemies in smoke bomb by 40%. But it's useless, buffing it to +- 75% woud be great.

-diversion
Before 2.02 diversion was useless. After 2.02 it becomes ALMOST worth it because of the even stronger clones ability. Guess what CT did. They nerfed it... It's probably because entier wynncraft is anti-tank. But instead of nerfing useless ability, rework it. Instead of overhealth, they can add dmg for example. Another idea is debuffing enemy, blinding it, or stunning it. But deleting it and replacing it with something better is a great idea. My examples (probably bad):

POISONOUS TRACE
When you have a lure effect and you will leave a trail of poison that slow and deal damage to enemies every 0.5 seconds.
Total damage: 100% (of your dps)
(neutral dmg:70%)
(earth damage:30%)
Duration: 2,5s

WILLFUL CLONES
If you hold shift and dash while in vanish one of your clones will become willful.
The clone will mimic your spells like normal ones but he will follow enemies and deal 15% of your DPS like melee attack.
Cooldown: 10s
Duration: 15s

(Meyby is too ridiculous, but with more abilities would be cool I think)

And that's all! If you have some ideas write them and i will ad the best ones.

 

I definitely agree that Shadestepper needs an overhaul, but I feel like it should be more than just changing the abilities. I think that the concept of Backstab is really interesting, but it just doesn’t fit with Wynncraft’s endgame. Even if you play it perfectly, the damage dealt is not enough to compensate for the amount of setup.
Let’s say I deal 300k damage with every Backstab, using all of the marks and a full stack of Nightcloak Knife. If it takes me 10 seconds to set up all of these abilities together, it averages out to 30k DPS. That’s not good at all, and considering that it usually takes way more than 10 seconds to get a full damage backstab, it gets even worse. You will deal more damage by just spamming spells and melees.
A new scenario. The Nameless Anomaly. In all of the challenge rooms, you are completely useless because you can’t kill anything fast enough to possibly compete with your teammates. In the boss fight, you might have the time to set up your attacks, but in the end it takes out an inch of Greg’s health bar. Or, you can’t do it fast enough and all of your efforts get turned to dust as Greg enters the Watched phase.

The entire playstyle just doesn’t fit Wynncraft. I believe it would fare far better in viability if it was a more active and aggressive playstyle, like Acrobat and Boltslinger.

 

I agree i want to play a useful shadestepper again

 

Yeach, shadestepper can play consistant and aggressive in LI where bosses have phases so you can constantly vanish and back stab, but in raids, exept for meyby nexus of light (but only raids that matters ar TCC and TNA) you need to wait for vanish to refresh. I'm sure that they gona keep the vanish coldown, but lowering it 1-2s woud be good. My first archetype was shadestepper when I started playing (trickster was horrible and acrobat to hard) my gameplay was doing backstab and dealing big dmg but 5s after hit was just walking around and drinking pots. I think that silent killer (or new ability) should work after dealing big dmg to make shadestepper work. Also if they are going to add viable heavy spell this would work for shadestepper perfectly.

 

I like the stacked knife as a way to fix nightcloak knife’s damage